Babies Born December 2010

Hannah had her appt with the paed and it all went really well. All those weetbix and veggies have really helped and she's put on a whopping (for her!) 600grams in 3 weeks. So she's up to 7.35kg. That's taken her from the very bottom of the scale to just below average for her corrected age. If she continues putting on weight like this, her surgeon is going to be very happy!! She's never put on so much weight so quickly before. DH and I are very impressed. Got audiology in December, and then that's it til May!!
Hannah also loves antibiotics, having been on medications since she was born as soon as she sees a syringe she opens her mouth!!
Hope Millie improves quickly, poor little bub. I loved the video of her going up the stairs! She did it so fast, too!
With Hannah being an only child, she's never bitten. I hope she doesn't start!!

As for me: I'm still going along nicely, I feel like i've been pregnant forever already, tho!! I was so bloated last night, I looked pregnant!!
The morning sickness (or afternoon sickness, as it should be called) is still annoying me, with being in town yesterday I had a Big Mac. I didn't really want it, but was hungry. Bit mistake. Didn't vomit, but was close to it!! DH nearly had to stop the car a few times.
Still trying hard to keep it a secret, it's not going to be easy.
The paed that we saw is also an OB and I asked if I'd be supported in getting my VBAC and he said "Absolutely, I see no reason why you shouldn't get one!! Of course, you can have one!". So the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.

Better go clean up while Hannah sleeps.

Haven't heard from madB for awhile...... Where are you!!!!!!!

Well You guys are the first to find out, we are having another baby July same as charlotte. We wanted another but this one was not palnned as I wanted to wait till my 12months was up for our Private health as I didn't want to go back through the Midwife clinic. I'm going to try and find an OB in my area that will help me....... Morning sickness has started but it dosen't appear to be too bad yet, I'm only 5 weeks. Hopefully I'll just feel yuck without the vomiting and having to stay in bed.

Well Charlie is well and all the kids are fine. We get our pop up caravan on friday all the kids are sooooo excited............

have a great day girls
Cathie

:lol: Georgi, that's what we thought with Harper and i wouldn't have life any other way :) I really felt it today after another night of 3 hourly feeds i just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. Instead i cleaned the oven ;)

Charlie was a biter Georgi and Aidan never was. For me i found that it was generally out of frustration, a couple of times i saw it out of excitement and just a way of expressing himself. The way we delt with it was to encourage Aidan to say no, tell charlie it hurt, move away, anything but do it in return. Sometimes having it done back to them can deter them also but it wasn't something i wanted to encourage. Earlier this year there was a time when Aidan was covered in teeth marks :o I hope no one thought it was me or DH!? But you bringing it up has made me realise that Charlie hasn't done it for some time now. I had a few random people tell me to bite him back but i could never do that :)

Charlottle Hannah is such a champ and you and DH must be so proud :) Yay on the positives in regards to a VBAC.

Cathie woo hoo!!!! Congratulations to you guys that is so exciting. Not another poor mumma dealing with morning sickness :( It's horrible but a good sign of a healthy bub i was always told. Look after yourself and rest when you can. You guys are so lucky xoxoxo

Today was much better than yesterday, it was the hardest day i'd had with the boys in a long time. Aidan is turning into Mr Attitude and Charlie my sweet little 2 year old is fading and the terrible 3's is starting to appear. Did i say i was bored on the weekend??? What was i thinking??? It was better but i was soooo tired. Kids were in bed by 6pm because i'd had all i could cope with which meant Harper woke, 9:30, 12:30, 3:30 and 6:30 everyone was up and raring to go... I could barely open my eyes and had all three calling for me.

I can finally see signs that Harper will crawl!!!!! They've been very random but it's so exciting to see. She's also started standing up in her cot so when i go in to get her when waking from a sleep she's standing up with a big huge grin on her face.

AF finally came back yesterday. Longest it stayed away after having a bub for me. Loved not having to worry about it. It's kind of sad that it's back :(

Just got to share my woo hoo since i can't do it on facebook....

I'm going to Stevie Nicks!!!!!!!! :dance:

My friend and i had kind of decided we couldn't go because of $$$ and then this week she called to say her DP was going to buy her a ticket for christmas and so i kind of felt obligated even though i didn't feel great about spending that much money but just got a ticketmaster email to say tix are only $65 for 65 hours!!!!!! So we're going to see Stevie and got two tickets for less than the price of one!!!!!! So excited and because we've left it this late only have 2 weeks to wait till we go.

Soooo excited :)

Hey girls!!

I think it's quite funny that it's so quiet in here....it basically Screams 'i have an active child'. This is the first time in about a month I've actually pulled my laptop out!! Jacob is awake but I've braved it and I am just busy lifting up the laptop every few minutes when he comes back to smash my keyboard a little more.

Anyways, I won't try and track back but will catch up with what's on here so far.

Georgi - How's things going your way? Our daytime breastfeeds are very similar to yours although we have night wake ups here still..... Eden sounds sooooo clever!! DH spoke about sign language but I didn't think I had the patience....sounds like Eden is a natural!

Charlotte - Well, what can I say about Hannah except she is a star....she has done incredibly well and come such a long long way, you've done a great job too, you should be so proud. Congratulations again on the pregnancy!! You already know how stoked I am :) :) Hope you're taking care and resting whenever you're able to!

Cathie - CONGRATULATIONS!!! Wow, another pregnancy in the group!! That's wonderful news, hope you're feeling well and taking care also! Enjoy your new caravan. :)

EJ - We have some frequent night feeds here still too... just recently he's only waking up maybe twice a night but some nights we still have some shockers... :hug: hope it improves soon and you get some rest, I don't know how you can still function all day with three little ones to care for and entertain...I'd be lost without my occasional day nap with Jacob. Oh I got AF back last month - just in time for my birthday :( but hopefully it means things are going to get back on track so we can start trying again sometime next year. YAY!! That's great news about the concert!! It was meant to be :) and you truly deserve it!

