December 2007 - Oh what fun, they are almost ONE!

[Caz10]

OK here we are ladies!

BT - sorry to hear things have got so bad. Be kind to yourself now you've got a bit of a breather from work.

Insy- what a bugger about your CM, I really hope you can get it sorted.

Just read so many posts and now can't remember who said what! (as usual!)

K finally seems to have rid herself of snot (tho I'm sure it will be back soon....) and we've now had 3 weeks of her sleeping through from 7.30 til 6.30, still in shock over that one

I finally have an op date of the 6th of Jan. Feel very scared now it's finally real. I hate hospitals and the surgeon is so serious (app. very good at what he does just no people skills!) I just hope it will all be worth it and I'll be able to hear properly for the first time in years.

Don't think I can wait til after K's birthday to put up decorations, I'm too excited about xmas. We're having a few people round on her Birthday as it's a Saturday think I'll make mulled wine and cake, lots of cake

New Xmas name? Has it worked? Not sure I like it - anyone got any better suggestions?

Love the name Melly, and I'm glad you've got teh op date at last. Hope chrismas and birthdays will keep your mind off it.

Bouncing - I'm so sorry you're going through hell, but glad you've at least made some progess in the night weaning. Glad you have a doc's appointment, do you think he'll get you some ADs? I really feel for you and hope you can get sorted soon. It's bad enough not sleeping because of dcs but to not be able to sleep yourself is rubbish.

Even more snot here. We're not over the last lot of colds from a couple of weeks ago and now DH has caught another cold. He had a temperature last night and lots of snot. He's still got his cough from last time, so has DS.

More little steps from DS, he'll be walking soon.

[Waves hello to everyone else]

BT sorry to hear things are bad, but at least your HV was able to help. Sounds like the night weaning is going well for you, ds has only been waking twice for a few nights now, but last night and monday night he has been impossible to settle after he wakes up the second time. He goes back to sleep when I feed him but then wakes up as soon as I try to put him in his cot, bring him in our bed he climbs all over us, chats, pokes our eyes, shouts, feeds, dozes then wakes up again...

I am feeling VERY guilty because my parents are looking after them next weekend when we go to a wedding and I always settle ds with a boob at night so I don't know how they are going to cope! Is it bad to hope that they can do the sleep training bit for me???

Guess what? Still no doctors appointment (my surgery really is shit) Went to pharmacy and asked the pharmacist about diflucan and whatever the other one is called she said can't give it to you without a prescription blah blah blah. Told her the story and she said tell you what, Canestan tablet is exactly the same ingredient/dose etc so go away, come back in half an hour by which time I'll have 'forgotten' you and tell me you have vaginal thrush and I'll sell you the tablet! So I did and now have a tablet, am £10 worse off but I'd rather have spent that money than wait any longer to get a prescription.

Melly glad you finally have a date for the op. The focus of ds' birthday party is also mulled wine, am making mulled wine, spiced cider and soup and we are also having a barbeque! The hot alcoholic beverages should stop us feeling the cold...

Ooh Clairey I hope the Canesten works for you. Fingers crossed.

clairey - thats awful about the thrush cream, I can still remember what annoy it was with ds and he was a few months old so it was ages ago. Yes you can take oral thrush medication- its not liciensed for bfedding mothers but there is a research paper by the NCT on in and they say its fine. My GP prescibed two lots for us because he said its prob in the milk ducts so cream won't solve it. I had an oral thrush gel for ds that I used on my nipples as well - surely you can't use anything else if its going to be in ds's mouth??

wizz - so not happy about leaving ds's with anyone I'm not happy with - I'm not really picky at all but the couple of houses I've been too the people have been lovely but have different family values, like putting them in front of the telly for lunch and one the garden wasn't safe for the children, she smoked in the house - the list could go on!

Seen a lovely CM today but very expensive, I'll be paying almost £70 more a week and having to provide meals for them but I'm sure the boys will love it - got two more to check out then I need to make a decision....

