Yearending. The ScreenTime review.

We've finished off 2012 with a trip to Centre Parcs, one thing new for us. We found out we can be quite mean to each other, scared and isolated, specially when we're all hooked up online some way. Without the gizmos we fared far better, a sobering and kind of saddening bit of self awareness.

Much planning must go on. Got to find the will to cut the screen time.

Funnily enough we can leave tv shows on pause/resume for days and turn off movies, even Jaan can. It's personal online time that causes the internal friction, and more significantly, imposes some sort of green eyed monter hold upon the excluded two. Makes me insecure, Iain frustrated and put upon and makes Jaan overwhelmed & tearful. So perhaps our new rules for happy coexistence should be as below -

(oh the coexistence has to be between us 3, the pets plus our Ipad, smartphones, pc and Macbook, tv/DVD player/TiVo/Audible, Moshi Monsters, car Forums, WeightWatchers Online & Netflix - I don't think we subscribe to anything else) 

Physical/sensory (sensible?) relationships need to be maintained, respected and nurtured/kept topped up before the more abstract, detached, meta sensory screen based activity happens. So Jaan should not be hungry, dirty or tired before playing a game online. If possible, he should also have already been doing something fun or routine with one of the rest of us. The home should be physically halfway respectable so Ee can do some forum stuff or watch I-player without feeling all dragged about and uneasy. The fed/watered/walked status needs to be A-OK for all of us and I mean ALL the little ones not just Jaan. It's totally easier to start with screen time, as if that's the beginning and end of all evil in our home, that would be a fallacy though.  Ee looks like he runs on empty which pleases me not at all. If it turns out he just chooses to look like that I'll have to think again, but for now a priority pyramid is a first stop.

Another rule could be sharing the extra-real world as we individually use it with each other. Jaan could play Moshi online only with one of us, and play just for a small time, so it can be a shared activity first, computer game second - we read he clicks. I could do the Ocado in my own time and plan menus on WeightWatchers but find a time to share what's on the food forecast for the next few days with the other 2, as a reality rather than a what-do-you-want fantasy. Ee could plan when he'll watch/zone out with the Ipad to coincide with me being able to be near him doing my own thing, far less isolating.

The pitfalls of how we do it now appear to be - I get ignored and eat junk, Jaan gets behavioural issues and plus, he won't sleep, Ee gets no "me time" and is a moody sad moo. Third rule is an awareness of this bad-time scenario. It's NOT acceptable after all. Basically I won't rejoin the living unless I cut out the dead-end bits of screen time, Jaan will slash his own potential to ribbons without better examples and guidance to follow, and we'll never know if Ee is just a grumpypants or if life wih us is really short-changing him unless he has a better set up for his own screen time.

Easier said than done, darn it. Constant onlinity isn't all it's cracked up to be, the hype is poo. I have found when I'm with my mates I'm engaged and having a totally multi dimensional time. Just hanging about with nothing but online for more than a third of a day though ..... snoresville, and my online experience is beautifully coordinated and effected by my actual real friends, and their tastes and preferences, as well as my own. It's a sophisticated conjunction of what I love doing and talking about with my actual everyday mates and my personal everyday shopping/eating/scheduling and news tools. It's supposed to supplement my mornings with Deb, quick meet ups with Cathy and afternoons with Katie. It still leaves me lacking though, and falls apart if I don't see them really. It's been a massive fail with friends and family outside this precious trinity though as my siblings and family just don't use their wwwpresence in this way. Gah humbug.

Bear Vs Crane

Watch "Jaan receives his kung fu award" on YouTube

Watch "jaan's version of Green Day's oh love" on YouTube

A Jaan Update, Sept 2012

[This was originally the text of an email update sent to Jaan's beloved friends and relatives ... does what it says on the tin so it's here too!]

Jaan will be 4 at the end of the month, and we're moving house soon, nearer my folks, and near Jaan's school (Cambridge Steiner School in Fulbourn, he's in Kindergarten, in a class called Appleblossom where he is with kids aged about 4 till about 7.) Jaan tells me "I LOVE it! I'm SO HAPPY." 

He spends one morning in the woods doing the same sorts of things they do indoors ... just outdoors, two mornings in the classroom & in the garden, from what I gather from Jaan, mostly making bonfires with his mate Ben, and plotting how to get more apples from the tree. Jaan is a bit scared of climbing trees just now, but he likes to brace himself along the lower limbs of the trees and say"I'm strong". He also likes to move branches to help bigger kids climb. 

