*~*~* 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 :)

LOL Belly at Rabbi and Imam! Brokering a peace deal already? Now THAT is what you call an advanced baby.

LCR We're going glamping in Dorset next weekend (a Featherdown Farm). Just dipping our toe in the water in preparation for the Green Man festival in August. We've finally booked our tickets! My biggest concern is how to keep E warm at night/keep him from getting wet from the dew. I guess he just needs to be raised up from the groundsheet... Any thoughts? Hope you have a fab time! PS we read exactly the same books as baby prep - except Kate Evans Food of Love. Wassat?

haha impressive vocab belly. We think J said hello once but it's mainly shouting, blowing raspberries or cackling with him, with a few babas thrown in.
nat what's glamping? Will you not be in a tent?!
Have fun LCR. I've been camping a few times in recent years but don't think I could cope with taking J - your'e very brave or mad

you're obviously

S says 'oh no' regularly we obviously suggest things he's not fond of!

I couldn't take our two camping, I absolutely love love love camping but we just wouldn't sleep. At all.

Marzi - yes, glamping is a stupid Sunday supplement truncation of glamourous (I think!) camping. We'll be staying in big canvas tents with rooms, wooden floors, beds and a wood burning stove. It's not really camping at all but I am looking forward to it!

Chulita yes. I too am shuddering re the prospect of NO SLEEP AT ALL with Eli when we go proper camping. A few people have told me that all the fresh air makes babies sleep really soundly - but whenever people tell me stuff like that I think to myself, grimly, 'Not this kid!' Case in point was our flight out to California - was on the plane 12.5 hours in the end (delayed on runway so that 55 school kids could join the flight, in our cabin!) and he slept 40 mins. 40 mins the whole flight!!!!! Everyone claims babies sleep well on planes. Anyhoo, maybe a miracle will have occurred by August and Eli will be sleeping like a log all night long.

Well we've had a big week here - not only did S start clapping this week but is now a crawler too! Camping was great fun - it was just the one night but totally fine. We had S sleep between us on a blow-up mattress with a duvet underneath, a duvet over us plus she was in her pjs, tights and a sleeping bag so super cosy. Lucky the sun was shining yesterday as it wasn't so nice today packing down in cold rain. Top 2 teeth finally coming through!

Nat Food of Love is a really well-written and well-illustrated book about breastfeeding. Totally charming and really informative

That sounds very civilised nat. When you said about keeping the dew off him I had visions of you sleeping out under the stars!

LCR I really liked The Food of Love too - really funny as well as informative.

DH has the day off today and we took J swimming this morning. Was really fun, he loved it and is now crashed out in his cot. I hope it makes him sleep well tonight, the last 2 nights he woken up twice around midnight then at 4 AND 5am. Grr.

hi chulita, on my pumping break at work! It was a sort of mutual thing, she wasn't really demanding them so I
offered less. Found she was just as happy with a snack for one of the feeds...

That said, she does occasionally try to get into my top and get busy but I think thats a game as much as anything.

Love camping but need a much bigger tent before taking E!

What is going on with the weather at the moment?! One day freezing and rainy, the next totally BOILING! Not complaining about it being hot and sunny, just sayin'! I took Eli to this brilliant new paddling pool and sandpit in our local park. It has a stream running through it which is fed by a pump that the kids operate. It has rocks to climb on, a massive sandpit, nice trees and grass... E had so much fun. He's napping really well at the mo - nights are a nightmare though. He will only be settled by me, not DH, and is just so wide awake and active in the middle of the night. Hoping all the sandpit excitement will keep him down a bit better tonight!

Ouch ouch ouch - for the past few days S has been biting really really hard and it hurts. I am now getting pretty tense before a feed worried she might slice my nipple off. I notice she does it when she's not too keen to feed but unless I offer, she rarely asks for a feed. Today she fed when she woke up this morning and two abandoned attempts since - one short BF can't be enough for a 10 month old? She has water from her sippy cup during the day but might she get dehydrated? Is she self-weaning? I don't want BFing to end!

OMG I haven't read the thread in an age, so I'm just going to jump in!

F is 10.5 months has 6 teeth with 3 more making an appearance, a very drooly time all round. Her bottom 2 came through first, then the ones either side of her top front ones which made her look like she's gone 5 rounds with Rocky, until the middle ones came through. She's up on all fours but can only crawl backwards , though she does manage to get around with some creative rolling/ bum shuffling/heaving her self about using bits of furniture.

