March 2016 - quick, a new thread!

[Swearwolf]

Sorry for the terrible title, I saw the old thread was up to 996 posts and panicked!

Ooh don't I feel important

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Sorry I fell off the thread again.. I have a good excuse though - we moved house three days before Christmas so have been a bit busy.! Hope everyone had a good break, I'm back at work today so should be a bit easier to keep up! Mostly today I will be drinking coffee and deleting emails.

Dropped R off at nursery for the first full day today, I think I was more bothered about leaving her than her being left. DH broke first and phoned them to see how she was doing before he went in to a meeting and she was apparently fine.

Still pumping - had planned to have given up on it by now but she really isn't taking to eating very well (very jealous to read of some of your babies that are munching down on three meals a day - we are hit and miss and the minute she sniffs or a tooth moves she barely eats a thing) so I am still going.. Reckon I might make it to her first birthday now!

Happy new year everyone !!
Vroc we are still hit and miss with solids here too. the only guaranteed thing he'll eat is small portions of chopped fruit . I met up with another Mum for a cofffee recently and her same age ds was wolfing down egg, toast and porridge! It's amazing how different they all are .
me ds does the hitting face thing too- I did read somewhere it's a sign of affection . He seems to love the attention he gets for it so I've just decided to ignore it !
Ds took his first steps on New Year's Day , very exciting ! I have to keep reminding his older sisters that he doesn't always want to talk though as his little feet get tired and they seem to think now that he takes steps occasionally he should be doing it all the time ! Baby steps as they say !

Oh wow sher our first walker, I don't think C will be far behind but I'm definitely not encouraging it!

vroc that is a good excuse, I can't imagine moving that close to Christmas, did you get any Christmas decs up? I found one of ds's presents yesterday that was still in its hiding place, he now keeps asking me why Santa hides things... Oops.

sher walking already! you'll have your hands full once he gets the hang of it . Ds2 attempted cruising a few days ago but he clearly wasn't very impressed because he hasn't done it again since!

vroc moving right before Christmas - very brave! How was the move?

me I know how you feel! I go from dreading going back to work to counting down the days. Ds1 is starting preschool tomorrow and your post has just reminded me about name labels! He has already lost a hat at preschool and he hasn't even started yet so I'mgoing to have to label absolutely everything, I think.

Good app dom. I'll have to get that on our phones.

I'm in no rush to get rid of ds2's dummy. I stressed far too much about ds1 having his for too long and in the end we got rid of it when he turned 2 without any bother. He was well into his teddy bear obsession by then too so it was easy to replace one comfort object for another. I think I'llprobably do the same with ds2.

sher that's amazing that he's walking already! DS was an early crawler and has been cruising for ages but he shows absolutely no inclination to stand unaided. He can walk with a walker but refuses to walk holding onto our hands!

Trinpy I'm not in too much of a hurry to get rid of the dummy either, but I do like to limit it to sleeping. DS often has it in the car too whether he's sleeping or not because otherwise he tends to whinge the entire journey which is distracting. But I don't let him have it when he's playing. If he sees it lying around on the side he'll grab it and put it in! Cheeky monkey.

You never know me. Although ds crawled and cruised very early he showed no inclination to attempt walking till the day he just let go of the furniture and walked towards dd. He was so comfortable and quick cruising I thought he wouldn't walk till a while longer ! Whenever he does it we give him a round of applause and he loves it . He even shrieks for another round of applause haha
Dd1 took a dummy and she was pretty much off it by around 20 months - I just cut the teat and she took to holding it instead of sucking it . If only ds had been a dummy user I'd be happy for him to continue but alas he still comfort sucks on me to fall asleep 😴

Wow a walker sher, we have cruising and the odd step here and there but I am in no rush for DD to be mobile.

Hope you feel settled after your move vroc I don't think many people move so close to Christmas but at least you get time off together to settle in.

We moved to France on 4 Jan. DD was great during the 10h journey whereI'd been dreading having to strap her back in after breaks. Baguettes have gone down well - I think she likes the texture more than sliced white- but we'll hold off on the brie and snails for a bit...

Ah hope you settle in well French I guess your Dd will be bilingual which will be awesome. DP and I both studied languages so hoped to pass them on to the kids but ds is 3 and other than copying a bit of French when we ask him we haven't really encouraged it. Maybe you can inspire me with regular French updates!

