Florence Rose.

Poppy stopped over last night, her mummy and daddy were off out for a christmas meal with friends so when Emma fetched her from the childminders she brought her straight round to ours then headed off home for her pyjamas, rather than mess her about getting her in and out of the car seat. She was very tired after a busy day at the childminders, apparently the childminders son had been off school, lying on the sofa, and Poppy loves him so didn`t want to go to sleep all day in case she missed something! Sounds like she spent the day jumping all over Tom, so lets hope she has not caught whatever it is he has, he had a temperature, not sure what else, and you can make a bet Pops will catch it!

I changed her nappy, got her into her sleep suit and gave her her milk, her eyes looked very sleepy and I thought she would be in bed by 6.30 but no, she finished off her milk, sat for a moment or two, then jumped off my lap, headed for the sofa and jumped up, wanting to look through the window! Not much use as it happened, it was dark by then! She had a new lease of life until about 7.30 but I could see how tired she was, she was fighting it and trying not to give in, so Grandad carried her upstairs and I followed to get her to sleep. We sat in my bedroom for ten minutes or so, Poppy sucking her dummy madly, pretending she was not tired, then she fell asleep showing that I was right all along, she was shattered!

Ten past three she woke a couple of times, having lost her dummy, but she did settle down again eventually and then slept until 6.40am so I suppose that wasn`t bad, from 7.30 last night. We could hear her talking to her teddies, though quite what she was saying was anybodies guess! A few minutes later she had had enough and started to cry, Gray was having to get up anyway for work so he went and fetched her into our room where she was immediately fine again, pointing to Barney who was still fast asleep in bed and saying "aaahhhh"!!

Gray went off to work at 8am and Emma arrived about 10 so Poppy and I had a couple of hours to play. She likes pulling the basket out of the unit in the hall and taking out all the dog leads and collars, she used to just leave them all over the floor but now she carries the collar and lead to the dog and tries to put it round their neck! Em, Poppy and I had lunch and now they have gone to visit Florence Rose, Emmas new niece and Poppys new cousin, born to Beverley last Tuesday morning, weighing 8 pounds. Pops will enjoy that, she loves babies!

So I am shattered now as you can imagine, and I hurt as my arthritis is playing me up a lot at the moment, Poppy is a good little soul, but I still need eyes in the back of my head to prevent any accidents happening! 

Unless it is some kind of secret code!

Poppy has been a little tinker today, pushing buttons she shouldn`t and when you say "no Poppy" she turns round and grins! She has climbed all over the furniture and poor old Barney has been sat on top of! Not that he minds, he just lies there and she has him wrapped round her little finger, but thats not the point! The other dogs certainly wouldn`t let her sit on them so I have to say no, we don`t want her to get the idea that she can leap all over the dogs, its not fair on them and she may get a fright if one of them were to give her a warning. She is getting faster walking too and before you can turn round she has disappeared! She can still crawl faster than she can walk but I daresay that will change in time!

We took her to the library this afternoon to change her books, she was very excited when we went in and wanted to look at everything, quite a few books in the childrens department ended up on the floor when she discarded them so Grandad picked them all up before we left. She was very happy when a little girl arrived in the childrens section and she was waving away at her and jabbering on in her own language, smiling away! When a little lad about her own age arrived Poppy obviously decided he could understand everything she said and was chattering to him too, not that he took a lot of notice! Shame, she was trying her best to make friends. It is nice that they are able to join the library at this age, and that they have plenty of board books for them to look through, its great that they are encouraging the love of books in this way. You are never lonely when you have a love of books and can get yourself lost in the story.

I just had a text from Emmas phone, it was complete gobbledygook, somehow I think Poppy may have got hold of her Mummys phone and accidentally found out how to text! Unless it is some kind of secret code!

Cheeky monkey.

Poppy was full of beans this morning, she was climbing on the sofa and trying to sit on Barney! He is so good and so placid he would let her but it is not fair on him so I had to keep telling her not to jump on him! Little monkey! She was tired by about 10.30am but would not go to sleep in case she missed something, its obvious when Poppy is tired, she moans and you can see it in her face. I gave her a biscuit about 11am, she often has a biscuit, or bikkie as she calls it, to keep her going until lunch, and she fell asleep while eating it! Two hours she slept for, you see Poppy, I told you that you were tired! Cheeky monkey!!

