8 months

February 26, 2014 by Seychellesmama

Today my little guy is 8 months old!

This months stats

Weighs 8.295 kg (18lb 5oz)

Teeth: 6

This has been a big month of change in Arthur’s life. He is now crawling around all over the place and every day he gets faster! He is pulling himself up to standing and when he really wants something (i.e the remote for the TV or my phone) he will shuffle along gripping onto the sofa to get it! This has resulted in Arthur taking A LOT longer to go down to sleep as he is too interested in sitting and standing up in his cot.

Not only has this opened up numerous possibilities for Arthur, it has changed mine and Mark’s life dramatically too! Eyes in the back of our heads are not enough to make sure that this little guy stays out of trouble!

His new ability to get around so quick has resulted in a trip to the hospital which was very dramatic for me and Mark but Arthur has recovered just fine!

A tooth came through the day after I posted Arthur’s 7 months post, it was luckily uneventful and we seem to have hit a little break in teething (phew!)

I had three nights having to do solo bed time routine for Arthur as Mark was working on the school play (which was a big success!). It was hard work and I am glad to have him back to help out, Arthur is too he enjoys Marks bed time stories much more than mine!

Arthur has had a lot of time playing outside in the garden, he really enjoys having a good look round but particularly enjoys eating grass (and attempted to eat a snail, luckily i rescued it!

We have been swimming lots and Arthur is now lucky enough that he has his own paddling pool. When we take him to the pool he is getting so confident he loves being put up on the side to ‘jump’ in!

Arthur is still happy eating anything and everything. Mostly he like it when he can pick it up and eat it himself, loaded spoons are less interesting to him now.

We are getting lots and lots of noises from Arthur now, still no particular ‘sounds’ as such but he’s so expressive and he really does let us know how he’s feeling, we are lucky that he’s a happy baby most of the time although he’s pretty bossy!!

Lets hope for a hospital free month and lots more adventures with Arthur!

A trip to hospital (A bad mama moment)

February 25, 2014 by Seychellesmama

Sunday started off as such a lovely day, we had a nice big breakfast had a bit of a lazy morning and then we went for a family swim at the pool.

It was really hot even by mid afternoon so Arthur and I were playing in his room with the Air Con on we had a really nice hour or so.

I then for some reason I will never really no let him play on the bed, his play mat had been put on there as Mark had been cleaning the floor (he’s a keeper!) and rather than move it back i left it up there.

As with every house here I know all the floors are tiled, it helps to keep the house cool and its easy to clean with all the sand and dust but it isn’t baby friendly at all.

I’m sure you can see it coming, Arthur fell off the bed. The sound of him hitting the floor made me feel sick to my stomach. I ran to him and grabbed him. Initially he screamed but once I had him cuddled up he went really quiet. I grabbed Mark and we got a few things together for Arthur and went up to the hospital.

He had a bump on his head and it bruised straight away, being so quiet made us think he had a concussion so we were desperately trying to keep him awake in the car. Of course we were stuck behind the slowest driver ever who was literally stopping and waving to everyone he saw.

In the car I broke down crying I think, I think it was because I gave myself a second to realise how awful it was that I let this happen to our baby. I started thinking that Mark was going to hate me because i’d let it happen and of course I was extremely worried that there was real damage to our little guy.

At the hospital there was hardly anyone around and you could see everyone really had that Sunday feeling, no urgency all the nurses were sat around watching local TV (showing what can only be described as the Seychelles version of songs of praise).

We didn’t have to wait long at all to see the doctor which i was impressed with. His English was not good and it was difficult to communicate with him but he figured out that Arthur had a fall and hit his head. He shone a big torch in his eyes (like a torch you would take down into a basement not a little doctors one) and asked if he had been sick (he hadn’t).

The doctor then grabbed the book that said ‘paying patients’ on it, I felt like he was excited to fill this in. He said Arthur was fine but he was going to keep him in for 4 hours to observe him. We were taken to the children’s ward which had one little girl in who was clearly quite poorly. We sat there with Arthur the nurse eventually came looking a little annoyed that we had made her miss some of her tv. She asked us if he had a temperature we said we hadn’t taken it so off she shuffled to get a thermometer. He didn’t have a temperature. She gave him some medicine for any pain he may have from the bump.

