Truth on Motherhood

I am surrounded by toys, dirty bottles, and the lounge cushions arranged into a tunnel. I am tired, un-showered, and cranky. Tinysaur was awake nearly all night (4th night in a row) and I am utterly exhausted. Utterly. Exhausted.

Tinysaur just having surrendered to the nasty enemy of sleep (according to her) I turned the TV on. And boy am I glad I did. Over here in Australia, Oprah's episode of the Truth on Motherhood was airing. Oh Wow. Today I felt so alone - my house looks like a bomb has hit it, I haven't washed my hair in 3 days, I haven't slept for longer than 4 hours in the last 4 nights, I let Tinysaur cry it out in the cot last night while I cried in my bed, and I haven't shaved my legs or even looked my best in months.

And now I don't feel so alone.

Because Tinysaur's lump hasn't gone down at all (we're 6 days into her second course of antibiotics) I have to go up to the hospital tomorrow and speak to a surgeon about surgically removing the lump which has now turned into a stone. Please pray for us - I want this all to be over soon, and I want my happy cheerful little baby girl back.

Update on Tinysaur

The lump is still in her chin - red hot and tender, but the swelling has gone down. I am thinking I might take her back to the doctor tomorrow just to get them to check it out, she has finished her course of antibiotics. It worries me, and while it doesn't overly bother her, if she knocks or bumps it she does seem to react a lot more than to other knocks and bumps.

And now - I'll bore you with updates of my little ratbag...

Temper Tantrums: yup, she is no longer giving things to me when I say "TA" and hold out my hand - she grabs onto it really tight and screams when I take it off her... Tricky times!

Powerpoints: my little sweetie has found out that if she flicks the powerpoint in the hall on and off her Mum will come barrelling around the corner to see what she's doing. I haven't found a way to stop her yet - it has a cover on it, but I am uncomfortable with her flicking it on and off. I tell her No and place her away from it and distract her with toys, but no results have come from that yet...

Dinnertime: Tinysaur is still a massive fan of cheese, although she doens't like custard or yoghurt much anymore. LOVES spinach and broccoli and beans (seems to really like green foods at the moment - when she was little she liked all the orange veges [pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot]). Really likes spag bol with macaroni instead of spaghetti - but the tomato sauce has stained most of her clothes orange... I have tried soaking them, but it doesn't bring out the colour very well.

Sleeptime: seems to be cutting back to 1 nap per day - doesn't really want milk unless she has just got up from a nap - prefers water to go to bed and with her food. Sleeping through the night pretty much every night (has the odd night out every now and then)

Christmas: after all my worries of her pulling the tree over on herself, she has not once pulled on a branch or even worried about the tinsel or chrismtas lights. (although she did eat tinsel initially) She does have a thing for baubles though... And she LOVED driving around looking at the christmas lights the other night - although our town sucks for christmas lights at the moment, there are hardly any around - there were TONS last year.

And that's us up til now!!

I'm back!

It is lovely to see you again. I have been absent the last month or so, because unfortunately we lost our little baby. Our little one stopped growing at about 6 weeks but we did not find out until about 8 weeks when I had some bleeding. I didn't then lose the baby until 9 weeks. It was a very rough time for us.

We had a lot of support from everyone imaginable and I am happy to say I am feeling ok. Olliesaur has really cheered me up through this horrible horrible time and he has been amazingly well behaved. Daddysaur and I are trying again now.

Olliesaur is doing very well and is just learning so so so much!! His new words since I last posted, are train, nappy, fish, Ivy, Ruby (booby!), bubbles, mummy and daddy. He previously only referred to us as mama and dada. He also knows the majority of his body parts now including bellybutton, bum-bum and tickly toes.

We are all ready for Christmas. Olliesaur is definitely more aware this year than in previous years. He has broken 5 baubles on our tree already and keeps trying to pull the tinsel down. He has not yet tried to touch the presents which is strange. I love it when the house is decorated!!

I promise to get back into the swing of blogging now!

Tinysaur sick again

My poor little Tinysaur seems to be sick so often - any Mum out there will know how hard it is when your bub's sick. I think the hardest part is that they can't tell you what they want, or where it hurts, or what makes them feel better.

Last Wednesday I picked Tinysaur up from her carer around lunchtime. She was rather grizzly (but then again, had been for the past week), and her left cheek was bright red. Presuming she was teething, I took her home, gave her Panadol and Bonjela and tried to soothe her. After struggling all afternoon to get her to have an afternoon nap, she finally fell asleep - hot, bothered and overtired at 10pm.

The next morning when she woke up she was NOT in a good mood - crying, clingy, grizzly - you name it!! I gave her some more Panadol, and decided to try to stay at home all day to give her time to relax. It was a good plan, until after her midday nap when I noticed the left side of her face was horribly swollen and had a hot lump in the middle of the swelling. I rang Daddysaur and he came home. We decided we would take her to the doctors that afternoon - so I rang up and booked the next available appointment at 4pm.

We waited agonisingly until 4pm - monitoring the lump, checking it's size. The doctor's surgery wasn't very busy so we went in with only a short wait in the waiting room. It seems my little Tinysaur has an infection in the glands in her neck - but the doctor was uncomfortable sending her home when the swelling was continuing and it could impede her breathing. So we got a Referral onto Accident and Emergency. So off we went.

Accident and Emergency were in peak-hour mode - shift changes, influx of half-dying people, etc but we were shown in to the triage nurse immediately. After taking down the details of the past few days, and checking out the lump she got a doctor in straight away. He wasn't concerned about the location of the lump, and suggested we go home with the Amoxycillin which he prescribed and wait it out.

That was nearly a week ago now. We've been back up to the hospital once since when I thought she was choking in her sleep, but they do not seem to be too concerned about it. The swelling has gone down substantially - but the hard hot lump is still there, despite the course of antibiotics Tinysaur is currently on. Tinysaur has also been on Panadol every day...

If the lump is still there tomorrow (exactly a week since it first arrived) I will re-book a consult with the doctor. The possibility is that the infected gunk won't come out by itself so it might need to be drained, or the first doctor we saw did say it could be some kind of genetic disease where the glands have problems. (?) I can't remember exactly what he called it, but because he was pretty sure it wasn't that he didn't touch to much on it.

Here's hoping it's gone by this week!

Tinysaur's Christmas Tree

Two days ago, my little angel helped me put up her first Christmas tree ever. How exciting it was!! Although she did want to grab all the branches off me, and chewed on half of the little decorations, we had a great time. After carefully arranging all the decorations (I usually just chuck them on every which where, but was DETERMINED to have it perfect this year..) I switched on the Christmas Lights and we both just stared.. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

That night, all Tinysaur wanted to do was to stare at the lights until she fell asleep... under the Christmas tree. I would have got a picture, but my camera batteries are flat. Kicking myself!

