Babies Born ~ September 2007 #54

[Cally]

Arte - PMSL at the prostitute statement!!!

Clare - I can't believe you lasted two hours before you lost it, I don't think I would have lasted that long. You're a great mother too!! But at least you are back now and getting to pack up your entire house before the big move!!!

MD - mmm, lunch overlooking the vineyards, very nice!!

Well after a week of Granny putting K down to sleep, she went straight down for me yesterday, didn't have to read stories for an hour, take her for a walk or a drive or put up with a screaming toddler. Almost didn't know what to do with myself!! She has a little pillow now which might have helped as well.

And what's with the 7:00 sleep in on the first day back at work/day care/school when she's been up at 6:15 for the last week???

How are all the toddlers at playing by themselves? K was pretty demanding while we were away and didn't really get into anything, which prompted my mum to say that she needs to learn to play with herself (I think part of it was not being able to go outside because it was wet and cold and also having so many people around that she could play with). However, I figure she must be able to, they've never commented at daycare that she is any different than the other children. And on Saturday when we got back she spent ages with her mattress on the floor, jumping and putting dolls to sleep, yesterday I swear she spent an hour moving water from bucket to bucket with me only filling them up a couple of times. It seems like she can with a couple of things, but the day to day stuff we have around the house she isn't so good at playing by herself.

What are things that keep them busy that need minimal supervision? She had great fun with the playdough, but she kept trying to play with it on the carpet, not her table, so we didn't have much luck with that (when she wasn't trying to climb up on the table to do feet imprints in it....). We've got a few of the Little People things, but she just hasn't got into them as much as I thought she would. I'm planning on having a bit of a crafty Christmas, but again, she can only really do painting etc outside, no good when I am trying to get dinner ready.

[Artechim]

Clare, you are a good mum. Epic tantrums are enough to make any mother want to quit and find a better job lol

Cally, is there a girl version of Matchbox cars? W plays with them for ages. Will she watch a DVD? I have found that a life saver with all our recent rainy days. As a last resort I pull a chair into the kitchen and give him a couple of potatos or something to wash while I am preparing dinner.

Oz, Amelia is so far doing the normal newborn sleeping thing - she will go anywhere from 2 -5 hours at night. Not sure what she does during the day, I just go with the flow. How are you adjusting to life with two?

[Cassius2]

MD: oh yeah the hotels there are AMAZINGLY extravagent. if you want luxury that is the place to go. for the most part i have always enjoyed my time there (who doesnt like an entire city that is TAX FREE lol!). one hotel we stayed at was just soo lush with a bathtub in the middle of the ginormous bathroom and reminded me of 'pretty woman' (hmmm in keeping with the prostitute theme lol). and our towels and bathrobes were heated every evening...kinda weird when you are in the middle of the desert...

Cally: the only things that leila really plays with on her own for extended periods of time are her dolly prams and her dolly cradle. she doesnt even really play with the dolls so much but rather is into organising the cradle for "sleeping" and pushing the pram around with a mobile in one hand and her handbag in the other LOL!

[MamaPan]

hello hello!
sorry i seem to be MIA a lot atm, and on here just for quick spurts - just a lot going on atm, all good though!
had a fab weekend - had a baby shower on sat afternoon for a school friend and caught up with lots of ppl i havent seen in ages... only took J along and he fell asleep so i ALMOST felt like a normal person again and able to hold a full conversation... then yest we had Noah's kindy concert - soooo cute! i think he was a little freake out what we were doing there on a weekend but had heaps of fun too.. it was great! my coiusins were in town on the weekend so they spent fri with us at my place - so much fun but the cleaning required after that (4yo, 2yo, 1yo and 3 month old pklus all us adults)... and then we also saw them yest when we had a big play at the adventure playground... was lovely and N loves his ciusin so it was awesome for them to have so mnuch fun together. he is getting a lot more adventurous physically - he is def still 'behind' but a lot better - i will be keen to see what the physio thinks when we go back in a week or 2 for his feet.
Clare - whoa on the dubai airport shenanigans! bet you are glad to be back... i guess doing lots of packing up now? i dont envy you, i am thinking about when we have to move (either melb or oseas)next yr and am filled with dread!
MD I missed your lumppost but it sounds scary... hope all is ok. your weekend sounds divine!
I am busy busy just getting things done and thinking about the coast on thursday! cant wait! i will see the gorgeous katie and cally too - YAY! (i am saving pts for our muffin date already!)
ETA - cally - Noah is not very independent with his play - not good at playing alone yet... i spoke to kindy about it and they say he is the same as theothers.. and it is v often a little longer for first/only children..

[AnyDream]

Cally, is there a girl version of Matchbox cars?

Yep. It's called Matchbox cars. Gender nonspecific IMO.

Missy E can go for ages on her duplo...secret is you have to sit down, set some up, start her playing, then walk away once she's busy & engaged. Our other endless amuser (be prepared for cleanup tho) is the kitchen sink. A few plastic containers, some bubbly detergent and she's away.

