July 2008 - Living in the Twilight Zone of never quite enough sleep to be compus mentus

[libralady]

Just thought I'd better set up another thread as the old one is just about to run out.

oh, and yes i agree, sk re wavering on bf - am very pro as you can tell but i have had so many moments where i could have just given up there and then...

Hello, have been ill with horrible cold + fever but seem to be on the mend now... can I join the Bumbo gang?! They are great and also hilarious the first time you put your little one into it and they look so 'whaaaaat??' to be upright on their own.

Jabs here today as well, P is enrolled in a vaccine study so not only will she also be immunised against meningitis B but one of the hepatitis, and they come round to the house to do it all so it's less stressful for me. Although today they took some blood and despite the anaesthetic cream she really didn't like that one bit (unsurprisingly).

Yey to Disney for smiles and to SK for successful potty training! DS is starting to know what's going on but his words aren't good enough yet so no point until he can actually tell us when he needs to go. I'm thinking maybe in the new year... there's a resolution!

Managed to shower and dye the greys out of my hair today so am overall feeling a bit more like my old self. Yey!

Hope the bf gets better... after seeing that Kate Garraway programme I am tempted to keep going for longer this time.

Hello, have been ill with horrible cold + fever but seem to be on the mend now... can I join the Bumbo gang?! They are great and also hilarious the first time you put your little one into it and they look so 'whaaaaat??' to be upright on their own.

Jabs here today as well, P is enrolled in a vaccine study so not only will she also be immunised against meningitis B but one of the hepatitis, and they come round to the house to do it all so it's less stressful for me. Although today they took some blood and despite the anaesthetic cream she really didn't like that one bit (unsurprisingly).

Yey to Disney for smiles and to SK for successful potty training! DS is starting to know what's going on but his words aren't good enough yet so no point until he can actually tell us when he needs to go. I'm thinking maybe in the new year... there's a resolution!

Managed to shower and dye the greys out of my hair today so am overall feeling a bit more like my old self. Yey!

Hope the bf gets better... after seeing that Kate Garraway programme I am tempted to keep going for longer this time.

Happy 3rd month birthday to my Luke.

He's had a great day today! First of all DS1 was running around like a headless chicken and jumped on the sofa (where I'd placed Luke) and yes you guessed it - their heads clashed. I was in the kitchen getting DS1's morning snack prepared when I heard Luke screaming and by the time I'd got into the lounge his had real tears rolling down his face.

I gathered him up and went upto baby clinic earlier than anticpated to get him checked out. Nothing wrong but he's got a huge lump on his forehead above his left eye. Wanted to mention this to the HV as if I'd left it and someone saw him in a few days with a black eye I'm sure SS would be called .
Then I allowed this horrible woman to stab needles into his legs for his second lot of jabs. Needless to say he cried again and this time it set me off (Can I still blame this on hormones?)

Well last week was the week from hell with DS1. Left home Wednesday night (for an hour) as Sam was being a PITA. On Tuesday and Wednesday he screamed his way home from school and then had a massive tantrum saying he didn't want me anymore and wanted me to leave. As a result I was in floods of tears and had to call DH home from work as I just could not cope with him. I'm not a person who gets emmotional and burst into tears at the drop of a hat, but when he said he didn't want me as a mummy anymore it just got to me. I think it sunk in that night after I left and took Luke with me. He apologised and although not remorseful (that's not Sam) he has been better this week.

Had a night off from him on Thursday night as he stayed at my Mum and Dad's because the plumber was coming to fit our new bath at last. DH borke this back in July and since then we've been having to shower and bath at my parents whilst we've got the insurance to sort the repairs out.

Then on Friday he got sent to the Deputy Head for hitting another boy with a toy fire engine and making his nose bleed

Saturday, DH worked in Barnet so visited my Nan and then had to keep DS1 occupied again, and on Sunday DH was involved in the cricket club's sponsored bike ride around Poole Harbour so I helped out (with the boys in tow) doing support vehicle. Oh and he's working again next Saturday and then on Sunday week I have my sponsored Ladies Driving Challenge at Bovington Camp for the Marie Curie Cancer people.

Luke is now sleeping through till 7am so things on that front are getting better. In fact the last two nights we've dropped the dream feed.