As for development, Tinysaur took a few steps by herself from me to Daddysaur this week - a

bit wobbly, but we continue practising. She is pulling herself up on all the furniture, running amuck, and has discovered a love for cheese. To the point where when she hears the fridge open, she quickly crawls around and sits down on the tiles in front of the door waiting for some cheese. I have to start rationing the cheese out...

And then - in just over a month we will be celebrating Tinysaur's first birthday! How time does fly!!

EDIT: I guess tinysaur must have swallowed some tinsel, cos when I changed her nappy this morning, there was tinsel in her poo.... Anyone else had experiences with children swallowing tinsel? from what I've googled today, it's not dangerous - just a potential choking hazard...

I've been MIA.. For some time!!

Well, back again guys! Wow. So much has happened since I last wrote, that I probably can't even start to fill you all in. And I'll save you the 1000 page essay.

My gorgeous Tinysaur is now a bouncing 10 months old. She can say a handful of words, points, laughs, undoes the velcro straps on her little sandals, pokes her tongue out, throws tantrums. It's wonderful!

She went for her first swim in a big pool yesterday, too! Grandma took her there while I was at work and they floated around in the pool together, enjoying the bubble pit in the kids pool, the mushroom fountain, and the whirpool section. Grandma also forgot to take her camera, so there were no photos for me to giggle and coo over!

It's funny how much they start turning into a little person - Tinysaur loves to dance; wiggling her bottom around in the air. She is still army crawling at this stage, but is VERY close to the actual 'proper' crawl. So far, she has outweighed most kids her age (everyone accuses me of overfeeding her). She is around 11kgs, and I haven't held her still long enough to measure her length! She is, however, the same size as one of my friend's 15 month old.

So that's us up til now - everything in my life focuses on her. I can't wait for Christmas this year - her first Christmas ever! Now's the time to start planning how to keep her away from our Christmas tree!

Squealing Makes My Head Hurt

Olliesaur has learnt how to squeal. It is awful! He has started to do it if he is not getting my attention, if I tell him no-no or if he gets frustrated that he can not get a toy out of his box. Today while Daddysaur and I were grocery shopping, Olliesaur went so over the top I was nearly in tears. I'm stumped as to why he got so frustrated, we had literally been in the store for 5 minutes!

I don't know what I should do with this behaviour. Generally he is so amazingly behaved that I can't understand how I got soooooo lucky. I have a book on my shelf called Toddler Taming by Christopher Green. I think now is the time to start reading it!

Surely it is far too early for the terrible twos? Please tell me the squealing is totally normal and will stop eventually!

The Moment Your Life Changes Forever...

We found out we were pregnant on 6th October 2008. I first took a test at 7am… only to be disappointed at not seeing a line. It was one of those very cheap, “pee in a cup and then dip” type tests. I was about to throw it in the bin only to catch the slightest glimpse of very faint pink, so faint I had to squint to see it… confused as to whether this was something to be excited about, I rushed to show Daddysaur to see what he thought but he was none the wiser. Feeling in a tizzy about things I went to my drawer and took out a digital test I had been saving. The word pregnant flashed up after about 2 minutes of sitting with my fingers crossed tighter than ever. No more confusion over very faint, hardly there pink lines… there it was in plain daylight… no mistaking the one word “Pregnant”.

Me pregnancy went very smoothly apart from a couple of very small bleeds. I didn't even have any sickness!

I went to hospital midday on the 5th June 2008 (after having a disturbed night and a trip to the Maternity Hospital).

First of all I was examined and immediately marked on the chart as being in labour and at 2cm dilated. I had a lovely midwife come in, check all my stats, inform me of my choices of pain relief and she then told me that she was ready to break my waters. WHAT A WEIRD FEELING! It felt like I had wet myself.

I went for as long as I could without pain relief. My contractions were very bad and every 2 minutes. I was moved to one of the delivery rooms and a student midwife introduced herself. She was lovely and made me feel so relaxed. I requested an epidural.

Once the epidural started to take effect I felt fantastic. It was so weird having the strong pressure of the contractions but not the pain I had been feeling the night before and all morning.

At 8.00pm I was ready to push and things all happened very quickly. Before I knew it there were 5 people around the bed and I can't remember why. There was the student midwife, a couple of normal midwives, Daddysaur and a student Dr. (who I might add was a bit strange. He was there a while earlier and for a training Dr. he was very easily embarrassed. He blushed every time I was being examined!).

Pushing was hell! I won’t lie. I was so scared. More than I have ever been in my life, but time passed so fast. The main midwife was yelling at me like she was the commentator at a horse race… “aaaand we see the head, we see the head, just one more push and we will have a baby… come on come on one more push”. Bizarre. I went into shock during the pushing because I really believed at one point I couldn’t do it and I hyperventilated. I don’t remember much more after that. The Dr. was then called for and before I knew it the end was off the bed and I was in the stirrup things instead. The baby’s heartbeat was dropping rather fast and they were worried about him so the Dr. told me she would have to use suction on him. The suction didn’t work so she had to use forceps and also episiotomy. I got very dizzy at this point and with one great big pull from the Dr and a lot of blood, there was my baby on my tummy.

Olliesaur was born at 8.49pm weighing 8lbs 1oz after 10 hours of established labour.

Olliesaur and I spent the first night apart. I can’t remember why but I think I must have looked distressed and exhausted. It really made me miss him and I think this probably helped with us bonding given that labour was a bit traumatic… I missed him and had to pull out my camera to see photos I had taken a while earlier. He was brought back in his little crib at about 5am. I felt so much love the minute I saw him and the love has only increased each day.

Olliesaur is now a 16 month old, walking, talking, SHOUTING, cuddling darling boy who makes me laugh all the time. It is truly amazing how fast the time goes!!

I'm about to do it all again. I am currently 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant. We always said we would like a 2 year age gap between our children so you can't get more precise than being due a baby 5 days after your first born's 2nd birthday!

I am looking forward to sharing everything with you about my stay-at-home, work-at-home (I do blog design, invites and announcements) life with my energetic toddler and the growing baby in my tum.

Downhill.... And uphill.....

So, you'd think I would have learned by now. Parenthood is like life in general. You might have some downhills - but you ALWAYS go back up.

