March 2005 part 6 - Toddling towards summer!

[leogaela]

And her it is!

Jo - Good luck! And have a fun time flaunting your sequins and feathers. Can't wait to see the pics.

Enjoy tonight Jo. Hope you have fun.
Anyone heard of giving a vaccine for Rotavirus? This virus is the main cause of gastro related illness. My paed has recommended that Lauren be given it as he said that the virus can be extremely nasty and he has to hospitalise quite a few of his little patients every year because of this. Just wondered if anyone had heard anything about it. It think it's called Rotateq.
Hope you are all having a great weekend. We have a had a very wet week and it's still raining. We need it badly but very restricting for the little ones.

Well, I survived the Moonwalk, and it was very good fun. The rain held off which was excellent and although it was a little cold to flaunt my bra all the time, I did at least cross the finishing line with all my feathers and sequins intact! The hardest part was around 2am - 3.30am when I kept yawning and thinking of my cosy bed, but when sunrise came I perked up a bit and enjoyed the final few miles. I will post a photo asap.

Jambot - I have never heard of the virus you have explained. Perhaps we know it as something different here, or perhaps it is not prevalent in the UK?

BW - Ethan also nags and nags about dinner and says he's hungry, and then leaves loads. It is so frustrating. He has got better now that there are no snacks after dinner unless his plate has been cleared! Got to be tough!

Freya did have cradle cap, but it has disappeared now. Dentinox didn't seem to do much good here either. I use an organic shampoo for Freya now, not sure if that has helped or whether she has just grown out of it.

Well done Jo! Don't know how you managed to stay awake. If I'm not tucked up under my duvet by 10pm these days I'm good for nothing! Looking forward to the photo.

Jambot - new one to me too. But reminds me I MUST book Iris for her MMR.

For everyone's info:
Rotavirus most often infects infants and young children, and in children ages 3 months to 2 years, is one of the most common causes of diarrhea. In the United States, it leads to outbreaks of diarrhea during the winter months and is particularly a problem in child-care centers and children's hospitals. Almost all children have had a rotavirus infection by the time they are 3 years old. Severe infection, rotavirus gastroenteritis, is the leading cause of severe, dehydrating diarrhea in infants and young children.

Rotavirus infections are responsible for approximately 3 million cases of diarrhea and 55,000 hospitalizations for diarrhea and dehydration in children under 5 years old each year in the United States. Although these infections cause relatively few deaths in the United States, diarrhea caused by rotavirus results in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide every year.

That's quite put me off my tea

We're now three weeks after Harrison's MMR and apart from being a bit grumpy about 3 days later, not a spark of reaction. Completely different to Hannah who was really poorly and covered in spots

He's cutting a tooth though - our first since December when six came through all in the space of a month or so. Please God, let them be more spaced out this time

Hope you feel better soon Pidge and well done Jo - good for you girl, you're an inspiration

BonyM, so sorry, forgot to say thank you for sponsoring Hannah and I in our Race for Life. Very grateful

Have been seriously neglecting this thread and had just taken me ages to catch up with everyones news! Dh was away for a week and took the laptop with him, and then I got caught up in cloth nappy threads!

Well done on the Moonwalk Jo.

Jambot - we do have rotavirus here but I don't know if it is so prevalent here as it seems to be in other countries. I don't really remember dd1 ever getting it.

Grace is completely adorable at the moment - absolutely full of personality and a fantastic sense of humour. Still into everything and I can't take my eyes of her for a moment, so the house looks a bit of a tip a lot of the time as I find it nigh impossible to get much done when she's awake.

We bought her an inflatable paddling pool last week and filled it with a couple of bags of play balls - she absolutely loves it - keeps diving with a huge grin on her face.

Phoebe had her class assembly last Friday and dh and I went along to watch. Grace was totally transfixed initially which meant she stayed pretty quiet, but when one of Phoebe's best friends (who Grace likes a lot) came centre stage to say her bit, Grace shouted out "Hiya" in her loudest voice and everyone almost cracked up laughing!

Still no words really, apart from "hiya" which she's picked up from Phoebe's friends, and "ta' whcih my dad has taught her. However, she makes her wants/needs/opinions very strongly known by pointing and saying "urgh urgh" .

Sleeping much better now. Dh was away for a week, week before last and I decided that I was going to try to crack it as it had got to the stage where one of us was having to sit with her for up to an hour some nights until she went to sleep. Did a very gentle mixture of pick-up, put-down, kiss and retreat and controlled crying (didn't let her cry for more than a couple of minutes at a time), and now she is going through for a solid 12 hours most nights.

Gosh, this has been a long post!

Nice to hear from you BonyM and fabulous news on Grace's sleeping

Good to hear that you and Grace are well.
Wonder how Tamula is doing with her pregnancy?

Hah - she woke at 5.030am this morning! This thread is cursed .

(She did go back to sleep again after a feed though - eventually).

Um, that's 5.30am!

