November '09 and the months are flying by, our 3 month plus troop, and us, the knitted boob group!

[SirBoobAlot]

New thread, we chat so much!

skorpion you get a voucher as opposed to a cheque, and you should have recieved it by now. You only actually need the reference number (URN) to open the account. Many providers have online applications.

Ninja where/what is Benfield? I've been toying with the idea of a festival.

wook any awkwardness at the meet up was very short lived. As I had DS1 with me too, I was dotting about more than I'd have liked so only managed snatched conversations. Par for the course with a toddler though!

Lemontop the main issue at Latitude is that you can't see any of the bands properly because of the wall to wall pushchairs! As for getting about the site, lots of people get cute trailer things and pull their brood along behind them. We managed with ds aged 2 in the mclaren volo but if he'd been younger I'd probably have gone for a backpack. On the other hand, buggy is great for also lugging round all the bits and pieces. Unless it's muddy the terrain is fairly easy with some pebbly paths and it gently slopes upwardsbut there's a short steep downhill to the festival site from the family field which is not fun with a very heavy buggy on the way back up (but get your dh to do that bit.)
It's getting more busy and popular but still a very manageable and good fun, nice vibe festival. Worst aspect last year was that every other child in the family area was called by ds's name and his cousin's name!

Hobnob, Venus the cranial osteopath was really interesting. She spent ages talking about Toby's birth, my pregnancy, the births of the other two, health of the other two, my health, my feelings, etc. She was so gentle and felt around his head, neck, back and stomach and said to me 'he also has silent reflux' (but that's another battle I'm having with the GP who doesn't believe it!). His eczema is still as bad but he needs four more sessions to see any change apparently. She said that because he was born back to back and he was engaged for quite a while his head and neck have been affected and there is a lot of tension which will be aggravating his symptoms. Sounds plausable to me! She was very professional and I am confident it will help, just nothing yet! He has been sleeping a bit better I must say. But his skin is no better at all. Today we went to a toddler group and everyone was wincing at how sore he looks. It is breaking my heart. We're trying lactose free milk now to see if that helps.

Venus pictures soon! Someone took some photos and promised to email them to me. I haven't had them yet. The vase is going to be sent to me soon too I hope!

Afternoon all. I think I am geared to have the weekend from hell as my pils are over and we are heading away with them until Monday as it's fil's 60th.

Ursi I feel your pain!!! Let me just get this rant out of the way first.
They were through the door two minutes, Fil took Anya off me and she started squealing to which he responded by bouncing her up and down. Like thats gonna help a stressed child! SHe bawled even more when Helen talked to her. I tried to grab her back and was told she was fine so I pretended she needed her nappy changed to give her a breather! SHe was all giggles and smiles upstairs. When I took her back down Mil wanted a cuddle and once again she roared crying, looking at me like "get me out of here mummy!" Mil kept saying "Awh, she has wee pains in her tummy, thats why shes unsettled, have you got wee pains pet?" Ah, no she doesn't, she just doesn't know you that well and you have snatched her off her mother and if it was pains why does she relax and giggle when she is back in HER MAMA'S ARMS!!!! Then this morning, fil was holding her and I could see she was getting really tired and crank. Once again, his response is to bloody bounce the poor child up and down and shout "a coochi coo" type things in her face. After 5 minutes of crying and 2 failed attempts to get her off him I ended up just grabbing her. Miraculously she was sound aleep within 1 minute. Why do pils think they know your children better than you do? Anya doesn;t see them very often so if they had any brains they would give her a little while to get used to their voices, smell etc before overwhelming her like that. OK, my blood pressure must be through the roof!

hobnob I hope you are feeling better. Must have been a big relief to see the neg test

weston 7 to 7! THats brill, long may it continue for you! I too cannot watch ONe born every minute, too traumatic memories.

lemontop I really want to see Alice in WOnderland too. Might see about newbies thing at our local cinema. Was it good?

scarlotti glad you had a good time at your mum's and that the weaning is going so smoothly! Well done Ioan!

skorpion I thought you had to keep sterilising until 1 year?? . And prolactin doesn't diminish your libido, a baby does!