Whilst the last few weeks haven't been easy, and sometimes I've felt like a madwoman, there have been some little highlights which I thought I'd share (and seeing I was such a party-pooper in the last blog). This is my top 10 things which have made me smile:

1. Tinysaur has now learnt to wave goodbye. She usually waves and says "TATA" as she's crawling out to the kitchen.

2. Tinysaur crawled into our bedroom the other day while I was in the loungeroom. When I went in to round her up, she had closed the door and was lying against the door so I couldn't open it. By the time I got in - my thong was in her mouth. Ugh. She really does have bad taste!!!

3. Tinysaur's cousin came and visited today - he is 3 years old. They had tons of fun rolling around on the floor together (he realises she can't walk and goes down to her level to play). Then they cuddled for ages. She absolutely LOVES the little guy.

4. Daddysaur and I have sorted out our differences. I realise that no relationship is perfect, and I know ours is far from it - but it's nice to sit down and really sort things out. Now we both know where we stand. It's nice, and I'm happy.

5. Tinysaur went to see her 12 year old Uncle perform in his school concert. The whole time throughout the concert whenever she saw him, she yelled and screamed out and waved at him. She was SOOO excited to see him!

6. Tinysaur has just learnt how to make her Mummy's heart melt even more - she gives kisses now. Proper, sloppy, kisses. I love them.

7. As well as the kisses, she has also learnt to blow raspberries on your neck when she's snuggling up! Cheeky little girl!

8. Daddysaur and his friend washed up and cooked dinner for me the other night! It was the FIRST time I have ever seen him volunteer to cook AND washup! I was in bed by 7pm... And it was a GOOD sleep that night!

9. My family. My family always makes me smile. And I'd do ANYTHING in the world for them.

and the last one:

10. Today in the shopping centre, I was carrying Tinysaur (although I might need to call her Hipposaur soon -she's packed on the weight!!!) on my hip, and carrying the groceries in my other hand. At the checkout, we stood in line behind a gentleman who some people might have avoided. When he turned around to look at us, Tinysaur reached out her arms for him to hold her and babbled "Daddaddaddad" and laughed away merrily. It made him laugh, and it made me laugh too. It was a lovely moment.

I've learnt my lesson. Sometimes things don't come easily, and we have to keep trying and trying. But in the end, I should just focus on the good things. Because there are way more good things than there are bad.

SOS

This is me.

Ok, so since I last have posted, everything has seemed to go downhill. I have a daughter who no longer goes to sleep when placed in her cot, and screams if I put her back in her cot after a bottle during the night, AND has decided that 2am to 4am is perfect for playtime. So that leaves me utterly exhausted by 6:30am when it's time to get up and go off to work.

Before, she used to be in a routine (See my previous posts) but since her carer (MIL) refused to follow it, I've adapted to what the MIL has done - hoping that it would be easier. So I started cuddling her to go to sleep, and when she was asleep I'd put her in her cot (before I could put her in the cot while she was awake, and through CIO methods - adapted to suit me - she'd fall asleep). Now she wakes up the moment you put her down - no matter how floppy her limbs are (a sign she's completely out). And if she wakes up after I put her down after a night feed she'll scream until she VOMITS (yes, vomits!!!) so she gets picked up while I change her vomit-sprayed clothes and linen. Seriously - she can vomit a full 360 degrees!!

Now on the vomit issue - I have seen two very passionate arguments lined up. One is that you get the child out, comfort them, change them, change the bed and then put them back to sleep. The other is that you cover the vomit with a towel, change them (but only if necessary) and try to keep them in the cot. The ideas on these vary - one is that the child will learn how to vomit to hold you completely hostage to whatever they want to do. The other is that if your child is obviously that upset that they vomit, it's not a game they are playing and they are severely anxious.

But that leaves me nowhere. I cannot decide on what to do. Lately, I've just been holding her until I can get her back in her cot without waking her up. And if she cries, I grab her before she vomits.

So please- Mums and Dads out there - I need your help! I am in the process of trying to get her back into the old routine. I just need some encouraging words, or ANY thoughts or ideas you have. Or - if you KNOW what to do - please let me know! I am struggling to stay awake at work, my relationship with Daddysaur is non-existent and I am DESPERATE!!!

Mum-Mum Mum-Mum

Tinysaur now says Mum-mum. Cute, yes. The first time I heard it, I cried. I really did.

She likes to wave goodbye now, says "ta" for some of her toys, and pulls the cat around the loungeroom by it's legs and bellyfur (thank God it's too dumb to retaliate!).

So thats my little angel's progress up to now - she is asleep at the moment, so I am about to duck off for a shower before she wakes up.

I never thought how much love I would feel for someone else. It's different to the love I have for Daddysaur, for my family, for my friends. Sometimes I love her so much that it hurts.

Quick question for the Moms out there - what do you do when bub starts refusing solids? And the only thing she eats is custard. Do you keep feeding her the custard and try her with other things as well? Or only offer the foods she's refusing?? Tinysaur is in a bit of a state now where she is only eating cerain things and refusing foods she always enjoyed eating. So what do I do?

It's so very peaceful...

Tinysaur is sleeping through the night. I put her down to sleep at around 6:30 in the evening, she gets up for a bit of water at around 9pm (I find that if I feed her milk, she gets up CONSTANTLY afterwards) and sleeps through until 5am.

After she has her early morning bottle at 5am, she will lie in her cot and babble and talk away to herself quite happily until she drifts back off to sleep again - she used to have a cot mobile, but she flattened the battery by constantly pressing the star to make it turn on.... And I got so sick of hearing the first 5 notes of "Baa Baa Black sheep" every few seconds.

She is such a joy to be around at the moment, she loves giving tons of cuddles, will make a fake 'kiss' sound when she tries to kiss you, and LOVES to giggle and laugh while she plays. She has completely destroyed her Very Hungry Caterpillar book, and cries when it's not in her book cupboard for her to find (she likes to pull all her toys out herself).

One really big talent I have noticed she's got is the ability to find the SMALLEST POSSIBLE piece of dirt or pebble which is on the carpet. And no matter how hard I vacuum, she still manages to find something.

So life is absolutely fantastic at the moment. Daddysaur and I went through a tiny rough patch, but lately we've been relaxing quite a bit with each other and we're fine again. And with a little bundle who kicks her legs and waves excitedly when she sees us - why wouldn't we be fine??

Guess What I found today!!

A tooth. Yes, guys, that's right. Obviously teething does not bother my child whatsoever (despite previous thoughts), because there is a little white stump (which is actually really hard!!) on her bottom gum. I dropped her off at Grandma's today while I was at work and we discovered a tooth when I went to pick her up.

Gee - she doesn't like to do things one at a time! She must be a good multi-tasker like her Mum.

UPDATE: Second tooth found today! Wow - I'm hoping she stops with the surprises now.

