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Posts
Britain at its Best: Knaresborough
10 months ago
Thursday 21 January 2010
Monday 4 January 2010
Essex Mums January Newsletter
Happy New Year to all Essex Mums (and Dads... and Grandparents...!)
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are currently enjoying your first of many enjoyable and restful days in 2010. Things here at Essex Mums have been hectic over the last few weeks but I hope you'll be able to see the results of my labours in the form of two new exciting areas of the website.
Health & Fitness Special
We all tend to overdo it at Christmas, and then make resolutions to get fitter and healthier on January 1st Well, this year Essex Mums is here to help you make that happen! On the homepage you will see January's special feature on Health and Fitness, with links to lots of great ideas for getting fit, eating well and getting your kids active. As well as information from fantastic organisations such as MEND and Change4Life, schemes and classes from Hockley playcentre Monkey Bizzness and Basildon gym David Lloyd. we also have help and advice from our very own forum members, which is probably the best support you can get. Come and post in the dedicated Health & Fitness support thread if you need some advice or would just like to talk about your own health and fitness journey.
Alternative Shopping Guide
Following the success of the Alternative Christmas Gift Guide, Essex Mums now has it's own Alternative Shopping Guide, featuring lots of fantastic ideas for gifts, toys, clothes, house and home. It has everything from practical purchases for new parents to the most gorgeous handmade clothes you could wish to see. Come and take a look, and if you would like to be featured or have an idea for something that would fit in, let me know.
Events for January and February
I'm now compiling the events calendar for 2010 so if you have anything you would like to see added, please send it to events@essexmums.org. Likewise if the details of a class or group you run are not on the Classes and Groups page, please let me know. There is currently a lot of information on this calendar so in the new year it will be broken down into areas to make it easier - keep an eye out for that!
Specials this year
Over the next few months I'll be running special features on using cloth nappies, and on young parents. If you would like to get involved, please let me know.
Competitions and offers
I've had lots of people asking if they can run competitions on the site and offers for Essex Mums. I can hardly refuse now, can I?! In the next couple of months you'll see a new page for these, so if you have anything you'd like to be featured please get in touch!
Come and say hello!
If you haven't stopped by the forum in a while, make it your new year's resolution to come and say hello! You'll be guaranteed a warm welcome in the introductions section, can just dive right in to one of our friendly daily chats, or see if anyone in your area wants to meet up. I can say with some certainty you're unlikely to find a friendlier group of Mums this side of the internet!
Everything else
As always there is lots to work on, and I'll be adding more to the Map and the Useful Website page. The forum continues to tick along nicely with everything from daily chatter to storming debates happening every day. On top of that we have the much-anticipated results of the Essex Mums Awards 2009 so keep an eye out for that! Once again I'd like to say that if there's anything you'd like to see on the site, please do let me know!
Thanks for all your support and hope you have a lovely 2010!
Louise
www.essexmums.org
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are currently enjoying your first of many enjoyable and restful days in 2010. Things here at Essex Mums have been hectic over the last few weeks but I hope you'll be able to see the results of my labours in the form of two new exciting areas of the website.
Health & Fitness Special
We all tend to overdo it at Christmas, and then make resolutions to get fitter and healthier on January 1st Well, this year Essex Mums is here to help you make that happen! On the homepage you will see January's special feature on Health and Fitness, with links to lots of great ideas for getting fit, eating well and getting your kids active. As well as information from fantastic organisations such as MEND and Change4Life, schemes and classes from Hockley playcentre Monkey Bizzness and Basildon gym David Lloyd. we also have help and advice from our very own forum members, which is probably the best support you can get. Come and post in the dedicated Health & Fitness support thread if you need some advice or would just like to talk about your own health and fitness journey.
Alternative Shopping Guide
Following the success of the Alternative Christmas Gift Guide, Essex Mums now has it's own Alternative Shopping Guide, featuring lots of fantastic ideas for gifts, toys, clothes, house and home. It has everything from practical purchases for new parents to the most gorgeous handmade clothes you could wish to see. Come and take a look, and if you would like to be featured or have an idea for something that would fit in, let me know.
Events for January and February
I'm now compiling the events calendar for 2010 so if you have anything you would like to see added, please send it to events@essexmums.org. Likewise if the details of a class or group you run are not on the Classes and Groups page, please let me know. There is currently a lot of information on this calendar so in the new year it will be broken down into areas to make it easier - keep an eye out for that!
