May Babies... part 6! (keep up you April Mums... pfft!)

[GeorginaA]

giggle

Definitely found DD went off the bottle when teething (was also a bit off the breast but think that was the chicken pox) and remember DS being the same. I find putting a bit of calgel on shortly before feeding helps. With DS I remember making him really sloppy baby rice and spoon feeding just to get the milk into him for a couple of days. And I did at one point when DD was poorly spoon feed her. Obviously you don't want to be doing that in the middle of the night but the calgel might work.

Sympathies because the over-tired thing is the worst ever. I think we're getting to the age where they don't automatically fall asleep when out and about. I have generally decided to make sure that she has the oppotunity for one good nap and then the other one (or more) has to fit in with the rest of the family IYSWIM.

so true spots!! a tired baby is just so grumpy and exhausting! for both of you.
i tried to be consistent from the very beginning!
as soon as i get a sleepy sign i wait for a second and off to bed he goes. he falls asleep easiest in his cot (i tried other places, but it takes at least twice as long) - and since i know he is tired i try not to rush in and give him some time to settle himself. was very hard at the beginning but it gets easier
lately he is happy with his dummy and it helps him to settle even quicker.
what he wants: put him on his side, dummy in, darken the room, mobile on, and muslin in his hands
i might have to go in once though, but that's mostly it.

but they all are so different so i guess in the end you have to figure out a way yourself what is best for you two..
i can only tell you how we did it and maybe it gives you some ideas.

Susi and bozza, that is helpful, thank you. She is napping now, but achieved by 'cheating' - she went to sleep in the Wilkinet and I slipped her into the cot. Believe me, 'slipping' a baby out of a Wilkinet takes some skill...! I am thinking she doesn't like her cot much at the moment.

The "slipping them out" bit gets harder as they get bigger as well doesn't it?

Sorry Bozza, got to say "fnar fnar" after your last post!

right! flights are booked
we are going to see my family this xmas!!! and my sister/brothers and dad haven't seen ds yet!!!
and we'll stay into the new year too! - can't wait

here it is a quite quiet day! terrible weather so haven't been for a walk today!
dp had to leave earlier today for work so he got to see ds only for 3 hours and left me with tea/bath/bedtime on my own. but the only problem was to keep ds awake enough to go through all of that - putting him to bed in the end was easy

is that in Austria Susi? how exciting!

Well I've been saving up my most notable event of the day for you all. It was this: DD's First Big Girl Poo. Omigod. I had gone to TKMaxx on the off chance that they might have a groovy cot toy to persuade the baby that cots are good places to be. One groovy cot toy, two pairs of trousers and a top later I was standing at the checkout when the most resounding parp/gurgle issued from the Wilkinet so that I felt a hole must have been blown throught my torso. (The checkout bloke giggled audibly and I had to tell him it wasn't me).

So I got home faster than a fast thing and whipped the nappy off.

Revolting. Nobody told me it would be like this! I feel like I really am on the dark side....

Thank you for using the word "parp" ! I'm laughing like mad and just glad the minister isn't still here discussing DS's christening with us

