*~*~* August 2010 *~*~* where does the time go?

[CherryPie3]

Only 5 spaces left on the old thread - wonder how long it'll take us to fill ths one up?

Happy chatting :)

[thedogwalker]

Thanks Chulita, It is pretty hard going back to work when all I want to do is be a SAHM. I've got 2 years left on my contract and then I can leave, plus plan to have another little one before then so hopefully will get more time to spend with DS.

BF was a way I thought I could remain being close with him but he obviously has other ideas. hey ho, he's growing up and there's nothing I can do about that. They aren't babies for long are they .

[neenz]

dogwalker, sounds like a nursing strike. Almost definitely not self-weaning yet! Have a look at www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html for some tips on how to coax him back to the breast. Even if you haven't fed him for a few days you will soon get your supply going again. Apparently even women who have not BF for years can lactate again if a baby sucks.

Caz, sounds like you have it all very well sorted in your head. I can completely understand how you feel re just being able to take your baby home this time. God bless you and Bow.

We are good here - i think we have another tooth on the way as off his food and waking lots in not (plus he seems to get a fever when teething) - unless he has a virus again to coincide with teething. I did some cc with him again this week which has helped but there is obv something else going on as he is waking at random times.

[Chulita]

belly is E any better?
S has started standing on his own for a couple of seconds which is quite exciting, I can't wait for him to walk so I can let him out in the garden without him eating everything he crawls on!

[bellygazing]

Well, E's sickness bout lasted about 24 hours so not too bad - but meant we had to miss one of her nursery settling in sessions and I couldn't really leave the house. Then we went to a friend's for dinner on Friday which was lovely but I felt sick all yesterday - don't think it was the 2 glasses of wine because I also drank lots of ribena and tea! As well as that, E went on a nap strike yesterday, only managing about 1 hour 15 mins in two naps, one of which my husband had to take her out in the pram for which almost never happens now. And after conking out at bedtime, she woke an hour later in distress so I ended up calpoling and feeding her but fortunately she then slept til about 6.25. I'm proper tired now though, despite a very early night.

[neenz]

Belly, feeling any better today? D has slept through the last 2 nights, unfortunately my other 2 haven't (falling out of bed, shouting me to put the covers back on, wanting to go to the loo ) but I do feel better than if D had been waking too! Weekends go too fast - I really appreciate having DH around to help out. D had a virus last week so nights were disturbed and now I have it (sore throat and stuffy nose). D is better though hence the sleeping through.

D is still not babbling (he doesn't really make any noises except screeches) but he is commando crawling now and tries to pull himself up on stuff. He can stand for a while holding on to something.

[marzipananimal]

quiet on here!

How is everyone? dogwalker are you finding things any better now?

We're doing ok although both have had colds which are hard to shake off. J can climb stairs now . A bit worrying! We weren't planning to do the whole safety equipment thing as we'll be moving house before long but I'm thinking a stairgate might be a necessity. The bannisters only go down to the second step though so he'd still be able to fall off climb onto the first, hmm.

Hope you're all well :)

[bellygazing]

tis very quiet! Was much better on Sunday and e seems fine - although naps have gone a bit unpredictable. E had her first full day at nursery today - it went quite well although she only slept for an hour all day. I can tell she's bonded with her key worker because she had loys of smiles for her. I also managed ok - no tears, but I thought about her a lot and missed her. My longest time away from her!

Back to work next Tuesday and not sure whether I'm more excited, nervous or sad to be spending less time with my little one. i've certainly been prolonging the cuddles the last couple of days.

[bellygazing]

where is everyone? Miss you all - particularly since I'm baxk to work next week and mn time is likely to be severely truncated.

[Chulita]

I'm here, just hardly anyone posts so I sort of forget to check this thread! Has E settled well into nursery? That's lovely that she's getting on well with her key worker, at least you know that she's not missing you too much even if you find it very hard to leave her!

neenz S has been climbing stairs too, he fell down two stairs today while I was distracted and forgot to close the stairgate. He's just so quick! We have a gate on the living room cos otherwise he's in the kitchen or playing with the phone/router wires.