After an hour it was time that Arthur would normally have his dinner and we had nothing like that with us. We asked if he could have food the doctor said no not for 4 hours, the nurse corrected him and said 2 hours will be fine. Mark drove home and got a bottle for him so we would have it ready when he could have it. We decided we would just give him milk and see how he got on with that.

By the time we had been there for 2 hours I went out and said Arthur was hungry and asked if I could I feed him. The doctor then said we could go home. After some confusion it was determined we would have to pay 800sr (around 40 quid) for our 2 hours in the hospital. I can’t help but feel a little ripped off, I know we had piece of mind which of course is amazing but I am not really sure where that figure came from (the cynic in me thinks maybe it covered the next months TV costs so they could watch more songs of praise!)

Arthur settled down very quickly for bed, it was an hour past his usual bed time so this wasn’t a surprise.

Although I was relieved that Arthur was safe I couldn’t relax. I checked on him continuously through the night and spent the whole time just beating myself up about what a crap mum I was that this had happened.

Mark was amazing through it all and kept me calm and reassured me that I’m not crap! I also got lots of lovely support off my parents the next day and from lots of my lovely twitter friends who all confirmed that this had happened to them in some shape or form with their babies.

I am still feeling pretty crappy about the whole thing but Arthur is fine, just a little bruise on his head. I think its a lesson that had to happen and a reminder that I will always have to stay on my toes with Arthur.

The Paddling Pool {The Ordinary Moments} #7

February 23, 2014 by Seychellesmama

Its Sunday so I’m linking up with Katie at Mummy Daddy Me for the Ordinary Moments again!

On Friday Mark came home from work with a paddling pool for Arthur. I was so excited as I’ve been desperate for him to have one! I know we are spoiled with having access to a swimming pool two minutes away but there is something very special about a paddling pool, I think so any way!

I have such happy memories of being in the paddling pool when I was little and so I was so excited for Arthur now having his own.

On Saturday I was Skyping my dad who has been working on a boat for the last two months. We hadn’t been able to chat for a while as the wifi on board isn’t very reliable (they are in the middle of the North Sea so you can’t expect it to be great!). Half way through the call we had a power cut 🙁 so we couldn’t finish talking which was sad. It got really hot in the house really quick so I jumped at the opportunity to get Arthur in the paddling pool!!

I only filled it up a little but he had SO much fun splashing and crawling around in the cool water.

Paddling Pool fun!

Im not sure whether part of the excitement of the paddling pool for me being little was that it was only the odd day you could use it as its obviously a weather dependent activity!! However I hope that Arthur will continue to have fun in his and I know we will get lots of use out of it :). Arthur is a very lucky boy to have a life where playing in a paddling pool really can be an ordinary moment!

Happy Sunday

Blog your heart out

February 20, 2014 by Seychellesmama

Okay so I have been a bit rubbish and have sat on this for ages but here it is!

I’ve been nominated by both mummyprobs and Mummy’stodolist to be involved with this so thank you ladies 🙂

I have answered the five questions and below I have nominated 5 more lovely bloggers to do the same!

What/Who encouraged you to start blogging?

I’ve been on twitter for a while and have really only got more involved with it since having Arthur. I follow lots of parents and a fair few write blogs. I began reading and I eventually decided to have a go myself. Two blogs in particular stood out to me as kind of inspirations to start blogging. They are Donna’s blog at redhead babyled and Katie’s blog at mummydaddymemakesthree I’ve found so many blogs now that I love but these two were definitely inspirations to get me started (so thanks ladies)

How did you choose what topics to blog about?

Well really I wanted to record lots of things about Arthur as kind of a diary I guess.

I also wanted to write about what its like to be a mum in the Seychelles.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

I have a degree in Surf Science. I am not sure this degree even exists any more!! I did it at Plymouth University.

What three words describe your style?

(on a day to day basis) Beachy, Casual, Comfortable

What do you like to do when you aren’t blogging?

