The NHS

Many people have a variety of opinions on the NHS. Here is mine.

It is great. End of!
Well to give more detail we have had nothing but the best care for both Emily and Joel. When Emily has been in hospital we have been treated so well, with so much care and attention and this has been mimicked with Joel too. We have the best team of consultants, paediatricians, dietitians, drs and nurses all looking after us. We have community nurses calling us every other day, health visitors visiting and making sure that we are coping with the feeding, and our nurse from the ward making sure that we are ok and managing with all our appointments etc.

Emily has a chest infection. She is now on 4 different types of medicine to control her temperature, clear up the infection and to help her cough.

Joel is on 3 different types of medicine plus his special 100 calories per 100ml milk.

Thank goodness for the NHS, for the care that we are receiving and for all the medicines that are helping making our children better. We appreciate all that everyone is doing.

So whatever your opinion is on the NHS, mine is positive as we have had had nothing but good care and treatment (and its free! ...Well out of our tax but I don't notice that!)

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Just some pictures for those who have been asking for more. Do you think his face is filling out?

'Mummy.. I wasn't ready for my picture to be taken!'

Four weeks down... two to go.

Emily has found the joy of singing!! Some may say the joy of speed talking in a high volume. This song rings through the rooms of our house continually throughout the day! She has no awareness of tempo or of her right and left but it makes us laugh! Enjoy

We have had a busy week, lots of fun things to do when you are due to go into labour any day! We have been to the park, swimming, the farm, to Manchester on the tram to see the big roundie (Manchester Wheel) playing in the garden, baking, painting, sticking, gardening and shopping. We have also been to the clinic as Emily fell at the park and cut her head in 2 places.

No glue needed, just a sticky and magic water, not forgetting the Calpol and kisses. The bump is going.

Scones we made for breakfast this morning... there are none left and not a lot of banana bread left either!

A new swimming suit. She will now swim on her own and not cling on to us. ( Not me as my suit doesn't fit now either!) Her kicking is good but as for her arms, well there is a lot of work to be done if we were pushy parents!

On baby watch.. well there is nothing to report, we are still waiting and getting fed up as it really feels restrictive. I am at the midwife on Tuesday, maybe something will happen then but I am either 6 days late or 1 day late depending on the 2 dates I have been given by the hospital. Either way we need this baby to come soon as my skin is sore and I don't think it can stretch much further.

Schools out for summer and until May 18th for ME!

Yes... I have finished work and maternity leave will begin when baby is born. The hospital estimate the 10th August, for me I think the 15th.

We have been to North Wales and Llandudno and enjoyed the seaside there for 2 days. Now we are back at home enjoying the back garden and the sunshine of Stockport.

We still have a long list of small and bigger jobs to do on the house, we are trying to do them a, when we have time, b, when we have the money, c, when we have the energy and d, when Emily is sleeping. Jamie has painted the nursery and hopefully blinds and curtains are going up tonight!

We went to the cinema to see the new Batman last night, it was good, but I think it is too voilent to be a 12A. Heath Ledger was great, I am not sure if he would be an Oscar contender if he was alive, but he did a great job. I liked the line 'what doesn't kill you makes you stranger!' I wonder does it?

This week it is jobs to be done, catching up on bills and paperwork, cleaning and stocking the freezer just in case baby arrives. I am feeling much better, the antibiotics have cleared up my infection but I now have a chesty cough. Back to the midwife on Friday to see how progress is going with new baby, maenwhile lots of TLC with our growing baby who tells us every day she is a 'big girl now'.

We still think of her as our little baby!

Moaning over

We have had a great day today. Yesterday Jamie and I finished most of the packing so we can move whenever the mess with solicitors is sorted. We also unpacked the essentials... so that left today free. It is the first day since I can remember that packing did not need to be done.
We have been to church, been swimmimg and have been building towers with mega blocks.
Emily has also had her first hair cut (on Firday). I would post photos only the cable for the camera is packed!
We hope the weather will be nice tomorrow as we plan a day of bike riding at Dunham Massey etc. I am also 26 weeks pregnant and feeling well. (trying not to be stressed.) Every week is a step closer to meeting the little one, Emily now understands that there is a baby inside and cutley talks to my tummy. (She also thinks there is one inside her and her daddy's tummy!)
Well that is all for now, off to do the ironing and watch Indiana Jones (My favs!)

Thanks be to God

I am not and have not been infected. Yeah! Hopefully all is well with baby; I am at a midwife appointment on Thursday so maybe she will be able to advise etc. In the meantime as there is so much of this nasty virus in school I am not allowed to work for the next 2 weeks, and have to keep an eye on infection rates at school. If they drop, I can go back to work. If not, it is more paper work to do at home time. ( I have loads of policies to rewrite etc.) What a relief, I didn't realise how much I was worried about it until the midwife told me everything seemed ok.
Sadly, I am not at school to support my colleagues through the inspection. It feels weird as I feel that St Marks runs through my veins and to be prevented from defending it's honour is strange. I do have to go to meet the inspector for an interview to discuss my role and to evidence the Self Evaluation Form that relates to my areas of management. Also, I am sad for my little class who have 2 teachers who are not working due to health issues. They must be really fed up with all this change and upheaval.
On a different note, we rang up to check what to do about our phone number etc. What a pain. It takes 14 days to cut off, but in that 14 days you have no service so we can't cut it off now.We have to wait until we move. It takes 14 days to connect from moving in and you can't do it until you move in. Then it takes 4 -6 weeks to sort out the Internet. (Jamie is panicking as he needs it from June 1st for GCSE exam marking.) AND we can't keep our telephone number!!!! Only in Britain does this seem acceptable customer service. I hate call centres!

