ILX Parenting 3: Back In (Potty) Training

yay!

Breastfeeding is as interesting as before, but it's easier because I know what I am in for. Unlike so many, I have massively engorged breasts. :-( It hurts quite a bit (and I'm also bleeding but, crossing fingers it stays this way, not around the nipple.) I stupidly followed the midwives/books advice and did more than my usual 10/15 min feeding and Lisa vomited all over us. Poor thing.
This sounds like bragging, but I am honestly very happy I am blessed with the abillity to produce milk. :-)
As a result I also decided to not give a toss about the idea that pacifiers and breasts don't mix. I never had a problem with Ophelia mixing'em up (then again she quickly discovered her thumb, sth I encouraged but also felt guilty of). Especially durig the night, I can go a bit mental when Lisa cries. (Yes, already after a couple of nights sleep deprivation is driving me somewhat nuts.)

One of the things that I do notice is how parenting is bombarded with rules/opinions/... and they NEVER agree. Even at the hospital the midwives all had different ideas. The night midwife said 4 to 5 hrs (latter night time feeding) was ideal, during the day it ranged from 2 to 4 hrs. What do I do? I just go with the flow. I don't even use my alarm anymore. We'll get the hang of it. But honestly I can't wait till she sleeps through the night. Bad, I know.

Ophelia is aware of her sister and quite likes her. She's interested in Lisa drinking my milk. It's so cute:"Bebe milk!" She also likes to touch her ear and stroke her head. But we're not overemphasizing Lisa presence, we're doing it slowly. It's difficult enough as it is for Ophelia: she's getting less attention.

I'm rambling. I should be sleeping.

Oh yeah, recovery has been... interesting. I gained about 30 kilos (bad I know!) but already dropped about 15 kilos. I still need to go about 18 kilos though. *sigh* Also, I need to take care of that flabby belly. :-( And I have been losing quite a few blood clods (sp?). I remember with O I lost a gigantic one and we thought it was a piece of liver. hahahahahahahaha Not funny at the time though. Last night I lost a lot of'em and it's very icky and scary. :-(

Just the, uh, opening bits are bleeding? How common is this? Glad the baby's doing well. : )

Just cuz I want to see some pics in this thread...
One of Ben doing his crazy-eyes, and one of Owen and his mommy.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/1867817435_11c23823ea.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/1867829547_667ecc22a7.jpg

Glad the feeding is going well, Nath. Apart from the swollen boobs (ouch). I totally agree that 'going with the flow' is the way to go with breastfeeding, Howie is still technically fed 'on demand' except that during the day he's way too distracted to ever demand it, so I have to enforce a feeding schedule on him or he'd never take any milk in the daytime (and no doubt make up for it at night).

Oh yeah, and despite being one terrible sleeper, Howie slept through two of our neighbours having fireworks parties right outside his bedroom window this evening. Good boy...

Love that infant "Andre The Giant Has a Posse" t-shirt. Nice!

My kids are lovely, but they are driving me crazy these days.

http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2007-09-02%2015.37.57%20-0700/Image-D15DBE4E59A011DC.jpg

omg adorable
good dinosaur shirt too

sometimes i wish i were a participant on this thread and not on threads about academia and coffee and shower snot
maybe one day tho :)

Oh yeah, following the dummies debate from the old thread, I know the current advice is not til 6 weeks when breastfeeding should be properly established, but of course you know your baby best so I'm sure you'd soon tell if she was starting to get nipple confusion. The only other thing is that old 6-week growth spurt when actually they need to feed constantly to get your milk supply up. (I recall several days of literally being stuck to the sofa with a baby on my boob all day and night.)

Anyway, we introduced the dummy when his colic kicked in (around 4 weeks IIRC) but I am a bit phobic of them so we've only ever used them very sparingly, and just kind of stopped using them a few weeks back when he started settling to sleep without needing to suck. Did use one when he was screaming his head off in A&E for four hours last week, but then he dropped it on the floor and we were too scared of MRSA to give it back to him...

getting ready to start potty training in my house. Not looking forward to it. She wants to be trained but right now seems to have no sense. We're just gonna have to buckle down and do it.

(actually, that's an "Andre the Giant Has A Paci" t-shirt I made, but CafePress shut me down for copyright violation)

Oh yes, I repeats myself:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2199/1871421841_74038f1031.jpg

fave pic of the year. :-)

AWWWWWWWWW!

so cuuuute

schwantz, i was referring to alex's boy's tshirt! but didn't realize that is what is on your boy's tshirt - haha neat

That picture is ridiculously cute.

hey, I think I'm starting to be able to tell ben and owen apart finally. ben's the one with the crazy eyes, right?

alex, your kids are adorable. it's the tradeoff for being hard work maybe, so you'll just want to pinch their cheeks instead of selling them on ebay after a rough day.

after the hangover has subsided, here's lulu getting ready to open the pressies from her neighbourhood pals that came to her halloween shindig:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/1879500255_53b7047d14.jpg

and a couple from her actual birthday on friday, a fine excuse to light a candle on yet another cake. ava had to help with candle extinguishing, and since then has eagerly volunteered to help lulu learn how to play with her new toys.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/1879544703_957573871f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2378/1880342222_a10ae3b72e.jpg

Aww, cute pics already!

Glad you're doing well Nath, apart from the engorgement and bad lochia.

Aidan and I are coming towards the end of a weeks stay with my parents. It's been interesting, fabulous to see Mum and ad with him, especially dad interacting more with him now he's a bit more alert and smiling. Aidan's really finding his voice and is still at the stage where strangers are fun rather than scary, so he's loved being shown off to all and sundry!

The little bit of expressing I have been doing, I thought I wasn't storing it properly as it always smelled sour whenever we tried to give it him. I couldn't understand why a bottle stored in the fridge for just 24 hours could have gone off already so I did a bit of googling and discovered that if your milk has high levels of lipase then it gets tainted very quickly. Some poor mothers build up hundreds of ounces in the freezer for when they go back to work, only to have to throw it all away. There is a solution, if you scald the milk as soon as it's expessed it's fine. Yes, you probably lose some of the goodies but as long as they're getting some proper boob time as well it's fine. I really wish it was more widely known about though.

Tummy time at grandparents, and the default poition of his fingers at the minute:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/1840004319_ea72ee851e.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/1885405703_a3b90e6b86.jpg?v=0

haha vicky I was reading your post and as soon as I got to "smelled sour" I thought "lipase! I have to tell her about lipase!" :) Glad you figured it out for yourself, although it does sound like an enormous pain.

And congratulations Nath, I haven't popped in in a while, so happy to see everything went fine!

I am also thinking of biting the bullet and charging ahead on potty training...kiddo has always been remarkably good about peeing on the potty when we ask him to but only rarely will go over and do it himself. He just now seems to have the motor skills to pull down his pants, and I wish he was more verbal, but everything else is there. I don't want to miss a window, but at the same time, I really wish this window hadn't opened up right as the weather turned cold!

here is your picture:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2122/1809219016_591913520d.jpg

he will be 23 mos in a few days. Current interests: trains, jumping, playing chase, maisy, collecting sticks at the park, drawing with sidewalk chalk. Also he knows all the letters and their sounds!

Update: Lisa sleeps so much. It's quite a strange experience for me as Ophelia slept so little. It's freaky! I have to wake her up to feed otherwise she'd go without milk (so I feared today). I also use ILX: After a nighttime feeding I put her on my shoulder, read the board until she's asleep and then put her in her crib. She woke up at 12 am and 4 am for a feeding. WTF. If I get the hang of this, I can breeze through these months. roffle.

Teeny, some wait even longer to potty train. Apparently the longer you wait, the quicker they learn. Some wait till 3 yrs of age!

OMG teeny do it NOW. Do not wait until he doesn't have interest or it's too late. I may not know shit about anything else in life, but I know your little guy is ready! What you do is commit to it and Do Not Back Down.

Also, he's super cute.

And congrats Nathalie! I totally even forgot you were pregnant as I haven't trolled the parenting threads in ages.

Congratulations, Nathalie! That picture is super-cute! Glad to hear everything is going well & I hope the good sleeping continues. Madeleine was pretty good, she used to wake about every three or four hours at night for a feed but I had to wake her in the day or she would sleep for too long.

Aw Ophelia and Elisabeth look impossibly adorable, what proud parents you must be nath! Well done and congrats again!

This is a bit late for Halloween and the pic was taken in August(?) anyway but:
http://photos-932.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v110/108/9/616388932/n616388932_194675_5678.jpg

Hm, do Facebook pics work? I thought I was linking from Flickr, sorry. Again:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/1901789495_fdd74307ea.jpg?v=0

Ava singing one of her fave Chris Montez songs (this was back in August):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPTr8B5iRdA

STOP PRESS: Lulu just took ten steps! Previous record was three!

Steps!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GGW8FiFEcg

wow, onimo, that's proper walking! it's hard to imagine a time when lulu will be so steady and confident on her tootsies. or running around with ava, even!

archel, alice looks extremely pleased to be lucifer's minion, I'd watch out for that one. she's going to be a biscuit thief for sure!

louis is looking so grown-up! it sounds like he might be ready and willing for the potty training but I know what you mean about wishing it was a bit warmer. ava wasn't very verbal at first either, it took ages of us asking her every half hour if she needed a wee before she'd volunteer the info without prodding, I think she just got so irritated at being badgered about it that she started telling us when she needed to go!

I'm taking lulu for her first MMR jab in a couple of hours, urgh.

My goodness, Ava's pitch is great for a toddler. She's going to turn into a supersongstress like Mom.

That's some great walking from M! Alice shows no sign of wanting to strike out alone yet, although she is never happier than when cruising round the furniture.

And you're so right pam, in fact she's a massive biscuit thief already. She can sniff out an unwary toddler at fifty paces and is expert at distracting them while she quietly reaches out for the custard cream in their hand. This morning she got stuck under a chair at baby group because she had spotted a hula hoop underneath it from the other side of the room...

Aw, Pam, Ava is like your mini-me! That's adorable! Megan walking is so cool as well, as is devil-Alice and pumpkin-Louis. These threads are so great for watching them all grow up :-)

(oh, and obviously massive AAAWWWWWWWW at Ophelia and Lisa)

And I though Ava couldn't possibly get any cuter. Wow.

It's their first birthday today, so... here are some pictures!

Owen on his sweet new trike:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/1882750390_c8adf1620c.jpg

Ben and Owen at the park:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/1927200796_bfe9a074dd.jpg

Owen at one year:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/1927247960_3ce382294c.jpg

happy birthday O and B!!

They're plotting in those little caps of theirs. Activating their Wonder Twin powers.

Already a YEAR? My god, does time fly! Congrats!

Hey Teeny how's the vocalizing/linguistic skillz going? O has been forming sentences for a few weeks now. It's freaky how much she understands and how well she's able to express herself. :-)

"Mommy, want computer."

Happy birthday to the handsome crimefighting duo Ben + Owen! Ava and Lulu raise a glass and bottle respectively to their continued good health! Also I'm pretty sure I heard Ava mutter "party on".

Please, someone on this thread with children, explain what the hell this is:

http://sillyape.org/trash/get_ready_for_blastoff.jpg

It looks like a device for teaching kids how to go to the toilet without having to undo your pants.

It appears to be a last ditch solution for stubborn kids who resist potty training. "You want to be let out? You know what to do."

THE TARDLET

Something to do with waterboarding...

The shinstraps are the worst bit of that contraption. And the colours.

I've now digitised two hours (26GB!) of mini-DV tapes so I may get carried away with YouTubing the gals. Here's Lulu snoozing...finally, in her high-chair at Grandma's back in September. I could mix in some Harry Hill preamble and a laff-track if you like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacFEByCHKM

So Beeps did this for the first time yesterday:

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2236/im003758bx7.jpg

And yes, we've moved the books out of the way now.

cute!!! in the last 2 weeks beeps learned to sit up from laying down position, creep on tummy, crawl on hands and knees and pull herself up to standing. progresso! oh, and say "mama mama mamamamamamamamamammmmmmmmm"

Tardlet? TURDLET.

dude, that had better be an xxxxxxpost

Yes, yes!

Beeps is such a cutie!!! <3

I'm waiting for her and Charlotte to form a band.

That's some good development spurting from beeps, woo!

I am currently praying that Alice has not caught chickenpox, after one of the baby group mums found out that she's got it... in the meantime, here's a toothy A with a toothsome pineapple:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2194/1985701946_0a035f4a89.jpg?v=0

wow, beeps is going to be running a marathon by the end of the month! and the chatting is great! we have yet to get so much as a single 'ma' out of lulu, much less a 'mama'. she's got 'gah!' down pat, with an occasional 'da' when she's feeling fruity.

cute picture of alice! unlike you archel, I have been trying to get chickenpox out of the way for going on three years now but no dice. every time any of their friends get it we're over there like a shot but just can't catch it no matter how close they hang out together. I'd rather her get it now than when she's in school. there's never a good time for them to be sick but if alice gets it now it may not be so bad, ava's friends lucked out with not many spots and not much more discomfort than a bad cold. mike didn't get it till he was in his 30s and it's so much worse to get as an adult. I knew someone who got it in college and he had blisters the size of QUARTERS!

I have never had mumps, this worries me intensely.

Mumps is part of the MMR vaccine though? So there's no reason kids should get it these days (and therefore you should be okay).

chris, you can book yourself in for an MMR vaccine, it's not just for kiddies anymore. after a routine blood test when I was preggers with ava I was told that I'd never been vaccinated for rubella in my untamed youth. they no longer give single vaccines so I had to get an MMR before I could get pregnant again.

it's pretty unlikely you'd get mumps but since kids don't get the MMR jab till after a year old, I guess there's a slight chance a baby could catch it and pass it on, there was a measles thing going around a couple of years ago right when a few of ava's pals were scheduled to get the jab (she'd just had it so had a narrow escape).

here's munchkin the younger cruising furniture:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/1955100982_3b26b136f0.jpg

Funny to think that when our kids are having kids and worrying about these things, we'll be telling them that we had mumps or German measles or whatever when we were young, and they'll look at us like we had scurvy or black death?

