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

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

New thread!

Oh forgot to brag mention that Joseph points at things now including the big kitchen clock when you ask him where it is! He's still a bit hit and miss with the waving though, sometimes he waves as soon a someone waves to him, other times he just stares at them and acts like he has no idea what they're doing!

congratulations tt - very exciting. look forward to hearing more about due dates etc.

joe - ds does that - you think he's got something cracked, then you try to get him to show it to someone and he just stares blankly at you - sure they do it deliberately.

helibee - yes thanks much more cheerful - think i had pmt. also we have found a few more houses that we like, so hopefully we wont sell our lovely house then have nowhere to live whihc was looking like a possiblity for a while.

cant believe we are already into some babies walking - looked at ds this morning and then a photo of him as a new born and its incredible how quickly they are growing up - i know thats a cliche but its true.

did james like the zoo? think ds would like to go - he loves dogs and giggles and giggles at the chickens so he might like some bigger animals.

joe - i meant ds does that with the waving not the pointing - he points his finger but not really at anything - although maybe he knows what hes pointing at and i just havent worked out how to interpret it yet.

Morning folks, J seems to be back to getting up at a reasonable hour, unless it's the extra fresh air and excitement he's been getting the past week or so? Not got anything more exciting than a trip to the bank planned today, so we'll see.

Joes, thanks your post made me smile- you're braver than me to pull your family up on their behaviour, I just keep quiet, maybe it isn't the best approach.

helibee, congrats on Callum walking, what a clever chap! I'm dreading the walking unaided bit, because no sooner can they walk than they climb, run, sprint!!!

When we went to the zoo my friend brought her 15 month old baby who wanted to run everywhere and cried when she put him in the pushchair. My niece has one the same age and she said she has to make trips into town less than 30 mins long because he goes into meltdown if he has to be in the pushchair any longer than that! eek!

Conker, hope you find a lovely house! You'll know when you see "The One" it'll feel just right. Did James enjoy the zoo? hmm, well no, not really. I don't think he looked at one single animal (although there were a few ducks waddling around up close and he liked those when we fed them)

He mainly enjoyed people watching, especially other babies in buggies, and small children. Also liked seeing the monorail going overhead, so perhaps he will like trains. Under 3's were free admission to the zoo but personally I wouldn't go again until he's about a year older.

Better go, he's grumbling. x

Well james, I'm not sure my approach to telling my family to stop winding him up actually is the best method! I end up looking completely neurotic and over protective so I still get blamed for Joseph's moods! There is no right or wrong way and either way we come away feeling like we've done the wrong thing. Just a crapy part of motherhood!! Glad James seems to be sleeping a bit better now. Joe didn't get up til 6:45am which is a huuuuuggee improvement.

Conker, glad my ds isn't the only one who 'forgets' how to wave! I really think they enjoy us desperately trying to get them to do it and then assuring people that 'he CAN do it, honestly!' Awkward little devils!

Have to say, I can't wait for the walking and beginning to understand the world a bit more stage. My ds won't go in a buggy for more than a few minutes now before he's complaining to come out so I don't think it'll be any different for us! He is really frustrated at the moment and really has never enjoyed being a baby so I'm hoping he will be a much happier, less frustrated toddler!

Anyway, blabbed on for ages, bestter go tidy my pig sty.
x

Hi all,

Congrats TT - I'm terribly broody and very jealous when i see pregnant women but DH is dead set against another at the moment so we'll have to see when Caitlin gets a bit older - only problem is I'm no spring chicken and so my clock is ticking rather rapidly.

We're off on hols on Sunday for 2 weeks (have hired a villa in Menorca) so we're looking forward to getting away as a family although the amount of stuff we need to take for her seems to be double what DH and i have packed for ourselves. Thank God the airline have given us 10kgs of infant allowances for all baby related stuff as we'd never have managed to be under our luggage allowance.

Congrats to all the walking babies. They're along way ahead of Caitlin - she hasn't even mastered crawling yet. Although I don't think it will be too long.

