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??!!

hello, we're having a lazy day here in highbury. Got up at 10.30 (sorry to boast, i will pay for it later as i've been bringing finn into our bed and breast feeding on demand.....and getting some extra kip)

I tidied up a bit, had my lunch while finn had his lunch and then let him sleep on me from 12.30-2.30 - what a luxury i love doing that! aren't babies adorable when they have their eyes closed and squashed on your shoulder-all cat like?? aaah.

nova i'm like you - no interest in weaning yet - not reason to start as finn seems happy on the boob and formula at night. also suspect weaning will be alot more work (lazy being that i am). i laughed at your loola bus story. we're thinking of buying another as our pramette takes up all the boot space...no room for suitcases/bags eetc

wedding in gloucester was lovely - finn was exceptionally well behaved during the reception. loads of women of a certain age kept sidling up and not really wanting to ask but feeling compelled asked to cuddle finn. hotel was gorgeous - a real treat - as it had a jacuzzi bath. and to top it all off finn slept all night 10 pm until 6 a.m. after a feed back to sleep until 9 a.m. can't complain at all

oh and i caught the bouquet thing. not out of choice but (my friend) the bride seemed to think it important that i get married and threw it directly at my head. luckily i wasn't holding finn at the time....james was beaming to my left! good job i'm not a traditionalist

golden - love to go to baby bounce (what is it?)
where is it?

hello to everyone else - londoner - beksmum - tessasmum, laylasandseths, beartime twinkletoes, karma (you feeling better today?) and anyone i missed out.

now going to play with my boy for a bit - isn't life great!

Hi all

as I'm typing, Ella is sitting in her rocker chair, smiling & giggling at me, so this may take a while to type! I can really see more of her personality now & I think she's going to be a little livewire. Once she starts crawling ...watch out! I see a few of you have Bumbos. We've got one & she can tolerate 5 mins before she gets narky.

Diege/Beartime, whenever you write about GF & her timings my jaw drops. I do admire you sticking to the plan cos I don't think I could be arsed. Obviously, there's more than one way to raise a child but it must be difficult if your LO doesn't fit in with her theories. Or do they just fall in to the pattern if you do it from birth? Its interesting reading about the amount of daytime sleep your babies have. The pattern that works for Ella is she is ok being awake for 1 & 1/2 hours & then she really needs to go to bed. Even if she seems quite alert & happy (she's very nosy) she will quickly go into meltdown after that. I guess she must have about 5-6 hrs daytime sleep which seems a lot by GF standards.

Candiemom, hang on in there, it gets better. As with everything baby-related, its a phase which will be quickly replaced by another one. My DD is a similar age & the cumulative sleep deprivation does take its toll around now. Sendng big hugs.

Beksmum, hope you have a great time with your parents this week. Are you going anywhere interesting? Yes I did enjoy my pampering this morning, wish I could afford one every week!

Got to go, Ella needing attention.

crossed posts, jenjam. Yes I am feeling a bit better today, thanks.

It's lovely feeding them lying in bed, isn't it? Definately a good way to wake up, with them all snuggled in to your chest. I did that all the time with ds as we co-slept till he was 10 months. However, if I'm honest, I get more sleep this time round as Ella is content to sleep in her moses basket. Long may it last.

OMG, theres a due in Nov 06 thread!!!

hi all...

sorry to hear about the PND a few of you are suffering with...
hopefully things will start looking brighter soon.
lilj lol at the plane poo...
we had the same thing on trin to the wedding last weekend. only one changing unit on the whole train and it was 7 carriages away from us!then got there to discover a giant poo and realised the baby wipes were in dps rucksack and not the changing bag..argh...
londoner- nobu sounds amazing, and how grat that E was smily and content (but of course..lol)..
i have an inkling I am being taken to the river cafe for my birthday next week..i've always wanted to go and noticed dp hs been looking at the website...fingers crossed..heehee

re routins..we hve nver bothrd and just let oskar dictate right from birth. he has settled into his own routine now, he falls asleep after we bathe him around 7 and generally sleeps through to 6 ish. If he hasn't had a full feed before bed I give him a 'dream feed' when we go to bed, but normally he doesn't need it.
it suits us much better to not have a rigid schedule, as we aren't much into routins ourslves, and we find it easier to be able to take him out as and when rather than having to get home for bath time etc.
We will probbly implement one as he gets older though..or I'm sure we will all suffer if not.

