April 2012 - little people who actually DO stuff now!!

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Ta da

hug my ds2 is not sitting yet, has mostly stopped rolling & won't bear weight on his legs. I'm sure they are fine, they are totally within the realms of normality as far as development go. Try not to worry, as with weight gain so too physical development, they aren't all on the 99th percentile line. It means nothing, when they get to 2 years they'll all roughly speaking be doing the same stuff no matter if they sat up at 4 months or eight.

fliss that's very exciting news re your decision about teaching. I have a friend who did a similar thing. Hope it all goes to plan, I will need to retrain I think in the future just wish I really knew what I wanted to do...

hayley try not to worry re food he'll still be getting what he needs from milk. If he just plays with the food you give him that's fine. He will explore it with his hands, get a taste in his mouth etc. he doesn't need to be on three meals a day yet. Until they are one it's just for fun & all that

My ds is currently teething & is frequently a bit miserable & bit bitey too. Ouch. I have to really pay attention when he's feeding as when he starts to muck about I have to be really to unlatch him as his new teeth are blinkin' sharp

Congrats Fliss!! Sounds like you've found your calling: lovely to be able to work in a job which is a Vocation. Good luck & hope it works out!

Holly, hope this week goes well for you & DD. I'm in work Tom too, but it's still only one day per week.

Hug; Emily literally lies & cries ATM if she's put down. No rolling, reaching, moving forward for the past couple of weeks. No more trying to sit either. She wants carried ALL the time & if I leave the room even for a few seconds she howls. She's feeding really poorly; easily distracted & constantly bobbing on & off. She isn't happy sitting in anything & is hard to hold as she's reaching for everything.

I'm A bit fed up TBH. The night feeds aren't helping. 3 last night....so I
feel as though we're going backwards, not forwards.

She is loving her solids though & I'm loving all the suggestions on
here! Quesadillas-big hit with all 3 DDS & DH! Thanks Fliss! Emily really enjoying peanut butter on toast (Henrietta-inspired: why did I not think of that?! We all love it here?!) & scrambled egg, which is great cos Granny's hens lay fab eggs.

All the best, Fliss! I originally trained as a history teacher before ending up in Special Needs, which I love. The training will be quite intensive but I have every faith in you!

I need to focus on my latch too, Buns. I have a small White blister on my right nipple and just fed DS on left, which caused a few internal stabbings. I wonder if it's because when I was at my parents' I wore a vest top with support rather than a bra, so I could get dressed independently. Hmm. Perhaps not the best support for my
Double Ds!

Hi everyone, been offline for a few days break in the countryside which was lovely in terms of time together as a family & for DH to have a break from work...but very unsettling for DD.

She woke a lot during the night, far more than at home, got a bit of diarrhoea and decided she hated bottles, so feeding has dropped right off. (trying to top up by offering as much breast milk as possible but she's definitely drinking less than she usually does).

We suspected the problem might be the water in the cottage where we were staying - it was very soft and had 'bits' floating in it after being boiled, so perhaps DD didn't like the taste. We switched to cartons to avoid using boiled water and that improved things slightly.

Was planning to start weaning this week so I hope a bit of variety in her diet will get her interested in eating again...will have to go to the HV/GP if she is still spitting out bottles by the end of the week.

Hiya,
Noahs still not touching solids. He had a few spoons of baby cereal yesterday morning, then later I added a bit of banana to it & he wouldn't open his mouth.
This morning I tried just the cereal & he wasn't interested. He cries but with his mouth firmly shut everytime his spoon comes close .

Staying at my mums this week - she's off in Spain so I'm looking after my baby brother (17 next week lol) and the cat. Noah is obsessed with the cat he watches his every move and crys when he leaves the room. The cats old and has no interested in playing he just wants to sleep and eat lol.

Good news for the last 5 days Noahs cut out his 3am night feed ???
He's now waking at 1am and then going to 5.30am, I feel so much more awake - it almost feels like I'm getting a full night . Also usually at 5.30am he tosses and turns and moans so I'm half awake from then. Now at 5.30 he goes back to sleep till 7.30 then starts his thrashing about till he wakes properly at 8.15 I feel like a new women hope it lasts!

