Sounds like you all got spoiled, though it sucks that you had to do cooking and stuff, beany!
Alison - I'm with beany, too - bet that girl is nowhere near her pre-pregnancy weight!
AFM - Still having rough nights with Liam - last night he was up feeding every two hours again. And every time he was *hungry*, so it's not just a comfort thing. I'm now thinking maybe it's the six month growth spurt come early? I dunno, I have a different theory every day, really. I guess it doesn't really matter what it is - teething and growth spurt will pass and we're dealing with his reflux (and BS, I think you asked - I've been sleeping him on his tummy for a while now, I think it definitely helps. I was worried at first about tummy sleeping, but he can roll around so well that it's not an issue now. He just rolls over if he's not comfy anyway now).
Basically I'm just trying to weather this period and go back to sleeping during the day (which usually means sleeping with Liam on me, or getting someone else to watch him while he sleeps). We've increased his reflux meds (and may increase them again, depending on what my GP says, or go to see a paed if needed). I'm still limiting dairy, and have started block feeding again since he's been having issues with my oversupply again (and to deal with the possibility that it's a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance thing). We were pretty set on waiting until six months until solids, but if this keeps up, I may try him on some to see if it helps. I don't remember if anyone else is planning on doing baby-led weaning here? That's our plan, anyway.
I got desperate enough on Friday night (and exhausted enough - had a couple of very bad days with the PND last week where I would have happily given Liam away to anyone) to try giving him a bottle of formula, to see if it would hold him any better at night. And he was having none of it. He's still not overly keen on bottles of expressed milk, though he'll take one if he's hungry enough, so I guess I just get to deal with feeding him a lot.
And now I'm rambling. And yes, I got a Wii (and Wii Fit Plus) for Mother's Day. Just did the profile thingie and yeesh, not good! I really need to get my act in gear and start trying to drop some of this weight and get fitter. Hopefully the Wii fit will help I'm still kind of annoyed that I'm not one of those women who magically lose the baby weight, but eh, can't do much about it. I can do something about what I put into my mouth, though!
Rose - I find the Wii Fit is good for motivation and very easy to just hop on and get your 30 minutes when you get a free moment. I'm not exactly sure what Baby Led Weaning is. With Craig I didn't force him to drop any breast feeds, he just stopped doing them one by one until he was 10 months old and only feeding once a day before bedtime. I kept it up for a month and then swapped it for cows milk in a cup when he was 11 months old. I was trying to break the feeding to sleep habit before starting childcare. This time with Ryan I'll do the same thing, but will see what we do with that last night feed when we get to it. Ryan's also feeding more frequently so I'm thinking growth spurt / wonder week?
Beany - That's just gorgeous! My favourite memory is when Craig first held his arms out to be picked up. I keep watching Ryan to see if he'll do it, but he's still at the 'lean and throw my body towards you' phase if he's in someone's arms and when he's in his cot on his back he waves his arms wildly (Danger Will Robinson!) Ryan 'self settles' the same way as Michael, maybe it's a boy thing? It's as if they need to do things by themselves without our help Eczema is horrible (I get it and have a nasty patch on my chest ATM) but I'm not sure what's safe for a little bub? I've used Alpha Keri lotion on a couple of patches of eczema on Ryan and it cleared them up.
Lani - Sounds like you had a lovely Mother's Day. Missed seeing you post, glad you've got your iPhone back Sorry to hear that Jett's sick, hope he's feeling better soon.
Alison - Bummer about the weight gain this week, but you'll get back on track and you still lost cms. I did the same with the card for DH's first Father's Day from Craig (with my left hand). Your walk in the National Park sounds like a lovely thing to do for Mother's Day. Ignore that workmate of your's, even if she has lost the weight she sounds like she's done nothing to tone up. You'll be all taut and terrific and she'll still be flabby.
Brussels - Oh that's so cute that Eva is busting out the development moves for you before starting daycare! Craig took his first steps the weekend before he started in daycare. It's like they 'know' or something. Ryan's also big on his bedtime routine and grizzles at me until I start to strip him for his bath. He starts to relax and smile again before I've even got him in, as if he knows he's going to bed soon.
Kawazuki - Yes how funny is it when they roll under the coffee table?! Good luck with your business, would love to see some examples of your wares
Kanda - So glad to hear you got to Italy in one piece and both girls were good for you on the plane! Hope you all have a lovely time!
