A trip to hospital

We spent Saturday night in the children's a&e with C as he had a fever that was not going away and the lymph glands in his neck were the size of eggs.

It started with a bad night on the 26th Dec, we'd come to my parents' house in Wiltshire and as he was in a new bed I didn't think much of it, just calmed him when he cried and brought him into our bed at around 2am when he consistently kept waking up.

On the 27th he was bright enough, happily playing with my family and showing them his new trains. It was a miserable day for weather but we had a quick half hour splashing in puddles with my bro and went to see the sheep. C did not want to go near the sheep and I carried him, muddy boots and all, to look through the stable door at a large lamb and a pig.

He didn't eat much, but I put that down to the fact we were away from home, it wasn't his usual meals and he always eats terribly at my parents.

The night of the 27th he was hot and showed signs of a sore throat as he cried whenever he coughed. I stayed in his room all night and neither of us slept well.

On the 28th we had a big family day with 17 of us at the house. The boy was not well, he had calpol every 4 hours but most of the day he sat snuggled on my lap. Before guests arrived T took him upstairs and they both had a long nap.

I slept with him again on the night of the 28th and we had a better night, only waking occasionally. His glands were swollen but I thought it was probably a bad cold and that calpol would help get him through.

Sat 29th was another family day with 14 of us. We had planned to leave for home just before tea time, but C seemed to be getting worse so we left a couple if hours earlier after presents had been shared. C got given a Thomas takeaway pack, and you could tell he was feeling v poorly as although he showed an interest he didn't want to leave my lap. He did clutch hold of the new Thomas engine and hasn't been far away from "little Thomas" since.

On the 3hr drive home he slept most of the way and we said we'd see how he did on Sunday then take him to the doctors on Monday. When we got him out of the car his glands were even more swollen and his neck was at an odd angle. I gave him a warm bath whilst T called NHS Direct, but all he got was a recorded message. The bath didn't help so we bundled the boy into the car and drove the 20 mins to our nearest hospital.

Here's our experience of the children's a&e.

- It was 7.30pm and there was nowhere to park, the main carpark was closed. We drove a couple of circuits feeling desperate and looking for road signs, eventually T dropped me off two streets away, as close as we could get and I carried C through the rain to the emergency entrance.

- I queued in the wrong section. My mistake, I missed that the kids section was on the left, so for 5 mins I was the only person queueing in the adult a&e. There were people on reception but no one called me forward. Nurses and orderlies walked passed me, I was clearly holding a sick toddler and not one of them said I was in the wrong place. After 5 mins (which felt like a lifetime) I turned around to see if T was arriving yet and noticed the closed door to the children's a&e.

- The receptionist was good. There was no queue here and she took my details efficiently. T arrived and we went through to the waiting room together.

- The waiting room was packed. We got a seat but families after us sat on the floor.

- One of the first messages we heard on the tanoy was for a porter to go to the child resuss room to take a body to the morgue.

- We waited for over an hour to see the nurse.

- Kids were running about all over the place, there was a seperate play room full of toys but the most popular game for two girls was to run out the back door, through the busy corridor and through the front door.

- Others were like C; really subdued and sitting on mamas laps. One toddler had a nasty head injury, one had an asthma attack next to us.

- C hated being seen by the nurse. She took his heart rate and he cried when I got him to put his finger in the monitor. Taking his temp was accompanied by a mass of whimpering, it was 38c, and that was with the calpol we'd given him earlier.

- The nurse gave C ibuprofen and told us we'd see a specialist doctor. She said it would be a long wait and we should get a sandwich but actually when we got out the Dr was waiting for us.

- She checked over C and said it was lympoditis. She said it was just a symptom of something else and because it was so close to his brain we needed to get it under control so it didn't spread (my heart stopped for a bit after that). She said they could take him in and put him on an IV drip, but if we felt we could give him the medicine then it would be better to take him home.

- We left with a 7 day course of paracetamol and a 10 day course of antibiotics, along with an antibiotics prescription as the bottle only lasted 7 days.

