X Factor Semi Final

With it being the semi final, I was expecting great things tonight.

• Niki’s first song, whilst being a pretty song wasn’t a well known one and her second choice ‘One Moment in Time’ was good, but I had to agree with Simon about the high notes.
• Leon’s choice of songs were not the best and he sang them flat. If you like jazzy Michael Buble type songs then he would have been great and I’m really surprised he wasn’t voted off last night.
• Same Difference provided two more happy performances. 
• Rhydian.  Great performances again with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and ‘Walk On’.

I am surprised Leon didn’t go and that Niki did.  She has a much better voice.  I am pleased that Same Difference are through, not because I think they have the X Factor but just to annoy Louis Walsh.

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Guess What Happened Today . . . . Again!

Surprise, surprise my youngest son, who I’ve been having problems with getting him into school almost ran in yesterday.  Why?  Simple, a really great school trip. Had a fabulous day, full of the joys of spring because of it.

So this morning, it was school as usual and lo and behold I had the ‘don’t want to go in’ behaviour.  Again two of my friends were on hand to help.  I’d already glanced up the road after getting out of the car and saw one of my friends walking down the road, so I knew I had backup behind me.

Today, he did a good suffragette impersonation, wrapping himself round a fence post.  It was at this point my friend walked past, calmly took all the book bags, lunch boxes etc I was holding and carried on into school with them while I dealt with him.

She’d also notified his class teacher so that when I’d managed to  pick him up and carry him to the door they were ready for me.

Another friend also took my youngest daughter off with her friend so I could talk to his teacher.

He wasn’t a happy bunny with me, but because I’d thought something was going to happen I had prepared myself mentally.

It just doesn’t make sense.  Two of my friends have had their children watching out in the class for me and say everything is okay.  His teacher says he’s playing well with his friends and doesn’t feel there are any concerns and on the school trip yesterday one of my friends kept an eye on him and said he had a great day.

So is this just a phase he is going through to get my attention or is there an underlying problem?    Is it because this is a very long term and he’s getting tired?

Two of the moms I know whose children went through the same last year said the reason for their children acting up was dislike for the teacher.  When said teacher went on maternity leave and a new teacher came in the problem went away.  Plus the new teacher was fantastic.

I have asked him about his teacher but not really had much of a constructive response.

And interestingly, my husband said that when he was exactly the same age, he went through the same thing. 

But the strange thing is when my son comes out of class at the end of the day and you ask him how his day went, he replies great!

I’ve talked to his teacher and said we’ll monitor the situation for the time being.  I’ll continue to talk to him and monitor when it happens.  I do know that because his class teacher is the deputy head she has to leave class one day a week for other duties and there have been several supply teachers over the last term and wonder if this is contributing to it.

I have to collect my thoughts together because if I need to go in and see the head teacher, she is very defensive where the school is concerned and I want to make sure I know what I want to happen.

In the meantime I would be grateful of any suggestions because it’s a truly horrible feeling walking away from your upset child.  Anyone?      

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It’s Just a Cold

Considering I have caught ‘just’ a cold off my eldest son, I can’t believe how attrocious I look and feel.  We kept him off a week from school with ‘just’ a cold because he looked so pale  with it and because we both have hereditary spherocytosis I am beginning to realise how he was feeling.

HS does not normally mean I feel worse than anyone else if I’m a bit poorly.  I think with all the stresses lately I must be at a bit of a low, but also with HS occasionally a virus can knock the stuffing out of us.  It’s not even as though I am streaming with cold like normal.

But, I am so glad I cancelled the hospital appointment.  The irony of it is that when I went for the pre op assessment I was asked if I’d got a cold or had one recently.  "No" I’d replied, I hadn’t had one for a long time.

Also only a few weeks ago during my routine, annual appointment for my HS, my blood count was so good I got discharged from having to go again!

What a difference a few weeks makes. 

I’m also having problems getting my youngest son into school again, which is really upsetting me.  He wouldn’t get out of the car, crying that he felt poorly with stomach ache and the start of a cold.

I ended up taking him back home.  I let the school know, who understand the problem I’m having and decided to use today to try and get to the bottom of all this.  After all, I thought his reluctance last week had been connected with his big brother being off ill.

Without going into all the gentle questioning I did with him about life in and out of school,  the bottom line is "school is boring", "he doesn’t like school" and "doesn’t want to go".

I also took advice off another mom who had had a similar problem last year and wouldn’t allow the television or computer to go on apart for one hour over lunch time to make being home ‘boring’.

I gave him plenty of attention, setting up some ’homework’ to do which he lapped up and I booked an appointment with my lovely doctor to make sure he was okay physically. 

