The C word

Cancer
I've seen friends lose husbands, wives, parents and children.  I've seen friends watch their loved ones suffer the grueling regime of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, IV and endless pills.  I've seen so much strength in people that I cannot imagine where they draw it from.  What I do hope to see is a cure, an end to cancer, an end to the pain. 

Stand up to cancer

Good News

We saw Hollies consultant this week and the good news is that her hip joints are looking better and no need to "double nappy" her.  Now this was great news, so when we got home we removed the second nappy and let her roll around on the floor for the rest of the afternoon. I picked her up later on to sit on my knee and she wee'd on my leg - doh!

Nice one kiddo :)

6

6 years ago today a little girl was born - look at her now!

Not so little now eh! Happy Birthday Emily XXX

Happy Birthday to my Sister!

Who turned (mumbles) years old!  I'm sure she will thank me for that, well maybe one day. Flowers are on their way and I apologise for them being sent late - once again a hectic week has ensured I've not completed many of the duties and tasks you are supposed to have performed as a mum.

This is a very busy month for Birthdays - the Dude has his birthday this month, along with my middle daughter Emily who turns a very mature 6 years old this year.  She also shares her birthday with my friends husband - did I also mention my youngest shares the same birthday as my friend?!  Very spooky but also very lovely - not sure how I managed that one.  I was trying for a world record to match my sisters brilliant timing with births - all her kids are born on the 22nd day (various months of the year).   But I did manage to get my eldest daughter born on a 22nd day.  I was 3 days early with Emily and 9 days late with Hollie.

Well a Happy Birthday to anyone else celebrating a birthday this month  - just don't expect a card to arrive on time though
xxx

5 Months Old

And she can fit her foot in her mouth

It's amazing what you can do with some

Courgettes!

Wow this cake came out not too bad - despite cooking it longer then indicated in the recipe - in fact instead of the 45-50 mins recommended I cooked it for another 20 minutes at a slightly lower temperature in order not to burn the top of it.  After tasting the cake I think I could have just got away with another 10-15 of cooking it as this cake is just a tad on the dry side.  I was expecting it to have the same consistency as a carrot cake.

With the spare time I have...

I like to cook,

Courgette, Potato and Cheddar Soup

 

Toady I made some lovely soup - and strangely enough it tasted great despite it containing a huge amount of courgettes.  Very simple recipe, and quick to make too.

Monday Morning Chaos

Morning times around here have become chaotic.  Here's a brief time log of what a typical morning in this house is like

7 am   - wake up and listen to silence for 5 minutes
7.05 - silence broken by one of the kids getting up or gurgling
7.06 - woken child enters bedroom and proceeds to demand ipad
7.07 - child evicted from bedroom
7.08 - I consider getting up anyway as there is no chance of any extra sleep
7.09 - attach baby to body either for cuddles or feeds
7.10 - walk around house with baby attached, whilst kid demands breakfast or ipad
7.11 - release the animals (this involves opening front door for cat exchange - 1 comes in and 1 goes out, kitten let out of living room and dog out of his crate)
7.11.10 ( note that 10 seconds later mayhem commences) - try to separate dog from cats, cats from cats, cats from dining table, kittens from the baby bouncer, whilst trying to replace water in water bowls, feed cats, and having baby still attached to me
7.13 - sit baby in bouncer and commence making breakfast for kids and a LARGE coffee for myself
7.14 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.15 - fetch the washing from the basket, whilst remove cats from dining table again
7.16 - actually load the washing machine, yell at dog to stop chasing cats
7.17 - finish loading washing machine, throw powder and conditioner into machine and turn it on
7.18 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.19 - return to making breakfast, remove cat from kitchen worktop
7.20 - give breakfast to kid
7.21 - try to get dressed
7.22 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.23 - remove cats from dining table
7.24 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.25 - tell kid to eat their breakfast
7.26 - try to get dressed again
7.27 - still trying to find clothes
7.28 - find something that resembles clothing - though the knickers that now have large holes in them vaguely resemble clothing!
7.29 - finish dressing
7.30 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.31 - slap on some moisturiser
7.32 - make it downstairs fully dressed
7.33 - feed baby again
7.34 - try to drink coffee
7.35 - remove cats from dining table
7.36 - laugh at kitten trying to play with baby-bouncer seat toys
7.37 - remove kitten from babybouncer seat
7.38 - tell dog off for trying to scrounge food at dining table
7.39 - tell kid to sit down eat breakfast
7.40 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.41 - remove kitten from bouncy chair and replace with baby
7.42 - drink coffee
7.43 - rock baby to sleep
7.47 - spend some time training the dog
7.48 - dog training
7.49 - trying to persist with dog training
7.50 - pick up dog poo
7.51 - instruct kid to finish breakfast
7.52 - ask kid to get dressed
7.53 - kids loses battle and stomps upstairs
7.54 - rock baby to sleep
7.55  - remove kitten from table
7.56 - tell dog to get downstairs
7.57 - finish cold coffee
7.58 - yell at dog for sneaking upstairs and eating the cat food
7.59 - kid arrives downstairs dressed and is sent upstairs again to brush teeth and hair
8.00 - rock baby to sleep
8.01 - washing machine finished  so I load the basket and go and hang it up
8.02 - try to hang washing up whilst dog tries to steal the pegs
8.03 - chases dog around garden to retrieve now half eaten peg
8.04 - tries to continue hanging up washing
8.05 - with one foot on the peg bag I try to hang  out washing
8.06 - throws balls around garden to distract dog from stealing the pegs
8.07 - finish hanging washing out

