Babies born~September 1st-15th 2009 #3

[Now we're 3]

Thanks for the advice girls and for coming back so quickly.

Like I said was pretty happy to continue and let Sam decide himself what he wants but is good to be able to get a sanity check to make sure I'm not doing the wrong thing. Will just plod along and see what happens.

Had an interesting day today as it looked like Sam decided the sleep that he had between 5am and 8am was his morning sleep so he wouldn't take his morning nap. He did remarkably well being able to stay up until 2.15pm when I eventually got him to go to sleep for a whole 30 mins! Wasn't tired or grizley just awake. Did manage to re-settle him though and he slept for 2 hours then before I woke him. Fingers crossed we won't have a single digit wake up call but I won't be holding my breath!

Had to chuckle at T chucking his dummy luckily we don't have that issue as Sam never had one but he chucks his toys around good oh and has full on conversations with them in the morning. It very cute. Hope the work situation resolves itself - not knowing what is going to happen is the worst I think. At least when you know you can deal with it. Best of luck with the ENT specialist visit. Is it looking like gromits or is that what this visit will determine.

Best of luck with your work Taurean hope the old brain isn't too rusty. I hate to think what mine is like though will need to work out pretty soon what i'm going to do. Very envious of your holiday sounds fab - will look forward to the photos!

Hi to everyone else. Gotta go and help get dinner sorted.

[sangie]

Kelly, the construction cake sounds cute! Ethan's party was threatening to get out of hand so I've decided we are going out to lunch lol! I've also decided to only have close family and friends as I think that will be more enjoyable for him. He tends to freak out a bit when confronted by strangers so I think a huge party with lots of people he doesn't see on a very regualr basis will freak him out. Poor T with his ears, he sounds like a real little trooper though.

AM, Ethan has three bottles of 200ml each and he also has three really good size meals ( I swear his tummy is a bottomless pit!). I'd just go with the flow hun and maybe offer more if he isn't eating well and less if he does? I dropped the 4th feed a few weeks ago because Ethan was only having less than a quarter of it. He hasn't missed it.

Taurean, yay for the holiday! Yes I do around 8 hours a week and it is working out well so far. Some weeks I can manage 10 and other weeks is much less (4 or 5) and they are usually the weeks when DH is away for work. I get the biggest chunk of work done on a sunday evening. DH does the dinner/bath/bed routine with the kids and I work from around 4pm until 11/12pm (or when I can't see the computer screen anymore lol!). Then I can usually manage an hour here and there during the week when the kids are sleeping.

Speaking of work, that is what I came on the computer to do! Ciao for now!

[Artechim]

Just a quickie from me.

After a week of Miss A thinking that 10-11PM was a good bedtime, I had her in bed at 8pm tonight. Unfortunately it is only 10pm and I have already been in to resettle her twice
I just can't understand why this kid won't sleep! She has had days when she has been up from 7.30am and doesn't want a sleep until 4pm - then drops off for 20 minutes and is up until 11pm! It is driving me mental! She was also resisting being put in the cot so she has now lost her feed/rock to sleep privileges and goes straight into the cot to go to sleep. It was probably well past due anyway - she is nearly one now!

Not much happening on the tricks front. She can walk 15-20 steps across the room, but she would rather sit and grizzle until I hold her hand and walk her. But if there is something she is desperate to get then she will take off on her own. She really needs to be mobile, if she isn't going to crawl then I hope she gets walking properly soon.

Is Sanchez still around? Hope V is sleeping better for her now.

[Artechim]

Wow, the countdown to first birthdays is on!

[Taurean]

Hello lovely ladies!!!

My god it's been quiet in here. Is everyone else struggling with a teething baby??? Art, the countdown is on!! Less than 3 weeks to go for our girls and I'm still in denial. Do we really have one year olds?

So how is everyone going? What's news?

As you've probably guessed (and most of you know thanks to Facebook), we are going through teething hell at the moment. I also have a head cold and suspect Izzy has it too so it's all happy families in our house - NOT! I guess I should look on the bright side and be thankful it's happened now and not on our hols ( the teeth won't play up while we are away!)

