August 2007- The one where we miss our plonkable babies! They're licking the pram wheels as we type...

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

New thread!

cross posts james no i didnt feel it and it was cream on a cotton bud...havent finished reading your post yet...

Hi violetsmile, welcome to the thread. Don't worry about the long post, if you scroll down you'll see I often write long ones, I don't mind if no-one reads it!

Thanks for asking about my dp, he's doing ok actually, just being quiet and a bit snappy like men do when they're upset. Sorry you're having sleep problems with your lo. Re: sleeping in nursery, remember all the sights, sounds, activities, new faces and new stimulation will knacker him out so much more effectively than anything you could do at home, he'll be ready for a nap and get used to their routine very quickly. Babies love routine!

Incidentally I cuddle mine to sleep during the day too. I was almost insulted when I tucked him up for five mins one day while I made myself a brew, came back in and he was fast asleep without me!

I used to feed him to sleep, too. Sometimes I still do. It's natural, and lovely for both of you, even when it's formula. Try not to worry, nursery will find their own way with him, they won't let or make him suffer!

With regard to comfort toys/blankets, James has just now started to snuggle and kiss his winnie-the-pooh blanket and it had absolutely nothing to do with me - I had foolishly bought two igglepiggles in readiness for him being the object of J's affections (so I had a spare) but noooo, he prefers the discontinued mothercare blanket instead the blanket is comfortingly stinky, so maybe that's why. I don't think you can make him like a particular object but perhaps if you keep giving him the same couple of ones over and over at naptimes and bedtime he'll learn to associate one of them, and start kissing it James does with his. It's rather cute!

x posts tasha, I bet lo is so cute when he says hiya! James still saying bababa, and the occasional goo or ga, but no "proper" words yet. I'm sure ds2 is more of a thinker than a talker and it's nothing to worry about. Does ds1 do a lot of the talking for him?

Well, I feel like James is definitely moving into proper toddlerhood now. He's having short but LOUD temper tantrums when I move him away from dangerous things, or attempt to change his bum/brush his teeth. He screams like an absolute banshee, you'd think he was being tortured, I dread to think what passersby think, it's just horrendous. Anyone else getting this?

He's also: kissing everything and everyone, cuddling, waving hello and bye bye, "whistling", roaring with laughter at dogs and the tv, fiddling with his willy at every opportunity, opening the washer and pulling clothes out of the machine, making himself retch to get my attention (very effectively I might add, little get) and biting!

What are yours up to?

double x posts! cream on a cotton bud sounds ok. Oh what a raging pansy I am. Sorry for all the poststststs!

bloody hell james your a fast typer lol how embarrasing re playgroup lol i have a friend like that i love her for it but one day in argos she bought a washing line and started dancing with it infront of everyone lol

god yes in the night garden is brilliant my ds2 especially loves it and he has a lot of the books including the one that tells you all the rhymes and songs.i love this one

makka pakka
akka wakka
mikka makka moo
makka pakka
appa yakka
ikka akka ooo
hum dum
agga pang
ing ang ooo
makka pakka
akka wakka
mikka makka mooo!

any baby would laugh at you saying that fast hee hee well better go read boring stuff now lol

lol I'm not that fast (said the actress to the bishop) I wrote the first two posts in notepad cos otherwise I lose track of what I'm saying and end up scrolling up twelvetyfour times to re-read the thread. Gill knows what I'm talking about!

