We did it!

Well, we did it! We had a successful, fun and enjoyable 9th birthday party for my eldest daughter. I am so pleased that we managed it and it hasn't knocked me out too much. Her friends are so lovely, they were no trouble at all and played nicely together and the bouncy castle was, once again, a huge success. The weather was glorious, at least 28 degrees and sunny, despite all the forecasts telling us it was 22 degrees and raining - most odd. And of course, the help from friends and family was invaluable and much appreciated.

The key was and is balance. I know I keep going on about it, but it's been a really hard but interesting lesson. I'm not as fit as I was, my immune system is busted, I tire quickly, my legs don't work much and I need to accept this means I can't do everything I want.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it to Sports Day and so missed everyone and my youngest's races, but I got some recordings of her taking part meaning I didn't feel completely left out. And we spent a couple of days preparing for the party in short bursts of teamwork. And I spent days slaving over the cake... can you tell?!

So, all in all, a great weekend so far! And it looks like someone is about to get another early birthday present (her actual birthday is in the week), lucky thing...!

Improvements!

Yay, I'm getting there, back to some sort of normal just in time for a heatwave and/or treacherous thunderstorms. Sleep has been the most useful; this week has been the start of my 'lying in' till 9 am two days a week and that has helped massively in both getting enough rest and getting that natural wake-up. So I am moving now to focus on positives once again and get better!

There's definitely a theme developing here...

It's my youngest's Sports Day tomorrow - fingers crossed I can go (and that it isn't cancelled due to heat) but my main goal is my eldest daughter's birthday party on Saturday - with extra fingers and toes crossed we aren't struck down by lightning. However, back up plans to the outdoor party idea have been set in motion....

Both girls are doing fantastically at school, home and play, despite everything, so I am super-proud. And my husband has been and is amazing. And friends and family are wonderful too. ©

And another positive is that I've made another donation to the hospice (via JustGiving) thanks to everyone's generosity as well as get a few things that have really, really helped with my recuperation. ©

To overdoing it

What a pain. I've said before about striking a balance and I guess I failed miserably! After such a wonderful weekend, I started to go down quite severely during last week. I think that, as the weekend had been so successful, I was on a roll and wanted to continue, so I did, sorting school, home, family and work stuff out as well as planning to go to the various end of term events scheduled.  And I ended up sick and bedbound on a weekend I wanted to be fully active and engaged. Well done me; still trying to get this balance right, I guess.

What a Fabulous Weekend!

Well, I've gone from needing to sleep, to a good rest and sleep to a fantastic weekend of fun! All in moderation, all balanced, all good.

My mum had friends over from the States so she had a little bash for them on Saturday, inviting a few close friends and it was lovely to see everyone. It was completely coincidental that it was near to 4th July, but a happy one for a double celebration. I got wheeled over to her house and back which was interesting, keeping out of the way of nettles and twigs on the footpaths, but we did it and we'll do it again.

This was followed on Sunday by another lie-in and then my youngest's birthday party. Her actual birthday isn't until August but over the years we have found that people often don't turn up to parties in the summer holidays.  So now we do them for her before the summer term ends, and this was literally the only available date! Again, everything in moderation - we prepped as much as possible the days before, ensured the girls helped out with some of the more fun stuff like the party bags and then 'all' we had to do on the Sunday was finish off things like the catering, decoration and the highly successful bouncy castle! And the cake - all done by my own two hands, oh and Mr Sainsbury's. This is one of the things that I would have done from scratch in the past but the compromise is necessary. And no complaints of course - she wanted Monster High and she got it!

The party was amazing, the children were delightful, my friends and family were perfect. I couldn't have asked for it to go any better so thanks to you all who were there! Having this support, I feel, is another key element and I am very lucky.

I had a fairly decent night's sleep and nap this morning so I'm okay-ish. The antihistamines have arrived so I'll give them a go tonight and fingers crossed they will help. Got another couple of busy weekends on the horizon so I need to recharge as much as I can plus of course there's everyday, normal life stuff too, to be getting on with. It's amusing me that I'm thinking the summer holidays are going to be quiet and give us a chance to keep recovering - surely it should be the other way round?

And resting

Well, following my post last night, my husband had the great idea of asking the agency for a lie-in today and what a difference it's made! I reckon I will still need the antihistamine but getting enough sleep and waking naturally are clearly key. It just goes to show how the simplest things are often the most important and we need to build on it.

We've got a lot on this weekend and I was worried that much of it would have to be cancelled or at least compromised but I'm hoping this is what I needed to recharge and carry on - albeit carefully!

And hurrah to finding chilled coffee at the supermarket which also helped. Especially with it being Seattle coffee.