For quite a number of months Sophie seems to have had a recurring runny bum. We have been back to the doctors several times and been prescribed mineral replacement salts, and several different types of cream for the nappy rash that seems to occur even though we change her nappies straight away. It is obviously quite painful when we try to clean her up before putting on a fresh nappy, which in turn is quite upsetting for us. We had worried that Sophie may be intolerant to milk, and booked another appointment with the health visitor to see whether this might be the case, and if not, to get an idea of what might be causing it.

The good news is that the health visitor doesn’t think Sophie is intolerant to milk, she believes that the symptoms are down to teething – as two more teeth have just come through I suppose it makes sense. The health visitor assured me that sometimes babies get really bad diarrhoea when they are teething, and that teething may also be the cause of her runny nose (at the moment she permanently looks like a slug has slithered across her face). As Sophie is gaining weight the health visitor is not unduly worried, but I have to get her weighed every month to keep an eye on her.

So, no cure for the runny bum and snotty nose but at least we now know that it’s not serious. Teething can go on until around the age of two so it looks like the slug trails may be around for some time yet…

I can’t believe my little girl is one. It seems so grown up. Only 12 months ago she was a helpless little bundle, and now she can do loads of things like chasing the rabbits with her walker, feeding herself (sort of) and posting her shoes in to her nappy bin (her favourite pass time at the moment, goodness knows how many shoes we’ve accidentally thrown out with the nappies).

We had a party to celebrate (of course) and 15 mums and babies found themselves crammed in to our lounge. While the mums tucked in to cake and cava, the babies munched on all manner of biscuits and rice cakes. I think it was a success and after a drink or two no one seemed to mind the ‘cosy’ surroundings. It’s better to have too many friends than none at all and this just made me realise how many friends we have made through the various clubs we’ve joined. We’re so lucky that there are lots of things going on in the local area for mums and babies.

The birthday girl:

To save on childcare now that I am back at work Andy decided to take two weeks off work and spend some time looking after Sophie. At the end of the fortnight he was viewing going back to work as ‘a rest’ and admitted he had never felt so tired. I think he enjoyed it though, and my friends took him under their wings – he got invited to coffee mornings and two birthday parties. I was definitely jealous thinking about him enjoying himself with my friends whilst I was stuck in the office. After two weeks of him being househusband the house looked like a bomb had hit it, and we had very few clothes to wear as our entire wardrobe seemed to be sitting in the basket waiting to be ironed. When will men learn to multitask?!

Sophie is now at nursery four days a week and after enjoying it initially, the reality has hit her and she now cries as soon as we arrive at the door. It’s very difficult to walk away from her when she has tears streaming down her face and is holding her arms out to picked up and rescued. The staff assure me that she is playing and having fun with the others as soon as I leave, and let’s face it, she’s got to be having more fun than I do at work. The hours in the office feel very long until I rush out at the end of the day to pick her up. Then it seems like we have only been together for two minutes before it’s time to put her to bed. At the moment I very much envy some of my friends who have given up work permanently.