OH, IT ALWAYS HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T NEED IT

Sickness that is. I am so rarely ill. Stanley has his moments, like all good babies they pick up little treats here and here. For example this morning I went in to his room to find that he had been sick in his cot. I will come back to that...for now it is about me. I was ill Sunday, you know when you start to feel something creeping in and it has that way of sweeping over your body with the same dread and lethargy I loathe. Anyway by Monday morning I had a pretty impressive temperature and felt terrible. It is so hard too to explain to Stanley that I'm not my usual crazy dancing self because I'm ill. And no it's not because I don't want to give in to all the 'uddle mummy' demands it is because I reeeeeeally don't want to pass this on to your tiny little body to deal with. I had to get better, I had a book festival to go to miles away in Southend on the tuesday...the very next day. I had someone picking me up at 6.20am to drive the hideous 3 hours there. I think though sometimes that helps - forcing yourself to get up, get moving and basically get over it! In the end I made it. It was booked 6 months ago and I didn't want to let the library down, the staff, or the lovely children coming for two workshops. In the end it was the best decision. The place was lovely - Southend Book Festival is one of the best small book festivals I've been too. Welcoming, well organised and run with kind people making sure I was ok, feeding me sugary treats and cups of tea to keep me going. The kids were a joy to work with, thoughtful, clever imaginative and above all fun. I clearly wasn't quite right as I completely forgot to take my normal photos of the wonderful creatures they draw. This time though I did get something given to me... this as a memento from one of them. What more could you ask for when you're not feeling quite yourself?!

Now though I am of course back to full health, Stanley it seems not so much. Not sure what the sick was about but I do know I had that horrid Mama guilt of knowing he had slept in it for several hours without making a fuss, poor lamb. A warm bath, a hairwash (oh dear) and some clean clothes have made him happier and comfortable for now. Hopefully this afternoon with some sensible food in his belly he will start to feel better.

♥ S&s

footnote: I hope to post the second t-shirt painting photos this week, sorry I forgot all about them.

TEA

Of the ginger, honey and lemon kind. I'm sick. I feel like I've had this cold for ages. It's the horrid kind where you really have to continually breathe through your mouth, eating is boring. I can't taste a thing, but yet craving sweet food and really salty and spicy food too, even though I'm not enjoying any of it. I know woe is me hey?! I'm so behind on everything, but mainly illustration work, and it's frustrating because I have some lovely things to be getting on with. Stanley has been really poorly too, all last week a hacking cough, a cold, high temperature and the pleasant stuff that is diarrhoea. We have enjoyed a lot of 'uddles' which are always nice even for all the wrong reasons. He's not wanted any food at all and only now eating a few bits so I'm worried that I'm now on set back having made some eating progress.

For now though I'm on a tea kick using the below ingredients. Ok so it's not rocket science but I thought I'd show you the cordial I love as it delivers a really good ginger hit but also a little sweetness too. I'm adding extra ginger beacause hey I love it and I reckon it can only do me good. If you're not into honey any sweetener would do, but I like honey and even better actually know the beekeeper!

I loathe all those medicine powdered lemon things, they taste gross to me and I feel they aren't doing me any good beacuse they don't taste real...anyway maybe that's just me but I prefer my homemade tea blend. Anyone else out there got any good fix up drinks, meals or tips?

THE HOUSE OF POX

so i think chicken pox has struck... to be honest i only remember it from childhood, and i only remember the scabby bit, not the bit leading up to that which is why perhaps i didn't even realise that Stanley had chicken pox?! at first they just looked like insect bits and as they came out pretty much as soon as the hot weather struck i really though that's all they were. in fact i went around telling people they were only insect bits for about 3 days. it was only when my next door neighbour questioned them (she's a more experienced mum and nurse!) that i thought oh dear, perhaps not. this was however after having just been to meet a friend with twins and play in the park. oops, bad mummy. so i managed probably to infect half my town in just a few hours.... i then had to ring round everyone we played with in the last week to tell them the bad news. not fun explaining how silly i'd been not noticing something like that on my child.... how do you really tell though? i think because it co-encided with the heat i put everything down to that. clearly when he had a temperature, i again thought he was just hot. poor child has battled through the pox without a single bit of medicine! tough little mister!

