For the 8th time...............May Babies!

[egypt]

well hello

Hi guys

We're going to leave to our piccies taken soon, so just thought i'd pop by to catch up first.

Egypt- Poor you, make sure you're extra kind to yourself at the moment and take it easy. I really hope the nights sort themselfes soon {{{hugs}}}

Casmie- Same goes for you! {{{hugs}}} Hopefully it is teething, and as soon as the evil things put in an appearance peace will be restored.

Spots- Oooh, those scones sound good Yeah, the meet up was good, it's always nice to go and meet other mummys in rl, i still know relativly few, and haven't really got "freindly" as such with any...so it get can get a little lonley occasionaly. That's why it's so lovely to have all of you! We definalty, definatly, definatly should get together in May, it'll be wonderful to meet you all.

Kbaby- Thank you, i'm feeling okay at the moment. Still a little delicate, but generaly okay

It's pretty quiet in the Cat household at the moment, Kiera seems to be in a good mood today which i love, becasue i enjoy everything so much more. She's suddenly developed a monster appetite though She demolishes entire jars of 7mnth plus food at lunch AND dinner now, last week it was a struggle to get her to eat half! She had a whole Organix jar + almost a whole banana and a yogurt at lunchtime

Anyway, we're on a very tight schedual this afternoon, the photo thing is at 3.30, kiera doesn't get up until 2.30 and then we have to get the bus to town, give her a quick milk feed AND change her into her photo dress...eep.

I think i'd better start getting ready!

Love to everyone
xxx

Eee you do make me larf Judd Karmel. Thought you meant, dip a galaxy bar in mush and use that as finger food. And to think I almost did, on your recommendation...

Egypt, our dd's were born under the same sleep sign perhaps. I started thinking 5 feeds a night was not going to happen and I would 'pat her to sleep' instead. Well, you can pat DD to sleep for two minutes. She likes a good old pat. But the just as you have got snuggled back into your bed and your DH (whoever invented the phrase 'sleeping like a baby?') she pops awake again and shrieks. Last night she woke 10.45, 11.30, 4.30 and that was much better than usual. But patting to sleep, no way. I felt quite jaunty this morning so went for a swim while the brown eyed childminder took DD to a soft play session and that was a lovely change. I met some mums I had met previously at a breastfeeding support group and their babies were also waking at nights so I felt better. (And they were feeding them.) I was sure I had known one of them somewhere else and couldn't work it out, until then it dawned on me that I was getting her confused with our very own Cat! You posted a picture ages ago, Cat. And you don't really look like this girl...can't remember your picture so well but I know you had dark hair, and she has blonde. So I'm not suggesting it's you. But funny how the real life crosses over with mumsnet life sometimes. Or at least it doesn't but your mind does IYSWIM.

lol spots, yes i know what you mean. we should have piccies with our names on here like you do on msn. anyway, glad but not, iykwim, that your dd is much the same as ours. yes patting is sometimes ok here too, but not for long. at the moment nothing is ok but a cuddle and music. although i've obv brought that one on myself! but i figure if she gets to need the music thats great as i dont need to be there with my violin and clarinet. aaaaaaaaaanyway, thought i'd try and get her to nap in her cot this afternoon. now, she is all snuffly and runny nose, whingey and grumpy and won't be put down for long. keep lurching herself and me so in her lunchtime pudding i put some calpol. the full dose. and she ate the lot. well....it is now 3 hours later and she still hasnt fallen asleep. cot - screamed for 20 mins, gave up. pram, nope, car......ahhhh, sounds like she is asleep, shall drive home. quietly get out.....look at dd...her hat is RIGHT over her face down to her chin. gently pull it up and hey presto, eyes wide open and a great big SMILE. little monkey.

so i am going to watch moonlighting and do my ironing whilst she lies on the floor in her sleeping playing with the car keys.

cat, i am glad you are feeling better and i hope the piccies come out nicely. ours did this time.

kbaby, i am impressed that you actually put dd into pj's for a nap! my poor dd spends the entire day in her babygro from the night before if we're not going out and it doesnt get tooooo grubby with food.

but you don't bf her to sleep any more egypt !!! that's some success surely?

you have photos on msn! reeelly? you all know what each other looks like?

Oh thank god, he's woken up smiley - and he didn't scream for me the second he was awake but lay there blowing raspberries until I got to him.

So, it must be teeth, right?!

horribly confused

Smiliness didn't last long. Back to miserable with a temp of 39.3C to match .

