Update...sorry it's taken so long

Things have change a lot his year. I finished work on 9th March as my contract ended and I'm now trying to be a Mum and failing miserably at it.

Mikey is now growing fast and is mostly walking, except when he wants to get anywhere fast and he resorts to his high speed crawl or walking on his knees! I seem to have mastered most types of nappy changing protocols...even the vertical change when he insists on standing up and not helping in the slightest! I am also applying for every job I can find but I@m now fed up with the feedback. I've now been told twice that I interview really well but the job isn't 'challenging' enough for me. There is one good reason why I haven't applied for management roles (well actually 2) I now have very different priorities and want to try and find that elusive work/life balance (the other is that there simply aren't any management roles around that my experience qualifies me to apply for!)

The other major change in my lovely little sporty black car has gone...I have a feeling it had been sold before I agreed to the deal the dealership offered but I now have a bigger, less powerful car which is white - or in my case dirty grey/black and brown! But is does make life easier getting a small person into his seat in the back - mainly as I don't have to get in to strap him in!!

Speaking of small people, he is currently watching TV and taking his trousers off! I have asked why and he appears to have not heard me... I so need a female cat to try and redress the balance in the house!! He is now talking to me but all he will say is Debbie so it doesn't tell me much about the desire to remove trousers! He's also stomping on my feet which hurts if I'm honest! I have no idea what his current weight is but I may find out on Monday as he has a hospital appointment with his consultant to check how his walking is progressing...so cue loads of crawling and knee walking!!!

I think it is now time for a trip upstairs for a nap, he is now trying to pull my screen further back than it is designed to go and 'No' is not a word he appears to understand today. And having had over an hour of constant screaming this morning I really don't need him to start again.....

Sorry....

This Christmas was pretty quiet...my darling son passed his cold onto Daddy and I - And Mummy had to go one better and end up with Bronchitis! My first trip to my GP ended up with me being told to just inhale steam, I tried to tell him that I simply can't do that - but he didn't want to know. I went into the pharmacy to collect my repeat prescription and was told that I wasn't the first patient that day he'd told to do that! That was Monday, I was back there on Thursday to be told I should have been on antibiotics since Monday... Great! So I was only 4 days behind trying to beat this thing! Andy and I spent most of the festive season surrounded by tissues and trying to to keep ourselves going whilst Mikey was fine and pretty much ran riot! He has discovered that his Fisher Price Garage makes a good climbing frame and the cars etc he got for Christmas make great missiles!
He's also got a few puzzles but we are not yet at the stage where we want to put things in their 'homes' when it is more fun to cover the floor! He's also found out that as a nearly 2 year old throwing tantrums can be fun too....we've have the slamming feet on the floor and screaming if he doesn't get his way immediately...the next year or so could be fun I suppose! But he is still adorable when he puts his mind to it!
Today we had the first Mikey Masterpiece in colour, he was bought soem felt tips for Christmas but his cruel Mother felt that is was safer to try coloured pencils first, I make be a coward but I'm also trying to keep Daddy calm!
I have a feeling that we may have to buy a climbing frame and baby trampoline for his birthday, he can now climb onto the sofa and once he gets up there he just bounces and giggles! He'll even sit on the floor and try to bounce! Maybe once we've mastered walking we may need a trip to Margate in the summer if there are still trmpolines on the beach!
We're actually off the William Harvey Hospital next week to see a specialist about his walking -his left ankle seems to be too flexible and it could be that walking on it is simply painful so he has stuck to crawling, except when he wants to climb! We're both going with him, I can cope with most things but where Mikey is concerned I'd quite like some support with me!

Better late than never!!

This is a rather delayed update on Mikey's first proper trip to see Santa… Having read another persons update on the Reindeer centre I pretty much decided that was where we were going! Daddy didn't really have any say in the matter, but I simply wanted a good first experience for him (OK, he did meet Santa last year but he was only 5-6 months only and was terrified and buried his face in my neck!)

Thanks to me nagging a little we arrived not long after it opened, and thankfully it was really well signposted so getting there was easy! We parked on site and met a lovely dog who probably got tickled/stroked by almost everyone who was parking which he really didn't object to! First order of business was a quick trip to change a nappy…I really don't think Santa would have liked the aroma! We also had to shout at the pens of chickens and ducks, not sure they really appreciated whatever Mikey said but it had to be done! I'm assuming that feeding the ducks at Singleton Lake is not a peaceful experience for Debbie! Unfortunately the Raccoons were busy curled up on their sleeping shelf and obviously feeling unsociable as they didn't want to say hello! By the time Mikey was smelling fragrant again there was quite a queue so we went to join it and soon were making our way to Santa! Mummy was happy as the first think she saw were some large sparkly penguins! Mikey's eyes were enormous as he tried to take everything in, and he and Daddy say in the sleigh for a quick photo, although getting a non-moving shot was a tad difficult! The one minor mishap we had was the talking bear! Daddy said it was Brian Blessed's voice but I think Mikey found it a little too loud and booming, but soon cheered up one we moved past it and the little illuminated house came into view!

