any other over 35 first time mums?

[Borboleta]

Rowan: thank you so much for your food post. At lunch time I try again to feed him some purée food and the fight began!!! So after some major complain I put some black eye peas, greater cheese and carrots in front of him and let him be while I had my lunch. He happily ate some of everything!!! And them I was so happy about it that I gave him a piece of Graham's crackers and man he loved it!!! He ate the whole half I have him !!!
Glad to know little M had a good time with her little visitor.

Clio: the story about J was hilarious!!! I imagined him doing that and his little face like : " hello mother, you forgot something!!!" you have a smart one in your hands!! Be ready!!

Storm: what wonderful news about cc and L ! Is she behaving any different since she is getting more rest?

Charlie: I remember the fees months I BF thiago and what a nightmare it was to keep that child awake while breastfeeding!! I joked that my boobs where producing sleeping medicine instead of milk because he would not be awake for more than 3 min while breastfeeding. And I did everything: the tickeling his feet, getting naked, you name it nothing worked. Good thing he was FF too so it was not as big of a deal for us. And the photos of S are sooo cute. Like storm said it made me think of having another one. But them I just try to snap myself out of it . And the arguments between you and your husband are very common. We never fought as much as we do now with thiago. I wonder why? But we just do.

Claire: For the walking!!! She is getting ready to impress at her birthday party. I hope her ear infection goes away. I know here if a baby or kid have that they will give them a antibiotic. Hope it will clear by itself though .

And for our two new lovely ladies we would love to hear what your LOs have been up to.

Thiago is sooooo obssessed about walking !! He now grabs his walker and goes until he hits a wall, of course I am right there in case he goes flying because of the wood floors. And you cannot have you hands just hanging around your body. He will find you and grab you hands and start walking away like: "come on what are you waiting for! We have walking to do!! ". He cries if you try to get away from his hand grabbing or if you put him on the floor because you are tired. And of course he just wants to do it with you holding one hand never two . Anyways now I am soooo looking forward for him to walk and not fall! My back will apreciate that . But he will be in heaven this Christmas week because we will have 15 people for him to pick to help him with his walk . I guess I am of the hook for the week .

And I am all done with cleaning car, oven and laundry!!! And the funny thing was oh asking me what I was doing this morning when I was cleaning the car and them this afternoon when I was cleaning the oven, them he "feels" bad and decides to organize our DVD drawer ! And his dad calls and he tells him that WE have been organizing the house since it is a mess!! I just looked at him and gave him the look . 30 min before he was sitting in the couch watching superman on tv while I was taking care of thiago and organizing the house!!! Man!!!

 

[SabrinaKat]

not much here -- I had to give LO a third nap today as he didn't sleep fantastically well last night, but he was still trying for bedtime at the usual time. He seems to be teething terribly, but I cannot feel any buds or breaks, so we gave him some calpol and hoped for the best....

Finn doesn't mind me feeding him or formula, butwill get annoyed if you try to hold his sippy cup or if he's not in the mood, won't eat finger foods (e.g. toast, rusks (like graham crackers)), but loves to throw any finger foods on the floor whilst in his highchair and watch the race as to whether the cat or mummy will get there first. Our cat, Sabrina, will actually sit by the bouncy chair and try to catch the spoonful of porridge as it goes towards LO....however, he now loves the cats and smiles (with that dimple) whenever he sees the cats and tries to pet them, however, his idea of petting is to grab a fistful of fur, and although I suggest 'gentle, gentle', he doesn't quite grasp -- fortunately, the smaller cat is too confused to react and Sabrina moves away -- not bad behaviour towards LO at all, thankfully!

I'll try and take some more pictures, but daylight is limited here (oh, today was the shortest day with dawn around 8 and dusk around 3.30, but I was more worried about that Mayan thing (just kidding, but my OH was obsessed a bit, so I had to text him at 11.12 our time and 5.12 pm our time (Mexico City time) to tell him that the Mayans were wrong)...but the point is -- I take terrible pictures and my OH can do them correctly, but given that he works full days during the week, it's hard to get decent pics during the week....

