Richard Warren's blog

Mild Measles

2008-05-18T19:44:00.005+01:00

We think James has a mild bout of measles.

He had his 13 month MMR vaccination about ten days ago (Thursday 8th, a little late for 13 months really), and about a week later on this Thursday just gone he started to get very grumpy, sleepy and a little hot. On Friday he slept for almost three hours solid during the day, which is totally unlike him, and has had a bit of a temperature for the last couple of days. Nothing too bad, paracetamol and ibuprofen seem to be controlling it, but we've had a few ropey nights. Plus, he's developed a slight rash of red spots over various parts of his body. Again, nothing too serious, and they don't seem to irritate him, or he's so grumpy at the moment anyway that he hasn't noticed!

Apparently the official notes that come with the vaccine state that this (including fever, malaise and a rash) might be expected 6 to 10 days after the injection, which is about right! Roughly one in ten children suffer from it. The reason seems to be that the vaccine is based on a live virus, albeit an attenuated strain.

Anyway, as he's had it for a few days now, hopefully he'll start getting better again shortly and will be back to his cheerful little self.

Apart from that, he's doing fine. He still isn't walking unaided, although he's very adept at pushing walkers/cars/chairs/anything along and following behind! Imogen is doing fine too.

Stairs

2008-04-03T20:24:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I posted here. Those who know the family will understand why but I simply can't bring myself to write anything about our recent tragic loss, and nor would anyone want to read it anyway. Maybe one day.

Anyway, the children are too young to understand what happened, so life goes on for them as normal.

James had his first birthday last week. We had a small family 'party', although emotions were obviously mixed. He's fairly mobile now, able to creep along items of furniture and toddle along behind a walker, although not on his own (and he can't turn it yet either).

He obviously decided that being 1 meant he had to do something new though, because he suddenly crawled up the stairs for the first time last week. He'd climbed a single step before, but never the stairs, and he just went straight up! He's done it a few more times again since (with supervision obviously) and is so proud of himself when he gets to the top.

He had viral bronchyolitis (no idea if that how to spell it!) a couple of weeks ago, which wasn't nice but he's over it now.

Imogen's doing fine too, just a bit bored of the Easter holidays because she's missing Happy Bunnies.

A hundred

2008-02-21T20:01:00.002Z

I'm sitting here at my PC doing various odds and ends, waiting for Imogen to go to sleep in the room next door, but all she's doing is talking and singing to herself as is so often the case, when suddenly I hear a pattern emerging...

38, 39, pause, 40, 41, 42... 49, pause, 50, 51,...

This continues perfectly up to 88, 89, another pause, 90, 91 and so on until eventually 98, 99 and a really big pause then 100!!!!

As far as I know, it's the first time she's counted to a hundred all by herself (she's three years and two months old - I don't know how that compares!). She's been able to count to about fifty-ish for ages and ages (I can't remember how long, but some time when she was two I think), and we've counted to 100 together a couple of times, most recently on Saturday evening when she got stuck at each something-nine, restarting at the beginning of that ten again, so 58, 59, 50 etc., but I'm most impressed that she's done it on her own now.

As an aside, the reason we were counting to 100 on Saturday evening was to entertain her (she's easily pleased!) on the way back from Addenbrooke's hospital, where we'd been for several hours with James. He'd developed a fever earlier in the day and was constantly crying for hours, so Sharon eventually had to take him to A&E where they ran loads of blood and other tests before eventually diagnosing an ear infection and giving antibiotics plus ibuprofen and paracetamol. He's a lot better now (Thursday), though still not a hundred percent (there's that number again!), but hopefully will be his rightful self again soon.

He's so mobile now it's unbelievable, crawling everywhere, pushing himself along on his ride-along car and generally pulling up everywhere he can. The illness knocked him back for a few days, but he's making great progress again now.

The worst thing about Saturday was that I wasn't around, since I was in Oxford for the day at a Keble thing, but luckily Sharon's parents were here for the weekend so they helped with it all until I was able to drive back and meet them at Addenbrooke's.

Right, Imogen's asleep now, so I can go downstairs and get on with other things!

Crawling and first tooth

2008-01-09T19:39:00.000Z

It's been a gradual process over a few weeks, but James is finally mobile (nine and a half months) as he can now crawl around quite well. It's sometimes commando-style rather than true hands-and-knees stuff, but it works!

Also, his first tooth is coming through at last (his bottom left front tooth). We've been expecting it for a couple of months as all the signs were there, but only this week has it actually made itself visible.

What with all his newly-developed physical activity, his growth rate has slowed slightly, so he's now 7.5kg (roughly 16lb 8oz or 9oz), which puts him down towards the second centile, but his height and weight are in proportion and his head circumference is still on track which are the key things.

I wonder when the next teeth will show?

Growing up

2007-12-17T07:35:00.000Z

As Imogen rapidly approaches 3 years old (which she doesn't want to be, because she doesn't want to get bigger, so she's agreed to be "2 and 1" instead), we've had a couple of milestones recently.

Firstly, we went to see her in a Nativity Play for the first time last week. You might think she's a little young, but Happy Bunnies put one on each year which basically entails a grown-up narrating between various songs from the children, and one or two lines for the older children. Let's just say it was a cross between fantastic, proud and amusing, but we were really pleased that Imogen took part (even if she refused to wear her angel costume because she wanted her favourite pink stripy cardigan on, and only sat at the front of the stage rather than stood with all the others). She still doesn't "do" crowds and strangers.

