Nov 2008 - because there was no thread space to think of a clever title!

[Yorky]

Had to be done soon, hope it works!

hi all - it'sbeen aaaageees - hope you forgivce me

Apologies for not reading everything - ceebee have also lost 3 stone this week - wooo hooooo and we done to the both of us!

obs camping sounds lovely,how is your new caravan?? Shame abiout work, what do you think you will do??

Skim read that someone was thinking of getting a tattoo - I am as well!! Had a really shitty one done at 18 when I was drunk and stupid, but I really want one now that celebrates "our family" but not names I don't think............any suggestions??!

meri I really feel for DS2 (who is 3) he really getsthe short straw as DS1 has a very busy life, lots of playdates, sporting clubs and poor DS2 just tags along He is very excited to be starting "big school" though, but thinks he will be in the class with DS1.......will be fine though I am sure....

DS1 is being very, very difficult at the moment - I am a massive stickler for manners and cannot tolerate rudeness - he just gives me cheek all the time and it is driving me nuts! Hopefully being back at school will resolve that, as it has only been the past 2 weeks he has been a real minx.

Tiger is my lovely little cherub - she is crawling and pulling up and also has 2 teeth and a mop of curls.......also so happy and smiley pretty much all the time....

DH and I going away for a weekend sans kids next weekend - I CAN'T WAIT...he has sorted the whole thing out and knowing him, will be lots of surprises....he is amazing and I love his so much..feel really blessed and happy.

Love to all - will try and read and catch up while I can!

Dozy xx

obs welcome back but thats crap about work hope you can work something out that suits you.
merryM your bath sounds lovely with J
coolkat good luck for tuesday, hope you manage to chill tonight, we had a lovely meal thank you, was good to just be the 2 of us but we ended up talking about DD's
dozy nice to have you back, I dont think it was me about the tattoo but have been toying with the idea too, I was thinking about getting 4 daisies on my foot(ouch) my sis in law has 4 stars with trails all twisted round each other IYKWIM. Hope you have a nice weekendOh and well done on the weight loss dozy & ceebee

Hi all, am back in the land of the living after the nightshift. Actually, it was fine and quiet, no deliveries, and so it wasn't very challenging, phew! Only challenge was trying to sleep yesterday as some neighbour had an angle grinder going by 10am!
It was me talking about getting a tattoo for my 40th birthday, I've always wanted one, but have been too much of a wimp to get it done. I'm not so much stuck now on design. I've got loads of ideas, but where?

coolkat hope all goes well for Tuesday back at work!
ellielou how did your night out go? It looked a lovely place
MM I have no idea why our computer is so knackered already. Even DH, who is quite computer-savvy is baffled. Anyway, if I have my own laptop I'll be able to MN,ebay or FB not quite at my leisure, but maybe a bit more frequently

Righto, must go before DH starts growling at me. We're off to his parents for the day.

Kids back at school Wednesday - wwaaaaiiillllll!!! It has gone toooooo quickly!

Hi everyone, I've been around the threads a bit lately but feel a bit wary of coming on here as I never feel I have time to catch up with all of you.

Is it ok to do a quick scan of recent posts and then try to get involved with whatever the current chat is?

I have a few things I want to ask but it feels a bit self centered of me when I haven't been involved much lately and don't know how everyone is getting on.

suiledonn i am the same hun. I rarely get time to get on amd when i do i feel like i am unloading my problems, so share away i'm sure no one will mind

fudge glad your nightshift went well, what you gonna get done, I would like one either on my back, or on my foot. Oh the night out was good, really nice food
suiledonn nice to have you back how are you?

tegan and ellielou Thanks. It is great to know that there are women here whose opinions I trust that I can turn to.

My first question is regarding weight. Amy is 9 1/2 months now. She a check up last week and is just over 18lbs which is a bit below average and seems a lot lighter than some of the babies here. She is healthy and full of energy but she has dropped a bit on her curve. I'd love to stop the night feeds but since she is quite small I am a bit wary. She won't breastfeed at all during the day. She drinks about 9-10 oz formula over the course of the day and then a breastfeed at bedtime but she wakes several times a night for feeds too.

How much are your little ones eating and drinking now?

It is confusing. Some say milk is the main food til one but then the doctor who did her check up said once she is eating well it is fine.

Hi suiledonn I am not too sure how much they should be drinking, Millie has 3 9oz bottles throughout the day, it sounds like amy is taking most of her milk through the night, I know its food is for fun till they are one, but that is only a few months away now does she have alot of calcium in other foods such as yoghurts, cheeses etc? I am sorry I am not much help hopefully someone who knows more wil be along soon. I myself dont want millie to drop much more milk just now as she wont take any other fluid, so have been giving her soups etc.
A typical day for millie will be
7am Milk
8am ceareal with milk and poss some fruit mixed in
1130 lunch soup or small sandwich then milky pudding such as custard, yoghurt or fruit
3pm Milk
5pm dinner ususally whatever we have mashed up
1830 Milk
HTH
Has anyone got any suggestions re giving Millie water or juice I have bought about 4 different cups to tempt her but she just shakes her head or throws it about the place

O never had any fluids except milk until 2 wks ago (he is 9 months now) and all of a sudden he drinks water all day long now but he won't have a cup only out of his bottle.

