The new rolling ILX parenting thread, since the other one was getting unwieldy

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X-post: I agree, all you can do is what seems to work for you and your baby, sleep-wise!

At the moment we don't have another room to move Howie to! Which is going to be an issue pretty soon, I think, 'cause he's rapidly outgrowing his crib (spends half the night bashing his hands against the sides) and it's going to be a pretty tight squeeze trying to get a full-size cot in here. We have been looking at bigger places around here (Enfield) but they are ridiculously expensive (esp. now we're down to one salary) so looks like we might have to relocate up north where we can actually afford a little family home. I guess it's the best time to do it, before H starts making friends at nursery or whatever...

― Meg Busset, Thursday, 26 April 2007 08:46 (seventeen years ago) link

How much do you pay a babysitter?

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 26 April 2007 08:48 (seventeen years ago) link

That looks a bit like I'm just butting in on a conversation, sorry!
But I do really need to know. Thanks!

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 26 April 2007 08:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Meg, at the hospital (the lecture actually, held at the hospital) they suggested either putting the bed in a bathroom or make a *seperate* space (using a screen or sth) in the living room if you don't have a bedroom (yet) for the baby. Any place that is quiet.

Ned, I haven't used one yet. But check if the babysitter wants to be driven (to your home and back to her home). Here it's pretty common to do this.

― nathalie, Thursday, 26 April 2007 10:49 (seventeen years ago) link

They live next door- which is very handy. We haven't used her before, relying on friends up to now, who we didn't pay - it being a kind of reciprocal deal.

I was thinking minimum wage and that would cost £30 (as there are 2 of them) which seems like a lot. But really I have no idea.

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 26 April 2007 10:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Megan will not sleep. She is getting less cuet with every passing ~~walking coma~~ day.

:(

― onimo, Thursday, 26 April 2007 11:15 (seventeen years ago) link

minimum wage? they are teenagers! babysitting! actually i'm out of touch. i only remember getting paid jack sh*t. i didn't care, i found spending my evening reading in a stranger's house just as fun as sitting at home reading. :-)

oh yeah! IMPORTANT question: from what age do you guys *serve* the same food to your kid? i think ophelia's pretty much ready: she wants to eat whatever i'm eating. (this lunch:japanese eel and genmai rice!) but we still give her baby food (pots we buy at the supermarket).

― nathalie, Thursday, 26 April 2007 12:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Megan occasionally eats what we eat, though sometimes it's cooked separately to cut out the salt we'd use in our own. She's been eating bland mushy versions of whatever veg we're having since she started weaning.

― onimo, Thursday, 26 April 2007 12:06 (seventeen years ago) link

two pix of ian, 9.5 months. thanks, professional photographer dude we hired! our camera is shit so these are the nices photos we've ever had of him.

http://jelly.smugmug.com/photos/147173172-L.jpg

http://jelly.smugmug.com/photos/147173757-L.jpg

― akm, Thursday, 26 April 2007 23:48 (seventeen years ago) link

aww! cuetilicious! such beautiful eyes. i cant believe that is how 9.5 months looks. before beeps i would have guessed he was 2 y/o.

― sunny successor, Friday, 27 April 2007 03:19 (seventeen years ago) link

What big eyes etc.

That monochrome shot of Charlotte back a bit rules.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 April 2007 03:21 (seventeen years ago) link

i love the gothic charlotte pix too

― akm, Friday, 27 April 2007 05:36 (seventeen years ago) link

also, ian is kind of huge for his age, so not all 9.5 month olds look that ginormous. he's in 12-18 month clothes; he basically skipped the 9-12 month section all together. kids are freaking expensive.

― akm, Friday, 27 April 2007 05:37 (seventeen years ago) link

oh yeah! IMPORTANT question: from what age do you guys *serve* the same food to your kid? i think ophelia's pretty much ready: she wants to eat whatever i'm eating. (this lunch:japanese eel and genmai rice!) but we still give her baby food (pots we buy at the supermarket).

