Stuff

Joel pulled his tube out (again!!) so we managed to get some pictures this morning of him with Emily. She has a UTI and is refusing to go to the bathroom which isn't great but hopefully the antibiotics will help her out. We are well, Jamie is on his way home from school for the Christmas Holidays; so great to have the 2 weeks together. We are excited too that we can go to Belfast to visit all the family for a few days - we are going in between Christmas and new year, Emily is so so, so excited about going on an airplane. We were shocked at how much air travel has gone up. You even have to pay to use a credit or debit card now!

Tomorrow we are off to the pantomime - on the train - which again is mega exiting for a little girl who obsesses about public transport.

But for now I am off to put the kettle on for some tea whilst all is calm in our home.

Catching up

We are having a busy day today(Whoop! Whoop!) We have finally got round to sorting Joel's carpet as his floor was ripped up when we got the house rewired. So it is coming this morning. We are also having the cavities in the walls filled (we don't have anything there, more issues with this house!) so it will be noisy for a while as they drill and fill but then, hopefully, our house will be warmer.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party. It was such a cool idea - it was a football party. We were asked to wear a football shirt/kit and come along to play football with the very enthusiastic Stockport County fan who was celebrating his 4th birthday. Emily had a great time and really like wearing her 'football t-shirt.

Emily has finished with Sarah, our childminder until after Christmas, and when she goes back she is going for Mondays only as Sarah is pregnant and needs some time off. This means we will have more time together. We are going to see the pantomime Cinderella with the families from Sarah's. We are travelling by train to Buxton - Emily is so excited as she has a fascination with public transport. We have 2 Christmas parties tomorrow, one with Toddler group and one with Church. Emily is slightly confused that Santa can be in so many places as she has met him at the garden centre 2 school fairs, the farm on family day and now twice in one day! It's the church nativity play on Sunday; Emily and Jamie are the host of angels visiting the shepherds. 'Do not be afraid' etc. It was interesting on Sunday at church. Josh, who was one of our speakers made the point that each time an angel appears in the bible, the first thing that is said is,"do not be afraid". Does that mean that they were ugly and scary by nature or just it was weird that an angle would visit you? Not sure but Emily and Jamie don't look scary - cute and funny maybe.

Emily's tree in her bedroom ( it has a few more baubles and decorations on it now - many have been scavenged from our tree downstairs!)

On Monday we have a play date with our friends and their kids. We are doing Christmas baking and a few games. It is a nice way to start the Christmas holidays. It should be fun with 10 - 12 children under 4 baking at once!
Jamie has 3 more days left at school, he is mega busy at the mo as the whole school has done exams and mocks and there is tonnes of marking to be done plus all the normal stuff, he is longing for a break but then again there is not much rest to be had at home!

Joel has not been sleeping very well for about a month. He was up feeding 4 - 9 times a night depending. Last night he was only up once and then at 5am, 6.45am and up and awake at 7.30! Wow hoo! Long may it last as both Jamie and I are starting to feel tortured! We had our weekly weigh in, he put on 2 ounces this past week - sadly this is not very good as the trend for such small weight gain is growing. We have 2 choices at the minute. Keep trying with his current milk and up the dosage but already he is semi intolerant to it and cries in constipation pain for 1 - 3 hours per evening, change his milk and make it from powder, fresh, every time he needs it but he needs more than 5 feeds a day as it is 20 calories per 100ml less than his current milk! Also with the new milk his weight may become more of an issue as there is less calories. So we have decided to keep a eating, sleeping, crying and pooping diary until we see our dietitian on Jan 9th. We are also waiting to hear from our cardiologist if we can fly to Belfast over the holidays to see my family. I have left countless messages on answer phones and with people but still no answers. In the meantime Joel has developed a cough, runny nose and sticky eyes. Sound familiar anyone?

Mum and Dad get home from Romania today. We are looking forward to seeing them, hopefully in Belfast, but if not they will try to visit us here. It is great to have parents as missionaries but even though they are at the end of email, phone or a moderately cheap flight away, they feel far away.

Well that's enough procrastinating - off to make tea for tonight and tidy the house.

