September 18, 2009

Is it me, or have I been very slack at blogging lately? I feel like I haven't written properly for ages.
Life has been busy and Charlie and I have both been a bit under the weather this week. (Always happens when term starts after the summer - the weather starts changing and there's sudden exposure to loads of kiddy germs!)
Charlie's got a sniffly cold. He feels ok in himself, but looks a bit peaky, and his nose is sore and dry where he's been wiping it so much.
He's can't take decongestant medicines (they work by constricting blood vessels to ease a stuffy nose, but we need his blood vessels to be wide open so his heart doesn't work too hard!), so he's a big fan of Olbas Oil. He's been wafting around school the past few days with a tissue soaked in it stuck in his shirt pocket, and his bedroom smells like a pharmacy!
But other than that, all is good with us.
We've had a fairly hectic couple of weeks since Will's birthday - what with being back at school, catching up with friends and making the most of a few sunny days.
We went to a medieval re-enactment last weekend at a local castle - Charlie had fun watching the demonstrations of old firearms and archery, and was in his element cheering on all the knights during the battle!
We also headed out to Symonds Yat - a pretty little village on the river Wye. They have a butterfly farm there, which Charlie loved, and a big hedge maze for us to get lost in. We had a boat trip up the Wye, lunch in a rather nice hotel, and then Charlie had a go on some dodgem cars we found.
I can't remember if I mentioned when I was talking about Charlie's pacemaker, but he won't be able to go on dodgem cars any more after he has it fitted, because they are controlled by industrial strength magnets, which would affect his pacemaker.
So we've promised him that whenever we see any dodgems between now and when he gets his pacemaker, he can have a go on them - so he can stock up on bumper car rides before he has to stop going on them!
Another bit of news - Charlie came home from school with a recorder. (Oh joy.) All the kids are given a recorder to keep when they get into Year 1, and they have lessons every Thursday. I'm hoping that he picks it up quickly, because I'm already fed up of 'Jingle Bells' on one note.
My dad is doing ok, although it's a pretty up and down road he's following at the moment. His pain has been not too bad lately, and he hasn't been too sick, but he's been feeling pretty tired still. He's seeing the consultant on Tuesday for the results of his CT scan, and will be having his fifth lot of chemo the following day.
This is a bit of a jumbled post, I'm afraid - the perils of not posting for a few days... I have to trawl through my memory for what we've been up to, and I only remember bits at a time!
I think that's probably about it for now - Pete's away for two nights next week instead of his usual one, because he has an important meeting.
Only other bit of info, which is jolly exciting for me, but probably not so much for you, is that I'm finally getting my long-awaited iPhone on Monday! My contract is finally coming to an end with my other phone provider, so I can finally get my hands on one! My two eldest nieces have been raving about theirs, and I've been watching iPhone tutorials online to find out all the things it can do (am I sad, or what?) So brace yourselves for an onslaught of random posts once I suss out how to use it properly!
There's a few pics below from the past couple of weeks - Charlie at the churchyard on Will's birthday, blowing out the candles on Will's cake, and a couple from the butterfly farm.
Enjoy the pics, and I promise I won't wait so long before the next post!