June09: First birthdays coming up, we're on the move!

[June2009]

Happy Mother's day Juners ;)

gauchita @ your dye incident, look here, was it Garnier as well?

june the Drs gave him some anaesthetic spray for his mouth, and advised I buy some nurofen to taken the swelling down. Both seemed to have helped, combined with calpol, he finally ate his tea, for the first time in days. Up until his tea, he had eaten a handful of raisins, a babybel and some milk. He perked up a lot after he had some tea, he must have been starving. I feel so bad for him, he keeps putting his fingers in his mouth, then bursting into tears. We have managed to cut out dummies (doddies) in the day time, but we have reinstated them temporarily to stop him messing with his mouth. I know I need to stop googling, I just can't help it. I wish I believed ignorance is bliss, but instead I think knowledge is power! But, more often than not, knowing too much makes you worry more. C is also going through a bit of an agressive stage, much to my embaressment. He has stopped wanting to share and has taken to hitting other children when they try to take something off him . I just pick him up, tell him no, and put him on his own away from the toys for a minute or so. Their attention span is short at this age that I think longer than a couple of minutes and they have almost forgotten . Hopefully this stage wont last hey!

thanks bigcar, I know it is natural to worry- I am just so disappointed though. This was one of the things I wanted to avoid so much, and now for him to get it do young, when he doesn't understand, upsets me :( I love your conversation with E, you sound like a female Justin Whatshisname from Cbeebies with your signing . C also brushes DH's hair, and I think I remember you saying he has the same style as your DH . We have had our heating on for months by the way; very impressed at you only putting it on now!

gauchita one of my friends recently had a bad reaction to her hair dye, and she is always dying her hair crazy colours! I agree with allsheep, you should definelty ask for an allergy test so you know for future reference. It may be an ingredient that only that brand uses, and therefore, you will be free to dye with other products?

snow I'm glad the travelling is calming down for you now, that must be starting to take its toll! If I am being honest, I dont know how many words C says, but I think its around 5ish. He gibber gabbers a lot, and says little phrases like 'all gone'. I think I remember the HV saying that, when they do the 2 year check up around here, they say 20 words is what they are looking for at that age.

sam I'm not surprised you are feeling a bit down, you have got a lot going on at the moment. Try to take it in little chunks if you can. I feel bad that I don't have any practical advise for you, but try and look to the positives :)

I'm loving all your quirky things that make you smile about your LOs, arn't they great! I love how they can make you smile when you feel awful, I would love to go back to that age and start all again and have the whole world in front of you! In work tomorrow Have been offered some more responsibilty in my role, but not more money. Would also involve travelling to our site 50 miles away for 50% of the time. Really don't know what to do and if we can even afford it.

Nearly the end of the week- woop!

Hi all,

I've read the last few posts and will try and catch up

Allsheep, June, Skies, thanks for the advice and suggestions re. the hair dye. I'll ask for a patch test when I'm back.

Skies, I'm the same, for me knowledge is power indeed. However, I did refrain myself from googling too much the other day about hair dyes. It was right when all the symptoms were there and I knew if I got more scared because of googling it was going to be much worse, IYKWIM. I hope C's feeling a bit better. Did the doctor advise anything or suggest anything so as to help him feel better?

Snow, glad to hear things will be calmer after your last trip M also has between 5 and 8 words only

Bigcar, I'm sure the DC will have a great time during half term, esp. as DD1 will be home as well, they'll have fun go wild Fab dialogue! I guess E's convinced every animal is called a "cat" It's good he's voicing it, though, M just points and makes random sounds

June, I agree with what the rest have said. I've also heard it's a phase, and it's not at all uncommon. The daughter of my translator friend was bitten by a little boy at nursery as well a few weeks ago. M doesn't bite but she has a fast hand, and gives a sort of slap when you take something out of her hand, etc I think our DHs are going through the same phase DH is ubber busy these days and has work work work in his head all the time

Right, loooong journey here, 18 hours We got here yesterday am and my sister loved the surprise, she was in shock for a while but she's OK. And my parents are completely besotted, of course

M's come down with a cold/cough again, though, and is very clingy and off her food Some temperature yesterday but so far OK today.

