Dec 08 Mums - Happy New Thread, You Beauties!

[beans37]

Come join me....

Glad teh vomit was short lived KAyz

Hons have you had any sleep?

Oh. My. Word. Is all I can say about sleep in this house.

Ds2 has gone from waking around every hour to test his standing skills to waking around every half hour for the past couple of night. Neither dh nor I gets any sleep. It goes "ds stand up, ds shout, ds want milk, ds not fall asleep after milk so ds want daddy to walk him to sleep." Rinse and repeat half an hour later. If we try to bypass the milk par he screams. If we try to bypass the daddy part he screams.

Argh!

Hi lovelies.
Indith, that sounds like hell on earth. Suspect it's time to take harsher methods? You can't survive like that. Either you or DH. Would you consider leaving DS to cry for a while? You know he can't come to any harm in his cot and is he in his own room now? Babies form habits quickly, but also lose them quickly. It would probably be 3 or 4 tough nights, maybe a week of only going in if he's really got himself beyond it, reassuring him without lifting or feeding him, then going again. That's what a baby sleep expert recommended to me.

What do you think? You can't go on like this x

That's not quite our style Beans. We'll see. Ds2 has always gone haywire when processing new skills. It will pass. We are going to pass him onto dh at night for a few nights to see what happens, mainly because I want to try to reduce his night feeding as at the moment his first feed of the day is around 10am after stuffing himself all night and I want to shift things for when he starts with the CM so that he feeds before going.

Indith that sounds pretty tough, but hope rearranging a bit helps. Just saw my sis and I know they're struggling with their 8 month old. My bil resorted to a night at my parents to get some sleep!

Lady, Paris sounds wonderful.

All a bit tricky here. Fil had a heart attack earlier in the week. They've patched him up but he has been quite confused so they are keeping him in. Dh has been up and down all week and is up there now. Dd in particular finding it tough. She is missing her dad and has been asking if her grandpa is going to die. It's coming up to the anniversary of mil's death which doesn't help. Work doesn't really stop either. I almost cried with relief when kind neighbour offered to pick dcs up from school/nursery and have them both for the afternoon on Wednesday. All sounds better today, I guess we'll muddle through.

Oh Inviz that is all quite scary & also exhausting for both of you. How far does DH have to travel. What sort of provision is there for FIL when he does go home? I assume he lives alone now.

Indith not much I can say but sympathies, it's hard getting through these developmental growth periods. When we were reducing the ds' night feeds we went for the daddy walking him around thing a fair bit then started putting him back down drowsy but awake he would usually settle off if it wasn't a hunger thing. Just remember it will pass eventually & one day you will sleep a whole entire night!

Dh & I had our night away which was short but lovely, loved going to the gig. Last night went to a farewell for a lovely friend who is moving to Brussels, I didn't drink very much but felt really queasy towards the end of the night then vomited when I got home. Feeling a bit icky today so not sure if I've got something. DH &
DS1 have gone on a little day out together to a museum that is only for older kids so DS2 & I are going to a little mini world park which we have a yearly pass for. It's snowed again here, there weather is so bizarre it keeps snowing. At least it's not too thick on the ground.

That's the plan for us, get dh to walk him round for a few nights and see where that takes us. Last night involved a little less standing practice but the poor baby woke up around 5am with a really stuffed up nose And that is why we are where we are. Each and every time he gets over a developmental thing we get a couple of more settled nights and start thinking that at the weekend dh can take over settling but then he gets another cold. Or a tooth. Or another bug. Which takes us right to the next developmental phase. Still at least I know he is progressing well .

Vag have a great day with your boy, tis lovely spending some good one on one time with them.

Invis I hope your FIL recovers well. Take it easy x

Dh and I had we are feeling weak willed/early valentines/we just want it steak last night. Our farm shop is amazing. Dh made chips cooked in goose fat. Yum. Ds2 obviously didn't have enough exercise yesterday as we went out in the afternoon so he was in the sling and he refused to go to bed so he joined us and had a second dinner. You cannot eat broccoli in front of that baby without him demanding stuff, he'll eat it until it is coming out of his ears! He sits there going "fffffffff! Fffffffff!" until he gets whatever you are eating (his noise for food). It was rather lovely even with the small one for company as he was very happy and bouncy and well behaved. Then he eventually tired himself out playing and fed to sleep while dh make chocolate souffle. The recipe said it fed 3-4 but it made 9, yes 9 souffles! And of course you can't leave souffle for the net day as it will be no good.......

