All those online for NZ timezone!

[buzzybee]

Hi all. Used to be a regular on MN when I lived in London but since moving back to NZ have found it harder to make the connections due to all the brits being asleep when us down under are online! So if anyone is keen to start a thread for those of us in this predicament please reply! My DD has just turned 5 and started school last week (scary). Have just found out I'm expecting number 2 - due roughly Xmas day...

Yes am lucky enough still be getting those "lie-ins" this week with Bea. Today up for feed 6am then back to sleep next to me on bed til 9am - luxury! Next week will have DD1 who normally emerges by 8am latest.

My grand plan to get Bea down by 7.30pm doesn't work too well when its warmer - she just dozes all afternoon and finally wakes up about 7pm! No matter what I do she doesn't want to be awake before then thru the heat of the day. Oh well, trying to get a 2 wk old into a routine was always going to be ambitious!!

at lie ins

DS has some sort of tummy thing and today we were up at 5.15. That's after a night feed at 1 or so as well. I can't belive he slept better as a newborn. Tooth no 8 has finally broken thrhough the gum though

Mmmm, I'm envious of lie-ins too. But dd2 has just started to sleep through at the grand old age of 18 months, so we're not too badly off at the moment.

Buzzy, I think we have 6 Morries iin total but most of those are parts cars. DH says you can never have too many.

Shells, that sounds like such hard work, how are you getting on today? Hope the osteopaths did their stuff for both of you.

Six! Wow! You obviously have far too much land down there to keep all those "spare parts".

Hope you managed to get some work done while you had childcare. Any closer to finding a permanent solution? I'm guessing a major issue is transport? I know of a "Gran"-nanny who lives in Wilton but doesn't drive so no help to you!

Just had a visit from a friend with 7mo baby who has 4 teeth and she was complaining - 8 teeth is pretty good going!! I thought DD1 might be an earlier teether as I was apparently (got my first adult tooth at age 3) but she wasn't - maybe DD2 will be, but fingers crossed not. Much easier to cope with when they're older I suspect.

Beatrix is asleep so completely missed visit from said friend as well as MW (who goes on hol tomorrow so won't see her for over 2 weeks). Have been using dummy to settle her to sleep and working quite well - especially when she's on the edge of sleep but fighting it. My mum will be horrified but as someone said to me - you can take away the dummy later on, but you can't take away a thumb (if they become a thumb-sucker).

Very sad to hear about Edmund Hillary this morning. He always struck me as a good Kiwi bloke.
Buzzy, I have a dummy for Joseph as well, I felt like I was buying him crack or malt liquor when I bought it for him, but it is a god-send when he on the verge of sleep but fighting it. He has been stuffing his hands into his mouth as much as he can recently, so I suspect he might discover his thumb at some point soon which will possibly negate the dummy. Not sure if this is a good thing or not.
Jospeh in fine form today, had a really good nights sleep last night but think that I might have a latent rocker on my hands. Was doing dodgy dancing to Joan Jett's 'I love rock'n'roll' to entertain him while I made my breakfast and he chuckled for the first time. Attempted the same dancing to The Kooks, but he wasn't having any of it. I will have to explain to him that he was born 30 years too late and that shingle haircuts are not acceptable.
Happy weekends everyone.

First "big" day out for Beatrix/me today. Drove 1.5 hours each way to my great-aunt's 80th birthday lunch in Masterton. Now feel absolutely knackered - not surprising I guess!! It was 30 degrees too which is exhausting in itself. Having said that she slept the entire way there and most of the afternoon on my mum's lap under the shade of a tree. Was really nice to see her outside getting some fresh air in a relaxed environment.

Couldn't express while I was there tho so my boobs felt ready to explode by the time we got home - but of course had to feed DD1 and get her into bed and settle DD2 as well before I could tend to them - that's the downside of expressing, finding the time and space to do it!!

I think I'm a dummy convert EmMcK

Funny you should say that about dummies Buzzy as I think I'm converting too, although it does feel horribly illicit. She struggles to keep it in, but I'm persevering as I desperately need to her to sleep better in the day. Has anyone struggled to get rid of them with bigger kids?

No I didn't use one with DD1. Can't remember if we even tried. But Bea seems to like sucking things more than DD1 ever did. I can see its a bit pernicious tho - have already started to use when putting her down to sleep in the day as well as night, even tho I initially swore it was for nighttime use only.

Nice to see you back online Shells!

Is it just too hot for us all to post?

Not that I'm complaining, it's fab. Amelia'a godfather-to-be arrived from UK on Sat (he's moving out here eventually) and dh's sister and bil have just arrived today, we have been down the beach as there is at least a breeze there!

