Oct 20, 2011

Sprogzilla’s New Shoes

On Monday we took Sprogzilla into Clarks for his first formal measuring and a pair of shiny new shoes! I didn’t really want to spend nearly £30 on something he’ll apparently outgrow in 8-10 weeks, but it was a very special occasion and I wanted to find out his size so we can buy some on eBay hehe. Turns out he is a 3.5F or G (depending on shoe) which is quite small and they only had two pairs the right size in stock.

I wasn’t sure he liked them at first. As soon as the fitter popped them on, he toddled away and kept stomping his feet trying to shake them off! But after a few moments he seemed to change his mind and cheerfully started wandering towards the exit. He was so excited about walking that he really didn’t want to go back in the pushchair so we could continue our shopping around town.

As soon as we arrived home, I had a look on eBay and found some shoes in size 3.5G (thought we’d try the next width up). Found a good looking pair for only 99p with no bids and was pleasantly surprised to win it that evening! They arrived today and I’m very happy with them, if anything they are a slightly more comfortable fit so perhaps we should have bought the new ones in that size too.

His next fitting is due shortly before Christmas, so we could make another pair of shoes one of his pressies. I do resent paying so much for such tiny shoes though – Sprogdaddy and I never spend so much when buying for ourselves!

Oct 14, 2011

Flashback Friday: Mr Spiky Hair!

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Wow, I look at this image taken exactly a year ago and can’t believe how baby-ish Sprogzilla looks with that pudgy little face and chubby arms….. We’ve always had trouble keeping his hair under control, but these were the glory days when we just had to sit back and let it do its own thing.

Sprogzilla loved having playtime on that changing table before and after his daily bath. I actually feel a bit wistful looking back at these images and knowing we’ll never do those things again. Something to look forward to when baby no.2 comes along I guess!

Diary notes from this time last year….

Well, I haven’t written a Flashback Friday for about two months, so I’ll need to recap quite a bit here. Sprogdaddy finally went back to work this month after a whopping four months on sick leave. He was starting a phased return which helped immensely with my fears about being left alone with Sprogzilla.

My milk supply had regulated and breastfeeding was finally an enjoyable experience, but unfortunately my periods had returned only two months after giving birth. My postnatal depression score had dropped down from borderline to normal levels, as had Sprogdaddy’s. My beautiful pregnancy hair finally started to fall out around this time.

The colic stage was finally over! It started to ease from around 9 weeks onwards thanks to a special probiotic we were using called BioGaia. Unfortunately he developed an ear infection around 14 weeks, most likely as a result of water getting into his ear whilst being bathed. Cue a course of antibiotics, so we made sure to keep the probiotics going as well and he suffered no side effects. Shortly after that, the poor little guy had a cold, as did mummy and daddy.

Sleep continued to be generally good, with sometimes up to seven hours straight at night.

Lots of grasping, cooing, babbling, cackling and “aaaa” and “eeee” sounds were going on, plus the occasional proper laugh. The little man was getting stronger, being able to lift his bum off the ground whilst lying on his back and raising his chest when on his front. He could even sit up quite well if supported. We also noticed him making chewing motions, readying himself for solids in the not-too-distant future.

As he approached 8 weeks of age, we made the controversial decision to delay his vaccinations. Over time, we came to decide that he would not have them full stop. Initially, we felt uncertain because it was the biggest unconventional move we had made, but we are very comfortable with this choice now.

See more Flashback Friday submissions over at Cafe Bebe!

Oct 9, 2011

Sunday Summary: Talking Up A Storm

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We’ve had several new developments over the last two weeks, but the biggest is probably Sprogzilla’s emerging language skills. He has picked up more new words since the last growth spurt than ever before and I don’t think it will be long before we hear something new almost every day.

The strangest word he has learned to say is ceiling. We were all sitting at the dining table the other day and noticed he kept pointing up and grinning. Goodness knows what was so funny up there, but we explained the name and he picked it up amazingly fast. We also have “nana” (banana), which he asks for after his porridge every evening. Then there’s “toes” and “belly”, both of which he will point out on either us or himself, and sometimes he will say “bed” when he is tired. He also has a cuddly dinosaur in his cot which he named Ernie.

I never fail to be amazed at how quickly he learns by observation now. We bought him a toy toaster the other day and after one instance of watching me push the toast down and turn the timer dial, he did it himself! This evening I showed him how the light switches work and he instantly picked that up too! His fascination with anything that opens and closes continues, now he can close the living room door behind him by pulling on the wood part between the glass panels. He has tried to put his socks on when being dressed and associates shoes with going outdoors.

