May 2008 - we just couldn't wait!

[thefortbuilder]

for everyone who's popped already and congratulations to us all!

W-where is everyone?

OMG, where is everyone??? I missed a day and was expecting to have to catch up on loads!!!

Christening went very well and DD2 is now a fully fledged catholic .

Looks like everyone is out enjoying the sun today!

lm74 Glad the christening went well. Did DD2 sleep through the actual baptism?

hi everyone - been trying to catch up before i posted and failing miserably!

we have been back nearly 3 weeks from france which was wonderful. all going pretty well here except samuel is just 4 months old and in that 4 month growth spurt.....so where we have had 7-3.30 sleeps, it's now waking at 11 and 330 again...and jacob is sleeping dreadfully as well at the moment so all in all we're pretty shattered.

our au pair giorgia has been here for 2 weeks now and is an absolute godsend! both boys love her and if she takes jacob out and he "forgets" about mummy he has a great time with her!

and as for the bf'ing can't get pg rumour - my mil did just that and along came my bil...

i've had 2 cycles of periods now so that pleasure didn't last so long! it does last longer if you are bf'ing so i guess partly my own fault for stopping

anyway, jacob was 2 last week and had his party last weekend which was a great success - no tantrums, no fights over toys although we did hide the ones that generate fights o nplaydates! and samuel had his first play date last week - well the younger brother of one of jacob's friends is 2 weeks older than samuel and he came along to the play date as well!

hope everyone else ok and i'll try and keep up better.

only other good bit of news is that our building work is all finished and the house looks great, o'h and the weight i put o nover holiday i've managed to shed again and keeping it off kind of!

xxx

welcome back flick...I was wondering about you just the other day. Glad all is well.

mocat DD2 was very tired when we arrived at the church, and was crying a lot. The priest asked me if she was hungry and I said "no, she's just tired". Two mins later, cos she was still crying, he said "are you sure she's not hungry?"........"erm yes, I'm sure, she just fed before we came out" .
Of course, I could be wrong, and a 71 year old catholic priest could know what's best for my baby more than me !!!! She then fell asleep and smug mummy said loudly..."see, I knew she was just tired"!!!!!! She didn't even stir when having the water poured over her head.

DD2 is sooooooo cute now, really cooing and chatting and smiling loads.

Just noticed tonight that DD1 has two more teeth coming through, her 'eye teeth', so hopefully that explains her grouchiness recently (she must be bad to even try DH's patience!!!).

LM how old is dd1? i forget sorry! jacob has his last two canines coming through and i'm sure we'll have a gap of about 2 months before we start on the big molars at the back - and sam has two nice big fat lines along the bottom gum at the back so we'll be having prolonged teething from him i'm sure! and as MIL likes to keep reminding me - o'h dh just popped all his out with no problem [grrrrr]

samuel is so very smiley now and really engages with you it's wonderful! he loves staring at his older brother as well which is great.

anyway, must away, both boys in bed and dinner nearly ready and i'm starving - someone asked me how to lose baby weight and i flippantly said "run around after a toddler all day and eat bugger all during the week!" but i'm into jeans that are a size smaller than my pre preg jeans so am v proud of myself

Hi All

Hope everyone had a good weekend ?

I have been to the inlaws this weekend which is 360 mile round trip not cheap these day what with the petrol prices as well !!! Had a nice time and got some me time which is good although sometimes over powering, when you mother in law is trying to prise my baby from me when i'm just getting her to sleep but sometimes you just have to bite your tongue. (sorry just a little rant) Izzy has just really started to be really interactive as well now and it all makes it worth while and makes me feel appreciated. Even more so when I have to cope alone all week !!

Hope everyone has a good week

Flick, DD1 was 2 in May.

Just had my neighbour and her 20 month old little boy in to 'play' . He has 3 much older brothers and is obviously used to a bit of rough and tumble, IYSWIM. Not that my little girl is precious or anything, but he's quite rough when he plays, pushing her and stamping on her foot and snatching toys off her etc. I find it really embarassing as I know they're only little, but DD1 gets really upset by it and keeps crying, and I think my neighbour must think I've got a right wuss of a daughter . I do actually think he takes it a bit far sometimes, DD1 would never push or stamp etc, cos we have always taught her right from wrong. And if she did do it, I would tell her off there and then. Am I being unreasonable??

