Talking

There is a small chance that The Bubby said "Mum" today - in the highchair, whinging to be let out after breakfast.

In a similar kind of milestone, over the last week or so The Toddler has started stammering a lot at the start of her sentences. A quick google has confirmed what I though - it is common at this age because they are processing so much, but it's still a little worry. It's yet another thing to think about how it might affect her and how I could protect her.

Bath fail

There are very few times where The Husband or I will do something in relation to raising our girls that the other disagrees with.

In fact, this might be the first.

The Husband has taught The Toddler to lay on her back in the bath.

It's no big deal on its own - that's how she used to bathe before she was able to sit up and made it clear she didn't want to lay down in the water anymore.... but when I'm juggling bathing two of them on a Tuesday night and drying The Bubby on the floor, then The Toddler lays in the bath with her ears under and won't respond to me yelling at her and banging on the side of the bath, I hate it.

She was fine, she didn't hear me because her ears were under - in fact, she then yelled out at me "What you doing mummy?". But it was a very stressful few seconds as I rushed to sit up where I could see her.

Twooth

And the second tooth is through!

So far, I'm happy that they're coming in a similar pattern to The Toddlers, but I had forgotten how sharp they are at first.

Peppa Pig

We saw the Peppa Pig show in Sydney this weekend.

Meh.

I mean, it was good and all, but it was $50 a seat and the toddlers had to have their own seats booked (and of course they didn't use them). The stage show wasn't as funny as the tv show, and it was aimed at an audience older than what we brought with us. Also, The Bubby wasn't such a fan of the loud noise - she was happiest during the intermission! It was good to talk to The Toddler about it, to see how much she took (she can list most of the people in the show and recall parts of what happened). In addition, I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, was feeding The Bubby at 230am to stop her waking The Toddler, then in bed with The Bubby at 530am, then in bed with The Bubby and the Toddler at 600am.

What was great though, was everything else. It was good to spend so much time with my brother and his wife, good to spend time with our adorable niece (and double adorable to watch her play with The Toddler!), good to wander the city, have breakfast and have a brief play at the park.

I'm really looking forward to going again when they're a bit older, and to having the travel thing run a bit more smoothly so that we can enjoy the time up there.

... driving away

This morning, we aimed to leave at 8am.

Then The Toddler slept in until 730 (never happens!) so we were to leave at 830.

Then The Husband had forgotton the portacot so we left at 900.

It was 230 before we checked in to the hotel.

To think, I don't know how I would pack for just myself to go somewhere now!

Packing up

Tomorrow we take the girls up to Sydney with their cousin and her parents (one of my brothers and my sister in law) to see Peppa Pig.

I have already spent two hours packing tonight, and I'm not finished.

Growing up

The Bubby's second tooth is about to break through, and I'm now more acutely aware of the presence of her bottom tooth while she's feeding. Let's hope that's as rough as she gets.

She sits up on my lap, she is more aware of where I am and what I'm doing.

Next week I start introducing her to daycare - I'll be staying longer on Thursday morning after drop off while she gets used to being without me. Which means I need to start introducing formula. And I need to make sure she's getting enough solids and variety. And I have to accept that this time, as much as I may carry on about it being a drag, is slowly but surely coming to a close. And I'll never get it back.

Good mood keeps on turning

It's so nice to have my happy Toddler back!

We've had a lovely week - we went for a walk with her uncle, we went to the arboretum park with friends, we've been watering the garden, we went to Questacon.

It's so nice to have the happy moments (and appreciate them!) outweigh the more trying times.

The Sound of Silence

Oh hey, sorry about the silence here - I'll keep it fairly brief.

The main thing keeping from the computer is that The Toddler got sick. It was a bit of a sniffle, then a cough, then watery eyes and then it kept going and going and going and then she was vomiting phlegm on my bedroom floor and it was taking everything I had not to just pack up and move away. The only thing going for her was that it happened during a coughing fit, as opposed to a gross 'proper' vomit, so my sympathy spew vibe didn't take over.

The most annoying part of The Toddler being sick is that she gets really annoying. It's like everything is a hassle, she isn't so much hot and cold as she is cold and cold, and she is in extra need of cuddles but partners that with an increased desire to lick things and put her hands on your face / in your mouth / all over your food / in your glass. It got to a point where my dad asked me who was the adult, after I complained that I couldn't always resist my urge to mock her back in her own voice when she once again whinged something at me, and my answer was that there was none - that there was a baby looking after two other babies and who on earth let it get to this. But then, after she asked to go to the doctor and we got given a script for antibiotics 'just in case', and then daycare mentioned that she had coughed all day and it would be worth giving them to her, she is finally on the mend. Yesterday was the first day in many many days that was a joy, and today proved it wasn't a fluke. I'm reminded of the last rough patch I had, just before a language explosion, and I know I need to focus on celebrating the good times and making positive interactions - I cringed when I heard The Toddler tell a crying Bubby 'Enough!', it's hard to see your flaws presented back at you for what they really are.

