Jan 09: New thread, new babies, new year...our tiny newborns turn two and are full of birthday cheer....

[hackneyzoo]

Hope no one minds....I took an executive decision

Managed to persuade DS to stay in the bottom bunk tonight as he was very tired but also he kept asking to go in it and for the last week or so as soon as he's got up 3 or 4 times I've put him in his cot and given up until another night. So maybe (touches wood) he's finally getting the message on remaining in bed and going to sleep at bedtime. I did have to put all the books away and the two toy buckets of Barbie paraphenalia in the hall, as even though it's dark in there he was still trying to find them in the dark instead of staying in bed. I gave him some warm milk in the end and he seemed to settle.

I really want to free up some room in their room and gettng rid of the cot would be so great. It's just full of toys in there. DS is strong willed and tenacious and I don't think this getting him used to a bed will be easy Bedtimes have been so great for such a long time when he was in the cot as he's just settled so easily in there at bedtime. Maybe I should forget about it and put him in the cot again for now after tonight

Hope it goes ok tea. We took the cot down and made a big deal of it with DS and that worked really well. He's only been in the bottom bunk since boxing day and seems to have settled into it. There have been a few nights where he thinks its hilarious to keep getting in and out, but have just sort of ignored him and plonked him right back in bed. Just keep going with it, he sounds like he's getting the hang of it.
Its so nice to be able to free up some space, especially when you are drowning under toys!
It feels funny that these tiny babies are two and sleeping in big beds.

Spoke too soon...just heard footsteps and had to deposit small person back in bed.

Well MW came this afternoon, gave me a sweep and I am ready to go, 1cm dilated etc...not that that means much. But she has booked me in for induction on Thursday which I am not happy about. She said to go in and tell them I don't want to be induced. Partly because it is DS's birthday on Friday, I share my birthday with one of my sisters and it was a bit annoying (more for her than me) but don't want DS to have the same thing. Also I worked out my EDD was 12th so I think they could hold off until after next weekend if it comes to it. ANyway, hopefully it won't be an issue...

Bargain boots Tink!

Right, off to bounce on ball...

Thursday is a few days away. Baby could be here before induction.

Tea I know it sounds extreme, but go cold turkey. Get rid of the cot. I understand about the toys though... we can't have any in DD's room but the bed dolly's. She has three of those and every time she got out of bed, we took one away after one warning. She no longer gets out of bed, but will sing and chime Mummy Daddy incessantly some nights. The singing I don't mind. Calling for us for one more hug gets tedious though, especially when you're dying to get to bed yourself or watch a bit of tv. I know, selfish mummy.

Miss J is back I see from FB ooooo how fab

Can't wait to see more pics and see how her bump is growing and to hear more about Australia.

I'll mull over your suggestion GotArt as my DD wasn't too bad at learning to sleep in a bed and stayed there with the same sort of stuff you did but DS is seriously different. So in some ways I'm feeling unsure in this new territory.

Tea - we also got rid of the cot. I know what you mean about them being a different breed.

HKZ - sending you relaxing, not thinking about induction and labouring soon vibes.

Off to deal with the chaos of life. I'm fairly certain I clean endlessly (or maybe I just think I am cleaning when really I'm on FB/MN) and still my house is coated with a permanent layer of detritus. I blame the dogs, and the children.

He didn't wake at all last night once asleep in the bed. Not sure I can face trying to get him to nap in the bed yet, as I reckon I'd spend a lot of time returning him to the bed and I'd get very cross. I need my time alone whilst he's napping to regroup as a single mum. But if he settles easily in bed again tonight then I may think about trying naps in his bed and if he's ok then I'll take the cot down. I think I'm taking baby steps in some ways to try and make life more bearable for me as I have no back up help.

Glad you had a good night Tea. If it reassures you at all, DS refused to stay put in bed for daytime naps for about a week and then started asking to go to his 'big boy bed' for a sleep! I was just resigning myself to naps being a thing of the past too, so am very glad eh reinstated them!

