Hey girls! In Berlin with my bestie...just checking in to let everyone know eva's foot is fine but she is teething bad and fell and busted her lip on top of it her lip is a swollen bloody mess! I left her with DH for three days for a preplanned trip and she seems to be getting better from what DH told me about her day...
I decided to leave for the mountains with her next week until the 29th...sort of not ready to put her back in daycare...she has had it rough lately, what with her foot and violent teething...
Slowly getting the hang of my iPhone. Here goes girls:
BS - Sorry to hear about Eva's foot and the rough time teething. Hope you're both feeling happier soon. It sound stressful. The mountains would be lovely, hope you have a great time.
Tilda - hope Lani can make it. At this stage the 11th is best for me. How's Tilly, sleep, bfing and your bellybean going? Most importantly, how are you?
AFUS - Ryan got his lower canines and molars together, but now they're through he's suddenly developing in leaps and bounds. Ladies we have walking AND talking where there had previously a little talking and a couple of steps. Very exciting!
Oops! Got some catching up to do on posts.
BS - Just read about Eva's toe BS mg: have you spoken to the daycare centre? Sorry if you have and I missed it.
Lani - Glad Paul is trying so hard but honestly I wouldn't know what to do either.
Tilda - That's great that Tilly went so well being minded. The nappy thing used to happen to me too. I swear my carer wouldn't even check if I was due back in a couple of hours. In her defense she did care for several kids.
Off to read more...
Hi Girls - OMG I haven't been getting notifications and I've been sooooo busy I haven't had time to come on here!
I haven't read through all the missed posts so will go back soon and do so. I hope you are all well my lovelies.
All this business in NZ is so sad, I travelled to Christchurch a few years ago, lovely place, lovely people - a friend's friend's mum is missing amongst the CTV building, so bloomin sad.
Right - quite a selfish post I guess but I have had quite a week I tell you! My new boss finally started last week. I didn't meet him until yesterday as he started on one of my non working days. He's come from Thailand and has a very different view on how things should work. We had a meeting yesterday and he proceeded to tell me that a) he wants to change my working days - currently I do Tuesdays in the office and Wednesdays at home, he wants me to do alternate weeks with the alternate one working Wednesdays at home, Fridays in the office. I told him today that after discussing with my husband it's not viable due to having to arrange care for Amelia etc and could we rethink it and he said no! The worst part is come April he wants me to work 3 days a week, 2 in the office, 1 at home and within a couple of months of that stopping the working from home altogether and working 3 days in the office! I should've seen this coming, I was expecting him to be difficult, I was warned he is renowned for not being overly friendly. Not to sound racist at all but I think his culture really sees women in a different light, not to mention an admin worker, we are just the bottom of the barrel obviously - he already asked the other admin to go get him a birthday cake for his wife the other day, WTF! So, long story short, after not sleeping last night from stress and discussions with hubby I have decided to hand in my resignation next week. I think at the end of the day he will shaft me anyway, he wants to get in another 2 fulltime admins, so eventually he will probably say that I either have to do that or leave. It's so scary, I've been doing this for 20 years and I did love my job and my old boss but I just don't feel it anymore. By the time I leave I would've been back 6 months, 5 months longer than I originally planned so no-one can say I didn't give it a go. It will be tight for a bit until Paul picks up more work, but we are in a good financial position, better than lots of other people so I might as well take advantage of it. I will miss the wonderful pay they give me but it's not everything is it, and I'm not prepared to sacrifice any more of my time with Amelia. I think it's going to be a shock to everyone next week, am dreading doing it but feel like a weights lifted off my shoulders finally making the decision. I know it's the right one for me and my family. Besides, I have some ideas - I am currently researching into setting up a little business making wall decals for childrens/babies rooms - so hopefully I can pull that off, will have to see......watch this space! Anyone knowing anyone in the printing/paper industry let me know!
Right, that's me in a nutshell, Amelia is doing well, her first molar is just poking through and she's been terribly clingy the last couple of weeks, I can't even go to the toilet without "mum mum" and crying if I leave her - but it is a wonder week so I'll go with that ha ha.
