After much thought, we have decided to make The Baby Classifieds a free ad site. This will allow businesses and individuals who supply products or services to families to gain free exposure. The aim in the long term is to make The Baby Classifieds a useful resource for parents.

The changes should take place shortly and we will then do some press releases to make people aware of these changes.

Ian and I had a weekend away without the kids- first time in 4 and a half years!!!

We were invited to his friend Sarahs wedding in Scotland and it just happened to co-incide with a visit from his mum from South Africa.

I have to admit that I found it quite nerve racking leaving them especially because my 2 year old had a bit of a temperature on Friday afternoon. However, they were all fine and so were we.

We had a lovely time. The wedding was in a little church in Fowler West and Ian and I wondered if there was any particular reason for them getting married there. We heard from her fathers speech that he and his wife had got married at the same church in 1971.

The reception (as well as our accomodation) was at the Crieff Hydro Hotel. I have to say that the hotel, service and whole experience was LOVE-A-LEEEE!

I really can’t believe that this time has come around… Byron started pre-school last week amid much excitement. He really settled in extremely well. In fact when I arrived at preschool with him on his second day, he ran straight to his key worker and gave her a big hug.

Why is it that some children settle in better than others? Here are a few things that I personally think help with this big step:

1. Drive or walk past the school several times before the first day. Point it out as their school- be enthusiastic and positive.

2. Talk about the teachers by name prior to the big day to instil familiarity. At my sons pre-school they call them Aunties. So, for example you can say “We are going to visit Aunty xxx at your brand new school tomorrow. She is a lot of fun.”

3. When you arrive at the school and go in say “Look! There is Aunty xxx. Say hello Aunty xxx.”

4. At home talk about the mornings routine so that they know what to expect.

5. Do a visual timetable of what happens at preschool. Draw or cut out pictures of the activites that will take place.

6. Very importantly include a picture of you (or whoever does the collecting) arriving to collect your child at the end of the day.

7. Most pre-schools will allow you a settling in period i.e they allow you to stay with your child. If you do this, make sure that you try not to engage constantly with your child. Try and allow them to get on with things without you.

8. If your child cries hysterically when you leave the first time, try and be strong and GO! If you keep going back each time they cry, you set a president and it is very difficult to break the habit! Most of the time the staff will be able to console the child as soon as you are out of earshot. Get the school to call you if they really don’t manage to calm your child or you can give them a call to reassure yourself.

9. Make sure you arrive on time to collect your child. This will give them confidence and reassurance that you will be back to collect them. If your child is the last one to be collected they can feel very vulnerable.

10. Talk to them about what they did at school- show interest and enthusiasm. It is a very exciting time for them but can also be quite scary so lots of positive encouragement goes a long way to boost their confidence.

After putting up with spammers for the last five months I finally made the decision to pull the plug on the forum.

Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to moderate a forum 24/7 and I could no longer believe what type of sites were spamming us- good riddens I say!

 Anyway, now that the blog is linked to the site I will try and regularily update it. Specifically any good baby or family deals that I hear of will be included in the blog on a regular basis.

Have a good weekend!

We had a really lovely break in Bahrain. We visited friends who are working out there and got to sample “the life of the ex-pat”. Wow, what luxury! I will go into it in more depth the next time I get a chance to sit down and update the blog. Suffice to say, I think I if you have the opportunity to earn tax free and have help (a full time maid at your disposal) with your little ones… go for it!

WE had an unexpected phonecalll from a friend at about 12:45pm to say that she had 2 spare tickets to the Cbeebies LIVE performance (starting at 1.45pm) at Wembley Arena.

Somehow we managed to make it in time and I have to say that Ashleigh (my 4 year old daughter) absolutley loved it! We had brilliant seats up on the stands to the side of the stage. It was such a pleasure to see Ashleigh enthralled by the Tweenies, Bob the Builder, Postman Pat, Mr Tumble etc. After our nightmare week with the Chicken pox saga it was a very unexpected and welcome break!

