March Mummies 2011

[Nixilix]

Haha that made me laugh! Must keep reminding my DH! Can't believe you are 32 weeks!!

 

[rottpaw]

Glad to see everyone! Thanks Blessed! And Cathryn that IS funny! These men don't get the urgency lol. I'm dragging my dh to look st furniture today, and he is none too pleased, but the delivery deadline is 8-10 weeks (and with Ethan's furniture it took 14!) and we only have 11.5 to go at most! Lol! I have to keep reminding him. Our college football season kicked off here yesterday, and I think he understood better when I told him the baby will be here BEFORE football is over for the year! I think it clicked, then!

 

[Tanikit]

Hi - wow, time is flying - it shows the most when I look at all your tickers - those babies are coming very soon now. How are the pregnancies going?

I night weaned Kirima this last week - she has been sleeping like a newborn and I was exhausted so decided to night wean in the hope it would make her sleep more - it hasn't. She now sleeps in her own cot all night and has maybe a sip or two of water at any stage all night, but she is still waking every two hours so DH and I are rather exhausted. Does anyone have any idea how to get them to sleep better? She may of course be teething, but this waking multiple times is not new - its been most of her life.

Blessed are you homeschooling any of your little ones this year or just the big girls? How has it been going? My eldest is due to start kindergarten next year and we will be homeschooling her too though I have been doing a fair amount with her already and Kirima joins in with most of it if she can.

 

[Lady-K]

*Lurking*

Hope you're all well

 

[roonsma]

I'm here too!!!

Wow those tickers are cranking up the weeks now! Glad to see you're all doing well

Harry is poorly atm. Not sure why but he has a high temp and is really off colour. I'm hoping just his last molars but we'll see the Dr tomorrow to get him checked over.

Tan, does Kirima settle herself to sleep for naps and at night? It's only since Harry's been self-settling has he slept through. In desperation a couple of months back i did CC and ever since then he has self settled and slept through. I don't know how you feel about CC etc, I'm not really comfortable with it but i needed sleep and luckily he got the hang of it quickly

Hi to all

 

[membas#1]

I'm going to be trying this method when we are ready to night wean...she still wakes every 3 hours or so--sometimes she goes 4-5 but not often, and she nurses back to sleep. So i've been tired for nearly a year and a half, not including pregnancy LOL. anyways--this is what I am planning to try since we still cosleep and will plan on cosleeping for a while, but i wanted a method of night weaning that still allowed for cosleeping. a friend of mine did this with her 20 month old and had some really great success. i don't know if it will help you tani, since you have already done the weaning part, and i dont know if you guys cosleep or not....but perhaps it might give you some ideas. i'll post the link below to the website. also i'm reading 'the no cry sleep solution for toddlers' currently and if i come up with anything i'll share it here.

i did figure out this past week O's sleep was so crappy because she was cold at night...she was waking every 1-2 hours and cuddling with me, then pushing me away, pulling covers off (she hates them at night) and finally i figured out it was too cold in the room...dressed her warmer and the first night she pulled a 4 hour stretch, 2nd night a 5 hour stretch...but last night back to every 2-3 hours. sigh.

link to the night weaning process I HOPE works with us (we are not attempting this until December when I can take some time off work and not be stressing out about lack of sleep and having to get up for work in the morning).

https://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html/

 

[rottpaw]

I am so sorry I can't offer any words of wisdom on the sleeping, as Ethan is a pretty great sleeper now but really settled into it on his own (or at least nothing we consciously did). But I CAN sympathize with the exhaustion and not sleeping, because I am not sleeping well myself these days! Just too big at this point, can't get comfortable, too much reflux and heartburn, and too much random insomnia (usually between 2-4). Bleh! I usually find a couple of 2-3 hour stretches of sleep, but not together

 

[blessedmomma]

ugh, so sorry for not sleeping ladies! im a grump with no sleep. wish i could help more!

tanikit- im home schooling the older two girls and my oldest son. he is in kindergarten this year. he only does a few hours of school each day though. no where near what the girls do. where i live they dont have to do full time til they are 7. he turned 5 in june. im finding the kindergarten books to be too easy for him and will probably have to get some 1st grade stuff soon. he reads and does simple math pretty well. i bet you will enjoy teaching her, its such an adventure!

