Babies Born March 2007 #5

Caro – the hammock looks so comfy! I bet Nicholas would love one of those, but he sleeps so well in the cot, that I just can’t justify it now, reflux or not! It sucks that he hasn’t slept in it again though. Nics reflux wakes him during the day too. I found that putting him to sleep propped on his side (with a rolled up nappy behind him) helps as he just spits out the side of his mouth instead of choking on it. WTG on the weight too, at least he is gaining – that is my main concern with this bloody reflux.

Cass – Tasmania sounds beautiful. I would love to go and see it one day.

Nicholas weighs 6.3kg’s now! And he has continued his great sleeping at night. The only thing is that his day time sleeps have turned into naps and he is really tired by the end of the day, and very cranky. Most of the babies in the mothers group seem to be going through a similar thing and the CHN swears that all babies “grow horns” at 3 months! At least he is sleeping at night, so no complaints here!

JoMarie - as my CHN says, you can deal with whatever they dish out through the day so long as they sleep at night!

Kailee has started not sleeping during the day either, until about 4pm when she crashes out for a couple of hours but the rest of the day is just 20 minute cat naps. At least she is feeding properly now after having stuffed around with her bottle for so many weeks.

Karina - better batten down the hatches, cyclonic winds predicted to hit the coast from Wollongong to Newcastle tonight. Hope that you survive it!

Hi Gals, well I am typing this with my little princess in my lap as she just keeps waking up with these little squawks and cries:( not sure what is wrong too hot too cold in pain don't know. Also she has been feeding really frequently today which is bothering me as we are trying to kick the shields and I am worried she is not getting enough.

Anyway better run while she is sleeping as we have to pack for Brissie - leave Thurs. Oh and for those of you cloth napping or BF we have some cute t-shirts and keychains at nappy bucket under - what's new - bit's and pieces.

Will try and do personals tomorrow

Richelle, hope you guys are ok there tonight. Whats going on with this crazy weather hey! Claires doing only catnaps during the day too. and still not sleeping through the night !

Sarah, have fun in Bris!

Cass blob, yay on Izzy being so good on the plane! ITs freeeezing here at the moment, so i cant imagine what it would be like in Tas at the moment.

Jo, yay on Nic sleeping well at night!

Hello all...
Sarah - I hope Ariya settles for you. Grace occassionally lets out a little squawks/cry but then goes back to sleep. Not sure what it is either - maybe they are having a bad dream?! Have a good time in Brisbane. Saw the t-shirts - very cute. The keychains are gorgeous. Still thinking about getting a hautes - but cloth is annoying me a bit at the moment as Grace just doesn't sleep as well when she is in cloth. I am putting this out of mind though and persevering and hoping that I get that excitement back- I think using sposies in Adelaide for a week made me a bit slack!

Richelle - yay on Kailee's weight gain. It would be hard to go back to work. What do you do?

Jo - I was relying on chocolate and sweet things too. Have to say it has been easier than I thought. Each night I tend to have a glass of milo, the milk is good for me and the milo gives me that little chocolate hit so that I don't go mad and seek out a whole block of chocolate! Wow on the sitting up, Grace tries to do that too only she ends up curling up and rolling onto her side instead - still cute though. Yay on Nicholas's weight gain.

Karina - I know what you mean about them feeling heavier. Oh dear at throwing your glasses across the room. Grace is a bit of a wiggler at times and her arms can fly everywhere - I copped it in the face yesterday!

Caro - yay on the weight gain, you must be very relieved. Buggar about the hammock - could you sell it and try to get some of that money back?

Cass - well done to Izzy being so good on the plane. The view from your mums place must be magical. It is freezing here so I can imagine it is definitely freezing down there.

Well...we had an ordinary night again last night. Not sure if it is because she still hasn't pooed or if it is something else. She woke at 1.40, 2am then every 15-20 minutes after that until I fed her at 3am. Then she slept well until 8am - which is good but that 2 hours where we were up was horrendous! We have been giving her a bottle of EBM for her last feed lately and she's been doing this. When DH was on night shift over the weekend I didn't give her the bottle, I BF and she slept well. So I am going to BF her tonight and see - weird though as don't most babies sleep better after having a bottle because then they have definitly had enough - mind you, how do I know what is enough for her?!

Getting really frustrated with expressing. Trying to build up a supply in freezer in case we want to go out and my parents baby sit, as well as trying to get milk so that DH can have some special feeding time with Grace but it is so hard and tiring. I can no longer express after a feed as there isn't anything left, I'm lucky if I get 20mls. Which is a good thing because it means I am making the right amount for her, but bad when I want extra to freeze. Then when I express instead of feed I can only get 100-130mls at a time which is not enough for a whole feed! Was reading through some previous posts last night that Activite can increase your supply, thinking of trying this just so I can build some storage up in the freezer - I don't want to be bursting or anything.

Got a bargain today - Esprit had a sale on and I got 4 long sleeved tops for pretty much half price! Not bad for Esprit, which is usually rather expensive (well it is for a terry like me!!).

