w/e 4th March....eye see trouble.........

Still one more holiday day to go this week as Monday is an INSET day.What does Inset mean anyway?  I have to be honest that I will find it much easier when DD is back at school. She is full on and wants to be doing something every minute of the day.  

Theres a woman who lives down the road from us and she has 4 children and is about to have another. I wonder what half term was like in her house. I see her every day and she moves like she is on autopilot. How the hell she gets out of her house each morning with everyone dressed I do not know. Two of them are at school, one at pre-school and another in a pushchair probably about 2 years old. She always wears a hat (bed hair?) but looks smart enough and wears make-up and her kids all look clean and well dressed. She goes to school and drops the first 2 off, then she walks to the other end of the village to the pre-school and back. Then at 12 I see her power walking back up the road and back to collect the one from pre-school. Then again at 3pm she is doing the school run back home again. What will happen when her next baby is born I wonder everytime I see her - how will she find time to actually give birth?  How did she find the energy to have sex in the first place to make this 5th baby?  Actually all of it is none of my business but I like to be nosy.  In fact I think I saw her in the scan dept of the hospital at her 20 week scan ( I was sat in a wheelchair waiting for the porter at the time and saw her from a distance so can't be 100% on this) so by my reckoning she must be due very soon. I feel like I should be knocking on her door and saying - "can I help at all because I only have 2 children and clearly have too much time on my hands"  Or is she just mad - I love my two but have absolutely no desire to have any more. She must have the patience of a saint.

On Saturday Dad and WSM come for a visit. Its a good day, we have a nice lunch and DD is full of energy as usual.

Sunday is a total nightmare. We are woken by DD at about 6am shouting that she cannot open her eyes. I go rushing in thinking she is playing up but no she is telling the truth - one of her eyes is covered in gunk and is totally crusted over. Oh shit, its conjunctivitus. Caught from my firends little girl last week no doubt, I thought we had got away with it but no.  Now I know its not the end of the world as most kids get this every now and again but for me it would be a disaster to get it. Because of my dodgy eye condition I have to put a steroid drop in my eyes every day and adding steroid to an infection like that is like fuelling a fire. My eyes would be in a right old state.  So after I have cleansed her eyes with cotton wool we go antibac and handwashing crazy. All the sheets, pillow cases , towels etc go in the wash. On the advice of NHS direct we don't need the docs but go to a chemist who prescribes anti-biotic drops for her.  Simple solution you would think. Err no.  Trying to get the drops in her eyes is hellish. She screams the place down and hides, runs, whatever she can do to avoid it.  We try being kind, bribing her,shouting at her, explaining patiently etc but nothing works. So we resort to brute force. DH holds her down while I prise her eyelids open to squeeze a drop in. She screams the place down and I wonder what the neighbours think we must be doing to her. And every 2 hours this is repeated. My nerves are frayed. She eyes the clock and constantly asks what time the next drops are. It a very unpleasant experience and I go to bed dreading the next day.

After more dreadful eye drop fights on Monday morning I phone the docs and get an appointment. There must something easier like an ointment that I can use. She can't be the first child to be scared of eye drops. DH goes to work and I cry before he goes. I didn't sleep well and am not sure how I will get the drops in on my own, look after Alex and keep them both happy all day.  We go to the docs and the minute we get into the reception Alex decides he wants feeding (again) and screams the place down. He doesn't let up for a second and my boy has some serious lungs on him when he isnt happy. The doc is great though and even though we have to have a very shouty conversation over his screaming he tells me that DD's eyes dont look too bad and after just 2 more lots of eye drops today we can stop them and just bathe the eyes in cool boiled water. He has kids and also has been through the eye drop fight. And yes she can go to school tomorrow. Thank goodness. I was worried she wouldnt be allowed to go and how would I spend more days at home keeping her entertained. We leave the docs and of course Alex stops crying and promptly falls asleep in his pram again. Little buggar.

On Tuesday DD goes back to school and she virtually skips through the door with delight to be back.  And I walk back home feeling like punching the air too. This makes me sound a very bad mother I know but as I hear various snippets of conversations such as ' thank god for that' and 'I couldn't cope with another day of those bloody holidays' and realise I am not alone. I bet Mother of nearly five is getting the flags out.

By the end of the week I am almost sane again and my house looks less of a wreck. While baby boy is asleep I can actually load the dishwasher, push the hoover around and even tidy up every now and again. 

I am only up twice a night now too - about 1am and 4am.........progress.

I end the week on Friday with a very pleasant speed shopping trip with Alex and get everything on my long list (various birthday cards, 3 birthday gifts, back to nature feeding bottles, wrapping paper and a blind for the new bathroom), eat a sandwich, drink a latte and get home again without him even opening his eyes.  Perfect.

See you next week x