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??!!

BoB - agree with you on the cooking front. I love cooking too, and eating it................

Rodeo - boys do protest during the night - but go back off to sleep v.quickly. In fact, last night, by the time I got my lazy backside into their room the one who was grizzling has already gone back to sleep!

God. its me posting yet again...

had a day of highs and lows today..

high point..met tex and t & r for coffees which was lovely..r was just beautiful and has expressions that are just wise beyond her years..she's like a grown up in minature..hehehe

it was also so great to imagine oskar being t's age asserting himself and causing mayhem..lol..

low point...whilst manouvering oskar/trying to open a bag of mini eggs I managed to spill almost a whole coffee all over the table..thankfully staff were lovely and helped clear the damage..

high point..oskar was out in his sling and actually stayed awake to look around for the first time..his tiny face seemed amazed at all the trees/cars/ noise/ people

low point..after leaving tex and co I glanced in the butchers window and realised oskars dangling legs had encouraged my dress to ride up and bunch around my crotch, probably exposing the saggy gusset of my tights..so much for yummy mumy..lol..from now on the sling will only be used if i'm in jeans..teehee

high point..finally got round to going into the restaurant 'strada' where i used to work...it was lovely as two of my old work mates were on shift and it was empty so we sat and had a few illy coffes and caught up.

low point...found out that my old boss committed suicide last month in a pretty nasty way, really suprising as he was a very confident and ambitious guy...I guess though you can never see such things coming...

oh..and another low point..
I somehow smacked my bracelet against a post on the way to the village and lost a stone from it..it was my 21st gift from my parents and I love it so very sad
spent a while grappling around on the pavement for it, whilst trying to balance O in his sling but didn't find it..ho mumm...

I guess a jeweller may be able to fix it, but its an odd shape and an odd colured stone...

and high..thought i'd lost one of o's hand knitted blankets as i tucked it into the sling and then at costa realised it wasn't there..
then saw it hanging from a tree branch as i walked home and it's only slightly dirty..
very pleased as its one of the things i will certainly keep for our next baby.

enough blahing..think me and oskar might share a bath tonight...then plan to cook tacos..mmm

Impossible to catch up with you lot..

Golden - Yeah, Z used to beat my boob with his little fist continually, was so funny that I would laugh so hard - couldn't concentrate on settling him.

Tessasmum - That will have given you a fright. Seems that you have to have eyes at the back of your head with two little ones.

Nova - I love the yummy mummy look, well done. I'm buying between size clothes at the moment which isn't much fun. Your hair in the pics was nice, I wouldn't tell you to cut it but then I like longer hair.

BoB - You stuffed a duck? WoW! Well done. Well with mum here have cleaned the house from top to bottom and am very proud of myself. I watched a programme, Anthea Turner's housekeeping one? It has had me in the mood to organise everything from linen cupboard to kitchen sink since. I took curtains down from the window today that looked ready to shrivel up I will say no more!

Karma - Your Wednesday's sound great. I have also met a lot more friends since having Z. Feel quite guilty for thinking so little of my SAHM friends when I had a career. It's a lovely, rewarding job but very tiring, and with little recognition for what you do in 24 hours.

Sorry if i've missed anyone, literally read what I could while making mental notes for replies.

Oh...Z gave his first real chuckle yesterday and can grab animal on baby gym now. Also follows me round room until his eyes are at back of head!! Is lovely.

Right, waffle waffle...thanks. Have good night x

Evening

Children & baby are all in bed and I'm now bored....anything good on the box tonight?

Bob, that's crap about your bracelet but great about your blanket , and awful about your old boss but good about seeing old colleagues , bad about the mini-egg/coffee scenario but yay about Oskar loving his sling

I too was coffeeing in town this afternoon with my old school friend, she had a miscarriage in Sept, just before Jess was born and has been trying to conceive ever since but it hasn't happened yet, she caught straight away with her dd and the baby she lost so she now thinks it's not going to happen She says she's getting stressed and upset about it which isn't helping. I did try to tell her 6 months trying to concieve is about average but when you're getting desparate no amount of advice helps does it? I'm sure it will happen, I've got everything crossed for her. She's so lovely

Joe was a maniac on the way back from town on the bus I've reminded myself why I never take him on buses anymore, avoidance is the best strategy I find!