Does anyone else feel bad about spending money now that you are not earning it? I've always been very cautious with my money but when I did buy something I never felt really guilty as I was out there earning it and deserved to buy something nice every now and then. Well now that I am no longer earning it and DH is the one going to work I feel a bit guilty buying things for me. He tells me to not be silly and buy what I want but I still do, hope this goes away soon!

Grace slept beautifully in her cot yesterday afternoon - she slept for 3 hours straight. Unfortuantely, not having the same luck this afternoon.We will keep persisting.

Hope everyone else is well.

Caro, that sucks that Michael doesn't like the hammock. It may be that he isn't used to it. Oskar has had his from the day we got home, mind you he NEVER sleeps in it during the day. I think he did for about a week tops at first, but nope, only at night will he go down in it...if we're home during the day he wants to sleep on his tummy, so that's how we do it. I don't fight any more!

I also went through Oskar's clothes to work out what does and doesn't fit him... ahh they were sooooo tiny weren't they! I used to have to roll the sleeves up once on the 0000 Bonds wondersuits...lol.

Sounds like all bubs are putting on weight!! I did a little weigh in today at the baby group (get him done properly tomorrow) and he seems to be around 6.3 kg! Man, my little man is getting big!

Sarah, maybe Ari is having a growth spurt and it's unsettled her? I hope she settles again for you. Oskar woke up last night full on crying and I mean REALLY crying.. poor love. I had to feed him to comfort him cos he wouldn't stop crying. Can't wait to see you guys on Friday!!! :D OMG I sooooo LOVE those t-shirts!! How cute are they!

Karina and Richelle, how are you guys going with all your wild weather?? We have had sooooo much wind up here since last night (apparently it's from the same low down the east coast or something) it's crazy and FREEZING!!

Cass, we've had our fire going too cos it's so cold, pity that we have a 2 storey house and the fire is downstairs and most of our "living" is upstairs... I'm NOT going to keep going up and down to the kitchen etc!..lol..how lazy am I! Nah, it's too hard with the cat if I'm carrying Oskar cos he runs up and taps your feet or he stops bang in the middle of a step and you almost trip over him, so it's not safe unless you HAVE to.

Richelle, I think the same as your HCN... Oskar has never been the best day sleeper, but he's good at night (touch wood) so I just let him do what suits him.

Rachel, don't feel guilty hun!! You deserve something as well. I just bought some new jeans and a jumper and I bought a shirt a few weeks back cos I was just feeling so daggy and hadn't bought myself anything nice since before I was pg (other than a few maternity things which I obviously can't wear now!) and it was such a boost to have a couple of new things. Mind you they were all on sale from Target, but hey I LOVE a bargain! With the BF... the HCN in our baby group told us the following... the hind milk is the fatty milk and as the day goes on and your boobs are softer and you feel like there's nothing in there that's the real fatty milk and it becomes a matter of quality and not quantity.. the milk at the start of the day is more watery and sugary than the milk at the end of the day... so maybe the bottle isn't as sustaining at the end of the day?? I don't know, just throwing it out there. I hope you get a better night with her.

What a let down! No wild wind basically no rain... NOTHING!

Rachel - I work at a Caltex service station for the time being. Waiting till Kailee is 1 to go into day care so I can get my AIN training done.

Karina - Kailee is really playing up at the moment, yesterday she barely ate and just slept all the time, for the first time ever I woke her up to have a bottle because she had been so long between feeds. Today she is having half a bottle and not wanting any more till about 2hrs later she wants the rest. Weird child.

I hope that everyone else is well

Just a quick post - busy packing but we got our photos today - so gorgeous

You can see them at
http://adobe.kodakgallery.com
username: bsxamcdonald@gmail.com
Password: password (might have a capital - can't remember, try both)

Sarah - your photo's are beautiful!

Sarah, you have a gorgeous family.

Went to the baby health centre yesterday and weighed Claire - She is now 5.2 kg. She feels alot heavier, so I expecting her to be more than that, but no big deal. We've just finished off our last box of newborn nappies and now she has her little bum in the infant size nappies.

Well I'm going to head off to mothers group now.

Love the pics Sarah!

Karina, what weight was Claire when she was born?

Oskar is now 6.3 kg... I can't believe it!! My little boofer and he's 60 cm long... he's certainly grown!! He was 46 cm born and he's put on more than 3.5 kg... today he looks like a little front rower in his jumper...lol.

I'm finding that now he's a little older he seems to do little chucks more often... just a couple of teaspoons in size but it's that yucky smelly milk chuck BLURGH... anyone else finding this? I'm wondering if it's cos he kicks and moves around more now than when he was little...???

