ALL WENT WELL!!!

Thanks everyone for your good wishes for Jack, they mean an awful lot, especially from Kell for managing to get on the PC at all with 4 kids including a 2 week old!

Well the day started badly, Stephen hadn't set the alarm properly so we both woke up with a start at 7 am. Due in the hospital at 7.45 and we live a 20 minute drive away and would get caught in rush hour so I immediately got into a bad mood about all that.

We literally just lifted Jack out of bed just after 7.30 and put him straight in the car, he was such an angel, no whingeing, no whining for a drink (which he couldnt' have anyway) and we got to the hospital at around 7.50, despite there being roadworks and a lot of traffic, so the gods were already smiling on us.

We were booked in very quickly, we were first on the list and Jack was given some magic cream to put on his hands to numb them and then he just toodled of to the games room while I signed all the forms etc. There were 5 children in total today for grommets, two girls and 3 boys, Jack was the youngest then there were 2 4 year olds, a 5 year old and then an 11 year old whose mother was one of the worst clingy and obsessive mothers I have ever come across. Asked if her son's asthma made him wheezy all the time she replied "oh yes and he gets tight chested" but her son was adamant he didn't have such problems. She asked too many questions, mainly questioning the doctor's ability to do the procedure in the first place (he was having his adenoids out at the same time) and this held everything up for us. She insisted he have his inhaler before he went down, was not happy about her son having nurofen before the op because of his asthma despite assurances that it's only severe asthmatics who react to ibuprofen and her son was very mildy asthmatic, which started her of on one again, asking the doctor if he was just the registrar or a proper surgeon!! At last she shut up and we were ready to take Jack down. I took him down to theatre, carried him whilst Alfie his bear rode on the bed and I had to sit and hold him whilst they administered the anaesthetic. I tell you that boy didn't flinch once when they put the needle into the vein on his hand, he just asked them what it was and had a good look. Then the consultant anaethetist came in and told me to hold him tight whilst the anaesthetic was being administered because he would jerk then go all floppy. Well he jerked all right! So badly did his body try to fight being sent to sleep that the syringe came out and sent chalky white smelly anaesthetic all over everyone, all over my glasses (good job I was wearing them because otherwise I would have had trouble seeing for a while) and on my lips, good job my gob was shut for once!! Then he went very floppy, we put him on the bed and I kissed him goodbye.

I wandered back to the ward and waited with Stephen and was told he would be about half an hour but he was about 50 minutes in total, two other kids had gone down by the time he came back from recovery. He was just having a long snooze! Everything was fine, they had drained all the glue of from his ear and put the grommets in so he should hopefully already be hearing a bit better. The doctor came round and commented on Jack's snoring and slightly laboured breathing in his sleep and suggested that he have his adenoids and tonsils out sooner rather than later but there certainly wasn't any urgency. Jack literally was up on his feet as soon as the nurse who had carried him back from theatre handed him to me, he was very wobbly, and put a weeble to shame but he wasn't sitting down and resting for anyone. He was straight into the games room and switched the nintendo machine on. He had a drink of water and biscuits. The nurse brought him squash but I don't allow Jack to drink it so he had to drink plain old water whilst all the other kids were being brought in lucozade and sprite by their mums and dads and Jack just looked at them and then at us as if to say "why are you so bloody mean, I've just had an operation for heaven's sake?"" Jack ran us ragged for two hours and the nurses were absolutely bowled over by his good nature and powers of recovery. I explained that Jack could get run over by a bulldozer and would probably get back up and carry on with what he was doing. One of the nurses suggested that kids of parents who aren't well do grow up very independent (Jack!!) very even tempered (Jack 80% of the time) and very easy going (Jack to a tee!!) as if they know they have to give their parents an easy ride. I have heard that before but I wasn't aware that my health has had any impact on my ability to bring Jack up just yet, certainly I get tired easily but not much more than anyone else with a small child and two pre- pubescent boys!! But apparantly Jack just "knows".

