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

Hi Girls

AM - poor Sam throwing up his lunch. Was he OK last night? Izzy threw up part way through her dinner last night but I think the coughing brought it on. So the little man in rocking on all fours, it won't be long now! Prepare yourself cause once they work out how to crawl they just don't want to stop!! It's so cute though and very satisfying for them.

Sangie - yay for E's first tooth AND pulling himself up! It is scary, isn't it! They seem to grow up so quickly once the pulling up and crawling starts. I feel like my baby changed A LOT when all that started. How's E's helmet going?

Pooley - crikey, F is a whopper! He's always been a good grower though, hasn't he. I bet your arms a nicely toned ;) . I could do with a heavier baby to help with the nice 'curtains' I have hanging from my upper arms, LOL. Sounds like returning to work has really agreed with you guys too which is great to hear.

Art - are you still alive?? Had to ask with all that lack of sleep I thought you might have gone into hybernation for a while! You are a champion, I don't know how you do it but I guess you don't have much choice - one of the joys (???) of motherhood. How are your two rug-rats going?

Sanchez - for memory you're on hols in NZ so it will be nice to hear from you when you get back hon.

Hi everyone else!

AFU - both Izzy and I are sick. I've had a headcold for two weeks which is finally starting to ease up but I now have a really annoying, tickly cough which turns out to be asthma (I don't have asthmas normally) so I'm now on Ventolin. Izzy has a cough too and a runny nose, a fever and an ear infection! She's been quite the little trooper given how sick she is! The cough and runny nose were her only symptoms otherwise she's been really good so I was quite surprised when the doctor said she had a fever and an ear infection last night. She's on antibiotics now and panadol every 4 hours but we can't do much for her cough except keep an eye on it incase it turns into bronchial something-or-other (Pooley, may have been what F had a while back).

Sleep is a bit up and down but we've been blessed with 4 full nights sleep in the past week and some really good day sleeps so I'm not complaining. I'm like you AM, just going with the flow now. Each day is different!

No more teeth for us yet so we only have the bottom front two but I can see a few sitting very close to the surface so they won't be far off.

Crawling and standing is full on but so nice for Izzy. She is even more independent now and she loves it. She is super busy though and into everything (very much the explorer) so I need eyes in the back of my head to keep an eye on her! Besides the heater incident the other week, she hasn't had any other nasty close calls thankfully. She's obsessed with our amp/stereo though and loves to turn the two dials so randomly the TV will flick to DVD mode or the volume will increases dramatically and you know that Miss Iz is at it again! She thinks it's a great joke though and just flashes a big grin at us and cracks up laughing. It's so hard to discipline them when they're so cute, hey!!

Solids are going well although finger food still freaks me out. We try different finger foods each day but I hate the choking incidents! I know they recover from them well as their gag reflex is so strong but they're awful! Izzy is doing better with finger food though and she destroys a Cruskit in no time at all! I've just finished cooking up another months worth of food for our little Miss and she's going to be trying her first curry today! I have a great baby/childrens cookbook I got from the book club at work while I was pregnant which has a lot of great ideas in it. Izzy's pretty happy to give anything a go and so far has eaten everything we've tried (including home made spinach dhal!) so I'm hoping that lasts.

Gotta run. Izzy's breathing has gotten quite raspy so we're going to take her back to the doctors. Hopefully she is ok. She's happy enough but the breathing sounds dodgy. Back later

Hi ladies and bubs!

How are you all? OMG it's freezing here and we've been battered with high winds, rain, hail. I'm so over winter already :shakehead:

Taurean, how is Izzy now? Is she feeling better? How about you hun? Yes they seem so grown up now don't they? Sometimes I look at Ethan and wonder where my teeny tiny baby went! Keep persisting with the finger food, Iz will get there! Ethan latest favourite is lamb chops (screams when I take it off him). He much prefers finger foods and rarely chokes now (only when he tries to put too much in his mouth). This kid thinks he can put half a piece of toast in his mouth at once, hilarious but kind of scary!

Art, how is the night weaning going? Fingers crossed its all working out for you. Did you end up ordering a teething necklace? Ethan has been wearing his for a while now and to be honest I'm not sure its doing a lot for him, he was still grumpy/irritable when his tooth cut. I guess I could take it off and see if there is any difference.

AM, yay on tooth number 3! Yes the dream bags are great and E has been sleeping so well since we got them. Plus they are so cute lol! Sounds like Sam will be on the move in no time. No we haven't fully baby proofed yet so I'd better get onto it quick sticks!

Aaarrggghhhhh Ethan is awake after only 30min sleep, keep your fingers crossed I can get him back down! Bye for now................

