November 2010: Welcome to life on the other side

[bunnygirl80]

Pull up a chair and help yourself to a LARGE glass of wine

Welcome to the dark side the wonderful world of motherhood

ooh stuff to catch up on!

wow at rolling sitting babies!!

merryn can almost roll over, she has done so once or twice, but in a fluke way and not so she knows how to repeat it, iykwim? she gets right over on her side and her bottom half is over and then if she just lifted her head enough she would roll over, but her arms sometimes get in the way

she is another one that wriggles lots tho, so turns in a 360 circle on the floor ande has started doing this thing where she pushes with her feet and lifts her bum and back off the floor, when on her front she can lift her head and shoulders up well and is happy to lie like that for a bit, but then she will wriggle her legs and sort of get her bum up in the air but then that pushes her arms down and she gets cross.

she stillhas 5 bottles a day of 5oz now tho!! and i am assuming she is about 16lb, she is 19wks today, i cant believe that she is taht old already.

re toilet training, my ds4 is just three and tho he could do it if he wanted to he, he point blank refuses, most annoying, so i am leaving it till summer....

met up with rhinny and her dd and little ds yesterday, her Isaac is still the most smiliest baby ever AND boy does he eat, he guzzled his milk and started shouting when it was all gone and then guzzled down loads of mashed veg etc, its funny cos he is actually smaller than merryn, but older and eats loads etc, he is a very chilled out little man and my boys were very impressed with how smiley he was :)

th ekids got their faces painted for free!!! but merryn had gone to sleep whilst it was done and when she woke up and say ds3 who had a red devils face and horns....... she SCREAMED, you could tell she was going to , she just looked at him and her face crumpled up and she HOWLED as she was scared of him, have never seen her react like that to anything before!

re weight i have a stone a half to loose, i lost most and then put some back on it is coming off slowly buti need to do some exercise and get it off, i have till the end of may as i have a family wedding to go to....

right i best go feed madame, we are a bit behind today as she was up loads last night (has a cold) and then slept in this morning, so instead of feeding at 9:30ish it was 11am before she had her feed, having not fed since 5am.

she was asleep in the pram but i think i can hear her chuntering to herself.

oh and re weaning i will be waiting till early june when she will be 26wks, if she is happy to but as she isnt a 'hungry' baby still happy on 25oz of milk a day, i cant see her minding. purely because we will be away at the end of may for wedding and i am not starting her on solids then!

i too will be doing a mix of blw and purees, just cos i am sad and i like having all the little ice cubes of food in the freezer. i have already bought some bowls, spoons etc just cos boots has 3 for 2 on baby stuff at the moment so stocked up on those and the next size bottle teats etc whilst i could save a few quid and then Rhinny took me to tkmaxx and i ended up spedning more than i had saved on cute outfit for merryn, i am such a sucker for baby girl clothes, having had the four boys its like a whole new world

Hi all!

Gosh I haven't been here for ages! I thought I was FB friends with most of you anyways so been "following you" there...

Freya is now 20 weeks - 5 calendar months next Friday. She rolled first time this week, of course I missed it while I was making lunch in the kitchen... ..

I think we have tooth number 3 coming through now.. I can feel a hard lump in the gum and her cheek is swollen.. She's very grizzly today too, poor girl..

We are flying to Finland on Friday, Freya's first flight ! How much stuff does a baby need! Suppose I need to bring breast pump, baby monitor, bottles.. travel cot... etc etc...

I'm about the same weight that before baby but I am determined to lose 4 kg before we get married in July! Back to the gym 3 times a week but somehow I need to stop snacking all the time. I have terrible sweet tooth...

Anyways hope you're all well!

x

Must catch up!

Oooh, hello Wallace, we haven't heard from you in ages, hope all is going well!

Hello Wallace ... and did I see Smokey in here too a few days ago? Come and tell us how you're getting on!

