Baptisms

Baptism day! Not what I was expecting, but a fun day nonetheless. Old history part.. Lal was partially baptised just before he went into hospital with Pyloric Stenosis. Partially in that he had only been blessed with water, and hadn't completed his full baptism... so he was half saved! :)
K and I have been supposed to arrange to finish it for the last year. We failed. We freely admit it, we are procrastinators.. or I am, and he has no choice but to obey. Our Priest, the semi Godfather, got fed up with waiting, and on his scheduled visit today, brought along his oils and anointed the Lal.

I did have 45 minutes notice that it was going to happen, so got my old Baptism dress from the murky depths of my wardrobe. It's a lovely traditional dress, that G wore as well, so there is family history there. Everybody say Ahhhh. But I was supposed to get it altered to fit Lal, and remove the sheer puffiness from the sleeves. The "I'll do it later" monster struck again, and I failed. Again.
So.. at 10am Lal was dressed in his sister's gown, with a white nappy underneath.. matching.. obviously, and was properly and completely baptised. K couldn't be off work, so was saying his responses via speakerphone (very surreal) and I was trying to stop Lal from knocking over the Holy Water.

It all went well. Even if I did have to raid the things I sell for a present for Fr B and some baptism presents for Lal. Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but I sell Catholic items online.. rosaries, crucifixes, bibles, that sort of thing. I now owe myself money. Grr.

When G was baptised, our then Priest didn't allow pictures to be taken in the church, so we had posed shots on a blue chair at home, with her shawl as the backdrop. I thought it would be a nice idea to recreate the scene with Lal..



Sadly, the only way I could get him to sit still, was to have Baby Tv on behind me, hence the rather gormless and vacant look on his face. Otherwise this happened.. That's my boy.

And for the rest of today.. well.. He rediscovered the cooking oil, which is still causing our kitchen floor to resemble an ice skating rink. He ate 6 crayons, not all of them, just the tasty part of the tip. He finally learnt how to say "gerga" in relation to G. And put his brand new ELC lion down the toilet. Ah, how happy am I that the toilet escapades are returning. No really. I am.

What else? Not much.. I am planning a huge party to celebrate Lal's induction into Church, and I will actually get round to doing more than plan soon. So far I have discovered the need for a party, which is progress.

And that's it. Unless anyone has any ideas on what I do with the left over Holy Water? It is currently in a nice jug, I can hardly just throw it away..

Ooh.. I wonder if the full and completed baptism will mean that Lal behaves at Mass on Sunday? I am looking forward to that experiment.

K x

Anyone for yogurt?

Gah! Another one of those days, I feel like I have been a mother forever, if its not one of them trying to kill me, its the other.

The littlest monster has been in fine form today. I left him downstairs whilst I took the ironing and clean washing up. He got hungry. Understandable really, it was a whole 30 minutes since he'd last eaten...

Notice the bottle of wine for after Greek Yogurt thirst. Wonderful. Apart from the fridge incident, he has been fairly good today. Oh, maybe one thing, he has noticed that there is a magic tray on my computer. If you press a button on the box.. a fancy thing slides out.. and in.. and out.. and in. I'm guessing that I'm not going to be able to listen to any Cd's via pc for a while. He also has more words. "No" is leading the way, followed closely by "Muuuummmm?" and "Whassat?" Specially learnt today is "tea" which doesn't actually mean tea, it means that he's managed to climb the chairs to get onto the kitchen table and has poured my cup of tea over himself. Marvellous.
Good job the hot cups go on the sideboard. I find hot cups of tea on the table always lend to spillages. I don't know why. It's something in me. Cup of tea on the table, means cup of tea on the floor. Well it does now Lal is about anyway. Still no walking progress, although Grampy says that four steps were taken during a swings and slide visit today. Thank Goodness for grandparents. I needed the alone time to clear up the yogurt.

