Saturday, January 23, 2010
Communion, more sleep
(backposting) I got up in time for the 0800 Communion service - well deaconed by Sally - and breakfast. And then went back to bed - with permission from the organiser - and missed just the one session. One about power without authority: negotiated power, in fact, which is something I know all about. Some other good sessions. I also received a message from a colleague saying that our CTO, with whom I spent some time on Thursday, had given me a mention in his session in the quarterly meeting. Quite chuffed by this.Should probably have gone to bed before 0130, but at least I didn't drink too much of the neat gin (there was no bitter lemon, and you _know_ I have a bad reaction to tonic...).
Monday, December 07, 2009
Sleeping in
(backposting) Not me, of course. Moo and Jojo. And only because Jo was up in the middle of the night. So, till 0730. Again, not me. But it meant that I was a little late into London for work. We had a good day in the office, though, and it was good to get out for a drink afterwards, too.Labels: sleep
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Christingle
Moo says that my eating of hot buttered toast for lunch was a sign that I might be hung-over. I have no comment.Unluckily, there was a clash between the Halstead Christingle and the Great Yeldham one, to which Jojo, quite fairly, wanted to go to be with her schoolfriends, so I wasn't able to be with the girls. The Halstead one went well, though.
. We currently have a problem getting Jo to sleep. Miri's being a little star, but Jojo just won't go to sleep properly. She's coughing, which isn't helping, but even once she's over that, she's being a right pain. Grrr.
Labels: sleep
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sleep, iPhone, cold, work
Yesterday's entry finished with a question: would the girls sleep in? The answer, of course, was a resounding "no". They woke up around 0530, though they stayed in their room till the statutory 0615.So everyone was very tired. I was presiding at the 1000, and Mum and Dad brought the girls over for it while Moo worked. A good service, and I do enjoy delivering a blessing to Jo and Miri. Afterwards we went to Dickens Restaurant for lunch, and then Mum and Dad headed back home while Jo got very sad. We took the girls for a walk (sold mainly as a chance to jump in puddles), but not before we'd had some time to play together as a family: messing on the playroom floor with Marble Run.
The girls went down much better today, and I did a bit of work. A bit of a relief, as I got something finished which I wasn't convinced I'd manage to fix even tomorrow morning. Oh, and the iPhone? Dad's got a new one, so I spent a fair amount of time on the phone to Orange, whose number reallocation system seemed to have failed for the weekend. Lee knows that he's not supposed to allow Dad up to see us with technology that he's not yet mastered.
Labels: family, girls, phone, sleep
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Late
(backposting) Worked till midnight. Then took 2 hours to get to sleep. Not perfect.Monday, October 19, 2009
Poor Miri
The little one's very, very tired today (not that Jo hasn't been, but she's been at school), and we've had lots of tears and clinginess. It's a sign of exactly how tired she really is that she went straight to sleep this evening after two separate naps during the day. I suspect she's got a little bug of some type, and hopefully she'll be better soon. But I'm going to take all the cuddles I can while she's like this!Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Gout improving
(backposting) Still not getting a huge amount of sleep, but at least the gout is improving.Friday, August 21, 2009
Migration
A big day today, as we needed to migrate to a production server. Despite some set-backs, we got it sorted, which means that I should be in the office for the first time on Monday. Despite having worked for Appian for four weeks now, I've not made it into the office, and wasn't even interviewed there, so it'll be weird. There should even be some other folks from Appian EMEA in, which would also be good, as I've only met 3 of the others so far.Moo's off to Kate & Mac's tomorrow, but I can't go, as I'm taking services on Sunday. But it'll give me time to get some rest, which I really need.
