November 09 - solids and crawling underway but sleepless nights still here to stay!!

[scarlotti]

New and shiny thread

skorpion is there such a thing as too much sex? are you going home for 5 weeks? I too shall be spending the whole summer (well as soon as the school breaks up) back home (czech/slovakia). I cannot wait. Wait for it - i've already starting packing! To my defence

I am at work, I have sooooo much time on my hands its incredible. ooh how easy to spend the whole day online. must remember to do some work!

not sure what happened there!

To my defence - only the clothes to take to my sister that the kids have grown out of and some toys and things my mum cant get back home etc.

must work must work!

I've only been able to read half of what I've missed, so I'm not even starting to comment on it but there have been some scary moments. So sorry to hear about them and so happy that everything was fine in the end.
koumak, I think I said it here already (to "skorpion" as far as I remember), czech toys are the best! We have a shop in Vienna run by a slovakian lady and she does lots by herself but she also has czech brands. We have things from Ludus and sapito and they are soo nice, especially our playmat. You need to check them out if you don't know them already.
In fact, when I went back to Vienna, one of my friends sent me to the shop to do some shopping for her (the handmade stuff from there), maybe I should start a import business for England )

Actually, if you stay the whole summer at home, is it just you or your husbands too? Or do they join just for a while?
I want to go to my parents for 10 days of two weeks with my husband only joining for a weekend or so. And I'm sure inlaws will be very annoyed that my parents get to see Paula for longer (they will forget that they have seen her more often and that they come to London apparently every month or so)
And before you ask: No, I do not want to stay at my ILs and even if Austria is a small country, the distance between the two sets of grand parents is quite far, about 5 hours by car. AND we have just been there for an extended weekend before going to my brothers wedding. (Can you tell that I've prepared my arguments )

just been to pound shop and have stocked up on marbles....so unprompted good behaviour gets a marble what dp tsntrums at 6 am get??

dd off to germany tom at so have both for 3 whole days and nights...aagggh get me some of that 50p valium....

That Jar idea might work better than the reward chart for ds. Might have to give that a go too.

Annabelle seems ok, still spotty but going through the scab stage. BBL how long did Toby's chicken-pox last? It seemed like quite a while when remembering it.

Took LO to the doctor yesterday for the first time since we left England. She's in the 75% percentile for weight and uh, on the short side. It's a recipe for delicious chubbiness

Question - I started introducing solids a few weeks ago (she's 6.5 mos now) and it's been a battle. She gags on everything (purees or otherwise), although she was happy to eat as much cooked spinach as I gave her. Funny, eh? The doctor didn't seem worried, said not to rush her. Just wondering if anyone else's LO had a slow start with solids?

Oh yes i am loving the marbles idea scarlotti we are doing it too. DD has decided she will just. not. listen. to. anything. She also loves marbles and shiny things. Although a bit nervous about bear cub eating them.

So, one marble per good behaviour, not offered as a a reward if she does something, but after she has done something positive? And, do not take away again, and do not give if asked for - right? I like the idea of getting a bigger one for extra good behaviour too. It is a nice and simple idea. We should all post back how we do with it!

I too, like others am finding the naughty step no longer works. She just refuses to stay on it. She does not take it seriously, she will happily sit there and make up stories with 'pretend bears', or run off into her bedroom and play. By the time she has done her '3 mins' after all that, she has mostly forgotten why she is even there.

Horrendous couple of nights, as normal but also one good one this week. He slept 8:3pm-12pm, milk then slept til 6am, milk then slept til 7am. Never to be repeated. He is now having a bottle of milk before bed. Wonder if that is giving him constipation? As he seems to be suffering a little.

just had a tantrum over the marble...she thought it was a sweet and couldn't understand why she couldn't eat it.........

JuicyLips about ten days before he started getting better. But the scabs lasted longer - another 2 weeks. Even now he has a few small scars

PS Popyourwhoppers I always feel very evil thoughts for my MIL when I have PMT. Some people get mad at their DH at that time of the month, but not me, it's his parents who get the bad thoughts!

