November 09, new skills are fun - look what I can do now, Mum!

[DontWorryBaby]

New thread for our little handfuls!

No excuses, and no news, DWB ;) I've decided to wait until M turns 2 or I get a job, whichever comes first. I think DH is on board with that... we both agreed that we wanted to aim for a 3 year gap between sibs. (So ask again in 6 mos!)

Helips are you back in the UK? I 've lost track. Did the thrush or whatever it was clear up? Ouch :(

Hello ladies, my it's been quiet, I couldn't find the thread for a while!

DWB ahh Luke sounds lovely and a very good boy letting his mummy sleep! I think it's normal for you to deal with the baby more, especially when breastfeeding, and your dh to deal with the older one. It will change in time and Luke will have a lovely relationship with his dad as well as you.

longway I'm still in Singapore, it's our 1 year anniversary here tomorrow and I can't believe how quickly it's gone. We were originally meant to be here for two years but dh would like to stay for 3 so we shall see. Might be back this time next year or maybe the year after.

My boobs much better, thank you both for asking I have stopped M's morning feed this week and it's going well. Dh goes straight in to her when she wakes up and gives her a cuddle and then gives her breakfast which is great as I stay in bed out of the way so she doesn't ask for the boob! I'm going to wait and see how I feel about stopping her bedtime feed. I enjoy doing it and and it's the only one she has now, once I stop that one that's it, no more breastfeeding for me

Hope everyone else is ok...

DWB, thanks for putting us all back on track. Lovely to hear from your two boys and those good nights. I am hoping to get a good sleeper this time round as well.

helips, I know what you mean about stoping to bf. I was surprised how sad I was when Paula stopped by herself.

So, we are back to London, Paula was quite unsettled after the trip, it is normal, I just think it took her longer this time. And when she was finally better, she got a bad cold. Unfortunately there are a couple of changes now ahead of her, we finally got her bed, we found a nice childminder but it will only be for one morning each week which is certainly not ideal, and the start today didn't go very well, but I am sure that is partly because of her cold.
Otherwise, things are ok, I guess it will take a long time for my husband to be back to normal. He is doing okish but is definitely a bit depressed.
Oh and we have good news too, the level of antibodies in my blood went down! That is really great. I was always optimistic about the baby doing well as he moves so much and kicks so strongly but the weeks of waiting to get those results were actually not helping my confidence. So, now they can hardly find any which was unexpected but simply great.

Hello ladies, It has been a while since I last posted. I have been lurking.

Ursi very sorry to hear the sad news. Hope you are coping ok. Good to hear baby is doing well!

DWB it must feel lovely to have DH home with you and the boys for a while. I'm sure the bonding will improve over the summer holidays. Sounds like you are all doing really well.

We are ok here. Had some bad news that my Dad has prostate cancer. He requires treatment but we're not sure of the next steps yet. He has his MRI scan booked for next week and then we will know more. My emotions are up and down. I'm grateful to have a busy life with my DS' who are the best remedy.

C is kind of sleeping through now. Feels like I have been talking about sleep problems forever! We tend to get 9 hours of sleep and he wakes very early. I can cope with the early starts for now. The teething goes on and on. We are only on 7 teeth so a fair way to go. He is a chatterbox and new words tonight at dinner "and me" as I was dishing up some fruit for dessert. He has become a bit grabby with other children. He goes for the face and hair. Mainly it will happen within our home if another child visits. Trying everything to stop him doing it. He is so playful and friendly and then he goes and does that! Apart from that issue, i do love this age. He is cuddly and sounds so cute when he says "mummy".

Hope everyone is keeping well and that we see some old faces soon. X

Hi Fruit, nice to see you back.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, I hope it is caught early and can be fixed. I am sure that doctors are discussing every option with your Dad, but just wanted to mention a form of radiotherapy called Iodine Seeds. They are specifically used for prostate cancer and are tiny radioactive implants that zap the tumor from within. I know this cause I used to work in the production of them in my first job. An age ago. Worth investigating, perhaps? Anyway, tell me to butt out if you already know this.

