A photo a day : A poorly Eva

"Poorly" is the only way I could think to describe what Eva is going through at the moment, we haven't been given a medical term for it, and it's not really an illness. Writing this has made me realise just how little I know about it all, which is awful. I'm her mummy, I should know every detail.

Back before easter, Eva began complaining that her bottom was sore when ever she had a poo. At first I assumed it was down to the fact she'd got a bit constipated and it had been a sore after she went. After a week though, it seemed there was more to it, so I asked her if I could look. She was happy for me to do so. I was shocked to find a small tear which had been causing her all this pain. 

I rang up her GP, who told me she needed lazatives to soften her stools and that was it. He's a GP right? a medical professional, if that's what will help her then I shall do it. Did I question the fact he'd taken my word for it over the phone rather then asking to see her? a little bit. But again he's a doctor, he knows what he's talking about. In the end I rang up the GP 7 times. Each time I was told the same thing, give her stool softeners, increase the amount of fibre in her diet and give her calpol for the pain. That was it..

Now all of that would have been fine if any of it worked, if even one thing the doctor had said had helped even a little bit. But no! Months went by, Eva got worse, panic attacks, refusing to sit on the loo, pooing herself, tears, screaming.. I cried for her every time. Watching your daughter in agony is awful, it's heart breaking and something no mother should see, and of course nothing any child should be going through. She's five years old, and dealing with such a scary medical issue.

Last week I had enough, I rang up the GP's and asked to see a female doctor. Not an over the phone converation, a face to face one, one where the doctor can see the look of fear in my daughter's eyes when the subject is even mentioned, maybe then someone would help and understand. Eva had also taken as much as she could, before the mention of doctors had her in tears and begging me not to. But this time around when I told her, she replied with "Ok mummy", I think this broke my heart even more.

The doctor was kind, she listened, she looked at Eva, felt her tummy and told me there was no longer a tear there, that it had long since healed. She believed the pain is now coming from a "nappy rash" caused by Eva's refusal to wipe / clean her bum because it's too painful to touch. She increased the dose of medication she was on and gave her some cream. We are now keeping a "poo diary" something which to most sounds amusing, to us it's very real. Every time she has a poo we have to write it down, every detail, the time she went.. what it looked like, the colour etc in 3 weeks if she's still in pain we are to be refered to someone who can help. Hearing this afrer 6 months was like a weigh had been lifted, finally someone listened and understood, finally someone was doing something to help us. 

It's been a week since Eva has seen the doctor and also a week since her last "proper" poo. She's pooped herself 3 times a day for the last 2 days, holding it in, stopping herself going. She crys herself to sleep every night asking me "why have I got this mummy" and "Who can make it go away".. while I silently rock her thinking "I wish I could".

Bean xo

Charity shop haul.

It's been a while since I did a chrity shop haul, June I believe, which is mad as I love my charity shops. Anyway, yesterday (saturday) I went shopping in my local town, People around here moan for having more charity shops then people but I am one who loves this!

My haul.

New Look, Pink / Purple flower print top - £3.
 Top Shop, Dark purple tank top (bad lighting makes it look black) - £2.
New Look, long pink top / dress - £2.
The white strappy top isn't from a charity shop but it was on sale (70% off) so I included it. - £1.99
And a book (not pictured) The boy in the stripped PJ's - £1.49

Eva's Haul.

I was quite disappointed by the lack of clothing for Eva, there was a few things in each store but nothing she would wear - Yes at 5 years old she already has her own style!
Where's Wally books - 70p each
Sam Plants a sun flower - 99p
The snail and the Whale - 99p
Kittens - 70p

 I also found these John Lewis pumps in her size for £1.99. I don't normally buy her shoes with heels but these are "play" shoes and to be worn every day. Although she loves having shoes "like mummy".

Archie's Haul.

(Please excuse the bad lighting, I took the photo's in the evening by the ceiling light)

Little green radicals, all in one - £1.49
George Jeans - £1.50
Disney @ George hoodie - £1.50
Mini animal plate - 70p
Noddy plate - 70p.

After our charity shop haul we headed to Next and I ended up buying a few super cute things for Archie (Ooops) In my defence though, he's now out grown all his 6-9 months bottoms so he did need more. (I've put up the links incase you want to buy any of them)

 

1. Navy blue and white stripped T-shirt, £4
(buy here)
2. Plum Braces Trousers - £13
(buy here)
3. Orange Dino T-shirt £6
(buy here)
4. Navy blue joggers - £6
(buy here)

- The dino t-shirt and Joggers when brought together are £10.

A photo a day : Slimbridge wetland centre.

Okay so I am day late with this one, but lets just pretend that it is still Friday.. 

We had been planning this trip since last summer when I was heavily pregnant with my boy. Slimbridge (or duck land as Eva calls it) is one of our favourite places to visit. As a toddler Eva adored birds and this being mainly a duck / bird place was the perfect place in her eyes. I would reccommend checking out the events before you go as it's a seasonal place, meaning not all activities are available due to weather etc. 

One new feature was the "passport". Each child was given a passport and every activity on it that they completed they were given a sticker. If they collected all of them, then they got a certificate. Sadly we weren't able to complete all the activities due to the closing hours of each one (check before you go and plan your day - had we been aware of the new passport we'd have done just this) Still Eva completed, feeding the ducks (with the bird seed provided), looking for bugs in the mud, holding a Fire Salamander, Pond dipping and another one which I have forgotten completely! 

