A visit from Nat!

Yes, my lovely brother has flown all the way from Texas just to see us! We feel very special! :-D He arrived on Saturday last week and already goes back on Friday! :( We're really enjoying having him here, but I think he's seen us at our worst, as we've really been dragging or barely alive with the remains of the nasty cold/flu stuff that started *2* full weeks ago! So it's a shame we've all been so poorly, and the weather has been very wet, wild & windy, so fairly stuck in the house! Anyway, it's lovely to have him here! Clement was a bit slower to come round, as he's not so sure of strangers. But Abigail and Benjamin are *too* comfortable with him, so he might be ready for a break from them by Friday! :-) LOL

So yes, we're still coughing - at least me & my little boys are! But the boys are nothing like what they were at the weekend! Basically Clement developed croup on Friday night and then Benjamin woke up with croup on Saturday morning. He wasn't too bad during the day and managed OK to go along to the airport in Inverness to pick up his Uncle Nat. But the cough was getting a lot worse by bedtime - resulting in him being sick in his bed only 45 min after he'd gone to sleep, having just had a bath! :-( This meant the poor child had to get in the bath again so I could clean him up - I felt terrible, as he must have been so cold (at least, I always feel cold when I'm awakened unexpectedly), so having to get into the bath again, when he'd finally dried/warmed up must have been awful. Though I think he handled it better than I did - I was in tears and he was quite OK. He settled afterwards on the couch while I was giving cuddles to Clement, who was also quite poorly. But Benjamin seemed to get worse overnight and by morning he was very wheezy and his breathing wasn't normal or the way it should be. I felt that I should get a doctor to look at him but didn't think he was severe enough for Peter to stay home from church, so he, Abigail & Nat went out and I stayed in with the boys. I first tried to ring the local health centre to see if there was an out of hours number but the recording said I had to phone the dreaded NHS24, which I did. Having given the details to the lady on the phone I waited for them to ring me back. The nurse who phoned about 20 minutes later wasn't exactly the most polite person and told me there was no one local to see him (as in GPs) and that because he was a toddler it was very dangerous to have breathing problems and I needed to let her send an ambulance here! I felt it was rather over the top, especially since he was alert and playing/walking around, but she near enough shouted at me (tho in a low voice) that I needed to allow her to do this and basically was being very bad to even hesitate about the idea! Since she said the paramedics would assess him at the house first before deciding we had to go away anywhere, I eventually said OK. So a very few minutes later they arrived - and they said that Benjamin needed to be seen by a doctor. Thankfully a GP was on duty in the local county hospital (Invergordon), as I was dreading anyone saying we might have to go to Inverness. So I left a note on the table to tell Peter where we were and Benjamin, Clement and I were taken in the ambulance. At least it meant we got to go straight in and be seen, rather than having to wait for very long. The peramedics put a oxygen "mask" on Benjamin while we rode, and I was very impressed that he didn't mind it on him! He just sat perfectly still the whole time and I think the extra air helped him to calm down a bit too. The doctor said Benjamin needed some oral steroids (which is what I knew they give for croup and felt he needed, even if I wasn't keen on the idea of steroids in an even more potent form than he has had before, in creams). Basically croup is an infection of the larynx (voice box) and trachea (windpipe) and it affects young children because theirs is small and when it's inflamed it can cause problems with breathing. So the steroids reduce the inflammation. Benjamin had a dissolved tablet of it while at hospital and they sent him home with another one for the following day. Thankfully Peter was back home by the time we were just about finished, so I rang him and he was able to come collect us and take us back home. Quite an ordeal really, but thankful for prompt help and that the medicine relieved Benjamin's breathing. The cough isn't totally gone but hopefully we'll not have too many more days of it now.

Clement playing with his present from Aunty Leah

Saturday afternoon, Abigail and Benjamin enjoying the many presents delivered by Uncle Nat, which he brought over from Leah, Sarah etc

Can you see my brand new tooth? :-) Yes, Clement has his first tooth - there on the bottom if you can see it! Abigail and Benjamin started with teeth on the top, but Clement just has to be different! ;-D

And isn't he lovely here?! :)

I couldn't possibly get them to all look at me, so a very chaotic photo!

