April 2012 - Feeding, Facebook and finally summer!!

[Flisspaps]

Apologies for the rubbish thread title - thought I'd cobble something together though!

Morning Ladies: welcome Dizzy! I sympathise with the nights & the snoring hubby. We're lucky to have a spare room though & I've 'suggested' he go in there more than once!!

Emily slept in her own room last night for the first time...we have a wooden floor in our room which creaks like mad. We were disturbing her lots....wasn't planning on doing it for a bit, but it worked well. Tight squeeze enough when I'm doing her morning feed in the (spare) single & her two big sisters join us for our morning Snuggles!!

Taking Em swimming for the first time Tom & am soooo excited! My mum, 4 sisters Em & I are going to a Spa hotel for the night... They're all having treatments, but I'm just going to swim with Emily. She has 3 (!!) swimsuits-all hand-downs. Hope she enjoys it. Are there such things as waterproof disposable cameras?

Emily's found her toes too...v cute. She's rolling lots front to back & has once rolled back to front. Squealing lots too & giggles when she sneezes. The whole Bumbo thing has been a bit scary. Had been using it lots as it's the chair she's happiest
in. A'one contacted the Company yet?

Going to try an old carseat today in a last ditch attempt to make her happier & more comfy in the car. It's a Graco seat which our first DD had. If this doesn't work, we may bs looking at shelling £100 out for a Britax First Class. Can't really afford this though....

Cross-post Digi: glad you had a good holiday. Snap with the car journey woes...we ended up seat-belting me in the back & putting Emily in a carrier which I then strapped to me. Not ideal by any means, but she was sooo distressed. Have to admit, so were the rest of us by then. Have a 2 hour car drive Tom which I'm already dreading...

Thaleia; hope you're ok. I second whoever already said it, major eyebrow raise at your GP. Sleep: SLEEP!?!! Well OF COURSE you'd sleep if you could. Talk about stating the obvious!??? You sound like I did after DD1. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I had PND. She had silent refux, was a screamer & didn't sleep much. I felt like I wasn't a good mum cos she seemed so unhappy all the time. As a first time mum, I found her dependancy on me & the adaptation to motherhood really tough. The awful anxiety I had ruled all our lives till I went back to work. Didn't ever talk to a'one & with the luxury of hindsight, I really regret that now. It seemed like such a big deal to admit how I felt. I'm so glad you've started talking to your GP, and I think you should go back if your holiday doesn't improve things for you & R.

Oh I'd love to take DD swimming. Some friends were going the other day and offered us to come, but there's no way is manage 2 children in the pool, and DS is such a flight risk! Maybe one day... DS starts preschool in April so maybe we'll get to go then.

Well it's supposed to be raining here today and there's nothing yet. Not sure if I should risk the park, waiting until after lunch anyway but what is the bet we get there and it tips down?!

Thunder and lightning here, it's knocked my sky out. And we're on flood warnings!

digi glad U had a nice holiday, goodluck with the bottle.
jelly DD hates carseat too, but have purchess a music- mirror which we put in front of her, on the back of the seat. Brought it from eBay. L loves looking in and the music, It keeps calms her if she is crying! Great for long journeys. Might be worth a try for you. I think it was £15-£20. Cheaper that a carseat.

Lots of teeth pain today, crying for no reason. So gave her Calpol to treat it. :(

DD doesn't mind he car seat, she sits in it and looks out of the window at the world going by! It's her pram that she has issues with. Hates being flat but is just a touch too small for it to sit up a bit..

I went to take her for a walk earlier but te heavens opened just as I walked out of the door :(

Bottle fail . Ds2 ended up waiting till i got home, so went about 5 hours between the last feed and when i arrived. My own fault for not introducing it earlier. May try again later in the week. But not sure how much I want to persevere...

oh digi! I have a bottle refuser too.
dizzy You have received fab guidance already but wanted to add in waterbabies and puddleducks have nationwide baby and toddler pools.
You can search by your post code and then contact the nearest.

We have finally recovered from our adventurous journey back involving two flight cancellations and one detour from rome to milan due to bad weather over leon. In the end the journey from sicily to kent took a staggering 18 hrs! Talk about a relaxing break!
However looking back at the videos, S loved the sea and his parents were more..ahem.. amenable and rested so much more fun to be with!
Its true what they say about italians loving babies. He (and secretly I) loved how the ladies fawned over him...awww...
Have people started looking into bumbos and highchairs in anticipation of weaning yet? I plan to wait another month before introducing solids but would want to start researching early.
Hope everyone had a lovely sunday

gobble glad you had a lovely time. We have the ikea high chair it's about £15 and so easy to keep clean (have it from ds1).

