April 2011 - cake-offing, gin-guzzling, wine-sipping, dreams of sleeping

[fraktious]

Thread 3!!!

Thanks Ali there is a Monkey Music class not too far away, but it says from 12 months. B is big but not that big! There is another one in Edinburgh for babies, but thats too far for us really. Ah well! Maybe I could take on a franchise and run it out my way!

hellooo! Day with MIL was actually lovely. F behaved himself beautifully, and Nana bought him some lovely new wintery clothes

At DSis last night, I lost count of all the weaning comments. I was impressed with myself that I managed to deflect them all diplomatically, and not launch into a tirade about the potential effects of her weaning her DS early, etc etc. Discussing with DH in the car after reassured me we, at least, are in agreement of what we want to do and why. Which is really good considering he still hasn't read the BLW book.

At DM's house now with DBro & DF trying to get F to sleep in yet another new place.

Did I say actually slept really well last night?

Frak, hope today went well & hope your nanny is ace. I've got 8 days to go.

Hope your day at work was better than expected Frak . I'm not going back until the new year but the thought of it already makes me feel a bit strange! Still not begun to look at childcare either. Got to stop procrastinating and get on with it!

Do you ever have nights when you feel like you'll never get your baby back to sleep?! We've been up for 70 mins now. P woke for a sleepy feed but is now wide awake following an emergency nappy change. I've spent 30 minutes rocking her with no success and DH is now trying his best. She thinks it's some sort of wonderful midnight game. I think that I find these sort of nights the worst part of having a tiny baby. I get really down in the middle of the night when there seems to be no prospect of her going back to sleep. Argh-it had all been going so well up to this point tonight too...

I know exactly how you feel Star. H went 8.30-9.30, 9.45-3.50, 4.15-5.30. We also had the emergency nappy change and I ended up taking him to bed with us again. I so need to be more disciplined but it's hard when DP needs to sleep for work and I too find I get lonely and depressed at the middle of the night wakings.

Wow, so much to catch up on since I last properly checked in!
Chilli - well done on the hoovering, very sensible. I have so much housework to catch up on - only ever manage to scratch the surface and keep the place looking semi presentable... Sometimes... And yay on the rolling! M seemed to suddenly just get rolling a couple of weeks ago, though seemed to do both directions right away then forget how to go front to back most of the time... It's exciting, though I can no longer plonk her on a chair whilst I make a cuppa...
GGF - I know I should really put my foot down re a morning off. I will soon, when I'm really in need of a break.
Fizz - I grew up in Glasgow though have lived in Edinburgh for 10 years now. Whereabouts are you? How have the swimming lessons been going? Who are you doing them with? We're starting waterbabies today, I'm quite excited. Fully expecting M to freak out (though she does love baths) but just hoping she isn't the only one. And wow at the surestart propaganda! Hope the coffee mornings are a bit more relaxing.
JKS - I too am very impressed at the milk donation. I'm another who struggles to even fit in enough expressing to build up a wee supply for M. Well done!
MrsW - huge sympathy and lots of tea. Hope you don't need it now and are having a lovely time.
Cycle - well done for handing baby to DH. I nearly did that this morning when M was wide awake at 5.10 but went for the much more mature option of banging about huffing and puffing until DH got up as he probably thought I was about to throw her our of the window... And by then I was too awake to go back to bed so we were both up with her.
Dairy - teething meltdowns don't sound good. Hope it passes soon!
Buck - well done on the morning training! I definitely need you to come and train my DH. Are your rates reasonable? ;). Sorry to hear your journey was traumatic but glad F settled down and was good for MIL.
kitty - good news about the cot :)
Aussie - I think my DH is the same, thinks it's a doodle. A couple of days ago I popped out for an hour and when I got back he had her in bouncy chair grizzling a bit and he'd done quite a lot of tidying (I'd been stressing about the place being a mess). Which is lovely. But he then started giving me advice that 'I just pop her in her chair and let her be a bit grumpy, would only get her out if she was upset, it's not that hard, give you time to do things...' (things I want to do, he's not telling me to tidy!). I try explaining that having her for an hour is a little different to ALL DAY and he can shove his advice, in the nicest possible way... And how frustrating about the pub. Sounds like the kind of response I would get too 'you can if you want'. Not the point!! How lovely about the belly laughing. We've not really had any yet but can't wait.
Frak - hope work wasn't as bad as expected and glad that nanny seems nice.
Sassy - I honestly don't think I would cope with being woken up by a spider then losing it. Might have to move house in fact...
Ali - I like your idea of springing a few hours out on DH... And will look into monkey music.
Star - I really hope you got back to sleep!

