Swine flu hits

So I was preparing this "Babymomma reveals all" post about my new job - which starts Monday - and what I've been up to workwise for the past few months, but Jasmine has come down with, erm, "flu like symptoms" so yes, basically, we reckon it's swine flu.

The National Pandemic Flu service reckons it's swine flu too, and issued our Tamiflu authorisation code at 3a.m. What sucks about the service is that all links to the Anti Viral Collection Points in Barnet are broken. In fact, type "Barnet tamiflu collection point" into Google UK and it still takes about 25 minutes of digging to find out where our nearest collection point is. There is no list. In the end I had to dig it out of some MP's blog but reckon your average punter would struggle a bit.

Our GP reckons it probably is swine flu, but might not be, and reckons we could take Tamiflu, but that at the same time it might be better not to, but really it's our decision. Most people would find this disconcertingly unhelpful. I appreciated his honesty. (It helps having a doctor for a boyfriend to explain why you can't just give a straight yes or no.)

Other than that it's all been distinctly unmelodramatic. Our main concern, of course, is Jasmine's weak chest, and whether she will suffer more than your average 3 year old. But even though she's really quite ill, her breathing rate is normal, and both Daddy and the GP said her chest was clear, so we're not expecting to have to rush her to hospital any time soon. So far, this illness seems "normal" by Jasmine standards. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

The most unpleasant aspect is the horrendous diarrhoea. 6 gag-inducing pottyfulls of it today. As a result I have become obsessively anxious about hygiene and have dry, cracked hands from overwashing to prove it. Despite getting to the potty every time, I convinced Jasmine to go back to nappies temporarily, which is just as well as we've had two accidents since. The knock on effect is I am now panicking mildly about getting enough fluid into Jasmine, but she refuses to take even a sip of drink and is now in a coma-like sleep on the sofa.

Hmmm, as I write this I realise it doesn't sound too good... I'll see whether she drinks anything when she wakes up, and if she refuses I may have to force feed it to her. Joy.

Today was supposed to be my last day at work. So I feel like I'm handing over a big, involved project that is slap bang in the middle of build in a mess of snatched emails and telephone messages. Katia, who I work with, wisely said "you have to be at peace with yourself when you go." Right now, she couldn't be further from the truth...

Lunchfest - the stats

2 michelin stars in a place with
4 corners, as in, The Square where I was
5 minutes late for
8 scrummy courses but surprisingly
0 amuses bouches (!!) but I still managed
6 bread rolls as well over
3 and a bit hours when I was
240 quid lighter (ouch) and I'd say at least
10 pounds heavier but with absolutely
zero regrets

yumyumyumyumyum

kid stuff

About 2 weeks ago, Felix started to say 'mum-mee' and 'dad-dee' over and over and over and over, much to our delight.

He now says quite a few words, but only the beginning bit. So door is 'dogh' book sounds more like 'bouh' and so on. His favourite word is doggy, but when Felix means to say doggy he actually says 'dih-dogh.'

He has a new found love for both books and doggies, and his absolute favourite thing at the moment is 'In the Night Garden.'

Jasmine's news is that she is now, definitely toilet trained. The 'can't be arsed' technique seemed to have served us well. In fact, I think it's a technique that can totally be repackaged as 'this is how perfect parents should do it'. Basically, we never pushed her. We went through all the stages - buying the potty, playing with the potty, sitting on the potty ourselves, reading on the potty, buying pants, going nappy free for small bouts, offering rewards, commending efforts - but we never really worked at it as lots of people we know seemed to have done. Let's face it - I am far too lazy to religiously stick Jasmine on the potty every hour anyway.

In the end, once Jasmine made the decision she wanted to use the toilet she did all the hard work herself. Bar a couple of accidents it's all been bloody easy (so far...). She loves being nappy free and the TTOS has halved in weight :)

photos from the rat and the monkey's wedding

out of the wilderness

that job i was holding out for came good.

so the kids are going into nursery full time from monday when bf and i are going for a 2 michelin starred lunchfest, then i start my shiny, new, permanent job the week after that.

clearly more to tell but i need to get my head straight and words in order first.

and that, obviously, could take weeks.

...and breathe

It's been 32 days since my last period, and it hasn't been that late, since ever. So we casually pop a pregnancy kit into the supermarket trolley, shove more chocolate buttons into Jasmine and Felix' mouths and try desperately not to think of the whatifs. And so I find myself weeing on a stick again and cleaning the kitchen all laissez faire and trying not to sneaky peek at the indicator. But when I do look at the indicator...

...oooooooooohhhhh...

i'm totally not pregnant again

and that is such a relief.

A bit if luck

I have an interview tomorrow morning for a proper job. A lovely job. A job I've really been holding out for.

I also have sleep deprivation, a majorly snotty nose, a sore throat, gravelly voice (that presentation's going to sound so gret in Baritone), my period is due tomorrow and I've just discovered I have diarrhoea.

Joy.

...long pause...

nothing to say