Big Milestone!!

We have a crawler!!! Over the last few days, Tinysaur has been getting up on all fours and just rocking on the spot, and making sure everyone was watching her and cheering her on. But today, I was watching her out of the corner of my eye, and saw her do her first 'shuffle' across the floor. Sure, it was only about two paces across the floor - but she CRAWLED.

Her face was so funny as well - a look of complete surprise! Unfortunately, Daddysaur missed it because he was having a Daddy nap.

My Poor Ears

A couple of weeks ago, the little man and I went with my mom and grandma to visit some relatives. The little man was angelic on the plane ride (it was a quick one) and decently behaved on the car ride to our final destination - for a baby who had been stuck in a stroller or car seat all afternoon and evening.

Even in the new environment and unfamiliar crib, he did fine. It wasn't until we put him in his play yard (brought from home) that we had a problem. Any time people were not focusing 100% of their attention on him, he would shriek at the top of his little lungs. It was not pretty. Same thing happened when we were in a situation where he needed to be held rather than being allowed to roam around on the floor.

Because we were with a bunch of older people and because every first time mom worries about being judged, I was a lot quicker to respond to his demands than I would be at home. In our own environment, I would make a bigger effort not to reinforce his behavior, but away from home there are different challenges. So in the end, I think I created a monster.

Ever since that trip, when the little man doesn't get his way, the screeching begins. It's awful and it makes me crazy. I have no idea how I am going to break him of it. My approach so far is to ignore the screaming and give him extra attention when he plays quietly or attempts to express himself in a less unpleasant manner. I have no idea if it's working or if it will ever work, though.
Do any more experienced moms out there have other ideas? I really don't want the little man to become one of those obnoxious babies that no one wants to be around.

Reflection...

While enjoying a hot cup of coffee the other day (yes, one of those rare hot coffees!!) I reflected on the last 6 months of my journey with Tinysaur. I can remember being 12 weeks pregnant, and so excited about the little peanut growing inside me, I can remember the sleepless nights later on when I got huuuge, and I can remember (very well) the day my boobs first started to leak. In public. Downtown. With no spare change of clothes. I struggle to remember the labour. No, really, I do!!

And I miss being able to pass off my belly fat for a baby bump. Now I have to remember to hold it in, and fat sucker pants are my new best friends.

But the funny thing is that I can't ever remember what it was like now to be without a baby in tow.

Today she started saying 'Dadadada'. It was so cute. She is going well - enjoying trying different foods - her favourite is cooked peaches cut up, she loves her bathtime, and she loves the new cot mobile I got her. She is starting to cry if you take something off her, and will get very cranky if you are trying to dress her and she wants to wiggle around butt naked. Her favourite thing to do after we change her on the change table is to stand up and put her hand on the wall next to her hand print we have framed. She likes being tickled under the arms. She likes to grab you by the ears and pull you towards her and slobber all over your face.

Best of all? When she lifts her arms up to get lifted out of her cot.... Nawww....

And there's more....

After putting Tinysaur to bed tonight (which was sooooo easy tonight! - BOY is this a rollercoaster!!) I opened up my email to discover babycenter had sent me something for this week - 50 reasons why it's fun to be a parent.

My favourites would have to be:

• Gazing into your baby's eyes and knowing he trusts you totally.
• Discovering how infectious a baby's giggles can be.
• Crying when you see a baby born on TV, understanding how mothers feel everywhere

and then one which I really look forward to:

Hearing my Tinysaur say "mum" and wondering who that is, then realising - it's ME!!!

Aww.....

Count your Blessings...

My little tinysaur and I are at loggerheads lately - she wakes up about every hour during the night, and I can no longer put her down in the cot until she is fully asleep. The lovely routine I had established with her has gone cactus, thanks to her carer's different methods and refusal to even loosely follow my routine and methods.

Over the past two weeks which were my holidays from work, I have tried controlled comforting, introducing nightlights/toys/thumbsucking, etc. And nothing is really working. I have googled baby sleep problems that many times I think I have read nearly everything there is on separation anxiety and the like.

Today, when we were playing Tinysaur started to get a little grizzly. I stood her up on my lap, and just gave her kisses on the belly and tried to make her laugh.

Grabbing either side of my face, she pulled me towards her and proceeded to bombard me with wet, sloppy, huge kisses. At a point where I was sad and a bit bummed out she totally lifted my spirits.

Those huge sloppy kisses turned my day around, and made me step back and count my blessings, and appreciate what I have in life. I am so lucky to have my Tinysaur in life, that I shouldn't sweat the small things. And I love her more than anything in the world.

Round 2 - The Angry Little Monster

So last night and this morning started what I presume is Round 2 of teething. After her promising signs the other day, then no teeth arriving and her going back to 'normal' I thought I would be in the clear and have my happy baby back for a little while.

Not so.


Last night was punctuated hourly by screaming, crying, sobbing, you name it! Tinysaur even spent some time lying down in our bed with us, doing that funny hiccupy thing they do after crying. By 6am I was exhausted, but fed her a morning bottle then dozed back off.


She woke up happy enough - smiley, giggly, and wriggly. But as the morning passed (in fact - after she had been up for an hour), the terrible monster was unleashed. She wasn't happy in her highchair, on the floor, on her rocking horse, in her pram. You might laugh, but the one place I even got her to be slightly happy this morning was the 45 minutes we spent in the bath together. She managed to avoid having a nap all morning, purely by using her new talent: scratching and twisting the skin on my face. Wow. I never knew something this small could sometimes make me feel this sad.


My little monster gradually turned into a snuggly little Angel (thanks Panadol/Tylenol!!) and fell asleep at 12pm. The house is peaceful and quiet. It's nice. But the strange thing is, I kind of want her to get up and be grumpy again so I can try to figure out how to 'fix' this. Maybe this afternoon we will go for a drive in the car and find something to distract the pair of us.

Monster Baby

[image source]

I am going to jump on Abbasaur's teething bandwagon. I hope you don't mind.

We have had an awful few weeks. Whining, crying, refusing feedings (bottles and solids), clinging, not sleeping, you name it. Seriously, I wasn't sure we were going to make it through. We were doing regular doses of Tylenol, Hylands gel or pellets (depending on how much time we have - the pellets seem to work better for him, but I don't always have the time to disolve and apply them) and pretty much anything else we could think of. I'm telling you, it was bad.

And then, a tooth arrived. And within a few days after that, one more. And there are at least two more on the brink. Poor little man. No wonder he's been so miserable. I just wish I had better ideas about how to help him for future bouts with the teething monster. He's not the slightest bit interested in toys that are intended for teething relief or teething biscuits. I tried giving him ice (and other frozen things) in one of those mesh feeders. He looks at me like I am insane.