He loves his best mate Arti, and misses him when they don't meet in the week. They go to different schools and are in different school years, so Jaan will have to get used to it. He tells everyone we are moving to be near Arti's house, which is true. The new house is Walpole Road. We'll be able to walk to Mum's if we want (or get the bus) and the same for Cathy's. This is awesome news for me and Jaan. Iain will be commuting to Royston on the train, which is a very new thing for him! There's a school bus that will get Jaan and me to school in the mornings, and before we know it, Jaan will be on that bus without me, keeping his mate Ben company. Our place will be one of the later stops on the journey, we will not be that far from the school. 

Jaan still loves Skype-ing, and is very interested in Facebook - when people tell him they will send him some news or a picture he asks them to Facebook him. He plays Angry Birds on my Facebook account and gets a pretty good weekly ranking, he's on the podium at any rate :)  He has been enjoying the promo levels linked with the Ultrabook and Green Day. He's a keen air-drummer now, and Arti and Jaan together have been known to air-guitar and air-drum themselves silly on our sofa. Jaan definitely identifies with the drumming most. I also hear him most days playing on his keyboard, making up 'tunes'. Like me, he sings all the time. At bedtime sometimes he asks me for sleepytime songs, or 'you can sing your songs mummy', and other times, 'not your songs, sing my songs, Thomas or Angry Birds'. I refuse point blank to sing an Angry Bird song - Jaan watches and listens to kids' videos on YouTube, and often there is an ad-hoc Angry Birds 'song' involved ((shudder)). 

Our newest interest as a family is the Moshi Monster website, a truly superb bit of childsplay. It's great, a good atmosphere and full of the gross things (goo, slime, eyeballs etc) that little boys love to talk about. I far prefer him playing within its safe confines, making the most of their parodies of all the big games and their music videos/pop songs. Compared with the media world outside of Moshi Monsters, the way Jaan is enjoying himself with his Moshi mates, with us tagging along too is most reassuring. The aim of the whole thing is to solve mysteries, complete challenges and collect Moshlings. The monsters themselves are based on a few basic prototypes, it's all fascinating for Jaan. He wants to know why his friends choose different colours and different monsters to him. He likes to choose the missions, and solve some of the puzzles himself, and wants us to do some too. He chooses who to be friends with as part of the game. It all gives me a great deal of confidence in his ability to make these necessary judgments and advances as he spends more time with his peergroup and older kids. He's much better now at saying hello and playing with new kids, as we get ample opportunity to roleplay tricky intros. 

When he plays by himself his games involve building intricate and imaginative settings for his Angry Birds and pigs, sometimes other characters are involved too, sometimes trains and tracks too. He likes one of us to do the voices. He calls his play 'making videos'. He's keen to add Moshi Monsters figures to the game as their characteristics and sound effects will enhance these 'videos' no end. He likes a few big plush Angry Birds to be involved too, as they knock the most piggies off the blocks! Plus they are cuddly. Angry Birds have a series of toys called Mash 'Ems that go splat and stick briefly where they land (on a smooth surface) - kind of like playing darts in a pre-schooler squashy way - and they are slung using a sling-shot, and sling shots/catapults are what he wants most in his life! 

He still loves a good story, Billy Goats Gruff and Peter Rabbit/Squirrel Nutkin are the tops these days, as are his Thomas storybooks. He reads his magazines (Moshi Monsters, Thomas, CBeebies, Toy Story) - although nowadays he is less interested in CBeebies, and likes Cat in the Hat, Horrid Henry, Canimals and Fleabag Monkeyface from CITV. He keeps talking about having Sky TV again when we move house (news to me!) and getting the Disney Channel again, "The red one Mummy, the one for Big Kids." ..... ????? ... red one? ... I take this to mean he is no longer a baby, he is a 'little kid' or a 'big kid' depending on the activity. 

Jaan likes to talk about space, wormholes, the insides of a human being, dogs, cats, cakes, sweeties, bonfires, the relative old-ness of people, friends and what friends do, holidays and Appleblossom class. That is, when he is not talking about Cut the Rope's Om Nom (this is a computer game) and Angry Birds or Moshi Monsters. 

He likes us being a family, he says, Mummy, Daddy, Jaan, Sparkee and Pixie. He looks forward to seeing his Mimi and Grandad when they are in town, tells me all about watching cricket with Nanabhai, and loves his Nanujaan perhaps best of all. Good thing too as she does almost all of the school run and babysitting for us!

