June 2008 babies: rolling, sitting, crawling, babbling, teething, laughing, sleeping (not yet!)

[spongebrainbigpants]

New home!

I am - just having a quiet day - hurrah!

Me too

The reason why we are in the playroom is that DD's bedroom is next door, we have just managed to get her to come quietly up to our room if she needs to in the night and finding 2 strangers will freak her out and we have guests in, by far the easiest option.

OO er - Neenz - how weird!!!

Thanks for the solidarity! I think she has probably been waking frequently like this for ages, I just haven't really noticed it much because with co-sleeping I was only half-waking when I fed her (and only half-sleeping the rest of the time...) Neenz dp can cuddle or pat her back to sleep but with me she definitely wants a feed - was it Essie who asked which babies will refuse a boob? - not this one! she would never turn it down if it's on offer, or even if the potential is there... I've not dared try offering water as I am too scared the resultant frustrated screaming would wake up ds!

We are now considering trying putting her cot in dp's room once he's better (computers and music equipment taking priority in our house over a second children's room though to be fair we have nowhere else for all this stuff), then he can be in charge of her sleep and see how we get on with that.
She was very excited to wake up from her nap this afternoon and see daddy in bed next to the cot - I thought ds had woken up because I could just hear this little voice going 'Hiya daddy'!

SA good luck with tonight. I am sorry that I can't give you anymore help than moral support.

Sponge how is nappy changing going. I only ask as Sebastaian is now wiggling all over the place.

Hi all, can't catch up with everything - too much chat!

Neenz, so sorry to hear about your gran .

Amber, cute vid! Stupid question, but do you have any rooms in your flat with carpets? Only cos I bet Luke would crawl straight away on those! When A first started to crawl he really struggled on the wooden floor cos he couldn't get any purchase to push off, so he stuck to the carpeted rooms! I have to say we haven't done that much babyproofing yet cos we want to try and teach him about danger too - but it's a delicate balance!

PP, lol at dropping down the gentiles! But like everyone else I wouldn't worry. Same to you BDQ - I go for the same as Essie, wet/dirty nappies and lively baby equal healthy baby IMO. Mind you, being underweight is not something I have to suffer from with A!

Thanks for all your support on the sweary post! I have now vowed to stay away from the rest of the MN - freed up loads of time to do more productive things too!

As for sleep, feel bad even mentioning it when SA is having such a hard time, but a friend of mine came round to look after A for an hour yesterday while I slept and then Matt did the nights last night so I feel a little more human. We also had a two hour nap this afternoon, which was lovely but meant that I missed a sunny walk in the park with the NCT gang. Needs must.

By the way Neenz, really interested in what you were saying about the twins having a finger food tea but still sleeping through. I've been desperately trying to spoon feed A in the hope that more food would help him sleep through, however, he hates being spoon fed and is now refusing to eat any tea . But am I wasting my time? I think I might go back to BLW tea tonight and see how it goes - at least it won't end up with both of us in tears! (After Wednesday's fab bedtime, last night was hell - he finally went to sleep after 90 mins of crying ).

Ali, totally know what you mean about the bitchy side of MN. Hope P is feeling better.

5, x-posted! Nappy changing is a NIGHTMARE!!!

Tried giving him a toy, worked for about two nappy changes, tried pinning him down, he screams his head off, just have to get it done as quickly as possible!

Do you know what's really annoying? For dh, he lies still and lifts his legs to help him wipe his bum!! Cheeky little monkey!

Just watching the news about that 13yr old dad. WTF?! He was asked how they would manage financially and apparently he said "what's financially?" .

Hmm, do you know what I said about A refusing spoon feeding - dh has just came home and given him a whole bowl of puree!

Is he being deliberately belligerent!

BDQ - I think I have -ranted- posted on here before at great length about how stupid centiles are. Ignore 'em! Talking of weight etc though, my lovely hv rang me to arrange J's 8 month check and asked about weaning. When I mentioned he was proving tricky she said she would get the 'expert' weaning hv to call, and she did today. The whole call was basically her telling me to mix everything with double cream and cheese. Even yoghurt should be mixed with double cream. When I mentioned that he liked a bit of melon and broccoli she said 'but there's no calories in that is there?' Um, no, but it is proper healthy food which is good for him and perhaps the basis of a healthy diet for the rest of his life, unlike double cream which is full of meaningless calories. Needless to say I will not be taking her advice to stop giving broccoli and replace it with double cream and yoghurt. Honestly, it makes you want to weep...

Hope everyone has a good Valentines day tomorrow.