My niece is nearly three and STILL isn't eating the same as her parents (she is a spoilt brat though, and there are many more things than that which concern me re her extremely slow development - she's a bright kid, but they are trying to keep her a baby forever, I think). I asked my mum about that because I was sure it was wrong, and seems I started eating what my parents were eating at about 6-9 months - my mum was trying to grow me up quickly as soon as she was pregnant with my brother so as she only had one "baby" to deal with :-)

― ailsa, Friday, 27 April 2007 06:21 (seventeen years ago) link

we supplement ian's baby food with things that are like what we're eating (or should be eating anyway). he gets turkey slices and cheese cubes these days a lot, his favorite meal (we don't eat meat ourselves). egg, some fruits, little bits of bread, cheerios, etc. the younger you start them on things with different textures the better, i think, otherwise they might not want to eat anything that isn't pureed.

― akm, Friday, 27 April 2007 06:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Lovely photos of Ian. The range Tallulah skipped was 3-6mo - straight into 6-9mo (Ava's old clothes which I'm sure have shrunk through innumerable wash/dry cycles). She's not 6 months until next Wednesday...

Ava's been eating "adult" food since about 12 months, I think. Though we did relapse into bottled stuff when we were refurbing the house and Pam was going through a bad spell in her 2nd pregnancy.

― Michael Jones, Friday, 27 April 2007 06:42 (seventeen years ago) link

My little brother Charlie (on the right) has a friend!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/172/474508403_c9c95a0482_b.jpg

― caek, Friday, 27 April 2007 13:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Owen petting the kitty:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/211/474182599_3756f1034e.jpg

― schwantz, Sunday, 29 April 2007 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Mae's got a new haircut and she is very happy about it.
[Removed Illegal Image]

― Ned Trifle II, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:51 (sixteen years ago) link

Try again...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/477346695_80d84bcfb4_m.jpg

― Ned Trifle II, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Ophelia's off the baby food and loves adult food. HURRAH!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/475452413_b5f86d592f_m.jpg

― stevienixed, Monday, 30 April 2007 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link

Next step, fugu.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 30 April 2007 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Did any mothers on here (or partners of dad's) suffer from SPD when they were pregnant? I'm 99% sure I've developed it, as it feels like someone's kicking me in the crotch every time I move my legs, and though I've done loads of research it'd be great to have first hand knowledge to tap into.... All of a sudden I'm not looking forward to the next 13 weeks or so...

― Vicky, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:16 (sixteen years ago) link

SPD? What does this mean? I do know I had painful joints. Especially the last month of my pregnancy and especially after the delivery. Even now I feel it at times. :-(

― nathalie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:46 (sixteen years ago) link

― Vicky, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Ouch, that does not sound very pleasant at all (understatement of the year nominee). I don't know any more about it though.

Update: we still don't have a travel date to go get M0lly F4n4ye, but at least her pneumonia has been cured. Now the wee thing has chicken pox though; been an uncomfortable month for her I guess. We're guessing June for our trip but maybe July, don't know, won't know until right before. Cross fingers.

Other kids: S4m went 2-3 in his first Little League game, Emm4 is now just shy of 5'3" at the age of 11 1/2 and is handing clothes down to her mother.

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:57 (sixteen years ago) link

Ophelia looks like Spanky saying "Gimme the high sign!"

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:22 (sixteen years ago) link

I have it mildly, Vicky, mostly it's just a bit painful when i walk. Archel also had it & can probably give you better advice. My midwife said to keep your legs together as much as possible, esp. when getting in & out of cars, & that she could refer me to a physiotherapist if it got worse so it might be worth asking about that. Did it just come on suddenly?

― liz, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 15:48 (sixteen years ago) link

thanks liz. I think in hindsight it's been coming on for a while. If I'd been sitting down for a prolonged period I'd feel stiff at the top of my legs when I got up. I did some major hoovering though on saturday and started getting pain that steadily got worse and worse over the next three days, to the point that last night I could hardly stand up straight getting up from the sofa and was in tears of pain and frustration.

A day of staying at home has made a huge difference, as has paying attention to all the advice I've read - like keeping legs together, not crossing my legs, I'd already been using a pillow between my legs in bed anyway... I tried to talk to a midwife today, as my next appointment isn't until next wednesday, and I'm too impatient to wait! so I've got an osteopathy appointment booked for friday - from everything I've read it can be quite useful to realign the pelvis, so I'll report back on how it goes!

