Wednesday 26th

Mummy took Charlotte to see the GP yesterday as she had become worried that C was had been looking rather pale lately, and thought she might be anaemic. The GP confirmed she is fine and I think it is probably more due to her having gradually lost the lovely tan she developed during her 2 week holiday in Majorca. She came back with a better tan than either of us !

Charlotte has also really settled into her new class at Nursery and loves it there. Yesterday she was the last baby to leave the lunch table, which is a good sign, she stayed behind to hunt for any crumbs which might have been left by other babies.

Monday 17th

Just to let eveyone know Charlotte has been on top form since she started feeling better On Friday and is back at Nursery. It seems once she starts feeling better, after a few poorly days, she becomes really happy, active, and does not stop smiling or sticking her tongue out at everyone. We suspected she was feeling better Friday when she grabbed a whole plain hobknob biscuit and munched her way through it in record time.

Thursday 13th

Charlotte's temperature was fine at 37 degrees when we checked at 7.00 but again 10/15 minutes later it spiked up to 40.5 degrees and we dosed her againm but it took around an hour to come down. Basically it can take 36-48 hours for the antibiotics to really get hold of the infection , after which the spiking ceases and the temperature should be back to normal. The antibiotics can then work their course to kill the infection without you worrying about high spiking temperatures.

We have noticed before she generally starts to improve by the end of the 2nd day so hopefully she won't spike again tonight. Last January we had to call an amubulance and she was in hospital for 3 days but we know what to do now to prevent that.

Wednesday 12th

Charlotte gave us a wee scare this morning, we got up 6.45 am to get ready for work and noticed she was shaking and her skin was a mottled blue colour. We quickly checked her temperature which was 42.5 degrees, a very dangerous level, and realised she was very close to going into a fit. she felt burning hot so we immediately stripped her off,covered her forehead with a wet towel, and gave her both 5 ml of Nurofen and Calpol. It took about 45 mins before she started to drop back down to a more normal 36/37 degrees.

I rang the Hospital at 8.30 and they booked her in for 8.50, the Doctor agreed it could be a water infection again and precribed antibiotics. We then alternated between giving her Calpol and Nurofen all day as they work together in bringing a temperature down. You can only give x number of doses of each per 24 hours but both really bring temperatures down so can be used at the same time for the first dose if it is really high and then you alternate after that

At around 7.30 pm we checkled her temperature which was 37. 15 minutes later her skin started going mottled blue again and we quickly checked her and in that short time it has increased to 40.5 . We quickly dosed her up again, she was just due her antibitoics and after an hour it came down again . We set our alarm and checked her every couple of hours overnight.

Monday 3rd

After 10 months at Nursery Charlotte moved to a new room today, the next stage up, which is for 15 month - 2 year olds. At the Grand old age of 2 years, 2 weeks & 5 days she is immediately the oldest and by far the smallest and probably the only one not walking. She is still in 9-12 months clothes and seems so small in comparison to her new "room mates". It was the delay in crawling which really held her back in the infants room but she has pretty much mastered that now.

We were a bit nervous she might be upset about the change of room so she was introduced to it for and hour or two a day last week but she seems to be adjusting fine. She was happy to be reunited with her "toyboy" Alfie whom moved up 3 weeks ago.

The focus now will be on speech therapy and her walking , everyone will be working hard to get her walking by Christmas, and that's the only Christmas present we want!

Wednesday 15th

Happy Birthday Charlotte

Charlotte is 2 years old today and celebrated it by taking us to the pub for dinner !! Charlotte had Risotto balls with sun dried tomatoes and garlic bread. A touch spicy but she loved it all the same.

Where has the last 2 years gone. We had a look back at her earlier pictures and it is truly amazing how far she has come, bearing in mind all the issues she was faced with, and we continue to be extremely proud at how well she is doing especially with her crawling, and who know’s, we hope she may be walking by Christmas. Her due date was actually the 29th October but she will have another "2nd" birthday on the date she came home, (October 20th), so that is our real target for her walking.

Anyway, that’s the good news. The not so good news for us is that she has definitely now entered the “terrible two’s” stage. We used to just laugh when parents said their children were going through the terrible two’s. Now we understand completely.