Hellllooooooooo.
Ive only skimmed read your posts so sorry if ive missed anything. Cant log on at work. Warned by my brother who works in our IT dept that they are auditing it at the moment.
Well where do I start.
The weeks not gone too bad. Bit strange at first but now it feels like ive never been away. Although I do think that I have lost some brain cells along the way. I can vaguely recall things but not how to do them. Expressing is proving to be difficult. Theyve providd me a room but its also a meeting room and every time I go there theres a meeting on, so im expressing in the toilets. I also keep forgetting the time and forgetting to express. At the moment im feeding D about 7.45 and then expressing at 11 +3 and then feeding at 6.30 and 10.30.
As of the solids, ive frozen so much I think it will last a good month. I am tonight though doing more apple and broccoli. at the moment dd is on 2 meals a day. She has 2 cubes potato and 1 cube of swede/carrot/parsnip etc. Then at 7 she has 4 teaspoons of baby rice and 1 cube apple/pear.
Shes been really unsettled lately. In the evenings she wont go in her cot. She falls asleep on our laps and then within 1hr of being in the cot she wakes and we have to settle her back to sleep and then its like that all evening. We are constantly up the stairs. The nights are ok. Last night she finally went in her cot at 10.30 woke at 11.30, woke at 3.30 but i just gave the dummy but then slept until 5am. I just bring her into bed with me if she wakes at that time and feed her in bed. On tuesday night she was terrible. Again really unsettled in the evening and then woke at 11.30pm and would not sleep. I tried feeding and cuddling nothing worked. She just played and moaned on and off in her cot. We kept going in and turning her llulaby light on and giving her the dummy. We even left her cry for a bit. Eventually at 3.30 I brought her into bed with us. We were so tired and needed some sleep for work. I cant beleive that she stayed awake from 11.30-3.30am!! She does seem to be having longer naps though. I think were up to 3naps of 1 hr long which is a record.
Weve got the evenings sorted. I get home from work at 6.15 and then if its my night on I bath DD give her milk and then food and try and get her to bed. In the meantime DD gets home and starts dinner, washes bottles and breastpump and gets her bag ready for the next day and her bottles and food. I wrote a list of everything she needs for the day and put it on the fridge. This way then he just needs to look at the list and know what goes in the bag ie 4 nappies, dummies,vest etc. By doing this it means that we can both sit down from about 8pm.
Sorry the message is so long apologies to all those ive bored.
Hope everyones fine.
Linnett about the rolling.
Spots I hope your dd settles soon and tonight isnt too bad.
Cat82 I am glad you are feeling better. I didnt realise you were feeling so bad. I hope now that you will make the most of the 2hr nap and sit on the settee with a biscuit and a cup of tea.

wohoooo spots! welcome to the club
don't they just look/smell ...

but as you said - another step of growing up

and sometimes i really think he'll explode!! the pressure he sometimes uses. and all red in his face - poor mite

oh and yes spots - austria

kbaby: great that you are coping well! and solids seem to go down well too - just hope that sleeping will be sorted soon!!
but really nice to read that you share your "evening-entertainement"

oh and good morning everybody!
ds just gone down for his morning nap. he splits his naps now into 3 parts - each 40min.
had a reasonable night. put him to bed at 6; fed him at 9 (again only 4oz instead 7) and he woke 2.30/4.30/7

no major plans for today. need to go to the postoffice to send off passport application for ds. - finally found someone to countersign (dang! not so easy to find a propiet person!)
need to kick dp to get his roadtax and then i really need to go and buy a sleepingbag!
would you believe it? ds managed to roll with the bag on

Well hello all

I have entered the exciting new world of sweet potato. Not sure if it was a success, kiera has this thing of gaging the minute anything new goes into her mouth, then trying a little more, then gagging again, then i have to wait about 10 minutes before trying again, normaly having to take her by surprise, then she'll kind of nibble and pull a face. then she'll cry 'casue she's hungry, then she'll swallow some and not pull any faces, then open her mouth for more, but then the whole process starts again. It goes on and on......usualy ending in her being covered in sweet potato, me being covered in sweet potato, it's dripping down the walls...sigh..

Oooh Susi- Austria lucky, lucky you and for Christmas too! I've always wanted to go somewhere like that. Do you ski?

Spots- hilarious big girl poo story. Kiera has done a couple of those shudder almost enough to stop the weaning process dead in its tracks! ooh, what groovy cot toy did you get? i am looking for an excuse do drag dp in the new TKmaxx in cambridge.

Spot and others-What is a Wilkinet?? am i missing something exciting?

Kbaby-Wow it really does sound like feeding's going well! hopefully the evenings will sort themselves out soon.
Yeah wasn't feeling good at all for a while, but i'm much better now. Just replace "cup of tea and feet up" for "glass of wine and feet up" and you've got how i spend my two hours

Still going well on the nap front (hurrah!) and she's still sleeping through. We do hear a few more shuffles and sighs coming through the monitor, but generally now change. VERY relieved

Had better go and start hosing the sweet potato of the walls...doors...ceilings....

