Benjamin is 2!

My little boy is now 2 years old! Benjamin's birthday was on Wednesday, but haven't managed to upload photos before now. I only just posted a long blog (i.e. lots of words!) on Monday, so this will be almost entirely photos.


Coming downstairs in the morning - he thought balloons were the best part and had to be told that the presents were meant to be opened! :-)

Opening his first present! I think Abigail's hair features in quite a few of these photos! LOL

Cars and trucks are his *favourite*

A big wooden Bertie the Bus!

"oooh, there are more presents to see!"

Benjamin's "Bob the Builder cake" - he was verrrry excited when he saw it! And he's had lots of fun with the minature machines afterwards!

Bus/van shaped sandwiches

Birthday lunch

Just before lighting the candles

So, that's all the pics from Benjamin's birthday. I think he really enjoyed the day and he is quite convinced that he's a big boy now! :-) I was carrying him down the stairs the other night and gave him a cuddle and told him he was mummy's little boy (not thinking anything of what I was saying!) but he quickly objected and said "Benjamin is a *big* boy"!

And part of being a big boy, as of 2 weeks ago, Benjamin is now fully weaned (as in, he no longer has his "drink from mummy" to go to sleep at night). So, bedtime routine includes getting into his pyjamas & sleeping bag (after being covered in some sort of cream for his eczema) and then mummy & Benjamin lie on mummy's bed (as Abigail can be too noisy/distracting for him to fall asleep in the same room). He *has* to lay his head on a certain pillow which has a Thomas the Tank Engine pillowcase, and he must cuddle his favourite stuffed Winnie the Pooh. Most nights he's asleep within 5 minutes. He usually asks mummy to be quiet (i.e. no singing), and he makes sure my head is on my *own* pillow, and usually doesn't want anyone touching him when he actually closes his eyes to fall asleep! :-) He likes a few cuddles, but eventually wants hands off while he goes to sleep - a bit of personal space, I guess! lol Anyway, occasionally at bedtime Benjamin is a total chatterbox and will talk for *ages* about anything and everything - complicated thought patterns too! It's quite fun to listen to him talk!

Today we had the monthly homeschool get together. The children enjoyed it, as usual. However, they must have been rather tired out, as both fell asleep in the car on the way home - and remained asleep when they were carried in the house! Here's what they looked like:

OK, off to bed!

A bit of an update

Thought I'd better post at least something, as it's nearly a month since I last updated. Apologies to anyone who I owe an email to - I know there are lots of emails I've not replied to lately. But life seems quite busy lately.

Part of what's kept me busy the past month was trying to get through a driving test. Unfortunately that didn't happen! :-( I'd hoped to pass the practical part of the driving test before the baby arrived, but I took the test twice in the past month and didn't pass either time. I had several lessons as well (the first instructor not being very helpful or encouraging) and the 2nd one (thanks to the recommendation from my friend Sharon!) was great and helped me loads in just the 2 lessons I had from him the week before last. I managed to successfully (with correct speed/gears/observations etc) do both a reverse around the corner (which I failed in my first test) and a parallel parking (my most feared "skill"). However, just after that, I got "seriously faulted" (i.e. failed) because I approached a blind junction in 2nd gear (instead of 1st) and the nose of the car was too far forward into the junction. The road is very narrow with the house walls right up next to your car, and the "give way" lines faintly painted on the road - some junctions being "give way" for traffic the other way etc, so slightly confusing really. Anyway, I still felt quite annoyed that I'd messed up on something that ought to be so easy. But there's no slack with UK driving tests. So, just have to put it behind me for now. There's no way I wanted to take a test any later in my pregnancy (having done the 2nd one at 36 weeks!). So maybe some other time I'll try again. But at nearly 60 pounds for each try, it could be an expensive experiment!

There's me at 36 weeks! (self-portrait of sorts, so no face included! lol) I had a scan on Friday last week (36w 2d) and the baby was measuring 37w 1d, so should mean a healthy sized baby. Everything was just perfect (position of placenta, amount of fluid, baby's size etc), so consultant was happy and signed his approval of my plans for home birth. That was really the reason for the scan this far along, to make sure placenta especially was in good position. Seen my community midwives today and baby has started to drop into place, so that's good too. :) They'll be bringing round the "home birth kit" (all their gear) next week. I'm sure I had everything here the previous times when I was only around 37 weeks (which I'll be this Wednesday), but they're not delivering the stuff (or going on call) until I'm 38w 1d - so just hope baby doesn't decide to come anytime before then!