Oh, and I now have Windows working under Linux. What a huge relief. Needs some tweaking, but getting there.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sorting things out
(backposting) As well as all the usual holiday things, today was a day of sorting things out. Booking this, that and the other, mainly. At least I had some time to enjoy the holiday, too. The weird thing about holidays with young kids is that, in some ways, you're more tired than usual, as they're full of energy. The bonus about going away with other people (in this case in-laws) means that there are more hands available, and even if the girls are up at 0500 (which at least some of them are), you may be able to grab a chance of some more sleep later.Saturday, July 11, 2009
Fete
(backposting) There's something very English about a fete, and we went to the Clare one today. It rained a little, which is important for a fete, but only started raining properly just as we left, which was helpful, but kind of disappointing in a weird way. The girls had their faces painted, I had a pint of local bitter (Augustinian from Nethergate, since you asked), tasted another (also Nethergate - Essex Border, very nice, and I'll keep an eye out for it), courtesy of Cura (who seem to deserve a shout, we had fresh doughnuts, that sort of thing.I'm shattered at the moment - and often being moved out of our bed, sometimes there to be joined by Jojo, if she wakes up, too, and am usually woken up some time before 0600. I had a bit of a doze just before lunch, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Neither did going to bed around 2100 tonight. Oh, well.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Slowing down
Most important was a 2 hour sleep in the morning. Poor Moo had a long drive to Peterborough, but I made the most of the morning, and it really helped. I had a work call around redundancy issues in the afternoon which went as well as could have been expected, and when Moo came back, we put the girls to bed and then barbecued. Since then I've been getting up to date with the blog entries, wrapping up a day of catching up with post, email photo-posting and the rest.It still feels strange, and a bit different, but it feels right.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tomorrow's the day
(backposting) Decided not to go for any walks today, but to let the blister heal - I'll be in formal shoes for the big day, and don't want to be distracted. Also, it's an opportunity to do some quiet reading and catch up on some sleep. Chris, the retreat leader, has spoken brilliantly, and given us lots of food for thought, and it was good to see him in the pub tonight, where I had just the one pint and a J2O before heading back for an early night.Well, it would have been an early night if it weren't for the village party with rock & roll band, who kept going till around 0030. Oh well, at least I slept during the day.
It's very odd to know that tomorrow I'll be ordained priest. I'm ready, but it will be a big change, and I've been reflecting how the change also brings particular changes in responsibility in with regards to leadership. As a deacon, you're called to serve, first and foremost, but as a priest, you're also called to lead, and that's a big change. I'm not sure how that's going to be lived out in my life and ministry.
Labels: ordination, priest, sleep
Monday, March 02, 2009
Pleased to see...
(backposting) The girls to see us, and we to see the girls. They'd had a lovely time with Kate and Mac, and they (Kate and Mac) survived. Moo took them out to an indoor play centre in the afternoon, and I had a sleep (after a bad night last night). We left them after supper, and drove the girls home: they both woke up on our arrival, but it didn't take long for them to drift off again.Thursday, January 01, 2009
New Year
I was considering a long post about the fun we had at Si and D's last night, about how good profiteroles are for hangovers, about having a New Year's Day breakfast at Dicken's Restaurant in Halstead (full fry-up, etc.), about how Jo managed to stay up past midnight, all that.But it took us two hours to get Jo to sleep, and I just don't have the energy.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
New York
So, it looks like I may be going back to New York next month. And possibly twice. The customer thinks I might be helpful, and is willing to pay, so... Moo seems happy enough, so that's probably what I'll do.Jo was up a 0500 this morning, which is somewhat better, but far from perfect. I'm very tired at the moment, and think I need to accept that I'm still not very well, and that it's not just the remains of the cold. Glandular fever 14 years ago still seems to hit me very hard when I get properly ill, and slows my recovery, and I'm so tired so much of the time. St John's Wort and walks in the country-side help, but I need to look after myself.
Not that Moo's not tired as well, but she's being lovely and supportive
Labels: illness, sleep, travel, work
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Nativity play
Today was Jo's first nativity play, and she was the Angel Gabriel. None of the kids had anything to say: one of the teachers read out the story, and they sang along to / did actions to a bunch of Christmas songs and carols. But it was lovely, and she was so happy.She was, however, yawning through most of it, and so were we. This could have been something to do with the fact that we were (all, including Miri) up at 0210 this morning, and none of us got a whole bunch more sleep, though Moo, bless her, let me get back to sleep for an hour or so after we all got up. Jo was in with me, Miri with Moo. Miri would burst into tears every time Moo told her it was still night-time. Jo came up with the line "But Daddy, angels don't sleep..." (and wouldn't be convinced that little girls who were going to be playing angels not only do sleep, but also _need_ sleep).
So, they're both knackered, and so are we.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Water my couch with my tears
I got up this morning and sent Moo back to bed so that she could get some more sleep. I was due to deacon at the 0800 service, but texted James (who was presiding and had already told me not to worry if I didn't make it) to say that Moo wasn't well, and neither was I, so when Moo came down at 0730, I sent her back up to bed, where she went back to sleep.At around 0820, she was awoken by tears - mine. I'd just lost it, and had suddenly burst into tears downstairs with the girls. I wasn't angry at them, but it had just got too much: Jo had been badgering me a bit, but nothing major. Moo came down, I burst into tears again, texted James to tell people I wouldn't make the 1000 either, and went to bed, where I slept for 3 hours. I couldn't put my finger on any rational issue - the only thing was that I felt I'd been saying "no" to the girls for ages, but that's not rational at all.
