Saturday, December 17, 2011

Dear Santa...I can explain!

Only a few more days and we are off for our Christmas holidays! We are going to Italy, spend Christmas with my family and then we are all going skiing. I. Can't. Wait.

Oliver was back to full form and we brought him back to the crèche on monday. He had to settle back in, I suppose in an almost one year old, a full week out of the day care is a big part of his life! But he was fine, really. We found out on monday that they were organising a Christmas party for the children on thursday. One thing was Oliver had to wear a red outfit. Of course we had none in the house. On wedensday I miraculously found two Christmassy long sleeved vests. One white with red profiles and the other one the other way around. I also found in a bag given to us from a colleague a pair of red trousers and we were in business. Here a few shots of the party!

The babies from two rooms were together

This is Cian, Oliver's best friend (they are only 2 days apart) and partner in crime!

I thought the writing on the vest was so so cute!

All in all we had a great time. 

In work we are in the mist of exams, panicking students, corrections etc. But as of three minutes ago I have finished all my correcting. Whohoo for me! Mike on the other hand...knee deep in correcting. Ah well.. 
I also had my group Christmas lunch which went well. Despite me not being in work full time for almost 8 months we had a lot to celebrate research-wise and so we did. To many more productive years.

How are getting on with Christmas presents? Somehow I'm doing remarkably well. Mike is sorted out and so are his nephews whom we'll see tomorrow. I know what I'm getting for my sister and parents too. The only one I don't know what to get is Oliver!! One part of me says "Jeez is not even one and has all he needs" but the other part says "What mother am I not getting him anything for Christmas? And don't forget it's his birthday in two weeks!". Suggestions?

Thursday, December 8, 2011

It was no chickenpox

We had some week. Remember I said Oliver was sent home from the crèche as they suspected he had chickepox? Well, I wasn't so sure it was as the little spots were very few and only on his legs (just a couple on is arms) and didn't really develop and weren't itchy either. But Oliver was miserable. By the time I came home from the trip to Spain he was waking up every couple of hours and crying in his sleep. On sunday he had spiked a fever which came down with ibuprofen but then on monday he had stopped eating and drinking. The spots had already crusted over by then and I was really worried he was dehydrated. We called our doctor and went in right away. He still had a temperature  when we got there and she was concerned about his cough as his chest didn't sound right. She looked at the spots, eliminated chickenpox almost immediately, but the combination of these spots, plus the fever and now lack of appetite and cough was a first class ticked to the pead A&E. Off we went we our precious cargo to the hospital. He looked so so small in the normal size bed and was really tired so the paed had no problem in checking him out.


She confirmed the chest sounded a bit crackly and sent us for X-ray. Thankfully the chest x-ray was not particularly concerning and she was happy to send us home with oral antibiotic. While there we were able to feed him a bottle and some pureed veg, and liked the antibiotic.


On tuesday he seemed a bit better, but still very tired and eating and drinking a little more (remember that this child is voracious when he's well, so it's a huge difference!). Night-time was still a struggle and Mike and I had agreed some sort of shifts depending on who was staying at home in the morning and who was going to work. Then yesterday morning I really didn't think he had improved much, plus the antibiotic are upsetting his tummy so the fear of dehydration had not really gone away. I called the doctor and he said it was probably that he had to replenish his fluids, to try and push them on him and he should get better quickly. Certainly the fever was gone and the appetite was slowly coming back. Yesterday afternoon he slept 3 hours very peacefully (not waking up crying or coughing) and last night he slept 14 hours! This morning he was back to be a happy curious little boy and he's in much better form. I still think he's not peeing much but at least he's not vomiting anymore (the cough would get him to bring up anything he had just eaten or drunk), so I'm hopeful he's on the road to recovery!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Barcelona pickpoketing business and The kindness of strangers

Since my last post a lot has happened.

I think I had probably just hit the "publish" button when I got a call from the crèche as they suspected Oliver had chicken pox! So off I went and surely he had a few spots on his legs (usually it starts on the trunk but I've read it can be anywhere really) and feet. He was quite in bad form and a off his food (very very unusual). Anyway, as sorry as I felt I still had to pack to go to this meeting in Barcelona on friday. Left very very early and arrived around 10am in Barcelona. Between the train station at the terminal and the central station my wallet disappeared. WTF?? And I've travelled a good bit, I am very aware of my belongings and yet...I don't even know when it exactly happened. Thinking about it, it was probably on the train (which was packed) and a couple asked me some questions as we were about to get off the train. Apparently it's a classic scam.
Thankfully I had my passport and other much more valuable items separate (iphone, ipad, mp3) so I was pissed of course but it could have been worse. But it wasn't easy to get help. Now remember, I was on my own, not a cent in my pocket and not speaking the language (granted italian and spanish are similar but not enough to help you when in distress). I told a security guard at the station what happened (in english), he shook his head and said "police". Right. I know what "police" means, I don't know where "police" is. There was a police car outside the station, after a while I finally spotted the policemen talking to some people. I explained in english what happened and they said "police station". Are you kidding me? I'm a foreigner, with a suitcase, where the fuck is your police station? Point me in the right direction given that I have no money, cannot take a taxi or a bus or the subway! He pointed down a road, and said "15 minutes". Thanks. I found the police station and the experience there was surreal. It was like a window in hall of an anonymous building. Behind the window there was a policeman at a computer. After about 5 minutes of me standing there he lifted his head and said something which prompted me to start explaining what happened. He stopped me immediately and called a girl who was sitting at a desk inside this office reading a book. She was the interpreter. We were speaking english, she gave me the number to block my cards and those people on the phone (in Ireland) were like angels. Really sympathetic, explained I could in fact get emergency money through Western Union, they would arrange that for me as thankfully I had my passport, I could access the money within the hour and of course they also immediately reissued credit and debit cards. I filed a report on the theft. Note that all this took probably just about two hours as in between the phone call, getting the forms and returning the forms I had to wait for this girl who as soon as she gave me the number or form returned immediately to her book and never lifted her head. Every time she had to be called by the policeman (who was dealing with other people). Anyway, at this point I had the info to collect the money and done what I had to do from the police point of view (with the strong feeling that my report went straight to the trash can as there was no interest in really investigating it). I had no idea where a Western Union agency was. This girl wrote two addresses on a piece of paper and handed them to me. As if now I had a better idea. I asked her where these two addresses were and she reluctantly started saying they were very far... right. How the hell do I get there? She started saying I should get a taxi or the subway. Ok. Once again, I have no way of taking any transport, would there be any chance of a unit going out to that general direction and could give me a lift? She said no. Ok. I asked would she have any suggestion of how a foreigner in this situation could find a way to get to this place? She must have took offence as she said "I gave you the forms and address, that's it" and left. Honestly she fecked off. To her book. The policeman 20cm away never once looked up at me. I was shocked. I was left with no way to communicate in the very place that is supposed to help someone who has just been robbed! Shocking. I tried to get the attention of the policeman, who just said in Spanish "I don't understand you". Great. Another policeman came to the window and asked with a bit of english what was the problem. I explained about the interpreter and how furious I was at her behaviour. Apparently your one said I had offended her and she refused to talked to me. I thought "this must be a joke". But sadly it wasn't. In the end, I filed a complaint report against the interpreter (which must have joined the first one on the theft, in the trash can) and miraculously two italians were at the same police station reporting something of their own. I was so desperate at that point I asked them if they could help me communicate with the police (they were both living in Barcelona and fluent in spanish). They were so nice, and must have known the system a bit as they convinced me to just let it go that they would help me. They called me a taxi and gave me money to pay it. I was in tears I was so grateful. They happened to be from Naples and had a pizzeria not too far from the police station. I went there for dinner and returned the money. Pizza was fantastic too.
Needless to say, my 30 hours in Barcelona for the work meeting ended up quite a mess (was obviously late to the meeting etc) but my heart melted at the kindness of these two strangers.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Eleven

