We must be potty!

Now I am not suggesting for one minute that Tilly is being potty trained (I know it is all the rage in San Fransisco where mum's claim to have their baby's trained by 6 months - yeah right!), but nursery get all the babies used to sitting on the potty from 7 months.  Richard picked Tilly up from nursery and they proudly announced that she'd done a poo and a wee on her potty!  Well, after hearing some horror stories about toddlers freaking out and not liking their potties during training it makes sense that we get her used to the potty and continue what is happening at nursery.  

I went to Woolies to buy a potty.  On that note it was a sad day, Tilly will never know a trip to Woolworths - the joys of pic'n'mix and great childhood memories.  

When we got back I looked at the potty and thought I must be potty to be using it with Tilly at her age.  However as soon as her little hands started turning her imaginary taps* on I quickly got her nappy on and sat her on her potty.   Sure enough a little push later and Tilly had indeed done a poo on her potty!   I was so delighted I even took a picture and sent it to Richard at work and just in case you are sad you're missing out I've posted it here. Apologies for any offence but I've posted it small in case you're disgusted, but it is a part of mine and Tilly's life . . and this is what this is all about!

Since then I've spotted the signs a few times and we've managed to use the potty effectively. Each time I feel a strange mixture of disgust and pride. 

* Tilly has done this from quite early on, you can always tell a poo is coming when her eyes glaze over, she looks straight through you and her hands at equal distances apart start to move like she is turning on some taps.  

Wales

Following a lot of time spent concentrating on work, I had promised Richard that I'd spend some quality time with him and Tilly when the market project was over.   Richard had done some research and we'd booked a lodge in Wales, a place called Bluestone - a bit like Centreparcs. 

Anyway, we had a lovely upside down lodge with the bedrooms downstairs and a lovely open plan living area upstairs with kitchen, dining room and living room.  

There was free swimming available in a new sports centre on site, called the Blue Lagoon, it reminded me of a place called Fantaseas that we used to go to all the time as kids. There was a lazy river, a wave machine, flumes and water sprays all over the place.  We all got changed in the biggest changing room I've ever been in for just us three. We took an inflatable seat for Tilly to sit in. We got into the pool and Tilly started to squeal as she splashed in the water.  The sirens went off warning us about the immient waves, we ummed and ahhed about whether to stay in or not.  We opted for the shallow end in the middle, the waves started and we were OK for the first few minutes and then they got stronger and stronger and we opted to get out as we were starting to get bashed about.  

After the wave machine stopped we went back into the pool, we decided to take her round in the lazy river.  The river had big sprays that jetted into the centre of the currents and Tilly splashed and squealed as we approached them, we took her down the sides shielding her from the worst part whereas she seemed desperate to get right in their aim. After the jets there were some large plastic flaps like those found in supermarkets which led to an outside part of the lazy river. As soon as the cold air hit us (it is November after all!) Tilly shrieked and laughed so much, a huge smile breaking out across her face.  She is such an adrenalin junkie - she loves stuff like that. It was crazy to be doing that at this time of year, as we got pushed round by the current she continued to squeal and shriek and then laugh until we got back inside. Richard went on a flume that was pitch black all the way. We had a lovely time.  Still, it wasn't as good asI remember Fantaseas being! 

The other big highlight of the holiday was taking Tilly for a walk in a big backpack carrier.  We've been given two of them but she's always been too small to use them.  She seemed a little unsure when we first put her in but depite the biting cold wind and a very snotty nose, Tilly once again laughed and squealed as we walked across the site to the car.   

Nasty bugs - poorly parents

Both Richard and I have been hit with a nasty bug.  Mine started quite quickly on Sunday evening and I had really bad cramps all night, nearly wretching lots.  I've not really been sick since my morning sickness and having that feeling again was awful, half of my body and mind wanted to be sick and get rid of it all but the other half was clinging on for dear life, petrified of being sick again.  Not surprisingly I didn't go into work and I was eventually sick in the morning. I felt dreadful all day and slept a lot, eventually got up to catch a bit of crap TV in the form of Diagnosis Murder and then Richard phoned.  He wasn't feeling so good so came home early.  He brought Tilly home from nursery at the same time. As soon as he got home he was straight upstairs in the bathroom, for hours.   I sat on the sofa watching Tilly on her mat, she kept looking at me as I didn't have the energy to interact or more importantly didn't want her to catch it.  

Eventually I put her to bed and went upstairs too.  My sickness passed as quickly as it started as I woke up at 9.20pm feeling perfectly well - almost 24 hours exactly since it started.  

Richard on the otherhand was sick all through the night, had the day off and just when we thought he was all better he was ill the next day too. 