Makka pakka's got evil little yellow eyes when you see him up close as he's washing the pontypine's faces.

it seems i am a late discoverer of the wonder that is in the night garden - maybe i could get half an hour of kilting done while ds watches it on the days i'm at home.

havent heard yet about baby james (dh's cousins baby - just shorter to use his name). wish we could do something to help but they are quite far away. we are hoping that no news is good news.

james - ds is doing similar things - he loves giving kisses but they are very very wet. he was biting me a lot but think we've trained him out of it a bit by ignoring it (I hope). He's also neighing when we ask what a horse says and baaing for sheep. still not quite pulling himself up yet though - but he's loving crawling.

just wish we could get a milk for during the day when i'm at work - tried formula again yesterday and he got a big rash within minutes and was very upset so will leave it again. he wont drink soya formula and i just cant express enough anymore.

tahsa -your house sounds really interesting - 4 floors? that must be a lot of stairs to get children up and down? you'd need a firemans pole.

sorry cant remember if i already said hello violet or not, but if not - hi . i agree with james - the nursery will all be so new, he'll probably be knackered the first few days.

Conker, that's why tasha's so skinny! still keeping my fingers crossed for the baby. Gosh it must be so difficult for you with him getting a rash from formula milk. Isn't there any kind of hypoallergenic or other special milk your doctor can prescribe for him? I mean what would have happened if you couldn't breastfeed?

I left James in the kitchen for a few mins playing with the hoover earlier, heard him go and rattle some cupboard doors (not all of them have safety catches just yet, just the important ones) then all wnet quiet. Too quiet. Went in and found him sitting in a corner munching a cookie he'd found. Cheeky little buggar!

Hi again, wow you have all been very chatty on here! Thank you for allowing me to rant!!!

I am starting to calm down a little about the nursery. I figured the more stressed I am about it, the more stressed Joshua will be about it, which isn't fair. He seems to be liking the teddy comforter thing. I gave it to him last night in his cot, i fed him to sleep with it next to him, then put it in his cot with him.

He had a terrible night last night though. He was up 5 times and it's getting worse by the night. I can't figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong, he used to sleep so damn well! I really think it must be separation anxiety and coupled with the fact that I've always rocked or fed him to sleep means he needs me more and more!

Ahh well, I'm complaining again!

So conker, how's the baby with meningitis? Hope things are improving. Poor little boy .

Tash, your house sounds lovely, I 've always wanted a three or four storey house but the housing market is a bit stagnant round here so we'd be struggling to sell. Also, I'm not sure I could afford all the extra stair gates!

James- yes, my ds does exactly as you describe with the short but loud tantrums! If I take something off him or move him away from something interesting (ie dangerous!) the he half cries and half just shreiks soooooo loudly at me and goes bright red. Thankfully, it's all over and done with within 20 seconds or less but I worry what he'll be like when he's a toddler??!! Surely it'll only get worse! Glad my lo isn't the only one with a temper! He tends to be rather miffed when i lay him down to change his nappy too so i have to sing to him to distract him!

Joshua is getting very very close to walking now. He has been pulling up for a couple of months and now takes a few steps between the sofa and armchair. He also loves blowing kisses at the moment and is sooooo happy to be crawling. He was fowl before he got mobile!

Anyway, just off to grab a cuppa. Hope you and babies are all fine.

hiya,

james-glad things are a wee bit better, Callum has little temper tantrums like james and Joshua-esp when changing the nappy!

violet-Callum has a comfort blanket that he has had since the day he was born and they are inseparable, if you can get Joshua to take one it should work like a charm! (esp if he's feling a bit overwhelmed at first at nursery)

conker-hope James is ok, that is so waful-we're all praying at this end for him and you all.

tasha-wow at your home, sounds lovely and such great news at lo's weight gain. I agree wit James about ds2-also middle children in close succession can be nightmare talkers due to older siblings talking or answering for them and often friends or relatives will encourage the baby to speak but forget the middle child, it happened a few times when i worked as a SALT helper and they were all fine with some one-to-one and fun games to encourage them to speak-he'll be fine.

Gill-sorry to hear Alex is having rough nights-hope it's just his teeth and they cut soon!

Callum isn't interested in ITNG but he loves Bob the builder, keeping up appearances and as time goes by, also at the moment he's riveted by wimbledon

hope i haven't missed anyone, p.s his walking is coming along well and he tried to run the other day too but fell flat on his nose (now i know why they say don't run before you can walk!!! )

pps the was about Callums other choice in tv NOT wimbledon-i have a strange obsession with Federer

Morning. The nights are slowly getting better. I can see that tooth just about cutting through the gum. Ds is still off his food but thankfully not waking up hungry in the night. He seems to just need his dummy.