- We were told to take him to the doctor on Monday to check he was getting better and to come back to a&e if he couldn't breathe or seemed to be getting worse.

- In my rush to see the nurse when we were called I left my coat in the waiting room. It was still there.

- Then we left, C and I stood in the cold and rain whilst T retrieved the car from the street miles away from the a&e he'd had to park it on.

C is much improved now, his glands finally went down on Tuesday and in between medicine he's almost back to his usual self. The follow up appointment went well, we now have a bottle of ibuprofen to add to the list of things to take.

Giving medicine to a toddler is no mean feat. He spits out, makes himself sick and has to be held on a lap if we give it on a spoon or in a syringe. He's more likely to drink it disguised in a milkshake, but then takes at least an hour to drink it with us cajoling him all the way. This was the first time he's been scarily ill and I'm so relieved it's over. A nasty end to 2012 but a good start to the new year as he was so much better on the 1st.

A weekend of family and trains



Eek, just found this post languishing in my drafts folder, I wrote it ages ago but forgot to press publish!

Credit - http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/

It finally arrived, after more then a month of crossing off the days, we took C-bear to the Bluebell Railway and met up with my parents, brother and his wife. I was slightly worried that after so much excited anticipation the day wouldn't live up to C's expectations, but he's two and LOVES trains and grandparents, so the day didn't disappoint.

There were two trains running up and down the nine mile track. We rode the 'green' train first and got a compartment just for us - perfect to keep a toddler contained with freedom to wiggle off seats and push a toy train around. We rode to the end then came back to the middle station for a picnic lunch. This came to a sudden stop with torrential rain and a dash back to the platform for shelter. We then ride the 'blue' train back to the start, this one was v busy and slightly hellish as no seat for C to sit in, he refused to sit on my lap and look out the window, so spent a lot of time on Grandad and then passed to Granny and Auntie N.

Back at Sheffield Park station we watched another train taking on water and then looked in the engine shed, this had rows of engines carefully preserved, C-bear was in his element. There were some massive engines with wheels taller than me and C particularly liked finding a black and red engine just like his own toot toot, the little wooden train he takes everywhere. After tea and cake we left and drove round London to Buckinghamshire to stay the night at my brother's.

On Sunday we went for a walk around the village and dressed on his wet weather gear C splashed in every puddle he could find.

 

A Winter Wedding

A couple of week's ago we journeyed to the Newbury countryside for the beautiful English winter wedding of our friends from uni. As I was watching the little man not many photos were taken, but here's the little memories I want to remember.

- Tom and Charlie wore their suits from our wedding in February. I had to take the hems down on C's trousers but otherwise the suit still fitted him.
- I wore a red dress from Monsoon with the same cowl neck as my wedding dress. I also wore the cream furry bolero I wore as a bride and my brown boots, so it was easy to run after the little man.
- The church looked beautiful with evergreen floral displays and candles.
- Charlie was captivated when the usher lit the candles.
- My Kindle Fire kept the little man quiet through the service, the jigsaw and picture book apps were the ones he used most.
- The bride was absolutely stunning in her beautiful dress. It had big silk skirts and lacy sleeves. Her long hair was up in a bun with tendrils down at the front and a mid length veil.
- Charlie was captivated by the bride and even though he knows her, constantly asked 'where's the bride' and watched her progress as she made her way around the room.
- After the church we had a couple of hours in the village pub. We could choose between this and the bride's parents cottage. We chose the pub so C could have some down time rather then us worrying he'd break something at the house.
- The groom was wonderful with C in the pub. They had hugs and fun and kept teasing Daddy with a funny name.
- Other friends stayed in the same hotel as us and we gave them a lift and spent much of the day together.
- There were lots of young children there and this proud mama can report that C was angelic compared to some :)
- Wedding favors were homemade damson brandy and gin. Each bottle had a personalised message from the bride and groom.
- The meal was delicious, perfect for a cold day, hog roast with roasted veg and apple crumble.
- C was given a winter colouring book and pencils.
- T took C and I back at 8pm once the speeches were over, he got a cab back to the wedding and shared a cab back late with L&T.
- Little man was exhausted, he fell straight asleep on our bed as I got him changed. I tucked him into his bed and he barely woke.