What the children are usually doing when I'm cooking dinner - the older two like to sit on the counter and watch me - or make messes, more likely!

And now I must get some sleep, or I'll never get over my sinus infection (or whatever it is I have!).

Abigail is 4!

Yes, my little girl is already 4 years old! Abigail's birthday was on Thursday. She absolutely loves the idea of birthdays and has been nearly counting down the days since her last one! And sure enough, she's already talking about how long till she's 5! LOL

Presents, balloons, cards, etc waiting for her in the morning!

Opening said presents

A funny pose!

A new scooter

Playing with balloons

Clement escaping from birthday excitement and paying a visit to the Book Shop (aka Daddy's office!).

Playing with another of her presents - a lovely paper doll house, meant to be an exact reproduction of the house of Anne of Green Gables.

Birthday cake! Abigail specifically requested a "Hello Kitty" cake, so I had to attempt one! Looking at her placemat (seen in above photo) I tried to copy that, but I think I could do with some lessons in cake decorating! lol

Blowing out the candles, with help from Benjamin!

Then yesterday (day after her birthday) I took the 3 children on the train and we met my good friend Ruth and her 2 little ones, Jonathan & Lois. We had a lovely morning/afternoon at Runaround, which is an indoor soft play place. It's only for under 5s, so is a nice & safe place for little ones to get their energy out and play with numerous toys, including slides and a bouncy castle, and *lots* of riding toys! Leaving the mums to have a chat and cups of tea! :-D So we had lunch together there (there's also a cafe) and then the kids and I got the train back home.

Benjamin started feeling poorly last night - coughing, which then led to vomiting. I'm guessing it's the cold that Abigail seemed to come down with the day before her birthday. However, she seems to always find some energy at various points in the day. But Benjamin has been flat out with it today - not eating (he's gagging on foods) and sleeping a lot of the day, or just wanting to be held. He's got a temp of 102.8f (39C) just now and is drifting off to sleep for the 3rd or 4th time today. He's only eaten his cereal at breakfast and hasn't been able to cope with any food since- just trying to keep giving him fluids. And then to make matters worse, I slipped on a fleece cloth (on kitchen floor) *while* I was carrying Benjamin (who was asleep) and fell flat on my face on the floor on top of poor Benjamin! :( He seemed to be OK, though rather frightened. But I hit my face on the door jamb, and did something to my arm (between elbow and wrist) and it's hurting quite badly still. I don't think anything is broken, but maybe it's sprained in some way.

My big happy 7 month old! :-) He loves his baby walker and goes all round the house in it.

In the walker again!

Eating biscuits - yum yum!

Joiner (builder) in the making! :-D Wearing Benjamin's new yellow wellies and his hard hat.

Story time with daddy - something they all enjoy! Especially Clement when it's a book with animal sounds! We're beginning to think he's a parrot - the only way to explain how he copies complicated sounds after we tell him something! Last week we were waiting in the car and I was holding Clement when a cat walked past the car window. I pointed it out to him saying "Kitty-cat says miaow" and he responded with "kie-kaa" several times. And then whenever I would just saw miaow, he'd say "kie-kaa"! And he also says "moo" and "baaa" at times when we're talking about cows and sheep! And what's really sweet is when he says "lov-ya" or, more commonly, "lov-ya dadda" and looks at his daddy with a big smile! :-D He also attempts to repeat all sorts of words, some which really catch us by surprise, like digger. I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of too. It's just really neat to watch the way his speaking develops - he certainly wants to talk!