I must run now, hope you're having a nice day!

Waves!

Gauchita, have a great time! When are you back? Has DH gone with you? Eurgh, 18 hours is a loooong time- how was M? When we went to Jamaica, there were some young children on the flight and they were pretty fed up!

C ate a some fish pie tonight, wooooohoooooo. He is hardly eating anything at all. And not drinking as much as he usually does. Have been trying to top him up with milk, but he is just refusing that now. He will have his beaker in the morning, but we just had a right ol' scream fest when it came to his bottle before bed. Maybe a good time to give it the heave ho!? We have bought him a chair for his bedroom to have his night time stories on, with the intention of this replacing his night time milk, so looks like it will be coming into play round about now... at the moment he has his story on his changing unit, then has his milk, then bed. I'm not overly comfortable with him having milk after he has cleaned his teeth, so I'll be glad when we have changed this routine.

Hope you are all having a good weekend

Very quiet on here isn't it?

C is still ill here, although this morning was the first morning he hasn't woken up crying, so maybe we are on the mend? He was really off yesterday, didn't really know what to do with himself. He has crying to be picked up, then when I'd pick him up he would cry to be put down, just non-stop crying really. He was exhausted from not sleeping very well and hardly eating. Yesterday he didn't drink very much either. He is struggling with his dummy too, as it is hurting him to have it in his mouth, but he wants it to sleep. He was so tired yesterday that he curled up on the floor and went to sleep, and he has never done that before.

Well, after a bit of a disturbed night (we were up 3 times) he ended up sleeping in until 10:15am. He obviously needed the sleep! And at the moment he is sat on his chair drinking some milk, so I'm trying not to make eye contact

Hope you all had a nice weekend :)

skies :( for C. It's horrible when you can't make it better for them. My "C." also has times when she cries to be picked up and then put down, usualyl when she is v. tired.
Exhausting work for mums...
How long did the GP say to use the spray for? Is it looking any better at all inside his mouth?

After thinking we were making some progress and having a really lovely loving weekend together C. bit the same child again this morning. We're having some friends & babies round tomorrow, I'll be watching her behaviour very closely.

I'm a bit down at the moment, work is challenging, it feels like it's fight after fight with customers and suppliers alike.
At least dh's mood is better after our talk, ils's court hearing is next week, I really don't know which way it's going to go (if it's going to calm things down or make things worse.) The tension is rising.

The first aid course was good, really good for £30, it was 3 hours long.
We did CPR and put bandages on eachother basically. It was only women, all mums or nannies and there was only 9 of us which worked out really well.

Training is going well too, I feel like it's not going fast enough but loosing more any faster wouldn't be healthy and I'd just put it back on straight away. Really enjoying the boxing and joining a boxfit class this week, hopefully boxing all the stress away ;)
Dh is under strict instructions to not let me eat for two next time I am pregnant!!!

I have to go and do some work while C. is napping.
take care juners!

June- if C has bitten the same baby again, do you think she might be seeing it as a bit of a game? I.e. I bite this child, people make a fuss. Another reason might be that the child might have uneased her at some point? I know at soft play one day a young girl (poss about 3) came bounding over to C to play with him. She has really thick, big curly hair, and I think she scared him a bit. When she came over, C scowled and shouted at her then slapped her when she reached for the toy he had. I went over and took him away from her, but from then on, anytime the poor girl went near C he scowled and turned away from her.

It was the same child skies.
I know what you mean about the fuss, on the other hand I don't want to say nothing and C to think that it is acceptable.

I spoke to the keyworker this afternoon and she said that C. is very affectionate and that maybe she is just trying various ways to show that, including biting and pulling hair. They just tell her "no biting" and today they had C. hug the child afterwards, which she did and then carried on being affectionate with her (in acceptable ways).

The keyworker did not seem worried about it and said children all go through that kind of phase. I feel a bit better about it now and have accepted this is a phase and I'm happy to stick to the nursery's way of dealing with it if I catch C. doing it in front of me. (no big fuss basically but tell her firmly "no" and then distract her). I'm also trying to teach her the words for "upset" "angry" so that she can voice it instead of hitting (but she has not hit or bitten in anger at nursery by the way).
She is a bit heavy handed sometimes, you can tell it's not on purpose but everytime she has shoved her hand in my face I have told her "no" and showed her how to stroke instead. I hope this will all work quite quickly.