Sangie, the night weaning went really well. She is now just waking around midnight to come into bed with us and then around 5ish for a feed. I haven't got the teething necklace yet but she still doesn't have any signs of teeth - is A the only gummy left now? Bummer about the 30 minute nap - welcome to my world! A has two 20 minute naps a day. It is really no time to do anything.

Taurean, Izzy sounds like a fun little character! A is still happy just sitting doing her own thing.

Still no tricks here, although she has started to stand when she is sitting on my lap and can stay up for a second or two now.

Sorry for everyone I missed, I did the quick reply and can't see the previous posts.

Hi all

Just a quickie to say hello to everyone as has been a little while. Hope all is good with everyone.

Well done Art on the success of the night weaning. You must be so pleased after the nightmare that you had been going through. The picture of the two of them up at 3am was so funny - they were like awake but not really awake at the same time. We're not quite at 100% sleeping through yet though he does more nights than most. It seem like he is waking for hunger though as if he has been a bit fussy with eating he is more likely to wake than if he eats well. Sounds cute that she will stand when sitting on your lap. Sam is continuing his standing obsession - its no wonder the boy isn't crawling - why bother when there is soooo much more so see from the standing position.

Sangie that is great news about Ethan liking the sleeping bags so much. Totally with you in relation to being over the winter. Even though I've been here for 14 years now I still get shocked each year when winter starts. In Sydney they just don't make houses able to cope with colder weather which is silly as even if the days aren't that cold the nights are for quite a good few months. We had several weeks of rain rain and more rain and you just feel like you are going crazy indoors. What sort of finger foods are you giving to Ethan. I am still cooking for Sam but trying to introduce finger foods. He will eat cruskits and little cream cheese sandwiches okay but wouldn't eat pieces of banana or pear or carrots. He took a piece of chicken last weekend but didn't know what to do with it and basically I think waited for it to disolve in his mouth. Any other suggestions of what I could try? And what size pieces do you give him.

Hey Taurean hows your little Houdini going? You will need eyes in the back and sides of your head with this one I think. I can just picture her grinning away looking proud as punch with herself. Sam hasn't managed to escape out of anything yet but doesn't seem to buy into sitting facing forward in either his high chair or bath seat. Much more fun to sit sideways or just hang over the side. Is she (and you too) better now. You poor thing sounds like both of you were through the ringer there for a while. The ear infections must be the worst thing to try and identify at least with a cold its obvious what they have. Sounds like solids is going gang busters for her. How much is she eating these days. Sam is okay but not sure as to how much a 9 month old should be eating. He is having about 4 maybe 5 cubes of "main" which will either be meat and veg or veg and fruit and then "desert" which will either be apple custard or else yogurt. Some meals he'll eat more some less but guess as adults we do that too.

Don't think there is anything too much new to report on our end. Sam is getting a bit more mobile but still not properly crawling yet. If he wants something he will kindof launch himself towards it and then try to propel himself towards it. He also seems to like trying to crawl up me to pull at my hair, earings or anypart of my face - funny but Im not quite so keen on this as he is. 4th tooth has now come through so we had two in as many days at the weekend! Don't know if we get a little break now before no 5 comes through or not. As mentioned before sleeping through is not too bad at the moment. He has been a bit more difficult to settle though in the evenings and can't quite work out whats causing this - its almost like he is still hungry though he comes on and off the boob when having that evening feed. Don't know if supply has been effected somewhat by him dropping the two night feeds that he had been taking previously. I am slowly starting to wean so his mid morning milk is now bottle and will switch afternoon milk to bottle next week. Have real mixed feelings about weaning ánd still can't believe I've made to 9 months when I look back to the horror story that was the begining. Think I'll try to keep the morning and evening ones for a while longer.

Off to the rugby at the weekend (rugby union). My DH is futilely trying to insist that Sam will be supporting England like him but I've told him nah he has a little Aussie boy. One of the girls in my Mothers Group is going to look after Sam for us. Feel a little bit nervous as the stadium is about hour + drive from our house. Is okay just going down the road when we can be home in 5-10 minutes but least I know she'll know what to do and anyway he'll probably just sleep. We are going to put together a baby sitting syndicate from the Mothers Group. Quite a lot of us don't have family here in Sydney so makes it more difficult for babysitting. This way we can all help eachother out even if it is just to get out to go to the movies. It works on some sort of credit system don't know the details yet but one of the girls has looked into it and will let us know what we need to do. (Kelly and Art not even going to talk about the hiding your boys gave Ireland at the weekend)

Kelly - how are things with you? How is little T. Still under the weather. Hope things are okay. It must be hard to try to keep routine when a little bub is sick. Has T been able to wear his little AB boots yet?

Sanchez - hi to you and V. Looking forward to hearing all the news when you get back from hols.

