Pollyanna tendencies aside, this has been a bit of a stressful week so far.
Friday my eye was full of a big red lump that had been insidiously growing since the surgery and was now too large to ignore. One quick visit to the lovely (seriously, he's a lovely man) optometrist and Jon, the boys and I were in the car on the way to East London, where the equally lovely opthalmologist agreed it wasn't much cop and, after dropping two drops of local into my eye, proceeded to cut the lump out. While I sat there, keeping my eye open totally without help. No strapping it open or anything. Luckily he moved so fast (and I only felt twinges of pain on the last two cuts) that I only got a bit shaky about it afterwards. Hopefully this has solved the problem. If, however, the granulated lump recurs, I'll have to have further full-on surgery. Holding thumbs it doesn't bloody come to that...!
Jon was a star, driving for around 6 hours, and the boys were stars too, sitting in their seats in the back for all that time. We had a quick look at my old school, and I showed Jon the two houses where I lived as a child.
The other exhausting thing about this week so far has been the migraines. The auras started on Thursday, and there's one most days. The bloody things build up, so that yesterday's one left a really nasty, sick headache in its wake. Thank heavens for Mici, who came round with anti-nausea pills and company to take my mind off the pain. And how wonderful that she thought to check with a pharmacist first, to make sure the anti-nausea medication could be taken with the codeine based pills I had already had!
Then last night we were fast asleep at 0130 when Nicky came in, climbed onto me and wee'd, hugely. The ensuing clean up and change took ages, was loud and woke up James into the bargain. So we ended up again with Nicky (a terribly restless sleeper) next to me and Jon in the little bed with Jamie. The upshot is that sleep since about 0200 has been a little fractured, and Jon and I have snapped at each other at least once this morning, and I've yelled at the boys at least twice, and it's only just 0700. We've all got colds and chesty coughs too. Oh, the joy of spring!
Now it's time to make dippy eggs and soldiers and fight off James, who wants me to read Richard Scarry just as the breakfast and school run kicks off. I need a clone, really.
make that two clones - one a mere vegetable growing me a replacement eye, just in case. Yuck. I know.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Blue Moon Sunday
I am feeling a trifle hard done by today. It's only 0600! And I have no right to feel this way; the person who does is finally getting some sleep in a real bed after a night spent hopping between the sofa and the single bed in the boys room.
Yep, the boys didn't sleep. Nicky was the main culprit. He went down at around 1930 but woke up crying at 2000, asking for us and refusing to go back in his room, let alone his toddler bed. So he spent the next three hours sitting with Jon on the sofa, watching kids TV for some of the time, and yelling and screaming any time anyone mentioned sleep, or resting, or snuggling down. He felt a trifle hot, so I dosed him with Ponstan, but that just seemed to chirp him up no end, dammit.
I lay in the bed (our room leads off the sitting room in this teeny tiny house) and tried to rest, but every time I dropped off into a fitful doze I was woken by shrieks. I remember waking from one very odd dream, where I was driving an amphibious spacecraft. It was a bit clunky, to be honest, but considering I had landed in water, I was glad to have it...
Anyway, Nicky woke Jamie up. So when Nicky finally fell asleep enough to be put into his bed, Jon had to go into the horrendously uncomfortable single bed with Jamie. Then Nicky woke up again, and had to go in with me. And he lies sideways and kicks, which makes sharing even a queensize bed a trial... Every time I tried to shift him, he woke up and yelled.
Then Jamie woke up for the day at 0430. Jon, bless him, kept his quiet so Nicky and I dozed on till 0530, but there was no holding them back after that. Thankfully Jon seems to have managed to get to sleep now, so I'll leave him as long as possible - thank heavens it's Sunday!
I did get sleep (albeit truncated and not terribly deep) so I should not be moaning, but but but... I feel like it. Sleep problems have been the hardest part to date about becoming a parent. Even though they do sleep through more than ever before now, there are nights where we are reminded of the sheer horror of learning that sleep is not the necessity it always seemed to be, but rather a luxury in an uncertain world.
