March 2005 part 4 - The nights are getting quieter.....

[BonyM]

Not that I want to tempt fate...

Sorry about your FIL Buzzy. Hope your DH is ok. Will you take DD to the funeral? Don't know what age they're supposed to go to things like that.
Lauren has the most awful nappy rash. She's never had it at all before now and I don't know what's caused it, but she's really sore and cries terribly when I clean her up after a dirty nappy. She was up twice with it last night (at my mum's of course!). (Any magic potions?) She stayed there as I had to take DH to the A&E with a suspected broken foot. He got frustrated trying to get one of our computers to work, couldn't, lost it and kicked the thing with his bare foot! Luckily it wasn't broken but just badly bruised!

jambot - can you get Sudocrem in SA? Grace has never really had nappy rash but anytime I spot the beginnings of it I use a bit of Sudocrem and it's completely better by morning. Used to use it on dd1 as well - fantastic stuff!

I've asked my cousin to bring some Sudocrem when she comes out in a couple of weeks. Also getting her to bring some Oilatum bath liquid which is apparently very good for exzema. Am using a similar product to Sudocrem at the moment and using Rooibos tea instead of wet wipes to wipe her bottom. So frustrating not knowing what's causing it. Only thing I can think of is the mango she had for the first time, but that was days ago. Don't think it's her teeth as she's just got her next 6 all in one go a few weeks back.
Have a full time crawler on my hands now. She's taken her time in getting there, but now there's no stopping her! Best get the house baby-proofed.

We use Oilatum as well - it's great, has kept the eczema at bay for ages. It only comes back when I run out - it's not cheap though and the bottles aren't very big so doesn't last very long. I keep meaning to find out if I can get it on prescription.

BonyM - Olilatum is available on prescrition, It's just that most doctors kinda say 'Oh, I think you need to use Oilatum' and expect you to go out and buy it to save on their budget or something.

Leo - Must admit I did laugh (sorry) about your DH's foot. I had terrible PMT at the weekend (DH and DS know to stay well clear) and I was struggling so much with swapping the car seat over that I kicked it really hard. Nice bruise on my foot, but no lasting damage.

BW - Sorry to hear about your FIL. Best wishes to your DH.

Thankyou for all the kind words about the running. Training is going ok. I am very lucky cos DH has said he will support me in whatever way he can (ie - lots of babysitting) so that I can train and run. He did the London Marathon a few years ago and I think that he really wants me to feel the same sense of achievement (and exhaustion) that he did.

jambot - that is pretty funny about your DH and the computer! We also have a new computer which my dp has been cursing. Hope he doesn't go for the kicking it option.

Iris also has terrible nappy rash at the moment - raw and bleeding. And she cries at nappy changes. We usually use Zinc and Castor oil at the slightest sign of redness. It's a great barrier ointment. With this recent flare up we've switched to sudocreme. Not sure if it is more effective, but today I noticed the rash was no longer raw. Oh and we also have switched temporarily from using real nappies to disposables. The disposables are more absorbent and wick the moisture away from the skin, which I thought might help. We'll go back to real ones once she's clear.

JoPG - keep us updated on your running. I need inspiring! I'm out for my 40 minute effort tonight hopefully.

Good news from us on the childcare front. Yesterday was a definite improvement. Iris did cry some of the time, but was in a different world from last week the childminder said. Fingers crossed for more of the same today.

Glad Iris is happier Pidge. Must make you rest easier at work.

Just taken Lauren to the paediatrician about her skin. The cream I've been using works well until you stop the course then the exzema comes back within days. Apparently I need to use it for longer and also use an antibacterial cream.
Her bum is much better today - just one or two nasty patches left.

Iris is definitely doing much better at the childminder's. They said she even laughed yesterday! I'm so relieved. With dd1 it took 2 months for her to settle and I was dreading having to go through agony for that long again.

On the work front ... I have provisionally accepted a project to work on, so no more slacking from me from next week! It's a brilliant role BUT is about 1hr 15 minutes commute and will involve me leaving the house at 7am. It may be madness, so I've said I'll test run it for a week before I commit.

