A bit of Waffle - 30/3/26

Well its nearly time for bed so this will be a short waffle.  I'm feeling quite tired tonight - our clocks went forward this weekend so I lost an hour but I've also had a couple of nights where Hubby's snoring has nearly had me decamping to the spare room.  His CPAP machine came up with an error message on Saturday so he wasn't able to use it on Saturday night or last night.  This morning I suggested he turned it off for a bit - as in completely unplug it and also check the water chamber was installed correctly.  Turns out it works the same as the computer - when in doubt turn it off and on to reboot it and it magically solves the problem.  Hopefully it will still be ok tonight and I might sleep better.

It's been 2 months now since I started taking a collagen supplement and I do think I'm usually sleeping better.  It might be more due to taking the collagen in a milky drink before bed than the actual collagen but it's still a win for me.  I also think my hair has improved and more recently the aches in my lower back and hips have been less.  I think my knees might be beyond redemption but we'll see.

I'm also trying to get more into the habit of reading when I go to bed than reaching for my phone.  I have soooooo many books to read.  I've just finished the one the afternoon book club chose so now I'm moving on to the book the evening group picked. 

Tonight we had a quick visit to wish our Grandson Nathan Happy Birthday for tomorrow - they have plans so we won't see him on the day.  I can still remember every detail of the day he was born and the difficult first few months.  (He was very premature.)  But tomorrow he will be 9!  I'm sure he will have cake tomorrow but there was cake today too!

💖

#WDIIA - Tuesday 31/3/20

Linda (the host of #SoCS and One Liner Wednesday) has been doing posts entitled "What Day is it Anyway" during these strange times. (Click on the link for her site to see more.)

Today it is Tuesday. (Even though it feels like Sunday, every day is beginning to feel like Sunday.)

It's been a really quiet day. I did get some washing done. We did go for a walk. I did manage to finish this:



1000 pieces

And of course we chatted online with Grandson Nathan who's come from this:


Birthday 2017

To this!  He's 3 today!



He's come such a long way and done so well. He's happy and chatty and we love him to bits. I will admit to having a little melt down this morning because of course we're all separated at the moment. I just so wanted to be able to give him a big hug. But of course we chatted online. Thank goodness for social media. This snap was taken a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure there will be birthday snaps later.

So another day is almost done. I'm off now to polish my first A-Z post for tomorrow.

Yes it's that time of the year again. With all this time on our hands I shouldn't have any excuse for lates posts! For anyone who doesn't know what the A-Z challenge is you can go here to find out all about it. Join in. It's fun. Got anything better to do?

Friday's Fave Five - 22/2/19

 

It's Friday again and time to count our blessings for the week.  This meme is hosted by Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story.  Pop over there to find out more and see who's taking part.

Here are my five for this week:

1.  Getting out for walks again.  The weather has been so mild for this time of year during the day so I've been working on my step count.  This scenery never gets old.

2.  Progress on house projects.  I blogged about this here.  At last my bedroom is no longer a bedroom/office.  Hubby is adapting to the changes - slowly!

3.  Snuggles with Nathan.  When he woke up from his nap on Tuesday he was happy to see Grandpa had arrived but he wanted to stay with me.  He sat with me like this for about 20 minutes.  He probably would have stayed asleep a bit longer if I'd rocked his buggy but I didn't mind the opportunity for just sitting and cuddling.   That's what I love about Grandparenting, generally I can let the Grandkids set the pace.  We're not having to rush about in the same way as I felt I always was with my own kids.

4.  Reading time.  I spent quite a lot of this morning reading, finishing a book which I reviewed here. 
I still find it hard not to feel guilty about doing nothing but reading so this morning I listened to my Fitbit and made sure I was active each hour as well as doing a chore or two everytime I was told to move!  My kitchen is tidy, the dishwasher emptied and refilled and a load of laundry done.  I think I earned my reading time.  I've also just put away some laundry.  So far my Marie Kondo folding is still working.

