Sept 05 - onwards and upwards!!!

[HeyBaby]

Thought this title was appropriate given that (hopefully) things will be looking up for everyone!

Hi everyone...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hectic life just got more hectic. Started my nurse training last week. Think i'm going to really enjoy it, but missed Noah loads last week. Only do 2days/week in uni now and 5 in placement so not too bad. Had 12week scan yesterday and to top off my luck..........twins!! life is a major blur at the moment, 3 under 12months!!! o well life throws at you what you handle.

Wabbit hows things going? been thinking of you. and Sallie are things ok with you?

PC - bugs are definately doing the rounds we've all been down with it, grumpy df and a grumpy ds plus a pregnant woman really makes our house fun!

Beatie - she's gorgeous...oooo i love babies.

NLSTM Congratulations!!

Hope that you are enjoying your training - how will it work when you have the TWINS? Will you be able to take time out and start training again?

How life changes in the space of a year eh?? Life is never dull is it ( although my hectic life seems postively boring compared to yours)

Ooh, my news - have told work I'm taking an extra half term off, so won't be going back until beginning of June. Feeling quite smug as they have OFSTED in this week and I'm just so glad to miss that!

Sarahhal - how long will that have been that you've had off?

It shouldn't be too bad. I can stop and start my training as i wish, as long as its all done within 5years. So we'll just have to see how it works really. Things still haven't sunk in prperly

NLSTM - can't believe your news, how fantastic is that! Must say don't envy you one bit but seems like you're taking it all in your stride. Good luck with the college work. Who is looking after Noah?

Had Gabrielle's baptism on Sunday which went really well. It was a small afair but was good to catch up with some friends I've not seen in a while. G was very good but didn't sleep much.

NLSTM - I officially started my maternity leave on the 1st September which is the start of autumn term, but I'd been off work since mid July when we broke up for summer holidays. It seems absolutely ages ago but I just don't feel ready to go back for a while. I've had a weird kind of maternity leave as we were in such a state due to the building work we had done and it makes me really sad that I never had the babymoon kind of time with Tom due to constant coming and going of workmen or us having to go and stay with family. Got to admit that financially we are buggered and I'm just accepting that we'll have to wack up the credit cards until June!!

Nolongersingleteenagemum - TWINS!!!!!!!!!! Ahh how cute and how tiring!

Must go work to do before franchise evening tonightxxx

Oh my goodness NLSTM!
Three under 1! How lovely for them to be so close in age. Good thing you like babies

sorry to have abandoned you !

Nolongerasingleteenagemum for you all. I'm so happy for you... and You're a lucky young lady. Enjoy every minute of it

Everything very busy. Had long, long day Sunday pourig over our possible future together, very much more comfortable that his romantic association with the lady is at an absolute end.
We've come to the conclusion that neither of us want our relationship to end, but also that we need time to settle and evolve as parents taking every day as it comes. For my trust to re-establish and for him to settle after what has been a ghastly emotional mess for him. I don't know if the future will be us together or working to be the best parents for C separately.

I know my family will probably think I'm being a 'soft touch' but from where I am it feels right for now.

Sallie - I hope things are getting easier in your life, how are you coping? xxx

Thankyou so much everyone for your thoughts, I'm sure my being able to thrash all this out with you all has helped me to search for what is right for me, part of me wishes I was a resolute and unbending dragon type - but I'm not so even if I tried it would come out all half assed! I can only be me... and be me to the best of my ability

Oh Oh I've got good news about the little man - He's put on 3oz this week with his baby-moon and extra formula meals and is beginning to cry from hunger more than I've seen before

SR good luck with your franchise thingy

Hellooooo to everyone else and the littlies xxxxx

Am starting to put my head back into gear about our summer meets... think we might need more than one to accommodate the distance between us.... both meets being open to anyone who feels the urge to travel, does this sound like a good idea????

Wabbit - sounds like you've reached a good way of working this through. best wishes to you xxx

sarahal - hope things are ok for you xxx

rumba - happy to hear you had a lmovely time with the baptism

sallie - hope you are feeling better. My ds has had his first teeth coming through since jan - will be happy when they finally arrive. I'm still bf - will start on cereal when 24 weeks - but will bf on demand as well.

sred - good luck with your new work. hôpe you get off to a good start.

beatie - hope you are ok as well - hope you get some answerrs for the stitches.

