Graeme, Lisa and Francis' Homepage

Big Brother's Little Brother (or Sister)

2008-09-17T17:10:00.002Z

Francis is going to be a big brother!

I'm expecting our second baby some time in April or May. We won't know exactly when until we have a scan. Until then, the due date on the ticker (which I will put up soon) will be purely guess work!

We're very excited but a little daunted - how on earth will we manage with TWO?!

Lisa xxx

The Thornton Family's Latest Member

2008-09-08T18:31:00.004Z

Yesterday we welcomed our newest addition into the fold! I'd like to introduce you to Milo, our new kitten!

He's settled in really well. He slept on my pillow last night and I didn't get much sleep because he kept waking me up by washing my face. Max seems quite intrigued by him, but Xena is less than impressed and spent several hours sulking behind the sofa. Francis loves him, except when Milo is going for his ankles!

Lisa xxx

An Update on Francis

2008-07-20T20:12:00.002Z

I think it's about time I gave you an update on Francis as I've got quite a bit of news!

Firstly he has stopped breastfeeding. A couple of months ago I noticed he was becoming less and less bothered about his morning feed so in the end I stopped offering it to him... and he stopped asking. I was a little bit sad to see the end of breastfeeding, but I always knew Francis would self-wean sooner rather than later. Still, I don't think I did to badlly to manage almost 15 months of breastfeeding, especially considering Francis was born with no sucking reflex. Thinking back I'm amazed I managed to breastfeed him at all!

The biggest piece of news is that Francis is now officially a toddler! Although it's months since he took his first steps, he remained a very reluctant walker until only a few days ago when he suddenly decided walking wasn't so bad after all. He now toddles all over the place. There's no stopping him!

Last, but not least, we have managed to wean him off his dummy. Well, I say wean, but really I just stopped giving it to him one day and he's never asked for it. There were a few tears at sleep time for the first couple of days, but now he happily chatters away to himself in his cot until he falls asleep. And to think I was worried that taking his dummy away would be a complete nightmare. I should have more faith in him!

Lisa xxx

It Never Rains, but it Pours

2008-06-23T10:39:00.003Z

To say I have had a dreadful week is the understatement of the century. I'm still hoping it's all just a horrific nightmare and that I'll wake up any moment.

Last monday my Great Auntie Audrey lost her battle with cancer. My Mam and I knew Audrey was very poorly so were planning on going to see her. Sadly, we never got the chance.

That same day my Granda was rushed into hospital. On Tuesday, it looked like they may be keeping him in for a while so I arranged with my Mam to go and see him the following day. That night at around 3am my Mam phoned to say that the hospital had sent for us because Granda was so ill. We all rushed there in a taxi, but we were too late - he'd already gone. I went to see him in his bed and he looked so peaceful. He'd been ill for a long time and it was a reflief to see him free from pain. I'll miss him very much but knowing that he's reunited with my Nanna makes me want to smile rather than cry.

Just when I thought the week couldn't possibly get any worse, my Mam rang on Saturday morning with yet more bad news. It would be disrespectful to those involved to share the details with you on this website, but I will say that the news absolutely knocked me for six and had me in tears for the first time that week. This latest turn of events has had a profound effect on me and I really don't think I'll ever be the same again.

This afternoon I'm off to Auntie Audrey's funeral and on Wednesday we say goodbye to my Granda. Last week was tough. This week is going to be a real struggle.

Rest in Peace Granda and Auntie Audrey. Give Nanna a big hug for me!

Lisa xxx

Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?

2008-06-12T14:29:00.002Z

Recently, I was wondering how many people actually read this blog. We hadn't updated it in ages, but nobody seemed particularly bothered. With this in mind, could I ask for a show of hands from the audience? If you have found yourself reading this, then would you mind leaving a comment on this post so I can see who's out there?

Thanking you muchly!

Graeme

Kongrats for Kerrel

2008-06-08T19:17:00.002Z

Huge congratulations to my old friend Kerrel and her new husband Kenji who welcomed their baby boy, Hughie, into the world last week.

I was really shocked when I found out Kerrel was expecting and was almost bowled over backwards when she got married! She certainly doesn't do anything by halves!

Well done Kerrel! I wish you, Kenji and little Hughie every happiness and all the best for the future.

See you on Thursday!

