The 5th Gemini luxury bus - the one with babies!

[FrustratedSycamoresRocks]

As we have all our gorgeous babies now, welcome aboad the 5th Gemini bus.

Drinks and previously banned foods supplied in bulk, Car seats installed, slings and prams at the ready, as we head into parenthood, and all the excitement, and sleepless nights our little ones will bring along the way.

Bring we had a similar experience Saturday, took them to The zoo for a lovely family day but kitten will do 20 mins in the car seat then hell breaks loose, it's a 40 min journey so there and back we had the screams, and I mean screams, nothing we could do, if you get her out she stops you put her back In the screaming starts again so we had to just drive through it, the noise haunts me as I keep feeling we are somehow perminantly damaging her

kitty how is she if there is someone sat next to her? Have you tried mirrors?

Dd2 hated her car seat. She was okay once she was big enough to go forward facing. No idea what it was that she didn't like. Possibly the feeling of moving backwards, or feeling isolated? I don't know.

Totally sympathise with you all. Baby Pear can't even cope with a 15 minute journey. He will go as far as to stuffing his wrists in his mouth until one of his finger nails catches his gums or lips :-( Horrible!!

Ds sleeps. Guaranteed asleep before the end of the road. Wakes up the instant we stop and demands feeding.

My little boy has a whole different shaped mouth now he's been snipped. It's subtle. Like its the same but different.
His lower jaw doesnt look so far back, and his top lip looks like it should when he feeds.

And he can do wide mouth smiles now!

Feeding is a work in progress but he can actually open his mouth wide enough to get a decent mouthful, it's just getting him to stay properly latched when he doesn't want to. Feeding seems to take forever as I have to keep unlatching him and putting him back on properly.

agnu how are you holding up?

Frus that is brilliant news that things have improved. We had a dramatic improvement overnight too when we went for treatment. It's a massive relief isn't it!

Baby pear has been sleeping for 5.5hrs. I am bursting!! The milk machine would really appreciate some consistency!

Wow, awesome news frus!

Sorry to hear you're bursting, pear. Hate when that happens!

Not much news... M screamed her head off. I think her limit is 20 minutes and then, that's it. She's not having the carseat any longer. I've found giving the carseat a gentle jiggle and loud music seems to work drowning out the screams

Ha ha bring dh tries to just put the music up louder too!
I'm
She's done it, I didn't even have to drag it out just woke up when I heard her little noises looked at phone to see and it was 5:57!!! From 7:15! A whole week earlier then her big sis show off funnily she didn't want to wake up properly, normally at 5 I keep it dark do a really quick nappy change and feed and back to sleep, she's full of smiles at 8 when I wake her properly, this morning I go in open the blind, bug smiles and chatting and start changing her etc and she's like crying I don't want this chat just let me stay sleepy and give me that boob!!! Lol
just do you don't all hate me dd1 woke at 1 as shed lost her bunny in the covers!
Hopefully baby pear will start being consistent now pear and your boobs will settle, mine were ok this morning and I last expressed at 9, I think because its been gradual
Frus, that's great news, I'm sure with re training he will have it within the week, they are so quick to learn!

Oh and we've not tried a mirror yet as I can't remember where it is and I think she would like someone next to her but there's hardly any room as her sis has the car seat aswell do only a narrow space left in the middle, the rate she's growing she'll be in a forward facing in no time

9:30 to 6:40! I am more exhausted then normal. Why you ask? Because I was up half the night with pammie boobs and checking that my baby was still breathing! I even poked myself with the stupid Moses basket handle at one point causing extra pain! So I would celebrate but I'm not holding my breath as I'm sure when we return home tonight it will all change!!

Awww to little kitten loosing her bunny

Pear that's amazing though!!!
I bet he won't, there's always a few days of regression it's never just bang then that's it but on the whole once they've done it once it tends to keep going that way!
I know bless her heart she loves that bunnyold rag toy
Plus just found cat sick all down my wall, carmic balance restored!

I would count that as a sleep through too pear! Now we just have to work on you

Yay the baby pear and baby kitty sleeping.
I am so so tired. Ds was normal, but dd2 woke midway between when ds wakes, and i accidentally woke ds getting back into bed. and tiredness is definately not at all related to staying up late to watch fringe

I'm ok, thanks Frus. Well, by 'ok' I mean feeding from the right & only expressing from the left until the bruising has completely disappeared! I seem to be getting fewer vasospasms since only expressing so hopefully that means I'm healing. Expressing also means I can keep tabs on how much I'm producing. Usually the left side produces about 2.5-3.5oz, depending on the time of day. It seems to be steadily increasing now that I'm encouraging it with pumping! It's very frustrating though because DS2 seems to associate the sound of the pump with food & starts fussing as soon as I get going which makes me stressed. I'd hand express but it aggravates the bruising so that's out of the question at the moment. I do hand express from the right just before bed though so I can make sure there's a good supply from that side too.

DS2 is a good sleeper these days. He gets grumpy by 9 so we put him down after his feed at around 8ish & he'll sleep through until at least 4 most days, usually later & I can often ignore the initial fussing for up to an hour before he actually wakes up!

