Invisible Grannying

Currently Reading

I love this book so much.  Although it’s not that long since I read it for the first time, I’m still getting loads out of it on the second run through already.  It also gives me lots of potential authors to read in the future.

I’m now into Week 6 of the Sertraline and things are starting to get better at last.  I seem to have a bit more energy in general and the mood is lifting a bit now but sleep is still disturbed and I only average 4-5 hours a night before I’m wide awake and unable to drop off again.  Frustrating.  And ironic that as my body clock is finally fitting in with a more ‘normal’ rhythm of life i.e. instead of staying up till 1 or 2 in the morning which I could do quite easily before I’m now knackered by mid evening and fit for nothing but lying on the bed reading – it would be a perfect opportunity to get to bed early and get a decent sleep – if only I could.  Pointless though because I’d only be awake again in the early hours.  I’ll mention it to the doc tomorrow and see if she can come up with anything.

Poor Mam.  She had a bad week the week before last purely because she did some weeding in the garden one day then tried to go shopping with Caroline the day after but could only manage half way round TESCO before she had to give up and sit down.  She went and lay down on her bed in the afternoon which is unlike her and when my brother and his wife went up to see her the next day, she was off her food and pretty ‘wabbit’ (tired out).

It didn’t help when, that same week, being through in the kitchen one day (although thank goodness she was) she heard a crash and when she went through to the sitting room to investigate, discovered the thread holding a picture above fireplace had frayed and split sending it cascading to the floor.  Amazingly hardly anything else was broken in its journey to the carpet – incredible considering the amount of stuff she has sitting on the mantelpiece – but of course there were splinters of glass everywhere.  She painstakingly tried to pick up as much as she could but had to wait until her cleaner came in the next day in order to hoover up the bits she missed.  The exertion of that on top of everything else just did her in and she was out of sorts for about a fortnight.

The second week she again had to go and lie down on the bed one afternoon and when getting up to make her tea, fell and couldn’t get up.  She has one of these alarms which connects to my sister’s phone and pressed it but Lorna was playing the accordian in a band that night and didn’t hear it.  However it must then be diverted to Caroline’s phone and luckily she was in although the two boys were in bed.  She had no choice but to get them up, bundle them in the car and scoot over to Mam’s where an ambulance was called and paramedics spent two hours with her checking her over.  Luckily no damage was done but she refused to go to hospital (she’s convinced she’ll die if she goes in there) so Lorna and Caroline just kept an eye on her in the days to follow and Lorna organised carers to come in morning and night until she was feeling a bit better.

How frustrating it must be to know you virtually can’t complete even one action the whole way through without resting at intervals which we’re trying to get her to do but – not surprisingly – it’s difficult.  And maddening to have a brain which is perfectly okay but a body which just isn’t playing ball.

We went up to see her last Sunday and she seemed a bit better – still very tired but seeing Lily cheered her up somewhat.  Poor Lorna gets it in the neck continuously though – according to Mam she loses her temper with her all the time, snaps at her regularly and gets her shopping all wrong whereas Caroline is virtually the Archangel Gabriel in contrast!  This is absolute rubbish – if you knew my sister, she’s the sweetest, most helpful person and would do anything for anybody and I’m sure has been extremely exasperated on more than one occasion but would never shout or lose her temper.  And I sure wouldn’t like to deal with Mam on a daily basis – she’d make a saint swear!  But at 92 you can get away with a lot ……

Lily is now on the move!  Not scuttling everywhere as I’d expected once she got mobile but just doing an occasional front crawl and backward bum shuffle as needed.  Still as adorable as ever though.  It’s difficult to get a smiley shot of her now because she won’t sit for long enough any more but she still beams just as much and is apparently very taken with the boys at nursery.  Nothing like starting young.

Getting ready for a bit of sunbathing.

The Orange Look.

Matching Mum and Babe.

Nikki has the chance to get away for a week on holiday to Spain which she’s really looking forward to – full-time work in a nursery and being a single mum is proving stressful and she needs a break.

Joel’s mum has a villa over there which they use for holidays and Joel and Nikki have been lucky to use it a couple of times in the past when they were going out together.  They’ve decided to take Lily over for a week but the event has been marred by recent sadness.  Joel’s stepdad, Jed, collapsed and died on the golf course just over a week ago – they suspect a heart attack and he had had trouble with his heart apparently but we’re not sure of the full details yet.  He was in his seventies although Joel’s mum is a good bit younger having just celebrated her 50th birthday not long ago.  However the holiday’s not until mid August and Jane has no objection to them still going so Nikki’s looking forward to it.

She’s been exhausted these past few weeks – I’ve been helping out with housework and babysitting and on Sunday night I took Lily overnight so that she could get some time to herself (it was a holiday here on Monday) but of course – as all mums know – time minus baby means time to catch up with all the things which have been going by the wayside and she spent Monday morning cleaning the flat before coming to see her much-missed little girl at lunchtime but was glad she got it done and she did get a relaxing evening and half decent sleep.

When we were up in Inverness Mam said to Nikki “how’s your mum going to manage when you go away for the week?” (I think she thinks I’m going to die of loneliness) and Nikki says “oh she only sees us around once a week anyway”.

I sat there with my mouth hanging open.

In the last fortnight I’ve spent the Saturday afternoon with both of them trailing round the town, Sunday we were up in Inverness all day, Monday I babysat Lily while Nikki had an appointment in the afternoon, Tuesday I was down there for my tea, Wednesday I was babysitting in the evening while Nikki had to go into work, Saturday I babysat all afternoon while she went into town with her friend and Sunday I had Lily overnight and into Monday and when Nikki came round we went into town to look for a lightweight buggy and to investigate car seats.  Last night I was round for my tea and on Friday night I have her overnight again while Nikki goes out.

Quite how that translates into ‘once a week’ I’m not entirely sure ……

And did you know there exists a phobia called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?  It means a fear of long words.  The person who thought that one up was having a laugh I think.

Going to post this just now then edit it later with some pics of the darling child – I’ve so many photos on my phone it’s ridiculous – since the routine in the evenings has completely changed, little jobs like editing photos and catching up on here and suchlike have gone by the board and then it becomes such a momentous task that it seems easier to stick your head in the sand and ignore it!