[Bec_M]

How are everyone's babies now? I hope everything is settling down for everyone.

Kate - not sure where we are going to stay, probably CBD somewhere. I emailed a place for a rate and they told me that they didn't do bookings that far in advance lol. It's only 9mths!! Maybe we can organise something! We want to take the kids to the zoo this time. We didn't make it there when we went with Abby last year

Leita - your little man sounds like Declan. Not much of a routine but happy to take things as they come. DD on the other hand needed a bit more structure (actually still does really).

Ehill - how is DS now? I thought the devil disguised as a cute blonde lived at my house! Ahh she is driving me a little spare atm! Taking toys/food from Declan and just being normal 2.5yo I guess! Doesn't help make it easier though! She does a little dance and sings "Declan's awake, Declan's awake" whenever he wakes up from a nap lol. Pretty cute really

Pandora - how clever is Torah! Crawling already Awesome! I wish Dec would get it together and start (I'm sure I will regret saying that ha ha).

We finally got the top teeth through! I thought they were never going to cut. So that's a relief! Other than that things are just continuing on their merry way really! Poor Dec, he must be a bit overwhelmed with his big sister. He tried to crawl and is more vocal when she is not around! Going to be interesting when he really starts moving and wants to play with things she has. Need to buy a whistle so I can referee the fights ha ha

[Ehill]

Lovely to read everyones updates. They certainly are their own little personalities now and I cant believe how different Tim is from DD at this age. It is an eye opener for us as DD was very placid, never put anything in her mouth etc etc. Tim is a MENACE!!! There is the rolling, shoving everything and anything in his mouth - I was trying to read them books tonight before bed and all he wants to do is eat it....very hard to read! I am having to be so careful with DD's toys, she has heaps of plastic jewellery, dolls bits etc which he can commando his way over to and in the mouth it goes. In a cafe you have to push the coffee and everything away, gone are my newspaper reading days...in fact he loves newspapers so noisy. We were on a flight 2 weeks ago and I cant even have a tray now as he just pulls everythhing off. Luckily one flight to go in 2 weeks and then I am home to Adelaide for good. Cant wait.

Pandora - wow crawling! I am not looking forward to that with my little nutter. However I suspect he will be happier, he is a bit whingy and I know it is because he just cant do as much as he wants.

I completely agree about the breastfeeding.....i get that it is the right thing to do and I am fine with doing it but it is still a few more times a day more than I would like and I suppose I can see the finishing line now and just want my body back. I want new bras, to wear a dress (and not worry about access) and to just have more than 2 drinks and not worry about it. Sigh...only a few more months.

Were you inferring more babies? God no more in this house. 2 is enough and I am too old!

BecM - i love your 'Declans awake, declans awake'. DD loves going in to see him in bed when he wakes up. She turns on the light and nearly blinds the poor mite. Last time I was in Melbourne we stayed in these awesome apartments on Little Bourke Street, really great spot. Mantra on Little Bourke maybe.

Tim can eat for australia but a few tummy issues so still having to take it easy which is so frustrating because he would eat whatever we eat otherwise. He actually sits in his highchair yelling to be fed our food which is hilarious. DH can hardly keep up feeding himself and giving Tim bits. He had egg yesterday and then farted like a crazy man and woke 3 times last night with a tummy ache....woops no egg for a while.

Still having lots of separation anxiety issues too. I have had to give up trying to leave him at the gym creche, he just hates it and I just cant justify doing it just so I can go for a 45min workout. So i just go on the weekend or evening.

So all okay here, certainly a bit weary and has been a hard month but on the whole it is all good. I dont feel as 'busy' anymore so we get heaps of time during the day to do playgrounds, parks, coffeshops, playdates etc so I cant complain about the life of a mum.

[leita]

Ehill- ha ha ha, I think Tim and Lukey are definately on the same page. Menace that is!! Bit of a shock after a nice sweet girl isn't it? Lukey loves to throw toys, and he can't commando yet, but will launch himself from sitting at whatever it is he wants to eat.

