Chasing Butterflies Daily

Been putting dodgy stuff in my gob (unintentionally) again 🙈...  If you've missed it I've attached my mouldy bread saga from a few months ago you can find it HERE Just before lunchtime the three kids and I had a joint dentist appointment. The eldest had gone to school on the bus this morning but I didn't bother with the nursery run as I'd spend more time walking to and from school than at home. At about 10:20 I shuffled out the house to the garage with the two little ones to get into my car. Instantly I was struck by something not being right as I could see something moving about in my car. It turned out to be a bird (presumably it had flown in when my husband was taking out the dog food bag from my boot earlier that morning). I swore as soon as I saw it as I thought it would be a pain to get it out, it zoomed out as soon as I opened a door though. Everything good so far! Buckled the little ones in. Sat down and reversed out the garage. Once we were out in d...

This post has taken a while to get to! Between getting used to the new routine of full days at school/nursery for two of the children, their weekly dance lessons, me doing my DSA fundraiser, potty training, the days becoming shorter and starting to work a few evenings a week at the local pub I haven't had the energy or time to document this. On the 23rd of August this year the two youngest ones and I found this caterpillar on the porch outside the front of our house. I was delighted to stumble upon a caterpillar and dashed off to grab the tupperware box I usually use to keep caterpillars.When I came back it was gone. Despite telling the middle child "Do NOT touch it" she had poked it and it had fallen down between the slabs. Just by chance (because quite a few of the steps are ridiculously loose - the landlord has been informed) I could see it. I reached it with a twig and managed to, gently, coax it out. It had rolled itself up when it fell and was neatly enclosed...

In this post I will be speaking highly of a product, I am however not affiliated to the company and do not receive any payment for the recommendation.  For the most part our son hasn't needed many things adapted for his needs yet. Other than clothes due to sleeve and trouser lengths as his limbs are shorter than average. As well as an orthopaedic feeding chair he used while weaning he has been able to use the same things as an average height child his age. As I cover in other posts we have had to be extra mindful of how his spine in postured as he's more prone to curvature of the spine and more seriously, spinal stenosis (compression of the spinal cord). Even so, that has only really meant that we've needed to make sure he doesn't use certain seats, baby carriers and always lies down on a flat, supportive surface. This was especially important during the infant year.   During summer we had one new piece of apparatus introduced into our life though. A type of t...

This photo is from a few weeks ago. Our middle child is crazy about the famous Swedish children's character, Pippi Långstrump (Longstocking), created by our most revered author Astrid Lindgren. Although she calls her "Hippi", but that's ok because she asked for the same crazy braids and loves to sing her songs. Generations have been brought up on Lindgren's books and we all have our favourite characters; there are so many to chose from. (My personal is called Ronja) The thing all the children she created have in common is being strong, independent individuals who take on the world they live in. My littles aren't really old enough for my favourite yet. But they love the character that truly won the whole of Sweden's heart. The young girl with freckles & carrot coloured hair that lives in eternal braids that stick out and superhuman strength: Pippi. If you've never heard of her, look her up! She lives with her pet monkey & horse and a bag f...

This top is actually one I bought for our eldest when she was little, I always loved it but it feels even more apt now. It also made me think of all the other things that don't matter to Elis' height, this is by no means a complete list. But hopefully it gets across my message that we need to focus on the positives. I want you to learn about my son's condition but I mostly I just want you to look upon him as just another person. I'm small but I'm loud I'm small but I'm strong I'm small but I'm determined I'm small but I'm cheeky I'm small but I'm good at climbing I'm small but I'm surprisingly heavy I'm small but do the fastest commando crawl ever I'm small but I can run I'm small but I'm clever I'm small but I'm capable I'm small but can throw one hell of a tantrum I'm small but I'm good at problem solving I'm small but I'...

It's that time of year again. I started this blog at the beginning of October last year to spread awareness about our son's achondroplasia. The blog isn't just about him, it covers a lot of aspects of our life, but I want to make use of the blog as a tool in teaching others more. I thought I'd have a more concrete plan for this year as I managed to share a few posts last year but I only have a couple of ideas, more will hopefully come to me. In the meantime I thought I'd give a little recap of some of the facts about his condition, achondroplasia: the most common form of dwarfism - there are over 200 different types! It is a genetic condition which affects bone growth, known as a disproportionate form of dwarfism it means the person has shorter limbs than average. The degree of the disproportion varies greatly from person to person, just as height in average height persons varies. Another common characteristic is a larger head circumference due to a promine...

On Monday, 6 days ago, I started potty training Elis, by late afternoon he had a fever which turned out to be Roseola. The next morning I seriously considered aborting the mission and restarting in a few weeks again, but he'd done well on his first day so decided to continue. I potty trained my older two at young age, my eldest was 23 months old and the middle child was only 17 months old. In both cases it was greatly driven by the fact that I was pregnant with another child and felt that I'd have enough on my hands with a newborn to tackle potty training easily at a later date. Nor did I fancy the thought of changing nappies on two children at the same time to be perfectly honest. Newborn nappies aren't really that stinky. Toddler nappies, however, are foul. So is wiping their poo off the floor and furniture or emptying their potty: but at least you're on the road to it ending up in the toilet more often than not. I had also been quite keen on an early tr...

Sunday the 22nd September, 2019, I went up Ben Nevis to raise funds for the Scottish region of the Dwarf Sports Association.  This is how my day went (some times, especially later in the day, are estimates) 3:00 - woken up by middle child who wants a drink, she gets a drink from my bottle and is ushered into her own bed. She demands her own bottle so I go downstairs and get one. 3:14 - she reappears with her pillow this time and insists on getting into my bed. I hasten to add she's a fidget in bed, we much prefer having her siblings in bed with us, she just lies and pokes and prods you for hours... 3:15 - the eldest turns up annoyed that her sister has left the room. I tell her to get into bed with us. 3:25 - she decides she'd rather be in her bed and stomps off. 4:30 - middle child finally nods off and starts to snore. 4:31 - the toddler wakes up; I've been trying to feed him later but since I'm heading off early figure I'm better ...