May 09 - Six months on. Sleepless nights, hen nights and a sexybuilder.

[HeadlessLadyH]

Over here!!!!

evening everyone.
quick catchup from me as well so not name checking everyone sorry.

Just a few things though:
dandy, absolutely love the phrase, 'low level complaining', that's really because I know exactly what you mean.

llare, I couldn't add much more to what the others said. and the way you described, H was doing a similar waking pattern, last fri being the worst where she was awake off/on from 1am. however, the past 2 days she's slept very well but that could be because we've moved her to the travel cot (we need to get a bed for dd2 to free up the proper cot).

flippin, so pleased for your dd1! that's brilliant.

dandy, for ebay, can you break it down into smaller bundles or is that too much bother? you can do ebay buyer to collect.

or you can get rid of it by Freecycle where someone would pick up from you.

Or, find out if there is an NCT nearly New sale by you where you can sell and get 70% of the profit of what you sell (rest to the charity). try to find your local NCT contact who can give you more info.

going to bed now. hope everyone has a better night than the last one.

Morning.

Mememe post I'm afraid. Will catch up shortly.

When will the nights get better? Last night. Bedtime all normal although R in bed by 6.30pm as sooooo tired. Dreamfeed at 10.15 - 4oz. Another 5oz at 2am. Big poo (dealt with by DH who claims it was the biggest poo he has ever seen) at 5.30am and everyone awake since then!!! DS1 watching Cartoonito or something as I am in no mood to even try and entertain him. R is in his cot, yelling as he is probably still tired. He has had another 7oz. So overnight (as this is still nightime!!) he has had 3 bottles.

I don't know what to do. I want to try some sort of sleep training thing but with both boys in the same room, it will need careful planning as DS1 will have to move out I think. I am not convinced that R needs milk everytime he wakes. Its kind of the easiest thing to do to settle him back down at the mo.

SOme of you have mentionned the no cry sleep solution. Perhaps I should look at that? I have a book someone lent me (but never needed with DS1) called the Baby and Toddler Sleep Programme. Programme sounds a bit but I'll go and look at it. Just brewing some coffee npw.

Sorry its all mememe. I know some of you are having rough nights too.

morning .

maybe we should all do mememe posts, no apologies.

I need to go to llare's sleep post to see the advice.

guess the move to bigger cot no solution. after 2 lovely nights of 11 hour sleeps we hd a repeat of fri: H up at 1.30, we let her cry about half hour till it was obvious she wasn't settling. dh went in to rockher, put down, she started screaming. we brought her to bed where she fed then slept for an hour. tried toput her back in the cot where she promptly woke up and screamed.

we left her again, going in to shush her, give her calpol (teething?), etc but she screamed each time we put her back down. this woke up dd1 who kept crying for things like tucking in, music on, etc. this just made us more cross.

so, broken night of sleep. we dozed a bit but it's the kind of sleep one gets on overnight flights with a child. and now I'm not looking forward to spending the day with the 3 of them. worse, DH who's also been up the night, didn't get up in time towalk the dog so we'll have a restless collie as well. P&T broken and so tough to take all of them out for a dog walk. so I'm looking at today with doomed eyes.

Oh momi I know what you mean about the overnight flights. I feel like my eyes are on stalks. It feels like I've had a bad night of being on call when I've been at police stations all night. At least I got paid for that!!!

I'll have a look at llare's thread too.

Just had a look at the sleep programme book. Its geared for toddlers so no good for babies.

I just don't understand though. Like you momi we've had some really good nights, and then quickly followed by some atrocious ones.

Hope you manage to get out of the house today. At least DS1 has a nursery day today but poor guy will be shattered.

Must catch up with last night now..

fi passes headless & momi more of their caffeine of choice with sympathy for their rotten nights.

G woke up 15mins after her dream feed.. poo'd.. had another boob and lay in her cot giggling and squealing until well after mid night. luckily though ds stayed asleep and G didn't wake until 6.45. so tired but not shattered like you both. hope your days are not too bad ones..

dandy when i'm back on laptop later i'll post some ebay advice..

right must get moving.. pre school run soon and ds not dressed!

morning all

apologies to all those who had restless nights

I had been exclusively BF over the last 4 days but due to M waking 3x in the nights for a feed lately last night I decided to give M a bottle of formula at her 7pm feed (she took 5oz) she went to sleep at 7.20pm, woke as usual for BF at 10.30pm fed till 11.00 - but then slept till 7am!