[Junglemum]

Lu LOVES matchbox cars.

[Cally]

I was thinking matchbox cars. They have some at day care, might sound out if she is interested in them.

We have so much Duplo, but I think because DH really gets into it, she isn't used to playing with it much by herself. Might have to encourage that a bit more.

[Trillian]

Hey everyone!

You can get 'girly' type matchbox cars - Polly Pocket ones that come in all sorts of girly colours and a tiny polly pocket doll. THe girls have a few but I took the dolls away as they kept losing them and Alister would put them in his mouth when he was smaller.

Alister loves being the only one here because he can do what he wants to do without the girls bossing him around or annoying him. Sometimes he will want the wooden thomas stuff out and he will build a track and play with it for ages. But most of the time he is outside in the sandpit or riding the scooters on the verandah. Or he will sit and watch TV or read books and stuff. He's quite good at playing on his own and is always off doing something. He's at the age now where I can leave him outside on his own and just leave the back door open for him but with the weather getting warmer I check on him a lot more because of snakes and stuff.

Clare great to see you made it home safe and in one piece

[Cally]

It would be a lot easier if we had a fenced in backyard. Almost everything she really enjoys doing is outside, but I just can't leave her out there by herself, but I can't get very much done out there.

Thanks everyone, feeling a lot better about the extent to which she can play by herself.

MP - you asked last week or so about 'lite' milks etc, DH drinks the full cream stuff so K can keep going with that, but for yogurt I have been buying the lite version, mainly because there seems to be so much for variety, I really struggled to find full fat yogurts.

[AnyDream]

Cally I don't know how you do it without a fenced yard???!!! That was the number one thing I looked for when we bought this house - had to have a gorgeous yard which was completely safe and secure. Like Trill, I'm able to open the door and just stick my head out every so often to see what she's up to (she chats to me the whole time, i keep a window open so I can hear her). Is it your house? Can you put some fencing in?

MP I don't think I answered about the milk either. We buy reduced fat, well I'm on the very skinny milk but everyone else had the reduced fat and that includes Missy E who is quite um solid and not in need of extra calories at all. Also went over to lite yoghurt BUT I still buy kids yoghurts for her sometimes for variety (& the thrill of having a picture on the tub LOL).

Well I went to the dr last night and she's given me yet another round of ABs (my 4th!) so hopefully this will be the one that works and if not I'll insist on seeing an ENT. Completely over being unwell all the time and just want to get back to being a good mummy and wife again. Can't believe it's not even midday and I'm yawning and struggling to sit upright.

[MamaPan]

MD - hope the anti bis do the trick...
thanks for getting back to me on the milk Cally and MD, i was wondering if i ever asked the question! I'm giving him full fat mostly now, but sometime he has our milk too...i wanted to do lite yoghurt, just bc i eat it too, but i found most of them had artifical swetners etc. anyway, for now we have mummy diet yoghurts and noahs tasty yoghurts! LOL! he calls them that too...
Went back to WW today, lost 0.5kg - so not as good as last week but the right direction! bought some lovely shoes afterwards... so 2.4kg down so far... and i had a pretty naughty weekend too.. i am hoping i can keep it up on our holiday, may be hard...
Anyone got any baby tips for me - J seems to wake around 5am with something bothering him, he is quite unsettled for a couple of hours - stays in basinette but needs patting etc and is crying out... wondering if it is wind pain but i have used infacol overnight... he does do a big poo often around 9 or 10am so maybe it is that? i am not sure... any tips/ideas/advice on that one welcome... might wite a thread too..

[Ozstar]

MP sorry I cant help with any tips for J, I am sure the BB community can though. I just love my close carrier, Miss Z is asleep on me right now in it. Do you use yours lots? Woo hoo on the weight loss, any loss is a good loss.

MD I hope the AB's kick in soon

Cally I would go nuts if I couldnt just kick L oitside to play lol. I give him a water spray bottle and off he goes. L isn't very good at playing on his own inless it is outside.

Trill I am picturing A riding his scooter along the verandah... how cute.

Clare OMG I think your amazing. I cant believe you lasted 2 hours, I would have walked off but left L behind lol.

Arte life with 2 so far is awesome. Dont want to jinx it but Z is just great. Is A in bed with you or does she sleep in a basinet? We alternate between the two.

Took Z to the Dr today and she is now 53cm, apparently at birth when they measure them they measure to the tips of the toes. Stopped off at the chemist and she measured her at 51cm lol. L is such a little actor, he is forever doing stunts and throwing himself around lol. He also does this fake cry where he keeps his eyes tightly closed and wont look at me, drives me mental lol.

[Cassius2]

grrr totally lost my post...

MD: just triple check that you can do so many repeats of the ABs. they tend to get hairy with the 3rd-4th time.