In good news, I found a pair of sandals yesterday. I've been looking for some and these are just what I wanted. I'm terrible at shoe shopping, so to walk in, see a pair I liked and buy them was a big WIN for me. Yay!
More tea needed now.
Yep, the boys didn't sleep. Nicky was the main culprit. He went down at around 1930 but woke up crying at 2000, asking for us and refusing to go back in his room, let alone his toddler bed. So he spent the next three hours sitting with Jon on the sofa, watching kids TV for some of the time, and yelling and screaming any time anyone mentioned sleep, or resting, or snuggling down. He felt a trifle hot, so I dosed him with Ponstan, but that just seemed to chirp him up no end, dammit.
I lay in the bed (our room leads off the sitting room in this teeny tiny house) and tried to rest, but every time I dropped off into a fitful doze I was woken by shrieks. I remember waking from one very odd dream, where I was driving an amphibious spacecraft. It was a bit clunky, to be honest, but considering I had landed in water, I was glad to have it...
Anyway, Nicky woke Jamie up. So when Nicky finally fell asleep enough to be put into his bed, Jon had to go into the horrendously uncomfortable single bed with Jamie. Then Nicky woke up again, and had to go in with me. And he lies sideways and kicks, which makes sharing even a queensize bed a trial... Every time I tried to shift him, he woke up and yelled.
Then Jamie woke up for the day at 0430. Jon, bless him, kept his quiet so Nicky and I dozed on till 0530, but there was no holding them back after that. Thankfully Jon seems to have managed to get to sleep now, so I'll leave him as long as possible - thank heavens it's Sunday!
I did get sleep (albeit truncated and not terribly deep) so I should not be moaning, but but but... I feel like it. Sleep problems have been the hardest part to date about becoming a parent. Even though they do sleep through more than ever before now, there are nights where we are reminded of the sheer horror of learning that sleep is not the necessity it always seemed to be, but rather a luxury in an uncertain world.
In good news, I found a pair of sandals yesterday. I've been looking for some and these are just what I wanted. I'm terrible at shoe shopping, so to walk in, see a pair I liked and buy them was a big WIN for me. Yay!
More tea needed now.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Update
I'm not very good with this journalling lark, I've realised. I have LJ, a blogspot diary, a mailing list of friends and family and a Facebook account, and I seem congenitally unable to keep it all updated! Perhaps bullet points is the way to go...
1. Returned from a good but very busy week back in Durban. Managed to get Nicky's 18 month booster shots done. Rather relieved at this as he is, in fact, 25 months old and I had no idea he hadn't been boosted months ago. Thank heavens for the good records kept by his primary care nurse.
2. Managed to see my gynae. 'Nuff said. Except that he was very vocal on how Zuma's NHS plans are going to completely finish any semblance of decent healthcare in this country, which was scary. He reckons we have five to eight years before the collapse is final, however, which is a Good Thing, as we just bought a house and all and all. I am still not thrilled by the prospect of returning to the UK (our other home country) in the midst of a recession. Not to mention that they appear to have decided to introduce Big Brother style government on a scale which no doubt has Orwell rotating in his grave. What is up with that anyway??
3. Saw Kerryn, which was lovely, and ate Sprigs baked cheesecake on a chocolate brownie base, which was damn near orgasmic.
4. Got flu. Lovely Dr Pretorius couldn't be sure it it was swine flu or not, but recommended I not play rugby while suffering. I agreed to hold off on any urge to pick up a ball and run with it. Not hard, as I've never knowingly exercised voluntarily in my life. Left doctors surgery with a warm feeling - it's nice to be told your practice misses you :)
5. Worried about James and Jonathan getting tonsilitis. Due to family issues with strep, we now have to watch Jon like a hawk for possible signs of rheumatic fever recurrence. Praying no such signs are spotted in the next week or so, as we should then be out of the woods.
6. Shopped for clothes!! Bought lots and lots of lovely new things, and decided that, regardless of the fact that am now on a diet, needed to look good while dieting, so bought in the size most comfortable. After all, what else are belts for?
