Pretty sure now that my increase in discharge is actually thrush. I got it once before, when pregnant with Christopher, and this was just after a course of anti-biotics for a urine infection. It was HORRENDOUS. Not the worst thing I have ever experienced, but pretty damn uncomfortable. I tried sudocrem on it (HAHAHA worst mistake ever - if you get thrush, DO NOT use sudocrem on it!!), and eventually I just went to the toilet often, washed myself with a flannel afterwards, dried myself off, and just kept myself clean and dry in this manner until it cleared up. The amount of discharge is just insane actually, I'm sure I've had it as bad before, but to go from nothing, to this amount in the course of a few days is just silly. Part of me wonders if it's connected to "something" going on down there, I keep wondering if it's linked to ovulation. I've thought I've been ovulating several times in the past, two weeks later and still no period, so I guess I just wait it out and see.
Baby number 3 isn't set in stone, but I think it's more likely than not to happen. ;) I am excited not only because I see my two boys interacting more and more, and think how lovely it would be to give them both a younger sibling again, but because it will be my first pregnancy at a healthy weight, and looking forward to seeing how I fare with it this time round, and also, I loved my bump when I was pregnant with both boys, I find myself wondering how different I will look while pregnant if I start out much thinner!
I am now 2 lbs away from having lost 4 stone since Christopher's birth. Weighing in at 10 stone 13lb. I would love to get to 10 stone by his 1st birthday.
Anyway, not got a lot else to update on particularly, so will leave it for now. :)
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Forgot to say...
I took a pregnancy test, and it was negative. But you probably figured I'd have updated if it was positive!
Also, increasing amounts of CM, enough to get onto my knickers, so thinking it might not be long before I get my first post-natal period. 10 months and counting so far, and Robert's was 11 months, and he was night-weaned between 8-10 months, Christopher still has milk once or twice during the night, and no where near weaning during the night yet.
Hoping it stays away a little longer, the longer the better, until we feel ready to start trying for baby number 3!
It's been really hot this weekend, yesterday we went to a wedding, of a friend I've known for over a decade, maybe even as much as 12 or 13 years! We've not seen each other in many many years, and it was great to see him again. The boys had great fun in the venue's garden, especially since my brother was there and so Robert got to play with his cousin Ewan again (second weekend in a row!), and they get on so well now, it was lovely to see.
Will hopefully post more photos soon, but here are a few from the beginning of July.
Also, increasing amounts of CM, enough to get onto my knickers, so thinking it might not be long before I get my first post-natal period. 10 months and counting so far, and Robert's was 11 months, and he was night-weaned between 8-10 months, Christopher still has milk once or twice during the night, and no where near weaning during the night yet.
Hoping it stays away a little longer, the longer the better, until we feel ready to start trying for baby number 3!
It's been really hot this weekend, yesterday we went to a wedding, of a friend I've known for over a decade, maybe even as much as 12 or 13 years! We've not seen each other in many many years, and it was great to see him again. The boys had great fun in the venue's garden, especially since my brother was there and so Robert got to play with his cousin Ewan again (second weekend in a row!), and they get on so well now, it was lovely to see.
Will hopefully post more photos soon, but here are a few from the beginning of July.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
We don't make our kids say please and thank you.
Imagine the scene, you're at a playgroup, and a small child, maybe 2 years old, takes a drink from the woman handing them out. The mum waits barely 3 seconds, before calling out from across the room "Say thank you!!" and repeats her demand until the child complies. The next child takes a drink, and luckily the child complies with her mother's request to say thank you after the first time. Every parent with a child feels obliged to make her child show proper manners in this social setting.
It was how I "learnt" my manners, I remember constantly being reminded to say "please" and "thank you" and given those memories I must have been forgetting my manners regularly until maybe up to the age of 8 or maybe even older!
Children do not need to be told in this manner what behaviours require a certain response. With enough modelling, they pick it up for themselves.
Now, Robert, being 4 months shy of his third birthday, does not say please and thank you every time that would be appropriate. But then I don't think there is any kid of Robert's age who remembers EVERY time. We do not push him to say it. If he forgets, and the situation allows it, we gently remind him, by speaking for him, so in the above situation, we would say in a slightly exaggerated way (so to ensure he has heard) "Thank you, Hannah", and if that prompts him to utter his own thanks then all is well, if not, we leave it. Mostly we do not bother with this, but in social situations where there is the pressure to show manners, we gently remind him.