We are pretty good - apart from being awake since 5.10... Looking forward to first swimming class today. I think it's going to be DHs thing with her usually (he's able to make most of the classes as he works shifts) but I'm going to take her today in case she does freak out as she's much better comforted by me. Which bothers DH a little - I really should reiterate that the more he does with/for her the more comfortable she'll be.
Sorry for the mahoosive post, hope it makes sense! just catching up!

Frakk I really hope work was ok, and I'm glad the nanny seems lovely.

To add to the comments on DH/P's and housework mine tends to tidy but not clean. Usually this (thankfully) works out ok as I'm a bit OCD about cleaning but am prone to leaving things in piles (pile of clean washing to sort, pile of papers to file...). We've both decided to be a happy medium between our respective parents, his are at the 'Keeping Up Apperances' end of the spectrum where as mine are not the tidiest/cleanest housekeepers to say the least!

S and I are currently staying at my parents so I can't meet a friend visiting from Canada. Yesterday was our first solo train journey, it was horrible and has given me the kick up the backside to get learning to drive! S was a star thankfully but everything seemed to be against us. Had booked seats on the (only) direct train but got held up getting the tickets out of the stupid machine and go to the platform just as the train pulled away , waited half an hour for the next one (no seat booked but a very nice man let me have is) but this on was delayed so missed the connection at Birmingham and the next train wasn't for AN HOUR! An hour in BNS station with a baby and suitcase is not fun!

We eventually got into Leeds just after 8pm so S is all confused as he wasn't in bed till after 9pm (usually he's asleep by 7pm!) so I'm expecting grumpy baby by mid afternoon.

Just a quickie.

Work was okay. Stressful because bottles are hit and miss but okay! I left DH and M behind in the end.

JKS that is all

dairy nightmare :( BNS is rubbish at the best of times.

chilli well done! I would have used the time to paint my toenails.

Sorry for micro posts - using the ap. As DH has literally just pointed out I'm rubbish at remembering stuff.

buck glad it was better than expected. Yay for new clothes.

star/cycle I get that depressed feeling too. The middle of the night is a horrible time to be awake and alone.

ginger how did swimming go?

Ginger I'm in East Calder. We've been going to the adult and baby lessons at Xcite Leisure in Livingson. B loves it, although by the end of the lesson on Sunday he was falling asleep in the water. Once dried and dressed I passed him out to DH and as soon as his head hit his chest he was asleep. bless!

We had our 3rd jabs today. He was ok, wee bit of screaming, but who wouldn't! But has hasn't really woken up since and only had 3 feeds today so far. Weighed him too, he's 14lbs 7ozs. I thought he'd be more , but he seems to sticking to his curve.

Phew, had to stop mid post there for a minor melt down, but calpol and some bozies habe sorted him out.

We had a wee trip to Makro today too. We now have anough washing powder to last us the next year! It was on offer!! DH thinks I'm mental, but its one less thing we have to buy for a while when I'm on reduced money.

Frak - glad work was ok! Although I'm sure you'd rather not be starting back it must be good to have that first hurdle out of the way.
Fizz - if we evr get our flat on the market and actually manage to sell it we are thinking about looking out West Lothian/central belt direction. Hope B is ok after his jabs. M seemed to have a couple of days of meltdown a week after both 2nd and 3rd jabs - not sure if it was related but no other obvious cause (apart from being a tad highly strung intermittently anyway...). Very sensible on the washing powder! Is Makro quite good? Have never been.