Iris has a new trick - when I'm reading "Dear Zoo" to her she makes "Oooh oooh" monkey type noises when we get to the page with the monkey on!!

Pidge So very glad to hear Iris is doing better - what a weight off your mind. And how sweet with her 'oohh oohh' sounds. Harrison loves that book too and 'grrrs' at the lion. Thought it was really clever at first but now he 'grrrrs' at every page in every book so I'm no longer so sure it's a lion noise !!

Have had a long and difficult week. DH is very upset about his dad and is driving up and down to Birmingham most days sorting things out with his family so he's really tired on top of everything else. The funeral is next Wednesday with a funeral mass the night before (a catholic thing) so I've had to make arrangements for Harrison and DD to be elsewhere Tuesday night and the following day as DH doesn't want us to bring them.

DD took the news quite badly and last night she was awake until almost 11pm with tummy pains which I think were caused by how she is feeling at the moment. She wants to talk about her grandad all the time, which is obviously her way of dealing with it all. She asked me the other day if she could get to heaven on an aeroplane so she could visit him one last time which would have been quite funny if it hadn't been so sad

On top of al this, Harrison also has really bad nappy rash - must be MN contagious - and has gone on spoon strike again. Yesterday I fed him salmon, mash and swede and he refused to take it. So I rolled it up into a tortilla wrap, cut it up into bits for him and he fed himself the whole lot He feeds himself, scrambled egg, tuna mayonnaise and even managed to scope bolognaise sauce in the other day once he'd finished all the pasta. Every mealtime has become v.v.v. messy but he seems happy enough

Still no crawling

Hope everyone is OK.

Hi all. I'll catch up with you in a few days when I have my new computer. This one has packed up totally.

Pidge - so glad to hear that Iris seems to be settling better now. You must be enormously relieved. Hope the new project works out for you.

Busy - but at dd wanting to visit grandad on an aeroplane. It must be so hard for her to understand that she won't see him again.

Grace,like Harrison, has times when she will refuse to eat off a spoon. I think it is when she can see someone else eating finger food - ie. toast or a sandwich. Lunchtime today she refused point blank to eat her chicken casserole because all she wanted was the bagel that I was eating. So I did her a bagel as well and smeared the casserole on it which seemed to do the trick. Independent little souls aren't they?

Grace is incredibly vocal these days - a real chatterbox. I know it is probably just coincidence but twice now it has sounded as though she has copied something we have said. She had dd1's doll the other day and I kept saying dolly to her - she then said something which sounded very suspiciously like "dolly" (dd1 heard it too). Also, last Sunday we had mum and dad here for lunch and we said something to her about grandma Jill and it sounded as though she repeated "Jill". Of course, both these moments of genius were one offs, and we could have misheard, but I choose to think that we have an outstandingly intelligent child .

Oh no - don't tell me I've killed this thread as well...

boneym! Well the thread seems to have had a temporary snooze at least. But here I am to wake it up.

Spent today with friends and having a lovely relaxed time and taking in a panto in the afternoon. Had a hilarious encounter with a woman whilst at the panto - she was engaging in banter with Iris, then turned to me and said "You know with some babies you have to ask, but with HIM you just know he's a boy". How I enjoyed breaking it to her that the boy was in fact a girl. Tee hee.

We have my parents staying at the moment, which is great. Am planning a jaunt to the Science Museum tomorrow, whilst I've got helping hands to manage the pushchair on the tube etc.

Lauren's poor bum has taken a turn for the worse. All raw and horrible. Thought it was clearing up but it's got really bad all of a sudden. Doesn't help that she's had this mild runny tummy for over a week, so the contents of the nappy get into every possible crease and orifice! It's so sore she won't let me clean her up properly. Poor baby. Can't think why she's got this. Have started her on Reuteri probiotics to try and sort out the ph balance in her tum and give her some good bacteria to fight off the bad.
Have ordered a pair of Daisy Roots for my cousin to bring out when she comes. She opened the package and says they are adoreable.

Hi all,

I hope that everyone is well, I haven't been on here for ages and just wanted to catch up (if that is at all posible)

Jambot, sorry to hear that Lauren is having a hard time.

