Christmas Decorations ... Take Two ...

Wooo hooo!!!

The tree is finally up and finished! Yay!

Suzy picked Seren up from school for me, and when she got home, I made her some tea, and then when Adrian got home from work, he took her to the school's Christmas Fayre. They brought back a big balloon for Dylan, which he was VERY pleased with! And Seren came back with a little cuddly cat and a knitted hand puppet, which haven't left her side since, except for her swimming lesson!

When they got back, Adrian made Dylan some tea and finished off the Christmas Tree's 'piece de resistance', and then I stayed with Dylan and got his treatments done while Adrian took Seren swimming. I have yet to get the full story of how her lesson went (we were a little busy with Christmas decorations!), but apparently her teachers were pleased with her.

When they got back, it was time to put the finishing touches to the tree!

And so ...

It gives me great pleasure to introduce ...

Our Guest Star (literally!) ...

Mr Patrick Star!!!

He looks pleased to be here!

And this year, just for fun, we let the kids put the baubles on the tree all by themselves !



Which they loved!

Dylan came over 'specially to say that he loves this ornament, probably because it has a picture of him, Seren and Daddy on it!

The FAB ornament Seren made at her Brownie sleepover

The finished article! With a few minor alterations by Adrian, as Seren thought 3 identical gold baubles would look great in a bunch on the same branch! :o)

And this year, it was Seren's turn to put the star on the top of the tree ...

Seren posing with our Special Guest Star

On he goes!

Ta da!!!

And because Seren got to put the star on, Dylan got to turn the lights on!

Here he is ready to plug them in ...

Voila!

And just for you, here's a little video we shot of Dylan turning the Christmas tree lights on ...

Christmas Decorations ... Take One ...

The tradition in my parents' house, and in my own, has always been putting the Christmas decorations up on 1st December. The only year we didn't, was the year we were in Disneyland Paris, 2007, when we put them up on 2nd December, as soon as we got back home.

I couldn't wait to put them up this year, so at a few minutes past midnight on 1st December, I put this little cutie on the mantelpiece ...

Meet Pingy the penguin (I named him myself, lol)

I also put my new Christmassy tablecloth on the kitchen table while Seren and her friend D were playing upstairs after school ...

I love it!

That had to do until Seren's friend had gone home, Foxy our cat had been to the vet for his booster flu jab, and everyone was back in the house.

Then it was time to put up the decorations!!! Yay!!!

So Adrian put the tree up ...

While Dylan explored the baubles ...

One tree!

Then Adrian started untangling the lights ...

It took a LONG time, well over an hour, and so the kids got creative with tinsel. This is Lady Seren in her boa ...

Dylan said he was a snowman (he wasn't feeling well, and he looks a bit rough)

Seren said she was an angel

Dylan needed a bit more tinsel

Hooray! Lights on the tree!

And they're dead as dodos.

Adrian had tested them, and before he unravelled them and put them on the tree, they were working. Once they were sitting prettily on the tree, they didn't want to work. Two out of three of the sets were dead. Adrian tried changing fuses and tightening bulbs, but to no avail.

Cue two disappointed kids.

By this point, Dylan was feeling really rough and was exhausted after a really bad night's sleep, and he has this horrible cough and cold, and his temperature was up to 38.2 c, so I finished his treatments and we put him to bed.

Once Dylan was in bed, Adrian went to Asda to get some more lights.

Putting the new lights on

Progress! Lights that work, and the tinsel is going on at last!

Seren had gone upstairs to get ready for bed by this time, but we allowed her to come back down to see the tree with lights and tinsel on ...

She loved it!

As did our cat Foxy

Hello Foxy!



Foxy, meet Kitty

Pretty!

We saved the baubles and the rest of the Christmas decorations to be put on/up tonight, so that Dylan doesn't miss it all. He didn't mind missing the lights and tinsel, as to him, that's boring anyway. So we'll finish the tree off tonight, and hopefully get some other decorations up too.

I had to take Dylan to the doctors surgery this morning, because his temperature went back up to 38 c this morning, and his cough was so harsh that he was almost barking. By the time we got to the doctors, his Calpol and Nurofen had kicked in and he'd brightened up a bit, but he still looked horribly pale with red-rimmed eyes, and the doctor agreed that his cough is definitely not nice.

His SATS were between 94-98%, and his pulse was up a bit, and his ears looked a bit dull, but his chest was clear of wheeze and crackles, and the Dr said his throat looked okay, so he said Dylan seems to have some sort of virus. I did wonder if it was some sort of reaction to his Swine Flu jab, but apparently he'd have had that 24-48 hours after the jab, not 5 days later.

