January 08 shiny new - year babys , tired mums and dads!

[lilyloo]

Will that do

We thought that about ds4 this time though. Hes 18 months now and so enjoyed stuff more because he could run around and look at stuff instead of being stuck in the buggy. He was in wonder at the penguins and was cracking up at the tiny squirrel monkeys. Lo's still get stimulated by it all though. Different sounds and smells. As angechica says even a trip to Asda is fun for them. All my boys love shopping on all different levels. If you make it fun they enjoy it and you don't get too many tantrums

Anyone seen BBC news ths morning - some scare mongering story about baby bottles containing a chemical that can leach into formula. Well I think Tommee Tippee bottles have it in them, I also put boiling water in the bottle and use a microwave steam steriliser. All things they mnetioned in the report but in rather confusing terms I have to say.

As it happens am planning a trip to Tommee Tippee factory today - everything a third of the price it is in the shops!

Ange, those stories have been around for so long. The advice keeps changing, just like with breast feeding, read recently that some research suggests we should go back to feeding 10mins each side. Crazy.

Lucky, feeling [shocked] at what your munchkin is packing away! How many poo nappies a day .

Well my munchkin is napping in his cot. I have just expressed with my hand pump for the first time (used electric double when he was in hospital)as I am going to leave him with dh for the first time while I go to a meeting. Only from 7.30 til 10, but Nathan is a bit unreliable as to when he wants his evening feed. Am quite amazed at the powershower of milk, it was not nearly as powerful when I last saw it. About 2.5 oz in 7 or 8 minutes. Have some more in the freezer that needs using up. I hope Nathan accepts the bottle. Hasn't seen one up close since leaving hospital .

Last night we had a meeting at the house of a fellow student and friend of dh to learn about how to keep your marriage sane if one of you is a vicar . Sixteen of us plus Nathan crammed in the living room and in the middle of all that Nathan calmly went about breastfeeding. Found out afterwards that everyone could here is glupglupglups and found it really sweet! .

Removal guy in this morning for a quote. Can't believe we are moving in less than six weeks .

Hope you all have such nice weather as we have here

What a gorgeous day!
We get one nappy a day but we go through LOADS of wet ones so that must be what's going on.
Can't believe she's 4 months tomorrow - where does the time fly?

Really busy today - Got babyclub at 1:30 and there's a lady who's going to teach us baby massage, then off to my nains to help them with their sofa, followed by a friends photography exhibit till 9! I just hope DD can cope with all that.

Afternoon ladies. What a lovely day.
George has had a sicky day so far. Just realised why. When I made his bottles up last night I hadn't boiled the kettle so he had ordinary tap water . We have so many things plugged in to one extension lead I dont think I plugged the kettle in (he has his own kettle) Dh has just re sterilised all the bottles and boiled his kettle. Hope the next bottle stays down.
We took ds4's side off his cotbed this morning and put the safety guard on it. He took himself off to bed at 10.45 and is now fast asleep!
Off to the library soon.
Have a good day. x

Lovely day here too!
I have just been and done a mystery shop at the bank and then used my payment to get the dc's some shorts and t shirts for their holiday.
It's glorious here too but i have a ton of ironing and the bathrooms to clean so don't think i'll be enjoying it!

Lilyloo - glad you still have the memory to mystery shop! I have only done it a couple of times in DIY stores and desperately try to remember what I need to be looking for!

Can't remember who said what and need to do school runs soon, so brief reply

Weaning - going OK here - my HV said that many babies were ready before 6 months, keep it simple, one new taste at a time if poss - DD3 loves the baby rice but only if it's a bit "stodgy" - like sloppy ready brek consistency. She has also had swede, sweet potato, carrot and broccoli - all gone down OK. Only problem I have with making batches is that the other 2 gannets get in on the act - I bought a huge swede and steamed it, when I'd pureed it, DD2 (age 5) comes over and asks to have some. Fearing jealousy, I thought I'd give her some. Then the teenager comes down - "mm, smells good" and another bowl disappeared... Amelie got 2 meals from it! She does seem to like a fair amount - 2 ice cubes or so.

What to do - enjoy the fact they can't escape! If you mean what to do as the days drag, go to places you always meant to like museums etc - before child is big enough to be too bored! Or try a baby screening at the cinema - some chains do daytime screenings so you can take a baby in - of course, every baby may kick off big-time and you may not hear the film, but worth a try. If you mean how to entertain them, it doesn't take much. I've just been putting washing out so parked her in pram in shade under a tree - she's been getting excited at the leaves blowing. If I have to do household chores I park her next to me either on a mat or in a bouncer, and talk to her while washing up/ironing etc. Or do the dusting whilst singing to favourite CDs (luckily no one can see in...)

