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???

Unicorn -I have had this dilema last week and have decided to be 'tough mummy' on my lovely Mummy's boy Henry. He absolutely loves being with me. I love it to but have to spend time with Oliver too as he's starting to misbehave when I'm feeding H. I now put him down at 10am for a sleep and there he stays whether he likes it or not. The first couple of days he liked it not but he's getting better now and today he went straight off. (I do make sure that he's at least tired though by waiting for the second yawn and then he's wisked off to bed.)

The evenings I find a lot more difficult. I am on my own and have to feed Oliver, bath, story and get him to bed by 7pm. Henry Just wants to eat, eat, eat then so it makes things really tough as he's having to wait while I cook, do bath, read stories as I don't want Oliver to constantly miss out. I am now f/f him at 5, 7(sonetimes) + 8.30 in the evening as he was b/f 5,6,7 and then 8.30 which I just couldn't manage. I am trying to put Henry to bed at 6.45 so I can have time with Oliver who is quite happy to say to Henry 'You need to be quiet now Henry this is my time, not yours!' I put him in his cot whilst reading a story and he went to sleep so we're trying that to see what happens. His crying tears me apart though which is really awful. It never did with Ollie as I didn't really bond with him but I can now understand how difficult it is to hear your child cry even though you know they are tired and really should go to bed.

Les - So sorry to hear about your dad, I can totally understand your jealousy for Zachary.

Well, Henry had his nap at 10am this morning which meant I could make cakes with Ollie which he loves. Well, I think he loves licking the bowl more than the actual making of the cakes but at least it's fun time for me and him.
Going to the gym this afternoon to spa and swim. Cannot wait to have some time on my own
Les I am with you on the 'I'M SO KNACKERED WHY CAN'T I JUST SLEEEEEEEEEEEP?' Last night dh said he's bottle Henry for me when he woke up instead of me getting up to bf him as I was so tired. Yes, I thought, sleeeeeeep. Henry decided he would sleep through till 6am (woo hoo!) but could I sleep? Could I hell. Going to cut back on the coffee as I'm drinking loads atm and see if that helps.

Have a good day all
Emma
x

les - lovely poems - very emotional.

Choc - Anya's still in her moses basket - just! I'm thinking about moving her into her cot but I like the security of having her next to our bed and the cot's too big for that. Interested what everybody else is doing too.

Anya's being really cranky today - no idea why. Everything gets cried at and her bottom lip is out a mile! She has a new game though which she loves. When I blow raspberries at her she stares at my lips and tries to copy - of course she can't do it and ends up making a gurgling noise instead but she thinks this is hilarious. It keeps me amused for hours!

On the moses basket / cot thing we're going to move Adam next weekend. Have to admit I'm not looking forward to it as I love being able to just look over and watch him sleep when I wake! However he is becoming a bit more unsettled in his sleep again which deisturbs us. Plus I think often he would just settle himself at these times and I inadvertently wake him by sticking his dummy in!

I'm going to put his moses basket inside his cot first, then put a sheet from the moses basket onto his cot so he has something that smells familiar. Next weekend is the plan as my parents are staying so if it all goes horribly wrong at least we have some help!

Emotional thread today! Sorry about all your losses. I can't begin to imagine losing a parent and I can imagine how much you wish they had been able to know your children.

Alice, good luck!! Your parents are good to come up and help. Anyasmum, our room wouldnt fit the cotbed in either... and I'm still paranoidly checking her breathing a lot... still she's just 2 months now so I've got a bit of time.

Been into town and out for lunch again today. DH goes back to work tomorrow which feels a bit odd after 2 weeks - hope I cope!

Better go see how DD is... hugs to all!

