*** November 2014 Mum's ***

[mellie_88]

He was 8 weeks yesterday, surprising how much chunkier he's got in the past week or so. I ordered some more vests from Tesco the other day, need to actually go and collect them though.

Ahh that's nice of you, cant have been easy to organise a baby shower with a new born. Nice that both of your babies will be a really similar age too. Does she know if she's having a boy or girl yet?

I'm having a Jake free afternoon. Shanes took him to his Grandmas. Got to finish the blanket for my niece as it's her birthday in a week. Haven't even touched it since Jake was born. Just glad I managed to do most of it before. Just the finishing off bits to do today I hope.

 

[mellie_88]

Haha you sound like a stubborn child, refusing to sing! I reckon a lot of baby classes might have singing though, its good for them to learn.

Oh yes Rocky is scared of everything including the wind and also the rain. He doesn't like going out for a wee when it's raining, he might get wet! And then on the other extreme our next door neighbours dog lives outside throughout all of these, the poor thing!

I tried exchanging a few clothes, someone brought us 0-3 at Christmas so managed to exchange them ok. But then I wanted to exchange some 3-6 stuff for bigger sizes as there's no chance he'll wear them all. And they were all in the sale so they hardly had any sizes left which was annoying.

 

[Kaa286]

Hmmm just thinking and actually I don't mind singing when it's kids stuff as u don't always need to sound great it's more like talking in a sing song voice if u know what I mean. I'm always singing to faith hahaha you do sound like a stubborn child.

We're well into the 0-3 now but the arms are still a bit long so I roll up all her sleeves. Poor thing with tiny arms she's like a t rex haha.

 

[Applecrumble]

Aghhh writing long post and press undo so anoying.

Mellie blanket is beautiful...yotal admiration for doing something non baby related...hats off to you.

Kaa what weight is Faith now, Imogen weighed 10lb2 and fits well into 0-3 now...some i actually question how long she will be in them for. We actually made her cot up today so she can start getting use to it. (Previously was just a place for storage). Think it will be a matter of weeks before we have to put her in..its such a shame as she settles so well in her moses basket.

Week of being on my own has taken its toll...was soo tired today slept as much as i could and didnt get up till 3pm...despite getting good amount of sleep...still knackered.

Kaa congrats on new house.

 

[mellie_88]

Kids singing is a lot easier, its much more laid back, and everyone sings quite quietly so even if you're terrible no one will really notice.

Asda's 0-3 clothes only go up to 12lbs whereas Next's go up to 14lbs. Pretty big difference really. Quite annoying as some of his lovely baby grows are from Asda so he's almost too small for them all already

In bed until 3pm! Im extremely jealous! My longest lie in recently has been about 9.30. Jake tends to always be wide awake by then. Yesterday would have been a prime opportunity to sleep if I hadn't had to do the blanket. So glad it's finished now though, been sitting at the back of my mind for ages.

 

[nicejuicypear]

I am a stubborn child, haha! Definitely won't be singing anywhere!

What do you all do with your babies when they are awake now? I sometimes leave her lying in her basket, sometimes put her in her bouncy chair and sometimes hold her and chat to her. I'm going to put her on her floor mat play thing today too, see what she makes of that. But she seems quite content lying in her basket babbling to herself, I think it's good for her to 'entertain' herself sometimes.

Asda clothes do come up short, I mostly have plain white baby grows which she sleeps in so the scratch mitts can keto her hands warm overnight. Now when I wake up I find one or two fingers poking out! Length is the issue for us, they've still got a bit of give width ways but length on limbs and body is getting tight.

I have some lovely baby grows from Debenhams which are infuriatingly sized. They're massive in the leg length but far too short in the arms. Even when she was 2 weeks old the scratch mitts didn't fit and yet the legs are still too long.

Apple, are you not getting much sleep at night? I can't seem to get her to settle before 1am which is meaning some late mornings, really want to change this pattern.

 

[Kaa286]

Aha that explains it then thanks Mellie couldn't work out why she was still drowned in some n not others haha. She's 11lb 9oz now the fatty hehe!

New house?? U mean Kat I presume haha.

I get that sometimes sleep and sleep but feel exhausted still!

 

[Kaa286]

I do the same as u but playmat and bouncer and end up holding her more I think.

She loves her playmat it's good for them to get the stimulation from the colours and sounds

 

[mellie_88]

We have the carrycot in our living room, so he either sleeps in that or his bouncer. Or if we've just got back from somewhere then I leave him to sleep his car seat for a bit. He's not very good at getting himself to sleep in the daytime sometimes. Its very infuriating because he's yawning away but not sleeping.

