Finally, back to school today. And what a surprise when we woke up to find the ground covered in snow! They did mention it might snow, but one never takes these things all that seriously in London. It's mostly gone by now, but the kids had a great time walking to school in it, and Olivia has insisted that we save her snowball in the freezer until Daddy gets home so that he can see it. I did try to explain that he would have seen the snow on his way to work, but it didn't quite get through.

Olivia had her first swimming lesson yesterday, and enjoyed that - she's totally fearless, as I expected, and she'll probably be swimming like a fish in no time. I have a feeling that she will actually learn to swim before Sarah, although Sarah insists that her class of swimmers will automatically be better than Olivia's because they are older (this despite the fact that both are classes for total beginners). Whatever. As long as they are both happy, and as long as they both learn how to swim, eventually.

Sarah's back to her trampoline class tonight, but because her friend Thalia decided she also wanted to do trampoline this term, Lana and I can alternate weeks in terms of taking them - it's Lana's turn this week, since it's Thalia's very first time. Gives me a free afternoon, which is nice. (Well, I've still got Olivia, of course, so not entirely free, but at least I haven't got to go spend an hour in the Malden Centre with her!) We're going to make some popcorn and sit down and watch a video together - just my speed for an afternoon activitiy...

Took down all the Christmas decorations today, and so far, doesn't look like we missed anything. Something will probably turn up next week; that's usually the way of it. The living room feels much bigger without the tree in there, though. I'm sure that feeling will only last for a few days, but it's nice while it lasts.

It's a shame that with the new year, we haven't had a change of weather - it's still raining here, which is a problem with the kids. I was hoping to be able to get out and go for a walk, at least, but no such luck. I guess all we can do is wait for school to start again - not until Tuesday next week, unfortunately, and Olivia won't start until the 13th. But at least the after school activities (swimming & trampoline for Sarah, swimming & ballet for Olivia, though neither of hers is technically after school) start next week as well, which will help give them something to do. And me a bit of peace and quiet.

The big day has come and gone. And the kids are still (almost) as hyper as they were before Christmas - I thought (silly me) that they were supposed to calm down a bit! Actually, they are better today than yesterday, so I have hopes that they will be back to more or less normal by the end of the weekend. At least it's the weekend again, so there are two grownups around to help troubleshoot. Too bad school's not back until the 7th, though!

Well, the week of events is over. We had Sarah's nativity play, which went very well (and a photo of the main cast actually appeared on the front of the local free paper - I'll scan it in a put a link to it when I get around to it), and Olivia's ballet class performance, which was incredibly cute, as expected. I got a few photos of each of those things, as well as getting them on video, so when I eventually get the film developed, I'll put the photos up on our website so everyone can see them.

Been to the farmers' market this morning to collect the beef (standing rib roast, 3 ribs - very large, very yummy looking, even though it's not been cooked yet) and it's taking up half my fridge. Also picked up some mulled cider (this is the English kind of cider - i.e. alcoholic, rather than the American kind) - all I have to do it heat it up. My kind of drink, especially in this kind of weather, which is misty and chilly (though not really really cold, which is nice).

Another playgroup event today - the official Christmas party. I had volunteered to stay and help, so I got to see these kids in action, and it's amazing how good they are for people other than their parents. At least, I assume my children are not the only ones who are much more of little terrors at home than in public (of course, when you think about it, that's preferable to the opposite situation). When they arrived, they all sat down on some blankets - and this was twice the number as usual, as most kids only go 2 days a week, so these were the Monday/Wednesday kids as well as the Tues/Friday kids - and sang songs while we finished getting the food ready. Then they all went to the little tables and sat down and ate their food. And the amazing thing is that they STAYED sitting down in their seats most of the time. If they could bottle that and sell it, they'd make a fortune. :)

Then there was an entertainer - I'd say a clown, but she didn't do the makeup and stuff, which is probably just as well for kids that age, who might be slightly frightened by that sort of thing. They loved her, and she was quite funny even from an adult point of view, which was nice for those of us watching. And then a visit from Father Christmas. All in all, a lovely little party - just what I'd expect from this playgroup actually, which is very good quality. I'm sure she'll be sorry to leave it & also sure we'll try to get no 3 into it when he's old enough. The group has been going for about 35 years now, and I think that shows - they are clearly really well thought-out and organised about some of these things, so you can tell they've had some practice.