When it was time to go we were gone in a flash, i don't like hospitals and don't hang around in them unless I have to. We treated Jack to a Macdonalds which we fetched on the way home. He hadn't eaten anything since last night except two rich tea bickies and he'd been such a good boy. Also broke my number one rule and let him have a diet coke!! He's now bouncing of the walls, whilst Stephen and I are exhausted and trying to keep up with him.

Got home, we had bought him a couple of new dvds beforehand for him to have when he got home and he's been happy as larry since.

No swimming for the next 12 weeks, have to put vaseline and cotton wool in his ears when he has a bath. He has a post op appointment in 12 weeks, however, he has an appointment at ENT anyway in 3 weeks about his tonsils so he'll get checked then to see if the grommets have settled. All being well they should stay in for at least 9 months. Daniel's stayed in for 3 years!

There is nothing worse than taking a small child into hospital for a procedure, now matter how small and whether it's under a local or general anaesthetic. But, despite my fears (you know will he be allergic to the anaesthetic etc) I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would and the nurses there, both called Karen, were absolutely fantastic. The two girls there both came back and screamed for at least an hour and they had the patience of saints with them. Apparantly boys tend to bounce back quicker anyway, but then all three boys who went down today had a longer time in recovery than the girls, so maybe a bit of extra sleep goes a long way!!

I'm wrung out, I'm dying to have a bath and go to bed but Jack looks like he's in for the long haul. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawnn

Thank you once again for all the messages and emails. Really means a lot to think there were people thinking of him. Sorry for the rambling post but I didn't sleep last night through worrying and I'm just letting my fingers do their own thing!

The Boys Done Good

Daniel and Phil took their SATs in May and received the results this week and thankfully both achieved the same results - a 5 in all 3 subjects, Maths, Science and English!! The aim is to acheive a 4 and the tests are geared for them to hopefully achieve a 4 so to get a 5 means they far exceed what is expected of a typical 11 year old. I'm more relieved they got the same results than the fact they did so well, otherwise life in this house would have been unbearable!! Nobody is all that surprised, they were predicted 5s but they found those tests tough and it's testimony to their hard work that they have done so well. 11 years ago they were just my babies, hard work maybe, but my babies and I can't believe how the time has flown

Age 7 weeks with Phil on the left, Daniel on the right (no your eyes are not deceiving you Daniel REALLY is that much longer than his brother he was already in age 3-6 months!)

Age 3 months (Daniel getting longer still and with size 3 feet already!!)

It's quite gut wrenching to think that they have already been exposed to national tests twice and are in their last 3 days of junior school. Well done guys, your mum is extremely proud of you

I leave you with the photo that was taken yesterday at the start of their leavers party (they have a disco on Monday as well). It's a scan of a copy so the quality isn't all that great unfortunately. Daniel is standing on the far right of the second row and Phil is almost directly below him sat on the ground in the front row the second person in from the right. Daniel's class have won the honour of doing the last assembly on the last day of term on Tuesday morning and having read the script and seen that all old photos are going to be used, it promises to be a tearful event!

Little Toto R.I.P

I don't know if any of you watched Big Cat Week on BBC1 last week but it was absolutely captivating, not least because of the plight of baby cheetah Toto and his mum. I was absolutely devastated when in the last episode it transpired that the tiny little guy hadn't survived and this may make me sound a little bit sad but it prayed on my mind for a little while, wondering what had happpened to him, did the baboons get him, did he drown in the river his mother may have tried to cross, or did he simply get lost from his mum and couldn't survive on his own. But bless you little Toto, you were a wonder to watch and were the highlight of my week!

Other news. Some arsewipe thought it would be a great idea to vandalise our car. Something was scratched into the side of it with a key and it covers the entire back panel and passenger door (excuse the state of our car it's been sat unused under a tree for a while as Stephen uses the Ibiza for work!)

