Morning Jules,

Was just wondering how you got on when you visited your Mum this week, and also how your daughter got on at hospital?  I do hope things are not too stressful for you and that you can try and have a relaxing weekend.

I'm waiting for my eldest to come home, he has spent somewhat of Freshers sleeping on fellow pupils floors after social events - latest was a toga party last night!  I'm off to my counsellor this morning, had originally been thinking I wouldn't need to see her for too much longer but have been so emotional this week so will talk things over with her.

The weather is forecast to be nice this weekend but is looking a bit gloomy at present.  Here's hoping it brightens up and the sun shines on us all.  Take care  Hope x

Hi Hope

Hope you visit to the counsellor was helpful and its good for you to be able to talk things through and this should last as long as you need it.

I have just returned from visiting Mum and she was ok though I am sure a little concerned at how long she will be able to stay where she.  She has amazed the staff at how forthright she was when social worker 'interviewed' her and they are left in no doubt as to what she wants. All the care staff came to see me whilst I was visiting to make sure I was okay too - very sweet.  I stayed until she was due to go into lunch and we even managed a bit of a laugh when I showed her latest photos of her great grandson.  He has really enjoyed his first week in Reception and keeps telling his mum that his teacher is the most beautiful one in the school!!

Hubby and I picked him up from school on Friday as my daughter had to return to hospital for a second day of tests and monitoring.  Specialist blood tests with regard to her liver function have been sent off and unless she hears otherwise she returns to clinic next Friday.  The last set of bloods were borderline but all readings for the baby were good.  If the new blood tests show certain 'rises' she may have to be taken in and possibly induced (she is now 37 weeks and would probably welcome is being over and done with!!).  Anyway so far so good.  I have an overnight bag ready and waiting and she has several friends on standby to get her to the hospital if her hubby is at work.  Mind you she is still driving herself at present!!

When we met our grandson at school (its only 10mins to his home) he told Grandad that he could meet us there as it was healthier to walk!!!  My hubby's face was a picture as he drove off and I walked the little tyke home!!

Life's stresses seem to come and go but having the forum to offload certainly helped me to see things in perspective this week though I think my mood swings are more due to hormones than current circumstances.

Sounds like your eldest having a great time during Freshers but will no doubt be looking forward to some home cooking.  Have a great weekend with the family and will catch up again soon.  All the best and look after yourself. Jules xx

Good morning Jules,

Pleased to hear the party went well and everyone enjoyed themselves. As regards to the dance, I have to admit that is something I have never been any good at. I'm like an elephant on the dance floor, one with four left feet and no co-ordination whatsoever. The government has stipulated I have to have a big red warning sign stapled to me when I get near a dance floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs B went round yesterday putting the clocks back in the afternoon. As a result I was quite surprised when she said it's time for tea!!!!!!  Have virtually recovered from my cold but it has given me very bad tooth ache and the dentist has told me I have an infection under one of my teeth that has a deep filling, I have been given some antibiotics but if they don't work I will have to have the tooth out which will mean I will have to have a new denture made which could cost quite a lot. Just hoping the medication works as cant really afford it with Christmas coming up. Mrs B has almost fully recovered from her fall thank you for asking Jules. I am due a blood test for my psa (re the prostate cancer) next Tuesday and feel confident it will be the same as the last one.

Hope you enjoy the Grand Prix and your meal later on. The weather doesnt look too good for later on so do take care.

Have a pleasant and peaceful weekend, best wishes to you and your family, Brian

Hi Jules,

Glad to hear the children's birthday party was a great success.  I hope you have a lovely week off work, I'm sure you will be kept very busy with your grandsons (may need another holiday to recover afterwards!), hope Zack continues to lift hubby's spirits.