Specials this year
Over the next few months I'll be running special features on using cloth nappies, and on young parents. If you would like to get involved, please let me know.
Competitions and offers
I've had lots of people asking if they can run competitions on the site and offers for Essex Mums. I can hardly refuse now, can I?! In the next couple of months you'll see a new page for these, so if you have anything you'd like to be featured please get in touch!
Come and say hello!
If you haven't stopped by the forum in a while, make it your new year's resolution to come and say hello! You'll be guaranteed a warm welcome in the introductions section, can just dive right in to one of our friendly daily chats, or see if anyone in your area wants to meet up. I can say with some certainty you're unlikely to find a friendlier group of Mums this side of the internet!
Everything else
As always there is lots to work on, and I'll be adding more to the Map and the Useful Website page. The forum continues to tick along nicely with everything from daily chatter to storming debates happening every day. On top of that we have the much-anticipated results of the Essex Mums Awards 2009 so keep an eye out for that! Once again I'd like to say that if there's anything you'd like to see on the site, please do let me know!
Thanks for all your support and hope you have a lovely 2010!
Louise
www.essexmums.org
Friday 11 December 2009
Are the big chain stores stealing Christmas from us Mums?
When I was a small child a mere 25 years ago, my Mum despaired at having to make me costumes for school plays and fancy dress. I was always dressed in black tights and a leotard with something attached! Stars for Christmas, a swimming cap and paper beak as a blackbird. Tin foil over said swimming cap to turn me into a soldier... you get the picture.
Had she been a Mum to a young child in today’s society she would no doubt have rejoiced at the array of nativity costumes available for under a tenner in the supermarkets. I’m sure there are plenty of busy mums and those who are useless at costume making that would join her in thanking the costume gods, but where does that leave those of us who ‘want’ to make their kids costumes?
I’ve always been crafty and for years have been looking forward to the day I could pop a tea-towel on my sons head and turn him into a shepherd, or stuff some brown tights to make a donkey tail and ears.
“Who’s stopping you”? you might ask, well the supermarkets are.
It all comes down to peer pressure. I can’t embarrass my poor son now. Imagine him, the only little mite in leggings and a leotard standing amongst a whole host of ornate shop bought costumes. He’d look totally out of place and Mummy would look like she didn’t earn enough money to pay for a costume.
So supermarket bosses, I appreciate you need to do what you can to make money, but please don’t cash in on those parents who are either too busy, cant be bothered or are not particularly crafty. You’re ruining an age old tradition and a dream that many of us have been looking forward to for years!
By Claire Mackaness (Sadly unable to create mummy)
Had she been a Mum to a young child in today’s society she would no doubt have rejoiced at the array of nativity costumes available for under a tenner in the supermarkets. I’m sure there are plenty of busy mums and those who are useless at costume making that would join her in thanking the costume gods, but where does that leave those of us who ‘want’ to make their kids costumes?
I’ve always been crafty and for years have been looking forward to the day I could pop a tea-towel on my sons head and turn him into a shepherd, or stuff some brown tights to make a donkey tail and ears.
“Who’s stopping you”? you might ask, well the supermarkets are.
It all comes down to peer pressure. I can’t embarrass my poor son now. Imagine him, the only little mite in leggings and a leotard standing amongst a whole host of ornate shop bought costumes. He’d look totally out of place and Mummy would look like she didn’t earn enough money to pay for a costume.
So supermarket bosses, I appreciate you need to do what you can to make money, but please don’t cash in on those parents who are either too busy, cant be bothered or are not particularly crafty. You’re ruining an age old tradition and a dream that many of us have been looking forward to for years!
By Claire Mackaness (Sadly unable to create mummy)
Sunday 6 December 2009
Essex Mums Updates
Good morning everyone,
I hope this glum sunday morning finds you all tucked up in bed or home in the warm! I just wanted to give you an update of a few things that have been happening on Essex Mums recently, as well as things to come.
Parents' Guide
I've been asked to write an Essex Mums column in the quarterly magazine Parents' Guide. The Parent's Guide is a free magazine, given out in schools, clinics etc. and covering topics that are of interest to parents in Essex, and offering unrivalled information, advice and articles of direct relevance to them and their families such as education, health and lifestyle.
