Dad's op didn't go as planned and at this moment he is back in surgery a week after the original one.

I came back home to Stalybridge a few hours ago as Bryher is due her jabs tomorrow. I went to the hospital just before I left and the surgeon said he was stable and getting slightly better though he's still very poorly. He's been sedated for the past week since the operation but they were talking about lifting it and letting him come round.

Then Mum phoned an hour ago and said they had taken him back down to theatre. Mum isn't sure what's happened. They were going to remove some drains from his chest and now they've found a bleed around his heart.

The original operation was to repair one of his heart valves as he has a heart murmur, we knew there was a 2% risk of complications but as Dad was fit and healthy we thought everything would be fine, and this was the best time to do it. It wasn't until they opened him up that they found out what state his valve was really in. They tried repairing the valve twice, but it burst both times so they had to replace it. By this time he had been on heart bypass for about 10 hours and a lot of his organs had packed up. We were expecting him out of theatre at about 5pm, at 8:30pm Mum, my brother and I went down to the hospital and they had sorted out a room for us to use for the duration of his stay. That's when I realised it was serious. I had to go back to my brothers house at 10:30pm to feed Bryher, around midnight my brother phoned to tell us he was out of theatre and what had happened.

Over the week we've had ups and downs, he's been on and off dialysis and he's had a chest infection. They found a bleed in his heart so yesterday they did tests to try to find where it was bleeding into. Last night Mum phoned to say not to visit as they might be taking him back into theatre to repair the bleed so I might not get to see him anyway, she also said that his heart monitor was showing a systolic. Mum didn't know what that meant, but my brother and I did so we both made a mad dash for the hospital (Porl and I managed to pack up Bryher and everything she needed for an overnight stay in 15 minutes and were at the hospital in 30 minutes.) As we were rushing in the main entrance my sister-in-law phoned and said not to panic Dad wasn't going anywhere. They had decided the operation wasn't necessary right now, and he hadn't gone a systolic, it was just that his heart rate was dropping lower than the machine liked and so a pacing box was kicking in and the machine was flashing up a systolic.


It's taken hours to write this post, and Dad is now out of theatre, back on the ward, stable again and better than he was 4 hours ago... I can breathe again.


We've been told Dad will be in intensive care for weeks/months. It's going to be a very long slow recovery, and we will have ups and downs like this. He has all the top people looking after him, not just in that hospital, but consultants in other parts of the country too, we just have to hope for the best.
I'm trying my hardest not to think about the alternative outcome.

Mum has been staying at the hospital most of the time, we have been at her house and fielding phone calls. We have only told a few people he's in hospital, but if all the people who are phoning asking after him and wishing him well are anything to go by then he has to get better. Most people didn't know he had a heart problem never mind needed an operation so it's been a total shock.



I'm a big believer in Kama. Not that Dad deserves any of this, he's such a kind generous, soft hearted man... so all the people phoning keep reminding us of... but we need all the help we can get right now, so I've decided to join in with some others and Pay It Forwards.

The first 3 people who comment on here will get a handmade gift from me at some point in the next 365 days. A year to make 3 things seems just about achievable right now.
All I ask in return is you do something nice for someone else. Many people doing Pay It Forward ask that you post this same offer on your own blog, but I know some non-bloggy, non-crafty people read this, so I'll allow you to Pay It Forward in your own way.

My other request is that you keep your fingers, toes, eyes, and every other body part possible crossed for my Dad.

Not surprisingly the blogging every day failed as a result of this past week.

Dad is checked in at hospital, probably doped up to the eyeballs by now fast asleep. Apparently he asked them to keep him like that until the worst is over and he'll be feeling okay again.

Bryher and I are going over tomorrow for a few days to keep my Mum company. I've spent today trying to catch up with washing so Bryher has some clothes to wear. I'm thinking for 3 days away we'll be okay with 6 outfits. We can always wash there.

I've also been packing crafty pursuits to keep me occupied. Mum and Dad finally got broadband a fortnight ago after months of me pestering them, but playing on the internet all day would be a bit rude. I've started crocheting a scarf. At the rate I'm going I'll have finished it by tomorrow evening so I'll have to have a rummage in the morning for something else I can make once the scarf is finished.

I know a few people are reading... even though they aren't commenting, so I'll make sure to update tomorrow so you know how Dad has got on.
I don't do prayers, but if you could keep your fingers crossed it all goes smoothly I'd be grateful. Thanks.

