October 08 - A spoonful of sugar* (*not recommended as a first food)

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Have done shortened stats this time, just for those of us who seem to still be around.

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz - Induction due to rhesus sensitivity, G&A.
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs - Just beat induction for PE!
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz - Fast and furious hospital birth.
22nd Sept (Due 10th Oct) - Lozza70 - Boy - Sander Gene - 7lbs 5oz - Em C-Sec due to raised BP and high ALTs from liver.
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz - 36hr labour, ventouse and stitches.
3rd Oct (Due 26th Sept) - purpleflower - Girl - Rebecca Jill Erzsebet - 8lbs 10.5oz - Homebirth with paramedics due to meconium.
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz -
5th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - hedgepig - Boy - Oliver - 6lbs 3oz -
5th Oct (Due 29th Sept Oct) - CherryChoc - Boy - Ryan - 6lbs 11oz - 3 day labour with natural birth in hospital
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz -
9th Oct (Due 17th) - Marthasmama - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz - 4 day induction with 1 hour established labour!
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz - Homebirth.
13th Oct (Due 15th Oct) - mum2jakeyroo/jrsqueak - Boy - Joshua - 7lbs 2oz - Delivered in car by dh!
16th Oct (Due 17th Oct) - rowanmac - Girl - Anna Ruth - 7lbs 2oz - 2 hours ARM to placenta delivery.
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz - Homebirth
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz -
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz - Home water birth with gas and air.
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz -
1st Nov (Due 22nd Oct) - SmudgeyDoodle - Girl - - 8lbs 2oz - Hospital water birth.
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz -
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz - Em C-Sec. Back to back and knotted cord around neck. 24 hours of labour first though, and don't you forget it!

How dare RL get in the way!

I ready on my babycentre email that Q is supposed to start making those sounds this week, MM. he's still just squealing and exploring pitch. He never does what those silly emails say he should/will do. Maybe ina few weeks. he does look ready to crawl though... he's so anxious to move! I keep trying to make just sitting in one place seem more inviting . I just don't want him to move around!! We still live in a small place and I like being able to sit him down and know he'll stay there!

Right, where was I?

heather - I'll go to clinic next week if you do! Think we last went in Jan. Must make sure I'm organised/remember on Tuesday morning, as clinic is only on for an hour, and if I miss it then it's another 2 weeks to wait.
How did Poppy's weigh in go hmm?

Rachie - it's actually quite encouraging to hear of a bottle fed baby not sleeping well (sorry!). A lot of people tout bottle feeding as the answer to non-sleeping in breast fed babies, so it's good to be reminded from time to time that it isn't actually the feeding method that matters .

So today we went to toddler group in the village, and then came back just in time for friends to come to lunch and to play for the afternoon. Only 1 friend, but she has 3 children, the eldest was 3 in November and the youngest was 1 in January. She didn't hang around once she'd started her family!

Tomorrow we are not going to our usual Friday toddler group, but having our group of friends from it come here instead. The weather is too nice to be cooped up indoors, so they can all come and play in the garden, and bring picnics for lunch .

Star - I get those bloody e-mails too! All they do is make me worry! Ignore them, seriously! Boys and girls are different. Q is streets ahead of M physically, and M is ahead with communication skills. That's the way it is with boys and girls. M has only just got the hang of sitting on her own and she's not very good at that, she can't push herself up on her arms very well when she's on her front. On the other hand, she chats all day, cuddles, kisses, blows raspberries on my face to make me laugh.... Don't worry, they all develop differently and there are particular differences between girls and boys. Q is doing well. DS was rubbish with communication skills as a baby but he was way ahead of his milestones physically. Now he's not very physical but is top of the class for reading and started two/three word sentences at the age of 15 months. It matters not at this age.

csws - i stopped going to clinic when dd was 5 months and they told me to stop bf and give formula. she was only on the 2nd centile and they said that my bm wasn't good enough
she's not even on the charts now, who cares she happy and healthy.

clinic is on a friday here, but it's also market day and parking is a nightmare and it costs £1.50 for 30 min parking at the drs

we went to toddler group today too, alex was chatting up all the girls! they have a wee baby area with mats and play gyms. i put alex down and he crawled over to a baby girl and started stroking her head! it was very cute.

Oh and Star - Get one of these. You can use it as a room divider so you can section off the dangerous bits but they can still crawl around and explore. It was a godsend for us with ds. We just sectioned off the TV, fireplace, pc etc and he had the run of the rest of the room. SO much less stressful! Or you can use it as a playpen if needs be. DS actually used to run a cup across the bars like he was in prison. It was so funny!