You can bet your bottom dollar this will go tits up next week as DH is working away for the week in Wales (wish I could go home and see family/friends) and he'll be away for my birthday and our WA next Thursday. Was thinking about opening a bottle of wine and celebrating on my own, but had second thoughts as I need to be compus mentus incase the boys need me

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but after my multiple posts last week on the June thread I thought I'd lay low for a bit

I will try to catch up with the thread now.

Hope you are all well and the babes are thriving.

Bebe, you have given P the best start in life. Don't beat yourself up. I gave up BF almonst immediately as L had tongue tie, although I managed to express for 4 weeks before my supply diminished. As others have said, a happy mummy is much better.

Forgot to say that L has put on 12 1/2 oz this week and now weighs a whopping 13lb 8 1/2oz.

Have I killed this thread?

Haha! No!
P was weighed yesterday (8weeks), she is 11lb 8oz, a steady smidge under the 75th percentile. We breed 'em big in this house...!
Sorry you are having a rough time with Sam. DS refused to play with me when P was a few weeks old - literally turned his back on me - and I was in floods. I can't remember how old Sam is but it sounds like he's old enough to know that things are very different now but perhaps not enough to fully understand that he is still special, still loved, etc. All sounds v difficult with your DH busy so much.. I'd say to buy a bottle of champagne and have a glass on each night!

Hi all,

BEBE - You've done all you can, I agree with all the advice on here, a happy mummy = a happy baby, so do what you think is best. Do you post on the August thread too? (like Tjuice and Libra post on the June one?) Just wondered...

LIBRALADY - My DS is being the same, mostly loving but a slap and a pinch and a bite here and there, it's so annoying and he's only 2, so probably doesn't understand what's going on as much as your DS..

MINKUS - How you getting on with the prep for your 'big party'?

TJUICE - are you still in the UK, or back at home now? How did the flight go?

WW - How was Tapdancing? I went back to Aqua on Monday night, was fab, really miss the gym.

KAZ - where are you?

PEANUT - How you getting on?

CILC - 6.15? You've given me an idea, I feel quie motivated at the moment, will look into that....

Sorry if I've missed any one. Hope you're all well

OMG - Just checked on my Ebay (selling some stuff thats ending today,) and my Medela Elactric BP is at £16 ATM, with 9 hours to go! Whoopeee

Jodie Sold my Medela pump last week for £27 on e-Bay

Wow, who'd have thought there was such a demand? I suppose they are still getting a bargain.

Great news about the breastpumps, mine is ancient now, been used for 3 babies.

I am getting so fed up with the pass the baby game with DP at night, B is so unsettled and once the older two are in bed we just pass a grumpy unsettled baby between us, I BF her she falls asleep but the minute I move her she wakes up, DP cannot settle her at all, she settles fine during the day by herself. I am thinking I will have to take her to bed ince the older ones have gone, give her a feed and hopefully she will settle a bit better. Starting to feel we really need our evenings back.

minnie - glad you are feeling a bit better. I actually straightened my hair today AND have make up on, plucked my eyebrows too so look a bit more respectable.

What age did you start using a bumbo from? Do you just plonk them in it?

libralady - ouch your poor babies heads, I remember DD1 throwing a full cup of juice at DD2's head when she was a few weeks old, she's none the worse for all the bumps she's had, I think second borns are made of sterner stuff than their PFB siblings. DS1 sounds like he has a lot of adjusting to do I'm sure he will settle down soon.

Also getting fed up with the other two up in the night, I actually think they are getting worse, DD1 keeps getting up and coming into our room to be told to get back to bed, DD2 just screams, DP goes in settles her but then she can start up again. She is actually worse if I go in. I don't know how DP does it as he's up maybe 4 times a night and gets up at 6am for work (I get an extra hour).

Sorry for the moan today am off now to start dinner

Libralady, I think your ds1 is being entirely normal. My dd1 told me the other fay that she was going to call the police to put me in prison as I wasn't being nice to her! I don't think I am being any stricter than normal but I suppose she sees Bryony screaming and getting rewarded by cuddles and never being told off, and wonders why I don't do the same to her. I think trying to see things from her point of view makes it a little easier to bear, but I do find her very hard work at the moment.