Iz has been pretty good about it all really but as she's such a happy, easy going bub, I'm finding it difficult as she's not sleeping well during the day. I'm having to work at night now or stick her in front of the TV (thank you Baby Einstein!) while I try to get some work done. Besides a couple of foul nights in the past week, she's sleeping reasonably well at night. The array of drugs I'm giving her could have something to do with that I check with the pharmacist what I could use (after I begged him to give me Pain Stop but he wouldn't as it's only available on script for those under 2 - boohoo!) and he said Nurofen and Panadol together (already doing that) and yes, I could give her Homeopathic stuff as well. Last night we gave her Nurofen and Panadol plus Hylands Teething Tablets and Brauers Calm. She slept through and thankfully, so did I. We are both still feeling off today but the full night sleep made a bit of difference.

Other than that, not much else is happening. Work is going well (although decent day sleeps would help!) and our holiday to Exmouth and Broome is all booked. Leaving on 8 Sept for 10 nights. Woohoo!

I've got most things organised for Izzy's birthday party. We've opted for a Ladybug theme and I managed to get most of the bits and pieces from Spotlight thanks to my mum! I had found a lot of stuff on the net but it was quite pricey so mum suggested we try Spotlight and right there, as we walked into the party section, was a massive stand of First Birthday goodies all in a Ladybug design! I've got a few things I need to order over the net for the party bags for the babies (ladybug maracas and castanets) but other than that, it's just the food and drinks we need to sort out. DH has been talking to his boss' wife to see if she can make the cake as she does it for a hobby. Fingers crossed she'll produce the most incredible ladybug cake!

How's everyone else going?

[Sanchez]

Hello lovely mummies......I AM HERE!

I'm the slackest I know! But i think lately this whole baby thing has got the better of me! I found myself admitting to DH the other night that I am overwhelmed.....the cause of this is Hurricane Violet tearing apart my house on a daily basis! And i don't quite know how to deal with it. I try to pick up after her but she just pulls eveything down again. Because she always wants to be with me showers have become a nightmare event as she trys to get in with me, so my shower consists of me holding one leg out trying to keep the door closed and the other furiously scrubbing. Then we move to the WIR where she pulls everything down off the shelves, shes in the drawers. She migrated into the bathroom the other day and i heard banging....she had finally made it into the shower and the door had shut and she was stuck in there, sopping wet in her pj's but looking mighty proud!

Anyway, Im sure you all know what i am talking about I just am not used to feeling completely overwhelmed. And at the end of the day all i want to do is go to bed, not stay up to 11pm cleaning the horrendously dirty wooden floors and doing the neverending pile of ironing.

I am trying to figure this out because how on earth do you manage when you have more than 1 child? I am trying not to let my DH think i am completely incompetent and can't have more!

Taurean - you are having a rough trot with Miss I arent you. Damn those teeth. How long does it take for thier teeth to comethrough? This doesn't continue for years does it? I asked for pain stop and I got knocked back too! I wanted it to knock her out so she would sleep - the ended up giving me just straight Phenergan which worked like a treat. I gave it to her for about 4 nights but i was still having ****ty sleeps cause i was worried it would knock off her breathing all together!
I don't know if V is teething at the moment but she had the strangest day of just wanting me to cuddle her and watch TV together - she hates me cuddling her normally so it was nice! Yeah for the ladybug theme party! Does she have an outfit all ready to go? I bought V's the other day - not the norm a black tutu skirt with a cute white singlet. My sister said she will look like an Emo! Big hugs Renee, just think - it can't last forever!

I really enjoyed everyones posts about what they are doing with feed amounts and times ect...i am still a bit clueless about all that. I am still offering her 4 bottles but she only drinks 100mls at a time, eatings hit and miss.

The big news on our end though.................NO I am not pregnant (bet some of you wondered though!) hahahah no Violet is finally sleeping through the night which has given me a huge sense of relief and I am not dog tired everyday. It is so strange though because i am not sure what happened. I did go to the library and get out the Dr Ferber book which i quite enjoyed and liked his methods of 'control crying'. So one afternoon I tried his method and she did cry for 45 mins, but i was in every so often to check on her. And she finally went to sleep and slept for about 30mins so i was cursing bloody man Dr Ferber fornot knowing a damn thing, and that night i put her to bed and did the Ferber and she cried for about 5mins and low and behold she slept from 7-5. And every night since (about 3.5 weeks ago now) she has done the same. I know! Amazing. But he did make points about having to break the sleep association which for Violet was Sleep = Lots of Boobie! So i could kiss old man Ferber!

Anyway I must go to bed now, sorry for prattling on about nothing but myself! I have read all your posts......wouldn't it be great to actually be able to all get together one day!

Anyway love to all bubs..........i'll have to go back and see what order the bubs came out......whose birthday is first?

