It has been some time since the last entry, and a LOT has happened. It has been so long mainly because Ike has been so ill and there just wasn't much to report. He got ill around the beginning of February with a kind of gastric flu, and refused to eat anything but banana and yoghurt for weeks, plus vomiting a few times every day. It was AWFUL! He lost loads of weight and we ended up in casualty several times, including the evening of my birthday. In fact, we were all ill the week leading up to my birthday - I was vomitting and Jamie had a bad stomach and we all felt fluey. We had a party booked for my birthday which we had to postpone to the following week, then cancel because we still weren't well enough by then. Ike had antibiotics, which made his stomach worse, then got (apparently) a urine infection and had more, stronger antibiotics which totally WRECKED his stomach. He was ill for a month, then started to recover, then got ill again for a couple of weeks (vomitting again), then well for a week, then vomitting for another 5 days or so. He seems finally to be recovering but now won't eat nearly as well as before and will only eat really pureed stuff. Poor thing.
BUT, about 3 weeks ago he suddenly decided that he wanted to move, and crawled backwards for a few days, then got in to it and went forward. Immediately he learned to pull himself up on things, cruise the furniture, and fall off beds (Clare). Oh, and worksurfaces (Jamie). We now have stairgates and have to watch him ALL the time - the little tyke is everywhere!
He has also learned to wave, and even waved when just said bye bye to him yesterday. He also turns the page of a book when you ask him to, claps on demand - that's about it, but we are impressed!
His speech is developing too - he can say ''yes'' now, although I am sure he doesn't know what it means! he says mummum and daddad of course, and a sort of ''neen'' word - ''no'' maybe? He has started really mimmicking too - if you keep repeating a word he will try to say it too. He has tried cat, duck, bye, isaac and probably other things which we haven't noticed.
On a totally different tack, I am also pregnant again! I think we conceived on my otherwise disasterous birthday!! We are nearly 10 weeks already. Unbelievable. Exciting too though - not entirely planned but certainly welcome. Ike will make a fantastic older brother!!
Sunday 9 April 2006
Sunday 5 February 2006
2 Clever things in a minute
Isaac just reached forward and actually moved his legs a bit to one side in an effort to reach his musical tower thing! He'd done it in the bath a few times, but never on dry land! Then when Clare and I clapped and said well done - he joined in with the clapping! He didn't seem to impressed about it, he was half paying attention to the jazz music as well. It's really strange how things suddenly click, like when he suddenly started saying mamamama.
Thursday 2 February 2006
Clare's birthday
We woke up quite early, Isaac seemed a little better than yesterday, but then puked his milk all over the bed while I was making tea. We decided to cancel the party, since we all still felt rotten and also it was silly to invite a 38 week pregant woman over (Kate) when we had been so ill. So Clare was a little fed up, she'd been looking forward to it. So we texted / called people and tried to re-arrange for the following week.
A bit later on Debs called and said she and Ben would like to come over anyway and give Clare her present. They stayed for a coffee and gave Clare he chef's blowtorch - it would be creme brulee for pudding tonight, yay. After they left I went for my driving lesson, which went pretty well. Then I went out again and boughts stuff for lunch - mozarella and salad on ciabatta. An alright day so far despite cancelling the evening plans, at least we'd had a visit from friends. The another friend of Clare's popped round - Wendy - with a box of chocs for Clare, who was still a bit fed up, but her glum face was lifted by a special chocolate with a confectionary rose on top.
We decided to go out and buy stuff for one of the curries we were going to make for the evening anyway. A nice lamb curry with loads of spices. We eventually found the spice shop and then it started to hail / rain, it was bloody cold and miserable and Isaac sat in his buggy as though he was frozen in amber. If his hat slipped over his eyes he made no attempt to move it, which was slightly odd. We just thought he was still feeling tired, but was getting over the bug at last.
We got home and played with him on the rug for a bit, then gave him dinner at about 5.30. Since he seemed fairly lively, we cooked some pumpkin for him as he usually liked that, and he had not had a proper meal for about 4 or 5 days by this point. Bad idea. I sneaked a little bit into his mouth while he was yawning since he kept turning away. He clearly knew best, as the second the pumpkin hit his mouth / throat he forcefully brought up everything he'd consumed that day - at least it appeared that way. He was crying and miserable since it was mostly stomach acid. Poor little tot - he'd started to look a bit thinner in the last day or two, not surprisingly.
