It's been a while...again!

So it's been ages again. The laptop broke and I wasn't very well during the end of my pregnancy. Anyway. On 27th October 2010 at 4.30pm Madeleine Ada Knibb entered the world after a short 2.5 hours of labour. She was born in the water pool at home. She fed straight away and all was well. At 6 weeks old she came down with bronchialistis and a nasty chest infection so we spent a week in hospital which wasn't very pleasant but she is recovered fairly quickly and is all fine now with no lasting problems. She is now a chubby, giggly, bright-eyed 12 week old.

I didn't go out for a week after we got home as I was a bit worried about her catching another cold and then it snowed...and then it iced over. So for nearly two weeks we were unable to leave the house as we were surrounded by an ice moat. Mike parked his car around the back and braved it to get to work and eventually I had to brave it to go and stock up on food...it was 23rd December after all and a bit of plain pasta for Christmas lunch wasn't appealing!

Christmas was lovely. I had my mum, nan, David and Emma over so they ll took turns (fought for) holding the baby and entertaining Olivia. There was a minor mishap when Mike was draining the potatoes and tipped them all ito the washing up bowl but that was quickly remedied. (Err by making a new batch, not fishing them out!) Dinner was lovely - even if I do say so myself and generally it was a relaxed, enjoyable day.

I've started the new year with lots of plans for 2011. I want to get fit and in shape...not only for health reasons but also so I can fit back into my clothes. Nothing fits and I'm loathe to buy new stuff when all I need to do is a bit of tummy/thigh toning. I also want to properly get back to writing and put plans in place to start working freelance. I am due back to work at the end of September but three days working will require six days nursery payments so the cost for childcare will swallow up all my wages. If I had a proper career it would be worth it for a while to keep up with things but my job is no longer satisfying me as it used to so I need to think of changing now. My strengths are in copy-editing/writing and proofreading so I will concentrate on that and commercial writing whilst writing fiction in the bckground in the hope that I can be brave enough to try and get something published. And strong enough to take the inevitable knockbacks.

So that's us up to date for now. I'm going to post some photos from the last few months.
xx

Insomnia

These past few weeks, the heat combined with my 4676548 nightly toilet visits have had me staring at the ceiling while the minutes loudly tick by in my head. It has brought to mind a poem I wrote many years ago when a diet of chocolate and caffeine had the same effect.

Alone at night,
I lie in my bed,
And listen for sounds.
Is everyone dead?

Admittedly this was written in the days preceding Mr K, a wriggling toddler and a small cat that streeeeetches. These days I can only dream of an entire bed to myself. Well, I would possibly dream of such a thing…if I could sleep!

My Life in Haiku

It's been a fairly mundane week of the usual merry-go-round of work, cooking, fighting against the tidal wave of laundry and dishes and a parenting style that can best be described as benign neglect. (Read: too many biscuits too little discipline). I've been thinking about haiku recently, probably my favourite poetry form. If only my life could be contained in a short, succinct way instead of the over spilling barely-organised chaos that working five days a week has reduced it too. So, here is a summary of my week in haiku form.

Oh beautiful bump
Growing steadily each day;
Heartburn, you kill me.

Out, out dirty dust,
Futile is my constant chase
You settle the next day.

Fruit, veg, five a day
I strive for better eating,
Does chocolate count?

Oh the joyous joy,
Of bathtime with a toddler
Bathroom needs flood gates.

Work; same time each day,
Working hard to pay the bills.
Taxman you rob me.

Garden of delights,
Or haven for wildlife.
It's all perspective.

Relaxing

Shell Angel

Beach life

I absolutely love this photo of Olivia in St Gille de Croix. It was a beautiful warm day and the beach was practically empty.

It's been a long time coming...

Well, things sudddenly got very hectic after my first,(and only), post. I took on a secondment at work which meant I was working five days a week and then found out I was pregnant! So it's been a very busy few months. I sailed through my last pregnancy with Olivia and fully expected to do the same this time but alas it has been a health rollercoaster. It started with morning(!) sickness. What a misnomer that is. I was ill 24 hours a day - I was even waking up at night feeling ill. On top of that I caught flu - not of the swine variety thank goodness - which totally knocked me of my feeet. Not long after that I slipped a disc and was laid up for another week. Then the dizziness started. After about 3 months of feeling like the world was slipping away from me everytime I stood up I ended up in hospital last Saturday after I collapsed and was non-responsive for about half an hour. Mike called an ambulance and I came round on the way to hospital. It turns out I am anemic after all and am now signed off for the week and have a hefty dose of iron tablets. I'm just starting to feel a little better but am still getting very bad headaches and everything absolutely exhausts me. I have to rest after a walk up the stairs! Oh and while we were away camping in France I developed an infection in my sinus. Nice.

So after nearly a week of enforced sofa rest I suddenly remembered I had started this blog. As I have managed to get this old laptop of mine up and running again I thought I should restart it. Obviously my body is telling me to sloooow down somewhat. I've pretty much written off July in terms of getting any big projects done as I don't think I'll be up to it, it's going to take about that long to get my iron levels back up.

I think that's up-to-date? Am off to publish some photos of our week away.