MR 7!

Another birthday in the family! Our first wee baby is turning seven on Monday. I always feel emotional on the boys birthdays, reflecting back to the day they were born. I really do feel very blessed to have three gorgeous wee boys. I'm the first to admit they do my head in on a daily basis with their lego mess and continuous humming of the starwars theme song but my gosh I really do love my wee men!

Oscar turning seven marks six years of him putting up with itchy skin. he really doesn't know any different. Although he has come a bloody long way!  We got Oscar's school photos back this week and he looks so healthy in them, I thought last year's one he looked better after a couple of months on immunos but now a year on he looks like a different child. He certainly has a wee spark in his eye again. 

Week three of the term and per usual Oscar's been off most of the week. Temperatures and coughing. I can't wait for his immune system to be up and running properly again.  It will certainly be interesting to see how he goes next winter with his health.  

Harry is pretty much toilet trained during the day finally.  Another awesome milestone. He had kindy again on Friday and has paid for it today in terms of being tired, and when he's tired he's itchy! We ended up going for a drive today so he would sleep. He has patches of eczema still but I would describe them as scabs where he's rubbed more than standard eczema and his poor wee feet still hurt. He's back to wearing gum boots as his shoes hurt him. Another big milestone though -Harry hasn't worn sleeves to bed for two weeks! Over a year of wearing them every single night and now he doesn't need to wear them. 

He's still waking up itchy most nights but easily settles if we tuck him in with one of us and Oscar's back in our bed too with being sick so we are back to our usual bed situation. 

Harry will be picking up another kindy day in a few weeks, this is a day Charlie's not at kindy so it will be great to have a Mum and Charlie day once a week until the end of the year. I plan on showering him with extra love, kisses, cuddles and he can decide what we do for the day. Guilt always comes into play with being a parent. I feel guilty for the boys going through steroid withdrawal and having terrible eczema, I feel guilty that Charlie has missed out on so much attention that he deserves. I know he hasn't missed out on our love by all means but our time and attention he has missed out on. So many times he's said "Can we".. or "look Mum" and I've replied with I can't now or wait or I'm busy...usually with Oscar or Harry. So Mondays are going to be our special wee day.  I can't take back the time I've wanted to spend with him but it might help to ease my guilt and I really am looking forward to spending quality time with Charlie.

I've been out biking a couple of times this week and have finally got my guitar back out after nearly eight years of barely playing it. So nice to have the energy to want to do something for myself. I even got my hair cut and coloured last week and have enrolled in a beginner yoga class starting next week! It's quite exciting to be doing 'normal' things again. The boys health obviously has played a huge role in not being able to do these things and also being a Mum in general means you don't put yourself first anymore. You really are the last one you think about. Our wee people come first to our needs but I challenge any Mumma wrapped up in the busy lives of children to do one thing for yourself this week. A walk, getting your hair cut, buying something for you and not your children, just think of yourself even if it's something small. If there's one thing I've learnt in life, being a parent is dam hard work so we should be rewarded from time to time. So go on- book that hair appointment now!

October 2015

October 2016 - Looking so much healthier 

OUR WEE KINDY BOY

Harry had his first day of Kindergarten last Friday and thankfully survived the day happily and without any itchy attacks. Charlie was with him there too so I think this helped!
To have Harry start Kindy shows how far he's come. He's mostly happy, sleeping better and looks like a healthy happy wee boy compared to this time last year.
After I left Harry at Kindy I cried all the way home. It was a strange feeling leaving my baby behind . The house was so quiet. Having three boys makes for a very noisy and messy house so the silence was almost deafening! I made sure to do something for myself so went for a bike ride before going to Oscar's school athletics.
Harry's Skin is looking great. The only times he seems to be itchy is when he's tired and on and off throughout the night. His feet still look that of an old man rather than a three year old! I found a container of Harry's dead skin the other day in the cupboard - glad I didn't mistake it for breadcrumbs! I'm guessing it's a few weeks worth? I can't believe how much skin he lost through this process. It's so disgusting but it also fascinated me seeing teaspoons a day of skin coming off Harry.
So on the home front - After one year and eight months Andrew and I finally slept in the same bed all night long. Not at all a sound sleep with both of us getting up and down through the night to Oscar and Harry then waking in the early hours to Harry then Charlie tucked In with us! Still, this is one massive milestone for us. It's still weird going to bed at night with Andrew. We are both so used to little people tucked in with us! Harry has had two more nights of sleeping through all night and Oscar has been in our bed on and off over the last couple of weeks and the times he's managed to fall asleep in his bed he's lasted between 1-5 a.m.
Another big milestone - Oscar has had two full weeks at school. this is the first time ever!
It's been confirmed that Oscar does have Horseshoe Kidney. This basically means that his kidneys are a different shape than usual and it's thought that this isn't a contributing factor to Oscar's stomach upsets. He's still getting sore stomachs but not everyday like he was.
Oscar still has a spotty eczema rash all over his body that we can't seem to shift. Very frustrating when we are working so hard on his diet.
We were lucky enough to win 'Skin Friend' supplements in a competition I had entered recently. The supplements contain ingredients that help to assist in the healing and repair of skin.  The supplements are developed by Karen Fischer who wrote 'The Eczema Diet' book. We are two weeks in and no change as yet so fingers crossed we might see change soon alongside the eczema diet.
Life is so much easier than it has been over the last few years. We are getting enough sleep to function normally now. For so long I have felt like we have just been in survival mode and not really living- alive but not living!  Not enjoying life or having fun as a family, just doing all we could to get through a 24 hour period to do it all again the next day. It's been our job to get Oscar and Harry through this and I feel like we have got them over the worst.
I'm looking forward to so many fun family times ahead of us.

