March 2009 - The crawling / walking / talking race is on . . .

[jollyjoanne]

the new thread for March 09 mummies

Poor Rhys corgi! If it's any consolation DS1 had something similar at the same age (it got so bad we had to replace the carpet and sofa throws they smelt so bad, even after washing) and other than being quite wobbly for a fortnight afterwards he was fine.

We ended up doing 10ml of milk by syringe every 20 min and he was a lot better after that.

Well it's snot central chez Laumiere today, both babies have streaming colds and it's taken 45 min (and counting) to get DS1 to eat breakfast. Duvet day methinks....

Gabe is doing well bum-shuffling although we're still concerned about his feet, he's curling them up/in a lot so getting him to walk or cruise is nigh impossible. We have a referral to a foot specialist in Feb so maybe that will help (I don't hold out much hope, the same service spectacularly failed to notice DS1 had cerebral palsy).

Has anyone else started on introducing cow's milk in a serious way yet? G gets 4 oz about 3 times a day and 3-4 7oz bottles of formula but we're going to start working on reducing the formula, hopefully it'll improve his appetite too!

Also is anyone else planning a big 1st birthday thing? My parents are coming over from Spain and DH and I have been criticised by friends for planning to go out clubbing the night before G's birthday (so we'd be back late and up late). We pointed out it's the only chance we get to do it without having to pay £100 in babysitting fees!

small 1st birthday party for us - just family and probably not even close to Rosie's actual birthday(she won't know )due to trying to find a weekend day when everyone is free! Don't let your friends sway you lau - go and enjoy some well earned time out with your dh!

Hope the foot specialist goes okay lau - I'm sure it is fine - just make sure he/she knows what they missed last time - you might get a more indepth examination that way.

Rosie gets cows milk with her cereal - we won't change onto bottles of cows milk until she's one - can't wait - it is so much easier to just pour the milk into the bottle than faff about with formula!

Well Rosie now has vomit and runny poo (so I am sharing your pain corgi). My friend is an Occ Therapist at our children's hospital and said the bug is rife there with wards getting closed - so I think Rosie's trip to A&E has landed her with a tummy bug too. Trying not to think of how the wee bit of glasss will come out - hopefully down the way and not up. THink I will be spending my day syringing rehydration fluid into her - sigh!

corgi - hope Rhys is okay? We have frost this morning - and the sun is shining - but all my plans to go out are now shelved.

Thanks meep.... sure it'll be fine, just we worry more because of DS1.

You know, it's horrible to say, but reading all your tales of woe is making me feel better. Not that I wish illness and bad stuff on any of you, but at least I don't feel so alone, iykwim?

Meep, I read your story with horror, it must have been beyond terrible. You sound as if you handled it well but it must have been terrible? Hope you had a good cry. And hope Rosie gets better soon.

Yarni, I hear what you say about sleep training and rest. Here his sleep has improved a bit. Whether the things I'm doing or not doing is the cause I won't know. But not having mik at night has improved his daily eating and drinking a lot, and he is not very interested in the bottle of rred bush tea. And I also now handle him with the minimum amount of fuss, as soon as he is quiet I kiss him, say goodnight, and leave. the other night I had to do it 6 or 7 times over a period of 1,5 hours, and everytime I thought he would be sleeping, a wail would rise from the room and press repeat. But this morning when he woke at 5, I offered the tea, which he rejected, I tucked him in and left and that was it. So maybe I am making some headway....

...and then, at around 10am he developd a fever! And has been a crying, coughing miserable baby for the rest of the day, LOL! So no sleep training or accidental parenting correcting until he feels better!

Boobz, meant to say that I loved Pen's picture, she's a darling!

And loli, thinking of you and sending good energy and prayers that you will have a lot of support in this difficult time.
And to the rest, a bientot!
PS The sun has been shining here for a few days, woooonderful

Sorry to hear about the poorly babies. Hope they're all better soon. L has been snotty for ages and friday developed a rash all over her face. Despatched dh to the pharmicist yesterday (whilst I was on taking to parties duty) and he went to 2 and neither knew what it was. One of my friends thought it might be eczema which worries me slightly as my bro had it v. badly. Its subsided a bit today and am moisturising like mad (v. dry skin) and will see what happens.

We're having a smallish family/friends do for L's birthday but the weekend before as L is 1 on the same day MIL is 65 so we are off to centerparcs to celebrate that () on her/their birthday.

wheely hope L's face has cleared up - did you work out what it was? Maybe it was just a viral rash (was it a bit like prickly heat?)

I have eczema - as does dd1 and Rosie has just develped it on her back. However I did chnge to Asda non-bio and put the blame there - it is back to Surcare for me.

Rosie is keeping down fluid - I am syringing it into her slowly which makes her very unhappy/angry but at least it stays in. She also ate a very teeny piece of bread that I had left on a plate on the floor - hooray. It caused her to do the biggest fart I have ever heard from such a small person - it even startled her !

