A high drama of new youth, parenthood and smelly nappies

Posts from November 2006

11:25am Wednesday, 29th November 2006

Apologies for the site being down the past few days – this is due to the all round incompetence that is our web host. Suffice to say when resources permit the blog as you have come to know and love it will be moving to e-pastures new. In fact, if any of you keen observers out there want to contribute towards the upkeep and/or relocation of this site then drop us a few scheckels via the host aid link to your right (puppy dog eyes to the fore).

since last we scribed the henleys three have traversed international boundaries, heading south to England for Peta’s cousin’s wedding in Manchester. The wedding was great and it was lovely to meet up with lots of Peta’s family again, although Cole had to make a last minute dash to the shops after it transpired his shirt had shrunk in the wash (and an exposed navel is never the best way to welcome someone into married life).

After some lovely food, a few glasses of wine for the non-driver, a power nap by gethin and some quality, calf-killing boogying by all three henleys we headed back to stay with great-grandparents ken and blanche in nearby warrington.

on sunday we met up with cole’s folks, sister and samuel who ‘popped’ up for a spot of lunch.

it was great to catch up, particularly because uma has been unwell for several weeks now after a particularly nasty bout of pneumonia, and also to see how much cousin samuel was coming on, embarking on the slippery slopes of solids and also making a mightily fine stab at crawling (as opposed to gethin’s half-hearted efforts at headbutting the floor when attempting to propel himself forward).

after such a fun and family-filled weekend it was a long, late drive back up to scotland where unfortunately peta became quite unwell with a fever which has since laid her low for the past few days. so, that’s the latest at camp henley. hopefully peta will begin to feel better before too long – months of pre- and ante-natal sleep deprivation catching up at long last!

07:59pm Thursday, 23rd November 2006

update

gethin has just completed his first full proper word: daddy, and not in a repeated ‘da-da-da-da-da’ kind of way (no offence gordon, andy and stewart).

okay, it’s not quite antidisestablishmentarianism but for two syllables it’s not bad at all!

10:19am Thursday, 23rd November 2006

the henleys are a wee bit bleary eyed today after another trip to st johns hospital in livingston. no, not another stubbed toe. this time it was gethin attending – he has been laid low with a cold (again) for a few days now but awoke quite suddendly last night with very heavy breathing and weazing. we rang the nhs direct people and because he was so young they recommended taking him to hospital just in case.

we pootled along and got seen by the emergency gp quite quickly who gave him a thorough check to see what was up. there was initial concern that he might be ashmatic but it turned out he just had some catarrh on his chest. we got home about 1 in the morning much relieved but quite, quite tired.

gethin has also discovered a new syllable and now everything is ‘g’. it would be fascinating to know what he is trying to say but in the meantime it is just entertaining to watch him point at the world around him and g-ing.

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11:28pm Monday, 20th November 2006

the tour de france it ain’t but cycling from work to the train station and from the train station to home is proving quite a challenge to bonnytoun’s resident exercise-a-phobe.

it’s not the hills, though they’re bad enough (particularly the up ones). it’s not the idiots in car and on foot who seem to have a particular blind spot for six-and-a-half foot tall blokes on bikes with bright flashing lights. it’s not even that i look like a lemon on the train with my trousers tucked into socks. it’s the fact that it has rained everytime i have ventured out on two wheels, meaning that everything in my field of view is reduced to a jackson pollock of smeared glimmers, leading linlithgow’s own lance armstrong aiming for the bus lane and hoping for the best.

elsewhere peta is hobbling less and gethin is perfecting that art of wrapping father round finger, although he has my sympathy vote at the moment as he has caught yet another cold – at this rate he should be immune from colds, chills, and all know ailments of the human body by the time he hits his teens!

the three henleys benefited from a visiting moomin and gramps at the weekend, moomin staying on for a few days to catch up with grandson and help out around the house. it is always lovely having friends and family round to stay (particularly when they excel at washing up) so anyone wanting to visit is more than welcome. we don’t get out much so could really do with the company!

