Babies Born ~ September 2007 #72

Sorry Arte, I thought you meant E :lol: brain fart. With A for sure keep up what you're doing. And TBH maybe even a little tough love. L was soooo stubborn and refusing to use the potty or the toilet so we had a masive screaming match and I made him sit there. It wasn't pretty but it worked and got him using the toilet.

Yep, super happy kids here. Especially L getting his ipod touch. He had no idea and even though he'd unwrapped the dock that came with it, I just told him it was for his shuffle and he was a bit meh about it, but I'd hidden their ipods in the tree and gave E's to her first and she's unwrapped it and showed L and he's looking a bit confused and a little disappointed, but then I said 'oh look, here's another present in the tree for Lindsay' and seriously it was like Charlie Bucket unwrapping the wonka bar - a little slow at first and then when he realised what it was he got quicker :lol: then he jumped all around the room in excitement. Parenting Win. He's thanked me at least 5 times a day since he got it.

Ipod touches are very cool. And they last well - ours is over three years old and still looks and works like new. Even with the kids playing with it all the time.

A managed a poo on the potty and I may have gone a bit overboard with the praise: as she was going to bed she told me she was 'really proud of that amazing poo' lol

E is attempting TT but I am not expecting her to pick it up completely given her age. She has never wanted to be a baby. At 15.5 months she has over 100 words and she is stringing them together now. She is more advanced than W was.

Trill: that is so sweet how excited L was about his pressie! I love that! Sounds like your DHs present ideas were all about the outdoors that year :lol:
and awesome score on the $500 gift card! awesome stuff :dance:

MD: I am thinking that the girls (in particular Miss L) are excited by the haul. they both tell me that they dont want to go out, but just stay home and play lol.

That could be quite telling about your DHs activities :think:

Arte: your Miss A sounds alot like my neighbours girl. just refuses to TT despite knowing how and being capable of it. she totally defies any attempts and will even wee on the floor in front of you lol. i am thinking that is about attempting to control their environment...classic 'three-nager' behaviour lol.

Trill, you have no idea how reassured I am to hear you admit to screaming matches at your house! LOL. That's so gorgeous that L loves his ipod, what an awesome reaction! H loves hers too, it never gets old. Glad the SIL/BIL came up with the goods (for once LOL).

Arte LOL at "that amazing poo"! At least you've made an impact. You might find you get some progress now. Feeling proud is such a good motivator :). How do you feel about E's early language etc?

Cass, that's excellent your girls just want to stay at home and play with their loot. How are you finding the juggle now with three little princesses?

Well Christmas is well and truly over now. I think the ILs are starting to get a bit bored. I'm going to have to poke DH and get him to plan some outings for them. I'm totally over having people all over my house, leaving a constant stream of noise and mess in their wake!

MD, you deserve a medal for having IL's crowding up your place for this long! How much longer are they here for? When mine are around everyone says they are happy just to relax and after about 2 days the kids are going batty and I end up having to plan outings to keep everyone happy.
I'm fine with E's quickness. I really love the new talker stage with the new words popping out constantly :)

Day 4 of Toilet Training Bootcamp and we seem to be having some success! Only two accidents all day. I can't believe how much a small child can pee. I put her on the potty every half hourish and she goes nearly every time! I spend the whole day feeding them all and cleaning out the potty!

Nutso. Facto.

Will catch up later but just wanted to quickly pop in and say happy new year. I hope that 2013 is everything you want and more! xxx

MD, hope you are surviving! How much longer are they there?

Happy New Year's to you all. I sincerely hope that you are all having a better one than me - I am sitting alone half watching Titanic. Where is that tiny violin smilie lol

Oi! Arte! Happy New Year, luv!! It's prolly well after midnight there already but consider this a retrospective pash at midnight! LOL

Oz,my dear, the very happiest new year to you. And to all our September Sweeties!! MWAH.

And tomorrow you can all regale me with tales of your resolutions/plans/dreams, ok?!

MD, resolution already achieved here - AF arrived this morning so I am free and clear of another September baby lmao! Really though, I don't really have any expectations of the year. I hope to enjoy the kids getting bigger and leaving the baby stuff behind. More uni, kindy, school, toddler activities. Hopefully E will start sleeping through the night.
I have been meaning to ask - did you go ahead with a summer paper or take the semester off?

Trill, how much longer do you have to go?

18 months and counting! but only another 9 months until I can teach so it feels like I have less time to go. I lol'ed at there being no september babies for you Arte.

