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!

Excellent! Seems like we're lining up a nice Norf London meet up: So far it's Pacita, Digitalgirl, Jenbot and Notcitrus. You ladies want to venture any dates?

DGand I tend to go for Thursdays.

Diego just scoffed porridge with stewed apple and sweet potato. Then sucked both my boobs dry. Here's me hoping for a glorious night of sleep.

becaroo Robyn was the same a couple of weeks ago. we were up every 2 hours and i was so grumpy and snapped at everyone. She is now back to 8-9 hours.

starlight yes i was so shocked they asked me she is 13 next week and really grown up but pregnant!! She told me there was no chance she was so heres hoping i will be in my 40's before she makes me a granny.

imo if its any consolation when you go back to work you will be able to have cups of tea / coffee in peace and go to the loo without wondering what mischief C is up to in the meantime. When went back after I had ds I would almost skip to the kitchen / loo's as it was such bliss to have a few minutes where I wouldn't be interupted.

We had our first bit of almost sibling rivarly today, dd grabbed a piece of the dinosaur puzzle that ds was doing. He looked so suprised but just said 'no Merry!', and shoved it out of her way. She is getting into everything now, even thought she can't go forward she can roll, go backwards and turn on her tummy to get anywhere in the room. She managed to get wedged under her high chair earlier .

Glorious night sleep? Ha! He woke up 3 times between midnight and 2. Then every two hours until 6:45, when I took him into my bed. He did not nap (for 20 mins) till 10:30. This really is not normal, I think he must be itchy because his eczema took a turn for the worse. I think that it may have been caused by giving him the crust of a pizza to gnaw on - too much gluten perhaps?

I am so exhausted, he is so grumpy, and the day ahead feels slightly demoralising...

oh dear pacita sorry to hear the full tummy didn't help Diego sleep for longer.

Alfredo didn't sleep any better either. He's still got a dicky tummy and appetite has not returned to former glory. At least he's back to napping 3 times a day.

uhoh, he's waking up from lunchtime nap. Boob duty beckons...

Just putting this back on my threads list, back later to catch up and post!

Wow I thought I was in an episode of the good life with all this veggie growing - very commendable. I wish I could do the same, but until I stop killing houseplants, I think I should leave well alone.

I did a bit of mystery shopping today for a bit of pocket money. I had to pretend to be a potential bank customer and unfortunately my report was not glowing. I was not served (or acknowledged) for 11 minutes and then told to come back tomorrow. Still it did not cost me a thing and got me and Erin out in the sunshine

Meglet hope you are ok and sorry to hear your ex is still being a pita.

Nearly forgot to say, Erin cut her first tooth on Thursday and it's steadily growing. Ah, my little precious girl is growing up fast.

jenbot I've just realised you can't have a toddler if you're doing the norf laaandan meet, you're hardcore!

ooh Kagey I have thought about doing mystery shopping- which company do you do it for and would you reccommend it?

kagey I can't keep houseplants alive either, only any good with outside things that can look after themselves quite well.

I fancy mystery shopping too, how do you do it?

Spent all day today outside in the sun by the river in Guildford, was lovely. Days like that make me not want to go back to work but unfortunately if I didn't go back I wouldn't be able to afford nice days out.

The Company I registered with to be a mystery shopper is www.grassrootsmysteryshopping.com. First link so hope this works.

Good luck, it may not make me rich but it was quite good fun!!

Just out of interest, can i get a show of hands as it were:

Who here:
Is going back to work (F/T or P/T?) and if so, when?
Has already gone back (if so F/T or P/T)?
Isn't going back or was already a SAHM.

No reasons why - not looking to argue which is better, and I'm not Harry Hill (if you don't watch TV Burp, don't worry about it), but curious.

I'll start if I may:
imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.

Eek, looking for childcare is scary! I have no idea where to start. Have decided to put T in childcare for a few hours a week to allow me to make a start on some freelancing and to pre empt any going-back-to-work drama. Have decided I want a childminder, but beyond that I haven't a clue!

Random good night here last night - T only woke (for feeds) at 1:30 and 5:30. Night before he was up every hour needing resettling

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.

Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.

Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t

Plusonemore- return to work September, 3 days a week. DS1&2 in nursery

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.
Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t
Plusonemore- return to work September, 3 days a week. DS1&2 in nursery
Hopefully - theoretically going back part time in September, hoping to find an alternative. DS at childminder.

Managed to email a couple of childminders last night, and I'm going to phone the local childcare information line today to see if there are any I've missed. I've got some proofing work waiting for me as soon as T is in childcare, which is an incentive to start.