Watching Jaan cope with the turbulant times, so prominent in a 4 year old's life, can be heart wrenching at times, but I am proud of him more often than not. He can get very angry when a bigger kid thwarts him, and he'll tell me or Iain, "I'm burning, I'm on fire. I hate him, I'm so angry I want to hit him, I want to kill him. No, don't come near me I'm burning and you will burn too" and he breathes till he can be calm, and then makes amends and moves on, although half the time making amends is hard and it takes quite a while before he can do what is best to make peace. He tries not to fight, and tries to be mature about it. He doesn't really succeed in being anything but a 4 year old child most of the time when tensions are high, and he often calls me, Iain or other kids a "poo" or a "foo" in righteous disgust.  But he knows how to take turns, to share, and how to be kind and friendly, and he does all those things beautifully. 

Finally, thank you everyone who asked for present ideas. Jaan loves his toys, and I love having things in the house that people who love us have sent us. Iain loves not having to buy everything Jaan wants and needs himself ... LOL. Here we are (obviously, don't feel you HAVE to buy him anything at all, more than anything his lists are a snapshot of what he is like these days, on the cusp of 4-year-old-ness). 

His all encompassing Amazon list is here http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/1HCLQOEGFUFF6

And here are his pinterest boards, enjoy!

http://pinterest.com/prettychickpea/jaan-s-birthday-list-his-own-choice-of-toys-and-go/

http://pinterest.com/prettychickpea/gifts-for-jaan-s-4th-birthday-chosen-by-his-parent/

http://pinterest.com/prettychickpea/jaan-s-birthday-list-practical-stuff-for-a-4-year-/

Nice toys here http://www.myriadonline.co.uk/ostheimer-woodland-animals.php

Love, N x

Jaan enjoying the sunshine.

Jaan and I were out in the park, me reading a book, Jaan snoozing and playing with his new buggy toy. Thanks for the sunnies and the toy Nayyar Nani!!!

Jumparoo Jaan

Jaan was a super bouncing baby today in his friend Morgan's Jumperoo.

Video below.

Jaan in his friend's Jumparoo from Nadiya Midgley on Vimeo.

Jaan in Morgan's Jumparoo. Look at him go! He was jumping about and laughing not long before I got my phone out to take this clip. March 12th, 2009.

Jaan in his Baby Walker - super DJ!

Jaan in his walker from Nadiya Midgley on Vimeo.

Jaan's a super DJ, eh? Look at him making music!! He certainly values his independence.

He loves standing in this thing making a racket, watching TV, watching us do housework, etc. Sometimes he makes it move (he 'walks'), sometimes he just bounces up and down. I can feed him while he is in it sometimes too.

March 2009.

Jaan at 5 and a half months +

Well the feeding situation is more complex now, and involves a bit more mess at times!

He eats a lot of fish, chicken, lentils, spinach, some rice cereal, quinoa and amaranth flakes, fruit and squashes/pumpkins/carrots kind of stuff. A lot of it is Plum Baby or Ella's Kitchen stuff ... he likes the tasty stuff! He adores the cheap and cheerful Orchard Chicken from Cow & Gate too though! His formula of choice is SMA, he has the White one now, for hungrier babies ... and he seems to like the Tommee Tippee bottles best of all - so much for the Adiri bottles I got for him ... he loves them, but to play with and chew on!! Not so much to drink from. I made him some rice pudding, millet pudding and quinoa pudding and froze it all in cubes. He has them, but definitely prefers the desserts made by Plum Baby. He like the Ella's Kitchen fruit range even less than my efforts! Go figure. A mashed banana in his cereal goes down quite well sometimes.

Jaan will eat 3 meals a day if he's offered them ... I try and encourage just 2 meals a day and extra breast-milk or formula ---- he's not quite 6 months yet and while he has the motor skills to eat even lumpy chunky stuff - meat off our plates, fruit, fishcakes and the like, his gut and digestive bits and pieces are still very young, who knows what they can and can't do. I can wait, and Jaan will have to wait. 

He looks at everything we eat and tries to have some. He looks a bit hurt when he is not offered any! 

On the teething front, he complains of gum pain (holding his gum and pointing and crying!!) for a few nights every week or so. Then settles down again. 

He's taking to his cot a lot better now in the daytime. He spends at least half the night-time sleep with us in the new super-king-sized family bed (yaay our first own bed ... we've always had a borrowed once since we got married).

