April 2010 - our little bundles are here!

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Thought I'd start a Post-Natal thread as there are so many of us now sorry about the uninspired name.
Well I am slowly realising the sleepless nights thing is no myth - VERY tired!

Nicnac Kacie looks adorable in her christening gown. And you look fab too!

Sayitwithme - click on the person's profile name which takes you into their profile. Click on photos & if they are public you will be able to view them.

Lovely photos nicnac, you look amazing! Kacie's christening gown is absolutely gorgous - if you don't mind me asking, where is it from?

SIWM, the only meat dish I have made so far is spagetti bolognese. I used turkey mince and it's quite tasty...this is annabel karmels website, its got lots of lovely recipes on it.

sayitwithme have you ever seen Billy Connelly's standup routine on pubes? .
Just to add my irrational fear - I literally cannot watch anyone driving away with the DCs in the car - my parents, even DH, unless it's just to take DD to nursery. I just can't look, I am always convinced it's the last time I'll see DD and it makes me sob. Totally silly.
princess are you OK?? Thinking of you.

Nicnac Beautiful pics. Love Kacie's gown and at how slim you are! Note to self: must stop eating rubbish.

Bettymum Sometimes if the DC have slept particularly well I have to get my DH to check them as I'm too frightened that they might not be breathing Strange the things we do.

Sayitwithme When h takes food from a spoon (not often) she likes cottage pie. I just cook lean mince with onion and carrot, puree that and add it to mashed potato. I've also made chicken casserole with just chicken and potato, leek, carrot and onion. I'd just use whatever you are having but remove it before you add seasoning. Couscous added to pureed meat and veg gives a nice texture for this stage too such as chicken, tomato puree, cheese and milk. (It isnice - honestly)

H is 7 months today. The time has truly flown. Can't believe she's now nearer one than newborn

DH and I are having our 1st night out on Saturday. Just a meal and home but I can't wait.

Have a great weekend all.

thank you.
i bought the gown off ebay. it was brand new with tags stating £119 and i got it for £60 including postage. it's a sarah louise, i fell in love with it as soon as i saw the picture on ebay and HAD to get it!
i had already bought the dress she is wearing at the party so she had the gown for the church and the dress for the party! what a diva! ha

yes princess im thinking of you too, please come on here soon and tell us you are ok.

believe me neeko the dress just hides my belly well. + the christening was in the morning so before any pigging out could be done.

bettymum - no, haven't seen that BC routine... may have to see if it's on YouTube or something!

Neeko - thanks for the meal tips. I made a nice big unseasoned risotto/paella last night for DH, me and DD and have considered removing the chorizo and prawns (I assume these are a no no for weaning babies) and blending some up for DS. I also blended up a creamy salmon broccolli pasta dish for DS before but he wasn't that keen so have a couple of frozen portions to try again in the future. We have some mince in the freezer so will endeavour to cook some sort of cottage pie effort next week sometime or over the weekend maybe. I'm also going to buy some turkey mince in the next shop for the recipe idea from haverina.

Loved the pictures by the way. Such cute babies everyone!

We're spending some time with grandma and great-grandma tomorrow and then have a free day with DH on Sunday (he tends to avoid all-female family get togethers on my side as they have a habit of being very stressful!). Hope you all have a good weekend. Anyone got halloween activities lined up? We're staving that off with DCs for as long as possible as DH and I have never been fans of halloween (bah humbug [hsmile]).