Okay thats it from me for now. Night night all and sorry if I've missed anyone/anything important.

Cuddles all round Xx

Hello!
AM - reading your post Sam sounds a lot like Tadhg, always wanting to stand up and no interest in crawling at all - i swear he's just going to start walking one day soon! He also loves to pull himself up on me, and I'm constantly having to pull my top back up lol. I wouldn't worry too much about volume of solids Sam is getting, Tadhg has barely eaten any solids in the past 3 weeks (presuming its to do with being sick) and he still doesn't wake up in the night from hunger - so i think they are pretty hardy really. Have you tried giving Sam raisins, its so fun learning to pick them up and get them in. But I'd recommend giving one at a time so he doesnt stuff a whole bunch in there to start with :) Peas are also good. I have started grating cheese for T, and he likes that. We are nearly better!! Can you believe it. I just looked back and realised T has been at daycare 9 weeks now - and has been sick a lot of that time, no wonder it feels so long - it has been! I'm just pleased he is reasonably happy whilst sick, at least during the day! Last night he only woke a few times coughing, and I only needed to get up once at 12:30 - then he was ok until 6:30. So that was good! The night before he woke at 2am to practice saying 'baba-baba-baba' for some reason, quite funny but annoying when you are dead tired at 2am! Booties are all ready to go for Saturday night - they are going to be great, as its so hard to find warm socks! I just got some long merino ones online, but at almost $12 a pair they better be good! Don't move to NZ will you love, if Sydney is too cold for you .. you might go into hibernation here, lol. That being said today is lovely - once T man wakes i'm going walking!

Art - i reckon A might be the only gummy one, so funny how we have all these guidelines about when babies do things, and they are all so different arent they. I reckon we got off easy having bubba's who are happy to sit and not teething early - i don't know what i'd do if T didn't stay where i put him! Great news on the night weaning working out. Are you happy with A cosleeping, or will you try and get her back into her cot? There was an article on tv last week about the amber necklaces apparently, saying they are useless and choking hazard etc - interesting, but so many people disagreeing and saying they are the best thing ever. Don't know if i'd bother buying one - I was given ours, and havnt used it yet - but we're not in full swing of teething, so i might change my mind!
Sangie - lamb chops! flash :) Does he eat the meat, or just suck the flavour off? I might try that once T is eating a bit more consistently again, hopefully soon! Does E eat many veges? I worry sometimes at the lack of veges T is eating, I'll keep trying but he refuses to eat off a spoon and will only pick up what he chooses - so most veges don't get much more than a quick suck it seems. Peas and Kumara are good... not much else.

Taurean - miss Izz is such a tricky little thing, reminds me of myself as a baby (from mum's stories) into absolutely everything and moves so quick you have to constantly watch - so fun but so much work! Hope you're loving every minute :) Man these sick babies :( So not fun huh... My friend just told me croup, tonsilitis and chicken pox are going thru the local primary school - holy crap, the next lot of bugs are already lining up to knock on our door! Boo hoo. I hope Izzy's ear's clear up soon. Our Dr said T has glue ear, which usually resolves within about 4 weeks of an infection, but if not then we may need grommets or drilling the ear drum - which sounds horrible. Going back to the Dr (again!) in a few weeks.

Hope everyone else is faring well and staying as clear of bugs as possible! Sanchez - hope that rain has cleared and you are getting to enjoy some of NZ!

We are doing ok now T is getting a bit better, although he stayed home from daycare all but 1 day this week, which is hard work when you're working too. Day sleeps are a bit all over the place - but i think we are just moving the afternoon sleep a bit later. Which is great - gives me a few good hours in the middle of the day to get out. He is now sleeping about 9-11 and 2:30-4 or so, at least i think thats the new pattern! We are still swaddling, as he just wont sleep at all unwrapped - we really need to go through a few hard nights of learning to sleep unwrapped, which i've been hesitant to do while he is sick. Maybe next week! He is nearly 10 months old after all (on Wednesday)!
Be well babies and mummies xx

Hi Girls!

Well we are finally on the mend. Izzy still has a cough and is quite snotty (far out, have we seen some snot in the past 10 days!) but is sleeping well again and it back to her happy, mischievous self :D

Kelly - poor Tadhg has had a rough trot with illnesses! Is he getting better now? Ears can be quite a nuisance for kids, hey! I always had ear infections as a kid but escaped grommets. The antibiotics worked wonders on Izzy's...oh...and a good dose of Nurofen ;) So Tadhg is still swaddled?! He must just love being all snuggly and I don't blame him given it's winter!! That is so cute! Izzy went straight from swaddling to Grobags at 10 weeks as she kept escaping from her swaddle (now there's a surprise, not) and we never looked back. I took it all for granted, it really was quite amazing that she just wasn't fussed at all. Good luck weaning Tadhg from the swaddle. Are you going to use blankets or sleeping bags?

