Christmas Chaos

Have I really not blogged for that long??! Shame on me.

Well, where to begin...

We spent Christmas in Manchester. We stayed in 4 different places, slept in 5 different beds, battled flu and coughs and colds, spent a day without Ben, took our 1st set of official wedding photographs, unpacked maybe 7 or 8 boxes of the billions that remain in my old bedroom (Rachel Evans be warned, get those boxes unpacked now or you'll regret it 6 months down the line when you've forgotten what's in them), threw away 3 binbags full of junk, 1 tub full of paper to be recycled, repacked 6 boxes half the size with things we actually want to keep and actually took a boxful back down to Sussex with us.

Before heading off to Manchester a few things of note happened. Ben's weight gain wasn't what it should be and I got given orders to start packing away more calories than I had been getting to improve my milk supply; Ben had his first set of immunisations (that was a traumatic day, for both of us) which later caused a bit of feverishness which then developed into a proper cough and cold, just as the Lurgy hit me and Stephen. And, I took my prescription for my insulin in to the chemist, so it would be ready to collect the day we headed off to Manchester. Only I forgot to collect it. So I had to get the lovely Christine Phillips to write me a private prescription for the insulin that I ran out of (stupid me) and discovered JUST how good it is that I get free prescriptions. Even having to pay for prescriptions is better than paying the full price. My word but medication is expensive when you have to pay full price for it - which is what I had to when I discovered my medical exemption certificate was not valid for private prescriptions.....

Ben and I went off to the baby clinic again this morning for the New Year Weigh-In, to find he's gained a full pound in weight (just under half a kilo) and 3cm in length in the past 3 weeks - despite being poorly!! We've been on a demand-feeding diet yesterday and today to get my milk supply back up after my poorliness, and it seems to be working. He also seems to be teething already, so we've got a gummy teether and some gel to try. It's great seeing the smiles become more frequent, the colic getting less, the sleeping getting easier. I guess because he's been poorly the past couple of weeks, everything has seemed much worse - and now he's getting better, it feels like a massive improvement.

We really need a new house. The rent runs out in August and we won't be renewing it - those of you who've seen our cottage will understand! I can't imagine a crawler crawling around in here, it would be madness. There's nowhere to put anything, and trying to make this place baby-proof would be like trying to push treacle up a hill. I love that analogy... But seriously, we need to move house. Neither of us think it will be too hard finding a house we like and could afford, but it might be a bit harder trying to find someone who will give us a mortgage.

What would I like in my next house?
- a decent sized garden at the back
- off-road parking would be a bonus, but I really don't want another house that opens straight onto the road/pavement.
- 3 bedrooms (one for us, one for Ben, one for guests / the photo studio / music room / office)
- kitchen/diner because we enjoy entertaining
- a living room big enough for my keyboard
- ceilings that you can't touch just by standing on tiptoes and reaching up
- doubleglazing, central heating that works, none of these daft spotlights that heat up the room without the need for a radiator
- room for a tumbledrier as well as the usual washing machine and dishwasher
- lots of space for storage, and an easily accessible loft
- now this might sound daft, but a blue front door.
- and finally, it has to be close to our friends' houses, within easy walking distance! And not just to where they live now, but to where they will move to...

Only a small list. But I think it's important to know what you want, and to be specific in your prayer requests. I could be even more specific than that, but that would be getting silly.

I went into the greengrocers today, asked about the Christmas Veg Boxes they did, and Nick told me they hadn't had as many orders as they'd have liked but they broke even. Almost to the pound! That's a relief, at the very least. I might be starting back working there again in a couple of weeks, wrap me and Ben up in the Moby, and go and get the invoices sorted out on a weekly basis. There's also talk of various bits and pieces I can do at home which is great. Hurrah, I'll be back at work soon!

Right I am going to make the most of Ben being asleep, and do the washing up and get everything ready to make dinner - tonight we will be eating chicken curry pie, with buttered carrots, and a bottle of red wine.

Chicken Curry Pie
ingredients
short pastry, made with 8oz flour
2 diced chicken breasts
jar of sainsburys basics curry sauce (7p, can't beat it!!)

method
make pastry, line pie dish, bake blind
cook chicken, add sauce, heat through, tip into half-cooked pastry case, cover with remaining pastry, bake.

Buttered Carrots
peel and slice carrots
melt 1oz butter in a lidded saucepan
add carrots, cook with lid on for 10 minutes on low heat until softening
take lid off, turn up heat and cook, stirring continuously, for about 5 minutes.

That's it really. Mmmmmmmmmm