Babies Born February 2007 #8

Oh it sucks little Quinn has the pox. My cousin had it when she was just over a year old, El was just a newborn, so they didn't visit for a while (they live near Wollongong) so El wouldn't get it. I had it when I was 9 and my brother gave it to me. The end of my quarantine was Christmas Eve. So I was able to go to Grandma's for Christmas. I had it pretty bad, completely covered in pustules, inside and out. The perk was 4 baths a day (mum had this bath wash stuff), as I was old enough for showers.

Tash, yeah my family are all in Brisbane.

Just eating my dinner, back later perhaps.

Tash - Jemima has had Hand, foot, mouth it sucks, but she was so so lucky she didnt get the sores in her mouth. DONT what ever you do give the boy bonjella it makes it sting. And it sucks that there is nothing you can do but wait it out... you are lucky he is eating again... jem didnt eat FOOD for ages she went off solids completly and only wanted boob and for the week she was sickest could not even keep breastmilk down.... she was awesome though and between sleeping and spewing and stuff was still my smylie wylie.

Kirsten - i am so worried about jem getting chicken pox, wonder why they dont get the vaccination til they are 12 or 16 months?? hmm.... sicknesses confuse and frustrate me.... I just totally got up benji coz we were at a party and he was watching her and he on the way home tells me that she had some juice... i'm like what juice?? he said he didnt know where she got it and that he didnt know whos cup it was... i said well "harrison has a throat infection and that other kids apparently has mozzie bites all over him....." oh well she will be totally fine....

she was asleep in the car and now she is screaming when benji went and got her so i best check that out.....

Hello...Thanks for that Kel, wish I knew about the Bonjella thing a week ago when we thought it was just teething. No wonder why he was so upset.

Oh no on the Hand, foot and mouth disease! That sounds like NOT fun at all.
I have spent a fair amount of time calling all the mums of babies Quinn has been around and no one seems to have any spots yet.

Well this morning Quinn's spots are everywhere, especially on his bottom - there are just so many of them and they are getting all blistery - they look so awful, but he seems completely fine, eating well and sleeping well (he did wake up early this morning but went straight to sleep for his nap). He has a big one in his mouth and a couple on his palms, I keep asking him if he has any new pops. Then we do round and round the garden (round and round the chicken pop) and he thinks it's hilarious. None of them have burst yet apparently that is when they get itchy.

It's going to be a long week here in quarantine!

Kirsten, if it's any consolation, Bri had them when she was around 3 years old and other than a little bit of itchiness, she was perfectly fine even though she looked like crap! So hopefully Quinn will be like that and not "sick" like other kids get!

Oh, poor sick babies! I hate it when they're poorly and just cry and cry and cry all day and night. OK, it upsets me with the constant crying. Kirsten, I had chicken pox age 7 so don't really remember it, wish I had my school books from then as I do remember writing loads about it all with diagrams - yes, I was anal even then.

DS FINALLY went back to sleeping "through" last night (just over 5 hours) rather than up hourly so I am feeling a bit better. He did 7.50-9.10-12.30 then 12.50-6.10 and then he was up for the day. He isn't feeding overnight and I think that helps. He also finally accepts having a sheet over him at night too, I thought he was too cold but he didn't like the sheet, finally it's OK!

Um, what else... oooh, bad memory atm!

Lisa, congrats on starting your diet again. That sounds like a huge weight loss, I'm well chuffed for you. 16kg is really impressive even without a conversion to imperial.

DS is pulling stars off the Christmas tree again, because we hang one star a day on he thinks he can take them off too. Maybe this wasn't a good advent idea...

Hi all, I've been reading, but no time to post....

I will still answer questions about our sleep consultant when i get more time.... (if you still want to hear..... she was very good)

But just wanted to send big hugs to Tashie and Kirsten with sick bubs....

Tash, thanks for the heads up..... Monkey is now fine, but I wonder if thats what she had when she was sick the other week, so maybe she gave it to Tobi???? Very sorry if she did.

Nice to see you again, Lisa - yes I know Sth West Rocks, but not well - lovely... I'd prefer that to Newcastle, but i can understand there's more in N'castle for kids, jobs etc.....

gotta run...

kym, if Monkey had had hand foot mouth you would have known about it... they get spots on their feet, hands and mouth and spew alot and sleep alot
i'm really interested in what the sleep consultant said, but dont stress just tell us the things that make the most difference!
jem slept through last night for the first time in ages, she has been waking at 2 or 4 am.... now i am thinking it was coz of my dogs waking her maybe?? coz i kept 2 of them in the laundry last night and she didnt wake... hmmmm am going to try it again tonight!

