Thursday 26 September 2013

The new boy, and the new born


I treated myself to some cream roses
So, behind again with blogging. The heatwave didn't last, I get annoyed every year when the media talk about Indian summers in September, when in fact the expression refers to hot weather in November, however as usual I digress. The weather has changed, cold and wet; the rain rarely came exactly when forecast, we took the cotton sheets off the bed and replaced them with sheet and duvet, to be kicked off when overheating.
I may have forgotten to mention the incident when daughter caught Nat sucking away at an orchid drip feeder, and the subsequent panic, and calls to NHS direct, and the nighttime tummy ache which necessitated a trip to A&E, 10 miles away in the middle of the night, an ECG, and blood tests. He was pronounced fit to go home, and comments from my family included, 'Was he trying to make himself grow?' and 'He's fine, he has a lovely bloom'.
Looking smart in his uniform

Nathaniel started at Nursery, with just an hour the first day. If we ask him what he did, he always says he played with Annie and Clarabelle, as Thomas afficianados will know are the carriages. Who can forget Ringo Starr proclaiming 'We feel so full, we feel so full' on the Christmas special tape? It was an oft repeated phrase chez nous after eating too much! Nat does seem to be settling well, and has also been enrolled in a gym club to hopefully work off some spare energy. What a pity we can't bottle it! Our week didn't start off too well, I had a bad night on the Sunday, it rained and rained on the Monday, we both felt tired and unmotivated. Our Son in Law was unwell, so we stayed away, not wishing to catch anything. It was also discovered that a child who attended the same Birthday party as our two, came out in Chickenpox spots, so more watching and waiting for the parents.
 I was up late on the Tuesday, having had a better night. I went into town and bought a small gift for the new baby. Actually, I've just remembered, after Nat's first full day, that day, he was asked if he had had fun, and replied, 'No I was too busy'.
For a few years we have had some metal shelving in the bathroom, but no matter what we did it kept going rusty, I had tried kurust, and spraying it with silver paint, but to no avail, and I'd got silver paint on the painted pine clad wall, so recently we had bought glass shelves to replace the metal ones, and hope that the metals supports won't rust.
I had bought the wrong brand of satinwood which was too shiny, so had a trip to B&Q to find the Crown, low odour one I had previously used. It needed two or 3 coats to cover the silver. I also made it to Weightwatchers I had stayed the same. I am pleased to report that my back is a lot better, and that I can walk ever so slightly faster.
On Thursday, we drove up to meet our new Grandson. The other Grandparents had visited, so to make sure that they were not overwhelmed with washing and changing bed linen, we had booked into a hotel a few miles away. Our poor son had caught a cold, not from work,as he was on paternity leave, but they were both so tired their resistance must have been low. The baby had started with the cold the previous day, so was snuffly, unable to feed properly, and giving them bad nights. We missed meeting the other Grandparents as they had gone off early to visit other family members.
The baby is lovely, very fair, more like the in laws than our family. We went off to book into the hotel, and found that we were booked into an old converted stable block.
baby Ethan

The receptionist was not very forthcoming, and told us very little about the hotel. There was only one hand towel, so I had to go and ask for a second, I also managed to find out where breakfast would be served. The en suite had a bit of a musty damp smell to it, the heating was on, but this made the room over hot.
We went back to Son's home, and he made us dinner, they also went out to buy some saline nasal spray to try and clear baby's nose. We didn't stay too late hoping that they might get a better night. Tom, the dog, doesn't seem too fazed by the appearance of a baby in the house, in fact when they had skyped us he was determined to get in the picture!
Back at the hotel, the heating had gone off, I had borrowed indigestion tablets from daughter in law, but the bed was too hard, and despite herbal tablets sleep did not come till 4 am. The next day we were late getting up, but breakfast was good. We set off for Son's home, had more cuddle time with Ethan. We were going to walk into town, and they said they would come with us as they had an appointment to register the birth. However, by the time they were ready baby needed feeding again, (I remember those days quite well) So we set off without them, saying they could meet us for lunch somewhere. We had a pleasant walk in, browsed a few shops and were in the antiques emporium when they phoned, I think. The place we wanted to go for lunch had trouble accommodating the buggy, so it was back to our standby Costa. The young people just about had time to finish lunch before it was time for their appointment. We went back to the antiques place, but upstairs was so dusty I had to come out and take my inhaler. I browsed the deli, and bought a couple of items, then told husband I'd had enough. My back is so much better, but I didn't want to risk overdoing it.
We waited for a bus, but our Son kindly came back into town to collect us, it had just started to rain. We stayed with them till almost 7 pm, then went back to the hotel, where they were meeting us for dinner. They were both so tired we didn't want them to have to cook for us. The meal was in the bar as the restaurant was being laid out for a wedding the next day. We had said we were bringing a small baby, but the waitress had put out a high chair; she was somewhat startled to see one so small, but in no time was cooing over him. The food was good and plenty of it. Son and his wife left fairly quickly, both in need of some sleep. I slept better the second night, but it was husband who woke me at around 4 am, padding around looking for indigestion tablets.
Saturday, we were up earlier, enjoyed a good breakfast, and went for more cuddles with Ethan. They had had a bad night. We left at around lunchtime, shopped in the local Waitrose, had a reasonable journey back, stopping at Watford gap, where, still too full of breakfast, we had crisps and a coffee.
Then after unpacking the car, had a fish pie from Waitrose. It was good to be back in our own bed that night.



