Monthly Archives: November 2001

Eve is most certainly teething. She was running a temperature yesterday. Louise said she was quite worried about her at one point, not knowing what the problem might be? When Eve woke from her afternoon nap, Louise says that she could ‘smell’ the fact that she was teething. Eve was also very lackluster all afternoon, although she had a good time messing about at playgroup in the morning. They had water so it got a little messy (kids, water, mess; there’s a thing). She had some Calpol in the afternoon & perked up a bit when I came home. Smile, play – cry when daddy goes of to collect Jack from school). We’d normally set off as a family group, but Louise opted not to as it was perishing cold out & Eve not being well & all that. Anyway – she came round very well for the evening. Not eating much of anything at tea time, (but a few sandwiched were plied earlier) running around like a mad thing with Jack, playing with her dollies (“Meow – dolly cat!”) and setting down quite easily to sleep after a good long bath with brother. As she had some Calpol she was not so keen on trying to sink her teeth into anything to hand (like shoulders when you carry her) as she could have been inclined.
I checked up on how she was sleeping before we went to bed ourselves & she was horizontal in the bed, & gave a few little shakes of the head (as she does when she’s teething).
Jack might have a school outing this Saturday. It’s supposed to be on the Worth Valley Railway – a Santa Claus steam train ride… He is keen to be going & is expecting to go. The trouble is, that there are only so many places, & they were on a 1st come 1st served basis. In theory Jack should have managed that, being one of the 1st in the day of the returned forms were required, but we would have expected some form of notification by now – the trip being this Saturday… So we worry that he is going to be disappointed.

And so; on the train to work once more.
That was a very pleasant Xmas. I enjoyed it. It was a good time to be at home with the family. The kids enjoyed their presents. It was all reasonably stress free & cosy… loving.
Whhhaaaa! I wanna be at home <pout sulk>.
New baby not here yet – Louise says that she does not feel that it is immanent, but then, how can you know such things? She has her antenatal check up this afternoon.

On the train home.

Ah – an easy day – well, nothing challenging – excepting actually getting a train home. Missed my normal train by seconds due to a platform change & the next one has been removed from the ‘revised winter timetable’ – so a mere hour & a bit later (this one is late) I’m homeward bound. I think Louise might have been relying on me to get home on time, as she has left her mum in charge of both kids at home… eek… Hopefully Eve will not have done a nappy & Jack will not have, well… not ‘taken advantage’ but ok… perhaps ‘taken advantage’ but not in a malicious way…
He is quite on the ball. Louise & I have been talking in passing about how Neil & Jess are going to be coming this Saturday in general. My brother… I think Jack quite likes him as they have had a few laffs when he has visited previously. Out of the blue, as I was putting the table & chairs away after tea, I mentioned that we are not going to have enough chairs. No day or no reason specific & I’m not sure if Louise knew what I was on about to start with, but Jack was straight into my musing & reasoning. He started discussing the seating arrangement should Neil & Jess need to stay for tea, or dinner, how he would sit next to …I forget now – & Eve would sit & we would need the chair from the attic. It’s not like we had been talking about their visit at any point soon & I was sufficiently oblique for it to just be a general muse. It makes you realise how much your kids pick up when you’re not paying attention.
Eve did a wee yesterday evening. Hmm – not an ‘event’ in itself, but she actually did it in a potty! That was a first! She does not have a lot of wilful control over such things at the moment, but she was in a jolly good mood all day yesterday & was willing to play along with the ‘sit on the potty’ routine. She sat for a fair while & exclaimed that she had done the deed a great many times, but still there was a dry potty. Oooh – she can be a tease. Still – she did do it eventually & got a cheer & a round of applause from everyone – even Jack. Unfortunately Jack seemed to decide that he would like some attention as well, & elected to do it by messing about with Eve’s playmobil house (Xmas pressie) – taking everything out & trying his best to annoy. As with such things he did succeed a little, but we are getting wily to this.

Oooh chilly wind this morning on the platform waiting for the train. Ooh – sat near a heater on the train now… aaahhhh…..
Eve & therefore Louise had a terrible night sleep. I fared a bit better, but had a lot of coughing to do. It feels as though my lungs may be clearing up after the most recent cold I have. I still have a cold, but I am less apt to get out of breath (it seemed as I strode to the station at maximum pace).
Had that feeling of being tall again this morning. Well, I am tall, but I had the same illusion the other day – like I had not really noticed it before. I wonder if I’m dreaming I’m someone smaller (like Jack). Jack slept through the night again, only to be disturbed by Eve trying to get into bed with him while making a loud fuss & crying a lot. Don’t really know what the matter was with her, but she was just unable to settle down again. Louise had to take her downstairs eventually. She must have started about 3:30 & probably had a good hour fuss-mongering. Perhaps she started with a bad dream? May have been trapped wind? Who knows… Jack was awake before I left & we read to each other. I read him a couple of books & he read me his reading book from school. Nice & cosy on the sofa with the spare duvet that Louise had brought down in the night. He’s been in a much better frame of mind recently. He was playing with string last night – he initially wanted me to unravel a huge mess of string, which we started doing, & after getting a few smaller bits out he could not resist meddling with the lump of knots that were left. Trying to untangle it himself, but he must have realised that he could not, so he endeavoured to make more knotty knots. I muttered about Gregorian knots & mused whether slicing it with a sword would do the job. It also struck me that tho the sword approach be a nice bit of lateral thinking, it’s not really solving the puzzle for the satisfaction of solving the puzzle… Ah well. By the end of the evening I managed to produce a ball of string without knots.

