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Thank you for visiting Baby Number Five.

We are all doing fine but we have been documenting our journey elsewhere for the past couple of years. If you would like to catch up please visit us at Raisiebay.com

We look forward to seeing you there xx

The Not So Little, Little Man

I thought I'd do an update on the Little Man Joseph seeing as I haven't done one for a while.
Considering he was such a slow starter he's caught up so well now. I'd say he was well on par for any two and a half year old (even though he's not quite 2 1/2 yet)
At one year old his preferred position was lying flat out on the floor with no attempts at moving. When he did start moving it was bum shuffling and he had no desire to stand or cruise the furniture. He finally started walking at 22 months, almost two years!! I know that's not that unusual but when you are a mother of five and four of them had all walked before their first birthday, it was a bit of a shock for me. Also, there was the language delay. I have a friend with a little man six weeks younger than Joseph (and he was walking at one year old) who's language skills were really brushing up at the stage where Joseph was just beginning to say mummy and daddy properly. Now children develop at different rates, I'll tell anyone this, it's true, it doesn't mean anything. And it's so easy to say when it's your child leaps and bounds ahead of the other parent you are telling it too. When it's your own child, and you already have two kids with disabilities, the worries just spin endlessly around in your head.
So here we are just months later (around seven) and it's like I have a completely different child on my hands. Not only does he walk, he runs, jumps, climbs, dances, goes up and down stairs (Lucy didn't master this until about three years old) and doesn't even use a buggy any more. His language is great too, he talks in sentences, can sing whole songs, and his pronunciation is really good too. He can recognise some numbers when he sees them (7 and 9) and can count to 12. He has truly caught up.  You would not believe he was a slow starter at all. See, all children develop at different rates, even ones in the same family.

While I'm here I will inform you that I am winding down this blog. It's been great recording my pregnancy and early years of my little man and  I will keep it here and add to it infrequently for my own benefit more than anything else. I'll update on my five 'babies' when I need to on my other blog Raisie Bay This will be my main blog from now on and that's where you will find me.

Do I worry Too Much (part 2)

Last July I wrote a post about how I was worried about my five year old daughter, Leila. I'm sad to report that things are just getting worse. She doesn't seem to be doing any better at school. She is on an Individual Education Plan and getting extra help with her work, but her progress is not good. She can barely read, when at this age Lucy was reading by herself. Leila can spell out all the letters in a word but then has no idea what they say. Her writing has improved a little, well, at least she can write her own name now. Her drawing is quite good, at least that's something.
More worrying than ever is her behaviour. It still seems like she doesn't hear things properly, event though a hearing test came back ok. Her speech is underdeveloped and she doesn't sound words properly, kind of like a deaf person, but as I've already said, she's not deaf. She has difficulty in understanding simple instructions and will insist that you've said something that you haven't. She screams and cries all the time, she's incredibly fickle. When playing with others she gets bossy and if they don't do everything she says she ends up having a screaming and crying fit like a toddler. It's getting to the point where no-one wants to play with her.
I find it difficult to explain but it's really like she doesn't understand, she doesn't understand rules, what you are saying to her or how to play with others. She spends most of her time in a mood or tantrum. I am really worrying now. She was always my good girl, slept well and was good at occupying herself. She was never demanding or difficult to look after. So why is her behaviour so bad now? It seems that she is having difficulty in understanding the world around her and is reacting by behaving like a toddler.  (I never had the terrible two's with her, maybe she's catching up now!)
I do not think she is autistic. I did have suspicions in the past, but things don't add up. She does have learning difficulties and I think these are making her behaviour so bad.
I know I worry too much.
If anyone else has a five year old like this I'd love to hear from you.

Seven Do Christmas (and New Year)

