We have a fairy!

I got up and started cooking for the birthday brunch at 7.45am Sunday. I really wanted to make it special for my hubby and put my heart and soul into that brunch! It was a real feast! My parents and sister came too and we had a nice time.

I had a really late night Saturday night because I was baking the birthday cake and then getting up and getting going so early almost wiped me out by the time people were arriving. I was beyond putting a front on. I really did my best but man, the pain was off the scale! When my hip pains get really bad it creeps its way in to my lower back and feel like someone has slammed a vice either side of me and is crushing my back.

After brunch the three of us played some games and after that I took our daughter into the kitchen to make a fairy house.

Saturday afternoon I was called into the lounge and our daughter had built a little structure with a strawberry dangling off it and I lovely sign that said 'Fairies welcome' and she asked me to write . Please write you name here' and we left it out.

Sunday morning before she came downstairs I ate the strawberry and wrote in the tiniest writing 'Arabelle' and oh my goodness she was beside herself!

Her sense of excitement was enormous! I had an old box which we turned inside out and then we got to decorating it.

When we do crafts I let A-R take the lead to encourage her own original creativity, I was blown away with some of her ideas for the house! She decided that she wanted to stick a toilet roll on top as a chimney but wasn't sure how to attach it, after a few minutes of looking at the materials she had to hand she declared she was going to stick some tissue paper underneath the bottom of the toilet roll and wrap it upwards so there was a flat base to stick to the roof. I was very impressed! I don't know if I would have thought of that! I was thinking we could stick it on with cello tape some going up the tube and some down on the box.

Arabelle left her another tiny note saying thank you for her wonderful new home and said she would like to bring her a gift from fairyland so I bought a small crystal today from one of the shops.

We live in a society now that doesn't seem to openly encourage children's imaginations anymore. Most of the toys they get now a days are so realistic it leaves no room for 'playing pretend'. I think there is a certain sadness about that!

Children should be encouraged to explore their wonderful imaginations, to see their world the way they see it and not have that stamped out by a logical society.

We are off to London AGAIN tomorrow for another hospital appointment. We will go up from train tomorrow and come home by train Wednesday evening which will probably wipe me out for the rest of the week.

I had some more appointment dates arrive in the post today. One of which is for surgery which has immediately made me feel very anxious! The last stay in hospital I had was horrendous, there is no other word for it! I have 100% faith in my consultant but the idea of being even further from home then I was last time (almost 5 hours) and once again having to travel home days after hip surgery fills me with dread! I am going to look into getting patient transport, last time I travelled home in the back of the car (after fairly major hip surgery) and whilst I don't remember much of the journey (because it was so traumatic) Tony said I wailed and grunty screamed most of the way home. All I remember is biting the head rest! Every turn, every stop, every acceleration and bump in the road sent pain ripping through me.

I also have no idea how we will pay for it. Obviously the hospital bit is free but it will mean Tony has to stay in a hotel the whole time I am in hospital and will need to eat out etc. I couldn't bare for him not to be  with me. I know I would find it incredibly difficult to know I was in London completely alone but of course London hotel prices are not exactly cheap! I think I would also want to take A-R up with us which would mean taking my mum too so she could watch her when Tony was up at the hospital. I think it is important for A-R to be able to come and visit me rather then like last year us going off for what we thought would be two nights and being gone longer then arriving home in a much worse state then when I left! It is all extra expense though! That would mean two hotel rooms and of course taxi rates to and from the hospital every day. Maybe even twice a day and let me tell you London cabs are not cheap! The week before last when we were there it cost us £30 for a 3 mile trip because the traffic was so bad.

I've just got to hand this one over to God and trust something will come along to provide for us. The constant up and down to London (although we get our train money back) is really hitting our budget. We're suddenly having to find almost £200 extra each trip we make to London and this month we've gone twice. It's robbing Peter to pay Paul!

Still, we are blessed to live in a country that has free healthcare and I will never take that part for granted!

Signing off now! I had a really restless night last night and it feels much later then it actually is!

Blessings all x