Louise said I was getting more like a bloke last night… Not meant as an insult as such, but certainly as a criticism. I don’t really like that, but I understand what she means. I guess it comes from work. Previously I used to work in a team that mainly comprised of women – now for the past year & three quarters I’ve been working in a laddish environment & it’s bound to have rubbed off at least a little. I have also become more cantankerous of recent. More Irritable. I used to be unphased by most things, but now I find I can get pissed off with things – like for instance I was irrationally mad at the trains Saturday morning for being so… crap. I would not really have worried so much about that previously. But then that was a Saturday, & I do not yet even like the idea of having to go into work yet, let alone being late when I set off early specifically to avoid late. On the way home things were more farcical, but I did not find myself raging against the situation. I did find I was bilious on the coach though. I am not travelling well on buses or coaches at the moment.
Hmmm this may be a little projection on Louise’s part as she does concede that she is doing her best to remain calm at the moment.
We set off for Leeds yesterday morning. We need a few things, so a ‘big town’ jaunt is the thing. We had a struggle getting ready as is so often, because Jack does not like getting dressed. He does not like changing clothes at all come to that. He kicked up a fuss about wanting to go on the Internet as well, but we needed to be away. Out into the rain for a dash to the station – Jack on my shoulders & Louise forging ahead with Eve in the pushchair. We did not make the train. It was (shock) on time – & as there is only the one per hour on the Sunday we gave it up for a bad job & went home . Got thoroughly soaked in another downpour on the way home – & there was a stinging cold wind as well (yuk).
We’ve got some old wallpaper on the beams in the attic that needs stripping. Jack was keen to do ‘some work’ in the attic, & that seemed a good option. It was a little difficult for him to help as it was so high up, but Louise held onto him as he stood on a stool & he got a peaked hat to try to prevent everything falling into his eyes. He did quite well. I took the kids out shopping while Louise stayed at home (which was a novelty). The kids seemed to enjoy it & as I was pushing Eve, Jack was quite happy to walk (realising that I would not be up for ‘shoulders’ routine).
Jack watched the ‘walking with beasts’ weekly repeat in the afternoon, & was rapt by giant whales & so forth & seemed quite convinced that they were real. A animal was injured at some point & he thought that God would make it better. Well – he does go to a CofE school – but I somehow don’t think that they are explaining things well to them. I am at best agnostic, but I certainly don’t think that they should be planting the idea that ol’ whitebeard would be interventionist. There lies easy disillusion…
Hmmm that reminds me – he was dreaming of giant ants the other day when he woke up in the night (previous week’s beasts). How very ‘Dali’.
He then played on the Internet. for a bit. Eve had a go as well, but she really does not understand it. She had a great time randomly swishing the mouse about & clicking on everything she could. She also refused any assistance with a wail of despair that it would all be snatched from her… so we (Jack & I) just let her get on with it. She was over tired really – but she enjoyed waving the mouse about for a good while before getting bored. Jack was good & let her do this for much longer than I thought he would tolerate. Eve went off for bath & bed. Jack was still playing on the net. Eve was very narky at having to put clothes on again protested somewhat. Once she’s calmed down enough she was off to sleep really quickly. Jack, on the other hand was less keen on bed, did not have a shower & took a long time to convince into sleep. He did sleep the night through though – something he does not really do that often.

Joy – my weekend for a Saturday shift.

Not a good day for travelling on the trains.

This morning, with no announcement to the effect, the train was half an hour late (probably consequently turning into the train that was due the half-hour after during the journey). I was late to work.
I left work late as my excellent computer decided to delay its clock by quarter of an hour during the day, at some point. I set off for the train station in the full knowledge I would miss the train I was going for. So, I go to the platform where the net train is due, get on & it leaves suspiciously early. Turn out not to be my train at all, but one going on a local loop. It ends up at Rochdale, but not before the one I would have caught has since passed through. Only By a matter of minutes, suggests the timetable. I suspect that the train I was incorrectly on departed late, so I wonder if it was on time, whether I would have caught my proper connection.

