March 09 - there is no snooze button on a baby that needs milk.....!

[meep]

over here ladies

Meep

meep DS1 (at 3) is insisting on being spoon-fed again just like Gabe! (And keeps nicking his bouncy chair)

G rolled front to back first and haven't caught hime doing it the other way yet.

Currently well ticked off as our travel insurance quote is now 300% more expensive because of DS1's cerebral palsy, even though it has no effect on the holiday we're on.

at slick!

and another for FB the PIB King!!!

Yup - not much sun up here this afternoon - lots of puddles though to dd1's delight

lau 300% more expensive - eek!

1 month to go then let the weaning of Rosie commence

kanga

I would put DS in the highchair, but he seems to have a spring in his nappy as he is bouncing up and down trying to get to dd's .

I have been up in the loft again today (it's ok mum was here today cleaning my carpets so i didn't have to phone for permission ) and got down the baby walker for him.

Now just have to try and keep dd2 out of it.

Laumiere They really are a bunch of money-grabbing, pay-out-dodging B*stards. Did you try the Post Office travel insurance? I don't know if they are any better, but usually pretty reasonable?

Front to back Just shows to go you!

Be safe Lizzie

HHB def seems to be sleeping through the night now and last night was the first night that we didn't have a bottle of milk or water waiting for him. Hurray. The solids seem to have made all the difference and I hope for all the non-sleeping babies out there that it will work for them too.

Night out tonight. Hurray!

Unfortunately DS1's kind of damned by the fact that his CP is mild to moderate, whereas a lot of kids with CP would need increased insurance.

Had a horrible morning, was up (but bleary) at 6am with the boys after not being able to sleep and G being awake at 4.30, by the time DH came in from his night shift was in floods of tears. Much better after umpteen cups of tea, but god I can't wait til we go on hols!

well the 4pm nap did NOT work!!! she went to sleep after 9 last night.

meep i find it tricky with these naps, it works out perfectly about once a week at best. the rest of the time as you say it is a juggle to get them through to evening...

by the way i am NOT BROODY. i am relieved to have reached that point, ha ha. although i said 4 is enough last time, this really is it! i am out to pasture for happy retirement.

slick i used to be such a good mum, like you waiting to ripen pears. but i got it wrong, and they were too ripe. i have gotten most lazy over the years and now buy jars of the stuff. ds1 had beautifully made frozen cubes of veges and fruits, but he ate so much it was hardly worth storing it all. i have found much nicer ranges of baby food nowadays, and though expensive, i get them on to mushed up home cooked family dinners quite quickly. a few jars for 5 months seems ok to me, especially when going out and about. (the whiff of homemade cauliflower gratin, sadly missed however!)

that's great slick on sleeping through. am really hoping it will work soon for us. i did not have a good night's sleep last night. i am taking it slow with the weaning food though as she is not the "recommended" age yet.

lizzie, the novelty of getting out the old baby stuff for the new baby to play with seems to backfire doesn't it? i try to get stuff out well before i need it for the baby so the others get their fill of it sooner.

still, a number of things have been broken by rather larger dcs playing/sitting in/on something not designed for them!

Seriously thinking of name changing today. I have turned into grumpyjoanne and Mae has become superduperclingy baby. I am so glad DH is now home and is doing some cuddling. I don't think I have managed to succesfully put Mae down for any more than 2 mins without her screaming and I think I am coming down with something I feel really tired and headachy. Although if Mae feels the same it may explain the clingyness.

We have some homemade purees and some jars but I tried cooking the apples in the microwave rather than in the pan to try and quicken the process but it was a complete disaster so not doing that again, so will probably stick to apple and pear puree from the jar.

Still no response from work so that isn't helping the mood either.

Only positive thing is (or perhaps more accurately less awful than I thought it would be) our house is only worth 10k less than we paid for it 4 years ago. So we can probably afford to put it on the market and buy a new one.

To be honest I find holiday insurance really annoying you literally have to admit to every slight illness if you want to be covered while over there. As an asthmatic it can be a right pain and I can imagine it is even worse for more serious illnesses such as CP.

Can't believe there have been more PIB incidents! If he is anything like Mae he'll think anything that makes you grimace and pull faces is hilarious. Mae always laughs when I have to change a really stinky nappy.

I know jolly, what's really annoying is that DS1's condition doesn't really affect his day to day life apart from the lack of talking, still using nappies at 3 and sometimes getting tired, none of which are exactly relevant for insurance!

jollyjoanne Mols is going through a massively clingy faze too, we were just at the PIL for the weekend and she screamed everytime anyone but me held her, even DP wasn't good enough. I've found it incredibly wearing to not be allowed a break. She seems a bit better now.