Borboleta - delighted that T is obsessed with walking! (but that means loads of extra exercise for you); Finn is getting frustrated and demanding to be held up standing or leaning, whenever we suggest crawling, he just sits up very straight and looks at us like we are crazy...
storm -- I second B's comment above -- how is LO acting with more sleep and furthermore, are YOU getting some more sleep?

must go to bed....didn't go back earlier this am, but got up and cleaned (along side the cleaner), but the fridge is spotless, I repainted that wall and generally told my OH if he makes any mess before Christmas, he was a dead man....

bye!!!!!!!!!

 

[clio]

What an awesome group of LOs we have right now! T and his walking--seriously, that is one determined kid! He sounds just like little M before she started walking properly. And so cute too, with his insistence! And Claire, congrats to you and L as well! You know, you might think that it's more work when they can walk, because you think you'll be chasing after them more, but it's actually easier, especially if you have a bad back like...all of us. J is so much easier to deal with. If I need him, I just have to call him. He totters all over the place with his little projects and no longer mucks about only in the living room, bugging us all the time. He's still needy as all get out, but he's also more distractible because there's more to distract him with (balls, feather dusters to march around with, plastic bags to shake--ooh, bad mummy!). When they have their hands free, and can go places, it's like all of our worlds open up.

And Storm, I am seriously so happy for you and L. What a break through!

SK--well, it seems like my request for your Christmas Tree pic is right up your ally! 1) it's an inanimate object that takes up the whole frame, and 2) you can only take the picture in the dark anyway, so we can see the lights.

Seeing as F is determined to walk, does he cruise around furniture?

 

[AngelUK]

Hello ladies! So glad we are all still here, the world is still spinning and there are (as yet) no zombies on the loose

Claire congrats on your walking girl! How exciting How is her ear infection today? I hope it is clearing up along with the fever! And as always I hope you got some sleep!

Leeze How are you and Kia? Hope you are totally recovered?
I don't think there is much to it with my twins as mostly Sebastian sleeps very well at night and needs no tending except the one bottle at 1am-ish. Dominic is getting so much better too. If I could now make them sleep an hour more in the morning (or even 2 if I am totally honest) I would be very happy with how things are. I find looking after them on my own during the day harder. I cannot have them both on the floor and practise sitting for example as I find it difficult to hold them both up at the same time. And I cannot have one sitting and the other lying about cause they always roll all over. Unless I kneel, which hurts too bad after while I find it quite difficult to even control their rolling. Luckily OH is usually there too when I want to give them practice but I don't think it is enough. We have a gymboree close here and I am hoping they can sit and start to crawl at least a little soon as it looks a great place to practise. They have mats everywhere. I haven't visited the twin group yet for the same reasons. I really doubt that Nick will want to come along and until one of the boys at least can sit unaided for a good while I don't think I can manage.
Hope you have a lovely xmas with your parents in your new home and that you do indeed manage to get a cleaner. Now that would be bliss and a lovely Christmas gift!

Rowan your story about the twins and M made me smile! Poor little M having her dummy pinched lol
As for the walker, maybe we should get that soon too then if that helped M with the crawling. We don't have much room but hopefully enough for that.
I hope M's teething is getting better? I know what you mean with those awful nappies. My boys don't seem to have much pain with the teething yet (touch wood!) but their nappies do smell odd. They smell quite utterly awful anyway now that they are getting solids but sometimes there is an added... quality to it lol I hope for both your and M's sake that she gets better soon and you can get some sleep, you poor thing.

Storm wow for that good night! I hope you managed to sleep some too? And how was last night? I really hope this is it and you cracked it. I felt so bad for you always.
Hope you had a lovely wedding anniversary Did you get a pressie?
And yes my mum arrived on the 20th but is leaving again today. Was just a short visit but soo lovely!
to you for missing your mum

