Moving and Stuff (by sarah)

So we have to move and we have been trying to sort it out and get a mortgage and what not which is somehow taking up most of the time we had spare.

But we have found a house we want - my only issue with it is it doesn't have enough grass but it is a garden I myself could maintain without having to wait for Alaric to be free etc... It is double glazed and has central heating - two things that with my health and having a baby again are most important - it was so hard trying to make sure Jeany didn't get too cold here.

There are allotments just round the corner for our veg growing and I can do salad and herbs in pots. There is a workshop in the garden for Al and a fantastic attic room with lots of natural light for my art - plenty of storage and room for children toys!

Obviously we may not get the house still - we have made two offers based on the 20% deposite and how much Al's family had sorted etc... which have been rejected - we are going for a finial offer based on what they say they will take as a minimium. Mortgage brokers seem to think there is no problem with us getting the mortgage though we have been referred by all the banks we've tried for more assessement a we're borderline.

There is no off street parking and there is a derelict building with graffiti and weeds oposite but last time we went to view the house it was being cleaned up as a church hall so I'm not too worried. We drove around the area at different times of day and night - and things seemed ok - kids hanging around drinking fizzy drinks and actually playing on the swings and stuff in the park - there were no needles or condoms in the play area or around either and crime figures seem ok. Prices are low in the area because there used to be a mental hosptail apparently.

If we get this house we will be finially be able to have say the swimming pool out 🙂 I can still have fruit trees in pots and may even be able to sneak in a super coop - though I need to check that the birds would actually be happy with that.

An outside tape - to do stuff with!

We are still hoping to be moved by Christmas. We are hopeful.

(if it falls through I have another house in a our price range book marked which I'm hoping wont be sold until after we have things all sorted - just incase!)

And Mary is Growing Up! (by sarah)

Mary sat up all by her self from laying completely flat and then proceeded to tip the crib over - off course I had things set up so that the only place for her to fall was straight out onto the bed. But this ment Saturday saw an exhorsted Daddy, Mummy and Ferfer trying to put the cot up after a day at Cattle Country with the School!

Also due to floods and evacuating Jean and what have you we had basically nothing other than a bumper for the cot and when I checked on her Saturday night she had wriggled down and pushed her leg out of the slats at the end onto Jeany's bed. So today saw fun and games in Mother Care but more on that adventure later!

The Inmate looks very happy and we now have a lovely set of bed lining for the cot including another bumper and it is all textured aplique and Mary loves fabrics and feeling different textures so it is perfect.

Jean got her a musical flower garden for the side of the cot - something she can press buttons on and the flowers move and lights flash and it plays tunes Mary already knows so she does her little bobbing dance to them 🙂

It was however a strange thing - Jean moved out of our room at 6 months, Mary is moving at 8 and it's somehow didn't have the urgency it did when we had Jean - maybe it was just I wasn't used to sharing the bedroom with a child where as Jean still regually comes and climbs into the bed with us in the mornings.

Jean is happy as she cried when me and Mary moved out of her room and was grumpy we had her sister and she wasn't sharing a room with her like I promised!

Milestone (by sarah)

So yesterday Alaric picked me and the girls up in his lunch break and dropped us off in Gloucester at the nearest he could to the City Museum. I had a crutch shoved in the basket and handle and limped my way painfully and slowely to the museum with Jean chatting. We went in and I was relieved to find seats liberally spread out though I really could have done with more but understand that they don't want to clutter the exhibitions.

We coloured dinosuars and Jean investigated urban night life and put a Roman helmet on and so on. We even went for a drink in the cafe before attempting the lift and going upstairs - this is where it went a bit wrong - it appears that my pushchair is too long for the wheelchair platform lift thingy (which mainly gets used for pushchairs). Part of me does wonder if they just expect parents to carry the puchchairs up the stairs because Al struggles with that one :/ Baby plus supplies plus decent pushchair/pram that doesn't tip over and that I can use as a psuedo frame is heavy!

Anyway it had only cost me £2 to get in so I wasn't too disheartened but the faffing with the lift had acted the pelvis up so we walked very slowely to Jean's choice of lunch Mac Donalds where I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting whilst Jean played with her happy meal toy and Mary mainly slept.

It is a milestone because though painful and one leg ended up just dragging and having to be then man handled into the car - I did it and know that this can now only improve.

And actually it was easier than when I was first attempting this with Jeany as I had a helpful Jeany there who was incredibly helpful.

Mum and her Scooter (by sarah)

As some of you know Mum had an accident where her mobility scooter went backwards down a slope and crashed into a kirb. She fell scooter and all - I saw the horror on her face and got dad to hand me the baby so he could go to her. Jeany run up too her and was informing everyone that it was her Nanny etc...

This was Friday in Gloucester Docks - the dock security and the ambulance team where fantastic and between the four of them got mum up onto the stretcher and loaded into the ambulance - I spent most of the time in the car with the two girls as I couldn't really do much else. Once Jeany came back to the car I left her momentarily holding Mary whilst I told the security etc... that mum has brittle bone disease as Dad was in a bit of a flap. I then took mum's handbag and shopping back to the car.

People must have thought I was really strange but I knew mum would be panicking about her material and stuff and sure enough all she said was sorry and 'I think I've lost my buttons!'

They thought she had broken her hip but fortunatly she hadn't - it's all "just" soft tissue damage but she is pretty beaten up and the bruises and grazes look bad. She is having to use a zima frame to walk at the moment 🙁

Again the post code lottery was evident with the nhs - as mum was informed that if she lived here a stair lift and stuff would have already been put in her home - something the nhs back in Essex wont do.

The x-rays they did did show however that her heart and lungs have been badly damaged by the radiotherapy for the cancer treatment which sucks but I suppose is better than the alternative.

Sunday as the craft fayre I was supposed to be doing was canceled I took mum, dad and the girls to the local carvery were was spent about 4 hours watching the classic, vintage and kit cars going past on the round about - we sat outside and I took blankets and games for the girls.

Poor dad still ended up carrying all the food as though I am trying to use one crutch instead of two I found I simply didn't have the hand strength to carry the plates! But mum enjoyed her outing. She is in more pain today though than she was when she came home from the hospital and bruising is still appearing on her.

Of course because fundimentally she is ok and will just take time to mend it is funny to say she crushed her mobility scooter but it wasn't at the time :/

Weaning (by sarah)

Mary is only 3 1/2 months old and I am weaning her - I started by letting her just taste things at about 3 months because she would squeak angrily when we were eating - screwing her little face up and looking like a red Donald Duck. But because World Health Organisation recommends just breast for the first 6 months I was trying to hold off full blown weaning as in giving her mushed up foods to eat.

But she just would not sleep and began grabbing at food we were eating. So I chewed up banana and fed it too her and she slept like a log!

We had to wean Jean at three months as well after talking to the Midwife/Health Visitor who was coming round at the time - Jean was a hungrier baby though so I thought Mary would last out a bit longer.

Anyway the last few days have been great - she loves banana, carrot and parsnip, semolina (without sugar!), peas and sprouts. She is really enthusiastic about this and grins when she sees she's being put in the highchair. She even grabs the spoon and to my amazement tries to ram it in her mouth - though I think this is many due to the fact she tries to ram everything into her mouth at the moment!