Are you looking forward to going back to work belly?

Got any pg ladies to doula for yet neenz?

[LCRLCR]

I am always here too, always keen to see how you ladies are doing. S is 9 months old today ahhhh. She is pushing herself backwards so not long until she figures out forward motion eeek! Still just the 2 bottom teeth, eats absolutely tonnes but BFs have dropped right off to 4 very quick ones in a whole 24 hours. Anyone doing anything nice for the long weekend?

[Chulita]

We're hoping to take the children out on the bikes, we just got L a seat since S has nicked hers. It's still really windy here but hopefully we can just get to the woods and have a good old pootle round.
S still only has the bottom two teeth too but it he's definitely getting at least one top one (a little bit's broken through) and it looks like maybe the other top and two more bottom so the next month could be interesting...
He's still in 6-9 month clothes despite being 10mths, his pjs are the next size but they are huge on him. He was standing next to a 7 month old yesterday and she was taller than him he's only little!

[bellygazing]

hi, girls, I am looking forward to going back chulita but I'm a bit apprehensive about how it's all going to work as my childcare arrangements are such that the routine will be a little different almost every day - DH looking after her Monday, nursery Tuesday, me working from home Wednesday and Thursday with my mum looking after E here, then day off Friday. i just hope it all works!

LCRLCR good to hear from you, I have deliberately gone down to three BFs, morning, bedtime and one in the middle of the day to make it work while I'm at work. That said, E woke at 5.20 this morning and I wasn't about to get up then so I fed her and put her back to bed and fed her again when she woke at 8.10.

[marzipananimal]

chulita J's still wearing some 3-6 months clothes even though he's nearly 9 months and big for his age I think they've just stretched as he's grown.
LCR J's just having 4 feeds in 24 hours too - such a transformation I can't quite get over it! No weekend plans particularly, hopefully just plenty of time to relax and catch up with some friends.

How many naps are your babies having now? J's been having 2 since about 6 months but I think he might be ready to go down to one (eek!). Has anyone else done this? Not sure how it will work out around feeds and lunch.

I went to a breastfeeding group today as a peer supporter. Was a little bit scary but I think I did ok. Poor lady with a nearly 6 MONTH old who has fed pretty much every hour since birth!

[Chulita]

S is still having 2 naps, one around 8 and one around 12. L dropped down to one at about 13 months (I think). I could push him to one but it would have to fit in with L's so might be tricky if he keeps waking up at 6!

I think I'm about to get af, I've had niggling crampy aches for about 5 days now - couldn't avoid it forever I suppose.

Well done for your first peer supporter day marzi, I really enjoyed doing it for the 4 months before I moved :) A 'colleague' on the July thread has a 10 month old who still feeds every 2 hours or so and she's got two older children. I don't know how she's still sane!

[thedogwalker]

Hi all

well I've survived 2 weeks back at work. But long to be a SAHM. My DM is looking after T 4 days a week, she's living with us whilst doing this and he goes to creche 1 day a week. Hope to have full time au pair settled in by the end of June. Will be sad to see my DM leave, she's been wonderful and T loves her to bits.

T still has not gone back to the boob, so no more bf for him, he just won't take it. So now he just has 3 bottle feeds per day. He has 2 naps on most days, but his morning one, is getting less and less. But he still has his 2 hours in an afternoon, every afternoon.

Belly hope all goes well on your return to work. I felt as if I'd never left, everything same old, same old .

All of you talking about crawling and climbing stairs, gosh, T hasn't worked any of that out yet. He can spin himself 360 degrees and occasionally pushes himself backwards, but he is happy just rolling around. I've got a stairgate for when I need it but me thinks it's going to be a while yet.

Chulita, feel for you, hope the cramps go away soon, I'd quite forgotten what they felt like, was a bit miffed when they came back, was quite happy plodding along without them.