Pav I think the aim is to get them to be good on the off chance they might get a marble. They can't lose one as they've already earnt it and they can't ask for one if they do x. I tend to give them for things we want to encourage (e.g. staying in his room until 7am!) and then ad hoc for good behaviour to keep him guessing! The big marbles here are saved for things like fetching a toy for Ioan, or doing something lovely for him I'll foster brotherly love through bribery if nothing else!!

Evening all, just saying hello, been really busy here and still no sleep!
Hen's tooth is fully through now though so fingers crossed for tonight!!!!!

Hope everyone is ok, will pop back in tomorrow for a catch up.

Hello all, hope you're okay. Funeral was today - it was a good service, full of happy memories and lots of tears shed. Broke my heart to see the friends son. But was also very honoured as he thanked us all by name for taking care of his dad in the last few months when he couldn't get here. Even the Rev. was crying - she did the service for my friends wife and for their daughter, so she was asked to do this one too, even though she now lives an hour away, as she knew the family. Was lovely. Desperately sad. But very fitting.

Anyway - I am keeping notes of these parenting tips, just so you all know We used to have a Kindness Tree here - we painted it on the door to the cupboard under the stairs. And every time we did something kind, we got to put a leaf on the tree. So to make the tree look really pretty, you had to be extra kind

Koumak PMT is Pre-Menstrual Tension - basically the emotional and physical crappy stuff that goes on during your period

Whoppers that is just so damn rude. You're much more restrained than me - I would have probably responded with a, "Oh yes, I am very well thank you, and how are you?" or something as equally sarcastic

Longway Bryn is a shortarse another one on the smaller side length wise; just under the 7th percentile, bless him! It does make him look super chubby

JuicyLips hope she is better soon, poor lamb.

Sex!!! you lot make me laugh....am getting none. Maybe I should make a reward chart for myself..sigh

koumak, ursi I'm taking Lucy over to Poland for some family and friends spoiling and cooing over for three weeks (hopefully Lucy will get a look in, too ). Particularly looking forward to seeing my grandma, as she's been wishing, nagging, praying for a daughter for me for about 15 years now, bless. DH is driving down to France to do a bicycle race in July and then coming up to join us. We're then driving back home. I am so looking forward to it! But sad to miss him for three weeks and him missing Lucy, too.

SirB Sounds like a lovely service. Hope you're OK.

No periods here either. Not missing them at all.

Becky how is Jacob De Zoet coming along? I was feeding Lucy at night with tears dripping on her while I read a chapter. But am totally gripped by the story. I wish I could do speed-reading.

I will try to keep in touch but cannot promise. I hope all babies keep well, mums are chilled and happy, siblings on best behaviour and dads not too busy with football. Oh, and MILS far away and forgotten about. Unless they are good of course.

so any tips for a good nights sleep?

Hen is being terrible at the minute, I fed him every 1 1/2 to 2 hours last night, its like having a newborn again. DH has said he will have to start sleeping downstairs if I can't sort Hen out soon! (as if its my fault) although to be honest him sleeping d/s may not to too bad......

skorpion have a good trip and enjoy the cooing and spoiling

sleepless

2 days to go 2 days to go 2 days to go
Don?t get me started! I thought I am going to lose it this evening! Anyway two days to go two days to go

re summer holidays, leaving as soon as school breaks up, all driving to Czech with a short stop over in Germany visiting my bestest friend who had twins at Christmas, then stopping at my family briefly for christening, then driving to Slovakia to dh family for as short time as possibly acceptable , driving back to Czech, when dh is going to leave and drive back by himself to UK, kids and I would fly back bank holiday weekend in august. So several weeks without daddy but with great massive family as substitution, it?s not going to be easy though - thank god for Skype!

where are you all? I cant believe it I am actually up to date (not counting obviously the ten threads i missed due to no sure what)

tigger red wine lots of it [whispers] am having second glass right now

remind me, what are we as breastfeeding females allowed before it starts affecting our little mammals?

Also very much enjoying my first week of facebook! Good I resisted for so long its soooo addictive.

Again I am talking to myself
Good night all

Morning all

Busy here so not much time to catch up. Another 5am start so tired already! Mum is down for the weekend as we're hoping to finish DD's prom dress, let's hope I'm not so tired that I sew the wrong bit together!