Here's Benjamin and Abigail playing in a box together. I think they were pretending it was a boat.

Oh yes, was going to say that we learned the other day that Benjamin has a very good memory! Abigail has quite an amazing memory for insignificant things and remembers them in great detail. But we hadn't realised Benjamin did too - until last Friday when we were at the hospital for my scan. We were in the waiting area where there's a table of toys/books for children and Benjamin started to get upset and said "it's missing - it's missing" (or something like that). We asked him what was missing, assuming he meant his favourite Pooh bear (or the plastic bunch of bananas he'd brought along for Pooh!) which were in the pushchair, but he replied saying "the fish is missing!" It was *then* that I realised what he was talking about! When we were at the hospital before (for my 12 week scan in *September*) there was a large stuffed fish. Something from a Disney film I think, and about 2-3 feet long. He remembered it! He'd only ever been there *once*, and 6 months ago at that! Obviously being such a big stuffed toy it made quite an impression on him - but still, to think something he saw briefly when he was 18 months old, he still remembered!

Benjamin lying in the baby's bed! He doesn't quite fit like he used to! lol

Benjamin wearing a special suit of clothing I made for him (minus the wet bib, which was to help keep his neck dry while he had a nasty cold that made him dribble a lot!). I managed to find a pattern from USA (which I could buy, download & print) for a sleepsuit which goes up to size 4y (the one he's wearing being 3y) and I modified it to have the opening in the back instead of front, and put a zip in. So, this is my version of a secure eczema day suit! :-) He manages to get his hands into *anything*, even the mitten suits that the speciality companies sell for 30 pounds each! I got him some sleepsuits from Verbaudet (a French company) which have poppers on the back and back flap (which I sewed up), but they only go up to 3y (which he's nearly outgrown already), and they have a seam across the foot (which is right where his worst eczema is), so aren't ideal. So, I'm hoping to have a major sewing session in the next week or so and get him several of these made so he'll have some clothes to wear (around the house at least!). I have approx 42 metres of fabric being shipped to me this week (no, not all of them are for Benjamin!). But I happened to be looking on eBay for some cotton jersey fabric to make him some clothes, and it happened that the very day I looked, a lady (who I bought fabric from last May!) had just listed 13 auctions, each with about 6 metres of fabric. All cute cotton fabrics (cord, jersey, sweatshirt fleece, canvas) with lovely children's prints, for both boys & girls! And they're all a discontinued line of fabric from USA which has bright print on a white background, meaning it can be dyed to any colour! (The one he's wearing above was made from that fabric). Best of all, when the auctions ended on Thursday last week, there was hardly any interest and I got the fabric for next to nothing! So I was very excited to say the least - and best of all, nice boy prints to make clothes for Benjamin - at the very time when I was most in need of finding suitable fabric!

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble about fabric! However, if you knew the stress of dealing with an almost 2yo boy with rather severe eczema, you might understand! :-) Sometimes I'm not really sure what to do with him! I think my last blog was after we'd first taken him to the doctors and he was on his first course of steroids. Anyway, the eczema just about cleared up while he was on the hydrocortisone - but 2 days after the 10 day course of it, the eczema was back, and worse than before! We took him to the doctors again, this time seeing a different GP - but again, he just said to have another course of the same. He did give us different cream & stuff for the bath (both for moisturising). Again, the eczema cleared up quite nicely while taking the steroids, but 2 days later, it returned and even worse than the last time. I am very wary of putting them on him again - it seems that doctors really aren't coming up with any solutions for it, and at least in Benjamin's case, the resulting eczema is worse than before steroids. Plus, they can thin the skin, so aren't a good idea to be using all the time. Where to go from here, I really don't know. So far, what seems to actually give Benjamin the most relief is Beelief Botanics Emoliex First Formula ( http://www.beeliefbotanics.com/proddetail.php?prod=emoliexfirstformula_50ml&cat=7 ) which is all natural. I can't say it's actually clearing the eczema up, but it makes him feel a *lot* better! It has lovely cooling properties (from the lavender). When he wakes up in the night miserable and scratching, he is soothed back to sleep by me applying the above cream. You can tell it relieves the itching and cools his skin, but I just don't know how to keep the eczema better under control. We bought some Propolis repair cream from the same company the other day, so I'm trying that on him too. At the moment he's got inflamed skin on both feet, behind both knees, his neck (front & back), and all around his face. I'm just trying to "manage" it at the moment, watching him all the time, trying to keep him cool, in secure cotton clothes to cover most of the skin etc. But it also means I'm not getting much sleep - he was awake for a period of time twice last night - quite miserable. I hate to see him in such discomfort, but I feel that continuing the steroids is just making him worse, so guess we just have to see how things go over the next days/weeks.