We had a great night at a friends house in Ormskirk yesterday. I miss our friends in Ormskirk so much, but it's nice that even with Bryher around now we can go to people's houses, put her in a room at 7pm and not have to worry about her until about 11pm.
It's also great catching up with friends... and I had risotto... and for the first time ever I enjoyed eating rice!

Writing how good Bryher is has jinxed it though as for the first time in weeks she's woken before 11pm. Curse her teeth. Pass the Calpol.

Well that puts a stop to todays post anyway.

Night night.

Going away for the day. Won't be back till late.

Must... still... post...

Teeth.
Aren't they fun... or not.
Bryher cried for half an hour this morning. She's normally so happy in the morning so I knew something was wrong. I tried all the usual remedies but nothing was working. Then she grabbed my hand and put it in her mouth. Rather than suckling like she normally would she started chomping down on my fingers... Ahh teeth!
A dose of calpol and 15 minutes later she's happy again.

So the fun starts. She's been showing signs fo teething for a while, red cheeks, chewing on anything. the last couple of days I've noticed she's constantly had a toy or her fingers in her mouth, but this morning were the first signs of being in pain. Hopefully it'll pass quickly.

Later we went for a walk to buy some bonjela. It's bitter cold out and the fresh air knockd her out so she slept for an hour after we got home. She woke up in a very good mood so to kkeep her happy I put her in the carry pouch. We spent the afternoon dancing round the kitchen and making cookies.

She's getting an early education in baking and music. I have to get her liking my (eclectic) music taste before her Dad gets her all to himself and she learns to like his music choices. He says my music taste is dreadful... he may have a point, but I like it anyway. So far Bryher seems to like Nina Simone and Louis Armstrong, they have lots of songs about "baby" which have to be sung to her, resulting in lots of grins and wiggles. Teenage Fanclub is quite popular too. In fact I've come to the conclusion that many musicians are very broody as so many of them write songs about babies.

If you're reading this, Well Done! Somehow I managed to let the manickitty address expire... I thought I'd updated the payment details but it obviously didn't work.

I found out last night so was going to sort it out today but The Lurg has hit the household again and Porl and I feel rotten. So far Bryher seems okay.

Porl started feeling ill yesterday and felt worse today. I didn't start feeling rough until later this afternoon. Porl normally does all the cooking, but as he was ill I decided to make some comfort food to cheer him up.
Shepherds Pie... or Cottage Pie... I'm never sure what the difference is.
Either way it tastes lovely.
One of the few good things about having a meat eater and a vegetarian in the house is that we end up with HUGE amounts when we make meals like this. It means for the next 2-3 days we don't have to think about what to eat.

I've just nipped out to the shops and I noticed there are 2 (two) houses on our street which have their full Christmas decorations up!

Two!

It's the 14th of November!
5 weeks and 6 days till Christmas! (I only know that because Dads birthday is 6 weeks before Christmas.)
If they keep the lights up until 12th night (which I'm sure they will and far beyond) they'll have had them up for 2 months!
One sixth of a year!

They haven't even turned the Christmas lights on in town yet!

Sorry far too many exclamation marks, but I'm both shocked and horrified.

The worst bit is that neither of these houses is the one which goes berserk with their decorations. No doubt they'll realise they have competition and put them up this weekend.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love this photo. I must have been less than a month old. I'm judging that on the fact my brother is wearing shorts.

Unfortunately Dad spent this afternoon in hospital having a few last tests ready for next week. Hardly the best birthday ever.

This time last year I'd just got back from spending the weekend at my parents and Porl was excitedly phoning round all our friends letting them know I was pregnant. I'd done the test earlier that day. No waiting till the 2nd trimester for us.

Yesterday I was going to write about how colourful my garden is looking for mid-November. I even took pictures, there were so many things in bloom. Not only my passion flower and nasturtiums, but also poppies, geraniums and several other things I don't know the names of.

But then I decided to make my life a little easier and save that post for today.

At 6:30am this morning Bryher decided she was bored of being asleep. I'm not a morning person so if it's before 7am I try to persuade her with a few cuddles and a little rocking that bed is the best place. But this morning she was having none of it.
We came downstairs to a very cold house and a frosty looking world.

All the flowers in the garden are looking decidedly limp now.


I freely admit that I cheated. I couldn't get a photo of both the pretty sky and the frosty hills so I took 2 and merged them.

The verdict is (almost) in on the type trays. The seller got back to me and he's had them stored away wrapped in plastic for a very long time. So any woodworm is likely to be long gone. I gave them a good bash this afternoon to see if any sawdust fell off them and there was nothing and it's put my mind at rest.