I really hope that this year is is good to us all :hug:

had a BBQ at a friend's house last night which was nice. The big 3 cracked the ****s because they wanted to stay there with DH who was staying the night. We were in separate vehicles because DH was working and doesn't get home till 7.30 and they live an hour away from us so it would have been super late by the time we went there together so I went with the kids on my own and he joined us later and planned to stay the night anyway because he was drinking. Nothing planned for today. DH isn't home yet anyway and it feels like it's going to be hot. Plus we have swimming lessons start tomorrow so don't want the kids overtired for that.

Hi girls!

our last day of 2012 was pretty hectic, and as usual since my Oma passed a bit of mixed feelings. We had a really fun BBQ afternoon with friends and the kids had a swim in the pool (which was freezing as we just havent had enough sun to warm it up lol).

I had an absolutely fabulous 2012...travelling, adventures, road trips, snowstorms, tornado nights in the basement, celebrity spotting (even if i didnt know the names hahaha), gelato, good wine, surprise pregnancy, baby, new awesome friends...I am hoping that 2013 doesnt seem too boring in comparison hahahaha.

But, with Miss L starting school, Miss M starting childcare and DH starting his new promotion I am sensing that it will be a homely year of growing and establishing new journeys and basically preparing the ground for new family adventures. watching the grass grow kinda year IYKWIM. I will start putting feelers out for more consultancy work. will get my qualifications in human trafficking prevention stuff and hopefully start applying for postdocs and grants...

So far 2013 is going really well for me!

Erin has slept 5 hours in a row for the last two nights and last night I resettled her with no feeds at all. She hasn't had day feeds for a couple of months so hopefully she will wean completely soon.

Toilet Train Bootcamp is going very well - Day 6 yesterday and A was dry all day and we even went out to a friends house for 3 hours and she used the potty there. E tells me about 4-5 times a day that she needs to wee and will go on the potty when I put her there, but uses her nappy between times. Something to work on when we get back from holiday.

And W, seems we are getting a handle on these tantrums. I think a lot of the troubles have been parenting issues. Tantrums, as much as we try to ignore them, make him the centre of attention for as long as they last. There was nowhere to put him, he wouldn't stay in his room etc and he would end up being the focus until he stopped. He was far more likely to meltdown over something if I was playing with the girls i.e. attention not on him. DH reversed the lock on his room so we can lock him in. It sounds horrible but it has worked after only a few weeks. Now when he is amping up I give him one warning and then if he keeps going I quietly take him by the hand and deposit him in his room until he is quiet. First week he spent a fair bit of time in there, but now usually the threat is enough or if he does escalate it is over in 5 minutes rather than the hour we used to deal with. We should have tried it ages ago, we did hold the door handle shut and it didn't do anything - but in hindsight that is still attention isn't it.

Hi girls!

Arte: i guess it is, like you said, a way for him to realise that there really is no attention whatsoever to the tantrum. Kinda similar to what we have been telling the girls...i tell them they are more than welcome but i am not interested and therefore they have to take it outside lol. takes the wind right outta their sails hahahaha.

MD: all peaceful and people free in the house yet??

My complete apologies for the past posts that have been entirely uninteresting and rambling. I haven't really talked to a grown up apart from DH for 10 days now and I am going a bit mental!

dude. your posts do not ramble! Mine are short and sweet as generally i have power chucker baby doing interior decorating on my walls and floors these days bahahaha.

P.S. sounds like Miss E will TT before Miss A lol! ATM marta thinks it's hilarious to wee in ones pants :rolleyes: i think i am in for a looongg TT process with her...and we are not even trying yet lol.

No, houseguests still in situ. ILs terminally bored, I think. DH has not been proactive in planning activities, and now we're headed into a massive heatwave so that limits what we (I) are (am) prepared to do. Irony is we had lovely mild weather before Xmas when we were all running around, crazily busy.

Arte, you sooo don't ramble. But I fully understand going mental-ness so you're excused for self-criticism. On this occasion only :p (Naw, really I'm just defending my own title as Queen of the Long and Rambly LOL). Yay for A, that's awesome progress!! Also, fully pleased for you that the tantie-management is going well. We had a back-to-front door lock on H's room for a while. I understand how horrified some people might be with that because it would never ever have worked with our E, but it was something we needed to do with H (for a short time). It worked when we'd run out of other strategies, it worked quickly and it meant we didn't have to lean on using it very often.

Cass, well 2012 will be hard to top for you, won't it? You know how to do action-packed on the domestic front, don't you. LOL. I'm pretty sure you'll manage to keep yourself amused while the grass is growing.