Sabrina Poor Finn for the bump. Hope he isn't hurting with it still. Wow poor you being vomited on like that! Glad it wasn't anything really bad though for Finn. And grr at your OH for so blatantly not listening. That would make me so angry. Nick has moments like that but never quite as bad as that!
Well done getting the wall painted. Very impressive. Not to mention that you want to bake cookies! I loved baking with my mum when I was younger but the thought of cleaning the kitchen after this now...
And yay for the cold having gone
The story about Finn watching you race the cats to get to his thrown food made me laugh! Especially also with your cat Sabrina trying to catch the porridge. Sounds like she has loads of character

kosh how lovely of you to drop by! How are things with Gael? Are you getting a few days off over Christmas? I hope your OH can look after G for a bit so that you can get some sleep! Sleep seems to be our main themes sine our babies were born huh? Never thought how important it was, though even then I loved to sleep 10 hours on a stretch when I could. LOL

Clio I laughed at J and the milk! How clever that boy is! And how fun! I looove your Christmas tree! This is just the sort we usually have as well. Nick never really had any when growing up so was happy to go with my likes. But we never had coloured lights either nor tinsel so maybe this style is the Germanic style?
I love the pic of Jonah in his highchair covered in yoghurt! So so cute! I am impressed also that you don't fear that he might chuck it all over your walls as well though lol. But maybe that is just me cause we have dark red walls in the kitchen and our boys actually eat in our sitting-room and I would so hate to get yoghurt all over my sofa and chair. We will eventually move them to eat in the kitchen but while they still get TW it is more convenient in the sitting room as we have more space there.
I hope your new mothers' group works out well. Sounds nice so far and good idea to join one with women of our age group. I really look forward to joining a group too cause apart from with ppl on the phone I usually speak only to OH all day long and as we know he often doesn't listen.

Borboleta so exciting and scary about T's walking! And your poor back, though it did make me laugh. Seems he knows exactly what he wants! As for your hubby saying "we" are cleaning. How like a man! lol
How is T's cold today? I hope it is getting better and he hasn't got any more fevers. Dominic still has a bit of a snotty nose but nothing worse so far. Fingers crossed. I know how frustrating it is when they don't want to eat. Sebastian does that when he is tired. And then he starts blowing raspberries with the food and spraying me with it. And when I say his name a bit sternly he starts to cry! Does Thiago do that too? I know solid food is meant to be just for fun till 1 year but Sebastian also doesn't want his milk very often. Does Thiago drink his milk always even when he has a cold? But what you wrote about him feeding himself with the cracker etc sounds promising. Maybe he is just moving on to the next phase and wants to be more independent during meal times?

Charlie Sophia is adorable And how cute is her yawning pic That is a toughie with Sophia not drinking enough in a session. I don't suppose you could pump for her feeds at night and give her what she needs in a bottle? That way you would know for sure how much she had?
As for fights with OH! We are getting a little better now as we get a bit more sleep but golly! We never used to fight and after the boys were born we did ALL the time! It was really terrible and at one point I thought he might feel like leaving me. He didn't cause he does still love me and of course he adores his boys but that is how bad it got between us! So yeah totally normal and it will ease as you and Sophia have more of a routine and you don't feel so tired any more.

Skweek if you are still reading occasionally I hope all is ok with you and your LO and that you will have a peaceful Christmas with nights full of lovely sleep.

As for us, I have been up since 5. Sigh. Dominic probably wakes cause he still is programmed for another bottle 'round then but he won't get it. I offered water and stoked his face for 10 minutes and I thought he had dropped off again at 5:20 but then Sebastian woke at 5:40 and that was it. I turned on their star frog that projects stars onto the ceiling and went to the kitchen eating the Swiss Christmas biccies (cookies) my mum brought. Nick hates anise luckily
But even with that and my coffee by me and I do still not like getting up this early. We have even started to put the boys to bed slightly after 7 in the hope that they would sleep longer than to just after 5 but so far no success. Anyway. I have now changed and fed them and they are watching a bit of baby tv while I finish this. I will then give them their porridge.
In other news my mum came to visit on the 20th but is leaving again today already. I think Sebastian recognised her this time cause he didn't start crying when she approached. This naturally made her soo happy and especially when he smiled at her! She gave the boys each a baby telephone for Christmas. One is like an iPhone and the other is one with sticky outy buttons and I think that one might be better and easier to use for now. She also gave them such sweet shirts with woolly tanktops to go on top and a donation towards their bank account. She is soo sweet and I am so glad she came even if only briefly and she has to go away again today
Well I have to go give porridge in a moment and then hopefully rock them to sleep for a nap. So talk to you later. xxx

