Parenting after LTTTC #2

Wow Neptune,Adam is such a cutie and such a big boy as well, and I think Tara is getting big but she is nothing compared to your boy. Sorry to hear that b/fing has stopped for you, but now your poor nipples can heal and as you said he can take it all out on the teats now.

Tara had her first feed today with Thickener in her bottle and I gave her some Infants Friend before the feed and so far so good, nothing has come back up and she actually had a very happy morning playtime with lots of smiles and no regurgitation. I'm hoping this may solve her reflux issue, especially as we have a wedding to go to on Sunday and I was paranoid that she would be a cranky pants the whole day..

Briggsysgirl, you gave me goose bumps. How cool these little people are. I have lots of vocalisations going on and I hope we can get some hearing before Jasmine stops making sounds. That's the only thing that upsets me is that around 6 months, she will stop trying to talk because she gets no sound feedback. We should know if the hearing aids work by then and can look at Cochlear implants. Anyway, so very happy for you, it sounds soooo cute. Is that early for talking?

Neptune - thanks for the sticky beak. Adam is gorgeous and i smiled all the way through.

can't stop...jazzy neeeeeeds me NOW.xox

Just wishing everyone a very happy new year.

For some of us 2009 was a year we will always remember and hopefully 2010 will be full of good surprises for our mum's embarking on the next TTC journey.

Have a good night everyone and enjoy your little tipple if you are going to indulge or if you are like me you will be in bed by the time 12.00am rolls around :lol:.

OOkk KellyD, love the avatar, is that new? Love it. I better update mine as I still have a preg belly.

Happy New Year to everyone, enjoy, see you in 2010.

HAPPY NEW YEAR GIRLS!!!! :hooray::leap: So much to look forward to this year :D

Hope you all enjoyed your New Years celebrations!

We went to 2 parties and didnt get home until 4.30am :redface: and didnt get to sleep until 6am! Trent was a GEM the whole night. We got to our first party at 9.30pm, fed him and he slept until we left which was 1.30am, then went to the next party and didnt leave there until 4am and he was still sleeping! He woke when we got home, so fed him and he slept until 8.30am. Him and DP are asleep now the lucky things! I of course was the designated driver so only had 2 drinks for the night. Im sure DP is going to wake up with a sore head!!

We had our 8 week appointment yesterday with the MHCN. Trent is now weighing a whopping 5.7kgs, I couldnt believe it!!! He weighed 4.2kgs at 4 weeks. He is in the 70% range for his weight. He is now measuring 57cms which is 7cms bigger than his birth measurement. The only concern she had was that she could hear a heart murmur so we have to take him to a GP to get it checked out. That is concerning but have been told its pretty common. Otherwise he is a beautiful and happy little boy :D

Kelly - I have been using the Karicare thickener in Trent's formula for about 2 weeks now and have found its helped his vomitting ALOT. I am also trying him as of today on a colic formula called Novalac which the MHCN said was a good brand to see if the helps his wind pain. Its made by the makers of Elevit and its got less lactose in it which apparently is what causes alot of the bloating and wind pain babies get. I'll add the thickener to that as well.

Neptune - I too have stopped bfeeding now. Did that Christmas Eve. I felt guilty as well and really miss it but as I have mentioned before, he was practically completely formula fed anyway so instead of having 100mls of formula after an hour of bfeeding, he is now having 150mls which he polishes off fairly quickly most of the time since we thickened it and changed to colic teats and it now gives us more "playtime" with him. And like Trent, Adam is a nice big and healthy baby so thats all that matters :D

BG - Trent has LOTS of fat rolls, hehe Have to be careful of them and make sure we clean them properly as milk gets in his little crevises! How cute about E and her "kisses", how could anyone resist that!!!

:hello: to Murph, Lily Dust, Marcellus and Megan.

Enjoy your first day of 2010 :D

Take care,
Tania

happy new year ladies! AND beautiful bubbas of course!