Emily went back to see Sarah, our childminder today with a big smile on her face. It is so reassuring to know that Emily enjoys her time with Sarah and has so much fun with her. Check out the new look website and see if you can spot a very young looking Emily. She has been going there for one year past on April 16th. Lots of people told me that I would never feel comfortable leaving Emily and going to work, but I can honestly say that it is good for Emily to be there and it is good for me to be at work.

Well that is all for now, Jamie is at the dining table marking books, I am off to wash the tea time dishes and to put the washing machine on. The packing boxes are slowing mounting up and keeping on top of household jobs etc is growing more and more difficult. Roll on May 2nd. ( I may regret that phrase!)

?????

I am not allowed to go to work as there is a nasty virus going around the school called 'Slapped Cheek'. (It looks like you have been slapped across your cheeks!) It can be dangerous to pregnant women and as this is me, I am not allowed to go to work as I await results to come back from the virology lab. In the meantime I am busy writing policies, marking and packing as we move house in 14 days. I am anxious but not neurotic but long for the results to come back. The midwife who is looking after me thinks that I am not immune (looking at an old blood sample) which is strange as 60 - 70% of adults are. Hopefully my blood results will be back by Monday and then I can either get treatment or get back to work.

Emily is well and had a great visit with Granny. She fell out the front door today as she was concentrating on the ball she had just thrown out of the door and onto the grass. She is just like her daddy, one focus and that's the ball. A small bump and graze but Miss Bump on her head for 5 mins meant that all was well.
Jamie is busy keeping up with work, tutoring, the Premiership, packing and a demanding wife and daughter.ol
I think that is all, we are busy collecting boxes and filling them, writing lists and sorting bits and bobs.

Parties and sick

Greetings from Carrgreen Close, complete with double glazed windows at number 26! we look forward to the warmth that will come with these. We have been busy, this weekend we were at a first birthday party at a soft play warehouse. Happy birthday Danielle. Emily had such a great time, especially in the ball pools and the big slide.

All is well, she has been sick today and not able to stay at the childminders but seems to have picked up and thankfully, no more sick to clear up.

Her hair is growing quick quickly now and is just long enough to make it into bunches. (We know she will hate this when she is older!) Well that is all from us, we hope to put our tree up on Wednesday night and make the house look presentable. It still is a bit of a mess, it will feel better when the gifts are under the tree and nicely wrapped instead of in carrier bags in the spare room!

I will leave you with a toothy grin!

We're back

But only for a quick one. Our broadband is dodgy. (note: don't join Talk Talk again)
We had a great visit to Northern Ireland to see family over half term. Sadly our camera is broken, we think there is sand (in the lens), so no piccies.
Emily has recovered from a month of sickness and is piling on the pounds as she enjoys food again. Her vocab is growing with a great repertoire or animals and other useless words. Can she say her name? Not yet but she has learnt the dreaded word...... No!
We are back and work and are working round the business of life again.
On the house front we have dropeed the price (again) and have ordered double glazing as if we have to stay here for longer, we are going to be warm for a change. The estate agent came to look around to see if there is aproblem with us or the house and has told us there is no issue (even with the back alley) and they are now very clear who our house will appeal to. This weekend we hope to decorate the spare room/study/music room and turn this into a bedroom for Emily as she really needs space to play in her own room.
My parents are now back in Romania in the business of the Winter season with shoeboxes and food parcels and Dad Mc is in Guatemala and Mexio with institutional reviews. Greg, our great friend, is returning from a mission trip to Bolivia this weekend. Check out the website www.fbcstep.com We hope his flights are on time.

The leaves have all fallen, Autumn seems nearly done and soon we will be preparing for advent and Christmas. Where has this year gone?
Well I am off to hit the shower before Emily and I go to Rhythm and Rhyme.

Chest Infection

Yes that's what it is. Emily has been unwell since her birthday with a cough and runny rose. We went to Blackpool on Saturday for a day out at the Seaside. We had lots of fun walking on the sand, going on the rides (no more rollercoasters for us!)We visited the Sealife Centre to see the Sea turtles, sadly they didn't have any but we saw Dorrie from Finding Nemo and some sharks. It was here that we realised that she was running a temperature over 38 degrees - closer to 39. We had to strip her down and bring her home. The news is now she is getting better ...her temperature is being controlled with Calpol and Ibruprofen and she has antibiotics for her chest infection. Incidently we saw a great doctor yesterday who was just fab with Emily and really reassuring. We love the NHS!
We are enjoying the holidays, the sun has been shining today, we had lunch outside in the garden; it was a fun time as recently Emily has been refusing to eat for about a week, so we opted for finger food whilst we were eating. It was a success! More homemade pizza tomorrow!
We went to a garden centre with a miniture railway. Emily enjoyed travelling al fresco on her dad's lap! (I was relegated to behind!)

Emily is obsessing over windmills; she has 3 on the go at the moment and won't let them out of her sight! (Note the cute shirt, Thanks Greg and Sara x)

Jamie has been working hard during bathtimes teaching Emily to call him 'Da da'. She has got the first bit but is still working on putting them both together. There is a video of this but it won't load to night. I will post it tomorrow.