I'm soooooooo sorry everyone...Bettymum, nicnac, mistymoo, harverina, and stinky.....everything is fine, I'm fine, but wow...it's been a long week!!!!
We've been together 8 years on New Year's Eve, normally I don't bother with the whole arguing rigmorole cuz in my heart I know I want to be with him for the rest of my life, so don't see the point in allowing little things to wind me up (!!) when I know I won't leave him for them..only I have been getting wound up!!
Hands in the air I'm a total stresshead, but I've told Iain unfortunately I won't change..I'm always going to be in a mad 5 minute rush every time we leave the house so I can grab the last few bits I'll need for the day..I'm always going to need all cups taken out the living room before we go to bed..and the bed made first thing in the morning..
My head is a frantic spaghetti junction..I like my surroundings to be calm (or as calm as they can with 2 kids, a dog and a partner
Just so you don't think he's a complete monster, he is a great person, and a fantastic daddy..he just lacks the ability to think sometimes! He's only ever lived with 2 women...his mum, and then me..so is very used to being slaved looked after!!
He does look after me, I can rely upon him totally...he just could do with a gentle shove in the household chore department..and perhaps the acknowledgemnt of exactly what I do within my day lol
I'm so touched that you have been thinking of me, thank you so much..see I knew this was the best thread to be part of ;)
Glad everyone's doing well, Nicnac, I agree that you looked fantastic!! Love the pic with AJ with his thumb up, adorable...really must leave some space for other people to post lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry was meant to say thanks to zeeky as well for thinking xx

Princess glad you are ok and do not apologise! Everyone needs to let off steam

Another good day on my diet. Hsave saved points to have a crunchie with my cup of tea - thats the highlight of my Friday night. DH is snoring on the couch !

How is everyone? Hope you are having a nice Friday night.

For those of you with "good sleepers" can you offer any tips? Eilidh keeps waking before midnight and I always get her up to feed her as she cries and cries. Want to try and encourage her to sleep for longer...I can cope fine with one during the night feed. She used to sleep all night! I have considered controlled crying but not sure I can do it. i was thinking about expressing every day and giving her an expressed milk top up to see if she sleeps longer??

thanks princess glad everything is ok, your dh sounds exactly like mine and i deal with it in the same 'cant be bothered arguing about it' way. if ever i moan about him not doing enough it starts the whole 'but i go to work all day' debate so i just dont bother anymore unless he's being really annoying. i also think i cant complain too much because when i compare him to friend's dhs in real life he is a saint! if he comes home and the house is a mess and there's no tea even slightly ready he will just happily rumage around and get himself something out the freezer or make himself some cheese on toast (the only thing he can cook!) and is never pissed off with me about it. + he really is a fantastic dad and i can see Kacie is becoming a daddy's girl already!

think it's going to have to be wine and pizza in front of x factor tonight. sounds like bliss

we're taking Ajay trick or treating for the first time this year. he's at school now so knows all about it so cant really not do it anymore. we live around a green and know most of our neighbours who are mainly all families too so it's not too bad. he is really excited, took him shopping to pick his costume the other day and he's had it on and off ever since. i have even got Kacie a little purple bug babygrow as is was reduced to £3.50 so i though 'why not!' must remember to take some photos of them.

Great to have you back princess you really are a joy to have around

No tips harverina sorry, I think I am just very lucky. The only possible thought is trying E with a bottle of expressed when she wakes before midnight, gradually watered down over a few nights, giver hopefully by someone else - if this is not as appealing as a warm milky booby snuggle, she may be less inclined to wake. Same applies for other wakings. At this age she should be capable of getting most, if not all, of her calories during the day. Well done with the diet - mine starts Mon, as back to work.

Nicnac I am at how good you look! But I guess I am old enough to be your mummy I need an outfit that disguises a fat tummy, fat arse, fat legs, fat arms bla bla bla

I had a sleepless night with DD1 - arranged admission to hospital for monitoring of her breathing difficulties. She had very little sleep too - the ward was so noisy. I was however extremely grateful that she was there through choice, and not ill like some of the poor little scraps there. There was a 3 month old who did not look at all good. I hate hospitals (yes, and me a nurse too)

DD2 had expressed bottle last night with daddy, and was still asleep when we came home this morning, so she did not even know I was away, which was good.

I hope to crawl into bed shortly - just been to ballet, and nearly fell asleep (DD, not me - they do not do tutu's big enough 0

Hi All. Hope you and your little ones are OK.

My ds has been a bit off colour the last few days and I noticed some little blister spots on his tummy, bottom and leg this morning. He now has one on his head and some on his back. I'm thinking chicken pox but I hope not as we are supposed to be away at the weekend.