WHY do they do this just as the doctors shuts for the weekend?! Phoned the emergency doc because he's looking a bit out of it, but as he's not showing any other key symptoms (like a rash or vomiting/diorrhea) they want to wait an hour to see if the temp comes down with nurofen. Think it's coming down a bit... after half an hour it's 39.1C and just playing the waiting game now.

Feel so helpless. Every now and then he yells out, tears spurt out of his eyes and he jams his fingers into his mouth and chomps down hard. I had a rummage in his mouth and if I'm going on which areas of his mouth he throws a fit if I touch them then he's got the next four teeth surrounding the current four all at once.

37.7C now thank god

Oh Casmie, how horrible for you. It's scary isn't it I don't want to disturb you on msn in case you're busy with ds2, you'll know this already but strip him down to his nappy, and give him some calpol if he'll take it. Also a cold cloth to his nexk might help to lower his temp.

Kiera had the very same temperature last week, and all my "knowledge" of what to do went out of the window. If it's any comfort she recovered within 24 hours, and her temp went down within 12.

I'm here if you need some phone support
{{{hugs}}}

Dh putting him to bed now in a cotton babygro but no covers - temp hovering around the 38C mark ... will check again at 10pm and dose with calpol if necessary. He's happier now and blowing raspberries rather than just slumped over in his highchair looking under the weather, so I'm far less worried (that and dh has come home - so I feel a bit more in control which I know is a bit sad).

We were due to go visit my uncle tomorrow... think I'll be cancelling - even if he is better in the morning, might be kinder to let him have a quiet day to recuperate a bit.

casmie, hope he goes to bed well and wakes up a much cooler happier baby. dd hasnt had a temp so far touch wood, i dont think i'd know what to do. must be scary. bless his heart. {{{{{{{{{{big hugs}}}}}}}}}}} to you and little B

spots, yes you are right....but, when i was bf i just fed and put her back to bed. job done in minutes. now i am pacing the floor, giving water, music on, patting, picking up, putting down for an hour sometimes. i actually feel worse. its like i felt when i had a newborn again! but, could be nearer to the end than if i was still bf i spose.

awww casmie, always terrible when lo's are ill!! hope his temperature stays down.

oh my, i am not surprised that ds was all over the place last week - 2 new teeth - we are on 10 now!

dh and I playing baby tagteam.

He's fine when either of us are in there. All smiley and wanting to play. Leave the room and he's crying as if his world is caving in.

ARGH

It's going to be a long night.

Blimey Casmie, you are going through the teething mill. How unhappy he sounds - and you too. Glad that DH is back and you can tackle it together.

PMSL Judd - you should be on the stage!
Casmie hope he's ok today.
Out of interest, if you don't mind me asking, who out of you does paid work? Ft or Pt? Just wondering, really. I'm 70%! 8.30 - 2.45, school term-times only. Sounds cushy, but it took some getting and it's a real rush.
Dd2 woke up at 3.30am and sank a 7oz bottle, fell asleep in our bed and went back in her cot before 4 which is pretty good. I decided last night to stop breastfeeding altogether, and to console myself I had a couple of glasses of red and most of a block of creamy blue cheese for the first time in over a year yum(didn't eat blue cheese when bf, I know, over cautious but I fret something shocking so was better off not doing it). Bit sad as this is my last baby so end of an era.
Egypt, I rarely changed dd2 out of her babygro if we were staying in and often took her to school (school run for dd1)with her snowsuit over the top!
Dd1 going to a swimming party today - dh is taking her because I'm not ready to show the other reception class parents my wobbly bits thank you.

Still rough today although temp is steady under 38 so haven't taken him to the docs. He woke 3 or 4 times in the night (lost count) but dh was a star and dealt with all the wakings.

He's got a really snotty nose but teeth are bad too (you can see the white of at least one of the four through the gum, his cheek is flame red and he keeps crying out in pain and jamming his hand in and chewing frantically) - so virus + teething?! Not sure I can ever know!

He had an extra breastfeed today at 11am - his face lit up and he started clawing at my top, so he was fairly obvious in his wants! Was a really nice cuddly feed as well - hope he got some milk out as I haven't fed at that time for ages... think it was comfort more than anything.

