Christmas with the devil

It’s a damn good job we went to stay with family and not friends for Christmas because I don’t think we’d be invited back otherwise!

Our Christmas started on Saturday 23rd as we prepared to join the multitudes and travel by train to my mum’s (not that the multitudes were going to my mum’s, oh, you know what I mean!) But I woke up on Saturday morning at 5am with a terrible stomach bug. After much of the morning spent packing and in the bathroom, I decided to brave it and go anyway. I really wanted Zoe to spend her first Christmas surrounded by family making a fuss rather than with me and Duncan doing nothing much different so we got the train. It was awful. I felt terrible the entire way there, not helped by the heat and packedness of the train. We arrived in Dumfries to be picked up by David at the station and had to stop at Tescos to pick up my mum, who’d "just popped in for some fresh veg." Of course, that’s why she came out with another trolley full of food. She had bought so much food, you’d think a small army were descending. Which makes my stomach bug even worse. We got to my mum’s, unpacked the car and collapsed. After a couple of hours of being the parcel in a "pass the parcel" game, we tried to put Zoe to bed but she wasn’t having any of it. It wasn’t her bed and she wasn’t going to sleep in it. (Stubborn madam). I was feeling truly awful so went to bed at 7:30 and slept with Zoe next to me (in a single bottom bunk on a very soft mattress, not the greatest.) Halfway through the night, Duncan got sick. Oh-oh.

Christmas eve dawned with bleary eyes and all set for another day of pass the Zoe. Poor girl, she wasn’t used to all the noise and holding and I think craved to be left alone at times. So she turned to her one comfort – me, or, more to the point, food. She feed a lot of the day which led to, "I don’t know why you haven’t weaned her yet. I weaned you at 9 weeks and there’s nothing wrong with you." Well, lucky me. But, I don’t want to risk irritable bowel syndrome, gluten or wheat intolerance or any of the other things that apparently may be caused by early weaning, so I’m sticking to the breast for now. But you can’t tell my mother that. "You wouldn’t be so exhausted if you weaned her and she’d sleep through." I’m exhausted because you keep badgering me and I’m sick and no, she wouldn’t necessarily sleep through if she was weaned.

Anyway, by Christmas Day, I’d managed to infect half my family so the usual roar of Christmas Day morning present opening was gone, to be replaced by much moaning and groaning all round from lack of sleep and dodgy stomachs. You’d think I’d given them the plague the way they were carrying on! Zoe loved getting new things, her rubber ducks were a particular favourite. But the whole thing was entirely too much for her and she chose Christmas Day for a "feed every 90 minues" growth spurt day. Timing, dear, timing. Cue more weaning lectures, which slid off my back. We saw my brother briefly, who seemed very taken by Zoe (well, who wouldn’t be) and then some of us managed a small dinner, whilst others slept.

Boxing Day saw the rest of the family become sick and everyone else recover. (Except me. When everyone else had been sick, they’d gone back to bed for 3-4 hours of further uninterrupted sleep. Not me, I had Zoe to deal with as well. By Boxing Day, I was getting sick all over again and could barely eat anything.) My brother and his girlfriend and her son came over for the afternoon and my brother made my mum’s day by announcing he was moving back to Dumfries and moving in with Emma, his girlfriend. My mum cried and said things like "I was never happy about you living in such a big city like Leeds all alone". (Funny, she didn’t give a damn when I lived in London alone and was very anti my move to Newcastle, but still.)

We came home on Wednesday afternoon and Duncan came down with a lovely cough/cold, (which he kindly thought to share with me. Nice) and opened the rest of our presents. Duncan got me a very fancy new phone, 3 REM dvds, renewed my REM fan club subscription and got me a CSI Miami book (although that was technically from Zoe). I got him the Monty Python collection dvd set, a new razor (which sounds really dull), 2 Arsenal books and an Iron Maiden biog. He was chuffed. Zoe was spoilt rotten with clothes, teddies, rattles, books, money, bibs, baubles and all manner of things and seemed to love it, even if she didn’t like the idea that sometimes, presents were for other people too!

Yesterday I went to the hospital for my colposcopy. Nothing fun about having dye squirted in places it shouldn’t be and then having cells removed. Apparently the cell changes were borderline but serious, whatever that means, although she was interested to see I’d had a baby so it’s possible it all stems from natural changes from pregnancy. I have to wait 2-6 weeks for the results, so fingers crossed.

We’ve been relaxing at home since then, enjoying our time off. Went sale shopping today and spent more money on clothes for Zoe (but most of them are for the next size up, forward planning) and got a couple of non-sale kitcheny things for me. The time away with my family was nice but has mucked up Zoe’s routine now. She refuses to sleep all night in her cot and is happiest when sleeping in our bed, which means little sleep for us. We’re planning nothing beyond a nice meal in for New Year and then, before you know it, it’ll be January and my 30th birthday will be looming in the hideously close near distance.

Until there is a next time…

xx