Obviously spelling isn't the culprit's strongest point! But it was done on Thursday night, reported on the Friday and the police came round this afternoon (Tuesday). It's not the work of kids i.e. vandalism, as they tend to have signatures and avoid causing criminal damage that can't be easily cleaned of i.e. grafitti with spray paints. The police reckon this is personal as no other car was touched, and after a bit of asking about it looks like the man responsible is none other than the brother in law, who, we have a 7 month long standing feud with. Nothing we can do, unless we have a video of him doing it. Because the car is a beamer it's gonna cost a fortune to put right, and we don't think insurance will cover it, but we're going to try. But basically, if we don't pay for it to be done, the car is unsellable and with us moving we hadn't planned on taking two cars with us (not practical, two cars and only one person who drives, and the other car being brand new!). The brother in law has his car for sale up on Ebay at the moment and for a fleeting moment I was tempted to go round and key his car, but I think a revenge that is slightly more subtle and causes no financial damage is what is best. Utter idiot, I seem to come across more and more idiots the older I get. I appear to be married to one too!!! ;)

Jack had his pre-op yesterday afternoon. Had a mad dash picking up the Brothers Grimm then getting to the hospital for 4.30. Because I have been through all of this before with Daniel, the hour long appointment was actually only 10 minutes as I didn't need all the spiel about what grommets are etc explaining to me. I've had them myself twice so I could probably give the lecture myself! He will go under general anaesthesia. He needs to be in there for 8am on the Monday 31 July, because he is the youngest listed he will go in first at 8.30, be away for half an hour, 10 minutes op, 20 minutes recovery room. And then depending on how quickly he recovers he will be home by lunchtime. There is the slight concern over Jack's sleep apnoea. When Daniel had his operation he had an episode on the operating table and had to be brought back round, and then re anaethetised and the whole procedure took 2 hours instead of 40 minutes! If Jack has an episode on the operating table then he may get kept in overnight, but his apnoea is not too serious at the moment and he's only under for 10 minutes it's highly unlikely there will be any complications. He's to stay at home for 24 hours, and then avoid mixing with too many children for a few days just whilst the grommets are settling in and the risk of infection, but by Friday/Saturday he should be up and running as usual!! Get this out of the way and then sort out his adenoids and tonsils, he's still only 23 1/2 pounds, too light to undergo the procedure, however, I was told yesterday that if the weight is not going on it's an indicator that it's a serious tonsil problem and they get done anyway and his height is growing nicely so obviously it's both his tonsils and genetic makeup that make him so skinny. Ironic isn' t it that us women who spend 90% of our lives battling our weight, have skinny children!!

Decided to go back on WW this week, but I'm really struggling with it now, I think when you are heavier and you can eat more points it's not so bad and when it's cold too and you can live on soup, casseroles etc which are low in points, but in this weather I just seem to live on barbeques, french bread etc. I need a diet which fits into the summer months before I end up not being abl to fit into my summer clothes!! I haven't put any weight on yet, but it's only a matter of time if I stick a large galaxy bar in the fridge and polish it of in two days!!!!!!!

We've seen this house on the internet for sale in Manchester that we really really like, it doesn't appear to be shifting, probably because it's slightly overpriced, but with us having a house for sale in london suburbia it's within our price range up there (but only just - Manchester is fast becoming the new London!!). So we're tempted to go up there sooner if we can if the house is still on the market in a couple of months. Going up in August for a vist to my sister and for a lookaround at where we SHOULDN'T be looking. But I still think the best thing for us is for me to get a job in Manchester and move up there and rent, whilst my sister childminds the Bee Gees, Stephen sees to the selling up down here and then buy later in the year, much less stress and hassle.

Enough rambling, it must be the heat causing such verbal diarrhoea!!

Bye for now

We have a date!!

Jack will be having his grommets in on Monday 31 July. Had I been able to book it on Monday when I tried, it would have been the 24th, no earlier because he needs his pre-op appointment no shorter than 2 weeks beforehand.

So 3 weeks Monday coming. EEEEEK!

First Day At School

Today Jack started Pre School. He goes to Plumtrees which is at the catholic church in Biggin Hill. They start them at 2 and whilst they don't have to be dry you do have to be on hand to do their nappies if they have an "accident"! He will do two days a week, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Here is the big boy himself waiting outside for school to start.

