Ageing (dis)gracefully!
Archive for July, 2009
weddingmorning.txt
Jul 17th
Am sorting out my documents folder on this computer and came across a text file called ‘weddingmorning.txt’. I opened it up and it appears to be a list of the music I was listening to while getting ready for my wedding!
OSI – OSI 12 Apr 2008, 11:12
Jimmy Eat World – Feeling Lucky 12 Apr 2008, 11:10
Marillion – Beyond You 12 Apr 2008, 11:04
Live – The Sanctity of Dreams 12 Apr 2008, 11:00
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 12 Apr 2008, 10:50
Chroma Key – When You Drive 12 Apr 2008, 10:45
Audioslave – Gasoline 12 Apr 2008, 10:40
Kingmaker – Stay Free 12 Apr 2008, 10:37
Evergrey – The Encounter 12 Apr 2008, 10:32
Mogwai – Radar Maker 12 Apr 2008, 10:31
Suede – Picnic by the Motorway 12 Apr 2008, 10:26
RPWL – i don’t know 12 Apr 2008, 10:22
David Gilmour – Smile 12 Apr 2008, 10:17
The Twang – Either Way 12 Apr 2008, 10:12
Muse – Butterflies & Hurricanes 12 Apr 2008, 10:07
Kingmaker – Two Headed Yellow Bellied Hole Digger 12 Apr 2008, 10:03
Thunder – Like A Satellite 12 Apr 2008, 09:58
Syd Barrett – Let’s Split 12 Apr 2008, 09:56
Biffy Clyro – Questions And Answers 12 Apr 2008, 09:52
Pink Floyd – See Emily Play 12 Apr 2008, 09:49
Marillion – Script for a Jester’s Tear 12 Apr 2008, 09:39
Live – Lakini’s Juice 12 Apr 2008, 09:34
Live – Top 12 Apr 2008, 09:31
Thunder – Can’t Get by on Love 12 Apr 2008, 09:27
Huey Lewis & the News – Whole Lotta Lovin’ 12 Apr 2008, 09:23
Anathema – 2000 & Gone 12 Apr 2008, 09:18
Marillion – Somewhere Else 12 Apr 2008, 09:10
Guns N’ Roses – Yesterdays 12 Apr 2008, 09:00
XTC – Frost Circus 12 Apr 2008, 07:58
Iron Maiden – To Tame a Land 12 Apr 2008, 07:51
Europe – Rock the Night 12 Apr 2008, 07:47
Marillion – Hollow Man 12 Apr 2008, 07:42
Sonic Youth – Cinderella’s Big Score 12 Apr 2008, 07:35
HIM – Dark Sekret Love 12 Apr 2008, 07:30
Pink Floyd – Green Is the Colour 12 Apr 2008, 07:27
No-Man – Wild Opera 12 Apr 2008, 07:24
David Gilmour – Where we start 12 Apr 2008, 07:17
Rammstein – Nebel 12 Apr 2008, 07:12
Savage Garden – Universe 12 Apr 2008, 07:08
Pink Floyd – Set the Controls For the Heart 12 Apr 2008, 06:59
Keane – Sunshine 12 Apr 2008, 06:55
Sonic Youth – Brother James 12 Apr 2008, 06:51
Steve Hogarth – Kingdom Come 12 Apr 2008, 06:46
There is a gap between 7am and 9am as me and Leigh went for a fryup in Wetherspoons! 
Interesting to look back at those song choices as I know I wouldn’t have knowingly chosen some of them. I think I was listening to my last.fm library radio station. Good to see nonetheless, and thought I would blog the list incase it ever gets lost/deleted. Saved here for posterity!
Am now going to create the same playlist in iTunes!
Gig Versus Holiday
Jul 17th
I have just sold tickets to a Marillion gig both myself and Lucy were going to in November. Gig is in Leamington Spa, and I had booked a Travelodge for the night (classy!), we were going to have our first time away from Amelia that night as her grandparents were going to babysit.
However, plans have changed. I’m not sure it’s my place to announce to the world the full reason, but let’s just say a family member has decided to get married ….in Mauritius!
We were initially very sceptical about going, not least because of the cost and the short notice. Mainly though, we were worried about taking a 6 month old Amelia on a 12 hour flight and then spending a week with her in a hot country. After much deliberation and discussion we have decided to go for it. We have been assured all will be fine, and it’s not like we are going on our own, we are travelling out with Lucys folks and will be there with them the whole time.
It’s something to look forward to for sure, as we hadn’t anticipated going on holiday at all this year. Still gutted about the gig though…. then again, I have seen the band 11 times! I’ll probably live …just about!
A Nights Sleep?!?!
Jul 16th
Sleep has become something pretty elusive over the last few weeks, thanks totally to my little daughter who I have dubbed ‘The Ginger Whinger’! (she isn’t really that ginger, there is a hint of it though!).
Last night is a good example. It went a bit like this.
- 11:00 – Bed, although Amelia still awake and wanting to play/have attention
- 11:30 – Get up as Amelia starting to cry and Lucy badly in need of sleep
- 11:35 – Downstairs trying to entertain a crying, whingy, colicy Amelia
- 01:45 – Amelia finally asleep – can get back to bed! WOOHOOOO!!
- 02:30 – woken up by lucy who is frantically searching the bed for Amelia as she thinks she is in with us and we have squashed her!!!! She is fast asleep in her crib.
- 03:00 – Amelia wakes up for a feed ….so does daddy as she doesn’t wake up quietly
- 07:00 – Amelia wakes up for a feed ….so does daddy as she doesn’t wake up quietly
I fear I am not going to get a decent nights sleep for quite some time. Maybe Amelia will be an only child afterall!
Work And Life With Amelia
Jul 7th
As blogged below, I went back to work last week … My first proper spell in work since Amelia was born.
To be honest, the nights were easy to cope with. Aside from being sad to leave Amelia and Lucy to go to work, and missing them whilst I was there, it wasn’t too bad. The main difference was that instead of going straight to bed when I got in the following morning, I stayed up for an hour or so with Amelia whilst Lucy showered etc. I don’t begrudge that at all, it was a really nice way to ‘end the day’ so to speak.
I think Lucy found me going to work FAR harder than I did. She was left holding the baby afterall. We had teary conversations each night as she was struggling to cope, no doubt not helped by the heatwave we were having as poor little Amelia really wasn’t coping very well in the heat. It got easier for her as each day passed though.
I then did a set of 12 hour dayshifts over the weekend, and thats when it really started to hurt for me. Firstly, I had to get a relatively decent nights sleep before work ..which was nigh on impossible. Then after a 12 hour day I still had a kid at home to help out with…then goto bed and try and sleep between her feeds and ‘awake times’ before the cycle started again.
By the third dayshift (Monday), I was completely fucked. It was a real shock to the system. I ended up booking in some holiday time and going home to sleep. Just stopped being able to function properly.
One thing that has become apparent over the last few weeks is how much Amelia is in total control of our lives. We literally do everything around what she wants, which changes from day to day. She has also found her lungs BIG TIME and now cries a heck of a lot more than the first 3-4 weeks. It’s the only way she can communicate with us afterall. Not all of the cries are bad, some are literally her just asking to be picked up, or saying she is hungry.
I guess the first few weeks lulled me into a false sense of security, she was pretty quiet etc and it seemed so easy. How wrong I was.
I should add that it is TOTALLY worth it though … TOTALLY