In other news, T slept from 8pm-3:30am with only one resettling. 2 good nights on the trot! He will be up every 15 minutes tonight

So, all those of you who made it to 6 months BF (exclusive or otherwise) are you planning on continuing? T is probably 75% BF, 25% formula. I have mixed feelings about continuing:

• I would like to regain my libido at some point, and I really feel BF impacts on it - hormones and feeling completely like my body has a different purpose to being sexual
• I definitely don't want to BF beyond a year, but I know that T will receive lots of benefits if I continue till then rather than quitting now *BF is lots easier than formula, which is a pain in the arse!
• I would like a reasonably small age gap between DCs, and I would like to actually have a few months of having my own body (and possibly a sex life) before starting TTC again and giving over my body again. Hmmm.....

How did it go Lollyheart? Was it scary?

We've had 2 nights of sleeping from 7-7 with a 10.30 dreamfeed.

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.
Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t
Plusonemore- return to work September, 3 days a week. DS1&2 in nursery
ILTMIMI - SAHM

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.
Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t
Plusonemore- return to work September, 3 days a week. DS1&2 in nursery
Hopefully - theoretically going back part time in September, hoping to find an alternative. DS at childminder.
ILTMIMI - SAHM

Hopefully, my bf plan is:

Go with what ds wants for the time being. As his food intake rises, the amount of feeds are falling. So it wouldn't surprise me if he's only on a morning and night feed within a few months.

I too would like my mojo to come back, but given time it will.

I do sometimes get the 'I want my body back' feeling, but I have realised I have mistaken the reason behind that feeling. For me, that emotion is a knee jerk reaction to the relentlessness of being a parent, not breastfeeding.

I've waffled, I hope I have made some sense!

imoscarsmum - going back on 15 July, full-time.
Lollyheart- started a new job on tues 14th april, p/t
Plusonemore- return to work September, 3 days a week. DS1&2 in nursery
Hopefully - theoretically going back part time in September, hoping to find an alternative. DS at childminder.
ILTMIMI - SAHM
Starlight - SAHM (unless anyone can find me affordable childcare for 2 preschoolers)

Re London meet up:

I might be up for it, but I'll have a toddler in tow. Connections from Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters or Liverpool Street are good. I'm on hols from 1st-11th May though.

Iltmimi, It went ok thankyou, not that scary

I plan to bf untill f self weans, hopefully he will get to at least 2, i really feel like i have missed out on 4 years of bf cause it didnt work out with dd or ds1, and he is my last baby

I think im up for the croydon meet up.

It will take me just over an hour to get there by car.

I will have all 3 dcs with me so somewhere toddler friendy would be a good place for me.

Im not 100% sure i want to drive in london yet, do i even need to drive into london to grt there?

Hi all.

I've made a NY resolution, beginning today but I might need your help.

I can do as much MN reading as I like (given that it is great for parenting advice, I will be a bfing peer supporter in 3 weeks, I'm training to be an antenatal teacher and it looks like my DS has ASD), but I can only 'post' on this thread.

Unless of course I have specific and relevant questions wrt above

This will be the only thread I am allowed to 'chat' on iyswim.

So if you see me antagonising any new mothers in the 'sleep' section who are starving their 2 day old babies for the sake of not making a rod for their backs, please be very nasty to me and tell me to worry more about my own children.

Hello all - apologies I've been away for such a long time. I got made redundant from previous job, just as I was about to go back, and I'm now in another role in a new company, albeit I'm someone else's mat cover. It's going really well though and I'm hoping something more permanent might come out of it.

Just to answer the employment question I'm full time and this is my fourth week here.

Effy is doing really well. She's still small for her age but has stacked on the weight since I started weaning her. Haven't really done BLW (although I did it exclusively with DS) as she love sher food and gets really frustrated when she can't get hold of it. She's actually so into food she's been refusing her milk during the day! I must get her more into feeding herself though as DS was so good at it, even using cutlery, from such an early age, I need her to get into it too.

She's not crawling yet either but seems to be nearly there. She's really determined and focussed on getting what she wants and has started getting up onto her knees and looking like she'll take off any second. Nursery think she'll walk early as she's so keen to get going and really watches and learns from the people around her.

Unfortunately DS is the one causing the worry right now. He was wonderful all during the twos but the threes are a nightmare! He's really defiant and answers 'no' to pretty much everything. Everything seems to have become a massive battle and there's lots of screaming fits. It's very hard work.

As for sleeping through, Effy does it some nights. I've found I need to give her a warm dream feed before I go to bed, and really make her have as much as possible. We've also filled her cot with dummies so she can find one for herself when she wakes up in the night. DS has started coming in in the night though and going mad when we try to get him back to bed. All told I'm not getting a huge amount of sleep - no light at the end of the tunnel on this one either.