My baby is eleven month old today! Still no teeth! He is now pulling himself to standing on anything that seems stable enough, crawling better on all four and almost no commando style. He has a friend in the crèche from whom he's picking up a lot of funny expressions! He has a very cute way of wrinkling his nose now when he's very happy about something and making a peculiar breathing sound. He started clucking a couple of days ago, still loves the bath and he's sleeping very well through the night (though he's started complaining when put down to bed). No words yet as such, but making lots of cute sounds and exploring new syllables. He's also very affectionate, laughs a lot (specially if tickled!) and when at home Carlito is his best friend. Below three of my favourite pics!




Monday, November 21, 2011

Call for stories on Ectopic Pregnancies

Hi girls,

as some of you know, I have set up a new blog for Ectopic Pregnancy Ireland.

http://ectopicpregnancyireland.blogspot.com/

I have started a project where I'm featuring stories of ladies who have gone through the same. If you have the time, please have a look at it and if you or someone you know may want to participate, please share the word. While this was born as an Irish support group, we know the web is so powerful it can reach very remote areas of the Globe and we are already getting readers from the US as well as main Europe and even Africa! We are so so excited about it.

Please help us getting visibility, if you have been through an ectopic you know the feeling of loneliness. We want to make sure this will never be the case again. Anything you can do to talk about that blog will be greatly appreciated.

If you feel like writing your story for the project just follow the same format as the stories already reported and email it to me or to the official address and I'll let you know when they go live. If you have blogged about it I'll link your blog to the post and put it in our blogroll.

Thank you so much!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Where is the time going?

Since I'm back in work it seems like my days are just piled up onto one another...I have been to London this past weekend, enjoying a fabulous spa in Covent Garden with my best friend from Italy. We have been meeting up once a year somewhere this since I moved to Ireland 10 years ago. Of course I see her when I go back home, but this is like our treat. Last year we went to the same spa and it was just before my hysteroscopy which preceded my FET and then pregnancy. So it was great to be back and we really enjoyed our trip. It was also my first time away from Oliver overnight but it went well. Next time it'll be in a couple of weeks as I have to fly to Barcelona for work. Again it'll be just one night.

I want to do a post soon on cloth diapers (CD) as my original choice (after researching it for ages) turned out not to be the best and so now I've moved to a different system. Hopefully this weekend I'll manage!

On the attic. That's going to be our guest room, so if you visit let me know!

Oliver is doing great, he gets himself up to standing and almost crawls properly (seems to prefer the commando style!) and he's great great fun and ever so adorable.

Finally there seems to have been a Dude's sighting from one of my neighbours...who knows, I'll keep you posted!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Attic Project: Finally!!

I know I know it took forever...Almost 11 months after moving out of the house and get the project going, I can finally post pics! Enjoy!
Before (Sept. 2010)







During (October-December 2010) We moved out into a temporary accommodation










We tiled the bathroom! I think it was more or less the Christmas weekend...





We move back in just before I got admitted to hospital on the 27th of December 2010! I actually didn't even get to sleep in the house. So there's a bit of a break before we can add the finishing touches...




And finally...here it is in all its glory!








Monday, October 31, 2011

Long weekend

Today it's bankholiday here which meant we had  a long weekend. Still no sign of the Dude unfortunately. We won't give up hope just yet.

Oliver is going to be 10 months tomorrow! He's been now in the crèche for one month and he absolutely loves it. Mike said that in the morning, when he realises he's in the crèche car-park, he can't get out of the car fast enough to start his fun day!

They celebrated Halloween last wednesday and we got Oliver this cute costume


He was a little shark!! You see, his surname is Shark.ey so it was highly appropriate. I can't wait to see the pics they took in the crèche of all the babies.

He has been coughing for quite some time now, a dry annoying cough. We had a few other things we wanted to ask also. So I booked him in with our lovely paedi. Mike brought him to the appointment on friday. Cough is probably now due to reflux (diaphragm was irritated by the initial cough due to the cold and needs to settle back) but chest is clear. He had two red patches near his willy which seemed to be quite itchy for him. It turns out he has a bit of a fungal infection so we got treatment for it and he's already much better. The paedi checked his hearing once again. He flicked his nails and Oliver turned around immediately. He really believes there's no issue at all. Finally he noticed a very light heart murmur, but nothing to worry about (and he's a cardio-paedi! so I'm really relaxed about it).

Finally, yesterday Oliver had his first tumble. He fell from a couch at our friends'...Mike was sitting beside him and I could see it was a potentially dangerous situation as Oliver was standing on his legs and reaching for toys at the side of the couch...I told Mike (who was chatting and not really paying attention) to hold Oliver by a leg as he could fall. I won't rant too much abut his attitude lately when I point something out to him, but let's just say he didn't take my advice.Sure enough within two minutes Oliver plunged head first towards the floor. I grabbed him by a leg and lessen the fall...anyway, a big fright and a few bruises on the head, but thank God nothing serious. I hope Mike will treasure this for the future, you cannot take your eyes off of him one second!

I have downloaded our finished attic pics so I'll do a special post soon!

Finally, I have started a new blog for Ectopic Pregnancy Ireland. I'd love to feature your experience if you have been touched by an ectopic and list your blog if you blogged about it (I know a few of you have and thanks so much for allowing me to list your blog), so have a look at the blog and let me know what you think. Of course the idea is to create a support network for everyone out there...I know when I had my two ectopics, there was hardly anything and news, info and blogs were scattered. 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

One week

It's one week the Dude is missing. No sign of him, though the food I left outside the door was gone when I came home last nigh. Torrential rain my I add. Apparently it was the worse rainfall for the last 100 years. That tells you something. But the food was definitely eaten and not washed away.