PP - I did read about Millie's asthma, sorry to hear you're having to deal with it all, I hope it all settles down soon. :hug: Great news on the rest of the appointment though!! That's fantastic!

Update from us - Jacob is a confident little walker now, he still falls over a bit but he's walking more than crawling, it's so cute to watch. He's into absolutely EVERYTHING he can get his hands on though, so some major baby proofing happening here.. He's got eight teeth now - four top and four bottom... but he's currently cutting his eye teeth, they are a nightmare...lots of dirty nappies, bad bad BAD nights, lots of ear bashing and dribble... he even has a really terrible nappy rash the poor little chicken. Other than that he's great, he's so much fun now, he laughs all the time and is really interactive. I can't believe we almost have one year olds...it went so fast...

Better head off, he really wants this computer!! I hope everyone else is well, I'm so sorry for anything or anyone that I have missed. I do think about you all often. Take care!! xoxox

OMG CATHIE - You are super mum!!!!! Congratulations... Woweee.... I admire you. You just must have so much love for children. That's just fabulous news. Looks like you & Charlotte with be in the same belly buddies group again.

EJ - Just a thought - Why don't you set up a Hotmail email so you can use that on a new facebook page? Woohoo about the concert. You deserve a night out. My sweet little 2 year old certainly dissapeared into a horrible 3... He was such a sweet boy and I can't believe how much of a turd he is now :( Yes Eden definately bites out of frustration and Byron does say No Eden, that hurts. Hopefully the biting is only limited to his brother. He has had other babies annoy him but he just cries. So far it's only been Byron that he bites.

Charlotte - That's great news on Hannahs progress. Great job!

JULES - Yeah lots of persistance with sign language. But as my parents are deaf it's very easy for me as I don't need to learn the language first. I remember when Byron first started walking his day sleeps went out the window. I think he was too excited about it so wanted to keep walking lol. I also found the eye teeth to be a nightmare. Eden is cutting number 7 now

I also don't have AF yet. Which I'm more than please about.

Eden has been waking at 4.50am. Damn no daylight savings. We started dropping Byron's day sleep as he was waking at 5am. Now he wakes around 6.30 but Eden, grrrrr. I'm going to start putting him in bed earlier and see if that helps

I am starting to think about weaning Eden but not real sure how to do it. I was thinking of dropping a feed a week starting December 1st so he will be fully weaned by Jan 1st. Does this sound about right or is it too quick? Any ideas ladies??? I weaning Byron at 10 months so put him onto formula while I expressed and dropped feeds that way so this is sorta new to me

Oh, and I'm pretty sure MADB has been away on holidays

Another woo hoo from me..... The last two nights Harper has made it to 5 hours!!!!!! After about a month of 3's.... :dance:

Jules those 3 hourlys were really starting to effect me, usally the night wakes were something i was used to and my days were fine but it was getting a bit much. Yes i wasn't too impressed with AF returning either, good for if you want to get an idea of your cycles and timing to conceive again but it's just a pain in the butt otherwise. I still don't know if deep inside i'm done, we had a #4 on Saturday for a sleepover and were trying to work out the logistics of going to our BIL & SIL's for a bbq (only around the corner) and DH was saying thats it, definately no more this is a nightmare!!!!! :rolleyes: I won't give up just yet :D Yay for walking and even more independance, don't you love seeing the world open up to them? Keeps us extrememly busy but you want that for them so much.

Georgi i tried the hotmail addresses (i have a couple now that i'll never use from trying), i think it's my computer ISP (i think that's what they call it) that they will not allow. I could set an account up but as soon as i logged out i couldn't log back in again. If you keep reacting to the biting the same way eventually i think Eden will get it, it worked like that for us and thankfully Charlie only ever bit Aidan also. Just warning you from my experience 3 had some shocking times for me but thankfully they were passing stages. The difficult weeks come and go, some weeks the boys are so placid and easy going and then others they will agrue about anything and just be so difficult to get along with. Goodness me your boys are early risers, i hope you get a little more of a sleep in than 5am. As for the weaning i'm not much help with one who is still a regular feeder. I weaned Aidan at 13 months when he was only have a morning feed anyway and i knew that he really could't care less if he had it or not so it was easy. Charlie i weaned a few months after i fell pregnant with Harper so my milk was different for him and he started biting, so first off i cut out days and would continue to do nights but only for another month and then i cut them out too and he was fine with it. What are you feelings of how you think Eden might take it?? Right now with Harper it would be really hard work, she has 3 or 4 a day and 3 or 4 a night (hoping the nights are on their way back down to 2). Good luck, things you could try might be espressing and have it from a cup for a little bit or once he is 12 months offer cows milk and see if he is happy to replace feeds that way. Good luck :)

Well i'm off, going to go and buy some bunks for the boys today.. i wonder if i'll be able to put them together myself because i want them to sleep in them tonight :lol:

Hi all!

WHOOHOO Cathie! :dance: so excited :)

Georgi, I was a biter. Pretty much only my sister who is 2.5 years older than me. Even Mum biting me back or telling Jodi to bite me didn't work. I grew out of it eventually. Never on the face (which apparently I copped from another kid at playgroup) but on the arms etc. I have no wisdom on weaning (obviously!) but your plan sounds good to me. We're weaning Millie off formula and bottles in a similar way, she hasn't had her 11am bottle since Thursday (lots of water though) and she hasn't missed it.

