I am now down 40.8 lbs (that’s about 18.5 kg) on 1 Jan 2010.
Definitely moving in the right direction :)
My BMI is also down to 25.0 too which is getting healthier all the time.
I have been ill for over 20 years now and have spent time in a neurological hospital and had many outpatient appointments. I was misdiagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis nearly 20 years ago and another consultant tried to rediagnose it less than 2 years ago. I’ve also had to suffer the indignity of psychiatric and psychological examinations in case I was just a malingerer without any real problem.
Yesterday I was diagnosed with EDS through the UK’s top rheumatology specialist in hypermobility. This was a 2nd opinion – the first one (a local rheumatology consultant) told me that I wasn’t hypermobile and to have more energy I should stop being a vegetarian and eat more meat and fish! Also everything the first consultant said I didn’t have the top specialist said I did! I know who I trust more.
This all came about because of my physiotherapist who thought I had some collagen problem and that my fatigue could be caused by hypermobility syndrome (which can be caused by a number of conditions including EDS).
This diagnosis is quite unexpected as after all this time I thought it would never happen.
It also covers such a wide range of things happening since I was a kid. Most people had thought I was one of the most unlucky people out there with so many different medical things going wrong. Now most of these seemingly random things are tied together and all I have remaining are a few things (PCOS with pre-diabetes, asthma, eczema) that are left over.
I’m a bit shellshocked that he came to a diagnosis so quickly and definitively.
Let’s see where this leads me…
I’ve been trying to teach Isaac baby sign language for a few months now but not had any success. He’s a happy baby and we usually understand each other well. Perhaps there’s been no need for signs.
Today was different. He’s not been in the best of moods and cried a lot during lunch. He’s been teething again recently and so I thought it was this. Kept trying small amounts then having cuddles and also gave him some medicine. Still no success.
Then I caught his arm lying on the high chair table with his hand moving and doing the sign for milk (or at least a close approximation of it). I rushed off to get a bottle made up and gave it to him. He doesn’t normally have milk with meals and doesn’t really like milk much but he definitely wanted it today. The whole bottle was demolished! And I had a happy baby again.
Hurrah for baby signing.
Certainly a cure for frustrated babies who can’t communicate through speech.
Clever little boy :)
list 50 men little boys should admire instead of symbols of money and violence (read all 2 entries…)
A real role model we want Isaac to have. We respect him so much that we gave Isaac his name as a middle name. Isaac Ashley.
His uncle Ash, my brother, doesn’t live a perfect life but has given so much to so many people. He is someone you can rely on and gives of himself freely.
He lives at home with our parents despite being in his late 30s. He started out working in IT earning quite good money but felt that it was a soulless job and he wanted to do something worthwhile. Now he works for the ambulance service (poorly paid in the UK) and cannot afford to live on his own as the area is affluent. He doesn’t want to move out of the area he grew up in as his friends are still there.
Both our parents are disabled (father had a stroke, mother has Parkinson’s disease) and he does so much to help.
There’s so much more to Ash. He has a great sense of humour, loves cars and motorsport, is a great friend to his friends and also to us and loves spoiling Isaac.
I’m back at work now. Just 3 days a week as I’ve managed to go back 80% hours and have enough annual leave bought, accrued, carried forward that along with bank holidays I am not working any Monday in 2013.
Isaac started nursery in December aged 6 months. Initially it was for an hour and built up over a few weeks to a whole day. I then went back to work 1 day a week (Keeping in Touch days) from mid Jan and Isaac loved nursery.
Now when we drop him off in the morning he isn’t bothered about saying goodbye as he has so many friends there and loves playing with their toys and doing their activities that he is just looking around at what he’ll be doing later on.
Today he sat patiently in his high chair waiting for breakfast (those little ones that got there earlier were already eating) and he leaned over and held the arm of the boy next to him.
He’s such a sweet and happy little boy that he only got assigned his key worker there last week as they’d been fighting over him up to now!
I’m not sure if it’s the best nursery ever but think that he’d settle in really well wherever we found a good nursery. It’s also in the grounds of the local combined primary school. He’ll be so used to going to the grounds and seeing the big kids play that I’m hoping that moving on to school will be a fairly easy transition and the nursery does wrap-around care too.
I don’t feel at all guilty about leaving him there as he has a lovely time. Not sure how I’d feel about going back to work otherwise.
These are genius ideas! Sometimes mad genius but great nevertheless.
We already have one item on this list (vest extenders) and have been considering another (baby bath dam) and will make a few others inc babysitter box and eventually the car travel tray.
Thought I’d share this in case it makes life easier for any of you.