There was a slight delay once we got close to Santa's house but Mummy was happy making friends with the 2 Reindeer parked outside and the Chief Elf was very friendly and stamped Mikey's passport for him! (Plus she was blonde - always a good thing so far as my son is concerned!) We soon went through to meet the Big Man and Mikey was all smile and cuteness! Apparently not what is usually had from his age range - most of them scream and don’t' want to go near Santa, Mikey was soon happily sat on his knee without too much wriggling and he didn't try to attack the beard (which had been Daddy's biggest fear) Santa and Mikey had quite a long chat, I can honestly say I didn't understand a word of it, but Santa appeared to so hopefully everything requested will arrive on the night of the 24th! Mikey had a photo with Santa and got a nice big wrapped box to take away and we left Santa in peace to chat with the next child and went off to buy a copy or 2 of the photo! I was impressed £6 each, or 2 for £10! So we had to get one to commerate the 1st proper meeting!

We then passed through the last few rooms with lots of excited noises from the young man in his chariot (Or Maserati as Santa called it) and escaped back into the sunshine to move onto the next part of our Visit! We soon moved to the Barn, full of Christmas music and loads of animals… we started in Animal corner where Mummy made friends with a very friendly goat and fell in love with the ducklings, it would have been so easy to simply sneak a few into his push chair! The Bunnies and piggles were wonderful - maybe for next years birthday!?!?!? And then Mummy saw the bouncy ones at the back! Mikey was mesmerised by them as they dashed around - to be honest I don’t think he's really ever seen a Kangaroo so wallabies were a whole new experience and certainly don't move like animals he comes into contact with on a regular basis! We then had to stop off and get up close to a big Reindeer, we left the push chair in Daddy's capable hands and had a seat on a straw bale while a reindeer had a good sniff! I think the straw was more exciting the Reindeer as you could pull it out in handfuls! But he was very good and didn't punch anyone or scream, and was very gentle with the noses pushed towards him!

Daddy had to almost physically restrain mummy when she saw the Meerkats, they were so cute and rushed over and chatted to people, I know they are vicious but I really want one! We still had the Llamas and the Donkeys to visit and the Emus! Mikey didn’t seem to bothered by them and thankfully the Llamas didn't do their party trick! But the Donkeys were lovely … but those have always been a family favourite and maybe they kept their pen mates calm! We decided that he was a little too small for the snow and ball pit experience (the lack of waling wouldn't help either) so Mummy and Daddy decided it was time for their Mince pie and Mikey had a few swigs of Fruit Shoot to keep him going! Once done the final bits of his passport were stamped and we made a move back home as it was getting close to lunch time, stopping for a chat with a very loud cockatoo! Once Mikey had had lunch he went up for a 'nap' which lasted for getting on for 4 hours, I'm sure I have been told that sleep is when small people process and new sights/experiences etc - I guess there was a whole lot of processing going on!

Quite a week....

This week has been slightly manic. I had this afternoon off as Mikey needed a sitter and hasn't been a well boy, he threw up at Debbie's yesterday and did the same again this morning. But he's been fine all afternoon and this evening he was simply adorable. Lots of smiles and cuddles and yelling for Gary! (Debbie's partner)

The plan for this weekend is to wait for the replacement washing machine tomorrow and head off to the Reindeer Centre on Sunday to visit the big man in Red! It appears that the Santa experience there is pretty good and it's somewhere I've never been and have wanted to visit! Plus having heard 'Fairytale of New York' on the radio this morning I'm starting to feel rather seasonal!!

It's my sisters birthday today so I am very aware that we only have 4 weeks until the big day now, I really need to get organised as so far I've only sorted Mikey and Andy out! My parents are rather difficult as they pretty much buy what they want when they want it! My brother-in-law is the same! For my nephew...where is the best place to buy drum sticks!?!?!?

I've sort of made an early New Years Resolution...I'm going to try to post more often than I've managed this year, it really is a great way to remember stuff, especially as my memory is still decidedly dodgy most of the time! Maybe I need a smart phone so I can update when I have a break for lunch at work as our security means I can't get onto this site!!

My own personal demolition crew...

is commonly known as Michael Andrew Zerfahs! I had last Friday off as our normal childcare arrangements couldn't happen. He was cute all morning but in the afternoon turned into a demon Octopus!! One glass door from our TV unit now has a large crack running from corner to corner! Luckily he hasn't been near the washing machine so can't be blamed for that going to the great scrap yard in the sky! But he could be partially to blame as our washing loads have really increased over the last 17 months for some reason!!