Jenni It is nice seeing you all on FB, even though I'm not a massively active participant. Good luck for the flight, we've got a few flights coming up and I'm already dreading packing for them. Don't forget the kitchen sink

4mad Merry sounds just the same as Norry, very active, trying to crawl, wriggling all over the place but still not rolling over. When we put him in his proper bed (from the Amby) when I came to check on him in the night he'd completely disappeared! Wriggled up to the other end - gave me a right fright

We've got snot here. How can such a small baby create so much? Luckily I find snot sucking (I saw it was properly called an aspirator on MN the other day, fancy!) strangely therapeutic And Norry's being ever so good about it, I'm sure having your nose rinsed out then sucked out can't be pleasant but he is very stoical.

fenouille i am another fan of snot sucking devices, merryn has been blowing HUGE snot bubbles and when she sneeze MASSES of snot comes out, it is most satisfying to squeeze her nostrils gently and get lots of snot out i am not a fan of the fact that her cough which is quite phlegmy makes her puke, during the day she is fine but consistently at night she is coughing until she throws up, she doenst seem to mind too much, i however dont like being vomited on in bed and all the resulting washing it does seem to be clearing but is taking its time.

oh can i ask, in this warmer weather is anyone offering their babies water to drink? i dont think i did with the boys till they started weaing at 6mths, but merryn does get a bit sweaty occasionaly so i wonder if i should offer her water?

she has 5oz of formula which is 150ml but i make it up to 160-170ml so that there is an extra bit of fluid in it (hv said this was fine) and as she doesnt drink that much anyway i dont want to offer her water if she then drinks less milk? i think i will probably wait till 6mths and then just offer her a cup of water with her meals etc?

the other thing i am finding is that merryn still has to be swaddled to sleep, she wont sleep otherwise and i am wary of her getting too hot, i have been googling and have found that you can get muslin sheets to swaddle in that are good for hot weather BUT they were £34 for 4 sheets me thinks that is a bit pricey but i need them to be big as she is long, these ones are 120cm by 120cm i think? so a good size and they did have some pretty patterns, but tbh i dont care about the patters, i just want them to keep her swaddled so she can sleep! so if anyone else knows of any good ones let me know.

the make i found was aden and anais, they seem to get very good reviews and are popular but just expensive!

Yah Bunny ears! [bugrin]

4Mad I've been offering Abbie water this week but only with food. I started weaning a couple of weeks ago but only give her one meal a day. She's a funny one with feeding. If she decides she doesn't want the boob then that's that. On Monday she went 13hrs without a feed. [bushock] I don't think it's related to weaning as she was always a bit funny before. I think her gums are sore - still no teeth - as she was very happy to wolf a bowl of veg puree down. Anyway she's back on regular boob feeds so not sure what the problem was. She only has a couple of sips of water. I'm introducing the cup more though as she won't take a bottle so it'd be useful for others if she'd drink from a cup.

Off to Pembrokeshire for the weekend. We don't have a small car but I'm still not sure how we're going to fit in everything we need for two small children. It doesn't help that we have to take towels and bedding for where we're staying. By the time you've packed a pushchair and travel cot etc. Dp will have to limit his packing to a couple pairs of pants and a clean t-shirt. [buwink]

Anyway hope everyone has a good Easter.

Where do I start? Well...

We went to Spain in March with my ds1 - he races motorbikes and it was a pre-season thing. We were only going for 5 days and we left dd and ds2 with MIL and took baby H.

Ds1 had a really bad accident and ended up in hospital with a broken femur and wrist. He was in traction for a few days then had surgery to pin his femur.

A week later than originally intended we were able to fly home.

A few days later ds1 had an appointment at our local hospital. They X-rayed him and found his wrist was set incorrectly and he needed an urgent operation the reset and pin it. That was done the next day (April Fools Day...)

He was in hospital for the next 5 days as they wouldn't let him out until he was good on his crutches. Before this dh had mostly been lifting him and ds1 is very heavy!

