Advertise me!

A little while back Sam presented me wth a piece of paper, neatly folded down the middle  On the front was written "Booklet about me Sam". 

"I want you to write about me, about who I am."

"Erm, okay, but why?

"Just to tell people about me."

"Is this for school?"

"No, just because I want it."

"Oh."

And I scribbled a quick paragraph detailing place and date of birth, full name and parent's names.

"Is this alright?"

"Yeah, but write more about me on all the pages, like, advertising me."

"Er, okay."

He loved what I wrote, and I thought I would capture it here, for posterity.

Sam Card is 7 years old.  He was born on the 4th of August 2004 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, by Cesarean section.  His parents, Steve and Tanya Card chose to call their precious son, Samuel John Card.

Sam is an engaging lad who is generally polite, well mannered and good company.  He is a bright, articulate boy who loves to learn and is always keen to demonstrate his knowledge.

He is by turns earnest and mischievous and developing a cracking sense of humour.

Sam is a sociable character who loves spending time with his friends.  He does have a very well developed sense of personal injustice which means that he often feels his feelings have been hurt, when no offence was actually intended

He is a very creative child who uses his vivid imagination to invent tremendous games for himself and his little brother to play.

He occasionally has a real struggle dealing with his angry feelings.  His mum and dad are trying to help him learn the socially acceptable way of expressing his anger.

Sam has a real talent for and love of creative lego building, envisaging and constructing his own designs and then creating a game and back story for what he has made.

Big Girl's Blouse

My arm is really sore.  The reason why this is, has a story which I completely underestimated, one that I never even knew to fear... I went for an MRI scan.  My shoulder has never fully recovered from the woeful thunk, as I hit the hard ground off a zipwire at the end of February.  I've seen doctors, done months of physiotherapy and seen an orthopaedic surgeon and it finally ended in an MRI scan to establish if what's hindering complete recovery could be fixed with surgery.  I arrived at the hospital without a care, just thinking about using the trip to also get an x-ray on my hip done (don't even ask!) two birds, one stone and all that and confidently approached the desk.  All of a sudden a wave of talking and activity overtook me... 


fill this in, answer that, sign this, take that off, put this on, come this way


... before I really knew what was happening I was lying on a narrow bed, in a bright, white room, hoisted up on my right side, shoulder and arm exposed to the cold air.  A man, who assured me he was a doctor, told me that first he would be injecting an anesthetic into the shoulder joint, and then would be following this up with a long needle full of dye, which he would need to use an x-ray type machine to make sure he got it to the right place, oh, and by the way there was a risk of getting an infection and another risk of something being damaged by the needle, but don't worry, it hasn't happened yet...

Hoping that the worse was over, I was then wheeled to the MRI room and shown the long, thin, low tube I was to lie INSIDE for the next 30 minutes while staying as still as possible, oh and wearing a head set to drown out the racket that goes on in there. 

To say I was apprehensive is an understatement.

I was terrified.  Having to bite my lip and dig my nails into the palm of my hand to stop myself from crying.  The only way I could cope was by keeping my eyes tightly shut so I couldn't see how tiny the space I was in, was.  It felt interminable.  The noises changed in tempo and volume, the tube vibrated at times, stopped and then started again at a different speed. 

When it was finally over, I was shaky and confused, and just desperate to get my clothes on and get as far away from that place as I could. 

Note to self; research any proposed medical procedures thoroughly before signing up for them.  And stop being such a baby!

Mum's the word

My Mom went home this week, after what felt like a very short 4 weeks with us.  It wasn't a particularly exciting trip for her in that we didn't do much, but she did get to experience what a normal month in the Card house feels like!  She did school pick ups and drop offs, visits to the park, watched swimming lessons, came along to rugby training and did the weekly shop... like I said, not exciting, but it means that when we talk, she has a much better of what I am on about, and can empathise with the relentless housework, especially the bloody washing!


All her wonderful help made a big difference in my daily chores and her generosity means that she bought us some household stuff that she felt we couldn't live without!  We had a lovely trip up to Morpeth to a mammoth garden centre, which was so big that we couldn't get all the way around - despite a valiant 3 and a half hour attempt!

 We had a delicious afternoon tea and bought a fair amount, including a beautiful handbag for mom which made me very happy.  We were lucky enough to have the whole day away as agood friend of mine offered to have Tom in the morning and pick both boys up from school, just so that mom and I could get away to do something nice, unencumbered by children.  Such kindness!


We also had a lovely breakfast one morning, to give us the energy to tackle the weekly shop - how I wish that I could start each weekly shop like that! 

We had a family meal out on the Saturday that mom left at a very family friendly Persian restaurant about 2 minutes walk from our house.  It is rather odd, with plastic covers over the table cloths and an eclectic mish mash of ornaments, but the food is delicious and amazingly reasonable.

 My mom is not up to much walking - not that she isnt always on the go with some busyness or the other, but she doesn't move very far or very fast.  Add to this the horrible cold she caught from our germ ridden boys, along with a truly dreadful cough, meant that eating out and wandering around the shops were our main activities (besides houswork!), and so we also had a lovely trip into Newcastle.