I'm not being hasty and bringing them in yet though. I've got far too much lovely wooden furniture to risk it. I'm going to give them a good clean down... they need it. I might even see what effect Mums steam cleaner has on them. Then I'll wrap them in plastic and put them back in the greenhouse for another couple of weeks (the greenhouse is the only dry, non-wood storage place we have.) If when I unwrap them there's still no sawdust then I'll give them house room.

I really hope they pass the tests.

Porl's had a bread making session again today. He made white breadcakes, some with sesame seeds some without, and a plaited loaf... he did the loaf, I did the plaiting.

I've told him he has to learn how to do plaits himself now he has a little girl. Especially as in a few years time he'll be having to get her ready for school while I'm still at work and she'll want plaits.
He said he'll shave her hair off instead :-/

Last week I ordered some printers type trays from ebay. I've wanted one for a while to use as a display cabinet but I'd never thought to look on ebay for one.

In the end I bought 2, and they arrived today. I opened them straight away before thinking to grab my camera. Then I parcelled them up again almost as quickly and put them out in the greenhouse. There are distinct signs of woodwork. Holes and wood coloured dust. I've emailed the seller asking if they've been treated but I suspect it's live woodworm. I'm hoping tomorrow is fine so I can give them a clean down (they're scruffy but I knew that before I bought them) then work out whether they're worth treating.

If anyone knows anything about treating woodworm I'd be grateful for some advice.

Just a quick catch up photo post because the girl is stirring which means it's time for me to go to bed.

We had a bad night last night and I've been shattered today. But inbetween bouts of napping and cuddling I've managed to do some baking. Chocolate shortbread biscuits and chocolate brownies. I had made a lot more biscuits, but Porl is a big fan of shortbread. I'm a big fan of brownies, but it's a bit too sickly sweet to eat more than a few.

I ended up doing most of the baking with Bryher in her pouch on my front. She's still not well and it's making her miserable. Being in the pouch while I dance around to music is about the only way to keep her quiet. She seems to like Nina Simone and Louis Armstrong.

Also here's the finished ipod sock I mentioned. It's a bit baggy, nothing to do with the pattern, just my knitting skills. I might try making another to my own pattern.

The problem with blogging everyday is it makes me realise how boring my life is. I'm enjoying my life. Being at home all day with Porl and Bryher is great fun. But it doesn't make for the most riveting posts. Especially when they're both ill. No pictures either, it's looked very Wuthering Heights outside today. Certainly not photo taking weather.

Today has been spent mostly cuddling a little girl who's very wheezy and pretty miserable. She's slept a lot, mostly in my arms.

During the few moments when I've had both hands free I've been working on making an advent calendar using Jenny's pattern. I've been hunting round for a decent advent calendar. We don't normally have one as I hate the idea of the standard chocolate ones. The chocolate tastes horrible for a start, plus the pictures are rubbish, and they're just generally tacky. But now that Bryher is here I think I should get one. She won't remember it but it might take me a few years to get Porl into the spirit of Christmas.

Not that he's a Scrooge. He just hates the commercialisation and tackiness of Christmas. So do I, I just haven't convinced him yet that decorations, Christmas Carols and all the rest of the razzmatazz can be tasteful and fun.

Anyway, back to the advent calendar. When I was younger we had a great one with a few lines of a poem behind each door. I loved it so much that Mum saved it and ironed all the doors shut so I got to use it for a few years in a row... or was she just being thrifty?

Jenny's advent calendar is great as it's far prettier than the square fabric advent calendars you get in the shops, and I can put whatever I like in the envelopes.
Maybe the prospect of Ferrero Roches each morning will get Porl in the Christmas spirit.

We decided to try Bryher in the cot tonight instead of her carrycot. We've been meaning to do it for a while, the carrycot is fine in length, but getting a bit too narrow.

She seems to appreciate the extra space.
Sorry for the terrible picture quality but I didn't want to wake her by turning on the lights.

Today has been a day of sitting around lazing. Bryher's cold has developed, we went to the doctors this morning and she has a slight chest infection. She was still smiley and chatting this morning but then spent most of the afternoon either sleeping on me or crying.

In other news, my Dad has been given a date today for his heart operation. Next Tuesday is his birthday, but he has to go into the hospital for pre-op tests. What a great birthday present! As long as everything is okay he will have the operation on the 19th.

My parents have been coming up to visit us every week but I've told them they shouldn't see us until we're 100% better. It's not worth the risk.