Good to hear your news boneym. Never EVER mention sleep on this thread . Mind you 5.30 is par for the course in this house, and there's no going back to sleep - oh no!

I'm just listening to Iris whimpering on the monitor, as she has a stinking cold and is feeling sorry for herself. She's sort of half asleep and then grumbling, and occasionally shouting. Fortunately I seem to have a milder version of it than her. Had to forego my usual Tuesday night run though, which is annoying.

Jo - do you have the photographic evidence of your moonwalking bra extravaganza?!

Thought it might be the light waking her so put towel over the fanlight above her door last night, and low and behold, she slept to 7.20 this morning!

That'll jinx it!

Bonym - I didn't realise Grace wasn't sleeping well. Good to hear last night was better. Dh insists that Niklas is afraid of the dark so he always has a night light on, i also wonder if it disturbs him.
Niklas went through a week of refusing to go to bed and then a week of waking up in the night. Last night was better, he woke at 5 had milk in bed with us, not sure when he woke up and climbed out but I woke up to see him dragging 'the' (he broke the other one!) bedside lamp across the floor by the cable!

Anyone else's little angel just laugh if you try to be serious with them and tell them sternly not to do something?

Also never heard of a vaccination for hte retrovirus Jambot. My policy with vaccinations is to do the minimum standard ones recommended by the health department here in Switzerland. I'm not keen to do any extras.

Niklas is still not really saying anything at all, still touches everything to see if it is 'da' (hot) or 'da' (cold) and when he want something 'maaama' and points at it or 'ma? ma?' for more and chatters away to himself or shouts at us!

Taken a couple of days holiday off work for myself this week :o! Yesterday I just went shopping and today i am .... well lazing around not doing much! Contemplating if to go out for a run or on my bike. Lots of phone calls to make and things to catch up on at home as well.

Leo - Grace also laughs if I'm trying to be serious with her, and if I say no, she just stops what she's doing, looks at me, gives me the most mischevious grin you've ever seen and carries on with what she was doing!

How nice having a couple of days to yourself - luxury!

I was feeling a bit down about a week ago and I think a lot of it was to do with the fact that I seem to hardly ever have any time to myself. Consequently, I have just joined the local gym, and left Grace in the creche this morning, just for half an hour to get her used to it. She seemed completely unconcerned about me leaving, and even waved, but when I rang them after 20mins to see how she was, I could hear her crying and they said she was upset so I went straight back. My poor little bunny was all red eyed and sobbed when she saw me . Apparently she was fine until the door buzzed went and one of the carers went out of the room to answer it. I will persevere though - guess she will be fine once she is more used to it.

boneym - gosh well done you on the gym - give it a little while with Grace, as you may remember, Iris was terribly forlorn when she first started with our wonderful childminder. Now she seems to love it. Dp says she wriggles out of his arms to get down and play with the toys when she arrives there.

Leo - LOL re bedside lamp breakages! At the weekend we often have about an hour in the morning when dp and I lie in bed trying to go back to sleep, whilst Iris crashes unsupervised around our bedroom wreaking havoc. This is generally from about 6.20am when I finish feeding her, till whatever time as she gets fed up, or engages in hazardous activity. Best trick so far was to pull the drawers out of the bedside table resulting in the whole thing toppling on top of her. Fortunately dp was sufficiently awake to lunge out and grab it before it squashed her. Now we lie in bed with one arm outstretched hanging onto our bedside tables, to prevent them crashing over!

Iris tends to get very cross if I tell her not to do something. E.g. today I found her unwinding one of dd1's beloved audio tapes, it was spooling out all over the floor, so I took it away. Major distraction techniques were required to persuade Iris to play with something else!

Funny, Pidge, I was thinking about Iris this morning and how you said she used to get very upset at the childminders, and took comfort from the fact that she is happy there nnow.

Trouble is, I feel more guilty than when I left dd1 at nursery - then it was out of necessity because I had to back to work. This time, it is out of choice, because I want to go to the gym. Although I guess part of my reasoning is that I will be more relaxed and have more energy if I do this, and will therefore be a better mummy!

There seems to be something about these March babies - are any of them not into everything all the time? We seem to have a bunch of mischief makers!

BoneyM - don't see going to the gym as selfish - the best mums need a bit of 'me' time, and getting fitter will mean you are a livelier, happier mum to Grace.

bonyM - I know exactly what you mean. I left DS1 at nursery quite happily because I had to get to work and it was out of necessity. I still haven't tried the creche at the gym because I just know Freya will go mad and I feel that I would be leaving her there for selfish reasons. Perhaps it will be easier when she is a bit older.

Bought Freya some gorgeous shoes yesterday. The are sandals by Ecco, and they are just what you imagine Ecco toddler shoes to be like (if you are familiar with that brand) No unnecessary bows or glitter, just lovely! I hunted all round Bluewater and couldn't get anything to fit her fat little feet, so I went to an independent shop recommended by a friend and they came up trumps. Still the only pais that fitted properly, but they are lovely, if a little pricey at £27.00. I used to have the same problem with Ethan, he too has very wide feet and I always end up paying a fortune for shoes that fit him properly. Bit worried though that freya will never fit into her Jimmy Choos when she gets older, do they do an 'H' fitting?

