June 2007 - What ingredients are mothers made of ? God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean!

[NattyThomasandEllen]

ah sparkly new thread.. i spotted this on my friends face book and had to share it:

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers are given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?

1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?

1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on. Ha ha ha ha!!!

Who's the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?

1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did t and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

just thought it was funny!

wafting sleepy peaceful baby vibes over the thread

Hang in there SG, you're doing a fab job!

DD is making up for her lack of appetite of last week. For the last two days she has eaten everything that is put in front of her, then asking for "mo nanana" (banana generally, but has been applied to all food recently). She has also been taking about 15fl ozs of milk and having three BFs a day as well. Do they growth spurt at this age?

she is soooooo sweet. When she wakes up at night, I usually pick her up, pat her and say "Shhhh it's OK". Last night, as soon as I picked her up she patted me and said "'k...'k"...bless her heart.

bumper, have you discussed your birth with anyone? you can request a copy of your notes and to be taken through them.......It might help to exercise some of your demons. Lulu has some links for recovering from childbirth trauma as well if you are interested . also did you see bouncingturtles thread about the calendar. she is helping VS with the organisation of it.

My UTI seems better this evening thankfully, and i have a bit more colour in my cheeks!

We went to a friend's for dinner last night, with a thrid couple. All have babies born within days of each other, and though my friend are lovely it was pretty difficult. One has had her baby (baby no.1) in a routine from the off, to the point where he would be crying with hunger but had to wait 10 minutes because it wasn't 11.15 yet, her LO is also fully spoon fed and in nursery (just for the record I'm not bing judgey, just putting it into context). The other (who's house it was) is a bit more like me, her DD (baby no.2) co-slept for a long time, is half-spoon fed, half BLWed and goes to a childminder 1 day a week.

Anyway, before Christmas we went to baby no.1's house. 7pm on the dot baby no.1 goes down to bed no problem. Me and mother no.2 with cranky DD's who refused to sleep all night. Father no.1 joking said "this is why we are pleased that we did a routine with DS" - not smug, well, kind of smug but not malicious. Anyway, I though well let's see how baby no.1 does when not in his own house, so on Sunday he was out like a light before we got there. Baby no.2 played with DD for a bit then went off to bed fine. I struggled with a cranky DD who refused to sleep until half an hour until we left, in my arms.

So it was pretty stressful and it just made me feel like a really inadequate mother, coz I can't get my DD down to sleep properly. We are going out again tomorrow night and I am just worried as I know DD won't sleep, she will be fine but eventually get cranky, and I won't be able to relax, but then I don't want to not go out.

Anyway, my point was it was a pretty tough evening, but it did make me think, that because me and these other mothers are so different there is often a kind of tension in there air and comments (like mother one saying she isn't BLWing her DS as she thinks it is important to get as many flavours into her ds as possible before he is one else he will be really fussy). I'm sure I do it too, but it strikes me that it isn't any of us being smug, revelling in our own choices. It's the complete opposite, we are all first time mothers, trying to do what we think is right, feeling guilty when other people are doing different things and trying desperately to justify our choices to ourselves and each other. We get on pretty well and mostly we realise that we are all different and accept each others' methods.

Still, their babies are sleeping fine. Why isn't mine? What am I doing wrong? I know they don't judge (well, not much) but I felt their pity last night.

(sorry, that was really long, it was just on my mind a bit)

evening ladies. ive had a very good day, how has everyone else been?

Daisy, I went through my notes before I left hospital. I do need to get it sorted, but TBH it's not something I feel up to tackling until the next time around.

Awww, DD sounds so cute, and v advanced!

Ria how are the caravans going?

ah bumper i see you are feeling down.
how is your evening routine? maybe you could do with a little structure? (not set in stone obviously)

aww daisy thats sweet!
ellen has 4 words already, "hello"(with a wave) "up"(with arms held out) "num num" (smacking her lips for food) "mummm" (when she wants me and im out the room!)
i am struggling to deal with it, as been ignoring it for weeks and trying to convince myself its just noises. i dont want my baby to grow up so quick!
ellen is also going through a hungry phrase she eats more than tom at the moment lol

bumper, some babies sleep, some don't. I'm not sure the routines are for all babies and i know some who have refused to sleep when routines have been tried.......my DD for one when she was little. I tried GF for about a week. I found it with an inch of dust on the top when we dismantled the old bed the other week!

I think the key is to try and relax; if she felt you were uptight, that would make her uptight........and also, content yourself with the thought that your DD is soooo curious and inquisitive that being in someone else's house was exciting, so of course she wasn't going to sleep, she wanted to be a part of what was going on!

and if anyone is judgey or piteous (is that a word even?) tell them you are doing a routine.......a baby-led routine

ooops, DH coming in to reclaim the laptop....gotta go.

Waking the Dead is on in two anyway.xx

i hope you can get some sleep tonight bumper.

oh and daisy when ur back... i had a (semi) successful vbac, so if u need any tips or support im here for you x

God I dunno Bumper. They're all different, and they change too. Your DD had been sleeping through like forever, no? Mine wakes. On the other hand he goes to sleep easily and pretty much at the same time every night. Think it's just the luck of the draw really. If we're out at his bedtime usually he'll need wheeling round a bit to get to sleep, and sometimes finds it all too exciting.

So maybe your DD is just too lively and intelligent to want to miss out on the fun and just boringly go to sleep.