[Taurean]

Anyway love to all bubs..........i'll have to go back and see what order the bubs came out......whose birthday is first?

PMSL, as usual, at your post Sanchez! I've got this image of my head of all our kidlets marching out one-by-one of an oversized vagina. Sorry, just had to share!

Go Old Man Ferber!! Is he God in disguise?! How awesome that V is sleeping through - woohoo!!

I've got a few dresses that Miss Iz could wear for her birthday party but I must say, I am tempted to get her a little tutu too!! Mum and I had joked about getting her a black and red number, to go with the ladybug theme, but I'm not sure yet. She has so many cute winter dresses (all Sprout, of course ) that I should just put her in one of those before we say goodbye to the cold weather.

PMSL at the thought of V kicking back in the shower too. I shower if Iz is sleeping but when she's not sleeping at all (like today!!), I still stick her in her rocker in the bathroom and entertain her with either A. a bottle B. a rusk or C. a Cruskit - in no particular order. I too have to scrub like mad before she tries to escape though!

[Sanchez]

Look what i found!....................

CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME

19 August - Janine1511 - Emily Grace 3.18am 7lb 60z EDD 31 Aug
20 August - Babyonboard - Jackson Noah 12.06am 6lb 5oz EDD 1 Sept
23 August - KellyNZ - Tadhg Anthony 7.54pm 6lb 2oz EDD 31 Aug
28 August - Lily J - Its a Girl! Details TBA EDD 9 Sept
1 September - Nicola - Indigo Eve 7.35am 5lb 5oz EDD 9 Sept
1 September - Me+Him+Bub - Jonathan James EDD
5 September - Artechim - Amelia Hazel 6.46am 8lb 4oz EDD 6 Sept
5 September - Taurean - Isobel Elsie 3.10pm 6lb 8oz EDD 14 Sept
5 September - Pooley - Frazer Kenton 4.45pm 9lb 8oz EDD 7 Sept
5 September - Brookemorrison - Oscar Slaide Ashyr (Time) (Weight) EDD 16 Sept
5 September - PeanutBaby - Charlotte Elizabeth 6.29am 7lb 7oz EDD 2 Sept
9 September - Sangie - Ethan David 8.14pm 7lb 9oz EDD 7 Sept
10 September - Kosi - Ava Jocelyn 7.28pm 7lb EDD 15 Sept
10 September - Sanchez - Violet Francescsa 9.09pm 6lb 13 EDD 8 Sept
11 September - Leanne - Joshua Willhem 7.31am 9lb 7oz EDD 25 Sept
15 September - Ruth08 - Its a BOY! TBA EDD 3 Sept
17 September - kylie1978 - Rosalie Christene Elizabeth 6.41am 9lb 12oz EDD 13 Sept
Aries - Beautiful Baby Boy Alexander Born Sleeping 05/05/09 - Rest in Peace little Angel

MIA

4th - HPsMum - Will be finding out
6th - Jyoti -
8th - Mumma&Bubba(s) - Its a GIRL!
13th - Acria - Its a Surprise!!
13th - Mom2PnE - Its a Surprise!!
15th - Rommy'sMummy ?
15th - Zap - Its a Surprise!!
Date TBC - Macca79 Its a Surprise!!

That was the last ever list! Blast from the past - we seem to have lost a lot of people along the way!

[sangie]

Hi all! I'm here, just been super busy and we've also had yucky germs in this house. Think I'm the local doctor's best customer at the moment, we've been there every week for the last three weeks

Eeekkk our babies are so close to one now! Sanchez thanks for that list. I'd forgotten there were some born in Aug so not long for them now!

Taurean, teething is horrid isn't it. Is it still those top teeth? E has his top two now and there are no sign of any others so hopefully we get a little break now. Izzy's party theme sounds adorable, make sure you put some pics on fb for us!

Sanchez, I hear you on not getting anything done. E is like a little cyclone, leaving a path of destruction wherever he goes! Do you have a playpen or portacot? Maybe you could pop her in there with some toys/food while you shower? As for the rest of the house getting trashed I have no advice other than to put baby gates everywhere lol. I feel bad doing that as I don't want to block out poor DD lol! In any case having two is not all that bad, at least I can ask DD to follow her brother and tell me what he gets up to while I quickly do the dishes, put on some washing etc. She thinks its a game lol!

Art, how are you going? Is miss A making any more progress in the walking department. Do I dare ask about sleep???