Hello!!!
OMG all the sick bubbas! I'm so sad to hear that there are so many of them! Speedy recoveries to the sickly bubbas!

RYN _ Glad you are getting 'somewhere' with Liebs & the sleeping. PMSL about the taking down of Christmas decorations. Reminds of the hokey pokey. 'Mummy put the decoration on, Liebs takes the decorations down, Mummy put the decoration on & Liebs shakes them all about.' Ok, I"m delirious. Never mind me.:cryinglaugh:

SMYLIE _ What was up with the little-princess-who-steals-juice & the screaming? I hope she settled down quick smart. It's horrible to hear & see & worst of all it's horrible for the little one to scream like that. Hope all is good in Smylie land now.

KYM _ Glad to hear that Monkey is going great & WTG on the successful sleeping !I bet you feel like a new woman!

KIRSTEND _ How is the Spotty Quinn today? I know it's horrible, but at least it's something you can look back on & say 'been there done that' when he starts school. I had Jessica immunised for Chicken Pox quite late, but that was because my niece got them right when we were due to go to QLD for a holiday & of course they had been in contact. Otherwise, the Dr just advised me to let her go ahead & get them. She said it's like 90% given that she will get them in her first year of school. But because of the holidays she did the vaccine because of course we couldn't go on the holiday with the spots if we were going to get them. I hope that he is coping as best he can with them, he sounds like a real trooper!

TASHIE _ OMG @ Tobes! I hope that he is getting better with every minute that passes. How horrible is that. What actually causes it? Is it like a bacteria & of course being babies they pass it through their hands/foot/mouth from the things they touch & slobber on, etc...? What can you do to treat it? Anything? How long does it last? I feel sorry for the little fella!

BRENDANSMUM _ WTG on Nigel spending more time with Brendan. I wonder if it's cause he is a bit more mobile now & more interactive? I know Alan didn't really do much with my 2 when they were so small, it's a man thing, but it still sucks. Is Brendan b/f? So can you leave him with Nigel at all so you can get 5 minutes break?

LISA _ Awesome achievement on the weight loss honey! I'm so proud of you! I have like almost 30kg to lose myself, so I know exactly how you feel. What diet is it? I'm glad that you're getting your money's worth & it's nice that you have some inspiration & motivation in your friend who's achieved great loss with it too.

ME/US - I feel as though I'm losing the plot. I've been up since 2am. I got about an hours sleep from 7-8am. I've no idea what's goign on with my girls. Claudia screamed the house down if I wasnt' rubbing her back in her cot. I have a sore back & shoulders because I rubbed her back for 50 minutes, thought she was asleep, I tiptoe back to bed, pull the covers on & she starts again. I did this like 2 times & thought I'll put her in my bed & at least I can do the rubbing while I lie down, nope, princess wouldn't have anythign to do with that. I sit on the couch - NOPE, I offer to feed her - NOPE, I stick her in her bed & put some soft music on - NOPE. Grrr, in between that, Jessica is up & down like a yoyo too. So finally I just took her to bed & made her lay in my arms. She just started at me for about an HOUR! Every time she went to start to cry I just said 'no more' & she'd stop. So she finally drifted off & then Jessica comes in crying! Typical! Then today Jessica has been the brat from hell & Claudia is doing the whole clingy/crying/has to be in my arms every second. I've had enough! I've been on the verge of tears all day! Ok, I'm goign to stop, you've all heard enough!

Love Jayne

Jayne - You poor thing. I wish I could help. When does Alan get home? I hope your girls cheer up soon.
Kym - Any luck on the sleeping yet?
Kirsten - How is Quinn going? I heard that they don't give babies the chicken pox vaccine to babies because it doesn't really worry them until about 12 months old. So I hope this is true.
Michelle - When do you get back from Thailand? Maybe we could catch up before I fly home.
Sally – I am glad to hear that Brendan’s Dad is getting better and seeing him regularly. Will you be seeing him for Christmas?
Ryn - Glad to hear that Liebs is sleeping a bit better. I hope he is only going to get better and will give you the best ever Christmas pressie...sleeping all night for both of you.
Us - Tobi is back to normal. I actually thought he was going to be like that forever, so it is such a relief to have a happy baby that can play on their own again.
I went pillow shopping today and picked a pillow that my Mum can get me for Christmas.
What is everyone doing for Christmas? We have my DH's parent's and sister coming down on Friday night and then my Mum for Christmas. So I am really looking forward to that. I am very close to DH's family and miss being so far away from them now. Then we are flying up to Brisbane for DH's school reunion and back down for New Year's where we have a house full of friends staying for a week. DH has a month off work which will be good. I think we'll do heaps of day trips etc.
Love and Kisses
PS. 6kg gone now. I am hoping for another one by Christmas if I keep being good. For all you girls that want to lose weight too, lemon juice in your water and eating small amounts every two hours works wonders.