So does anyone out there have any tricks up their sleeves that I haven't thought of? I'd really like to be prepared for the next time.

What the Hell?

When Sirensaur recently commented that there was no manual for babies - Boy, was she right. After showing such promising signs of teething, Tinysaur has returned to 'normal', and has started sleeping through the night again. WHAT THE? It's enough to make me despair!!

Advice from the MIL included stuff like

• I wasn't giving her enough cuddles,
  
• our 'routines' with her are too different (MIL cuddles her to sleep and doesn't ever let her cry - often referring to my style as baby bootcamp),
  
• she is obviously hungry and I'm not feeding her enough (folks, I DO NOT starve my child...),
  
• and that I should start giving her yoghurt.

What yoghurt has to do with sleeping through the night, I have no idea. And I'm not too sure if I can start giving her yoghurt yet... She's just only 6 months old! Another suggestions was to start feeding her toast... Again, I have no idea what toast will do to make her sleep through the night... Sigh....

So, I'm sticking to what I've done for the last couple of months - solids at 5:30ish, playtime til 7:30 with Mum and Dad, then a bottle, a tight wrap and into bed for Tinysaur. It has worked the past 2 nights, so I'm gonna stick with Baby Bootcamp.

Uh Oh.....

I think we're teething. And it's not just Tinysaur: the whole family is in pain. What with Little Miss Grumpy waking up every half hour to an hour for the last 3 nights and wanting to be cuddled and rocked to sleep, the routine I worked so hard at to get in place has now gone clean out the window. A week ago, I was able to put Tinysaur down in her cot when she started to show signs of tiredness and she would happily lie there until she drifted off. Now, it's a struggle to get her even IN the cot, let alone wrapped and lying there happily...

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So... these are the symptoms: grumpy, red cheeks, dribbling, chewing on EVERYTHING (I mean, everything: even the cats tail - thank God he is patient!!!), TINY lumps on her bottom gum (and I mean tiny!) and tons of crying and she just isn't herself.

Anyone out there got any tips for surviving this? And does anyone know if our routine will fall back into place or do we start from scratch?

Caution: I Move Fast

Well, thats what Tinysaur would tell me if she could. Since her first attempt at rolling, Tinysaur has gradually started perfecting the art.

Her first roll was from her back to her front, usually aided with a kick off her A-frame Sesame Street toy gym. Next, she graduated (after many days spent by me rolling her back onto her back when she decided she'd had enough of slobbering on the carpet) to rolling from her front to her back. For a while, she was quite happy just rolling and practicing.

Then yesterday, she suddenly figured out the BEST thing ever: she could roll ALL the way across the loungeroom and back again.

So that's how we all spent our time together yesterday afternoon, Daddysaur and I watching as she rolled her way over to her toybox, tipping out the contents, then back over to her mat where she then chewed on her soft books, then rolling back towards us on the lounge....

My job this week? Babyproofing the house! Time to get down on my hands and knees and crawl, crawl, crawl!!

A Very Busy Day

So, today I decided to go downtown, do some clothes shopping, shop for Tinysaur, and also do the grocery shopping. Uhuh. Apparently I thought I could do all that while sleet fell down and I froze my butt off.

First stop was the doctors. While I sat there and got my depo, and a whooping cough/tetanus shot, Tinysaur gurgled and murmured happily in her pram. We then weighed her (8.7kgs/19 pounds), measured her length (67cm) and her head circumference (52cm). (Daddysaur later informed me that her head circumference hadn't changed since birth... I had to remind him that she was 52cm LONG at birth, while her head circumference was only 36cm.... Men...)

Then it was her turn. After spitting up half the medicine on the nurse, we then progressed to her Infanrex shots and another one (I can't remember the name). She cried for a bit, but then focused on her bottle shortly after. So, finished at the doctors, we then moved past all the swine flu patients in the waiting room and headed off shopping...

And what a day we had! I got lots of new clothes for me (I recently culled all my clothes so that I didn't get depressed trying to squeeze into Australian Size 12 jeans), plus got some cute new clothes for Tinysaur and an ADORABLE ear-covering sparkly blue and white beanie for her, as well as shopped for a lovely shiny set of saucepans (which I christened tonight), and a lovely set of sharp knives (which I also christened on our steak and potatoes).

Now, Tinysaur is zonked out on the lounge with Daddysaur.. We had such a big day! Maybe tomorrow we'll just relax at home...

Eating and Pooping

We had a little issue yesterday that I thought I should share so maybe someone can learn from my mistake.

It was time for the Little Man’s bath, but I decided he should have his dinner first. As he was finishing up his chicken and brown rice, he started making telltale grunting noises and turning red in the face. Now, I don’t generally poop and eat at the same time, but the Little Man doesn’t seem to have an issue with it, so I went ahead and gave him what was left in the jar before we moved on to bathing.

I took him in his room, removed his clothes and dirty diaper, let him play naked on the floor while I ran the bath and then went back in to get him. I picked his little, naked self up and headed to the tub. Just as I was about to set him down in the water, I realized we didn’t have a towel. Since I knew that Daddy was absorbed in the NBA playoff game, I figured I better grab it myself.

When we returned to the bathroom, I carefully placed the Little Man down in his rubber ducky tub. As I did that, I looked down and there it was. Between the edge of the real tub and the outside of the inflatable tub was baby poop, except at first glance, I thought it was from the cat. Why I thought she would have crapped in the tub, I do not know.

Anyway, I yelled for Daddy to come and help me clean up the mess. There actually wasn’t much of a mess to clean up, but screaming for my husband just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. As he came rushing down the hall to assist, he stepped in yet another pile of baby poop. I’m really sorry that happened to him, but also very glad it wasn’t me.

So I guess the moral of that story is, wait a little longer after simultaneous eating and pooping to run around the house with a naked babe. Or something like that.

That Mom

I always said I would not be “that mom” that contains her child in a bubble. As it turns out, that is one of the many things about parenting that is much easier said than done. As the Little Man becomes more mobile, it becomes harder and harder not to intervene every time I spot a potential danger.

I mean, honestly, one of these days he will have to learn that not all surfaces are as cushy to fall on as the carpet in our living room. He will discover that not everything is safe to chomp on. And he will need to figure out that it hurts when you take a dive off the side of the bed.

It’s hard, though. I want so badly to protect him from the bad stuff. I would do just about anything to avoid having to listen to him cry. But then, at the same time, I would hate to stifle his curiosity. He’s just so interested in the world right now. There must be some middle ground here; I just haven’t found it yet.

