Archives: eve

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 With any luck they will tell me of all the mistakes I have made with out of date details.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.

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.

Eve’s birthday yesterday! She got more presents than I had anticipated & I do believe Jack was a little put out. He had a couple of presents as well, but he was more interested in what Eve had on the whole. There was a lot of wanting what Eve had when she had it… sigh…

All in all though, the day went very well! My parents arrived a little past 7 am – so I managed to get an extra hour in bed before getting up in anticipation (lawks – I even remembered to change my alarm back again so that I would not be late this morning). Dad bought his drill along so that we could put the blind up in the back room .. This unfortunately took a little longer than it should due to unpreparedness. We set off for Skipton at 10:00. I think, if we had realised that dad had to back for a (ahem) Mason’s meet that evening we would not have been so ambitious. Dad had it in his mind that they would have to set off back again at 1:30, & as we got stuck in a traffic jam just outside Keighley (road works) so we never made it to Skipton as we planned. As something to amuse the kids we tried Cliff Castle in Keighley – which is not a castle, but a stately home sort of thing – animals, art, stuffed animals & rocks. Some of the crystal displays were pretty, & uh – the kids ran about a lot. I don’t think they found it very interesting. Then off to a toyshop where Jack was quite keen on a lot of things. We bought some stuff for them both & then had to scarper home again so that Dad could set off… sigh…

Jack nearly coped with the presents that Eve got. He did get some… but he seemed continually more interested in whatever Eve was playing with at the time – which caused a few upsets. We had candles in Ice Cream for Eve, but Jack was crying while we were singing as I wouldn’t let him blow the candles out before Eve had a chance. He got a go the 2nd lighting. I can remember being resentful of my brother’s birthday presents & so forth. Easter was a a bad one especially… I would wolf my eggs but he had the superhuman ability to leave them standing around in his room for days on end! AAArg! The temptation!!
Heh – Eve did enjoy opening her present though.
Jack seems to have learnt to whistle. He cannot do anything like a tune yet, but I noticed that he was whistling the other day as we were doing some tidying (or something inconsequential). I don’t know if anyone at school has been telling him, or he’s just picked it up. I remember I had to be taught by my grandma or something. It certainly have a memory of being at the house she had at the time & someone telling me. It could have been that grandpa – but I don’t even really recall what he looked like…

Went with Louise yesterday as she was having her antenatal scan. All looks well – baby right weight, correct position, Louise blood pressure fine – all that sort of thing. The visit to the hospital went well as well – a definite lack of waiting around getting completely bored – scan to midwife to Dr checkups went through the quickest I’ve ever known – & we do not have to go back for another scan. The only reason we need to contact the hospital now is if the baby is late – or in fact coming!

I took Jack to school yesterday morning – which was a pleasant novelty for us both. Jack has had a habit of protesting about going to school of recent, but the novelty of me taking him negated that.
<Sixth consecutive sneeze – nose itching like mad. bunged up & snotty. Dry throat & lips – lawks – I do believe I have a cold>
When we got there – he showed me where all his things go – coat – lunchbox, books etc. He then showed me the computer (the apple one not the PC – hah). He gave me a hug which knocked me over (I was squatting down to his level & he caught me unawares – overbalancing me…) Then his pal Jessie arrived & that was it – hardly a ‘bye daddy’ – he was off!
Yesterday evening he started kicking off with unruly behaviour again. He took it into his head to start slapping me & biting at me again (he only really bites at clothes – I somehow doubt he is really trying for more, because I know he could). I was annoyed with him, but I tried tickling him instead. Well, it’s all a game to him anyway, I guess… It did stop him trying to hit me… changed the nature of the argument, as it were… Not really successful though as he remained somewhat hyped up. So – when he was in the bath he tried to splash me… so I removed the cloth he was trying to splash me with…so he used his mouth – spitting out mouthfuls of water at me – so I just left him to it… so he ran out of the bath to spit some water at me & ran back to the bath <sigh>. End of bath. Aggrieved at being hard done by (yeah, right) he opted to curl up into a ball with his towel on him for warmth. After some protestation at not moving & us not wanting him to get chilled – I picked him up to dress him & as he was not keen on letting me, he opted for Louise dressing him <phew>. Louise quizzed him about this silly behavior – trying to pry a reason from him. We are concerned that this sort of thing is getting regular & think that there may be an underlying cause for it…. He is not normally so aggressive. He popped out with the reason being that he does not like school… which is a bit, well… I hesitate to say ‘untrue’. Further prompts got him to say about 9 things that he likes about school, & only 1 thing that he truly does not like; the ‘home corner’. An area in the class that has a Wendy house & such pretend things that go along with it. It’s too difficult to say what it is he especially dislikes about this, or whether this is the real reason for his dislike for school… He does not really go in for the ‘pretend’ element that ‘playing house’ entails. He would much rather do real cleaning & real cooking with us (Louise & I). Thinking about it he does not really do too much of that suspension of belief such role-playing relies on. He will do it when he plays with his cars & so forth though… so perhaps that’s a dead end in terms of theorising.
He does like things to continue as it is… he does not like having to do things like having a bath for instance. He will protest about having a bath, & once in he will protest about having to come out. It’s the way he is… always has been & most likely will always be. It can make life hard for him though as we cannot just have him doing as he wants… he does have to go to bed sometime! He has hardly ever fallen asleep of his own volition – say just playing with his toys… he has a marvellous (infuriating) capacity to keep going & going; like last Saturday when he was watching fireworks from the front room window, & trying to tell me what fireworks were about & bonfire night was about… & just, well talking nonsense – literally, & getting annoyed if I so much as tried to help him with his words. Who knows how long he could have kept going in that situation, but as soon as we’d managed to get him into a ‘it’s time to go to sleeep’ routine he was asleep.
Hmmm whatever – Jack actually slept quite well last night & was still asleep as I left for work – something he has not managed for a good while. It could all be that this stems from being over tired, as he is wanting to stay up as long as possible & wake up as early as possible. You worry about your kids… you want them to be happy.

