November 09 - rolling, laughing and cutting teeth ... but us mama's are still not getting sleep!!

[scarlotti]

New thread for us

hobnob don't ever forget that for every study showing something one way, you can find another showing the opposite. I am sure that if Mum is stressed and worn out then the quality of her milk decreases and the levels of cortisol in the milk rises. So, by leaving her and getting on with the things you have to you are doing her good. You being stressed and wrung out (more than you are) will do her no good. She needs her mummy to be as fighting fit as possible to get her through.
I'd second the weaning option - did that help with DD1 when you weaned her? I'm that your hv hasn't been of more use to help you through all this. A big hooray for your dh though, am glad he's supportive.

Fruit hmm, might not bother with the blinds then. Am going to try putting towels or something along the top of the rail tonight. The curtains are heavy and lined but are tab top so the light peeks through the top. Having said that, I've just looked at my diary and the only night he slept until 5 before feeding this week was the day he had lunch as well as breakfast and tea, so that's what we'll be doing today!

What is it with the 5/6am starts?? Are they that tuned into the dawn that it's a given? DS1 is the same so I have two of them from 6am!!

Ioan not a crier either apart from when he's in pain, which he was last night it seemed. Poor lad was overtired and teething and just wouldn't stop screaming Calpol seemed to ease it enough for bedtime though thankfully. I'll just be glad when these teeth actually cut through as they've been threatening now for months.

just got hold of my GF sausages recipe from butcher and they are full of soy. So that at least explains the nightmare after Tuesday's casserole and her current rash. I feel somewhat relieved that I can pin it down, last week at least. No idea what was going on last night still.

Sorry to hear about everyone's terrible nights! I am so tired I can't even think straight. Got to take Millie swimming soon, hope I don't fall asleep in the pool

I'm sorry too to hear about all those terrible nights.
We are about to go to bed here but just quickly: There is hope! Out of the blue, Paula slept from 7.30 to 10pm yesterday (I know only 2.30 hours) without her usual breaks. I nervously checked the monitor every 5min and went to check on her after 1.30 as I could not believe it The rest of the night was as usual though.
And then, today, she had a after lunch nap of about 1.30 instead of the usual 35 min. I had put her in the pram on the terrasse as I had guests. I really don't know where this is coming from.
Oh, I forgot, we are on day three of weaning. We are on carrot for lunch, not sure if she likes it. She is curious but doesn't quite know what to do with it and obviously most of it comes back. I wonder if anything at all gets down in that stomach (actually I know that something went down as it came already out the other side )
Ok, need to stop. I hope this night will be a better one for all of us.

Fingers crossed for better nights for everyone tonight.

Ursi are you doing BLW or purées? If purées, I found mixing a bit of potato or baby rice with the carrot made it a bit easier to digest

This will either make you smile, laugh, or shake your head in despair, but will tell you anyway -

At the antenatal group today, there was a girl who used to be in my technology group, and she is due in four weeks. She is a sweetie, if not really my kind of person, IYSWIM. Anyway, today they were decorating baby grows, and I was sat at the table answering some questions about breastfeeding (side note; I don't know whether to be complimented or feel absolutely out of my depth when these girls ask me stuff!!) and the girl I went to school with turned to me and asked, "How do you spell Isobella?". I spelt it out and asked why, to which she replied "Oh its going to be her name." Now... I'm not being funny, but surely you should know how to spell the name you are going to give your child?! Bless...

sirboob, I'm doing purees. I'll soon add potato but I wanted to give her only carrot first to see how it goes. And the portions are still so tiny, that it kind of doesn't make sense to add a second ingredient.
and at that girl in the antenatal class

Isabella or Isobel

Noo, Pavlov that's what I thought - but she was pronouncing it Is-O-bella... What Kenwood device did you get, by the way?

FFS I just got shouted at because... Wait for it... I had a singular biscuit out of the cupboard. Because my brother ate half my dinner as Bryn wanted a feed whilst we were supposed to be eating. sighs Think I am going to try for an early night...

Families eh?

DP came home from visiting his parents with Ethan. They're annoyed we aren't sending written invitations for his christening (I have never known anyone send written invitations for a christening plus I want it to be low key), they commented that we should be feeding him proper food by now, said "I told you so" when DP confirmed Ethan is now in his cot and is sleeping well, and I'm sure there are other comments which I have forgotten... I really wish they would show DP a bit more respect.

DP and his brother are both getting married within 6 weeks of each other. DBIL on 4th Sept and us on 15th Oct. DBIL has decided to go to Bournemouth for his stag weekend which will cost £300 plus spending money so maybe £500 at the beginning of July. A lot of money to us when I am on Stat Maternity Pay, in fact it's a month's SMP, never mind the fact that we have paid deposits for lots of wedding things recently and are running very low on funds.

It also means DP will have to do something low key for his own stag do as the family would not pay to do the same thing for him around a month later. We've both agreed that he can't miss his brother's stag do but we will really struggle to pay for this just now. He mentioned this to his parents (actually hinting that we might need to borrow money to afford it as I won't be earning again until the end of July) and his parents response was along the lines of "It's his stag do, he can do what he likes!"

I appreciate that, I really do. I just wish a bit more consideration was given to our situation. Forgetting that we have a dog and a baby and I simply can't look after them both alone over two nights unless I leave Ethan in his cot to take the dog out for his last walk. Not ideal! I can just imagine what their reaction would be if DP said he couldn't go.

PS On a nicer note... can anyone suggest nice quotes to have engraved inside our wedding rings?

DWB would you like to join me in a virtual bottle of wine? Sounds like you've had a delightful day...

