New Year, New You?

Well, thank goodness that's over...precisely my thoughts when the ball dropped on the 31st, announcing the dawn of a new year. 2007's only true bright spot was and continues to be my 3 gorgeous kids.

Imogen seems to have finally got a handle of her social skills, though she occasionally forgets herself still. She is doing brilliantly academically. She's in the top 25% of her class for everything which, as she's the 4th youngest in her year, is fab. We're fairly good friends right now but the pre-pubescent young lady pokes her head over the parapet every so often to let mummy know not to get too complacent as teenage angst is not far away!

Miranda is mostly a delight and we're on top of her allergies, including the puzzling spots on her head (children's shampoo was too drying). She has a tendency to be maudlin and can't cope when she hears the word 'No' but we're working on it! She watches far too much TV though. I'm mostly keeping on top of it by offering other things to do but I remember that her sister was much the same at this age and it hasn't done her too much harm. So long as she watches 'educational' TV and not endless re-runs of Spongebob, I'm not too worried!

Gabriel is wonderful. Having the time to take pleasure in watching him turn from a helpless baby into a full-on almost toddler has been the most wonderful thing of 2007. Regardless of all the awfulness of the past year, it is that thing that I hold closest to my heart. He is so laid back, nothing phases him much. He is pretty much always happy. In fact, I don't think he's had 20 days of miseries in the last year. When he is miserable, it's a shock! He eats well, he's almost walking, he has four or five recognisable words though he uses more sounds than that, he loves to swim and he adores both his sisters. I managed to catch a brief snippet of him wall walking yesterday:



I finally managed to persuade Gabriel that he didn't need mummy milk any more, though he's been having digestion problems with the cow's milk. At least he drinks it which is more than can be said for the girls at the same age! He's on a mix of my frozen milk and cow's but I'm almost out of the frozen stuff, so we're trying him on a mix of rice milk and cow's today. I hope that will keep his tummy calm. As for my health issues, I am getting there. I had a lump in my shoulder biopsied last week and am awaiting the results. Regardless of those, I am getting the radioactive iodine probably, depending on blood results, at the beginning of Feb. Assuming the lump is thyroid material, the RAI should kill it and it shouldn't need removal. I will need to be away from home for about a week until I stop glowing, but I should then not need any more intervention for the cancer. Just stay on the thyroid meds for the rest of my life.

So, hopefully, that means that 2008 will be a much better year for me. Maybe I'll then be able to shift the lard that I seem to have accumulate from all the pity chocolate!