hope you had a better night KL, and that kyson is feeling better today
Happy five months miss Phoebe!
enjoy your day at home Amy - sometimes being stuck at home is a blessing in disguise! can't wait to see your piccies when they're done.
we get to pick up our professional photos this week. not sure how i feel about being in them myself - LOTS of self image issues at the moment. probably cos i have no choice but to be in photos with E so can't avoid seeing myself. the PCOS hair loss plus the normal post-birth stuff has left me with bugger all hair and it's really getting to me. lucky summer is here - now i can wear hats!
you may have seen it on FB - but my little chatter box has more words - she now says mum mum, hiiiiiii, dad dad, pa pa (for granpa - not that he heard it - but i did dammit!) and harrow (hello). i'm never gonna get a moments peace - she's talking too much already! lol - it's so cute though!
BG- as I said on fb I think that E is amazing... a smart baby from a smart mummy! Sorry to hear you are struggling with your self image atm Bg..... although I can understand that losing your hair would have to affect your self esteem.... I know that would kill me, but I am proud of you for keeping such a brave face. Maybe the cosmo's figured it was unfair to gift you with too much as you are both smart, funny and kind already. Either way, we love you no matter what.
Naomi- I hope you have a fabulous time on the Goldy, enjoy your pampering today! Also nice to hear that Bailey rolled for you. Jemima has just started to roll consistently in the last few days. Now she is over on her front very quickly when you start her on her back. She can't go back the other way tho.... 1st time she managed it she was so suprised she burst into tears! Kinda funny tho... I think that was also just because she has had some tough days lately, but she is improving now.
Krystie- I hope that you and Kyson are ok and feeling better this morning. The predmix is amazing isn't it!
Amy- Congratulations on Phoebe's 5 months! Glad to hear that you have gotten some nice pics! You know it's always the plumbers toilet that is broken! I have decided to get one for cards for christmas this yr and I am also gonna do up dome personalised calanders for the family. We are gonna be a bit tight for cash after another move this Jan and so I figure it will be a nice way to give a cheaper gift which is thoughtful. PITA about your rental agent keeping you tied up all day, but it is a good excuse to stay home I agree.
AFM- Well Jemima seems to be on the improve yesterday and today. Happier in herself and whilst not sleeping better, she is waking most nights at 11,3-4 and up at 6, she is more contented. She has been very funny even in her misery. I shouldn't laugh but when she is particularly sad she finds a bare shoulder, lathers it in drool and then blows bubbles on it! In combination with a kinda ahhhh bub, bub, bub, bub baaaaaa, noise repeated over and over. I really have to stop myself from giggling as it is very funny! She is not feeding well during the day either because of the heat I think and so is making up her feeds over night, which is kinda tiring. We got given an old jolly jumper by my sister but it wasn't very good as the elastic was wearing out and not very supportive, so this week we bought her a new one and she just loves it! She is jumping around like a mad thing! I wish we had our video recorder but the friends of my sisters who recorded her birth have it and I havn't managed to get it back yet Would also like to record her in the pool... She loves it. Esp being on her back.... she arches and almost put herhead under water in thed excitement of it all! In fact sometimes she takes me by suprise with the movement and if I am only supporting under her back and bottom, she has dunked herself! Anyway she really is enjoying it. DH is really enjoying her company alot more now. As she gets older and more aware of him, she is much more interactive with him. She gets up and plays with him some mornings and really enjoys the time by the looks of it... He really enjoys how excited she is to see him and the more time he spends the greater her excitement. Her favorite thing atm is being upside down! she is never short of a giggle if you turn her upside down
Thanks for allt he well wishes girls. And Bella, thanks for all the hints and tips. We didn't give him any nurofen, but he had been prescribed predmix, and it seems that it was pretty quick in reducing the swelling. Funny thing though, the predmix is exactly the same type we give to animals at my vet clinic, lol. We also raised one end of his matress a little last night so that may have helped too. Apparently the paediatrics at Sunshine hospital A&E is quite good, so it's nice to know (as it's closer than Royal Children's). Oh, and we have ambulance cover now too, so that's a relief.
