Dec 08 - 9 months in, 9 months out!

[jumpjockey]

Hope you don't mind the dodgy thread name but all our babies are 9 months old now or in the next few weeks

Hello Kayz - crossed posted. Not much in the mood to be typing same old gripes from me so I will wait until I'm in a better mood.

Oh and Katie any news?????

Thanks for all sharing that your DCs are standing/sitting when they are meant to be asleep, I feel better I'm not the only one wrestling a baby into a lying position in the early hours.

kiwi We went to that veggie place in Bruge too! It was really good. The one I was thinking of is not veggie but does lots of salads and stuff. I still can't find the rough guide ladyT but it is directly north of the Markt with a very flemmish sounding name. Not a particularly helpful description .

Daisy I'm pleased for your Nan. Fingers crossed the rest of the treatment goes well.

WG I know how you feel about money. DH and I have our own bank accounts so it feels like I'm getting pocket money if I ask for money for things! We're thinking of getting a joint account and then it feels more like 'our' money. Sorry to hear about your FIL, it is a very difficult situation. On the job front perhaps you coul finish the rest of term and then leave it for a bit. I'd hate to take DD in a traffic jam close to teatime, I'd need earplugs.

trace Has L given any indication of why she is soiling herself? Does she feel the urge but not go or is it taking her by surprise? I hope the Dr is helpful. Don't beat yourself up about it. You are certainly not a bad mother - grab your copy of what mothers do if you get 5 minutes to yourself and remind yourself of all the fantastic mothering you do each day.

pmk The basket is here for gripes whether they be the same old ones or not! Unload all you like it might help you get into a better mood.

DD has a horrible eye infection. Both eyes were fine yesterday morning, there was a tiny bit of guck in her eye at 11 and by the time we saw the doctor at 5 her eye was so swollen it would hardly open. It looks like the other eye is starting today. I feel awful wiping it and putting ointment in . On a happier front the cat is very upset that DD can now follow him .

trace how you feeling this morning love? You really are doing an amazing job. Hope you can get the day off and have a duvet day with L watching some DVD's

wg Fab news on the sleeping with madam. DS was a horror last night but it looks like tooth #2 is on its way, so I'll let him off for now. Also so sorry to hear aout your FIL. I do hope your MIL comes to her senses soon. She and DH should be such a comfort and support for each other at this time. It sounds like she is a little self absorbed.

Hello all, ILs now safely back north of the border and dd having a nap so a quick report... MIL was mostly fine, though a bit odd - if you've come all the way from Scotland solely to visit your GD, would you stay at home reading the sunday paper while everyone else goes to the park?! Also spent the whole time talking about this one toy she gave dd - an electronic dog that sings when you press its ears etc, we switched it off as it's so bl**dy annoying - "oooh I think that one's brilliant, that's such a great toy" etc etc as if she didn't know who'd given it to dd. And she made a really weird comment - DH was giving dd her bath on Saturday and she said "JJ's getting her own back, Daddy's got to give you a bath today". Erm, getting my own back for what? Isn't it more that DH is only home for bathtime 2 or 3 nights out of 7 and really enjoys it so wants to make the most of some special time with her?! Oh and while she was eating, they kept saying "mustn't stare, she's just having her lunch" and being 'soooo amazed' at the whole BLW thing, but ended up quite literally leaning over the plate as she was eating. Aaaaaannnnd breathe!

Sleep completely buggered, two 4am starts in a row [yawn] as we thought, she'll pootle herself back to sleep, but no half an hour later she's still going and starting to escalate. This morning I ended up sat in her room with her resting on my chest for 2 hours so DH could get the rest of his sleep.

And now she's starting to rumble again so just quickly, trace you are not a bad mum at all, hope the GP can give you some reassurance re L's wee and P's tummy. Big hugs to both of them and to you as well.

JB she does the standing up thing as well, why lie down and nap when you could be up and about - even when they're rubbing their eyes so hard and clearly exhausted.

gah big awake yelling. Back later my lovelies

Hello all,
Sorry been away for ages! DH is away with work (has been for nearly 2 weeks) and have been travelling all over to parents, MILs and friends to keep myself occupied. Back at home now though!

Have been vaguely keeping up but not got round to posting, have been sending DH an email "from DS" every day and by the time I have done that I seem to have lost my typing mojo and haven't got round to posting.

trace sorry to hear about all the problems, especially poor little L, I hope you find out what the problem is soon. Poor little thing. I am sorry I don't have any suggestions. On the bf/ff thing DS was bf til 7/8 months and is now ff, he has always been sicky and still is. He's slightly less sicky now than pre solids, but I am convinced that is not due to me switching to formula. I am sure the HV was just trying to give you reasons why, rather than making you feel bad for bfing, that would be strange. But I think it's rubbish!

