May 2010 - Drooling, smiling, cooing and nearly sleeping through (and that's just the mummies!)

[rachelfruitloop]

Hi Ladies,

I hope you don't mind, I started a new thread as our first one was quite full! I can't believe we're a quarter-way through the first year already!

pigley, looks like you're in business, well done, you!

Pigley - congrats on the photography, that sounds fab :) Hope you get some new fish! I've persuaded DH to let me DD have guinea pigs but not until Spring. Apparently the wedding is a BBQ and has a big children's room with loads of toys and a DVD player etc so that will be good.

Cupcakefairy - glad C isn't the only one who doesn't like his sling anymore :( He's growing really fast, such a change to DD. I'm in Devon so not too close to you but we're very out of the way as well. We're going to South Wales for a holiday in September - any tips on good places to visit?

I normally take DD to a soft play session on Monday mornings but it finished for good last week :( It's her absolute favourite thing to go to so I'm a bit gutted and not sure what to replace it with.

Fell off again , will aim to catch up later

cupcake I didnt know about the watching thread, have just done that thank you.

Alex woke at 1240 instead of 2am ish last night and then slept unil 430am - think its the first time he has gone 4 hours between feeds lovely little podge

Lady across the road from me had her baby yesterday, a week early, at home before ambulance or midwife got to her all is well. Little girl called Maisy. Felt almost broody!!

Childcare here is £41 a day at nursery but think childminders are £35 ish, may have to consider switching with 2 to pay for.

Hi everyone,

Will post more later but just popped in to say HV just weighed DD1 and she is now 13lb 14oz - well in the 50th centile now (c: HV was very happy with her - kept saying that the little baby was gone! My biceps keep telling me that

heff- don't like the sling too well here either,...but will have to use for travelling, we're not taking the pram!

angel- hope everything is going well
newmomma- well wishes to you too...

pamelat- good signs, we started like that and in a few weeks we do 11/12 to 7/8.30 most of the time

pigley- maybe you can do some nice baby shots in a reunion, by the way, how is that planning going?

i fed in a sainsbury's cafe today, and a mum to a todler came to support me so nice...

jabs, we are traveling 3 days before 3rd lot is due, and they won't do it till we come back at the end of september i expected more from the nhs

We do ok with slings here depending on what the alternatives are. It's preferred to being left alone in a room while I make my breakfast for example. He quite likes to look around the kitchen for a while but its only a matter of time before he gets bored, restless and noisy. Sometimes a sling is preferred to a pram when we're out. He won't sleep in one anymore unless we're out and about.

Congratulations on the photography work Pigley - the pics of your babies are lovely and it doesn't surprise me that people would pay for them.

I've been trying washable nappies here but not doing very well. I've got some bumgenius and I'm sure the idea is that you change the inner layers all the time and the waterproof outer wraps only once a day, maybe twice? It's just not working for us because of the frequent pooing. I'm thinking of putting them away for when he does it a little less often. Better that than investing more in wraps. DH won't touch them anyway. How does every one else manage?

i change the inner every 2-3 hours, and the outer when he poos, that happens once or twice a day and i have 5, i do a nappy washing everyday with towels or bedding (as to fill the load with stuff that washes at 60 degrees), so i rarely run out of nappies. try to get a routine and you'll be fine

Re slings: I'm hoping he'll like it again when he can look out. Tbh, he probably could do that already. Atm he likes the pram and DD won't give up her buggy board without a fight so that's easy enough. I think I need to put him in the sling for some days out though (agricultural shows aren't buggy-friendly!)

hi all trying to catch up with you all but so hard so forgive lack of personals

Been so so busy with DD2 starting school today, she was great, I sobbed , I sobbed seeing DD1 go into P2 though. Pics on Fb if anyone fancies a look.

Tough nights with Jacob as well, he is good at going back to sleep though but last night he was up 5 times the monkey. Remember how I was saying I thought he was so big compared to the girls well I looked at DD2's growth charts and at 3 months she was 15lbs 12ozs, Jacob was 15lbs exactly, couldn't believe she was bigger than he is, she didn't seem big. She slimed right down though and is a tiny wee thing now.

