Birthdays and the Beeb

Firstly a very happy birthday to my (oldest) little princess Lauren, who was 12 on Tuesday.

Secondly - I have become addicted to 2 BBC TV shows.

TV SHOW #1 - The Apprentice

16 "real" people each with an equal chance of getting a job working for Sir Alan Sugar with a "six figure salary"

This programme makes me laugh, cringe and almost swear at the TV, when I say these people are real, they are normal members of the public who have applied to be humiliated on national TV in front of millions of viewers, and boy do they get humiliated, by each other and even more-so by the cockney former barrow boy Mr Amstrad.

Personally, I can't understand how some of the contestants have managed to get to the positions they claim to be in (Barrister, International Car trader, Bank Manager... )

It's a shame to see the talkative Simon get fired. He's a genuine bloke and has/had a genuine job works as a Senior Satellite Television Engineer" and was the project manager. He liked to be in charge and make sure everyone knew it. His team then lost and he took the hit for it.

Next weeks "firee" - Lucinda.

The winner of the show, my money is on Alex


TV SHOW #1 - Gavin & Stacey

Centres around Gavin, his mate Smithy, Stacey and her mate Nessa.

Gavin meets Stacey on a night out, they fall for each other, fall in love and so it begins.
This show is so funny and so real it hurts, I absolutely love Rob Brydon who plays Staceys' uncle.

The show has just finished the 2nd series, I have no idea if there will be a third, but it's definitely a must buy DVD for both series, half an hour an episode, 6 episodes a season, would make a good couple of nights viewing.

Note to Colin: There I have updated my blog to make you happy.....

Nag Nag Nag

That's all people seem to do to me,

They say if it's not one thing it's your Mother/Mother-in-Law

Firstly
Massive congratulations to my Work Wife (Laura) and her bloke (Gaz) on the birth of their first baby (of many I hear !!!!).
'Erin Sophie' arrived a little early on 24 January weighing just 1lb 15oz.

I haven't blogged about it as I wanted to get her permission fist (Lauras' that is not Erins'), the Nag on my last blog has given me that authorisation.

Our only problem now is getting Laura to do her own collection.

Well done darling, now hurry up back to work as we have no I.T. Chick.

Secondly

My Mother-in-Laws' friend asked about getting free music for her children, as this is not something I do, I have had to ask a few friends who do this kind of thing.

The best bet for this is to use something called Bit Torrents, all you need for this is the "client" and the websites that list the .torrent files. I can't go into too much detail here as the legality of it all is still in question although there are stories of the BBC using the torrent technology to allow people to download content, we'll just have to wait and see. in the meantime, google for bittorrents for more info.

That's it, "Is there anything I can do for anyone?"

The start of a new year ....

Its been a mad few weeks here in Damo World, New Job (at the same place), spanking Taos' arse online (so to speak), Leah being "wired up", family crappy internet connection problems, I don't know where to begin.....

So I'll begin with Leah

Leah has been to the Glenfield hostpital this afternoon for some tests on her heart, nothing major, just ECGs and scans.

Long story short, but SWMBO (Mummy) suffers from a heart condition known as Long QT, long story short, each heartbeat consitsts of P, Q, R, S and T intervals, (the beep you hear on heart monitoring machine). SWMBOs the time between her Q and T is longer than normal. Long QT Syndrome. The problem with this condition is that it's hard to detect but can kill people instantly, as well as being trigger by sound, sleep or noise, once it is detected however, it can be "treated" with Beta Blocker tablets or by fitting a implantable defibrilator.

Although quite rare, Long QT is gainng a lot of news recently. Marc-Vivien Foe who collapsed while playing football was said to have died from Long QT, and more recently Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell, another footballer has been rumoured to have had the same condition, which tragically, he also died while playing football.
I digress

As this condition is hereditary, SWMBOs mother, grandmother, 2 great-aunts, cousin and uncle have all been diagnosed with it and sadly her sister died 10 years ago from what was later attribued to Long QT. All those diagnosed are now under consultant care and genetic testing at the Glenfield hospital. We took Leah to have some tests today, this consisted of having an ultrasound type test to look at he heart chambers followed by an ECG. The ECG showed a Q-T interva of 405 which they stated is very low and not even borderline, although this sounds like good news, Long QT doesn't really show up until a child reaches 10ish years old.

