Babies Born February 2007 #9

[Tashie]

Hi Girls,
We have had a HUGE couple of weeks with friends and reallies coming out of our ears. They have all left now and we are slowly getting back to normal, though Tobi is so out of whack I think he is getting used to only having one sleep a day. Which I am sure you all agree, is not the best of news and he is still too young to only have one sleep. He has coped really well with having people come and go and swapping from porta cot to cot, from room to room. His sleep patterns only got out of wack because he didn't want to miss out on anything and would only go to sleep when he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer. Luckily he still has been sleeping well at night, but getting up too early for the likes of us who are on holidays and are staying up too late.

To those girls that are still getting up with their bubs during the night, my thoughts are with you. Tobi still wakes up on average once a week. But I haven't feed him during the night for nearly four months. So he knows there is no point in waking up as he isn't going to get anything anyway.

We have a routine here. Not too strict. But I do keep an eye on the clock on how long he has been awake for since his last sleep etc. Normally it is about 2.5-3.5hours between naps and Breaky is at about 8.30am, Lunch at 12pm and Dinner at 5.30pm. It works well for us and it helps me be able to plan our days around sleeps, meals etc. I have noticed that if we are out a lot during the day, then it is impossible to keep his normal sleep times.

I too have dropped a feed this week. Tobi still has a big boobie feed first thing in the morning and then again at about 3-4pm. He is eating so well now and drinking heaps of water that he hasn't been that interested in the lunch time or dinner feed anyway, so now he has an afternoon tea feed. I don't think he has even noticed. I tried him on a small amount of milk the other day and he seemed to like it, but only had a couple of mouthfuls. I can't believe that my boy that we had so much trouble with getting to eat a few months back is now eating huge meals. He has a piece of toast with Vegemite and melted cheese and yogurt for breaky. Lunch is a banana and a bit of whatever we are eating. Today it was baked beans. Dinner he has what we eat. Tonight it was buritto mince, cheese, beetroot, tomato, pita bread. And without a doubt if you offer him mango. No matter how full he tells you he is, he will always fit some in, if not the whole mango. He eats a lot of cheese which I am a bit worried about. But at least he is getting his calcium. He doesn't like veggies too much, but eats a lot of fruit.

I have started buying some new clothes with the thought of finishing up feeding soon and can't wait to go and buy some new bras. I threw out all of my non maternity bras so I could start afresh when I get my body back. I am starting to be able to fit back into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes too which is very exciting. I have been very naughty over the last couple of weeks, but have started being good again as of today. But with DH home on holidays is it very hard. Even just drinking water when he is around doesn't seem to happen. I have no idea why!

Tobi has a few toys that he loves. I rotate them so he is attached to a few of them. Boy do they stink after a while too. I try and wash them once a week, but even a weeks worth of spit and drool smells nasty. His favourites are a Elephant, Pig Puppet and a small puppy that fits in my handbag nicely for emergencies. He only sleeps with them though. Doesn't want them when he is cranky.

Christmas was great. Tobi definitely knew that the toys he was given were new and went nuts with excitement. We haven't even opened some of them yet. I am going to sort them out into groups and have a week in week out system, so that he doesn't get bored with any of them. We went into the city to watch the fireworks on NY. Tobi loved them. We got a good spot to relax and snooze, play cards, eat and be merry, so that fit in well with Tobi. The fireworks were a bit of a let down though. We weren't in as good a spot as we thought.

Tobi has another bottom tooth coming through and a top one is not too far off. It doesn't seem to be worrying him too much. Although he has been getting a little harder to put to sleep. I had to cuddle him to sleep last night for the first time in months. He is walking along the furniture really well and pulls himself up with ease now. Sitting back down is a little harder. We don't have much space for him to crawl at our place, so he has really enjoyed going to other people's places where he can go nuts and chase Daddy. He says Dadda, Mum and has said Yeah, OK, Hayley (his aunty) and Hello before but not very often.

My AF hasn't come back yet. I am on the mini-pill though so I don't know whether that is effecting it or not though. I would love to start trying again, but my bro is getting married in Thailand in Oct, so I can't be pregnant for that and as it took as a while with Tobi, we wont start trying until at least July, but I am thinking it will be more like 2009 as DH will probably be OS at the end of this year. Best of luck to all those out there that are trying.

Happy Birthday Kirsten. Hope you had a great day and all your wishes and dreams came true.

Gotta go, my DH wants his computer back. My computer is broken and I have to fight to get time on his. It is his little baby.
Hope you are all well and happy
Take Care
Tash

[smylie]

hey tash
how do you get tobi to eat cheese?
how much toast does he eat and how??? soldiers???
same here i cant believe jemima is eating food after ''problems'' of a couple of months ago so now i dont know what to feed her!!
was a little domestic tonight and cooked up some pumpkin and apple and nectarine to make into mush but not too mushy for the next couple of days........ i know this is probably about 5 months behind her but at least she will probably definately eat it....

tomorrow at mothers group i am hoping for more ideas on food........

and hoping i get another 12hours out of her tonight!! good luck ryn with pubert, have u got a photo of his hair cut??

[Tashie]

OMG...I am back on twice in one night!

Tobi has melted Tasty cheese on toast. It stops the Vegemite going everywhere too. He has the liquid cheese with Vegemite on his sandwiches. You know, the stuff that comes in a jar. I will also put a spoon full of it with pasta as a sauce. When I am feeling un-inventive with his tea, I give him tasty cheese pieces. Then when I was shopping today he was being a pain, so I got some of those cheese sticks and gave him one and he munched it down. As far as toast and sandwiches, I cut it into soldiers and depending on the bread, will sometimes cut off the crusts. He has one slice of toast in the morning and one whole sandwich, but he doesn't usually eat a whole sandwich, gets bored with it I think. I have been giving him multigrain bread lately. I know that we aren't supposed to give it to them yet, but it is all we had at the time. We make a lot of things with mince and vegies in it and Tobi loves it. Things like Shepherds Pie and Burrito or Taco mince, spaghetti bol etc. I haven't tried Tobi on fish yet, well tin salmon and tuna, but that doesn't count, which he doesn't like. But for ideas, there is some really good books out there with food ideas in it. If you have friends with kids, see if they have any books you can borrow or even from the library. That's were I have got some ideas from.

Another thing that I wanted to mention before is poo....Tobi has been pooing like there is no tomorrow. They are all solid, but three or more a day. Before Christmas he was pooing once every 1-2days, so this is a huge change. I know that he is eating a lot more and he is teething, so maybe that has caused it as well, or maybe it is me giving him multigrain bread. But do you think I should be worried? How often does your babies poo?

How do you all handle your bubs getting into things they aren't supposed to? Do you distract them? Do you say no...repeatedly with no effect? For example. Tobi will not stay on his back when he is getting his nappy changed. When he stays still we always praise him and say what a good boy he is etc. We keep repositioning him and explain to him what we are doing. We distract him with toys above his head. But still no luck. I know they are still very little and can't learn yet, but we have to start sooner than later. It is a area that we are very clueless with.

Love and Kisses to all your bubs

[smylie]

yep yep with distraction!!! big time........ i still have coffee table with stuff on it.... i distract jemima with dozens of things instead of coffee table.......
we have same prob on change table, so i have various weird things to give her to look at while changing her which gives me a little more time...... the latest is the baby powder container or a little bag that used to be her nappy bag, or a yellow bunny or her pants.... she usually ends up with whatever she was wearing on her head so that i have a couple of minutes while she figures out how to get it off and then looks at it really hard!!! heheheeheheh

i was just talking to michelle on msn and she said cheesesticks as well! i am so trying that!!!!
do you feed the bread/toast first?? then other stuff....?? that is what i tried today and i think jemima got more toast into then ever before.... i tried looking at how much bread there was left on the plate and putting it together like a puzzle and am not sure how much she actually ate mushed upit looks heaps different!! hehehe

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Hi Tashie! Poo - twice a day now. Yuck! But I've been trying to fatten DS up, isn't working; it's all coming out the other end! Changing, he screams until I give him a toy. I now change him in the bedroom so give him Tinephant or Coo and he seems OK with that. Then he finds his foot and I have to take it away to put the nappy on, then he takes the nappy off, then I put it on... oh, what a game!

As for "no", I try not to use it too much so it still has shock value. We have nein for a stronger no and nyet for a very bad no. I take him away and give him a different toy whenever possible.

Food, DS just eats what we eat. Salmon and broccoli melt last night, I gave him the ingredients seperate (the potato wedges, the salmon and the brocolli) and he enjoyed them, plus a bit of the cheese sauce from my plate. Lasagne was enjoyed but smelly poos! Fish pie goes down a treat too - I have to feed him some of the food, but I always make sure he has carrot sticks or something to eat himself while I'm eating if that happens. I cut bread into quarters and spread on a little cheese or tuna for sandwiches for him, he loves pasta in tomato sauce too.

Haircut - DH has to get the camera out tonight! We went shopping so I got some pics on my phone (taking photos makes DS smile and pose) but can't put them on computer yet. Will upload ASAP!

AF - still away, DS feeds every ~12 hours, just getting mucous back now. TBH I don't want her back! I have said when she returns I'm going on the mini-pill and I don't want that. Yes, I know we'll prefer it to condoms, but I just don't want to hormone up my system again and I want any pregnancies to be DH's fault!

[smylie]

hey hey
i know what mean ryn about not wanting to hormone up the system! i am worried about that too but after baby number 2, so i dont have to worry about minipills or condoms for a while thank goodness... as for pregnancies being DH's fault!!! that is funny, do you not think he would have learnt his lesson the 'first time' heheheheheh

poo - i got 3 yesterday and they were ALL different!!! am not liking more poo especially since jemima used to go 6 days between poos recently it was probably every second day now i have no idea sometimes every day sometimes 2 or 3 days.........

we have a couple of different "no"s too, i have a general no, or "uh uh" then when it is big time bad shehas the "NO" i use on the dogs!!! and she knows it and she cries coz she realises she is being denied

the dogs woke her last night about 3am so who knows when she would have woken on her own but it was ok she had her AM feed and fed back to sleep and is still asleep now (8ish)
gave her a little toy while feeding last night and it seemed to please her fidgety fingers so will keep it in my bag for getting her to sleep when not feeding...

[Kristy D]

Hi girls.

Erin loves cheese I give her the Kraft singles and also cut cheddar cheese into sticks for her the much on. She loves her food !!!!

Just enrolled Erin in swimming lessons that start next month. Bought a new paor of bathers from Kmart yesterday and when I took them to the checkout they scanned at $5.70 !!! Bargain!!! Trying at the moment to organise a christening for Erin. Am just going to have our immediate family and the godparents as because we have just moved in we have no backyard and if we had all our friends there would be easy over 100 people and 40 odd kids.

Got AF for the 2nd time back about 32 day cycle so this will be the first month of oficially trying. Girls with the dropping of feeds are you feeding bubs twice a day with breastmilk?

[Tashie]

Hi Kristy - I have dropped to two breast feeds. First thing in the morning before Tobi has breaky and then again for afternoon tea at about 3-4pm. He doesn't have any food at that time. He has heaps of water during lunch and dinner to make up the extra fluid and he is eating heaps, so the nutrients from the milk isn't a worry. I was going to give him cows milk if he noticed he wasn't getting boobie, but he is happy as is for the time being. In a month or so I will drop the afternoon feed and give him cows milk for afternoon tea instead.

[smylie]

jemima dropped middle of day feed so now we just have one sometime between midnight and 8am and then one before bed usually 7.30pm
this mornings feed was not that big at all so perhaps she is getting rid of that one too??? BUT it is hard for me to tell coz i have just started a stupid rapid diet (have lost 2.3kg since saturday) so maybe that is going to affect either the supply or taste of the milk.... i am going to slow it down a bit just in case as i would hate for jemima to decide to wean coz of those reasons not coz she didnt really want it anymore
the thought of it being over actually made me cry this morning... i woke up with heaps floppier boobs than usual and thought it may have been over, but she had a 'good' feed at 7.45 this morning so maybe it will be less for a while then nothing... i always thought it would be over by 12months anyway, not coz i was going to wean her just coz she wouldhave been eating enough etc...

tashie i have not been giving jemima any cows milk at all, she has a tub of yogurt for lunch and cowsmilk in her farex for brekky, but my mum says "they should be having a cup of milk" is it really necessary???

[Impatient]

Hi everyone! This is a REALLY quick one because we're madly packing to go to Thailand.

Bella STILL has just the two teeth, but going by her mood swings lately, I am positive she's going to get the rest of them while we're away (my lucky mother!). We're really excited about this trip, but leaving the babies is going to be really hard. I'll have my laptop with webcam, so we'll be able to "see" each other at least, and it is only a week. ARGH!!!

Bella's "talking" heaps, and eating heaps right now. She now has cow's milk from a cup at lunch time (because she was having bugger-all formula at that time, so I figured it wouldn't do any harm to substitute it for a cup of milk) and she loves it. She's also rediscovered bananas which is good, becuase it's got the poo flowing quite nicely! She was "backed up" a few days ago, so the banana worked a treat!

She's also standing lots, and can stand for a few seconds on her own. She loves to push things around the house, while walking along behind it - things that aren't supposed to be pushed around like plastic chairs and telescopes. She also enjoys locking the doggy door so Fluffy can't get in or out. Nasty child! She got a bike for christmas which has three wheels, little things to put her feet on (not pedals) and a handle so we can push her around without hurting our backs. She LOVES it and cries when we take her off. Took her down the driveway yesterday and we're thinking it might be time to buy her a helmet! lol

Better go and finish packing - lots and lots to do! Have a great week everyone! Will post photos when we get back.

[~Jayne~]

IMPATIENT - I didn't realise that your trip to Thailand was on your own! Completely childless!!!!!!!! Wow, if I wasn't green with envy before, I'm absolutely rotten with it now! LOL. You lucky devil! I hope you love it! I know you're going to pine for them though! Claudia is getting one of those bike things for her birthday so I'm glad to hear that Bella is loving hers! Helmet sounds like a great idea, but I'd be interested to hear if she keeps it on!

KEL _ I just bought Claudia the cheese stick things & she loves them too, so maybe it's worth a try?

RYN _ How did your superstar go last night? I hope he went well for you!

TASHIE _ I hope with your relatives all gone now & the excitement dwindling that Tobes goes back to having 2 day sleeps, for your own sanity! I have missed you!! Sounds like you had a great time with all your fam over Christmas, good to hear! When is DH taking off?

US _ CLaudia is going great, she is crawling around the house saying 'Dad Dad?' & looking everywhere for him. He left last night, so she is a little confused. She is a PITA goign out the back door all the time! SHe opens it up & lets herself out to go & talk to the bunnies! Grrr. I'm going to have to get a latch because it's not that I mind her going outside, it's that she can climb to top of the slide completely on her own & so of course as soon as she gets outside she makes a beeline for it. Also, of course I am out there with her while she's out there & I"m not getting anythign done in the house while I'm outside all the time! Claudia has been doing this thing with her tongue where she shakes it side to side in her mouth & does this 'lolololololo' sound. It's pretty cute.

Love Jayne

[Tashie]

Tobi has a helmet. We got him one yesterday. I got DH one of those bike trailers for Christmas, so we had to go and get a Thomas Helmet for Tobi. So for the last couple of days, Tobi has been wearing it around the house (I was wearing mine too for the first day) so he can get used to it. He hates having things on his head and was trying to pull it off and nearly choking himself in the meantime. He is getting better today, so we might be able to go riding on the weekend.
Tobi is back to having two sleeps a day, but about three hours out of his normal routine. Going to bed late and getting up late. Which suits us over the holidays. He slept till 9am this morning. It was soooo nice.
Jayne - My DH is home for a while and still on holidays till the 21st. How are you going with Alan being away again? How long is his job in China? We're expecting my DH to be away from April on and off till the end of the year.
Michelle - Enjoy Thailand and make the most of your time without little ones.
Take Care everyone
Love Tash

[Tashie]

PS. Photo of Tobi and I in our helmets in my photo gallery

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Sorry girls, quick one as DS is wandering around - 9 hours sleep! 8-5! So pleased with him! He then went back down until just after 6! We get up at 6.30 anyway!

DS pushes toys without wheels, tables and chairs too to get around.

I think I smell poo, so best go.

Love to you all!

[mummycate]

Michelle you lucky lucky lady! Wish I could go somewhere on holidays...

Nice one Tobi getting used to his helmet!

to everyone

[Early Kids]

just popping in to say hello... I have been lurking in the halls. Not feeling the best these last few days. But happy today as Brendan Kneeled for the first time today He's crawling, sitting and kneeling within 2 weeks, so proud of my lil boy

All the babies sound like they are doing well

Take care all the mummies

[Tashie]

sally - i am sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling the best. we're all hear if you want to talk about it. brendan is learning so quickly. its fantastic when they can get from a to b and discover the world around them. they aren't so demanding for attention either as they can start making their own fun. hope you are feeling better soon. in the meantime i am sending all my love and best wishes your way. xxx


kel - i don't think our bubs 'need' cows milk yet. they actually suggest not giving it to them until they are 12months old as it doesn't have as many nutrients in it as formula or breast milk. our bubs should be getting at least 600ml a day of milk. i really wonder if tobi is getting that much with only two feeds a day, but he isn't interested in having any more. i figure that as long as he is eating enough and lots of variety, then he should be fine and he drinks about 1.5bottles of water a day. i will measure it tomorrow, i am not quite sure how many mls exactly. i think i might drop the second feed in a week and give him cows milk for afternoon tea.

kym - how did monkey go at child care. did they have any trouble putting her to sleep.

ryn - so glad to hear that liebs is sleeping again. you must feel like a new women. i hope he keeps it up. how is everything going with you and your dh. are things better now that you are sleeping in the same room again.

jayne - tobi loves puppies, so i can just imagine how much your girls love the bunnies. no wonder they sit out side looking at them all day.

our news - we have a rat in the house. well i think it is a rat anyway, either that or a big mouse. we thought that we had locked it in the laundry last night and put some poison in there, but no dead rat this morning. it was behind the fridge again. have some mouse and rat traps to put out tonight, so fingers crossed for the morning.
also...we went to see gladiators getting filmed today and tobi got a close up on the camera. after 10 months of training him to smile, laugh, clap and wave. he just sat there looking at the camera. at least he didn't cry. so we might see him on tv soon.

hope everyone else is well and happy
xxx

[smylie]

tashie that so funny about tobi and the cameara! but yep at least he didnt cry
we caught 4 mice in the last week or so at our place! peanut butter in weird traps did it for us
i have not got 'time' to email but wednesday 3.30ish sounds great should be able to get my stuff together after swimming for that! is that next wednesday?! wowsers

jemima lost one of her hairclips at coles today, i know this is just the start of many losses but i am sad about it - it was a nice pink one with cherries on it - i left my name but am doubtful of getting it back especiallysince some other pudgy girl baby was behind us shopping so probably STOLE it as i saw jem 2 seconds after i think she took it off so i am so confused - maybe she ate it