Murph - am hoping the hearing aids give you some hearing for your poppet and can look a the cochlear impants for her. i know a number of mummy's that use basic signing with their bubbas to decent effect already at 6-7months, and their children opt to communicate that way as well as through words - i'm sure you would be looking into it, but i wanted to comment. i know some of the mum's find the signing to be more effective communication than words for their babies... to answer the question about E's talking - i'm pretty sure she is advanced with her words. she has a range of maybe 10 words that she uses clearly, and babbles a lot more - she is a very talkative little vegemite! she says mum, dad, daddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, pup (for the dogs), boob (for drink - but it comes out very cute! kinda short and excited), ho ho (for santa - mummy is a bad influence!) oof ooof (barking back at the dogs - she started that one on her own!), hi, harro (hello) and now Kiss - the first time she said it i thought i was hearing things - DH was giving me a kiss while i fed her in bed. she came off, looked at him and said kiss. refused to go back to feeding no matter what i tried until she got her kiss - then happily fed. so we know that she knows what it means!

she is a very affectionate poppet - not very cuddly as such, but likes to be with people and talking to them. she will give EVERYONE a big glowing smile and can engage complete strangers with her smile and her eyes and chatter. have had a few compliments of late!

she is trying to crawl - kinda half commando crawling, but she gets around enough to be content. is loving solids and gets very excited when we put anything new in her. her latest "fave" is spag bol - with capsicum, onion, pineapple - she loves it!! and, given how messy spag bol CAN be, she doesn't make much mess at all!

ahhh, proud mummy waffle - should stop here now lol

I've been away for what feels like forever, but I'm back now. :)

Spent just over a week with my parents over Christmas and came home yesterday - good to be back at home and in our own beds once more. Having Sam join us in a double bed is nowhere near as comfortable as in our queen bed!

I'm a bit spun out to realise that I'm entering into my third calendar year as a parent. Not that Sam saw much of 2008, but it's when he was born.

We got through his party - and I found having things work out with his party as I wanted them to helped me heal from our birth trauma quite a lot. Managed to not kill any of the inlaws as well, which was good. Lots of cool presents for Sam... and then Christmas not even a week later and even more presents for him... he's done well! But I know that we'll always have to make a huge effort to ensure that his birthday isn't swallowed by Christmas every year.

I can also report that he walks! We got him a push along walker for his birthday (he got it early) and only just started using it to walk around... and then after only a few days he ditches it and will now walk a few steps without holding on to anything. He still prefers to crawl as it gets him places faster, but he actually WALKS! He now weighs in at just over 11kg... he's got so big! Has a few more words, but not many of them that we can actually understand.

We're currently having issues convincing him to sleep this afternoon - I'd best go take over from DH.

BW

Hi Everyone

Neptune: I changed my Avi pretty soon after Tara arrived. Strange as we all seem so keen to change our Avi to having a preggy belly but I couldn't wait to have mine changed to having a bubba included.

I hope everyone else is doing well and had an enjoyable NYE, I can't believe it is 2010 already.

BW: Wow that Sam is already starting to take some steps and for a little boy that came early he has certainly developed at an outstanding rate.

AFU: We took Tara to a friend's wedding yesterday and she was an absolute gem, no puke on her party dress and she ate when hungry, played with everyone and had a couple of sleeps early on (like during the ceremony...yay) and then crashed in her pram around 9.30pm and didn't wake when we put her in the car or into bed and didn't wake until 9am this morning. I was so relieved that she was so well behaved and a lot of people commented that they wouldn't have known she was even there. Here are some photo's if you are interested. Only a couple of the 3 of us as a family, but nice to have Login | Facebook

It also seems that the thickener I am adding to her formula is helping with the reflux as well, so everything is going along nicely at the moment. Oh, it is also hard to believe but Tara is 12 weeks old today..

Hi all
A had a fab time playing with his cousins in NZ. Was all good and nice etc...
Sorry, bit behind in here but will try to catch up. Have read your posts and sounds like all babies/toddlers doing very well! Good to hear.
must go...

Wow, Kelly, you look fantastic! So does your partner and Tara is a cutie! Sounds like she behaved herself too which is wonderful.

Where do you get thickener????? What's the brand name etc??? I'm getting a bit sick of Adam just vomiting everywhere, and it sounds like it might be worth a try.