Mols seems to be massive but not that heavy... have had to move her up nappy and clothes sizes even though she only just weighs a stone at 5 months. Her 6-9mth baby gros are massive but her 3-6mths are too small. I haven't started weaning her yet because she doesn't seem interested still so I'm feeling optimistic about having a go at BLW in a few weeks. (Can't believe she will be 6mths so soon!)

She can roll over now, front to back and back to front (bit only from back if I'm not watching!)

molly wants to type lol,

and yes... I'm broody. God knows why, I couldn't cope with two wiggly monsters!

popping in very quickly (FIL here so not so much time to MN!).

We're going to try a night without waking Rosie for her dreamfeed at 11pm..........................wish me luck!

Am so bloody knackered. Rhys is 5 months old and his nights show NO signs of getting better. Wait, I take that back -- every once in a while he has a halfway decent night that gives us hope, and then it's back to the salt mines.

All we're trying to do now is space out his expectations for night feeds, a la Ferber, right? Friday night was actually good -- last feed at 10.30, he woke at 1 and 2.30 but DP was able to soothe him, and then woke again at 5.30 to feed. Brilliant!

Last night (and did I mention that DP left for a week in the US yesterday morning?): last feed at 11. screamed at 1, 2, 2.30, 2.40, 2.50 before I caved and fed at 3. Would NOT go back down, so I finally just took him into bed and said the hell with it. He fell asleep at around 4 then back up at 5.30, when he cried for an hour, trying to get at my boobs, before I said oh hell, he MUST be hungry this isn't just habit -- and nursed him. The little s* nursed for 1 minute and fell asleep. Then he slept for 20 minutes before being up and ready to start the day at 7.15.

I really and truly don't know what to do. I start work on Monday, and I can just forget about any semblance of productivity if I'm only getting a couple of 1.5 hour stretches of sleep.

Sorry, had to vent. Now, as boobz can sympathise, he's rolled onto his belly on his playmat and is shrieking to be turned over (I WISH it were only 5 times an hour -- with Rhys, it's more like every 5 minutes!). Must dash.

oh corgi that is rubbish for you. I don't know what to suggest - but I know that any kind of change does take a few nights to work before it becomes routine for them. Also with your DP away, R will be able to smell your milk so prob less likely to self settle.

I can attest to the fact that you can work through sleep deprivation. You will be a grumpy snappy person at home, and have this mask of "I am in control" on at work. It is exhausting, but certainly in my work being a Mum is no excuse and you just have to get on with it. Some days I would sit in teh loos and lean my head against the wall and catnap for 5/10 mins to keep myself going - that and mainlining coffee seemed to help!

After our Friday night from hell (dd1 up 3 times) we had a blissful sleep from both dds last night. Rosie made it from 6.30pm until 6am - and was very very hungry this morning . She hasn't been that hungry in teh morning which was why I decided that she might not need her late feed any more - and it worked - well at least it did last night, I am sure it could all go tits up tonight.

We've had a couple of days of Rosie being incredibly unsettled - waking from her naps after about 20 mins and howling. So much so that she fell asleep outward facing in teh sling - then again in her bouncy chair. Poor wee thing was exhausted.

I am wondering if us waking her for her late feed was meaning she was overtired at night too.

DH is constantly ruminating about what could be the cause of x, y and z - sometimes I just laugh and tell him babies are a mystery and we will never know !

corgi I don't know if they have them in Belgium but in the UK you have to have quiet or faith rooms - if it was free when I was pg I'd nip in and have a 5 min nap... or just sit on the closed loo and kip.

To be fair I did also fall asleep in a meeting once, unbelievably no one noticed!

Gabriel's decided sleeping in the day is for the WEAK, until he gets to 4pm then crashes and fights going to bed til about 8pm. He is also testing new noises, mostly ear-piercing screeches, which are great with DH trying to sleep upstairs!

On the plus side he's very stable in his high chair now, so can eat meals there (he's now grabbing his bowl, sticking his fist n and sucking food off it) and watch me cook (which he finds strangely fascinating).

Spain next week (at last) then DS1 at nursery for a week, then Wales. And I still need to start shortlisting primaries for DS1....