This afternoon she has been to visit her great Aunty Marg and Uncle Rich, I think Marg was worn out by the time we left an hour later as Poppy kept grabbing hold of her finger and walking her into the kitchen, she wanted to look in the cupboards! She also keeps wanting to climb the stairs, and ofcourse as Marg has no stairgate up she keeps heading for them! They are very steep, not that she knows how to come down the stairs as yet, so we kept heading her off at the pass, so to speak!

She was having her yogurt when Mummy arrived, learning to feed herself which was evident by the amount of strawberry yogurt all over her face! Problem is that she does not like having her face washed!

Fruit and veg.

Poppy has enjoyed her food today, toast and jam for breakfast then for lunch quiche, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and ham followed by fromage frais. She managed two biscuits this afternoon and has now gone home with Mummy and Daddy so I hope she eats her tea! Em tells me it is shepherds pie tonight. Poppy certainly likes her fruit and veg which is great, these days kids can eat some rubbish so it is nice that she likes things which are good for her!

The lounge looks like a tip, in the centre is the ball pool, though most of the balls are all over the carpet! Emma did try to put them back into the bag before she took Poppy home but Poppy kept getting them out again! It was easier to leave them for Grandad to clear up! She has her farm out, bargain £2.50 from the charity shop, then her baby walker and her toy ride on car are abandoned in the middle of the room, various other toys are dotted about. At least she enjoyed herself!

Anne came round for a coffee this morning which was nice, good to have some adult company, there is only so much baby talk you can do! Poppy was tired after Annes visit but would not give in and go to sleep, she thought she was missing something! She eventually dropped off to sleep at 11.20 and slept for over 2 hours! Jill came round to help at 11.30 but ofcourse Pops was fast asleep and she had to leave just before she woke up so she missed Poppy altogether today!! Ofcourse that meant that Poppy missed out on her walk out in her pushchair as Jill often takes her out for a breath of fresh air for me as I cannot walk far enough to make the outing worthwhile! Grandad would have taken her out this afternoon but not long after he came home her Mummy turned up as she had a pd day (personal development) and as she had to borrow our car this morning she thought she had best get back early just in case we wanted to go out anywhere. Lee said the wheel was making a funny noise last night when he got home from the gym but it was too dark to look, turned out to be a bolt thrown up from the road, but you never know, better safe than sorry.

She liked it so much she did not want to go home!

Poppy has been to visit Birmingham Childrens hospital this morning for her check up with the neurologist who was very pleased with her progress and said she is doing well. He said that at one point her head did expand quite a bit but then was okay, and he said she has obviously got over it well and has no problems, thank goodness. She was having her head measured every 2 weeks but he now said there is no need for that to happen any more and so she will be measured when she sees her consultant at New Cross and when she goes to Birmingham. He said she could have another MRI when she is 3, just to see how she is going on, and the fluid may, or may not, have dispersed. Emma and Lee said they think he would leave it up to them whether that would be an option or not, but maybe it is better to know if the fluid has dispersed so you know what you are dealing with, but they can cross that bridge when they get to it. He said that unless there is a big problem with build up they would not drain the fluid as this could cause more problems, and could actually cause a bleed, so as long as Poppy is doing well, making progress as she should and carries on doing so, he sees no need to do anything as the fluid on her brain is obviously not giving her a problem. Apparently some people live with some fluid on their brain and it does not pose a problem or threat to them in anyway, so he was pleased with how she is developing and cannot see any need to do anything at all.

Poppy was waving and smiling at the doctor, and at one point, while they were waiting in the corridor to see him, she shot back into the waiting room where she proceeded to wave and smile at all and sundry! When she saw a babe in arms she got very excited, shouting babba babba! Bless.