Amber - enjoy your meal out tonight

We're not doing anything special as we have no-one here at the moment to babysit and we've got cleaning to do in the day. I think it will be a quick tea and then glass of wine and a dvd when the boys have gone to bed.
I did send Nigel a Valentine e-card from here with a photo upload - it's soooo funny.

sybilvimes - that's awful! FFS. Why are they so bloody obsessed with a perfect weight? No wonder there is a problem with childhood obesity in this country. This is exactly why I dont get him weighed very often. Grrrr. Thanks everyone for advice and support on this topic - I know that he's fine, but you know how easy it is to worry when HV's put their tuppence worth in.

LOL at your LO sponge. The only time S ever sleeps for more than 20 mins is if DH is in charge!

On the subject of finger fooding and tea time... S has a mix of spoon feeding and finger foods now, but tea time was getting to be a real battle and he was really crying etc. So now he gets finger food to play with and he's much happier. If he's had some finger food he'll let me spoon feed him some stuff too and the whole experience is much happier all round. Don't know if that helps anyone.

SA sorry about your sleeping troubles.

Neenz so sorry about your gran. Big hugs.

Sorry for anyone else I missed, I caught up some more on the ipod earlier but its been a long day!

Oh, funny thing today - S fell asleep in his high chair in between spoonfuls of lamb casserole. It was really funny to watch, he just went spark out without warning. I think he might have slept for longer than the obligatory 20 minutes if the postman hadn't woken him up at 1pm. FFS. 1pm for your post. Grrrr.

Hello,

P is much better today (Sponge thanks for asking). Still snotty, but back to eating solids again. He even got quite enthusiastic about some lamb curry tonight, much to my surprise.

I think babies do get to a stage where they mess Mummy around but are good for Daddy. Not here though. DH got back from his night away to big smiles, he took P for a nappy change and all I could hear was outraged wailing from upstairs

I want to preface this bit by apologising to the FFs on the thread...
...so today was the first time that I have been asked when I am going to stop BF. It was my Dad asking. I suspect he is deeply uncomfortable about BF in general. His daughter having breasts at all is probably too much for him . As a result I was quite surprised that he asked the question outright at all. I explained the guidelines to him. This made him really uncomfortable I think, but I doubt he has any idea what is recommended. I also offered to email him some NHS pdfs on it which he turned down (poor Daddy). So that was that, but it got me to thinking about what my BF exit strategy might be. I don't really have a plan about when to stop at the moment, but equally despite having horrified my Dad I don't really intend to keep going till Peter hits adolescence. So that was a round about way of asking the BFs on this thread:
If you have thought about this?
and
If you have older DCs what happened with them?
Clearly this is something that ought to go on the feeding boards, but I am too scared to go there. So thanks to the BFs for your responses in advance, and thanks for the FFs for tolerating this question.

hello! had to give up reading to catch up as I had 24 pages or something to read.

Here is a nice big wave for you all.

Sorry for not catching up, I hope all is well and babies are doing well. C is now in nursery 3 days a week, but this week managed only 1 1/2 days I kept her off on monday as she had the nursery flu with high temps all weekend, she was better by monday afternoon. wednesday went without a hitch and then they phoned me to come and get her on thursday as she apparently wasn't well. I think she was completely having them on and just wanted to come home - she was a bundle of joy all afternoon. minx.

work is going OK, I live for tuesdays and fridays though!

special hello for whinegums, BDQ and katyjo (whinegums, thank you for the good wishes when I last posted, I did manage to lurk for a day or two and I appreciated it!)

I shall try and catch up a bit - hope I haven't missed anything important...

Hi Viva - nice to see you, sorry to hear about the Nursery bug! I think it was Essie who had to pick up Iestyn from Nursery but he was fine when she got home!

Ali - My Dad always asks me the same question. With both Stefan and Tristan I reduced it over time until they were about 1 year old and then we were just on the last feed before bed by then, but they weren't taking much, it was more of a comfort thing. I just stopped one night and that was that, didn't seem to bother either boy, I replaced it with normal milk. Bothered me more, and I think it will this time as Ethan's the last baby.On the plus side though, especially with Tristan it meant someone else could put him to bed, Stefan wasn't so clingy.
Don't know what's been wrong with Ethan today but he hardly took any milk between 7am and 7 pm, kept refusing at the normal times he has a feed.He was OK at bedtime though

BDQ - bless at your lo sleeping between mouthfuls. We do the puree and finger food at teatime too.

Sybil -Josey had to do this with Oli's food didn't she - use cream, olive oil etc...

Deb, part of what seems odd to me about this is that no hv has seen or weighed J for 3 months. To decide over a phonecall then that he needs to have double cream instead of fruit or veg seems odd and a tad unprofessional. Just because he doesn't want to eat masses at the moment surely doesn't mean that what he does eat has to be cheese or cream - if he is only eating a little, isn't it better than he eat vitamin rich food like fruit or veg? I just don't understand this insane preoccupation with getting babies up the weight centiles at the cost of a balanced diet. GRRRRRRRRRRR

Neenz, meant to say last time, I am so sorry about your nan.

