Karl's Random Rambling.

Well, we’re all fine now. Jem is once again normal coloured. Izz seems to have suffered no ill-effects at all from the whole experience. If anything, she’s sleeping a bit better.

We’re varying in wakeup time from 7.30am-6am, and it’s not a huge problem. The clock change hasn’t made much difference either. She’s developed quite a character now too..we have frequent “singing”, lots of gurgly noises and exclaiming, and definite opinions on what she likes and doesn’t like now. Still lots and lots of big smiles and little crying. She actively searches us out now if she hears us, which is quite funny. In the morning she looks from Jem to me and back a few times, then starts to poke us to make sure we’re awake.

Such is the benefit of co-sleeping with her between us..you just cannot beat a big wide grin and a little finger up your nose as a way to start the day. :)

I can see crawling being on the cards very soon..she’s trying hard. When she manages it, oh boy are we in the poo.

Apart from Izz, not much changes. The Government are going all out to screw the motorist off the roads again with more fuel tax, which is rapidly accellerating towards the insane. Plus we have an election coming up. The problem is, I think they’re all as bent and useless as each other. None of them care about anything outside of london or their own pockets. Not all of us get such good public transport access FFS.

We need to sack the whole bunch off, and remove London as the seat of power…put the bastards out all over the country in the real world without all their perks and daft pay, let them rough it with the rest of us and see what they do then, that’s what I say. They’d not last 10 minutes.

I’d be depressed, except I’m actively trying to not be, for the sake of Izz/Jem. I’m just resigned to the fact that we’ll never have a decent government that either care about or truly represent the UK population. They’re all money grabbing, backstabbing, lying sexual deviants..yes, I do believe that covers all bases.

Work wise, things are OK..I think I’m mastering the Cisco CallManager quite nicely now. Next target is Windows deployment Services. The odd thing is, on the whole I’m losing interest in IT..is it being a dad? I have no idea. A lot of it is now “when I have the energy or inclination”, which is unlike the Karl of the last 15 years or so. It’s becoming more of a “thing that happens at work” and less of a hobby.

I’m feeling the pull of more “physical” things now, like electronics, electrical theory and so on…IT is much diminished..odd, that. :)

Yep, Isabel is 16 weeks old as of yesterday. It’s flown by.

Glad we took lots of pics – you don’t see the growth day to day. Looking at her now and then, it’s remarkable. She’s still remarkably good tempered and patient, and she’s advancing fast. She’s a strong little tiddler, and now she’s discovered her voice and her toes, it’s getting really funny to be in the same room as her.

When Jem and Izz were in Hospital last week, this place felt wrong. I came home at 9pm-12am, and it just felt empty. I started sleeping down here on the futon, as it didn’t feel right to be upstairs in the bed we all share. It was too quiet, and it wasn’t fun. I got a fair insight into where the cats sleep though..Hex lies between the panels on the double radiator, fudgie sleeps on the beanbag.

Now they’re home again. Jem’s recovering OK, and Izz seems to have got a cold, and a routine that’s very messed up from all the early AM wakeup in the hospital. We’re awake at 5am, sleep is light and sporadic, and she looks exhausted. She’s quite happy though. :) It’s coming up to another probable growth spurt too, which is always..interesting.

I decided in the hopsital to overcome one of my great fears..that of carrying Isabel. It scares me as my disability means I’ve very unbalanced on my feet, and clumsy. I was petrified of dropping her. As it turns out, apart from making my arms and legs hurt a fair bit, she loves it! She just relaxes and starts poking and squeezing my jumper/neck. I’ve got a beastie “lovebite” on my arm as well, where she decided it was similar to a boob and had a good long chomp on it.

I’ve also discovered the joys of babywearing, using a sling to effectively tie and support the baby on my chest, leaving my arms free. It’s great. Today we were able to do the washing up, vacuum the house and make cuppas etc, while Izz was sleeping on me. Upstairs, downstairs, dyson on – she didn’t stir. Better than the pushchair for shopping and busses too! Makes me ache, but it’s worth it.

By 11am, we’d done everything..how ace is that? They liked it in the hospital too – I did circuits of the place with Izzy to send her to sleep, and had LOADS of people coming over to see us.

The downside? We’re all recovering now, we’re all a bit more tired than we’d like. Got loads of things left to do today as well..in fact I should go and make a start,,