At home, we thank each other, and we thank Robert, when he gives us things, and when we give each other things. We say please when asking for something. It warms my heart when he says please, and thank you (or, in Robert-speak, "dee-doo") appropriately. He also says "You're welcome" when we thank him, and if somebody burps, he says "pardon oooo", and if he burps, (or farts, sneezes or even hiccups) he says "pardon me". He asks for things saying "May I have..." and this is all down to our modelling. If I say to him "May I have some of your banana please, Robert?" he will say "Yes, you may, Mummy."
Moral of the story, kids are like sponges, whatever they soak up inveriably leaks out after a while :)
It was how I "learnt" my manners, I remember constantly being reminded to say "please" and "thank you" and given those memories I must have been forgetting my manners regularly until maybe up to the age of 8 or maybe even older!
Children do not need to be told in this manner what behaviours require a certain response. With enough modelling, they pick it up for themselves.
Now, Robert, being 4 months shy of his third birthday, does not say please and thank you every time that would be appropriate. But then I don't think there is any kid of Robert's age who remembers EVERY time. We do not push him to say it. If he forgets, and the situation allows it, we gently remind him, by speaking for him, so in the above situation, we would say in a slightly exaggerated way (so to ensure he has heard) "Thank you, Hannah", and if that prompts him to utter his own thanks then all is well, if not, we leave it. Mostly we do not bother with this, but in social situations where there is the pressure to show manners, we gently remind him.
At home, we thank each other, and we thank Robert, when he gives us things, and when we give each other things. We say please when asking for something. It warms my heart when he says please, and thank you (or, in Robert-speak, "dee-doo") appropriately. He also says "You're welcome" when we thank him, and if somebody burps, he says "pardon oooo", and if he burps, (or farts, sneezes or even hiccups) he says "pardon me". He asks for things saying "May I have..." and this is all down to our modelling. If I say to him "May I have some of your banana please, Robert?" he will say "Yes, you may, Mummy."
Moral of the story, kids are like sponges, whatever they soak up inveriably leaks out after a while :)
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Sleep and milestones
Sooo... a long time no write! I don't have time during the day anymore as Robert has all but dropped his naps, and in the evening I tend to use what spare time I have then to do some digital scrapbooking or photo editing. Which means that blogging has lapsed somewhat!
It's now getting towards the middle of July. We have a 2 year 7.5 month old, and a 9.5 month old. It is amazing watching the two of them develop, both as indivuals, and as brothers! Robert is amazingly chatty, and picks up so many new phrases he hears out and about (and from the TV. ahem) and often repeats them several times over the course of the day. Today's has been "What is Spiky doing out in the daytime?!" which he got from Come Outside, the TV show with Auntie Mabel and Pippin, when they see Spiky the Hedgehog out in the garden during the day. His pronounciation is still a little unclear, but we can understand most of what he says, and he is working on his pronounciation all the time, now sometimes saying "banana" instead of "nana", and "Isps-to-fah" instead of "Ooover" when talking about his brother.
He is also pushing boundaries a lot, meaning that we have increased the number of time outs he gets lately... He usually screams as we are carrying him upstairs after being told for example that he's going for time out because he was hitting us, "I not hit you anymore Mummy!!" Sometimes we give him one more chance, other times we don't, he goes straight to time out, it depends on the severity of what he did and how many warnings he had previously. It is a very challenging time, and I'm sure it won't get easier, so we feel it's important to be consistent now, and make sure that we try and nip things in the bud now rather than let things get out of hand down the line. Sometimes it's easier said than done!
Even though he can be very challenging to deal with now, he can instantly make us smile when he wants to, with a funny antic or other, or saying something funny. He likes to pretend to be a ghost, covering himself up with a blanket. A few nights ago, he did that with his bath towel, and then started walking around, and despite us telling him to stop, he continued, and bumped quite comically into the door frame, and then Christopher's cot. He was fine, and even found it quite funny himself.