Good to hear about C doing so well, finally some sleep! I know what you mean about grabby, Lucy has started to be a bit bolshy with smaller children at nursery Apparently she is ready to move up to the older group, but there's no point as she finishes in two weeks anyway. Just have to bear with the frequent reports of her pushing a child or getting into a scrap, usually over a toy.

We have managed to find a childminder for her to start immediately after the nursery finishes. I am anxious to keep her away from home for a few hours a day and, more importantly, amongst children. Didn't want to wait until the baby is born, just didn't seem right, baby comes, Lucy out the door. I am starting to think more and more about how it will be with a little sister for her. Such an upheaval! Part of me sort of feels sorry that she will have to share us... But the childminder is only for three days a week so am hoping to spend lots of time with her before the birth. And I am also hoping for maybe an odd chance in a week when I will be able to just focus on her alone...

DWB it's really good to hear how well you are managing. Enjoy the time with DH and boys all at home.

Thanks Skorpion Very interesting you should mention the iodine seeds. I have read about them. My parents are are going to be asking the consultant about it. It doesn't appear to be available in all hospitals.

Glad to hear that C isnt alone on the grabbing! I'm a CM so C has to learn to play nice! Hope all goes well with your CM. I'm sure it will be fine. Lucy will enjoy herself and have that home from home feeling. How is your pregnancy going?

I'm feeling like DS1's (who is approaching 6) voice is getting louder and louder! And C copies everyting that big bro does. I can't hear myself think lately! End of term doesn't help matters with all the excitement. Roll on school holidays!

Fruit, I am sorry to hear about your father. I hope you will have soon some positive news. And they really can do great things these days.

grabby, I have to say that luckily Paula got a bit better and is not taking so many toys away as she used too. We have now sometimes the opposite problem that she lets others take her toys away and it then really irritated. And the second opposite problem is that she is actually kissing and huging everyone that comes in her way. And let me tell you not every child likes that! And she is really strong, even for adults it is hard to get out of it. It is funny and cute to watch to a certain degree but it often gets too much for the other child.

CM, we have just started with a childminder too. So far she will be going only 5 hours a week. I don't want her to do long days and unfortunately there is only one day left with this particular CM that she can do part time. Luckily in summer there are more days free so hopefully she gets used to it fairly quickly (we did have a bad start but she was still recovering from a cold)
And I finally found a babysitter who is happy to come often but only for a couple of hours to help me a bit. I am quite relieved about that as DH is working long hours and we have no family here and I wasn't sure how I will cope with 2. And especially now, that DH's mind will be busy with other problems, I am happy to get some extra help and being able to do simple things like finally going to the dentist.

Hi Ladies ,
How are you all doing?Long time no chat, Hope everyone is well! And everyone is enjoying having a toddler. I have to say I am really enjoying this age with Pearl.
Took me a while to find the thread, not as chatty as the old days when we were all pregnant. Anyway just wanted to stick my head in! x

Hi all
Been lurking a while and keeping up with your news, but never seem to have time to post so thought I'd remedy that!
Sorry to hear all the sad news ursi and fruit - hope you're coping ok.

Lovely to hear how all the little ones are developing - I too just love this age, so full of wonderment and funny moments
Ioan is now walking properly (hooray!!) he started about a month or so ago, around the 19 month mark, and was tentative for the first week but then grew in strength. I bought him some new shoes then that were proper walker shoes, at which point the added support just did the trick and he was off!
He is just so funny too, makes me laugh. He sings along to the radio in the car and can sing 'money, money, money' along with Jessie J no problem
Lots of chatter, a lot of which is really quite understandable which makes life so much easier. He loves any kind of vehicle and is very much into his cars and the duplo, which gives him and DS1 something to play with together (or fight over!)
We do have a bit of an issue-ette sometimes with hitting or swiping, but it only seems to be to DS1 so I suspect it's not all Ioan and there is some antagonising there! For those of you with older siblings, how do you tend to manage? Just leave them to sort it out between themselves to a point?

Off on holiday next week and DH is coming too, although DD (17) isn't as she'd prefer the house to herself! Hopefully DH and I will enjoy each other's company and then we can start to think about future plans and where we're going - all seems positive at the moment so am just enjoying that for now.

