Impressive

A friend of mine gave birth to a new little daughter last night, her third child. She was booked to have a Caesarean today (eleven days past her due date, nothing's been happening) because the doctors were worried that the baby was too big, but she was very keen to deliver naturally.

So I texted her this morning to wish her luck for the delivery today.

She responded to say she'd gotten her natural delivery....and the baby weighed....

......drum roll...

......5.3 kg (11 pounds, 11 oz in old scale).

Around two and a half times what Rosie weighed at birth.

Impressive work.

Now that I am starting to pick my jaw up off the floor, I might see if I can find out what they have named her so I can write the congratulations card.

Christmas Northern Ireland style

This is what the weather was like in Newry, Northern Ireland, yesterday. A little chilly, it would seem.

These photos were taken by Chris' uncle. Amazing. I'll bet they're looking forward to the hot roast Christmas dinner this year.

Christmas carol overload

And it's not even December yet.

Getting ready for our markets performance this Saturday. There will be no songs about Santa, even if audience members make requests. I think "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Deck the Halls" could be OK though. I also enjoy "Ding Dong Merrily on High" but playing the "Glo.....oo.....oo...oo...ria" bit is tricky. The rest are at least passable, I'm hoping that the bass and bongos will cover any minor errors.

I hope our next door neighbours are enjoying the entertainment. They usually give me positive feedback about my playing/practising Christmas carols in the lead up to Christmas. But this year they may be over it all by the time Christmas day actually arrives.

Monday Muppets

A classic....

Some days are just about survival really

Today I woke up feeling much better...except that I had developed an interesting post viral lower back ache. At least that's what I think it was. I couldn't remember moving awkwardly or anything, it just suddenly seemed to be quite painful when I tried to move around. Maybe I slept in the same position for too long or something.

This made for an interesting day as Chris was working and I was taking the kids to check out the markets where we are playing next weekend, followed by lugging a heavy bag of library books back to the library. All of that took place with Rosie being worn in the sling on my front. Somehow I survived and when I made it back home I called Chris at work (he is a physio) to see if he could bring a TENS machine home with him.

So all afternoon I lay on the couch reading library books (fortunately this activity was also keeping the kids occupied) and watching the cricket on TV, in agonising pain every time I tried to change positions, waiting in anticipation of the pain relief that was on its way.

Such enormous relief when I heard him pull into the driveway...only to discover he couldn't find any TENS machines at work. What kind of physio department has no TENS machines?? He gave it a little rub and told me the best thing to do was keep moving so it didn't stiffen up any further.

So I went grocery shopping (!). At least that could happen minus the three kids. And it wasn't too bad walking around the shops, even with the lifting and carrying I had to do. It's still painful, but I had help with unloading when I came home. And I can still manage to sit at the piano to play all the songs for tomorrow morning's service.

I'll be thankful that I survived and that it hasn't gotten any worse. And that now I do have the 24 hour physio available to fix it up. Usually when my back is painful he does a massage thing that hurts like crazy at the time, but then eases the pain heaps.

I don't like to grumble

But I do it a lot so maybe I really do?

Anyhow, I will try to keep this short. I really really don't like being sick and having a toddler to run around after. While I was dozing off on the bed before, she managed to shut herself into the toilet.

On the being grateful side of things, at least she hadn't managed to pull the toilet brush out of its holder and touch it, or to drop her blankie into the toilet bowl.

So it could have been worse.

I hope I feel better soon. Too much music practice still to be done. And the timing is bad. Chris has his work Christmas function tonight so he was planning to go straight from work to ten pin bowling and then dinner without coming home. And he is also working tomorrow.

Pray for patience here.

What to make for morning tea tomorrow...

....when you're not in the mood for cooking at all?

Tomorrow I am going to a morning tea with some ladies from our church. The "bring a plate" kind of event. Where you're expected to home bake something because that's what good Christian women/homemakers do.

But I just don't feel like cooking anything tonight. I halfheartedly got out some butter earlier this evening to soften up in the hope that I might become enthusiastic enough to make some gingerbread Christmas biscuits. But I really can't be bothered.

Maybe this mood will wear off by tomorrow but if not I am stuck.

I have a jumbo sized packet of Maltesers in the cupboard. Would it be acceptable to take those, I wonder? I guess I could also go out tomorrow morning and buy some fruit as a healthier option.