Anyway, we went out for lunch, and I took the girls to an indoor play centre for some of the afternoon so that Moo could do some work, so I wasn't that bad. Tomorrow, I intend to sleep even more, as I'm due to fly to New York on Tuesday.
We've not had a break without children for 3 and a half years, and we've all been ill, and we're all tired. It's just one of those things, and I'm about to go to bed. Peace be with you.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sleeping the clock round
I was going to blog on something major today, but I'm going to hold off. We're planning to go to bed, and it's not something that I want to treat without giving it the time it deserves. In the meantime, Moo got back with the girls late this afternoon. It's lovely to have them back, and Miri seemed very keen to cuddle up with me on the sofa.I had a quiet day, and lunch with the clergy team, talking to a possible new curate. Did some shopping, spent some time on Facebook, did some reading, was disappointed in the England rugby team's score against Australia: that sort of thing. I'd slept pretty much round the clock, so I've felt pretty much OK all day.
Labels: blogging, curacy, girls, sleep
Monday, October 20, 2008
I'm tired
But coming to terms with it. I'll get there, and I've got a lovely wife (really: a lovely, lovely wife) and two fantastic children. I enjoy my job, I'm privileged and humbled by my ministry, and I'm healthy.I think I've got enough to thank God for, and little to complain about. That's fine.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
How tired can a little girl get?
The answer to this question is "very". Jo's back at pre-school, and doing 5 mornings a week (today was her fourth). She's not been for 7 weeks, Mel's away, my Mum's looking after the girls, and Moo's away, so it's all rather difficult for her. So she's so tired that pretty much as soon as she gets back from pre-school, she's beyond herself. That thin veneer of rationality just vanishes away like a puff of smoke when kids are tired or ill (and, of course, she had a set of vaccinations on Tuesday).Friday, August 29, 2008
Biking
Yesterday I bit the bullet, stepped up to the plate and mixed my metaphors. I decided it was time to start taking some exercise, and got my bike out. I don't think I've been on it for 8 or so years, since we moved to Great Yeldham. Went to visit Simon from Castle Hedingham, who wasn't in. But he was in today, and he helped me to pump up the tyres. I thought I'd done an OK job, but they were both at less than 1 bar (surely that's 1 bar over atmospheric...?), and should be more like 4 bar. It was a lot easier riding back.I decided not to ride too hard either today or yesterday. I made that mistake in my mid-twenties when I thought I'd try rugby again. I still _have_ the muscles, so I _could_, but it would really hurt. So I didn't.
Yesterday Charles, Victoria's son (hi!) came round to try to build a new machine. It didn't work. Catherine laughed. A lot. She's mean.
Oh, and the girls are sleeping really well at the moment. Pretty I'm not. (NOTE: this is a typo. I'm meant "Pity I'm not". Whoops).
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
More sleep
0720 from Jo. Wow.Went into Cambridge, bought some books for work, returned some to the UL, handed in my final essay, attended a security seminar in the Computer lab, and ran into (the lovely) Scarlet, who'd not seen for around 10 years. They've moved back to Cambridge, and we intend to meet up for a barbecue, and to let the kids get together.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sleep
(backposting) Jo suddenly seems to have got the whole thing. She's averaging 0700. That's about an hour's improvement. And Miri's not doing to badly, apart from her cough. Long may this continue.Labels: sleep
Monday, April 28, 2008
Clip
(backposting) Which is what I did to a kerb in Castle Hedingham, which was a pain. I called out the RAC, as my jack wasn't up to the job, but a friendly person stopped who happened to have a proper compressor jack, and he helped me. I changed the tyre to the spare, then headed to Kwikfit in Sudbury, who did me a new one. And another to match it. In fact, they were getting a bit worn, so probably a good thing, but it never happens when you want it to, does it?In the evening, I had my last tutorial with Alan, over a meal to which I treated him. I'm really going to miss our discussions, and I think he will, too. I've invited him and his wife to my ordination. Hopefully he'll wear his Salvation Army uniform, but I don't want to pressurise him into it if he's not comfortable.
Went to the doctor's for a nurse to check out my blood pressure. Quite good for me, so we don't need to up the dose of head-exploding pills. Seems that the reason I'm feeling so tired is that I'm just so tired...
And Miri's walking again. Properly, no help.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Catching up
Not just on sleep (though I did have a sneaky sleep: I was very tired, and only got home around 2330 last night), but also on a variety of work things. Yesterday's fun, another project I'm involved in, a contract we're hoping to sign, and a possible trip to Singapore which I'm probably going to have to arrange. I'm _really_ hoping that I can get a business class flight this time. Last time, I was very ill _lots_ of times, and in economy. Not much fun.Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Sick
Not me. Jo. She started around 2230 last night, and carried on till around 0330 this morning, according to Moo. I helped until around 2330, when I thought things had calmed down, and Miri joined me around 0350, and took an hour or so to settle. So, all-in-all, not a great day.I took Moo out for lunch in Clare, and she accompanied Jo to pre-school for the first time, which Jo was so excited about. We'd been in two minds about letting her (Jo) go, as she'd been ill last night, but she was eating by the morning, and slept for an hour, so we risked it.