There's a parents "evening" (in the middle of the afternoon) next week and we can talk about it again then to see if there is any progress.

please send me some good vibes for a sunny day tomorrow, we're supposed to have a picnic in the garden with our friends. (maybe I was bonkers suggesting this in the first place ;))

morning all

skies, how's C doing now? Have you made a decision on your job offer, sounds tricky.

gauchita, so glad the surprise was well recieved [hsmile] 18 hours though, well done for surviving that! You do realise we will all be sat here eagerly awaiting baby news don't you [hgrin] Hope you're having a fab time. E does think every animal is a cat, it's definitely a work in progress that one!

june, hope C is ok at nursery, they seem to be handling it well, hopefully this phase will pass soon, she's doing great with her communication so hopefully not long. Fingers crossed the court case calms things down for your family, not a nice postion to be in. Good to hear training is going well, very impressive [hsmile]

strawberry, hope all goes well tomorrow at court, will that be the end to most of the paperwork, have no idea how these things work. Will be thinking of you.

ds1 went to the Isle of Wight with cubs and scouts over the weekend and had a great time, they did the whole pgl thing. Not sure he'd washed at all over the weekend, first thing he did when he got in was go in the shower! Ewww and the dirty washing, the mind boggles [yuck] He's going to get a new cub badge after this trip too, it's the push the minibus up the A3 badge [hgrin] he thought that was a massive laugh [hhmm]

E had his hearing test yesterday, all went well. He's a small amount of residual glue in one ear and dull ear drums but the dr reckons it's all clearing [yay] He's starting to sound a bit chesty again but I'm hoping it won't be as bad as last winter now he's that little bit older.

not sure if anyone's interested in this but we use a game site for dd3 that has really simple games. It's designed for touch screen but works just as well with a mouse. E's getting into it so thought some other juners might like it. Link here and it's free.

waves to all [hsmile]

Thanks for the link bigcar Good to hear about E's ears, hope he doesn't get ill now.
C. is still trying to bite, caught her in the act at home yesterday. There's no anger in it, just like "oh an arm, I wonder what that tastes like". Strong "No biting" and distraction, asked her to kiss the little boy which she did, hopefully the message will get through.
(and not some warped "if you bite you get to kiss and cudle" message... ).

Question for you Juners, do your little ones still eat in a high chair? And if not how do you feed them?

At nursery they have little tables and little chairs (no straps or restraints) and C. gets up and walks off mid-meal (saying "bybye"!).

The worker there said "the children who eat in high chairs tend to do this." which brings the question, how else are other children fed??
Dh wants to buy a little table for her for home so she eats from it to teach her. I'd prefer it if she eats with us at the "big" table. We have a high chair and a portable seat thing that attaches to the chair but that doesn't solve the walking off problem.

Also, do the threads stop at 900 or 1000 messages? We're going to need a new title :D
Any ideas?

june, E still uses the highchair, otherwise he'd be off and wondering around with his food, not something I'd personally want to encourage. I'm with you on this one, I'd want everyone to eat together at the same table. May be you could both squeeze onto the little table with C [hgrin]

I'd always thought of it as phase, that at a certain age they get the hang of sitting at the table until they've finished their food, until then it's not going to happen, but may be that's just me! "the children who eat in high chairs tend to do this." that would be the younger ones I would have thought or are there other younger ones that sit still? I know E won't sit still that long for anything! You could do lunch at a small table and then dinner at the big table?

sounds like Cs getting the right message about biting, she'll get the hang of not doing it soon I'm sure [hsmile]

threads run out at 1000 posts but as I'm crap at this sort of thing, have no idea about new thread titles [hsmile]

there's so many squirrels around today! Good job Es gone up for a nap [hgrin]

Hi all!

Bigcar, great news on E's ears front! Yay for him indeed Oh I bet DS1 was thrilled and had lots of fun. It seems my DSis will have her baby next Tuesday. It's a C-section so it's scheduled Thanks for that link, I'll definitely have a look later.