Bright lights and stickers

Due to the excitement of Coventry Market the Musical, we missed out on a trip out to a firework display with Tilly. Instead we watched them from the back bedroom window and she seemed interested but as they were a home display there were big gaps in between the rockets and she got distracted.

To make up for it, we took Tilly to Coventry's Christmas lights switch on this evening. Entertainment started early in the afternoon but we were planning to get in for the carnival and then the switch on. Got in just after the carnival had passed! So we watched the crappy stage show in Millennium Place and bought Tilly a cheap plastic spinning light wand (essential at any winter event!). She loved watching the lights in this odd plastic toy, a dome with LED lights that span round. I love watching her face when you can really see that she is taking everything in, she watched and grinned as acts sang Christmas carols on stage and could not take her eyes off a local punk teenagers hair! I'm always so proud to walk around with her, I'm not sure if every baby gets as much attention. I don't think I've ever been out without someone stopping me to say how lovely, what a lovely smile she has etc. Tonight was no exception and Richard and I stood proud as we heard people all around us go 'ahhh' or 'oooh' as they looked at her smiley face.

We were given all sorts of leaflets and even a sticker for The Belgrade's panto this year, Dick Whittington. The sticker was stuck directly onto Tilly's coat and she picked away at it while we were out, so I removed it and stuck it to her hat.
When we got home I was making her tea and I left her in her highchair as I often do.  I approached the table with a confused Tilly trying to shake something off her finger. It was the sticker, but sadly not a whole one . .she'd been chewing it and approximately 1/3 has been consumed. Well I've been very careful for over 8 months and I suppose it is a sign of things to come. I'd better have my beady eye ready for anything consumable soon - she later tried to eat a tissue so maybe she just likes the taste!

The leftovers of the sticker!

Four teeth

Matilda has two more teeth coming through her upper gums, they look sore already and we have the 'cutting' through to do yet.  What fun! 

We are real parents now

Matilda returned home today from nursery with her first picture!  

We proudly stuck it to the fridge - we are real parents now.

After a great night . .

Over the last week I've felt dreadful, a really bad cold.  Everyone has told me I have a stress headache but I'd had enough, I went to see the doctor today.  Without being too graphic I've had the most terrible coloured snot and an amount every per hours that I could never have imagined I could produce within a month! So I have chronic sinusitis which I'm now on antibiotics to treat - no wonder I've felt so bad.  Whilst in the surgery the doctor had to examine me to I out Tilly on the floor to play, after a few minutes she babbled her usual 'umummm-maa, umummm-maa' and I was very pleased when they asked how old she was and said it was a very distinctive 'Mumma'.  I'm so pleased that an outsider noticed and mentioned it, wonderful. 

Back to Coventry Market the Musical! The film has been added to YouTube under the BBC's national account, which is wonderful for viewing figures but it also brings in far more constructive feedback.  There have been some great comments but also some nasty ones who don't 'get' it, they think it is a serious film or they don't get that it was a process, a community event.  However, I also received an email of congrats from the big boss in the BBC which made my year. 

"This was simply one of the best community events we have done in local radio. 
Ever. 
Simple as that. 
Brilliant on air and off air! 
Thank you. 
David"

I'm chuffed to bits. 

Coventry Market the Musical!

Wow - what a night! I did it. I've managed to successfully pull off being a mum and delivering my work, there have been a few close calls. Mainly with Tilly being poorly last week and Jane and Peter having to travel down to look after her. It makes me realise how vulnerable we are without a family/friends support network to help out in times of need.

Anyway, against a raging cold up in my head that makes me feel nauseous and dizzy every time I look down, tonight Coventry Market the Musical premiered in Coventry City Centre. I'm so pleased with how it went, I couldn't have imagined it any better. The market traders had taken the day's events with such aplomb, they had all dressed up in their best 1958 garb, making cakes and generally having fun with the theme. The day was manic but brilliant. I've been backwards and forwards between the office and the market, made an appearance on the lunchtime Midlands Today and finally a surreal moment where I stage managed and cued the show on cans. It took me back to the old days so much.  




The red carpet was laid and the stars and traders came all dressed up. The stage and the screen looked incredible, nothing like I've ever seen in the Lower Precinct before. Once it went dark, it looked amazing, all bright lights and glam. The stage show, live radio OB and TV link up went all according to plan. We timed everything down to the second, surprisingly we kept to plan and made every deadline and pinch point. The atmosphere was lovely, a real sense of community and happiness, approx 600 people there. A huge sense of relief and a bit of sadness came over me when we finished. I had managed to get back to normal 'work me' and had the best time doing this project, now it is all over. On to the next one . . . !

Tilly and Richard also came to the event, even though it clashed with her bedtime. I was so pleased they were there. Richard said he was proud of me when it finished and that meant more to me than any other praise I've had. I was so pleased he could see the reason why I've spent so much time apart.



