Thursday 26 July 2012

Time off!

The cake I decorated for my folks
Eeeeek! Can't believe I've not blogged for 13 days! Been busy busy busy. Had some amazing news (watch this space) and spent nearly a week down in very sunny Somerset with my family.

My amazing parents celebrated their Ruby Wedding Anniversary (40 years!) at the weekend so we all got together for that. It's lovely to spend time with my family, especially my niece and nephews who I don't get to see as often as I'd like, and Ryan loves seeing them too, and is the complete centre of attention at all times! His only gripe was the constant suncream I had to apply as it's been hot hot hot.

I'm in a glorious mood thanks to the weather and my news, and promise to catch up with some posts soon!

Friday 13 July 2012

Safety in the sun

So we recently took Ryan on his first holiday, much needed after the dire British summer we've been having! Off we popped to Spain to stay in a lovely villa belonging to the in-laws. At 9 months old we were quite easily able to keep him in one place, so although he was suncreamed up whenever we went for a walk with the pushchair, or in the pool, the rest of the time he was safely tucked away in the shade with his toys.

Next year however, I am envisioning having a nightmare time where he races around in the sun while I fight trying to get cream on him! Luckily I will have a bit of help from good old Cuddledry, as I fully intend to purchase one of these fab Sun Protection Ponchos, as modelled here by Timmy the sheep off Timmy Time!

Obviously I will still have to win the war of the suncream, but this award winning poncho towel will give me that extra reassurance that my little man is as protected as he can be from the sun's harmful rays. This is because the towel cleverly deflects UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 50+, which is not depleted by washing or use! Plus with every purchase you get 2-4-1 entry into UK Sea Life Centres, and we love a good day out!

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Invisible Children

It's been said in the past and I'm sure it will continue to remain a subject of much discussion, but where have all these invisible children come from?

I'm talking of course about the ones whose parents park in the parent and child spaces at the supermarkets. So many times I have had my eye on one of these spaces when someone whizzes in and dashes out of their car, dragging their invisible child along with them.

The thing about invisible children is that their parents don't really need the wide space that real parents require. I wonder if they've ever tried maneuvering a car seat containing a 9lb 12oz baby out the back of a 3 door car, following the major surgery that is a caesarian? Of course not, because they don't actually have children!

Parent and child spaces are wider to give parents that bit of extra space we need to get our children safely out the car without crashing the doors into another car. They tend to be nearer the shop, but to be fair, I wouldn't mind if they were a bit further away to avoid people parking in them. It's about time something was done about this. Tesco hand out parking passes to members of their baby club, but what's the point of this if they don't police it?

Before I end my rant, I think to top it off, the worst people are the ones who think an empty car seat counts as a child. These are the people who should know better.

Friday 6 July 2012

Osgood Shclatters

I was really interested to read this blog post by IQ Therapies who provide physio support for my netball club.

I was still in primary school when I was diagnosed with Osgood Shclatters Disease, which I was told at the time was quite young really as it usually affects children in their teens.

I'd always been very active, always outside running around, riding my bike, swimming, and playing netball in my school team. I can't remember now if I did get any aching before the lump appeared on my knee, but as soon as it appeared my parents whisked me off to the doctors. They didn't really give us much information at the time. I was told to rest for six weeks, although I could still swim, and was prescribed Ibuprofen, which I actually found quite exciting as I had to have special permission to take it into school with me to have with my lunch!

I've never read up on it before, but this article was very interesting. I still get flair ups now and again where my knee aches, and will always have the lump, and I do wonder if I had taken the slow route back into activity maybe I wouldn't still suffer now. From what I remember I just went back to my normal boisterous self once I'd had my six weeks off, as I wasn't given any other advice.

I'd love for my son, and any other children I may have to be sporty and full of life as I always was, but this is something I'd look out for now, which I think a lot of parents wouldn't always think of. We're always encouraged to get active but not often warned about overuse.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Flying economy with a baby

We planned Ryan's first holiday back in February. Hubby's parents have a holiday home in Spain where we tend to join them every year. Ryan actually came with us last year when he was just a bump!

Passport sorted we booked some cheap flights with a famous economy airline. Under 2s don't get their own seat, so I knew it would be a bit of a squeeze.

The flight out was booked for the evening, 6.35, which is bedtime. We thought this would be ideal as we could all have tea in the airport and then have a sleep on the plane!

Easyjet allow you to bring two items for your child (for the £20 each way fee). The choice is between a travel cot, car seat and pushchair. Thankfully we could hire a cot in Spain, so just wanted our car seat and pushchair. My parents managed to find me a £10 MaClaren pushchair at a car boot sale so I didn't have to worry about my £500 travel system getting damaged in the hold, and I also have a second hand car seat that was living in my sister's loft from her babies. Having items that I wasn't worried about took some stress off, as my sister in law does a lot of travelling with her baby and has managed to get her car seat lost, delayed and damaged on numerous occasions in the past year!
Boarding all went well, as we had a child we got priority boarding so just walked straight up to the gate and got straight on, leaving the pushchair at the door.

I fed Ryan as we took off to help protect his ears, and then he fell asleep for an hour. Although there's not much room, and I couldn't do it if he was much bigger, it was easy to get him in the right position for breastfeeding, and on the way down I just gave him a bottle of water to suck on. He had no problems, and it was a very peaceful flight. The way back was just as easy. Alicante airport gives special assistance to families with babies, and this time Ryan fell asleep before we even took off.

All in all I found the whole experience quite stress free and would happily do it again!