It's 5.30am and I've been asleep since 10pm! I have no idea what E has done as my very dear H took over for the night and slept in the nursery with her armed with expressed milk. I just crept in there as I'm wide awake and they're both fast asleep.

L has turned into a bottle refused now, none are good enough, not even expressed milk! :(

Dh can't do cant night feeds now, and I don't think I can leave her, if I went out she probally just wait till I get home for a breast feed. I can't really understand have been doing a bottle a day since 3 weeks old. But only now she won't take it.

When to the church again today, her christening is in two weeks, luckily I've found I nice dress to bf in, as I don't think she will be doing a bottle! solid food is going well, she loved peach and banana. Doing do some puree veg soon. Looking into buying a high chair.

I'm not keen on high chairs that have their own tray attached, I like the babies to sit at the table with me.

We have a Chicco Quickseat, (3 actually, for work) which attaches to the table. It comes apart and the frame goes in the dishwasher and the seat goes in the washing machine after being wrestled off. They should cost £30ish but Home Bargains sometimes have them in for £13.

I've heard nothing but praise for the Ikea Antilop. If my chairs were knackered that's what I'd replace them with.

newmummyvicky will she take EBM from a cup? My HV gave me a tinylittle cup with a lip like a jug to try. Some babies never take a bottle, but all will need a cup eventually, so it might be worth a go.

I hate DH today. We got home from a day out around 3.30 and he announced he was going to have a nap.

I am the one that sleeps with the baby so he can have uninterrupted nights.

I HATE HIM.

I HATE HIM.

Then he announced the cleaner was coming tomorrow - I said 'what on a rainy bank holiday Monday morning? Where am I supposed to go?'

And he said he was going out to work all day.

Thanks for that.

Oh bear that's crap! I do think people (not just our dh/dp) think that maternity leave is a holiday and they are more entitled to a rest at the weekend than we. When is your time off? Is your dh going to work compulsory/paid/totally necessary? If no say you need to compromise, he goes in for the morning but comes home for lunch which you will have together then you are going shopping/gym/swimming/walk/drive/pub (delete as required) as you haven't had any "time off" at all.

A properly giggled this evening. We thought he had before but obviously not after today! I nearly cried .

bear as we both have self-employed other halves I sympathise ...my DH has worked on & off the last couple of weekends, and will be next weekend when we are away, as we are travelling to a work conference he's going to, but at least then I'll have DPs to help me.

However he has knocked work on the head for this weekend and it's made such a difference. He seems happier than I can remember in a long while...he gets v stressed if he doesn't get any down time, quite apart from me needing a break.

Weather not looking so bad tomorrow AM now, though...perhaps you can get out of the house after all.

Glad you are having some time together, marsh.

Hug - I get Wednesdays with just the baby - my mum has toddler DS from 11-5.30 (and he starts having 8 hours at preschool from 10th Sept).

DH let at 10am to go to my mum's house to work and then Sainsbury's - he's due back at 3ish.

I had a horrible night - went to bed quite late (11ish) and DD woke at 2 then was sucking from 2-5 (!!) then I couldn't get her to go in her basket and I didn't do much more that doze fitfully but not proper sleeping from 5 (did a bit of resentful fuming about DH's nap which woke me up properly). DS got up about 7 and went downstairs with his dad but he was shouty so I got up at 8.15 as it was pointless trying to sleep. In fact I did nod off once or twice only to be woken in minutes by DS's yelling.

One nice thing is (as I mentioned on the FB group) that DD laughed properly for the first time last night.

I let DS go mad with paint/glue/glitter as I know that keeps him quiet then we had a mammoth cbeebies-a-thon. I was too tired to take them out.

They are now both asleep (amazing) and I am having a small sherry. I probably shouldn't but I feel like I need it. I don't normally drink in the afternoon, I swear.

I feel quite miserable still - like I wish the day away until DS goes to bed. I'm not finding that much pleasure in parenting at the moment as it feels so unrelenting. Then I feel guilty for not giving them my full attention.

I feel like I am invisible and do nothing but housework/childcare. I have been a SAHM for 2 and a half years since DS was born. It never felt so hard with just one. I guess the early days are intense and it will change but I feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

DH seems to be at his laptop all his waking hours and I am lucky if I get a reply from him when I speak. I haven't shagged him since DD was conceived - I don't fancy him. I don't have any libido at all. I really don't want to divorce but I am so sad at the moment and part of it is tiredness but part of it is us not having any time together and the fact I feel like his skivvy. He cooks one or two meals a week. It used to be that he always washed up after the evening meal but I got fed up of reminding him over and over or it not being done and still sitting there in the morning so I do it now. He shouts when I raise anything and then wonders why I am seething and angry all the time. I am sorry this is so long - I am really unhappy.

