December 2008 - Its not wind they are smiling.

[JamInMyWellies]

Here we go ladies Rosmerta suggestion.

how is yours going? How was the ff? Are you still BF aswell?

Urgh - horrible night. Nice to see I am not alone. I was thinking of you girls last night at 3am while I was rocking DD2's moses basket and feeling miserable. I pictures you all doing the same and it made me feel less alone [saddo emoticon].

DD2's sleeping seems to be getting worse rather than better. She was waking once after the dream feed, then it was twice but she was settling immediatly after each feed, last night she was up from 2-3am and then cried out every 15 mins from 4.30am before waking for another hour at 5.30am. DD1 got up at 6.30am just as DD2 dropped off. DH got up with DD1 so I thought I could sleep some more butt then DD2 woke after 30mins. Now she is not settling for her nap... in fact she is crying, I better go rock her basket some more... what has happened to my miracle self-settling baby????

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Finally got around to uploading some pics to my profile and have also finally filed my tax return, phew. Now off to ring the insurance about leaking pipe damage to the kitchen.

Verso your HV is evil does she just try finding fault. She wants you LO to put on more weigh but doesn't want you doing overnight feeds, is she a bit mental.

Kayz that is weird about you finding about your new niece on facebook, what's going on there. We have the opposite problem here, my SIL is ringing DH 4 times a day to either moan about how hard having a new baby is for her or to ask him questions about BF (he has become a bf guru by association). He has given her some numbers to call like LLL but she didn't get the hint. It annoys me a little as she calls all weekend when we want to have some family time and during the week when he he's working. Mostly I know it stresses him out a bit partially because he is also dealing with life with a new child but she seems to think it is far more stressful for her than us, and also because she is fine with using him as a call support whenever she wants it but when we come to London they couldn't be bothered meeting up with us because it's raining or they don't feel like going out. We have a friend coming to visit this weekend to and he is happy about her coming but it makes him sad that our friends come to visit and send presents to Jordy yet his own sister hasn't even sent a gift to his new son.

Anyway enough of that rant. I feel a lot better after a decent sleep but woke with a big headache (now gone after loads of neurofen) and we all slept in so was a rush getting ds1 to nursery and then had to rush to 6 week check appointment which was then 30mins late. How is it they can already be half an hour behind at 9.30 in the morning. Everything fine I just have to get an ECG to make sure everything fine after the papitations and irregular heart beats I had during pregnancy. Also got a prescription for minipill but don't want to start it til jordy a but bigger. Not sure how much he takes into him with bf but just to be safe I'll wait. Im still a little concerned with the fact that weight gain is a side effect. Speaking of which I wore a pair of my big jeans to the surgery and was carry my big bag and jordy in the car seat and well it appears I must have lost some weight because my jeans started falling down I had to stop and put jordy down on the footpath to pull them up otherwise there would have been an expose' (I can't do an e with an accent so that's as close as it gets)

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Wow I cross posted loads there took me so long to write.

Cat I drink a coffee in the late morning and I don't think it effects his sleep and he only seems to have wind probs first thing in the morning when he is first waking so that can't be to do with coffee.

Lal I think we will be staying at the Ibis in Greenwich (unless dhs work let's him splurge and then we'll be at the novotel). I will have both boys so if the weather is ok one day we can meet at the playground in Greenwich park.

I have finally got jordy down to sleep but I will have to pick his brother up from nursery in half an hour, the poor little boy he hardy ever gets to properly settle he is always being dragged around somewhere. I might put him the sling and walk there then he might go back to sleep.

Oooh, she self-settled just before I got to her . Please let this be a decent length nap, the house is a tip and I need to tidy and I need a rest.

Cat - I have found that DD2 is very sensitive to caffeine. When I drink coffee she gets very jittery and her sleep is really interuppted. I looked on Kellymom and it said some babies can be senstive to caffeine in breast milk and that it takes days for it to work through their system. I am drinking de-caff now. I also swaddle DD2 but she cries if I put her on her side. I had not thought of squashing her arm but maybe that is the problem.