YCBS Is Harry still sleeping better/well??

LM no you are not at all! pushing, shoving and stamping are unnacceptable on play dates as far as i am concerned! rough and tumble is one thing as ds is a big fan of it with dh but there is a time and a place and on play dates it's not on at all i don't thin kas it too easily gets out of hand as they just don't know when to stop at this age.

throwing is another one that is out as far as i'm concerned as well - jacob got hit on the corner of his eye with a thrown book the other day and he just stood there looking bemused! we throw balls here - in the garden or at the park, not inside and not other toys either! now i'm the one sounding precious - on the other hand we do get complemented at nearly every opportunity as to how wonderful jacob's nature is, how well behaved he is and what great manners he has. he can throw a tantrum with the best of them though, but always chooses to do it at home, behind closed doors

lm74 Sound as if DD2 was a gem during her christening. Lol at priest's worries; now would you have had to go back to the car if she had needed a feed or taken a pew? Maybe a confessional??

ycbs Alex has become so heavy that I'm not lifting the car seat with him in it again since I've hurt my section scar. Great to see him growing though. He's got about 3 inches of head space left at the top of the Moses basket ... time to order a new mattress for the cot. I feel quite emotional at the prospect of moving on from the basket.

Second round of immunisations this afternoon. Please God all will go well. Three month check tomorrow with HV. I think Alex is 'on target' for development even though he was four weeks early. He doesn't seem to stare at his hands though which is one of the things it mentions in the red book (or some other panic inducing list ). He's doing so well though that I really don't give a damn about lists and targets - why did I bring them up then ?

How long are all the babies sleeping for during the day? Alex continues to sleep for very long blocks (3 - 4 hours). He's also feeding less which is confusing my boobs, they are still pumping up to feed more regularly!! Sleeping at night from 11pm to about 9am - flipping fantastic!!

GP felt my tummy today and it seems that I have irritated my wound by running (who would have guessed it). She advises leaving it for another few weeks before trying another run, just fast walking until then. My legs are starting to take on a very wobbly appearance. Yeuch!

Hello everyone! Got my 2500euros from the government this week...yippeee! Nico now sleeping 10pm til 8am..I'm loving it!
Mocat I didn't realise your LO was 4 weeks early? Like my DS. Do you know why? or just one of those things? I've no idea why Nico was early, but it certainly gave me a shock! How old is Alex now? Nico's 4 months this weekend and although he did nothing but sleep and eat for the first 2 months is fine on all his developmental things. Was a bit slow to fix and follow an object with his eyes, but now all fine. We were thinking of Nicolás or Alejandro, so nearly had a little Alex myself!

hi mocat - my doctor did an 8 week check and that all was ok despite being 6 weeks early. he doesn't really play with his hands much (samuel, not the doctor ), but then neither did jacob. very alert and watching everything though. he's just woken up with a start from his nap so i can hear a good set of lungs!

about sleeping - our daily pattern goes something like this:

530 wake up have milk back to sleep
730 wake up have milk stay awake till around 9 then sleep for about an hour or so
wake at 10ish till 1200 or so then feed then asleep from around 1 till 230.
wake around 230 then sleep again at around 4 till 5
feed at 5ish then probably some more at around 6 then a short nap from 630 till 645! till he gets woken up for his bath

bath at around 7ish then feed again after bath until he falls asleep somewhere around 730-745. last night he slept really well till 450am, from 730!!!

am sure i've missed at least one feed as i'm sure he has more than that! anyway he's growing well so that's the main thing and he seems happy enough!

macaco Congrats on your windfall. Enjoy it! Yes, Alex was born at 36 weeks plus 2 days. He came early because my placenta was low and was completely covering the oz (or os - don't know the spelling). He couldn't have been delivered naturally so they got me as far along as they were comfortable with and then I had a section. I had two rounds of steriods to strengthen his lungs so it was a calculated risk! He was fine from the moment he was born, no need for an incubator or any intervention, thank God. Did you go into labour spontaneously?

