My month in numbers November!

At last!  I have finally got my November pages done and my numbers recorded.  I must make notes as December goes on to avoid all that remembering!!

Lots of bike riding, crafting and catching up with home stuff and friends this month.  3 Hometown Hifi gigs too :) 

The school run :)

One of those strange times of day when everyone is rushing to get somewhere except William!  You can guarantee he needs a wee or pulls his bag off at 2.55pm.  The children like to ride their bikes to school but there and back is a bit much for the little guy sometimes.  But here he is not crying!!

It is so lovely to see him enjoying his bike and being so active.

On the way home the other day I overheard a fab snippet of conversation between two blokes getting into a van : 

"He is a legend I tell you, when I write my book he will be chapter 10, we were just ..." 

Who?!  What did he do?!  It is too intriguing, what do you think the legend did?  And who makes up chapters 1 to 9?!

A plus! Xxx

Advent awesomeness!

Check out the advent calendar I made for the children!  I am very pleased with it :) each envelope has a treat, a joke and an activity to do that day, tomorrow's is clear out your bedroom and give toys to the charity shop.  Paul is operating a one in one out policy on anything that crosses the doorstep so we had better be ruthless!

Loving the reflection of our hobbies in the mirror, my basket of mini books and two of Paul's pianos!

Can't wait until the morning to see them open the first one, just hope they are not too disappointed not to have a crap hello kitty calendar with cheap chocolate!!

Randomness!

I love it when I find these random photos on my phone or iPad!  The brilliant thing about digital cameras is that the children can take lots of pictures and I end up with some gems and some strange ones like this: 

Any ideas what it is?!

My month in numbers October

My month in numbers is the brainchild of Julie Kirk from notes on paper and a fun way to record our adventures. 

October was dominated by our visit to Southampton General, 10 days on the children's surgical ward as the next stage on our Hirschsprungs journey with William.  Some of our hospital numbers: 

Slept in beds 9, 3 and 14, moving towards the desk for critical care then back towards the door when we were ready to come home.  Just like the neonatal unit where we moved from room 4 to room 3 then room 1 as he got better.  2 operations, 1 planned with 8 hours in theatre,  3% morphine and the first epidural, whilst it is hard to take William to theatre it was much easier with the team of outstanding doctors we know so well, and they know us so I feel like I am leaving him in very good hands.  We had amazing care and when he was getting more pain instead of recovering he was quickly back into theatre for a second emergency procedure; 4 more hours in theatre, 5 hours in picu, 1 new stoma and 10cm less bowel small and large.  

Some nice bits too!  We met Rhoda again, once of the nurses who looked after William as a baby and it was so nice to see her and for her to see him all grown up!  She taught us so much when he was a baby.  We were visited by Dr Ding Dong, Dr wee wee and Dr bananas who told us lots of jokes "knock knock, who's there? Idunup. Idunup who?"  Honestly it is very funny!  William earned lots of stickers and got a toy from the prize cupboard, we made a pumpkin at the craft session, we made monsters and played the magic hat game a lot!  We watched alot of cbeebies and finding Nemo 5 times in the last 24 hours we were there!  But one of my favourite moments was Gerard being attacked by Darth Vader!  We heard him coming down the corridor and when I pushed Uncle G out to take a picture he ended up like this!

Back at home we started and finished the Sopranos season 6 which was in two parts.  Very good but a strange ending although I quite liked it.

5 nights at Sandy Balls, the balls in question turned out to be geographical feature!  We saw an amazing fire eater, did lots of playing, saw our friends and carved pumpkins.  The sweetest part of Halloween was the children dressing up in their costumes, they wanted to go to the halloween disco but when we got there it was too busy and noisy so they played twister in the dark and then we walked back to our lodge where they took it in turns to knock on the door and say trick or treat to get a sweet! 7.9 miles cycled on our family bike ride including a cake stop and a pub lunch!  And LOADS of ponies and donkeys seen en route :) 

40 Monarchs since William the conqueror, and we know them all thanks to the ruthless rulers song from Horrible Histories, the children can sing along perfectly "William William Henry Stephen Henry Richard John etc.

