Feb 2011: the one where the babies are destruction machines

[ChestnutsREASTIEingOnTheFire]

...or is that just mine?

Borg - L isn't really talking either. He makes a lot of noise but not really any words. I thought of N this morning when L was blowing snot bubbles.

wiggles - did you get the shoes at Clark's? I may need to go as well. [saddo] We've cut back on his milk as well: 1 4oz bottle at nursery, 4oz before bed, sometimes 4oz in the evening, plus cow's milk in a beaker at meals.

ledkr - this may be daft but is her room warm enough? L wakes a lot and won't sleep in his cot if he's too cold (a long road to figuring that out...), so we bundle him up and set the heat to pop on briefly during the night. He's still waking during the night but he's usually not up for long.

Thanks for the reassurances about eating habits. I wasn't worried but the nursery was concerned so I started to wonder if I should be.

We've been thinking about cruising shoes too. Can't believe it really, the start of kids shoes (costing a lot of money), which will continue until they leave home!

C isn't really saying anything yet, I mean she mutters nonsense to herself all the time, but nothing that's actually real. She's funny though, I say 'mamamamama' to her loads trying to get her to copy, and she sits and watches my lips intently with those big eyes, sort of silently mouths a 'm' shape, then grins and yells 'dadadadadadada'! I'm trying not to be offended....

Dx

American, funny you should say about L being too cold night. Noah was too hot inhis grobag so now sleeps in a bodysuit, pj's and socks and seems much more settled now. Maybe temperature could be a factor in D's unsettled nights Ledkr?

Noah isn't interested in walking so no shoes for him yet. He said his first word this week, it's 'Ben'. We're so pleased. He now also says mamamama, when he's excited to see me or wants something.

Noahs asleep now so Ben and I are off to make some cakes for dh birthday tomorrow.

For all those buying shoes- if there's an outlet centre near you there is often a Clarks there, with cheaper shoes. We got Imy a pair last week, still bloody expensive but not quite as bad as the high street.

S seems quite close to walking now, she stands on her own all the time but isn't quite brave enough to actually take a step. She's so flipping wiggly now though, you'd think nappy changing was a form of torture, it's like changing the nappy of a snake you're trodden on

Better go, someone's awake (not sure which one yet...)

Hello all,

No time to catch up as yet but wanted to wave and say hello. Horrible few days here - R has tonsilitis in a bad way, we spent yesterday in the Children's Hospital as she was dehydrated and tacycardic (sp?). She's still whacked and is just sitting/sleeping on us and moaning occassionally.

Anyway, I'll try to catch up but I miss you all!

Oh no choc so sorry to hear that. Really horrible and stressful time for you, I had the sitting/lying and moaning thing in hosp after C's episode, they're just so helpless aren't they?

But she WILL get better. They do, they bounce back, and they don't even seem to remember they were ever poorly (altho you do).

Big hugs for you, thinking of you and hoping all the poorly babies (on the thread and also actually all the poorly babies anywhere) get better soon.

Dx

Gosh choc what a worry. Hope she perks up quickly for you.

delia alice is exactly the same - I say re: me saying mama and her looking very thoughtful and then shouting out dada . She babbles alot and seems to place dada with dh but no other words yet. ems to noah saying ben

deb we got alices shoes half price in the clarks sale - I only went in as they had a sale or else I would have left it a bit longer . It would be very useful if Alices feet would only grow during sales times

Took alice to the doctor this afternoon as she's been having coughing fits for 2 months and the cough hasn't followed a cold or anything and DH has asthma . Doc said nothing they could do re: coughing (sort of knew that already) but she did comment on that alice had eczema which dh and I had ignored and gave a stare as if I should have been worried about it (double ) so now I have creams and potions for her

I found out if I want to move jobs at school to stop teaching and on to helping those with special ed needs I need to hand my notice in by easter. If I don't do it then I will be stuck where I am until september 2013 . DH says easter isn't long enough to know if I'm making the right decision but in my head I feel really strongly I think this is the best option - still working, still in a school but less stress to the max (even if the hours are less), still a bit of money coming in. I have no idea what to do any more and I'm a bit of a control freak and hate not knowing what to do.