The boy and the chips - we shared these with friends after the ceremony

A winter weekend at home

Last weekend we had nothing major planned, no weddings, family visits or Christmas shopping trips, simply a chance to catch up with friends old and new and it was lovely.

On Saturday we met up with Charlie's best friend and her parents for lunch in a gorgeous family friendly pub in Herne Hill. The Florence served delicious food (aubergine goats cheese lasagna and bread and peanut butter pudding for me, hot dog and choc brownie for T and fish fingers and ice cream for C). It also had a kids playroom, but we didn't use it as little Mr C and little Miss C were pretty awesome throughout the meal. It was nice to talk properly to these new friends we've made through our son!

We went for a chilly walk in Brockwell Park (where C was sick...) And then back on the train. At the station we saw a donkey and some sheep, C could be enticed to touch neither!
We spent the afternoon snuggled on the sofa watching The Incredibles whilst I put the finishing touches to the cat baubles. C is obsessed with a black and white one, so we've called it Jess and have given it to him early. A ring on the bell announced the arrival of the friends who got married last weekend. It was lovely to chat about the wedding and they invited us over for mulled wine on Sunday.

I took C to a craft fair in Mayow Park on Sunday. It was small and not great, but we did get a wooden present decoration to hang on the tree. C was addicted to the two fires, one a metal stove and the other a bonfire with a mud and straw dome over it. This kid is obsessed with bonfires and happily watched the flames and chatted about the smoke.

After nap time we called on our friends and enjoyed mulled wine and cheese and biscuits (C had milk and gingerbread) it was nice, another friend was there and the bride's sister and partner, but the stress of having a small child in an adult situation was immense. There were cat's to chase, baubles to tap, noses to pick, stairs to climb and crisps to lick and put back into the bowl (yes he did, mortifying!) Making small talk was really hard with an excitable toddler and I spent most of my time reading books to him on the kindle fire or telling him off.

Back home and exhausted, once little man was in bed I watched the finale of The Killing season 3 which was brilliant and I'm not appreciating the inevitable long wait until season 4!

Homemade Christmas - cat baubles

I found some really cute papier mache cat models in Hobbycraft and thought it would be nice to paint then in the colours of friends cats, dip them in glitter and give as tree decorations at Christmas.

Credit - HobbyCraft

What started out as two has become a whole army/herd of cats. Here's how to do it:

1. Paint a base coat. If you're getting a toddler to help this is a part he can do. I used kids poster paint and needed to do 2 layers. Leave to dry.

2. Paint on distinct markings (too tricky for my toddler). The black cat was easiest as he just needed a few white whiskers on his chest. Eyes and noses are painted now but go easy on the whiskers as they'll get glittered on later. Tabbies were the trickiest as lots of different stripes, so lots of drying time in between building up the colours. Leave to dry.

3. Paint feet the same colour as cat and then add paddy paws in pink paint.

4. Paint with glitter paint. I bought the already made up in bottles of gold and sparkly white. Choose the glitter to suit the cat's colours. Black and ginger cats got gold, tabby and grey cats got white. Leave to dry and if needed add another layer.

4. Draw on whiskers, I used gold and silver metallic sharpie pens.

5. To make the collars I bought some little red and gold ribbon bows with tiny gold bells from Hobbycraft. I then pulled each bow loop further, so the two ends were hardly showing and used a dab of superglue to secure the two loops at the back of the cat's neck.

6. Tie on the decoration hanger (this bit turns them from being a cat model to a Christmas tree decoration). I found some gorgeous red and white striped string in Waterstones. Cut between 20 - 30cm string depending on how long you want the hanger to be. Put the centre of the sting under the cat's tummy and tie in a double knot, the knot the two ends at the top together and snip off any excess. (I tried putting the string around the collar, kitty looked like he'd hung himself and around the tail, kitty did a nose dive, so round the tummy gives the best hanging position).