That's reassuring to hear Deb thanks. I guess because this is the first time for me it is a bit unnerving not knowing how/if BF will finish. I can completely see why it coming to an end will be sad, especially with Ethan being your PLB. Even though I would like to have more children you never know what life is going to throw your way do you?

Evening! Ali glad you asked that question. Mind you, at the moment I see no way out! I bet if you asked that on the feeding boards someone would ask you why you wanted to stop at all...
Also, Iestyn has been suffering with a temperature, a cold and grumpiness today - same as P's cold, I think? In all seriousness he's not very well though.

Viva nice to see you and thought of you! Yes, indeed - well remembered, Deb! - Iestyn was the man who decided he wanted a day off from nursery. Pretended to be sick, refused to eat, then played and laughed (and ate) all afternoon. Conduct card!

LOL at brainy Iestyn, PP. He does have a big head, though! (Also love that you call Ryder Ry - that's so cute!)

Off to bed now - sorry that was a bit brief.

deb you're right actually, I'm sure Josey did have to feed Oli lots of cream etc.

sybil - someone reminded me on another thread that babies need lots more fat than adults, so it sounds like your HV is translating that into ditching the healthy stuff and giving loads of cream, which I agree sounds a bit mad. Especially as for example, brocolli is rich in essential nutrients like iron etc. I would have thought the sensible thing to do was check that J is getting enough fat in his diet as well as other nutrient rich food. Although, how she can tell over the phone I have no idea. My HV should have done the same re S instead of giving duff advice like fill him with porridge before giving him his nutrient and calorie rich milk .

Ali sorry that you're dad isn't being supportive. As a FF I have no problems with any BF questions/chat.

Hi right back at you viva!

Ali, I don't mind in the least questions being asked about bf! It's the sneering smugness on the bf boards that upsets me, not just general chat about whys and wherefores. I'm not that sensitive!

In fact it's all helpful as I do hope to bf in the future.

sybil, have heard this from other HVs - do not understand the obsession with fattening babies up!

Hello to everyone else. Off to spend a lovely family day with my two favourite boys - it's our ninth wedding anniversary today so we have lunch booked for the three of us at a fancy restaurant in town!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone

Sybil - how strange - to give that sort of advice over the phone

Essie - sorry to hear I has a cold, E has too and he's hot and miserable. Have just resorted to Medised in the hope that he will sleep now for at least an hour so we can get cleaning.

Hiya been awol again, finding im shattered at end of day and then with the move im finding it hard to keep up but ive skimmed posts

Fleur is nearly always sleeping through but we have 3 good nights at mo and then two bad!
She can sit up for a while but if loses concentration or tries to grab something she topples over!!! No crawling but loads of rolling and we have loads of talking, shes says papa, mum and means it too and also bak bak is quack quack she also says que (spanish for what) and waves bye!!!
Food wise we are on 2 bottles a day her choice one at 11am 210 ml and 300ml at 7pm loads of finger food too

ooh bed falling off happened here today too!!!

WOW Amber thats sooo great bout your sister fingers crossed

Re making up bottles apparently i could kill fleur too as i dont boil my water!!!just use cold! oops!

1. What time did you get up this morning?

Alarm at 5.45am up at 6.20am

1. Diamonds or pearls?

Diamonds

1. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Havent been to cinema for at least 3 years and we saw Cloverfield in Holland

1. What is your favourite TV show?

quite like reality as its easy too watch, lost prison break (until they got silly)

1. What do you usually have for breakfast?

Porridge, all bran and banana

1. What is your middle name?

Susan

1. What food do you dislike?

Olives, fish and coffee

1. What is your favourite CD at moment?

Cold play Viva la vida

1. What kind of car do you drive?

dont drive

10. Favourite sandwich?
    Bacon and egg

11. What characteristic do you despise?
    selfish

12. Favourite item of clothing?
    Black ugg type boots

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
    Norway

14. Favourite brand of clothing?
    Promod Only in sales though!!

15. Where would you retire to?
    near beach and family

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
    Prob this one coming im 30 got a new baby, getting married and moving to another country !!!!

17. Favourite sport to watch?
    none!!

18. When is your birthday?
    20th April

19. Are you a morning or night person?
    Morning

20. What is your shoe size?
    uk 6/7

21. Pets?
    cat called puss, dog called Maisie

22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
    I have something borrowed for my wedding a friends garter!!!

