What A Day!

I finally managed around four hours sleep before a wake up call from the kids.  The middle of the night duty was productive though, I made sandwiches for our lunches and generally finished some tidying and sorting.  As a result despite being absolutely exhausted we were out if the door in good time for Dave's appointment. 

 No sooner had I sat down in the neurology department I had an urgent call from school informing me that they would be taking Pip to the Royal Infirmary Hospital as she had suddenly deteriorated and needed checking over immediately!  She had complained of a headache earlier in the school day, but had been violently sick, was unable to walk and her temperature had shot through the roof!  Thankfully Dave was first in the queue and so it wasn't long before we made the twenty minute journey to the hospital.  My heart was in my mouth when I arrived at the accident and emergency department as I was not sure what to expect, thankfully all was well.  Her temperature had stabilised and although still being sick she was much more lucid.  A kindly nurse carried her to the door and she was asleep by the time we arrived home.  

In amongst all of the health chaos, I joined forces with other folk around the web and we badgered the home office, MP's, Kenyan Airways and anyone that would listen and at the last moment the proposed deportation was stopped!  This news really made my day!  Power to the people! 

Here's hoping for an uneventful night! 

The Night Shift

It's been a while since I did one of these!  Benedict has had five hypos in the last twelve hours and the last two have been in quick succession very late on in the evening, hence my still being up at 1am!  Bless him, he was ever so good as I had to wake him twice to treat the crashing lows.  Looking back on the evening though, it was unusual for him to sleep walk twice in quick succession and I am now thinking that his bloods dropping must have caused the extra bout of moving around.  Benedict often sleep walks but never more than once in a night, how on earth he has not fallen down the stairs is beyond me!

Despite the hiccups today, we have had a pretty good week, the highlight being our St John's Day tea in the garden with friends, followed by rosary prayers later on in the evening.  Benedict did all the catering: 

Leek, Courgette and Potato Soup

Glamorgan Sausages, Baked Potatoes and Greens

Honey and Almond Cake, served with Strawberries and Cream

The food was five star and thoroughly enjoyed by all:

 

 Cheeky Dad!

 Aunty Maureen.

 Uncle Bryan.

After dinner coffee and chat.

Benedict and Pip both had their swimming lessons on Tuesday and Benedict also had an extra swim session with Shein this morning instead of the usual maths lessons.  He really enjoyed his time in the pool and his confidence is growing.  I have said that I will tag along to some of his extra sessions with his swim teacher Gemma.  I can swim but I lack confidence in the pool and the last time I went swimming was when I was pregnant with Benedict!

  For various reasons I did not learn to swim until late primary and when I began high school education, I had a nasty accident in the deep end and hated swimming lessons from that moment on.  Once swimming lessons were no longer compulsory with the school, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. As a result of my bad experience, I always made sure that all the older girls could swim quite confidently before they attended compulsory lessons in school.  Benedict was attending lessons quite regularly up until last year, but with all the chaos with Kath's pregnancy, my Dad's heart attack/surgery and a worsening of Dave's health, the lessons fizzled out; still we are back on track and that is all that matters.

Pip is tired again and she is ready for the summer break I think.  We had a hilarious start to the morning ~ it was half past seven and Little Miss PJ was sleeping soundly, which on most days is unheard of!  Dave went in to gently wake her and her loud reposte was a peach:

"DAD, I AM SLEEPING!  DO NOT WAKE ME!  SHUT THE DOOR"

Such a shame it was not a Saturday morning :-)

Today I managed to clean and de-clutter the upstairs of the house and keep on top of the laundry.  After tea I worked in the loft room for a short while, made packed lunches for later today(!) as Dave has a neurology appointment in Preston, covered the diabetic watch and wrote an email letter to Theresa May MP regarding the deportation of an elderly woman, I also took part in an online campaign highlighting her cause entitled #AllGransMatter:

 Rabbits in the making.

    #allgransmatter

Time for sleep methinks ~ night, night x 

Sun - day

Well I guess it was bound to happen.  After a week of rescuing two bees from the house and wanting them as a pet, it was a case of third time not lucky.  So at 8 am this morning I was woken to the shouts of  "Pip, has been stung by a bee!" 

 Dave was already on the case and soaking her hand in vinegar and  aside from falling out of bed in a daze, I sent Benedict downstairs with lavender oil and then began hunting out the homeopathic remedy, Apis.  Within forty five minutes the combination remedies had worked, and a make do ice pack was working on a significant swelling, good job she was not wearing a ring!

 Hugging snowy and an ice pack to relieve the swelling.

 I think she had been stung at the top, where she wanted a plaster placing but the swelling travelled down her finger and the base was incredibly hot and swollen.  She was very brave and this has not quashed her desire to keep bees when she is older!  She reminds me so much of Sara!

We have spent the entire day outdoors. eating meals, airing the washing, reading, knitting and painting.  It has been ages since both the kids decided to paint together; they found some sun coloured paint and worked on an old piece of wooden crate packing to celebrate the official start to summer:

 Making a start.

