My goodness it has been extrodinarily quiet in here! Hope everyone had a good new year!
Anyway, thought I would pop in and say a quick hello. We have the first of the inlaws arriving from OS today, so things will be pretty busy for the rest of the month. Ash is doing well, over the last few days he's started getting up on all fours and rocking, it's so cute to watch. But he has started teething again the top ones are now making their way down which has meant the last couple of nights have been hideous! We started him on solids on Christmas Day and it has been going really well. He loves cruskits and avocado and doesn't mind pumpkin either.
Hope everyone else is well and enjoying their bubba's, I can't believe that Ash will be 6 months tomorrow, Oh how time has flown!
miss e - happy half a year to ash!! hope all goes well with the inlaws & things aren't toooo crazy for you!
cate - we get the same face with banana here!
jetta - how's sam been going? have things improved?
ss_storm - yes to the risks being messy! that stuff gets absolutely everywhere!!
jas - hope you're still getting some relaxing, go slow time!
corey has been up on all 4's a few times in the last couple of days. i think i'll be glad when he can crawl because he's been getting so frustrated for weeks & weeks now that he can't get anywhere. he's done some commando-type wriggling but it still doesn't satisfy him. he's so impatient. i have no idea where he gets that from getting him to bed at night went completely haywire around xmas - i think we threw his routine out the window with a couple of nights out etc but we're back on track now. still wakes up to 5 times for a feed each night (not counting simple resettles) but at least we've reclaimed our evenings a little bit - it's nice not to have an over-tired baby squealing as the sound track to dinner
i'm loving how interactive & inquisitive they are at this age though - it's amazing how quickly they change in their ability to actually play with toys rather than just swot at them!
MissE hope Ash's teeth don't cause him too many dramas, poor little guy. Enjoy having the family visit, I bet they can't wait to see him!
Sloane, aren't they just gorgeous at this age It sounds like he is rearing to go!
As for us... Arlea is a little unsettled again / still... not sure what is going on...teeth maybe? I can't see or feel anything & it's not the right time for a wonder week... who knows, maybe she is just growing & changing. Somedays she is good, others not so good. Really it's sleep that is the biggest problem, she is cat-napping again & having trouble getting to sleep.
Solids are going great, we are doing a combination of BLS & purees as she isn't quite 6 months yet. She loves her food & opens up when she sees the spoon. We just have to watch ehr as she can be a bit of a piggy
Jetta her poos have become firmer too, she is going more often but she was only having a dirty nappy once every 3-4 days, now it is more like every day or two. She has water too.
I am off this afternoon to see The Lovely Bones with DD1, we have both read the book & can't wait to see the movie.
Another quick post - aren't we all doing this at the moment
Blake's doing well so far. 6 months old now - has his check up next week at the GP as I want to check some stuff out about his dermatitis (again!) as it's not going away for more than 1 1/2 days max at a time.
We started solids on Christmas Day - a wedge of tomato that he chased around the bumbo seat table and a piece of cucumber that he had a taste of. Boxing Day he rather liked his roast parsnip and potato that we offered him (in a high chair at my parents). Then we skipped a few days - didn't have high chair that worked for him (too low) but we do have one that works for him now. Last night we had roast vege again and he REALLY likes roast parsnip - gnawing it a great deal. (We're doing the Baby Led Solids thing as I know I won't have time to puree and mush stuff up once I go back to school at the end of the month.)
I'm kind of over his waking up all the time over night - I know it's normal but I want the 5-6 hour sleep that he used to have back. We had a few nights of every 1 - 2 hours waking; last night was 3hrly again so maybe we're getting back to it. And I wish he'd sleep more than 3/4 - 1 hour at a time during the day (max of 3 sleeps between 7:30am and 5:30/8:30pm)
leckert - I hope the sleep thing sorts itself out soon for you - it does seem to be just something they go through at this age, doesn't it?
jasp - hope you and DD1 enjoyed the movie together
sarah - corey and Zac still sound like they're copying each other! Zac can cover quite scary distances when my back is turned, just by wriggling around on his tummy. His bum is starting to go up in the air now and he's kind of got some crawling action with his legs - just no momentum yet.
