Christmas in Brisvegas

Lenny’s in bed early – well 8.30 is early for him – after a huge Christmas day at Grandma and Grandad’s.

He was showered with gifts – so many he’ll need his own suitcase to get them home!

It was a very hot, humid Brisbane day so Lenny had fun cooling down in his splash pool.

And of course, he was forced to wear cute Santa hats to amuse the adults.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Bite me

So, would it be wrong of me to ask the identity of the biter?

Not sure if I really call this an ‘accident’ … sounds more like an ‘incident’ to me. Anyway, it looks like he got pretty good treatment – more than he’s received for various home accidents like falls from high places and face-plants on the cement.

I find it amusing that they have to go to so much trouble over a few little teeth marks. It would take a bit more than that to scare Lenny. In fact, I’ve never seen another child make him cry. Although I have noticed him having that effect on other littlies a few times recently. He’s not mean at all, just very keen to socialise in a physical way.

I wonder how long it will be before some other kid is taking an accident report home because of Lenny?

Art or grafitti?

"I thought Nana's walls could do with a lick of colour."

And the moral is … do not relax when everything is quiet.

For grandma and grandad

Dear grandma and grandad,

As you can see, I’m not a little baby anymore. I’m a big boy now. I like to help out by watering the plants. It’s good because sometimes mum doesn’t remember to give me a drink and I can just get one straight from the hose. I talk a lot now. I don’t think these guys here know what I’m saying but you can understand me, can’t you? Anyway, I’m very, very busy so I better go. Talk soon…

Lots of love,

Lenny xxoo

Discovering gardening

Thank goodness for these warm spring days. Lenny can now amuse himself for hours in the garden. He has a little bucket and spade and wanders around digging dirt, pulling out weeds, picking nana’s flowers, playing in the mud and just generally getting his hands dirty.

And I’ve discovered the best thing about gardening – I get to lie on the grass and read while it all happens!

One door closes…

And another opens. And then it closes. And then it opens. And closes. And opens.

This is our life at the moment. Lenny has progressed from turning lights on and off to opening and closing doors – cupboard doors, sliding doors, wire doors, front doors.

But how does he reach the handle I hear you wondering. I hold him. Sound ridiculous? It is.

It’s just that tearing him away from the door handle – and I mean literally peeling his little fingers off one by one while he screams blue murder – seems even harder than holding 10 kilos on my hip.

I really need to re-establish who’s boss before it’s too late!

The photographer’s dilemma

Take the shot or help the baby out of the garden bed?

No more tears

We’ve had a breakthrough. There were no tears at the daycare drop off or pick up yesterday!

It seems like it’s taken weeks but in reality it was only his 8th day considering the few weeks he had off sick. So that’s pretty quick really. It certainly makes leaving him much easier. Although if I had a choice…

Happy birthday Lenny!

Just can't get enough of my yummy birthday cake!

I can’t believe a whole year has passed since you were born. So much has happened. You’ve changed and grown day by day. You’ve learned to smile, to sit, to crawl, to cruise, to eat, to laugh, to point, to talk your own special language and so much more. You’ve made us so happy and so tired!

I just can’t imagine life without you.

Our little family

Our little patient

The last few weeks of Lenny’s first year ended up being a little more dramatic than we expected. 

I spoke too soon about how smooth the start of childcare was. Lenny ended up sick for a few days following the first week but got better just in time to return for the second week. As it turned out, that was unfortunate because after just two more days at childcare he ended up really sick. First with gastro and then bronchiolitis with no break in between.

The short version is that Lenny spent six days in hospital. I don’t want to go too much into the detail expect to say that he was in a pretty bad way – he barely ate for 10 days, he didn’t move, sit up, crawl or walk for seven days and he didn’t smile for six days. It was extremely sad to see him like that but the good news is now he’s back!

Here’s his photo diary.

Monday 21st July: Second time in the emergency department in 24 hours. Lenny's respiratory rate was 60-80. The ideal rate is 30-40. He had fever over 39 degrees and was as the doctor described it "miserable". He was quite dehydrated so they put a canula in straight away. He was so brave and the doctor did a brilliant job.

 

Wednesday July 23: While the drip was keeping Lenny hydrated not much had changed by this stage. He still had running fever and laboured breathing. The poor little guy couldn't manage anything more than this.

 

Thursday July 24: Concerned there was little progress the doctors decided to try some other treatment including antibiotics in case there was an underlying infection causing the fever and ventilin to see if it would help open up his airways.

 

Saturday July 26: With the fevers under control, a little food in his belly and 24 hours without oxygen the doctors decide it's time we go home!