Oct 07 - this little piggy stayed at home...

[Dalrymps]

Hey guys sorry for the sh*t title, if there's already been a new thread set up please direct me there???

Anyasmum STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP RIGHT NOW!!!! Understand your reaction but you didn't know. And I also wouldn't worry about how much she is taking - if she is satisfied and she is putting weight on it really doesn't matter - all babies are different. Adam only took 1 and a half oz at one of his feeds yesterday and still settled - it was obviously enough for him!

Strawberry - yes they get that really intent look on their faces don't they when they see your breasts! Like I probably get when a good plate of scran and a large white wine gets put in front of me!!!

That was the ds's not the dh's although maybe they do too for different reasons!!!!

Anyasmum - bet she still smiles every time she sees you though? So she doesn't remember about 'bad' milk, just that you are the fab person who feeds her when she needs it.

Inzi - Now I come to think of it, Olly has changed his bedtime routine a bit recently - perhaps because we have too? As dh has not been at work cos of Xmas, we have been to bed later, so he's been feeding later, then waking up earlier for food and going back to sleep with us in the bed. I got up the other morning to have a shower, and came back in the bedroom to find them both curled up in the same poses on the bed, down to the same open mouthed snoring!

Alicet - dh looks like that when he gets a new Xbox game, not when I flash my boobs....

Anyasmum I kn ow what you mean about the formula, I have tried the cow and gate one I give to Ben and it isn't pleasant, it actually tastes quite bitter... doesn't stop him drinking it though. He had 10 ounces this morning for his first bottle then another 7oz's 3 and a half hours later But by god his nappies have been foul the last few days, very green and watery and leaking everywhere, I still can't understand how one little person can smell so much

Last night tried to get jiggy with dh (thought I had better make the effort ) but just as we were getting going so to speak, ds1 woke up crying and then wouldn't stop for about an hour and a half (every time he closed his eyes he would start again), very very unusual, I think he was having his first nightmare as he was thrashing about, also think he was still asleep and crying for the first 15mins because neither of us could comfort him at all. I couldn't really get out of him what was bothering him either as he is obviously too young to understand about dreams. I did ask him if he could see pictures when he closed his eyes and he said yes, and he also mentioned Ben, so he must have been dreaming about him. Awwww bless him.

Well tonight is going to be a quiet one for us, dh is cooking for me tonight, a nice bottle of red to look forward to too

Hope you all have a good night xx

Hi ladies!

inzi - Dh and I always remember the humdinger of a fight we had about putting water in the steamer. I couldn't find the measuring thing and was getting really stressed and he walked in the kitchen and just said 'why don't you just use the line?' I was stressed and said 'what line' he said, 'you know, the line!!' I said 'no, what line?' and it escalated into a 'WHAT FUCKING LINE????' 'THAT FUCKING LINE' Amazingly quickly. Even my brother, who was iving with us at the time, ran for cover in the living room.
(On the Avent steamer we had at the time there was a line at the bottom that you could use as a guage but I'd never noticed it, unlike dh.)
Still makes me laugh now.... it was so stupid a thing to argue over!

Whoever asked about routine at 8 weeks I would say if you want to be in a routine, go for it. I would also agree with Alice in that if you write down what your lo does in a 24hr period, you might spot a potential routine emerging. It's good to try to work with the lo's rather than inforce something they don't like.

Henry likes to go to bed at 8pm. We've tried 7pm -like Ollie- but he settles much more quickly at 8pm so for the time being 8pm it shall be. He, generally, sleeps from 8pm -3am with a dream feed at 10/10.30pm. He feeds again at 6am. I put him back to bed and he sleeps to around 7.30/8am. (When Ollie goes back to school it will be 7.30) He naps around 9 ish but only for 45mins-1hr. I make sure he feeds every 3 hrs during the day. We don't really have an afternoon routine yet but we do have to pick Ollie up from school at 3pm.

I had a lovely time at the gym/spa. I swam 20 lengths (ver slowly!) and sat in the jaccuzi with the big hose pipe thing on my shoulders to relieve tension. Dh took the boys to the local massive park and Ollie played on the 'big boys' climbing frame.

Have a lovely evening whatever you're doing -we'll be in bed as we've never really been into New Years.
x

Hi all,

GP said she was expecting me this morning ... and that pnd was a very realistic outcome to the past 2 years ... As I've been trying to cope on my own , and talking to dh and my mum, and I'm still not getting anywhere, she's put me on ADs ... I can bf on these though, and she's advised me to carry on bf, as bf helps me to produce happy hormones.

