Mid winter malaise

It’s been a while between posts. Benj and I have been traipsing through the daily chaos that is kids, family, work, friends, West Wing, The Wire, pets and bills bills bills (roughly in that order). Winter power bills – my goodness those power companies must make gigantic profit.

Last month in review; well Edie turned 3. That is still hard to say out loud. We decided not to throw a big party this year (essentially my call, being lazy mum) and just invited the family over and a couple of close friends. Helium balloons which were a hit (idea stolen from Louis’ and Jemima’s party thanks) cupcakes, presents and wine . Hang on, that really is a party isn’t it.

Edie queen of the party, invested her time in present opening obligations in her tutu from Aunty JP thank you- we now try not to mention the T word. She’s had a few nights where we’ve given up and just let her sleep in it. Despite proudly holding up 3 fingers now and being a big girl, she still resorts to ‘just being a little girl’ when circumstances suit. Some of those being, the need to have more stories at night, the need to have fairy bread, the need to avoid having a shower...you get the drift.

Ira also enjoyed the party, but ended up at A and E (or is it ED these days) with Benj at 8.30 that night. We’d noticed the scar on the back of his head from where the springs went in was looking sore and weeping. We both felt shattered Sunday night, after a big night out Friday night and Edie’s party that afternoon, we were ready to collapse into bed. We toyed with the idea of taking him down in the morning (his scar had done this off and on before) but decided that best for Benj to go. We felt a little overcautious. Long story short after a 2 hour wait Ira was seen and booked for emergency surgery the next morning to remove the springs. Transpires that our poor wee babe who’d been a little more grizzly than usual of late, but always with time for smiles and laughing, had a chronic infection in his head. The surgery was apparently not too tricky, they stapled his head back up and he and Benj were home in a few days. He’s just had the staples removed. Plan from here is uncertain, I guess we’ll have to see when we meet with his surgeons if they think his head will stay rounded out without the springs in there. They were going to come out ultimately, but not until about October.

On to lighter things, he is now doing great. His hearing was checked today and this seems to be all good- and he’s getting more and more keen to push up and attempt to crawl which is still translating to rolling or pulling himself along the floor. He continues to be our hero, he makes us so so proud to be his mum and dad.


Edie and Ira make each other laugh. Ira shrieks and giggles at Edie’s gestures, silly monkey statements and funny noises. Benj is starting to look for some work. Ira will be 1 next month, gulp. That is also a strange concept. So, we’ll have to be onto plan B for some more childcare. Aside from birthday parties, hospital stays and a busy social life, I guess I could sum this month up as having a heavy emphasis on food! We just seem to be having the most delicious meals lately- thanks to the very talented cook in our household.

Must get Benj to post some more recipes. Tonight’s menu is pork spare ribs. Last night was a hearty beef casserole, the night before fish pie (delicious, thanks Bex) the night before that, our wonderful nanny Katalin made us a traditional Hungarian dish. Spoilt.