Kyson actually had quite a good night last night. Usually I'm still feeding him 3-4 times overnight, and last night it was only twice! Of course, while he was getting his good sleep, I was wide awake for most of it stressing and making sure he was breathing. He's still co-sleeping in our room (with his cot against my side of the bed with one side off), so I slept with one hand on his chest so I could still feel him breathing.
Oh, and my sweet boy has learnt to share. He has shared his germs with me. Luckily in adults our breathing tubes are so big that even with them swollen we can still breath quite well. It's just a little uncomfortable and sort of feels like I am breathing air that is thicker than usual.
There's quite a few bub's reaching monthly milestones at the moment! Happy 4, 5, and 6 months to all! Kyson is almost 6 months. I can't believe it. Where o where has the time gone?!
Naomi: I will get DH to resize the photos and put them on my puter for me. He's still got them on the work computer.
How exciting that you are leaving tomorrow!!! Have an awesome time!
BG: Exciting about getting your professional shots! I'm sorry about the self-image probs. I hope that when you see yourself holding your gorgeous bubba that you realise how wonderful your body is. I always feel better about myself when I see Phoebe in photos with me. Makes me realise again that we have wonderfully grown such gorgeous little creatures and that makes our bodies pretty bloody fantastic. A photo of me on my own however... ewww, yellow teeth with too many spaces, hair that hasn't been styled in months and just gets raked up into a pony tail day after day, belly that sticks out over every single pair of pants I own, tuckshop arms, combination skin that STILL has blocked pores and pimples from time to time... *sigh*. My issues to name a few.
WOW @ E's words. That's pretty special.
Bella: Yes, the personalised cards and calendars are a brilliant idea for Christmas. I too am looking for less exxy options for everyone and we will do something with photos. DH sells some lovely frames so I might get a few of those for the extended family. And LOL @ the plumber analogy - so true!
Glad Jemima has been a bit happier of late. Had to LOL @ the explanation of her funny noises. Phoebe has discovered that she can blow raspberries. It is really funny, but I have to try not to laugh because lately I have been telling Natty off for doing the same thing... then Phoebe starts! I can't really tell her off for it, but for Natty's benefit I have to say, 'no spitting, Phoebe' even though I think it's the cutest thing out!
Krystie: Glad last night was ok and that you found some medicine that works. Bummer about not sleeping well yourself, but that's totally understandable... particularly given Bella's experience not too long ago! I am so sorry you've caught it yourself. That sucks! Hopefully it runs its course very quickly and you are back on your feet again soon.
We are enjoying our day at home, though we did a quick run up to the shops earlier and ran into some friends so we had a cino, LOL! Was nice. (Wendy came over quite early and as predicted stayed for about 5 minutes, LOL! Only reason why she was here so long was because DH was getting stuck into her about some insulation.) DH has just left for a wedding up in the Hunter Valley and wont be home til midnight-ish. So I might invite us over to my parents' place for dinner. Gotta love mum and dad
i think raspberries must be flavour of the moment - E has them down pat too!
we are doing kris kringle for the adults - DH and I got my mum and my aunt - so they're getting photobooks. was pretty easy to do. i'm doing thankyou cards for gifts and cards when E was born - and will put a Christmas card/photo in with those for everyone. will definitely be E only though! i may do a printed card to put behind it with our comments on it, rather than printing over the photo - just have to work out what cardboard i have here that i can use lol. works out cheap cards if you're only doing photo - a standard photo is something like 15c at Big W! cheap - and nicely personalised
Quickie Post from me - I am all packed (what a frigin mammoth effort with a baby!!!! We have one suitcase between us with some of Baileys stuff and he has a whole suitcase as well)
BG - I hear ya too on the body issues, today I had a spray tan and was (almost) naked, and felt compelled to tell the tan girl that I had a baby this year - LMAO, I felt like I had to explain for my saggy boobs, flabby Mummy belly and chicken wing arms (ok so I had the chicken wing arms before ) But I second Bella - we love you just the way you are, you are perfect in every way
Krystie - glad your little man had a better night!