Take care all!
xxxx

Kbaby lovely to hear from you in your new role, well done! you seem to have it quite sussed already.

Cat, we got a Whoozit foldout thingy. Gratified to find DD on her side in touchy-feely wonder at it today when I left her in the cot. (In true TKMaxx style, rrp 319.99; our price £7.99. Love it love it love it.) And Wilkinets are a particular kind of baby carrier, either adored or loathed...they have really long ties that are annoying if you don't like engineering!

It's very dull here today. I have a craving for ginger biscuits, making as well as eating. Dum de dum.

Hee hee! Imagine a cot toy that cost £319.99! I meant £19.99 of course...

Flipping heck! DS seems like another baby these days - lots of laughing etc. The other kiddies cared for by the CM are so happy to entertain him he is getting tons of fun!

He is also very cheeky - his bouncer days are numbered - I just caught him sitting up properly in it! he is now trying to bash the keyboard with me . . .

Hey everyone,

dd2 figured out how to roll from her tummy onto her back again today I'm very impressed seeing as she only figured out how to roll over onto her tummy on Wednesday. We were out all morning and she was good as gold in the pram. When we came home she was lying on the floor and I was playing with her and she rolled over onto her tummy, I didn't fix her arm but left her for a minute and she managed to pull it out from under her, then she just kept going and rolled onto her back again. The look on her face was so funny, I don't think she quite understood what she'd done but straight away she rolled over again onto her tummy and then over again onto her back. She was proudly showing off to my brother tonight when he was round but wouldn't show my granny. I think she was too tired by the time we went there.

DD1 had her Halloween party at school tonight. She was a cat, along with practically every other little girl at the party when we were leaving the school at the end we passed a boy coming in for the next party wearing a huge cardboard box that was decorated to be a mobile phone, very cool!

Got a big day tomorrow got to do all my baking for halloween. Will probably do it at night when the girls are in bed. Dh is working during the day, dd1 will help but I know that I won't get minutes peace from dd2 so probably better to wait until I'm on my own. Got to go look out my recipe for pumpkin pie now. Talk to you all later.

Evening all (again),

DS and DP went to bed 1/2 an hour ago! the lightweights. I have got my second wind when I really shouldn't have - isn't that annoying? at work I struggle to stay awake then I get home and am raring to go . . .

I didn't mention earlier that today started badly, my Grandmother died this morning - she was 94 and had Alzheimers so it wasn't unexpected, just way too quick for my parents - they were on their way to the home when it happened. She was a brilliant lady and if I have just one tiny ounce of her spirit in me then I am a happy bunny. The last time I visited her a couple of weeks ago she seemed to come out of her fog for long enough to say "what a beautiful baby boy" before dozing off again, Dad told me that was the first time she had smiled in weeks. I couldn't ask for a better final memory really.

One funny story about her though, when Mum and Dad were sorting out her cataracts (sp?) operation a few years ago they were trying to arrange for both eyes to be operated on . . . Grandad said not to bother as she had been blind in one eye all her life - Dad and his brother had had no idea for nigh on 50-60 odd years! she hadn't said a word about it . . .

DS is such a cheeky character now, the CM tells me that her son and friends (aged 7-9) were testing his baby IQ yesterday - they think he has an IQ of a 9 month old but I did the same test (just for fun of course!) and he came in between 6 months and 9 . . . sharp but not unmanageable!

Did any of you watch the film/documentary about the 2 mountain climbers where one broke their leg and the other had to cut his rope to survive? I was in tears . . . I think it is on Channel 4 soon.