MissE - have fun with the inlaws!!
AFM - had the 6mth MCHN visit yesterday - Zac is 9.4kg and 71.5cm long. He has really turned into a little Tonka boy! He started babbling in the weekend - lots of 'dadada', some 'mumumum' and 'bababa'. Oh, and some extremely high-pitched squealing.
I think he's moving towards two daytime sleeps now - I'm finding it very confusing cos anything resembling a routine has completely gone out the window. He's also had a few nights of waking up screaming every 45 minutes or so
We're booked in to the Early Parenting Unit in Koo Wee Rup in a couple of weeks' time which I'm looking forward to. Apparently they won't have anything to do with CIO / control crying, but focus more on recognising tired signs and teaching settling techniques. I figure at the very least we'll have a nice day out!
After that we're heading to NZ for a few weeks as hubby is working there for a month so we will spend some time with him in Wellington and time with our families in Christchurch - very exciting.
Happy New Year! And happy 6 months to all our little ones!!
I’m hoping some of you still remember me; even though it’s been such a long time since I posted.
I made a new years resolution to make a bit more of an effort to get online, particularly when I have family & friends interstate that don’t get to see Annie regularly. And of course this included catching up with you all as much as I can too. I have to admit it’s been so strange not being on the PC much; particularly when I lived on here, before Annie arrived! I’m sure some of you would remember my marathon posts as a belly buddy!
Our first few months as new parents were a little rocky… and a terribly steep learning curve! I actually think it was a shame I didn’t get the time to chat with you all, as I’m sure many of you could have given me some words of wisdom & support that I really needed at the time.
Without making this a marathon ‘me’ story – just want to share a little bit of our journey, as explanation of my absence…
Well Annie arrived a little earlier than we expected on the 4th July (EDD 15th July), and DH & I climbed aboard the roller coaster of our lives!
I went in to spontaneous labour, but my blood pressure went skyward & Annie became seriously distressed… so it all resulted in an unplanned emergency caesarean…
Meeting Annie was just an amazing experience… what a joy to finally look in to the eyes of the little person that had been bouncing around inside me for almost 9 months!
After a short stay in hospital, I still remember arriving home for our 2nd wedding anniversary (7th July), walking through the front door & looking at DH and saying ‘what do we do now?’!!
The first few weeks were a bit of a blur, as we spent our days just keeping on top of how to feed, change, settle, etc… If I got a shower & breakfast before midday, I was doing well! Fortunately, DH had the first 6 weeks at home with me and I healed really well… all a blessing!
Annie cried a lot; but being first time parents & not having spent a whole lot of time around new bubs, we really had no concept of what was normal. Initially, we thought she had bad wind… & I think I actually posted on here looking for advice & I probably didn’t get back on to thank those of you that had shared experiences and advice – so I’m sorry for the late appreciation!!… We tried lots of things – different techniques, different products, etc… As it turns out we were heading down the completely wrong path; Annie was finally diagnosed with silent reflux (or infant heartburn) at 9 weeks (following a routine appt with a midwife who got to experience a crying episode – and she insisted we make an appt with a paed asap). Poor little pumpkin, apparently her little oesophagus was red raw by this stage, from all the stomach acids that had been burning her during her first 9 weeks!. So we started her on meds (losec) twice a day… meds that were supposed to reduce the amount of acid in her tummy; however, we were told it could take up to 10 days for it take affect. Anyway, there was a whole lot more crying… and by this stage, Annie had associated feeding with pain… so we had a few weeks where she didn’t gain weight, which was awful and she would cry (as would I) & fuss at every feed. This took soooo long to get past… I honestly think it was a good couple of months before she really started to ‘enjoy’ feeding.