Love and Hugs,
Lisa xxx

To Cut a Long Story Short...

2008-06-08T19:08:00.003Z

Massive, MASSIVE apologies for the complete lack of updates recently. Life has just completely taken over meaning the website has been pushed totally out of my mind!

The big news is we've left Liverpool behind and are now settling into a lovely flat back in South Shields. Graeme has started a new job in Newcastle and I'm beating off family members with a stick as they all vie for Francis's attention. Unfortunately our Liverpool house hasn't sold so we're renting at the moment and will have to rent the Liverpool house out so we don't end up in financial dire straits. Hopefully the housing market will pick up soon so we can well and truly cut all ties with Liverpool and buy a new family home.

It's good to be back.

Lisa xxx

One Small Step for Francis

2008-04-07T21:43:00.002Z

Francis took his first steps today!

His first attempt was very reluctant. He was resting against my legs and I moved away leaving him standing on his own! He hated this because he obviously didn't feel very safe. After a lot of encouragement from me and much protesting from him, he eventually took the two or three steps towards me and was rewarded with a big hug!

When Graeme got home from work we encouraged Francis to have another go. It took a lot of encouragement from both of us to get him to move, but once he realised he could walk without holding on he got really excited and was keen to keep trying.

He can only manage a a couple of steps, but it's a start!

Lisa xxx

It's A Girl!

2008-04-03T12:41:00.002Z

Congratulations to our friend Ele and her partner Phil on the arrival of their first baby! Little Alice arrived at 8:58 this morning weighing 7lb 11oz.

Hopefully I'll be able to go and see mum and baby soon. It's been a while since I last saw Ele - I think I was only 5 months pregnant with Francis at the time!

Lisa, Graeme & Francis xxx

Francis Is Poorly

2008-03-24T21:30:00.009Z

Last Tuesday Francis went for his latest set of immunisations. As Graeme and I have decided that Francis won't be having the MMR, the nurse decided to give Francis both Pneumococcal jabs at the same time to save us going back in four weeks. I'd been dreading him having his jabs, but it was far less traumatic than I expected. There was some crying, but Francis calmed down within a minute or so and quickly forgot what I'd subjected him to. As with previous jabs Francis slept for quite a while once we got home and for the rest of the day was a bit grumpy. It wasn't until Wednesday that things started to go horribly wrong.

Francis seemed his usual self on Wednesday morning. He woke, had a feed and then I took him downstairs for his porridge. He was yumming it up as usual, but about halfway through the bowl, Francis started retching, then promptly projectile spewed the whole lot back up while I watched in complete disbelief. I'd never seen anything like it. I gave up on his breakfast, cleaned him up and put him back to bed. He went to sleep straightaway, but about 20 minutes later was crying. I went in to his room to find him lying in a pool of sick. As I was cleaning this up, Francis seemed to perk up a bit so I brought him back downstairs and he happily ate a banana.

It wasn't long before he was tired again so I put him down for a nap and he slept for three and a half hours. I was worried out of my mind because this is so unlike him, so I was checking on him all the time. By the time he woke up it was 3pm so I thought he must be starving. He was full of life and smiling so I guessed it would be OK to give him something. I was wrong. A few mouthfuls in and it all came up again and more besides. He accepted a few mouthfuls of yoghurt, but refused the rest and wouldn't entertain the kiwi fruit I offered him, so I gave up on lunch at that point.

About an hour after lunch I'd started wishing I'd not bothered to give him anything! I was sat on the sofa with Francis standing beside me and he started retching again. I didn't think there was much left on his stomach, but my god was I wrong! It just kept coming. We were both covered in sick, as was the sofa. I had to strip Francis off and get changed myself. It felt like no sooner had I sat back down in my clean clothes, he was being sick again. He got so upset because his stomach was virtually empty and it must have really hurt him. At this point he started to get really lethargic and spent much of the rest of the day laying on my lap watching telly, when usually he won't stay still for 30 seconds.

On Wednesday night before we went to bed, we popped in his room to check on him and were immediately struck by the most foul disgusting smell; I knew instantly I was about to change a very nasty nappy. To make matters worse, Francis was lying in a pool of sick. I have no idea how this didn't wake him up. The nappy was full to the brim with most disgusting poop ever and the smell was overwhelming; I had to open the window. How there was no leak I will never know - Pampers obviously have very good quality control.

