August 2007- Half a year of sleep deprivation later... (but we're finally back in our skinny jeans!)

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

New thread! Whoop whoop!

lizzie, which one have you got, and would you reccommend it? I've been reading reviews on a couple of them, apparently there's one from mothercare (5 in 1 something or other) that's really rubbish, thin cheapo plastic etc

There's one in argos reduced to £34.99 (smart trike) at the moment. I was thinking of getting it until read a review which said the parent handle had suddenly detatched and their child had fallen face first into the road, ending up with two black eyes! Won't be getting that one then...

We have one like this (was my cousins who is now 11yrs) and never had a probelm.

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3670547/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500011503.Toys%2Band%2Bgames%3EC% 24cip%3D1500011598.Bikes%2Band%2Bride-ons%3EC%24cip%3D1500011603.Trikes.htm

B*gger i can not get link to work

So, is your dd2 ok in one like that or does she slide from side to side? James tends to slide all over the place if he isn't in a 5 point harness.

I saw an awesome racing car design ride on today, a baby around j's age was sitting back in it, he looked so comfy and he had a little steering wheel to play with. His mum was inside a school playground, and I thought going in there to ask where she got it might seem a bit weird so couldn't ask!! d'oh

we have one of the 5in1 ones from toys r us that we had for ds1 (so its almost 7 yrs old) apartfrom the beeper not working anymore it's perfectly fine - plastic is very well faded, but perfectly ok with regard to strength etc.

we also have one more like lizzies link too that ds1 had when he was about a year/18months - still going strong too! again a toys r us own.

the one thing I wish I'd bought for ds1 that would have easily lasted all of them & more is one of the little tykes cosy coupes. the kids all fight over them @ toddlers & playggyms!

james sounds like you had a lovely day at the park. i get mums like that- when im walkking down the town ds1 likes to pick up stones and sticks and leaves and then mums pass and there child trys to do it but gets told off because its dirty. shouldnt i be letting him pick up sticks and stones??

Meandmyjoe- god theres so many different books that say so many different things on getting a child to sleep and ive tried them all! and guess what one worked 'controlled crying and my ds1 was 7/8 months and took about 3 nights each night getting easier and guess what he still loves me

right the battery on my laptop is gonna die cause ive run outa elecric. ds2 has went to sleep because hes sick ds1 has diorea(sp?) and lo is getting worse feeding hes started refusing syringe now. i feel like shit all the time so nothing new there. i got myself the kids a guinea pig yesterday and asked ds1 what he wanted to call him 'mr guinea pig' then this morning decided his name was pinky dinky doo what a long bloody name for a guinea pig. right appointment with hv at 11 then ds2 gets hair cut at 12.15 then mw at 2.00 busy day.

hope everyone is well

i've just skim read everyone's news

tasha - you make sure that you look after yourself and get your dp to do more!

james - one of my newighbours was out at 7.30 this morning in his dressing gown iwth his son in the push along trike going round and round the streets.

dd2 should get her plaster off next wednesday - hooray! consultant says they heal very quickly.

off to do some work

hope everyone is well

You're making me jealous meandmyjoe. I'm stuck in the office I really wish I could afford to work part time. Will someone tell dh to get a better paid job?

Lizzie your mil is the opposite to my fil. He once sat dd down on a bench covered in bird poo at the seaside and whenever dd goes there her clothes get covered in food (generally chocolate). I still make her wear a bib.

tasha - controlled crying is godsend isn't it! I couldn't do it when dd was a baby cos she would make herself sick within 5 minutes. It was a last resort with her and I had to wait until she was older. Dh insisted last night that we start cc with ds. I didn't really like it and it took over an hour of crying for him to settle to sleep but I agree with him that it has to be done. We're not getting into the same situation as with dd - we had to sit with her for 2-3 hours almost every night. Hopefully within a few nights ds will get the message as I almost caved last night. I didn't tell dh though.

What is everyone dressing their lo's in for bed now? I've been putting ds to bed with long sleeved pjs in a sleeping bag (with no vest) but I'm worried he'll get too hot. Do you think a vest is enough?

Hello all, loving this gorgeous weather! Anyone got anything nice planned for this weekend? It's 3 years since my Mum died today, so taking some flowers up later. I don't feel sad about it any more, but I wish James had had a chance to meet her before she went, I know she would have adored him.