As he's already on two antibiotics and his inhalers, the doctor just said to make sure he drinks plenty of fluids, has rest, keeps up on the Calpol and Nurofen, and to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get worse.

He's got CF Clinic on Friday, so he'll be seen again then, which I'm glad about, as the doctor today wasn't exactly CF-savvy. He said "Are you absolutely sure he's got CF?" (Er, YES. 19 courses of IVs, 2 portacaths, bronchial wall thickening at the bases of his lungs, etc etc. Yeah, he's got CF.) And then when he went to listen to his chest, he had a bit of a shock when he saw Dylan's port-a-cath. He'd never seen one before, and I had to explain what it was and how it worked!

So I'm not sure how much trust to put in him, but whatever Dylan's got, it's making him feel very rough. He hates his cough, and he says his throat is sore (he's struggling a bit with swallowing tablets), his head hurts, and he's very snuffly. And I'm going to have to go get him some more Simple Linctus, because he just can't stop coughing.

But thankfully, he doesn't have to go back out in the cold again today, as the lovely Suzy has offered to bring Seren home from school for me. That'll be the 3rd time she's helped us out in 7 days! What a star!

Adrian is taking Seren to the school Christmas Fayre tonight after work, and then hopefully she'll go to her swimming lesson, but of course, Dylan won't be well enough to go. And then it'll be time for Christmas Decorations Take Two!

Kicking Off The Christmas Season!

Sunday started off very peacefully, as Seren didn't need to be picked up until midday, so we all had a lie in, then got Dylan ready to go pick Seren up and to go on to our afternoon of fun ...

Seren came out of the Scout Hut looking incredibly tired (I dread to think how much sleep she actually got!), and carrying some lovely Christmassy things that she'd made.

Once we'd loaded her bags into the car, we popped home to grab a bobble to re-do her hair (I'd put her hair in those plaits the night before, so that they'd be nice for her sleepover, comfy to sleep in, and tidy for going out the next day without her having to worry about doing her hair; but she forgot and took them out at bedtime), and then we made our way to Yarmouth for the Christmas Fayre.

On the way, we talked about how Seren's sleepover had gone. Apparently they had a great time having a Christmas party complete with party clothes and a full Christmas dinner, and party games, and then camped out on their sleeping bags that night, and then the following morning, they had breakfast and a chocolate fountain! And Seren had an absolutely faaaaaaaabulous time!!!

When we got to Yarmouth, we took advantage of the out-of-season free parking along the sea front, parking very close to a hotel where my grandparents stayed when they came to visit us in November 2001. Eight years ago now.

I haven't been that far up the sea front since that night, and seeing that hotel gave me quite a memory jolt. It suddenly felt as if time had folded back eight whole years, and it was really odd, looking at that hotel, knowing that my grandparents had both been alive and well and healthy and happy when they had stayed there, and that Seren had been busily growing in my tummy, unbeknownst to any of us; and then comparing it to now. My Bampie has been with God for two and a half years, and my Nan has been in the nursing home for almost three years, and Seren is now a very grown up seven year old, and we have our lovely Dylsie-boy too.

Head-spinningly different.

Looking at that hotel, walking down that road, the night we visited my grandparents at their hotel was tantalisingly vivid in my memory, but so very far away in reality. I wished I could walk in and meet them in the hotel foyer again, and sit there chatting to them and to my great-aunt and great-uncle, who had accompanied them on their visit. I longed for things to be the way they used to be, when I had naively believed that my grandparents would be around forever to share in our lives.

But the kids were excited to get to the fayre, and so we kept walking. I guess that's like life. You have to keep walking. You can't go back. Good to have the memories though.

Like how we laughed again while walking about how my great-aunt insisted, despite many protests, on finding a waiter to get Adrian and I some cups of coffee when we arrived at the hotel - even though we insisted that we didn't want any. And I really didn't want mine, because we were trying for a baby and so I was avoiding caffeine. And then, I do believe, she tried to hunt down some decaf ... :o) Bless her heart.

And those laughs put us back in the mood for some family fun ...

We walked up the infamous Regent Street, a whole street filled with cheesy shops filled with novelty gifts and knick-knacks, and ... I may even have bought something ...

A Winter hat! And Adrian said that it is the first hat we've found that actually suits me!

We carried on walking until we reached the town centre and found the market place. The first Christmassy sight we encountered was a very friendly Father Christmas in his sleigh. And of course, the kids just had to say hello ...