Tomorrow we've got a nativity play, and luckily, no sign of chicken pox in our house yet (it struck Joseph down last week, and as Sarah is playing Mary, we were understandably concerned). They'll probably wake up with it Christmas morning or something. But frankly, as I've been expecting Sarah to bring it home ever since she started school, I shan't be surprised when she does. And as I'm not working anymore, at least I don't have to worry about how we'll manage the time off...

Olivia's playgroup had a "concert" today - if you can imagine anything much cuter than 20 or so 2.5 - 4 year olds singing Christmas songs while neatly arrayed on stage, I'd love to know what it is (actually, I imagine her ballet class's "recital" will be up there in cuteness, too). Very sweet & astonishing that most of them not only didn't cry, but actually stayed in their places AND knew most of the words to the songs (and actions). They must have been practicing since October!

I think that's all the shows for this week - next week there is Sarah's school play and Olivia's ballet class's "show" (which term I use loosely - basically, the parents just get to watch the class in action - I don't think there's any structure to it. Still, I'll try to get 10 minutes or so of it on camera - not the entire 45 minutes, though).

'Tis the season for school plays, and we've just found out that instead of being a chicken (last year), sheep, star, shepherd or whatever, Sarah actually gets to be Mary this year. So, fame and fortune, at last! I doubt that at age 5 they have to do much beyond stand around, but still...

The other news of the week is that Olivia has got a place at nursery for January - we didn't expect a place to be available until September, so that's good news. It's an afternoon place, which is fine - two other kids in our road go in the afternoon, so we may even be able to share the dropping off duties, which is an added bonus. She'll stop going to playgroup, as we've decided it will really be too much for her to handle, as it would be like all day school, and I don't think she's quite up to that. We will, however, try to find a different ballet class for her to attend (her current one meets in the afternoon, so we can't continue with that). Thalia attends one locally on Saturday mornings, so I'll go along tomorrow morning and have a word with the teacher there to see if there are places - Lana thinks there almost certainly will be, so that should work out ok. We will also try to get a morning swimming lesson one day a week, so that should make Olivia happy, even though she'll be sorry not to be able to go to playgroup any more.

Not much happening lately, or at least, it seems that way to me - I suppose someone on the outside of my cycle of school runs, after school activities & errands might think I was really busy. And I suppose I am, but it's often nothing you can put your finger on. And of course, this time of year, there is also Christmas shopping to be done, Christmas presents & cards to be made, and so on. I managed to avoid getting roped into working at the school Christmas Fayre (they always seem to spell it that way, don't they!) - one advantage of being pregnant is that you have a much easier & more obvious excuse for turning people down &/or not volunteering. We will still, of course, attend the fair, but that's okay - there's not nearly as much energy required in attending as there is in organising or running a stall. I did make some table runners, etc from various donated scraps (a simple matter of some hemming), and I'll probably knock up a dish or two of rice krispie treats for the day, but neither of those things requires a large amount of time or effort, or long periods of standing up, which is probably the worst thing.

It's remarkable how different kids are from one another, even ones who share parents and styles of upbringing... We went to Ikea today, which Olivia really enjoys now that she's 3, as she can stay in the play area while I do some shopping. The minute we get there, she starts taking off her shoes to get ready to go in. Sarah never would go to something like that without me, and in fact, still won't - when given the option a few weeks ago, she declined. And it's not as though I've approached the whole issue of leaving them places any differently - both went to a childminder from a very early age (6 months or so), for instance. Sarah is getting better about things like birthday parties - she always enjoyed them once she got into it, but it took her a while to warm up - it still does, but it's a lot shorter time than it used to be. As opposed to Olivia, who would be off like a shot the moment we got there. It will be interesting to see what happens with this next one, as he won't have the experience of a child minder at an early age.

Another Tots Tap & Ballet class today. I had to collect Olivia about 10 minutes early so we could dash off to get Sarah from school (normally my friend Lana would get Sarah on Thursday, but as her own daughter was off school ill, that didn't work this week). Poor Olivia didn't want to leave early (but was readily consoled with a lollipop) - but collecting her early meant I got to see a few minutes of the class, and I'll tell you - you never saw anything cuter than a room full (must be about 15) of tiny little girls in ballet costumes and other cute dresses all dancing around in a circle, doing spins and so on. And they love it. I don't know what it is about that age and the appeal of frilly pink things and dancing, but it's sure sweet to watch. Of course, like Olivia, most of them are probably a real handful when they're at home with their mothers...