So for now, I will continue to let him do his thing and watch from a distance. I’ll try not to let him hear me gasp every time he pulls himself up on something that isn’t the least bit stable. I will pick him up turn him around when he’s headed toward every single electrical cord he spots. I guess that’s just what moms have to do, right?

Guilty Mother Syndrome

Every working mother will, at one stage, feel 'that' pang of guilt. Guilt that you're not there to see your child's first steps, guilt that you wake them up from a deep sleep so you can work, and guilt that by the time you get home they are asleep in their carseat.

Sometimes, I feel so exhausted that I don't interact with Tinysaur as much as I think I should. Then I feel guilty when I am at home and she is asleep because at last I can rest. It's sad, and it breaks my heart when I scoop Tinysaur up off her playmat, take her out into the cold frosty morning and drive her to the babysitters. Sometimes all I want to do is snuggle up to her and cuddle all day in bed, reading books, playing peekaboo, and making her laugh. And who could resist this....

But through all of this, I remind myself that I am working so I can give her the lifestyle she deserves. And she will ALWAYS know that I love her and would do anything to make her happy.

The Bedtime Story

Pretty much since birth, the little man has been able to express very clearly when it’s time for him to sleep. Unfortunately, he did not come pre-equipped with the mechanisms required to make going to sleep an easy process. He was never one of those babies that drifted off peacefully while drinking a bottle. His eating and sleeping patterns don’t match up in the slightest.

When you add colic and reflux into the mix, putting him to sleep as a newborn was pretty much a nightmare. He had to be swaddled, rocked and patted just so. Eventually, he would give up the fight and fall asleep. We stopped swaddling him many months ago (when we started finding him with his swaddle wrapped around his neck), but the need for rocking and patting stuck – not as easy a feat at 17 pounds as it was at 7.

I read somewhere that you can start sleep training any time between 4 and 6 months. That seems pretty early to me because I don’t feel like babies (mine at least) understand well enough at that point that to get it. But then I started to realize that since the little man gives pretty obvious cues that it’s time for sleep - rubbing eyes, irritability, yawning - maybe it was time to start trying.

So one day, instead of battling the kicking and screaming and pinching, I thought I’d try putting him down in his crib when it became evident that he was ready for bed. I gave him his pacifier, patted his back and then backed far enough away from the crib that he couldn’t see me. He cried a bit, I waited, he cried some more, I went back and patted him again. And then, something miraculous happened. He rolled over and went to sleep. It was amazing.

At this point, the method we use really only works for us about 60% of the time. Other times, the screaming gets so loud and so intense that we just can’t take it. My husband’s success rate is a bit lower than mine because he gives in more quickly than I do, but we’re working on it. Part of me cannot wait for it to work all the time, but there’s a tiny part of me that wants to hold on to those moments when only being in my arms puts him to sleep.

There were three in the bed.....

...and the little one said : WATCH ME ROLL OVER, MUM!!!

Tinysaur has advanced to rolling! I was watching her play under her Sesame Street toy frame the other day, when she reached out, grabbed one of the legs and pulled herself right over onto her front. She then looked up at me with the most surprised look on her face. I swear she was trying to figure out how she did it.

Now she is getting really clever about it - she pushes her toyframe away so she can roll over quicker. And Daddysaur can always tell when she has rolled on her front for most of the day because of the dribble puddles on her playmat.

I am so proud of my little bubba, and she is getting so good at it.

Giveaway winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our book giveaway last week!

To celebrate the official debut of Littlesaur, we decided to give one lucky winner a copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block - every parent I know swears by this book to help their little one settle down and sleep peacefully.

To choose a winner, we visited random.org to generate a random number between 1 and 6 (since we had 6 entries)...

...and random.org gave us this winning number:


Lucky commenter #2 was Jessica J.!
Thanks Jessica! Drop us an email at littlesaur@gmail.com and we'll get your book sent out to you!

Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

Four years ago, around this time, I was getting ready for a vacation to Hawaii with some family and friends. Life was pretty good. I had a job I loved, friends I cherished and the only thing missing was a man. I was fairly convinced at the time that I wasn't interested in ever having kids, but I so badly wanted to find Mr. Right that I was looking for him everywhere (on the interwebs, in bars, at work, on vacation, whatever). Little did I know he was right there all the time, disguised as my youngest sister’s sweet friend.

Three years ago, I was wrapped up in a somewhat whirlwind relationship with the man I knew I would eventually marry. One day, it was like a light bulb went on and we went from kind of knowing each other to practically living together in a matter of weeks. I was the happiest I had ever been, even though our relationship was putting serious kinks in my previously free-as-a-bird lifestyle. Oddly, this perfect man of mine’s desire to be a father was starting to change my long held views on the subject of parenthood.

Two years ago, I was newly engaged. We had set a wedding date a year and half in the future and I couldn’t have been more excited to plan my wedding. Also, we were anxiously awaiting the birth of my sister’s baby at the end of the summer. Life was changing so quickly, I think I must have been dizzy. By this time, I knew we would have children one day, but one day still felt pretty far away.

One year ago, I was entering the second trimester of my very unexpected pregnancy. It’s always been said that the women in my family are hyper-fertile, but I never believed it. My husband likes to think it was actually his super sperm, but whatever the case, we were thrilled to be expecting. Our wedding day was rapidly approaching and the enthusiasm I once had for wedding planning had long since worn off. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted nothing more than to be married, it was the wedding I could have done without. I was too busy thinking up names for the baby girl I was convinced we were destined to have.

And that brings us to today. Our little surprise is now a babbling, rolling, teething, 6-month-old little man. Because I grew up in a house full of girls, baby boys are not a species I am extra familiar with. I had no idea that everything in his path is to be kicked, poked, pulled or prodded. I didn’t realize that a man's indescribable need to disassemble things is innate (as is the tendency to throw a fit when they are unable to put them back together exactly right). And most importantly, I never knew that baby boys could be sooooooooooo much fun.

The giveaway is over!

The book giveaway is officially closed! Thanks for participating, everyone - we're announcing the winners on Monday, so make sure you check back in then!

Nappy Rash - What do YOU do?

What with her cold, middle ear infection and the possibility of teething (chewing on everything, pink cheeks, loads of dribble, etc), Tinysaur now has the start of nappy rash! Wow, what a week this has been!!

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The nappy rash started from (what I suspect) her diarrhea from taking the amoxicillin for infection. Last night I didn’t change her nappy between 10pm and 4am and when I got up at 4 to give her a bottle and change her nappy I was met with a slightly pinkish bum. By this morning, though it had gotten worse. So Tinysaur has been rolling around on her play mat all day with her bum out (she absolutely loves this, though I am quite worried as she still has diarrhea....) and the heater blasting away (being winter here I didn’t want her to get cold as well). I have started to use the Herron Castor and Zinc Cream, but am cautious.

