SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG

At last I am putting fingers to keys … well two fingers anyway
Things have really been happening over the past month or so. The most important was that the twins were sent home… a few days early … not that Emma was complaining.They were a mere 5 weeks old or you could say ‘minus 3 weeks’ and Ben had not even reached 5lbs but home they went.

MID-DAY NAP

BEN

JAKE

It looks as though Jake had a temporary problem with milk, which may have been caused by a virus destroying the enzymes or the enzymes may not have developed fully. Whatever the reason he’s fine now and appears to have no sign of a hernia either. After a lot of different problems with breast-feeding Emma was pondering about going totally over to formula but her mind was made up for her when she developed a painful infection due to a blocked duct. The boys are doing even better now and she can see how much milk they are taking. Shame boobs don’t have a gauge on the side. Emma is happier that the choice was made for her. I find it hard to believe that there are still those in the caring profession that make new mothers feel bad when breast feeding does not come easy, or, problems that arise cause them to give up. ... but unfortunately…. there are.

Auntie Jay finally got to see and hold them on their return and Emma’s mum then came over from Ireland to give her daughter some much needed TLC and moral support. It was my turn the following week so for four days I had the fun of feeding and cuddling my beautiful grandsons. I didn’t change them as they do it on a mat on the floor and my knees are well past kneeling and from the pungent smells issuing forth from their nappies I was relived!!!

We tried some hand and foot painting as the proud parents wanted a record of just how tiny their sons’ feet were but those tiny hands were not going to open up for anyone, once they were painted!. We did, just about, manage some footprints

One could say that Steve and Emma have four babies as they have 2 cats as well. Tigger is 13 now and tolerates the new kitten, Puck. Although Tigger would never admit it, she likes the company and the occasional race around the house but she has little time for the new humans. Puck however thinks he has two new brothers and doesn’t really like sharing his mum with them. He also feels that what is theirs is also his.





I do not know how these new parents are surviving on so little sleep as, until the Thursday I was there , they were doing 3 hourly feeds, which leaves a gap of 2 hour if you are lucky and even less when they are bathed. Steve will fall asleep anywhere, if he stays still for more than 1 minute and that includes the train, the station, lunch time at work!!!! feeding time...HIS that is!


They are trying to manoeuvre the routine so they might, with a bit of luck, soon get a glorious 4-hour stretch during the night.
They are wonderful parents ... so chilled, well on the outside anyway, and certainly any stress is not being passed to the boys. How I wish I had been like them with my first, or even my second. I think I was the perfect model of ‘the stressed new mother’.


While I was over their due date arrived. They were 8 weeks on the 16th, which is where their social skills are measured from, or 2 days, which is where their developmental skills are measured. I cannot see how it all works as some social skills cannot develop until some developmental skills have matured!!!! How can they learn to smile by seeing those around them smile if their eyes do not focus properly?

On the Friday I was over, they weighed in at a healthy 5lb12 ½ oz for Ben but an even healthier 6lb 7 ½ oz for Jake. Having said that Ben actually put the most on this week. It is amazing how preoccupied and excited we are about how much weight babies put on and then worry about weight gain once they are at school.

One thing they have noticed is that baby clothes sizes make no sense. Having bought a minimum of 3-5lb, they expected that at 5ish lbs they would be using 5-7lb clothes … not so as they are still too small to wear them!!!! and some of their 0-3mths look as though they would fit a 2 year old!!!! If companies bother to suggest an age and state a weight why are they not all the same size after all 10lbs are 10lbs not 15 or 20. and baby clothes are not cheap so it would be handy if they fitted the size they were meant to . Sorry ... jumped on my soapbox there for a moment. Hope to manage another post before to long

Been a bit Pre-occupied!