Hi Neptune

It's Karicare Thickener, I got mine at Priceline Pharmacy and I think you can get it at most other chemists. It isn't available in the Supermarket, Big W etc.

You may find that you will also need to get bigger teats for his bottles as the formula is thicker Tara finds it too hard to get out of the normal teats. I use Avent bottles and have switched the teats to Pigeon Y teats (also at Priceline Pharmacy or Big W).

In the reflux forum one of the mum's also recommended "Infants Friend" wind drops to help with any possible discomfort with the change to the formula consistancy. I've found after 5 days of using the thickener I started using 1/2 the recommendation per 100mls to see how Tara went and was giving her the Infants Friend at every feed. I've now upped the thickener to the recommended amount and only use the drops at a couple of the feeds and she seems fine. I gave her a thickened bottle just before I dressed her for the wedding yesterday (although she did have a bib on for about 30 mins after her feed) and the only vomit we had was a little bit of overflow about the size of a 20c. I've also noticed that she sleeps much better during the day after she has had a thickened bottle and it hasn't changed her night sleeps, still getting around 12 hours.

Give it a try, you might find it helps with Adam's reflux and fingers crossed it will also help you get longer nights sleeps as well.

Hi everyone,

Haven't had a chance to catch up on all the news yet - but I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. We had a wonderful time, although now it is back to reality. I am in the process of negotiating my return to work in March of this year (can't believe that it has almost been a year since I was last at work). My work have been fantastic. The lady who is currently covering my position is only wanting to work part-time, so it is looking like work will agree to me returning to work 3 days a week and the other staff member will do the other 2 days. Hopefully they will confirm tomorrow morning that this is okay.

Also have had an offer from the childcare centre that is my first choice for Jasmine to go into and very hard to get a position in... so hard in fact that they only offered the position to me today and I have to confirm it with them by 12pm tomorrow or it will have to be offered to someone else! So I am just waiting on confirmation that work are okay with me working Wednesday-Fridays and then we will be booking it all in. So it is back to work for me - albeit part time from March 3rd 2010.

I am so grateful that I have been in a position to have had a whole year of work with my baby and even more grateful about the flexibility my work is showing. But I am already getting so anxious about being apart from my angel. I am sure that she is going to love it and the centre is really good with its play based learning structure... it is me that is going to find it hard I think! Jasmine is ready to explore the world a bit more and I hope that she will find this stage exciting once she gets past the initial separation anxiety.

Sorry about the me blab, but feeling very strange about this new part in our lives. Brillant thing is that my gorgeous husband is taking Jasmine and I on holiday to LA and Hawaii for 2 weeks in Feb as a gift for me for all I have done in the past year with raising our beautiful girl - as if I need a gift, Jasmine is more than enough - but I will enjoy this trip!

Jasmine is crawling like a champ, pulling to stand, cruising around furniture and even letting go and standing on her own for brief periods. She is such a joy.

Hope you are all well.

Janie and Jasmine xxx

Hello,
can't write much as I can't see the keys and am in my darkened room while Jasmine and DH are sleeping. Can't go into main house cos DHs folks are threre and the mozzies will kill me if I go outside. So it's quite comical sitting here in bed remembering how to touch type and not look at the keys.

Briggsysgirl, thanks for telling me about Emerald and all her words. It sounds so cute. I told DH and we look forward to Jasmine being able to talk one day. It will take as long as it takes but I am dedicating everything towards giving her all the opportunities for speech adn hearing. I won't be able to work even if I want to so it's just as well we always planned for me to stay home with her. It will be lots of work but fun and such a privelage (sp?)

Janie, nice work, a holiday in the U.S. You lucky things and what a sweet fella you have to show you he appreciates all you have been through. My man is doing something similar...well not really, he is going to Sacramento to give a presentation on his PhD thesis at a pest vertebrate workshop and I'm not going! See, so similar. NOT. :shakehead:

We seem to be out in the clear after some dodgy unsettled days and just in time for another car trip to Townsville, Here's hoping we can do our 7 hour drive in under 11 hours this time:wall: At least this trip is all for pleasure and not medical. It's my dad's big 60th bash and all the southern rellies have made the trip north so there will be more of the pass the baby.