01:35pm Friday, 17th November 2006

week 32 into the life of master gethin and all is well. mum’s toe is better, though still sore and swollen and G has seemingly mastered his first multi-syllable word in ‘pussycat’ – although in reality it sounds more like ‘pttsk-ca’ so he could be coughing up a fur-ball, attempting to beatbox or brushing up on his slavic language skills.

he is also getting very close to crawling having mastered the ‘getting-the-bum-in-the-air-to-bring-legs-forward’, although this action currently tends to render his head as a snow plough hindering any forward locomotion. still, i give it a week or two before he is flying around the house and we have to start nailing stuff in-situ – and i thought babies were messy when they were stationary!

update: for those that are interested, cole has had a pretty uneventful week although has cooked more often than most weeks, belatedly exploring his culinary potential once again.

cod teriyaki, eggs florentine, pie and veg and burger and spicy potato wedges have capped off a stellar week of kitchen antics, although all this fine effort was almost undone when cole scoffed half a tub of carte d’or and felt none too clever!

03:20pm Monday, 13th November 2006

what an eventful day it has been. awoke as usual with much too-ing and fro-ing to get both ourselves ready for work and gethin ready for the childminder in time. then in a fit of rage at the cat peta accidentally kicked the door and hurt her toe quite badly.

have been at hospital all day but after an x-ray for a supsected broken metatarsal, and much waiting (they had misplaced her file), happy to report that it is just bruised.

no driving for a wee while then mrs henley and feet up. doctors orders!

11:26pm Friday, 10th November 2006

wanted –

one pair of shiny new lungs and a pair of functioning thigh muscles. cole’s first day cycling to/from work (ably assisted by a train most of the way) proved quite tiring, particularly when it decided to rain all the way home, uphill, in the dark :(

elsewhere, it transpire’s gethin has had an ear infection resulting from his perpetual cold of late. as well as aggravating his eczema it puts the kibosh on our plans to frequent the local pool this weekend for a bit of splash but glad to know it can be sorted with a spot of antibiotics and some tlc.

12:46am Monday, 6th November 2006

sparkle

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10:34pm Saturday, 4th November 2006

henleys three had a lovely day today, venturing west to visit gramps in helensburgh. gethin had awoken particularly early this morning – as had peta – although cole took the opportunity to sleep in later than humanely seems possible with the acoustic keruffle that comes with occupying a seven month old of a weekend morning.

we arrived in h-berg later than expected (on account of cole’s laziness) for a slap-up lunch before relaxing to watch the rugby and generally just be in each other’s company. it is truly a shame that gramps will be moving down south in the new year. we don’t see each other as much as we should but as peta said on the drive back it has been nice to know that family are near.

at times it is frustrating to have so much of our family so far away. the flip side is that we definitely appreciate it more when we do meet up and since gethin was born i think we have seen more of our families than in the years preceding.

elsewhere am delighted to report that yesterday saw the arrival of cole’s shiny new bike. so, trousers tucked into socks, and lungs and calfs (or should it be calves?) prepared for steep inclines and the chilled oxygen of a scottish winter as cole embarks on once again joining the commuting masses.

10:21pm Thursday, 2nd November 2006

there is an old saying “the world is your oyster”. not entirely sure what it’s supposed to mean (if the world was to be something of mine it certainly wouldn’t be a smelly bivalve, regardless of their reputed effects on the female of the species). i digress. the reason i mention this old adage is that it sprung to mind earlier today when out to lunch with peta, gethin and denise and katja from work.

it is nothing new to note that the world of a 6-month old is explored through the mouth. everything in reach seems to end up in gethin’s hands and everything in his hand soon winds up in his mouth. it then occurred to me that all six month old’s must harbour feelings of megalomania. they have no concept of ownership ergo everything must be theirs. at lunchtime this rang particularly true when no-ones plate was safe from his prying digits.

anyway, that is my parental observation for the day. happy to report that gethin at long last seems to have emerged victorious from his epic battle with the dreaded cold. he still has a wee cough (not a ‘week off’ as it may be interpreted) but is pretty much back to his normal, cheeky self – although doesn’t seem too happy with the recent drop in temperature. join the club son!

10:35am Thursday, 2nd November 2006

any voluntary donations of blankets, sheepskins, blubber and burnable stuff would be gratefully accepted at henley towers as summer takes a devious shortcut, quickly bypassing autumn and going straight to ruddy-nora-its-chilly-better-dust-off-the-thermals .

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