After booking the appoinment I asked the receptionist to let the doctor know my predicament so that I didn’t have to talk about it in front of my son.  

She was brilliant. She gently led the questioning about his tummy ache around to when it happened, days, times it lasted through to school and any problems he might be having.  This made me feel better as I now have my doctor on side with his situation.

I’ve also set in motion my husband to help with the school run for the next few days to see if this makes any difference.  Tomorrow he has a school trip which should detract from everything else.  And, we’re going to make an appointment with the school to try out some theories we have coupled with the doctor’s thoughts.

It’s a start and although I don’t think this is the end of it, I feel as though the action I’ve taken today is the starting point forward. I can’t have him going into school so upset for his sake and mine and with him starting junior school next year, it’s so important that he is happy with his school environment.

I’ve also come to realise that I have a few really good friends in the other moms who have been looking out for me without taking over the situation.  That in itself has been worth it’s weight in gold.

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H Update

Had to cancel the hysteroscopy this morning.  I am full of cold and it’s on my chest.

Not sure if I’m relieved as I now have to wait for another appointment and do the waiting game all over again.  But with a cold it’s better to be safe than sorry where anaesthetic is concerned.

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Mad Monday

Here’s another little ‘Madness’ that I probably shouldn’t share, but what the heck!

Once upon a time I lived on my own in a little 2 up 2 down house.  I’d grown up with pets but because I was working full time decided it was not for me.  Until one day a little creature unexpectedly joined me.

It was a fly.  Yes, that’s right a fly. 

But this fly was no ordinary fly, it used to come when called.  I kid you not.  I used to walk into the kitchen, shout "fly" and then he would appear. 

He lived with me for a number of days always coming to see me, sharing our days events with each other (okay that bit is made up), but whenever I called his name, he came flying to greet me.

It was a happy little existence.

Until one very sad day, when I arrived home, called him and he didn’t come. 

I then discovered him in the bowl in my sink that I had put bleach in to disinfect a dish cloth.  He was still alive, but barely.  I got him out of the water, laid him on a tissue, but sadly he was too far gone and I couldn’t save him.

The reason this tale came to light after all this time is due to another fly that has been pestering me in the kitchen for the last couple of days.  I’ve managed to get this one out of the kitchen. 

You know what it’s like, it’s sometimes too painful to replace one pet with another!

……. by the way.  Before you think I should have got out more, I had actually met my husband to be at that stage!  He used to laugh at the way I called "fly" and how he just appeared.  It didn’t put him off marrying me thank goodness.  :-) 

He can also remember the way I used to call him, getting the pitch higher than my normal voice.  Go on I know you want to try it!

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x Factor Hotting Up

X Factor Judging is bitching up if nothing else.  I can’t believe Louis Walsh and his childish behaviour.  Dissing Hope because Beverley wasn’t in the show tonight.  Very unprofessional.

• Niki sang two good songs tonight that suited her voice.  Still struggling with the very high notes though, as I say each week.  But I did like Total Eclipse of The Heart.  An old classic.
• Leon was good, but his choice of songs is not my type of music.  Can see why he’s popular though.
• Same Difference provided two more bubbly performances.  Not really sure where they would fit in after the show, but you just can’t help liking them.
• Hope. I actually thought the Spice Girls song they sang first was better than the original group’s version.  Although We Will Rock You didn’t get the votes from all the judges, I really liked it.  It was good to hear the other girls taking lead, especially the one who started off the singing - I think it was Leah.  Such a shame they were voted off.
• Rhydian.  I didn’t like the song choices this week.  But that didn’t stop him giving great performances.

It’s anyones guess who will be in the final now.

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How Much Do You Love Me?

I crossed the living room towards my husband.

He looked lovely tonight, freshly showered, shirt pressed and fresh jeans.

Looking into his eyes, I raised my arms and spoke.

"Smell my armpits - do they smell okay to you?"

. . . . . . . . . . hey there’s still romance in our house you know!

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Catch It While You Can

Well, as I feared, I now have my son’s cold.  Good timing eh!  I’ve tried to minimise the risk, but it’s hard when poorly children need mummy cuddles!

I phoned the hospital this morning but they said wait until Monday to see if the cold has cleared before they make any decision on it. 

All I can do is dose myself up with Lemsip, sit back and wait and see.  Part of me is secretly hoping I won’t be well enough for the day surgery and part of me just wants to get it over and done with.

My husband is also poorly and guess what?  My youngest son’s school phoned me to come and collect him.  Goodness it’s all illness this week. 

I want everyone well so I can be doted on hand and foot next week.  Fat chance of that happening really, but I can dream.

