Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Boy

Yesterday we celebrated Fraser's first birthday

The boys were so excited about it being his birthday. Alasdair (5) was especially so.

The night before, Alasdair asked me if Fraser would be much bigger on his birthday. I asked him if he was much bigger on his birthdays and he said he wasn't really. Then he thought for a bit and said that he hoped that Fraser would still have the same cute face when he was one.

Yesterday morning as I woke Alasdair I asked him what day it was.

'Um, Diluain?' he answered sleepily. He was only a day out. Diluain is the Gaelic for Monday.

I told him it was actually Dimairt (Tuesday) and asked if he remembered what special day it was.

He sat upright, so excited, and said to Fraser, 'it's your birthday today and you get an age now!'

The birthday boy enjoyed ripping the wrapping off his presents.

Fraser has never had cake before. He still doesn't like lumpy foods. I made a cake that would be suitable for him so he could try some anyway. Just in case it was the day of a breakthrough. It wasn't, but we all enjoyed the cake. There is still some left to try him again tomorrow. Just in case.

Although his brothers that have egg allergies are able to eat egg fine in cakes & biscuits, I didn't want to test out whether this was the case with Fraser on his birthday and so I made the cake wheat free, dairy free, soya free, nut free and egg free.

It was my first time adapting a cake to be egg free and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!

James (14) was determined that we should do a cake smash for Fraser. I wasn't concerned about the mess as much as the state the eczema on Fraser's hands would be like afterwards. It doesn't matter what he gets on his hands it will make them itch. If any of his food goes on them he will start to scratch and nearly every dinner time ends with him clawing away at his hands. Fortunately by the time he gets upstairs to his bath he has forgotten about the itch.

Since he wasn't getting a cake smash, James did let Fraser stick his fingers in the icing of his cake, as he was the one in charge of looking after Fraser while dad and I were on the other side of the table taking photos! As usual his hands were sore and itchy after his little bit of fun, but as usual his bath soon stopped the scratching.

And to finish with, as I always do with a birthday post, here is the cake and the singing of Happy Birthday.

May this be the first of many happy birthdays for our delightful, sweet natured littlest boy.

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First school work

I shared this on the Facebook page the other day so some of you may have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't, this is the very first piece of work that Alasdair (5) did when he started school.

 

 

'Is mise' is mi-she (small I sound, like mint without the nt & small e sound, like shed without the d!) is the Gaelic for 'I am' and he has drawn a lovely picture of himself.

 

He always draws Fraser in his pictures of himself too and that's him at the bottom.

 

The other wee thing in the picture is my parents' dog. I'm not sure why he decided to add him!

 

And if you look at his face there is a line beside one of his eyes. That's meant to be a patch of eczema he had on his face and had scratched a little, making it look like a little red line.

 

He thought it all out very carefully!

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Eczema Outreach Scotland

Eczema Outreach Scotland are a charity I've written about here before.

They are a relatively new charity, set up by a mum of a girl with eczema to help and support other families living with eczema. They do so in many different ways, one of these being organised days out for families to get together.

On Saturday we attended one of these events, the second one we have been to.

It was held at an indoor snow slope near Glasgow - David & Calum loved how the UV lights at the entrance made their jumpers glow!

While the children all took part in some sledging, the adults stayed warm and had an informal chat with a dermatologist.

Before hitting the slopes the boys were kitted out with helmets. Alasdair (4) had been saying that he didn't want to go sledging but he went down to see what the boys were doing anyway.

Once he saw them on the snow though, he changed his mind and got a bit braver. He loved every minute of it!

Once their time on the slopes was up they all came in for some juice and snacks and then had the chance to fill in some surveys and give suggestions of any tips they have for managing their own eczema, as well as writing down any questions they would like to ask a dermatologist.

It was a great morning. They boys really loved the snow slide and are keen to go back another time.

I thought it was good to hear the questions and concerns the other parents had about their children's eczema. Everyone seems to agree that many people who don't have to live with eczema think of it as a much milder thing to live with than it really is.

Having been at a similar event last year - in fact I think it must have been almost exactly a year ago as I was in the midst of the worst weeks of pregnancy sickness - I was already aware of other families going through the same skin care routines and sleepless nights as we are, but somehow it really hit home to me more this time because as I was greasing Fraser up on Saturday night, while my hubs was doing Alasdair's creams, I thought of the others who right then would be doing the exact same thing.

Knowing this doesn't make what you have to go through any easier, you still have to spend all that time looking after the skin, watching your child cry in pain while they scratch and you try 101 things to distract them etc, and yet it does help that little bit too to know that you aren't the only family going through it either.

I'm not sure if that makes any sense but if you are another eczema family then maybe it does to you! And if you haven't joined up with Eczema Outreach Scotland yet then do head on over to their newly re-launched website here and sign up.

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Another eczema update for Fraser

Fraser still continues to be seen once a week by the dermatologist at our local hospital. It's been our weekly trek since the beginning of the year but I am glad they are taking such good care of him and his skin.

 

Each week we would go back and there would be little to no improvement. His skin would be swabbed. We would be told his skin showed infection and then he would be put on a course of antibiotics. It would clear a little but then come back again. He would be swabbed again a few weeks later. Another infection. More antibiotics.......and so on.

 

Last Monday when we were there, the doctor asked for more swabs to be taken and also suggested we try adding a little bit if Milton sterilising solution to his bath. She said that not much research has been done here about it but that studies in the US have shown it to be a great help for children who have repeated skin infections.

 

So I went straight from our appointment to buy a bottle.

 

 

 

 

We started adding it to his bath that evening, when his skin still looked like this....

 

 

 

 

By the end of last week it looked like this....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He still has the redness and the itchiness in patches but the weeping a crusting has gone for the first time since the start of the year.