 

[Leeze]

Only got 2 mins, just quickly catching up on news and saying hello.
Clio, your plastic bag comment made me smile. Before I had Kia I used to wonder why plastic bags always have the warning on about not giving to babies to play with in case of suffocation. I would think to myself, surely no-one would do that? But little did I know that babies love playing with plastic bags! Kia has always been fascinated by them since she was tiny.
So, last night she was so tried from nursery she fell asleep at 6pm but I hadn't done bedtime routine so she woke up 45 mins later. Then she was full of energy and didn't sleep till midnight. This morning she's like a teenager and won't get out of bed. I brought her in the bed with me when she woke at 7. It's 10.30 now and she just keep waking anddoing the sign for milk then falling asleep on me and rolling off into the bed! She must know it's holiday-time! Catch you all later xx

 

[Storm1jet2]

Hello!

Angel, I have been up since 5.30 when the little madam decided it was up time, but hey I shall not complain too much as she had been in her cot since 8.20 and with an initial 5 minute cry, another 2 hours later and no other disturbances it was a good night.

In the time its taken me to type this she has pulled two pictures off a table (dads house), got the batteries out of the DVD remote and stolen the empty mug I was holding between my knees which she is now throwing about.. I guess I better go!

 

[SabrinaKat]

at least, you're finally get some sleep, storm....

well, LO decided on a 2am party again, and as it was OH's night, I waited for LO to calm down, but finally had to go into the living room and help (he'd again minor vomited his milk), but finally fell back asleep around 4am. Query: for those who have LOs who wake up and party at night, do you offer breast/bottle or just water? However, LO did then go back to sleep until 8am, then a long nap from 11-1 (just woke up, had a bottle and OH's is changing nappy)....another Query: my OH just sits on the couch in the dark when LO is taking his daytime naps and then complains that he has no free time...um?

Nothing much else....will try my best to take a picture of the tree (yes, I hadn't realised that it would probably be better taken in the dark...!) today or tomorrow as Monday, MIL descends on us for Christmas; she's in a manic, very happy phase at the moment, so will be interesting....

Angel - 5am starts are awful, but that's sweet that your mum came to visit and Seb recognised her!

must go, will try to do more personals later....

bye!!!!!!!

 

[Storm1jet2]

Oh forgot to say that L seems happier during the day, she has been smiling more, she still seems tired though, I think she needs another hour in the morning, ideally a 6.30 up time! We are at my dads and she has been up to so much mischief! My dad leaves so much sitting around and she just trashes it. We finished the grocery shopping in Tesco and grandpa bought her a bee pillow pet, I love it!

 

[Leeze]

Sabrina, I always breastfeed if Kia wakes in the night. But I mainly still nurse her to sleep anyway so that's why. When she does her partying during the night, which she hasn't for a little while, then it means she doesn't fall back to sleep when I nurse her and she stays awake for about 2 hours. I try rocking her, singing to her etc and normally she's in quite good spirits and wants to clap or slap her head or chatter away. She'll cry as soon as I try putting her in the cot but is normally happy otherwise! Occasionally she'll fall back asleep if I lie down and cuddle her but otherwise it feels like she needs to get back to another sleepy phase and will then nurse back to sleep.
Storm, what an improvement on your previous sleep patterns! If Kia wakes up around 5.30 then she will normally go back to sleep if I keep it dark and quiet and bring her into bed with me for a lying down snuggly nursing session.

 

[Borboleta]

Hello ladies,

Angel: thiago's cold is getting better. He just has a little bit of a runny nose but he is doing better. His eating is not the same though, but I guess he will eat when he is hungry . And he just cries when I try to feed him this days or if he wants to get out of his chair.
I am so glad Dominic's sleep has improved ! So wonderful!! And I hear you about waking about at 5am!!! Thiago does that too!!! we start the day around between 5:30am and 6am normally. The other day he did overslept till 6:45am !!! I remember the good old days .

