Still Alive

But barely =(

We've been an en-lurgied household for nearly three weeks with no end in sight as yet. I started it all off over two weeks ago with some sort of flu like virus that had my sinuses screaming and left me feeling like a wrung out dishrag for over a week.

Then as I was still recovering the Ewok came down with a 'proper man cold'. He's had the sniffles before but this time it's serious. He's been coughing and sneezing for three days straight and his poor little nosey is red raw, so now every time he wipes his nose it hurts so much he cries, but he won't let me put anything on it to help as it stings too much to start with. I've just has to sneak into his room and take his temperature as it was 38.8C (101.8F) when I put him to bed. Fortunately the baby paracetamol seems to have done the trick as it's back to normal now. Fingers crossed that's the worst of it for him and he'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Naturally, because my system was still buggered from whatever virus it was that I had, now I've come down with the blasted cold as well. It arrived yesterday and then invited it's mates along for the party today, so now my nose is red and sore too.

And finally, I've just heard Wookiee downstairs sneezing his head off. He's been sorting through old boxes of stuff from when we moved here nearly 5 years ago, so it could just be dust, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him snuffling with this cold tomorrow.

Bleargh.

Mummy: The Pestering™

If I'm sitting at the computer or on the sofa reading, on the whole Ewok leaves me be and plays with his toys. I may be asked to participate in playing but that's about the extent of it. However, should I dare to lie down on the sofa for a rest....

Let slip the babies of pestering, the games are afoot.

The aim of Mummy: The Pestering™: Score as many points as possible before the game ends. The game ends when Mummy gives up trying to rest and gets up from the sofa. Thus the game is a careful balance of pestering just enough to gain maximum points, without over-pestering and bringing the game to an early end.

Rules: There are no rules, anything goes.

Scoring: Points are awarded as follows

Body shots
Any sharp poke to the anatomy scores 2 points. Players may utilise fingers, toes, knees or elbows. Specific shots score as follows:
Ribs - 5 points
Stomach - 10 points
Throat - 20 points
Kidneys - 50 points

Head shots
Finger in ear - 1 point.
Finger in mouth - 2 points.
Finger in eye - 5 points.
Finger up nose - 10 points.
If the finger is slobbery - extra 5 points.
Face slap (anywhere except the nose) - 5 points.
Nose slap - 10 points.

Fancy stuff
Sitting pretty: Climb up and sit on Mummy for a minimum of 10 seconds - 10 points.
Gerrofff: Sit on Mummy's head for a minimum of 10 seconds - 50 points.
Oh you foul creature: Fart while sitting on Mummy's head: 500 points.
Straight: Make a run from one end of the sofa to the other without Mummy throwing you off - 10 points.
Home run: Immediately make a successful return trip - a further 20 points.

StuffOnMyMummy
Bringing toys into the game adds a whole new dimension. This is not for the novice player.
Hitting Mummy with a toy - 5 points.
Hitting Mummy in the head with a toy - 25 points.
Balancing a toy on Mummy for at least 10 seconds - 5 points.
Subsequent balanced toys gain you a points multiplier equal to the number of toys. E.g. you succeed in balancing 4 toys on Mummy for a minimum of 10 seconds. Score 5 points per toy, 4 toys x 5 points = 20 points, multiplied by 4, for a total of 80 points.

Mummy fights back
Mummy lobs you off the sofa - lose 5 points.
Mummy pins you down for a minimum of 10 seconds - lose 10 points.
Mummy grabs you and tickles - lose 20 points.
Mummy yells for Daddy to come and save her - game over and lose 100 points.

Optional point scoring
If Mummy is poorly then all 'Mummy Fights Back' points are doubled.
False sense of security: If you refrain from attacking Mummy for up to a maximum of five minutes (after this you are deemed to have quit the game) and she thinks you have given up and starts to relax, the points for your next five attacks are doubled.

Ewok was playing this yesterday and by my reckoning he scored 1472 points *urgh*

Too pooped...

...to finish his lunch:


Click for bigger image.

This isn't a normal occurrence, he's got a bit of a cold, poor lad. Please note that I moved the water cup as soon as I'd taken the picture, I'm not that mean.