Dylan LOVED meeting him, and talking to him, and yes, he did ask him for a Transformers costume, hee hee.

Seren got in on the act too!

Father Christmas' 'reindeer'

Once we'd bidden goodbye to Father Christmas, we walked a little further and had a browse around some of the market stalls, and I bought a lovely Christmassy fabric tablecloth, which Seren and I chose together.

Then we made our way towards the fayre proper, and in the marquee we browsed the stalls and I got a few odds and ends and a nice bauble wreath, and Seren got some lucky dip presents for her and Dylan ...

Opening their gifts

When we got outside, we headed over to see the real reindeer ...

The reindeer in their pen

With their elf helpers

Dylan about to stroke the reindeer

Heyyow reindeer!

Once we'd seen the reindeer (both kids petted them, but I didn't manage to get a photo of Seren), we made our way back to the fairground area of the fayre, and the kids chose to ride on this ride ...

Dylan chose to ride the engine at the very front of the train!

Seren picked a Safari jeep

He LOVED being the one who pulled the train, and loved watching it go down the hill and round the corner! He was mesmerised!

When they'd finished, we grabbed them some candy floss, then walked back through to the town to get some lunch. We were getting REALLY cold by this point!!!

A pretty decoration in the town

We arrived back in the main part of town just in time to see Father Christmas making his exit ...



He recognised us and waved

Lovely festive storefront there!

Just before we left the town centre, we hung around to hear the little band which started playing ...

They were sweet

Then we grabbed me a jacket potato from Spud-U-Like, and everyone else had McDonalds. And by this point, Dylan was so cold, his mouth was going blue! Needless to say, when we got back to the car to eat our lunch, we put the heaters on full blast!

When we got home, the kids played for a while, and then I helped Seren with her homework -counting backwards and forwards in 10s and 100s, which she did very well, barring the drama queen attacks! - while Adrian showered Dylan, then I did Dylan's homework and his treatments.

Today has been busy, the kids had school, and I had to wait at the school once I'd dropped them off, as Dylan was due his port flush today. So I waited until 9.30 am for the nurse to arrive, and we flushed his port together. And he did GREAT! He sat very still, watched the whole thing, and when I said "Is your port having a drink, Dylan?" he said "No, it's having some petrol." :o)

When I got home, I had a ton of housework to catch up on, so I spent the day changing beds, washing tons of floors, cleaning the kitchen and doing load after load of laundry.

Seren had Brownies this evening, and brought home her Brownie-made advent calendar and a very pretty chinese lantern, which she was very proud of!

And this evening, we've been busy sorting out the front room, ready for putting the Christmas decorations up tomorrow evening. Well, I took the photos and paperwork out of the room, and Adrian has done the rest, bless him. He was positively eager to do it! Weird.

We've got a VERY busy week coming up ...

Tuesday - School for the kids, autism support group for me, Seren's friend D is coming round after school for tea, Foxy, our cat, is having his second dose of his flu jab after Adrian finishes work, and we're putting the Christmas decorations up. Oh, and we have to help the kids do Christmas cards for a Christmas card competition for school. The deadline is Wednesday morning.

Wednesday - School for the kids, housework for me, then the school Christmas Fayre in the evening, then the kids swimming lessons.

Thursday - School for the kids, hairdresser for me in the morning, my friend Kirsty coming round in the afternoon, Seren's dance class in the evening, and Slimming World last of all.

Friday - School for the kids, and CF Clinic in the afternoon.

Phew!

Seren's First Sleepover!

Seren woke up VERY excited on Saturday morning!!!

She was going on her very very first sleepover! No family whatsoever! Just friends and fun with her Brownie pack!

I'd packed her medications, typed out a treatment schedule, medicine and equipment list, and instructions for using and cleaning her PEP machine, the night before, and ironed her uniform, so all we needed to do on Saturday was to pack her suitcase.

She ended up with quite a few bags ...

Her Ready Bed, suitcase, lunchbox-ful of medications, pillow, and the Brownie Guide herself!



We dropped her off at one of the local Scout Huts at 2 pm, and I spent half an hour talking to her carer about her medications, her routines, and her treatments, and being reassured by the Brownie leader that Seren really would be fine, lol.

And then, with one last huge kiss and cuddle, I had to leave her. She didn't mind, of course, as she had her Brownie friends, friends from her old school, and from her current school, so she knew tons of the other Brownies.

Once we'd dropped her off, Adrian and Dylan left me at our house, and they went to have lunch at the in-laws' house. When they got back, we went to Asda to run a few errands and get a few odds and ends.