One of the highlights in November in Whitley Bay is our firework display and so we all wrapped up warm and headed down to the the links to go and have a look at this year's offering.  In addition to the fireworks the Shimmer Festival was also on, in which various light shows were displayed, including the stunning use of Spanish City as a canvas and also the North Tyneside Youth Circus putting on a fire display... 

Shimmer Festival

 



All wrapped up against the brrrr!



Tom more interested in pulling faces than watching
the fireworks!

            

                       

So perhaps it wasn't the most fun and wowser sort of a trip you could have, but it was so lovely to have mom with us. 

To just be normal be and everyday and "did you sleep well?" and "what do you think of that dress?".  

The house feels empty now.

And the name we have chosen is...

What a great weekend!  I was very lucky to have in my house some wonderful people - Jen and Dan arrived on Friday, Andrea and gorgeous Beth arrived on Saturday morning, lovely Caspar arrived Saturday evening and my mom was here as well. Jen and Dan, well you couldn't ask for a greater couple of step kids, each in a different way good company and great conversation.  Andrea I have know forever and feels like part of me, emotional support bar none.  Beth!  A little bundle of squidgy baby girl delight, casting her web of charm over everyone.  Caspar is the person I have known the longest in the UK, we don't talk for months at a time, but he has a very special place in my heart.  And my mom?  Kind, shy and generous, it is wonderful to have her visiting us.

All of these arrivals were in preparation for Tom's Naming Day on Sunday, followed by a bit of a party.  We had a delicious meal on Saturday with the addition of two more lovely people, John and Joan Hannah.  We have been visitors to their home in Liverpool many times and I can honestly say that I have never experienced the level of hospitality shown by this warm, wonderful couple anywhere else.

The lovely John Hannah

 We ate, we drank, we talked, we laughed, we passed the baby around!  And when this started to draw to close, Caspar and I put some shoes on and took him out to introduce him to the legendary Strip of Whitley Bay.  It was so good to spend some proper time with Caspar again, as the last few years have seen very few uninterrupted conversations as a result of small boys and their incessant need for attention!  

Caspar rocks Havannah ;-)

I did something very silly and added a cocktail and lager to the plentiful red wine I had consumed earlier -I was just so happy to have all these special people in my house, for my boy's naming day, it made me a bit giddy and bit reckless.  

I paid the price for it the next morning, looking grey and feeling sick as a dog.  At one point I was lying on the bed thinking I would feel better if I could just throw up and convinced I was going to have stay in bed while the ceremony went on without me.  But I battled through and eventually the restorative powers of tea and toast worked their magic, the doorbell started ringing and the show was on!

John, Daniel, Gail, Steve, Evelyn, Jen, Tanya, Sam and Tom

Steve and I with our "baby"!

Caspar interviews Tom

It was just plain wonderful.  The speeches and words dedicated to Tom were powerful and moving.  It was an emotional moment but I was keeping it together, until the lovely John Hannah, our reverend for the day said the words that I knew were coming, had helped to write even. 

"Steve and Tanya would like to take this opportunity to give recognition to their own parents.  Steve and Tanya have benefited in their upbringing from the love, encouragement and guidance from John, Evelyn, Peter and Gail."

As he said my dad's name it felt like I had been kicked, and tears filled my eyes.  It was that thought that is always lurking somewhere; my Tom is 4 years old now and was nearly 5 month old when my dad died.  They never got to meet each other, and that makes me ineffably sad.  It is nearly 4 years since my dad died and it still hurts so much.  I have been spending some time with my mom writing down a shortish version of her life story, and when we came to the part she was talking about her own mother's death, she still, 36 years later, filled up with tears.  So much for hoping that the passing of a parent gets easier with time.

Mom and I

But anyway, it was, as I said just plain wonderful.  Each godparent [Andrea, Richard (Steve's oldest friend), Gillian (Steve's sister who couldn't make the trip, and so asked her mum to read out the words she had sent) and Caspar] bought a little bit of themselves to the words they spoke for my boy and Sam finished us off with a joyful "I'd like to propose a toast to my lovely little brother Tom" and we all quaffed champagne.

Lovely Godparents - Richard, Caspar, Andrea and in loco godparentis (!) Evelyn

Once the informal formalities were over, some of our lovely friends and neighbours started to arrive to help us celebrate our strange little ceremony.  I was so happy to have most of my important people from Whitley Bay there with me. 



Yummy milk tarts



Jen and Beth




        

There was lots of food, including my mom's magnificent lamb stew, Andrea's delectable milk tarts and Evelyn's superlative trifle there was no shortage of booze.  The kids ate junk and drank coke, but mostly all got despite the disparity in ages and them not all knowing each other.  People talked, and ate and drank and laughed... and once again, passed the baby round!  



Jen and Cath



Tom, Beth and I





The 3 brothers



Tom was a little star, listening attentively to everything that was said to him.



The day was so special for so many reasons, the feeling of belonging and being cared for, wonderful, amazing people whose presence in my life fills me with joy and so many thoughtful, kind, powerful words wished for my little boy's future success and happiness.