British Summertime

This rain sucks. Constant rain. Varying from a miserable, stick to your clothes and hair drizzle, to a vicious downpour. But never-ending.

Poppy woke at 145am last night and didn't go back until gone 3am. Don't know if it was the teeth or what, she was having full on tantrums in the cot and then on the bedroom floor. What really didn't help was I hadn't gone to bed myself until after 11 after watching last week's Mistresses episode with a glass of wine. So when she woke up I'd only been asleep 2 hours and definitely felt like it.

The treadmill is gone.

Wedding shoes

Finally found a pair of half comfortable new black shoes for the wedding I'm going to over the Bank Holiday weekend. After ordering 3 pairs from Debenhams online sale and getting nowhere due to my stupidly wide feet and high instep, I admitted defeat and actually went to the shops to try some on. We had a fun playdate in the morning with a friend I haven't seen for weeks due to various holidays, which wore Poppy out enough to stay asleep when I brought her into the house from the car. That meant that I could leave hubby in charge of the baby monitor and turn on my heels back into the shops.

After a cursory looks around Clarks which had no going-out heels, M&S pulled through for me and gave me a choice of 2 or 3 pairs to choose from. Outfit then provided a beautiful wedding-styled hairpiece attached to a simple black headband. So I'm all set now I think!

The broken treadmill is finally being picked up tomorrow morning, and Amazon rang earlier to arrange delivery of the new (pink!) treadmill next Tuesday. Yay. Now I can finally get over this phase of being a slob and a chocolate Hobnob addict.

Black mood all day

Poppy was awake again last night during the night and very early this morning. This is the third night in a row of badly broken sleep for us both. When I gave in and got up with her I immediately knew that today was going to be a Bad Day as far as my mood is concerned. I haven't been able to snap myself out of it all day, despite eating a Starbar at 1030am with a much needed coffee and even a Boost at 3pm. The day at work dragged and dragged and dragged. I was so happy when it was 5 o clock. The sun was shining and I was determined that I wasnt going to take it out on Poppy, it's not her fault that she's got teeth coming through and it hurts. I did succeed and didn't lower myself to screaming at her like I did this morning during a particularly stressful nappy change. Even when she yelled at me for over 10mins during dinner I ignored it and carried on calmly eating mine. And she eventually stopped and ate over half of hers, plus some raspberries. Such an awful day required topping off with wine and chocolate Hobnobs. Compulsory.

Potato harvest

The end of last week we finally got around to emptying one of the potato grow sacks that we planted a few months ago. As expected, rather than 'baby' new potatoes they were pretty big, but delicious none the less.

Poppy joined in helping of course with her little trowel



And thought that I might need them all passing to me out of the bowl

Lovely weekend=extreme fatigue

Poppy and I went to stay with my in-laws as planned and had such a good time. Nothing much happened, but seeing her playing with her two cousins was great and it's always good to sit back and relax knowing that she's happy and safe. Their house is great, so child-friendly, I know that even when I can't see her she won't come to any harm or be able to destroy something she shouldn't be touching.

We went to Weston-Super-Mare on Sunday to this fantastic new outdoor water park for kids. I managed to keep Poppy away from the bit with water as the weather wasn't that warm and the only change of clothes I had for her was a dress, and after a few arguments over her wanting to go and explore the road outside rather than the park, she had a good wander about. Had a little go on the swings, on my lap as there was stupidly no baby swings, and found the sand pit. Then we all went for a pub lunch along the seafront and even managed to sit outside as the sun had come out, under the massive parasols.

After watching me steal one of her chips and dip it into ketchup that I'd put onto the side of her plate, she asked for the other half of the chip and copied me. After tasting it for the first time she decided she didn't mind it and actually the chips were edible with it on.



The best thing about the busy morning was that it tired her out and she slept all the way home in the car. If only I could have joined her, I was struggling to stay awake driving and today I am completely wiped out. Driving is tiring for me.