So I’m throwing a line out to all you Mums: What do YOU do to get rid of nappy rash? I am dying for any help because although it is only minor at this stage, I want to get it now before it gets worse!!

Tinysaur is Sick!!!

I am blogging quickly while Tinysaur is resting, so excuse the rushed story! Yesterday she was a bit sick with a little cough and a runny nose - by late afternoon it had progressed and she was very upset. Last night we were up every half an hour to an hour to pat her bottom and give her lots of cuddles.

Today, though, she got worse. We took her up to our local hospital around 5:30pm tonight as she was sick all today (runny nose, coughing, general crying) but got worse after the MIL kindly took her while I had a rest.

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After the quickest wait in Emergency I have ever had, the Triage nurse took us into another room and began the routine questioning. Breast or bottle fed? How many feeds today? Has she had any Panadol? Been near anyone recently with the flu? Is she usually this unsettled? (Tinysaur at this point was screaming her head off). Has she been sick lately? Just as the triage nurse asked this question, Tinysaur turned her head away from Daddysaur's shoulder and literally power-spewed all over the floor. Considering she had only had 180mLs of formula all day, it was one of the biggest spews I had ever seen her do!

We were then whisked away to another room out the back where they put the monitor on her for her pulse/oxygen levels. Her pulse and blood pressure was quite high, while the oxygen level was low enough to consider them giving her an oxygen mask. But we changed her position on Daddysaur's lap and it started to increase to a healthier level.

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After the usual temperature test, etc, the doctor then came and saw us. She looked down her throat and in her ears and soon declared that Tinysaur had a common cold coupled with a secondary bacterial infection in the middle ear. So, armed with amoxycillin we were sent home to suction out poor little Tinysaur's blocked nose with a nasal decongestant and administer Panadol (I think that's like Tylenol - for US readers).

Tinysaur is asleep now after I pestered her nose with the decongestant and gave her the amoxycillin and panadol. She is breathing so much easier, and looks so peaceful that I am sorry I did not get the decongestant earlier!! I have put her on her side, propped up with pillows (this is the only way we can get her to stay asleep for long enough) and her nightlight on. Here's hoping tonight will be a little more peaceful after last night's ordeal.

Introducing Littlesaur...plus a giveaway!

Welcome to our new site! Littlesaur is a place for parents to blog about raising their little ones (from newborns to toddlers to bigger kids), full of honesty and humor about the the joys and challenges of bringing up a family. We're always looking for new bloggers, so if you're interested in joining, send an email to littlesaur@gmail.com!

To celebrate Littlesaur's official debut, we're hosting a giveaway of our favorite book for new parents - one randomly chosen reader will win a brand spankin' new copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block:
Dr Karp's simple, practical methods help even the fussiest babies settle down and sleep peacefully, and every new parent I know swears by this book - most of them call it magic!

* * * * *

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling us what you think of the new site - and don't forget to check out Pregosaur, as we're having a giveaway there as well!

The Rules...

• only one entry per person, please
• the contest will end this Friday, May 22 at midnight (Pacific Time)
  
• the winner will be announced in a new post on the following Monday - so make sure you check back in!

Crying, crying, crying

On Thursday last week, Tinysaur and I embarked on the mammoth 4 hour trip down to my Mum's for a holiday. Last time I had done this trip was when Tinysaur was only a few months old and it was great: she slept most of the way. I was expecting pretty much the same this time around.

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Well, like the baby she is, she threw me yet another curveball. I have never had a 4 hour trip go SOOO slowly! About a quarter of that trip was spent with me twisted around in my seat (thank God my big Sis came with me for the drive) trying to calm down a cranky unhappy baby. As well as Tinysaur chucking the tantrum of her life (I actually feel pretty sorry for her cos it must SUCK to be facing backwards with no scenery to look at for 4 hours), I had my Sister (mother of two) telling me my baby was 'spoilt' and that I should start doing 'controlled crying' and that I was too edgy when Tinysaur was crying.

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However, the holiday was great - I got to catch up with my Mum and my 3 year old nephew, did lots of shopping and managed to freeze my butt off (why did I choose to holiday to a destination only 40kms away from ski slopes??). But the whole time I was given advice and told that Tinysaur was spoilt, and that I shouldn't hold her constantly and that I should learn to put her down while she is screaming and upset and go back in a few minutes to pat her bottom and teach her to 'self soothe'.

Well after the 4 hour return journey (complete with Tinysaur's constant whingeing, and sobbing followed by deadly silence where she had cried herself to sleep) I dove into my latest collection of library books, including 100 Ways to Calm the Crying by Pinky McKay.

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My personal opinion is this: everyone has differing opinions on whether or not to do 'control crying'. You can find a million books for and a million books against, but in the end it's what YOU as the mother thinks you should do. And what works for others might not work for you. In the end I have decided that the times when I know she is overtired and cranky I will swaddle her tight, put her in her cot and let her cry for 1 minute at a time before going into soothe her. And the other times when I don't know why she is crying: I will give her as much love and cuddles as she needs for her to feel better. And who knows: what worked today might not work tomorrow or next week. But it's all a learning curve, and ultimately: its what you are comfortable in doing with your child - and Tinysaur won't remember when she is older that I let her cry for a few minutes in her cot when she was 4 months old.

Mother's Day

Mothers Day. What a weird and wonderful day that was. I was woken at 5:30 in the morning. Not by Daddysaur with bacon and eggs as I had hoped, but by Tinysaur singing and squealing her lungs out in her cot. Daddysaur was happily snoring away, oblivious to any noise Tinysaur was making, as usual. Funny how he can hear me whisper and ask him if he wants a backrub, yet can't hear the blob yelling at the top of her lungs.... Selective hearing?? Most probably!

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So I got up, and I swear: I was the only mother in the world up at 5:30am with a squealing baby. Well at least it felt like that. So we watched TV and played under her swinging toy gym until 9:30 when Daddysaur finally emerged from his lovely warm bed all refreshed and ready for the day. And while he energetically played with Tinysaur, I slumped on the lounge, looking a mess and wishing it was 7pm and bedtime. But I rang my Mum, wished her Happy Mothers Day and opened my present from Tinysaur and Daddysaur: a framed family photo. How cute!! I love it.

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Lunchtime we met MIL, SIL and BIL at the park for a swing and some fish'n'chips. Got some LOVELY photos of Tinysaur on the swingset... and about ten of Tinysaur with her whole fist in her mouth and dribble from her chin to her toes. Then we went home cos Tinysaur decided to throw the BIGGEST tantrum I have ever heard.