TV is attractive to him - he loves Lazytown and watches the Tombliboos on In the Night Garden. We cuddle up together in the late afternoon and I feed him and pat him while he watches, hoping he will relax and then sleep. It normally works. Jaan is very intent on his latest project - mobility. He rolls from his back over to his front, but can't move back the other way. He tries and tries to roll and roll, he does it good naturedly. When he is tired, he stops for a few moments, drops his head, then when he has rested, raises it again and carries on trying. It takes quite a while before he gets so tired that he gets cranky and frustrated. I help him turn over then, but he often feels bad that he's not on his tummy anymore - hugs and cuddles and wiggle-wiggle action tends to sort the tears out though! 

Mostly though, Jaan laughs and smiles all day, every day, all the hours he is awake, and sometimes in his sleep. He does cry a bit in his sleep too .... perhaps he needs to pee, perhaps it is dream-related. Jaan likes to sleep through the night and have a long sleep in the morning too. His afternoon nap and late afternoon naps are now shorter, about an hour or so. He has a lot of playing to do all day after all! Plus he has a lot of 'walking' to do in his baby walker.

In terms of the kidney mystery - we now know he just has one for sure, and that is a good, healthy kidney, but that the pipework associated with it is dilated and needs to be watched. Every 6 months we'll have to take him for a scan, he'll have to stay on antibiotic prophylaxis indefinitely, and we'll have to keep a close eye on him as we have been doing. Iain is pleased as punch that it is nothing worse, and my parents urge me to be thankful to Allah. Personally I try not to think about it. Iain does the medication now. We found a manufacturer that makes the Trimethoprim without the strong taste. 

Jaan, Bobo & Mrs Jojo!!

Jaan really enjoys playing with some of his toys. He loves Leslie the Gender-Neutral bear a lot, and adores Bobo the rabbit - then I introduced him to Jojo, a bear who is a little like Bobo ...

Jaan took to her at once. Was happy to see her, sucked on her ears, her face etc ... screeched at her ... the works. He doesn't hang on to her the way he holds on to Bobo (latches on to the butt with his fingers and keeps hold of the bunny!!!), but they are definitely interesting to him now.

I'm encouraging him to use these soft little friends to help him feel secure and happy while he watches us, or has a rest on his sheepskin, or while he is having a little think. He is approaching 19 weeks of age now, and is definitely gearing up for an intellectual leap of some sort. I guess 6 or 8 weeks from now he'll be sitting, and trying to crawl and rolling about - these are pretty big physical achievements, a huge skill set. He's been thinking and watching things a lot. He is quite needy now, is obviously finding it harder to just sleep, or just eat. The world is challenging for him right now, it's very evident just watching him that this is so.

I'm glad he has his little buddies as well as us.

Incidentally, while my parents were round, we were enjoying the moment, and laughing and joking about Bobo and Jojo and so now it turns out they are Mr Bobo & Mrs Jojo, and their surname is Bear-Bunny Smith ....

So now Jaan eats solids. Most of the time I feed him while holding him in my arms breast-feeding-style. Seems to work well. We also feed him a lot while he is lying on his playmat or on his sheepskin - as long as is throat is nice and straight and free to function as it should, the food (still quite liquidey) goes down well.

We've been relying on Plum Baby, a lovely organic range which tastes nice (developing his palate) and allows us to provide him with a variety of things to try, even though I'm struggling a lot with post-natal depression, and am unable to prepare his food from scratch.

Look at him, little cheeky chops!!

We have managed to put him in his high chair too!

Jaan's having some time in his swing.

Jaan in his swing from Nadiya Midgley on Vimeo.

Taken today, the 22nd of January, Jaan's having some time in his swing. He has one of his favourite toys with him - watch to the end, he smiles!! 

He's really interested in everything around him now - specially toys with mirrors, toys that squeak, and his softest toys - he hugs them! He tries to taste everything - but does not like the taste of plastic, or the texture of a lot of his toys. He's still learning how to put things in his mouth effectively. He still loves looking at lights, except now he can reach out as if to touch them too. He wants to see different things, and complains if he has to look at one thing for too long. He yawns and rubs his eyes when he gets tired, and we wrap him up for a nap - and he smiles when we do that, happy that he'll get to rest.

