Sept '07... I'm forever blowing raspberries and my cheeks ache from smiling so much....

[PurpleLostPrincess]

Here we go! (or should I say here wii go!?). I'll try doing a link too...

Incidentally, I had a dream last night that Cerys suddenly learnt how to blow proper raspberries! Don't know where it came from but it could be that she has been trying since she was about 4 weeks old and did it entirely by accident yesterday!

PLP xxx

morning hopey

well done your dh! that is no mean feat at all! was he happy with his time?

the vanity fair thing wasnt posh really...i just love their photography and they had some great shots. have found easter break...all booked and am really excited. dead chuffed dh suggested it. The best part is that the hotel is 20 mins from my mums - so he will be with mum. We can see ryan and mum every day but have lie ins, massages, dinner and 'quality time' ha ha! methinks agent provocateur beckons....

hopey - come escape too! they have really good deals on!

he being ryan...not dh.

you never know PMSL

Yes, he was happy, but the organisers sent him the wrong number, so he's registered as completing it in over 2 and half hours and the chap with his number 1:57!! We know this because the return envelope they supplied has his correct number printed on it! D'oh

Morning all!
Sorry haven't posted since meetup but Arben has been really out of sorts and i have an infection in my gum where my wisdom tooth is pushing thru more so I have been a miserable cow the whole weekend
Hopey - you must be so proud of your DH, that is an amazing achievement Re: your hair, i am sorry to say, i have no idea!. I am so crap with anything to do with hair, fashion etc and can never ever make a descion(how the hell do you spell descion, which ever way i try to spell it, it looks wrong)
Dal - am incredibly of your wekend break. My folks arrive on wednesday so am hoping they will do the odd night so I can get my first full nights sleep in at least 8 mths!!!
Just wanted to say also - I had such a great time on friday, you are all normal, lovely ladies and all have gorg bubbas! I cant believe we managed to stay for so long and then really only left due to traffic. I wonder what would happen if there were no traffic issues and a few bottles of champers on the table instead of coffee
Looking forward to the next one, which will hopefully be very soon. The first round is on me!!!

His Amum, bugger, I had toothache in my wisdom tooth a few years ago, it is SOOOOOOOO painful. Are you on ABs? Sorry to hear Arben's out of sorts, is he feelign any better?

Am liking the champers idea!

Not sure whats up with him, His skin seems a little better but think his tooth is annoying him, its fully thru now so hopefully just that. He si still waking 2-3hrl in the night tho, am soooooooo tired.
Am on anti'b's and painkillers. Just feeling generally sorry for myself

I don't blame you!! Is he feeding much in the night? Have you tried calpol or is that a stupid question

He is taking 6ozs very time he wakes Have given him calpol but doesn't seem to make any difference! Have upped his food during the day so he is no on 2 'meals' and he is having his milk but he just isn't sleeping for longer than 3 hrs, dont know what to do.

Wow! Hopey your Dh is a true inspiration, don't blame you for being so proud and emotional, it must be very uplifting seeing him do that!

Arbensmum Sorry to hear you're feeling crappy, we're all taking it in turns at the moment aren't we, how considerate for one to wait til the other is finished though! lol

This was just a flying visit, Lolly's awake, be back later for more chat x

Hi all.
Really sorry to miss the meet up on Friday - I'll definitely try to make it to the next one, as I'm not THAT far out of London.
I'm having a miserable day - the weather's foul, and I'm trying to wean Paul off his dummy when he goes down to sleep. Cue hysterical screaming, very little sleep, and extreme grumpiness. That's him, not me, though actually it could apply to both .

Hopey, well done to your DH. Frankly, anyone who runs further than a mile gets my admiration, so what he's managed is incredible.

AM, you must be shattered. How much milk does he take in 24hours, then??

Right, I'd better go and entertain the grumpus. Actually, apart from today, I'm feeling very proud mum at the moment - Paul's just getting his first tooth, he learned to sit up unsupported yesterday, and he's saying mamamama all the time, which is enough to get me to forgive him anything .

Hi MrsB - he prob has about 36-40 on a good day, is that alot. He does feed alot better in the night, he sleeps and drinks.
Its great the progress they are making isn't it. Arben has two teeth and has just learnt to sit aswell. Lazy boy still doesn't roll mind you

Sorry you couldn't make it MrsBumble.