Got Moo's phone (a Nokia 6500) receiving and sending emails from her work today, with some help from them. I'm hopeful that this will reduce the time she needs to be spending doing stuff in the evenings, when she should really be relaxing.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Too early
We'd just started getting used to getting a little more sleep, and for a while you just feel worse. And then, this morning, Miri was up a 0440, and Jo at 0520. This didn't help.Finished drafts for the Korean articles.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Off to Geneva
Now, if only I'd thought to warn James and Alex a day or so ago, we might have been able to meet up for supper tonight. Oh, well.Up at 0350. Put Jo back to bed (Miri was already in with us, so no room there, and Mum was in the spare room). She finally got to sleep a little after 0500. Back awake at 0600. Luckily, I managed to get some more kip after that, but it was far from optimal, tbh.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Man flu, day 1
Temperature, feeling horrid. Church or bed? Moo sent me to bed.Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A bad night - and some shocking news
(backposting) Very little sleep, and a fairly quiet day, including doing some more work on the largeish document I was working on last week. Rather pleased to get that off.In the evening, I had a seminar in Stowmarket, and it was before the seminar started that I heard the shocking news. Not about the 25 million people's details (that's over a third of the population) having been "mislaid" by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, though that's pretty shocking - our details will be on the list. Worse than that, by quite an order of magnitude: I discovered that I have a 3,000 word essay due in on Monday, for the "Gospel and Western Culture" module that we spent lots of time on at summer school. I had no idea, and have done absolutely no preparation.
We had quite an interesting seminar on hermeneutics in the modern (and postmodern era), and on the way home, I rang Sally, who kindly looked up the essay titles so that I could think about them as I drove home. When I got home, I started things off, and managed to get 700 words, and a fair plan done before heading off to bed at 1245.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Cold
(backposting) Really, really cold all of a sudden. We went for a lovely walk with the girls and the dog, though: we've just got a new back-pack which Moo can use, which means that we can carry both girls if we need to.In the evening, we went to Victoria's 40th birthday party. I'm not that far off 40 myself, I guess: scary! We had a lovely time, and I spent a fair amount of time talking to someone whose father was head of one of the huts at Bletchley Park: fascinating. They had a spit roasted lamb, which was just so lovely.
Last night, we slept through!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Going home
In an hour and a half's time, or so, I'll be getting on a plane to go home. I've accrued enough air miles that I'm able to upgrade to "Executive First", so I'll get a good seat and a chance to sleep, which is good. I'm ready for home, I really am.I've bought lots of presents for the girls (including Moo): just one of those trips (and the Canadian dollar's very weak at the moment, which helps).
Did some coding today. It's been a while. Nice to have the chance: I'm working on a PoC (Proof of Concept) for an idea I had this week.
Enough. Home soon.
Labels: geekery, home, sleep, travel, work
Monday, November 05, 2007
Little sleep
Says it all. And then I've heard that one of the senior folks at work wants me to fly to Seville to give a presentation for him on Thursday. I'm looking at flights.Saturday, November 03, 2007
ERMC (more)
(backpostin) Good Bible study bits on the Psalms and graphic novels. Feeling worse. Two very difficult meetings. Slept badly.Saturday, October 27, 2007
Giggle Factory
We went to the Giggle Factory in Sudbury today with Jo. Had a great time, and met loads of Jo's friends from pre-school, and an old friend from swimming/ante-natal class. Then popped round to Mel's house (saw Dean, met Mel's mum), then Waitrose, then home. Walk with the dog - Jo walked all the way, and didn't complain at all. She's done really, really well today, and the fact that she slept all the way through last night was great. We've now put a night-light in her room on a timer, which should turn on at 0600. We can always move that on a bit...Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Productivity
(backposting) I wasn't sure how much work I was going to get done today, as things ended up being less prepared than I'd thought, but in the end, it went rather well. There are a whole set of skills and a lot of expertise from previous jobs that I've not had a chance to use much in my current job, and that changed today, which was very pleasing. I was basically acting as a security consultant to a variety of people within the organisation who wanted to have a broader picture of how what they are working on fits into the wider world and security context, and it was lots of fun trying to work with them on that. Tomorrow I'm giving a talk on auditing, which I see as connected, and 34 people have already signed up, which is a good number.Went out of dinner with a couple of colleagues, and had a very enjoyable Chinese.