Well so far indith I'm sitting outside the mini world waiting for ds2 to wake up. He fell asleep in the bike trailer on the way over & dh broke the stroller attachment thingy so I can't change it over & take it in so I just have to sit here in the snow waiting for him to wake up. At least he is warm. It is -1 and sunny here with about an inch of snow on the ground. Brrrr.

Your dinner sounded lovely Indith.

How long did you sit there for then vag?

I am going completely and utterly mad. I think I really have broken my baby this time .

Nursery run so of course he has just flaked out on me. Argh!

Dh said I could try ot put the baby down and leave him at home.......he is still asleep! This is going on for being a record breaking nap!

Invis, sorry to hear about FIL. Hope he's on the mend.

How long did he nap for Indith?

Hello everyone.

Am so tired right now I am barely keeping up. Too much work and too many children with coughs. However, I am hopeful that everyone will go to their place of learning today, I will go for a swim and my depleted energy reserves will be refilled.

Did we ever get a date in for a night out? I might have more chance of that than keeping up with the thread at the moment....

Hope you are well. Huge jugs to all X

How embarrassing. Was offering you hugs rather than being clasped to my ample bosom, though that's always available as well.

Ds2 says he is more than happy to have any huge jugs which may be offered.

He napped for around 50 min yesterday. Miracle!

So ds2 has struggled a bit with dairy since weaning. So we backed off and took the dairy slowly. He has been having normal meals with no need to make separate for macaroni cheese or lasagne or anything so long as we were not having huge amounts of dairy on daily basis. he tends ot have toast at breakfast and we were giving him goat yoghurt. Fine. A few days ago we ran out of goat yoghurt and he had cow for a couple of days. It didn't appear to make him constipated right away as it had previously so I didn't think anything of it. except that we then had 3 nights of him screaming all night. Not being able to be put down, not settling at all, just screaming.

Penny dropped. No dairy yesterday and though he was restless last night he didn't scream. Need to go stock up on goat!

I think I might keep him off dairy completely (well, mostly completely, he can have a bit of butter and i won't be too fussed about milk in bread). At least until we have him sleeping better well so that we can actually tell if small amounts upset things or not.

Thanks for the kind messages - FIL was sprung today. He's been patched up, but sounds like it was all a bit nasty. Vag - you're spot on about him being alone and far as the worry. Its roughly 4 hours to him from us and he's on his own. Also not very keen on help. He insisted that he didn't want anyone to collect him from hospital today, so got home in an ambulance, though SIL will go tomorrow.

Very envious of the nights out and steak dinners - sounds lovely! DH and I haven't yet managed a birthday outing!

Indith - good luck with the dairy free, its not so bad when you get used to it

Sorry to hear about your fil Invisible.

Loved the big jugs Sybs!

Back later I hope, I think we're all in the same boat at the mo, not enough hours in the day.

Sybs you made me giggle with the promise of huge jugs.

Indith I ended up waking him after 30 mins as I was freezing. It is so cold over here regularly around -3, & today it snowed again. Ds2 is still doing half days (he can do full days on maandag, Tuesday & Thursday but if we want he can go half days as he is 4) but I went to pick him up at 12 & he wanted to stay. So I cycled like crazy home through the snow (on DHs bike which doesn't have a chain guard or mud guards so dirty wet snow right up my back & even on beanie) quickly made him some lunch cycled back went to his class & in the interim he had changed his mind & ended up bringing him home anyway. Argh. Oh well he is happy, that's all that matters, right . I was quite looking forward to an afternoon to get stuff sorted.

I am super busy at the moment, no idea what doing. I thought having both kids in school would mean I had more time. I had visions of a clean home & time to myself, but I seem to have an even messier house & 1000000 things on my to do list. I have made one achievement though, the bank has approved our loan change & the estate agent is moving along with sorting the house. If anyone is looking for an estate agent I can definitely recommend Young London Estate agents, excellent so far.

On top of all that our poor cat has a tumour in its mouth & has to have an operation tomorrow, very well worried about my lovely moggie.

Grrr gotta go out again soon & get ds1, better go try to chip into my to do list.

