Babies born~September 2007 #60

[Cassius2]

hahah! Maz WAS right lol!!! (is she never not??!)
Congrats babe

Isadora: great to hear from ya! was wondering where you were at with the pregnancy...wow, 26 weeks! it really starts to fly from then i reckon...
and wow, big stuff on the SAHM decision.

Oz: oh gastro is tough. thankfully it usually passes quickly, but is a bit of a tornado when in the house!

AFM: all ok here. had a few up and down days. as these things are with a new baby! lack of decent sleep is tricky to handle as the days turn into weeks lol. but i am working on just trying to relax and not get too freaked out by the 'unknown' that is newborn babies!
the mastitis is still there. i thought that it was gone, but a quick feel by the GP and bingo, still there ah well, more ABs...
has anyone else noticed changes in the way their kids are playing? i am finding Leila is playing alot more 'realistic' games. so now she plays 'restaurants' and we all have to order rather full on meals lol. and her train set is getting a work out and she has to fully explain what kind of train it is (ie, not a travel train but a city train lol). it's pretty cute, but can be full on as there is noooo room for negotiation lol.

[MamaPan]

congrats JM!!!!
Isadora - how wonderful to hear from you... wow 26 weeks.. wont be long now til we welcome our next little buddy! do you know what you are having (i cant remember if y0u were planning to find out)
Clare - cant beliebe miss M is a month already! flown by for me!!! hope you are doing ok, i remember finding the first few months v hard going...
hi everyone else!!!

AFM all is well. had a lovely day off today w noah. took him to a concert and then shopping/sushi. was so gorgeous to spend some 1:1 time w him.

[AnyDream]

JM, was your secret reveal there all along? I don't think anyone noticed until Detective Arte came online!

And Ginger, were you in on this??? Oh, and I nearly forget (after remembering a day early yesterday) HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEWIS!!! Hope you had a gorgeous day with your gorgeous boys!!!

Isadora, so good to see you!!! Wow 26 weeks already? Too fast, although I bet it doesn't feel that way to you. Agree with Cass, the SAHM decision is huge, don't be worried about it. You will find your groove.

MP, you day out with N sounds great. The one-on-one time is so precious, isn't it.

Cass, right there with you on the realistic meals. In our house, the restaurant is a bit temperamental. It goes like this
E: "What you want to drink? Coffee, Juice, fizzy drink." (she stands there with her mini magnadoodle, ready to "write" it down).
Me: "I'd like a coffee please"
E: "Um, No coffee. What you want to drink?"
Me: "in that case can I have some juice please?"
E: "Nooo! No more juice. What you wanting today?"...etc ...this can go on for a very long time before my order is finally deemed acceptable LOL.

[Isadora]

Congratulations JM!!!!! My bets on another girl

[Ginger]

md- i will admit i did know about JM's news but, of course, a good friend never spills your beans! LOL

L had a great day yesterday- went to McDonalds for lunch with his 2 best mates and got lots of presents last night which he loved. we were planning on going to the aquarium on sunday with my family but are now thinking we might change the plan to the zoo as the weather is forecasted to be 25 degrees and L keeps harping on about wanting to see the baby elephant LOL

my gender prediciting skills are definitely telling me that JM is carrying a blue bundle i have been picking out names already

[Cassius2]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR YOU LEWIS!!! hope you had a wonderful day!!!

MD: yeah our restaurant is always out of food lol! yesterday all it had was egg sandwich (??).

G: go the zoo! i love the open space, and there's teh playground where they can play to their hearts content while you vege out on the side lol (oooh i can be lazy lol). leila loves the seals and the orangutans. can't drag her away from there!

MP: overall all is going well. but there are some really hard days/moments. usually at the end of the day or afternoon when everyone is low on energy and negotiation skills lol. but i am hoping that as marta gets more settled, we will get more settled IYKWIM. cant complain really as she is a pretty good sleeper considering that she is a newborn. generally feeds 3-4 times overnight without the need to settle. so i can handle that. of course every few days she throws in a 'party' that involves loads of crying for hours...just to keep us guessing lol.

AFM: had a beautiful morning! Leila came into our bed just after i fed marta and we all had cuddles. leila was holding marta and got a BIG SMILE!!! big open mouth gummy baby smile!!! leila then proceeded to tell Marta that she was beautiful and 'i love you baby marta'......awwwwww! melted my heart and gave me the much needed strength to stand by my hope that they will be loving sisters...