And now for the communal count : 

I received 20ish pieces of mail this month addressed to me, some junk mail, 4 Christmas mail order catalogues which I am browsing for inspiration for Christmas shopping just not quite yet!  The nicest was 3 parcels with get well presents for William.  A survive in hospital kit for me from my best friend including these fab cosy socks that I wore the day William was in theatre :) 

There was also a lovely guardian angel from William's godmother to watch over us.

A weather related fact!  One night in hospital the wind was really loud and whistled past the windows so much that it was more annoying than the occlusion alarms!  The Children's wards are on the top floor of the hospital and is the first tall building the weather hits coming in from the Solent.  It is always loud but this was something else and the next day we found out a tornado had hit the south coast and had hit us first :) 

Jam tomorrow!

Today we are mostly talking about food!  William would have liked a boiled egg for breakfast but had to settle for weetabix instead.  He is being really funny talking about all the things we are going to make when we get home.  Apparently we are going to make strawberry jam (have never made jam but we'll give it a go!) to put on 4 pieces of toast and some scones we will also be baking.  Madeleine and I can have jam on scones but not toast that is for William only!  

He is almost tube free so hopefully later we can go for a walk to the playroom.  All very exciting.

Yesterday he waved to the pets therapy dog at the door who waved back! It is so nice to hear him really laughing again, he is being very cheeky and chatty today. We have had lots of special treats during his stay, the radio lollipop people helped him make a cool door hanger with dinosaurs, the play specialists gave him some really cool monsters to make to encourage him to sit up in bed and today Dr Bing Bong, Dr Bananas and Dr Wee Wee came to visit us and told lots of silly jokes the punch line to most seemed to be poo poo which went down very well!

The change today is huge, there are no more iv lines, no more beeping monitors, thankfully he hasn't forgotten how to wee so now his catheter has gone we are using the loo brilliantly.  The new stoma is doing what it should so we are aiming to leave on Friday morning.  Keep everything crossed for us!!

What a difference 24 hours makes!  Next stop jam making!

Possibly, maybe, tentatively turning a corner?

W continues to make positive progress slowly but surely :)  lots of big steps today, the epidural is gone, the morphine is gone, he's had some milk and some toast and is sleeping through the bake off!

If all goes well he won't need to go back into theatre tomorrow to have a feeding line inserted and if he keeps eating and the new stoma works well we might (whispering!) be able to come home soon.

He is so much better as you can see: 

He is very skinny now and needs more rest and recuperation but I am hopeful :)

Next stop Sandy Balls!!

Calm after the storm

We've had a very quiet day today.  W came out of surgery at about 11 and spent a couple of hours in paediatric ICU before coming back to the ward.  His emergency procedure was a success and his small intestine has been untangled from the space it decided to move into!

Today he is very sleepy and grumpy, he is sore but so much better than he was yesterday.  He can move which he wasn't doing at all before and so I have spent a lovely day sitting next to him watching tv and periodically untangling the 6 lines coming out of his neck each time he rolls over.  He must be better because he called Paul poo poo!

Paul was here last night which was really nice and he has gone back to collect Maddie now.  Next emergency is to bring me enough clean clothes for another week :). 

After such a busy and worrying night it is nice that it is the weekend and the hospital is quiet.  This morning I walked to the car to swap dirty for clean clothes and saw these beautiful trees.  Sometimes you just need to stop and see the small good things that are all around us.

Nothing is ever straightforward!

One thing we have learnt on our Hirschsprungs journey with William is that nothing is straightforward or predictable!  He started to go downhill a little yesterday and was really unhappy today, after lots of monitoring he had an X-ray that showed he has an obstruction in his small intestine above his stoma, not connected to the previous surgery but it needs to be fixed so tonight he is in the emergency theatre having the blockage sorted and a new stoma formed.  All very worrying but at least it happened while we were here and had Mr S on hand to sort it out.  You have to have respect for someone who will stay on all evening to operate after he has been at work all week, we know everyone here will do their very best to get William well again quickly.  It is seriously impressive and makes me want to drag the Tories round to see amazing NHS service in action (after they have taught y9 for a day  of course!)