He's almost cracked the crawling now, he's doing a funny sort of seal flopping to get about: He gets up on hands and knees, shuffles his knees forward and few times, then flops onto his belly, then repeats until he gets where he's trying to go! He's pretty much figured out how to sit up from crawling now, and vice versa.

So with the crawling in mind, I just babyproofed our livingroom to within an inch of its life- it now looks like a creche! but at least I can relax a little now without having to leap up every two minutes because he's yanking on something precarious.

I might do the carboot this weekend and get rid of some tat and baby stuff. I used to love (my) clutter but now it's mixed with toys and clothes and coffee cups and dust it's really just clutter. I long for a few childfree hours just to get straight!

Gill, James still wears a longsleeved sleepsuit and vest, but he doesn't have his growbag on now and he kicks off his covers most of the time and sleeps just as he is. What about putting Alex in a long sleeved vest and growbag? that way his arms wouldn't get chilly if it does cool down, but he's still only in one layer.

My2weegirls, that's great that the plaster will be off very soon! How's she coping with it?

Tasha, make sure you get lots of rest and drink plenty in this hot weather, with all your appointments etc- (no point saying that now though I spose, she'll be at the midwive's clinic now!)

We've got nothing planned this weekend although I am hoping to catch up on a bit of sleep and just relax in the garden.

Dh's mum died just over 4 years ago and he often comments that she would have loved all of her grandchildren. I mention her to dd every so often but she's still too young to understand, especially considering that fil has a partner who has been around since dd was a few months old. Glad you've got some sunny weather today and you're in good spirits.

Lol about your living room looking like a creche. My mum's a childminder and her house isn't that babyproof really. Her sky box is at floor level and ds keeps pulling it out and chewing it. It's a good job the chip on it is quite hardy (and that he has no teeth yet).

this weather is lovely!

Message withdrawn

james hope you got through today ok. thinking of you.

gill i still put vest sleepsuit and just do blankets accordinly.

my2weegirls glad shes healing well. ive already had to clean the bloody think out plus it wont eat or drink so im chasing it around with the water bottle???!!! must be me

lo dropped in weight have to go puke......

Hi guys-

Oh dear, not another little sod refusing to feed, tasha! You'll be taking pinkydinkydoo to see the hv next! Best just to leave him somewhere quiet and let him acclimatise. He'll feed when he's calmer. How was it today with the mw? How much weight has lo lost? are they concerned?

Bloody hell, knickers, she's walking about? wow, aren't they coming on fast now! Sorry you got burnt, sounds nasty. Have fun this weekend, honey!!

My2weegirls, glad dd2 is coping, no I didn't spin round on my tummy, maybe I should, he keeps reaching under the settees and pulling out pens and catalogues and old morsels of toast. Got the rest of my house to do now, so can't be bothered! We have a framed pic of my mum up, I don't know how I'll approach the questions when James gets older, there's no easy way of talking to a child about death! Perhaps the best way to learn is to have small pets- (perhaps not goldfish though, in case they think everyone gets flushed down the loo when they croak!)

James puked all over his dad after his bedtime bottle- we think it was the pineapple chunks I gave him, they were undigested and must've curdled with his milk (nice) so he's gone to bed with a mostly empty tummy, which will probably mean he'll be up at stupid o'clock, hungry. Might try a dreamfeed when I go to bed. He's barely napped at all in the past two days, I don't know if it's the heat. Have anyone elses dc's naps been affected by the warm weather?

James,I know what you mean about wishing your mum had met your ds. It's 14 years since my mum died and I still feel upset that she never met Joseph. I hope you are doing OK today.

Not much to report really. Had a lovely day with dh and ds, we went to the sea side and Joe loved toddling on the sand holding our hands. It was a really perfect day and he's back to settling himself to sleep at night.

Hope you re all well. Catch up later. x

Sorry i haven't been on, i was so tired on sun afternoon that Callum and i fell asleep on the bed and dh decided to let us sleep so we travelled back from dads on mon instead. Callums eczema is really bad-the heat and his teeth have given him a flare up. Unfortunately he seeems to be taking after me and has developed an intolerance of heat and he's been scratching all over and it's just heart breaking to watch him like that.
(me me me bit over )

James-hope you're ok today, really am thinking of you
we have one of the ride on trucks from mothercare, not sure which one? PIL bought it for Callum and we just strap him into the harness and push him (with the parent bar) and he can push it himself when we detatch the parent bar. We're going to get the ikea highchair too for our dining room as it fits better.

