How To Give Medicine To A Rabbit | Weekly Vlog

New Weekly Vlog 

This week we have been on Easter Holidays. I had to work for two days but I was lucky enough to have the rest of the week off. We have enjoyed doing some Easter crafts, had a trip to Soft Play and to the Cinema as well as some quality time together at home!


Last week our two male rabbits went to the Vet to be castrated and we have had to keep a close eye on their recovery. This week we took them back for a check up and Fluffy wasn't doing so well. The vet thinks he might have been nibbling at the wounds or that his hutch is too big and he was able to run around too much so we had to make a temporary barrier in the hutch to minimise the space each rabbit had. The vet also put him in a little onesie which I thought made him look like a character from a Beatrix Potter book! He was also prescribed some medicine which had to be fed on a syringe twice a day which was a bit of a challenge to start with.

A Rabbit in a Onesie!

Of the two rabbits, Fluffy was the more timid. He would run away whenever we came near and even trying to catch him in his hutch had always been a challenge! However as he had limited space now and was initially still a bit sedated, it was a bit easier to catch him. The vetenary nurse had shown me the best way to hold him to help keep him still and how to lift his top jaw to get the syringe into the side of his mouth in the gap behind his front teeth. At fist I struggled a bit to find his mouth as he is so fluffy (hence the name!) that it was hard to see where his top jaw ended and the bottom one began! Once I had managed to get the syringe in though, the rest was easy as he instinctively started to lap up the liquid.


I think that in a way, having to give him this extra support has helped to make him more tame as he is now getting used to being handled. The vet has now given him the all-clear and the onesie is off and the medicine is all finished so I really want to make sure that we are still trying to handle him daily so he doesn't go back to being timid with us!


Anyway, That's us for this week, I hope you enjoy the weekly vlog. Check our our new Beauty and the Beast rating in the Vlog as that was what we went to see at the cinema! We will be back with another one next week which will be more Easter Holiday Adventures!


Hope you are all having a lovely time over the holidays


Elizabeth  x

Simple Easter Card Idea for Kids

Today we needed to make our Easter cards for the parents as it's the children's last day with me before the Easter Weekend. I look after two children who are only two years old and as we were a bit pushed for time I decided that all the children could make the same style card rather than organising something more challenging for the older ones. I decided to go with Potato printing as it's simple enough for the little ones but it's also something that the older ones still enjoy. It was so simple but effective.

Here's what you will need:

2 Large potatoes

poster paints in Spring colours

Card (we used A3 to fit more prints on)

I just sliced the potatoes lengthways and then carved designs onto the cut side.

I cut two wedges out of the back of the potatoes.  This just helps to give the children a bit of a grip on the potatoes as they can be a bit hard to pick up otherwise.

Then I let the children get to work stamping. They all really enjoyed choosing colours to use and working out where to place them. We got a good chance to talk about the special people in our lives too as the children decided who they were going to give their cards to. Everybody wanted to make more than one! It was a good opportunity for learning colour names too as well as a chance to talk about Easter traditions so it fit into many areas of the EYFS!

Once Olivia had finished her prints she decided to dip her fingers into the paint to add decorations to her eggs. It's amazing how children think up these lovely ideas. That wasn't something I had planned on doing but it just came organically to her! Once she had decorated all her eggs she then used the different colours to add polka dots all around the spaces on her card!

We have left them to dry in the sun for now but before dinner we will be writing in them, giving us a chance to explore mark-making with the little ones and practise name writing with the pre-schooler. My two older ones can write now but it's a good chance to go over the way we lay out the writing in cards and letters. 

Happy Easter Everyone! 

Elizabeth

Making Playdough

                        We made purple sparkly playdough!                                                              

This weekend Olivia got out our box of playdough tools to play with then realised that we had no playdough! She asked me if we could make some and I suggested that as we made it, she could film herself showing how to make it. She has been a bit shy about being on the camera until now and has sometimes asked not to be filmed but on this occasion she jumped at the chance. She did a really good job of 'presenting' too and enjoyed telling everybody what they needed to do to make the playdough! 

We used our go-to playdough recipe which does involve cooking but it really isn't a hassle or complicated or anything. We LOVE this recipe as the playdough comes out really soft and squishy and lasts for ages!

Here's what you will need:

2 cups of plain flour

2 cups of water

1 cup of flour

2 tablespoons of oil

2 heaped teaspoons of cream of tartar

Food colouring (I usually buy this on eBay)

Optional: You can also add different flavourings to give a nice scent. On the right of the picture above you can see the little bottles I used (the two in the picture are bubblegum and strawberry and they smell AMAZING!! These are also from eBay) Sometimes we have even used things we find in the garden like rosemary, lavender or mint. 

This photo is from about a year ago but it shows the children adding some rosemary to the dough.

We also added in some purple glitter to our dough. My children are both old enough not to be putting playdough in their mouths anymore but if you have children who are still doing this then you can buy edible glitter so that you know it is safe!

