#SOSC 5/8/17 Highs and Lows

If you'd like to take part in SoCS here's the link to all the details.  It's hosted by Linda at Life in Progress.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “high/low.” Use one, use both, bonus points for starting and finishing with one or both. Have fun!

Well this is a low point, it was back in February that I last did a SOCS post.  I managed 3 out of the 4 weeks in February but it looks like in March I did a lot of reading as there are book reviews but no SOCS posts.  Not a one!  Definitely a low.

April of course was taken up with the A-Z Challenge but it brought another challenge to my life - that of being a grandparent.  You'd be forgiven for thinking that should have been a high and of course it was but it was tempered with a lot of lows too.  Our first grandson actually arrived on 31st March.  At 29 weeks gestation i.e. 11 weeks early.

He was so tiny.  And so fragile.  And so dependant on tubes and wires and monitors and wonderful NICU staff.  Those early days in the NICU were punctuated with highs when he seemed to make progress and lows when he slipped back but he was always moving forward, just slowly. 

Highs when it had been a good day, lows when the travelling backwards and forwards and trying just to be there for my daughter and her wife became exhausting.  Trying not to say the wrong thing, trying to be strong.  

Thankful for those extra few weeks inside.  The difference between a 26 or even 24 weeker and a 29 weeker is evident when you see how those earlier babies really have to fight to hang on and how much longer they tend to spend in the NICU.  I'm not an expert but I'm much more informed on preemies now.

Inevitably blogging has suffered over these last few months but I'm trying to pick it up again now.  Now Nathan's home,  he's 4 months old, and doing well.  He's now smiling and trying to make nice noises rather than just crying and it's all beginning to feel NORMAL! And yes, we're on a high!

 

Friday's Fave Five 4/8/17

Fridays are a time to look back on the week and share our blessings.
If you want to join in or check out the other participants pop over to our host Suzanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story

Here are mine for the week: 

1) Willpower.  I seem to have had a bit more of it this week.  A good thing because Hubby and I embarked on the South Beach Diet on Monday.  We've done it before and it does work but of course it's hard not to fall back into old habits especially for someone with a big sweet tooth like me.  So gradually the weight has crept up and I declared enough is enough.  My son and his wife are away for 2 weeks so it seemed a good time to try again with just the two of us here.  So far so good. Of course I'm useless at remembering to take pictures of the meals I've prepared but this was my lunch today, a hearty beef soup:

And this was a turkey sausage muffin that I made for breakfast.  It's cold there but we had them fresh from the oven this morning and they were really tasty.

So far I've resisted cheating although I've not given up on my tea - should really be drinking decaffinated but there are limits lol.  I put a lot of planning into the this though so hopefully we'll have a good first two weeks which is the hardest part.

2)  Staying power.  You might have seen this pic of my knee strapped with rock tape.

Along with that I have exercises to do before going back to see the physio next week.  I've actually been quite good at doing them.  I'm supposed to do them at least 3 times a week but I've been trying to do more and I'm keeping a log of them.  Coming from an organised work background does help at times!  The tendon is still causing me pain on stairs but it's not as bad as it was so hopefully the exercises are helping.

3) Lunch with friends last Friday.  It had been a while since we'd been together so there was lots to catch up on.  A good thing it was before the diet started as our host had prepared lots of lovely food and it would have been rude not to eat it right?

4) Reading time.  I love being at home and this last couple of weeks I've made more time for reading.  Or rather I've read books that I didn't want to put down so I just kept on going!  I'm thankful to have the luxury of being able to do that.

and of course my week wouldn't be complete without

5) Nathan time.

We saw him on Tuesday this week.  I'm so glad we live near enough to visit frequently.  It's hard to believe he is 4 months already but of course his corrected age is only just over 6 weeks.  He's starting to smile now and make responsive noises rather than just crying for food!  I think his Mummies are beginning to relax a bit, he's had all his early vaccinations and weighs over 10lbs now but they're still exhausted as he still hasn't got the hang of sleeping for long periods yet!

Have a great weekend all.
 

 

A Wednesday Waffle in lieu of Hodgepodge

Well apart from Book Reviews and regular memes like the Hodgepodge and Friday’s Fave Five, my blog still seems a little bit neglected lately.  Today being Wednesday usually means a Hodgepodge post but as Joyce is taking a break this week I was determined the day wouldn’t go by without a post of some sort.

Hopefully Joyce will have some exciting news to share with us soon as she is waiting to become a Grandmother any day now.  

Having become a Grandmother myself back at the end of March I can relate to that.  I’m slightly surprised at how doting I am on Nathan.  Maybe that’s because I was there at his birth, or because of the bumpy ride he’s had or maybe I’ll be this soppy about all my grandchildren.  Time will tell but I’m loving every minute of it down to changing stinky nappies!

The blanket I promised for him is almost finished.  Just the edging to complete.  I’ve already bought wool and have a pattern lined up for the next one.  Nathan’s early arrival ruined my schedule for completing this one but hopefully if I get started on the next one soon it’ll be ready for the next arrival.  None expected at the moment but I’m always open to baby surprises especially now that all the kids are married and (apart from one) settled in their homes.

The couple who live with us are away for 2 weeks at the moment visiting her parents in the US so I’m taking advantage of not having to worry about their meals and re-doing the South Beach Diet.  The first two weeks are pretty strict but after that it should be fairly easy to fit in with meals for all of us.

I prepared in advance for this – working out a 2 week meal plan and shopping for the food we’d need as you can see:

Of course nothing goes to plan!  The first day had to be switched as I’d mistakenly put chicken in the freezer instead of the fridge and on day 2 we visited with Nathan and our daughter and went out for lunch.  I was fairly good though and just had a chicken salad.  (We’ll pretend I didn’t touch the streaky bacon or croutons!)

Alongside that I’m also trying to get my step count up – or at least back to the target I originally set myself.  So far so good this week.  Fortunately, although my knee is not great on stairs and I can’t do anything weight bearing on it at the moment walking is fine.

A friend commented that I didn’t need to diet but when your scales keep telling you your weight is increasing it’s time to call a halt. My problem is that I have such a sweet tooth so I’ll always choose sweet over savoury but not for the time being. 

Anyway plenty going on to keep me busy – I’ve even managed to get more reading done the past couple of weeks.  Trouble is once I get stuck into a book that I find hard to put down everything else gets put on the back burner.  I’m going to try restricting reading until I get to bed but that will mean going to bed earlier otherwise I’ll be reading a few pages and falling asleep!  But that will mean less time for watching TV and catching up on all the programmes I’ve recorded!

I used to say that for every child you had the day seemed to shorten by an hour.  Well none of my kids are children anymore but the days still seem short.  How did I ever manage to work full time?

Review: Fool Me Once

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maya knows her husband is dead. So how did he appear on her nanny cam? As Maya tries to work out how her dead husband could be captured on the nanny cam, as a former helicopter pilot in the US armed forces, she is also struggling with events in the past which led to her discharge.

Digging into her husband's murder leads her to her delving into his past and working out how the events of his past link to not only his murder but that of Maya's sister Claire. But it doesn't stop there. As Maya gets closer to finding the truth about her husband's past, the more danger she finds herself in.

Another good thriller from Coben although I'm not sure the ending was entirely plausible.

View all my reviews