[AnyDream]

AFM: had a beautiful morning! Leila came into our bed just after i fed marta and we all had cuddles. leila was holding marta and got a BIG SMILE!!! big open mouth gummy baby smile!!! leila then proceeded to tell Marta that she was beautiful and 'i love you baby marta'......awwwwww! melted my heart and gave me the much needed strength to stand by my hope that they will be loving sisters...

Melt your heart moment for sure...and of course they will be loving sisters!!!

Ginger, sounds like you had a fabulous day yesterday! Hmmm, zoo vs aquarium...well I am very fond of the penguins, so I won't try to sway you LOL

[Ozstar]

awww Clare thats so beautiful. I am so in love with that photo you put up today.

Happy Birthday to Lewis!!! I think they are at a great age for the Zoo, we are going at Christmas time.

I am loving all the imagining they do at this age. L is not so much into food though, more fixing things (that aren't broken of course) and building. He has one of DH's old tool belts and all his plastic tools.

I really should be working and not surfing BB while the kids are sleeping but it feels like I never get a chance to catch up on here.

[Artechim]

Happy Birthday Lewis

Sorry I missed it G, I am totally lost with all the birthdays lately - between Sept 07, Sept 09 buddies, real life people and a bunch of mummies I am completely birthday bamboozled atm!

So Happy Birthday to everyone I have missed lately. I think there was Lu, Asha, Maddie, Lewis, as well as Kate, Oz and Leanne. I hope everyone had a great time on their special days.

JM, I promise I am not stalking you - it is just I don't have many FB friends so I see almost everything on my news feed.

Ginger, which place did you decide? I am thinking we might try a trip to the zoo in the next couple of months. A loves animals (they all say moo or oink though lol).

Cass, that sounds adorable with the girls! I think that W was a bit young and disinterested to bother much with A when she was born. He seems to be thinking of her as an actual person now though lol Just keep hanging in there, it will all settle down soon xx

W does the order thing too - a couple of months back he was making a 'nest' out of pillows and it was his cheese shop or ice cream shop and we had to order something and he never had what we wanted. He wouldn't have any idea of how to take a restaurant order though, they don't tend to wait tables at McD's.

A has slept from 10pm to 2am for the last two nights - 4 straight hours is something of a miracle for her. However it was ruined both nights but W having a screaming tantrum from about midnight until 1-1.30am both nights.

[Junglemum]

Thanks ladies.

Ginge- Zooo all the way then you can save the aquarium for a rainy day.. I'm glad you are working on names.... i have noooo idea. And am still in denial a little.

MD- Ginger knew before dh!

Trill- Are you psychic too???

Arte- i wouldn't care if you did stalk me, i'd take it as a compliment.

Oz- Little boys and fixing things. It is true that boys and girls are wired differently i think. Lu likes to build things but not like but Ginger's L, he is never without tools and goes around fixing everything. He even has real ones from daddy. Very cute.

MammaP- I miss sushi! So does Lu, i think she'd eat 100 avocado hand rolls if i let her.

Cass- What a gorgeous age to have a newborn, and so nice that Leila loves her. I'm not so sure Lu would be as accommodating atm.

[AnyDream]

JM after I read your announcement, I remembered a dream I'd had a few nights before. I'm with Ginger on a blue this time. I have been wondering about how being where you are is affecting how you're feeling about being pg? Far from home...limited access to medical...malaria, etc??

Arte, I hope A has turned a corner with the sleeping, and that W won't be far behind. I cracked right up when I read your comment about McD .

Ginger, can't wait to hear all about the zoo/aquarium visit! Living vicariously thru you this weekend...we're doing the staying at home thing after cancelling our plans to go and look for some whales. They were swimming around really close to the coast last weekend, have been hanging around heaps.

[Trillian]

Ange, not psychic at all LOL, but there was an off hand comment you made on here about babies and being pg and it just made me start thinking that a pg announcement might not be too far off for you

G, decisions decisions! I'd go the aquarium because we've done the zoo before LOL.

MD, our kids have said they would like to go and watch the whales migrate too, but the timing is always wrong, not to mention the 6hr trip to get to the coast!

Arte, woohoo on A's sleep but Bummer on W's! How is your study going?