Speaking of DH, am a bit fed up. I started my mat leave 2months early as he desperately wanted to start work, he's always maintained how much he loves his job (to the point where although the night shifts were killing me I didn't feel i could ask him to change) and now in the last week he's decided he wants to leave, and is talking about me going back to work in Nov and him taking the kids. Now since I'll be working with people who started their new jobs in Oct it makes sense, but Gabe will only be 8-9mo and I don't want to leave him yet! Not to mention this is the last chance I'll ever have to be at home with the boys for a year as we're planning on no more kids. Just feeling a bit like it's all being done for DH's benefit, and I'd rather we both worked and got a childminder so they boys get more people in their lives.

Oh corgi That really is just awful for you. I wonder if there's a way of getting help? My mum's neighbour had a third child who just would NOT SLEEP and would scream the house down all night everynight. (M&D actually moved rooms for the duration as the baby's bedroom was next to theirs!) Eventually, she got help from a sleep specialist who helped her deal with and eventually control the situation. I know that there was a time where she had to go into see the baby but not make any eye contact and just hold his hand for reassurance and then leave the room and do this on a building up basis. But if I'm honest, I think he was older than Rhys and I'm not sure what someone would suggest at 5 months. I do think it's worth asking a HV or a dr for help or to refer you to someone, cos this just seems excessive. If he were still waking once or even twice a night that would be understandable but this really does seem too much. Does he have reflux or silent reflux or anything like that? I can't remember?

But I really really feel for you.

Corgi Also, is there anyone who can help you while your DH is away? I just had mine away for 5 days and it was hard going with the 3 of them, but I did get a bit of help from Mum for a couple of days. Is there a friend who can help you?

corgi that sucks, I'm really sorry to hear that.

I think there must be something in the water as James is completely unsettled at the moment as well, and he was happily sleeping through the night prior to this. I'm thinking it's probably due to being on formula... he was refusing it but now my milk supply's all but dried up and so he has no real choice - he's a really hungry baby. He's still reluctant to eat any puree or banana if he hasn't had any breastmilk, and refuses point blank if he hasn't had any milk at all. Even when he's hungry he won't touch grub unless he's been "primed" for 10 mins or so with milk. I just don't get it. I'm breastfeeding a fraction of the amount I was for obvious reasons, thought it would be a relief to get to that stage and I'd be less knackered but I'm more knackered than ever!

He woke up three times in the night a couple of days ago. I feel like a whiney ungrateful bitch for complaining about that, particularly when corgi's having a rotten time of it with Rhys and I know I've been ridiculously lucky with J so far but it just feels like a huge shock to the system! The one thing that was keeping this pregnancy from being a total and utter nightmare was being able to put J down for the night at 8 and not hear a peep out of him for at least 10 or 11 hours.

I'm hoping it'll pass soon though. I get out of synch really easily so now I'm finding myself full of beans at 2 in the morning and falling asleep upright at 5 or 6pm.

I have another bloody scan coming up as well - this pregnancy is so much more complicated than even I'd anticipated. Bizarrely my lower back and buttocks have started to ache all day even though my bump's still small. Will have to mention it.

meep hooray for a full night sleep, but...

oh corgi i do feel so sorry you are having a really bad time at night.

it sounds like you are doing all you can, so i cannot be of much help. i second all that has been mentioned, especially power naps. you will get through it. there is nothing like sleep deprivation to render a mum incapable of the simplest tasks, and losing her patience!!!

i suffer from sleep deprivation too most days, but i do know that as they get bigger and more active they DO SLEEP! be strong.

good luck loli for your scan too. i cannot imagine how tired you are as well with all that is on your plate!

xxx

laumiere

i hope you manage to sort out your care arrangements. you are somewhat fortunate that DH offers to mind them full time, mine wouldn't! i understand your reluctance to leave them too. could you wait another year?

kanga sadly no, I'm the main wage earner and would have to take unpaid leave to take another year off. I have to go back to my job for at least 3 months to pay back my occupational pay.

corgi that sounds really awful, I hope you have more luck in the future. It's probably not very helpful to say but some babies do just seem to hate sleeping, and grow out of it after a while so I hope you're not beating yourself up about it. Especially when you think that at five months they are still quite small really.

For those of you with suddenly waking babies - any chance they're teething? Mols has two teeth already first at four months and the second at four and a half. She seems to be having a small break but I'm expecting the top front two quite soon now - all stupidly early for teeth. I found a bit of the teething powder before bed was quite effective. Unfortunately she has also bitten my nips a few times now and by god is that painful. Once the top two come through I think that will probably be it for me and breastfeeding.

Thank you for the sympathy and kind words, ladies -- they are much, much appreciated! I just got back from taking Rhys to the nursery and am preparing to dive back into work email and conference calls and general irritation and NOT NEARLY AS MUCH MN TIME AS I?D LIKE. Ick. No, double ick. meep, I?m donning my ?in control? mask as I type?