Leeze: sorry for your bad night. But funny that she wanted to oversleep! I wish thiago would do one of those for us too.

Storm: you are giving us the best news ever. I really hope that claire and kosh can be the next ones to have wonderful nights like you!!! And by the way L is beautiful!!!

Sabrina: when thiago wakes up in the middle of the night I normally just go in his room and rock him back to sleep. If he doesn't Cooperate after about 1. Hour we feed him a bottle !

 

[SabrinaKat]

well....LO took almost three hours to get to sleep last night; each time he appeared to have fallen asleep, I transferred him to the basket and then moved into his cot; and twice, he woke up, the third time, he finally seemed to fall alseep, but half an hour later, he was moaning in his sleep, but this time, at least, he did fall back asleep after some head rubbing (and prayer!), so he slept from about 11.40 to 7am, I slept from about 2 until 7 (the winds were really strong last night, which always unsettles me anyway)...

thanks for info about whether you feed during late night parties; I don't if he's just woken up from our rocking to bed, but if it's 2am or so, I do offer....

well, here's the Christmas tree -- actually, it looks alot better in person....sigh...

will do personals later, but I guess, I'm wishing everybody a bit of sleep!

bye!!!!!!!

 

[clio]

SK--that is a wonderful tree! I can see what you mean about being more sparse (no tinsel, etc.)--I like that. I see you have hung some ornaments very, very low. Are they for the cats?

Rowan--now that you have described the gaudiest tree in the world to us, I wish to see it, please.

Angel--yes, this is entirely a German thing. The only thing that my tree doesn't have that my parents' does is the little wooden ornaments. And their lights are a soft yellow, while I have white. And I think the straw stars they have we actually made as kids (!), while mine are from IKEA. One year, when my sister and I were around 10 and 8, we got really mad at our parents for not allowing us to have a "normal" tree, with tinsel and coloured lights and tinsel-y garlands. They finally gave in, and let us do it our way. We went to town, and once we were finished, we sat back and realized we hated it (probably one of the only mature insights the two of us ever had at that age). So from every Christmas there out, we became die-hard fans of the family tree.

Poor J had his "tree rights" revoked. He's really good at understanding "gentle, gentle," and at first he just gently stroked the bulbs and the straw stars. And then pulled on them. And then pulled them off and ran off with one in each hand, shaking them. So, no more tree. At least he understands "no" better than "gentle." OH said that he always gives J reasons why he shouldn't touch the tree, and once told him that he didn't want the tree to fall on his head. And J took his hands and covered his head with them! I told OH to stop scaring the daylights out of our kid.

Okay, enough about trees, and onto more relevant topics and proper personals...

Re: Good Sleeping but Bad Wake Up Hours--yup. Here, too. If the boy sleeps until 5, we consider ourselves lucky. If he sleeps anywhere close to six, we've just managed to sleep in. (Well, okay my husband did. I don't do the mornings, and my husband is up early naturally.) But J also goes to bed at 7 pm, so I guess we are really lucky. And within an hour or two of waking up so early, he's ready to go back down, often for a long time. So I guess it's not all bad. Lately, though, he's been asking to go back to bed, and then he stays up there for around 45 minutes making sounds and giggling. I think he just likes his privacy for "practicing." Then we get him up again, and he asks for his proper morning nap a few hours later.

Storm--I watched that video, and that's awesome! And how cute is little L? She looks very hale and healthy, too, by the way. I think I'll have to find one for J, as well.

Borboleta--you have just entered the world of BLW. (Sorry--I realize you wrote about this in a post from a few days ago, but I missed it...) I leave J in the beginning, too, because he starts off better on his own as well. It must be hard to try something new when everyone is watching over you. Oh, and your black-eyed peas reminded me that I should make beans and rice for him again. I'm running out of meal ideas... Have you thought of trying a simple pasta dish? Ground beef or chicken with diced tomatoes, strips of red and green pepper, any spices you might normally use but salt and then twisty pasta? The pepper will have softened so he can slurp it down, he can pick up the tomato pieces, he eats the twisty pasta first, he likes it that much, and he can easily get the ground chicken/beef down. Seriously--it's one of J's favourite meals because all of it is baby friendly.

