November 09 babies are growing up quick, and mummy's getting used to getting covered in sick!

[PreggoK8]

Hope this has worked...

Hilucieerin. My little one's called Isaac too. Good choice!

We were up early too but managed to sneak back to bed for a couple of hours so don't feel too bad. It's such a horrible day outside I might try and persuade DH to go to Ikea to get something a bit softer than floorboards to go on the floor and get a highchair ready for food. eek.

Becky, Yep...5, 3 and the aforementioned nearly 15 weeks...Isaac is generally on my lap too when I'm typing, usually doing his favourite thing (eating) or this strange thing that I THINK is sleeping but I'm not sure as I don't see it that often...now though DP has just got him to sleep after much frantic wandering round the room pushing him in his pram, which he seems to find hilarious (not DP...he grew weary of this task quite quickly...) but does seem to do a good job of helping him get to sleep.

lemontop, I like it too - I wasn't entirely sure when we first chose it (but by the third boy we were running out of names!) but it was definitely a good choice, he really seems to suit it

welcome back lucieerin, i too remember you.

BBL I hope your ds recovers quickly and doesnt feel too bad.

BBL chicken pox is contagious before the spots come out so you can send DS2 to nursery as if he has it, you won't know until the spots come out. You don't need to tell nursery anything until DS2 comes out in spots, if he does. They are contagious until all the spots have scabbed over. Piriton is great for the itching.

Fruit I feel your pain. Ioan woke at 2am for a feed and has fed every 2 hours since. He woke at 5am with congestion and then stayed awake until about 7. Luckily he was happy enough to lay in my bed and feed, then feed again at 6am then fell asleep and woke and fed at 7:30.
I managed to give him to DH though and have another 1.5 hours sleep. Is your DH back yet to give you some help?
Am going to post on the bf forum and see if I can find out how long this feeding frenzy is going to last, am finding it such hard work with the early morning feasts. Even the hungry baby milk only kept him going from 11pm - 2am

lucieerin welcome back and congrats on your son

Thanks Trikken and scarlotti

Yay!! I know it's a silly thing to get excited about but I've not had any chance to do any exercise other than running around after hte kids and housework for the past couple of weeks and I was dreading stepping on the wii fit thing...I honestly feel like I've put on about ten pounds...and the sheer relief and joy when it told me I'd somehow lost two....so of course I thought "guess I don't need to go on then" and took it as an excuse not to bother using it like I had intended...my laziness knows no bounds!! Dp has taken DS2 & 3 with him to Church (I don't go and DS1 is still sick) and I really should be using the time more wisely..but mostly, I'm just hoping he doesn't have to use the bottle of ebm he took - it's got about 7 or 8 oz in it and I'm neurotic about keeping the freezer full of them just in case...and if he uses it I'll have to replace it! My poor thumbs

Hello ladies

How are you all and how are those absolutely gorgeous babies doing?

I'm sorry I haven't been around very much, I have tried to catch up a few times but by the time I get part way through one of the brood needs something!

Lottie is 14wks now and has decided she now doesn't like sleep very much again and I'm shattered, I'm sure many of you are still having this problem. She was sleeping through from about 11pm - 6am then feeding and going back down for an hour.

I hope it's just a growth spurt as she will feed and feed then get really annoyed like there is nothing left and start crying.

Have my fingers crossed that it's nothing more than her being greedy as with dd1 and ds3 they both did something similar at about the same age and it got so bad they refused to feed from me in the end and both ended up on formula by 4m

Bizarre as ds1 & 2 both bf until 16m!

Apart from that she is fine. Although very small. Haven't had her weighed for a couple of weeks but at 12wks she was only 10lb 6 lol. (Makes a nice shange though, last two were huge)

Slight madness here these days. Ds1 & 2 get mini bus to school which means I have to be at pick up for 8.20am, meaning I have to have all 5 lo's up and out the door by 8am. We're getting there....sort of!

