Welcome to the next instalment in the Little Leaps Linky – recording my children’s milestones, accomplishments and developmental leaps. This fortnight is all about Neve’s recent hospital stay, as well as Erin’s arty achievements!

If you’re a blogger, please do link up your own Little Leaps post using the InLinkz button at the bottom of the page! 🙂

Don’t forget to include the Linky Badge code below!

Real Mum Reviews

Neve – Building the Immune System

We have not a healthy household over the last fortnight but if nothing else, Neve has built up some of her immune system after having her first ever bug. It all started with Erin, when she came home from preschool with diarrhoea – it didn’t last for long, and by the following morning she seemed absolutely fine. There was no sickness – although she did that she was almost sick but “swallowed it again because she is clever”. – Ick.

As much as I tried to keep her away from her sister, encourage regular hand washing and Dettoled every surface within an inch of my life, Neve inevitably caught it, and started vomiting late Friday night.

By Monday, she was still going- vomiting every 3-4 hours. She didn’t seem unwell with it, but by this point it had been well over 48 hours, and I was starting to get a little concerned. After calling 111 they recommended we go to our local hospital to have some urine tests done and rule out any sign of infection.

Now if you have ever tried to get a urine sample out of a baby you will know that it is about as exciting as watching paint dry. In fact no – it’s worse than that. Its’ waiting for something to happen that may or may not happen in the next 1 – 4 hours. And when it does happen? Its about having the reflexes of Spiderman, ensuring that the tiny trowel like spout is in the right place at the right time.

As she was a little dehydrated, we were in for a long wait. Me and Mike were both tired and hungry, and there *may* have been some cross words about Mike using the urine spout as a Darth Vader mask, and then having to own up to the nurse as it was no longer sterile.

When we finally got our wee (at around 2am!) we were advised that there was some keytones in her urine (a sign of dehydration) but it was otherwise fine. I felt a little reassured.

Unfortunately though Tuesday was worse than ever. Where as there had been some long periods between vomiting, on Tuesday, every single feed came back up. I tried giving her water, but that came back up too. I was getting really worried now about her getting dehydrated, and took her to my GP. He was concerned about how lethargic she had become, and when he slammed the bin lid right next to her, she didn’t even flinch :(. He referred us to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where he wrote a letter suggesting we were kept in for overnight observation.

Birmingham Children’s is a fantastic place, and to cut a long story short, after 2 days of hehydration therapy, her sickness reduced to every 24 hours. We were discharged on Thursday afternoon, and by Friday, our happy smiley girl was back and the sickness had stopped! I can’t say I enjoyed being in hospital again, particularly after having spent nearly 4 weeks in hospital after  Neve was born, but I was reassured that we were in the right place and that she was getting the assistance that she needed.

Unfortunately, Neve is now making up for lost milk, and is now waking up every 2 hours again during the night wanting a feed! I am beyond exhausted, but am hoping that this will be fairly short lived!!

Erin – Arty Achievements

This week, I have been really impressed with how much Erin’s drawing is coming along. Over the last month she has taken a real interest in shape forming, learning about letters and becoming more and more confident in writing her own name, as well as tracing over dots to write words.  She is holding her pens really well, and is becoming quite creative in her artwork – now being able to draw something specific when asked.

Monday was the first wedding anniversary of her godparents, and as the first anniversary theme is ‘Paper’ – we decided to make a framed print of the happy couple on their wedding day. I described to Erin what she should draw, and this is her finished masterpiece. We then added a heart, some flowers and glitter, and I am super proud of the finished frame.

She was so excited to give it to them, and to me this means so much more than a bunch of flowers or a traditional card.

We have been reading the Letterland books this week that I loved so much as a child, and she is enjoying tracing over the letters with her fingers!

What leaps have your little ones made recently? I’d love to read all about them! 🙂

*Don’t forget to come back and read / comment on others posts, you may be amazed how many people are in the same boat!!*

 

linkz