Well he's needing fed now as I was upstairs for an hour feeding him, put him to bed, he pooed and woke himself up and was wide awake giggling at DP.

Ive dropped off again so just marking my place until I have time to post again..Im just so busy right now..was kind of looking forward to a lull in the autumn but am fully booked until December..I am determined to take December off..

Evening ladies.

schipo I have no idea how anyone copes with reusable nappies...J poos about 6 times a day and usually one of those is up the back or out of the sides of the nappy. Might reconsider washables when he is weaned but we'll see!!

heff ooh you're coming to Wales; how lovely :) which part? South West, St David's is absolutely lovely and white sands beach is fab. folly farm is also supposed to be amazing though not been there myself... or oakwood
Or if you're more over Cardiff way there are loads of great parks, castles etc (and my house )

J slept 7.30pm to 6.30am last night again! Hoping it continues but also sort of :( to miss out on our nighttime sleepy cuddle. I might've had the last one without knowing it was the last one!
I'm pretty sure af is attempting to return at the moment which wouldn't surprise me now he's cutting down on feeds...

Hi,

Am about to turn in for the night but noticed that a couple of people have mentioned washable nappies. We use those - actually we use a hybrid system. When we are out and for the night we use disposable nappies. I find they are more absorbent for night times, also I don't want to carry dirty nappies around with me when we are out - rather just dump the used ones off. When we are at home we use washables. I am currently using two sorts - Bambino Mio and BumGenius all in ones. All bought for us by a friend in Oz. Of the two I prefer the BumGenius ones as there is less faff - they are much easier to use. With the Bambino Mio ones, I change the outer wrap at the end of every day unless there is a pooey nappy, which tends to go all over the place. I am very blessed DD1 tends to do poos every other day. She surprised me last week by doing two in one day. The inner part of the nappy gets changed every time. DD1 has been really blessed - she has only had nappy rash once. I also use reusable wipes - solution of Camomile tea, honey and a few drops of tea tree oil - think that has really helped her bum.

Gosh, I sound all high and mighty plus smug. I don't mean to. I thought using washables and reusable wipes was going to be such a big thing but it's not. As wltk says a routine is a good thing. Also doing the hybrid system has made life easier.

I really must go to be now - DD1 wakes without fail at around 7am for the first feed of the day

Hi all. Well I'm back from my holidays and need a holiday to recover. I'm exhausted. For most of the week Molly was being fed 1-2 hours in the day and I've had my boobs out the length and breadth of Donegal. Ds and dd1 had fun and we managed some good quality family time. Feel more connected to dh also but not in the way we normally manage to connect on holidays due to Molly's constant feeding and my resulting exhaustion. I've also had a period for 2 weeks. Gutted as I'm still exclusively bf a lot. And my skin is sooo spotty. I'm a sight. Need to sign up to a gym this week even though the whole expressing side if things isn't happening - Molls refusing the bottle. But there's a predictable time late morning when I could leave her with dh. It's her jabs tomorrow :(

Will attempt some personals but apologies for those I miss.

Thanks for the new thread Rachel Hope all is calm with the boys. From Fb Eric is a real wee characte. Though not so "wee" really.

sk I always cry at the new school starts. I was a wreck last year when ds started secondary school. Hope you get into a good routine with the school run really quickly.

ml - you sound so busy. Of course when self employed it's better to be busy than not but don't overdo it. I hope you do take December off! But wouldn't be surprised if you don't.

Well done on the bf in public wltk. I'd rather not have jabs before a holiday myself in case Molls had a reaction. A few weeks delay won't matter but it's protocol not to do them early ime.

I'm a bit jealous about the meet ups being out on a limb in NI cupcake and heffa

schipo I gave up with washables with dd1 as her skin was dreadful. I was always changing them and they just didn't work for us. Haven't even tried this time. Dh was keen before but opposed this time. Hope indint get flamed for admitting that.

pigley - well done you. A new career awaits.

Love to you angel - hope you're ok.

Isn't it first1's op soon. Good luck.

Glad to hear from you wibblela You're an inspiration coping with being a mum with MS.