Clairey--how is L's ear infection? Did they give you anti-biotics for it? And how about her walking?

Angel--re: stupid wake up hours, see above. But still--remember when we complained about not getting any sleep at all because of constant wake ups (and you had it particularly tough)? I LOVE this thread. It's taking us right through the evolution of our babies and...um...us?

Re: being brave about the yoghurt--I think I mentioned before that we bought this house when I was pregnant, so I had to keep J in mind with every house we looked at. When I walked into this one, I knew this was perfect (it even has a heavy-duty activity centre with a slide and swing and sandbox in the backyard). Linoleum floors and thick carpets which hide stains. Cream walls. Perfect for a baby and toddler. In fact, we live in the area of Edmonton that has the most children under the age of 4, so there will be tons of kids for J to play with around here. Only problem is, that means for overcrowded schools...
I may actually have to send him to a German Immersion school to get him into a good school. Anyway, the only thing I have to be brave about with the yoghurt is the clean up, of baby and high chair and floor. But I'm trying to get some milk into him somehow!

We'll see about the mother's group. I'm a terrible introvert, so groups aren't really my thing, but I joined it, so something must be driving me. The next playdate is in a indoor bouncy castle or something, and J LOVES bouncing. So at least I'll enjoy that part. There is one woman there whom I like very much, though; she has a five month old and is very sympatisch. She also spent 11 years (!!!) trying to get pregnant, and since there is only one fertility clinic in town, we know all the same doctors and we even both have a close relationship with the same fertility acupuncturist.

I'm so glad that you had such a nice time with your mum. She does sound lovely. And I bet you Seb remembered her. J never smiles at anyone other than those he knows really well, and he has always smiled at my mum, no matter how long they have been apart. But I'm sorry you miss her now. Living far away from family can be really tough at times. A lot of us do, don't we? Me, you, Borboleta, SK... Who else?

Leeze--your description of Kia not getting up is hilarious! I wish J were like that! Re: the plastic bags--I had no idea how much fun they were for J until he started walking, grabbed two and began shaking them in the air all around the house. He had the BIGGEST smile on his face. Though, this is also the kid who will take a limp green bean in each hand and walk around the house shaking them too with the BIGGEST smile on his face, so he's easy to please...

SK (again)--J didn't start to party until after 7 months; before that he was all business: one wake-up for a bottle, and straight back to bed. When he started to do it all the time, we would always start with a bottle, but by the third time in the night, we went straight for the drugs. (Turns out, he didn't need anything--he just wanted to party. Hence the CIO.) I have no idea if that answers your question at all. All I know is that at a certain point, it became VERY obvious that these parties had nothing to do with hunger.

I'm sorry F threw up again. Do you know why this is happening? It seems to be happening a lot, no? Was he/is he a reflux baby?

Re: OH during naps. My husband used to drive me nuts because I used to (and still do) try and take naps at the same time as J, because I always feel horribly guilty if I have to leave him with OH (even though it's 50/50, I still feel badly). But what gets me is when OH declares he's off for a nap and leaving me with J, but spent J's entire 2 hour nap surfing the net. And this makes sense how?...

AFM--I'm getting a bit mad about this supposed 50/50 thing (as indicated by my previous paragraph). Granted, OH wakes up with the LO, but in the morning he's taken to claiming that J needs "time to wake up" which means holding him and watching 20 minutes of Sesame Street videos, and then any other music videos OH thinks he'll like. And J sits there, in his arms, mesmerized. But I know this is BS. J doesn't need "time to wake up." I've gotten up with him tons of times, and he's just fine. Plus, this also means that OH doesn't change his nighttime diaper immediately. Then he puts J down, and because it's early, J is all ready for independent play and toddles around with his own projects. Then around an hour later, he asks Dad to put him to bed by crying for no reason and down he goes. During that nap, I wake up, and have just enough time to have a cup of coffee before J wakes up while my husband goes back to bed. So taking care of J for my OH consisted of...nothing. Now, I do take a mid-day nap, but J is usually napping at the same time.