DH is going to have to tell PiLs - I wish he didn't have to, but given that I had palpitations after we came away from the PiLs on Saturday, and got myself really wound up, dh feels he has to ... that'll be another stick for her to beat me with!

Our neighbours and some other friends are coming round later - we're cooking 2 curries (a prawn one and a veg one), and they're bringing the rest of the dinner. Quite looking forward to it - I can relax with them, and they know I've not been feeling great anyway.

Inzi - if your hv was worried about Jane's weight gain, they would have asked you specifically to bring her to be weighed ... so don't worry about it.
Well done on clearing the air with dh - sometimes you need to have the mother and father of all arguments. I sometimes think we forget too how much of a reality check having a child is for our dh/dp ... my dh realised that his dream of owning a Porsche and getting his Private Pilot's Licence would have to be put on hold when we had Rhydian ... I'm really glad you've managed to be honest about what you want your revised goals to be.

alice - thanks for your support - I honestly think I'd be in a much worse state if I hadn't met everybody on this thread ... it's funny to think that this time last year we were all ttc (or not maybe? )!

Thanks to everybody - have a lovely New Year celebration if you're having one, and if you're not, I hope you have a really good night's sleep!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! (Lots of consonants in that one!)

muppetgirl - you just made me lol, that happened to us too, I'd never noticed the line at the bottom either

Regards routine, the only one we are in atm is that Ben now feeds every three hours in the day since he started sleeping through. Not sure what routine to get into yet as I have to fit round sam and nursery drop off and pick ups now too. I'm sure it will work itself out

Hi Everyone, just got caught up on all the posts and now I can hardly remember what everyone said! But here goes

ejt glad to hear that you went to see the GP today and that they were supportive. I know its easy to say but try to ignore the PIL as far as I am concerned it takes a much stronger person to recognise when they need help and to ask for it than someone who ignores how they are feeling. As for sleeping during the day I always put Zoe in her pram as she enjoys sleeping there and she has even started falling asleep on her play mat, I just put a blanket over her and leave her there. Don't know if its the best thing to do but I am happy and Zoe is happy so I don't care beyond that

Choc as everyone else has said if you are happy with Rebecca then I wouldn't bother getting her weighed, I don't weigh Zoe every week and I almost never go to the baby clinic, a HV comes with her scales to the mother and baby group I go to.

Inzi sorry to hear about your fight with DH, I am glad you have managed to get things sorted out though. Having a LO is a big adjustment (as we have all discovered ) and I think it was said on this thread before that sometimes daddies take longer to bond with their LO's than they expect and so they can be feeling guilty about this which can cause them to be more irrational!

Anyasmum sorry to hear about the milk and I can understand why you feel bad but please dont how could you know that there was anything wrong and maybe it isn't bad just doesn't taste great! You have an appointment for Anya coming up dont you?

I think it is amazing how quickly babies grow and change. Zoe has become a noise machine! not crying just laughing, giggling and shouting! she is also now playing with the animals on her baby gym.

Hello to everyone else hope you are all ok and have a good night tonight

Happy New Year lovely ladies!

Cross posted earlier inzi - I think your dh is probably not alone in finding it a massive upheaval - I think it is probably harder for dh's than us as we have been adjusting for 9 months already before they arrive... My dh really struggled to bond with both boys although we're not concerned this time round as he couldn't love Sam more and we both realise it will just take time. The fact you are both open with each other means that you will be able to work through your troubles and come out stronger.

Ejt if your mil beats you up for needing help and ad's let her - that just sums up what a narrow minded woman she is and if she has so little in her life that digs about this and not losing all your baby weight are what keeps her going then you can just be very smug that you have a much more fullfilling life than her!

Muppet - what fucking line?!?!?!

Hello to MrsFish and Polar and everyone else!

Well I can't believe that I haven't even met any of you (apart from Choc) in RL and didn't even know any of you this time last year. I feel really close to you all and we've been through a really monumental thing together. Think you are all doing fab - the one thing that unites us all even though we are all approaching parenthood in different ways is that we all love our lo's and are doing our very best and you can't ask for any more than that can you?

If any of you are up in Newcastle or nearby anytime I would love to meet up. I am also going to be at Mum and Dad's which is midway between Ross-on-Wye, Hereford and Ledbury mid March for a week so if any of you that live nearer there fancy meeting that would be lovely too? I think muppet and ejt live not too far from there and maybe Apricott? Anyway, just give me a shout!