Now I realize what it means to have two kids: Both have a cold. :-( Liesje has to take some meds - *squirt* it in her mouth as she doesn't do the bottle - because she has phlegm (???) on her lungs. This night was a disaster as both were coughing 'n' wheezing. Ophelia's alright but lying down the phlegm builds up and she doesn't know how to get rid of it, I guess. She had the nastiest cough ever. Sounded like a asthma attack. *sigh* Apart from that, Liesje sleeps quite a bit but drinks less as she has a runny/stuffy nose. Poor thing. :-(

Also her reflux is pretty bad as a result. Again: poor thing. I have to hold her up slanted (and enchanted heh).

Poorly baby here too -- we have just spent three nights in hospital as Howie has bronchiolitis. We called the doctor out on Saturday night as he was sounding a bit wheezy, expecting to be told to give him Calpol and put him to bed -- next thing we know, we're being blue-lighted an ambulance and hooked up to oxygen in hospital :(

Anyway we are back home today after a worrying few days, he is still poorly but breathing much better, and will recover faster without nurses coming in every 20 minutes around the clock to poke and prod him.

Oh my lord. That's frightening, Meg. Good thing you can call out doctors on a saturday night. Sure can't do that here.

I hope O, L and H are feeling much better soon. Beeps' ear infection sure seems trivial now.

Archel, you take the best photos!

Awww and sweet lulu! Did you guys get a lot of falling and resulting baby injuries when they started pulling up/cruising? Beeps busted her lip open last night falling from a standing position on to a toy. First time she's bled, I guess. I'm thinking we'll see a whole lot of this in the near future.

Yikes, Meg. Poor Howie and poor you, hope he's better soon (and I'm sure you'll all get back to normal quicker without the prodding and poking - we have SO had enough of that after Alice's two hospital stays.)

The only injuries Alice has really sustained are bumps on the head from when she was at the standing/cruising stage but couldn't yet manage to land on her bottom if she fell, she'd just go straight backwards in a vaguely comedy fashion.

Oh, and Matt is usually responsible for the photos, not me, I must confess...

all these poorly babes, I hope everybody's on the mend soon! meg, you must've been so worried, glad howie's recouping in the comforts of home now. I know they're a necessary and often life-saving evil, but crap I hate hospitals - no sleep allowed!

we haven't had any major tumbles since lulu started cruising furniture but egads I'm sure they're coming. I'm just waiting for the day lulu gets a bit more confident on her feet but still doesn't have the best balance - that quick walking thing new walkers do where they're really trucking across a room and then suddenly lose their balance and go face first into furniture makes me wince thinking about it.

hope elisabeth and ophelia ditch the colds soon! our gals are always sick at the same time. they've both had snotty faucet noses for what seems like weeks now.

X-posted to Archel: Yeah, it's just great when the nurse bursts in at 2am, announces loudly, "Hi, I've just come to have a look at him", turns the light on, peers at him and says, "Oh, he's awake then?"

Also loving the monitor that, when his heart rate goes above a certain level, sets off an ear-splitting alarm that spooks the life out of him and, amazingly, makes his heart rate go up even more.

it'll be ok when lulu starts testing her limits, pam - you just have to live with a certain number of bumps and bruises. abby still gets them at almost two years old, and she just kind of forgets about it after a few seconds.

is it common for preschoolers to form specific parental alliances? our eldest just wants mommy to help her with everything - when i do try to help, half the time she demands mommy, even if it's a simple task. meanwhile, the youngest is apparently running my wife ragged with her mischief, but she's all sweetness and light around me...

Completely natural, Mike, and it even changes from year to year. Ophelia doesn't have a really strong preference, but she does tend to hang on to my husband more. I think it's partially because I was so pregnant, I couldn't carry her (nor was/am I able to take care of her as much as before). My husband is ace, he's been taking care of O more (like mornings he will wash, dress and feed her) while I take care of Liesje.

actually, yeah, ava's still getting bumps too. she fell off a chair last night trying to squeeze onto it with mike and landed on her head and then this morning when we were visiting a school contender and waiting for the tour to start, I turned away to wipe lulu's nose and she did it again! she's got a big old bruisy egg hidden under her fringe.

we totally have the parental alliance problem and I'm the chosen one at the moment. after 12+ hours of wrangling both of them I really need a break when mike comes in from work, but if ava so much as stubs a toe she only wants mummy and is hysterical unless I come back downstairs. it's the same in the middle of the night, on the weekends, all the dang time. god I love her to bits but it would be so nice if she'd let mike be the comforter sometimes.

beeps is evry much daddy for playtime and mommy for boo-hoo sooky time. its sweet but it kind of sucks too.

pull up injury number two reported from daycare: cut finger while trying to open a door (!?!?!)

Pam's right about Ava's Mom thing, y'know...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2007995885_1c8ffa674e.jpg

Part 2 in the series 'Alice posing with amusingly large fruits and vegetables':

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2020567960_73c0ea8883.jpg?v=0

Look at Alice, too cute! Meg, I hope Howie's feeling better. A baby on my online birth club got bronchiolitis, scary stuff. I hadn't even heard of it before then.

Nath, hope you aren't suffering too much with your two having colds, hope they get better soon.

I'm incensed with IKEA at the minute. We got a second hand IKEA cot via Pam and i went to buy a new mattress on monday. Well apparently they've changed cot sizes, but they claim that if you take the old cot and buy a new mattress they will replace the cot. I thought I'd give it a try, but the customer service women I 'spoke' to on their chat service says that because the cot is two years old they won't replace it! I'm sorry, but how many people will be reusing the cot for child no.2 much less than two years after they bought the cot? I know I was a bit cheeky trying it on as I hadn't bought the cot in the first place, but for anyone who did actually buy a cot was was hoping to use it again it would be rather annoying.

I did think we could just shove the mattress in, as it's just a wee bit too big, and we did do just that, but it's weakened one end of the cot which collapsed this morning at 7am with Aidan in it, whoops.... He was fine, just got dropped over to one side a wee bit. guess I'd better get the wood glue out for a patch up job and go buy a new cot for long term.

I've finally decided which washable nappies I want to use, after trying out various makes, and waiting until he's not soiling every single nappy! We're going for bum genius 2.0 which should fit him for a very long time. I've got two and have been very impressed. I was using terries when I was visiting my parents, and it was easier than I expected but the bum genius are even easier and definitely less bulky. They're about the same price in dollars in the US as they are in pounds in the uk, so I'm going to buy them over there and get my sister to ship them over. Archel, are you still using washables?

My boy is starting to look very grown up, scary stuff!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2268/1973592681_73fe884a01.jpg?v=0

that is totally annoying news about the ikea size switcharoo - a couple of days ago after some spectacular milk spillage in lulu's cot (ex-ava's) I was thinking it was time to buy a new mattress, but I guess I won't be doing that now. vicky, it's probably not worth the hassle but I wonder if you schlepped it in there in person if the people at customer services wouldn't know the diff or would take one look at handsome aidan and have mercy on a hassled mum and do the exchange anyway?

I do hope this series of alice with fruits and veg is going to continue!

Wow Vick, Aidan REALLY looks like Chris in that picture, but a lot like you as well, somehow.

We were still using washables (Little Lamb then Motherease donated in bulk by a friend) until a couple of months ago but we moved and no longer have a washing machine... I have never heard of bum genius but I didn't find using washables much hassle - until it came to going out for long periods when we always used disposables I must admit. And it is annoying the way that most baby clothes are made to be worn with disposables.

So Liesje has a cold which is no: Not only does it make breastfeeding tricky - if I don't put her up for half an hour to an hour (yes, inc nights), she sometimes vomits. Also sleeping is very difficult. As a result I am now resigned to playing scrabble for half an hour or more during the night. Today I have a rather "interesting" headache. Harumph.

Ophelia is with her grandparents. We noticed she was a bit tired again before leaving and seemed a bit lethargic. And *hurray* she had a little fever last night. If it's an ear infection again they'll have to *pop* in a tube in the hospital. Harumph times two.

Breastfeeding is much easier, but damn my breasts love to produce milk. Especially right side. I sometimes push a bit out because it's too painful. As a result I can't give Liesje more than ten minutes milk cause otherwise it's overflow.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/2037006569_576a3fe111.jpg

Wow, seconded on how much Aidan looks like Chris! Alice is also the spit of her dad, but I've said that before. Lulu appears to be the third member of ILX-babies-who-look-like-their-dads-that-I-know

(OK, fourth, as Megan looks totally like Onimo as well)

Lulu appears to be the third member of ILX-babies-who-look-like-their-dads-that-I-know

Really? We think it's scary how much she looks like Pam's dad and brother (and, indeed, Pam's brother's kids). Not that you'd know what they look like but I can't see much Jones in there.

No, I definitely see a resemblence, at least in the picture up there of her hanging onto a chair/sofa. As you said, not being acquainted with the wider family, I only have you and Pam to go on, but I definitely see a good bit of you in her.

It's the being-dwarfed-by-furniture thing, isn't it?

haha, no.

'Alice posing with amusingly large fruits and vegetables'

And doesn't she look like she loves her fruit and veg!?
We had a couple of HUGE parsnips in the vegi-box this week they would have been perfect for this series.

Here is The Boy posing with a musket(?) - I'm not sure what it is actually. It wasn't loaded though.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1732473031_e58f8451b3.jpg

Hahah, you know what that shot makes me think of...

http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/pictures/aug-2004/delaware.jpg

Yeah, his hair is exactly like that!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nedtrifle/1875074016/"; title="Who ate all the pies? by Ned Trifle, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1875074016_2a28079c59.jpg"; width="375" height="500" alt="Who ate all the pies?" /></a>

Ooops...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1875074016_2a28079c59.jpg

Shouldn't you be leading him by the ear to a barber's?

With a musket in his hand?

He just needs to find some late 80s shoegazing type band to join.

An actual dirty dronerock boy, who knew?

And he's getting an electric guitar for christmas! (or so he hopes - ha!)

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/album_fullsize.html?c_photo=113336413

Still a smiler even in hospital...

Goddammit, why can't I link to images using the tags below?

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/2883/hospitalwv5.jpg

awwwww....howie! get better!

Poor little lamb, hope he bounces back soon

Has he improved since he has been home, Meg?

He is still a big coughy snotball, and veers between being reasonably chirpy, and rather sorry for himself. He has just been put to bed early without a bath after vomming up an entire feed during a coughing fit.

I know he's not himself because for the last few days he has just sat still on my lap all day and not even attempted to wriggle off -- if I put him on the floor, sitting or on his tummy, he just coughs and wails. As I've been stuck to the sofa with him for all this time, my 'no TV until he's three' rule has gone out of the window since I discovered that In The Night Garden has a strangely calming effect on him.

Hahahaha Jean Kerr knew about this, in 1957 she said "The thing about having a baby -- and I can't be the first person to have noticed this -- is that thereafter, you have it, and it's years before you can distract it from any elemental needs by saying "Oh for heaven's sake, go look at the television."

Oliver -- this afternoon in Washington Square Park..

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/18/img_6728_5.jpg

We took Liesje to the emergency after I *diagnosed* her with thrush. She's actually better now. Thrush has gone away for the most part and the cold is also almost gone. OPhelia's back from her grandparents and seems a bit *off*: she seems tired and ready to be sick AGAIN. :-( Hopefully no cold because Liesje might have it again and I really don't want that (as it doesn't help in keeping milk down). :-(

Also, that jacket is so cool, Alex!

Ain't it? Thanks. We just got it.

the boy and his Mummy:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/2050587545_a16b1964a3.jpg

Self as scourge of the strollerphobes.....with still-spoon-brandishing Oliver.

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v159/213/42/619069358/n619069358_451023_4568.jpg

That sure looks like a cosy stroller.

beeps becomes more and more fun everyday and she was fun to begin with! well, maybe not so much the first 3 or 4 weeks (ha).

i <3 this kid!

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/6044/beepsatstarliteagainqx0.jpg

Aw.

Oh Sunny, she's so cute. I want to kiss her little cheeks! So sweet. Damn - it's official, I totally want a kid. Sadly, it won't happen for another three years so I'll just ooh and aah over yours until then.

I forgot to post pictures of the boys' first birthday party...

Eating their cupcakes. Note the difference in styles (Ben on right):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1958820339_c74620fa0a.jpg

Playing with their loot:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/1959421640_6d7bfa99eb.jpg

it won't happen for another three years

Talk about long-term planning!

(Besides, ENBB, you have to remember they eventually become snotty teenagers who trash your car and say you don't understand them, and mope in their room listening to Morrissey CDs...that they stole from you.)

And then a few from Thanksgiving, paying with their aunt:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/2055188115_1b7d8b4943.jpg

Peekaboo!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/2055974196_5e3f045e51.jpg

Owen looks on happily:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/2055969100_5904426fbe.jpg

x-post I meant at least another three years, ha - and yeah, I know it's not all cuteness and light but damn, ILXORs make some cute kids!

I don't remember any of this. (2xpost)

I don't either. My sister apparently made up for it.

Well, god damn it, now I know how Liesje got thrush: I have thrush as well. No fucking fun.

Oh man. Get well soon, all of you. What a horrible situation.

Yeah, it suxors. :-( But I'm sure we'll survive. :-) It's just minor bumps really. :-)

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/24/oiver_2.jpeg

Ugh. The Thanksgiving holiday knocked everyone off their routines. Neither Charlotte nor Oliver were happy/comfortable sleeping at my Mom's place (waking up crying many times in the middle of the night, which means we had to take them in with us -- which means <i>no one</i> gets to sleep), and they're now frustratingly back to waking up at 6 am.

does this count as abuse?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/1904750977_2729caa52b_m.jpg

sucking monkey brains
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/1950783762_58007ad485_m.jpg

old films be borin
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/1793625037_bbc6648095_m.jpg

Too much antiquated pop culture for that poor kid.

Haha, baby in Carter t-shirt = Best Thing Ever.

The chubby legs!

Alice has chickenpox after all :(

Oh, yuk, but (as I'm sure everybody has said ad nauseum) better now than later. Depending on the severity of the spots she may hardly notice. Our boy had them at about 1 years old and wasn't bothered at all. Just keep slathering on the cream...