Then the other day, after my latest set of injections (which really hurt), my OH declared when we got back that he was going to take a nap (we're really into napping--a hold over from our grad school days). And I looked at him and straight out said "no." My joint was killing me, I had complete numbness in my leg, and I could't pick J up during J's meltdown hour(s) because of the leg, when all he wants is to be picked up. I, for god's sake, was going to bed, and he could deal with J. But before I left, I felt really guilty and pulled out J's dinner, left clear instructions on what to do, went downstairs to get a clean sleeper for J (all the laundry in the house is clean, but because my husband won't bring it back up again--carrying the baskets is a problem--it's lying in a huge pile in the laundry room). I also pulled out a clean towel for J, because I knew my husband still doesn't know which one is his.

And then I examined our 50/50 agreement even more closely. I:
- cook for him
- bake bread for him
- do all the laundry (for everyone) and always make sure he has clothes or sleepers
- shop for his clothes and notice deficits in his wardrobe
- do all the research regarding BLW to make sure he's getting what he needs
- make the shopping lists (and lately have had to come along) to get special ingredients
- feed him every meal, or if I can't, I lay out everything for OH (that whole "I promise I'll do lunch" arrangement didn't even last a day)
- determine if he needs teething drugs and administer them
- identify for OH that J does indeed have a bad diaper rash and here is the plan...
- clean up after every meal, even if OH was the one who fed him
- take him to Gymboree twice a week and now a mothers' group
- take care of him when it's my "turn"

OH:
- feeds him his bottles
- gives him his bath, with me
- puts him to bed every other night
- watches him when I can't

Sure, he did used to get up with him every night, until I felt guilty about that and we began to alternate, but then the nights got worse, so I decided to do CIO, giving us both uninterrupted nights.

Apparently both of us have been horrible at math for a year now. I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but probably nothing. OH simply can't do any of this stuff. That's why I slowly started taking it all on. But since I figured this out, it has hardened my skin a bit against the guilt over my husband's university work. I don't know why I've believed forever that I never pull my weight, but it probably had to do with the fact that I didn't work, and he did, and supposedly still did 50/50 with J.

I just wonder what's going to happen when I go back to lecturing in less than two weeks...

Sorry for the rant. It's just really been bugging me.

Oh, and one more thing. What really got my goat was when my husband took off J's little Robeez boots after the injections and said: "Look, here are the boots Oma got you!" I got furious and yelled from upstairs: "No they aren't!!! They are the boots MUMMY got you online after hours of searching for the best price and that Oma simply left a blank check for us to fill in FFS!!!"

 

[Rowan75]

hey ladies - were transitioning into a new schedule here - no morning nap any more...think shes asleep now...its a work in progress but gah Im missing my 30 mins of sitting down on a morning!

borboleta well done re thiagos eating and well done T on his progression to walking

Claire yey for L walking

sabrina M doesn't get anything food/drink wise in the night if she wakes apart from calpol etc if she needs it - she does get a blanket of shes cold tho - 2 blankets last night

clio aye yoghurt etc may be good for dairy thats what my sil when my nephew started refusing milk - J is funny!!!

sorry if Ive missed ayone want to grab lunch which M asleep!

will, take a photo of tree




had scan this am - Michael is good growing fine yey

Merry Christmas if I don't get on here tmro etc!!

 

[Borboleta]

Good morning ladies,

Just in case i dont have the time on Christmas day to wish you all a Merry CHristmas and a 2013 full of for all of us , i will do it now. It has been a great year and i am so happy to get you know you all and your LO's that I consider my babies too . Hope next year will be as exciting as this year was we will soon be changing the lack of sleep subject to tantrum . But we have the support of one another so we will be fine .

And I forgot to tell you two funny things: when mommy does not feel like walking thiago around the house and hides her hands from him ( bad mommy!!) he than grabs mommy's hair and starts walking away . So I am stuck either way . And I am not sure how your husband's were before kids but Glen was one of those that would gag at any funny smell. So changing poopy diapers was definetly not in his dictionary and wiping runny nose and buggers either. Now he changes the nastiest diapers and today he picked thiago's bugger with his finger and wiped on his pants !! I am so proud of my hubby.