Snow, hope you're enjoying your holidays!

June, I had no idea they were supposed to stop using high chairs at a specific age and start using small tables. The DD of a friend of ours does have a small table and M loves it, but as you may have noticed, she can't keep still for more than 5 mins tops, so that wouldn't work for me atm, like Bigcar, I'd have to be following her around the house and that's not practical nor fun for mummy I love those tiny tables, though, they're so cute! What I'm using here is a booster seat on the regular table we all use and she likes that, I guess it makes her feel more integrated Would that still count as a "high chair" for the nursery? Hope things are not too hard for your DH on the family court thing front.

Skies, how's C feeling? Hope the sores are clearing and he's eating and drinking a bit more now. I saw the pic of him napping on the carpet, bless him, I almost cried. How tired must he have felt to just pick any spot. Hope things are on the mend.

Strawberry, hope things start taking shape and the form-filling stage is over soon. That must be exhausting for you (((hug)))

Right, jet-lag is leaving us now, M has started waking at 6, 6.30 and 6.50 respectively this week so I can't complain. We're staying 3 weeks and I guess when we're back we'll have the exact same problem [hhmm] M's cold is clearing but she has a bad cough still. At least she has started eating better, that's a plus.

WRT my sis' delivery, there are so many things that are SO different here. Mind you, I lived most of my life in Argentina so this is quite different to me anyway, but when it comes to babies and deliveries, jeez! It's 100% medicalised, she'll have 5 different people to receive the baby, she'll be separated from her for at least 4 hours as they take the baby away for check-ups, bath, and "recovery" (WTF!) And we're talking about a baby with no medical needs pre-delivery or complications that have to be taken care of. There's no time for mum and baby at all

She wants to breastfeed, she couldn't do it with my nephew as he was born with some breathing difficulties and she only saw him the next day after he was born!

She wants things to be different this time and the paediatrician that will "receive" the baby is very pro-BF, apparently, so she'll order the nurses at the baby room not to feed her formula, etc. Apparently as docs are sponsored by baby formula companies, they go to the baby room and "tell" nurses to feed babies so and so formula milk Unbelievable!

I have no objections to formula milk at all if that's what a mother wishes or has to do if BFing was not possible, like last time for my sister, no one is to judge. What I find objectionable is for doctors to force feed babies against their mothers' wishes They really don't make it easy for them to BF, they have no support whatsoever

Anyway, she's finding it a bit hard so I'm trying to be with her and support her as much as I can.

Hope you're having a nice day, ladies!

Waves

morning all

gauchita, think you've just discovered why a lot of mners boycott nestle! It's highly unethical imo, particularly in the poorer parts of Africa where this goes on. Free starters of formula long enough to get the baby established on it and then start charging when families can't afford to buy it but can no longer bf, shocking behaviour. Really hope your sister gets to bf this time and all goes smoothly, will keep everything crossed for tuesday. Like you said, it's one thing choosing/having to ff for your own reasons but being forced to and having to use a certain brand, not good. Guess they're not into doing skin to skin etc, things are certainly done differently, even reading MrsMcJnrs experience of Spain was totally different.

strawberry, hope you feel better for getting this far ((((hugs))))

it's really damp and grey here today [yuck] but dd2 and her friend have still gone to the park [hhmm]

I was playing angry birds on dd1s phone the other day, got totally addicted but can't download it myself for some reason [argh] doesn't show up on market on my phone even oh well, will have to mn more [hgrin]

great catch-up gauchita! How you feed feed your baby is such an important issue for mums, I remember getting so so down when bf didn't work and I wasn't getting the help I needed. One of my rl friend had the same problems as me but her mum was there and she was really supporting her and helping her with it as ff was just not an option for her.
Maybe if youre there for her when she finally does get to stay with her baby then it will help.