Also the Dude doesn't have a collar with a tag, as he's an indoor cat (unless he runs away!) but he is microchipped, so if found they would know it belongs to someone. Now, I also know the Dude is not the type of cat that will go into someone else's house, it's either freedom or back to where he knows he's loved I'm sure.

Big hugs to you all and thanks for the good thoughts and support.

Friday, October 21, 2011

18 Months ago, The Dude...

...run away at the age of almost 6 months trough the back french door that opens on the balcony.

Now, almost to the day, 18 months later he run away again. Through the front door. I really think the wild gene in him never left and I could see him always at the window or on the balcony as soon as I had the door open. But this time he run out when I opened the front door 3 days ago and went down the stairs. I put Oliver down and went after him straight away, I knew he as hiding in the bushes but refused to come out no matter how much bribing I was trying. When Mike came home he went looking for him again and no joy. He's not in the bushes any more. We have not seen him since.
The last time we found him (he didn't come back) 2 weeks later, very skinny and with an abscess on his back. This time I somehow don't think we'll find him unless he decides to come back. We are heading towards winter, it's cold and rainy. I just hope he is not going to get injured or sick. He's now much bigger (he's a huge cat) and stronger, but certainly not used to be outside.
So our original set of kitten is now gone. How very sad is that. We have the "replacement" cat with us, maybe that's the way it was always supposed to be, I don't know.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

A book and a documentary

Last Saturday I was shopping in a local shopping centre and in one of the book shops I saw a comedian I really like (he would certainly be part of the Secret Celebrity Boyfriend lot) who was signing his newly published book. I din't think about it twice and got myself a signed copy. Of course in my head I had all these possible things I was going to say...needless to say I barely said my name. Yes, I get starstruck a lot.
The book was written after a documentary which aired at the beginning of the year about his father being diagnosed with terminal cancer and how that changed the family dynamics for the better. I finished the book within a few days (I got the flu for the first time in years!) and today I watched the documentary which the comedian just posted on youtube. I have to say I was so so moved by the whole thing I now like him even more. Of course when all this was happening in real life, I just had Oliver and didn't have much time for the telly, but I do remember Mike saying one evening that Des Bishop had put up a show called "My Dad was nearly James Bond" and that his dad came out on stage at the end of it. I recommend you have a look at it, you won't be disappointed!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Settling (baby) and relaxing (mamma)

We are at the end of the week. First week full time in the crèche and after the initial drama the care there has been fantastic. I got to know Wendy a bit more and she's a sweetheart with a very difficult situation at home, I really felt for her. On friday, I had another meeting with the manager. I really like her. Honest, upfront and hands-on. So she told me that a disciplinary action had been taken against both girls on duty on friday. I felt so so sorry for Wendy I tried my best to make sure she knew I thought she was great. And she did know, but could not ignore the infringement to the safety rules and we both hope Wendy will come out strong at the other and of the process. The second girl (Rebecca) was still on probation so her future in there is definitely less certain. The manager apologised on behalf of the girls and offered weekly meetings with me to make sure I had constant updates on how she was handling the situation. But honestly, I really think it was an unfortunate day on friday and I have no doubt Oliver is well cared for, so we left it that I will let her know immediately if I see something I'm unhappy with.

So we survived the first week of the new routine, I'm much happier and relaxed now!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Crèche update!

You girls are gems. And so are all my cyber friends who emailed and commented on the various boards I posted on while panicking like never before....

I slept very little and ate even less over the weekend, worrying sick about the week ahead and the what ifs. I looked up and contacted childminders and nannies just in case.

Yesterday morning we arrived at the crèche early and the manager talked to us immediately. It went quite well. She took full responsibility and was not bullshitting at all which I really appreciated. She said that the fact we had written a formal complaint made her job very easy, she'll get back to us with a full report on her investigation by the end of the week and she will fwd our complaint to the main management due to the severe breach in regulations. She assured us that the safety of our child (and all the children in the creche) is absolutely not a matter of personal attitude, that there are rules and her staff has to follow them. If they don't there are consequences. I felt better I have to say and she aslo said she's going to have Jennifer (a senior carer, the one who minded him for the first two days) in the room for a few days and she's planning to move a different carer into the room anyway as she acknowledge the girls lack motherly attitude towards the babies (they are all young girls).
During the day Mike and I called the creche a couple of times to see how things were going and we got always the manager talking to us first and then she would pass us on to Jennifer who was lovely. We were reassured throughout the day that all was well (of course they also said he was getting upset a bit at times which was totally normal to us and made it sound really genuine). When I picked Oliver up he had eaten all his dinner and slept for 1.5 hours in the afternoon (and was alive!!), he had just got up and was getting his nappy changed. You see, I still have this utter fear that Oliver may die in his sleep at the crèche (or anywhere in fact...I know...I'm working on it) and so for me the fact that they say they are checking on the sleeping babies every few minutes really put me at ease. Unless I of course think they are just saying this and in fact they don't do it at all which is what I thought on friday. But my heart melted at the care I saw yesterday. They asked me if I wanted to stay there and give him the bottle given that it was almost time for his feed. Wendy came up to me and showed me his diary and she was lovely (I know she'd been spoken to already by the manager and worried she may be upset with me, but if she was, she didn't show it at all). So again I completely changed my mind and actually thought it was al in my head on friday...Oliver was absolutely happy there watching the children and wanted to get off my lap to sit on the mat and play. I stayed there probably another half hour and the children were all relaxed and playing. Two of them were actually playing peeckaboo with pillows! They were just over 11 months! It was adorable!
Of course I spoke to the manger (who stayed with me all the time in the room) saying maybe I over-reacted and that the girls were in fact lovely. She said that one of them had been with them for 2.5 years, the feedback on her is always fantastic, but that in any case what happen to us on friday was horrible and not to happen again and that we'll still meet on friday and she'd tell me how it all went. There must have been something going on on friday (this is what I think now) and I was there when this first girl had just gone home and a second one was covering (the one who knew nothing about Oliver's day) so I had the impression of neglect while in all probability was just lack of communications between the girls.
Anyway, last night I slept finally and today I am much more relaxed!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Induction day 2 and 3. Failed hearing test. Meltdown.

I'm in a terrible state. It's going to be a long post.

