Jo is back in the land of the living... with a new addition

Hello Everybody!

I'm so sorry I disappeared for the last 6 months or so. Things have been a bit tricky....

This was me just over a month ago:



What you don't see in the picture are the sick bucket and wheelchair. It was a rather difficult pregnancy but totally worth it for this little beauty:



Welcome to the world Rosemary Grace, or Rosie, one month old today.

I don't really have any particular reading plans this year, other than to do some. I'm currently mostly listening to audiobooks as I can do that with my hands free, but I do miss the feel of paper books.

Just a couple of days before Rosie was born, my lovely friends took me on a day trip to the Book Barn. I don't know why I'd never been before but I'll certainly be making up for it now.

One thing I do plan to do is sort out my library. During the pre-baby clearout we got rid of loads of books, and I've also acquired a fair few too, so my LT catalogue is totally out of date. I've moved everything to and "archive" library, and I'm starting from scratch.

Book acquisitions so far this year (the ones I remember to write down....)

Beautiful Books:
The Pilgrim's Progress
Treasury Of Sacred Song
The Tempest

Other Real-Life Books:
Around Tring
I Have No Secrets
The Parentalk Guide To Sleep
Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race
The Women Who Built Bristol
How To Bullet Plan
Raising Girls

E-Books:
The Blackbird Singularity
Educated
The Eyre Affair
Lost In A Good Book
The Well Of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing
The Woman Who Died A Lot

Audiobooks:
How To Stop Time
The Bedlam Stacks
What A Wonderful World
World War Z
Daughter Of Eden
The Boy On The Bridge
The Marshmallow Test
The Burning Page
The Sudden Appearance Of Hope
4321
A Natural History Of Dragons
Unbroken: My Story Of Survival
Anna Karenina
The Lost Plot
Chasing Utopia
Elephant In The Sky
Good Ideas: How to be your child's (and your own) best teacher

Reading accomplishments so far this year:
1) The Invisible Library
2) The UnMumsy Mum
3) Masked City
4) While You Were Sleeping
5) How Not To Be A Boy
6) The Idiot Brain
7) How To Stop Time
8) The Bedlam Stacks
9) What A Wonderful World
10) World War Z
11) Daughter Of Eden
12) Zombies, Run! The Way of All Flesh
13) The Boy On The Bridge
14) The Marshmallow Test
15) The Burning Page
16) Brave New World
17) A Natural History Of Dragons
18) Educated
19) 4.3.2.1 Did not finish - I just couldn't follow the different timelines
20) How To Bullet Plan
21) Anna Karenina
22) Chasing Utopia
23) The Sleep Solution
24) The Lost Plot
25) Unbroken: My story of survival
26) Elephant In The Sky
27) The Blackbird Singularity
28) The Self-Care Project
29) The Sudden Appearance Of Hope
30) Good Ideas: How To Be Your Child's Best Teacher
31) Something In The Water
32) Notes On A Nervous Planet

Welcome back! And congrats to you and Rosie - she's a cutie. 😀

Welcome to your beautiful Rosie - joining the LT grandkids, Rafa and Melissa!

Welcome back! You've done an impressive amount of reading given everything you've had going on! Are you enjoying the Invisible Library books? I've been meaning to try that series.

Lovely to see you back, Jo and with such wonderful news too.

Rosie is such a little cutie.

>7 souloftherose: Yes, I'm really enjoying the invisible library series. It's reminiscent of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next, but rather more serious.

>8 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul

Hmmm.... I need to figure out my sitting position for using the desktop computer. I have new glasses, varifocals for the first time, but the screen is too high to use the bottom of the lens. Perhaps if I sit further back and use the middle.... ah-ha, that works pretty well. Oh the tribulations of ageing!

Virtually all my "reading" so far this year has been by audiobook because of my deteriorating eyesight. The new glasses seem to have done the trick though, so back to paper books - just as soon as I find the free time.

>10 eclecticdodo: I have changed my glasses too, Jo, and it has helped my reading a little too.