We had to take him for another ultrasound for his kidney today. The radiographer seemed to think that the blockage had decreased so it looks like everything is fine in that respect.

mistymoo sorry to hear your DS hasb't been too well, although glad to hear that the kidney ultrasound was quite positive . You must be relieved.

stinkypinky How are you finding being back at work? Hope you are not too tired. I didn't know you were a nurse. I think that I would love to have been a midwife, though my DH says I'm too emotional to cope with it ! Thanks for the sleep tips - we tried offering water on Sunday night but she realised pretty quickly that it wasnt milk...may try the diluted idea though, think that may work better. Not too bothered about her sleeping all night just now - one wakening is fine, but lots of wakenings before midnight are not great and I know that she doesn't physically need the food at that time so will try and work on that.

Eilidh's red neck was getting worse and she started to notice it so we took her to the Dr yesterday and he said that it is actually thrush caused by her drooling. We have been prescribed cream which has made a huge difference already! So glad that we went now. Apparantly the barrier creams make it worse as they contain the thrush and don't allow it to heal. Barrier creams are ok when the area is healed.

Last night Eilidh slept from 8pm till 4.35am. I kept waking up though ! Delighted that she slept better...now wondering if her neck has been sore during the night or if it is a coincidence.

Hope you are all well ...need to run to get ready for my breastfeeding group and then going to the shops to try out feeding chairs. Need a comfy chair for Eilidh's room. Anyone have one that they would recommend?

And sorry for typos, typing in a hurry!

Meant to say nicnac we dressed Eilidh up as a pumpkin! She looked gorgeous, will put up a pic when I get a chance.

We had a pumpkin here too...will pop up a pic after I've posted :) x
Jude's been self settling a lot better by himself the last few days..he's always gone to bed awake, but struggled to get back to sleep if he woke..I mean when he woke in the night...lots of times!! The first night I only gave an ounce of milk each time he woke, the second I only gave water, and last night nothing, until 5.30 this morning when I made a bottle of milk..I think the change in times is still being adjusted to with my 2, so didn't want to wait until 6.30-7am.
Truly, the first night I found hard, because he woke around 40 mins after going to sleep, and I realised that letting him cry was no easier than the first time I let Makenzi cry :( I stayed in his room..can't believe I just called it his room lol..it's my room!! Anyway, I stayed in the room, because I wanted to let him know I was still there and hadn't abandoned him, but it was heartbreaking!! So many times I wanted to pick him up and give him some milk, but I knew it would only be making myself feel better, and be cruel to Jude because it would mean that I'd just let him cry for no reason..I'm a Baby Whisperer fan..can you tell? 3dayss later and I feel a whole lot better..he's doing great!!!
So my lil cherub has been practicing writing her own name, I'm sooooo proud. (She's 3) She can do the M,N and I.. Just the a, k, e, z, -, S, h, e and I to go hehe. She calls the K, a stick with a triangle!!! Then I got to thinking, I wonder if we'll all still be posting when all our lil baby cherubs get to writing age!! Even madder...and even more far fetched, but that's me(!!), we'll be saying..ooh wish me luck, Jude's off on his wedding day today..getting married to a lovely girl called ...and then another Mummy will say really...my *** marrying a lad called Jude today, and then realise that we're fellow Mumsnetters!!!! I know..I'm in one of those moods! :) Would be funny though...a bit.!! x

Hmm...maybe I should go and do a bit of crafting...DP is doing the shopping, and has just called me to ask if I'd put the Rangers match on the tele, and pause it til he gets in!!!!!! Ridiculously...I've done it No idea I'll be straing at a blank screen!!!
I was meant to say thanks to Stinky too...that's such a nice thing to say about me, I was well touched when I read that..and to Mistymoo, glad the ultrasound has gon ewell...does he have chicken pox?? x

Wow Princess, you do think ahead! And double wow to your DD - she's doing incredibly well to be attempting to write her name at the age of three isn't she.

haverina, a friend of mine bought, and swore by, proper feeding chairs from John Lewis at about £300 a pop. That was too expensive for me and we just had one of those Ikea armchairs that bounce. That saw me through my 8 months of BFing DD no problems. Glad to hear that you got Eilidh's red neck diagnosed accurately and that it's clearing up.