She finally settled in well at Happy Bunnies though, after many weeks of crying in advance and when Sharon left her. It wasn't that she didn't have fun there, she just didn't want Mummy to leave her there. After the separation was over each day, she was fine and really enjoyed it, but the anxiety leading up to going was awful. Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been different and she didn't complain at all about going. It's a bit of a shame that there's now a three week break over Christmas, before she goes back four mornings a week in January, since we may have to get over that again then.

Her other big milestone last week was having her first sweet. You may think that a week or two short of her third birthday is a little late to get her a sweet, but what with all her allergies and stuff we never got around to it, and she never accepted anything from anyone other than us really because she seemed to know that she shouldn't eat things we didn't provide. Well, the first sweet was just licked for a long time, making her fingers extremely sticky, but the second one the next day actually made it into her mouth, and there's been no turning back since. She wants one every day! (These are from a small packet of jelly bear type things that have no artificial additives, colouring or other e-number nasties she's likely to react to).

James is still doing well, although he's been ill a little recently (the usual early winter kinds of things), and seems to be teething although we've thought that for months now! He hasn't been sleeping well as a result, but we're hoping things are improving now. He's still a little on the small side, down near the 9th centile, though nothing to worry about in the slightest as I was quite small when I was young (and am hardly that now, either small or young!) and his head is growing perfectly.

He's sitting very well now, and obviously has been able to roll over for a long time (see posting a few months ago), but isn't making much progress on the crawling front. He looked to be on the verge of it in September when we were on holiday, and even moved forwards a foot or two, but hasn't done anything more since then. It'll come at some point obviously, but I don't think it's imminent.

James has no idea about Christmas, but Imogen is starting to get into the swing of it this year. She visited Father Christmas recently (at a nearby garden centre), though wouldn't actually look him in the face, and is very concerned that he's going to come into the house with the presents, so we've promised he'll just drop them down the chimney instead.

She did at least ask him for some pens and colouring stuff (which is all she wants apparently), so we'll see what he brings...

Happy Bunny

2007-09-28T18:42:00.000+01:00

Imogen started at the Happy Bunnies nursery school in Barrington this week, just two mornings a week to begin with, but maybe more when she turns three at Christmas. Sharon hasn't actually tried leaving her there alone yet (they don't recommend it for the first few sessions), but by all accounts she's settling in well and having a whale of a time, so maybe soon. It will be the first time Imogen has been left at a place like this, since although they've been to loads of toddler groups, activities and so on, she's never been on her own to creches, child-minders or any other kind of childcare, so it will be a fairly major milestone when it finally happens.

James, meanwhile, is also doing well. We started weaning him a couple of weeks ago, and he was weighed this week (just turned six months now). At 6.93kg (15lb 4 oz), he's between the 9th and 25th centiles (much closer to the former), which is a little on the small side but nothing unexpected as those charts are based on bottle-fed babies rather than breast-fed, the latter being generally smaller anyway. Also, he was almost bang on the ninth centile at birth anyway.

On a different note, his Christening went well earlier in the month, with a nice turn-out from families on both sides, and luckily a fair-weather day so we could celebrate in the garden afterwards!

Four months, and rolling over

2007-07-23T19:16:00.000+01:00

James is four months old today!

He's recently started rolling over, both from front to back and back to front, which is quite fun to watch because Imogen started crawling before she could roll over. He gets in a bit of a pickle sometimes though, ending up with his arm stuck under his body, and he also gets a bit frustrated as though he's wanting to get somewhere, but it's a good start anyway.

He was weighed a couple of weeks ago, 5.98kg or 13lb 3oz in old money. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was fractionally under the 50th centile at the time.

We've finally planned his Christening as well now, for September. With any luck the constant rain that the UK has been experiencing for weeks (months?) will have eventually stopped by then and we'll have some nice weather, but I'm not holding my breath!

2007-07-21T15:35:00.000+01:00

In addition to my CV at http://www.rewarren.co.uk, I am now also maintaining my LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardwarren where you can also see my contacts and other additional information.

Eight week check

2007-05-23T07:18:00.000+01:00

James had his 8-week check last Friday (18th), and all was well.

He weighed 11lb 7oz (actually 5.2kg) and is still basically on the 50th centile.

This visit also included his first set of jabs/vaccinations. Apparently he screamed like crazy for a few seconds, then calmed down very quickly (I wasn't there myself). No real after effects, except being slightly grumpy for a day or two, but not much.

Next jabs in another month.

Still putting on weight quickly

2007-05-07T10:28:00.000+01:00

James was weighed again earlier this week (five and a half weeks ish) and is now 10lb 5oz, pretty much on the 50th centile.

We're sort of expecting him to level off a bit now, but we'll see!

Weigh in, and test results

2007-04-19T21:22:00.000+01:00

James was weighed again yesterday (just under four weeks old) by the Health Visitor, and was a healthy 8lb 14oz (6lb 9oz at birth), so I don't know what Sharon has been eating but it's obviously working!

He's also had the standard hearing test this morning (at Royston hospital) which was all fine, so that's good news.

Finally, we had the results of the heelprick test (Guthrie test, I think it's called), and that's all normal as well.

That's it, I quit!

2007-04-16T07:32:00.000+01:00

Following the enlargement of our family, and a long period of generally decreasing morale at work, I've finally taken the plunge and handed in my notice.

After almost ten years there, during which the company has changed a huge amount (including going from a small privately owned company to part of a large US-owned public corporation), I've decided I need a change and am therefore now looking for new opportunities.

My preference at this point is for software contract work, ideally something like two to three month fixed term projects that maybe I can do from home so I don't need to drive into Cambridge every day.

So, if you need a hard-working, experienced software engineer, specialising in embedded C, with detailed knowledge of military and civilian radar systems (including target tracking) as well as video, graphics, sonar and TCP/IP networking, then I'm your man!