Nohting much to report, A did sleep in till 8.30 am after a 5am feed, maybe the heat is making her sleepy!

Not hot here Anna! Although was over in Masterton on Saturday and just about fried. So if I need some heat I know where to go.

Feeling rather exhausted at the moment and will be heading to bed in a mo. DD1 is with my mum tonight so am going to try and get Bea to go back down the first time she wakes (usually just after midnight) without feeding as the last couple of nights she has gone back to sleep after drinking only a very little so I don't think she's really hungry.

She's completely gorgeous in every other way so I have to forgive her the small matter of broken sleep

Any luck, Buzzy?

Bea is soooo beautiful! (As I can now confirm, having seen her IRL!)

The only computer time I get is during work breaks really. If I try to use the computer on a non-work day the dds rampage around the house, turning on taps, feeding the dog their lunch then climbing onto the dryer to get the caster sugar off the pantry shelf, etc etc etc.

Most days I just have to be 2 steps behind them at all times or it's a disaster. [tired]

Wellie, sounds like my house. Everyone was terribly quiet this morning as I idly talked to friends on the phone. Went into kitchen to find biscuits all over the floor and DS2 under the bed with the peanut butter and a spoon. Grrrr.

Thanks Wellie! Your house is fantastic. Good luck with all the plans and grand schemes!

No, last night was a complete disaster. I should have known better!!! All I managed to do was to get her worked up into a right state so that it took over 2 hours to get her back down again rather than the normal 30-60mins So won't try that again in a hurry...

The only saving grace was that as DD1 was with my mum it didn't matter too much as we made up some of the sleep by continuing to doze most of the morning away - before suddenly realising that it was 11.30am and I was supposed to be meeting DD1 with my Mum at 12.30 so needed to get cracking.

Have enrolled DD1 at a daily school hol swimming programme the week after next 9.15-9.45am. Goodness knows how we'll get out of the house on time each day!

Buzzy, you're being very kind . We keep telling ourselves that one day, instead of a building site, we'll have a nice house and a garden..... sigh.

Sending sleep vibes to all the babies....

PS Shells, do you also get that sudden sinking feeling of "It's quiet here. Too quiet" when they're out of sight amusing themselves.

And I will def take you up on the offer of clean fill depository. Now that I have somewhere to take it will be motivated to actually get out there and start doing some digging!!

Had to give my cleaner notice today as the nanny will take over household duties soon. Felt bad but actually won't miss her as communications were always a bit strained.

Weighed Beatrix on my scales today (our combined weight less my weight) and she is 3.9kg approx which I'm quite happy about (400g up or about 1 lb in 2.5 weeks)

Totted up her feeds and today it was 6am, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 6.30pm and 8pm so it would be surprising if she wasn't gaining weight! Not to mention the 10pm and 2am feeds to come.

Hi all! Bit quiet on here!
We tried to go out for dinner last night. Just to my mums but was a bit of a disaster. Normally she's asleep by 7pm and I put her down for the night, but couldn't get her to settle there so by the time we got home at 9pm she was a screaming wreck. Not helped by the humid heat here ATM - 29 degrees yesterday and still 22 degrees at 9pm. Anyway finally put her down well fed with dummy in her mouth at 10pm and because she was still doing the arm-waving, grunting thing I decided to try sleeping in the spare room.

And the next thing I know I was woken by her at 5.30am!!!

So I think I will def start looking at moving her out of my room into her cot soon if we can get results like that! I don't expect she will do that every night but proves it is possible.

After feeding her then expressing I let her go back to sleep in my bed next to me and she is still aspleep now

We're still exclusively EBM-fed during the day with formula at 10pm and 3am to encourage longer night sleeping. When my milk supply starts to drop a little I make sure to express more regularly and it picks up again but it is hard sometimes to find the time and energy. Right now my boobs feel quite sore - don't think it is mastitis or thrush, just over-energetic use of the expressing machine!! Expressing is a bit like BF-latch, if you don't get it in the right position, ouch!

And she's defintely started "social" smiling now - so lovely

Hope you're all well - how's life in Auckland Anna?

It'a very very humid up here too - rained yesterday and today for first time in ages but still feels very sticky today. Bit of a breeze though which is helping.

The first time I put Amelia in room of her own (and in cot not bassinet) she slept right through! She had been waking 3 or 4 times a night but now only wakes once and sometimes goes right through. Her room is actually right off our bedroom so can still hear her, she just seems to sleep better in there.

She's been a bit grizzly last couple of days, possibly a bit of a cold - has been sneezing and coughing a bit. NOrmally likes being put down in chair/under baby gym etc but has wanted to be held a lot more the last 2 days.