All aboard!

The lurgi express is ready to depart.

I have been most foully en-virused this last week. Last Thursday I came down with a cold. My temperature went from normal to 101F in the space of a day. Over the following week I went through the various stages of a cold one at a time. First the aches, then the sniffles and sneezes, then the blocked sinuses and bunged up nose, and finally the itchy face (which is where I'm at now).

On Tuesday this week the obligatory cold sore showed up. Fortunately I already had the necessary in the house to deal with this. Since Ewok's arrival I've taken to using Compeed and it's wonderful. I used it at first more for it's barrier qualities than anything else. I do not want to pass this virus on to Ewok, it make's my life miserable 5 or 6 times a year, and has done ever since I caught it off my mum when I was little.

Then on Wednesday evening my ear started to itch and it felt like there was a spot developing inside. Just delightful really and all that was needed to round off the whole viral experience. Except that it wasn't a spot. All day yesterday it got steadily more swollen, sore and itchy. It feels like I've got water in my ear and there's a golf ball in the water.

This morning I was woken up early (thanks munchkin) at 7:30am so I took advantage of this to call my GP and get an appointment, and after a quick peep into my lughole with her ear examining gizmo she confirmed that it wasn't a spot, I have an ear infection, and not just one, I have two, one on the outside and one on the inside. So I now have some oral antibiotics to take and antibiotic eardrops to put in. As long as I don't get the two mixed up I should be fine in a few days.

So, anthing else want to jump on the bandwagon while my immune system is trashed? Scurvy? leprosy? black death? Come one, come all, the lurgi express is leaving.

Spotless

So far so good, although after looking up chicken pox online I discovered that the incubation period is 15-21 days, so I have to wait until this coming Monday to be sure we've escaped it.

Getting enough sleep continues to be a problem. Last week the builders started work on next door's extension. This involved much noise of pneumatic drills, circular saws cutting into tarmac, and various diggers running up and down the driveway with loads of rubble. All this from 8am each day *urgh*

Ewok has been sleeping better. Most of the time now, when he wakes in the night it's because he's bumped his head into the side of the cot in his sleepcrawling. It usually goes something like: Clonk (as of head hitting side of cot), Waaaah! (I bumped my head), Yawn (still tired), zzzzzzzz. He is starting to get better at avoiding the sides of the cot during his nocturnal ramblings, but he seems to have a penchent for sleeping with his head rammed into a corner, or across the cot, which isn't as wide as he's long.

Of course last night his teeth started bothering him again and he woke up screaming in pain at 2:30am. It was so bad I had to rush downstairs and grab a sachet of his teething grains and a dose of Calpol and run back upstairs to try and get both of thim down him. Poor love was still mostly asleep so getting the grains in his mouth was interesting, the calpol was much easier because I still use the syringes. Once this was achieved I popped him back in the cot and within 10 minutes he was fast asleep again.

Tomorrow we're all supposed to be going to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, which will be Ewoks' very first games con, but if he's still suffering then Wookiee may well be going without us.

I'm undecided about spots

First off; an honourable mention to anyone who knows which BBC TV series the title of my post comes from.

Now to the spots.

Ewok and I are currently waiting to see if we have the dreaded lurgi. In this case the lurgi in question in Chicken Pox. I found out at this weeks' Baby Club (on Monday) that one of the other babies there came down with CP the day after the previous weeks' Baby Club.

This wouldn't be too much of a problem for Ewok. I'd rather he got it now (if he's going to) and get it all over and done with while he's too young to remember it, and before he gets into the full blown 'man flu' behaviour when he's ill.

The real problem is that, as far as I know, I've never had CP. When everyone in my junior school had it (some 30 kids) I was the only one that escaped. I may have had it so mildly as to not notice, or I may be naturally immune, or I may just have been phenomenally lucky. When I was pregnant I was told that if I came into comtact with CP then they would test me for immunity, but it was never an issue, so I still have no idea if I'm safe or not. TBH it would be nice if I could just get tested and then I could stop being so worried about coming into contact with it, or maybe more worried, depending on the results!

IIRC the incubation period for CP is 10-14 days, so we should know by this Monday if we've escaped or not.