MP: we use full fat milk (guilty pleasure). like the others the yoghurt is light simply cause there are no cool flavours in the full cream.

cally: we too cant have the free play outside for too long as Leila knows how to open the gate

[AnyDream]

Clare, no I already had the hairy AB experience with the last lot - stopped them altogether for nearly 2 weeks (until the hairy side effects wore off PMSL) now trying a different lot. Got all the probiotico wondergoodies onboard too. Re the gate - can you put a lock on it - something like a bicycle chain with a combination number lock? Hang on you're moving - is the new yard enclosed?

I will butt in on the full cream yoghurt conversation by saying one thing: King Island Dairy. Honey and Cinnamon. Very naughty desserty treat.

Katie I love your squirty bottle suggestion, will have to remember that once the weather's bit consistently warmer here. It's *nearly* warm enough to put the aircon on today (I'm SO excited!!!) but there's a man clomping around up there and I'm afraid my mega-powerful unit might suck him into its jet engine if I do LOL.

Trill, with all those other kids around it's probably a relief for A to have a bit of alone-time LOL. We haven't put new sand in our sandpit yet...saw the bags at Bunnings for sale at a complete rip off price. Missy E is getting a wooden train set (not thomas but same size) for Xmas and I bet H will play and play and play with it because she never had one.

MP well done with WW again, even despite the naughty weekend! Do you feed J when he's unsettled at 5am?

[Artechim]

MD, I saw Bunnings advertising bags of sterile sandpit sand - whatever happened to loading up the trailer at the beach! It is cool when you find little shells and sea goodies in it lol.

MP, no idea about J, but I hope you can find something to help. If A is ever unsettled I put her on the change table with no nappy for 5-10 minutes and that usually cheers her up.

Oz, it is hard to get them measure right isn't it! The midwife measured A the other day and wrote that she was 55.5cms, but I measured the next day when she was asleep and not wriggly and I got 59cm. I think mine was closer because if she was only 1.5cm bigger than birth then her little outfits wouldn't be looking like 3/4 pants lol A is in the cot for the first part of the night, then after that if resettles in the cot she stays there but if she wakes then I just take her to bed. I am hoping that eventually the first sleep with lengthen out and she will sleep in there the majority of the night. I would co-sleep full time but DH doesn't want to, so this compromise seems to work.

Ginger, how is everything going?

MM, hope you are having a great time away

Cally, is it possible at all to fence in your yard? I would go insane if I couldn't send him out to the sandpit on good days. As for independent play, some days W entertains himself for half an hour or so at a time, other days he won't do it at all.

Miss A has just discovered she can suck her hands lol She is sitting on my lap slurping away.

W told me his first fib today - I was looking after a 2 year old from down the road and they both had a bag of popcorn. I turned away for a minute and when I looked back both bags were tipped all over the floor. I asked who tipped it out and he admitted it, then when I asked why he said it was an accident lol.

He put himself to bed at 4.30 this afternoon and when I went to wake him he had a red hot face so I assume he is coming down with something. We left him asleep but I am preparing myself for a crappy night. Or at least a very early morning.

[Trillian]

Umm-aaa Arte! A wee pork pie LOL. At least he owned up to it though when you asked him.

MD, I bet you $10 Bunnings get their sand for stuff all money and are making nearly 100% profit on it.

Oz that's great you're feeling confident with the two of them - will make it easier to deal with both of them when you're on your own kwim?

PP, when Alister was having the most trouble with his belly pains it was from about 4am onwards and that's all it was - belly pains from wind and poo moving through the bowel because he was always a morning poo-er LOL. Try using some Brauers Colic relief - it always worked better than infacol with Alister.

[Ginger]

hi girls
just quickly popping on to let you all know i'm still alive xoxox
turns out lewis has got a throat infection, an ear infection and hand, foot and mouth disease. explains why i've been having so much drama with him over the last week........
he's on ABs now so hopefully things pick up. i've slept a total of 8 hours since saturday.
had organised to go out for a 'girls' night' dinner tomorrow night (taking j with me and dh looking after l)- will be the first time i've gone outat night in 8 months and dh just informs me he has to work till really late tomorrow night. great. thanks a lot.....
sorry for selfishness, will be back on tomorrow to catch up with everyone xoxoxo

[Ozstar]

Ginger I hope L is feeling better soon, thats awful. Wouldn't it be easier if they could just tell you whats wrong. I cant believe you will miss your girls night, it sounds like you could really use a night out. Is there anyway DH can make it home earlier? Or could your dad come and watch L till DH gets home?

Arte lol at W's fib, its kinda cute. How is he this morning? I hope he isn't coming down with something.

MD the spray bottle is the best toy ever lol, he will be outside for ages only coming in to ask for more water. He has worked out how to turn the nozzle so the spray changes too.

Well my dad arrives today, as much as I cant wait to see him I am glad it is only till Friday as I really want my house back lol. DH starts his two weeks off next week, I cant wait. Two weeks of nothing................. bliss.