Amum, Niamh has about 30oz a day. But all during the day IYSWIM. Have you tried doing what dal did with the shh pat technique? I think sometimes bubs can get into a habit of waking still at night. I think it would be REALLY hard work for you, but it could work. SO rubbish for you though.

Can I be really cheeky and ask if you guys would be prepared to sponsor my DH, it doesn't matter how little because it all helps

I've set up a just giving page for him here

Sorry if I'm being naughty!

Hi all

Amum - aside from cold turkey withdrawal on the night feeds, dropping one at a time - which may be really hard going for all of you - I really dont know what else to suggest.

I reckon though that until he drops his intake at night - your LO wont increase his daytime intake, which may well be what he needs to do. I remember Ryan started feeding a lot better during the day once he didnt get any nighttime feeds. Making him drop them though wasnt easy - it was pretty constant back and forth to him between 12 and 4 for a good 2-3 weeks. Think it was around 16 days in that he stopped waking and started to resettle easily once I gave him the dummy.

Having said that - not sure how you feel about controlled crying (sophus - remember you mentioning that you tried it?), but our LO's are now old enough to cry it out a little.

The baby whisperer has a lot about this - depends on how you feel about routine/ letting your lo cry etc.

hope things get better soon and that you feel better soon too. hugs

amum - have you also tried offering cooled boiled water at night? in all honesty - if your lo keeps getting milk at night, he will keep waking IMO.

Thanks for your replys on Arbens feeding. The lack of sleep is really starting to wear me down, reading your posts Dal have made me cry even tho you haven't said anything bad and a very helpful post. I am just so tired. I have thought about dripping the feeds and would love to but he is in our room as we live in 1bed and have neighbours all around so not too keen to do cotrolled crying during the night. I am 'happy'doing the CC thing and do so during the day.
I will give the water a go and see how i get on and also try to up his intake in the day.
The lack of sleep is also affecting me and DH. We seem to be arguing about stupid things all the time, we just just dont seem to be getting on at the moment. Its nothing serious, just upsetting.
Thaanks again

Arbensmum - i really feel for you as 3 years ago we were in a very simular situation. I felt i couldn't let ds1 cry for too long because of our living accomodation and lack of sleep really affected me and dp. When ds1 was about 4 months dp was sleeping on the sofa because he couldn't get any sleep in the bedroom and i managed to lock ds1 in the car twice and flat once through tiredness! I did try controlled crying but it didn't work he was just too stubborn and got himself in a right state. The hv was on the verge of reffering us to a sleep clinic when ds1 was nearly one and she told us to go cold turkey on the night feeds and put a date in the diary to start! On that date about a week after he was 1 he just started sleeping trough on his own!!!! Obviously with the occasional hiccup.

Alex is waking at least twice a night (last night was 3 times) and i don't really see a way for me to do cc or cold turkey as the boys are in together. I'm just hoping like ds1 he'll eventually grow out of it. I'm coping ok with the interrupted sleep i can go straight back to sleep after a feed now and haven't locked Alex anywhere (yet) My body has obviously got used to it over the past 3 yrs!!!!

Not sure where i'm going with this post but just wanted to let you know you are not alone xx

Oh Amum - am so so so sorry. Didn't mean for my posts to sound so blunt (which they do reading in hindsight).

Please dont be upset - there are ways you can do this and it is manageable.

Firstly - you say your folks are visiting (think your status said that on fb) - can they help? When I started this, I deliberately started it when I had my mum and DH to help. My mum took 2 nights, DH 2 nights and so on.

Secondly - Have no idea what your neighbours are like - but to be blunt, you have a baby and babies cry. If you think that Arbens crying at night may disturb them, then prewarn them but dont let that make you continue with disturbed nights.

Thirdly - there is no need for both DH and you to have disturbed nights. Order these online earplugs - i kid you not, you hear nothing through these and get a rota going.
When Ryan was younger, I would put them in when DH got home - he took care of 10pm dreamfeed and any wakings up to 1ish. Then I took over and did early morning slots and he put his earplugs in. When I was really tired - DH would do whole of friday/ sat nights - I would let him lie in and get Ryan up in the morning - we both got our rest.

I am not surprised you and your DH are arguing. Sleep deprivation is tough. But stay positive - you guys can crack this, trust me. It isnt going to last forever.

to you. Please dont be upset. Order the earplugs. let your DH look after arben and get some sleep.

