Parenting after LT TTC #8

[lise]

Okay, this is about the fourth time I've tried to reply and my post has been eaten so let's hope this works...

I haven't had as much time to post with DH being away as I thought as Finn has turned back into a rotten sleeper. I thi k it's a combination of teeth and missing DH (at least I hope it is, I hope this is not the new routine!) but he's back to screaming when I put him in his cot, I have to feed him to sleep again most of the time, which I don't mind but then he wakes up in his cot and can't/won't resettle...

Grub, I can't believe you're that close already. Has this pregnancy flown by compared to last time?

Kelly, how are you going? Hope you're not too uncomfortable xx

Saph, sorry the walking isn't working cor you yet. Here's hoping the shorter intervals do the trick. And two screMing boys, sounds like you need some noise cancelling earphones

Murph, hope the house hunting is going well, it's hard trying to find a house from afar isn't it. Is there someone in Orange who can go inspect properties for you?

BOC, DS is soooo big in your FB photos, such a little man!

Hope everyone else is well, sorry, can't scroll back anymore to see where people are up to(can't wait till DH comes home with my laptop!). well one week down, one to go. As much as Finn and I are missing DH I think it's been good for us. I think our relationship has taken a turn for the worse since we had Finn, we haven't had any time together really and we're lacking the intimacy that helps keep you together. So I think when he's back we shall have to call upon family to do some babysitting for us so we can have some together time. Trouble is, Finn is still such a bad sleeper, I went out for a couple of hours at night a few weeks ago with some fellow mummies and had a text saying DH was out of ideas. Went home and apparently Finn had cried the whole time - DH had even given him a bottle of COW'S MILK!! So I felt incredibly guilty, but wondering how we're ever going to leave him without stressing the whole time...

AnywY, enough blabbing, must go do some tidying up. Hope everyone has a good weekend xx

[grub17]

lise, that babyhood stage is so hard cos they are always teething, growing, learning etc and you just never know sometimes why the smeg they are crying all the time! but it does get heaps better.

DS is now obsessed with DH and loves his daddy so much that he is happy to spend entire days without me ... and i went out for dinner for the first time since Ash was born - a girls thing as well... Ash didn't even bat an eyelid! went to bed very happy. Mind you if daddy isn't there for bedtime... end. of. the. world.

but i know what you mean about the relationship. i think the blokes have a hard time no longer being number 1 in your mind and we have a hard time sharing the love cos caring for a LO is just so exhausting. it doesn't help if you aare both tired either and neither of your needs are being met!

what if you just started with a coffee out or morning or arvo tea with you and DH til Finn is better without you? that was he get used to you going away.. and coming back and you get some time but don't have to stress that he's not sleeping/crying.

Yep, this pregnancy has flown by! I know poor kelly isn't feeling that ATM. are you there kel?

hope your house hunting is going well murph

Hi boc, madb, lenny, saph, janie,

Juniper - how is it all going??? love to hear from you.

oxox

[TaRhLi.]

lise: So sorry to hear Finn isn't the best at the moment, as grub said they go through so many changes that you just don't know what it is going to be next. Even with a good baby when they have those out of the ordinary moments we are scratching our heads trying to figure out what the problem is...

Thanks for asking how I'm going....as grub has also said I'm very much over this pregnancy.... 9 1/2 weeks until my c/s date and I really don't know if I will make it that far. I measured my fundal height yesterday and it is something ridiculous like 45cm and I'm only 29 weeks today. We had a scan last week and both boys are measuring about 2 weeks bigger than our dates and both weigh just over 3lb each, so I'm basically carrying the weight of a full term baby around. I'm now struggling with sleep and trying to toddler wrangle but luckily it is a long weekend here this weekend which means a few daddy days so mummy can put her feet up. Although not today as DH is doing the garden but that's o.k as Tara has just woken from a very sound 2 hour sleep and is happily watching ABC kids at the moment. It gave me a chance to do some washing for the boys as hopefully we will be putting up one cot tonight in our room so I can get everything organised.

Anyway enough whinging from me, I hope everyone else is doing well... Oh and I know that Barney has left us but there was a BA that her daughter had her baby this week, a little boy called Cruz.

[saph204]

Lise, we have no family support and getting a babysitter is very rare. So we have dates at home. We put the boys to bed and then eat together and watch a movie. we just make time for us at home. It is also much cheaper then going out. But then sorry to brag we have never had a problem with our boys sleeping. From birth they both went to bed awake no later the 7pm. Campbell went into a bed at 15months and til this day he is 4y3m he has never gotten out of his bed. Even in the mornings he will wait until we get up.

But then at the moment Xavier spends his days screaming, especially when Campbell looks at him, walks past him and god forbid touch him. lol But I feel for all those who have to get up during the night. I am constantly waking becuase I am in pain so I know how you feel.

Hope everyone is having lovely weekend.

[lise]

Yes, think we'll have to start small and work our way up. But we definitely need to start doing something together.

Hope everyone is enjoying a long weekend I don't even know why anyone else has it, and with not working and DH away I'd completely forgotten about it until today! Finn surpassed himself today, less than 30 mins sleep and not surprisingly, IMPOSSIBLE to get to sleep tonight. Oh well, it can only get better...