Amy - My Dad is a mechanic and our cars were always the last to be fixed as we were non paying customers LOL, so I hear ya re the lack of photo's
Will be popping in - one thing I have to pack is the laptop, so on lazy nights I can catch up on everything and post some photo's etc as I wont be able to help myself We get free mobile wireless broadband from work so I might as well take advantage of it hehehehehe
As for my little man - he is rolling up a storm - hasn't worked out back to belly yet, but pop him on his belly and he is on his back in no time, I'm so proud of him
Have a great week all Think of me screaming my way down the waterslides, last year I couldn't go on them as I had a baby in my belly
morning all
just a quick one before we head out for a Cup Day bbq at my bro's
we had an awesome "photo shoot" with E yesterday - some of the pics on FB. she kept grabbing at roses in the garden when we picked some for a friend the other night and i had a "ooh, what if.." moment - so we picked all the roses that were ready to drop their petals, filled a couple of buckets with petals, dumped them on a blanket, and put E in the middle - i LOVE the pics!
Hello wonderful Mummies. Sorry I've been even more AWOL than usual. It feels like months since I last posted. I do pop in from time to time and check in on you all and I love catching up with piccies and status updates on FB. I'm so excited that our meet-up is almost here so I can finally meet you all and your beautiful kiddlets and chat to you IRL.
We've been having a terrible time with sleep which (apart from my usual level of laziness and disorganisation) has made it really hard to find a moment to post. Ivy is still really resisting day-sleeps and will cry even if I attempt to rock her and pat her to sleep. She also screams when we try to put her down at night and is waking 2-4 times. I don't mind the night wakings - she's hungry - I just hate the distress over getting her to sleep. She's so wise to it now she cries when I walk into a darkened room or turn on her sleep music and often cries when I start to read a story as she knows all of these things are part of the bed time routine. I don't want her to develop an aversion to stories and music! But she just gets SO upset. Pretty much the only thing that works is feeding her to sleep but then 99% of the time she wakes and screams the second I try to put her down. Needless to say, I've been pinned to my couch for hours on end recently, just holding her so at least she gets 30 mins sleep (which is the most she will nap through the day).
I've had a really rough time with it because my cuddles and closeness don't seem to soothe her. Once she's decided she's upset she just cries in my arms and often will work herself up into gulping, sobbing hysterics. It breaks my heart. And I end up feeling like I can't help her and am being mean. I don't understand why she hates to sleep so much. Only 5 months ago I could barely keep her awake long enough to feed! On top of self doubt, the advice of others has crept in, and I cringe to confess that we actually tried a modified version of sleep training for a week. I never left her, but I did put her in the cot and just stay with her and pat her and sing etc. It was horrible. It seemed to be working for a few days and there were a couple of sleeps where she just popped her thumb in and took herself off to sleep. But then it all went backwards and the screaming resumed. The sleep consultant we'd been working with wanted me to ramp it up a notch and start leaving her for short stretches in spite of crying. I'm actually glad she suggested this, as it was enough to shake me to my senses. The mere idea of it made me feel ill. It just sounded so wrong. And I knew that we had to just abandon the whole thing and just go back to what we were doing. Trying to follow Ivy's lead to find whatever will provide her with as much security and comfort as we can give her each time and hoping that she'll find her way through this.
Woah. Sorry. Didn't expect to rant so much about this but it's been a rough couple of months and I know you guys get it.
On the flip-side... Oh my god that girl is so cute! She's at such an awesome stage at the moment. Lots of giggles, rasperries, huuuuuuge grins for Daddy and me, babbling, squealing, stamping her legs on the floor and just in the last few days, starting to pull up onto hands and knees (or often hands and feet - so strong!) and getting ready to crawl. She's amazing and I feel so very blessed to have her. Such a miracle watching her figure out her body and the world around her. She's LOVING music and we often do a tour of our music room playing the piano, xylophone, drums, guitar, flute... (Daddy's a muso so we've got lots of stuff!) and gets really excited when she can make the noises by herself. She loves when i sing to her too and is starting to anticipate the actions in songs - looking to my hands or face when she knows a particular action or noise is coming or getting all squeely and leaning forward when we get to the end of a particular song when I make her fly up into the air! SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!