HeeHee Lollypopzmummy suspects MrsBumblebee has been watching Friends of late (ref: the Grumpus!!)

Hopey I totally would sponsor your DH if we had any money spare, but definitely will be sending him good wishes of luck for the day

Oh Arbensmum I'm so upset for you, I remember being in Lolly's room when she was first born and it just driving me nuts (and even after I moved back in with DH getting up every couple of hours just to put her dummy back in her mouth), I just can't imagine all being in one room (and not having the option of "escaping" to another room), I can't believe that you're in a one bed place, is there any chance you can get onto the council to help you out at all?
Round here they've got the "open door" scheme, you basically have to find a place to rent privately and they put up the 1st months rent and the deposit and you pay them back bit by bit, but if it gets to being the time that you have to move and you've got nowhere you get a place sorted for you, usually a temp place for 6 weeks but then they get the council house sorted. (Not that it helped us when we were being evicted, they basically told us they couldn't help at all!! That was back when I was heavily pregnant with DD1 and DH was on a lot less than he's on now!) It's all circumstantial, and timing's obviously a factor, they're a lot better for helping us now we've got 2 kids! )

Looking back on that last bit I've not been all that helpful really more of a rant than anything else! Typical, must be tired, we've been driving round today and then there's still the stress of Dh being at home and not knowing the future, it's all a bit strange atm . . .

Will try and shake off my confusions and get back to you all, hopefully with a bit of a clearer view on your prob Amum my feelings are definitely with you, I think that Dal's tips are pretty helpful, with the earplugs/rota, it may help you both to work things through, especially if things are set that way neither of you should feel too annoyed that Arben's waking, and you know you're both led there thinking "why wont s/he get off their fat arse and sort the baby?!!" ( do you think that this runs through my head every so often and I'm just projecting?! lol)

Ooh look, more nonsense!! x x x

LollyPopzMummy, how did you guess ? It's one of my favourite episodes, and happened to be on yesterday.

Hopey, I'm happy to sponsor your DH. I had a look on his page - he's very fit!!

AMum, I don't have much advice to add, but I'm thinking of you. These babies are proper rascals, aren't they? I fear I have a dawn waker. He's been waking up ten minutes earlier each day for the last month, so we now start the day at 5.30am. And that's with a blackout blind .

I "guessed" cos, to the great annoyance of my darling husband, I am a massive fan too!!
Fave quote: "Princess Consuela Bannana-Hammock" heehee heehee
Fave Joey's sandwich: Baloney, Salami, Cheese, Chorizo, Mayonnaise and beef tomatoes!
Fave Ross' wife: Gotta be Rachael!
Absolutely ultimate favourite episode: The one with Brad Pitt
Most like: Phoebe (Darn hippies, we're everywhere!)
Fave UNB past-time: Ironing
x x x

MrsBumble THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! He is rather fit isn't he, even if I do say so myself!

Arbensmum, how are you love? Last night any better? So sad to see you upset, but really not surprising, sleep deprivation is a killer. If it helps, try and hold on to the fact that it will not last forever, keep saying it over in your head, like a mantra, that sort of thing works for me. In the meantime, we'll put our heads together and see if we can help, at the very least we are here to support you and listen. Dal had some good suggestions, after having DS2, DH and I took it in turns to have shifts, we basically did the same thing Dal and her DH did. Would your DH be prepared to do that? You could also take turns with the ear plugs! Big hugs to you.

Afternoon
Thankyou all for your messages.
Dal - It was mood more than anything that made me upset not what you said, I appreciated your comments. You know sometimes you just get to a stage whenyou are so tired, so emotional that if anybody says anything about you it upsets you, thats how i was last night. I will try and work on it as mum and dad are going to be around.
As much as I would love DH to help more i feel hard to ask as his job invloves him driving all day and he works 6 days a week. I dont want him to be tired and get behind a wheel. At least i am at home all day.
Lollypopz - we have bought our flat, its really not that small its just the fact that we share with Ben. We have applied to do a loft conversion but if not we will need to move to a bigger house.
Anyway just wanted to thanks for the support and advice, keep it coming, it is appreciated

If Hopey is being cheeky can I? ;)

It's for Breast Cancer, the race for life, my page is here