Oh - slept for 9 hours last night, somewhat to Moo's chagrin.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Another day, another tooth
(backposting) Yup, Miri's got another one. Might explain the restless night (though not Jo's now-usual appearance in the early hours). Two down, lots to go.Went to Cambridge today, to buy a book on system hardening: Network Security Hacks, 2nd ed. by Andrew Lockhart. It's good, and is relevant because I'm going to be doing some work with colleagues in Canada on this.
Watched Heroes (yesterday's episode) which we'd recorded. It keeps being good, doesn't it? Just how many twists can _keep_ happening?
Labels: security, sleep, television
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
"My own bed..."
0610 this morning:- Jo (waking up next to me in the spare room bed): "I slept in my own bed all night!"
- Me: "No, you didn't!"
- Jo (plaintively): "Why?"
- Me: "Because you came into my bed in the middle of the night."
- Jo (with conviction): "I'll try to sleep in my own bed tonight."
- Me: "No, you didn't!"
My night?
- Last night, bedtime - Miri's unsettled, so Moo takes her into our room, I take the spare room.
- 2310 last night, Jo gets out of bed. I take her back to her room.
- 2340 last night, I go back to bed: Jo seems to have settled.
- 0015 Jo comes into the spare room.
- 0420 Moo comes in to say that Buster's barking. I go downstairs, then up to my side to do some Facebooking.
- 0450 after some time with Buster, he still won't settle. I let him outside. I watch some TV to give him some more time.
- 0510 I let Buster back in, and go back up to bed.
- 0610 Jo wakes up (I haven't got back to sleep).
Apparently Turtle, Jenny's eldest, won't watch Underground Ernie, which Jo loves. When Moo asked Jenny why, she answered, with a shrug, "Talking Underground trains?".
Labels: buster, facebook, family, Jo, miri, sleep
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sleep, again - and supervision
We're having to juggle sleep. Jo and Miri are both waking up at ridiculous times in the night, and Jo wants to come in and sleep with one of us. This isn't very good.Had a supervision with Helen today on a piece of work (6000 words) that I'm doing on music, liturgy and life. We agree that I've got enough thoughts down to be doing something useful, but it's time to focus (too many thoughts, in fact). She very meanly made me do an essay plan. Yeuch! Trying to think when I was last made to do that in real time. Anyway, I'm now in a good position to get things going, I think.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
IT support, sleep, driving, deal...
Not in that order. In fact, sleep's not really in there at all. Jo had nightmares, and had to come in with me. The problem was compounded by her waking a few times, still anxious, and then migrating across the bed several times and waking me up. I didn't get much sleep.I had to drive up to the East Midlands for a meeting today: interesting, though nothing there right now. On the way up, I rang Kate and Mac (my parents-in-law) because Moo said that they had problems connecting to the Internet. This isn't _always_ their fault, but a quick call suggested that it might be something outside their capability of fixing, and as my meeting finished around 1220, I had time to go there, fix their ADSL router (which had lost some settings), have lunch, and then head home.
At home, there was a letter from ERMC. Not a positive one, and rather depressing when I was so low on sleep. I'm late on some assignments, and although I thought things were under control, they seem to have escalated rather alarmingly, and quickly. In the end, I took Miri and Buster for a walk, and settled things down. I think we're OK, in the end, and I'm going to call them tomorrow.
Last, but not least, we finally got a contract through from a customer I've been working on with a colleague today. It's a biggish one in the long term, and I'm quite proud of how we've closed it.
Labels: ERMC, family, sleep, travel, work
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
And Jo pulls one out of the bag
I'm away (in Sweden) and Moo was dreading the evening. But Jo went to sleep in around 10 minutes. What a star.Our washing machine (which is rented) will be replaced on Saturday. I understand that it had eaten quite a lot of pieces of clothing, and that was what had caused at least part of the problem.
I started doing the reading for the ERMC summer school, and it's hard work, I have to say. Good stuff, but challenging. Hmmm.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Pre-school (and sleep revisited)
Today, along with arranging someone to come round (tomorrow) to fix the washing machine, sorting out kennels for Buster for a time we were unable to manage his normal ones and talking to Rural Retreats about a place we're staying with them, we arranged for us all to look round the local pre-school.We went around in the afternoon - me, Moo, Mel, Jo and Miri. Jo loved it. She didn't really want to go, so Mel stayed a little longer with her. She'll be starting in September, just one session a week. We liked it, and Mel - who has lots of experience - was impressed, too. The staff were friendly, but firm, the children were busy, but polite to each other and adults, and there was lots to do.