Anyway, night night to you all xxxxx

Hiya,
We also have a redundant bouncy chair. DS was sitting up straight in it and then kicking so hard when I was feeding him, he was bouncing around and I was worried about his digestion. So....yesterday I put him in the high chair for his meals - so cute. He looked like a proper big boy ! So I can see a candidate for the NCT sale in November (along with all the Newborn clothes that he never fitted into).
There was a lovely moment this afternoon when I took the 2 of them out into the village. DS was in the pram, facing DD on the buggy board. She was chattering on about the sky, clouds and shadows and DS was looking at her in rapt adoration. Somehow he knows that she is the perpetrator of Much Mischief and he is very very keen to gain that knowledge from her !

Sorry to hear about your grandmother Libb

How do you test a baby's IQ by the way??

Libb, really sorry to hear about your grandmother.
Strange that you mention the 2 climbers - we watched a bit of the film in church last week - they both survived didn't they? I must admit I had to turn away when the injured one was hobbling across the ice and kept falling over. I hate watching people in pain

DP told me about their little test when he got home tonight and so I googled - there was an example on the The Telegraph website - I have no idea if this were the same test but it was interesting. It came under news articles, you know how useless I am at links . . . it was just 10 questions, hope you find it

Judd, it was awful that last bit - I hate BoneyM too ! seriously, I think being trapped in the ice crevice was the worst . . . and the final day when he was so close to the base camp whilst his friend was there wracked with guilt about his decision. According to the film the guy who cut the rope was ostracised (sp?) by the climbing community afterwards but the guy who survived those 6 days has stuck up for him and has said he'd have done the same under the circumstances.

But it really says so much about the human spirit doesn't it? really quite amazing how we fight the battle at times - I think today has made me very melancholy (again with spelling? my second wind is waning I suppose . . .) I really can ramble for England . . . the film really struck me I guess.

Ending on a flippant note, going to work when a full moon is high and bright just ain't right . . .

good morning everybody!
ds was great! went down at his usual 6pm, fed him at 9.30 and with only a short whimper at 2.30 i didn't hear from him till 6.30!
BUT big sigh dp woke me at 2 (restless for 30min) then he moved to the other room but i was awake for another hour grrrr
well, but still - what a good boy!!!
ds that is; not dp

cat: yes, can't wait to go home to austria; vienna exactly! will stay new year too
and we both ski; just doesn't happen as often as we want to. postponed it this year. but hopefully next
and i am happy for you that napping is working out now - nice to have 2hours to yourself, ha?
and you are soooo right! use them for yourself!!!
oh and re sw.pot: try add more milk till it gets really liquid. just like milk with new taste. and go from there ...

wow spots!!! and i thought you got a really good deal there
might have to pay that tkmaxx a visit

linnet - don't you want to send dd2 over? to teach ds how to roll back!!!
and good luck with the baking

ohhhh libb!! so sorry to hear about your grandmother!!! although it was quite expected it is always "unexpected"!!!
but what a lovely memory you've got there

i am terrible with sad stories!!! i live so close to the water - in tears very easily
poor men! but i guess they had to make a call and at that time it seemed to be the right one!
dp did go rock climbing and it is quite a rough enviroment! (he took me a few times but he got too scared to watch over me - have to start over again anyways! too long no training...)

judd: it must be really nice to have 2 kids! well, at least sometimes
dp keeps asking about d2

heyyyy twigeletitt!!! how are you getting on???

ds learns every day something new! he's got this weird "purposfully" cough atm. i try to ignore it. but it's not that he looks at me and does it no clue
and he also developed this weird giggle!!!!
like a girly one - quick giggles in a row - and he just does it all day long
and he seems to have a tick with his legs.
they are constantly moving!!! when he sits, lays down - he is kicking all the time...
oh and somehow he's gone off "standing"; he prefers crouching or kneeling - what's that about???
oh and also when he is on his tummy he starts pulling his knees under - at least something that seems to be normal
dang, don't they just change so fast?????

Twiglett, did you find the "test"?. I don't know what is going on upstairs right now but DP is doing a lot of "whoos!" and "whees!"

DS sounds very croaky today, poor little bear. Will keep an eye on that . . .