Would love to meet up - but I live a days travel away! I'm in a small community here so don't say whereabouts.

best wishes to all xxx

Nolonger - WOW Wishing you loads of luck as it will be fairly tiring having 3 under 12 months but fun and they will all be such good friends. I envy you a little though.

Wabbit - Sounds like a good plan to do two meets to accomodate everyone. Glad you have managed to work something out with DP will. Will meet you Friday outside TJ Hughes and we will see if we can get round the cathedral and get a coffee so we can have a chin wag and cuddles with the little men.

We weaned at 14 weeks as he just wasn't satisfied on just milk and was watching us as we ate etc. He took to it really well and we are now on three meals a day and 4 8oz bottles a day. We will probably switch him onto the progress milk in a few weeks time purely from a financial stand point as there isn't much difference between that and the stuff he is on at the moment.

I've started to give Tom solids (he's now 24 weeks). Have found a noticeable difference in competence between him and dd in terms of first feeding. She was 14 weeks when I started. He can pretty much manage whole lumps of food - a broccoli or cauliflower floret, crusts of bread, biscuits and so on, whereas dd was a puree girl for much longer.
He's taken to waking up twice nightly though :( Usually at about 2 and then 5 am after a 7.30pm bedtime. Am knackered as have moved him into his on room so have to traipse in there and it's really a nice feed he's after. But dh and I have a pact that when he stops having night feeds (probably when the solids are more established - maybe in about 4 or 5 weeks), he will take over the night shift. we did this with dd (when she was 6 months) and while she didn't sleep through for ages it really showed the extent to which her waking was related to hunger (f course if she wouldn't settle I still fed her and it was a long old trek getting ehr to sleep through).
Seems a fair split to me!

Mummyhill - good to hear someone's weaned as am feeling lots of pressure to stick it out another month, from myself and just hearing what others are doing. Want the best for G but weaned DS at 20 weeks and am really struggling with lack of sleep. Have been woken up twice a night 3 out of the last four nights and feeling a bit shattered and fed up.

Also worried that she might get into habit of waking and then be waking from habit when weaned if that makes sense. Think it is hunger that wakes her but sometimes she crahes out fairly quickly with a feed (but rouses angrily if I try to sneak her back in bed!!)

Wabbit - good to hear that things are a bit clearer for you.

NLSTM -still can't get over the twins!

Pooka sorry to bang on about this but when did you first give Tom solids?

NLSTM - wow

NLSTM - Congratulations! I expect you're still in shock! Will you have any help once the babies arrive?

Wabbit - I'm pleased to hear you and DP have reached a decision you're happy with. I wish you both all the best and hope he realises what an idiot he has been. Please make him see that he cannot do something like this again. Perhaps you could tell your family that you're giving it another go so that if it doesn't work out, you can, in the future, tell Conrad that YOU gave it your best chance to work things out with his dad??

Weaners! I'm so eager to get there. I feel so bad for Alice everytime we're eating. I've taken to sitting her on the table in her bymbo and letting her chew on a weaning spoon. She doesn't appear to realise we get something extra off our cuttlery. I'm doggedly determined to get to 26 weeks because it's so close now... but these last few weeks are passing so slowly. Fortunately for me she is sleeping well through the night.

Pooka - I'm relieved to hear that feeding Tom lumps is working out well. I'm a bit afraid of this... all the gagging terrifies me. But on the otherhand I don't want to do purees.

Are any of the September babies sitting up yet?

Have any of the September babies recently become more clingy? Alice has. She needs much more one-on-one entertaining. She's happy to be held on my hip (my hips not happy about that!) but if I put her down anywhere, she grizzles. Plus her daytime naps are super-short cat-naps. At the moment I don't feel like I catch a break. And dd1 is at a demanding age too. By the end of the day I feel and look completely frazzled. :(

On the weaning front, Alice has been attempting (and sometimes succeeding) in grabbing bits of things which someone else is trying to eat. She has had a bit of banana and a tiny bit of hot cross bun. But that is it so far.

I can't decide what to do - keep finding reasons for putting it off like going away on holiday (will report back on that one day ),going to see my parents next week etc. Plus she doesn't sleep through so it's not as if I can say that she has stopped. I am up at least twice every night and DS seems to be appearing in our bed more often. At least when he sleeps there it is OK (as opposed to when he just kicks) but I have deep down tiredness.

