21 Weeks (State of the Union)

I have three posts in my drafts folder, waiting to be finished and posted. One of them is an obituary for Aged Parent, my f-i-l, Ted, who passed away last weekend. It has only been a week and, as you can probably imagine, everything since has been coloured by his passing. Little Djinn has really been our saving grace: she's so bright and happy that it's impossible to wallow around her. Feeling sad and overwhelmed? Go play cuddle or play with the baby. She's really enjoyed getting to see so much of h Daddy this week as Chris took the week off to Deal with Things and every day this week has involved a trip to Aged Parent's house or a walk into town as we've sorted through his things and made arrangements, as well as previously scheduled appointments. 

  

Back at the start of the month, I had ordered a bouquet of our wedding flowers for our anniversary.* I stopped by the shop yesterday and had it converted to an arrangement for the casket: same day, same flowers, same price, different place to take them. After the..hassle isn't really the right word but I can't think of anything better, of everything else it was almost astonishingly easy. We'd agreed not to do presents but now it looks like there won't even be cards exchanged. 

In Little Djinn news, she's 5.65kg (12lbs7oz) and 61cm (24") which keeps her on her 9th percentile weight and 25th percentile length lines. She's a tiny, slender baby. She can sit up on her own for a few seconds before she gets distracted, leans to one side and topples over. She wiggles off our laps to get on her tummy then screams because she can't crawl yet. She also likes to stand holding hands for balance and bounces from squatting to standing. We did a three week baby massage class, to promote bonding and improve circulation. She didn't much care for the class, she wanted me to hold her so she could see what everyone was doing and didn't want to lay on her back, but she loves being massaged. It's now an integral part of her bedtime routine and often the morning one, too. Speaking of bedtime, she's still a really good sleeper though she's pushed her bedtime back from 7-8 to 8-8:30. She usually sleeps through to 5 or 6, nurses, and sleeps again till 8:30 or 9:30. There have even been days I've woken up, had breakfast with my husband, showered and gotten dressed before Little Djin woke up. We usually go swimming on Fridays but this week we needed to meet with the funeral director. Chris signed her up for swim lessons when he went to register Aged Parents death as the archive centre is next to the leisure centre: that will start in September. She's also started being scared of strangers and, when not hungry, didn't seem to notice who held her. Now she grins and bounces when she sees one of her parents and cries if anyone else gets too close or tries to hold her.

Chris and I have made three things from Paul Hollywood's How to Bake: absolutely amazing bacon and cheddar loaves, wholemeal and cheese scones (good, but eclipsed by Aged Parent's death), and really good shortbread biscuits. Though that last recipe almost ended badly when my American brain translated "corn flour" as "corn meal" rather than "corn starch". Fortunately Chris saw my mis en place bowls and questioned my plan. I thought it seemed an odd variation. 

I also, finally, got to try out my sewing machine. Chris settled down to watch cricket with Little Dinn and I got to set up my sewing machine, wind a bobbin, and sew two triangles before she had a melt down and wanted lunch. And, as the cricket match was rain delayed (shocking in England, I know) I had a bit of an audience. Currently the table is covered in legal and financial documents as Chris sorts through his father's life. Bunting doesn't seem quite the thing anyway. Knitting hasn't progressed much though the end is in sight for my cross-stitch.

* an idea I borrowed from my friend Andy though he got married locally and was able to ask the same florist for the same flowers. Chris and i got married a fair bit south of where we live and our florist was even further down the country so I picked the one where a friend's mother used to(?) work.