Hope the rest of you lovely ladies are well!

Big news here is that E is taking steps on his own. He plucked up the courage to let go of the couch and walked acrosse the loungeroom on Sunday. Then he sat down and gave himself a round of applause while we all cheered him and I yelled at DH to get the camera, was hilarious! I don't know if I'd officially say he's walking though as he prefers to crawl to get around still but every now and then you find him toddling around. Also good news is that the helmet will be off in about 3 weeks, just in time for his birthday woo hoo!

Anyway I can hear him waking now so best be off!

[kellynz]

Hello girls...
So Jackson's birthday is today (yay BoB) - and it begins! Tadhg is one on Monday - i'm starting to get excited now, after fearing it for the past few weeks, lol. He just doesn't seem big enough to be one!
Sanchez - oh wow V is really intensive, so awesome about the night sleeping though - woop woop! I tell people how busy and hard work Tadhg is - but really, I think I am getting off lightly because he will happily play in the lounge for a while on his own while i clean the kitchen etc as long as i pop back in every few minutes to show my face, and he sleeps so well during the day that in theory i can get stuff done then too. But I think part of the secret is just to be a bit less clean and tidy, if you can handle it. I only clean up the toys in the evening (which are all in his bedroom or the lounge- which now has a baby gate on it), and I just pick the most important things to clean, which for me is dishes and the kitchen, plus laundry. Vacuuming and other cleaning gets done sparingly, and i dont iron. Suddenly I'm feeling a bit lazy - especially considering Tadhg is in daycare 3 days a week - but i am working then.
Taurean - sounds like those teeth are really bothering miss Iz - i was going to say Tadhg doesn't get too upset by his, but he just woke up mid-sleep crying so maybe i spoke too soon! Ladybugs will be so cute! Look forward to seeing the pics. We are doing construction - but its a very low key theme with only a cake and balloons - will save the all out theme for another year
Sangie - yay for walking, thats a big achievement, it will be interesting to see how long until he makes it the main mode of transport! Eveyone keeps saying to me Tadhg is so close to walking, but still he insists on holding on and will plop down onto his bum if you even try to hold his waist or something other than his hands lol. Still no crawling here - so its just the cruising getting him around.
Better go do some cleaning, if mr T stays in his cot quietly anyway - hmm, as we have the party on Sunday and I'm going out when T gets up.
Oh one more thing - i had a 'me day' yesterday, work has been giving me jip with not renewing my contract until the last minute and generally not appreciating me even though i have worked every day Tadhg has been sick and do a lot - anyway, i decided to pull a sickie and went shopping and got a coffee, then went into town and had lunch with DH, then a haircut (which unfortunately took 3 hrs - but anyway such is life) so now have new hair and a new dress for the party on Sunday and feel like a new woman after an entire 8 hours to myself!! Heaven. I am now having day-dreams about having a night to myself for my 30th in November, lol - imagine not having to wake up at sparrows fart! I have requested a day-spa, dinner out and a night in a hotel - only 3 months to wait, lol.

Although i have to say, DH and I are getting a bit clucky with a couple of new babies close to us... pondering the idea... ;-)

Hugs to everyone else i missed x

[Artechim]

Sanchez, Yay on sleeping though! You must feel like a new woman! Will have to get V to talk to A about it....

Sangie, sleep is still terrible, better not to ask lol. Yay for E walking! A has been doing steps for about a month now but doesn't have the courage to do it as a mode of transport. She will walk across the room between DH and I but I think she is afraid of the landing so she prefers to hold hands still. She doesn't crawl, but manages to wriggle around the lounge on her bum.

Taurean, thanks for those notes. I don't think I have the heart to leave her crying for 15 minutes (and it will wake DS - their rooms share a wall) so I don't know if I will end up doing that. Although a full night of sleep makes it tempting... I hope that Izzy's teeth have come through. Yip, it goes on for ages. Molars are awful. DS spent several nights with my nipple in his mouth when he was getting the first molars (around 15 months) and he was really, really hard work when the two year old ones came through.

Kelly, lol at the sick day - maybe they will realise how much you do if you aren't there doing it! What was your original #2 idea? I like having my two reasonably close.

For those having shower problems, wheel the highchair in and give them some snacks, let them chew on their toothbrush or have a special novelty item they only play with at shower time. I can't remember what I did with DS when he was little, but since A isn't mobile I just leave her in the lounge with some toys and the telly and she is fine. DS knows to come and get me if she is upset.

