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

M will currently only nap if she feeds to sleep and I keep holding her, or if we're walking with her in the pushchair. She still goes to bed with no trouble, but naps are definitely an issue.

Hope P has a lovely birthday. Looking forward to seeing pics of the cake :)
Sinusitis is a bastard and I sympathise fully.

Hope H has a lovely party, million :)

The talking is adorable, isn't it?

Happy birthday P and happy party H! Ours is not for a couple of weeks, open house 11-3. Invited 26 people to our tiny 2 up 2 down. I am absolutely sure they all won't come and they definitely won't all show up at the same time hollow laugh

The minion cake was supposed to be delivered today by Tesco. They substituted it with a triple chocolate cake. I don't like chocolate cake and it doesn't look like a child's birthday cake! But dh said yes to the substitution before asking me.

million that's crap. Make him return it and get something child-friendly?

Sorry to hear about DH/Ps being crappy, and shit sleep. Alex seems to want to drop a nap (down to one ) which I'm resisting, but futilely, as she just shouts in her cot and plays, and doesn't sleep. She's then horrifically overtired and refuses most of lunch like every other meal. Which is fun.

He ended up going out for a more child friendly cake off his own back. Now we have a massive chocolate cake to eat!

The party went really well, henry had a ball with everyone fussing over him. Was wonderful

million that's rubbish but glad your Dh sorted it and you had a good day.

humpty O dropped down to one nap a while ago, so was just having a morning nap. But we've been struggling with that a little but she napped really well this afternoon so think we may try that from now on.

Yay for lovely parties and cake!

nature that's reassuring, thank you. I think one nap will have to suffice for now. God, the house will have to be filthy now forever, won't it? Oh well.

That sounds like a lovely party million. I hope the spare cake goes down well

[humpty] I think the 12 month sleep regression often looks like they want to go down to one nap, but the advice from my sleep consultant was to hang on for a few weeks as most babies need two until 15 months. P is trying to drop both her naps at the moment, so I'll take what I can get!

P's brthday was lovely. She woke up and had her presents after breakfast, then after her first nap we went to the Rare Breeds Centre up the road. I've never been before and it was great. She got to bother some rabbits and ducks, and saw loads of other farm animals which she was dead chuffed with. She demolished two slices of cake, but I think the extra sugar helped her get through as her second nap was only 15 minutes long. My mum was here until after the cake, which was fab as Percy is crazy about her. DH and I are now having a bottle of prosecco to celebrate surviving her first year intact

Happy birthday, Percy!

Sounds lovely, happy birthday Percy!

That's interesting what your sleep consultant has said book. Most of the stuff I have read suggests babies drop to one nap around one. O dropped her second nap a while ago and we aren't having sleep issues so I don't think we are in a sleep regression. She sleeps 7-6.30 with one 2 hour nap a day, which I thought was the suggested amount. If she has a morning nap she won't have an afternoon one, but if she misses her morning one like today she'll sleep for 2 hours in the afternoon. She went to sleep in minutes this evening as well despite not waking up till 4.45!

Went to tumble tots again today. O absolutely loved it this week. Even went through the tunnel which involves crawling which she usually refuses to do! Signed up for a further 5 weeks so hopefully she keeps enjoying it.

Feel really bad about O's birthday. Just haven't organised anything. My family won't come up for it, so it will just be Dh family and a couple of friends if they are free round at ours. Most of the people I know have organised big parties for their LO 1st birthday so I feel bad not doing the same

nature we're the only ones from our NCT group of 8 babies not having a party and inviting everyone. I feel bad because it must look a bit mean and rude, but we've got a soft play party tomorrow and I guess I thought everyone would be a bit partied out if there were two this weekend.

They're all so different sleep-wise, aren't they? Apparently (and bear in mind that I know NOTHING about babies and sleep) the 12 month regression doesn't happen to all babies, but the reason that lots of advice on naps says 12 months is that this is when nurseries move them from the baby to the toddler room, so they have to cut down to one nap to match the others. If O is sleeping brilliantly then that's great and I'm jealous!. I think that if they are just on the cusp of walking properly like P, they think they only need one nap but then start toddling and get knackered and really need the two. Frankly I'd give my right arm for just one that lasted more than 30 minutes! Maybe babies that are already walking drop their first nap earlier?