I changed his nappy and took his temperature - it was 39.1 (102.3), but he felt cold and was shivering a bit. It had been as high as 39.6 (103.3) in the week but it had dropped for a while. It was getting ridiculous, an 8 month old baby should not have a fever and be off their food for 5 or 6 days. We called the emergency doctor at 7pm, and they said we should take him in to be checked. Oh great, just about to put Isaac in bed and start cooking dinner and now we have to find a hospital in west Amsterdam. We thought about getting a cab, but then I convinced Clare to go and get the car. So she went off on her bike (10 min cycle ride away) and I stayed with Isaac to get stuff ready. This seemed like the best option since I don't have a driving license. I got all sorts of food ready, felt all pleased with myself and sat down. Isaac was really crying - on top of his two ear infections, stomach problem and streaming cold he was also teething. I gave him some 'Teetha' teething powder (known in the mum circle as baby cocaine). It certainly did the job, he stopped crying went back to being grumpy just like real cocaine works.
Clare got back with the car, and we piled in and drove off. Clare checked what I had put in the bag on the way and I realised I shouldn't have been so pleased with myself. I'd forgotten spare clothes, which is kind of handy when a baby keeps being sick. We found the hospital and sat in the waiting room for the doctor, at which point Isaac started to clown around and chat up anyone who would pay attention to him. He spotted a rather ill looking baby and started grinning and clapping. He was supposed to be ill, we were in danger of getting put to the back of the queue...
The doctor saw him and said he should have anti-biotics, which we certainly weren't going to disagree with. Isaac gave the female doctor his cutest, ultra dole-faced poor me expression and the doctor grabbed one of his apple red rosy little cheeks and said 'ooooooooooooooh'. So that was three women he had wooed during his 15 minute wait in the hospital. We had to go and find a pharmacy in Osdorpplein to get the medicine.
We went back out to the car, tried to leave and then realised that we had to pay for the damn parking ticket, so drove back in and went to sort that out. We also noticed that our front number plate was missing, oh and also that we were on reserve fuel tank. So we then drove trying to find a garage. Found one, and also asked the guy where a police station was to report the missing number plate. It wasn't where he said it was, so after driving up and down the road a couple of times we eventually found another one by chance. Isaac was crying again, so I administered more of the naughty powder whilst Clare got annoyed because we didn't know where to go and I couldn't look at the map due to having baby cocaine all over my fingers. The A-Z also had pages missing and was so dog-earred it was almost impossible to read the page numbers which didn't ease my mood exactly.
Clare went into the police station, and I stayed in the car with Mr. Grumpy who had calmed down again and now just lolled feebly and sorrowfully in heavily strapped car seat. I was prepared for a long wait, but in the end it was only 20 minutes or so. The police woman noticed from Clare's license that it was her birthday. In between her own coughing fits, Clare told her that she had notice the missing number plate whilst taking her sick baby to the hospital. Back in the car, I was trying to muffle my own agonisingly tickly cough, so as to not wake Mr. Grumpy.
Eventually we left and drove trying to find the pharmacy. It was about 9pm by this point. We had one false stop which saw me walking a few hundred metres around some crappy deserted shopping arcade that was certainly called Osdorpplein - perhaps the wrong part of it. We drove on again and eventually found out it was on the other side of where we had been before.
I went in and found what was more like a late night taxi shack than a pharmacy. There was a bullet proof glass screen between the woman behind it and the ill people standing in the crappy little waiting area which had a highly sensitive automatic sliding door which seemed to be triggered by someone farting. I got the medicine after about a 15 minute wait, and we drove home. Our luck immediately balanced out for the day, there was a parking space directly outside our front door. Well perhaps not quite balanced out.
We put Isaac to bed with a dose of medicine, and were now determined to make our curry, despite that it was now about 10pm. It was a classic Delia Smith moment as Clare asked me if I had read to the end of the recipe, and then found that the past bit was 'put in the over on Gas mark 2 for 2 hours. Well we would not be doing that, but we did still manage to break open a coconut, and also discovered that grinding fenugreek is akin to grinding fragments of gravelly sand. Unbelievable, you could use that stuff to make cement.
The day ended strangely well. The curry was delicious, we watched an episode of Grand Designs, drank a bottle of sparkling wine and went to bed feeling quite content. And there wasn't a squeak out of poor Mr. Grumpy.