Well, hope all the pregnant Mums are coping ok with tiredness/nausea/impending births etc. More than one is definitely busier and more stressful, but also more enriching, heart warming and so worth it!!

Hi everyone, hope you are all well and not finding everything too stressful! its gone very quiet on here. Glad to see your post Scarlet. Im guessing all these active toddlers are keeping us busy these days!

Hope you're having/had a good hol with dh scarlotti.

This school holiday im finding a bit of a nightmare, I'm trying to keep them entertained but they are being sooo mischievious at the moment. which you'll probably have seen if you've been on fb recently. mine sometimes hit each other but when I tell them no dont hit they seem to stop, but generally they play pretty well together. (and aiding and abetting each other the naughtiness as well I think.)

I agree, really quiet on here.
I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow, everything seems to be quite low down already, so I have already wondered if I do have those 5 weeks left.
I don't know if I had mentioned but my antibody level went down so that's really good news. But there is still this issue that there would be no blood available on short notice if I needed a transfusion. I suppose that is very unlikely anyway but I still wonder who is responsible to order it and when it has to be done. Today, as I asked if I could go to the birthing unit rather than the normal labour ward, the midwife told me that they might not agree as they couldn't deal with the blood issue (I don't see how a rare blood type is affecting the likelyness of bleeding but ok, I'll accept that) whereas in the labour ward they can take my blood when I come in and send it off (where?, the hospital needs to send my blood somewhere else to get it checked as they can not do it) and then I will get a transfusion when needed. As I had a short labour with Paula, I really don't see how this is supposed to work. I doubt that a couple of hours is the "ordering well in advance" that the lab keeps suggesting on the result prints.
In theory I know that everything should be fine, Paula's birth was relatively easy and quick, so there is no reasin why the second one should be a problem. But it will be difficult to stay calm if I can not have confidence in the care that I am receiving. So I am trying hard to focus on the fact that the child seems to be very strong and active, sometimes even painful in his movements.

Paula is very funny these days, making lots of "jokes", walking in funny ways (sidewards, backwards, biiiiig steps,...), making funny noises and faces,...
And she got extremely clingy, I suppose she senses all the new changes coming. She sleeps through most nights but that's kind of too late for me as I don't :)

Right, I hope you are all going to enjoy a lovely weekend with some sun (please not too much heat here in London :) )

Really quiet here lately! Toddlers are very time-intensive, aren't they? :)

Any updates for us, Fruit? Thinking of you and your dad xx

How was the holiday, scarlotti?

ursi Great news about the antibody levels, but frustrating that they won't sign off on your using the birthing unit. Very exciting that you're so close to meeting your new LO :)

helips best wishes on the weaning... I definitely found it :( while it was happening but ultimately it was liberating. Good on you for keeping up the bfing so long!

M is so fun these days, really a capable little person so much of the time! I hung up a prism in our back window last week, and now she looks for "bainbows" in the afternoon. On the other hand, she climbed out of her crib last night - we heard a big THUMP followed by her screaming around 10pm and rushed in to find her on the floor. She was fine, and I was able to lower the mattress a bit to make it harder for her to try again, but I was really hoping not to have to worry about that for a while longer!

I had a job interview last week, the most promising one yet. Hate to talk about it for fear I'll jinx something. Very close to our house, and I already have a childminder lined up from their desired start date... just have to wait and see what they say...

Do any of you get regular exercise? It's impossible, right? Argh. I was never a big fitness freak but I used to get some long walks in when I wanted to. Now M won't tolerate being in the stroller for so long - she wants to walk, at her own (slow, slow) pace. Good exercise for her but not for me. Advice?

Hi everyone, been majorly awol here, sorry. End of term workload then the bliss of holidays has distracted me from the puter. Good thing really I suppose.

Had a lovely few days in Peak District last week as FB might have shown you and now got a weekful of visitors (Dad, uni friend&family, DH's friend then DH's friend + girlfriend. All by Sunday!) so off to do the required housework... Luckily Roo at nursery til lunchtime.