7. Indulged in huge bunches of jasmine everywhere. I love love love jasmine season.
8. Drove home (as a passenger) for 11.5 hours through Kwazulu-Natal, the old Transkei and the Eastern Cape, with two small boys in the back. Who were remarkably well behaved. And, we found, if you break the journey into two hour stages, you find the "are we in XXX yet?" questions far easier to deal with, as the name changes regularly.
9. Arrived back in Grahamstown and was gratified to find that we all felt strongly as though we were Home. After only five months of living here, we are really all settled and happy. It's a good feeling :D
10. Had three days of battering out some freelance assignments while flailing my arms wildly at assorted small boys yelling fruitlessly "I'm WORKING! I'll get you a hot chocolate/play Lego/put Mary Poppins on/find you the sticky tape LATER!"
11. Had eye surgery, just yesterday. Pterygium in right eye excised. leading to many family jokes about pterodactyls in my eye, and much excitement for the small boys have a "pirate!" for a mommy! I've already taken the patch off, however, and am alternating between opening and closing my eye while wearing my Good Sunglasses.
Whew... pretty much updated! And as soon as I get a moment I need to reboot this blog (after all, I don't think we're in Assagay anymore, Toto) and start posting more regularly. As soon as my eye is back to normal - see you then :)
1. Returned from a good but very busy week back in Durban. Managed to get Nicky's 18 month booster shots done. Rather relieved at this as he is, in fact, 25 months old and I had no idea he hadn't been boosted months ago. Thank heavens for the good records kept by his primary care nurse.
2. Managed to see my gynae. 'Nuff said. Except that he was very vocal on how Zuma's NHS plans are going to completely finish any semblance of decent healthcare in this country, which was scary. He reckons we have five to eight years before the collapse is final, however, which is a Good Thing, as we just bought a house and all and all. I am still not thrilled by the prospect of returning to the UK (our other home country) in the midst of a recession. Not to mention that they appear to have decided to introduce Big Brother style government on a scale which no doubt has Orwell rotating in his grave. What is up with that anyway??
3. Saw Kerryn, which was lovely, and ate Sprigs baked cheesecake on a chocolate brownie base, which was damn near orgasmic.
4. Got flu. Lovely Dr Pretorius couldn't be sure it it was swine flu or not, but recommended I not play rugby while suffering. I agreed to hold off on any urge to pick up a ball and run with it. Not hard, as I've never knowingly exercised voluntarily in my life. Left doctors surgery with a warm feeling - it's nice to be told your practice misses you :)
5. Worried about James and Jonathan getting tonsilitis. Due to family issues with strep, we now have to watch Jon like a hawk for possible signs of rheumatic fever recurrence. Praying no such signs are spotted in the next week or so, as we should then be out of the woods.
6. Shopped for clothes!! Bought lots and lots of lovely new things, and decided that, regardless of the fact that am now on a diet, needed to look good while dieting, so bought in the size most comfortable. After all, what else are belts for?
7. Indulged in huge bunches of jasmine everywhere. I love love love jasmine season.
8. Drove home (as a passenger) for 11.5 hours through Kwazulu-Natal, the old Transkei and the Eastern Cape, with two small boys in the back. Who were remarkably well behaved. And, we found, if you break the journey into two hour stages, you find the "are we in XXX yet?" questions far easier to deal with, as the name changes regularly.
9. Arrived back in Grahamstown and was gratified to find that we all felt strongly as though we were Home. After only five months of living here, we are really all settled and happy. It's a good feeling :D
10. Had three days of battering out some freelance assignments while flailing my arms wildly at assorted small boys yelling fruitlessly "I'm WORKING! I'll get you a hot chocolate/play Lego/put Mary Poppins on/find you the sticky tape LATER!"
11. Had eye surgery, just yesterday. Pterygium in right eye excised. leading to many family jokes about pterodactyls in my eye, and much excitement for the small boys have a "pirate!" for a mommy! I've already taken the patch off, however, and am alternating between opening and closing my eye while wearing my Good Sunglasses.
Whew... pretty much updated! And as soon as I get a moment I need to reboot this blog (after all, I don't think we're in Assagay anymore, Toto) and start posting more regularly. As soon as my eye is back to normal - see you then :)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
All Change...