Yet more cancelled time off

Poor hubby is back into work on his day off again. A night shift this time. And again on Saturday for a day shift. Plus he's back into his normal 6 days on from Sunday. So we're not going to see much of one another for about ten days...I don't fancy a weekend all alone so I'm taking Poppy over to stay at my in-laws in Somerset for the night, and spend some time with her cousins. My sister-in-law suggested we see a movie in the evening so I even get a few hours out of the house.

First hair cut

Poppy's fringe has just been in her eyes for weeks now, so we decided it was time for a little trim. The trouble is I did it in the bath when her hair was wet and now it's dry it's gone a little too short! Oh well, the one thing that's certain is that it'll grow back. I think she looks super cute with it cut anyway as her eyes look even bigger than before, hubby thinks she looks Amish. But a cute Amish girl.

Baked beans

Poor little mite has got so many teeth coming through, all big bad ones too. She's been waking up screaming in the night, this morning it was 450am and she wouldn't let me put her back down. She did go back to sleep in bed with me and hubby, who'd just got in from work. He said he could hear her screaming when he got out of the car in front of the house! I knew she was loud but that's extreme.

Tonight for dinner I tried Poppy with baked beans again, up until now she's not eaten them at all. After picking one up and disdainfully looking at it she usually drops it over the edge of the tray. I bought the can with sausages in too as a way of bribing her (she loves any meat) and it seemed to work. After polishing off all 5 mini sausages she proceeded to eat every single bean on her plate, picking each one up with her fork. Seeing the concentration on her face, steadying the fork with both hands, spearing one on the prongs and then quickly chomping it down before going onto the next, it really made me proud of her. I have no idea when children are meant to start eating with cutlery but she's doing so well! When her food goes down she now automatically picks up the fork instead of tucking in with her hands like she's been used to doing.

Can't wait for my treadmill to get here. I'm going through a serious munchy phase at the moment. I can't get enough chocolate. I'm just going with the flow for now as I know it'll pass when I put a few pounds on, all the chocolate we've bought has gone, and the need for exercise kicks in again.

Movie: My Sister's Keeper

My goodness what a weepy one. It would be sad enough without being a parent, but now that I am it throws up all kinds of emotions. How far would I go if Poppy was that ill? The ends of the earth. Would I accept that my child was going to die? My first instinct is to say no, but that could mean not letting her live her life as she wanted. The scene where Kate is on the beach with her bald head, nasal oxygen tubes and blanket is so poignant. I hope that I could come to terms with things enough to see that she would be better off at home with family, not stuck in a hospital bed. But who knows how anyone would react in such an awful, tragic situation. How all the parents and family cope everyday looking after sick children. It makes me feel sick even thinking about it. Bleurgh.

But it was a good movie.

More antibiotics

Another trip to yet another GP has resulted in a different antibiotic for week, a different antibacterial cream and instructions to use the steroid cream also. So Poppy can't go into nursery today AGAIN. Hubby's boss would only let him have a half day off despite me already having taken 2.5 days holiday off with her illness since I've come back to work and him none. He's coming home by 1230 for me to leave and go in to start at 1245. What a palaver. If only I had more spare holidays I would have just taken the day off as there are no other Pharmacist's off today. Instead I'm having to faff about taking lieu time I don't have and try to work it back. It'll mean now I'll have to work 2 saturday mornings just to get out of the minus lieu time I'm now in before I'm even positive again! Yikes. I suppose I'd better get used to this. Really need to look into taking dependency leave where I don't get paid but I can just use at any time. Don't want to forfeit my time off at xmas or my week next March just because Poppy's got a bloody rash.

Photographs

I spent some time over the weekend going through photographs from the past few months, choosing which ones to print and put into Poppy's album. It has made me so grateful that I have a good camera, some of the shots are absolutely stunning of her. Especially when the weather was hot back in June and she spent lots of time just in her nappy running around the back garden. So cute! Just wish we could get that weather back, since getting home from Center Parcs it's rained a lot. That's been good for our newly laid lawn but not for anyone's general mood. Sunshine just makes you feel good, optimistic, like you can do anything.