Cass, Claire was 2.9 kg when born. I think she's 64cm now, born 48cm. LOL @ Oskar looking like a front rower, how cute! We have this jumper for Claire and her shoulders look massive in it too. About the chucks - YES - Over the last week or so, she has been doing more chucks. It is usually when I am changing her nappy. She has this pink pig picture which DH and I painted and its near her change table. She looks at it and gets all excited and wiggles, kicks, squeals and smiles, then chucks. Its really quite strange. It doesnt seem to bother her though and its not always after a feed either.. I just put it down to that she gets so excited that she chucks. lol

Rachel, how is Grace going? have you seen any poo yet? (the things we talk about as mothers!!) I hope she is ok.

Well, i didnt end up going to mothers group today. I walked there (at the pub a few minutes up the road) but Claire was really unsetlled and I hadnt been to that pub before and I coudlnt see anyone, and because she was so unsettled, I just went home again. We're all meeeting on the weekend at a local park to have lunch together and we're going to get all the dads to come along too so that should be nice.

Karina, wow Claire is growing so fast too! Hmmm maybe it is just the kicking around more ... cos he doesn't do it straight after a feed either and it doesn't bother him.

Well, he's discovered a NEW sound he can make... lol and it's NOISY!! He kinda yells and thinks it's very amusing. We went for a nice walk before and he had a nap and I felt good for doing something kinda healthy for me :D He's playing on a mat next to me at the moment and making his new sound...ooooh dear I'm gonna have a noisy boy...lol...well I better get to making some dinner soon and I have a new choccy mousse recipe to try but not sure if I'll try that tonight yet or not.

Still no poo!!! It has now been 8 days! Well...last night she did a very small runny smear of poo but nothing that I would clasify as an actual poo so still waiting. she is still happy and tummy is still soft so not too concerned, just feel sorry for my poor little girl. She is grunting all the time like she is going to poo, so she obviously wants to poo soon. Wondering if I should just give her some water anyway? What do you think?

So started taking some actavite today to see if it will increase my milk supply slightly so that I can get some more milk expressed to build up freezer storage. Luckily it is rather yummy (it was on special too!).

Had mother's day today at one of the mother's house for the first time which was really nice.Initially it was a bit weird not having someone run the group but then it was good as we all just chated and socialised. What a spread the lady put on that had it today - she has set a very high standard! We are changing to Friday's from next week as one of the ladies can't make it on Thursdays anymore. Fridays are definitely a day of blowout points! One of the mum's asked me today if I was on BB?! She saw Grace's name down the bottom, very funny.

Richelle, I'm having a bit of a silly day today, but what is AIN training?

Karina, did Claire settle down once you got home? What a disappointment for you.

Cass, Grace has always had little possits after her feeds but lately she has been doing real chucks in between feeds - the real smelly ones that are a bit thicker cause they've come from the stomach. Quite horrid, but she isn't bothered by it.

All our babies are growing up so quickly! Karina when Grace was weighed last time I was convinced before going that she was over 6kgs and she wasn't so I was a bit suprised too. I am a hopeless judge of size though!

She slept much better last night, but, I fed her at 1030 last night as we had been at my parents house and she woke when we got home and wouldn't settle. After the feed though she slept until 7.30 this morning so that was good. We have just finished our normal 5pm feed and she has just finished a bath and we will put her down but because she didn't wake until 7.30 she has only had 4 feeds today instead of her usual 5 so I suspect she will wake again before we go to bed for another feed. Hopefully tomorrow we will be back on track.

Rachel, apparently water can help if she's a bit constipated. I suppose just boil it and let it cool down first if you worried about it? Have you changed something in your diet that might be affecting her pooing? Oooh I also bought some aktavite yesterday and I started drinking it today (and eating it out of the tin, hehe - its so tasty isnt it!). Thats cool if one of the other mums at your group is on BB (unless of course you have *****ed about here lol then its a bit embarrassing!!) Re Claires weight and my crap estimation - I have no concept of size or weight at all and Iwas totally thinking she would be around 6kg, but no, only 5.2kg! Claire was still cranky when I got home from my attempt to go to mothers group. Not sure what was going on, but she settled eventually, then woke up and wouldnt sleep again till I boobied her for almost an hour! She looooves booby.

Cass, how cute about Oskars new sound! Claire has recently started squealing and she thinks its very funny. They make such cute sounds sometimes dont they!

waiting for DH to come home - we're going to make a pizza for dinner! Very exciting (well it is to me, lol).

Karina - the only thing that I have changed in my diet is that I have cut out all of the crap! Glad Claire eventually settled. BTW - did you manage some time with you DH to discuss your concerns?

Rachel - Assistant in Nursing. Oh and a tip for a constipated baby (if is constipated) put a teaspoon of sugar into a bottle of milk. (My mother is a midwife and told me that)

I noticed you all saying about the bubs chucking a lot more. I thought Kailee was doing it because the gripe water wasn't helping her anymore, but perhaps not!

Well we are finally here in Brissie - it is freezing!!!!! Meeting up with Cass tomorrow so excited. Ari was good on the plane but only slept for 1 hr total all today, so she is really restless tonight.