[grub17]

oh lise, he'll pass out eventually! hope he went down okay after your post. oxoxo

[lise]

OMG, scared myself silly this morning!

The other day Finn got his leg stuck in his cot and let out this almighty yell! Well early this morning I was fast asleep and heard another yell. I didnt think it sounded like Finn but then I heard it again so thought it must be. I jumped out of bed, ran into his room only to find his cot empty!!!! I started freaking out straight away, trying to work out how someone could take him without me hearing ( I'm a VERY light sleeper!) when I suddenly remembered I'd taken him in bed with me at the 4am feed! I ran back into my room and of course there he was fast asleep. I couldn't sleep at all, my heart was pounding a million miles an hour, so very silly of me

Hope everyone is well. Nick is home tomorrow, woo hoo!!!!!!!!!

[grub17]

i was going to offer you a "oh poor lise' sympathy post but I'm laughing my bottom off at that one lise!!! sounds like you need more sleep lovely. Just glad he didn't wake when you bolted from the bed.

but i can imagine your heart must have been in your throat for a few seconds til the ole brain started to, you know... work! lol.

ooh... alright then, i'll send you a virtual hug for being tired and stressed and giving yourself a mild heart attack.

[lise]

It's okay grub, I'm not after sympathy, I can see the funny side which is why I posted it, thought others might be in need of a laugh too

But yes, I definitely need some more sleep. I just realized I haven't had my monthly B12 injection since January so that helps explain why I'm a bit tired and slow. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

[saph204]

Oh Lise, I am laughing with you not at you. Similar thing happened to me with Campbell. Coiuldnt find him anywhere was getting really worried that he had let himself out the front door or something (This was when he was crawling) Complete panic, which is not usual for me. Only to find him sitting in the bath tub eating his toothpaste. He had shut the door climbed in and was having a lovely time. We all do these things from time to time.lol

[lise]

Happy birthday grub

On my way to the airport to pick up DH, yippeeeeeeeeee

[grub17]

lise, i know you probably don't think this.. but gee that went fast ie dh away time!!!

thanks heaps love. having lovely day getting spoilt ox

[lise]

Oh girls, stop me now!

DH has been a bit down about our finances, with me not working for the rest of this year, so we've been looking at our budget. For the first time today I had a serious look at eBay...and now have 9 bids going! I'm justifying it by saying that I'm saving money by not buying new but of course with 9 bids going I'm actually still spending a bit. And the problem is I'm very competitive and don't like losing, even if I have to exceed my maximum bid at the last second

Anyway, hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Was so lovely having DH home, Finn was so so excited, though initially at the airport he seemed not to really care! Was only when we got home it seemed to click and he was terribly excited. I couldn't feed him or do anything without him trying to look for DH

[BOC]

Oh and I know that Barney has left us but there was a BA that her daughter had her baby this week, a little boy called Cruz.

Bit of a mistake there in that BA , Barney's daughter had a little boy named Bailey Kenneth. Big'un too, 8 pound 11 and if you've ever seen pics of Jess she's a tiny little thing, no idea where she was keeping him LOL. And she had him with only gas!

I haven't had as much time to post with DH being away as I thought as Finn has turned back into a rotten sleeper. I thi k it's a combination of teeth and missing DH (at least I hope it is, I hope this is not the new routine!) but he's back to screaming when I put him in his cot, I have to feed him to sleep again most of the time, which I don't mind but then he wakes up in his cot and can't/won't resettle...

Oh big Hun he is right in the middle of a nasty wonder week, and around 8 months they get major separation anxiety happening too, both day & night. In my birth group at this age there were about a dozen of us at our wits end just like you are now. So rest assured it's quite normal but unfortunately you just have to ride it out for a few weeks. But at least you know what is happening. At this time I would put DS down of a night and he'd be waking 3 or 4 times and by 2am I'd just bundle him in our bed, he'd roll over, grab the front of my pjs and then *snoooooore* he'd be out! Hope he grows out of this stage real soon for ya!

A big to everyone else! And to our dear preggies!

As for us, DS turned the big 1 on Friday!!! OMG I cannot believe it a little depressed that my baby is not such a baby anymore though. Had a lovely gathering at home yesterday (the picnic by the lake got rained out but nevermind).

Anyway better run, DH is home early for once!

[grub17]

boc! he's one!!! gee whiz they are all growing up too fast. But hope he (and you guys) had a lovely day despite the weather!!!

i've got a flu atm, ugh and DS just wants to burn off all that energy he has double ugh. so we aren't a good match atm and i'm not looking forward to tomorrow if i'm not feeling better and don't sleep, again! ggrrr grumble grumble grumble.

[saph204]

Oh Grub, I feel for you. I too am feeling yucky. Ended up with only one kid in my class this afternoon so I just watched him play on the computer. How slack.lol

[lise]

Grub, hope you're feeling okay, I hated getting sick when I was pregnant, especially not being able to take anything!!

Saph, hope you're feeling better too! Glad that you were able to have a lazy day at work!!