Joel was at the consultant today. I was not looking forward to this visit as he had only put on one once this past week. But.... she is so so so so so great. Yes his weight is important to her but not so important that it is the only thing we talk about. The dietitian was of sick today so many of the questions cannot be answered until we see her, but the consultant is pleased with his general progress. We now are waiting for our cardiologist appointment and the dietitian. So Joel is 11lb 8 oz, smiling, laughing, grabbing toys, sitting up a little, considering rolling and lovely. Emily is great too. We have just heard that she, Joel and I can go to a play session at an integrated Nursery on Friday afternoons. It will be great to be with other children who are 'special' and to have a new community of mums who juggle dr and hospital appointments. It starts on Jan 9th and I am excited about that.
Tomorrow night we are out at COLDPLAY.... yes I have just said COLDPLAY! I am excited about that too but am anxious about leaving Joel, but he is in good hands with great friends.

Well, Joel is crying so I am off to see what's up. I hope his tube is still in!!

Christmas Preparation

Just a few pictures from our visit to Father Christmas at Tatton Park Farm and our tree and house decorating. Our house is much bigger so we may pick a few new things up after Christmas.

Thought we would have another pink one of these, it's so great to have a son!

Not sure why Snowman is in on the Nativity scene!
Emily has made lots of decorations top hang and stick around the house.

"Wow, it's beautiful Mummy."
Putting the star on top!

Joel gets in on the action!

"Can I have another one please?"

Such concentration

A little helping hand

Mary had a very stiff hand!

"I'd like a pink bike please!"

Chaos and life

Emily has been busy choosing things to put in a shoebox to send to a child in another country. It was mega hard trying to explain to her that she couldn't keep the Jelly Men (Jelly Babies - we don't call them babies because Joel is a baby and we don't eat him. She hasn't made the connection that we don't eat men either!)

Joel has had his second lot of vaccinations this week and is now ......drum roll please......11lb 7oz! Wow, we are now over the 5 kilo mark and are getting closer to the target of 6 kilos. We might even get there before our cardiologist appointment in January. :) He is getting stronger every day and is almost holding his head up unaided. (It is leaning against the chair in this pic)We can see a real difference in him, but his tube just makes him look different.

I was in the Dr's waiting room and overheard two ladies chatting about him. I was astonished and speechless and too worn down to reply but they were debating why he had his tube.

"Do you think she smoked during her pregnancy so he was small?"

"She probably worked too hard during it, these modern women work so hard and don't think about the consequences. He probably came to early due to stress!"

I should have told them that I have only ever took one puff of a cigarette when I was 12 years old, that he wasn't small but 7lbs 12 oz at birth, that he wasn't early, but 14 days overdue and that I stopped work on the 24th July and he didn't arrive until 17th August and that I work part time whilst looking after my healthy non tubed daughter. AND furthermore, he has a congential heart condition that is not related to anything I have or have not done. Thank you very much for your concern for the well being of my beautiful son! Oh the things you hear and don't hear!

Life is chaos at the moment. Our boiler is broken; the gas man is coming this afternoon to fit the new part, the surveyor is coming to check if we have cavity wall insulation and loft insulation and the car is going to the Peugeot garage this afternoon to see if they can fix the power steering. It costs £75 just for them to out it on their computer! Scandalous! But our nice fruit and vegetables have arrived from Abel and Cole and we are going to have a curry tonight if the electricity and water is back on - then I can make it.

Meanwhile on the vaseline front - - - - - it is still in her hair. I washed it 3 times last night with a variety of shampoos; still slimey. At least it wasn't scissors.

Vaseline

Emily found a brand new pot and smeared it all over her, her bed, her teddies, her bedding and the wall! It was one big greasy mess but very funny. The problem was it was 8pm and she needed it all washing out of her hair! Not very funny.

The throat infection has gone, just a runny nose. For Joel, hopefully he will be jabbed tomorrow and be back on track with his vaccinations.

The gas man is coming to fix the boiler tomorrow, the car is going to the Peugeot garage to see if they can fix the power steering and the cavity wall insulation man is coming to see if we have any! Not much happening over the next 2 days.

Emily and I are busy making Christmas cards, she had fun opening her drawer on the advent box, it is the first year she will be able to begin to understand Christmas traditions. Jamie is busy at work with Parents Evening and catching up after exam marking and 2 sick children to cope with. This weekend we have our McCulloch Family get together and J is at Old Trafford for his first game of the season. Life is good, it will be better when a few things get sorted - money allowing as well as time and energy.