He is much improved now though and got the big stookie (it was a full arm cast) off today and a smaller synthetic one on. He is also allowed to put weight on his leg.

As you can imagine the whole thing has been rather traumatic for all involved! Ds2 was fairly traumatised after being away from me for so long (he is only 4) .

However life is slowly returning to normal, especially as ds1 is getting more able to do stuff for himself - it was like having another toddler in the house.

Phew, that is the first time I've written that down (and that is the short version...). Thank goodness for travel insurance is all I can say!

wallace sounds like you've had a bit of a traumatic time recently. Hope DS1 is fully on the mend now [busmile]

fen and 4mad I also find the snot sucker strangely therapeutic [busmile] Unfortunately Will hates it and now he goes mad if he sees it coming

4mad it's interesting to hear the different interpretations of hot weather [bugrin] It was 25 degrees here the other day and I went to meet some friends in the park and we'd all dressed our babies in jumpers to protect them from the cold!!

We survived a week in Feb where the temp didn't get below 35 in the day or 30 at night, and I just offered William more breast feeds. Now he's older and on solids I'd give him water instead in the same circumstances.

It's pretty standard here to swaddle in a muslin, so they're all 120x120cms. Not that that's much help to you, as I doubt you want to order them in all the way from Oz

What have you all got planned for the royal wedding? I'm not entirely sure the Aussies are taking it all that seriously as our TV coverage is being hosted by Dame Edna [bugrin]

Oh my goodness Wallace, what a nightmare! So glad your ds is on the mend and things are getting back to normal.

4Mad - my mum runs an alterations business at Taverham Garden Centre & could make you some swaddling blankets to order (you could choose the material & have a range that were suited to the weather!). They're open all this Easter except Sunday. It's called Alterations Express & at the very least they have a huge professional embroidery machine which is great if you ever want any personalised kids' presents! Sorry, shameless plug over!

We're off to Cromer on Saturday to visit the family & take Jessica to the beach for the first time - wonder how long she'll last before a fist full of sand goes in her mouth! She's showing no interest in food but has been reaching for my cups of tea when I take a sip - bit worrying!

Happy Easter everyone!

omg wallace, what a nightmare, glad your ds1 is on the mend now and hope he recovers ok xx

bunny i guess it depends on what weather the babies are used to, for merryn it is warmer for her and she is getting a bit sweaty and cross at times.

sgj is there a number i can ring to speak to your mum at taverham as i cant really get there, if i could explain what i want or give her the link to the ones that i have found and then she could see if she would be able to make them? do you have me on fb? tho dp is at home some of tomorrow so i might be able to get him to drive us there? tho the boys are wanting to go to the funfair.... gah if only we had two cars and i could drive myself

and bunny i some of the ones i have found are from oz, but with postage etc, its expensive!! WHY they arent made and sold in the uk i will never know, well they are sold but only over the internet at stupid prices!

actually sgj i just phoned taverham and spoke to your mum! i felt a right twit saying i have a friend whose mum runs an alteration business and she thought you might be able to make them, and then your mum said 'which daughter of mine is that then?' me ummm well i only know her via a parenting forum, she has a daughter called jessica. i felt like a right twit! anyhow i am going to try and get some fabric and then she will be happy to make them for me so THANKYOU soo much for the info that is fab

Hi all, feeling bad about stalking you all and not posting so popping in for an update. William is 21 weeks now, busy rolling but getting very frustrated that he can't move anywhere fast. He's happy to slide around his cot on his face but that doesn't work too well on his playmats. Doing lots of giggling when tickled or when he grabs a handful of my nose or face or hair.

4mad - I'm in a hot climate and have been told no water as it'll reduce the amount of milk they can fit in but as you say it might be different if not used to it. Same Dr tells me not to feed him at night too but I'm sure he's thirsty, I wake up thirsty, so I dutifully ignore her on that one.

Another bogiesucker refuser here, he sees it coming and there's no chance of using it. I'm finding baby Vicks does the job though and makes it all come flowing out.