After my mum' visit last week Caitlin has added a new word to her vocabulary and now spouts nan nan nan - unfortunately she didn't start doing it until 2 days after my Mum went home but she was obviously paying attention when my mum was teaching her it. She now also seems to know that I am Mum as when I get home from work she goes mad when I pick her up to say hello, bounces away in my arms and says mum mum mum. She used to say it randomly but now I think she know that Mum is me which is lovely.

Her sleep is a bit all over the place too. Last night we didn't hear a peep from her all night till 8.15 this morning but the previous night I got up 3 times to her (although she did just want her dummy back and was asleep again within minutes so can't complain too much).

James - don't worry. I think all of us first timers are 'winging it' to be honest. I didn't notice any of Caitlins 3 teeth coming through so you're not alone. Your SIL sounds like a witch though.

some of us 2nd timers re winging it too!

hi all

tt - congratulations - hope you are keeping well

conker - have you trid taking ds to palacerigg country park (free, lots of animals to look at - though watch fred the donkey, he eeeeee-aaaawwwwwa very loudly when people get close) think both my dds just about pee'd their pants when he did it!)

thanks for all the sleep vibes - dd1 has sleep for 11 hours the past couple of nights and dd2 has only been up once - so they must be working.

i remember getting quite brrody about 9 months on with dd1 - fortunately i don't have that feeling now!

helibee - callums's doing really well. now that's him done the irst step there will be no stopping him!

it's taken me 40 min to type all that as i'm at work and keep getting interuppted - will try and catch up more later.....

Hello again

trying to keep up with all these stepping out babies,

i let LL use his walker the other day and was keeping my arms up behind him ready to catch him, not expecting him to fall sideways one grazed head, poor mite.

JB - zoo in the rain, sounds fun, we could do with some rain here, send it over.

hersetta- have a great holiday, a villa sounds so fab. and who knows romantic

helibee- we haver a few that's not my -puppy, dragon, dinosaur- they're great aren't they!

TT WOW, wow, WOW CONGRATULATIONS great news.

probably TMI but aunt flow returned here, It was a mixed reaction of shock and disgust at them again, but also a little as it means maybe will TTC ourselves shortly.

Hi all - it's been a very busy few days at work so I've been a bit stressed. Can't wait for the weekend!

Hope Struan gets better soon conker.

Congratulations TT. That's wonderful news. Keep us updated.

I've been feeling broody on and off. I actually had a dream last night that I was delivering a baby! I'd love to have another baby soon but we just can't afford for me to take any more maternity leave for a while .

James - it is really hard. It was dh's turn to get up with the dcs this morning but annoyingly I couldn't get back to sleep I'll email you about the recipes - thanks. Ds loved seeing all of the animals when we went to a farm. He had a huge grin on his face all afternoon. Hope your hips get better soon.

Dd hated being in the pushchair from very early on. She always started off in there but shortly after had to be carried or when she could walk she walked holding on with reins. Fortunately ds will stay in the pushchair for hours without complaining.

had a look online my2weegirls - looks good - will have to give that a try.

gill - the thing about sitting in buggies etc i find really interesting - its funny how two children from the same family can be so different. I'm fascinated by the whole nature/nurture thing and finding out how a personality develops from such a tiny age.

my2weegirls - wonder if the broody at nine month thing is a regular occurence with people cause definately more people have mentioned it on this thread in the last couple of weeks.

uki - you're lucky lasting 9 months - mine came back after about 2, then went away again till about 6 months - thought breastfeeding was supposed to keep it away longer but appears not. but yes its nice to know you can ttc again if you want to.

hope you have a great holiday hersetta - very .
cant remember what else i was going to say but i always do huge long posts so will cut myself off now.