I will go back and read everyone's posts now, hope you are all safe and well - BS hope that bump is going well, Lani, I've been meaning to text you, how are you going my love. Must talk on email soon ok! Beany/Rose - we need to arrange a catchup, it's been absolutely ages! Hope bump for you is also going well Tilda!
Hi to Everyone else, hope you and your gorgeous bubs or should I say toddlers are all well and thriving! How fast has time gone, can't believe we're on the downhill slide to 18 month olds!!!! YIKES!
xx
Last edited by Alison1973; February 23rd, 2011 at 08:43 PM.
OMG Ali. That is terrible, what an As#ho*e of a new boss. You have done amazingly to have lasted this long. Let's hope Paul picks up some more work ASAP and everything continues smoothly for you. I am sure it will. How sad that this boss has made you decide to resign but I believe everything happens for a reason, so one door will close and another will open, lets hope your business can take off. Let me know as I will be interested in some wall deco's.
Sydney/Canberra girls - looks like Friday 11th March it is for a catchup. How bloomin' exciting! I can't believe we've left it this long. We can either do it on the Eastern Beaches at Carmie's place or in the Inner West at my place. What is easier for everyone else to get to? And should we make it an afternoon thing to give Suz a chance to drive up. I'll repeat all this on FB too....
Alison - I wish they'd get on top of this notification issue - I've missed you on here! Your boss has put you in such a difficult position. If your current employment conditions don't suit him he should be offering you a juicy redundancy. Maybe you should bring that up with HR. It's not fair to try and force your resignation like that. Grrr. Anyway, I'm sure whether you resign or get made redundant, it sounds like what you want at the moment.
AFUS - We got fantastic news yesterday - we're having another baby girl! So Matilda is going to have a little sister. And another pair of sisters on the December 09 Babybuddies group! DH and I were talking last night and we were both saying we couldn't believe we're going to have another little person we're going to love as much as Matilda, we'll just burst! It really is amazing to think about. And Matilda took another step towards being the big girl this week. We gave up our bedtime BF! She didn't even grizzle! On Monday night I separated the BF from bedtime because I really didn't want her going up to her room for bed and getting disapointed and upset when there was no feed. Then on Tuesday I offered her one quite early before I had to go to physio and she didn't want one. And then when I got home I just read her a few stories and when she didn't ask for a feed I thought, well her goes nothing, and just put her to bed. She just rolled over and went to sleep and there's been not one request for a feed since! I was so relieved it wasn't traumatic! And because she wasn't upset I haven't felt too upset about it either. And she's still sleeping through! Yippee!! I have to say I'm feeling pretty blessed at the moment. She was a challenging baby but she's turning into quite an easy toddler. I guess you've got to get some breaks in life, huh?
Is it possible that Eva could be dropping naps this early on???? It has been a week where it is impossible to get her down (even putting her down later than usual) and she then naps ( or just stays in her bed playing) for 20-30 minutes!!!! I usually come in to check on her and she is in bed with a book so not even sure if she is sleeping that!
When do toddlers usually drop naps and is anyone else having this?
Hi Bs - it's quiet on here isn't it!!! I keep meaning to get on but its been really busy with my patents here. Its fantastic having them but unfortunately all the extended family go nuts organizing get togethers so it gets frenetic. I can empathize with the nap dilemma. On a normal/good day Matilda will sleep for 11-11.5 hours at night and then only have one 30-40 minute nap during the day. It doesn't give you much of a break - especially when you're pregnant like us!!! And I've read that they can drop naps all together from 12 months and sometimes even earlier. Does Eva get very tired and grumpy when she doesn't have a nap? If not maybe she's ready just to have quiet time instead of a nap. But if she's getting beside herself with tiredness maybe something else is going on. I can't remember if I've already mentioned that I seem to have solved our early waking problem! I just happened to open a book I had more or less written off as too long winded and came across some advice to reduce the amount of food they eat between 7 and 11am so that they're hungry enough to eat a decent meal later in the day. Otherwise they don't eat much dinner and wake up early starving. I realized Matilda's breakfasts had been getting bigger and bigger. She was having porridge, fruit, yoghurt and an egg! So I dropped the egg and reduced everything else and voila she ate more for dinner and slept until 7.15 the next morning!! And we've only had one early wake up on a cold morning since then. Sorry if that went on a bit but I thought it's worth knowing about! As for daycare, the second trip was just as bad as the first and she screamed the whole time. And the poor thing was so unsettled and clingy for the rest of the week. She wouldn't even let my parents look after her and she adores them! The carer was inflexible about trying different ways of helping her settle in like letting me stick around or doing very short days so I called it quits. I'm going to do as you suggest and look at the bigger centers including Montessori which might be more flexible and have more carers to help her settle in. When there's only one woman they don't have the time to focus on one child while they settle in. In the meantime I'm going to focus on encouraging her to be more independent at home and get some home based help. Anyway M has just woken up. Better get going...