Cass, I think every family has moments like that when everyone gets a little overtired. I'm glad we've only got today and tomorrow left of the holidays because we're at the stage where EVERYTHING is a drama

Well apart from the emotional outbursts from the girls everything is pretty swell here. Hay cutting is underway today and it looks like we will have more hay than we can poke a stick at which is wonderful. DH has a bit of contract hay baling work too which will bring in a few extra $$ and hopefully we can buy the boys their bunk bed because it wont be long and SIL will need the cot for little Boydy. A does the role play stuff, but it is completely boy stuff LOL. He will go outside and 'plough' a paddock in the sandpit and talk like DH would talk about doing it. He and Lindsay have been going for walks up the hill and been finding all sorts of things. There is a dead sheep carcass up there and he came back so excited telling me they found Dinosaur bones Today we're going to go up the other end of the farm and check out a wedged-tailed eagles nest that fell out of a tree during the storm we had the other night. DH reckons its massive, so I thought we'd have look. Not often you see one fall out of a tree and stay intact. In another few weeks it's time for preschool enrollment too. Not sure if I'm ready for that or not.

Study is going well. I am going to take a full time load to start next year (3 subjects a semester) and see how I go. If it's too much I'll withdraw before census but I'm really keen to get it done as quick as I can. So I'm considering putting A in CC one day a week on top of the one day he will be at preschool seeing as how I get the rebate now so it wont cost as much. I need to get him used to CC anyway for when I do prac because he will have to go a few days for when DH is on shift.

ETA - I can't believe I forgot to say that A went all night in jocks!!! He's been waking up dry for ages now but I've always put a nappy on JIC (plus they need to be used up anyway) but last night I thought I would test him in just jocks and I took him to the loo twice before he went to bed and then as soon as I heard him wake up this morning I went in and he was dry so we went straight to the loo and bob's your uncle LOL.

[AnyDream]

I'm finding the gender split in the role playing really interesting. I had a conversation with Missy E today when I asked is x a boy or a girl (listing a number of different people of all ages that she knows) and she knew with a 100% strike rate which gender everyone was. But when I asked "how do you know he/she is a boy/girl" she couldn't tell me. Except for one man who has a beard (she knew beards = man). I think she wanted to say ladies have long hair but she was confused about that one too because Mummy doesn't have long hair but Mummy is definitely a lady.

I wonder how much of this is influenced by their peers. DD1 had mainly other boys at FDC, she tended to play with a lot more tomboy type things (really wasn't into her dollies at all until the 11th hour before she decided she was "too old" for them). But this FDC lady has 2 girls and they have loads of pink uber-girly stuff (omg I have never seen so many fairy dresses wands etc all in the one place) and Missy E is much more interested in girly things (even like having her hair done) than DD1 ever was.

Trill, yeah 6 hours, you would bloody well want the whales to turn up right on cue!! I'm so pleased you've hit your stride with the study, etc, I hope everything goes smoothly so you can whip through those subjects at maximum pace. I'm enrolling for Sem 1 next year but will only be doing one subj for now. Still need my beauty sleep and have too many other things I want to be doing at the same time LOL.

[Trillian]

That's great MD that you've decided to jump into the study again. Do you think you are progressing with the memory stuff? The gender thing is an interesting one. I think the majority of kids will play with whatever is available to them - so if there is only girl type things or boy type things, then they will play with those, but then you add personality into the mix and some kids just prefer to play with toys that are not *traditional* for their gender. One thing I have noticed though is that while girls might pay with boys toys, they can play with them in a very girly way kwim? My girls will quite happily play with dinosaurs, but there is always the mummy, daddy and baby LOL. I've also seen them use trucks as a mode of transport for dolls complete with blankets. And I've seen A play with dolls, which he will usually stuff inside a truck cab and take for a spin

[AnyDream]

Good point!

Yep, I think the memory is (slowly) getting better, but I still have trouble digesting meaning (I read much slower now) and I also forget what I'm doing *all the time*. At work I have to write down every single idea I have to follow up (because I'm doing research) and I absolutely can only do one thing at a time. Uni-tasking sucks. I also have to write down what I'm trying to do, otherwise i forget what i was looking for . However I must be compensating ok, even though I feel like I spend at least a third of the day in a confused daze, my supervisor thinks my output is right on track. I have discovered that caffeine really helps (which is backed up by chemobrain research) but I can't stomach the smell of instant coffee anymore (??) so I'm resorting to the 'coffee cure' at the cafe downstairs every day! LOL