Later, I took Miriam and Buster out for a walk while Moo put Jo to bed. Moo wasn't down by the time I got back, and I took a conference call with Miriam on a sling on my front. She was a star, and it was a while before Moo gave up and came down. It took Jo another 15 minutes to go to sleep: just under an hour and a half. This is a _bad_ precedent. And I'm away tomorrow night: I hope it's better for Moo.
Labels: Jo, pre-school, sleep
Monday, June 11, 2007
Nightmare bedtime
(backposting) One and a half hours is a record. And one we're prefer not to be repeating. That's how long it took Jo to go to sleep after being put to bed. We'd made the mistake of changing her bedtime routine, to allow her to watch "In the Night Garden". Bath, then TV. Not sure if that was the problem, but we won't be doing it again.Oh - the washing machine's on the blink (not great if you have nappies to wash), and we apparently have a leak on our mains water line. Not quite we needed.
Labels: sleep
Saturday, June 02, 2007
0600
No, not our waking up time (I was awake around 0430, Jo at 0500, Moo and Miri at 0545), but when Jo came into the spare room with me, we spent an hour negotiating (mainly my telling her that it wasn't morning time yet) and half asleep for some of that. But we were having a cuddle at 0600, and Jo said to me "can I see your watch?" I showed it to her, and she said "look at the little hand: it's pointing at the number six. It's six o'clock". We've been working on this, but wow!So, lots of marks to her. After some time with Moo and Miri, they went downstairs, and I got another hour and a half's sleep, which really helped. Then Jo and Buster and I went for a nice long walk again, and Jo came back filthy (she'd got her boots stuck in some mud, and fallen down more than once). A quick bath, and then out to Hartest (where we nearly bought a house once) for a lovely meal, then shopping, then home to let the dog have some quality time.
After that, we headed off to Long Melford. On the way to Hartest (which we'd reached via a circuitous route aimed at keeping Jo asleep for as long as possible), we'd noticed that there was a fair on the Green. So, we thought we'd take Jo there.
I "won" a cuddly tigger, Jo refused to spend more than a minute in a bouncy air-filled thingy, and then to go on anything else, but had a lovely time. She just seemed to like wandering around the fair (four times?), and eating a hot dog, so all was well.
We got home later, had some ice cream and jelly, and then put Jo to bed. Another walk with Buster, and then Grease is the Word on TV.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Got a bit pissy
Yup - was a in a bad mood some of today. We went to the seaside, and it didn't go well, though I was really looking forward to it. Miriam needed feeding, then cried, Jo asked if we could go home, I hurt my finger trying to stop Buster running off to play with another dog, and then I stormed out of the pub we were planning to eat in because they were being unreasonable.So, don't feel very proud of myself, to be honest, but there you go. We also bought Jo's first bike today - with stabilisers and a helmet - and she's very excited about it.
We really, really need to sort out coordinated sleep patterns. This morning: dog, 0500. Jo, 0620. We're sleep deprived, and it's not doing anybody, or any relationships, any good at all.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Porky, Jen and Jake (and Turtle and Mouse)
(backposting) Jen, Moo's sister, came over with her tribe today. A veteran of crackedness and mastitis herself, and a great provider of moral support, I was so pleased that she could come, and Jo had a good time with her cousins.Who, then, is Porky? Porky is Jo's imaginary friend who turned up a few days before Miriam turned up. We see (well, that's the wrong word) quite a lot of him. he had a brother or sister at some point (Ollie), but no sign recently.
Oh, Jo was running a temperature last night, and ended up with me in the spare room. I actually ended up feeling guilty because I got more sleep than I would have done with Moo and Miriam.
