12 Month Development Check

Eve playing with her toys on New Years Day before the Christmas tree was taken down

I've been wanting to post this for almost 2 weeks but have been having issues with iphoto. Finally it's almost sorted. Well, I have photos for this post at least...

Just after Christmas our rather lovely health visitor Carla stopped by for Eve's one year check-up. We haven't had any concerns, so as expected she said that Eve was doing fine, and that she is developing well, in line with her age.  She hadn't lost weight but she hadn't gained much either - due to crawling and being active, along with the consequences of bad teething pain over the last few weeks (not eating much and bad nappies). Eve now weighs 19lb 2oz.

Carla is really nice and has a positive and realistic approach. I'm so glad. When I told her that I still haven't managed to get Eve to stop drinking milk during the night-time when she wakes, she told me that if it's working for us at the moment then that's fine, and that we should work on it over the coming months.  I was speaking to a friend the following day about this and she said that her friend had mentioned a very similar thing to her health visitor who had been quite strict about it and had already made an appointment in the near future to check that she has rectified the situation. That seems a bit stressful to me - too much pressure. We've been so tired, and Eve's been ill so much over the last couple of months that we didn't want to push this.

Now that tooth number 7, the pesky blighter, has completely popped out Eve seems much better in herself.  I'm really hoping that as we approach spring Eve will feel better, and consequently won't wake up so much during the night - and therefore, won't be needing to drink so much. Fingers massively crossed anyway. Carla said 'when you get some time, work on the night-time drinking with a recommended method'. This is easy to say but when you only have 3 weeks worth of holidays to take over the coming year it's tricky to work out when it might be possible to do that whilst working etc.

I know that she's in a bad habit with the milk drinking in the night-time and I am worried about curtailing it, I'm hoping that if I try harder for her to use a cup during the day time, rather than her bottle for water that this may help with the evening drinking.

Nuby

Eve just hasn't got on well with a sippy cup at all over the last few months, and I know that we are behind other kids on this part of development.

We've also tried a Nuby cup with a straw, and have also got handles for her MAM baby bottle. Nothing so far has worked but we shall keep persevering. When she was about 4 months old she would hold up her bottle, but over time she has realised that she wants us to do it and gets grumpy when we try to make her use a sippy cup.  Oh the trials and tribulations of this weaning malarky!!

The thing that I haven't yet tried is a soft spout on a bottle, like this MAM Starter cup which is kind of in between the bottle and a sippy cup. However, we've decided that we'd like her to get to grips with the Nuby cup if possible as sippy cups are bad for a child's teeth if used for too long.

I sent Eve off to nursery yesterday with her bottle with handles attached and the nursery staff said she simply would not touch it or let them give her a drink with it, which in turn meant that she barely drank anything all day. They said they were worried about her becoming dehydrated.







When we arrived home she guzzled down a bottle of water with me during story time last night before her bath. I know that people say 'if a child is thirsty they will drink' - but maybe not in some cases. She is quite a determined little thing.

After Carla's visit I gave Eve cow's milk rather than formula for her bedtime drink for the first time. I made up one bottle of normal milk and one bottle of formula in advance - thinking that she may not like it. But thankfully she drank the whole 160ml straight down without a fuss. Phew! I knew that I could give her cow's milk to drink from 12 months but I wanted to check with my health visitor before going ahead with it.  I'm so pleased it has worked without any tears. Perhaps this is going to help towards the night weaning.

Our good friend Fonz came to visit just before New Years. It was a sunny, but freezing day. We had a lovely walk through the park with some friends and their kids, and then had drinks in the cozy 'Star and Dove' pub. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries which was a pain so I couldn't get any shots of the wee bairns together.

Eve's friend Jake gave her a cool inflatable bear for Christmas. You fill the bottom with water which acts as a weight. She's been really enjoying playing with him - he's kind of like a mini punch bag rocking back and forth, ha ha.

Eve and Bo Bo the Bear

Eve is a funny little thing and is constantly waving. She pretty much says 'Hello' and 'I love you' now (well, to mine and Daddy's trained ears this is what we hear) and she also likes to 'high-five'.

During the Christmas hols Eve has been having a lovely time racing round the kitchen with her walker. Once she starts she's off like a shot. It's most amusing and we are ecstatic with delight every time we see her walking. She pauses every so often to take her hands off the walker and just stands for a moment or two before zooming off again. I think she'll be walking unaided in no time.