I have to say it is very hard work at times though, 3 under 3 can be very demanding, usually all at the same time, I need to grow some extra arms But at least it's never dull

Dd1 has decided to finally potty train herself, woohoooo! After me trying and failing several times she decided to put on her "big girl knickers" one day a couple of weeks ago and has been in them day and night ever since. Only 2 accidents, I am sooooo pleased, 3 in nappies was a bit of a pain not to mention expensive!

Well I should be off before this turns into a 3 page essay

Will be back soon x

Easyeggs great to hear from you again and good to hear Lottie is doing well. Am with you in the shattered camp, Ioan is 16 weeks and is a hungry boy.

Anyone else find it difficult to judge how long they'll sleep when bf on demand during a spurt? Got up earlier as could hear Ioan screaming downstairs when DH was trying to get him down for a nap. Fed him and he took a good feed then went down for his normal 45 mins mid morning nap. Little bugger slept until 12 - great in that now he'll be back on track from his early start, but if I'd have known he'd sleep that long I'd have gone back to bed instead of doing housework waiting for him to wake for a feed

DD home now so off to bed for a bit whilst she entertains him!

Lucieerin Sounds like you've had a bit of a tough time. Must be hard with 3 DC to care for. I have trouble with 2 at times. I remember the teething granules when DS1 was teething. I will give them a go when I can get to the chemist.

BBL Hope DS makes a quick recovery. I'm dreading the chickenpox happening here. DS1's pre-school have had a few cases of it recently.

Scarlotti DH is on a plane coming home. He felt helpless last night when I rung him to report about DS1's nose incident. Sounds like our baby boys are up to the same thing at night. I gave him a 7oz bottle of hungry baby last night at 11.45pm, he woke for a feed at 2am!! He was guzzling athe breast as if the earlier bottle never happended!! I have tried everything to stop the early morning wake up, because the stirring begins at around 4.30am and he will not go back to sleep and fancies a good old chat in the bed with me. I then worry he will wake DS1 up as that's the last thing I need at that hour!

My teething baby is getting progressively worse today. Lots of tears and screaming going on. I've given calpol and calgel, I hope it makes him feel better.

Fruit I don't knoe how to stop the wakings either Ioan doesn't finish the bottle at 10:30, am not sure if he would if I gave it to him later but I'm too tired to go to bed later! Will be interesting to see what happens tonight as he's fed every 2 hours since 2am.

Anyone else's baby sticking their tongue out all the time? Ioan sits there with it just sticking out! Must be quite proud of himself

fruit and scarlotti sorry if someone has already suggested this, or if you have already given this idea a go-please ignore me. But have you tried given your little one a dummy when they wake up during the night. If they are hungry this will not satisfy them and you will know, then you can feed them. Or hopefully they will have a good old suck and fall back to sleep

Pearl used to wake quite often and i would always get her out to feed - often she would suck for 1min max then fall back to sleep. Now when she does wake, we give her hammock a little bounce and she goes back off - if she doesn't i get her out for a feed! This has been working well and she often only wakes for her 1am and 4am feeds!

I am slightly concerned I am making a rod for my back with the bouncing her off to sleep especially during the day but its the only way she will stay in her own bed to sleep! I am just worried when she gets into her cot we obviously won't be able to bounce her off to sleep - which she will be use to by then- if she will be able to go off on her own without the bouncing!

If Bryn could talk, when the word sleep was mentioned, he would reply, "I? Sleep? Ha! You must jest mother! Sleep is for the weak. I would much rather sit upon your knee and scream because I am tired. Sleep? You silly woman... Now, feed me!" Glad to hear its not just him, though. He was doing really well, but now has started waking a few times during the night again instead of the once. Getting him to nap during the day is like getting blood from a stone.

Hi Lucrieen and EasyEggs, good to see you again

Fruit hope the teething is okay. Bryn has very read cheeks today. Have you tried putting dummies in the fridge? Working very well here (Tell me to shut up if that's no help!)

BBL hope DS is feeling a bit better, poor lamb.

Scarlotti got another one with his tongue sticking out here - has Ioan bitten his yet?

EasyEggs fantastic news about the potty training, hope that's making your life that bit easier!

Had lunch with DPs parents today. Thought his mum was going to explode with pride every time Bryn did so much as move his head Bless her. She hasn't seen him since Boxing Day. We're going up to stay with them in March for the weekend though (so any of you Oxford bunch fancy coming to keep me sane company?!).