As we walked in, Dylan was begging to 'meet' the singing Father Christmas standing in the foyer ...

Watching him singing

Telling him that he'd like a Transformers dressing up costume, pyease ...

Saturday night was weird, just having Dylan at home. Dylan found it a little hard to get to sleep, and he definitely missed his big sister, but he was okay in the end. It was weird for Adrian and I too!

Sunday was another fun day, so I'll post about that next ...

End of November Already!

Ooops, update is a little overdue!

So ... what's been happening since Children in Need Day, when the kids went into school in their pj's?

Well, that night, the kids watched the start of the Children in Need programme, and Dylan has now totally fallen in love with Pudsey Bear! I may have to see if we can buy him one for Christmas, because he keeps pointing out pictures of him! And I'm so glad that we watched the programme, as we saw the faaaabulous Children in Need single! We Sky+ed the programme and Dylan watched the song over and over again!

On Saturday, Adrian and the kids went to the in-laws' for lunch, and I stayed at home with my Lemsips again. Although, the dose I took on Saturday afternoon was my last! Woo hoo! No more Lemsips in over a week! Phew!

That evening, I wrapped some more Christmas presents, once Dylan had proceeded to swipe half my savoury rice I had for my late lunch! He said "I yuv rice Mummy, yets share it togevva!" Hard to resist that sweet voice!

Sunday was quiet, just catching up on things, and doing the kids homework. Seren had some homework on division, and oh, what a drama queen!!! She could totally do the homework, but every time she made a silly mistake, wrote a number the wrong way round, or came across a bit she didn't think she understood, she dissolved into tears and shrieking. I hope she doesn't do that in school! She got it done in the end though.

On Monday, I dropped the kids off at school, and then, when I saw so many CF families on Facebook having their swine flu jabs, I decided to ring our doctors surgery to ask if they had their stocks of swine flu jabs in yet. When I rang, it turned out that they'd actually rung me a couple of days before to notify us that the jabs were in, but they'd left a message on my landline phone, which I hardly ever check. So I booked them in for this Friday!

When I picked Dylan up after school that day, his teacher came over to speak to me, and said that Dylan had had a very 'silly' day. Apparently he'd been quite agitated and restless, and on one occasion, they'd found him in the toilets screaming and shouting and refused to calm down. But when I picked him up, he did apologise to his teacher, and he said he'd be a good boy the next day.

We got SOAKED walking home from school, and Dylan, already very agitated, got incredibly stressed about how hard the rain was coming down and how wet he was getting and how many puddles there were, and it took a lot to keep him walking without panicking too much. When we got in, we all got changed out of our soaking wet clothes, and I had a talk to Dylan.

Well, I tried. He was still very agitated, and just would NOT stop talking. I never thought I'd say this about Dylan, but he was being a TOTAL MOTORMOUTH! I timed him, and he talked absolutely non-stop from 3.20 pm to 4.10 pm. He barely paused for breath. A lot of the time, he was repeating the same sentences over and over, but other times it was like verbal diarrhoea, just talking about anything and everything. When it got too much, I did ask him to calm down and shush a few times (just because he was freaking me out!) and he just couldn't do it.

He eventually stopped when he had a drink at 4.10, but he was agitated all night, even after we'd dropped Seren off at Rainbows and went to Argos to pick up the Ready Bed (combination sleeping bag and air bed) for her to use for her first Brownie sleepover at the weekend.

Once we'd done that, he and Adrian dropped me off at Asda to do my first weekly shop in two weeks! Out of the house at last!!! Didn't half tire me out, it's taken me a while to get my energy back!

On Tuesday, the kids had school, and I had housework, and when I picked them up, I was very pleased to hear that Dylan was much more well behaved!

When we got home, we took advantage of the 'free' night, with no clubs to go to, and we opened some Post Pals presents ...

Dylan and some very yummy-looking choccie cars

Better shot of all the choccie cars

Dylan and his Spooky Sticker Book

Some cool spooky odds and ends from Karen (Sami)

And these!

And Dylan loved these Batman face paints from Kim G!

Seren was CHUFFED with her Jonas Brothers book!

And her wish box

And her 'Puffa Pouch' from Sarah!

Wednesday was more of the same, housework and school, and ...

Drum roll ...

We got the results of the reconsideration of Dylan's DLA application back.

They re-instated his higher rate care, and kept the lower rate mobility!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!

Obviously, they didn't really read the application properly the first time, and just tried to fob us off with less than what Dylan was entitled to, hoping that we wouldn't bother making a fuss about it. But they didn't count on me! I wouldn't let that happen to my little boy!