I had a day in London yesterday with hubby and friends, out for a meal and drinks which was very nice.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and fingers crossed the storm which is forecast doesn't affect us too badly!   Hope x

Hi Jules,

Thanks for the lovely message and all the updates, you really do sound like you are loving every minute of being a grandmother again and relishing looking after your daughter as well.  Also sounds like lots of other people re rallying around, which is also so welcome following the birth of a baby - I remember friends coming to visit and making me sandwiches or cups of tea, things liked that just seemed to get forgotten about during the first few weeks!  Fantastic that baby is sleeping and feeding so well, as that will make a huge difference to your daughter's recovery and energy levels. It must be both an exciting and slightly confusing time for your eldest grandson, but I am absolutely certain that all the love and and attention (and all those cuddles) from his family will help him adapt very quickly.  Good that he can sleep through the baby crying at night!!  And am sure he will have a lovely time this week on his half-term, and spending time with his other relatives -I hope your lunch with your daughter and baby Zack goes well!

It is no wonder you are not looking forward to going back to work, this will be a time that is full of special times and memories, it will be a shock to the system to get back to the world of work - even if you enjoy a job, I find it hard to go back after holidays let alone a time as special as that for your family at the moment....!!

How lovely to read about your visit to your Mum - it reminded me of when we first visited my Grandma, the idea of 4 generations of a family (and in our case 4 women!) is very special.  I have a lovely photo of my grandma, my mum (her daughter), me and Elizabeth that I look at regularly.  Lovely that your hubby is taking so much joy from his new grandson, and am sure it is helping him massively to spend time with him.  There is somethign about a new baby that just lifts people's spirits!

Thansk so much for the words of support about Elizabeth - it is such a worry at the moment, I appreciate an ear infection may not sound serious to some, but this latest one is recurring very couple of weeks, and seems to have combined with a chest infection.  She is on her second lot of anti-biotics, which we thought were working, but now her ear is bad again so it's back to the docs for us!  She is so miserable, and also just won't leave my side which is hard as she gets upset every time I leave the room....hopefully we will get sorted soon.  Fortunately work being very understanding.

Thanks also for asking after Dad, who continues to do well - we have a long weekend up with him next weekend, and then a couple of weeks after that he is taking a short break with a small group of close friends which I think will be great for him.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the rest of the weekend and were not too affected by 'The Storm' - we seem to have got off very lightly here, which is strange as I keep hearing on he radio that places very close by have been hit quite badly.  It is  very windy here still but not as bad as expected.

Take care, have a good week and thinking of you,

Catherine x

Hi Jules,

Have just spoken to both my sister and father in Canada. He is going into hospital tomorow for a hip replacement. My sister is quite concerned because of his age. He has been in so much pain, he has not been able to walk at all much recently. So I spoke to him but the phone was bad and kept going so quiet when I spoke both to him and my sister. I guess it could be because of last nights storm. Hope you are still enjoying your time off, take care, Brian.

Hi Brian, Jules and Everyone

Brian - sorry to hear about your father and of course age does come into it but with all your father has been through lately Brian hopefully this will prove to be a walk in the park for him.

Jules - hope you are still enjoying your time off with your new little grandson.  Your daughter needs to take things easy.  I had a similar birth with my second and it did take me some time to get back to some sort of normality.  Sometimes I felt as if I was on autopilot because my iron levels had dropped so much but I got there in the end thanks to my mum being there to help out just like you are doing.

I have been thinking about you all after hearing about the storms which affected parts of England and I hope you are got through it.  It is very cold here this morning and someone joked that the snow could be on its way.  I hope not.

Still no further word on the work front but I do recall the same thing happening this time last year and we survived for another year let's hope that is the case.

Take care and chat soon

Mickied

Afternoon friends

Sorry this has to be a response to you all at once but as you have probably realised am a bit of a busy bee at present.  Seems like the last couple of days has been a whirlwind and thats not just with the weather!!  We were out for a meal at our sons on Sunday evening and had a lovely few hours with them (son cooked the main and his girlfriend the dessert - all beautiful).  Our son then told us the good news that he has got a new job, still within the University campus but more business/marketing based which incorporates his degree better.  He is very happy as it will be back to mon to fri instead of the shift work he is on now and there is a better chance of advancement in his field.

