I keep meaning to come back and update on everything....
We had the review with the paed and there was nothing showing on her ultrasound so we still have no answers. We're taking a wait and see approach and she'll be reviewed in 6 months. She also used both hands when having things offered to her but the paed commented that her reflexes were brisk. It's frustrating not having any answers but its also good to know that there is nothign serious wrong with her.
Meanwhile, she has finally started crawling properly. Its been 2 months of her commando crawling but at the beginning of this week she started to give proper crawling a real go and has been using it ever since. This means she's down as 7.5 months for crawling - her sisters were 6m 7d and 7m and then walked at 14.5m and 13.5m respectively. Will be interesting to see when she decides to walk
Gabi has decided to start toilet training for real this week and the last few days while at home has been wearing knickers and had only one accident. However, with toilet training comes the great "excuse to get out of bed" saga. Every night she is getting up 2 or 3 times and saying she needs toilet before settling down for sleep. Whilst I don't want to discourage toilet training I'm finding it frustrating that she has a "valid" excuse to keep getting out of bed. I've tried putting her into pull ups but they don't have the absorbancy needed for her sleep period. We do have the potty in their room though and this mornign she got up and used it. Her night nappy wasn't particularly wet either.
She also asked to go to the toilet while we were out yesterday and kept her pull up dry. Hopefully soon we'll be back to just one in nappies!
Last weekend Ashleigh turned 5. Its so hard to believe how fast those 5 years have gone and yet so many things feel like just yesterday. She had an amazing day with a party for immediate fam`ily and her kindy friends but I'll have to update on that later as some very small hands are trying to help me type
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
What the hell?!
Our littlest miss is 7.5 months old today and she celebrated by deciding to stand up against one of the kids outdoor chairs and proceed to push it around on the paving! She must have moved it at least a metre and didn't just give up - she tried again on another chair a short time later.
And the look of achievement on her face was delightful.
Its all happening too fast
And the look of achievement on her face was delightful.
Its all happening too fast
Friday, October 23, 2009
On the milestones front.....
Stephi has been commando crawling since just after 5 months and is absolutely content doing so. She will often get up onto her knees and rock but seems to like the feeling of dragging her belly!
She has been able to sit for a few seconds for a while but finally really mastered sitting last week. She sat for a few minutes at least and then fell to get to something to play with.
She started going up onto her knees from crawling and has then progressed to climbing up things and getting to a stand! This concerns me given that our entire house is tiled but she's learnt to mostly protect her head should she fall and there's no holding her back
Sleep is still a joke. She has just had over an hour and that's 2 days in a row of having this sleep so it may constitute a pattern. However, last night was terrible so I'm hoping we don't have the same again tonight - I need some sleep
She is making all sorts of noises now and can certainly let us know what she wants.
Eating is going pretty well. We've got a bit of a combo of baby led and spoon feeding happening. Some things are just too messy to let her feed herself! However, she will often grab the spoon and refuse to let go so ends up feeding herself anyway with those spoonfed things - yoghurt etc. Still loves her bananas and will polish off pretty much an entire banana for breakfast most days. We can also get her to eat almost anything else as long as there is some banana mashed with it.
Obviously adores her sisters and gives the most amazing giggles to Ashleigh. Ashleigh seems to know just how to get those giggles out of her.
She also adores daddy and spent a lot of time over the last week just staring at him until he returned her gaze. Her face would then light up with one of her most gorgeous smiles
Stephi has been commando crawling since just after 5 months and is absolutely content doing so. She will often get up onto her knees and rock but seems to like the feeling of dragging her belly!
She has been able to sit for a few seconds for a while but finally really mastered sitting last week. She sat for a few minutes at least and then fell to get to something to play with.
She started going up onto her knees from crawling and has then progressed to climbing up things and getting to a stand! This concerns me given that our entire house is tiled but she's learnt to mostly protect her head should she fall and there's no holding her back
Sleep is still a joke. She has just had over an hour and that's 2 days in a row of having this sleep so it may constitute a pattern. However, last night was terrible so I'm hoping we don't have the same again tonight - I need some sleep
She is making all sorts of noises now and can certainly let us know what she wants.
Eating is going pretty well. We've got a bit of a combo of baby led and spoon feeding happening. Some things are just too messy to let her feed herself! However, she will often grab the spoon and refuse to let go so ends up feeding herself anyway with those spoonfed things - yoghurt etc. Still loves her bananas and will polish off pretty much an entire banana for breakfast most days. We can also get her to eat almost anything else as long as there is some banana mashed with it.