Growing pains

Little Eve is a happy, chatty girl but has been having a rather tough week with her teeth - or lack of. Since last Saturday she's been having severe teething pain, with her face being really swollen, so much so that her lips go slanted and droopy on one side.

We've taken her to the doctors twice, even though we knew it was teething we just needed the reassurance that she is ok. I'm figuring that her teeth are possibly going to pop through fairly soon due to the pain she is experiencing. We are keeping her topped up with Calpol and Calprofen, using them staggered, as sometimes the dose of Calpol doesn't last long enough.

I felt terrible this evening as I thought she had looked much better this afternoon so I didn't give her any medicine. I then noticed that her cheeks were really red after our dinner. It took a while for the Calpol to work, during which time was supposed to be bedtime milk, which she could not drink due to the pain. The poor girl was most upset. She finally managed to drink a little bit of milk before falling into a deep sleep. A Mama error which means she will wake up again soon as she will be hungry, doh! 

It's difficult, as I don't want to overly administer medicine to her when she doesn't need it, but just sometimes I make the wrong call. I live and learn as the saying goes...

I've been trying to take Eve's mind off the pain this week, so one morning we had oily spaghetti fun. She didn't want to touch the spaghetti at first so I threw it all over her and then she started grabbing it and whipping it about.  

The great thing I realised was that as well as it being enjoyable it also moisturised her skin. However, getting the slippery girl into the bath afterwards was a bit precarious.

Eve enjoying Woodlands campsite at Silverstone

We had a lovely time at Silverstone for the Formula 1 on Friday. Sam dj's there to racing fans every year to 6,000 in a Big top tent. As we had Eve with us this year I didn't see Sam dj in the evening, instead I relaxed with our friend Anne and her baby Huey at their cottage on the site. Her husband Duncan (who is a close friend of Sam) is site manager of Woodlands campsite. They offer fantastic facilities and entertainment for the campers. Huey James is almost 4 months old and is adorable. Sam and I both loved finally meeting him. He looked very dapper in his little flat cap.

http://silverstonewoodlands.co.uk/

Sam with Eve in the baby rucksack, and Anne with Huey

Huey James Wheeler

Eve was a lucky girl and had a go in Huey's baby bouncer and on his tummy time play mat on Saturday morning. The apple toy/teething ring was a big hit!

We stopped at an American style Diner on the way back to Bristol on Saturday morning. We have a running joke between us as it used to be a Little Chef (which was awful) where one of our friends stopped one time to take a number two. As he left the building the waitress thanked him for coming.

In our tired haze it started off well when we arrived at the diner but then Sam smelt a strange smell - which I thought was eggs cooking. We then saw a tanker pumping out the septic tank of the diner. I'm sure this must be illegal when customers are there. We were really hungry but felt pretty sick as we ate our breakfasts. Sam gave Eve some scrambled eggs which she promptly gagged on and threw up all over the floor. Needless to say we couldn't stop laughing!!

Eve attempting to suck on a rather large muffin

We arrived home tired but very happy from such a lovely weekend away with dear friends.

Out n About

Over the past week we've been up to all sorts.  Eve and Agnes have been enjoying their playdates.

 Eve and Agnes

Friday was a glorious, sunny day. I walked up to City of Bristol College at the top of Ashley Down where Sam works as an Art teacher two days a week. His students were keen to see Eve. She absolutely adored seeing a group of new people and gave them lots of smiles and giggles. It was nice to see Shirley who is Sam's boss in the art department, I met her at one of their work do's last summer. She is such a lovely lady and is very good to Sam.

Daddy and Eve in his art class

On Friday evening we drove over to The Farm Pub, by St Werburgh's City Farm. We met up with a very nice Spanish guy called Danny who found and returned Sam's music equipment - such a miracle!










Eve asleep in The Farm Pub

Eve continues to sleep between 7 and 10 hours each night, and is almost too big for her moses basket now

Eve and Daddy both love to rock clothes by Sutsu - thanks to Aunty Terry for Eve's Sutsu baby grow

Eve can now pick up her rattle and her beloved Lamaze horse. She loves to shake them both about.

On Saturday, another beautifully sunny day, we headed over to The Social Pub on Cheltenham Road, where we met up with lots of friends that we haven't seen much since Eve was born.

It was lovely to see Dan and Katrina with their month old baby George - he has such beautiful eyes.

We said Cheerio to Pete and Sofie who are leaving Bristol for the bright lights of London - Good Luck guys!

