Post holiday....

The cat is Rory who I nearly brought home from our week in Broadstairs last week...he actually belongs next door, but they were on holiday so we were providing meals 3 times a day. At least that was the theory but the occasional breakdown in communication meant that most days 3 was the minimum number of meals he got! But he never complained and kept eating whatever ended up in his bowl...or on Saturday whichever bits of chicken fell off the work surface...

I actually really enjoyed having him around and I think Mikey did as well...which is a good thing as he who grunts in the corner has agreed that the Zerfahs family can get a pet cat! Mikey has already decided that it will also be called Rory, Mummy on the orher hand has decided we are having a girl so she feels less outnumbered! I would also prefer a long haired one who is a lap cat - I no longer have a baby to cuddle (unless I borrow Grace from next door) so I intend to become a cat lady!!!

Work still seems to be going ok. I've lasted longer than I did at South East Water and I like the team I'm working in and I am now getting the chance to really get stuck in and pretty mucj show what I can really do!! So all in all I'm feeling happy and far better than I have for years!

Next week we are hitting the next mile stone for Mikey. Playschool for him starts next Thursday.  We are going for a taster session on Wednesday so I will probably be a total wreck all afternoon as my baby is growing up far too fast...and there is nothing I can do to slow this down.

Been a tad busy...

Sorry for the silence...but I'd forgotten how tiring actually working is!!

My new job is going ok, the people are great and the system was a snap to pick up...I'm pretty sure it is the base for the system I used at Norfolkline and URS so I'm happily finding short cuts and helping out with Excel queries...Yup, it is entirely possible I'm turning into a Geek!!!

I had been thinking the work wasn't challenging. Today has changed all that! Hopefully tomorrow will let me track down members of East Kents social services so I can try to collect an overdue account of nearly £150k. It has certainly given me something to get my teeth into!!

Mikey seems to be happy to be back with Debbie...but I am being made to pay for leaving him. I'm not allowed to get him dressed in the morning, only Daddy will do. And in the  evening he much prefers Daddy's company and usually cries if we get home before him. He could run a master class on 'How to make your mother feel totally guilty'

Other than my major guilt trip life is trundling along. I think our next big thing is getting Mikey's Playschool place sorted for September. What really scares me is next September he'll start school. Although me being out of work was tough on all of us, I am glad I got to spend that time with him as I did miss some milestones before by being at work and he'll never be this small again...for some reason he seems to think he has to keep growing!!!

7/7

Today was 'B" day...I've been trying to forget this was happening but events on Independence Day changed my thinking a little! Basically, I got a job! What was even more amazing is that I was offered the job 45 minutes after the interview!  To say my gob was well and truly smacked is an understatement! What was a little harder  to get my head round is that I start tomorrow and it's 8.30 - 5.00. Mikey will probably not appreciate the early start (nor will his mother!)

This meant that Saturday evening was now a double celebration so I started to look a little kinder towards 7/7!!

To be continued...I need some sleep!!

Wooo Hooo

Not sure what happened...but I finally got offered a job doing the one thing I can actually do...

I'll add more detail later today...but it's too hot to sleep (plus I'm a tad excited)

A trip to my yesterdays...

Today was a trip into my distant past!  I actually left school 22 years ago (not a nice thought as in my head it is closer to 10 years ago) and today was a huge open day to celebrate 125 years of MGGS.

Before anyone thinks anything, I was not an original pupil...but I did leave before any of the current pupils were born...not a thought to stop you feeling old!!

On arrival you signed Iin by decade dependant on when you attended the school, wrote your name on a label and added a smileu face or two, again depending on your time at the school! So for today I was a Wilson again with a nice blue smiley face as my years were 1984 to 1989. This did mean as you walked around school you were looking at womens chests to see what colour sticker they had!!

Sadly I only met 1 person from my year - but she was at least in my form and I think the same house as me! I did meet a current day Viking and they still never win anything! It is good to know that the tradition we started still continues! It was odd walking through the front door (a huge no no when I was a pupil) but the house lists that used to be on display have vanished! It was also odd to see that one of the head girls has a beard and is called Jack!! If boys had neen allowed in my time I would never have passed a single A Level!!!

One of the first things to do was to find my third year form room (we started at 13 and did the first 2 years at a high school) the layout was as I remembered but the old wooden desks with lift upnlids are long gone, along with the very hard, splinter ridden wooden chairs!! I wonder if the current pupils know how lucky they are with interactive whiteboards and desks and chairs that don't draw blood!

My fourth year form room was a good old mobile...but we felt it was boring andsomehow got the ok to redecorate! We painted the walls baby pink (with sheep for added interest) and the ceiling blue with fluffy clouds!! If we had been in a form room in the school there is no way we would have been allowed to express ourselves like that!! But we loved it :-)

Thankfully our work of art is long gone and replaced by a rather impressive new home for the 6th form...complete with a large patio are with rather nice silver tables and chairs. I wonder if the current generation of foxes are well fed. Although we were told not to it was hard to resist them at times and sandwiches flew out of the window with alarming regularity.... kept us amused in our tiny rabbit hutch of a form room when in 6 1.