TBH it bothers me more because people (friends,family) tell me (important) things and I forget them. Sometimes I remember that we've talked about it but I can't remember what they said. And sometimes I just forget completely. I don't want my friends and family to think I'm totally self absorbed because I don't remember things that are important to them. *sigh*

[Artechim]

MD, I tried the gender thing with W and he was the same as E - knows if people are girls or boys but has no idea why lol. I have been thinking about the gender split a bit lately - somehow I seem to have a really girly girl and I have no idea where she got it from. A loves soft toys and gives them cuddles, seems drawn to animals etc, things that W never did. I am sure that people don't think you are self-absorbed! :hugs:

Trill, study is going alright I guess, handed in a really sub-standard assignment the other week that is worth 30% of my grade so waiting to get the results for that. Hopefully I can make a bit up in the exam, but there are only two free weekends between now and then so I am not sure. How is your study going? Countdown to exam time now!

A's sleep was a passing thing unfortunately but today she is finally walking!!! She has been able to walk across the room by herself for 2.5 months now but didn't seem to realise that she could do it as a means of transport. Then this week she started crawling and seems to have clicked that things would be more interesting if she wasn't stuck in one spot lol. So all of a sudden she is spontaneously popping up from the floor and walking, very cute!

[Cassius2]

hi girls!

MD: oohh aahhh! study!! i am junkie for the books so am totally happy for ya lol! i didnt realise that the job you are doing now is research...now i am especially jealous! that is what i am hoping to get into next year. i think i am a research kinda girl through and through. consultancy work would be my dream i reckon...
hmmm caffeine...mebbe you could spice it up with those energy drinks?? (they have caffeine dont they???). mmmmm latte though is my downfall...mmmmm.

i can vouch for the awesomeness of whale watching though! we went a few years ago (read: MANY years ago lol) and had an amazing time. the boat pulled up quite a distance from the whales (as you have to etc), but the female whale was being chased by some boys and they came right up to our rather small boat (got a whole lot smaller when a humpback is beside ya let me tell ya lol). i was sitting on a mesh thing at the back of the boat and at one point one of the boys came right up under me and then rolled up to have a look at me lol! it was AMAZING! being a norti 16 year old i reached out and got to stroke just above his eye...it was the most precious and awe inspiring moment for me. those eyes are huge!! love it!

Sherie: that is pretty impressive about the eagle nest! you should take some pics! i wanna see it lol! we used to see them on the drive up the coast in QLD and wow, they looked so huge.
how awesome is A for staying dry what a Big Boy! man, we are still spinning with delight when Leila remembers to go to the toilet during the day lol.

on the gender thing...leila is pretty girly for the most part (loves BF her dollies, plays dress ups etc), but will also play matchbox cars and trains (albeit with a feminine touch...going to the local cafe etc lol).

Arte: oh wow! so now you officially have a new toddler in the house! how amazing! ohhhhh i'll be there this time next year can't believe how fast they grow...good and bad

JM: ah but Lu will be closer to 4 when your new bubba arrives...she'll be totally your little helper lol! Leila is obsessed with nappy change times lol.

AFM: all good here! we had a lovely day in the sunshine today. playground action then cafe, then visiting our besties (the one with the sick baby). Leila played like crazy there as they have a large rambling old garden with a big trampoline. then came home for a quick nanna nap in the mid afternoon and pottering around in the garden. marta woke up around 5pm for a play (we played dinosaurs...leila wanted to be known as "jasper the friendly (but sometimes scary) dinosaur" ...marta thought it was hilarious and smiled up a storm).
we also had a lovely surprise last night with marta sleeping for a longer stretch than normal (she normally wakes 3 hourly). so last night we got lucky with a 7pm to 1am for a quick feed, then back down til 4am for another quick feed and then down til' 7am! can't complain about that it'll probably be a few months before we see that happen again though

[AnyDream]

Cass, the word 'research' used loosely to describe the gathering-information-before-you-write-about-it sense. Not research as in finding out new stuff LOL. I'm well placed for it with my library skills, which is essentially all about finding the right info when you need it. LOL at Jasper the friendly but sometimes scary dinosaur. What a crack up!

Arte, you'll probably be surprised to discover your substandard assignment was much better than expected! That's the way it usually works amongst the conscientious LOL. Big Yay for A walking, I am totally smitten with the pics you posted on FB (which made me late to work yesterday lOL) what a gorgeous girl!