Wow french big move! Are you or DH French or have you moved for one of your jobs? DS loves Brie btw, I wouldn't hold back on that!

I'm really suffering from anxiety about going back to work not about the actual working part, that'll be fine, just the being separated from DS part. My anxiety tends to manifest itself in physical ailments which is exactly what's happening at the moment - I'm having all sorts of tummy troubles and have no appetite at all (at least I'll look good in my work clothes every cloud) It's just a shame because instead of enjoying my last week off with DS I'm spending it worrying.

He's woken up at least 3 times a night for the last four nights, the little monster. Maybe he can sense something's up too.

Thanks our move went well, and we basically stopped doing unpacking and sorting on Christmas eve to have Christmas and then have gone a bit steadier since! Hope you are settling in ok with your big move French makes my two miles round the corner seem easy!

Wow a walker! Good going, R will bomb around on the walker but hasnt mastered the art of cruising or letting go yet.. she sits down the minute I try and get her to walk holding us rather than the walker - but shes moving plenty fast enough to keep me on my toes without anything else!

Me sorry to hear that you are feeling anxious about your return to work - I have probably missed this but is he off to nursery? I felt better after DH had rung on the first day as she settled quickly (this week anyway!) but the last few days over Christmas I was suddenly like "ooh I should have taken more time...I don't want to go back" and it sort of ruined my last few days too, I think its such a massive change compared to when you were last at work its inevitable unfortunately..

vroc glad your move went well and your DD settled quickly this week. DS is also going to be going to nursery and he has some settling in sessions next week before I start back at work the following week. Perhaps I'll feel better after his settling in sessions. I think I'll be ringing to see how he's getting on too! He's a pretty easy going chap and I'm sure he'll be fine but I'm just going to miss his cheeky face so much!

The move to France is with my job Me DH will be a full time SAHD until we get a permanent place and a day or two of nursery sorted. DD settled in really well to a couple of days of nursery in the UK - hope it is the same for you Me - so we are keen to replicate and get her french ear in as DH speaks very little. We are keen as you say Mrs Ells to make the most of the opportunity for bilingualism. The main thing will be using French nursery and school (from 2.5 if she is dry in the day!) rather than international schools but I guess I have to look into French phonics etc too in the longer term.

I doubt there is much less stress in our moves vroc if perhaps a bit more paperwork for us. It was the trying to whittle down posessions for packing I found the worst. I moved into DH's house just before we married and he had a LOT more stuff squirreled away than I realised.

Wow french that's a big move. How exciting! I hope you are settling in ok.

me I hope the settling in sessions go alright. I hear you re the anxiety, every time I think about going back to work I feel a bit sick. I'm really lucky that DH will take care of DS while I'm there and I'm only doing part time, but I am really going to miss him. I also cannot seem to remember anything about being at work. Help!

Ugh, DS woke up from his nap this afternoon in a really bad mood. I think his teeth are bothering him, he has a runny nose and keeps tugging his ears . He refused to eat his dinner managed to gobble up his pudding though! and was super clingy right up until bedtime. Everything we tried to do, toys, jumperoo, ball pool, walker, lasted about two minutes until he was unhappy again. It was one of those evenings where bedtime cannot come quick enough. I hate feeling like that, it makes me feel really guilty. I love spending time with DS but he was just so wingey! He is usually such a happy little chap I'm not prepared for when he isn't! Hey ho, tomorrow is a brand new day..........

Ah I need a rant about mil's! They do so much for us, looking after ds 2 days a week and cooking us food a couple of days but she seems to forget that dh has another woman in his life and he's old enough not to need mothering! I asked fil if they could bring ds back early today so we could decorate biscuits for dh's b'day tomorrow. I was going to bake a birthday cake and gingerbread when dd has a nap and then ds could help decorate when they are cool later. 10 mins later I get a text from mil saying she was going to bake cupcakes with ds for dh as clearly I wouldn't think to do a b'day cake , she asked if I would prefer she didn't but when they are looking after ds all day i can't really say no. if that was me I wouldn't have said anything I would have just not done it. I know they help us out massively but it just makes me feel that she's doing it because she thinks I'm not going to look after her son he's 34 and quite capable of looking after himself without either of us! I guess I'll understand when ds has a wife but until then it drives me mad!