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Tuesday Continued

So after the problem with my middle son going into school yesterday, I then had to see my daughter’s nursery teacher about the arrangements for next Tuesday (the dreaded hysteroscopy).

She’s been brilliant going into class without my help.  But . . . . her teacher invited me into the classroom to talk privately.  Big mistake as my daughter saw me and started crying for me!  I let the classroom assistant help her out as I didn’t want to mess up the routine she has established and then gave her a big cuddle before she went off to her group.  Sorted, but could have done without it.

I have friends on standby to let me drop the children off at 7.00 am next Tuesday, which is brilliant.  I have another friend who has also offered to pick the boys up for me.  It’s so good to have people to rely on who are willing to help.  After all it’s a big favour asking people to be ready for me at that time of the morning.

Apparently all the ’surgery’ is carried out in the morning, you rest up for a couple of hours afterwards to make sure you have no adverse reactions, then you can go home.

I’m not looking forward to it, and am having to console myself with the idea that at least I might get a couple of hours uninterrupted sleep.  The instructions (amongst other things) also say I’m not allowed to operate a cooker and kettle for up to 48 hours afterwards.  Or was that a week!! (Probably won’t get away with that one).  Still I’ll milk it for what I can.  :-) 

Also on a positive note, mom got behind the wheel of her car today, with no problems.  I made her do two emergency stops like they do when you take your test! 

Onwards and upwards!

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Mini Meltdown

I’m afraid I had a mini meltdown this morning.  I actually cried in front of my middle son’s teachers.

We’ve had a lot going on just recently with mom having had the hip operation and running errands for her.  This had in part started to slow down with mom taking her dog on mini walks and me just keeping up the rear on the larger walks.

Saturday morning I had a phone call from mom saying she had been really ill in the night.  So I went round and ended up staying all day with her and overnight as I was worried about her.  I have never seen mom so wiped out from being ill as she was on Saturday. 

We’re not sure if she had a bug, a touch of food poisoning or what.  I’d been with all day Friday and in fact we’d had a great day.  She’d had good news from the hospital about her progress and doesn’t have to go back for 9 months and we celebrated by having lunch out at a local restaurant.

It was such a shame as we’d arranged to take her out in the car over the weekend for her to have her first go at driving in over 7 weeks.

I left hers on Sunday, just coming back to walk the dog in the afternoon.

She then had a relative visiting on Monday so I didn’t see her which was just as well as my eldest son was poorly.  He was full of cold but he goes pale and yellow (hereditary spherocytosis) so decided to keep him off.

Tuesday morning he seemed better although he complained of not feeling good but he got ready for school.  Got to the school gates and he appealed to me to not go in.  He’d had some medicine before leaving the house but when I felt his forehead he was hot.  I made the decision to take him home.

Before doing that I had to take my other two children to school.  When we arrived my middle son started crying and complaining of stomach ache.  My feeling was he didn’t like the idea of his brother being at home, plus  he’d had three days off the previous week poorly with stomach ache and temperature.  (Don’t you just love it when they go back to school and bring everything home with them?).

I was in a dilemma.  I made the decision to let him stay at home and while a friend watched the car for me I took my youngest into school who went without a fuss.

I got the two boys home, sent them upstairs to get changed and they had a nice quiet day.  My youngest son actually did sleep most of the afternoon, so was not tired at bedtime.

At this point my eldest was no better so I told him that he wouldn’t be going into school the next day either.  My youngest son was actually bright as a button, jumping around etc so he knew he would be going to school today.

So it came to the point of getting ready and my youngest son went back up to bed, refusing to get dressed and basically pulling at my heart strings to let him have today off.  He said he was feeling ‘terrible’, but I knew he was just tired from the night before.

I managed to get him dressed and in the car to go to school.  He refused to get out of the car (which I managed to overcome), then he refused to go into class.

I sat him outside the classroom while I went in to explain  to his teacher (and get some help).  One of the other mothers was keeping her talking.  The longer I waited, the more anxious I got and when they finally asked me if everything was okay, I just burst into tears!

Luckily a friend of mine (whose son is a good friend of my son) was outside talking to him.  And his friend was outside with his arm around him.  When the classroom assistant went out to get him, he came in without any fuss.

It’s a horrible feeling knowing that your children don’t want to go into class but I knew this reaction was because his big brother was at home combined with tiredness.

But goodness it makes you feel like you’ve betrayed them.  I certainly don’t like knowing they’re upset but sometimes you have to take the firm stance and say this is how it is.    Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem keeping them off school, but I didn’t want him to think that he could just click his fingers and I’d do it.

I still feel guilty sitting here now.  But boy, they never wrote about this side of parenting in the manuals did they? 

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