Snow Pics

Finally DF sent me some of the snow pics and here's a couple - our Snow-Baby looking totally cute and my family home looking like Narnia!

A Happy Child

So we must be doing something right as we've been blessed with a happy child. Of course she cries sometimes and she can get grumpy but generally she's a bundle of giggles and laughs which is great.

However, as great as this might be, there is a downside to having a happy, chatty, laughing child. It's at 2.30am when she wakes up and decides that she's going to have a chat and a laugh with her stuffed elephant FOR TWO HOURS!!!

Yep, she didn't cry, she didn't want either or both parents, she just wanted to talk to the elephant at the top of her voice for two hours... I don't know what the elephant has done to deserve such an honour but I reckon she covered her whole life story in those two hours. It's a new cuddly toy and she's fallen totally in love with it. She's almost eager to get into bed now as it means she can see it, hold it and chat to it.

We stayed with my parents this weekend and we put Lia down for a nap before heading off shopping and when we left she was happily chatting with the elephant. I called my Mum an hour later and she said Lia was still not asleep but still just chatting away.

I don't understand what magic this elephant holds but it was the best £4 I've spent in mothercare... At some point I'll get a picture of it just in case all you other Mums want to see if it can cast the same spell over your child.

Here's a picture from the weekend. The elephant is not the one that is the subject of the post but she likes this one too. I'm not quite sure what she's doing to the crocodile though!

Oh and yes, we're thinking those red cheeks may just signal the mythical teeth are on their way...

Don't panic!

Oh the joys of parenting...

Since starting nursery Lia's had an almost constant cold that has waxed and waned but never really gone away (although at the risk of tempting fate she's been almost snot free for a week or so now) but through it all she's been happy and we've never had to even bother with calpol.

However, last wednesday I got the call from nursery to say she'd had a couple of bouts of diarrhea and been sick. I phoned DF to let him know and headed off to pick her up. When I arrived at the nursery she was sitting on the floor playing like there was nothing wrong. Typical. However, she did have a bit of a temperature and the girls at nursery were busy telling me they had a really bad bug going round that was about five days of sickness and diarrhea and so I should brace myself.

Yeh! The fun side of parenting.

Anyway, I got her home and she was definitely under the weather - she wanted to be held all the time and was quite miserable by this point. I phoned NHS Direct and got some advice from a nurse which was to take a layer of clothes off her to help her cool down, a dose of calpol and then some milk - small quantities at half hour intervals to see if she kept it down.

DF had arrived home by this point and was flapping. He wanted to take her to Casualty and get her checked out by a doctor but I was adamant that we should stick to the advice that we had and see how she was.

Typically this was the day that there were new symptoms of meningitis being discussed in the news, one of which was cold hands and feet. Lia had slightly cold feet which didn't help his flapping...

That and her throwing up on him.

Anyway, the calpol did the trick with her temperature and she kept her milk down so when the nurse called back she said we should just keep an eye on her and if she got worse then take her to a doctor. Thankfully that was the end of the physical symptoms. She was very clingy the next couple of days and she was also slightly off her food but at least I didn't have five days of ick to contend with. But other than that she was right as rain and back at nursery on monday.

Yesterday I got a call from nursery - she's got a rash that's spread all over her belly and up under her arms! So I head down to get her and phone DF again telling him to call the doctor and see whether they say to bring her in or not.

Lia spends the whole journey home chatting happily to herself so I'm not that worried. The rash looks much more like a heat rash than anything else and does disappear when pressure is applied.

DF was home when we arrived and stressed and flapping again. He was relieved to see her so happy and he took care of her while I spoke to the doctor who diagnosed urticaria (or hives to us lay people).

No real treatment, it should clear up quite quickly on its own. Just try and keep her a bit cool and don't rub or irritate the infected area. Lia barely registered it - she wolfed down her tea and chatted away happily which made me feel much better but didn't stop her dad pushing a glass on the rash every now and again just to make sure...

DF's mother is a worrier. Big time. She stresses out over pretty much everything and can work herself up into a real frenzy given the right circumstances. DF has inherited this trait and it has never been more obvious to me than during the two events recounted above. He really over-reacted and would have had Lia at the hospital both times without giving a second thought despite us having advice from Health Care Professionals.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not uncaring and if I'd had the slightest worry I would have been heading to the hospital like a shot as well but thankfully both times it turned out to be quite mild.

He also has not told his mother about either event as he couldn't cope with her reaction. It's on days like these that I'm so glad we don't live closer to her...

Happy New Year

So I'm a little late but it's been quite a couple of weeks for us one way or another.

I hope you all had wonderful Festive Seasons and that you're all well and truly recovered from the excesses.

Our Christmas was great fun. Lia had a blast, mainly from playing with wrapping paper it has to be said, and we had a good time testing out her many new toys...

Even better, it snowed and snowed on the tuesday after Christmas so we were snowed in with a good six inches of the stuff. I know some of you will have more snow than you know what to do with or will hate the stuff but I LOVE it and with DF being Greek it's quite a novelty for him to see so much and have it settled.

We went to see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe on Boxing Day and our garden looked like Narnia by the next morning which was magical. We were at my Mother's house which is out in the countryside so we really were cut off from civilisation for a bit and I was transported back to childhood when we used to pray the schools would close for the day so we could play in the snow.

New Year was a bit of a washout though as I got an inner-ear infection and was in bed Saturday - Wednesday. I was so bad that we had to get my Mum over to stay and look after Lia while DF went to work as I couldn't get out of bed without falling over. Still, I'm all better now which is the main thing.

So 2006 is shaping up to be an interesting year already and we have so much to look forward to. I now have the engagement ring I said I didn't want but am really happy with (18ct white gold solitaire diamond) and we went out on saturday and bought the wedding rings (18ct white gold plain bands). We've also booked our flights for May and we'll be in Greece for a total of three weeks which, as well as the wedding and Christening, will encompass DF's Mother and Grandmother's birthdays as well as Lia's first birthday. So all in all it'll be one long celebration.

We've also decided to spend next Christmas in Greece all going well so that's my year's holiday well and truly sorted.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions but I have two goals this year, to end it weighing significantly less than I do now and to have all our finances in order so we can start seriously overpaying on the mortgage. Hopefully those won't be too hard to achieve and I'll keep you updated I'm sure.

Stitching goals wise I don't have many but I would like to stitch Lia a christmas stocking and I am working on a large animal alphabet design for her as well.

Finally, I'd just like to say hi and thanks to those of you who have posted such nice comments. I'm a sporadic commenter on other people's blogs but I do visit many (and have now updated by side bar with some more addresses) so maybe I should make another goal to comment more for other people as I know how nice it feels.