So this time, they took much longer to evaluate his claim, and they must have contacted the people we put down as supporters of our claim, and his doctors, possibly the hospice, and made a proper decision. And once they'd done that, they couldn't deny that he deserves the higher rate for his care.

So they put his DLA money back up, and gave us back pay for the two months of money he'd missed, and I rang Tax Credits the same day, so that they could change our details again. I'm hoping we might get some back pay from them too, but I don't know yet.

I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to get it all sorted. And that extra money means so much to our family! It's money to pay the water bills which have been waiting, money to put some petrol in the car, and money to buy some Christmas presents. It has just ... taken the pressure off a bit. Big happy sigh of relief!

Then once I'd picked Dylan up, we watched Seren do her last Cheerleading Club class, and it was so cute to see them all doing their cheerleading routine. They had really got the hang of it over the weeks. And as I said in my previous post, there wasn't any Water Wings Wednesday, because they cancelled it due to insufficient staff again.

So we dashed to Tesco for a few things, and then I spent the evening packing things and getting ready for a really busy day the following day.

Thursday was one busy day! I dropped the kids off at school, grabbed some breakfast, paid some bills, and then walked into town to get some Christmas shopping done. And I discovered that I'm a big ole wimp when it comes to carrying shopping bags! Four large bags and I'd had enough! I did get quite a lot in those bags though, and I did have to walk all the way home with them!

This is one of the things I picked up, a Christmas hat!

When I got back home, I grabbed some lunch, and then had to leave again to pick Dylan up early from school. He had an appointment for 3.45 pm at the hospital audiology department to check his hearing. The only time I could get a taxi booked for was 2.45 pm, so I ended up having to pick him up at 2.30 pm, and we were at the hospital by just after 3 pm, with a long wait ahead.

So we passed the time getting Dylan a drink and snack, and reading his reading book and library book from out of his school bag.

Meanwhile, my friend Suzie was picking Seren up for me! Bless her! When she heard the day before that I was struggling to find someone to pick Seren up from school and have her for a couple of hours until Adrian could finish work and take her to dance class, she offered to help us out! What a star!

So that morning, when I'd dropped the kids off, I'd given Suzie a bag with Seren's dance uniform, dance shoes, socks, inhaler, spacer and Creon tablets, so that she could pick Seren up for me. She was going to take her home to her house, give her a snack, make sure she got changed into her dance uniform, and then Adrian would pick her up after work.

So when it got to about 3.30 pm, we wandered round to the Audiology department and Dylan played nicely with some toys while we waited for him to be called in. I wasn't sure how well he'd cope with the tests, because it was so different to what he normally goes to the hospital for, in a different part of the hospital, and with unfamiliar doctors.

But he did GREAT! We went through to the testing room and he had to sit down at a little table and the doctor got out a little wooden trolley full of soldiers. He took them all off the trolley, and explained that if Dylan heard a sound, he had to put one soldier back on the trolley. He showed him what he meant, and then he started the test.

And Dylan did it! Every time! Even sounds that were so quiet, I could barely hear them!

Once he'd completed that task and all the soldiers were back on the trolley, the doctor got out a boat full of little wooden people, and Dylan had to put on a pair of earphones (I loved the way he got him to do that, just leaving them casually on the table, rather than asking or telling Dylan to put them on, and so of course, Dylan put them straight on!) and every time he heard a sound, he had to put a person back in the boat.

He did great with that task as well, and every time he heard a sound, he said out loud "I hear dat sound!" and put a person in the boat!

He then let the doctor put a little probe in his ear while he sat very still, and after that, the doctor said that he had passed the hearing test with flying colours!

Woo hoo!!!

When we got out of the Audiology appointment, it was only about 4.15 pm, and so we had almost two hours to wait before Adrian would be coming to pick us up. So I bought Dylan some tea (he chose chips and a cheese roll) and he ate most of that, and then we went to the gift shop and he picked out a Teletubbies magazine. And that magazine passed all of the rest of the time! We coloured in the pictures, played with some removable stickers, played with the free gift - snap cards (both as a game of snap, and just a matching game), and played catch with the other free gift - an inflatable piece of Tubby Toast!

When we got home, I got ready for Slimming World, and Adrian went to pick Seren up from her dance class. And even though I hadn't been to SW for a couple of weeks, I was pleased to find that I hadn't put on any weight while I was unwell with that virus, in fact, I lost 1/2 lb!

Once Dylan was in bed that night, we finally got around to trying out Seren's Ready Bed, ready for her sleepover at the weekend ...