Took T on a nice long walk today, before it rained, thankfully, he was asleep by the time we got to the swans with the baby swans, sooo cute. Taking him to a fete thing on Monday, with duck races, see what he thinks of it all, probably sleep through it again.

Hope everyone has nice weekend, take care
xx

[neenz]

I got Af last week too. Only a little bleeding though cos I have the implant so it cuts it right down. No pain either which I only just realised! i got my periods back at 9m with the twins too.

No doula clients yet - I haven't finished the course yet cos got to do a post-course module which includes a book review, which I have just finished reading. Then I can register with Doula UK and hopefully some clients will find me! Will be hard to fit in round childcare but hoping to do some births, fingers crossed.

Daniel slept through again this week 3 nights on trot but still with dream feed so I cut out dream feed last night, he woke at 1am but went back to sleep with just a quick cuddle so hopefully it will be 7-7 now. Me and DH went out for a meal - it was lovely! Having had a few full nights' sleep makes all the difference.

Marzi well done on the peer supporter work. I do two or three groups every week now - I hardly have time to do anything else! I enjoy it though. Every hour since birth, that sounds really tough. It's funny how some babies are isn't it.

[bellygazing]

dogwalker once e started spinning 360s the crawling came very soon afterwards. We live in a flat so no stairs but e is getting very confident at pulling herself up but as herbalance is still questionable we're getting a few bumps to the head.
Elodie is slender but long, which is a pain for clothes as there tends to be masses of space around the middle but everything is getting a bit short. She's in 6-9 months at the moment.

Napwise, we usually get two, a long one in the morning around 9 and then one of variable length and reliability in the afternoon.

One more day then back to work, eek!

[thedogwalker]

Oh Belly I feel for you, I was so worried before I went back, worked myself up, over nothing in the end. T has a fabulous time with his granny and he loves creche once a week. It's us that hurts the most I think, the LOs just get on with it,

Well it will be my 3rd week back and even though I long to be at home, I know he's well looked after.

Hope the bumps aren't too painful for E, I suppose they all have to go through it, not looking forward to it though, I would wrap him in cotton wool if i could .

Take care and thinking of you for Tuesday.

[bellygazing]

Thanks! I try and catch her but sometimes she seems absolutely fine and then seconds later she's thunk on the floor - does that make me sounds like a terrible mum?! I don't think they're too bad, she usually just does a quick cry and is happy moments later after a cuddle.

I'm sure she will be fine, but I have a slightly mad childcare arrangement on my days from home in that my mum won't be arriving til 11.30am - E's usually out for the count 9am to 11am at the moment, but if it doesn't work we'll have to see how it goes. The reality of going back to work is beginning to hit home - I received an e-mail from my news editor with my weekend shift rota, while I only have to do one Sunday in July then a weekend at the end of August, I shall be working the entire bank holiday weekend including the Monday! On the plus side that means I'll get three days off in lieu plus time and a half for the bank holiday but still, seems a little harsh.

[thedogwalker]

Hi Belly was thinking of you today, how did your first day back go? Hope it all went well, bet you cried more than DD

[Chulita]

How're you doing belly? That does sound rubbish re bank holiday, on the plus side you'll get some time off when it's not so busy. As much as I like bank holidays, everywhere is so crowded!
wrt to bumps, S tumbles all over the place and usually has at least one bruise on his forehead. It's all part of growing up and learning to walk!

[girlsyearapart]

Hi all
Just a quick update.
Scan went well though the pix are rubbish.
Due on dec 12 have to re scan on June 6 to do nuchal measurement. Was only 11 wks at scan and baby not obliging.

Right crying baby must go...

[soontobefatnat]

Hello lovlies! Gosh, was expecting to read pages and pages - we are a bit quiet, eh? Still, glad we're all still here and posting. Even if it is quiet, it means a lot to me to check back in here with you all.