One last photo of the children, which was actually meant to be above with the other similar pic.

Must get to bed, though I think I hear Benjamin stirring - so might not get to sleep for a while yet. Oh well - such is life for a mother, I guess.

Winter Wonderland

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! :)

Snowball getting bigger...

And bigger & bigger till....

The finished snowman - with daddy & little helpers! :-)

Giving the cold fellow a great big hug!

Me with children (though I didn't actually help at all - only came out with the camera!).

Climbing in the window to have a look at the snowman!

Well, that's all for now. :)

Walk in the Woods etc

Just thought I'd try to post a second blog before January is gone! Not sure I have anything to say really - but more photos than last time, anyway! :)

Here's Abigail wearing a skirt I crocheted for her! I made up the pattern as I went along, so not exactly perfect - but something fun & relaxing to do (instead of using the computer! lol)

Benjamin (making a funny face - or maybe just hiding from the camera's flash) and holding one of his favourite cuddly toys! Pooh, Tigger and a particular big teddy are all very special to him.

I seem to have a blank mind - can't think of anything interesting to say. Might be due to the fact of getting a combined 4.5 hours sleep last night! For one reason or other, it seems that both Abigail & Benjamin aren't sleeping so well just now! Sometimes it's dreams or needing the toilet for Abigail - and Benjamin either wants a drink from his cup, is just restless, or itchy with his eczema! Last night it was both of them - first Benjamin an hour after I went to sleep (tho he settled again quickly); then Abigail woke up an hour later - 3 times within the hour and I ended up sleeping in her bed for 3 hours, until Benjamin woke up at 5am, in a rather restless mood. He was awake until 6:45 (and so was I! especially as I had to make sure I kept him from scractching himself to pieces). I finally fell back asleep sometime after 7am....and about 30 minutes later Abigail woke up for the day...so that was the end of sleep for me. :-( Seems there's no such thing as extra sleep when I'm pregnant - if anything, it seems to be even less sleep! lol

Anyway, I was feeling tired and a bit breathless/wheezy with my asthma this morning, so decided we should go for a nice walk to get some exericse and fresh air. I think I end up feeling worse with breathing when I'm indoors for too much of the time (which I certainly have been for the past couple of weeks) - and fresh air (as long as it's not *too* cold) makes my lungs feel a lot better. So the rest of the photos are from our walk in the woods (about 5 miles away). I felt much better afterwards - apart from sore back now! :)

Abigail as we were beginning our walk

Benjamin, Peter, and Abigail

Our two lovely children - they were still full of energy at this point (but wanted to be carried part of the way back to the car!)

Me (with 31+ week bump), and Abigail & Benjamin (who was trying to escape from the photo)

Abigail & her daddy - sitting down to have a biscuit & juice before we headed back.

Wishing he could climb a big tree! (he said afterwards "Ben-ja-men climb tree big boy" - already planning what he's going to do when he gets bigger!)

Playing in the leaves & grass together

Well, better go cook some dinner before it gets too late. I think the children (and possibly me too?) could benefit from early baths & bed tonight. :)

A post of few photos...

Just thought I better post something here before I go a full month without blogging! Seems I have very few photos to post, so this might be an extra boring post. Sorry!

