right time for new thread here apologies for the title being a bit bland

afternoon lovelies. good to hear of sleeping babes Daisy and i 2nd PMK, gloat away, you deserve it. In fact just as we should be free to offload, we should also be free to gloat big stylie!!!

Dysgu, youve had a nightmare of it with 2 premmie DD's, well done to your strong girls.

NJAN 3 stone in 5 months!!!! well done, thats amazing.

Trace stop reading and get back to your presentation (can i have some banana bread, its one of the 5 a day at home, even McDonalds sells it!)

Katie youve got my tummy i knots, i can't imagine how you feel, i think i want it to be positive, i hope its the outcome you want.

PMK how on earth did you find where Daisy lives you sly thing, did you hack into the mumsnet files.

We all went to our local pool for a swim today, we used to go most fridays all three of us but since DS2 was born it has just been DH & DS1. It was so much fun going all together. It was great to see how much DS1 has come along and DS2 loved splashing about with his brother and playing with all the floaty things they have for the toddler family session at the pool.

DS2 has finally worked out how to slowly lower himself down from standing at the sofa so he is banging his head a lot less today, only a couple of times. I had been thinking of bringing the baby cage thin up from the basement but i put him in the baby cage in the change rooms at the pool today and he went a bit mental so maybe not. PMK both my boys where wrigglers (still are) pad out your house and get yourself fit sweetie thats all i can say, oh and get ready for lots of fun. In fact you'll be fine you've got a dog, going to the park with all my boys (inc DH) is like taking a dog. Is your DH happy he got the post, that was the one he wanted wasn't it.

Kayz, we got a Thomas clock this for DS1 to help him stay in his room. It's eyes close when you touch the button on top and then open at the time you set. DS1 stays in his room until Thomas opens his eyes and just plays (most times)

I have to admit that we have not really persevered with the cup so far with DD2. TBH she drinks hermilk and that is about it as far as liquid goes. DD1 had loads of cups- I wonder where they ended up?

DD2 has been sleeping through since she was 2 months old although I have always sad that NICU trained both my girls really well!

Today she slept through until 7am (usually gets up wit DP around 5.30am) and went for a nap at 11am and is still asleep. Actually, I have just come upstairs to wake her as this is unheard of! She is usually a real catnapper - although aybe this is a sign of things to come.

pmk you dads name isn't whitfield is it?? My dad remembers some Whitfield's going to Oz many moons ago...a long shot I know!!

Daisy how funny!
I used to live in England for a short working holiday about 16 many years ago <showing age!> and I visited up that way as I have some relatives up there on dads side but long story short I was driving up when they cancelled at very short notice as something had gone on - I never found out what, but think it was their marriage related, so I ended up sleeping for a bit in the car as I couldn't get a hotel, then turned around and went back to Dorset, but I did decide to drive past the house my dad was born in! I've still not ever met those relatives to this day as I was a little pissed off to say the least with how they treated my potential visit!

Tried the cup in the Bumbo and the prob is, he can't get the angle right to get anything out even when I fill it right up, and therefore gets very frustrated! He will half assed hold onto it while he's in his bouncer though....

row that sounds terrible - you poor thing. glad DS is on the mend.

I really can't be bothered today. Often feel like this by Friday. And DH is out with work again tonight (she says smiling sweetly in supportive wifey way) so won't be home until 9ish. And left before 7:30. Long old day. And it's raining so I can't do any washing. And ho hum this is what my life has become .

Sorry - I actually have nothing to moan about - so should just give myself a kick and get on with it.

daisy sorry about your friend. That must be so hard.

Oh have just remembered. I can watch the cricket . sun starts shining in lal household.

wg I think your body hangs onto a bit of weight while you're still bfding. Both times as soon as I've stopped have gradually lost half a stone (ish).

pmk like you I have every cup under the sun. at the moment DD prefers drinking out of my glass to anything else.

spiggy I found an Ella's kitchen with prunes in it. Old school, but seemed to do the job.

spot lovely news about your sister's baby.

Am going to test myself this weekend, and try to spend a whole two days not worrying about pig flu/thinking about mad inlaws/stressing about long car journey to france/worrying about going back to work. Quite what I will fill my head with I have no idea.

hello all,

not got time to read all the posts I have missed, so sorry but I hope everyone is well.

We've had a nightmare here, I thought N was teething but after 3 days of been screamed at I took him to the docs and turns out he had tonsillitis - I felt so guilty. So he was on atibiotics which worked quickly but they gave him a really bad belly and was needing nappy changes every 2 hours throughout the night, plus they also seemed to give him insomnia. Then after a few nights of this I started throwing up all night as well and I really started to not cope very well for the first time. All my family live in manchester so I didn't have anyone who could help out for a few hours and I really felt it. Anyway he has now finished his antibiotics, his poo is back to normal, I've stopped throwing up and I can feel a tooth so hopefully he'll be a bit more cheery this weekend. Sorry for long moan - it was a nightmare!

Cups - he has the tommee tippee cheapy cup and he does drink from it himself (not much in one go, but a few sips) - but that is more because he rams anything into his mouth and sucks it I think.

Thanks v much for the toy ideas all, will def get a few of them soon, though I suspect T will truly come into his own when he can run about .

Kayz we also have an early riser here, I'd heard that all babies come into a light sleep between 5 and 6am and will chatter for a bit and will either go back to sleep if they are able to self settle, or nothing getting in the way (poos, teeth etc). T has done this about once in his life, we otherwise go up and try to give him dummy/water to settle. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Am hoping he'll grow out of it but it's hell while it lasts.

Hooray for Daisy! That's so great, you must feel like a different person. Gives hope to the rest of us . As does baby ZJ* and her super napping. So sorry to hear about your friend though. It must be v tough.

