Nov 09 and we're feeling fine, feeding, burping, not enough sleeping - that's us!

[BeckyBendyLegs]

Just thought I'd better create a new thread.

Raggie how about a trip to Burford?

Hiya wanted to say thanks for all the kind messages ...and that i survived my first 2 days back yeah!! I'm lucky that my 2 bosses are great - they bothtold me not to overdo things and i'm not to worry about my hours : i can arrive late, leave early etc!! So its not too stressful

Plus on my first day back i found out that a) i might be in line for a raise b) i might me able to apply for a little extra child benefit and c) my boss might have found me a job working with him in another dept nearer to home -fingers crssed. So all in all a rather good day

The 4 hour commute was ok as well, at least i can manage to read without interruption! I'm already half ay through the girl with the dragon tattoo! Feeling i might manage to cope with this work thingy although dp is still on holiday at the moment ...so the real hard work starts from next week!

Dan's getting his 3 month jabs next week plus an extra vaccination against gastro-enteritus (sp?) It cost a fortune as it's brand new but gastro has reached epidemic proportions in france and i really don't want LO to catch it.

erica just seen that Bryn was poorly last week, I hope he is feeling much better now!

maman glad work is going well, and great news!

venus and ursi the course is through surestart and anyone can do it, I think you just have to have breastfed your own baby. The women we will help will mainly be from baby cafes I think. I should find out full details on friday, so I'll let you know. Ursi do you have surestart centre near you? They do lots of different groups and workshops.

I'm loving the "are you ready to have kids yet?" it really made me smile!

Packing, packing, packing here. Flying home to the US on Monday. Boxes will be shipped Friday, we'll do some cleaning over the weekend... it's all so exhausting! LO took a looong nap today, which was really angelic of her - we got a lot done. Fingers crossed she'll do that every day - ha!

longway is this a permanent move back? How long have you been over here? Hope you'll have a good trip and that you'll stay in touch.

raggie, venus have good trips. I'm still thinking that the logistics of an afternoon out in Oxford are a bit too much...

tigger that's great about the course, hope it goes well. I always think that jobs like these must be so rewarding.

scarlotti good luck on Monday, the job sounds perfect. I hope things at home are improving.

maman sounds good, glad the office life is not too difficult. I know what you mean about the time to read on the commute, I can't imagine I'll have time to read ever again.

bbl nice to hear from you, hope every day is brighter for you.

Lucy's been grumpy for the third day running. She refuses to sleep until about 4 - 5pm. She's been feeding a lot as well, so maybe it's a spurt? Thankfully she sleeps at night, but it means I don't get to do anything in the day... It's like having a few days old all over again. She's asleep now in the sling - won't go down in her crib - but I'm too knackered to do anything... How can not doing much with a kid be sooo tiring?

BBL you couldn't have put it better...they DO make our day don't they..you've just made me delete a text to my husband moaning about leaving me with 2 kids. The cheek of him..he just rang to say how stressed he is at work just as he heads out to a bar!

PAv you are so very sweet and right.. we shouldn't focus on the negatives..but i guess we just want perfection..life isn't a GAP advert is it..The only memories of my dad that I have are all good ones..even tho he was a loser and i haven't seen him since I was 7..

Raggie on your sleep..i think 2 hours is recommended in car seats..then a break to lie flat..but i've left DD1 in for longer on trips to Belfast (she was only 5 weeks old)..just take her cue.she'll need to feed so make sure you get her out for a feed and give her some time on her back..

Love the are u ready for parenting..hilarious.

thanks for listening ladies

Oh skorpion you poor thing. That's exactly how I was feeling yesterday and it was only a one day no sleeping thing.

I hope you've gone to bed early because, even though it's a bit rubbish to do so (in terms of feeling like an adult, separate from just being a mummy) hopefully you'll feel so much better tomorrow. That's what I did last night and we had a much better day and I was in a much better frame of mind. Hmm, should probably take my own advice and hop off now too. Night then!

raggie thanks. She slept from around 6 till 10pm, and then after a feed until 2.30am. I guess I shouldn't really be moaning as she's ok at night. You're right, I should have gone to bed at six, too...