nova- what a water baby! bet you are really proud.

we are also looking into a new buggy..ours is fab for long walks but i daren't take it on the bus anymore after a few encounters with nasty ignorant people.
we also have to take of the wheel guards and wheels to fit it into a car boot which is a real pain in the ass.

karma I agree..it's lovely taking O into our bed in the mornings for a sleepy feed and then playing..

so jealous of your cleaners..I'm the cleaner in our house! and dp's burst of helping out lasted all of a week..grr..time for words again...

sorry for any missing vowls by the way..our keybord is knackerd!

it's good to be able to dip in a bit more Rodeo, the last few weeks have seemed really busy.

Took Nat for lunch then to the cinema today with a friend from the post natal group. She was a superstar (Nat, not the friend - lol). Saw Cinderella Man which was great.

JenJam - I'm with you on feeling that my baby is the most amazing creation in the world. I adore her to pieces and get such joy out of spending my time with her.

BoB - fingers crossed for a yummy birthday treat

Sending positive vibes to those of you who are feeling a bit down

Jenjan - baby bounce is music time for babies.

LilJ - do you fancy it too?

It is on at my local library in Islington - the Mildmay.

Hello All, no posts for a couple of days - rather a heavy night on Saturday - paid for it yesterday!! Luckily T was staying over at my M&Ds
Lol at the poo explosion on the plane!!!
Sorry to hear of the poorly babes - think T is defo on the mend now, loads better, voice is coming back and everything now. Am thinking that we may be about to start on the teeth cutting thing have been chewing on fists for weeks, dribbling and have got quite red cheeks - tried to look at gums today - think I spotted a small white area with a little hole forming - could be a first tooth on the way!!!!??
T doesn't really sleep all that much in the day - not too bothered by this as he sleeps well at night - figure that if he is that tired he will fall asleep, so Mummy isn't going to stress about ensuring he has an exact amount of sleep per day.
Am going to a P-N group session a week on Friday - about weaning! should be interesting, will see what they say.
Think am going to weigh T again this week - think is he is way above the stone mark now!!
Anyway, must crack on, things to do for Brownies tomorrow night!!

Brownie & Thomas
x

Hi ladies, only had a chance to skim the thread. Had a very long afternoon in A&E with Rosie. She's still having blood in her nappy and today it got much worse. Horrible, horrible thing. I'm sick with worry. They're doing some tests and we'll hopefully have some answers soon. Poor little thing. She and Tobes are at the tail-end of the virus now, congestion and fevers, on top of these tummy problems. I had to drag Tobes to A&E too and he was a star. DH came and met us, so I had some moral support. I just hope we can find out what it is and help Rosie soon. Makes my heart stop every time I change her nappy.

Beartime, I am from Texas. A suburb of Dallas called Mesquite. Lord, just typing that has made me so homesick. Days like this I could really use my Mama.

Sorry to be so down. Will hopefully post soon with good news.

aw tex- so sorry things have turnd for the worse , after we spoke on msn the other day I hoped things were gtting better. kisses to rosie.

to everyone weaning/ thinking about it..please buy 'simply better food for babies and children'..written by one of our friends, peter vaughan, who is an amazing organic cook.

to those with the reflux problm..do you have one of those wedges for under the cot mattress? we got one for when O is blocked up and it works wonders..would work for reflux as well I guss?

Tex - love and hugs to Rosie - know how frightening it can be when the LOs are poorly - can only imagine the emotions you must be going through with blood in nappies. Thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Brownie & Thomas
x

Evening girls,

Karma sorry I missed your call today, will definitely catch you at some time this week probably Friday afternoon if that's ok with you.
Not doing anything very intersting with my folks at home just the usual run of the mill things, it just makes it so much easier when they are here as Ben adores them and behaves really well whenever they are around - I miss them terribly when they go back.