Anyways, I have to go meet the family. Personals later.

 

[Leeze]

Clio, you surprise me that you say you're introverted. You come across as chatty and outgoing. Do other people say you're introverted too? And my OH is bad at maths too. Even though he's got a degree in statistics! Hopefully when you go back to lecturing things will even out for you
Borboleta, so cute to hear about Thiago holding onto your hair. Kia has taken to grabbing me round the knees recently if I'm not paying her enough attention.
Kia has just started putting her mouth towards mine for a kiss if I say kissy kissy. It's probably the cutest thing that i've ever experienced. It makes my heart melt!

 

[clio]

Leeze--no, people are very surprised when they learn that I'm painfully shy. I've just always managed to cover it up by acting really outgoing, and then I try to get out of whatever social situation I'm in as quickly as possible. I like talking over email or on forums because I love to write and writing is completely different from talking. I can take my time, think through what I want to say, and re-read other people's posts to make sure I've understood properly and don't forget things. The only other place I am not shy is when I'm lecturing. For some reason, I adore it, but maybe because I don't have to address anyone one on one. I think you'd be surprised how many seemingly outgoing people are actually painfully shy; it seems paradoxical to be sure, but being outgoing can keep people at bay.

Borboleta (and everyone, I guess)--I really appreciate your sentiment and agree with it completely. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, too, if you don't have time to get on.

That story about T and your hair made me laugh so hard! I can't remember, does he have a walker which could, at least, give you a bit of a rest?

Re: OH and 50/50, I wonder if he read this thread! Suddenly today, he was pouring over the food guidelines for J as well and made up today's meal plan. Then we went shopping together to get all the ingredients for tomorrow's plan! I think he realized how overwhelmed I was again becoming after the Public Health Nurse handed me that brochure about what J needed to eat and that he needed to step up.

Though we still have a milk problem: J still refuses to drink it. So I bought some almond milk today to see if he'll take it. Fingers crossed...

 

[Storm1jet2]

Morning ladies, Merry Christmas, hope you, your little ones and your families all have an amazing day xxxx

Big day for us, en route to the hospital for Ls results, its nearly an hour ling drive. It's not the closest hospital by a long shot but we took the soonest appointment originally! Here's hoping its good news, will update later.

 

[Claireyb1]

Morning ladies, Merry Christmas, hope you, your little ones and your families all have an amazing day xxxx

Big day for us, en route to the hospital for Ls results, its nearly an hour ling drive. It's not the closest hospital by a long shot but we took the soonest appointment originally! Here's hoping its good news, will update later.

Thinking of you Storm and Lydia! hope it's good news

 

[SabrinaKat]

hope all goes well, storm -- fingers crossed

sounds like we're a bit the same, clio -- I tend not to like large social gatherings and although most people would laugh, am a bit introverted and shy. At home, I just want to relax, don't/didn't need to go out all the time, etc. I did learn one trick as I was always stumbling over my words in public, was to breathe a lot more (one consequence of that, however, is that my OH's is forever interupting me)....

no real personals, sorry....counting down the hours until MIL arrives (she's still in a very manic phase, so as said, it will be interesting..., so am trying to clean the house a bit more, but LO is in great spirits, he almost sttn last night, e.g. he was exhausted, so fell asleep around 8, woke up around 10, but did go back to sleep from about 11 to 6 -- personally, I don't mind evening parties, they are much better than 2 or 4am ones!

clio: I read your comments about OH, and have to agree with the lack of equality in the division of labour. My OH will give LO bottles and his morning porridge, but won't feed other foods -- he turns a pseudo compliment, e.g. you're better at it than me', into never feeding food....I also get the comment, 'but you wanted a baby', whenever I complain too much (yes, but I didn't count on two!)....

best wishes to all and to all, a mery christmas....

bye!!!!!!

ps. when can I start drinking?

 

[clio]

ps. when can I start drinking?

Well, as the famous saying goes:

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

(SK, thank you for your response and I'll respond to your response later. Right now I've got to go change a stinky poo and convince J that Almond Milk is yummy. Turns out, it's not. I tried it in solidarity with J, and it is GROSS.)