Exercise longway? My only exercise is cycling to and from work. Put Rosa on the back instead of push-chairing into town sometimes. Any good? Oh, and good luck with the, er, you know - don't want to jinx anything either

scarlotti - hope your holiday goes well with the boys & DH. Hope your house survives a week without you!

ursi - hope you feeling ok and not too HOT!

juicy - any more shampoo/talcum powder disatsers? !

Thanks MsI!

I can now officially, unjinxably report that I got the job. And am totally bawling like idiot because I think I'm am going to miss staying at home so much! I don't even know which way is up

Congratulations LongwAY!

Tell us more about the job?

I have real moments of panic about my new job in September - going to be full time but we'll just have to take it as it comes...

Congratulations, longway! That's good news!

MsI, I'm with you on the panic about September

I am feeling ok, those last two days have been really hot though. I wouldn't have thought it could be such a difference. Even knitting made me breath heavily.
DH left for 5 days, my parents will come for the weekend, just in case but until then I am on my own and only have not so great back up plans for Paula if I went into early labour or anything similar. (I mean nice and trustworthy people but Paula doesn't know them well enough). He had to go there 3 days earlier than originally planned as his mum wanted him to come and sort out some legal problems together (after the loss of his dad) and cut the hedges (which about 3 different neighbours and relatives have already offered to do). As it turns out he isn't needed to meet the solicitor, just had to sign a paper so she could have told him easily to stay with his heavily pregnant wife. I don't mind that as I had accepted it already weeks ago but I do mind her asking him now many times how he can leave his heavily pregnant wife on her own. She even sounded disappointed when I said that my parents were coming to stay with me. And this morning again she was full of pity that I had to be on my own for the next couple of days. I find that really cynical but obviously I can't say anything as it would make things only harder for DH. So I need to bitch about it a lot to make sure I can get my feelings out without saying anything in front of the wrong people. Thanks for listening

Well done longway! I'm sure it will all fall into place.

MsI- please remind me what your job is? My memory is so bad!

Have got back from holiday this week. We had 10days in Spain and felt wonderful to be in the sunshine and not have to cook or clean! Not so easy to relax with C running in all directions. DS1 was entertained by the kids club. He loved the little bit of independence it gave him.

My Dad had a MRI scan last week to check the cancer hasn't spread. Waiting for those results still. We are at standing point until next week and then hopefully the scan results will be ok and we can concentrate on the prostate treatment. I will update as and when.

Ursi- you are more than welcome to moan any time. Hope the next 5 days go past quickly for you.

Scarlotti- how was your holiday?

Fruit - I'm a primary school teacher. This last year been doing 5 mornings on a 1-to-1 teaching programme in school but from September will have my own class of little darlings again... Glad you and the DCs had a good holiday. Thinking of you and here for you while you wait for the scan results for your dad.

Yes, let it out ursi!

Hello everyone!

I have been away for long that it's taken me nearly an hour to catch up on what's been going on (between reading, having puzzles pushed at me and putting shoes on and off)

Ursi I am very sorry to hear about your FIL, it must be very hard for you all, especially you and your dh having to deal with your own grief and your mil's demands, I hope things start to get easier soon.
Not long until you meet your lo, how are you feeling? Paula sounds like a lovely little girl.

Fruits So sorry to hear about your dad, fingers crossed they have caught it early enough and it's not spread.

Longway Congratulations on the new job

I've been having a rough time lately, I am now on anti depressants and starting to pick up a bit but it's a slow process.

Hen is a cheeky little chap, he has finally learnt some more words and I love to listen to him singing and chatting. However he is so clingy when we are at home, I end up having to carry him around with me most of the time.
We are also having loads of tantrums!

Sorry to ramble on, I hope the rest of you are doing well and I promise to pop in more often.

It's called 'cucumber season' in Poland, silly season here, I suppose. Summer in full swing and not much going on anywhere...

Longway, congratulations on the job! Glad to see that things have turned out well after all. Hope you'll enjoy it. When do you start?

Fruit, hope the tests come back OK and your Dad can receive the treatment with no problems.

Ursi, how are you getting on? By all means, moan on here, it is much safer, you're right.

Tigger, sorry to hear you're down. Hope the a-ds work well and progress is made. I have the same thing with Lucy, insisting on being carried a lot... not so good at seven months pg...