Hope you have a lovely evening whether thats cracking the bubbly to see in midnight or hitting the duvet (we'll be doing both and having our 'midnight' at 10.30!!!). See you next year! xxx

Well, our New Years Eve so far....

I have ironed 11 shirts and found the worktop of the utility room after ironing what was on on top. Dh has got rid of the manky Christmas tree in the payroom as it had looked dead for at least a week now. Ds 1 has been sent to bed in disgrace after being cheeky and rude for the millionthe time today and now I am mnetting with a large G & T whilst DH is playing 'Kill!, Kill!, Kill!' (or suchlike) on the x-box.

Anyone else having such a rip roaring, fantastically exciting time as us two???

Oh, and the black lab (9/10?) is by my feet absolutely Sh*t scared of the fireworks. Guess he's in with us then tonight
x

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE - Here's to a fab 2008 with our lo's, Cheers all from me and my boys xx

Muppetgirl - I have about the same number of shirts still to be ironed we went to bed at 10.30pm, so yes another rip roaring New Year here too

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had an enjoyable night. We had DP's parents round last night, but they went home around 11pm as Shula just would not settle and i was spending most of my time in our room with her. She finally settle arround 11.45pm. DD1 went to bed around 9pm, but did not go to sleep until around 10.30pm. At midniht DP was playing "Call of Duty 4" on the xbox 360. I asked if I could go first footing and he said yes. i had my phone just in case Shula woke. Our next door neighbours were not in, but the family across the street were out the front watching all the fireworks that were going off all around. I went over and joined them and had a glass of champagne with them. I came back in about 12.30 and DP was still playing his game. I finally ewent to bed about 1.30am, no idea what time he came to bed.
Shula woke at 6.35 this morning. I fed her and then came downstairs to express the rest as I feel rathr full. Not got much though. The past couple of mornings I have maganed to get 5oz no problem, this morning I have stuggled to get 2 oz from the breast she has not fed from.

We don't have a particular routine with Shula at the moment. i feed her on demand and she will nap for about 15-2o minutes after that, then ia awke for quite a while. At the moment, she is in the little vibraing chair, wide awake, but quiet. She was last weighed on 10th December. Here the recommend every 2 weeks, but the clinic was closed Christmas eve and new years eve. She has her 2nd jabs on monday at 2pm, so will probably take her to the other surgery on /wednesday next week as I don't fancy dragging DD1 down to our surgery twice in one day.

I best go get my soup made.

I hope you all have a lovely day and enjoy 2008 with your little ones

Happy New Year to everybody - here's hoping that 2008 is a wonderful year with your lo's. Can't believe that this time last year we weren't even pregnant - we even had IVF appointments booked (which then got cancelled!) We had a suitably uninteresting NY eve - I tried to stay awake until 12 but we weren't planning on doing anything and by 11:30 I was yawning so much that dh sent me to bed.

Anya is taking about 3oz per feed now - doesn't sound like much but it's a big breakthrough, especially as she grabs the bottle and pulls it towards her mouth. I'm really glad their memories are only short

Still think there was something wrong with this batch of milk - Anya had powder for a couple of weeks without any trouble before she started going off her food, and dh tasted it ages ago and reckoned it tasted the same as the cartons . But I don't particularly like milk so I've not tasted any of it - so maybe I'm talking rubbish. Anyway she's much better now so cartons it is!

Polar - yes, Anya's got appointments stacked up - a hearing test this week, jabs next week (the only 'normal' thing), check up with the paediatric consultant the week after, then in Feb her sleep study and a follow up visit to the genetics clinic. Don't have a date yet for the scan and God knows what else.

Am not concerned though - she's hitting all her developmental milestones so far. She's just discovered she's got hands - instead of just stuffing her fingers in her mouth she now peers intently at them first. She's also discovered that if she waves her arm when there's a rattly toy hung nearby then it makes a noise - that fascinates her for, ooh, minutes!

Alicet - not sure that dh's look at boobs in the same way once they've been used for breastfeeding...

Inzi, Muppet - reassuring to know that everybody's been rowing with dh's, usually over stupid little things. It's human nature to take out stress on the people you love the most - it shouldn't be but it is.

Agree about keeping a note of their natural routine for a day - we did that originally and then built a routine round her and then started tweaking it. Started from scratch again yesterday though .

Muppet - glad you had a good time at the spa. I would kill for a back massage .

Happy New Year ladies!

Well I was in bed by 10.30 last night too - but before that had an absolutely lovely night with dh. We drank a bottle of bubbly (thanks Choc!!) while we put the boys to bed then had a carpet picnic in the front room in front of the fire. Had a really emotional chat about what we want to achieve this year and how much we have grown together through the birth of both our boys. And then had great sex! So nice one all in all!