I ordered Eve a MAM Bite and Brush Teething Ring last week, and thankfully it arrived yesterday. I pushed Eve in her pram to meet Daddy from work, trying to get her to suck on the teething ring, without much result. As we walked back home with Sam we laughed at how she was sucking on her top lip, making a popping sound - the more that we chuckled, the more she kept doing it. She knew that she was amusing us. Eve loves Dad and was obviously waiting for him to show her how to use the teething ring because she finally got the hang of it after he kept putting it in her hand to chew on it.

Poor Eve had her worst evening of teething pain last night. The dear girl was inconsolable for a couple of hours, finally crying herself to sleep after teething granules and Calpol. As she hadn't been able to bear eating, she woke up an hour later, had a full bottle and then went back to sleep again, waking up with the daylight at 6.30am this morning. It was lovely to see her smiling face looking up at me from the moses basket, so I knew she was feeling much better.

Calpol Sugar Free Infant Suspension is a strawberry flavoured oral suspension and is used for the relief of:  Fever (raised temperature); Post-immunisation fever; Cold and flu symptoms; Teething; Headache; Sore Throat; Earache; Other aches & pains.

Each 5ml contains 120mg of Paracetamol. 

Also contains: Maltitol, E420, E214, E216, E218, E122

The Lido Terrace Launch and Teething

I've been a bit slow updating! Last week Sam and I took Eve down to the Lido for the opening of the new Terrace room. It's been under construction throughout the winter, so it was great for us and the other Lido members to see it finished. We all enjoyed celebrating with wine and tapas.

Sam carried Eve in the baby sling, while she charmed her way around all the people. It seemed that everyone wanted to come and say hello to her or hold her, it was lovely. Sam is such a doting dad, I'm sure that because he loves talking about her with other Lido members when he's in the sauna or steam room that they all wanted to come and meet her, as they had heard so much about her.

http://www.lidobristol.com/

Eve had her 12 week jabs during that afternoon. We felt that taking her out for a few hours in the evening did her good and took her mind off it. She certainly slept very soundly for ten hours when we got home.

My wonderful and oldest friend Laura walked over with her new baby and toddler Elodie one day last week too. Laura looked after Eve, along with her two girls whilst I went to the Lido for a swim - it was such a beautiful, sunny day, I am so lucky to have such a fab friend!

Eve has started teething over the past two weeks, she's been sucking on her hands and drooling a lot. It affected her feeding for a couple of days but not very much, and she didn't appear to be in any pain. But then a few days ago she must have been in a lot of pain with it as she cried for about an hour until I finally managed to rock her to sleep. I ran a flannel under the cold tap, rang it out, then put it inside a bag into the freezer for an hour. She sucked on it a bit when she woke up. I've read that you can also soak the flannel in chamomile tea for added effect. Apparently rubbing a clean finger along the gums can help relieve the pressure too - however I tried that and she didn't seem to like it.

I bought some Nelson's Teething Granules, as recommended by a friend. They are homeopathic, containing chamomile, xylitol (natural sweetener), starch and lactose. They work really well, she stops crying fairly quickly once she is sucking on the granules.

Eve's first trip to the allotment

Now that March is here, blossom is on the trees and daffodils and crocuses are out in force I made my way over to the allotment yesterday morning as it was so sunny and fresh.

It's a half hour walk to the allotment, our plot is on top of a hill, it's usually a pretty good work out but pushing Eve in her pram on crazy off-road terrain was strenuous to say the least. But, where there's a will there's a way - I finally got her up to the top of our plot and sat down to take in the lovely view.

She woke up when we arrived so I gave her a bottle and then she promptly fell asleep in the sunshine, looking very content. I pruned my roses and did some general tidying up, weeding and wot not. Having a picnic lunch in the sunshine for the first time this year was such a treat.

The poor allotment needs some serious 'TLC', I only went up there a few times during my pregnancy as I was worried about the possibility of slipping over (which I have been known to do on the allotment quite a few times!), so I haven't done much to it for almost a year. Thankfully a friend has taken it on with me and is helping out which is great. I'm really looking forward to spending lots of time up there with Eve over the next few months now that the weather is getting better.

Me and Eve

This afternoon Eve was weighed at the baby clinic and now weighs 10lb 14oz. She is gaining weight well and everything is good. She's sleeping for 8-10 hour slots (quite often through the night) and is generally a happy, giggly baby. 

She has started teething already and is sucking her hands and drooling a lot. She doesn't appear to be upset about it, though it did affect her feeding for a couple of days. When we feed her with the bottle now she clearly uses her hands to pull it towards her and then puts her hands on it as if to hold it.

Daddy and Eve