Mae has complained that her photo isn't on here when Louis has 2. So...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/2062564209_8f0a9a2b16.jpg

V cool!

yeah, so far Alice isn't bothered at all except that she's got a cough and snotty nose to go with the pox and that disturbs her sleep a bit. I'm glad she's having it now but I'm not looking foward to a boring fortnight of quarantine...

aw, sorry to hear about spotty quarantine, thrush and disturbed sleep in the group. we have the same problem with disturbed routine when we take a family trip to wallasey and it takes so long to get back to what passes for a loose normal routine in our house. lulu is the only one who gets any shuteye on these trips, she can sack out anywhere and has a travel cot to herself, but the rest of us sleep in twin beds pushed together and ava spends most of every night falling out of bed if she's on the outside, and falling down in the crack between the beds if she's on the inside. I'm too busy worrying about potential broken noggin/suffocation to sleep.

we've had our first new walker injury involving blood, yikes. lulu tripped over her own feet and fell face-first at speed into the side of the toy box. I knew it was going to happen at some point but it was alarming nonetheless, I thought she'd really hurt her eye because it was covered in blood! but it turns out she'd just busted her lip a little and brushed the blood on her eye. within a couple of minutes she was padding around and smiling again.

I love pictures of kids with statues. we always drove by a statue in a roundabout on the way to visit my grandparents in virginia, and for years when we were young my dad had us convinced that we were looking at a statue of him, built by the town for services to the community. it's a great comedy lie to tell your kids and if we ever drive by any statues of women I'm so going to carry on the tradition. it's no wonder that a few years later we didn't believe dad when he told us film star joseph cotten had been their paper boy, but that was apparently true.

who's getting excited about christmas with the kids? I know I am!

i'm exited about the future: i have heard that older babies sleep through the night. ;-) *sigh* i had my first "crash 'n' burn day" yesterday. i had a gigantic headache (as i can't stand warm bedrooms). :-((((

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/26/photo_19_3.jpg

Oliver and I this morning....much earlier than I'd have preferred.

oliver's such a cutie that I bet he's immediately forgiven for his choice of way-too-early quality time!

don't despair nathalie, sleep will be yours again. and then right when you get used to it with the baby, a demon toddler will snatch it away again, ha! ava is stubbornly refusing to crash out till midnight these days. it's our fault because we kept her out/up late for a couple of parties one weekend when a good friend was visiting from the states and since then she's decided she likes the late-night lifestyle, urgh. on the upside, she slept till 9:30 this morning. the thing is she forgot to tell lulu we were all having a lie-in!

Alice was still asleep when I left for work this morning, which was good but... weird. Quite possibly she'll be in bed when I get home too. Not sure I like the idea of her not seeing her mummy for a whole 24 hours :(

Did you know alice means anchovy in Italian?

No! I hate anchovies!

Since I became a full-time Dad, I am too exhausted to post. I am still here though, sort of.

PS: I like anchovies.

Oh well, at least she's not called Pippa.

So when did you guys start using the relax chair (bouncer chair)? We bought one when Ophelia was about two months, but I am wondering from when it's ok to use it. I don't wanna ruin Liesje's back.

We made it to Japan (& back)!

Here is M relaxing on the flight - she was sooo good; she hardly cried & slept enough for me to eat my lunch and have a few hours sleep myself.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/1999039565_fe8fba8550_m.jpg

Here she is posing with a couple who owned a sushi restaurant in Hakone.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2017/1999039619_e67dc22ba1_m.jpg

As predicted, she got lots of attention & we had a really great time.

Sorry to hear about all the illness that's been going about. I am dreading M's first bout of anything.

It's so rare we get a pic of them together - here's Ava giving Tallulah a head-rub (from appearances) or a haircut (Ava's own description):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/2074185835_f0548412ab.jpg

She looks like she's trying to do the Vulcan mind-meld with her. Very cute.

Oliver seeing snow for the first time (well, first time as a reasonably cognitive, sentient being):

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/02/img_6899_2.jpg

Nat, I didn't use the bouncer for a while as ours is a quite upright one with no headrest. I put him in it when he was about 4 weeks old, photo below, but didn't start using it regularly until about a month afterwards.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1209/1268951500_2d2d1f5857.jpg

I've been having a bit of a wearing time, Aidan's feeding's gone to pot, he's feeding every two hours at night, and some days it's every 1-2 hours during the day. It's not time to wean - he's only just 4 months and is paying no attention at all to us eating. If there'd been any formula in the house yesterday morning I'd have given him some, but he then went on to go 4 hours and then three hours between feeds, for no reason I can see whatsoever!

He's learnt how to roll from his back to his front, and so does it all the time now, he's trying to get up on his knees but I think we've got a while yet before he puts it all together and starts crawling! my favourite photo of late

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2200/2037540430_d83fd73ea5.jpg

Ah, the old four-month growth spurt -- I remember it well. Loads of people mistake it for readiness for weaning but, as you've worked out, it just means milk, milk and more milk. Don't worry, it will soon settle down again. I would always recommend co-sleeping as a way to get more rest at night while breastfeeding.

We have, reluctantly, been doing some sleep training this week. Figured that at nine months, and eating like a horse in the day (finally), it was time for the night feeds to go, and he wasn't gonna give them up without a bit of fuss. But actually it has been less stressful than I had feared. Last night (night 3) he slept through for the first time since he was about 12 weeks old. I went to bed at 9.30 and woke feeling like a new woman. Fingers crossed that continues...

Getting festive...
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/8702/santababysmallhx7.jpg

Yeah. Our experience with the sleep training went much better than we thought it would, too. Basically one night of heartbreaking crying for 45 minutes, and then they got the picture for the next night.

All these kids are so beautiful. Makes me want to have 10 more. We never had to go through sleep training, thank god. We are experiencing a little dont stand up in the bath training right now though but that only involves mischievous looks which are hard to say no to without laughing.

Beeps just had her 9 month checkup. Her weight is in the 90th percentile and her height in the 97th which makes her the size of an average 12 month old! She also went from 2 to 8 teeth in the last month with number 9 coming close behind. Time for real food! Here she is at a Memphis Krystal Burger yesterday:

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6537/krystalnk7.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9748/krystalgm7.jpg

hey, that first one didnt show before. oh well, double Beeps.

Megan has become a fearless climber. This is where Mrs O found her yesterday:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2405/2092591581_7900f3a6e5.jpg

Note that my wife's reaction wasn't "OMG Megan are you ok?" but "Haha where's the camera?"

This thread, and especially that last photo (OMG Omino, that is more than classic!) = ultimate cure for a bleak mood.

Well done, Megan!

I like that sink, by the way. I like the way it has little nooks in it to balance your fag on, like an ashtray.

Perhaps I will post a picture:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2195/2080713204_0732b71866.jpg

Or two:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2132/2079930071_25f7dc3a83.jpg

Meg, you were still nightfeeding at nine months?!? Once they pass the five kilos, babies don't need nocturnal feedings, the only reason they want it is for comfort. Not saying you shouldn't! Just what the "experts" claim. :-) O slept through the night from 4 months (the second night I put her in her own room). I had already started giving her less milk before that.
Liesje has a patter: 2 am and 5 am. During the day she goes from 2 hrs to 4 hrs between feedings. But I am gently trying to teach her the difference between day and night: In the evening I put her in her crib.

I can't wait for a good night's rest. I am doing okay, but some daaaazzzze. :-)

At the check-up today. She's five weeks, 5 kilos 300 and 57,5 cm. Hurrah!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2076/2093597264_f76b5a83b9.jpg

Well, you know, I'm OK with giving a baby the breast for comfort as well as food :-)

But he has shown the past few nights that he's fine without it and can settle himself pretty easily now. I'm glad I waited til I was sure he was ready -- after all, it's such a short time in the scheme of things.

Both of 'em riding their "Mater" (from Cars):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2080/2098414149_7b841bedc4.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/2097791829_de54c6eb37.jpg

I have to go and look at nurseries. I don't know what to say or ask or anything.

Edith is looking like a little girl and not a baby any more, yikes. Still adorable of course :)

Alice turns one on friday. I can't believe it!

I have to go and look at nurseries. I don't know what to say or ask or anything.

-- PJ Miller, Monday, 10 December 2007 11:07 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Really difficult but I would say look at the other kids first off, if they are happy then that's a good start. The nursery leader will probably give you a load of guff about learning and goals and so on. But ask yourself what you want your child to get out of it. If it's what we wanted, i.e. that they get to socialise, play, and be safe then the best thing you can do is check out the state of the toys and washrooms (but you know, don't expect everything to be super clean and new (in fact if it is that's slightly suspicious, like they only get the toys out when parents visit).

I have to state an interest here. I am a treasurer for a playgroup and we get some parents who think that playgroups should be hothouses for little geniuses (which, you will not be surprised to hear, their kids usually are). Well, it's pretty easy to tell those parents what they want to hear. It's much more difficult to make the kids look happy!

Oh and surprise visits are best.

Having a second kid does this:

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/050315_scream_vmed12p.widec.jpg

Wait till they're older! It's more like this...
http://oyvindsolstad.com/wp-content/uploads/the_scream.jpghttp://oyvindsolstad.com/wp-content/uploads/the_scream.jpghttp://oyvindsolstad.com/wp-content/uploads/the_scream.jpg

At least it was yesterday. Child 2 came home having been told off by the head teacher (for something he didn't do - of course!) and proceeded to stomp upstairs with his muddy boots on and then stood on a sofa in them and then - when I proceeded to tell him this was not good behaviour - ran out of the house shouting "I'm never coming back!". Thus setting child 2 off crying and shouting "Daddy, you're so mean! We want mummy...".

Oh joy...

Anyway, sorry Nathelie, getting carried away with my woes - what's up?

Oh god, I was exaggerating a bit. But headaches are no fun and sleep deprivation neither. But apart from that, kids are the bestest thing in the world. :-)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2097740845_ff9857c4ae.jpg

Ophelia displayed mild displeasure at the relax chair. Very strange: before that she never did/said anything negative about Liesje. But the relax chair? She didn't like it.

ugh!

Aww Alex!

Thank you for the advice.

Yes, she is quite grown up, Archel. Today she has been pretending to be a dog. And well done on almost getting through your first year.

Ben and Owen have started to "play" the recorder and the harmonica this week, despite crippling and parent-maddening colds. It's pretty cute. Owen even got the whole "blow in for one note, blow out for another" concept on the harmonica.

My wife is sure they are musical prodigies now. ;)

And sorry Alex - that sounds like a really shitty experience, and like something I could easily imagine myself doing.

For those of you keeping score, an update.

Wow look at O standing there looking like a little girl. It seems like just yesterday she was the size of Liesje.

Here is Beeps being Beeps:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3520/cutielq8.jpg

and Beeps being Maximum Beeps:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8973/jumpinob7.jpg

Hey before you know it, Beeps will be grabbing EVERYTHING in sight, jumping from chairs, screaming, crying one minute, laughing the next,... Yes, Ophelia has officially entered manic two year old phaaazzze. I find it quite funny to be honest, but it can do your head in if you are tired and/or have a headache. :-)

The doctor at the check-up (for Liesje) said Ophelia was GREBT in the language department. Apparently at her age it's not that uncommon for kids to only speak a few words. Ophelia? Hell no, she's a motormouth. :-)

The only minor problem: food. She's totally using it as a control thing. But I don't let it bother me too much. She'll eat veggies eventually. :-)

Liesje now only wakes up (for a feeding) once a night. With Ophelia I was so quick to shove my nipple in her mouth, but with Liesje I am more relaxed and will just wait a bit longer, I guess. Result? She wakes up around 12 am but falls back asleep. So yes, wakes up about once, around 3-ish, for a feeding. Hurray. :-)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/2098520190_401e75e4e0_m.jpg

"omg it's my birthday!"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2017/2120653348_b566abd12f.jpg?v=1197989150

"and i have CAKE!"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2119875759_3ee93a9ae4.jpg?v=0

Yay! Happy Birthday, Alice!

Nath, O's top is great! Where did you get it?

Jumping the gun a bit, cos this isn't really viewable on Flickr yet, but here's our 13-month-old, MMR-jabbed, Tot of the Antarctic...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2315/2119510892_d68f5f76d0.jpg

She's started the slapping and pulling of Daddy's face that made that 12-18 month period with Ava such a joy. Except Tallulah is stronger than Ava ever was.

It's been too long since I've visited here, lots of amazing pictures of everybody's beauteous youngsters! congrats to rachel on the first year, and good to see alice has conquered that love-of-cake milestone. alex, it appears that your trike-busting moment has made everybody a winner, that new one is the bomb!

peter, I have also been looking at nurseries, plenty of them. today is the deadline in our borough for ava's september admission next year, which doesn't really suit my last-minute-for-everything mentality, but I've put in applications for a few and we'll see who's a taker. I've been reading ofsteds, hanging out next to the parents on the tours who actually bring notepads and ask all the questions I never thought of, worrying way too much. one nursery I like has the kids tending allotments and then cooking everything at the end of term, cool! there are loads of schools around us and they're all oversubscribed, except for the one that's spitting distance from our house that has a rep for being terribly mismanaged and chocka with bullies. I know the kids can't read it but the cover letter of the booklet inviting us to let them start teaching our kids great english skills was heaving with misspellings and typos! one of my best friends taught there for years and actually pulled her kids out of there while she was working there.

I am trying not to lose sleep over ava's future by just chilling out already through the medium of christmas crafting!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/2118643135_b04db7caa5.jpg

We're going to enroll Ophelia in a nearby kindergarten. It's a catholic school. Later on, if she stays, she'll have to wear a uniform, or rather wear blues/browns/blacks and or greys. Suits me fine. Actually I wish there was a strict uniform, but somewhere between my graduation and 2007, they changed the rules: there's no strict uniform in any school in Bruges. Bummah. But I suspect my daughters won't have the same idea as I have when it comes to uniforms. Even when I attended high school, I was very much in favour of uniforms. Yes, I'm a complete mentalist. :-)

Nath, O's top is great! Where did you get it?

From the Gap (Japan). My parents have EXCELLENT taste in clothes and are so nice to send/give me lots of kiddie clothes. :-)

Hopefully Shakey Mo doesn't mind that I post that Veronica Rose was born yesterday!

oooo! congrats! beautiful name too!!

I am not aware of any deadline for enrolling here, just waiting lists.