Spent all day yesterday at my daughters. She had midwife check up at clinic in the morning. Went well and they have signed her and the baby off.  Baby has regained and then passed his birth weight, now a very healthy 9lb ish at 2 weeks.  Daughter is healing well and just has to take things a little slower than she would like (somewhat frustrated with this!!) and remain on iron supplements for up to 3 months.   She also had first health visitor appointment in the afternoon and this is being repeated in another 2 weeks to check on her emotionally (had a few babyblue days with her first and so they keeping an eye bearing in mind what she has been through).  She is otherwise coping very well and our eldest grandson still continues to help (in exchange I was invited to play cars in his bedroom as a guest) and we have been colouring his worksheets whilst baby sleeps and his Mum had a rest hour.

The storm bought a few branches and one tree down in the immediate vicinity but think we got off quite lightly having seen other areas of North London.  Our front garden looked a mess but was mainly dustbins being overturned and rubbish needed to be cleared up (10mins before dustmen came!!) - the lid now appears to have gone for good (typical as we only bought new bin a couple of weeks back, hey ho!!).  Hope everyone else did okay and Mickied hope that mention of snow is a long way off!!  Today is lovely here, chilly but sunny.

Brian, hope your Dad does okay with  his hip replacement - what a guy!!  Nervous time for the family awaiting news and will be thinking of you all.  Also hope y our results are good (am sure they will be).

Hope, trust you doing okay and enjoying the work break.

Catharine, hope Elizabeth responds to the second round of antibiotics - earache is so painful. Pleased to read that your Dad is managing okay and hope you enjoy your next stay with him.  Take care yourself.

Lastly but probably (for me) most important we visited the  Consultant for my hubby's check up this morning and GREAT NEWS, he is still stable and does  not need to change his medication and also unless he feels there is a change in his condition does not have to go back to see her until end of Jan.  In the meantime they are arranging physio/aromatherapy treatments as he has some stiffness in his shoulder and they do not think it is related to his cancer (scan shows no spread since his holding chemo treatment) so he has agreed to go and have the physio to see if this helps his muscles rotational ability!!   Worth a try.  We actually both came out smiling.

Well my forum buddies thank you so much for your kinds words and support and hope to be chatting again in the near future.  Tomorrow I am Christmas shopping (hopefully to a finish) and on Thursday I am taking my daughter( and baby) out to lunch locally as our son is taking elder grandson for a day out as he has been so good he has certainly earned it and is very excited).  With a bit of luck I will have Friday free as I have everyone coming to me Saturday for Dinner and would like to wet the baby's head in style.

Take care everyone.  Jules xx

Jules,

Wow! You are a busy bee! So glad to hear that your daughter and baby have been signed off! And what great news for your son, on the job front.

The news about your husband is absolutely fantastic! I'm so thrilled and no wonder you both came out smiling!

Enjoy all the lovely things you've got planned over the next few days.

Big hugs to you and your family, Jo xxx

Hi Jo

Thanks so much. Must say I have been kept busy but so much more appreciated than if I was at work so does not seem like its a chore if that makes sense!!

Hope you and the family are all doing okay and you are still getting plenty of rest. Take care and have a good week/weekend ahead.  Best wishes Jules xx

Hi Jules,

Glad to hear your keeping busy. Thank for the words about my dad but i have just got an e-mail from my sister in Canada to say dads operation has been cancelled indefinitely as when they did the pre op they found has has heart problems and a bladder infection. He is apparently quite upset as he was looking forward to getting rid of the pain he's been experiencing.

That's great news about your son's new job. Please take care, Brian.

Oh  Brian

So sad to read the news about your Dad, after all he has been through this year I expect he must be devastated to have the op postponed.  Will keep everything crossed that having found these problems they can treat them and get him as fit as possible.  Sending peaceful thoughts to you and the family during this difficult time.  Jules x

Oh  Brian

So sad to read the news about your Dad, after all he has been through this year I expect he must be devastated to have the op postponed.  Will keep everything crossed that having found these problems they can treat them and get him as fit as possible.  Sending peaceful thoughts to you and the family during this difficult time.  Jules x