Well I think my typing has held up but that will do me for now. Talk to you all next week. I'm off to check out those gorgeous Tara photos now. xox

Well its all systems go - work have confirmed that they are happy with the job share situation and me working 3 days a week. I have confirmed CC and we have Jasmine's enrolment interview next week. Can't believe that it is all happening and my wonderful year as a FT SAHM is coming to an end. I am looking forward to getting back into a bit of work, but am nervous about how Jasmine is going to adapt... or maybe I should say how I am going to adapt!

Murph - have a great time in Townsville and a big happy birthday to your Dad!

Marcellous - great to hear you all had a good time in NZ... Jasmine and I also had a wonderful time over there.

BW - well done to Sam for walking! What a clever boy.

BG - I can't believe how many words E says! What a clever little girl - Jasmine is saying Mumma and also Me when she wants something.

Hi to Kelly, Neptune, Tania and everyone else that I have missed - I am still desperately trying to catch up on everyone.

Take Care,
Janie and Jasmine xxx

Hi Everyone

Janie: Good work on being able to get your return to work and CC all sorted out exactly as you wanted. You will have to keep us updated on how you go when you have to start leaving Jasmine for a few days a week. I think you are right though, it will more than likely be harder for you than her.

Murph: Ahh, seems like you just went through Jazzy's 8 week "Wonder Week", good to hear you are out the other side of that one and hope you have a fab time in Townsville.

BG: Wow E sounds like she is very advanced with her words, must be so wonderful to hear to say mumma though. I can't wait until Tara is old enough to say that one..

AFU: Things are going really well with us now, it is amazing how much changes but Tara is now doing the following:
1. Sleeping 12 hours every night, going to bed at 9.30pm
2. Only having 3 feeds per day (I know doesn't seem much but she is generally having between 250ml-270mls per feed) although in the hot weather she sometimes has a snack bottle as well.
3. Now giggles and also has learnt how to blow raspberries
4. Loves the sound of her own voice, when she is awake she chats all the time

We have her weigh in yesterday and she now weighs in at 5.6kgs so an increase of 800grams on 4 weeks, based on this number she should be double her birth weight plus some extra at her next weigh in. So even though we are on the 3 feeds a day she is above average in her weight so the MCHN couldn't demand we go back to 4 or 5 feeds a day as she is putting on weight. Just goes to show that every baby is different in what they want and I have started giving her boiled water between feeds to make sure she stays hydrated.

Finally we also have a Mother's Group organised, after 3 1/2 months I'll finally get to meet other Mothers. Just goes to show how being in a rural town can delay things, but I'm looking forward to it as Tara can use having some additional stimulation as she really loves to be entertained when she is awake.

Anyway off to finish my chores while missy is sleeping and then we might go for a drive this afternoon to get out of the house for a while.

E has been a chatterbox since birth - she always gabbled at us, so we talked to her as if she was having a conversation with us all the time - we answer as if she's asking questions, ask her questions and all that sort of thing. she is advanced with her words, but behind in some other things (like crawling - she has the idea but pffffffffft to that mummy - i just want to sit up and play!). it surprises me how chatty she is as i know it's unusual - but i'm not complaining (YET! wait til she is a bit older and won't stop asking questions and is doing my head in again!

Lol BG, you really are going to be in trouble :lol:

:hug: All the best with returning to work Janie. It's a big adjustment for the both of you, but I'm sure you'll do just fine, especially since it's only 3 days a week.

Good luck for the long car trip Murph. Sounds like a killer (and I thought 5.5hrs on a plane was bad!)

It's lovely to hear how wonderfully Tara is going Kelly. Good job.

Glad to hear the party went well BW, and that it had a healing effect for you :hug:, that's wonderful. (oh, and also pleased to hear that no in-laws were killed in the process ;))

Better lose that belly Neptune ;)

Party girl missmagpie! Hope the checkup goes well.

And hi to everyone else that I may have missed.

We're good. Will be working a bit soon, which sucks, but will bring in a bit of cash. A 2-month stint should do me for the rest of the financial year, though, which is a nice thought.