Mikey is now seriously mobile. We have bought his first pair of shoes, not sure how long it is going to take Andy to get over the price when looked at in comparison the the size of the shoes! Walking happens with the various baby walking devices he has both here and at Nanny and Grandads or when hanging onto sofas or cot sides. But if we need to get anywhere fast he does a great impression of a herd of stampeding elephants across the lounge floor, more often than not when he is trying to distract Daddy from something he isn't meant to be doing!

I'm still living with my headache...in theory I am being referred to a headache clinic but that is reliant on my GP actually sending a letter off. As there are now only 2 full time GP's at the practice I have no idea when (if ever) any letter will actually be sent. But in the meantime I'm trying to not overdose on paracetamol as they are all I have to take as pain relief now and some evenings it hurts so much I just want to curl up and cry. At times the pressure inside my head is so bad I simply want to drill holes in my head to relieve it.

Quiet week!

It's been a rather quiet few days Chez Zerfahs…I have got laryngitis again and my voice appears to have upped and left the building! To be honest it is very painful but at least it takes my mind off my headache which is now into the 3rd month! I had a CT scan a couple of weeks ago and finally saw a GP about it yesterday. Basically I do still have a brain and the re is nothing scary lurking in there - just very narrow blood vessels which are probably nothing to do with the headache! He also gave me some typed of painkiller but phoned home before I got back to tell me not to take them! Apparently they will have an adverse effect on my asthma which as we are going through a weather change right now is bad already… So I'm still on paracetamol which don't work and drinking gallons of water to try and keep my throat lubricated. Not that helps my voice, it's on a par with my paralysed vocal chord stage in 2008 - if they tell me to hum and cough I'm liable to flatten someone! Mikey thinks it's funny and I keep getting very quizzical looks and this morning he was stroking my throat. Luckily he hasn't got hands big enough to strangle his mum yet!


At the moment I'm grateful for e-mail as I've been trying to talk on the phone and it simply doesn't work - I know people can't hear/understand me and repeating it just puts more strain on a voice which has given up already. But e-mail means I can at least get on and although I should probably be at home resting my voice properly that would leave me with creeping brain death and a hell of a pile of stuff when I get back, I'd prefer to struggle on as I am for now.

Also I don't want to risk causing any more damage than it's already experienced, but I'm missing singing in the car on the way to and from work. OK it isn't a long journey but it's part of my routine and I enjoy it (not sure Mikey does…) I do seem to have caused some amusement at work, everyone around me seems to think it's funny - but I wasn't aware that I made that much noise normally anyway!

Mikey is currently really trying to find his feet, mainly using Daddy as a climbing frame and really not caring where feet, knees and elbows go which results in some odd noises and faces from Daddy - maybe I should try to find him some protection??? But he does keep telling me Mikey isn't getting a sibling - maybe Mikey is making sure he's an only child!?!?!? We can stand up holding something but we appear to have a wobbly bottom and crawling is obviously faster - especially when you can do an impression of a stampeding elephant across the floor! It looks as though this Christmas will be treeless as everything has to be explored and I think no would get a little boring after the 1st 10 minutes!!

Yet another month...nearly Christmas!!!!

First day back after 3 days off with my boys… It was Andy's Birthday last week so we were both off from Wednesday and Mikey was home with us too :) It was so nice to have time as a family and I had forgotten how funny my little boy can be! At one point he was upstairs with Daddy having a nappy change and all I could here was Mikey rabbiting on about something (your guess is as good as mine regarding what he was going on about) and when they came back down Andy was having a real problem keeping a straight face! Our son was looking very serious and still talking about whatever it was that he'd started on up stairs!

On Thursday we headed over to Leeds Castle as our tickets from last year were still valid. Mikey decided that every single person needed to be greeted with a loud 'Hello', and everytime he got one back the legs in the push chair went into overdrive! It was that exciting! But if he was ignored any subsequent greetings got louder and louder until he got at least one back! Unfortunately the birds in the aviary weren't as talkative this time - if they had been I'd imagine we'd still be there! There was also a Latin invasion of the maze, I have to admit I'm not sure if they were Spanish or Italian. I just know they were decidedly loud…Maybe Mikey should have joined them!

Friday was very exciting - I pushed him round to my hairdressers for a trim! His very first as it was nearly long enough to make a couple of small bunches! I was a very proud mum, he sat calmly on my lap and was very good as Abbie snipped away and tidied him up! We didn't go for a major chop so he still has his curls but no longer has mad hair when he wakes up in the morning! Hopefully Nanny will approve as I was warned not to let him end up looking like a thug - even though he acts like one most of the time! (Toy chucking is a favourite occupation at the moment!)