Things I missed out on during my stay in hospital and recovery

Last year, I was admitted to hospital three times. Each time I seemed to miss out on something.  The first time was half term with the kids, the second time was our wedding anniversary and the latest stint was Mia's birthday and all the Christmas concerts and preparations and traditions.  Jason has been so good at keeping me up to date with everything and he religiously videoed and photographed the kids so I wouldn't feel as left out.

Lying in ITU, I kept praying I would be well enough to be discharged to see their school plays. Jason and I have been to every single performance, race, play and event that the children have ever been involved in and I really didn't want to miss out. Heavenly Father as usual, heard my pleas. As the tubes that had supported my life began to be removed, the nurses tried to move me on to a High Deoendency ward (as is standard procedure after a stay in ITU). Unfortunately, there were no beds to be had, even on a general ward for an 80 mile radius. The doctors needed my bed for an ill patient in ITU so they decided to discharge me to home on the understanding I was on complete bed rest. Jason picked me up and I came home just in time to see Eden perform in his play. His little face when he saw me in the audience was priceless. Unbeknownst to us, he had been given the main part which he performed like a natural. I was so proud.

Unfortunately, the next day, I became very poorly, so missed out on seeing the girls. Jason made sure he went to their performance and videoed it for me.

Although I found this period of time extremely difficult from an emotional point of view, I have realised that I need to concentrate on the fact that I am so blessed to be here now, and that hopefully I will enjoy watching many more events that my children will take part in. Whilst I may be limited in what I can do, being here for my kids is the best that I can do for them right now.

Child's play

Over these last couple of months, much of my interaction with the children (to my chagrin) has been based around me supervising from my bed, the sofa or sometimes a blanket on the carpet. Both Jason and I have been really impressed with some of the things the children have done.

Here is Ismay making a present for Mia out of felt using her sewing kit.

Love this one of the girls: Mia is reading Ismay a bed time story.

This picture of Ismay was taken when Jason was working away. By 6:30 I had to go back to bed, so I asked the children to choose something to play with in the room with me. Ismay chose to make a pig from one of her activity books. She was really good at reading the instructions.

Once they had had their showers and put their pyjamas on, we played some games together.

And of course, "schools" remains their favourite game. Love how they all get Into role.

Helping Hands and other highlights of the week

Primary did an activity with the children where they encouraged the children to help out at home by giving them these slips to leave when they have done a job. Of course, Ismay has thrown herself into the challenge. Eden and Mia have been somewhat reticent!

As they were playing pirates this morning, I was doing the dusting and reminded Eden that ship mates duties included keeping th ship ship shape. This proved to be the motivation he needed.

Here they are in the ship helping me do the dusting.

Here are some of this weeks highlights: Mia got her 800 metre badge in swimming.

Eden did his homework on his own first thing Friday evening after getting in from school.

Adventures whilst Daddy was away

Although you can't see it, it started to snow! The children were so pleased.

Mia wanted her hair crimped so I plaited it when it was wet.

We did some craft activities.

And we ate a very naughty tea of hot dogs as a special treat.

Our mad scientists

I am becoming increasingly aware of how easy it is to just let the children watch TV when they come home from school, especially since being so exhausted after being discharged from intensive care. I have been trying to encourage the children to do other activities after school.  

On Wednesday they asked to play with the washing up liquid which I agreed to, but they then took it upon themselves to raid my cupboards. My initial reaction was to be cross and tell them off, but they were so good playing together nicely that I let them carry on. I'm still finding egg shell in the bathroom!

At the time this picture was taken, I was feeling glad that they had chosen to do this in the bathroom, at least it's not on my cream carpet!

Their colourful magic potion.

I was pleased at their initiative seeing what type of things would float.

Eden managed to find my rubber gloves.

This is the part where I started to get irritated. Eggs? Eggs! Why are you wasting the eggs???!!

Meanwhile in the kitchen.....Mia used an entire bottle of mouthwash to create a potion (I was not best pleased at the waste of this fairly expensive product!!!). Although I had to admire the precision in which she executed this affair, using a jug to measure out the quantities in mls.

The hat was an essential part of the experiment! Eden used some test tubes that we got when we were in France to create his potions.

Even though I was slightly annoyed at the amount of stuff they wasted, I was impressed by their initiative and their problem solving skills; not to mention the fact that I didn't hear any arguing for at least an hour -Daddy was away with work this week and that respite was exactly what I needed. (I have no idea where Ismay found these safety goggles, although she swears she didn't I'm sure she went into Daddy's tool box in the garage which is completely out of bounds.)

Lucky mummy got to clean this!

A new bike

Last year a pedal fell off Ismay's bike and it couldn't be repaired. Ever since Ismay has been dying to have a bike, but with one thing and another we just didn't get around to getting her one. For her birthday, she received £20 and said she wanted to buy a bike. After doing some research on eBay we found a Raleigh one for £30. We told her that we would put £10 towards it if she earned it by doing some jobs.

She always keeps her room tidy, so she has been learning how to wipe the table down and load the dishwasher. We decided that she had earned her money so Saturday was the big day to go and collect her bike. She went with daddy to pick up this little beauty - a real bargain!

After this, the children decided that they wanted to go on a bike ride. As daddy is going to be away this week he said he would take them so I could rest.

I love Eden's pose here! Jason kept me updated with lots of photos, they cycled all the way to the town park and got absolutely filthy. Thank goodness for a washing machine and dryer.

They enjoyed playing in the park.   

They made it back in time before it got dark. The last weekend of the month is treat night so we had KFC chicken bucket for tea. Eden said to daddy that it was "the best day ever", the children are so lucky to have a daddy who spends time with them.

Galette de Rois

The children and I were asleep well before midnight this New Year's Eve. Jason and Colin stayed up celebrating by playing Play Station and drinking shloer. It's great that they live so close and are able to do things together.

This year the Perkins very kindly invited us to share Galette de Rois.

Eden got the feve so he ended up being king.