Iain does his bit getting ready to wean Jaan

As we are 15 weeks into parenting Jaan now, our thoughts are starting to turn towards the next round of 'Firsts' - weaning (introducing solid food) and teething. I've been choosing what I hope will be suitable teething products, weaning spoons and stuff, and Jaan's high chair. I wanted the Stokke Tripp Trapp for the longest time ... then I realised the Little Helper FunPod High Chaircould really work for us - it will be the FunPod once Jaan is too big for the high chair, and the high chair itself separates into a chair for Jaan anyway. Super  - here's Iain making it.

He's too young for it, of course, but we needed to make sure we have all the parts! 

4 weeks old, How Time Flies

How time flies!

He's pretty big now, our little one, he really looks around and has a definite preference for cuddles and jiggling up and down. He's an interactive baby now!

Here he is, looking towards the TV!

He has a different sort of schedule each day, so I can't say he has any real sort of routine yet - I try and watch what he wants and needs throughout the day, and guide his sleep, feeds and baths, and his alert-time so that he is not doing too much of any one thing at a time - he's only a baby after all, he has no way of understanding that if he feeds every half hour he'll only have a rough time digesting the milk! He also has no way of seeing how tired he is getting, and I have to remember to put him down for a nap in good time! More or less, he feeds every 2-4 hours. He tends to have a few feeds close together (2 hours apart) and a few quite far apart. Some feeds are l-o-n-g, and others are faster and shorter - I leave all that up to him unless we are in a hurry for some reason - in which case he gets a top up feed asap, or a bottle of expressed milk, which is SO the fastest way to feed him!

I'm testing out the Dr Browns anti colic bottle, and the Breastflow bottle (it's like a breast in terms of what baby has to do with his bottom lip to get the milk out of the special teat) - and Jaan seems to get on best with the Breastflow bottle. To be honest, Jaan loves the ordinary no-frills Mothercare bottle we had lying around (unopened hand-me-downs from his cousins!) - but they do leave him a little windy and he sucks way too fast!! It's amazing he does not spit up more than he does (hardly at all thank goodness).

... and we've been enjoying family time together in the mornings,

when we can. LOVE this picture.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS IN THE SLIDE SHOW

Jaan's 3rd Week

So Jaan spent this third week of his life chilling at home with Mummy & Daddy, getting into a normal routine - elevenses (sometimes a lot later than 11!!) with Aunty Paula at the coffee place on Angel Pavement, Lunchtimes with Daddy coming home, Jaan's Friends Baby Group on Thursdays, scream-fest every night at 10:30 pm .... till about midnight!, Trips to the Chiropracter ... he has a busy life, it's amazing how much sleep he manages to fit in.

Baby Jaan Anna Banana

Well, the Radiographer seems to have over-reacted, according to the consultant Mr Williams.

Apparantly, Jaan just needs to be discussed in clinic on Tuesday and we'll take it from there. Williams has seen the scan, and is not freaking out. 

Hurrah! 

We can all just chill till we hear what to do next.

Meanwhile, Jaan is pretty happy, enjoying life and all it has to offer him. Here he is with his little pal, Anna Banana.

Update

Health -

Well, the Radiographer seems to think there is an obstruction at the place where Jaan's kidney reaches the bladder, but she can't see what - so I reckon we need another scan on a different machine with a different lady! More tests are in order, probably sooner than originally planned, as his kidney is still swollen - could be because he is growing, could be because of an obstruction - it's still too early to do anything more than monitor him closely. He is only 2 weeks old after all. Please do keep him in your thoughts and prayers. If all goes well, he will just be fine and keep growing strong and well. If he needs treatment, I hope we find out what and how he needs help soon. His doctors are capable people ... but the hospital system is very disorganised, and it does not seem to matter that he is 'in the system' - the system itself is slow and flawed, complete lack of communication, no one takes responsibility etc. Nothing new for me to see, but it is hardly comforting from a parents point of view when this is the best that is available anywhere ... 

We are staying positive, keeping Jaan's home life as happy and peaceful as possible - he is very happy and calm. Every week, when we go to hospital, he has a bad time, blood tests and ultrasounds etc, but then he comes home and life is good again. We are always with him at hospital, cuddling him and comforting him through his tests. It is hard, but he is as happy as can be, which is what counts. 

Activities -

Jaan sleeps and feeds a lot - we leave him to it otherwise! He is meant to sleep and sleep and grow while he sleeps, apparantly! I wish he could play more .... but he is so small!!! I know I have to let him be :) 

He has recently started crying a bit at night - can't settle himself, we've been feeding him too often in the evening and it has been hurting his digestion - OOPS!! Well, now we know! So back to 3 hourly feeds. That should help me too! He was getting very 'sucky' - needs his Dummy more. 

