June 10 babies are growing apace, teething and crawling all over the place.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Here we are ladies. Let's see if we can manage to chat a bit more on this one :).

Yep cant spell for toffee. Its Cholestasis. Anyway had a sweep today and feeling lots of twinges, cervix was 2cm open and baby and cervix both in favourable positions so heres hoping for the baby coming even sooner than monday.
CSWS Fergus is weaned as my milk completely dried up during pregnancy, has been for about 5 months now.

Getting excited now

aah, now I remember, it's the itchy one. Thanks for the link CSWS.

Goodname that sounds promising from your appointment today and very very exciting.

I have a baby smile he was born yesterday morning at 4:52 and weighed 7lb12. Fastest labour ever, dh drove through every red light on the way to the hospital and just made it. Baby was born about half an hour after we arrived. We are both fine and home now. Sleep is not good so far, totally wrecked as he is feeding constantly. typing with one hand while feeding just now. Oh ds1 is very happy with his new baby brother, not jealous at all so very pleased
lovely not to be pregnant anymore i must say

Congratulations! Fantastic news. x

Congratulations, that's fab. And glad to hear no jealousy yet.

I don't know that Ruth will be jealous, but I think she'll be disappointed when I give birth to a human.

MIL was asking her on Friday if she wanted a baby brother or sister. Ruth thought carefully and then very earnestly said "cat". So now DH is refering to it as a cat, and I suspect Ruth will end up slightly confused!

oh congratulations goodname, how lovely to be holding your new baby boy and good for him that he spared you being induced. Hope tonight goes ok and that your sleep deficit is reduced a bit.

Congratultions

lovey news.

I found two really fine. Until Daniel started walking, which unfortunately was very early. Then he was really jeaous. DD eventually reciprocated in kind// They are starting to do lots of lovely playing together now though, and DS adores DD. DD will too, when he stops biting her.

Congratulations goodname! Does ds2 have a name yet?

LaT - J likes to bite when he isn't getting what he wants too. Ironic really that the baby with no teeth likes to bite .

It's got to be better than one with teeth CSWS. He draws blood! Not good for sibling relations.

Baby is called Finlay but me and fergus call him finney at the mo. Fergus is still getting on really well with him most of the time but he does get a bit clingy when I am feeding Finn. There is a lot of "come here mummy, come and play with fergus" which makes me feel terrible, unfortunately Finn is feeding a heck of a lot the last coupl of days which does not help. I have got through one week on my own now since dh went back to work and it is tough but maybe not as bad as I imagined it could be. As long as Finns not too bad at night I can handle it, one day last week he was so bad I just cried when dh went to work in the morning.

how is everyone else doing?

Goodname, it gives me hope that they're getting on well still!

We had quite a scare 2 weeks ago with Ruth, when she ended up in hospital with suspected meningitis. It turned out to be very bad bacterial tonsilitis, so not too bad in the end, although they were concerned as it can spread beyond the tonsils and cause blood poisoning.

The worst thing was trying to get 4 doses a day of antibiotics in. She nearly ended up back in hospital on a drip, but we eventually found we could hide it in chocolate mousse. A toddler on 4 chocolate mousses a day is not fun to be in charge of! But all ok now.

aah, goodname, Finlay is a lovely name. It's tough when your dp goes to work, so hope you have a better week. I was at my friend's today, whose DS is 3 weeks old and her DD is about 9 months older than Fergus and Alice. Reminded me how tough it is, and I have been trying to be around for her recently.

barbeasty that sounds scary and I am so glad Ruth is ok. Laughed though about your toddler on 4 chocolate mousses comment.

Alice will be 2 on Saturday. She is finally due to move to her own room and is being very demanding about, er, well everything. Took her to a birthday party for a little girl who DS knows, and she now says 'bouncy castle' every time I mention her birthday. I have told her no way. And she said something today about 'on cbeebies' which I realised means she is expecting to see one of those lovingly made cards for her on there when it gets to Saturday. Again, no chance. Two feels like a real milestone for me, and I have to say, I am quite relieved to have got there.

congratulations to all the other thread LOs whose birthdays are coming up

Blimey - birthdays already?! We still have so long to go that I haven't even counted!