Thursday started with a re-failed hearing test for Oliver. Ok now I was getting a bit worried. The nurse said they'll make a note for the doctor and she'll check him too in the afternoon. Oliver's second day at the crèche for 2 hours seemed to be much better, when I went picking him up, he was fast asleep (had just fell asleep), apparently had played all morning and Jennifer (sort of room supervisor) was so so caring I felt he was in the best place possible and that he would have settled in no time. The doctor visit in the afternoon was absolutely fine for development, weight and hight, he's well above the 50 percentile and not a bother. But the hearing test was failed for the third time. The doctor was not that thorough, kinda rushed it and said she was writing a referral for a more specialised screening and that in any case it was something very mild. Come again? Are we talking about a mild hearing loss? Maybe. Not sure. Don't worry it's nothing. Seriously?? Don't worry?? Me??? Obviously I do worry, I read a lot since on the fact that the neonatal screening may fail to pick up minor hearing problems, what if my little one can't hear well? We know he can hear us talking, calling him etc, but we'll have to look a bit more into this. As I got home I called the paed office and left a message. He called back this morning and was so so reassuring. The test they did to him was totally archaic, 80% of the children apparently fail it and are referred to a specialist who will do a proper test, check the baby's ears for wax or fluids and generally it's all ok. The doctor didn't even bother looking into his ears but the paediatrician agrees that it's very likely nothing. Probably some fluids, or teething, or a bit of cold, or tiredness, you name it. Anyway, if I'm worried to anticipate our appointment but he really thinks there's no need to do anything.
Breathing a little better.
I brought Oliver back to the creche this afternoon for his final induction. 3 hours. He was fed and had slept plenty in the morning. I got there on time and the first thing I was surprised was to see only one girl in the baby room. There were two babies on the mat and she was writing notes on a spreadsheet. Her name is Wendy and looks like 20 something. I asked her if there were only those two babies or of some were asleep. She said a few were asleep in the cot room but that one wasn't sleeping (we could hear him through the intercom). I asked her was she on her own and she said the other girl was just having her lunch. So..yes you are on your own. Who the hell is checking on the babies in the cot room? They are never supposed to be on their own and they swore to me they are checking on the babies every 5 minutes. I was there for 15 minutes, she was always on her own, and never checked on the babies including the one crying his eyes out. Not good AT ALL. Mike was there too and on our way out we talked to the manager asking for how long the carers can be on their own. She said absolutely never, it's the company policy and she'll look into it straight away, she said they have a system whereby when one is on a lunch break another one covers so that there's always two in the room. So we said maybe one is in fact in the cot room and we didn't see her. The manager also said that Wendy has been with them for 2 and half years and she's very experienced so she was going to have a word. We left it at that. This Wendy doesn't really come across as very well educated (she has a strong accent that generally is lost as you go to school and college), Mike think she's not really coming across very happy or bubbly at all. I'm less bothered by this, yes, she's not funny as such, but she seemed to know what she was doing. Anyway, Wendy told me she is generally off around 4 so there would be another girl when I was going to pick Oliver up. Not a problem. I went back 3 hours later, as it was pissing rain and I was a bit early I just sat in the corridor for a little while. The manager saw me and very warmly she encouraged to go in and that I could watch Oliver in the room from the glass. She buzzed me in. She had no info on whether Oliver had slept/eaten etc but that the girls would have told me everything. And here is where things started going really bad. I arrived to the room and could see Oliver on the floor getting very upset (he had not seen me yet). Two more babies were there. This other carer was holding another baby who seemed just fine and not really paying much attention to Oliver crying (ok...I realise this may be my memory playing tricks now). I put on the covers for the shoes and entered the room. The girl was a bit startled as obviously I had not called the room to announce myself like we generally do and was very quick in saying that Oliver was absolutely fine till two minutes beforehand. Yes right, see if I give a shit about your judgement right now. I picked him up and soothed him quickly. I asked if he had slept and she had no clue. Really?? WTF?? She said he maybe slept for 25 minutes probably around 2. What?? We got there at 2.30! I was totally losing it. I asked can she check his diary and let me know, this is important. She looked at it, couldn't tell me anything else. He didn't eat his tea and he took very little from his bottle. Very strange but sure it's possible he has to settle in...Normally he has a full bottle around 4 pm and now it's 5.30. I gave him the bottle and he drained it in no time. Maybe he was crying because he was hungry?? The thought tortures me. The I saw this girl picking up from the floor (under a couch!) Oliver's little bear-blankety thing he uses to sleep. Now I was very clear that this toy is for his sleep only, not to be used by any other child and not to be given to him when he plays either, how did it end up under the couch I have no idea. She was so so off-putting I was getting more and more irritated. I left the room, sat on a chair outside trying to calm myself down. First of all this other girl was also on her own in the room with 4 babies (the ratio is 1 carer and 3 babies). The second carer only came back in when I was already sitting outside the room. Say maybe after at least 15 minutes. The rage I was feeling I think may be comparable with a mother bear thinking his cub is in danger.
I went to the manager and first thing I asked if she queried about the fact that Wendy was on her own. She said it was because they were expecting us for 2.30 (and I was there at 2.30, not earlier) and that absolutely it'll never happen again. Then I told her about the lack of information provided but this other girl who was there now and of course started welling up. She quickly brought me into the office (surely she didn't wan't other parents seeing me upset) I told her about the bear on the floor, the fact that Oliver was crying and that I really needed strong evidence that this was NOT the norm. That I was having second thoughts and that there was no way I'd be having Oliver in there for a full day monday of next week. She promised me she would look into this and not to worry, she'll talk to me again monday morning, she'll have the girls in the office right away and will discuss with the other manager too.
So this is where I'm at. Oliver seemed absolutely fine, very chilled, as soon as he had his bottle and we were sitting out of the room he was full of smiles for all the children, played at home as always, had his dinner and bath and went to bed without a peep. Sound asleep. So obviously I know he was ok at the crèche but jeez this is not the service I'm expecting for a top class facility which won prizes and everything! On monday Mike will drop Oliver in, but I'll go in too. I feel all this responsibility is on me and I really need him to step up and talk to the managers too.
If you got this far, thank you so much for reading, I had to get it off my chest and hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow Oliver is 9 months old (and 39 weeks exactly...this only confuses me further on the length of a pregnancy...) I can't believe he is so big already.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Induction: day one