We had a lunch in the cafe and the food is amazing! if a little pricey, but well worth it in my opinion after all you get what you paid for. We had a lovely day, Eva loved bird watching, Archie loved watching Eva feed the swans and us adults had a lovely time too.

Bean xo

A photo a day : The Forest Of Dean

After our lazy day yesterday we decided today, we'd do something very active. Walking. Of course living at the edge of the Cotswolds, we are completely surrounded by many perfect walking sites. However, we fancied something different, so headed over to The Forest Of Dean. We have been here many times, and each time we do it rains, so I was somewhat surprised and pleased that the weather stayed hot and sunny the whole time we were there. 

We decided to take a packed lunch with us, for Eva this was a egg and cress sandwich, some fruit (Mango) a pack of ready salted crisps and a drink. I had a ham and egg sandwich, malt loaf with butter, one ginger cookie and a bottle of water. Archie enjoyed Red Pepper, sweet potato and apple for his lunch, washed down with a bottle of milk. We ate our lunch over looking Cannop Ponds, Eva fed her crusts to the ducks and swans who were swimming on the lake. I remembered we still had duck feed left in the car from our trip to Studely Grange on Tuesday, so once the bread had run out we switched to that. 

After lunch, we began our walk. Honestly, we had no plan where we were going, just walk till we were tired out and then head home. We ended up somewhere, in the woods. I have no idea where if I'm honest, it all looks the same. In the end we had a 1 1/2 hour walk and then went home. I love the drive back through the Forest and much as the walking through it. This place is beautiful, it's on our list for a long weekend away next year.

Bean xo

A photo a day : Lazy day

Today we have done, well nothing! Which is nice sometimes, to just laze about the house the children. We baked some Tom and Jerry cupcakes - on Eva's request and she spent alot of the day enjoying the sun in the garden. But most the day we spent snuggled up on the sofa watching some of our favourite films.. Marley and me and Charlotte's Web (Both of these I recorded on Sky+) Archie had a very lazy day indeed, he spent most of it napping!I love day's like these, just talking to my children, giggling together, this is one my favourite things about motherhood.

Bean xo

A photo a day : Studley Grange

We couldn't decide between The Living Rainforest and Studley Grange for a day out, in the end it came down to cost (Studley is only £4.95 each, under 3's are free) plus it had so much there that we decided to do The Living Rainforest another time. It took about an hour and half to get there, we arrived at lunch time so had lunch first. Eva had a children's packed lunch which was, a sandwich, a bag of plain crisps, an apple, 4 biscuits and a carton of juice. The food there wasn't great, the Lasagna I had was over cooked, dry and didn't have much taste but then again it was a simple cafe so I don't think it should have been anything more.

After lunch we headed to butterfly world, this also lead out to the reptiles and animal paddock too. Eva adore's butterflies so really enjoyed herself here. I managed to get some lovely photographs from here. Out in the animal paddock were pigs, ducks, otters, meer kats and ducks. We brought some animal feed for £1 a bag and Eva got to feed the goats. Archie found the goats highly amusing, he couldn't stop laughing at them, he laughed even more when the goat got hold of the paper bag of food.

Next we went around the craft village, had we known just how much things there were to do here we would have brought some more money with us. We did have a look in all the shops though, and paid to go into the little lego place, kind of like a mini (very mini) lego land. We took the children into the play zone / barn in the middle and both of them had fun playing with all the toys, ball pits and slides. 

On leaving I brought Eva a lolly pop and a teddy and Archie just had a small teddy. It was a lovely little place, very small but perfect for children - and as it's all in doors it's perfect for when the weather isn't at it's best, like today.

Bean xo

A photo a day : A day at Worcester woods

Today has been very busy. We began the day with a trip to Morrisons for some breakfast - the evening before my mum had locked herself out (this is a very long story) so she ended up sleeping at our house. I went over first thing in the morning and managed to get her front door unjammed / unlocked, she had an hour before she was due at work so we headed out for breakfast. Eva is currently on a very healthy diet due to some health problems, so a fry up was a little treat for her. 

After dropping my mum off at work we headed back home, as I mentioned above Eva has been having some health problems lately so I had to book a doctors appointment for her. She'd requested that she wanted to see a female doctor. The receptionist was rather rude about me not wanting her regular doctor, apparently this was "inconvenient", however my daughter wanted a female doctor and that was that. I was then told a doctor would call me back ASAP, pfftt. An hour later another receptionist called to say an appointment had been made for 2:40. It was only 10am, so we decided to go out until her appointment - I also hoped it would keep her mind off it.

We headed over to Worcester Woods. A lovely wood, just outside of the city with some very enjoyable walks - one more suitable for pushchairs then the others - large feilds with play parks and a lovely cafe serving healthy meals made from locally sourced ingredients. We took a walk through the woods and were amazed by how many squirrel's were running about. Me and Eva went on mini adventures through the trees and came across empty Acorn shells, birds and other animals hiding there. It was lovely. We stayed for lunch, Eva had cheesey pasta but she didn't like it so we swapped, I had her pasta while she ate my Tomato and tyme soup. 

After lunch we headed back to get to Eva's appointment and after months of being ignored we finally got somewhere (I shall write a post soon about this). This is a huge step forward we are hoping.

The rest of the day was spent at the park, Archie loves the swings and spent alot of time giggling on them while Eva went off making friends with a group of girls and playing. Archie and I ended up sitting on a blanket watching her - well I watched her. Archie was crawling around playing his own little game. The day ended up a trip to tesco for the weekly shop and watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton version) before bed. It's lovely being able to spend time as a family.

Bean xo