He loves to make Christopher smile, and laugh, and often "talks" to him by making babbly noises that Christopher makes, saying "gaa-gaaa-gaa!" with a big grin on his face. He does talk to him properly too of course, what I thought was extra sweet was one day, Christopher woke from his nap and started crying, and Robert went upstairs with me close behind, went into our room, and said "Are you alright, Ooover?" and then started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him! Awwww!
He always wants to hug and hold him, and loves to play "ide an eek" which involves Robert crawling under the table, and peeking out saying "peep bo!" and then waiting til Christopher crawls up before coming out at lightning speed prompting Christopher to turn around and chase him away, before he then skirts back under the table :)
Christopher is now 9 and a half months old. Robert, by this age, was walking unaided, and by 10 months was quite a confident walker! In comparison, as I think I said in an earlier post, Christopher isn't as quick as Robert was. But I don't think he'll be much longer. He is balancing better and better, holding on with one hand, cruising with ease, and will stand for a few seconds if put in the right position and sort of pre-balanced. I don't think it'll be much longer before he's standing alone, and then walking will follow shortly afterwards I think. Before he's a year old I expect he'll be walking!
His sleep has been terrible the last few nights, waking every few hours, and SCREAMS. THE. PLACE. DOWN. until offered the boob, but even with a boob, he will still wake in a few hours and do the same :( We have no end in sight to when we will be able to move Christopher into Robert's room, as he is still nowhere near night weaned! We are hoping that some new skill (thinking, standing alone?!) will emerge soon to explain the horrendous nights.
We had some photographs taken at a photo studio, the same one as we went to when Robert was 6 months old. This photograph shows how sturdy Christopher is 1 handed!
Despite Robert being less than co-operative at the start, they did manage to get some nice ones of him. This is one of my favourites, and there are a few close up ones that I love too.
Onto some "me" news, 2 of my personal goals are well underway. The first of which, my weight loss, is going steadily again (finally) after a big stall, it's slow going but it's gradually coming off again, which I'm more than happy with. Over the last 9.5 months I have averaged at around 1.3lb lost per week, which is nice and healthy, and should see me at my overall goal by the time Christopher is one. I have dropped from 15 stone (well, 14st 11) since Christopher was 4 days old, and a size 20, to 11 stone and a size 14. I am aiming to lose 1 more stone, then see how I feel, but once I get there, I shall probably try and up the exercise, and tone up rather than just losing the fat. I am hoping to be in a size 12, or maybe a generous size 10 ;) Which is US size 6.
The second goal is my driving lessons. I have done 13 hours of lessons now (which reminds me, I *must* pay for another block tonight!) and have covered up to roundabouts, and in my last lesson, did my first maneuver, the "turn in the road" aka 3-point-turn. My next lesson is in 2 days time. I wonder what will be covered then :)
Anyway, sorry it's been so long between posts, I can't promise to say when the next one will be either! Most likely it will be posted by a 28-year-old though ;)
It's now getting towards the middle of July. We have a 2 year 7.5 month old, and a 9.5 month old. It is amazing watching the two of them develop, both as indivuals, and as brothers! Robert is amazingly chatty, and picks up so many new phrases he hears out and about (and from the TV. ahem) and often repeats them several times over the course of the day. Today's has been "What is Spiky doing out in the daytime?!" which he got from Come Outside, the TV show with Auntie Mabel and Pippin, when they see Spiky the Hedgehog out in the garden during the day. His pronounciation is still a little unclear, but we can understand most of what he says, and he is working on his pronounciation all the time, now sometimes saying "banana" instead of "nana", and "Isps-to-fah" instead of "Ooover" when talking about his brother.
He is also pushing boundaries a lot, meaning that we have increased the number of time outs he gets lately... He usually screams as we are carrying him upstairs after being told for example that he's going for time out because he was hitting us, "I not hit you anymore Mummy!!" Sometimes we give him one more chance, other times we don't, he goes straight to time out, it depends on the severity of what he did and how many warnings he had previously. It is a very challenging time, and I'm sure it won't get easier, so we feel it's important to be consistent now, and make sure that we try and nip things in the bud now rather than let things get out of hand down the line. Sometimes it's easier said than done!