Today seems to have flown by. I did spend a lot of it making stew & dumplings (1 vege, 1 meat version). I'm almost recovered from the flu thing but Porl has caught it now so he was let off cooking duty and I made us comfort food. I suspect Bryher has it too, she's snuffly, coughing a lot and isn't quite as cheery as normal. SH'es still cheery though. Being cheery isn't good though as she makes a strange croaking frog sound when she's excited. This can make her cough at the best of times so it's even worse with a sore throat.

When not tending to the sick... actually I'm not very good at tending to the sick, but I am good at giving out cuddles... and I finished my ipod sock. Unfortunately it's too dark to take photos. That could be an advantage though as the big gaps where the needle joins were might not be so noticeable. I'll take pictures tomorrow when it's light.

I felt a little less ill today so I've been rejigging the bookshelves. My Mum had told me to wait until she was up and she could help me but in hindsight it's better that I've done it alone.

When I was growing up I had the biggest bedroom in the house. With 5 built in cupboards. Every summer holiday Mum would make me spend a day tidying out the cupboards. I'm sure Mum dreaded it. I know I did. But it had to be done. I hate throwing things away. It's like throwing away memories. I think the thing Mum hated most was that I had to read everything. Even as I got older and should have been capable of tidying the cupboards myself Mum still had to supervise. If she didn't I'd get engrossed in something (a maths exercise book from when I was 7 for example) and the task would take me a week rather than a day.

Now I'm a grown up, with a house of my own I'm a little better. I still won't throw anything away (I have a file of notes left by my friends on my door at uni, as well as hundred of pages of song lyrics written my Porl and our drunken friends... certainly not by me.) Not throwing things away does mean I don't have to get distracted by reading them as I know they'll be there for me to look through another time.

However the bookshelves are still not organised. I tried not to read too much, my main distraction this time was a little girl who wanted to be played with. Once she was in bed I should have got finished quickly... but I found Please Mrs Butler and spent a happy hour reading it again. I used to know "The Headmaster's Hymn" (sung to the tune of When a Knight Won His Spurs) off by heart. I suspect it will be going around my head for the next few days until I've learnt it again.

I'd love to be able to post about all the exciting things I've done all day, but I can't as I've spent almost all day in bed trying to fight off this cold. I'd call it flu, except I had flu a few years ago. It floored me for weeks.
This is bad, I ache, my temperature is going haywire, and breathing is causing problems. But I'm still capable of rational thought, I'm able to get out of bed with less that 30 minutes notice and I'm not thinking of calling an ambulance. So it's not flu.

I'm also still posting. If I can post today they may be hope that I will see the month out. I haven't done any crafting yet, but when I've done here I'll do a row of knitting... maybe 2, then go to bed.
I'm knitting a sock for my ipod using this pattern. I've got about another inch to go before I can cast off. I've never knitted a sock of any type before so while the casting off sounds easy on paper it may all go horribly wrong when I get down to the knitty gritty.

I'm ill.
But I'm still posting.

I started with the beginnings of a cold yesterday and during the night it developed. It didn't help that when Bryher woke for a feed at 5am she decided she didn't want to sleep in her carrycot anymore and laid there jabbering to herself loudly. She does this occasionally and I usually just get her in bed with me where she falls asleep without any problem, but I didn't want her getting too close to my germs so I persevered with getting her in the carrycot. She wasn't having any of it though. At one point I got her to sleep in my bed, but she woke up again when I tried to put her back in the carrycot so eventually I gave up and she stayed in bed with me.
I'm hoping I recover from my cold before she starts with hers.
We woke up at 9am, at 10am Porl sent me back to bed for a few more hours sleep. Except for feeds (obviously) Porl has been on full time baby duty today. I've laid around convalescing and trying to keep my germs to myself.

I have still managed to do some crafts. I only made 2 cards, but it's something. Here are all the cards I'd made before today.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have some energy, so I can rearrange the living room. We need more space for Bryhers playmat etc, and we'll certainly need more space when she becomes mobile, which at the rate she's going will be sooner rather than later, she's already an ace at wiggling off her playmat. I've pushed the settee up against the wall of books rather than it being in the centre of the room and I want to swap a couple of other things around too. The big job though will be to re-arrange the bookshelves so that one is level with the back of the settee. It'll look neater and can be used as a table, but I also want to put all the childrens' books one there too. There's about 800 books on those shelves so re-arranging them will be a bit of an epic task.

Then next week when I'm feeling up to it I'll take a trip to Ikea and buy a huge rug. We went yesterday with my parents but silly me didn't have the measurements. I should just measure everything in the house so I don't have to do these things twice.