The last few days she's only had a bottle at breakfast and before bed, she was down to 3 bottles before this, with the bottle during the day just to help her off to sleep if she was fighting her nap (I could write a book on the nightmares we've had with her daytime napping). She seems to have 2 routines, if she wakes early she'll nap twice (morning and afternoon, 30 minutes each), if she wakes after 7am she'll nap once at midday for 1 hour. She is terrible if she gets overtired, so I watch her like a hawk for "the signs".

Nights are OKish - after seemingly one cold after another since Easter (her sleeping upright in the pram and me on the sofa for 3 nights - that was fun!), we're finally back to a 7.30pm bed time with a couple of wakenings which are solved by popping the dummy back in (I know, that's another book..) or a quick cuddle, most of which I seem to be able to do without actually waking up myself, I wake up in the morning and honestly cannot remember if I got up to her in the night. Most mornings, she'll wake up about 6.30am, but I bring her in with me and she'll doze for another half hour or so. I can deal with early starts, as long as I get my evenings.

She chatters away constantly though lord only knows what she's saying, I swear sometimes she is making jokes to herself about us as she'll just burst out laughing at something she's just thought of.

Have been doing my KIT days at work and loving it, can't wait to go back, just wish I could afford to have a nanny instead of putting her into nursery. She loves other children, but she likes her quiet time as well. Starting our taster sessions next week at nursery before she starts properly 3 days a week at the end of July.

What are we all doing for Father's Day? I've put together some piccies of just DH & F in a nice frame, if he doesn't shed a tear over it, he's got a heart of stone!

CazandBelle I think of you often and wish you all the joy and happiness you and Jon deserve when your Precious Second Born arrives

Sorry that was a mammoth post!

LCRLCR Can't offer any advice on the nipple chomping, I lasted 5 days before mine got ripped to shreds by gums, never mind teeth!

Nat glad to hear that things have turned a corner for you, here's my tale of woe, so you know you're not on your own!

I found between months 7 and 10 incredibly difficult (much worse than when she was a newborn), so much so that I told DH that under no circumstances was I having any more children (and I really meant it), after yet another night of pushing F around the streets at 10pm in a desperate bid to get her to sleep, I fell through the front door in tears and broke down in a blubbering mess - she was still wide awake in her pram. He was really understanding and just let me get it all off my chest, how shit I was feeling, how bad a job I thought I was doing (I thought everyone else's baby has a lovely 1.5 hour nap twice a day and goes to bed at 7pm - they aren't by the way).

In the end I just decided, bugger it, I slept in the spare room and brought F in with my if she cried in the night, what was the point of me being up every half an hour doing shush bloody pat if we both (her and me) felt like crap the next day (the kind of "I'm so effing tired if I shut my eyes whilst sat on the loo I would fall asleep" kind of tiredness), just so I could say "no I never bring her in with me", tough titty if any says "you're making a rod for your own back", do what you need to do to get a good night's sleep. DH has the monitor on a Friday and Saturday night and I stay in the spare room with earplugs, he'll come and get me if he really needs me - hasn't happened yet. Just a couple of good nights sleep a week really got me through the rest of the week.

I also got out of my mindset that she should be having 2/3 naps a day for x long. I would literally be on tenterhooks listening to the monitor when she was down for a day time nap dreading her waking up after 20 minutes, knowing I would have to try and get her down again at some stage during the day, I was a nervous wreck. People were asking me how I'd lost so much weight, the honest answer was stress! Now if she wakes up, I get her up and carry on with what we were doing/go out rather that spending another 30 minutes trying to get her back to sleep.

Fortunately F seems to be back in a better night routine, but DH still does 2 nights a week, and I have loosened my control freakery grip by repeating the mantra "F has 2 parents, you don't need to do it all..."

Hi all

T has 6 teeth, 4 on the bottom and 2 uppers.
He is just rolling on his own, no sign of crawling, but when holding his hands he can walk.
He eats 3 meals a day plus 4 milk feeds.
quick half hour nap in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, goes to bed at 7.30 and wakes about 5 am
He says Mama, DadDad, claps, and does high 5s, waves hello and goodbye, dances loads.