Lucky you hayley! Mine did one night of 8pm, 1am, 5am, wake at 7am, then decided he'd go back to waking loads the last two nights again. I got my hopes up, that'll teach me, lol
They are now sharing a bedroom, at least at the beginning of the night. Generally I give DS2 a big feed and he falls asleep while DS1 drops off to sleep. Then I put Ds2 in the cot and leave him there til his first night feed. At which point he comes in my bed for the rest of the night. DS1 will sometimes come running into my room in the middle of the night shouting "maaaaaammmmyyyyyyyyyyyy!", though he has done a few nights of sleeping the whole night in his bed! DS1 has been a big boy this week, he's cracked this potty training malarky - i've only got one baby now, and he's getting big too!! (Gonna get him weighed this week out of curiosity)

Morning all. DD can do a fantastic shuffle-crawl, but only backwards. Spend all day retrieving her from under things and in corners. Reckon we've got about a week left before we won't be able to store anything at floor level anymore. She's so determined.

Baby-free wedding this weekend! DP is best man and we're on the top table - which is making me wish I'd been dieting for a lot longer than a week.

Ps, congrats on the decision fliss! I'm thinking at the mo that I might start retraining to do medicine in the long run. Worried whether I could do the hours needed as a junior doctor with two young kids though, which is making me think I might aim for something lab based instead... Though I have considered science teacher too! :)

I got distracted when I was supposed to be starting uni (and didnt go) and feel I never got started in my "proper" career, just had random jobs to pay the bills.

Holly - how has going back to work been so far? Good I hope!

Good luck to all of you ladies looking to re-train/change careers. Hayley, I'm really sorry to hear about your old job. I hope you get the money you're owed soon. :(

jelly - I hope you had a better night last night.

N managed to get himself up onto all fours for the first time today - eek! He completely wore himself out doing it though and had to take a nap afterwards! Hehe!

I'm having real battles trying to get him to take his antibiotics :(
He is on Flucloxacillin and it is absolutely disgusting, poor boy. I've tried spoon feeding and syringe feeding but most of it ends up spat out. The worst part is that he has to have it on an empty stomach so I can't even mix it with milk and bottle feed him with it. On the plus side though, his skin is starting to show signs of improving, it looks a lot better. It is still very itchy for him though.

I'm expecting a delivery of N's cotbed mattress today or tomorrow, meaning he'll be going into his own room soon. I'm looking forward to not having to creep around the bedroom anymore but feeling more sad that my little boy is growing up so quickly!

beyond I know what you mean, I didn't go to uni and feel I am not at my potential. Still not sure what I want to do though, something that stimulates my mind, I'm only 27 so still have some plenty of time left.

rant warning

I fucking hate cancer. My nan is really ill. She hasn't started chemo because she's too ill. She sleeps most of the day, can hardly walk, can't come to A's christening and couldn't make the fruit layer of his cake (got my grandad to do it). If she can't bake she's really bad.

With chemo they give her 2-3 years, as it stands with her unable to have it we are all worried she won't make Christmas. She's even too ill for us to visit :(.

:( oh hug, your poor nan ((hugs))

Oh hug, I'm so sorry xx

Oh hug that's horrible news. I really hope she gets well enough to start treatment soon. I honestly don't no why we can't sort cancer out. With the technology etc we have you'd think they would have a pill for it by now it's such a bastard disease feel for you, can't be an easy time xxx

Thanks Gnome

Introduced Noah to rusks today and he went mad for it - actually ate a whole one, little pig lol. I'm very much into natural food etc and I go to my nans today, tell her iv started weaning but it's not working this week etc, so she says she has the perfect thing for him! 2 minutes later she's giving him a chocolate biscuit which he's quite happily eating. I tell my nan he can't have that - her response (said in a really super cockney accent) "he can, I gave your mum n Paul (my uncle) biscuits from 3 months and it never did them any arm, you don't want him to starve" lol bless her.
I didnt let him eat it but on the way home bought some rusks as an alternative. It's the first non pureed food he's eaten so was surprised how much he ate - especially as he hasn't opened his mouth for solids for 4days!