Afternoon all!
LES - love the poems - very emotional...

to everyone discussing cots - we are very lucky in that our cot fits in our bedroom, and DS has been in there since about week 3 as he never really liked the moses basket (luckily we had just borrowed one). Anyway, to make a more cosy sleeping space I use a cot bumper around the top (not sure if you are supposed to, but never mind), and I bought one of these which divides the cot and makes it smaller. And to help get him to sleep we have one of these - a light and sound cot toy - which has a remote control so you can activate it from the warmth of your bed! A couple of tunes and he is asleep...

ATM he is lying on his playmat jangling some fish windchimes on his baby gym and singing away to himself - a very happy baby for the moment.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend

just a quickie ... Mairwen has had all her naps in her cot since the second week - she just sleeps in a crib by our bed for the time I'm in bed.

I'll get around to moving her into her own room full-time when she grows out of the crib - that'll be a few more weeks I think.

I had already thrown Rhydian out into his own room by this stage: he has always been a snorer (we've finally been referred to the ENT guys for help with this - his hearing and speech have been affected - I've been saying for years that it was all interlinked!) - and with him snoring on one side of me, and Jonathan snoring on the other side, I was getting no sleep at all!

Have loved the poems.

FT - lovely to see you back - so sorry to hear you've been struggling. Thinking of you.

Buffy - also lovely to hear from you too ... and also sorry to hear you've been struggling too - come and join me in the pnd club!

We've had a lovely weekend - Friday night, the choir were singing at the rugby, so I went to my first match since Mairwen was born - unfortunately, we lost - mind you, we didn't play terribly well ... Then, last night, Jonathan took me to the ballet - another part of my Christmas pressie ... we went to see Romeo and Juliet - it was absolutely lovely.

The Church hall is being refurbished at the moment, so I taught Sunday School in the Vestry - which isn't completely enclosed - so the children had to do quiet activities ... which taxed me a bit! We made wise men ... lots of colouring, gluing and sticking - lovely! Throw in a maze, a colouring sheet and a wordsearch of the older ones, and we were done!

When Rhydian had his 4th birthday party, we organised our own party - he wanted a fire engine party - we played:

• pin the hat on Fireman Sam
• musical bumps

-pass the parcel etc.

We also gotg the children to make their own place cards for the party tea when they first came in - I got a colouring picture of Fireman Sam, and put the child's name next to it - in a hollow font. They were popular.
We also decided not to do party bags as such - instead, each child got a bag as they came in with their name on it - after every game, they put their prizes in the bag. Then at the end, we had a pul - pinata thing, which we filled with sweets, and the children made up their own party bags!

Right, off to wake Mairwen, she's slept for 2 hours now ... if we don't wake her soon, she won't sleep this evening!

hello all, joseph is still sleeping in his amby - happy to do a 8 hour stretch if i manage to convince him to take both sides, and usually goes down at 7.00pm so get a few hours of non-baby time. However, during the day he just does not sleep unless we are out or we let him nap on us - as he is doing now, henco one-handed typing! Hadn't noticed how tiring this is, but dh has gone to the us and it is just me lugging the wee chap around. Actually, he is a heavy wee blighter. We are going to have to toughen up on the naps tto i think.
It is actually not as bad as i thought it might be without dh (famous last words two days in!!) Joseph is a pretty chilled baby which helps, and has also just discovered his hands properkly - hours of dribbling, cooing fun! Am looking forward to adult conversation tomorrow though.
Happy weeks to you all.

EmMcK sounds like you're doing great! If Joseph likes to sleep on you have you tried a hugabub? If not you are probably the only one on this thread who hasn't succumbed to that or something similar!!! See cgi.ebay.co.uk/BN-HUG-A-BUB-WRAPAROUND-SLING-BABY-CARRIER-HUGABUB_W0QQitemZ140194634016QQihZ004QQcat egoryZ100983QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem. Good luck for the rest of the week!

Ejt sounds like you had a lovely weekend. Your fire engine party sounds fab. How many of your games do you think 2 year olds would cope with? Had kind of thought to not make it too structured but I don't know whether I'm being too simple!

