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

[scarlotti]

New thread for us

Hooray for Mr Pav and sorting the sky people out!

Fruit enjoy your evening of peace.

I have signed up for a sponsored trek to Machu Picchu in Peru!! Going next March for 10 days. Have always wanted to do it and it's a good goal to get fit for if nothing else!

hobnob I wish I could come over and give you a hug, so here is a virtual one.

maman good to hear from you! Sorry I don't have any answers either regarding the breastfeeding. Would like an idea too though!

scarlotti still not sure if DH did something, or if they were lying to get him off the phone as already had a row with me. Either way, we have internet but no phone! Not that I like talking to anyone on the phone anyway I really am a phone-phobe.

maman good to see you. Bf dropped dramatically here when weaning went up a notch. I now do 3 main feeds a day, with 2 snack feeds if he feels like it.

Pav but you have internet access

Thanks guys for the hugs. TBH I'm glad you're far away otherwise I'd be in tears! I've ranted about things elsewhere so I won't burden you. DH and I just need a rest and a bit of perspective and I think we'll deal with things much better. It's my goal this weekend to hoover (hasn't been done in a week or two I think). Start small.

hobnob oh its not a burden! Please don't ever think that, (or else i won't ever be able to post my crap again! ).

I remember being told with DD - if you want to feel your day is a success when you have a baby (and i suspect applies even more when you have a toddler who no longer naps), set a task to do ONE thing. And do it. So ti could be 'hoover the hallway' or in my case 'have a shower' or 'change the bed'. If you do it, it is a successful day, and everything else is a bonus.

hobnob You are doing amazingly well to stay calm. Remember an end is in sight, you're almost at the six month mark, weaning will kick in and things will get easier. Have you got family or friends nearby to babysit and give you a break? How much is a return from Glasgow to Aberdeen on the train?!

Hang in there.

thats the way I try to think about tasks too Pav some days still make you feel down tho. Am also a phone-phobe too. Hate making calls when I dont know who Im phoning (like Bt, or southern electric/ ooh that reminds me, have to phone tax credits people on monday). though txting on the mobile is different, but I mainly txt dh (when he has credit) as I dont have that many rl friends anymore.

trikken i dont even have a mobile! It ran out of charge a while ago and I just never turned it back on. So stopped the contract. Just no point wasting money. Everyone knows to contact me through DH, they always send him a duplicate text as I never had it on anyway, or lost it. So seems no point. Many people think I am mad to not have one. But, tbh, i find it a bit intrusive. It means you can never just bow out for a while, you are always contactable. Not me .

I have spent the day at the beach. The bear cub loved it, under the parasol, slobbered over a huge chunk of french bread and also over an oreo he grabbed at it, i could not refuse. Oh he looked like he enjoyed it! And cried when i took it away . I went canoeing. Very nice.

I can't keep up. Again.

Pavlov that sounds like a successful day. And lovely.

Maman hi Nice to see you again.

Hobnob don't ever think that you can't rant on here. I really hope you get some respite soon.

As DWB suggested - would anybody from family or friends be able to take the girls for an hour or two, so you can go for a walk, have a bath, do something to clear your head?

Trikken probably late for that but I know someone who swears by dropping breast milk into eyes with conjunctivitis.

SirBoob I think I would tend to agree with Scarlotti. And she'll probably get a visit from HV and they talk about stuff like that (I know because I kept Lucy's hat on at home in first couple of days , she also had a crib bumper until she started to play with it not long ago). It doesn't sound like you are close friends, so I would keep out.

Raggie good luck for the interview!!

Well, DWB you were right, bumbo's gone back. Lucy just seemed to ping out of it. Bunged her into the well-padded highchair instead. Still not interested in food, so we're holding off. She's experimenting with her voice: after the high-pitched screeching came making noises while breathing in. While breastfeeding. Either that or there is something wrong with her throat. She seems fine while she sleeps, so I'm thinking it's just for kicks. She has also now had three (THREE) weeks of going to bed at 7, dream-feeding at 11 and waking at 6am. Every time I mention it I think that's it, jinxed it now and am for a night from hell, but the girl seems to have got herself sorted into a pattern. Go Lucy!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Aaarrggghhh! She woke up at four screaming with tummy pain. Had to boob her to go back to sleep. Humph...

