Nanny Fran

Daddy’s birthday

Tuesday 29th March 2011Baggie

The Vernal Equinox marks not only the day that there is equal day and night; that an egg can be balanced on its end, (apparently) but more importantly my birthday! However at least one of those statements is untrue, and after 30-odd years of believing that equinox (which derives from the Latin equal, night) meant that the day and the night were equal I find out that is a lie. The equinox is more accurately defined as the point at which the centre of the sun crosses the celestial equator, and as such is a defined point in time. Due to the fact that the sun is not a point in the sky and there is a defined amount of time for the sun to dip below the horizon (not to mention the refraction of sunlight through the atmosphere adding to amount of ‘day’) the day (in the UK) of the Vernal Equinox was actually 12 hours 10 minutes long. Now the day that the ‘day’ and ‘night’ was equal was actually a couple of days before the equinox on 18th March (in the UK) this year. This is more accurately known as the Equilux (equal, light). Now for the pedants among you who want to include the effects of twilight (civil twilight that is, not your nautical or astronomical twilight) then the equilux was around the 1st March. That was quite interesting wasn’t it?

As I mentioned in the ramble above (I know, I lost you) Sunday marked my birthday. My first as a father of two (pas de deux? – bad joke I know!) and first since Éowyn has really been able to comprehend, though not necessarily what a birthday is but at least that it is a special day. She even sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. It was a real step forward in her development because although she has already accepted having a birthday herself, the fact that other people can have birthdays too is a big step.

Fortunately my birthday fell in the middle of a set of three ‘off’ days and therefore I could spend a bit of time with the family and to make it extra special Nanny Fran and Aunties Mary and Liz came down on Saturday for a flying visit too. Éowyn was so excited about seeing the Bagnall side of the family (for she only regular sees them via Skype) and was constantly asking where Nanny Fran was. Unfortunately Nanny Fran was stuck on the M40 which was temporarily closed due to an accident and instead of the 2 hour journey it took over 5 hours! It was good to see Nanny Fran as it has been nearly a year since she last came down due to her knee injury. Although her leg is still not 100% she can now drive and has been in a phased return to work (after 45 weeks of being on the box – as we say in the Black Country) for the past month or so.

Nanny Fran certainly noticed the difference in both Éowyn and Amélie and in return Éowyn loves seeing her Nanny Fran and Aunties. So much so that she asked if she could go back with Nanny Fran. That was quite a turn up for the books, and with Amélie now sleeping through the night, there is a strong possibility that could happen – Nanny Fran willing!

Amélie is also still sleeping through the night. She has seemingly reached the weight or size where she can keep enough food in her body to last the seven hours or so. It is amazing how much better you feel for night’s worth of uninterrupted sleep. Although before children I would not consider six to seven hours of sleep a full night’s sleep. How quickly what is accepted as the norm changes when you become a parent.

You will be pleased to know that Amélie’s eye injury is healing nicely. It has faded to a faint line and I thoroughly expect it to disappear in the next few days. It is amazing how quickly little ones heal, I suppose their bodies are in overdrive and hence cellar repair is happening at an advanced rate as they grow and mature. She is putting on weight nicely too. She currently weighs in a 7.37kgs (16lbs 3.5oz) and is sitting comfortably on the 50th centile. As you may recall she started out on the 75th and dropped to just below the 25th so it is good news that is is back up to the 50th! Her length is 67cm which places her on the 75th centile, she is going to be a tall one like her sister. She has also started to giggle out loud. It is still my favourite noise. Yes, I like it when they learn to say ‘Daddy‘ and ‘Mommy‘ and ‘I love you‘ but for me there is no better sound than a child laughing uncontrollably.

This week we also saw real joy on Éowyn’s face, probably for the first time. You may recall that we had promised her a Gruffalo (for remembering to say her pleases and thank-yous) and a mouse (for ten wees on the potty). This week we decided that she has earned them and so gave them to her. The joy on her face was astounding, probably because it was the first time that she has had to earn something and had been looking forward to it for nigh on a month (which is a long time when you are only 2! – the equivalent of six months for a twelve year old; a year for a 24 year old; etc.). She is very proud of them (possessive too!) and we gladly tell you that she earned them for the reasons above. So as you can surmise the potty training is going well. Although Lucinda tried a day without a nappy on Sunday and it wasn’t too successful but the carpet needs replacing anyway!