Obviously adores her sisters and gives the most amazing giggles to Ashleigh. Ashleigh seems to know just how to get those giggles out of her.
She also adores daddy and spent a lot of time over the last week just staring at him until he returned her gaze. Her face would then light up with one of her most gorgeous smiles
I don't even know where to begin but I know I need to have an outlet somewhere... this seems like the right place.
On the 21st August we took Stephi to PMH for croup. She was treated and we came home within a few hours. Since that time I have noticed her having episodes where her head shakes and whichever limb is up can shake as well. I've so far only noticed it while she is feeding but it could be happening at other times as well.
After a few weeks of noticing her do this she had a morning where she had about 3 episodes during one feed. After making contact with a wonderful friend who has been through this sort of thing with her own child I got straight onto making an appt for Stephi to be seen by a new GP (we ditched the last practice after one too many episodes of crap treatment etc) We were seen within 24 hours by the new GP and she was wonderful. She genuinely listened to my concerns and decided it was time to refer Stephi to a paediatrician.
The wait to see the paed was 6 weeks Being unsure if this was suitable I rang the GP back and was given a few other paeds to try.... their waits were until at least beginning of November so at least 2 months and one more like 3 months!
So after our 6 week wait Stephi was finally seen last Friday by a really lovely paed. I'm really pleased we stayed with him as he was so lovely with her and really pleasant and polite with me. He had kept us waiting due to a meeting and hten being called to the delivery suites and immediately apologised for the wait in a very genuine manner.
I explained what I had witnessed and then he examined her. He couldn't detect any abnormalities that could be causing "seizures" but did note that she kept her left hand fisted and had some increased/decreased sensitivity in her left foot and leg. I really can't remember as I was a bit shocked that there were abnormalities detected that didn't relate to why we were there.
We discussed options which included waiting 3 months to just watch her and see what happened and then maybe needing to get her to have a CT scan which would mean anaesthesia or send her for a cranial ultrasound now while her fontonelle was still open. My immediate decision was the ultrasound - I don't want to put my little girl through an anaesthesia unless absolutely necessary.
She had the ultrasound on Wednesday and it wasn't a pleasant experience for her. Obviously its not invasive by way of the actual study but she had to remain as still as possible for it to be performed. The more she moved the logner it took. We had a wonderful doctor performing it though and he was really understanding. Thank goodness they only have paediatric doctors perform these. I was quite disappointed though as Id rung the day before to find out if it would be best for her to be awake or asleep and the response I received was that I'd be told on the day.... that doesn't work when you're dealing with a 7 month old. However, I provided feedback through the company website and have been contacted to follow up on it so hopefully this won't be repeated for other parents in future.
Preliminary results of the ultrasound are that no abnormalities were detected but we see the paediatrician again on Monday for the official result.
She is still occasionally having the episodes of tremors but as far as I can tell her hand movements are fine and it was just a one of situation. The episodes are not predictable at all and can happen a few times in a day or not at all for a week or more. I did start out trying to video her when it happened but have missed it so many times that I've given up. I was trying to have my mobile phone handy with the video function up and running
Anyway, I don't really know what to think. I would kind of like a diagnosis so that I knew what we were dealing with but at the same time she is hitting all her developmental milestones well and truly so I don't feel we have huge cause for concern
On the 21st August we took Stephi to PMH for croup. She was treated and we came home within a few hours. Since that time I have noticed her having episodes where her head shakes and whichever limb is up can shake as well. I've so far only noticed it while she is feeding but it could be happening at other times as well.
After a few weeks of noticing her do this she had a morning where she had about 3 episodes during one feed. After making contact with a wonderful friend who has been through this sort of thing with her own child I got straight onto making an appt for Stephi to be seen by a new GP (we ditched the last practice after one too many episodes of crap treatment etc) We were seen within 24 hours by the new GP and she was wonderful. She genuinely listened to my concerns and decided it was time to refer Stephi to a paediatrician.
The wait to see the paed was 6 weeks Being unsure if this was suitable I rang the GP back and was given a few other paeds to try.... their waits were until at least beginning of November so at least 2 months and one more like 3 months!
So after our 6 week wait Stephi was finally seen last Friday by a really lovely paed. I'm really pleased we stayed with him as he was so lovely with her and really pleasant and polite with me. He had kept us waiting due to a meeting and hten being called to the delivery suites and immediately apologised for the wait in a very genuine manner.