AM - Izzy does keep me on my toes, that's for sure! We have a massive corner of our lounge setup for her though (has her playpen and one of those foam alphabet puzzle mats next to it) with all her toys so she often plays happily in her 'corner'. She rummages through her toybox now which is gorgeous but she has a tendancy to completely empty it! She stands there picking each toy out, glancing at it for a second then hurls it over her shoulder and gets the next toy. It's hilarious to watch. As for food, Izzy was off her food while sick so she'd only eat cruskits and a bit of breakfast but she seems to have found her appetite again. She normally has 3 or 4 ice cubes for the main then a small tub of yoghurt and fruit for dessert. Breakfast is usually half a Weetbix or about 4tbsp of Rafferty's Garden cereal plus half a mashed banana. I often give her the other half of the banana as finger food. Izzy likes steamed vegie sticks (zuchinni is a good one) and LOVES roast vegies, especially carrot. She often has a whole Cruskit either plain, with a smear of Vegemite or avocado or cream cheese - all faves. Avocado slices go down well too. My MCHN suggested good lamb chops too but we haven't tried them yet. Izzy loves toast as well but she does tend to gag on it a bit and it freaks me out!

Art - Izzy has started to stand on her own too! She does a few seconds here and there then grabs whatever is close by. One of the girls in our mum's group, who is about a week older than Iz, has taken several steps which is freaky! She started crawling at 5 months though so it's no surprise really. I loved that photo of your kids at 3am too! Bloody hilarious photos although I'm sure it wasn't all that hilarious for you at 3am. Nasty! So the sleeping has improved?

Sangie - go the lamb chops!! Did you get normal lamb chops or the fancy french trimmed ones? I really want to give it a go but they scare me a bit. What if they get a massive chunk off? We had a friend choke on a piece of lamb a couple of years back which had to be surgically removed from his throat and he was 30 at the time!!! PMSL. So Ethan is loving his Dream Bags? They are goregous, aren't they. Izzy has a ladybird one and a gorgeous puple one with butterflies on it. So cute!!

Well Izzy has just cruised along the couch to get to the remote and has just turned the TV off then back on again. I think I might just buy her a remote for her 1st birthday and leave the batteries out! LOL.

We are both much better than this time last week but there is still a fair bit of snot being produced. I've washed Izzy's sheets twice this week as she'd smeared them during her sleep. Yukko! She seems happy enough though and is sleeping well again thanks to Baby Balsam - it's awesome stuff!

Izzy's latest trick (which some of you may have seen on FB) this week was wriggling out of her pram harness (when I thought she was sleeping) and standing up in her pram!! Scared the hell out of me when I lifted the canopy to find her standing up hanging onto the toy bar grinning from ear to ear! The straps have been tightened now and I *think* that will be the first and last time she'll do that, the cheeky monkey.

Would you believe I have a fabulous, consistent little day sleeper now?! She finally self settles no probs and we're getting about 3 hours of days sleeps each day, normally over two sleeps. It's bliss!! Night sleeps are pretty good really but she does need some resettling here and there. Sometimes she's having a feed at 4am but then she sleeps til 8ish so I won't complain. It has made me realise that we were very lucky with all the 12 hours nights she did earlier on though (3.5 months worth!).

We still only have 2 teeth so I don't know what the others are doing. I thought a few more would have popped up by now, especially as she got the first two at 6.5mths.

I went to the physio this week as my hip has been giving me grief, a bit like the problems I had during my pregnancy. My back is all out of whack again too so we are hoping it's all related but if not, I'll have to go for an MRI to find out what's going on. Fingers crossed it's nothing too serious but it really is quite bad and hurting while I sleep now. It's amazing what pregnancy and giving birth can do to our bodies. My physio, who specialises in pre and post natal issues, told me that the absolute worst case scenario is pregnancy induced osteoperosis so I really, REALLY hope it's not that!!

Gotta run and get all my washing off the line before it rains.

Big hugs to everyone!

NW3, hope you had fun at the rugby (the real rugby lol) and that S was a good boy for the babysitter. The babysitting syndicate sounds like a good idea.

Kelly, we are still wrapping too - I still feed/rock her to sleep and can't get her in the cot if she isn't bundled up tightly.

Taurean, yay for a good day sleeper! I hope your hip is something easily fixable - pregnancy induced oesteoporosis doesn't sound like fun! Izzy sounds like such a busy thing! A just sits or walks around holding hands but by this age DS had already been walking for a month so she seems a bit slow to me - imagine if your next bubba was only sitting at this age compared to what Iz does lol

Was someone asking about finger foods? A's favourites are raisins, mixed veges, grated cheese, avocado pieces, loves noodles!, mandarin segments, cruskits are good too.