LCR clapping and crawling, good week for you. Any tips on how to teach crawling? Or should I just be patient . I also agree about the food of love book, it was the one I read before having T. Regarding the biting, that's how T was, before he stopped having booby juice altogether. I tried all different times of the day and he would only bite me and then he stopped looking for my boob . I really miss bf, but he eats loads of solids and obviously has no need for lots of milk anymore.

Maiden that sounds just like my T, he also babbles away and then laughs to himself, I love listening to him and so glad your sleeping has improved and you are no longer a blubbering wreck . Isn't it amazing what journeys we have all been on.

Just on a totally different thing, I'm late this month and we aren't activing ttc , will keep you updated. Am on the folic acid but wasn't planning to start ttc until September, a moment of lust and.......

Hope everyone is well, ta ta for now

ooh exciting dogwalker! Are you going to take a test soon?

LCR J also tends to bite me if I try and feed him when he's not really interested so I pretty much only feed him now at naptimes and bedtime (and in the night). When he's tired and falling asleep he'll feed well. I'm also careful to let him come to me rather than putting my nipple in his mouth iyswim. kellymom has some tips on biting here

oops, pressed post to early...

Maiden! Good to see you back. Sounds like sleep has been so tough but glad you've seen an improvement. I'm doing the same thing for Fathers Day - I spent a misty-eyed hour yesterday looking through all our photos of J deciding which ones to print. I can't believe how much he's changed in 9.5 months!

I'm going to wait until at least Friday before taking a test. Not sure why ....just, [changing my mind as I type emoticon] well I don't honestly know why I'm waiting

So want to be... but know the timing is wrong with DH going away, Gosh not sure if I should take test sooner or just bury my head in the sand for a bit longer

False alarm, test negative. Will keep on practising (safely) and then start ttc when orignally planned in September.

Gosh, Dogwalker, it's so funny isn't it, that precarious moment before you take the test? Sounds right to wait until your DH is around properly to help out though. Still, you would have managed I'm sure had it been the other way!

Maiden honestly, I could WEEP at your description, it is so close to how I've been feeling until very recently. The thing I found hardest was how CRAZED I would feel if E wouldn't nap/only napped for 15 mins. I drove myself totally beserk trying to get him to have naps that just weren't ever going to happen. And made myself into a nervous, tightly wound wreck. I'm not what you could call relaxed about his daytime sleep still, but I'm trying to just let it go if a nap doesn't happen or is cut short. It really has not had any bearing on his (terrible) nighttime sleep anyway, although I do feel crap when he's overtired and cranky for whole days at a time still... I think the worst part for me was just not feeling like myself, between the mad anxiety about sleep (I couldn't talk about anything else, so boring for everyone around me...and most of them couldn't possibly understand either) and the sleepless nights, I just felt hollow. Anyway, a change of attitude is working and we do have glimmers here of better nights and days to come. It helps that this is just such a fun age. Eli really is such a wonderful little guy to be around. Anyway, so nice to hear from you and to hear that you're coming through it too!

It didn't OCCUR to me to do something with photos for Father's Day! What a moron! We're off glamping this weekend with three other first time dads and, somehow or other, have decided to do a kind of crap, fathers-at-sports-day kind of theme - we're gonna do sack races, egg and spoon, 'pin the poo/dummy on the baby' (instead of the tail on the donkey!) and loads of other stupid stuff. It's going to be really hilarious! Think we'll do cakes too and I've bought DH a few little presents from E. Will have to sort out a photo for Christmas though!

Finally, in other news, my bottle-refusing son shocked the hell out of me yesterday... Was chatting to one of my NCT friends as our little ones played together and then all of a sudden we noticed that E had picked up the other kid's bottle of formula and was chugging away on it!! WTF? a) I spent MONTHS trying to persuade him to take a bloody bottle and he'd scream like I was trying to poison him and b) COW AND BLOODY GATE, EH??!! There goes my purely breast-fed baby! Heh. What a little tinker.

Sorry nat had to laugh at the chugging on the bottle story, I guess they will never cease to amaze us!!!

Hope you and and Maiden are coiming through the sleepless times ok, I cannot imagine it, T has always been a good sleeper up until moving and I think some black out blinds will solve my problem. Lots of hugs and coming your way.