Method:

All you do is tip everything into a saucepan and stir together until there are no lumps. This part is so much fun for little ones to join in with as they love to fill the cup up with the ingredients and tip them in and stirring is always a hit! 

The next part is definitely a job for an adult, put the pan over a medium to high heat and keep stirring! The mixture does stick easily so don't get distracted! It will get to a point where it gets really hard to stir as it all clumps together but keep at it as it won't be cooked through yet. Keep scooping it and turning it then kind of squashing it down to spread it across the base of the pan to cook. 

You will know when it is ready as you will notice the colour starting to darken and it will have formed a ball as you stir. Just tip it out onto a board and after letting it cool for a few minutes, knead it well. Then let the fun begin! 

I hope you enjoyed this blog, if you would like to watch how we made it (presented by the super-cute Olivia!) then please check out our Youtube channel 'House of Sparkle' or the link to the actual video is here: https://youtu.be/bNB0V1utZig Please give it a thumbs up and Subscribe to our channel to keep up with everything that we are getting up to!

Thanks and see you soon!

Elizabeth x

New Video up!

Hi Guys!



I have made my first video tutorial! We have recently started making Youtube videos but so far we have done Family Vlogs so this is the first time I have tried a Tutorial and been in front of the camera like this. Because we are new to Youtube I had to use one of their generated thumbnails so it's not the greatest but I have since spent some time sorting that out and the next Vlog will have a customised one. However, I am still getting to grips with THAT technology too so bear with me!



I really hope you all enjoy the video, if you do please hit the like button. Also, if you would like to see more please subscribe to keep up with all the goings on at the House of Sparkle!



Elizabeth x

Diet Fail!

Our next Vlog is up! Joshua wanted to Vlog a school day which is tricky as I usually have childminded children who I obviously can't film etc so we had to work around that a bit! Olivia was really tired after school and did not want to go to rainbows. I let her stay home and she did get a high temperature in the night but she was ok in the morning and really wanted to go to school  for Golden Time. However, by 11 am I got a call from the school as her temperature had spiked and she felt really sick. I took a urine sample to the GP and she had an infection! She got a course of antibiotics and was feeling better by the next day.



See you again soon



Elizabeth

Our First Family Vlog - The Millet Family

We made a Youtube Video!!

For a while now Joshua, my 8 year old, has been getting into watching vloggers on Youtube (with supervision of course). He especially enjoys watching family vloggers The Sacco-Jolys and how they record their daily lives and the whole family gets involved. Lately I have noticed him using my old iphone to film himself just chatting away about his life!

Then, the other day, he told me he wanted to become a Youtuber for his job! He was asking me if children could be Youtubers and how old you had to be to have a Youtube channel. I told him that, although he was too young to have his own Youtube account, if he really wanted to make videos I could help him and upload them for him. After a lot of chat about it he decided it should be a family vlog that we could all be part of. I must also add that I have been thinking about making videos for some time as it's such an amazing way of documenting all the special moments in our lives that we can look back on and also, as parenting is such a minefield I thought it may help people to hear tips and tricks we have picked up along the way. I am by no means saying that I know it all but as I have worked with children all my life I've dealt with many things!

He really had fun making the clips but I have to say I found I was a bit self-conscious in front of the camera! At the end of the day I had the task of trying to put all our clips into a video. Now, I am really not technical at all. I have a website for my childminding service as well as this Blog but both are really quite simple to use. They have a standard template and it's easy to figure out what to do but I can't make them fancy or add anything extra. As we had recorded clips on two different iphones I figured it would be easiest to transfer both sets of clips to my HP laptop. On it I have Windows Movie Maker and it was fairly straightforward to put the clips onto it and with a little trial and error I figured out how to roughly edit it and add a little text. Although it was fairly easy it took AGES!!

Once it was done I was really in two minds as to whether to upload it to Youtube. It felt like a huge responsibility putting my children and our lives out there for the world to see! There are a lot of lovely people and communities on Youtube but there are also a lot of trolls and I wasn't sure I would be able to handle that. However, Joshua was so determined to have his video on Youtube that I decided to go ahead and hit that Upload button! Who knew that a 7 minute clip would take 3 hours to upload?!?!? Maybe it's time to upgrade to Super-fast Fibre-Optic Broadband!

We really hope you enjoy our first ever Vlog. Please excuse the poor quality - we are learning! There may or may not be more depending on how it is received and how much time we have.

Elizabeth x 

We've had the Chicken Pox!

It finally happened! I don't know how my children managed to avoid it for so long(they are 6 and 8) but at long last they caught Chicken Pox! Research says that 90% of children will have contracted chickenpox by the age of 4 and as a childminder I was sure my two would be in that 90%. We have always been around lots of other children at playgroups and then when they started school they both had cases of it in their classes each year but somehow they avoided it! However, when my eldest niece came down with it I figured our chances of contracting it were really high as they had spent so much time in close-proximity to her when she was at her most contagious and, low an behold, they got it!

