And down they all go...

We are currently living in a house of invalids. Again. Sigh.

So I have really bad sinustis (homeopathic stuff didn't clear it; neither 1st nor 2nd lot of antibiotics have cleared it... looks like a 3rd dose is forthcoming, followed by ENT visit to determine whether operation is necessary). Yay.

Nathan has tonsillitis - 2nd bout in as many weeks. Oh yay. (In other news, his grommets have fallen out and his eardrums are fully healed; that's good, right? Yes, but only if the tonsillitis doesn't mean he needs to have another op to put another set in. Sigh. Yet another waiting game we will have to play.)

Nellie has a sore tummy and is coughing. Joy.

And Graeme... well, he keeps threatening to get sick, and I just keep threatening him back. ;) So far my tactic seems to be working. But no doubt, no sooner are the kids better and me mostly better, than he'll succumb.

WE NEED A HOLIDAY!

PAIN!

I'm usually so god with pain. I have a high threshold. I mean, I gave birth naturally to 3 kids (although, granted, with the second one I had morphine, but then, I think that's okay under the circumstances!). For 2 of them I had no epidurals, and I only had gas & air for the first one. I usually don't take pain killers unless the pain is REALLY bad - as in, migraine status.

But these past two days... this has been a completely different sort of pain, and to be honest, I've welcomed the drugs.

I have a cold. I know, I know - it's just a cold. However, my sinuses are so swollen (not congested, really, as I can breathe fine - it's not like flu) that my teeth ache so badly I can't eat. In fact, it's so bad that even with my mouth open, every step I take makes my teeth feel like I've just fallen 10ft and landed with a massive bump. OW!

Of course, this hasn't helped my (non-existant) diet, as I can suck chocolate and eat dunked rusks, and dip bananas in nutella or peanut butter....

But it's meant I've had to stay in bed cos otherwise I a) fall over or b) have to do this funny crab-like shuffle to keep from hurting my head and teeth.

Aaah, the "joys" of being sick.

Poor child

My poor baby has been very ill. He has had a herpes virus - the one that causes cold sores. However, the first time you get this virus it is VERY, VERY sore. It causes ulcers in the mouth and throat. The poor mite has been in such pain that he's been unable to eat or drink. Today it finally seems like he's getting better as he's been able to eat or drink something without crying or screaming.

You have GOT to be kidding me!

While listening to a news bulletin on 567 CapeTalk I was absolutely gobsmacked at one story. I'm still convinced I heard wrong.... Apparently, people who have TB are selling their infected spit to make money.

Who on earth would purchase someone else's spit? I mean, sharing germs and spit with your nearest and dearest is one thing, but this is in an entirely different ball park. I've contemplated a lot of wacky things in my lifetime, but buying stuff that comes out of a stranger's lungs AND THEN PUTTING THAT IN MY MOUTH is definitely not one of those.

Apparently, the buyers are hoping to be able to access grants and aids from the state as a result of infecting themselves. OK, I know that things are financially hectic for many people in the recession, but this goes well, well, well beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel!

As I said, I'm sure I heard wrong.

Delayed inevitability

I guess it was bound to happen... I tried hard to avoid it, but I feel myself succumbing...

After the heat of the past few weeks, and the manic busy-ness, I'm surprised I've survived this long. I guess I should be grateful.

All day today I've had a really sore throat. I feel run down and tired, and with the number of sick kids around me at school at the moment (they're dropping like flies) I've been exposed to lots of bugs. Janel has also been coughing for the past day or two, so she's also got something. Maybe I've caught something from her.

And it seems that today, whatever bugs I've caught have reached critical mass. Bummer. So tomorrow I hope I can lie in bed and mark. Only 7 more projects to go. Then I want to try sleeping for a bit. Tomorrow evening though, I have to try and get through a class test. I have 4 to mark by Thursday, and the sooner I get started, the better.