Arti your night sounds similar to mine..... I think I've had a grand total of 45 mins sleep.... It's wind again... can you OD on gripewater ?? Up till 315am trying everything... Finally settled on me, so put in cot and slept until 4am -wow that was it - more constant crying - it was slowly coming out but very slowly.... Cat Now, I have coffee regularly and night before last I had a curry.... DH doesn't believe any of that theory about what you eat / BF but perhaps he's scared of being banned from curry!
I asked the question a while back aif anyone thought when a baby sleeps a lot during the day they are awake more at night? All the books say nit doesn't work that way and doesn't make a difference but I'm wondering if it does... I'm going to try and keep him up as much as I can today, and see if he settles more tonight - otherwise we have to move to Australia! Does anyone have any thoughts on that???

Veggie - that would irritate me so much about your SIL - can he start not answering the calls? If she leaves a message and it's not urgent, he can call her back another time.... Still dealing with this passport drama - just focussing on the Brit one now! Got all sorted and met our friend yesterday to certify photos and form - went over, and found out his passport had expired! My fault as I always assume everyone has a current passport (prob due to my job!) Anyway, DH has taken it all to work for another colleague to sign... I do hope they don't cock it up - this is really dragging... PO said check and send is 2 weeks at most and can be done for babies first passport so still ok for Mid Feb however a trip home is looking more and more unlikely as we're so NOT organised!

He does ignore the calls she just keeps calling or texting.

Kmp dh spoke to a man at the passport office who said that the check and send application are taking less than 2 weeks lately because they aren't as busy as they usually are at the moment apparently with the credit crunch on less people are planning summer hols abroad so less passport apps.

We got jordys photos from the passpic people but they haven't told us which photos are for the Aussie one and which for the British one. There is quite a difference so will have to get the check and send people to work it out.

Been out in the car to do some errands but realised as I was driving that I probably wasn't that safe on 2.5 hours's sleep ! Ooops. Needs must and all that - has made me feel a bit more 'normal' even if still feeling very very very tired.

I fecking hate this laptop. Had just written a massive reply which took about half an hour one handed and hit the wrong bit if the 'touch sensitive pad' and it's all gone. Bollocks. Will sum up if that's ok.

Hhope people with bad nights are having a bit of rest in the daytime.

Farty babies - try cycling their legs lots at nappy changes and winding more during feeds, this has made dd less painful though no less windy.

Kevin McCloud, yes I would.

Cox - don't know if LadyT did as well but I used to so can shout encouragingly to people in the commune.

Verso, your HV sounds like a tit, and hope they find a cure for your achy joints.

Katie, lovely pics, we put dd in the same santa suit

and the most important thing, calpol is magic. DD had her jabs yesterday but we gave her a dose half an hour beforehand and she was fine apart from the actual needles part, no fever and she was oddly mellow all evening.

Hello darling girls

Sorry for the delay in coming back - I meant to pop on after my bath but DD1 and 2 got in the way! Since then I have been to Ikea and managed to escape quite lightly. Usually I just go for a throw and end up about £200 lighter due to a few little bits and bobs in the market place. M liked it enormously and slept all the way round. He still is (3 1/2 hours, something of a daytime record) so I'll be quick.

Verso, so sorry everything is rubbish and being in pain just adds insult to injury. Have texted you.

JJ, glad DD was OK after the jabs. You put me to shame as our children are twins and M hasn't even had his 6 weeks check yet. He's 8 weeks old. I always give calpol just before a jab. A good tip is to keep a sachet in the flappy part of your red book so you are never without. I usually have some knocking round the handbag as well, along with princess plasters and buttons for the older ones.

KMP, the passport thing sounds a nightmare. I can't remember where you are off to in Feb - anywhere nice? And for when is your trip to the motherland planned?

Arti and Cat, sorry you had rubbish nights. Can you get some shut eye today? I know it's tempting to do jobs when they nap, but even an hour of sleep can perk you up no end and works wonders for the mood.

Kayz, good luck about Dh's job. I'll be thinking of you.

Cat, I don't know about the caffeine but it might be worth trying decaff and seeing if it makes a difference? M is quite farty, but I am deaf to all but the loudest cries. I wonder if my high fibre diet causes me to make windy milk for him, but my poor bowels need it more than he needs not to.

He's howling now. I'd better go. Hello to everyone else - I'll try to reply to more later.

PS work have phoned to "pick my brain" on something. Might take a while to find it. I wonder what they want.....

Thanks Sybil, I'll let you all know when I do.

I need your advice.

I really want to go to Crufts. We went last year and I loved it sooooo much but Mum isn't going this year and of course I can't drive. DH doesn't want to go but is more than happy for me to go alone providing he isn't laid off today.

