Noise, babies and biscuits. O and we're back to Mr Liddle.

I don't have a whole hell of a lot to write about today. Have a stinking headache thus making me both light and sound sensitive, and my concentration is shot. I have been on pain meds all day and had one of those cool strips stuck to my head. Couldn't take anything stronger than co-codamol until Chris got come so was alternating co-codamol and ibuprofen most of the day. Anything stronger makes me wibbly and odd, don't feel comfortable being in charge of Niamh when I'm having medication induced side affects.

That being said I finally managed something I had been hoping to do for a long time. There has always been loads of baby buggies going in and out of the church across the road from me every Friday morning, I always assumed it was some kind of baby and/or toddler group. It is! It's run by the NCT and takes place every Friday morning from 10am until 11.45am but you can come and go as you please. This is brilliant for me as I can take her there when she wakes up from her morning nap (even if it means we arrive after 10am) and then leave when it all gets too much for her or indeed me (as was the case this morning).

I can be very shy and nervous about meeting new people. It's the brain fog I think, I get my words in a muddle a lot or can't find them at all. This is bad enough when it's someone I know or who knows I have M.E and I'm not just nuts. But I can hardly introduce myself "Hi, I'm Jen, that's Niamh (points to child running off) and I have M.E, so if I collapse or can't talk like a normal person then just ignore me and continue with your cuppa. Pleased to meet you. Pass the biscuits." can I? Anyway, it was good, a few people came over and spoke to me and Niamh didn't attack anyone. She did cover herself in paint, which I still can't get completely off. I didn't make a fool of myself conversation wise either.

The only drawer back to the entire experience is the noise. The woman in charge did say it was very manic today, much more so than usual. Niamh seemed happy with it, she did some painting, played with some toys and some other children, almost fell on a baby (that bit not so positive). I didn't do so well with handling the noise, I must remember next week to take ear plugs (best wear my hair down otherwise I may end up being forced to do the disease explanation conversation sooner than expected). I already had a headache and it really didn't help. But all in all a positive experience, and there was tea and biscuits, yum! Will be aiming at going back next week. Think I will try and take her every week, it's almost M.E perfect, its so close, you can come and go when you please in the 1 hour and 45 minutes that it's on and it doesn't have to be me that takes her, so if I'm too ill she can still go. All of this and it gives her some time with other children that she otherwise only really gets at gymbabes.

That's about as interesting as today's entry is going to get I'm afraid. Because of the cold weather and the havoc it plays with my joints I am still stuck in the flat. Basically at the moment, if it's not essential, I'm not going out! Across the road was bad enough pain wise, had to wear tubi grip on my ankles, knees, elbows and wrists in an attempt to provide them with some support as well as keep them warmer. So other than baby and toddler group I've been doing bog standard mummy stuff, feeding, playing and clearing up. Mum and dad came round later in the afternoon to help me out for a bit. As a nice surprise Chris came home 2 hours early as his department was over staffed, always a bonus!

Having said all that, I took a break from writing this for a while and in that time became sufficiently annoyed by a link I got sent regarding everyone's chief jerk, a certain Rod Liddle. A friend sent me a youtube link to him attempting to redeem himself on The Nolan Show, BBC Radio Foyle. If you haven't heard it I have put the video link I was sent right at the end of this entry.

Now I'm not going to go off on one about everything said in the interview as the clip itself is 15 minutes long and this entry would go on forever. I just want to make a few points clear:

1. Mr Liddle, you claim that you were only targeting those who were pretending to be disabled. WRONG! Regardless of your intent the article's wording alone clearly targets two main groups, those suffering with M.E and Fibro. Not to mention that you portray the idea of having a disability, a blue badge and getting to use disabled toilets as "cool". A concept so obviously insulting to those people who do have the bad fortune to have a disability, to need to that blue badge and who are only able to use the disabled toilets.
2. You state that there is no known cause of M.E/CFS or Fibro. Here you are, surprisingly correct. But you fail to mention that there is a blatant lack of funding for biomedical research into establishing a cause. And, if this was to occur the likelihood is one would indeed be found.
3. You state that there is no agreed treatment for M.E. WRONG. It may not be a consistent treatment that works for all, but there is an AGREED treatment. There are NICE guidelines in place on how to treat patients with M.E, which should be adhered to by all medical practitioners. They may not be particularly effective, but they DO exist and it IS an agreed treatment (or a list of agreed treatments and procedures, if you want to be really technical).
4. The woman defending the rights of the disabled makes a point about diabetes, which she doesn't get to make very clearly due to Mr Liddles repeated interruptions! But the just of the conversation is she is in fact right and you are in fact very WRONG! Diseases such as diabetes, MS and epilepsy were also once in the same position as M.E and Fibro. They were diseases thought to be in the mind, little was known about them and there was a huge social stigma attached. Eventually the right funding was granted, the right experiments undertaken and a cause found. Once a cause was discovered a treatment could be devised. I am sure Mr Liddle wouldn't dream of insulting the sufferers of these aliments. I am sorry sir, but there is a big difference between misunderstood and imaginary.
5. Once again, you state that you never had the intention of insulting those who are actually disabled only those pretending to be. WRONG. Put yourself in the mind of the disabled individual Mr Liddle, maybe one of those individuals with your "newfangled" diseases. Now read your article again. How far would you honestly read before you stopped, before you were insulted. Well strangely enough you insult everyone before you make your point. Idiot.

Anyway, here's mine and Niamh's 366 photos from today.

Niamh swaying in her pretty dress:

Night all, as promised the link will be at the end of the entry.

And the link to the video: