Back to Work

Back at work today and I've been flat out busy. It pissed down rain all day and i really thought there would be no one about and it would be an easy day. Instead I had customer after customer and a million emails and admin jobs to catch up on.

Not that I'm complaining. Being busy is good. The day flew by and before you knew it I'd picked up Emily, served take-away chicken for dinner, bathed her and put her to bed.

I've been playing with logo's for the new shop all night and my eye's are beginning to get sore. Do I do a colored logo or a black and white logo? Do I put a picture on the side or faded behind the name? So many options and I'm terrible at making up my mind on these things.

I'm so excited about the Melbourne Kids In Style Expo coming up on 3rd August. I've booked Mum and I into the Art Series hotel - The Cullen. Mum was an art student and teacher back in the day and it's right up her alley. She'll love all the art deco furniture and original works on the walls.

Tomorrow I've got a little more stock ordering and re-organising to do, and endless amount of paperwork and hopefully get this artwork sorted. It's going to be a really busy 6 weeks ahead so this chest infection better hurry up and get better!



Being Sick Sucks

It totally sucks being sick. I haven't been ill for well over 12 months so this is really unusual for me. Being self employed and a single mother brings a whole set of new problems when i get sick.

For example, last night in the midst of a major coughing fit a list of things went through my mind such as should I call an ambulance, should I call my mother, should I call my ex, am I just a big hypochondriac, what if I stop breathing and die and no one finds Emily for two days? It was scary.

Today for the first time I had to close the shop and put a sign up saying I'd be back tomorrow due to illness. That has never happened before.

The doctor has diagnosed me with Pleurisy so it's rest and a lot of antibiotics for me. If I don't get better by Thursday I have to go in for tests for Pneumonia. I seriously thought I'd just go in and he'd tell me I got a head cold on top of my bronchitis.

So I'm totally feeling sorry for myself, lying on the couch with nothing to watch on TV and I know I only have a certain number of hours before my whirlwind of a two year old gets home and totally exhausts me.

Time for some quick shut eye and hopefully feeling better when I wake up......

The Week That Was......

God I've been hopeless this week with my blog! Totally neglected it. Even the awesome bloggers who have more than one child and are attending the blogging awards managed to post something.

Well if you've been wondering what I've been up to, here goes.....

• Working like a crazy woman in the shop to get all the product on the shelves so Mum doesn't have to do anything but sell while I'm away

• Sewing, sewing, sewing! I'm determined to feature some of my own creations at the next Little Me Markets

• Toddler wrangling. This consists of negotiating bath, PJ's and bedtime routine with a 20 month old. She's a determined little bugger who managed to scream her head off till 9:15pm last night!
• Getting Emily checked out by the doctor because she had an epic stack in our driveway and a day later her eye was still swelling.

• Cooking dinner every night. Doesn't sound like much but we always do at least one to two take out dinners a week as we both work and it can be hard to get something cooked in time for Emily (we don't get home till about 5:45pm and by then she's starving and crazy). The reason I'm cooking every meal is because we're trying to save money for our big trip to Ireland.
• I must be totally crazy because I also committed to another market before our trip. Now I'm doing the Little Me Market on 15th April in Wodonga and the Golden Horseshoe Festival in Beechworth on 7th April.

To top everything off I have developed a lovely sinus infection. Albury-Wodonga sits in a basin and pollen hangs around for most of the year. We have gorgeous Autumn trees but when their leaves begin to fall so do these potent fury spores along with their seeds. They cause havoc with my sinuses which over-react to the pollen and I inevitably get an infection. Now the infection has spread to my lungs so I've had to start two courses of anti-biotics or else it will become full blown bronchitis and I won't be able to travel.

Speaking of travel, I can't believe we're leaving in 2 1/2 weeks! I'm excited and nervous and very stressed. Taking a toddler on a plane is a daunting task in itself, but the longest flight I've been on is 5 hours to Bali. I didn't even get jet lagged. I have no idea how I'll handle the flight let alone how Emily will handle it. Then there's my hubby who is terrified of flying and will have to be sedated the entire trip, so I'll also have very little help with Emily. I'm just praying we have nice flight attendants who will give me some tips.

Anyway, I'll try to make an effort next week to blog a bit more often. What a crazy crazy life.....but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Super Mum

Why is it that when a Mum is sick, she's still a Mum? When my hubby is sick he's just plain sick and can't even look after himself.