I will need to either get a taxi to Leeds for 7am or stay in Leeds overnight on the Friday. There is a coach from Leeds for £36 including admission. Then I will need to get a bus from Leeds to Malton, then a taxi home. I'm just a bit hmm about coming home alone late at night on the bus. But I do really want to go.

What would you do?

JJ they tend to be a little more unsettled for the subsequent jabs, but the good news is they also tend to have a massive sleep after the next couple of jabs, hooray. They are offering the preschool jabs a little earlier here before measles season hits and I want to gets ds1 in for his but I am not looking forward to him having to have 2 sets of injections. I've jabbed so many children myself but it breaks my heart to think of him being jabbed and twice. Lots of chocolate and cuddles. Any other advice from those with older ones.

Could you stay overnight for 2 nights, or get the taxi and stay afterwards only? I would def go if you want to, you've earned a little break surely.

sorry crap typinh as feeding again!

crap night here as well, dd has started waking for the day at5am after feeding at midnight and 3..boo..

turnip huge congrats on the feeding dc3, thats a great achievement. dd3 is also gaining so much better than my twins and i feel equally proud for it to be working this time around..and so glad we're not the only ones who are living off tesco finest ready meals every night!!

speaking of which, sybil did you use to be chutney? and am i reall tired but are your two dd's twins as well? i never knew that..

waves to the rest of the virtual commune..ooh and toddlers - one of mine is heartbreakingly sweet and resigned which makes me feel bad and the other is attention seeking and bit my arm yesterday which makes me feel mad! was such a crap day and such a crap end to it, i burst into tears which made them cry and dd3 was cluster feeding madly so i couldn't even get to put her down long enough to cuddle them without screeching baby next to us which made them even more cross..really glad to hear it settles down indith!

arti, i also think of everyone else at 3am! keeps me going too!

any advice on dream feeds? dd3 currently cluster feeds all evening, she then falls asleep on DH from about 9pm and he tries to wake her at 10ish for some formula...she won't take the bottle from me and he won't stay up any later..she's not really interested in the formula as shes full..shes taking about 1oz at most which isn't really helping..

what do you reckon we should do..move the formula feed later until she naturally wakes up and try and do it myself? which means i end up painfully engorged and unable to sleep..or get dh to do the feed earlier and go to bed at 8? or use the formula at 6/7 just to settle her at bedtime and save my weary breasts at that time of day..

any advice gratefully recieved!

The train is £58 and it would be so much easier. I really want DH to come too but he didn't enjoy it really. I would like it to be a romantic weekend away!!

kayz, i'd stay overnight in leeds, i think there are some fairly cheap chain hotels near the station - will try and remember which one i stayed in with work there! very tired brain so it might take me a while!

Veggie the Aussie passport photo shows the face bigger and the brit one has a smaller face as far as mine are concerned and the snappy snaps lady looked up the info and had a template when she did them....
Put the phone on silent i'm evil!

Sybil were hoping to do the motherland trip in Feb!! But still weighing it up as we would have loads to sort out... I'd have to put the dog in kennels and trying to find a nice one as I haven't used any in the UK. Plus the DH'sGdad funeral in 3 days after we orig planned to leave so we're getting short on time away as well... plus it's standby travel so not good to run out of time when dh has a job to keep!

Kmp would it be worth putting the trip off for a bit, it's really hot over there at the moment which wouldn't be much fun would April or may be better still nice temps over there and you def have the passport by then and maybe cheaper flights. If you are booking through an agent we go through a guy called francesco at Travelmood he is brilliant.

i seem to have a very irritable little phoebe today
she's crying more and just wants to sleep, but then keeps waking up upset. her feeds have only been a few minutes each as well. i feel so mean that i have to go back out to school again in half an hour and mess her around again.

just dragged myself to asda...phoebe had a good old cry and then i started to cry. just feel overwhelmed today.

Awww Trace have a [hug] you deserve it you really do.

I think I may have a solution to my problem. I can get a 16-25 railcard which means the train is cheaper. It is my birthday in April so I am asking my mum if she will pay for my train tickets as my birthday pressie!!

veggie main reason for Feb was DH has 2 weeks leave to use before end of Feb and we are also going in June for mums 60th - however we might just only do the June trip at this rate - not sure. Good to know passports are processing fast though! We have to go outside busy times also as I work for the airline so it's standby.
I know what you mean about the heat though - Feb is awful, especially in Cairns, so i'm getting more and more put off! I hate humidity!!! Plus, my hair frizzes!!