She has become extremely cheeky and sticks her tongue out at anyone who dares look at her. That’s quite cute, but then on the other hand, she will scream the house down if one of us is one the phone until we pass it to her, then she smiles and starts pressing buttons ! We put whoever is on the phone on loud speaker and then she is quite happy when they talk to her.

She has probably been a little spoilt but now it is time to introduce a little discipline. It will be hard, but Charlotte will finally at the age of 2 need to learn what “NO” actually means.

Of course, we love her so much and to think we are now writing about her 2nd birthday on her website is amazing for us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOTTIE LOU…….LOTS OF LOVE, MUMMY & DADDY

Monday 13th

Bliss has just launched a new and innovative Going Home Pack sponsored by Fairy and Pampers, for parents premature babies. They are being distributed to Neonatal Units all over the UK and will be available to Parents going home from mid July 2009. 4700 have already been sent out in the first wave.

It is a very scary time as whilst on the Unit you will always have had staff around to answer questions and give advice and it is daunting as you suddenly feel very alone,we know from our experience how much this will help parents bringing their premmies home.

The Pack contains a vast array of information including a booklet on weaning your baby, breastfeeding your premature baby, financial advice for families and facts for fathers, as well as general information about Bliss. There will also be a voucher booklet full of great offers from companies like Fairy, Pampers, Mothercare and Mother and Baby magazine.

The Key component of this pack is an A5 booklet entitled "Going Home: The next big step" which answers pretty much all the questions we had back in October 2007. When BLISS asked if they could include a article on Charlotte we were more than happy to help and are proud to say she is featured on pages 30 and 31 of the booklet. We received a copy in the post this morning and it is really good. Parents discharged before the pack was available can still request one from their local Neonatal unit or contact BLISS via their website www.bliss.org.uk

Saturday 11th

Where did the last 2 weeks go. This morning we were overlooking a lovely beach in Cala Egos, Majorca and it was 39/40 degrees and now we are back in Britain (Surrey)and it is raining and cold.

Charlotte met a new really nice friend on holiday, a 15 month old called Kaitlyn from the Scottish Borders and we will be keeping in touch with the family and she hopes to meet up with them again sometime in the future. She had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the break and like last year really seems to have really benefited from the experience, but then I think we all did. It was nice to have time together as a family. She is like a little wild animal at the moment, she is clearly still on a "Holiday High".

She has developed quite a character over the holiday. She started sticking her tongue out at people all the time, just to get a reaction and found it really funny when she did. We had many a grown adult sticking their tongue out at her repeatedly.

We think there may be some slight improvement in her left leg movement,We spent a lot of time with her in the baby swimming pool supporting her on both legs. Her next Physio appointment is 24th of July so we will be interested to see what she says.

Monday 6th

Charlotte is really enjoying her Majorca 2009 break so far and her holiday pictures wil be put on the Website in the near future. She has enjoyed the hot weather and swimming in the pool but decided the beach was not for her, too much sand getting in too many uncomfortable places.

We finally threw her milk bottle away last Tuesday, she decided she is now grown up enough to drink from a cup. We also feared she had sunburned her feet as she has little blisters or pink dots on the bottom of each each toe. She has in fact been "walking", albeit with support, along the bottom of the swimming pool and got mini bisters.

Her toes will toughen up but it is the first time she has tried walking other than in the Walker wearing booties. She gets really excited each time she "walks" so we can say that she has officially taken her first steps. It is "one small step for Charlotte but one giant leap (in milestones) for Charlottekind)", although supported by either one of us.

She has been eating a lot of vegetables, pasta and sugary puddings since she arrived and has really put on a lot of weight so it will be healthier foods when we return home. Charlotte pulled up her top yesterday and even she looked at us as if to say, "what the heck is this" , as she pulled at her new big belly. We have only one more week to go but she is loving every minute of it

Friday 26th

Lottie Lou gave us a minor scare tonight as we were finishing packing for Majorca 2009. She had a slightly high temperature and seemed a bit under the weather but we noticed one of her ears looked very red. Sam rang the Doctors just before they closed and was told she had 5 minutes to get there.

Her Dr diagnosed an ear infection and gave a presciption for antibiotics, fortunately there was a late night chemist open. He said she would be fine to go on holiday which is fortunate as our flight leaves very early saturday morning.