Daisy that is SOOO cute of your DD, what a sweetie. Baby Sputnik may have said cracker today (when I gave him a cracker!) but it may have been a coincidence.

Well, I've tried to catch up. But I am confused. I gather something exciting almost happened for Foxy's DP, but couldn't work out what. ANyone like to offer some clues?

Daisy, sorry about the UTI but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY you've got a tiddly baby in your tum tum!

Bumper, sorry you've still got issues from the birth and sorry DD isn't sleeping as well as she might. Hope that improves very soon.

I'm coldy again, all bunged up. But I've been worse, so it's not so bad.

hmm Bumper. Interesting post.

Firstly I'm going to say you are not doing anything wrong. Routines work IME. But you are an instinctive mother. And you are naturally so.

Perhaps your DD, like my LO, likes to be part of the action? I've never really put mine down anywhere else, but would let them stay up as long as they aren't being mardy. Then I'd go home.

As long as we compare ourselves to other mums we will feel inadequate in some way.

What does your DH say about it?

Wise words from Foxy (as always)

I understand about it being difficult bumper, but we do all work in different ways (and I'm afraid it never goes away). I'm too lazy for routines, we just go with the flow and neither me or DH bother too much (though we have been INDREDIBLY lucky with DS3s sleeping since he went on bottles, and even when he was BF he was fine if co-sleeping, amd it would probably be a different story if DH was working all the time). You have to develop a protective layer and be ready with answers like daisy's suggestion of "a baby led routine " (I like that. Wish I'd said it first). Of course this is so easy to SAY (sorry for shouting, can't do italics), but putting it into practice is difficult.

None of my boys are sleepers (even now) they have all co-slept. DS1 was truly awful, I used to sit and read to him in the middle of the night thinking that was better than having him in our bed. They all have far too active minds!

None of this makes sense, sorry.. I am trying to be encouraging but I think I may have missed the mark somewhat.

Well done you for going out with a small baby though. We don't (and probably wouldn't) go anywhere.

Thanks guys, I guess this whole sleeping thing has knocked my confidence. I had been confident in my decisions - until they stopped working for me!

She is very bright and alert, and likes to be in the thick of things. It was mothers she knew very well and they were paying her lots of attention as their babies were asleep. So I will just pacify myself that my DD is clearly sooo bright that she needs lots of stimulation!

So our bed time routine kind of goes like this

-DH or I get in from from work
-One of us cooks while the other stops DD from hanging herself from the blind cords
-We all eat (including DD - it's usually quite late by this time, 6.30ish. But when I am off I have taken to feeding her a bit earlier while I am cooking so she can just snack on what we are having for tea)
-Sometimes a bath
-BF then bed, usually asleep

The thing is that I think she is so used to feeding to sleep she struggles to put herself to sleep. Napping in the day is sporadic too, DH and I have different ways of doing it. And right now she hates being left on her own to try and sleep, hence the night waking.

Sputnik is right, she has always been such a good sleeper, 11-7 since 8 weeks, and 8-7 a few months after.

Anyway, I'll stop whinging about it now. Thanks for letting me go on about it. It's hard not to worry about what other people are doing. DH thinks I was stressing over nothing last night (I probably was). He is a big softy and will do whatever DD wants!

I got my "uniform" today. (Think nasty red polo shirt with well-known holiday company logo on it). It clashes with my face and doesn't fit.

But I'm getting quicker and more "flexible". Day from hell today. No-one wanted to go home - anyone would think it was a bloody holiday park. So was late starting and rushing to meet deadlines. I'm not cut out for work at all. Might have to have another baby. I wonder which my DM would react worse at (you would think I'd told her I'd gone on the game they way she reacted to me working when I "have a house to run and 3 children". Seriously felt like telling her to feck off)

Aha, so it was their fault for stimulating DD anyway. You have nothing to worry about bumper, you're doing fine.

Ria, it's not a company starting with H- is it?

I think its important for you and DH to do the same thing when putting her to sleep. I always, always bath my kids, and have done since very little. Not because they are grubby urchins, but because that's all I know! A warm bath relaxes us, perhaps a few drops of lavender around? You or DH could do it when you get home, its a lovely way to spend time with your baby, and will relax you too. Then a feed whilst she's all warm and cosy then bed?

Might mean she'd have to have her tea a bit earlier though.

Ria, don't worry. You'll still have a house to run and 3 children to look after whether you work or not!

That would be them bumper. I HATE red, and polo shirts, especially ones that don't fit. I want to wear something nice and tailored that makes me look intelligent and thin

foxy.

I always bath mine too (sometimes heavily laced with lavender for the big boys). So that nearly amounts to routine?

Is it just me or is Time Team particulrly uninteresting tonight?

DS1 is apparently worried because he has lost his blanky (that would be because I took it away and hid it when I decided he was nearly 11! - it is a quilted xmas tree skirt-thingy that someone gave him when he was 1 and he has slept with it ever since. He has his teddies logged in on his calendar for which days it's their turn to sleep with him. Odd child)

What do you do if you don't bath them? Let them run around for another 20 mins? I'm really just containing mine in an enclosed area whilst I run around setting the house straight!

...before DP gets home, and I greet him with a G&T at the door with my lippy freshly applied, obviously

Bumper, you could try feeding her til she's nearly asleep, then putting her down. Or wake her a little and put her down. That's kind of what I do sometimes.