Sorry I've been MIA, life is just so busy lately, busy and stressful. Working 2 days takes up so much of my week and poor Amelia has has one sickness after the other lately. We finally got back to playgroup last week after missing 3 weeks with hand foot and mouth and 2 days later she comes down with a horrible head cold - playgroup is as bad as daycare for germs - it's no different really. Here's me avoiding daycare for that very reason and it still happens ha ha. I've decided to cut back on going every week, the doctor said I need to allow her immune system to recover before exposing her again or she's just going to be sick one after the other - this is the 3rd sickness in as little as 8 weeks, not only is it horrible for her but I feel like I've had no sleep for the last 2 months bar 1 week where it went back to normal. Trying to work alongside looking after a baby has me completely exhausted and I'm almost at the end of my tether. Besides that I am finding trying to fit everything in each week is getting harder and harder, by the time I lose 2 days working, 1 day on playgroup only leaves me 2 days to do everything else, including nothing/relaxing - which seems to never happen these days. I really want to either put Amelia back in swimming or doing toddler bop but both are on the day I have playgroup, plus I would like a day to get stuck into my decal business so I can actually launch it soon! Once I give up work things will be easier in that respect, but by then I'll hopefully be pregnant and not feeling like doing much if I'm unlucky enough to get 24 hour nausea/morning sickness again, groan. Aaargh whinge whinge, sorry ladies, just one of those weeks. On a better note Amelia is feeling and looking much better today, still a bit of a snot machine but she's much chirpier and starting to sleep better again, she still fussed quite a few times last night but we're getting there. The last week we've been lucky to get 3 hours sleep a night and anything at all during the day! So BS, on the sleep thing, not sure but if Eva is dropping her sleep I feel for you as it's hard work when they won't sleep! Of all the sleep books I've read they do suggest if you can keep the 1 nap till at least the age of 2 it's advisable, but as with everything all kids are different and some just don't need it. My sister told me recently that my nephew dropped all sleeps at 13 months, was a killer she said as he was a very active/naughty little boy at the time ha ha! He's now about to turn 18 and thankfully a nice boy now though lol. Amelia has only just dropped from 2 naps to 1 a couple of weeks ago, we had only just got her into a routine of going down at 12.00 pm for anywhere between 1.5 to 2 hours, then she got sick so she's been all over the place the last week. Yesterday she had 2 1 hour naps again, today I'm hoping to start getting her back on track. I prefer 1 nap of around 2 hours which most of the girls' at groups toddlers are doing, but we shall see, another good friend from the group's little girl only has 1 hour a day and that is all she seems to need. In all honesty, as long as they sleep well at night I guess the day is not as big a deal, just means it's harder to get anything done in peace and quiet huh.
Tilda - I hope you can sort out your daycare issues soon. My brother in law's daughter who is now 5 goes to a Montessori school over here, it's very expensive, like $5000 a year, the same as the private primary school/secondary school fees where we're sending Amelia! It's really one of those programs that is individual for everyone, I personally don't really agree with the concept and seeing my niece in law she is a cute little girl but has become a little precocious, they are basically allowed to do what they want, so not sure I agree.....I think this next generation are selfish and over confident as it is I'm not sure we need any more of that ha ha, at the age of 4 she was learning to sing Twinkle Twinkle in Italian and her mother would get her up and say, sing for everyone and she was like a robot, it was really sad and so show-offy. Over here if you send your kids to Montessori you basically have to have money and unfortunately my sister in law is very much the type to look good to her friends who are all lawyers, architects etc so it's more a show thing - but like I said, it's an individual choice and it might work in a different way for Matilda. Best to go check it out and get a feel for it yourself, it may be perfect for you guys.