It's an amazing opportunity for me to have to be involved with such a fantastic magazine and promote the site and I really hope I can do it justice. I plan to discuss things that have come up on here that I think will be of interest to other parents such as hot topics, things that have caught our attention etc. If any of you have something you'd like to say, let me know and I'll see if I can include it! It might be nice to have a little bit from other people too.
I also thought it would be great to include some of what's being posted on the blog, so get writing! I'm still offering a £20 voucher for the best blog post each month.
The Parents' Guide website is here: http://www.theparentsguideuk.com/index.html take a look.
The winter edition comes out on 14th December so keep an eye out for it and for me!
Alternative Christmas Gift Guide/Shopping Guide
The Alternative Christmas Gift Guide has been a great success, with over 60 great ideas for places to shop online, offering something a bit different and an opportunity to avoid the High Street this Christmas! Many are also offering discounts, so make sure you take a look: www.essexmums.org/christmas.html
I've decided to make the Shopping Guide a permanent feature following a few requests from users/advertisers, so keep an eye out for a new page in January! If you're interested in advertising your own product, please contact me for a great introductory rate!
Places to Go
I've recently started work on a detailed 'Places to Go' section: www.essexmums.org/places.html. This is big undertaking and a gradual process, but offers in-depth information about places to go in Essex, as well as the opportunity for you to leave comments on places you have been to. If you are the manager of an attraction and would like to be listed, please let me know.
Competitions/discounts
I've recently had a lot of companies asking me if they could feature competitions on the Essex Mums site and offering discounts to our members, so I've decided to create a dedicated page for this which will start in January, so watch out for it! If you have something you'd like to offer our Mums, get in touch!
Monthly features
Make sure you check in on the homepage www.essexmums.org for new features every month. As well as seasonal information about what's on, the new year will bring some interesting features, including a Health and Fitness special in January, a cloth nappy special and a young parents special. If you would like to get involved in any of these, I would love for you to be! Also, if you are have a product or services related to these categories, I would love you to advertise with the site during the feature and would happily offer a 10% discount on any ads you decide to get.
For you
Finally, please remember that the goal of Essex Mums is to make your life better, easier, happier and fuller. If there is a way in which you think the site can be improved, or something that would benefit you, no matter how big or small, please contact me and I'll see what I can do. I'm especially keen on getting the site more involved in community activities, charity campaigns etc. so get in touch if there is anything you think it can help with, whether it's promotion on the site or something more active.
Thanks for reading and a big thank you to you all for making the site such a success. We recently broke our page view record with over 65,000 page views, 8000 visits and more than 2000 unique visitors in November, and have stormed into the Alexa rankings as the (approximately) 20,000th most viewed site in the UK! For those of you who haven't posted in the forum recently please come and say hello. So many of us have become great friends, so I know sometimes it might seem intimidating for newcomers, but I can honestly say I have never met a more welcoming group of Mums as our very own Essex Mums. I'm genuinely proud to call them friends and hope you will become one too!
Kind regards
Louise
www.essexmums.org
PS. If you haven't already, please follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EssexMums and become a fan on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Essex-Mums/120425092939
I hope this glum sunday morning finds you all tucked up in bed or home in the warm! I just wanted to give you an update of a few things that have been happening on Essex Mums recently, as well as things to come.
Parents' Guide
I've been asked to write an Essex Mums column in the quarterly magazine Parents' Guide. The Parent's Guide is a free magazine, given out in schools, clinics etc. and covering topics that are of interest to parents in Essex, and offering unrivalled information, advice and articles of direct relevance to them and their families such as education, health and lifestyle.
It's an amazing opportunity for me to have to be involved with such a fantastic magazine and promote the site and I really hope I can do it justice. I plan to discuss things that have come up on here that I think will be of interest to other parents such as hot topics, things that have caught our attention etc. If any of you have something you'd like to say, let me know and I'll see if I can include it! It might be nice to have a little bit from other people too.
I also thought it would be great to include some of what's being posted on the blog, so get writing! I'm still offering a £20 voucher for the best blog post each month.
The Parents' Guide website is here: http://www.theparentsguideuk.com/index.html take a look.
The winter edition comes out on 14th December so keep an eye out for it and for me!
Alternative Christmas Gift Guide/Shopping Guide
The Alternative Christmas Gift Guide has been a great success, with over 60 great ideas for places to shop online, offering something a bit different and an opportunity to avoid the High Street this Christmas! Many are also offering discounts, so make sure you take a look: www.essexmums.org/christmas.html
I've decided to make the Shopping Guide a permanent feature following a few requests from users/advertisers, so keep an eye out for a new page in January! If you're interested in advertising your own product, please contact me for a great introductory rate!