Even though he can be very challenging to deal with now, he can instantly make us smile when he wants to, with a funny antic or other, or saying something funny. He likes to pretend to be a ghost, covering himself up with a blanket. A few nights ago, he did that with his bath towel, and then started walking around, and despite us telling him to stop, he continued, and bumped quite comically into the door frame, and then Christopher's cot. He was fine, and even found it quite funny himself.
He loves to make Christopher smile, and laugh, and often "talks" to him by making babbly noises that Christopher makes, saying "gaa-gaaa-gaa!" with a big grin on his face. He does talk to him properly too of course, what I thought was extra sweet was one day, Christopher woke from his nap and started crying, and Robert went upstairs with me close behind, went into our room, and said "Are you alright, Ooover?" and then started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him! Awwww!
He always wants to hug and hold him, and loves to play "ide an eek" which involves Robert crawling under the table, and peeking out saying "peep bo!" and then waiting til Christopher crawls up before coming out at lightning speed prompting Christopher to turn around and chase him away, before he then skirts back under the table :)
Christopher is now 9 and a half months old. Robert, by this age, was walking unaided, and by 10 months was quite a confident walker! In comparison, as I think I said in an earlier post, Christopher isn't as quick as Robert was. But I don't think he'll be much longer. He is balancing better and better, holding on with one hand, cruising with ease, and will stand for a few seconds if put in the right position and sort of pre-balanced. I don't think it'll be much longer before he's standing alone, and then walking will follow shortly afterwards I think. Before he's a year old I expect he'll be walking!
His sleep has been terrible the last few nights, waking every few hours, and SCREAMS. THE. PLACE. DOWN. until offered the boob, but even with a boob, he will still wake in a few hours and do the same :( We have no end in sight to when we will be able to move Christopher into Robert's room, as he is still nowhere near night weaned! We are hoping that some new skill (thinking, standing alone?!) will emerge soon to explain the horrendous nights.
We had some photographs taken at a photo studio, the same one as we went to when Robert was 6 months old. This photograph shows how sturdy Christopher is 1 handed!
Despite Robert being less than co-operative at the start, they did manage to get some nice ones of him. This is one of my favourites, and there are a few close up ones that I love too.
Onto some "me" news, 2 of my personal goals are well underway. The first of which, my weight loss, is going steadily again (finally) after a big stall, it's slow going but it's gradually coming off again, which I'm more than happy with. Over the last 9.5 months I have averaged at around 1.3lb lost per week, which is nice and healthy, and should see me at my overall goal by the time Christopher is one. I have dropped from 15 stone (well, 14st 11) since Christopher was 4 days old, and a size 20, to 11 stone and a size 14. I am aiming to lose 1 more stone, then see how I feel, but once I get there, I shall probably try and up the exercise, and tone up rather than just losing the fat. I am hoping to be in a size 12, or maybe a generous size 10 ;) Which is US size 6.
The second goal is my driving lessons. I have done 13 hours of lessons now (which reminds me, I *must* pay for another block tonight!) and have covered up to roundabouts, and in my last lesson, did my first maneuver, the "turn in the road" aka 3-point-turn. My next lesson is in 2 days time. I wonder what will be covered then :)
Anyway, sorry it's been so long between posts, I can't promise to say when the next one will be either! Most likely it will be posted by a 28-year-old though ;)
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Guilt
Last night, I read a thread about a TV documentary, in which a mother left her sick child in hospital 3 weeks without seeing her. The comments in this forum thread left me wracked with guilt as it made me think back to when Robert was in SCBU. They were saying how they didn't want to leave their baby's side, that they only took a cigarette break because they could look into the room and see their baby anyway.
When Robert was in SCBU he was there for 5 days. I saw him in the incubator the night he was born, and then went up to sleep. I went down in the morning, and thereafter went to see him every 4 hours. I didn't stay very long really, mainly just to feed him and change him, and settle him back down to sleep again, then left to go back up to my room on the ward. I didn't stay with him all the time, nor did I really feel the wish to. I know that the circumstances surrounding his birth left me numb and unable to bond with him. I know that deep down, the first few days I was thinking "why am I going to see this baby?" because he didn't feel like mine. I think a part of me thought I was a fraud, that the mother of the baby would come along and say "thanks for feeding and changing him for me, I'll be taking him home now."