The following day Francis went rapidly downhill. His temperature shot up, he couldn't keep any solids down at all, though he was managing to keep down breastmilk and water. I got quite scared when he started shaking despite being red hot, so I rang Graeme at work who managed to get Francis an emergency appointment at the GP. The GP assured me that Francis wasn't having a bad reaction to the jabs (though I remain unconvinced), but was suffering from gastroenteritis. He prescribed paracetamol and ibuprofen to bring Francis's temperature down and dioralyte to replace any lost fluids. The GP told me that if Francis developed a rash (i.e. suspected meningitis) or if we had any concerns at all, to take him straight to A&E at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

That evening Francis took a turn for the worse and I really thought we might have to take him to hospital. He started bring up fluids too and was so lethargic he could barely move. I didn't dare put him to bed on his own so he stayed up with us until we went to bed. I wanted to keep a close eye on him so he slept in the bed with me while Graeme had the sofabed. I couldn't bring myself to close my eyes and just lay there staring at Francis making sure he was OK. I eventually fell asleep in the wee small hours through sheer exhaustion. It was a restless night for me as Francis woke several times for a feed and thankfully he kept the milk down.

The overnight breastfeeding obviously helped because he seemed a bit better by Friday morning, and each day since we've seen tiny improvements, but he still has a long way to go. He didn't vomit today and is tolerating small amounts of solid food, but is still very lethargic and extremely irritable and tearful. I'm finding it very tough going. Francis wants to breastfeed a lot and I'm only used to two feeds a day. As a result I've been really sore and physically drained. I'm ashamed to say that the thought crossed my mind of quitting breastfeeding completely as I reached the point where I couldn't bare to latch him on because of the pain. Thankfully, I got through the pain and am now happy to feed Francis as much as he wants, but I'm exhausted - probably because my body is working overtime to produce all the extra milk.

I really wish I could make Francis better, but unfortunately I'm not Supermum. I hate seeing him like this. It's funny to think that when he was tearing around the house I'd have given anything for him to keep still for 5 minutes, but now that he is I hate it! I miss my happy, live wire and can't wait to have him back.

Lisa xxx

Happy Birthday Francis!

2008-03-06T20:42:00.006Z

I can't quite believe it, but today was Francis's 1st birthday! I have no idea where the time has gone and it is still sinking in that we now have a one-year-old!

We were up at 7:30am and after Francis's feed we went downstairs to open his presents. Francis wasn't that interested in the gifts and I ended up opening most of them myself, but we did manage to pursuade him to tear the paper off one of them. We didn't get him much because he got loads of things at Christmas and we really don't have the space for any more toys. We bought him a toybox, clock, steering wheel for his buggy, a couple of books and a t-shirt.

Once the presents were open and we'd got ourselves organised, we went to the Blue Planet Aquarium for the morning. The place was packed with families and overrun with buggies! Francis was absolutely fascinated by the fish, though he did get a bit bored at one point so we decided to break for lunch. I'm glad I took something along for Francis because the food in the restaurant was worse than McDonalds. After lunch we walked through the underwater tunnel to get a closer look at the sharks - we were glad to get out of there because looking through the distorted glass made Graeme and I feel rather queasy. We then headed outside to look at the otters. I think the otters thought we were going to feed them because they came very close to us and were chattering away! For me they were definitely the highlight of Blue Planet and Francis obviously loved them too!

By this point Francis was pretty tired because he'd only had 15 minutes of sleep all morning, so we left Blue Planet and went to a retail park for a wander about. Francis fell asleep almost as soon as we put him in his pram and didn't wake until we left! Our final stop off was to a cake shop in Liverpool to pick up Francis's birthday cake for his party on Saturday.

Graeme and I are pretty tired because it's been a busy day, but we still have to pack and get organised for another early start tomorrow. We're driving back to South Shields to celebrate Francis's birthday with family, so we're in for another busy couple of days.

I'm not sure what Francis will make of his party as he's too young to understand the whole birthday thing, but there'll be plenty of food which I'm sure he'll appreciate!

Lisa xxx

Are You Ready For Children?

2008-03-05T16:58:00.007Z

I found this on one of my messageboards today and it made me chuckle, so I thought I'd share.

