Thursday 24 June 2010

Does Mummy really know best?

I'm writing this in the hope that someone will tell me straight. Could this be a case of 'Mummy knows best' or am I just one of those people that doctors cower under the table when they see?! I really don't like to waste doctor's time, and will usually wait until the last possible minute or until things get really bad before asking for help. I even waited until my son's head was out before I called maternity and consequently had him on a toilet floor! 

Anyone who I tweet with will know that my 1 year old son has bad eczema, and he's been on all sorts of cocktails of lotions and potions to keep it under control. A few weeks ago though it got very badly infected and he had to go on antibiotics in addition to everything else, including a strong steroid which always clears it up really well but can only be used for 2 weeks at a time because it thins the skin.

So today I phoned the doctor and asked what I should do because he's been on the cream for a fortnight and since stopping it and going back to the original one the eczema's all flared up again, making him really uncomfortable. I have creams and know I can control it, but I don't want to just be controlling it if I can get to the cause and try and prevent it in the first place. I have been told by the doctor that there is no cause of eczema and the only option is to treat it. I have friends who have been told similar things, but some have been referred to dermatologists and allergy testing places, and all those who have been referred have found causes and consequently eliminated triggers resulting in happy babies.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Saturday 19 June 2010

Seven things that make me happy!

After writing my last post, loads of people were with me and it was great because it meant that 1. I didn't feel quite so grumpy after all, and 2. That people were actually reading my blog!

Then I started having conversations with people and managed to come up with about 10 other things that should've been on the list, which made me feel like a grump all over again! So @batteryrunmum suggested that perhaps I should create a post of things that made me happy. I thought this was a great idea, but then she said I wasn't allowed to include my family and children in the list, so I figured it might be slightly more difficult. Obviously they are my life and I love them more than anything, but I'm up for the challenge and hope it will release a few endorphines into my slightly hungover system this morning. In no particular order...

1. Singing. Until I met my husband in 2000 this was the biggest part of my life. I joined a choir when I was 10 and was taught how to sing classically through this. At uni, despite having part time jobs, I made most of my money by singing. I sang on TV, went on international tours and even had a recital broadcast on Radio 3. I was possibly in retrospect a bit too sensible though. I decided that this was a dream for millions, and I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want to risk losing that enjoyment by depending on it for a living, so I decided I'd like to try and pass on some of the opportunities I'd had and trained to be a teacher. I still love singing though and when the kids and hubby go out, I'll still belt out an opera aria to remind me of the good times I had. Goodness know what the neighbours must think!

2. The smell of the country. I grew up in a tiny hamlet, with no buses, and very few cars, no shops, just lots of cows and muddy tracks. I hated it as a teenager, as I had no independence and I couldn't even rebel and sneak out unless I fancied an evening with the local baa lambs, and I became vegetarian when I learned the whole concept of slaughter houses. But as a child I loved it. I had the kind of childhood you read about in the old classics where the children get up with the sun, play outside, splashing around, not a care in the world until the sun sets. Whenever I smell that smell it reminds me of my childhood.

3. My job. I say about this so many times so I'll keep it short. While I do have a slight 'what if' about giving up my singing, how can I not be happy when I get to go and work with the best people in the world. Those who don't claim to know everything and have an enthusiasm for life. Those who despite having an image and an attitude to keep up still have respect for other people and no problem asking for help. Those people who can inflate condoms and use them as water bombs just because it's fun... Okay, perhaps there is a good place to stop!

4. Food. We need it to survive. Okay, so I love a good treat, but I also love cooking and the fact that I'm fortunate enough to be able to do that. I love the whole food process - shopping, cooking and eating.

5. My friends. Where would I be without them? I'm very lucky that my old and new friends and I all enjoy making the effort to stay in contact. Our lives have moved in completely different directions but we still see each other and it makes me feel happy and privileged to know that a giggle or a shoulder to cry on is only ever a click/phonecall away.

6. Coffee. Very superficial sorry, but after a sleepless night or a hard day at work, Mr or Mrs Caffeine always has been and will be a close ally of mine!

7. Me. Is this totally bigheaded? I was bullied at school as I was a great target: ginger, glasses, braces, overweight, huge boobs, from the country etc. etc. So when I was growing up I spent the whole time wishing I was someone else. I would make up stories to make me seem more interesting 'Yes I have got a boyfriend honest!' I know I'm not supposed to mention my family but if it wasn't for meeting my husband I'd still possibly be like that. Now I am proud to be me and I don't care if people think my life is boring or that I settled down to early, I just feel quite smug with my lot and want to shout it from the rooftops! Who I am now makes me happy!