BT - she didn't really give me much of a reason just family/personal reasons and I've heard she's got a new job starting in Jan at a care home - I just never realised how stressful a 4 week notice period would be, she's obviously known she's not been happy with minding for a while to have found a job that she would have needed to be CRB checked for but kept me hanging on as she didn't want to lose the money - I just feel cheated as I've paid for ds so I can retain the place and I've paid for 3 settling days for ds2, I only signed ds2's contract last month ffs!

AG (lovely christmassy name but too much to type!) - ds2's bday is 16th dec so I really should get christmassy before then but not feeling very festive!

I seem to have not read a page of posts!

clairey glad you got something sorted!

BT - sorry to hear you're not doing very well but I'm glad you've got a break from work, look after yourself, lots of pampering and try and enjoy the extra time with ds x I hope you find a way to manage everything

hi evetyone - wow you have been busy. I have only been away one day

clara - good to hear form you and glad things have improved. Hopefulyl all will slot back into place once you are back in your old house. How is DD1 now? Has she settled back in a bit?

clairey - poor you and what a ridiculius carry-on withthe prescription. Thank goodness for your pharmacist! Hope it does the trick

melly - great you have a date for your op, will cross my fingers for you

BT - sorry to hear it has got so bad. I hope having some time off will help. think it's a good idea to keep Daniel at nursery for now to give you some time to get back on your feet. Hope you are managing to relax and be kind to yourself

insy - NIGHTMARE! I have a similar thing actually because we have some good news - DH has finally got a really good job down south so we are also looking for childcare from mid-january. As you say all the good nurseries are booked up and I have been looking at ones which OFSTED rated as satisfactory I do not want my beautiful babies looked after by anyone/anywhere which is just satisfactory... have you had any luck?

wizz - glad Rory had a nice birhday. Carrot cake - I like that... might follow suit

skid - I would take OFSTED ratings with a pinch of salt. They do not tell the whole story - it is more about how good your paper work is...and all a nursery needs is a chnage of staff/head and you have a very different nursery to the one that OFSTED visited

aaaargh - must find time to type a proper message School was snowed off today so I've had all day to reply but have been making Christmas cards.

Won't type now as DH and I are having a date night.... Playing singstar and snuggling. Mmmm snuggling.

hmm that's interesting cazzy - but what else can I go on given that I don't know the area so can't get personal recommendations or just know which schools are known to be good?

Date night AG?! That would be nice instead of sitting in my office at 9pm

well...go and look round schools and ask which nurserys they think are good

but also that is why I think you have to go and look round them and talk to the staff...

what I was tyring to say is don't panic - just because your nursery is only ""satifactory" doesn't mean it won't be great

skid - if you get the name of the school or the child care providers EY number you can look up their report on the ofsted website so you know at least some of the reasons they got a satisfactory. To be honest tho its a wide wide category my EX childminder got satisfactory at her inspection whilst ds1 was being minder by her but I wasn't fussed as it was paper work related, I've since been to a childminder this week that was satisfactory and I wouldn't have left my babies there if she was the only child minder around - lady was nice enough but house was awful, I don't have ridiculous standards either but I kind of expect a cm to have a garden that isn't unsafe for children - it stated on her report that children could not use the garden plus I have a long list of things like the downstairs toilet smelling of wee and she smoked in the house etc etc
I basically wouldn't mind a satisfactory rating but can't understand why they can't tell me what they are doing/have done to get good - surely no one is happy with being rated satisfactory? prob is you have to see them and go on gut feeling and its a long slog of treking round - I've dragged the boys round 3 diff places a day since Monday and feeling guilty bout not doing anything nice with them on my last two weeks of mat leave

I saw a nursery this afternoon and decided I completely mistrust childminders now and since only back at work 5 months have limited holiday to take if they decide to go on holiday or are sick so I need to have something that is there all the time, plus it'll mean one less job if I don't have to do packed lunches for them - loved the nursery and its cheaper than the childminders I saw this am as I get a discount for ds2 - all in all a much better day!

clairey just scanning through msgs and wonder if you've got your prescription/anti-fungal stuff sorted - had the mother of all battles to get proper treatment when dd was two weeks old, and only producing the printed out webpage from breast feeding network which said exactly how much oral anti-fungal i needed to take. it was about 6 times the "normal" dose and had to be repeated. i ended up sending out dh to three different pharmacies, but it did the job. good luck, and hope it gets sorted.