The rest of the day.... I did housework. And it got me thinking: Mothers Day wasn't really a rest for me, but it was nice to have a day just when Tinysaur and Daddysaur could say "thanks for your hard work".

And thanks, Daddysaur, for the lovely bottle of Ricadonna, too. It went down a treat!!!

And then the big brown shark came....

For those of you familiar with Eddie Murphy and Delirious, you may well have guessed where this post is going to take us.

I shall set the scene for you. Yesterday being my first day off from work I have in the week, I slept in with Tinysaur (slept in = awake and squealing at 6:30am). At about 11am we decided to have a shower. Usually I will bathe her in her changetable thingy we have but she was kinda stuffy (I think she may be getting a cold) so I decided to take her into the steamy bathroom with me.

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After quickly washing and making sure the floor wasn't too slippery, I undressed Tinysaur and carried her into the running water. Now, we BOTH love this time. It's the only real bare skin contact I have with her (as she is bottlefed), and we just stand there and cuddle with the water massaging us for a good half-hour. It is truly beautiful and a highlight of my days off.

Yesterday she was kinda windy (not out the mouth - if you get my drift). All of a sudden, all I could smell was really bad baby fart. REALLY bad. So I giggled and lifted her up so I could look in her face and poke my tongue out at her and tease her for farting. Only to discover that a little nugget had attached itself to my arm. No wonder she had been so quiet and extra cuddly.

Shock. Horror. OMG. I have been peed on, spewed on, cried on, and now POOED ON.

So where to go from here? Well - it was a fairly firm nugget (yay for Farex!!) so I'm glad it wasn't too liquid. But that left me with the method of disposal. I was NOT going to mash it down the drain. So dripping wet, juggling baby, and the aforementioned nugget I managed to put it in the bin, wrap us up warmly, and clean off poor little Tinysaurs bum. At the time, it was... unpleasant.... But now I can look back and laugh. And good news: she isn't too stuffy anymore!

A Year Ago Today...

It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I was creeping around work hiding a bump under my jacket (thank God it was winter). On the 30th May 2008, I got the BFP at 11 weeks pregnant. Except mine wasn’t big. It was very faint, and Daddysaur was rather convinced that a FAINT line meant NEGATIVE. Umm... No, darling, it doesn’t. But that didn’t stop me from doing 3 other tests and then going to the doctors for a blood test.

My phone had been on silent all through the doctors appointment, and when I got out of the surgery and checked it I found Daddysaur had tried ringing 36 times. Either he was really scared about the whole deal or really excited. So I rang him with the news, and we both agreed to keep it a secret until the ‘safe’ time – around 12 weeks. This pregnancy was NOT planned, and I think I can pinpoint it to one very drunken night, but we were still uber excited and could not wait.

The next 9 months or so passed quickly – well except for the last 2 months. My due date was set as the 31st December 08, so we were praying I wasn’t going to go into labour at our friends’ New Years Eve BBQ. But the 31st of December came and went, as did the 7th January. Finally, at 42 weeks pregnant, and dying of heat, largeness (my end weight was around 110kgs – and I am normally 75kgs!) and utter impatience, I begged my doc to induce me. After quite a few arguments (a new study came out that very month on how a pregnancy actually naturally lasts 42 weeks, and that we shouldn’t induce) he eventually agreed. Please note that I do not take inducement lightly, but I was running out of maternity leave, being mid-summer it was VERY uncomfortable, and I had horrific swelling of my feet and hands.

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On the 15th January at 5:55am my little angel was born. We had always wanted to find out what she was, but I got the surprise of my life when they pulled her out and she was a perfect little girl. Daddysaur was absolutely smitten, and to this day remains wrapped around her little finger. The birth was not easy, I had such high hopes for a drug-free birth but getting induced sped the labour up from around 22 hours (average labour for first-time Mum) to 5 hours. In the end, I had an episiotomy, and she had no heartrate when she was pulled out as she was very stressed. But I only had gas and a pethidine shot, so I was quite pleased that I had managed with that! Although, I must say: next time I’m seriously thinking about an epidural.

So that's about me. I am back at work, even though Tinysaur is only 3 months old and we are learning constantly about each other. I sit here tonight after struggling for 2 hours to put her to sleep. And I am learning that she likes to be wrapped up tightly like a little fat worm. Whereas when she was born, she hated it. I guess I'm learning that you just have to keep trying different things!

I look back now and realize how naive I was about parenthood. I researched like crazy (working in a library kinda turns you into a nerd) but I was still quite naive about just how physically and emotionally exhausting it all is. But in the same instance, when I am up at 3am trying to put 4 month old Tinysaur back to sleep for the 6th time I really appreciate just how little sleep the human body can function with! And I would not change it for the world. Because although she is really testing me at the moment, every smile, every laugh, every gurgle, every coo makes my heart melt. And when I see her with Daddysaur, it reminds me how important love is to everyone. And there is nothing quite like the love a parent has for their child.

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Great parenting resources

BabyCenter
Parenting advice and tips from baby to big kid.

The Bump
Helpful resources and online forums from conception to 6+ months.

Mayo Clinic
Medical advice on infant and toddler health, plus tips on feeding, vaccines, getting your baby to sleep through the night, and more.

Parenting.com
Full of resources for parents with children of all ages.

Today's Parent
The online version of Today's Parent Magazine.

Know of any great resources you'd like to share? Comment below!

About the blogs

We're always looking for new 'saurs to join the blog and share their journey! You'll need to be:

• A parent of a baby or toddler
  
• Willing to share the details of your journey (even the TMI ones!)
  
• Committed to posting a couple of times per week
• Able to write for an audience (if you currently blog, include a link so we can take a look - it's OK if you don't, you just need the ability to compose a compelling post and keep a reader's attention - include a draft post or two so we can check out your writing style)

If that sounds like you, send an email telling us a bit about yourself to littlesaur@gmail.com - we can't wait to hear from you!

Trying to conceive? Already pregnant? Adopting? Want to blog about it? Get in touch with us at pregosaur@gmail.com

Contact us

Want to get in touch? Send us an email!

littlesaur
littlesaur@gmail.com

pregosaur
pregosaur@gmail.com

What did you say?

Confused by all the acronyms? Here's a short guide to the most common:


BC - Birth Control

BF or BF'ing - Breastfeeding

DC - Dear Child (of either sex)

DD - Dear Daughter

DH - Dear Husband

DS - Dear Son

OB/OBGYN- Obstetrician or gynecologist

PG - Pregnant