My clothing situation is dire at the moment, although I''ve always got a white mummy badge on my shoulder, so I might leave it til she's not as sicky!

Oh bum, I think I can hear the baby....

rodeo - the brits is on right now!
for some reason i adore kanye west, will young and general pop these days..
maybe as me and oskar have radio 1 on all day to sing and dance around to ..lol
but i do wonder..are there really 9 million bicycles in beijing?

Evening everyone. Have been engrossed in winter olympics, so taking a break from my hectic schedule (there you go RODEO, something to watch, or perhaps Hotel Babylon? (Max B is mine, you stick to old Geroge ). BTW, think your hair is gorgeous as it is, though you have the face to carry off short too , you lucky thing! They're buggers on the bus aren't they? Scarlett refuses to hold on to anything, and then delights in shrieking 'look mummy, I'm falllllling!!! ''. Roll on driving test!
Sounds an eventful day BOB, makes mine seem very mundane! Bet it was nice to catch up with work colleagues, are you planning to return there? Sad about your boss, what a shock that must have been .
Ditto in between clothes sizes here too - can get jeans on, but overhang is awful. Seems a waste to buy anything just yet, though going kids' clothes shopping tommorrow, which should be fun .
Well, going to wade through flexible working letter that arrived from work today, and then back to the ice skating!
Nighty night!
Diege

Haha, Diege 'Looook I'm Falllling!' How funny!

Did watch The Brits Bob! Love Kanye and Will too! And thought the Gorillaz were brill! Well not done much else, started a thread entitled 'BF's Idiot DH', ate some Galaxy, rang my sis, and flicked through the Next Directory. Right I'm off to bed nown

Night all x x x

Diege - isn't it nice that you can admit to doing Gina Ford on this thread - everyone else is so mean about it! I started doing her routines again too, after I went from a 3hr to 4hr and decided I didn't like getting up at 6, but still wanted him to go to bed at 7! That's interesting about the weight thing.

Golden - i was thinking about you today - don't know how you do it with twins! It's so hard to get mine to go to sleep as it is without having two - I can just imagine you get one to stop crying then the other one starts! How do you do the getting to sleep thing? BTW I was going to wait till I'd lost weight to buy new clothes but then a good friend told me I should buy some anyway because they'd make me feel better and more likely to lose weight - so I did! That's where the gap jeans came from

Rodeo - psychic, LOL - I knew reading was good for something

L&Smum - there figured out an abbreviation! Yes I meant what are the chances of getting pg while bfing. DH is getting on a bit, and I want as many as I can! So I'm wondering am I going to need to go on to follow on milk at 6 mths to have a chance - I wamted to bf for a year really. Does anyone know if bf has much added value to follow on milk after 6 mths?

BoB - LOL about the birds nest - they used to call me birds nest at school cos my hair was so thick and also short, so didn't stay under control too well!! I don't iron my clothes either You sound like you had an interesting day - sorry about all the lows. I had a major low when everyone was being mean to me on another thread so I thought I'm coming on here where they're all nice I

Beartime your breast milk will always be far superior than follow on milk As things stand if you are exclusively breastfeeding every 4 hours at least night and day, not offering anything else to eat or drink, and have had no bleeding since the inital post partum bleeding then your chances are aroung 2-3% of getting pg. However after six months the rules don't apply anymore as baby is likey to be weaning and you are not likely to be feeding often enought to suppress ovulation although any amount of bf will decrease your pg chances!!!

Sorry if that makes no sense at all!!

Gosh, just another quick one from me. We're off to the Science Museum today. Think I must be mad going during half-term but we're meeting friends from Cambridge so I'm sure it'll be crazy but fun.

BoB, so nice to see you yesterday! Thank you so much for 'sharing' your chocolate eggs with Tobes. I'm sure given a few more seconds he would've scarfed down the lot. You obviously made a very good impression on him because he was asking when we were going to see you again! Hopefully soon. It was lovely to see O so wide awake and taking everything in. I bet he'll be rolling over before you know it. He's got some strong little legs.

