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The Tree
We’re so excited about Christmas this year because Sophie is much more aware of everything that’s going on, and we’re hoping she’ll really enjoy the festivities. With this in mind we decided to get the Christmas tree early so that we could appreciate it for longer. On 1st December we headed out and managed to get a really lovely one for a tenner – I love a bargain! We then made a detour via the supermarket and spent much more than this on new shatterproof decorations; I was worried that if we used the old glass ones and they broke, Sophie might cut herself. Finally we headed home for the great tree unveiling and decorating.
Although it didn’t take long to decide where to put the tree, we then had to spend the next half an hour putting string on to the new baubles. By this time Sophie had lost what little patience she had, and was throwing baubles all over the room – proof if we needed it that we made the right decision buying the shatterproof ones. Eventually the tree decorating commenced and, once she had got the idea, Sophie really joined in and went round the living room retrieving the baubles she had thrown, and handing them to us to put on to the tree. It looked great when we had finished, but Sophie was having so much fun that she wanted to do it all over again, and started to remove all of the baubles she could reach. It has been like this ever since; a constant cycle of Sophie taking off all of the baubles she can reach, then getting fed up of the tricky string, losing her patience and abandoning the idea of putting them back on the tree. I’m finding baubles in all manner of places, including shoved in to toys and in the rabbit cage. If it keeps her amused I guess I can’t complain.
Sophie by the tree:
The joys of moving house!
On the 15th of November we finally moved house after endless months of messing about with solicitors. As we were swapping house with the lady who was buying our house we had thought that it would be easier than a normal move. It didn’t quite happen as smoothly as we’d hoped though, especially on moving day, which was particularly chaotic as we were moving things into – and out of – both houses at the same time! Luckily Trent and Roisin spent the day with their great aunt so I had two less things to worry about.
Now that everything has been moved in, and the kids are back home, we’re trying to get a bit of order in the house. We have already decorated both Trent and Roisin’s bedrooms – it was my priority to make sure that the kids were comfortable. We didn’t want to ruin Trent’s routine as he is now at an age where he understands what is going on around him. He is over the moon with his new Bob the Builder bedroom; complete with duvet, curtains, lampshade, bin, chair and cushions. For the time being Roisin is making use of the Zeddy and Parsnip accessories that Trent has grown out of, they are all neutral colours so work equally well for her. As soon as she becomes more interested in a theme we will decorate her room again.
I’m taking the rest of the house one step at a time. We don’t want to miss out on our children’s precious years, whilst concentrating on decorating, so we are planning to do bits and pieces as and when we can. For now it’s time to start planning a special Christmas – our first as a family of four!
Breath-holding
Within two weeks of being referred by our GP Gracie was seen by the consultant at our local hospital. We explained that when Gracie was hurt or upset she couldn’t catch her breath, stopped breathing and fainted. We were sent for an ECG just to check that her heart wasn’t doing anything to cause this. Everyone at the hospital was so brilliant with Gracie, when the nurse attached the wires to Gracie’s chest she pretended that they were octopus legs, which really put Gracie at ease. We hardly had to wait around at all. The doctor said that she was sure this was a classic case of breath holding, a fairly common condition which most children grow out of by the time they start school. Usually when I see that Gracie isn’t breathing, I cuddle her to comfort her, the doctor explained that this is the wrong thing to do – I need to lay her flat on the floor until she comes around so that the blood can get to her brain more quickly. In the event that she doesn’t start breathing within a minute I need to call an ambulance but this is very unlikely.
Gracie was relaxed and happy at the hospital. We have a doctors and nurses play kit at home, which we quite often play with. I think that this definitely helped and we talked to Gracie about this at the hospital. Mark and I feel much happier now. Gracie has held her breath once since our hospital visit, but I was able to handle it calmly and she recovered quickly. I am so grateful that there is nothing seriously wrong even if the turns are scary!
In more cheerful news we are starting to prepare for Christmas. Gracie doesn’t understand why she can only have one chocolate out of her advent calendar each day but we are getting there. I only allow the girls to open their calendars when they are dressed and ready to leave for school – it’s amazing how much quicker they go when there is chocolate on offer! This week we made our Christmas cake. The girls loved being involved, and we each took a turn to stir in a Christmas wish. Take a look at the pictures of the girls baking.
My little chefs helping out with the Christmas cake :
Toilet training
You may remember me mentioning a few months ago that potty training was not going to plan. I’m happy to report that we now seem to be over that hurdle, and that Inaaya is using the toilet. In the end she absolutely refused to sit on the potty, wanting to go straight onto the toilet, which was easy for me and the staff at the nursery as it meant no mess and no puddles!
When I first did away with the nappies we moved on to pull ups, these really helped because Inaaya understood that if she needed to go toilet, but couldn’t make it in time, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Although they’ve been great, I’m happy to say that we now use them only at night, and that Inaaya wears normal underwear during the day. She loves this and runs around in her knickers and vest reminding me that she’s a ‘big girl’ and that she ‘hates nappies’. I love it too because we’re saving so much money not having to buy nappies!
Inaaya also loves going to the toilet, I think she sees it as a special treat because she gets to wash her hands and play in the water. It’s all about the playing in the water! Don’t get me wrong we still have the odd accident, which Inaaya finds upsetting, but it’s nothing that can’t be sorted out with a kiss and a cuddle.
Inaaya showing off her new favourite knickers and vest combo:
Copy Cats
This weekend we went to stay at my parents’ house as it was mum’s 60th birthday and she was having a big party. I spent more time deciding what Sophie would wear than I did choosing my own outfit. It was worth it though because everyone agreed that she was the belle of the ball, and she looked especially pretty in her pink dress. I think her second cousin Alex thought she was pretty too – they seemed to take a real shine to each other. Alex is two and very cute with curly blonde hair and big blue eyes, in fact, he and Sophie look very similar. They were soon as thick as thieves – if Alex was dancing so was Sophie, and if Sophie was playing with a teddy bear, so was Alex. It was very sweet watching them copy each other, and it was nice that Sophie had a special friend at the party.
She really enjoyed the whole weekend and everyone couldn’t believe how much she had grown. Needless to say, she slept very well on the train on the way back home, it’s exhausting being such a socialite…
Sophie trying on her party frock:
