Bethany Update - Month 19

We go from walking to now running, we go from cheeky to mischief, forget turning my back to do anything while she's awake ever again!

This month was discovering the new freedom she had with being mobile. Trying to keep her in her pushchair is now proving a huge challenge, so I have dug out the reins we got given for Christmas. Her first trip with them was along our local road after some rain. She has never seen puddles before and was soon jumping up and down in the muddy puddles and covering herself. She was soon covered in mud and water but had the biggest grin on her face.

Beth has (at the last count) 4 molars breaking through with two more of her front teeth starting to show. One minute she'll be fine and the next crying in pain, her appetite also goes up and down. We have temporarily give some extra milk if she hasn't eaten much as well as some softer foods so it doesn't cause her too much distress. I also am bulking buying teething powder!

Her babbling is becoming less babble and is now starting to mimic when I talk, which is really exciting. There are words trying to emerge and is proving to be a bit of a chatter box, nattering away to random people. I love the way people just talk to her back!



Lunch with Doggie

As you can see there is a lot of boxes in the background in a few pictures. We have brought a house and just weeks away from completion. We are off to South Yorkshire!

Bethany's Ezcema Dianosis

A few months ago, Beth wouldn't settle to sleep, she was quietly crying for attention. In the end we gave her a cuddle, a clean nappy and she fell asleep soon after. It wasn't until the next morning as I did her morning change that I noticed something very seriously wrong. She had been awake scratching her bum red raw which had bled.

I used some protective cream as it had healed over and kept an eye on it every change. Then a few nights later I woke at 3am to the sound of rustling and scratching, I grab her straight out of bed to find that she had scratched all the scabs off for it to start bleeding again.

We departed for the doctors the next day, who had given us an instant appointment after a triage phone call. The doctor took one look and instantly said that it was infected, not only that that she had been scratching in other places and that the main cause was eczema.

I was so upset, how did not notice this? I felt such a bad mother that my poor little girl had been suffering and I did not know. It has been inherited from both Hubby and I as we are both hay fever suffers (I then found out it is in our families too), and I felt even worse. The heat wave has added to her misery.

We finished a week long course of steroid and antibiotic creams to heal her as well as 3 times a day of cream (Cetraban) to keep her skin from any more break outs. We've been told for now that we have to cut out all soaps like bubble baths (which she loves) and using any to wash her skin (I do use a tiny amount of hair shampoo as she likes to rub food etc. in there!).

I am a Star

A few months I wrote that I was nominated for an award for the volunteer work I do with the NCT, well I found out Sunday that I won! (Inserts cheesy photo with certificate).

"Helen is doing great work in promoting the branch locally. She deals with all parents’ membership enquiries and also manages the branch’s social media presence. She makes sure everything on Facebook is up to date and regularly posts relevant articles and starts general discussion threads aimed at engaging parents. She has also set up and run live Twitter chats and we have many more followers and Facebook visitors. Helen also volunteers at Nearly New Sales and has made a huge contribution to making the branch reach more parents."

It was and still is a huge shock, to me I don't do a lot and anybody else would do the same. I just want to be a support to parents and makes friends myself. This now means I go into the national nominations announced on 20th October at House of Lords. I had enough problems worrying about my outfit for an regional training session, this goes out of the stratosphere!

A huge thank you to Katie, Jodie, and Tessa (with Jenni, Henry and Charlie) who came along too and made our district the noisiest ones there! All 4 other nominations for the team got High Commended in their categories and this was us receiving the one for Helen D, our hard working branch coordinator. Such a wonderful day and a great reminder of the hard work that everyone puts in for the charity.

Bethany Update - Month 18

I spent many months wondering when Beth was going to walk and leave crawling behind, I'm glad to say we are finally there. A week after my last update she started to gain her confidence walking and over the next few weeks her crawling got less to nothing. There is a another side to this as one day chasing her I slammed into out chair and fractured my little toe chasing her to stop before SHE hurt herself. This now is added to the fractured nose I got over Christmas last year when she hit me with the TV remote.

I had her weighed recently and she is still a petite 16lbs 5ozs (she still can wear some of her 6 - 9 month clothing!) but I think that may change as she of seemed of got her appetite back. She will eat her food and then hand over the plate seemingly asking for more (or sniff round anyone else's food). Peas are still the favourites but don't mix them with anything else or she'll know and dribble it out.