No more meds!

Woohoo my little girl no longer needs to take trimethoprim - we still have to go for scans on her kidneys to see if there is any reflux but they are once a year now.

 Next hurdle to get over is her hip dysplasia - next doctors date is October.

Kitty Catherine!

Bit late on posting this and in fact anything else for a while!  I'll just leave you with this photo of our new kitten Catherine Meow - she is Emily's cat now.  So that makes us a 2 parent household with 3 daughters, 3 cats and a dog!  Oh and a 2nd car - thanks to Granny Do and Grumpy John for that  -it's much needed I can tell you.

I will update this blog again but for now we are off to the hospital for another visit regarding Hollies kidneys.
xxx

Cute - even if  I do say so myself

 Aunty Lolo and Drew dominating the dog!

Long Pause

so...well...yep, haven't blogged for a while
just the usual excuse - been busy
with uni
preparing for baby
having a baby
and the usual stuff (eg trying to get Norton to stop chewing EVERYTHING)

sun lounging, toy destroying, poop machine - in action!

Could we get any pinker than this?

Norton arrives

Meet Norton  - our latest arrival to the family!

We've been discussing this for a couple of  years whether to get a puppy or not -and now that my maternity leave is not too far off we decided that this would be the best time to get one if we were going to do it.   The Dude did some research and we found that the Whippet was probably the best breed for us - being a quiet, loving dog that has been breed for health more than "fashionable" looks.  They sounded like an ideal family pet for us.  We found a few local breeders and visited two sets of puppies before picking Norton.  And he is very sweet.   Now I'd like to point out that yes a puppy may be hard work and before people launch into telling us how mad we are for doing this - just keep your trap shut for a second.  Not all dogs are the same.  They have very different natures and purposes depedning on what breed they are.  We have chosen this type of breed because of their nature and intelligence.  And the fact that they will suit our lifestyle.  OK?  I'm a bit fed up of people telling us how "mad" we are in doing this so I had to have a little rant about that.  We're a middle aged couple with two kids (third on the way), and luckily the Dude is at home during the day most of the week, I'm also on maternity leave for 9 months (budget willing) and hence there will always be people at home.  And when I return to work Norton will only be left alone for a couple of hours for a max of 2 days per week and even then that will be infrequent due to the Dudes shift patterns.  Oh and I only work 9miles away so popping home at lunch time is not a problem either. 

Can you tell pregnancy hormones are getting on my nerves?

Oh and as for B-Baby - well nothing new to report on that front except that the consultants we saw at Addenbrooks don't seem to be too concerneced over the kidney situation.  And anyway they tell us that maybe at the next scan (due 14th Feb - how romantic) may tell them a bit more but from what they see its not that too abnormal.  Though they did play down the DS markers and still say the "golf-ball" they said it was less likely connected with Downs Syndrome. Does that make me feel any better - no not really.  I guess after loosing a previous baby at 20 weeks  into the pregnancy that I will never get over that fear, I will always have trust issues with hospitals.