Am getting stressed about next week. Normally I love half term, but the decorator is starting on our lounge and playroom so we will only have the dining room to camp out in. He tells me that the 1st thing he is going to do is take down the ceiling (it's a pretty big job) so I'm sure that will be lovely! All the furniture is going in the garage, car on the drive way etc. Everything is going to be chaos! I'm going out every day all day I think. Can't wait til it's finished.

Hello everybody!

just read everybody's posts.Life is going on everywhere.Thats very good.

Leo-Ksenia does the same thing like Nicklas when i am trying ti tolk to her seriously.She is starting to lough and as a result i cant continuie the topic i started.

While these days we organized all documents for Ksenia to go to the nursery.It is very different here.First it is not really expencieve.About £5 a month.And its for the whole day.From 8 am till 5 pm.And first is nursery untill kids are 3 y.o. and aftr is kindergarden.It took us ages to do all those notes from dozen of doctors that my baby istottaly healthy. And now from 1st of june we can go to the nursery.But i think we will wait till july.i want Ksenia to b little bit older.And plus my mum is working over there.

It is really hot here now.About +28C.Maddness.And plus it really dry.I am like fish out of water.But Ksenia seems ok.She is talking non stop.THe main thing she is trying to repeat after us the words.Of course she is far awawy from being a perfect speaker but the affort makes me really happy.Also she opened the season of Falling down to groung.If you would see her knees!!!HYer forehead.But nothing stop my little girl.Sometimes i think that it is a boy.She is such a fighter.Ksenia actually tought my frien d's son who is 2 weeks older how to fight.And now they make a little show when together.But at the end they always hug each other and Ksenia is giving him a kiss!

Well,i come back some other time this week!Enjoy the last days of sping!!!

Stuck here again.
Busy - it is very easy to hget rid off cradle cap.You take a baby oil normal one,Johnson will do, or butter.Just before bath time 10-15 mins rub it to Harrisons head,have a nice time in the bath and then with help of hairbrush the one the men use thin one brushit away.It will take about 3 times to do this.Again an old grandma advice.About hundreds yeas ago our "relatives" didnt have the all tire of shampoos and etc.

BonyM- can you share a secret how did you make Grace sleep solid 12 hours?Ksenia can last for about 6-7 and she wakes up for a feed.around 2-4 am and then in two hours she eats again.

Leo- glad to hear that mum's visit went well.So you leave in Swisszerland.I thought that you live in Australia.Dont ask me why.

Well good night to all of you.

UMum, good to hear from you, I was wondering where you were. Thanks for the advice about cradle cap. Someone else said to use olive oil on their scalp so I'm going to try that tomorrow. Will let you know how I get on.

I was laughing out loud at the stories of havoc created by the little ones. This evening I was cooking tea and Harrison was in the kitchen with me. Turned around and he'd emptied all the kitchen drawers of - the tea towels, his bibs, the bin liners, all the spare Tesco carrier bags (you never know when you might a spare 20 or so), some candles, all the menus to the local take aways , our napkins and napkin rings and all the plastic kitchen utensils. Everything was sprawled out all over the floor and my only thought was how he'd managed to create so much mess with so little noise that I didn't even notice

I've clearly got a much more horrible voice than all of you as when I tell Harrison off in my serious voice his little bottom lip quivers, the tears spring up in his eyes and he cries like his world has ended. Needless to say, he doesn't get told off very often. I can't cope with the guilt

BonyM, hope you're feeling better this week.

Where's Cristina, I want to say thank you for sponsoring me.

Oh, here I am, Busy. I think I got confused and thought you'd already done the race. But now I re-read the thread and saw it was Jo being congratulated on the Moonwalk, I thought it was you. Anyhow.

Things are fine here, just v busy with house, work etc. I lost all my work on the PhD and some other stuff (memory stick failure) so I'm frantically trying to piece it all back together again. Had a good telling off from my boss (for not backing up work properly).

Sylvia is doing well. She's v sweet and clingy.

I'm taking them camping this weekend. I hope the weather will be decent.

ukranianmum - I got Grace to cut out the nighttime feed by gradually reducing the amount of time I was feeding her for until it was down to 2 minutes. The following couple of nights I just rocked and held her until she was asleep, but didn't feed her. I knew she didn't really need the nighttime feed any more and was just waking out of habit.

However, she then was waking for a feed about 5am and did this for a couple of months before I decided that it was just too early. I knew she could go longer as a couple of times she had slept until about 7.30am. I therefore decided that I wouldn't feed her until 6.30am (as this seemed reasonable) and if she woke before then, I would try to settle her without a feed. It took a few days, but she now goes through for 12 hours most nights.