Hope everyone else is doing well. Nova, good luck with your hair. I've been thinking of a Sienna too but am trying to force myself to wait until Rosie is six months and I know it's my decision and not the pregnancy hormones. I cut my hair off when Tobes was tiny and when I 'woke up' six months later I deeply regretted it. If you do decide to cut you must post some photos. It's such a cute style.

OK, off to brave public transport. This is my first time in London with both the kiddies on my own. Hope we all survive.

Morning everyone! awwww Beartime, tell us the goss' on them being horrid to you - what sort of thread was it? Agree that this thread is so 'mature' in the sense that we all know there is probably no exclusively 'right' way to do things, and therefore don't get all huffy with other opinions (so consequently no-one - I hope!- gets offended when opinions do differ! ).
RODEO: have been looking through Next Directory too to get ideas for summer; there's some really nice stuff this year .
Well, my Gina baby has fallen asleep in her swing , so going to wake her up to put in cot ; mad, I know!!!!!!
Diege

oooh good luck Tex! Imagine how great you'll feel when ypoou've done it! !!

beartime - it's not easy, and involves letting them cry for a bit, but it seems to work. Last night was the same - down/feed at 6:30, feed at 11ish, and straight through till 7:30 this morning.

BoB - sorry to hear about your boss - how dreadful. hope you manage to get your bracelet fixed.

diege/beartime - i think gina is great.

Just a quick post as have been really ill-came online wed afternoon, then felt s**t so had a lie down whilst boys napping, woke up and just starting vomiting, rang dps aunty in tears who came and got alex for me for 2hrs till his bedtime and just went to bed. It was soooooo hard, i was having V every few mins and D every now and again with constant stomach cramps in between it was hell trying to feed alfie. I rang dp up but he couldnt come home till end of shift-10pm because he had to be there-if he came home the whole shift would have had to stop work, so had to wait till he got home, then thursday alf had sicks+poos, alex had poos, dp had sicks and i still had both!
luckily everyone seems nrly back to normal today and dps gone back to work. just feeling a little "fragile" atm!

beartime-its not that im dead against smacking or anything. i just dont want it in my house as i had a horrific upbringing with lots of violence and ended up in care and i dont want to smack as im scared id lose my temper and go ott, so if i dont smack, the risk of that isnt there. iykwim

tessa-how scary for you. Its so hard imo because they can get up to so much in just a few seconds..... i dont dont wether my 1st post made it clear, but i didnt even leave them alone together-i was feeding at the time, sat on sofa, and in the few seconds when i was answering the phone(cordless and right next to me) was when he did it

babyonboard-lol at the ironing thing!!!! - same here its sooooooooooooo boring(and it takes me like 10mins just to iron 1 shirt, so i dont bother!

hi to everyone ive missed xx
L

Oh Busy, sorry that you're all feeling so unwell. Hope you have some help over the weekend.

Was just wondering if anyone or a DH/DP is going to be talking to their LO in another language? Am starting to think about how bilingualism (if there is such a word) is going to work.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. Byeeeee

ChaCha - we just speak English here but used babysign as well until Tessa was 2 or so. Absolutely no problems. I also have amongst my friends a Dutch girl, a Russian girl (both with English husbands) and a Portugese family. All the children are using both languages and seem to cope brilliantly. By 2 the Portugese boy was speaking Portugese at home and English at Nursery. He knew when to use each language, one day coming out of Nursery and saying 'water' as he splashed in a puddle but then looked up at his mum, paused slightly and then said 'aqua'
There was quite a bit of stuff on MN a while ago about bilingualism with some children coping just fine with 3 or 4 languages. They are just like little sponges when it comes to learning and put us to shame.

L&Smum - that made a lot of sense . Well I've just dropped my 10pm feed so am now going from 7pm to 7am with no bfeeds - so maybe that will help! Can you conceive when you haven't got your period back yet? I know they say you can ovulate one time b4 your period starts but can you keep on ovulating and be fertile with no bleeding? Cos getting my period back would be the sign for me being fertile again probably wouldn't it?

