The UK experience

Once out the airport Lynese, Douglas, Owen & I jumped on the bus to long-term parking for our trip to Downham Market. Owen had on-board entertainment in the form of a +/- 3 or 4 year old Asian boy who sang "The wheels on the bus go round and round.......... all day long". The song felt like it went on all day long! Once at the car it was dark and packing it with all our bags & camp cot proved to be an engineering feat. We were all buckled in, it had started raining and Owen had just had his milk when he began to grunt and concentrate and produce a poo nappy. We had just gotten onto the motorway and had to exit at the first services sign. Owen was changed on the back seat at lightening speed and reseated for the 1.5 hour journey. Once home he was tucked up in his cot for a good nights sleep. Because he had such a short sleep that afternoon I thought 7am he would arise. Not Owen, at 4.30am UK time he had the whole house up catering to his every need.

Owen loves Granny & Grandpa's house. Nice soft carpets, double glass doors to look out of, a dishwasher to try to play with, so many rooms to explore, new and exciting toys. He has been on walks with Grandpa, church today where everyone oohhhed and ahhhed at him after Grandpa did a show and tell about him. I am enjoying our time here and am glad that Owen can spend this quality time with Douglas and Lynese.

Owen is so much more confident in his mobility now. He stands well, does squats in front of furniture that would tire Jane Fonda out, moves side-ways while holding onto furniture and is a one handed bandit when he turns to investigate what is going on behind him. He is fascinated by any wheels no matter the size and turns the items over to give them a spin. His position in space is excellent although on numerous occassions I have had to extricate him from under a table or chair. He is very strong and moves furniture easily if he needs to get to something or past something.
Food is still high on his agenda and he gladly accepts extras from all our plates. He still only has 5 visible teeth but makes good use of them when eating and sometimes on me too!

A week of granny time

We were all very blessed to be able to have granny Lynese fly out from the UK for a week to take care of Owen and be the chef whilst I spent many hours upstairs studying for my tax exam. Owen continued to go to the gastouder for his 2 hours while Lynese was here and progress is being made there - finally. Granny spent her time teaching Owen to post the balls into his new toy, take him to feed the ducks ,which he loves, and go on plenty of walks to pass the hours. Brendon went on a short trip to the UK and Lynese and I shared the POD (parent on duty)duties. The days ran very smoothly. Soon Thursday arrived and it was time for me to write the exam and then all of us to head off to the UK. Owen & I are there for a weeks break while Brendon is on business. Brendon, Lynese and Owen met me in the Hague and then we sped off to Schiphol airport to fly to London Stansted. Owen only managed to have a 30 minute sleep in the afternoon in the car and found all the activity at the airport too much fun to consider having another nap. He was having such a good time in the departure lounge he felt the need to chat and yell on the top of his lungs so that everyone stared in our direction. On the plane he was as good as gold and made friends with a little girl in the seat in front of us. He dined on pre-heated pasta on dad's lap with a little help from mom & granny on either side. All in all an uneventful flight even though I was convinced we had lost a wheel on take off!

Owen has the zesde ziekte a.k.a rosela

This week Owen had a temp of 38.8 degrees Celcius and was generally unwell. When we bathed him last night we noticed red spots on his tummy and back and thought it might be the start of chicken pox. Today the spots were also on his legs, arms and face. After a call to the emergency doctor and an intensive internet search we recon this is what he has. Roseola is a common disease of babies or young children, in which several days of very high fever are followed by a rash. In a few days time the rash should disappear. Hallelujah, another pathology milestone passed.

Another trip, another week

As you can see I have been busy getting Owen's blog up to date. I decided to take the hours that Owen is sleeping today off and put my thoughts down on paper, so to say. Most of my thoughts for the blog are conjured up during the wee hours of the morning when I am either up doing a dummy run or up wondering why I am not doing a dummy run. Then it takes some time to get back to sleep so I spend those valuable minutes thinking about my precious cherub.