Comfy cozy!

Friday was another busy day, as I dropped the kids off at school, grabbed some breakfast, and then walked into town to meet the train from Norwich. Guess who got off ...

Helen T!

She was in the area for the weekend, and decided to pay me a visit! So we wandered into town and browsed the shops, then grabbed a quick drink in McDonalds before getting a taxi to the local Harvester restaurant, where we had lunch.

Me at the Harvester

We had a lovely lunch together, and talked pretty much non-stop for over three hours, but we ended up calling a taxi home a little earlier than I'd anticipated when my wheat intolerance decided to flare up at entirely the wrong moment. And I'd been so careful to order wheat-free foods!

When I got back to the house, I realised that it was quite a bad flare up, and so I ended up having to call on Suzie again to get me out of a fix, as I couldn't pick the kids up myself, Adrian couldn't get out of work, and my friend Kirsty was working, so I didn't have any choice. I felt awful about asking her again, as she'd been so kind to help out the day before, and it inconvenienced her to pick the kids up, but she did it anyway. Bless her.

By the time they got home at around 3.50 pm, my stomach had settled a bit, and I felt brave enough to take the kids in the taxi to the doctors surgery for their flu jabs. And luckily, my stomach behaved from then on!

We had to wait for a while for the jabs, and the kids were generally well behaved. Dylan got a bit fed up of waiting at the end, but luckily the nurse called us through soon after.

Dylan went first, and he was as cool as a cucumber! He took off his coat, took off his jumper, sat on the bed, and told the nurse to go ahead and do it! She was a little unsure, but she took him at his word, pinched some flesh on his upper right arm, showed him the needle, and asked him whether he wanted to watch or to look away. He chose to watch, and he did. And he didn't even flinch! He sat perfectly still and watched the whole thing! Go Dylan!

Seren wasn't nearly so happy about having her jab. She was terrified of a) the injection, and b) having a bad reaction to the Swine Flu vaccine, and so I almost had to drag her to the bed and had to take her jumper and t-shirt off for her. She did sit on my lap, and although she complained, she didn't fight me when I held her arms still, and she let the nurse jab her in the arm. And then she got her praise too!

The nurse booked us back in for the 18th December to get the second doses of their jabs, so at least it'll all be out of the way for Christmas.

We had to sit in the waiting room for ten minutes afterwards, and then we met Adrian outside the surgery. The kids wanted McDonalds as a reward, so we dashed to Tesco first to pick up the pair of leather boots Seren had chosen as her jab bribe. She'd seen them on Wednesday when we were in there, and originally I'd said that she couldn't have them, but I ended up using them as a bribe to get her to have her jab, so we got them on Friday night and she was chuffed.

And then we went to McDonalds and got a drive thru and the kids ate their tea in the car on the cliff, looking out to sea and watching the night fishermen on the beach.

And when we got home, Dylan was able to have his jab reward ...

Transformers slippers! He chose them on Wednesday at Tesco's!

After reading up on how other little CFers were faring with their Swine Flu jabs, I was expecting very sore arms and high temperatures at the least, but Seren and Dylan amazed me by being totally fine! Their arms hurt if they prodded them, just like after their normal flu jabs, but that was it! No dead arms, or really sore arms, or temperatures or anything! Phew!

More updates to come on our fun weekend!

Just For Fun ...

Just for fun, I wondered if any of you could guess what we'll be using this for soon ...

It's handmade from card, by Adrian, and it's not quite finished yet ...

Happy guessing! :o)

I hope to get back and post a proper update tomorrow, but I slept badly last night, and have a really busy few days coming up, so I need to grab some sleep tonight. More soon!

No Water Wings Wednesday

There won't be any Water Wings Wednesday this week.

Again.

I had a text message at 2.30 pm this afternoon, saying that there won't be any swimming lessons tonight, due to insufficient staff.

Humph.

At least they let us know beforehand this time, which is something. The kids are still disappointed though. Adrian's probably going to take Dylan swimming on Saturday instead, which consoled him. Seren's got something else fun to do.

Fingers crossed for a Water Wings Saturday!

Children In Need Day

I'll just start with a very quick update on this week.

Nothing much has happened, I've dropped the kids off at school each day, and have pretty much just come home and done very little, as I've felt really rough. I'm on Day 11 of some sort of really rubbish virus, and I'm still absolutely chock full of cold symptoms.