Charlotte, hooray on VBAC!!!! and Hannah's growth, how wonderful :)

EJ Whoohoo on Stevie Nicks! Not so much AF though :(

Ah Jules, I hope Jacob's naughty teeth stop bugging him. The baby proofing is a nightmare isn't it?! Went to a friend's place today to meet her newborn and she realised very quickly what she's in for in about 9 months time :)

So, Millie is a lot better but she's a lot like me - when it's hot she just doesn't like to eat. She's happy with fruit and that's about it. She's off the prednisone and antibiotics but still on the ventolin, which looks set to continue for awhile. Plans are full steam ahead for her birthday party on the 19th :) I have finished her birthday dress! If I have time I'll make matching pants and hat.

Seeing my friend's little boy today was incredible - he was only 30 grams off Millie's birth weight and 1.5cm longer, but it was still hard to fathom that Millie was ever that small! My friend was amazed to see the kind of growth that can happen in a year. I'm so proud of her, her milk is still only trickling in but she's persisting with line feeding and comping. I made her a batch of lactation cookies and took her a jar of bf support tablets, so hoping that will help her out a bit with her supply. Man, everything she's going through right now I was going through 11 months ago. Unbelievable how quickly the year has gone!

Hope you're all well, thinking of you!
xox

Hi everyone! Finally a chance to pop in. Sorry am horribly out of date

Congratulations Charlotte & Cathie! Wowee you lot are keen ;) That's really cool that you're belly buddies again too

Miri has 8 teeth now too! What fun we had on holiday. Well, we did have fun, but not much sleep. Don't worry EJ, Miri was only just getting back to longer than 2 hour stretchs just before we came back... and now she's sick. DS has a cough and she has a fever that just keeps coming back.

1 feed per week is good for weaning, ideal not to do it any faster. The ABA has some info probably if you give them a call.

no af here :hooray: Don't want it till we want to ttc again as it is horrid. one very good thing about extended, frequent feeding. must find the silver lining.

Still not crawling or anything here. She just points and says, there, or this, as is her wont (and we are expected to take her there). Also blowing kisses now. And today at dinner i asked DS if he wanted water and she said esss. :lol:
I think we're on top of the poo problem after some very bad episodes. no on coloxyl to keep it soft... poor love.

but yeah, that's about it really.

Anyone had a first birthday yet? Must be almost there.... crazy fast.


ETA - Oh, for EJ, if you want to see pics album
album

EJ - I'm not sure how Eden will take the weaning. I think he'll be ok. He only has 4 feeds a day but doesn't seem to ask for them. I just give them routinely. I think his bed time feed (at night) will probably be the hardest as he's very routined and I did try once to put him to bed without it and he wouldn't go. I guess I'm more worried about getting Mastitis. I'll have to just give it a go and see hey, play it by ear.... So Harper seems to be still feeding like a newborn. Wow, that would certainly take it out of you. Is she in your bed at night? How long does she take to feed? Do you manage to get back to sleep ok?

PP - Yes I am hoping that his biting is limited to his brother. And that it passes quickly. Eeeeek, how exciting, Millie's party is not far away. I remember Byron's party was a blast. Everyone had soooo much fun. The alcohol probably contributed to that lol. We has a case of beer & 5 bottles of wine which we had to go back to the bottle shop for another 4 bottles. And it was an afternoon party lol. We had around 40 adults and 15 kids. It was great. Oh yes, I also had an experience like that when Byron was around 6 months old I visited a friend who had just had a 8 pound baby and I couldn't believe how small she was, yet Byron was under 5 pound. It's kinda sad really, how quickly we forget

MADB - Glad to hear the holiday was good. Where did you go? Bugger on the fever. Is there any other symptoms? Good idea calling the ABA. I didn't even think of that. No, I definately wouldn't do faster that dropping a feed a week. I was thinking that perhaps that was too quick. I'll probably be able to feel it, if I start getting sore lumpy areas that massaging doesn't help.

Thanks for the help girls

Just a thought Georgi, i fyou take it slow you may find that you get down to 1-2 feeds per day and that works ok for you even without fully weaning. Also, as he gets older, you'llf ind it easier to skip feeds if need be if you have something on or whathaveyou - feeding in the 2nd year is totally different to feeding in the first year. As their langugae and reasoning skills improve, you can set limits and explain why you're not feeding at particular times etc, and it can be very effective. Which also helps with the weaning process too.
With the risk of mastitis (you've been a prone to it, yeah?) probably good to be flexible and increase feeds again if need be to clear any lumps as you go. I actively cut DS down after 14 months, including night weaning, but very slowly 2-3 weeks per feed probably, except the night ones which were all at once because only cold turkey would work for him. But I resumed extra feeds, including night ones, when he was sick during the winter, which was really handy.

Thanks for the photos MadB, it looks like you guys had a great time. Were the kiddies ok flying?? No crawling on knees or hands here either but lots of movement around on belly, elbows and toes. I think she will do the propper crawl though. Sounds like Miri is great and getting across what it is she wants and some clever words there also :) One thing about the frequent feeds that i didn't mind was it's ability to keep AF away :) Considering she is still feeding so frequently couldn't it have stayed away just a little longer??? :(

Georgi maybe along with what you were thinking and MadB's advice leave the night feed until last :) I hadn't thought of it like that but yes, Harper is feeding like a newborn... cheekie girl. She is in her own bed but if i'm really exhausted i feed her in our bed. She is very quick and especially if i'm up feeding her i'm aware of when she is finished feeding and just sucking so swap sides and then put her in her cot which is does happily. And thankfully i'm always tired enough to fall stright back to sleep :)

PP good to hear that Millie is feeling better. Still so amazed at the determination in completing those stairs even feeling a little under the weather :) I went and visted a friend who had a 3 week old yesterday and just like you he was 8lb something at birth so bigger than Harper but he just looked so tiny and i find it so difficult to remember Harper that small. If it wasn't for photos.... :( I too am going to make Harper a bday dress (better get moving on it actually...) I've got a gorgeous red and white fabric that i plan on using and i just finished the invites last night which i have made red and white also.