 

His scalp had also been completely covered in the scaling a weepy skin and it's so lovely to be able to snuggle up to him without him sticking to you!

 

 

 

 

I hesitate to say that this is him on the mend, as every other time we have seen an improvement it has only been for a few days before flaring up again. But this is now a week without a flare up and I'm thankful for even that. He has been dropped down a strength of steroid for his face this week and so I'm also a little nervous that the eczema will creep back up because of that.

 

He is also on another course of antibiotics, a different one, as last week's swabs showed another Strep infection.

 

Although he has always been remarkably content despite his soreness, this past week we have really seen his little personality shine through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so pleased for his sake that he has this little window of relief.

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Everything for Eczema

Sweet little Fraser has been continuing with his struggle with eczema.

 

Some days it is worse than others, for no apparent reason.

 

 

Despite how sore his skin is, his little personality remains as content and patient as ever.

 

 

 

 

 

Since the start of the year he has been seen weekly by dermatology while they try and get his eczema under control. Every time we go to the hospital he is full of smiles for the nurses and doctors. In fact, wherever we go he is full of smiles for people!

 

One of the most important things that helps him just now, apart from his creams and ointments, are little mitts. When the eczema itch starts it's hard enough to tell someone old enough to understand that they shouldn't scratch! The itchiness of eczema is such that no matter how much you scratch it, the itch doesn't go away. And the scratching just goes on and on until the skin bleeds. Then the risk of infection is greater, which makes the itch worse and it's just one big vicious circle.

 

Over our years of living with eczema we have tried out quite a few products. Recently I discovered the website Everything For Eczema. As well as selling lots of innovative products for those living with eczema they also have a blog with information, tips and links to help you out. It was set up by a mum of a little one with eczema and many of the products have also been developed by parents of children with eczema.

 

When James (14) was small I used to sew mitts onto his sleep suits to stop them falling off at night or him pulling them off. But it's not just at bed time that they are useful, especially on a baby. And I don't want to keep mitts on Fraser all day long as he loves to chew on his fingers and thumb.

 

 

 

 

I was offered the chance to try out these little mitts from Everything for Eczema called Guava Mitts.

 

 

They have little Velcro straps to help keep them from slipping off or being pulled off. The Velcro is a soft Velcro and so if it opens accidentally your wee one can't use it as an extra thing to scratch with! The mitts are made from a mix of bamboo and cotton, so no nasty fabrics involved, and have bright colourful patterns on them. The patterned bits also flip over to a different pattern if you fancy a change too.

 

I've been using these on Fraser for a couple of months now and find them very useful. I keep a pair in the nappy bag if we are going out anywhere and then if he gets itchy I pop them on him. They are also extremely handy for night time when he is wearing sleep suits that don't have fold over mitts on them.

 

I did find that the Velcro lost a bit of its stickiness but that was because it had gathered a few bits and pieces of fluff in it from the washing machine and tumble drier, and once I had cleaned the fluff out they were back to sticking together nicely again.

 

We were also sent some lovely Chickweed & Calendula Cream to try out.

 

It's made with all natural ingredients and, unlike so many of these sorts of creams that I've found in the past, it doesn't contain Almond Oil as it's base oil, which is great in our nut allergy house.

 

Alasdair (4) has really enjoyed putting this cream on his hands. He likes the smell of it and likes to put it on all by himself.

 

The cream is non greasy, absorbed really well into the skin and has a lovely subtle smell. Alasdair says that it doesn't sting his cuts and he likes the fact that it doesn't leave his hands all slimy like his other creams do! I like the fact that he will put it on himself (he's really not a fan of putting cream on throughout the day) and that it is made of such pure ingredients.

 

I've yet to persuade the older eczema boys to try it out. The though of a flowery cream seems to have put them off a bit but I'll persuade them yet. Or if I don't, then Alasdair will!

 

If you are living with eczema, especially if you have a child with it, then I highly recommend popping over to Everything for Eczema and having a look around. Once you start reading the information stories you might find yourself staying there for longer than planned, like I did! They have more for children than adults at the moment but are hoping to add to their range in the future.

 

And very appropriately for this post, I've written most of it with one hand, holding Fraser with the other arm as he rests up on my shoulder and rubbing his itchy face/head with my other hand.

 

 

 

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Things I'm loving...

 

 

This week kicked off with Sunday lunch at my brother's.

 

I can think of much worse ways to start the week than this fabulous chocolate meringue stack that my sister in law made for pudding!

 

 

 

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Back in June 2012 James had 'train track' braces fitted to fix his crazily squint teeth.

 

 

 

 

This week he was so pleased to finally get them off.

 

Look how perfect those teeth are now!

 

 

Those two photos also show how much he has changed over the last 18 months too.

 

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We fished the Bumbo out of the loft for Fraser this week. He's still a bit too small for it and prefers his bouncy chair but he did rather like his first wee shot in it...

 

 

 

 

 

...even when someone decided he needed a weapon to protect himself in it!

 

 

 

Different people say that Fraser looks like different boys. One person will say, 'he looks so like Alasdair' and then the next will say, 'oh he looks so like David' I suppose it's because they do all look alike anyway but here is Alasdair at a similar age, also in the Bumbo, and you can decide for yourselves!

 

 

 

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Sticking with Fraser, his eczema is still pretty bad. One day I think it looks like it's improving and then the next it's worse and weeping again.

 

Poor little man, his face is always so sore and when I undress him for bath time he claws away at his chest and the top of his legs. During the day I try and keep him distracted from scratching his face as he can still make it bleed even with mitts on.

 

 

 

Despite how bad his skin looks, he still has the most content little personality and continues to enchant us all with his smiles and little 'conversations'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see what others are loving this week over at Meghan's blog here.

 

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