Babies Born ~ May 2009

[Snacks]

PMSL, BG. I'm not sure I can totally picture the... erm... logistics of it though. Not that I am really into picturing Nay and Sean anyway! (I promise, Nay!)

I think P is giving up her sleep. She still sleeps at CC but at home she has pretty much given it the flick. When she does have a day sleep she tends to wake for at least an hour in the night! It'd be fine except that she wants to be entertained. I'm definitely not into entertaining at 2am.

[briggsy's girl]

PMSL, BG. I'm not sure I can totally picture the... erm... logistics of it though. Not that I am really into picturing Nay and Sean anyway! (I promise, Nay!)

see i wasn't picturing specific logistics lol - i had IUI - so there was no real involvement with C - he had his time with a cup, i had mine with the nurse and a syringe and catheter - so TTC for us was not related to sex at all! that didn't enter my mind - just getting the little swimmers where they needed to be lol. it's been fun telling the very, ummmm, conservative rello's that E was the result of a threesome with the nurse though! one uncle is soooooooooo much of a smart ass, now one can one-up him - but that line left him speechless for HOURS - was quite amusing!

i'm buggered tonight. we bought a wii the other day so c and i could do something a bit more healthy once E is in bed (i used to love going walking at night, but can't do that in winter, with a toddler, over here - and definitely not solo!) - we have been having a ball with it! i am having to take it easy thought - not sure if you seen the pic on facebook of the egg on my head from E throwing her brush at me. it's still VERY painful. brat threw an adults brush and clocked me big time (i NEVER thought a little kid could inflict so much pain). i spoke to my chiro the next day and from what he said, he suspects i had a mild concussion, and on scoping out the egg, he said it was likely there is a hairline fracture there. i asked whether it was worth going to GP for xrays and he said probably not, i was doing ok while i was with him (he tested all the things that would suggest any sort of impairment with head injuries), there was nothing they'd do if it was confirmed apart from maybe offering stronger pain killers (which i'd be reluctant to take while still BF E) so we're just keeping an eye on it. means taking it easy on the more physical wii games (i'm having a ball laughing at how unco C is). but we sat up til really late the last couple of nights playing - and probably will tonight (when the AFL finishes on TV)

as for E - WOW - she is full on at the moment!! she is a stubborn little girl who is adament SHE knows best about everything, won't listen, and it's becoming scary at the things she will do t assert her independence/dominance - we have had to set a rule of two warnings, third time it's removed. in the bath, two warnings to sit properly, then we take the plug out (it's just too dangerous and i'm worried she'll end up hitting her head - i KNOW what that's like - i don't want her going through this!), climbing is the same thing, getting into the pantry and fridge (argh! frustrating). The other thing that scares me is her obsession with the oven. we can't keep her out of the kitchen (open plan house and baby gate is just not safe) and she insists on turning on the oven (electric) or opening the door (only when it's off - so far) - it just worries me that she'll get burnt but she doesn't seem to get it!

[MummyNaomi]

PMSL - you girls are funny, I'd do anything for a baby in truth, but sex while bungey jumping, well that's a whole 'other' thread for the AO section LMAO

Anyhoo, thanks for the kind words, no doubt I'll feel the need to spill my guts as we ride this journey, and BB is the best place to do it, so apologies in advance if I bore you senseless with IVF TTC talk But I thank you in advance, we aren't telling many people at all this time (certainly not family, possibly my Mum as she'll need to look after Bailey for appts etc), but we learnt a harsh lesson last time with prying eyes and gossips so I will need my BB 'safe' place to vent/cry or woohoo!

BG - arrrghhhh re the oven obsession, we recently took our baby gates down, so far so good, its bloody nice not to have to navigate them anymore.

I worked this morning so DH and Bailz had a Daddy day, they went to Toys R Us for TWO hours and just played and played and checked out just about every single toy in store. Bailz chose this Cars movie truck, he went to sleep with it, I had to wait until he'd fallen asleep and let go of it to get it out of his bed LOL. Too cute. They are really bonding, they've always obviously had a lovely relationship and Bailz has been in awe of Daddy but its just starting to turn into this beautiful Daddy/Son friendship, it makes me a bit teary (happy emotional tears)

Anyway, must go finish downloading my virus software which runs out at midnight

[Snacks]

BG: Eeeek @ the oven. Must be a low down one? Ours is up high so I don't have to worry but Natty keeps bringing a step-stool into the kitchen to see what I'm doing and often leaves it there. I forget about it til P comes along and it just the right height to touch knives or hot plates, etc. Of course she doesn't get why I get her down and take it off her - always results in a tanty. Not too much longer though and they'll be better able to reason.
So sorry about your head! That's quite a good arm she has there - skulls are bloody hard!
Nay: How lovely that S & B are enjoying their time together!