Lenni, dogs and children just create a permanent level of 'not quite tidy and not quite clean'. After another marathon cleaning session by DH last night (due to male nesting ) we were discussing where all the mess came from...our house was never that tidy pre- kids but it was nowhere near as grubby!

Am carrying on with life as normal. Think I feel pretty confident in refusing an induction as long as all is ok with baby. I am very sure of my date as opposed to the dating scan and am happy to argue that point. Everyting I've read points towards 42 weeks+ being quite normal gestation with very minimal raised risk factor. I live 5 mins from hospital so can easily go in for monitoring and will agree to induction in a flash if baby is in any distress! Hopefully it will be here by then anyway.
DCs have a birthday party to attend this arvo and I have a huge slab of lamb to slow roast. DH is having a lie in, he as been working flat out, he ad to get 2 essays in for his MA by last friday and was working til about 3 each morning to get them done before the baby arrived...so will leave him until the DCs start compromising my sanity!

Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday!

Ohh, and welcome home Miss J...looking forward to hearing all the gossip. Bet N had an amazing time, am very Trying to work out were we can go this summer with 3DC... it might well Wales

morning

good luck hkz
tea you are doing great

hi lenni

will probably try dd2 in her bed soon she is 2 on wed

relaxing today

Meant to add, 120, good luck with H's party today, hope it goes well. And happy birthday H for tomorrow! x

Lenni....just walke dinto my clean and tidy front room.... it's been ramsacked by vandals small children....a whole 6 hours of tidiness gone!

OK ladies I'll take his cot down you've all given me courage.

I understand your reluctance Tea, as it is so nice having that time when they are in their cot and you get some time to yourself. And that time must be doublely important for you. In fact, with Jude, the cot has been a great way of containing him!

I have a stairgate, which I very rarely close, on Jude and Lily's bedroom door, that might be a good idea just as a thing to have there iyswim. Even if J doesn't nap I can close it and he plays happily without bugging me every two minutes.

On a different note and a bit TMI.... lots of show/mucus plug today and I think my waters are leaking (or I am pissing myself ) am not sure though, my waters have gone during transition with the last two.
Anyway, I refuse to get excited until my contractions are three minutes apart at least and bloody hurt!

Would anyone like my children's old Konfidence float suits one is pink and white stripped age 2-3 years, the blue and white stripped one is age 1-2 years. I could ebay them but I'm worried about someone claiming it's damaged on arrival or something and having a hard time, I also do not have a rating as a seller etc. Just be nice to post them to someone lovely on here.

Cot down now and room hoovered and tidied.

Tea I know it'll be hard at first, but DS will get use to it. You could have a cot taking down ceremony with him, have a nice juice and cupcake or something. DD 'helped' DH put the crib to bed and that was pretty good. We all had a cookie and drink and let her bounce around on it for a bit.

HKZ 5 minutes from the hospital is pretty sweet. You're having a home birth aren't you? I laughed thinking of you in labour taking a stroll down to hospital. Ours is out on the highway, no way you would walk to it. Nice on DH getting his essays out of the way before baby comes. I couldn't imagine trying to deal with that, even without having LO attached to my boob.

We're very lucky to have a kid that likes to play on own as much with kids. While my friend was sitting for her one afternoon, DD didn't want to sleep while her LO was so she was playing and friend was trying to play with her and she said DD looked at her and said something but gave her the look like 'Its ok, I can play by myself'. Too funny.

This morning DH went off to work at 4.30 to make bread again. I hate these morning shifts he's been doing. Screws up our routine plus it wakes me and then I rarely get back to sleep in time before DD wakes up. When DH has been gone in the morning, she has taken to turning on the bedside lamp. The third morning she did it, I didn't hear her come in, then the light went on, and she was standing there all big eyed and smiley and yelled 'Oh! Mummy! hahaha' Good morning to you too babe.