I'm going to be good, and not try to feel sorry for myself. Instead, I'm going to remain positive. So let's list the positive things to focus on:

• the blessing of friends - we've just had a great evening with a missionary friend from Bosnia who's home visiting her supporters. Dinner and then playing Wii games.. lots of laughs all round.
• the blessing of weekends - some people work 6 days a week, others work 7, either because they live in a country where that's normal, or because they have to have 2 jobs (or more) to support their families. While I had to work this morning, I have the blessing of time off to spend with my family, to go to church, to be with friends.
• the blessing of children - this afternoon Janel came to sit on my lap, and was so concerned about not wanting to hurt me or the baby but still wanting to lean against me; then during bath time she gave me a huge hug & called me her 'sweetheart'.
• the blessing of an amazing husband - who let me lie down after the party, made delicious supper, entertained Nellie, fed the dogs, cleaned out the blocked sewer, and even came to check on whether there was anything I needed.

I have a lot to be thankful and joyful for. But right now I'm going to give in to the inevitable. I'm tired, and my throat is on fire (as is my tummy... indigestion is a constant companion at the moment, despite the blessing of Gaviscon), and I think bed is probably the best place to be. Let's hope this bug doesn't hang around for too long.

A mother's work is never done

I hate feeling like I have nothing new or interesting to say, but I'm afraid that's the state of my life at present. I feel sick all the time - whether or not I eat. Practically the only time I don't feel ill is when I'm sleeping. I also feel tired all the time.

And yet life carries on regardless.

Take today, for example. In the space of about 15 minutes I found out that the Bio paper the kids write tomorrow was missing (we found it in the end), and that Nellie was not only running a temperature, but hadn't eaten all day, and was complaining of ear ache. So - Mommy to the rescue! In between trying to drop off patterns with my CMT, dealing with telephonic queries about the nappies (I'm starting to get lots of calls - which is great), keep the dogs from freaking out (they still panic when we leave without them - I eventually resorted to putting them in the car and taking them with me), and collecting Nellie from nursery, my nausea and tiredness don't really have time to feature. I'm not sure whether to be grateful for that or not.

Then, sitting in the doctor's waiting room, Nellie promptly threw up all over me (got very little on herself and just about all of it on me). So rather than sit in an icky shirt, I went into the bathroom and washed it. I figured that sitting in a cold, wet shirt was better than sitting in a warm, wet, smelly and sticky one. Plus, I'm not sure that the smell wouldn't have triggered my own bout of vomiting, and dealing with one person throwing up is bad enough - two in one family is more than I can deal with right now.

Then, home again (jiggedy-jig) to discover that Graeme's brother is ill, and so would rather go for supper at his mother's house than come to us (we were all getting together for supper to say farewell to the other brother who's jetting off East for a few weeks of holiday). Rather than stay and help me, my husband went off to join them... leaving me to clean up the dog's diarrhoea and my daughter's poo in her pants (not that he was aware of this when he left, give him his dues).

So let's just see... to sum up, today I have been vomited on, cleaned up poo pants, and had to clean up diarrhoea, all while trying hard to keep my own bile down and being so tired I feel I could sleep a week, and all on my own. Oh yes, it's definitely been a 'mommy' day.

Which leaves me with only one question (and it's not the one you're thinking... I know why I want another one!) ... how the hell do single parents do this day in and day out????

Radio silence

A colleague asked me a question on Friday: How do you manage it all? He was referring to the fact that, in between managing the various facets of my job (which are substantial) I also seem to manage a family life with a toddler, a blog, and other bits and pieces on top. Hmm... how DO I manage it all? Quite honestly, I don't. In order to give attention to all the things that I want to do, and all the things I have to do, different things have to be ignored at different times. There aren't enough hours in the day to do it all.

Which is why there has been radio silence for a few weeks. Too much else on the go. With Nellie being sick during the school holidays, there simply wasn't time to do the things that needed doing, which meant that the things I wanted to do (like blogging) were bumped off the list.

So here are the highlights and lowlights of the past 2.5 weeks...