A bit later on Debs called and said she and Ben would like to come over anyway and give Clare her present. They stayed for a coffee and gave Clare he chef's blowtorch - it would be creme brulee for pudding tonight, yay. After they left I went for my driving lesson, which went pretty well. Then I went out again and boughts stuff for lunch - mozarella and salad on ciabatta. An alright day so far despite cancelling the evening plans, at least we'd had a visit from friends. The another friend of Clare's popped round - Wendy - with a box of chocs for Clare, who was still a bit fed up, but her glum face was lifted by a special chocolate with a confectionary rose on top.
We decided to go out and buy stuff for one of the curries we were going to make for the evening anyway. A nice lamb curry with loads of spices. We eventually found the spice shop and then it started to hail / rain, it was bloody cold and miserable and Isaac sat in his buggy as though he was frozen in amber. If his hat slipped over his eyes he made no attempt to move it, which was slightly odd. We just thought he was still feeling tired, but was getting over the bug at last.
We got home and played with him on the rug for a bit, then gave him dinner at about 5.30. Since he seemed fairly lively, we cooked some pumpkin for him as he usually liked that, and he had not had a proper meal for about 4 or 5 days by this point. Bad idea. I sneaked a little bit into his mouth while he was yawning since he kept turning away. He clearly knew best, as the second the pumpkin hit his mouth / throat he forcefully brought up everything he'd consumed that day - at least it appeared that way. He was crying and miserable since it was mostly stomach acid. Poor little tot - he'd started to look a bit thinner in the last day or two, not surprisingly.
I changed his nappy and took his temperature - it was 39.1 (102.3), but he felt cold and was shivering a bit. It had been as high as 39.6 (103.3) in the week but it had dropped for a while. It was getting ridiculous, an 8 month old baby should not have a fever and be off their food for 5 or 6 days. We called the emergency doctor at 7pm, and they said we should take him in to be checked. Oh great, just about to put Isaac in bed and start cooking dinner and now we have to find a hospital in west Amsterdam. We thought about getting a cab, but then I convinced Clare to go and get the car. So she went off on her bike (10 min cycle ride away) and I stayed with Isaac to get stuff ready. This seemed like the best option since I don't have a driving license. I got all sorts of food ready, felt all pleased with myself and sat down. Isaac was really crying - on top of his two ear infections, stomach problem and streaming cold he was also teething. I gave him some 'Teetha' teething powder (known in the mum circle as baby cocaine). It certainly did the job, he stopped crying went back to being grumpy just like real cocaine works.
Clare got back with the car, and we piled in and drove off. Clare checked what I had put in the bag on the way and I realised I shouldn't have been so pleased with myself. I'd forgotten spare clothes, which is kind of handy when a baby keeps being sick. We found the hospital and sat in the waiting room for the doctor, at which point Isaac started to clown around and chat up anyone who would pay attention to him. He spotted a rather ill looking baby and started grinning and clapping. He was supposed to be ill, we were in danger of getting put to the back of the queue...
The doctor saw him and said he should have anti-biotics, which we certainly weren't going to disagree with. Isaac gave the female doctor his cutest, ultra dole-faced poor me expression and the doctor grabbed one of his apple red rosy little cheeks and said 'ooooooooooooooh'. So that was three women he had wooed during his 15 minute wait in the hospital. We had to go and find a pharmacy in Osdorpplein to get the medicine.
We went back out to the car, tried to leave and then realised that we had to pay for the damn parking ticket, so drove back in and went to sort that out. We also noticed that our front number plate was missing, oh and also that we were on reserve fuel tank. So we then drove trying to find a garage. Found one, and also asked the guy where a police station was to report the missing number plate. It wasn't where he said it was, so after driving up and down the road a couple of times we eventually found another one by chance. Isaac was crying again, so I administered more of the naughty powder whilst Clare got annoyed because we didn't know where to go and I couldn't look at the map due to having baby cocaine all over my fingers. The A-Z also had pages missing and was so dog-earred it was almost impossible to read the page numbers which didn't ease my mood exactly.