Choc good luck tomorrow. And def up for Tues - have mailed you.

Hello (big waves!!!) to all the rest of you!

We have had a good day over here. Took Adam swimming for the first time this am and he really loved it and wasn't even too bothered by Sam splashing enough to empty the pool! (We were the only ones there!). I've been deliberately splashing water on his face in the bath and putting his ears under so he knows what to expect and doesn't get frightened and it seemed to work. And this pm took Sam to B&Q - OK not that exciting but he likes anything differnt. I was buying some wood and paints to make a board to put his wooden train set on. Now I'm taking bets as to how long it stays in the garage before I actually get round to it!

LEDBURY MEET-UP / OTHER MEET-UPS

OK so I know a lot of you said you were interested but I can't remember who so I thought the easiest thing is to say whoever thinks they might be up for it to mail me and I can send out group mails to arrange this nearer the time. My address is alicetownend at doctors dot org dot uk.

The week in question is the week before Easter and so far the possible dates are Wed 19th March, Thurs 20th, Fri 21st (Good Friday) or Sat 22nd. I still need to check what plans my parents have for when we are staying. When you mail me do you want to let me know which days you could make and any preferences so that I can pick a time / date that suits most.

How exciting to actually meet some of you in RL!!!!

I was also thinking that we could arrange another couple of meet ups further north so others can be involved? Perhaps Berwick (where Dal lives) for Northern England and Scottish ladies and York / Leeds? Any thoughts? I'd love to try and catch up with some of you before I go back to work!

alice - I think 2 year olds would be able to play most of the games - as long as nobody is out - we found that it's a good idea to have somebody with a bag of goodies to give all the children as they are out ...

we also found that our los liked dancing in the bubbles from a bubble machine.

wish there was a meet in london but alas i shall be a black sheep or move nearer y'all lolol

Les I could do a meet up in London

Oliver is depserate to go on the train to London -like Daddy - as we drove before Christmas. We'd like to take him to the Natural History Museum to see the Dinosaurs

Haven't made any firm dates yet be great if you'd like to come along or meet up somewhere else.

Well Henry did really well on his daytime naps and early eveing sleep but then woke again at 1am!! -He slept through till 6am the night before.

Last night was
5pm both boobs AND 5ozs formula
bed at 6pm -bit of 'shouting' then sleep by 6.15
10pm dream feed

woke at 1am but I left him as he was shouting rather than crying. He went back to sleep and woke at 2.30am really hungry cry but only had a little drink.
Slept till 6am then.

2 steps forward, 1 step back

How's everyone elses night going?

I am in the Midlands (near Birminham, is anyone near me?

Can I jut ask a quick question. Shula is due to have her 2nd jabs today, but she has a bunged up nosy and making a lot of snorting noises. Am I ok to take her?

nosy + nose

Ben has his 12 week jabs today too. I would say she is ok to have them still, just give her some calpol before you go.

I'm tired today. Ben woke up at 4am, I tried for over an hour to settle him back off but he just wouldn't have it, so for the first time in 3 weeks I succumbed to feeding him at 5.15 he obviously needed it as he downed 7oz's milk and 2oz of water I tried him with beforehand, but I feel cross that I gave in to him, I know I shouldn't but I have got used to those full 12 hour nights. I hope this blip is not the end of it. I just got back in to bed and all warm again, just dozing off and Sam woke up at 6.30 so ended up getting up. The weather is foul here today, raining and high winds so I'm not looking forward to going out in it at noon to take Ben for his jabs. On a plus note my neck and shoulder seems to be easing a bit but I should perhaps still go and see the chiropractor again? Right I need to do a sainsbury's shop, so off to the internet online shop I can't be bothered to actually go as Sam isn't at nursery till thursday and I need stuff now

Mrs F I do my main shop online as I don't drive. I am taking Shula to clinic this morning, which is near sainsbury's so will pop in for the few bits that I need.

