countdown to holidays...

Never has a holiday been more needed...

17th June saw us going to LG Arena (Birmingham NEC) for our Peter Kay concert, mad dash to get out of the house and on the road by 6.30pm. Expressed two bottles for Sarah, absolute terror-stress to get them bathed and bedded by then. Dashed like mad to get there for the 7.30pm publicised start-time, and had to walk miles from the car park. Arrived. No Peter Kay until 8.10pm. Hard to go from the terror-stress state to 'relaxed enjoying being out normal person' particularly without a drink... so it was a tough act to make me laugh, but Peter Kay did manage it. Plenty of time to marvel at all the thousands of (admittedly middle-aged) people in the audience... plenty of time to worry about my poor girl back at home. Got lost on the way out and ended up walking for best part of an hour, at one point through a desserted industrial estate, at another point through a load of chimneas etc at the Gardener's World exhibition... Got home, Sarah had been awake intermittently. Went to bed exhausted, totally unprepared for what came next. When I fed her at about 3am she bit me. Proper clamped down her teeth and held on for grim life (or whatever!) for about 30 seconds. I screamed like I was in labour, then sort of went into shock, couldn't look at her, couldn't stop crying, was in a right state. Range breastfeeding counsellors in the morning, and tentatively tried to feed her again, but she just kept biting. For best part of a week she maintained this pattern, sometimes biting at the beginning of a feed, sometimes at the end. Feeds were reduced, and she wouldn't feed in the night, have just been all over the place!! Consulted with Claire who has done bf supporter training and she thought it was nursing strike. Anna thought it was teething-related. Anyhow, by yesterday (Monday) she was pretty much back to feeding as normal although now unsettled with a v bad cold and cough (wheezy chest) and v. v. hot yesterday as it was the hottest day since July 2006.

We went out en famille with Elizabeth's friends that Saturday evening (after Peter Kay) and they all managed pretty well with that. Went to an Indian restaurant, and Elizabeth and Edward had treats (a bin lorry and a white car) the next day for 'good behaviour in the restaurant. Saw Dave and Claire on the Sunday and were pretty exhausted so it all felt a bit 'flat'.

Week passed by in a whirlwind, and by the weekend we were even more on our knees than usual, then had to go off to Sedgley to 'the house' for husband's executors duties. All a bit of a nightmare, don't have the energy to go into it all, but have been dealing with the aftermath ever since.

Will be so glad to get away. Am now at a stage of ongoing washing, ironing pile nearly on the ceiling, bags everywhere, done Sainsbury's shop #1 last night, got to plan for shop #2 in Dartmouth on Friday and shop #3 the Friday we arrive back and that has got to be booked. Got birthday cards to write and send, and numerous other 'tasks' to complete... will I ever find the time? Got Elizabeth's school induction on departure day in the morning... Need a rest. Need a rest. Need a rest....

chicken pox II and III

I've done this before - posted pleading for life to get back to normal, and it only goes and gets worse!! Husband had a nightmare trying to finish the video, which meant the computer was on constantly over the weekend - finally took it into work yesterday. Edward had a nightmare couple of days mood-wise, with freakish tantrums taken to another level, then on Friday he came out in spots and I realised he had, in fact, got chicken pox. Sarah started with spots on the same day but hers were faint to begin with. She's about a day behind. So, she started well, but then rapidly declined, and we've had two nights with no sleep. Edward is on the mend, I think it will be day 5 for him tomorrow, but Sarah's face and head look terrible and she is so unsettled at night-time. I've tried her in a disposable nappy, and just a sleepsuit tonight in case the heat was making the irritation worse. Buying Calpol and Calprofen constantly. Been in the house for nigh on 3 weeks now!!!

chicken pox!

Well, I spoke too soon. After a nice Sunday lunch out with my family at the Black Swan on Sunday, we had a few drinks with my sister and her fiance on the Sunday evening and then on Monday, bam!! We were hit for six with the discovery that Elizabeth had chicken pox! She had bright red angry looking spots on her tummy and face, and these just grew in numbers for the rest of the day. I dashed out to get supplies of Calpol and a chicken pox relief gel from the retail park on the rainy Bank Holiday afternoon, and then battened down the hatches for a week in seclusion. Thankfully Elizabeth coped quite well. The second night she was very uncomfortable and woke up several times, but I kept up regular doses of Calpol, and the gel seemed to do the trick although she didn't like the smell of it. After several days the spots calmed down and seemed to dry out and turn into scabs (definitely by Friday) and I switched to slathering Dermol all over her. Again this seemed to help. We're now in no-man's land, wondering whether the other two are in the incubation period, so as such we've cancelled our weekend away.

Husband's Aunt's funeral is this Thursday, and aside from that our life has been somewhat turned upside down by him creating a video for a presentation at work, so lots of late nights, and lots of stress. Please can life get back to normal!!!