No real resolutions here, more a goal: get a short published. I don't want to think too much about all the things that need changing/improving in my life cos it's overwhelming. Luckily there's a full 12 months in 2013... LOL.

Off to town today, hoping to find a few things on sale still. Need a new kettle. DESPERATELY need a new kettle.

MD: we love our tefal kettle. was a bit more exxy, but has lasted the distance. i think i am missing all the sales :(

ok, bbl...

LOL MD, I wish our kettle WOULD die. It's a ghastly ugly thing that was brought in an emergency and now it's going to live forever. Are there any indoor events that you can take the IL's too? A museum or something might have something on?

Arte, I like your posts. So how has the TT mission been going today? Glad things with W have seemed to have settled for you too.

Cass, that sounds like another full on year you have ahead of you.

Things have been slow and lazy here. P and A started swimming lessons yesterday for 4 days which is just awesome. So glad we didn't go with the swimsafe 2 week ones. I just have so much to do in the last few weeks of holidays that I can't afford to have 2 weeks of swimming lessons. We will also beat the worst of this heatwave that's going to hit too. Bathroom reno's are slowly getting there too. Biggest issue has been deciding whether to put a second toilet in - we have one on it's own, but at times a second loo would be very handy. Luckily we had to remove the floor of the house anyway otherwise we'd not even be able to consider it.

go the double loo! I wish we had two and there are only 3 of us using it ATM lol. more for when ppl are in the shower and you need to go.

I am looking forward to getting Miss L into swim class. but here it takes so much running around...filling out forms, calling to book an appt to assess abiity and then a cat fight to get into a class. it's a real PITA and the only reason why she hasnt gone earlier...i have tried two years running to get her into a class!

AFM: seems I am going to have to get a D&C. the bit of placenta has reattached and now has a vessel and is pumping away and growing lol. basically i am 'a little bit pregnant'...with Emilia :rofl:

Oh eww Cass! that's not pleasant at all. So this is all still related to the PPH yeah? How are you feeling? Have you considered private swimming lessons for her? it might be easier to arrange. Will probably be a little more expensive, but well worth it IMO. or you can come and have a holiday here with me and I'll teach her to swim seeing as how I'm newly qualified as an instructor :lol: The irony of that being that I couldn't actually teach my own kids to swim because they wouldn't do as I say :/ So I've been taking other classes while P and A are doing their class.

bahahaha! i can so see how your own kids wouldnt give a rats listening to their own mum lol. hmm maybe a trip out your way is worth it for the lessons :lol: i swear, it is so crap how hard it is to get into classes here.

basically they are saying that a small part of the placenta was left behind. it is pretty common and usually comes down during the normal post partum bleeding, but in my case, i am special (lol) and it has reattached and decided to renew itself :o I told my IM that I may of been abducted by aliens and now am growing an alien baby hahahaha. unfortunately the public hossy just want me to wait (unless i have another PPH in the next 48 hours) another two weeks and during that time just say to take more ABs. but the ABs are pretty powerful and i dont have an infection (just for precaution) so i spoke to my GP and IM about it and we all agree that despite the $$ getting the D&C done now (and privately) is just better for my health. kinda sucks as we were just getting on top of the money stakes but alas, what's gotta be done has to be done i guess.

oh yeah, definitely spend the dollars and get it done now. You will be able to claim it on your tax too don't forget. two weeks is too long, not to mention what the abs would also be doing to Miss E's stomach as well as your own without any good reason for doing so.

Cass, that is just sad that the public system has to rely on pumping people full of antibiotics while they wait for ops that they need. Good idea to go private - you don't need something like that dragging out and impacting your health even more (as I am sure you are aware after the tonsil ordeal). What a freaky bit of placenta! Will you be alright at the hospital?

Trill, good on you for being a swim coach! They tried to rope me in for our local swim club, but I can't swim lol. Hoping that W can go to the 6pm class that is on 2x per week and that DH can take him and I can stay home with the girls.

TT going slowly. A will go if I pick her up, pull down her pants and actually sit her on the potty whilst she grizzles and moans but she won't make any effort to go on her own or even say if she needs to if I ask. Very frustrating. However, she is mostly dry so I guess I will just keep making her go often until she eventually clicks. Sigh. It was so much easier with W who used the potty one morning and refused to wear nappies ever again. Also, what the hell do you do with girls and bush wee?! Boys you can just send to pee on a tree, but it seems for a girl you need to remove all shoes and lower clothing. There must be an easier way!