Places to Go
I've recently started work on a detailed 'Places to Go' section: www.essexmums.org/places.html. This is big undertaking and a gradual process, but offers in-depth information about places to go in Essex, as well as the opportunity for you to leave comments on places you have been to. If you are the manager of an attraction and would like to be listed, please let me know.
Competitions/discounts
I've recently had a lot of companies asking me if they could feature competitions on the Essex Mums site and offering discounts to our members, so I've decided to create a dedicated page for this which will start in January, so watch out for it! If you have something you'd like to offer our Mums, get in touch!
Monthly features
Make sure you check in on the homepage www.essexmums.org for new features every month. As well as seasonal information about what's on, the new year will bring some interesting features, including a Health and Fitness special in January, a cloth nappy special and a young parents special. If you would like to get involved in any of these, I would love for you to be! Also, if you are have a product or services related to these categories, I would love you to advertise with the site during the feature and would happily offer a 10% discount on any ads you decide to get.
For you
Finally, please remember that the goal of Essex Mums is to make your life better, easier, happier and fuller. If there is a way in which you think the site can be improved, or something that would benefit you, no matter how big or small, please contact me and I'll see what I can do. I'm especially keen on getting the site more involved in community activities, charity campaigns etc. so get in touch if there is anything you think it can help with, whether it's promotion on the site or something more active.
Thanks for reading and a big thank you to you all for making the site such a success. We recently broke our page view record with over 65,000 page views, 8000 visits and more than 2000 unique visitors in November, and have stormed into the Alexa rankings as the (approximately) 20,000th most viewed site in the UK! For those of you who haven't posted in the forum recently please come and say hello. So many of us have become great friends, so I know sometimes it might seem intimidating for newcomers, but I can honestly say I have never met a more welcoming group of Mums as our very own Essex Mums. I'm genuinely proud to call them friends and hope you will become one too!
Kind regards
Louise
www.essexmums.org
PS. If you haven't already, please follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EssexMums and become a fan on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Essex-Mums/120425092939
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Unique Ideas for Christmas on Essex Mums
Are you looking for something a bit different this Christmas? Kids have too many toys, looking for something handmade and ethical or just a bit unusual? Come and take a look at the Essex Mums Alternative Christmas Guide! It's full of ideas for unusual presents and has plenty of discounts just for users of Essex Mums! Keep checking back too as there will be more added over the next few days - you're sure to find something you like!
www.essexmums.org/christmas.html
If you have something you'd like to advertise yourself, please get in touch as there's still plenty of time.
Please let me know if you have any comments, and send this on to as many people as you can!
Thanks
Louise
www.essexmums.org/christmas.html
If you have something you'd like to advertise yourself, please get in touch as there's still plenty of time.
Please let me know if you have any comments, and send this on to as many people as you can!
Thanks
Louise
Saturday 14 November 2009
Official Prediction Of Christmas Best-Sellers
Each year the Toy Retailers Association releases it's prediction of what the 12 best selling toys will be at Christmas.
This year's list includes toys from Hasbro, LEGO, VTech and other popular brands, and to reflect the current financial climate the list only includes toys under £50.
Read about & compare prices for each of the top toys here >>
What do you think about the 12 toys chosen?
Are there any toys that you think should have been on the list, but aren't?
Are there any toys on the list that you don't think should be on the list?
Are any of these toys on your children's Christmas lists?
List compiled by Paul Dixon who runs the website Christmas Toy List which is full of toy ideas for Christmas 2009
This year's list includes toys from Hasbro, LEGO, VTech and other popular brands, and to reflect the current financial climate the list only includes toys under £50.
The 12 dream list toys 2009 in alphabetical order -
Bakugan Battle Pack Available From £15
Battle Strikers Available From £20
Ben 10 Alien Force Kevins DX Action Cruiser Available From £18.99
Bendaroos Mega Pack Available From £15.99
GO GO Pets Hamsters Available From £9.99
GX Racers Tightrope Terror Available From £14.99
Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera Available From £39.99
LEGO Games Minotaurus Available From £15
Monopoly City Available From £19.99
Princess Peppa’s Palace Available From £30
Sylvanian Families Caravan Available From £34.99
Transformers Movie 2 Voyagers Figures Available From £17.99
Read about & compare prices for each of the top toys here >>
What do you think about the 12 toys chosen?
