January 2014 -- the birthdays are coming!

[TobyLerone]

Just wrote a long message on the old thread only to have it not post because we'd filled it.

We really ought to do less chatting and more sleeping

Aww that's good to hear. Ignore the practicalities for now

Yep, definitely ignore the practicalities nature. I mean, when has having a baby ever been practical? Things will work out!

Ooh, congrats Nature! How exciting!
And sod the practicalities... It's probably more practical to have them close together so you can reuse everything! Hooray!!

It'll be fine. My big 2 are 18mo apart and it really was fine.

I'm getting a bit more used to the idea now I think. We wanted two and we were worried about conceiving so at least that part has been taken care off damn wedding anniversary!

Toby there will be 18 months between these two, and I'm estimating it will be due in July so at least Dh will be off on summer hols for the first 6 weeks which will help.

Eek best refer myself to the mw. It all feels very surreal

Congrats naturegirl! Am definitely but DH was being such a nobber yesterday I was deciding I was having an only child as there would be no more xex ever again.

A lesson yesterday - do not let an 11 month old play with a bottle of olive oil, even if the lid is well screwed on...

Congratulations nature. Very jealous - there will never be the perfect time so my theory is get the madness over with early on in one go.

I have a super clingy baby right now. She went for her practise daycare morning last week and I think it has broken her. The lady said she was fine for a couple of hours then just decided she has had enough. This week she cried every time the swimming teacher took her (normally she bloody loves it so they use her as demonstration baby as she's been going the longest), and we have had blue bloody murder when we put her down to sleep. It's taken an hour, a top up feed and a lot of screaming so far tonight. The stupid thing is once she's asleep it fine, and there is no difference in the sleep 'routine' for naps and evening sleep but she's going mad in the evening. It could be teeth, it could be the fact it's over 30 degrees in her room but I think it's separation related. Anyone else had this when their TB went to nursery?? How long did it last?? Any other suggestions??

Sorry about the swearing, I am a little frustrated perplexed and a bit sweaty as I am too fat to deal with a Sydney heat wave right now

Sunshine swear away sorry no advice on the clingy baby unfortunately. Has she adjusted to the heat now? The only thing that puts me off moving to a warmer climate is being too fat for the heat I hate it!

Found out there's a huge country park a few miles from our new town so went there today. It was great. Unfortunately I seem to have moved to the hilliest place on earth with the most narrow roads and it was a scary drive. I got stuck going up a huge hill in 3rd gear and was literally going about 10mph I'm not used to it! I'm loving having the moors a 5 minute walk away. Going to our first baby group tomorrow (we've lot left the house much in the past 2 weeks ) so hoping to make some friends.

Also had a revelation sleeping-wise. If I give her a bottle then go back to bed, she will drink it and put her dummy back in then go back to sleep. No more sitting next to the cot for an hour for me any more!!

Congratulations nature! How exciting for you and your DH! I hope you have a safe and stress-free pregnancy.

sunshine, hope little sunshine settles into her new routine soon.

Felix your new area sounds beautiful! So much nicer than where you described you used to stay. You'll get used to driving up hills, just keep it in a low gear for going up and down. I managed to stall my car going up a ramp into a multistorey carpark the other day. Panic set in and I couldn't remember how to restart it, so I sat for a couple of minutes with my hazard lights on. The Xmas shoppers behind loved me!!

Interesting way of handling the night time wake ups! I wish I could leave a boob behind. By the way, when S drinks a lot of milk at night, do you find you have to change her nappy heaps? H seems to have joined the 'pissing like a racehorse' phase. He's only waking up once a night now, but when he does he's soaked through. We've put him in Pampers size 5s although he's not at the lower weight yet, but we found the 4+ ones were full half way through the night. I know I've no right to complain about one wake up a night, but it's so frustrating that he's so near to sleeping through but for being wet! Any recommendations for nappies which last through the night?

nature that is wonderful news! I was also wondering who was going to get pg again next!

I have a 15.5 month age gap between my 2 eldest boys and they are just the best of friends (although I wouldn't 'recommend' an age gap this small - 18m is definitely much more sensible - and you're in good company - Kate Middleton has 18 m between hers too I think). DS2 swam through a condom somehow, so we we really in shock when we found out. Took me a while actually to get my head around it.
Get it all done and dusted quickly and you'll be smug as anything when all your friends start having their second babies and moaning about potty training the first one at the same time.

DH has just put M to bed for the first time since she was really tiny. He paced with her while she cried until she fell asleep. It only took half an hour. Wonder how long it'll last!

Fizzy we went through a phase of soaking through nappies at night. We swapped from size 4 to size 5 and it didn't make a difference. She woke up soaking every morning for about 4 weeks straight unless I remembered to change her in the night (I forgot a lot in my sleep deprived state!). Then she just stopped doing it, even though we didn't change anything and she was still drinking the same amount through the night. It was very weird. She still soaks through occasionally but maybe around once a week now which is so much better than before. Sorry I don't have any good advice.

Toby that's good. Is he going to do it again tonight?

Has anyone else started sleep training yet? I know there were a few considering it.

The past 5 or so nights S has gone down straight away (literally as soon as I zip her sleeping bag up she's rolled over and dozed off) and has only woken up at around 10pm and 2.30am then slept until 7ish. Most of the time I can usually get her back to sleep until 8.30 too so I get a bit more sleep. I'm so pleased! It was only 2 weeks ago that she was waking up around 8/10 times a night.

Well done felix (and S!) You must feel great with all that sleep. DH has just taken my bed out of P's room. She goes down at 7 now, and sleeps until 2-4 when she gets in bed with me and feeds until morning, on and off. DH starts gradual retreat and night weaning tonight. Gulp.

How did M do toby?

Congratulations nature very jealous!

felix that's what I do even though mil basically called me neglectful and thought of 1000 reasons I shouldn't , the teat might come out and they may choke you know.... H has been holding his own bottle since about 4 months and I just give him bottle and go back to bed.

Felix, that is such a brilliant improvement! Well done, all of you.

Good luck for tonight, book/P/DH.

M lasted 2 hours last night before she started waking 2-hourly. So no worse than usual, which is good.
We're starting our sleep training with this, to get her out of the habit of feeding to sleep. Also because I'm going out in 2 weeks and I've never left her before, so I have to be sure she'll settle for DH. Then, once she's out of that habit, we start GR.

Good luck book. If you can crack night weaning it sounds like she's (in theory) capable of sleeping through. Fingers crossed!

Toby that sounds like a good plan. Good luck to you too. Are you going for a night out?

Bamboo that's amazing from 4 months holding the bottle is a fairly new thing here. She's such a lazy sod!!

Right my new plan tonight to finally stop these final two wake-ups is try giving water in the bottle again. I think if I hold the bottle myself and remove it after a few oz of water then put her dummy in, I can coax her back to sleep. If it doesn't work, then I am happy with two wakings for now. I'm going to try for at least a week though and see what happens. Finally feel like I am getting somewhere

felix it's because he's greedy. Would do anything for food/ milk

A couple of months ago we just have water in a bottle at night ang it eventually worked and he slept through. But now he's ill every bloody week it's all gone to pot. I've got him staying in the cot again and will deal with the milk in the night once I'm not so knackered

Tonight's bedtime routine went to cock because M refused to have an afternoon nap, so was absolutely knackered. She usually has bath, pjs, feed, story, song, bed. She was falling asleep during the feed, so I put her in her sleeping bag and DH put her in the cot.
Sadly, she woke up 20 minutes later, and DH couldn't settle her, so I had to feed her back to sleep.

Yes, I'm going on my yearly night out in 2 weeks. I never go out, because I am a giant introvert and like to be home. But a group of friends and I do a Christmas dinner outing every year and I force myself to go! This year will be strange and a bit sad because one of our group has just been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and moved into hospital for at least a month on Tuesday. So it will feel very different.

Goodness I'd forgotten how knackering this stage was! Dh, O and I have been at a family funeral today which has involved a 250 mile round trip. Needless to say O napped at the wrong times so no chance of her going to sleep soon so I've left her and Dh downstairs while I crawl into bed!

Sounds like there is some progress being made on the sleep front. Hoping to move O into her own room this weekend and then 2 weeks till we try night weaning and proper sleep training.

Hello all! Not commented for ages but rest assured I'm stalking you all on a daily basis :)

Am trying to quit my job at the mo... I say TRY. Current job is not working, new one makes much more sense... But old job is refusing to accept my resignation! Stupid.

Did anyone else's baby not really crawl? F is nearly 10 months and just isn't quite there on crawling. He's been mobile for months and commando crawls with the best, but no classic crawling. I think he's just lazy...

Angel, M commando crawled for months. Then a few weeks ago she just started crawling properly. She'll be 11 months on Monday.

How can they refuse angel? Can they force you to work there forever?

Last night went okay. We'd been at my mum's all day so P refused to nap at all, but slept in the car on the way home for an hour, very late so I thought it was going to ruin the GR. DH had trouble settling her at 7.30, but then she slept until ten to four and he resettled her after 45 minutes. She woke up at 5.45 and we decided not to try resettling her but to get up for the day instead. So not too bad, and I got to spend a night in my own bed at the same time as DH for the first time in nearly a year. She's a bit thrown by her new room arrangement, but the addition of a ball pit has gone some way to helping her deal with it

Well O is asleep in her own room for the first time. It's very weird being in bed and not having her next to me. Dh is downstairs with the monitor so I can get some sleep. Yay.

Had a lovely day meeting my best friend today and walking the dog. Told her about dc2 (first person in rl we have told and only person till after scan) so it's nice to have someone else know. Putting Xmas Dec's up tomorrow but no idea how I'm going to keep O or the dog away from the tree other than put it in the play pen if it will fit

Glad you had a lovely day yesterday nature. It must have been v exciting to tell someone in real life, especially if she was excited. Hell, even I am excited for you and am enjoying your news because there is no way I can have any more but babies are squidgy! I gave away all N's tiny baby stuff before we moved but I am having more trouble parting with the baby bjorn. He is too big for it, it isn't good for him or me, but it is the only thing I have left from when he was born. Is anyone else like this? I feel especially guilty because there are so many mothers here who rely on hand me downs for their babies so I really should pass it on. I just can't!

Yesterday N was asked to appear in an advert with a famous Egyptian film star . Tbh, I was more flattered than I ought to be. BIL is gutted we said no, he thought he might be able to meet her.

Felix things sound much better in your new town. Glad sleep is settling and enjoy exploring!

Has anyone heard from beccajoh recently? She hasn't posted in ages and I am really worried about her.

Great to hear from you Angel, I hope your bosses have accepted your resignation. How can they refuse?

Altered I haven't heard from her but I sent her a message a few days ago just checking everything was ok as I am worried too I searched her posts to see if she's been online and she posted on another thread at the start of last month and I believe she might be in hospital? I know it's not the done thing to search posts but just wanted to check she was alright.

I've vacuum packed all of our tiny baby things!! I almost cried just sorting through them, never mind giving them away, so I know where you're coming from.

Angel I'm also wondering how they can refuse your resignation? How very bizarre. You need to serve it to them like divorce papers

Book sounds like good progress. I'm a tiny bit jealous of her ball pit!

Nature I bet it feels good to have at least someone else know and to share the excitement. Have you got your first scan booked yet or is it too early? I was the same when S moved in to her own room, it was really strange. It was nice to get our bedroom back though (and I was happy to be able to watch TV in bed at night again )

Only just started with the water last night as I kept forgetting about it. I was absolutely knackered last night and she woke up at 12.30. I couldn't settle her so DP got up and gave her some teething stuff and she drank about 2oz milk and eventually went back to sleep. Then she only woke up once more (she's been waking up a lot again the past 2 nights) and had a tiny bit of water then went back to sleep. The water does work as she doesn't gulp down loads of it like the does with milk and she stops after a couple of oz. Hopefully if I persevere she will stop wanting to feed at night all together.

I'm hoping we can put our decorations up tonight. I have loads of Xmas related tasks to do and it's stressing me out! All the shopping is done but I need to ice my Christmas cake, use up the mincemeat I have made, make S a festive dress from some christmas fabric I bought last month, make a stocking for S and DP and wrap all the presents. Then got to sort out the food and decorations for her birthday as got lots of family visiting the day before (Sunday 21st). Waaaaaaaaaaaah I know it's a couple of weeks away but I'm a bit of a control freak and like to have everything organised