His fussing & my blocked ducts woke me up at 5 this morning so I thought I'd get on with expressing before he woke up properly. I opened my eyes to find the pump only to realise that I couldn't open one eye without a horribly familiar burning sensation. Stupid ocular rosacea playing up again! I spent the best part of 2 hours with hot rice bags pressed to my eye while trying to express, feed the baby & hydrate myself all without opening my eyes! Not a good start to a week which will include jabs, tongue cutting & gardener hassle!

Frus did they touch his lip tie or has having the tongue sorted helped with the flanging of his lip?

agnu they can smell the milk. Ds wakes even when I hand express. Which isn't often because he wakes and demands feeding.
Ouch at your eye.

No, they didn't touch his lip tie. Although they did agree it was very thick which is what we already knew
I think the snip has freed up his jaw so that he can flange his top lip better.
He is better on my left boob. And my right one currently hurts/itches where he's been chomping on it this morning. lazy mummy

Oh dear, sorry to hear about your eye agnu!! Ouch :( Give yourself some extra love today. Maybe some yoga or a walk (or even just a 10 minute bath) to take a load off all the things on your plate at the moment. Roll on baby tongue-tie snipping appointment!

Well, saw the doc. They're checking the ol'thyroid to see if there's something going on with that. Also checking for any metabolic problems. Yay for feeling like a science experiment. Operation: Find out what's wrong with Bringonthetrumpets. Also added, "3 children under the age of 5" as a possible diagnosis for the headaches. Om, ya think!?

Oh goodness bring didn't realise your eldest was still under five. My dds are definately older then. You really must have your hands full.

He'll be 5 next month. So, the "you've lost your marbles" looks I'm getting from strangers is valid then? I'm a crazy woman for having 3 under the age of 5? . Could be worse I suppose....3 under the age of 3....?

Bad day got worse! We had enormous nappies from both, gone off chicken, oven malfunction, DH late home, late dinner, v tired & fed up DS2 an hour late to bed... I cried. I suppose crying is better than swearing at the toddler!

We did have a nice hour hanging out with my NCT group in the morning though! They're all so different to me it makes me giggle! They're all sitting round talking about their gadgets & extensions & baby groups & vibrating bouncy chairs which are apparently now as essential to life as breathing... I'm definitely the hippy of the group! I'm also a good few years younger than all of them so I do feel a little out of place but they're lovely & it's so nice to get out of the house & be somewhere else for a bit. I can handle them commenting that they don't know how I cope full time with 2 - they all have their eldest DC in nursery for a couple of days. Erm, I cope just the same way you do when you have yours, I just do it every day! I hardly think I'm some kind of new supermum for shock, horror looking after my children!

agnu ds hates the vibration function on his bouncy chair.
Baby groups are interesting. I only go to Breastfeeding ones when I go and their all as common as me, and usually talk about the next pub social. unfortunately DH can't manage bedtimes alone, and babysitters are impossible to find when you have a DC that doesn't sleep

bring people look at me like I'm mad too. especially my mum but dd1 is nearly 8, so is pretty independent.

I just know that I couldn't do it. But I think that judgement is based on my own experiences of my dds. and dd2 isn't exactly a normal 5yo if dd2 was the same as dd1 at the same age it would have been manageable.

I when I was in maternity for the tongue tie I saw a mama with the most fabulous bump. Honestly looked like a basket ball under her top. So neat and tidy and perfectly round, and just wow.

I was going to ask bring as a trainee midwife, do you, and (maybe other midwives,) find it fascinating all the different shapes of a pregnant belly?

I don't doubt I'd appreciate a break if my 2 were harder work but DS1 is definitely at the easy end of the scale for a nearly 2yo. He sleeps well, will entertain himself much of the time & is perfectly happy to stay in his cot talking to himself when he wakes up for at least 30+mins. Sure, he has tantrums etc but all within reason & is usually pretty easily distracted. He fell off the toilet this evening under DH's supervision & bumped his head on the sink. He cried for maybe a minute before getting distracted by demanding that DH sit on the side of the bath! Usually just the mention of any of my family members is enough to stop any tantrum because he'll then have to list them all, along with one or 2 of his friends. Never mentions DH's family though...

I'm still trying to work out if he's just an amazingly easy child --

Frus you'd have loved my 2nd cousin's DW's bump - she looked like she had a whole exercise ball under her top! We saw her about a week before their first DC was due & she was enormous but it was perfectly round! V jealous - my bumps tend to look like a half melted scoop of ice cream - you can kinda see that it sticks out more in the middle but it's never very defined! If we ever have any more I might see if I can get my stomach muscles well toned pre-pregnancy to see if that makes any difference.

Is anyone even vaguely thinking about when might be a good time for more children yet? I'm still in the never again phase. I didn't get that with DS1. I'd have been happy to have another pregnancy like his straight away. Definitely need a loooong break before considering more now though! It's funny, it's always been me wanting 4 & DH wanting 2. Atm I'm not so sure I want to change his mind! I would like a pink one though! I'd quite like to look into fostering/potentially adopting once our boys are older if we don't have any more of our own. It breaks my heart that there are so many children stuck in care homes because there aren't families willing to foster them. Definitely not the right time for us to be doing that now though!