Hey Tex, someone told me they give mothers a year to be insane - 9mths of pregnancy and 3mths afterwards - but does it actually go to 6mths? Serious question, cos I'm a firsttime mum and my head still feels like a seive and I'm past 3mths (just!)

Diege - I'm afraid to give you the goss in case you all get mad at me too! But here goes - I sorta asked for it I s'pose - it was on a thread about biddulph saying its better for under 3's to be taken care of by their mums than go to nursery. So I just posted that I agree, and I think its best for husbands and children for mums to stay at home with them, then they asked me why husbands, so I explained why - from my Christian point of view of a submissive wife whose priority is husband, children and home which everyone thinks is utterly mad. Then they all said I was weird and picked all these random situations out to prove why I was wrong, whereas I would do things differently in those situations anyway! I Knew they wouldn't agree, but they were pretty mean so i came on here to see the nice people. Now don't spoil it by being mean to me too!
LOL about waking her up to put her in her cot! I do that too! By the way what do you do for your lunchtime nap when she wakes up? Mine keeps waking up after 45 mins screaming his head off, and I've tried leaving him for 10-20 mins like she says and it doesn't work so I have to go in but have to almost rock him to sleep otherwise the minute I put him down he starts up again!

Golden - do you go back in at intervals when they cry (and if so, how long) or d'you just leave them? I'm interested cos I'm trying to figure that out with mine at the moment. Sometimes it seems like when I keep going in he keeps crying, other times I go in once and he settles, other times I don't go in at all and he settles in 15 mins, and other times I leae him and he just keeps going, and going and going... But with two I can't imagine you could keep going in and consoling them, cos one would be screaming while you picked the other up, Then the one you just quieted would probably start screaming again cos the other one was wouldn't he?! I'm glad you like Gina too - she definitely knows her babies!

Busy I feel sorry for you - feeding while vomiting must be v. difficult! I'm hoping we don't get the bug - I almost don't want to go anywhere! Re: the smacking - I think if you make yourself calm down first and then talk to them so they know what they did wrong then give a spanking in a calm and collected manner it can be v. effective, as I was brought up that way. But I can understand your feelings on that, as it must be v. hard with what happened to you.

ChaCha - don't know any other languages, but they say that kids learn very quickly so really good for them to be spoken to in two languages. I read somewhere the other day that if you want to do that a good way is for each parent to talk to them in a different language.

LOL Bear!!! Yes, now I will be mean to you too . Honestly, of course I disagree personally with you (as a feminist and someone who went back to work full-time when dd was 5 months, and whose husband does as he is told!! , but as I said before SO WHAT if we have different ways of thinking and doing things, so long as we accept everyone does things differently, and don't judge?? (the only 'difference' I would definitely speak out against would be racism/homophobia/other nasties, but apart from that am pretty chilled! (I think!). Interested to hear the husband angle, as you seem such a strong woman, or does this have nothing to do with it? - just being nosy, so ignore if you wish!
BTW (rapidly changing the subject! ), the lunch time nap waking you describe is so spooky, as all 3 of mine have woken an hour after going down (ie, about 1ish). Gina has a special section on it as it is sooo common. I do same and leave her till she settles, unless it's past 1.30 when I usually give up. If I don't, she falls asleep during 2.30 feed, and I've had it! Usually settles back after 5-10 minutes of crying on and off, and then sleeps till 2.15 ish..
BUSY: what a nightmare for you!! I prescribe some proper rest over the weekened, though has DH got it still? Stupid, warped thought, but I'm always secretly pleased when I have a stomach bug, re: loss of weight , not that I have illness envy or anything (though would come in useful after my chilli-chicken deli-sandwich from McDonalds today!).
Chacha - I'd say bilingual kids have many advantages, and generally become v.skilled at languages/reading/communication. I would say this though as I'm welsh and was brought up in a family where my dad's first langauge is welsh. Not pure bilingualism, but we did learn welsh as well as english, and while the latter was usually spoken, it certainly helped at a number of levels. What second language are you thinking of? Is it my imgaination, or are you from s.wales?).
Well, the olympics has gone all boring, so that just leaves those damn bottles!!
Diege

Just popping on to say good night. We arrived at the Science Museum at 10.30 this morning and closed it at 6.30! I'm sooo tired but the children had a brilliant time. I feel like such a hardcore Mom - closing the Science Museum!

