Babies born~September 1st-15th 2009 #2

[Taurean]

Hi Girls

Quick post from our gorgeous apartment in Caloundra. Holiday is going great and Izzy is an awesome traveller. We are so impressed. My cousin's wedding is today and it's shaping up to be a big one. We leave on a bus at 11.45am and don't return until midnight. I'm going to be shattered tomorrow!

Pooley - nice pics. Frazer sure has grown! Janine looked lovely too.

Sangie - love Ethan's helmet pics on FB. He does look like a little skater dude! Very cute and stylish

Kelly - the transition back to work sounds like it went pretty well. I would imagine it was tough on you handing him over to someone else. Did you manage to get much work done?
Art - Izzy is doing all sorts of new stuff all of a sudden too. There was a Wonder Week at 26 weeks and I think the next one is around 37 weeks. Will check my book when I get home.

Sanchez - food is confusing, hey! Izzy has four breastfeeds a day and 3 solid meals. Breaky is normally rice cereal with 4 ice cubes of fruit (I've got all her food frozen in ice cube trays). Sometimes she'll have yoghurt and fruit and she's had Kids Weatbix several times too. Lunch is either protein and veg or all veg (4 ice cubes) and often a small tub of yoghurt. Dinner is the same. I'm giving her Rafferty's Garden sachets while we are on holidays and she has one sachets at each meal. Breaky is fruit mixed with rice cereal, lunch is usually a fruit and veg one (a lot of them are mixed with apple) and dinner is veg and meat. She has a jar of Heinz baby custard at lunch and dinner too but doesn't alway eat it all. Your MCHN should talk about solids again at the 8 month checkup. I have a baby and toddler recipe book which has some good info in it too. They should be moving to lumpy food and finger food now, although Izzy choked on her first piece of bread the other day, doh!

Gotta run and start getting ready. I'm sure the morning is going to fly!

[Artechim]

Skeet, my DD is the same as yours - she can roll but doesn't really ever do it. She has just started rolling onto her side on the floor. She sits, but doesn't get up to crawl. However, DS was the same with rolling etc, and he walked at 8.5 months. I don't think A will though, she just seems content to sit where she is - no drive to explore.

Pooley, I am staying at home with the kids. We decided before we had DS that I would be an at home mum because we didn't want to have children in care (please no one take any offence, it is just our choice for our family). However, it is boring as hell. I like that I am the one looking after my children and that everything is being done my way (not that I am a control freak....) but OMG my brain cells are slowly dying. I think I might do some distance study soonish because I feel very out of touch and stupid these days.

Sanchez, I don't know if I should say, but comfort feeding isn't usually about the milk at all. Watch her when she is comfort feeding - you will find that although there is a lot of sucking, there isn't much swallowing. So solids often don't have much effect on a comfort feeder.
Why is she too young for weet-bix? I haven't heard that but then I don't listen to many of the food rules. I am still giving A just tea. She has bits of fruit/veges/whatever we are having. The only time she doesn't have what we have is if it is spicy or too fine to pick up. During the day I will give her crackers or bits of fruit if she looks like she wants it.
Basically, as long as it isn't blocking her up/giving tummy pains then feed her as much as you/she wants. She will stop if she is full. With the lumpy foods, just step up to the next age jar or don't blend as much whenever you are ready, she will either cope with it or refuse - which is no biggie, just move back to the smoother stuff and try again another time.

For some reason A has decided not to feed to sleep any more, she will finish her drink and then sit up and want to be jiggled to sleep. My poor arms and back ache from jiggling a 9kg person for 15 minutes multiple times every day!

[Taurean]

I knew I'd forget a few things!

Skeetaboat - welcome to our group!! So sorry I missed you in my last post! I'm with the others, maybe take your DD to a paediatrician. Babies do develop at different rates though so she could be fine but if it's bothering you, get her checked out.

Art - I'm the same as you, I'm a SAHM until we are done having kids. We are in a good position financially so DH and I agreed it was the best thing for us. We might put Izzy in daycare one day a week next year just to give her a day out and me a day to get chores done. I don't know how I'll cope without her though, LOL! My brain is a little fried too so I think I might do some study or maybe get a one day a week job. Or maybe I should just get a Nintendo DS, it works for Olivia Newton-John, LOL!!

We were trying to get the flu shot for Izzy before we went on hold but our GP didn't have it coming in until the end of the month. Boy am I glad they didn't have it or we could have had one very sick baby! Damn scary, particularly in WA! Hopefully it turns out to just be a dodgy batch.