Hope you're all well, I feel terrible for not keeping up with everything, sorry. A lot going on here at the moment.

Hello from Bonnie Scotland. Just spent an hour catching up! At my dad's now after trekking all over Britain, it feels like! Lovely to catch up with lots of friends though. And show off Rosa!

hi lucierin. Welcome back! I have to say lucky you with the lack of poos as we have on avergae three per day here...!

scarlotti not too much tongue-sticking here but lots of hand/finger sucking and bubble blowing at which she looks VERY pleased with herself!

At 3 months on Wednesday, Rosa is getting too big for her moses too and since we've been away for this week and she's therefore been sleeping in all manner of different beds (friend's travelcot, in beds with me, borrowed moses) I think it could be a good time to put her in her cotbed for the first time when we get back. But it's so, so COLD to get up to in the middle of the night! Normally I just pull her into my arms in bed. I just have to lump it...or put the gigantic cotbed in our room!?!

sirboob 'sleep is for the weak' is Rosa's motto during the day too, luckily for us she's better at night! Where do DPs parents live? You should definitely mention you are meeting up with friends in Oxford, at least for a cup of tea, if it's mangeable. As for meet-ups, if it is IKEA in Bristol I may not be able to make it. Train station doesn't seem to be anywhere near and I might be able to drive but that would be a bit far... Does anyone who lives in/knows Bristol have a suggestion for me? Maybe I can be a meet-up whore and jump on the London meeting bandwagon!

Hi, I've been reading over the weekend but no time to write. Hope DS2 had a happy birthday BBL and lovely to see you again easyeggs and lucieerin. Easyeggs did I ever tell you my friend who you helped is pregnant again? She is due in May

Sorry to hear you're getting so little sleep scarlotti and fruitpastels, hope tonight is a better night for you.

Hope DS is better Ninja raggie with DD we had the cot bed in our room for a while until we couldn't bear it any longer, but she still went into her room just before 6 months. This time we'll hopefully wait longer as the two kiddies will have to share a box room eventually (lucky them).

DWB Was it you who asked about why they should be in our rooms for 6 months? I think I've read something about the baby copying your breathing pattern while you sleep, so they don't forget to breathe.

James seems to have changed his routine to being awake and feeding almost hourly with only very short naps (if that) - farewell, sweet midday break - but is sleeping much better at night. Nothing's changed in terms of what I've been doing, so I'll see if this routine sticks or it's just another phase.

DD has not been so good. She's had a cold and asthma for 3 weeks now and seems to be getting worse rather than better. I've decided to cut out dairy from her diet as dairy can be mucus-forming I think? Have those of you doing dairy-free got any good recipes? I do tend to use loads of dairy normally. In fact, this might be good for me as my weaknesses are of the chocolate-cheese-ice cream variety.

raggie it's the cold that's stopping me moving him into another room too. Does sound like a good opportunity though.

Misssese I do the dummy the first time he cries. It worked a treat up until 12 weeks as it's how we got from 3am to the one time holy grail of 5:30! Am just hanging on to the hope that this is the 16 week spurt, and once he's done he'll go longer.
Please let it be true!!

He's hungry tonight so hoping he'll take the whole 6oz of hungry milk and sleep like an angel!!

Laugs x-posts as usual! DD used to get mucousy from milk when she was younger so we switched to goats milk. It doesn't have the same lactose in it. Soya milk is also ok but that tastes dreadful!

Hey all. BBL hope your DS birthday went ok, brave lady!
lucieerin hello! I remember you too! Welcome back to you, and welcome to little Isaac and i shall join you as well, in the shattered club!

Also welcome back to you easy i was wondering where you had got to! (well of course, i guessed you might be a leeetle busy ).