I think we must be related as I read your post to Diege/Beartime and could have written it myself It seems that Ella and Thomas have a very similar routine as Thomas can only cope with being awake for an hour or two at a time and sleeps 5-6 hours a day most days, plus he sleeps through the night. No way I could do the GF routine, if I think I'm depressed now I'd be suicidal by the end of that

Tex you poor thing, you must be at your wits end not knowing what's happening with Rosie. I know you hardly know me but if you need someone to look after Toby at any time just ask even if it is at the drop of a hat, he and Ben got on so well I know he'd be no trouble. I'll e-mail you my number as it must be so difficult not having family around you to help out in times of emergency.

Jenjam glad you had a nice time at the wedding (when do we start buying wedding outfits then?!!!)and that Finn behaved well for you, what you said about women of a certain age feeling obliged to hold him made me chuckle!

LilJ sorry I cracked up at your poo story, when we took Ben on his first flight he decided to do the smelliest poo ever during the meal service and the stewardess helpfully pointed out that they did have a baby change facility in the toilets - shame was both aisles were blocked with trolley's and then when I eventually managed to get past the dozy mare I managed to whack virtually every passenger on my right hand side with the baby changing bag, whilst stinking out the entire plane!!!

Diege that's what mil's are for and don't worry you'll get yours when you're a mil yourself one day

Rodeo, sounds like you had a good time last night - how's the head?

Nova wow Natalie sounds a true water baby, you must be very proud, loved the image of her sitting on the edge of the diving board

Had a proud mummy moment myself today as Ben had a sponsored chatter box day today and they all had to stand up and recite a nursery rhyme or some such and he was the only one who didn't use a microphone and you could hear every word he said at the back of the room {beaming mummy emoticon) the drama classes must be working thank god - they cost enough!!!

Hi to anyone I've missed, hope you are all well.

Right best go as dh has just brought Thomas up and is waiting to play on here, speak to you all later
BEKS

Oh Tex how awful for you and family ; at least you will know what the problem is soon, though must be a nightmare waiting. Thinking of you .
BEKS:aww, you must be so proud of Ben and his recitation. Bet all the other mummies looked on with envy . Glad you had a good night out BROWNIE; what luxury to have T at parents'. Did you have a nice lie in the next day? . NOVA: cinema trip sounded great! Did you go to special session for babies, or just braved it with the 'grown ups?' You seem to fit an awful lot into your days ; am v. jealous!
Well, after all the excitement about weight loss after a few days illness, I'd only gone and put on 1.5 ibs at SW tonight .Not in the right 'stone' after all - oh well, I'll get there in the end!
Heading off to bed, so talk tommorrow! Gave up on the Martin Kemp drama thing (RODEO?)..
Diege .

Candie - I have wondered if Caleb has reflux before. But he mostly only does the arching thing at the 6pm feed - would that be reflux then or more likely something else? He definitely projectiles - though some times more often than others, he spits up a lot, hiccups a lot too, and at times cries when feeding but at other times not. Could it be related to what I eat? I do Gina combined with Baby Whisperer/Babywise/ and my own feelings of what I think is right - basically I just want him on a routine and try to figure out the best way of doing that - one day I'll have it sussed and write my own book - 'the complete idiots guide to babies'.

Diege - I think the only reason I seem on top of it is that I've tried all the different routine ways of doing things and had to
adapt it lots in USA so figured out why they say to do certain things!

Oops gotta go DH going to bed... have to reply to the rest 2morrow
LilJ - after USA it took Caleb a little over a week to get back to normal routine and not wake up in the night anymore. So there's hope

Tex - thinking of you all. I hope they sort it out soon.

Waiting for that 'dream feed' again tonight, not that it seemed to do much last night, little blighter was still up again at 3 and again at 5.30 DH thinks it must be because he is full of cold but I actually don't think he is that bad, bit snuffly with some impressive early morning bogies (sorry if TMI!) but nothing more. Going to keep going for a week to see what happens. Hopefully by then he will be in his cot (probably in the office/front room to start with as the wardrobe is still an 'issue'!) and everyone will be less disturbed.

