I've got sunshine.....

Today was a beautiful day so we went to the beach. James had an absolute ball and loved every minute of it. He has also become a tea boy. He loves rooibos tea, and drinks about a 9oz bottle of it a day. And the good thing is that the rooibos tea is good for him too. Yay! Here are some of the photos my Sister in Law took with her mobile phone.

Drinking my bottle of Tea!!!

Football player in the making.....

The sand tastes yummy....

Daddy and James sharing a moment

39 weeks and 4 days

Thats how long I was pregnant for and thats how long I have been a parent for. 39 weeks and 4 days ago I was in labour now, and James was born at 11:55pm. The last 39 weeks and 4 days of my life have been terrifying, exhausting and rewarding. I would not change them for the world. I am trying to work out which felt longer, my long pregnancy that had me visiting the hospital for constant issues, and not knowing if it is a boy or girl or not knowing when I was going to go pop. Not knowing what the baby is going to look like or if it is going to be healthy. Not knowing how I was going to deal with sleepless nights and breastfeeding or teething or weaning or bathing or or or..... But then maybe his life has felt longer, learning to deal with long nights, and breastfeeding, seeing his teeth break the skin, watching him eat his first meal, experience him only accepting finger foods and enjoying him enjoying his nightly baths. He has generally been healthy, we have had our ups and downs, but I can't really complain. He has had prolonged jaundice, 3 colds, balantitis, an UTI and on Friday gastroenteritis. We have had only one hospital trip, thankfully. He has learnt so much, From being a newborn that just lay there, to smiling, to laughing, to rolling over, to putting his feet in his mouth, to sitting, to crawling, to pulling himself up and walking around the furniture. He has grown in leaps and bounds. He now likes to act up for us and make us laugh. He likes to copy us. He loves grapes, but is not so keen on parsnips. He is such a character now..... he is James now and not just baby. Oh, and while today is the day that he is 39 weeks and 4 days I started a new chapter in my life, I got a phone call to go for an interview for a job on Wednesday.... A first interview in years........

The Good, The Bad, but not the Ugly......

I always like getting the bad news first, so here it goes:
James went back to the doctor on Wednesday to have his urine checked that he did not have an infection anymore, and the good news is that it was gone, but he has send it off to be tested anyway. But!, James has been referred to the paediatrician and for an ultrasound. The doctor wants to check what is causing his UTI and if there has been any damage to his kidneys. He wants to check that its not been caused by a reflux in the tubes by the bladder and sending the urine back up to the kidneys. If this is the case, depending on how bad it is, James will either be kept on a mild dose of antibiotics until around 3 years old or they will do an operation to fix the valve causing the problem, but we are not stressing about that until we know more. He is also been referred because on Monday when we had him weighed they have decided that he is not gaining enough weight (only 2 ounces in 4 weeks), he has dropped from the 50th centile, at birth, to the 2nd centile, now. I know that those charts are for formula fed babies, but we just want to make sure that there is not an underlying reason for it. The GP thinks that it could be related to the UTI. So now we just wait until we get our letters from the hospital for the scan and the paed.
So, now the good news:
Well, first, instead of having to catch 2 buses to go to the South African Food Shop now, I found one opening today in a little shopping center that is about a 6 minute walk away from me.
Second, Gareth got his increase from his promotion yesterday and it was slightly higher than we were expecting.
And third, well, we have been wanting to change James over to reusable nappies for a while now, but to cough up all that money was painful so I have really been doing my research into it. Well, last week I was chatting to my health visitor and I asked her if there was one she would recommend, etc. When she told me that she had some at home in the loft that don't fit her son, and if I want then she will bring them to me to use. So, today she brought the nappies and they are Tot Bots Nappies (http://www.totsbots.com/nappies/range/original-tots/), all almost brand new. There are 10 nappies, with 8 differant wraps. 3 Motherease wraps, 2 Kushies wraps, 1 Greenbaby, 1 Boots, 1 Cotton Bottoms one. The last one is too small, but I can't believe how lucky we are. She said that we should give it a try and if they fit then great, she is glad someone is getting use out of them, if they don't then I should pass them on to someone else. If they fit, then we are going to offer to pay her for it, at the worst we will give her a box of chocolates, she has just saved us more than 100 pounds in just set up costs, and these nappies should fit James until he is about 3, and can be used for our next child, as they can be folded to fit from 8lbs. We also got given home safety things for free at the Childrens Center, so now James should not be able to bang his fingers in the door or put Gareth's tooth brush down the toilet.....lol.
Ok, I am going to go and price reusable fleece liners now for the nappies.......