JB DS also does the standing up thing. He can get down now but before he could get down I would have to go and put him down as well. Like everyone says he would be less than impressed. I still remember when I'd only seen him pull himself up once or so him waking in the night and leaving him burbling for 20 mins or so before it escalated to whinging and going in and seeing one exhausted looking baby standing up in his cot, I got such a shock!

WG I hope your day of work goes better than expected. Sorry that you hate it. I know you probably know this but you will feel much much better if you do actually prepare stuff, I am just like you in that respect, I will put it off because I think what I prepare will be rubbish. You really do need to just get on with it and write something down and practice it. What are you doing exactly? Is it acting teaching? I am sure you would be amazing at it (not just saying that), you may not realize how you come across but when we all meet up you always seem like a very friendly sociable person so I am sure you are great at teaching. You definitely can do it...and you say what are you trying to prove, well you probably are trying to prove that you can still be good at what you did work-wise before, there is nothing wrong with that. It will be a great buzz if you do do a session that you feel proud of, and I am sure you can! Good luck with it! And sorry about your MIL, she really does sound like a massively selfish pain in the bottom. Not much to suggest really, apart from be there for your poor DH, which you are obviuosly doing already.

Right, I can hear DS waking up now, so i had better go sorry for no massive catch up post!

Just popping for a quick post as I have promised myself that I will try to post weekly (slaps wrist for being so slack).
Trace I hope things get better for you soon. You are a fabulous Mum, some babies are sicky and some aren't, it has nothing to do with BF'ing. I hope you get to the bottom of Lu's accidents, I agree with what others have said. It has been a traumatic (wrong word, but you know what I mean) year for her, new baby sister, starting school etc and it is probably all just catching up with her.
Daisy prayers and thoughts from here for your Nan
WG I know it's obvious, but try not to get too worked up about work. Can't remember what you do but as we say in PR 'It's PR not ER' ie. no-ones life depends on you getting everything 100% right. Really hope you're not a brain surgeon or something similar!
That's all I can remember for personals I'm afraid, by brain is still not back to normal I'm sure.
DD was diagnosed as backward and obese at her 9 month review last week . Luckily I know the HV quite well so didn't take it too personally. Basically, she is huge (both width and height) and is therefore in the 'beware' section of the growth charts. She is also not doing some of the things she should be like sitting herself up, standing flat on her feet, clapping etc so will have to be checked again in a couple of months. I am not in the slightest bit concerned as over the weekend she started to do all of these things, she's just very lazy!
Oh, and PMK no news yet, I thought AF (hate that expression!) was due last Saturday but think I might have got my dates confused and am actually due this Saturday. You'd think that by 32 I'd actually know how to count and roughly know my cycle! So if nothing by early next week, I will consider the possibility of testing. I don't 'feel' pg though, so think it's unlikely. Probably a good thing at the moment as finances are worrying and I've just found out that I won't be inheriting as much money next year as I had thought/ hoped. What will be will be!

Just to add to the reassurance Trace if BF makes babies more sicky I'm Margaret Bloody Thatcher. That's a terrible to thing to say I think, you are giving your baby the best nutrition that exists not making her "sicky"! If BF were in any way bad for a baby how exactly would we have survived as a species eh??

There's definitely a vomiting bug going around on the other hand - several babies and adults of my acquaintance have gone down with it!

DD being a right grumpy little baby today, maybe another tooth is wending it's unmerry little way through her gum. I hate teeth. Pointless bloody things . We should evolve beyond them and just eat soup.

Hi Katie, and WTF is your HV going on about. I'm glad you are not taking her seriously. Growth charts are not the equivalent of adult height to healthy weight charts FFS. They are just a way of plotting where babys are with their weight in comparison to weight. The upper level is not over weight just as the lower level is not under and the middle line is not normal they are just the population split of babies at various measures. There is no such thing as an overweight baby. When the new BF weight charts came out HV's were supposed to be reminded of this when interpretting growth charts. Also with the development thing, in the old days (says veggie squinting her eyes and wagging her finger) we used to look at the whole child and actually speak to the parents about development rather than check whether the boxes can be ticked. When DS2 had his check he was crawling away from the HV and pulling himself to standing but she was very concerned that he didn't pass a boring blue block from one hand to the other. When he finally did it more by accident (he was waving it around and it kind of ran into his other hand) she said 'oh look he's done it' not exactly thorough assessment.

Hi SL lovely to 'see' you.

