August 2021 Babies - From Santa to Solids, Hohoho!

[PurplePansy05]

Here we go again!

I'd do another delightful intro, alas I've lost count which thread this is now and we all know our LO's names anyway 😁

So instead I will just say, Merry First Christmas together to you and your LOs! 🎄❤🎁

May the sleep regression pass as soon as they see Santa later this week...

...May they love weaning and may our kitchens survive...

...May 2022 be full of blessings for them and for us ❤❤❤

Oldcomers and newcomers welcome, as always! 🥰

@Daffodil21 Joining the pissed off club, last night DH gave us PJs and lied to me his and mine were the same size. I then discovered by accident he bought an M for himself and an L for me. There's nothing wrong with an L, it's the fact he was blatantly trying to hide from me that he thinks I'm now much bigger than he is. I am the same size as pre-pregnancy, just with a slight shelf left on my tummy which I'm working on. The PJs is so baggy on me I could fit myself and Leo in it easily and still have space left. He then bought me a totally wrong size ring, even though I chose it and sent him a link (otherwise he'd never know what to buy...don't ask, he's useless with gifts). How difficult can this be? It was supposed to be something lovely to celebrate Leo's arrival and now I can maybe put it on my toe, that's how small it is. I have slim fingers, too

I'm a right Grinch here! Off for baby cuddles. I'm gonna teach my son to be more thoughtful than his daddy! xx

@PurplePansy05 it's ok, I'm used to comments like this from him, he just doesn't understand. I did give him the appropriate response and told him he should never say that to anyone else though. I would be fuming at the size thing as well! Not a problem in this house though - my DH bought me some Christmas knickers and they are 3 sizes bigger than any he's bought me before, because they need to be 😂🙈

@PurplePansy05 I did laugh at the 'teach him how to be more thoughtful than daddy' 😂

Thoughts on jumperoo type things? MIL wouldn’t tell us what she’d got Freddie (she’s not with FIL) but one got a jumperoo and the other got effectively like a jumperoo that doesn’t jumped attached to a play table that it moves round.

I purposely wasn’t buying things like that because I’d heard a variety of theories on them 🙈 Some people say they’re not good for their hips, encourage them to stand on tip toes, delaye walking etc. One of them was supposed to be getting a push along trolley for him but now he has two big things that are very similar. Is everyone else going to use them or just for short periods? Am I the paranoid mum? 🙈

The sit in walkers that scoot around are frowned upon now as a safety hazard, but developmentally same as jumperoos - fine in moderation, don't overuse :) Activity stations (jumperoos that don't jump) are similar.

Alex loves his, all my 3 have. (Yes it is on top of a small table which is a health and safety nightmare!)

My stepmum called that activity station thing "the big pants" which amused me :o

He likes to sit in it to watch us doing things, which is great when I need to play with the toddler or tidy up or cook or something. He's not happy in the swing unless he's sleepy, and his thighs are too fat for the bumbo.

@BertieBotts oh thanks, that’s a relief they’re not a total no no then! Think we might need to have them in different rooms or only have one up at a time, we won’t be able to move in our house for massive toys 🙈😂

Yeah for sure. Maybe one can live at the grandparents house and one at home.

I have to say I'm really annoyed with the teether I bought Alex for Christmas. It's got these big recesses in the back of it and they just absolutely fill with drool and it goes everywhere. Rivers of it. It's disgusting think it was a mam or nuk or something with three prongs if you want to avoid!

Blimey I'm exhausted!!! Rowan was clearly excited to see Father Christmas as he barely slept a wink last night - up between 11 and 1 and then even when he did go down I saw every hour 😒 and today has been so excited that he's napped half as much as normal - I think I need matchsticks to keep my eyes open! Don't know how I'll get through it if he makes a habit of sleeping like that...

I've also had difficult family @PurplePansy05 and @Daffodil21 - my sister was determined to make my life as inconvenient as possible so I've been banished to another room to feed because she can't cope 🙄 was honestly quite close from sacking off family Christmas and going home with DH, Rowan and the dog

@BertieBotts my mum already has the exact same jumperoo that her friend gave her second hand so he actually had three of these 🙈

@biscuitcat oh no 🤦🏼‍♀️ Why can’t she cope?!

What is wrong with your DSis, @biscuitcat? What problem does she have with you BF your son? xx

Oh great there you go. One for mums house, one for MILs house and one for yours! Maybe try and get them to coordinate next time

@PurplePansy05 @sarah13xx I think she finds the whole idea of breastfeeding wildly embarrassing 🙄 (and no she's not a young teenager, she's in her mid twenties!). She's having a very tricky time at the moment so my mum is giving her a bit more leeway than she otherwise might, but she's always been quite difficult. Though to be fair Rowan was so overwhelmed by the end of the day that he needed feeding and cuddles in a dark room, bless him! He's currently having his first proper nap for about 3 days so I'm hoping now the craziness of wedding/Christmas is over we can get back into a bit more of a routine

@biscuitcat That's very understanding of you and your mum. I mean, everyone needs to eat, including Rowan? There's nothing awkward about it. It's an odd reaction considering she's female and your sister, too. How is Rowan today?