AH Mils.... You have my sympathy, they're often trying to be kind but it just sort of misses the point and pisses us off instead of helping at all? I was ready to pop mine in a packing box and send her off for storage when she was "helping" us with the move before Christmas, I still need to repack the sideboard so it actually fits all the stuff in it had before we moved...! Oh and I feature in none of the Christmas photos of R and DH, its like I wasn't in my own home...

Oooh sorry you might have opened up the floodgates now MrsE!!

Oh my god vroc my mil has a massive collage of photos of our wedding and out of about 50 photos I'm in about 4! How can you find so many wedding photos without the bride in?? At least not having to bake a cake meant C got something a little more exciting than a sandwich for lunch, she is currently enjoying cheese pancakes with banana and blueberry pancakes for dessert .

Ah MILs. Mine is generally no trouble, as DH has been very firm with her in the past about interfering. She and FIL have interfered in poor SIL's life (DH's sister) loads and DH laid down the law that he and later we would not tolerate the same. So she largely keeps her opinions to herself, and hasn't been at all overbearing with DS. But she does occasionally let her true feelings slip and I know she thinks I am a terrible wife as I do not clean (have a cleaner), iron (DH irons his own shirts and anything of mine that needs ironing) or do anything vaguely domesticated like sewing. I am a half decent cook but she likes to ignore that!

I am currently enjoying a cake and coffee while DS is doing a settling in session at nursery. I did feel tearful after I dropped him off, but he was absolutely fine. Fingers crossed he still is when I pick him up - I'll update later.

DS has helpfully decided to start growing teeth just in time for my return to work. All those gummy months we had where staying up half the night wouldn't have been an issue ... I've been up at least 3 times a night with him for the last week, with him having a dose of calpol a night. The tip of his second tooth is now poking through so I thought the worst might be over but I think the top ones are about to come through too so no rest for me just yet. I know I'll manage somehow at work. I'll have to!

Ah Me yes my MIL is like that with the ironing and other care... she sometimes makes comments about what DH eats... He is a stick thin 29/30 inch waist.. I am not... My jeans are a bit larger but the comments that she sometimes makes suggests I don't feed him and he needs fattening up - he is the cook in our house and he eats far more than me!

Hope the nursery settling went well. R seemed ok last week so will be interesting to see how she goes today after a five day break but wowsers was she tired - you might find that even beats the teeth Me - she did 3 12hr nights sleep after her two days in nursery last week..

Ha vroc your mil sounds like mine! DH is her little prince and we aren't looking after them properly! I resolve to try not to be like that with DS's future wife!

I hope DS follows in R's footsteps and sleeps well after nursery. It will be a long day for him.

Pick up was hard. DS was fine while I was gone apparently, did really well, played and ate lots of tea and they even managed to get him to have a short nap which impressed me as he's a pain to get down. But when I walked back into the room to pick him up his bottom lip went as soon as he saw me and he cried loads. So did I! His key worker is absolutely lovely and assured me that all the mums cry and that it is completely normal for the babies to cry on pick up - they hold it together while we're gone and then let go when we get back. Still hard though. I am going to be a mess at work on Monday, waterproof mascara at the ready.

Me I'm glad DS got on well at nursery! I cried lots on the first day I took DS to the childminders and worried all day! I picked him up and he absolutely loved it! And I felt better after I had the first day out the way and wondered why I got so worked up in the first place.
Good luck and I hope it goes well for you and your DS.
All this MIL chat makes me grateful that DH isn't close to him mum. My FIL used to be like that with DH and is still sometimes now but I make it very clear how I feel when he does! Why do they feel the need?! I'm with you and it gives me motivation to never be like that with DS!
Anyone else having temper tantrums... or maybe that's the wrong phrase but when I walk away from DS say to go to the kitchen he will literally scream his head off in such a screamy/shouty/hysterical cry! As soon as I come back he calms down but the childminder has said about it too and he does the same when she's seeing to other children!

So after mil's cake shenanigans she managed to text dh about the cupcakes rather than me so the surprise of homemade biscuits and cake would have been ruined anyway. Then to top it all off ds has had diarrhoea all afternoon obviously not my mil's fault so they dropped him back early. They had already made the cupcakes before it started but I'm not sure I really want to eat anything that he has had his fingers in so I've had to rush out to buy a cake anyway!