Brilliant 4mad! We're calling in to taverham tomorrow so will reassure my mum that you're not a twit!

This hot weather is lovely but so tricky with babies! Spent the day at the zoo, constantly walking from shady spot to shady spot! Jessica was covered in factor 50 but my headache now reminds me that I forgot to put any lotion on myself all day! Gonna have some odd tan lines tomorrow...

SGJ whereabouts are you then? are you local to norwich? we could have a baby meet up!

btw i didnt mention the name mumsnet, just said a parenting forum, which is what i say to all my rl friends and relatives, rather than name this one and the other one i frequent, for fear of rl peeps finding me online!

Don't worry, I wouldn't have minded! We're in Colchester but my mum moved to Cromer last year to be near her parents & bought the business near Norwich, so I'm often over your way - a baby meet up is definitely something we should do! I'll message you on FB so we don't clog up this thread!

ok :)

oh and i meant to say, merryn has a new toy....her feet, she can pull her legs up and then reaches down to grab them when lying down and she thinks they are the best thing ever, especially when she can pull her socks off its very cute, bless her and she is now rolling over but gets stuck with one arm underneath her which makes her very cross.

colchester is easy to get to on the train for me :)

and we were in cromer the other day! we often visit cromer or sheringham to take the boys to the beach :)

4mad I think I was just trying to say it's weird how the babies are so used to the temperatures they live in even though they're so young, just not as well put as you. Poor Merryn's getting sweaty and grumpy at approximately the same temps that William is now sleeping in a vest, sleepsuit, 2.5tog gro-bag, and a blanket. [bugrin] He actually does seem to be getting a bit more used to the colder nights now - the first time the temp in his nursery dropped to 20degrees his little hands were like ice blocks and I ended up bringing him into bed with me so we could snuggle together for warmth. He's not so bad now, I just have an extra blanket handy in case he feels cold when I go in to feed him. Not sure what he'll think of the weather when we arrive in the UK in 2 weeks.

Glad you've managed to sort your muslins - I actually have heaps that we don't use anymore, which I could have posted to you if you were desperate.

William has well and truly figured out how to make his bouncer bounce - it's difficult trying to catch him to get him out of it now. He's developed a sudden love of his feet too - he sucks his socks while I change his nappy [bugrin]

bunny i am getting them made by sgj's mum but if you dont mind i would be happy to have a few more muslins as merryn is very dribbly and spits up etc, so i get through lots of sheets etc. are you on fb? i lose track totally of who i have on fb and who i dont and as for matching mn names with rl names..... i would like to blame it on baby brain, butsadly its just my crapness at remembering names and faces etc i will pay you for the postage and some for the muslins bunny.... tho i dont have paypal but am sure we could sort something out?

where in the UK will you be? any chance of meeitng up with some mnetters?!!

and at night merryn is just swaddled in a sheet with a single layer of blanket, she has one a vest and babygrow as well.

ds4 still sleeps in grobags (age 3) and last night he was a big sweat ball in his 2.5tog one so will need to dig the summer 1.0 tog one out for him. it really is a case of kids just being used to their own climate.

funny i sometimes struggle a bit with the warm weather now but as a baby/child i lived in sardinia and cyprus and positively LOVED the heat and hated moving back to the UK, but now i just get hot and sweaty, i think the heat is harder when you have small children to look after, especially when they want to be held all the time as you both just end up getting too hot.

and yay for william bouncing, i keep forgetting to put merryn in the door bouncer and the other day when i wanted to i couldnt find the metal bar bit.........one of the boys had been using it as a sword and it had disappeared

oh anyone else finding dressing and nappy changes getting harder due to wriggly babies, merryn tries rolling away or just wriggles around so much and lifts her bum and back up off the mat etc that its a pita to get her nappy on and she gets VERY cross now when i dress her, hates me messing with her arms etc, which is a problem as she is soo dribbly that i do have to change her a few times a day!