Beartime - my doc did say it takes six months for all of the pregnancy hormones to leave the body and for things to get back to normal. Therefore I claim insanity until 1 May.

LOL Diege at disagreeing with me! Husband angle = the Bible says wives should submit to their husbands, so that's what I try to do, tho' I'm still not that good at it! I am pretty strongminded, but also determined to obey God - so it does go together . And actually it turns out really well - fewer arguments, and sometimes when I've really not wanted to submit, but did it anyway, he either ended up doing what I wanted or his way was best anyway!
I don't get what you're saying about the lunchtime nap - what exactly do you do? When you give up - does that mean you rock them to sleep? How long does it take them to settle without you going in at all? And whats your normal procedure once she starts crying?
Now I know where bulemics get it from!

Evening,

Had first incident of being peed on tonight and not once but twice!! Was hysterical..mum and I could not stop laughing, what a mess!

Diege - No, It's DH who is Welsh, I'm half Scottish and half Egyptian and speak both English and Arabic (though the Arabic is very poor nowadays) so would like Z to speak the same was just wondering if I should start speaking to him in both languages from now. What Tessasmum says seems to make a lot of sense, amazing how that child was able to translate water for his mum like that, v.impressive.

Beartime - Not sure what your thread was about but sorry that you were made to feel that way, what a shame. Have you read a book called 'Fascinating Womanhood'? I'd be interested to know. I have a very diverse background where culture and religion are concerned but I chose Islam (Sufism) as my choice of faith and having a strong Christian mother in-law gives me a great insight into the similarities we both share on a number of issues.

Well, one of my fav films is on tonight so I'm off to bath before Z wakes up. x

Hi everyone!!! God its half term next week and to be honest I am dreading it ( DD isn't even in full time school yet!) Shes been really testing this week and her behaviour at times has left me on the verge of tears, she never wants to do as shes told, always answering back I guess most 3 year olds can be like this but ARRRRRGH!!!

Anyway enough of the negative stuff!!
Beartime, you will ovulate before you have your first period but having a bleed is the only way you know that you have ovulated IYKWIM.It might be easier to wait for your periods to return and have 3 or 4 regular cycles so that from the length of those you are more able to roughly workout when you are ovulating!!!The fact that you are still bf during the day will still delay your periods returning though but you couldn't now rely on your bf to offer contraceptive cover!!! Very garbled I think, sorry.If you do wait until periods return then after a few cycles you could use an ovulation predictor kit to help you.

A good book to read is Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. I would recommend getting it from a library at first as its a big book but quite readable and you can read the chapters relevant to you!!!HTH

Well I'm off now speak to you all again soon xxx

OK, re: mid-day nap, this is (usually) what I do. She goes up drowsy, but still awake, at 12.45 ish, may cry but always settles after 20/30 seconds. Without fail she will wake 12.55 and I hear her cry. She will (8/10) settle back to sleep by 1.00pm, and stay asleep until 2.15ish. Right, what do I do to settle her if she doesn't settle herself after 5 mins? Does happen, and will wait 5/10 mins then go into room, check she hasn't got out of covers (she never has) stroke her head, and say something like, 'time to sleep...'what I don't do is pick her up or rock to sleep. I leave the room (still crying), then wait 10 mins. To be honest, she's usually asleep by now. If not, go in and repeat as above. If it gets past 20 mins, I tend to give up, and make sure she has a slighly longer nap late afternoon. One other thing I do sometimes, is to quit while I'm ahead, put her in pram when she wakes and won't settle, and go for a walk (often with 2.30 bottle)and go in serch of a cafe/get shopping done etc..)THis way at least I know she'll get her rest, and won't be sleepy for feed. Don't do this too much,more because I like to have a sit-down myself at this time! Hope this is useful perhaps? I would resist the rocking to sleep, as a gina hard-liner though I think it probably wouldn't do much harm if it was just a lunch-time nap and not at night too. Apologies to all non-Gina fans for post - you must think me/Bear/Golden are mad women!! .
BTW, anyone heard from Enthusia?