I am sure this is a fluke tho

Have booked M in for a play day (half hour) at the nursery next tues to try and get her used to being there a part of me really wishes I didn't have to go back in 8 weeks

dandy thanks for reminding me - I must list some stuff on ebay this week

DH has gone in to work with instructions to ask if they have the Childcare Voucher scheme in place

dandy re baby clothes, an idea. Could you find a local 2nd hand seller. There is one in our area who buys childrens clothing from you and she then sells it on. She gives good price for BabyGap and Boden stuff as that has the best resale potential. I believe she has a nice little business doing this. She is found at our local craft fairs with a stall too. Am sure there would be someone similar down that London!!

Its a great idea for buying stuff too. You tell her what age range you are looking for, she drops a bag of clothes round for you to sift through and you buy what you want from there and return the rest of the stuff to her.

Hope you have a better day today too. I know where you are coming from. Sometimes the day to day routine just grinds you down.

Having read your post I calculated the hours I would have DCs today. Taking into account wake up time and DH leaving the house at 6.30 (yes you heard that right) to go to the gym and have his hair cut, I have 2 1/2 hours with both, then from 9 to 5 with just R (thats the easy bit!!) and then from 5 till 7.30 tonight with both. Sounds awful but thank god DS1 is in nursery today or it would be a very loooooonnnnnnnnngggg day.

febes hope the GP helps with your rash.
flip well done to your DD and the potty training too.
looby at your night!!

Morning- sorry to hear about more bad nights. S was pretty good- woke at 10pm so fed him, then didn't wake until 4am- not really crying but wide awake. I decided to feed him in the hope he would go back to sleep but he didn't, but i put him down awake with his dummy and he settled himself. Then he woke at 5.45 but i knew he couldn't be hungry as he'd had both boobs, so i made DH do pick up put down. I would recommend this as a sleep training technique although not really a quiet one so if you have other DCs it might not be good for you. He protested quite a bit, but gave in and went quiet and went to sleep- probably took around 15 mins.

Hi all. Sorry to hear about all the bad nights. There is definitely something about the 6 month mark isn't there?

H has had two wonderful nights' sleep (after lots of terrible ones) - on Sunday night he went from 7.30 to 11.30pm, then through to 7.30am, then last night he slept from 7.30 to 3.30am then 6.30. But before you all start hurling things at me, I have had two dreadful nights with a bad cold and, yesterday evening a fever too. Somehow it's especially annoying being awake when H is asleep! DH has been lovely and taken the day off today to help out.

llare yay to G's weaning!
Looby I don't have any useful advice, but hope your Mum is on the mend and that you get some suitable help sorted out.
Dandy I was going to suggest a dress agency too. There's one in a nearby town that I noticed was selling a Next outfit that cost me about £14 for £6. I don't know how much of the profits they keep though.

Hello! I have been utter merde at keeping up.

I feel the pain of all those with sleepless nights, S just doesn't sleep much at all, daytime or nighttime and stays up until gone 11pm most nights. It's a long old day with no DH here, I tell thee . Still, he's here for a week tomorrow . He'll get to see S in action:

Shout SHOUT SHOOOOOUUUUUUUTTTTTT and eat your socks. Shout some more and then smile winningly. Eat your socks again. Perform 100 abdominal crunches with grunting galore. Smile winningly and look away coyly. Eat your socks. Grab the cat as he passes and really give those furry ears a good tug - he loves it!! Eat your socks. Smile winningly and dribble becomingly. Perform another set of abdominal crunches - go on, you can nearly tip that chair over!!! Eat your socks.

I'm exhausted just watching her. And a new one is:

Cradle your poor old mummy's face very gently in your warm, plump hands. Bestow beaming smile on poor, tired old mummy and croon quietly. Ensure she is lulled into false feeling of safety and then GRAB HER FACE REALLY HARD AND SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH with your nails. Trump longly and loudly and beam innocently. Release noxious river of yellow poo, ensuring nappy leaks. Please make sure this is just before school finishes so that mummy has to run around in panic-stricken search for nappies/wipes/clothes.

Happy Tuesday everyone!! It's Armistice Day tomorrow which means a public holiday/shortened working day here, I think. Must remember to buy bread before 12 tomorrow.