Bec- yay for top teeth cutting!! Still waiting for Lukeys. Feel like we've been teething for eternity, but still only two teeth! You can see the shape of his little gums has changes, but still nothing else through.

Pandora's box, yes I have the no cry sleep solution- loved it for DD, and have just started reading it again for DS, as I've had enough. I think Lukey is actually a better sleeper, but we've just had so many colds and coughs this winter, and every time he gets one his sleep goes to total crap. And NOOOO not another!!! But to be fair I already have two. DH is keen for a third, but I love my 3 year age gap and wouldn't want to have another any closer, and I'll be way to close to 40 in another 2 years!! :-) Good luck to you though- I didn't feel I could do another until DD was almost 2 I'm a wuss!

Kate- Hiya, good to see you're still around :-) It is so cute seeing their little personalities come out isn't it?

AFU : Just when you thought the house couldn't get any messier... I decided to try painting with Lucas....

[Bec_M]

Lol, Leita/Pandora - my heart says YES another baby but my head says HELL NO! Ha ha! DH isn't sure but will have another if I am set on it. Told him we wouldn't talk about it until Declan is 2 and then decide. Don't want such a close gap if we have another. And also don't want to be pregnant/BFing on my 30th so we will have to see. I was holding a 4wk old the other day and everyone told hubby he was screwed because I looked so content and happy ha ha

Leita - painting! You are one brave/crazy woman! Did he love it?! Lukey looks so cheeky and happy Love the pics you put up!!

Ehill - I am getting a bit over BFing as well, although I don't feed Declan during the day anymore as he was biting me too much! Overnight he is fine. And the little bugger sometimes will refuse boob and want bottle and other times it is the reverse! Ahh!!

Declan is 8.88kg now and 69cm now Almost as big as his big sister was at 12mo ha ha Can't believe how quickly the past 8 months have gone. Will soon be going back to work - already sad about putting him in daycare. DH is in for a shock when he has them one day a week by himself he he

[Ehill]

Just a quick update after what has felt like such a long month with not nearly enough sleep. Anyway I have finally gotten to the bottom of our recent problems.......the NAN HA formula! Tim has a bottle of formula at night and has done since he was about 3mo.....such a pig! Anyway when I got back to Perth I bought a new tin which was the new and 'improved' formula but it came at the end of him being sick so I just assumed the unsettled issues were from that and the change of scenery. In my last post I posted about stomach issues from food and the seperation anxiety but it was the stupid flippin (excuse me while I mutter 37 swear words) formula.

So I am happy that we have a solution. He is on S26 now and it is like a changed baby.....my happy Tim is back. Gone is the whinging, crying in the night, chucking, constipation....man oh man I cant believe the angst I have been through in the past week trying to piece it together. But pleased it was a simple fix and not allergies/intolerances which is what i was worried about.

Love the picture Leita!

[Bec_M]

Ehill - I'm glad you sorted out poor Tim's problem! I've heard there are some nasty effects from the new HA Nan! We use the same but when my local supermarket was clearing out the old tins I bought a couple luckily! Certainly won't be buying any of the new stuff!! Am hoping this will get us through til 12mo and he can then go to cows milk.

[Ehill]

No, definitely dont buy the new tins. I am totally anti Nestle too now so I wouldnt be using the Nan Pro either. Hopefully the tins you got will get you through, I have been using S26 which originally made him constipated but he is doing fine on it after 4 days so I might stick with it. It is very filling and Tim always loved the taste of it.....apparently it is the formula equivalent of having a steak!

[clrw]

Hi all,

Is everyone well?

Our babies are getting so grown up! We just got a childcare place for Tobey. Its good news but perhaps a month earlier than anticipated (given we have to pay for 8 weeks care before DP is back at work ). It does mean the transition can be very gentle.

I thought I would be ok with it but it is strange to think other people will be putting him to sleep and feeding him. I'm sure he will be fine. He is a very happy social little boy.

4 weeks til Samoa. Bring it.

[leita]

For Sale: 9 month old baby boy who WONT STAY ASLEEP!!