everyone else hello and have speed read latest posts, v delighted at all the walking/talking wonder-babes, v sympathetic to all the snot-covered mamas (shame there is no commercial value in snot, cos we'd be millionaires by now...).
only exciting news from marmalade towers is that dd is doing lots of baby-signs and i'm selling moderate amounts of wool from craft fairs and my website, hence lack of time to keep in touch. fsmiles all round nevertheless [fmsile]

Right gotta be quick. Thanks all for your messages.

BT - so sorry to hear what you have been going through, I hope you can get things sorted out. Sounds like ds is doing well at night though! We're due to move home in mid-Jan. Cam't wait.

Skid - whereabouts down south are you moving? Why not try asking on MN if anyone has any recommendations for nurseries? Dd1 slightly better now, she has been sleeping in her own bed until about 5.30am, not every night mind. Still get tantrums but I gather from friends with similar aged children this is normal for this age.

Clairey - hope you get the thrush sorted.

Insy - how about Tinsley Winsley for a Christmas name

Everyone else HELLO! And hope you and your LO's enjoy the first birthdays.....

Oh yes was also going to mention daytime sleeps. Anyone else going through the chaos of the morning nap being dropped? She used to sleep from about 8.30 - 9.30am and for 1.5 hours after lunch, like clockwork. Now she has more or less dropped the morning nap she is all over the place and it's impossible to make any plans as to when togo out etc. Usually she ends up dropping off in the car for about 20 mins and then is hell to get down after lunch as she thinks she's had a good nap....Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon!!

Hi all!

BT, sorry to hear you are having such a tough time, I think you are definitely right to be signed off for a bit and also to keep Daniel in Nursery - you have had a lot on your plate lately and it will do you good to take a step back for a bit if you can. Great to hear that Daniel seems to be doing a little better at night, hopefully once he realises he won't be getting milk if he wakes then he won't bother waking (fingers crossed!).

Insy, not good about your CM but glad you have found a nursery instead, at least when you are back on Maternity leave again next year you can spend some time looking for a CM you really like and trust.

Clairey, you have my full sympathies with the thrush, have never had it in my milk ducts but is bad enough when it is elsewhere! IME the oral treatments work very quickly and am sure they are fine to take while BFing. I took one while pg with DS1 (before I knew I was expecting) and it didn't cause me any problems. There are many medicines not recommended for pg/BFing mothers but it is more because they have not been trialled (would you use your LO as a guinea pig?) than because they are dangerous.

Skid, fantastic news about your DH's job! Whereabouts in the South are you headed? I am in the South East - wonder if you will be anywhere near?! I second what Cazzy said about the Ofsted report of the nursery you are looking at, my DS's school didn't have a great Ofsted report but it is a lovely lovely school with great staff, my boys love it and so do I! Plus, when looking at the history of the school the reports have been getting better (the last one was great actually) so that is reassuring as it shows the school is improving and not getting worse. Can you look into past reports of the nursery you are looking at?

Hi to everyone else! Loving the Christmassy names! Can't think of much for mine so reckon I will be becklesparkle again like last year (unless any of you ladies more inventive than me can think of something better!).

Evie is almost snot free now (touch wood) although I am now feeling more than a little rubbish, at least it is the weekend so no school run! Evie is walking round so much more each day now, so cute to see her toddling about but a little sad she's growing up so fast. Am also going to wean her this week, she only has 2 BFs a day now so tomorrow I am going to drop the morning one and offer her milk cup with cow's milk instead. Then will drop the night one once I adjust although can't think it will take more than a day or two. Will miss feeding her and am dreading what my boobs will shrink to but also am more than ready to stop feeding.

Right, off to try and finish the embroidered sampler have been doing for my friend, she's due a little one any day now - so exciting!

Oh, not ignoring you BTW Clara, am lucky with DD she is a fantastic napper in the daytime still. She has an hour or so in the morning and 2-3 hours in the afternoon - my boys were the same though and still had afternoon naps when they were 4!