So how is everyone else? Anyone else looking at starting for another soon? My weight loss took a halt and I think I've probably put on, since Amelia has been constantly sick and dropping down to 1 nap I haven't figured out the time or energy for the treadmill. So bummed as I was starting to look and feel so much better. I'm going to start making an effort and go walking with a friend as of today, have to do something, I don't want to get pregnant with 3 kgs too many already on me, it will just make things that much harder to lose next time!!!
Anyway, best go, Amelia's just fallen over and put her tooth in her lip so she's bleeding a little, poor thing can't take a trick lately. You should hear her voice, it's all raspy from this cold...I have to say though she's learnt so many new words in the last week and with The Wiggles, she can now say Dorothy as clear as day, wasn't even attempting it until the other day. We do laugh though as she has also learnt to say drink (albeit it jink) - so she can say Dorothy clearly, but says jink for drink, crack up!
Hope everyone is well, sorry to rant on and moan, just been one of those weeks or 2 or 4!!!!
Hey girlies, Alison, I am glad she is doing a bit better....I think the change in weather has to do with it too - you guys are going into winter soon, no? There is just nothing to do about getting sick - it either happens in daycare or she will get it all in playgroup or preschool or whatever. Singing in italian...sounds useless lolololol - wierd they would teach kids that in daycare...lololololol - I think 5000 a year is pretty reasonable actualy But it all depends on what you are used to...In nyc good daycares start at 1000 a MONTH! I pay 500€ a month here so like around 700AUS dollars (and in sept that is going up to 600 for everyone), and that is reasonable pricing! So it is all relative, I guess...Daycare has a lot more equipement and insurance and feedings to pay for, so I am willing to pay as long as I am happy and Eva is happy! It is such a reliefe to not stress where your child is during the day!
Tilda, glad you decided to pull out of that care situation - sounds like it is not for her....
As for montessori - I looked into it for Eva, it is great I think during the early years but I would not leave her in until preschool, just daycare until like 3 or 4 max....It is individual oriented, but for MAtilda, that might be amazing....the transition might be easier than trying to fit into a schedule - Amelia was always so great with schedules, so maybe she is just easier in that regard....Eva's daycare is also individual oriented until 3 years where there is structure and mealtimes - for the first year they nap eat and play when they feel and now they only have imposed nap and meal time and random activities (like going outside or events in the school) otherwise the kids do what they want. I appreciate the fact that the structure was introduced slowly. Tilda, Montessori, from what I heard is really great for individual development, but then sometimes it is harder for the children to assimilate to "disciplined schedules" when real school starts....or if they stay through until college or whatever they have a really hard time buckling down for that...Personally, I think it is a great program for young years but I would prob not leave Eva in for school....go and see, only you know your child, and you can feel it if something is wrong. The resources in a bigger center will just be much more varied and she will have more toys activities and diff people around. You know what is best for her...As for it being pretentious...I don't know - In NYC it is just seen as a sort of alternative to regular schooling and my best friend's borther has his son in daycare there and is super happy. He feels like they really encourage his individuality and the things he likes, and they never complain about him (which is what I did not like about that other carer)...They call him the "loudest singer in the group", not "the screamer" for example
Good luck - it is a hard decision....
I've been having some night sleep issues with Eva - she has a tooth coming in as well as the cold/conjunctivitis she had the past week - she falls asleep exhausted after no napping then gets up systematically around 12/1 screaming for ELMO! She loves sesame street so much and does not want to go back to bed. I don't allow her to go watch TV or this will never end but this has really put me in a state....I worry she watches too much TV now, I worry she is having nightmares (but from sesame street?) - she only watches baby einstein or sesame street and once a day at most (and not even every day).....I hope this is just because of her teething but for the mo I have decided to not let her watch anymore TV except for one video a day on the WE (about 30min). How much TV are your kids watching?