Back to fluffing up for me. It's raining here so my hair will have that nice fuzzy damp hair look. Excellent!

[sangie]

Pooley - thanks for the wedding pics. Janine looked stunning! It looked like a lovely wedding and bonus that Frazer was so well behaved!

Sanchez - food is hard hey? Ethan has the rafferty's garden multigrain cereal or porridge with fruit for breakfast. He doesn't usually eat lunch but I give him something small if he looks like he wants it (or is staring at his sister eating her lunch!). So he might get a rye cruskit with avocado on it or some fruit. Dinner is steamed veg or meat/veg or chicken soup. I think there is a reason why weetbix shouldn't be given yet but I can't remember? Might be something to do with salt? Sorry can't remember but if you start a thread in the baby food section then somebody is sure to know. I have the women's weekly fresh food for babies and toddlers which has some nice recipes in it - let me know if you want me to post some!

Skeetaboat - how did your MCHN appointment go? And don't worry, there are no silly questions in here, just ask away

Taurean - yay on having a seasoned traveller! Yeah the flu shot drama is scary. Fingers crossed its just a dodgy batch. It doesn't apply to swine flu though does it?

Art - I don't envy you having to rock to sleep, that was me a couple of months ago and I'm so glad that is over. She will hopefully get over it soon and in the meantime its a good workout for you arms

As for what we are doing, I am a SAHM mum too. I'm lucky in that financially we are ok on DH's salary and I don't have to rush back to work but I am going to work at home for 4-5 hours a week starting next week which I can do around the kids (probably evenings when they are in bed for the moment). That is mostly to keep my brain active (feels like I'm losing brain cells too!) and also to keep my foot in the door so to speak. I'm lucky that my employer is happy to let me do this for a while. I might increase my hours as Ethan gets bigger but I think starting small is sensible at the moment, particularly given that my DH travels a lot for work too. We decided that we didn't want to use child care (again no offence to anyone that is!). In fact I get strange looks from people when I say that Elena doesn't go to daycare which is often followed by 'well what about socialisation' questions? But she goes to playgroup every week plus swimming lessons and I'm about to start her on dancing so I think that she gets plenty of interaction with other kids (not to mention playdates with her cousin/other friends etc) She spends time with both sets of grandparents during the week so I get a bit of a break which is a win/win situation for all of us given that they love spending time with their grandkids.

Ethan had adjusted well to his helmet. I'm amazed that he has been so laid back about the whole thing! He certainly gets noticed when we are out and about and I think he thrives on it! Tends to respond with big gummy smiles and raspberries!

Anyway that's enough waffle from me! Enjoy the long weekend!

[Artechim]

Taurean, hope the wedding was good. I am glad Izzy is being a good traveller for you. We are off to the IL's tomorrow which is a two hour car trip to the airport, two flights and then another hour to their house. The amount of stuff we have to take is amazing! Three full suitcases, plus a very full carry-on bag. I remember the days when DH and I shared one suit case and carry on was a book!

Sangie, glad E is happy with his helmet - it looks very funky!

Just out of curiosity, what does everyone do work-wise (or pre-baby for those not going back)? In my past life I was a chemist. Boring work but I do miss being around like minded people. I am too scared to admit to the mother's group ladies that I am a nerd lol

[Sanchez]

I am going to try a get a message out, tonight was the night but miss v won't be put down so I have resorted to lying in bed on my iPhone with the parasite attached at the boob. Oh I had my first experience of a biting baby with teeth and the pain she can inflict on my nipple - I almost shot out the roof.
Art - I hear you with the comfort feeding not being about the milk intake, but almost each time she gets on I have a let down and I can hear her gulping back the milk, she us usually on and off pretty fast and she now can find my boob and get herself on easier enough.....although the other night I had slid down in the bed and I woke up to her sucking my lips into her mouth, and her tounge did something quite odd! She very fast figured out that wasn't my boob!
Sangie - can Ethan eat a cruskit without gagging? V is pretty useless with anything not pureed but I am mpressed if E can. I might try that breakfast stuff you are using.
Taurean I am blown away that little I can eat a whole rafferty's bag! Way to go!
My whole thing with the food was I was giving her a protein vege mix and then a fruit mix 3 times a day but I think she may be prone to constipation, she strains a lot when pooing her head almost turns purple. I refuse to use medication though - which is why I am changing her diet.
Skeeta, did I tell you that v doesn't roll, and I actually have not had her looked at by anyone since she was 2 months....I should get onto that !
She only started blowing rasberries this week....I realize most have the babies have been doing it for months, I told you she was lazy!