Hi All,

Well we had the peak of the illness yesterday, poor little thing was feverish and sad and cuddly - he had to be cuddled all day - which is fine by me, but it's hard work and I was exhausted, especially since he was awake most of the night before, but he is so much better today, very tired still (he had 4 naps - 2 of them on me) and the spots are starting to dry up really quickly - so it's not as bad as it could have been. Apparently kids get around 250-300 spots, Quinn only has about 100 - 150 which I thought was heaps! and none on his face - except the one in his mouth.

It's also lucky that he is little enough not to really understand the concept of scratching, so even though it must be so itchy he hasn't scratched any of them.

Last night he slept nearly all night woke a couple of times but put himself back to sleep within about 2-3 minutes. Even with me being as tired as I was, I was still on wake up alert - it's an amazing little radar that wake up alert isn't it? Normally I sleep like a log!

Yay for the weight loss to the ones who want to lose weight, I'm afraid I am in the Ryn category, people say "I hate you because you're thin" which is a bit mean - i bet no one ever says to anyone "I hate you because you're not thin!!"

Tashie: Hopefully the pillow solves your problems and you are in sleepy time very soon! And I'm glad the foot hand mouth thing is gone.

Jayne: I'm actually glad in a way that he has had them and we don't have to worry about anything to do with them ever again! I'm really quite amazed at how well he has dealt with it and how fast his recovery is. The doctor said to expect 7-10 days of fever and pain. I hope you've managed to get some rest - you're dong an amazing job with your girls!!!

All the sleeping babies - yay! I am so lucky with Quinn's sleeping! and I am thankful every morning when I wake up.

Oh and the extra bonus to go with the chicken pox - Quinn is getting his Vampire teeth - Ryn he will be able to come over and fix up your vampire problem soon :)

hopefully everyone else is doing well and that all the babies are healthy and sleeping for a wonderful Christmas :)

Tash, I know how you feel with thinking Tobi was going to be clingy etc for ever - in our world a couple of days can feel like for ever! - I often feel like Monkey is going to be a nightmare sleeper for ever, then we have a couple of good days and I forget... then it gets bad again.... I think its like the whole pregnancy/labour thing - we are programmed to forget the bad stuff, otherwise who'd do it again!!!

I'm afraid I'm in the "skinny" group too - except my weight is abnormally low at the mo due to BF - so I have actually had some friends "worried" about me!! And I am not particularly looking forward to when I stop BF and go back to my "normal" and not-so-skinny weight - I'll be whinging about diets soon enough I'm sure!

So, tonight may not be the best night to sing the praises of the sleep consultant, as we are having a total shocker - DH has taken Monkey for a drive, as all else has failed!!! Hence, why I have some time to jump on here!

We have had the biggest trouble with day sleeps, although night sleeping is still a prob, just not as distressing as day, as there is usually less screaming..... to give a quick picture, Monkey got to a point where she would scream hysterically even in my arms and the only thing that worked was driving. Michelle (sleep chick) thinks it is a combo of a few things incl. just fighting sleep, plus developmental stage, plus wanting to be independent but unable to put herself to sleep yet, plus teething (possibly...) etc. etc. etc.....

But here are the things that I felt have helped somewhat:

Some little routine changes that involved getting the room ready for sleep, doing our little ritual (books etc..) out in the living room then going into her room - previously I was doing all the wind-down time, books etc in her room then darkening it.

We also changed the order of the evening routine to help get her down.... (all you intelligent mothers probably already do this!) so now once dinner commences theres no more active play time, it's just dinner, bath, books, BF then settle. (we also weren't bathing every day, but have now started. Also this is now necessary due to crawling etc...)

I have also added music into the room for settling - to be honest I'm not sure how much difference it is making now that we are a couple of weeks in; at first I thought it was good.... perhaps I could switch to white noise... dunno....

