A few snaps

Most of these were taken on my phone as I'm forever forgetting to take my compact camera out with me and there is a battery issue with my Nikon, so please excuse the quality!

We had a real tree for the first time at Christmas. It was so lovely and hardly any needle droppage! 

It reads "Imagine waking tomorrow and all music has disappeared". I see this on my walk to Dan's house and it makes me shudder every time.

Isaac gets to grip with Reading Eggs. My Dad gave him a year's subscription to the site and he loves it! I was reluctant to get on the technology bandwagon while he's still so young, but it's actually teaching him to read so I figure it can't be all bad.

January snow.

Walking walking everywhere...I've lost a whole stone in weight since selling my car!

Local board game evening. Dan shows Isaac Othello. 

I knit some mitts! Officially over the knitting fear now and will give most things a go. Still working up to a big project (i.e.: something bigger than hats of mittens), but have been working on different stitches and pattern reading and it goes well.

February snow. It looks beautiful, but it's soooooooooooooo cold! We've had March snow too, a mini blizzard in-fact earlier this week. What's going on with the weather in this country huh?

So there we are, a few random snaps from while we've been away. The Nikon has been taken somewhere hopefully to fix it and I shall make more of an effort to take my camera out!

The end.

Hello 2013

My my it's been a very long time! Just over seven months in-fact. I'm very aware that my last post wasn't so positive, but it was a fair and accurate description of life at the time. Well. It didn't get any better. The terrible twos really took off into some horrible direction and we only now seem to be settling. There is still an awful lot of "I don't WANT to!" almost every time I suggest he get dressed, so much so that I've resorted to sticker charts...which work approximately 75% of the time. Bed time is another point of contention. Quite simply: I want him to go to bed and he doesn't! 

Staying calm, rational and not shouty is also a challenge when every night's sleep for as long as I can remember has been broken because Isaac wakes me up either wet, scared of something or wanting to get in with me. I do not object to these things and accept them as part of being a parent. I am fortunate that I do get to sleep right through when he stays at his father's. 

Relationship changes for me have caused ripples and probably haven't helped Isaac through a difficult time and then there's the ever upsetting money situation. Living within one's means when one's means isn't very much is trying and down right bloody difficult. 

BUT!

SPRING IS HERE ish !!

Yes, life is on the move again. Yesterday was the first properly sunny day we've had and it was glorious. I didn't even wear a coat! There are little buds on trees and plants everywhere and bulbs shooting up left right and centre. Not in my garden, that would be a miracle. Winter this year has been a long hard slog and we are very ready for more outdoorsy weather. I had my first Couch Surfer since December 2011 on Monday night. An interesting fellow cycling from Chester to Vietnam over the course of six months culminating in a teaching job there. 

We did manage a trip to a local rec ground the other day (finally at about 3.30pm after talking about it with him all day - he agreed!) I haven't been there since Rinny was a puppy so it was lovely to see the new (to me) play area for children and be reminded of the big football pitch where we could let the dog off for a good run.

I made the executive decision to remove myself from Facebook. Which I did yesterday. And to stop using my HTC Desire smartphone in favour of my old Nokia C3-01. Why have I done these things? I have an addictive personality and was finding myself constantly wasting time on both which is essentially me ignoring my son. This is not acceptable and blatantly damaging to our relationship and what he accepts as normal. I think I've written about it before...a long time ago and possibly on a different blog. I get sucked in by technology. It has a place, but my little boy has the biggest and most important place in my life. 

I might still be a little bit addicted to Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends, but I'm investigating an Android app simulator for Windows called Blue Stacks. I shall see how that goes. It feels very strange to remove myself so completely from something that is such a huge part of many people's lives nowadays. 

So, here is to longer days, warmer weather and (fingers crossed) a sunnier little boy.

Post-op pooch

Following my suspicions that Rinny wasn't her usual poochy self, last Friday I booked an appointment with the vet to check our little dog over and make sure she was ok. The appointment was at 6.50pm. By 7.20pm she had been admitted for iv fluids, a scan of her abdomen and a possible emergency spaying. Anyone who has a dog that they love as a member of their family will know how I felt when I left her there that evening.

Transpires she had a pyometra which is an infection of the reproductive system. Hers was the closed type (apparently a lot worse than the open kind as her uterus could rupture and have all sorts of horrible complications and can even be fatal). The vet phoned at 10.30pm to say the operation had been successful and then again the next day to tell us she was recovering well and could come home. We picked her up at 5.30pm on Saturday. She was obviously feeling uncomfortable, but was remarkably happy considering her  terrible ordeal. I've never been so pleased to see her!

The whole thing was over so quickly that I haven't really thought about it until now. I'm so incredibly glad I booked the appointment and that it was in time. She shivers because Isaac is quite loud and she doesn't like much it, but she was doing it even when he'd gone to bed and also when he was at nursery. Her breathing was also laboured. Google told me these things can mean a dog is in pain. Her abdomen was also rock hard while she shivering and she was getting though about 3 bowls of water a day which is unlike her. I feel so guilty that I didn't spot it earlier, but I can't change anything and she's better now.

The night she wasn't here was horribly and eerily quiet, we even had some space on the sofa! She's such a huge part of our lives and I'm eternally grateful to the veterinarians and veterinary nurses who looked after her while she was in there care. I'm also rather pleased I have insurance for her as £803 isn't really something I can budget around! She's completely worth it though, the happiness she brings us and the things we've been through in the five and a half years since I've been her pack leader. She's my furry baby and I love her to pieces.

She does like to sleep though. A lot! In-fact she sleeps more than any other dog I know, see exhibit A:

She does a lot of other stuff too, like woofing and playing and sniffing and running and chasing and guarding and licking and stretching and sofa hogging. I wouldn't have her any other way though. She's ace and the furry heart of our little family. I'm very glad to have her home, wombless or otherwise.