Better get moving. Talk soon ladies xoox

MADB - Wow, thanks. I never thought of that. The main reason I want to wean is to get my body back. I just can't lose weight while bfeeding and I'm just hating myself at the moment. I'm still carrying 12kgs too much which is so hard on my 35 year old body. Though as you say the second year could be different and reducing to two feeds a day may help. I knew I would get some good advice from BB... I stopped trying to lose weight a few months ago when I realised it just wasn't going to happen. My plans were to start dieting (as such) in the new year. If it affects my supply then that won't matter will it... Hmmmmm, a whole new theory to think about

EJ - Phew!! The biggest issue I had when doing the night feeds is that I couldn't get back to sleep. I would lay there for hours, then Byron would wake up. So I was awake from 3.30am most mornings. Eden hasn't had a night feed since he was 5 months old. Though I still feel like I don't get enough sleep lol.

Georgi i never used to be able to sleep so easily but having children changed that for me :)

Just had a shocking night. Every 2 hours... I wonder if it's because her day sleep yesterday was only one from 9-11ish?? I fed her and put her in bed just after 1pm as i was going to kinder and had duty but she was not tired. So i left her with mum which mum said she was quite happy all afternoon, at one stage she thought she was getting tired and put her in her sleeping bag and put her in bed but she screamed. I need a better sleep throughout the night and surely she does too?? I have to figure something out and get it to work!?!?

Is she teething or sick at all EJ? Miri wakes every 1-2 hours with teeth or illness. Not fun, I know :hug:

She has no teeth and none that a can even see the slightest bit of white of yet but that doesn't mean i can rule that out in any way obviously :) And we all 'seem' pretty healthy here at the moment... It wasn't until this morning that i thought about her being a little cold as she had short sleeves on :dunno: It was a pretty warm night and the bedrooms were pretty warm... But anway we'll see how tonight goes.

So is Miri very similar? I know you did mention that she hadn't been 100% but does she do any long stretches for you when she is her well/happy little self???

I'm waiting for the No Cry Sleep Solution to arrive. Have you had any experience with that?

Yeah, there's some bits in there I found helpful.
If Miri's 100% well and happy she might go 4-5 hours sometimes, but since 4 months she's been teething, or sick, or constipated almost the entire time :wall: Ah parenthood hey?
Sometimes babies get into the habit of waking frequently and things in that book (or other ideas) may help change those habits. However (!), I think most of the time there's an underlying reason for the waking. Or at least that has always been my personal experience. And until you can address (or more likely wait out) this problem there's not much you can do about it aside from trying to make your life as easy as possible.
If you rule out teething or illness, then you look at developmental leaps & separation anxiety. If it's a constant, always thing, then it could also be soem sort of food sensitivity. But yeah, sometimes it's as simple as being cold :)

Georgi I'm glad that was helpful :)

I don't feel there is anything out of the ordinary going on for Harper i don't think. I am not aware of when to expect the developmental leaps but i'm sure they would probably be playing a part in all of this also.

I do get the feeling that with Harper Barper it's just habit and the sleep pattern she is used to. Like your Miri she's routinely 3ish hours but on a good night maybe 5. I think with having to cope with the reflux in the beginning and so much unsettledness we just got into the pattern of really regular feeds and whether or not she 'needed' them it defiantely helped in soothing her for the most part. The BB has continued to be the answer to everything for her because it's been easy, not her fault by any means at all... maybe more so mummies :redface: So i know i whinge and yes i want a little more sleep but i have such a happy girl so we must be doing something right for her?! You said it.... Parenthood!!!!! But i love it so much :lol:

I am hoping the book may just have a few techniques to help me gently change things and keep my happy girl at the same time.

Wonder what tonight will be... :)

Hi all!

EJ and MadB I hope your little girls settle soon. That book sounds interesting, although I think we have been really lucky with Millie. A friend said to me early on, "you'll get either a good feeder, or a good sleeper." As much as I hate to buttonhole her, I suspect we got a good sleeper. Feeding has never been great with Millie, and now she has so many strategies to avoid food... tonight she fed the cat her meatball. Nice way to buy a week's worth of rough pats.

We had Poomageddon hit this morning. Nightmare. Made me seriously question my decision to use cloth nappies, but grateful we bought the hose-friendly Ikea highchair :)

Millie cried at daycare drop-off for the first time yesterday. I held it together til I got to the car then had a little sook.

Night all.
xox

aw, that's hard pixie :(

Nah EJ, you're doing everything right, she's just different to the boys, that's all. No harm in trying something different - might help you out :)

Miri's still sick. We ended up going to ED the other day as we couldn't get a GP apt within 24 hours and she was feverish and pulling on her ears. and I was coming down with mastitis. so we both got seen to (feel embarrassed to waste emergency resources, but I would have been horridly sick if I'd waited longer for ABs and the bloody clinic wouldn't just organise a script for me). Anyway, besides a fever they couldn't find anything wrong with her. But she's still feverish. Occasionally vomiting. And now has the runs (though that's probably due to the ABs I'm taking). Maybe it's a touch of gastro or something :dunno:

Gosh MADB - Yuk. Mastitis sucks... Hope Miri feels better soon

PP - I've been lucky with my boys. They are both pretty good sleepers. I'm having issues with Eden's day sleeps at the moment but that has always gone in stages with him. Yesterday he slept for 3.5 hours on me. I ended up waking him cause I needed to go to the toilet lol. But he really needed it as he's been waking at 5 and only having 2 x 40mins sleeps through the day

EJ - You've been waiting for that book for a while now. When do you think it'll come? I read a post on facebook about it and quite a few people said they got something out of it. A few said it didn't help at all. The main thing everyone said is that it makes alot of sense.

I need to get going with Eden's birthday invites. I really need to get them out. I've started them but just can't seem to finish them... Need to do it today

Poor Miri and MadB!

