Friday 24 August 2007

Unexpected questions #1

Whilst enjoying a quiet moment in front of the television, Phil has just turned to me and said the following....

"Do you think it is possible to disguise human sh*t as food?"

For once, I'm completely speechless. On top of that, I'll be suggesting we get take-away tonight.

Wednesday 22 August 2007

Domestic goddess

The washing is done; the dishwasher is loaded; the house is tidy; dinner is waiting; Michael is napping and I am a domestic goddess. Phil will be home in a couple of hours and I can either spend the time doing some baking or I can chill out on the sofa with some chocolate and a good book. Since I haven't sat down in three days I am sorely tempted to do the latter! Michael is completely well again and his temperature is now normal. He's learned a couple of tricks in the last few days. He will now feed me Cheerios when he gets fed up of eating them. If I can only switch the Cheerios to grapes or sweets then I'm on to a winner here. His favourite thing right now is coming up behind me when I'm sitting at the computer and spinning the swivel chair around. He gets very annoyed if I won't play along. Last night I was attempting to read through the Norton Ghost User Manual whilst being spun around every few seconds. I'll probably always associate that software with nausea now ;o)

Perhaps I'll multi-task. After all, I can read some of my book whilst the eggs and butter come up to room temperature :o)

Tuesday 21 August 2007

No fair!

I've just realised that Phil has taken two business trips since Michael was born and on both occasions I have been stuck at home. On the first occasion there was a huge storm leading to the public being advised to stay indoors. On this the second occasion, Michael has a fever. Does he take the luck with him or something? No fair!!!

Sleep now

I'm finally all done for the day. I've just completed an online food shop and soon I can sleep! I don't like leaving Michael during the day in order to do housework and chores so I tend to cram them all in when he is napping or after he goes to bed. This is the first chance I've had for a break all day long. Although Michael's temperature has been lower today (hovering around 38.5) he has been quite clingy and periodically distressed. He only had a brief nap in the afternoon which was unfortunate because I usually get a lot done during that time. I took him into a toy shop when we went into town and bought him some crayons, paper and those little windmills on sticks that you blow (I'm sure they must have a proper name but I haven't a clue what it is). He thoroughly enjoyed batting at the cats with the windmill and helped me with a 'welcome home' drawing for Phil. If Michael's temperature hasn't come down to normal by tomorrow lunchtime then I am going to call the doctor to see if I need to make an appointment.

Well my mind has now gone blank so I think I'll leave this entry here. Night night!

Monday 20 August 2007

Perfect timing

Today has not been great. Phil left early this evening to travel to the UK. He is doing an upgrade for a customer and won't be home until Wednesday evening. Before he left we went out to the local shopping centre for a walk and an ice-cream. There is a nice children's play area by the water and I held on to Michael's hands and let him walk where he wanted to go. Unfortunately he wanted to walk into the water to get a good close look at the coots and boring Mama forbade it. He was extremely distressed when he didn't get his own way but I put that down to him being overdue for a nap.

Something rather amusing happened when Phil said goodbye to Michael. Michael and I were standing in the doorway to his nursery. Phil kissed Michael and I asked Michael to wave 'bye bye' to Daddy. Instead he shut the door in Phil's face. We found this very funny. After Phil left, Michael was clingy and unhappy. This behaviour isn't unusual because his front molars are coming through. I was also a bit subdued due to Phil's departure and I guessed that was a contributing factor. Michael ate most of his dinner but wouldn't even touch the bread which was unusual. He continued to be very clingy and whiny and only breastfeeding would soothe him at all (albeit temporarily). I decided to take his temperature as he felt a little hot, only to discover that it was 39.5... the highest it has ever been. I gave him paracetamol, stripped him down to his nappy and then called the after hours doctor. They passed me from pillar to post whilst poor Michael crawled on the floor getting more distressed by the moment. They were concerned that it might be meningitis and asked me to check the signs and monitor him closely. Although he responded well to the paracetamol I was thoroughly rattled by this point.

