January 2014- the one where the babies move more, but sleep less!

[AMillionNameChangesLater]

Hope this is ok!

I've found if I leave her for a minute she sometimes goes back to sleep. I have to lie really still though as our bed it stupidly loud. L is doing one 4 hour block most nights, and has done one lot of 5 and one of 6 this past fortnight. DH is taking her tonight, I can't wait!

I really think the light mornings are screwing with M's sleep too. This morning she was up for the day at THREE THIRTY AY EM. Perhaps the fact that we have a brand new puppy and it was in our bedroom when I brought M in with us in the vain hope of feeding her back to sleep put paid to any further peace, and we all got up at 5.

In other news, WE HAVE A PUPPY!

PUPPY! I am jealous. But not of the 3.30 start. P gets woken up by my massively inconsiderate husband banging about at 6.30 every morning , and that's bad enough. I dream of a lie in, it's been years.

Nothing to report here. My PND has been getting worse and causing a bit of trouble with DH, but nothing much has happened at all. Oh, we went to visit PIL in Dorset last weekend. P chose that weekend to a) cut 8 new teeth, b) refuse to sleep, and c) do a massive shit in my hugely houseproud MIL's bath . It was emotional...

book. And 8 new teeth! That's crazy. Ls finally getting her 12th tooth through after being wonky for months and months.

Very jealous Toby! We'd love a dog, but it's just not feasible at the moment. We dog-sat today and L had such a great time. They spent most of the day running round the back garden together, apparently everytime we look after him he goes home exhausted! L is his partner in crime, climbs up to everything I've put out of his reach and feeds it to him What breed did you get?

book, you can save me from going insane next week by visiting the puppy as often as you want :o

She's a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, GSR. Her name is Maude.

This is her with DS. He is smitten.

toby cavi's are the greatest Best decision we ever did was getting ours. Enjoy Dh would love to get a second (he has all ready named it and apparently he isn't a dog person! ) but second baby put that on hold for a while ha! O loves ours.

I'm desperate for a dog S loves them and so do I. We live a 5 minute walk from the moors so it would be a perfect excuse to go walking. No pets allowed in our tenancy agreement though. I love spaniels - MIL has a cocker and a springer and they are ace. I showed S the picture you put on FB and she laughed her head off and woofed

Book will you be continuing with your craft sessions?

I've still got an awful cold. Got my parents visiting this weekend too. We are going to a cake and bake show tomorrow in Harrogate and I've lost my sense of taste! Nightmare!!

PUPPY! Maude is an excellent name too, btw. M is completely justified in having 3.30am starts if there is a puppy involved.

I am not sure what N is going to make of DSM's Tibetan terrier. DD loves him and at N's age was determined to ride him (we didn't let her, obviously) , which the poor dog did not appreciate. He perked up when DD decided she liked staying in his cage and he got her spot on the sofa though.

N has so much more energy than DD and tries to ride everything.

Ramadan is so far going swimmingly, except for nocturnal children and a house that looks like a bomb site. Every time I clear something up they mess it up again straight away. Can't win.

book your trip to Dorset sounds a little bit brilliant. I bet it was stressful and exhausting, but it was worth it for the massive poo in the bath, right?

The poo was the highlight altered

felix the craft sessions finished last week, so it is just the Counselling now. I'm quite glad it is over. We had to make some right old tat! I kept leaving one thing behind in the toilets, and every week they found it and gave it back to me with "oh, you must have forgotten this again ". I gave it to my mum

Puppy!
Book I'm impressed by P's PIL protest poo if you'll forgive the alliteration

Last night L stayed in her cot from 8 until 7, feel asleep about 8.30, woke at midnight and 3am but went back off pretty easily! I think it's the longest she's ever stayed in her cot. Trying so hard not to get my hopes up, but she seems to be improving!

Altered I forgot about Ramadan! It must be so tough, especially in the heat.

GSR that's fab. S has been sleeping better recently (apart from a few days last week). She's slept through a couple of times and has been waking up once a night which is amazing compared to the 3+ times a night before. I didn't get my hopes up at first but it genuinely seems like she's improving so I hope it's the case with you too.

Book glad you still get to do the counselling sessions. I am at leaving stuff in the toilets.

Glad that L is sleeping better GSR. It makes such a difference.

Ramadan has actually been fine this year. Last year was awful: four to five hours of power cuts a day and temperatures into the forties. This year no power cuts so far and the temperatures are low thirties with a nice breeze. Long may it continue!

The late nights are the hardest. I end up dead on my feet around midnight so go to bed and miss the before dawn meal. I did that two days in a row until yesterday N decided to let me have an afternoon nap which made all the difference. Feeling much better today!

