You will recall in my last post that I had a barking cough... well the next day (Fri 3 Oct) I awoke to having no voice whatsoever... and 13 days later I still have no voice!!! Yes some may say how peaceful things may be and how lucky Stephan is but I can tell you that 13 days is far to long to be without a voice! Oh I can whisper but that is my limit! I thought I was getting it back last Friday (so 8 days later) but by Sunday evening I was back to square one if not worse than I had initially started with! I had worked all of last week with no/minimal voice but was getting increasing frustrated at not being able to communicate freely with team members etc... and obviously by continuing to work meant my voice was not getting a rest at all! And evenings and weekends are self explanatory with Rachel around!

Sunday evening and Monday (while at work) I then started the nasty barking again - and was spending a lot of time coughing up phlegm. So stayed home on Tuesday and was able to get an appointment to see the Dr - so now on top of the laryngitis, I have a chest infection and an inflamed throat! So am on Antibiotics and am really hoping that they will kick in sooner rather than later as I am so over being sick! This year has been a bad one for me health wise so am really hoping that next year can only be better for me! The Dr put me off work for the week since a bit of my work involves phone work and even if I put my phone on divert, there is still the general day to day chattering etc... So have had 2 days of peace and quiet and saying sweet bugger all! The only talking I am doing is first thing in the morning getting Rachel ready for creche and talking.. oooops whispering to the teachers in the morning. Then again in the afternoon when Rachel and Stephan arrive home. So am roughly getting 8 hrs of no talking which surely must help a wee bit! Am not sure what I should do if I still have no voice on Monday when I am due back at work - will face that hurdle at the time should it arise and it will also depend on how I am feeling too I guess!

Right changing the subject now.... one of the local radio stations is going to be running a 6 week "Fit and Fabulous" competition which is basically going to consist of 2 teams of 4 people having full access to a gym, Personal Trainers, dietitians, etc etc... and the "winner" gets a trip for 2 to Fiji. Am considering sending in an application for this, but the gym that is sponsoring it is at the other end of town and I know that will be a major issue for me time wise etc... but it is tempting - will keep thinking about it.

Only 2 weeks and 3 days until Rachel turns 2!! Can't believe that has come around so quickly! Still have no idea what we are going to get her as a "main" present as yet - and whether we get something extra special as a combined Birthday and Christmas present. She now a right real helper and loves "watching/helping/seeing" everything we do! Loves carrying her stool around so she can stand on it to watch us do whatever it may be doing at the time! At times, it is so cute but at other times it can be frustrating especially when one is in a hurry in the mornings but I just try to grin and bear it! Her language is coming along in leaps and bounds and it is so scary what she takes in and comes out again with a few days/weeks later! She has a memory like an elephant! LOL

Anyway, time to get moving and start organising myself for bed... catch ya later :)

Another month over and another month begins! I simply cannot believe that we are in October already!!! As someone pointed out the over day - this time in 3 mths we will be in 2009!!! How scary is that??? Well to me that is quite scary indeed! Time sure does fly by faster as you get older! Well in my eyes it does!

So what's been happening lately for us... well not a lot really. I am currently at home with a barking cough (thanks Rachel for sharing your germs with Mummy)! I did go to work yesterday for an important meeting in the morning which had been postponed from last week due to me being away so thought I would make the effort to go in to work - by the time the meeting was over the whole team was telling me to piss off and go home! Got a telling off from the Acting GM as well (who is a very special lady for a number of reasons) for coming to work and sharing my germs! So yeap every couple of hours or so I seem to be coughing my guts out which ain't nice at all and very painful as well. Touch wood - it was been 3 hrs since my last bathroom visit so fingers crossed I am starting to get over the worst of it. I have had a lot of people tell me that they too have had this nasty cough and it takes WEEKS to go away! Flaming Nora - that is the last thing I wanted to hear and I really do hope it does not hang around that long for me!

Last week I was off work for 4 days (should have been 5 but that's another story) after I sprained/twisted my hip while putting Rachel into Time Out on the Saturday evening. It was one of the most painful things I had done - the pain I was in on Saturday night while trying to sleep was unbelievable! Off to the Drs on Sunday and got some GOOD anti inflammatories and pain relief! Thought he might say take a couple of days off but no he wanted me to rest for the whole week! By Thursday I was getting bored so went to work on the Friday which was good in a way work wise but bad for me and my hip!

I have also been having panic attacks during the night lately... I was getting these a bit this time 2 years ago - so in other words when I was heavily pregnant with Rachel. I wake during the night, and have trouble breathing and every time I lay down I just freak out! Tried sleeping sitting up but that's not something I can do very well! Actually while typing this I am thinking that perhaps I should dig out my rescue remedy though if I recall rightly it didn't help much 2 years ago but nothing stopping me trying it again. I am actually wondering if it is weight related (am heavier now than at full term with Rachel by about 8 kilos) but only one person can doing anything about that and that person is ME, MYSELF and I!!! And I really do hope that I can do something real soon!!! The parenting forum that I belong to have regular "Biggest Loser" challenges which are very popular indeed and I have tried a couple of them but just end up pulling out as I don't get anywhere. There are some marvellous mums who do the challenges and some of them have lost in the excess of 15+ kilos over the last 4 challenges! Challenge 5 is about to start so am giving that some serious thought currently.

Rachel is doing really well - and we still can not believe that she will be 2 in 4 weeks time! She is a real "helper" around the house - loves putting away the groceries with us and helping me clean the bathroom etc... She is petrified of the vacum cleaner though! It came on suddenly about 10 mths ago and I think in that time I have managed to get it out of the cupboard and vacum the house twice without her screaming hsyterically! Even with Steph here to comfort her, she goes to town with the screaming and tears. A couple of friends have suggested leaving it out in the hall or lounge for her to get used to and to explore while its off but we have a small house and don't really have the space to do that - well not with her stuff everywhere! :) Keep thinking of getting her a battery operated toy one for her birthday or Christmas but not 100% sure if that will help or not. We even dug out the dustbuster and hoped that might help her a bit but nope it hasn't so far.... I do have some great photos of her but they are not downloaded off the camera yet - must do that sometime soon!

Anyway, think I have rambled on enough to bore anyone who is still reading to tears! Will catch ya all later :)