Anyone else having this waking screaming for TV or play? I have not had this happen since a long time and don't know what the issue is - I hope it is just a teething thing and will pass...She just went back to daycare this morning so let's see if she settles back into her sched.
Hi BS - just a quick one as about to have dinner but Amelia is the same! Amelia loves The Wiggles here and while she was sick we were letting her watch it on the portable dvd player as it was the only way to get her to sleep, she doesn't seem to have wanted to carry it on the last 2 nights but I did wonder. She also loves Elmo! Amelia watches tv most days, not all day of course but while I'm getting dinner or something or getting lunch I let her watch Sesame Street or a Wiggles DVD, I don't see any harm in a little bit, it's taught her how to dance and say lots of words, not that I don't teach her as well but you know what I mean. hee hee. Amelia has been waking between midnight and 1am as well, apparently their sleep cycle changes at this age and midnight/1am is the new wake time, they say they get past it so let's hope so huh! Anyway best run and get dinner finished. Will get back on for more later. xx
Thanks for reassuring me Alison...I feel like Eva has learned so much from the shows as well -she gets so into them and repeats back words and learns dances and stuff (head shoulders knees and toes was not taught to her by me and frankly, I was so surprised to see her doing it after seeing it once in a baby einstein DVD)....I did not realize this waking thing is normal....I saw her bottom teeth poking through today so here's hoping for a restful night...Let's see. I'll keep you guys posted!
Wow suz! No wonder you've been MIA!!!!!!!!! Oh man, good luck on the sale, move, renos, new daycare! You've got everything going on at once!
Kanda, I saw about the house too - hope to hear some news soon
Just a quick update! Eva is right now sleeping in her big bed!!!!! DH and I finished putting the furniture together (but not the mirrors and toys etc...) I told DH that I would like to try giving her her milk in that room so he did and put her straight to bed after...she went down, rolled over and fell asleep!!!! Not a single complaint!!!
Only been an hour so let's see what happens when she stirs at night (which she does often) - I'll update tom or Monday on how it goes!
Update! Great success - Eva slept through without a peep from 8-730!!! I woke up before her and found her sitting in her bed playing with her doll! Yay! I think we will be making the shift!
Yay Eva! Well done BS Looks like you will have no dramas moving Eva in to her big bed. It was such a big deal for us when I was pregnant with Ryan, but Craig wanted to swap as soon as he saw his big boy bed. We could move Ryan now too, but may as well wait until we're in the new house.
Tilda - yes, these have been the worst teeth so far. Usually he's not too bad with teething, but these must be real stubborn ones!! I hope Amelia is sleeping a bit better now.
BS - holey, moley!!!! Well done Eva!! She's moving along at lightening pace! I couldn't imagine even thinking about moving Michael into a big bed yet. Can't wait to see your new photoshoot! I'm sure you will look just as stunning as your last ones
Suz - Wow, good luck with the sale! I really think the market has picked up lately. Well, it has in Perth anyway. Sounds like a lovely place you have made an offer on. Perfect having care just around the corner for them too! Yay!
Alison - whats this about you moving?!! Are you selling your house?
AFM - went to what would have been MIL's 60th birthday yesterday. FIL wanted to have a celebration for it even though she's no longer here. We had a room at an italian restaurant...yummy food! Michael had to go without his nap, so he was pretty cranky. He has a 2nd cousin who is only 2 days only than him, and what a difference - he is so calm and quiet compared to Michael. Michael was wriggling and writhing and whingeing and wouldnt' sit still, wouldn't play with the other kids, just kept wanting to walk all over the place. Was just interesting to see, as I had thought Michael was fairly quiet and calm.
Hi Girls - I'm almost ready to launch Cutie Hooties, had my logo designed and I love it - my sister did the drawing and then got a graphic designer to do it on the computer, my sister is old school artist ha ha. Funny though as this graphic designer told me after I scanned and sent her the drawn pic of what I wanted how clever she is and she wished she could draw like that. Obviously graphic artists aren't what they used to be lol! But she's also helping me do a welcome page etc so just writing a little promo/spiel now. I'm not very good at talking myself up and I'm so scared I'm going to give people high expectations ha ha - but seriously, we will have some great things, as orders come in it will be better as we'll have more pics to put up, for starters I'm just doing one boy one girl so people can get an idea, don't want to go mad if no-one wants them, besides, we are doing custom orders as well so don't want to waste the paper, it's not cheap and I want to keep our prices down so it's affordable to people. So, watch this space, of course my immediate friends (aka you guys) will all get mates rates so don't be shy if you want something!