Afternoon all. I'm so glad it's Friday. Got any nice plans for the weekend. I think I just need to chill out after my incredibly crap week at work. I've seriously got to start looking for a new job. One more week to go then I've got a week off - woo hoo

Anyone know why my 3 year old is so miserable in the morning even after having 12 hours sleep? Might start a thread on it.

hi everyone! sorry i've not posted for so long. our new internet connection is very dodgy and drives me up the wall. i'm at work right now so thought i'd get a sneaky one in. not had time to ctach up properly with everyone though so hope you're all well and the babes are doing good. dd is very nearly walking. record so far is nine steps. she's climbing up stairs and generally getting into everything! the other day she gave dh a real black eye, a proper shiner by headbutting him. he's going to get ribbed at work today! she's getting more clingy, especially if i've been working the day before. i worked yesterday and doing overtime today so she's not been away from me two days running. this morning she actually cried when i left so this is the first time i've really felt bad and missed her. i know she's fine though. work's going really well but i don't have enough free time now. i'm very grateful i'm not working full time. anyway must go beacuse boss ahs just come in.

big hugs tasha x

GillL

DH is taking me out to dinner and film tomorrow night apart from that nothing.

I have just one thing to say

TOKENTOTTY

Don't just drop into the conversation that you pg and then disappear again. Give us some more details .

my goodness - a whole weekend with no postings? even the august 2005 thread is above us in the list. hmm will have to think of something to chat about.

left dh and ds still sleeping this morning when i left for work (and i left at 8.25 - not exactly early). slightly .

now sitting at my desk rather bored as usual at the moment, and trying to work out whether i could move house to south of glasgow, move jobs and still think about having another baby roughly this time next year? new employer might not be very chuffed (particularly as i intend to leave completely after number 2) but not sure i fancy a commute across the kingston bridge 3 times a week. hmm.

surely somebody else has better chat than this?

Hi conker. I was surprised too. I was all prepared to spend some time catching up.

I'm envious of your dh getting a lay in too. Ds woke at 10:30 last night and didn't go back to sleep til 12. Then he woke at 1am and was awake until 2:45am. Dd woke up at 6:30 even though she didn't go to sleep til just after 9 last night

I've been thinking about when to have the next baby too. A while ago I'd been thinking about ttc early next year but I'll be in the same boat thinking about moving jobs. Just recently though I've been thinking I might wait til ds is 2 1/2 to ttc. It just seemed that we were getting back on our feet financially after mat leave with dd and then I was off with ds. We're so far overdrawn it's depressing. And now we've found out we won't be getting our bonus this year so there's virtually no chance ds's room will be done for him unless I stay at my current employer's til he's 18 months so I don't have to pay back any maternity allowance.

Had a bad few days and nights. The dcs are ill again. They don't seem to have any symptoms other than high temperatures. Ds's has been 101 for the last 2 days but the calpol and calprofen is keeping it at bay. I felt really sorry for him last night cos he was shaking and screaming on and off. We phoned the doctors and they just advised to keep giving him the paracetamol. He's still got another day's worth of antibiotics that he got last monday.

Yesterday I panicked. I was in the kitchen when I heard dd fall and then scream. When I went into the living room her mouth was full of blood I thought she must have knocked a tooth out or something but we worked out she had fallen over with a chopstick in her mouth. She was using them as drumsticks. Needless to say they went straight in the bin. When do kids stop putting everything in their mouth.

poor you gill - you dont sound the most cheerful just now. I hate how money rules so much of what we all do - i sometimes think if someone was to just hand over a few thousand pounds - not loads, just a little bit, it would make everything so much easier.

i really really want to leave my job and do the kilt business, but just in the last few weeks, people have been going on about the credit problems and how people will have much less money to spend in the future, so maybe now is the wrong time to be thinking of setting up a business with a non-essential item.

and then with your dcs not feeling well, it makes it worse too. hope the calpol helps - ds is just now starting to feel better from his cold/cough last week - seems to take them ages to get over things.

sorry i cant help - just sympathise.

on a lighter note - ds has been sleeping even more badly than usual with his cold (and he's usually pretty bad), so he's been coming into bed with us every night for the last week or so.

two nights ago, i was so tired when feeding him, that i knew it felt a bit sore but didnt wake up enough to look. the next morning, i had bruises all over the side of my breast where he'd been sucking, so i think i have confirmed that he's really just sucking for comfort rather than milk.

therefore, i wondered about introducing a dummy just overnight - havent put it on a specific thread as i expect there will be pretty strong arguments against, so thought maybe you lot would have some more moderate advice? please?