1. The car is STILL in the garage, and will be for the forseeable future. We are awaiting a new CPU from the UK. When that arrives, it will need to be programmed, installed and tested. THEN, if everything checks out, we will get it back. (I forsee LOTS of moolahs being spent here!) ARRRRGGGH! The plus-side of this is that I've been forced to cycle to work on days I might otherwise have chickened out.
2. The owner of the house we bought has NOT gone into receivership after all - the selling agent was lying to us. I don't know why she would do that, but she did. But now I'm feeling very disenchanted with her and the whole buying a house business. Plus I'm feeling very nervous that we won't be able to see our house in time, or for the right price.... Sigh! Buying/ selling a house is definitely in the top 5 major stressors in life, right up there with death, divorce and getting a new job. Hmm... we've done 2 of those already. Let's hope this house stress won't lead us to a divorce.
3. Holidays were lovely, but stressful, and too short. Thank God we have TWO (count them: one, two) long weekends in a row now.
4. My school kids start writing exams in 7 school days... I have 3 exams to set (done 2 already, one more to go) and before then, have had a MASSIVE project to mark from both the Gd 9's and the Gd 11's (roughly equivalent to Gd 9 and AS level in the UK, or Std 7 and Std 9 for the old school Saffas). They are doing a Science Fair - all 200 in each grade. The marking involves not only looking at their write-up, but marking their interview/ oral presentation, plus marking their display up in the hall. The displays are open to the public, so trying to mark during the open days is like trying to walk upstream. PLUS, being HoD I'm responsible for doing some staff evaluations, which involve a pre-interview, classroom visit and post-interview - and all before the end of June... (as well as having my own one done)... for possibly 4 staff members. Hmm... Oh yes - and we're having 2.5 hour power cuts on 2 days of the week at the moment, which makes teaching fun. NOT. Plus I'm also trying to keep on top of my extra-mural stuff. Yup - there are lots of plates spinning... let's hope I don't drop too many of them. Thank God that exams themselves are nice and quiet times for teachers (apart from the marking).
5. Power cuts are playing havoc with our lives. But we work around them - it forces you to either manage your time very well, or to become very creative, both of which are really good things. At least Eskom has finally agreed to a schedule for the cuts, so at least now you know when they're going to happen. (Interestingly, one my Gd 9 kids worked out that if everyone in Cape Town swapped their incandescent bulbs for fluorescent ones, the electricity saving would mean there would be no need for power cuts anywhere in the country! Food for thought. Of course, there would then be the problem of how to dispose of the fluorescent bulbs, as they contain mercury - although some websites claim that using them actually reduces the mercury pollution... quite how, I'm not sure.) In particular, power cuts meant that our router got scrambled, so I couldn't get access to blogger for a few days... very frustrating until we figured out what the problem was. So now I'm back!
6. Nellie is gorgeous, and growing more so every day. She is a constant delight to us, and I fall more and more in love with her every day. I thank God for her because she is the greatest blessing in my life. If someone had been able to explain to me just what a blessing children are... well, I don't think I would have understood, because this is one of those things that has to be experienced to be truly believed. Check out her blog for an update on her life. We recently bought a trampoline for her - best investment we've made in months! Right up there with those black motorbikes that all the kids in SA have! Little and big cousins are welcome to come and play on it with her!

Well, I think that's all... Off to spend some more quality time with my family. Yay!

And in the news this week...

... a family of three has been struck down with a horrible vomiting bug. The first signs were seen in the little 18-month old toddler. Once all thought of a possible family outbreak had passed, both parents were simultaneously struck by this vicious infiltrator, striking them both incapable of caring for themselves, each other or their little girl. Miraculously, all 3 have survived to tell the tale, much aided by the quick onset of grandparents-to-the-rescue.

And then there were five....

Tooth #5 has made its way out into the world - at last.

Graeme was away for two days in Edinburgh with work last week, so I was on my own with her. This was then followed by Graeme working late several nights this week and being ill (having caught Janel's viral thing). Janel, meanwhile, was pushing out her tooth (with all the ensuing drama that brings). I was busy at work as my Year 9's wrote their mock SATS (which we then had to mark - lovely! 3 papers, 150 scripts for each set, and only 2 full time staff plus me....). Physically I'm getting worse and I suspect I'm developing PSD, which (if I'm right and it isn't halted) may mean I'll be in a wheel chair for the last few weeks of the pregnancy. I'm finding walking very painful, but I'm trying not to let that stop me walking as I need the exercise. To top it all off, Graeme's viral thing then sparked a chest infection resulting in him going to A&E and then being admitted to hospital for 2 days. (He's still recovering, but at home now and on strict bed rest.)

In the midst of all this we've been on tenterhooks waiting for my dad to have his op on Tuesday (he has another lump in the same place as last time....) to find out whether the cancer is back or not.

So all in all, the past 2 weeks have not been fun and we are all exhausted. Needless to say, all I want for Christmas is peace, quiet and as little fuss and hassle as possible, so that the 3 of us can have a lovely Christmas together as a new family.