C has her first settling in session at nursery on Monday, I'm quite relaxed about it but ds has been there for 2 years so I know the set up. She's been in and out of there on ds's pick ups so I'm hoping she will at least recognise the surroundings and that will help her settle. The only problem is she normally sleeps most of the morning and the session is 10-11 so she will probably be tired.

Mrs E did you survive the cupcakes? R has done her two days at nursery this week and seems to be settling in ok, wasnt at all bothered when I arrived to pick her up last night so thats good... Although I am glad you mentioned it FTM as R has been having temper tantrums or whatever they are called she sort of bangs her fist or leg and makes a screech if something doesn't do what she wants or is taken away - the nursery commented on it in a "she certainly lets you know what she wants" way and I thought it was something I was doing but perhaps its just their next phase?

FTM and vroc DS is the same, he's been very strong willed for a while now! Lots of shouting/screeching especially if I take something away from him, usually something dangerous! He has worked out how to open drawers now and this morning I found him with a half open packet of razors need to reorganise my drawers to put dangerous things in higher places! Trouble is he's so tall that he can reach all the drawers in my chest of drawers and dressing table!

DS is currently at nursery for settling in session #2. He cried at drop off today literally as soon as we got in the door he was like OMG mum you've brought me here again, waaaah! I made a quick exit and am now sitting in a nearby cafe where I randomly start crying every 10 minutes or so, what the other customers must think of me I don't know. If I'm like this on Monday I think my (almost all male) colleagues will have no idea what to do, I'm normally a bit of an ice queen at work! I might just have to excuse myself for crying jags in the loos ...

Ooh, just realised this had dropped off 'Threads I'm On'!

DS2 is joining in the almost temper tantrums! Gets quite cross sometimes. (Fortunately nothing like DS1 at this age... so far)

Ah, me, I hope he settled and had an ace time, and that you're feeling better too. You should be reassured that it's a sign of a secure attachment. It's not that he doesn't enjoy it there. He'll form an attachment with his key worker (but you'll still be top of his list) soon and then he'll be happier being dropped off.

So, we're having a weird day for feeds today. A while back it looked like he was going to drop BFing altogether, but we managed to maintain the morning & evening BF, with FF during the day and one dream feed. Today he's had 2 FF's at nursery this morning and has refused the bottle since.

He doesn't seem at all ill (quite the opposite, earlier!), not distressed (apart from just now when he was hungry and had to wait for me to make a bottle which he then refused). It's weird... I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow!

And I just packed away all my nursing bras.

However I am now expecting to be up to feed several times tonight, the supply is way behind this new demand!

Me I'm sure it will get easier. I think the settling in is as much for the parents as the child! Everyone I know who's put their baby in nursery has said that their child has really thrived there once they've got used to it. I think it probably depends a lot on the temperament of your baby how long that takes though. I'm dreading the day I have to put ds2 into childcare because he's so sensitive and clingy I think he'll find it really hard to adjust, but I know they all get there in the end.
I was going to ask whether your ds had got any teeth yet because I remember it was only our babies left without any. Ds2 was completely toothless 6 weeks ago and now suddenly has 6 teeth! He's loving being able to eat breadsticks without having to gum them into sludge first .

Vroc I'm glad the settling in days went OK. It makes it so much easier when they are independent sorts.

MrsElls Hope everything goes well on Monday.

FTM I think it's a separation anxiety thing (this is the worst age for it). Ds2 is my little shadow at the minute and flies into a total rage if I dare to leave him to his own devices for a minute. Ds1 was never particularly clingy but now he's seen his brother gets attention that way he's copying him, so I now spend my days with 2 small children literally hanging off me. Some days I can't wait to be back at work!

Sorry to hear so many of you have difficult MiLs. My relationship with mine has improved considerably since I had the dcs and she can mother them instead of Dh, but I think she sometimes forgets she's not their actual mother! When ds2 was ill over Christmas she offered to babysit him one night so Dh and I could get some sleep. She whacked the heating up to 23C and wrapped him up in a duvet to 'sweat out' the virus! Luckily Dh twigged what she was up to (she asked him where ds2's wooly hat was ) so no harm done, but poor ds2 was literally dripping with sweat. Dh went mental but I was so grateful she got him to go to sleep I couldn't get too worked up about it.