Iain is back at work, as of Monday, and has been coming home at lunchtime to see Jaan, and back home again at 5 pm. Lucky us! We only have to be apart between 8:00 and 12:00 and then 12:30 - 5:00. Not bad! Once Iain goes back to work after lunch, Jaan and I try and sleep in front of the TV, watching Deep Space 9 and Star Trek the Next Generation on Virgin 1. That is, if we are not out for some reason. Sometimes we have things to do! Jaan has a busy schedule. 

Tomorrow for example he has his hearing test, so we will go to that early in the morning, and then at 3 pm he has Baby Group to attend - some local ladies meeting up with their newborns, we met at our flat last week, and we're meeting at another ladies' tomorrow. We were expecting the Health Visitor too ... but will probably have to reschedule that visit as we don't want to miss seeing the babies! 

Jaan's First Weekend :( in hospital

Baby Jaan went in for his kidney scan on Friday, and ended up being admitted to the ward for observations - kidney infection, one kidney ... all sorts of dangers. Of course I had terrible pain to deal with still (in recovery with hardly any pain meds because of breastfeeding and because of my poor gut ...) so it was not fun!

We stayed in all weekend, took care of Jaan, fed him etc ... but managed to get some photos too as he developed so much in the few days. It was a scary time, but he is a joy to care for. A happy, peaceful, calm baby - gives us hope!

Jaan E Midgley - Super Genius

Look, Jaan can read!!

Baby Jaan in Hospital

Well, as many of you know now, Jaan is not very well. He's in hospital under observation - no need to panic just yet!

I'll try and update the blog so Jaan's loved ones can keep abreast of his progress (I think I can do it by text or at least at the hospital on the console by my bed). We love him so much, and he is such a good, brave, wonderful baby - he is coping so well with all the tests and being in hospital.

The real tests and monitoring start today/Monday. Basically he has a few issues with his kidneys - it is too soon to tell if it is a serious issue needing lots of treatment, or if it is just something to keep an eye on just in case.

Of course we hope he is just fine, and hope to take him home again in a week or so, till ten, we are stuck in the PICU at Addenbrookes. Luckily that is just 5 munutes from my parents' house! SO we have a nice place to shower, eat, sleep - not that we leave the hospital much!

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - he needs everyone's good vibes!!

Please don't phone us though as we don't like to leave him to check voicemail, and we are not at home at all. Plus, phone calls mean we have to leave hospital to charge our phones! Please do text us, email us and Facebook us - we are so happy to have him, are so proud of him, and so in love with him, but it is also so hard to watch him in hospital, so hard to feed him, rest, take care of myself as well ...

The Good News is:

• He is feeding beautifully - an excellent feeder. He is being breastfed exclusively.
• He is very happy and content.
• He wees and poos just fine - that is a very good sign.
• He is in no pain.
• He plays, looks around, watches us, 'reads' his shapes book - photos soon!

Much Love

Nadiya (and Iain)

Well, as many of you know now, Jaan is not very well. He's in hospital under observation - no need to panic just yet!

I'll try and update the blog so Jaan's loved ones can keep abreast of his progress (I think I can do it by text or at least at the hospital on the console by my bed). We love him so much, and he is such a good, brave, wonderful baby - he is coping so well with all the tests and being in hospital.

The real tests and monitoring start today/Monday. Basically he has a few issues with his kidneys - it is too soon to tell if it is a serious issue needing lots of treatment, or if it is just something to keep an eye on just in case.

Of course we hope he is just fine, and hope to take him home again in a week or so, till ten, we are stuck in the PICU at Addenbrookes. Luckily that is just 5 munutes from my parents' house! SO we have a nice place to shower, eat, sleep - not that we leave the hospital much!

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - he needs everyone's good vibes!!

Please don't phone us though as we don't like to leave him to check voicemail, and we are not at home at all. Plus, phone calls mean we have to leave hospital to charge our phones! Please do text us, email us and Facebook us - we are so happy to have him, are so proud of him, and so in love with him, but it is also so hard to watch him in hospital, so hard to feed him, rest, take care of myself as well ...

The Good News is:

• He is feeding beautifully - an excellent feeder. He is being breastfed exclusively.
• He is very happy and content.
• He wees and poos just fine - that is a very good sign.
• He is in no pain.
• He plays, looks around, watches us, 'reads' his shapes book - photos soon!

Much Love

Nadiya (and Iain)