Have a lovely weekend. xx

That's 2 more books down - very different to one another, but both excellent. A Natural History Of Dragons reminded me of Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World. And Educated was utterly amazing and unlike anything else I've read.

I may also have bought a few books.... I've been trying to tally up in post 3 above....

It was a beautiful hot sunny May Day weekend in Bristol, with official temperatures up to 29degC but the reality here in the inner city much higher. We spent Saturday at a local park, then in a lovely cool gym at a kids roller disco; Sunday we went to a local heritage museum in old industrial buildings (thick stone walls made it cold inside!) and the grounds and grotto (cold again) of a since-demolished Manor House; Monday at a local park with playground, lots of trees for shade, and a walk down to paddle in the river.

Poor Rosie has had yet another infection so has been unsettled again. My mental health is starting to deteriorate, although I'm not sure if that's cause or effect of Rosie's issues. I'm trying to plan things out so I have help and company (preferably without calling in my Mum... It's complicated....) and my mental health team are arranging extra support and a medication review. In case I wasn't feeling useless enough already, I have to fill in my PIP application (Personal Independence Payment, a state benefit for disabled people) detailing all the things I need help with - the b*stards at the Department for Work and Pensions chose the day I gave birth to review my case (yes, I am paranoid, but I'm still pretty sure they did it on purpose, that the hospital checked NHS entitlement or something when I was admitted).

I've been book shopping again, this is what I bought...
- How To Bullet Plan - in an attempt to get my life organised!
- Raising Girls - I found his previous book Raising Boys really useful, so this seemed like a a good idea

All in all I think I was very restrained considering.

In exchange I took another couple of bags to the charity shop today, not books, but things that had been stored on bookshelves so that sort of counts, right?

I really do need to get a move on uploading my library here. I'm basically starting again because we got rid of SO many books (plus there were a fair few purchases that never made it onto the list to begin with).

I managed to get my PIP application done and sent off special delivery the day before the deadline (that was expensive procrastination!). Half term has gone mercifully quickly, with lots of help from my parents and my in-laws. Today Reuben is at the beach with Grandad so I've had a really easy day.

Forgot to say, I gave up on a book: 4.3.2.1 by Paul Aster. I just couldn't keep track of the similar but different time lines. I always feel terribly guilty when I don't finish a book, like somehow I'm deficient and if I just tried harder. But I remind myself I'm not at school anymore, I can read what I like!

Oh gosh, I missed your new thread. Happy new thread but more importantly, CONGRATULATIONS!!

>13 eclecticdodo: Heavens woman. Have you not just had a baby? At that stage of babyhood, I was comfortably ensconced in my bedroom, I think. Although with older kids to cater for, too, it’s true you don’t get enough quality self-indulgence time ;0) Hoping the health issues are all resolved and the PIP comes through.

>15 eclecticdodo: Yeah, know that feeling. You could struggle through but you’d probably miss out reading 2 great books in the same amount of time.

>16 humouress: Thanks! Indeed, I may be overdoing it a bit.

Having rectified the eyesight issue with new glasses, I'm now struggling to read because I'm so damned tired I have blurred vision. Audiobooks are keeping me going though. I'm delighted to say I've managed to move away from the dreaded Amazon (Audible) and now have a subscription with Kobo, which is not only cheaper, but I feel happier about on ethical grounds too. I'm told that Amazon lost a court case which is why the competition is now able to compete on equal footing with access to the same recordings (I'm sure someone here can enlighten us further....).

I'm getting precious downtime at the moment as Rosie is asleep and Andy has taken Reuben to his swimming lesson. I'm so glad his new-found big brother confidence has allowed him to get back there following the upset back in September (I was really sick so didn't watch his lesson, first time in a new group, some sort of incident occurred and scared him, I never did figure out exactly what happened).

Ah, yes, the swimming lessons. My boys both went through the stage where they refused to get into the pool for their classes. It didn't happen so much when we were doing mums & bubs classes, because then I could just jump in with them anyway, but when I was fully clothed and couldn't do that. Nor push them in, much as I was tempted to ;0) Of course, those were the same days that I couldn't get them out of the pool because they were too busy playing with their friends after their class. Kids!