 

Homemade Christmas - wrapping paper

I want to get Charlie involved in all the Christmas preparations so a couple of weeks ago we started off with homemade wrapping paper. I had a roll of brown paper left from last year, bought some gold and red glitter paint and dug out the foam Christmas shapes. We made lots of different pieces of paper, green Christmas trees, yellow angels, blue snowmen, bells and bright red Santa Claus.
We also added the finishing glitter touches to the heart wrapping paper we made with the help of cookie cutters and C's best friend a few weeks ago.
When the presents are wrapped I'll use glitter glue pens to add features onto the shapes at the top of the parcel.
C loves getting the paints out and this was a fun way to start talking about Christmas with him.

Notes at 31 months

At two and a half suddenly C's a v independent being. We're midway through potty training, so independently pulling down trousers and pants and sitting on potty. But other times vehemently refusing to go near the potty and then having an accident. He's also good at pulling back up but sometimes gets all twisted.

The toddler bed see's him taking himself to bed, refusing to be tucked in and closing the door behind us. bedtime routine is becoming trickier, we now use the potty, demand the hall light is left on and take a cup of water to bed.

He still uses his cow cup with spout but has open breakers when we're at the table. He uses a small metal toddler fork and spoon. A very fussy eater, we had a 45 min stand off over eating one piece of carrot. Yes he held the carrot on his mouth for 45 mins and refused to chew or swallow, it was only immense gingerbread reindeer bribary that eventually got him to ear it and that was just one tiny piece of carrot!

This month he's been ill and off nursery twice. A stomach bug followed by a nasty cold. Having a sick toddler is no fun, the days taken off work are write offs, there's no brave face when C is ill, just a miserable little man who clings to you the whole day long. We spent both times snuggled on the sofa with books and films and toddler apps.

As his 3rd Christmas approaches he's really getting into it this year. He's helped me with lots of painting and decoration projects, loves his advent calendar and advent book countdown and talks about seeing everyone at Christmas.

He's learning 3 Christmas songs for a nursery concert and likes to sing them or shout them at the top of his voice. Jingle Bells is his favourite (he likes the 'hey') followed by When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.

It snowed last week, a quick morning blizzard but he hated it. I had a meeting in town so all 3 of us walked down to nursery together and C grizzled all the way.

Loves - trains, stickers, cats, chocolate, best friend little Miss C, grandparents, running in the park, Mr Tumble and Baby Jake, jigsaws, The Lion King, Mog books, playing with Daddy, hugs and yoghurt milkshakes.

Hates - eating a square meal, snow, walking ALL the way to nursery, waiting, laying in and having his nails clipped.

Fun Christmas Meme

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I like the idea of Egg Nog, but never ever get round to making it, so Hot Chocolate, particularly with whipped cream and sprinkles.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I didn't know that he didn't wrap presents!! Definitely wrapped and in a stocking.

3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white? No preference, but we have little white lights in the shape of stars to go on our tree, the colour is added from the decorations.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Not usually, I would never buy it, but if I came across it in a wood, then I'd take some home, along with holly.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Mid December, not too early or too late.

6. What is your favourite holiday dish? My Mum's sausage and chestnut stuffing (plus the turkey with all the trimmings).

7. Favourite Holiday memory as a child? Having the house filled with family and different visitors arriving every day. Plus getting the Sylvanian Caravan was a pretty big thing for me.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Primary school, quite late, possibly when I was 7 or 8? Other kids in my class talked about him not be real.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No never, best to wait until the morning, though this year I will be bringing out Charlie's Christmas PJs from last year (I think they should still fit) for him to wear.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? When we moved just before C was born I gave our fake tree to a charity shop because I thought that from now on we'd get a real tree every year for our boy to help decorate. It didn't happen in his first year, we couldn't justify the cost whilst I was on mat leave, so I collected some evergreen branches and hung up my v. favourite decorations on there. Last year, we realised with so much baby stuff taking up the space there was no room for a large tree, so we got a teeny tiny one in a silver bucket. I have a whole box of special decorations I've collected over the year, they are a mix of colours and shapes and I love getting them out and hanging them on the tree. This year, we're going to look for a medium sized fake tree so C can enjoy decorating and it looks pretty, but as we won't have much time in the flat this Christmas, I'm being practical and going for less mess and effort!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love, love, love it! Yes, it can be a pain, but it's so pretty. We always go out in it as much as we can, making snowmen and last year took the mini sledge to the park and spent the whole afternoon playing in the snow.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, not amazingly but I can get by. Every year ice rinks pop up all over London (there's one at the Natural History Museum this year). I've been to one at Mansion House and Kew Park and one year we turned up for Boxing Day Ice Skating at Hampton Court, but got turned away as rain had melted the ice.