Sorry, that is about all I can manage at this time of day, which is the only time of day I can fit in quality typing time.

Yay everybody, etc.

Baby born! Little Veronica Rose Babcock arrived yesterday, 7lbs 12 oz, 19" long - no pictures yet, don't have 'em uploaded anywhere. I'm home briefly dealing with some computer bullshit and then its back to the hospital to help mom and baby recuperate....

Hurrah for new baby with my birthday! Also, lovely name.

Rah new baby!

photos asap pls!

woo new baby, what a great holiday present!

Awesome, congratulations - and I love the name!

^^^Agreed, awesome name! Congratulations!

Yay! Congrats!

Nice work, people. Molly says hello, I hope this picture isn't too big:
http://i15.tinypic.com/6t24aab.jpg

She turned one last week.

happy birthday, molly. she sure is beautiful.

Oh, like YOU should talk, what with your Beeps lighting up the world and whatnot!

awww! so sweet!

Happy birthday Alice and Molly, and happy birth-day Veronica Rose (what a beautiful name).

Nath, I too am in favour of uniforms -- they prevent kids from getting beaten up for wearing the wrong trainers/trousers/whatever.

Howie can pull himself to standing now <proud>

The other day, Ben and Owen were standing up next to each other, holding on to a chair. After some coaxing, Ben walked across the room to us, and we clapped for him. Then, Owen let go of the chair tentatively, and then burst into tears because he was too afraid to try to walk. :(

Hopefully he'll get it soon. He's way ahead of Ben in the talking department (by the way, nothing's better than arriving home to the sounds of "daddy, daddy!"), but behind in walking.

Aw, Owen!

they prevent kids from getting beaten up for wearing the wrong trainers/trousers/whatever.

True, but there are also different kinds of uniform and this (in my experience, poor Madchen) does lead to bullying. Seriously stupid stuff like silver vs. plastic buttons on a blazer. If they want to pick on you they'll find something.

Some pictures of Edith, one dressed as Edward the Confessor:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2124763937_fb576731ab.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2124756639_abbe8e091d.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2124765305_cd97f710e5.jpg

PS: Your actual potty training is scheduled to start tomorrow.

nothing prevents kids from picking on other kids, gimme a break

Hello parenting thread peoples. I have a question to ask, on behalf of my sister really. Our mother died unexpectedly yesterday, and we have so far bottled out of trying to explain this to my neice, who is two and a half. We have no idea how to approach this. My sister is not religious in any way and we don't want to lie to my neice or say anything that might confuse her, such as that my mother is 'sleeping' or has simply gone away. On the other hand she has no previous experience to draw on, there's no book she has that we can point to and say 'it's like that'. Does anyone have any useful experience they can pass on? It's getting harder to pretend everything is OK.

I have no useful advice, but would like to offer my condolences.

Thank you ailsa.

Zora, Im not sure I can offer any practical advice for your situation but I can tell you that, in my experience, young children take this sort news a lot better than adults do.

Zora, so sorry to hear about your mother. Honestly, I would just gently explain that her grandmother died. We aren't religious - and when we had a death in my family, we told my (then 4 year old son) that his great-grandfather had died and that that meant that he had, "left his body and he couldn't ever come back." Alex took this seriously, but well. Admittedly, he was older than 2 1/2.

I think there are children's books available that address death; I used to work in a Barnes and Noble and we had a "special situations" section in the children's section of the store.

Also, I think Sunny is absolutely right about kids taking this sort of news in stride. If you present it as something sad, but natural, I think you'll be doing okay.

My dad died three months ago; Ava was his pride and joy (it depresses the hell out of me that he only got to meet her half a dozen times [and her sister just twice] - work pressures and our house refurb and my inability to drive and a host of other, similarly intractable-at-the-time trivial-in-retrospect things) and she was great with him.

He used to sing Hey Jude to her, which she found hilarious, and on one occasion she sang Hey Jude back down the phone to him, which just about made his year. So, with his passing, Pam & I went with the line "Grandad is in the sky, singing Hey Jude to everyone". Ava seemed quite happy with this as an explanation of why he wasn't around when we stayed up there for a week around the time of the funeral, she's occasionally mentioned it unprompted since (when seeing pictures of him on the computer) but otherwise hasn't asked about him.

We didn't give it a great deal of thought, and for a more inquisitive child it might not do at all, but it seems to have satisfied her curiosity in the short term. I'm not sure I want to introduce concepts of finality and death just yet. I think if she'd been perhaps a year older it would've been much trickier.

My condolences to Zora - I don't know if the above helps in any way. Ava is roughly the same age as your niece.

Condolences.

The library will have books about this (and every other problem you can think of ever having to explain to as child).

Oh, Mike, again I'm so sorry to hear about your dad.

Zora, I was only a little 'un (about eighteen months old) when my gran died, and my mum didn't explain it at all to me, and I still have this kind of nagging feeling of a lack of resolution to why my granny had just stopped being around. I was a little older, around six or seven, when my grandad died and I don't remember being properly told about that in a "he's died" kind of way, though around that time I remember we were out riding our bikes round the garden and saw a shooting star and my mum told me that it was my grandad up in the sky looking out for us. That sort of thing, an abstract concept, is good. Point being, I don't remember what I was told even when I was probably old enough to understand, but I know, even at a year old, I could have done with some sort of explanation as to why things were different. The suggestions upthread are good ones.

My suggestion sounds a bit arsey, but it isn't meant to. It's just that we sit and do colouring at a table in the library next to the shelf for parents and I am always amazed at the variety and thoroughness of the topics touched upon.

Potty training update: Two wee wees in the potty and several accidents. I keep my spirits up by imagining a John Coltrane album for children called "Potty Trane".

PS Michael, I think you are being a bit hard on yourself, we don't have much choice but to live where there are jobs and whatnot.

A video of Edith pretending to be a librarian (no sound):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spVKkSrAfQ0

Thanks guys. Yesterday Izzie asked when my mother was coming back from the doctors and my sister had to bite the bullet. It doesn't help with explaining death but Izzie does know about doctors and that they are supposed to make you better. She's been in a few times recently herself, with bad colds etc., and there's an episode of Charlie and Lola involving a doctor's kit... my sister just told her quite simply that my mother was too poorly for the doctors to make her better so she wouldn't be coming home. Izzie doesn't understand 'never', so we're going to have to keep telling her, but I'm glad she's going to be getting the same story every time.

Thank you all for the condolences.

PJM: you may be right but I did put off a long trip on public transport for ages with Ava, thinking neither of us would cope terribly well, but when I finally made the trip a month or so ago it was pretty easy. Five hours door-to-door and she was great. So I now regret not steeling myself for a Liverpool trip earlier in the year.

If it's any consolation on the potty training front, after nearly three months of near-flawless behaviour, Ava has totally regressed; I've just had to deal with the fourth accident in as many days (goodbye, Dora panties) - fairly traumatic for both of us. We may need to go back to first principles and just plonk her on the loo for long periods. She's also doing this thing of sucking/chewing her fingers ("I'm just thinking, Daddy"), giving herself a little drool-rash in the process. She seems a bit bothered/distracted. Bloody Xmas, innit?

Michael, it's perfectly understandable you were worried and suspected (wrongly) that it would be a "disaster." When I went to Japan, I also feared the worst. Projectile vomiting aside (mainly my fault), she was doing pretty well. But you always expect the worst, don't you?

Zora, my condolences. :-( Michael as well. :-(

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2149/2130106251_eb89e25562.jpg

Elisabeth in a sweater I knitted. :-) She has a fairly regular pattern now (10 pm, 2:30 and 7 am). Still I'll be VERY happy when she skips the 2:30 am session, even if it means I won't be able to Scrabble at night. ;-)

Does that football dummy refer to FC Bruges or something?

PS: I still get nervous about the fifteen minute train journey to Reading.

lolz my baby shares a birthday with Michael Moorcock.

had to tell somebody

Hah, no, PJ, it'd have to be in darker colours. It was just a freebie at the clinic. :-)

I really have to stop worrying. My mum's pretty sick. Probably a cold. But a friend's friend (yes, really) had a baby in a chemically induced coma because of whooping cough. So what did I google yesterday? I was just explaining to my mum about the immunisations she'll be having in January. I see whooping cough and check the symptoms. Of course my mum's symptoms match up. Urgh. I now have a blasing headache cause I want her to check if she has it and I feel guilty about thinking my mum would expose my babies to it and if she has it and they get it... Yes, I'm mental. :-(

My daughter shares a birthday with Jon Bon Jovi. It's okay. Maybe someday, someone will be able to brag that they share a b-day with The Beeps.

My daughter did a massive wee wee on the floor in Thornton's this morning. Ha ha ha Yay my family. Apart from that, she seems to be getting the hang of this potty business.

howdy everybody, hope you all had an excellent yule! here's one of the gals testing out their new wheels on christmas morning. I reckon with a seat adjustment and a growth spurt lulu may be able to reach those pedals by spring.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2141850933_34d1239241.jpg

Here's a little video of Ben and Owen cracking each other up over lunch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYh2FsJolA

So both the boys got the Croup this week. Man, that's some scary shit, considering how basically it's pretty harmless. The coughing and wheezing is gnarly, and it's so sad when they start sobbing after they cough. We thought maybe Ben avoided it, but sure enough (maybe it was the... EVERYTHING that they share), he got it yesterday.

I am so in love with Edith after watching that librarian video.

I think it's appropriate that there's no sound cos, like, it's supposed to be a library, yeah? I love the way she lingers over the last one - "now, am I really going to let you take this one out?"

are ben and owen still suffering? hope they're feeling better soon, a friend of lulu's got croup while on holiday and it sounded miserable for both babe and parents alike. ava and lulu are full of cold again, the old snot faucets are on full power at the moment!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/2146255646_d34459f8f7.jpg

It took my mother to convince Ophelia that the step is actually a lot of fun.

The boys are still a bit sick, but they are on-the-mend. The bummer of it is that this may push back an MRI that was scheduled for Ben next week, which would mean a bunch of doctor meetings and possible surgeries could also get pushed back.

I haven't talked about it on here until now, but Ben is going to probably need brain surgery to remove the area of his brain that caused seizures about a year ago. He hasn't had any since then, thanks to the meds, but the MRIs have shown that the area MAY have changed in the last few months, which would suggest that the area is not a developmental anomaly, but possibly a benign tumor. This MRI should hopefully settle the issue, but either way, he should probably get it taken out. Luckily, it is in a very operable area of the brain (right temporal lobe), and taking it out should have little-to-no lasting effects. The temporal lobes (especially the right one) are almost 100% redundant with each other, and people have had huge portions of temporal lobes removed without any perceptible change in their cognitive abilities or personalities. Still, it's frickin' scary, and we're not looking forward to it.

My thoughts are with you and Ben. A co-worker's young son (not quite 2) had similar surgery (softball sized tumor in left temporal lobe) in November. Very scary days for them, but all is right as rain now. The little guy was back to himself in about 2 weeks, vocalizing and running about and happy.

Wow, that sounds very scary for Ben AND for you, schwantz. I am sending good thoughts your way! It sounds like it should be fine in the long run, but still - so scary.

Good luck Ben.

On a more ludicrous note, today I braved Cheeky Cahrlies, the germ-infested indoor play area, with Edith. She had a wonderful time, and I made her wash her hands with some "kils 99% of germs" handwash stuff that I have taken to carrying around with me.

I think Edith picked up that lingering over the last book thing from the real librarians, because they always hover around enough to make you think you're about to get a fine or something.

Today I got two British Museum books JUST BECAUSE and the winner of the Costa Gravas Coffee Prize for first novels, which is about CCTV or something.

I really must visit I Love Books.

After 4 years, one miscarriage (sp?) its happened. Possibly with two!

Congratulations! Possibly TWO?! Whoa.

I hope you are feeling well and not too exhausted. :)

Oh wow Chris that is great news, congratulations!

woha congrats! Twins!

David i have been thinking of you and ben, wondering how it was. How scary but then it seems low risk. Still it must be frightening. Good luck!

Chris, that's fantastic news!!! Will there be an early scan, so you know for sure whether it's one or two?

Hope everything goes well for Ben.

Hurrah for all the potty training going on!

I'm generally pooped these days. Aidan's been feeding every two hours at least at night (and during the day) and he's not ready for food yet (just turned 5 months), as I've tried. it's a good job he's so damn cute so it's easy to forgive him!

He's rolling over like a pro and trying to commando crawl to get to things but it's not happening quite yet. We start swimming lessons tomorrow!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/2174349123_f517e2a887.jpg

Chris that's the best news I've heard in months! Are you able to tell us any more?

vicky, aidan has the most beautiful glowing happy face ive seen on a baby. wow. 5 months is early for the commando crawl, no?

beeps turned 10 months last week. so old. she's at the stage where when she pulls herself up to a standing position she lets go and stays upright for a few seconds then plonks down on her butt. i think she's close to standing for real. i wonder how long after that she will start walking. exciting!

congrats chris! i want twins next time just because i think ill be too old to go for round 3. you got any fertility pills you want to sell me?
actually, a guy here at work said he and his wife tried for about that long then after they had the baby BAM she got pregnant again straight away.

schwantz, i hope everything goes well with Ben. It looks like Beeps will have to get tubes in her ears, after getting one ear infection after another for the past 5 months, and I'm freaking about it so I cant imagine what you guys are feeling right now. on a lighter note I'm impressed by you're ninja like spooning skills in that video of b and o eating.

ava and lulu and ophelia looks gorgeous as always. how old do kidlets have to be before they start triking?

and nath, that step thing is brilliant!

well, we were so used to disappointing news over the past 4 years we didn't have our hopes up as they only retrieved 2 eggs from my wife. which meant that basically our chances weren't too good. this was the 4th time we did IVF (luckily insurance covered it all). So they put the two fertilized eggs back in my wife on Christmas morning...and well needless to say we had a miracle.

We got the call on Saturday afternoon after the wife had gone for bloodwork at 7am. Nurse said we had a postivie with a really high beta of 221...which means a very real possibility of twins. She goes back tomorrow for more blood.

actually we have a ton of fertility meds lying around....we basically have tried and used everything....they are all injections though...