No idea what it was - fairly certain its not eczema as its pretty much gone. My best guess is a (post) viral rash but I've never seen one to this extent but was similar just 'more so' IYSWIM.

Glad Rosie's a bit better - LOL at the fart !!

Hope the other snotty/pukey/pooey babies are better....

My sympathies to all those with icky, sicky, snotty babies. I was so worried about Mae when she was sick, it was horrible. We had dioralyte which is the electorlyte stuff but she threw it all back up to start with. Did eventually start to stay down but it made all her bottles stink and they had to be washed in the dishwasher several times before I could use them again. Fortunately Mae is healthy at present, fingers crossed to it staying that way for a little while!

Not even given any thought to Mae's birthday so I imagine it will be a very quiet one! Although I have taken the day off work to look after her.

Not starting on any milk here for a little while as I and a number of my cousins have all been allergic to milk as babies so I think I may leave it until I really can't stand making formula anymore.

Morning everyone.

Well we've just been discharged from hospital - Rosie's vomit bug just got worse and worse - so my dh took her back into our children's hospital. By this point she was so weak and just lay there - her lips were all dry and cracked. Dh said she had kept nothing down all day

So - they took lots of bloods from her (not nice) and gave her glucose and saline through a drip. She got off the drip yesterday afternoon and we got her home last night. She is only just keeping down electrolyte solution at the rate of 10mls every 10 mins. It is just heartbreaking to see her so frail.

If she vomits agin we have to take her straight back in.

They said that her blood sugar was incredibly low and that because she is a child that does this we have to be extra careful if she gets any type of sickness bug - and that we should bypass the GP (who just kept saying to me "keep giving her lots of water/rehydration solution - it can take days before they are better" - grrrr) and go straight to hospital.

Am so glad to be home - and we had some happy moments with all the doctors and nurses in hospital making Rosie giggle.

I just want my chubby cheeked little girl back again.

Sorry for the doom and gloom - just feeling a bit emotional about all that she has been through in the last 2 weeks.

oh and jolly menat to say - the electrolyte stuff dows stink - I keep thinking she's done a poo but it is just the smell of her wee (though I am just glad that she is wee-ing so more than happy to put up with the smell !)

oh Meep - you poor things . How worrying for you - no wonder you feel emotional. Hope there's no more vomit for you and her chubby cheeks return very soon.

Now this rash mystery deepens (or maybe not, it may be resolved) - my good friend's son, aged 5, has suspected rubella and it looks v. similar to what L had and they would have mixed. Eek. He's having swabs so we'll wait and see....

And a little proud moment if I may - L has taken her first few steps today. 3 or 4 about 4 times. Blub - where's my baby gone

Yay - hooray for L!

Rosie has eaten some bread and had a bottle of milk today - neither bounced - fingers crossed

Oh, get well thoughts for Rosie and yay L! I don't think Gabe will be walking for a while yet...

Has anyone else got a little monkey on their hands? G is soooooooo mischievous!

Meep - fingers crossed for a healthy baby again very soon.

Gosh yet more walking babies - congrats to L.

Can't believe how quickly are babies are growing up.

Hope the rash isn't rubella and that we don't have yet sick babies!

Fingers crossed that Rosie makes a quick recovery Meep - it sounds like you've had a lot to deal with in the last few weeks.

And congrats to L!

No walking here yet, although M has started cruising and adopting a 'downface dog' position, so probably won't be too long. But we're definitely hearing words - whenever she sees the cat she says something like 'Brrraaay', which isn't a million miles from 'Roy', which is the cat's name!

glad Rosie is on the up meep.

well done on the words Missmod Jnr ! Roy's a great name for a cat

False alarm here on the walking I think. Since friday night L has refused to walk a single step. DH doesn't believe me she did it but she did - honest !! Luckily my parents were here and witnessed it each time otherwise I'd think I'd made it up. I remember dd1 doing something similar and she was about a month before she did anything more.

wheely I remember that well, DH was convinced I was inventing DS1's milestones as he was never there when they happened!

Big changes a-coming in the Laumiere household, at the moment I work 5 days per week (2 at home) and DH is a SAHD for DS1 and G. He's decided that he really wants to go back into work full time (he was a part time security guard on weekends while he was DS1's carer for 2 years then a full-time superviser while I was on mat leave).

He initially wanted to get a nanny full-time (DS1 has too many medical appointments to manage a CM unless she's got very few other kids) and I pointed out I really want to be home with the kids as at the moment I don't feel like I see them. DS1's behaviour has also gone downhill a bit since I went back to work (night waking, naughty behaviour). So I suggested I cut back to 3 days per week and we get a part time nanny or CM. I'd prefer someone with the ability to take the kids out as DS1 will be in school from Sept and then poor G will be by himself. So we're on the lookout for a nanny or CM with special needs experience! I suspect hen's teeth may be easier to find.