Wow it's been quiet on here lately! How are you all? I can practically hear the echo of me typing on this thread

Well, I have absolutely nothing to talk about really, just thought I'd see how you're all doing.

Gill, your poor dd, she must have scared herself (not to mention you!) Is she OK now?

I can't offer much help with the sleeping issues either. My ds was awake at midnight for a few mins til I cuddled him back to sleep, then up at 2am and wouldn't settle til 3:30, then up at 6 so I'm knackered too! I really can't work out what I'm doing wrong. How can a baby go from sleeping for 12-13 hours a night just a month or two ago to being awake every few hours??

I really hope your dcs feel better soon gill.

Conker, was just thinking today how if I just had an extra £10,000 it would make all the difference! I hate that we can only afford one car and my dh works 12 hour shifts so on days like today I'm pretty much housebound. I know 2 cars is a luxury but somedays I could go mad and would love to take ds to more places then town centre shops!

I'd love dh to be able to work less hours and actually be able to see more of his son. He does help out a lot, does his fair share but sometimes I look at my friends who's partners don't work at all and they seem such better parents and fair more relaxed/ happy. Of course, they have no money really as they are on benefits but they do seem to have far more flexibility and after our mortgage has swallowed up dh's wage, they seem to have more money too. Is it bad that I envy them?? For most of the week, I am effectively a single mum which I could cope with on a decent night's sleep but now, no sleep and none stop mothering in the day seems to be getting hard.

Sorry to depress you all! Better go, just wanted a moan

As for the dummy conker, Id' say give it a go. My ds would never take a dummy as he's awkward, he never really used sucking as a comfort thing, if it didn't feed him he didn't want to know! (Takes after his mummy!)

I'm sure some people will disagree but I say do whatever may save your sanity and your boob!

hi all

conker - don't even contemplate the kingston bridge commute! i don't have to do it often fortunately, but it's horrendous!!!!! as for the dummy, i'm of the - do whatever it takes to get some sleep - thinking. dd2 was up at 10.30, 1.30 and 4.30 for about an hour each time last night and i gave her milk and a cuddle eachtime to get her back. and when she wasn't up dd1 was coughing. so we didn't get much sleep.

dp and i had a nice day out in glasgow today though it cost 25quid for our train tickets - bloody ridculous - we would have been so much cheaper taking the car.

gill - i hope your dc get better soon. it's soo hard when they are ill. my dd1 seems to be putting things in her mouth again too - don't know if it's because she sees dd2 doing it

meandmyjoe - i know what you are saying about feeling like a single parent. dp's work has been really busy the past 3 months and i feel like i've been doing everything. hopefully that's thinkgs settled down now though. and agree with you about the car - if i don't get out the house somewhere by about 10am with the 2 of them, then we all get crabbitt .

hi leifmum - hope your internet connection setttles down soon! how's the house now you've been in a while?
we booked our holiday for this year - off to nairn in a few weeks - got a cottage right by the sea. can't wait.

how and where is everyone else?

HI THERE

sorry to say this BUT, i'm so glad we are not the only ones having sleep issues i thought I'd be reading on here, about everyone and their wonderful 12 hour sleepers.
we have had a couple of shocking nights with LL
2 nights ago he just screamed from 11:30- nearly 2am. I don't know maybe it is teeth time again, or was just to hot. Last night he slept better, had him in less pj's and no heater on. (it is winter here) But night temps vary a bit.

