Thank goodness it’s Friday! Not since before I went on maternity leave have I relished the marking of the end of a week with such enthusiasm. For this week has been a shocker and I can’t wait to reach the 7 day mark in the hope that things will perk up next week!
Why? Well those of you who have experienced and survived your baby giving in to their first proper bug will understand exactly what I’m talking about. Our little one has flown through the winter with barely a snuffle (we won’t talk about the reflux – it still brings back too painful memories) and we have been merrily congratulating ourselves on her resilience to the common cold and all the other lurgies that threaten to lay low an autumn born baby in their first six months. What a mistake….this week Little One made up for lost time and got the whole lot in one go. With a sudden rocketing temperature, listlessness, irritability, clingy, crying all night, sleeping all day, refusing food and milk we whisked her off to the doctor who looked vaguely disappointed at actually needing to diagnose something different to colic for once. It turns out she has an ear infection, an upper respiratory infection, an all round bad cold and cough, diarrhoea (the really explosive’ 5 seconds to get her off the cream carpet’ kind) and now conjunctivitis too just for good measure. Oh and throw into that the fact that with her eating and sleeping routines completely shot she has reverted to her baby all night raves that we grew to dread so much in those very first weeks! Never has swigging from her Calpol bottle seemed more tempting….! Did I mention she also seems to be teething again?!
And then there was the incident of the pooing pigeon. Attempting to become a domestic goddess given my homebound status this week, I vowed to empty the laundry basket once and for all including that mattress protector which has been lurking there for months – too big and too much of a faff to clean and dry to invite earlier attention. So into the machine in finally went, on the correct cycle and only requiring a couple of shoves to get the machine door shut. It was then put out to dry in the garden as it can’t be tumble dried. I nipped in and out several times during the day to check on its drying progress and felt a very domestic kind of satisfaction in its gleaming white cleanness. When I went to finally bring it in eight hours later, all sun dried and sweet smelling I saw to my horror that some pooing pigeon had committed an avian atrocity – my lovely clean sheet had been bombed by a bird! After careful dabbing and some stain remover I admitted defeat and once more hauled it back into the machine for a rewash. I have put it back out in the garden to dry this morning and as I type I am watching the rain bucket down outside the window. Sometimes it’s like the world is trying to tell you something. In this case, it’s ‘what’s the point in washing a mattress protector anyway’?!
So this week has been a very quiet one of the walking front and indeed the social front as I have become a recluse and tried to nurse her better and try and keep myself and her Dad vaguely awake and sane. I suppose I have done some planning for future walks and time to upload some of the backlog but all in all, the highlight of the last few days has been pretending to shoot down any passing pooing pigeons…it’s been one of those weeks!