As I was putting Éowyn to bed one night she asked me if we could see a tiger. I said that we can go to the zoo and see a tiger. Again she upped the ante, ‘And a giraffe?‘ And a giraffe I agreed. So it is a trip to the zoo for us one day – brilliant. I enjoy a trip to the zoo even though I am in two minds as to whether they should exist (although on balance I think they do more good than harm). Hey, I have even been a zoo-keeper for the day! It was a fantastic experience and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in animals! I think tigers may be Éowyn’s favourite animal at the moment.

I dropped Éowyn off at Jo’s the other morning, and her little friend James greeted her at the door as he does most times. This time he was carrying two toy animals. ‘Dinosaur‘ he said holding the toy dinosaur up (no, he is not Peppa Pig’s brother!) ‘Lion‘ he said holding the tiger in his other hand.

‘No, James.‘ Éowyn said, ‘It’s a tiger!‘

‘Lion.‘ He replied. Éowyn re-iterated the fact it was a tiger and again he insisted: ‘Lion‘.

‘No, tiger. Stripes!‘ She said dismissively and pointing out the main (no pun intended) difference between the two. James looked at me and if to say, back me up. Unfortunately I had to confirm my daughter’s observations!

I left them waving me off on the doorstep. Éowyn said ‘Bye Daddy‘ and James repeated the phrase. ‘No, it’s my daddy!‘ she argued as I walked out of ear-shot. They are like a little married couple at times.

I will now leave you with the latest crop of photos and see you all in April!

Peace and love

Baggie!

Giggler

Holding hands with my sister

Let me sing you a song

Cooking Daddy’s birthday cake

Sitting with my Daddy!

This is a lightsabre?

All aboard!

Sitting with Auntie Mary

On Auntie Mary’s knee

Looking at my Nanny Fran

Sisters!

Sitting next to Uncle Michael

Get into crawling position

This is how you do it

Too hard!

A week off

Wednesday 26th January 2011Sunday 30th January 2011Baggie

All too quickly the final days of last year’s leave has ended, reality kicks in and I have to return to work. It has been good to spend a week with the family, even though we didn’t get half the things done that we had planned to do. Time just seems to fly past far too quickly, especially where there is a baby and a toddler involved. Nevertheless we have managed to squeeze in a few things.

Amélie is still a concern to us. She is putting on weight but seems to be encroaching on the 25th centile line (and not in a positive way) and, more concerning, her reflux is still severe. You can change her a dozen times in a day (and yourself as least twice!) and she will seemingly be continously soaked through. Doctors tend to dismiss reflux as a laundry problem but it is more than that. Lucinda was wearing a new T-shirt on Sunday when she was caught. The vomit bleached her top, that is not just bringing up a little milk, that is stomach acid. If that is what it does to a T-shirt imagine what it must be doing to her throat and airways. The drugs that we have been prescribed should be reducing the stomach acid, would dread to think what it would have done if it had been full strength acid!

Fortunately we have been able to both attend the appointments with the doctor and although he doesn’t seem to think that there is any cause for concern he has finally given us a paediatric referral. Now that is another strange and convoluted procedure. First you get the referral from your GP. They give you a print out with phone number and reference number (among other things); Then you phone the number and quote your reference number and the triage goes through your child’s symptoms; They then arrange a paediatrician to call you on a given day to go through your child’s symptoms in detail and then if they think the case is deemed worthy they will arrange an appointment to see you (and your child) in person. Simples! We will keep you posted!

We also saw the dietician this week, who suggested that we try weaning early but is reluctant to do anything drastic until we have been seen (or spoken to) the paediatrician in case they suggest something for the reflux. Now Amélie has not shown interest in food in the way that Éowyn did. (Remember the infamous Coconut Macaroon incident?) Nevertheless we took heed and Lucinda gave Amélie her first taste of solid food on Tuesday 25th January: baby rice and water. She seemed to enjoy it, opening her mouth on cue. However, she soon had her fill and pushed the spoon away. I call that a success, especially since she kept it down.