But even knowing this, I still feel wracked with guilt now, thinking how I was only there for Robert when I was needed to be, not because I wanted to be. I feel awful knowing this, whether it was out of my control or not.
When Robert was in SCBU he was there for 5 days. I saw him in the incubator the night he was born, and then went up to sleep. I went down in the morning, and thereafter went to see him every 4 hours. I didn't stay very long really, mainly just to feed him and change him, and settle him back down to sleep again, then left to go back up to my room on the ward. I didn't stay with him all the time, nor did I really feel the wish to. I know that the circumstances surrounding his birth left me numb and unable to bond with him. I know that deep down, the first few days I was thinking "why am I going to see this baby?" because he didn't feel like mine. I think a part of me thought I was a fraud, that the mother of the baby would come along and say "thanks for feeding and changing him for me, I'll be taking him home now."
But even knowing this, I still feel wracked with guilt now, thinking how I was only there for Robert when I was needed to be, not because I wanted to be. I feel awful knowing this, whether it was out of my control or not.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Growing up fast.
Christopher is now 8 and a half months old, and around the same time (maybe a week off) out that he was in! He's crawling very confidently now, and already has his own mind made up about what he wants and what he likes! He loves Robert, and finds him absolutely hilarious at times. If Robert is having milk and I bring Christopher up as well (Robert has got staying latched on as I lean over to pick his brother up off the floor perfected), Christopher will grin, and immediately lean in to Robert for a hug, which is duly returned, both arms around his little brother (while still latched on!). They can be very sweet with each other :) He's also beginning to pull up, which has been cause of more than a few tears, what with pulling up on Robert's toybox, with a lid which from the side can easily catch small fingers. And also Robert's un-occupied chair, he pulls up on it, and because it's not very heavy, he falls backwards, pulling the chair over on top of himself (and sometimes banging his head on the door behind him). It's meaning now I need eyes in the back of my head, and will mean that I won't be able to leave the two boys downstairs while I do jobs upstairs, or go to the loo, Christopher will need to come with me. Truly now have my hands full!
Something I find unbelievably cute is how pleased Christopher is to see me. If I sit on the floor, and he catches sight of me, he will squeal happily, and crawl over to me, sometimes giggling away, and pull himself up onto my lap. It warms my heart and makes me so happy to see this little person full of love and joy recipricate my feelings!
Robert is getting so chatty, which is lovely to hear. His words become clearer by the day. He made his first attempts at saying all the syllables in "Christopher" yesterday which was sooo funny, I shouldn't have laughed really but it came out just a gumble of mumbly sounds, I wish I had properly thought of how it sounded so I could type it out, but never mind. He then gave a few good attempts, saying "Iss-ooover". He is beginning to say "a" and "the" in his sentences now as well, a sentence before might have been "I umpin' off oh-fah!" (I'm jumping off sofa), it's now occasionally being "I umpin' off vweh oh-fah!". He tries so hard to pronounce the "th" sound!
He is singing some whole songs now, we can tell what he's singing as well even though he doesn't get the tune right! He can sing "the wheels on the bus" very well, although most often without the "the". He sang "I'm a little teapot" earlier, singing "Here's my handle! here's my spout! tip me up! pour me out!" He does still refer to some songs by name, which sound nothing like it should be, for example, Grand Old Duke of York is "Gig-ork"
Love my little boys so much!
Oh, and one small thing to finish up on, Jonathan and I did a naughty a couple of nights ago... we didn't use anything, and even though I've not had my periods return yet, I have been having increased amounts of cervical fluid, so there might be the possibility of baby #3... I will be happy whatever the outcome, something which seems crazy, the age gap would be tiny if I was, about 17 months, but I would be happy to welcome him/her into our family! And alternatively, if I am not, then that is fine too, I am happy to wait for another year or so before we try again, although my ideal situation would be to not get to the point where we are actively trying, I guess. I know that we were only trying for a fraction of the time it has taken/taking some people to conceive with Christopher, but it still felt horrid each month to get that BFN, I can only imagine it gets exponentially worse each time... It does feel nice to know that whatever the outcome, I am at peace with it this time. I will keep things updated.