Preparation for parenthood is not just a matter of reading books and decorating the nursery. Here are 12 simple tests for expectant parents to take to prepare themselves for the real-life experience of being a mother or father.

1) Women: to prepare for maternity, put on a dressing gown and stick a beanbag down the front. Leave it there for 9 months. After 9 months, take out 10% of the beans.

2) Men: to prepare for paternity, go to the local chemist, tip the contents of your wallet on the counter, and tell the pharmacist to help himself. Then go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. Go home. Pick up the paper. Read it for the last time.

3) Before you finally go ahead and have children, Find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels, and how they have allowed their children to run riot. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and overall behavior. Enjoy it - it'll be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.

4) To discover how the nights will feel, walk around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 lbs. At 10pm put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, till 1am. Put the alarm on for 3am. As you can't get back to sleep get up at 2am and make a drink. Go to bed at 2.45am. Get up again at 3am when the alarm goes off. Sing songs in the dark until 4am. Put the alarm on for 5am. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

5) Can you stand the mess children make? To find out, smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. Hide a fish finger behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Stick your fingers in the flowerbeds then rub them on the clean walls. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

6) Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems: first buy an octopus and a string bag. Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this - all morning.

7) Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet tube. Using only scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into a Christmas cracker. Last, take a milk container, a ping pong ball, and an empty packet of Coco Pops and make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations. You have just qualified for a place on the playgroup committee.

8) Forget the hatchback and buy a big Volvo estate. And don't think you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that. Buy a chocolate ice cream bar and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a quarter. Stick it in the cassette player. Take a family-size packet of chocolate cookies. Mash them down the back seats. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect.

9) Get ready to go out. Wait outside the toilet for half an hour. Go out the front door. Come in again. Go out. Come back in. Go out again. Walk down the front path. Walk back up it. Walk down it again. Walk very slowly down the road for 5 minutes. Stop to inspect minutely every cigarette end, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue and dead insect along the way. Retrace your steps. Scream that you've had as much as you can stand, until the neighbors come out and stare at you. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk. Always repeat everything you say at least five times.

10) Go to your local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a pre-school child - a fully grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this do not even contemplate having children.

11) Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. Now get a bowl of soggy Weetabix and attempt to spoon it into the swaying melon by pretending to be an aeroplane. Continue until half the Weetabix is gone. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure that a lot of it falls on the floor. You are now ready to feed a 12-month old baby.

12) Learn the names of every character from Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When you find yourself singing "Postman Pat" at work, you finally qualify as a parent.

And remember: Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children and be nice to your kids, they'll be the ones picking your retirement home!

I probably could have done with this advice before we decided to have Francis, because even now I'm clearly not ready to have children!

Lisa xxx

It's A(nother) Boy!

2008-02-29T21:37:00.004Z

Congratulations to our friends Donna and Michael on the birth of their baby boy! Baby Michael David was born on Wednesday and weighed 8lb 6oz.

Enjoy the sleep deprivation guys ;o)

Lisa, Graeme & Francis xxx

Goodbye Jet

2008-02-27T16:29:00.002Z

It has been barely six months since my Mam lost Sweep and sadly another of her cats passed away today. Jet had been ill for some time and, although nothing was formally diagnosed as my Mam didn't want to put him through the stress of tests, we suspect he had cancer. It was awful watching him deteriorate and, in a way, I'm glad he's at peace now.

Lisa xxx

Just Typical

2008-02-17T15:00:00.000Z

On Tuesday Francis had his latest check up with the paediatrician at the hospital. As he was premature, he needs regular check ups to ensure he is developing well. I've never had any concerns about Francis's development and personally feel the check up was a bit of a waste of time, but if the hospital want me to jump through hoops then that's what I'll do!

I got the bus to the hospital and took Francis there in his sling to make life easier. I've not used the sling for months because Francis kept puking on me while he was in it, so it was a bit of a shock to the system carrying a rather heavy baby all the way from Anfield to Toxteth!

Graeme met me in the waiting room and we were surprised to be seen straight away. As usual, Francis was weighed and measured by the nurse and then we waited to see the paed. The paed was very pleased with Francis's weight gain as he is now above the 25th centile. In previous visits Francis has been subjected to a physical examination, but this time the paed just asked Graeme and I a series of questions about Francis's development. Based on what we told him, the paed was very pleased with Francis's progress and said that he sounds like a "typical 11-month-old" even though his corrected age is only 9 months! I was hoping that Francis would be discharged because of this, but the paed wants to see him once more in 6 months time. After that we can finally kiss goodbye to Liverpool Women's Hospital - I'm sick of the sight of the place!