Grumpy baby here the last few days, teeth are on the move and I can see the front foor threatening to make an appearance. He's quite rattly again too so not sure if it's the teeth or a cough or what It was the coughing that woke him at 4:30 and he never really settled properly after that. DH is back in with us too as Mum is in the spare room, so all in all not the best night's sleep!!
Have ordered a mattress now though for the cot bed so once that comes he's off to the little side room. Velux black out blind in there though, so am hoping it might help him go through until at least 6am ... please??!

As for sex ... we may have shared a bed, but with the limited sleep I am a grumpy bear so not a chance!!

Hope those heading off to family for long visits enjoy and get to have some support and rest

Koumak, that sounds like a lovely summer. DH is of you visiting Czech. We'd both love to visit there again.

We will be decamping to my mum's in N Ireland for July. I fly over on the 5th with the girls, DH joins us with the car 10 days later and we galavant until 2nd Aug. We're hoping the summer weather is saving itself up until then...

DD chomped her way through an entire conference pear last night, along with 6 sweet potato sticks . She's a bit , er, cranky round the tummy today, shall we say.

GRRRRR Remind me why I breastfeed? I am sick to DEATH of getting such horrible comments. I got called a disgusting hussy this morning Then asked if I knew Bryn's fathers name, and told to enjoy collecting all my benefits. I am highly embarrassed as I really lost my cool, and swore rather a lot at her, as she waited for me once I got off the bus to carry on having a go at me. The support I got from everyone else was fantastic, almost everyone else jumped to my defence, but I'm bloody sick of it. Close to tears, and so damned angry!!!!

hobnob Is Isla eating then? Ethan's still just gumming and sucking. Starting to notice little bits of cucumber or toast are missing but still not much progress in terms of satisfying hunger with solids.

To those of you moving babies soon, hang in there. It took us around a month of 60-90m cry-settle-cry-settle every night but now Ethan settles himself in the cot around 7-8pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:30 am. Good luck! It's worth the hard work.

Pav can't remember if I replied or not but it's great that you have a plan for your studies. I'm really enjoying the ou course, just wondering why I didn't do it years ago!

SB hang in there. You are doing a fantastic job feeding Bryn and being the best mum for him. BF is a big personal sacrifice on behalf of the welfare of your baby which many others obviously just don't understand.

DWB yes, Isla seems to be troughing away from day 1 which is causing her gut no end of pain and discomfort, but she loves it. However I've read that it's not at all uncommon for babies to take until 9 months to cotton on that food serves a purpose other than entertainment. Some days she barely touches the stuff, but I'm a bit about the idea that babies can self-regulate their intake. The very large pear was a complete eyeopener for me in terms of how much a small tummy can potentially hold!

SirB sorry to hear you had to go through that. Please don't let the ignorant few sully the wonderful start you have given Bryn. Sadly, as I know from experience, you will always get looks and comments from some by having had a baby young. DD now tells me though that she is really glad I am considerably younger than her peers' parents. She likes the fact I am still into the things she is. Don't ever believe the fools that imply you are not able to raise him properly either - age has nothing to do with that. DD is in the middle of her gcse's, has her place at 6th form and plans to go to Uni to study maths. She has the capability to ace her exams - all this from being raised by a young single mum

hobnob I struggle too with the idea babies can self regulate, but it does seem to happen here. He has a whole weetabix for breakfast most days, then the rest of the day depends on how he's feeling. Some days he eats like a horse, others not so much.

Ioan would have slept longer this morning, but DS1 came up at 6 and woke him up As DH is up with us too, I have spent the last two nights sleeping on the smallest slice of bed once Ioan has come in after the middle night waking. Only one more night though then mum heads home and the spare room is free again!! Guess we really need to sort him going in his own room - Ioan, not DH obviously (although I'd secretly quite like seperate rooms as the bedroom stays so much neater when he's not there!! )

Prom dress is almost finished - hooray! Am so relieved as was starting to worry I'd promised DD somethign I couldn't deliver. She's now started asking me to make her summer dresses!! What have I started!