A is talking more and more and sticking words together. Many of them are made up or sounds (rather than actual words), but never mind. we mostly understand him. He always wants to join in and help out, which is lovely though unhelpful usually. But I find giving him little tasks to do works well most of the time. Though I know I am entirely biased, I have to say he really is a lovely child :D

i'm anotherheading back to work. DH is currently out of work for health reasons, so looks like i'll be going back at start of Feb - only a couple of days a week at this stage - but i'm a little overwhelmed by it all! have to try to work out how to fit expressing into a day when bubba feeds three hourly round the clock (at least!) - fun fun fun

Howdy all. I promise I have been reading but i'm having trouble keeping up with you all!

Wonderful news in here lately with bubs growing, developing, settling etc. great to hear.

I had a big laugh to myself BG about your post above. E sounds like Celeste. You will be tearing your hair out soon enough if she continues to talk like C does. :lol: I did the same as you with talking to her all the time from birth. I remember once feeding her in the library and with all the quiet, the librarian noticed, and commented that she was talking to me even while feeding!!! :o (Obviously very muffled MMMMs) C is very advanced with her speech, her understanding too and can make herself very well understood. She says her pleases and thankyous and even says pardon when she "Pops off"! I started doing signing to her at around 3months I think and she still uses some signs to make her words understood (she's almost 2 now). Her first sign was Dog at around 5months.

I took C to the child nurse today to have her weight assessed. She has always been tiny and they want to keep an eye on it. She is 2 in 12days time but still weighs under 10kg. ( I was a little jealous reading about all these big babies above! :)) Well she is in the 25th% for height but not even on the chart for weight now! (was 3% at 18months) I'm sure she is ok health-wise as two nieces on her dad's side were tiny children so I'm not really worried but they are wanting to be cautious. we are going off to see the dietician so I can find out about calorie loading. the nurse keeps going on about cream etc. I want her to gain weight but not get heart disease!!!

And yet another doing the return to work thing. Back to work full time for me, with Sam doing one day per week in day care. DH will work in the office that one day, be home the other four days of the week with Sam and maybe pick up some freelance stuff for the previous company he worked for. There's the possibility that he can do some work from home too, so all in all we should be in a much better financial place this year. And because I'm a teacher (and work 10 minutes from home) I'll still get to spend a lot of time with Sam each day, plus school holidays... It's still tearing me apart inside that I have to leave him (even though it's mostly with DH), but in other ways I'm so looking forward to being back at work and stopping my brain from getting any mushier than it already is!

Sam's spent the last two days toddling around the lounge room - he gets about a bit like he's a ball in a pinball machine, he's just getting such a kick out of being able to walk! It's absolutely gorgeous to watch... and I guess I should just be thankful that I've got to spend so much time at home with him and have been able to see all of this!

BW

Good afternoon girls,

Wow, so much happening in here :D Ok, will attempt to get to everyone!

Murph - Glad to hear Jazzy has settled down now. Its so hard when they have unsettled periods. That sounds like a killer of a drive, hope you can do it quicker this time and a Happy 60th Birthday to your dad :D

Janie - thats great news that all has come together for you with going back to work and getting the daycare you wanted. Im trying not to think about going back to work, am aiming at this stage around June, but hard not to as things need to be organised. Im dreading leaving Trent as well. He will only be 7 months old then. Wish financially I could take the whole 12 months maternity leave.

Kelly - sound like Tara is very settled into a fantastic routine now :D Thats terrific!!! And glad that you finally have a mothersgroup organised. I really enjoy mine, have only gone twice mind you, lol Its nice to talk and mix with girls whom are at the same stage as me with their little ones. Hope you enjoy it!

Sazz - hope all goes well with the dietician. Hopefully they can give you some good tips to help Celeste put on weight. I dont know about the cream suggestion!

BW - sounds like you have things worked out for your return to work. Luckily your DH can work from home, thats ideal! I know what you mean about your brain going all mushy, mine already has, lol I miss the brain stimulation and socialising at work but like you cant imagine leaving Trent. I hate it now when Im away from him for a few hours when DP and I have some "us" time let alone for a whole DAY!

