Accepted!

I almost can't believe it's here already but we had to submit Amelia for pre-school in September and she's been given a place. It's ridiculous to think she'll be 3 years old then and before you know it we'll be picking out the school uniform. I'm filling up at the mere thought.

It's a fair trek to the pre-school though. As of course we live in Camberwick Green where I work from home, Anna walks 100 yards to work and Amy's childminder is only a 10 minute walk, it's only fitting that we should have the huge task of lifting Amy over the fence each morning as the '3-4-5' club is held next door at the Methodist church!

Anyhow we're all looking forward to the weekend as the temperature is slowly climbing back up ready for spring - yes folks it's just round the corner. Incidentally we had a huge spike in our user stats for Tuesday and Wednesday this week and I was a little confused until I remembered we carried the bulletin on little Amillia Taylor the other day. Looks like we must get Googled fairly regularly as dozens of people looking for that story found their way here - lucky them!

Kindred Spirits

You'll probably see this on the news but I was interested to see the report on Amillia Taylor in Miami who went home yesterday after 4 months in hospital and is believed to be the first baby to have survived following a gestation period of less than 23 weeks. This is a world record apparently, a dubious honour to be sure.

She was the size of a pen and weighed 10 ounces (284g) at birth making our Amelia look like a whopper! Amillia has experienced respiratory problems, a very mild brain haemorrhage and some digestive problems, but doctors now say her "prognosis is excellent". Apparently Amillia is latin for 'resilient', something we didn't know but can certainly testify to. Happy trails Amillia!

As for our own little 'cheekius maximus', she like us has been down with the dreaded lurgy for a few days and has coughed herself into oblivion bless her heart. She seems to be over the worst now but we're both suffering so it's a bit like quarantinesville here. Still, at least it's not bird flu.

I Can't Do It!

After my slightly over-emotional farewell (see last post) I spent the subsequent days feeling somewhat edgy and this developed into what I can only describe as mild anxiety. Then it hit me. This blog long ago transcended from being merely a diary of how Amy was getting on, it served two other very important purposes. Firstly it overcomes the irregularity with which we all contact each other to see how things are going. I've realised that when I meet up with people after days, weeks, months etc., they're completely up to speed with what's going on. Great! Secondly it acts as what I've discovered now is a very necessary outlet for me. I can splurge endlessly about all sorts of nonsense and should you have the misfortune to stumble across AFC during your lunch hour or whatever, you've got to read it. That gives me some kind of warped satisfaction.

To be honest I really felt a sense of loss after calling time on this thing. I mean it's been two and a half years and you kind of get used to it you know. I also know some of you were sad to see it go too. Let's face it, it fills 5 minutes every now and then doesn't it? So with a focus primarily still on the little lady, but with my general ramblings too, we will march onwards to a now undetermined future.

Amy's Fan Club is back, and it's here to stay.