Lisa xxx

A Tale of Two Tobies

2008-02-03T19:26:00.000Z

Congratulations to Graeme's cousin Malcolm and partner Lou on the birth of their first baby. Little Toby arrived yesterday evening and was almost 2 weeks overdue!

Belated congratulations also to family friends Ann and Mark whose baby boy, also called Toby, put in an early appearance last week. Toby is still in Special Care but hopefully will be home with his mummy and daddy very soon.

Well done everyone!

We're just waiting for our friend Donna to have her baby now. If it's another Toby things will get very confusing...

Lisa xxx

Back in the Running

2008-01-28T15:33:00.001Z

I've decided it's high time I dusted off my running shoes and got my fitness levels up to scratch. I've not done any real exercise since the Hydroactive Women's Challenge 2006 when I was 5 weeks pregnant. Pregnancy more or less destroyed my energy levels and since Francis was born I haven't really had the time to devote to exercise. Now Francis is only breastfeeding on waking and before bed I don't have to worry about leaving his side so may be able to squeeze some exercise in at weekends. Anyone up for a jog around Sefton Park? Rob?

As when I first started exercising I have decided I need an incentive to get me going so have entered this years Race for Life. I did my first Race for Life in 2005 in under 30 minutes and would like to repeat that performance. Actually I'd love to beat my 5k personal best of 27m 52s but maybe that's pushing my luck a bit!

I've set up a webpage so that people can sponsor me easily (hint hint...) and hope to raise as much money as possible as it will probably be the only run I do this year. Please dig deep and help me reach my target!

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/lissythornton

Thank you!

Lisa xxx

The Tooth Comes Out

2008-01-23T22:07:00.000Z

On Tuesday I went for the first leg of my marathon run of dental treatment. I had a consultation several weeks ago when I was told in no uncertain terms that my bottom wisdom teeth had to come out. Having decided on a local anasthetic for reasons I will never understand, I went back to the Dental Hospital to have the first tooth removed.

I arrived in good time for my appointment and was surprised to go in slightly early. After making myself comfortable in the chair, I agreed with the dentist that they would remove my lower right wisdom tooth first, the lower left to be removed in four weeks time. After having the proceedure explained to me and going through my medical history for the umpteenth time, I lay back in the chair and braced myself for an unpleasant experience.

I was handed over to a student who administered the anasthetic using an alarmingly large needle. Once satisfied that my mouth was numb, the dentist and student moved in to do their stuff. I'm not entirely sure who did what to start with as, when I saw the student moving towards my mouth with a large scalpel, I promptly shut my eyes and kept them tightly closed for the next 10 minutes or so!

Cutting over, the drilling began. This is by far my least favourite part about visiting the dentist. Having said that, I didn't find it too unpleasant to start with. It wasn't until the dentist said she needed to remove the crown from the tooth that I started to feel a little stressed. I convinced myself that the anasthetic would wear off and that I'd soon be screaming in pain and I became very tense, even crossing my fingers underneath the paper shroud they had draped over me. Thankfully my fears were unfounded and the crown was removed without incident but with a very loud crunching sound.

After what felt like an eternity it was finally time to remove the roots, one at a time. Although I couldn't feel any pain, I could feel the root grinding around in my jaw and I found this rather disquieting. I was relieved when I heard them clank into the tray behind me as it meant my ordeal was almost over. The student finished the job with a couple of stitches and I was given a piece of gauze to chomp down on to stop the bleeding while he explained the post-op care to me. With that, I was on my way, my face still numb and feeling like it had been wolloped with a frying pan.

Graeme picked me up and we went to ASDA for our shopping. About halfway through our shop the anasthetic started to wear off and by the time we got home I was in quite a bit of pain so I took some paracetamol. I was pretty miserable at the thought that this pain would last for any length of time, but within an hour or so the pain had given way to a dull throbbing ache. This was also when my face started to swell up. I had a definite lump appearing on my jaw before I went to bed.

