Tuesday, 9 September 2008

Bridesmaid again and a catch up!


Big sorry from me that it has taken me so long to update the blog. We have been really busy recently what with Fran's birthday, preparations for the return to school along with preparations for the second big wedding of the year!

To backtrack a few weeks, Francesca had her first bout of steroids just nearly three weeks ago - the first for about 5 months and, as we expected, they knocked her sideways. Once again we found that she struggled to sleep, was constantly hungry and had mood swings that went from ever so slightly manic/excitable to really low and sobbing for no apparent reason except she felt sad. It was a tough week and, as usual took her another week to really return to normal. It is great that she is well enough to take the steroids but awful that she has to endure such a tough couple of weeks. I have said it before and am sure I will say it again but they really are one of the most awful drugs.

Over her official birthday weekend we had family to stay which was lovely. The children had a great time whilst my brother and Stu grafted in the garden. Fran was very spoilt and had a fantastic time with her cousins.

The week of the steroids we were lucky enough to be invited along to Starlights family day at Popham airfield. It was fantastic. Francesca and I experienced a thrilling helicopter ride over the countryside. Charlie and Fran went on the ponies twice, took a drive in a Rolls Royce, had their faces painted and, my personal highlight, was the ride on the back of a Harley with Fran (it went so fast I lost my cap!). There were lots of other things to do there and the children enjoyed the best day out. We are still so grateful to Starlight for all they do - it really makes a massive difference to the children's lives.







The past week has been a really exciting one though. Last Thursday Fran went into year 1! Goodness! She has really enjoyed her return to school and is lucky in that for the first term she is in a class of just 15 children. We are so glad as she missed so much school last year we feel she'll really benefit. After Christmas the class will be bigger but for the moment it is really great. When I was chatting to her about school last night she was really animated although voiced that she doesn't enjoy 'later' in the day so much as she gets tired - understandable given that she hasn't been to school for 10 weeks!


On Saturday Francesca was bridesmaid for the second time this year and had an absolutely lovely time. You may recall that Fran proposed to Anne on James' behalf last year (on the blog) so it was a really wonderful that she was well enough to follow her Auntie Anne down the aisle at Dulwich College. Lots of fun ensued with Fran, Charlie and another little girl Amy hogging the limelight with the video cameraman! As you can see Anne and Fran looked absolutely beautiful and really enjoyed the day. Stuart and I also enjoyed it as my mum picked up the kids in the evening so that we could enjoy the much anticipated party! I will post more photo's of the day as I get them.














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