T has started to do this new weird noise here he goes purple and grunts and strains for ages, it's not a poo, almost looks lie he's so cross he's about to burst a blood vessel. Any suggestions?

Oh, and T is pretty certain to have a girl cousin (i knew it!) but apparently the scan was pretty unclear so they could be in for a surprise. Most imp was that baby ok and healthy.

Mmm, dont know then Kayz. I remember DS1 doing it and he just grew out of it in the end. I did try a lot of things and I'm not sure any of them worked. DS2 did it a few times but stopped when I put the blind and foil up.

I just remember that 30 mins makes such a difference. If I was up at 5:30 I would feel terrible especially if I was working. If at 6am I would feel a bit rubbish, at 6:30 am Ok.

Trace, that used to happen to me and stopped when I got a new oven. (bit of an expensive fix ). My ovens have both been gas and I wonder if when they get old the thermostat goes a bit ? Might be worth leaving them in for 5mins or so longer ? Do you use greaseproof paper on the bottom of the loaf tin ? That might also help. One thing might also be worth trying are those silicone cases. You can get a loaf tin version now that I would like, I use them for cupcakes. A bugger to wash though. Sorry I dont know if thats much use. I think cakes are a bit like a mysterous science, DS1 and I love baking them and eating them

NJAN we have got blackout curtains. So it's not the light that wakes him up. I don't think he is hungry as he tends to refuse a bottle or food until about half 7.

pmk <scared looking emotion>...omly kidding ! How bizarre! That is just a short distance from where we live. My late Nan used to live on Leadale Rd too. Have you ever visited this sunny ole town??

DD ditched her bottle about 1, she never noticed that we just stated putting her milk in a cup instead. Cups are fine for this age though.

when I say job application I mean interview. I clearly have no brain as well as no will power.

And NJAN I've remembered! It was about cake Seeing as you are a cake expert...I've tried twice in the last 2 weeks to make a cake - my friend gave me the recipe for a lovely banana bread thing. It came out delicious but the bottom half all stuck in the loaf tin. I greased it well - should I have not greased it? Or is it a rubbish tin? So I tried again last week and the same thing happened - very scrummy and moist and moreish but half of it left in the tin! Where am I going wrong?!

morning.
I've sat down T THE COMPUTER TO DO A LITTLE JOB APP (whoops excuse the caps!) while P naps but accidentally logged on here. I have no will power
zj I have tried many different cups - including the doidy - but she has no interest at all and gets quite cross. The reason we've gone back to trying a bottle is that dh did a test with P to see her reactions with about 6 different cups etc, and there is one bottle of of Lucy's old ones!) which she actually sucked and wanted to hold to her mouth, so we've decided to stick with that. Although she likes to hold it by the teat which is not the most ideal way! And PMK it is fine to put milk in a cup! If you think at where you're aiming, you will at some point have a small person who has a cup of milk before bed which may continue for years... (my dh still has a glass of milk!) and I think most HVs suggest weaning off a bottle at about age 1. Seems a bit daft that at 7 months I an still trying to get P ON a bottle!
JB I had a ganglion too! I had it removed years ago and had my arm all strapped up for a while but it has never come back. I have a scar right across my wrist in the 'self-harm' location, which gets a few puzzled looks!
Daisy HURRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAy and HURRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! So pleased for you Long may it continue.

we still need a new thread title....becoming urgent!
MUST DO JOB STUFF
NJAN I'm sure I had something I wanted to say to you but it's gone. I'm sure it'll come back a soon as I start work on some job application stuff....

Daisy - I just had a snoop at some piccy's of yours... then I stalked you a bit - you are from my dads hometown!! He was actually born in a house on leadale Road?

Oh and Katie Darn!! I'm waiting here on the edge of my seat!! I'm hoping you get the results you want and I'm desperately hoping I can join you if you get a test result +

Lady if you are reading - hope you are having a nice trip! dh got his posting for out that way so we can't decide whether to opt for a location somewhere on the Ox-Paddo line or do Northern Surrey. The lovely house we saw was Nth Surrey, however sadly I think we've lost that one...

Daisy Gloat away - it's very good news and hopefully not a one off! Brilliant about the cup drinking too- I have that cup - in fact I have every cup! I recently bought a soft spout Nuby one and it's the one he likes the most... I will leave him in the Bumbo with it on the tray today!
When is it ok to ditch the bottles altogether? is it ok to put milk in the sippy cup or is that a no no?
Another Q - there is considerable arm and leg flapping going on at the pmk camp - I mean considerable I hope this is normal! he usually is faster when he is excited but it seems he's excited all the time! Except when he's getting tired. Even in the Bjorn, I mean I can't really use it anymore as he kicks and flaps constantly!! Anyone else?

Jolly- meant to ask how's the Gangliant? (sp) I had one when I was younger and hit it with a heavy book and it actually did go away!

Sorry meant to say *DS2 is not sleeping through the night*.

And Daisy, I hope your friends little one is OK. My newphew had heart problems, very sad.

HI dysgu !
kayz try tin foil on the windows. Not attractive but keeps the light out. And books and toys on the bed to keep them busy, and then ignore and fingers crossed they go back to sleep

My DS2 still is sleeping through the night, but I plan to put him in his own room this weekeend and see what happens, and see if he will go back to sleep on his own...

*Weight loss* I have never dieted in my life, being in denial about being a bit lardy, which happened after I met DH (too many takewayas and booze). After DS2 I could see it couldnt be ingnored any more and I have lost 3 stone in the last 5 months, and am the lightest I have been in at least 10 years. This is purely down to WeightWatchers online, I would highly recommend it. It does work and it has not been hard, even with the 2LOs. They have an online database of recipies which really helps, and they are family friendly too.