Aren't the babies all growing so well. Should get Molls weighed tomorrow. I expect she's still up in the 90s though. The wee glutton. I had some good nights on holiday with only one wake up but last night she was up every 2 hours. Well done to alex for managing 4 hours pamelat Hope it lasts.

Heff - I agree with Cupcake _ Folly Farm is a must. Such a good family day for children - lots of clean loos, changing facilities, lots of space, loads to do in wet or dry weather and v good value for money. We LOVE it! They've extended it loads recently - giraffes and all sorts.

I found a bbaby feeding app for my phone on sunday night. Wanted to get an accurate record of virginias feeding as she is not really gaining weight although her length and development are growing
She fed for twice as long yesterday as monday and was awake every hour again last night although only wanted feeding 3 times.
Is there a growth spurt at 10 weeks or do I just have a hungry baby. I know she is getting milk as it dribbles down her cheeks, I still leak when feeding and nappies are always wet and regularly dirty.
I am sooo knackered.

Pigley great news with the photography, I love taking pictures and used to work as assistant to 2 photograpphers, for one I took wedding photos and the other was an assessor for BIPP and we did all sorts, loved it but the hours didn't suit a single mum well enough to put up with grumpy boss. Lol, I still love it but my pc crashed and DH loaded blody linux on it and I can't find a photography package I can work with and can't afford a new system yet. So for now stuck with snappy camera instead of my lovely dslr.
I have one bit of advice, think about how you charge so people don't rip you off, if you let them have previews they just may scan and copy and then not pay for pics, maybe charge an amount for sitting instead or find a copyright system, I know there are plenty of great digital watermark systems which make image uncopiable

Would be happy to organise a north west meet up for anyone interested.

a quick post while DD naps...she is still waking twice in the night...Im incredibly envious of those of you with little ones sleeping through...it seems like the impossible goal for us at the moment..

have just had my second AF..bang on 28 days after the last one..good ole menstrual migraine back with a renewed vengence too...grrr..I may had had everything under the sun in my pregnancy but at least I didnt get migraine!!

Cupcakefairy and Hobnob - we're staying at a farm just outside of Abergavenny. Folly Farm and Oakwood both look good, esp. Folly Farm. I don't really know Wales very well, went to Aberystwyth once at school and then Cardiff for Uni open-days.

Mollycuddles - we don't use washables either. I wanted to but DH was adamant he didn't. I think I would probably just end up using the washing machine and tumble dryer anyway so probably best

SK - glad DD2 starting school went OK, she looks fab in the pics.

Homebirthmummy - my HV reckoned they have a mini growth spurt every two weeks or so for a while. Not sure if it's true or not but C does seem to settle into a particular routine for a couple of weeks then needs lots of food for a day and then finds a slightly new routine.

Hi everyone
Well we finally had a day of sunshine! Went to a friends and got the paddling pool out, it was lovely to watch all the DCs splashing about - Thomas was fascinated.

Schipo - We are using washable nappies. I really wish that I'd had them with my other DCs as I love them. We have 18 and I wash every 2-3 days. The majority of ours are Bumgenious V3 and Flip, with a couple of Close Parent pop-ins. I assume that you mean the BG flip?? If so I do agree, even if it is only wet I very rarely reuse the wrap, and definately not if it's poo! We have the stay dry inserts, which are quite narrow so things do go on the edge of the wrap - plus I like to know he's really clean. One of the best pieces of advice I had was to use fleece liners, they are brilliant!!! They help to keep him feeling really dry and also protect the nappy, plus you just wash them with your nappies. They are really cheap, I bought some Junior joy ones to start with, then I got a funky £2.99 fleece blanket from B&M and just cut it to the size of my nappies. The BG V3 works fine for us overnight as well. Hope you manage to make them work for you

Heffa - Hope you have a lovely time in Wales, I remember having a very happy holiday in St Davids when I was little.

Molly - Glad you had a good time, can totally understand why you might need another holiday to recover though! We went on holiday when Thomas was 3 weeks and I was shattered when we got home

ML - Glad you managed to avoid a migraine!