We started BLS the other day. Some interest. Some disgust - ewwwww banana! Not much has really been ingested yet, she tends to just push stuff out with her tongue, but she's more than happy to explore different foods which is great.
oops. awake again. gotta run. will try to post in the meet-up facebook thread soon.
Hi All, I thought I would have more time to post this week, but have been ill!!! I can't wait to come back to Australia! Is a bit sad because I was looking forward to this last week because is meeting up with friends but I am now just wishing it over! Partly is because have been ill and partly I think 5 weeks is just a long time and I am over staying with other people etc and just want some normality back.
So last Thursday I threw up loads and thought I had some sort of food poisoning or stomach bug, since then I had no appetite (a real odd thing for me) and then Sun started getting pains in my side. So anyway fast forward to today decide need to try sort something or the flight home would be unbearable and was starting to get worried about CJ milk intake because I haven't been eating much - so went to docs (walk in centre as no longer on NHS in UK) - doc said bacterial infection in gut from whatever got me last Thur, and also a urinary tract infection. Then proceeded to give me antibiotics I stressed needed ones ok for breastfeeding and he showed me some blurb in a book which seemed to say is fine but watch for runs in baby - which seemed similar to ones GP in Oz gave me. Anyway got home and read leaflet - shouldn't be taken if breastfeeding (quinolone based ones Ciprofloxacin) checked it out on net etc and seems should really be a last resort if breastfeeding as relatively high concentrations get into breastmilk.
Anyway my appetite has returned today at least, and so far no pain (although always worst in evening) - so now am thinking that instead of driving miles to go back to see doc will just hope that infection clears itself up (as last lot of anitbiotics I had gave me thrush in boobs anyway) - what do you think, do you reckon would be more sensible to try get some safe ones? I am drinking cranberry juice, stomach seems more settled, eating probiotic yoghurt etc
CJ has seemed fine through all this, although she has gone from pooing once a week to a tiny poo every nappy change, poo is still soft but is very yellow, and smells more than usual? (will make the flight home more fun!! - at least DH is with me this time)
What do you reckon am I kidding myself can get by without the antibiotics, if I was feeling as bad as yesterday I wouldn't be contemplating it but maybe I am over the worst
BG: Had a lightening fast look at the photos - beautiful! Will pop back onto FB again soon for a proper look.
Kat: Sorry about the sleep stuff. It must be very stressful Wow @ Ivy with the music and singing and crawling! She sounds like one very intelligent little girl. Hopefully the sleeping problems are just for a short season. She is learning so very much atm by the sounds... Maybe once things settle down and she is crawling she might crash every once in a while.
Vic: So sorry you have been sick! Personally, if it were me (and my advice probably isn't worth much cause I haven't had a UTI before) I'd go back and get some more ABs. I don't think I'd wait it out. Don't worry about your milk. All the good stuff your body can muster will go into your milk, leaving you feeling pretty crap, but CJ will be fine. Think about all those awesome antibodies you're passing on to her.
Hope you are feeling much better and can enjoy this last week.
Phoebe has a really yucky cough. Yesterday I noticed she coughed a few times and this morning it was productive. Tonight it sounds rattly and her voice sounds scratchy We've been up since 3 - she had a fever. I stupidly only gave her one boob before I decided to give her some panadol. Poor thing - the panadol is so bloody revolting. She didn't trust me enough to take the other boob Don't know how much of the stuff she swallowed anyway - she spat heaps of it out. She does seem in pretty good spirits though. My holding her wasn't settling her back to sleep - she was very squirmy and very hot and just kept looking up and smiling at me. Was very cute but I wanted to encourage sleep and didn't want to make her hotter. So I have put her back to bed, singlet and nappy and fan, no covers. She has been kicking around for a while but I can't hear anything now - perhaps she has dropped off.
