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!
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 –Â 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!!*
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 5 month update, as well as Erin’s new achievements and challenges!
If you’re a blogger, please do link up your own Little Leaps post using the InLinks button at the bottom of the page! 🙂
Don’t forget to include the Linky Badge code below!
She is definitely getting bigger every day, and more recently has shown a real desire to sit up, almost doing mini sit ups when we pop her in her bouncer or prop her up on our laps.
She is still waking during the night, some nights more than others, but over the last few days has been a little fractious when feeding, and yesterday I found out why!
I thought she was showing a few signs of teething – so having experienced full on Teething Gate before with Erin, I got out the trusty Anbesol, and applied some to her gums. I did not expect to feel two little sharp white teeth popping through the surface, and certainly not ones on the side! For some reason, unlike most babies who get their top front or bottom teeth first, Neve appears to want to be a little different! Her first two teeth are actually the incisors, the sharp vampire like teeth that most babies get a few months after their front teeth. I don’t know how this is going to pan out, but I have a picture of a slightly possessed vampire baby in my mind.
I hope that they work their way out reasonably quickly and that we don’t have too many tears. In the meantime we are making the most of my wealth of must have teething products!
Erin has been a little challenging this month to say the least. She hadn’t really been through a jealous stage since Neve was born, but I was warned that after a period of calm we may experience an “acting up” phase, and we appear to be slap bang in the middle of that. Despite getting told she has wonderful listening ears at pre school, it appears that those ears are selective in who they listen to, and for some reason, my voice seems to have been set to the “do not disturb” setting. I find myself asking her to do something over and over again, or repeating myself like a broken record before she listens. At times she purposely does the distinct opposite of what I ask, and I feel as if I could scream when she disobeys me for the twelfth time that day.
But then? Then she goes and does something like this… yes there are a few spacing issues, and yes, the curl on her e was a bit of an afterthought, but hey she is is 3! I am super proud of this, and am so excited that she is entering the stage where she is beginning to understand numbers and letters! 🙂
Overall, we have our hands quite full at the moment! In the words of Dory … just keep swimming?
Welcome to the first Little Leaps Linky – my new fortnightly Linky celebrating all things developmental. Your posts can be celebrating your child’s first words, steps or foods, a monthly update, your experience of a developmental challenge such as teething or sleep regressions, or simply a summary of how your child has changed. If you’re a fellow blogger, come and share them with us, and link up with other parents who might be going through the same thing! 🙂
If you are taking part – don’t forget to include the Linky Badge code below, and comment on some of the other posts in the linky! 🙂
Here’s my update for this week! 🙂
Four Month Sleep Regression
Ok, I admit it. I made a mistake. I made a proper rookie schoolboy error in the world of parenting. I got complacent.
I felt like I had finally got into my stride as a Mum of two, and when people would ask me “How is she sleeping?” my reply was – “Great actually, SO much better than her sister was – she is really good!”. I would wake up in the morning without feeling tired, and dare I say it, quite refreshed.
Big mistake. Simply uttering those words appeared to tempt fate, and before I knew what was happening, the dreaded four month sleep regression appears to have reared its ugly head!
As I said, Neve had been sleeping wonderfully. She would go to sleep for the night at around 9pm, and wake just once for a feed, usually between 2 and 3am, before settling back down quickly for another 5 hour stint. This was totally manageable, a treat even, and I didn’t feel sleep deprived at all.
Trust me, I know what sleep deprivation feels like. Utter torture. Erin didn’t sleep through the night until she was 2(!) and as a baby would feed almost every hour on the hour. In comparison, Neve’s sleeping pattern felt like a dream.
But then it all changed. Probably coincidence, but Neve’s sleeping hasn’t been quite right since her 16 week immunisations. The pattern has now completely gone – some nights she will have a good night, like last night, and sleep in 5 hour stretches. Unfortunately, ironically I don’t usually sleep on those nights (I have an overactive brain!!). Then, obviously, on the nights when I am exhausted, she wakes 3 or 4 times a night.
I have tried not feeding her, but man! She is HUNGRY! She also appears to have inherited my HANGRY gene, so there is no distracting her –Â she certainly knows what she wants!!
I am hoping that as with most things in parenting, this four month sleep regression is just a phase. She is definitely having a bit of a growth spurt, having taken a bit of a jump on the percentile chart when I had her weighed. For someone who was a tiny dot on the 9th percentile born, she is now heading towards the 75th. A squidgy, plasticine handed, chunky thighed little bundle of joy, and I couldn’t be more proud.
So if you see me in the shops walking around like a zombie, or catch me pouring lemonade on my cereal instead of milk, remind me, “It is just a phase!!!”.
What Little Leaps have your little ones taken this fortnight?
Hello and welcome to my brand new Linky – Little Leaps!
Little Leaps will run fortnightly, opening on a Friday and staying open for 7 days.
The Little Leaps Linky is all about milestones and development, linking up posts that either:
Celebrate key milestones, progress, achievements or developmental leaps e.g. baby’s first weeks / months, new words, first steps, weaning progress, sleeping, crawling etc
Discuss the challenges of developmental leaps such as the rise of a threenager, toddler tantrums, sleep regressions, teething, etc
Reflect on how your child has grown both physically & mentally
You can link up old or new posts, which can be written posts or largely photo based.
The rules for the linky are simple, and as follows:
– Add the Linky Badge to your post using the code below (contact us if you get stuck!)
– Add your link to the InLinkz upload.
– Comment on at least 2 other posts within the Linky.
– Please share your posts on social media using the #littleleaps hashtag.
Each week I will read all posts and share my favourites on my Twitter feed the following week.
I look forward to reading all about your little ones and their Little Leaps!
Hi, I’m Lucy, a thirty something mum of two from Birmingham. A memory maker, tradition keeper, stationery addict and Mr Men fanatic. HR Advisor by day and sleep deprived Mama by night!
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