Another on the way in January! What will Eve make of it all?? I think that hospital visit & watching Louise have the scan & all that may have got into her head that there may be something going on & ‘baby in mummy’s tummy’ might actually mean something… but whether she realises that this is the real thing & it’s going to change her life remains to be seen. Jack’s been through this before & grasped the concept quite well… He knows what’s in store.

Heh – still remember well when Eve was born. It was all over & we’re still in hospital. Eve was in the cot & Louise sat in a chair. We were waiting to be discharged & Jack arrives with Louise’s mum – rushes into the room & stops dead looking in shock at Louise, “Where baby in tummy?!”. He was then introduced to his sister.. heh.

Louise’s friend Carolyn came round with her new babe the other day & Jack was very sweet with her babe. When it was upset he tried to stroke its head to sooth it. Eve stands a little further off & says things like, “Baby under cover!” & so forth – a little awed, perhaps? If she takes her lead from Jack – the new baby will have no problems.

Returning from a day at <shudder> work!
Hey ho
Louise & the kids have had a day out at Louise’s mum’s – where they would have met up with Louise’s auntie, who was 80 yesterday. There’s a ‘do’ tomorrow that we will not be attending, but Louise is meeting her today for the ritual exchange of gifts & goodwill (as much as can be spared). Sigh… I feel a little guilty really as she doing this absolves me of the duty – but it would be a distinct lack of fun to have to work today & then the niceties with the relatives tomorrow. Not really much of a weekend…

Hmmm can see a few bonfires burning on the journey home. There is no bonfire in Tod organised this year… A shame. Jack would have enjoyed it. Not sure what Eve would make of it – she may seem fearless, but I think that close up, a firework display is another level beyond her experience. She’s seen a few fireworks from the window. If fact each time she goes to the window at the moment & sees a light – or perhaps… well, anything – she says, “firework!” She also says, “Come on Fireworks!” if there has been some – to will on more. Heh – there are a few nice things she says at the moment… She counts quite well – knows which number comes after another, but really – I don’t think she knows the concepts.

Then again, she knows 2 – as if there’s more than one of something she has said “2 [whatever the object is]”. She also is learning the words for colours, but again doesn’t really have the comprehension of colour identification. She sees a bus or a train & calls it a “yellow (bus/train)”. Yellow seems to be the colour of choice for anything that she wants to identify chromatically.
Hmmm – not sure where the train is now (does it stop at Walsden station on this run?) – so best pack up in readiness of leaving the train in a hurry…

Louise’s Birthday today!!
I managed to get the pressie that was ‘requested’ – so no surprise there – but I did try to hide the fact that I managed to get it – so that might have been a surprise. Got Jack to write a card from Eve & himself this morning, but he was watching ‘The Hoobs’ yet again, so his mind wasn’t fully on it.

The kids played out last night until it was quite dark & all the others had gone inside for their teas. The new family’s girl is called Kirsty – she must be 8,9 & is a bit rough with the little ones. Well, boisterous… she does not let them play without her input; picks them up & plays with their ball or bike or whatever. Jack likes to be picked up & spun around. Amber & Eve are not at all keen. Eve shrugs her off, but Amber disliked her attention, & she could not see that. Perhaps, as she’s new to the street she is trying to impress… If that be the case, I hope she calms down the sooner.
Went to bed earlier in the hope that I would feel less sleepy today. Partially worked – feel less ragged, but still sleepy.

Present got yesterday, but still no sending address.

The kids were awake before I left for work – but only just – so that, in a small way, is an improvement. Jack did cry as Louise left him at school yesterday… Essentially he was not sad to be there, but did not want Louise to (I think that show it was).

