November 05 Babies

[Rodeo]

A new thread for us and our little 2, 3 and very nearly 4 month olds, where is the time going??!!

I would probably also consider Brymore as well but would need to find out about their results too

HI Good morning everyone!

Phew....... have been offline as kids were off school last week and now find I have arrived bang in the middle of a prettty hot debate, woah!

Women who stay at home have been so frowned upon over the last few decades. Then again so have 'career mums'. Perhaps we will never be allowed to get it 'right', although I think it's possible this is as a consequence of such a massive upheaval in the perception of womens' rights so recently in our history. Everything is still so new and choices abound. I personally have encountered such crushing snobbery on the subject (as a SAHM myself) and feel I've really had an uphill battle to try and retain respect from others as well as from myself. I gained more respect and generated more interest in the 18 months I was working in an easy peasy admin job recently when my dd1 went into full time education than during the whole of my sahm period. I now rest easy and have so much respect for myself as a sahm as a consequence. I do however miss work now, and the sense of respect and achievement it afforded me, but at the same time adore being with my new baby 24-7 and listening to my other children's highs/lows at the end of the school day. As a child I was in full time nursery (from 18 months old) and also had au pairs/baby sitters all of which I remember vividly and as a consequence find the thought of leaving my own pre-school children to go to work makes me feel physically sick. However, I believe that each mother makes the best choices/provision for herself and her family that she can at any given time and that this will inevitably vary from woman to woman like anything else and that this is fine. I'm always interested in how people do things and what makes them tick but do not like to judge. Do the best that you can at any given time/task is probably what I believe.
Hope you're all well......

Busy - the independent sector have their own inspection regeime - like Ofstead. But you can find Millfields results in the national league tables - I'm probably wrong. It's results are probably very good!

morning all - poor finn has his first nappy rash. what causes it? and will sudocrem sortit out or is there something that works better?

Hi Londoner! Hope you had a good half-term week with the kids off; does the house seem quiet now? Have a bit of a dilemna about dd1, as she is in holiday club all week but Wednesday (and DH is taking Thurs off to take her out). Wasn't happy about going this morning, though had been v.excited all weekend (particualrlly about taking a packed lunch), and DH said she was pretty miserable when he left her.
Think I should go up and get her this afternoon? Have already decided I will probably keep her off tommorrow; the only reason she's there really (other than having paid for it) is that I have a deadline for work, but could do it in evening perhaps? May ring them and see how she's doing perhaps.
Well, Libby has a sore weepy eye that isn't really responding to cooled, boiled water; need some of the magic milk; SMA doesn;t quite cut it .
Slimming world tonight; don't think I'm going to amaze with my weight loss this week! Had gorgeous curry at gourmet curry house this weekend (well, a take out), but think I will scrape a pound off!
Diege [smiel].

Hi JENJAM - had the same thing with Libby a few weeks ago; got 'metanium' cream which cleared it up brilliantly, as did the advice about making sure bottom is dry before applying creams. Hope this helps!
Diege

Diege - give them a ring to see how she is. She is prob. having a good time.

Golden-you were right about the a/as levels, they weren't awful, but they weren't the high standered you would expect from that school, they were about average with the rest of a/as levels in the area, the key stage results were far better though and it was clear that Miffys are 10 steps ahead when it came to their results...hmm, thanks for the info

Diege thanks for bum rash advice
btw forgot to share this with you - has anyone else got a 'bumbo'? my brother and SIL bought us one. Finn is a sitting in it now staring at his baby gym from a new angle. He looks like little lord fauntleroy!

Diege, yes it is quiet.............................. am having a strange day trying to readjust and the day seems to be slipping through my fingers as I have so many things ear marked for doing! So far though have only managed to play with/feed/change E and a lot of tea, toast & chocolate....
Have you tried salt in the cooled boiled water? It is v. magical. RE dd1, that sounds reallly tough, yes I would ring them to see how she is, but also what do you really want to do? If you really want to do the work, then maybe spend some quality time with her this evening instead.... or if you want to get her, just do it, but perhaps say it was because you missed her so much, ..."sorry if you were having such a good time.." etc? - so that you are stilll in 'control' of the situation avoiding the poss of her thinking hmmmm perhaps I can try this in lots of other situations etc .... good luck what ever you decide, plates on sticks eh!

Thanks for the advice Londoner/Golden. I've just rang them, and she is absolutely fine, playing happily outside, and very proud of her packed lunch . Had been worried as DH said when he left her she was just sitting in the corner, playing with a computer game (well, toy from happy meal) that she had asked to take . Glad I rang rather than charging up there! Will get her early I think, so that it's not such a long day! Will try salt too . Let the day slip through your fingers I say! After such a busy week last week, you probably need a day or to get back into your usual routine.
JENJAM: those bumbo things are great, so I've heard, and such a good idea for taking to cafes etc too . Can just imagine Fin sitting up and looking all self-important!
Well, better get some work done!!!!!!!!

Hi all,

Just skimmed this thread and saw the interesting topics for discussion. My dd born 25 November and lately I've been wondering how other moms spend their days?

Our own routine is that I wait for her to wake naturally, do a full change and top and tail (v. quick now adding more to this routine including ears and nails), usually have a feed and give her medicine (reflux). After eating she sometimes falls alseep for a while, or plays then falls asleep later. Her feeds are anywhere from every 3 to every 4 1/2 hours (depending on if she's sleeping). The rest of the day we try to fit in some prone time, reading and a walk. We end the day by having a bath (which she really enjoys). I don't have a putting her to bed routine still just wait for her to look sleepy then help her out with rocking, singing or if we're very lucky, putting her in the cot to fall asleep on her own. I'm of the demand-parenting ilk -- I try to go with where she is. She doesn't have a regular feeding schedule, but is usually up once at night for a feed. As I wasn't able to bf she's on formula and unfortunately as a result has reflux that we are working on. Right now we're on a lactose free though it's not a miracle.

I don't really do much in the way of trying to get her to grasp or do developmental milestones -- I'm sort of getting her to the water and letting her learn how to drink.

I am wondering how other moms spend their days, interact with kids' development and/or if you have a established routine. I'm curious about how others do it as I'm a new mom and have basically no baby experience. All I'm doing is going with my maternal instincts (strong) and a bunch of books. I don't think there is any one right way but the more information I feel I have from the experts (you moms), the better it's got to be!

Would any of you be interested in sharing your daily activities?

Blimey girls that was a discussion and a half - not sure where I stand to be honest, I was exactly like Jenjam in that I thought I'd be dying to get back to work after Ben was born but found that I fell madly in love with him and couldn't see the importance of filing HR papers any more Then again I've never been a big fan of work either as I have a very short attention span of about 18 months, once I mastered the job it's time to move on as proved by my CV which has more jobs on it than most agencies could offer you at any one time.

I love being a SAHM and wouldn't change it really, although I do miss the money. I did consider returning to work before Thomas was conceived but the childcare costs proved too prohibitive and I would have been working for virtually nothing - bit like I am now really

I think every family has to do what is right for them, in their own situations - one of my friends is a SAHD as his wife earns more than he did, he loves it, but again gets bored sometimes like us all. I think it's hard to say who should be the most important person to a child, I certainly wasn't the best person for Ben when I had PND but do try my hardest with both boys now, and am rewarded with adoration from Thomas and a constant "Where's dad, when's he coming home" from Ben - so who knows. [Grin]

Golden - ouch at your fees, I thought I was hard done by paying £126 every 6 weeks!!! Can I ask do you think it's beneficial at such an early age?
The only reason I ask is that both my dh & my sil were privately educated from 11 onwards and although they are both bright neither has really set the world on fire, my dh could certainly do a lot more with himself but just doesn't want to - which drives me mad!!!
He says he wouldn't want to educate the boys privately but to be honest if we had the money I would probably consider it.

Sorry for the extra long post - these conversations always sound shorter in your head!!!

One more from me - welcome aboard Candimom - we're a friendly lot on this thread and as you can see most of us spend quite a lot of the day chatting on here

Your routine sounds similar to my own except I have a 3 year old to throw into the mix, sounds like you are doing fine to me, the only advice I can give is that when she's a wake chat to her, about anything from what you're doing to general rubbish, sing songs and generally play - this time slips by really fast and she will learn as she goes along, try to give her some time on her tummy each day too but most of them find this pretty frustrating after a coupel of minutes so lay infront of her chatting , smiling etc for as long as she'll stand it.

Tex - can't do coffee this week as my mum & dad are coming back from Spain tomorrow night so Ben will want to spend every waking minute with them!!! Count me in for the next one though. I've posted the details of Ben's party in the yahoo site rather than posting them here and finding 101 kids attending his party!!!

Karma - hooray for joining me on the feeding - well done Ash - it's lovely isn't it, do you feed him in his bouncy chair? That's where I feed Thomas and he just loves to stick his hands in his mouth all the time - yum!!! Had forgotten about the mess they can get into!!!

Right off to amuse the munchkin - speak to you all ater Beks

lol, ok here goes-

between 7-8am- alfie wakes, i feed him in bed till hes fed enough to be able to stop for 10mins, i then get ds1 up,changed, get his breakfast, cbbees(sp?) on then back in to get alfie up, top+tailed, dressed, feed some more-this takes till 11am, at 11am i finish feeding alfie, swaddle him and put in cot with dummy, he then goes till usually 12/12.30, this times spent washing/tidying/trying to get my b/fast,get myself washed/dressed, maybe read a few books with ds1 and play with some toys, then alfies up again, feed alfie some more, put alfie in his chair whilst i make ds1 lunch, give ds1 lunch whilst feeding alfie, alfie back in his chair, try and clear away after lunch, change ds1,cbeebees back on more washing/tidying, more feeding for alfie. 2.30pm- wind down on sofa feeding alfie and talking to/playing with ds1. 3pm-ds1 down with 10oz of cows milk in a bottle, alfie swaddled and down with 4oz of formula, 20mins running round putting toys away/sweeping up, 3.30pm i eat my lunch. if im lucky theyre both down till 5pm, this times spent doing washing/tidying/eating/making phonecalls/driving lessons etc etc.
both woke up at 5pm, have them both on sofa for 1/2hr cuddly time/reading/quite time, 5.30pm-start attempting to go out, by the time both and myself are dressed and ready its usually nrly 6pm, go out/park etc etc, come back (hectic hr) alfie fed, put in chair to whinge, ds1 bathed or washed/put p'js on 6.45pm-more snuggly time, 7pm-ds1 down with anougher 10oz of cows milk in bottle. then i wash or bath alfie, change into babygrow, then feed till 8.30pm, then alfie has 4oz of formula, then at 8.45-9pm goes down(awake) into cot with nightshow on 15mins, usually goes off, may need to switch it on for anougher 15mins occasionally, then sigh of relief! try get my own dinner, tidy up/put washing on ready for next day, put clothes out for next day for me and boys and the reast of the nights for me to do what i want then really......

thats based on a rough guide, but we follow it as close as poss but it varys as dp is on earlys on week and lates the next+it varys when we go out(i dont stay in just because of their routines and have never had a problem so far)

my ds's are ds1-2 this wed, ds2-12 weeks

hi beksmum and welcome to the thread candimom.

my routine is very loose. today im still in pjs on sofa playing with my baby. woke up at 7 to his grumbling, changedhim, brought him into my bed, breastfed him lying down, both of us fell asleep until 10 am (yesssss!) got up, changed him again, left him to amuse himself under baby gym for 20 mins, sang some nursery rhymes, sat him in his bumbo and gave him a rattle, put washing on, fed him againm then let him sleep on me for 30 mins..and now he has exploded in his nappy so off to change him again

repeat until james my partner gets hom with a 2 hr nap between 2 and 4 (if im lucky), then bath at 7.30 and he's in bed at 8-8.30pm

other days i go out all day neet other mums and fit his needs in around wherever i am.

beksmum. did you get pnd this time or u ok?

jenjam

ps excuse spelling ang punc as 90% of my posts on here are written with babe feedin on lap so 1 handed typing

oh i do wash him in the morning occasionally too!

busy you are busy. respect to you second time mummies. how do you ever go out with two???

it takes determination and mostly organisation-organisation if deffinately the key when you have more than 1 child

ps-this'll make you laugh, was feeding alfie 7am sun morning, half asleep, he slipped off nipple, tried to latch himself back on, later when i got dressed realised that hes been sucking furiously on my skin above my nipple and now have a stonking great lovebite/bruise the size of a 50p on my breast!!!!!!!

busy. lovebite - nice. when james was very small (5 days old i think) Finn once latched onto james's nipple as he was carrying him around in his arms to the changing table. it was all very athena in our house in the early days - walking around in black and white with his top off!. anyway james screamed like a girl!

a little girl,not a grown up lady like myself

Of course lol

this is so helpful! What percentage of your day are you one to one with your baby? And what do you do and say to her/him when playing cuddling?

Hi Candimom, welcome.... okay,

6.45am: alarm goes off, fall out of bed and put kettle on (will do this @ 3 times before making any tea) put clothes wash and tumble dryer on. Wake ds1 for school. Feed baby for 2o mins, change nappy and put back to bed.
7.10am Wake ds1 up again and tell him to hurry up! then throw my clothes on and scrape back hair in hair elastic. Make packed lunches for ds'1+2 and dd1 and dh if he is v.lucky! Have bowl of cereal.
7.40am almost expire from stress - in a calm way - to get ds1 out the door and off to catch his train (7.48am) in time, which included helping him to remove his black nail varnish this morning with 4 minutes to go....... there's always something [rolls eyes]
7.45am Wake ds2 and dd1 for breakfast.
8.00 Try and find a pair of socks each.....this could take some time, or I could strike lucky.....
8.45am Pluck sleeping baby out of crib and wrap in blankets to run across road and deliver ds2 and dd1 to school, baby now wide awake.
9am Feed baby and post into bouncy chair in kitchen while I tidy up [halo emoticon] and chat to her or joggle her on my knee while I chat to you guys and leave kitchen to fester.
Rest of day feed and change her on demand prob about every 2-4 hours between feeds. Have great plays/chats with her at each feed/nappy change.
Do more clothes washing/housework/shopping/seeing friends etc with baby in tow.
3.30 School pick -up.
4.20 ds1 home and make tea for everyone and then load dishwasher etc.
6.30 Girls' bath time.
7.30 dd1 stories/bed time
8.30 ds2 bed time
Dh home any time between 7.30 and 12 depending on the stage of the press cycle his publication is at, sometimes later.
Have dinner with dh if he is home.
@10pm Baby to bed.
@10.30 ds1 to bed....... well, I try.
Sit down and relax/spend time with dh.

Hello All - not posted for a couple of days - and managed to come back to a very interesting couple of debates!
Re. Women being submissive to their husbands - sorry Beartime, but don't think I can go with you on that one (but each to their own, it would be a dull world if we were all the same!)I am a very strong woman, but then need a strong man to stand up to me!
RE. Childcare Vs work debate - think its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other to be honest! We are opting for me going back to work 4 days (financial reasons) and T going to Nursery for 2 days and Grandad having him for the other 2. Think it will give him a rounded personality and give him lots of diversity and stimulation - even I'd be bored of me 7 dyas a week!!!!!

Last Friday went to look round the nursery T is going to - was very impressed - security is excellent, and the variety of activities and stimulation are fantastic. The staff loved Thomas and wanted to keep him there and then!!!! He did stay in the baby room with the staff for 45 minutes or so whilst I went and looked round the whole nursery - he didn't bat an eyelid, bless him!!

My weekend was hectic - had a district Guiding event on Saturday - spent about 5 hours with 120 kids!!!!!! was shattered by the time I got home! We took 11 of our Brownies, but there were 80 of the little darlings in total (80 7-10 year olds!) and about 20+ RAinbows (5-7) and about the same amount of Guides, then the leaders - it was manic!!!!!!

T has been down to 4 feeds a day for a few weeks now. Breakfast around 9am, lunch around 1pm, Tea around 5pm and then one feed in the night (anywhere between 1am and 5 am)- would ideally like him to droup the feed in the night, but think 3 feeds a day won't be enough......

Went into work today to take my letter about returning to work, and my flexible working application to request the move to 4 days a week - they all love to see T, and always comment that they wouldn't realise that there is a baby in the office as he is always so good! Tried to explain that I am raising a good, well behaved contended baby......they all just say he doesn't take after me, with him being so quiet and all!!!!!!!!

Glad you and your LO are all ok - bring on the next controversial debate - love a good one!!! (at uni I often used to argue a different point of view to what I actually believe, just to amke the debate interesting!!!!!)

Brownie & Thomas