Friday 5th

Charlotte had her first physio appointment for 6 weeks today, and she was very pleased with her progress and was very happy to "eventually" see Charlotte crawl. When She arrived, Charlotte sat rooted to the spot and refused to show off her new skill. She just stared at the physiotherapist and didn't move. It was quite funny as Charlotte NEVER sits still now. After some playing and persuasion Charlotte eventually started to crawl.

The physio was pleased that she used opposite arm/leg in her crawl movement, although she tends to only use her right leg to push when in the Walker as the other side is weaker. Charlotte does look a little awkward crawling but that doesn't stop her getting around with some speed now. She said that she felt that Charlotte was progressing well and probably quicker than she had anticipated which is great news.

Monday 18th

Lottie Lou seemed really unwell yesterday,she did not eat anything all day and just slept until late afternoon, we had to take turns with her asleep on our chests. We had both been feeling rough most of the last two weeks with heavy cold/flu symptoms, as were my Brother and his family,and were concerned she might have caught it from us. She seemed much better by the evening.

We also checked her gums as she often like that just before another tooth cuts through. When samantha collected her from Nursery today, she checked and sure enough tooth number 16 had just cut through, so only 4 more Baby Teeth to go.

Monday 11th

We were hoping that yesterday's crawling would not be a one off but we needn't have worried, they confirmed at Nursery that she had been practising her crawling all day, although they are more like little "crawlette's" at the moment. She has also doubled the average number of crawls at any one time.

If she improves as quickly as she did when she first sat last October,generally only managing 30 seconds at a time before flopping over, then she should become a proficient crawler within the next 2 -3 weeks.

The babies are fed at one end of the room and crumbs usually fall onto the floor. After meals they are then moved to the other side of the room but quickly crawl back over to grab any remaining crumbs. Charlotte has always been left sitting by herself watching the others eat any remains but today for the very first time she "crawled for crumbs" and made it in time to join the others in finishing them off. It is no wonder She has been in a good mood all day !

Sunday 10th Approx 15:00 The Crawler Has Landed

At 1 year, 9 months , 3 weeks and 4 days old, she has done her first crawl, albeit only 2 or 3 moves forward at a time

It's brilliant. We are sunbathing in the Garden this afternoon with Charlotte on a rug, it must be 70 degrees, so she has her baby sun tan lotion on,preparing for her holiday in Majorca in just over 6 weeks time, and something we have dreamed about for so long has just happened.

She was on her hands and knees on the rug on the lawn and suddenly, totally unexpected and out of the blue, crawled forward ever so slowly and unsteadily 2 or 3 times, we both were shocked and did not believe it at first but she has managed it a few times since. She finds it a struggle and only manages 2 or 3 moves forward in a crawl but she has done it. She still fails half the time but is simply unsure of herself.

We have waited so long for this and will be celebrating tonight.

It is one small crawl for Charlotte, One Giant leap for Charlottekind.

Thursday 23rd St George's Day.

A Professional Photographer is at the Nursery today to take photo's of all the little ones so we dressed Charlotte up in her poshest frock. She looked really cute. She is nearly 22 months old and still in 9 - 12 months clothes but we think she should be next size up by her Holiday in June/July

Monday 14th

Her 15th tooth cut through over the weekend so 5 more to go. We took her to a Sea Life centre on Good Friday and it ws great to see her reactions ,she was really stimulated by the brightly coloured fish and was very vocal and excited. We then took her to Marwell zoo yesterday but, other than the Giraffe's, she did not seem very impressed, in fact she seemed rather bored.

She is now very close to crawling and spends much of her time on her hands and knees and can sit up easily from a lying position, she just cannot quite get one of her legs into the correct position. She does now shuffle backwards so we have to keep an eye on her. She has also started copying us , we first tried clapping and she started clapping back and yesterday we tried waving at her and for the first time she gave us a little wave back.

Wednesday 1st

Yesterday her 13th tooth had cut through and today we noticed a 14th had appeared, so only 6 more baby teeth to go. We hope we may have a good nights sleep tonight as we normally have a week or two of sleepless nights before one appears. She gets a very bad constant cough and upset tummy and keeps everyone awake all night.

She also recently moved up from mashed to chopped food, loves branflakes in the morning and although not yet feeding herself, suddenly started picking up her water cup in one hand and now drinks regularly from it. She loves doing this which is great as it is another mini milestone and means she is getting plenty of water.