They arrived here after the hospital visit and had some lunch. Poppy was very interested in the toy farm I found yesterday in the charity shop, opening the doors and putting the animals in place, and pushing the little tractor trailer about, what a bargain at £2.50! She liked it so much she did not want to go home!

She makes me laugh.

Em said Pops would be tired early today as she was awake at 5.30am, sure enough just before 9.30am she was showing signs of sleepiness and soon dropped off with a nice cuddle from Grandma.

She has some of her bigger back teeth coming through and in some parts of her gums they look bruised, I suppose the larger teeth can do that, poor little soul. She has been dribbling for England this afternoon and we kept having to wipe her chin or the skin would become sore. She ate the fruit I prepared for breakfast but waved the toast away, then at lunch time she did not eat much of her sandwich but managed the Peppa Pig yogurt. Thank goodness she ate all her tea, shepherds pie, and enjoyed it. She likes to feed herself so I have one spoon and Poppy has a spoon, consequently I do tend to get covered with food, so does the carpet, sofa, dog - you get the picture! She is getting better, and there was not so much mess today, she is learning how to use the spoon and get the food into her mouth much better now, we do have to grab hold of the bowl though, otherwise it could end up on the floor or on her head!

Poppy loves playing with her dolly now, who is known as Ba Ba. She will give her a drink, cuddle her and pat her back and take her for a walk in her buggy! Sweet. I put one of the nappies on the doll which Poppy used to wear when she was first born, they are really tiny and used to literally bury Poppy, they came right up to her chest and down past her knees, the size is micro! The doll she has is very small so it was a shock when I put the nappy on to the doll and it fit it okay, showing that Poppy was actually a lot smaller than the doll when she came into this world! It is amazing to see how she has come on since she was born at 3 pounds 4 ounces almost 16 months ago now, she is a toddler, though still petite and her legs and arms are really skinny, she is walking, can say quite a few words, and she understands a lot of what you say to her, even if she cannot answer you back as yet. She smiles and laughs all the time, with the odd exception if she does not want her face washed or her nappy changed, and she makes us laugh every day, she is a real little giggler!

The abacus.

We don`t normally have Poppy on a Friday, she usually goes to the childminder, but as I had an appointment with my oncologist yesterday for my annual check up I swapped days with Sallianne. Lesley came round for a coffee this morning and Poppy was on top form, climbing all over her and giving her her best smiles! Poppy had just woken up from a 2 hour sleep so she was full of energy!

Grandad finishes work at 2pm on a Friday and we had to pop to the bank and on the way home we nipped into the charity shop to see if there were any toys for sale, they are a great help as Poppy can have lots of toys to help her development for very little cost and all they need is a good clean with hot water and milton fluid! Today we found three nice books at 50p each and an abacus which she chose herself. I had already spotted the abacus, a lovely wooden one, you don`t see them often these days so we grabbed that on Poppys orders, she had already seen it and was reaching out to touch it, they are a good teaching aid to teach not only numbers but colour too so I was pleased with that.

Poppy has enjoyed her meals today which is good to see, when she is poorly she goes off her food big time and it is very difficult to get her to eat anything so when she eats it is lovely. We bought her an egg custard tart, she polished off the lot!

Sweet

Anne came round for a cuppa this morning, it was the first time she had seen Poppy walking. Poppy kept staring at her and smiling at first, its been a while since she saw her and I think Poppy was trying to work out who it was! It didn`t take Poppy long, a few minutes only, to walk over to Anne and try to grab her phone and keys! After Anne left Poppy fell asleep at 11.30 and she slept until just before 1.30! She didn`t want her sandwhich for lunch but managed a whole banana, a slice of melon cut into chunks and a fromage frais, a Peppa pig one ofcourse!

This afternoon we went off to Asda to get a new cup, the one we had did have a special valve in the lid which prevented it from leaking everywhere but Em took it to hospital with her when Pops had her last visit and we have not seen it since! (I think Emma and Lee have "accidentally" forgotten to bring it back, they liked the idea that it did not leak!) So we went for a new one, its easier than cleaning up the drips of sticky fruit juice from tables, trays, carpets, babies and grandmas clothes! We have now told Em we have donated the other one to them, she was well pleased!