EJ I had some success with NCSS. None of it is instantaneous though, that's what you have to remember. It all takes time.

We had DD sleeping through, 7 til 5:30 or sometimes 6! Then her dadda had to go o/s for 12 days, then got stuck an extra two because of Qantas dispute, and it all turned to mush, waking at all sorts of random times through the night, nothing like her old patterns. She was in her own room, but we have decided to give her a good week in with us, because we're quite sure she's feeling insecure, so we are just going to dish out the love. We're off to Sydney again in two weeks, my mum is finishing her radiotherapy, so we're going to go and help her out, cheer her up, and maybe even celebrate!

We're all settled into our new house now, I have an amazing craft space, and the creative mojo is amazing! I have been sewing heaps.

Georgi - I just delegated birthday invites to DH, I am just finding it too hard. Most of our friends don't care, funnily enough, we have to get them done to send to the grandparents, who won't even be coming! I'm a little bit cut that MIL won't come - in January 2010 DH and I really needed support from the ILs, and they wouldn't leave town because it was their first grandchild's birthday. Fine, I thought, fair enough, when we have a baby, it will be our turn. But now, approaching her 1st birthday, they haven't even been to visit since she was 4 days old. :( I don't even like them, it's true, but it's just not fair to DD, or to DH, and I feel for them.

pixie - I had a leak a week ago, third one ever, and it happened at playgroup on another mum's playmat! Embarrassment! Sposies leak too, matey, don't question your choice! Cloth is the best :D

Hi Audax, great to hear from you and that things are settling down (kind of). I hope the visit to your mum is a happy one :) Your sewing corner sounds wonderful, i'm so jealous my sewing area is our dining room table :lol: You IL are missing out. I miss seeing photos of your gorgeous DD. The sleep through that DD was doing was very very impressive!! More snuggles for you guys now though until she decideds to do it again :)

Goodness MadB i was hoping Miri was much better and so not good for you to be getting mastitis, i've had it once and if you knew it was coming i definately don't blame you for using what method you could to keep it a bay. Strange symptoms for Miri though, hope it's gone really soon.

Georgi my book arrived this morning. Yayy... Now just to find the time to read it :lol: I know i can't expect anything to happen too quickly and it'll be interesting to see if i can even get anything to change with my determind little girl. But i want to try something in some way and i know if i talk to my MCHN she'll just offer sleep school. I love reading and i love learning all i can about my littles ones so if not i'm happy to just read the book :)

Oh and MadB just to add a little bit more to the challenge Harper is crawling (the most i've ever seen her do today) and she's so proud of herself ;) What will this do to us?? :lol:

Last night was 2x 3 hours and 1 x 4. I was a little tired as i stayed up and cut out her birthday dress, went to bed wayyy too late :lol:

Off to cut out invites, it's a gorgeous day here i hope it is for everyone else too.

EJ - I am most definately loving watching the world open up to our little ones. They have all grown up so fast, nearly one already. Keep working on your DH, I think a 4th sounds fantastic! :) How have your nights been? I wish you a night of hours and hours sleep! How exciting with the crawling!! Go Harper Barper! Let me know how you go with the book, maybe I should get a copy myself!!

PP - great work on finishing Millie's party dress, I can't wait to see photos!! You girls are putting me to shame...you're so talented with all your sewing! What a lovely friend you are, baking lactation cookies! Sounds like she's doing a great job. I know what you mean by looking at a newborn and trying to remember ours being that small! One of my friends had a little boy a few months ago and he was 6pd 7oz and Jacob was 6pd...yet when I held him I swore he was smaller than Jacob ever was! :lol: :hug: sorry to hear about the drop off...that must have been tough.

MadB - welcome back!! We've missed you! Hope you had a lovely trip. Miri sounds like she's a clever little thing! Blowing kisses and saying 'esss' hehe, how cute. Who needs to crawl when you can get a free ride? :) How is miri feeling now? Hope she's improving... and you too, hope mastitis didn't get a hold of you!

Georgi - I'm feeling a bit confused about the weaning process also... There are a lot of things to take into consideration. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Audax - Great to hear from you!! Glad to hear the move has gone well and you're all settled. Good luck for your trip to Sydney, hope everything is going well with your mums treatment. I'm sure she'll love having you there. My in laws are much the same as yours by the sounds of it. My MIL has only been over twice and FIL once since Jacob was born. If it wasn't for us driving over to see them they would never see him. He doesn't know who they are and they get offended but really, who's fault is that?!

We're doing ok. Some really bad nights here, two hourly wakes up again...we were getting down to one wake up a night again but that's gone once again. *sigh* we'll get there. I feed him to sleep a lot though which is probably creating a problem but who cares really, it works... But I'm so sick of people pushing about when I'm going to stop feeding, he's not even one yet. I just don't get the big deal. Nobody even sees me do it.

Anyway, I better get to bed while I can. Take care xox

AUDAX - Oh that is sad :( Is their other grand child from their daughter? It makes me wonder sometimes if parents aren't as close to their sons. Even DH's grandparents make a huge effort to get to their great grandchildrens 1st birthdays. Unfortunately I don't think they're going to make it to Edens. They live on the central coast of NSW and they're in their 80's, though they have met Eden numerous times. Bugger about the wakings. Hope she settles soon

EJ - Oh yay, finally! Hope you get a chance to really get into reading it. Keep us informed as to how you're liking it.