We now have 5 teeth thank goodness and he is mainly eating everything we eat.

The night times are awful he is generally going down at 7pm and stirring 30 mins later so i have to pick up and cuddle then put down, the problem is when he wakes in the night i give him a bottle and he is up every 1 to 2 hr after that and last night 11.30 he had his bottle so have been up most of the night.

I might try the routine you do ellie as it seems to work for you but getting his to sleep in the night is the problem

Thanks for well wishes re job. And thanks ceebee for advice. i feel so sad because I can not see a good result in all of thsi, for either side. I wish I could let it all drop and do nothing, but I can not even do that because I now can't work the required hours. If I do anything, my boss gets it in the neck and things will never be the same - I have shot myself in the foot.

Nice to see dozy, meri and suiledonn.

Re food/milk discussion - Water with meals, only a tiny bit. lots of milk. quite alot of food. still miserable from teething and will not be put down for a milli-second.

Re: food/milk/water - P has bugger all milk in the daytime now. I am bfing morning and evening plus when he wakes up in the night. I have put him on formula during the day as I am back to work on Thursday. He's just not fussed about drinking it though, or at least most of the time. Today for example he had about 1oz at 11am and then 1oz at 3, he just didn't want any more. He's eating reasonably well and I'm trying to make sure I give him plenty of yoghurt/milk on cereal etc to make up for it. Unfortunately for me though he seems to do most of his milk drinking at night.

Thanks everyone

Juanitad You seem to be in the same boat as I am. Amy usually drinks 3oz of formula morning and afternoon and I have started to give her a bottle in the evening as well but she rarely drinks more than an oz or two. Then I breastfeed her at bedtime. She always wakes for a feed around 11 which I think is habit from when I used to dream feed her when I was going to bed and then she cosies up for a feed several times in the night.

We are co-sleeping so I don't wake fully every time but I am craving a full night's sleep.

Going to post this now as I have to put out dinner. I'll be back later to add more. x

Have you guys got stairgates up yet ? Becasue I was posting on Mn, turned around and ds has climbed to the top of the stairs, egged on by ds1 !!!!!!!

hehe obs I was getting things out of the drier last week and turned round and millie was looking round the door at me with a huge grin on her face think its may be time for the gates to go up.
Thanks for people whe said about the water will just need to keep offering her.

ellie Is it the drinks Millie doesn't seem to like, or the cup? I'm lucky with Amy. She will drink out of several different types of cup as long as they don't have a valve top that is difficult to suck. She has a NUK one and a very basic Tommee Tippee that she does the best with. I usually give her VERY diluted baby juice.
I would just keep offering her the cup with water. Have you tried the Doidy cup?

obs at your little monkey getting to the top of the stairs. We are in a bungalow so at least that is one thing I don't have to worry about.

Amy has at least 9 teeth now. She cut a big back tooth a week ago and it was no fun for anyone. Looks like the one on the other side is ready to pop too.

crawling Amy is on the floor a lot and bum shuffles and wriggles on her tummy. Apart from a bit of movement backwards last week though she isn't crawling yet. She gets very frustrated and I'd love her to get going. DD1 didn't crawl until over 11 months but she was no where near as mobile at 9 months so I thought Amy would definitely be going by now.

Obs we have had stair gates up a while! Becca now likes to stand rocking against them!

Re sleep and water, for the first time I gave a morning bottle and this is the first day I have not BF Becca, I feel sad but also happy as I never expected to get this far and would never have done if it weren't for you guys Thank you X

Suilidon Becca is also only 18lbs and a bit and her weight gain is very slow, putting it down to being so active! I may send DH to get her weighed on Weds.

I go back to work tomorrow, 2 training days and then DD1 is back at school and the whole school run, work childminder dynamics kick in!

Sorry for the quick me post but need to do some ironing and get organised for tomorrow, I am very nervous and feel like I have given birth to my brain

hi suiledon and dozy and welcome back Obs and tegan. I'm struggling to find time to catch up at the minute as well; we have so much to do in the house and garden and bumble is

arse just lost a big post!
anyway was trying to say that as DD and DS1 leave stuff all over the house, I seem to spend most of my day either sweeping along in front of bumble clearing hazards or fishing him out of corners where the wiring is!! I remember fondly the days of one baby and a babyproofed house!

re milk feeds, sounds like she is getting all she needs at night suiedonn. bumble went through a pahse of not feeding in the day and was consequently feeding four or five times a night. I managed to get him taking more in the day (perseverance mainly) and also introduced a few extra snacks in the form of fruit/veg or yogurt or cheese and consequently he is sleeping better at night.

obs, sorry about your work woes and I hope that you can get it sorted. It does seem pretty poor that they agreed to reduced hours and have now rescinded it. Can they actually do that?

juanita you might find that P takes formula more readily from his carers when you are back at work and that consequently this will lead to him feeding less at night.

cups, bumble not bothered for drinking water or milk from a bottle, but he will sip water from a doidy cup, although we have started to have disagreements over who gets to hold the cup! Same with spoons/forks, and he is starting to show a really strong willed streak as well.