Swimming today was ok... M coped quite well for about half the lesson - even cracked a couple of smiles, but then decided she'd had enough just before they all got dunked under water - which was the final straw for her and she wailed for the rest of the class. However, first class so hopefully she will grow to like it. I am reassured that she was fine with actually getting in the pool etc and think it all just got a bit much - combined with being off kilter today with the 5.10 start plus not feeding well this morning. She did then sleep for over 2 hours in her cot this afternoon, which is unheard of!

We have an overtired baby here who has had about 50 minutes nap all day. She's also had her last jab finally so that hasn't helped. DH has just bathed her so now it's sleeping bag, feed and bed. Hopefully she'll sleep well tonight, not like the 3 wake ups we've had the last few nights.

DH is having his first week off since paternity leave. It's great :)

Time for M's supper.

I has been a velcro baby today, it was like having a newborn all over again

I'm with you about the loneliness and frustrations of night wakings. Feeding is fine - as long as they go to sleep straight away afterwards. When I start to feel teary or like I'm going to lose my rag, that's when I pass the baby to dh. I need just as much sleep as he does and I work just as much as he does, it just so happens that I don't get paid for my job. So just because I've got the boobs, it doesn't mean I have to do all the night time stuff as well.

Tonight dh is seeing a customer so I am stuffing giant choc buttons and taking all of the DVD, xbox and wii discs out of their cases and putting them in large cd wallet thingys. I'm shocked at how many discs we've got and how much room they take up. The empty cases are going in the loft. The cd's will be next, but dh is resisting. I'll wear him down eventually

Lol ILike! We have all our cds in the loft as DH put all the music on his computer. Keep meaning to get them down and do that website thing where you see how much money you can get for them.
Not got many dvds, etc yet, as we are only buying DC ones and our collection is still young :)

On the Whole Nut here :)

Going to keep looking for some swimming lessons around here, only ones i've seen anywhere nearby are on a Saturday which is silly when i've got all week with the boys at school. Or i'll just try and set ourselves a routine and go swimming ourselves on a set morning every week.

DNephew (same age as DD) has his first tooth :) Still waiting for DD's, the boys got there 1st about now.

I keep badgering dh to put the cd's on the computer as well, but we have hundreds of the buggers and I just know he'll never get round to it. His defence on not putting the cd's in a big wallet thingy is 'I like to browse my music collection', oh sod off you arse, just put the bloody things on the computer and you can browse to your hearts content!

All other discs are now packed away and I've updated and inserted my 2012 diary into my filofax. I'm on fire tonight

Poor old I seems to be really suffering with his teeth. The amount of drool is amazing and he really chomps down on anything that goes near his mouth. He actually hurt my finger when I (stupidly) put it in his mouth.

That middle of the night feeling is awful. When you have a newborn you expect it, and also you are somewhat cushioned by all the hormones. It is when they are about this age that it gets tough, especially when people starting saying 'ooh isn't s/he sleeping through yet? Why aren't you feeding them roast dinners?' etc etc.
I am touching wood every day with T's sleep. He is so much better than DS1, I can't believe it. What's killing me is that he won't settle until so late in the first place - it is midnight or later most nights, and then generally we have one wake-up somewhere between 4 and 6am. DS1 is up at 7-7.30. I am desperate to get him to settle reliably somewhere around 10pm so that I can go to bed a bit sooner.
But it could be so much worse and I am grateful :)

I made a batch of scones earlier. There are not going to be as many to freeze as I had initially thought

chilli good luck for tonight!

JKS - DS1 had 4 teeth by now! T's have been bothering him for about 10 days now, he is dribbling and rosy cheeked but nothing is cutting as yet.

T had a four hour nap in his cot from 10am-2pm, he has then fed loads and has only had a 20 minute snooze since then so I'm hoping he will go down a bit sooner tonight

Meant to say - Frak - glad work was ok :) Only a few weeks until food is in the equation as well and then it isn't all about the boob - which will take the pressure off a bit!