Hi,
Just a quick one to say - Yes officially Tadhg is better! Yay. We had a great weekend as a family and although I think we did a bit much for him, as he was rather grouchy on Sunday night when his uncle and aunt were here for dinner, he has been an angel. Back to sleeping through the night, and doing 2 good day sleeps.
However, I changed his formula to S26 Gold (i'm doing a trial for them) and he now seems to have very loose bowel motions - hmm, better than the other way - and is definitely reducing the crying while pooping - so maybe its a good thing for a few days. Will see how he goes. Back to eating well now thank goodness. OK best get to work!
K

Kelly, YAY on Tadhg being better! I hope the change in formula works out ok!

Taurean, bugger about your hip. Fingers crossed its something that's easily fixable. Ethan has an obsession with the TV remote too. We have a play one (a little tikes one) that was DD's but nope, he wants the real one cheeky boy! We just give him normal lamb chops from our butcher who has really nice (non fatty) ones. Of course I watch him like a hawke but so far he's not choked or gagged at all but I do have to make sure he doesn't put too much in his mouth. Yep love the dreambags, so glad I got some. We got the jungle friends one and the fire truck, very cute!

Art, wow I can't believe your DS was walking at this age!! Have A's day sleeps got any better? Ethan is so unpredictable. Some days he's a shocker and only has two short naps and others he'll do one short and one longer sleep. I really can't predict what he'll do from day to day which can be a little frustrating for planning things :wall:

AM, I cut up finger size pieces of food. Basically so its easy for him to hold. I give him either steamed or roasted veg, spiral or penne pasta is good too. For fruit he has either banana or pear and I cook apple pieces for him too. I tried some kiwi fruit but he screwed his nose up at that one lol! For meat I give him finely shredded roast chicken or lamb/beef. Toast or cruskits are great too. I spread with either avocado or hommus. Just keep offering as it can take a few goes before they accept something. The weather is cold here so I've been cooking soup which Ethan is enjoying too (although I'm not enjoying the mess that goes with it lol!).

Ethan surprised us all over the weekend and started crawling! We really thought he'd never do it as he seems much more interested in standing and walking while holding our hands. He's definitely not a pro, in fact he's quite slow at it but I'm guessing he'll be zooming alone pretty soon judging by his progress over the last 2 days! He seems to only be using it to get to somewhere where he can pull himself up though, he still prefers being on his feet! This is all new to me as DD never crawled. :)

Hi again! You probably don't remember me, but I used to post back when I was pg with Lennox. He was born September 8th, 2009. Here's a link to his birth story.

I thought Lennox would never crawl or sit. He would push himself backwards and he could sit up if i put him in a sitting position. But for Mother's Day weekend (May 8th) he started sitting up on his own. By May 13th he was crawling. The 21st of May he started pulling himself up and by the 25th he was cruising around furniture.

He also was a gummie baby up until June 2nd when I noticed he was getting his top right front tooth. Then I noticed a couple of days later he was getting his top left front tooth and the 2 on either side of those teeth. As of last week I noticed he's getting both his bottom front teeth and the one to his left. No wonder he is so crabby lately!

My other boys are fine. Trent is learning to drive and should be able to take his road test after Lennox turns 1. He's got to have his learners permit for 6 months if he didn't he would have got his drivers license in April when he turned 16, but I didn't know and he wouldn't ask his friends about it. Ty's heart is doing fine on the meds so no pace maker yet. He turns 14 in a month. My twins Peyton and Eli can wear underwear throughout the day, but still not at night. Which is progress!

Oh going back to the pregnancy with Lennox there was a coupole things I wanted to mention. First I caught Fifth Disease from my twins who got it from someone at there school and because I never had it before I got weekly u/s's from week 32 until I had him. For normal people it causes cold/flu like symptoms and then a red rash on your cheeks and can spread to your torso. Well, for unborn babies it causes severe anemia because it attacks the bone marrow causing new red blood cells to not be made. I was lucky being in the third trimester because they could have taken him early if needed. We did have a couple of scares, but the next weeks u/s's of his blood flow were fine.


The second thing I wanted to say was when we had the first scare (July 27th, 2009) with Lennox being severely anemic and praying he'd be ok. The next day, July 28th (Ty's 13th birthday), I got a call from one of my brothers that our mom passed away on the 27th. She just turned 59 the day before on the 26th. July was not such a great month, but I did get some 3d 4d images of Lennox out of it. PS if you click on the birth story link you can see one of the 4d images. It's my avatar on that site.

