Sept 08: the thread for when they may start crawling, and there will definitely be some separation anxiety bawling ....

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Welcome ladies

Well, there's no crawling going on in our house, but there's defo some separation anxiety bawling going on .... tears, screaming, the works - oh joy!

We are getting alot of noise but nothing specific except 'nah' (no?). She also likes to chatter away whilst feeding and loves to blow raspberries.

Very excited about your article ponymum, get you!

We had George Sampson's dad fitting our windows (guy who won Britains Got Talent last yr).

On the eating front, Charlotte ate whitebait and bread dipped in balsamic vinegar/olive oil as a starter today, followed by roast beef dinner!! Well, she sucked alot but did bite and swallow the whitebait, head, tail, the lot!
Today, for the first time, i settled her hunger cry with a banana, rather than milk.(Does banana and ricecake count as a proper tea ?)

Finally - have bought a slow cooker in preparation for easier cooking when back in work. Anyone got any good ideas for recipes, cos i haven't a scooby!

Wow ponymum, guardian weekend too, I will keep my eyes peeled.

Am I the only one who has just realised that the t-shirt bodysuits with the neck that can be stretched r-e-a-l-l-y w-i-d-e can also be pulled down the body . I only discovered it the other day, so much nicer that pulling a leaky poo-ed on bodysuit over dd's head. Can't believe I never thought of it before.

ponymum - congratulations on the article. Make sure you tell us when it is published. I don't get the Guardian, but will when you are in it. I have never used a cap or diaphragm, I think I'm a bit too squeamish to. Which is silly really considering I have had a baby travel down my fanny!

I have never thought of pulling a vest down the body either! I should have thought of that when there was an exploding poo last week.

M does seem to say mama, but I can't tell whether it is in the right context. I think he uses it as a way to call for me, but he also uses it when he's upset. He has learnt screeching today

No periods here yet - hurrah!

I don't have a slow cooker, but I know the ladies on MN are big fans. Start a new thread and I'm sure you'll get some good recipes.

Debi Don't you feel it is going to be much easier now with a second? I never thought about that before. I could only think of the lack of time to look after 2, but they do help each other. It is great.
In my case there is a gap of 4 years between them and for me is just perfect. It is lovely to see how tender he is with his baby sister when he plays with her while I cook.

*Pony Well done! What is the article about?. Please let me know when it is publised. I would love to read it.

Today we went to the beach for a walk again, it was a gorgeous day. When we got ther I realised I forgot the sling and we remember we still had the basic Mothercare Jive pushchair from my ds (he stopped using it a year ago) in the boot of the car. We put Lorea on it and suddenly she looked huge, like a year old. It was an emotional moment. I remember very well the day a year ago when I decided to walk my son to nursery and stop using the pushchairs.

Congrats Ponymum! I'm vaguely thinking about trying to do some freelancing before going back to work properly, but who knows.
Have actually been contemplating beginning to look for childminder for T to go to one afternoon a week, as a build up to going back to work, and allow me some writing time.

Funnily enough, I think my first period has started today! DP asked me just the other day when I would finally have one again, so of course my body decided to oblige by having one asap.

T's night time sleep has actually got a bit better all by itself over the past 2-3 days. All by himself he's started resettling himself when he wakes in the early evening, then I feed him at about 11:30pm, then he needs resettling only a couple of times before his next feed, which can be anything from 3 to 6am, after which he again needs one or settlings before morning. Not ideal by any means, but not terrible. DP is also doing his fair share, so it doesn't seem so bad.

Meglet lol at you not realising that - T hates having his arms restricted (not fussed about his face being covered, but doesn't like the arm pinning moment afterwards) so we often pull clothes up from the bottom.

I have been knitting a pair of socks today. I am inordinately impressed with my ability to turn a heel (despite not doing it entirely successfully)

No periods here, but a much happier baby even if he does have a snotty nose again. But terrible mummy moment this morning - he was sitting on the changing table, I was holding him with one hand while reaching for a vest, and he decided to learn to do a somersault forwards, over my arm and off the table!!! I was sort of catching him as he fell and he landed on his nappied-up well-padded bottom, but he was Not Happy.