WG your mil is strange and I want to give your DH a big hug, poor thing. Thankfully he has you to hear his feelings and not chastise him. When Trace responded to your post I nearly cried, Trace you are an amazingly empathetic person, how could you ever think you aren't a great mum, your girls are so lucky, as you are to have them.

JJ your MIL is even more bizarre, how very strange. I can sympathize with the plate lean. When my mum was here she literally stood over poor DS1 while he ate. Why on earth would someone think that will help them eat better. I don't anyone would want to go to a restaurant where the waiters stand right next to you checking what you eat?!

I didn't get to post after my BF group last week (I don't think I did anyway). It was brilliant lots of mums and dome Doulas came. Most had bubs our LOs age but where coming to sticky beak as we are trying to get a BfN course run in Nottingham and many of these ladies want to to it. But a couple came for help and I spent ages with one lovely mum and I think helped. She said she will come next week so we'll see then. We also got interviewed for the local rag so will see what the article and picture is like. We wanted the launch in the paper as a way of advertising the group.

Also the wedding was great fun, everyone was quite well dressed so I fitted right in with my sequins. Only fopar was that the dress style and material was kind of similar to the brides but she didn't seem to mind.

hi all.
just popping in briefly.
I've spent the whole day snuggled on the settee with Lucy, watching a fair amount of cbeebies. She's not been sick since 11am so I think she's over the worst. I'm feeling pretty dodgy myself and am hoping that it's down to tiredness and that I'm not about to start vomming. Got appt at GP to discuss Lu's toileting issues in the morning.
veggie your BF group sounds ace. I bet you really make a difference for the ladies you help.
Katie hi! your post did amuse me! We have our check in a few weeks and am expecting similar as P doesn't want to try to stand yet! She crawls at lightening speed though!
Kiwi poor dd and those miserable teeth. Still just gums here so I have that joy to come. I agree that a soup diet would work without teeth, but how would we manage Mars Bars? I guess if they were a tad warm it would get squelchy and we'd manage with gums
where's Arti and Turnip? Not seen them for a while. And ZJ is quiet...are you all ok?
right. very early night in store.
see you tomorrow xxx

Hi -
Thanks Jolly, I think i'm just stressing about going back to work and everything surrounding that, however I suspect I'm overreacting. It's just been crap weather up until today and today I feel considerably better.

JJ and katie your HV make me laugh too... I do remember mine (way back on ds's 8mnth mark exactly) being slightly concerned about ds not grabbing a stupid girls doll house tea cup off her - I'm bloody glad he didn't - just quietly! She said "we'll go back to that at the end" and in the mean time he grabbed her telephone and dragged the whole thing off the desk!

katie thanks for the update and keep us posted - I'm (hopefully not for long) living vicariously through you

Trace I'm glad L seems to be on the up...

Tonights events here included, ds fed, dog fed, ds bathed, pj'd, massive poo through clothes, complete change, milk, waving goodnight to the dog, (dh at work) massive vomit, complete change including sleeping bag, and me, vomit in my hair, dog eating vomit dripping down stairs, ds changed, more milk and finally back in bed. My dinner is now mush! Always happens when dh not here!! He's also been sneezing tonight - hope it's nothing.

oh, pmk, that is quite some evening you're having. hope it gets calmer for you. although your description did make me laugh.

effie - we did the dreaded controlled crying after having weaned her off feeds straight before bed and during the night. also changed bedtime routine slightly so madam had her last bf downstairs around 6.40, then v quiet bath with daddy, come into bedroom, get dressed, read a couple of quiet books, sing quiet lullaby, tell madam what i'm about to do, and tehn put her in the cot awake. when she screamed i went in after 3 mins, then after the next 5, then after the next 8 to tell her i was there, things were ok and she should go to sleep (didn't touch her). i haven't had to go into her now for about a week. she wakes around 5.50 and i know she is tired, and needs more sleep, but that is so much better than we did before. hurray.

thank you all for your really kind words about work - it is a minefield, isn't it? i did the workshop - the whole day was draining: madam and i left the house at 8am and returned at 6.15pm - too too long. went through rush hour traffic at both ends, too, and had to pull over at hanger lane (ridiculously busy london giratory system) to feed madam. but the workshop went okayish - i let my paranoia get in the way too much, i know. but the company were doing great work and i think i helped a little. i think i am going to give up the regular teaching job next term - it is too far away and at the moment is causing me too much stress. i might be able to get some evening teaching somewhere else, you never know, but i'm not going to push myself at the moment. famous last words.

you know, this is such a lovely group. thank you all for being so great.

trace I'm so glad that L seems to be on the mend. I hope you get some help from the dr this morning too.

wg I'm pleased to hear your workshop went well and that you have decided on what to do about work too.

pmk what a night you had! I hope things didn't get any worse.

