Month: September 2006

Poor Will, it seems to be one thing after another for him. First a horrid cold, then new teeth and now a horrible tummy bug which had him projectile vomiting for most of yesterday. He kept viritually nothing down, we spent the day indoors, all I could do was try to keep him quiet, get him to drink as much water as possible and change his PJs each time he threw up. By the end of the day I finally managed to get 5 ozs formula and a yoghurt into him, only to have him hurl it across the sitting room just before bed.

Things have been marginally better today, and having Eddie at home to help is, as always, a huge help. He’s kept some milk down, but no solids yet. We’re mostly worried about dehydration as he’s been refusing water, but have just found that using the Neurofen syringe to get it down him works, so we’re feeling better knowing he’s taken at leaste 2 ozs water with Dirolyte this evening. Even if he vomits his milk, the water is what’s most important at this stage.

In the meantime, Mother was supposed to be home from her first holiday in 25 years today. We all bundled off to the station (Will in his best gear and riding his new tricycle) only to find that someone had thrown themselves in front of her train at Taunton and it had been cancelled. G.R.E.A.T. Of course being Mother she doesn’t have a mobile, so God only knows where she is now….

Anyway, woofing down my chicken kiev and then off to Debs’ to babysit Taylor for the evening. Let’s hope Will sleeps well again tonight and wakes up feeling a little bit better again. I am worried sick about him.

Do not buy baby clothes for new babies, unless absolutely 100% sure you are likely to see them within the timeframe in which the clothes will fit.

Very tired and frustrated today after Will spent the entire day whinging no matter what I did. For some reason he seems to have gone off his milk too, so it’s now a battle to try to get enough calcium into him. Food has also become something of an issue, and both lunch and supper were greeted with utter contempt and rasberried back at a (very exasperated) me.

Brief respite came at lunchtime when Will slept like an angel, giving me time to manically mush before cramming in a sneaky half an hour’s nap. We also went to the gym this afternoon for the first time in ages, and I felt so much better for it. Until that was, I went to pick Will up only to be greeted by more crying at the very sight of me, while all the girls looked on pityingly. G.R.E.A.T.

The final half hour before bath was spent juggling Will from one playmat/bouncer/seat to another in an attempt to keep boredom at bay.

On a more positive note, I did manage to persuade Will to drink 5ozs before bed before rebellion set in.

Sigh.

Is it bedtime yet?

…Asked Eddie at breakfast a couple of days ago. “Is it William grinding his teeth?” “It can’t be,” I replied; “he hasn’t got any top teeth to grind.” A quick feel of his top gums by Eddie subsequently revealed that this was no longer the case and that a small tooth had decided to appear at the top, with the neighbour hot on its heels. After the last hideous experience of teething we couldn’t believe this time it could be so easy and painless. It wasn’t.

Later that night we went to Cate and Jim’s for one of their legendary paellas (leaving Will asleep at home – the monitor works across the road), but I ended up leaving early after Will couldn’t settle at all. He ended up asleep on me in our bed – something reserved only for when he feels particularly terrible. Fortunately use of Calpol was kept to a minimum and we left him in the capable hands of Mrs Brereton on Saturday and headed off across the hills with the East (and North) End posse in our minibus, to mix with the Great And The Good of Hampshire at Combe Manor for an evening of fine wines, good food, opera and caberet – all courtesy of the incomparable Mr David Russell. Wonderful.

Will and Eliza spent a wonderful day together yesterday, enjoying the last of the sunshine and competing with each other to see who could expel the biggest variety of bodily fluids the furthest (Eliza won with a spectacular display of projectile vomiting which finally forced me to mop the kitchen floor – a task I’d been avoiding for some time).

Looking back at the pictures of Alexander when he was small, they could be twins!

It’s been back to Earth with a bump since we returned from France, I seem to have done nothing but laundry, ironing and cleaning. Spiders and Daddy Longlegs are taking over the house. Thank goodness Molly’s back, I’m relying on her to help me reduce this rather alarming, arachnid population explosion.

The Houghton Clan return from a relaxing 10 day break in the beautiful hills of Gascony. Have acquired an unhealthy, and expensive, addicition to Foie Gras and Almagnac, plus discovered it’s impossible to get a hangover no matter how much French wine you drink – fantastic!

N.B The picture of the hire car has been included for posterity – it is quite simply the most trucker vehicle I’ve ever had the misfortune to drive.

What more could a Grandpa ask for?