I have to admit, I was very emotional this morning! I went into work, had a couple of meetings I really would have avoided like the plague, I was aware I was quite short with my students and then when I reminded my head of department that Oliver had his induction starting today I had to hold back the tears!! He was very very understanding, has two children of his own so no problem of course and wished me all the best.
I got home for lunch. Mom had everything ready (bless her) and Oliver was in great form. He hadn't slept much in the morning though due to a very stubborn delivery guy who attached himself to the bell like it was a lifesaver...anyhow. We got to the crèche at 2.30 as planned and sure enough my little petal had just fallen asleep in the car. So it was a rough hour, I left him there after 20 minutes or so and warned the girls (all lovely) that he was very tired and probably would not have gone to sleep there. When I got back right on the hour he was really upset, crying and all but the girls said he was ok till only a few minutes before. He dove into my arms and of course he fell asleep as soon as he touched the car seat. Needless to say he was already in bed this evening by 7.45.
The crèche is fantastic, the girls specified that they want it to be a "home-away-from-home" and they'll follow our routine to the letter. It works well as they have lunch at the same time as he has it at home so I am sure once he settles with sleeping there it's going to be just perfect. They also are happy to use the reusable nappies (not really common in Ireland, but there's another baby there also with reusable wohoo!!) and they'll bring him to the loo too! They were very impressed with this info and happy to give it a go.
It's going to be another tough day tomorrow for Oliver.
9am the repeat hearing test. Oh yes I meant to say, we had him tested at 2 weeks by the paediatrician and we know the ear-nerves are perfect, so this may have been a fluke due to a cold or fluids in the ear. He only failed I think 3 tunes so hopefully tomorrow he'll pass those too.
10 am we are back in the crèche till 12, he'll definitely has to sleep there or he'll be wrecked by lunch time.
2.45 pm we have another health check with a doctor at the health centre and let's hope it'll be quick and on time or Oliver will miss his sleep in the afternoon too!
I let you know how it goes.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

38 weeks

My little darling is 38 weeks today and decided to start celebrating very early this morning...generally when I leave for work at 7.30 is just barely awake and I was looking forward to an extra hour in bed today. Nope. But thankfully my mum came to the rescue and looked after him so that we could sleep a little longer. I don't know what we'll do when she goes back home next saturday and we have to quickly establish a new routine which involves bringing him to the crèche and collecting him in the afternoon. I envisage quite a few pizza nights...

So this coming week is packed with new things we have to do. Wednesday he'll go to the crèche for the first time for one hour, then thursday two hours and friday 3 hours. And Monday next it'll be his first full day. On thursday he also has two health checks, he has to repeat the hearing one that he failed with a nurse in the morning and then a doctor will give him an overall developmental check in the afternoon.

We still have no teeth though he's definitely more in pain in the evening and I found that homeopatic granules called Teetha help him a lot, he certainly has slept soundly all week long (doesn't even wake up when the damn alarm goes off occasionally!)
He's eating everything, loves bread sticks and he's that happiest little man when he sees that you are giving him something from your plate. He clearly says "Mammamamamamma" very loud, generally if he's upset or hungry, he whispers "Papapapapapa" which is very very cute too.
So this is where we are at the moment, work has also settled into a more organised routine now that we are two weeks into term.
I'll update during the week with the progress at the crèche and at the doctors, wish us well!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The five Amigos!

The clinic just called and we have 5 frozen blastocysts! Wohooo!!! 3 of them were frozen yesterday on day 5 and 2 more today on day 6! All of them are "beautiful expanded blasts" as my lovely embryologist said after having wished me happy birthday... Only 2 had arrested on day 3 but the other 4 didn't look high grade enough for freezing (my clinic has very strict criteria for what can be frozen, they like to have their FET stats almost as good as the fresh).

So that's it for now, we'll be looking at single transfers in the summer of next year (we have the California holiday planned for June next year and then I have a conference near Boston early July), I really hope there will be a brother or sister for Oliver among my little penguins.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

37

I'm 37 today and Oliver is 37 weeks! Nice coincidence. I love these coincidences, they make me smile even if they are totally pointless eheh. Happy birthday to me!

So Oliver has now been outside longer than he was inside. Again, soon this will be something I'll stop thinking about, look at how long I have been outside!
Nothing much new to say, no word from the clinic yet which is good I suppose. I had a very very busy week, a conference, several lectures, incoming students looking for advice, projects to be organised etc. I think I had a touch of OHSS, my belly was quite swollen and only in the last couple of days is a bit better. Still not back to normal though. The fact that I've been up and about from 6.30am every morning and often not back to bed before 11.30pm surely didn't help.

Anyway, I'm enjoying being pampered by my mom today, I slept in, she looked after Oliver. Nice. Fab food is being cooked and we'll go for some retail therapy later. Oliver had another inconsolable crying stint last night, sobbing and all. The poor baby. Then he settled but I could hear him a few times in the night crying a bit. Maybe he's teething. We still have no teeth at all! He has adjusted very well to be with my mom and not my sister, I am really confident he'll be fine in the crèche. And the sensor pad thing keeps going off occasionally, so annoying....but I'm not at the stage yet where I feel confident in removing it altogether. Soon, I promise.

I'll update with news from the clinic as soon as I hear. I am surprisingly calm.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Fertility report is in

The embryologist called around lunch time to say that 11 out of the 14 eggs fertilized! This more or less in line with our previous results (14/16 first time, 6/9 second time and 5/6 the third time) which is really positive news. Mike was a bit worried that he hadn't taken his vitamins long enough before the procedure (usually he would have had a 3 months stint), but I'm glad it didn't affect the first stage anyway.

So here's what going to happen. They'll culture the embryos to blast and on Sunday at the latest (day 6) they will phone me with a full report of what we have. If everything goes south beforehand of course they'll let me know but Ivy (the really nice embryologist we had a few times) said it's still going to be Saturday before she knows for sure how things are. I said I thought they were going to change medium on day 3 and that perhaps I would have gotten an update then, but she reminded me that the critical step is day 3 to day 4 and she doesn't want to give me false hopes (the usual protocol of the clinic!). Anyway, she said I can call the lab if I'm anxious, but I'll definitely try not to be.

Today I feel a bit swollen, I'm trying to drink plenty and take it easy (I'm back in work), let's hope it won't worsen. I had a night full of nightmares (some fake photographer wanted to kidnap Oliver!) so I didn't sleep that well at all, which I'm sure it's not helping overall.

Monday, September 12, 2011

14!

They got 14 eggs! I'm delighted, hopefully they'll fertilize, we'll know tomorrow.

The nurse said I had 21 follicles at the last count, so to watch out for OHSS symptoms. I think they went down quite heavy with the sedation this time, I could barely get up all day (still feeling quite spaced out) thankfully my sister could look after Oliver and Mike wasn't late coming back home.

I'll update tomorrow with the fertilization report.

And would you believe it, last night, Oliver's monitor went off 3 times! Of course all false alarms, which is great in one way, meaning there's not a hint of panic in me any more, but on the other, if we don't understand what the hell is wrong with it, it's going to be a real pain!
Update: Mike just came down and said the sensor pad was not in the centre of the bed so he repositioned it. Any time it went off, Oliver was at the top of his crib where he tends to migrate all the time. We'll see!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Retrieval on monday

Last scan this morning and all looks good. I think I have 20 follicles in total and 14 are of a very good size. Also I was scanned with a different (older) machine and even the measure of the lining (incidentally the best I ever had!) was less than 2 days ago so I am thinking there may be a couple more follicles in the "right zone", but we all know this means nothing till you have actually eggs and then embryos. So I don't want to have my hopes up too much as the disappointment the last time was massive. If I don't hear anything this afternoon from the clinic, I'll trigger with the full dose on saturday night and I'll be the first one in the morning going through the procedure.

