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2006-01-26 - 6.43pm previous entry next entry
Neil's birthday and stuff
Thank you all so much for the lovely messages and comments about Arthur's latest photos!!! It gives me such a buzz because I love how I have such great friends here! :) I am on a rose-tinted glasses kick at the moment though, it seems! I am just weirdly happy most of the time, even when things happen that would normally depress me or put me off things. I am pretty sure it's hormones, but I am definitely not complaining! :)
I caught a cold from our first visit to Playgroup last week - wouldn't you know it! Wednesday we were at Playgroup, and Friday I was tired and feeling fluey and sneezy, etc, etc. I am getting over it now, but I just have congestion and a cough left. What amazed me is that Arthur did not get it - it must have been something that I came into contact with and he didn't, at the time. I haven't slept much at all till Tuesday night because it's been the type of cold/throat that you just can't sleep through for love nor money. But oh well. Normally this would HIGHLY bother me! But I'm fine. I am glad to be able to carry on pretty much as normal, and that my body is fighting it off well.
On Monday I did have a rather pathetic wobbly in the morning though. I was feeling sooooooo horrible and had had next to no sleep for the 3rd night running, and Arthur was having a particularly energetic morning, and Neil got ready to go to work as normal, and I dissolved into a pathetic weeping thing, convinced I couldn't make it through the day. Neil was so wonderful (he ALWAYS is, about everything!) and took the morning off work!!!! I went back to bed and lay there till noon. I didn't sleep but it was good to rest and get past the achy/fluey patch I was feeling. I got up to put Arthur down for his nap in the morning but otherwise Neil let me rest till he went to work at lunchtime. Other than that I have not needed extra help. I feel kind of silly that I did though, over just a cold!
But anyway. On Monday I was sure Arthur must have missed catching the cold from me, but unfortunately he came down with in on Monday night and is very snotty at the moment. But he's cheerful and carrying on pretty much as normal. It's his second cold this month, but that's normal I think. I read that the average number of colds per winter in young children is EIGHT!!! So Arthur is doing fine. Maybe he'll get the other six yet?! Although I hope not! It's good for his immune system though, so I'm not too worried. I just hate it for him when he can't breathe to nurse.
Sprout is kicking like CRAZY!!! Quite high up for Sprout too. The whole time I've been typing so far, Sprout has been giving me these hard jab-like kicks over and over in the same spot! I love it :)
Arthur has also been teething really badly. It hasn't really let up at all this month, but I know it's because he is working on a whole bunch of teeth at once, and those include molars. Yesterday I put some Bonjela on his gums and felt a new toothie! So I got a good look while I was making him laugh, and saw two tiny white corners of his first molar poking through. Poor Boo! No wonder he has been drooling and fussing so much more than usual, and his cheeks have been so red and puffy. It's the top molar on his left, the one I knew was coming first. The top right one is not going to be too far behind as the whole gum around it is really swollen. The bottom molars aren't swollen yet but I can really feel the shape of the teeth under the gum there now.
It was Neil's birthday yesterday! He was 32. I joke with him about how I'm still in my 20s, hehe! But I am 30 next month so it won't be for long! I am excited to turn 30. I am not one to cling to youth and do the traditional moaning/fretting about big milestone ages as they approach. I feel fulfilled and thankful for my 20s, and like they are READY to be done and move on to the 30s now. My 20s did not start out on an easy note. I have spent my 20s as a Christian (I became a Christian a few months before I turned 20). I got married in my 20s, spent two years housebound with illness in my 20s, had my first child in my 20s, left home and moved house twice in my 20s. There have been bereavements in my 20s that have hit me like a mack truck. I was on Prozac for suicidal depression at the start of my 20s. I started (but never finished) a midwifery degree and later a nursing degree in my 20s. My 20s have been FULL of stuff! Some easy, some horribly hard. Some joyful and some not. I feel absolutely 100% ready to put my 20s behind me. I am so excited about my 30s!!! It's the decade of my life where I will bring up my children, through their young years, and I have waited for that ALL my life, so I'm ecstatic to finally reach it! I expect that in my 30s I will physically start to show signs that I'm getting older. I know 30s are still young, but I know also that I'm gonna have new wrinkles here and there, and grey hairs here and there too. And no doubt my shape will change after I have had all my children (which I do plan to complete in my 30s - the women in my family menopause at 40). But I don't care about any of that. I watched it all happen to my mum as I grew up, and I remember loving each and every new change and wrinkle that I saw, because they seemed to make her more beautiful to me. I hope I grow old as gracefully as my mum (not that she is old (58), and she would hate me saying it that way, hehe!). I love that Mummy never dyed her hair to cover the grey, and I never saw her wear make up. She never needed to. I want to be exactly like her. I don't fear growing older, physically, or in any other way. Every stage of life brings incredible blessings and joy that the last one couldn't contain because it wasn't time yet. I am not crazy about hip replacements and my hand shaking when I write and forgetting everything just when I want to say it (!!), but other than that, bring it on!