Hi guys, bad night here, I only had a herbal tea last night to try to get my body back on track sleep wise so slept very lightly and Toby slept terribly so both DH and I are shattered today. He just kept crying and sleeping, crying and sleeping all night. Is that normal? There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him that either of us could see.

Please tell me it gets better soon? I was just so blessed with DS2 - he slept soundly from eight weeks onwards. DS1 was more like Toby but I was younger than!

maman glad your first week back went well.

longwayaway good luck with the packing, it is alot easier when they sleep!

skorpion I agree with the whole tired doing not much thing. DH doesn't quite understand this either!

raggie I think I will take your advice this evening and go to bed at 7 when Anya goes down (providing dh will do the sterilising and filling of bottles!)

Bad night here too. Do you think there was something in the air? BBL I wonder if they get little growing pains that might make them cry. Anya does the same thing from time to time.

I am so tired and am feeling a bit run down. Have several ulcers and an ugly big cold sore that makes me look like I've had botox on half my lip . I think I need to improve my diet. I just tend to be snacking on rubbish during the day.

Every time Anya woke last night I let out a huge sigh, threw the covers off me dramatically, stomped out of bed, whipped her out of her moses basket (gently off course) then she would smile the biggest smile up at me and I just can't stay annoyed that my sleep has been disturbed- I still feel shattered, but not annoyed.

BBL and TOK, sorry to hear about your bad nights. How old are yours now? Growth spurts make them difficult sleepers for a couple of nights, I think.
Our last two nights weren't great either. We had already been on one 5 hours break per night but seem to be back at 3 maximum. But at least most of the time she goes back to sleep rather easily.
TOK I really like your description of your routine at night. They do know how to twist us around their little finger with their cute smile at night.

hi all. longwayaway hope the packing is going ok. if I was near you id have offered to help, I love packing.

BBL hope sleep gets better for you, ds was awful for the first months and then suddenly slept perfectly, so here's hoping your toby will be the same.

Its hard to sleep when they are sleeping, I find, as I also want to have some free time doing other things, so find myself filling 'sleeping time' playing on the wii with dh or reading or straightening my hair etc.

hope your sleep gets better too TOK

Haha, thanks Trikken I don't mind the packing bit, actually, it's the agonizing over what to keep, what to throw out, what we can give away to other people, figuring out how we can stay another two nights in our flat without all our stuff, etc. That exhausts me. And that's all before we start the cleaning!

Yep, back to the states with us, indefinitely, although given the current political/economic situation it may not be long before we're applying for jobs abroad again!

BBL sorry to hear Toby's not letting you sleep much - hope it's just a growth spurt and he's over it soon.

Good sleep vibes to everyone... we all deserve a break!

Gosh guys, this is rough, isn't it? DH and I are zombies today. It just happens to coincide with me trying sooo hard to get myself back to sleeping normally at night - I just don't seem to be able to have deep sleep anymore it feels like. I've worked so hard to get myseslf back on track and fight against MIL and health visitor who think I should just take sleeping pills. I can't do that. I have children to care for! They need me in the night too!!!!

I didn't know about the growth spurt thing. He is 11 weeks this weekend.

Is it a new moon or anything? If all our babies are being little tinkers at night it might be a new moon! Just a theory!!

The good news is that our washing machine is mended after being out of action for over a week. The bad news is that I'll be ironing for England tomorrow!

It is a full moon (I meant, not new moon) on Saturday. Spooky!

Ooh, think Millie is having a growth spurt too, she is 12 weeks. I am sooo tired, have read all the posts but to tired to write more. Hope everyone is ok and gets a better night sleep tonight...

Full moon - that explains a lot with DH, if not the babies .
Sorry you and others are had a rough night last night BBL. My night was not too bad. Reuben drunk hardly any of the 4oz of ebm, then slept from 11:30pm-3am, lovely. But, that was it He fussed and digitedfor hours after, although not upset, just awake and a little grimbly. Think he is feeling a little unwell. I wonder if he gave me and DD his bug, and we have given it back to him ? Is that possible? not too ill, just a bit snotty. Winter babies eh?