 Lots of lovely red.

 More Red.

 "Oops, I have splashed Pip with some of my red!"

 Adding Yellow.

 "I'm watching you!"

 Mixing.

 Going Solo.

Finished!

Once the painting things had been tidied, washed and left to dry.  Benedict had fun discovering his old trike from when he was small.  This led to a discussion about clowns in the circus!

 "Look Ma, I can still ride this!!"

Happy Smiles!

Pip also wanted to join in some circus fun, so out came the face paints and a beautiful ...

... butterfly emerged.

Well ,despite living outdoors today the house is still crazily chaotic so I am now off to do a mammoth tidy up before bed :-)

 

Midsummer Madness

As is our tradition Pip had her fairy day yesterday.  She attended school as usual for a half day and then after lunch it was all hands on deck preparing for our visitors; Beth from school came with her mum Clare, little sister Hannah and baby brother Ted.  We were blessed with glorious sunshine and the fairies had great fun flitting around the garden!

For tea we had cheese and sweetcorn stuffed potatoes, sausages, vegetable sticks and dips, fruit salad and the customary fairy cakes.  I was so busy I forgot to take a shot of the table and it was only at the end that Dave remembered to photograph a lone fairy cake on the plate!  We also had a visit from the fairies and the girls were pleased with their gift of a tree fairy and a sticker book.

 Getting ready to fly!

 Fairy Dancing.

 A picnic under the trees and fun on the slide.

 Benedict entertaining Ted.

 Our Midsummer Fairy hiding a pile of treats...

 ... surprise!

 One lone fairy cake!

 Pip's latest companions all the way from Scotland, Snowy The Owl and Sam Sunshine Bear.

That's it for parties for now, the next big gathering will be the wedding and thankfully I am not required to provide the catering!

Edinburgh Day Two

On our way to the park this morning we passed the Build A Bear Workshop;  the doors were flung open wide, beckoning us in:

 Super hero costumes including Star Wars characters, hmm, this could spell trouble!

 Rows of frou-frou.

 The fill your bear area.

As you can imagine the kids were completely sold on the whole idea and since they were paying out of their own birthday money, I couldn't really grumble.  So first up you choose your bear and then you help the assistant add the stuffing:

 Pip working the pressure pump.

 

 Checking to make sure the bear feels right.  Pip's job was to check that she was cuddly enough before being sewn together.  I don't think it hurt!

 If you are a keen Star Wars geek, then you'll know that this is a Jedi costume, Obi Wan no less!  Benedict chose a super pup for his creation and thankfully I managed to discourage him from adding a pressure pad on the paw which would have played the Star Wars theme tune!

 Registering Obi.

 Pip waiting for Sam Bear's Birth Certificate!

After such excitement we decided to pop across the road and visit the Church of St Cuthbert.  Apparantly there has been a place of worship right in the heart of Edinburgh City for over thirteen centuries, but today the church was not welcoming visitors, it was holding Music Exams instead!  

Whilst Dave had his second treatment at the clinic, the kids and I sat in Waterstones reading books and after a gluten free lunch at the corner cafe, we made our way back across town for our second visit to the National Museum.  We still did not manage to see everything, this place is huge!

 

  Interactive learning zone.

 Pip making a Chinese Dragon Mask which we then emailed to our computer back home.

 The wonders of 3-d scanning machines.

 A busy bee robot picking up blocks and...

... spelling a name!

We managed to catch an earlier train home which was great since we were all shattered and  I had forgotten that Pendalino trains make me feel very sick so I am still up late into the evening battling with nausea! Ah, well! :-)

Edinburgh Day One

We had been promising ourselves a field trip to Edinburgh for weeks and finally managed to make a visit.

  Whilst Dave had his treatment at the physio clinic, I took the kids on a quick hunt for a dress for me for the wedding.  In spite of the extreme heat and the travelling they were very patient with me and although I did not purchase anything, I made a note of some suitable items and will look online.  I had originally intended to make my own dress, but I will be making Sara's instead!  She hasn't had much luck finding a dress in the style or material she likes, so it made sense for me to step up to the challenge and make her a dress of her choice, gulp!

After Dave's treatment we visited the National Museum of Scotland and enjoyed a look around the natural world exhibits aswell as other stand alone displays dotted around the foyer on each level.  By then it was time to check in to the hotel for tea, followed by a trip to the park across the road before bed.  The kids settled very quickly!

 Waiting, not long now...

 ... two minutes later.

 Reading and knitting, this could have been a train yarn along!

 Waiting for Dad in the cafe on the corner, literally across the road from the treatment rooms.

 A cool welcome respite from the heat outside.

 Big Bang Film.

 Another tea stop!

 A post dinner supper time treat in Princes Street Gardens, across the road from the Premier Inn.

 Pre-bed quiet time and knitting therapy for mum!

 View from our window.