Watch the finished video here:

Mummy bad . . Daddy good

Matilda is at a lovely age at the moment, she is confident, able to entertain herself, understand certain words and meanings and is really fun to be with. For quite some time if I've asked 'Where's Shoomi' she'll immediately look down to the floor and around, as soon as she catches a glimpse of her she beams from ear to ear. Along with this she can understand Daddy and is just starting to look for me when we say Mummy.  

For some reason she finds it totally hilarious when I put my glasses on.  Yesterday she looked at my glasses on the side of the sofa and then looked up at my face and on top of my head to check if they were there.  I was amazed - she is really starting to understand life in her own small way. 

Later in the same afternoon, she had been standing up against the sofa and she dropped her plastic ring, it made a noise as it bounced on the hardwood floor and then wobbled like a spinning top.  Tilly picked up the ring again and, on purpose dropped the ring to make it do the same.  I find these moments of realisation so exciting.  I sat and watched her continue to repeat it again and again for the next 15 minutes. 

She watches everything so intently, so desperate to understand more.  She makes me giggle when I brush my teeth and she smiles at me, fascinated by what is going on, checking it out in the mirror and up close in my face.  I know she is learning as only a few minutes later she opens her mouth and smiles when her own tiny white teeth make the same noise against her toothbrush.

Tilly has been babbling away for quite some time, she is often making noises and everyone says it won't be long before she is talking. Her most lovely and most recent noises have been 'burbbbburrbbbbbburrrbbb' with her mouth (like a raspberry but much cuter) and a very knowing and confident 'da, da, da' .  The latter is said almost as if is 'that' or her own way of naming something, she is usually bashing the item at the time.   With this new babbling also has come a few occasions of 'mum', 'mama', muuummmm' and of course 'dada' and 'daadddi'.  These have always been just babblings and sadly not a way of calling us, which of course is very frustrating as we know she is capable of saying them she is just not able to say them at the right time.   This weekend her 'words' have become more defined, still not totally recognisable and definite to us but I have noticed a very obvious 'Muummmmmmaaa' when she is sad and a 'DaDa' when she is content and jabbering away.  

Tonight we made Tilly cry screams of fear, the only time I've heard her like that before was the first pooing incident.  We were watching the final race of the Formula 1 season, it was down to the wire, the final laps.  We were desperate for Massa to win the championship, but it was Hamilton's to lose, he only had to finish in 5th place. With only one lap to go, Vettel overtook Hamilton putting him in 6th and both Richard and I yelped with excitement, taking to our feet. Tilly looked shocked and horrified and immediately screamed, it took me ages to console her. And after all that Hamilton won anyway. Arse. 

Poorly Tilly

I've been waiting for months to go on a spa day with Heather.  A present we were both bought from work when we left on maternity leave.  Finally the day had arrived, Richard, Brad and the babies were going to go into Stratford while we enjoyed ourselves and had a good girly chatter. 

I left the spa relaxed but it immediately disappeared when Richard was looking very worried and stressed and disappeared with a screaming Tilly to the car.  She was burning up, she'd slept all afternoon and was miserable, not like her at all.  When we got home she was very hot, she was very needy and very unhappy.  She didn't want any food, milk or anything.  We gave her Calpol and tried to put her to bed. She was awake with a bad cough every 20 minutes so I eventually sat cuddling her on the sofa.  The fever stayed all night, she continued to cry every 20 minutes all night.  We booked her in at the doctors the next day.  

This week was a busy week, the final week before the premiere of Coventry Market the Musical!, not a great time to be off.  So Richard and I took it in turns to do half a day each.  

The doctor took one look at her throat and prescribed us some antibiotics. Tilly was very drowsy and cuddly, she just wanted to be held and comforted.  I got home and gave her the antibiotics and Calpol and she went to sleep.  Later that night I gave her the second of the antibiotic doses.  As soon as she'd swallowed it I'd suddenly realised that I'd got mixed up, the doctor told me to give her 5ml of Calpol.  I looked at the antibiotic bottle and it said 2.5ml, my heart sank as I realised I'd given her an overdose, I'd given her 5ml twice.   Richard phoned NHS direct and eventually they said it would be OK as long as we keep an eye on her.  I felt terrible and so guilty.  What a cock up. 

Tilly has remained snotty, vulnerable and poorly most of the week. She has only started to be normal perky Tilly again since yesterday, though still full of snot.   

It has been a total struggle to juggle work (the busiest time), poorly Tilly and Richard's work commitments too.  I feel also like I've let Richard down again, David asked me to stay for an important meeting at 1pm.  I was supposed to be back by 1pm, I texted Richard and he agreed to stay. The meeting went on longer than it should have and I let him down badly.  Once again I have a lot of making up to do when we are all better.  I think we all need a break and some quality time together.