This week has been really out of the ordinary, mentally exhausting at times, but held together by more hours of sleep than im used to. The three of us have been suffering from a cold so the rhythm of the day has been interspersed with snotty nose blowing, loud sneezing, and general cloudy headedness. We have all been breathing in eucalyptus oil like our lives depend on it, and it is helping us. Little Dave hasn't complained one bit throughout, he is his usual happy self despite the blocked nose and snufflyness. He has this adorable croaky little voice right now, very husky. The first night that he had the cold he did wake a bit more than usual but i think that was mainly due to the restrictions on his breathing. Ive decided to go without the medicines and have relied on extra breastfeeding and eucalyptus oil and i think this has been enough to prevent his temperament from crossing over to the frustrated and difficult side.
I heard late on Tuesday evening that my Nanna had had a stroke and was currently in hospital, with things not looking too good. Doctors have predicted a 3 week survival rate. I took my mum to see her only 3 weeks ago and she was fine, in good health, happy, and joking around as usual. My Nanna has always had a rather youthfulness about her. Yesterday i took my mum and brother to visit her in the hospital. We met an Aunt there who we haven't seen in about 6 years due to a family feud. I was excited about seeing her again, but my mum was a little nervous about it. We sat with my Nanna and it was as if it was something we did every day, it felt comfortable. But seeing my Nanna was very strange - the stroke has left her face almost paralysed and totally expressionless. Her jaw has slipped down, her mouth has taken on that drooped position which is common in stroke patients, and she can no longer swallow her saliva so had a damp trickle staining her hospital gown. Her speech was very muffled and quiet, but when sitting close enough i could just about grasp her words. I can only describe the experience as mind boggling. What i mean is that to me, the likelihood of her being in this condition is the same as the likelihood of it happening to myself. I just cannot put the two together. I really feel for her, i can imagine her frustration at being in the position she is in, especially if her mind has not altered. But despite her physical alteration, i do think she seemed better than i had anticipated. Before our visit we were reluctant to say it but we did think that we may be attending a funeral in the near future. But right now i feel positive that she will be ok and that God has plans to keep her here with us. Insha'Allah her presence may help pull our disjointed family back together.
And finally, i must report of my new found homeopathic treasure! The past year or so i have been struggling with sleep. It started in the late stages of pregnancy when middle of the night leg cramps were all the rage. This, coupled with the baby bump left me feeling too uncomfortable to sleep well. Along with the excitement of potential motherhood of course. Then when Dave was born along came the months of disturbed sleep due to middle of the night feeding - and the excitement of being a mummy! Coming up to winter Dave was sleeping a little better but our Cornish holiday was nearing and the excitement of that was through the roof! So i would be awake in bed tossing and turning, daydreaming about how wonderful it was going to be and how much i was looking forward to it. That came and went (along with TERRIBLE sleep as you may remember when i wrote about it
here) and we moved onto the sleeplessness due to the excitedness about our house move stage. That's where we are at right now. Along with the fact that for the past 2 or 3 months Dave has been waking a lot throughout the night - a habit which i am struggling to fix. So something had to give and i decided that a few weeks of sleeping tablets shouldn't harm too much. I'm hoping that it may help me to get into a routine of falling asleep easily at the same time each night, and that the extra sleep should rejuvenate me a little as recently it has really felt debilitating.
My intention was to avoid the big pharma and go in search of a homeopathic remedy. Fortunately, my first stop was Boots the chemist and they had just what i wanted, at a reasonable price. I bought the Boots own brand insomnia tablets, which are manufactured by the exact same company as the homeopathic brand 'Nelsons' but retail at about 10 or 20p cheaper (it states on the box that they are manufactured by Nelsons, and this is also true of the Boots own brand homeopathic teething granules - they are exactly the same as the Nelsons ones).
The insomnia tablets ingredients reads as follows:
6c homeopathic potency of: Kali brom, Coffea, Passiflora, Avena sativa, Alfalfa and Valeriana in 220mg lactose / sucrose tablets.
I have taken them for three nights now and they are really working, it is taking me about 15 minutes to fall asleep at the most, where as before it was taking an average of 1 or 2 hours. So far i would definitely recommend them. You can buy them online from Boots
here.
To end today's post i just wanted to share some of my garden photos which were taken this week. We have brown branches with small green buds now, narcissus tete a tete getting ready to open out, and small areas of iris and crocus domination.
Small bursts of optimism, a joy of joys.
Aqeela xx
We've also had wasps in our bathroom but no photos of them as i was too busy trying to catch and release them! I also wanted to share my narcissus tete-a-tete with you so here it is. 
Yey for Spring!
