Weaning

Back in the routine

Sunday 20th February 2011Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

When I first begun this website with the birth of Éowyn I promised myself that I would attempt to update this website once a fortnight. Sometimes those updates are easy, so much has happened and I find it difficult to fit everything in. And then there are updates such as this. That is not to say that we haven’t done anything, it is just that there has not been much of note. So I apologise in advance for any ennui induced by what follows.

The cold and the snows of December seem so far away considering the mild start to 2011 (in the South East of the UK anyway), but not only did it close Heathrow airport for 4 days but also put pay to our NCT group’s Christmas party. We had booked the soft play area of Egham Leisure centre but due to the snowfall decided it would be better not to risk it that day and fortunately Egham Leisure centre were accommodating enough to re-arrange the date for us. That date was last Sunday, so we had our final Christmas party on the 6th February! It was good to see the other dads (the mums get together once a week) but was difficult to strike up any conversation since we always had one eye on what they were doing, or were climbing around the soft play area with them. For those of you unfamiliar with soft play areas, they are basically 3-dimensional mazes with rope bridges, slides, and slopes all padded for extra safety. Excellent fun!

Éowyn has been settling into playbox a little better. Still a little clingy when she is dropped off but has been more chatty and joining in more while she is there. However overall her behaviour has changed since the start of the year. Now whether it is the terrible twos kicking in, influences from playbox, jealous over Amélie, the fact that I am back at work or a combination of all four it is impossible to say. Don’t get me wrong she is not an overly naughty child but she is definitely pushing boundaries. It is ‘I want’ with no manners, she seemingly has forgotten how to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank-You’. She even got told off at school for not saying ‘Please’! Therefore we are employing tough love at the moment and she is not getting anything without asking for it properly. This has resulting is a number of tantrums and even telling Lucinda: ‘Mommy, I don’t want you anymore, go and put yourself in the bin.’ We thought it was quite an amusing phrase but not that we let her know that!

Amélie has begun to take to eating solid food. We have begun weaning her early on the dietician’s advice and at first she was struggling to take her baby rice but not any more. She gobbles her baby rice down but it hasn’t diminished her appetite for her neocate and she is still on her 3 hour cycle. Baby rice may be a favourite but she isn’t taking to new flavours with the enthusiasm that Éowyn did, but then if you had chronic reflux then maybe you would be wary when trying new foods. Her weight (6.3kgs (13lb 14oz)) has seemingly settled onto the 25th centile, so our concern over weight loss has lessened but her reflux is still quite bad. Hopefully after the ultrasound at the beginning of March they will be able to determine what is causing it. We will keep you updated.

Before I leave you to look at the photos just a quick note about the other love of my life: West Bromwich Albion. Roberto Di Matteo has been put on gardening leave and Roy Hodgson has been bought in as Head Coach. For one game (a disappointing 3-3 draw with West Ham United – we were 3-0 up at half time!) in between appointments an ex-player Michael Appleton was in charge and at 34 became the youngest person to be in charge of a Premier League team, remember that for your pub quiz team. I had nothing against RDM (we haven’t been in the relegation zone all season) but if Roy can tighten our defence and keep us up he may have a chance to put his tenure at Liverpool behind him. Come on you Baggies!

Peace and Love

Baggie

Wistful look into the distance

Yawn!

I’ve had a hard day

It’s my party!

Anyone for tea?

Concentrating!

The land of Nod

Extreme close up

That’s my Nanny!

Let me tell you a story…

Mommy’s shoes!

In disguise

Put it on the fridge!

Saturday 5th February 2011Friday 11th May 2012Baggie

Back at work and boy did I hit the ground running? A first working week of 70 hours meant that I spent very little time at home awake. This obviously put the onus back onto Lucinda to be primary carer for the girls. Amélie is too young to understand but Éowyn subconsciously senses weakness added to her own sense of change. This leads her to misbehave not in a malicious way but misbehaving nevertheless. This culminated in an incident on Saturday while Lucinda was in the kitchen washing up, she came back into the lounge to find that Éowyn had poured her bottle of juice onto each of the seats of our sofa. When I came home Lucinda made Éowyn tell me what she had done. Éowyn duly told me that she had poured juice on the sofa. So I asked her why she had done it and she replied, “So when Mommy and Daddy sit down they will get wet bums.”Part of me admired her honesty, her foresight and general japery and that part of me wanted to laugh, but I held it together to explain to her that it was naughty. “Yes Daddy it is naughty, Éowyn sorry.” How thankful am I that we bought brown leather, it seems to be a most forgiving sofa material.

Éowyn is a thoughtful child though, especially when it comes to her little sister. Sunday, Lucinda and the girls were invited around her parents for Sunday lunch (I was at work) with Lucinda’s aunties (Lucinda’s mum’s sisters). While they were eating lunch Éowyn asked if she could leave the table and play with her puzzles in the front room. She was told that because Amélie was sleeping that she should bring them back to the table and be very quiet when she was in the front room collecting them so as not to wake Amélie. This she duly did but then whenever anyone spoke at the table she would shh them and say “Be quiet, Amélie’s sleeping.”

She also doesn’t like Amélie to be missed out and includes her when she can. Éowyn was cleaning her teeth the other night. “Mommy’s toothbrush, Daddy’s toothbrush, Éowyn’s toothbrush,” pointing to each of our toothbrushes in turn. “Where’s Amélie’s toothbrush?” Lucinda explained that Amélie hasn’t got any teeth yet, so she hasn’t got a toothbrush. Éowyn replied: “Well go to the shops and get them.” Lucinda asked to confirm whether Éowyn wanted her to go to the shops and get a toothbrush for Amélie and Éowyn answered, “No Mommy, teeth!” It is amazing what you can get at the shops these days!

As I mentioned in last week’s update, we were expecting a telephone call from the paediatrician concerning Amélie. Lucinda had prepared a list of examples and questions for the paediatrician in case this was no going to go any further. At the appointed time the paediatrician called and Lucinda was going to launch into her soliloquy when the paediatrician just said, we have looked at Amélie’s notes and we would like to see her Monday morning. Lucinda was a little deflated because she had been prepared to justify why they should she her and the wind had been taken out of her sails. We still don’t know why they had to call to say that and why they could not just have sent an appointment through the post.

So Monday morning we dropped Éowyn off at Playbox (although subdued she wandered off into the classroom without tears or clinging to my leg) and headed to Ashford hospital for our appointment. Amélie was weighed (she is now 6.0kg (13lbs 4oz) which is dead on the 25th centile) and although she has put weight on she is still not quite following a centile curve. However this does not seem to be concerning any of the medical staff, as she is putting on weight.

The paediatrician looked at Amélie’s notes and examined her. She has asked us to return to the GP to reassess the quantities of Domperidone and Ranitidine in light of her weight gain. She listened to her chest and believes the noisy breathing/ wheezing to be all upper respiratory rather than a problem with her lungs and chest, which is a relief. She has requested an ultrasound to be taken while she is feeding (we are still waiting for the appointment) and a urine sample. How do you get a urine sample for a 4 month old baby girl? With great difficulty, I can tell you! Our first attempt involved holding her over a bowl while we fed her. We did this for about an hour with no success, then she threw up in the bowl. Lucinda moved her to her lap while we retrieved the bowl and Amélie duly urinated on her leg!

As you may know we have started to feed Amélie solids. However she is not taking to it as Éowyn did. Then again if her reflux is such then perhaps it is painful, but she doesn’t seem to be too worried. As I mentioned last time Amélie was not showing interest in food as Éowyn did, so perhaps that is part of the problem too. We are only weaning because of the reflux and on the advice of the dietician, and the hope that she will be satisfied for longer than the 3 hour alarm call that she currently operates on.

This week we received the photos from the photoshoot and they look wonderful. We just have to decide on where best to hang the frames. Lucinda and I were chatting about it and without trying to sound too big-headed many of the photos that I take are just as nice (probably because I can get better reactions out of my children!) but we have never printed them out. I have over 30,000 photos sitting on my computer but hardly any on the walls or in photoframes. This is why this site and my Flickr account are good outlets because it allows me to at least display them for others to see. Perhaps I should begin printing some out?

Lucinda has a very strong artistic streak, and I like to think I have at least a soupçon of artistic talent so it is no surprise that Éowyn seems to be using art as a medium for her imagination. Drawing, painting, sculpture (O.K. Playdoh) all are part of her répertoire. However, Lucinda started something with a chance comment. Éowyn had sat down at her table and drawn a picture. She gave it to Lucinda and Lucinda said “That’s very good, let’s put it on the fridge.” Well that just opened the floodgates. A barrage of drawings followed (some of them consisting of only three lines) all with the cry of “Put it on the fridge, Mommy!” We need a bigger fridge!

As you may, or may not, remember a friend of mine, Eilidh Cairns, while cycling to work was involved in an accident with a lorry and passed away a short time later (please read here for my tribute to her). This weekend marks the second anniversary of that day and since then Eilidh’s mum, Heather, has been working with her local M.E.P. to try and get a E.U. declaration signed to get H.G.V.’s fitted with sensors and cameras to remove their blind spots making the roads a safer place for cyclists (and the general public). They need your assistance so please pop by to www.eilidhcairns.com or click on this flyer and see how you are able to help. Thank you.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Mother’s pride

What can I see?

Sisters!

Chocolate grin

Me and my monkey

Not my glasses

Riding on Daddy’s back!

Making a cup of tea

Bubbles!

Squeezy Fruit

Get the last little bit

Lip-lickingly good!

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