5.  I've booked a house for my birthday weekend!  My birthday is not until June but I wanted to go away the weekend after with all the Kids and Grandkids.  I've been meaning to get around to this for weeks but finally this week I made time for it and it's booked.  It was hard finding somewhere that ticked all the boxes (all double beds, space for the Grandkids, near amenities, child friendly etc) but eventually I did and it was available.  (I did find one place that looked great until I realised it had a stream running along the side of the garden, not fenced off and at the bottom of a slope - perfect for little ones to fall into!)  That was a big tick on my To Do list.

Enjoy the weekend!

#SoCS on Sunday 17/2/19 - Yawn(ing)

Well I seem to be running a day behind on everything at the moment.  And doing a lot of yawning.

Busy week, late nights so no surprises really.  But....

We got Nathan to sleep in his cot last night!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about a horrendous evening of babysitting when Nathan was totally distraught at his Mummies going out and how I'd had a hard job getting him to sleep.  Well yesterday I was taking no chances - I brought in reinforcements - Granga.  (Grandpa)  Nathan loves his Granga and although he did cry when his Mummies left we were soon able to distract him.

We also managed to bath him and get him ready for bed, following his usual routine.  Then it came to putting him in his cot.  He was not impressed.  But we stuck to our guns - listening to Twinkle Twinkle Little Start on loop on the ipad for a what seemed like ages.  So much so that I stopped it and we started singing our usual (limited) repertoire of lullabys.

He stood up for quite a while and then eventually sat down.  Several times he was almost asleep sitting up but then he would rally and laugh at us but gradually his yawns became more frequent and I was able to persuade him to lie down.  He insisted on holding Granga's hand but EVENTUALLY he fell asleep!

Actually it probably took us about half an hour which isn't bad going but I think we were helped by the fact he hadn't had as long a nap as usual in the afternoon so he was very tired.  He also stayed asleep until just after his Mummies got home.  He seems to have a bit of a sixth sense about that!

#SoCS is hosted by Linda.  You can find her site here with all the details etc.

#Jusjojan / #One Liner Wednesday - 30/1/19

 Here's the reason for my missing blogs!

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here. 

Today's prompt is linked to One Liner Wednesday which is also hosted by Linda.

#Jusjojan - 24/1/19 - Zoomie

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

The background to the challenge can be found here.

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 24th is brought to you by Bee! Click here to find her last post and say hi while you’re there! Bee’s word for our prompt today is “zoomie.” Interpret it any way you’d like, and use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Well I think I need to be a Zoomie right now as the clock is ticking down on today and I've only just started this post.  I'm also conscious of not getting around to visiting other blogs, particularly those whose owners have kindly left me comments in the last few days.  It's been a busy couple of days as I've looked after Grandson Nathan 2 days running this week.  I usually have a day in between but not this week and it's tiring with no break.  

We were playing zoomies today - he has a new toy which sends cars zooming down a track with lots of sound effects.  He's not quite sure if he likes it yet although by the end of the day he was telling me "more" as in send more cars down and was moving closer to it.  He had quite a few nice things at Christmas so it's easy to keep him entertained even when the weather's cold and horrible like today and we can't get out.

Image nabbed from Fisher Price - hopefully free advertising will earn me a reprieve from any copyright issues!

 Now though I'm zooming off to bed!  Goodnight.

 

Shh don't wake the baby!

I love looking after this little one but now he's walking he does keep me on my toes, all day!  Except when he's asleep.

He has a cold at the moment so he's not 100% but he was so good today.  He let me get him dressed, clean his teeth and give him his inhaler this morning and although I was wiping his nose all day long he never got ratty about any of it.

But he was tired!  He was struggling to stay awake during his lunch and I was able to lift him out of his highchair and lay him in his buggy and he was off!  No rocking, no singing he was out for the count - for 2 hours.  Time for Nanny to have her lunch and get a rest before he woke up and was on the go again.

Did I mention I love being a grandparent?

Getting back on track

Well it's the end of September and I'm slipping.  I'm not living up to my potential - that was the prompt for 5 minute Friday this week but I was just too tired to compose a post.  Even for 5 minutes.  I've signed up for the October challenge of writing for 5 minutes every day.  Five minutes doesn't sound a lot but some days it's hard to find them.