Still no teeth here, although I can see two on the bottom and 6 up top under the gums, so when it starts I think she will get heaps in a short amount of time.

I have never had baby gates, DS wasn't too destructive so I am hoping A is similar (if she ever gets mobile!)

[Taurean]

Hi Girls!

Kelly - OMG, les than a week to go till your little man is one! Good luck with the party on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing some pics of the cake (cool theme!) and of you with your fabulous new hair do and dress! Good on you for having a day to yourself. I think it's so important for us mummies. DH bought me a 4 hour spa treatment for Christmas which I used in Feb (I think) and it was amazing. They spa supply everything too - nibbles, magazine, fluffy robes and most important, champagne It was bliss!! A night away for your 30th sounds like a great idea too! We've got a friends wedding on 1st Oct so my parents are meant to be having Izzy for the night. We haven't done an overnighter with anyone else yet so I'ma bit nervous! We're going to try to organise a test run before the wedding though.

Art - I don't blame you for not wanting to let A cry. That was one thing I didn't like about her advice but in saying that, I've done it several times with Izzy now and I've been surprised at how easily she stops crying! I worked out that she's been testing me some times and I was at my wits end so once I knew all her needs were met, I put her back in her cot and let her have a cry. Keep in mind though, she was perfectly happy - laughing and smiling - while in my arms, so I was also pretty sure she was feeling just fine and simply testing me out. I don't ever leave her for 15 minutes though, I generally pop back in after 5 just to reassure her OR I stay with her and pat her bottom in the cot. Both have worked surprisingly well and most the time now, she goes down without a peep. We do tend to rock her a bit more at night though or cuddle her until she is almost a sleep. I don't know why, but she's always been a bit different at night. She tends to really like her snuggles which is fine by me. If she's fighting the cuddles though, I just pop her down and surprisingly, that's worked most times too! I hope things change for you guys soon. It's so stressful and tiring when they don't sleep or settle well

Sangie - Go Ethan!! I just love it when they give themselves a round of applause!! LOL! That's great news that his helmet will be off soon too. Are you happy with the outcome? Did it work??

Sanchez - I was thinking of you and V yesterday....Izzy wandered off while I was quickly tidying up the kitchen. When I realised she'd taken off down the hallway, I ran straight to the bathroom expecting to find her in the shower like V had done! The little bugger wasn't there, nor was she in our room or hers and that's when I panicked as the only other room was the laundry and toilet!! Sure enough, there she was behind the laundry door (which she'd closed as I'd walked past the first time) and as I went in she was making a bee-line for the loo! Scared the hell out of me how quietly and quickly she'd snuck off!

Iz and I went to this awesome park in Perth yesterday for a bit of a play and lunch together. The park is amazing as it's got several different play areas (it's huge) for different age groups. The play area for Izzy's age has a swing, cubby house, some trains and an activity centre with steps, slides, etc. She loved it!! She was climbing up (and down!) the stairs no problems and crawling through the tunnels. It was just so lovely to enjoy a new stage with her - playgrounds

I'd better get some work done while Missy is sleeping. She's been much better the past couple of days so I think the cold is on it's way out and the teething must have settled. That damn top tooth still hasn't cut through properly yet though!!!

PS: I'm getting a bit clucky too lately but we've agreed to wait until early next year to start trying. We're both keen for at least 2 years between them but also don't want another September bub (as both our nephews are September too!) so we'll wait a bit to ensure September is out!

[Now we're 3]

Hi girls

Sorry haven't been on posting recently. Have been reading posts but just don't seem to find the time to actually post myself. Worst thing about leaving it you end up having heaps to catch up with.

Wow Kelly can't believe that T will be one on Monday. It must seem a little sureal that a whole year will have gone by since he was born. It was a bit funny looking at the list that Sanchez sent round and not seeing my name but I was in the October Belly Buddies thread at Sams due date wasn't until 5 October. Hope party on Sunday goes well I am just trying to finalise what we are going to do for Sam's b'day. Will just be friends as we don't have any family over here Loved the new photos on FB - must say the food was very artistically laid out on the tray.