So what have I been doing for the past month ….
Not a lot ….. only kidding …. The most important thing in my life , by a very long way, was that I became NANA on 21st June at 10.21am, for the very first time . I think I am still in shock even though I was awaiting the happy event …..only not quite this soon.My daughter …the proud Auntie, has put pictures all over her blog and here are a few of my favourites....

BEN ABOVE and JAKE BELOW

JAKE in White and BEN in Blue.

I have wanted this for so long ( I’m 61 now) and then I learnt that my first grandchild was going to be twins and that the twins were identical boys. This wonderful news however, was closely followed by being told about all the things that could go wrong!!!. I therefore had to curb my excitement and I found it quite hard not to window shop for my future grandsons. As the weeks passed I felt a little safer buying an outfit or three! but still remained very restrained.
Everything was going so well and then I learnt that there were problems and unfortunately they had to be born 8 weeks early. For twins at 32 weeks they were a good size3lbs8.5oz and 3lb 5.5oz and used their lungs but Jacob and Benjamin had to be whisked away to the Neonatal ICU to be hooked up to all manner of monitors. Like all newborns’ they lost some of their birth weight and then put it all back on. They had to be kept a sleep for as much time as possible in order to do so. Ben has had jaundice, both had a spell of holding their breath, both have had problems with temperature control and Jake doesn’t seem to want to suck at anything for more than a few seconds.
I was able to see them at 14 days and they were so cute. I found myself staring at each of them trying to see if there was any differences’. Every time I thought I had found one it became obvious that there really were none except for a slight difference in size at the moment. I feel they will be playing a lot of tricks on their Nana as they grow up.
I still have not been able to touch them so I can’t wait till they can go home and I can visit and cradle them both in my arms.
At the tender age of 3 weeks they have both reached the important landmark of 4lb. Jake was first to hit the 4lb mark and be transferred, from his incubator, to a hot cot but instead of being in a cute little vest he had to be dressed in a ….vest, a baby grow, a cardigan and a woolly hat and then lie under 2 blankets and a muslin sheet. Ben had to wait for his transfer but he skipped the hot cot as they were then both transferred to cool cots on the 14th because their temperature control had kicked in.

Steve and Emma were so happy and they were able to give them their first bath on the 15th … which the boys were NOT impressed with.

The 16th brought more stress to the new parents who had managed to relax a little over the past few days ….. Steve finally got the nurses to take seriously a problem he and Emma had noticed … Jakes abdomen was very distended and had been obviously bigger than Bens for some time. Tests were done and it looks as though Jake is Lactose intolerant but they still are awaiting some more results. The other problem is that he may have a Hernia due to the swelling or a weakened area that could develop one later. Poor little thing had to be basically starved so that they could see what was happening. Now he has a special feed and is being monitored but it will delay his departure from hospital. They are four weeks old now and weigh 4lb 11oz (Jake) and 4lb 6oz (Ben)

Back soon with more updates. Maybe I will get some scrapping done soon, I have been a bit absorbed in my family history research recently.

Where does time go?

I really must do some scrapping but I need to be in the right frame of mind. I watch DD and have an idea but when I sit down to scrap my head is empty.
The last LO,s I managed were for an exhibition at Abbotshall Church at the end of May.
Each group that used the church hall were asked to show the members of the church what they were all about. The activities range from Scottish Dancing and Painting to Scrabble and Warhammer not forgetting the Guides. Our crop did a really nice display set up by DD and this was my contribution.
This is in the centre of Kirkcaldy
I chose these next photos to illustrate the Parish church and really enjoyed researching its history.

The exhibition was held here.