Well, Sarah was back to school today - welcome for all of us, I think. She enjoys school (as my mother says, at some point they lose that - or at least have to pretend they don't like it, so it's nice while it lasts), so that's good. We had our first trampoline class on Tuesday, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Strangely (or perhaps it's not strange) most of the kids in the class are boys - the one other girl is also called Sarah. Still, the important thing is that she had fun, so that's good. She's still not a big joiner, so it's clear that she really likes trampoline, as she's willing to put up with the fact that there are other people she doesn't know there. Olivia's first "Tots Tap & Ballet" class was today - I didn't stay to watch past the first 5 minutes or so, so I'm not sure what they did, but the bit I did see was very cute - they all held hands and went around in a circle for a while, then did some jumping & clapping. I'm sure it's all very basic, but they are really sweet to watch. Most of the girls had some type of ballet costume on, so I suppose I'll have to let Olivia wear her dressing up costume next week. If she stays interested, perhaps we'll buy her a leotard and tutu or something for Christmas.

Busy week last week, though I'm not entirely sure what all we ended up doing that kept us so busy - doesn't matter, of course, as long as the tempers don't get too bad, and we've escaped that reasonably well. I hope it keeps up as I had a call from the school this morning to say that there are problems with the boiler in the wing of the school where Sarah's classroom is, so the little ones (nursery and reception) won't be going back to school until Thursday (instead of tomorrow). So, two more days to fill, yippee... At least the other activities all start up again this week, like Olivia's playgroup and my yoga class. Sarah's new after school activity - trampolining - will start tomorrow, and Olivia's new activity - Tots Tap & Ballet - starts Thursday, so there are some treats for them, which should help keep them sweet. I can't wait to see the ballet class - it's 2.5 to 4 yr olds, so should be unbelievably cute, even though they don't (I don't think) wear "proper" ballet clothes, as it's just a casual, fun-type class, rather than a professional type one.

Olivia had her birthday on Thursday, so is now 3 - hard to believe - and her little party (a "purple party" was requested) on Saturday, both of which went well. The party only had a few children, so it wasn't really that big a deal - not like Sarah's, which required a lot more organisation and effort, as there were about 15 kids. I think next year, we'll do at least one of the parties somewhere other than our own house. Probably it will be Sarah's party as the kids will be older & need more thorough entertainment. There may also be more of them, as she'll want to invite everyone in her class (well, maybe not everyone, but it might be close). If we decide to hire a hall or something like that, she probably can do that. We'll see. Luckily, we won't have to plan it for a while yet. :)

We seem to have survived the first day of half term with no incidents and not too much boredom, despite appalling weather. I guess the real test will be later in the week, Thursday & Friday. Of course, Thursday is Olivia's birthday and a friend of Sarah's from her old school is coming for lunch & to play in the afternoon, so they have that to look forward to, which should help. And it is only a week, though I'm sure that by the end of it, we'll feel as though it's been a lot longer than that. That's one of the really nice things about school - they do keep them so occupied that not only are they not bored, but they are tired when they get home and quite happy to be entertained in a simple way, rather than an elaborate one.

We're off shortly to go around to Thalia's house and watch her new video (Sleeping Beauty - should be a big hit as it has both faeries and a princess in it). We've got a new video for half term as well, but we're saving that until we really need it...

Well, for the first time this week it's not actually raining, so we walked across to school this morning - makes a nice change from the traffic, though it's getting a bit nippy. Sarah was very excited to be able to see her breath, though. Whatever works - I'm glad that something so simple can interest them!

Today should be a lovely day in general though - I haven't got anything I need to do until this evening, so I get an entire day of hanging around and entertaining Olivia (who is, at the moment, watching Monsters Inc for the 50th time - she adores it). I might even get some sewing done, which would be nice. I also hope to make a pumpkin pie, which is more of a task than it might otherwise be, as you can't find tinned pumpkin easily in this country, so I'm making it from scratch, starting with the 3 kilo pumpkin ("small pumpkin" it says on the label) on my counter. We'll see how that goes.