It is getting close to my exams now. Brendon has been on 3 business trips in 3 weeks and is due home tonight. Brendon, Owen and I are all a little frayed around the edges at this point. I miss Brendon, Owen misses Brendon and Brendon misses Owen & I. Except for my exam preparation it has not been a good week in general. We are all suffering from poor health and colds. In fact Owen and I are off to the doctor in an hour as he has a cough that could rival any medium -sized dogs bark. I just hope that he does not get another course of antibiotics as he has already had 2 courses this year for his BCG.

The "gastouder" is still not going well. He cannot manage being there for more than
2 hours. Next week Monday and Tuesday are the deciding days. If he still cannot manage I am going to have to call it a day with that arrangement. It disappoints me as I was beginning to enjoy "Wendy time" but seeing Owen stressed and teary-eyed most times I go to fetch him really breaks my heart. One of the days Owen was crying and I was crying and the gastouder was patting us both on the back saying that it will be alright. The very next day things picked up but sadly they regressed after a week.

We continue to go for our walks, spend time with the other moms doing activities and enjoying our weekends as a family. Thankfully Owen won't remember the days when I zipped his neck in his coat twice. Or when I really want him to sleep in the night and I am close to losing my fruit. Or when he bangs his head on the table on my watch.

Life with Owen is so precious. I think of how empty my life would be without him. Filled with just a day job and some social event. He fills my days with smiles, slobbery kisses and love. I love the way his toes curl up when he is drinking his bottle of milk. Or when he is smiling at me while I am doing something and I turn and see him. Or when he laughs hysterically when I sing him "little Peter rabbit". And when I play peek-a-boe and we are on either side of the couch. I am very glad that I have taken this year off to watch his every move. I would not change it for anything in the world. It has been a priceless year.

Oh so sleepy

Like clockwork, Brendon goes on a trip, Owen has some sort of ailment. Last weekend I worked like a top cuisine chef in the kitchen, only mine was a lot messier. Owen has shared with me that I could be the next "Jamie Oliver" compared to the canned pet food here a.k.a. baby food. I look good thanks to Annabel Karmels wonderful children's recipe books! But the recipe I made - fish dish - did not meet the results that I was quite hoping for and I was definitely hoping not to see Owens dinner again that Tuesday night. Routine as usual - dinner, bath, milk and bed. Ah, I put my feet up for a little Tuesday night entertainment... and then it started. Groan, groan, murmur, murmur from Owens bed about 1 hour after he went down. "Very odd I thought, I wonder what is up". So I took him out the bed, checked his nappy, gave him his dummy, stroked his cheek and lay him back in the bed. 10 minutes later there were vivid noises coming out of his room along with a technicoloured yawn. It was not a pleasant sight. Now another "before I was a parent" story - I was a very squeamish person before I had Owen. Puke, poo and blood I could not do. If someone puked I would puke. Get the picture. Well child-birth has a very apt way of getting you to grips with that very quickly. Before you leave the hospital you have already dealt with 2 of the 3. Back to Tuesday. So there Owen was lying in his cot with puke in his hair and everywhere else and I was leaning over his cot with my penlight torch. What to do. I only had 1 set of hands and I needed 2. So I grabbed hold of Owen, who was very pale now, and rang the neighbour to come and help. Peggy was over in minutes. So I asked her to hold Owen while I stripped his bed. He was having none of that and started wailing for me. So then I was holding Owen and Peggy was stripping the bed. What a brave neighbour and she doesn't have children! So after Owen was changed, I was changed and the bed was changed and Peggy was still at our house Owen decided it was not over yet. Lucky he was not in the bed this time. Shame, his little body was retching while I was holding him. I felt very sorry for him. Again Owen changed and I changed. We called the emergency doctor who told us to do a few things (e.g take temp, give water) and then I put him to bed again. Peggy left. It was not over. Again a technicoloured yawn. Again Peggy was back on the scene. This time it was the last of the PJ's for Owen and I and the sheets for the bed. I was not looking forward to the night. One of the things the emergency doctor said was to watch that he doesn't puke in his sleep. Well that did it for me and there I was hauling the mattress down the stairs and setting up camp on the floor in Owen's room. Not long after I had fallen asleep Owen began to cry. I put him back to bed and an hour later again crying. So I put Owen in the bed with me. In the morning we woke up and he was lying on the mattress and I was on the floor. The sacrifices for ensuring a little ones health and safety. All is well now.