Karina - I have had days like that where I go somewhere and the kids are so feral I just pack up and go home. I always get so grumpy :-( Hope Claire settled down for you and woohoo on the weight, she has nearly doubled her birth weight.

Rachel, hope she poos soon. I second what Richelle said but I was told only brown sugar.

Cass - yeah Ari does those chunky vomits too. Hey see you tomorrow!

Rachel, yeah we did get to have a bit of a chat. I can see where he is coming from but i still feel like crap when i spend all day and all night on my own ten he comes home too tired to help. you know, i thinks its just that I am getting a few times a night for Claire, so i am just always tired and a bit more sensitive than usual.

Sarah, yay on being in Bris - woohoo that you can wear some of your winter clothes lol!! yah Those feral days are interesting arent they! Hope Ari sleeps tonight for you.

Richelle, i was thinking of doing that too (AIN) at TAFE.
Maybe the 3-4 month period is chucky time!

Oh - is that simialar to an enrolled nurse or division 2 nurse (I hate it how each state has a different name for the same thing)! Richelle - I had heard the brown sugar thing - I don't believe she is constipated - just more not pooing as BF babies do. I was also told that BF babies don't get constipated?

Karina I had a think about what you said about changing my diet - I have cut out pretty much all the sweet stuff I was eating - which was a lot of crap - so maybe she isn't pooing unusual, maybe my previous sweet diet was making her poo alot, iykwim. I might try the water tomorrow if we see no poo overnight, i'm reluctant to go the sugar, she doesn't know anything but booby milk, i would imagine that would be really sweet. Maybe I should just eat lots of chocolate again!! lol!! Won't really help with the weight loss for me though will it.

Karina also glad you did get to talk to your DH. I so know what you are saying. The days that DH is in between night shifts so he isn't around for over 36hours, I am exhausted by the night. It is hard work if you have to do it all by yourself. You need that other person to have 10 minutes of your own time. I do not know how single mums do it, my hat goes off to them, I don't think I have the mental stamina.

Sarah glad Ariya was good on the plane. Had to laugh at you thinking Brissie is freezing, it didn't get about 11 degrees here today! It is freezing down here. Just goes to show it is all about what you get used to.

Anyway, must get ready for bed. Have been looking up private health insurance as my rate has gone up as I can no longer get corporate rate whilst i'm on unpaid leave, so annoying - it has gone up by $30 per month!! for just me. But it really does my head in, it's all so confusing and so expensive. Then I have to decide to I just get another single cover without obstetric services (didn't use it anyway) or do I go a family where at least Grace will be covered too. Having said that, at her age there is not a lot that a private hospital will do for her now, different in a couple of years - grrrrr- it does my head in.

Had some good news today - I thought that I still owed some money on my HECS from when I did my nursing degree and I got my statement for tax time and it said I owed nothing - so maybe for the first time in years I might get a tax return!!

This may be coincidental but I drank a glass of activite today (as I said earlier), Grace last fed at 5pm which is not unusual for her (even though I thought she might wake as she has only had 4 feeds today and she usually has 5 but she is still asleep), but my bbs feel fuller than they normally do after that feed - is it possible for it to work so fast? Maybe I am playing mind games with myself?! I suppose if I wake up bursting through the night then I know that it was the drink. Goodnight....

Rachel - I have been looking to changing our private health insurance as well as our has just gone up. If you go on the Australia website, you can compare all the policies avaiable in the same format so that you can compare them easily.

Not much going on here today. Nic is turning into a serial cat napper, only sleeping for 20 mins at a time during the day, but is still sleeping well at night, only waking once from 7pm to 7am. He is still beautiful and finds me hilarious! He absolutely loves the girls. Every time they go near him, his little face just lights up, it is so cute. They are so good with him too, keeping him happy and putting the dummy in when he spits it across the room.

Rachel,
I am slowly trying to cut out the large amounts of sugar I eat, and I am finding Claire is pooing less than she was before.. so it could well be the sugar?? I dont know though. Its so hard to tell when she cant tell you herself isnt it!
I sure do take my hat off to those single mums too. My mum did it with me and my sister, mum worked full time and paid a mortgage while sending us to school and kindy. I cant imagine how tough it would have been for her, and here I am finding my situation hard.
I thik AIN is more like aged care nursing - u can go to tafe and do a certificate III, and EN you do a traineeship for a year in a hospital and go to tafe also and get a certificate IV - I want to do that, but my chances of getting into that are slim i think(because you actually have to apply for it like a job thruough the dept of health and its apparently gets alot of applicants). I rang the nursing education unit at the local hospital and picked the ladys brain for about an hour with all my questions!
I also have private health insurance - its through the teachers health fund (DH is a teacher) and it comes straight out of his pay. we have "family cover". We only had the option of single or family, so we got family so we were both covered, and it also covers Claire and its no extra for us to include her. I only just put her on our policy the other week. Ikwym though, theres not alot of services in a private hospital that a baby would use at this age - I can only think of emergency but I'd go to the local public hospital for that, even though the private hospital near us has emergency too. It would be good though if bub needs to have some sort of operation (god forbid of course) and there is a waiting list through the public system. Thats all I can think of. We have it for tax purposes and also so we can get our glasses and stuff like that. There are a few things we use it for, but we can also get "public hospital cover" where we can have our own doc in a public hospital but be a private patient and its about $40 per month cheaper than the private hospital one.
Woohoo on not having a HECS debt anymore! Its nice to not have to pay that extra tax!
Hope the Aktavite works for you - I had it today as well but it hasnt done anything for me yet. We''ll just wait and see I guess.

