Marie's Web Log

Mum called tonight. My sister's water broke, but they sent her home from the hospital because she hadn't started contractions yet. Did I mention that my sister is expecting a baby? It's the first for her and her husband, and the first cousin on my side for Amelia. (Her other two first cousins are Ian's sister's children, who are 18 and nearly 16.) I'll be waiting anxiously for news - apparently they'll bring her back into the hospital within 24 hours if nothing's happening. Mum said it will probably be in the middle of the night, and I jokingly said there would be a big snowstorm as well - but apparently there is one predicted. Eek.

Just one last note about Max. A couple of people have asked what we said to Amelia. We sat her down when she came home from Nursery on the day Max died. She already knew that Max had been to the “doctor” and so we told her that he was quite old and he was sicker than we had thought, and that he had died, which meant he wasn’t coming back. She just looked at us blankly for a few seconds and then ran away and started playing something. It didn’t seem like she understood, but you can never be sure how much children take in. She woke up that night crying, which she hadn’t done for a while, and hasn’t had a really good night’s sleep since.

We went down to Brixham today, on the coast just outside Torquay. Ian's sister and family are down there for a four-day break (it's school half-term here). Interesting little working fishing port, very much with its own spirit and not a quaint tourist town. I liked it.

Finances are a bit tight at the moment. The vet's bill for Max was quite large, which threw a bit of a spanner into things - not that they were great to start with. I predict a lot of sitting around in the house - I'm afraid even to go into town because I always see things I want to spend money on.