Sweetkitty, Bryony is 2 months now and holds her head up well so I've been putting her in the bumbo the last few days and she seems fine for short periods. they are expensive though and only get used for a few months, so I've borrowed one rather than buying - I suspect they resell on ebay quite easily though, although I wouldn't be organised enough to ge tround to that!

sk - dd1 screams in the night and if i go in will totally freak - trouble is, dh sleeps through it

we have a bumbo and dd1 loved it - must get it out - it was fairly short term though with us - my dds have very chubby thighs and by about 7 months she was getting stuck!

chubby waists too - am already having to cut the elastic on F's tights (3-6 month!!)

they take after their father i say...

libra hope Sam settles down soon - they do find it hard don't they? I say def get the champagne..

ponto when i was looking 2 years ago, bumbos were selling at almost full price including postage on ebay - so i bought one new and will hopefully get most of that back!

Hi All,

I agree re bumbos - they are fab! Bubbas look sooo cute in them too and great for feeding them when weaning. I looked mine out today and put Calvin in it for a 5 mins.

BEBE - agree re bf. I wanted to bf for much longer this tiem but it wasn't to be. I did and do feel bad about it but it was impossble for me to manage in the circumstances - you have done really well anwya.

JODIE I sold my medela for £43.00. The trick is to chuck in afew freebies - people love that. I threw in some disposable breast pads, nipple cream, 1 pair of reusable breast pads and some breast shields. I even sold the third hand manual pump - only got £2 for it but at least someone is getting the use of it and it is being recycled. Tap was great although shoes are a tad tight so have ebayed new ones.

Bellydancing tomorrow I really miss the gym too but there is only so much I can do - I'll get back to a gym when C starts nursery in January.

CILC - how is the homeopathic stuff doing? Were you at the gym at 6am so your Dh is home with DC? I always find I am initially starving when going to the gym -takes a while for your body to regulate .

SK - glad you thought again about OU - thought you were a bit sadomasachistic there! Do something fun - let your hair down and enjoy life for a bit And bumbos do keep their price really well.Why don't you ask parents/in-laws for 1 for Xmas?

Well DD had another hissy fit at dance school yeterday - I think something must have happened to upset her in class (she is still too young to communicate properly) so she shan't be going back - tears and hysteria! Also had a call form nursery today and had to pick her up early - poor wee soul has yet another cold and fever/cough! She was being all pathetic so wnet and brought her home.

First timers - you go from sleepless nights due to teeny bubba needing fed, to sleepless nights with teething and broken sleep with cold after cold after cold intermittently broken up with chickenpox/hand, foot and mouth and various other kiddy things - scarlet fever is doing the rounds at them moment! Argg!

Well must be off to relax a bit.

take care allxxxx

weeble - I decided last year to leave DD1 until she was 4 before she went to dancing, when she was 3 she was still having peeing accidents and I don't think she would have had the concentration to follow the dance teacher etc now this year she is really into it big time. Hope DD is feeling better soon, fingers crossed we will miss all the snots this year.

thank you for all the advice re bumbos don't know why I haven't had one before now not like me B is the same age as Calvin and has good head control already I though they had to be at least 3 months. I don't tend to have chubby babas either so would probably last a while and as you all say easy to resell.

Maybe I could get something for my old pump then don't have all the bits and intructions but it works fine.

Woo hoo! After a terrible day yesterday with nasty injections and subsequent screaming Poppy slept from 7:30pm to 5am!!!! My boobs are like rocks this morning!
I'm sure it is just a one off - not building any expectations for tonight..

libralady - sorry to hear your ds1 is being so difficult. He has had you to himself for a long time and is probably a little jealous and confused over Luke.

SK - sounds like you need to do something about your older girls waking in the night. Bribery? Star chart? Stern telling off? Dire warnings at bedtime that they must stay in bed? How about a special breakfast cereal if they're good? (Something like those mini variety boxes for example?)

Yeah for you and Poppy ISAIDNO! I can only dream, Sam was going from 11-5/6 now he's starting to wake at 3.30 [booo] Might start 'weaning' him onto hungry baby milk, it worked with DS1.