However, we had a fun time this morning at swimming. What was supposed to be only a 1 week postponement because of the relining of the pool became a 6 week complete refurbishment. But we are finally back for our final 2 lessons (the last one is tomorrow). To say thank you for the inconvenience, the instructor took 2 underwater photos of us this morning. That, along with getting used to the new pool and swimming again after a 6 week break, was all rather intense for Janel. I doubt the photos will come out nicely, but we'll see. If they're any good I'll put them up on the blog.

We'll be away from Thursday, so the next blog will probably only be after New Year, unless something momentous happens before then!

Have a great Christmas! Remember that the real reason we celebrate is because God gave us the greatest gift - his Son - born as a baby (and what new meaning that takes on for me now!) in Bethlehem, and may that remembrance bring you great and everlasting joy. Shalom to you all!

Progress report

Well, after all that, it isn't chickenpox after all - just a viral infection that has a rash and blisters associated with it. How frustrating!

However, we've put the time at home to good use, learning to blow a whistle!! Yes, little Nellie can now blow a whistle (not loudly, but you can hear it). So cute!

She's also got a favourite book now - one about a bunch of birthday presents - which has flaps you lift up to reveal the present item. One of them shows a ball (bouncy ball). Whenever we get to that page now, she starts "bouncing", and even if you just say 'bouncy ball' she will start to bounce.

One of her presents was a little car that she sits on and pushes with her feet. We haven't got that far yet - she's too uncertain about it all - but as it has a handle at the back, she is very happy pushing that around the room. She's even learnt how to start to turn it round when she gets up against wall.

Right now I'm baking her a cake (my first attempt in YEARS) which I'm hoping to shape and ice as a big number 1. Not very original, I know, but fun never the less. Although her party was cancelled, a few people have still managed to arrange to come over for lunch or tea, so that will be nice (assuming she isn't asleep or crying!)

Sick on her birthday!

This time one year ago, almost exactly, my waters broke. 17 hours from now, tiny Janel was born - all purple, with jaundice - at an incredible 34 weeks.

One year on, and to celebrate her birthday she has contracted chickenpox. Unfortunately, this means that her birthday party on Sat has had to be cancelled.... so not only was her birth itself eventful, but her birthday will be too (or not, given that we're in quarantine!).

Still, she has been, and is, the joy of our lives. Every day I thank God for her and tomorrow will be no different. As we look back and celebrate how our tiny baby fought the odds and survived - to walk all of 13 steps by herself today! - we will thank God even more for her. She is a pleasure to be around, a joy to behold, and a priceless treasure. And to think that God thinks we're the best people to be her parents.... unreal!

Happy 1st birthday my Sugar Lump Lovely! Happy 1st birthday Daddy's Chuckle Monster. May this year be the first of MANY more, and may God continue to protect you and guide you through this turbulent world.

My midwife appointment went well today - No 2 is a vicious kicker, just like Janel was! Some things change, others stay the same. Let's hope the manner of No 2's birth will be as different to Janel's as chalk and cheese.

Nice clean shirts

Yesterday Nellie didn't eat particularly well, and the night before she had a really disturbed night. So last night we doped her up on baby Nurofen to get her to sleep properly in the hopes that she was just feeling a bit unwell and maybe in a bit of pain from her teeth.

She slept through (more or less), which was great, and after her early morning bottle (around 5am) went straight back to sleep instead of playing for a while. That should have been a warning bell to us.... Anyway, when she then woke up again around 6.30am, she was very floppy and a bit unresponsive, as well as being slightly hot. We didn't think too much of it, till about 7am, when, without warning, she promptly threw up all over Graeme and herself.

While Graeme changed shirt, I cleaned her up. I then handed her back to him while I finished off something else, thinking that as she'd thrown up they'd both be fine. Not so. She promptly threw up again, on his second nice clean shirt! Poor chap!

She's fine now (more or less - she's has a slight temperature today and has been feeling very sorry for herself), and fortunately the unresponsiveness disappeared (or I would have taken her to A&E), but I decided to stay at home with her. I'm really glad I did, because I know that if I were feeling as miserable as she clearly has been, I'd want my mommy and the way she's clung on to me today and just wanted to cuddle continuously has just confirmed for me that I made the right decision.

Anyway, now to try to get her to sleep a bit more....