I took DS back to the Drs yesterday and she agreed his wheeze had improved a lot and recommends using the inhaler for another week which should sort out his coughing. But last night was another shocker sleep wise, so seeing as he doesn't cough much in the night now I just have to accept he is a shite sleeper. I actually shouted at him this morning. I mean a full on shout. He was shocked, DD was horrified and the I just burst into tears...not sure what I was hoping it would achieve. I feel like such a cow...he is napping now and I am so full of guilt, he's a baby ffs

oh daisy don't beat yourself up. Lack of sleep is a killer and it affects every aspect of our lives. When ds wakes up he'll give you a gummy grin and all will be forgotten. The amazing thing about children is that they are so quick to forgive and forget. You will have done him no harm.
P was apparently 'told off' at nursery because she was picking up all the other babies' food rejects from the floor and eating them again - she was told not to but carried on so got a stern 'no' - which apparently made her bottom lip wobble .
Well Lu is over her sicky bug and back to school. We saw the GP this morning about her wees and poos in her pants. Lovely lady GP who knows us all well. She is sending a urine off to test for infection even though nothing shows on the dip test, giving her a week of antibiotics in case and wants to see us again in 3 weeks. She feels it is definitely something head-related rather than bottom-related. So I've updated her teacher and will take each day as it comes...

Daisy - I yelled at my DS to shut up twice last night, in front of my sister-in-law too. Felt like such a bad mum, but it happens, you know? We're human, we shout and you're knackered after a build up of sleep shockers. I am now so sensitive to lack of sleep that it only takes 1 or 2 bad nights in a row before I am a terrible person to be around. You've had a long string of shockers, so you must be just cling to the edge! I know I would be.

Sorry I haven't been around....said sister-in-law keeping me busy. The woman just does not shut her pie-hole! Between her yabbering all day and DS whingeing all day, I am losing my mind. I need to go on a monastic retreat.

I am starting to look forward to starting back at work in a few weeks just for the sake of 45 minutes to myself on the commute (on the relaxing, crowded, steaming London train ).

We've had about a month of mostly shite sleep, with maybe 1 or 2 sleep throughs thrown in the mix each week. First a cold, then an ear infection, then teeth, now who knows....the way the stars are aligned?! I give up.

DS is still not crawling but getting around very quickly by walking and holding onto furniture/walls. Only problem is that he still can't pull himself up or get himself to sitting from lying down. This seems very odd to me?! Haven't had the 8 month check yet, but I'm sure they will say he is stunted if they ever get around to checking him.

For Sale:

1 2.7yo boy. Goes by the name of Freddie.

Good points: Sleeps all night, eats well, in process of potty training, cute and has gorgeous hair.

Bad Point: says "why?" 1000000000000000 times a day.

I honestly could scream. If I here why once more I might lock myself in the bathroom.

Oh Daisy I'm sure we've all done similar - I've found myself half-shouting half-begging at DD to "please please STOP CRYING" - like she has a clue what I'm on about.

I think she's teething or something cos she's all over the place at night again, though on quite good form in the day so she can hardly be in agony. She's just started waving loads too, which is very cute. I took her into the office today and she was quite a hit, don't think anyone actually talked to me, just her!

WG Can I ask - the whole separation of food/sleep thing - is that 6.40 BF for a 7pm bedtime? I'm thinking I should perhaps do something similar. I feed DD then put her down - though she's never actually asleep when I put her down so I don't know if that matters?

Kayzr I'll give you a packet of biscuits for him, I find the "why" stage rather cute (though that's clearly cos I don't have it all day every day!). I think I just have envy of children who can communicate what's wrong with them!!

kiwi - 6.40 bf, 7pm bath, 7.10 book/lullaby, 7.15/20ish put into cot.

3 nights now where she hasn't cried on going into her cot and going to sleep.

just had a lovely 3rd anniversary with dh - cooked a lovely rare steak (sorry, those veggies among us), great bottle of wine from where we spent our honeymoon, watched wedding photo slideshow and now snuggling on the sofa. yay!

WG....it's so nice isn't it, when the sleeping gets sorted. We do that time scale-ish too... 6pm ish dinner, 630pm-ish bath 645pm-ish Milk while watching Harry the Bunny singing twinkle twinkle star sometimes a story and in cot around 7pm-ish.
So happy it's going well for you... Hope you had a lovely evening - sounds fantastic! I'm coming yours for dinner! Happy anniversary!