Labels: family, friends, sleep
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Less sleep
(backposting) Jo's beginning to act up a bit, and it didn't help that we didn't sleep that well last night. Kate and Mac are doing sterling work keeping things ticking over - and more, lots more! - and we really appreciate their being here. When it's toss-up between wanting some space for ourselves, and not having to worry about stuff, the latter's winning hands down at the moment.Labels: sleep
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Long with with Jo and Buster
Went out with Jo on my back in the backpack and Buster. Lots of horses, which Buster sniffed and licked, making Jo very happy. Went to Freeport, bought some new shoes for Jo. Kids' shoes are scarily expensive, even reduced. Moo's beginning to acknowledge that she needs more sleep, which is good.Friday, March 23, 2007
Family
Moo needs lots of support at the moment. She's short on sleep, very focused on the baby, nesting madly, and finding it difficult to handle Jo. Jo, to be fair, is being a standard toddler, and pushing the boundaries a bit, but Moo's finding that very difficult at the moment. I'm going to try to absorb as much "Jo-time" as possible this weekend, to give Moo time to sleep and do the nesting-type things that she needs to do. This sounds very selfless, but I should point out that many of the nesting-type things that I referred to above involve tidying, so it's not all altruistic...Monday, March 19, 2007
Settling in
Buster's settling in. Mel met him at home today - she'd met him at the RSPCA shelter - and he's much bigger inside than you remember outside! He's sleeping better, and so are we, and I'm loving the walking and exercise with him. And I get to pray on the walks, which is something that I've been missing enormously - more so than I'd realised.Sunday, March 18, 2007
Preaching, sleep
Preached for Mothering Sunday, on the 10 commandments. Talked about how mums have to make rules, like God, and they also love us (like God). But rules aren't always bad. We did a clapping game, where I separated the church into 4 segments, each with a different rhythm, and we clapped them together, gradually going faster and faster until it collapsed into laughter and mayhem. Went down well.Buster stopped barking at around 0100 this morning. And Jo was in around 0520. Joyous, but we're getting there.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Today would have been better if...
I'd not slept on the floor in Buster's room all night in an attempt to stop him barking. Very loudly.Saturday, February 17, 2007
Yet again, sleep
Slept all morning. No, really - got up for breakfast, went back to bed, slept all morning. Feeling better in some ways, but it's scary stuff.Labels: sleep
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Recovery
I've got to get well soon. I'm not sleeping at all well, and having to sleep during the day for at least an hour during the day, and it's seriously, seriously deep. Coughing, still.It's been an up and down day. I was a bit miz this morning, having upset Moo last night. Jo's been really hard work, and neither of us has really been feeling great. I had a sleep after we got up, felt guilty about it, took Jo to Long Melford for church, which was OK, but generally involved less liturgy, and more child-minding, than I'd really like. Very welcoming, and a good service, but (as I've mentioned in blogs passim, I believe) this taking a child to church has really opened my eyes to how we can't make assumptions about the extent to which people enter into the liturgy. We went out for lunch at the Bottle Hall pub. Good food, good beer, Jo was a pain. We went back home, but the day ended very well as I took Jo swimming. She loves swimming, and it really cheered me up, too. A good evening, too, and I did the ironing. We're watching the end of the 2nd Green Wing series. It's just genius, and it's got Sally Phillips (of, among other things, the fantastic Smack the Pony, yes, she's gorgeous, though I don't usually go for blondes at all) in it, too.
Spoke to Ian, Rector of Long Melford about the possible ERMC placement, and, feeling brave, gave him not only my contact details, but also the URL of this blog. He'll get the former anyhow, but the latter has some risks attached to it, particularly given Friday's posting. But I decided that honesty's the way forward. Heigh-ho. Ian - if you're reading, hi...
Labels: ERMC, illness, Jo, Moo, sexuality, sleep, swimming
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Coughing so hard...
... that I threw up. Nice, huh? Coughed a lot overnight, and woke up at 0600 coughing more and more. Had breakfast OK, and was about to head back to the customer's, when I started coughing big time. Made it to the bathroom in the hotel, and, well, threw up part of breakfast.Rather than going into the customer, I drove home instead, and had a sleep for nearly an hour. Part sleep, part dreaming, part hallucination. You know the sort of thing. Felt better afterwards, and did a lot of work, but took it easy.
Jo's been coughing madly for about half an hour. She's kind of asleep, but I'm not sure it's going to last. I'm going to try to take her in with me tonight, in an attempt to allow Moo some sleep.
Labels: illness, sleep, travel
Friday, January 05, 2007
Back at ERMC
(backposting) Last day of holiday (not counting weekends), and I had a nice lazy day, sleeping in to 0915, which is pretty good, but less amazing when you realise that I didn't actually go to bed until around 0115 this morning, due in part to watching some of the excellent and funny The 51st State (also known, it appears as "Formula 51"), which I look forward to renting and watching in full in the future. Put the bins out, printed out my essays and the materials for the weekend, all that kind of stuff.Then off to London Colney for an ERMC weekend on "Judaism and Mission" and "Ageing". Not, you might gather, the most consistent of topics. Had a decent drive - despite some frankly disgusting weather - and arrived in plenty of time to make a rehearsal for some Taizé music that I was going to cantor. I ended up part-directing it too, and it went very well. I was even asked if I'd done any Taizé recordings, as I'd had one of the members of the course in tears (of joy: I checked). I was also surprised to discover that I apparently have the ability to glide. This will be surprising to anyone who knows me as a clumsy git [tm], but there is a particular style of walking with head "on top" (Alexander technique showing through there) and very balanced which allows for a certain amount of grace. When moving around in church, I think I adopt it subconsciously (it works very well in a cassock, thinking back to the days when I processed around a lot), and I'd done so while moving between positions this evening.