Hi
We had what I hope is a break through last night. R went down at 6.45 and then when I went to bed he stirred but resettled . He woke at 12ish so DH gave him a sip of water and put on his music and he went straight back to sleep. He woke at 2 and I needed the loo so I feed him and he had a great feed and went back to sleep quickly. He woke at 6 DH gave water and music and he lay quietly I went to the loo and DH got up for work at 6.30 so I feed him and then we both fell asleep until 8 when DD woke.

It gives me hope that he will be able to resettle himself and will be able to move in with DD soon as we seem to wake him up.

I've been to BF cafe this morning and there was a NCT bra fitter there so I bought 2 new bras size 40H I haven't been fitted since before I had DD 2 years ago and was wearing the wrong size.

Dandy I have loads of clothes from DD and DS that I could resell/ give to charity but I haven't got round to sorting them out and listing them. I have been sending the nicest boy stuff to my sister for the twins but there is still loads. I have been given 90% of it as handme downs but they are still in really good nick. I also think I'd like a 3rd DC at some stage so part of me wants to keep it all but we could do with a cull.

not sure why I wittered on about Armistice Day there - I spend far too much time just me and S, chuntering inanely.

Tra la la la la la

X post Grumpy S sounds just like R especially in luring you in and then scratching your face off!! Glad your DH is back with you tomorrow. I find it hard doing a few days on my own so I take my hat off to you doing such long stretches. How long before he is with your permanently?

She's just sitting in her French Bumboesque chair, growling. The cat is circling warily

febes DH is unlikely to be here on any sort of permanent basis for the forseeable future . I miss him terribly and know he misses us......

Grumpy at S. She sounds like a real character.

H has a tooth And made no fuss about it at all

It wasn't there first thing this morning but he bit down on my finger just now and ouch! He won't let me see it yet though.

Am too frightened to come on here atm. I have a beautiful nightime sleeping baby . No doubt these words will come back to haunt me before too long then you can all laugh at me.

Spangle yeah at H's tooth. B got his first last week and I can't get over how much it's grown since then.

Grumpy pmsl at the cat saga. Tis the common theme in our house atm. Me saying 'gentle...gentle....GENTLE...' as B pulls the cat's tail whilst I try to guide his hand. Was sure I narrowly averted a cat swipte this morning.

Febes reminds me I must go and get measured soon. Am sure I've got fatter round the ribs. Oh dear.

Looby only 8 weeks til work . It's gone so fast. I'll be going back for the odd day in Jan before starting back 4 days a week again in Feb. When does everyone else start back, and who is jacking in work?

MN just went really off when I tried to post that message. At least it worked and wasn't lost.

I've just had a Cadbury's 'Twirl' for lunch. Can't be bothered to make / eat anything else. Not too sure about nutritional content though.

grumpy, S sounds a bit familiar. she sounds a bit like.... you .

just had 15 min sleep with dd1 on the sofa. now up and about to clean up in the kitchen.

I hate, hate lunchtime. it inevitably erupts into screaming by H. I really wonder if this is teething pain. I usually give her a stick of toast to occupy her whilst I get the older dd's lunch. I'm always too late though and H gets irritated by something and starts squirming in her chair. I leave her there until I've got plates of food in front of dd1&2. picked her up, she whimpered a bit then settled down cooing and trying the next food I put in front of her eyes (cucumber today). so is it cuddling then? the diva.

and who was excited to wean? it is sooooooo messy. I would much rather H stay on exclusive BF. so much cleaner. I'm now smudged with strawberries and dried splotches of hoummous. nice. maybe I should take a bath this Quiet Time instead of making bread (grumpy, I'll put in an extra loaf for you).

spangle, hurrah about the tooth! what a brave H for not even making a fuss.

febes, hope those bras feel much better. I really should be fitted as well but can't be bothered.

off to throw some flour around the kitchen that's already atrocious.

reg A Twirl contains milk so is eminently good for you, rich in calcium and protein and erm, vitamin yum?

spangle yes, S is a character, she shows signs of being a real livewire, like DD2. She is very loud.

The cat, God he's patient. S adores him and growls away when she sees him, trying to entice him over with her little 'spoon hand' beckoning. She loves the dog too, but she's obviously not enough of a challenge, far too passive. Far more fun to run the risk of razor-sharp claws!!!

loobs work . I went back to work when both of the others were around 6 months old, I just couldn't with S.....