My 2weegirls- how far is it to Glasgow? that sounds sooo expensive 25 pound.

meandmyj - moan away, i think life is tough in the UK, you need a lot of money just to survive and that is a bit
I could tell you all to move to Oz, you could live like millionaires here
Actually we used to live in Sydney but when dc's came along we thought we would take a tree change( and move to the countryside), it's pretty cruisy here, dr, hairdresser, rates and even dentist is about half price here, dh and i have had loads of negleted dental work, which is a bit sad to boast about.

conker - i tried to give LL a dummy the other night during scream fest, he didn't take it properly but did help a little as nothing else was calming him.

gill- hope ds is a bit better, such a worry when they have high temps.

leif- my computers bad as well, it won't connect till i try about half a dozen times, and the mouse is dodgy, dh keeps threatening to buy me a mac, but i don't want to spend the money and just keep putting up with this old dinosaur.

Ds was pretty much back to his old self after he had a 3 hour sleep yesterday afternoon. Dd was really hot this morning so I've stayed at home with her. I really hate work at the moment so any old excuse. Dh took ds to mum's on his way to work so I could go back to bed and have some one to one time with dd.

Ouch about the bruises conker. Hope it feels better soon. Dd always went back to a milk only diet when she was ill. Even at 2 she would happily drink 6 or more bottles a day. I would go for the dummy. I've seen threads about dummies and there is a lot of support for it. People have said that if babies like to suck then there's no problem. I think you'd only get arguments against it if you had only just had your baby and were still establishing bf.

meandmyjoe - I felt like a single mum to dd up til she was 9 months. Dh worked nights, days, weekends, all 12 hours shifts. He'd leave at 6:30am, get home at 7:30pm, have his dinner and then go to bed. And on his days off he would sleep in til 2pm. I hated it. My sil is a single mother on benefits. She hates not having money to take her kids out. She doesn't help herself though. She just spent £60 on presents for them starting pre-school and she had to get something for the baby too

Dd is fine now thanks (injury wise). After she'd got over the initial shock and we'd got rid of the blood she didn't mention it again.

m2 - glad you had a nice day out. I have to make sure dh gets out every day or he gets very grumpy I'd come to the conclusion dd was regressing too. Does your dd2 ask to bed spoon fed too?

Hope your nights get better soon uki.

of course I meant does dd1 ask to be spoonfed

Message withdrawn

Hi folks, sorry haven't posted much, been a bit down and didn't want to moan on the thread. Congrats, knickers! How lovely for you, one of each! You must be pleased. How are you feeling these days?

Gill, glad dd is ok now, that must have been quite scary. I've had to confiscate all J's wooden spoons as he kept trying to swordswallow them or poke his eye out on purpose with them. Sorry you're having a crap time of it at work, any chance of you looking for a new job? Has your mum tried any of those recipes yet?

Uki, sorry to hear lo's not sleeping so well, those teeth can be pesky things, more trouble than they're worth.

Leifmum, wow on the walking, 9 steps is amazing!

Lizzie, what film did you go and see? How are the girls?

My2weegirls your cottage by the sea sounds lovely, I'm quite envious! We'll have to get round to showing James the beach this summer, he hasn't seen it yet.

Meandmyjoe, I know what you mean about the non-stop mothering getting you down. I'm actually thinking of going back to work fulltime because the constant need to be on the alert is so wearing I'm getting really fed up and claustrophobic, and I like the thought of someone else watching him while I get out and be an adult for a few hours a few times a week. I've had a look round and there's a childminder not 5 minutes walk away in a huge detached house with a lovely garden. She sounds really nice and organised too so I'm off to meet her on thursday with a view to her looking after James from july/august onwards.

In other news there's a slight outside chance of me being pg (a-bloody-gain) after a bit of a drunken mixup with dates etc but can't test fora couple of weeks as it's too early. The rhythm method is not good for stoopid tipsy forgetful people! oh well.

Took J to see some baby piglets on sunday and he loved them, so I bought him a rubber piggy and he keeps babbling to it, it's very sweet!

Conker, dummies are a good solution for comfort suckers. James has one as he's going to sleep, and when he's upset as he tries to suck anything which gets near his face when he's upset (my arm, face etc) don't worry about what anyone else thinks, they're a little bit of comfort for them in a big confusing world, no harm done if you ask me.