Hi BS - OMG Eva is such a good girl, sleeping in her big bed all night, how amazing and such a relief for you. I can't wait to see pics of her bedroom, if the rest of your house is anything to go by it's going to be amazing! With the leaf canopy, they had two at the head of the bead an they kind of overlapped each other, one was slightly higher than the other if that makes sense, looked really cool so I'm going to do the same, eventually! Yay on getting more pics, you would look gorgeous in a paper bag so I don't know what you're worried about, looking forward to seeing those too! Thanks for the nice comments about my weight, I guess time has come now so I don't want to risk putting off getting pregnant any longer in case it takes a while, I'm no spring chicken, 38 in June, yikes that's old! Like you said, hopefully I won't put too much on during the pregnancy and can go on a massive really really try hard exercise regime afterwards. My friend did that, waited until she'd had her 2nd, in fact, I saw her today, her youngest just turned 3 and she is looking amazing, the skinniest I have ever seen her and I've been friends with her for 25 years! What an inspiration.
Hi Beany - Amelia's the same, she likes to roam around nowadays, it's a bit of a trick getting her to sit still for too long, I think our little ones are just very inquisitive! How is Michael's sleeping going? I've found since Amelia has been ill on and off (well now touch wood) her sleeping has gone to the dogs. She's been waking at night again, anywhere from 1.30 to 4.00 am and she won't self settle. She calls out for me and if I go in I can resettle her with a 5/10 min cuddle, but if I ignore it she wakes up more and takes an hour to get back to sleep. I'm hoping this is just a stage as it's driving me bonkers! Also, her day sleeps I'm lucky to get 1.5 hours out of her, all my friends bar one kids are having 2-3 hours! What's Michael having on his day sleep? I know they're all different but I find it hard to believe she went from 2 x 1.5 hour sleeps to 1 x 1.5 hour at most....the last 2 days I was out and if I'm not home by 11.00 am she falls asleep in the car or pram and wakes up when I get home, then she only has 30/45 mins max! I wonder if that's contributing to her not sleeping as well at night as she used to. Either way, I hope it ends soon, it's hard juggling a toddler with a broken nights sleep and work and the house duties and trying to get Cutie Hooties up and running ha ha. Welcome to the world of motherhood huh!
Hi Suz - of course we chat on FB all the time but I'm so excited about your house etc. Can't wait to hear that you sold yours for the asking price, or maybe even more, that would be nice! I didn't see the red chairs at Ikea, maybe they've changed colours now, you can get pink or blue. I might go back and get 2 blue ones at some point, they're such a great idea aren't they, easy to clean and sturdy. Amelia quite easily gets on and off without too much hassle.
Hi Everyone else, how are you all? How are your beautiful little kiddies going? Can you believe we're heading to the 18 month mark, my goodness girls, where has time gone, it's actually a bit scary how fast it goes. We're definitely going to start trying for number 2 next month, I'm so darn scared, scared of morning sickness - don't know how I'll cope with that and a toddler AND work, scared of coping, scared of getting fat, scared of going back to 3 hourly feeds, gosh listen to me, should I be doing this, are all these fears normal? lol
her lip is a swollen bloody mess! I left her with DH for three days for a preplanned trip and she seems to be getting better from what DH told me about her day...
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mg: have you spoken to the daycare centre? Sorry if you have and I missed it. 
lolololol - wierd they would teach kids that in daycare...lololololol - I think 5000 a year is pretty reasonable actualy 
She's moving along at lightening pace! I couldn't imagine even thinking about moving Michael into a big bed yet. Can't wait to see your new photoshoot! I'm sure you will look just as stunning as your last ones 
So, watch this space, of course my immediate friends (aka you guys) will all get mates rates so don't be shy if you want something! 
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