May 09 - The Sleepless Babies Club, All Dubious Fashions Welcome

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Ladies.

It would, wouldn't it. I had always thought it would be a nice crafty sort of thing for you. I think you can easily find patterns for them online. There's a woman at my sling meet who has made her own out of denim.

Right, gotta go and get stuck in to some housework now. I'm wasting spending too much time online. But I did buy this while I was at it. All my saved up paypal has now gone

Hmm, clearly bored everyone away with the sling talk

Just catching up!

Belgina - actually I was thinking our meet up could turn into a mini sling meet. I had a Babasling which I used daily when O was tiny for him to sleep but have never managed to use it now he's bigger and a friend gave me a couple of ring slings which I've enver mastered either. May pick your brains....
Also at all your snow. I'm not that far from you and we only got a dusting!

flippin - hope you enjoyed your lunch

All a bit chaotic here today. Gas was switched off but is now back on and apparently they're finished except for making good out path outside. And that cost us over £1100!!!!
Was complicated by the fact that they weren't here before I had to go out at 10am so I left and was going to phone DH from the car to let him know but my phone stopped working. He then tried phoning me and got himself all wound up because he couldn't get hold of me! All sorted in the end though.

O had another settling in session at nursery today for 4 hrs over lunchtime. Having fallen and cut inside his mouth yesterday, he did exactly the same thing again today and they'd entered it in the accident book and everything! I'd hardly have noticed tbh but I guess that's what comes of having teeth and standing! Earlier I noticed him standing whilst holding on and then letting go with both hands. He ended up on his bum but it didn't stop him trying again!

belgina- you didn't bore me with your sling talk- you got me browsing the t'interweb over lunch at work, looking at beautiful slings. One question I had was I have a moby wrap which can be used to carry baby on your back (which is what i'm looking for), but I am guessing it won't be easy to tie and all that. Are the mei tai and babyhawk ones easy to get on and off? Do they just involve a simple tie or is there lots of wrapping round and adjusting required? I also have a babybjorn type carrier from mothercare which i think can be used to carry baby on your back too, so i'm wondering whether i don't really need another carrier, although they do look lovely

pula You can do back carries with wraps, but the moby is stretchy and although, in theory you could do it, it doesn't really get done I think. The moby tends to really become not supportive enough when you get to babies our lo's age. I can back wrap with a woven wrap, but I'm not very good at it, never get it right and then it ends up being uncomfortable. Mei Tais are quick to put on, not much wrapping around or anything. Nothing like a wrap. If you browse youtube, there are tutorials about them and you can see how easy it is.

ses I'm not very good at ringslings. I do have one, but rarely use it. I know the theory about them though, so I can see if I can help. This is going to turn into a mini-sling meet, isn't it, lol.
Glad to hear the settling in sessions are going well. Not good about O falling over all the time though. I'm sure he'll perfect the getting down technique soon enough, so he can stop injuring himself.

Ds ended up with only 4 others in his class. Every time there is snow the head teacher gets the children that can make it in to re-enact a historic battle in an all school snowball fight. How brilliant is that!? They did a battle I had never heard of myself this time, but DH did know it. I never did the history of Britain at school though, so I'm excused I think.

evening!

belgina you most definitely didn't bore me with the MT links... quite the opposite my brain has been working overtime Both dc's this afternoon were a complete frazzling nightmare... G is teething again i think (incisors i think) and DS wouldn't leave her alone as he wanted to play with her. She was giggling and smiling a lot with him... but also very grumpy. She was screaming & then bursting into tears out of the blue mid giggle which was then setting DS off in tears as he got a fright at her sudden screams etc. it was a very loooooong afternoon. In the spells of quiet between all this i have been designing a MT in my head! So if you have any thoughts on the features you love and the ones you hate about your MT's I'd love to know them. I know the things I love a carrier to have/do... just wondering what other ideas I can incorporate into one. I am going to do my best to design a PDF sewing pattern for a delicious looking one... with a view to selling it in my currently closed etsy shop. See what your links have started! All ideas welcome everyone
poor O ses here's hoping he doesn't cut his lip again & I hope it's all better soon.

fi Oooh, that's exciting. I wonder what the design that's living in your head looks like It's a great idea to make and sell them. You can even safety test them on G, lol.

belgina i'm going to map out the pattern and sell that... the designing is the part i really enjoy doing. I always enjoy making the 1st or maybe 2nd one... but repetitive making the same over and over again... i get bored as the challenge has gone iyswim?