The final test heas Leah wearing a 24 hour ECG, 3 pads are taped to her body and a reader is hid.... in her nappy, this will take her heart readings over a 24 hour period which will then be analysed further.Let's just hope she has my genes...

Well that was a weekend (or should that be "What a bag of sh*te")

If Wednedsdays diabolical effort of a football match between England and Russia wasn't bad enough, we also managed to fail at even more sport over the weekend,
firstly England were seemingly robbed at the Rugby World Cup Final over a was it/wasn't it try, and today Lewis Hamilton failed to end the weekend on a high by winning the F1 World championship*.

Still my baby had a wonderful Christening and had lots of photos taken thanks to Uncle Stuart "Trez".

Cheers for taking the video and the photos Stu, I have told everyone they can purchase copies for £4.95 each...

All in all a rubbish week for English sport, but fantastic weekend for me and SWMBO

* it appears that Lewis Hamilton might actually win the championship as BMW Sauber and Williams are being investigates for irregularities ... We'll see but I'm not holding out much hope.

Come on England, Come on Lewis, Come on Vicar & Minister

What a weekend it's set to be, England v South Africa in the world cup Rugby final on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton going for world championship status in the Formula 1 on Sunday.
Me... I have a wedding to go to on Saturday which will hopefully have a TV somewehere. (Although I'm feeling a bit ill at the moment and may not be able to attend :-) )
On Sunday we are baptising Leah so I can't really cry off from that, although I might try and rush the mininster through the service, starts at 2.30 and we really should be done by 4.00 (race starts at 5.00).

I could record them but doubt I'd be able to stay away from TVs, radios and people for long enough to avoid finding out the results.

Come on...

Back in Blighty
.
Arrived back yesterday to not so hot weather, a wait for a bus to take us to the airpark followed by a 45 minute drive and we were home (2.30am).

What a fantastic holiday, it was completely different to the usual holidays previously with both the lads and SWMBO, although it wasn't that much of a holiday for SWMBO as she stayed in the shade for a lot of the time feeding Leah, more of a change of scenery.

The In-Laws were great though, taking Leah for walks when she needed to sleep, babysitting while we got ready and generally giving us some together time so thanks for that.

I did manage 1 lads night though on Sunday, and boy did I regret it the day after, out drinking till 5.30am, unable to finish my breakfast the next day and generally feeling shit for the whole of the day. Great night though.....
My knee managed to behave, I managed to walk 2-3 miles a day without too much pain, although stupidly wore a pair of flip-flops for a couple of days, this was stupid as my knee gave way due to the extra work it was having to do to keep the flip-flops on.

The flight home played hell with my knee, as it was only 4 hours I decided I'd be ok.

So back to reality and Physio told me that the usual holiday time has taken me a step back, not only do I need to do extra work, but its's highly likely I'm going for manipulation sometime soon.

I can go back to work on Monday and have a rest....

Ola Mi Amigos

Bloody hell it's hot....

We managed the luggage, packed the travel cot with a ton of stuff so to keep our normal allowance downthe travel cot ended up weighing 22Kg, as well as each of our luggage also being over the allowance of 20Kg, luckily we managed to get away with it. Who'd have thought you'd need so much suff for a baby, and we're using it all.

Middle of September and it's around 34 degrees in the daytime and 24ish at night. I called home and my mum told me it's wet and cold.... YES.

Leah covered in suncream, with a hat on, in a baby tent, under a tree,
in the shade, in the sun.... Protected and happy(ish)

Leah didn't like the heat on day 1, but is now used to it, Father-in-Law still doesnt like the heat but unfortunately won't fit in the baby tent. Although he seems to have re-found his youth here, listening to Hed Kandi on his my iPod and reading Harry Potter.

