"Hello Sweetheart!"

"Does she like bugs?" I got asked when I picked J.R up from school today.

"What, like, real ones?" I replied. "Yeah," says the member of staff "It's just that we were handling bugs today and she seems to really like them..."

But not just any bugs, oh no. They were Locusts. Eugh! I hid my squeamishness with a smile as J.R ran over to the carpet and brought me over a small pop up tidy, the inside crawling with Locusts large and small. Thank god it had a lid, and that that lid was zipped shut... or i'd have been outta there so fast!

Apparently she loved handling them, I even saw a brilliant photo of it on their camera. She had the hugest one sitting in her hand and according to the staff even started talking to it, "Aww hello sweetheart!" she said.

Cannot Believe It

I am now into my third week of being ill with Gastroenteritis (or at least that's what they think it is) and since i'm not getting any better i'm having investigations done. This will determine which bacteria are causing the infection and i'll be given the appropriate medication.

I feel totally drained. I'm starving and i'd eat pretty much anything right now, but everytime I eat something it's a gamble...most of the time it worsens my symptoms.

I'm thoroughly fed up with all the pain and discomfort, I just want to be well again.

Swine Flu Vaccine Made Available To Children

The swine flu vaccination programme began in the UK in October 2009, with the highest-risk groups being offered the vaccine first.

They were:

Babies over 6 months - adults up to 65 years old in the seasonal flu vaccine 'at-risk' groups. Pregnant women. People who live with someone whose immune system is compromised (e.g people with cancer). And now, young children aged between 6 months and 5 years.

*Healthy people aged over 65 were not a priority group as they appeared to have some natural immunity to the swine flu virus.

Babies under 6 months were not vaccinated because the flu vaccines do not produce enough of an immune response in them to provide any sort of protection.

There was a lot of debate between parents as to whether or not their children should have the Swine Flu vaccine. To be honest, when I first heard the announcement on the radio that it was now being offered to young children I jumped at the idea and made the girls appointments asap.

A lot of people were worried about the vaccine's side effects, which we were told would mirror some symptoms of seasonal flu.. but side effects have varied from person to person.

Some parents say their child had a bit of a fever the evening of their jab, but that was soon rectified with a dose of Calpol.

While others claim their child became full-on ill. Fever, upset stomach, coughing and vomiting for days..but these cases have been few and far between.

Our girls had their jabs yesterday - and had no reaction to the vaccine whatsoever. Not even a fever. Nothing. And regardless of whether or not side effects had occured, I stand by my decision to have my girls recieve the vaccine. It puts my mind at rest to know that now they are protected.

My Stressful Sunday: Pt.1

It hasn't been an easy week this week, and today is no exception. So many things have gone wrong for me today, and i'm just so miffed i'm not even gonna begin to list them.

J.R has been on and off an emotional rollercoaster all week, (one minute she's stubborn and demanding and the next she's crying for my help) but maybe because she's ill? And my poor little E.M, having just fully recovered from Chickenpox has now picked up her sisters' cough. And she's losing her voice LOL. I know I shouldn't laugh, but she's so cute. Her voice is small and mousey as it is, but now that she's losing it, it's gone all squeaky and sometimes almost disappears altogether. She's just drifting off to sleep next to me as I write this, my poor little mite.

And it's all gone quiet here at number 64.

Will Both Girls Have Chickenpox Together?

This morning J.R has woken up with a runny nose. A very runny nose. And a once-in-a-while cough as well. Could this be the start of her catching the Chickenpox too? We'll see.

My Baby Has Come Out In Chickenpox The Day Before Her Birthday :(

My poor boo...

On Monday she started showing signs of feeling generally unwell, she was off her food and had a fever. Yesterday she had a few little red spots on her face, but they looked like normal spots, nothing special.

This morning when she woke up they weren't spots anymore, they were big ol' blisters and I spotted them straight away.

I got onto the NHS Direct website to see if I could identify the symptoms.

By 10am we'd seen the doctor who confirmed it was Chickenpox. N'oh dear.

Hasn't dampened her spirits too much at the moment, she still has bursts of playful energy once in a while. (See picture) Until it becomes too much and she gets irritable, needs to lie back down on the sofa and watch TV. I suppose it's only gonna get worse from here then...

Anyway, i'll keep you updated on how she's doing.

Weight

It came as quite a surprise to me when I stepped on the scales a few weeks ago. I've put on a lot of weight in just over a month, so much so that I can't even stand to the actual figures here. I didn’t make a post about it since I had a very stressful week and was not in the mood to write about my weight. 　

So i'm jumping on the exercise / watch-what-you-eat bandwagon.