BOC, can't believe Jagger is one already! I remember looking at your weekly belly pics and thinking how HUGE you were Glad you had a lovely day xx Hey, have you been raked? Is that what 'love a friend' means?!

[Murph01]

Hello from sunny New South Wales!

Well we have made the move and despite dagging around in caravan parks with our dogs and baby in tow, we are through the other side, have rented ourselves a cute little house and it's been total chaos trying to unpack when there are virtually NO cupboards or wardrobes. We absolutely love being in the 'big smoke', but as my cousin said when I told her that, it's not often Orange would be referred as the big smoke. Well after Kangaroo Island and the Daintree, whooee!! Anyway its beautiful and we have good heating and cooling and have tried out the heaters already...we are gonna freeze our bums off but it will be a nice change. Kelly, I can still see you laughing at us, I'm sure it won't really sink in until we see it for ourselves but SNOW? Really? It's all a bit exciting, I nearly wet my pants when we were visiting one of the conservation areas and it said a highlight in Winter is seeing the wombat paw prints in the snow. wombats are only my favourite animal in the world!

But enough about me, how is that gorgeous girl with the computers in her head? She is just wonderful. she has handled the travel and the move like a dream and is having a huge growth spurt and eating everything in sight. She is now almost eating everything we eat which is great because she is a bit of a mouse but she gets what she needs. I am still breast feeding can you believe that? I must be some kind of veteran in this group, it wasn't planned and I thought about stopping a while back but then it works so damn well for us, particularly while teething and settling and if it wasn't the boob she was attached to, it would be something else so it's still a really nice thing to be able to offer that comfort and also nutrition of course. DH is totally supportive so I think it's just a bit of a surprise that I am still going with no end in sight after 17 months and a huge bonus that ended last week is that I didn't have a single visit from Auntie Flo since falling pregnant 26 months ago!!

Jazzy's last adjustment to her cochlears was 8 weeks ago and she is really in need of what's called a MAP (oops, can't remember what it stands for but it's 3am and I'm up with a crook belly after my first Chinese take away in about 5 years!), so we are trying to get her in to the Shepherd Centre in Sydney and I will travel by train to her appointments. Yay, no more ferries and driving We've made all the contacts and have to hear back about the details of therapy and audiology. All that aside, Jasmine is just an amazing little joyful thing and is delighting in the sounds she can make. We ditched the funny little hats and bonnets that we used at first to keep the head gear on and now with a life time supply of double-sided tape, we manage to keep the cochlears on for almost the whole day with no need for breaks and no tantrums or turns about putting them on. there is the odd struggle but generally she is getting the whole point and tries to put them back on when they fall off, or before they go on, like yesterday, I was getting the tape ready and she was holding them up to her ear as if they would help her watch telly. It's absolutely amazing to us, she is just so switched on and her listening skills are fantastic. I don't know technically how much she is hearing but at our last trip to Melbourne, she was doing so well that they opened her up to the full range of sound and said she should hear all normal conversation and noises now. She is really trying to mimick and her lips are moving to create sounds although her one word is still "mum mum umumumumum" which is used in all kinds of situations and not necessarily for her wonderful mother Therapy with her is all coming together, all those months, day in, day out when she had no hearing at all are paying off and she demonstrates so much ability that we have no worries or fears for her future at all. At 17 months Jazzy is still not walking on her own and I suspect it may be a balance thing, but DH thinks maybe it's because she is working on so many other skills and that also makes sense. She walks with us holding hands and pushes walkers and prams so we just provide those wherever we go so that she can get the hang of it.

Teething teething teething hey! Who knew what it could be like and for how like and for how long? Every time I see someone struggling with unsettled, clingy babies with their routines out of whack, I just think teething. Man it's so constant isn't it? I've discovered a new soother for older babies is a whole lebanese cucumber. It soothes and cools, they get a drink and a feed and sink those sore teeth and gums into the crisp cucumber. Of course I discovered this quite by accident yesterday when she swiped it instead of eating the slices I'd cut her. I am feeling quite a radiant glow of happiness this week when thinking of my feelings for Jazzy so clearly the teething is not too bad because there have been a few times of late where I have called my darling (butter wouldn't melt) toddler, a little turd! Little buggers they can be, biting eyebrows and knee caps and attaching themselves permanently to your leg. what a tough gig, I give babies full respect for that teething lark, that's gotta suck!

I have to comment on something I remember reading a while back. It was a comment by Grub about feeding Ash a ****tail of medicines and it had been censored because it had that word in it! Well it got my attention.

Anyway, I'm meant to be using this good wide awake time to be writing some articles and letters to Ministers I've had hanging around my neck like a big weight because other people want me to do it. It's not really something I've got motivation for now that the fight for Jasmine's surgery and treatment is over. I know that the fight still needs to go on back in Adelaide but somehow that part of my life is a distant memory and I just want to move forward and not fight law cases and seek compensation. I fought when it was important to fight and i did what I could. I would do it differently and not give away so much of my precious time with Jazzy trying to advocate for a better deal. Sometimes s*it just happens and you dust yourself off and move on and for us, we got the best possible outcome from a lousy situation. Blah blah, wake up girls, I'm saying goodbye.xoxo