So – here I am typing on a coach, as the next train – unannounced like, did not turn up, but waiting on the platform when I noticed a rail replacement train pull up to the station; went to investigate & found that a coach for Todmordem was not long due behind that one… Oh, replacement coach – so that looks like a planned rail replacement (with no announcement).
Joy
I am now startlingly late. I hope Jack does is not attempting to stay awake as he will be irritable & delirious by now…. sigh.
I should have been home an hour ago by now & I still have a way to go.

Coach is slow. It makes me ill.

Mild frisson of joy still pervades. I managed to tidy up the html a little & officially announce the ZUM!#10 archive open. Mailed it round the bugpowder mailing list as this is the best I can do for jumping up & down excitedly in font of my peers. With any luck they will tell me of all the mistakes I have made with out of date details. I managed to trawl through a good portion of the alphabetical listing, but its not really possible to do everything.
The kids were actually asleep when I left this morning. It’s been a while since both of them were asleep (& Louise awake) on my leaving. Another night of bed hopping as Eve was in our bed before I had even retired for the night. She woke up crying out for us, & I went upstairs to find her kneeling in her bed. She was not up for being comforted by me – she was in ‘offended’ mode & pulled away from my touch. She was also, basically, still asleep. Louise picked her up (as mentioned before – sometimes only mum will do) & it took a little while, but she was eventually asleep again. She did a similar thing this morning – woke up wailing, but she stopped again after a short while. I assumed that Louise had comforted her again – but Louise was with Jack in their bedroom (our bed may be big, but 4 in a bed gets uncomfortable). Heh – Jack when Jack & Louise stirred (while all in our bed) she asked him if it was a good idea to move to his room again – to which he seemed keen. Sweet. Anyway – it makes us think that perhaps we should be slightly more stand-offish when Eve stirs & shouts… maybe she will just flop back to sleep?
Also – all this running about in the night worries Louise as to what the dickens we do when the new baby arrives? We have not the room & we fret about the knocking of a moses basket… I really must try to get some more attic room work sorted. Since resolving to do more earlier I have not actually thought – let alone done anything further. Time jumps at you round corners when you’re tying to relax.

Not been feeling chipper of late. Went to bed early with a headache last night & was displeased to find it was still with me in the morning. I hate it when that happens. – bah
Missed my initial train home today – so stayed a little longer doing some website work & I think I’ve now got the ZUM! #10 archive ready for general opening at last. Not perfect, by any means – but more presentable, certainly. Phew.
I feel slightly closer to catching up with my ambitions – I know I’ll never truly meet them, but I like to feel I’m getting closer sometimes.

So I did the haircut thing at last. Short enough not to have to worry about it. Also the unbounded joy of walking to B&Q after work to pick up a new toilet seat. The old one was starting to get battered.
I also managed to actually find the time to perform a couple of tweaks on the ZUM! site that I’ve been meaning to sort out (as the fact that it worked on the Mac platform & not the winders one was right getting on me tits. Stoopid Microsoft. Oh look, says winders browser – there be a specified width for a table cell – let’s ignore it … grrr

Busy at work again as BT had ‘major network failure’ that resulted in the all ISP’s that they supply finding that people had a spot of bother dialling up. Bah! At least it’s nearly working…. uh… right…
All in all though – I feel as though I’m actually becoming less cantankerous (that I have been of recent).
My brother’s birthday present finally made it into the post yesterday. Shamefaced as I am, at least he will get it now! Perhaps it’s this tying up of lose ends that is helping my demeanour? Feeling self centred now :)
Jack’s cough has developed no further. It still sounds nasty, but thankfully that is all. Eve may be joining him in the coughing, but she seems less afflicted than Jack. He’s well enough to go to school.
Eve is becoming more forceful with her character. Apparently she spent much of a playgroup session last week running around making a shouty noise. She is generally very happy & playful – cheeky, even. Starting to develop an interest in getting out of nappies, but with still no idea what it’s all about (not relying on nappies) – so consequently, not really much of an idea when she might need to use a potty or whatever. It will come, but there’s no point in worrying her about it. Leave her happy, if not uncomfortable when she has a ‘problem’ in her training pants… heh.

GET YER HAIRCUT BOY!

hmm

Jack has a cough… not your common & garden cough but one that sounds like it could develop into Croup – not nice. We have some medicine to help alleviate general cough symptoms & we can but hope that it gets no worse. I’m not sure if Louise will have sent him to school today, but I guess I’ll find that out when I get home. He has a plaster on his back as well – where Eve bit him. He was lying on top of her toothbrush – hiding it from her & she was just wound up enough to do that. She managed to break the skin just a little – but as it was a bite through a top & t-shirt – it looks more like a nasty isolated graze, rather than a bite. I’m sure she does not know what she is doing in that sort of circumstance yet… & I hope it’s not something she carries through into anything else. Jack is in the wars at the moment.