23. What did you want to be when you were little?
    teacher!!!

24. How are you today?
    happy its weekend!!!

25. What is your favourite candy?
    rhubarb and custards, dairy milk - a laaaarge bar!

26. What is your favourite flower?
    Jasmin

27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
    July 14th My wedding and also July 3rd - Moving to set up new life!!!

28. What are you listening to right now?
    Radio 538 trying to learn some dutch but its all music!!

29. What was the last thing you ate?
    Toast and Jam

30. Do you wish on stars?
    No

31. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
    Pink

32. How is the weather right now?
    Sunny and cloudy 26C

33. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
    my friend

34. Favourite soft drink?
    apple juice

35. Favourite restaurant?
    La Pizza italian restaurant

36. Real hair colour?
    mine!!- mousey brown

37. What was your favourite toy as a child?
    my gollywog i still have him

38. Summer or winter?
    winter

39. Hugs or kisses?
    Higs

40. Chocolate or Vanilla?
    Chocolate

41. Coffee or tea?
    tea

42. When was the last time you cried?
    i always cry at anything!!

43. What is under your bed?
    Fancy dress clothes and coats

44. What did you do last night?
    Watched TV and went to bed early

45. What are you afraid of?
    the dark! and death

46. Salty or sweet?
    sweet

47. How many keys on your key ring?
    2

48. How many years at your current job?
    8

49. Favourite day of the week?
    Saturday

50. How many towns/suburbs have you lived in
    Phew too many to count!!! Ive moved about 29 times

51. Do you make friends easily?
    Yes im extremly outgoing!!!

Oh and lastly BDQ- I really will get to the city centre and pick up your pots as they are in stock now thats if you still want them?

That would be great paro if its no trouble to you.

Lets see how I get on with your questions...

1. What time did you get up this morning?

7am

1. Diamonds or pearls?

Diamonds

1. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Oh, something at babycinema. The last time as a grown up it was either Sex and the City or Indiana Jones

1. What is your favourite TV show?

I love Lost and Heroes. Oh, and I've got into it way after everyone else, but Gavin and Stacey! Have only just started watching series 2 and it makes me cry with laughter (not many programmes do that to me)

1. What do you usually have for breakfast?

Cereal or toast

1. What is your middle name?

My mother's first name

1. What food do you dislike?

Seafood. Yuk.

1. What is your favourite CD at moment?

Duffy

1. What kind of car do you drive?

Ford focus

10. Favourite sandwich?
    Not sure I have one

11. What characteristic do you despise?
    intolerance

12. Favourite item of clothing?
    Juicy handbag (does that count?)

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
    San Fransisco

14. Favourite brand of clothing?
    Wouldn't say I have one. I like anything that fits me well

15. Where would you retire to?
    The edge of a city.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
    Probably last year when I went to New York! Although had a fab one this year too with friends in the country.

17. Favourite sport to watch?
    Football

18. When is your birthday?
    January

19. Are you a morning or night person?
    Night

20. What is your shoe size?
    uk 5/6

21. Pets?
    None. Not an animal lover at all!!!!!

22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
    No

23. What did you want to be when you were little?
    Lawyer

24. How are you today?
    Fed up I need to work on an assignment and resentful that completing my course means sacrificing time with my family

25. What is your favourite candy?
    Ooh, I love rhubarb and custard too. And minstrels. The winner would have to be creme eggs though!

26. What is your favourite flower?
    Anything garishly coloured.

27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
    My son's first birthday. I'm already picking out presents.

28. What are you listening to right now?
    Vern on Radio 1

29. What was the last thing you ate?
    Cereal bar

30. Do you wish on stars?
    No

31. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
    Red

32. How is the weather right now?
    Dull and drizzly

33. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
    No one yet

34. Favourite soft drink?
    apple and mango

35. Favourite restaurant?
    Depends what I'm in the mood for. I dont think I have somewhere that would really be my favourite

36. Real hair colour?
    Auburn (sp?)

37. What was your favourite toy as a child?
    I dont rememeber. Probably a book of some sort.

38. Summer or winter?
    Spring!

39. Hugs or kisses?
    Depends who from

40. Chocolate or Vanilla?
    Vanilla! Everytime.

41. Coffee or tea?
    tea

42. When was the last time you cried?
    Yesterday, while watching brothers and sisters

43. What is under your bed?
    My boots and other junk

44. What did you do last night?
    Watched TV and ate too many snacks

45. What are you afraid of?
    Being alone in the world

46. Salty or sweet?
    Both

47. How many keys on your key ring?
    No idea!

48. How many years at your current job?
    3

49. Favourite day of the week?
    Saturday

50. How many towns/suburbs have you lived in
    11 towns/cities and a few areas within those! All in the UK

51. Do you make friends easily?
    Usually.