So I am excited to turn 30 :) Neil is not like me though, he is always moaning about how OLD he's getting. It's so annoying! What is the point of that? But he did seem to have a nice birthday yesterday. I felt great yesterday because I was super organised and I felt so accomplished at the end of the day, especially still feeling a bit rough with a snotty cold. I had been out shopping the day before and bought (cheap!) gifts that I know Neil would like. I ordered a CD from Amazon because I couldn't find it in the shops. On his birthday I had a cranky little boy with a new molar coming in and a stinky cold, and I cleaned the house up, baked and decorated a birthday cake, fed, changed and "napped" Arthur successfully (not always easy!), wrapped Neil's presents, wrote him a card from me and helped Arthur "draw" a picture with his crayons in a card especially from him to Daddy! And I made Neil's favourite meal for dinner (fisherman's pie at the moment). I got Arthur's things ready for bed, and made some phone calls to family that were overdue. I felt SO great for getting all that done so successfully and cheerfully, and more so every time I realised that I didn't feel great with the cold :) I love when I actually ACCOMPLISH things! It boosts my mood no end!
So Neil was really surprised at all the presents (there were some from his family too that we had brought back at Christmas), and cards, and the birthday cake. Arthur helped him unwrap everything. He seemed to somehow know every item that contained chocolate - how is that?! He was frantic to open the ones with chocolate in them! Once they were opened, he wanted to open the actual chocolates too! When we wouldn't let him, he took a big bar of Galaxy chocolate (Neil's fave) and just acted like he was playing with it and stroking the wrapper, etc (what a crafty monkey!), and rather subtly ended up getting his teeth right through the wrapper and silently sucking on the exposed chocolate until we wondered why he was being so quiet and noticed!!!! When we hid it behind a sofa cushion he spent ages climbing on the sofa and trying to get behind it! I don't know what it is with that boy and chocolate - it's not like we've ever actually given him any! Although I admit he has had a taste of Cadbury's Dairy Milk once, like a tiiiiny corner. He likes it :)
I sang Happy Birthday to Neil (who was called "Daddy" for the purpose of the song!) when I brought his cake out, and now EVERY time the word "birthday" is mentioned, even in fast conversation without interesting tones, Arthur immediately drops what he's doing, starts dancing, and sings, "Ahh-ahh-ahhhh!" which is his cue for us to sing! So we have been singing Happy Birthday a LOT! He does the same thing if he sees a picture of a star, or something in the shape of a star, or hears the word "star" in conversation, only then we have to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star instead :) He's a sweetie.
Yesterday we didn't go to Playgroup because Arthur seemed kind of poorly. I know you pretty much just keep on socialising if your little one has a cold (not the case with something more nasty or a stomach virus), but he didn't seem happy or well, so I didn't think he would enjoy it. As it turned out, I was right, and he ended up taking an ultra long nap in the morning which lasted most of the time we would have been at Playgroup, so I'm glad I made that decision.
This morning, however, he seems very much more cheerful, albeit snotty! And the Fellowship Group was meeting at Katie's house this morning so in the end I decided to take him. There were only 6 little ones and three of them had snottier colds than Arthur! So I knew it was fine. I hope he doesn't get another one on top of the one he's got though! He was fine, sociable and cheerful, and played with lots of toys and books while I chatted with the others. I am really beginning to look forward to fellowship group these days. It's a shame it's only on every other Thursday. I miss that we don't really pray together much there any more. We used to but the little ones made it almost impossible, so now we don't, we just talk about where we're at and gather prayer requests, and then pray for each other afterwards in our own time. I asked for prayer for our financial situation (urgh) and also for everything to be healthy and normal at my scan on Monday.