Hello to Marcellus, BG and Neptune

AFU - Took Trent to the GP on Monday and he said he can hear a very slight heart murmur which he isnt too concerned with. As for his hearing, again Trent didnt react initially to the GP rattling keys next to his ears, but did the second time. Again he isnt too concerned. He said to come back in a months time and he will check both again.

Trent went for his 2 month immunisation on Tuesday night. I was a MESS! Started crying before he even got them :redface: All these other bubs were crying when they were getting theirs and Trent was sound asleep looking so peaceful so I got upset at the thought of upsetting him. I am way too emotional! I gave him panadol when he got home and he seemed fine but last night he was very unsettled. Had lots of wind first, then at his 9am feed he decided to throw it all up and it went everywhere :wall: He somehow got it on the carpet too! He seems better now so fingers crossed.

Also ever since his birth, Ive had really problems with my right foot. Its been aching more than usual even worse than when I was pregnant. Nothing seemed to help it. At least when I was pregnant a massage or elevation helped but not this time. So I went to the GP today and he said I have "Plantar Fasciitis" which is basically the tissue in my heel is inflamed. There isnt much that can be done to help it and it can last for many months :wall: Its a bugger as its quite painful to walk at times and Im trying to lose weight! I bought an ankle strap to help support it and he said to ice it at night to help the inflamation. Also I need to stretch my calf too everynight. Im :pray: that these things help.

Better run as I have babbled on long enough, lol

Have a good evening girls,
Tania

Hi everyone - Happy New Year!

Finally coming in to post after spending some time catching up and reading the thread recently. Firstly, to all the "newer" Mums, congratulations to you on your beautiful babies! I have had a peek at some photos on Facebook, and they are very sweet, Murph, Neptune and Kelly!

BW - I'm really happy to hear that Sam's 1st B'day helped heal some of the trauma of his birth for you. I know that feeling about making sure that his birthday isn't swallowed by Christmas though - I think next year we won't be putting up any Christmas decorations until after DD's birthday (and a few days after at that) - I thought that might be a good way to separate the two events out in a way that she'll understand next time and in the future. It's wonderful that he's walking! It's such an exciting time - just seeing the joy on their faces as they realise they can get about on their own properly - such cheeky grins! :D Going back to work full time must be quite daunting, but I think with teaching it would be ideal - there is still much time in the day after school to be spending time with Sam, and I reckon I would appreciate the brain-stimulation so much too.

BG - Sounds like you're on track for raising the world's greatest orator! :lol: I wish I could hear her chattering away, so sweet - I'm sure she could teach my DD a thing or two already! I'm sorry to hear that Mr B is off work for health reasons - I hope his health improves soon. Hopefully your DD will get the hang of having solids and water when you're at work and breastfeed perhaps more when you get home before too long so you don't have the stress of expressing at work. By 10 months old my DD was taking very little milk in the day, although she still wants to have "snack" feeds regularly - but I think if I had to go back to work by that time she would have been fine to just BF before and after work - hopefully your DD will adjust to that before too long.

marcellus - glad you all had a fab time in NZ. DS sounds beautiful! He wants to copy and be just you like you! And it sounds like with stringing sounds together he's trying to copy conversational speaking but hasn't got the vocab yet - hehe I'm sure he will keep at it and be jabbering away all sorts of things that become more and more intelligable before long! Awesome! I hope the transition to work for you for a while isn't too bad for you too.

Sazz - I think when kids are young you don't need to worry about fat content in things like cream so much until their a little older, especially if you're wanting them to pack on the kilos a little more! Does Celeste eat a lot of dairy? Other sources of lots of good calories are nuts and seeds (so peanut butter, bread with lots of seeds in it, hummous or tahini, food made with almond meal/flour) oily fish (so salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel etc.) and of course lots of yummy full fat yoghurts and cheeses. Pasta and rice are great too for the calories. I've been getting into this stuff for DD as much as I can as she lost over half a kg whilst she was quite ill. She's almost put all of that weight back on again in less than 2 months so the advice about foods I got has really helped. We do lots and lots of cheese sauce here, which has milk, butter and cheese in it - not so good for mummy, but great for DD! I hope the appointment with the dietician goes well - but as you say - your DD is happy and healthy so I don't think you should accept or feel any pressure to "make" her put on more weight - all you can do is provide the food with the calories and go from there.