Kieran has is now taking his first steps and wanting to walk at every opportunity even though he falls after every couple of steps he is not giving up.

He has developed insomnia and has not been sleeping properly for nearly a month now, otherwise all is well. I am so busy, solmetimes I don't want the day to be over.

I do hope that you guys are all doing well, I will try and come in more often

Hi Norash - really good to hear from you , hope college is going well. Good luck with catching up - I find it difficult if I'm away from here for more than a couple of days! Kieran must be our first walker (although I think Niklas is close?) - clever thing! How about posting some up to date photos if you get time?

Jambot - sorry to hear about poor Lauren. It's so awful when they're suffering with anything, your heart really aches for them doesn't it?

Pidge - was Iris ok at the panto? DD1 is performing with her ballet school in the Lord Major's matinee on Sunday and tbh we haven't really considered taking Grace as we think it would be impossible. She's so active I can't imagine she'd sit still, so dh is going to stay home with her.

Grace climbed all the way up the stairs this afternoon! I was right behind her all the way, but think it's probably now time to put the downstairs stairgate up ( the upstairs one has been in situ for a few weeks now).

She's been waking more the last few nights and wants to feed earlier than she has been (3.30-4.00 instead of 5am). Not quite sure why but think a top tooth is almost through so that may be disturbing her sleep).

Hello everyone, especially Norash - good to hear from you.

I can't believe Grace can make it up the stairs Harrison STILL isn't crawling, although he did manage to move himself a little way this evening. He's going to my mum's tomorrow for a few days whilst DH and I are in Birmingham for the funeral and I just know I'm going to come back on Thursday and he'll be on the move. Two days without my little boy - eeekkkk - I've only ever left him for a few hours with DH before.

Typically, he's come down with a really nasty bad chest (first time he's been properly ill) and is coughing like a 40 a day smoker. Last night he woke himself quite a few times with his coughing. Unfortunately, this coincided with him learning how to switch his bedtime mobile on so I kept waking up to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. Quite funny the first time he did it, but at 5.30 when I got up for about the fifth time to turn it off, I'd lost my sense of humour

Hope everyone is well

we have a stair climber here too and he is starting to let go of the things he is pulling himself up on

Sory that I never find time for long posts...\i do read everyones...
will have to make time but tbh I am struggling

Wow stairs! How clever is that? Iris just stands there looking agitated thumping the bottom step with her hand.

Iris was fine at the panto - she did a bit of shouting, but it was pretty loud in there, and a very informal setting. In fact we were seated round tables rather than in rows, so she could even crawl around a bit.

Iris has been adding to her 'vocab' ... in addition to saying "ooh oooh" if you mention the word 'monkey', if you say "lion" she opens her mouth really wide and does a very quiet roar! And if you're playing a game with her like round and round the garden, at the end she says "adeh adeh" which sounds very much like "again".

I'm starting my new project at work today - waiting for someone to come and tell me what to do! And feeling a bit nervous as today the commute took an hour and 20, which is rather longer than I'd hoped.

Have had a sudden brainwave that Lauren's runny tummy and sore bottom have pretty much co-incided with me putting her onto a new cereal for her breakfast. Wondering if she's not having a reaction to the stuff. Will put her back onto the old stuff and see if it makes any difference.
Talking up a storm at the moment but nothing recognisable. She know recognises the light, clock and the kitty and will turn to look for them if you ask her where they are.
Do any of yours have any vague understanding of the word 'no'? Trying to stop Lauren playing with my computer cables by taking her away from them and saying no in my firm and stern mummy voice. She just looks at me like it's a joke and promptly crawls back again!
We start with Mums and Tots tomorrow. She is very into other babies all of a sudden so should be fun to see what she does in a whole room full of them. She crawled up to another baby at the paediatricians last week and patted his face and chatted away to him. He promptly started to cry! OK she was about double his size! Giant child that she is.

jambot - a friend told me that babies of this age 'understand' no but don't necessarily obey you! Heaven knows how she pretends to know that.