Art, I had just finished my Midwifery training about 5 months before I went on maternity leave. I really need to go back to work to consolidate my skills a bit more because once the next baby comes I won't be returning until all of my bubs are in school (hoping for 3 bubs). We have been talking about trying mid next year, so that gives us a 2.5 year gap. I can't wait for the next one, not the baby or the pregnancy but the labour/birth day. I loved that day and could do it again tomorrow - was the best day of my life.

Anyhoo I am rambling! Night all

[Artechim]

Sanchez, bummer about V blocking up, I've never had that prob so nothing to suggest there. I hear you about wanting another birth - A's was amazing and I would do it again in a flash, but another kid...
Oh, and A just started raspberries in the last week or so too.

[Now we're 3]

Evening lovely ladies we're back!!!

Don't know what is going on with BB as I hadn't been getting any email updates to say anyone had been online so almost fell over when I saw the number of posts I had missed.
I've read though really quickly but will need to reread several times for all your news to actually register with my brain.

O/s trip was great and Sam was a huge hit. He got to meet both sets of grandparents and a lot of his hundred irish cousins. He definitely loves older children and just beams at them and reaches out to touch them. One of his little cousins Liam who is 2 just loved him and just kept wanting to kiss and pet him the whole time! Sleeping however didn't improve with 2-3 times per night wake ups. But hey sleep is overrated!

Unfortunately though both Sam and I got a vomiting virus in our final week in Ireland which meant we missed out on meeting some of my friends. I got it first and then passed it on Sam. Poor little thing had it for almost a week. I think he is over it now as he hasn't thrown up since early Monday. We are now right back at the begining in relation to solids as he is not showing a lot of interest in them at the moment. He had been doing soooo well - he had moved to 3 meals per day and was eating like a Rafferys Garden sachet each meal and was eating the meat and fish meals with gusto! I am just hoping that once he has settled back into Oz he will start eating properly again. I had intended to start to wean once we got back or at least replace some of my BFs with formula but might put that on hold until he is back eating. I am a little bit concerned as I know he lost weight that week and he will be slow to put it back on if he doesn't start eating solids soon. I know I lost 2 or 3 kilos and I wasn't vomiting anything like he was.

Flight back on my own was fine and Sam was great. Only advice I would give to anyone coming through Sydney airport on their own - request assistance in advance for your luggage as I just assumed I would be able to get help and was wrong. They just don't have anyone there. I ended up having to carry Sam plus two carryon bags plus coats from the plane through immigration to the baggage carousoule (sp??) before I could get a trolley - then had to get strangers to help me get the actual luggage plus stroller offer the carousoule. It was very funny in Bangkok airport they were all fascinated by Sam and wanted to say hello to him and make him smile. I had people running after us to see him and take his photo. He didn't sleep that much on the flight but was a happy little chappie the whole way - as was the 6 month old who was sitting beside us.

Since we've been away Sam has learnt how to sit unassisted which is great. He still falls over every now and then. Teeth haven't made an appearance yet but watch this space ..... you can now definitely feel one very sharp little tooth just under the skin. That wasn't there 3 days ago. Oh and he also now like to hold the bottle himself when I give him a bottle top up. He delibertely moves it from my hands into his and doesn't like me to hold it at all! He has also taken to starting to try to feed himself. He will grab the spoon from my hands and try (sometimes successfully sometimes not) to put it in his mouth.

Will come back later and do persies once I've caught up with all that is going on but very quickly Sanchez try giving V either prunes or apricot. This seemed to do the trick for Sam. I gave one or the other (mixed with some pear sometimes) every second day for brekkie. You shouldn't need to give every day. It definitely changed the consistency of Sam's poos so might be worth while trying. Also I give Sam rice cakes which he gums to death and also tried him with Milk and Vanilla biscuits. (These ones were made by a company in UK called Ellas Kitchen which seems to be very similar to Raffertys here so am going to try to see what I can pick up here).

Art and Sanchez - watch out for the raspberries while eating - its bad enough trying to get lurid orange from their clothes but even worse from yours!!!

Everyone else will be back later.

Night night and sleep tight babies one and all (Sam that means you too!!!!!!)

Xx

[Now we're 3]

Sorry double post :-)

[sangie]

NW3 - glad you made it home safely! Sounds like you had a great time, well apart from that nasty virus. How is Sam now that you are home? Is he sleeping better? I hear you on the raspberries while eating, cheeky things aren't they lol! Ethan gets it all over himself now cos he blows raspberries with a mouthfull of food. I'm tempted to take all his clothes off and let him eat in the nude, I'm sick of all the changing of clothes after every meal!

