December 2012: Everyone loves nap time.

[halestone]

Started a new thread for us before we run out of room.

That's brilliant wlmum- think of it as a stepping stone to maybe other things later on.

We were there on Monday! Bet there's been days when we've both been there at the same time. Oh no spotty I'm off mon/tues but do get random Thursdays off post nights etc so could try one of those? wlmum what about you? Arts fear wkend looks good too- not sure we're around then though may be over on the other side of London that wkend - utopian actually near you!

spotty she must be exhausted. I find that actually a good nap means a better night. Yesterday refused her nap and then we had an awful night & up at 5 for the day. Apparently she slept well at nursery today so we'll see what happens tonight. Her default is rubbish sleep so not expecting much

J has just gone to bed. I knew I was in for trouble when he fell asleep on my mum this afternoon and we couldn't wake him for 2 hours.

Congratulations WL

Spotty, H was like that but the HV wouldn't believe how bad it was until i gave her a sleep diary whilst sobbing my heart out. I would say swopping from BF to anti reflux formula really helped H. It wasn't my intention i had just come to the end of my bf journey at that point.

Argh. Up and down like a bloody yo yo. She didn't nap well today and has a bit of a cold - there's been cuddles, strokes, calpol shushing, little bit if boob and now finally proper boob. I'm working tomorrow and then we're supposed to be out in the eve.
Currently I'm off alternate Tuesdays and Saturdays and every thurs and fri. I can choose my 3 days for the new job.
beasty it seems that the job market is picking up and there are other things I could apply for but they would be full time which I may or may not be able to negotiate down to 4 days. This is kind of a step back into a proper job in the right field but 3 days a week which I think is quite rare. Hmmm.

spotty dd1 was like that when she wasn't getting enough milk from me. I asked for help from all quarters but they were all rubbish. Eventually after 3 months I realised it couldn't carry on and gave her formula which turned her into a normal baby! Looking back at her skinny pics breaks my heart.

Ahhhh up at 4.30 crying mama milk milk. Finally settled but within 5 mins crying again. Dh gone in but I can here shouting mama mama

Oh no my friends baby weighs the same as ds, she's huge and the happiest baby you've ever met! Always smiling, even at night she just lies there happily playing!

WL then go for it! And have Monday as one of your days off so you accrue holiday from bank holidays rather than having to use your holiday allowance for them.

DD woke us up just after 5am. I've hidden in the garden for a cup of tea while she bounces around the kitchen singing "I'm over excited". I'll be glad when her party's finished!

Yuck for early starts. We've got a fifth birthday party to go to today. The mum will expect me to drop dd off but she's too young and won't know many children there so I'm staying.

Good tip beasty! I hope the party goes well.
ddas T shouts very loudly for me in the night.
DH took the dds downstairs just after 7 to give me a lie in after my grand 4 hours sleep last night, but I can't sleep.
spotty I would stay too. I've always been delighted when parents stay at our parties - more help and less responsibility!

The fact you can do it part time is a massive bonus. When kids are older & you feel you want to up your hours you'll have the experience of this job to help you get the j

Job you want.
The next couple of Thursdays I'm off so we could try one of those?
Dh gave me a small lie in too but oddly think I feel worse lol.
Have been wanting to start doing the 30 day shred but feel too tired after bed times and then with a 4am start can't be bothered in the morning. Dh has joined a triathlon club and I'm keen to try & get back in shape but not sure when

I always go to the DN's parties to help SIL out, and lots of parents stay :)

finally got a cup of tea and a sit down. I went to an NCT sale with some nappies and slings to show, luckily my mum came and took R for a walk or he'd have NOT been a good advert for hippy parenting loads of interest from pregnant mums and new parents, so hopefully some will think about trying cloth - I took all my pretties alongside the normal Library nappy stock which tends to be plain!

Ooh, neighbours just knocked on the door with a bottle of wine! They had people round a while ago who brought it, they tried it but all prefer other things. Result!

Excellent Pidj. Enjoy it!

We got 40 minutes into a 2 hr party and only a set of twins had come (luckily two of DD's nest friends). In the end there was one no - show and one boy arrived about 30 mins from the end. Just as I'd adjusted the pass-the-parcel to the "right" number of layers!