The biggest monster, now known as delinquent teen is, well, delinquent. It seems that she has inherited something from me, something not so good. Something so bad in fact it needed a phone call from the school to inform me. She has inherited my Art of Chat. Those of you who know me, know that I can babble about inconsequentials for hours. And she is now doing this during lessons. Dammit. For some reason, the teachers think she is a bright, able, polite and lovely child.. but the chat is letting her down. As is her inablity to keep a maths set, but I won't go into that again. So I have to stop the chatter. Her pc is banned for the duration, and reprogramming has begun. K is not amused, and mini lectures are currently ongoing. He's as far as future careers.. apparently she won't even be qualified to work at Tesco if she carries on the was she is going... he hasn't yet started on her friends. Once he plays the "friends are a hindrance to your education" card, I'll have to step in. Oh, she's as stubborn as he is.

And that's it for today. I think.. I get the feeling that there was something I was intending to say, but can't remember what it was. That's going to annoy me now. Nope.. I have brain death again. It's gone. back.. i think.. and its not even interesting. I have random pain in my left ankle. haven't hurt it, or twisted it, or sat on it funny. I just have it. Pfff.

K x x

Lost.. never to be seen again

I may rant tonight. I am not in a good mood at all! Bah. And Humbug.

As I said yesterday, G got a week's worth of after school detentions for failing to produce a protractor. Never mind that she had two sets bought for her in September, both these are well and truly lost. Gone. Never to be seen again. How two complete sets can disappear is beyond me. Especially when we still have the cases. One case has coppers in, and the other is filled with hair grips. Because thats where they go. Ok then.

So, due to my deathly illness (not telling K that I feel better.. he's out until 9.30,and then I will get some tlc) I completely forgot to go and get another maths set from town. Grrr. G arrived home, ate, mooched, sulked, played with and bathed baby, and remembered at 8pm that she absolutely had to have one, or she'd be expelled. She may be prone to exaggeration, a little like me. So muggins me left them both at home and went to the Tesco down the road, literally 5 mins away. Pff... got there, got set, and some bits of food, some reduced trousers for Lal (Were £5, got them for 50p!) Ooh yes... bought myself a Mother's Day present, a nice new mug to make up for the ones I am currently working my way through breaking.. basically bought bits. And then had a row with the self service checkout. It kept telling me that there was an unexpected item on the belt.. and there was nothing there... nothing. Oh, except my purse, which I realised after swearing at the damn thing and trying not to sneeze (left tissues at home)

Anyway.. so that was the Maths set story. I refused to pay for this one, and made G give me some of her birthday money for it. Harsh? Yes.. but she has to learn. Children. TUT

Lal has discovered the joys of crayons, he's not entirely sure that wax tastes nice, but he's giving it a go. He has also discovered the low table that the crayons live(d) on, and when I went back into the conservatory, he was standing on the table, crayons in hand, flinging them across the room. Hooligans, I am raising hooligans.

Nice man came and fixed tumble dryer. Worst suspicions confirmed. Build up of dust inside cause electricity trip. Dammit. Now I have a new phobia. I've already cleaned it out twice today, and I haven't used it since it was fixed.

That's it.. I'm off to drink my tea and try and make myself look more ill. He'll be home in a minute.

K xx

It's not JUST a cold!

I have to be brief tonight because I'm dying. Actually dying.

To some people, it may seem like I just have a cold. But there is no "just" about it. My nose is bright red and very, very sore. My darling husband kindly purchased some tissues for me, but he got the Anti Viral ones, and the stuff in them makes poor old nose more sore than before. I can't breathe, let alone smoke which is truly annoying. yes, I know its good for me, but still.. tut.

I am woolly headed, and foggy headed, and the combination is killing me. And I have no Diet Coke. Apologies for the non sequitur, but I just looked at an empty can and it reminded me.

At least this is Day One. Day Two should be the test as to whether the Cold decides to descend to my lungs and force me to cough all night long. Fingers crossed for that not to happen..

G has a week of after school detentions. The school is rather strict.. she got them for failing to produce a protractor in her maths lesson. Gah. And she now can't find the protractor, even though I bought her two maths sets in September. Another annoyance. She does it deliberately, I swear she does.