Sunday 8 September 2013

A Birthday, a back problem and a baby.

I'm really quite cross with blogger, the other day I typed a lot on here, but blogger would not save it, giving me a daft message every time. In the end I lost all that I had written.
On Monday 19th August Daughter and I went over to Watford, as I couldn't find a nice Birthday card for Nat. Unfortunately, I had my legs twisted to one side a the nappy bag was in the footwell. I was a bit stiff on arrival in Watford, and was disappointed to find only one card shop in the shopping centre. There was a beautiful card which opened into a 3D pirate ship, but it was £5. There is also lack of big cards since the  postal rates were altered, as they cost more to post. I soon realised I was having difficulty walking, the disc problem had worsened, and I now seemed to have a pain in the right hip too. I tried pushing the buggy for support, but it was too heavy for me.
Daughter wanted to look in shoe shops, but I thought I had better keep moving. The reason for the lack of card shops seems to be that so many went down in the recession, so I set off in the direction of Smith's. On the way I took 2 paracetamol, as I had some in my bag, I found a reasonable card in Smith's with a digger and 3 on the front, and decided to add the word Grandson from my stock of letters in my card making stuff.
I decided to go into Boots to buy some heat pads, these are placed over the painful area, and bring comfort, except that in hot weather they can make one perspire rather, and they have a tendency to drop out. This happened to me once on Scarborough sea front, much to the bemusement of several people sitting nearby. Goodness what they thought, as I struggled to maintain my dignity, bent to pick it up and as nonchalantly as possible tossed it in the nearest bin.
So far so good, but I couldn't just hoick up my skirt or go down the elasticated waistband in the middle of the Harlequin centre, I might have been arrested, so I struggled up the escalator in J L to the ladies' room, where I managed to instal a heat pad over the r4/5 vertebral joint, and gained alittle comfort from the heat. I then nipped (well hobbled) into the mini Waitrose on the top floor to buy some potatoes,and ice cream. Then daughter, whom I had promised to meet me at Boots rang, I had to tell her that I'd had a slight change of plan. She said she would be waiting by the stop for the little land train, on which she had promised Nat a ride. However when she saw me hobbling over the little bridge, full of fear that my right leg would give way completely, she had to tell poor Nat that his train ride would have to happen another day.
This time, as we left, the nappy bag was stowed in the boot, and I managed to struggle into the passenger seat which is quite low, biting my lip all the way back, I couldn't help with the children much, and I don't know how I managed to drive down the hill home. I left my car out.
The difficulty with prolapsed discs is getting the balance right between rest and exercise, so the next day husband accompanied me on my trip to the local paper shop. I had my adjustable walking stick for reassurance. The trouble is husband cannot walk slowly, oh well at least he didn't tell me I sounded like Long John Silver this time.
The next day I made it to WW, where I had gained half a pound, but folk were sympathetic, then I managed to go round Sainsbury's, the trolley helped enormously, and husband helped unload the car and put stuff away. Late I went to Homebase for some plants to fill in the gaps in my pots where I had removed a few dying stragglers. I called in to see daughter who confessed she was right behind with Nathaniel's cake, hadn't even got the eggs, so I looked after the pair of them whilst she went off to buy eggs and a few other things.