JULES - When do you think you will wean? Are you planning to let him self wean or do you think you'll do it earlier? I don't know how people these days don't realise that it's important to breastfeed during the first year and many people continue for more and it's NORMAL to do that... It's normal to want to nourish and comfort your child. When Eden was 9 months my friends mum (who also has a grandson the same age as Eden) said "Oh, you're STILL breastfeeding" Ah, yes... He's only 9 months old

Gosh I've got a niggly back.. I hope it gets better soon. I played squash on Wednesday than tennis on Thursday (I haven't played tennis for 6 years) so that would've done it

I've finished the invites! Just gotta get them out now

Sorry to hear about the in-laws Audax, that's such a shame. It's them that's missing out, too.
All the best to your mother. I'm sure it'll be lovely for her to have you all there.

Ah! New skills. Forget about sleeping then EJ :lol:

As I said to Georgi, feeding in the 2nd year is a whole different ball game - easier and totally negotiable between you and your toddler. I plan to just let Miri decide - but if it gets a bit much or things change, we can be flexible about it. With Ari I cut him back as I thought I'd have to wean to go back to IVF, though in the end I discovered I didn't.
I think a lot of people in our culture think you *have* to actively wean your child. You don't. If you are content to wait, then they will stop themselves when they are ready. Also, mothers of older toddlers often find they can negotiate the ending together. I think the reason many people think this way is because we tend to wean very young in the West, when of course you will have to actively cut it out. It's fine if that's what you need to do, but don't feel that you have to just because. I don't suppose you've got an ABA group out your way do you Jules? It can be nice to hang out with a group of other mothers where it just isn't an issue.

And feeding to sleep doesn't make their sleep worse (I dont' reckon, and despite what many people will say) it just makes your life easier :). DS stopped feeding to sleep at bed time around 10-11 months. What a pain! And he still didn't sleep through. Just meant it took aeons to get him to sleep.

Hope the back is better soon Georgi! Take it easy.

Hope everyone has lovely first birthdays. We won't be doing one :redface:, just a little family thing. Miri is still sick. I am feeling extremely strung out. Oh, and today she's not wanting to feed. Think her mouth is sore or something? She'll drink from a cup, but doesn't want to suck at the breast.

Hi georgi :hello:
HI Jules :hello:
great to here from you guys.
MadB - How was the holiday?
PP - Oh Millie crying at day care, Big hugs for you. I would be such a big baby....
EJ - sewing Harpers birthday dress, you are such an amazing women. I can't even sew a button on heheheheheh :rofl:
Audax - just big hugs from me :hugs:

AFM - I'm not too sick this time, it's amazing I feel yucky but i'm not throwing up and I can still do things. Usually I'm in bed nearly all day......
Well I can't complain charlie boy has a bottle before he goes to bed at 9.00pm in bed at 9.30pm and sleeps to 9.00am the next day. Sometimes he may wake during the night all I have to do is put his dummy in his mouth and he goes back to sleep. The twins on the other hand are a paing they wake maybe 4 times during the night,I'm pulling my hair out with them........

Cathie do both the twins wake eachother throughout the night or do they both just have habits in waking?? For me i just think i was lucky with the boys sleeping habits, not that Harper's is bad it's just i wish the night time lengths were slightly longer.

Cathie you should see my dress!!! I love it... There is just one slight issue with it, i'm not sure if it's something i've missed or what but it's a reversible wrap dress and has little ties inside and out depending on which way you wear it but somehow i've ended up with one lonely little strap under one of the arms :redface: Nothing i can't fix but not too sure how and why it happened :lol:

Great to hear that the MS is being kind to you, how would the house survive if you couldn't get out of bed!? :)

:lol: There's always something isn't there MadB :lol: Any answers yet on the illness?? Did Miri get a bit hungry/thirsty/cuddly and want a feed?? There has to be an explination for her symptoms.

MadB i do agree with you on the feeding to sleep making it easier (most of the time), i love it it's just the times i want a little bit of freedom and maybe not be there for a bed time that makes it really hard. Which is what will happen when i go to the Stevie Nicks concert. But for all the times that i'm there i love it.

Weaning for me isn't on the cards as yet. Even with my.... feeding to sleep 'issues' :redface: Aidan being my first i was really proud to make it to 13 months, with Charlie boy i always intended on going a fair bit further but i fell pregnant and it was cut short earlier than i planned so with Harper Barper i really want to try and feed her as long as she wants to... a fair way into next year if possible. Breastfeeding any length of time is an achievement :D

I think i'll get to bed early tonight, the last 3 nigths it's been after midnight as i've been sewing. Like i said to Cathie the dress has come out great and it fits Harper really well, i just have to figure out my lonely strap issue.

Talk soon girls xo

EJ - Bahahaha.. The lonely strap.

CATHIE - Don't worry, I can't sew either. I wish I could though. I have been thinking of doing a short sewing course just so I can learn the basics. Glad to hear the MS isn't too bad. I was awful in my pregnancies

MADB - Gosh I hope she feels better today... The poor little mite

Eden's cutting another tooth. It's almost out. He's sooooo whingy, wanting to be picked up all the time

Hi all,

MadB, I hope you were able to avoid mastitis? How are you and Miri going? Hoping you're not feeling too strung out :hug: I found coming back from the trip was pretty disruptive so hopefully things will settle down for you soon. Is there anything you can do to relax?

Georgi, hooray for party invites! I got all our rsvp's this weekend so have started cranking up to party planning overdrive :D Hope your back is better.

Audax, it's great to see you back! Your craft space sounds awesome :) I feel a bit isolated when I sew as my room is upstairs, but during the day while Millie's sleeping, it's fine. Oh, I love cloth too (fluffy mail this morning, squee!) - it's just cleaning up a disaster nappy is not too much fun. Still determined to use cloth, but perhaps also more determined to buy a little squirt :)

EJ, hooray for Harper crawling! The lonely strap made me giggle, I always have something minor happen to my projects :)

Ah Jules, if I've learned anything this year, it is that "if it's not a problem for me, then it's not a problem." I know my Mum and sister don't approve of how we are raising Millie and I'm incredibly fed up with their negative comments. Mum even went all tight lipped when I spoke about what I'll do differently to try and bf longer when #2 comes along, so I know ahead of time that I won't have her support then, either. Oh well, if I don't have the expectation, then I can't be disappointed, right?! You do what is right for you and Jacob, and I agree with MadB - if the people around you can't handle it, find some people who can! I know it may be easier said than done due to geography, but hey, we're spread right around the country and you can still come to us for support :) Hugs to you - you're doing a cracker job with your little man!

