28 weeks

At 28 weeks Eve:

Is doing so many exciting things now she's 6 months.

Weighs 15lbs, 5oz and is in tracking just above the 25th percentile.

We're taking weaning slowly because of suspected allergies. After seeing the doctor we're keeping a food diary for two weeks. She had a definite reaction to some pasta last Tuesday, and I'm pretty certain dairy doesn't agree with her either.

Cucumber and sweet potato are still her favourites. She's getting good at using a spoon for apple and pear puree and pretty good at drinking from a cup. She has a nuby cup with soft spout and has water with each meal.

She's speaking! Her coos have developed into more word-like sounds. Ga ga ga and Da da da. She is also very very high pitched and can screech like a banshee!

She's rolling, we've got out the foam number mat as she kept rolling off the play mat. I've sold one of the playmats for £7 and will put more up for sale to make some space in the house!

Sleep is still bad, I'm currently reducing the amount of feeds I give her in the night and will then do controlled crying. Also lengthening the amount of time she spends in the cot in her room rather then coming in with us all night. I've spoken to the health visitor who is a 'sleep expert' and she had lots of good tips and some useful leaflets for both the 'gradual withdrawal' and the'controlled crying' methods.

She is ever so ever so clingy! She still hates it if I leave the room and whoever is watching her has to really grab her attention to stop her from noticing I'm not there.

She gives the best nuzzley snuggles, cooing and pressing into me, putting her hand up to my face and giving wet baby kisses. This week she started doing it for Daddy too.

Loved Boppin Bunnies this week. Charlie came too as it was an inset day, she had lots of fun trying to beat a drum, shake a shaker, chewing on a rubber frog and sitting underneath the parachute.

27 weeks

At 27 weeks Eve:

(17th Feb)

- Has started weaning! I'm pretty much doing baby led weaning with a little puree too. Her first food was boiled carrot batons. She's also had cucumber, avacado, sweet potato, bread and banana. Sweet potato and cucumber are her favourites. Not much eating has been going on, but a lot of playing and putting in her mouth, which is a good start.

- Possibly has food allergies. She get's a red rash round her mouth and sometimes has green nappies. She had it with bread and also if I eat a lot of dairy. Going to see the doctor on Wednesday.

- Is smitten with her brother and we're looking forward to a full week of half term with him. He makes her laugh and is constantly interacting with her.

- Had a fun weekend in Wiltshire with Granny and Grandad and Uncle S, Aunty N and cousin I. Walked in the woods, had a (short-lived) bath with big cousin I, sat nicely in the bumbo and ate cucumber and carrots at meal times and had cuddles with everyone, 

- Is getting quite good at moving, no crawling yet but she can get quite far just by rolling.

- The chickenpox is coming to an end, just waiting for the last scabs to fall off. She has a big chickenpox scar on her right eyebrow (just like Mummy) and a few smaller ones on her nose, forehead and scalp. Hoping these will lessen with time.

6 months old (26 weeks)

Happy half birthday baby girl!

I'm sorry you have chickenpox for it, but at least you're on the mend and happy again, just very very spotty. At 6 months you:

Are getting so social. You love to react to people, to hold up your hands to be picked up, to screech if I leave the room, to laugh when we laugh and cry when Charlie cries. You have the biggest smile which spreads across your whole face when you see someone you love, or even a stranger you like the look of!

Love your big brother. You play with Charlie, grabbing at his clothes and face and hands. We have a game called 'Where's Charlie', I say 'Where's Charlie' and he runs around the room like a mad thing, hiding behind furniture, waiting for you to spot him and coo and gurgle at him. By the end of the game we are all laughing and it's great that your brother is the one to get the biggest laughs out of you.

Love your Daddy. When Tom comes home you give him the biggest smile ever, even just hearing his voice can make you smile.

Love your Mama. I'm definitely your favourite, we spend pretty much all day every day together, and the huge smiles I get when I come into the room make all the fussing and crying and sleepless nights worthwhile. You get so excited to see me, fidgeting in Nana's arms and holding out your hands so I can hold you.

Want to be on the move. You can roll from side to side, flip yourself over to your back if I leave you sitting propped up in the boppi cushion. You do big jumps in the jumperoo, with both feet well off the ground and if I support you, you've started to take baby steps towards the thing you want to play with.

Haven't been weighed for ages. Due to being in chickenpox quarantine for both you and Charlie, but you are so tall and thin, the complete opposite of Charlie who was all chubby and round at 6 months.

Have been wearing 6 - 9 month clothes for weeks. Vests anyway, now that you're six months we've brought out all the beautiful tops and outfits you've been given. Today you're wearing the little bunny top from Aunty N & Uncle S and red stripy leggings with blue polka dots from Nana.

Are getting over chickenpox. You have had a severe case, almost completely covered, my poor love. We got some allergy syrup from the doctors, take warm oaty baths 3 times a day and smother you in calamine lotion. The spots are now on the mend, some of the smaller ones have disappeared and the large ones are scabbing over.