Considering that I'm retired and have almost nothing that I have to do, the days just slip by. I cannot believe that 11 days have passed with out me putting fingers to the keys and recording my activities. What activities I hear myself asking ... and find it hard to answer. Although I have not been blogging I have been glued to the Internet... moving so little that I groan when I rise from the chair to attend my needs.
Food shopping is of course a necessity and I find myself opening both local supermarket online windows and comparing who is going to give me the best value (sad) ... any other kind of shopping is a total no go area at the moment and especially stash.
Researching family history is what has taken my time up and as I get side tracked so easily, I find myself looking up things that are interesting but have absolutely no relevance to what I'm doing!!!!!. At the moment I'm gathering everything together and getting my head straight so that I can start my Family History blog properly.
The shame is, that to check some things, I need to spend money ...... there's that word again!!!!!
I have just had a very chilled weekend. Vicky (friend of DD) came over and in fact we were all so chilled that we all stayed in our ‘Jammie's’ all day on Sunday. It was fun as it made me feel like a kid again.

Mothers ...... who'd have them?

I am sure that is what my son is thinking at the moment, after me visiting him for a few days.
I try so hard not to interfere and not to say the wrong thing but my mouth just opens and the words just pour out.
I can hear them but am not able to stop the flow. I'm hoping he doesn't hear me as he never listened to me when he was at home. Saddly now he listens and I find I have created an atmosphere for an hour or so which finally he tells me off about, as he hands me a mug of tea. I squirm as I drink it because he is right .... its his life and I am just as bad as him about tackling the things I moan about. I sit there and a voice inside my head is shouting "I'm your mother .... and I care. Its my job to nag". Luckily my mouth is full of tea so I manage to keep quiet and soon everything is back to normal. Have I learnt from my mistake? ....YES. Will I do it again? ...I hope not but I'm going to carry super glue in my handbag .... just in case.

Value for money.............NOT!!!!!!!

One of the things I forgot to say about myself is that I’m addicted to bargains but they have to be things I actually need other wise they are not bargains. This starts with food shopping as a main priority and moves into the realms of all other commodities including scrapping. I also believe in value for money and that is probably even more important to me. For this reason I have to have a moan today.

When my daughter was purchasing an item for her crop I added a tin of Gelly gems. There was no dimensional information given but I assumed that the gems were of a moderate size, complementing the rest of my hoard, and that the tin would be full as £3.99 was far more than I usually spend. Yes I admit it … it was an impulse buy and I should know better.

Well they arrived this morning.. ..What a disappointment!!!!
Normally full price for a sheet of 72 round gem type things is 1.99 but if you look around it can drop to as low as £1.20.

Also if you are under the same illusion I was that they are Jelly, you would be wrong, they are hard plastic cabochon style gems…. Another disappointment!!!

The tin is tiny and the only gems in it are visible. Yes there are 72 and an assortment but I feel this Gel-A Tin is poor value for money and I have to say think before you buy.

Here is a photo comparing the tin with an SD card from my camera and a normal sheet of cabochon style epoxy gems.

On the soapbox......AGAIN!

Third night of the semi finals of BGT and I’m a little disappointed in the British public and I am also beginning to think, that if you are over 16 and don’t have rippling muscles there is very little point of applying to the show unless you are extraordinary and then you would probably have been discovered already. I also feel that there are too many over sixteen singers who should have applied to X-Factor and far to many dance troops who are stars only through the eyes of their parents.
I have to say that the very best so far was the young boy dancer, George Sampson, who won last night.

He will be the Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly/Usher of today and tomorrow …and then some.


I then ask myself, if the prize is to appear on a variety show then why was Hoop La La not in the top 3. They were so entertaining with a little camp humour from the lad and amazing stunts with their Hoopla Hoops …yes those large plastic rings that everyone had in the early 60’s and again in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s most of which were consigned to the shed or the dump because so few of us new what to do with them, even if we had managed to get them to rotate more than twice around our waist. I can still remember rolling mine down hills and chasing them, (yes I had more than one!) at a snails pace hoping that I would never see them again and would have a good explanation for going home empty handed.

Hope you enjoy this video.

Stash Ban? ....What Stash Ban

For those of you who are not scrappers or card makers this self inflicted ban means I must not buy anything related to my hobby for the foreseeable future, as my credit cards are groaning under the strain.

