Christmas crafting!!

Jacob is finally getting over the hand, foot and mouth, cold and cough he's suffered with the last two weeks. However, those evil little teeth are cutting their way through so I'm expecting some bad nights soon! He has actually been sleeping so well since getting better. I've not had to get up to him once in the night which has been lovely. He's woke up a little bit whingey a few times but settled back off on his own. However, the better sleep has come with earlier starts. He is up around 6.30 most mornings now. Which would be fine if it wasn't so dark and cold out!!! I still don't know how to set our heating up so it comes on with the timer so it is absolutely freezing when we get up in the mornings.

We went to Van Hages garden centre last Wednesday to see Santa, I booked it a little while ago and Jacob didn't seem so poorly that morning so thought we'd still go as we went last year and it was lovely. However, I think it was a little bit too soon to have taken him out as he was not in the mood at all. He absolutely screamed the place down and wasn't interested in Santa, the lights or the presents. We took him for a little walk around the animals after which he obviously loved, but he must have felt rough because he crashed out the second we pulled out of the carpark. Hopefully next year!!

We've been meaning to make Christmas cards and ornaments for the family for nearly two weeks but just haven't got round to it. So yesterday, Rich was home so I got him to help me with the "Christmas tree feet" cards I wanted to make. Jacob wasn't very cooperative, so we had to rush them, but they seem to have come out okay. They're literally a green foot print upside down. Then you draw on the lights or baubles with the good trusty Sharpie pens. Just FYI, I'm obsessed with a Sharpie. I don't know why, I just love them. We also made some snowmen cards today as we needed a few more, and it's the same idea, an upside down foot print, then draw on the face, scarf and buttons etc.

I'd also seen a salt dough recipe that I've wanted to do for ages so we gave that a try today. It was so easy, literally a cup of salt, a cup of plain flour and it says half a cup of water, but I found this a bit too much so had to add more flour. But just add water bit by bit until you get a play-doh like dough. I literally rolled it out, cut out circles and Jacob pressed his hand (I forced him to push his hand, he didn't want to play) into the dough. Then used a straw to make a small hole in the top for string or ribbon to go through. Then bake at 100 Celsius for 3 hours. They came out pretty good. We painted the red then put gold glitter on them, and wrote a little message on them. I can't wait to give them out to family members. And we've obviously kept one for our tree. Hopefully I'll remember to do them every year!

It was my birthday on Sunday, but lucky for me I had a nice headache and spent most of the day in bed! We had family over for takeaway in the evening as Rich was determined I actually did something on the day. I'm so boring, birthdays aren't that big a deal to me, my birthday anyway. And because its so close to Christmas, I'm usually more excited about that. All I cared about was getting a card from Jacob. Rich had him "write" inside himself. Which was a lovely felt pen masterpiece! I also got a really lovely charm for my Pandora bracelet. I'd had my eye on it for ages but didn't think it was appropriate to buy it for myself so I'm glad Jacob (Rich) got it for me!

Jacobs Routine.

Can you tell we are stuck at home?
Jacob is currently sleeping like a trooper, catching up on the last weeks worth of lost sleep I think! He has been asleep nearly four hours and I've actually found myself bored. This never happens. This post obviously doesn't apply to today/this week or even when he's poorly at all but I always love hearing about other babies and toddlers routines and have found it so helpful having so many friends who've all had little ones around the same time as we had Jacob. Every child is obviously different but this is Jacobs normal day to day routine.

 

6.30-7.30am is wake up time in our house. If we are really lucky, Jacob will sometimes sleep until nearly 8. If its closer to 7.30, I'll bring Jacob into our room and let him wake Rich up for work, otherwise its down stairs for some Disney Junior or CBeebies.

8am Jacob normally wakes up pretty hungry so I get breakfast ready quite quickly. He normally has cheerios and some kind of fruit, normally blueberries or a banana, and has milk to drink.

9/9.30am We get ready for the day normally and I try to get Jacob to drink some fresh orange to keeps his bowels on the go! (Sorry if TMI!)

10am If we are doing anything before lunch such as a bit of shopping, this is normally the time we will do this as its just before his nap. Otherwise Jacob will normally potter around and entertain himself while I do a few things around the house (which I'll admit has been rare since becoming pregnant, although the last two weeks I've gotten a bit more motivated!) Jacob will normally have a little snack around now too, just maybe a rusk which he still loves or some of the Heinz Biscotti.