Eve is walking very well at the moment. She likes to be out of the pushchair. I think she likes the freedom. She apparently walked to playgroup with Louise & enjoyed walking through the park & kicking at the fallen leaves. Her language develops… She can communicate all she wants to in staccato sentences. She informed Louise that, ‘

“Water in river!” yesterday; a nice observation. She has also taken to saying, “What’s this?” & “What’s that?” … Inquisitive or conversation? At the moment it seems to be the former. Louise thinks that she is more a comedienne than Jack used to be. She certainly seems to be a bit of a performer. Both of them love attention though.

That morning fatigue descends. I’ve got to the station with time to spare & it’s just this journey to work now before my body has to react again. It’s trying to tempt my brain to sleep… but I will persist in exercising my hands to type…

We did the expedition to Ikea on Saturday. The kids had been up foolishly early the past few days, so it was on Saturday – granting us the chance to set off early. We were at the station for the 8:19 – which arrived at 8:30 & were on our way. Got to the shop at 10:00ish. The shelves we were looking at in the catalogue proved to be a bit naff in real life – so we opted for the trusty expandable units that they do. Got the beds for the kids – well – a proper mattress for Jack for now, & a ‘storage bench’ type thing. Basically, all that we went there for. Was not too stressful, as getting there that little bit early we were just ahead of the wave of busy that hits the place. We did get caught up in that after a spell in the restaurant, which all got a bit claustrophobic, so by the time it got to the place where all the knick-nacks are at the end, we were ready to flee – thus missing a couple of sundry items we would have searched for otherwise. Ah, well. Journey home again. I had Eve on the back carrier, & was OK with it until the end of the day where it seemed to be starting to get heavier & heavier. Eve really enjoys it in there though. She’s only really been in it once before & that was as good while ago, but she remembered it when it was brought out & was stamping with excitement to get in. All in all the kids did very well. Jack fell asleep a couple of times when travelling, but Eve, who had been late off yesterday, just kept going & going. By the end of the day she was a bit manic & fragile though.

On the Sunday the furniture arrived. Have a few boxes still to do, but the main one – their beds – is sorted. Eve’s bed was the only task I was set to do, really. Jack was very interested in helping & hijacked one of the alum keys to ensure my cooperation in allowing his assistance. He can be quite helpful, but at one point I decided that the mangled phillips screwdriver I have needed replacing. This meant stopping what we were doing & popping to the Sunday market to get one from one of the stalls there. Now, Jack is still not the right way out at the moment. He is getting frustrated & annoyed at us when we tell him we & thus he is going to do something. As with us all he wants a say in how things should be done. Unfortunately for him, the options we sometimes offer are not what he wants – like the other day when we were moving the bedrooms about & he wanted Jessie to come & play – but he did not want to go out to play with him. This time we needed to go out – me to get the screwdriver & Louise needed to go for a shop – supermarket – provisions – no milk in the house! Jack was not too keen – to put it mildly & was I was stupidly determined that he should go. So, Jack & I get mad at each other. I get really mad, but you cannot take these things out on your children. I did put him outside the back door in the rain without a coat, as I was heartily sick of his going on. Was a bit spiteful & Louise soon rescued him from getting wet. I stormed off – as it was the best option. I would have only continued to rage in the house. I went to get my stupid screwdriver. Louise caught me up later when I had just finished mulling between the stalls as to which one actually looked like it might last more than 5 minutes. Had a chat with our neighbour Andy while I was there as he is staring up a new recycling business thing. Must try to find his website to put a ling here as he has some swanky stuff.

Anyway – after the weekly shop & cafe – where Jack was very good! We went home to finish off the bed. Eve fell asleep which left Jack & I to complete it in relative pace (no extra person climbing over things).

Later that day he was complaining of the itches getting in again. ‘Itches’ are the midge flies that attack you on the evening in the garden around here. Right annoying they is. Nasty thought occurred – we had a warning letter from the school the other day about head lice! As we had been given a lice comb I went & dug it out & gave him a comb… uh,oh… what’s that?

It looks like Jack has the dreaded blighters. A quick heck of the rest of the family looks like Louise & Eve had one or 2 & I have scalp debris & fluff, but nothing, as yet. Poor Jack – they must have been a torment… & of course it’s not over… we have to be rid of them proper – any eggs & all! Gah!

Eve’s hair is very fine – the comb teeth seem too large for her, but she gets knots in her hair from sleeping. Jack & Louise share similar hair – although Louise’s is denser & thicker. Jack needed a good ol’ combing & I did so until I could find no more. In the process he fell asleep on my lap, so we put him to bed in his new bed & he slept quite well. For the 1st time in few days he was still asleep at the time I set off to work.

Now then… have you itched your head reading that? ‘Itches’ – there’s a thing that catches psychologically…