I cannot stay and catch up for now but will do over the weekend,

take care juners!

morning all

gauchita, hope all goes well for your sister tomorrow

well, dd1 is back a uni, dd2 is back at school today so only the 3 younger ones home, so much quieter! Roll on tomorrow when ds1 and dd3 go back to school, a cup of tea leisurely taken along with some crap daytime telly [ahhhh] I like having them all home over the holidays but dh couldn't get any time off (as per usual) so I could do with a break now!

waves to all

hey bigcar put your feet up I think you deserve it after a week with all 5 dc home :D
gauchita hope your trip is going well, Mila getting better and good luck to your sis tomorrow! I hope she gets to feed her baby the way she wants and that he won't be taken away for too long. How exciting to finally meet the baby, is it her first?
Is your dh meeting you out there as well?

A close RL friend who has a toddler the same age as C. told us today she is expecting her 2nd baby. I'm 34 this year, am I crazy to wait? Now would be the worst time for us.

Pils divorce started in high court today, no news yet.

skies how is C now?
snow how's your pregnancy coming along?
mrsmc you've disappeared! how is it going?
venetian how's things with you?
sam glad to hear the bankruptcy stuff is under way, good luck with the interview next week.

New thread title, I think we'll still have that same thread when they become 2, won't we? Maybe something to do with that "terrible two's here we come" or something like that? or is it too early?

morning all

gauchita, hope yesterday went well for your sister and you're all enjoying newborn cuddles

june, I certainly have put my feet up did very little yesterday [bliss] Definitely not too soon to be considering the terrible twos I think, don't think it'll be long now! 34 is positively young says the old fart in the corner you've got to do what you're comfortable with and if that means waiting a little longer for dc2 then so be it How's the court case going, hope not too much fall out for you.

we have a new member to our clan, pic on profile, she doesn't have a name yet as we're still arguing over that, some things never change Dh searched the house for her this morning and thought she'd somehow got out of the house as he couldn't find her any where. Turns out she was sitting on top of one the top kitchen cabinets, all dh could see was two eyes and ears peeking out over the top, dh now wants her to be called sniper

waves to all

hey bigcar awww, I often wonder whether we could/should get a cat :) The neighbours have one (and a new puppy by the sound of it!) and it walks across our garden everyday, C gets very excited when she sees it.
Where did you get it from, does it sleep indoors? And has it got a name yet? :D

There is a thread about when to have your second child at the moment, a few people have said that their choice was more of a logical choice than "feeling" like it was the right time. That is exactly what my friend said, they don't feel ready but they don't want too much of a gap betwen the two.

What was it like for you? How did you decide?

The court case is still going on, It's "private" so only them, the judge, their solicitors & barristers, all day long every day since monday. After that they're meeting with their lawyers so understandably when they get back home they do not want to talk about it anymore so we've only been told about dribs and drabs that were said when they were cross examined (only from fil so very much one sided.)

I hope it finishes as planned tomorrow and I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. What is the judge going to say, how are mil and fil going to react and what is our relationship with them going to be thereafter.
It is all extremely draining. I've upped my training this week to keep my mind off it, this way dh gets more one to one time with C which keeps his mind occupied.

I have received my snapfish photobook for dh's bday this week and keeping it hidden from him until then (end of november). It's lovely and I really hope he likes it, I usually go for more "lavish" presents for him but money is tight this year!

Have you started thinking about xmas presents for family? I'm thinking more snapfish photo montage in frames etc for bil and sil maybe even for mil and pil and dad. (how original ...)

Right I cannot beleive it's 11:30 already I'd better get back to work .

hi all!
baby in arms while my sister sleeps a bit so I apologise for the lack of proper forms

everything went well on Tuesday, fortunately, both baby and mum are great. they weren't kept apart for tooooo long, only 2hs and bfing is going well. milk hasn't come down yet but colostrum is. her name is Emma and dh and I have been named godparents!

the rest is going well, fighting against the food system that gives children as much salt and sugar as an adult as much as I can. they really really don't see anything wrong with it

M has started "counting" with me until 4 in Spanish. she only says "2" and "4", though, and leaves 1 and 3 to me

got to go but I'll be back soon and catch up properly

waves!!!!

afternoon all

gauchita, oooooooooh massive congratulations to your sister, how fabulous, great to hear all went well Lovely you get to be godparents too! What does M make of the new baby? Maybe I should try counting more with E, will make a change to the cat/squirrel conversation Well done M.

