Robin at play

It was wonderful to have the whole family back under one roof last night and we all had an early night. Before going to bed however, the boys had become so excited at being back together that it had been difficult to maintain quiet time for Grandson No 1. So today my son-in-law took the two youngeest with him to stay overnight with his parents for a family party to celebrate a special birthday for his mother. Originally, of course, the whole family had been going to attend. However it was essential that Grandson No 1 stay behind with his mum and myself for a couple of quiet days to get his strength back.

Before everyone left I put out some seed and crumbs for the birds and fairly quickly this robin arrived and darted between the playthings in the garden, coming to rest on the top of the Wendy House, much to the delight of the boys, including the one year old. After he had posed for my camera the Robin finally plucked up the courage to come and take some seed. Although I didn't have the opportunity for more photos today I think I would have chosen this as my blip anyway, as a happy momento of being able to see how much the three boys enjoyed watching the robin perching on their toys. A squirrel is a frequent visitor to their garden and in the past any birdseed on the bird table quickly disappeared, so very little has been put out lately to discourage the four-legged rascal.

Once peace and quiet had descended on the house we had a lovely restful day constructing railways and lego stations and the like. A short walk in the afternoon to Costa Coffee for a treat was important - for Mum and Granny too - as the nurses had suggested that some light walking exercise would be good to buiild up the strength in the wee chap's lungs.

Having had a chance now to talk to my daughter at length for the first time since I arrived, the full impact of the deterioration on the Monday night became apparent. At one point she had been warned that Intensive Care were on stand-by to receive him as he wasn't responding and his breathing had worsened so much, and when the chaplain arrived and she was told to call her husband she suddenly realised that from a cough the day before we were somehow now at risk of losing him. Thankfully that didn't happen and he managed to rally to the "bombardment" (the doctor's words) of increased oxygen and anti-biotic and we have the medical staff at Reading to thank. It is so scary how a child can go downhill so quickly - but then amazing when he can also bounce back!

We are now looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow and to the returning party-goers........... As I type this I have a purring black cat moving between me and the screen - in fact at one stage he moved so quickly that my fingers managed to press a key which deleted all the above! His name is Numpty - a word which the Scots among you will recognise - and he too is enjoying having the house back to normal, so I forgave him this time.

I have not had time to comment recently but have enjoyed keeping up with all your journals and it is now great to be able to return to commenting on some too. Normal service will be resumed shortly I hope. In the meantime, thank you again for your words of support.