Finlay is indeed a lovely name, but I hope you are ready to referee the fights when they both get post addressed to Master F Goodname!

I don't think I've mentioned on here that I have now got a job. I didn't want to start working again, but since dh still hasn't found anything and we are skint I didn't have a lot of choice, so have secured a role in Telecoms for a very well known supermarket, as a business analyst. It is full time, and I started it on Monday this week.

Poor Ruth - she seems to have had more than her fair share of illnesses already.

CSWS well done on the job (even if you'd rather not have to) and I hope it's going ok.

Ruth has developed 2 annoying skills this week: opening crisp packets (crisps now well out of reach), and the messier ability to open yoghurt pots.

Wow crisp opening is quite impressive
Congrats on the job CSWS but sorry its not what you wanted to do. I worked before the baby came but only 16 hours a week so just perfect for a little bit of escaping without missing fergus too much. Will your DH be in charge of child care then? Hope you are happy enough with everything in the end.
WhenwillIsleep how is your sleep going these days? Ours is very interesting. Fergus is mostly in with DH and Finn with me but to get some sleep sometimes we swap over. Fergus still wakes a couple of times and wants one of us but he goes straight back to sleep. I realise we should sort this outt but too tired and just not the right time. Anyway he seems like an angel compared to newborn sleep!
Fergus is very demanding also bu mostly just wanting attention or forbidden food rather than bouncy castles.

Well goodname timely that you ask about sleep. After 3 hours and 20 minutes and many declarations of 'I don't like it', Alice has gone to sleep in her big bed in her own room. I am now thinking that big bed and new room is too much in one go. However she is in there and goodness knows what the night holds. Although I have some ideas. DH and I didn't plan this enough with hindsight, just thought that she would be so pleased to be in her own room next to DS that all would fall into place. Given that she can't get through the night without at least two but more like four requests for what has become 'booby time', we must be mad. Ok off for a quick glance at the sleep section, because sometimes it has a thread that is just perfect for one's own particular issue, although 'boob mad and insisting on going to bed in wellies' probably isn't there.

See I have a very high tolerance for that wellie sort of thing WWISA. I have finally learned to roll with it after four years of trying to get my daughter to behave like an adult. It's a huge relief and my big achievement of the year.

We have been in the land of sick and poo, but seem to be out of it now. DH is awayand Danny is insisting on getting up at haf four but remarkably, I am wearing it pretty well.

I'm not so pleased with our decision to put Danny in nursery. He hates it. I only wanted to do it for his sake as I thought it would be stimulating for him, but they had to call me to get him last time as he was so upset (he's been going two mornings a week since Easter). They have offered a plan where I go in with him for an hour every morning for two weeks. I did it this morning and it was okish, but then I took him to a normal playgroup and he loved it so I am more than halfway to saying we'll forget the nursery.

It is nice to have a couple of mornings free, but I feel I can do without for a few more months (There's a playgroup he can start at 2.5). I don't really see why he has to do something he doesn't like but I'm sure DH will say that he will get the flack from me not having 'time off'.

What do you all think?

Sorry: I missed this bit!

CSWS- congratulations on your job. Commiserations on going back to work. How is J reacting? Is DH able to be with him?

Barbeasty -I'm sorry for your scare. It must have been dreadful.

WWISA - so how was last night?

Goodname - Finley is a lovely name

Danny seems to think that crisps, lolly, etc are staple foods. If he could get at a crisp packet, I'm damn sure he'd open it. They are all well -hidden now though, or he tantrums every meal time - even at our 4.30am breakfasts.