PIL have somehow managed to invite themselves over this week end [sigh]

Oh no Chocco, poor R it's horrid when babies are ill. I hope she gets well soon. Sending big hugs to her and you. X

Oh, meant to say, thanks for all the comments on if family childcare is ill and what to do with work. I looked up my work handbook boring life and I am entitled to 'reasonable' time off if childcare cancels at the last min to find a replacement - so at least if needed I could get a day or 2 off unpaid and if more were required I would get dH to take a couple of days off.

chocoroo poor R and poor you, as everyone else has said she will bounce back very quickly, you take care of yourself as well, its really frightening at hospital with babies xxx

reastie Easters not until 8 April, you should know by then what's best for you all, have faith in yourself to make the right decision. Anna suffers from coughing fits too and also has a touch of bum eczema

deliaskis I never bother with cruising shoes, I can't have my children wearing dearer shoes than me . I just wait until they are ready to go into "proper" shoes. I'm lucky, my Mum always buys the girls first pair of shoes (its tradition here )

americanexpat I go to a local shoe shop but it has a Clarks bit. I know that Clarks has got a bit of a bad reputation on MN but I've found them great for the girls. All my girls have very broad feet, so the fit has always been fab and I've always found them really hard wearing. I also like the staff, they don't just sell for the sake of it, they twice sent me away shoeless with Sofia because they didn't think she was ready for shoes .

debka Anna is a nightmare to get her nappy changed, I was fighting changing her this morning and I suddenly had a flashback to Sofia and Olivia being exactly the same and it got worse

emski aawwh at N saying Ben, that's the cutest thing ever. Sofia is convinced Anna is trying to say her name, I haven't the heart to tell her that Anna is more likely to be calling the dog!

Ah, good tip wiggles re cruising shoes, maybe we won't bother with cruisers then.

Deb giggling at trying to change the nappy of a snake you've trodden on!

Evening ladies....I too am still deciding whether to go clarks or not for Nate's shoes, or whether to persevere with his primark ones (which have no grip whatsoever!). I am a bit loathe to start buying clarks shoes at this age when I know he'll grow out if them fairly quickly (Scottish tight fistednes coming thru there me thinks).

Sorry to hear of poorly babies & crap sleepers...N has been a bit off/funny the past few days & horrid watery nappies...he's slept thru on the days whe's been at nursery (v pleased they tire him out). Found out yesterday that the wee girl whose 1st b'day we were at at the w/e has chickenpox...hope to god N doesn't catch it as it feels like all 3 of us have only been healthy for 3 weeks (vs 2 whole months before Xmas...pretty much since I went back to work). But N has another tooth coming thru so hoping that's what all the horrid nappies were about!

God that was all a bit boring, sorry!

I'm a wee tad excited as I'm off for a lively massage & then afternoon tea with my best friend tomorrow...actually looking forward to relaxing a little...& all the champagne we're gonna drink . Have warned dh I may be slightly tipsy when I come home...

reastie I was feeling a bit like you when I went back to work but now find I am really enjoying being back at work, albeit knackering. But I know it's hard for teachers in terms of work to take home (sis is one, as is SIL). But you need to get into the mindset of remembering you only get paid for part time work now so try to limit the amount of work your doing at home, as at the end of the day, you don't get paid for it. Took me a while to get my head around that way of thinking too.

Shattered.con so off to snooze land....night all x!

Poor R choc, I hope she gets better really soon.
I hope N doesn't get chickenpox either, granny and that A's eczema is manageable reastie.

How is the patient today wiggs? Fingers x'd he's better soon and not under your feet for long!

It's crazy to think our babies are all about to turn 1 and start walking and needing shoes. What sort of things are you doing for their birthdays?

No snow day today and a lot has melted, thank goodness.

Got to dash off to soccertots shortly. Hope all babies are sleeping well.

Oh no, choc, I hope she's better soon. So many of the babies are poorly right now, it must be the time of year for it.

Delia - I do the same, repeating "ma-ma" at L. He thinks it's hilarious but doesn't repeat it.

reastie - it's a big decision to make but as someone said, Easter is still a few months away. If your DH is worried about the financial side, start putting away your salary right now and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. If you can manage on just his salary until Easter, maybe it'll put his mind at ease (and you'll have a bit more savings).

L had a crap night last night. He was up at 2ish, cuddle and straight back to sleep, but up again at 4 and wouldn't go back to sleep in his cot. He finally came into bed with me but I never sleep that well when he's there. I do like having his fuzzy little head next to me so I can lean over and kiss it every 5 minutes whenever I want.