Amélie has achieved a couple of firsts since the last update. The first first (so to speak) was to roll over. She has done it twice, once with Lucinda and once with me. However both times we both have missed it. Lucinda left her on the bed was out of the room for a moment came back and she was on her front. I was changing her on the floor, again left the room for a moment and came back and she was on her belly. Either she rolled or the house fairies are having a laugh with us.

Amélie’s other first since the last update was to go swimming. We asked Éowyn what she would like to do since we were all together as a family and she asked to go swimming. It was a little surprising as she has been nervous of late since she had a bad experience at a pool. Nothing major but it had put her off. So when she suggested it we jumped at the opportunity. Both of the girls loved it. Amélie was just serene as Lucinda held her in the water while I was trying to teach Éowyn to swim, while at the same time being mindful that a false move could put us back. I think a few more lessons are required but she did spend most of the time on her front kicking her legs (supported by Dad) so progress.

It has been interesting and a little upsetting to see how Éowyn is dealing with the experience of attending Playbox Playgroup. Obviously, it is a new place with new people and so it will take her some time to get used to it, as indeed it did when we first took her to Jo’s. However, now she is a little older and can talk to you it is harder to convince yourself that you are doing the right thing when she says things like: “Daddy, I don’t like school.” “I don’t want to go to school.” It breaks your heart, especially when you drop her off and she is crying and clinging to your leg. This Monday though (her fifth day) we walked into the classroom and she wandered off. I asked her for a kiss and to wave me goodbye and she did. Again progress, although she did get upset in the last 15 minutes or so of the session, probably because she was tired after the weekend.

Lucinda and I just have to be strong and encouraging as well as learn to cope with the other things that happen to your children while they are at school. Éowyn has seemingly begun to re-inact things that have happened at school with her toys. She was playing with her toy monkey (Ok, strictly Amélie’s toy monkey but I think that Amélie has lost any ownership of that toy!) and although we only caught the end of the conversation (“…and that’s it and we can go home.”) but it sounded very much like something that the staff would have said to Éowyn when she is upset. Then Monday she came home with a scratch on her face, only minor and the staff did draw our attention to it and I had to sign the accident book to acknowledge that fact. They were not sure how she did it but think she caught herself with the end of a book, and it certainly looks feasible. However later that day she was talking to her monkey “…It is not nice to hit people monkey. It will make them sad…” We tried to get out of her whether she hit someone or whether they hit her, but we could not draw any conclusions. Although I don’t like the idea of either Éowyn hitting someone or someone hitting her, a lot worse will probably happen just have to try and get her to talk about it.

In addition to swimming, trips to the doctors and hospital and dropping Éowyn off at Playbox we managed to squeeze in a photoshoot for the girls and a trip to Nanny Fran’s for a Bagnall family photoshoot. The photoshoot for the girls was a freebie session (to entice you in) for Amélie at 3 months. It includes a free 10″x8″ print, so we thought we would go for it. Obviously when you see the other photos you are tempted to buy extras. Yes, we were suckered into that but thought that the price that we were quoted was reasonable and so the credit card made an appearance.

Nanny Fran’s photoshoot, on the other hand, seemed to be jinxed. We (her children) bought her the photoshoot as a present for Christmas 2009. When we turned up at the photographers it was closed and he couldn’t be raised on the telephone. He called back a couple of days later to apologise but wasn’t prepared to offer compensation and so we decided against using him. So we found another reasonable studio and booked for the beginning of December. A week before my sister Mary slipped on the ice at work and broke her elbow, so we decided to push it into January. So Nanny Fran re-booked for last Sunday.

The southern side of the family, Mary and us four headed up the M40 on Friday for the weekend. On the Saturday morning we jokingly suggested that she ‘phone them to ensure that they had our booking. Never a truer word spoken in jest. Sunday morning we all get dressed up and manage to keep Amélie puke-free so we would all look nice for the photos. No booking. Apparently the previous booking wasn’t cancelled properly so the re-schedule shoot was not in the diary. We have agreed to give it one more go before deciding that it is well and truly jinxed and give it up as a bad job.