DD is currently in my bed, with me, drinking milk and watching My Neighbour Totoro. We went to a friends house for tea, did not get back til 7:45pm and DD just would not settle. After the millionth time of creeping down the stairs, i was sitting up in bed feeding reuben, and saw her in the stairs from bed, i just thought oh sod it and said 'quick, get in bed before daddy sees you' and then 'daddy is coming past, pretend to be asleep!' but she could not, he just laughed. But she would not sleep, and she got upset and very shouty when i insisted she go to bed, so i just made her go for a wee, gave her a bottle of milk, told her she can talk as much as she likes as long as she whispers, and that she can stay up as long as she likes. She can even stay up all night if she wants 'i dont want to stay up that long mama' . So, i went to get a drink, and she followed me around talking, being very sweet actually, and now she is sat here, wide awake, while all i want to do is sleep, just like reuben is!

sleep is for the weak is the name of a thread i was on when DD was 6 months old, full of poor ladies whose children just would not settle, not so much advice giving, but hand-holding and commiserating together, knowing we were not alone! I remind myself of the expression whenever i feel tired!

Reuben has had a developmental jump in the last few days, he is very very alert, he hardly sleeps in the day, he laughs a big wide open mouthed laugh, has dimples on the sides of his mouth, it opens so wide it takes up most of his face and his eyes become half moon eyes, just like his sisters did. He kicks and thrashes his legs and arms with wide open eyes, and sometimes goes crosseyed focussing on a toy he has just bashed really hard, or if we shake it fast in front of him. He loves tummy time, has a very strong head, and rests perched on his elbows, until he gets tired, then he falls asleep on his front, naughty of us, but very cute. Oh and he also sucks his fist, fingers, and thumb, loves it alot.

I feel depressed. Properly depressed, to be honest, not sure how to get out of the rut i feel in, and not sure how i can explain it really. I get panicky feelings, can't place exactly why, well often i can, but often i cant. I have a sort of 'fear' of something i cannot put my finger on. It reminds me of that feeling you get when you go too bigh on a swing? Or over a bump in the car. I feel like, like something is about to go terribly wrong. Anyone else ever felt like that? Or feel like it now?

Sorry for the long post. As usual, cannot summarise well.

scarlotti my fingers are crossed for you and everyone including myself for us all getting a good nights sleep!! Just think soon [ she hopes] they may start sleeping through the night ??? [ does that actually ever happen??]

london meet up I really would love us all to meet so we should start arranging!! Who is up for it? What area's of london does everyone live in or be easy for them to get to?

sirboob lol at your description of what Bryn would say if he could talk!! I would love soo soo much to know what Pearl is thinking! She pulls such funny facial expressions I would love to know what is going through her little head!

pav I felt like that when Pearl was first born! I think for me it was I never felt like I could relax- even if she was asleep I thought she would wake up at any second! I was soo soo tired and just really on edge! Like when you had an exam at school and you dread going so so much??Does that sound familiar?

Have you spoken to you DH or any of your friends? I think often it is good to just say it out loud! Maybe if DH knows how you feel he would be able to give you a bit more time to yourself to do something relaxing on your own!When you feel overwhelmed you can focus on that time you have to yourself!

Hope your ok and it really does help to speak to someone! I think all Mother's will feel like this at some point or another, it's just finding out how to stop it!

Pavlov I feel like that a lot. Sorry to hear you're feeling so low Do you think its worth going to the GP / mentioning to the HV? I hope you feel better soon.

London Meet Up - trains from here are pretty frequent to Victoria / London Bridge. I admit to not knowing London very well, so have almost no idea where that is in relation to places though!

Pav that free floating anxiety thing is horrible, I have a bit of it, morbid worries and sudden panics. The odd nightmare (when I get enough sleep to dream) I am sure it is all sleep/boob hormone related.

laugs thank you, sounds like a very legitimate reason to keep them in your room and has made me realise I can't be blasé about this decision. I'll try to do some research online into the reasoning behind that recommendation before deciding.

pav I've had a frantic weekend, finished ironing 15mins ago and now settling feeding ethan in bed but still had ferociously concentrating face on until your post which made me melt, your description of Reuben is just lovely. You're obviously really enjoying him just now, which makes it worse that you have feelings of dread or anxiety bringing you down. Make sure you talk about it, even if only to us.