So there we are. My only ever un-family-related blog. I know I am very fortunate and have lots of things in my life that make me happy for which I am thankful, but everything I've written about here is a million trillion times better because I have an amazing family and 2 amazing children to share it all with!

Thursday 17 June 2010

Seven things that make me grumpy...

Although I've had my blogspot account since last year, I still consider myself to be a complete novice. I see some fab blogs by the wonderful people I've met through Twitter and find what they write quite inspiring. I read far less books now and instead I am a nosey person, plain and simple! I get excited reading about what people I've never even met are up to, those wedding preps, births, hip replacements even visits from repair men to fix that dishwasher or washing machine keep me tuned in and I can't stop reading until I know that they've been and said items are fixed!

The other day though I was reading a post by one of the ladies I tweet with: @YummyNo1 http://yummymummyno1.wordpress.com (Like I said, I'm a complete novice and I'm not sure if I'm breaking blogging etiquette by not putting in some kind of special link to her page, apologies if I am, but her post about things that make us grumpy struck a chord with me). I laughed, empathised and thought to myself I must do the same, but it wasn't until yesterday when lots of people did things that, well yes, made me grumpy that I felt it was the right time, so here we go:

1. People who are rude. Yes this is a very big category, but yesterday I was at my 3 year old's swimming lesson, watching at the side, trying to stop my 1 year old hurling himself in fully clothed as you do! This lady sat down next to me, very heavily pregnant, watching her daughter swimming. Perhaps I'm too sociable but I tried to strike up a pleasantry style conversation, how old was her daughter, when's the baby due etc. I got nothing but a sneer. Please tell me I'm not being totally weird for talking to a stranger? I know my mum always told me not to, maybe she was right!

2. Work. Ok, so anyone who's read my posts before will know that this isn't true. I love my job and would never want to do anything else, but this only applies as far as to the entrance to the staffroom door. Note entrance, not exit. The students are fab, I'm passionate about my subject and I love the fact that I get to have a lunch break and wear necklaces without them being eaten 3 days a week. However what gets me are the people who don't have this philosophy when it comes to their jobs, the ones who turn up for first lesson, leave with the kids at 3, and moan about everything and everyone at any given opportunity, including my work which is none of their business! This week I've been told off by a different teacher (my equal, not superior) twice. Once, because some students chose to come to my revision class rather than hers, and once because I was unable to write reports for a certain class because I had been on maternity leave and therefore not taught them. Apparently due to these occurrences, I am 'an embarrassment'!

3. People who won't merge in turn when 2 lanes go into one, and cut you up. Would you idiots really prefer to risk your own and other people's lives just because your car is newer and shinier than mine?

4. People who go on Twitter with the sole aim of having as many followers as they can. I just don't get this, but it's been quite magnified by the whole Duncan's Dream thing. I was a bit slow on the uptake to this and have to confess that I did go on it a few days later to see what it was all about, but I followed a few people that seemed to have similar interests etc. to me. What I didn't then do was wait for them to follow me back then unfollow them so my ratios made me look more popular. I love tweeting with the people I do, but if I annoy them then they should stop following me. I have never tweeted about how many followers I have or want!

5. Lying about your tan. I'm whiter than white, one of those people who only has to read the Sun to burn. Then I peel and I'm back to white again. However I've finally found a fake tan in the form of Fake Bake which looks relatively natural on me. I've had quite a few compliments from people when I wear it, but they look really shocked when I tell them it's fake rather than try to pass it off as natural. Why do people do this, you wouldn't try and make out you weren't wearing make up so why is this any different?

6. When the yoghurt pot lid doesn't come off in one go. This is perhaps not the biggest issue in the world, but when you're on a diet, every last morsel counts so yes, I am uncouth and lick the lid! Trouble is the Muller Light yoghurts have a foil lid and I keep cutting my tongue when it doesn't all come off in one go. Grrr!

7. Silly substitutions. I did my first online shop this week in an attempt to avoid the weekly tired, hungry tantrums I've been getting taking them shopping with me. It was fab apart from one substitution. I ordered some lemon scented washing up liquid which was unavailable, so what did they send me instead? Lemons! Hope they don't send me a set of dentures next week if my toothpaste is unavailable!