Oh and v excited am orf to LA to visit an old friend with the boys in just over a week , not the best timing financially but hey ho.

Hello everyone. Have sheepishly popped into wave and hope everyone is good, haven't even been lurking as work is mental and DD2 is teething and up all bloody night at the moment. But here are some flowers for Valentine's Day and more importantly for you all

Hello everyone. Thought I'd just say hello. Not a lot of news here, but am lurking, so thought I'd give you a wave.

Saw the marvellous Sybs last night. What a lovely treat. DD1 is wearing some of her daughters' beautiful cast-offs today, thank you.

Vag, have a smashing time in LA - wow!

Invis, how is your FIL getting on at home? Thinking of you.

Will be in bed at 8 tonight, I suspect. G'day.

Thanks Beans, I've actually no idea what to do over there, I'm mainly there to see my friend & her boys. Any tips on things to see & do over there greatly received.

Vag there are loads of great museums in LA. When I went I took the kids I was nannying for there was an old tar pit and all about sabre toothed tigers, great fun. Then there is also a car museum which has masses of cars muscle ones sports cars masses of them. Also drive down the PCH a bit and find the fab beaches. Santa Monica is also great to just hang out in and wander around. If you have the time the zoo is fun as is Disney and Universal. Much less busy than their Florida counterparts. I love LA but you do need a car it is not a walking city. Of course go to Manns Chinese theatre and the walk of fame. There is loads to do in LA. Hang out at the Grove shopping centre for a bit of celeb watching.

DD is cruising along the sofas. She isn't even 8 months old yet. I'm not ready for walking yet!!

Vag, I am very jealous of LA. I hope you have a lovely time.

Vag - LA sounds very exciting!

I just managed to work out tacking a free weekend in Toronto to see my brother on the end of a work trip, so quite excited about that

beans thanks for asking. Sounds like FIL is feeling a bit fragile, but that's not really surprising. We're all going up tomorrow, there's a memorial service for MIL on Sunday, so I figure a bit of an intense weekend I think

Kayz - you might be alright - DD cruised for more than 6 months before she got walking...

Oooh lots of exciting trips, sounds like great fun!

I want to go to Florida to visit my lovely, wonderful, much missed friend but I think it will be around 5 years or probably more before that happens :(

What a clever girl Kayz :)

So ds2 has mostly stopped trying to stand up at night. Had a couple of snotty nights but pretty much ok so last night I pulled out the spare bed int eh loft ready for me to sleep up there and for dh to spend the next few nights gently rocking ds2 back to sleep. His plan was to start of last night walking him around as usual which generally gets him back to sleep between feeds with minimal crying then to gradually cut down the walking to put him down groggy until hopefully we can start putting him down awake.

8pm baby wakes up, dh settles in a couple of mins. 9.30pm baby wakes up and cries, his cry is so hoarse, he is a big croaky frog and just wailing away. So of course I fed him, because I can't start trying to night wean him when he is in pain. He spent the night latched on. His breathing is pretty rough this morning poor boy, he is happy enough but I can hear him from the other side of the room, it is like darth vader is coming. Oh and I have a headache and a sore throat . The baby shows no remorse.

Indith do you think you are both coming down with something? DHs plan does sound good, like an adapted no cry sleep solution.

Yes getting very excited about LA though my poor friend who I am visiting has been having a time of it, her DH has been away in Sydney with work, she is at home, pregnant with two kids to look after & to top it off she got appendicitis & had to had to be hospitalized to have them removed. She is still in hospital poor thing.

Kayz very exciting, but don't stress too much DS2 started cruising at 7 months but didn't walk until 11 months.

Oh yes we are, just usual snotty, coldy type lurgies though.

I'm so glad my children are always on the later side if things with walking, makes life a little easier!

I have been shopping today, few more jobs getting ticked off the DIY list this weekend :) Just a few storage bits and bobs, not major but a bath tidy thing that sits across the bath plus clever under sink shelves have cleared space on the bathroom shelves to put an anally organised laundry system rather than having it spread over my bedroom floor. Most of our coat hooks are broken so got some new ones. That sort of thing. Tomorrow I'm taking the dcs to a party so dh can play with his drill and put the hooks up and some pictures that need doing :)

One day we will win the war against clutter. I do so love it when a plan comes together though. We thought long and hard about exactly what we needed storage wise to make it work and it is just perfect this time.