Jo, Nic sounds just so beautiful. How cute that he finds you funny! Thats fantastic that he loves the girls too. The picture in your ticker is so cute - he looks like he is a really happy little boy. ooh wow thanks for the tip on the Australia website, I'm going to check that out. Its so hard to compare them from all the seperate websites with all the differnt formats and terminilogy they use.

Well I was lucky enough to get a bit of sleep a bit earlier - i fell asleep in bed while I was feeding Claire but then DH woke me up because I was in his way trying to get into bed heheh and then he fell asleep and snores loud and now I cant get back to sleep. Claire is asleep and looking very peaceful. I worry that she is too cold though - I have been doing the "one extra layer of clothing" rule but she always has freezing cold fingers and feet, even with socks on her hands and feet.

Karina, Oskar's feet were still feeling cold as well... so when he goes to bed he's in a polar fleece jumpsuit, some booties over the top, he's then wrapped in a cotton wrap (from under the arms, god forbid I wrap his arms!) then he's in his hammock and I put a cotton waffle type blanket which is folded in half over the top of him and his feet seem to be much warmer since I've done that. His hands well, can't do too much about them unless I put mittens on and I think that when he sucks/chews his hands in the morning when he wakes he'd get cranky at not being able to properly.

Rachel, they're the chucks Oskar's been doing!! They are sooo gross!! I forgot how much they smell..... totally disgusting!! What a great sleep she had for you!! That is why I pushed Oskar back to having his last feed between 8 and 9 cos then he slept through longer... he's now *touch wood* stretching through to generally pretty much 7am almost every morning... mind you he can take an hour or more to feed and settle properly, but it means that I get a pretty good sleep till around 5am cos he will wake up and be a bit unsettled but is generally self settling for that time.

Ok... gonna have to come back later and finish off cos Oskar is being a bit grumpy ... getting too tired now.

Cass does Oskar hate having his arms wrapped in? Claire hates it too. I might start using her polar fleece suit again.

I'm going to go to the bonds shop and get some suits for Claire. Shes running out!

Ok... finally back...lol @ me.

Karina, he hates his arms being wrapped, he's ok if I put his blanket over them and tuck them down so long as he can get them out otherwise not happy chappy!!! I forgot to mention before that I also have one of those oil column heaters in our room just to take that cold chill off the air and that's on overnight as well. I think that this helps him sleep comfortably as well.

Caro, Oskar didn't have the feeding difficulties that you've had with Michael, so don't feel bad hon!! He's powering along now though and I'm sure he'll not be far behind soon. Oskar's just a boofer...lol.

Sarah, it was great catching up today, I really enjoyed it and Ari is such a little cutie!

I can't think of what else I was going to say earlier, probably just crap knowing me...hehe. Hmmmm nup has alluded me, so better go bath the boy and give him a feed and tuck him into bed... he's upstairs being riled up by dad atm.. all I can hear is him talking and getting right into whatever they're up to! Very cute, but time to start winding down.

WE GOT POO! Very exciting moment here in our household this afternoon. Plus, i have my happy little girl back. My goodness though, it went everywhere. I think it must have exploded out of her. Pain in the bot though as we were in the car. The problem with having a black car seat is that it doesn't show up much, so gave it a wipe out but couldn't see anything. Hopefully i got to it before it got to the seat. Now we are just hoping to get back into our good night sleep/routine that we had up until 8 days ago when she didn't poo.

Grace doesn't like having her arms wrapped anymore either, but she is so obsessed with her hands and mouth that she continuously knocks her dummy out, but the she cracks it! The only way to stop it is to sleep her on her side. This used to be just a daytime thing (the side sleeping), but tonight she was fussing around until I put her on her side and within 5 seconds she was asleep. Should I be concerned about her rolling onto her front and suffocating? I can't blame her really, I don't like to sleep on my back either.

I can't remember what everyone wrote on the other page, sorry, I will check it next time i'm online and respond then. Have a good weekend everyone.

Rachel, i never thought i would be excited about POO, but thats great you got some poo! I bet she feels a whole lot better now too. Can Grace roll from her front to her back? I was told by someone (cant remember who) that if your baby can do that, then its not a huge concern if they sleep on their side because they will be able to move, kwim? But I can see the concern there.. she could squish her face right into the mattress or something. Some babies love to sleep on their tummies though. I think that by now her neck probably wouldnt be so floppy. I dont know. Maybe one of those websites like Sids and Kids can give some info on the safety of side sleeping. I hate sleeping on my back too; its just doesnt feel right.

