December 2008 - Its not wind they are smiling.

[JamInMyWellies]

Here we go ladies Rosmerta suggestion.

Ooh, champagne bar. Counting the days... not because I'm not drinking but because the babies don't seem to like it second-hand.

Speaking of which, PD, the toddler pub is Garbo's, Tuesday afternoons. It's on Victoria Park Road. The lovely landlady seems happy to take charge of all comers - there were about a dozen today and she coped admirably, even got them all to sit down like angels and eat their spaghetti while all us mums sat in the front of the pub drinking wine then had our lunch afterwards. Heaven...

WG got your msg and glad your Dad came down. Sounds like a growth spurt and just about on time. R is nearly 6 weeks. Should settle after a couple of days. I am girding my loins (or should that be boobs) for L's which is soon.

Majormoo glad my Dc aren't the only freaky snow eaters in town!

kayz those wellies sound fab. I am v jealous.

Notquiteso I am going to go to postnatal yoga in Stroud Green (Julie Tortora) she is lovely and as its in her home its nice and relaxed and cosy (rather than drafty hall). She has been doing in 20 years and I have been to her for ante- and post- yoga for all 3, she can heartily recommend. If we tried to go to the same class between us we could surely manage 3 small babies . In any event Julie would love twins and always picks up the babes if they are squeaky. Here is the link for Julie's classes 9and for anyone else near n4!...

ladyT and Cat I am that I have not heard of Jonathan Coe. Must go and look him up immediately. As Veggie says no idea what your chum doing at yoga. She will end up with a domed tummy if she does abdominal exercises before the gap has closed.

Kim great photos!! Actually had a check up today with Yinka but I rescheduled. I am there next thurs at 1.45 if you are around? Otherwise will see you at a North London meetup. Am fascinated by idea of toddler pub (envisages 2 and 3 year olds downing bottles of WKd!!!).

Jump you sound like you need some time out - any chance you could get a hour or so out of the house sans babe? If it makes you feel any better I have totally been impatient with all my 3 and to be honest (not to scare you) but it gets worse as they get older. I am guilty of using bad langauge to my older 2 which fills me with such guilt too. Be esy on yourself - you are doing a great job and it is HARD. Loving the inanimate object reference. My DH always brings up the time I basically said my babies weren't human until they were 1. It wasn't quite what I meant (and I love them dearly) but it makes some sense. kind of.

Ok this is only catch up on this page - better go feed L and read the next page. We are trying the Grobag tonight as I have discovered L is a two middle finger sucker like DD1 and so it seems unfair to keep her swaddled if she can self-soothe. Mind you, if she gives me an ounce of nonsense tonight she will be back in the straightjacket Miracle Blanket pronto!!

Turnip thanks for the recommendation for Julie, I think I've heard of her. I may well try and go this Friday if the roads are clear. Are you sure you'd want to risk being in the same class ?

Also, we've just moved on to Grobags and so far so good - a loose blanket round Vic's top half so he doesn't flail too much seems to do the trick instead of a swaddle.

ladyt - i don't have your number so if you could e-mail it that would be great. i am happy to lunch or just go for coffee. shall we eat as its that sort of time?

turnip My appt with Yinka is next tues at 6pm. Not sure that you'll still be around that late in the evening. But if so, it'd be great to meet up!!

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Hi everyone, how are you all? I?m coming down with a cold, so feeling a bit sorry for myself. And when I expressed earlier today I only managed about half the amount I normally do ? could that be because I?m under the weather? And in which case, is DD not getting enough when she feeds? (hopefully this is me being irrational about starving her due to the cold)

Turnip thanks for clarifying about the sleep, I?ve immediately plugged your numbers into my spreadsheet (sorry, can?t resist) and actually the LO is sleeping about 4.5 hours during the day normally, I thought that sounded very little and worried I?d have to start waking her up, but she?s doing it on her own! I actually think she wants to be a GF baby, as she tends to have a short nap only in the morning and a longer one after lunch, so maybe I?ll have to get the book back out of the library!!

NotQuite great to hear from you, I was wondering how you were coping with your twins. I don?t know how you do it. Oh, and that pub sounds amazing!