Is there anyway your BIL would be willing to change things if DP spoke to him about it? If its only just in motion and nothing is sorted properly as of yet?

Stag do's are sacred, and heaven forbid anyone suggest otherwise . We've had to cry off one or two for financial reasons, but family is more difficult. Humph.

We got our names and our wedding date engraved in our rings. Invaluable for DH remembering our anniversary and for double-checking when registering births Shame he can't remember the name of the town we got married in and has to ring up and ask.

Fingers crossed for better nights all round. Isla did nap well today after several fights and long walks over bumpy grass. I think I'll persevere with naps in the pram and then try to go back to the cot again once that's sorted. She had a severe aversion to the cot last night

Sleep last night was a better in that she slept on through til 2.30 before waking for a feed. However, on putting her back into her cot she was cross and grumpy. Like you fruit, Rosa doesn't really wail but she makes her dissatisfaction know through shouting and moaning. And thumping her legs/feet down on the bed.....BOOM! She is a bit like a sulky teenager/tantrumming toddler already. However, once she eventually got back to sleep (took about an hour of her gurning) she slept til 6.45. I actually woke of my own accord, not because a baby was crying at me! A real novelty Usually/recently I am with the early wakers on this thread, unless I bring her into bed with me.

hobnob too right with all the contradictions. And I know what you mean about going with instinct, which is what I like to try to do...but when that plan doesn't really work it's so hard.

Sirboob I don't think anyone would take kindly to the suggestion to be honest. I find it a bit unfair that he didn't speak to DP before making the arrangements as it obviously means people won't have the funds to do something similar for him. That's my main problem with it all. Second to that, I have always had an issue with people arranging more and more expensive hen and stag do's. Fair play if that's what they want to do but they better be understanding when people can't afford to go. I just feel as though DP must go as it's his brother. Which is very frustrating!!

£500 could pay for our wedding cars!!

hobnob I think my parents have something like MB lvs DD and then the date of their wedding. Quite cute!

Argh, sent before I meant to.

DWB stag/hen dos have gone crazy recently, haven't they? I wouldn't dream of asking my friends to pay hundreds of pounds and jet off somewhere. Plus, it's more fun just to hang out with them in a low key way, in my opinion. That's what it's meant to be about, being with your friends, not where/what you do. Ah well.

bride is a site I found when planning our wedding. It has a forum where people talk about their vows and readings they had and was a good source of inspiration. We found a lovely reading for our registrar to open the ceremony and he said he thought it was beautiful and refreshing to read something he'd never come across before! Are you writing your own vows? Is it in church or a civil ceremony? Exciting!

Oops, think the link worked but the site is called indie bride. Well worth a look!

Raggie They have indeed! I don't mind at all if that's what people choose to do but I know a couple who had a weekend in center parcs (the bride to be) and a weekend in Malaga (groom) for around £150 per head. £300 to Bournemouth seems a lot and around £500 in total might just bankrupt us.

There is a local indoor softplay near me and one of my bridesmaids just got a leaflet in the mail saying they will now open from 7-9pm for parties so we've emailed to ask if they mean for adults! Would love that for my hen do. Maybe a meal after.

It's a church service we're having so not too flexible on readings but if we found something nice I'm sure we could fit it in somewhere. I would like our engravings to be from a reading or song which we like. Will go have a look at that site...

I could never organise something expecting friends to pay that much. However, one of our friends is having a stagger and his mates living abroad want a big event to justify the expense of attending I don;t get the logic there but that's men for you.

It's not just men, I know of a bride who is having a hen WEEK!! That's just ridiculous. How on earth the bride and groom can afford it in advance of the big day I do not know!

DWB we had a church service but still picked two readings, gave me a way of having my brother involved as he read one of them.

went to Spain for my hen do [ducks for cover!]

SirB have you had any more thoughts on the info we picked up last week? Shouted at for a biscuit?!

Well I've done 3 meals today and will now see what happens tonight. This evening he had spag bol for tea (minced up with a blender) - spot the 3rd time mum!! He's doing well with lumps though so am not pureeing anything anymore.

Scarlotti Hope it was just a weekend! Ahhh to each their own. I just couldn't justify spending the money for myself, never mind to go along to someone else's hen do.

Why am I still up? I've done this every night since Ethan moved into his cot. Must get an early night tomorrow. If anyone sees me online after 9pm, kick my ass!!

DWB was just a weekend and a very cheap deal at that. Got married in my mid thirties too though so all of us had the money to be able to spend - I wouldn't have done it if we'd been in a tight situation financially.

5:17 my day started today It can't be hunger as I fed from both sides at 4am (he still hasn't eaten yet and it's 7:45!) so it must be the light. Going to research black out blinds now. Fruit thinking of giving the travel one a go.

DWB, your PIL sound really annoying! Written christening invitations? Well, we did not do that and I've never got a written one.
I'm also sorry to hear about the comments they make about your parenting style. But the most important is that you and your partner agree on it. So I hope you could already convince him about the benefits of your style or attachment parenting.

Would it actually be an option to do the stag weekend for both brothers together? (Sorry if this is just stupid, I'm not very familiar with it)
It is really a lot of money and I suppose they would have quite a few guests in common, no?

Scarlotti Have started filling the form in and reading through everything. DP suggested I go and stay with his mum for a bit... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!!! Oh by the way - was in JoJoBebeMama yesterday and the new changing bag you got last week - it was in there in grey for £70! GoGo bargain shopping

Mum just text me saying "Hope you have a nice day, you could go for a walk to cheer you up x" - am now totally bemused.

Bryn just sneezed three times - I love the way his little feet come up and down with the sneeze!!

Hope everyone's nights were better.