Actually it's not that hard but finding the motivation is.

Friday was busy - I had a hair appointment first thing which meant an early start and from there I went on to visit Rory and his Mummy.  The evening was spent catching up on some TV and I did do some blogging just not the 5 minutes Friday.

Yesterday was a lazy day until the afternoon when we went to babysit Nathan so his Mummies could have a night out.  We had a lovely time bathing and putting Nathan to bed - well when I say bed we got him to sleep in his buggy.  He is not good at going to sleep on his own and is usually in bed with Mummy.  That may change now because on Saturday morning Becca woke up to find Nathan standing next to the bed, telling her Bye Bye.  (His favourite phrase at the moment.)  Somehow, despite being in a "Grow Bag"  (think sleeping bag with shoulder straps) and a bed rail, he'd managed to get out of the bed. 

Anyway he slept well in his buggy for us but stirred and got a bit upset just before they got home but I had managed to get him back to sleep.

I love it when he's snuggly!

Anyway tomorrow is the start of a new month so I'll be polishing off my bullet journal, planning ahead and trying to find five minutes everyday for a post.  I hope you'll join me.

Time

I seem to have lost my mojo when it comes to blogging lately.  I've just about managed to keep up with the Hodgepodge and Friday's Fave Fives most weeks and a few book reviews here and there but not much else.

Now that Joyce is taking a well earned break from the Hodgepodge until at least September I know that I need to be more proactive about posting.  After all it's not as if I don't have time.  But I'm discovering that time is elusive.  It just seems to disappear.

I can't even blame it on rushing around.  I don't rush anywhere if I can help it, certainly not in this hot weather.  They are promising thunder storms tomorrow - I can't wait!  Well of course I can wait as time is my own.

Well it seems that time is not always my own.  I started this post on Thursday and it is now Sunday.  I intended coming back to it on Friday but I was feeling very unwell.  Turns out (after a visit to A & E late Friday evening) that I have a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) and nothing more sinister.  I still have my appendix and thanks to an infusion of potassium, anti-nausea medication and antibiotics I'm beginning to feel better.

I have been taking it easy and wasting time playing games on my iPad.  As I said time is my own.  But I do still kick myself sometimes when I'm wasting it.

Of course spending time with the Grandchildren is never a waste of time.  The beauty of that is also that I can enjoy the time with them because there's usually nothing more important that needs doing.  That's the difference from being a parent to a Grandparent.  As a parent it was always:

• It's time to take the older child(ren) to school
• It's time to collect them from school
• It's time to do the shopping, cleaning, ironing........
• It's time to get the dinner on

I'm sure you get my meaning.  There was hardly ever time to just be:

• Reading the same book over and over because it was a favourite
• Building the stacking cups up, again, because knocking them down is still fun
• Singing nursery rhymes until you're getting hoarse because it makes them laugh
• Cuddling and sitting quietly just because you can

But as a Grandparent I can (usually) do all of the above and more at Nathan's pace.  I can be led by him because when I'm there to look after him that's what I focus on.   

And I'm loving it!  

Taking a breath.....

 

Phew, I'm finally back to where I need to be.  I have a week of A-Z posts scheduled.  I've visited a few new blogs, especially those who've left me comments and I've done a quick whiz round of the blogs I follow.

It was hectic last week, well started the week before really, leading up to the Easter Weekend which included a special little boy's 1st birthday.  It's hard to believe Nathan is now 1.

Going from this:

To this:

 

 

It's been an amazing journey and I've been so lucky to be able to follow him so closely.

But now that he's a year old Becca has had to go back to work.  She'll be working 3 days a week so I will be looking after him 2 days and Vicky will do the 3rd day.  Last week was the proper start of that although I have been going over regularly the last few weeks and taking him while Becca went out or got on with jobs in the house.  He's used to me so that helps but he's also getting very heavy!
I think it's going to take me a few more weeks to get used to getting up earlier on those days and juggling my routines around a little bit.