We have given her a "blankie", which was something we'd tried prev without success - Michelle recommends using a muslin square edged with satin ribbon - she says the satin is "unique" in the bed (ie. its not cotton like the sheets), plus the babies are attracted to its feel. Monkey had a "taggie" when she was younger and we've tried little cuddly toys etc... but they always seem to provide too much stimulation and serve only to make her play rather than sleep. Again, jury is out as to how much this is helping - it seems to have its moments, but isn't a magic wand.

The other thing we are doing is trying for more consistency, something I'm not particularly good at! And because both day sleeps were equally stressful, we are only "working" on 1 of them at the moment - so for the morning sleep we go out every day and she sleeps in the car or pram. Then I am home to "work on" the afternoon sleep.

When things still aren't happening I used to have no plan or know what to do... so we worked out a system of having "quiet time" if she won't sleep. I have set up our guest bed so we can both go in there and chill out if she screams in her room and won't settle. Often within 20 min of this she will fall asleep on the bed and I can transfer her. Not ideal, but at least I have something to try if the cot or being held by me aren't working. Again, not a magic wand and I think as the days go by she is learning the "new" methods and is starting to protest to these too!

I think that's mainly it - some of it may not make sense because I haven't described what was happening before etc.... and I am pretty tired.....

Michelle said that if we can get days better, then night will be better too..... I do believe this, but it seems a long way away!!

And of course, we now have to throw day care into the mix!!! (starting on 8th Jan). I think I was stressing about the countdown to day care and what would happen if she couldn't put herself to sleep, and my psychologist (who is an infant/mother attachment expert) thinks perhaps my stressing about the future may have started her distress for these sleeps in the 1st place, but now I'm trying not to think that far ahead - the reality is she won't be able to put herself to sleep by then, so they'll just have to deal with it! I have found a day care that have said they'll do whatever is necessary include rocking her in their arms if they need.... little do they know it may not even be this simple!!!

Whoa... my longest post by far... hope I haven't bored you all..... hopefully if you are bored you are adept at skim reading!!!

Goodnight all.

Kym, here's what I find helps:

Laughter during the day. Laugher releases the hormone MELATONIN, which regulates sleep. DS is quite serious, so laughter is hard work, but worth it. I don't care how many times I repeat Bad Sir Brian or Jaberwocky now!

ROUTINE, routine, routine. DS knows we go out in the morning, home in the afternoon and he knows about bedtime. He usually enjoys his bath - we sing, splash and giggle there too - and bedroom is lights dimmed, sleeping music on, bedtime story (hungry caterpillar), feed and prayers, sleep.

Day sleeps NOT in bedroom, that was making it worse!

NO feeds overnight so no incentive to wake up. Luckily for me(?) he stopped feeding to sleep so feeding him would just keep me awake an extra 10-15 minutes.

Liebs did two lots of 4.5 hours 2 nights ago and then last night did 6 hours straight! So it does work. He's a sleep-fighter too. I spent almost an hour getting him to try to sleep again at 6am (wanted some time with DH before he got out of bed ;)) but DS wasn't having it.

Jayne, you poor darling with the sleep - is there anything any of us can do to help? I know my help is not going to be too helpful due to geography but if there is anything PLEASE ask.

Kirsten, wow at vampire teeth! I've seen some babies with molars before they get their canines through!

Christmas, we are spending the lunch at PiL's, then round to DH's brother's wife's parents' house (got that? LOL) for finger-food and Boo's (DH's brother's daughter) birthday party. So Boo's other Grandparents' house. Then home, DH unloads and then loads the car while I bathe DS and do his bedtime routine, then into the car and drive to Yorkshire for 3 days. I'm dreading Christmas Day - 2005 MiL told me I'm not family, 2006 she told us we weren't wanted ("we're going to Boo's birthday party so you will have to leave then."). 2004 we were with my parents! 2002 and 2003 were with PiL - I know 2002 MiL called me a dog, maybe 2003 was actually OK! Can't recall anything specific from that one. Still, I suppose I'll laugh about it this year. And this year Boo's other grandma made a point of inviting us as PiL were supposed to tell us we were all invited last year and blatently didn't!

Anyway, enough of my Christmas, is anyone going to get a blissful time just the family or are we all dancing in attendance with our little ones' grandparents?

:

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Anyway, enough of my Christmas, is anyone going to get a blissful time just the family or are we all dancing in attendance with our little ones' grandparents?