You can find my CV at:

http://www.rewarren.co.uk

Please feel free to pass it to suitable companies who are looking for contractors!

My final day at Primagraphics (oops, sorry, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Cambridge) will be Thursday 3rd May 2007, after which I want a few weeks off with the newly extended family before considering future options.

Let's just hope I haven't overestimated my chances in the job market!

Weight and photos

2007-04-06T09:43:00.000+01:00

James was weighed by the health visitor on Wednesday (which I think is officially day 12, because he was born after 12 noon so the birth day is called day zero), and is already up to 7lb 4oz. So, he's more than regained his birth weight, and is either feeding remarkably well or the scales at the hospital underestimated the weight in the first place!

I've finally got around to uploading some more photos of James and Imogen (to Photobox, my preferred photo printing and hosting company at the moment). At the time of writing, they are available as a slideshow at:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/slideshow/viewer.html?c_album=5231750

The individual photos are at:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5231750

Currently, there are 25 photos there, spread over two pages, so be sure to continue through to the second page if you are interested.

Midwifery Services

2007-04-03T10:53:00.000+01:00

There's a lot in the media at the moment about how bad the services to expectant mothers is in the UK nowadays.

Well, I just wanted to say what a good experience we had. James was born at the Midwifery Led Birth Unit, which is attached to the Rosie Maternity Hospital within Addenbrooke's in Cambridge. For the whole time we were there, we had the fantastic one-to-one attention of Emily Moy, one of their midwives, who was very very helpful. Everything was about as relaxed as it could be, and basically I'm not sure we could have asked for anything more!

That said, we were the last family there that day before the unit had to shut (again, apparently) for a while because of a lack of staff, so perhaps we were the lucky ones?

Chicken Pox

2007-04-03T10:19:00.000+01:00

We think Imogen has got Chicken Pox (Varicella). I say "think", because it seems to be a very mild case, but then 1 in 10 infections goes unnoticed apparently!

She was really grumpy last week, off her food and generally not herself, which at the time we put down to being overly tired from all the visitors, grandparents and so on coming to see and help with the new baby. With hindsight though, it was almost certainly the onset of the virus I guess. We noticed half a dozen flat red spots on her yesterday, mainly on tummy and back, and one or two had already started crusting over. Some of them had gone down this morning, but a few are still crusty/scabby.

With any luck, that will be the extent of it and we can count ourselves lucky it was just a mild case, but we'll see. She was exposed to the virus (well, shingles) just after she was born, so whether that's made any difference to her tolerance of it or not I've no idea.

Anyway, she's coping brilliantly with it so far, with very little scratching, but then she's had such itchy skin in the past that maybe this is insignificant to her!

Our main concern was with James, who is still less than two weeks old. However, we've spoken to the midwife and a doctor, who believe that he is very unlikely to get it since he will still be getting loads of antibodies from Sharon so should have a good immunity at the moment (another of the many many wonders of breast-feeding). Fingers crossed, that will protect him, because the possible side-effects in vulnerable children can be pretty nasty in rare cases.

James is still going very well, eating and sleeping very regularly, with alert periods most mornings and late afternoons. He gets another couple of visits this week, firstly from the Health Visitor and then from the Community Midwife again.

First photo

2007-03-27T20:41:00.000+01:00

Although I've taken zillions of pictures of James in the last few days, I've so far only got around to making one available online. That can currently (at the time of writing) be found at:

http://www.jameswarren.org.uk

I'll try to sort some other good ones out soon.

In the meantime, we're all doing fine, though understandably pretty tired. The weather has been fab so we've been in the garden for the last couple of afternoons!

Oh, and the remnants of the umbilical cord fell off today (day 5), nice and early, so that makes things a little easier.

James William Warren

2007-03-23T21:51:00.000Z

Imogen has got a little brother!

James William Warren was born at 12.30pm, in Addenbrooke's Hospital (well, the Midwifery Led Birth Unit within the Rosie Maternity Hospital), today the 23rd March 2007.

He was 6lb 9oz (2.98kg in new money) and both Mother and Baby are doing well (they came home just after 5pm).

More details when I get the chance!

Two

2007-01-26T07:38:00.000Z

It's been several months since I last posted here, and a zillion things have happened, including two 2's to report...

Mainly, we've been very busy with dull things like getting the new house shipshape and bristol fashion, decorating various rooms, replacing curtain poles, lights, shelves, hooks and a myriad of other jobs. We've still got lots to do (see below), but we're certainly making progress.

However, the big event was obviously Christmas and therefore Imogen's second birthday. I know it sounds trite, but I can't believe she's now two years old! It took her about three days to open all her presents, what with Christmas and birthday ones to open at the same time, which she found very exciting although as is her way she insisted on tidying up all the rubbish wrapping and putting it in the bin between every time she tore a piece off (however small it was!). She's very adamant that she is not a big girl yet though - she's definitely a little girl and will strongly tell anyone off who dares to suggest otherwise.

Her talking is progressing extremely well (in my obviously biased opinion), and the really good thing is that she seems to be getting more confident in new situations as well. Although she is still nervous of strangers (which is not necessarily a bad thing), it doesn't seem to take her anywhere near as long to trust people more nowadays, and she even lets other people do things for her now (such as help her on climbing apparatus and stuff like that at Tumbletots or other places).

The second "two" to report (I don't think I've posted it her yet) is that we are expecting a second child, at the end of March. We don't know if it will be a boy or girl (we didn't want to find out), so are having to think of two sets of potential names at the moment. That means I've got a fairly firm deadline for a few of the house jobs, in particular decorating and sorting out what will be the new nursery. Still, I suppose that is the driver I need to get on with things, and it will be well worth it once everything is sorted and we can really enjoy the house in the spring and summer (although then I'll need to paint all the outside woodwork, but hopefully I'll be able to do that in the sunshine, which seems a long way off considering it snowed here this week).

