Well André and I kept the Munchkin here for five hours on Wednesday while mom and dad did a lot of running around, registering his birth with all the different agencies and so on and he was an absolute doll! It helps that André is even more ga ga than I am, so much so that after he'd given him his bottle I got the kitchen timer and put it on the table so he'd know when his "time was up" holding the babe! Ha! But seriously, he was so easy. Jen asked me to make sure that he held off on his next bottle for four hours as she really wants to get him on a schedule and I'd guess we only had about 15 minutes of him getting a bit restless before we could legitimately give him his next bottle - hence me walking around with him singing "the wheels on the bus go round and round" ... and I hate that bloody song! Still, it worked, he was as good as gold and Jordan and Jen got everything done that they needed to! Any time, kids, any time!
While they were out my front doorbell rang and I opened it to two young men who thought they had an appointment to do an "insulation evaluation" of my house, but when they saw me they realized they'd got the wrong address. I had to laugh when the first guy said "oh, sorry, I must have the wrong address because I made the appointment with a young person" (!) and when he asked if it might be next door I said nope, they're even "less young" than I am! I did point out that if they were hoping to make a few sales they might want to finetune their doorstep patter a tad, but we all ended up laughing anyway. A little later André took me down into town to pick up my new compost bin and I'm dead pleased with it! I know, to think I used to love going clothes shopping and now I'm all excited about a compost bin. It was really easy to assemble but you needed to be two people as it was heavy and unwieldly, but we got there in the end. Not bad for €15 huh?
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And finally, Prince Philip's dying shouldn't really have come as a surprise to anyone I guess. I mean, he was 99 after all, although it's a shame he didn't quite make it to 100! He had lived a very dramatic young life, being smuggled out of Greece as a baby in an orange crate, his mother being diagnosed with schizophrenia (I believe) and ending up in a psychiatric institution and his pregnant sister and her family being killed in a small plane crash. However "privileged" he might have been by birth, that's a hellluva lot for any young man to live through. But I liked him. I believe he was a force to reckon with and an absolute rock for the Queen. I also like the fact that he was irreverent and apparently had a great sense of humour. I guess most of us thought he was perennial because he'd always just kinda been there - and yet now he isn't. I'm also assuming his passing will knock quite a few stand-up comedians off balance for a while. But however much they made fun of him I genuinely believe he was held in a lot of affection by greater numbers than those that disliked him. I, for one, think he'll be sadly missed as one of the last real, true characters!
That's a very nice composter.
ReplyDeleteIt was sad to hear of Prince Philip's passing. It's got to be so hard on the Queen. They were together such a long time.
Glad you enjoyed your baby holding/sitting:)
I believe it will be so hard on the Queen too. So many years together and he was at her side for pretty much everything!
DeleteYeah, my heart gave a little tug when I heard about the Prince, it's always a shame when someone dies. Though I do suspect that by the time one reaches their 90's one is just about ready for it. I hope that doesn't sound too crass.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that's crass at all Dave. I think some people just get tired and are "ready" to go. Philip was always a very active man and if he was still all there mentally I doubt he'd enjoy being confined to a body that wouldn't do his bidding! I knew of a very successful businessman who had a massive stroke and was confined to his bed, blind, from the age of 70 until 103 and I'm pretty sure he would have like to have gone much, much earlier because apparently his mind was still totally with it!
DeleteLove the, "I've locked up the Corgis line." lolz
ReplyDeleteRIP Prince Phillip, my 17th cousin 2 x removed. They seemed very much in love and I can't imagine loosing a spouse after 74 years together.
I liked that line too Sluggy - I believe he was more than capable of coming out with something like that!
DeleteI would love to be singing with Pip right now. She has outgrown the Wheel on the bus, but still singing together would be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI realize how lucky I am Anne. For some reason I always assumed my kids would marry and be off somewhere distant. After all, I left my family in the UK at age 21, but luckily for me both my boys LOVE it here and I don't see either of them moving away. Lucky me!
DeleteOh your day with the munchkin sounds perfect. Good for the parents to ease their way to being out and about too. I watched the Crown, and the Queen with Helen Mirren, and of course yesterday streamed BBC so learned a bit about the Prince. I'm sad for the Queen and wonder how she'll keep her own health now.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a terrible loss for the Queen, but she still seems to be going strong (still rides her horse in Windsor Great Park I believe). She has good genes so who knows what will happen to her now!