This was combined with The Bubby teething. Except that she didn't actually have any teeth until today - three weeks later. She had all the signs - drool, red cheeks, more drool, grabbing at her mouth, bumpy jaws - for three weeks. I am hoping she teeths similar to The Toddler, two at a time. If there a little upset or a lot upset, you can't do anything differently, but teething in twos means less instances. She is also going through a bit of a clingy phase - she cries if I leave her, then calms a little, then starts again if she sees me and realises I am not with her. As of today, she also has the cough and watery eyes of The Toddler, and The Husband is coming down with it too. With the exception of a 230 feed last night, she is also down to four feeds a day and sleeping 12 hours at night - she is still such an angel, such a delight.

It's something we're both going to need to work through as next week I have to leave her down on the floor at daycare so she starts getting used to it before she starts next year.

I have also had my ups and downs - as above, I've got to start getting my head back in to being a working mum. I had a bit of a ramble at my boss about what I liked and didn't like about work and we had a good chat and I'm a lot more excited about returning. I'm also excited about returning as a size 12 (yay!) but also settling in to the fact that this is it - there won't be any more babies to break up the next 30 years or so of my working life. So I need to work out what I want to do, and do it.

That's not so brief. I hope to be back in the swing of it now!

Feeding stretch, follow up

After that quick post-race feed, the baby did two more short feeds before she went to bed.

And I thought I'd be fine.

But I woke up at 1am and it huuuuuuuuurt.

Needless to say, I pumped almost 200ml after her first feed this morning.

Sometimes, breastfeeding can be a real pain!!

Feeding stretch

I got to compete in my first regatta today, with the dragon boating I started a bit over a month ago.

I needed to be there by 7am - urgh.

The Bubby woke up at 530 so I fed her - she did 4 minutes on one side, 2 on the other.
I didn't get the chance to feed her again until almost 130. That's 8 hours after a small feed, which was 10 hours after her last feed.

On the plus side, The Bubby took a bottle of EBM from The Husband. I'm glad she did because she had only really half fed from the bottle until now, and it had been ages since we last tried.

But there was a part of me that felt a little rejected, which is silly, because I want her to start formula for her day feeds before she starts daycare next year. And the pain in my chest kind of wanted her to feed when she arrived with The Husband and The Toddler at around 11.30am.

Anniversary

Yesterday was The Husband's and I fourth wedding anniversary, and The Husband took the day off today so we could get some stuff done.

I dropped The Toddler off at daycare and we spent the day with The Bubby - the first time since our trip to Sydney a few months ago. Although there was lots of in and out of the car and the carrier for her, I think she really enjoyed having all of the attention.

Even better, The Husband looked after The Bubby when we got home and I got a 90 minute nap! That's the best gift a husband can give his wife...

Physio follow up

I went back to the physio today - a follow up from the last visit where it turned out I was doing my pelvic floor exercises upside down (ie, doing the opposite of what I was supposed to be doing).

Good news, I'm no longer doing them upside down.
More good news, my pelvis was only slightly out.
More good news, I was able to lift my muscles by about one centimetre.
Even more good news, the exercise I've been doing

Bad news - my pelvic floor still isn't 'fixed'. I'm not sure how far I can push it, nor do I really want to try. We found some ways that I can do the exercises and tell that they're working, so I'm hoping there'll be a bigger improvement when I go back in a month.

Eczma

The Toddler has had itchy/scratchy skin for a while now, so I decided it was time to do something about it.

A trip to the chemist left us with some treatment cream and the advice to stop putting anything in her bath water, other than QV wash.

I hope it clears enough that we don't need to go down the path of working out if there is a food that we should avoid that is causing the reaction...

Dinner tantrum

We had my family over for dinner last night - it was our turn to cook family tea.

I'd been talking to The Toddler all day, telling her about how all the family would be coming to visit, so she was ramped and ready for the arrival.

However.

When it was time to come inside and eat dinner?
EPIC TANTRUM.

Our plan?

Leave her outside for a while. Then I force her in. Then she commences crazy screaming and crying jag. Then she eats two bites of dinner as bribery before being allowed to visit the cat that came with one of my brothers and his wife. Then she gets a piece of ice cream cake.

Something tells me she won't really understand why her behaviour wasn't spot on.