― Vicky, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link

yes, I've got the stiffness too. It went away while I was on holiday so maybe I just need not to be at work... and it certainly sounds like hoovering is to be avoided, hooray!

I'm keepng my fingers crossed that it doesn't get any worse & I hope your osteopath helps.

― liz, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

It's delightful in it's full name, symphysis pubis dysfunction. It's basically when the pelvis is misaligned, combined with a softening of the ligaments, which means pain whenever you move your legs apart.

Oh hell yeah, that's what I had. Extremely difficult to walk the last couple of weeks. So much so that I could not do more than cross the street. That was basically IT. My husband always had to laugh saying I was doing a penguin walk. I wanted to strangle him whenever he laughed, but hell I couldn't walk fast enough. roffle It was also very hard to do stairs. I remember, after the delivery, being so scared to do this in the middle of the night when I had to put a new diaper on Ophelia. I was so afraid of falling. It disappeared after a few weeks, but it feels as though I'll have it again. My OBGYN just said that it would disappear (when I went for a check-up after the delivery). Now I know you can get these *bands* that help you somewhat. It disables you from bending over - I don't know if I say it correctly - but at least it does help you lessen the pain and also enables you to move more somehow. Maybe you can look into it? Also go to a kine-whateveryoucalleminEnglish guy, he'll do some exercises to lessen the pain, strengthen your bones. That's what my cousin said (who's a qualified kine-whatever woman hah).

― stevienixed, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:41 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh yes, poor Ophelia had a fever for a few days and also threw up twice. We went to the doctor who discovered she has an urinary infection. :-((((((

― stevienixed, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 19:41 (sixteen years ago) link

- I have missed Charlotte in NYC, and am happy to see her looking so beautiful and grown up, and her brother is quite handsome, too.

- Ava looks quite stunning in b&w.

- Ian looks like such a little man! So cute.

- Owen has such a lovely smile! (Ben, too!)

- Mae's haircut is quite pretty; and

- Ophelia has such a cheeky grin and pretty blue eyes! What a big girl.

As always, I want to smooch these babies.

― luna, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/479975789_6fc3a68048.jpg

― schwantz, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:48 (sixteen years ago) link

Nath, from what I've read if you've had it once then the odds are heavily stacked that you'll have it again, and from reading about other people's experiences it often comes earlier (or you know what to look out for I guess) Sounds like you should be going to see your cousin soon, the earlier you catch it the better apparently.

As I said, I'm off to see an osteopath tomorrow (is this what your cousin does, or are they a chiropractor?) - couldn't wait for the NHS. Standard NHS procedure is to refer you to a physiotherapist, where you'll get a band/girdle and even crutches or wheelchair if it gets very bad.

Liz, definitely avoid hoovering! And anything else like that you don't HAVE to do. I still can't get over how quickly it came on, seems like it doesn't take much to trigger it.

Poor Ophelia, hope she's feeling better soon.

Yay for Owen and Ben!

― Vicky, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link

The Beeps got her two-month immunizations this morning. For the first time, I saw her blood! :-(

But the doctor said she was healthy and happy. Strong and fit, too. Now she's at the daycare where she can give those people some post-shot fussiness.

Here's one from the other night, after a bath. I sound like every other father who has ever taken a picture of his baby, but the adorability of this mug is ridiculous.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6403/im003546me0.jpg

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh. My. Gosh, that's the cutest picture EVAH. <3

Vicky, she's a physiotherapist. That's what you'd call her in English. We'll see what happens. I swim and will probably do some yoga as well. Hopefully that helps.

Ophelia is off with daddy to stay a weekend with the parents (in law). It's the first time she's gone for that long. It'll be extremely weird for me.

― stevienixed, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link

I love snuggly baby pix! Have you tried blow-drying the Beeps? Our boys really loved that when they were tiny.

― schwantz, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link

Okay, the last few baby pictures are almost making me want another baby. Maybe I can borrow my sister's baby for a few hours to rid myself of this craving for CUTE BABIES.