Sanchez - yep Ethan can eat a cruskit without gagging. But it does go mushy when sucked on so its easy for them to eat. He loves it with avocado spread onto it. Poor V with her hard poos Does she eat rice cereal cos that has lots of iron which might be blocking her up? Banana can also be a culprit. Ellie used to get blocked up and stewed pears helped her a lot. Maybe try and get her to drink water if she doesn't already?? Good luck, I hope something works for her. We have a 2.3 year age gap and I think its great

Art - well guess I'm a nerd too lol! I'm a biologist. Since having Ellie I haven't set foot in the lab though. I got casual employment as a medical writer which is much more family friendly as I can do it from home around the kids. I have to say I don't miss being in the lab at all. No idea what I'm going to do once I'm ready to head back full time (probably won't be until Ethan is in school). I'm thinking of a career change but not sure what?! Are you going to go back to being a chemist? I know exactly what you mean about mother's group, I got some interesting reactions when I told them I had a science degree and a PhD. Since then some of them called me doc (fine by me!) but some seemed to be a bit intimidated for reasons I don't really understand. Another girl told the group she was a police officer which was met with a similar response. Weird really?!

I did my first few hours of work last week and boy was it hard, my poor brain found it very hard I must have lots of cobwebs in there. Here's hoping it gets easier very fast so I can actually feel like I'm making progress!

Well my two are asleep, yay for me for finally getting them to sleep at the same time So I might go get lunch and eat in peace! Hope you are all well, have a great weekend!

[kellynz]

Oh man... i have missed heaps of updates in here. I'm not going to try and reply to them all - but will be more onto it next week!
Sanchez - cracking up at V feeding on your lips, lol. Tadhg could never latch on properly by himself, so i'm impressed V can do it while you're sleeping! We have the same pooping issues here It was much better for a week - and just from reading the other posts I'm thinking maybe it was apricots - so i'll be buying some more (tinned ones)! Its so sad to see them straining aye, Tadhg even cried twice and makes your heart ache. Re the feeding - lots of people seem to have strong ideas about this - but seems to me there is a huge variety in the amounts babies eat. As long as you're both happy, and V is not hungry/underfed I think you're doing perfectly - sounds like she is getting a very healthy mix of fruit & veges.

AM - sounds like a mixed bag with your trip, lots of good bits though! Here's hoping it wont be long before Sam is back to normal with all the good bits! Feeding and sleeping etc

Pooley - lovely photos, thanks for sharing

Art - i hear you on being bored at home. Study would be cool to keep you busy, thats why i've decided to try childcare - trying to convince myself its not 'bad' for T - i'm sure there are good and bad sides like everything It really can be frustrating to find out some things that go on at childcare, its a bit different when you have all the time in the world for your own bub -or 2! I'm very open to calling it quits if i can't handle it

Taurean - It was kinda tough handing T over to daycare - but didn't feel too bad. It was after about 2-3 hours that i found it hard, and the first day especially i was so desperate to collect him, my heart was nearly jumping out of my chest!
I was very open to being a SAHM if thats what i felt like, but i decided that I'd like to try and have a combination, and fortunately for me my workplace offered 3 days a week - plus i work from home, so i'm quite flexible with hours etc and its a relatively low stress job. Had the situation been any different (stressful job / 5 days a week / travel to work) then i would have let it go - and i may still, but trying it out for a couple of months. Its really nice for those mums who want to stay at home if they can have the choice and not have financial pressure - it would be so hard to feel like you were forced into a decision either way.
I used to be an IT Project manager, but since I moved to NZ I have changed to a Tester (of websites and systems), because that is much easier to do from home (my office is only in Sydney).

So daycare is getting a bit easier - but T's routine is all over the place. This weekend we are doing baby bootcamp - ie being rigid with a new routine, because I think T is one of those babies that really likes routine, and to know when the next feed will be - or that it is actually sleeptime now. The first 2 days are going really well! 2nd night in and all nightwaking has stopped, apart from between 5-7am, but hoping that improves. The daysleeps are going pretty well, and man is he happier. The big test is going to be how he goes at daycare though - i'm not that confident!