Jake loves his playmat (as long as he's in the right mood) I've just got him a new one thats got a piano at the end. He prefers this one as do I. The arch is lower so all the toys are a lot better placed than on his other mat, that ones arch is far too high. Probably be ok when he's a bit bigger. I keep trying to give him tummy time too but he has to be in a good mood otherwise he just wines. He's so close to rolling over though when he's on his tum.

Yea Jakes issue tends to be length too, I think its because of his big feet! Although his tummy is gradually getting chubbier now

 

[Applecrumble]

Well it was more like I was om pjs till 3am and in and out of bed...I am actually getting good amount of sleep during night ...still exhausted so dont know how people with babies that dont settle are doing...we are getting a good little routine going on here which is promising.

At 7pm OH gets in and its play, bath, change, feed, story, bed (all by 8pm) (OH gives her expressed bottle) and then she sleeps while we eat and watch a bit of telly, i go to bed either 9-10pm depending how sleepy i am and OH stays up in case she stirs if she wakes he will give her another bottle (expressed or formula) and then come to bed (cica 11-1am) . If she hasnt woken like tonight he will wake me and I will dream feed her with my boob. Then she will either sleep till 4-8am.
Seems to be working.

Re during day is another matter...i personally dont see a point in a routine during the day...as always doing various things, but interested in opinions. Up untill this week, she has not been interested in a play mat. (We have fisher price rainsforest mat) she loves the noises of the rainforest...but alas she really is only interested in play for maybe a total of 1hr a day..first thing in the morning and cica 5-6pm..the rest of the day...its feed or sleep. I try to put her down in a poddle pod or moses basket...but to be honest I love cuddling her when she is a sleep so do that. know i shouldnt but I figure life is too short and only going to be giving good cuddles like this for a very short time so making the most of it. At night i am much more rigid to slef settling and no eye contact...she also is allowed a dummy at night...but been thinking during the day is actually when she needs it the most.

Other play is reading to her before bedtime..(we have actual childrens books for her...really simple ones but if it helps with routine).. And we do tummy time ...I use the bouncer when i need to go to the loo or do something like bath or shower or change..

It so interesting how the clothes size vary depending on the brand...despite thinking I had a ridiculous amount of clothes been thinking need to by more for the very reason that some of her 0-3 she doesnt fit in so I am on a cycle of 5 baby grows at the moment . Thats my excuse for getting more..I have a load of next vouchers from christmas that need to use.

What temp do you have your bedroom at night? We always seem to have it too warm around 21... But any lower and it seems too cold.

 

[mellie_88]

I don't get dream feeding, if I pick Jake up out the moses basket then then that normally wakes him up. Or if he happens to be asleep on or next to me then it takes A LOT to wake him up. I just wait for him to wake up, might mean I get a little less sleep but my body is slowly getting used to the lack of sleep now I think.

Jakes not very good at sleeping in the day, I tried to have a routine but it's awkward to get him to sleep unless I'm going out in the car.

Our bedroom is never that warm at night, it's normally only about 16-17. I accidentally left the radiator on one night woke up when it was about 19-20 and we were all boiling. Jake included. I did worry sometimes that he wasn't warm enough and kept taking his temperature to check but its always good.

 

[nicejuicypear]

Our bedroom is around 17 too. It's just right for us but I use baby grows with built in scratch mitts to keep her hands warm as they end up like little blocks of ice otherwise. We keep the heating off in the day too, so it's about 19 in the living room. It's what you're used to though and if you're used to 21, Imogen will get used to it - babies grow up in parts of the world where the temperature doesn't drop to 21 and they're fine. As long as you dress her okay and she doesn't feel hot inside her clothes she should be okay.

I am well impressed with your routine, Apple, nothing of the sort currently happens here. We don't make it up to bed before 10 but even if we do, she seems to have decided that 11-1am is the time to lie awake and babble. For the last two nights, I've actually gone to sleep before her, at 1am. She lies about 30cm away from me and I just fall asleep watching her babble. I assume she falls asleep soon after that because she doesn't wake me again until about now (currently feedung).

I think I will have to try keeping he awake more in the evening and giving her more stimulation because I am sick of going to sleep so late. It makes for very late mornings.

Mellie, I'm the same with dream feeding. Picking her up will probably rouse her a bit but if she's asleep I can't wake her to feed at all.

The bouncy chair is driving me mad - it makes her nappies leak, both disposables and cloth. The pressure on her bum seems to force out the moisture.

 

[Staceylou27]

Mellie my friend is having a boy due in 5 weeks it will be great for them to grow up together! It wasn't too bad organising it I did a lot before Ruby came it was just some food bits to get the day before. Some of get family helped too doing baking and helping me to trim the room up, her SIL also helped me host. It went really well but Ruby was really whingy she was tired and kept nodding off but as soon as I put her down she woke up, she was crying really loud it was a little akward.