Alice isn't sitting up on her own yet, but when she is lying on her back she cranes her neck up so far . I think she is very frustrated that she can't yet. Also no rolling.

beatie, do you think moving Alice into her own room was what really helped the sleeping? I seem to be putting that off as well as I don't like the thought of having to get out of my bed to feed her - at least at the moment I just reach over and there she is.

Got my smear this afternoon. What fun. Hope Alice doesn't scream tyhrough the whole thing (DS at nursery - I wouldn't take him along as I am sure he would make some unfortunate remarks )

beatie - thank god i am not the only one with a clingy baby and a demanding older sibling. know how you feel and i go to work of an evening for a break. David would like to be sitting up but has to be supported still much to his annoyance cause he wobbles and topples. he still doesn't roll though.

Hello all

Glad to hear all is well Wabbitt.

Have tried Rachel on rusks and baby rice - I'm about to include pured fruit and veg over the next few days! She wants to sit up and tries to crawl - but can't bless her!

Rachel has bouts of clingyness - but ds is worse and hes 6!!

beatie - how do you like the bumbo seat? - am thinking about getting one - but not sure.

The bumbo is one of those things that I could easily have done without but it has its uses. I think it's good for when we're interracting as a family.

When we sit on the floor in a circle and play a game with dd1 - The Orchard Humpty Dumpty game is the current favourite - we put Alic ein her bumbo and make her part of the circle. She appears more included than if she's in a reclined bouncy chair.

As I sais earlier, we also sit her in the bumbo on the table when we're eating dinner but that may change once the highchair arrives (we ordered it this week)

A couple of times I have sat the bumbo on the worktop counter in the kitchen, whilst I've been chopping veg. I know you're not supposed to and when I do it I am paranoid about it, even though it's obvious she's currently not able to move her weight forward in the chair or move the chair in anyway.

PC - When we moved Alice into her own room, we did so with the intention of coaxing her to sleep longer stretches. DH stepped up and agreed he'd rock her back to sleep if Alice woke up before 4/5 hours had passed. Up until then I'd fed her back to sleep and I knew she couldn't be hungry every two hours.

The first night she had her last feed around 11pm and woke again at 4am. DH rocked her for a bit and then after an hour, I realised I'd said I'd feed her if she woke after a 5 hour gap from feeding, so I fed her back to sleep.

I was fully expecting this to be the pattern for subsequent nights. I was happy enough to go to her room once during the nigth to feed her. But, the second night came and she didn't wake up until nearer 6am. Then the third night came and she slept until 7am!

So yes, I think moving my Alice to her own room, helped her to sleep for longer stretches. She occasionally stirs around 4am and goes back to sleep. If she wakes between 6 and 7am, I or DH bring her into our bed and I feed her. I hope that helps. I was amazed that it happened so easily.... but naps are not going well. She's currently asleep in her carseat in the living room and not in her cot where I'd like her to be.

Hi again everyone!! Back after long break from MN!!
Haven't read more than a handful of posts yet - scared that you're all going to say your babies are sleeping through night, happily starting solids....all the things Nell isn't!
Have just adopted Baby Whisperer in desperation, having said I fundamentally disagreed with self-help books...!! Seems to be working reasonably well - at least she slept for a while in her cot at lunchtime so I had some time to myself. Feeling very run down with the tiredness of it all after such a long break from sleepless nights!
Dh is going away for 4 weeks to a business school in Paris and may only return for a couple of nights- trying not to think about it, but hoped dd would be giving me a bit of a break by then!!
Will read posts and return another day - hope you are all well!

Nice to see you again andif .

Alice doesn't sleep through, she isn;t having solids, but she is nice

Hello andif - sorry about the lack of sleep - had a bad few nights with dd and ds - and have just thrown a little wobbly at my parents - over nothing at all - I'm just tired and ratty!

I'm sending baby sleeping vibes out for tonight!

Oh well must cook tea - look at the time!!

Hi Andif - nice to see you again :) I hope you have some luck with the Baby Whisperer and that Nell gives you some time to yourself.

Alice is only just sleeping through but you know how babies are.... phases. Nothing bad lasts forever but nothing good lasts forever either I feel if I say it too much I may jinx myself.

No solids yet.

Hope to see you here more.

Welcome back andif :) - hope you get some sleep.
My ds isn't sleeping through - none of my kids really slept whilst babys - just have to go with it but some days I feel awful (plus look a fright as well!) I'm still bf - no solids yet.