Cat don?t apologise about the ellipsis, I don?t know what it is!

KMP I?m on a (very) rough 3 hour schedule for feeding, however if missy is hungry before then I think it?s mean to force her to wait (I mean, I?d be mad if anyone denied me if I was hungry) although I do try to faff around a bit to get some time to pass. And if she?s sleeping then I don?t wake her, but the 3 hour-ish seems to fit with her pattern as well.

JJ I get quite frustrated when DD is whingy, all out crying I don?t seem to mind so much as I feel she does it for a reason, but sometimes she just whinges and I can be a very bad (oops, just typed mad there ? maybe quite appropriate!) mother and just shut the door on her as the noise gets me down and I can?t listen to it.

Kayz I thought we were supposed to let our LO?s lie on their front for a little while each day to encourage them to lift their heads and strengthen their neck? I don?t think your HV would be very impressed with me if that?s not the case!

Night night everyone, hope you all sleep well xx

Zoe I thought that too. She is normally quite useless so I tend to ignore everything she says to me.

We're going to get DS2 weighed on Thursday. He hasn't been weighed since he was 3 weeks old and he is 8 weeks on Friday.

I'm just popping in am still reading through and had to post or I would forget the things I want to say by the time I get to the end of pg 38.

Firstly I'm so glad I'm not the only one who tells inanimate objects off. Dh find it amusing in a that's-funny-but-I-think-your-nutter kind of a way, that I yell at the computer and press the keys harder in an attempt to hurt it. Also I heard ds2 pipe up from his carseat the other day "oh for goodness sack traffic lights....CHANGE!", I do often think the traffic lights are all scheming against me. JJ if it really bothers you that that you get impatient and swear at your DD I used to find trying to say the words I wanted to say in a way I would say something normally to a baby. So instead of snapping or even screaming, you annoying little shit, take a deep breath and say you annoying little shit, but in baby talk or with an innane coochy coo grin on your face.

Kayz your HV is a bit mental, they are supposed to lift their heads it's part of their development. In what way is he lifting his, like off the floor, when he is on his tummy, or like is he lifting his head and then doing a 360 degree turn with it. If its the 2nd one then he is clearly possessd and the only way to discourage it is to get yourself a priest and a crusifix otherwise I think it's fine.

My midwife visited for the last time today which was a bit sad but we are going to keep in touch and I'm going to do a little talk at their homebirth group in Notts and hopefully catch up for a coffee when I finally have my postnatal massage.

I'm in london the 16th-18th could do sometime on the 17th or morning of the 18th. Where is central for a little meetup? Would love to meet some of you while I'm in town.

KMP I recently learnt that the head banging thing is so they can find the nipple, it's a bit of an instinctual thing.

It is mainly if he is lying on us or when we sit him up to burp him. He will hold his head up and then do this really cute little head banging thing like a nodding dog in a car

Veggie that makes sense since just after I wrote that (about thinking headbanging meant empty tanks) I put him on a full tank and he did it again - in fact he's been doing it all night!! The only consistent thing is - he ONLY does it when he draws his legs up at the same time, so then I thought it meant wind so I burped him - big burp, small vomit and then back to headbanging! I think I agree withe the rroting for nipple thing, as when I hold his head there quite firmly he latches on and stops it (mostly)
Veggie again - 16th-18th in London? Well if we do make the decision to go to Aust we will leave on the 17th but if we don't go - will def meet up with you!
LadyT and Arti did somebody say champagne bar??? Bugger - wish I had read that sooner! I have a few things to do tomorrow, and if I get them done in time, I might be able to sneak over for a bit of cheerfulness! If someone emails me their number I will call if I'm able to meet. Won't commit though, as I'm a really bad one for getting organised unless everything falls into place! (ie: good night with ds!)

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cat night ended up ok - finally settled at midnight, woke at 0530, fed and back down until 0830.... fingers xed tonight is ok, however not looking good.....