We've had a couple of super BORING days this weekend. I passed up the opportunity to go out to lunch today with our fam and I'm regretting it. DH has gone out this evening. The girls are having some screen time and I am (supposed to be) preparing some dinner... am feeling very uninspired!
Phoebe has an insane attraction to textas. Blimey, I hardly ever allow Nat to get them out but whenever she does P finds them and gets the stuff all over herself. Fortunately it comes out of clothing but you need to scrub skin pretty hard to get it off

[briggsy's girl]

BG: Eeeek @ the oven. Must be a low down one? Ours is up high so I don't have to worry but Natty keeps bringing a step-stool into the kitchen to see what I'm doing and often leaves it there. I forget about it til P comes along and it just the right height to touch knives or hot plates, etc. Of course she doesn't get why I get her down and take it off her - always results in a tanty. Not too much longer though and they'll be better able to reason.
So sorry about your head! That's quite a good arm she has there - skulls are bloody hard!

she hit me right on the temple (about the only thin-ish part i think) - we don't KNOW it's fractured - but he's suggested it is possible - and it would explain the intensity of the pain on impact! can't believe how good her aim was - although she was probably aiming for my lap and misfired! C was being a turd just now, and i told him to be careful or i'd get E to throw a brush at him! i just wish i wasn't waking up feeling unrested because i have a headache.

and yeah, our oven is down really low - the only really bad point in this house - drives me bonkers cos i'm used to a high oven at the old house!!


cute moment this morning - E came in to our bed about 6am, had a feed, fell asleep, so i went to the loo, hopped back into bed with my back to her - woke a couple of hours later (she let us sleep til NINE!!) feeling pressure on my shoulder and against my ear. it felt to heavy to be her arm so i had a look - and there was a foot on my shoulder/head!! i thought she must have been laying across the bed between C and I, pushing him out of bed too, but he was happily hogging his half of the bed, and she'd shimmied up between the pillows to put her foot on my shoulder - cheeky wench!

[Snacks]

LOL! Awesome that you guys got a 9 o'clock sleep-in! Jealous here. Natty came into ours at 5:15 and fell back asleep but gradually pushed me further and further into the middle of the bed so in the end my head was between the two pillows. Comfy as.
Hope the headache has eased off a little today.

[briggsy's girl]

Hope the headache has eased off a little today.

i had hoped too...

she has a vile temper - i just told her she couldn't have boob - almost dinner time, plus she'd brought up some water from the last tantrum she had (she drank water and hiccuped i think) - anyway, wasn't the answer she wanted - i have a much worse headache, fat lip, and sore face now... sigh... she is such a great kid 99% of the time - this hitting with tantrums - not a fan AT ALL!

[~ Mylitta ~]

I feel you BG. Kyson tends to throws things when he has a tanty. He's persistent too. If nothing is close to hand you can see the cheeky little thing looking around for something he can pick up and throw! Luckily he doesn't actually try to trhow it AT anyone, just throws it to vent frustration/anger. It's slowly getting better with my 1 warning then into "quiet time". If he won't sit quietly for quiet time then he goes in his room for time out (which is about 30 seconds long, haha!).

[Bella29]

Yeah jemima is doing the whole hitting thing too. We r giving warnings and then sending her to the bathroom for time out. She only stays in there for about 30 seconds to and she has to say sorry on her way out or she stays in but we always get down to her level to ask for the sorry and then she gets a hug and kiss and told we love her. It seems to be reducing the amount of hitting and kicking we are coping. Not fun for any of us tho

[~ Mylitta ~]

Kyson has to say sorry on his way out too, and give a cuddle. I must admit it's rather cute when I open the door and he says "sorry mummy" with his arms in the air for his cuddle

[Snacks]

Our tanties are mega here too. Phoebe hasn't cottoned on to 'sorry' yet - we've only recently started with 'thank you'! (Late bloomer as far as manners are concerned, LOL! Although she does say 'pardon me' after she burps which is more than her father does.)
She doesn't throw things either, unless you count herself (ie, in the midst of the banshee-esque screeching she will propel herself backwards onto the floor). This is done with gay abandon on carpeted floors, however it is somewhat more gingerly on the lino floor. Her screaming is really quite disturbing. The only way I need to deal with it though is to ignore - I stay with her but I don't pay her any attention until she has settled down. It would be different though if she were hurting me/others though. We would do time out here too, probably sitting in a chair. Natalie however is taken to her room for time-outs these days, but she used to stay on the chair when she was this young.
She's actually having tantrums at bedtime! Nothing in her routine has changed and she is delightful whilst we are brushing teeth, reading a story and saying goodnight to the three owls on her wall but then as soon as you get near her bed she gets quite irate. It's sooooo hard - not sure what we can do about it. It's obvious she doesn't want to go to bed, and perhaps she's overtired, but it's getting very draining and the tanty goes on for quite a while. I thought we were done with bedtime difficulties but they've stepped up a notch once again.