as you can see from these photos i took just before bedtime (hence the no cloth nappy...) he really doesn't seem to have been badly affected by it. he hardly has any spots and the ones that are there are scabbing over nicely. and so far not too many more have come out. just hoping this little bout gives his body the defence it needs from future pox attacks!

ON ANOTHER NOTE: this probably doesn't mean much to you. but i've enjoyed being on the top baby blogs thing. i think i've got some new readers which is nice. (hello!) and so they have re-set the counter on it which is actually good for me to try and get up the ranks a teeny tiny bit before all the blogs with thousands of readers get there ;) so if you could spare a minute and click to vote that'd be great. you don't have to sign up to anything to vote. just two clicks and it's done. top left button. thanks so much i really appreciate it. of course, you only have to vote if you actually like what is here...but i hope you do. daily voting of course please. ok, ok, now i'm pushing it i know.....but hey. you don't ask, you don't get, right?!

ILLNESS

when i wished last week that i could be ill instead of stanley, anything to take away how bad he was feeling and do it for him. what i definitely meant was be ill instead of him, not wait until he was 100% better and a ready roaring toddler again only to be struck down and suffer from the same god damn thing. urh. a sick house is no fun...especially when i don't even feel like a cup of tea.

STANLEY STYLE

poor little stanley is still sick. i really feel for him. he is trying to remain chipper when i know he feels like crap. hoping he knocks it on the head after the weekend and we can get back to having fun, and he can start enjoying his food again!
a good note though my talk i think went ok last night. it is nice to show my work sometimes, and to look back at what i've done and reflect on it. i think i will be joining BIG. they seem a friendly bunch and it's always nice to be part of a little illustrator community locally.

for now i'll leave you with stanley's sick style. hoping your weekends are all happy. xoxo

GETTING THERE....

by no means am i a doctor. or know any more than what my mum would have done for me if i was ill. but in this house at the moment this is what stanley is having. he hasn't eaten much since sunday night. and what he has wanted has been very plain. he's been drinking lots of fluids. water and some juice diluted down...a little sugar for energy i hope. he seems a bit better this morning. so i might branch out into a banana perhaps, or some plain rice. we will see how it goes. i don't like to take him to the doctors at the drop of a hat. and i think as he actually hasn't been sick since sunday night he is on the mend. a friend said to stay away from milk, and although he is desperate for it, we have so far managed... hoping he is better soon, although i am relishing the extra attention and all the hugs he's desperate for.

SICK.

this is what sickness looks like round here. so much washing...sofa cushions, bedsheets, clothes, soft toys and anything else that got hit. sleep. and even the weather has decided to be ill. it is only the second day. i'm hoping he is better very soon and we can get back to normal. i had some really fun, much happier posts planned. but they will have to wait. for now he needs me. to provide juice watered down. maybe a little plain bread, and perhaps some marmite ricecakes. but definitely plenty of hugs. see you all soon.

THE BIG BOX.

we had a new cooker delivered to replace the very odd one we inherited with the house. which although i loved, (it was a beautiful retro smeg one) it didn't work for toffee. you had to heat it up for an age before using it and cook everything for about twice as long in it. now we have a more efficient shiny new one. so exciting... what was more exciting was the huge box it came in. i had been dealing with a very ill stanley for the past few weeks and finally saw the doctors who gave him some amoxicillin which seemed to make him worse before better. anyway the four walls of the house and having to be with just me and day long was making him grumpier than normal. cabin fever for all. thank gawd then for this box. a couple of well cut holes and VOILA! a happy baby!