I'm actually a bit stunned how much I want to be home, I've always been pretty career-focused.

Sorry, bit long there!

Laumiere, I understand your decision - mums have a hard choice to make between work and childcare, and going part time is a great compromise between the two, imo. Good luck with finding a CM/nanny.

My freelance work seems to be all or nothing at the moment, which makes it tricky with childcare. I found a childminder who can be reasonably flexible, but I can't really expect her to wait for months while I find more work, and then mind the girls five days a week at the drop of a hat's notice. So I'm on the look out for a two/three day a week job, which in my field, is definitely akin to hen's teeth!

On a brighter note, anyone doing anything nice for half term? We're planning a few playdates out to friends who live in the countryside, so am hoping it won't be too cold.

Awww, Gabriel said 'mum' for the first time today, to me too! DS1 looked on in disdain as if to say 'well I can do THAT!'

we bought dd1 a wheelybug for her 1st birthday - we had to hide it from her to get her to start walking - why walk when you can whizz around on 4 wheels

lau I know what you mean about career -v- children - it is amazing how they shift your focus.

I have been trying to get Rosie to say mum - but she is still full of "da da da" at the moment! Well done Gabriel!

Sonce I last posted we had Rosie back up to A&E 3 times - she is skin & bone - couldn't keep solids or milk down. It was only yesterday that she was able to drink milk - and this morning she took a full bottle (no more syringe feeding - thank god!) and some cereal . Please let this be her back to normal.

I am hoping to actually leave the house with both girls today - will be a novelty!

Hello all! Long time no post - sorry about that.

Meep, am sorry to hear Rosie is so poorly. Penelope had a vomming bug after Christmas (not nearly as bad by the sounds of it) but kept nothing down for 4 days (the washing alone was killing me). And then on Day 5, she just sat back in her little bean bag and sighed and looked at me, with little cracked lips and sorry-for-myself eyes, and didn't move for a couple of hours, but didn't sleep either - was heart breaking! Took her to the doc's at that point, and started to smuggle the rehydration stuff into her milk (but she always refused it). She did seem to turn a corner on Day 6 though - like she had been trying to fight it all this time, but after she had succumbed (sp?) she started to get better, IYSWIM.

Anyway, I hope she gets better soon - it's miserable.

Hello to all the other ladies! Can't believe real live steps are being taken. Pen is cruising but showing no signs of walking on her own yet.

Got to run out the door to an ante natal appointment - back later!

Back! Blood pressure was a bit high so have to go back again next week, but other than that, all fine. GP was rubbish at finding the heart beat vs my normal midwife, but we heard it in the end.

Am starting maternity leave early, in a couple of weeks, so I can spend some time with my mum before #2 comes along as she's still quite ill (on chemo at the moment). Will be nice to have the time off though - is killing me working full time, running after Pen and being nearly 6 months pregnant! DH has had a posting to Africa Khartoum) and is off on April 1st so I will be on my lonesome until after the birth (he's coming back for that of course) so it's going to be a bit of a challenge looking after a 15 month old, a newborn and a dog and pack up the house to move to the other side of the world! But exciting none the less - we're due to go for 2 years so I won't go back to work after this one - not at least until we get back in 2012.

Right, better crack on with work - a lot to get done before I go!

All these poorly babies Poor mites. I hope they are all on the mend now. Spike got hand, foot and mouth disease and was off his food for a week and exceptionally irritably (and had a temp of 40 deg at one point), but is now all better.

Gosh Boobz, you've got a lot on. Here's me grumbling about the wedding and Spike I hope it's plain sailing for you.

I am starting to try and get Spike off the boob, but not having any luck with gentle persuasion methods - I think I'm going to have to leave him in DP's care and head off for a few hours. My major problem is that Spike thinks liquids in cups are playthings. He just wants to get his hand in there! And sippy cups are for chewing. Other people I know have had similar problems, but it's only lasted a month or two. Spike has had daily drinks from cups since he was 6 months. I don't suppose any one has any advice?

It's all good otherwise. He's spending more and more time walking about. We're up to 8 steps before he falls down, but now he gets up and does another few steps instead of resorting to crawling. He's still immensely pleased with himself .

The words are coming, too. We have mama and dada, Je-je-je (his bear, Jessica - he has the syllables, but not the sounds) and Dan-da (panda, another stuffed toy). He's also added two signs to his signing vocab, so he now signs "light", "milk" and "book". It's such a fun stage - there seems to be new developments all the time.

I also want to put Spike in nursery for a couple of half sessions a week, to help with his socialisatio (and my integration back into the human race), as for at least a couple of days a week, he doesn't interact with anyone except me, but it really hinges on him taking more milk from a cup, first .

Oh, and sorry for the long post!