BRING IT ON

That's amazing! Was the protocol any different this time? When's your first scan, 6 weeks?

Thanks sunny! I need to remember your comment to help me feel stronger when people tell me he needs be eating solids (my as yet childless little sister being one of them) Aidan's always had good mucle tone and never hated tummy time, he first rolled over from back to front on 30th of Nov, so he's starting to get a bit frustrated I think! I think it'll be a while yet before he actually manages to do any kind of crawling, he's stuck with going round in a circle forr now!

Poor Beeps! Still, I guess if it resolves the constant ear infections it'll be worth it. Exciting about standing on her own, have you got the video camera poised and ready?!

SS, our salesperson's kid also had tubes. The operation is only an hour or so. Apparently the first time they fell out. Second time they stayed in. Although they also told us we might need'em for O which freaked me out, I did realize and wanted to tell you that it's actually a very common operation and nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about? I know, those words don't fit in the parents' book. :-) We *always* worry. :-)

SS, I also want to recommend you to have two kids. ALthough it's much more tiring - wait till you have a second one, then you know how "easy" one is - it's the *bestest* thing in the world. Elisabeth is all smiles already. Such a cutie.

Elisabeth only needs one "meal" a night now, but it's usually around 3/4ish and she mostly wants to be on my arm until 5 or so. Otherwise her tummy is too upset. But I'm rooting for a long night in the upcoming weeks. :-) According to Kind & Gezin we Belgians are a wee bit strict when it comes to night time feedings. Most babies sleep through from around 2 months. Ophelia only did this from four months. So if all goes well/the same, I have two more months to go. *urgh* :-)

Ophelia's vocabulary is advancing at a rapid pace. She's already conjugating verbs. It's so weird to hear her talking so well. Alas she also notices our "shits" 'n' "fucks". :-( We really do need to keep ourselves in check.

Has Sunny ever mentioned that we also have three cats and a Great Dane?

And you should've seen what that Great Dane did to the carpet this morning.

I haven't kept up with this thread for a while, but good luck Ben and the whole Schwantz gang, and congrats to Chris. And to the rest of you, uh, keep up the good work! Except for you, Nath, watch your language!

Yay for possible twins! My friend has a boy and girl and they rock.

Vicky, you are totally doing the right thing by waiting to wean. It is tiring (I remember the 2-hourly feeds well) but it does pass!

Howie is climbing on everything and can't sit still for a second. He can't stay upright though, I am constantly scooping him up off the floor.

I also have a friend with boy/girl twins and they are absolutely great, up with twins! twins or no twins, congrats to chris on such a festive result!

hope ben's surgery goes well, good luck, schwantz! same goes for beeps' tubes. it is uberstressful to think of any of our younguns going through an operation but these doctors know their stuff. my cousin's little boy had tubes put in his ears when he was two and like nathalie says, it didn't take long and it hugely improved the quality of his life.

ava and I are starting swimming lessons tomorrow too, and lulu's first lesson is on thursday. I'm so tired and out of shape that I may sink us all. good luck with aidan's lesson, vicky!

Count me in for another "yay!" for the twins news, but also an under-the-breath "you're in for it now..."

;)

Sunny, just some more reassurance on the tubes - my son had constant ear infections from early early days. We tried every antibiotic available, for 2 years. Which was too long, as it delayed his language development. I was terrified at the thought of him having surgery, but it was very fast and the difference was so immediate. It was so wonderful for him not to constantly be dosed with meds (and the nasty things they did to his tummy).

Chris, I'll echo everyone else in cheering your joyous news!!

I guess I haven't been contributing much to these threads besides pictures, but I do read 'em. Alice has particularly stolen my heart, the smiley little thing! and omg, worried for little Ben. He and Owen bring a smile to my face too, without fail! Best wishes there.

I do have new ones of little Julia:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/pinky2.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/pinky.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/puppydogeyes.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/treetopper.jpg

whoops, forgot the image tags- should be
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/pinky2.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/pinky.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/puppydogeyes.jpg

omg that naked xmas tree one! gorgeous!

yeah, those eyes sure are going to be hard to say no to, once she starts asking.

on second thought though, i guess i should take that one down soon - probably not a good idea to post public links to naked pics of even tiny babies these days. =(

but this is one of my favourites too

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/grimstitch/yellowbean.jpg

ophelia just did the worst hacking cough in the middle of the night again. :-((((( it's weird and worries me. but eventually she asked to be put in her own bed. we begged if we cld put her in our bed but she didn't want to. so whatever makes her happy, right? i think i'll go check on her again after elisabeth decides to fall asleep. it's 3:42 am. *sigh*

oh, kim nekkid xmas baby: so so so cute!!!!

I love all of the Julia pictures. So cute!

julia's eyes haven't gotten any less amazing since the last photo you posted, what a cutester she is!

one nipper first swimming lesson down, one to go. ava only shouted 'out! get me out!' for about a minute yesterday and then she had a great time. it's lulu's turn tomorrow.

lulu today discovered the joy of climbing, and the hurty sadness of falling off a record box and banging her noggin. it happened so quick, she's never hefted her linebacker form up onto anything elevated before! we're going to have to watch that one like a hawk and childproof anew. I saw one of the twins at playgroup this morning scaling tables and cabinets like I'd never seen and I think lulu must've been taking notes!

Our guys have fallen and hit their heads so much, it doesn't even faze us anymore. They've fallen off the sofa, the chairs. We've been catching Owen scaling the baby fence, or standing up on top of his toys. Luckily our house is wood an carpet (no cement), so they bounce back (har har) pretty quickly.

i think sleep deprivation is making me go "red" as my japanese friend used to say. i'm very close to frothing at the mouth when someone mentions sleeping late. heh.

we're going for liesje first immunization shot tomorrow. scary.

We got some great news yesterday. The "area" of Ben's brain is unchanged, which points more to a developmental anomaly than to a tumor. We'll probably end up still going with surgery at some point, but this means that the urgency is lower, and that the potential for any kind of re-occurrence or other growths is VERY low. Yay Ben!

Yay!!

Also, thanks for the tubes reassurance, guys. :)

best news ever, schwantz!

That's awesome news!

One more update - We went to Stanford for a second opinion, and the surgeon there (who's like top guy in the field) thinks we should NOT do surgery unless Ben is having seizures, or if the area is growing. He is unconvinced that it is growing. So, for now, it's looking more like we will hold off on any surgery, at least for a year or two, unless the seizures come back, or if the area starts to grow.

Having said all that... PICTURE TIME!

Owen gets some air time:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/2204617119_f5cf147475.jpg

Owen at the park:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2205413326_546b053dd6.jpg

Ben in his froggy PJs:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2205414342_eb92fd3427.jpg

Potty training update: Edith decided to skip the potty and go straight to the toilet. She is doing very well. I would say it is all done and dusted if I didn't suspect that was tempting fate.

We've *introduced* the potty to Ophelia as well. I place her on the potty after a nappy change. The same day she asked for it, she had told me she had done *poopoo*. Later in the day she asked my mother to sit on the loo. She peed and then freaked out wanting to be taken off. hah!

Eating is a disaster however. She just refuses to eat veggies. We're consciously ignoring it. Also, she's definitely in her terrible twos. She's not really bad, but she has her tantrums. We also decided to step up a bit in regard to disciplining her. We don't care much for "free raising" (as we call it here in Belgium). The other day she just tested us and I simply had it. We decided to be strict again. I simply do not want a screaming kid who refuses to obey her parents. F*ck that. :-)

The kindergarten was a big success. We went back to enroll her and took her along. She loved it! She played with the other kids... and then cried when we left. YAY. And the other day we invited a girl over. It was great seeing her interact. She does this as well in the crèche but this was a one-on-one thing. Obv she cried when she had to share things but that was what I wanted: to let her discover what it's like to play 'n' share.

How do you guys feel about disciplining your kids? How do you do it? Are you rather laissez-faire laissez-passer?

Elisabeth's routine is pretty okay. She wakes up one time in the night for a feeding. Me? I am feeling crap. My immune system is in the dumpster. So why am I sitting here at 11:30? Who knows. :-)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2060/2197850886_87b3904a0e.jpg

Elisabeth with granny. :-)

Third and final post: I knitted both items. Proud? Nah. :-)

Fun "schwantz" fact:

My dad was the original terrible two.

My little Oliver...

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v167/248/29/1061189419/n1061189419_25292_9484.jpg

yay hi everyone, great kids and pixxx

on monday molly took her first steps; she's now given up crawling and just frankensteins it all around the place

Haha, nice. :-)

(That's wonderful news from Chris some posts back -- any update? Crossing fingers!)

yeah hey I didnt say anything to schwantz but yeah, hell yeah

also sunny molly's getting tubes at the end of the month, she and beeps can bond about it when you guys move to madison wisconsin yay

Hi parents! Haven't checked in for a while. Good to hear your young'ns are all doing so well.

My kids are taking turns at being ill at the moment. David was sneezing and coughing and moping around until Friday then passed the baton to Megan who kept it all all weekend with added vomiting then Mark started yesterday and is off school today. No doubt my wife and I will be next.

I'll upload some new pictures tonight if I remember.

Hello!

My mum is taking Alice for her first experience of swimming today. Given that she screams blue murder even getting into the bath, I am awaiting her report with some trepidation... (but also, haha, if she hates it then at least I'm not the one who's taking the heat.)

Sorry for any pronoun confusion there...

schwantz, your grandmother was supercool. the maids of malvern!

lulu and I have both been illing this week, germs sent over from ava, who is obviously learning how to share. lulu's eyes were so gunky that they were glued shut every morning for a week and she didn't eat for four whole days! but she was still knocking back the cow juice so the GP said there was nothing to worry about and sure enough, she can see again and yesterday she started chowing down again. shew! illness has not stopped the little monkey from learning how to climb up on the back of the sofa and bounce up and down like she's about to jump.

nathalie, for discipline we use 'time out' in a corner of the sofa (stairs are too cluttered for a naughty step, mike and I should go in time out) - two minutes since ava's not yet three. I can't remember the last time ava was in time out, it's been months. we only use it for really serious offenses, like biting lulu. almost everything else seems like just part of the learning process. if she's having a tantrum it's usually because she's genuinely frustrated that the world doesn't revolve around her heartfelt worldview (chocolate buttons for breakfast! stickers make boring furniture look so much better! let's all take 5-hour showers every morning!). but if I just leave her to have a little tantrum on her own she'll always get over it in a couple of minutes and cheer up. then she runs in and announces, "I'm happy again!"

hope alice loves the swimming!

A has been snotty, coughing and glue-eyed for months now, ever since the chicken pox which was the end of November. We have now started wondering whether to blame cow's milk - and her symptoms HAVE improved this week since trying her on goat's milk (and oat/rice milk on her cereal). OTOH I've also been ill with one cold after another all winter, so it might just be that we've been unlucky with our contagions.

then she runs in and announces, "I'm happy again!"

this is so beautiful I almost boo-hooed. i cry at everything kid related these days. sometimes i turn on discovery health (ie the 24/7 birth channel) and its a freakin' flood.

beeps has gotten a short reprieve from tubes even though her ears are still sore and fluidy. we got an appointment with the head of pediatrics at our hospital and his theory is you need to be concerned with not the quantity but the length of an ear infection. 3 months is the number, so if shes still like this March 18 then its tubes. He think that since its coming into spring at that point she might escape but hes also wont hesitate with the tubes if he thinks the infections will mess with her language development. SO, we'll see. We still want to come to Wisconsin though! I saw a downtown Green Bay shot last night while watching the NL Championship and was all "OH MY GOD LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS!!!!" to which PP replied "Uh...". I hope Molly does OK. I'll be interested to hear how much it helps her.

O and B look so grown up walking around and Elisabeth has already gotten so much bigger, Nath! Oliver is so gorgeous. All these kids are gorgeous. If any of you ever get sick of them you can send them my way!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2039/2209178298_ced07380c0.jpg

I knitted the cardie. :-)

Oh and Beeps was in her first car accident yesterday. Here she is thinking about running from the cops:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4822/beatcops1hj5.jpg

(as you can see she came out of the crash just fine)

that cardie is beautiful!

does it look like she'll have dark hair, nath?

Very easy to make. It's a pattern by Debbie Bliss and knitted in one piece, the sides are seamed together.

It really does. We think she takes after Mr Nixed. :-)

Beeps is such a cutie! Lucky you, having such a cute driver. ;-)

pedal to the metal, beeps! of course you can outrun the cops! but seriously, glad nobody was hurt, that's scary stuff.

sunny, I cry all the dang time, especially over kid-related stuff but also friends' flickr pictures of places I've never been to which somehow make me homesick for people+places in the states, terrible movies, soppy adverts, radio call-in shows, law+order (!) - it's totally out of my hands. I know your hormones rule you when you're preggers and then later when breastfeeding but mine forgot to go back to normal. it's a source of amusement for mike, natch.

i never got weepy when i was preg and i didnt breastfeed so maybe my hormones are umm late to the party?? i feel like such an idiot but i cant help it.

this is how i found beeps when we arrived home from visiting her grandparents yesterday:

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2416/sockmouthtl6.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1553/sockmouthclosevh1.jpg

Most adorable beeps yet!

(Do the socks have natural sedative properties I wonder, or have you been soaking them in brandy?)

no, but thats a brilliant idea!

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3638/xmasbeatshs2.jpg

wrong photo! forgive my photo craziness today, i lost my camera usb cord before xmas and just found it last night.

here is the one i meant to post:

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7884/fruitbarzwg7.jpg

but I love the christmas one! what are those penguin things? bags of yuletide booty? toys? pillows? what was in the ginormous box on top of the piano? a year's supply of brandy-soaked socks?

what a fabulous festive scene. and the other photos are great too, natch.

the penguins are one big bag. i cant remember what was in it but i do recall she liked the bag much better than its contents. the big box was a radio flyer wagon (wrapped in my little pony xmas paper!).

I'm ready for Elisabeth sleeping through the night. Alas she isn't.
Gotta run, she needs a feeding.

Harumph. :-)

It's so funny how, what with the coloring of the Christmas lights, and the Windsor chair by the piano, and the old fashioned-seeming wrapping paper, that photo of Beeps manages to look like one of OUR generation's baby pictures.

yeah, it really does.

