A Christmas Crisis

Not sure we quite achieved joy and peace to all men, or babes this Christmas..

I don't want to create a misunderstanding, nothing was that bad, just a series of events which have led to this point to a sad boy, a poorly girl and a guilt ridden mummy.

We visited my sister in law, her husband and our niece the weekend before Christmas. Her poor little girl, the same age as my littlest- just 1 picked up a nasty virus and tummy bug. She was quite poorly the whole weekend that we were there, I kept my fingers crossed that our two would avoid the dreaded lurgy.
We came home, I managed 1 and a half days of work (on the busiest week of the year running up to Christmas) before the child minder phoned, Teeny Tiddler had a fever....
When I arrived he was clutching our childminder and gripping his beloved sheepey. Poor little man.
By Thursday he was quite poorly and by Friday his abscess had re-appeared and we had to take an emergency trip to the doctors. The doctors referred us to paediatrics in our local District General hospital where we arrived in the midst of chaos. The wards was full of norovirus and dehydrated children.

We were seen by paeds medics and surgeons who concluded that if Teeny was no better by Saturday (Christmas Eve) he might need surgery there and then to open the abscess.
I asked about food, even though he was vomiting he was still starving and I was told supper was at 6.30 (half an hour after his normal bedtime). The ward didn't have a bed for us so I did my best to create a calm environment in the middle of a busy paediatric admissions unit and put Teeny to bed at 6 (normal bedtime) only to be woken by the nurse to weigh him.... grrrrrr
Back to bed, another set of obs, a nappy check to check he had passed urine, antibiotics.....
He eventually fell asleep clutching sheepy, hot and bothered and I prepared myself for a night in the chair by his bed.

On shift change the nurse in charge quickly informed me that I shouldn't get comfortable because they still had to move us to his bed. At 10pm they moved him, fabulous time of night for a 1 year old who is poorly to be moved, I am afraid I got a little cross, especially when the nurse said "I'm sorry to disrupt your little routine" then promptly let him settle again and then bloody well woke him to do his obs!
It isn't as if I do not understand, I work in health care, I do understand but it seemed a crazy way to help babies get well.

We were moved into a room with a baby with a chest infection and he coughed all night, bless his heart, but both Teeny and I got very little sleep. Knackered the next day following a doctors round and surgical review the decided his surgery could wait til the New Year (hooray!) and if he ate and drank he could go home... Teeny promptly inhaled a piece of toast!

Discharged thanks to a fabulous nurse who had ordered our take home meds just in case at 2pm and arrived back to my mothers and picked up Trouble who literally clamped herself to me as I arrived and almost made me cry.

A lot of Christmas Chaos followed, a frenzy of wrapping, cooking and preparing and some wine to boot... finished just before Midnight. Stockings filled and collapsed into bed.
Christmas passed without much of a hitch, a little stress, a flopsy and tired Teeny and an over-excited Trouble who reached her peak of excitement and then gradual meltdown by about 11am!

Fast forward to 27th.....
Trouble told me she wasn't hungry at lunchtime. She ate a little with a fight but then wanted to watch Ben and Holly, I put it on and left my sister in charge of the sky plus while I took Teeny and the Towy Terrier for a power walk. I wedged Sheepey in as Teeny was crying, he immediately stopped. Off we went. Now Teeny is at the stage of "oh-oh" and dropping anything he is clutching. Unfortunately he didn't say "oh-oh" but he did cry en route. I never checked, I wish I had.

We got home and I realised there was no Sheepey.
F*ck f*ck f*ckity f*ck.

WRM got on the quad and shot off round the forestry in the dusk and failing light. I bathed the boy and it never really crossed my mind that he wouldn't come home with sheepey..... he didn't.
I left the children with my sister, we searched again by torch light. No joy.

When I got home I tried to put Teeny boy to bed... nightmare. The poor man sobbed and sobbed.
Just as I didn't think I could feel worse Trouble decided she couldn't stay up any later and had to go to bed because she didn't feel well. I hadn't paid her any attention, none.
She was in bed by just gone 6pm... Teeny on the other hand cried until 8pm and fell asleep a snivelling wreck without his beloved sheepey. It was heart breaking.

10pm, I checked the children. Teeny has woken once more but fallen asleep again. Trouble hadn't stirred. I checked her. She was not a well little bunny. I wont go into details but she also had the tummy bug and every thing needed changing, bed clothes, pyjamas, nappy, the works... a quick bath, and then she was sick.... Poor poor little girl, totally ignored by her mummy because of a lost sheepey. Double the guilt.