We have a top tooth and consequently a much happier baby.

He is a bully though and keeps pulling hair. Yorky and her DC were here today and he kept pulling A's hair, the little scamp.

Re amber teething beads; do they actually chew on them, or just wear them round their necks?

Evening all - wow you have been busy today!! Been out on steam trains/old buses today - the joys of having little boys eh?

Obs will pop over to the other thread and try and answer your questions in a mo. Re stairgates, they are still up for DS1 anyway (although we leave them open all day apart from bedtime) plus Hamster is still refusing to budge off his bottom!!

Suiledonn welcome back - lovely to hear from you I spoke to the HV about daytime milk last week as Hamster drunk so little of his 2 daytime bottles most days it wasn't worth making them up! She said that the general rule is a pint a day - and it doesn't have to be formula as long as they are eating a varied diet and eating quite a bit of it - so milk in cereal etc and other sources of calcium are ok. Hamster only has about 6oz in the morning and the same at bedtime. I give him a snack mid-morn and mid-pm now - with normal cows milk in a cup to try and boost his calcium intake.

Re cups - Hamster uses the very basic Tommee Tippee cups and loves them - can drink lots out of them and does it himself quite happily.

dozy welcome back and well done on the weight loss - do you feel fab cos I do ? If only I could shift my fat wobbly tummy but I have a horrible feeling I am stuck with it forever

Coolkat good luck tomorrow That first day back is always awful isn't it? But within weeks, it will be as if you haven't been away

Hi to everyone else

Reading with interest all the chat on stairgates/water/milk intake!
Back properly tomorrow, was on nightshift last night and my eyes are nipping, need to go to bed!

Evening ladies - apologies for also being awol recently. We had some friends staying with us here in France and then we went away for a few days just the three of us and I haven't had chance to post. Another few days here then back to the UK on Sunday. It's gone so quickly!
Good to see Dozy and Suiledonn back though
Obs Hope things sort themselves out with work. Not really what you want to come back to after a lovely holiday
Daisy The amber necklace is for them to wear. I've just ordered one for E so I'll let you know how she gets on. Usually they're put on a baby from birth so they get used to them so I'm not sure how E will take to it but we'll see. Anything to help her with this teething pain! Although by the sound of it we've seen nothing yet as she's still trying to cut her 3rd tooth.
However, E crawled properly for the first time today She's been bum shuffling and getting around for ages but today she actually crawled properly. She's also been doing a lot of downward facing dog positions(bum in the air, hands and feet on the ground)in the past couple of weeks and keeps trying to stand and pull herself up on things. We really need to baby-proof the house when we get back!
Suiledon and Juanitad Still lots of night-time feeding going on here too, although she's getting better at taking water during the day. I just kept persevering - it's been really hot here and I wanted her to get used to drinking water out of a cup rather than bf all the time.
No sign of any sleeping through though - she still wakes up around 3-4 hours after going to bed for a feed and then won't be left on her own.
Coolkat Good luck for tomorrow, hope all goes well.
FoF Glad all went well for you.
Hello to everyone I've missed!

I think bumble would look very trendy in one of those necklaces, but he would want to eat it and I can see him working it into his mouth and getting it stuck like that all the time

Meant to say that I think my PND is finally lifting . Although I still feel pretty rough after the food poisoning, my libido is definately back . Poor Mr Daisy doesn't know what's hit him and has begged leniency tonight

Daisy woohoo - get you I bet Mr Daisy thinks all his Christmases have come at once eh?

Cricri well done to E for the crawling - it is such a lovely stage when they can start moving around themselves. I love the downward dog position that they do - so cute!! I am convinced Hamster will be the last baby to crawl on this thread

Well ladies, Dh is off on holiday all week, both boys are at nursery for the week (apart from Thursday when we are going to a waterpark for the day) - whatever shall we do with ourselves

ooh, have a nice week ceebee

I am despairing at the state of my house this morning after hunting high and low for some missing paperwork all bloody morning and still not finding it....grr.

bumble's two front teeth are pretty much through....yay, but he has a horrible snotty nose this morning and is a right old grump and as usual when I'm trying to do something the older two are playing up big time.

Will get them out into the fresh air later and let them run.

daisy yay for the pnd lifting bet dh is happy.
cricri well done on E crawling they look so pleased when they realise they have moved.
ceebee have a lovely week with dh
Can I have a proud mummy moment? Millie said "duck" at least 3 or 4 times today her first proper word apart from mumum & dada
Apart from that though my dd's are both full of the cold and DH feels like he is now getting it, I bet I get it for work on thurs.