Our Paed told us to begin Annie on solids by 4 months, which we did & I do think this has helped. I took it really slow, with only a single meal of rice cereal for a good few weeks – and now she’s on all sorts of vegies & fruits. Fortunately, she’s taken to solids exceptionally well.
We are still on meds, but by default we are actually weaning her, as she grows & we aren’t increasing the dosage. We have tried to drop it back a couple of times in recent months, but without success so far. It also has meant we’ve had lots of trouble with teaching her to self settle; sleep through the night; daytime naps… I started sleeping her on her tummy at around 2.5/3mths; as she just seemed to settle so much better. Even though I’ve had many well meaning people tell me I’m doing the wrong thing & significantly increasing her risk of SIDS. But I was desperate for her to get some sleep!
On reflection, I didn’t do too well at coping during the early months. I found it hard to adapt to motherhood, as it was all so new. And up until this point in my life, if I needed a new skill I would do a course, read a book, study, research etc to obtain it… but there was nothing I could really do to give me all the skills I needed for motherhood… so I felt really out of control, like I was doing everything wrong, particularly when Annie was finally diagnosed. I really beat myself up & still feel terrible that it took us so long to do something for the poor little thing. She was suffering so much in those early days & if anything we were making it worse by trying to ‘treat wind’ – by making her burp, etc… all things that increased the amount of acid that would come up & burn her! No wonder she would scream!! And like a lot of people, unfortunately we don’t have a lot of supportive family close by, so I didn’t really have anyone near or staying with us to provide support or an extra pair of hands.
I think I’ve finally accepted that I honestly did the best I could as a new Mum. And I’m certainly grateful that Annie’s condition is easily treated & now manageable. There are so many people much worse off than us. But I certainly struggled within myself for a long time.
Well now that we are past all that, we’re really enjoying our little girl; she is such a delight & much more contented these days - although we're still working on mastering good sleep routines! We are loving watching her learn & develop every day; she’s very easy to love. And I think she’s forgiven us for all the pain she went through in those early weeks!!! Although she did have that imploring look last week as the Doctor gave her, her 6 month needles… like ‘hey Mum, Dad, this woman is hurting me & you guys aren’t stopping her!’
Anyway that’s where I’ve been, I really look forward to sharing more with you all & catching up on some personals soon. I’m sorry I’ve missed being there for any of you during your own challenges and tough times… and of course enjoying all the good stuff with you as well.
A heartfelt thank-you to those of you that reached out to me in those early days, it really meant a lot to me, even if I didn’t share my appreciation at the time!
the top ones are now making their way down which has meant the last couple of nights have been hideous! We started him on solids on Christmas Day and it has been going really well. He loves cruskits and avocado and doesn't mind pumpkin either.
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getting him to bed at night went completely haywire around xmas - i think we threw his routine out the window with a couple of nights out etc but we're back on track now. still wakes up to 5 times for a feed each night (not counting simple resettles) but at least we've reclaimed our evenings a little bit - it's nice not to have an over-tired baby squealing as the sound track to dinner 
It sounds like he is rearing to go!
- a wedge of tomato that he chased around the bumbo seat table and a piece of cucumber that he had a taste of. Boxing Day he rather liked his roast parsnip and potato that we offered him (in a high chair at my parents). Then we skipped a few days - didn't have high chair that worked for him (too low) but we do have one that works for him now. Last night we had roast vege again and he REALLY likes roast parsnip - gnawing it a great deal. (We're doing the Baby Led Solids thing as I know I won't have time to puree and mush stuff up once I go back to school at the end of the month.)
And I wish he'd sleep more than 3/4 - 1 hour at a time during the day (max of 3 sleeps between 7:30am and 5:30/8:30pm)
and 71.5cm long. He has really turned into a little Tonka boy! He started babbling in the weekend - lots of 'dadada', some 'mumumum' and 'bababa'. Oh, and some extremely high-pitched squealing.
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