Thankfully things will be a little bit easier at home in a few weeks - my son and his wife have finally got a completion date for the purchase of their own flat - 23rd April, so they will be moving out and we will be back to an empty nest.  It's been lovely having them here although it's been longer than they hoped and we were all beginning to get a bit worried that they might still be here when the baby comes!   

Now I'm going to put my feet up for a bit until it's time to prepare dinner.  Thank you to all those who've been encouraging me with the A-Z Challenge.  It's been more challenging that I wanted it to be as I didn't get many posts prepared in advance.  I'm always the same when I think I have plenty of time to get something done - I leave it until the last minute and then I'm chasing my tail. But I definitely work better under pressure.  Well that's my excuse.

Friday's Fave Five - 16/2/18

Friday is time to look back on the week and find five things to be grateful for.  Drop in to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for full details and other participants.

I've had a fairly quiet week but here are my five:

1.  Meeting up with former work colleagues.  Great to see them but it reinforces that I made the right decision to leave when I did.

2.  Milder weather.  We did have a hail storm on Sunday but since then it's been much less cold.  Note - less cold, not warm, not yet!

3.  Time to watch the Olympics.  Of course the time difference makes it tricky but I'm enjoying the action.

4. Almost finishing this:

It's a blanket for one of the grandbabies due in June.  I just need to cast it off and knit the edging.  Then I need to do it all over again!

5.  Spending time with the grandbaby already here.  I babysat for Becca and her wife on Valentine's Day so I had Nathan for 5 hours.  Probably the longest I've had him and he was fine for the first 4 hours.  Then he decided he wanted his Mums.  Nothing would pacify him.  I tried all the tricks in my experience but he was really upset.  Eventually, despite it being wet out I stuck him in his buggy and took him out for a walk.  He did fall asleep but woke soon after we got back in the house.  Fortunately he wasn't screaming when his Mummies came back but he was definitely pleased to see them.   He also enjoys his bath!

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

A non-Hodgepodge Wednesday post - 18/10/17

No Hodgepodge today as Joyce (of From this Side of the Pond) is taking a well earned break.  Just reading about her schedule often makes me feel tired!

But it's Wednesday and I usually blog today so a post is called for.

It's been quite a miserable day here today after some dry weather.  I actually managed to get my grass cut on Sunday.  It had grown quite long due to the alternating spells of sunny days followed by rain.  Each time I planned to cut it the rain came.  On Sunday we'd had a few dry days so I finally managed to get it done.  It took me ages but I'm relieved it's looking neat and tidy again.  Especially as the weather changed again on Monday.  We didn't get rain and London was fortunately not within the path of storm Ophelia which had devastating effects on Ireland but we did have an eerie afternoon.  The sky suddenly went really dark with an almost red  glow to it which was later explained as being due to sand from the Sahara being drawn over the country due to the storm!

This storm came 25 years after The Great Storm of 1987.  A BBC weather presenter, Michael Fish, said during a forecast on the day: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!".  The storm went on to claim 19 lives.  It took down the a tree in our garden.  But although it seems that Michael Fish believed the caller was referring to Hurricane Floyd which was approaching Florida at the time, he has never been allowed to forget what was seen as a major gaffe.

Being a wet day today I spent it at home catching up on chores but also finding time for some reading.  My current read is "The Trouble with Goats and Sheep" by Joanna Cannon which I'm enjoying.  It's set in the summer of 1976 which I remember well.  The summer was incredibly hot and we seemed to go ages without any rain and the drought was beginning to be a real problem before the hot spell broke.  I was about to start my final year at school so was at home for most of it.

Hmm looking back over this post it's easy to see why Brits have a reputation for always talking about the weather!

I could talk about Nathan but I haven't seen him since last Wednesday and won't see him until Saturday this week.  Thank goodness for Whatsapp and Lifecake.  Although it's very easy to get caught up looking at all the photos and videos and then realising that dinner plans will need to be changed as there's not enough time left to prepare the meal you'd planned!  Quick cook chicken and bacon with pasta tonight, marinaded pork chops tomorrow.

Unless I get hooked on this little man again