August has really been a month of two halves. The first half of the month was spent very pregnant and waiting for our baby boy to arrive and the last two weeks have been a blur of never-ending feeding, endless loads of washing and very little sleep.

Toby seems to have grown up so much in the last month. He is talking much more than he was at the end of July – he’s now putting words together into short sentences, he tries to copy everything we say, and for the most part he can make himself understood. He’s coped really well with the arrival of his baby brother too. Mostly he isn’t that bothered by him and just ignores him but he does sometimes come and give him kisses or stroke his head. There doesn’t seem to be any jealousy yet at least, although he is still struggling with the fact that he can’t always have me come to him if he wakes up in the night which he has been doing more and more of this last week.

To be honest Toby has probably taken Gabriel’s arrival in his stride more than we have. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy but the last couple of weeks have been some of the hardest we’ve had as a family. Gabe is showing all the signs of suffering with silent reflux just like Toby did, and although we’ve been lucky in that he doesn’t seem to have it too badly and there hasn’t been too much crying, it is mainly manifesting itself as a constant need to feed and an absolute refusal to be put down. Being stuck on the sofa under a feeding or sleeping baby isn’t the worst thing in the world for now, but when Barry goes back to work next week and I have to look after both boys on my own it’s going to be a different story!

This month’s photo certainly represents the last couple of weeks of the month; I’m still wearing my pyjamas, Toby is covered in snot and shovelling apple into his mouth, and we all look knackered…but this is my family, I love all my boys and I wouldn’t change any of them.