11.30am This is usually nap time. Since Jacob dropped to one nap, we've found that going around this time normally works best as he has quite unsettled nights a lot so can be quite flaked by this time. He normally naps for 1 and a half to 2 hours. Recently, I've been using this time to get a few things done if I've been lazy or had a clingy monster in the morning, and sometimes have a sneaky little snooze myself although since the morning (all day) sickness stopped, I've not been so desperate for it as usual so will just normally sit and revel in the quiet.

1-1.30pm Lunchtime! Sometimes Jacob can wake up absolutely ravenous and screams the place down so recently I've started to try and have his lunch ready.  He'll normally have a sandwich of some kind, bagel or pasta. Crisps or those mini organix rice cakes or their carrot puffs, although I'm horrible and don't let him have "real" crisps everyday. If we've gotten a food shop in too (which we are terrible at, daily trips to tesco in this house!) Jacob will normally have cucumber and cherry tomatoes too and always some kind of fruit. And he usually finishes off with a yogurt.

2.30pm This is normally when I try to do some sort of activity with Jacob, normally a walk or wrapping up and playing in the garden. Although the weather is making this more difficult of late so I stocked up on some crafty bits. He's gotten into painting and stuff and if he wakes up in a good mood, I'm planning on making Christmas cards this afternoon. But we will see!!

5.30pm Dinnertime. We do try to all eat together as a family, obviously this isn't always possible but try we do! Jacob normally eats what we eat but on the days when we are having a later dinner or something not very Jakey friendly, the Annabelle Karmel or the Little Dish toddler meals are nice and quick and he always eats every last bite. I normally have left overs in the freezer but always forget about them and they end up getting chucked in the bin. Last week I threw away six separate dinners that I'd frozen. Jacob will normally have a yoghurt or something naughty like a little cake or chocolate biscuit for pudding. He drinks water or really weak squash throughout the day. Rich banned fruit shoots as he read an article about them having some ingredient in them thats proven to make kids naughty. I'm pretty sure that's the sugar!

6.30pm Bath time, although Jacob normally only has a bath every other day as his skin is so sensitive and dries out really easily! We normally do the bedtime routine together as Rich wouldn't have seen Jacob much if its a weekday and to be honest, he's such a terror it takes two of us to chase him round and get him into his PJ's!

7pm Bedtime. Jacob picks about 700 books to read and then we read the same one about four times before he goes into his cot. He usually settles off quite well. He does still wake up a fair few times a night, normally crying because he can't find his dummy. But usually stays in his cot until the morning and we start the whole routine again!

Obviously this isn't always the case, if we have a play date or Jo Jingles, it normally gets wiggled around a bit. But I am known as a bit of a routine drill sergeant to my family when it comes to Jacob. It will probably bite me in the backside in time to come!

Quarantined!