I explained what I had witnessed and then he examined her. He couldn't detect any abnormalities that could be causing "seizures" but did note that she kept her left hand fisted and had some increased/decreased sensitivity in her left foot and leg. I really can't remember as I was a bit shocked that there were abnormalities detected that didn't relate to why we were there.
We discussed options which included waiting 3 months to just watch her and see what happened and then maybe needing to get her to have a CT scan which would mean anaesthesia or send her for a cranial ultrasound now while her fontonelle was still open. My immediate decision was the ultrasound - I don't want to put my little girl through an anaesthesia unless absolutely necessary.
She had the ultrasound on Wednesday and it wasn't a pleasant experience for her. Obviously its not invasive by way of the actual study but she had to remain as still as possible for it to be performed. The more she moved the logner it took. We had a wonderful doctor performing it though and he was really understanding. Thank goodness they only have paediatric doctors perform these. I was quite disappointed though as Id rung the day before to find out if it would be best for her to be awake or asleep and the response I received was that I'd be told on the day.... that doesn't work when you're dealing with a 7 month old. However, I provided feedback through the company website and have been contacted to follow up on it so hopefully this won't be repeated for other parents in future.
Preliminary results of the ultrasound are that no abnormalities were detected but we see the paediatrician again on Monday for the official result.
She is still occasionally having the episodes of tremors but as far as I can tell her hand movements are fine and it was just a one of situation. The episodes are not predictable at all and can happen a few times in a day or not at all for a week or more. I did start out trying to video her when it happened but have missed it so many times that I've given up. I was trying to have my mobile phone handy with the video function up and running
Anyway, I don't really know what to think. I would kind of like a diagnosis so that I knew what we were dealing with but at the same time she is hitting all her developmental milestones well and truly so I don't feel we have huge cause for concern
Saturday, September 12, 2009
SIX months!
Hard to believe how fast half a year can go but today Miss S is 6 months old.
We continue to struggle with sleep and especially so over the last week while away but I'm hoping to get that back on track with a few quiet days at home. Yesterday was an at home day and she only managed about 2 x 10min sleeps. Thankfully last night was better than it had been.... for her at least.
She has become even more vocal and loves to blow raspberries and say "boob boo boob"
She has really no interest in sitting up unless in the bumbo and would rather be able to get around on the floor. This week she has officially mastered commando crawling and as I type this has worked her way around the lounge until she's chased a balloon between the couches and is starting to think she may need help to get out.
She has developed a knack of finding things I'd rather she didn't have and can get to them so fast already! Yesterday she found herself one of her sister's drawings and was eating that. Unfortunately it was a picture drawn in blue and for the rest of the day she had a bright blue tongue!
We started offering her some solid food at around 5.5 months as she was just so interested in watching us eat and was trying to take food off us. She loves it but the nights she has had something she has slept so poorly that we've decided to leave it for now. She does slep well enough with just her feeds and we'll try again over coming weeks. We suspect that even though she is ready for solids mentally, her tummy still has a little way to come.
We plan to do baby led weaning with her but she's also shown a huge interest in spoons. While flying last week she played with the spoon from my meal and knew to put it straight to her mouth. Amazing how much they learn by observation alone.
Last time I weighed her she was about 7.2kg and I have no idea on her length but she looks big. Have just measured her inaccurately with 2 rulers and I'm guessing around 66cm which makes her around average on the charts.
In the last month she has had a bout of croup which saw us take her to PMH late on a Friday night but one dose of steroids and she was ok again. The other issue is some strange head and upper body tremors which I took her to a GP about last week. We've been given a referral to a paediatrician but can't get in with that one until mid October. While away the GP's rooms rang with a few others to try so I'll get onto that on Monday. That said, I've not noticed them apart from once while away but I still want to get it checked out.
Other things this month:
Has become really cuddly
Pretends to be shy and buries her head into my shoulder
Has hit the stage of showing some separation anxiety
We continue to struggle with sleep and especially so over the last week while away but I'm hoping to get that back on track with a few quiet days at home. Yesterday was an at home day and she only managed about 2 x 10min sleeps. Thankfully last night was better than it had been.... for her at least.
She has become even more vocal and loves to blow raspberries and say "boob boo boob"
She has really no interest in sitting up unless in the bumbo and would rather be able to get around on the floor. This week she has officially mastered commando crawling and as I type this has worked her way around the lounge until she's chased a balloon between the couches and is starting to think she may need help to get out.
She has developed a knack of finding things I'd rather she didn't have and can get to them so fast already! Yesterday she found herself one of her sister's drawings and was eating that. Unfortunately it was a picture drawn in blue and for the rest of the day she had a bright blue tongue!