Benjamin taking his eczema treatment into his own hands! LOL Spreading Eucerin cream on his face! We've had a few nasty flare ups lately. With one I ended up (being naughty) and using some of Clement's anti-fungal cream on Benjamin's skin, as I thought it looked rather like a fungal infection. It cleared up very nicely - redness went away very quickly. But unfortunately his skin was very dry and he got rather itchy not very many days later. So then I ended up putting some Eumovate (moderate potency steroid) on him earlier this week, because once he gets to scratching (and chewing his fingers/wrists/hands) there's just no stopping him, and it results in both him & me getting stressed, and then that just makes him even worse! I only put the Eumovate on him about 3 times and then back to his manuka honey cream, and his skin was looking really nice. But his hands/wrists are quite bad again just now. I don't know how to break his recently begun habit of chewing his hands! It is very damaging to his skin, and they're just covered in sores. :-( But otherwise, his legs/feet are OK at the moment - it's really limited to his hands and the odd patch on his neck and arms.

Doesn't he look fat?! LOL But poor Clement has been having skin issues too - his face is quite sensitive to fabrics. He'll go super red on his cheeks if he's held next to me while I'm wearing a wool coat. Or if he comes in contact with something that's washed in detergent/fabric softener - like a pillow case that I pulled out the other day, which hadn't been used since we went over to no fabric softener or detergent! And also having issues with "nappy rash", though I'm starting to think he might be getting eczema there, possibly from the stitching on some of his cloth nappies! So I keep doing "testing" to try and determine that brings him out with the rash, since it usually goes away when he's in disposables. But he's been wearing cloth nappies since birth without problems - so it seems he's becoming more and more allergic/sensitive to things that were previously ok.

Well, I think all my children are asleep now, so I better get the dishes and other chores done before having a shower. I feel like I've been sitting on the couch most of the day with Benjamin being poorly, so the house is rather upside down!

Yesterday made 5 years since....

....we got married! :-) In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday, but with 3 children now, 5 years has just passed quickly! It's nice to remember that special day - and it has certainly been five very happy years of my life!

Here's my beautiful little boy:
He's sitting up all by himself in the photo, but only because hands were hidden nearby to catch him should he fall (or throw himself!) backwards.

Pretending to be a lion!

Benjamin has been rather struggling with his eczema lately. :-( I think the late nights with all the chaos from us going back & forth between the two houses has tired him out and made him less relaxed. And of course, whenever he's tired, hungry or stressed - he thinks about scratching - whether there is visible eczema there or not! Thankfully he has eczema in a lot fewer places than he has had before. I mean, it all began on his feet, and was there until fairly recently. But he has very little signs of eczema of on his feet now, yet he'll still rub his feet together whenever he's bothered! The major place he's battling it is on his hands/wrists - which isn't helped by the fact that he will chew his hands/fingers and also scratch/rip them till they're running with blood! So I think they've been a bit infected lately and I've been trying to get that under control without having to take him to the doctor for full blown course of antibiotics, but not sure yet if that will work. They improve slightly overnight since he has mitten sleepsuits to sleep in, but mittens don't seem to work very well during the day since it affects him being able to play/hold things, and they'd get wet & mucky very quickly! Anyway, I'm just thankful that he's not covered with it like he was before - basically just arm/leg creases (behind knees and other side of his elbows) and his hands/wrists, and a small patch on his neck at the moment. It doesn't mean I don't feel stressed about it - esp when he has bad days of wanting to scratch all day, but when I think about it fairly, I realise that he was so much worse before! And he's sleeping a lot better too - most nights I'm able to sleep totally undisturbed! I don't go to bed early though ;-) - so I'm able to give him his cup for a drink around midnight or sometimes slightly later, but then I don't hear anything from him till he wakes up for the morning around 7:05am! So all in all, I do have much to be thankful for - even tho we still live with eczema!

Tickling his sister!

Abigail looking very un-impressed with Benjamin sitting inside her desk!