Despite that we had a good weekend at Nanny Fran’s. Éowyn has finally grown too big for her travel cot and so Nanny Fran bought her a ready bed and pink tent to sleep in. Obviously it takes a little getting used to but she seemed to love it although the excitement meant that she didn’t get to sleep until after 10pm on the Friday night. Poor Nanny Fran offered to look after Amélie on the Friday night so that Lucinda and I could get some uninterrupted sleep. On Saturday night Éowyn went to sleep early (as she was tired from the night before) and we took Amélie in with us, however Éowyn who sleeps in the room next to Nanny Fran woke at 0400 and kept her awake. I bet Nanny Fran was glad we were going so that she could get some sleep.

So now I am back at work and the 1500 e-mails all need reading, some of them as long as this write up! Thus I will leave you to enjoy the photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Nanny Fran and Amélie

Nanny Fran and her Grand-daughters

Nanny Fran squeeze

Auntie Liz

Great Uncle Michael

Tickling my aunties

Smile for Mommy

Now this is interesting

Time for a snooze

Sleep’s shadow

Just going to do some cooking

Daddy and Éowyn

The turn of another year

Tuesday 4th January 2011Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

And so we are here at the turn of another year (that has a certain poetic quality – I like it). It is just over a fortnight since the last update (the Christmas message notwithstanding) and it seems like an eternity since then. Obviously there has been the snow, Amélie’s continued feeding issues and the little matter of Christmas.

This update is a little belated and becomes the first in 2011 rather than the last in 2010 due to the fact that I have been struck down with ‘flu. Now a lot of people say that they have a touch of ‘flu but from my experience over the last couple of days there is no such thing as a touch of ‘flu. I basically haven’t managed to get out of bed for days, I haven’t eaten a meal for 5 days, every single part of my body has ached. If the house had been on fire I do not think I would have had the inclination to have got out the house, I have been that lethargic. Even the sound of Lucinda playing with the girls wasn’t enough to make me want to get out of bed. My fear has been passing it on to the girls and Lucinda. Lucinda did develop a heavy cold but managed to shake it before it turned into whatever I had, and so far the girls have colds but again relatively mild. Let us hope it stays that way.

Back to the update: The Saturday after the last update the UK got hit by another deluge of snow (we should be getting used to this by now). About 4 inches or so fell in about an hour in our little corner of the country, far more in other parts. Due to the speed of the deluge Heathrow airport struggled to cope with the de-icing of the planes and the clearing of the runway. This was unfortunate for the people trying to catch a flight and the people that work at the airport as someone that lives not that far from the south runway the fact that there were no flights for the best part of 4 days was bliss.

We took full advantage of the snow on that Saturday and introduced Éowyn to the joys of building snowmen and having a snowball fight. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself, which is in stark contrast to the snows at the beginning of the year when she was perhaps a little too young to appreciate it and just complained that it was cold. Unfortunately the snow prevented two pre-Christmas meet ups that weekend due to the icy roads and the weather stayed below freezing for over a week, which meant that the snow that fell on the 18th was still about on the 25th. For the most part it was ice which meant that it was quite often safer to drive than try and take your life in your hands on the pavements, especially around the village.

This meant we spent more of the time in the house in that week leading up to Christmas which meant that Éowyn spent a little more time watching DVDs. One day she sat a watched Toy Story, followed by Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, then said “Toy Story 4 please, Mommy.” Lucinda explained that there wasn’t a Toy Story 4. “Then go to the shops and get one!” So Mr Disney and Mr Pixar if you are listening there is a little girl who wants another Toy Story film.

Éowyn has also developed a penchant for opening the front door to visitors. In fact she can get quite upset if she is not allowed to open the door. Obviously we have to watch her to make sure that she is not just inviting any Tom, Dick or Harry in but most of the time we let her do so. I assume that is it some kind of control, that she is controlling her environment and I have no problems with her being our little gatekeeper. She also likes to open the door when we are leaving the house. So one frosty morning before Christmas it was not unusual for Éowyn to insist on opening the door for me. As I stepped outside, she shut the door. As I was halfway down the path I heard her little voice say ‘Bye, Bye Daddy.’ I turned round to return the farewell but also to tell her to shut the door as it was bitingly cold but the door was shut. However the letterbox was open and a pair of blue eyes were looking at me through the gap. I waved goodbye and went to work with a smile in my step.