I didn't sleep, I fitfully dreamt of lost sheepey returned, a happy pair of well children but alas when I woke; No sheepey and a poorly Trouble.
Luckily I had the day off work. Trouble was still asleep and I left Teeny with WRM as I set off in search of sheepey, into the forestry at 7.45am.... not a sign. I walked the route twice.

As things progressed and it became obvious sheepey was not to be found we trawled the Internet for a replacement sheepey. We asked my Auntie to look where she had bought sheepey from. I tweeted and asked for RT if anybody had a sheepey, WRM searched the Jomanda Toys website and their facebook page. Not only do the company not make him anymore they are also closed for the whole of Christmas, only re-opening on the 3rd  January :(
My Auntie and WRM found a website which could deliver a lookalike sheepey by Saturday and he was ordered. Just to weather the storm until then.

Teeny and Trouble were both better yesterday and even better today, sheepey is on order, I just hope Teeny likes him so all that is left in a guilt ridden mummy..... I'm sorry my babies. I have posted my application for worst mummy of the year.

Merry Christmas, I hope that every one else had a spiffing time, here's to the New Year! ;)
See you all in 2012!

Towy Totty
xxx

Totally Useless!

I am as it turns out totally useless at having a blog!

Maybe its the million balls I seem to be juggling at the moment.

Work- the boss has just left, I have reduced my hours yet somehow we have more people than ever on the books! I need to do my appraisal, some rehab support worker training, physio in service training..... the list is ever growing.... and rugby cover at the weekends.

Home- there are windows to sand down and re-paint, carpets to measure and arrange for fitting, a fire to install before it snows, children to play with, an endless heap of washing, washing up and hungry mouths to feed as well as all the other jobs.....

Garden- I have too many bulbs left to plant asap, seedlings to try and keep alive over the winter, a greenhouse to insulate, birds to feed, plants to plant out, a veg patch to finish digging.....

I still have a whole series of Downton Abbey to try and fit in (priorities and all....!) not to mention sloe and damson gin to decant and children to make wholesome and healthy food for.

That's before we add the upcoming 1st and 4th birthdays of the tiddlers, Christmas, family, work dos, exercise, social lives, friends, ponies, the terrier, mince pies, a Christmas cake, Christmas shopping, oh help and Christmas cards.........

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I threw all the balls up into the air and only caught one or two on the way back down, which ones could I manage or want to be without?
I would never be without my children, despite the whining and turmoil, they make it what it is, I love them to bits.
Life wouldn't be as fun without the animals and I couldn't live without my garden or outside space.
Work keeps me both sane and in credit (well it just about covers the childcare and the petrol)! I also really do quite enjoy my job.
Friends and family are already neglected but important and I need someone to laugh with (and to laugh at too)
So the only thing that leaves is WRM..... hmmmm...... I suppose we could do without him ;)
On the other hand we could probably do with a way to heat the house before winter so maybe I will have to make room for that ball too!

So that leaves my blog, facebook, twitter.... looks like my online life will have to be the bit to go (well maybe just a teeny bit) just until things calm down a tad anyway!
Still love you all, keep poking and tweeting me occasionally to see if I haven't frozen to death and am being slowly eaten by my starving children, or if its all got too much for WRM and he has upped and left me to it!
If you are driving by feel free to pop in. I'm sure there will always be time for a cup of tea, or as its nearly Christmas a glass of mulled wine (and a mince pie if I ever make them!)

Toodle pip!

Towy Totty
xxx

Time flies...

Firstly apologies for the length of time it has taken me to write this post but time just seems to be speeding by! (also I have only just unpacked the box containing my Blackberry connector to upload photos!).

We moved at the end of July into our beautiful new home.

The upstairs was pretty much as we had hoped when we moved, definitely livable, if a little rough around the edges. The Children's rooms and our bedroom as well as the landing were almost finished. They had been painted, carpeted, they had blinds in windows and doors (almost) on hinges!
Since then they have been more or less finished, the doors and frames are painted, we even have curtains!

The bathroom is as it was... one can live with a certain amount of floral wallpaper!

And our bedroom is also pretty much there... with the exception of a few yet to be unpacked boxes!

Hmmm but downstairs.....

... that was another matter entirely!