Pull their pants down and then have them stand in front of you (facing away), then pick them up by the ankles - they sort of squat on your arms and then they go. Apparently DD just takes her pants off at the beach and does it, but not in my presence!

Currently suffering from burnt ankles here. Had a play date and forgot to sunscreen the lower half. On the plus side, Miss K spent 2 hours scooting and biking and then had an afternoon nap!

Trill - well done on becoming a swimming teacher. That is so true about your own kids not listening to you - we tried to teach DD for a year and then she progressed more in the first 4 weeks with someone else. We have 8 days swimming starting Monday. Also, you have 4 kids - you can't have enough toilets!! Definitely put one in.

Cass - yep, that is one freaky placenta! Sounds like (unfortuantely), private is the way to go.

Hope you all manage to keep cool over the nex week or so. Sounds like some full on heat.

Cally, I really wish that A would still have a day sleep sometimes. He really needs one every now and then but hell will freeze before I can get him to have one.

Yeah the girls weeing outside thing is interesting. Miss Prissy (AKA DD1) would rather die than wee outside. P on the other hand was much more realistic and would go outside if she had to and A has it out at any opportunity :lol: But yeah, I just did what Cally said. Feels really weird to do it, but it's better than either getting them half nekkid or weeing on themselves.

I normally wouldn't have done the swimming course, because it literally has to be above 40 degrees before I will choose to swim. But it will get me more work as a teacher if I have the qualification. But I am really enjoying it and I'm glad I did it now. In one little group I have I managed to get all 4 of them off the pool wall and floating around the big pool using noodles and yesterday they were sitting on the edge of the pool crying and not wanting to go in. So it's quite a rewarding thing to do kwim? Especially because learning to swim is so important.

Cass :hug:. I hope you can get it all sorted out quickly. I'm surprised they didn't check all that stuff out when you were in hospy after the bleed??!

Trill LOL at your horrible kettle. Got a nice one, 2L, stainless steel and it really, really is quiet. It was a bargain too. Happy about that. It was a bit light on the ole bargains out there today, might've left it too late. Wanted to get a nice summer quilt but no joy.

But I managed to convince DH the swimmers he should buy were the ones with flamingos on. ;). hehehe. (High fives from all my sistas).

Trill - PUT THE SECOND TOILET IN!!! I dream of a second toilet - especially right now. You can't put a price on there being a dunny available when you're hopping about desperate to go! That's awesome that you're a swimming teacher. Just another shade of awesome in your rainbow of awesomeness, really.

Cally, ouchie on the ankles! I've done that before - usually my feet because I'm a hardcore sandal wearer LOL. Went looking for a UPF50 brolly today, no luck with that either. K's playdate sounds awesome. E is fully into scooting around on her new scooter :).

Arte - ILs heard on the news tonight that it was snowing today in NZ??! Is that near you? Hilarious if it was because we're expecting 44 degrees tomorrow. There was some dreadful realiteev show on tonight about baaaaad new zulland neighbours and it was at a place that can't have been too far up the road from your place (on account of how close the volcano was). OK so it wasn't really 6 degrees of separation but I did jump up and down and tell everyone it was near you! LOL.

Well it's still chockers here, and everyone's going a bit loco (not just me anymore LOL). ILs took themselves out for a long drive today and my sister is showing signs of nervous twitchiness. It's not helping that DH is at an all-time stressy high of stressness and I'm bouncing around on my new pills and not getting enough sleep. I thrashed the lappy last night to formulate hot weather sanity saving plans so we'll see how that all goes.

Hi girls I've been Mia again!
Trill great work on the swimming teacher qualification. It is a huge responsibility so you're doing great work
Cass- how is the dodgy placenta going? Def go private if u can afford it, you know we did that wirh l's tonsils/grommets and would do the same again in a heartbeat.
Wahhh! To all this TT! J is still in nappies and getting no closer to TT. Turning 4 this year :( finally managed to get a pead app for this yr so hoping we can get some answers/strategies :(
L is doing great and really ready and looking forward to school.

Hi md! Sorry I missed u there. Not looking forward to the heat wave?? I have had to evacuate my house in the case of a bushfire. What is your hot weather plan?

Gingy! I missed you darlink. Are you home from Sydney? Did you survive the Sydney people ok? Nice Chrissy/New Year? I hope the paed appt is helpful. That's gorgeous that L is looking forward to school. I think E is too. She was complaining today that she wanted to go to kindy LOL.