Right lovelies, this will be my last post for a week as once Jim is asleep this evening we'll have to pack for Scotland and we're off fairly early in the morning. Gulp. Good thing we are going now, the lie-flat car seat that is meant to last until 6 months is already groaning at the seams with our 15lb 14oz not-quite-11wk-old monster healthy child in it.

Really hope everyone has a good week with lots of sleep - esp BBL. Think we may be having an early growth spurt here too, he's feeding loads and very sleepy today.

By the time I'm back there'll probably be a new thread. How time flies!!

venus have a good time in Scotland, i hope the journey is ok and you have a great time.

longwayaway you are moving back to the US aren't you? What a stressful time! I hope the packing goes well with lots of sleeping baby time!

I have just given Reuben a bath, and then olive oil massage and some skin to skin. Oh it was so lovely [sigh] he absolutely zonked though before i could dress him, and i laid him down on Bella's bed while i read her a story and he had his arms up by his head, naked and it was such a shame to have to dress him he looked so peaceful! I am now about to dye my hair and have a bath and shave my legs...fingers crossed the gorgeous sleeping prince stays fast asleep until i get out and dried at least, or if he wants, until after Silent Witness, when I shall give him a bottle of ebm. DH is out for the night.

I hope everyone has a good evening, and sleep is in abundance

Oh, I can't keep up any more!

Thanks for all the advice/ empathy about coping with older siblings. I totally get what you mean by 'mediocre mum' Sleepless - it feels rubbish doesn't it? But then isn't there a theory somewhere about Good Enough parenting - not aiming for perfection and killing ourselves in the process, but just aiming for good enough. (I think that's it)

Pavlov something you said about not getting upset in front of DD struck a chord as I am still (STILL! ) struggling with breastfeeding and a lot of the time it hurts me. DD has started saying 'James is hurting Mummy' etc, she's probably seen me crying about it come to think of it. I hadn't really thought until now how bad that probably is for her understanding of her new little brother. I've probably been wrapped up in myself too long, so now am trying to take the bite my lip approach to BF.

longlongaway good luck with the move! Do you have jobs to go to? Make sure you keep in touch with us even when you're on a different clock (that doesn't really exist in new motherhood though, does it?)

Venus have a great trip. Our James has become variations on the name too - Jim, JimJom, Jambo, Jiminy(sp?) Cricket, Jamesy etc. - it's proving to be a very flexible name

Another one here panicking wondering what to do about work after mat. leave. I don't think I can afford to write freelance and pay two sets of nursery fees for the privilege, so looking to see what else I can do. Also, DD is in a nursery, but she didn't start that until she was 2. I'm not sure whether that's the best setting for a younger baby, but then I want them both together if possible... it really is a minefield. I am in knots already.

Pavlov my DH is out tonight too. I'm starting to think they are one and the same person.

laugs you are me remember!

laugs i meant to say, i think it is ok for them to see us upset sometimes. I was very aware when pg of how DD might view the new baby if i was always sick because of him so i tried them to either hide it (impossible) or minimise and deflect. It is so hard to avoid showing pain when you are suffering with soreness while bf'ing that you are still suffering.

I have hair dye on. DH said he would not go out until i had washed it off, in case Reuben needed attention. Well, Reuben now needs attention. DH is playing x-box, and he is bouncing the rocker with his foot. I have just told him that i can do that myself with hair dye on, so in reality he might as well go out now! He laughed and said 'fair point' and said he will stop

Laugs same potential issue here with nursery or childminder option. Ioan will go to nursery from about 5 or 6 months as DS1 is there until September. By that point I imagine he'll be settled in there and will probably stay, unless I need wrap around care for DS1 - then I'll look into potentially moving Ioan too so that they're at the same place. Sigh. Things are never easy are they.

Still sleep deprived here. Do you find that you are totally thick when sleep deprived? I can't even hold a conversation never mind arrange to meet anyone on a day next week. A friend asked me today 'how about Thursday?' and I said 'errr, errr, errr, now there is a reason why not, but I don't know what it is!' Oh my god! What is wrong with my neurons?