Nova - very impressed at advanced swimming class. I never took Tessa to a class but we went swimming nearly every week from 3 months and still go as often as we can. She loves the water and will happily stay in there all day - we also do morning baths as they take well over an hour and she would never get to bed!

Used to love taking Tessa into bed when she was tiny. Still do really and our days usually start by her coming into us and getting into bed. Usually ends up with all 4 of us in there now and its a lovely way to start the day, not very restful any more but lovely

One thing to add about weaning - don't take 'cook in bulk' too literally, one carrot/potato/parsnip makes a lot of ice cubes. Voice of bitter experience here

Also, advice for today - don't let your just 3 year old help you paint the baby's cot. They have NO concept of 'don't touch that it's wet' and really object to getting thrown in the bath to wash yellow paint out of their hair when we only washed it 3 hours before

Karma - LOL at jaw dropping open - they do fall into the routine if you feed them and wake them at the right times, but I think you have to be a bit more flexible with naps. With the daytime sleep its just maths - if you want them to sleep for 12hrs e.g. 7-7 at night, and they need total 15hrs sleep at this age then they shouldn't sleep more than 3hrs in the day or they'll wake up in the night. And then you don't want them to sleep too long in the afternoon so just have a catnap then etc. its just a way of making sure they get the right amount of sleep on a schedule really. The thing I like is you know where you are and what's happening when. Also it is based around them not being able to be awake more than 2 hrs at a time. Did you talk to your HV BTW?

JJ last time I tried the feeding him in bed thing he did a massive vomit all over me and the bed within abt 10mins of starting so I had to change all the bedsheets, all my clothes and all his clothes too as it was all soaked!

Nova/JenJam also agree about baby being the joy of my life - and DHs. We have pics of him on our screensaver and sometimes when he's gone to bed we sit there watching them!

Brownie - Caleb hardly ever falls asleep by himself - nearly always goes into meltdown and then impossible to get to sleep! Apart from if we're in the car all day! Ditto on red cheeks and drooling BTW no white spot though (oops I wrote shite spot - had to change )

Tex - I'm sorry about Rosie - I hope they figure it out really soon. Sorry to make you homesick too DH misses Texas as everyone's so friendly there and he loves the sunshine and food etc. Tho' I always cook mexican food as he doesn't like anything else! He's from Corpus Christi.

BoB is that book from 4mths or 6mths? I would be scared of a wedge after a friend said they wedged their baby's mattress up and came in and found they had slid under the blankets.

Hi all,

Tex, just try to keep telling yourselves that these things are often not the worst case scenario. You're dealing with it and doing as much as you can. Make sure you feel really confident in the care and diagnosis you are getting. One tip is take someone with you so that if you get hurried along during an appointment (often happens -- bedside manner and all that), they can ask your questions for you. Often because you're so emotional worried and grateful for help in these situations, you can walk out the door without having asked all the little things. A sort of 'objective' pal will help in this case. If you don't have one, I volunteer (are you in London?).

Beartime, that sounds quite a bit like what my dd has. She doens't arch every feed, and she doesn't throw up every feed either. It could be something you are eating, but then again it could be colic too if it's always at the same time every day. I had self-diagnosed it but what do I know? It was only when we took her to the pediatrician and he started rattling off all these other symptoms and I kept going, 'yes' 'yes' 'yes' that I had it confirmed. Does Caleb cry when lying flat, especially after eating? Does he stop crying when you pick him up (upright)? I am formula feeding because I wasn't able to breastfeed so I use a thickening formula and we also have her on antacid medication twice a day. I was loathe to do this but long term irritation of the oesophagus can cause other problems like bronchitis so I did it.

For her cot, I have it up 30 degrees (using books at one end) which she doens't slide down on. You could do up to 45 but she does slide down on that. There is a harness you can buy, but I think that would just be too much for a mild case (which mine is and yours if it is would probably also be). I bought a wedge pillow from Amazon.com in the states and I use this on the floor for tummy time and her gym.

Own proud mommy moment OR fluke incident of the week: dd SLEPT THROUGH the night last night from 9.30 - 7.30. Of course we don't as we have to prepare the feeds, but it was the best sleep I've had since I was mid pregnancy! Works wonders for my non-existant fuse -- no blues to be seen today!