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ditto............ not looking forward to xmas day, or christening on sunday either... just over it all

i have a couple pressies to buy but they can be typical and easy but still requires me to have to find a park in busy shopping centre

i had biggest fight with parents last night, i cant believe jem didnt wake up i was screaming so much.... all stupid stuff (i had asked mum if she was free today as i have hair appointment i'd love babysitter for just to give me little break especially since jemima wants to explore everything and would prob get frustrated by end of appointment... and mum said too busy, NOW i find out she is taking my brother who is up on holidays to byron bay for the day... nice.... that is not really why i was annoyed but it didnt help)
christening is sunday and mum is still making dress and i have to buy food to feed people and ihave no money (both mums are making lots of food but i still have to do drinks and what not) (LUCKILY it just morning tea and not at my house)
and my kitchen not finished....... the kitchen dude left swearing on tuesday and is not coming back so benji will have to finish
ho hum

baby been heaps better sleeping at night though, i think it is to do with food, the more food i get in her during the day the better she sleeps

she was so funny yesterday i was lying on the floor and she was real cute looking at me then she crawled over hoped on top of me and spewed down my neck..... gotta laugh...

Oh you all talk too much and I'm tired... :)

you are always tired cate!!! how are you coping with everything? reading your boo hoo thread sounds like terry is being really good about everything?

KEL _ Are you talking to your mum yet? IMO it's the grandparents role to help in situations like that. My mum is many things, but she most often comes to the party when I ask her to for situations just like you're describing. I think it's the time of year too, everybody is going crazy. I'm still yet to check out Jem on facebook, I can't even believe I'm online atm, but mind you it's almost 11pm.

RYN _ Thanks so much for being a darling. It's nice that I know you guys are hear to vent too. Even if you are all rolling your eyes at me from your chairs, I'm venting, so it's making me feel better. A lot of the wives told me that the last week is the hardest & when you're patience is rock bottom. They are right. Alan is home on Sunday. I know it sounds horrible, I'm not overly jumping out of my skin to see him. Is this bad? I never realised that you're still not getting more than 4hrs sleep per night out of Liebs. How did you stop feeding him overnight, well I know how you stopped, but how did you get him back to sleep? I'm STILL feeding Claudia around 5am every morning, just can't shake it.

KIRSTEND _ I"m so glad that Quinn is being so brave & his blisters are healing up very quickly. IKWYM about getting the pox over & done with now. Oh ouch about all the spots though, that's insane!

KYM _ It sounds as though you're in a good mindset about sorting Monkey's sleeping out. You're doing it bit-by-bit & you know that if it doesn't work, there are other options available to you. I like that! I feel like that about Claudia at times, she is going to be my last baby, so I just tell myself that I won't be doing it again when I'm sitting in the dark at 2am! My issue isn't getting her to sleep, it's keeping her asleep!

TASHIE _ Just e-mailing you know....... 6kg is absolutely awesome! WTG girl, I'm proud of you.

ME/US _ Another action packed day for us, which means action packed cranky kids for me! LOL. Alan is home on Sunday. WOO HOO! I'm talking up Alan coming home on Sunday to Jessica, of course Claudia is oblivious to it. I have booked myself & a gf into the day spa for first thing Monday morning. I can't wait!!! Yay for me!

Jayne, I'd had 2-3 weeks of DS waking up HOURLY, every hour on the half-hour. That was awful! But now is OK, he only did 3-4 hours last night in one go but that's OK. As for not feeding, DS just stopped feeding back to sleep so I was up for an extra 10-15 minutes if I did feed him, so I just stopped. As for how you're feeling about Alan, I feel like that about DH - he should either be here or not, I dislike him going away for a few days. But then, he does leisure not work when he's on a fishing trip. You just get used to it being you and not having to cope with some other demanding person when the little ones are in bed! My dad was in the Navy so I sort of know what you're going through - you want to see him but when he comes back it all changes and it's so unsettling. At least you have the bonus that you want him around, I hated having my dad around within 2-3 days!

Cate, I hope you're settled ok in Brisbane now. I keep thinking of you and El, hope you're both OK and she gets used to her grandparents soon.

Kel, I'd love a break too! My mum has offered when we're up there, but DS doesn't know her well enough to let her look after him. I wish my in-laws were as good to me as they are to their other DiL - but then again, they have said they'll have him 3 days (well, 2 and a half) when I go back to work until there's a creche space for him. Which I'm not too keen on but it's still good of them. Please tell me you didn't pay the kitchen people in advance!

As for us... DS had his first kiss today with his girlfriend! Oh, it was so cute to watch those two baby-kiss each other, lean forwards with little open mouths... it was so cute. I adore his girlfriend and her family (she's 2 weeks older than DS) so he's made a good choice. Just have to keep encouraging it!