everything is different again

i'm loving my new job. it feels so right. i'm working hard and doing a few late nights but nothing like blooming marvellous or last exit. i'm tired. all that new information is exercising the mind to say the least. i'm feeling a bit antsy about the massive increase in time poverty - i have so much more to say, so little time to articulate it, let alone type it out. oh, when to blog, when to blog, when to blog? (wrings hands in despair).

we're driving to the west country tomorrow. bf has a week off but i am working, so he's taking the kids to stay with grandma for a few days. after that, the weymouth commute should finish and some sense of normality might take hold.

felix has been struggling a bit with full time nursery and a disappearing mama. (or maybe he's just struggling with growing up?) he's very vocal and quite tantrummy. his way of demonstrating is to swipe at your face with his hands, and preferably swat your glasses away which is rude, and physical and annoying and needs a very firm hand (but come to think of it, it is a very canny way to disarm your opponent - clever boy). he's at the back-arching stage. won't get into the buggy. won't go to bed. throws enormous hissy fits about small things. it's ok, because i know it's not personal. but when he tries to hit me, or rejects me for daddy i do feel a but hurt and disappointed because felix is MY baby boy and up until 3 weeks ago i was his best friend in the whole wide world.

jasmine is amazing. she just refuses to take a bath. so maybe i should say, amazing, but a bit smelly.

Mummy is dead

Jasmine has started calling me 'Mum' and Daddy is now 'Dad'

what i have learned since starting work

what i have learned since starting work:

1. it takes exactly 4 hours to get from my front door to the weymouth office

2. it is possible to get stuck in a barrier on the underground and not be able to wriggle/force your way out. to achieve this, wheel your suitcase in front of you as the barriers open, so it goes through first. the barrier recognises a 'heavy load' and thinks it is you. the barrier then closes just as you are walking thru. at least. at least, i think that's how it works. whatever, it's bloody embarrassing for a fat lass.

oh, and quite a lot of stuff about my new place of work too...

A decent poo at last

Today Jasmine did a solid poo, albeit still gunky on the outside, but a solid poo nonetheless. Hur-bloody-rah

Nani passes the baton to Granma

Jasmine's diarrhoea persists. Nani cancelled her clinic on Wednesday to stay and look after her. Granma dropped everything and arrived on Wednesday lunchtime to relieve Nani of her shift.

It's Friday today. Jasmine's bottom has only just started to clear up, but we're beginning to suspect it's something other than swine flu. Nani took her to the GP on Wednesday, then walked all the way back again with a stool sample. Bloody impressive for someone with exercise induced asthma.

Felix has been a star amidst all of this, though going to school full time is taking its toll on him. I have to peel him off me crying every morning as I leave him in nursery. It hurts.

Week 1 at work has been full on. Big 6 hour meetings with suppliers for the first three days. Train trip to Lichfield to the fulfilment centre yesterday. Went all the way to Exeter today to the customer services centre. Packed train both ways, not too dissimilar from a Ryanair jet - cramped, uncomfortable, noisy and about the same price.

Roll on the weekend. I am cream crackered.

update: turns out it was shigella (and not swine flu, or maybe swine flu for the first day, and then shigella for the rest of it). have re-drilled the importance of wipe'n'wash to jambeans, just in case that's what caused it.

Jasmine's still ill - I must be starting a new job then...

Made the emergency call to Nani last night, who bravely dropped work and came up on the train last night. Was feeling rather guilty, on the suspicion that Jasmine would actually be perfectly well today, but the hunch was right. Jasmine soiled herself twice last night and this morning had a slight fever. And the poo is still sloppy sloppy sloppy.

Which must mean I've just started a new job - day 2 today - which is why I'm not taking time off to look after the splinks. It's at New Look the fashion retailers. In their eCommerce team. And that's a bit weird because it's the first time I've ever fessed up to where I work, but I owe it to Caroline who's been asking for days! (And in case you're wondering about previously - freelancing was at the agency Last Exit, before that was Blooming Marvellous where I was made redundant, before that was Early Learning Centre which was completely amazing).

Swine flu - what's all the fuss about?

Disregarding the persistent diarrhoea you'd be forgiven for assuming that Jasmine didn't have swine flu at all. After 24 hours the cough had all but disappeared, the fever had totally gone and she's perky and bright. We didn't bother with the Tamiflu in the end, and Felix, bf and I don't seem in the slightest bit affected (...famous last words)