Was Mum's and DH's niece's birthday today. Spent the day with Mum, starting with breaky out with her and Dad, then back to their place for P's sleep, then off to the shops where it was cool (was a doozy here today) and both girls had a snooze in the stroller. Then went out to dinner for niece's birthday. The girls are having a big week because her party is Friday night (an 18th), so that'll be a couple of late nights as we're at Mum and Dad's tomorrow night for DH to borrow some pink clothes from my Dad... Is it worth explaining? PMSL!
If Phoebe is really unwell tomorrow though I might just keep the girls home.
I have been very depressed the last few days. Thinking very seriously about returning to work - it has become the harsh reality now. I will have to go back in the New Year at the latest. I am so very upset at the thought of leaving my bubba, at the prospect of having to learn how to bottle feed and teach her how to get to sleep without me... It is really hard to come to terms with and something I really didn't want to have to do. I just wish I was better with money, and that we could afford for me to stay home with my baby.
I think she may have gone to sleep. Will be back tomorrow.
Hi girls! I posted the other day but it looks like my post has vanished.
I will pop in tomorrow, about to leave for playgroup and then all my exercise and will be at the IL's in between.
VIc - hope you're on the improve soon hun. given the UTI's i've had in the past, i'd get the ab's - but that's just because i get shockers and end up really really ill with them. i'd suffer the thrush (take probiotics at the same time) to get rid of the infection quick smart! hope it clears soon for you
Kat - not sure on what to suggest with Ivy and her sleep - but just wanted to let you know i get you on the day sleeps! E still won't sleep duringthe day unless she is in my arms (no one else cuts it) even if she doesnt' feed. she will scream blue murder at anyone else. even me - if she thinks she doesn't need a sleep, she will scream like a banshee. i have to either wrap her (which i dont want to do now that we're heading into warmer weather) or pin her little arm with mine so she can't fight me. i hate doing it - but if it gets her some desperately needed sleep...
sleep is a hassle here at the moment bubba is sick and day sleeps are so hard to get he just screams while i hug him then falls asleep and now im sick so its so hard to get out of bed and have to hold him all day
I'm gonna try to say hi and tell you all a bit about what has been happening but i have been so continually interupted here that if this gets interupted this time i am just gonna post it as is or I will never get there!
Kat- I am really sorry to here the slepp issues are ramping up there for you! You must be feeling exhausted with it all!! I have been wondering how your DH has been going? Has he seen anyone to help him see about his ? sleep apneoa? I noticed at one of our local chemists the other day they were advertising cpap devices which you can take home with you which will monitor you over night - then you take it back into them in the morning and they give you an interpretation of them... that is the chemist does. Anyway you may have it all in hand but i thought about you when I saw it. Hope it gets better... were having issues lately but i will mention that later if i get there and what i am gonna do about it tonight.
Vic- The only problem with leaving a UTI to see if it settles itself is that it can lead to a kidney infection, but see how you feel, you are the only one who can decide that. I had oral ab's when i got a UTI after the catheter and whilst it did make Jemima's poo a bit nasty, it wasn't all that bad.
Snacks- I feel for you trying to process the whole going back to work hon!! I suppose alot of us are thinking about when where and how..... My DH wants to reduce the amount of work he does next yr to study more, and my maternity pay runs out in Dec...... Not that he doesn't earn enough to support us, but he doesn't want to change our lifestyle to suit our means... Or he would perhaps but it is hard for both of us. He is asking me to think about going back to work maybe Feb... I don't so much mind working, it's more that I mind leaving my baby with someone else iykwim. I don't want to have to feel concerned that if I leave her with my Dad for instance that he might give her coke...... cos he gives his own 18mo tastes of coke and beer at times. Things like that. anyway I am sure it will work out my DH isn't hard to get along with but it is stressing me to try to pull our belts in atm........