We got a new car today, a mondeo. Oh to have a five door car is just blissful. Spent all weekend with DP as his rugby was off yesterday and it's been just what we needed. Both very busy but working together so things are on the up.

wook i get it in my dreams sometimes too, when i have time to dream! And misssese yes just like an exam i don't want to do, (like when i went to court last week, except i had a reason for that, and it was intense i could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins like a drug!) I also have been having 'falling' dreams and dreams about lifts which i use get when i was anxious about something (dream i am in a lift and it wont stop on the floor i want it to, it stops on a floor where there is nothing there, or like a basement, or opens to a brick wall it goes up and up and up passed the floor i want, and continues to go up, to the top, then, sometimes the building tilts/collapses/something else and i fall. sometimes it is as simple as it just stops at everyone elses floor but mine. I know its a dream when it happens actually, its like 'here we go again, i am going to fall off the top of this skyscraper as it is not stopping at my stop'. . DH sort of knows/hears, but not really. He would tell me to get a grip and i have nothing to fear blah blah. Yeah, I know that! I am not 'choosing' to feel like this. sirboobalot thing is, i see the gp, about something or other, and i feel fine. I vaguely considered mentioning it to the gp when i had the coil removed (not at the same time of course!) but i was quite jovial and felt fine. so it seemed strange to say 'haha jokey jokey btw i fee depressed' like i am a fraud, like clearly there is nothing wrong with me. I appear perfectly fine on the outside, and more often than not i do feel fine, but the anxiety, it just seems to be there a lot. I feel quite like i would like to just cuddle up in bed with my babies and stay there, snuggled and sleepy. It is my bed/bedroom where i feel happiest and most chilled out i guess.

And i am not sure more space would help. Keeping busy helps. I get some space to take a bath, or have a lie-in, and soon enough i will be out on the canoe or teaching my friend how to sail, so will get some me time.

It feel like, i am about to remember something, and it is something negative, and i get the feeling to go with the memory, but i lose the thread of whatever it is i am fretting about. like a whisper then gone.

dontworrybaby i am absolutely enjoying my time with Reuben, he is such a joy, and not only do i enjoy time with him, and his own personality, but i get to relive my memories of DD as a baby through him too, little things i had forgotten about that i now remember, like the half moon eyes when he laughs, the little laughing sounds he makes, the way his arms and fists shake when he has been put down when he wants cuddles. And these anxieties/panics i am having, while i know they are related to having another baby, they are not baby related, if that makes sense? Well a couple of them are children related, i worry if can provide everything they need (not just financially, emotionally, experience wise) and i sometimes have this overwhelming desire to apologise to DD for not giving her everything i would like to (house with more space garden, financial security), but that in itself is not the problem, or maybe it is and I just dont know it.

Or it could simply be that i am tired and it manifests itself in this way, and through very heavy dark eyes!

pav I remember your thread not too long ago about you and your DH's career path... I think the new addition and perhaps being on maternity leave and having no 'work' preoccupation forces us to assess everything and really look into where we are, where we want to be & think about the future. I'd say for all of us this is a stressful and anxious time as we all come to terms with the family dynamic changing but combine that with your big decisions to make on careers and it's no wonder you feel some anxiety.

Reuben's arrival might have been the catalyst to this process but maybe it could also be what helps you through the anxiety. You're obviously a great mum to both him and Bella... maybe at a crossroads but you have a strong family unit and bright futures to look forward to, regardless of what job you end up in/ what size garden the kids have etc. What's that saying about the destination not being important, it's the journey?

Hope that's not way off the mark, if so ignore me!

DWB not off the mark, i think you have a good point. I am used to working, i am used to being busybusybusy with a million different things. That is not to say i am not stupidly busy now, but its domestic stuff, where usually i am juggling several aspects of my life, not just one huge one, like working, being pregnant and ill, being a mother, and building work (that was a bit much though!), but certainly working, keeping a home and being a mum, the work aspect, while i moan about it, i think probably is a factor, i am have more time to dwell (you know, when breastfeeding and not able to do much else than think). Yet, the thought of returning to work is not exactly thrilling either . I might take up some voluntary work while DH is not working, perhaps one day a week. Can i do that while recieving maternity pay?