Since being back at work, one month today, I've been struggling with working, looking after T and housework, etc, it feels like I have no time to unwind. As soon as I get home I give my undivided attention to T. When he goes to bed at 8pm, I then do some cleaning and then usually finish off some work that I've brought home with me. Well this last week has been great as DH has been here, he's cooked dinner and I even managed to find time to bake. Just the act of baking has made me feel normal again, odd but true.

And even though I'm broody as hell, I am glad I am not expecting just yet. I am a bit of a control freak and i want everything to be planned .

Hope everyone has a good day xx

nat your fathers' day plan sonds great fun! Dh would love that. Lol at E's sly formula swigging - maybe that's the key to getting reluctant babies to take a bottle - just leave it where they think they're not supposed to get it
dogwalker glad it's the outcome you wanted. I really can't imagine how people can feel so broody with a 9/10month old though!

J learnt to clap yesterday, very cute. This is such a cute and fun age :)

been away for a few days at my parents' and celebrated our 4th anniversary. Glad to see you've been chatting while I was away, I wondered if I'd come back to an empty thread :)
Hello devon, most of us have been through complete rubbish over the last few months. I hate to say that S was one of those having 2 1.5 hour naps a day and in bed by 6pm but he'd wake up twice in the night and start the day at 5.20 so it wasn't great here either!

dogwalker could you get a cleaner in once a week? I don't have a job and I still think about it sometimes both of mine are in bed at 7pm at the latest so I have a couple of hours to clean up (most of the time I spend it pottering on the computer though!)

I had a 'am I pg am I not' moment last week but I'm not, starting to try though cos I don't want a huge gap between them!

marzi I love the clapping, and the massive smile they have on their face while they do it!

nat sounds like a really silly and fun weekend, I hope you get enough sleep to enjoy it :)

Marzi I never expected to be so broody but from T being 6 month I've been broody so I've been holding off since then.

Aren't they all just so cute when clapping and dancing about, I never taught T to dance he just started on his own. I love just sitting there and watching him dance to any music that he hears. They are defo at a cute age, just wish I wasn't at work missing it all.

Good idea Chulita, might look into the cost. When my au pair starts at the end of the month, she has light housework chores, hoovering, dusting, and ironing Thomas's clothes which will be a big help. I already have a gardener who comes twice a month , which has been great, as the garden in this new house is massive and is on a slope , not good with my lawn mower.

Great news Chulita that you are starting ttc, I'm excited for you. I'm going to start in september and hope that before DH leaves for distane shores in November that we are successful. Lots of pressure on him to produce the goods .

Hope everyone has a wonderful Father's day, I've got a brunch picnic planned as DH leaves to go back to Germany at 11 am , but I've bought him and DS matching Welsh Rugby shirts, which they can both wear, cute!!!

Take care xx

hello all, just catching up on you all! sorry to hear about the bad sleepers. if it's any consolation, three weeks ago, at the age of 10 and a bit months, J just suddenly started sleeping through. It did coincide with moving him into his own room, but he did it for the first time the night before we moved him, so I think he was just ready.

He has also just started crawling within the last 10 days - finally, at 11 months! We have been busy babyproofing our flat. He only has two teeth so far.

Good luck with the TTCing ladies! We're not going to start trying till late next year, though I guess that will come round fast.

hello all - so quiet here! Hope everyone had a good father's day. We went to Lincs to see the inlaws then swung home via the pub to see my Dad. Ended up being a lovely evening. E was really clogged up and snotty this morning, I'm worried she might have hayfever as we both do. Would they show symptoms this young? Expressing at work at the mo, the amount I'm getting seems to be diminishing. Could E manage without milk during the two days I'm at the office do you reckon - I dont want to give her formula if I can avoid it. She eats loads.

belly some hvs reckon at 10-11 months they should be down to morning and evening only. If she eats lots I wouldn't think it's a problem at all. A lot of babies aren't bfing at 12 months and we're not far off that. Obviously if you don't express you'll stop producing as much due to supply and lack of demand...

Anyone have any ideas how to get motivated to eat better? I just love baking and eating and probably should be hypnotised into believing it'll make my hair fall out (even that wouldn't stop me I don't think). I just want to be able to not eat what I cook but can't work out how to when a fresh pie/tart/cake is staring me in the face. Not cooking isn't an option cos it's one of my hobbies/how I relax. Argh!