I think that's enough for now. lol Thanks for reading!

I spoke to soon about Ty's heart being fine. I took him for an echo and to see his cardiologist today and I am so worried it's making me sick! He needs to have a heart MRI this Summer because the Echo showed that his Aorta is narrowing. If it's even worse than they think, my baby will undergo surgery almost immediately. Otherwise, they will do a heart catheter and put a baloon up there and see if that helps stretch it out. They had added to his aorta already with his first heart surgery due to it being small to begin with. I'm so scared for him! I don't want him to have to deal with more heart problems.

Hi everybody I am back! I haven't quite got back in the swing of being at home again.....between that and i'm trying to read a book I am enjoying, i must admit I have neglected the computer!

First off welcome back Simone. I am sorry to hear that Lennox is having issues with his heart. I can just imagine how frightening it must be for you. Am glad that you are back to get a little support from the girls.

I have read back through the posts and have caught up on all the gossip! I'm not going to do persies but will as they pop up from now on. Am glad all the bubs are doing so well, can't believe that they're not newborns anymore.

The trip to NZ was great we had a ball. It was cold so we did spend an awful lot of time in the campervan but it was good family time. V and I were sick and both needed a course of antibiotics which was a nightmare to get into her!

She developed so much while we were away, the crawling got faster and she is now into everything. Lots of walking herself around the couches and the occasional trying to walk! Epic fail! I am glad that i am blessed with a baby that doesn't cry when she falls down....only when it is really bad - otherwise she is a tough cookie.

We came home and have baby bootcamp in place....I go back to work in 2 weeks and so have started to half ween and have started making her sleep in a cot. And things haven't been to horrid. She has BF's at 0700 and 1830 and trying to get her to take bottles in between. She wouldnt take formula so tried Goats milk which she drank a little bit so am trying to incorporate goats milk formula and see how we go. The sleeping in the cot has good and bad nights. The trip to NZ didn't cure her comfort feeding unfortunately! I have her now in a grobag and she has had a couple of 8pm to 5.30am's which she hasn't done since December so I am over the moon!
She has increased her solids a bit, but I must admit I am pretty bad and so she eats what we eat most of the time. She loves toast dunked in soup/curry so I give her that for lunch and she has a baby food for dinner but with melted cheese in it or else she won't eat it. Sausage rolls were a huge hit in NZ! The bumbo is gone as she managed to backflip out of it on holiday, thank goodness it was on the floor.

Anyway I have to fly and finish this book or I will never do the ironing (the pile is increasing day by day!)

Hope you are all well and your bubs are behaving - aren't the tantrums crazy! Scary they can bend themselves like a banana!
Looking forward to being back online and hearing whats news with you all.

B & V xxxx

Hi Mums...

Am new to the forum and hoping I can join the banter...your group seems lovely and friendly.

My hubby and I are new residents of Townsville and have a gorgeous little man who is almost 10 months (born 07/09/09).

Look forward to sharing milestones, worries and joys

:hello:

Hi Girls!

Quiet in here of late. What's everyone doing (besides running after children all day!)???

:welcome: newbys! We are a friendly bunch who like to share our thoughts and ideas so please feel free to do the same.

M2PNE - Sorry hon, I don't remember you but our group was quite big while we were preggers. Sounds like you have your hands full with all those boys. I'm guessing Ty was born with a heart condition? That must have been/is full on. Sorry to hear about your mum too, that is terribly sad. I'd be lost without my parents, I dread the day they pass. Was it expected? 59 is just so young, isn't it.

Connorsmum18 - Hi and welcome! So is DS your first/only bubs? Keeping you busy :lol: - stupid question really! One of the girls from the other September thread is in Townsville too. She is lovely and may be able to give you some advice about your new home town if you need it. I'll touch base with her and see if she minds me passing on your details.

Sanchez - WELCOME BACK HONEY!!! I've missed seeing you around the traps, nice to have you back! Sounds like your holiday was fantastic and V has advanced so much since you last posted!!! Go little V!! I just love you FB profile pic, it is the most gorgeous photo. She is one damn cute kid. So the sleeping is going really well and the weaning seems to be going well too. What progress you've made! I'm so impressed :clap: We canned the Bumbo a while ago too (once Izzy got really mobile) as Izzy had worked out how to get out of it! :o Thankfully her first 'incident' was at groun level too as we often had her on the bench (naughty, naughty - I know!) I still like to keep it handy for when we're in the backyard but it's pretty useless now to be honest. Great invention though but short life span. Did you try different types of formulas? Izzy's not too fussed but I do find Karicare agrees with her the most (tummy & poo wise) but my god it's sweet! I don't make a habbit of sampling them but had a taste when testing her bottle temp today and nearly gagged! How they drink that stuff has me buggered :shakehead: We are down to two breastfeeds a day now too. I didn't mean for it to happen but she seems to be self weaning. Part of me is sad the other part is quite enjoying having my boobs to myself for most of the day. I'm doing the early morning and last feed of the day too and one or two bottles in between. Seems to be working well and Izzy loves feeding herself (we have the handles on her Avent bottles) so it's been really easy. My baby is growing up!