Tea sorry... missed the cot down now and room hoovered and tidied post.

HKZ - any news? If waters leaking and nothing doing then ring your MW, sure you know this. Really hope you are busy contracting though.

Mess, yes. The dog has just trailed mud through the living room, I hired a carpet cleaner before christmas and am now asking myself why I bothered. Sigh.

Tea - yes, I know what you mean about needing your space. My DH is away a lot and like today when he's been away a while I pray for naps. I'm lucky that I have a lot of family support and DH is very hands on when he's here. I often think of you when I've done a couple of weeks on my own and am flagging. It must be hard to keep going with no real respite. DS has rarely obliged with naps buy today has slept for the last 2.5 hours, I really should wake him otherwise I'll be waving goodbye to my evening.

DD is mithering me, think that's my prompt to go.

I skipped his nap today in the hope that he'd settle easier for bed if he was shattered and then put him to bed at 6pm. It's very dark in their room and he can't master opening the door, so I just shut it behind me on leaving. I only had to go in a few times and then it went quiet.

Be interesting to see as night times stay lighter for longer how things will be then and also if I can get him to play ball on naps this week without being contained in a cot. As he does need them still and had dark circles under his eyes and kept throwing tantrums this afternoon.

My goodness... even when DD misses her nap, I can't get her to bed before 8pm. Its the whole routine after dinner she is so accustomed to now, but I suppose that's ok. Keeps things the same so I don't get many surprises. We have our walk/play time after dinner but I do notice if we lounge, like what usually happens on DH's days off, she is harder to settle at night and we have to go in a couple of times. She thankfully doesn't get up out of bed anymore. When we move to the new place, we are getting a double bed for her and that will be it till she moves out, and she can take the bed with her.

Evening
Hkz sounds promising
Hi other ladies
Hv had a gd day here
Dd1 started trampolining today luved it
Doing instead of swimming

He usually goes to bed at 6 or 6.30pm generally as does DD, latest is 7pm but not often, but DS still has a 90 min nap in the day too and they both sleep until 7am usually, sometimes later. I did want to get him into bed at 5.30pm instead tonight as he was so tired but couldn't quite manage it.

They're both good sleepers. But dinner is always 5pm here followed by the bath, story and bed with warm milk. So a different routine here but I love the long evenings alone

DD went through a bout of that, mostly due to lack of sleep over a month or so from a cold that she couldn't shake, but she still does the occasional one, which I to ignore, but am seething inside myself as I don't want to listen to it. The line we've been using to amuse ourselves, about the 'no more crying; you're disturbing people who wipe asses all day' seems to work. Not sure why. My girlfriend said it must be because I'm explaining why she shouldn't be crying instead of telling her to stop crying. I just say mostly cause it gives me a giggle.

We put DD in the bed right after we got back from holidays cause she was sleeping in beds the whole time we were away, we figured it would be a great transition time. Otherwise, she may still be in the crib. A couple of her friends are but only cause parents are more afraid of them falling out while sleeping. DD only did that a couple of times. She likes to dangle her legs and arms over the edge, so before I go to sleep and DH we just check on her, rearrange her and she's been fine. No mishaps... she dreams a lot though.

You cruel woman HKZ, either you have to come back with baby pictures so we can drool, or with news of impending baby pictures. How am I meant to sleep with the threat of missing a live labouring woman type thing...

Sorry for the suspence....everytime I post anything about possibly being in labour on MN it all grinds to a halt so I am being cautious

Contractions every 8 mins at the moment, definitely not BH and getting on the verge of being a bit hurty. Think I might try and get some sleep and possibly give MW a bell if things pick up.....

suspense Shocking spelling

Yayayayayayay! Please go and cleanse my thoughts from your facebook wall though before your friends and family destroy the labour place with millions of phone calls! Sorry about that. I get easily over excited.