I don’t know how many of you have ever had the misfortune of having to hold your 2 year old while a doctor attempted to take blood or insert a cannulae. All I can say is that this last weekend was one of the worst of my life.

Both my children have Chicken Pox. My son’s chicken pox were very bad and he developed a secondary infection. He had very high temperatures and I struggled to get him an appointment at the GP surgery. I was very reluctant to go and sit in the local A & E with both sick children and the possiblilty of them picking up other bugs as well as infecting other people especially pregnant women etc.

I eventually managed to speak to the practice nurse who put me in contact with the doctor. She wanted to see my son immediately and she then referred us to the paediatric assessment unit. He was then admitted onto the ward after the paediatrician had a look at him.

He had to have blood tests and IV antibiotics. This neccessitated him having a cannulae inserted. They did put anaesthetic cream on his hand to numb it but he still screamed blue murder (probably as much from fear as from pain). I had to hold him really still and have to say that I was amazed at his unbelievable strength. He put up a damn good fight! I felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest. You know you have to do it and yet you have an overwhelming guilt for allowing someone to traumatise your child. Not fun…

He started making good progress after the first couple of days on the IV antibiotics but he developed a terrible fear of anyone in a uniform. The moment his cubicle door opened he started screaming, very unusual for this normally very easy going boy!

The cannulae had to be removed on Sunday because it started causing him a lot of pain. They started him on oral antiboiotics and thanks fully he continued to make good progress. He was discharged on Monday evening. All I can say is that things like this make you re-assess your life and what is REALLY important.

My heart and thoughts go out to all those children and parents who regularly have to spend time in hospitals and in particular those will be spending Christmas in hospital this year.

Yesterday I said I wished my daughter would get chicken pox while she was young… today she’s been poxed! Yep, just 3 little spots so far but there none the less. She felt really bad towards the end of the morning at pre-school and had to be collected.

As for my son, he looks terrible! He is COVERED in spots! Certainly hope they disappear soon (10-14 days I’ve been told).

2 suggested remedies to help with the itching:

-calamine lotion

-tea tree oil

My little boy was really grumpy over the last week or so. I thought “surely you’re not teething anymore?!” Well as it turns out the poor little fella has chicken pox (or as his 4 year old sister says- chicken pops).

Chicken pox is pretty easy to spot (no pun intended). The pox are raised and become blistered. Fortunatley they don’t seem to be itchy and there aren’t very many yet (but as it is only the second day since their appearance I will refrain from commenting further!).

Strangely enough my daughter has not yet had chicken pox even though it was floating around her nursery school. Maybe she has some sort of immunity although I would be much happier if she got it while she is young. My poor sister-in-law was covered in chicken pox on her wedding day! Her very helpful bridesmaid covered her pox on her back with base. Unfortunatley though the base spots showed up luminous on the dance floor under the UV lights!

Ahhh, the joys….

My daughter has recently started “lunch bunch” at pre-school. Here is the top 10 favourite goodies to choose from.

1. Sandwich (the good old favourite. We choose between jam, marmite and cheese spread. The school does not allow peanut butter sandwiches for obvious reasons).

2. Fruit (usually an apple, banana or small bunch of grapes).

3. Babybel (or any other preportioned cheese).

4. Yoghurt (normally a frube- yoghurt tube or sachet).

5. Carrot batons

6. Cucumber batons

7. Cherry tomatoes

8. Dip for veges (my daughter likes salad cream but some kids love hummous)

9. Snack size box of raisins

10. Small carton of fruit juice (my daughter favourite is apple juice)

As you can tell, the above list is mostly made up of healthy stuff. The earlier you encourage healthy eating habits the better.

**TOP TIP** The snacks with wrappers or opening tabs e.g the babybel and frubes can sometimes be difficult for children to open. Get them to do it at home when they are having these snacks to ensure that they are able to do it themselves.