Sirboob that must be so difficult seeing your friend like that. I'm sure she appreciates your support and cuddles from beautiful Bryn!

wook how romantic and thoughtful of your dh! Can you get him to give mine some tips!

Wow, mammoth post.

All this talk of festivals... I've never made it to one

BBL lactose-free milk might help, but as far as I know it's cow's milk protein and often soy protein that are linked to eczema so it might be worth asking your HV for a trial of hyopallergenic milk. It really is vile stuff but might help. The proteins are all really well hydrolysed but it makes it smell of potato starch.

sirboob you're finding strength I don't think I'd have visiting your friend in that state. Hugs for both of you. I hope the tube feeding helps.

Still feeling decidedly woosy today. Don't know what it could be.

DH said to me the day before yesterday "Sunday is a special day, isn't it? Shall we do something special? I was thinking because we have all this new space of inviting the PsIL, SIL and her boyfriend for a family Sunday lunch. What do you think?". You do wonder sometimes how their heads work

Camp Bestival

It does look really good Ninja. You're not working again this year are you?

My 3 month old needs a haircut! His fringe is hanging in his eyes, his sideburns reach to below his ears and at the back it hangs over his collar! So cute. DD was still bald aged one, so it's quite exciting having such a hairy little fella.

I got up at 1am [grr]. Lets not go into the little spat Dh and I had arsehole that he was but by the time Reuben got to sleep after choking his poor little lungs up, i was wide awake. So you you know what I did? I cleaned the kitchen, put a load of washing on, hung washing up, put dishwasher on, had a shower, did hair, put on some make-up, had a zillion cups of coffee, went back to bed and read my new Robin Hobb book til Reuben woke at 6am, then DD came into bed at 6:3am, and by 7:30am we were in a cafe having breakfast . I feel surprisingly ok. For now.

laugs I don't think you would be silly to take your 3.5yo and your new little baba! We are really considering doing it this year, and we have children almost exactly the same ages. I think your DD is a great age for a fesitval, there is so much to do at them if they are family friendly as long as you accept there will be no partying into the wee hours or watching Faithless on the big stage with a 3yo .

Someone asked me about my dairy free stint - its going, not very well as I keep forgetting, and remembering after stuffing a cheese sarnie down my throat, or after smothering my pasta, red pesto and spinach with parmesan! .

lemontop i have heard of that, we shall look into it, as we are very keen to go to a family friendly one this year. beautiful days is on the cards, but its busier than it used to be, so a bit unsure. Glastonbury with children these days, not a chance. Some friends went to the Big Chill and had a great time, they even got to take part in some film as extras dressed up as Zombies! They took their boy aged 6, and said it was relatively family friendly, but not sure.

We could do a festival meetup!

pav Were you seething? I can never get out of bed during the night, even if I'm not sleeping. I'm too afraid of not getting any.

For those of you with 2 or more DCs, how do you manage the evening routine? We usually end up eating at about 5:30-6, despite me always aiming for 5. we then, on bath nights, have bath, teeth, story, bed for DD1. I've been bathing DD2 at the same time, but she is so knackered when she comes out that she grumps on the floor and often dozes off. Which means DD1 has to be quiet and she just can't physically do quiet. It'll full-on or none with her. So I'm often struggling to clean DD1 with a grumping DD2 on the floor, and then have to do teeth before calling DH up to do DD1's story and song. Meanwhile DD2 wakes up and then won't settle.

In an ideal world I'd take DD2 upstairs at 6:30 when she's tired and try to put her down after a feed, but even when DH helped out with the double bath last night (it was his first time seeing DD2 in the bath ), I still couldn't get DD2 to settle due to the general noise level, even when they were being 'quiet'. I guess that's why I've always brought her downstairs for a feed after bath, but then she never settles that well on me, despite looking like she is out cold. She always wakes when I move her and demands another feed.