During most of my pregnancy I seemed to lose my crafting mojo. My brain was on other things and creativity took a back seat. As my pregnancy went on I started doing cross-stitch again, it required little thought so I could manage that, then when we finished re-jigging bedroomed round and I got a dedicated craft area I spent a few happy evenings doing some sewing and making Thankyou cards (I was anticipating needing some, it turned out I needed a lot more than I made.)
But then Bryher arrived so now my days revolve around her, and as she's sleeping in our room my crafting area has a carrycot in front of it.

Last week I went to my parents and my Mum asked me to help her design some Christmas cards. She'd saved the cards she received last year and rather than give them to charity she was trying to recycle them herself. Bryher was asleep so I spent an hour cutting and sticking, we got a bit of a production line going and made 10 cards. Mum laughed and commented that I'd come for a visit and she'd got me working, but I realised how much I missed crafting... even though I'm not the biggest fan of card making.

Mum decided my cards were far better than her attempts so she gave me all the old Christmas cards to bring home and carry on with. Yesterday I managed to get organised and grabbed a few essential supplies from my crafty stash before I put Bryher to bed so the past couple of nights I've managed to make some more cards. A couple more nights like this and I'll have made all the cards I need to send out. I only send about 30, Mum sends over 100! I'll make some for her, but she'll still have to buy some.

Making these cards has really got my brain rattling with crafty ideas again now. So instead of spending my evenings playing on the PC I'm determined to do more crafting.

NaNoWriMo started a trend and November now seems to be the month to take up new daily challenges. Porl is doing NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month). So I've decided to do Art Every Day (which I've heard mentioned but can't find a link for), and also because I want to get back into the swing of blogging again I'm going to try to do NaBloPoMo. I've probably jinxed posting everyday already simply by mentioning it, and to be honest if I fail I won't be too bothered, but I am determined to do some art... or craft everyday.

Wish me luck :-/

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by. Bryher is 15 weeks old tomorrow. She's settled herself into quite a nice routine. We rarely have problems getting her to sleep for 7pm, we wake her at 11pm for a feed then she'll sleep till at least 4:30 am, but more often than not she'll sleep till 6am or even later. She usually wakes again at about 7:30 and chatters away to herself, if I'm awake we'll get up, if I'm still tired I get her in bed with me and can sometimes persuade her to go back to sleep for another hour until I feel vaguely human.

Vaguely human Mummy gets to take little girls on adventures. Sleepy Mummy tends to stay home.

In the past 4 weeks Bryher has got very chatty (especially at 7am) she's learnt to blow raspberries and tells us fantastic stories. She can gurgle whole sentences. She does a fantastic croaking frog impression which we try to copy but it makes us cough. Worryingly in the last couple of days she has also developed a cry that makes her sound like the Crazy Frog :-/

A few weeks ago we got very very lucky. A very generous friend of my parents gave us the use of her time share in Scotland. It was a very plush 5 star lodge on the banks of Loch Lomond. We had a sauna and spa bath in the actual lodge, and access to a gym and pool within the grounds, there was also a golf course, several restaurants and marina but we didn't take advantage of them. Previous guests included Sean Connery, Cher and Michael Jackson!
We had a very relaxing couple of days getting lots of fresh air and exercise, and evenings playing scrabble
We also learnt a valuable lesson. Next time someone offers us a week in luxury 5 star accommodation for nothing, take the week... not just a few days!

This was the view off our balcony. Getting woken at 6:30 by a hungry girl while on holiday does sometimes have advantages. You get to see the sunrise.

Bryher also had her first paddle in a Loch.
Shortly after this we were chased off the beach by a swan who wasn't happy that I'd fed the ducks and not him.

Now it's bedtime, but I couldn't do a post without any Bryher pics, so here's a photo Shelley took when we went down to her studio a couple of weeks ago. She took loads, but this is my favourite.

Anyone in Tameside or Stockport looking for a photographer then get in touch with Shelley at http://www.northernskyphotography.co.uk/

As it was Hallowe'en yesterday we dressed her up in the Cheeky Little Pumpkin outfit which my Dad bought her. I drew the line at the actual pumpkin outfit he wanted to buy her. She'll still be able to wear this in a few weeks time without looking totally daft... I love the trousers so suspect she might get a lot of wear out of them...

This photo is a rare one... maybe even a first... as she's smiling. Cameras seems to be a cause for great concern. She spends most of her day jabbering and grinning, but the minute anyone gets a camera out she goes quiet and serious. Hopefully this marks a breakthrough and there may be more smiley pictures to follow.