Light at the end of the tunnel.

The last few weeks have been both difficult and rewarding in the bohemian household. My baby girl has had colic. For any parent who's child has suffered with colic, i know that just reading that word will put dread into their hearts. It's something my first daughter thankfully never suffered with, and something i had never witnessed before.

The colic starts to rear it's ugly head around about six in the evening and reaches full force by ten. It starts off with my baby girl just being a bit fidgety and not really wanting to go to sleep. By ten she is practically purple in the face, screaming the place down. When she is having a seriously bad night like this, there seems to be nothing in the world i can do to make it better. If i try to sit her on my knee to wind her she gets worse, if i hold her close and rub her back to try to get the wind up she fights me, grabbing and thrashing about as if she's angry that i'm trying to help her, if i put her down again she gets really upset because i'm not cuddling her. The only thing i found that calmed her slightly, albeit for about half an hour at a time was to just sit up in bed or on a chair and just hold her to my chest, without trying to wind her.

I've changed her bottles for some seriously high tech looking anti-colic bottles, (i should never have given up breastfeeding, but that's another story). I have also changed her formula milk to soya formula and have been giving her week fennel tea. Things seem to have improved considerably. She doesn't have so many bad nights now and when she does have a bad night it doesn't last for so long. She has also stopped being so sick and seems to be a much happier baby.
I'm so glad we seem to be coming to the end of the colic phase. During the particularly painful spells of colic, my little girl was regularly still screaming at four in the morning. One night she was screaming and unsettled until seven the next morning, poor little thing. None of us got much sleep that night!

On the up side my two year old's potty training is going very well. Thank you everyone for your tips and support on this subject. She is now in 'big girl' knickers and regularly takes herself to the potty, which means i don't have to keep asking her quite so much.
The only trouble is, after less than a week of potty training, she announced to me that she didn't want to wear a nappy a night and point blank refused to wear one! This means that i 'lift' her once before i go to bed and then again when my husband gets up to go to work at 3.30am, (no i still haven't had a key cut).
So far there have only been two accidents when she hasn't quite made it through to 3.30am but generally she's doing amazingly. I didn't for one minute think that she wouldn't want to wear a nappy at night, but then i suppose if she's being a 'big girl' during the day, then she'd want to be a 'big girl' at night. Thankfully i've got a mattress protector that i've put over her mattress, so if she does wet the bed then it doesn't go through to the mattress but i do get an extra companion in bed hogging my pillows and covers!

So there we have it, things are definitely on the up! Next stop mashed up baby food and the arrival of my two year old's 'big bed'!

Changing faces!

My baby girl, whilst sitting in her little chair, was blowing bubbles and gurgling to anyone who cared to listen. I was hovering around our bedroom and my two year old was following Mummy around the bedroom like a mini me, with her own toddler size hoover.
I looked over to my baby girl and smiled at my rosy cheeked wonder, how happy she looked rewarding me with a gummy grin. I then turned round to check on my other little lady to find her muttering to herself, making sure Mummy didn't miss any dust!
I carried on with the task in hand, but after a few moments i had the urge to look at my two year old again, only to find that my gaze wasn't returned by my little helper but with a sunshine smile from a little Maori girl. Her dark eyes danced with joy at my acknowledgment, her hair held back with a coloured head band that went across her forehead and her little button nose slightly broader than that of my daughter. I returned her smile and stood looking in awe as her aura just seemed to shine.
It was only a few moments, maybe not even a minute, but right there and then, time just seemed to stand still. Before i knew it she went as quickly as she had arrived.

Some people see spirit just like you would see any other person if you were walking down the street, some see them in their minds eye, but some, like me, see them in the faces of others.
The first time i ever saw spirit in another person's face, i was having my first meal out with my husband, when we first started dating. We were chatting quite happily, getting to know a little more about one another when after glancing down for a few seconds i looked up again only to be greeted by a young oriental gentleman smiling back at me. I was slightly stunned but managed to be polite enough to return the young gentleman's smile. Needless to say i didn't tell my husband until a few months later, thankfully he didn't think me strange and instead found it all rather interesting.

I have to say that i have never been frightened by the experience of seeing faces change. That's not to say that if a spirit was to walk in here right now i wouldn't feel slightly uneasy. I'm quite happy to stick to the method of seeing spirit that i'm used to. Maybe one day i'll even feel happy enough to progress to sitting next to one and having a full conversation!

Music to compliment the rain!

Here in Norfolk it has been raining since last night. Not just a little bit of rain either but "big old fat rain" as Forest Gump would say. What better music to listen to whilst watching the heaven's opening outside, but J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. It always reminds me of a storm that's brewing. The piece begins with the small raindrops, then you feel the storm clouds building and threatening an almighty storm, but then all subsides with the Sun bursting through the clouds and bringing with it great warmth. A powerful piece of music which always makes the hairs on my neck stand up and giant goosebumps rise on my arms. It's a long piece of music, nearly ten minutes long, but stick with it. For me, it's one of the most powerful pieces of music ever written. I chose the Fantasia version as not only do you get the power, you also get a great visual display to go with it, particularly at the end when the beautiful bright light bursts through the darkness! Enjoy!

The morning after the night before!

What a night we had in cyberspace last night!

Willow hosted the most amazing cyber ball, with an incredible guest list and fantastic food. Willow herself wore the most beautiful gown and was the perfect hostess.

We all ate, drank and danced the night away with some fantastic dance partners, before watching lanterns being released into the night sky.

If you didn't attend the ball last night you should go over to Willow's blog to see how much fun we all had. Talk is, Willow will be hosting another ball again next year, i'm looking forward to it already!