Imogen knows that Mummy has a baby in her tummy, although she thinks it's in her belly button, but she obviously doesn't understand the full consequences at the moment. We moved her into a little bed this week, to free up the cot in plenty time for the baby so Imogen doesn't associate the two events and think we're taking things away from her. The bed is going well so far, although she did fall out last night (it's only very low) which obviously led to quite a bit of upset for a few minutes.

So, two 2's. Perhaps I'd better start stocking up on sleep, not that Imogen is one for letting us lie in!

Meningitis vaccination

2006-10-27T07:35:00.000+01:00

Imogen had one of the meningitis vaccinations on Wednesday (25th, exactly twenty two months old, so two months before she is two years old), which I believe are fairly new to the UK as a routine vaccination. I think that normally they'll be given as part of the two, three and four month innoculation cycle, but because it was introduced after she had those they are doing a catch-up for all under-two's (I believe).

I was at work so couldn't go myself, but apparently it went about as well as expected. I'm told that as soon as she was taken into the nurse's room Imogen immediately new something odd was up and demanded to be taken back outside. It was almost as though she remembered what happened last time she was there, which I know can't be possible because she was so young back then. However, Sharon managed to calm her down a bit and the nurse gave the injection into her leg, at which point Immie demanded that she took it out again!

There were no real side effects, although she complained of a sore leg later that day (I guess it's like the slightly aching feeling you get after a flu jab), and she had a slightly restless night, but it was all forgotten the next day.

One of the good things about this vaccination is that it wasn't grown on egg, so unlike a previous jab she had Imogen didn't need to go to Addenbrooke's to have it.

On another note, we've moved house okay, and Imogen was brilliant throughout it. Once or twice during the day she got a bit concerned about what was happening, and she asked to go "home" a couple of times afterwards, but she very quickly got used to the new house, not least because it has a great play room, a circular route through the hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen and back to the hall for her to race around, and a small park with swings and a slide literally about two houses away!

She's also quite intrigued by all the work we're doing, such as taking things down, putting new things up, replacing carpets, decorating and so on. All very interesting I guess.

Slepping better

2006-09-22T08:15:00.000+01:00

Further to my comments last month about Imogen still not sleeping better, I can happily say that things have improved vastly since then.

Finally, she now regularly sleeps through the night without waking, which is great!

Whether her skin itches less now (it does seem to be getting better all the time), or the weather has made things better (it's a lot cooler at night in general now, rather than the very hot nights we had earlier in the summer), or it's a combination of things, I just don't know. But it's nice.

So, let's just hope it lasts. It was fine in Jersey on holiday last week ( Nord Cottage, just outside Rozel Bay - lovely place), which surprised us, but we're moving house next week (Thursday 28th) so that disruption to routine might mess things up again I suppose.

On a different note, her counting is improving as well. She often sits and counts objects, normally going up to eleven (quite why, I don't know, I guess she doesn't know it's conventional to learn to count to ten first!). If someone is with her and goes through the objects with her, she can count to twenty, but sometimes misses out 15 and 17 (she used to miss out 5 and 7 sometimes when couting to 10). At night, before she's fallen asleep, we can often hear her counting the bars on her cot (over the baby monitor we still have in her room).

Words and more

2006-08-17T07:32:00.000+01:00

Routine weigh-in for Imogen on Tuesday, at 11.47kg (25.4lb apparently). Still a little above the 50th centile, probably around 55 to 60 although difficult to tell from the blobs on the graph in her little red book.

That prompted me to think about how she's doing generally at the moment, and obviously her ability to talk has been the big thing over the last few months. She now probably has a couple of hundred words at least, including most face and body parts, animals, foods (including those she's allergic to), colours, toys, furniture, vehicles and many others.

It also includes a lot of numbers, including 1, 2 and 3, 8, 9 and 10 (in order), although eight seems to be her favourite since if you ask her how many of something there are the first response is always 8, followed by 6, and then you can persuade her to count them.

Walking and running are going well, and she's trying her hardest to jump but can only get anywhere near it if we hold her arms up and assist!

Sleeping is still a bit of an issue. It is very rare for her to go through the night unbroken (although she did last weekend, but it's about once every couple of months still), and it generally ranges from waking slightly for five minutes a few times right the way up to two, three or even four hours in a night. The biggest problem is that her skin obviously itches so much that when she wakes she starts to scratch, and if we just leave her she'll end up drawing blood and making things much much worse (possibly leading to a skin infection, which we really don't want), so we have to go and sooth her to stop that. Seems to be getting a little better again the last few days, but it comes and goes a lot.

Her nap time has now shifted to after lunch, for anything from 40 minutes to two and a half hours. Mostly it needs a drive in the car, e.g. coming back from somewhere, to get her off, but occasionally she'll just go on Mum's lap.

Anyway, she's fab, even with the sleep issues.

Eighteen months

2006-06-30T08:16:00.000+01:00

Imogen was 18 months old last week (on the 25th obviously!), a mini-milestone. Unlike some people with birthdays on Christmas Day, we didn't truely celebrate her "official" birthday, though we did drink a little toast to her.

We actually spent the week in France, with my parents, down in the Dordogne area, in a little village called Constant (owned by the Holiday Property Bond, or HPB, people), just north east of Bergerac. Lovely area, apartment very nice, but a bit of a windy narrow laned drive to get anywhere for sightseeing (minimum 20 minutes to a decent road).