Are there any toys that you think should have been on the list, but aren't?
Are there any toys on the list that you don't think should be on the list?
Are any of these toys on your children's Christmas lists?
List compiled by Paul Dixon who runs the website Christmas Toy List which is full of toy ideas for Christmas 2009
Thursday 29 October 2009
Coping with a child born wiith Bilateral Talipes
My partner and I found out our baby would have Bilateral Talipes at our 20 week scan, we were told this was a deformity and that we would need to attend King's College Hospital in London for further scans. When we had this news it felt like the end of the world, our gorgeous little baby was going to have something wrong with it, we were devastated. They also did checks to make sure he didn't have cleft lip or anything else, this was when we started to think ourselves lucky, at least it was just his feet that would need treatment, it could have been his heart, lungs or any other vital organ, I think that's how we accepted it.
We found out we were going to have a boy. We found that by knowing what sex our baby would be it would help us prepare ourselves, so the next day we went and bought lots of baby boys clothes with poppers under the legs, we had been told our baby would go into splints so we wanted to buy clothes that would fit over them. We had a scan at 28 weeks to just to make sure our baby was growing properly.
When I gave birth, naturally, after just a 5 hour 10 minute labour seeing our gorgeous baby boy was the best feeling ever, and to be honest I didn't even look at his feet for a couple of hours, not because I didn't want to, it just didn't seem important, he was here safe and sound and healthy and that was all that mattered. After 5 days my local hospital put his legs in splints, these went from the toe to just under the knee, these were changed weekeept telling the hospital this but they said not to worry just keep trying so I kept trying, this went on for 7 more months, taking Mitchell to 9 1/2 months old. By now he was walking, but he walked on the top of his feet not the sole, when we had our next appointment I told them about this and they said not to worry it will probably correct itself and to come back in 3 months.
I left feeling very confused as surely this couldn't be right, after a week of moaning to my partner about it we decided to find a hospital that did the Ponseti method as I'd been on a club foot forum and lots of members had said how wonderful and successful this treatment was. I went to my local GP and explained the situation, she was very understanding and ended up writing 3-4 referral letters for me to a list of London hospital that practice this method. We ended up going to The Royal London in Whitechapel in London just days before Mitchell's first birthday.
As soon as they saw him they asked why we hadn't had treatment sooner so I had to explain we had, I felt terrible for not getting something done sooner. I should have trusted my instincts not my local hospital who only use a basic treatment method. The consultant, Miss Malaga Shaw and physio, Di Coggings and all the staff at the Brian Roper Unit were wonderful. I'm so grateful to them. They checked Mitchell's feet for severity. They grade each foot out of 6, 6 being the worst, Mitchell's right foot was 4 out of 6 and his left foot was 5.5 out of 6. I don't know how my local hospital could say they were fine.
Mitchell went in to plaster casts straight away, they positioned his feet in a way that would help them correct themselves, they said it may take longer to repair because of his age and size but he shocked us all, and after just 1 week the severity had gone down to 2 out of 6 and 3.5 out of 6, these casts got changed every week so they could re position the feet. After 4 weeks they had to leave him cast free for 2 weeks as he had very severe sores caused by sweat and movement where he kept walking, walking and climbing in the casts. On the 28th December he had a Tenotomy operation on his left foot, he was then put in casts for 4 solid weeks. Leaving him in theatre to have the operation was heartbreaking but it was so worth it. He came out of his casts on the 24th January 2007 and his feet looked great, a little sore but in great shape, they seemed so long instead of cute and dinky but they looked normal. He could walk and climb and pounce and everything in the casts, I'd imagined him not being able to do anything in them but he proved me wrong, he virtually ran with his push along walker. I'm so proud of him and so very grateful to the Royal London for all their support and treatment. I know I left it late to get the correct treatment but this just proves it can work on a toddler and it shows how well they adapt.
We then started our journey with his boots and bar, this was very hard at first but yet again Mitchell adapted really well and learnt to crawl in then and then jump and walk in them. He still has to wear them now, every night. We let him have Saturdays nights off as he is getting close to the end of his treatment. There hoping he can come out of then in February when we have our next appointment. I love Saturday evening when he is boot and bar free, I go in to his room and lift the covers just to see his little legs curled up like 'normal' children instead of his legs being shoulder width apart all the time.