Every time I see the sock-in-mouth photo I start giggling again.

This little one isn't mine, except in the sense that he is ONE OF US...I bring you my nephew:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2297/2216781658_4b0f55f154.jpg

So happy and bright! How old is he?

Four mos now almost exactly! I want to eat him and keep him inside forever.

i bet! does he live near you?

No, not at all: my sister lives in Michigan near my parents and I'm in NYC. Dunno when I'll see the neph again, but he really was a pleasure at Christmas hols. We basically fought over holding him for long periods.

Take 2:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2254/2216781656_745486514d.jpg?v=0

he's cute now but I bet those eyes = superfox by late teens

He definitely got the eyelashes from his dad, those starry eyes don't run in MY family.

okay, we are beginning to think babies got swapped at the hospital - beeps doesnt like spaghetti OR cheese. WTF? if she had her way all she would eat is squash and sweet potato.

also, she took two unassisted baby steps toward PP about 10 days ago. YAY! nothing since though.

I was holding a sweet potato in my hands when she did that.

Don't want to count our chickens, but Ava & Lulu seem to be emerging from their latest bouts of snotdom. (Only today a neighbourhood mum emailed that her youngest was suffering from hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and Ava has had the mouth symptoms (so did we, actually), but nothing else...so maybe she's about to embark on another viral journey of misery altogether).

Here's Ava planning world domination...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2299/2237341375_d1202f2c20.jpg

Molly was having such a good time pointing to all these kid pictures that we thought we should put this new pic up there:
http://i29.tinypic.com/15y68gi.jpg

What a star. (Who is MONSTER CAT back there?)

That's Jake, he was just hanging out. And he's not really all that big, it's just the perspective. (You should see Abe, for instance -- THAT one is a monster.)

I've been taking terribly grainy photos with my film slr.... here's aidan a few weeks ago:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2237864522_bf06248749_b.jpg

Happy Pamcakes Day!

(The Boy flips out)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nedtrifle/2245019332/"; title="The Boy flips out for Pancake Day by Ned Trifle, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/2245019332_17d5d1572f.jpg"; width="375" height="500" alt="The Boy flips out for Pancake Day" /></a>

Darnation...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/2245019332_17d5d1572f.jpg

Have I mentioned your son rules? And a cook at that, he is in fine company.

a recent pic of da gyrlz:

http://www.appelstein.com/ea.jpg

Esther has insisted on wearing that velour dress EVERY DAY for the past couple of weeks, btw. She gets very upset when she hears it's in the wash.

I should also mention that I'm going to a dad's Valentine's Day brunch at E's preschool this weekend. I am more excited about this than just about any rock show I've attended for the past few years. Seriously.

Some pics from December:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2039/2245311012_56fbe68481.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/2244516659_9ce7d10db6.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2089/2244515243_ab0270cefc.jpg

Okay how is it that all your kids are so REDONK?? Especially that chipmunk on the right, he's amazing...

I know not what REDONK is. He definitely has the chipmunk cheek thing going on there though.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2114/2244519233_a0f536ec82.jpg

REDONKORATED

i wish i could see that but no flickr at work :(

guys, im looking for a toddler carseat for beeps and ive decided on the grace safeseat step 2. the question is, which material to get it in. a lot of them have the shiny material which is supposed to reduce heat but some epoeple in amazon reviews etc say it actually seems to make their kids sweaty. does anyone have any experience with this stuff in summer?

grace = graco, of course

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/images/2008/02/14/img_7243_6.jpg

Charlotte expressing her freedom of choice.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/2265942331_d37f5d91fa.jpg

Ok, I've been off ILX for a while now, but decided to come back and plaster this pic of Liesje on the parenting thread. She's almost four months and NOT READY for sleeping through the night AT ALL. Most evenings/nights she wakes up every couple of hours (three to four, sometimes two). It's driving me completely bonkers tbh. I can handle the days (or rather daaazzzzeee) but nights? Meh. Double meh with urgh on top. Ophelia slept through at 2,5 months. I know I shouldn't compare, but when most books tell you that the majority does and when I visit Kind&Gezin (Child Care Organisation) every f*cking mother raves about her kid sleeping through at 1,5 months (I know I am exaggerating) then I want to SCREAM: WHY NOT ME??? I AM F#CKING OUT OF MY F#CKING MIND.
Clever me also taught Lliesje that going to sleep with a pacifier is lots of fun so now she wakes up and cries for a pacifier. Better than thumbsucking, I know, but not good for added sleep deprivation. Last night I completely lost it as she woke up at 9ish, half past midnight, 2:30 and so on. *sigh* And on top of that Ophelia has a urine infection again which meant that she slept with my husband a couple of nights and then one night with us. Slept? Well, no, she was in bed chattering away most of the time.

But all in all I am doing pretty fine. Completely in love with both my kids. I love how they look at eachother and then Ophelia says:"Liesje SMILES!" Brings tears to my eyes, it really does.

I've been *training* Ophelia the colours after hearing the kindergarten principal say that in the last year of kindergarten still don't know the colours. I was obsessed with O knowing all the colours. Now she goes around pointing at all objects saying its colours. Oops. :-) Next step seems to be counting. She's really up for it. Yes, I'm convinced my kid's SUPAHCLEVAH. :-)

BTW that's a sweater I knitted. This is why I'm not on ILX so much anymore, too busy nursing and knitting. :-)

Ahhh, her crown's slipped off...

All our kids are superclever!

It's "slanted and enchanted". :-)

Nice one, Alex. I think I've posted the pic of E wearing my energy dome, freshly signed by Mark Mothersbaugh at his art opening in STL.

My wife and I are going to the cinema tonight! We have a babysitter! The babysitter is a fellow mum! How did I swing this major reallocation of resources? Made sure the film was about a baby! (It is "Juno".)

New (not great quality) photos of Alice:

Dinner
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2269172141_0bd1abb8b2.jpg?v=1203197754

Pudding
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2319/2269172147_acce564a15.jpg?v=0

Post-prandial listening?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/2269172145_cef2ba0244.jpg?v=1203197824

Ava turned three last Thursday! We have kept her birthday celebrations going on for a full four days with staggered gift-opening and a weekend barn party at Godstone Farm in Surrey (with 30-odd guests, three of whom were also celebrating b'days). And how does she react to this extravaganza of presents and cake?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2269564197_9a9352e587.jpg

I don't mean to single anyone out, but Michael -- Ava is so photogenic that it's palpably terrifying. Seriously, every shot of her looks like something by Mary Ellen Mark. Good lord.

It's true. Have you not considered selling her into a child-modelling career? She could bankroll the lot of you :)

Seriously - that "world domination" shot? That's a fuckin' album cover if I ever saw one.

You are very kind. I suppose we could submit an image to an agency, it couldn't do any harm. If they wanted her to be the acceptable face of chemical weapons exports, we could always say no. Unless the money was amazin'.

Just so Tallulah doesn't feel left out, here she is as some kind of Dr Seuss character:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2201/2269568965_fd30e2696d.jpg

E after a busy Valentine's Day:

http://www.appelstein.com/postvd.jpg

aww..yay for love!

It just gets better and better doesn't it?! At the minute anyway! I can't believe that Aidan's 6 months already.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/2273473463_5e234117bc.jpg

We're getting adventurous with the food, the other week he tried a vegetable pakora, and gnocchi with pesto is a firm favourite

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2276/2252717661_ab625f4e45.jpg

wow! beeps is still eating squash from a jar. mostly because, besides chocolate pancakes, thats about all she likes.

once again, i wish i could see these flickr photos at work :(

Hey Alice's daddio with the fruit posing gave me an idea - we should all do THEME photos. Like someone picks a theme and we all take photos of our kids around that theme. It could be holding something or being somewhere or doing something etc. Could be fun?

BTW - AlexinNYC absolutely OTM. Also Lulu is the epitome of a 'gap baby' model too

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2321/2258212846_7862ca039d_m.jpg

Can I just say: going to the doctor is GREBT. We discovered she had water in her ears (as she has a mild cold) which caused pressure, hence waking up more.

Also, hey, SWADDLING ruls and so does putting a baby in a seperate room.

Result: MUCH more sleep for baby and parents.

HURRAH.

Also, no ferberizing needed at all (for mommy). Daddy forgot to swaddle and had to ferberize.

BTW very tempted to breastfeed exclusively till six months. VERY tempted. She's almost 4 mo now!

If you can do it, do it!

Time for more pictures...

Owen rocks out
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/2280266275_b5015e93b7.jpg

Happy Ben
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2097/2281052998_18e4a56d60.jpg

Hanging out on the couch
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2276/2281053196_f08ef253d6.jpg

cute!

its beeps' birthday on sunday! yay!

we've got the forward facing carseat and cow's milk ready to go. good riddance to spending $54 a week on formula. weee!

yay for beeps hitting that milestone! perhaps you should celebrate with some babe disco:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7254296.stm

featuring my fave pull-quote of the day: "some people actually borrow kids to come here with"

Happy birthday Beeps! Howie's birthday was on Sunday. He has been in the forward-facing seat for ages now, he is one tall baby. No cow's milk for us, though, as he is allergic to it. Luckily he has no such problem with breastmilk, although he has recently started sticking both hands down my top when he's hungry. Note to self: teach the boy some table manners!

Growing up:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2293728990_1ea22e2674.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2037/2292945397_57b90cd7e1.jpg

edith looks like shes making coffee for a friend off camera who is telling her a juicy piece of gossip. so beautiful!

and happy birthday, howie! ive wondered for some time if beats should be in a front facing seat (she was 31.5" (79cm) at 9 months)but the websites i read were so insistent about not putting kids in a front facing seat until theyre one that I put it off. she is spilling out of the rear facing seat and her feet are squished against the back of the seat. seems more dangerous to be squished in to me but im too scared to make those kind of decisions myself. anyway, its going to be fun being able to chat to her in the "conversation mirror".

do you have any birthday pics, Meg? did you have a party? we're just having some family over.

that baby disco sounds like fun! here they have an annual "daddy daughter ball" where the dads dress up in tuxes and the daughters wear gowns. no moms allowed. so cute. beeps can only walk a few feet before she falls down so she might have to wait until next year.

beeps can only walk a few feet before she falls down

She takes after her father.

Edith is completely amazing. I love her. Is there an extra?

Oliver's first big snow day last week

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/images/2008/02/22/img_7265_3.jpg

Charlotte was a bit more stoic about it.
http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/images/2008/02/22/img_7259_2.jpg

Charlotte's hat is so great. She's got a "Yeah, I've seen snow before, Dad" look. Oliver looks so happy. Look at his snowy mittens! I wished it snowed more here.

Its really hard to get a non-blurry photo of Beatrice these days but here a couple of only slightly blurry ones:

Hanging out on our bed:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6319/prettykittyml0.jpg

Posing for a "happy birthday" picture for her Australian cousin:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9607/hbclaudiaww6.jpg

It only occurred to me last week that it might snow when we go visit my sister in Rye, NY next week! I'm not really looking forward to the flight, Aidan's learnt to crawl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98eRZ5FZmsA) and just never stops moving so I get the fear every time I think about the 7hrs 50mins flight.

Happy birthday Howie! And Happy Birthday on sunday Beeps! Goodness, that flew by, didn't it?!

Sunny, I've read lots about how much safer it is to have them rear facing for as long as possible too, here in the UK it's not such a widely discussed issue, most people turn them round as soon as they fit into a forward facing carseat.

Natalie, did you wean Ophelia earlier then? We were going to wait until 6 months but decided to do baby led weaning - i.e. finger food, from the get go and apparently if they can pick up food, get it into their mouth and swallow it then they're ready, and Aidan eat some carrot at about 5 months and a week.

That's odd. My sister lives in Rye as well. And her name is Vicky.

Oooh, got any 7 month old friendly tips for Rye/NYC then?! We're planning on making sure we go to any proper restaurants at off-peak times, we've been told that Otto would be a good place to go early evening.

Is Manhattan really as stroller unfriendly as we've been led to believe? We're planning on buying a back pack baby carrier when we get over there to make getting around a little easier.

Is Manhattan really as stroller unfriendly as we've been led to believe?

Parts of it, especially downtown (Soho's cobblestones and thin sidewalks are palpably stroller-hostile).

I think the subways are inherently stroller-unfriendly, and between stairs and turnstiles and getting on/off trains, are guaranteed to make you wish you'd done something else instead (like vacationed somewhere without subways).

Hah. You guys must be JOKING. Come live in my city which has no subway but every pavement is slanted to the max and streets have "klinkers" and cobblestones. Compared with that, subways are the bomb.

Man, it's already four months ago that I delivered Elisabeth into this cold hard world (to quote Falco). Time flies with one kid, but it *swooshes* by when you have two (sick) kids. It's been a rough couple of weeks with Ophelia having a urine infection and also a little bit of a virus which she passed on to my husband and also Elisabeth. The latter started to puke the other night, projectile wise on mummy and everywhere else. Not a fun thing to behold but I know that this too shall pass. :-)

Vicky, I think we started with solids when she was nearly five months old. Mostly because teh feeding chair hadn't arrived in the shop. We did it once when she was exactly four months old, mostly because we were so excited to enter a new phase in her life, I guess. With Ophelia (first born) I was so excited to do new htings and couldn't wait for her to grow up. With Elisabeth, which is the second and last child (though you never know!), I want to wait and enjoy everything a bit more, I guess. I'm not sure if I can hold out another two months though. Although I love breastfeeding, I do sometimes... certainly not dislike it, but it can be somewhat inconvenient because you have to plan around it, especially when you're feeding every two hours. But what am I saying, I love to breastfeed. I am extremely happy I was/am able to. :-)
It's a very strange experienced seeing something *foreign* (not mummy's milk) enter their body. I must be a freak for thinking that. But really it WAS (and will be) freaky: you're so used to pumping milk into their body, it was kind of alien to see Ophelia eat something out of a pot. hah.