I have to say the crisp opening involved mainly teeth, and this is now her method for most things- I'm seeing how long it takes her to bite through the seal around a biscuit tin (4 days and counting!)

Lots of early starts (between 5 and 5.30) and sleeping through maybe 3 or 4 nights a week. The thing is we get 2 nights where she sleeps through, then 2 or 3 where she wakes, then back to sleeping through, so you never settle into a pattern. I'm clinging to the fact it's slowly getting better.

LaT- is the playgroup one he's been going to for a long time and is more familiar with than the nursery, as well as having you there and knowing you don't leave him there? It's a difficult one if you don't need to send him, but really benefit from the time he's there.

Well, in the end I took him out of nursery. He seems happier in general, I must say. He's got his last molars coming through now and feeding all the time. When my children's first set of teeth start falling out I am going to plate them in gold. Each one has cost me!

I can't believe I'm still feeding Danny and he's almost two. Has anyone started thinking about birthday presents. I'm ashamed to say I already have everything. He's getting a big train and road set - mostly ebay second hands but with a couple of cool Brio add ons, a small car transporter, a digger, books and a big, big colouring book. He loves to colour in and does it very carefully.

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't checked in for a while. Zoe turned 2 last week and we had a lovely quiet family celebration here. She loved being the centre of attention and even sang "Happy Birthday to me!". She has certainly become more defiant and her tantrums are quite cute at the moment, but I imagine they are set to get much worse. Very interesting thing (didn't notice with DS1 or DS2), but she seems within the last 2 weeks to have become frightened of things that didn't bother her before, e.g a child-size dragon at our local toy museum. I'm wondering if some kind of hyper-awareness kicks in around now and they are more sensitive to stuff.

BIG congratulations on the arrival of Finlay Goodname! I hope all is going well with you and your boys. Also delighted to hear your news Barbeasty - it will be so wonderful to have a new little bundle in time for Christmas.

Hello all....sorry I've not made it onto this thread for a while, but I've thought of you lots :)

I can't believe our not-quite-so-little-anymore ones are all turning 2....doesn't time fly?! Mia is 2 at the end of next week, so we just squeezed in our first family holiday abroad in nearly 2 years ahead of having to buy her a seat....although I'm not sure I will miss her squirming around on my lap for 3 hours next time we go away! :)

Congrats on the job CSWS (even thought its not what you wanted) - remember those are my DSL services you are analysing....PM me if you're ever in Bracknell or London for a meeting with your network supplier and we can grab a coffee :) :)

Amazing news Goodname (and I love the name Finlay!) and lovely news Barbeasty, too! I'm trying very hard not to get broody at the moment....

WWISA - how is Alice getting on? I think we did new bed first, and a room change afterwards....we need to move Mia out of her cot quite soon but I just can't face the challenge....

Speaking of challenges, Mia has decided she wants to be toilet trained. I have no idea how to deal with this, pre-2, so would love some advice if anyone has any? She is insisting on going to the toilet (not a potty) like her big sister, and gets very cross if she does a wee or poo in her nappy....but I can't believe she's really old enough to start telling us when she needs the toilet....any ideas?

As for birthday presents, she's basically not really getting any....she's hardly at home anyway, and doesn't play with any of the things we got her for her last birthday, xmas etc, as she just plays with dd1 and ds' stuff when she's home....so I think it will be: a new doll (because although dd1 shares nicely she'd like her own, I think), a handbag, some new hairclips and something Hello Kitty-ish. I'd love to know if anyone has any other ideas though???

Filly! How lovely to see you here when I was only thinking of you yesterday - what a coincidence!

No idea on potty training this young, but if she can speak to tell you she needs it then it's prob no diff to a bit later.
No likelihood of training J for some while yet, as he's a) a boy and b) only says a few words still. He has the cutest way of saying 'no' though, and his speech is def developing quicker than (v late) ds1. He is also still lacking in teeth - 2 at the bottom front, 4 at the top front, and a couple of molars just poking through a bit.
He is not getting a huge birthday present from us either, as we have so much stuff already. We've got him a drum kit (half price from elc around christmas time - I might be glad not to be at home all the time once he has that ), a melissa & doug latches board (which ds1 will prob like too), and some knick knacks that we've also bought for the other 2 (bubble guns, parachute things). There might be something else small too, but I can't recall what.