The problem is I have very little will power which is probably why my knees are yelling " Diet or we strike" and the doughnuts and strawberry tarts across the road are crying "Eat me". You have guessed it ... I have tuned out my knees but I can clearly hear the cakes calling!
Well while trying not to think about cigarettes and trying not to pop out to the bakers, a mere 100 yards away, for one of their glorious toffee doughnuts,I decided to surf the stash shops for a bit of virtual window shopping .....BIG MISTAKE .... I should have got the doughnut.

I unfortunately stumbled across K& Co's Blue Awning and a love affair began so strong that resistance was futile ...and the parcel will be delivered in a few days!!!!

Having confessed this I am off to hang my head in shame.

A Precious Moment

Thought I would do some scrapping and chose to do Lisa and her son Harry.

Lisa has amazing red hair which is actually Titian and changes in intensity according to mood. I have witnessed this when we worked together!!!

She had the amazing ability to grasp every new task without needing a second lesson and I am sure she is taking to motherhood just as efficiently... with a little help from hubby Mark.

I wonder whether Harry is going to end up with Titian red hair.

Watch This Space

If you watch this video you may be left wondering if this guy is talented or rubbish and if he is talented, where does he fit in, in the world of entertainment. This is how I felt until I saw his performance on Monday night having taken Simon's words to heart.

All I can say is this guy is brilliant...... sorry Simon you are so wrong.

Normally Simon Cowell talks a lot of sense and 80% of the time I agree with him but this time he's got it wrong and so has the British public. Danny La Rue and Dame Edna just prove that a drag act can be very successful and I am sure both have appeared at a Royal Command Performance. Tracy Lee Collins is as talented as they are, in fact he has a far far better voice and all that he needs to do is incorporate his amazing wit into the act. I certainly would be entertained by him in a variety show and lets not forget his potential as a Pantomime Dame.

A Bit About ME

If my ramblings are to be read by others in the outside world then maybe I should say a little about myself. I am 61 but not the average 61. No I'm not a Jane Fonda or Joan Collins in fact just the opposite, physically, more like an 80 year old weeble on legs. Mentally I still feel 30- 40 which is very hard when I find myself admiring a yummy 30 year old male.
I feel saddened by what is happening in the world and about the young of this country. Unless a miracle happens the future seems very bleak. The young need to be believed in so they can believe in themselves and those that need to carry knives and guns need the most help ...and fast.
In a lighter vein I feel I should explain the Blog title. When Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's reality programme was aired and every one shared their day to day life, both my grown up children said that I was a mix of the two of them with regards to how I had brought them up, so they gave me the nick name Shozzy. In fact the blog was nearly called Angie's Cafe, as that is what my youth Club members called my home, when they dropped in for a coffee and a sandwich when at a loose end, way back at the end of the 70's. I love cooking too and I may jot the odd recipe down here some time ..... I have a great one for a Coconut cake.

I also love Scrap booking and Card making and I really must get back to Family History. As you can see my interests do not promote a fit healthy life style. I have however given up smoking after 46years and am quite proud of myself ....5 months and still sticking to it. My only problem is that the pounds have piled on even more and if I do not eat something sweet and sticky after meals, I crave a ciggy. The only other time I crave is when I'm stressed so I think I'm doing OK.

My other passion is watching Talent Shows like X Factor. Most times I have the knack of picking the winner, after only the first or second live show. One year I knew that Fantasia would win American Idol after her first audition ...what a talented lady she is. I also often spot who will be a star out of those who are eliminated and I am going to get up on my soap box in my next post, over Britain's Got Talent and there will be several posts like that over this week I expect.

I shall close now as I really need a coffee before inflicting my opinions upon you.

Hello

My daughter is always going on about her blog and I read it when she updates it which is quite often, so I got to thinking maybe I would like one as well. So here I am on my new adventure. Welcome to my new cyber home.