Not swimming isn't an option in our family (some personal experiences) so now they're both resigned to having to go for classes squad training. They did go through another stage of suddenly 'discovering' that they hadn't taken their trunks to the pool - until I got so fed up I promised them they would swim even if they had to go in naked. Since then, I think they've been to all their classes unless they've had a genuine excuse (touch wood).

I hope things are settling down and the health issues are resolved.

I'm late finding your new thread, Jo, but congratulations to you and baby Rosie and I hope all is well with you.

>18 humouress: I'm really keen on swimming lessons too. I've had to be rescued before and it was utterly terrifying, I don't want that for him. Plus I'm told swimming is good for asthma as it teaches you to control your breathing more. But we've learnt that he is extraordinarily stubborn so if we push too hard he will refuse altogether, hence the softly softly approach.

>19 bell7: welcome to you too

Ugh. Ongoing health issues. Mentally I'm much better since a change of medication. Unfortunately I have developed an abscess in my caesarean scar. It must have been slowly getting worse since the original infection several months ago, as the skin hasn't been broken since then. I had antibiotics back then, and did finish the course, but I also had a sickness bug so the last couple of days of tablets might not have been absorbed. I'm back on antibiotics and I'm sure that will nail it, but in the mean time running a minor fever in this heat is unbearable!

>20 eclecticdodo: You have to learn which battles to fight, which will of course differ for each family. When my eldest was still an only child and I was rather newer to the parenting thing, he put his foot down about holding my hand when crossing the road. Of course, I put my foot down harder.

Mind you, my husband uses the softly softly approach with our younger son; he says he’s inherited his stubbornness from me. Hah! But we’ve let him drop his judo for the time being in the hopes he’ll go back to it later. He really enjoyed it initially, especially with his gung ho attitude to life, but as he’s one of the smaller and lighter students, the best he can do is draw his matches.

>21 eclecticdodo: Ooh, gosh. That doesn’t sound good. Wishing you a speedy and full recovery this time.

Still not feeling 100% but definitely better than last week. The Penicillin seems to have done it's job, I'm just back to background levels of exhaustion.

I've just finished reading a fascinating book called The Sleep Solution all about how sleep works, how that can go wrong, and how to improve things. Although some of my sleep issues are beyond my control, it has given me a new understanding of the importance of a regular routine. I'm doing my best to get up at the same time each day even if I can't always go to bed as early as I'd like. At the moment it's a real struggle, but I'm hoping my body will catch on and come to wake more easily at the regular time. I don't really get kept awake by baby too much (she goes through maybe 2 out of 3 nights, and that other night my medication makes me such a heavy sleeper that Andy has usually gone downstairs and made a bottle before her crying registers with me. But I'm pretty sure I have sleep apnoea (like most of my family), and I half-wake multiple times in the night which can't be helping.

I've also just finished The Lost Plot in The Invisible Library series, which I enjoyed very much. It has the usual mix of action and adventure with bookish themes.

>22 humouress: >23 eclecticdodo:

My daughter disliked the competitions, even when she won - too much stress, waiting, and judgements.
She agreed to a few private lessons to stay strong.

With the recent increase in sleep apnea research, is there something new that could help?
Sure hope so - new Moms need every minute.

>24 m.belljackson: I don't think there's much new in the way of treatment, but there is a growing body of research linking it to other significant health issues when not dealt with, including shorter life expectancy! Apparently the stress it puts on your heart can cause problems... So, I guess I should see the doc sooner or later. I've just been ignoring it so far. Although it definitely gets better when I'm not overweight so that's yet more pressure.

I've done a lot the last few weeks, sadly none of it reading! We're well into the school summer holidays now so I'm busy and completely shattered. However, I did manage to go out gallivanting with a friend one evening to meet Jasper Fforde and get a signed first edition of his new book Early Riser. I haven't managed to start reading it yet, I just like to stroke it occasionally (too weird?).