Daisy, don't be sad - as the others say, ds will not have remembered it 2 mins later... My dh knows all about hte effects of sleep deprivation on me and i'm sure remembers, but thankfully understands!
Tomorrows a new day

Oh Kayz... all that for me to look forward to... eek..

Last night was textbook (7pm-7am) and much needed after the one before. It's def his teeth as the bad nights are few and far between thankfully, and rosy cheeks always accompany them.

Probably should go to sleep myself now since the boys and the dog are all there! Night all!

Just popping on quickly to say hi to you all . DD has been a delight in the last few days, she developing such a fun personality and is so enjoyable to spend time with [soppy emoticon]. However tonight has been horrific, she yelled, screamed, tantrumed for 2 hours at bedtime - easily her worst ever bedtime (she's always settled well, dramas have come later in the evening). I tried calpol without success and eventually she cried herself to sleep. As PMK she chose the night when DH is away so I've only just had my tea ... hence lack of personals. Sorry and love to all of you.

I can remember 2 things I wanted to say - happy anniversary to WG and WaitingBoy. And Trace I remembered that I was the butt of family jokes for years as I was scared of the toilets at school. Apparently I refused to use them and I remember my friend carrying me in once. It turned out they had those things that turn the water blue and it freaked me out (I guess there were a lot of accidents before they sussed it). It was solved by Mum getting them at home o I knew it was normal. Is it possible it could be something that 'simple' with L?

Oh, and I got my period back last week - I've felt like an awkward and mucky 13 year old all over again. Will stop talking about my bodily fluids over the years, quite grotty of me. Night all x

Kayz - That made me giggle!

Kiwi - I keep thinking about changing my bedtime routine around like WG's (with the boob before bath) because he does often fall asleep feeding at bedtime. But then some nights he sleeps through even after falling asleep feeding, so maybe it isn't a problem? Last night I did one side BF before bath and one after, so that he was a bit less drowsy from the feed.

After a fairly bad past month, we have had a great few days. DS in good form, like his old self, and great fun. Better enjoy it while it lasts!

Happy anniversary WG! Zoe - We've had a few of those bedtimes here and there and they are terrible. When an easy bedtime is the one thing you can count on, it is really distressing! It has almost always ended up being either teeth or a combination of very overtired at bedtime. But usually teeth.

Morning,

Feeling like rubbish today. I am so sick of being fat. I just can't seem to stop eating crap. I need to get out of the house more I think but like today it is pouring down so not able to go out today.

I just feel really down about it all.

Hope everyone is ok.

Oh kayz - we all have days like that, especially when its miserable outside and its easy to stay inside and eat crap. Hope things get better.

Daisy - so glad to hear the news about your nan. And don't worry about the shouting - we've all snapped at some point!

WG - happy anniversary! Glad you had a good evening and that the sleeping seemed to be sorted. Sorry work's not been great, but if you don't need it and don't enjoy it, no need to do it. You can always find your way back to working in a way that suits you, when you feel ready.

Veggie - my mum grew up in Iran and my parents were working there in the 70's so we lived there for a while, but we left in 1978 when I was still a bit too young to remember too much about it. Would love to go back and see what its like. Def still enjoy all things Iranian in London.

We've had a pretty rubbish night/morning. DS woke up at 2am wailing and v hot. Calpol sorted him out, but not sure what it was really. He woke DD up and then she woke up again at 4 having kicked off her duvet. We then all overslept and shambled through the morning routine. DH was trying to change DS' nappy - turned and saw bare bottomed DS and trail of poo. In an attempt to avoid too much mess, DH whipped DS up, smearing poo and banging the poor little chap's head on the wardrobe. Cue more wailing. DS cheered up, chomped through breakfast and decided he fancied some of my shreddies. Managed to get one stuck in his thoat, so lots of scary choking faces followed by stream of breakfast coming up....Just can't wait for whatever else today is going to bring. Oh well.

Invis Guess your parents (wisely) left before the Revolution then? I learnt Farsi for a year and can't remember much - the only reason I ever learnt anything properly is cos I had a big crush on my gorgeous teacher - but I'd love to go to Iran someday. Though preferably under slightly more sane government...

Kayz Maybe worth getting out even if weather is crap - I always find it depressing staying in all day and even a short trip out of the house can help? Sending you happy thoughts!

Kiwi - yup, that's exactly it - was a bit of a scramble at the end, but I don't remember too much about it. Impressed with Farsi learning - what led you to do that (other than the gorgeous teacher obviously)? Its a bit of an obscure one really.

I might go and meet DH from work at 1. Just sick of trying really hard to lose weight and it not coming off or I lose some and then have a day of rubbish eating and it all goes back on.