In Oliver's world things are well, he had his first cold which had him up at night (and us too!) even more than usual, being quite uncomfortable and slightly feverish. But yesterday he was already much better and last night...oh yes, last night we NEVER had to get up! I'm looking 10 years younger this morning!! And it's just as well...we had the official opening of our new research facilities and the Prime Minister was on the premises...big big deal as you can imagine, in difficult economic times you have to really show that your job and research are worth the investment.
Finally we had another full on alarm with the sensor monitor. It happened one the afternoon, Oliver was actually awake and all smiley when Mike run up to check on him. Mike had heard him cooing seconds earlier so we are now absolutely certain the thing it's false alarming on us. I think Carlito may have started playing with the cable that connect the under-mattress sensor pad to the unit...I have to say I'm so so relieved!!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Update number 2

Academic teaching term will start on monday and we are having orientation week at the moment and it's just hell. So I've not been able to read or comment! So sorry, I'll try my best during the weekend.

I had my second scan this morning, everything is on track, 10 follicles on the left and 7 good sizes on the right. A couple of smallies which won't count. Mike went in for his SA yesterday and he had nothing to report on the "Sample room" of the new facility, apparently it's the same as the old one, no new "interesting" material to look at. The results weren't great, 7 million/mL, low motility. Bleah. The Fav Doctor had a look for me at his precious number and actually in 2009 he only had 5.4 million/mL so it's not as bad this time. And she pointed out they only need a few for ICSI so they have plenty to work with.

In other news, Oliver had a terrible night last night, we had very little sleep, he seemed inconsolable between 1.30 am and 3am. Normally it's enough to give him his soother and the night-teddy but we actually had to pick him up and rock him till he stopped sobbing. My little baby...I think he suffers from separation anxiety now that I'm in work all day...and I'm a bit tender in the belly so I don't pick him up as much in the evening either...let's hope he'll settle soon. Love to all.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Cycle update

Day 6 of stim and this morning I had my scan with the Fav Doctor.
All looks super, I have 8 follicles on each side all above 10mm (but one which is small). Retrieval most likely to be on monday! She said after a pregnancy it's very common to have great response. Nice to know!

In other news yesterday I went to the local pool with Oliver again and it was a success like the first time! He absolutely loves it.
We had one other incident with the sensor monitor, a couple of nights ago. I had just been in checking on him and actually I heard him making a noise from my bed when the monitor went "Bip"! So I went back in knowing though it was definitely a false alarm. And it was. Oliver was on his side at the edge of the bed asleep. It never went to the full on beeping though, but somehow it reassured me greatly it may have been a glitch!
I'm back in work full time and I'm trying to come in very early so that I can go home mid afternoon, so far so good!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

8 months old!

Oliver is 8 months today! My sister is arriving late afternoon and our baby sitting routine will begin. I have to be calm and relaxed, everything will be well. This is my mantra.

In other news my stimming protocol is the same as the last time, I started my puregon (225 U) and luveris last night. I have this thing that I fear I'll forget the injections...It was a strange feeling taking out my Puregon pen from the fridge (I store it there, it's the one I used the last time and so I think it's my lucky pen). Definitely the anxiety about the cycle is minimal which is great, but still I had this thought in my mind "we are going to try and add to the family" and a smile came to my face.

I slept a bit better, I think I'm overcoming the terror of what had happened. I would go as far as saying that Oliver would have been absolutely fine in any case and that I can only do my best to keep him safe. Let's hope it'll last!


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Good to start!

Thanks my friends for the kind words. I am slowly getting back to less anxiety again. I now am quite sure that by the time I reached Oliver the other night he was definitely breathing so much so that the alarm stopped before I touched him (of course we had several tests and it takes a few seconds for the alarm to stop when you resume motion). Still. He almost certainly had stopped breathing for the alarm to go off. The sensor pad is ultra sensitive and a feather brushing against the mattress, even at the edge, would be getting registered. I do remember when I had the first scare the paed said that when the alarm goes of after 15 seconds it's still at the high end of normal. This time it may have been 20-25 seconds, and I think it was because he was face down on the mattress. But I will make sure to tell the doctor at the next appointment or I'll book in early if it happens again. God please don't let it happen again.
I also called the crèche today to find out what their safety protocol for sleeping babies is. The manager was very very understanding, she said they have a baby monitor in the room but that they check the babies every 5 minutes (of all ages up to the time they leave for school) and keep it on record for years so they are all available to me even now if I want to check. Of course she said if I feel more comfortable they'll clip on the breathing monitor too, no problem. She was so so reassuring, they don't want to take any chance and she encouraged me to call again if I have any worry at all. I do feel better. A bit.

I will post some pics of our last holiday soon but for now I'll show you how happy he is at bath time! This one was taken only a couple of nights ago.

In other news, my scan at the clinic went well, still a bit of lining to be shed but bloods were good so I will start stimming tomorrow. They changed back my meds to what I had used before with no problem. Of course meds change also depending on which pharma company gives them the best perks but for veteran clients like me they'll prescribe what worked before. Delighted not to have to use steroids and clexane this time as I won't do a transfer, but let's hope we'll have something to freeze! Next scan on Monday. Mike will go in for a SA on tuesday. We are quite curious to see if the new super duper facilities has upgraded the "Sample room" too. I will let you know.

My dear friend The Ultimate Vet Hero will fly to Cali for good tomorrow morning, I sure will miss her.
And my sister will be here on Thursday to babysit for a couple of weeks, hopefully she won't be too tired by the end of it!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Anxiety is back

Last night at 4.30am I heard the sensor monitor alarm going off (the full thing, not just the warning "bip"). I was in Oliver's bedroom within seconds. He seemed to be just fine, but sleeping at the edge of the cot, on is belly, with his knees up, so I thought the alarm went off as perhaps his breathing motion was not really happening on the mattress. Of course I moved him, he didn't even wake up, he was breathing just fine, didn't gasp for air on anything, I gave him his soother and then listen, from my bedroom to his sucking noises. I just couldn't sleep again. Heart pounding. What if he had actually stopped breathing? Maybe he had and I'm just telling myself it was the position he was sleeping in that triggered the alarm.
And so of course today I fell back into the loop of reading about SIDS stories frightening myself to tears. I was doing so well, this summer I felt comfortable enough to not have the Snoo.za monitor on him at night (it was falling off the nappy and going off consistently) and today I had to go and watch him breathe. He's going to be 8 months on Thursday, I know the major risk should be over and yet you always read about a tragedy. Today I read that SIDS seems to happen more commonly when the child is minded by someone else. For the love of God...I'm going to insist that they'll have his breathing monitor on in the crèche (yes, sorry, that's day care) when they put him down for his nap. This is bad and I know it. I know I cannot control what will happen, I can only take precautions. I'm back to being anxious and what would I do if something happens. Damn anxiety...I was ok and then the monitor had to go off just to remind me I'll never be free from worrying.