G, you've not been MIA, you've been living the good life by the looks of it :lol: So are you going to head down from the mountain or just ride it out? I really worry about some ****head lighting a fire just for ****s and giggles now that they have made a big deal on the news about how hot it's going to get. L is going to totally rock at school. He'll be the cool kid for sure LOL

Far out at 44deg MD! The hottest it is supposed to get here is 42. We are planning on hibernating inside for the day. Mind you though, A is totally mad and will quite happily play outside in the sun with no hat or shirt on. I can make him put them on, but I look out at him and he's taken them off! He is scarily like one of my brothers in that regard, but the only consolation I have is at least he still wears pants :lol: So what plans have you formulated to ride it out?

And I like the idea of having a rainbow of awesomeness...

Gosh Ginger that's a worry. We would be stuffed if we had to evacuate! I hope you've got somewhere cool and chillaxed to lay your weary bones. :hug:

So far the hot weather plan involves: short, early morning excursion (ie to shops to stock up on cold drinks LOL) followed by airconditioned lock-down complete with DVDs and icy drinks. LOL. Or cinema at shops with undercover carparking. We can break out the wading pool in the shade later in the afternoon. Sat is supposed to be cooler so there's talk of a daytrip to more pleasant climes. Sun will be hot again but not so hot so it might be a good day for the museum or swims or both. Strictly no hot food preparation.

ETA. And I have officially GONE THERE. To that place. Where you sooooo don't care anymore that you actually buy water in an aerosol can. To keep in your handbag. As the last line of defence against spontaneous combustion. :rofl:. And not just any water, either. French bloody mineral water.

Hi G! Hope there are no bushfires near your place. If it is any help, my friend has a DS is the same age as J and he won't TT either.

MD, I hope you don't think all NZers are as trashy as that Neighbours from Hell show portrays us! I didn't realise they export it! Apparently there was snow, but it was at the Lindis pass which is by Mt Cook so pretty high altitude. It seems a bridge is out on the west coast from the weather, they have until Thursday to get it fixed!

Cally, I think I get it - hold on to their ankles and fold them into a squatting position? My first thought when I read hold them by the ankles was holding them upside down lol - I spent a full minute trying to figure out how that would work!

french mineral water in an aerosol can hahahahahahahaha!

Arte: the ankle hold is definitely the way to go. and yep, it is kinda like a supported squat/sitting possy.

G: I totally lived vicariously through your holiday :) are you planning another cafe day today? it must get frustrating at times having to leave house for the day due to bushfire risk. although i guess with the boys a bit older there is not so much packing of supplies anymore!

Cally: ouch on the ankles! I got burnt on my shoulders and now have lovely peel happening. i feel so glamorous.

Trill: i second MD, you have are a rainbow of awesomeness.

Arte, the NZ neighbour I saw wasn't too trashy. He had a performing cow called Clarabel. Is that bridge sorted out yet? When are you leaving on your allstar caravanning tour of love?

Well we made it out of the house today. We went for a country drive to the National Motor Museum which was a MASSIVE hit with the ILs. My personal yawn-factor was offset by poking around in a couple of antiquey/booky type shops, so not too bad really. Also found a farmer's market not too far away, came home with 1.5kg of strawberries, some of which I will jammify. Cos I'm armed (with sterile jars) and dangerous. LOL.

For all of those with sunburn happening: witchhazel, ladies. You can also try cold yoghurt... supposed to help. xxx

Timely call on the Witchhazel MD, my girls look a bit red tonight. The sun was super intense today and E is so pasty white.

MD, the trip planning got left to me so I have avoided all the plane/motor museums :) We leave for our trip tomorrow. We spent the day packing so we don't have to do anything but have breakfast tomorrow and hang around until E is ready to nap.

Wish me luck. Hopefully they get that west coast bridge back up before we need to use it on Thursday.

OMG Arte, does this mean you are going OFFLINE for 10 days??!! Freak!! How are we going to cope without you, babe?

Hope it all goes really well, and you actually get to relax and yourself! xxx

I just love that you have every day so well planned Arte! certainly not like us where we fly by the seat of our pants hahaha.

Have a great trip Arte.

We just don't have holidays - no need for planning or flying with our pants at all then!!

Cally: no holidays??...you gotta have one dude! we aim for a road-trip of some sorts once a year. 2012 proved to be a 16,000km road trip across america, so i think our annual drive up to wollongong will be super short in comparison lol.

MD: ahhh i forgot all about witchhazel! i have just bought the aloe gel and popped it in the fridge...shoulda just gone the witchhazel :doh: