Babies born~September 2007 #59

[Artechim]

JM, I feel your pain! We lived this for months and it was exhausting. Here are a couple of things we implemented to make it work a bit better for us:
*Make a nap-time cut off. I wouldn't let W have a nap after 2pm. It made for some grumpy afternoons, but better than being up to all hours. To facilitate this, DH was waking him up at 5.30-6am and then he would want a nap earlier in the day. We moved the cut-off to 1pm, then 12pm etc as needed
*Limit the length of naps. An hour MAX and I would wake him up. Sometimes I ended up with crying/tantrum for an hour or so but it was really a choice of during the day or at 10pm so I went with it. One of my favourite waking tricks was to stand by his door and make the phone ring so he woke up but I wasn't actually waking him kwim, so he wasn't grumpy lol.
BTW, I sense an announcement coming from the jungle in the next couple of months? Is your DH a boxers or briefs guy? Apparently boxers favor boys...

MD, I am so happy that your first day went well and your job is what you wanted

Clare, I am a complete convert to ring curtains! Spotlight has a crappy website, might be worth a trip in - but remember I live in a different country so we might have different stock lol

Patoot, hope H is feeling better

Yesterday A woke up at 7.30am, had a nap at 1pm for 40 minutes and then stayed up happily playing until 11.30pm!!! Far out, I didn't think you could get a worse sleeper than W!

[Cally]

Arte - you do have bad sleepers!

K is still having a nap every day - we went through a stage where she refused to but would crash in the car. DH laid the law down in the holidays and now she sleeps again.

MD - glad your first day went well and you are in your dream job!

Patootie - welcome Hope H is feeling a bit better

MP - you were asking about playing alone? We always considered that K wasn't very good, but put it down to wanting to spend more time with us because she is at care 5 days a week. But in the last couple of weeks she has really jumped ahead. On Sunday afternoon she came up with all these things that she did all by herself - going out to sea, a bear hunt plus looking after her babies. We also tend to do anything we need to do in the mornings and then the afternoons are just for little trips or hanging around at home. Mainly because we just never know what time she will wake up from her nap.

[Ozstar]

MD so glad your first day went well and that your so happy!!

Cass how's the curtain situation now? lol

Patooties I am loving the name!!

Arte you really lucked out and the sleep department didn't you. Are you having more babies? Maybe the next one will be a brilliant sleeper lol.

Has anyone heard from Supa? I wonder how she is doing?

Melb girls it looks like I will be in Melb at the end of Oct, I would love to catch up with you all.

My dad showed up this week to surprise me, I HATE surprises lol. It was great to spend some time with him though and I had a big cry with L when he left this morning. I have had 2 sick kids this week.............. bring on Spring I say.

Better go and have some lunch while I can.

[Trillian]

I was just thinking of Supa the other day, she is overdue to have her bub, if she hasn't already had it yet. MD has her number I think, maybe we could get her to check up on her for us?

[Ozstar]

I thought she must be due soon. Lovely MD it would be so nice to get an update lol.

[AnyDream]

Well we must've all been on the psychic telephone because I was thinking of Supa just a day or two ago - but like usual I was driving and completely forgot once I got home. Someone keep reminding me until I tell you all I've been in contact with her, ok?

Re the naps, we started having some nap resistance until DH started getting Missy E up early, then the naps have started again - and any day she doesn't have a nap she flakes out for an early night. The days we've had her home and she's napped we've cut it short, seems to work better that way.

JM, although I'm completely lost and baffled, let me warn you you *cannot* sneak anything past our Arte, she is one keen-eyed detective (or maybe just an obsessive cyber stalker LOL) .

WOW I cannot believe that after tomorrow I will have finished my first week of work!

[Artechim]

LOL, I am just a cyber stalker. I hear a lot of clucking coming from that direction...

Oz, that would have been cool having your dad visiting. No more babies here. I just could not handle another crappy sleeper. They are sooo bad, 3 years with only a handful of full nights sleep. And it isn't even one or two wake ups, it is usually 6+ and it is ruining my life. I can barely function. We have until the end of the year to change our minds (highly unlikely) and then I will probably get my tubes tied. Are you planning to go again?

[Ginger]

hi girls
how is everyone? not much to report on here, was supposed to take the boys swimming today but they've both come down with nasty cough/colds. L is pretty disappointed

getting a whole heap of trees removed next week- the 10/30 rule in vic actually ends on aug 31st....no one advertises that do they?? so we gotta get it done before then. i'm just glad i did a bit of research or i never would've known!

hope everyone is having a nice day

[Trillian]

What is the 10/30 rule G? Bugger about the boys getting sick. I hope it doesn't hang around long.

MD, I hope you are feeling more confident about work this week

Arte, if they slept better do you think you would have more? A friend of mine was like you, had two really really high maintenance kids quite close together and by the time the second was 4 months old she was completely over having kids and wanted her DH to have the snip, but now the kids are older and the second one is at school next year she is thinking she might like another one, but now her DH reckons he is too old LOL so she couldn't win either way.

Not much happening here today, catching up on housework. L had his major semi final in football on Sat, which they narrowly lost, so they have to play again this week and it works out that it will be at our home ground so we're hoping that can boost them with confidence. TT is going well - I taught him how to wee outside yesterday LOL so he doesn't have to come inside all the time and if he is really busting he can just do it wherever he is, but I think I may have created a monster

[AnyDream]

Arte, before you book yourself in for surgery, you need to do some reading about post tubal ligation syndrome - there are some threads here on BB about it too. Much better to get DH vasectomied if you can/he will.

[Cassius2]

hi girls!

arte: i reckon i am with MD and would tell DH to get the snip lol! i always thought there were too many hormonal complications that can occur with us girls??

G: ahhh what is the 10/30 thingy??? is this mountain livin' speak lol?!!
blergh about the head cold. we had it here for a good few weeks...ended up putting DD on pentavite just to boost her immune. she is still a bit snotty, but no longer sick.

Oz: the curtains are sorted!! we decided to be norti and go with the lovely curtain man up the road...paid the deposit THEN the plumbing went kerput. and we are literally up poo creek without a paddle lol! ahh well, thems the breaks, even as we wade through poo at least i can gaze at my nice curtains...

MD: so how did your first weekend as a worker bee feel?!

AFM: we are all getting over the snot monster. there are some resistant boogie monsters hanging around, but they are definitely on the way out (YAY!). DD got hit pretty bad by it this time which was surprising. she just hasnt been able to shake it, not even as fast as us...but the multivitamins i have her on have had shown improvement.
it feels weird to be home while she is a kindy...i feel kinda lonely and want her around!! but i guess it will be good once bubba is here as i will enjoy the one on one time with a small little squidlet, especially in those first few months...

[Cally]

it feels weird to be home while she is a kindy...i feel kinda lonely and want her around!! but i guess it will be good once bubba is here as i will enjoy the one on one time with a small little squidlet, especially in those first few months...

And a chance to catch up on some sleep!

We are all good here. Although K woke up in a crap mood this morning. Wanted Daddy (who was still asleep) and I was told to go away. She just curled up in the corner of the couch and sobbed for 20 minutes or more. Everytime I came up to her the crying level increased and I was pushed away. When DH came out, she lost interest in him and came running over to me for a cuddle. Hope that doesn't happen again.

Ginger - hope the boys are feeling better. K had something last week, but it was pretty much all over in a couple of days. At least she has learnt how to blow her nose though, maybe that's why it didn't seem so difficult!

Arte - sending hugs your way, hope you can find a way to get some sleep soon.

Trill - there are a few times K has told us she needs to do a wee on the side of the road. When we clarify it with her, it tends to be that she 'wants' to rather than 'needs' to. You will probably hardly see A inside now that he knows how to wee outside!

I can't believe birthdays are coming up again! What is everyone doing? We are going to have a few little school friends over as well as family. Not sure how to word the invitations for the school friends though - I wanted the mums to come too so I can get to know them more than just a quick chat, but don't want their whole family there as well as it could turn into a monstrous event, although could have the slightly older siblings if needed. Ideas?

[Ginger]

hi girls

cally- i had to laugh at K 'not needing to, but wanting to' wee on the side of the road. she's a crack up! LOL
we are not going to have a party this year, tbh we can't really afford it and i just don't want the stress! i know that sounds really selfish, but it cost us hundreds of $ last year and i spent 2 weeks preparing for it iykwim? so this year we've decided that as a family we will go into the city and take the boys to the aquarium and then go somewhere nice for lunch- maybe lebanese as there are no lebanese restaurants near us so it is something different.

trill- the 10/30 rule was in response to the bushfires and means that you can clear any ground cover within 30m of your house and any trees within 10m, without a permit. it is only a temporary rule though so we have to get it all done before the 31st.
hope L does well at footy this week with the homeground advantage. i can't wait till the boys can play footy! i get excited just thinking about it. how old do you think they would need to be to start?

cass- yes i think it is mountain speak! LOL
i saw a lot of people in northcote protesting against some telstra towers creating radiation and wonderd if you were there.....

arte- my dh was all set to go and get the snip but then one night we were watching 'millionaire hotseat' gameshow and one of the contestant couldn't sit down cos he was sore from having the snip....and that put him off

[Trillian]

Ahhhh! I see! I would be getting in and doing it now too if that's the case. Not sure about league, but if you're keen on Aussie Rules, they can go Auskick from 5yo to 12yo, but our centre will let some slightly younger ones do it too. But you wont find many kids that will do Auskick till 12 - most kids have grown out of it by 8-9. Now that L is playing, we probably wont bother with A doing it and he can go straight to footy about 6-7yo. I am really enjoying it - our club is very family orientated so I hope the kids stick with it for years.

Cally, that is funny about the wee. The hardest thing for us is that we are half hour from town, so there were a few times over the years when we'd have to stop on the side of the road because they either weren't going to last till we got to town or got back home.

We aren't doing a party, just a cake with family or maybe a barbecue with friends and not a party as such kwim?

[Cassius2]

h
i saw a lot of people in northcote protesting against some telstra towers creating radiation and wonderd if you were there.....

there are a couple of protests going on ATM. there is one where they wanna chuck up HUGE pylons through the 'green belt' along merri creek...so while you get some exercise and watch your kids playing at the playground you can get some rays lol. and then there is the other one where a resident allowed telstra to throw up some mammoth tower in her backyard and because it is a private arrangement they didnt need public approval. i feel really sorry for the people in the area. luckily it's not too close to us, but man, bit scary!

we prolly wont have a party either. bubs is due around the same time, our besties are busy with their little baby in NICU (who *might* be able to come home in 3 weeks ) and yeah basically without them and my big pg status...oh and a $2000 plumbing bill we just dont have the cash and friends to do a big thing. but mum will be here so we are thinking a nice picnic with a cake and some party hats nonetheless!

[Artechim]

I saw the thread on the tubal ligation syndrome, but I am just going to go on believing that won't happen to me lol. DH agrees with getting the snip in theory, but I know that if push comes to shove he will be very hesitant to do it - he has a massive needle phobia and needles near his man bits... I can see it just not happening and we would end up with another baby.

Trill, I don't know if we would have had more if they slept. The plan was 2 or 3. I am not really enjoying the stay at home gig, but perhaps if I had some time without kids hanging off me, if they would let me sleep in my own bed without hanging off me all night, then maybe it would be a bit more enjoyable? Have you got any lambies yet? I saw the first of the season the other day. Spring in in the air.

We were going to have a party, but then the IL's really wanted to come up but couldn't afford it and I didn't really want to bother with a party that costs heaps and W wouldn't really enjoy it because he just isn't a super social kid. So we paid for the IL's airfares - seems like a win for everyone (and FIL is a builder and we have lots of odd jobs...lol). We will still have a cake though. W is flip-flopping between a Strip Weathers cake and a Scarface Claw one.

Although, W seems to be getting more social in the last couple of weeks. At Kindy the other day he started a conversation with the girl next to him asking her the dolls name etc. And we were at McD's the other week and a toddler dropped his toy so W got it for him, then later some big kid was kicking the toddlers toy away so W stood between the big kid and the toy and said "that isn't yours!" and picked it up and gave it back to the little boy. Probably nothing the other kids haven't been doing for ages, but it is a big step for W.

After a week of Miss A thinking that 11pm is a suitable bedtime, I have both of them in bed asleep at 8pm tonight. Yay!!

[Trillian]

Fingers crossed that means they stay asleep! We have loads of lambs now - the Merino's are just about finished lambing and the cross-breds started last weekend. We have 5 sets of triplets so far from both mobs and no poddys touch wood! Last week we had the cross-breds around the house and we had 5 lambs born in a day - two had twins and one had a singleton, and the the next day one of the twin ewes had popped out another one! It certainly does make things feel very spring-like.

I wanted to say too about the snip vs tubes tied, having your tubes tied will mean you are in hospital for a day or so and then layed up for another week or so - it is a lot more invasive than the snip is so unless you are able to leave the kids with DH for that time and then have him do the lions share of housework and caring for the kids and take time off work to do it, then the snip may be the better option afterall. It was what swayed us to go that way instead of me having my tubes tied.

[Artechim]

Crap! I didn't realise it was that much of a big deal! I thought it was just a quicky 5 minute out-patient type thing! Might have to rethink. Bummer.
And nope, they won't stay asleep. I have resettled A twice already and it is only 10pm