Anyway fingers crossed he will be out of theatre late tonight and on the mend over the weekend, hoping to get home mid / late next week so I need to email home a list of clean clothes I need!

Before all the drama started in William's room this happened in the corridor!

Bet that is the last time G agrees to call in to see me to bring hot chocolate on the way to a day out with Claire.  Attacked by Darth Vader then dragged by the wallet round Gunwharf Quays by his wife.  You have to feel sorry for him!! And photo bombed by Ariel the mermaid :) 

A room with a view ...

I am starting to really like the view from g4s after 3 years of visiting!  Today you can see a huge cruise ship in Southampton Water and you get a real good view of the weather up here, it is a bit like being back in OP tower!

In my extensive(!) experience today is actually the hardest day, waiting on your own outside theatre can be very boring and you are anxious but at least you can eat and go for a wee!  Once they get back to bed you are needed all the time for hand holding and talking to lots of different people.  Today has been all about trying to manage his pain, which isn't easy when the patient is three and just says my tummy hurts to every question.  But there are lots of experts here and they are all working on it which is all we can ask for really.

So back to that view, I like it best at night when it is quiet(ish!) and the cranes in the ship yard are lit up, very sopranos!!

Best try and get this boy to sleep so I can eat my packed tea my mum bought me! It looks delicious but you can't really eat in front of someone who is nil by mouth so I keep waiting hungrily!!

At the end of a very long day ...

W is asleep and ok, he has morphine and an epidural so he is comfy and very tired. He was in theatre for 8 hours in the end so it has worn him out.  

Paul and I had a carb filled lunch in the a teen this time without an England World Cup match in the background.  I read a book (!) and watched two episodes of peaky blinders so am trying not to talk yam yam.

We got down to see w at about 430 and everything seems to have gone well , everyone is very pleased with him.  

A little out of focus picture of his drip stand with his name on that he wrote yesterday with the nice people from radio lollipop, the other side of his door hanger is dinosaur stickers :). Everyone here is so nice!

A demain xxx

Isn't it ironic ...

I am channeling my inner Alanis Morisette today :) William is in theatre and was very cheerful as he went in, there are lots of toys in reception and animals to spot on the walls.  His anaethesathist is lovely and was really nice to us both and laughed a lot at his flamingo joke - why did the flamingo lift up one leg, because if he lifted up both he would fall on his bottom!  A gigglebiz special!

Anyway the irony is william is having his second epidural today, I have had two children and none!  People keep saying 'you know how effective it is to stop feeling in your abdomen' nope I just tripped out on the gas and air!

We have had lots of lovely messages and prayers today, thank you.   We will let people know when he is back in his bed and on the mend.

And it is raining just like Alanis sings!!

I'm going postal!

Going postal is another project by Julie Kirk, I am genuinely inspired by these ideas not just a crafty cyber stalker!!

Anyway I have made a travel journal ready for our trip to Sandy Balls at half term.  We did book our holiday mostly based on the name of the camp site!!  I have made a postcard for each day that we will be there, we will write them each evening, then when we get home we can add some pictures and final comments.  They look like this :

I am very much looking forward to writing them, not least because the holiday will be just a week after William comes out of hospital.  I am a bit anxious as he doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to holidays and we have cancelled lots in the last few years to go to Southampton instead!  I am hoping that being closer to G4surgery will mean we don't need to visit :) 

We are off to hospital next week and he is in theatre all day Wednesday.  I am hoping we will be home by the following Monday which gives me a week to recover and do the laundry!

Check back next week for an update :) 

Katie x

My month in numbers - September 2013

I am trying my first month in numbers, a way of recording what has happened this month using numbers linked to stories.  It is an idea from Julie Kirk's blog notes on paper, find out more here: Month in numbers

So to the numbers:

5 books read this month,  2 real paper books from the library and 3 on my kindle.  During the holidays the children and I went to the library more often to do the summer reading challenge,  it was really fun to choose books together even if William had the counting to ten in Italian book over and over!  I picked up a couple of books on the way out and I had forgotten how good it is to try new things from the library.