Just wish I could take it all on myself so he didn't have to go through it

Oh Casimie - I'm so sorry. I rack my brains to try and work out what's wrong with DS and feel awful when I can't suss it, or when I do but days later and it's so obvious. Sounds daft, but I don't feel more adept at understanding DS's needs even though it's the second time round. Whether DD was just more straightforward, or perhaps because I only had her to observe and get to know.
If you suspect teething, could you try him with a variety of things to chew on - cold carrots, teething rings, rags, biccie pegs etc to see if anything hits the spot? Once the skin breaks, then the pain goes doesn't it?

Helsy - what job do you do? I'm at home full time but would adore something so school friendly in the years to come.....

Oh he's certainly chewing alright - he's relatively happy at the moment with full on entertainment. We've dressed him cooly and keeping an eye on the temperature. If he's still like this on Monday then we'll be camping out at the surgery I think.

just used the carpet cleaner on ds2's room. Didn't think it was that bad (but timing wise it was easier to do it now then leave the window open for a while for the smell to go). Didn't think it was doing that much until I tipped the water away at the end - it was FILTHY! .

Casmie sorry to hear he's still bad but at least the temp is staying down.
Judd I'm a manager in the education sector, not a school but our peaks and troughs are similar, and after being ft for 6 years I was able to put a proposal to my boss about how it might work pt. It's not great but I knew it would be a huge compromise.
Mainly it's stuff in schools/universities/colleges that's TTO.

Oh, I am loving teething very much.

Helsy, I work full time. It is mighty hard work and I am considering a rethink as the childminder fees take 2/3s of my salary each month . . . but I love my job and the people I see every day. It is my own personal toddler group! hmm, don't know what to do . . .

I know what you mean about rushing, I am usually up about 5.30-6 to get a shower and sort any last minute DS issues out that didn't get completed the night before. I leave at 7 in the morning (thankfully a colleague lives in the same town as me - we are 1/2 an hour away from work on a good day so we leave before the serious traffic kicks in!) then I get home about 6pm. Then there is the usual cleaning, feeding, bathing, settling until 9ish or so. No wonder I love my weekends . . . . I don't like the fact that DS doesn't go to bed until 8ish but we don't get a chance to spend time otherwise. He could well be the most cuddled baby in the world. I sound like I am moaning but I am actually enjoying it a great deal! I think Kbaby is full time too.

Re: work - don't know what I count myself as, tbh. I'm a SAHM but now and then I get the odd bit of writing work from home. Tend to think of myself more as a SAHM though rather than a P/T worker.

Hi everyone

Well we had another photo thang this morning, a proper family portrait. We were going to go for just the complimentary one, but i'm so excited by them all i'm going to ask if dp can get me a big montage of all the images for my birthday (The 27th, if anyone wants to wish me happy birthday )

Libb- Lovely to hear from you, you are a busy bee aren't you?! i used to commute to cambourn every day, and had to leave at 6.50am, get two buses and get home around 13 hours later
shudder i HATED it, sounds like you cope with being an early riser and being hectic much better than i did!

Judd- I'm a SAHM, but i wouldn't mind doing something non demanding when kiera gets a little older maybe in a couple of years.

Casmie- It's good his temp is staying under 38, hopefully you'll have a bit of a less disturbed night tonight, thunmbs up to your dh

Okay guys, really need some good simple recipies, that even a total kitchen/cooking moran like me can acheive. I really feel bad about the amount of jarred food she's eating, and it's getting stupidly expenisive as well. Going to try her with new potatos, tuna and cheese tomorrow, fingers crossed please everybody!

Lots of love
Cat
xxxx

Honest moment alert!!!! SAHMs are full time too in my opinion - personally I think I am a bit selfish because I actually like taking a breather from DS - which sounds awful . . . I love him more than anything.

Libb - that's not selfish - imo you can't properly look after an infant or child without looking after yourself too. I get my "time away" in other ways (about 6 billion hobbies and interests that I don't get time for, at the moment!!) and never really enjoyed working but had I been in a career I loved I can well see me going back to it fairly quickly. Hence the writing really - don't need the money (well, okay yes... it's VERY nice to have and does make things easier, but we'd survive without), but it's something I enjoy.

Ds2 patently much happier this evening even though we're still having to use calpol/nurofen to keep the temperature down (which they're doing well) - so I think he's on the mend.

Cat, DS gets nothing but jars at the moment because of time. Have spent every weekend meaning to cook batches and do it properly. We are so behind with weaning and finger foods, I am trying him with different things to see what goes down well - he isn't a fan of lumps but manages different flavours without batting an eyelid. Any tips would gratefully received because I am having a hormone enriched lousy mother day. I guess all this talk of work has had me thinking . . .