flick Whenever you put it all down on paper (or screen), it seems relentless!! Samuel seems to be awake as often and for as long as he sleeps during the day. I keep thinking I should worry about Alex sleeping so much but when he is awake he's very alert and responsive. Also, the prem babies born in the hospital I was in at the same time as Alex all seem to be just as dedicated to their sleep. As I said earlier, he is such as happy sturdy wee man that I can't worry for long as he's clearly doing well .

mocat - when jacob was born at 32 weeks one of the very experienced nurses on the scbu reminded me that for the first 8 weeks he would sleep probably 23 hours a day and not to be worried - and he did! samuel sleeps much less than jacob did but he is that much larger (at 4 months what jacob was at 6 and a half months!) - he probably is awake a bit more if we are at home and not out in the buggy so it depends on what we do as well!

as you say, if they're happy, well and thriving that's the main thing.

Hi ladies

I went to see the impetigo-spreading MIL this weekend but checked in on my Blackberry and thought this thread must have run out when I didn't see any posts.

Registered baby on Friday morning. Felt rather momentous to me but I think dp thought I was a little mad for wanting him to take my photo with dd at 930am on a Friday morning outside Brixton Town Hall....

Neither of us slept much on Thursday (having odd nightmares for some reason) and then on Friday we went to MIL's and stayed the night and dd decided to wake up every hour for 5 minutes. Saturday we had a 3 year old's party - just what we wanted after 2 nights of no sleep. Had an ok time and Saturday night slept a lot as dp got up with dd to feed her.

Oops - she is crying. Will be back tomorrow.

Have a good evening everyone!

MM

Mitchell is it you who's going to Majorca (or already gone? oops) Pampers are called DODOT in Spain.

mocat Wow! It sounds like Alex is doing really well, esp with his sleeping! DD2 sleeps for long periods too, she wakes up for a feed at about 5:30-6:30am, then often goes back to sleep til 11am/12pm! She is rarely awake for longer than 2-3 hrs at a time before she then goes back to sleep . Don't worry about Alex sleeping so much, my eldest daughter slept loads (still does, for her age) but I was always told that as long as they are alert it's nothing to worry about.

I sounds as if most of the bubbas are doing well, sleeping better and feeding less frequently. DD2 only has 4 feeds a day now....6am, 11am, 3-4pm, 7-8pm....then BED!!

I had a really challenging day yesterday, 2 play dates, which I'm learning are just NOT relaxing with 2 year olds as there is a constant need to intervene. At the second playdate, the little boy had got a mini quad bike for his birthday at the weekend, which DD1 loved, but neither of them could understand that to stop it moving, you have to take your foot off the pedal, so they were crashing into anything and everything, and all you could hear was me or my friend shouting (above the noise of the damn quadbike) "Take your foot off....take your foot off.....TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF....!!!" .

DH was at work all day, and in my wisdom I decided to bath both girls together . My goodness it was physically hard work...then DD2 wouldn't stop screaming for about 1.5 hrs after bath.....she was just tired...but overtired I think as she couldn't settle herself. DD1 spilt her milk again while having bedtime story and milk (3rd time this week ). By the time I got back downstairs I was pooped beyond belief! Then it was time to cook dinner......

Anyway, I had my physio today. I have a very stiff T5......(thoracic vertebrae no 5). He advised that I keep asking DH to massage the tight muscles too, but I just feel bad asking him when he's been at work all day long....

LM

YCBS - Stella's realised that too. She likes grabbing and handful of hair but her favourite seems to be grabbing a handful of breast - preferably nipple (painful emoticon)

Mocat - DD wakes up at 6am feed then sleep, 830 feed, short play then sleep, 1030 feed, play and get dressed then sleep about an hour later until 1330 when she wakes for feed and an hour's play & cuddle before sleeping again until 1630. 1630-1900 she's awake and alert then sleep again until 9, feeds and bed, then dream feeds at midnight. She wakes up around half two but some nights when I am lucky all I need to do is pop her dummy back in and she goes back to sleep until 6. As someone else said, her daytime sleeps depend on what we're doing. If we're out she sleeps for ages, if we're in she wakes and plays more.

Before I go - I am making a Baby Book for a mate of mine who has just had her son. I thought a home made one would be a nice gift (??) - anyone have any inspirational, nice etc thoughts / sayings etc?

MM