We have converted his cot to bed formation recently, but we put a bed guard on it, so he hasn't yet managed to get out himself. I think it took ds1 a few months to twig that he could get out, although he was younger than J when we did it.

I have settled in to work ok now I think. J accepts me going out in the mornings as long as he is either still asleep or I have fed him for a minimum of 15 minutes first! And he wants a feed the moment I get back in too, so I often end up eating my dinner whilst he hangs off me! Dh is doing prob a bit better than I had expected at looking after the kids. He is still job hunting (we'll get a nanny), but unsuccessfully so far.

right, tired now, so big wave to all.

Hi all, DIMB I'm glad Zoe had a nice birthday and filly good to see you on here.

Alice got a model farm for her birthday - we have quite a bit of stuff from DS and as she seems to like it all, I just thought it seemed pointless to buy her a lot. DS did have a microwave that he loved and which broke, so a godmother got Alice a new one. It is uncannily like our RL one and does endless v loud beeping, which A really likes but drives us mad.

On potty training, I spoke with nursery about getting Alice started - over a month ago she came and announced she wanted to do a wee on the potty, and then did one - out of the blue. Cue lots of 'OMG this is what girls must be like!' on my part - and then not much interest. She does say when she needs to wee or poo and come and tell you, but so far her only consistent interest in the potty is in climbing onto it then falling down. She refuses to wait for anything and went head first into the bath fully clothed the other night because she couldn't wait for me to take her clothes off.

Sleep and bf.... aagh. Am thinking of stopping bf tomorrow in an attempt partly to improve sleep and partly because I want to stop. Cannot bear to describe current sleeping arrangements, but DH now querying whether cold turkey is a good way to do the stopping bf and I am going to talk to one of my best friends tomorrow, whose DS is 2 days older than Alice, as she stopped bf a few weeks ago and says she ended up doing it gradually because cold turkey was too traumatic for her and her DS. I admit I'm in a right emotional stew about it because Alice is my last baby and I feel very torn about stopping / not stopping

so there we are. BTW laT how is your hand eczema? I searched MN for useful advice as mine is so bad ATM and found myself reading a useful discussion and thinking how nice the OP sounded - then realised it was you!

Well I think we have progress on the sleep and independence front. I decided to make last Monday morning my last bf with Alice, before she went to nursery. We had 2 very difficult and miserable nights but she has fallen asleep alone in her bed every night. We have been very soft (deliberately) on bed times for this first week and are going to continue being soft for another week, particularly as DS is out tonight and I am out on Friday night. So although Alice has been going to bed very late she did it happily for the last 5 nights and for three of the last four nights she has done a 9 hour stint.

Having agonised for months about giving up bf (partly because she is my last baby and partly because my DS has allergies, asthma, eczema and got admitted to hospital with viral wheeze 2 weeks after I stopped bf, which I have never been able to convince myself was unrelated), and having quizzed 2 GPs, DS allergy consulltant, and googled myself into insanity (concluding the science does not support my guilt re DS), actually I am so glad to have stopped. I have more time for DS, and Alice has rapidly swapped booby for Peppa Pig dvds. Well, hey, whatever works. I have had to speak to my neighbours about potential disturbance by Alice and they have been firm and lovely and told me never to mention it again.... so quite a week really.

CSWS sorry, rudely didn't remember to comment on your return to work, you & your dh sound to be taking it in our stride and I hope it continues to go ok. My DH is very slightly in trouble with me this morning for not washing DS' PE shirt, so I have to run back to school as soon as I can get it out of the tumble dryer. Good job I am working from home today.