storbarnsförälder

We all had a rotten night. Linnea came into our bed with bad dreams. Emer came into our bed with pointy elbows. Emer in particular was very distressed and kept headbutting, kicking, and hitting. In her sleep. I kicked Rob awake so he could put the sleeping Linnea back in her own bed.

It was horrible, and I await with interest the bruise patterns.

Needless to say we were all too knackered to go to Meeting today, especially with a birthday party this afternoon, so we're still here; Rob and Linnea are in the attic doing DIY and Emer and I are in the dining room discussing the family of white elephants living under the dining table (they like coffee and potatoes with mayonnaise, but they don't wear hats).

Well, although last week was mostly featuring ill children and ill me (I didn't have time to be ill during the week but did spend Saturday in bed, which helped) ₁₄₂we're a little better this week. Linnea is all better, I am almost all better, and Emer has a trace of a cough but not much else.

I haven't yet counted ₁₄₃President Barack Obama as a good thing, so I'll do that now.

The ₁₄₄spice bread I made turned out well; ₁₄₅I made it again today, without raisins as per Linnea's request, along with a loaf of wholemeal and oats, and one of white and rye with Svensk Brodkryddar Malda, and a ₁₄₆batch of banana muffins, almost all of which have been eaten, because ₁₄₇we had guests this afternoon.

Yesterday ₁₄₈we went to Meeting and ₁₄₉I got to sit in the whole hour while Rob watched the children. A lot of the ministries (terminology?) were about children, again, and one was very close to the bone and I wanted to get up and tell all about Nollaig and Tadhg, but felt I couldn't, so I sat there streaming tears instead. I think I might spend a lot of time streaming tears in Meeting for a while; I don't often get to sit and think about anything much, there's always too much going on.

₁₅₀There were a few things said about Israel and Gaza, too, which were good to hear, at least for me. There's such a lack of vitriol.

And I may try to dye my long winter coat red or orange. It's a very respectable beige at present.

After meeting ₁₅₁there was a party with some very organised games and some shared lunch. That was nice; we brought a few things, so we knew we had foods we could eat, and only one of the unlabelled things we ate was dodgy (as I ate it it tasted unsuitable), and I think it must have been soy, because I got sick but no-one else did.

₁₅₂We had a massive tidy-up in the front room when we got home and I spent this morning tidying the kitchen after my Saturday off. It was grim, but is now more or less done. And ₁₅₃for lunch we had hot leftover shepherd's pie; Rob makes an excellent shepherd's pie with real organic shepherds.

₁₅₄I've booked both ferries (two return trips) for our long journey and am working on the trains, but the tickets aren't on sale yet. Perhaps tomorrow. A lovely callcentre man worked very hard on the Reading-Harwich route and found one which avoids both the Tube and the rail replacement buses, so future phonecalls can at least be shorter. We're very excited.