My mum is pacing the floors until 11.30, when she can pick up her beloved grandson.

Last night was a bit better, thankfully. We got two chunks of 3-hour sleep, so that was lovely. But I did have to call on my mum to ride to the rescue at 11.30, when he did his standard sleep for 1.5 hours and wake howling for the boob. She endured a solid half hour of him shrieking in her ear while she sang lullabies, and finally got him back down, bless her. So yes, I do have support ? I?m just loathe to make use of it, as she?s not getting any younger, and she?ll be looking after him all afternoon while I?m working.

Slick, I will ask the paediatrician for a recommendation ? though I know she won?t want to hear me complain unless she knows we?ve tried Ferberising (or an equivalent). If we could just get the night feeds sorted, I?d feel better about moving forward without worrying that I?m letting him cry when he may be hungry! And no, no reflux issues; he was misdiagnosed with silent reflux but it seems to have turned out to be a case of intermittently trapped wind ? which still bites us in the butt from time to time, as no matter if we spend 20 minutes patting and bouncing and rubbing, the d*mn burp will only emerge mid-sleep.

I feel bad complaining, especially as so many of you have more than one kid to deal with, or are already pregnant again -- so I do understand that in the great scheme of things, this is a blip on the radar screen! (BTW, loli, sorry to hear J is being uncooperative ? can?t imagine how you?re surviving so well, but good on you.)

And slick, you reminded me that sleeplessness is much better than maths homework ? thank you! Come to think of it, it?s also better than PIB.

Glad to hear the estate agent's news was good (or at least not as bad as it could have been), jolly. Now if only the people at your job would straighten up as well...

Horrors at the insurance quotes, laumiere. But I hope the hols themselves are fabulous.

Four teeth already, laweasel? Wow. Poor Mols (and poor boobs!). How do mums who breastfeed post-teeth do it? Can young babies understand ?Stop biting mummy??

Okay. Hi ho hi ho, it?s off to work we go. Good day to all.

Hi corgi thinking of you today at your job, and I hope you'll find that things are going to be better than you expect. And also, I agree that you're doing the best you can and trust your instincts with lo, but it will get better. I know that every time I introduce something new to Ben, he takes a while to get used to it, ots of shouting and complaining which drives me nuts, but in the end he 'gets' it. good luck, though.

And loli, geez, how the memories flood back of the living hell joys of pregnancy. I swear, if there was any way of having your own kids without having to go through that again...Hopefully your drs will have some advice, have you tried some gentle stretching for the backache? That always works for me. Good luck!

Laweasel My sil says she still feels guilty for once slapping (but not hard!) her lo when she bit her during a bf! Not that it helped, but I can imagine that must suck (ha-ha, pun intended!) I sometimes miss bf a lot, it is such a wonderful closeness.

My Dh is back at work, he is strangely doing much better with lo these days. But laum he would never be able to look after lo full time, on Friday I went to Edinburgh for a show at the fringe, and he had him from 3 the afternoon until bedtime, and when i returned, he actually said he had a new respect for me, and won't give me any more grief for allowing things to lie around! So that was nice to hear, it is really a full-time occupation. Also, I have a girl in one of my classes who has mild CP, and she is so smart and determined. They make a lot of effort to help her to integrate in the main school, it's great. And tbh, apart from a slight stiffness, I'd never have noticed it.

slick I think you asked about the cycle trailer? It is usually recommended for 15 months or older babies, but my dh fitted a baby seat in there, and it worked wonderfully. You are so visible on the road with the huge trailer, and we stick to tiny back roads in any case. You can get the same make in twin size, for two kids, and apparently they love it to ride together. But it will, ahem, br dh who pulls them, thank you.

Ben also went through a few days of being out of sirts and being soo clingy, it drove me bonkers. And I've had a cold and some fever for two days which thankfully seems to have passed. And last week he had massive daytime naps, like 3 hours at a time....was seriously worried, cybi!!! I notive when I put him down now that he turns on his side, and often he wakes up on his tummy. There is nothing I love more than breathing his just-woken-up breath! He is still a good sleeper at night, and meep we are also slowly phasing out the dream feed, giving him less and less, earlier and earlier, he should be off it by next week. Touch wood, touch wood.

Going to have a shower now while he's napping...

mdavzda I should point out in DH's defence, that apart from the cooking, he's a much better stay at home parent than me! He was at home with DS1 for 2 years and was great with him, doing hours of play through physio and stuff. I'm just not sure he'd enjoy it so much with 2!