So how did Christmas go in our household?
First up we all got sick in the weeks before. Leila started straight after her school disco party and ended up missing the rest of the week off school, including her Christmas Dinner, Christmas party and a trip to visit Santa at the farm. Lucy managed to stay well until the last day and only missed her Carol Concert. Joseph made it to his Christmas party but missed the last two days at school (which meant absolutely no FREE time for me to finish off any Christmas shopping and preparations) Of course I was poorly throughout. I kept plodding on the best I could but I was going to bed with the kids in the evening and getting very little done throughout the day because I felt so bad. Dad was poorly too and so were Big brother and sister, but they seemed to recover pretty quickly and were not as bad as the rest of us.
Me and the girls managed a trip to the theatre to see the Gruffalo's Child on the day before Christmas Eve. I was feeling dreadful but we still had a good time, the girls loved the show (And so did I)
Then Christmas day suddenly arrived. I really could have done with it being a week later, but sick or not I was still fully prepared. (What would I have done in the days before internet shopping/home delivery?)
I was awake at 6am but not anyone else!! The girls finally stirred about 7am so I woke everyone else up too. And we all got up except big sis. The present opening frenzy began, thank goodness for Santa, hey, I don't know if mummy could have provided so many lovely wrapped presents.
The girls and Joseph were totally thrilled with their presents, really excited but also just happy, not stressing out or anxiousness or arguing, they were lovely. The big kids were fairly happy with their presents, they did get what they wanted after all, (just not many surprises) My presents were not good, but I was too sick to feel disappointed. I much more of a giver than a receiver anyway so I won't complain.
So on to dinner! I'd got everything prepped and ready by late morning and the turkey was in the oven. But! The big kids did not want a Christmas lunch, the earliest they would go for was 5pm. At first I was frustrated, I wanted it earlier, get it out of the way and chill for the evening. However, it worked out well though because I could take things easy and I wasn't on my feet all day in the kitchen.
I really expected at least one meltdown or argument during the day but it all went really well. Big son (Aspie) was brilliant with his little sister (ASD) they are so on the same wavelength. He kept her happy and occupied all day, helping her out all the time so she didn't get frustrated (i.e. opening boxes, setting up toys) He even played a Barbie board game with the girls. The Little Man was really happy with his new toys and played peacefully all day. Dad spent a lot of time at his mum's house (neighbour) but he also helped out a lot so I'm not going to complain.
Dinner was really yum. I made no exceptions, everyone had the same, even Lucy who has a limited diet and refuses to try anything new. Most plates were empty afterwards (apart from Lucy but she did try) Leila discovered she loved sprouts :-) She definitely is her mother's daughter! And Big Sis made no complaints either, and trust me, she HAS to complain about everything on her plate usually.
So that was our Christmas day.
On to New Years Eve. We hadn't planned anything but the usual routine is that I make a buffet style dinner and we have a few drinks before scoffing loads of cheese and biscuits and other treats. We had to pop to the supermarket and I suggested to Dad that we could invite a couple of people over if I bought a little more buffet food. We made a couple of phone calls but it was a bit late in the day and the  'no' replies were expected. Then we had call backs saying ok they'd be up later.
I still wasn't feeling well but I just didn't care any more, I wanted a drink and some fun. So that's what I did. Family and friends arrived and we all had a lovely evening. Leila and Joseph decided they'd had enough about 10pm and went to bed like little angels. Lucy stayed up until midnight and saw in the New Year with us. We always finish the evening by going outside with the neighbours and viewing the fireworks.
And New Years Day? I felt better than I had done in weeks, no hangover, no illness, nothing!

Happy New Year xx

Is it Because He's a Boy?

What a time I'm having with my Little Man lately. My girls are angels in comparision, I've never been so worn out by a child I'm really feeling my age.
Today:

•  while I was trying to iron the school uniforms for tomorrow he was sitting under the ironing board moaning because I wasn't giving him my full attention.
• he kept messing with his sister's game console every possible chance he could, eventually causing it to freeze and a major tantrum from sister.
• every single drink I made him, even though they were in lidded cups, ended up all down his front, over the cat or over the settee.
• several times I had to fetch him from the toilet where he likes to put anything and everything down the bowl.
• he fetched the kiddie step from the bathroom sink to put up the kitchen sink and managed to reach inside to find a knife (no fun having a bathroom downstairs, at least I can stop him from getting upstairs)
• He sneaked away a bottle of cleaning fluid that I was using and even though I'd replaced the child safety cap he'd managed to open by the time I'd chased him to the living room with it. (thank goodness I'd noticed him take it and was hot on his trail!)
• after I'd gone to fetch a cloth to wipe up the mess he'd made with a cup of juice he grabbed my cup of tea that I'd just made and poured it on the floor. He did spill some on himself but was so wet with cold juice it was diluted and he avoided burning himself. (normally, the tea is not left in his reach but I literally had just brought it in the room when I had to snatch the juice off him and put it down without thinking while I grabbed something to clean up his mess)
• he's attacked 3 of our 4 cats, the other one doesn't come indoors until he's gone to bed.
• he threw a remote control at his sister bruising her eye.
• he ripped off a piece of wallpaper from the living room. I'm about to re-decorate and am planning on paint rather than paper this time.
• he's bitten me twice during nappy changes
• he played up for almost an hour at bedtime

Apart from the dangerous things (the tea and cleaning fluid) these are things that occur on a daily basis. Yesterday he managed to screw up the cable tv box. 