For those of you not on FB - we have discovered Tadhg has an allergy to eggs. I am one of these overconfident / silly? mums who believes in offering my son anything and everything to eat. So he has peanut butter, weetbix, marmite, bread, meats... and eggs. He has tried egg before - but it seems often allergies occur the next time you eat something, as your body only knows to fight it the 2nd time. Strange huh! Within a few minutes of tasting it he started grizzling and rubbing his eyes and wanting to get out of the highchair - i figured he was tired. Then i thought 'oh he's rubbed something in his eyes, theyre going all red' then it spread to his face and i started thinking, hmm must be allergic. I called plunket (health nurse line), not wanting to overreact, but by this stage the red bits had swollen lumps and his eyelids were swelling. So we jumped into the car and I tried to make him talk/cry the whole way so i could be sure he was breathing (which was a bit scary). The Dr's were great, i went straight in and we had 2 nurses and a Dr within 2 minutes. Adrenaline shot in the leg as a held him down, and tried not to choke on the yucky anti-histamine medicine. Then they put him on oxygen for about half an hour and watched him. He was pretty calm the whole time and i think we both coped really well. So we wont be doing anything with egg in it for some time... and will check in with the Dr again in a month or so (not too sure what that is meant to achieve). I am pretty convinced that he would have had this reaction at 1 year if i had waited to give him egg, so i am trying not to feel bad about it - especially as research is quite mixed on whether to wait or not. Interesting stuff anyway... my recommendations are to watch your baby for reactions the first 'few' times they try something new / more allergenic, and to try and only do eggs when you're not too far from a Dr. I nearly gave him some of my bacon and egg pie on wednesday at coffee group too (which is 20 minutes drive from any Dr, let alone an emergency one) SO pleased we didn't

One more thing from me - Tadhg is still only rolling onto his tummy, and not back, not crawling, not doing raspberries, has no teeth and very little hair, but really happy most of the time and doing new things all the time - the latest is picking up raisins and getting them to his mouth! So I'm a big believer in bubs doing things at their own pace - they're all different.

OK - what a novel! Lots of sleepy vibes for bubs (and those mums that need it!) x

[Sanchez]

Kelly.... Just wanted to say how well you did in reacting to T's reaction, I probably would have freaked out and called an ambulance!!!
You are certainly not silly for letting your boy explore food, and you shouldn't be feeling guilty about what happened. I have given V eggs a couple of times as well.
Just one of those things I guess.

I am going to bed but yeah the baby constipation hit an all time high last night where I ended up in the bath with V while she was screaming at pushing out this rock hard poo that I thought was going to tear her little bottom. Oh god I almost cried. DH was on one side of the bath and I was at the other and it was like supporting someone through childbirth. So we have stopped solids for a while. I did read though today, for every mouthful of solid foods they eat, they should have the same amount in water. If she would drink h2o from a bottle/cup I wouldn't be in this mess I think.

Night all

[Taurean]

Hi Girls

Well we are back home and needing a holiday to recover from the holiday! I don't think holidays will ever be holidays ever again to be honest. At least not until the kids can fend for themselves!

Our trip was great and it was so good to catch up with all the friends and family over east. Izzy did really well with all the travelling and meeting so many new people. She was a real trooper and it's nice to know we really can drag her anywhere and she copes just fine.

Sleeps are a bit all over the place again lately. I'm not sure if it's the travel, a phase or more teeth but she's waking once or twice a night again now. She slept through a couple of times while we were away but that was it, mostly she was up twice a night, usually wanting a feed. I'm getting used to it now (after 16 weeks of perfect nights!!) but I can't make sense of it. Any ideas? I celebrated my 31st birthday while we were away and she had her worst night in ages and was a right turd the whole day. We opted to celebrate my birthday the following day instead. So much for the lovely first family birthday I'd dreamed of! I'll try my luck with Mothers Day instead!

Izzy is now commando crawling and starting to pull herself up on things. She discovered all the fun things in the TV unit yesterday and took a liking to the Playstation remote. It's looking like it's time we baby-proofed the house.

We are trying a few more interesting things with food but Izzy isn't all that keen on lumps and texture yet. I've whipped up all these amazing dishes for her on the weekend (like spinach and dahl!) but she'd much prefer the pureed stuff. Argh! I'll keep perservering even though all my hard work will probably be fed to the dog, LOL. On a positive note, she is a fan of finger food. We've tried Cruskits, zuchini, carrot, bread, banana, crumpets, toast, brocolli and cauliflower and have had a few choking incidents. Keeps things interesting, doesn't it?!