Most of the place has changed beyond recognition...but it was hard to get over the amount of carpet in the place...we just got concrete floors. And iron framed windows with large gaps that blew open if the wind was on the wrong direction.  I'm sure in 1938 they were state of art, but but by the late 80's they weren't!!!!

Wish I was 3 again...

This has been quite a 4 day weekend! Mikey started his celebrations on Thursday, his actual birthday, by covering the floor with wrapping paper as he proved he has mastered present opening (he did practice on one of Nanny's earlier this year) and did actually pause briefly to even look at what was contained within the paper! He has shown very little interest in anything clothing shaped or cards, those are simply passed to Mummy to deal with!

Since Mummy sold his slide earlier this year we had put a new bigger one on his wish list (anything to keep him busy!!) and Grandad arrived around 10.00 to construct it.

 And Mikey decided that  his assistance was required (at least he decided that I was allowed to get him dressed! I'm not sure Daddy, his Uncle of his cousin would be impressed by his new T-shirt, but I know Auntie Nicky would approve - and much to Daddy's disgust there is now chance he'll grow out of it any time soon!

Luckily the slide went up with no bloodshed or swearing )that I heard at least) But the rain didn't hold off for the first slide to take place in dry weather...But a little rain is no challenge to a 3 year old who has been busy missing his slide, so the first try left a dry slide and a rather damp bottom!!

 And once he'd started convincing him to come back in to a dry house wasn't happening - plus he'd also discovered his sand table and that also required his close attention, but at least in his house he did have a roof, although the wide windows on both sides didn't keep that much drizzle out! He has also discovered that it is deep enough to bury trucks and cars in...once I can kneel without screaming in pain I'll check to see what might be buried in there!

Nanny and Uncle Martin came over later in the afternoon so it was more presents and cake - Mikey made pretty short work of his piece and didn't spray too much over his cake as he blew his candles out! 

It is actually hard for me to accept that my baby is now 3 and will be going to school (hopefully) next year...Who decided that they grow up so fast? I find it hard to remember the baby who fought so hard 3 years ago and was tiny (to me) and I had nurses telling me I couldn't hurt him and not to drop him on his head... It was possibly the best piece of advice I as given - I was terrified trying to burp him after a feed, but there was always a nurse at hand to help me out - or in one case to spend half an hour late on night trying to get him to burp - I took him back and within seconds he let out one massive burp for such a tine person!! I wish all new Mums could spend longer in hospital to be honest, it gives you time to really learn about how to look after this tiny creature you produced!!

This was Mikey on the 21st June, I find it hard to see the little boy with blond curls and big brown eyes who is completely entranced by any vehicle with a siren (Thank you for the loud fire engine Auntie Nicky) But it was wonderful to see him charging around after a football with his cousin yesterday! He also sorted out spilling coke on the floor at Auntie Nic Nic's by sitting in it!But that problem was easily dealt with changing him into he Jake the Pirate costume!!

Tomorrow is going to be a rather different day for him, I have an interview so he is going to see Nanny and Grandad, as I'm also seeing an agency after the interview. Provided, of course, if I can get Mikey up in time...he got up at 10.30 this morning and keeps laying on the floor!! Maybe an early night will help...although Nanny might like a quieter Mikey tomorrow!!

3 Today

Three years ago I had my own personal miracle.  My son was born at 5.44 in the afternoon and from that second both my and Andy"s lives changed forever.

The last 3 years have whizzed past at horrific speed, but also I'm finding it hard to remember life without him... it almost feels as though he has always been part of my life, that shadowy figure you catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye...but never really see properly! I quite like the thought that our children are always with us, whatever happens in our and their lives.

I'm not sure if Mikey really understands what a birthday is...various people have been trying to explain that yesterday he was 2 and today he is 3. He just looks at you as if you were mad and carries on with whatever he was doing. Some of his looks are wonderful and I have loved seeing his character emerge as he grows up. I suppose it is especially treasured by me as I had thought it would never happen - and the vow I made on the Stroke Ward would remain unfulfilled.  But that evening in November 2009 when I couldn't stop the tears as I tried to sing 'When A Child is Born" will be a moment I will never forget as it was then things clicked into place and I worked out why I was feeling so odd...I was now we!

Part of me feels sorry for men, it is hard to explain the connection you have with your baby. I think I knew from that evening in Godinton House that our tadpole was a boy.The confirmation at our 20 week scan just confirmed what I already knew (although I still can't see how they knew)

Maybe I'm strange but I miss being pregnant and I really can't remember giving birth as being painful. .. my memory is of it being uncomfortable, nothing more! Perhaps I was meant to have more than one, but I now intend to be the best Mum I can for him. I just want him to have as good a set of parents as I had.