A Sick Chick

It's not been the most relaxing of days. Chickie's cold is now fully developed and, like all sick males, he's demanding sympathy and complete attention. Being left on his own for a second is unacceptable - put down in his cot for a nap, an outrage. He's howled his way through 50% of the day. The promise of X-Factor, I'm a Celebrity and a take-away are keeping me going.

I begged Accountant to take him out for a walk in the hope he may go to sleep. Praise the Lord, he did! Only problem being, we couldn't make a sound for fear of waking the Snot Monster who was snoring in his pushchair in the dining room. We turned the heating off so he couldn't wake from overheating, switched the phone off too, a note was left on the door to warn visitors, the nephews banished upstairs (they were going to footie with Accountant) and no-one was permitted to speak unless it was an emergency and, only then, in a whisper. I didn't even make a cup of tea in case the kettle was too loud. It worked though, one whole hour of blissful peace.

Accountant wanted to go and watch football this afternoon and had told my Sister that he would take my nephews without actually asking me. I sensed an opportunity, which I used to maximum advantage and struck a sweet, sweet deal. I don't much care for ironing and, whilst being a domestic goddess, this is an "Area for Development". I leave it until it's waist height and then spend 5 hours doing it all in one go which makes me hate it even more. Anyway, my current pile included a complete washing basket full, a duvet cover and 17 shirts! Post-deal, that pile is now 17 shirts lighter. The best bit being that I didn't mind him going to the football in the first place

Went food shopping today which is another one of my duties I don't particularly enjoy. Especially on a Saturday. Anyway, I was brave and I went. Two things happened which made it slightly better than usual.

The first was that I discovered you can buy a token on a keyring for the trolleys. Why has no-one told me this before? I always get to the supermarket, realise I haven't got a £1 or usually any money at all, I'm carrying Chickie and he weighs a ton, I then have to queue at Customer Services and explain I have no money, go back out into the trolley park and then half an hour and a dead-arm later, I get my trolley.

The second thing that happened to brighten my day was finding the "Free Chocolate Sample Stand" in the naughty aisle. "Would you like to try some free chocolate truffle madame?" - if ever there was such a thing as the perfect question, that would be it. "Well, if you insist" - scoff, scoff, scoff.

If anyone who works for a supermarket ever reads this, I have something for your suggestion box. Complimentary trolley tokens and free chocolate samples make stressed, tired mummies happy.

I'm a Housewife, Get Me Out of Here!

I hate getting up, always have. I confess that I have been known to lie in bed in the mornings with all the pillows and duvet over my head, my fingers shoved in my ears so far they meet in the middle in a bid to block out the wails of my child so I can have an extra 5 minutes in bed. This morning, I did a particularly good job and slept in until 9am!

Unfortunately, we had Sing and Sign at 10am. I changed his nappy, changed his clothes, gave him his milk, gave him his breakfast, had my morning All-Bran to keep things moving, had a wash, got dressed, did make up and hair and changed another nappy, put his coat on and strapped him in the car, all in 1 hour - just call me Wonder Mummy! Chickie was super sweet today and for the first time, seemed a little independent. He's a sensitive soul and usually takes a little while to adapt to a new situation but this morning he was off, smiling and happy.

Met up with my mummy friends this afternoon. We all met at antenatal class where we were led to believe that labour was an empowering, planable experience. We've continued to meet weekly, post-birth, to counsel each other. Anyway, Chickie had a nice play with his girlfriends (he's always surrounded by women!) There's usually 8 of us but today only 4.

Other news.. spent half an hour trying to explain to my, less than computer literate, sister how to type in my web address. It transpired, 25 minutes later, she didn't know what a hyphen was!

Gammy checked out my new blog and has kindly informed me that warm water on cotton wool applied to botty area is something they do to kittens to stimulate pooing if they are motherless, as mummy cats normally lick this area (in that case, I think we'll stick with the prunes!)

I have to go now as I'm very, very excited as, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" has started. Must watch, love, love, love it.

Other images from today: Sydney Smoking her Breadstick and Poff ensuring no other baby gets a look in on the breadstick front