I'm having some not-great days, I am feeling much worse about my mum than I was a month or two ago. I htink I was just in shock for a long itme, which is why I felt I was coping quite well. I just miss her so much and I feel quite alone. I keep thinking, if only she had been driving along five minutes earlier or later - pointless, as she wasn't.

Not much I can do about it, I suppose, will just take time.

Anna - poor you. I guess the hard thing too is that other people forget because its not so fresh, but its still so real for you. The heat intensifies everything doesn't it. I've been feeling very tearful and emotional about stuff. Someone said to me it felt like 'earthquake weather'. i hope not!

Hi Anna. Very hard for you. Of course you can't help having thoughts like that. Be kind to yourself. I still get thoughts like that 4 years on from my marriage break-up, little reminders can trigger sadness about "what could have been".

Have you thought any more about taking a trip back to the UK? Good news about Amelia sleeping through

My sole tomato plant bit the dust in the gales today

Felt a bit trapped here. Too windy to go out. Watched Sir Ed'd funeral and cried hopelessly (I always cry at funerals mind you). Strange coincidence that I was watching similar state funeral stuff when DD1 was a few days old - that time the Queen Mum when I was in London.

Hello all, wide awake this morning as for some ungodly reason I thought that I would introduce a dreamfeed for Joseph as he was sleeping from about 7.30pm until about 2.30 and I thought that if i could just slide that 5 hours along from about 11.00, that all would be well. Instead, he woke up every two hours all night. Very happily, very endearingly, but I might have to rethink this dreamfeed business.
We are making plans for return to NZ - I am very excited. A hot christmas with the family. We are thinking that we might do a road trip in the States on the way home as I have a sister in Boston and a brother in SF so we will go coast to coast. One last hurrah before the mortgage
Can I ask if any of you have a Koala or Possum Macpac baby carrier? Joseph is fast outgrowing his baby sling and I have heard good things about these but would love some personal views.
Anna, great news about Amelia sleeping through, but I am sorry about your mother. I sort of understand, I wish very much that my dad had been able to see Joseph, but sometimes I see dad in Joe - he certainly has his eyebrows and wee frown - and that makes me feel better somehow.
Take care all.

hello everybody
I have been a bit quiet - DS not sleeping, feeling really veyr knackered and fed up

Anna - I am so sorry about your mother. It must be so difficult being on the other side of the world, and also it was so bloody unfair the way she went. poor you, I guess it is a matter of time but that's not much use at the moment is it. look after yourself.

no idea on the baby carriers Em, sorry. when are you planning to be back in ChCh?

buzzy, my tomato plant is clinging on but I really do fear for it. the bloody weather has trashed my garden, rose petals everywhere...

and SHells, the weather has made me feel like that too -edgy and tearful

Interesting point about the weather, could be making me more edgy - tiring when it's this humid.

I keep trying to think of good stuff, some days are better than others. I have dh and we have a beautiful dd, that's a lot. I know my mum would hate me to be suffering and feeling bad - she was so happy I had become a mum myself.

EmMck, don't know about those carriers you mentioned. I have a Baby Bjorn which I've used now and again. So hot at the mo the baby just gets all sweaty in there. I also ahve a ring sling my friend bought me as she swears by them - i can't get the hang of it, desite trying lots of times - either feel like A is going to fall out of it or that it's so tight she's all squished up and can't breathe!

My tomato plants are doing OK, have tomatoes on but they;re not ripe yet.They are in a v sheltered spot so seem to do quite well.

Buzzy - we are still planning a trip back at some point. Tbh although it would be good I'm also a bit wary about it as I think it will be really upsetting seeing the house without my mum there. I finally got the DVD f the funeral (on New years eve, of all days) and it was really upsetting seeing the coffin on the screen.

Anyway, there's lots of good stuff in my life so I've got to just keep going. Dh's sister and BIL are visitng at mo, they're lovely and we're all off to a bach just north of Auckland this weekend (Auckland Anniversary, long w/e)

Oh and Buzzy, there's another poster called Buzzybee on MN, except she spells it with 3 "z"'s not 2. I was very confused when I saw her post as it didn't "sound" like you!

Hope everyone is well, btw

I keep looking at my tomatoes and thinking 'must stake them up better', and of course I never do, so they're suffering. A few small toms on them, but nothing great. LO up every two hours last night. I feel exhausted. And still more school holidays to go! Going to rent more DVDs for the big ones today - its my coping mechanism...

A friend has bought me a ring sling of sorts and I really can't get on with it, and she keeps asking me how its going and I keep saying 'I'm getting there', but in reality I've abandoned hope of it working. Too hard!

Bit cooler today...