We have a bedtime routine it's not totally strict with timings though. We have a bath between 7.30-8.30pma bottle and then we try settle for bed but she doesn't do this very well! During the day she's not usually too bad (except yday!) but on a night she can still take skittle while to settle, on a good night she can be asleep by around 10.30. She did seem to wake more than usual last night.

We've been using the play mat since maybe two weeks old and the bouncer around the same she won't stay in them for too long tho. She doesn't like tummy time but I keep trying he he.

Njp I didn't think about leaky nappies with the bouncer chair Ruby had a bad leak a few days ago and she was sat in the bouncy chair at the time.

I've lost my voice today and got a bad cough, poor Ruby's going to think I'm not talking to her!

 

[mellie_88]

We always use scratch mitts on a night too, partly because of his hands getting cold and partly because he sometimes wakes himself up with a finger to the eye! We really only put the heating on in the evening, no point heating the whole house when we're normally in one room. We're investing in a tumble dryer hopefully this week as the washing is just sitting around the house taking days to dry so then it smells funny.

Sounds like Frankie is a bit of an evening person. Jakes a morning person, get loads of smiles out of him in the morning compared to the rest of the day! We do try to keep him awake after about 7pm so hopefully he sleeps easier, doesn't tend to work though. He goes on a mass feeding frenzy before bed. I normally feed him for well over an hour!

What bouncy chair have you got? We've not had a problem with ours. We haven't even had any leaks for ages, although we went through a horrible poo explosion stage a few weeks ago.

Shame that Ruby was so fussy during the shower, babies always seem to time it during the most in appropriate times!

 

[Staceylou27]

Aren't they just mellie!

I'm wanting to make a memory frame to hang on Ruby's wall. I've got a deep frame and the things I want to go in but does anyone have any idea how I'm going to attach them to make them stay when it's hung on the wall.
I thought about getting a piece of card or thick paper to attach them all to and I've considered sewing them on or maybe double sided tape.

anyone with any suggestions?
The things I want to put it are her coming home outfit, her hospital tag and a poppy (as she was born on Remembrance Sunday) amongst a few other bits

 

[mellie_88]

Double sided tape could work. Or if they're all sewable then sew them onto a backing fabric and then that would probably be easier to keep in place in the frame.

 

[nicejuicypear]

Ooh, no good with stuff like that Stacy, sorry. I have framed a picture with blu-tak so don't ask me, haha!

Our bouncy chair is a Bright Starts one, I don't know why it makes her leak, it's annoying though. I had a better cloth day today, eventually, first two leaked but the second two, I adjusted where the leg seams went and it seems to have helped. Got a couple of different styles coming soon. They're secondhand which will get me told off by the missus but I just want to check the fitting etc before I shell out for new ones.

Stacey, I think Ruby was just letting your friend know what she's in for, haha! That was her contribution to the baby shower. Frankie seems to have a sixth sense for when I'm eating. I don't have fixed meal times but you can guarantee if I sit down with something, especially something warm, she'll start crying.

I've forced her to stay awake for a while this evening, so I'm hoping she'll settle earlier tonight, we're off to bed now. Fingers crossed!

 

[Staceylou27]

I didn't think of using fabric for the background that would make it easier to sew to and I can still stick pictures to it. Thanks mellie

Njp I thought it might have been how she was sat in the chair and the pressure on her bum making things come up and out! Lol

Ruby was definitely letting her know what's to come. We made her carry a doll around the whole time I said your lucky i didn't give you the real thing all day!

We're going to try get to the stay and play today that we didn't get to last week, let's see if Ruby can stay awake for a bit this time!

 

[Kaa286]

Ooh good idea with material. Where was the frame from Stacey I would like one!

Went to breastfeeding group at the library yesterday and it was fab we all sat in a circle chatting everyone lovely I've got a little group who all meet outside of group too and they've welcomed me in hehe. straight after it they do funbox - the sing and sign we talked about the other day - so I've signed up for next week. So that means every Monday I'll be at the library from 11:30 - 2:30. That's my Mondays sorted hehe.

Got hv coming in morn for an hour. Doing a 6 week block of "offloading sessions" she comes round once a week for an hour n I can just offload all worries gripes etc. Basically I want to spend an hour a week bitching about the hubby yay haha

 

[Staceylou27]

It from a shop called the range, you can probably get then off the internet too and maybe the hobby craft shops.

The sounds good kaa, I'm going to look for a baby signing class in havnt seen anything advertised in my area. I'm currently taking advantage of the childrens centre activities

Anyone else got snow?!! I'm supposed to be going out shopping with family but I'd rather just stay inside all warm!