13. Do you remember your favourite gift? It was definitely my Sylvanian Caravan, but I also loved getting my bike, skateboard and tent as a kid. Very cheesy, but when I was pregnant with C, his first proper kick happened on Christmas eve when I was in bed alone at my Aunt's house - I felt that was pretty special.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Time away from work to spend 100% with my boy, plus seeing all the rest of the family.

15. What is your favourite Holiday Dessert?  Oooh, I love dessert, you can't beat Christmas Pudding with Rum Butter

16. What is your favourite holiday tradition? I love singing at carol services, Christmas parties through work (I have 4 this year) and gingerbread lattes! I'm also going to continue with the holiday pyjamas on Christmas Eve, though at two and a half Charlie won't mind that they're not brand new as he won't remember wearing them last Christmas.

17. What tops your tree? A silver star, much much better then an angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love giving, I like planning what I'm going to get everyone and then wrapping it nicely. This year C and I have made wrapping paper with brown paper, glitter and paint.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yuck, I like to see them hanging on a tree, but way too sweet to actually eat.

20. Favorite Christmas show? Muppets Christmas Carol.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? T's favourite is Fairy Tale of New York, it's pretty sad though, but beautiful to listen to.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? When a Child is Born, I love that it makes me all tingly just listening to it.

Thank you to Beth at MommaBandBabyboy for sharing this Meme! I've been at home all day with an ill boy (winter stomach virus, throwing up and temp) so it's been nice to think about Christmas and get into the festive mood for the next few weeks!

PS - after filling this out I downloaded the Mog's Christmas e-book and have been reading it with C on my Fire. Am now going to finish wrapping the 25 Christmas picture books I'll be turning into an advent read for Charlie, more about this later!

This morning I'm getting an extra boost with

Amarretto latte from Cafe Nero - mmm

Beds, guests and fishes

We've had a busy weekend at home. I took the day off on Friday and C and I entertained his best friend, little Miss C and her Mum. I've booked that Fri and another Fri in December off work as the long weeks are wearing thin for C. By the end of the week he's whiny and moany, so a couple of days off are just what we need to get through to the Christmas hols. As we were waiting in for the delivery of the toddler bed, we did lots of indoors activities. We made Christmas wrapping paper with brown paper, glitter paint and heart shaped cookie cutters, we played with the duplo safari and the train set and the two of them sat good as gold watching Peppa Pig as I made pasta for lunch and F went back to her house to get some couscous.

The following day we cleared out C's room, he said bye bye to the cot and T made up the toddler bed. We then had an emergency trip to Mothercare to buy a mattress! I had assumed that as the bed said it took a cot bed mattress we could use the old one, but nope, a bigger one was required.

T dropped C and me off in the park and we went to the station to meet my cousin V. V brought stickers (from my aunt) and chocolate and storytelling skills and C was in awe. At one point he randomly said "I love you" which was really sweet and sincere.

We had a vegan feast of homemade pizza and couscous, guacamole and for dessert Swedish Glace, which I must remember to buy more often because it tastes just like ice cream.

On Sunday we took V to The Horniman, there was a BBC Archaeology event on and C got a sticker for walking in the footsteps of 'Lucy' an ancient ancestor. He also painted a seashell, just like ancient man did long long ago. We saw the fish, the yellow headed jaw fish is still his favourite and the Amazonian tree frogs were another hit.

Back home, after refusing to nap, we had a lazy afternoon playing with jigsaw apps on the kindle and skyping my brother.