What is it with this place and jinxing, eh? Am I to understand I can't mention any future A-levels, PhD's, pending Nobel prize on here for fear of spoiling the result? Hmm?

skorpion Sorry you had a rough night. I can't talk of any good nights as they just don't happen here. C has decided the last couple of weeks that 2am is a good time to wake up and chatter for about an hour. He then likes to get me up at 5am. I'm totally exhausted with this routine.

skorpion, try to see it this way: even if she sleeps normally well, there is one night per week which isn't great, so this was the night of this week and the rest of it will be fine again (weeks start obviously with the weekend )
fruit, same here, in general Paula sleeps better (doesn't mean much over here) and needs less feeds but now we have an hour or so each night where she either is wide awake and chatting or if I try hard to get her to sleep, she will wake up every two minutes until I give up and take her into bed. I wonder which way is better, just leaving her awake but on my side and waiting until she falls asleep on her own (might be good training for self settling AND I can actually sleep myself) or trying hard to get her back to sleep to keep the night-sleep-relation.

skorpion oh how crap, sorry to hear you had a rough night.

Bear cub has decided he will only sleep in bed with me. End of story. And I quite like it and so does DH. He woke this morning to find the cub spread out in the middle (i was awake and had just fed him, he normally sleeps on the outside) and the cub opened his eyes and gave him the most wonderful smile and DH just melted. He is sleeping great until about 4am then he fusses and dozes til about 5am, and I sort of stretch it out to 6am but by hook or by crook, i too think he would be fine up at that time.

DD just came in, we had a potential love-in type moment. She came in and said all frowning 'i just popped a pip up into my nose and it fell out again' 'good, don't do that again it could get stuck' 'oh...and i don't want it to grow up there?' 'oh come here' i said 'you are just so gorgeous you make me feel wonderful' (i had suddenly felt very tearful at how lovely she was) and she said 'and you make me feel so like i want to go to the aquarium' you got to love them!

ursi Our nights have always been hit and miss. Generally he will sleep well for the first few hours and then it's anyone's guess what he'll do after midnight. He always ends up in bed with us (like Paula) and I keep telling myself it's not the right thing to do. But when BF the co sleeping helps both C and I get more shut eye. I'm trying not to worry about the self settling just yet. I'm aiming for his sleep to improve by September, when I return to work. So still some time to work on things for us.

fruit it is so the same here. First few hours, great, after that who knows.

pav I don't stress over it anymore. I tell myself that at least I get some evening with DH and I get lots of cuddles with DS2 that life could be worse I'm pretty good with using make-up concealer these days. It's funny though, as I've never felt so good in my mind and body for years, so if I got some sleep as well, I would feel superhuman! I'm dreading the witch (AF) joining me as I hope it doesn't rock this feel good factor.

By the way.. Glad you're still with us pav!!

Hope you're all okay. Am ill and feeling sorry for myself here - even a simple cold is like full blown flu with M.E. added into the equation . DP got me some theatre vouchers for my birthday Hoping I am recovered enough to go out for cake tomorrow...

Will catch up soon.

sirboob oh no, hope you feel better and Happy Birthday for tomorrow!

I'm another one still co sleeping, but not intentionally! Millie starts off asleep in her cot but is normally in with us from 2am onwards. Although, the other night I put her back in her cot after a feed as I hadn't fallen asleep and she stayed in her cot until morning. I felt really weird waking up with her not there and missed her!