Anyway, gotta go, DS1 has arrived demanding breakfast...

Apologies again for the typo's. Think my laptop keys are on their way out....

morning

Please don't anyone take this as me gloating, it isn't I am just bloody amazed as DS slept last night from 7pm till 7am. This is the first time ever and is probably an isolated incident but bloody hell I am chuffed! He woke about 11pm, I gave him a quick shush and he went back to sleep. DH was getting dessed fo work and I asked what he was doing, thinking it was the middle of the night! Then we both an to check him to make sure he was okay. The onlt thing we did different was we gave him sime suppe about half an hour befoe his bedtime bottle, about half a weetabix. He usually wakes at 1am and has a full 8oz bottle so I thought maybe a bit of supper might stretch him out a bit. Will try it again to see if it works tonight!

zoe fab news on the napping. DS is getting better during the day, but still far fom ideal.

pmk DS has one of those first T/Tippee cups. Hasn't had a clue for weeks what to do with it tbh. But the other day left it on his tray while he was eating and he picked it up and drank fom it. Only a few sips but progress I feel. IIRC DD was similar...I wouldn't worry

Arse, just peed on a stick (one left over from TTC DD) but it has obviously expired as it remained resolutely blank. Will now have to wait until this afternoon when I can get to the shops...the suspense of it all...

Daisy - very sad about your friend's baby. I hope things turn around for them soon.

Zoe - great news on the napping baby hope it continues! Amazing how suddenly things change like that

Q - do peoples lo's use sippy cups of any description confidently? I put water in ds's and have showed him and he has once or twice held it himself but still usually needs / wants me to hold it - same with his bottles -just lies there and won't hold it....

Morning,

Shopping was brilliant yesterday! We had such a good time and apart from 1 little tantrum about dancing in Debenhams DS1 was very well behaved.

I feel bloody shattered this morning. Yesterday DS1 woke us up at half 4, add that to a long day yesterday and DS2 waking me up at half 4 this morning and I feel like the living dead. DH by the way is still in bloody bed!! I am getting bloody fed up of always being the one to get up at 5am every bloody morning!!

Any tips on getting DS2 to sleep past 5am are greatly needed and appriecated.

I hope you are all well.

Oh. My. God. Again my baby has napped well today and , another hour in both the morning and the afternoon. I do not know what, why or how this has happened, but long may it continue

Spot you have huge amounts of sympathy from me on the endless walking round, here’s hoping Mr T decides to sleep easily soon. How did your sister’s scan go today?

Daisy how sad for your friends, in what should be a most magical of weeks. They must be incredibly strong to have got through everything that has gone before, so I hope they have the strength to get through this too

Trace have you tried a cup with water for P? DD wouldn’t entertain a bottle for anything, but enthusiastically drinks water from anything else (including a mineral water bottle with one of those sports tops!) I think the key (at least to start with) is for me to drink from it first, to make her jealous, as she wants anything I eat/drink! The best cup we’ve found is a doidy cup. Oh, and however much liquid I put in with lentils they boil dry, so I find the best solution is to hover and continually add more water. Or the slow cooker is a slightly better option

WG my solution to weight loss is to take some antibiotics that don’t agree with you, vomit several times a day for a week until your mother makes you promise to eat cake every day for at least a week to rectify it … if I must! And talking of which, LOL at Verso accepting middle age with cake, please can I join you?

I had 2 shocks in the space of 5 minutes tonight, a workmate rang me and told me my immediate boss is leaving tomorrow – she’s been there about 15 years and is a great boss, so I’m sad to hear that (I digress, but shouldn’t work keep me informed that she was leaving, seeing as she was on a 3 month notice period they would have had lots of time to do so. But then I guess someone should have told me a member of my team was leaving, not letting me find out about 6 hours before he left ). And then just after that I got a text from a friend from post natal group who has split up with her DH – their DS is only 2 months older than DD and I feel so sad that so early in his life his parents are living in separate homes and no longer together

Anyway, tis bedtime. I keep vowing to be in bed by 10, but failing miserably every night this week. Will try harder tomorrow, night everyone

poison an August meetup would be get my thumbs up as I will be between jobs for about three weeks in August! (lol@bum showing...) Do you remember all the palaver just before my maternity leave? Well, I'm not going to go into details but I have recently hired a lawyer...

sybil wishing you and your family getting better asap! >passes the Vicks and paracetamol<

All this talk about weight loss! I'm a lot lighter than I was when I conceived DD2, but still MUCH heavier than when I conceived DD1. Sometimes it bothers me, but then other times I feel I should just accept middle age with good grace (and cake) .

Hello again everyone.

Sorry - I jumped on board and then havn't been around. TBH I have been finding things tough recenty but am hoping that things have oved past the crisis stage and will continue to improve.

I am happy (?) to read that other people are still concerned wrt weight. After DD1 I had no problem getting bac into my size 10 clothes - although she was born at 32 weeks and so the stress and not being very big may have helped.

This timeround - even though DD2 was only 5 weeks early and had none of the health issues and stuff that DD1 had - it has been tougher all round and I am still size 14. Have no idea of weight - just bigger than I have ever been.

As for feeding DD2 - we generally are BLWing although she does like a loaded spoon. Breakfast - weetabix or porridge - is often eaten on our bed each morning! I just prop her up on her V cushion. Lunch is often eaten in the living room where she either sits in her BUmbo or on my lap. Dinner is at the table where she sits in her high chair and eats directly off a placemat on the table.

Will aim tobe around more often.

Haven't caught up properly I'm afraid, but:
Spot DD and DS both love/ loved this, very annoying music but quite educational, DD also loves paper, wooden spoons and keys.
WG, I got DH some of these cufflinks for his birthday and myself 2 charms for a necklace/ bracelet. A bit different than the usual hand/ footprints/ photos etc.

Forgot to add WG I still have 4kg lose before I'm officially not overweight. Bit miffed about that really, I have a triathlon in 2 months time and don't want to look fat in my tri suit!!!!

oh and WG I lost about 10kg within the first month then only about 2 more for the following 4 months, but the rest when i stopped BF - it was weird!

Invisible we had that toy from the toy library & DS loved it.

wg I didn't lose any weight immediately like you but have been steadily losing 2 lb a month which means that I'm a stone lighter than when I came out of hospital. Still quite a way to go before I reach a comfortable weight though. It's very weird - I feel as if I am normal weight, because I'm so used to being pg/carrying babies etc that when I'm not I feel as light as a feather. I find it really hard to gauge what I look like in the mirror, especially since my body shape is so alien. Sometimes I even look in the mirror and convince myself I look vaguely humanoid. But photos tell a different story - not to mention the scales! I've also developed a much sweeter tooth since having the DCs - was never that bothered before. As for bf being good for weight loss well all I can say to that is HA! I think as Invisible says a lot people tend to hang on to the last bit until they stop breastfeeding (never found out myself as I was still bf and not back to my pre-pregnancy weight when I got pregnant with DD). The good news for me was that even though I didn't lose all the flab post DS I was still the same weight when I gave birth both times - so it isn't necessarily the case that you will get bigger with subsequent pgs if you don't shift all the weight in between.

On the feeding thing, I've read in the context of cleaning teeth that some children take more kindly to having it done on your lap than if you are facing them as their space feels less invaded - it's certainly the case with DS and his teeth anyway.

Afternoon. JB is about an hour away so could def meet up every now and then if you moved there. I guess you both need to look at lifestyle work and money. I imagine contracting is better money but none of the be benefits of working for a large organisation. Also he works from home which means he is around more which is nice. Would he be possibly working long hours in new job. How far from family would Telford be?

We have all sorts of toys with varying promises of developmental importance. However, DS2 goes straight for paper and tissues everytime. He ate 3 pages of my 'Baby om' yoga book once.

WG I have managed to lose 6kg but most of that was in the last 2 months, with the exception of the last 2 days, I have been quite tough on myself with cakes and other calorie rich stuff (except chocolate). But also have been training a couple times a week for this triathlon.

We have been making pretzels this afternoon, there is a pretzel place in the plaza which sells a pretzel making mix. I thought it was a bit of an add water throw in the oven and hey presto pretzels, but turns out it's a little more involved. I'm shattered now, and we only made three so far. I think I'm gonna put the dough aside and make the rest when the kids go to bed.

WG exactly the same here.... Every day I start off with feeding in the bumbo, and he is looking every way including at the ceiling and leaning right forward, I get so frustrated and end up pinning him down in the corner of the couch! Not exactly sitting up straight either - can't be good! His latest is he will only have fruit pureed or yoghurt, and if it's anything other than that he takes a big mouthful and then does a big raspberry and totally sprays me with it.... I am currently covered in chicken, parsnip and apple puree.... everything is just oo interesteing, and everything is really funny at the moment too, but i'm not laughing....

Very annoyed, Estate agent asked me twice to relelase tenants deposit and I stupidly assumed he had seen the inventory report. Turned out it wasn't even finished!! I am livid, but nothing I can do. Apparently deep scratches in our Oak floors on a brighter note, that house I want hasn't been lost yet... the landlord wants to know the terms of lease etc we want.... possible light at the end, but only a flicker....

<<waves across ether>> we are all sicknotes here so have not read much but hope you are all well and happy! Will try to dive in properly later on

Love to all xxx

daisydora - so sorry for your friend, that's heartbreaking.

traceface - that's a great toy tip! DS loves anything he can chew, I'm pretty sure he'd be up for that. TBH, we've got all sorts of toys in the house, but neither DD nor DS are that into them at the moment. The thing DD loved most when she was around nine months onwards was this one www.amazon.co.uk/Galt-A0138L-Classic-Pop-Up-Toy/dp/B00005OB9H. At one point she loved it so much, she insisted on going to sleep with the little stick men...

WG - haven't weighed lately, but I'm pretty sure I haven't lost much. You do lose a bit after you stop breastfeeding

As far as feeding goes, DS seems to quite like his high chair. Sitting him opposite DD helps as he opens wide to giggle!

All finally much better in our household - phew...

oh, and pd am also racking my brains for presents for dh. he is, though, a cricket nut so have bought him a limited edition pot of marmite which looks like a cricket ball to celebrate the ashes. you might like to think of andrew clover's book "dad rules" - based on his columns at the end of the sunday times style magazine - he actually went to prep school with my dh and they know each other very vaguely in real life, but i bumped into him the other day, and he is such a love and writes so wonderfully about children and being a dad etc. none of this will arrive by tomorrow, i know, but won't be long. am also thinking of getting madam's hand and feet imprinted in clay and framed for the inlaws.

any other good presents for grandparents/dads? i can't possibly keep giving them framed photos of madam. although am thinking of getting those personalised calendars made for christmas.

daisy - sorry to hear about your friend's baby - wishing them all the best

a couple of questions:
for those of you with more than two - if you were a stay at home mum for the first, do you get any maternity allowance for your pregnancy with the second? if you are self-employed, did you return to work, paying your NIC contributions and then get MA after that - is there an amount of time you need to do that before you get your second round of MA?

anyone else find it easier to feed their babe sitting on their lap? tried to feed madam today in her bumbo and it was so much harder to get the spoon in her mouth. but on my lap i can practically pin her arms down and it is much much easier - am i fascistic mother?