Something I find unbelievably cute is how pleased Christopher is to see me. If I sit on the floor, and he catches sight of me, he will squeal happily, and crawl over to me, sometimes giggling away, and pull himself up onto my lap. It warms my heart and makes me so happy to see this little person full of love and joy recipricate my feelings!
Robert is getting so chatty, which is lovely to hear. His words become clearer by the day. He made his first attempts at saying all the syllables in "Christopher" yesterday which was sooo funny, I shouldn't have laughed really but it came out just a gumble of mumbly sounds, I wish I had properly thought of how it sounded so I could type it out, but never mind. He then gave a few good attempts, saying "Iss-ooover". He is beginning to say "a" and "the" in his sentences now as well, a sentence before might have been "I umpin' off oh-fah!" (I'm jumping off sofa), it's now occasionally being "I umpin' off vweh oh-fah!". He tries so hard to pronounce the "th" sound!
He is singing some whole songs now, we can tell what he's singing as well even though he doesn't get the tune right! He can sing "the wheels on the bus" very well, although most often without the "the". He sang "I'm a little teapot" earlier, singing "Here's my handle! here's my spout! tip me up! pour me out!" He does still refer to some songs by name, which sound nothing like it should be, for example, Grand Old Duke of York is "Gig-ork"
Love my little boys so much!
Oh, and one small thing to finish up on, Jonathan and I did a naughty a couple of nights ago... we didn't use anything, and even though I've not had my periods return yet, I have been having increased amounts of cervical fluid, so there might be the possibility of baby #3... I will be happy whatever the outcome, something which seems crazy, the age gap would be tiny if I was, about 17 months, but I would be happy to welcome him/her into our family! And alternatively, if I am not, then that is fine too, I am happy to wait for another year or so before we try again, although my ideal situation would be to not get to the point where we are actively trying, I guess. I know that we were only trying for a fraction of the time it has taken/taking some people to conceive with Christopher, but it still felt horrid each month to get that BFN, I can only imagine it gets exponentially worse each time... It does feel nice to know that whatever the outcome, I am at peace with it this time. I will keep things updated.
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Health reviews
In the UK, health reviews are offered at 7-9 months and 2-and-a-half. As luck would have it, Robert is two-and-a-half, and Christopher is 8 months. After a bit of appointment wiggling, due to me initially having 2 separate appointments in 2 separate locations just one hour apart, I managed to get the two boys in on the same appointment. Robert passed all his tests and got measured as 34lbs and 96cm tall. He built a tower for them and did a drawing to show them he could draw a line and a circle. His notes say his speech is half understandable, and got told that if it stopped improving, I should get an appointment with the GP and get a referral to a speech therapist. Something that right now isn't necessary as he is improving all the time.
Christopher got weighed for his, he is now 16lb 3oz, which at 8 months is on the dinky side, between the 2nd and 9th centiles. He is still in age 3-6 clothes, some of which are snug now, and some still have a bit of room. He does seem very different from Robert in that he does seem so tiny to be crawling. I remember when Robert started to stand unaided around this age, he seemed too small to be standing, I can only imagine how small Christopher would look!
Despite weighing so little (goodness, my "friend" would have a field day if she knew how much he weighs, poor starving Christopher), he is meeting his milestones and doing everything they would expect of him, and the health visitor we saw was not worried in the slightest at his weight.
I am relieved, I was bracing myself for some mention about his weight, even though I knew there is nothing to worry about because his temperament, general health, and milestone completion are evidence enough about his well-being.
Christopher got weighed for his, he is now 16lb 3oz, which at 8 months is on the dinky side, between the 2nd and 9th centiles. He is still in age 3-6 clothes, some of which are snug now, and some still have a bit of room. He does seem very different from Robert in that he does seem so tiny to be crawling. I remember when Robert started to stand unaided around this age, he seemed too small to be standing, I can only imagine how small Christopher would look!
Despite weighing so little (goodness, my "friend" would have a field day if she knew how much he weighs, poor starving Christopher), he is meeting his milestones and doing everything they would expect of him, and the health visitor we saw was not worried in the slightest at his weight.
I am relieved, I was bracing myself for some mention about his weight, even though I knew there is nothing to worry about because his temperament, general health, and milestone completion are evidence enough about his well-being.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)