We started offering her some solid food at around 5.5 months as she was just so interested in watching us eat and was trying to take food off us. She loves it but the nights she has had something she has slept so poorly that we've decided to leave it for now. She does slep well enough with just her feeds and we'll try again over coming weeks. We suspect that even though she is ready for solids mentally, her tummy still has a little way to come.
We plan to do baby led weaning with her but she's also shown a huge interest in spoons. While flying last week she played with the spoon from my meal and knew to put it straight to her mouth. Amazing how much they learn by observation alone.
Last time I weighed her she was about 7.2kg and I have no idea on her length but she looks big. Have just measured her inaccurately with 2 rulers and I'm guessing around 66cm which makes her around average on the charts.
In the last month she has had a bout of croup which saw us take her to PMH late on a Friday night but one dose of steroids and she was ok again. The other issue is some strange head and upper body tremors which I took her to a GP about last week. We've been given a referral to a paediatrician but can't get in with that one until mid October. While away the GP's rooms rang with a few others to try so I'll get onto that on Monday. That said, I've not noticed them apart from once while away but I still want to get it checked out.
Other things this month:
Has become really cuddly
Pretends to be shy and buries her head into my shoulder
Has hit the stage of showing some separation anxiety
Oops!
It's been a very busy month and as such I've not actually got around to blogging. Will be attempting to rectify that in the next few days so that I don't forget everything!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Where did that motivation come from?!
I've made it a goal of mine to try to keep the front end of the house habitable and as such the bedrooms etc have gone to poo.
Well, today I decided it was time to get into them. its not really that long since I did a big tidy in the girls' room but it was a disgrace once again. Amazing how simple things like a messy bed can make it look so much worse than it really is.
I managed to get the bits and pieces all picked up off the floor and did a proper vacuum including skirtings and the tracks for the BIR, window sill etc. Amazing hwo many things were stashed under Ashleigh's bed! She's such a hoarder - gets it from her father! I also found about 6 dummies under Gabi's bed so have stashed those away for when I need them for her rather than her having access to them all!
I packed away stuff in the spare room so that now its usable for mum next weekend. I just need to strip the bed, wash the sheets and put them back on and its good to go. The floor in there also got a good vacuum today.
Our bedroom had so much stuff on the floor, mostly in laundry baskets - washing to put away, clothes I had sorted from Gabi's cupboard etc. I also had a huge pile of nappies to sort through and I now have 2 piles - those that have tears etc and those that are still usable. I managed to do a big tidy up in there and then a major vacuum and also a half hearted attempt at cleaning the mirror on the BIR (its enormous and takes me ages to do the whole thing properly)
My biggest project of the day was the bathroom. Totally disgusting, I know, but I honestly can't remember the last time I gave it a proper clean. The orange grout was probably a good indicator that it was well overdue. The paint on the ceiling in the actual shower recess is peeling but also has mold on it so that got a good brushing over to get rid of the loose paint and hopefully remove some of the mold. Then it was onto the tiles - another reason I hate our bathroom. The bath recess is roman bath style with an arched entry. Its truly hideous and the shower doesn't get much light into it at night because of the arch being so far below ceiling level and blocking the light
Anyway, I used my new Nutrimetics all purpose cleaner and it was great. The tiles are now white and shiny and the grout so much cleaner. I did use a scourer and a toothbrush but it didn't really take as much effort as I had thought it would. That said, i did loose motivation and energy towards the end and stopped scrubbing the grout with a toothbrush but it still looks great. I finished off by bleaching the base of the bath to clean that grout up and also did the hand basin at the same time. Seeing as I had the ladder in there to reach the top of the shower recess I took off the exhaust fan cover and gave that a clean. I'm yet to get it back up but Gabi, in particular, took great delight in watching it go "round and round" while they were all in the bath.
I also managed a quick sweep through the lounge just to keep it under control and will try to get it vacuumed tomorrow. I also want to vacuum under the couch cushions etc to be right on top of cleaning.
In the midst of everything else I've put through a few loads of washing and had it all go through the dryer (final load nearly finished now). We've had a rough day with wind, rain and hail so nothing was going out on the line and we have no under cover clothesline.
Another thing we've done that I had almost forgotten was to start making some of the craft things we need for Gabi's party. This was a messy production as it involved cardboard, felt, glue, paper, pencils, scissors, rulers etc etc. Lots of things to be spread around so thankfully the dining table was clear when we began and the floor WAS clear as well. Now is a totally different story..... I did sweep it all under the table though!