Here's Benjamin trying on a "sleeping bag" for the very first time (looking a bit shy, or maybe sleepy!) but cute too! :) He won't keep his duvet (or any blanket) over him at night, and since he wears thin cotton pyjamas because of eczema, he's been getting rather cold at night! So I thought I'd try him in 1tog sleeping bags (light weight because of his eczema) and I think they've been quite a success, as it means he stays covered all night long! Occasionally he says "don't like it" to the idea of being zipped up in a bag (lol) but I think the fact that the above bag is covered in red buses has helped a lot! :) His other sleeping bag is striped (with bright orange - a favourite colour of his) so both are quite popular with him, which is good.

We came down with a nasty vomitting bug the second week in January, which left us all feeling about 20% alive! From the symptoms we had, it seems it was the Norwalk Virus (aka norovirus). Benjamin got it first (around the 7th) and then I followed 2 days later, and Peter & Abigail got it later that day. Both of the children seemed to be rather more severely affected by it - being unwell for about a week. I went 2 days without any food & trying hard to just keep water down (which wasn't very easy for over 36 hours). But thankfully I started getting better just after I felt I was getting to a serious point with regard to dehydration, which can be dangerous when you're pregnant. The midwives would have wanted me to go to hospital for fluids, but I didn't see how that would be possible with Peter *and* both children being sick and in bed! So I was very thankful when I started to keep fluids down. It just left me feeling very weak and took about 4 days before I started to feel about 80% alive again! :)

Here's Abigail & Benjamin doing some cutting & pasting, while they were still feeling poorly with the virus. Abigail went quite a few days sleeping most of the time (and hardly eating anything), but would get up occasionally to do something until she felt exhausted again. They both enjoy crafty things, so this kept them occupied for a little while when I was trying to pack books/get post ready to go out.

Here's Abigail looking very excited as she's playing with some paper dolls for the first time! Her Auntie Leah sent them over to her and she was really surprised, as she didn't know they were coming. These are extra special too, as Leah and I played with these when we were little! I can tell you, we spent *many* happy hours with them. I'm really pleased that Leah kept them all these years and has now passed some on to Abigail. Leah also found some new (unused ones) off eBay which she sent over too. So I think we'll keep those in their new state until Abigail is old enough to keep them in good condition! The old ones are put up in a safe place too, but Abigail just *had* to play with them for a few minutes and try the various clothes on them! :)

An upclose photo of "The Ginghams" - and they even have an unofficial fanpage on the internet: http://home.xnet.com/~countzi/ginghams.htm

Well, can't think of anything else exciting. Maybe I should go to bed, as I've been awake since 6.30am (having gone to bed after midnight last night). Benjamin keeps waking up rather early in the morning and he didn't fall back asleep this time (thankfully he's fallen asleep again on the mornings when he was awake at 5am!). I wouldn't mind if he slept in sometime, but Abigail never sleeps much past 7am, so he doesn't get much of a chance anyway. OK, goodnight. :)

Still December??

Here's Benjamin to say hello to you at the top of this blog post! :) I meant this photo to be at the bottom, but accidentally deleted it, and now I'm unable to put it back where I wanted it (apart from re-uploading every single photo, one at a time). So, here he is at the top! Photo was taken last night while I was doing the dishes (probably around 9pm!), as unfortunately, if he has a nap at all, he won't go to sleep at a sensible time. However, he occasionally look/acts as if he *really* needs a bit of daytime sleep, so I just have to give up my otherwise quiet evening & keep him from disturbing a sleeping Abigail...until about 10pm!

So yes, it's still December. When I posted the week before last I was thinking I'd probably not put anything here until the new year. However, I felt like posting, so here I am.

Wonder what interesting (or, more likely, boring) news I might have. OH yes, last week I passed the theory part of my UK driving test!!! :-D I was soooo pleased. My first attempt and I passed it. Phew, what a relief! Now, I must try to tackle the practical (actual driving!) part of the test, as I'd really like to get my driving license before baby #3 arrives. Peter thinks I should at least have 1 lesson with a trained instructor to see if they think I'm ready for it, but so far haven't done anything in that direction. Maybe once the holidays are over I'll do something.