So only floor changing from now on. Which will be fun as he flips over, crawls backwards, and I'm told has crawled forwards....aaagh!!

He did love my home-made bolognaise sauce with beans yesterday, though (proud mummy!)

And I went to Buggyfit this morning so have done loads of exercise. And ache loads, cos I'm totally unfit...

congrats ponymum - what's the article about?

Ohhh.. I realise that of course my cleverly concealed identity cover will now be blown if you find the article. Let's just say that it's about skydiving - a story from my colourful past.

Anyway, big news is the industrial milking machine totally dignified breast pump I have hired is doing the business! Hooray at last! Yesterday I got 85 ml and today 65 ml. I nearly cried when I saw the milk start to flow.

hopefully what sort of writing are you looking to do? I must admit I am a bit haphazard in my attempts, but I figure that anything I can get published will help me get the next thing accepted, if that makes sense. Even though the next thing I am touting about town is a children's book about, er, ponies. A friend who used to be an editor said I should try to write features - yikes. Though of course, what a dream... travel features of course! 'Here I am on a walking holiday in Switzerland with my good friend debithescot'.

I had no idea about the vest up over the body thing - genius!

notcitrus I am so terrified of that happening. DD arches her back and rocks. I don't dare take my hand off her.

Missing: one lovely, placid and contented baby boy.

Replaced by: a baby who pretty much non-stop whinges and who thinks sleep is for wimps.

If anyone finds my little boy can they please return him? Please? Now? Straight away? Don't Delay!

I have no idea what is up with the little fella. I'm hoping it is a phase!

Skydiving? I'm intrigued!

plusonemore and hopefully and digital how freaky, my period came back properly today too! I was just thinking yesterday that it'd prob come back soon as I get a 12 hour stretch without bfeeding every day now (3.30pm-3.30am ish (ff at 7pm))

pony I've always fancied doing a photography course so I'll do that and then I can take the photos to go along with your travel articles. After the Alps can we go to Canada please?

meglet I didn't know that either about the vests, genius!

i feel like I have wished periods on you all! does it matter if they dont start for a while? is there a point at which you need to worry?

debithescot That's a great plan - let's do it!

ILTMIMI I know where your DS is: with my DD. We have gone completely backwards at night since trying to get DD to make the move to her own room. Not only is the replacement imposter DD still in our room, she is now refusing to sleep in the cot so is pretty much sleeping in our bed. But when I say sleeping I actually mean grizzling, crying, complaining, and (at 4:15am this morning) wide awake talking and hitting me! How did this happen? Where did we go wrong when it was all going so well before?

now i think i have wished a period on myself- feel distinctly achey...

Ponymum, ILTMIMI you have clearly ordered your LOs to send their alien baby vibes over to C . For the first time today, she is asleep, having behaved like a newborn all day - won't be put down, won't play, just had tears and tantrums all day. Poor thing, think she must be teething. I am now eating my lunch bfore she wakes!

Hopefully the thought of going back to work makes me feel sick. It's not the working itself, I do enjoy it, it's the thought of anyone else looking after C. I think I have separation anxiety!
Seriously, do I need help? I'm convinced no one else can comfort C like I do. How will she cope without me etc etc etc.
I walked past the local primary school yesterday and had tears in my eyes when i realised I won't be there to kiss her better when she falls over (in 5 yrs, FFS). I need professional help I think!!!!

I have a grumpy grizzly baby here too. I'm guessing its just his teeth, again grrr.
When someone finds all the happy babies please make sure they are all returned home.

DS1 grumpy and grizzly too. He's at the docs at the moment with dh and I'm just hoping he agreed to open his mouth to show him the bright red tonsils with white blotches on them.

question - are other babies now needing nappy changes at night? It started same time as I started solids. Most annoying.