She's now picture-book baby, fast asleep in pram in the shade. Aaahh.

BTW here's a link for all stattos out there: infant feedin which shows rates of breastfeeding etc. At our stage, if you are bottle feeding you are in the majority, so can feel good about that, and if breastfeeding you are in the minority so equally can feel proud of yourself there. So win-win situation! (fed up of seeing topics pitting breast against bottle so thought this survey made both camps feel good!)

Hi all, just spent Tana's one hour naptime catching up on all your posts, and yay,am now finally up to date. Recovered from food poisoning stomach bug last week, but have awful sore throat and headcold coming on now - fingers crossed I don't pass on anything to the lo. Am so intrigued about the weaning - haven't tried anything yet, as she even pushes the bottle teat out of her mouth as a reflex (getting more used to it though now). I know DH is really keen to start her on food, and for me to finish bfing, doesn't really say why though, I suspect he wants 'his' boobs back . Jabs tomorrow as well, fingers crossed it goes smoothly and she doesn't get too cranky.

How do you know when to start weaning - apart from them not seeming satisfied at feeds?

Re: routines. For the last few days I've started feeding only on one breast per feed, and she's sleeping much more at night, prob because she's getting the fattier milk out.

just spent charlies nap time catching up - and really should have had a sleep done a 2 hour walk today in this lovely weather and am shattered and dh and i are off for our weekly night out to learn ballroom dancing - such a laugh.

Gingeme - V and A a couple of people said they could do friday 23rd i think including me.

Charlie 3.5 months so am looking with interest at your weaning posts seems a long way off but by the time you lot are all done i will just be starting i expect.She only takes 6oz a feed if that but is on 50th percentile so not worried. And manages to sleep through the night so should just be grateful.

Sounds like everyone doign really well with the solids.

must try to get 40 winks now

Just popping onto say a quick hello.

Been back into hospital AGAIN for a few days due to DD2 ear infection and ezcema . She's still quite poorly, but we are back home and she needs 10 days of intenstive treatment i.e having medication on time, which is proving to be really hard work as she needs 4 oral mediction and 2 different types of skin creams and wet wraps.

Finding it really hard to plaster on a big smile and carry on normally for my DD1 sake...inside so tired and wanting to cry all the time. Keep saying to myself 'This will pass, this will pass..' and trying to be optimistic, but my hope is faltering now and feeling really down..

Oh Amani - so so sorry hon' - you have been having a rare old time of things lately haven't you? It WILL pass and you are doing a fabulous job for DD1 and DD2.

Had to post quickly to get some love in for Amani.

How are you girls - on reading up as best I can it seems that there has been some pretty shabby DH action, lots of solids and general feeding and most magnificently gingeme's posts have been not about some horrendous sickness sweeping her boys but about taking hem out to places and suggesting we all do the same. Bravo ginge! still horrified by that thread which seemed to turn into a sort of 4 yorkshiremen on bf - "BF? You were LUCKY! I dreamt of BF - I had PND, no supply and DD was starving to death so i FF"
"PND? You were lucky! I dreamt of PND! I had mental illness, a breast reduction, and a rare condition and DS were chewing his own hand off until I FF!" and so on... Get over it I say - noone elses business!

On DH's - communication (whether they like it or not and they frequently don't) is the key. They have to be told how you are feeling as even if they suspect they will allow themselves to pretend they don't unless brought to a clear realisation and sometimes our fondness of managing against the odds, or doing something as it will be done better/quicker if we do it isn't good for us in the long run.

Hasn't it been a lovely day - we have been away for a long weekend in the cotswolds so have been able to do and dry 4 loads of washing and also fitted in a trip to tescos and another to brent cross and cerys had her jabs so most productive. Jabs seemed to go ok - touch wood! She was thoroughly furious but back to smiling and laughing an hour later and went down to sleep ok.TBH she was just as alarmed by the noisy rattle the nurse shoved in her face to try and distract her when she was crying it out on my shoulder poor lamb.

We had a gorgeous weekend - long walks, idle shopping and national trust property viewing, and in the evenings lovely grown up meals with DH. Cerys slept just like she does at home in our room and we weren't disturbed once by the baby monitoring service. Great.