Taurean - glad to hear that the horrid teething time seems to have eased slightly for you. We've been reasonably lucky with Sam's so far - says she touching every bit of wood she can find! He's got six now and I can see the next few in his gums so hopefully they will be equally as easy when they come through. It just changes their whole face when they have teeth. Your birthday party idea sounds great. What ever I come up with will be very tame in comparision. Have done invites so they go out tomorrow so will know then how big small its going to be. Our house / garden is pretty good for entertaining so we used to have a few parties here each year but haven't had anything now since I was pregnant. Looking forward to seeing the piccies on FB. You'll have to post the invite too so we can see what it looks like. Know what you mean about how great it is to enter new stage with the bubs when you were talking about the new playground. I took Sam to a play centre this week and he just loved it. We've got stairs at home so he is pretty comfortable on them but to my surprise he took off and basically climbed a ladder !!!!! without any help from me. Okay it was a soft and squishy one but it was still a ladder!

Sanchez welcome back. Was wondering where you had disappeared too. Well done you and V on the sleeping through. Sounds like you guys have it down pat now. PMSL laughing at the image of her sitting in the shower as proud as punch. As soon as Sam sees an open door he puts the burners on to check out whats behind it. He knows damm well if I get there before him I'm likely to close it. He loves playing with the doors at the moment so am terrified he will catch his fingers in them. I have now also become one of those Mothers you see on the TV who are trying to cook dinner with child between their legs. Looks cute on TV but in reality a nightmare. Our house is on split level so Sam can stay in living room but if he sees that I am in kitchen he will crawl to bottom of stairs and stand on bottom step hanging off the gate calling for me to let up come up the stairs to the kitchen. He will only play with his toys for a short period of time before he thinks I should be involved which normally means holding his hands and practising walking! We've two sets of stairs in the house so two lots of gates. PITA to be honest as I spend the day opening and closing them to let the bloody dog in and out! The carpeted ones don't bother me so much but the ones from living room to kitchen are open which scare me- though he is always in his bare feet at home so at least he won't just slip!

Sangie and Art - go the bubs for walking and cheering themselves on when they do! Art hope the sleeping gets better. Don't have any words of wisdom I'm afraid as while Sam did/still does wake at nights it was normally only the once and can pretty much (I think though I could be wrong) put it down to the days when he doesn't eat that much so he is hungry. So I would just feed and he would go back to sleep. I know heaps of health nurses would probably tell me not to feed as he shouldn't be hungry but I feel that he knows how to sleep through so there must be a reason why he doesn't. At least I normally get to have two breaks during the day when he goes down for day sleeps. He grizzles a bit but I just leave him too it and only go in if it escalates! Have had a couple of days recently though where he has only had one sleep - no baby no - way too early to move to one sleep! Mummy won't get any of her &*%$ done if you have just one sleep!

Things going fairly well here. Sam mainly sleeping through though as mentioned earlier have the odd night when he wakes. Mr Independent has well and truely arrived so feeding is PITA as he just wants to feed himself and not really take anything from spoon. Makes for long long mealtimes. Okay ish when you are at home but not when you're out. I normally just try to offer him larger bottle in the evening in the hope that he will take more milk and not wake in middle of night as he is hungry!

He is very active and crawling and climbing everywhere. Our house is on split level so two set of stairs and gates. If he is in lower sitting room and I am in kitchen he comes up and stands hanging on to gate at the end of the stairs shouting until I come and get him. Only time he is happy for me not to be there is when there is open door and then he off and through it.

Okay will have to come back and finish this update as computer died on me (again) and I lost the last bit of this post. We had 5am wake up and get up call this morning so I need my bed. Will post more tomrrow.

Kisses to all - sweet dreams xx

[AwesomeFoursome]

Hi ladies. I was HPsMum. Emily was born on 3rd Sept. I have occasionally had a quick read of this thread but never seem to have to time to finish reading or to post. Emily is going well. We have some ups and downs with her weight, she wasn't gaining for a while. She is now 8kgs. She is now sleeping through as of a week ago, she gets up around 7 to 8am. Although my 2yr old doesn't sleep through yet. She has 5 teeth, after we got her teething necklace they came through quickly. She has a very BIG temper. If Harrison takes a toy off her she goes right off, yells and carries on, her face turns red. It looks funny cause she is so little. I think Harrison only does it because she makes him laugh when she goes off. I'm hoping that now the kids are sleeping better I will have time to post more. Oh and Emily is going to be a big sister.

[Artechim]

Happy Birthday Tadhg!!

Yowie, welcome back and OMG at another bub - I am out of the baby game for sure now!