― Sara R-C, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Sara, I know just what you mean.

I sound like every other father who has ever taken a picture of his baby

You do, and rightly so. Beeps is just beautiful.

― luna, Thursday, 3 May 2007 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link

aw Beeps, what an angel she is! I have seen way more of Alice's blood than I'd like as it was taken seemingly constantly straight after she was born for various things. And of course the bloody mouth she got in surgery last month :(

Matt - good luck with M0lly!

My SPD was fairly mild but stairs were the killer. My midwife told me to bring my feet together on every step which did help but took ages and got me lots of funny looks. Hope you all feel better soon ladies!

We've had a few nice firsts with Alice lately:
- first 'solid' food last week (baby rice - quite a hit!)
- first night in own bedroom on Sunday (not reliably sleeping through yet but we usually manage from 10pm to 6am with only one quick trip to settle her if she wakes at at 3 or 4, night feed has been phased out though woo.)
- first roll over (from front to back) today.

It's all happening!

― Archel, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Howie had his jabs this week, too - was fine for a couple of hours then all hell broke loose. I have not heard screaming like that since the first couple of weeks when he had colic. Luckily a dose of Calpol sorted him right out - and he slept the longest stretch ever that night (6 hours).

On the downside, night wakings have increased to 3/4 a night these past few days, and 'sleeping through' is a far-off dream! Also he has got quite bad eczema :( so perhaps that is unsettling him. But at least the baby acne is clearing up!

At my NCT baby group there are identical triplets (girls) who are 12 weeks but were born at 30 weeks so 2 weeks adjusted. They are TINY and soooo sweet. Amazing to think they are older than Howie, but the biggest is half his weight.

― Meg Busset, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:31 (sixteen years ago) link

Identical triplets! Those are some long odds. I heard that in triplets, there are invariably two that gang up on the third (or conversely, one that is left out). If true, that breaks my heart for the unlucky one.

― schwantz, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:37 (sixteen years ago) link

Dear Gripe Water,

I LOVE YOU

― sunny successor, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

NOT QUITE AS SCARY AS WHEN WE TRIED THE NYQUIL.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:21 (sixteen years ago) link

WHICH WAS A LITTLE LESS SCARY THAN THE TIME WE TRIED OXYCONTIN

― sunny successor, Monday, 7 May 2007 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link

where are the babies??

― sunny successor, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 18:57 (sixteen years ago) link

You asked for it...

Hanging out on the deflated air mattress (great for barfs!):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/491633993_8454914cd6.jpg

Sitting in their fancy new Svan chairs:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/491634291_de87d9f784.jpg

Just another day at the office:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/218/491633245_5d8e784fc8.jpg

― schwantz, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link

We went to the neurologist today with Ben (after going to the MRI last week) and got some pretty good news. The small patch of his brain that is irregular has not grown or changed in any way. This all but rules out any kind of tumor, and points toward a developmental irregularity, which is the typical cause of seizures. He hasn't had any spells in months (since we got the medicine dialed in), so it's looking pretty (knock on wood) hopeful that they are at least manageable, and at best, they will disappear on their own over the next year or so.

― schwantz, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 20:11 (sixteen years ago) link

David, that's such good news!!!!! :-D

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/222/493539850_5f94185041.jpg

Relatively good news. The only (minor) problem is the placenta which seems to be blocking the *passage way*. If this remains the case I'll be having a caesarian. Boo! Otherwise everything is perfect. Knock on wood!
Still having headaches but that's not due to a pregnancy. Migraines suxor! :-(

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/493402842_c8254c66aa.jpg

Ophelia sharing some food with granny. She's completely recovered and an absolute DOLL. Whenever she does something good, she'll sit down or wait, look at everyone and clap her hands. She understand a lot and rarely if every complains. Going to bed? No problem at all. "Shall we go to bed?" She reacts by pointing to her room! The only *problem* is that she likes to run marathons around the house while we hold her hand. She can walk on her own, but most of the time demands on a helping hand. Grrr. ;-)

― nathalie, Friday, 11 May 2007 12:10 (sixteen years ago) link

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