Sangie - yay for Ethan crawling! Sounds like he became a pro overnight! Once they get going they don't like to stop, do they! What are you putting Ethan in for bed under his Dream Bag? The overnight temps over here have dropped a lot lately (we've had a few zeros - brrrr!) and Izzy seems to be getting cold despite us running an oil heater on full in her room. She currently wears a Wondersuit and spencer with her 2.5 tog. Her room is normally at 20 degrees but last night it stuck at 18 and she had fleecy trackies (with the feet) on over her Wondersuit and she still woke at 6am really chilly. She's been waking at 4am a lot but going back to sleep. I think we need to get a decent heater in her room as there is bugger all insulation in this old house. Anyway, was just interested to hear what you put Ethan in.

Kelly - glad to hear T is finally better! Interesting that the S26 made his poos runny, it often has the opposite affect due to the high iron content in it. That's great though and if it's agreeing with him then it sounds like you're onto a winner! He's such a cute little thing. He could be Izzy's male opposite, with the bald head and all! LOL!

Art - if my next baby is just sitting at this age then I will be one happy mummy! The though of chasing after an active toddler AND an active baby scares the hell out of me! Chasing after one is bad enough, how will I cope?! A probably knows she doesn't really need to move around as your DS probably brings everything to her. Why waste your energy on moving when you have an older brother for a slave? LOL!

Well, Izzy started walking with her walker a week ago - OMG. She just got up behind it on Saturday morning and off she went. I was still in bed and DH opened the door and said 'look at Izzy' and I sat up and said 'well where is she?' and then she appeared, walking up the hallway and straight into our bedroom, giggling all the way, proud as punch. We were gob smacked! It was so cute though and hilarious as she just couldn't stop laughing at herself! She's started standing on her own too, just a few seconds here and there, so I don't think she'll be too far off walking. God help us!

DH is pretty excited as she's finally started saying 'dada' and is yelling 'ma mum mum mum mum' again too. We get lots of 'bub, bub, bub' as well. She is definitely one vocal little lady. God help the pubs when she's old enough to go out. She's started bopping when she hears music too now so she'd fit in quite well at the pub really.

As I said above, it looks like Izzy is starting to wean herself. We're down to two BF a day now, early morning and just before bed. It is sad but nice too. I'm enjoying the freedom that comes with bottle feeding and we don't have to lug around much stuff if we go out as she's only having 3-4 milk feeds a day. It is a bit weird, given all the tough times I had in the beginning with BFing, just letting it go but it seems to be the right time. I expressed last night (as we'd been to the Food and Wine Show so I'd had a couple of drinks) and only got 50ml total - that was after a full day of no BFing. I know babies get more out than the pump but there mustn't be much in there now. Oh well

Anyone else check out the big toy sales? I went to all of them and was surprisingly restrained. I got the FP swing (the red and yellow one) to hang from our patio for Izzy now, a Cozy Coupe for either her first birthday or Christmas, the alphabet set of Peek-a-Blocks, a bag of 100 coloured balls (bargain at just $9.99 and although a PITA to clean up, they are already a huge hit) and also an activity box which is also a walker. It's a gorgeous wooden one from Toys R Us which has one of those wire bead things sitting on top. Not sure when I'll give her that, probably her birthday, although she'd be into it right now. I need to go back and get the Little People Farm Set which I've procrastinated over all week and have finally decided it would be a good investment. She loves it when we sing Old McDonald and the animals in the set make noises so it would go well with our crazy singing. I personally love the Little People toys too so it's a win-win - fun for Izzy and mummy! :lol:

I started pilates with my physio last week to try and sort out my hip (which we are pretty sure is just muscular, phew!) and get my strength up again. I had a terrible cough with the cold I had recently (I'm on asthma meds for the first time in my life!) and realised my pelvic floor ain't what it used to be. I didn't have any accidents but it felt awfully 'heavy' down there. My physio checked it all out with the real time ultrasound and I was pushing down on them instead of raising them - quite common for new mums apparently. Anyway, we're working to strengthen them and my core muscles so we can move onto toning me up. Not that we are planning on getting pregnant again any time soon but I want my body to be in much better shape for our next pregnancy. My back and hips were bad enough when I was pregnant with Izzy, I'd hate to think how bad they'd be if I were to fall pregnant in this state.