They both climbed on the garden table, Lydia from my lap


there was a good moon that week too

I think she was glad of the break from them,and brought home 2 bags full of shopping. We had a further short visit to one of the local garden centres that week too,but didn't buy a lot. The Saturday of Nat's birthday dawned very wet, but they had made contingency plans. We called in with his card and gift, and didn't stay too long. Daddy took him to see a Thomas film, then they had lunch, and then on to a soft play area. We went up at about 5 pm for a Birthday tea, Nat had worn himself out again and was having a nap. The Thomas cake looked pretty good, I can't find the picture of the one I made for our son, but I think that the blue colourant I used may have been far more intense.

Nathaniel and his playdough set

Fun with balloons



Lydia  likes them too

The cake





Blowing the candle out

mmm, cake

Ooh, cake
The cake tasted pretty good too. It's nice to know that my Daughter has inherited some of my skills.
Last week was pretty routine, some good days some bad. I went to repot one of my orchids only to find that the roots had rotted, so we decided to go to a garden centre, further away. We had a good look around, had a cuppa in their cafe, then an ice cream. Their orchid choice wasn't huge, so I didn't buy. They have an EMW outlet there. Their check shirts were on offer, so husband bought 2. We also bought a hanging basket for the shepherd's crook hanger.
On the Thursday of that week one of our ladies invited some of us round, so I collected our German friend, and we had a very pleasant afternoon chatting, drinking tea, and eating cake. I only had a very small square of lemon cake, but the German lady had a large slice of Victoria sponge, lemon cake, flapjack, and shortbread. As I took her home, she asked if I could take her to the local shops. I did so, and as she came back to the car,she said 'Ooh, smell those fish and chips, I'm really hungry, aren't you?' I managed to splutter, 'No', and she insisted on me asking the price, when she found out the price she decided to have something at home, and mentioned salad and chops. I really think she must have something wrong with her appetite controller, unless she comfort eats.
I finished the baby second baby jacket, and decided to do a hat to match. I had contacted Daughter in Law on Friday, but she said that nothing was happening, but then she wasn't due till Sunday.
Sunday evening I was talking to Son by text, and I did have this feeling that there was something he wasn't telling me.
The next day we walked into town, as I had bought a dress online from M&S, but it wasn't really me. Well I say we walked into town, what actually happened was that I walked into town with a small shopping list, then realised I had forgotten the dress, so had to ring husband. I went into Dyas for something to clean out my iron,and something to make the sink empty quicker, then I called husband who had walked down with the dress.
I'd only had fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, the pasty shop which has reopened under new management wafted out smells, so did the M&S cafe, I went into the food department, and the bakery wafted out smells. I began to get a sick feeling in my stomach, which indicates that my blood sugar has dropped, and I need to do something about it. I phoned husband and he agreed to met me at the M&S cafe. As I waited for him, my phone got a message. It read 'Ethan Gabriel, born 12.26 pm', from our son. Praise the Lord, I have another grandchild. I couldn't wait to tell husband and decided to have an iced bun after my snack meal to celebrate.
Then it was off to the card shop, and when I got home, wrapped the baby clothes, and off to the post office to send them.
Mum and baby seem to be doing well apart from lack of sleep, neither Mum nor Dad got any Sunday night. Son eventually posted a picture on Facebook, and we have seen the baby on skype. He was 7lb 8oz. I have been to Daughter's, she is still struggling a bit, but the nursery teacher came round to meet Nathaniel one day, he starts next week. He spent most of her visit hiding in the hall! She did however coax him into having a picture taken. I recognised her as being in the same year as my son at the same school where she now teaches. I first knew her when she was 3, so it's amazing to see how she had grown into a confident young woman. Lydia also took her first steps this week, only 2, but we all have to start somewhere, and at ten and a half months it's not bad going. I feel truly blessed. Husband came with me one day, and gave Nat some 'one to one', from which he reallyseemed to benefit.
We have had a mini heatwave this week, thankfully we still haven't got round to putting the duvet back on. Today, as I walked to post my Cousin's birthday card there was definite Autumn feel, and just for good measure, it rained before lunch. Oh well mustn't grumble, we've had a lovely summer for a change.
Lydia raids the toy box, standing alone