Here's Abigail & Benjamin having a picnic together - something they frequently enjoy doing - tea parties too!

Benjamin's idea of a cuddly toy! :-) He felt like climbing in bed for a wee rest the other afternoon (he often does this when he feels tired, but doesn't actually go to sleep on his own) and he brought his "campie" (what he calls camper vans, or most vans even!) to bed with him and insisted that he wanted it tucked in with him.

Benjamin wearing the "baby" trousers that I recently finished crocheting. Yes, they were meant to be tiny trousers but something went very wrong (obviously!) and I ended up with quite large ones. I'm guessing I used a much bigger yarn than the pattern called for and possibly a bigger hook too. In any case they were meant to be "newborn sized" but looked rather like 6-9 months when I finished them - however, in actual fact, they fit Benjamin quite nicely, who wears size 18-24m clothes (tho maybe slightly short in the legs)! The pattern doesn't even give instructions for making them that big - only up to 12-18m, so don't know what happened.

Back view of crocheted trousers. They're not bad really (in my opinion!) but just *not* what they were supposed to be. :)

Last Saturday when we were in Tesco I spotted that they'd reduced some gingerbread house kits down from 5 pounds to a mere 9 pence!!! I don't think they're actually very tasty to eat, but I thought you can't possibly go wrong with spending 9p for an art project/toddler activity....even without eating it! So Abigail & Benjamin had fun helping put it together & decorate it on Saturday afternoon. Benjamin was quite excited when he realised the decorations were edible - and we had to keep him from eating them all before they got stuck on.

Close up of our masterpiece! haha

So, what else I wonder? Oh yeah, I've been back to the doctors again yesterday as the wheezing in my lungs hasn't gone away...and got rather worse when I did dusting/hoovering under the bed, etc. Soooo, I think I'm allergic to my dirty/dusty house! Anyway, after reading up on asthma I was thinking it sounded rather like what I've had (as well as having problems in the past with breathing after being around cigarette smoke or mould). And the doctor yesterday said again that he thinks the problems are asthmatic, even if I don't have a severe case of it. However, the wheezing I had yesterday was very loud and it's especially important during pregnancy to deal with asthma, as the baby needs to be sufficiently oxygenated. So, the doctor has increased my "reliever" inhaler to 4 times a day, and has given me a new prescription for a steroid "preventer" inhaler which I'm meant to take twice a day. Naturally, I'm rather reluctant to want to take something like steroids when I'm pregnant, but supposedly it's a low level of them. Also, I'm told (both by doctor & online information) that the lack of oxygen can be more harmful to the baby than medications to treat the asthma...so guess I better take what I'm given and try to get better.

Right, must get to sleep, but I'll leave you with this photo of my lovely little boy. Doesn't he have the cutest smile? OK, I will be biased since I'm the mummy, but he really is a darling. He's all dressed warm (as in, 2 pairs of pyjamas), as it's *very* cold outside - everything has been frozen solid for days and it's several degrees below freezing. I think this is the coldest I've ever experienced here in Scotland - brrr! Can't wait for it to thaw.

Nearly 2009

Not sure where this year has gone, but seems to have just flown by. Or at least the last 6 months have. One week seems to begin and before I know it, it's already Friday again. Anyway, thought I'd try to get another post done before December is over - though I'm not sure anyone is still reading this. However, I felt like posting, so here I am, even if I'm just talking to myself! :-)

Here's Benjamin showing Tigger and his favourite teddy bear (which Evelyn gave him) out the window. He loves to stand on his train table and look at the passing cars, trucks, vans, etc that are on the main road (beyond the row of houses which back onto our gardens). He only gets a passing glimpse of them between two houses, but it's exciting for him even still.

Climbing on mummy's computer chair - I think he's a born climber, which can be rather scary at times (especially when it's the fire guard or bunk bed that he's getting on). But he doesn't seem to have any sense of danger yet - wonder when that will come?!

Not sure what Abigail was doing here, but seems I'm rather low on photos of her today, so thought I'd include it anyway. She likes to help mummy out whenever she can (though isn't always keen on tidying up messes). Having said that, she did a really good job on her bedroom yesterday (without even being told - she just realised it was a mess and was determined to keep working until it was clean). She likes to help with laundry, and even went in the kitchen last week and tried to do the dishes all by herself. Unfortunately she didn't have clean water to do them in, so I had to wash them again later - but I didn't have the heart to stop her, as she was really trying hard to help me, since she thought I wasn't feeling too well.