Walking continues to go from strength to strength, in fact I’ve hardly seen him crawl at all this last week. It helps that he can now finally stand from sitting so he no longer needs to crawl somewhere to pull himself up. He is blazingly fast on his feet too and will run if given a good bit of space to pick up speed. We’re having a few falls though as he is not yet paying attention to what’s under his feet.

Dinner time has always been a pleasant experience for the most part. However, Sprogzilla has never understood that when he’s full he can just leave the remaining food on the plate. Instead, he tends to lob it all on the floor and then gets very upset if I tell him off with a simple “no”. Now he has decided it’s fun to feed us his leftovers – daddy ended up having cold garlic chicken and broccoli today! He can also drink from a cup or glass without spilling anything, until he gets distracted that is.

He now brushes his teeth with a little toothbrush and it looks so damn cute! We enjoyed a sweet little game of peekaboo yesterday as he ducked down into the bath and popped back up like a Jack-in the-box, emphatically blurting “boo!”. Still no luck using the potty, but he does come and let one of us know as soon as he’s filled his nappy so I don’t think progress is far away.

He has also learned to copy daddy strumming his lips with his finger – except he brings both his hands up and flexes his fingers instead. At bedtime, he gives us the sweetest little kisses and giggles coyly. I love putting him down at night and watching him snuggle into his duvet after nursing. He sometimes likes to do these bizarre cot gymnastics though, where he sticks his bum in the air and nearly stands on his head!

We’ve had a couple of problems along with the exciting new developments. I guess Sprogzilla’s little brain is buzzing because he is a nightmare at going down for naps right now. Several times this week he has refused his second nap and been so exhausted at bedtime that he wakes more frequently from over-tiredness. He is also getting up for the day up to two hours earlier than normal. While this is still considerably better than three months ago, it makes me a bit stressed at times and I fear that he will regress back to his old sleep patterns.

The other issue is tantrums – they are becoming more frequent as the little guy gets frustrated with things he cannot do and annoyed over restrictions placed on him. Even the simple act of closing a door to prevent him going into a forbidden room is enough to set off the tears and foot stomping. This is only to be expected as his desire for independence grows, but it sure is taxing….

Oct 9, 2011

Silent Sunday: 9th October 2011

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Oct 8, 2011

Review: Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor

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RRP £89.99
Available from most major baby product retailers

+ Very sensitive, good value, tonnes of features
- Some false alarms, bright LEDs, insecure channels

From the moment Sprogzilla was born, I have worried (as many mums do I’m sure) about SIDS. I complied with all the professional advice to lower the risk – breastfeeding, putting him to sleep on his back, not smoking etc.

Still, I wanted something to give me further peace of mind by alerting me if he stopped breathing during the night and so I discovered this popular movement monitor from Angelcare.

Sep 25, 2011

Sunday Summary: Stompity Stomp

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My, how time flies as the little monkey gets older, I’ve missed the summary for another three weeks!

Earlier this week we had the drama of Sprogzilla’s height and weight not being as far along as I’d expected. After a day or two of scaring myself silly reading up on the internet, I decided not to think about it any further and we’ll deal with it IF there’s even an issue.

So, leaving all that behind, what fun have we had these last few weeks? Well, walking just gets better and better, in fact he can almost run now! He’s got the drunken penguin waddle down to an art and boy does he look mighty pleased with himself. Over the last few days, he has discovered a highly amusing new ability that walking enables – stomping!

Yes, he will gleefully toddle from the lounge to the nursery and back, stomping his left foot (and always his left lol) while we follow him and stomp along. It’s a great game that deserves repeating up and down the hall ad infinitum and goodness knows how daft Sprogdaddy and I look doing it too.

He also loves wandering outside on the patio, though we have to be careful not to let him fall on the hard surface or hit the brick wall or step. He’s still very wobbly on his feet, bless him.

Sprogdaddy dug the Babybjorn bouncer/seat thingy out of the loft earlier in the week and Sprogzilla absolutely loves it. Many months ago, we would bounce him to sleep in it, it’s the only way he would nap sometimes. Now he clambers onto it all by himself and lounges in it watching TV like a true couch potato. I’d been considering getting one of those mini armchairs for toddlers, but I think he’s perfectly happy with this! I posted a photo of him in it for this week’s Wordless Wednesday (my first yet!).