I'd better go and do something productive while Miss Iz is having a sleep. We've been out all weekend which has been lovely but the chores have been somewhat neglected. Time to get DH up from his nap - men!

Ciao!

Sanchez, good to see you back. I saw a FB pic on the glacier - did you go to fox or franz? My BIL is a pilot at Franz, so if you had a young tall guy driving it was probably him. Congrats on the overnighters too, I am sure you will be happy for her to keep that up when you are back at work. WTG on the new tricks too.

Connersmum, welcome!

Taurean, sounds like we have the same presents picked for the girls! We got a cozy coupe for them to share but I couldn't wait until their birthdays so they have it now (and DS busted me bringing it inside lol). A loves it, she sits in there and drives it backwards. She also holds onto the back and uses it as a walker. We also got the Little People Animal Farm mega set for her. I don't mind spending a bit extra for something that will stand the test of time and they play with them for years and years. We did have a ball pit for her but I just packed it up because I was sick of DS spreading the bloody balls all over the house!

Did anyone else see that another member that has a bub born on the same day as Izzy and A has just had another baby! I sooooo can't imagine that!

All good here now, A was sick for a few days and OMG she is the sookiest baby ever! She didn't sleep for two nights because she had a stuffy nose and eventually I gave up trying to get her to lay down and slept sitting up on the couch so she could be upright. Seriously, it was only a cold but you would have thought it was the end of the world! She didn't feed from one evening until the morning the day after (two nights, one day) because of her nose and possibly a sore throat - my boobs felt like concrete! Painful, but they haven't looked that good in a long time lol. I suddenly see the allure of a boob job!

Still no teeth, still no tricks!

Hey ladies! I'm around but not a lot of time for posting at the moment. DH is overseas so I'm extra busy being a 'single' mum for two weeks. Half way there and counting down the days till he gets home. Whenever he goes away I get a sense of what single mother's go through and boy, do I have a lot of respect for them LMAO!

Welcome connorsmum and welcome back Simone, I hope you both enjoy being here. Look forward to getting to know you both!

Taurean, Izzy sounds like she is going great guns! How cute is the walking?! Ethan started cruising and using his walker too last week. I swear I'm amazed by his progress lately. In the space of 4 weeks he crawled, pulled himself up and is now cruising. Scary!! Ethan wears a wondersuit and singlet suit under his dream bag. But even though its freezing here at nights he is a hot blooded little thing and doesn't seem to feel the cold. But he also has the helmet which keeps his head toasty. We had a little oil heater for DD which worked a treat so maybe try that? YAY for the toy purchases!

Sanchez, wow on V's progress! Glad you all had a great time and good to have you back! OMG at the bumbo incident but sounds like they all figure out eventually how to escape lol! E did too so that was the end of that and I gave it to our neighbour for her little one. Yep we have tantrums here too, usually when he realises his breakfast/lunch/dinner is finished lol!

Art, glad A is feeling better but ouchies on the full boobies :( I have no idea what a cozy coupe is (clearly I haven't been paying attention to the toy catalogues). We are thinking of getting a trampoline for both kids for christmas so I might head to the shops this week and check them out (hopefully there will still be some left at the sales!)

I can't believe my little man is going to be 10 months this week and I have lots of people asking me what we are doing for his first birthday. I'm still in denial that he's going to be one lol! Has anyone started thinking about parties?

Thanks for the lovely welcome ladies!

Yes...my DS is my first. Took me many years to find the right Dad and so I've become a Mum much later than I wanted to but things are as they are meant to be and can't wait for #2 to come along...hopefully very soon. As far as I know I'm not preggie...yet! :crossfingers:

Taurean, would love to touch base with any Mums in Townsville with bubs around mines age. So thanks for your offer.

Well, yes Connor is definately keeping us busy. Certainly needs more of my time than when he was younger so Im basically neglecting the housework til he goes to bed (he is usually begging for his cot by 6pm!) and then I have a few hours to do the stuff that takes the most time.....and get it done twice as fast.
He is so close to walking that it could be any day... stands on his own for quite a while and has taken the odd shaky step...but not yet officially walking I don't think.

We hit the toy sales to but only did BigW. Freaky how "forceful" some people get when there is a bargain to be had. Have to say it wasn't too bad for our fiest one.....first of many I expect!

Well...hubby is on night shift so might use the time to get back to the housework and fold/iron the washing....bliss..NOT!

Have a great week x

Hi everyone
I thought I might join this thread. My first baby - James - was born on the 9.9.09 at Frances Perry. He will be 10 mths old on Friday (9th July). He is a delight.
Gabby x