A was in his element. He was the first to go to the top floor of the softplay, and with sole use there were no big children to get in his way.

not trying to use up the cheap lidl plonk or owt

We're off on a gruffalo trail today and picnic

Sorry to hear about more poor sleep. I'm so glad T is sleeping through just now, because I'm certainly not. Takes about 10 minutes for my ribs to hurt, and 20 for my hips, so I spend what feels like 10 minutes turning over only to reset the timers. And DH thinks he's tired!

Can't believe we're going back to newborn sleep. Though at least it should be an improvement over pregnant sleep.

Enjoy the Gruffalo trail today spotty. We're going to a soft play with SIL as it's her birthday, DS trumps birthdays... We did a soft play on mine too! :)

Oh dear stacks I remember those days well! Not too long now.
I spent another 2 hours battling with T last night, eventually gave up and fed her. I don't want to do full on cc but this is killing me.

I also thought pg sleep was worse than nb sleep despite all the nay-sayers saying I should store some up, at least when you get up to a baby it's for a bloody good reason!

WL I adapted CC with some of the gentler methods, might be worth a read around and come up with something that actually suits you? I left R for 5 minutes if he was trying to play, but would stay and hold his hand if he was trying to go to sleep - so he was rewarded for lying quietly and trying iyswim. But you have to do what suits you and lo, if a method makes you go Ugh then it's not going to work!

Worst Mummy award goes to me this morning. 3 accidents in 30 minutes at Sunday School, all of them caused by me misreading his cues he's been dry 4 days out of the last 7 with only one accident on the other days - 2 of them were in his high chair at tea time. So I'm hoping we get there soon, just need him to actually say Wee Wee instead of dragging me towards the toilet and getting distracted on the way so I think he's just messing about!

That's along the lines of what I do pidj I sit by the cot and give her a stroke if she lays down quietly. The problem last night was that she'd happily lay quietly while I was there but as soon as left the room she was up again.

Sounds like little pidj is doing really well.

pidj it sounds like R is doing great! I saw your post on the facebook group too, like you said following his cues is probably the answer. Does he also have a sign for "toilet"? Might help as well.

stacks yes to pg sleep being pants! I get a decent night sleep about every third night because I'm so exhausted. You must be very nearly there though! I'm 34+4 (no I didn't know it, I had to check ). I'm also hoping that this baby is not as bad as or worse than DS was for the first few months. But I think the key is I'm feeling much more confident now - my midwife is nice and I have a fabulous therapy lady :) so there is also better support in place this time.

WL as long as ds isn't crying I will leave him to moan a bit. I don't personally believe in CC or CIO either. We have been much more gentle in our approach but I feel we've reached a point where ds understands the routine too. Iykwim.

Last night he woke when we were on our way to bed. He sounded so sad over the baby monitor, I rushed to cuddle him and he clung to me, poor love. Then he cuddled papa and had some calpol. When DH put him down and left the room DS shouted once but then he was out.
It's never easy leaving him but we find it is very rare that he will go to sleep while someone is there, he always wants to play or give you something. Which is hard to resist because he is soooo gorgeous.

I thought about teaching him the sign, but as he has quite a few words already and we don't sign already it seemed a bit too new to introduce it so late? He's quite able to indicate yes or no to questions like Do you nee the toilet? Which cereal would you like? (in the supermarket) Or, in the butcher's yesterday What would you like for dinner - he picked out garlic marinated chicken from the display! So I think it's a waiting game for the connection between Word and Action to kick in. He asks for some things by name already so he's nearly there...

WL after a couple of night's where he took up to 20 minutes of being left to settle, if he needs sitting with now he'll try, then I'll leave, then he'll cry for a few seconds then settle again on his own. So a bit of persistence does work, or did for us :)

Sorry to hear of all you pregnant ladies' poor sleep. Not too long now.

J has started to know when he's pooed. Yesterday he brought me his bottom to sniff when he'd done one out in the garden. Today cos we were in the house he just went for the changing mat and a nappy then lay down in front of me.

It's completely come out of nowhere. He has also started to respond to questions like R has. So today he was out on his bike and started whinging. I asked if he'd like to stay in his bike, he said no. If he'd like to walk, also no but when asked if he wanted carrying he said yeah and lifted his arms up.

All those months of chattering at their blank faces with no response does finally pay off!