Hey Cathie, glad you're not feeling too wretched this time, can't be easy with the twins though. Let me know when you're feeling well enough to catch up :)

As for us, Millie is going great guns, although has been suuuuper clingy. Her top gum is so swollen, it looks like the eye teeth will be the first through, which is how mine came through. Her latest trick is to sit on her bottom and swivel around in circles while she's playing or "reading" - so funny :) I can't believe she's one on Friday, the year has gone so quickly. I love seeing her grow!

I hope you're all well, I have to go as she's awake early today!
xox

is millie our first one year old? The time really does fly by. I'm glad this time I've tired harder to just make the most of the precious baby time, before you know it they're a preschooler about to start kindy (eep!)

EJ - that lonely strap sounds very much like my sewing efforts. Always stuff something up. Each time I do something it's a little less frankenstein, though. :lol: Haven't had a chance to sew anyting for ages.

Well, back to docs yesterday and got a urine sample - I rock at getting urine, btw ;) - and he thinks it's a UTI, though sent off to pathology. She's started on ABs anyway - hope it actually is an infection. She's definitely doing better in any event, as she actually slept last night! puked up her midnight dose of ABs (oh well) but slept otherwise and still asleep now. :o. She has a lot of making up to do, I think.
knocked the mastitis on the head quickly, but now thrush of course :D going to try the garlic cure tonight and lots of yogurt in the mean time (hate natural yogurt). But at least this has renewed my resolve to cut out sugar again.

Do they wake up at the same time cathie, or are they really tricky and take turns? You still need up change your username, you know. Guess you can skip cathie6 and go straight to cathie7....

EJ - yay on the dress, i'm sure you will work something out with the strap. I still think you are sooo clever. My hubby was in the Navy for 10 years so he sews and irons in my house.
PP - One on friday wow. What are you doing for Millie's first birthday.
Georgi - Charlie follows me around the house climbing up my leg wanting to be picked up.BOYS
MadB -The twins decide to take turns. they don't wake each other it just well planned out. yeah I will have to change my username.....

Cathie

PP - Eleanor is a spinning top too! She loves to sit in the middle of a circle of books and spin around, reading each one, then putting it back down. Sooooooo cute. A little squirt will change your life! We didn't have ours while we moved, but now it's set up again and I am just thrilled to have it back. Speaking of, I should go hang out some washing while the princess sleeps.

We got Nellie on the bike for the first time over the weekend. Absolute and total win, she just loves it, and grins from ear to ear the whole way. I am thrilled, as I'd really missed my riding, and now I can just take her out with me any time I like.

But in even better news... we got a sleep through last night! 7:00-5:40, with a brief yell at 2am, which I don't count because by the time I got into her room she was back to sleep, so I just sat and watched her for a while. So beautiful.

We will be letting Eleanor self-wean. I feel quite emotionally prepared for it; she's been such a chronic boob-refuser in her first year that I wo't be surprised if it's early.

Anyway, I reeeeeally should get to this washing. Back soon!

PP - I love planning parties... I think I mentioned we are having a train theme for Mr Choo Choo.. But I can't seem to find a train cake that I like. The one out of the womens weekly is ok, but I'd rather a Thomas the tank 'style' where it's just one big train. But I'd rather not do Thomas. I'll keep looking in hope to find something. Oh, and I have a VERY different parenting style to my sister. She just doesn't say anything anymore (it took nearly 3 years). I was talking to her yesterday about weaning Eden and was waiting for her to say something about how I should have done it ages ago & why did I BF for so long, but she didn't. She just listened. I hope your family will get to that stage too.

MADB - What's your secret to catching wee? I've only had to ever do it once and it was so difficult. He kept weeing out of the bag. I ended up catching a very small amount but the pathologist said it was enough. So glad she slept for you. Hope she had a good sleep last night too. I've also re assessed my diet, starting yesterday. No more eating when I'm bored!

CATHIE - Oooooh, a sewing husband... Gees I would love that!

AUDAX - Yay on the sleep. Wow, you sat and watched? Gees I would've run straight back to bed to sleep! lol

I forgot to mention my back is better. I went for a long walk/jog on Saturday & did around 20mins stretching afterwards which did the trick. Phew..

Eden's tooth cut through yesterday so he seems much better so far this morning. Though he didn't sleep much yesterday. Only 30 minutes in the morning (we just couldn't re settle him) and as we went shopping after lunch he fell asleep in the car and I had to carry him through the camping shop while he slept in my arms lol. Put him back in the car still sleeping, but when I tried to transfer him to the cot he wouldn't go back to sleep. So he probably had a total of 40 mins or so. Thankfully he didn't turn ferral at dinner.

Woohoo, finally DH has agreed to going camping. We're going this weekend with friends. We have to borrow a double/queen air mattress for ourselves but we have one for Byron & we'll be taking the portacot for Eden. We have a 10 man tent so there should be enough room. Eden's been waking around 5/5.30am so I hope being in a tent doesn't mean he'll wake with the sun at 4.30....

Hi ladies!

Man, it's smoky in Sydney tonight... hazard reduction burns are messing with me! Cathie, are you and yours okay?

MadB, yup, Millie was 15 days early so we're honorary members of this forum :) I'm completely stunned that it's a year already. I hope you guys are doing better? Millie was put on amoxyl at first for the UTI but the pathology came back saying the bug was resistant to it! Argh! So she ended up on Keflex. I got a babybiotic for her as well, which the chemist had just started stocking. I hear you on wanting to cut out on sugar, it's damn hard thought isn't it?