A few shout outs to people having speed-read the posts I missed while we were gone. Caz gorgeous, gorgeous rose - and how fitting for Belle. So glad all is well with Bow and can't wait to hear what flavour he or she is! Neez congrats on the doula stuff. You're gonna be amazing. Am so interested to hear how it goes - am planning to apply this autumn for a midwifery degree starting next autumn (crosses fingers and toes). Dogwalker sorry to hear about the end of BF for you. I'm rather dreading that day - it has gone so quickly! I can't believe it. Sounds like you're doing great settling back into life in the UK though. Well done! Belly how's work going? GYA glad the scan went well, if not the pics (grrr, annoying!).

Now can I bury my face into the mumsnet bosom and weep? I should be posting about how fabulous our epic journey to California was, but it seems like I'm finding hard to enjoy anything or anyone these days and wonder if, nine months in, I've had PN depression and just haven't noticed. Eli was sleeping great (for us!) in California. After the initial bit of jetlag, he started sleeping from about 6.30 until 1.30 (ish), then he'd wake again at about 4.30 - 5.00, and then we'd wake him at 7am (both wake ups I would feed). It felt amazing to get that much sleep - if you don't remember, he was waking up every 2 hours before we left.

Well, we've got home, the jetlag is much worse in this direction, he seems to be teething again, he has a cold, is INSANELY impossible to settle (you wouldn't believe how lightly he sleeps. We basically have to hold him if we want him to stay down). Today he napped for 45 mins in total... He's up every 1.5 - 2 hours in the night and awake about 6-7 times before we 'go to bed' in the evenings. I am about to lose my shit. I thought we were done with this. I'm struggling to enjoy my days with him because I'm so tired and so anxious/frustrated about his naps. He's a beautiful, loving boy but I feel like I am so impatient with him because I'm so tired. I slammed my hand down on the table in front of him at dinner time this evening as he flicked a spoon full of food across the room, held food in his mouth and squealed at the top of his lungs... all the sort of frustrating stuff a nine-month-old is supposed to get up to (esp. if overtired) and I can't handle it. I feel like a totally crap mum. All my NCT friends seem to have moved on a bit and are either back at work or drifting about having a brilliant time with their babies and I feel like a total loser, all sleep-deprived and jangly like I have a 3 week-old.

DH and I are arguing like crazy and our holiday has not done what I wanted in terms of rebuilding our relationship/bond. AND one of my NCT friends and my MIL both made me feel weird that I was BFing E so often at this age. I thought we were doing great with food/weaning and now feel really undermined. E is having a feed at 10am, 3pm and 6.45pm (and then two night feeds that are quite short because I cave and can't shush him and pat him all night long and want to get back to bed). Is that weird or okay?? He's on three meals a day.

Anyway, sorry guys to write such a self-absorbed post. I'm just finding being a mum really tough :(

[bellygazing]

Oh nat you poor thing. Don't feel bad about how often you are feeding, don't compare yourself in a negative way to your fellow NCT mums. Sounds like maybe you could do with someone to talk to. It's hard for everyone some days, the people who seem to be swanning around happily are probably struggling with something you haven't even thought about. WRT to breastfeeds, I only cut down a bit because I had to go back to work, as far as I'm aware the World Health Organisation encourages feeding regularly and on demand until 2 (I may have read that on Mumsnet so can't vouch for the truth of it).

So sorry you and your DH are not getting on so well but it's understandable why. Try and find something, some time every day you can do that makes you feel relaxed and happy, even if it's only for a few minutes.

As for work, too early to tell at the moment but the first couple of days have gone okay. Although E had a major meltdown at lunchtime here while my mum was looking after her and I was working in the other room. I ended up going in and feeding her while I had some toast for my 'lunchbreak' but think probably me being there made things worse as she really didnt want me to leave. Separation anxiety I guess.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. And great news on the scan gya.

[marzipananimal]

just time for a quick post - sorry to hear you're having a tough time nat :( Don't feel too bad for getting irritable with him - it would take the patience of a saint not to under the circumstances. Wrt bf, that's very similar to how much J feeds and I was worrying that it might not be enough! Anyway got to go but hope you have a better night tonight and can feel more rested soon x