4mad I'll fb you re muslins

We're going on a road trip around most of the UK....not that anyone wants to see us, we are merely transporting the main attraction [bugrin] We're seeing DH's family in Surrey, mine in the Midlands, our uni/old work mates up in Liverpool, and we have a wedding to go to in mid-Wales. It's a shame DH has had to use his entire year's worth of annual leave for the trip as we're going to be in serious need of a holiday when we get back [busmile]

I'm finding nappy changes slightly easier now he's sucking his feet the whole time cos it means his bum's lifted up for me. I broke one of my fingers a couple of weeks ago and lifting his legs up is still pretty painful so I'm happy he's doing that for me. I give him a little toy to hold when I'm trying to get the new nappy/his clothes on....he can't multitask so once his hands are busy he doesn't bother kicking his legs.

I'm getting a bit worried that William's starting to reject the bottle. Got a bit complacent as he's always taken one well, but recently I've struggled to get him to take more than about 60mls from one. Think I'm going to have to get back into the habit of giving him a bottle feed every day, I just never seem to find enough time to express anymore.

Do you think introducing one formula feed a day would affect my supply?

You should be fine Bunny, Jessica has started sleeping through (13 hours, how long will it last?!) so we've dropped a feed and I'm still fine with supply. I actually feel less 'full' most days now, I think my boobs have reached the more efficient stage!

I did try giving Jessica some expressed milk in a bottle last week but she wasn't really interested, I'm thinking it was just because it was me & she knew the real thing wasn't far away! Who's been offering William the bottle?

I agree with SGJ. Since Norry's been at the CM he's effectively dropped a feed (she's got him into a routine that I never managed ) and my supply hasn't suffered.

Bunny, I love your tip of giving a toy to keep the hands busy while nappy changing. Like William and Merryn, Norry has also discovered his feet and loves playing with his socks. I think he almost got his foot into his mouth the other day! I thought babies were supposed to do that from birth so I've been waiting anxiously with impatience for him to do it :) That said, with his hands holding his toes, nappy changing is becoming a challenge :)

OK, I need your advice as to whether I've been a bit pfb? I gave Norry a stick of courgette to gnaw while we were having lunch with the DPIL. He was sitting on DH's lap so I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention, although at some point I realised he'd managed to bite off the end. I pointed that out to DH and asked him to sit Norry up properly so he wouldn't choke. He didn't really react so I lent over and hooked out of his mouth a enormous chunk 1cm cube of courgette. I didn't really get upset but I guess my voice must have got a bit panicy when I realised quite how big a chunk it was, but DH just said, "he won't choke on that." Norry's 5.5 months now - did I over react? I'm finding it difficult to judge what he can manage as my two friends are firmly on the puree train and look at me when I suggest giving Norry chunks (not that I have any problems with purees, my freezer is full of them, it's just that so far Norry's turned his nose up at all attempts to spoon feed him). I need a slightly less frightening version of AIBU

In other news he finally rolled over from back to front on Saturday and now every time he's on his front has his little legs going like the clappers trying to crawl.

Found you again! Will be back later....

the courgette was soft fenouille, i am thining he would probably have been fine with it, but you are right about making sure he was sitting up properly. it is worrying when you wean them as its very common for babies to gage and choke a little bit as they get used to eating and swallowing etc. i have found it a bit scary with all of mine, but they get there in the end.

i am INGORING comments about babies sleeping through the night...... we have had some utterly crap nights recently. i am assuming its a phase or something, she is a bit sicky this morning and also very farty so maybe she has a bit of a funny tummy? who knows but god i long for a chunk of four hours or more sleep and tbf fair she doesnt need much when she wakes int he night, the dummy or a little pat/cuddle for reassurance but its the constant interuptions to my sleep that are a killer and the lighter mornings mean my children are all waking earlier, i am NOT a morning person. someone remind me when it starts getting darker in the mornings again? 7am is an ok time to get up, anything before that is NOT ok.