My favourite thing is having time with Arthur and Mark (my husband) particularly being out and about with them at the beach, at the pool or in the Vallee de Mai. I also love Scuba diving, I’ve only been once since having Arthur but I’m hoping to make that a little more regular now!

I’ve also become a bit of a twitter addict since having Arthur, you will find me on there a lot (in case you don’t follow me I’m @chantellevr) !

Thanks for reading now here are my tags

Katie at ktbtw

Kelly at Tiasmum12

Lucinda at Teacher2Mummy

Emma at Emma&Alfiesworld

and Jess at WryMummy

The Dentist {The Ordinary Moments} #6

February 17, 2014 by Seychellesmama

I’m a little late for this one but I’m linking up with Katie at Mummy Daddy Me for the Ordinary Moments again!

Today (Monday), Arthur had his monthly weight check. The nurse asked me if we had seen the dentist yet. I explained that I had asked about this last month and the lady had told me it wasn’t until 9 months…..

“Who was she? Who told you that?”

“Ummmmmm………”

(I’m not dropping any one in it!!! No one wants an angry Seychellois woman on there back, believe me!)

Anyway, she tells me I must go today. I had also been told previously that the dentist was at the hospital (on the other side of the island). I thought i’d check to be sure.

“I’ll show you.”

(Cue me mentally preparing myself to take directions to some obscure random place)

Turns out it was in the same building, there is a brand shiny new dentist in the health centre. All the equipment is brand new I was very impressed. The lady in there tells me that Arthur should have indeed been at 6 months but not to worry. She tells me that Arthur will come for his next check at 1year and then every 6 months from then on. The checks at the moment are more to get him used to going to the dentist so he isn’t afraid, I thought that was really sweet. I had to lay down on the dentist chair and have Arthur laid on top of me. The dentist looks at his teeth with the little mirror thing and said they looked nice and strong, asked how I was cleaning them etc.

She tells me that the gap in his two front teeth while not super common its almost certainly nothing to worry about but they will monitor to see how it closes.

Arthur was good as gold, I was a little concerned he might bite the dentist since he likes to chew on anything but he laid there fascinated by the light above him!!

A rather ordinary moment but a first and one that made me proud of my good little boy and his shiny strong teeth!

Ummm, Happy Monday…… 🙂

My birth story

February 17, 2014 by Seychellesmama

In the Seychelles, if it’s your first baby you go to Mahe (the main island) to have your baby (we live on Praslin island) three weeks before the due date. Now for most people this isn’t too much of an issue, as they will have friends or family living there that they can stay with. Well, we didn’t have that option and so we had to find accommodation for me to stay in. My husband would have to stay on Praslin as he would still be working. Luckily for me my mum and dad were coming over so I had some company and some help if I needed to get to the hospital. Of course also for just general help while I was a big ball of a pregnant lady! So accommodation booked for 5 weeks (3 weeks before and allowing up to two weeks after due date before I would be induced)

At my 20 week scan (which was actually at 22 weeks) they told us we were having a boy. They also told us that at that time he was breech. It was no problem though, it was still early days and he had lots and lots of time to turn around still. I don’t know what it was but I knew he wasn’t going to turn around, I just had this feeling he was going to stay breech.

The kind of thing that can make it more likely a baby will be breech is if it’s the second baby, it’s twins or more, the uterus is an unusual shape, or placenta previa among some other things that I can’t remember! Well none of those things matched up with me. Even armed with the knowledge that less that 5% of babies are born breech I still had this feeling that he wasn’t going to turn. My husband felt the same way.

It got closer to my due date and every check up I had, our little guy still hadn’t turned! I knew he wasn’t going to….little monkey! At 30 weeks I was booked into have an elective c-section. I had read a lot about how people feel really disappointed at having to have a c-section. I’ll admit I did feel this a little bit, that I wouldn’t be able to have my baby the way ‘nature intended’!

However this actually ended up working really well for us. With my husband on a whole different island we didn’t have to worry about how he was going to get to me if I went into labour in the middle of the night! Also it meant that my mum and dad could plan their stay around it (after all they were still going to be in the Seychelles and they wanted to enjoy their time before the baby came!).