Courage

I try to get the whole family out on a weekend, rather than sticking around the house (seeing as I feel I'm here all the damn time!) - last weekend we went to the botanical gardens, this week we went to the arboretum.

The Toddler loves the playground there - it has four swings, two of which are the type you lay down on. In an effort to keep her away from spending two hours on a swing, we took her over to the climbing castle. And she took to it like a fish out of water.

Last time I went with her, she climbed through two rope segments to get to the second level. This time, she was climbing big round ladders and frames to heights much higher than we could reach, then going down the slide. Each time she made it to the top of the slide, she'd proclaim 'I did it!' and throw her hands out, before sliding down and saying "I did it! I do it again!" and repeating. I showed the husband where she had climbed up to last time - it's no mean feat, with the rope segments letting you see clearly how high you are. I only let her get to that second level before bribing her back because I was there alone with her and had The Bubby in a carrier on my front, so I couldn't go up and rescue her if need be.

Before we knew it, she was up on the fourth floor.

I felt sick.

It was so high, it was full of bigger kids, and other than going back the way she came, the only way to get down was a big, twisted, enclosed slide. And there is no way I would ever go down that slide.

I sent The Husband up - I was expecting to hear her thump and bump her way down and come down bawling, but someone elses daughter appeared at the bottom. And then someone elses son. And then just as The Husband kicked his thongs off to start ascending, she appeared. Facing backwards, and on her hands and knees, looking a little shocked, The Toddler.

She was so brave.

There were no tears (from either of us!) but she hasn't really stopped talking about how it was dark and scary.

It will be interesting to see if she wants to do it again next time we go.

Smug dinner

After the near-burn fiasco with The Toddler last week, I finally succeeded is blending up some pasta for The Bubby's dinner.

She went ape for it.

Pasta, pasta sauce (whole tomato, basil and garlic), cheese and peas, with a bit of water to help it mix.

It took me long enough to get in the habit of putting food aside for The Toddler, now I need to start putting a bit extra aside to blend for The Bubby.

I did feel smug about how well she took to it. That's promising.

Feeding

The Bubby has gone back to sleeping through (amazing!!!).

I am still adjusting to it (again) after my boobs got used to her waking for a feed at night. I find myself waking up on my back, for fear of setting them off.

However, her feeding has also petered out a bit. Which I feel both good and bad about.

For the most part, she is down to four feeds a day - roughly 7am, 1130, 330 and 730 (to sleep).

But, the last few mornings she has only done one side for her morning feed (OUCH), and less than five minutes at that.

On the plus side, I'm getting some more frozen EBM stockpiled, which should be handy for a few nights out.

But I'm not sure whether it is a permanent or temporary thing - should she really be cutting back her feeds already? She is a fantastic eater, but is that 'bad' if she shouldn't be just yet?

The Bubby has her needles next monday (hooray) so I think I'll ask the MACH nurse about it then.

Weight lost!

Well, I only lost 200g this week.

But I successfully achieved 'life time membership' with Weight Watchers!

So, as long as I stay at 2kg or less above the top of my healthy weight range, I will be able to go to meetings for free.

It's mixed emotions - It's nice to have achieved it, but I was hoping for a bigger loss this week.

That and the fact that a nanna pulled me over after the meeting by saying 'Oh! Congratulations on making it to life time membership! Although, you didn't really have that much to lose, did you?'.

Hrmph. 11.9kg down, hopefully another 3 to go!

Broken sleep

The Bubby has been sleeping well.

I decided once she turned 6 months on Saturday that if she woke before 5am, I would start settling her rather than feeding her, in an effort to drop that over night feed.

Sunday night at 1am, I thought we were being burgled and I was up exploring the house to make sure we weren't. The Bubby woke at 5am, The Toddler woke at 6am, 620, 640, 650 and 7.

Monday night at 1am The Toddler woke up and just walked in to our room (no idea why, I settled her back to sleep). At 5am one of the birds got his wing caught in the cage and I was on the phone to the emergency vet working out what to do. At 6am, The Bubby woke and fed only one side. Then she woke again at 630 for the other side. Then The Toddler was awake at 650 and I had to hide in The Bubby's room so that she wouldn't hear me and come out of her room 'before the sun comes up'.

Tuesday night at 130am I woke up from a nightmare that The Husbands ex girlfriend was shooting me. At 4 I woke up thinking I heard The Bubby. At 600 I fed The Bubby.

Last night I also woke around 1 and 4 and 6 (The Husband was gettng ready to ride to work), then up at 7 with The Bubby and The Toddler.

I am really hoping I can start sleeping through as well as my girls are.