Rachel's Ramblings: February 2009

My "Tiggeriffic" little boy! :-) I found him like this while I was getting breakfast organised this morning and thought he was too cute not to photograph. He loves playing with words - yesterday he said "Mummy has a problem" - this morning it was "Perfect Mummy" and 10 minutes later "Tiggeriffic Mummy" - which was a nice change to the "mummy has a problem" of yesterday! :-) However, in the afternoon, I was talking about wool nappy covers coming from Germany - and the next thing out of his mouth was "German Mummy"! LOL :-) Soooo, can't believe everything he says (whether good...or bad!) he just likes to organise words into interesting sentences. Yesterday morning he was even asking & answering his own questions. We were sitting in the car while Peter was in the chemist and Benjamin said "What's that car doing?" followed by "the car is driving". I must admit, I ask him lots of silly questions (without any reason or point) to distract him either while doing nappy changes or getting him to eat food etc - so probably seemed normal enough to ask a question like that! :)

Last week the children were *delighted* with what they thought was lots of snow (though it turned out to be just a sprinkling compared to what we got *this* week)! (above & below photos taken last Saturday) Abigail woke up very excited to see white over the ground and they couldn't wait till they could go outside later to play in it.

Abigail looking quite grown up - children don't stay little for long!

My little boy again - this time ready for bed (last week). You might notice the redness around his mouth (mainly on chin) - he's recently had quite a flareup of eczema which I haven't been able to control with any of the previous ointments/creams etc. Having spread to his face (somewhere I can't cover with clothing to prevent the scratching) I realised I had to do something about it. So I phoned the clinic on Monday and managed to get an appointment with a GP for that afternoon. I didn't even ask for an emergency slot, they just happend to have a cancelled appointment for that afternoon, so I was pleased & relieved. It can be quite stressful when you have a young child who wants to scratch night & day - and manages to damage their skin even through clothing. And mummy can't sleep very well at night either when she is frequently woken up by a restless little boy who's trying to scratch his feet to pieces! Anyway, I'd always assumed it was eczema since it started early last summer (even tho never confirmed by a health professional), and the doctor certainly didn't disagree with my diagnosis either. So he prescribed him a steroid (Hydrocortisone cream) as well as Oilatum Emollient for the bath (to use instead of any soap) and Oilatum cream for applying afterwards etc. Must say I'd always *not* taken him to the doctors because I didn't want him on steroids, but as bad as it was getting, I felt I had to take him to maintain both his and my sanity! And I'm pleased to report that his skin has improved remarkably since starting the Hydrocortisone on Monday night. The redness is all gone, the eczema has disappeared from his face, and his feet look nearly all better, apart from the scars he's got from so much scratching. But the skin is softer too - and best of all, he's not waking in the night to scratch, and hardly any scratching during the day either. :-) Can't say I'm excited about the idea of bathing in Liquid Paraffin (or covering his body in it after a bath) which is the main ingredient in Oilatum! So maybe we'll come up with something better - even a bath with oats! But for now, I'm just very happy to have a happier little boy!

Lots of snow at last! We finally got a good helping of snow on Thursday. It seemed we were getting left out, as so much of the south of England had record amounts of the fluffy white stuff! So it was exciting to get several inches of it. Above shows Peter & Abigail starting on their snowman - first time ever to make one too! :)