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30 June 2010

Ugh

I came on to rant about the fact that "they" will not allow Morgan to have a tetanus shot (not even the 5in1) because it is against policy to give a booster unless the injury is very serious, and "all children in this country are vaccinated anyway".

But she isn't.

Oh, well, I know. But that's our policy anyway.

So what you're telling me is that it's all or nothing? You can't vaccinate my child because they haven't been given a vaccination already?

No. Well... We support full vaccination.

Riiight.

Oh, look, I managed to rant! I really didn't feel like it when I started typing. All I can think of, and all I want to say, is meep.

My mother in law is in hospital and she is dying. My weeping husband has gone to be with her. And... meep. :(

Another New Normal

I can't say, honestly, how this old-new way of living is going. In some ways we have slipped effortlessly back to how we lived before Martin lost his job. In other ways I am floundering, not sure how to feel about normal everyday events. Monday was the most strange, but also just a lovely simple day. I wasn't phased by the small hiccups, we all got through the whole day in harmony with each other, I just felt that strange space where Martin has been for so long.

Tuesday was different again. I had planned so well, and that may have been the problem. Because Jenna took my door keys - and lost them. I went into an immediate blind panic - feeling claustrophobic and fainty with literal cold sweats the like of which I have never experienced before. Thankfully Naomi had a key and came and rescued me, and as soon as the door was open I could stop crying and compose myself, embarrased at the disproportionate response. I thought I was coming OUT of this period of depression, and here I am blatently not coping. *sigh*

Anyhow, as I say, I composed myself. The day after that was pretty wonderful. Tristan came and spent the day, and I even walked them all the way to the big Saisbury's to get food shopping (FOUR children, and FOOD SHOPPING, voluntarily, I am amazed that I survived). The children were all lovely, and nobody ran off or had an inexplicable meltdown of any kind.




Well, Tristan ran off once, but I laughed and said "bet you can't catch Jenna" which brought him running right back so that he could play chase. He also stepped into the road once (the very busy MAIN road) and I had a moment of panic and barked to GET BACK ON THE PAVEMENT at which he looked bemused and pointed out that the lights had changed and he was safe to cross. Embarrased is not the word! Ah well, lesson learned.

They spent the rest of the day torn between playing in the sand and eating my blackberries (!) and playing quiet games inside. Together. With no bickering.
Let me bask, for just a minute... ;)

Today my plan is to catch several busses to visit Em and maybe go to the park with a picnic. Sounds about right to me, especially with these lovely fresh breezes today! The summer is beautiful, and I am right here where I should be, and somehow I think I am going to be OK with just the one pair of hands.

29 June 2010

Bristol

Local park play time when we arrived with my dear lovely yarnie friend Ashleigh. :)




Of COURSE on the first night my non-vaccinated Morgan would stab herself on a rusty bit of park equipment, then fall flat in the dirt. We duly took ourselves off thinking it would be best to get official advice on a tetanus shot (and suspecting that they would recommend one regardless once they heard she wasn't vaccinated). Can you believe they don't stock tetanus injections in the busy A&E? The doctor was very very helpful anyway, and advised us to see our GP. They seem to think she's in the clear now but want her to have the injection anyhow. I am still indecisive but have an appointment booked provisionally. *sigh* Is there ever such a thing as a simple answer? Anyhow, a late night that night, and a stressful one too.We made ourselves very at home in Ashleigh's tiny flat! The second pic is the girls arguing over the same breast. Yes, I have two. But they both prefer the same one. Seriously, milk-related squabbling. It's quite flattering in a way. Though I'm trying to persuade Rowan that the polite way to tell Morgan whose turn it is does NOT involve pulling hair...
Oh yes, those wooden trees are new - a joint purchase between Ash and ourselves at Playfull Toys on Gloucester Road. We also found the Barefoot Book of Budhist Tales and a Jenna-skin-tone Lyra chunky pencil. Good purchases that day. Slightly naughty purchases on the next-to-last day though as we also visited Get Knitted in Brislington (well, Ash and I did - Martin and the girls hung out all day at a very very cheap but LOVELY cafe with a tiny soft play area (also Gloucester Road, I swear, I love that place). More on the yarnie bad-erm-goodness another time no doubt (but for the obsessives amongst you, I say only that between us we got 22 balls of Sublime soya cotton and organic wool for the usual cost of 6 balls).

We took a trip to the camera obscura and Clifton suspension bridge. Here is my lovely husband braving the rock slide for the sake of my very excited little girls! Apparently the braking system is a large block of concrete that stops your descent rather... suddenly... He still has bruises!
You can just see the tower where the camera obscura is housed in the distance on one of my shots from the bridge. The tide was out and the patterns in the silt were amazing to look at. We tried to drop a large stick in, but couldn't see where it fell. Such fun exploring our world together and finding questions we didn't know we had!


Though Morgan got very tired with so much walking. Well, we all did.Then, Ash finally got the wonderful news that her long wait is over and she is now officially a doctor (yay Ashleigh)!

This is where we got the ferry from for another day's adventures - yeeess, I thought you'd all rather like this large decorative vegetable bed! (I *really* hope they intend to use the produce though!)Rowan spent about half an hour amusing herself persuing a very very tame little male blackbird who let her get so close before flitting off just a foot or so. When he got tired he would just fly into one of the smaller trees, and Rowan stood shouting up at him in indignation!






Explore @ Bristol! So much to see and do, we could have spent a whole day in just that one place.Oh this picture of Morgan, what comment would suffice? She is just a perfect little pixie-child!




My family running around the Blue Reef aquarium. And we did RUN round, mostly. Twice.


Fascinated baby!Feeding time at the amazon tank.
"TUR-TUR!"She moved her pudgy fingers out of the way pretty sharpish when this snappy little fella wanted a closer look! My funny Roo just couldn't decide whether to point at every swimming thing she saw, or keep her hands safely clasped together out of reach of the tanks.Not *quite* sure that the big fish wouldn't take a bite even from the other side of the very thick glass...We have a more-or-less identical picture of Morgan at the same age at another sealife centre. Shots of them like that always make me smile, measuring the passage of time in which little one is in arms, which is wearing "that" summer dress, who now owns the much-loved hand-me-down purple coat... :)Paddling in the fountains outside. They all got totally soaked and Rowan got naked pretty quickly. The number of times I have pulled them back from playing in water features like this, and oh I am so glad we made the time. This sunny evening will be one of my most treasured memories of this holiday!