Weight: He hasn't been weighed for a little while but he seems to be growing nicely.
Health: Things have been hard this month. We saw the GP a few weeks ago because of Oscar's poor sleep and constant congestion and they started him on Piriton for two weeks and we had to keep a symptom diary. One of the side effects is drowsiness so, while he sleep did improve somewhat, we aren't sure whether it was because it improved the congestion or because of the side effects. We had some fabulous nights where he slept for 8 hours straight and he stayed in bed until 7 am then it went downhill and back to average nights. Yesterday we saw the GP again and he took Oscar back off the Piriton and put him back on ranitidine for reflux as our symptom diary identified that he gets ruttly and chesty after eating which is a sign of reflux. Hopefully this helps. It's a constant worry to me that he might be showing early signs of EDS. He probably isn't but it's hard not to think about.
Sleep: We are in a bit of a difficult patch again at the moment but we have still come a long way. Bedtime is pretty smooth, he goes to sleep without even asking for milk and he generally doesn't even ask for milk at his first couple of wake ups. I've only fed him once before midnight in the last fortnight. Sometimes I feel like we're getting nowhere fast but when I look at how far we've come it's definitely good progress. We are about to start trying to progress the night weaning even further and I'm hopeful that it will go reasonably smoothly. Here's hoping one day we will sleep well again! We are hitting a bit language development leap this week so it could be a few weeks before things settle down again.
Development: He's really coming on with his development. He's getting more confident at things like climbing and going down slides (although still would rather just roam around the park). He can comfortably get himself downstairs on his bottom now although prefers to walk down with a hand held. He's copying everything we do now - imitating using a phone, combing his hair etc. He loves helping with cooking/baking and is great at following instructions. His speech isn't great - he knows what he wants to say and he tries to repeat everything but his words don't come out right. He can say "owl", "oover" (for hoover) and that's about it. He makes lots of animal noises and is fabulous at pointing out objects or animals in a book when asked. He's not bad at feeding himself with a spoon but he doesn't get much practice as he doesn't eat a lot still. He has a couple more signs and can now sign "again" and "help". He's getting far more confident in new situations and was an absolute superstar when we visited my dad's for the weekend recently. It hadn't occurred to me until I read last month's update but he's stopped smacking now so our tactics must have worked, or he's just grown out of it.
Likes/Dislikes: He absolutely loves to be outdoors. He's happiest when he's out playing on the garden or roaming around somewhere. We've bought him a sand/water table and a little lawnmower than blows bubbles and now it's hard to get him to play inside at all! He still really loves balls and everyone continues to be impressed by the fact that he can throw, despite the fact he's been doing it for nearly a year now! He doesn't like being told what to do so, as much as he loves the water, swimming lessons can be a bit of a challenge for Ant at the moment. He isn't keen on holding our hands when out and about although he is getting better at it. We've bought him a little dinosaur backpack with reins - at first he wouldn't wear it, now he loves it but gets so distracted playing with the straps that he doesn't walk anywhere!
Nursery: Parents evening went really well and they were very proud of how well he's transitioned to his new Key Worker, Sharon. She's really lovely and she's working hard at expanding his diet. She understands his communication well and is helping him with his words as much as she can. He also spent the afternoon with Nana and Grandpapa a few weeks ago while Ant and I had a date which was lovely!
Me: My course is going well, although the discipline to study isn't always there, and I'm almost ready to hand in my first assignment.
We are struggling financially at the moment as nursery drains a lot of my earnings - roll on when we get some free nursery hours! This is compounded by the fact that today I spoke to the IVF unit in Sheffield to ask about costs for a second transfer. We were told around £1000 when we had Oscar. When I looked on Sheffield's website it said £650 and Guy's website said £1400 so I rang to ask which one. Turns out we have to pay BOTH plus another £400 for the drugs so we are looking more at £2500! Added to that is the fact that it's at least a three-month wait for a referral and I've got to have stopped breastfeeding first so I'm feeling a bit down about that. However, we have Oscar and if we never have another one I'll make my peace with it. £2500 is a lot of money, especially if it doesn't work and we could have spent that money making memories with the child we already have.
I'm desperately trying to get back into fitness again but it's so hit and miss because of childcare and me struggling with illnesses etc. I'm trying to cram in some overtime at work again in the next month but that obviously means even less time to do other things.
