Due May 2009 We're Nesting and Napping, Squeezing and Holding

[FiKelly]

here we go

pula I've been worrying about bed time and morning routines with 3 too. I keep going through the routines in my head, trying to figure out where I'll fit in the baby. The 1st 2-3 weeks dh will be at home, but after that I'll be on my own [slightly panicky emoticon]

the seraphine wedding dress is this one... www.seraphine.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=656&idcategory=36&SC1=28&SC2=36&title=Wedding+Dress %2C+Elegant+Maternity+Wear

It's a gorgeous dress

I too am wondering how i'll juggle just 2 dc's... luckily for me dh will be off for 6-8wks as he's been saving annual leave.. working up some flexi time and he gets his 2 wks paternity. Hoping this will be ample time for me to get to grips with feeding new little one and still doing ds's normal day?!

I hate being breathless - makes me feel like a wheezing old bat . I remember being breathless at work when pg with DD2 and some clients telling me to sit down and asking if I was alright! ( I hadn't even noticed as I was talking but I must have sounded awful). Turns out I was borderline for anaemia and did eventually get iron tabs but it was prob more to do with DD2 and her big (36ish wks size) bum squishing my lungs. And I had just been climbing about on a building site. Embarrassing though.

Re: morning / teatime routines pula and dandy - can't bear to think how we're going to accomplish this. Hard enough to get us plus the 2 DD's up, fed, dressed, tantrums dealt with and in the car by 8.10am never mind adding a newborn in the mix. I suspect my poor DC3 will spend most of his life in a sleepsuit in his carseat! Was half-thinking about an au-pair, (almost got one last yr) but the thought of having a potentially homesick, potentially stroppy teenager to contend with as well as my own kids put me off - prob very unfair to lots of wonderful au-pairs but I just wimped out of it. But now I don't know........anyone have any views/experience of it? Some of my inlaws have/had aupairs but they are SAHM's so it's sort of different for them I think (IYSWIM). I just mean the pressures are different if you work (or self-employed like DH and I) - harder to 'let things slide' or take time out I guess. Oh stop waffling frazzled.
I need a bath and some sleep. Night x

just waiting on a batch of ds's clothes i'm selling on ebay to end in the next 20mins then i'm off to bed. Hoping ds will be same tomorrow as he was today as i feel so much more with it

In fact belgian didn't you mention your aupair recently? How did you get on with her? Was it a good thing for your family and would you have another?
(sorry if I don't reply immediately, I am desperate to get in the bath!)
Sleep tight ladies x

I have to be honest I found it a massive difference going from one DC to two, but no hassle at all when #3 came along. I'm quietly confident that it'll be the same this time round which is probably massively naive!

I'm utterly shattered tonight. Tuesdays it's just my daughter and I around the house but she's been in a funny mood all day and wasn't for letting me out of her sight. DH came home a little early and let me rest up, then we started gutting the boys' bedroom. We've binned SEVEN binbags of crap (mostly stuffed toys) and I swear we've barely scratched the surface. I could cry, I really could. This is all because nobody listens to us when we ask them not to buy them big toys at birthdays/Christmas and because the grandparents all buy "little treats" when they come to visit. All four sets, and that's not including the great grandparents!

argh. Ignore me, I think I'm hormonal.

Scratch that. Hubby just handed me a cup of tea and I burst into tears. What. A. Fanny.

frazzled We've got an au pair, mainly because I work shifts and dh works away from home leaving no one to look after the dcs in the early morning, evening or nights, but also because my dcs are bilingual and I wanted a 2nd Dutch language influence. For us it's been mainly a positive experience. We've had ap's for 5 years now, so off course we've had a bad experience along the way, but to be honest it's been 99% good. We haven't had the stroppy teenager experience at all. The only teenagy thing most girls have been doing is being untidy and leaving their shoes etc. lying around. Most girls have been about 19 years old and have been very helpful. This last au pair hasn't been brilliant, the main problem with her really is that she doesn't seem to be able to see where help is needed and so she constantly needs promting. But overall she's been OK. We're looking forward to having some time without an ap, just to adjust to being a family of 5 and having some privacy during that time.

Blotted- thanks for making me feel better- I am hoping thats the case when i have 3! Although DS was soooo much easier than DD - I think we knew what we were doing more, were more relaxed, and also wanted to get a routine working which seemed to help. And a dummy is really key when you need to keep LO waiting a few minutes for a feed because you are in the middle of something with the older child! just hope this LO will take a dummy too.

blotted I know exactly where you're coming from. My mum things a good present is a big present I keep telling her that small presents are even better, but does she listen ... I always have a pre b'day and pre xmas clear out of toys, I dread that time of year (with us b'day and xmas are the same time of year)
I'm happy to hear that no3 wasn't that big an adjustment. I've heard that before from someone, so that gives me some hope!

I should probably mention here too that my #3 had serious health issues which meant regular hospitalisation from 3 months until she was just over a year and even with that it was no bother. My easiest baby was my first, my second was a grouchy little sh!te until he went onto solids and my third was very happy unless she was in pain!