Oh bear I'm really sorry to hear you are feeling like that. Is it at all possible for you and dh to spend some couple time together to reconnect? I can relate to what you're saying as a few years ago dh and I were the same only we did separate (for all of two weeks). We were our own worst enemies as we felt like we were sharing a house not a husband and wife, but we didn't even attempt to talk unless it was around what the other had/hadn't done so all conversations were negative. We went to relate and it was fantastic. We don't get much couple time, especially now we have two but we do make the most of it when we do and make sure we don't bring up anything that's annoying us (just like you wouldn't when you first start dating someone).

I can also relate to the relentlessness of looking after two children. I'm lucky that ds1 starts school next week but we couldn't afford private nursery with me on mat leave and there were no spaces in state nursery (where I am you only get free hours in private nurseries if they are welsh speaking!) so have had both since ds2 was born and it's hard work. There are no rests as the older one is always on the go and sometimes even having a cup of tea is a nightmare.

I don't mean to make this about me, I just want you to know you are not alone in feeling this, it does and will get better and you can work on your relationship (obv as long as your dh puts the effort in too) x

Ps we have only dtd once since ds2 was born and did it about 6 times when I was preggers, too bloody tired!

bear I'm so sorry to hear. It's so hard anyway and you don't want to feel sad. I hope it's getting better as soon as all our LO sleep a bit longer or maybe be a "older" so the dads can get more into it.

I'm in bed. Already. All our timings are totally messed up. We are in CET now but I can just about manage to stretch R to 6.30pm local before bed with the "benefit" of him being up at 5am now.

I am super conscious as bed time is difficult and both my DH and my mum are looking over my shoulder. He was crying murder for 4 minutes before passing out and it was almost as I need to justify that that's ok and actually not that long either.

We start now to give one bottle at night. Doesn't really make a difference re how long he sleeps or as matter of fact, how long I sleep as, but maybe with practice on all ends and a bit of ignorance on mine, it should be ok. Feel a bit bad re not EBF anymore but I have to get over it. I hope he will grow a bit from it, weight and length.

But now the good stuff: my DF with his Alzheimer absolutely adores him and it's such a joy to see the 2 together. Raphael is laughing at him more than at my mum, he is talking to him and they look really happy together. Nights so far are good too, although dad wanders, he did not wake him up and i think, at night he actually forgets that he's there so I don't worry about it anymore.

I feel better too, I already have more sleep as mum looks after R when he wakes up at 5am or so as he only wants to be feed at around 6.30am or so.

There are some downsides: MIL!!! !!!! And because of that, hubby and I started to argue a bit as well. She annoys me and it annoys me that I am annoyed. We had such a miserable time when we went there to show of DS. DH says she's a bit reserved and can't show her feelings. I say it's all about HER and how SHE feels and that she's cold. I had more reactions from other people to R than from her. And she bought 2nd hand so much crap. I am a big ebay fan but I don't think it's right that she bought him 50 pieces PLUS expects me to put him all in it?! Anyway ...

Last bit of "show off" - we had 28 degrees today and should be like that for at least a few more days :-)

and i just send the request for FB - i'm CB

Sorry your having a hard time bear, anyway U can get a babysitter to get out on your own, and a have a chat about how U feel with dh?
I try to plan a date night with my dh once a month if we can. Although I think we have skipped august oh well, must do something in Sept!

If its any joy, nights are pretty good with L at the mo. 22 weeks now!!!!!
She just wakes at 2/3 ish then today throught till 630. Tonight she eate 1/2 banana and 1/3 of a pear, also gave her a little bread at lunch time which she liked too.
Fliss haven't tried a cup lately, but she hated milk being pored in her month when she was a newborn.
I brought a proper babies cup today. So maybe gonna try with milk or boiled water, but i don't think she will be able to do it yet?
I know you don't need to give bf babies water, just wondered if anyone is going to with weaning? Or just milk? :)

Oh bear I hope you do get some proper time with your DH and time to yourself soon. It sounds very tough.

I had some time to myself today that was entirely my own choice but not at all the right choice...we went to Leeds Castle which was lovely, but I went in the maze by myself and got lost for about 40 minutes!

It got really claustrophobic and I kept thinking of DH and DD waiting outside as it got nearer & nearer closing time - a really horrible experience! DH thought it was funny but I was actually quite upset by it all (although placated by ice cream afterwards). Never go in a maze on your own, people!

I'll give DS water once he's weaning. DD had a beaker available at all times then, so I'll do the same for him. From 6 months you can give tap water, doesn't need to be boiled and cooled

Fingers crossed, by some miracle, I've found some children to mind, part time, that pays enough for me to keep CMing Won't believe it until the dotted line has been signed upon, but I am very excited (just not believing it yet!)