anyone else not lost any weight since their babe was 2 weeks old? i am exactly the same weight as i was when she was 2 weeks - admittedly, i did lose 2 stone in 2 weeks, and i don't look obese or unusually large, but i thought what with bfing i was going to lose lots of weight. i would ideally like to be a bit more than a stone lighter - and i know that is going to take a lot of exercise and eating better (developed a sweet tooth since having madam), but just thought i'd ask if i'm the only one.

there. those are my questions for the afternoon.

well I guess my asda link doesn't work. Ho hum. It's just a kids toothbrush with a bumpy rubbery handle!

oh and Tilly - SN = school nurse

daisy - that's so sad about your friends' baby. I will pray for them
PD - what a dilemma! You'll need to order something exciting now in the time it takes him to go to the loo! What's he in to?
spot nice to see you again (in my mind's eye!). I am a little to say that P's fave toy is this toothbrush We discovered it by accident when she grabbed Lucy's one, and loved it so much that I bought one just for her and she LOVES it! It's a rubbery handle so really easy to hold, great for teething on as it squeaks when she gums it, and she likes sucking the bristles too! Apart from that she still enjoys rattles and bells but likes to eat books too. Basically for her it's all about the teething potential of the toy! My flip flop is among her faves!
lal your pregnancy sounds awful Poor you to go through all that and dd's meningitis too. You are amazing. Thanks for asking about Lucy's asthma - she's been quite poorly last week so we upped her steroid inhaler and she got 5 days oral steroid too and she seems much better this week.
I've got a big fat headache It started Tuesday evening and hasn't gone yet. I just want to close my eyes - not that practical really . I keep seeing stars lately too - very odd - last time that happened I had pre-eclampsia! Unless I'm rather pregnant without knowing it I think there must be a different cause this time! It could be lack of chocolate as I haven't had any for days
Well since I wrote on Tuesday that P has been sleeping till 11 and only waking twice in the night for feeds...it's all changed! Last night I'd fed her twice before 10pm! I just can't settle her without the boobs. But then she slept till 1.30. And the water intake has not been so good either, from Tuesday's whopping 1 oz to yesterdays slight accidental dribble...oh well. She has 6 weeks until i go back to work to master drinking without me and sleeping at night
ZJ with finger foods P has toast, rice cake (tends to just get very sticky and stick to her clothes rather then her consuming it!), cucumber, babycorn, strawberry (usually in my hand and her face-diving it in a feeding-a-goat-out-of-your-hand kind of stylee!), banana (doesn't seem to like the taste though), apple, potato smiley face , garlic bread, a quaver , a Skip , and many a breadstick! After you mentioned the orange meal the other day I thought I'd give lentils a try. I never cooked a lentil in my life before so I very carefully followed the instructions on the packet, rinsed them first, boiled them rapidly for 10 minutes, put a lid on, let it simmer for 30 minutes...then dh came into the lounge 30 minutes after that with a smelly, smoking pan that had boiled dry with a load of frazzled lentils. Must remember when I have put things on the hob and not get too involved in playing in the lounge! I did the same last week and managed to burn a hole in the pan by letting an egg boil dry <rolls eyes at own stupidity>
Right. Squeaks from the bedroom - why does nap time end so soon...

Oh shit. Have just ordered LadyT's late DH's book. Even though DP doesn't like cricket. Or reading. Then DP walked in as I had my credit card out paying for it (so bang goes your cunning plan JB) and got all excited and demanded to know what it was. Hadn't the heart to tell him that it was a book I bought just cos I wanted it, so now he'll think it's something he really wants.

Must. Do. Better.

And in the time it took me to write that I could have been searching online for a pressie. Hopeless.

Sometimes I long for the days when I had a boyfriend I didn't live with and could still use the old "must have got lost in the post" line...

Good idea JB but what? Have about 20 minutes until he's back with the kids. Do you think I can still get away with DD as his birthday present (bearing in mind that she was his birthday present last year, not to mention his Christmas present)?

PD Just order something online today and say you expected it to arrive in time . I've done that before .

Morning all,

I have a napping baby , so am just catching up.

Thanks for your post lal, it was really useful. I agree wholeheartedly on your comment about all the sickness being worth it when you saw DD. You had such an awful time though. I was only hospitalised once but I think my longing for another DC may be making my brain skip over just how awful it was. Particularly such details as never being able to go out without some plastic bags with kitchen roll in the bottom in case of accidents. My friend was recalling the other day how one minute we were chatting in the car and the next... well. I'm sure you can all imagine.

katie Can't wait to hear if you are the first one back on the horse so to speak!

daisy Your poor friend. She'll get very good care though as they have some of the best specialists for children's heart problems there.

zoe DD only gets a tiny smear of marmite on her toast but I might get some low salt stuff - thanks PD. Your DD will soon get the hang of how much pressure she needs to hold the food but not have it slip away. Breadsticks are good too, v easy to hold.

spot DD's favourite toy is her monkey, he is a jellycat one. I did see a fantastic toy at John Lewis which is meant to encourage crawling. It is a dog that when you touch it he moves away, stops and barks. I was tempted until I realised that we have two cats which fulfil a similar function.

veggie The job is in Telford, Shropshire so not too far from you I suppose. It is a permanent job whereas what DH is doing now is on a contract. spot I think I am concerned at all the faff and bother that goes along with moving house too! Especially as I'd end up making all the arrangements. Last time we moved DH had one room to pack up (a tiny study) and was stuffing things in plastic bags as the removal men were clearing the place.

Best use this time to do a bit of cleaning I suppose!

Oh and it's DP's birthday tomorrow and I haven't got him anything, nor will I be able to go shopping before then. Oh dear. Any ideas?

Oh daisy that is so sad about your friend's baby.