DD is finishing school on Thursday and will be off until September. . She is making cards for her teachers and doing drawings for them. She will really miss school.

Is anyone else still using baby carriers? I am still using the ergo ventus and I have been finding it much better for a toddler than a baby but will need to carry him for a while yet. Is there a sling that is better for older toddlers?

I use a ring sling, altered.

That doesn't sound too bad then compared to last year! It's freezing here. I almost considered donning my winter coat this morning and thought I could have done with a pair of gloves on the walk to play group Glad you managed an afternoon nap. What time do you usually eat? Sorry I don't know much about Ramadan but I'm interested.

We have an Ergo but I've never been able to carry S in it as I can't reach the back buckle on my own. Damn short arms! DP carried her when we went to watch the cycling last month but she didn't seem very comfortable in it. We are going away to Scotland next month, and the lakes over bank holiday so we have bought a Little Life walking backpack carrier thing (the ones where they are sat high up on your back). It's got good reviews so we thought we would try it. It was reduced to £38 from £109 in the mothercare outlet as its last seasons model (it's just a different colour to this seasons!) so thought it would be rude not to buy it at that price.

Toby I'm interested in the ring sling. Is it a certain brand one you use? I'd like something to carry Sylvie so we can go and walk on the moors as its only a 5 minute walk from my house. Don't fancy lugging her about in the one we have just bought just for a short walk.

We have been up since 4.45, so that's nice DP is racing on his bike tonight and I've got loads of sewing to do that I can't put off. Was hoping for an early night.

A big fan of slings here. I've got a manduca - (pretty much like an ergo I think) for going into town / walking around / going for an actual walk which is now as a back carry. It took a wee bit of practice but can now do up and down for back carries fairly slickly though strangers occasionally dash over to try and help as it looks a bit scary.
I've also got a baba sling which is a bit like a ring sling - a sort of sash affair currently used for hip carries which is handy for in and out of car into shops etc when there is toddler refusniking.
I hear lots of positives about toddler tulas on the scottish babywearing forum I'm on if that's any help.
Only 20 mins nap at lunchtime today for some reason so 5pm onwards was a little fraught...the toddler logic of "I am going to take myself up the stairs to bed as I am dogtired but when you come up I will then jump up and down like a loon on the bed and intermittently bite/headbut to refuse sleep" was out in force

All daytime naps have become disastrous here puggle, please can this not be a phase! P still goes for 2 naps, but will now only nap on me (in a darkened room, in a sleeping bag, with white noise playing) and only sleeps for about half an hour. If she then decides to ditch her afternoon nap then she is awake from 10.30 until bedtime, and even if I bring that forward 6.30 is the earliest I can get away with. Any earlier and she's up at dawn. I tried moving to just one nap, but that was only half an hour long too.

I've just started a Toddler Calm parenting course, which was organised by an NCT friend. I am hoping it will turn me into a zen-like, calm and understanding parent. I'm fairly sure that would actually be impossible to achieve, but no harm in trying eh?!

My ringsling is a Lenny Lamb, Felix, and it's great. But because all the weight is on one shoulder, it's not really much good for long walks. It's brilliant for around town, or for walks now she's walking, because she wants to get up and down all the time. But it gets uncomfortable for me after maybe 20 minutes.

I tried hip carrying in my ergo but I had the same problem where the whole weight was on one shoulder and it killed after a few minutes. I think I'll just have to carry on the battle of getting her in and out of her pushchair. Sometimes she goes in easily but 80% of the time I have to wrestle her in. I've resorted to physically folding her in half to get her to sit down

I'll leave moors walking until she can toddle about. She walked across the room pushing her walker yesterday which is a first! I've been encouraging her to do it for months but she always sat down as soon as it moved slightly, but yesterday she actually pulled the walker out herself and even went round a corner

I'm still peed off that she's not walking. She's now officially 18 months old and I feel like I should start to worry about it now.

Sounds like she's close, felix. M did exactly the same with her walker. She started picking it up to turn it round when she got to the end of the room. One day very shortly afterwards, after having taken a few hesitant steps when forced encouraged, she just walked across a room.

In other news, totally just showed my boob to the planning department guy who came round unannounced to look at where we want our extension. Bet we don't get planning permission now.

That sounds promising!

Maybe he thought you were trying to bribe him

Haha toby I bet you do get your planning permission!

We use a mai tei for O, it's a half buckle carrier, so the waist band buckles with a clip but it has long straps at the top that you wrap. It's good for front, back and hip carriers and is so easy to put on and off it's great if O decides she wants to get down.

I've also just bought a beautiful new woven wrap. Mainly for the new baby but it will be interchangeable to use for O as well so I only need take one sling out if I've also got the pram (I'm not buying a double). It's also light weight and breathable for summer