Stinky, hope you've managed to catch up a little on your sleep and that your DDs are OK. Not nice being on a ward with little ones eh. DS got admitted when he was just 10 days old as he went all floppy and sleepy and wouldn't feed. Turned out to be a virus but they worried for a while that it might have been a bacterial infection. Horrid, horrid, horrid three days of my life.

Re sleeping, I'm also getting a little frustrated at DS not sleeping thru. He can mostly manage without his dream feed now but sometimes wakes just after midnight and has to be settled back to sleep. Then, he's up again between 4 and 6. I tried just settling him back to sleep last night but he wasn't having any of it so I gave in and administered a bottle. Sometimes, you just do what it takes to get a bit more sleep. He's well into his solids now, on three meals a day, and although he doesn't take much milk (formula) as a drink during the day, I do try to sneak it into food where I can. So he's got no excuse as far as I'm concerned!! Well, apart from being a baby... And both DCs are coming down with colds at the moment so that doesn't help of course. I'm just longing for the day when I go to bed and wake up in the morning of my own volition!

Neeko - DS liked the cottage pie btw. Thanks for the tip!

I've been doing her name as a dot to dot for a few weeks now, and today was well impressed that she drew the letter m freehand underneath where I'd written her name!!

Football's finished..woohoo!! :) Just a catch up on the results now!! xx

Well, ds woke up this morning with lots more blister spots so definately chicken pox. Have no idea where he picked it up from. My other two have had it so at least I won't be couped up for ages while it goes through everyone . The spots are definately not as bad as the others had so maybe because he is so young and bf he won't get it too bad.

It's comforting to know that others have little ones who don't sleep either! Although in saying that ds has gone down for naps the last two days awake and has got himself to sleep so very happy with that.

wow princess that's fab. i taught Ajay to write his name before school but it wasn't that early and is a shorter name ha.
if you wanted to do more with her Ajay's school sold us these read, write inc flashcards the summer before they started, that teach them to recognise their letters and it worked really well. Ajay knew them all before he started school and is now top of his class i think you can buy them off ebay and there are rhymes that go with the letters about how to write them eg a is round the apple and down the leaf.
in the short time he's been at school he can now read and write 3 letter words and some bigger ones like shop and quick. can you tell how proud i am

sorry to hear about the chicken pox misty but at least it gets them over and done with.

sorry to hear about the sleepless nights, Kacie has gone from sleeping through without a peep to waking up and moaning a few times in the night have no idea what's caused it and how to stop it. at the moment we're just putting her dummy in for her and she goes right back to sleep but would rather she didn't wake for it.

cute pumpkin princess i will put a pic of my little bat and skeleton up in a sec.

glad the neck is getting better harverina

Still having disturbed nights here too. Still feeding him when he wakes but really should knock that on the head now he's on three meals a day. Sounds like you've done brilliantly with the stopping night feeds princess. I find it such a vicious circle at the moment - I'm tired cos he's waking in the night so I do the quickest thing to settle him so that I can go back to sleep, which is to feed him, which is probably contributing to him waking in the night! Aaaargh!!!!

The hour change has really messed him about too. Anyone else found this? He's now dropping tired by 6pm and consequently doesn't feed for long before bed as he falls asleep. He then wakes earlier for a feed at 9.30ish (was previously more like 11.30) and again at 2 and is then wide awake at 6.30am (previously 7.30 to 8) but then too tired to eat breakfast at 8am! It's brought all his naps forward making meal times more awkward!! DS1 seems to have adjusted no problem, whereas previously it has always taken him a few weeks to adjust.

Grrrr! (not enjoying being back at work... and all the sodding expressing) Grrr! (and working with a bunch of s) Grrrr!

Grrrrrrr!