AFM - Wow, I really really want a Pandora bracelet but DH is totally clueless about them. I'm lucky I have an eternity ring and I'm sure I only got that because I talked about buying my own after Ryan was born. My pressie is the photos from the photo shoot, which I get to see next Wednesday. The boys took me out for breakfast, then we shopped a little bit (DH shopped, I chased Craig around with Ryan in the pram) and went to the fish shop to get some more fish for my tank. In a week or so I'll have it fully stocked again. Craig is hilarious, I caught him standing on a dining chair trying to open one of the glass lids on the tank today. He loves to feed the fish and Ryan laughs as they all zoom around eating the food.
Hey girlies, back on after an hour and a half walk in the forest with the princess
So for me it is not actually mother's day, well it is in the USA, but having a French husband and living in Belgium means I don't get mother's day until June! So all of my american and anglo friends have wished me a happy mother's day but I am like, well DH is away on a boys motorcycle trip ...lol. I am sure he will plan something great for the french mother's day and I am sure we'll be celebrating with the in laws.
Alison, that girl is so damn annoying. I am sure she was overweight when she got preg and is still not down - I feel like she is just a fake bragger. But if it motivates you to keep going, then let's just say she lost it all... She is just annoying with her bragging - I don't even know her and she annoys me! PS - what a nice pendant! I saw your pics on facebook - Amelia was dressed so cute! And you look really good by the way! You can see that you are losing and feeling better!
Lani, I am glad your day was so gorgeous - you deserve it ! Isn't it great having our babies then getting spoiled by Dh! We really are a lucky bunch.
Beany, I recently weaned Eva off of the 1s - it was actually DH that sort of insisted, because she would take super long to feed and he noticed she would really get tired by the end of a bottle and we found that she sucked hard and got more gas.... We started switching over to 2s but she would get milk all over the place and have to be changed after every feed. And finally DH just wanted to try only using 2s and that worked, although she does dribble a bit more than with the 1s but she finishes faster and is less problematic with food and finishes her bottles wich she was not doing every time before...I think the 2 teats are what helped her get to the 4 hour feeding sched - she is like clockwork now. For the sleeping I have to also go in and put the dummy back quite often sometimes, but it is because Eva will drop it to nibble on her plush, then she won't settle back down to sleep so I have to pop it back in etc...but she is not fussy at all. She looooves her bed a lot. Yay for the rolling!!! Eva rolled again on Saturday a few times but has stopped again...I don't get that girl... lol...She also reacts to be picked up but instead of lifting her arms she arches up gher back, like she wants to sit up to meet the person, but it must have been so cute to see him strecth out! I can't wait to see her do that! - as for Mother's day, it is nice of you to have spoiled so many other people but you deserve a great WE so I am glad DH will make it up to you next week!
Rose, I am glad you're belly sleeping him - with Eva it made a HUGE difference. I am really sorry about him not taking a bottle. Eva was the same too, I think that since they are in pain it becomes a comfort thing...have you tried to get DH to give it? I had to try the bottle about 5 times before she took it well, and the first time I gave her formula it was also a few tries, because they don't recognize the taste so if you really want him taking it, then you should just try a few times and nurse if he complains, but he'll eventually get it...But be sure you want to go there. I think you are having a hard week, so try to rest...I know how that feels - I broke down with eva at the beginning twice with formula (the only two times ever before I stopped at 4 months, and I had to really keep giving it to her and dripping some milk in her mouth and then I remember her being so full and sleeping for like 5 hours - at that point I needed that so much - it was during one of those 4am hysterical I am going to throw this baby out of the window nights. So I do hope the feeling passes but if you are really at wits end, then don't feel bad giving one bottle, as it might just help you get back a bit of sanity. What did your doctor say? Ours told us that she had to take her meds until 5 months and one the meds she was much better...we had something called omneoprezole, which was actually an adult medicine, that the pharmacy had to make into baby syrup for her - the gaviscon here is over the counter, so maybe you should see if you can get a prescription for something more potent? I only had to give it every morning, and it really changed her overnight...The prob with reflux is that if it continues for so long it damages the esophagus, and he will have a longer healing process to go through, so maybe see if you can get something stronger? What we had was an acid neutralizer and it really was amazing for her. I really hope he settles down for you soon. It has to end soon, no? The poor little guy Congrats ont he wii and I hope this week is waaaay better than the last!
AFM, well I finished packing Eva's bag of supplies for daycare...I enjoyed every moment of today with her. I am so sad she is starting but am happy she will be able to socialize and get out of the house (although my house is better equipped with toys than any daycare ont he planet!) - She only goes in three days a week and MIL will keep her for Thru and Fri so I can run upstairs and see her on those afternoons (our office and apt are int he same building). I am also happy to get back to a sort of schedule and to do some work. DH needs me there so I need to get back to it.