Babyonboard, we have done the same thing letting dd set her own routine. Mostly because that's how I naturally am and just didn't have the heart to try to do it with her reflux. She really does seem to be finding her natural rhythm now and we are working on falling asleep on her own. So far, about 50/50.

OK practical questions (again!). I have been wondering if there is a mom's cinema anywhere in London tips? Also, swimming classes. Would love to know what you experts are doing you are all just very inspiring!

tex - thinking of you - hope rosie will be OK.

baby - we put books under end of mattress - does the job great!

Candi - lots of mum and baby showings at local cinemas - where ate you?

Well done on getting a nights sleep.

Morning . It's a lovely sunny day here today, so going to venture out and get some fresh air asap! Re: propping cot up, I use these 'cups' that you slot cot legs into at one end (from JOJO catalogue I think?); not a drastic angle, but enough to help with snuffles/wind etc..
Speak later,
Diege

We're in Canary Wharf, but mobile.

When you put the books under the mattress did you get picky? I kept saying, no we can't have that one under her cot as it's not nice enough. of course dh had none of this so it's Heat, OK and NOw under there (guilty pleasures discovered whilst on mat leave....)

Morning! Thanks so much for all of your support. The hospital rang last night and they've been able to rule out a lot of the more serious possibilities with Rosie. They've come back to the conclusion that it's viral or might be a milk sensitivity. They've said to leave it another week and see if it improves. They also said I could use Wysoy formula and see if it makes a difference. I wish we knew something more concrete but I'm very glad that it doesn't sound like it's anything terribly serious.

Had another rough night last night. Both kiddos still ill so lots of 'Maaamaaaa... I need a drink.' and 'Maaamaaaa, I'm poooorly.' Plus Rosie's three or four bouts of diarhea. Feeling pretty rough today but shouldn't have to leave the house so it's jammies and DVDs all day.

Bearime, so interesting that your DH is from Texas! I don't meet many Texans in London. What brought him to England? I've been to Corpus many times. You can tell DH that I met my DH at Louie's Backyard in Padre during Spring Break '92. That should make him laugh! So funny that you mentioned Mexican food. Last night I was really in need of some comfort food so I got DH to run out and buy stuff so I could make nachos.

BoB, good to hear from you. I got your email this morning. How did the oven cleaning go? I would LOVE to meet for a coffee as soon as these babies are feeling better. I've left the house maybe five times in the last ten days and two of those trips was to casualty. Very ready to get back to normal.

Candiemom, I thought you must be North American because of the 'O' in Mom. Something about your rythym of speaking (or writing) made me think Canadian rather than American. Mostly, I think it was just a lucky guess! Where are you in London? We're in Blackheath in the SE. Have you been in England very long? We should plan a meet-up once things calm down here. Londoner, BoB, BEKs and I got together a few weeks ago in Blackheath and it was so nice to put faces to names.

BEKs, thanks so much for the offer of help. It makes a difference just knowing the offer is there. Very impressed with Ben's performance. I've got all the Jigsaw stuff out and am finally planning to do the two week trial once Tobes is feeling better. Sounds like a great group.

OK, off to tend babies and research soy milk formula. Hope you guys have a lovely day. Looks a bit dark and dreary here but it's March tomorrow! Spring is just around the corner.

Sorry girls just a quickie from me as having "one of those days" grrr

Tex glad you got some positive news for Rosie, perhaps if it's nice on Tuesday or Thursday next week we could take the boys for a run in the park - all others welcome too of course!

Help please from those with older munchkins - how can you get a soon to be 4 year old to wear lip salve? Ben's lips look atrocious and you'd think I was going to murder him if I go near him with a pot of vaseline!!!

Right got to go before I lose the plot with these two today. Hope you are all well Beks

BEKs, I've had the same problem with Toby's lips. I took him to the chemist and let him choose his own lip balm (strawberry). He'll wear it more because it smells and tastes nice. Still has chapped lips but they've improved.

Oh, and a runaround next week sounds fantastic. Fingers crossed this virus lets up by then. Feels like it could last forever at the moment.