Harry's first day of kindy

Enough to be put off breadcrumbs for life! 

MR 3!

Happy Birthday to our wee Harry. My baby is turning into a big boy!
Harry had a great day celebrating with friends and family and it's wonderful to see him so happy.
We have started toilet training this week with Harry and he's doing really well and has already mastered sitting on the big toilet and successfully did no.1's and 2's!
He's had a few more nights this week of waking up at ten so we have a two minute cuddle with him and he's then fallen asleep until six-seven a.m!
Oscar had his ultrasound last Monday and we are still waiting on the full report but it sounds like there is an abnormality with his kidneys. Whether or not this is the reason behind his stomach issues will be something that needs to be further investigated. Hopefully we hear more soon.
Last Sunday Oscar woke up and said he wanted to sleep back in his bed soon. Andrew asked him when and he said tonight! So queen bed out- fire engine back up! It's so lovely to see Oscar's room back into a child's room. We even suprised him with a new Starwars duvet cover that was supposed to be a Birthday Present.  I've had to stay with him until he falls asleep as he's been nervous about sleeping In bed on his own. Understandably after all this time. Night one Oscar came out to the lounge at seven in the morning with one very big smile on his face! The rest of the week he's lasted until various hours of the night before ending up in our bed.  So proud of Oscar for finally feeling ready to be back in his bed. It's very strange for Andrew and I to go to bed together and fall asleep next to each other.
Oscar has a sprinkling of spots all over his body that look like a reaction to something food related. He's had corn wraps this week so I'm assuming he's reacted to them?  I think what people forget with eczema and allergies is once there is a reaction to something the damage is done and it's unfortunately not something that dissappears within a few hours. For Oscar it's usually a week or two for his skin to recover. We have now  fully implemented the eczema diet by Karen Fischer so fingers crossed this will help. We need to have Oscar's Skin clear before coming off the immunos so it's a great driving force to stick at it even though it's very restrictive.
The boys have come such a long way over the last couple of months and more positive firsts this week. We are so proud of our wee men. I've been quite upset the last couple of weeks. I think now finally having time to reflect and realise what our wee men have been through and our family too. I have had to be strong for so long and now I don't need to with the boys getting better. It's really hard to explain as I feel like I should be overjoyed with excitement that things are  going well for us. If anything I'm relieved yet waiting for things to turn to crap again! We've been on this journey Soo long it's all we know. It breaks my heart to think of the pain Oscar and Harry have endured and that they've had so much of their chidhood taken away from them. These are things I need to work through in my head. The guilt also from applying all the steroids! I know I will be ok and work through it all . Andrew's been very supportive and has helped me to get out the door and do some exercise. I definitely feel better for it, just hard to get motivated!
A few days left of the school holidays so hopefully we can do some more fun things with the boys. We've managed skiing this week with Oscar and Charlie, it was a great day watching them learn. Unfortunately Charlie had to be rushed to the doctors in the afternoon with an ear infection! Going up the mountain set it off. He's doing fine now though thankfully. Yesterday we went to the bike bike. It's great being able to go on family adventures together finally. Hopefully we can squeeze in a couple more before holidays are over.