Heather! I didn't know A was crawling. I knew he's threatened it, but wow!! And yes, how adorable. M would have just ripped a clump of hair out.

he's not properly crawling on his hands and knees, he drags himself along with his hands, but he's very quick at doing it and gets himself around really well.
he also pulls his legs under him and gets up on his hands and toes but he usually falls flat on his face.
don't worry though he still can't sit up.

MM - we have one of those gurads as we have a stove that sits in the room rather than in a fireplace so usual fireguards are too narrow - its absolutely brilliant.

HMM - i would still use sieve for peas and i didn't give either of mine sweetcorn til they were 7 months and were more able to 'chew'. I give Joe sweetcorn with potato, jsut mashed together and he manages ok with it. I have a great baby veggie cook book by carol timperley - its like the AK one but veggie (obviously)!! Joe had 'magic mushroom mush' for tea and loved it (although he loves all food so its hard to tell what recipes are good or not).

Welcome Rachie - i won't say whether my children sleep well or not cos when i do it seems to jinx them!! i hope your ds gets in to the sleep habit soon. I have found in rl that lots of my firends say their children sleep well but i then hear from other people that they don't. Sometimes people don't like to admit that they are having a tough time or they child is less than perfect - no chance of that here!!!

I have just ordered a doidy cup to try to get Joe to take some formula during the day when he is at nursery. Anyone else used them before - are they any good??

I really like eco nappies even if they are a bit of a con re: biodegrading. I like the fact they have no bleach etc in them and my two have never really had any nappy rash - maybe that's a coincidence. I also don't have a tumble dryer so reusables are out for us.

I have packed Joe's baby stuff away and it made me all teary and sad. DH wants to give all the stuff away but i am desperate to hang onto it, just in case [broody emoticon]

we have a doidy cup. its ok but i've only given water in it so far. alex just tips it upside down for now but i spent a fortune on various cups for kennedy so i'm aiming for an open cup from the beginning for alex

We have doidy cups. Dd used to tip out everything from them. Ds will take a sip of water from it, but then spits it out again, so all his fluid intake is still having ot come from bf.

Awww twins. Congrats Lozza!

DD has been asleep since 8.20. Either the swimming knocked her out or we're in for a long night.

She wouldn't lie on her back in the water, kept lifting her head out! Can't say I blame her, a girl doesn't want to ruin her hair does she? The teacher told me to put her on her front instead in the end and she was much more comfortable. She didn't really cry tho, not even afterwards when I was drying her. She even had a smile for her grandparents waving from the side of the pool. She's going up to the next class next week as she's closer to them than this newborn to 6m class.

Just watching Hells Kitchen then i might go to bed. Squatting/ kneeling in the water for 30 mins has COMPLETELY knackered my knees up. I'm going up and down the stairs one step at a time! Thank god the osteo is tomorrow!

Can'tsleep- I don't think bottle feeding does really help sleeping. I bf until 7 weeks then it all went a bit wrong and got stressful so we went onto bottles. I'd heard that bottle fed babies slept better so thought that might be a silver lining to my cloud of giving up bf but no. In fact one of another mum I know is still bf and her baby sleeps from 7-7pm . We even tried giving ds hungrier baby formula for his last feed this week and it's made no difference.

I've just got ds to sleep, dh is out tonight and normally does bedtime. Typically ds decided that tonight he would practise rolling round the cot and getting his head wedged under the cot bumper. I am shattered and my back is killing me so am going to put my feet up eat chocolate.

I use Sainsbury own nappies. Holds it all in.

I am on day two of my new life. That of a woman who sleeps at night I havent even needed to go to the loo. Unheard of for me!

Where do you get Doidy cups from? I have been told about them several times but never have found them in the shops.

Clever Alex making his way already to the ladies

HMM- love the idea of your dd not wanting to mess her hair up swimming . My ds also prefers to be on his tummy in the pool but I think that's so he can lap the water up like a puppy. Got a bit neurotic about it the first time given the amount of wee that's probably in it but in the end had to give up and let him get on with it.

I was trying not to think of the wee...

Here ronshar.

hmm - weigh in?!?!?! How did it go?

Thats what the chlorine is for. Count yourself lucky that there wasnt any floaters!

Thank you CSWS. I think I will invest.

Sorry, I'm sure they clean the pools carefully.

Oh. She's 14lb 6. Only put on 4oz in 2 weeks. But she's still hanging in on that 25th line so can't complain.

The chlorine was so strong it's stripped the nail varnish off my toenails!!! That can't be good for Poppy...

I'm off to do the dream feed then sleep. Totally knackered. Should go for bath to ease the knees (ooh poetry) but I can't be bothered. Night all!

Oh no I wasnt being off. I try to be funny but as you will soon realise I fail regularly

Night love. Sleep all night tonight. (finger crossed)