And smiling Clement again! He's got such a sweet face with his big smile. However, the poor little boy hasn't been doing as much smiling for the past week or so. :-( He's been rather poorly in several ways! First started around Saturday last week when he was just a *lot* more tired than usual and grumpy. Thought maybe it was just teething but by Monday evening he was a lot worse and had quite a high temp. So we phoned up the clinic here and they gave us an appointment for that afternoon. The doctor looked at his throat and said it was red/inflamed, so he prob had a sore throat. It was a relief to hear that, as I'd been concerned the fever might have meant another urine infection. But then 2 days later he woke up with an odd patch of redness on his forehead and small spots *all* over his back and tummy/chest, and an on-going nappy rash problem we've had was majorly worse! So back to the gp again! The lady said that the rash on back/tummy/head would be viral, and connected to the fever he'd had and that hopefully it meant he was on the mend! As for the nappy rash, she said that was thrush! :-( This is my first time after 3 children to have any thrush problems, so I'm convinced it's from Clement spending nearly 4 months of his life on antibiotics! grrrr! So she gave me a prescription for a cream which has made a lot of progress with clearing it up, though it's not toally gone. And I just hope it doesn't come back again. Guess I'll need to feed him lots of yoghurt to get some good bacteria back into him!

And here he is again, trying to crawl! He keeps getting up on all fours and trying to have a go, but not totally getting the hang of it yet! However, the solid floors are good for sliding around on, so he moves quite a lot. LOL

And here's him again, when he wasn't feeling very well! :-( Trying to snuggle up and get some rest in the pushchair while we were doing some final painting to our old house! At last we've finished the indoor painting and had the home report (survey) done today! So, we're on our way to getting it on the market!! And I took lots of photos of the inside as well, should anyone be looking to buy a house up this way (or just wanting to have a nosey!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7117104@N05/sets/72157622685364732

And now I must get myself to bed!

Moving house & various unrelated photos

So, we've moved house! :-) After 2 weeks of no broadband since moving here (only the occasional very slow dial up internet) we're finally back online today! So of course, the first thing I think about is updating my blog - which includes a stash of photos to sort through.

We ended up hiring a removal company (David Mackay from Ardgay, who were really good!) to move our stuff - we boxed everything up and they picked it up and unloaded it again. It really made it a LOT easier - I can't imagine how long it would have taken us to do it all ourselves! So the house was emptied all in one go, on the 1st of October. But we've still got to finish emptying the attic (or loft, as it seems to be called over here) and the garden sheds, once we've got the new one installed here next week. So yeah, so much to get done! I've started on painting the interior of our old house on Tuesday - did a fair bit of the sitting/dining room, but not quite finished it. I accidentally happened to find someone local on eBay who was selling off some paint very cheaply (as in, I wasn't even looking for paint!), so we went and picked it up last week. Lots of tins of unopened Dulux paint, for a fraction of the cost new - so hopefully have enough to do the rooms that need to be done. I always like to find a bargain! ;-) Just have to get the house finished so the home report can be done, and then put it on the market before winter sets in!

We're enjoying our house - it's great to have more space! Though it will be even better when all the boxes get unpacked and Abigail's room is finished (waiting for a few things to be done, including a wall put up to divide the large room into a bedroom for her). In the meantime it's a big room full of stuff, including boxes which the children find interesting to climb on, and occasionally open and explore the contents of!

As for the town here, everyone seems very nice & friendly. And I have to say, I'm quite glad to be even further away from Inverness! ;-) I'm just not a city girl - though I'm sure plenty of people would laugh at my idea of Inverness being too much of a city, since it's in the centre of the highlands, which is considered a rather remote place! LOL It just seems more calm & peaceful out here, people more trusting etc. When we first came here I went in the local pet shop only to find that there wasn't anyone in it. A few seconds later several people came in, and then I realised the lady & children who were further along in front of a local shop were the shop owners - and it was the 8-10 year old daughter who was running the till! And Peter was in the local plumbing shop and the man there was even going to offer to lend him a tool for something! So yeah, it seems really nice & friendly here.

Now, a load of photos, even though I really should be asleep in bed!

Abigail & Benjamin playing in the square in front of our old house, while mummy & daddy were busy packing boxes! They got these cars only the week before we moved. I saw them offered on Freecycle from someone in the next village over - I later wondered if I was crazy to ask for them, as they'd be 2 more things to have to pack up and move. But it turned out they were fantastic to occupy them with while we were busy inside - and they're still having fun with them!