Anyway - sorry for lack of individual posts but love to all and wish me a quiet night as DH away for the night so it's a girls night in for Cerys and I!

Oh Amani keep going yoour doing a briliant job realy you are .Yes it will pass and it will get easier. It may not seem like it at the moment but it will. As for putting on a smile for dd1 I know how hard that can be when all you want to do is lay down in the fetal position and have a good sob .Try to keep positive. Just a tip for you to try to lift your spirits. If there is a certain song that makes you go all silly and dancy put it on, turn it up and have a good sing song and dance. I used to do this often with either Love Shack b52;s or Walking On Sunshine Catrina and The Waves. It realy does work. Give it a try
Barristermum why do you always make me out to ba a hero? Seriously Im not! Just doing my Mummy bit. Dh and I often have a conversation about our past relationships and our older boys and kind of think how much they missed out on because we had no money or transport or where we lived when they were younger so we made a promise to our boys we have together that they will not miss out on a single thing. I know that may sound awful to our older boys but we do try to make it up to them too iykwim? Oh shut up Wendy your blabbering again
Anyway please try that Amani if you have the energy.
Re V&A museum. Do I start a new thread or shall we decide here about it?
So far we have Friday 23rd at say 12pm? What do you reckon?

AMANI - Hugs hunny. I know it's hard but try to keep your chin up and keep posting on here as much as you need.

Well today was eventful!!
I've done 3 loads of washing, hoovering, changed the catbox.
Been to babyclub (been told Aaliyah is putting on too much weight - cos she's put on 2lbs in 4 weeks and that I should cut down her feeds sigh I'm so confused)
Then went to my mums where Aaliyah peed on my mum (who insisted on taking her nappy off so tough luck, lol) screamed at my dad and was generally wingey.
Then we went to a photography exhibition which was actually really interesting.

Aaliyah is asleep and after last nights crappy sleep. (Couldn't get to sleep - was just dozing off at 1am when DD woke up, was up till 2 then she got up again at 4:30 so really tired) am going to bed soon.

Taking LO to see my Nan down in Yorkshire for the day today.

I'm sure he's grown again in the night but I'm going to miss baby clinic today so have no idea how much he weights ATM as I missed it last week as well. I do also worry about overfeeding him but he follows his line OK. I think he is going to be very tall more than anything. His 3-6 bodysiuts etc are already tight around the crotch and he is only 14 weeks.

I did win 14 items of clothing for him off Ebay this week for £5 . I put speculative bids on those clothing "bundles" people put on, and if no-one is competing with you you can get bargains!

thinking of you Amani. It WILL pass xxx

morning! typing this with lo on my knee so forgive mistakes.

quiet night here and had to wake cerys at 7am so v good with dh away and she is in lovely mood all giggly and cuddly. ginge i think you're great for managin so well with so many, that's all
have a lovely day Ange - am i right in remembering your nan was poorly when you were pg?
lucky, my hv said it's v hard to give baby too much milk as they just bring it up if overfed. also if it's just 1 result cd just be a growth spurt - wdn't worry if i were you.
can't believe due in 09 thread - what an exciting time this time last year was!

amani - poor you and dd2. chin up and know you are doing a great job

lucky - unless you actually respect the hv opinion, ignore them! they are often (and not all i know) out of touch, stuck in one way of parenting, and give out their OPINION as if it were FACT. ignore.
i agree she would sick it up if she didn't want it. and anyway, ds1 put on 1lb a week at times and he was bf so supposedli impossible to overfeed, so there! so she is putting on half a lb a week then? i'm sure i remember being told that was perfectly NORMAL before.
sorry to any hv's out there, but the ones i've met are generally older ladies, some of whom don't even have kids of their own and they just spout out nonsense which upsets mums - esp first timers.
i remember ringing my mum so upset when ds1 was about 6wks old cos mine had told me so much that disagreed with what i'd read about bfding, my mum doesn't know much about bfding either but reassured me to just ignore the silly old bat! in fact i actually complained about her and she has since been fired retired...

right, ds1 at nursery, ds2 sleeping, shd be getting on with jobs...

Amani lot's of (((HUGS))) we are still trying to sort out Martha's 'skin infection' as teh abs cleared it but now it's coming back , think it may be eczema and am going to ask for referral to dermatologist i think. It's so hard when they aren't well and then you have other lo's to think off , the time for you is just non existent. Do you have anyone who could sit for you for a while so you could get some sleep , or a night out ?