Sorry everyone else, if i don't spill my guts now i am gonna explode and i know i am on borrowed time! So for me the last few weeks have gotten progressively worse. Jemima has regressed to waking generally from her 7pm sleep at 11, 1, 3, 5 and then up at 6. She is sometimes having day sleeps but not longer generally, than 45mins and often alot less. She has had her cold and she is now teething. One tooth erupted on tues. On monday, despite the fact that she was miserable with teething I decided to get her immunised cos I figured i didn't want her to get over being miserable with teething and then get miserable with needles. So suffice to say I am knackered.... she is also knackered cos she isn't sleeping and is generally more grumpy, miserable and clingy during the day which is making it hard. I burst into tears this morning on my DH cos
I had an aweful night last night. Jemima woke hrly and was waking up in pain. She would cry which is unlike her. She usually just snuffles around and it is enough to wake me up. Last night it took 3 attempts to put her to bed...... She would fall asleep on the boob and then be put down be asleep and settled, then 5-10mins later awake with a shrill cry as tho she was in pain.... She had panadol, she had neurofen nothing seemed to be working effectivly.... it was breaking my heart! I stopped at my sisters house this morning and she said to me, " I know she's really young, but have you thought of giving her painstop at night time to help her get a good nights sleep so she and you can cope?". I have thought about it and i am gonna give her some tonight. It's panadol with codiene in it. which will have a sedative effect. I am hoping if we both get a good nights sleep we may be able to kick into a better routine. It isn't something that I would do for more than 2 nights in a row, and then only if she was in pain, but I think she needs some help and believe me she has every teether in the book now to try to cool her poor little gums! I find it somewhat funny and somewhat not funny that she is the youngest baby and the first to go thru teething apart from Bailey cos he was born with one.
On another topic, she is rolling like nobody's buisness and sorta commando crawling. She did the bum up head down shuffle last night along our couch and moved 2 meters on her own! Oh dear!!!! I wanted to be spared baby profing the house till after we moved! Ah well
I must go she really wants to feed. Thanks for listening guys!
Kat and Bella - HUGS re the sleep issues, if only I had some great magical advice to give I would but sometimes I think its just luck as all the different things I have tried rarely made a difference, only solids changed things for us, and that we stumbled on due to other issues as you know. Hope your girls embrace sleep soon
Amy - Re returning to work, I understand completely. I am due back at work full time on March 8th while Sean goes on Long Service Leave, and then I hope to go Part Time in July when he returns and it seriously breaks my heart to think of leaving Bailey - even with his Dad. I think that no-one looks after a baby like their Mummy does, but having said that, they are more adaptable than us and will settle into care, or a new primary care giver quicker than we will deal with it. I think it will be the hardest time of my life and have often been reduced to tears when I realise March is getting closer, so HUGS to all our Mummies contemplating it
Jacinta: Sorry you are sick, sweets. And sorry Jamie is sick and unsettled. Phoebe is crook atm too - the sickest she's ever been
Bella: All the best for tonight. I hope the painstop helps and that she settles into a much better routine. Out of interest, when you say she snuffles and that's enough to wake you, is she actually waking up though? If you didn't get her up for a feed, would she settle back down again, or does she then wake up fully and become impossible to settle? I just ask because Phoebe sometimes stirs and makes the monitor click on a few times, but then just goes back to sleep again. I know, they are all different, and Phoebe is quite a settled baby and is generally now a pretty good sleeper... the polar opposite to what her sister was at this age! So it was just a thought.
Bella & Naomi: Yeah, it is such a horrid thought, leaving our bubs. The thing that made me cry for three nights in a row was the thought of having to wean her. I know it's not a given, but it's pretty likely. Hopefully she will do both boob and bottle...
On a lighter note: we have a dishwasher. Bought it cheap from a neighbour who has moved out. It is old, but it was cheap as and now I won't have to wash up every day. Hurrah.
Would also like to record her in the pool... She loves it. Esp being on her back.... she arches and almost put herhead under water in thed excitement of it all! In fact sometimes she takes me by suprise with the movement and if I am only supporting under her back and bottom, she has dunked herself! Anyway she really is enjoying it. DH is really enjoying her company alot more now. As she gets older and more aware of him, she is much more interactive with him. She gets up and plays with him some mornings and really enjoys the time by the looks of it... He really enjoys how excited she is to see him and the more time he spends the greater her excitement. Her favorite thing atm is being upside down! she is never short of a giggle if you turn her upside down
) But I second Bella - we love you just the way you are, you are perfect in every way 
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