So I went into the hospital on the 25th June (at 37.5weeks pregnant). I had a chat with the anaesthetist, discussed that the two main options were an epidural or general anaesthetic. The decision was clear for us that I would have an epidural. I didn’t want the risks involved with a general anaesthetic. I then was put in a room where the baby was traced, I could hear him moving around and his little heart beat it was beautiful. They then shaved my belly and I had to sign some forms. No more action until the next day. I got little to no sleep, how could I? I knew I was going to be meeting my baby in the morning!!

My husband and my parents arrived at 7 in the morning on the 26th and things then went pretty fast. I got dressed into my hospital gown and taken into theatre at around 8:45. In the Seychelles no one is allowed to go into the theatre with you so I was by myself. I made sure that my husband was going to get to be with the baby while I was being stitched up. I didn’t want either of them to be on their own!

I then met my doctor for the first time. The anaesthetist was there and was really calming and reassuring. He told me that the epidural would be uncomfortable but as I had a tattoo on my back he told me I would be fine! He was right, to be honest the needle wasn’t bad at all. That could be due to adrenaline of course! I then felt a cold feeling, which i guess was the anaesthetic. That didn’t feel very nice but within a minute or two that had gone and the numbness started going down my legs. I had a oxygen mask on, not sure if that is normal or not but I had one never the less! I think it did help me as it made me concentrate on my breathing rather then what was going on down there!

At 9:25 Arthur was born, I had prepared myself that quite often the baby makes no sound initially when first born by c-section but i heard a little coughing noise and then a cry. I burst into tears!! That was it I was a mummy!! They cleaned him up a little bit and the doctor was then removing the placenta etc (I guess thats what he was doing anyway!) I got to give Arthur a little kiss, he was bundled up in a big fluffy towel. He was then taken away from me to get properly cleaned up and to go into a little incubator while I was being stitched up. My husband was with him at this time.

I think it was around 10:15 that I eventually came out of theatre…..it felt like forever! I got wheeled back into the ward where my mum and dad were with me. Shortly after that Mark came in with Arthur and I got to have my first cuddle. I had been away from him for less than an hour and I had missed him, he had been inside me for 9 months and so even that short little time without him felt like an eternity!

Recovery was surprisingly okay from the surgery. I didn’t get out of bed at all on the 26th but the next day I walked to have a wash and use the toilet, the first day was pretty slow and painful but it got better really quick. I didn’t take much pain medication at all. I can’t even remember what the strong stuff was that I had but whatever it was I only used it for two days and then after that I was just taking paracetamol.

My entire stay in hospital was 5 nights (including the night before I had Arthur) I went back to our apartment on Mahe. Mark had started his paternity leave on the 25th so he was there with me along with my mum and dad. We took Arthur back to Praslin when he was around 2 weeks old on the little inter island plane.

Love is…..

February 14, 2014 by Seychellesmama

Ive been tagged by both my petit canard (who came up with this lovely new tag) and YouBabyMeMummy to share my definition of what love is 🙂

So here it is 🙂

Love is……..

Family time; an evening walk on the beach, swimming, or a stroll in the Vallee De Mai are my favourite things to do with Mark and Arthur.

My wonderful husband Mark putting up with my all too frequent tired induced grumpy moods

Arthur reaching out and grabbing my hair during dinner time, didnt you know porridge fruit and yogurt is THE new hair treatment to have (because I’m worth it!)

Watching Arthur learn and master new skills, it’s amazing.

Seeing Arthur and Mark together.

His cheeky little grin, seriously it just gets me every time, especially with all those little teeth in there!

The amazing cuddles I get when I take Arthur out of his cot in the mornings, it’s the best!!

Evenings cuddled up on the sofa when Arthur has gone to bed, barely able to stay awake watching some tv that we have downloaded to get our British telly fix! A special treat is having this with a glass of wine 🙂

Skype conversations with our parents, particularly when we get to do video chat with Arthur.

so that’s love for me 🙂

i tag 🙂

mummydaddymemakesthree