Oh, and I've read:

Unbroken: My Story Of Survival
Autobiography of Martine Wright who was injured in the 7/7 bombings and went on to be a Paralympian. I also discovered while reading that she has made my home town, Tring, her home, and one of my school friends even got a mention in the book. It's a small world!

Elephant In The Sky
Fantastic fiction about bipolar disorder and how that might manifest in a young child

The Blackbird Singularity
More fantastic fiction about bipolar, this time in an adult. I found the depictions of psychosis in both these books were honest and realistic, and they helped me work through some of my own feelings and experiences (I don't have a bipolar diagnosis but do experience periodic psychoses).

The Self-Care Project
A great book from the people behind Blurt and the Buddy Box scheme. Honest and practical in equal measure. The concept of self-care has got a lot of attention recently, but is often presented in a completely unrealistic way. It isn't about the hot baths, it's about the unglamorous everyday stuff like brushing your teeth. Reading the book has prompted me to do a bit more looking after myself, including a long overdue trip to the dentist, so I'm now in the middle of getting a crown done. Yay me.

The Sudden Appearance Of Hope
Speculative fiction about a woman, Hope, who no-one can remember. She takes advantage of the fact by being a thief, but it's also about the everyday trials of being constantly forgotten. Very well thought out.

Read some more:

Good Ideas: How to be your child's best teacher
I loved this book! It's been on my Wishlist for several years and I finally bought it for myself. Michael Rosen once came to my Junior school on a visit and I vividly remember his enthusiasm far more than the poetry he was there to talk about. In this book he invites parents to rediscover their curiosity and nurture it in their children. The chapters are meanders through various topics, dotted with questions to ask and ways to go about answering them. Highly recommended for anyone in contact with kids, not just parents.

Something In The Water
I was a little unsure about this one after the first chapter gave away the ending, but actually it was really good. Despite the spoiler there is still loads of suspense as we figure out how on earth the main character could have got to that point.

Notes On A Nervous Planet
In this followup book to Reasons To Stay Alive, Matt Haig answers a couple of the questions and criticisms from the previous book, but mostly it's new material on a related subject. Depression and Anxiety often come together but they are also very different. There's lots of factual information about panic attacks which is helpful, although the main benefit for me was simply to be understood.

With much delay but with all my heart I congratulate you to your pretty little daughter.
I have only now found your thread. Totally understandable that you had other priorities.
I hope you are all well.

>29 Ameise1: Thank you! Hope you are well too

Just catching up to wish you a lovely weekend, Jo.

>31 PaulCranswick: Same here.

>28 eclecticdodo: You make me wish I'd come across Good Ideas. Do you think it would work for older children too?

>31 PaulCranswick: Hi!

>32 humouress: Yes definitely. It's all about reigniting our curiosity, getting us to ask questions. And listen to our children's questions and help them find out instead of just giving a quick answer. It's applicable to adults, older kids, and younger kids.

More reading:

Fire Road - the autobiography of the girl in the famous napalm photo from the Vietnam war. Kim Phuc was given up for dead in a morgue but miraculously survived. Obviously she has had many long years of pain and treatments due to her injuries but what shines through it all is the faith she came to have in Christ. She has felt led to forgive those involved in her injuries and to preach forgiveness in the harshest of circumstances. Very thought provoking.

Sorted: The Active Woman's Guide To Health - does what the title says very thoroughly although I was only really interested in the post-natal section at this time.

The Furthest Station - a short book in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. As always a good read. The story was strong and I think it's a shame it wasn't written as a longer book.

*waving* hello! I was in London last month, but couldn’t stretch to come over to Bristol - sorry! Too much catching up with folks in London. Hope you’re well.

Happy holidays, Jo

Seasons Greetings from Singapore! Wishing you and your family joy, peace, good fortune and good health now and in the coming year.

Thankyou lovelies for the new year wishes. I'm about to set up my 2019 thread