Violet - you are doing nothing wrong with your ds. Kids go through phases so I'm sure he will come out of it soon. Could he be teething?

tasha - great news about ds1's weight. Don't think my dd was ever chubby! She has always been really skinny and can fit into ds's shorts easily. My nephew has only just started talking properly and he's 3.4. He's been having speech therapy.

James - I've not tried Calpol night but I have tried Medised several times and it had no sedative effect whatsoever. I managed to knock dd out with it once but that's because I accidentally overdosed her but then I was so worried that I woke her up and then she was awake for ages. Alex is waving and cuddling too. He does it to order and it's sooooo cute when he cuddles the cats!

Conker - does your ds still need milk in the day? Have you tried cows milk? Ds only has one bottle per day now. He has cows milk on his weetabix for breakfast and 2 little yoghurts to make up for the calcium.

Ds isn't that interested in tv but he did seem to like Something Special and was waving at Justin at the beginning and end.

Anyone got any nice plans for the weekend? I'm going to be doing some gardening with dd. I bought her a kiddies gardening set for £3 in Tesco (50% off). We're also going to a school summer fayre with a bouncy castle, face painting etc. Should be good fun.

hi everyone - took ds to rhyme something or other at the library and he's now asleep in the car so have discovered that our wireless broadband works in the car outside the house - always useful to know.

gill - we give ds phenergan which is an antihistamine and is meant to have a sedative effect to help him sleep at night when he is itchy, but we havent noticed the sedative effect working much - but calpol night did seem to make a bit of a difference to his sleep when he took it for teething.

i'm not sure if he still needs milk during the day or not but i wondered if not getting enough was one reason for waking at night. he gets wee bits of milk in things but always cooked - and a few spoonfuls of yoghurt etc but until a few weeks ago he was being sick with any dairy.

helibee - lol at callum wathcing as time goes by etc - with the early walking he probably thinks he's a grownup . ds enjoys the tennis too.

still waiting to hear more about james (dh's cousins baby not thread james). he had a good night two nights ago and everyone got some sleep but then had some fits yesterday afternoon and the close family got called back to the hospital. we ahvent heard from them this morning so again hoping that that is a good thing. i think its all just about waiting which must be just the worst thing in the world for dh's cousin and his wife. i cant imagine what they are going through. it makes me give ds a little extra hug every so often cause we are all so lucky to have them.

meant to say - the library thing was v funny. mostly two and three year olds with a few babies - only the parents were singing/rhyming - most of the kids were totally out of control and the poor library woman was just carrying on regardless but quite quietly.

either she hadnt much experience with kids or just thought it wasnt worth trying to get people to listen and she just wanted to get through her list of rhymes and then all these children would go. i did feel sorry for her.

thanks for all your good wishes for james too.

Conker, lol at the library experience! Poor woman though, at least it tired your ds out!

I'm hoping that no news on James is good news. His parents must be sick with worry . Still keeping my fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Gill, glad the nights are improving. I wish I could say the same .

I was up with Joshua 5 times last night. I didn't feed him as he fell fast asleep again as soon as I picked him up.

That's what makes me wonder if it is just extreme separation anxiety as I would have thought if it were teething then he'd be crying and in pain.

He just doesn't seem to want me to put him down so I'm up for ages trying to sneak out of his room!

He only has 2 bottom teeth so teething is a possibility but he was fine at night when teething last time. In fact I din't even realise he was teething til

I felt the tooth had popped through!

Whatever the reason, the nights here seem to be getting worse.

Good news though, I managed to get him to sleep without rocking or feeding him for his afternoon nap.

He whinged a bit but I gave him his teddy, he sucked it's ears and dozed off .