Immie was brilliant, especially considering that we drove there and back without any stopovers. The way there took ages, leaving home at 6.30am and arriving just before 10pm French time. Coming back was a bit quicker (7.30am French to 7.30pm UK), thanks to better luck with the Channel Tunnel train times, a faster drive, not hitting a traffic jam and taking one less break because Ims slept longer that time (only once each way, plus the last half hour or so each time).

Due to the allergy issues (see previous posts), we drove because we wanted to take all Imogen's food with us, rather than relying on getting dairy and everything-else free products down there. It worked really well actually, since we recently bought one of those Waeco thermo-electric cooler thingies (i.e. an electric fridge in the shape of a coolbox that plugs into the car cigarette lighter). Kept everything fresh for the journey, and provided us with cold drinks all the time. Brilliant.

One or two days were a bit hot for her, causing her excema to flare up a bit, but other days were cooler (even with rain) giving a nice break. All in all, it was a good week!

On other notes, she's doing brilliantly at the moment, very healthy, starting to talk more and more (I've lost count of the number of words now, but it must be about 50 perhaps?), and very active, adventurous and sometimes downright dangerous (such as climbing on chairs). She is growing well, and at her last weigh-in was just over the 50th centile again.

Oh, and she still doesn't really watch television (even though we tried with a DVD player in the car, with Tractor Ted in Springtime), but she seems to have taken a liking to Wimbledon, probably because she likes clapping! Not so interested in the football world cup though.

MMR, part 3

2006-04-13T17:57:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on the MMR front...

Imogen's eczema cleared up after a few days, as did the cold (no more teeth, so it can't have been that), but then she got a bit of a temperature. Nothing really high, just up a bit (38 point something I can't remember now). Lasted for a day or two, with a bit of bad sleeping at night, and then that went away as well.

Again, I think that's quite expected at around the 7 to 10 day mark after the injection.

MMR update

2006-04-03T07:34:00.000+01:00

I may have spoken a little too soon about Imogen's MMR last week, and her lack of any reactions.

As warned by the doctor, her eczema has been quite a bit worse since the jab, probably due to the tiny amounts of egg in it, and she's been much itchier than she's been for a while. Apparently it is not uncommon for children with dairy allergies and eczemato react in such a way.

Anyway, it's nothing major, just on the normal body crease sites such as the backs of knees, nappy area etc. It certainly isn't as bad as she habitually had it last year (which we're now wondering might have been made worse by the dairy/eggs that Sharon was eating whilst feeding her).

Apart from that, she's also had a very runny nose and hasn't been sleeping at all well, but that might just be either a cold and/or teething again (she's still only got seven at the moment, so we're waiting for one more at the front and then her molars) rather than anything to do with the MMR vaccine.

Fingers crossed that nothing gets worse over the next couple of weeks!

MMR

2006-03-29T20:31:00.000+01:00

Sharon took Imogen to Addenbrooke's for her Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) immunisation today.

She was originally scheduled to have it at our GP surgery in Royston a couple of months ago (around about her 13th month), but when they got there Sharon pointed out that Immie is allergic to dairy and therefore probably eggs, and that the MMR vaccine contains egg (because, like many vaccines, egg is used in the manufacturing process), the nurse and GPs decided that it should be done at the hospital just in case she had an allergic reaction.

So, a few weeks later, she had an appointment arranged but had been ill (one of these winter viruses going round) leading up to it so we had to cancel and rearrange again, hence the fact that she's having it now, at just over 15 months.

I didn't go myself since I was at work, but Sharon filled me in on the details. Apparently the doctor checked Imogen over first to ensure she was fit and well and didn't have any breathing problems beforehand, which she really didn't like at all and screamed the place down trying to escape (now that she's very mobile, and surprisingly strong). Then a nurse came in as well to help with the actual injection, holding her arm still while it was given, and again she was most unhappy! She calmed down quite quickly though, particularly once Sharon handed over a purse for her to play with. Obviously money is the answer to her unhappiness!

The doctor then stayed with them for fifteen minutes observing, since that is the most likely time for a bad allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock etc.), but thankfully there were no problems. They had to stay for a few hours though, and Immie was checked firstly on the hour and then again at just under three hours, at which point she was given the all clear and they could come home.

Bit clingy for the rest of the day, but bedtime was fairly normal and hopefully she won't develop any reaction over the next couple of weeks. Apparently it can make eczema worse for a little while, so we'll keep an eye out for that as well as the various types of rash they say can develop.

As it turns out, the doctor at Addenbrooke's said she hasn't seen any major reactions since the vaccine was changed a few (five?) years ago, and although they have tried telling GPs that there's no reason to send toddlers with allergies to the hospital for the injection, most still feel happier doing so, just in case (better safe than sorry where these things are concerned, if you're going to have a nasty reaction then hospital is the place to be!).

So, everything's gone well, and hopefully it will continue to stay that way.

Teeth

2006-02-01T08:54:00.000Z

Further to my "all I want for Christmas..." post, Immie now has her two front teeth, and more...

Two really decent lower front teeth, two still small but certainly-there upper front teeth, and a fifth one to one side.

I guess it's catch-up time, considering most of her little friends have had loads of teeth for months and months already!

Walking

2006-01-31T20:48:00.000Z

It's been a very gradual process, rather than the sudden change when she started crawling back in July, but over the last three or four weeks Imogen has been learning to walk!

She's really rather good at it now (in my unbiased opinion), and can easily toddle five to ten yards unaided, from one room to another, round corners and through doors. However, she doesn't always choose to do so at the moment, sometimes reverting back to wanting one hand held by Mum or Dad, and sometimes using her walker.

So, at thirteen months, I can't really call her my little baby anymore, as she's more of a toddler instead now.