Are going to be weaned! Yesterday you drank water from your sippy cup and tried some broccoli and bread. Today we are going to have carrot batons.

Chicken pox remedies

Both my 4 year old and my 5 month old had chickenpox this month, here's a summary of the remedies we used as they had it very differently and what worked for Charlie didn't work for Eve.

First off Charlie came out in chicken pox spots at school, when I arrived to collect him they were already all over his chest and back. They continued to appear throughout the afternoon and he got a lot on his face, two inside his bottom lip, in his ears, all over his scalp, on his bottom and tops of his legs. His arms and feet didn't get any. He had a high temperature that first night and was sleepy the day before the spots showed. After the first day, his temperature left and he felt completely his normal self, just spotty.

Then 13 days later baby Eve came out in them too. She just had two at first (belly button and eyebrow), but a few hours later came out in more, all over her chest, back and face. Overnight she developed even more, the poor little girl was absolutely covered, all over her scalp, face, ears, really badly in her bottom and legs. Again none on her hands but a few on her feet, including the soles. She also had a high temperature the first night and then continued to have it for two more days.

After googling and calling out on FaceBook for remedies, we came up with this:

For Charlie (four and a half):

- Oaty baths. Put porridge oats in a sock, tie a knot and place in a warm bath. Squeeze the sock to make the water milky. I used about 3 tablespoons of oats and a football sock was the best. Charlie's socks were too small, the knot was too tight and really hard to undo with the cotton all wet. Football socks are nice and long so can be knotted loosely plus polyester so easy to un-knot when wet. With Charlie we had two long baths a day, he stayed in for about half an hour each time and they definitely soothed the spots. I also added 4 drops of lavender oil to promote healing (I was told to have lavender oil baths by the midwife right after I'd had Eve). NB, we didn't have any plain old oats when C first caught it so I used a pack of strawberry jam microwave oats, it did help soothe him, but he also smelt of strawberries and the water went all slimy,

- Piraton Syrup. This took a while to kick in but once he'd had a few doses he wasn't scratchy at all. (He still occasionally rubbed at the spots but more because they were pushing up his skin (particulalry on his scalp) then because they were itchy.

- Calpol. This helped bring his initial temperature down and made him feel much better.

- PoxClin Mousse. This was expensive (£10.99) but also worked the best, we covered him with it after each bath and whenever he started scratching and it instantly soothed. It also lasted the full 10 days he had the spots.

- Aloe Gelly - I was given this by a friend and it helped cool the spots. Worked best after they had scabbed over and were beginning to fall off.

Charlie stayed at home in quarantine for 7 days, he left school on the Thursday afternoon and was back a little over a week later on the Monday. Apart from the first night and day, he wasn't really bothered by the chickenpox and actually enjoyed being at home with Evie and me all day long! We mixed it up a little for him towards the end with a day spent at Nana and Grandad's house.

For Eve (almost 6 months):

- Oaty baths. As above, I filled the baby bath with warm water, an oaty sock and 1 drop of lavender oil. She had 3 a day as she only stayed in for 5 - 10 mins at a time. It was good to do after a dirty nappy as it made sure her poor sore bottom didn't get any worse or that the spots there didn't get infected.

- Allerief syrup. This was prescribed by the doctor, it's pretty much the same as piriton syrup and although the bottle said it's for 1 year plus, the doctor said she could have it twice a day as she was so absolutely covered in spots and really really itchy.

- Calamine lotion. The poxclin mousse didn't work on Eve, in fact it made it made her spots worse, her skin came up bright red and the spots even more so. We phoned the doctor who prescribed the allerief and the calamine lotion. The lotion definitely helped calm her spots, though because she had them absolutely everywhere she was plastered in the lotion and left a trial of powdered lotion wherever she went (sofa, my blouse, play mat, jumperoo, cot etc.). I also used Sudocrem and Metanium nappy rash cream on her bottom as it was so sore.

- Aqueous calamine cream - the chemist recommended this as it doesn't leave the powder behind. It wasn't quite as effective as the calamine lotion, but good to use on her bottom and the area where the nappy goes.

- Calpol. As with C this helped bring down her temperature.

- Aloe Gelly - this was gentle enough to use on her baby skin.

Eve had it much worse than Charlie, far more spots to skin ratio and her head was absolutely covered, which meant she couldn't sleep as lying on them in any way hurt her, even after having calpol. We got the allerief syrup on day 3 and this worked amazingly well to soothe the pain and it also made her sleepy. She was therefore able to sleep better which was exactly what she needed.

25 weeks

(27th Jan 2015) At 25 weeks Eve:

Is going through an incredibly clingy phase. She cries if I leave the room, and doesn't like to be held by anyone else for too long. If I'm still in the room, she will swivel her head round to watch me.

Thinks Charlie is her own personal comedian. He dances for her to make her laugh.

Had had a rough week. Charlie had chickenpox so we've been sitting out quarantine with him. She definitely missed going outside and got bored with all of her toys.

I cannot believe that next week she'll be 6 months old!