Millie has been eating my home-made puree this week, i realised i was making them too lumpy which is why she was spitting it out and once I watered it down with some milk she started to swallow it. Tonight I gave her some slices of peach and she loved it! She sucked off all the flesh and left the skin and when it was all gone she was looking round for more, so sweet! Am going to go more with blw now and try 2 meals a day, veg for lunch and fruit for tea with the odd bit of crust as she likes that too!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and that we all have a good nights sleep tonight, fingers crossed eh!

Another BLW success here helips Bear cub held some brocolli and went mad for it, cried his little heart out, jazz hands and all when he dropped it, had to have some of mine. He also liked his chunk of crusty bread yesterday. I was thinking peach would be fab, so now you have tried it I might give it a go next week, they are so cute when they look around for more aren't they?

Nights have been a bit all over the place here too recently. HV said I should drop the dream feed so I did, probably against my better judgement as if he's going to drop a feed I'd rather it was the 4am one. Tried it for about 3 or 4 nights and each night he just woke earlier and was hungrier. Reinstated it last night and he still woke from habit, but did go off again soon after. I'd been up around 4 times the night before.
Had to re-stick the blackout paper to the windows too as the light has been creeping back through so my day has been starting at 5am the last few mornings. We've laid in bed though and so when he's had a nap from 6-7 at least I've managed to sleep too.
Am now really tired though and am feeling it on work days when I need to use my brain.

Fruit like you I don't stress about it though as it doesn't change it and just makes me feel worse. I too feel good in myself, and I think partly for me it is because my body is now finally my own as Ioan is my last child. I am now getting excited by the thought of getting fit and feeling energetic, although the lack of sleep means I'm eating too much rubbish to do that at the moment!

SirB hope you feel better soon

Scarlotti bugger the HV, staying sane is more important! If its working for you at the moment, its working. Rest is such a minimal substance with a baby, you have grab it where you can. Hope he settles back into his old routine and allows you some more rest.

Helips thanks Glad to hear the feeding is going well.

I have been mega lazy and bought some pots for Bryn for tomorrow. I just feel way too crappy to prepare anything Feel rather bad, but one day will be alright, I guess...

SirB my DD was raised on pots and packets so don't feel bad at all. She has always had a good appetite and eats anything put in front of her. I have a selection of fruit pots as they were 2 4 1 in the shop, and let's face it - when am I going to actually be able to blitz up pineapple, mango and banana? Yes, I could do it myself, but it will cost as much as it's tropical fruit out of season and I'll have 3/4 of a pineapple left afterwards!

The annoying thing for me about the HV advice, was that I thought she was talking rubbish at the time. Should have had the courage of my convictions!

Bed calling, chat soon

sirboob that is what jars are for, to help out when we cannot make food up. We can't do that all the time. Has anyone tried the Ella's kitchen purees yet with their wee ones? Have not tried them with the bear cub yet but DD absolutely adored them. They were fab for journeys out of the house, or when we were unwell or run out of time etc. We did a lot of car journeys at the beginning of the weaning stage, and a trip to america. They came in very handy, especially as DD refused any jarred food whatsoever, despite us trying a lot.

I am off for a swim in the sea tomorrow morning. And I am going to try to do it once a day, or at least once every other day. I really need some time for me, just 10 mins in the sea will be fine, but i have to have it. I am going to go nuts if i don't get it. So, on with the wetsuit, off for a swim while DH sits with the bear cub, then half hour getting the wetsuit off .

I should go to bed. Feel tired, but not tired. I hope you have all had good weekends, and have a good nights sleep x

Hey all a sneaky post from work (before the office gets too busy)

sirboob HAPPY BIRTHDAY but please don't tell us your age (as it'll just get me thinking hang on when did i get old!!) and def don't worry about jars i had great plans of making my own purees for ds2 and i'm back on jars I just have no time!

Well after a crappy saturday somehow managed to convinve myself it was sunday so had the "going back to work blues" a day early but sunday was great...

Weighed myself and I'm officially no longer officially overweight HOURRAH. It's been about 6years I think!! Plus ds2 slept from 10pm till 5am last night!! so all in all a great start to the week (Touch wood i don't jinx it)