The only reason he doesn't cause more damage is because 99 percent of the time I am giving him my complete attention, even if I have other things to do, like housework. (admittedly, he's pretty good with a duster, although I have to put him outside in his pushchair if I vacuum because he screams the house down he hates it so much) 

I long for his nap time, unlike bedtime he goes to sleep really quick. I have to wake him after an hour or he won't sleep at night, but that hour is bliss.

I also like mealtimes, even though he makes a mess at least he's restrained by his highchair and I can actually sit down for five minutes without having to keep getting up to see what he's up to.

Maybe it's my age, maybe it's because I've been spoilt having two relatively well behaved little girls previously, or maybe it's because he's a boy? He has such angelic looks, and when he's curled up in bed (usually next to me as he hates his own bed) he's the most adorable creature on earth. But he's just a little devil, a crazy whirlwind of destruction and naughtiness while at the same time being clingy and hating mummy doing anything but giving him 100 percent attention. Don't get me wrong, he gets the attention (yes, I even have to play with him while I'm on the loo) so it's not because he's missing it. Please please please let it be a phase that he'll soon grow out of. I don't know how much more I can take.

Teething Pains!

Now as a parent of a toddler you probably think this post is about him, but no it's about Leila, now 5 years old and currently cutting her back teeth. Last night she had me up until 3am while she howled with pain. She had a sweetie at her nanny's house earlier and I could hear her screaming from our home, two doors away. I assumed she had a bad tooth and even went on the usual guilt trip, have I given her too many sweets. I do try to keep my kids diets healthy and as sugar and salt free as possible but it's hard to avoid, especially with fruit lovers. Leila and Cassie are the only children who have had fillings and problems. I felt really bad when Leila had her first filling at just 3 years old. I even suspected it may be down to pro-longed breastfeeding as she was just over two when we stopped. I do believe that sometimes it's down to the individual. My older kids dad had terrible mouth hygiene and ate whatever he felt like and never even had a toothache (well, apart from the time he hit himself in the mouth with an axe!!! seriously!) Yet, I've always been careful and had excellent hygiene, visited the dentist regularly and still ended up with fillings and extractions galore. My top front teeth are either veneers or crowns!
Anyway, I digress, lets get back to my little girl. I kept her home from school this morning so we could visit the dentist as an emergency. I got an appointment at 9.40am. We went along only to find out that their was nothing wrong, she was just having a tooth come through...she was TEETHING! So, I was a little embarrassed but the dentist was kind and we left with a sticker (for Leila) and told to use teething gel.
I've three children older than Leila and not one of them has had any problem cutting teeth after babyhood. Even then it's been pretty plain sailing for all of them, just a few rosy cheeks and dribble fests.
I took Leila to school after the dentist and when I picked her up her teacher said she had been moody all day, probably lack of sleep! She also pointed out that she thought Leila's jaw looked red and swollen. Oops, there comes that embarrassing moment when I have to explain it's a birth mark, gees you think the teacher would have noticed it before now, they've been at school six weeks!

Overwhelmed!

By generosity! I'm collecting old mobile phones in return for an ipad to help my daughter Lucy. Today I received a package for 89 phones!! What a boost, I'm now more than half way there. I've had lots of promises too, so hopefully this task is not going to be so long to achieve as I first thought. Of course there is still a long way to go, but I am overwhelmed by the generosity of some people. Thank you so so much!

  Heart and Minds is a charity which helps turn old mobile phones into ipads for children with autism. They also help schools and are currently working towards opening a school specifically for autistic children.

 Having an ipad could help Lucy's communication, learning, organisation, fine motor skills, relaxation and behaviour. It would be a welcome addition to our home. If you can help in any way by donating your old mobile phone then please contact me okesanne (@) gmail.com or on Twitter @okesanne. Thank you so much!