By the time I got up this morning I didn't need to look in the mirror to know that the swelling had grown; my face felt bigger and strangely heavy. A quick look in the mirror revealed that my face was now swollen from my cheekbone to the top of my neck and the swelling seems to have got worse throughout the day. Thankfully, although tender, I'm not in any real pain and even managed to eat a jacket potato for my tea. I'm guessing that the worst is over and things will only improve over the next few days.

In the end, having a wisdom tooth out was nowhere near as bad as I expected. It was certainly an unpleasant experience, but I wouldn't describe it as horrible or frightening (though I do wish the dentist hadn't divulged that she was going to drill my crown off; there are some things you really don't need to know). By far the worst part was having to keep my mouth open unnaturally wide for the best part of half an hour. Now I just have to prepare myself to go through it all over again in four weeks time. Yay.

Lisa xxx

Friday Night Report

2008-01-19T00:40:00.000Z

The main headline tonight is that my hands feel like I've spent the week madly rubbing a cheese grater. I'm fairly sure I'll end up in A&E at somepoint when they go septic. I must remember to get some good working gloves next time, rather than ripping out wood and brick with my bear hands, manly as that may be.

Anyway, to business. Over the past 3 days, I've plastered up all the holes in the room, and put down most of the new flooring. At least one day of that was lost to time wasting and unexpected B&Q runs. Oh yes, and a swift coffee round Kieran's place took a couple of hours as well... nose to the grindstone and all that.

So I now have one day left to finish the flooring and stick the architrave and skirting on. It might happen, but at least if it doesn't, it should be mostly done. So here's hoping tomorrow is a productive day! On a side note, thursdays high point was the sausage, mushroom and egg toastie I made myself. Yum!

Tuesday Progress Report

2008-01-15T22:30:00.000Z

I'm 2 days into my week long intensive DIY session in the dining room, and so far things are going well. I'm a little behind where I expected to be, but this is just because my expectations of progress were a bit stupid in the first place.

Yesterday, I spent the day stripping out the room, removing all the stuff I didn't like the look of. This involved the flooring, the skirting board, and the minging fireplace which we hated. Our back yard is now choc-a-bloc with bags of rubble and piles of wood.

I punctuated all my hard work that day by going out in the evening for a 3k run over to the powerleague 5-a-side pitches in Everton for the weekly kickabout with some guys from work, and then a nice walk back afterwards. Feeling refreshed (ha), I then spent half an hour mixing cement to fill in the old hearth. Given that I've never made cement before, I woefully underestimated how far cement actually goes, and ended up making enough to fill one small corner. I did manage another batch before bed which mostly filled it, but by that time I was bored, and called it a day.

Tuesday started with making another batch of cement to finish the previous nights work, followed by ripping out all the crap wiring around where the old burglar alarm used to be, and replacing it with a nice modern junction box, and probably half the amount of wire. The next job was to drain the central heating system, disconnect the big double radiator in the living room, and plumb that into position in the dining room. Then, I fitted the new single radiator I bought in the living room. Fortunately, when I turned the water back on, I only had one leak in the dining room, which turned out to by one connection which I'd forgotten to tighten. God bless compression fittings! If I'd done that with a soldered joint, I may well have lost the will to live...

So it's been a reasonably productive day. I've just rounded it off with a trip to Anfield to see the 5-0 drubbing of Luton in the FA cup. Tomorrow I'll be going out in the morning to buy some flooring, so I can leave it to settle in before I fit it. Then, I'll be starting to plaster up the holes in the wall. There's a bit more of this to do than I expected, given that removing door frames and the like tends to bring half the wall with it. Never mind though, it'll all be sorted by this time tomorrow I hope!

On a side note, I decided to cancel the estate agent valuation I'd arranged for tomorrow as I didn't think the house would be in a reasonable state by then. Outside of the dining room, which is actually quite tidy, the rest of the house is a dump. Stuff is piled up everywhere out of the way, and there's just nowhere for me to move it to make it look tidier. We've now got an extra week to get the place respectable before they come to value it for us!

Doing It Myself

2008-01-13T16:24:00.000Z

In a continued effort to get our house ready for sale, we've decided that the time has come to pick up the hammer and paintbrush again, and sort out the dining room, stairs and upstairs hallway.