I wish I’d found this BuzzFeed a lot earlier. Some of these are still useful to me as they cover up to age 5 in some circumstances (and up to adults for the sleep chart).
23 Incredibly Helpful Diagrams For Moms-To-Be
Particularly useful is a sizing comparison for babies from newborn to age 2 for 6 major clothing companies.
Yesterday Isaac spent quite a long time sitting on the floor playing with his toys whilst on Skype to my mum (I was sitting next to him and he had cushions all around as he’s prone to leaning back occasionally). He also loves looking at the laptop screen and is fascinated by it so it’s never hard to get him involved in a call.
Part way through the 45 minute call he put his hand out onto my shoulder and then gently leaned over and put his forehead on my arm, rubbed it back and forwards lifted his head up and gave me the biggest grin out. He then did it again a couple of minutes later.
He often snuggles into me when I’m holding him but this is the first time he’s actually stopped playing to lean over and give me a cuddle.
It made my day :)
Like all babies Isaac has had his fair share of colds and coughs this winter.
This week has been much worse. Poor Isaac has been poorly with a nasty virus giving him 4 days of fever (39.5 C or 103 F). He’s on the mend now and is getting his appetite back too. I hope his routine will start to return including nights. It’s been a long, long week for all of us.
Thanks to Rat who jogged my memory.
The missing letter (Y) is no longer missing a film – Young Einstein.
list 50 men little boys should admire instead of symbols of money and violence (read all 2 entries…)
This is my list for Isaac and I couldn’t think of a better place to start.
He isn’t perfect (who is???) but has a very strong moral compass and cares a lot about others. He gives up his free time for voluntary work with people who are not as fortunate as we are, have fallen through the cracks in society and ended up homeless with addiction problems.
He tries hard to do his best and has spent some time in the past pursuing his dream of being a musician even though he wasn’t successful. He had a lot of courage to try his all as most musicians don’t succeed but also a lot of fun following his heart.
He is also very family oriented and family will always come first.
Why oh Y !!
A – Attack the Block
B – The Blues Brothers
C – Coraline
D – Delicatessen
E – Earth Girls Are Easy
F – The Fifth Element
G – Gattaca
H – Heathers
I – I Robot
J – Jurassic Park
K – K-Pax
L – Looper
M – The Man From Earth
N – The Nightmare Before Christmas
O – October Sky
P – Pulp Fiction
Q – Quadrophenia
R – Raising Arizona
S – Serenity
T – Tank Girl
U – Unforgiven
V – V for Vendetta
X – X-Men
Y –
Z – Zoolander
I’m finding the week days really long at the moment. Partially because I’m still stuck in the village as I can’t drive as I hurt my wrist in December.
Hubby is out for 12 hours a day and this is a long and daunting stretch of time.
I’ve found that breaking it up into 4 parts each of 3 hours makes it a bit easier to manage mentally. It’s still doing the same things but I no longer wonder what we’re going to do for the next 8 hours or so. Just thinking about a shorter time period has made a huge difference.
He’s just over 7 months now but is not sitting or crawling yet. He can spin in a circle on his tummy on his mat and loves bouncing in his jumperoo. He is very good with his hands but is getting bored more quickly now.
Also the past few days have been very long as Isaac cut his 2nd tooth and this was worse than his first one so the days felt way longer than they actually were due to Isaac feeling really grotty. Bless him.
Anyone got any tips on how to make time seem to pass faster during the day? Or ideas on different things to keep a 7 month old boy occupied?
(well it’s really my brother’s friend’s sister) and she has agreed to have a chat with me about the first steps in getting to see a publisher and what to have prepared for that meeting.
This will be a really useful chat.
He’s an old friend from university days. He has a couple of young children and is a great artist so sounds ideal.
What is less ideal is that having 2 young children he doesn’t have much time.
Let’s see what we can come up with together.
Undergraduate degree followed by 2 postgraduate degrees then working whilst studying for professional exams to be an actuary.
I didn’t set out with this goal in mind but it’s nice that I’m being rewarded for my knowledge, experience and professionalism.
I doubt this goal will ever be achieved easily by anyone.
Good luck to anyone working hard towards this goal.
Hey I was busy again – this year with the lovely little Isaac who was recovering from a horrid cold and cutting his first tooth (the first edge came through the day before).
Wonder what the next 12 months have in store…
After 6 months I have a new flag on my counter.
Hello to my Ugandan visitor.
Like many, I knew about Idi Amin but had no idea of the history of the country or what happened since then.
The colonial boundaries created by Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962. The dictatorial regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives. The rule of Yoweri MUSEVENI since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections.
