Our situation is almost identical to you
sent off first child passport for our daughter, which is already back now
sent our son’s child renewal same time and it’s been stuck in processing for weeks
we’ve applied for upgrade last week, as flight is due on 23/06
received an acknowledgement email but no one has been in touch to take payment yet, which makes me super stressed!
we’re at least 2hrs away from the nearest office, which is Newport, but I can’t actually drive down and hang around all day coz we’ve got no one to watch the kids.