Leo wanted to have a quiet time. He's been chilling out in his pram for half an hour, not napping, just relaxing and watching the cat quietly. Now he started babbling away to himself. Is this normal? Shall I leave him to it?xx

Yes!! That's the dream :o

@biscuitcat oh dear, don’t get why she couldn’t just look the other way if it’s such an issue for her 🙄

@BertieBotts I know, MIL insisted she wouldn’t tell us what she was getting him and went on and on about it saying she wasn’t tell us. She’s spent way more money on that than she’d ever spend on us usually so it’s just such a waste when she could have got something he’d get more use out of it she’d just said 🙈

[quote PurplePansy05]@biscuitcat That's very understanding of you and your mum. I mean, everyone needs to eat, including Rowan? There's nothing awkward about it. It's an odd reaction considering she's female and your sister, too. How is Rowan today?

Leo wanted to have a quiet time. He's been chilling out in his pram for half an hour, not napping, just relaxing and watching the cat quietly. Now he started babbling away to himself. Is this normal? Shall I leave him to it?xx[/quote]
We noticed this week that Solomon has started entertaining himself - sometimes just sitting quietly maybe fiddling with a soft toy absent mindedly, or just looking around. Feels like a big step that he’s able to have that time to himself without needing to be held or entertained or anything.

@PurplePansy05 @sarah13xx she is an odd one - it's not like I'm sitting there topless or flaunting everything around, his head covers most of it! But there we go - got through it and back home where I can feed as I please!

That sounds lovely that Leo is doing that - my guess is it's a sign of maturation? Showing interest in the world around him - hopefully will continue as I bet that'll be nice for you too!

Thank you ladies, that's reassuring. After months of being velcroed to me, he's suddenly a more mature little boy and I'm finding this strange!

Also if anyone is looking for more toy inspiration, I bought him this set for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. Well worth the money! xx

www.argos.co.uk/product/8457088

Thanks for the recommendation @PurplePansy05!

For my part I can highly recommend Freddie the Firefly which we gave to DS this week and he seems to like more than he’s particularly liked any other toy - the crinkly wings are apparently very enjoyable.

So I need a probably unreasonable rant about new year. We're going to OHs mums again up north. Last visit it was a bit stressful as it was the start of DD not sleeping too well and OHs mum insisted in both her sons families staying over in her house despite OHs brother staying 30 minutes away. Her house isn't tiny but it's 3 bedrooms for 6 adults and 3 kids. OHs parents slept in the summer house!

DDs sleep is so bad that these days we take shifts. I sleep in the spare room and OH wakes me when it's a feed wake up rather than a wake up and settle then from about 2am i do both feed and settle wake ups. So 3 nights away with us all sharing a room plus 2 other kids (3 and 2 year old) in the next room will just be stress i dont need. OH snores too.

OH doesnt see the problem but then he'll be asleep as i get up to feed DD. Plus what can we do really. OHs mum is all about having the family Christmas she didn't get as we were at home this year (her words). Last visit i got lots of the sympathetic stares as the over anxious first time mum. It drove me crazy.

Also OHs mum bought a travel cot for us to use without asking us if that was OK. It's lovely of her but it doesnt have a proper bassinet part so we would need to put DD right on the mattress on the ground level. We spend time settling her with our hand on her chest so i dont see how this is practical. OH doesnt want to seem ungrateful so just wants to use it. I really don't. I'm very much not looking forward to this visit. I don't want to come across as a fussy person but none of the arrangments work for us but I've no clue how to go about saying this without being ungratful or telling OHs mum how to run her house.

OH snores too.

@Ready2020 Honestly, this is a sufficient reason not to go as far as I'm concerned.

This is coming from a woman who sent her DH to sleep in a spare room last night because he started snoring I can't take this nonsense now, my sleep is too precious.

I'd tell her you have covid and need to isolate xx

Oh @Ready2020 that sounds like a nightmare! If you can't get out of it, do you have your own travel cot/bassinet/bassinet of the pram you could use? I wouldn't be in the business of preserving feelings, especially as it's your sleep that will be disrupted, so you feel the impact. It's one of those situations where you have to decide if it's worth the battle of making yourself unpopular, as sometimes it definitely is. Is it doable to go for only a night or two?

@Ready2020 that sounds like torture (if it was my MIL anyway). It was bad enough for us at Christmas when it was my family so I have no issue with continually putting them in their place if need be. My mum has the old cot from when I was a baby and they wanted him to sleep in it in the spare room (we did go home but not til late). I tried him in it, while on FaceTime in the other room as a kind of baby monitor 🙈 He just wasn’t settling at all and managed to turn himself round a full 90degrees and get his leg through the bars that were beside the wall. The bars are obviously way further apart than they are nowadays so I brought him through after a few attempts just to sleep on the sofa beside us. I had to listen to soooo many comments about ‘somehow you survived’ etc as if I was being paranoid, but I really don’t care when it’s my family because I can answer back to anything they say and they take it. It’s not the same with DH’s family and he’s far too laid back so it just results in me feeling uncomfortable or trying to be nice about it while saying no to things politely but they’re so forward they answer me back and make it look like I’m that paranoid mum when I just want to take my baby and go home when they make me feel more and more uncomfortable. So I can imagine that exact situation coming about 🤦🏼‍♀️ Could you take your own cot or travel cot? What would be better for you rather than having to go through all of that?