I've just had six weeks of not walking to the school and back again twice a day. Its not just weight I need to lose. I also need to tone up a lot of my body. I have been working on it for about a week now. It is really hard trying to fit in any form of exercise with two little ones and on top of day to day chores! I need some help.

Has anyone out there got any tips for losing a few pounds without having to sign up with a gym?

I totally forgot to post this...like, OMG!

J.R went for a booster jab last week, although when we got to the surgery we found it was actually booster jabS. Great, I thought.

I'd never 'done' a jab for J.R before, not since she was a baby and had her heel prick (but then that's hardly a needle is it?) And by 'done' I mean the whole sit-child-on-lap-and-restrain-arms procedure.

So to find out this one was a double whammy? Brilliant.

It was rather cute actually, the nurse explained to J.R that she needed to prick both her arms to stop her getting sick. In laymans terms I added that the nurse was "going to put medicine into your arms." Just to make sure.

Two nurses poised with needles, one at each arm, J.R watched with curiosity as they did their job. But that was all, she watched...and it was over.

No crying, no flinch, I swear she didn't even blink! To say we were surprised would be an understatement. I was actually starting to feel disappointed!

"When the shock wears off..." one nurse started, I stared at her blankly. "What shock?" I replied.

"Oh my gosh, sorry!" she laughed, patting me on the arm, "I'm just so used to saying that everytime y'know..."

They gave J.R a sticker. Then they let her choose another one. My eldest daughter was a star that day, although she did milk it a bit when Daddy got home...

*How The World Caught The Flu

Mother, Mother, I am ill,

Call for the doctor over the hill.

In comes the doctor,

In comes the nurse,

In comes the lady with the alligator purse.

Swine flu, said the doctor.

An infection, said the nurse.

Nothing, said the lady with the alligator purse.

Out goes the doctor,

Out goes the nurse,

Out goes the lady with the alligator purse.

The situation regarding Swine Flu here in the U.K has become a bit of a debate.

9 people I know are suffering from flu-like symptoms at the moment with 7 of them claiming they have "Swine Flu". 1 claiming it's a chest infection and 1 who says not to worry, it's just your average summer virus. All 9 of these people think that Tamiflu is a "Swine Flu tablet". 28% of people think that with the disease now present in this country you can't eat pork.

Congratulations to the british media for succesfully causing widespread panic.

*The Irish Times, 01 August 2009

Back From The Dentist

And in a lot of pain still, i've been told it's the start of Gum disease. Great.

I have two lots of antibiotics and Hydrogen Peroxide mouthwash.*

Add to that my own remedies of £3.99 for a tube of all-natural Tea Tree toothpaste (antiseptic), £5.99 for an uber tiny tube of dental pain relieving gel and countless boxes of Nurofen to help with the pain so I can sleep at night... This is one hell of an expensive problem to have!

*I am aware of the debate about using Hydrogen Peroxide in your mouth, but since i'm in so much pain i've chosen to just do it and see if it works.

Is There A Dentist In The House?

This morning I was brushing my teeth, as you do, when I got the worst pain in one of my teeth. The third molar, or "one of those big chunky ones at the back" as we normal people call them. And it hurts, badly. As if i'd brushed away all the crud that was holding it together - nice thought eh?

Although it may not be that far from the truth, i'm taking painkillers regularly throughout the day for it cos it is so painful, but only on one side. The other side of that same tooth is perfectly fine. A second opinion - my Dad's - is that i've cracked it in two. Nice.

But that would explain a few things, like why it only hurts on one side and why it appears to have 'sunk' lower than the rest of my teeth and I keep chewing on it when I talk (which yes, hurts like hell)... Anyhoo.

That brings me onto my next subject:

When's the right time to bring your child for their first ever dental check up?

All you need to register your child with a dentist is their NHS number. It can usually be found in the details on the front page of their Red Book.

I've decided that now is the time for my J.R to go to the dentist. It is, after all inevitable plus she is 3yo and has all of her primary nashers. I have to admit I am a lil bit anxious that it might take both me and Daddy to keep her in that chair, just so the dentist can see into her mouth - let alone poke her teeth with some strange metal stick with a mirror on the end...

But hey, guess i'll worry about that when we get there.

The Bedtime Trials Zzzz

At the weekend I was searching on the parenting forums for: how long children should sleep at certain ages and if/when they should be taking naps during the day etc. I found a lot of parents who have children aged 3-4, who don't actually put them to bed very early. In fact more than half of them said their children went to bed between 8.30 - 9pm... Interesting I thought.

Since it makes sense that you can't put your child to bed at 7pm and expect them to stay asleep until 8am (when you're ready for them)! That's 13 hours, could you stay in bed for that long? I'm guessing you, like me, answered no to that one. But that's the predicament.