I've been feeling a little down lately as stupidly, I feel like I have no purpose in life. I know that's crazy seeing my purpose is being Izzy's mum but I just really feel like I've lost my identity. I think I need to do something but I don't want to work, so what do I do??? I've been talking to DH about it tonight and I'm thinking I might do an online course or some sort of study. I think I might join a mum's exercise class or maybe go to the gym again and put Izzy in the creche. Something for 'me' would make all the difference, I think.

While I'm talking about work stuff, I'll explain my 'old' life. I was a Product Manager for an investments company (a subsidiary of St George Bank) for a year before I had Izzy. Prior to that, I was a QA/BA (Quality Assurance/Business Analyst - mainly website testing) in the IT department for the same company. I worked in IT for that company for 6 years and loved it. Unfortunately the Product Manager role was full time so although I was offerd maternity leave, I knew I didn't want to return full time. I could have returned part time to testing but I didn't want to be committed to a return date so I resigned. The door is still open for me to return but I'm not sure if I want to go back. I've worked on that same website for so long that it's not that challenging any more but then again, anything seems challenging (mentally) now! LOL.

Sanchez - I hope V is OK after her nasty constipation! That's terrible hon. Izzy had a couple of bouts of constipation and both stewed pears and apples worked a treat. I ended up putting apple in all Izzy's meals to help and it really made a difference. I offer Izzy water at each meal and randomly throughoutthe day but she's still not that keen on it. If V is still breastfeeding a lot then she will be fine hon.

Kelly - that was full on with the egg allergy! How scary for you and well done for handling it so well!! I'll be keeping a close eye on Izzy when we introduce eggs. So you're an IT geek too! How's the testing going from home? I was only saying to DH tonight that maybe I could call my old work and see if I could do just 8 hours a week of testing. It's so easy to do from home and 8 hours over a week would be easy to fit in. I do miss testing, sadly!

Sangie (or should I say Doc!) - how's it going working from home? Who/what do you write for? What an interesting job! I admire you! I can write well when I put my mind to it but it doesn't do it for me. I had to write online Help documents for the website I worked on and it was my pet hate. Once I got writing I was ok but I fluffed around like an old woman at a christening each time I stared a new document. Drove me nuts!

AM - welcome back! Sounds like your trip was great but a but crappy at the same time. Bugger about the vommy virus. How did you cope with it? And how did Sam cope? Well done on tackling the long journey home on your own. Izzy coped really well on all our flights on our hols but the thought of doing it all alone scares the hell out of me! Well done hon, you did a great job by the sounds of things. I just hope Sam settles soon and starts sleeping on Aussie time. You poor girl!

Art - lol, I'm a nerd too. You win though, I didn't go to Uni! He he he. Isn't it amazing how much crap you need to take away with you once you have kids! Izzy had her own suitcase for our trip (plus her pram and car seat!) and her case was the biggest of the lot!

Hi everyone else.

Right, time I focussed on the important things in life - Desperate Housewives

[Now we're 3]

Hi all

Well so much for me getting back on line I had forgotten what its like to try to run a house and look after a baby lol had been spoiled when at home I think. For now I'll just catch up on the more recent posts.

Sanchez - how is the constipation going for poor little V. It must have been very upsetting for both of you to see her in so much pain. Have you stopped solids alltogether or just changed what she is eating? As far as I know what you need to avoid if baby is constipated is what is made up on "brat" diet which is bananas, rice, apples and toast. These are normally suggested as foods to give if the baby is suffering from diarrhea so the opposite applies if they have constipation. The apples I think are interesting as some of my friends swore by giving apples if their kids had constipation so maybe jury is out on that one.

Kelly - poor you and T regarding the egg allergy I just hope I would react in the same calm manner if the same thing happened to us. I am not sure that I would do. How is baby boot camp going?

Taurean - sounds like you had a fab trip. Interesting that you had the same issue with night feeds with Izzy that I had with Sam. I wonder what causes it. I theory when I was away was that there was too much going on during the day for him to bother feeding much so he just choose to do it when it was nice and quiet. Definitely didn't appear to be comfort feeding as could could hear him swallowing and his morning nappy was ginormous (sp??). Good on Izzy for comando crawling. You will definitely have to start the baby proofing of the house. Has anyone any good ideas of how to cover up wires (tv, dvd, wii etc)?