Work is busy – very busy at the moment. There are a couple of problems that from a support point of view look to be wrong, but no acknowledgement that there might be a problem. Still at the ‘gathering information so that we can look into it’ stage. Bah. It’s getting to the point where I hardly have time to look at the stuff that is coming via mail – which is just silly.

My concentration levels have dwindled somewhat & I’m finding it harder to sort through things in the evening – with ZUM! & various other bits. It would be nice if I could really get my teeth into something, but I feel all gummy. As a consequence I’m getting annoyed with myself & not getting on with the things I feel I should. Don’t quite understand why I do this – as it exacerbates things, but it’s not a good cycle to be in at the moment. I’m feeling like a grumpy so & so.
Still- I’ve resolved to get my hair cut on the way home at last as it’s too long… Not that it gets long – just that it needs to stay properly short. Not that this will solve things, but at least it’s one less thing to me to moan on about – heh.
Louise was saying the other day – “My lump feels like it’s moved down” & complaining that her back is getting stiff & that it keeps going solid (braxton-hicks). EEP!! That’s over a month early – it can’t be engaging yet!! Panic sets in – runs around like a headless chicken! Noooo… surly not this early. Such things are naturally not unknown… Not that we couldn’t cope or anything, but… wow & all that!
Hmmm – She has not had the urge for the nesting thing though… I remember certainly before Jack was born there was this urge to tidy for a couple of days beforehand. I have had the ‘tidy’ urge, but that’s mainly due to my grumpiness & trying to impose order that I am not getting. Renewed vigour is required in trying to sort out the attic rooms for us! I have at last managed to mail our plumber to ask if she can fit a radiator up there…
Blimey. As always – too much to do & no time to think.. sigh. Still – at least writing this rubbish helps me to collect my thought… now I have a bag full, so what should I do?

Oooh – consumer world! Bought a new Dyson vacuum on the way home yesterday (as you do). The other one we have is out of action (but I think I can fix it in the long run). Oh, the extravagance! heh. So – it’s one of the new flashy models… Jack & I did some hoovering & it fair clings to the carpet. You can feel the blighter sucking the carpet. The customary astonishing amount of greck pulled out that the older model could not get (just as the older model pulled out stacks of yuck that the conventional one could not do all those years back…).

Did some surgery with the eMate. Noticed that it was starting to slow up… poss memory probs – poss some form of conflict – after all I have been abusing it trying out many an application! So – backed relevant bits & did a (shock) ‘hard reset’ – wiping it clean to it’s original install (woo). I’m rather hoping that I haven’t screwed things up too much… I just looked at my address book on here & it oddly only has my brother’s name & address… which is a bit.. um… scary. I don’t want to have to spend all that time adding people’s details again… Ah whatever – it’s back to a very zippy form now – fair whizzes along! A few more applications to add here & there, (see if I can get Ethernet working again) but on the whole I think I should try to keep to the base for stuff I have now.

They came in the night! The railway trees manglers. I heard nothing (which is so typical) but it woke the kids (which woke me). We live near the railway (3 houses down from the top of the cul de sac where the line runs by) & there are a few trees at the top of the road on the railway side of the fence. Now, “they” do not like to have too many trees next to the railway as ‘leaves on the line’ can make it slippery (wet day – leaves get run over on the rails & turn into a slippery goo). They have ‘trimmed these trees before, but they are not large & really, I cannot see them being a nuisance. However – someone within what was Railtrack had signed their death warrant. Probably something long the lines of “all trees such & such distance from the outer track must be removed”. Noisy buggers woke the kids doing it. I mean – tree surgery is not a quite job, & to do it in the middle of the night is sensible for workers (no trains) it’s hardly pleasant for residents… Bastards. Although I sleep through most things, the rest of the family do not. (Publican’s son, me – I went to sleep to the sound of a pub with a juke-box…. ELO & Mr Blue Sky is still a song that reminds me of pleasantly drifting to sleep) Jack was very good with what must have been a quite frightening racket. He called for Louise & she says that he was not weepy or anything, just said that he did not like the noise. She explained what was going on & he seemed calmed. At some point earlier Eve had migrated to our bed (with her birthday dolly) & the noise also woke her. She cried for Louise, & that (eventually) woke me. No – when she wants Louise, a hug from daddy just won’t do. Louise asked Jack if it was OK if she sent me instead of her & Jack was fine with that! This although not sounding much, is quite something. Jack has a preference for Louise over me when in need of someone to comfort him… so there was a good chance that he would not have been happy that Eve wanted her. I staggered over to Jack in their room & he told me what was going on with the railway. I listened & drifted off to sleep… & so did he without fuss.
I checked the trees in the dark this morning & they are… gone. Sad. Just stumps.