On another note, my friend Neela tells me that the free-ness of museums in London is actually due to the hard work of the former culture secretary, Chris Smith (I think my association with Ken is simply that it was something he strongly supported). Being a firm believer in giving credit where it's' due - well, good on ya, Chris. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,495517,00.html)

Took the girls up to the Natural History Museum today, which I think they enjoyed, overall. One of the nice things that Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London) has done recently is make a number of the major London museums free, including the NHM and the Science Museum. Which is great, as with little kids, their attention span is about an hour and a half, so you don't really want to have to pay £8 per adult to get in in the first place.
We went through at the dinosaur gallery, which was packed, of course. Sarah was a bit scared of the animated T Rex at the end (she didn't want to look at it) but Olivia tried to scare it by roaring back. I think that's probably a my kids in a nutshell, right there. Be interesting to see what the next one's like! Then we had lunch (they have a really good picnic area in the basement, which is great, as you can bring better food than you get in their restaurants/cafes and much cheaper) and then had a look at the Creepy Crawlies (which they both enjoyed - much more up Sarah's alley, I think) and a brief tour of the Earth Galleries, though they were beginning to get cranky, so we didn't stay long. But the nice thing is that now that it's free, we can do it again without worrying about only seeing one or two things each time. Same with the Science Museum, and when they are a bit older, some of the other ones. And of course, it means I'll get a chance to see the museums, which I haven't really done here.

OK, well. Now we've been to see the experts and their boss. (And I've encountered the most amazingly convulted route to a car park I've ever seen, but that's another story entirely). And the consensus is that what originally appeared to be a dilated kidney is actually a collection of fluid (a urine bubble) at the outside of some kidney tissue, which is not fully developed. At some point during the development of that kidney & the vessels associated with it, a blockage (most likely) occurred, and it resulted in the malformation of the kidney. It was, at some point, at least, producing some urine (hence the bubble), but probably isn't functioning much anymore, if at all.

What does this mean? Well, there's no danger to the baby in utero (provided nothing happens with the other kidney, which is highly unlikely), and it's not even an emergency once he's born. The urine bubble should disperse itself gradually without intervention. At some point after he is born, they'll do some scans, possibly some x-rays, maybe some other diagnostic tests, with the purpose of seeing if the right kidney has any function at all, if it does, how much, and if there's any chance of it presenting a danger to the baby, in terms of infection or interference with other functions. It's possible that if they decide it poses a risk, they'll want to remove it eventually. The head of the department (the uber-specialist) says that he thinks that it's unlikely that the baby will have much functionality in the right kidney, but it's not something they can tell for certain until after he's born.

So, that's that. Apparently, it's officially known as a "dysplastic kidney" with some "perinephric fluid collection, likely to be a urinoma". In people speak, that's a kidney that's malformed, with a urine (or possibly other fluid, but most likely urine) bubble next to it. Anyway. They'll do a follow up scan in about 6 weeks time, just to check on stuff, and towards the end of the pregnancy we'll get to meet some of the paediatric urology specialists, who will be the ones dealing with him once he's born.

It's still not really a cause for worry (and anyway, there's nothing we can do about it now). I think that's about all they said, except that there's no way of telling for certain precisely when or why the problem occurred. But there's no reason to think that anything will happen with the left - this does not make it more likely that the left will have problems.

And the other good news is that there's nothing wrong with anything else - the rest of the baby - heart, brain, limbs, genitalia, and so on and so on are all perfectly normal - this is just one of those little glitches that sometimes happen. While it's somewhat frustrating to know about it now and therefore have it hanging over you, it's actually a good thing that they know about it before he's born, as they can then make sure that there is no potential for further damage, problems, infection, and so on. Without this kind of scanning, this kind of problem might not show up until much later, perhaps as a series of chronic urinary infections or something, which could potentially damage the other kidney, so knowing in advance that they'll need to check the right kidney & keep an eye on it and/or remove it if it looks like it might be a problem is a positive thing. Best to be prepared, as any boy scout will tell you :)

Well, I went to see the obstetrician today, who rescanned and gave her opinion. The right kidney is definitely dilated, quite a lot, and she thinks the right ureter is dilated (swollen) as well. Left is fine, bladder is fine. This means that the obstruction is somewhere below the bladder, in the ureter vessel somewhere (apparently). Because of the amount of dilation, it is almost certain that the problem will not resolve itself before birth, and will need to be treated post-natally. So, when he's born, they'll check him out to see what's next. Scan him them and see how enlarged the kidney is, and so on. He'll go on antibiotics as a prophylactic, as the danger lies not so much from the actual obstruction (or urine reflux, if that's what it is - the urine flowing backwards) but from potential infection to the kidney. Repeated or consistent infection can mean permanent kidney damage. The likelihood is that they will be able to resolve the obstruction or reflux (which I think tends to simply fix itself) within the first few years of his life - the problems tend to go away as the child grows. As the absolute worst case scenario, he could lose the function of that kidney. However, should that happen, and it's only the worst case scenario, it wouldn't affect his quality of life, as humans are perfectly able to function with only one kidney. (People donate them to relatives with problems, for instance.)