Hello lovely Feb ladies, hope you are all well :)
granny enjoy massage and champagne you lucky thing!
american sorry you had a rough night, hope you get a restful day!
choc poor R! And poor you I bet you were worried sick. Hope she feels better soon, poor baby x
deb and wiggles I feel your pain re wriggling babies when having their tush changed, I have become an expert in doing Cass's whilst she stands up and plays with her toys, yes I would rather do that than attempt to pin her down!
I'm feeling a bit pleased with myself today as I lost another 4 pounds at WW last night. I'd def recommend it to anyone with a baby tummy they wish to lose, but I think tbh its more the fact that someone else is weighing you that makes you stick to the diet :)
Staying in today as the weather is so grim and grey. Hope you are having more exciting days than I am....

MizK yes C will do anything/let us do anything if she is standing up...clean her ears out, pick her nose, feed her, etc. if she's standing up, it's all fine!

I actually came on here to ask something very specific and have now completely forgotten what it was.......[pointless icon]

Hello,

choc oh poor little R, hope she gets better soon. I'm glad our babies are a bit older for this time of year, I would have been quite terrified with a little one over the depths of winter.

DH is trying to have a "serious" conversation with me, and N is helping himself to biscuits out of the cupboard, best go ,back laters

That's funny Borg because DH and I were only talking the other night about when C was born, and it was icy and snowy and freeeeezing, and we were terrified about bedroom temp etc. especially the first week when she basically didn't feed at all, she just got colder and colder and sleepier and sleepier and smaller and smaller. It was terrifying. I'll never forget the first bottle of FF we gave her and the almost drunken satisfied look of contentment she had. At that moment I started to breathe again.

Sorry that ended up being a bit dramatic, it just reminded me as you'd mentioned not having really tiny babies in cold weather.

Fortunately C never really got ill those very early months, that's mainly been since 6 months.

Anyone wondering if babies are heading for only one nap a day? If C has a long morning nap, she won't go down again, but is ridiculously tired by 6pm. When I have her, I waker her after 30 mins in the morning, then she has a proper afternoon sleep, but MIL and nursery won't do this.

Actually, I have a thing, an MIL thing, it's horrid and I don't know what to do about it. How do you approach relatives who are very kindly doing free childcare, when they do something completely and utterly unreasonable? MIL and I have been getting on OK since I've been back at work, no big concerns, minor niggles like the sleep thing but nothing horrific, and then last night, I picked her up, and DH's aunty was at MIL's and they were both stood smoking in the kitchen, with poor little C sat there breathing it all in. It was smokey so that I coughed when I opened the door, not in a 'smoking out the window' kind of way. I just grabbed C and ran as I couldn't deal with it (and I actually cried a bit on the way home as I felt like such a bad mummy for letting that happen), and I've spoken to DH about it, he's livid, but I just don't know how we should approach it with MIL.

She said she had given up, and I have in the past (while she's been minding C) suspected that she hasn't totally given up, and might have turned a blind eye if e.g. C was asleep in the buggy in the hall, and MIL was hanging out the kitchen window having a quick smoke. I wouldn't like it, but would probably tolerate on the grounds that C's contact with smoke would be minimal. But this was totally inexcusable. And I am and and I just don't know how to handle it.

BTW I know for some people this might not be a massive deal, I know people smoke, but I just felt terrible for C, who's still so little really, and has no choice at all about having to breathe it in. I am actually nearly crying thinking about it.

Sorry if you think I'm being a bit pathetic, it has just knocked me for six as I guess it's a trust thing. Don't know what to do now.

D

Delia - You are definitely not being pathetic or unreasonable. Doesn't she know the health risks of second hand smoke, especially for babies? I'd leave it to DH to politely say, "Please don't smoke around C" as a first step. Hopefully she'll stop and that'll be the end of it. Is this a dealbreaker for letting MIL mind C? I think it would be for me.

Yes to having to do everything while L is standing. Changing a nappy is a two-person job, one person distracting him with toys while the other does the nappy. Clearly I need to figure out how to do it while he's standing!

delia not pathetic at all. That would make me very angry and I would be having words with mil. Personally I cant stand it when people smoke around children, especially when they are not able to have a say in the matter. I have no idea how you should approach your mil but I would ensure she knows that it is not on.

chocco How is R?

A friend of a friend has called their new baby boy Jaxon. Is it just me, or is that a totally rediculous spelling? Hoiks up judgey pants!