I had intended to put Michael to bed and sit down with a good book and honey-glazed pork chops. Instead I found myself pouring out my woes to Phil on the phone and eating a hurried roast chicken sandwich. There couldn't be a worse time for Michael to get ill because I would have to take him up to the out-of-hours doctor by taxi or by bus. The local taxi firms are not keen to collect fares during the night. Michael is fast asleep now and, other than the fever, is displaying no signs of meningitis that I can discern. I was hoping to take him on some day trips over the next few days but I don't think I can risk it if he is ill. I know that teething isn't supposed to cause a high fever but I can't think what else could have caused this.

I do hope tomorrow is better!

Saturday 18 August 2007

Mobipocket

Damn you, Mobipocket.com. You might want to consider backups and making your reader software available to other sites.

Wednesday 8 August 2007

General update

It's been a busy couple of days. I took Michael to the dentist yesterday morning because I wanted to get his top front teeth checked. I was worried that he might have damaged them by bumping his mouth. Thankfully, they are fine. The dentist was trying to encourage him to open up and say ah by showing him a model of a mouth saying ah. I don't think he has much experience of 11 month old babies. He then asked me if Michael could say ah - erm... no. Michael sat there impassively regarding the dentist who was foolish enough to put a gloved finger in his mouth. Michael bit it. I forgot to warn him that this is a hazard for any finger venturing too close to that dank cavern of evil ;o)

In the afternoon we went to the children's farm in Hoofddorp with a friend I 'met' on a baby forum and her two children. It was a lot of fun and Michael really enjoyed playing in the sandpit. He seemed, despite my efforts to prevent it, to eat a vast quantity of the sand so I imagine that he will be pooping sand castles soon enough. He had so much excitement that he ended up falling asleep in his dinner when we got home. Being a good Mummy, my first thought was to take a photo ;o)

Today I decided to have a lazy day and I took Michael out for a little bit of shopping in town and a snack in Hema. Michael had babbling conversations with any baby in earshot and spent a happy 10 minutes thumping his hands up and down on the table and waving to passers-by. He can be quite a handful in restaurants so I gave myself a pat on the back for being brave enough to venture into Hema. On the way home I spotted a huddled bundle of feathers on the pavement. A wood pigeon was sitting very still and with some of his feathers at odd angles. I'm a bit of a hopeless case when it comes to animals in distress so I shot off home to get a box and some gloves. The sun was very hot and I was concerned that the bird would get attacked by the local cats if he sat there much longer. I have never handled a bird before but I managed to get it into the box without too much trouble. Holding the box under one arm and steering the pushchair with the other I made my way home again. I put the box in the utility room as it is quiet, dark and cool in there. Within the hour the animal ambulance came to collect him to take him to a local vet. The animal ambulance really is fantastic. The lady took the bird out of the box to examine him and he really was very beautiful. She thought that he had a broken wing and was a bit stunned but would almost certainly be fine after some TLC.

So... that was my good deed for the day. Michael was most unimpressed that his dinner was delayed whilst I attended to the bird. As punishment for my good deed he decided to hang off my leg howling. What is it they say? No good deed goes unpunished?

I guess I'll finish with a general update:

Currently reading: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Last movie watched: The Glenn Miller Story
Last thing I ate: A smoked salmon sandwich in Hema
Current mood: Murderous. If Ron doesn't pipe down I will go crazy.
Current location: In the living room at home

Friday 3 August 2007

Not such a good idea?

Perhaps the late-night curry wasn't such a good idea. I had a dream last night that I was being pursued by a 15-foot giant snail that wanted to lick me (do snails have tongues??) I woke up in a cold sweat with my bed sheets in a tangle. Still... it was worth it. That was a fantastic curry.

Thursday 2 August 2007

Curry

I have to take a moment to mention a fabulous Indian restaurant in Amsterdam called Mother India. We recently discovered this place after a tip-off and all I can say is - fantastic! The food is delicious and the service is wonderful. There are woefully few decent Indian take-aways in Haarlemmermeer so we are more than happy to make the trip to Amsterdam where Mother India know how to do the job properly. There is none of that sickly, flavourless, canary-yellow rubbish that the Dutch like to call curry.