LOL at all the sling talk! I tried a Babyhawk and a Joeysling with DD1, but was never very confident at back carries - I much preferred my Connecta for that. Mostly I used wraps, and with A that's all I use, for front, back and hip carries. pula - I wouldn't use a stretchy wrap like a Moby for back carries either, tbh. Fi - lol at you designing stuff in your head! When you need testers, I'm sure you'll find plenty here.

Well, I think I get the prize for crappest mum today. For a few weeks we've had problems with DD1 wetting herself. It had started off as dribbles but she could hold the rest until she got to the toilet, but it was getting worse. When we were at the soft play place today she wet herself 5 times (!), and I admit I got cross with her. Anyway, one of my friends suggested that maybe DD1 had a urine infection, I phoned the drs when we got home, they send get a sample in to check. Managed to get a sample and get it to the dr before they closed, and guess what? Yep, poor thing has a UTI so probablu couldn't help herself. She's got antibiotics now, so hopefullythings will improve. I feel like shit for not spotting it sooner (she really doesn't have any other symptoms) and feel guilty for getting cross with her so much. And then my mum made me feel worse by telling me how serious UTIs can be in small children, can cause kidney problems if treated etc. for DD1, and me too.

flippin poor dd1 and poor you! I think I would have reacted the same as you. UTI's are just not something you think about when a lo wets him/herself. I hope the ABX will work soon.
I wish I could get the hang of good back wrapping, because I do love wraps. I think with C's weight I need to get it perfect or it quickly gets uncomfortable.

fi I understand what you're planning now. I'm still curious about the design though. There are lots and lots of features you could include, but I'll send you a message via facebook, because it would bore everyone to death on here

awww flippin don't beat yourself up. UTI's are obvious when it's us that get them but if DS had the odd accident here and there i'd not have twigged... it would only have been a 5 times in one afternoon thing like you that would have got me thinking. The AB's should kick in quickly which will be a great relief for her to not need to go all the time i'm sure.

btw... I always start designing things in my head . I know most people sketch... but i like to picture and explore all the options of what goes where and how it would work so i can rule out what's not going to work for sure. Then i only sketch what's left. Then with some tweaking and varying here and there it's exactly what i want!

sounds like you had a lovely sling meet on MN today . I'd love a MT but am loathe to spend a lot of money on another piece of baby equipment. I might change my mind though after looking at belgina's links .

Hi everyone!

just sat here, tired. wiped out. how do the FT mums do it? shock. horror.

please tell me this is normal: i am Patient Mummy for most of the day, but then the toddler whingeing, dd1 clinging/crying gets to me like torture and I snap when I'm trying to get dd1&2 to get into their pj's in a timely manner. So, I shout and growl and scare them. luckily for me they do hug me and love me in the end. And I promise myself that I won't shout tomorrow. I just don't think that I can keep up this Patience facade.

But, I'll try again tomorrow.

How was everyone else's day?

xposted: flippin, hope dd is ok. and to you, I wouldn't have guessed either UTI in a LO.

be back later, supper is ready (a bit late).

younger It's normal, it really is. We all shout sometimes. Ds has started shouting at dd1 a lot recently and I'm afraind that it's probably because he's copying me

Anyone watching the leaving home at 8 thing. I couldn't imagine sending my ds to boarding school.