As for the rolling, like I mentioned, she did it a few times the morning after I filmed her and no more after that! At least I got it on film this time - last time I told DH and he was watching her for days waiting for the roll that never came
She has gotten great with her solids and is feeding herself larger quantities (I put up some pics) and she LOVES her cup - I gave her a tiny bit of water just to get her using the cup and she kept wanting more and more. I also bought a sort of clip on handle for her bottles so she can get used to holding her bottles, and later her cup and she has been holding her own bottles for a part of her feed. So I am happy to report that her solids thing seems to be advancing and that's good because she seems a lot more hungry (she even woke up at 330am for a night feed yesterday! so had 5 feeds instead of 4 today).
She is getting slightly clingy with me though, and complains when I leave the room - I think it is the ww thing...I just hope that won't be a problem when I have to leave her at daycare - this week is just an initiation week of half days and tom I will prob be told to stay with her so I don't think I'll go nuts tom and DH gets back tom night, so at least if I am a wreck Tuesday he can console me
Anyway girls, I am off to catch up on the no sleep from last night and keep your fingers crossed for me for tom (that I don't cry!!! lol - I won't but I might feel like it!).
Hey suz! we posted at the same time! You have to put up some pics of craig and that fish tank! Does DH have a sister, maybe you can tell a female family member to help him get you a bracelet
First, I won't do persies today. Sorry. I'll try and be quick cause I'm out and about today. But I just wanted to pop in and let you know I'm always thinking of you all. Thank God for Facebook!
I hope everyone had lovely Mother's Days - I saw that a few of you had beautiful days and were spoilt, as you should be!
To be honest mine was fairly average. DH and I ended up having a major fight and I was in tears. Not a nice way to start your first Mother's Day...
Things are going really well at the moment. Jack is now self-settling (after 9 days of persisting) during the day and only wakes once at night. Yippeeee! Makes such a big difference. Basically, I've followed the advice in Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall. I'm not following her routine, but more on how to self-settle. I wrap him, put on his music (Massive Attack) and then put him in the cot, facing his little monkey toy. I lay my hand on his chest and say "Night baby" and then leave. At first he would winge and cry but now he just stares at his monkey and then when I go in later he's fast asleep. BRILLIANT!
He's still loving his solids and has three meals a day. I love coming up with new combinations. Right now he's loving broccoli, peas and apple! Jamie Oliver's wife, Jules, put out a book a while ago and I use that as inspiration for his solids.
And BS, Jack is sitting on his own now too. It's so much better because he would often get frustrated on his tum. There's a physio at the playgroup we go to and she gives us tips on how to help them get great balance for sitting and crawling, so I make sure I do that with him every day.
Alison, I put weight on this week too - about 300 grams. I have no idea how I did it. It sucks because you try so hard. But you just have to keep going.
At daycare they said it is not too good to leave them seated too much on their own until they can actually pick themselves up on their own since their backs are not strong enough...I give Eva seated playtime and she loves it too, but I try to also give her a lot of seated time with me supporting her so that I don't tax her back too much.
A quickie update on daycare - I am in initiation week so the time gradually goes up each day. First day was one hour and she loooved it - she was playing on the floor and having a great time and not even looking for me!
Second day was a bit diff - we had to go get DH at the qirport the night before so her sched was off, and then this morning I had to wake her up a bit since she was still sleeping when we had to leave. So I think she was overtired. We arrived and too many people came at her to say hi and she just started crying since she could not see me anymore...whatever, she stopped once I was near her then we put her to play and the girl who is responsible for her tried to feed her but Eva just would not have it - she was screaming not to eat! She was tired and stressed and her discomfort is always expressed through her food So the girl managed to calm her down very nicely (and is really nice and affectionate with her, so I am happy for that)...and was playing with her and everytime she started trying to feed her Eva screamed and would not take it. After about two hours where she had a nice time, she started crying again when the girl tried to feed her, so the girl said that she had prob had enough for the day. She fell asleep on the ride home, then woke up when we got home, ate like a champ and was super smiley and happy. The whole deal just made me a bit stressed, and they mentioned that if she has issues next week it would be nice if I was available and I said of course I can leave work whenever needed (lucky to be working for my hubby )...so I do hope tom is better...
I'll try to update at the end of the week with the rest!
Just popping in quickly, so no persies, will try to do them later on.