We didn't have a party for M either. Just some family round today and a quiet day out with just me and DH on her actual birthday. And I don't feel bad in the slightest :o

Nice to hear about good birthdays! Glad the minion/chocolate cake issue was resolved

Nature don't feel bad. We wouldn't have done anything if family weren't badgering us about visiting. It was just easier to get it all over and done with. You'll have a good day regardless.

S dropped her second nap about 2 months ago which means she's super grumpy in the afternoons, which is annoying! Her first tooth still hasn't come through properly so it's half poking out I think it's the reason she keeps waking up crying in the evening. I also need to wean her off her night bottle again!! I managed to wean her off all night feeds just before Christmas but then she was ill and one managed to sneak back in when she wakes up at 4ish. I just can't be arsed though at the moment.

Thinking about it she started to drop the second nap when she started sleeping through which was only in early December. So maybe she is getting enough sleep at night instead of making up for it in the day. This not getting up at night is a revelation. I've only got 6 months to enjoy it if it lasts that long before going back to sleepless nights again!

Glad I'm not the only one not doing a party I've booked the day off work so me and O may go to the zoo then have a nice chilled Saturday with Dh . I'll bake her a cake though. Just not sure what to make yet. She's obsessed with frozen so may do something along those lines.

Going to start weaning O off breastfeeding over the next few weeks. She only feeds morning and night now and I think my supply has massively dropped since getting pg so don't think she is getting loads anyway. I think dropping the morning one is going to be easier than night though. Don't think she will be happy about it though

Don't feel bad about the party thing. We did one mainly for ds1. He has been a brilliant brother doing so much to help. So Henry's party was for his birthday (because it worked out cheaper to go to soft play instead of people over) but also for ds1 who has been wonderful with him.

He won't be getting another soft play party next year!

We're not having a party for A, but our NCT group has planned a joint party for all the babies in March, so we can all celebrate together then. I don't think there's any point having a party for A, as all she did at the last one we were at was escape into the hall, and try to climb the stairs! I'm not paying for something she can do at home for free

Interesting about sleep regression - she's been a good sleeper, and mostly sleeps 7.30-8 or slightly less spoiled but she has been walking since 9 months. I'll ride out this grumpy phase (no food is pleasing, I hate to be cuddled, but don't put me down, I am bored of swings/books/toys no no I want them) and see if we can go back to two naps. I do feel like she needs them!

A joint party is such a good idea humpty. I suggested it but everyone wanted to do their own, which has ended up with three clashes and a weekends with a party each day! one of the clashes is causing quite a lot of ill feeling as well. We've just got back from a soft play party, so I'm counting down to norovirus-o'clock...

book oh dear, that's hard. Hope P doesn't come down with any nasties - that would not be fun.

We had full on meltdown at afternoon nap - hysterical sobbing, which I think was a combo of wind and teething. Certainly the machine gun farts seemed to help her in the end

[Grin] at the machine gun humpty!

A has had a temperature since last night. Comes down with Calpol but then goes back up. Seems ok in himself, bit off his food tonight though. Hope this isn't another cold, the last one took a month to shift, ugh.

Bought the stuff to make a trial run cake. I cook a lot but don't often bake. Or ice things! Going to have a bash tomorrow night I think.

Poor A merry hope it's nothing. These colds are endless, aren't they?

Good luck baking - I'm doing my A's cake next thurs/fri. A purple parcel with a pink bow and pink dots. Hopefully easy famous last words and won't involve swearing at the fondant.

Bloody sodding teeth. Honestly. Never again do I make such a beginner's error as to post that sleeping seems to be a bit better! Also had a sleep-refuser who was not asleep until 9:45 which did not make for a relaxing Sunday evening either.
I'm impressed with icing and fondant. I did hedgehog cake - butter cream (or well betty crocker subs as it dairy free) with dark chocolate buttons halfed and shoved in to make spikes. Easy peasy though not very glam...

puggle, the chocolate button hedgehog is a classic!

Well I'm on a parental leave day, currently pinned under a mucousy A with a feverish dh asleep on the couch as well. I can deal with an ill baby but dh doesn't do ill very well. Whatever he has it is twice as bad as anyone else. I think I am going to need a lot of patience today, and hope that my manager isn't too mad that I'm off again!

Poor little puggle . You'd have thought we would have evolved a better way to get teeth by now. A has 6 and has had for ages, but I'm sure molars are on the way as he has had some ferocious red cheeks recently.

Let's see how else I can entertain myself on my phone for the next hour!