Morning all!

Been ages even for me. Had visitors here, then went off visiting myself, then went camping in the Lakes (which was delightful despite being with a baby and a recently toilet trained toddler with diarrhoea), so not been online much for a while. It's taken me a couple of days to catch up on everyone's posts but as usual there is far too much to reply to so here are a few random musings.

Blimey, what a lot of new posters! Welcome to staines, Spiggy, row and dysgu and welcome back to Invisible (hope I haven't missed anyone). Always good to have new people keeping the thread fresh especially when some of the oldies like me are struggling to keep posting.

Sorry to hear of all those with the lurgy. Get well soon.

And all these babies crawling all over the thread! Not expecting any crawling action from DD any time soon but she is getting more scrumptious by the day. And more ginger, bizarrely!

Boo to all those nasty employers being a PITA and yay to Verso for telling them where to stick it. Hope you're going to show them your bum on the way out love.

spot don't get me started on blummin tongue tie! There is someone at Homerton who is looking into the whole tongue tie issue with a view to potentially setting up a clinic (found about it on Mumsnet here). It might be worth giving the Maternity Helpline a call to tell them about your experience (I think the midwife's name is Alison). As for toys, boring I know but both DD and DS were/are quite into the keyring-style teethers (we have a few knocking around like this but with a bit more going on) and they will play with them for ages. DS played with them well beyond this age. We are a bit slow on the uptake with DD but DS was quite into knocking down stacking cups and retrieving his dummy from the top of a stack at this age.

katie how exciting! All this talk of third babies ... funnily enough, DP and I had our first proper (and inconclusive) talk about a third the other day on the way back from hols. I said we'd better wait till my periods started to discuss it properly as I'd probably go beserk with broodiness when that happened. When we got home we took DD out of the moses basket and into the cot (yes she is that small) and I felt really sad that we might not use it again (like you Veggie, I hate the thought that DD might be the last baby I breastfeed etc). Anyway, about an hour later my period started! Think my body is telling me something? Must admit it has crossed my mind that were I to get pg this month I'd only have to go back to work for 3 months or so (which I've got to do anyway) before going on mat leave again (workshy? moi?). So tempting and yet so insane...

trace I've got a good feeling about the SN position - sounds so right for you. Are still unsure about how to go about the presentation? If it were me I would have both types prepared (depending on how much more time it would take to prepare the second one, but presumably you have to research the facts and figures stuff in any case) then make sure you ask the panel which one they want. Would show them that you are flexible, you are comfortable communicating with a variety of audiences, willing to go the extra mile etc etc.

LadyT hope you're having a fab time in Italy if you're reading. So jealous of all that gorgeous food. My Marmite on toast seems so drab now ... speaking of which zj you can get reduced salt Marmite from Holland & Barrett. It's called Natrex I think.

wg sorry to hear about your FIL - hope they've got it early. My brother has the same thing and is just coming to the end of his second lot of chemo - fingers crossed that will be the end of it.

Veggie what a result for your DH. Can I just say what a pleasure it is to read how you write about your family. You always sound so full of admiration for your DH - I could definitely learn a thing or two from you on that score.

Anyway that's all I've got time for for the mo - have been invited round to a local mum's house this aft, the thought of which is making me come over all antisocial <slaps wrist>.

I fancy a London meet-up. Anyone up for it say in August? And what happened to the Cambridge meet-up?

OMG JB where in the Midlands???? We could have a midlands meet up, sorry have only read up to JB's post will go back and read more, and sorry about the cake cravings >>veggie sneaks into the kitchen for more choccy bikkies<<

Apologies for that last thread my 'R' key doesn't wok unless I press really hard!

moning all!

I love DH he left me to lie in to 9.30am this moning. DS still not sleeping well, and it was beginning to catch up with me but I now feel great!

We had some bad news the othe day. A friend of mine had a beautiful baby girl last weekend. But when the did the 'p' check they detected a problem with he heart. She was rushed to Alder Hay whee they have discoveed she has 3 chambes to he heart, not 4. She can be opeated on at 4 & 7 months to help but she will be on medication fo the rest of her life. Its so asd, my friend tried for an age to get pg, the MC'd the fist pg. She was devasted but got pg again and now this. They will hopefully come hom soon afte mum and dad have had some taining in how to handle her condition befoe they operate.

morning everyone, early start for me today. Ds1 woke up at 5am which then woke up ds2! Neither of them wanted to go back to sleep so I've been dozing on the sofa while they've played!

spot ds2's favourite toys are his stacking bear which roars, the jellycat toys and his whoozit

Morning everyone, sorry I haven't posted for a while, been lurking though as I love to catch up. Still feeling v knackered as T seems to wake so much in the night (not for feeding, just a cuddle) and needs walking round in the day to nap. i know I've been banging on about sleep training before but am determined to wait until he gets a gnasher or two as am convinced that teething is largely responsible for the fitful sleep, day and night.

On the developmental front, T not quite crawling but floor swimming like a desperate tortoise, making a number of new sounds and seems more aware and "knowing" by the day. And I still can't quite believe he's here!

Zoe that is just fab about the naps, I bet you didn't know what to do with yourself! It gives such hope to us of those with poor sleepers, I think I've read too many books because they all try and drive the fear of god into you by implying that if things are a certain way at the moment they ALWAYS WILL BE AND WILL PROBABLY GET WORSE UNLESS YOU FOLLOW MY ADVICE TO THE LETTER. But that is clearly bollocks and if I ever have the energy for another I will def try and be a bit more relaxed about that sort of thing.

Food wise T is more about purees but we're trying to get a bit more adventurous, and I'm getting less anxious about him choking so we're onto toast and rice cakes too. Trying to avoid salt and sugar but not easy. Lordy me but it's a messy business, makes me already slightly nostalgic for the days of milk alone (though considering what a battle that was I don't really mean that!).