Lal has discovered the true purpose of his Ride On car. And has spent most of the day riding round the house, shouting "Wheeeeeeeeee." Oh, and he can now spoon feed himself yogurt. Well, part spoon and part finger. It's progress.

I am now going to apply another layer of vaseline to the nose. Oh, I am an attractive sight.

K xx

And a friend just told me that Kleenex Balsam tissues are not pronounced Balsam, but Balm. How can that be? It's Bal - sam. Balm? TUT!

Bunnies.. just plain wrong!

Sunday. I'm sitting here, its 8.14, and I have no idea what I did today. Nope. Inspiration has left me. The impossible has happened and I have nothing to talk about.

Oh, except this. As I said yesterday, G went to a birthday thingy. She took some money of her own, for incidentals, and came back with a new purse (to go with the 28 she already has) a necklace and a bracelet. I can't be the only mother who objects to Playboy things being marketed, with their cute little bunnies, at 12 year olds? (BTW, How pleased am I that I remembered to say 12??) It's obscene. I hate it. But I can't really take them off her as she bought them with her own money. I don't think its wrong to tell her that she looks like a blinged out Pimp however. Sadly, I then had to explain what a pimp was. Dammit. She just looks awful. They are cheap silveresque chunky things, they'll probably turn her neck green within a week. But apparently "everyone" wears them. I'm behind the times obviously.
Was it just my mother (and now me) who objected to the use of the word "everyone?" I used to beg to go to parties, telling her that everyone would be there. All I'd ever get was "Who is this ubiquitous everyone? I won't be there, your father won't be there, therefore EVERYONE won't be there will they?" That sort of logic is impossible to argue with. And I used it tonight against my child. I am my mother. I am not amused.
Oh.. G had comeback.. its not EVERYONE who wears them.. just "everyone who is anyone." Why didn't I think of that argument? I feel like ringing my mum and asking to go to a party...

I cleaned out the conservatory, where the dryer lives, in preparation for the fix it man coming on Tuesday. Just so he doesn't see how dusty it was behind it. Dust won't have broken it, will it? If it did, the washing machine and the freezer will be the next to die.

Umm, what else? I have further proof that exercise is bad for me. Walking to town has given me a cold. Actually, its not an entire cold yet, just one side of my nose, but I'm sure by tomorrow it will have spread. Maybe I really am allergic to fresh air? But no, I won't be googling allergies.. not yet anyway.

And finally.. tonight, K and G bathed Lal. I sat at the pc for 5 mins for some catching up. I turned around to see a naked baby entering the room, crawling to the plug socket and turning it on. He then crawled to the tv, turned that on, pressed play and sat on the beanbag to watch Teletubbies. And was so proud of himself, he clapped. With his feet. Hand clapping, anyone can do. Foot clapping.. it's the way of the future...

For someone who could think of anything to write, I really can ramble!

K x x

Symptoms and Deadly Diseases

If you read my journals, you know that I'm a worrier. If you are a member of my birth board, you know that I am a worrier. I have outclassed myself today.

I have been worrying for months about an area on the top of my finger on my left hand. Right next to the nail. On and off, it will go a really horrible yellowy brown colour. No injury, no pain, just the horrible colour. When the panic really sets in, I have been googling. Nothing ever comes up.
Well.. Delayed-Onset Ipsilateral Sensory Symptoms in Patients with Central Poststroke Pain but I don't think I have that. Or Peripheral Vascular Disease, but you never know.

So today, I noticed the brown was back again. Mentioned it to K, who couldn't think of anything and refused to indulge my paranoid ramblings.
Until 15 minutes ago, when I made myself a cup of tea.

Apparently, when I take the tea bag out, I squeeze with bag with a spoon, hold it against the side of the cup, and then pick it out with my fingers.

My brown coloured finger symptom is nothing more than tea stains. But the very worst thing... K noticed it and told me. I will never be able to live this one down. It's like the time I believed him when he told me that they had taken the word gullible out of the dictionary.