DeleteAre they seriously trying to get an almost-newborn babe on a schedule? I thought those notions were long past. Guess not. And it's lovely that you and Andre get to share the love.
ReplyDeleteI grieve for the Queen. She must feel such a vast emptiness beside her.
I breastfed and "schedule" just didn't exist in my vocabulary. That being said, Jen wanted to breastfeed but it wasn't possible and he is already chugging a bottle down in a few short breaths, so four hours isn't that far of a stretch for him. Certainly it only involved occupying him for a few minutes on my part and he was there. As for the Queen, I would think it must feel awful as they were together for such a long time!
DeletePerhaps you should create and patent a Baby Holding Timer. I bet there's quite the market for one.
ReplyDeleteI might have told Chantal that if her plaque is too much, and a waste of money, to give it to you so you could make bookends out of them.
Prince Philip did lead a full life, that's for sure. Still, Betty Windsor must be heartbroken after all those years together.
I don't think there'll be any shortage of arms to hold that baby - which is the way it should be, as far as I'm concerned, but a baby holding timer might come in useful. As for Chantal - uuurrggghhh. We were never friends, it's just that with me working in HR (everyone gets to know you in a small organization) and her living near me she kinda latched on, but to be honest I can do without that kind of negativity in my life. Sadly, many people who were fortunate enough to earn good money working in Geneva forget that there are many more people who would give their right arm for what we had! As for Philip, it can't have been easy for him to have tolerated always walking in the Queen's shadow but he made a damn good job of it. And yes, I'm sure she's devastated as I think it was a genuine love match - for all the bumps in the road!
DeleteYou'll need to get onto You Tube and learn some more 'baby' songs from the sound of it lol. What a lovely time you had and so nice Andre is such a hands on uncle too. He'll be glad he's staying nearby now!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you might have to create a new email and 'forget' to notify Chantal!! That's a pretty compost bin. Mine are plastic and a bit too high for me to easily turn over the compost.
I was sad to hear of the death of Prince Philip. I think the monarchy might be in trouble when the queen goes but I think she's made of stern stuff and will be around for a while yet. It's a shame he died just now when there are such restrictions on funeral gatherings, I'm sure they will be struggling to pick the 30 to go! I love the irreverence of Mock the Week, its a great show! x
André is already talking about all the things he'll do with Charlie (excluding nappy changing) when he's a bit older, and I'm so glad he's as dotty as he is about him! As for Chantal, when we retire we are asked if we want our emails listed on the retirees' list - it keeps us all up-to-date with what's going on (for instance, our entitlement to be vaccinated either in Switzerland or France and so on). Very few people refuse to disclose their contact details so I guess I'll just have to put up with her, although I didn't answer her because I just can't be bothered with that nonsense any more! As for Prince Philip dying, I agree there might be problems once the Queen is gone. I think people really only "tolerate" them because of what a great job the Queen has done, but once it's Charles who knows. He's not particularly liked (especially after the way he treated "Saint" Diana) and of course Harry is doing no-one any favours either is he now. I think that's why Charles has been trying to streamline the monarchy because while I think it will last, the more peripheral royals need to be booted out and get "real" jobs (in my humble opinion). I hear they're looking for shelf-stackers at ASDA and Andrew and Fergie are quite tall!
DeleteAhhhh! Love that you're having quality time with Biboo already. I don't like holding newborns, I wait a few months! Love the compost bin, looks like Chantal's emails may end up in your virtual bin ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's true newborns aren't as much fun as older babies, but they just have that lovely newborn smell and are so "munchy"! As for Chantal, I thought about sending her emails straight to the bin but I also check my spam regularly so I'd still see them. Gotta give it some more thought!
DeleteI was working on getting mine on some kind of schedule early on. It was a total fail with one and a success with the other. I think Phillip lived a long and healthy life, sad as it is. I honestly have to wonder if Charles would just defer to William.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, it was really easy to keep him occupied for the 10-15 minutes it took to get him to 4 hours between feeds. He can guzzle a bottle in record time so I doubt he was really hungry anyway. I, personally, never bothered with schedules and they worked themselves out anyway in the end. I agree Philip lived a long life and I do believe he contributed, but I honestly doubt that Charles will defer to William. He's been waiting for that job all his life and oddly enough I think he might have some good ideas!
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