And A has grouched through every bath since having solids, too. Might have to try mid-afternoon bath as any time after tea (4.30 or 5pm) he seems too tired?

notcitrus dd hasn't needed any extra changes at night, but she is more poo-y in the day. DS actually tells me when his little sister has poo-ed and I haven't noticed.

We had a lovely day today. I made ds walk to the supermarket (dd was in the sling) then we went to the park on the way home. Mum came over this afternoon and I planted some veg and flowers and cleaned the kitchen . It's bliss getting to the end of the day without the house looking like a bombsite.

I made the MN recipe of the week this afternoon, the cheesey flapjacks, they are perfect for snacking on.

Part of me is wondering if any of these missing periods are actually the start of new pregnancies . Time will tell ladies!

urgh. I have definitely got my period and all the cramping, dizziness, nausea and loss of appetite (except for chocolate) that comes with it. Was very hard cooking for A today and then expecting him to eat when I couldn't even join in. So drained. Not helped by A crying for 90 minutes last night. In my PMT-induced irritation, I stuck my head under the pillow and muttered 'please shut up'. Poor thing just couldn't get himself back to sleep for some reason but I was too annoyed to deal with it.

Thankfully we had one of those 'sleepy feeds' after his lunchtime nap where he woke up and we fed lying down for another hour. I love BFing, it's the perfect excuse to sit/lie down and do nothing but cuddle your baby.

NC no nighttime nappy changes here. since I've stopped nightfeeding he's stopped filling his nappy at night. He did 4 pooy nappies today though, always after I've just changed a wee nappy. I think he waits for me to put a clean one on.

ponymum I get the Guardian on Saturdays! Can't wait to read your article, is it going to be in the 'experience' section?

I've nearly finished my bar of green & blacks, oh god try not to panic....

Stop all this talk of periods!! You are all frightening me, and now I am so afraid that I will get one too. I have become rather attached to not having periods. Is this like we are girls at a boarding school who all get their period at the same time because we hang out together and pick up each other's bio-rhythms?

But Meglet's suspicion is worse - no period probably does equal pregnancy for at least one of us... statistically speaking I mean. Anyone scared it's them?

digigirl I am so rumbled. Yes, it is the Experience column. Hmmph.

i dont want a BFP!!! Have my 2 boys, thats me done (although I do wish I could be pregnant just one more time)

digitalgirl I've pulled the duvet over my head and sworn to myself a couple of times when dd has been frustatingly grizzly at night. You'd have to be super human to happily skip back to them at 4am.

DS is so funny I actually don't mind him waking me up. He sings 'twinkle twinkle' and 'happy know clap hands'. I can hear him doing it in the middle of the night every so often. I wish I had a night vision camera I his room so I can see what he does.

meglet I did not know that either.
I think my period is back today, which is strange because I have not stopped Bf and with my first born it took 2.5 years to come back (about 2 months after stopping BF)

Let's see if it is the real thing.

imoscarsmum I totally relate to your anxiety about returning to work. When DD started nursery I couldn't believe how the staff were acting as though the transition was totally fine and no big thing. I wanted them to be fussing and worrying, but they just said "oh, what a happy looking baby. She'll be fine." And the thing is, she was fine. She clearly enjoys it there, and arrives home like she's had a really interesting day compared to those boring days with mummy. One day she cried all morning at home with me, but didn't cry all afternoon at nursery!

I don't know whether to feel pleased that it's going ok, or betrayed that she copes fine without me around.

star you are not a naughty mummy. I think BS is just taking her time. At least that's what I am telling myself about Ponygirl, who is pretty much behaving the same way with food. We still offer her food every day, and sometimes it goes in as far as a brief journey around her mouth before returning. The best meal we ever had was wedges of avocado followed by slices of pear. But that was once. And definitely more suck and squish than chew and swallow. I am finding myself jealous of the happy, hungry baby on the Cow and Gate ad!!