LES and Muppet - i could possibly do a meet
up in London, if I brave the train and tube!
I don't think any of you live in East Anglia do you? Suffolk is pretty much as far east as you can get....

My poor laptop is broken - have had to commandeer DH's for my fix of MN - and have just spent 40mins on the phone to HP support to try and organise getting it fixed. Typically its just out of warranty but it turns out there were some problems with the model I have, so the warranty is extended! Hoorah!

Not got anything planned for today - lets see if I can actually get Olly's clothes sorted as he's just out of his 0-3month ones, so I need to do a big swap round.

Hope you are all ok

hi everyone

thank you so much for all your words of support.it means alot to me knowing that you lot are there to moan at!!

well...i finally broke down completely on friday,couldnt take anymore.i couldnt stop crying,even made myself sick with crying and i had a massive panic attack.dh rang my gp,who said "well,how do you know shes got pnd??",dh replied "well,shes not normally threatening to kill herself thats how i know!" and gp gave in and said hed see me!(prior to that he told dh that there was no chance he could see me on friday-this was afternoon by then- as his surgery was like a circus and he couldnt fit me in.after dh spoke to him he said we could go for the end of surgery at 5.30 and hed see if he could see me)
well,got in to see him at 5.50,didnt leave until 6.45!he started off all pompous,saying that i was probably just tired,but then he did a chart thing with me (similar to the edinburgh pnd chart teh hv brought-which i forgot to take with me) and i scored 3 down each of teh questions (that was the highest) he said that hethought it was pnd brought on by all the stress ive gone through over the past couple of months (no shit sherlock!!)and that he thought i would benefit from speaking to a counsellor.(pretty ironic really cos guess who's a qualified counsellor?yep...yours truely!)hes put me on citalopram,and i have to go back this week to get my blood taken (just to check my thyroid levels-ive got an underactive one anyway,but havent had it checked for months)
it was good being able to tell him how ive been feeling,mainly guilty over everthing going.its hard to exlain,but i blame myslef for scarlette being so poorly.shes alot worse than what alyssa ever has been.so everytime shes being sick,im blaming myself.everytime shes choking on her medicines,i feel its my fault.rationally thinking i know it isnt,but rational thinking is out of the window at the mo!!
anyway,like i say,i now on the happy pills,and going back this week to see gp.so hoepfuly things will start improvong soon.

agan thank you all for your support!!

i'll let you know how thinsg go.

ejt...im joining your thread!!

Buffy I would just like to add my support - not sure I could put it better than inzi! I think taking the first big step to talk to your GP is a really brave one and hopefully now things will slowly start to improve. I honestly don't know how you manage with so many children, especially as I know at least 2 of them have health problems too. AND the move recently. Hang in there. You are doing just great even though it doesn't feel like it.

MrsFish sorry to hear you had a crap night - hope it is just a one off!

LES sorry to leave London out!!! I was just being selfish and only arranging meets I could go to!!!! Hope you have a lovely time.

Well we have been at toddler group this am - it was fab. Not sure of plans this pm yet as it depends on when both boys wake up.

Probably back on later - catch up then xxx

Hi All
another weekend without a pc dh was using it to fix two others for friends and no sooner had I got on it last night than we had a power cut!!!!! 3 hours of chatting by candlelight was actually quite good for us though I think ...though changing nappies by failing torchlight wasnt quite so jolly ....new batteries now at the top of the shopping list!

Sorry for making everyone so sad last week .Mrs F and LES(so agreed with every word of your poem), I'm so sorry for your losses....though I feel guilty for it I must admit to feeling a certain amount of relief that I'm not the only one who is so deeply affected by grief both for myself and for Alexs' missing out on everything that his grandad would have been to him...I must now just make sure that I try to give him the three essentials; "health, education and confidence" which my Dad believed gave you everything you needed to achieve whatever you truly desired in life, as a legacy to a wonderful man who gave us more than just those three things, because he gave us 100%unconditional love, laughter, support and security as well....and I'm honestly not trying to make anyone cry again..I'm just trying to analyse what made him such a fantastic parent/role model, universally adored not just by me, my brother and all our cousins and their children but all our friends too..there could not be a better legacy to pass on...