I've been meaning to recommend a book for all of you ladies wanting to get a routine established for your little ones. It's a bit strict in it's approach so you probably wouldn't want to follow all of the advice, but there's a lot of good information in it about setting a routine, breast feeding, colic, growth, multiple births, etc. It's called Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo M.A. & Robert Bucknam M.D.

hello all - dad and lovely ladyfriend came down to look after me, but have felt like a bad and boring mummy all day and have done lots of crying. feeling better after a couple of glasses of wine spots of cheerfulness. but in general really really down. it's me, i know, not dd - she is lovely and is turning out to be a good baby, but i just don't know what to do with her, or how to do the right things. and my perfectionism and wanting to get things "right" just doesn't help me. i can't quite explain why or quite how awful today has been, but the evening has been better.

waiting for dh to return from cardiff where he has been doing a show with gaby logan, who is apparently very nice.

am exhaustivated. love to all

oh, i meant to say glasses of wine. arse

Oh, WG, just read your message and you sound so down, bless you, I didn't want to read and not post. I think with our lovely babies it is a Q of trial and error. You are both getting used to each other and have to find out what works for you both. I still can't always read what DD1 needs and get it right and she is nearly 4 and can tell me a lot of what is going on!

However, YOU are always right for DD as you are her MOTHER and you love her and try to do your best for her. You won't always get it right, none of us does, but you will be doing everything out of love and in an attempt to make her happy. It is hard acrually to harm a baby when you are trying your best as they are resilient little souls, so please be kind to yourself and tell yourself that you are doing a great job.

Sending lots of love your way and hoping you get a peaceful night. Will check in to see how you are tomorrow. Hope DH soon back. Take care.

WG - what Syb said. xxx

Turnip - well, you've got a treat ahead if you've not read any J. Coe. The Rotter's Club and the sequel, The Closed Circle, are great. What a Carve Up! - people seem either to love or hate. I remember The House of Sleep being good but I read it so long ago.

Hot lemon and honey for you, ZJ!

Arti and KMP - emailing now. Night all.

Cat- I am definate that ds1 started teething at 8 weeks and he didn't get his first tooth til 10months! But he has a small mouth and suffered terribly with teething from early on because there is just not much room in his mouth. My BIL who is a dentist had a look at his teeth when he was 2.5 years and said he must have had a horrible time with teething and he didn't know the nights we were up with him in tears. I can just say that chamomillia and pulsitilla were saving graces for us as they work really quickly and really helped his mood as he would get quite angry with the pain. And on the really bad days I backed it up with calpol and ibuprofen as the poor little might was in so much pain he just needed something to take it all away so he could sleep. You could just get some teething powders and rub it on his gums to see if that helps, at the very least it won't hurt.

OMG how did it get so late I'm off to bed before next feed.

Kmp you can look up breast crawl on you tube. Babies if put on the mums abdomen straight after birth will, if not moved about or interrupted, crawl up towards the nipple pushing up with their legs and then kind if headbang about until they land on a nipple they use the smell of their mum and the milk to guide them. It's pretty cool and apparently they keep this instinct for a couple of months. It's the reason most babies seem to try to push up to stand from quite young they are born with the strength and ability to push upwards from their legs.

Right bed.

wg I hope you feel better tomorrow and get a good nights kip. I am sure you know you are not a bad mum really. But if you keep feeling like that please go to the docs. hugs to you my dear!
Kmp my ds does the headbutting thing too. Me and dh call it piggling as he makes little piggy sounds atvthe same time

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Morning all, just been catching up. DS was a nightmare yesterday. He was so unsettled, feeding every couple of hours. Fed him at 7.30 pm (by which point he'd been awake for 4 hrs ) and then he proceeded to cry for 2 hrs solid. I tried everything to get him to sleep but to no avail . He finally went to sleep about 10ish, and slept till 4.30...must have exhaustion! He's still full of snot and just doesn't seem to be shifting his cold.

kayz your HV is bonkers...my Dr commented how strong DS was at his 8 wk chek as he was lifting his head

wg hope you feel more positive soon..you are doing a fab job

cat when DD was little I used a normal ice cube tray to freeze ebm. Not sure if it was right but was much cheaper than the specialist bags, and each cube was about 1oz. I just had to be careful not to put them in mums G&T's