Listening to Fat Choonz on MY ipod

I can see the sea

The Apartment is great, 2 big bedrooms and 2 big bathrooms with living space and a sea-view balcony, what more coul you ask for.... well for the next resort to turn the bloody music down that's what. Apparently the music goes on till 3.00am, I don't know cos I'm fast asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

The Vodafone coverage is great here too. super fast 3G (7.2Mbs) from my 3G card, not to mention the daft spanish that all seem to have unsecured wireless networks. No need to be without my internet....

That's enough for now, I'm off to tend to my sunburnt shoulders..... and have another €2 pint, (where the hell is the euro sign on the keboard).

6 September - Happy Birthday Ryan

It's Ma Boys birthday today, 10 years old - Wow, double figures now.

Happy birthday son - Love Daddy

(Yes these are old photos)

Go Leah..... Go

Despite all the shit I am having with my knee, I still have reasons to be happy, like this one for example, I was just saying the word go, no face pulling and no daft moving.



...Bless

Happy Birthday Hugh

It is my stepdads' birthday today, he says he's 39... Unfortnately I'm not allowed to blog how old he really in case he is discriminated against because of his age.

Oops - Sorry, forgot about the "50 year old" Mug you were holding.

Back to work

Leah...How many Goals will Derby win by on Monday?

My paternity leave came and went, my week off also went just as quick, now its time for me to go back to work* and back to some kind of normality (and a rest)

I love fatherhood again (v3.0), however its been very hard work, not the baby part, that's easy (for me), Mummy breastfeeds so I can't help there, however trying to support mummy is the hard work.

Cooking I love,
Tidying I don't love,
Cleaning I hate,
Ironing I haven't

Despite all of the above, I still feel useless as I can't help through the night

Whoever says Mothers and/or housewives are lazy and should "get a real job" have never been either.

I have learnt in the past 3 weeks;

1. Too much sleep is not good for me
Going to bed early in case I got woken up by crying, only to sleep completely through it all and wake up in the morning made me feel worse than the XBozx days of 4 hours sleep a night - Althugh i did help SWMBO by bringing "Me Daughter" downstairs at the crack of dawn on a few occasions to let mummy sleep.

2. The internet is a great/bad resource for newborn baby information.
Great - babycentre and babyworld among the best, coming a close second was "12 Things No One Ever Tells You About Babies"
Not Great - You can diagnose just about anything with a quick google, this isn't always good, modern day medical dictionary where you can find something wrong with yourself

3. Midwives are great
Despite the bad press and crap the likes of the BBC and my local paper say, Midwives are excellent.
STOP SLAGGING OFF MIDWIVES - the government/NHS could save millions in compensation claims by employing hundreds if not thousands of extra midwives.

4. NEVER EVER... ...Believe your missus, if shes says "Never again" when in labour. SWMBO walked out of the hospital and decided she wanted another baby - Best contraception ever !!!!

5. Visitors are great, but make it very hard work
Everyone wants to see your new bundle of joy, your new bundle of joy loves being cuddled, however once the visitors have been and gone, your new bundle of joy does not want to go to sleep at night unless being cuddled, I was given the piece of advice - try and get all of your visitors round in the first week. This was impossible, I think we might be half way through now though. The amount of cards and gifts we have recieved is unbelievable

6. Be there for each other
Tiredness is a recipe for arguments, don't let it

7. Listen/Dont listen to advice.
This has been an adventure - everyone likes telling you how to do things, the way they did things 30/40/50/60 years ago. some good ideas, some bad, and some Im sure are now illegal

* After Wembley with the boys to watch The Rams in the playofff final.

Happy Birthday Lauren
-----------------------------
Its my daughter Laurens' 11th Birthday today.
Happy Birthday Lauren
Lots of love and hugs
Daddy xx