Monday, Seren had Brownies, and she came home with an invitation to go see a pantomime in January with her Brownie pack. I can't believe how expensive Brownies is turning out to be! £5 for this pantomime, £10 for the Christmas sleepover she's attending soon, and £95 for the three day sleepover in the Spring! Mad!

I also phoned NHS Direct on Monday, as after a week of feeling poorly, I wasn't feeling any better. NHS Direct confirmed that it doesn't seem to be Swine Flu, because I didn't have a temperature, but they were concerned that my symptoms weren't improving, and so they recommended that I ring my GP.

So I did, and he wanted me to go in to the surgery to see him the next day to rule out the possibility of a chest infection. Ugh.

Luckily, when I woke up on Tuesday, my head felt a bit clearer, and for the first time I saw a little improvement, so I ended up cancelling the appointment. Phew!

Since then, I've been slowly improving, but ugh, it's going so slow! As I said, it's now Day 11 of this virus thing, and I'm still needing to take Lemsip tablets every 4 hours (although I've been able to get rid of the Ibuprofen tablets for the past couple of days!) and if I don't take them, I feel awful. I also had a mild temperature last night and today (37.7 c), and I've still got an alternately stuffy and runny nose, and have still got a wet cough.

I just can't wait to feel better now. I have housework to get back on top of, a novel to write, a novel to re-submit, and three new shops have now opened up in the town centre and I haven't been in any of them yet. Some serious Christmas shopping waiting to be done. And I want to feel better and do all those things. I haven't left the house, except to walk the kids to school and back every week day, in the past 11 days.

Anyway. Enough moaning.

Tuesday night, Seren brought home some lines to learn for the auditions for the school play, so when we got home, we got stuck into learning them ...

Hotelier - I just didn't have any room, so I let those poor people stay in my garage. The poor lady looked ready to burst. I just spoke to the dad, Joseph's his name, and apparently they're going to call the baby Jesus.

She learned it in about five minutes flat, and didn't forget it all night. Every time we checked her, she had it word perfect! And the following morning before school, she was still word perfect! Could she be an actress in the making??

Wednesday, Seren had cheerleading class, and Dylan loved watching her dancing and imitating her moves. He looked so funny! It's her last class next week, and she's definitely going to miss it when it finishes.

While we were walking home, I asked her how she'd got on at her audition. Apparently, the teacher picked her to go first, and when she asked her whether she wanted to use the piece of paper with the lines on, Seren refused! She said she was the only kid who didn't want to use the paper, and she said it perfectly! Go Seren!

Then that night, she and Dylan had their swimming lesson, as usual.

Yesterday, Seren went to her dance class, and she was VERY excited, because she got to wear her new dancing shoes for the first time!


'Modern Dance' shoes


Seren's all kitted out!

Glad I didn't have to pay for all that, as when I saw the order form they'd enclosed with the shoes (the school/government funding thing pays for her to attend the dance class and for her uniform), the things cost a fortune! I think the leggings/skirt thing was about £17, the t-shirt was about £8, and the shoes were about £12! Something like that.

And today, as it's Children In Need Day, Seren and Dylan had to go into school dressed in their pyjamas. And they had to take in a donation for Children In Need for the privilege.

Luckily, a couple of weeks ago, I bought them some Pudsey Bear (Children In Need mascot) pyjamas to wear tonight. And when I got the letter from school telling me about Pyjama Day, I knew exactly what pyjamas they'd be wearing!


Seren and Dylan in their Pudsey Bear pyjamas


"I yuv my teddy bear 'jamas Mummy!"


Seren's rockin' the Pudsey look

It was so funny going into school and seeing all the kids and teachers in their pyjamas! :o)

And that's about it for today. I was supposed to be having my friend round this afternoon, but when I told her how I'm feeling, she opted out of coming round. Can't say I blame her!

Fingers crossed for a good weekend, and I hope that by next week I'll be out and about and getting busy again!

And ... I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Cheryl G for sponsoring my sister for her Santa Run on 6th December! Anyone else who would like to sponsor my sister and help her raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and help them to find a cure for CF, please click and donate! :o)

Water Wings Wednesday

I didn't get to see the kids swim this week either, as my virus/cold thing is being very stubborn and is hanging round far longer than is polite. Talk about outstaying it's welcome!

But from what Adrian said, there wasn't much change from last week.

Dylan has had a funny sort of day today, alternating between tired and quiet, and agitated and restless. Apparently he didn't seem to be in the mood to swim this evening, and maybe didn't try as hard as usual. But he did retrieve some fish from under the water, and he did do some swimming.