june, no, still nameless kitty at the moment and she's currently asleep on my knee. She's got to stay in for a while until she gets used to us and she has to have her jabs and neutering done first too, so probably a couple of weeks indoors before she can go out, oh and I have to arrange cat insurance too, oh and chipping. We got her from a local lady who rescues unwanted cats, she's no longer a kitten, we think she's about 1 year old.

hmm, never done the 2 year age gap, we've always done the when we feel ready approach. We also didn't start out with a plan of how many children we wanted, I'm pretty sure if we'd set out to have 5 we would have planned slightly differently. But, what we have suits us well, a friend had her 4 babies in 6 years, definitely not my idea of fun but perfect for her. Not sure that's much help is it?!

that's a big courtcase then, wow! Hope tomorrow doesn't end too badly for you, can see why you're all stressed.

in a way we are lucky with christmas pressie buying as dh has quite a large family so it's more token gifts than anything. So lots of scarves, gloves, dvds, pjs, bath sets etc all very original ideas there We've got E some playmobil (love the stuff!) in their younger range and a toy cleaning set thing so far. He loves dd3s toy hoover so have got him one of his own.

has everyone decided what they're doing for christmas yet? We'll probably do our usual and have christmas day at home and boxing day at the ils with all dhs various family. Wonder if dh and his brothers will get matching jumpers again, cheered me right up that did

waves to all

Right, M is napping so I'll take advantage of this time to catch up

Bigcar, oh you've opened a can of worms, lady We've been discussing the idea of having a pet as M LOVES animals and I adore cats so I'd love to have one. Yours is so cute! I used to have one just like that back home. We have a Siamese still, she lives with M's godmother M's really into cleaning as well I guess because at school they have tiny (albeit real) sinks and cleaning equipment in the baby room and they teach them to do all that so I guess our Christmas present will be related to that as well. Oh, do get a pic of your DH and his brothers if they get matching jumpers!! and then come and show us LOL at your DH suggesting sniper as a name

June, stressful days for you I can see (((hug))) Hope it all goes well and has minimum impact on you (I'd love to say no impact but I guess taking into account the history "minimum" is more realistic ) Good idea going to the gym some more and giving DH and C the chance to spend time together, it must be good for him to focus on them and not in everything else going on with his family. Our DHs share their birthday month Soon after I'm back it's DH's birthday. I'm going to get him a watch, a nice and classic one. He now has a Nike one which is nice but with his new job and all he needs something more formal I'm sure your DH will LOVE the album. When I gave DH one for his last birthday he was so touched by the pics and everything he cried, bless him. Oh, I remember you asked whether DH would join us, sorry for the late reply No, he's at home working like mad as the new venture's launch is next week! He's really excited but crazy busy. WRT babies, we've started TTC, although with all the odd dates I have had no idea when my fertile days are so , but man yesterday I was helping my sister and having M running around and getting into trouble, I'm still wondering how it can be done! I know DHs play a big role with the helping but it's hard. I also think I'm never going to be 100% ready for another one so we're thinking practically at the moment, like your friends. I'm always going to think I have too much going on, etc, I'm a worrier

Strawberry, everything crossed for you on the 8th, will be thinking of you all for everything to go smoothly (((hug)))

Argh, I have to go now. Back later.

Waves!

girls!hello! How is everyone? I have just finished work and now on the train to the in laws for the weekend. No more travelling . Maternity leave unoffocially starts now! So pleased. Conference presentation was well received and I feel motivated to get some more research written up in the next few weeks, before bubs arrives.
Had a scan this week, there is lots of hair on the head! And big feet! Still resisted to find out the sex.
gauchita so pleased things going well for your sister. Enjoy those newborn cuddles,they are so therapeutic! No idea how we will manage 2 under 2, just resigned to months (?years ) of chaos.
bigcar love the new arrival! Hope you got your feet up once all the kidlets were back at school.
june hope the court case almost over. I am feeling inspired by your snap fish album. I did DH a collage of photos for his birthday but I love the idea of the album.
whenskies hope poor's C's mouth is better, poor little mite.

Well, I am looking very pregnant but feeling good. Everything is going well. Morning sickness back and yukky reflux but gaviscon is a wonderufl thing. Have to stop typing as on train and it is v rocky and making me feel uurg.
Waves to all