Shortly after my last summary, I was so proud to see him pretending to talk on the phone. He wasn’t holding the actual phone, it was a hairbrush I think, but he held it by the side of his head and started chattering. What a sweetie! Since then, he’s used all sorts of objects as phones, but if you give him a real one he just look at you as if to say “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Sleep seems pretty stable. We had a few days on and off where he only wanted one nap, but he seems to be back to two again now. It’s bloody hard figuring out when he wants to nap on a day-to-day basis, I can’t wait until he does drop one for good. He slept a whopping twelve and a half hours one night – Sprogdaddy and I were up before he was! That hasn’t happened since, but I am still incredibly grateful for the average 10hrs of solid sleep he has each night.

Earlier in the month we introduced a gorgeous new organic wool/cotton pillow and duvet into Sprogzilla’s cotbed. I can’t say too much about it now as the supplier isn’t officially selling them yet, but they are really nice and now I want full-size ones for my own bed.

Sprogzilla had a little accident a few days ago, he was playing with daddy’s feet on the sofa, missed and slipped off. He banged his little head on the floor (carpeted, luckily) and as usual I was in more of a state than he was. It didn’t help that he had to go to bed ten minutes later and I spent all evening reading up on head injuries and getting Sprogdaddy to check on him every half an hour.

Other cute little developments recently include brushing his hair (with a proper comb) and his teeth (with his hand/wrist lol!).

So, that was the last three weeks in a nutshell, as much as I can remember anyway. I’m a bit lazy when it comes to writing notes down in my diary and I really must make more of an effort as I’ll be so angry with myself if I forget these priceless moments. Let’s see if I can keep things going next week……

Sep 25, 2011

Silent Sunday: 25th September 2011

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Sep 22, 2011

Growth Hormone Deficiency?

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We took Sprogzilla to be weighed today. I didn’t realise, but it has been a whopping 7 months since we last visited baby clinic. Mostly it’s because I don’t drive so rely on Sprogdaddy to take us and he happens to be working whenever there’s a session.

Today was one of Sprogdaddy’s rare Thursdays off, so we shot off after Sprogzilla’s morning nap just in time before they finished up. It was nice to get out and about for a bit and the boy enjoyed mucking about on the large playroom floor. There were a few babies and toddlers there, but we were seen quite quickly and thankfully Sprogzilla is more compliant in sitting on the scales these days.

I was rather surprised to find he is only 9kg and thus still not even 20lbs. I didn’t think too much of it until we arrived home and I checked the charts in the red book. He had fallen from midway between the 25th and 9th percentile to bang on the 9th. I did some googling and was relieved to find this not particularly worrying, however one doctor did suggest not offering the breast before solids anymore in case Sprogzilla is getting full up on fluids first.

As Sprogzilla is a bit of a short fellow, I decided to check his height as well. We had to do this several times as the little monkey doesn’t like to keep still, but it worked out around 72cms. I then checked the height chart and this is when I started to worry – he had only gained 5cms in seven months, his height was now off the bottom of the scale!

Thus followed a call to the health visitor. Our usual HV was not available, so Sprogdaddy spoke to another who offered to come out on Monday and give him a full height/weight check which would then be followed up a few weeks later to see what progress (if any) had been made. I tried to put it to the back of my mind.

A couple of hours later, we received a call from our own HV – she was just finishing up at the local surgery and wanted to know if she could pop over in 15 minutes and do the checks herself. What a relief, we could see somebody about it today.

Now I must say we are lucky enough to have a wonderful HV, she clearly loves kids and will happily spend time answering questions. As it turns out, she had a child with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) so was very understanding of our concerns about his height. She brought with her a more accurate height scale, though it seems our own efforts were pretty good as she also measured him at 72cms.

Most likely there is nothing wrong and Sprogzilla is just settling into his true height percentile, but we are to have him checked in another three and six months. If his height goes further off the scale, we will be referred for tests. The good news is that if he does have GHD, it is easily treatable and won’t cause him any long-term harm if treatment is started before his mid-teens. Well, I guess if you can call having hormones made using recombinant DNA injected daily into your subcutaneous tissue “easily treatable”….

Being the worry-wort mother that I am, I will now proceed to look up every horror story about GHD I can find. Someone stop me before I drive myself crazy lol…..

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