I'm amaazed at all your babies only having one or two bottles a day. Joshua stll has three 8oz bottles a day!

Mainly as I used two of them to feed him to sleep but if I can sort that out then I should think he'll only want 2.

Not a worry though, I enjoy feeding him, the only time he's quiet and cuddly!

havent got time to stop gonna get the dinner on but i wanted to tell you all that lo started sitting today...more updated pics on profile

I'm trying to put ds to bed at the moment. We're still trying cc and it is getting easier thankfully. He's starting to get the message that we're not going to stay with him.

conker - that's awful that he's being sick with dairy. Do you think the HV or gp would have any suggestions? Fingers crossed for James. My bil got meningitis when he was at university. It was a really scary time for his family.

violet - dd was milk obsessed and would have 4 or 5 bottles a day when she was 2!! Feeding her was the only way to get her to sleep. She never showed any signs of teething either. The only time I knew was when I saw the tooth had cut through.

Tasha - well done your lo!

Hi, meandmyjoe here! Shortened my name as I am tired of mistyping it when ds is grabbing at the laptop!

I've been away im the lake district for the past few days. We stayed in Appleby near Penrith and it was beautiful! Joseph seemed to enjoy the change of scenery and there was lots to keep us occupied!

Welcome violet! Just to let you know, I have exactly the same problem getting Joseph to sleep. Particularly in the day. i've always had to help him to sleep for naps but now nighttimes are becomming quite challenging too. It started to go belly up when he learned he could sit up from laying down. Instead of laying there peacefully and drifting off to sleep, he decided it would be more fun to sit up and cry for me, it's got worse now he can stand. I have read a whole thread about it on the sleep board so it would seem we are not alone!

The only way I could get him to settle tonight was by taking my top off that I'd been wearing all day and giving it to him to lick in his cot . Possibly a bit unconventional but it has worked! For now at least.

Congratulations Tasha's lo! Just checked out the pictures. He really is adorable. His lip looks amazing, he is so handsome!

Love to James, (both of them!) but keeping my fingers crossed that he makes a good recovery soon. It must be awful to see your child go through anything like that.

Right, better go make some tea. I have been rather busy unpacking and washing clothes from the holiday so I have neglected to make any, poor Joe had to make do with a heinz 'mums own recipe' jar. Not that he minded!

Hi again

Tasha- wow, house chnges sound lovely, I'd love to be able to get that much done in a day, what an accomplishment well done on the weight gain too.

Violet- I wouildn't worry to much about how ds will cope, or the staff, that's their job. I bet ds is great there, it really is amazing how much better behaved they can be with different carers. I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'they play up more for their parents' it's very true. I had the same worries with ds1 but i left putting him in care till 14 months and i think the habits were harder to break then, I did end up pulling him out as they said he would be better going 2-3 days and I' didn't want to do that. the taddy sounds like a great idea.

not much happening here, we had a few days in the city and I did a bit of shopping at the sales. (not as much as I'd have liked ) got some bargain clothes for dc's 50% off and a gold braclet for my mums 70th birthday.

LL loved riding around in homemakers centres cars.
mamjoe- holiday sounds nice, LOL about taking off your top, that sounds like a good trick.

Hiya, haven't time to catch up right now sorry we are off to s/wales shortly (funeral on monday) but just wanted to show gill and helibee this and wish everyone a good weekend. x

James, hope the funeral goes ok and that dp is coping. It must be such a sad time for you both.

Gill, how did you manage to get dd to sleep without milk in the end? I am struggling with Joshua. He has been whiney and crying on and off all day.

He had another crap night so I'm guessing he's exhausted.

Just had hum screaming for 10 minutes on me til he gave in and went to sleep.

He was obviously shattered as wouldn't let me put him down, wouldn't take his bottle, didn't want to play. Just sat rubbing his eyes and grizzling .

His sleep at night has completely gone to pot. I feel so tired I could cry! Even with co slleping he keeps wriggling and waking up crying.