Belgian OMG do we have the same Mum? I asked mine not to go over the score this year, so she "only" spent £200 on each of my kids. I nearly cried, they each had a massive giftbag which I could have BATHED in. The three bags wouldn't fit in my very large boot. Needless to say, that's those bags just been getting unpacked tonight and I'm seriously considering opening my own playgroup with them. It's horrific, lots of flashing shiny plastic crap

Blotted My mum doesn't really spend much money, she just buys BIG things. She bought my ds a crane as big as himself for his 2nd b'day, a big sit-on pedal tractor with trailer for his 3rd,... Thing is, she only sees my dcs 2-3 times a year and she buys things she thinks my dcs will like, but they don't. For some reason she thinks that whatever my brother's dcs like must be what mine like too, never mind that mine are older and live in another country. Every year she asks me what they want and she never gets them what I ask for, so I don't know why I even bother. So yes, we've also got lots of plastic rubbishy cr*p, that breaks in no time and even worse, has no on/off or volume button.

Oh and I also ask my mum not to bring too many sweets and biscuits. And so every time they visit she arrives with the message: I didn't bring many sweets, don't worry and out come 3 packs of chocolate figures (1 white, 1milk and 1 dark!), a couple of packs of biscuits (organic, so they don't count ), sweets,... We've always got enough for at least a month after they've left. I always wonder how many sweets my mum would bring if she DID bring a lot!

Anyway. Off to bed now. I'm going to practice my crutch walking up the stairs

OMG I keep trying to add a message and half a dozen more messages to read.

Dandy DD slept right through the homebirth I had for ds and didn't really change her routine. Now however I'm in the same camp as so many of you all, where she seems to be playing up at night. She knows.....

I'm off to bed. I'm so tired.

chocolate that dress is gorgeous.

Did you know that this thread is on the front page of mumsnet as being one of the most active of the day? I'm not surprised....

Morning ladies! How are we all?

morning good news.. the stair gate is working ds woke at 4.30am (heard through monitor) he stayed in bed chattered to his puppy and went back to sleep. he then woke at 6.20am, got up, opened his door, turned on his light and played with his toys.. and waited for me to appear.. great improvement!

Morning!

I feel a lot better today. DS slept right through until 6am, hurrah! DH is home so he got up with DS and I stayed in bed until 8am, what a treat!

I've just finished my Davina workout so I'm recovering having a quick sit down before starting on our muddy floor. DS had a marvellous time in the garden yesterday afternoon and boy is the evidence there!

I've got one more load of baby clothes to iron, but all of my 0-3 month clothes are ready, including some teeny tiny newborn stuff that DS hardly wore as he was 8 pounds 12 at birth.

chocbunnies, gorgeous dress!
Blotted, made me feel better about going from 2 to 3 DCs. hope it works the same for me.

MrsG, about NCT classes (i book people on these courses): they are actually 'antenatal' courses so focus mainly on pre-birth, ie pregnancy, labour, birth. Maybe 10-20% (depending upon the teacher) will be focused on baby care. ask your teacher, though: they will tailor your class on what participants want so if a lot of you want to focus on postbirth, maybe she'll alter the course focus. also, some NCT branches offer post-natal (Early Days) courses which I've heard are really good. hth.

DH returned from his US trip bearing gifts from my family who saw him. I've received a new maternity wardrobe from my sis who's just had a baby. a great pair of jeans so i can finally put the topshop ones in the laundry . my mom and other sis sent long, stretchy tops and yoga-type pants i can wear around the house. comfy. also, who's in the US again? someone mentioned, ahem, Tucks pads for piles. my mom sent a pack across with dh which was wrapped and marked 'very private' lol. bless my mom.

also, DH bought me an ipod so i can download the natal hypnotherapy stuff on it. so generous of him! he felt badly that he could see my family when i couldn't and thought this would cheer me up . lovely DH.

hope all are well today.

I just wrote a big speal and managed to wipe it all. So in brief...hospital marathon yesterday, all good, went and saw some friends work, used brain, enjoyed that, checked out Chockers's dress - absolutely lovely, well done you, Fi thats brilliant about the stairgate....oh and is a shorter labour not necessarily good then? i start antenatal on thursday, I'm really curious. Belgian be careful on the stairs! Hello everyone else!

Morning everyone. Nice to hear the bad sleepers are getting better!

Momino I bet it must have been sad that you couldn't go along with your dh to see your family. We normally go around easter and this year that visit is cancelled, so I've got a long time between visits to my parents too. Nice of your dh to buy you an iPod. I've had one on my request list for ages, but dh doesn't think I need one. I want one for the same reason as you: to put my natal hypnotherapy CD's on, nicely together.

Gosh, baby has tucked it's bum right underneath my ribs today. I can't but sit up straight or it hurts!

Nice to see I'm not the only one with a mum who thinks that bringing a little present equals to buying half a toy shop or sweet shop. My mum seems to be keeping a tally and comparing her gifts to my PIL's gifts. She seems to be utterly shocked that my PIL don't buy any gifts outside b'days and xmas and that the dcs still love them equally as much! On the other hand my mil always has a fun activity prepared for our visits. Goes to show you can't buy a child's live with presents, it's attention they want.

llare how's that Davina work out? Would you recommend it? Doesn't she have a postnatal one too?

Detsy I'd love to meet up sometime. Stafford doesn't sound too far, however with 2 dcs at school weekdays would be a bit tricky, so a school holiday or a weekend would be best.

I meant a child's love not live