thumbsucker blues: sandbox parenting thead

With Tallulah we had some "success" initially with her in her own crib in our room - sleeping reasonably well, one major feed per night. But lately she's not been doing so well - whether it's the cold she's had since Ava snotted her sisterly affection all over her in week one or the looming spectre of colic (she has digestive/gas issues way worse than Ava ever did) - we usually need her in the bed for her to sleep soundly for more than 30min at a time. Last night was an exception - she slept in the crib until 3:45am, thereafter (fitfully) in the bed.

Whether through jealousy or by chance, Ava now wants back in on the act. I think it's the final throes of teething - she wakes up wailing at 1am or so and we have to take her into our bed to calm her down. You can tell it's a real illicit treat for her - she's smiling to herself as she burrows into the pillows between Mum and Dad. If Tallulah's already in prime sandwich position, I have to take Ava downstairs or just arrange the two of them very carefully. Hope it doesn't become a nightly occurrence.

Our doctor told us the only documented cases of people rolling over and crushing their babies involve BOTH obesity and drugs/alcohol. Something like 80% of the world's population sleep with their infants in the bed.

Thing to watch out for: Keep the covers/comforters away from their head(s).

And of course, put down a "piddle pad" because babies be wettin'!

And when you get a C-Section, you're on "pelvic rest" for a while.

Really? Is it longer than the standard 6 weeks for vaginal births? (At 6 week post-partum checkup, my ob's standard comment is, "you can go back to doing anything legal...").

I know! I discovered my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me, but I can sort of brush that off cause, hey, it was the 70s and she was 18 yrs old. Still...

In re to lovemaking: I think one of the reasons I put Ophelia in her own room was that I prefered doing some hanky panky when she wasn't around. ;-)

having a baby is the perfect birth control

We had a client in the shop whose two oldest childres were ten months apart. Yep. Ten months.

Many congratulations - I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for letting us know, Matt :)

As for co-sleeping: I planned to do it with Rufus, but it turned out we kept him awake and vice versa and it just made sense to put him in his crib. Cyrus is more cuddly or has elbows that are not as sharp and sleeping with him works better. We switch beds. Sometimes Cyrus ends up in bed with me; sometimes one of us ends up getting in bed with Rufus. Whatever works to keep the kids from screaming at night. We only have sex in the daytime when the kids are both at daycare.

I think you can make all kinds of rules but many of them go out the window once you deal with the kid(s) you have.

Lego Ist My Ego

http://static.flickr.com/124/322918011_150a1e0e4a_m.jpg

but I like books too!

The heater's broke. BAH! I don't care about me being cold - I can always play Wii till but I hate O being cold. :-(

Thank the Count and Sesame Street.

Ophelia has discovered tantrums. She doesn't want to have her *siesta* so screams and cries for about oh a good ten minutes. I don't know, am I coldhearted for letting her cry it out and fall asleep? I do pick her up once or twice and/or come into her room to let her know that everything's okay but on the whole I side with Thom: She must sleep, it's good for her.

That's how she asks for the DVD! "DDD, pease!" "Which one, sweetheart?" "Ah-ah-ah!"

My sons are currently rather obsessed with the Captain Underpants books. I'm not sure Anne likes the toilet humour (she had to have a word with David about making farts gags in front of teachers) but at least it has captured their imaginations. They have both started trying to write their own comic books and their reading has really improved.

We are also reading the Secrets of Droon fantasy series which Mark in particular seems to like and they still occasionally go back to the Mr Men series.

this scares me a little though. as long as archel had her baby still inside i could pretend labor was a long way off. now its me or meg next. yikes.

This is my last week at work... hoorah!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/329477387_470beb8777_m.jpg

Ava at 7 weeks:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/8213599_fb5be44163_m.jpg

WHO WINS?

And yeah, hi! Alice is asleep on my lap as I type, can't believe she's 8 days old already. Once we got home from the hospital on Monday (though it felt like we were stuck in there much longer) i kept walking into the bedroom, seeing her in her cot and being like 'shit! who left a baby in here?' I can't believe she's ours forever. Majorly in love :)

The only hard part about this first week has been not being able to breastfeed because of Alice's cleft palate. It's just not the same plugging myself into an electric pump 6 times a day, and since I'm not producing much milk yet we have to feed her mostly formula anyway. But she seems to be thriving so it's just my own disappointment that's the problem i guess. Photos following...