When Em came to fetch Poppy today she called "hello" as she came in and Poppy was walking across the room at the time, when she heard it was her Mummy she attempted to go faster but was wobbling around everywhere so she gave up, dropped to her knees and crawled to her Mummy as fast as she could! She gave her a lovely cuddle, saying "aaaahhhh", and patted Em on the back! Sweet.

High Five.

Poppy has been so good today, she ate all her breakfast, had a lovely play until 9.30am, climbed onto my knee and fell asleep! (Emma said she was up early!) She slept for 3, yes 3 hours!!! When she woke up she ate all her dinner (roast chicken, potatoes, carrots and gravy), and then proceeded to climb all over me for a good hour. She then decided to play with her dolly and gave dolly a drink from her cup, then she gave teddy a drink from her cup, then I had to have a drink from her cup! I put Sooty on tv for her to watch (yes, 50 odd years after I used to watch Sooty on tv, the glove puppet and friends is back!) she really really likes Sooty, Sweep and Soo (don`t tell her, I have bought her all the puppets for Christmas) Sooty and Sweep were shooting each other with water pistols and Poppy laughed out loud! So sweet.

I had to go to the doctors for the results of the blood tests I had a couple of weeks ago and Gray drove me to the surgery with Poppy in the carseat. She had fallen asleep before we got there so I put a blanket over her to keep her little legs warm and Grandad stayed in the car with her while I was inside. Blood tests were all fine, just a slightly high cholesterol level which can be sorted by diet so after the visit we headed back home for tea. Poppy had woken up a little while before I emerged from the surgery (Dr. N is so thorough I am always in there for ages) and Grandad had taught her to high five in the meantime, so while she was eating her tea she kept high fiving Grandad and I!! Cheeky monkey!

Remembrance service and fireworks, a strange combination!

Have not seen Poppy for a couple of days, I have not been feeling too well, though I feel a little better now. I am gutted because this afternoon there was a church service to remember all the lost babies and I really wanted to go to pay tribute to our lost grandchildren and light a candle in their memory. Emma and Lee took Poppy to the service and Poppy spent most of the time waving at a little girl aged about 8 or 9 in the pew in front of her! When the little girl faced the front she was waving the order of service about trying to catch her attention!! She went up to the front of the church to light a candle in memory of her twin sister, it is a nice service, I went last year with Emma, rather upsetting as all the sermons and speeches are about lost babies but comforting at the same time, you know everybody in that church understands.

Tonight they are off to the fireworks at the Old Wolves club so I hope Poppy likes them and is not frightened by the bangs, as Emma said it is not far from home so if she does not like them they can leave and go home. Hopefully she will like the pretty fireworks.

So there you have it, a remembrance service and fireworks, a strange combination!!

SNOTTY POPPY STRIKES AGAIN!

Whether she is teething or it could be just another cold, it is hard to tell, but snotty Poppy is back! She has been to the hospital this afternoon for her normal routine check up and the doctor checked her chest, the asthma nurse saw her also and recommended she be given a steroid inhaler to prevent her having an attack, and said she should have her flu jab. The consultant was very pleased with her progress and said she is hitting her milestones and then some! She said that premature babies have a lower immune system and that they have very small airways which can be sensitive which is why she keeps on having problems with her breathing, hopefully she could have grown out of these problems by the age of two, there again she could develop asthma, we shall have to wait and see. She is walking loads now, she walked right across the room when her mummy was standing by the door today and Barney has been getting a lot of love as she keeps saying "aaahhh" and throwing her arms round his neck calling Bargy!! She has been very snotty the past couple of days, could be teeth or it could be yet another cold, that is the problem with taking her to playgroup but she needs the social interaction of other kids and enjoys it so much. The doctor said she must go to these kind of places so that she can build up her immune system or she will become a sickly adult! Emma had to park on the main road when she went to the hospital today, she went round the carpark several times looking for a space! Ridiculous, they need to do something about the parking, I would be stumped as I can`t walk as far as the main road so it would be a huge problem for me, needs sorting.