A new cousin

2006-01-30T09:44:00.000Z

Imogen is no longer the youngest member of the extended Warren family. She has a new cousin!!!

Lia Faye was born at 8am this morning, weighing 8lbs 4oz, to HM and CJ. Apparently all is well, which is obviously good.

She joins her older sister Ava, plus Imogen's other older cousins Isabelle and William, and Maddie and Archie, so that makes seven members of that generation now. Still behind the Evans clan though!

All I want for Christmas...

2005-12-19T13:54:00.000Z

It's been quite a while since I added anything here, which is both a sign that I've been ridiculously busy and also there was nothing particular of note to write about.

We've had our first "proper" holiday as a family back in September (we've spent weekends away, and a short break in the Peak District), spending a week down in Cornwall just north of St. Austell, at Higher Menadew Farm, which was great. Saw all the local sights, including the obvious things like the Eden Project, the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the various coastal walks, fishing villages, old haunts from childhood holidays and so so.

Imogen has had a variety of the usual childhood illnesses, including several colds, a couple of ear infections, a chesty virus that the Doctor thought might be croup, but nothing out of the ordinary for a little one of her age. Obviously the allergy continues, but not a lot more to report on that front (we've consulted a paediatric dietician as well now who has given lots of useful suggestions and Immie is now starting to drink Neocate as a replacement for normal formula milk, but that's early days).

You may have noticed I used the "ie" spelling of Immie in that previous paragraph, rather than Immy which is what I've used up to now. I can't decide which I like best!

Anyway, I guess the big event is that it's less than a week to Christmas Day now, which means that Imogen is almost 1 year old! It seems a long time ago that we headed off to the Rosie Maternity Unit (Addenbrooke's) last Christmas Eve as a couple and came back Christmas Day as a family. It's been a fab year though, and we've loved every minute, although maybe not some of the sleepless nights quite so much.

Finally, I almost forgot the main purpose of this post. The end of "All I Want For Christmas..." is normally "my two front teeth". Well, Immy is nearly there! Finally, after pretty much a whole year, she's got her first tooth coming through. It's been a long time in the making, but there is a small white thing in her lower gum, so we're declaring it her first tooth (it doesn't stick out much, but I guess it will come further out over time)!

That's it I think. Roll on Christmas, and Imogen's First Birthday!

Eight Months Today

2005-08-25T20:58:00.000+01:00

Imogen is 8 months old today - hard to believe it, but we're two thirds of the way through the first year. (That means it's only 4 months to Christmas!!)

She was weighed again a couple of weeks ago (on the 9th, when she was 32 weeks), and was 16lb 14oz, so has slowed down a bit. That's part way between the 25th and 50th centiles, nearer the former. She was also measured, and was 68cm, which is just a tiny fraction over the 50th centile.

The only other news is that we've had it confirmed that Immy is allergic to milk. Properly allergic, not just lactose intolerant. So, no dairy of any sort, which rules out cheese, yoghurt and many other things. Also, nothing with milk products in, including casein, whey, and all sorts of other ingredients that you find in the commonest of foods. We've also been warned off egg and soya (as well as other milks such as goat's and sheep's), so it's going to be interesting finding things for her to eat!

Still, there's a lot worse that could be wrong, and hopefully she'll grow out of it in a few years (apparently 80% will grow out of it by the age of 4), so it's far from the end of the world.

Apart from that, no other news really. She's still absolutely, totally, wonderfully fab!

Crawling

2005-07-21T21:49:00.000+01:00

Before I get on to Imogen's crawling antics, I have a weight update for you! Last week, on the 16th July 2005, she weighed 16lb 9oz. I think that was pretty much the 29 week mark, and she was halfway between the 25th and 50th centiles.

Anyway, more exciting than that is that Immy has started to crawl! Just after I got home from work yesterday, she decided that it was time to crawl across the living room floor for the first time.

Because she looked so close to doing it, we luckily had the camcorder out, and you can therefore see a 40 second clip of her first great adventure.

Better start child-proofing the house for real now I suppose - I thought I had a bit longer still, as she's not even 7 months yet. Still, at least we've got a stair gate, although it's not going to be a lot of use in a box in the garage!

Happy Half Birthday

2005-06-25T09:07:00.000+01:00

June 25th, six months to Christmas, so it must be Imogen's half birthday! What a period it's been too - she's changing so rapidly now, easily able to sit upright by herself (wobbling just occasionally and she needs help to get there in the first place), happy, giggling, and generally doing very well.

We started weaning her three or four weeks ago, and she is taking to fruit and vegetables very well, although it hasn't stopped her waking in the night yet. On a good night, she is waking twice at the moment, which is up from the once it had reached a while ago, but back down from the four or five last week during the mini-heatwave that hit England (temperatures in her room were easily up to 27 or 28 degrees celcius at night, which was very unpleasant).

Immie was also weighed the week before last, which would have been just over five and a half months, and was 15lb 8oz. (She had been 14lb 7oz about 4 weeks before that, so I guess that's keeping up the 4 ounces per week gain.)

The Christening went very well, with a wonderful crowd of family and friends in the little church within Wimpole Hall National Trust Estate. This is not the chapel inside the hall itself, but the church a hundred yards away, St. Andrew's Church, the Wimpole part of the Orwell Benefice. The service was conducted by Rev'd Neil Brice, as was really nice, and then we all came back to our house for a celebration barbeque. Luckily, the rain held off (although it chucked it down whilst we were in church), but could get a touch chilly in the strong winds. The bouncy castle kept the kids entertained and I think/hope that everyone enjoyed it!

Well, my little angel has just woken from her after-breakfast sleep, so I'd better go, and I'll update things here again when there is more news on anything.