Beth loves being outdoors now she can explore, pointing to things, feeling them and seeing what they do. It's a wonderful but tiring development, especially if she's going for a walk round. It's a still a wonderful thing to see, dogs are her favourites or "daw" as she calls them. We went for a tea once in a cafe and I was wondering why she was going nuts and pointing outside. There was 5 dogs having a rest and she wanted to met them all, give them a stroke.

Much to my joy she also seems to of taken a liking to anything on four wheels. put out a trike and she's in heaven. Of course she's starting to get the hang of real cars, at this rate she'll be driving before me....

Calendula Nappy Change Cream Review

Another product that is 30 years young, it seems to be the case as I get a little older that I seem to back to products that have been on the market for a long time. I am big supprter of Weleda and have used their products on myself and on Beth. I was sent this as part of their 30 year celebrations and the timing was perfect.

Nappy rash affects us at some point during our childs lifetime, midwife and baby skincare expert Sharon Trotter says, "Nappy rash is quite common in babies, but it's usually mild and clears up without prescription creams. When the skin in the nappy area comes into contact with poo and wee it can become inflamed, and that's when babies may develop nappy rash."

Nappy appears as  sensitive red patches of skin on bottom, gentials and inner theighs. It can also have spots and shiney, raised red areas. Treatment is keeping the area clean (regular nappy chagning as well as using clean hands to stop bateria transfer), dry (patting dry skin after cleaning as well as some nappy free time), and of course using the right protective barrier on the skin.

We have been using this on Beth since the arrival (as her White Mallow version has finsihed), and I prefer it to the senstive skin version. This has the calendula and camomile extracts that help with healing while having a pleasent, delicate scent. The healing time was within a day for any rashes and I still use it on her ezcema skin as a protective barrier between using antibiotic cream (poor things been poorly with skin infections including her bum), with no effects.

You can purchase this from Boots etc Currently through the Weleda website it has £2 off at £4.95

Bethany Update - Months 16/17

I have been paranoid the past few months about Beth's walking, talking, well development generally. It feels like we take one step forward and a few steps back. She started getting more confident in walking and then for about two weeks she refused to do it (even for chocolate!). Today as I write this we went to my friend's Christening and she wanted to walk the whole day amongst the trees and grass, to then go on to walked the length of our flat back and forth for nearly an hour.

I do wonder that the walking hiatus is because she wanted to concentrate on her talking, her know words are much more clearer like Mama, Dada, Nana and No. She has also been trying newer words but they are not quite developed yet. I can see her frustration at me not understanding her and this can be upsetting for us, this can cause times where I cannot cope with her.

Another milestone was reached as I finally got her haircut for the first time so she could see through her fringe. She was the perfect little girl, didn't even flinch, a very proud Mummy.

It has not helped that we both been ill again, Hubby and I contracted norovirus the beginning of June and I have been suffering another cold (I think we are up to number 4?) after Beth had it for a week. If it's going round, at least one of use while come down with it.

We did have a rest bite from illness and went to Weymouth for her first walk on the sand thanks to my parents. Weymouth was where I used to go for my seaside holiday every year with my parents and they wanted to carry it on with Beth. I think she had a good time, played in the sand (without eating it), as well as wanting to walk round Monkey World. It was a welcome break to see my old haunts.

 

So what's your excuse this time?

Yes I know another hiatus from the blogging world, not planned but it has gone that way. Time has just ran away from me, I've even taken a step back from social media for a while too. Sometimes you need to take a step back and sort your life out so you can be happy in your own space. Then decided that the space we live in we are no longer happy with.

 

For those who are new to my blog, I currently live with my in-laws after selling our house to keep afloat after knee injury and then getting pregnant with Bethany. We live in an annex attached to the main house with one bedroom, we are now quickly out growing this now Bethany is an inquistive toddler. However after reviewing where we live we cannot afford to stay where we are, I was deeply upset as this meant moving away from both our families who Beth sees on a weekly basis.

 

We picked an area that our family knew and went to look and do some research. The past few weekends have spent driving up 4 hours to Manchester/Leeds area to look around. We found that not only could we afford to live there, but with the kind of property we wanted. I am very mixed about it all at the moment, on one side it will be sad to leave my hometown but we would be in a house and start to settle into a family home rather than living from boxes.

 

My life currently consistent of sleep, look after Beth, and researching areas and houses. Tonight, with Hubby away looking at houses while I stayed for a friends Christening, is the first time I can sit down get time to blog away.

 

What does this mean? Changes again to my family and I need to clean out a flat of all the stuff I've been too idle to clean out! It also gives me something more to write about rather than, "I sat around in my PJ's and watched NowTV".