OMG. What can I say, colds, teething, separation anxiety. Baby who just likes to wake every two hours (or less if it's a bad night), and can't seem to get himself back to sleep any more. Booo. Going to have to bite the bullet I think and put some serious strategies in place. Managed to pat him back to sleep in his cot tonight (without him needing to hold my nose) so it's not that he has to feed to sleep, or be rocked to sleep, I think I'm just lazy and it's so much easier to feed him or plonk him into bed with me (where he'll just go to sleep) than to rock/pat whatever in the middle of the night. Not sure if maybe just cosleeping is the answer.... might be a lot easier not sure if DH would like that much though

Anyhoo. He's such a little charmer during the day though, doesnt seem to bother him all the night waking, he's happy as larry! Loves to "walk" around the house holding our hands (just stepping really, he's nowhere near walking himself) still no crawling (only backwards skidding, protesting loudly!!). Will point and grunt at what he wants, and claps his hands and giggles all the time. Absolutely adores his big sister, and seems to call her "Ma" which makes sense (Mali). Loves his finger foods, particularly peanut butter sandwiches, but is still a bit of a grazer. 10.8 kilos, which is the same size DD was at 15 months, and she wasn't small .

It seems Lukey is also prone to eczema, but so far the only real trigger seems to be viral (he gets a rash which turns into eczema when he has a cold) which is both good and bad. Good that it doesn't appear to be food related (though I'll continue to keep an eye on that) but bad that its from something we can do nothing about.

How is everyone else's night sleep going? It's been pretty quiet in here, hope thats not an indication of lots of sleepless households.

clrw- That's lucky you got a place in cc for Tobey. I had my name on a waitlist for DD (from when we were 12 weeks pregnant) but they still didn't have a place for her at 12 months. So I just never went back to work . Good that you have a long breaking in period too though, it can be tough at this age (used to work in a babies room in a long daycare centre). Hope it's all lovely and peaceful.

Ehill- wow, who would have thought an "improved" formula would cause so many problems, glad you sorted it out. How's he going now?

Bec M- your DH is brave taking the kids by himself for one day!! My DH would actually be fine I think, but I know a lot of Dads who wouldn't even try. My BIL is useless, if my sister wants to go out she always has to take one of the kids with him cos he can't cope with them both for an hour (even though they're 2 and 4 )

Anyhow, better go and get in some couch time before the next wake up hope everyone is well

[Pandorasbox]

Leita, we tried last night bub sleeping in the cot attached to the bed the other side from me - i.e. she has to go through DH to get to me - still woke frequently, but settled herself without the boob after a quick cuddle from DH. We had a bit of a sh*t fit in the middle of the night, but overall, reduced waking...will let you know re tomorrow. The other option might be to try elimination communication...bubs won't wee (usually) in their beds, and the theory is they stir as they need to wee...so if you leave the nappy off and pop them over a potty when they wake they go back to sleep and apparently stop waking so much as they start holding it in - or at least that's what I've heard from the mothers of boys.

There is a wonder period to 37 weeks which is just about now, too, that might be it...as well I reckon dd is sleeping better and more often because she's busier during the day - she's very fast now and is standing a lot so she's really exercising her arms as well as legs. Not sure how you would fix that...maybe have him picking heavier stuff up? Who knows. She's so little though, still only 8.6kgs, so it's probably a bit easier for her to get around!

Have been giving her sheep's milk yogurt too - she loves it and seems to fill her up - might be good if there is a bit of constipation OR my holistic doctor (who, at $300/session, better have compelling value to add!) reckons to give her a probiotic - she's recommended kids 2012 which is a fermented probiotic - helps heaps with constipation and immune things like eczema apparently...might be worth a look?

DD has a whole lot of very funny words she says which seem to mean things, we haven't worked out what. her favourite is "bui" (pronounced like oui but with a b at the front)...not sure if this means boobie or Daddy or I'm waving my hands and like the feeling;-) Anyone else have any consistent sayings - apparently they all mean something, we just need to learn "baby language" LOL!

Anyway, early bed for me...I am loving this sleep thing...might even get half a night tonight! Won't know what to do with myself!