All packed up and ready to go! ;-)

My smiling fat little boy - showing off a curl that appeared on his head after a bath once!

Now, are these photos the same baby or not? ;-) While going through my recent photo tonight, I came across a couple of photos of Clement which I was sure reminded me of other photos, and I wasn't mistaken. The one on the left is Abigail and the right is Clement - both at exactly 5.5 months old too! Of course, she's rather less fat than he is! lol

Benjamin and Clement playing together, before we moved

Benjamin's new bedroom! :)

our new back garden, with children playing in it

back garden again

Sitting room, though not totally finished - in need of new cushion covers, when we manage to get to Ikea again! And new rugs, etc. But an attempt to get things a bit like home!

another view of sitting room

Kitchen

and again, with Clement

Clement dressed for cold weather, though it's rather mild again now!

our bedroom, though not yet fully organised - or totally unpacked!

bedroom again

And who could these be? Clement on the left and .... Peter on the right, when he was a baby! Though Clement is about 2 months older than his daddy was in the photo - but I thought they looked quite similar!

Clement wearing the lovely cardigan that Naomi knitted for him! :-)

And now I must get in bed, or I'll not want to get anything done tomorrow!

Still around...

Well, I haven't got myself packed into a box yet! ;-) In fact, we don't really have anything in boxes yet - and only like 10 days till we sign papers and get the house! :-O But I've been doing lots of major decluttering - lots of bags gone to charity shops (or out at the door for the charity bag collectors - which means I don't have to haul them anywhere!). So I think we're accomplishing something - and I cleared out 6 pushchairs, which is progress for sure! Hopefully once we're ready to start boxing things up it won't take too much effort to sort things out - or at least that's the idea. But we hope to move and reassemble the shelving and books (as in, the multiple thousands of books that are for sale!) first, since that's not connected with what we need for eating/sleeping!

I think I'll just post these photos and then get to bed, as I never seem to get near enough sleep. We all ended up with a nasty cold/flu type thing - apparently connected with the virus that gave Benjamin the croup over 2 weeks ago. Abigail, Clement and I still have rather noisy/wheezy breathing from it, but hopefully that won't last too much longer.These first three photos are from today

"We don't do baby rice here - big boy food all the way - pass the baguettes, please!" :-) He loves to teethe on big bits of bread, especially the "crusts" from homemade pizza!

Smiling at his mummy, of course!

Making a funny face, and thinking about where he might be able to go

"Mummy says I must wear shoes when I'm outside .... so does that mean her shoes will do?" ;-)

Watching mummy in the kitchen

Again, watching his mummy in the kitchen (you might think I live in there! ;-) ) - he's quite enjoying the baby walker which we got when Benjamin was about his age!

Chewing a biscuit (cracker), but I had to soon take it from him, as he bit off a huge piece and looked in danger of choking!

Yep, he's one of us ... he loves books! ... tho eating them is even better!

Benjamin playing in a big box

Cooking a pretend meal

Soaking up the sunshine

A close up of Benjamin's face! lol

And Abigail too, as she didn't want to be left out

On Wednesday we went to see my friend Ruth, who's just had a lovely little baby girl! :-) She's called Lois and we went over to meet her, which was nice! Made Clement look like he's not a baby anymore to see a newborn!

Afterwards we went for a walk near Tore. The above photo shows Abigail and her work of art (she's got a big creative streak!). She and Benjamin collected lots of interesting objects - pine cones, acorns, hay, feathers, leaves, etc and when we got home Abigail arranged them all in her trainers, which looked quite clever really!

And this is what I collected during our walk:

19 of the 22 cooking apples we picked/collected! We were walking along a path where a old railway once was and we found a lone apple tree there! No idea how it got there, but I made a *lovely* apple crumble with 3 of the apples that evening! Now I must make sure I make something else with some of them tomorrow, as Abigail was rather disappointed that I didn't make a pie or cake today!

Ok, I'm off to bed now - I hope! :-)