Clare went into the police station, and I stayed in the car with Mr. Grumpy who had calmed down again and now just lolled feebly and sorrowfully in heavily strapped car seat. I was prepared for a long wait, but in the end it was only 20 minutes or so. The police woman noticed from Clare's license that it was her birthday. In between her own coughing fits, Clare told her that she had notice the missing number plate whilst taking her sick baby to the hospital. Back in the car, I was trying to muffle my own agonisingly tickly cough, so as to not wake Mr. Grumpy.
Eventually we left and drove trying to find the pharmacy. It was about 9pm by this point. We had one false stop which saw me walking a few hundred metres around some crappy deserted shopping arcade that was certainly called Osdorpplein - perhaps the wrong part of it. We drove on again and eventually found out it was on the other side of where we had been before.
I went in and found what was more like a late night taxi shack than a pharmacy. There was a bullet proof glass screen between the woman behind it and the ill people standing in the crappy little waiting area which had a highly sensitive automatic sliding door which seemed to be triggered by someone farting. I got the medicine after about a 15 minute wait, and we drove home. Our luck immediately balanced out for the day, there was a parking space directly outside our front door. Well perhaps not quite balanced out.
We put Isaac to bed with a dose of medicine, and were now determined to make our curry, despite that it was now about 10pm. It was a classic Delia Smith moment as Clare asked me if I had read to the end of the recipe, and then found that the past bit was 'put in the over on Gas mark 2 for 2 hours. Well we would not be doing that, but we did still manage to break open a coconut, and also discovered that grinding fenugreek is akin to grinding fragments of gravelly sand. Unbelievable, you could use that stuff to make cement.
The day ended strangely well. The curry was delicious, we watched an episode of Grand Designs, drank a bottle of sparkling wine and went to bed feeling quite content. And there wasn't a squeak out of poor Mr. Grumpy.
Friday 20 January 2006
Pointing
We both noticed that Isaac can look where we are pointing now, probably in the last week or two. He went to baby gym yesterday and is apparently very good at tracking. He also squealed with excitement and jumped around a lot more than the other floppy babies! So a real success.
His first outing to creche today was not so good. As Alan Partridge might say, he is infamous already, rather than Fumous. He cried the entire time Clare was not there, other than to stop and pig down loads of lunch. I think its the girls fault who are there, they cant be very good at stopping a kid crying - I mean I can get him to stop in a second. Tja. On her way out with him at the end, a woman who worked in a different group asked with wonder and interest whether Clare was 'the mother of Isaac'!
His first outing to creche today was not so good. As Alan Partridge might say, he is infamous already, rather than Fumous. He cried the entire time Clare was not there, other than to stop and pig down loads of lunch. I think its the girls fault who are there, they cant be very good at stopping a kid crying - I mean I can get him to stop in a second. Tja. On her way out with him at the end, a woman who worked in a different group asked with wonder and interest whether Clare was 'the mother of Isaac'!
Wednesday 11 January 2006
Shep's pie
Clare just called to tell me that Isaac had shepherd's pie for lunch, with real meat! He enjoyed it so much he cried when it was all gone. Aaaah. :-(
Sunday 8 January 2006
New years resolutions (jamie)
In no particular order:
1. Start playing squash again
2. Be more patient (enjoy the process)
3. Finish books that I start
4. Drink less during week (at least one day no wine)
1. Start playing squash again
2. Be more patient (enjoy the process)
3. Finish books that I start
4. Drink less during week (at least one day no wine)
Museums, copying, trying to crawl
Sonia was here for the weekend and we went to Utrecht to see a fashion exhibition that Sherrie had designed. Isaac was extreeeeemely excited. There were quite a few corridors that were acoustically good for squawking, so as we walkeda round he went nuts squealing and shrieking. The exhibition itself was full of weird fabrics and dresses from around the world, so great for him to touch and yank about. It wasnt the kind of exhibition that had invigilators though, which was lucky.
We bought Isaac a roll of 70's wallpaper that we are going to make big animals to stick on his wall. We also bought him an Indian hand woven rug / wall-hanging that has all the letters of the alphabet with different animals for each.
Isaac is now getting fussy with food, although that might be because he still has a cough and a bit of an ear infection. He is starting to really figure things out - I showed him one of his little cube things that attach to his train. There is a little mechanism for turning the interior of the cube around. I turned it round, then showed him and he immediately started doing the same thing - a real development from just trying to shove it in his mouth.
We also interviewed a babysitter today - Joanne, who was really nice although only 18. She is probably going to start soon when Clare goes back to work.
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