Yesterday he came home at 3pm with a migraine. He walked in the door and went straight to bed, much to the confusion of Emily. "Daddy nigh nigh?" she asked and then looked outside at the sun shining.

At 4am he woke and couldn't get back to sleep. He tossed and turned until I kicked him out of bed.

Today he was sent home from work with a viral infection and high blood pressure and was straight back in bed. He could have had Emily with him today as all he'd have to do is supervise, but instead he sent her to Mum and Dads so he could rest.

A couple of months ago I had a very severe case of bronchitis (something I get a lot of in Albury thanks to pollen hanging around for 9 months of the year). I couldn't call in sick to the shop, who was I going to call? Myself? So I go to work, sick as a dog apologising to customers all day for my incesant coughing. That night I pick up Emily from childcare, take her home, bath her, make her dinner and put her to bed. I crawl on to the couch for an hour or two watching SVU or NCIS until I fall asleep and hubby wakes me to get into bed.

All night I cough and splutter and just as I fall back asleep Emily wakes crying and wanting a feed. I go back to bed, coughing again and hubby complains that I'm too loud and wants me to stop coughing. I would if I could! I go back to the couch until I wake to Emily crying in the morning.

My point is, when I'm sick I suck it up, I do what I have to and get on with it. On the other hand I also take so much longer to get better. Tonight hubby is already feeling better and has let me sit on my ass and blog instead of doing dishes and cleaning the family room (after cyclone Emily was there earlier).

Sometimes I feel like telling him to "suck it up princess", then when he's feeling better I just want to hug him and kiss him because at least he tries to make up for his winging and inability to do anything.

Sometimes I think I should stop trying to be such a super Mum and let others handle it for the day, even if I don't exactly like how they do things.

Hubby and Emily playing games on the computer tonight while I cooked dinner. Obviously he's well enough for that! 

Buggered

Tonight I would love to write and interesting, uplifting and inspiring post but honestly....I'm buggered!

5 nights of  Miss E not sleeping, me getting up driving around at 3am to get here settled only to have her wake as I pull up in the driveway, then having to get up and run my business and be happy to see customers. It's all I can do to stop the tears rolling down my face right now.

I'm fortunate to have someone fantastic working for me. She's turned into a friend as well as an employee and without her this week I'd be lost (thank you JT). She's taken care of all the incoming stock, phone orders and even took some awesome photo's of shop.

These are Bungy Buddie by Squiggle Pop

We took Miss E to the ENT this morning and we were told that all was OK, she just has an ear infection that's taking a little longer than normal to clear up and she was prescribed ear drops (which hubby forgot to get on his way home grrrr!) which will, according to the doctor, be like a nuclear bomb on the infection and make it all better.

For now I am off to bed and going to get as much rest as possible before the next wave of crying and wrestling over getting painkillers into Miss E starts. I keep reminding myself.......tomorrow is a new day.

The Flip Side

What a weekend. I think I could write 10 posts with the amount of stuff that happened. But I guess I'll just write about the most significant.

My baby girl has a severe ear infection, even after getting grommets put in last November. It's heartbreaking watching her wreath in pain and I can't even brush her hair on that side of her head as it's so sore. Luckily we're off to the ENT specialist tomorrow and hopefully we can get it sorted.

A very sad little girl :-(

We've just spent the majority of the weekend in and out of doctors and the emergency department at the hospital. I am seriously lacking in sleep and as I write this I am praying she stays asleep tonight as I've just spent the last hour driving her around trying to settle her.

On the upside we received some very exciting news. We are going to Ireland in April! My husband is Irish and has been here for 3 1/2 years and is dying to get back and see his family. He's from the Northern part of Ireland and it's probably also the coldest part. 

My head is racing already. It's at least a 30 hour trip to get there and we have a toddler!

During this horrific weekend with the ear infection I've learnt that Nurofen makes Miss E drunk. She races around like a maniac falling over and giggling until eventually it all ends in tears and I'm left driving her around to get her settled. I can only imagine what Phenergen would do to her which is what hubby thinks we should stock up on before we go.

Anyway, I guess I've got lots of planning to do (which I secretly love) deciding what clothes to pack, do we take a stroller or buy one there, what do I do with the shop, etc. etc. etc. In the meantime first things first, get my baby's ears fixed!

Goodnight x