My biggest job tomorrow will be catching up on dishes. Yet again they've slipped beyond control and it will take a major effort to get back on top. I have also promised Ashleigh we will make some cupcakes and try to catch up with her cousin who she is desperate to see. Its been quite some time since they last had a chance to play together and she is obviously missing her
So I must get myself up and moving in the morning to clean up before making more mess once again! Tomorrow's cupcakes will be plain vanilla with caramel top n fill in them and milk choc ganache (seeing as there is some left over from Friday's cupcakes!)
And, speaking of Friday's cupcakes, I was good and put half a dozen in the freezer for hubby so that I don't snarf them all!
Dinner tonight was just pizza and garlic bread... from the freezer. So pleased when I looked in the freezer to see what we should have and found something so quick and simple and liked by the girls.
Well, today I decided it was time to get into them. its not really that long since I did a big tidy in the girls' room but it was a disgrace once again. Amazing how simple things like a messy bed can make it look so much worse than it really is.
I managed to get the bits and pieces all picked up off the floor and did a proper vacuum including skirtings and the tracks for the BIR, window sill etc. Amazing hwo many things were stashed under Ashleigh's bed! She's such a hoarder - gets it from her father! I also found about 6 dummies under Gabi's bed so have stashed those away for when I need them for her rather than her having access to them all!
I packed away stuff in the spare room so that now its usable for mum next weekend. I just need to strip the bed, wash the sheets and put them back on and its good to go. The floor in there also got a good vacuum today.
Our bedroom had so much stuff on the floor, mostly in laundry baskets - washing to put away, clothes I had sorted from Gabi's cupboard etc. I also had a huge pile of nappies to sort through and I now have 2 piles - those that have tears etc and those that are still usable. I managed to do a big tidy up in there and then a major vacuum and also a half hearted attempt at cleaning the mirror on the BIR (its enormous and takes me ages to do the whole thing properly)
My biggest project of the day was the bathroom. Totally disgusting, I know, but I honestly can't remember the last time I gave it a proper clean. The orange grout was probably a good indicator that it was well overdue. The paint on the ceiling in the actual shower recess is peeling but also has mold on it so that got a good brushing over to get rid of the loose paint and hopefully remove some of the mold. Then it was onto the tiles - another reason I hate our bathroom. The bath recess is roman bath style with an arched entry. Its truly hideous and the shower doesn't get much light into it at night because of the arch being so far below ceiling level and blocking the light
Anyway, I used my new Nutrimetics all purpose cleaner and it was great. The tiles are now white and shiny and the grout so much cleaner. I did use a scourer and a toothbrush but it didn't really take as much effort as I had thought it would. That said, i did loose motivation and energy towards the end and stopped scrubbing the grout with a toothbrush but it still looks great. I finished off by bleaching the base of the bath to clean that grout up and also did the hand basin at the same time. Seeing as I had the ladder in there to reach the top of the shower recess I took off the exhaust fan cover and gave that a clean. I'm yet to get it back up but Gabi, in particular, took great delight in watching it go "round and round" while they were all in the bath.
I also managed a quick sweep through the lounge just to keep it under control and will try to get it vacuumed tomorrow. I also want to vacuum under the couch cushions etc to be right on top of cleaning.
In the midst of everything else I've put through a few loads of washing and had it all go through the dryer (final load nearly finished now). We've had a rough day with wind, rain and hail so nothing was going out on the line and we have no under cover clothesline.
Another thing we've done that I had almost forgotten was to start making some of the craft things we need for Gabi's party. This was a messy production as it involved cardboard, felt, glue, paper, pencils, scissors, rulers etc etc. Lots of things to be spread around so thankfully the dining table was clear when we began and the floor WAS clear as well. Now is a totally different story..... I did sweep it all under the table though!
My biggest job tomorrow will be catching up on dishes. Yet again they've slipped beyond control and it will take a major effort to get back on top. I have also promised Ashleigh we will make some cupcakes and try to catch up with her cousin who she is desperate to see. Its been quite some time since they last had a chance to play together and she is obviously missing her
So I must get myself up and moving in the morning to clean up before making more mess once again! Tomorrow's cupcakes will be plain vanilla with caramel top n fill in them and milk choc ganache (seeing as there is some left over from Friday's cupcakes!)
And, speaking of Friday's cupcakes, I was good and put half a dozen in the freezer for hubby so that I don't snarf them all!
Dinner tonight was just pizza and garlic bread... from the freezer. So pleased when I looked in the freezer to see what we should have and found something so quick and simple and liked by the girls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