1 day spent on the children's ward this month with William tripping out and watching the 3D tv in the treatment room.  They are so nice there and make our visits much easier than they could be :)

22ish LSNED pages completed!  I have really enjoyed doing this and recording my 'lessons' everyday, the combination of reflection and craftiness has been fun. Thank you to my fairy godmother who helped me win a place :)

21 square metres of garden gained by clearing the rubbish, we have cleared more space than we will build over next year.  Two lovely men and a van just got rid of everything and left us this lovely open space for maddieland and williamland to be established.

1 birthday for a new cousin, and 1 lovely birthday cake baked and decorated by Madeleine and William.  They were so cute choosing which shapes to cut out for the top.

Season 5 of sopranos completed :). It is bittersweet to start season 6 as it is the last one we have to choose a new box set soon! Breaking Bad maybe?

5 tickets for return journey to Birmingham for fabulous weekend with Kate, my oldest and bestest friend.  Just lots of catching up, kir royales and fabulous shopping for new tops!  I was especially pleased with my tops from COS with gorgeous packaging that I have ransacked for crafty recycling. Watch out for a London Town map layout on the crafty blog soon :) 

91! The number of photos William took of me and him laughing with the iPad,he discovered the paparazzi mode if you keep your finger on the button and laughed so hard while he took them.  It is moments like this that I gave up work for, definitely worth it today :) 

10 mornings that Madeleine has gone into school with a smile thanks to her fabulous teacher Mr P :) he made her star of the week for being cheerful and it has really encouraged her.  It also means I have had one day this month - the first in 2 years (!) - where both children have gone into school/ preschool without crying or being prised off me.  So much nicer for all of us.

And now the communal count: 

5.1 miles is the distance from home to my first school St Gregory's.

A pint of milk from the milkman is 75p and we have had 60 this month! Not bad as one of us is dairy free :) 

I will be making this into a page in my smash book and posting it on my crafty blog, I need to find a way to combine the two!

A plus! Ktb x 

Everything happens for a reason

The end of another rather messy week in our house.  William has been a bit under the weather for a few weeks and we went to Southampton on Wednesday to see our specialist nurse who has hopefully set him back on track.  We have lots of antibiotics to try and sort out his diversion colitis and a date for his next operation.  This is good news as we can get organised and start planning the grandparents rota!  One exciting thing is that William is the entire list for theatre that day!  Two surgeons all day is pretty big stuff for a small boy but hopeful takes him on to the next stage of his journey. Lets hope the antibiotics sort out the sickness as the washing machine is in constant use!

Things happen for a reason, although I was sorry not to be able to stay at St Mary's even the lovely people there wouldn't have put up with me taking the first week of term of and then another two weeks in the same half term.  My gap year was definitely for the best and I am getting lots of enjoyment and practice of target language teaching with year 6. Today we learnt numbers and played loto :) I am trying to make it fun for me and them, lets see how we get on!

Looking forward to a nice family weekend - we are meant to be going to legoland lets hope the rain holds off :) 

I am also hoping to get some time to catch up my learn something new everyday book and some scrapbooking!  

La rentrée!

Back to school this week and it feels strange not having lessons to plan or a tiny baby!  I am sure I will get used to it but the rhythm of the year seems out of kilter, not least because the sun is still shining!

William and I are off to Southampton next weds to try and do a poo!  Hopefully we will get him sorted and find out more about his next op, as second pull throughs are so unusual they want to use two consultant surgeons and need almost a full day in theatre. That will be hard to arrange and a very long day for us. But hopefully gets us closer to him starting school without a special need statement.

I am starting my little sessions with year 6 at Madeleine's school on Friday, I have to try and French fun and not ruin them for secondary school or use the material they will see next year when they get their metro 1 books!  Lots of flash cards and role play I think and I might even have to do some songs not my favourite thing!  It will be nice to keep working in the classroom though and even to remember what it is like to teach boys!

Bonne rentrée à tous!  Katie x

Mr Burp's holiday!