Seren said she enjoyed herself and was pleased with what she did, and she told me that she'd also retrieved objects from under the water, did some swimming through a hoop, and worked again on swimming with just the one float, both on her front and her back.

Hopefully I'll be feeling much better by next week, and I'll be able to see them swim myself!

Shameless Plug - Please Sponsor My Sister!

My little sister, Rhiannon, is going to be running the Santa Run at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United FC on the 6th December, to help raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Woo hoo!!! Go Rhiannon!!!


Here's Rhiannon, with her cat, Chloe

It's the very first time she's tried fundraising for the CF Trust, so, please please please, do pop along to her fundraising page and sponsor her, every penny counts! The lovely Helen T has already sponsored her, I see! Thank you hunny!

Please help Rhiannon to help See off CF for good! Both for her only niece and nephew, Seren and Dylan; and for all the other CF sufferers, in the UK and around the world.

Thank you!

Sunday Stealing?

This Sunday Stealing looks like fun!

Posh Totty is an old hand at Sunday Stealing, and I enjoyed reading her last few Sunday Stealers so much that I decided to steal it myself!

So here is the Sunday Stealing Over the Top meme:

Part One - Describe:

Your hair? It's mostly Schwarzkopf's Ultra Violet, but I have some lovely mousey brown roots growing through, and I'm about to go back to a colour near my normal medium brown for the first time in about 18 months.

Your mother? Is named Avril, is 58 years old, and is creative, hard-working, brave and strong.

Your father? Is named David, is 57 years old, and is intelligent, brave, strong, and loves computers, classical music, musicals, and crime dramas.

Your favorite food? Adrian's Quorn curry with rice, or his Quorn pasta bake, or a piping hot jacket potato with piping hot beans and melted cheese. And sweets, of course!

Your dream last night? I don't remember! Have been having some weird, half delirious sort of dreams while unwell this week. Can't remember a recent dream.

Your favorite drink? Pepsi Max.

Your dream/goal? To be a published author. To be a healthy weight.

The room are you in? My bedroom.

Your hobby? Writing (trying to make that a career though!). Taking photos. Reading.

Your fear? I have loads of fears, but the one that usually bothers me the most, day to day, is my fear of the dark.

Your TV? I don't actually own one. The kids have one each in their bedrooms, and Adrian has his big tv in the front room. But yesterday, my lovely hubby (who deserves not one, but a million medals for letting me rest in bed for most of this weekend while I've been feeling ill!!!) put a tv in our bedroom, on his bedside table, so I watched that a little last night.

Your Pets? We have a cat, named Foxy, who is nearly 9 years old now!

Friends? Closest ones are Helen G and Joanne in Wales; Kirsty, Suzy, Lynda and Karen here. And lots of online friends!! :o)

Your life? to quote Ronan Keating, is: "a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it."

Your mood? is pretty good, considering I'm not well! Kids have melted my heart with their 'caring' for me, putting on a little puppet show with cuddly toys here on the bedroom floor, and 'waltzing' round my bedroom in each others arms. Aww. Christmas is freaking me out though, it's getting closer and I'm not ready! Going to try to write some Christmas cards today though.

If you're missing someone? My family and my Welsh friends.

Your best friend? Adrian. Kirsty's a close second though.

Part Two - The Where's?

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Alive. Healthy. Slim. Married to Adrian. A published romance writer. Mother to Seren and Dylan. Happy. Financially secure.

Where were you last night? In bed. Poor me! ;o)

Where did you grow up? South Wales.

One place that I go to over and over? The hospital! Or my parents house in South Wales.

Your favorite place to eat out? Can't say I've got a favourite. Wetherspoons are usually good, whether in Norwich or South Wales. Only place we usually eat out is McDonalds though!

Wish list items? Publishing contract. 'My Own Worst Enemy' on DVD. The new Karen Rose book. More episodes of 'The Mentalist' on tv. A cure for CF. A cure for cancer.

Last time you laughed? Earlier at the kids putting on their Spongebob puppet show.

Last time you cried? When I read a blog earlier.

Part Three - The What's?

Something that you aren't? Slim. Confident. Endlessly patient.

Last thing you did? Wrote my Christmas card list, ate some pasta bake Adrian kindly brought me.

What are you wearing? Purple nightie with dark purple hearts on it.

Something you're not wearing? Trousers. Socks. Shoes.

Your favorite store? Depends on what for. For kids clothes ... Next or Mothercare, but you can find some great stuff in Asda or Tesco too. For my clothes ... Evans. For food ... Asda. Used to love Woolworths for picking up photo albums or toys, will miss that this Christmas!