 

[Tanikit]

Thanks for all the info. Kirima did cosleep til we decided to night wean - she would start in her cot and then the first time she cried she moved into our bed and stayed there the rest of the night. When I decided to wean we went to her in her room when she cried and basically did CC while we were in her room. She did learn to put herself back to sleep very fast so can now self settle and I know she has self settled a few times as we always wait a short while at night when she cries before going into her room and sometimes the crying does stop so she is putting herself back to sleep. However last night she had us out of bed 7 times before 3am and I was so tired I took her back into our bed though did not feed her. We will have to try again tonight. I just don't know how to make her sleep periods longer. I did give her some paracetamol this evening so that if it is teething then hopefully she will sleep better tonight - its hard to know with her if she's sore or not.

Membas thanks for posting that - off to look at it soon.

Angela the last trimester can be very uncomfortable.

Melissa your eldest boy sounds like my DD and we don't have to register ours until they are 7 (if we register at all - the laws are a bit lax here) so we are also only doing an hour or two everyday - though if I count reading to her and all the education that happens and isn't scheduled its possibly a lot more. How will you handle so many all at once - do you run around nap times and make the girls more independent? Are you still BFing your youngest - you've done so well with that.

 

[blessedmomma]

Melissa your eldest boy sounds like my DD and we don't have to register ours until they are 7 (if we register at all - the laws are a bit lax here) so we are also only doing an hour or two everyday - though if I count reading to her and all the education that happens and isn't scheduled its possibly a lot more. How will you handle so many all at once - do you run around nap times and make the girls more independent? Are you still BFing your youngest - you've done so well with that.

thanks hun! he is still bf. only by the grace of god, cuz i have wanted to quit many times. he now has a tooth coming in on bottom, poor guy! nathon takes one nap a day, usually 2-3 hours. we usually do lunch and recess during that time. often its too hot right now to be outside for long so the kids read or play downstairs while he naps. mason is still attached to me eating a lot or being carried around or sleeping on me.

we dont have to register per kid here, its per home. they actually call it a 'private school' when you register. i agree, there is a lot going on that could be counted as education as well. there's no set hours til they are 7 here, but for my girls its 6 hrs a day/186 days a year. or a total of 1116 hrs in a school year. my girls do much more than that, but that gives us time to take days off when we want.
here is their 'formal' schedule..
mondays- math, social studies, health, and pilgrims progress book/workbook(christian study), we also go to the library. jason is home mondays so he teaches social studies and we make that our library day.
tuesdays- math, science, language arts, discovering our amazing God workbook
wednesdays- math, english/spelling, language arts, christanity and entertainment workbook
thursdays- math, science, language arts, discovering who we are in christ workbook
fridays- math, spelling test, language arts, crazy love (christian study) or a bible study/bible game

peytons schedule varies every day. i had a schedule for him but he is finishing whole workbooks very quickly. he does addition, subtraction, phonics, language, writing, telling time, counting money, social studies, etc

the girls are very independent and really only have questions here and there. they have a dry erase board in the classroom that has what they are to do for the day. they also love to read and draw so there's plenty of times when they do art in their books, read their library books (sounds silly, but that is a huge treat for them- they check out several books every week and love to read), or write in their journals and prayer journals. we also have several art projects that all the kids do together. the girls also help out with chores like laundry and dishes or straightening up the living room, sweeping/mopping/vacuuming, things like that. they get allowance and have checking accounts they are learning how to manage and balance. jason and i think its very important for them to learn these practical skills for real life. they also have started coming with me to the womens conferences/classes and love it! so outside their formal schedule they do plenty. they picked an extra curricular activity and are getting ready to start that too. peyton is going to go to basketball, felicia is learning cake decorating, and alyana is taking archery. they all sound really busy, but really we make sure there is balance so they have time to relax as well.

 

[msarkozi]

it has been so long since I have been on here (sorry!). I am going to try and get in the habit again.

Hope everyone is doing well

 

[membas#1]

blessed, i'm just amazed by you and your family. just reading that i don't know how you do it!