Just trying to find some form of kiddies entertainment that is open on new years day so that we don't go to cafe nero for coffee and cake AGAIN!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

We went to bed around 10.30 after H's last feed. Got a little jiggy (woohoo!) but not much which was great as no pressure from DH. The fireworks at midnight were amazingly loud and long so I think the good people of Swindon bought the entire stock of 'louder than hell' rockets and let them all of at the same time! I am amzed that none of the chidren woke up...

We had a bit of a reflective chat about the last year also. I was remembering my friend who died last Feb and how she was so ill this time last year and how I wish I'd found the right words that could have made her better...I do know there wouldn't have been but you can't help feeling you've let them down. I saw her last on the Wednesday and on the Friday she booked herself into a hotel and comitted suicide. I still miss her desperately.

Dh was talking about how we are a strong couple (even after the 'what f**king line?' argument) and that we've come through so much together. So sometimes it is nice to be a smug married (or even a sumg-in-a-relationship)

Hmmm, need to go now as getting all 'refelctive' again...

Thanks to all you lovely ladies for all of your support over the last few months. It's good to know there is always one of you around to ask weird and wonderful questions about anything in particular really! I have even managed to pass on a little of my own wisdom to some of you so that's made me feel that sometimes I have got it right with Ollie!

Have a great day, we are off swimming this morning and then dog walking in the massive park with the boys and dogs.

x

Happy New Year all!

I have to say, your nights all sound so civilized and lovely. Alice, the fire and a carpet picnic sounds divine. Winnie, glad you got to first foot and sorry Shula didnt settle. Muppet and Alice, how do you have energy for reflective chats?? Anyasmum, it sounds like you're doing really well and good luck with the jabs on Monday.

Our night was wakeful but hardly in the spirit of the occasion! We started on our daily 'quest to put Missy to bed' at 7.30 as usual. She refused to sleep until 11. At that point we all crashed out, only for her to wake up again at 12. She went back to sleep this time in about 20 minutes but was up again at 1.10, until 3, then 4 until 5.30, then again at 6. Utterly futile! So we did see the New Year in but we didnt have energy for any reflections or any more than a grunted 'I'll take her this time' - 'thanks'. Little sleep refusenik was unperturbed - and she wont sleep masses in the day either so that isnt the issue - I wonder if she has a version of my cold as she is sneezing and coughing a lot although no runny nose...

Since we're all saying it, thank you from me too for all being there to listen and help even though I don't know you in RL (Alice apart). It feels like a real oasis here and I find myself wanting to know how you all spent NY, Christmas, etc too. Anyasmum, this time last year was about when I started to think about getting pregnant - amazing to think it was all so fast and how much has changed.

Off to my parents for New Year's lunch - roast chicken. So - happy New Year all!

Am watching take that in concert...

God they're great

Be back later for a proper read and post but just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!
Love Amy, Ali, Dylan and Tess the dog x

Happy New Year everyone, sounds like some of you had really lovely NYE's

Choc I don't know how you do it, I don't think I would be able to cope with the little amount of sleep you have.

Just wanted to add to the thanks from everyone else for this group, its because of this group that I am able to be so relaxed with Zoe because every time I have a question about something she is doing someone else has already posted asking the same thing about their LO I also love the fact that no one on here is judgemental you can ask what you like and get honest balanced opinions in return. Thanks ladies, just wish some of you lived in NI so I could meet up with you

Anyasmum good luck with all your various appointments next week...

Choc - don't worry about not having the energy for reflective chats - remember Adam is 6 weeks older than Rebecca - we wouldn't have had the energy 6 weeks ago! Also that Sam was similarly crap at sleeping as your little girl (although he did settle a bit better during the day) and he started to get very much better from about 10 weeks. Have a lovely day with your parents.

Muppet one of my friends (who has a ds 1 week younger than Adam) went to see take that and said they were fab!

Inzi good on you and your dh for helping that man

We have had a lovely am in the park in the rain! Bumped into a couple we know there who have a dd in sam's nursery class and ds due in march - we were the only ones there. Sam now sleeping and trying to get Adam to do likewise! So see you later....

polar cross posted but couldn't agree more with loving how non-judgemental everyone is. So we should be but all too often people are totally sanctimonious and judgemental about parenting - surely all that matters is that you do your best?

Muppet - I'm watching Take That taped from last night too. I went to see them in November in Birmingham, they were utterly fabulous