Ophelia had a terrible week: urine infection, guests in the house who wake her up VERY early and that virus. She was so *strange*: flopping on the ground and cranky and sh*t. We had her blood tested but it seems to be tiredness and maybe a bit of a growth spurt? She's also displaying new behavior: manipulation. Funny but at times GRRRRRRR. For example she has the tendency to let herself fall or knock against something and then say "PAAAAAIIIIN!" or start to cry. Or just moan or whatever. She has also dropped me as fave and now daddy is numero uno.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2297344237_c43da3edf7_m.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2281147015_9d95fca3cf.jpg

I waited til 6 months to start Howie on solids -- when breastfeeding is so damn convenient, I couldn't see any rush to start complicating things. I think I am a bit of a freak for doing this, though -- most people I know in RL got out the purees much earlier.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1571/bdaycakely4.th.jpg

Howie's birthday cake...

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1571/bdaycakely4.jpg

Sorry, this should be the right size.

aidan & vic on a horsey:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2299197406_40e794ed7a.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v216/213/42/619069358/n619069358_705277_5933.jpg

Oliver preparing to pass judgement.

ha. Cutest judge ever.

So it was book week at school and on friday the children go to school as their favourite book character and Child No.2 IS Lola from the Charlie and Lola books.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2144/2315812193_26d944b66d.jpg

Holy shit - don't post this on the internet, you'll get sued for copyright infringement!

(I met the author once - she is TOTALLY HOTT)

that dress! id totally wear it.

STOP PRESS! Potty training regression (just after Cardiff took the lead).

Amazingly, Edith pissed on me just after West Brom took the lead. Perhaps she is trying to tell me something.

Anyway, here is a picture from happier times:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3010/2313561435_cd0d7027ab.jpg

that dress! id totally wear it.

-- sunny successor, Sunday, 9 March 2008 03:59 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

It was available in adult sizes, my friend bought one!

parents, how do you start your kid on peanut butter? dial 91 and leave finger poised over the 1 while they take their first bite?

have a plastic tube from a dismantled ballpoint pen ready for an emergency trachiotomy?

Drive to the hospital and give it to 'em in the parking lot.

Wow, I have never even considered worrying about this! I guess if one of you (the parents) or yr family members has ever had food allergies, you're a lot more aware....

I dunno, this might be paranoid but maybe put a schmear of it on their skin somewhere and see if it rashes/gets hives? That'd be extreme, I guess, but at least you'd know.

Thats a good idea, L. I'll probably end up doing it rock hardy's way though! I dont remember anyone having allergies when I was a kid. Maybe seasonal ones. Certainly not peanut allergies.

I bought a cookbook for toddler recipes because I figure I'm going to have to quit the baby food soon. Later, I realized it was written by a Brit and a lot of the receipes for 12+ months have either something peanut based or involve whole eggs. My pediatricians says not peanut oil, honey or egg whites until 2 y/o. I wonder who is right? I know my Australian BFF is giving her 16 month old all of those things.

not = no, of course

yeah we just gave our kid peanut butter when he was about 14 months old. then the doctor said "wait until he's at least 18 months old, or as long as you can" and we decided fuck it around 17 months. he doesn't seem to like it very much but no ill effects. No-one in the family has nut allergies though, just hay fever. The whole nut allergy thing seems quite mysterious and strange, they certainly say it's on the rise, and we know a few kids who can't have even almond oil near their skin....

also, how long do these terrible twos tantrums last? Ian is almost 21 months old but has done everything early: talking, walking, etc; downside is that he's doing his tantrums and fits now as well. Holy god, try to put a sun hat on the kid and prepare yourself for an hour of misery.

i heard they last until 4 or 5 :(:(:(

my niece did the terrible two from 3-4 y/o

ok pics time:

beeps covered in cake at 1st bday party:
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/7453/birthday1sa6.jpg
beeps in snow:
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3093/snow7ve9.jpg

That face really says "PICK ME UP. NOW. COLD. STRANGE. MAAAMMAAAAAA!" Kekeke

Oliver is Two Years Old Today:

http://vassifer.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/10/playground_3.jpeg

fark
http://vassifer.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/10/playground_3.jpeg

http://vassifer.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/10/playground_3.jpeg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2322218201_79dc7eb39b_b.jpg

as always, the ilx posse does not disappoint, are there any cuter kids on the planet?? happy birthday, all! howie's cake was fab. it's too bad we don't all live closer so we could have a group partay. everyone could come dressed as charlie and/or lola (or marv or lotta or sizzles). I for one would be very happy to have lola's wardrobe as my own. and excuse me but her house decor should be completely and totally mine.

I gave ava peanut butter when she was about two, and I had that momentary fear that you get when you're about to drill a hole in the wall and you're only 99.9% sure there's not an electric line underneath. but we were raised on peanut butter so I was pretty sure it would be ok. the midwives have said wait till they're three for nuts, but ava isn't a huge fan of meaty things and when she went off hummous for a while I was worried she wasn't getting enough protein. I know so many younguns with serious allergies, and I don't remember knowing anybody with them when I was growing up. I feel for the kids - ava's pal sofia can't be within 2 feet of an egg or any milk products or she breaks out in awful hives. thank heavens for claudio at our cafe, who will happily make a soy babiccino for her when all the other kids are having their l'il fake frothy milk 'coffees'.

In the UK we're told honey and eggs are fine after 1yr. Nuts are OK after a year if there are no allergies in the family, but if there are then you are supposed to steer clear til they're 3 or 4 (I think). Howie's being tested for nut allergy (among others) so we haven't given him any yet.

I love Aidan's wrap, what kind is it? We've got an Ergo but Howie is kinda getting a bit big and wriggly for it.

Also I am gutted that we haven't had any snow this winter so haven't got any cute snow-baby pics :(

It's an 'ultimate baby wrap' Meg, but I don't think you can get it in the uk, it's $40 in the US, if you really wanted one I could sort out shipping for you. In theory it will take him until he's three, but if I don't put it on tight enough then I get backache after just a little while. He doesn't wriggle in it at all though.

Happy second birthday Oliver!

Re. allergies, I thought that it wasn't the first time that was the problem, but the second, but I can't find anything to back that up. I did find this though http://en.allexperts.com/q/Pediatrics-1429/Introducing-Peanut-Butter.htm

We gave the boys almond butter around 1 year, and peanuts around 14 months. Neither of us have any allergies, so we weren't too worried. At around 8 months, we tried eggs, and we THINK that may have been what caused Owen to throw up and get hives all over his body, so we held off for a while. Now, though, he can eat all kinds of stuff with eggs in, with no ill effects, but I don't think Tracy has tried to give them straight-up eggs again yet.

More pictures!

Ben in the stroller with his new lion friend:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2270/2325260803_b7ee86bdd8.jpg

Owen setting up for a Superman seat-grab:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2244/2305398549_4b3c8d56dd.jpg

Oh yeah - our new camera comes today, so hopefully the pictures will get fancier soon ;)

Ooh, the Pentax DSLRs look ace! I think Brapps of this parish have one and they've taken many adorable pix of their little 'un with it.

I can't believe how cheap this is on Amazon US and I'd recommend it for indoor kid photography (our 50/1.8 barely left the camera in about 9 months), but the last thing you want to hear after buying a DSLR is "spend more money". A 50/1.4 for £90 equivalent though!

Yeah, I don't think my wife will go for another 200 bucks (well, 180 with my 10% employee discount! ;P) right now, but I will keep it in mind. Judging from your photos, you are the expert!

Judging by your first efforts with the K200D on Flickr, you don't need any help from me! (Funny how I could tell from the first thumbnail that they were SLR shots).

Thanks! They have a bit of a reddish cast, but I can fix that in iPhoto/Photoshop with some curve-tweaking. I also need to look at the color settings in-camera. That lens looks pretty sweet. I'll have to see about saving up for that in the next few months. Looks like I'm on my way down the SLR money-hole.

Here are a couple of my first attempts. My boys like the taste of blocks.
Owen:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2015/2327596957_f9f6725dce.jpg

Ben:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2022/2327593501_ee984df9c5.jpg

After reading your comments, my wife thought it would be a good idea, so we got the lens! I'll be in China when it gets here, but hopefully I'll have some shots up in a couple weeks...

Yay! You can't beat a fast prime and the Pentax 50/1.4 should be a great lens for photographing increasingly-mobile kiddies.

No more night time feedings but we do have to get up about FIVE FUCKING times per night.
Can I just say: I am exhausted.

The doc at Kind & Gezin said I should wait half an hour. "Studies have shown babies can deal better with falling asleep this way." Yeah, riiiight, they are too tired to cry anymore.

currently weathering my sixth grader's first big crush. OMG he's really obsessed w/this girl, it'd be almost funny if it wasn't so painful and confusing for him. the last six months have been a period of rapid-fire change. still a kid last summer now he's totally concerned w/BEING COOL and generally acting like a teenager.

m1: "would you please clean yr room/get ready for school/get dressed etc"

m2: "STOP RUINING MY LIFE DAD"

Oh, Nate, it sounds rough! You seem to be at the docs all the time. But you know they will sleep in the end!

Also my Year 5 son has started sending txts to his friend (who is a girl). I see trouble ahead.

We had really ONE night where we let the boys cry for 45 minutes, and then the next night they started sleeping through the night, for the most part. It was a brutal night, but it was worth it.

Nath: how old is she? Could she still be hungry at night (growth spurt or something)? Personally I was not happy to stop night feeds until Howie was well established on solids (around 9 months). Then I knew that the wakings were just habit rather than hunger.

Though I should add that I'm not against sleep training per se, it worked for us when nothing else did! Just that I know a lot of babies go through a mega hunger/growth spurt around 4/5 months, which can cause them to want to feed loads at night (when your milk production is highest). Anyway I'm sure you know all this :)

Y'know, I can tell much better with Elisabeth when she's hungry and/or hungry. When I go to her (in the middle of the night) and give her a pacifier she falls back asleep immediately. I'm pretty sure it's not hunger. She's been off night time feedings for three nights now. I think I could have stopped earlier but I was sort of... I felt like I had to be sure? Anyway I think the main problem is that I got her used to the pacifier as a way to fall asleep. As a result she now NEEDS it. I'll gently ferberize and see how it goes. Gently as in two minutes. And maybe when I'm ready two minutes? I find it all very funny in a way: the doctor said she had a study which showed 30 minutes (ferberizing) was ACE but then you have others who claim that if you ferberize for ten minutes or more the stress hormones (or whatever) skyrocket which prove they are right in thinking that kids can't handle it. Christ, for every opinion there's a study that proves theyare right. hah.

I'll be starting solids at 5,5 months. Not earlier. Maybe a bit later. But I think 5,5 is ideal cause at 6 months she'll be going to the creche for two half days a week. I don't want to introduce two new things at once. And maybe if by six months she can handle only a solid meal (sans mommy milk), I don't need to go to the creche for a feeding (which I can easily do as it's only a two minute walk away).

hungry and/or sleepy, I mean. :-)

it really is worth getting a 50mm:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2332346245_c1f2bde90e.jpg

What a fat little guppie!! Oh I can't wait to meet him.

ah! Monday - lunch or post-work?

That pic sells a fast prime better than any of my recommendations!

Oh my God. He is honestly one of the cutest babies I've ever seen. Baby lust not helped by these adorable kids people!

aw, we want aidan back in the hood, we miss him! (and you guys too, natch). so just finish up that mac-n-cheesefest and buy some extra luggage to shove all those amazing yankee baby clothes bargains in and get back already.

as I type ava and mike are in your house, drinking your beer, leaving pizza delivery boxes strewn about and preparing toffee and rhubarb for constant papping with the new camera upon your return.

hey parents of ILX.

Can anyone recommend a safe baby gate that can be used at the top AND bottom of stairs?

I think most of the ones we looked at work at top and bottom -- you just need one that can open whichever way you need, I guess. We went for one like this as it doesn't have a bar to trip over.

The one I bought was totally crap.Also as we have old staircases it never fits. :-( So the cheap option: running after her the entire time.

I had a GREAT night: woke up every hour because Liesje was crying. *sigh* I am beginning to consider "crying it out" cause if it's not Liesje, it'll be me. ;-)

I don't know nothing bout baby gates, all I know is that I had dinner with Aidan last night and there is nothing funnier IN THIS WORLD than that one and his da getting up to something. Although I don't think A likes my laugh.

Aw, yay for Aidan living it up stateside.

This is somewhat embarrassing given all the proper cameras/photography on this thread lately, but:

Grumpy with pear
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2345776606_57a4759bd7.jpg?v=0

Thoughtful on bus
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/2344948771_16a308cd51.jpg?v=0

From above
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/2345776664_132a97783f.jpg?v=0

Having a point

Er, I mean
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2351/2345776744_0f5d1a93c7.jpg?v=0

I'll include Beeps in this as well, but based on our pictures, Archel, I'm worried that our babies are fascists.

Haha, I know! Only this morning we were remarking on the strange irony of babies starting out looking like Winston Churchill, but growing to resemble (in Alice's case anyway) Hitler.

We didn't have a stairgate for child no.2 - we got so blase about child no.2! And she has the worst 'safety sense'. Twice I've had to save her from drowning.

Aww, these babies are all growing up!

I had a horrible migraine attack last night (nauseousness and near vomiting incl) so I couldn't get up as much as previous nights. She fell back asleep. Didn't put her off so it seems: during the day she was chipper as ever. I guess I'll have to let her cry a little bit. She has to learn to fall asleep on her own.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/2336715701_d86198a84e.jpg

Everyone is sick again. Even though Ophelia is taking Bactrim (for impending urine checkup), she has a slight fever and seems to have bronchitis like my husband. ARGH! When will it STOOOOOOP! :-)

David, when did you do the 45 min crying it out experience?

i never noticed how blue alice's eyes are. like a blue crystal or something. beautiful.

nath, didnt liesje have much darker hair?

i have this horrible feeling we completely messed the sleep thing up with beeps without realizing it.

she has slept through the night since she was 5 wks but heres the thing i realized: we rock her to sleep EVERY NIGHT. Do we need to cut this out? Is it going to cause problems later on. Ive only seen her fall asleep in the crib a few times.

Megan is six months old and I still have to rock her to sleep. She just gets crazy if I try putting her in her crib to fall asleep on her own, and I'm too much of a wimp to let her cry it out for any extended period of time.

stevie - I think we did it around 6-7 months, but that time is a total blur. We did it a bit early out of necessity, though - twins require extreme measures. I think if we only had one kid, we would have waited a few more months. And it's not like they ALWAYS sleep through the night. Teething wakes them up from time to time, and now-and-then they will just wake themselves up (bad dream?). BTW, that is one cute picture - what a sweet little Tintin 'do!