Really sorry to hear about the illnesses, esp Indith. Fingers cossed they make speedy recoveries.

Welcome back, JJ, glad you had a good time, hope things are readjusting a bit.

We find out today what type of baby my sis will be having, so exciting . I think it will be a girl but would love a little boy cousin for T to torment play with.

Jolly, that is a difficult decision to make, is it a job your DH really wants? Moving could be exciting but only if you're up for it and it sounds like there are definite pluses where you are at the moment. Am probably projecting a bit though as am afraid of moving even out of North London so I'm afraid I don't have any useful advice.

Better go, quick poll, what are people's LO's favourite toys? I want to buy something new for T but there's so much out there I don't know where to start!

kayz I remember you mentioning the railway trip, not my in laws anniversary - that would be a bit spooky if you'd mentioned that!

Hi everyone, today is a great day – DD had 2 fab naps today, an hour and a half this morning and then another hour and a quarter this afternoon . I can’t remember the last time she slept for more than 45 minutes during the day, it was amazing – I got to sit and drink a cuppa and read the paper in peace, twice in one day!

Happy anniversary Kayz, are you going for a meal on the railway to celebrate? It's my in laws 30-something anniversary today, so a good day to get married I think. I seem to remember you mentioning that a while ago. at the teeth coming through so easily – I hope E’s are equally trouble free [hopeful emoticon]

Your poor LO’s Indith, I hope they get better soon. Are you ok, or are you poorly too?

Jump crawling , well done baby Jump! Our playpen/fire guard arrived today (I found the one I wanted for sale in the paper at half the price it is in Mothercare), so DD can crawl, if she wants to

I tried DD with some melon slices today, but they were too juicy and slippy and kept flying across the kitchen when she held them, so will need to put my thinking cap on further about finger foods. I have bought some rice cakes today, so will let her try one of those tomorrow. I am very impressed that baby Jolly likes marmite – marmite is about my favourite thing, but I haven’t dared give DD any yet, might try though now

Have just been channel hopping and found Pretty Woman on – tell me to go to bed, as I’ve seen it too many times before and I know what happens!

No, not tested yet, but still no sign of AF. I am determined not to test until Friday, so you'll have to all wait until then for the outcome . I don't want to test as I am in a bit of denial. Although I want another, I am absolutely petrified at the thought of having 2 only 17 months apart. DS was 3.5 when DD was born, and that has been hard enough. 2 in nappies scares the crap out of me! Haven't even mentioned it to DH yet as the idea of talking about it makes it more real IYSWIM.
Will let you all know the outcome on Friday....x

hi all very quick one - i'm tired. Have started looking to move and missed a great house today due to my stupid procrastination Have just learnt that with rentals, grab it quick if it's good, however being a landlord myself that never seems to happen in reverse when we are looking for a tenant.

Hello dysgu

Katie, tesco has PG tests for half price at the moment I wouldn't mind a positive test soon - now that i've decided for sooner rather than later, I just want to get on with it

spiggy my DD is similarly suffering. It seems a bit better on the days I've got more water down her. And I have to confess to making her bottle weaker when it was really bad. The GP told me to do this for DS when he was sick. If anyone has any proper advice though would also welcome.

Jolly I had a weird old time really. I had a perfectly straightforward pg with DS - a bit of sickness - a bit knackered from working too hard - but other than that fine.

Then with DD I was working F/T, but DH was at home looking after DS. I was much more sick than I had been with DS from about 8-15 weeks. I could eat, but not much and I really couldn't stomach meat (v odd for me given I am a complete carnivore). Then I got a bit better and then got a stomach bug about 18 weeks, and then had the week from hell where I couldn't keep fluid down. I had a huge row with DH on the Friday morning as I was dragging myself to work (I felt bad I'd got pg again so soon after going back so was trying to prove something) and got to work, burst into tears because someone hadn't arranged a meeting they were supposed to. Realised I wasn't very well, went home to GP who took one look at me and called the hospital to book me in. I spent a few days on a drip and then they sent me home. And it got worse really - for a couple of months I literally couldn't get out of bed. Was on 3 different anti emetics and acupuncture. I was really thin. It was horrid. I had to try to eat 1000 calories a day and it was a real struggle. Miraculous how DD was completely fine.

I did start to feel better about 35 weeks - but still full of meds. The problem was they really wiped me out, which didn't help. Then I had a couple of weeks of not throwing up before DD was born (and I felt so sick in labour I had anti emetics injected).

I've had massively conflicting advice from various medical professionals. It's a bit odd to be like me and have one absolutely fine pg and one really not. The problem is that hyperemesis is really poorly researched - understandably given no one wants to test drugs etc. on pregnant women. The consultant I saw at St Thomas' said that every pregnancy was different - different baby=different you. The only person I know who was as sick as I was, but with her first pg, waited until her DD had started school before getting pregnant with her second. It's quite common for women who are very sick and have to look after their older DCs during the week to spend every weekend in hospital. I only avoided that because I literally did nothing. I missed DS though. . Well in retrospect, because at the time I didn't really notice. Can highly recommend acupuncture though - if I did get pregnant again I would start it very early. It didn't cure it - and I would have been lost without the meds - but it helped me to take less.

I'm not planning another though. I would I think - because as soon as DD was born she was more than worth every day of sickness. But easy for me to say I think - was really hard on DH. And would be very hard on DS and DD.

Ok that is probably way more than you wanted. And apologies everyone else for boring you with it.

Indith am so sorry for you. And poor DCs. Hope tonight isn't too bad.