Alicet; I would love to meet up with you all...Leeds or York would be my idea of bliss as sadly Ledbury at 150 miles away is just a touch too far for comfort;I did Birmingham NEC and back in a day, single handed with Alex at 10 weeks....and found that just a bit too much especially during the jams on the M6..though perhaps if dh were with me it wouldnt be so difficult . But if a Northern meet is likely to happen, you can definately count me in.

As to the "own room" debate...Alex sleeps very quitely in his Amby next to my bed and is much easier to settle in it after a feed than the cotbed in his room, so he is staying put for at least another 3 months....we might move the Amby into his room then..if I can bear it...and if he stops feeding every 3 hours! Having said that, last night he fed at 8 and was put to bed, I lifted him at 12 for his abs and he had another good feed,and for the first time he missed his 2ish am feed and only woke 15 mins early for his 4ish am feed...sadly I then didnt manage to do more than doze after that but if Dh hadnt kicked the wardrobe door at 7am I'm sure Alex would have slept 'till 8am...4 hourly feeds would be bliss...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is the herald of good things to come!

Incidentally is anyone else getting the first signs of teething? Alex has always chewed his fist when hungry but on Saturday started chewing continuously, then started pulling my fingers up to his mouth to chew...I can't feel any teeth coming through yet but he's really biting down hard and dribbling for the first time (now I understand why people think you need so many bibs!)He's not crying yet but I've bought a couple of water/gel stage 1 and 2 teething rings which he seemed to appreciate...any tips to help him greatly appreciated.

hi there.. may i join the Oct postnatal tread..??
I recognise some of your names from the oct anti-natal threads so hi to those.

My little boy was born on 21st oct, so is officially 11 weeks old today

Does anyone know any good quick fix tips for cradle cap??

Oh and is it possible to start teething at this early stage?
My little monster can;t keep his fingers out of his mouth and is dribbling for england!

I am trying to catch up with everyone's posts but finding it hard to take info in at the moment.

Buffy - so sorry you have PND - hang in there. I am glad you are getting some support now.

So sorry for your losses, my thoughts are with you.

Dareh has been a nightmare the last few nights. He just won't settle at night and screams. Going to try and get some colic medicine for him today. It is taking five hours to get him to bed at the moment and I hate seeing him so distressed. Nothing I do seems to work - I have fed more, fed less, rocked, swaddled, played his mobile - he just won't go to sleep and then he gets really overtired. I am so jealous of all of you who have babies who just go to sleep - what is your secret??

Hello Mine and welcome!

Floria and Mine Adam does the hand chewing and dribbling too. Can't remember what age Sam started to do this but I remember thinking it was several months from this to the appearance of teeth! One of my friends little boys had his first teeth at about 3 months though so keep a look out!!! Sam wasn't too distressed with teething so no great tips but I remember someone telling me the best thing for them to chew on is a string of beads like these: www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-Years-Y1475-Teething/dp/B00002JXFI. Sam seemed to like them but like I said he never got that distressed...

Floria would love to meet up - York would work best for me as the train is really easy from Newcastle and it would be a bit far to drive. Anyone else up for that?

Stefka sorry to hear you're struggling. A technique call ed the 5s's worked wonders to calm Sam when he was distressed like this - see www.amazon.co.uk/HAPPIEST-BABY-BLOCK-Harvey-Karp/dp/B00080915C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=119 9717068&sr=8-1. Not so good for Adam though but I think definately worth a look if you're struggling to calm him. One thing it does is makes you feel in control when they're not settling which I think can only be a good thing!

Well both my boys still sleeping - hooray! So I have been a domestic goddess and cooked tonight's dinner!