Iris is also chatting furiously, mostly gibberish. But sometimes she will copy what we say. Yesterday she repeatedly said something very like "hello" in response to us greeting her. She waves as soon as she hears "night night" or "bye bye". And is pointing for Britain!

She was up at 5am again today, I finally got her back to sleep at 6.10 and then at 6.30 had to get up for work, which woke her up.

I am on this new project but feeling a bit because the commute is proving to be terrible, so I think I'm just going to have to turn it down. I've just been offered a role on another project I worked on before having Iris. The commute there is also not great, and it's a return to something old rather than something new and exciting, but they're offering me half an hour off my working day in lieu of travel overtime pay. Doesn't sound much, but half an hour extra with the kids is worth having. So I think I'll have to go for it. Still means I'll be out of the house from 7.30am till 6pm, but I guess that gives me an hour of kiddie time in the evening.

Popsycal - are you still pumping on your working days? I am once a day, but am wondering if it's really worth it for the 3-4oz that I get to give Iris. Yesterday the childminder forgot about her milk and Iris was fine without it.

Hi all. Just a short message to say we have our new computer again and i'll be more present again on here.

BW - so sorry to hear about your FIL.

Jambot - Sylvia's had a nasty nappy rash for a few days now. With diarrhoea too, up to 10 a day. First time this has happened. We are using Sudocreme and I have to change her nappies asap otherwise it gets very, very bad if left for even 5 minutes. Sorry, planet.

Pidge - I hope your new project works well. Since you're in London too and like going to museums with your daughters, maybe we could meet? We went to Imperial war two Sundays ago and the National Portrait Gallery last Sunday. We promised Dominic it's the Natural History this coming Sunday.

Leo - I've applied for a post in Geneva! It's a two year thing and I've already enquired and know there's an english school there too. I won't find out for a while yet if I get shortlisted. I'll let you know if I do. (You live in Geneva, don't you?)

Sylvia is climbing stairs too. We live in a flat so she doesn't get the practice at home, but she climbed all the way up at the cinema the other week.

Sylvia is standing up nicely now and walking by pushing a push-along car. She can push herself in it oo, but only backwards for the time being. She waves bye-bye as soon as she hears it (even waved to the screen when we saw "Match point" last week). She's making her first signs too: elephant, cat, flower, balloon, a couple more. We'd been signing to her for months but only on Monday she did her first few.

Still two teeth here and no sign of others yet. Her separation anxiety is almost over now, life is easier.

I'll try and see what's on at the parent & toddler screening this morning, maybe i'll go there.

We've been away in the mountains for a few days and it is so nice to come home and read how everyone is doing. Its fantastic to read about all the clever things our babies are starting to do!

Busywizzy, what a difficult time you are having , I hope its not too difficult to leave Harrison, I can't help thinking its a big step the first time. I hope your dh is OK and things settle down for you again.

Cristina, i will keep my fingers crossed for you fot the job in Geneva! I actually live in Zurich (also a very nice city with a university, have you tried for a job here?), Geneva is about 3 hours away from here - not too far to meet up.

Niklas is sick again at the moment, so I am not at work today. He has a high temperature, a bit of a cold and is really miserable. I'm not really sure why has such a high temperature and neither is the doctor!

Poor Niklas. Hope he feels better soon.
Christina. Don't feel too bad about Lauren's dirty nappies then, as Lauren is only on about 5 horrids a day. She was down to one so 5 is a big jump. Bum still showing no sign of clearing so must just plod on and try various creams.
Anyone got a Doidy cup? I want a cup without a spout that she can learn to drink properly with. Heard that this is quite good.

Hi jambot - we have a doidy cup - it's great. Grace has never been great at drinking out of anything (other than me!) but seems to like the doidy - worth getting one.

Christina - sorry to hear that Sylvia got a bad tummy as well. Hope it clears up soon. Good to hear that she has starting signing - we have been doing sing and sign classes with Grace for months but she still isn't signing anything - I was starting to wonder if it was worth continuing but hearing that Sylvia has just started, I will persevere.

Sorry that Niklas is poorly Leo - hope he feels better soon.

Grace is another one who pays no attention to "no" - just gives me the biggest grin and then carries on exactly as before!