Cathie, we're having a party on Saturday in the park where we walk with mother's group. We had our mg party in that exact spot last Friday! It's going to be pretty big :) We'll have a BBQ and lots of baby friendly finger food, and I'm making a butterfly cake. I can't wait... Millie brings us such joy and it will be wonderful to celebrate a year with her... augh, I'm choking up a little!

Oh, Audax, you sound so content, it is just wonderful! I'm so happy for you :D

Georgi, are you able to hire a tin? I was able to hire an oddly shaped tin from my local cake decorating supply store for Mum and Dad's anniversary and I'm sure they had trains, castles, even football moulds! Worth a look, and of course much cheaper than buying one you'll never use again. Glad your back is better :)

Millie gave me a look of betrayal as I left her at daycare again this morning but was so happy to see me this afternoon - I've certainly been forgiven! Work is MAD. Insane. There's no way I'd want to do more than 3 days, but I seem to spend those 3 days getting my head above water, then I have the 2 days off, and then... repeat. Week after week. I know I get the holidays but sheesh!

Hope you're all well!
xox

Georgi how is that tooth going? Has Eden become a little happier? I'd check out if you're able to hire a cake tin also, saves cluttering the cupboards. Enjoy your camping weekend it sounds like you're all set. I bet the kids will love it :)

Audax getting on the bike sounds great, soon enough Ellie will be on her own (maybe a little way off yet :lol:) That sleep through sounded fantastic, good opportunity to rejuvenate the batteries. Mine are really really low.

PP did you get the email pattern? Hope Millie's teeth come through without too much discomfort. Millie's party in the park sounds great, i hope the weather is perfect for you. In my experience 1st birthdays are so exciting but a little emotional at the same time to think that year has passed just like that!! Ohhh but the 2nd year is so much fun :)

MadB how is Miri going? I hope those meds are kicking and she's much better. So good to hear she finally got a good rest in, the poor chicken must have really needed it. Hope you're able to feel a little rested also.

Cathie still feeling good?? I hope everythings travelling along nicely for you.

Well i solved my lonely strap problem. It's acutally meant to be there :doh: But a little strangish at the same time. The dress is supposed to be reversible so depending on which way you wear the dress two straps aren't being used. The inside isn't that big an issue because you don't see it but the one on the outside just hangs. So looking closely at the pattern picture i think what they have done is tied that strap in on bow on itself, not sure if that makes sense. And reading a little further on the instructions it does say the strap is supposed to bet there :redface: Should have read my instructions properly. So anyway i have decided to remove the two unused straps as i will not be using it as a reversible dress. Problem solved :lol:

So i could go and try and finish that right now or i could go to bed and read this book because i need help. Last night was about 4-5 wakes. I've decided to wrap her tonight (angle wrap) so i'm curious to see if she'll love it or hate it. I did have her in the sleeping bag both arms free but i'm looking for anything that may help. Going back to this is really not want i want to do but i want sleep and until i can get this book read or understand some things to try i'll give anything a go.

Bed time for me, hope you're all good ladies :)

Georgi - what about a train platform with tracks and a toy train? You could decorate with all manner of things, maybe even make some fondant fixtures for ticket machines or seats or something.

Eleanor's cake will just be a round vanilla cake, decorated with spotty edible paper, pink glitter and red fondant butterflies.

EJ - lonely strap sounds weird! I'm a shocker for following pattern instructions. And things turn out funny, but I never learn my lesson :rolleyes:

In other extremely exciting news... I had a pap smear today. That was fun. Kind of. Eleanor just sat on the floor gnawing on her puzzle pieces and playing peekaboo behind the curtain - she was so funny that I didn't even notice what was going on downstairs!

What a great distraction A!
That's a pretty impressive cake. DS' first was a dairy & wheat free fruit cake. It was inedible and noone ate it. DS' 2nd was a lamington train cake with grapes as cargo. DS ate the grapes.
I might make one with DS for Miri's birthday. No doubt it'll be chocolate if he gets to pick. quite possible with pink icing. don't think I'll let her have any though :lol: I'm mean.

Well the afterhours clinic called this evening with the pathology results. The ABs she's on are ok, but there's another one that's better for the infection she has. we have an apt with GP tomorrow morning so will get a script to switch over then. yay. she's not sleeping again and grumpy. guess she's still probably feeling crap.
Went to our first signing class today. DS was a little toad about going and refused to get out ofhis pyjamas, but really got into it once we were there. Miri was less impressed, but start started playing with the toys by the end, so hopefully she'll like it once she gets used to it.

oh, for the wee - doc said they don't do bags anymore as the results are accurate (or something?) so we got a little jar thingy. And he just sort of passed it over with a slightly apologetic expression and said just do your best. Well I ended up putting her on the potty with the cup in under her (on an angle so it was just at the front). worked a treat.

PP - Oh good one!!! I saw a tin yesterday at Spotlight but it was $45. They did have 30% off but that was still too much for, as you said, something i'll never use again. I don't know where there is a cake decorating shop around but I'll let my fingers do the walking.....

EJ - He wouldn't sleep yesterday afternoon and woke at 4am! I ended up feeding him around 4.30 and he went back to sleep, still asleep now... The poor mite.. I can't see any other teeth, just the one but who knows... Oh, your night sounds terrible. How did the wrapping go? Gosh, I can't imagine how you would find the time to read a book.... Hope you can get it read soon

AUDAX - Edible paper is a great idea, Eden LOVES eating paper lol. Yes I did think of using a toy train but felt it just wasn't the same. I guess it's just not what I had in mind... Bahahaha... A pap smear fun... Too funny

MADB - But how did you know when she needed to wee? What do you mean by signing class?