Thanks belgina i have a basic design forming... won't bore everyone but the basic run down so far is...
reversible
plain twill fabric slightly padded (not full length of strap though) & not too thin straps
fancy patterned fabric &/or embellished body section
hood either built in or option to add on
small pocket/purse to hold tissues/change/phone (not sure where it'll go yet perhaps move along one of the straps)
small fabric loop/s on one/either side of body section (to attach a toy or something)
possibly a poly fleece lining or just an internal layer (to make it slightly water repellent and wind proof)
slightly curved shape at top between shoulder straps for head support which can be folded down/over when not needed.

Those are the main things i sorted out while soaking in the bath earlier tonight!

Fi - v v v impressive!!!
I'm absolutely rubbish at imagining things in my head so I'm amazed at how you can just come up with all that! V productive soak in the bath

younger - I don't think you'd be human if you didn't regularly feel like that. I found O quite challenging at the end of the day yesterday and he's only 9mo and I only have one!

younger I too am trying to not shout & atm telling ds NO! STOP! all the time... he just gets so excited and gets so boisterous he stops thinking about where G is on the floor etc & it's hard to calm him down even with some NO's and STOP's

fi Sounds nice. I had been thinking of suggesting a pocket. Maybe you can make it optional in one of the straps or at the front of the body. I was just thinking if C is on my back I need the pocket in the strap and if she's on my front the pocket could be on the body, IYSWIM. I like all your suggestions though. How about a removable lining to make it all weather? Fleecy lining in winter, take it out for summer? Like Ses said. That was one productive soak in the bath

younger- I am trying to stop myself being shouty mummy as I think it is affecting my DDs behaviour in a negative way . I still have a shout (sometimes having 3 DCs whining at the same time just gets too much ), but this evening, when I had asked DD to get her PJs on and she came out of her room with them stuck on her head/on one arm my first reaction would be to shout at her for being silly and to hurry up and get dressed. This would then lead to a whine/cry about being stuck/can't do it etc. Instead I paused and said something positive like "oh, you've nearly got your top on, that's good". And she then carried on getting dressed, and looked quite surprised that she didn't get the usual reaction .

flippin- you are making me wonder whether my DD has had UTIs sometimes as she goes through spells of wetting herself all the time for no obvious reason, and I do the telling off thing. Don't feel bad- at least you took her to be looked at and she's on ABX now. I know I would have put it down to her being at soft play and not wanting to stop and go to the toilet.

belgina removable lining! I like it maybe i should start a thread on FB for ideas.. or i could use up all our space here and we've not much left as it is!

btw dh has booked the 19th off work for ds/daddy day... so i'm booking train tickets for london either tomorrow or saturday

also the cribbs meet could be on again at the beginning next week too!

fi great idea.

We'll have to start thinking about a new thread tittle soon then. Something to do with meet ups? Going back to work?

Groan I go back to work 2 weeks tomorrow
I am starting to think that a bit of time at work will be good for me and a bit of time at nursery will be good for O. Still don't like the idea though

Right, off to bed for me! Hope we all have good nights!

Thanks all. DH keeps telling me not to feel bad too, but I do. pula - maybe your DD has them too? It was the fact that she had so many accidents in such a short space of time that was puzzling (and frustrating) me, the pattern was very unlike her.

younger - I am never going to be the most patient person in the world, it's something I really have to work at too.

fi - exciting that you can make it! We probably won't be able to stay much later than that, to get the cheap train tickets we have to leave london before 4 (I think) so have to allow plenty of time to get back to Liverpool Street.

A is fast asleep. Which is good, but odd - she was shattered this evening, DH got her out of the bath and dressed for bed and then she fell asleep on him while I was getting DD1 dressed for bed! DH put her in the cot, and she hasn't woken yet, she's had no milk since before tea, but she ate bucketfuls of pasta so maybe that's doing it? Who knows?! Fortunately my blocked duct seems a lot better, but I could do with her feeding soonish!

forgot to say pula - that was a good reaction to your DD, glad it worked.

I think Fi you've got all the mei tai stuff well covered. Only one more suggestions - interchangable covers/panels so you cna have different 'looks'?

flippin maybe a dream feed is on the cards tonight to ease the fullness?