He's got his little school shirt on which is age 3-4 so a tad on the big side, but it was the smallest size they did. He was very eager to go in, he kept dragging my hand not realising that it wasn't open just yet. I was chatting to another mum and all of a sudden he was gone, the door had opened and he'd been the first one in. Went inside to say goodbye but he was too busy drawing already, so just left him to it. I got home and literally as soon as I got through the door I had a phonecall to say he'd had a poo!!. I was having a candle and card party at my house so I had to leave all my guests and Jackie ran me up there and I only just got there before it ended up all over his shorts (hope no one is eating this and reading!!). Got back, and the heavens opened and Jackie had lit all the candles outside so they were quickly snuffed out and everyone complained the candles were too expensive anyway so Jackie decided not to even bother going through her spiel - which was a bit of an arse because there were a few hostess deals I was hoping to get. Still, I think those sort of parties work best at night, when everyone has had a good drink or two and don't mind handing over their flexible friend, so I'll have another one in mid August I think. So Jackie just continued with the cards and made quite a bit of money, so I'll get a 5% discount on everything I order which I'll do tomorrow because I was too busy making cups of tea and coffee and heating up mini pastries and danishes to have a proper look. Picked Jack up who was being held down in a chair as they have to learn to sit and wait for their mummies and daddies to come get them. Jack looked shattered, and I got a few funny comments about him not drinking properly from a cup, i.e. he drinks from a cup but the minute he moves with the cup it goes everywhere so he has to "revert" back to beaker. I'm sure he's not the only one there who has to have a beaker but I did get made to feel like he was in the minority. I know Jessica has a beaker there. Jack has a cup when he's sat in his chair having his tea, but I always use a beaker or a sports bottle when he's just playing about.

D&Ps sports day was cancelled because of the torrential downpours we were getting so quick trip into Bromley to get a birthday pressie for a little boy whose birthday party we are going to on Saturday (please Mr Sunshine have your hat on that day!!). The little boy is two and his name is Alfie and Jack was in Special Care with him. Little Aflie is a banker in waiting, he's obsessed with the bank and often discusses mortgages with his mum and dad. And yes you did read right - he is only 2!! I'm not surprised he's a good talker, he was always a bit of a hyper one in Special Care and had a good set of lungs, his alarms were constantly going of because he'd pulled tubes out etc, I was constantly nipping over if his mum and dad weren't there and putting them all back on. They'll be another boy there, Ross, who was also in Special Care who I have only seen once in 2 years, so it will be nice to catch up with him again. Alfie's big brother, Jake, was born at 24 weeks, and he would be 20 now, but I remember seeing him when he was 18 and you would NEVER have thought he was only a 1 1/2 pounds when he was born. Not only that he had no developments problems or anything, but you always think that it's only recently that premature babies have started to do so well, but even 20 years ago they knew their stuff, and Jake is testimony to that.

Parent and toddler group tomorrow, then childminding Jessica on Friday whilst her mum does the divorce stuff in court, party on Saturday. I just hope I 've nothing planned for sunday because I need to put my feet up!!

I leave you with a cracking picture Susannah sent me of Olivia at the birthday party in the ball pit. Susannah swears she's just having a fabulous time on the bouncy castle, personally, considering how quickly the wine disappeared, I think she's bladdered! I'll let you guys decided (P.S. That is a boy (Jensen) leaning over the ball pit, my mother made a massive faux pas and proclaimed "wonderful a little girl in a football kit!!!"