So I thought I would just do a little blog post with some tips to help children (and their parents!) through this itchy time!

Recognising the symptoms

At first this can be a little tricky as it can start with just one or two red spots that look like any other spots but after a while you will notice more and more pop up and they will start to look like fluid-filled blisters. With Joshua he just had one for a day and we really weren't sure if it was going to become chicken pox but the next day he had about 8 and over the next few days literally hundreds popped up! Olivia's started in much the same way but she didn't get as many spots, probably about 80.

The incubation period for chicken pox (which is the time between catching the virus from somebody to the symptoms appearing) is around 10-20 days. People often mistake the incubation period for the contagious period but Chicken Pox is actually only infectious for around 2 days before the the first spots appear up until the last spot has formed a crust.

When to get help

As a general rule you don't need to take your child to the GP when they get chicken pox unless you are unsure whether it actually is chicken pox and want a diagnosis. The only other times you should see the GP with chicken pox are if a very young baby contracts Chicken Pox (under about 4 weeks old), if an adult contracts Chicken Pox or if the infected person develops complications (I will talk a bit more about this later) or has an illness which weakens their immune system.

People with Chicken pox need to be quarantined as, although it is usually a fairly straightforward illness, it can be dangerous to certain groups of people such as those with weak immune systems (eg people with HIV or those on chemotharapy) and pregnant mums who are not immune. There are a couple of pregnant mummies here (NOT me!) that I childmind for so I made sure I told them as soon as I knew that my children were infected and they were able to contact their GPs straight away and get their blood tested for immunity. Fortunately they were both immune...Phew!

Generally children recover well and there are no complications but, as with many simple illnesses, there  can be exceptions to this. Some of the rare complications include infections, Sepsis, and Pneumonia. If you notice any of the following you should seek medical attention: 

• any difficulty breathing
• very high fever (it's not uncommon for it to go to around 38.4 but if it goes into the high 38s I'd start to be concerned)
• nausea and vomiting
• sensitivity to light
• stiff neck
• confusion
• severe headache
• drowsy and hard to wake
• has fits (seizures)
• Dehydration from not being able to drink either due to blisters or lethargy
• blisters which look very inflamed and infected
• If the symptoms have not improved after 6 days

A spotty Olivia snuggled on the sofa

Treatment

When I was little, calamine lotion was always the parents' go-to product to help relieve the itching. These days it is not recommended because it is very drying which can lead to more itching and more chance of scarring and infection. Keeping nails short can help to prevent doing any damage if you are having trouble stopping little ones from scratching.

I found that just using Piriton antihistamine seemed to stop my children from feeling itchy at all. In the first few days I also used a product called Poxclin which comes in a bottle with a pump and comes out foamy. You spread it over the skin as often as needed. My children said it feels cool and a bit like sun-tan lotion. There are also other types of lotion available such as Virasoothe, E45 Itch relief cream and Eurax. Also, try to keep the body cool as being warm and clammy is said to worsen the itching.

Unfortunately, both my children were fairly unwell with it. They both had fevers and were quite lethargic for a couple of days. I treated the fever with Calpol (you can use any paracetamol that is suitable for children) DO NOT give Ibuprofen for the fever with chicken pox. The NHS website recommends not to use it "This is due to a very small risk of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, causing adverse skin reactions during chickenpox." this can lead to blisters forming deeper in the skin and possibly becoming infected.

Don't forget the healing power of cuddles too!

Sadly Olivia had lots of spots on her bottom and when she did a wee it would really sting! To help with this I would pour warm water over the area as she did her wee. Afterwards we would gently clean her with warm water, pat it dry, then apply Sudocream as a barrier to help protect the spots from the urine the next time she went.

The other thing to be careful about is keeping hydrated. This was tricky with my two as they both had blisters in their mouths and throats so they didn't want to eat or drink much as it hurt. I tried to entice them with drinks I knew they liked such as squash and milkshakes and they both would drink water if it was ' ice-cold'! In terms of eating I was really relaxed and just let them have whatever they fancied whenever they wanted as I felt it was more important that they got something in them rather than worrying about if they were eating healthily. A good tip is to get some ice pops (or make some from fruit juice/squash if you're house-bound) as they will numb the sore throats and hydrate at the same time. Also try offering soft foods such as soups as these are less likely to hurt any spots in the mouth.

Another thing people swear by is Oat baths. You just cut the foot out of a pair of tights and fill it with oats then hold it under the tap as you run the bath. The oaty water is supposed to be soothing. We have Aveeno for Olivia's dry skin anyway and this contains Oatmeal so it seemed to work in much the same way.

Once the fever had past they were bouncing around

 with as much energy as ever - just spottier!

I hope this was helpful to you guys and that if you or your child get chicken pox there is something here that will make things easier for you!

Elizabeth x