[wysiwyg]

Happy Birthday Jemima!

We have a bit of throwing here too, and some lashing out.

Otherwise all good, enjoying not working but seem to have over scheduled myself already - oh well mum will be back from Darwin in a few weeks and can chill then. Flat is freezing and possums have eaten everything on the balcony :-(. Up until now CJ had been refusing to go anywhere near a potty (cheapo white one) so my mum suggested getting her a pink one (she loves everything pink - as I am not a fan of pink at all she is obviously rebelling early!), it arrived yesterday and she is very interested in it, sitting on it etc, no actual business yet but seems hopeful. She only has 2 pink nappies, so the idea of getting to wear pink underwear every day if she is not in nappies is appealing to her!! I can't think where she gets her love of everything girly from, she loves dressing up at mothers group and playgroup in princess dresses, wants to wear a dress every day (and doesn't like covering them up with a coat) and loves flowers, butterflies etc etc. Oh well I did want her to be a bit more balanced than me and like girly things a bit so all is good I suppose and thankfully she does share my love of trains.

[MummyNaomi]

Gosh Vic, I just realised how close you are getting to your due date - Wow, that seemed to go fast (maybe not for you hehehehee)

Funnily I was thinking of toddler behaviour as my blog inspiration tonight, but I digress.... Tantrums seem to have eased off here, that seemed to happen when Bailz joined the toddler room and his speech exploded - I am thinking it's because he can communicate better and is frustrated less. I am knocking on wood as I type though that the tantrums stay away Funnily enough though I have this theory on Bailz - as he is a good napper (and now a great sleeper overnight - only took 2 years LOL) he rarely gets overtired and that is always the trigger for tanties when they occasionally do happen. Our Physio once asked us if he gets tired easily as she thought it would be likely as he's always been quite lacking in tone (eg floppy kid) and in reflection I can see that we'd never really had any issues at bed time or nap times and that is probably the reason why (I'd like to claim my brilliant parenting as the reason, but who are we kidding PMSL). Anyhoo, I think that's a factor for us - less issues with over-tiredness which translate into a happy little chappy most of the time.
However while the majority of the time we are tanty free - Bailey's trump card is selective deafness. He has brilliant hearing though, he can hear me take a food wrapper off from 20km away and be standing next to me seconds later begging for my food However his selective deafness while totally frustrating at times, is rather cute, especially as I tend to just say "Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey" over and over until he turns around with the cheekiest of grins (ok, so I over-did it on the Bailey's LOL)
Anyhoo, what was I talking about again??
Oh yeah .....
So currently my kid is pretty easy (but far from perfect, but perfectly a toddler IYKWIM), however when we are posting in this thread in 13 years time and I have the most annoying teenager in the group, remind me that karma is a biatch However speaking of Karma - sometimes I think the universe has given Bailz enough grief with his Hip Dysplasia, orthotics, tone issues and the like and is currently being mega kind - but hey, I'll take it

[Snacks]

Aw Nay, its so lovely Bailz is such a happy kid! Absolutely you should revel in it and enjoy! You are so right about tiredness being a huge factor in difficult-to-manage behaviour. I wish I knew what to do with P in terms of day sleeps - she so obviously still needs one but then is awake overnight. It's so hard to know what to do.
Yesterday we had such a scream-fest when we left our friends' place. She was playing with a little Upsy Daisy doll and really didn't want to give it back. She screamed the house down when I took it away from her.
Vic, they like what they like, hey! I am quite amused that CJ is into 'girly' stuff without any encouragement from you. I must admit, Nat was very similar although once she made it clear what she liked I did continue on the theme (ie bought her a tutu, allowed her to watch Fairies - thank the Lord that phase is over!, used Dora the Explorer merchandise for our sticker reward system etc.) Now it seems Phoebe is the massive Dora fan - nothing else captures her interest quite so well (even the Night Garden which is why I was so surprised at how much she loved that Upsy Daisy doll yesterday). I personally don't think it does any harm, as long as the love of 'girly' is not encouraged over everything else KWIM? There was a discussion on the boards a while back over an article that suggested we shouldn't allow our girls to dress up as fairies cause it's degrading to our gender etc. Pah. I am not going to deny my daughter her fantasies just yet. There's plenty of time in the future for her to grow her armpit hair and join me in proclamations of how much chicks rock. For now I'm mostly ok with her desire to be "a princess in a pink dress" when she grows up. Life will catch up with her one day.