Went out today and Pumpkin Patch were having a 40% off sale so I went a bit crazy and bought some stuff. Just some of those all in one suits and some warm stuff for these chilly nights we are having. I also went to the Baby Bonds shop and looked for Wondersuits but they had none. When I asked where they were I was told they dont stock them! What the?? I thought that was odd but I wanted their wondersuits because they usually sell the ones with the nice cuffs that are easier to put on and dont fray and fall apart.

Before I went in to the pumpkin patch shop, I was sitting outside the shop breastfeeding Claire and another mum with two littlies walked past and told me "Good on you" so I felt pretty special about that! Its nice to get nice supportive comments from random people in public.

Rachel, woohoo on the poo!! I wouldn't worry too much about how Grace likes to sleep now cos she can lift her head and move. Oskar sleeps on his belly in the day. If you're worried get one of those pillow things which stops them from rolling over. You can get them at Big W etc.

OMG Karina... I LOVE Pumpkin Patch clothes, they are sooo damn cute!! Oskar has a gorgeous outfit my friend bought for him from there. WTG on the BF comment. Yesterday when Sarah and I were having coffee a lady had a little 3 wk old and was BF and she said good on ya to Sarah when she fed Ariyah. She said it was good to see others feeding as well :D YAY to great comments which make us feel like super heroes..hehe. Hmm what's with no wondersuits!! How weird!

Rachel, there's one of those pillow things on ebay at the moment... email me achoffmann@bigpond.com and I'll let you know where.. it's only got about $2 on it atm.

Hi all, busy week here. Ari was having such a super day lots of big sleeps so I was looking forward to a good nights sleep but had MIL's 50th tonight and she is so unsettled from all the noise and people :-(

Cass - Ari and I had so much fun and Oskar is soooooo gorgeous.

Rachel -hooray on the poo!

Karina - oohh I love PP going tpo their outlet while we are down here.

Gotta go, ari awake

Cass, yay that you and Sarah met up, thats awesome. I am probably going to go meet a bunch of the Sydney ladies in a few weeks. Looking forward to it! Pumpkin patch is gorgeous - I wouldnt normally buy from there (its a bit exxy) but theres a factory outlet store near us and they always have sales on so I just HAD to have a look.

Sarah, hope Ari sleeps well tonight. We went to MIL 60th when Claire was 8 weeks old and it was so noisy and Claire was so cranky, but in the end, she slept ok. I think she was just so exhausted!

Claire has been quite the crankypants today and has been a real challenge to settle. Not even the booby could knock her out. She is finally sleeping but I dont think its going to last long. We are meant to be going to nephews 5th bday party tomorrow, but to be honest, I dont really want to go (its about 2 hours drive north) . I only found out about it a couple of hours ago and its not like its 10mins up the road, its a big drive and you know what family are like with their wanting to pass the baby to 50 different people in as many minutes. Hoping it wont drive me too insane. Gosh I sound like a whinger dont I!

Hope all having a lovely weekend.

Hi Girls.

Its been so long since I have been able to post, have been able to have a look and have a read but getting time to post has been so hard...

Well everyone sounds like they are handling motherhood fantastically, and enjoying every moment, including the grumpy times.

YAY on the poo Rachel.. thats fanatastic news. Kaiden hates his arms being wrapped up, has been in his grobag ever since 7 weeks.

Kaiden is growing up fast, lots of cooing, daaing etc, lots of smiles and laughs. playing with his toys and sitting up like a champ.

I have started work and loving it, its great to get some time on my own for a couple of days and love coming home to K's big smile. Reflux has settled, still spilling but no more pain, he sleeps 10 hr nights and sleeps for 1-2hrs after each feed so quite happy. I am bf in the morning and one at night the rest is formula now and he loves it..

Hi to everyone !!! Hopefully will do individual posts soon.

Hi everyone! Nicholas is having a shocking day today. He won't settle at all, won't play on the floor, won't sleep! He did sleep in the HAB while we went shopping for a while, but since we have been home, he has been screaming! Nothing seems to be helping and I don't know if he is in pain, tired or just grumpy! I bought the Colic/reflux mix from the Padbury Pharmacy which I think has been helping bring up any wind straight after a feed, and his vomiting seems to have settled down a bit too. Today though, nothing is working! I am just thinking to myself (courtesy of my mum's wisdom) this day is almost over, and I will never have to do this day again.

He is still only napping for 20 mins at a time during the day, but he slept through (7pm to 7am) on Friday night and almost the same last night, it is just the days I am struggling with. My mum bought us a high chair yesterday and it reclines so I can put him in that in the day now and he can come into the kitchen with me. I also saw (in the Myer toy sale) they have a Fisher Price toy for half price (it is like the front of a house that they can crawl through and has heaps of buttons to press, I can't remember what it is called now), so I am thinking I will put it away for Nic for Christmas.