Things are still being really hard - Liam was waking pretty much on the hour every hour last night. We ended up bringing him into bed with us at about 4am (actually, DH did, which surprised me) and managed a two hour block of sleep.
BS - Liam's been on Losec since he was 2 weeks old. We didn't mess around with it since I have a scary family history of reflux and stomach ulcers (and I've been on meds for it since I was 18). Our GP said that we'll be able to try weaning him off it when he's sitting up and/or on solids. I'm hoping we'll be able to, but if we can't, it's not the end of the world. I know a couple of people who had to keep their kids on it until they were 18 months.
We're all pretty exhausted today, though, Liam included. We did try Liam on solids today for the first time (rice cereal) - I'm still planning on doing mostly baby-led weaning (which is essentially giving babies finger foods from day one and letting them feed themselves), but since he's a few weeks shy of six months, I figured it was better to go with the safest option. It was funny today, though - I was eating some yoghurt and Liam kept on trying to steal it. So I'm thinking he's ready for solids
Little bugger knew what to do with the spoon, too! I pretty much just loaded it up and let him help himself, rather than forcing it down his throat. He mostly mucked about with it and chewed on the spoon, but I think he possibly got a little down. He's lying on the couch next to DH happily gumming a teething ring, now, so it's all looking good so far. We'll keep going with the rice cereal for a week or two before trying anything else.
I'm pretty sure he's making a concerted effort to crawl, now, too. He can't quite co-ordinate it, but he's certainly trying.
(It's ace that you guys are interested in Kawazuki's business, but remember to keep business off the forums (no-one's done anything wrong, I'm just nipping this in the bud is all) - I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you PM'd her. As you were. xo)
Suz - Oh thats so cute about Ryan watching the fish! Bless
BS - What bottles/teats do you use? I'm currently using Avent, which I have had no problems with. Just seems the jump from the 2-hole teat to the 3-hole seems a bit big. I've started using Pigeon teats with the Avent bottles which seem a little faster but not too fast...buuut, I'm slightly suspicious that they may be giving him more gas. Hmm. Its so wierd how they do things in spurts, its like they forget how to do things from one day to the next! Blimey, I hadn't even thought of that, with Michael too at Daycare, he doesn't like anyone except me or DH feeding him. Hopefully she'll get used to the person who feeds her then it won't be so strange having someone other than you or DH feeding her.
Carmey - Haha, fb is fantastic, isn't it? What on earth did we all do without it?? Sorry to hear your Mothers Day wasn't as you'd hoped...maybe next year! (thats what I tell myself anyway!).
Rose - Oh sorry to hear Liam is waking up so frequently. thats happened a few times to me, you just feel completely wrecked, so I can sympathise. I really hope he starts sleeping more for you... Gosh, so Liam wasn't repulsed by the rice cereal? I tried Michael again with it the other day...still not interested! Getting slightly worried...but maybe I should try some vegies on the w/e, perhaps its the taste he's not keen on. We shall see. Sounds like Liam's making lots of progress...ww perhaps?
Hello everyone else!
AFM - Gosh, what a busy week I've had! Took Michael to the doc yesterday cos the eczema on his back is getting worse. He's given me a prescription for some cream...but I'll hold off a few days before I try that. He also suggested using Aqueous Cream when we bath him so I'll see if that makes a diff first. Also asked for his opinion on those willy rice-blister things - he thinks they'll go away on their own eventually, nothing to worry about. So I feel better now, he's a great doc.
Started the whole childcare ball rolling...got him down on the waiting list for Family Day Care, and went to "inspect" one centre today, which was okaaay. But then I have nothing to compare it to, so anyway, put his name down there...going to another one on Friday morn and will prolly put his name down there. I'd say 3-4 places should be enough, yeah?
Michael has been such a dream lately. His night sleeps have vastly improved (oh, touch wood...I hope I'm not speaking too soon!), and he's so chirpy during the day. I"m loving it!
I'm still kind of annoyed that I'm not one of those women who magically lose the baby weight, but eh, can't do much about it. I can do something about what I put into my mouth, though!
Yes how funny is it when they roll under the coffee table?! Good luck with your business, would love to see some examples of your wares 
Congrats ont he wii and I hope this week is waaaay better than the last!
Gosh, so Liam wasn't repulsed by the rice cereal? I tried Michael again with it the other day...still not interested! Getting slightly worried...but maybe I should try some vegies on the w/e, perhaps its the taste he's not keen on. We shall see. Sounds like Liam's making lots of progress...ww perhaps?
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