I am. I am still in February on here, crazy crazy. And so much has happened that I can't even sit and do an email to family about it because there's just Too Much to write about. So I can't possibly sit and do a bit by bit account here... I'll just jump in.
Grahamstown is lovely. But it is terribly terribly loud. Students don't do sotto voce. Their cars don't have silencers, or shock absorbers, or volume control. I was woken at 0300 yesterday by Ram Jam's Black Betty playing at full, FULL volume outside our bedroom window. It says much for my old Rhodian status (which is now a full fourteen years old) that I merely thought dreamily that the last time I heard that song was at the Vic, and then went back to sleep...
The Vic isn't here anymore. I knew that, in my head. I'd been told. But to wander past the scene of so much debauched jollity and find it a hideously over decorated chintzy 'grown-up' cocktail bar and restaurant was a bit of a shocker. Not nearly so much of a trauma though as finding out that the truly gorgeous Victorian house I rented the granny flat of (English, much?) is now the Kwikspar and Tops bottle store. I still haven't got over that. I went in to buy Coke and crisps, and could still see the wooden panelling and coving I remembered. It was a horrible experience. Everyone boycott Spar, please.
Other than that, it hasn't changed much. Even the students are, essentially, the same. I keep seeing people I was at Rhodes with, still wearing their tie-dyed Festival bought wraps and not wearing shoes. It always take me a second to realise that it's not actually the same person I knew. Just the same genre. It's lovely. And it wouldn't be nearly so noisy if we weren't living on campus, opposite the Great Field and the Union. So, one day, when our house in Durbs sells definitively, and we buy something here, we'll probably go back to being in a grown-up world. But I will NOT go back to the new Vic. Uhuh. No way. Yuck.
Grahamstown is lovely. But it is terribly terribly loud. Students don't do sotto voce. Their cars don't have silencers, or shock absorbers, or volume control. I was woken at 0300 yesterday by Ram Jam's Black Betty playing at full, FULL volume outside our bedroom window. It says much for my old Rhodian status (which is now a full fourteen years old) that I merely thought dreamily that the last time I heard that song was at the Vic, and then went back to sleep...
The Vic isn't here anymore. I knew that, in my head. I'd been told. But to wander past the scene of so much debauched jollity and find it a hideously over decorated chintzy 'grown-up' cocktail bar and restaurant was a bit of a shocker. Not nearly so much of a trauma though as finding out that the truly gorgeous Victorian house I rented the granny flat of (English, much?) is now the Kwikspar and Tops bottle store. I still haven't got over that. I went in to buy Coke and crisps, and could still see the wooden panelling and coving I remembered. It was a horrible experience. Everyone boycott Spar, please.
Other than that, it hasn't changed much. Even the students are, essentially, the same. I keep seeing people I was at Rhodes with, still wearing their tie-dyed Festival bought wraps and not wearing shoes. It always take me a second to realise that it's not actually the same person I knew. Just the same genre. It's lovely. And it wouldn't be nearly so noisy if we weren't living on campus, opposite the Great Field and the Union. So, one day, when our house in Durbs sells definitively, and we buy something here, we'll probably go back to being in a grown-up world. But I will NOT go back to the new Vic. Uhuh. No way. Yuck.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Photo Meme
I need to come back here, open it up, dust it off, switch the electricity back on and make a cup of tea in the unused kettle... but not today. Today I'm just here quicky to take part in a meme, a challenge from a Facebook Friend.
I hadn't really planned to post at all, but I went to the sixth folder of my photos, and looked at the sixth photo in that folder - and it was this one. This is my 96 year old Granny, holding my 10 month old son. My Dad and I are the other two people in the photo. Four generations of us, all together.
Granny died last year; this was the only time she ever met James. But it was an auspicious occasion, and I'm so glad she did. Therefore I reckon this meme is serendipitous; it's a good memory to revisit.
I'll be back soon...
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Beginnings (Again)
The years do seem to roll around rather fast these days, don't they? I remember when Christmas was a golden jewel, as inaccessible as China, and the joyful anticipation which began to build up from the end of November. School helped, of course, with Carol Services and Prizegivings and that great week after the exams were finished where we pretty much did what we wanted and got ready for the school to be opened up to parents on the last day... Then there was the trip away to the coast, to my grandparents (I grew up in Johannesburg, 12 hours drive away from where I was born in Port Elizabeth), the excitement of meeting up with cousins perhaps not seen for a year, the waking up on Christmas morning to presents and family and food food food. The holiday at Natures Valley afterwards, with sea and sun and sand and the New Year's party on the beach...
Now I'm an adult, the season seems to sneak up on me rather abruptly. I rush about getting presents, and before I know it, it's almost Twelfth Night, and time for the tree to come down. Jamie did have a concert at play school this year, which brought the season into focus. Of course, he refused to sing, but then he is only three. And we have had a marvellous Christmas break, with suprise visits from my sister and her husband (based in the UK) and a few wonderful days up the North Coast with family.
Soooo, this is not a complaining post, at all at all. I'm just thinking about the nature of new beginnings, and how we break our time into meaningful parts. Somehow, although I'm 36 years old, this time of year always feels as though it should be accompanied by the smell of new pencils and crisp paper. I crave textbooks and diaries, and new shoes. I want to hear stories of holidays away, of conquests made, resolutions undertaken and already broken. 2008 has ticked over into 2009, and twelve new months stretch ahead. And now that I no longer have a context around me which changes, now that I need to make the changes for myself, well, somewhere, I need to tap a well of willpower and corral the muse and make the changes.
It's shaping up to be a momentous year all round. 2008 was one of those years where you watch in bemusement as edifices crumble and fall and, in the rubble, new bricks and blocks arise, heralding new orders, new shapes to the ordered universe, new paradigms shifting into view. 2009 may just be the year where many of those blocks settle into place, and there we are - somewhere new. I'm afraid of change (isn't everybody? Really?) but I see this happening on both a personal level and, spreading outwards, within South Africa and the wider world. When 2009 rolls over into 2010, the view from where we stand may be quite different, and I'd like to be ready for the change.
Because if one thing is certain, it is that the years go by faster and faster, and that if you don't grab them by the scruff and live them, you won't get them back. So, Happy 2009, and here's to positive change and open minds and all those good things. It's going to be a rollercoaster.
Now I'm an adult, the season seems to sneak up on me rather abruptly. I rush about getting presents, and before I know it, it's almost Twelfth Night, and time for the tree to come down. Jamie did have a concert at play school this year, which brought the season into focus. Of course, he refused to sing, but then he is only three. And we have had a marvellous Christmas break, with suprise visits from my sister and her husband (based in the UK) and a few wonderful days up the North Coast with family.
Soooo, this is not a complaining post, at all at all. I'm just thinking about the nature of new beginnings, and how we break our time into meaningful parts. Somehow, although I'm 36 years old, this time of year always feels as though it should be accompanied by the smell of new pencils and crisp paper. I crave textbooks and diaries, and new shoes. I want to hear stories of holidays away, of conquests made, resolutions undertaken and already broken. 2008 has ticked over into 2009, and twelve new months stretch ahead. And now that I no longer have a context around me which changes, now that I need to make the changes for myself, well, somewhere, I need to tap a well of willpower and corral the muse and make the changes.
It's shaping up to be a momentous year all round. 2008 was one of those years where you watch in bemusement as edifices crumble and fall and, in the rubble, new bricks and blocks arise, heralding new orders, new shapes to the ordered universe, new paradigms shifting into view. 2009 may just be the year where many of those blocks settle into place, and there we are - somewhere new. I'm afraid of change (isn't everybody? Really?) but I see this happening on both a personal level and, spreading outwards, within South Africa and the wider world. When 2009 rolls over into 2010, the view from where we stand may be quite different, and I'd like to be ready for the change.
Because if one thing is certain, it is that the years go by faster and faster, and that if you don't grab them by the scruff and live them, you won't get them back. So, Happy 2009, and here's to positive change and open minds and all those good things. It's going to be a rollercoaster.
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