Anyway, I am glad to hear everyone else is going so well. Good to hear from you Sonia! Int's been a while, I am glad work is going well. I am going back to study in July to keep my brain working. Kaiden sounds like he is going really well and sleeping so well!

Hello ladies...so, Grace is in the sleeping bag for the first time tonight and so far so good *touch wood*! She has been a bit clingy today and she wouldn't sleep in her cot for long today, she just wanted to be cuddled by us. She still likes to sleep on her side during the day, I am slowly getting more comfortable with this as she always seems to roll herself onto her back which is good. Her neck is so strong that I am sure she would be able to move her head if she needed to. Thanks for your suggestions though, much appreciated.

Karina - WTG on the clothes. Pumpkin patch clothes are so cute - getting them at a reduced price is great.

Hi SOnia - nice to hear from you. Glad Kaiden is doing well.

Jo - WTG on the good nights sleep. Hopefully the days will get better soon.

By the way - did a HPT today - it was a BFN!!! thank goodness. so obviously I was just freaking out over nothing. But it was still horrid so we won't be doing that again, lol.

Have a great week ladies.

Sonia that is great you are enjoying being back at work. Yay on Kaiden sitting up, clever boy! Claire flops over still! Thats awesome he sleeps 10 hours overnight, giving mummy plenty of rest!

Jo i hope Nic settles down and has a bice big sleep for you tonight. We have those days too and they are hard arent they. Hoping those long night sleeps continue for you!

Rachel, glad you got the result you wanted on your hpt, what a relief for you. Claire seems to like her sleeping bag - its good because she cant kick it off and get cold like she does with her blankets. Do you think the Aktavite is working for you? I just like eating it out of the tin so its probably not doing mych for me.

Well we went out today and not as bad as I thought. There was another baby at the party who was born 2 days after Claire but was seriously twice her size (he was massive, and pretty much the same size as the 18month old girl who was also at the party!!) Its funny how some babies are so tiny and some are so big. As long as theyre healthy then its all good I suppose.

Claire has been asleep for about 3.5 hours, which is one of her longest sleeps in a long time! I am hoping she stays down for a while longer. My boobies need a break.

Hi everyone!

Caro, such a pity Michael didn't like the hammock. I wonder if it's cos he wasn't used to it and it felt too different for him now. WTG on the weight little twin man!!

Sarah, hope you guys are having a great holiday... just wondering if you're in Toowoomba at the moment... cos man it'd be FREEZING up there!! I'm am soooo not envious if you are...lol. PIL were going to come down last weekend but FIL ended up having to work. I reckon they just wanted to escape the cold up there! Hopefully we can catch up again before you go home.

Karina, it was so lovely to meet someone we get to know but don't see. Ari is a little princess, so cute. I hope you do get your meeting soon, cos it's just lovely. You don't sound like a whinger at all! It's the same with us, it's like an hours drive and it seems that we always find out things to do with nephews when it's really close to happening!! You know, my friend's bub is bigger than Oskar and is 3 weeks younger! He makes Oskar look little... ahhh well, he'll be the second rower and Oskar will be the centre...pmsl.

Sonia, great to hear everything is going well for you! Wow, Kaiden yay for sitting up!! Oskar still falls over too...hehe. He gets this look on his face kinda like... what the!?!?! as he's falling.

Jo, :hug: to you. How right your mother is.. this day will never happen again. Oskar for the most part still only naps in the day... although today I had to go out this arvo and he was asleep and had been for about 2 hours... go figure..lol, only happens when you've got to go somewhere! Although, we were in and out all weekend so he had very broken naps etc so maybe he was catching up. I hope Nic is feeling better for you! I kinda figure with the day sleeping though that if he's doing well at night, I can live with the day IYKWIM? Oskar *touch wood* sleeps pretty well at night so I leave it be.

Rachel, yay for Grace!! I haven't actually tried a sleeping bag yet... I'm too afraid to change anything like that in case I wreck his night sleep!!

Nothing to really report... so shall check you all later!!!

Cass – thanks for the hugs! I know what you mean about the sleeping when you need to go somewhere too. Today, I thought I would try to get him sleeping longer, so at 20mins he made a noise, so I went in and patted him to keep him asleep, it worked. Then, at about 45mins, he stirred again, but settled himself and then slept for 2 ½ hours! I had to ask a friend pick the girls up from school so I didn’t have to wake him. Such a good boy though, sleeping so well!

Caro – Wow, Michael is really stacking it on, that’s fantastic! I have been using the Padbury Pharmacy mix and it’s amazing! I cannot believe how quickly it works and how well it works! Nic just burps up any wind within about 30 secs of taking it and his vomiting has definitely gotten better. Thanks for the recommendation! Stephen (the son?) said he is amazed at how much business you have drummed up for them! Maybe you should ask for commission!!