Anyway, as he'll need to be seen postnatally, they are referring me on yet again, to a specialist, at a different hospital. (But at least we have a national health service). In cases where you'll need to see someone after the birth, they like for you to go in and meet them beforehand, and so on. So that's tomorrow. I don't imagine they'll tell me much that we don't know already, though they may be able to give some more precise idea of what the risk levels are. I shall post more later, but it's not something to be too worried about, so if you are reading this, don't worry. :)

It's hard to decide whether to tell everyone or not tell everyone - I've obviously told some people, and it's not a secret or anything, but then again, one does get tired of having the same conversations over and over. And if people are friends but not close friends, well, you don't really want them to worry. But on the other hand, if one is thinking about it all the time oneself...

So, yesterday we had the 20 week development scan (at 22 weeks, but still), which was interesting. The good news is that he's a boy (which should make an interesting change) and that most of him seems to be just fine. The less good news is that he has a small problem with his right kidney, in that it's retaining more fluid than it should be. Apparently, this ("renal pelvic dilation" or "foetal hydronephrosis") is not uncommon, especially in boys. They don't treat it antenatally (at least, not if it's unilateral - not sure what they do if it's bilateral), and in fact, it goes away before birth in around half of the cases. The most common cause is a blockage in the ureter, which can be caused by a number of different things, including a simple kink in the vessel or a mild infection. So, anyway, I've got another scan tomorrow, this time with an actual obstetrician (which in Britain is unusual - mostly you deal with your midwife or GP) who will advise how frequently we need to check it out during the rest of the pregnancy and so on. I do hope she doesn't say that I have to have a scan every couple of weeks - talk about tedious. And we won't even get into the issue of trying to park at the blasted hospital...

Anyway, the really hard thing now will be trying to find a name that we like which hasn't been used by an immediate family member already and goes with our surname (i.e. nothing that starts (or ends) with "n" or has lots of "f" or "th" sounds) - suggestions more than welcome, though I can't imagine you'll come up with anything reasonable that's not in one of our many borrowed name books. Still, we've got a while to go, so I imagine we'll manage something, eventually. I'm beginning to understand what drives people to invent names for their kids - not that I'd do that, but I can see the temptation.

Went swimming yesterday - I'm trying to make that a regular Friday morning thing. It works quite well, as Olivia is in playgroup from 9.30 to 12, but as the general swimming is only open from 10.30, I don't get to have quite as leisurely a time as I might like. Still, if you get there right at 10.30, it's less crowded, too, which makes it easier to swim lengths, before the pool fills up with people pissing about. There are quite a few local schools where the kids come to have swimming lessons once a week, so they often use half the pool for that, which means they don't have lanes set up for lane swimmers, so it can get really crowded. I'd love to be able to swim during the serious swimming time, but unfortunately, that's 7-9 or something, so it's not really possible to do, with dealing with the kids in the morning. But at least I didn't have to worry about swimming around people, which does happen sometimes.

When we used to belong to the David Lloyd Centre (expensive gym) the one good thing was that in the winter, they put a tent/marquee/whatever over the outdoor pool and let the adults swim in it - open until about 11pm (no lifeguard though). I used to go sometimes at night, for instance after my pottery class, and was usually the only person in the pool, with maybe one other. When it was really cold, the steam would rise off the water and give everything a misty effect - really otherworldly, and very relaxing to just be able to swim without worrying about navigating around other people. The indoor pool there was useless, though, so it's no great loss to go somewhere else, in general.

Not a lot to say today, just musing on how "stuff" seems to eat up your time. It's not like I even have a lot to show for it, much of the time. I don't mind, per se, it's just funny how you get to the end of a day and think "ok, what have I accomplished today" and you can't come up with anything. Still, it's better than working (this is my new motto for life). :)