Sangie - lol about you all calling yourselves nerds. I don't know what the all of the girls in my mothers group did prior to having their babies yet. We probably did say really early in the piece but like most things these days it doesn't seem to remain in my brain. One or two have started back at work already so group is getting a little bit smaller as some can't make the original meeting day. Will try Sam on cruskits I think. In UK the equilavant of Raffertys (called Ellas Kitchen) had these vanilla and milk biscuits which Sam loved. I haven't seen anything similar over here. He'll eat rice cakes and basically gums them to death. I (or should I say the dog) keeps finding little mushy bits everywhere! I think that dog quite likes this new phase he literally sits under the high chair when Im feeding Sam

Art - hope all is good with you and your two. How are the rasperberries going? Go any interesting sprays during feeds yet? Hope the rocking to sleep has got better. Sam is much lighter and I find him heavy if I've got to rock him for a while. He seems to prefer me standing when doing it rather than sitting which is a pain. Luckily this doesn't happen very often though.

AFU well I am feeling like I am slowly dying of tiredness at the moment. After 4/5 nights of literally no sleeping when we came back Sam decided that nightime was for sleeping but he is still continuing to wake 3 times a night. He also appears to have made 5am as his getting up time. I am at a loss as to what I can do to go back to my sleeping through baby. I think it is a bit of a catch 22 situation as he drinks so much during the night he isn't that interested in drinking during the day so of course wakes again the next night. He is pretty much waking every 3 hours for a feed. Any ideas?

Interesting to see what everyones babies are doing milestone ways. At times I worry that I am not doing the things I should to develop Sam. Right now he can roll back to front but doesn't normally bother to do so. He is showing really no interest in crawling. Can sit unaided but can't sit up himself yet. He does love to stand (and has done so for months) and will stiffen out his legs so stay in standing position most times I try to sit him down. And just how stong can little babies be when they don't want to do something? I went back to Gymbaroo and left feeling a bit bad as the teacher basically said I have to do more tummy time with him to encourage his crawling and that I shouldn't let him sit as he will prefer that to being on his tummy. I know we shouldn't compare but is difficult not to. Most of the other babies in my MG are crawling already so makes we wonder am I doing something wrong.
Teeth haven't come through yet but aren't far away. I can now feel them in the gum and I think one popped up but went back down as could have like a tap when he would put something in his mouth a few days ago. Its gone back to that sqweeking noises now as he rubs things along his gums. Maybe this is adding to the night waking/feeding ???? Hair is starting to come through that am not sure yet if he will be blond or dark like me. I think the darker hair is his original hair.

Someone mentioned libidio well mine is still well and truely MIA. Thinking about checking with lost and found in hospital where I had Sam to see if I left it there by mistake - well sure never come home from hospital with me !!!!

As to what I did before we had Sam. I had been Account Manager with Wholesale Mortgage company. I was one of the first casualties of the financial crises and I had lost my job in the November and then fallen pregnant in late December early Jan. So I don't actually have a job to go back to. I am not sure what I will do. Financially unfortunately I will need to go back but will have to work out what I will do. The Account Manager role was quite stressful. Probably if the truth be told was the reason it took us so long to actually fall pregnant. Any way will see.

Okay on that note will go as little man is waking up and we have heaps to do. I am still trying to sort out the carpet mess it just become too difficult before we went away. I am so over having house in heap so intend to get this sorted as quickly as possible now that we're here again.

Kisses to all the babies and have a great week.

AM & Sam

[sangie]

Right now he can roll back to front but doesn't normally bother to do so. He is showing really no interest in crawling. Can sit unaided but can't sit up himself yet. He does love to stand (and has done so for months) and will stiffen out his legs so stay in standing position most times I try to sit him down. And just how stong can little babies be when they don't want to do something?

You've just described Ethan! Sometimes it looks like he might crawl (puts bum in air and inches forwards) but mostly he doesn't enjoy tummy time and prefers to sit and play with toys or stand and jump while I hold his hands! You are not doing anything wrong hun, please don't think that!!! There is still plenty of time for crawling if he wants to but remember some babies just don't want to (and no amount of tummy time will make them do it!). My DD was one of them (and looks like Ethan could be too?). She sat at 5.5 months, bum shuffled at around 9 months, pulled up and cruised at 10 months and then walked at 11 months. They say that crawling is good for developing co-ordination etc etc but it doesn't matter if they crawl before or after they walk as long as they do it! Please don't worry, you are doing a great job! I hope you get some more sleep soon. Have you tried filling him up more during the day? He might just need some more time to adjust to the time difference thing? And yes it could be his teeth bothering too, poor little guy with the disappearing tooth! Fingers crossed for you

Taurean - sorry you didn't have the best birthday but fingers crossed for a perfectly behaved little girl on Mother's Day. Are you planning anything special to do? I don't want to say exactly who I work for (don't want this thread to come up in a google search!) but lets just say its a big uni in Vic

Sanchez - how is V now? Hope she has recovered

Kelly - OMG how scary and well done to you for staying so level headed! I guess eggs are off the menu for a while? Did they say how long you should wait to re introduce them or do you have to steer clear for a long while yet? How did bootcamp go lol!