Karina – Claire is so cute! I really love that pic of her on your ticker. She looks like she has just told a cheeky joke! I think Nic likes his sleeping bag too, but we still wrap his arms sometimes when he won’t settle, then during the night he manages to get his arms out.

Well, what a great day! Nic slept, he is happy again, smiling and giggling (soooo cute!). I really need to take more photo’s! I have been reading a book called Every Parent for the last few weeks. It is part of the Positive Parenting Program. I have found that the girls are really responding so well to me being a lot more positive and encouraging their good behaviour instead of just dishing out consequences for their bad behaviour. I tell you, parenting is hard work, and the older they get, the more difficult it is! Sorry about that, I just needed to share! :D

Hey Caro how big was Michael when born? He's definately a good weight now isnt he. Claire is only 5.2kg and 3 weeks older! How did you go with the house thing?

Jo, Claire is a cheeky monkey! How cute are the little giggles and smiles!

Had a good day today - Mum has been away on hols for a few weeks and just got back yesterday so she came over today for a few hours and of course wanted to cuddle and play with Claire (oh, and she folded all of my clothes, yay for mums!). Then Claire had a 3.5 hour sleep!! I was looking through all my old charting stiuff from when we were TTC and its been like a whole year since I starting "growing" Claire in me. So I told DH that Claire has been in our lives for a whole year now, heheh.

Anyone else still losing stacks of hair?

YAY for Oskar's twin!! hehe.. I gotta say he's really powering along!!

Jo, I've noticed that with Oskar as well. I'm thinking that either I was picking him up too early when he stirred or that he is just more settled as he's gotten older and knows that he hasn't been left alone?? Could be a combination also. Right now Oskar is asleep and he did stir a bit before but just closed his eyes again and dozed off. I don't rush over unless I have that "feeling" that if I don't pat him on the back quickly that he won't go back to sleep. Seems to be working. I hear ya on the acknowledging and praising the good behaviour. It's a problem that Joshua has with his dad IMO. His dad is fast to let him know he's done something wrong but to be honest I don't think that I've ever known him to tell him how great he's done at something. This is something Andy and I try to do cos we don't want to be grouches anyway... we also try it with the cat ;) it does work to an extent...lol... it's got a lot to do with the fact that kids and animals love attention, they'll do whatever it is which gives them the attention, be it bad or good. I feel for Joshua with this and his dad... unfortunately I can't say anything cos I'm wrong according to his dad... oh well, we just try to counteract it here for him and I explain to Joshua other ways of maybe getting his dad's attention.

Karina, woohoo for your mum folding the clothes!! My mum is still in Cambodia at the moment. I think she's due back in about 3 or 4 weeks. I was still cranky with her when she left but now I'm over it and she can come back...lol...and I'd even let her help with things like that cos I'm not cranky anymore. Man, I have a stubborn proud streak!! I hope Oskar forgot to pick up that gene from my DNA...lol. Awww @ Claire being in your lives for a year. You know I said something similar to Andy the other night. It's amazing huh that a year ago we were all pg or so close it's not funny!! This time last year I was planning Joshua's 13th birthday...pmsl and now... how things have changed. We were TTC using the maybe baby saliva test which definitely helped! How exciting it's all been huh!

Well, it's raining again... lol @ me... got that song in my head now.. it's raining again...woooah I'm losing a friend. Ok, so I know it's going to make me look old :( Anyway, I had just gotten into a habit and routine of going for a walk with Oskar pretty much every afternoon and now it's been raining and I haven't been able to go! I don't particularly want to go to the shopping centre so I get to walk cos it's too tempting to spend then!! Oh well, at least the tank is finally getting some water in it I guess! I was going to go and have coffee with a friend at a shopping centre but I'd have to drive on the highway and I don't like to when it's raining cos there's already enough accidents along there when it's dry and I see too many idiots driving then let alone when it's raining, so we opted to stay home..at least I've just about caught up on my washing, but won't have anywhere to hang it soon!! Never mind, I shall do what I gotta do to get it dry! :D Have a great day, might be back later!!! Ciao Bella's and bubs!!

Hi everyone! Long time no post yet again. I have been very busy organising an outfit and accessories for DH's work party on Saturday night. I am very excited, we are staying in the city and everything. My sister is looking after the boys for the first time. I think Tate will be fine, more worried about Aidan. Tate didn't feed until 9am this morning, after I fed him at 1am, so I was able to express a whole feed AND feed him, woo hoo! So I popped that one in the freezer for my sister, and will hopefully get to express again a few more times. I have decided to top Tate up with formula after b/feeding him after his dinner feed (somewhere between 5pm and 7pm every night). He has been waking every 4hrs at night, which is fine but I feel OK about giving him formula to 'fill him up', so why not.

Rachel, sorry I havent emailed, very busy this week! I am free Thursday but thats your Mothers Group (?). Definietly next week!

Hi to everyone, happy to hear so many cute baby stories!