Far out, it is 10pm and A is still up! (yet again). I have handed her over to DH because I am getting so pi$$ed off with kids that won't flipping sleep!! Is it so hard?? I don't know what I have done wrong but gee they are terrible! I would tell myself that this too shall pass, except that DS is almost 3 and it is still happening so I won't be holding my breath for a good nights sleep any time soon.

Sorry about the whinge.

[Sanchez]

happy birthday tadhg You made it!

Well done Kelly on the cake.....looks awesome! I had my first trial of V's cake the other day......EPIC FAIL....half the cake stayed in the tin - I just walked away and looked up phone numbers of cake shops! However - I think i may just cheat and buy a Woolworths cake and then ice it - surely I can't f*** that up....or can I?!

Art honey big cuddles to you. Why is it that some kids sleep and others don't? I wa at the end of my wits a month ago - the thought that you have had that for years....I don't know how you do it. You are a fantastic mum......sending your bubs some sleepy vibes

Yowie - congrats on Emily and wowzas at being pregnant again, but looking at your ticker that might have been your plan....3 close together?

NW3 - Good to hear all is going well with you guys. I hear you on the slow and messy feed times - sounds like Sam and Violet are quite alike! My floor is a disaster zone!

Taurean - PMSL at you going to the shower to look for Izzy! But the laundry....she might have a thing for clean clothes How is your party planning going - what cake are you whipping up for Izzy? Oh thats right I remember you were going ladybug theme - pipe cleaner legs?!

Just a quickie for us, all is well, Violet is well. She has already chipped her front tooth - not sure how (she has chewed on rocks, taken the paint of her cot ect ect so i shouldn't be surprised. Thank god they get a new set! I am having quite a bit of difficulty with the teeth brushing - can't say she is getting the hang of it! She just cut tooth #8 today. I have never taken off her amber beads since i got them about 7 months ago, wonder if they need a clean!
I am with youTaurean, I take V to the park every day (sometimes twice, it is about 100m down the road) and she is becoming so adventurous. Scares me sometimes. But i am the mother sitting in the sun playing on my iphone while V eats bark about 15m away. Funny....this morning V did a poo and whilst cleaning her up there was a really thin piece of tree branch in her poo....little did I realise it was still partly inside, so i had to pull it out her bum, probably measured about 10cm in length! Shocker! I have pulled out hair before but never part of a tree...how is she swollowing this stuff!

Ok having an early night....does anyone have any good tips for trying to make her sleep in? She is now up at about 5am...killing me. She won't go back to sleep though. I wish she had a tv in her room, i would boot up Teletubbies and i could go back to sleep!

Yep we are looking at mid next year for some serious babymaking. Need a few more nights sleep

[Taurean]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TADHG!!!

Sanchez - I am wetting myself laughing at your post, yet again!! DH has had a good chuckle too! Classic!! Izzy hasn't pooped out any trees as yet but I'll now know what to do when she does! You just reminded me that I needed to order Iz a teething necklace (can you believe I've left it this long?!) so I just did. And thank you Kelly, cause I got a bargain on Belly Beyond so I also bought a travel high chair thing - awesome!

Also Sanchez, PMSL at your trial cake!! That is exactly why I won't be bothering - I'm so crap at cakes! DH's boss' wife is an awesome cake maker so she's doing the honours - yay! She's doing a big ladybug but I'm not sure if it's going to have pipecleaner legs or not, LOL! She sent home some cupcakes with DH last week for us to 'sample' and OMG, they were divine. Very happy with my choice. I'll stick to savouries and platters, at least I know I can do them!

Art - don't blame you at all for handing A over to your DH. I had to do that with Iz one morning last week after a horrendous night. DH brought her to me and I simply said 'take her away from me, out of my sight, until I calm down a bit'. I wasn't a happy mummy at all!! She had pretty much pulled an all-nighter so it's no surprise I was a bit grumpy! It must be tough but try not to be too hard on yourself, I'm sure it's not your fault! Some kids just don't sleep well...and...unfortunately you seemed to have scored two party animals. Surely it's going to have benefits at some stage down the track - maybe it's a sign of super high intelligence so they'll make you filthy rich when they find a cure for cancer. Just a thought

Yowie - welcome to our group and congrats on your pregnancy!! How are you travelling? How do you cope running around after a 1 year old and another toddler while pregnant?! I dread to think how useless I'd be if I was pregnant now and chasing Izzy around. I feel like I have my hands well and truly full at the moment - it scares me thinking about how I'll cope when we do have a second, even though we plan on a 2.5 year gap! I guess you just do cope though, just like when we get handed our first babies. Sink or swim, hey?

AM - Miss Iz is a lot like Sam too, she keeps trying to take over at dinner and just slaps our hand sending the food flying when we try to put the spoon in. The only way to avoid it is to put Baby Einstein on at the same time At least she eats!! She also eats really well from a spoon if we're outside (at a cafe or the park) or in a food court as she's such a sticky beak! As for the day sleeps, I'm with you, too early for one day sleep only!!! One of the kids in my mum's group has transitioned already. I'm dreading it. Iz is doing an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon now which is nice and I like the predictability of her little routine. She generally sleeps 11-12 hours overnight and will sometimes wake for a bottle but not often unless teeth strike then everything goes to poo anyway!

I'd better get a bit more work done. I was going to get stuck into it at 7.30 but I've managed to surf the net and chat on the phone instead.

Oh, one last funny thing. Decided to buy Iz her first doll today as she's getting a pram from friends of ours for her birthday. I had planned on giving it to her for her birthday but she was so excited about it at the shops I decided to give it to her when we got home. She was going nuts for it at Target, it was gorgeous. Giggling, reaching out for it, stroking it's face, etc. I couldn't believe how 'into' it she was. Even another mum commented and helped me make the decision on which doll to buy. Anyway, got home and got it out of the packaging for her and she took one look at it, sucked it's nose then threw it on the floor and crawled off!! What a waste of money that was!

[kellynz]

Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes! We had such a great time, Tadhg enjoyed being centre of attention and loved the party food. I think we had 26 adults and 9 children ranging from 2 weeks to almost 5! I am really pleased with how the cake turned out, and all the accompanying baking etc - sausage rolls, cheerios/****tail sausages, lemon slice, pizza muffins, honey crackles, fairy bread - fancy :-p
He got very spoilt, i think i need to put some presents in the cupboard to pull out later. Including a ride-on motorbike, which he can reach the floor on (short legs lol) so hoping he can work that out soon.

Sanchez - OMG at the stick-poo! lol, how on earth does that happen haha. Hope V's botty is ok. I am looking froward to Tadhg being able to play at our playground, it just opened last week about 100m up the road - but he can't quite walk yet without my help. We have a set of coloured wooden rings that you stack, and they only have half the paint now, lol - but eating rocks is a good one, thank goodness new teeth are coming. Tadhg is really difficult to brush his teeth too, i guess you just do what you can when they let you! I have an article that says you are meant to remove the amber neacklaces every week and wipe them with a dry cloth, also suggests not to get them wet - but I don't know if thats always the case, or just for this brand i was looking at - will check again.

Art - oh you poor thing, come and whinge anytime, thats a stinker to have a kid so happy to be awake (or 2 of them)! I hope she learns to give you a break sooner rather than later. Does DS go to kindy etc by himself, or do you have both all the time?

Taurean -yay for the necklace deal. I havn't even bothered with Tadhg's one - he seems to be on hold with tooth number 6.. i can see it just there, but its not coming. Its funny how different bubs are with sleep huh, Tadhg still usually has 1.5hrs in the am and 2 in the pm - apart from yesterday, the daycare carer reckons he must have known it was his birthday ;-p poor little tyke spent half the day laying in his cot talking to himself, lol. Bugger on the doll! She'll come back to it

AM - i'm sure Sam's party will be awesome even with less people /family. Glad you can use the photo slide idea - good way of including family who can't be there too.

Yowie - welcome back, and congrats on the new bub on the way
How heavy are the other bubs? Tadhg is just about 10kg now, he is really solid to lift its like a workout!

Re babymaking, we were originally thinking of having bubs close together, but since realising how much work it is!, we had thought of trying for a Xmas '11 bub. So will probably aim for a bit over 2 yrs, unless i lose my job then we might speed things up (currently have a contract until end Nov).

Re feeding - as you all know i've been doing Baby led weaning, so Tadhg has always fed himself and only in recent months allowed me to spoon feed him at all. He would still rather do it himself, and sometimes i let him (custard pottles are quite hilarious) if i have time to clean it/him up. But i try to let him feed himself as much as possible and not worry about the mess - i reckon its good entertainment for him, much easier than walking around the lounge for 30 minutes!

Oh yeah, and Tadhg is getting grommets tomorrow - kinda scared, kinda happy - it will be so interesting to see if it helps him walk, as ears are so important for balance; and also to start talking more - although he is pretty good with sounds etc as it is. Wish us luck xx