The Wifeliest of duties

The Brig has a headache. He is in bed with his eye mask, ear plugs and a life time supply of paracetamol. He's wrecked; not surprising when he's been such a trooper - yesterday, he got up with Beautiful Girl at 10am and kept her entertained until I got up at shock horror, 1pm. He then got up with her twice last night, once just after he came up to bed and again an hour or so later. I think it's pre-emptive sleep storing as I've warned him that if BG is going to be weaned onto bottles before the end of the month, he's going to have to bite the bullet and get up to her more than once in the night to give her a feed.

And so I need to be sympathetic, afterall, didn't he give me a lovely break yesterday morning when all that was wrong with me was a tummy bug and cold. So the Wifely sympathy gene must be kicked into high drive and the tenderest of mercies must be applied.

Well see how long it lasts...

So much for New Year's Resolutions...

So I'm going to make it a new quarter resolution, and actually start posting again!

The last couple of months have been hectic. I went back to work in January, a week after Beautiful Girl started in the creche. Since she started, one or other of us has been sick, unfortunately mainly her. But we are coming out the far side of the viral bombardment - long may it last!

I'm not sure if it's the carols on the tv or seeing Beautiful Girl all snuggled up in her Christmas pjs, but I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy, and counting my very extensive blessings. We are an extremely lucky family. We've had a wonderful 2010, getting married, the arrival of our wonderful daughter, and being able to afford our beautiful home. The Brig's job is secure, and although I don't want to, I have a good job to go back to from my maternity leave. We have a warm and cosy home, a beautiful Christmas tree surrounded by shiny parcels, and food for our table tomorrow. Perhaps most importantly, we have amazing family and friends – my Dad trekked through the snow today to make sure he saw us before Christmas and my Mum and brother will do likewise tomorrow. We will have some friends calling to say hello, and we will welcome some people to our home who are far from their own families. For all they drive me mad, The Brig's family would give anything for us to be sharing this lovely time with them. Instead we will get to have another warm, loving family gathering for New Year's Eve.

So, I hope Christmas brings you peace and the New Year, joy.

I've been a bad Wifely

In so many ways, but I'll start by acknowledging my lack of presence for the last 6 weeks. I'm going to claim sleep deprivation and the fact that we still don't have a reliable internet connection... The Brig is failing miserably in his primary duty of IT support on this one.

So, I hope everyone is having a lovely run up to Christmas. I'm starting to get a little panicked so now I have a giant turkey (for 6 people), half a gallon of diet coke, presents for people who may or may not drop by, and half of firebox.com for The Brig. He's impossible to buy for, so I'm stockpiling for his birthday too. I have been very good though and bought and written Christmas cards. They have stamps on them and they will be going in the post box tomorrow...definitely. I'm determined that I won't end up with yet another pile of written cards that never get sent.

Actually, all this card writing is bringing back memories of sending wedding invitations this time last year. I was frantically sticking card and ribbon to more card and ribbon while The Brig compiled spreadsheet after spreadsheet of guest lists, their addresses and table configurations based on varying response rates. Thank God all that is over...I keep threatening The Brig that if he isn't nice to me I'm going to make him renew our vows next year. That keeps him in line.. :-)

Right brain-y-ness

I love to think of myself as a creative person. My current facination is making a meditation stool. I have managed to break my sewing maching, twice, turning a pair of jeans into a skirt. I buy clothes purely so I can move buttons, add ribbons and change their shape and colour. I invest in lovely pieces of fabric and have a collection of buttons that any rag doll would covet. I take notions about colours and painting - rooms, furniture and things that stay still long enough. I have become very enthusiastic about baking, and the weekend was an elasticated waistband of butter, sugar and eggs. I have an idea that I'd like to make curtins for Beautiful Girl's bedroom, but I was on the losing side of an argument with buckram not long enough ago. I love photography and did manage to take one spectacular picture, but in all honesty, it was an accident (I was trying to figure out the settings and I got it wrong). Hell, I started this blog as a way of encouraging the untapped writer buried in my soul. Some days I think I should have left her there, company for the skinny girl who has accepted her fate.

Along with the bed linen addiction, I get Mary-make-and-do tendencies from my mother. She knits and sews, paints silk and made nearly all of the clothes I wore until I was about 5. I don't know much about things biological, but I presume it's a recessive gene that expresses itself indiscriminatingly because none of my siblings seem to be afflicted as I am. They are all actually creative. My brother can make almost anything you can imagine and fix the things others didn't realise were broken. My sister is brilliant with child's play and carves pumpkins, makes collages and decorates Easter eggs with panache. The youngest of the clan is an artist with a Byron-esque sensibility in his soul. He also makes films.

So I'm the sensible one, the one who knows how to organise things, where to get things, aranges someone to be there to let the plumber in and, most importantly, knows how to make the gravy for the dinner that she's remembered to put in on time so that we'll eat this evening. I guess that's why I'll be cooking Christmas dinner this year in a freshly painted kitchen and served alongside a home made table centre and Christmas crackers. But at least it'll be on time.

And while I'm doing that, I'll be thinking about how I can make a new angel for the top of the tree, and what I'll need to make a better Advent wreath, and wouldn't that wall actually look better lilac...

Isn't it nice that we all have our place in the circle of family...

Hidey...Boo!

Beautiful Girl is having a week of firsts. This week, she has taken her bottle and decided she likes her bath. She has also sat up by herself and tonight has started playing hidey...boo! Right now she's sitting on the couch with The Brig, and she keeps burying her head in a cushion and popping up to us again. She's loving it, giggling like a loon and her face almost split with the smile. She is such a happy little girl, and so much fun...even though I hate that she's growing up so quickly, it's a wonderful to be part of it.

But then it makes it up to me

by showing me sites like this... http://www.fictionpress.com/s/1867565/1/Not_Your_Average_Dictionary_Homelife_Edition

Brilliant!