I am ashamed. And off to scrub my tea stained finger. And I'm never allowed to google another symptom ever again.

K x

Disaster has struck the washing pile

've been bad. Very bad at keeping up to date. I apologise.. It was G's birthday though, and then Friday. Not that anything happened on Friday. It just was. It's an excuse. really.

Right, updates! G turned 12. She enjoyed the birthday meal. She especially liked hearing all the embarrassing mummy stories my brothers saw fit to tell. I'd forgotten about the time they put me in a suitcase and pushed me down the stairs. I suppose the head injury is responsible for the memory loss on that one. As my dad says, it explains a lot.
I was looking at her, when we were it the restaurant, and I can't believe how grown up she is. 12 years old. I think I was still playing with My Little Pony at that age. She wanted hair curlers. Still don't care what she says, the chastity belt is going on next year and coming off when she's 32. I have informed her that she is not allowed to procreate until she is double the age I was when she was born. So that's 36. K is extremely happy with that plan. I wonder why?

Friday? Umm.. what happened? The day itself was uneventful. Lal and I played, sang, danced, fought over the TV Controls, the usual stuff. For the first time in ages I decided to have a bath ( no I am not ending the sentence there... ) whilst Lal was awake. I didn't particularly want him in with me, so I took so toys upstairs, and let him play on the floor. I had just gone under the water to wet my hair, when I was smashed, directly on the forehead, with a huge tub of body scrub (Christmas present.. never used.. looks good on the side of the bath!) Looked up to see monstrous baby laughing. Glad someone found it amusing.

Still no walking progress. Although he now climbs up on our bed, stands up and jumps off. So far, thank God, only when someone is waiting to catch him... Why do men think its funny to teach them these things?

And then.. Friday night... disaster struck. In my house, Friday night, as soon as they are both home from work/school, the bulk of my washing gets done. Usually 5 loads. I have a strict washing machine.. to tumble dryer.. to fold.. away and ironing pile routine.. But the tumble dryer broke. Turned it on and all the electrics went. Dammit. Sadly, I'm not that intelligent and failed to realise for 40 mins that the lack of power was down to the dryer tripping everything, and not that we were in the midst of a power cut. When I finally admitted to K what I had been doing when the power went off.. he realised the problem. Put the electric back on and we were sorted. Except I had to try the dryer 6 more times. Just in case.. We still have flashing clocks..
Managed to get an engineer out, at great cost, for Tuesday. I want my dryer back. I hate having radiators drying clothes and not heating the house!

And finally, today. K went off to watch someone play something this morning, got back around 5. G went to a friends birthday party in Southend, a Magic Kingdom apparently. She left at 12 and got home at 9.15. Alright for some. That left Lal and I to entertain ourselves. The big change being.. well nothing actually.

I decided to try the walking to town again. Not so cold today, a nice walk there actually. Lal saw some "Ogs" that said "oofoof" so his speech is coming along nicely. We took the Ipod back to Curry's, should be back and fixed in two weeks. Bad Katie didn't tell them about the trip out of the window, I thought it though, so if the salesman was psychic, he knows.
Got some nice food from M&S for tea, and then started the walk home. The pushchair was so heavy I was counting each step.. 8000 more to go.. nearly there. All I was picturing in my mind was the huge hill we came down on the way to town... By the time we got up it, I was virtually horizontal and hanging onto the pushchair for dear life. I knew I should have caught the bus.

And tonight? Well.. as Lal went to sleep at 6, and G wasn't home, K and I had some quality time, which I rounded off with msn chats and watching some (il)legally downloaded American shows. Ghost Whisperer if you're interested. Another sign of lack of intelligence.. never occurred to me that a show about a woman who can see ghosts would be sad. Have spent the last hour in tears! Am going to watch one more.. glutton and punishment I think are the words.

Anyway.. Mass at 9 tomorrow, so wish me luck!

Night!

K x x