In other news tomorrow I'm going in for my baseline scan. I got the prescription and they changed a couple of meds, not sure why, I'll ask about it tomorrow and very likely will go back to what I previously used. I'll update with news then. Love to all and thanks for listening.


Friday, August 26, 2011

7 and half months check up with the nurse

Today I brought Oliver to the local health centre to be checked out by the nurse. I would have walked but we seem to be experiencing quite a few summer thunderstorms (at least 3 today).
Anyway, I wasn't particularly worried about anything, I know that at this visit they would check baby's hearing, height and weight, postural milestones etc. We had Oliver's ear check when he was 2 weeks old at the paed and I know he's growing like a weed and he's in good health. If I had one small concern is that I'm under the impression that his foreskin is a bit tight (circumcision is not commonly done in Europe), but I didn't really know what it should look like at this age.

Anyway, the hearing test was quite fun, I sat with Oliver on my lap facing a nurse who would grab his attention with a toy. Meanwhile another nurse (the assessing one) was behind me making noises to our right or left and Oliver would turn his head to the right or left. Actually he didn't hear two tones from his right and a different tone from his left but the nurse said it's very common and to go back in 2/4 weeks to repeat it. Hopefully it'll be fine then.

His weight is a whopping 9kg (a kg in just over a month!!) and his hight is 71cm which puts him nicely between the 50th and the 75th percentile!! Wohoo this is coming from a little one who was always in the 25th percentile!! He sat up nicely for the nurse and showed her how much he's keen to actually stand on his feet. His feeding stage is where it should be so I'm pleased I got full marks for my little one.

She had a look at his foreskin and yes, she think it's a bit tight but that a doctor should have a look. I'm thinking to wait till the next hearing test and then go back to the paediatrician.

I'm also happy to say that he's back to sleeping much better, last night he slept from 8pm to 6 am this morning, it was a soother emergency and he went right back to sleep for another hour and a half.

In other news, I got a call from the crèche where he'll be going to set up his induction dates. It'll happen the week before he starts so wednesday the 28th of September is the first hour! Also, I'll be unfortunately at a conference his first full day there (monday the 3rd) so it'll be up to Mike to drop him at the crèche that morning. My flight is due back in Dub at 2pm though so I'll go straight to pick him up. I'm really excited and not worried about this new step in his growth, I think he'll have a great time, hopefully I won't be proven wrong!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Home sweet home

We are back!
Holiday was fab as always but this time we were eaten by mosquitoes (Oliver not so much thank to a mosquito net and citronella and geranium essential oils) and the temperature in the last few days was unbearably hot even up in the hills. This made for some very interesting nights... Oliver was back to waking every couple of hours, I also couldn't sleep much and Mike and I got a few headaches from heat and dehydration.

But the positives were so many more.

Oliver is now sitting up on his own! Still loves to bath in the little pool and he's eating practically everything which is great. He also discovered his willy and oh boy the fun he's having every time we change the nappy/bath/shower/naked time etc. I'm told it's very normal, but the way he's pulling at it looks painful! Again I'm told it isn't.
Peeing and pooing in the toilet is going great, admittedly in Italy he was drinking so much water that it was difficult to catch every pee, but he certainly knows that when I hold him over the loo it's the signal to pee/poo if he has to. He has successfully used toilets at airports and even on the plane! He's very vocal, nearly always smiling and he's very cuddly. He hugs us any time we pick him up from bed and he's started stretching his arms out when he's tired to sit/stay where he is.

I think we all gained a bit of weight (damn for me!!) despite playing tennis and doing regular walks, but I'll go back to yoga soon and I'll start bringing Oliver to the local pool this weekend! I have a plan, let's hope it'll work!

In other news, I'm waiting for AF to show up to start my ICSI cycle with elective freezing!! Really excited but also soooooooooo much more relaxed knowing we already had one miracle, and if we get a second it'll only be an additional blessing.

I'll get back to commenting asap!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Checking out

Suitcase is packed.
Passports and tickets are on the table.
Cats are at the cattery already.
Washing machine is still going but should be finished soon. Dishwasher about to be started.

Aircoach lives tomorrow morning at 6.30 (aggh) and our flight is at 9.30.
Italy here we come!

No internet at all till the 22nd when we'll fly back, thinking of you all and I'll be looking forward to catching up with blogland on my return!

Monday, August 1, 2011

7 monthiversary!

Oliver is 7 months today and I did a bit of shopping for my little one!

First let me say that I got another load of things from friends and colleagues last friday. We are now in possession of a few hundred euro worth of clothing (practically new), two bumbo seats (one for the living-room and one for the attic), and a baby play mat the size of a room (well...almost!). So I had a few things I needed to get and then it so happens that one of my former student gave me a voucher today so I added a few more things to the mix!

I had bought a summer sleep bag the other day as Oliver is quickly outgrowing the one he currently uses. I love the Gro company so that's where this is coming from.

To this I added a less needed Organic-cotton sleep bag (6-18 months!) for the winter time (he has one already which came with the cot-bed but they do get used a lot). The colour looks a bit pale, but it's actually a nice warm straw colour.
Then, given that we now posses a bumbo seat (ops, sorry, I meant two for just one baby!) we bought the tray.
But the cherry on the cake goes to the gro-clock!


I absolutely loved this clock the first time I saw it on the website, it's such a clever idea! You can set it to whichever time you like to indicate night-time and day-time and that should help the toddler to stay in bed till "the sun comes up"! Of course Oliver doesn't need it yet so it'll stay on my bedside locker for the time being!

And talking about sleeping, Oliver is a bit more settled, doesn't sleep fully through the night but we may have to get up only a couple of times. Anyway, let's hope we heading in the right direction!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

New addition to the menu

I just couldn't resist! he had found his feet a few weeks ago, but this morning he decided to taste his big toe!
Sleep last night was a bit better again, mostly it's me that still can't have a good night sleep. If I wake up, I'm done. For hours. Not sure what's up with me either! At least I don't cry...

I have started two days ago a detox plan for my liver/gallbladder and friends. I really never had problems till after the pregnancy. I blame all the hormones I took like candies for the last few years. So I have a nagging pain on the right, just under my ribcage. I won't deny it, a few times I gave in to hypochondria and thought I had something terrible and lethal. It's more likely to be an overly stressed gallbladder (so I read anyway). Water with a few drops of lemon is one of my best friend. And I bought this utterly expensive herbal mix. I want to be in good shape if I'm going for treatments again in September!