This picture was taken at 1am the morning before the plasterers were due. In our wisdom we decided to remove the boxes surrounding the beautiful beams leading to much dust, rubble, swearing and clearing up not to mention having to cut and screw up tiny bits of plasterboard all the way along the edges of the beam...
This was on a school night and WRM had to get up and drive the 2 hours to Gloucester for work the next day while I supervised the plasterers with nowhere downstairs to put down a wriggly baby and due to the rainy weather nowhere for a 3 year old to play!

This is now our dinning room, which is our living space downstairs until we mange to remove a wall in the sitting room and get the other end of the house started, let alone finished!!
The oil fire now works which means we are capable of having some heat and we have an open fire at the other end of the house too. This is good bearing in mind that autumn is swiftly arriving with its chilly evenings and that we have 2 little tiddlers to keep warm (never mind a bucket of washing to dry!).

The kitchen is also a work in progress. It is functional. I have everything I need to cook and do the washing however because of the exposed wall and floor it is sooo dusty! Every time anybody walks upstairs it causes bits fall out from the wall over the surfaces! I have learnt not to cook using the back hobs following a lovely pheasant casserole with some little bits of what I though was shot, which turned out to be rubble!
There was also an early incident with the washing machine, which although (thankfully) plumbed in there is no water outlet, the hose needs to be in the sink.... I *might* have forgotten this the first time I did a load of washing... I *might* have ever so slightly flooded the kitchen and marooned the dog in its bed!

As for our fields, we eventually managed to cut the grass and make some haylage too! Just got it wrapped in time before it rained, was a little close for comfort though. We made 41 big bales, lucky ponies!

And yesterday WRM was very busy collecting wood from the fields with the quad and trailer and cutting and splitting it so that we can heat the "sitting room" end of the house (under the children's rooms) for free this winter. This pile is 2 deep and the sitting room is also stacked with wood too. Think he did a pretty good job in one day! Even with 2 little helpers!

We are very much enjoying living in our lovely house despite some parts of it being less than finished. The next challenge is to finish the landing and dining room completely and have it re-carpeted... then to the kitchen! And I have some digging and planting to do, bulbs and onion sets ordered and on their way as we speak.

Hope you enjoyed the update and I promise not to leave it so long before the next installment!

Towy Totty x

Progress!

So it seems it is not only Take That who are making Progess!
Short but sweet tonight as those who are following will realise only #12sleepstogo....
Some pictures to whet your appetite!

May I present....... Aberhosan

Aberhosan plus resident peacock!

"Mummy, I cant see past my dust mask"

Kitchen, wallpaper stripped, filler done, sanded, ready for paint... and units, oh and maybe a cooker I suppose!

WRM hard at work putting wall up between childrens rooms, plasterer tomorrow, then pink or blue paint depending on the tiddler!

Same room, different view.

Hmmm......

Garden still needs some attention!

Have actually done some weeding since this pic but not re-taken photo! (honest)

Right back to the packing, cleaning, sorting, changing addresses and all the normal domestic tasks.

Will keep you all updated... excited now!

Thanks for reading 

Towy Totty x

#12sleepstogo

My Moving Advent, floods, drought and more...

About a week ago whilst on Twitter, @t1ckledp1nk and @mumonthebrink came up with the clever idea of charting our course to moving day with a "#movingadvent". We are now on #19sleepstogo and I'm still not entirely sure how we will get in! WRM however remains confident (see previous blog post!).

On your marks, get set..... GO!

It has taken some time but things are now progressing with Aberhosan. We complete next week, throwing us into a whirlwind of activity (and just a little panic) in order to pack, renovate and then move, all inside a month... with a 3 year old and a 6 month old! "Insane" I hear you cry... well yes probably, a little, but we enjoy a challenge and this one will be just that.

Let it rain....!

Wales is well known for being wet. However a look at the Met Office data over the past 30 years shows that May is statistically the driest month, probably the reason that my friends chose May 21st for their wedding in Rhandirmwyn.
Rhandirmwyn is home to a large reservoir called Llyn Brianne http://www.rhandirmwyn.net/llynbrianne/ a good indication that we get a lot of rain, however it has been more or less dry in the valley for most of April and May- except for a few days where the heavens have opened. A glance at the forecast for last weekend did not look promising but we all crossed our fingers and toes and hoped the day would prove the weathermen wrong... unfortunately it did not.