A session on ageing, and then to the bar. Sarah ended up trying to volunteer me to have a charity back wax. Then chest wax. Then leg wax. I'm not interested. Quote of the evening:
- "But what about all those poor children?"
- "If those poor children really want my leg hairs, I'll shave them myself, and they can stuff whatever duvets and pillows they want."
Labels: ERMC, films, quotes, singing, sleep
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Tired and grumpy and fed up
OK, I admit it: I'm all of the above, of have been at various times of the day. Let's look at some reasons:- for the last week or so, I've been waking up with a nasty sore throat
- we're both short of sleep
- I've only spent an entire night with Moo in bed twice (I think) over the past 3 weeks
- I had a real fight with Jo between 0300 and 0400 about whether she was going to sleep in her own bed (she won: she went in with Moo, and I went to sleep in the spare room again)
- I've got an essay to write for Friday
- money's looking like a really interesting issue for the next few months
- we've got a new baby on the way: of course it's disturbing
- there's lots of interesting stuff on at work, but it's keeping me very busy and may well have long-lasting impact on my career
- oh, and I'm trying to juggle ERMC work (forget the essay as well!).
My blog may not have looked like it over the past few days, but I'm beginning to think more theologically, if that makes sense. My personal seems more imbued with the spiritual (spiritual and theological are closely allied for me), which is probably how ti should be. I'm not sure how closely this marries with the course, but in some ways that probably doesn't matter, as long as I'm keeping things together and covering the course as prescribed.
A bit about Jo
Enough about me. Jo's great. One major change recently is the addition of the word "me" to the the vocabulary. Up until recently, she's referred to herself as "Jojo", but now it's quite often "me", as in "me do puzzle". She's also recently got the concept of being scared. Some things which she took in her stride until now are sometimes scary. She was scared of Father Christmas, and today, at the zoo, she was upset by some free-roaming sheep that were following us and making a lot of noise: "not like, a bit scared". She realises when things _might_ be scary (she's got a couple of books about scary bears, for instance), and sometimes she'll tell you that she's scared, or that you are. This tends to lead to a cuddle, which is definitely appropriate behaviour. She's also very interested in trying to understand emotions from facial expressions, though she often gets "sad" and "scared/frightened" mixed up, which is interesting. Getting an understanding of her emotions, and other people's, too, seems like a sensible thing to be doing, particularly if she knows how to deal with her fears.Labels: ERMC, Jo, sleep, spirituality, work, zoo
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
More family
Who'd have thought it was possible, huh? Rosie, Andy, Merryn, Tamar and a friend ("Yeessa" ?spelling) came for lunch. The rest of the afternoonseemed to be taken up with photos, holding of children, wees and poos (Jo), a hammock and people saying goodbye to each other.Oh, in the morning I forced Moo to go to the doctor's again, who gave her some more stuff to take, which should hopefully help somewhat.
Slept very badly last night - better tonight?
Oh, and visit my Mum's website! She makes Shaker chairs, and her website (creatively called Shaker Chairs) went up today. Visit it, be in awe. Oh, and link it, 'cos she's upset that it's not in Google yet. Well, of course...
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Sleep helps
Two nights of fairly decent sleep have really helped things along. Not perfect, but pretty good. Oh, and I got an hour and a half of sleep this afternoon. Moo and Jo went to bed at the same time, but didn't get to sleep, so thats's not such a good thing. Sally quoted my Ipswich post on my blog today. Wasn't sure how I felt about it, but it was pretty visceral, so I thought I'd leave it on.Jo's getting better - less coughing, though still temperature. Moo says that she's feeling better, but she sounds terrible. I'm OK so far, and I'm hoping that I'll stay OK: though not as much as Moo is, as she's concerned that I'll really go on about it, and revel in my maladies. Can't think why she'd feel that.
Labels: sleep
Friday, December 15, 2006
Get well soon
Jo's really not at all well: she's got a temperature that goes up as soon as the Nurofen wears off, a nasty cough, and keeps bursting into tears because it's all too much. She seems to have some teething pain, too, which really doesn't help matters. So yesterday she decided to make herself a get well soon card. She's made them before for other people, and the logic is inescapable.Poor Moo's on her knees, as Jo was up for a good percentage of each night I was away, and although I'm tired, it's just because my internal clock's screwed up, so I'll be first line of defense tonight. Going to bed now: it's 1942.
Labels: sleep, tears, temperature
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