Very quiet blogland lately, but my dear blogger-friend C just had fantastic news as she'll post it herself very soon! I forgot to mention I met her last week and then again this week too! Shame she'll be leaving Ireland for good in just a couple of weeks, but that's always how it happens isn't it? Anyway, if you come to Dublin know that I'll be thrilled to meet you, never doubt that, so if you are up for it just give me a shout!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

I said it too soon...

Of course I should have known better...we are back to getting up every hour or two. Let's hope it'll settle for real soon!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Getting better!

Thank you for your kind comments my friends, it's good to know it's not only happening to us and that it's a phase. Yes he's definitely working towards sitting up on his own and to rolling back on his back, so it may well be that the cause of the interrupted sleep.
Nearly as soon as I read your comments, we decided not to go in Oliver's room any more (unless the crying escalates) and miraculously for the last three nights we had almost a full night sleep! He still makes his noises but they seem to be less intense. We found him a few times 180° turned in the bed, he must have worked out how not to get stuck halfway. He seems to be much happier to sleep on his tummy also, and must have learned to roll back (maybe while rotating!) as in the morning he's always on his back.
He seems to be back to his old self, when he wakes up in the morning he's happy to chat to himself and play with the soft toys he has in the bed.

So thanks so much for sharing and I hope it'll settle for your child too if you are still experiencing it!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sleeping problems

Oliver will be 29 weeks tomorrow and I am not sure what's happening but his sleeping routine is gone out the window. First I thought it was because we were on holidays, then maybe it took sometime to readjust but nope, our dream boy who slept through the night since he was a few weeks old has started waking up possibly every 2 hours...

He has a nap in the morning, of various length (30 mins- 1 hour) then he has a long nap in the afternoon (1.30-2hrs) and then goes to bed as he has always done around 8-8.30 pm. He sleeps solidly till about 11pm when he cries a bit and we call it "a soother emergency", you go up, give him the soother and that's all that's needed. Till a month ago, you wouldn't hear him till 7am in the morning, when he would wake up happily chatting to himself and didn't need attention for about another hour. It was great going. Now he cries for a bit before sleeping, nothing major, no drama, doesn't really need anything a part from the soother and he's asleep within 10-15 minutes from going to bed. And then the occasional waking up starts. First it was because he may have rotated in the bed, getting stuck sideways. Then it was because he may have rolled over onto his belly and couldn't get back on his back. But now it's just waking up crying (not an upset cry, just a nagging one) you go in, he's not stuck anywhere, give him his soother, and back out to bed. After a couple of hours it happens again. And again. And again. Maybe he's warm, maybe he's cold, maybe he's thirsty/hungry, maybe he has a sore tummy, maybe he's teething...I have no idea.

Any tips or comforting thoughts? A part from this he's the usual sweet baby, eats happily (chicken too!) and plays. I'm running out of things to try... I had read somewhere that as they grow to this age, the World during the day is so interesting that they don't want to give it up at night, can this be it?

Saturday, July 16, 2011

6 months check-up and 28 weeks!

We have nicely settled back into our routine and Oliver is doing very well. No particular reaction to the vaccines (the 4 months shots were definitely worse) and we had a nice weekend.
Some more work was done to the attic (yes I know, still not finished!) and we changed all the windows too to triple glazed, high efficiency ones.
AF also made her appearance over the weekend and I hope to be back on track for September.

During the week I brought Oliver to the paed for a routine 6 month check up and he did very well. He's growing in weight (8kg!) and hight (67cm) which according to online calculators means he's between the 25 and 50 percentile so I'm very happy with that as he's on track, in fact probably getting closer to the 50%. Paed was very happy with developmental progress and said he can now eat everything he likes including eggs and meat. Nice!

I think he's getting much stronger in his upper body and can sit almost by himself (still needs a bit of support for balance) and rolling is now a very common thing. Still, he can't roll back and he gets frustrated when on his tummy for too long. My little man is 28 weeks today!
Oliver's best friend at the moment is Carlito. Carlito is our kitten and he loves licking and chewing Oliver's fingers! Oliver doesn't seem to mind (most of the times!) and could spend ours looking at the cats playing and caressing them. I closely supervise this, I don't want him to be too rough with the cats and of course he still doesn't have a clear idea of the fact that pinching is NOT ok!


Finally I bought another gadget... this is a kitchen robot which cooks as well as mixing! I love it! It was seriously expensive but I think I'll use it a lot and it's great also for baby food. Mom has it since Christmas and praises it on a daily bases. I've made pizza, bread, risotto and tiramisu, all super yummy!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Holidays recap

We flew to my home town on the 17th of June and we went to the seaside on the Riviera from the 19th to the 30th. Flight was great, and after a day of adjustment to the heat and fuss of the grandparents Oliver was the usual happy baby.
The highlight of the seaside stay was the pool! Oliver absolutely loved it (in fact more than the sea I think!) and the time he spent kicking his legs got longer and longer. The last day we actually went to the big pool rather than the baby one and again it was a hit!
Of course the next best thing for him was the gorgeous juicy fruit he was able to flavour while on holidays...peaches, apricots, melons and cherries! Yes we can find them here to, but honestly there's no comparison.

A few developmental milestones were reached while on holidays. He rolled over at around 25 weeks for the first time unassisted woohoo! And now he does it all the time! He found his feet and we discovered that he also loves to shower. This is very handy as he can shower with me and it's quicker and less messy than a bath. On the food side we introduced cheese which, as he has Italian genes, he absolutely loves and we tried chicken for the first time. Not quite a favourite just yet though.
Elimination Communication is going great, I feel I can really recommend it, at least try! Oliver seems to be truly delighted and I actually now have the impression he waits to go to the loo to do his business!

After the seaside time we moved to the hills (Apennines) where my parents have a place and we regrouped with my granny who was there too. Of course no real pool there but we got one of those inflatable ones and it did the trick. He also turned 6 months on the 1st of July!

It was a very long holidays and I didn't have a connection most of the time, but when I did I checked on you girls (by the way, if you can, activate the mobile settings, it's fantastic for reading blogs on the iphone without having to fiddle with the screen). My heart was broken when I read about Misfit Mrs. devastating (yet again) news.

And I'm glad to be back home and would you believe it, AF is late (like 5 days late) and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm tubeless and had no sex for 3 weeks I would almost think I'm pregnant. The last time I was this late I was dreading being pregnant in my teens! Anyway, hopefully it won't be too long or it'll upset the September plans!

Tomorrow Oliver will be 27 weeks and he got his 6 months jabs today...poor baby, 3 injections this time!! But he was quite good, getting fussy now though.

A few pics of the holidays till next time!

On the beach

In the baby pool with my dad and me

In the baby pool with me

with my mom

in the big pool!

the inflatable pool in the patio

eating granny's legendary pizza!