To make this as quick and painless as possible, I've packed Lisa and Francis off to South Shields, and the cats are on holiday at my brothers house in Salford. I've got one week off work, and a quiet house in which to work my magic.

Given that my previous average time for decorating a room was more like 6 months, 1 week is quite ambitious, but I think I can get most of the dirty noisy stuff done this week, just leaving the painting and decorating for when Lisa comes back next weekend.

I'll be posting up some work-in-progress pictures as I go along, mostly just so that Lisa can see them, and make sure I'm not just destroying the house in her absense.

Check out the photos here:
Dining Room DIY

Christmas with a Difference

2008-01-07T19:57:00.000Z

On Saturday we returned from a 2-week stint in South Shields where we stayed with Graeme's parents for the Christmas and New Year celebrations. It was certainly different this year, not least because it was our first with Francis.

It was the first Christmas we'd stayed with Graeme's parents. In previous years we have always stayed with my folks as they had ample room in their 6-bedroom house. Sadly, my parents went their separate ways in 2007 and neither really has the space to put us all up. While it was nice to see my parents getting on reasonably well over the festive season, I did find things a bit emotionally stressful and hope the dust will have well and truly settled by next Christmas.

It was also the first time in a few years that Paul and Becky did not spend Christmas with us. They were in cornwall staying with Becky's sister Helen and baby Isabella. Paul and Becky were a big miss on Christmas Day and, although they came to visit the following weekend, it wasn't quite the same. It's a shame everyone lives so far apart, as I'm a big beleiver that family should be together at Christmas.

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from Christmas Day, but I was certainly not expecting Francis to start cutting two teeth! I'd had visions of this lovely, exciting, serene day, with Francis playing with lots of new toys. What I got was Francis being a complete grump and crying at alrmingly regular intervals. I know it wasn't Francis's fault, but after the umpteenth time of Francis crying after being given a new present, I couldn't help but feel stressed and demoralised; I was convinced he didn't like anything we'd bought him. Once his teeth had cut through a few days later, Francis was finally able to enjoy his presents.

Other than the teething, the day went pretty smoothly. After Francis had opened his presents, Graeme and I took Francis to my Mam's flat for a few hours to see my family. I only see my brother David at Christmas so I always make sure I spend some time with him. Afterwards, it was time to head to Graeme's parents for lunch. Francis had more or less what we had, minus the gravy. It was great watching him shovelling vegetables and yorkshire pudding into his mouth; little did I realise at the time that Francis's interest in solid food was really going to take off, big time!

As we do every year, in the evening we went to Auntie Val's for tea. Val and Allan never fail to put on a fantastic spread of food and always seem to have whichever alcoholic beverage you ask for. They moved house recently, so that was something else different about Christmas and another reminder about how desperately I want to move out of Anfield. Francis was really able to join in with the tea, munching his way through breadsticks and cucumber; I even gave him a mini chocolate eclair as a treat (which he devoured pretty quickly!). We'd usually stay at Val and Allan's until about 11, but having Francis meant we had to say our goodbyes early so we could get Francis to bed before he got narky.

As we were back for two weeks we had the chance to meet up with some friends who we'd not seen in years. Richard and Rachel had recently moved back to South Shields and I was thrilled to be able to see them again. We met them, along with another friend (who we'd not seen for 10 years!) Emma, for lunch and did some serious catching up. A few days later we visited Richard and Rachel at their new house, which I fell completely in love with (mainly because of the number of storage cupboards... how sad am I?) and which made me even more desperate to get on with our own house move. Watch this space.

New Years Eve was a quiet affair. Neither Graeme or I are big fans of December 31st and prefer to spend the evening in front of the telly, going to bed pretty much as soon as thr clock has struck 12. The end of 2007 was not much different. We had the house to ourselves as Graeme's parents had gone out so we elected to watch a DVD and glug on a few bottles of Smirnoff Ice (I swear that stuff is just lemonade). Unfortunately, thanks to Francis's new teeth, we'd had very little sleep the previous night and Graeme fell asleep about 10 minutes into the Jimmy Carr DVD he'd got me for Christmas. We were in bed well before the turn of the year and wished each other "Happy New Year" when we could hear all the fireworks exploding outside.