Hi everyone

Just time to respond to clara re daytime naps - snap!!

DD used to always sleep after breakfast even for just half an hour now she stays up all morning and gets super-grumpy at lunch time and crashes out after lunch!! She is all over the place though because she slept for 2 and a half hours one morning last week out of the blue.

Just when you think you can second guess them eh?!

hi everyone,

insy - that is great you found a nursery. I find it very hard with CMs because it is all about that one person and they have to be perfect whereas if there are one or two people you're not keen on at a nursery then it can still be a great nursery IYKWIM. We have also found a nursery which will take both DD and DS so going down next week to have a look, plus look at a local school and houses, all very exciting.

clara/beckle - we are moving to Oxford but DH's job is in Milton Keynes (Open University). Have not heard very good things about Milton Keynes plus I will be working only part-time so it make sense to live in Oxford. Absolutely HAVE TO finish my thesis before mid-Jan now so I am working weekends/evenings. DH is being a total star and looking after the DCs full-time without a word of complaint.

beckle - yes I am seriously going to stop BF too now - it has got to the point where he just cries for a feed the minute I walk into a room. When I'm not with him he can go 12 hours without a feed no problem but the minute he sees me he wants one. I know it will be hard but I am determined this time! Let me know how it goes and I will follow your lead!

re naps - Milo has always been quite rubbish with his naps and is probably slightly better now. he usually has a morning and an afternoon one but both quite short (30-45 mins).

Hmm Christmas name... will have a think...

Loving all the Christmas names!

DD is 1 on Tuesday - hooooooooooooow????! Am happy and sad about it all at once!

I'm still doing 1 bf in the morning, sometimes one 5ish when I get home from work, bedtime and a gazillion overnighters..need to drop them first but am too tired to tackle it....maybe over the holidays...zzzz

skidaddle your DH is being great, mine is the same, really does the lion's share because of his shifts...am and when I have to ask him how to do certain things at the weekend!!

So who has a 1st birthday over this weekend, anyone? Congrats to whoever is next!!

clara full sympathies re naps - we are all over the place too as about once or twice a week she drops her morning one - then if you try to plan anything to do in the morning that is the morning she needs one, arrgh!

Skid - sounds like your DH is a real trooper As is yours Caz!

I'm going to cut down ds's bfing to morning and bedtime feed when he is one... is everyone else astonish at how quickly we have reached this stage? This time last year I was swanning waddling about thinking of such things as when ds sleeps through at 6 weeks I'll be able to go out.

BT!!!! How are you doing today? It is amazing to think most of them hadn;t even been born this time last year and now I'm sure most of us cannot begi to imagine life without them.

Caz - your BF routine sounds exactly like mine except I sometimes have him during the day in which case he feeds a lot then too.

BT how exactly are you going to cut down - just not feed him at any other time and not give in to any amount of crying? Gosh i don;t know if I have the willpower

Err... not sure yet!! I think I'll try lots of distraction.. thing is he doesn't get booby during the day when at nursery and he is now only feeding 3-4 times during the day when I am with him.
Feeling ok mostly, MN is good distraction material as I have been feeling a bit down again.

BT lovely lovely lady. So sorry that you're feeling blue. Hope you manage to spend a phenomenal amount of your enforced "at home without Daniel time" being totally self indulgent and getting yourself happy. I find endless reruns of Scrubs/ Friends/ QI and Mock the week all have a very lifting effect.
Breastfeeding makes your hormones all kinds of squiffy. Stopping Breastfeeding makes your hormones all kinds of squiffy. Cutting down on BF makes your hormones all kinds of squiffy. In fact everything about motherhood seems to have messed with my hormones. That's my reason why I cry at everything even when it's just that I'm really happy and I'm sticking to it. Hope all your Health care professionals have lots of wisdom to know the best course of treatment for you. And mighty impressed on your willpower for stopping BFing overnight. Keep telling yourself that if he wakes it's habit not hunger and within a week I bet he'll be zzzzing away all night long. [hopeful emoticon]