…….to Daddy Radcliffe on getting his New Job!
Quite how he’ll cope living so far south has yet to be seen – at least there are 9 pubs in the local area that can help to make the transition easier!?
All posts by kate
Christmas and New Year
Some of you might be thinking that we Winchursts had fallen off the face of the earth – not so I’m afraid, we have merely been in the UK for the past 3 and a half weeks and were keeping it secret from various bits of the family!
We arrived on 21st December at Heathrow feeling fresher than usual as we had managed to upgrade to Business class – lie flat beds do wonders for your jetlag (unless of course your name is Isabel…..)!
We picked up our hire car and headed up to the Lake District to spend Christmas with the Radcliffe clan – needless to say, everyone was VERY pleased to see us……..I think the fact we had a small person in tow helped! We had a great time – the only problems were that Isabel’s body clock went out of the window for the 1st few days so sleep was limited and we also discovered that she has an issue with beards……..not great news for my poor Dad – she did let him pick her up eventually!
On 30th December, we packed up the car and headed to Devon for New Year with the Winchursts. This was particularly exciting as H and Neil had no idea we were coming – and were well and truly surprised when we walked in the door! We had a lovely time taking day trips out and Isabel particularly enjoyed meeting Auntie H’s horse and the sheep and water voles at her work.
We left Devon on 8th January and began making our way to London via Cardiff, Bristol and Fairford arriving in London on 11th January – many thanks to everyone who put us up (or should that be “put up with us”?), fed and watered us……..we really appreciated it!
There are HUNDREDS of photos to go up – with a bit of luck, we’ll get round to posting a new gallery in the next day or so!
A veritable melting pot!
It has to be said that it is absolutely BOILING here at the minute – yesterday it apparently got up to 28 degrees……which explains why I still managed to get surnburnt even though I was smothered in factor 30 suncream.
There hasn’t been a huge amount report of late – Isabel has continued to amaze evryone with the speed at which she got over her operation and has also continued to become ever more active. She now pulls herself up on every available piece of furniture and cruises along it – whilst investigating anything that she might be able to reach along the way! (Daddy will have to find new homes for the remote controls as she is particularly fond of these!)
Dan has been extremely busy at work and is tied up with a number of chrsitmas “do’s” tonight and all day tomorrow – tomorrows is a Wineries trip to the South Island…….lucky for some is what I say! (me and the Munchkin will have to settle for Tea and Formula – we know how to party here!)
On Saturday there is a “Carols by Candlelight” event at the Cake Tin (the stadium here in Wellington) which Rachel is pretty keen to take Isabel to – and i think it would be ok if me and Dan tagged along as well (!?) and then Sunday is the Family E&Y christmas event out at Kaitoke Regional Park (which is where the Rivendell sets were for LOTR) so we will be heading out to that….and with a bit of luck, we’ll take the camera!
WOO-HOO! NEW GALLERY!
Yes, you’ll be pleased to know that there are some new pictures in the Gallery!
Dan is away tonight, but once he gets back I’ll get him to add a link to this page but for now you’ll have to navigate your own way there……..but being clever chaps, I’m sure you’ll manage it!
DAN UPDATE – DONE. SEE BELOW …
All sewn up
Isabel’s operation seems to have been a success and she is currently recovering in Intensive Care.
We were able to see her at about 11am – she was very sleepy unsurprisingly and a bit grumpy! She has gradually “come to” a bit more as the day has worn on but remains a tad on the grumpy side – very understandable under the circumstances!
We should hopefully be able to go up to the ward sometime tomorrow morning – she has already had a few sips of water from her bottle so is on the mend……
And so we wait……..
We are currently sitting in the Zoom Cafe at Hutt Hospital waiting for Isabel to come out of theatre – as suspected, she was 1st on the list this morning (well, after someone had had their stitches out!) so should be done soon………
We were slightly disconcerted to spot the anaesthetist here about an hour ago when we thought he was in theatre with Isabel – he came over and assured us that he hadn’t abandoned her and that she was in the capable hands of his colleague whilst he came and had a brew!
We will do our best to keep everyone posted on her progress – this will be a lot easier now that we have discovered that we can get internet access here in the hospital!
And yet more pictures!
Yes, I’ve been busy with the camera again so you lucky people have got another gallery to enjoy!
A lot of the pictures were taken today at the Botanical Gardens – we took the opportunity to make the most of the lovely weather and enjoyed a picnic in the sunshine……. we were even joined by a couple of ducks at one point – not that Isabel was very interested in them!
Isabel’s pre-op……
Not only was tuesday Daddy’s birthday (Happy Birthday Daddy!) but it was also the day of Isabel’s pre-op.
It was a good chance for us to ask all our questions and find out exactly what would be happening next week.
On Tuesday 22nd, we will be admitted at 7.15am and they expect that Isabel will be 1st or 2nd on that day’s operating list. The operation will last about 1 1/2hrs and what they will do is take small pieces of skin from the inside of her mouth and basically move them across to seal the gap.
After the operation is over, she will be moved to the Intensive Care unit – this is not because she will be poorly but more for observation……..as you can imagine, having swelling so near to an airway is something they want to keep a close eye on!
She will stay in Intensive Care over night and then will go onto the ward the next day – they expect that she will stay on the ward for roughly 2-3 days…….her length of stay will be governed by how quickly she recovers and gets back to her usual eating/drinking routine.
We had been a bit concerned as we had read that she may have to wear arm splints to stop her from getting at her stitches etc. – we were VERY pleased to discover that this wouldn’t be the case………can you imagine how grumpy she would have been if she had been unable to do any crawling?!
With a bit of luck, we’ll make it home for the weekend and we will be able to get on with things as we were.
Not wanting to gloat or anything…..
For those of you who are currently experiencing the horrors of a British winter, just to cheer you up I thought I would supply you with a snapshot of today’s weather.
It has been pretty much like this for the last couple of weeks – hence why I have managed to get sunburned as many times in as many weeks (including the horrible bright red face incident which Dan found particularly amusing!)
Here’s hoping that it keeps this up – although I, personally, could do with a bit more of a breeze to take the edge off the heat otherwise I will be doing my bestest snowman in the sahara impression and will end up spending most of the summer indoors!
What a good Mummy I am…..
What lucky people you are!
2 new galleries of pictures in less than a week!
Don’t go getting used to it mind – I’m not sure that I can keep it up! (so you’d best make the most of it while you can!)