Not much going on here - still no teeth (just a bulge that's been there for weeks!) and no more progress on moving. He is getting a lot more vocal and has discovered that he can scream He also likes to spoon feed himself and does a pretty good job of it!

What are you all planning for Mother's Day? Hope you all have a great day and get spoilt rotten!! Oh and let's hope for well behaved babies (and husbands lol!). Catch ya all soon xo

[Sanchez]

I'm too much of a computer Spaz to work out how to do that quote thing, but that quote is Violet to a tee as well!
She is quite good at doing bridges, and will bring her knees under her as if to crawl, but then she hits the deck and starts wiggling backwards! After I saw how one day she couldn't sit up and the next day she could, i am pretty relaxed about the whole thing - she'll get it one day. NW3 - you are not doing anything wrong at all, and i have started going to a MG and only 1 baby out of 7 is crawling.
V still isn't talking really...although she is mouthing out something a little like "HMMMMRR"...if her first word is Hummer
Her poos.... I stopped her solids, started coloxyl which helped a little, was more vigilant about trying to make her drink water, then got her on pears, prunes etc and although she hasn't pooed out a coke can like the other day, they are still large and hardish. Now she is not happy about eating solids at all so i am at a loss! But she has cut an upper tooth so maybe thats why shes off her food. Who knows....this motherhood gig is tough.

Talking of..........I hope everyone has a lovely Mothers Day. I know what DH is getting me as i overheard him on the phone....he is a good DH he spoilt me.....I may have to put out on Sunday!!!

I look forward to hearing about everyones Mothers Days.....especially if anyone gets creative presents....i hope one day i get a mug with #1 Mum on it or something like that!!! Melt your heart!!

xx

[Artechim]

Sanchez, what did you get for mothers day? Bit of a non-event here because DH says "but your not my mother" so doesn't get me anything. He did (at my suggestion) help DS make some fudge for me yesterday so at least that is something. Poor V with her poo's! I hope a break from solids helps the situation.

NW3, seems like there is a comp in here for the laziest baby lol - A is still just sitting and not doing a lot else. Don't worry about him not getting to a sitting position by himself yet - they tend to figure that out when they are experimenting with crawling positions - they will rock back from hands and knees and figure it out. No ideas about the overnight feeding - we just got back from a holiday and it has royally screwed A's sleeping. Now she is waking up every hour or two overnight.

Taurean, I struggle constantly with the loss of identity being a SAHM. I have no friends here and everything in my life is child orientated. I have to stay up late just to get a bit of time for me. I have decided to do some distance study next semester just to have something going on that isn't kids.

Kelly, the egg episode must have been scary! Personally I am a believer that allergies are allergies and exposure age doesn't have much to do with it. It probably still would have happened if you had waited another few months (from my extensive research at the University of That's What I Think lol). Don't beat yourself up about it, at least you know now and you know you are good in an emergency. Is it something that he is likely to out grow? Or a life time thing?

Sangie, how is your job going?

We got back from our IL's visit the other day, good trip but good to be home. A was a charmer the first few days but as the holiday wore on she got more and more clingy for me and wouldn't let anyone else hold her. Her sleeping got progressively worse too, but hopefully that will sort out now we are home (please, please, please...)

[babyonboard]

Evening ladies. Haven't been on for ages. I get busy (as we all do) and then when I do have a free moment I forget to log on and check how everyone is going... Anyways, Happy Mothers day to you all ♥ ♥ ♥ I hope everyone had a super day. They have updated the web site and I got totally lost on where to find our thread. Got there in the end

Jackson is on 3 solid meals a day (has been for a while). We generally do BLW but he also gets some spoon feeds like breakfast (although no puree here, just very lumpy mash). There is only so much mess I can do He loves getting and doing both though. He also has a few words like Blah Blah, Mama mama, Bub buba, so gorgeous... And over the last week he has finally decided he likes being on his tummy and will learn to crawl. He is mainly comando crawling at the moment but he's not far off...

I go back to work next month Jackson is enrolled for Family Day Care, which I am absolutely petrified about. Not the care its self but the thought of leaving him I know he will love it there, its me that will have issues with the adjustment...

Right well I gotta put the veges in the freezer will BBL