Third injections

2005-05-01T08:48:00.000+01:00

Imogen had her third set of injections earlier this week (Tuesday), which went very smoothly. I wasn't there myself this time, but apparently she hardly gave a murmour. Also, there was much less of the grouchiness (no, perhaps that's not a real word!) than previously. That's it as far as the immunisations go for now, until something like 18 months I think when the next set of jabs are due.

As before, she was also weighed, and was 13lb 12oz. That continues the 4oz per week trend she's been following for quite some time now. Her height (well, length) was measured for the first time as well, and although I can't remember what the actual figure was, it was slightly above average (with the weight still being slightly below average).

It's Immy's Christening next weekend (Saturday 7th May, at Wimpole Church), so let's hope this fine weather is still around then.

Another weight update

2005-04-08T07:57:00.000+01:00

Imogen was weighed again earlier this week, and is now 13lb on the dot. So, she's still growing well, albeit at a slower rate than when she was really young (I think it's about 4 or 5 ounces a week now). Her head circumference is increasing nicely as well.

Oh, and she had her second set of immunisations last week. Huge cry as the two injections were actually given, but she soon calmed down again. She was a bit grumpy later that day (actually, in the middle of the evening, about 6 or 7 hours later), and then developed a mild rash all over her body a couple of days later, all just like the first set of jabs really. One more set to go later this month, and then that's it for a while (until the MMR vaccinations at 18 months I believe, although I could certainly be wrong!).

On a completely unrelated note, considering the events of the past week, and today in particular, I just wanted to say RIP Pope John Paul II.

Weight update

2005-03-10T06:35:00.000Z

Immy was weighed by the health visitor earlier this week and is now 11lb 14oz, so has slowed down slightly (but not much).

By the way, the reason I'm up at this time of morning is that Imogen has been awake for 45 minutes so I've been trying to entertain her - she's busying herself on her play gym at the moment with the Bee.

Two months, and first jabs

2005-02-25T08:14:00.000Z

As we've now reached the 25th February, Imogen is two months old today, so "Happy Two Month Birthday!".

She's still doing very well, seems an incredibly happy little girl, and has now met even more of her Uncles, Aunts and cousins (Mike, Lisa and family called in this week, and Chris, HM and Ava a few weeks ago).

Unfortunately, the two-month anniversary also means that Immy needs her first set of immunisations, so Sharon took her along to the doctor in Royston earlier this week for two jabs. One was the big five-in-one for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), polio and something else I can't recall, and the other is for Meningitis C. These both have to be repeated at 3 months and 4 months.

Apparently she was a very brave girl and only cried a little bit when the jabs went in, but she was quite irritable later that evening. In fact, it was the first time I've ever heard her really upset. She's obviously cried a lot over the two months, but only when hungry/tired/wanting attention and so on, not when in pain, but this time she was really screaming for a little while. Anyway, we managed to comfort her and she got over it really quite quickly and is absolutely fine now.

Along with the injections, Immy also had her 8-week checkup and was weighed as well. She's now reached 11lb 5.5oz, which is roughly a pound more in three weeks, so the weight gain has started to slow down slightly (I think she's now around the 60th percentile rather than the 75th last time). Not a problem though, and it will be interesting to see what she stabilises at in the longer run.

So, all's well in the land of Imogen Warren. Hurrah from Daddy!

Percentiles at five weeks

2005-01-31T20:49:00.000Z

Five and a bit weeks old, Imogen now weighs 10lb 6oz, which is pretty much bang on the 75th percentile for girls. This is the same percentile as her last weigh-in when she was three weeks old and 9lb 7oz, so since then she's been growing at a little under an ounce a day which is about right if I recall correctly.

I can't remember what her head circumference was, but it was just about on the 50th percentile.

So, all's well in the world of Imogen Warren. Hurrah!

Hear Hear

2005-01-29T16:56:00.000Z

Imogen is five weeks old today (this morning, at 5.46am obviously).

The first month has gone better than I could have hoped for, with no major problems at all really. Okay, so there have been a couple of hard days (particularly for Sharon, when Immy was cluster feeding during a growth spurt), and some of the nights have been a bit short sleep-wise thanks to having to entertain Imogen for the odd hour or two (but thanks to TiVo there's always something to watch on television, even in the middle of the night), but it's been fab.

She had her hearing test last Thursday, and I'm glad to report that everything was normal, so that's cool as well.

So, let's see what the next month brings...

Three weeks old

2005-01-15T12:19:00.000Z

Imogen is three weeks old today! It seems like a very long time ago that Sharon and I made the trip to the Rosie Maternity Unit (part of Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge) on Christmas Eve, coming home with Immy on Christmas Day, but as the old saying goes, time flies when you're having fun!

She was weighed again yesterday by Beverley, the health visitor, and the latest figure is 9lb 7oz. That was on day 21 (the last day of the third week), which means she'd put on a healthy 3 ounces a day since last time.

So, all's well, except she's just started crying again (perhaps she doesn't like her weight being discussed!).

Blimey, another pound!

2005-01-11T17:46:00.000Z

Day 18, and Imogen has been weighed again. This time she's 8 lb 14 oz, a whole pound more than her birth weight which is fab!

We've been signed off by the midwife (actually, midwives because they job-share in South Cambs), so only the health visitor will continue to visit us now.

Back to work

2005-01-09T14:19:00.000Z

It's now day 16, and I've got to go back to work tomorrow so that I won't run out of holiday later in the year.

I can't really say I'm looking forward to it, as it's been great being here all the time looking after Imogen with Sharon.