At this age, if you set your child a fairly early bedtime, then it's perfectly normal for them to want to be out of their bedroom after 12 hours or less! But give them another hour - an hour and a half extension on their evenings and they tend to be content enough til 8am.

Now i'm not suggesting you sellotape your child's eyelids open and order them to stay up this late, if they're tired they'll probably take themselves up! But rather don't start the bedtime routine until around half eight. I've been doing this for a few days now, this is how it's gone so far:

• Night One Both girls are still awake at 8.30pm, I start the bedtime routine then, and they go to bed without a fuss. The little extra waking time looks like it's knackered them out! And in the morning? I hear nothing from them til gone 8am.

• Night Two Baby E.M stays up til 8pm then asks for bedtime, goes to bed ok. Then J.R follows me up at 9pm. And in the morning? No complaints, i'm out of bed before then! But no sound of them awake until around 8.20am.

• Night Three Bedtime routine started at 8.30pm (both girls were starting to get silly by this time) in bed by 8.45pm. And in the morning? Heard nothing from them until about 8.15am.

Now considering that my girls are used to a 7pm bedtime, these changes have made quite an impact. We're used to waking up to one of them screaming because they're bored and want out. So being able to wake up naturally is great! I'm gonna carry on the trial bedtime for the rest of this week because if it carries on going the way it is, we're onto a winner!

So to help everyone catch up...

Here's the lowdown on what's been going on at 64 over the last week:

Friday 5th J.R sick for a week now. Went to doctors - no sign of infection or anything. But she's throwing up every 30 minutes, whether she eats/drinks or not.

Saturday 6th My life has been put on hold indefinitely as I mop up after a vomiting toddler all day every day, even after she's gone to sleep. It looks like it's getting worse.

Sunday 7th Just after 10pm Baby E.M throws up in her cot.

She has the virus too.

We take both girls to the hospital.

Monday 8th 1am Both girls treated for dehydration while I spend the rest of the stay with my head in a bowl in the next cubicle. It only took two hours for me to catch the virus also.

6.45am Home at last, the four of us go straight to bed. By lunchtime Daddy is also sick.

So as you can see, we've been a bit...busy! But i'm happy to say we're all fully recovered now.

Miss J.R is ill :(

She has a cough. One of those horrible chesty ones which sounds like she's trying to bring up phlegm. Add to that a blocked nose and a temperature which gets worse at night.

Poor mite. We're putting vapour-rub under her nose and giving her Tixylix chesty cough medicine for children.

And i've read that the best thing to do for a chesty cough is to stay warm and keep the room ventilated but not cold or draughty. She's been coughing since saturday, poor thing had such trouble sleeping that eventually we brought her downstairs to watch the Eurovision with us! But today it seems to be at it's peak, so hopefully she wont be ill for much longer.

Important: Some Real Effects Of Red Bull Stimulation Drink

It's Day 3 of the Red Bull trials and I have to say "Eugh."

No really. Let me explain.

It's had a positively BAD effect on both my mood and my sleep.

I'm averaging 4 cans a day, the first sign of addiction. Not good. Plus I read in a certain paper that it can cause high blood pressure and palpitations! That's quite scary. Especially when you look at the number of school kids downing them to and from school like cola, thinking they look big. To be honest, it does work, I do feel very awake. But that's part of the problem, i'm fine mostly but then twice or three times a day i've panicked. About something, anything. Whatever it is i'm doing at the time, and I go from nought to angry in like 10 seconds. Generally it lasts about 5-10 minutes max. But it's really strange.

And the sleep? What sleep?

It's been taking me hours to get to sleep, and my mind racing doesn't help. When i've gotten past that I start tossing and turning and can't get comfortable, for ages!

I'm gonna go cold turkey on these evil drinks and see what happens.

Oh Cucumber!

Ok, someone help me out here. J.R has taken a very strong liking to vegetables and fruits that contain mostly water.

Lord knows how this strange preference has come about, but one thing's for sure, she's refusing to eat much else! Some examples of what she will eat: banana, cucumber, lettuce, peas...

She's been a picky eater for a long time now, but this is driving me crazy. When the health visitor saw us on christmas eve 2008, she weighed her and J.R has put on NO WEIGHT in 6 months. In fact she'd LOST a few ounces.

I'm not sure about that result, to me that just says "Mummy doesn't feed me." And that's not good. I've tried everything to get her to eat more variety, but she's not having it! Tried the whole chopping-up-small-and-mixing-together trick but to no avail. If there is some sort of green, mostly-water vegetable on her plate, that's all she'll eat. You can forget the meat, can't risk putting on a bit of weight now can we!