Normal service is resumed

Today I had to turn the burglar alarm on, for the first time in AGES! Stuart is now back at work, children are back at school (after already picking up those bugs that abound at this time of year) and it was just Sophie and me.

My Parents-in-law are doing very well at home, taking things steady, and helping each other out. So, fingers crossed, things are looking up.

Sophie is now so confident on her feet. Any opportunity and she is walking somewhere! After those first few steps she took, she didn't really go on from that for quite a while. It was last Wednesday when she suddenly decided to walk about 13 steps across the kitchen, and now she's off. Even trying to run! I love this age where you can see so many thought processes slotting things in place. She knows that when Daddy gets up early in the morning she has to wave bye to him (sometimes before he has even gone!), she knows keys go in the door, shoes go on feet, socks go on heads (well when you are playing they do!)

I look at her now, and all signs of my baby are gone, she is a wonderful, inquisitive toddler. It is an end of an era, one which I feel so priveleged to have witnessed through the development of all four of the children. But it is time to move on. I am getting rid of the baby clothes (apart from all plain things that have tie-dye potential), the car seat is going, as is the cot (she never sleeps in it anyway!), and various baby toys too. We are going to decorate a room for her, so she has her own play space, and you never know, one day she might even sleep in there!

A mish mash of things

Apart from the ongoing saga of my parents-in-law (MIL back in hospital with a racing heart), what else has been happening this week?

We had the boys returning to school. They have all settled in ok, although Luke had some teething problems with his rather strict form teacher. When will they learn that to gain a child's respect you have to respect them, not dominate them or strike the fear of god into them?

Mum, bless her, has been down the allotment regularly harvesting what is ready. We have maincrop potatoes coming in now, along with more runner beans, cooking apples, plums, a bit of purple sprouting, we had to pull all the carrots and they were riddled with carrot root fly, but we were able to salvage some. And we should have had some lovely sweetcorn, we'd just been waiting for it to plump up, and when Mum went to harvest it at the weekend she found some vandals had beaten her to it, and have destroyed some plants, strewn the ripe cobs around which have subsequently been eaten by local wildlife, and we are left with a few cobs which are not ripe, but, fingers crossed, will come to something later. It has been a regular occurrence on the site, but the first time we have been hit. Hopefully the instilation of high, locked gates will help deter the trouble makers. Only time will tell.

I have managed to add to my jam store with damson jam and plum and apple jam, which will hopefully help to make up some jam hampers for Christmas, hopefully I'll be adding quince and blackberry to this. As far as Christmas goes I've also made a start on some longies for Sophie, it will take me til Christmas to get them done, as she seems attracted to the needles!

Stuart is planning to go back to work this next week, his recouperation has not been as restful as we would have hoped, but he has put a very brave face on it all.

The Mother

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And the rollercoaster carries on!

A week after Stuart's operation, his Mum had to go in for a routine op. No problems there, it went as planned. However, Stuart phoned his Dad to see how he was, as he gets nervous when in the house by himself. Stuart felt his Dad was not sounding right, so made his way over to see him. On spending a couple of hours with him he felt he needed to see a doctor, so the GP came to the house, who then called the paramedics to admit him to hospital with suspected pneumonia.

Well, the week has had its lows, with concerns over Stuart's Dad, trying not to let Stuart overdo things, and exhaustion creeping in with trying to hold everything together. There have been highs too, this time Luke's birthday (although quieter than he would have liked, and marred by the return to school on the same day), joy that Stuart's Dad has responded well to antibiotics, and a chance to see family as Stuart's sister and family arrived with Jessie to visit and see the poorly crowd!

Stuart's Dad has now been discharged, a little too soon I feel as they do not see to have recognised the needs of Stuart's Mum who is recovering from her op, and whilst she is very stoic, she too is elderly and treading a fine line between health and illness. Therefore it has fallen to Stuart to try and ease the situation. Family is everything to him, which is one of his wonderful qualities, but I do worry that he will hamper his own recovery. I am hoping things will calm down soon, although I said that last week, and look what happened!