MsI, sounds like busy time for you, hope all went well.

Pg going fine, 34 weeks nearly gone. I have just started my second week of mat leave. Enjoying staying at home pootling about, although have got quite a bit of bookkeeping work to be getting on with. My only bug is a very bad lower back, saw physio for it last week and got some excercises but it hurts pretty much all the time...

Lucy is doing fine at the childminder's so that's a relief. I am enjoying the time I have with her now as well. She chats away all the time in English, Polish and Lucy, amazingly understands pretty much all we say to her and can respond correctly. Well, she either does what we ask or looks us in the eye, smiles and does the opposite, but she understands at least!

We're going through a weird phase of fear of water, not sure what's going on. She suddenly freaks out at bath time, even though she loves playing with water in her sandpit... I took her swimming on Friday and pretty much spent the whole time with her clinging to me like a little monkey and wimpering... I will take her again and take this veeeeery slowly.

Am with you on the walking as well, last Tuesday it took us an hour and a quarter to do the usual 15 min walk from the CM. With a few points where she refused to go into the pushchair or walk and I refused to carry her thrown in.

Anyway, enough waffling from me, must dash and pick her up. When I say dash I mean waddle, of course.

Love to all!! xx

Tigger good to see you back. Sorry you've not been feeling so great. Hope the ads start to work for you.

Funny reading the last couple of posts as we are going through, fear of the bath, follows me everywhere and cries when I go out of sight, and a few paddies!

C is talking well. Not stringing words together, maybe a little. But words keep popping up and he is interested in all moving vehicles, insects, animals and loves looking at the sky. He has some new reigns as he bolts if I let him loose. He love them and walks so lovely. We are having some bad nights since we got home from our holiday. Having to work on the sleep problems again.

Skorpion- I had lower back pain with my first pregnancy. I feel for you. Not long to go now. Glad you're enjoying mat leave and L is enjoying her bit of time with the CM.

Well tomorrow I should hear some news on my Dad. Thank you all your kind words.

Thanks for the good wishes on the job, all :)

tigger Sorry to hear you've been down. Hope things improve soon, with the help of the ADs or otherwise.

skorpion I start next Monday, so I'm trying to savor these last few days at home with Maeve. Lucy sounds just like her right now! M went from loving the bath to hating it overnight, it seems, but still loves playing with water from the tap, etc. DH has started bringing her in the shower with him and she seems to enjoy that OK. We also have some looooong walks where she refuses to walk forward or get in the stroller. Sometimes she'll stand and smell flowers forever, obviously enjoying how annoyed I'm getting! Little devil.

ursi rant on!

Thinking of you and your dad, Fruit xx

Just found out today (on Facebook, grrrrr, some people need etiquette lessons!) that DH's grandma passed away. Sad news but not unexpected, and amazingly, it happened while her entire immediate family was visiting for a summer holiday, so nobody has to travel for the funeral. She turned 90 last Christmas and had a very colorful life behind her. I'm grateful to have met her, and it will be sad not to see her next time we're visiting that side of the family. Not meaning to bring anybody down with this news - she's definitely the kind of person we'll celebrate more than mourn. Cheers

Hi everyone

Fruit I hope the family are coping as well as can be expected with your dad?s illness. Thinking of you all.

Skorpion & Ursi I can?t believe your babies are due so soon! Luke was eleven weeks old yesterday. It actually seems to go quicker second time around! Hope you are both keeping well and you enjoy these final few weeks with one child at home. I found my second labour much quicker than the first, I was more relaxed but it was very intense and a bit traumatic so prepare yourself for things to be very different this time. Looking forward to hearing your good news soon.

Longwayaway Many congratulations on the new job, I hope this change works well for you. Is your husband staying at home with M now? We?ve only done that for a short period, I think around 6/7 weeks when I went back to work and DH?s school summer holidays started in 2010. I think we both benefited from seeing how the other half lives, so to speak. Hope all goes well on Monday. Sorry to hear about your DH?s grandma. It?s very typical of facebook nowadays. I was quite annoyed that DH?s brother and cousin had commented on our facebook pages about both our babies arriving before we?d made the announcements ourselves. Funnily enough, DH?s brother is now expecting a baby and one of the first things he said was ?don?t mention it on facebook? as it was early days when they told the family. There?s never a good time to say ?like you did when Luke was born?? as it?s already in the past. Some people just don?t think.