Tasha-hope ds3 gets better with his feeding over the next few days. How did it go with the midwife?

Knickers-glad ms is easing, have a fab holiday

my2weegirls-so sorry to hear about dd2, glad she wont have to have the cast on for too long though

meandmyjoe-glad joe's tooth is through-Callums top middle 4 are all bulging bigger and bigger but just wont cut

bogwoppit-congrats on the signing, Callum can sign for milk now too and he now understands kisses and he kisses all the time and if you ask him for a kiss he opens his mouth and puts it on your lips, oooh he's so edible

everyone else, sorry if i've missed your posts, try and catch up tomorrow. The hv is coming at lunchtime to weigh C.

Another lovely day ahead - shame I'm stuck in the office but at least now we have moved offices we have properly working air con - unlike last year when the old system broke and it was over 80 degrees in the office all summer.

My DH travelled into London yesterday and bought Caitlin into the office and we all went to lunch but not before everyone in the office had cooed over Caitlin - she got so excited and squealed away like a mad thing and bounced excitedly on my knees the whole time.

For some reason she is just super happy at the moment - think she loves the independence of being able to sit up and bum shuffle around. She sat on her mat surrounded by toys and her treasure basket last night and again was squeeling away in excitement - the object of her excitement this time was a loofer on a stick. It kept her quiet anyway while we ate dinner - apart from the very loud squealing!!

Has everyone had their 8 month checks yet? Do I have to arrange it or will the HV contact me?

Poor little ds is under the weather but I'm sure it must be his teeth. He's had a temperature for the last 24 hours so he's being dosed up on calpol. He went to sleep in the car at 5pm last night and didn't wake up til 11:40. That is not like him - he normally wakes up as soon as I get him out of the car.

Thanks for all of your replies about the bed wear. It was actually 24 degrees in our bedroom last night so with that and his temperature ds was very warm just in his t-shirt and shorts. I'm keeping the curtains closed today to try to reduce the temperature in the bedroom a bit.

Glad you're feeling better knickers.

Hugs to Callum and Helibee re the eczema.

Hersetta - I checked ds's red book and we don't get an 8 month check. It goes from 3-4 months to 1 year with no contact whatsoever (not that we had a visit at 3-4 months). I wonder why it varies so much across different areas.

Yeah, we had J's 8 month check, Hersetta. We got a letter through, it was a home visit. Tbh it was just a really quick check, she basically just handed him a new book, to check if he immediately tried to eat it (he did) she said that was good, she checked his hips and had a quick look at him, but the rest of it was just asking if I was happy with his eyesight, hearing, progress etc- If you're happy with all that stuff, I wouldn't worry too much.

Aaw, these teeth do cause some trouble, don't they? Hope Alex is feeling better soon, Gill.

of all the signing babies! Aaw, it's lovel when they give kisses isn't it helibee! J gives kisses occasionally, and he is starting to enjoy cuddles too, when I pick him up he snuggles in for a few seconds, and sometimes bearhugs my neck (although I suspect he's trying to keep me still so he can bite my chin) it's so sweet!

Got loads to do today but my backs aching loads, I can barely pick James up. Ouch!

Helibee, we went to the docs about Caitlin's eczema and they game us some type of soap to wah her with, some steriod cream for occasional use and the best thing was a huge vat of a cream called doublebase. I smother her in it twice a day and you can now barely see her eczeme - ask your docs for some.

Caitlin is still in a vest, a sleepsuit and a growbag, but i think I'll change her to a long sleeve vest soon and miss out the sleepsuit - will certainly be doing this when we go on holiday in 4 weeks.

Gill - it's amazing the policies that differ from authority to authority - no wonder people are confused all the time!

we don't get an 8 month check anymore in scotland.

and would second that doublebase is fantastic - use it for dd1, though having to use it less and less now

I was told on tuesday that it 6 - 12 year checkup. If you don't get a checkup make sure that you get this www.bookstart.co.uk/Parents-and-carers.

Gill Lexie room was 26 last night and that is with her blind closed and window open she has been going to bed in just her vest (and nappy ) with a thin blanket on her. by the morning it was still 24.

