hey there again all you very talented mothers!!! hehe.

How are we all lately?

Sarah: thats a great start talking with DH and making a plan to help make your family time a little more functional, I hope you all find peace soon with each other and things get to normal in no time. MIL's can be a dam right pain in the butt sometimes, I have had a really bad MIL once but this one I get along with fine thankfully except I can only handle her in small doses cause she is a bit "out there" and when they come to our house they always total it and never help to clean up but thats minor compared to what your going through, but look on the bright side you have your beautiful little boy, and your lovely kids, its what we all live for... Its nice to hear you both are trying to make a go of it though with the kids. It is hard these days though getting any family time with the main worker in the household with the price of fuel and groceries and bla bla bla... my DH has been working so much overtime lately I have been cross at him for it but if he didnt do it, we wouldnt be getting by, so it does make it a difficult situation, I think many families are experiencing the same thing at the moment.

Fire: their sleeping patterns when they are little are funny arent they? although our little boy has a routine worked out for night time he doesnt sleep much during the day he is a little busy body, wants to sticky beak at everything thats going on during the day and if he does sleep its not usually for a great deal of time... I wonder if we have any other sticky beak babies out there? Should be plenty of them by now.. hehe just the look on their faces when they see something new.. such excitement.. like whoah!! hehe too cute!

Nettie: that is fantastic!!! sounds like Liam is getting into a nice routine for you there... how hard is it the first week or two or even the first few days??? gee they tend to wake alot for feeds! but it is true that things settle down, I think we need to allow our bodies time toget used to it all too. Even when Ryley doesnt wake up now I do anyway cause Im used to it.

alittlegrubi: Oh thank god you've been getting that too maybe we shouldnt worry then... I just dont remember getting it with my 1st bt that was 3 years ago... so who knows. Yeah you sound like me the first time around it took me something like 3 months just to be able to walk properly again and by 6 months I still couldnt bend over or reach up from the pain.. so I am doing alot better this time, they say your 2nds meant to be better dunno how true this is but I sure am doing way better. Been out gardening this morning and hasnt seemed to of bothered me when I get sore now I sit down right away and do nothing else for the rest of the day. I still wear those attractive granny undies too haha they are growing on DH! hehe, so my actual scar is still sore and I wont let anyone touch my belly or I will scream and I still do things at a slow pace, but I am healing alot better than last time. My MIL also told me she still gets pain in hers too, and I still did 3 years after but nothing severe just sometimes it would ache or sting a little, and even after 3 years I still couldnt wear anything too tight over my scar or by the end of the day I would hurt. sounds like you are doing ok though lovey.. keep battling on it will get better.

Oh and regarding the clingy baby syndrome... I know what you mean! my 1st was like that and she was a girl they say girls are worse for that than boys again.. dunno how true it is but this one was a boy and he is happy to just sit and watch me all day and happily smiles at me as I pass on by... every time I put Lily down when she was newborn > about 3 months... she would scream her lungs out like someone was stabbing her!!! And MIL used to say put her in her room in her cot and leave her there! Like hell! no way she doesnt know wrong from right she is a baby... so just stay patient she may grow out of it DD did around 3 months, and what helped more was putting her in daycare 1 day a week to. It sure makes it hard with a clingy baby for washing.. cooking.. and housework its so frustrating oh I am glad my newborn days with her have passed all she ever did was scream unless she was rocked or held, some babies are just that way... its nothing you've done dont blame yourself they just come out that way, I dont beleive parents set themselves up for this at all! unless they keep on doing it 6-12 months down the track... babies are babies they dont know any better and they are born with the temperement and personality they are born with and thats what makes them so unique and so special... so maybe she just loves her mummy a whole heap hey???