[~ Mylitta ~]

Oh how I wish I could put Kyson's tanties down to over-tired-ness, but we get them first thing in the morning too, lol. He woke in a foul mood today which continued a bit at playgroup. Always fun when you are holding a baby as well! Luckily there are lots of things there to distract him with. I was telling one of my mum friends there that a part of me wishes it could all be put down to teething some big nasty molars... but I'm pretty sure they aren't coming yet haha! I often get frustrated with myself as to how I'm handling the tanties. If I'm not busy with Shayla as well I often try to talk to Kyson and try to get him to communicate why he's upset/frustrated, but unfortunately I'm generally met with more tanty and tears. If I'm holding Shayla I'll often try the "ignore" approach which often results in me walking laps of the house with Kyson following me in tanty-mode. Then on other occasions when the tanty appears to have no end, I'll tell him it's ok if he wants to have a tantrum, but that he can do it in his bedroom, and I pop him in his room. Neither technique seems to really "work"... It's times like that that I can't help but doubt my parenting

I find it amusing when other Mum's try to steer their girls away from being "girly". Not because I'm against it at all (because I was a real tomboy myself as a kid!), but because I feel totally different towards Shayla. I think it's because with four boys in the house I like to balance out the girly and dress Shayla up in pinks and reds, and lots of dresses and frills hehe. My all time favorite is white though. Gosh I love (impractical!) white on babies!!!

[briggsy's girl]

I find it amusing when other Mum's try to steer their girls away from being "girly". Not because I'm against it at all (because I was a real tomboy myself as a kid!), but because I feel totally different towards Shayla. I think it's because with four boys in the house I like to balance out the girly and dress Shayla up in pinks and reds, and lots of dresses and frills hehe. My all time favorite is white though. Gosh I love (impractical!) white on babies!!!

we try and mix it up with E - she loves pink - i'm not a fan! BUT, i know i may as well do the girly girl thing with her now cos she's becoming more of a tomboy every day! She is funny though - she seems to know that it's cool to be a grotty tomboy at home - but if we're going out, she looks for nice clothes - and her handbag lol.

on the tanty front - some of E's are from tiredness - but i think it's mostly because her little brain knows what she is thinking, and she just can't get us to understand. i've had moments where i've wondered if we're just not listening enough, but in think in the bigger picture, she is two, thinks she is ten, thinks she has the world sorted, and is just trying to assert herself in the world. i get that. i just wish the tanties didn't involve hitting. crying, screaming - i get that's frustration - i just hate the hitting (primarily because i KNOW i have a temper and an instinct to hit out after being raised like that - and i don't want her to have it - so we're ALL having to learn about life with a little tacker and gentle parenting)

[Snacks]

Ah, Krystie it's hard hey. Phoebe woke far too early yesterday, so she was foul too. She was even having a tantrum in her cot before we went in there! (Her wrap upset her in some way ) It's a billion times more stressful when you have a baby to deal with too. I am sure you won't be nearly as upset by Shayla's shenanigans when she's Kyson's age. I find I take P's tantrums more in stride, even though they are dreadfully inconvenient and often very embarrassing. I tend to ignore them, but stay close because she's the type who will hurt herself. In terms of your management of it "working", how do you judge this? As long as he doesn't get hurt and is allowed to express himself in a safe environment, you are doing wonderfully! I honestly don't believe you can make tantrums go away, I don't think you can even cut them short in many cases (if it's not a serious one I'm sure a kid could be distracted out of it, but once it sets in it becomes too difficult!).
I have had many non-proud parenting moments but we live and learn. You are a wonderfully caring mum who has her children's best interests at heart.

I love white too. I feel dreadfully frumpy in white but love it on the girls too. Nat has a beautiful white skirt but sadly she found a permanent marker one day... and it's ruined.

ETA: BG, so cute re the handbag! I understand the 'frustration' side of it too. Is so funny now that P can talk better though - she can communicate her displeasure so much more easily. She has a thing about wearing her gumboots. I think I have mentioned in the past she has a tantrum sometimes if she can't get them on but then gets even crosser if we try to help her. The other day I stupidly thought I'd have a go at helping (just putting the boot the right way around for her to put her foot inside) and she yelled, "Hey! HEY!! That's MY boot!" ROFL, I fell over laughing. So much better to hear words than the screaming! But there is still such a limit to what they can say it's bound to be terribly frustrating for them. Also, not really being able to understand why we don't allow them to do things - this is something Natty still tries to get her head around.

[Snacks]

Quiet around here
Hope you guys are keeping well. We have had some lovely weeks of wonderfully good health but sadly Phoebs is getting snotty once again. I suppose it must be our turn.