Tuesday she threw a major tif so at 4pm and i couldn't do anything with her (teeth, heat and tiredness) i put her in her cot and she slept from then until 6am just waking for 2 feeds.

Wow loads to catch up on and as usual, by the time I do, lunchtime is over and i should be back to work - oh well another 5 minutes wont hurt.

re bananas - i know it was discussed a while ago but does anyone else notice a difference with nappies when their dc's east them? ds always has more trouble with poos so i dont give him them very often.

james - liked your thorough post a few days ago - reviewed where everyone was up to - think we should all pay you to keep us up to date. lol at your brother too.

my2weegirls- hope ds2 is not too sore - must be frustrating just getting to the moving stage and then have to try and lug a big plaster around too. so confusing being a baby.

helibee - i can do kilts in any tartan - just depends on which mill weaves it as to price etc. so far i've been using a lighter weight material for babies and children, but i have one to do in the next month or so with the normal medium weight material, so i will see how that sits.

re kilts - dont have my website up and running yet as have been stuck on a business name. had almost settled on Bare Knees but checked domain names and one with that name at .org is a porn site so now cant decide. might be ok as the .co.uk is still available but not sure i want to have the same name. any advice? will try and get some pictures onto my profile soon.

tasha - hope you're not feeling too sick today - how many weeks are you again? every day is getting you closer to (hopefully) the end of the sickness phase but i know thats not much help at the time.

meandmyjoe - i was reading in penelope leach about separation anxiety and she says the more you can make them feel secure when they do experience the anxiety, the faster they will feel settled again which seems fairly logical to me although my resolve to avoid controlled crying till later does weaken after the second time of being up each night.

i always reckon if they can get into a bad habit fairly easily, it should be reasonably easy to get them back into a good habit - i cant see why it would be harder to learn a good one than a bad iyswim. but i could be completely wrong.

ds took a tumble off his cousins little chute onto some paving slabs on monday - typical thing of i looked away for a moment and thats when he chooses to dive - big bump and slightly bleeding nose but cried enough that i wasnt too worried, and was totally himself within 5 mins so relieved the guilt slightly.

sorry if i rambled a bit.

Thanks James. No call from mum all day so I'm hoping no news is good news. Hope your back is better soon.

Thanks for the link lizzie. I might take dd down to the library at the weekend.

Lexie joined the library when she was 3wks old.

She is a very early reader .

sorry that was a very rushed post from me and i missed loads out lol

gill- controlled crying is so hard i dont envy you but i hope its getting easier.its strange im glad lo has started to waken at 3.30am because i can try to get a feed into the wee monkey. ill keep my fingers crossed that you see more teeth soon

james thats great james is crawling and dont talk to me about clutter as i look around my spare room i see a ladder, mosses basket, 2 beanbags, suitcases that wont be used for a very long time, castles, blocks, mountains of paperwork hiding my assignment due in next week, hop n pop and mountains of books. ill not go on lol. pinkydinkydoo has started eating and drinking and coming out of his hiding place so ill not need to rush him to hv lol. they are quite worried about lo hes went from 11lb5oz on thursday as he went up in hosp when on tube to 11lb. they keep saying about tube feeding at home if i agree to this will it be like giving up on him??? he used to be such a good feeder drinking 7oz bottles but hes just getting worse. constantly crying because hes hungry and crying when im trying to feed him. hope your back feels better soon james. did you get one of them walking thingys? not a walking stick or zimer frame the thing for james i cant remember the name.

knickers your ms being gone. glad your starting to feel better. and walking thats great!

Meandmyjoe-think were gonna take a trip to the beach on sat as your day sounds lovely.

helibee- awk, i hope callums eczema starts to clear up soon.

Hersetta- glad caitlin is a happy wee woman, i keep saying to dp it will make a big difference when lo is able to sit up and play with his toys. no 8month check yet but then he sees the hv nearly every week so not too worried.

conkertree- im 9 weeks and it feels neverending lol but thanks im not feeling as bad today as i was yesterday. dry toast really helps. lol they always seem to do things like that as soon as you turn your back dont they. i still cant get over ds1 making the tv fall onto ds2s head when he was around 8 weeks old.

ok i better go and change ds2s bum bless him hes been hovering for a few minutes now. oh and midwifes appointment went well they all know me now lol.oh and went and got pics done with pixi fotos today anybody heard of them?

hope everyone else is wellxxxx