Off to bed now- well for an hour anyway.

hayley I did a part time degree with the OU over 5 years first which was cheaper than being a full time as i worked too. Then to gain QTS it's either a full time PGCE (unpaid) or work as an unqualified teacher (paid or unpaid) on a School Direct placement which is replacing GTP from next September. That's a full time route too but however you do it it's only a year.

We can only afford for me to do it on a salaried course, otherwise I'll need an £8000 loan + £4000 bursary just to make ends meet, and that's with DD in a free nursery spot. Being a teaching assistant will give you experience of a school environment, but it's not a step on the ladder to teaching really IMO, although DH was one before he did his PGCE. It can be a good way of seeing if you actually want to work in a school though! Good luck

hug

hayley just to warn you, rusks can be full of sugar! They're very sweet which is why they're usually a hit so the chocolate biscuit might turn out to be the healthier option (or at least, not as bad as you thought in comparison!)

Work is going well... DD seems to love nursery and she adores my mum an dad.. So far so good..

huh :( so sorry to hear about your nan

Gah. hugs

Thanks all. I'm in the process of getting photos of the boys and writing her a nice letter as she's not well enough for visitors but loves people writing proper letters with pen and paper.

On a happier note, ds1 had harvest assembly today and his class were singing harvest moon all dressed up, he was a mouse and it was lovely. A blew raspberries and chatted to himself throughout which amused some of the older children .

So sorry, hugs. Stupid bastard cancer.

Oh hug. Sending photos and nice things will be appreciated by her, I'm sure, so hope that comforts you that you're doing what you can.

My grandmother is getting to the stage that she doesn't like driving long distances or coming into London by herself on the train, so she has only met M once when we took her down to visit. I have been sending photos but must call more often. (everyone else in the family gets photos emailed to them, or updates via FB, my gran is the only person I send actual photos to!)

Oh hugs I'd come on here to rant as I'm feeling sorry for myself but reading about your Gran has put it into perspective. So sorry she is poorly. She will love your letter though.

Well my small rant is that I have theaadworms yuk. Probably tmi but I'm so pissed off. Apparently 75% of kids under 10 have them so no doubt one of my little lovelies shared them with me. I did see dd itch her bottom yesterday & it made me think hmm actually mine has been but itchy at night. Bleurgh. I got no sleep last night as a mixture of wakeful baby, worrying & itchy bum! Annoyingly most of the stuff I've read says if you are breastfeeding that you shouldn't take the tabs to kill them. I'm waiting for a call back from the gp. We all need to be treated as often people have no symptoms. Am going through stripping beds,hoovering,wet dusting. We'll all need the bathe each morning for two weeks minimum before the school run. I need to wash all the toys etc. I'm bloody exhausted anyway without all this extra to do. Anyone else had experience of them. I shall cry if the dr says not to take the med & to just do scrupulous hygiene for 6 weeks(that's their life cycle length). I want them gone. It's bad enough the thought that the eggs last for 2/3weeks.
Slap me, tell me to stop being sorry for myself but arghhhhh I don't need this

has anyone had trouble with biting while bfeeding? my little monster has just started a major teething episode and today has bitten me three times :( i have said no and put him down, but any other ideas are welcome!

buns ds1 had them when I was pregnant so I couldn't take the medication. Dh and ds1 did and we had to do the massive clean (I was a good 6 months pregnant bleaching the house and toys and it HURT. I did just throw all the plastic toys in the bath and filled it with hot water and bleach and left them in there for a bit. It was hard work keeping on top of all the cleaning, washing in the morning x3, everyone wear pants/nappies to bed to prevent scratch and spread and wash your hands all the time. It can be done but I really feel for you.

She's been taken into hospital. They think she has fluid on the lungs and are doing a ct scan tomorrow :(

Thinking of you hug