So its been a bit of a crazy week in the Wright/Williams household. Jacobs last few teeth are trying to fight their way through his gums since the beginning of last week so when he got unbelievably grumpy, tearful, hot and just plain miserable on Thursday, we just thought he was really having a tough time with them. Friday he was very up and down again, and we had his appointment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the afternoon for his ultrasound to check his bowels and kidneys, which was all clear and his six month oncology check up with the amazing Dr. Kingston. When I say amazing, that doesn't even cover it. She is just unbelievable. She knows everything there is to know about Jacobs condition and actually was part of the team that created the chemotherapy drug combination they now use to treat Rb. She is just amazing. She was very happy with Jacobs weight gain and as I thought, he's shot up just under ten centimetres in six months. That explains the super shrinking trouser legs!! He was not his happy self and just stood at the door crying to leave. The journey home was hideous. My step dad Steve usually takes us to GOSH as he knows his way round London pretty well, and even with his cut throughs and side street knowledge, the hour journey took two! And Jacob screamed for the last 40 minutes. He had refused to eat all day, again thinking it was just teething we just carried on with the Calpol and Anbesol liquid. Come the evening, he was still not stop crying and refused to sleep, at which point I said to Rich "I'm not sure this is just teething." He has never suffered like this with his teeth, so Saturday morning when he was no better, we went to A&E as his tongue looked swollen which obviously set alarm bells ringing. We were seen quickly and as soon as then nurse picked his hand up to check his obs, I saw the little white spots. Before the nurse could even say anything, I said "He's got hand, foot and mouth!" She just said "yep, home and rest!" There's nothing you can do for it. But as soon as I saw the spots on his hands it made sense. His little mouth was filled with ulcers. I honestly felt like the worst mother in the world. I was shoving my fingers in his mouth, running Anbesol round his gums when it must have been so painful! So since Saturday we have been battling eating, drinking and sleeping with an arsenal of Calpol, Nurofen and me cooking/making a hundred different things to hopefully entice Jacob to eat. The only thing we managed on Saturday was a spoonful of porridge. And yesterday, he ate two bananas and some cheerios. We've been looking for anything plain! Milk has been quite a life saver too. He's not normally much of a milk drinker but I think the cold helps and the milk soothes the ulcers. I'm pretty sure he's got lots of spots down the back of his throat too as he has a terrible sore throat now and didn't swallow for a few days. We went through every T-shirt and every bib in the house over the course of Friday to Sunday I think! He seems a tiny bit better today, sleep has been tough and he's had hardly any which obviously doesn't help. But he's sat next to me watching Frozen while I've been writing this which is better than the constant tears we've had the last few days. Rich and me have been tag teaming sleep, eating and trying to keep Jacob entertained. It has been quite tough. Rich is so laid back and has so much patience and can manage on next to no sleep, but I am a nightmare. My patience is nonexistent when I'm tired, and paired with these pregnancy hormones, I have not been very nice to live with this weekend. I've been sent off to sleep a fair few times! I obviously try not to be a monster in front of Jacob and I think he knows Rich is the more patient of the two of us as he has been a total daddy's boy this weekend!! I've been the wicked witch thats pinned him down and forced him to take his medicine and laying him back down in the middle of the night instead of getting up to party at two, three, four and five AM to party. I'm sure he will understand when he's better! I wish they understood when you're trying to explain the medicine will make them feel better, and sleep will make them feel better. It's been a tough few days indeed! Jacob is contagious for about a week after symptoms start, and his fever started Weds/Thurs so I'm really hoping he's better for his trip to see Santa on Wednesday! He's taken a dummy again today which is a good sign. Although he has gone without it for the last few days which I hoped would be when he gave it up. But no such luck!

 I didn't let Jacob have chocolate this time last year, so he's got two calendars this year!

 Wild & Wacky Mondays, before the dreaded virus hit!

 Checking out the fish tank floor at GOSH

 Tackling "teething."

We put the tree up! Jacob has so far broken 3 decorations! 

I've finally started Christmas shopping and we decided that we are Santa is going to get him the Toot Toot drivers train station to go with the stuff he already has. He sits for ages just pushing the cars around and down the ramps. We are going to get him one of the rugs which have the roads on too. And then he's got lots of paints, pencils and stuff like that as he likes to do that kind of thing, and draw on the walls in the process obviously.

I've spent the last week trying to hunt down the "Hulk Smash Hands" for Teddy. Nowhere has them in stock and the nearest Toys R Us that has them is Edinburgh!! And it can take weeks for them to be transfered store to store. They finally came into stock on Amazon so managed to get some this morning, but straight after I placed the order, I had a number from New York call me then straight after that, a number from Malaysia. I didn't answer and I called Amazon and they said all seems fine on the order so I really hope its a coincidence and someone from far away just wanted a chat with me! Knowing my luck, I finally found them but they're actually some dodgy knock offs! Let's hope not!!

A little bump update...

The sickness seems to have gone altogether now which is amazing! But I now have the nasty headaches I got with Jacob, and nothing helps them! They've been a brilliant addition to this weekend I must say!
All I've wanted to eat is the McDonalds cheesy dippers from their festive menu, and cakes and chocolate! I was exactly the same with Jacob around this point of pregancy. I've also absolutely loved the smell of Rich's Red Bull and have snuck a sip or two. I would drink the whole can if I could!!! I'm also at that stage where I just feel like a fat wildebeest! Nothing fits but its my birthday on Sunday so I think I may treat myself to a few new pieces!