I'm hoping this will give new parents with a talipes baby the hope that we had, although we didn't really get that hope until Mitchell was 1, but every time I see him running around I'm so happy as I thought he would never be able to run like he does. Those of you that have met Mitchell would probably never guess his been through so much to look at him. He is a very brave little boy who has dealt brilliantly with all his treatment.
By Nicky Dawson, Mum to Mitchell and Jamie
We found out we were going to have a boy. We found that by knowing what sex our baby would be it would help us prepare ourselves, so the next day we went and bought lots of baby boys clothes with poppers under the legs, we had been told our baby would go into splints so we wanted to buy clothes that would fit over them. We had a scan at 28 weeks to just to make sure our baby was growing properly.
When I gave birth, naturally, after just a 5 hour 10 minute labour seeing our gorgeous baby boy was the best feeling ever, and to be honest I didn't even look at his feet for a couple of hours, not because I didn't want to, it just didn't seem important, he was here safe and sound and healthy and that was all that mattered. After 5 days my local hospital put his legs in splints, these went from the toe to just under the knee, these were changed weekeept telling the hospital this but they said not to worry just keep trying so I kept trying, this went on for 7 more months, taking Mitchell to 9 1/2 months old. By now he was walking, but he walked on the top of his feet not the sole, when we had our next appointment I told them about this and they said not to worry it will probably correct itself and to come back in 3 months.
I left feeling very confused as surely this couldn't be right, after a week of moaning to my partner about it we decided to find a hospital that did the Ponseti method as I'd been on a club foot forum and lots of members had said how wonderful and successful this treatment was. I went to my local GP and explained the situation, she was very understanding and ended up writing 3-4 referral letters for me to a list of London hospital that practice this method. We ended up going to The Royal London in Whitechapel in London just days before Mitchell's first birthday.
As soon as they saw him they asked why we hadn't had treatment sooner so I had to explain we had, I felt terrible for not getting something done sooner. I should have trusted my instincts not my local hospital who only use a basic treatment method. The consultant, Miss Malaga Shaw and physio, Di Coggings and all the staff at the Brian Roper Unit were wonderful. I'm so grateful to them. They checked Mitchell's feet for severity. They grade each foot out of 6, 6 being the worst, Mitchell's right foot was 4 out of 6 and his left foot was 5.5 out of 6. I don't know how my local hospital could say they were fine.
Mitchell went in to plaster casts straight away, they positioned his feet in a way that would help them correct themselves, they said it may take longer to repair because of his age and size but he shocked us all, and after just 1 week the severity had gone down to 2 out of 6 and 3.5 out of 6, these casts got changed every week so they could re position the feet. After 4 weeks they had to leave him cast free for 2 weeks as he had very severe sores caused by sweat and movement where he kept walking, walking and climbing in the casts. On the 28th December he had a Tenotomy operation on his left foot, he was then put in casts for 4 solid weeks. Leaving him in theatre to have the operation was heartbreaking but it was so worth it. He came out of his casts on the 24th January 2007 and his feet looked great, a little sore but in great shape, they seemed so long instead of cute and dinky but they looked normal. He could walk and climb and pounce and everything in the casts, I'd imagined him not being able to do anything in them but he proved me wrong, he virtually ran with his push along walker. I'm so proud of him and so very grateful to the Royal London for all their support and treatment. I know I left it late to get the correct treatment but this just proves it can work on a toddler and it shows how well they adapt.
We then started our journey with his boots and bar, this was very hard at first but yet again Mitchell adapted really well and learnt to crawl in then and then jump and walk in them. He still has to wear them now, every night. We let him have Saturdays nights off as he is getting close to the end of his treatment. There hoping he can come out of then in February when we have our next appointment. I love Saturday evening when he is boot and bar free, I go in to his room and lift the covers just to see his little legs curled up like 'normal' children instead of his legs being shoulder width apart all the time.
I'm hoping this will give new parents with a talipes baby the hope that we had, although we didn't really get that hope until Mitchell was 1, but every time I see him running around I'm so happy as I thought he would never be able to run like he does. Those of you that have met Mitchell would probably never guess his been through so much to look at him. He is a very brave little boy who has dealt brilliantly with all his treatment.
By Nicky Dawson, Mum to Mitchell and Jamie
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