SK, I really feel for you, When I was heavily pregnant DS1 was up 3-4 times in the night and we created this problem of having him in with us, but even then it was a bad night as he kicked and punched and wiggled all night, so I just bit the bullet and took a week off work (so I could sleep in the day when he was at nursery, I know you don't have that luxery, but maybe DH?) it took 3 days (and no sleep) but we cracked it, the fisrt night I slept on the floor in his room next to the bed, then I gradually got further to the door! ISAIDNO has some good ideas too.

LIBRALADY - Hasn't DS1 just started school? my DS1 now cries when I leave him anywhere (even granny and granpa's!) but he's just been moved up out of the baby room at nursery, so another change there as well as at home, maybe that's some of your DS's problem too?

Did anyone watch Suppernanny last night? I only watched it for a little bit and I git so upset at the little girl telling her mummy that she hated her and how upset she got when she was moved inti her own room, I don't know if I'd have been as strong as that mummy, and I can truely see how that family ended up in that situation.

Morning all, thanks for all your sympathies with DS1. We too watched Supernanny last night with shocked faces.
The problem we have is that DS1 is so good 95% of the time it is the other 5% he is bad and it seems so much worse because we're not used to it IYSWIM. He did kick off again last night at tea. I made him Chicken Kiev as he asked for it and then he promptly refused to eat it.
It was taken away from him and he was asked to get ready for bed (he goies to bed at 7pm on school nights and it was 6.30pm) so he shouted NO at us and went upstairs, but when we went up 20 minutes later he was on the floor in his bedroom with every toy out in the middle of the floor. Now we don't mind him playing but we have a rule that he only gets one thing out at a time. If he wants another toy, he needs to put the first one away.
All hell broke out and I'm afraid voices got raised. Then we watched Supernanny and felt really guilty as we were doing what the parents were doing wrong (shouting not hitting and certainly not using bad language). So felt a bit numb afterwards and DH and I said that there is no way DS1 is ever as bad as the children shown on Supernanny and that we are very fortunate really. I know its just attention seeking but with everything going on we are so tired and must admit we don't do ourselves any favours by not going to bed until 11.30pm.

Anyhow, on a positive note, I don't want to appear boasting but DH has had to wake Luke at 7am the last two mornings to feed him [] which allows me to sleep in and then he wakes me at 8am so I am up before he leaves for work (luckily he's only working locally this week and hasn't had early starts or nights away - that's next week).

I don't ever remember having to wake DS1 for his morning feed.

Right a new day has dawned so we're going to start afresh and draw a line over last nights behaviour. Let's see what this new day brings.

Off to get dressed. Catch you all later.

LLxx

Just a quickie, Sam has cut a tooth this morning at 11 weeks! (well 12 tomorrow)

Isaidno- oohh Lucky you... fingers crossed it continues!

Abigail was a right pain to feed last night and hardly took anything. She took about 2 hours before settling off to sleep so didnt go off till 12 . Thankfuly she slept through till 7.30 though so that was nice!

Ive been up earlt this morning packing our bags. Abigail and I are off to my parents (50 miles away) for a few days.
My sister who lives near them is a hairdresser and is going to colour and cut my hair for me!- Cant wait!

Dh is going to miss Abigail like crazy! Last night when he came in from work he called her name saying hello and he was greeted by the biggest smiles from her.. Bought a tear to his eye bless him!

I recorded Supernanny last night and am just watching it now whilst waiting for Abigail to wake for her next feed before heading off.
[shocked] Id die if Abigail got like those kids!

Jodie - A tooth! blimey!

Wow Jodie a tooth

Well Aga is in and running but got a long way to go before everything is back to normal......argh I hate being in a guddle

Abbie is doing great...sleeping through...babbling and laughing ...and she turned over the other day

DS4 getting into nursery after Oct hols
DS2(14)...brought home by police after caught drinking with friends I feel awful and wonder where I have gone wrong He is extremely sorry and of course promises never to it again....he didn't even feel ill and I really hoped he would. Oh the joys of having a big family....

Minipink - You are not doing anything wrong, my parents are the best ever and I was out drinking at 14 (well there was nothing else to do) But I never got caught And Rolling Over, wow! I don't want that to happen just yet, I quite like it that he stays where he's put!

Pigley - enjoy it at your mums and have a big rest and let grandma do all the work! I'm off to my mum and dads on 6th Oct, for a week, can't wait.... sunshine here I come (I'm getting my hair done there too!)