Last night I managed, for the first time ever, to get her fed and asleep enough to go in her crib at 8:15, and she slept through until 5:30!

hobnob yes in part, but also, I was dreading going to sleep, as Reuben was not sleeping well, for the last few nights, everytime he dropped off, so would I and he would wake minutes later coughing and not breathing well, so when this happened last night, i just got up, swearing, to a less than compassionate DH who buggered off into the front room as he had only had 2 hours sleep and how dare i bloody wake him so rudely (thats the short version ). So, i thought, i could lie here, dozing, waking, dozing, waking, dozing, waking all bloody night and feel absolutely terrible and unable to do anything with DD this morning, or i could just get up and save myself the stress of it all. As it happens, Reuben was asleep by 3am, but I was in the shower by then and very awake.

Evening routines - Reuben fits around DD atm, as he goes to sleep at about 9pm, although it is getting earlier. I get him ready for bed with DD, and we all have stories together, but he does not have his sleeping bag on til later as he likes a good kick before going in for the final feed. As he brings his sleeping earlier, I will put him in his bag ready for stories in DDs bedroom.

hobnob either I do bath time earlier and then DS1 has tea in his pj's (I bath them together as DS2 has a hard plastic seat and loves it!) or I do it later and DS2 has a nap. He's just dropped off now at 5:30 and will probably have half an hour, which revives him enough for bath etc. He'll then go to bed at around 7 after another feed.

Am so of all these babies sleeping for hours on end. What am I doing wrong? I feed him before his bed at around 7, then do a feed at 10:30 but he's still waking at 2am and taking a feed then again at 5 or 6 and taking a small feed. Both feeds are small but he will eat. I'm so tired I'm on my knees.
DH is no use, I asked him two weeks ago if he'd do a night stint and I'm still waiting for it to happen - and this is after a row last weekend where I brought it up again. The stress of living with his lack of support is starting to get me down.

Oh yeah, bathtime. Er...what's that? He bathes probably once every 10 days a week or so! Or when Bella has one i will chuck him in (not literally!) and that is not always at bedtime, as she loves a bath any time of the day! His routine is mainly, nappy change, wipe/wash of his face and bits, and if his sleepsuit needs changing is minging i will change that too. But it is all very lazy relaxed. I must give me more routine, DD had lots of stuff, music, chillout time in the bedroom, soft lighting etc. DS gets boob, then bed!

DS2 has chicken pox!!!! So another week in isolation in store for me. But I'm a proud mummy as DS1 won second prize in his class for his Mr Strong outfit and DS2 won first prize for his tiger that came to tea outfit

DS3 really cranky this afternoon and evening. So far he's cried on and off for about 2 hours But then DH comes home, takes him from me, and he's been calm and quiet ever since.

Pav I really, really hope you get some sleep tonight.

sleep? wassat? Sleep is over-rated anyway imo, what a waste of time that could be spent tidying, washing, cooking, cleaning...

I am strong!

Sorry DS2 has Chicken Pox, but I guess at least it gets it out of the way now...is he ok with it? Great both your boys won prizes

Read posts briefly and not remembered much I'm afraid!! It's just a quick one as I need to put both DS' to bed. Scarlotti I'm in the same situation as you with night times Bed at 7.30pm, feed at 11pm, another feed at 2am, 5am and then wakes fully or back to sleep until 6am. I have to be in bed by 10pm at the latest as I can't function otherwise. I'm holding out in hope that it will change once he's in full flow of weaning Be back later!!

tok I really enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. I hadn't been to the cinema in well over a year and never seen a 3d film so it was all pretty good.

BBL your poor ds ( and you!)but at least he's getting it when he's young. I got chicken pox when I was 18 and was really poorly with it.

I took Isaac swimming for the first time today. He seemed to like it but I was a bit unsure about what I was doing so have enrolled him onto a little dippers course in April. It's expensive but I reckon it'll be worth it in the long run. I'm a rubbish swimmer.

BBL hope your DS gets better soon, and you don't go stark raving being stuck indoors again.

Fruit do you ever wonder what would happen if you didn't do the 11pm feed? I'm also at the point now where I think only food is going to change it, and that's a good while away yet. I too go to bed at 10pm.

lemon I did little dippers with DS1 - they focus on water safety rather than swimming but it's a lovely course.