Mmmm...,scones Ali. I can't get enough of them but rarely make a batch because they don't keep very well and DH isn't that keen (which means I end up eating them all or chucking some away). How well do they freeze? I might get baking if they freeze well.

Re nighttimes, that's it exactly ILTMIMI. I expected to have to get up and feed during the night but never dreamt that it would sometimes take a couple of hours to get the baby back to sleep. Oh well, it will pass I suppose...

We ended up being up between 3 - 4:45 last night. Yawn. I fed and failed to resettle P, DH tried and failed and then I fed again and finally managed to get her back to sleep at 5ish for an hour or so. I'm not hopeful that tonight will be much better. P went to sleep before 7 (exhausted after very little sleep today) but has already been up twice. I fed her during her most recent awakening but suspect we might have multiple awakenings and an early start tomorrow. On the other hand, I suppose that we're lucky that P usually goes down before 8pm - I really enjoy having a couple of hours of adult time in the evening.

We also seem to have some teething action going on. Lots of white under the gums, streams of drool and frantic fist chewing. No sign of a tooth actually poking through yet though. Still not 16 weeks here though, so plenty of time yet

Well T is asleep, must go to bed myself now rather than flopping about for an hour!

Star - scones freeze really well I find. This batch are fruit ones but I also make and freeze cheese ones. They defrost really quickly as well.

Bugger spoke too soon. Now feeding in bed to try and get him to drop off, argh.

Evening all,

Return trip was much better, even stopped at a Heston-ified Little Chef which was brilliant.

Frak glad work & M were ok.

F is 21 weeks and has his two bottom front teeth (see my previous rants posts about being bitten!), and I think top ones are on the way. I got him these teethers - took a couple of days for him to work them out, but he loves them now.

Still won't roll though

at teething. Dh moaning at me for moaning at s. he wouldn't nap in his cot today and getting him in there tonight took time and patience, and I'm not good with patience. He falls asleep I put him down he wakes and cries. Got him down 940-1115 when he woke and screamed. Calpol. 1130 cot. 1135 wakes and keeps doing so every time I try to put him down. Now trying to feed him to sleep. Why do they get pain at night and not during the day? And the nappies! And he's getting tummy pains with it. Over it already. I want my content baby back please. He doesn't sleep through yet but at least used to make it feed to feed, sometimes longer. rant over. For now.

We bought a massive cd folder. Holds 500 but I put them in with the cd sleeves and in alphabetical order so can still be browsed. Think it's holding about 300 like that.

Sorry, just realised I had missed several posts. Hope you are all ok.

Ad work was ok Frak, hurray for scone making Ali, I too wish I could have my contented baby back Kitty, although H is getting batter so there is hope!

H ended up in our bed again at 3.30am after he woke at 2.30, but I've decided to give myself a break. I tried resettling him and he hit his arms and legs on the bars and woke himself. I've decided to give it more of a go when we've had a rest in France and he's in his bigger cot where the bars won't be such an issue. Plus , it'll be in his room so I can try resettling for longer without waking DP on work nights.

I think the four month sleep regression has hit here. We've had pretty rubbish nights for about a week now and have gone from a dream feed and one other night time wake up to waking up every two hours last night.

I'm a bit worried that I'm not helping myself (rod, back and all that) because I've been feeding every time P wakes. I'm sure it's not always hunger that wakes her because she can go up to three - four hours between feeds during the day and in the past has gone six hours at night. It's just so much easier to feed her back to sleep at night than spend ages trying to rock her back to sleep. Am I being stupid? Am I going to encourage her to wake more by always feeding her?

Star I would just feed, it is what I do. There is a growth spurt around 16 weeks which coincides beautifully with the sleep regression!
I wouldn't let her go so long during the day though if she is waking a lot at night - what happens if you offer a feed every 2.5-3 hours?
Babies at this age will reverse cycle, because they get distracted during the day and so feeds get more spaced out, and then they have to catch up at night.

T was in with us mostly from about 4.30. I fall asleep feeding him lying down and wake up two hours later when he latches himself on again, must stop it!