Mr Burp decided that he wanted in on the summer, at the start of August he just disappeared one night!  It turns out retraction is quite common but it did leave us with lots of leaks and very sore skin.  Our lovely stoma nurse sorted us out with lotion to heal W's skin and new convex bags to help encourage Mr Burp back out!  And a week later he popped back out! Since then we have struggled a bit with leaking bags and tummy ache, it turns out W needs a washout - loop stomas let a little bit down into the large intestine and overtime this builds up into miracle poos!  Unfortunately a Hirschsprung'sq bottom can't pass this so my boy has tummy ache.  We might have it take him to hospital to remove it if it makes him much worse or more likely will wait until his surgery.  We are waiting for a date for the repeat pull through which is hard to schedule as it takes a full day and needs two consultant surgeons.  How lucky are we that we have such a good hospital team and the NHS! 

Holidays holidays

We've been having a lovely time on holiday and have done so many amazing things on our staycation in Crowthorne.  We started the holidays with Madeleine's swimming lessons and I was so proud of her as she doesn't like doing new things and joined in really well.  

We've had lots of day trips and lots of lovely days in the garden in the sunshine, the children have played really nicely together and we have played lots of shops and cafés as well as gardening William style which involves digging up everything in the veg patch and filling the wheelbarrow with dirt that we spread all over the garden.

Madeleine and I talked about our favourite bit this morning and both agreed the best bit of our holidays was our visit to Helen in Dorset, lots of beach time, sandcastles, wave jumping and seaside fish and chips:) 

The big hit of the holiday has been horrible histories, at last a programme we all love!  Our favourite is the ruthless rulers song and we now all know the order of all the kings and queens since William, William, Henry, John !  Instead of the bible why didn't Michael Gove send all schools a box set of horrible histories and forget about changing the curriculum?!  

We are all ready for our last week and have lots of nice things planned to try and tick off as much as we can from our summer bucket list! 

A bientôt :) 

End of term treat!

What a lovely treat to start my gap year with a visit from our favourite Canadians!  Ria and Rhys were visiting the UK and came to see us for dinner.  We had a lovely evening, a yummy barbecue, lots of games with Uncle John and Priya's spicy chicken :) Then to top it off a virtual tour of The Chief and Churchill, Blomidon via face time.  You have to love technology, when Sean first crossed the Atlantic we used to exchange letters on paper with mix tapes in, now it is face time and virtual pints!

Ria bought lovely presents for the children, Madeleine who hasn't worn shorts since she was in Nova Scotia in 2009 has worn her new blue shorts every day since Friday!!  William LOVES his car and shark shorts too :) but the serious hit was the cherry berry foam hand wash!!

The holiday has to be good to top such a wonderful start! 

Je suis partie!

Thank you lovely St Mary's people for a fabulous last day, an easy room clearing job with girls I liked, delicious lunch and champagne :) a lovely speech from Evelyne and more presents.  It was a shame I had to rush off at the end to collect Madeleine but probably best as there was no time for tears.  I will really miss everyone, I haven't enjoyed a job so much for a long time and will definitely keep in touch for when I am ready to work again! 

Here is my first cup of tea in my gorgeous new mug as a lady of leisure!  I am officially a lady who lunches, loads the dishwasher, does laundry, food shopping, basic paediatric nursing, key stage 1 homework and is general fount of all knowledge when it comes to lost things!  It is all very exciting but today is a little bit sad having left my lovely colleagues and such a nice school.  

 First let's enjoy the holidays :) 

Victorian day!

My first gap year project was to produce a Victorian school child outfit for the 150th anniversary celebrations at Madeleine's school.  I am very pleased with her skirt and apron made from pillowcases!  The more observant reader will notice that the skirt is recycled from the Shrove Tuesday nun's outfits!

I did try and convince Madeleine and her friends that Victorian children didn't talk or run around but they didn't believe me :) 

William and I are off to the time capsule ceremony later :) 

First post

As opposed to last post :)

I am going to blog my gap year, I have decided to take a gap year because I can't be bothered to find another job and also to look after William for a year and get him ready for school.  I am not sure how I will feel when I finish work in two weeks, I have never not worked!  I am sure I will get used to it and have fun for a while as a stay a home mum :) check back to see what we have been up to x