I am SUCH a chicken

Took Jack for his check up at ENT this afternoon. And what a pollava that turned out to be!! On inspecting his ears the doctor immediately took us round to audiology for a pressure test on Jack's ears, came out flat lines, which basically means he not only has bad glue ear but it's affecting his hearing badly. Then back into consulting room for the conflab about what to do. The hospital policy is no tonsillectomy or adenoid removal before the age of 3 and even then the tonsils much be touching, appetite affected and therefore growth/weight, repeated waking at night, sleep apnoea and repeated infections. Jack fulfills the entire criteria, except age! So then we had another consultant in and someone from "policy" with paperwork talking about doing him in the next week or so but the risks involved are far too great because Jack falls on the 50th centile for his height, but barely the 9th for his weight, but, at the end of the day it was up to me and they were willing to do it but it was up to me and would be at "my" request. So I chickened out, I can't put Jack through that just yet, he's too little, he starts pre school this week and that would have gone out of the window as he won't be allowed to mix with other children in the run up to the op, he would then have had to have longer away from human contact after the op than usual because of his size and the impact the op will have had on his lickle body and not only that, the risk of an anaesthetic on a child so small with apnoea is riskier than if we waited til he was 3! And even more so, there are birthday parties to go to over the next month or so, and it sounds daft as an excuse but to be couped up indoors at this time of year when he should be out enjoying himself with all his friends is hardly fair on him. There is though a little ray of light, I have agreed for the grommets to be put in in the next couple of weeks, that is simple day surgery which obviously they won't do if the ears are infected but other than that it's a very easy procedure done under a local anaesthetic and he's in and out within a couple of hours. In the meantime to try and keep away infections, the doctors have put him on a long term anti biotic which he will take every night until such a time as they decide we cannot put of surgery any longer. We go back in 6 weeks time and the situation will be reviewed every 6 weeks, but they think that the op will be done in the next 3-6 months. It's also weird to think that Jack won't go on a waiting list as such, he's bad enough to side step it and will just get booked in as and when the consultants decide he can suffer no longer. I'm wondering now if I've made the right decision, maybe I should have got it over with, but I've been here before, and Daniel was so thin by the time he had the op when he was 3 1/2 that he immediately got an infection afterwards and was seriously ill so I'm not prepared to do that to Jack, need to beef him up a bit!

On another note, the ex has decided to audition for father of the year and take me to court over my taking the boys to manchester. Tosser tosser tosser tosser. Is all I've got to say at the moment

And to add, I received a dress I won on Ebay and it was appalling condition, and I mean appalling condition, two great bit huge crusty stains on the bottom and loads of snagging on the bottom, and it had been described as being in excellent condition. It came in a little ball, shoved in carrier bag and sellotaped into said ball and I paid about 400% mark up on the postage costs (paid £3.00 and it cost about 67p). So I complained, as you do, and after a week this was the response.

Firstly it Is Ok to complain about 1 thing or Part of Our Service But to basically Say that Everything is Unsatisfactory is Ridiculous!!! I took the photo for My Fiancee and know that the Dress was in Good Condition and would see NO!!! Reason to sell it as CRAP!!! so i CANNOT understand HOW! The Dress has Got Stained and Snagged in the Post!!! Not being Funny but is Sounds like you Should'nt have brought the item in the First place. If you want a Refund Please send the item back and We WILL Refund you. If however the state of the dress is nNOT the case Please Let me know!!

The message is a bit difficult to make head or tail of, and at no point did I use the word CRAP in my message. What you can make out from the message is that they are calling me a liar and the bloke likes the shift key on his keyboard. I just sent them a message back telling them not to be so damned rude, thank you very much, Alison. EBAY DOES MY BLOODY HEAD IN SOMETIMES!!


Alx

P.S. I didn't tell the seller that ebay does my bloody head in sometimes, just to clarify!!

One of them things!

Nicked this of Sally's blog, who in turn got it from Ess, who in turn got it from..... and so on. Just copy and paste the questions into your comment and put your answers next to them. Simple as that. Be nice - I'm of a delicate disposition at the moment!

01. Who are you?
02. Are we friends?
03. When and how did we meet?
04. Do/Did you have a crush on me?
05. Would you kiss me?
06. Describe me in one word.
07. What was your first impression?
08. Do you still think that way about me now?
09. What reminds you of me?
10. If you could give me anything what would it be?
11. How well do you know me?
12. When’s the last time you saw me?
13. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?
14. Are you going to put this on your blog/journal and see what I say about you?