 

[blessedmomma]

membas- its really not a lot. it just sounds like a lot. theres actually quite a bit i left out. i bet if you wrote all you did in a week you would realize how much you do too DH and i are big on making sure we dont stay too busy as a family. i think with this many kids it can be easy to stay so busy you forget whats really important. we dont want to look back and regret anything

 

[braijackava]

Wow I am glad everyone is still around! Max got his tubes in his ears about a week ago and he is doing good! My two older boys got into the charter school, but my daughter is still in public. Its ok though because she loves it! That and she will be at the same school as her brothers next year. Other than that not much new here.
I cant wait to see the new babies! It seems like everyone is very busy now.
Max is still nursing a lot! In a way I love it. I had planned on going until he is 2 and it makes me feel close to him and like he is still a baby. Plus still no AF! On the down side, he uses me like a pacifier and he still doesnt like to eat very much regular food. He still night nurses and I dont get very good sleep.

 

[rottpaw]

Brai I think you and the others who are still bfing are heroes! I could never deal with that length of sleep deprivation, even if our bfing had gone well (which it didnt).

And Blessed, your efficiency in running all that amazes me, woman! I feel like I can't deal with one!

So, my little guy could use your prayers and good thoughts - we went to the orthopedist yesterday. Cannot BELIEVE my eyes and ears, but Ethan has fractured both his tibia AND fibia... I couldn't believe it! He fell a couple weeks ago, MAYBE six inches, off his little riding truck thingy. His pediatrician (not the dr. I usually prefer to see, but the one that was available when we saw her ten days ago) said there was no reason to do an xray and she thought it was just a strained muscle... by this Tuesday (after our holiday weekend in the STates) he still was no better and she sent us to the ortho, who promptly did an xray revealing the two fractures. But the ortho dr. explained it and said it happens ALL the time, and it always freaks the parents out because they think how could they have such an injury from a minor fall... he said at this age, their bones are still full of cartilage and are comparatively weaker than their joints (the opposite of an adult). In an adult, the bones are hard and strong and, if there is stress between a joint and a bone, the joint will usually lose and you get a sprain or torn ACL or twisted ankle, etc. But with toddlers, their bones are weaker than their joints, and they usually get breaks instead of joint injuries. That was news to me, but I guess it makes sense. He said they are so common they call it a "toddler fracture" and that it usually presents exactly like Ethan's - not too much pain or fuss when the injury occurs (because it is after all a minor fracture, not a whole-bone-break). Not too much swelling (we had NONE) and the child usually goes on to either limp a bit and then get over it (with parents none the wiser to the break) or they will get taken to an ortho for xrays and the fracture will be picked up... but he said he literally doesn't go a day in practice without seeing one. I believe him now, because the child in front of us checking out had on a boot just like EThan's!

Poor baby! I guess he really is his father's son - my hubby had broken his arm and collarbone by 18 months!

 

[blessedmomma]

angela!!!! that poor baby! i hope he heals up very soon. cant believe the first dr. theres no harm in checking. wonder how it would have effected him if it didnt get caught and fixed. how long does he have to wear the boot?

praying for little ethans speedy recovery

 

[braijackava]

Poor little boy! Hope he gets well soon!

 

[Nixilix]

Poor thing! Hope he is better soon

 

[rottpaw]

Thanks ladies! He is tolerating the boot pretty well, though he hates it... it could definitely be worse. I'm just praying he can avoid injuring anything else while wearing that thing! It throws his balance off a lot, because it makes one foot so much higher than the other.

Hope everyone else is well!

 

[CelticNiamh]

rottpaw AHHHH the poor little guy!! if it was that common the other doctor should have organised an xray just in case glad he is on the mend now its awful thinking our little ones are in pain

Nixilix hey hun how are you feeling 19 weeks that is great!!!

I admitted to my hubby I really wanted another baby and he is ok with it so plan is to get a bigger car we will need an 8 seater yikes!!!

But we have been NTNP and I am kinda in the TWW I think! I kinda think AF will come though we shall see....

Any one watching One born twins and triplets watched it the other night and it was very good some sitting on the edge of our seat moments though!!!

ON other news baby Paul is doing great!!! we had a check up with the health nurse and he is in the 25 pecentile for his weight but she was not worried as she said he was on the wrong chart! plus he is not a light weight he is very sturdy and perfect to me any way!