Kelly - Tara sounds like she is a happy, settled little girl - that's wonderful! I hope you really have a a great time at your new mother's group - they're great places to get to know good new friends IRL at this new stage in your life.

Murph - have you heard of wonder weeks? Often when bubs are unsettled and you've tried everything and you still don't know why it is it can be because of developmental leaps they are making that unsettle them for a week or so at a time - you could try googling "Wonder Weeks" book if you're interested. But glad to hear she's settling down a little more now. Hope you have a great trip.

Tania - First immunisations with my DD I was awful too! She fared much better than I did as she was asleep and whilst it woke her up and she cried, she went back to sleep a few minutes after! Actually my DD just had her 12 month jabs today and I've been dreading it all week - it's very hard having to hold them and tell them they're going to be fine when you know it really hurts them and you're submitting them to the shock :( The affects from immunisations generally only last 24-48 hours so I'm glad to hear Trent is well again. Sorry to hear about your plantar fasciitis. Do you have soft foot inserts for your shoes and soft cushioned shoes to use? I know this helped my Mum as she was recovering from it.

Janie - really happy to hear that things have worked out for you with work - especially with the CC place for your DD. It must be a momentous thing when your SAHM life is about to change back to working mum. I think you're handling it so well! I hope you have a wonderful time on your holiday as a family - and so well deserved you time!


AFU - the last month has been pretty flat out, starting with DD's birthday - we had such a wonderful little party at our house on her actual birthday - DD even managed to let go of some of the fussiness and clinginess that she's being going through for the last few months so we all had a wonderful time. It was our 12 months of BF which was a big moment for me too. Christmas and New Years were nice but busy - I had friends from Australia staying with us and after some time in London they're back tomorrow before leaving for Australia again next week. Boxing Day was a special one - DD has been occasionally taking little steps in the last few weeks before that but Boxing Day she started having a go at walking properly! She has this thing where she pokes her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she's walking in concentration at first, but now in cheek, and it's so cute! We went through a teeth grinding phase recently and thought we were out of it, but she's started doing it again :doh:

We're now due to come to Australia for visits and more IVF in May (we have 3 embryos waiting for us in Melbourne), so I'm pretty daunted by the prospect, but we'll be okay, I'm sure. In the meantime, DH and I are TTC naturally to take up every chance we have, but that does my head in all over again so I try to avoid thinking about it too much, and just get on with it without any expectations as far as possible. DH is 45 this year, so we'd like to do what's possible to have another child in our life before DH feels too old! In the meantime we've got a test run on the big plane trip coming up - we're going to Norway for a holiday at the end of January - 3 hour plane trip and 2-3 hour train trip to get to our destination. Apprehensive about the cold (it's been -20 in Oslo recently as parts of Europe including us in the UK are in the grips of extreme winter weather) and the trip itself, but it will be nice to have a change of scenery, even if we are stuck indoors whilst the rest of the family is out skiing! :rolleyes:

You'll have to excuse my giant post - it's really nice to be posting back in here again properly after a long time away and hearing where everyone is at - I've not posted very much and feel quite shy as I've been feeling like a bit of a fraud, thinking it would be important for me to pretend that everything has been wonderful, but I've still been having problems with PND and anxiety, but instead of struggling away more with it and wondering what the hell is wrong with me I've been properly diagnosed with an underlying long term mental illness, and I'll be starting to receive the correct long term treatment for that (intensive therapy) before too long, so I feel like a weight has been lifted and that I don't have to hide that I felt like something was wrong with me anymore.

Phew. Okay that's enough, otherwise I'll kill you all with sitting still too long in the one place and neglecting your babies. Look forward to posting a little more regularly instead!

To Megan, Shannon, Neptune and anyone else I may have missed :hello: and I hope you're enjoying your start to the new year!

Vaccinations here today so we'll see how she goes tonight, but is sleeping well now at lunchtime.

Bye! :hug:

Time for a new one, here :)