Age: 7months & 2weeks

This week we are all ill, still, and I have to say it’s more than a little frustrating now. I can’t shift my cold and snotty throat, Millie has an awful cough that makes her sound like a Rottweiler, Luca’s weak and tired all the time and poor Gabriele is teething, pooping and sneezing like there is no tomorrow. I love this time of year for the festivities and magic of the season but hate that we always fall ill and look like zombie hermits for several weeks on end!

But I have to say these last few days, despite the children being ill, they’ve made a giant leap in interaction and it’s somehow crept up on me and I stood in the lounge yesterday and said “WOW!” in shock to see our little Gabriele sitting up on the carpet with his big sister Millie playing with a teddy and giggling together. The children have always been close and Millie has been the most adorable and proud big sister ever, but up until now Gabriele has been a baby and she has been our young lady and the communication barrier and difference has been so obvious. It seems overnight Gabriele is suddenly in tune with Millie and they smile at each other and giggle together and hand one-another toys to play with like old friends not a baby and primary school child.

I suppose it’s down to the fact that Gabriele is taking notice of things now and not just laying on his back blowing bubbles and napping all of the time. He’s concentrating deeply on everything, soaking in every last detail and touching every surface, texture and having a little taste. And when he sees Millie his whole face lights up and he gives her a cheeky chubby grin and turns his head to one side adorably.

Baby Gabriele (7.5months) Playing In The Bath With His Big Sister Millie (5years)

Seeing the two children splashing in the bath together and playing with boats absolutely melts my heart, it’s as if I’ve finally given them a life-long best friend each and their bond as brother and sister seems to be growing noticeably stronger by the day. I couldn’t wish for anything better in life than for my children to love each other as much as I love them and I’m truly blessed to see it unfolding before my eyes. I’m so excited for Christmas to see them giggling together under a mountain of sparkly wrapping paper and bubble wrap and I suspect I might be the one playing in it instead of them!

Baby Gabriele Shocked Us All By Pulling Himself Up To Stand By The Sofa Aged 7months & 2weeks

Our cheeky baby totally amazed us when he decided to crawly-bop his way over to the sofa yesterday and pull himself up to stand so that he could squeal at Joey the dog. Considering it took Millie thirteen months to attempt to walk I was dumbstruck with how fast he’s attempting things. I know they say that a second child can pick things up more quickly than a first because they have someone to copy, but this seems a bit extreme so young and I’m worried that he may damage his legs if he tries to stand too often, perhaps I could hang some tins of beans off the back of this babygrow to weight him down and stop him being so hasty, after all he hasn’t even mastered crawling yet and you have to walk before you can run!

He is however, teething like a Viking right now and his two little gnashers that are his front bottom teeth are causing him such distress it’s awful and never ending! His gums are hard, white and raw and he is biting everything in sight and dribbling buckets, but as he’s only just cut his first two teeth he’s still got a long way to go so it looks like we’re in it for the long haul.

In desperation at midnight last night Luca headed out to the 24hr Tesco’s in town to look for some pain relief as the teething Bonjela that we had in the cupboard just didn’t seem to touch his pain and discomfort. As I walked Gabriele around endlessly in circles around the house trying desperately to stop him from crying and flailing his arms and legs Luca finally returned with the gold dust. That’s right, we’ve found the most amazing product that stopped his pain within minutes! Nelson’s Teetha Teething Granules are in a small sachet that you tear open and pour directly into the mouth. I was worried about him choking or gagging or not being able to get a powder into his mouth properly, but as he was crying in pain with his mouth wide open we tore open a little sachet and it poured straight in. Gabriele stopped crying immediately, widened his eyes, licked his gums and looked at us in surprise as we watched on with baited breath. He did grizzle for a few minutes which I think was more to do with the distressed state that he’s got himself into and the tiredness of being up later than his usual bedtime. But it appears the pain stopped pretty quickly and he snuggled and shuffled his way into a comfortable tummy-down sleeping position and fell asleep. Rather than screaming all night he managed to sleep for three or four hours at a time before waking for food and the granules wearing off. You can give a sachet every two hours if needed and we wouldn’t have survived without it now that he’s teething so hard.

He’s been totally off of his solid food recently which I can only put down to the fact that when he tries to chew his teeth must cut into his top gum and rub and pinch, so he’s only taking a milk bottle at the moment which the doctor assures me is completely acceptable and he will take solids again when he’s more able to chew. I can’t help but worry if he isn’t eating solids then his digestion and growth may be stunted or malnourished but it appears it’s down to the individual baby as to when they’re happy to continue and they can take as long as they like.

As he hasn’t been taking solids recently he’s been pooing a lot more, typically three times a day with yellowish soggy nappies and a grizzly tummy. So his teething has really put everything back, he’s uncomfortable, dribbling furiously, eating less and up all hours of the night. Hello wrinkles and crows feet! I hope it’s over quickly for Gabriele’s sake, let alone my own, poor little mite.

On a lighter, or heavier note should I say, today is weigh-in day and let’s be brutal and cut right to the chase, I stepped on the scales this morning and they swore a one pound gain at me, how very dare they! But yes, I’m Mrs Piggy on day release at the moment, my portion sizes are huge, I’m snacking and it’s cold and raining outside and I know I’m comfort eating. But it’s winter and having a little nibble and padding the old organs saves on heating so really I’m helping the family as a whole by eating three Walnut Whips and a Twirl in one sitting!

My Weight Loss 29 Weeks After Giving Birth

So looking at my physique this week, I’m actually feeling quite muscular, I like the tone of my arms but my moody bumcheeks could do with a perk so I may consider doing a few squats this week if my knees don’t protest. I can poke a finger into my stomach and feel a bit of muscle building and although I don’t yet have a six-pack I reckon I’ve got a well established one-pack now so let’s take the softly-softly approach here.

My Gym Routine 12 Weeks After Starting

As you can see from my gym routine I missed quite a lot of cardio out this week, as I’ve been so ill. I’ve had a horrible cold, my bleeding from having the contraceptive coil fitted has now turned into my period, I’ve got a mouth ulcer the size of a small hamsters face on my gum and I’m up all hours with two poorly children one of whom is a teething barbarian. But on the days that I did manage to drag my snotty-self down to the gym I punished myself into raising my cardio resistance level from ten to eleven to raise the bar and try that little bit harder.

They’re holding a challenge at the gym for the members to burn off 6,000 calories before Christmas to make way for Christmas day dinner and when I think just one indulgent meal can take so much work to burn off I wonder how I’m not the size of a transit van with the amount I eat on a daily basis as I’m sure most days my intake of food could rival that of a Christmas dinner alone! But first day into the challenge and I’ve got 500 calories in the bank so far so onwards and upwards and cups filled with custard! Yum!

Baby Gabriele’s Nighttime Routine 29 Weeks After Birth

And as you can see from Gabriele’s night time routine, his teething is taking hold and I’ve got more dots on my chart than a Gala Bingo hall on a bank holiday. Poor Gabriele is struggling at nighttime; he rolls onto his tummy with his bum in the air and pushes his face across his blanket. He’s a right shuffler and tosses and turns and whines and whinges and seconds after settling and falling silent he’s jumping up and shouting again. I wish I could take away his pain and suffering and I rock him in my arms for as long as possible whilst he slaps my face, pinches my arms and pulls my hair screaming into my ear; he’s so much like his father!

Let’s hope our colds will pass and Gabriele will have a shining set of Mutley the dog style teeth for Christmas this year. I’m already on the lookout for a shooting star! x

How are you Mummy’s coping with teething?

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Tracy Kiss

Social influencer, Bodybuilder, Mother, Vegan
London, UK

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