Tigger Hope you are doing ok.

Interesting to hear what you?re all saying about wilful toddlers walking. DH should be working in the next few weeks (hopefully) and I?ll probably be using public transport to get out and about with the boys. We have a twin buggy, which I don?t think would fit on a bus, or single pram with buggy board but I have decided I?d need something like reins or a wristband for the toddler when we are near roads. Anybody have any experience or recommendations? I don?t usually like seeing toddlers with reins on but I need to know he?s not going to run into the road.

Also ? naps. We put Ethan into a big bed around a month ago. He still sleeps great at night and doesn?t get up after we?ve tucked him in but has stopped napping in the day. I think I still need him to nap he still needs to nap but I?m not sure whether to continue enforcing it (he can play/read/talk/sing for up to 2 hours in bed before eventually nodding off, or before we have to get him up to have lunch or go out) or whether to go with the flow and let him stay awake all day. Might try a few days of 10:30 naptime and if that doesn?t work, try after lunch napping. Hopefully one or the other will be right for him, for another few months at least.

Waves to everyone else - hope nobody is affected by these riots, what a horrid few days it has been. xxx

Hi everyone. lovely to see lots of familiar faces back!

tigger sorry to hear you've been having a difficult time and hoping you're feeling a lot better very soon. Good to hear your news.

skorpion hope you're feeling ok. 7 months! can't believe there are going to be MORE new Nov 09 babies so soon.

DWB Poor you with the question of no naps... we still have to have one and often still two in a day, although think that'll be going soon. Rosa's in a cotbed so we can take the bars down whenever we want. She moves around a lot though and I often find her squashed up into a corner or the side so I'd be worried she'll fall out. Did you move Ethan so then Luke could have his cot? Which other little ones are in their own beds?

A funny story about new words. Rosa has been picking them up so quickly recently. DH was trying to fix the bin this weekend and Roo was...well, getting in the way! As they do. He said to her 'Daddy's busy Rosa'. I came downstairs and she grabbed me and said 'Busy! Busy! Busy!' Now whenever DH isn't around and I say, 'No, Daddy's not upstairs' or 'Daddy is working' she says 'Busy!' Poor DH. He is the most hands-on dad but being tarred with an always-busy brush!

On another subject - anyone watching The Hour on Tuesday nights. Really enjoying it here.

Fruit, I hope you had some good news about your dad

longway, sorry to hear about your DH's grandma.

Thanks all for asking, I'm feeling fine, I should still have almost 4 weeks but I am not so sure about it. Since weeks, things seem to be ready (not me though ) I'm very often experiencing really low pressure. Today is really crazy again. He is still moving a lot, there is this incredible pressure on my bladder, I can hardly walk. I don't actually remember if it has been that bad with Paula but I do not think so.
Other than that I'm feeling really fine, I even sleep a bit better again lately.
I just hope I will manage to get to the due date (the scan brought it forward anyway, so originally I thought I will surely go over it) as now we would have a fairly available babysitter, but she is living a bit too far away to travel across London anytime of the day. And she will be going on holiday in about a week. Then there are 10 days without anybody who could watch Paula. Then there is a week with my MIL staying until the due date (she is ok for walks in the park but I'm not convinced about more important and independent stuff like getting Paula to sleep, but at least Paula would be with someone she really likes) and I really don't want to have a tiny baby, maybe suffering of a bit of babyblues and having to deal with MIL. And from the due date on it will be my mum staying. So that would be the ideal time but that is still almost 4 weeks away and it just doesn't seem very realistic.

It's so funny to read all your stories about our Nov09 babies and how similar they are to Paula.
She is mostly a funny child and trying to entertain people. She wants to walk all the time by herself which takes ages as there are just too many things to watch.
And we get huge tantrums over nothing. And there are only very few rules she actually accepts. Very often she doesn't even seem to hear me. Not sure if that is an age thing or inherited from her daddy