I think he wants us close but wants his own space to. I am considering buying one of those bedside cots

that attach to a double bed so I can put my hand on him when he cries but so we are not sqishing him!

Anyone got any experience of these?

hi all

we got back form a week in nairn. lots of fab beaches which both dds loved - i've still got sand in places where sand should NOT be!

dd2 fell off the bed on thursday and has golf ball sized bruise on her head.

have tried to catch up but i'm sure i've missed something!

welcome viloetsmile. sorry to hear about your wee ones sleep problems. and sorry as no advice as i tend to feed to sleep when she wakes up during the night - but she goes back down ok for me and tends only to be up once or twice from 7.30 till 6am.

conker - hope wee baby james is ok.. really scary when you hear of things like this. it makes me want to go and give both mine a big cuddle. what about goats milk or soya milk - could he be started on them? was thinking of you you as we drove passed struan today

tasha - ds3 looks so cheeky and i love ds1 in his glasses - looks so grown up. can't believe you moved all the rooms about - with 3 of them there?!!!

gill - i know there was something i was going to say to you but can't remember at all!

james sorry to hear about your sil - hope it all goes ok on monday. had she recently had surgery or flown or was it just one of those things?

helibee - hope you are keeping ok - have you been showing callum off??

anyway dd2 has lots of new tricks - ask her where the birds are and she reaches up to the sky and and goes brrrrbrrrr. she's a whizz at climbling stairs - spent this last week following her up them (had taken a stair gate but it was an old house so it was too small).
she's started cruising along the furniture.

she is also starting to show her temper - if she doesn't get handed what she wants or if things are taken off her then she lets us know she's not happy.

i'm sure i've forgotten loads of other things to say. and apologies if i've forgotten anyone else.

off to have an early night - and will try an dupload some photos....

James sorry to hear about your SIL and i hope monday goes ok.

We decided to drive back from holiday last night rather then wasting today in the car and take advantage of dd's sleeping. Had a good week away Lizzie loved swimming everyday, and going down all the shutes and slides. Lexie wasn't to sure of the water but slowly got used to it although we wasn't to sure when she was trying to walk in the water.

She can now do 3 or 4 steps by herself.

Welcome violetsmile.

Sorry to hear about your sleeping problems, Lizzie (4.5yrs) didn't sleep through the night until she was over two and even now she wakes me up more then Lexie. Lexie sleeps through and has done since about 8weeks.

I had a convo with my HV and moved Lexie to Cows milk as she will not drink any formula and has gone from having 2 6oz bottles a day to 2 x 7oz bottles and 2 x 4oz bottles a day as well as 3 meals (plus anyother food she can get ) a day and is much happier.

Lizzie, glad the move to cows milk has been a success. DS seems to adore his formula. He's still on first milk so I am a bit worried about changing him to cows milk when he turns 1. Might just make it a very gradual transition and see how he likes the cows milk.

Lizzie didn't sleep through til she was 2? How the heck did you cope?! I feel crap after just a month of sleepless nights!

Thankfully, Joshua slept from 6:50pm til 4:55am which is still far too early to waking up but is by far the longes he has slept for weeks!

Stupidly, I kept thinking he was going to wake up so I stayed up watching a bloody documentary on Boyzone!

So I'm still knackered but releived that ds seems a lot happier today as he isn't so knackered.

My2weegirls, glad you all enjoyed the break. I keep thinking that we should book to go away somewhere but with Joshua's sleeping problems it doesn't seem the right time.

Anyway, feel a bit more positive after last night.

By the way mamjoe, I tried taking my top off and giving it to Joshua in bed last night and it worked like a charm! He settled fine and slept for ages so thank you!!!!!!!!!

With Lizzie i started at 11mths with cows milk and slowly changed over about 6 weeks before she was fully on cows milk, but then she was still having 5 9oz bottles a day.

I'm a SAHM so i had a nap when she did in the afternoon .