It is a dealbreaker expat but I suppose I feel panicked as I don't know what our plan B would be if we really did have to go down this route. I guess that's the thing I'm panicking because I feel like I don't have another solution apart from leaving her with MIL, and although we can have words about it, I suppose I will still panic as the trust has been blown apart at the seams and I don't know how to get it back.

She does know how bad it is, her and aunty lady did look guilty and were furtively trying to wash fag ends down the sink. So they do know it was wrong. I feel a bit crap for just grabbing C and running but I was just horrified and wanted to get us both out of there.

D

delia I would have been livid, that's inexcusable. Everyone should know not to smoke near a baby, you're not pathetic. DH would prob be the best one to talk to her about it, maybe wait until you're calm and discuss it with him?
No advice really about what to do, I would just be fuming and handle it really badly I think!

blizy haha Jaxon. I always laugh at silly names on the baby names threads then someone always comes on and goes "oh that's ancient biblical for wondrous child" or "oh that's portuguese for arse" and makes everyone feel like they're not culturally aware and slightly racist

Yes nappy changes are a nightmare, he just totters off if we try it when he stands so that doesn't work.

Forgot to say, we took Nate into DHs work, and he was ASLEEP. They all commented on what a placid and good baby he was. HA HA HA HA

Wow, sounds like a lot of the babies have been ill. R is now on the mend (after finally getting some banana medicine in her) and has been to PIL this afternoon while I attempt to make up for missing three days of work in 6 hours. She's been waving at the telly and chattering away so hopefully she'll have continued in the same theme this pm.

One thing it has taught me though is that I am definitely primary care giver. DP is great, don't get me wrong but the assumption that I'm the one who will be off work with her has been amazing. Yesterday he'd left her antibiotics out of teh fridge so I had to tear around getting them replaced crying half the time as she was so poorly. He had the nerve to phone me up in the middle of it to tell me how crap his work was going. I resisted the urge to shout that I should also have been at f**king work. I would never leave R with others while she was so poorly but it was so annoying.

blizy Jaxon is a totally made up spelling. We get lots of comments about R's name but I think I'd be tempted to ask them why they chose to spell it like that!

Borg Nappy changes are hilarious here. Often a two person job. FIL got covered in poo while helping out and has apparently thrown away his wallet as it smells of poo!

Delia I'd be having serious words. That's one of the things that I would not let ANYONE get away with. I'd be so worried about how often it was happening.

I'm going to have to rush I'm afraid but waves to everyone and lots of thank yous for your good wishes.

PS. Is it Dilly's birthday this week? How exciting our teeny babies are turning 1!

hello ladies

borg love how your dhs colleagues commented on how placid nate was. I get that all the time too. When I was in the drs waiting room yesterday a mother with her ?3? yo were waiting too and she kept saying how placid alice was and how she couldn't believe it. I just nodded and smiled and let her believe the illusion

delia I would be absolutely fuming mad at that. Completely understandable what you are feeling. I would hate to think that Alice would be somewhere inside stuck breathing in cigarette smoke (no offence to those of you who may smoke) against my wishes without me knowing. I think the issue is not just that your MIL smoked with C there like that knowing it was wrong, but also that now you don't feel like you can trust her when she's done something knowingly inappropriate whilst you wern't there - like now you don't know whether she's done it before or if she'll do it again. It's really tricky and I fully understand the trust issue with MIL as in a different way I have a similar prob. I'd say if it were me I'd get dh to talk to mil as he knows her best and MIL may be more 'natural' (if that's the right word) with him. This is I guess another instance where it is tricky when family look after our LOs . Could you look at other options like nursery on the days MIL has C. Not necessarily to send C there but for your own sanity so you feel like you have a back up if you felt the need ever.

blizy jaxon???? .

Re: changing nappies - yes, it can be a nightmare can't it? I try and get dh to do as many as possible and laugh . Sometimes giving alice something she usually isn't allowed (current fave is shaking a packet of smints) while lying her down can sometimes keep her interested enough for a quick nappy change, but the worst is when she's rolling all over the place and getting poo everywhere [sigh] . A friend of mine has a 1.5 yo and she tells me it only gets worse and her dd just runs away from her when changing her nappy and then has a habit of weeing on the floor . Now I know why the public loo changing station thingys have a strap on them

Well, I'm testing a variety of baby products for a product testing company. In the last week we've been testing baby beakers, weaning spoons, cotton wool, cotton buds and baby soap . I'm liking getting all this free baby stuff through the post . DH is taking it v v seriously though and really overthinking the answers to the questionnaires we have to fill in on each product