SK - Glad the first day of school went well. Hope you are feeling okay

Homebirth - I'd definately be up for a North West meet up

Sorry if I've missed anyone. I am going to try to be better at keeping up!

Going to go to the HV shortly as I have no idea what Tom weighs now, so will be interesting to find out.

what a mixed 48 hours, alex had 2nd jabs yesterday and was most unhappy and warm , reveted to 2 hourly feeds for the day. however dream feed 1030, woke 1240 like night before but onl 5 min feed, then 440am again!!! I fed him instead of bottle as boobs full to bursting and he slept until 8am!!! wltk really hope its the start of dropping one night feed

had him weighed, 13 weeks, 16lbs 6oz!!!

Morning all...
Last day of our hols in Chester today and it is raining. We're heading back off home tomorrow though DH is still off for the rest of the week which is good. Having said that, he has been sleeping in til 9 most mornings whilst I have still been getting up at 7 to get the girls sorted . Don't know how he manages it! We had the night from hell the night before last as DD1 was running a really high temperature. We were on the phone to NHS Direct at 3.15am but she seems fine now.

As for reusable nappies, we're using disposables whilst on holiday but as soon as we're back home, DD1 will go back in to reusables. We started her on Bambino Mio but are now using the BG Flip wraps which I love. DD2 is still a bit hit and miss with the reusables but as her disposables also leak regularly then I think it's just something to put up with until she is weaned. DD1 only ever had nappy rash with disposables so that's why I like reusables - I'm definitely not very green about them as I use the tumble dryer for them (they just feel so hard and scratchy if I dry them naturally, though at least the sun helps bleach them).

DD2 is still being delightful and even though we're not at home, she's still sleeping through the night (even when DD1 is screaming the place down!). We think DD1 might have said her first word yesterday - there were we thinking she would say something like Mummy or Daddy and she came out with 'potatoes' . Haven't yet had a repeat performance though...

carikube, my dh doesn't let me take my nappies on hols either, and tbh, i think my mil would have a fit... we are staying with them.
we never have nappy rash either, and at home we use cotton balls and water, wipes only out and about, we don't need them at night, but fleece liners are wonderful to avoid disposibles.
molly, you don't get bang here, sad for you that reusables didn't work, but with 4 dcs, i can see they might be too much work. maybe you're right about the jabs, just worried about taking him to the sea...
pam- yei! on dropping a night feed, keep the faith, he might sleep trough one day...
hb4, i am also a control freak with feed and i record every feed in the day, and keep a last 4 days diary, so i can see how much he had, and how much he is having now, compared with before, it really help me to see how much formula and breast he has, sometimes i have the impression that he has barely feed all day, and when you add it up...

hope i didn't forget anyone, if so, tell me off...
not much to report here, only breast so far, and miracoulously, oscar has been for the last 25 min, i think i'll have a cup of tea in peace, hot for a change...

i meant to write that oscar has been asleep for the last 25 min, maybe i ought to go to bed too

Hi all, just marking my place on the thread. Can't really post now, am a busy bee. Op is 8am on Friday, please cross your fingers and toes for me girls, I'm petrified. Will hopefully post before it, otherwise will do lots of personals whilst I'm staring at four walls in bed for days afterwards

Hi All,

First - good luck for fri, will be thinking of you...

dancing - like you, my priorities have changed, work don't seem that important anymore!! i have 2 part-time jobs at mo, will need to choose one over the other when i go back in feb :(

Angel - hope you are ok...

Pigley - glad your photos got good reviews :)

Rian had his appt with neurosurgeon on fri, it went really well and team seem nice and helpful. makes it all very real though :( although a very big op, doesn't seem to be much risks involved which is good. just waiting on surgery date now hopefully done by end of the year. poor wee man, he was smiling away during appointment, felt really guilty as he has no idea what we're all planning!!!

not sure how much he weighs as not weighed in a while, everyone who sees him are surprised hes only 12 weeks and say oh he's a big boy...

sorry to all those still up during the night and for those with troublesome other children.

off to meet the girls for dinner tonight, will be the longest DP has been with Rian himself - oh oh!!! :)