Hogmanay, eczema, allergies & 007 Monopoly!

Three weeks ago, aged 8 weeks, Fraser was given his first course of antibiotics as he had the beginnings of a skin infection. His eczema began to settle down a little but then flared up again and so he was given another course.

 

We went through to stay with my in laws for Hogmanay/New Year last week when he was about 48 hours into the second course. He had a lot of yellow crusting on his forehead where the skin had been weeping, as you can see below.

 

I know I'm more than a little biased, but aren't his eyes beautiful?! :-)

 

 

All of the other boys adore him but he really brings the soft side out in our rough-and-tumble boy, David.

 

It wasn't just eczema we were dealing with on Hogmanay though.

 

As everyone at granny and granddad's got competitive in a game of 007 Monopoly in the run up to 'the bells' at midnight, I noticed Alasdair's eye was getting puffy. I know he hadn't eaten anything he shouldn't have but there must have been something spilled on the table that he accidentally touched. It could have been cream or ice cream from dinner time, or perhaps something from the cheeseboard some of the others had recently eaten.

 

I felt a little bad for not making sure everything was clear before he went to the table to join in the Monopoly game but I was busy with Fraser in the other room and hadn't really thought about it.

 

I was watching them all from the other room when I thought his eye looked funny and so called him through to me. His eye was almost closed over and there were hives on his face. I gave him a dose of antihistamine which soon stopped it from getting any worse. It did take quite a while for the swelling in his eye to go down though.

 

This is him a couple of hours after his first dose of medicine.

 

 

 

It didn't stop him from enjoying his evening though and my sister in law was able to take this lovely photo of us all after we had seen in the new year. It's a pretty good one considering it was taken at about 12.30am!

 

 

 

And I can't leave out this other great photo taken of us all with my husband's parents and sister in law's dog.

 

 

 

 

But back to Fraser and his eczema.

 

His second dose of antibiotics didn't do an awful lot of good either and so on Monday I was back at the doctor with him. As soon as he saw him the doctor decided to refer him as an emergency referral to dermatology. He also prescribed a topical antibiotic cream and low dose steroid cream, which is happily beginning to do the trick.

 

On top of it all, the poor wee man has been struggling with a heavy cold and bad cough for that last week, which may be why his eczema flared up a bit worse last week. It's certainly been the pattern with the other boys' skin.

 

For a week or so he has been much more sleepy than usual and content only sleeping in my arms. I don't mind the extra cuddles but I was beginning to miss my content smiley boy.

 

His cough has begun to settle down today though, and we've all been enjoying seeing his eyes sparkle again.

 

 

 

He's also now got the coordination to scratch those itchy bits too!

 

 

As for who won the 007 Monopoly, well we nearly missed the bells because they were all so engrossed in it! Ask Auntie Anna and she will claim it was her. But then so will dad. And James! So I think we should call it a draw.

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Hogmanay traditions (and some fresh air too!)

My husband's sister is a great walker. Most Saturdays she can be found out on a hill somewhere, accompanied by her trusty collie dog, Cuilean (coo-lan).

So on Boxing Day, still rather full from our feast the day before, she suggested a walk around the reservoir in the Pentland hills. I stayed back at her house with Alasdair who still wasn't feeling 100%, and also kept my mother in law, whose arthritis was bothering her a bit, company.

The other boys had a blast!

Auntie Anna had us all out in the fresh air again on New Years Day. This time we were staying through at my in-laws house, where we almost always go to see in the new year.

Traditionally in Scotland, Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) and New Year's Day were a much bigger thing than Christmas was. My father in law's generation wouldn't have made quite the fuss over Christmas that we do now. That's not to say that he doesn't enjoy Christmas!

We Scots are rightfully proud of our old traditions though, and the celebration of Hogmanay and many of it's traditions are still going strong.

A traditional Hogmanay celebration would have had families gathering together for a ceilidh (kay-lee). Not in the sense that people talk about a ceilidh nowadays, an organised ceilidh dance with a dance band, but in a more informal sense. (Ceilidh is the Gaelic for visit.) There would be stories and music, unscripted. 

In keeping with this, Calum brought his accordion to granny & grandad's house to entertain us.

The boys all managed to stay up until 'the bells' and clinked their juice glasses along with everyone else's as we listened to the piper pipe in the new year on the TV.

Alasdair is actually awake here, he just has his eyes closed in this photo!

I don't know if it is a tradition anywhere else but 'first footing' is a Scottish New Year tradition. I'm sure plenty people still do it. We certainly did until we had the practicalities of young children to factor in!

First footing is the visiting of friends and neighbours immediately after the New Year has been rung in. Right after midnight. In the past it was considered good fortune to bring a piece of coal for the fire, signifying the hope that the fires would never go out. On the mainland it was also considered good fortune if the first person across your door step in the New Year was male, dark and handsome!

However, in the islands the tradition was that it was good fortune for the youngest members of the family to enter the house first.

And so onto the New Year's Day walk, which has become something of a tradition in our family. The walk takes place before the big celebratory dinner. 

That's another Scottish tradition. New Year's Day dinner should be steak pie followed by trifle.

Cuilean had a great time chasing balls thrown by various boys.

Despite the mud!

Our walk ended at the beautiful big duck pond, where we stopped to watch a man sailing a model boat he had built himself.

 But before anyone could have dinner, poor Cuilean was in need of a bath and Calum was only to happy to help.

 

Then he was nice and fresh, ready to join everyone else for dinner and cuddles.

Did I mention how much Calum loves Cuilean? 

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