Squeezing in another quick post.. We are going to watch Sherlock Holmes in a bit and eat pizza and ice-cream All this has to be done by 10pm . Very likely I will fall asleep half way through the film!

Scarlotti I leave the 11pm feed out when DH goes away on business. Partly because I want to be in bed much earlier than normal (9pm). We get to 1am and he wakes for a breast feed (he doesn't take the bottle very well with me), so leaving out the 11pm formula feed doesn't help matters here as I get less sleep as he requires more feeds through the early hrs of the morning. DS1 was sleeping through by now! The only saving grace is staying in bed in the warm and feeding without any hassle. I'm clueless on how long this will continue for

Fruit I do the night feeds lying down too so that I can still get rest/sleep. DS1 didn't sleep through properly until about 8 months so I'm not expecting any difference this time and hoping I might be pleasantly surprised at some point

I am off to bed now, but quick question. scarlotti what do you do with your arm when you are feeding lying down? Sounds a bit daft, but i generally am finding the bottom arm a bit surplus to requirements. DS was resting his head on it but I felt it was too much at an angle, so I would gently move his head on to the bed and then this arm would be flaying around, and I then can't sleep .

Pav my arm tends to be stretched out across the bed (don't forget dh sleeps in the spare room so I have heaps of space) as Ioan is lower down than my shoulder, face to boob level. I've also done it with my arm bent back up at the elbow so it lies along my face if that makes sense? We lie side by side facing each other, and then when he's finished I tend to move him up the bed ... if I haven't fallen asleep by then

Hi all, Pav sounds like you had a rough time last night, hope Reuben feels better soon so mummy can sleep and not worry too much.

BBL hope your ds recovers soon too. Its hard when you have to be stuck in for a long time, and just horrible when children are unwell, all you want to do is be able to make them better.

Dh and I had a major barney this afternoon,(kids werent around so not as bad) it started off small as we were both tidying up and we were both doing the books, and he suddenly went off on one saying I was taking over on 'his' job when I had stated that I was doing upstairs when in my eyes all I was doing was what he told me to do (taking all ds's books upstairs.)so he then stormed off and I told him he could shove my help (basically) and went to do mad frantic angry cleaning upstairs in our room. it was all very silly and we ended up having a bigger row him telling me that I do nothing in the day and I leave all the cleaning 'til it gets to an unmanageable state before doing anything. to which I replied that I didnt, and I felt he was being unfair. we have made up but im still in that angry moody state. sometimes I would like to be able to swap with him and get to be the one who walks out the house every day and go to work leaving him with the kids. some times Im jealous that he is a manager and I have nothing career-wise. I cant stand the fact he sees me as doing 'nothing' all day, as I do a lot round the house and with the kids. gaa ignore my mental breakdown.

why am I still up?! am knackered but dont want to sleep, too many thoughts going round my head so taking it out on mn threads, tho think im taking a beating on your thread Sirboob! lol.

sirboob I just looked at the thread trikken is talking about. Might be worth asking us lot for advice in future as we "know" you, so to speak? I worry about those responses and the effect they'd have on you when I think you're just looking for reassurance and support. Anonymous posters can be judgemental and pretty blunt at times.

And my tuppence worth is for you to ignore what DP said. In the stressful early baby days we can make mountains out of molehills & I can see both you & DP's points. You did make the decision alone and now that you are a family unit, that might be playing on his mind. Now I'd imagine you ask his opinion on even the smallest parenting decisions and it's understandable that he is upset you made this huge decision without his input but try to view it as more symptomatic of where you were then as a couple and where you are now, if that makes sense? You are now a united front and if it happened at this point in your relationship it would be a different matter altogether. Waffling now but hopefully you know what I'm trying to say. From this point, here today, looking back at what happened then should show how shaky the relationship was and how much more solid you are now and DP needs to see that for what it is and move on.

trikken I can totally sympathise. Something to try: when DH comes home from work, or on a weekend if evenings are too hectic, ask him to look after the DC to allow you to blitz the housework. I always appreciate a change of scene, even if it is only to clean the bathroom or something, and if DH complains he is only reinforcing the fact that looking after the kids alone is bloomin hard work!