Almost as though Immy has realised I'm due back, we had our worst night for sleep so far last night, just in time to make me look tired and haggard in the office (or more so than usual!). I think Sharon managed about four hours in total, and I got a little more thanks to a two hour kip while they were downstairs. The only other night that came close to this was on day 4 when the milk started coming in and Imogen wanted to feed almost permanently for over ten hours! At least that finished by midnight though and we could go to bed properly.

Ooops, better go - the little angel has just woken up!

An ounce and a half more

2005-01-05T21:13:00.000Z

Imogen had her Health Visitor come and see her for the first time today, and was weighed again, at 7lb 15oz, so she's just past her birthweight (we're now on day 12).

Not much else to report!

Almost back to birthweight

2005-01-03T17:51:00.000Z

It's Day 10 for Imogen now, and she's just had her first weigh-in since birth.

Pleasingly, she weighed 7lb 13.5oz, in other words she's almost back up to her birth weight of 7lb 14oz. (For those unfamiliar with newborns, they typically lose between 10 and 15% of their weight in the first 5 or 6 days before they start putting it back on again, normally reaching their original weight somewhere between 10 and 17 days I think). So, that shows she's feeding just fine thankfully!

By the way, her umbilical cord came off last Thursday (30th December, day 6).

Imogen's first website

2004-12-29T13:15:00.000Z

It's been a few days since I've been able to add anything here, as obviously we've been rather busy figuring out how to look after a newborn!

Anyway, I've been taking more photos and have got a really nice one (in my totally unbiased opinion) which I've put on Imogen's First Website.

Everything is still going okay, but we're all pretty tired as expected!

A Christmas Present!!!

2004-12-26T18:48:00.000Z

I obviously spoke too soon on Christmas Eve (or soon enough, depending on how you look at it), because we went into hospital that evening and had a little baby girl at 5.46am on Christmas morning, 25th December 2004, at The Rosie Maternity Hospital (part of Addenbrooke's) in Cambridge (England!).

Imogen Rose Warren weighed a healthy 7lb 14oz, and both Mother and Daughter are doing brilliantly. They came home at 3pm later that day, and you can see some photos from throughout the day by clicking on Imogen's name above if you want.

Sharon was absolutely great; labour lasted just under six hours, and everything was done naturally - she didn't even have an epidural!

Imogen is currently fast asleep, so that's why I've now got a chance to post this.

Fab! Really really fab,
Proud Dad.

Christmas Eve and still just two of us

2004-12-24T09:30:00.000Z

Well, Christmas Eve has arrived, but the baby hasn't!

It's eleven days overdue now, so the odds of a Christmas Day birthday are getting higher and higher, although my money is now on the 27th.

Could this be the first sober Christmas Day I've had for years?

Sheene Mill

2004-12-20T20:47:00.000Z

Yet again I report the absence of news regarding the baby. It's getting closer and closer to Christmas Day!

Still, the delay has meant that Sharon and I were able to go to my office Christmas Dinner which this year was held at one of our favourite restaurants, The Sheene Mill. The food, service and general ambience are all so good that I'd easily put this in my top three in the world!

Also, we nipped in to a Carols for Shoppers service on Sunday at the Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge.

So, the extra weekend certainly wasn't wasted. However, it's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Medium-band

2004-12-18T17:08:00.000Z

Well, there is still no news on the baby front, but I'm that bit more ready now for all the photos that I'll want to send to people...

I've now had my ADSL connection made and am up and running. It's not quite broadband as I've initially gone for the slowest option of 256kbps (cheapskate!), but it's also 256kpbs upload as well which isn't half bad. Anyway, it seems quite a bit faster than my old dial-up, so it'll certainly do for the time being!

Ho hum, the baby-waiting goes on...

Still no news

2004-12-17T08:15:00.000Z

I feel that I may be saying this for many days to come, but there is still no news on the baby front I'm afraid.

No news yet

2004-12-16T08:12:00.000Z

In case anyone is wondering (and they're actually reading this!), no, there isn't any sign of the baby yet.

It's a few days late now, so hopefully it will be any moment now, but it's looking more and more likely for Christmas Day!

Website link

2004-12-04T18:09:00.000Z

Okay, so I can enter html in my posts (as I've just found by a quick test at the end of the last one).

So, in case you wanted to follow a link to my website rather than type the address in manually, you should be able to find it here (if I got that right, that is).

Reasons

2004-12-04T18:00:00.000Z

So, what made me start this blog?

Well, I'd been thinking about it for a while, and then last week there was a news item (on BBC online I think) about Microsoft entering the blogging world with a new product and I suppose that I got annoyed. Why on earth do they feel the need to try to dominate absolutely everything computer related? I wished they could just be nice occasionally and leave some things for other people to do. So, I decided to have a quick look around at what other methods were already available, found http://www.blogger.com and promptly signed up for a new account. I accepted most of the default options, and http://richardwarren.blogspot.com was born.

I guess it was a good time to do it really. Sharon and I are currently expecting our first baby and I thought that it might be a useful way of recording events. I've had a very basic personal website of my own for years and hardly ever get time to update it so reckoned that a blog might be easier so I'd be more likely to add things to it. (The website is extremely basic actually, considering I make a living from writing software, but that's mainly embedded systems for radar processing, plot extraction and target tracking, not net stuff. You can find it at http://www.rew.org.uk if you're interested.)

Anyway, that's what finally spurred me into action. I shall try to keep this up to date, but we'll have to see. Everyone keeps telling me I'll have no spare time when the baby arrives, but then I never really did anyway!

Cheerio for now.

The Beginning

2004-12-03T03:45:00.000Z
Well, this is my first post to my new blog.

I guess we could call it a test really, as I've got no idea what I'm doing at this point.

That ought to do it - no point writing more at this stage really, is there?