Well full of good intentions today i went to hang my washing out and my rotary line just snapped so have had to put it all in the dryer DP has gone for a job interview today so keeping fingers croseed, although a little too as that means the end of the buisness if he get's it!

Another beautiful day here but i have loads of ironing to do might try and set it up outside!

oh lily i have loads of ironing & washing too, sitting here watching csi instead
ironing outside, now there's an idea

Morning all and thankyou barristermum
How are you feeling today Amani?
Wish I could hang some washing out lillyloo we live in a flat so theres no chance. We do have communial lines but Id be too afraid of my stuff getting nicked
Lo was a bit unsettled last night. He went down at 7.30 as usual but woke at 12. I got him back to sleep about 12.30 with his dummy. He then woke at 2 so I gave hima bottle which he seemed to take ages to drink. Went back to sleep about 3. Then he woke again at 6 which he eventualy settled back about 7 which is when the other two wake. Im knackered today. Think it might be time to up his milk. Not going to try weaning just yet as hes not quite 17 weeks.
I have a bloody UTI too but cant get to see my gp till Monday [cross] Goimg to take lo too as his BCG still seems to be a bit sore and he had ot done when he was 6 weeks old. It isn't bothering him at all but it is me.
Well Dh is currently defrosting our freezer so were off to Tesco later to refill it.
Have a good day all. xx

How many typos there? Can you tell Im tired?

Thanks everyone for thinking of me. Am having a hard time at the mo still and cant help but think my poor baby is so tiny and innocent, why is she always ill? Am really trying but cant help think is it my fault she is ill? No support at the moment as family are on holiday, DH took some time off work when DD2 was in hospital so cant take anymore time off and as mentioned before nursery fees have gone up significantly so cant afford to keep DD1 for longer hours. On my own, but I have been going to bed at 8pm, so I can headstart on sleep for whwen DD2 wakes up night for her usual cries/medication. Just keep thinking, kids will grow up fast, but really feels like this phase is going so slow...

Gingeme - so lovely for you to post that bit about the music- made me want to cry all over again. Got a couple of fav songs at the moment, and put them on in the car when picking DD1 up from nursery. With a lovely sunny day like today, it did cheer me up a bit. Thanks hun.

Amani - hope things are getting better, must be horrendous what you're going through. I'm thinking of you

Lucky - afaik you can't overfeed babies this age as anything they don't need comes back up again. I'd ignore your HV as she doesn't sound like the brightest button. Is it worth you trying to go to bed a bit earlier? I know it's frustrating when you don't feel like you've got much done during the day, but I am much more human now I go to bed at 10 on the dot rather than rush around doing the washing and tidying just because I've got the opportunity. I have been known to do housework at 4am after a night-time feed

Just had a bit of a nightmare few hours with Ben - he was getting very tired, but not interested in sleeping. I'd tried all the usual things, but he wasn't interested in his bottle, a dummy, cuddles or anything. 4 hours later, I find out that he was hungry for solids rather than milk, and has just fallen asleep after eating half a banana!

I've finally given in and cut his hair - he was looking like a mad professor with it all wild and scraggly. I was struggling with scissors, so I got the clippers out and gave him a grade 6 all over! Also doused his head in olive oil to get rid of the last of his cradle cap, so he looks like a right punk with short dark spiky hair!

One of his favourite games is to sit in front of a mirror, "talking" to himself - he absolutely loves it, although recently has started trying to hit his reflection, so I'm going to have to be extra careful he doesn't smash the mirror!

Here's a couple of photos of him - one I've just taken after he fell asleep after his banana

i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/ldticp/Ben%20Llewelyn%20Thackray/IMG_0459.jpg

i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/ldticp/Ben%20Llewelyn%20Thackray/IMG_0451.jpg

i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/ldticp/Ben%20Llewelyn%20Thackray/IMG_0443.jpg

Neatha he is gorgeous! What a happy chappy. Cant believe your clippering him already1 I waited till my lot were atleast a year old before I went near them with the sheep shears Saying that Edward has got away with it so far as he doesn't mind the hairdressers.
Didn't want to make you cry Amani realy I didn't Hope the music boost helped though. Especialy if you sung to it too.
Bought George some pots and powdered food today. Hes upped to 8 oz milk too today and polished them off no probs
Well thats about it from me.
Ive updated my pics by the way and yes I have dyed my hair......

hi all just a quickie been very busy today went to baby group but got wrong place so very late, yesterday went to do aerobics but class cancelled - but may have found new nursery opening by accident so all happens for a reason.

hope all well

amani - hold on it will get better x