Yesterday it hit me (like it does from time to time) that I really really really MISS prayer at the moment. I miss praying with other people. I often chat to God in my own time, not so much "prayer" as it's probably traditionally known, but just chatting like I usually do. But I miss the fellowship stuff, praying with others, worshipping together, etc. I miss talking about God with other Christians, or just bringing God into our normal conversations and feeling that sense of joy bubbling up because I love that we're bringing him into it, and I love that the person I'm talking with LOVES him too! Fellowship Group is a teeny weeny taste of that, but it's almost all about chasing our toddlers and trying to hear each other over the wailing of one of them! Which is fine, but I do miss more focus on God. I think I generally miss that in my life at the moment, but I only really noticed it yesterday. I don't even know why I noticed it. It just occurred to me or something. I wanted to go to church on Sunday - I really want us to start going regularly as a family again - but I was too ill and sleep-deprived. Hopefully this Sunday coming though.
Anyway so this morning was good. Arthur didn't have a nap (though I did try!) before we went, as it was a bit early for him to nap. We came home to get him some lunch, and he fell asleep in the car after only about 60 seconds!!! It's been AGES since he has done that! So I had to wake him and give him lunch, and now he is napping. He has slept for an hour and 20 minutes so far! But he isn't too well, and he's teething, and has had a really busy morning and no nap, so I'm not too surprised. It's a nice break for me though :) Hence why I have the time to actually make an update here! Yay! I had this huge urge to play The Sims 2, but that will have to wait till the evening, if I get chance!
We have put one of our cars up for sale, like we planned to do ages ago. We had a guy arrange to come and see it the first DAY it was advertised! But he didn't show. Pfthth. Anyway so hopefully that will sell fast (another thing I asked them to pray for this morning!) and the money from that will clear our overdraft and make a start on the credit card debts. Urrrgh. Whatever debts we have left will be paid off by a business loan from my parents, which we'll finalise once the car is sold. Then we have to cut up our credit cards, and begin repayments to my parents, and ideally start a savings account - not the ones we've already got, one that has a good interest rate and which we'll actually USE. We are so bad at actually putting money into savings! Over the last 5 years, our savings account set aside for "car" stuff has the grand total of �1.99 in it!!! Hahaha! That won't even buy us a TOY car!! We are so crap with money. We need to learn to budget, but I'm not sure where to start. But we'll do it. This has been a good lesson for us, and we'll learn well from it and be well set up to manage our finances for our growing family in the future. Daddy says if we were going to get into financial difficulties then it's best done now, so we can learn from it before we are in full swing of bringing up children.
Arthur sounds like he's waking up, so I'll leave the rest of this entry for now. I don't think I have much left that I wanted to write at the moment, just a couple of photos I think. But I'll post those later.
Okay, Neil is bathing Arthur so I have to be quick as he'll be ready for bed n breast (!!) any minute now! I just wanted to hurry up and post this entry!
Here are the couple of photos I meant to post - both of Neil and Arthur. One is of Neil and Arthur with the birthday cake yesterday (which Arthur is soooo transfixed by!):
And the other is of my sweet sleeping boys :) Something went wrong with the colour because they were not that pink in reality, hehe! But it was dark in the room and I used a flash, so maybe that's why. Anyway here they are!...
I know Neil is such a star with how he does sooooo much over Arthur's sleep. The good thing is that he is the kind of person who sleeps through ANYTHING and is unconscious the instant his head hits the pillow/floor/chair-back, etc! I am the exact opposite, so it works well for us that when I need extra help getting MY sleep, he is still happy to sleep with Arthur. He doesn't get disturbed. I get up and resettle Arthur every time he wakes, but at least someone is still in there with Arthur during the night, which is what we have wanted.
Oops, Neil just called for me to arrive in the bathroom with towels to bundle up my cutie boy! I'll update again soon! Oh, Neil has The Cold. Pfthth.
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