More pictures (loving the new camera...)

Owen, right before doing a face-plant onto the grass (dig the mischievous face):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/2339348612_4bb33795bd.jpg

Ben:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2339323542_39d7c80220.jpg

Owen:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/2339321700_6ac7da211d.jpg

beautiful blue peepers on alice and liesje! but I wouldn't like to meet grumpy alice in a dark alley behind a fruit stand, she looks like she's gonna bean somebody with that pear and she doesn't mean to miss, ha.

crying it out never worked for ava and she hasn't slept a whole night through in months and months, but lulu is so different. she has her wake-up-shouty moments occasionally but soothes herself back to sleep. she doesn't cry, though, it's more like a few protest shouts that turn into chatting and giggling and then she sacks out again. if it was crying the way ava does I'd crack in a heartbeat and we'd be shopping for a kingsize bed to accommodate the whole fam.

ben and owen are looking like full-on boys now, so cute!

lulu was having a bad time with her teeth a couple of weeks ago and could only fall asleep if I rocked her - good god the tiny brick house that she is nearly put my back out. but it's so wonderful when they fall asleep on your neck, I love that. I'm sure I've said before that I'm very much in the whatever-it-takes camp when it comes to getting the babes (and as a result yourself) some good shuteye - give me lovely rocking and co-sleeping any day of the week over hours of crazy yelling. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on that front, I know a midwife or 10 who would so not agree. I can't see it causing major trouble down the line though if we ever went out, I suspect we'd arrive home to find ava and the babysitter sitting on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn watching the midnight movie.

Sunny: if she sleeps through the night then I don't see why rocking to sleep is a problem. I wouldn't feel under pressure to change it if it works for you all (and it sounds like it does!). As she gets older then you can introduce new routines at a rate you are all comfortable with. For toddlers I believe a 'gradual withdrawal' method is often recommended, where you start by feeding/rocking/cuddling to sleep, then over a few days for each step gradually reduce the amount of contact then move further away from the cot and out of the room. I think there's more info about it in this which is my favourite book about sleep.

Well, it's all debatable, really. They advise against it because this way Beeps will only fall asleep with you rocking her, instead of being able to fall asleep on her own. But hey do YOU know anyone who's daddy/mommy still rocks him/her to sleep when s/he's 34? Guess not. All these rules and studies and whatnot, I don't give a shit anymore. Well, I do, but I also try to think:"What the hell, I'm gonna do what I feel most comfortable with." (Easier said than done, I know!) The most helpful thing for me was swaddling Liesje. Didn't seem to work for Ophelia but then she slept through (seven to seven) from four months! Now I realize how blessed I was! I knew then as well but didn't realize how much until I had to wake up EVERY FRIGGING HOUR for Elisabeth. Now I let her cry for a maximum of ten minutes. It works: she wimpers a bit and then falls back to sleep after about eight minutes or less.
But one day you will have to let Beeps fall asleep on her own. I think in time she'll manage on her own and if not, you'll have to CIO (cry it out). Don't worry, I don't think she'll have a trauma because of it. ;-) What I mean is: do what you feel is right. What makes you feel best. Rock her to sleep? Well, fuck all the books and do it! :-)

That said, I do still fret a lot. I worry an insane amount whether I give Ophelia enough attention. How she pushes me away and goes to daddy. :-) But I have to realize that, well, she's in her terrible twos, I love her to bits and she can do what she wants. Well, within bounderies. ;-)

Oh yeah, I'm probably enrolling her in tennis class. Kim Clijsters II here she comes! ;-)

Playing with the 300 Lightroom presets...here are our little Spartans:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/2349469183_fe59474702.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/2349815776_f224c56ac8.jpg

"Come home with your split single, or on it."

We recently discovered a great tool for getting our 7-year old hooked on reading: The Junie B. Jones book series. She can't get enough of it. She reads it all the time; with us, on her own, before she goes to sleep, when she wakes up. She was already reading independently, but it seemed like a chore. Now she's inspired to read, and we're thrilled.

I will file that junie b jones suggestion away for a bit later, it's great to find stuff they go bananas for, isn't it? it's all dr seuss and moomins and my uncle is a hunkle round here at the moment but I'm going to start buying lemony snicket and nancy drew any old day now to stash away for later.

ava and lulu had their first sleepover last night at their pal luke's house. luke's mum offered to keep them overnight so mike and I could go out to the same gig together. we go out separately now and again while the other one stays home to wrangle but this was our first night out with each other in three years, wahoo! ava had a blast and slept the whole night through, which she never does in her own bed, and we had a great night. we've really got to try harder on the babysitter front, you don't realise you miss going out until you do it again!

We're having a babysitter over three nights this week. A new record! This calls for more pictures!

Ben plays harmonica for our friend Angela:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/2374609307_fb40ee6897.jpg

Ben reads to me:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2064/2375437424_cbe96575cf.jpg

And here's a video of Ben counting backward from ten (with some help from Owen and his mom)!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iYvNyghecMQ

OK, that's a lot of Ben... Next time around it'll be Owen's turn.

Big book and scraped knee!

We just got back from taking our 7-year old daughter to her first opera, a dress rehersal of the Florida Grand Opera's performance of La Boheme. She slept thru the last act (just as well; Mimi dies), but before that she was totally into it, taking everything in, staying (basically) quiet during the show (dress rehersals = way more relaxed), asking the right questions at intermission, following the plot. I'm always a ''proud parent''-type, but tonight even moreso.

Howie is obsessed with books at the moment. He demands to be read to over and over again (thrusting the book towards whoever is nearest, with an insistent "Ah! Ah! Ah!").

Having a babysitter is great. Sadly we don't really know anyone nearby who can do it so whenever my parents come to stay, we make a run for the pub.

thrusting the book towards whoever is nearest, with an insistent "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

I am often awoken with "BOOOOOOOK!" then the corner of a hardback hitting my temple. Current favourites are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and "Little Tiger: I Don't Want To Go To Bed!"

beeps isnt really interested in books. she has some favorites but i think she likes them because things pop up or tunes play. when i try to read to her she tries to flip to the next page like yeah yeah yeah what's next??

midwives or obgyn?

obgyn

obgyn and a doula?

oh god whats a doula?

do i want to know (considering having a kid hasnt reduced the gross out factor of birth for me at all)

midwives! If there are no complicating factors and a hospital to transfer to nearby in the unlikely event of an emergency

A doula is someone who will give you support and speak up for you in childbirth, for a fee

oh. i cant even imagine whats going on over in the UK to need someone like that.

i <3 my obgyn

SS, it's somewhat different. A doula will help you even after delivery.

A doula is an experienced, non-medical assistant who provides physical, emotional and informed choice support in prenatal care, during childbirth and during the postpartum period. (wikipedia)

I didn't have one but I would def recommend it. :-)

I stopped swaddling and by god it seems Elisabeth has gotten the hang of sleeping. Crossing my fingers. I'm sure I jinxed it now I posted it. ;-)

Ophelia is however sick again. A nasty cough. :-(

Next time (if there is one!) I am going to have a doula. Midwives are great but there just aren't enough of them at UK hospitals, you don't get any continuity of care.

I don't really know what an obgyn is!

meg, it's an obstetrician - gynaecologist.

I see, I don't think we really have them over here. You see a midwife through your pregnancy then have the choice to give birth at home, in a midwife-led unit or a consultant-led ward. I really like the idea of a home birth but only if they invent an epidural you can have in your living room ;-)

haha. yeah.

are midwives ever men?

yes, ss, i know of one. but it's a rarity. :-)

is it my imagination, or did everyone stop posting pictures after that "do you want to have kids" thread?

Here's a few of Owen:

Owen with his first Thomas toy (he is already addicted to Thomas):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/2410617598_00f6291757.jpg

Owen reading to his mommy:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2410608720_dc736ce8db.jpg

Owen, close-up:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/2393934990_207de2a605.jpg

here's a pic of abby that really sums up her personality these days, equal parts adorable and mischievous:

http://www.appelstein.com/daddyabby.jpg

it's as if you can see her thinking, "what can i get into next?"

re crying it out: we didn't really do it for either one. c and i have used many elements of of attachment parenting for both kids, which includes co-sleeping. i know that there are some that warn that co-sleeping makes the kids needy and dependent, but we haven't seen that with either one. if anything, it took the edge off of moving them into separate rooms. take abby: as an infant, she cried and cried for hours at bedtime. the moment we moved her into her own room (about 11-12 months old), the crying stopped almost completely. she's got a wicked independent streak anyway.

I posted this already on the cellpwn thread:

http://www.axcessmypics.com/photos/photo05/95/60/14e0e00e3c9e.jpg

Beeps backseat drivin'.

backseat telekinesisin'!

where is everyone? pick up the photo pace, people.
Here are some beeps at the zoo pics:

On the carousel:
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/792/zoobeats1tp4.jpg
Chillin
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3606/zoobeats2mm8.jpg
Her best elephant impression:
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7357/zoobeats3rl8.jpg

Yay for Beeps!

No arty shots this time, but something a bit more representative of home life - which is, increasingly, Ava and Lulu playing together reasonably harmoniously. There are still tears and tantrums but also some unprovoked bouts of sharing and cooperation - Ava is fiercely protective of little sis and gets wobbly-lip upset when I tell Lulu off... "Don't talk to my sister like THAT!"

You can guess what happened next here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2235/2410584208_c2d0aa379f.jpg

Story time:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2442046416_9322ab0d7d.jpg

Ava is fiercely protective of little sis and gets wobbly-lip upset when I tell Lulu off... "Don't talk to my sister like THAT!"

That is unbelievably sweet.

I cant believe how much Lulu has grown up! It seems like she was a teeny tiny thing in leopard print a few weeks ago.

The boys are probably getting sick, just in time for T and I to head out to "Higher Wiscombe" in the UK for a wedding. Mom-in-law is coming to take care of them for a whole week! I can't imagine how much they are going to change by the time we get back. And I can't imagine what an awesome break it will be to take a week off from them ;)

These days, the boys are pretty fun. They already know all the letters and numbers 1-10, which is pretty impressive for 17 months. Owen has an unhealthy Thomas habit, and Ben is working on his sense of humor. He makes all these funny-sounding voices to see if he can crack us up (it works).

Owen delivering an "R"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2235/2438176040_057f85f776.jpg

"Hello? Hello?"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2326/2437371667_e20e473a1c.jpg

Ben mackin' on his sheep blankie
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2443647429_25bd968991.jpg

OK, David, way to destroy my "aweness" of my own daughter cause she can count. ;-)

Ophelia really likes her sister! She loves to share toys (!!!!!), say her sister smiles,... She sometimes feeds her. Well, shove a spoon in her mouth. hah.

I'm addicted to breastfeeding, I fear. I did start solid food a little earlier than planend, but on the whole I'm still BFing about four times a day.

Liesje is waking up early. Five am most mornings. *sigh* :-)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2422578813_b5153a3e1f.jpg

Hoodie in training:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/ColveyClan/SBto1nQ1wfI/AAAAAAAAGiw/t0BmCneIAqQ/s144/CIMG0319.JPG

Oh yeah I thght her third tooth was coming out... but then I noticed it was on the side of her gum. Like a pearl. The doctor (on the phone) said it wasn't a tooth but some pearl and I needn't worry. Urgh. Anyone else experience this?

Oops, bit bigger:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/ColveyClan/SBto1nQ1wfI/AAAAAAAAGiw/t0BmCneIAqQ/s400/CIMG0319.JPG

Oh and next week she's going to the creche two half days a week (from July it'll be more). I feel sad already. :-((((((((

Meg, those EYES! So beautiful!!!!

Don't know much about pearls, except that I think they are pretty common and not a big deal. We have just had the top molars coming through, which was pretty nasty.

H has been walking holding hands for ages but doesn't really seem that bothered about going it alone, he takes a few steps now and then but that's all. We took him caravanning this week and he loved it, even slept well in his travel cot, although we too have had some early mornings recently. Must be the early sunrise <sigh>

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1053/greatfairypf7.jpg

Cuteness! All over the thread, but particularly the tutu

Aidan still has no teeth, I fear when they come they will come all at once. Doesn't stop him eating though, I thoroughly recommend baby led weaning, one of the best decisions I ever made. He's been crawling just about 3 months now and cruising the furniture nearly two but I don't think he'll be an early walker because he can get around so quickly and easily as it is, there's not really any incentive.

Early awakenings are a common occurence in our house too.

I'm going back to work on 21st of July, three weeks short of his first birthday. I'm not sure if he'll have dropped his daytime feed by then, He did manage to go a whole 8 hours during the day on wed, so hopefully by then, and with me not there for easy access, he'll not be bothered about it and we'll just do mornings and evenings.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2457516158_b702d33e97.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/2362513672_34623f9d8e.jpg

We dropped Howie's daytime feed at 13 months, he accepted it fine when presented with a plate of cheese and grapes (his favourite food) instead. Now he doesn't have any milk in the day, just breastfeeds morning and bedtime, and has water from a cup in the day.

Thanks Meg, I've made sure Aidan is used to drinking water, I know he doesn't need to until he stops having so many breastfeeds, but I thought it would be easier to get him used to drinking water with food as soon as he started solids rather than introducing it later.

I think I'm hoping that out of sight will mean out of mind and he won't miss the feed. Though the nursery is attached to work, so I guess I could just pop in at lunchtime to give him a feed if needbe, I keep forgetting that!

Also once he is one he can drink ordinary cows' milk so the nursery could always offer that in the daytime if you think he needs it.

I'm in the throes of another "solo dad" weekend (wife went to visit friends). It's also chilly and rainy out. Grrrreeeet.

http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v237/213/42/619069358/n619069358_870951_3744.jpg

How did the solo weekend go, Alex?

All these kid are so cute but Howie's eyes - WOAH.

Here is Beeps being Beeps:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8017/raspberryhg1.jpg

And heres a little monkey see monkey do after hanging out with me for 14 months:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/715/cocacolakidwf3.jpg

I've just become a Dad. Woo-hoo!

Congrats! Boy? Girl?