Benjamin's new pastime: reading the Motor section of the local weekly newspaper! :-) He gets soooo excited when he sees this and thinks it's especially for him - he'll spend ages studying them all. He was telling me this evening (when the above photo was taken) "a black Rover car" - see, he's already into what make/brand the cars are! LOL However, I think it might have been a BMW (or something totally different - don't think it was a Rover, but was certainly a good guess). But he's quite mad about cars and talks about wanting to drive daddy's car.

I'm sure I've mentioned before what a chatter box Benjamin is. He's always surprising me with the big words that he comes out with. He listens carefully to all conversations or whenever someone is reading something and he picks out words that he's not heard before, which sound unusual (like place names in the Bible, or names like Zebedee!) and he repeats them multiple times. His new phrase today is "I think so". But it's amazing how clearly he says things too - I have such fun just listening to him talk. He was being very friendly today in Tesco and kept saying hello to just about everyone he met, and commenting to a lady about the melon in her shopping trolly! He never has really interacted like that before with people in shops, so it was quite funny. He's also really trying to learn letters at the moment - maybe he wants to pass Abigail up and learn to read before her! LOL The other day he found a Z and said "Z for Zoo" and then a G and said "G for Granny" and he likes to spot letters in the middle of words. However, the magnetic M's, he prefers to say they are W's (when upside down), his favourite being a yellow & orange one, which he brought to both lunch & dinner yesterday! I think he knows all the ordinary colours, identifies them correctly, and always says the colour of something at the same time as saying what it is, as colours are very important to him!

My big little boy again - must stop talking about him so much, or this will be a Benjamin post! :-) However, I'll just say that I'm pleased to report that he's doing very well with sleeping at night - yay! Several times in the past week he's slept from 7:30pm to 7:30am, completely in his own bed, in the other room with Abigail. He occasionally wakes up once or twice and stirs a bit, but once I help him with his cup (he seems to get very thirsty in the night) he's back asleep again. A couple of times he got rather cold (having got out from under his duvet) and after trying to settle him back down again in his bed, he sat up and said "Mummy, get Benjy ... cuddle", to which I couldn't possibly say no! :-) So a couple of times I've taken him back to our bed to warm him up and he wraps his arms around my neck, as he *loves* cuddles just now - all day long he'll come up to me and say "Mummy cug" or "Mummy cuddle" - he can say cuddle perfectly, but still likes to use "cug" instead, quite frequently. Anyway, regarding sleep, unfortunately Benjamin sleeping through at night isn't meaning I'm getting all that much extra sleep, as Abigail has started night wakings just at the *very* same time as he started sleeping! :-( She'd occasionally wake up and get a drink from her cup by her bed and climb back in bed quite happily, but lately she's been a bit worried about the dark etc and wanders into our room or climbs in our bed etc. I often take her back to her bed and lie down with her, but she doesn't seem to be falling asleep again as quickly as before. I'm just hoping it's a short phase and she's back to sleeping through the night again as she's done for many months now.

My lovely little girl, who looks very grown up here (along with her brother being silly).

Hmmm, seems I've done enough talking for one night - if not the whole month! ;-) I ought to get to sleep soon. I've not been feeling well lately - well, ever since I had a cold in the middle of September - yes, 3 months ago! I've had lingering cold symptoms (mainly chest congestion and wheezing/short of breath). I've been hoping it would go away on it's own, but I seemed to be getting worse yesterday and was feeling quite weak with the lack of breath/noisy wheezing in my lungs. So, I finally went to see a doctor today. Not sure if he knew exactly what was wrong, but since it seems there might be a bit of infection, I've got a course of antibiotics to take and he's also prescribed me an inhaler to try and help with the wheezing. He thought I sounded a bit asthmatic, but I wouldn't have thought so myself. Anyway, just hope to start feeling better soon.

OK, goodnight everyone - or rather, anyone who might happen to still be reading my boring words.