Amélie is still causing us worry. She seemed a lot happier on her artificial milk and we thought that all was going well however when Kate (the Health Visitor) came to weigh her, she still had not put on the correct amount of weight and was still concerned about the amount of reflux that she has. So Kate got us a prescription for another artificial milk, Neocate (as opposed to the Nutramigen that she has been on) and suggested that we see our GP to obtain a referral to a Paediatrician as it is possibly more that just Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance.

So Christmas Eve we saw our GP who has prescribed a dual concoction of Domperidone and Ranitidine as this would be the first point of call for the Paediatrician it would save us a couple of weeks of treatment. So that is where we are at the moment. Domperidone is given help keep the entrance to the stomach closed to prevent reflux, it also promotes emptying of the stomach contents quicker. Ranitidine is used to inhibit stomach acid production. We are yet to see if this is the winning formula.

Despite her obvious discomfort Amélie is still a happy baby. She is very alert and enjoys sitting on your lap looking around at what is going on. She will hold your hand and coo and gurgle at you. Nothing is a heart-warming as when you little one first smiles, and although Amélie has been doing that for a while now when she returns your smile the feeling is not diminished. Let’s hope we can sort this reflux out so that we can see a lot more of them.

Now to the big event. Éowyn woke on Christmas morning to a stocking full of pressies hanging at the side of her bed and two piles on the floor. Obviously Santa thought that she had been a very good girl over the past year. Although she is beginning to understand the notion of Christmas the good thing was that she still doesn’t have the excitement factor and so was still asleep at 0900 Christmas morning. How many more years is that going to happen?

Christmas lunch was around Lucinda’s parents with Lucinda’s brothers and their families, so all the Grandchildren were together on Christmas day, which is lovely to see because they all get on so well together, even if Éowyn is a little bit bossy with them. It was a nice Christmas present from Lucinda’s parents, too: cooking Christmas dinner for us, so we could concentrate on the kids without having to juggle kitchen duties!

Boxing day I was back at work, so the festive break for me were a little short, but then we are used to that as a family, working in two of the industries that don’t stop for holidays.

Then it was Christmas number 2. Up to Nanny’s Fran’s for a more presents and more Christmas dinner. Nanny Fran gave us a nice Christmas present too, which was a night off as she looked after Amélie (and Éowyn) overnight. Both my sisters were at Mom’s so it was the Bagnalls together for a couple of days. Éowyn loves her Nanny Fran and aunties and kept them entertained (and busy) even though it was such a short visit.

As I have mentioned in an earlier update. My sister Mary has broken her elbow. During the first bout of cold weather at the end of November she slipped on ice and landed on her elbow. This means that, among other things, she is unable to drive. So she hitched a lift back home with us. Now although I have a mid-sized car, with two car seats in the back it doesn’t leave a lot of room for passengers. Luckily we squeezed her in and headed home as my body started to succumb to the symptoms of ‘flu.

Considering my deteriorating condition and the patches of fog we made it home safe and in good time only to find a theft had occurred. OK, perhaps that it is a little over-dramatic but when we left there was a covering of snow on the grass and at the edges of the paths when people had cleared cars and tracks through the snow, yet when we got back you would have never have know that it had snowed at all. The snow had been taken and replaced by mucky rain. Makes it all look a little dirty and dreary as opposed to the snow that tends to make everywhere look bright and pretty. Turn your back for five minutes…

The remainder of the year saw me in bed ill, and on New Year’s Eve myself and Lucinda Lemsiped up and went to bed at 2100. Fortunately the few fireworks that were in the area were not enough to rouse Éowyn and we had a relatively peaceful night.

So maybe a little belated but an epic so apologies and all there is left for me to do is to wish you all a very Happy 2011