On our last night in South Shields Graeme and I thought we'd take advantage of having family around to finally have a night out together. I'd ummed and ahhed about doing this for a while as I really didn't like the idea of leaving Francis. However, after talking to my Mam, I realised I was being silly; Francis would be in bed so wouldn't even know we were gone. So, on Friday night, I put Francis to bed, and, once we were sure he was settled, left him in the capable hands of Graeme's Mam Sandra and went out for a meal. The culinary choice is a bit restricted in South Shields, but if you love curry, you're in for a treat. We went to our favourite Indian restaurant, Cafe India, where the service is always fantastic, and spent a very reasonable £22. It's just a shame we didn't go midweek for their special offer menu because it would have only been about £6 a head! Afterwards we went elsewhere for a drink, which turned out to be a very quick drink once we realised that it was karaoke night... We got back after 2 hours to be told that Francis hadn't even stirred. Even so, I'm not sure I'm ready for the full babysitting experience yet.

We headed back to Liverpool the following day, with the intention of havinf Paul and Becky over for tea, but Becky was ill and Graeme and I were too tired, so we cancelled. Hopefully we can do that soon though. Saturday evening was spent watching telly and eating chips as there was a serious lack of food in the house. This meant that Sunday involved a stressful trip to ASDA to spend a ridiculous amout of money replenishing the cupboards.

So that's it for another year. Next year will be different again as we'll be in a new house and maybe Francis will be at a stage where he will actualy want to open presents. At least he'll have all his teeth by then so we won't get any nasty surprises!

Lisa xxx

The 8 Month Check

2007-12-21T17:20:00.000Z

Yesterday Graeme and I took Francis to the Health Visitor for his 8 month check up. He may be nine months old now, but his corrected age is only seven months and I was a bit worried that perhaps the HV would expect too much of him.

However, the HV was very pleased with Francis's progress and could barely believe that he was a premature baby. He has reached most of the 8 month milestones and I don't think it will be long before we can tick them all off the list. His weight is now 16lb 13oz and is in perfect proportion to his length, so at least I know I'm not overfeeding him!

It seems my worries were for nothing. Francis is doing everything he should be and the HV said that Francis is better developmentally than many of the full-term babies she sees!

Lisa xxx

Jumperoond!

2007-12-08T19:27:00.001Z

After seeing a video of a friend's baby having a whale of a time in a Rainforest Jumperoo, I really wanted to get one for Francis. I was horrified at the £80 pricetag, so decided to have a look on eBay to see if I could get a secondhand one for a reasonable price. After seeing that the Rainforest Jumperoos still go for up to £50 secondhand in the auctions, I gave up on the idea. Then I saw that the slightly older model Jumperoos were much cheaper and I snapped one up for £25.

After some initial communication problems with the seller, due to both of us losing our internet connections last weekend, I was finally able to collect the Jumperoo this morning. Francis was a bit apprehensive at first, but soon got the hang of bouncing about in his new toy as you can see in this video. Now I'm just faced with the problem of where I'm going to keep it... It's much bigger than it looked in the eBay photo!

Lisa xxx

Words of Wisdom (Teeth)

2007-12-05T15:38:00.000Z

A couple of months ago I managed to crack a tooth (eating a slice of bread, of all things...) and needed emergency dental treatment. The broken pieces of tooth were removed and I had a temporary filling put in place. The dentist then warned me that the tooth really did need sorting out within the next couple of months.

Thanks to our friend Julie, who works at Liverpool Dental School, I was able to get an appointment with a 5th year student to finally have my tooth looked at. Before addressing the issue of the dodgy tooth, the student did a full check of my teeth and gums and it seems that some of my teeth are in a pretty sorry state. I was appalled to discover that several of them have decay. The student also expressed concern about my wisdom teeth which have grown in perpendicular to my other teeth meaning they are nigh on impossible to keep clean so are also starting to decay; this could have dire consequences for the adjacent teeth. Because of the weird angle of my wisdom teeth, fillings are out of the question so the teeth may need to be removed. After having x-rays to check the extent of the decay and to get a closer look at the wisdom teeth, it was decided that I need further appointments to have fillings in the decaying teeth and that I should be referred to the Oral Surgeons regarding my wisdom teeth. Oh joy of joys.

So, I've gone from needing a filling replaced to the possibility of extraction under a general anasthetic - this was certainly more than I bargained for when I arranged the appointment!

Lisa xxx