Arti am glad it's going ok back at work. Share your sentiments on traitorous children though. DS spent all this morning asking when his nanny was arriving.

Any news Katie? [grin[

And JJ good to have you back, although sorry for your laptop. I put ours between the sofa cushions 'for safety' the other day and then couldn't find it

Zj DD can't sit by herself without falling over and she's weeks older than your DD.

Kayz enjoy your shopping

Hi ! I seem to have much less time now I'm back at work.

Kayz Happy anniverary, I hope you have a good shop and get yourself a nice treat.

indith hope your LOs get better soon and you dont come down with it yourself.\

*Finger foods* we have the same problem. Despite offering finger foods, DS2 throws them on the floor or just looks - he does attempt to eat crinkly things, paper, ie things he shouldnt....

Has Katie tested yet ? I would love to have a third and think of it often. But then I would probably also want a 4th, and then a 5th. I think this is what happened to my mum

Who is talking about cake ? I have some very good recipies if you would like them. I love cake, its my downfall. DS1 and I also baked bread last week and made buns. Lovely with warm with loads of butter - yum

Sorry I dont have time for anything else. Washing to do and stuff. Everyone else stay well

I typed, it was lost! Why does that happen, grrrr.

Anyhoo...

indith Poor you, how are the dc's doing? Not too poorly I hope. IH Have yours recovered now or are you still in the midst of it?

lal Can I ask if you were poorly for both pregnancies? I was sooooo sick even on ondansatron (it did improve it but was still sick). I cannot imagine how I could be that ill and look after dd, but I do want another dc though at some point.

You are all sweet about my transplant. I sturdy and healthy now though! arti I have to keep my immune system repressed so my body doesn't reject the liver. The medication keeps the liver in good order but does leave me susceptible to infections. The medics say tamiflu should sort me out if I do get it, so I'm trying not to fret about it. Glad you are getting back into the swing of things at work.

DAMN I lost it again! What is wrong with me. Good job I copied most of it. What am I doing today??!

I'll try again.

zoe Finger foods. DD enjoys toast, bagel, pitta, rice cakes with marmite, phili, hummus, cheese. Steamed courgette, carrot, parsnip, mini corn. Also slices of melon, banana, pear. Sticks of cheese, cucumber. Whole strawberries, raspberries and given the chance will have a go on a whole peach. I also give her bits of what we are having so she's had meatballs, pasta, shepherd's pie, very mild chilli etc. She does have eight teeth though so they give her an advantage in the chomping stakes. She hasn't rolled at all today though, I think it may be a while before she gets going!

veggie Poor J is really knocking himself about. You can't keep him immobile though and bumps and bangs are part of the learning process. It must be hard work being forever on your guard.

DH has applied for a job which would involve us all relocating to the midlands. I'm scared in case he gets an interview and we have to seriously consider the idea. Is it a very silly idea to move to a new area where we know no one? As I work from home it shouldn't be a problem for my job but his parents live up the road and mine are only 45 mins away at the minute. Decisions, decisions... oh well, he might not get an interview. Night all, off for chocolate now. I wish I had some cake in, veggie has made me really want some!

zj no moving date yet but am hoping it won't be long. Am itching to start decorating!

Indith Hope that illness soon passes, and everyone feels better soon. It sounds like the pig lurgy is hotting up in the NE. Had 2 suspected cases in work and there are a number of kids at nursery confirmed with it.

veggie you made me want cake! And there's none in the house and DP is out so I can't even go to the shop

Kayzr yay to teeth!

Ladies, can I lower the tone of the thread and talk poo? DD seems to be getting really constipated- so much so that her bum is bleeding when she does manage to go. Anyone got any tips for how to deal with it? DS lived mainly on bm til he was 1 so I've no idea how to deal with this particular problem!

I know Kayz, they offered him double his current pay. Did you hear Juventus are trying to sell Viera to Spurs?!

Veggie Adebayor has left Arsenal for Man City. What an idiot!!

Just put DS1 to bed. He has been driving me insane all bloody day. He hasn't had a nap so since half 3 he has been really playing up.

Oh Daisy I've eaten too much cake.

Poor little DS2 his little head is taking such a beating, surely soon he is going to learn to disembark from standing at the couch in a way other than just simply letting go and falling backwards. He now has a little bruise on his cheek where he fell sideways and hit some toy on the floor. He also fell headfirst down the one step that goes from our corridor to the bathroom. He was in DS1's room which is right next to the bathroom playing with his brother while I was running their bath when the next thing I knew he was head first on the floorboards with his legs stuck up in the air. It gave him a little scrape on the nose. I'm sure social services is going to be onto me again soon. I think we might have to get a softplay area designer in to redo the house. Oh and JJ welcome to the next level, one hint get lots of cushins.

Oh and jump welcome back. Hope DD gets back on UK time soon.

hello,

indith *invisible hand* hope you respective houses get well soon!

Kayz hoorah for the teeth! I am hopng we get some soon, I can't cope with his constant runny noses and coughing. Well, I assume that it's his teeth. The Dr tells me he is well.

veggie I am now craving cake!!!

Just been and ordered DD her first bike for her birthday next month - its fab! More than we were going to spend but then I always set out with a budget in mind and never stick to it! It doesn't even matter if its a trip to Asda. I think I just might forget the budgetting then.

Trace I have chocolate cake, muffins, and all butter quadruple Belgium chocolate biscuits (we all remember those I think at one stage my placenta was delivering pure all butter biscuit to DS2), I made a very healthy sandwich so feel ok about all the cake, well will need to do some runs anyway.

Trace I do love the socialness of a hospital, whenever I did the odd shift with my old community team that was based at a hospital I used to spend half my dad wandering around visiting or running into people. Was like having a whole day of coffee chats. A bit naughty as should have been doing a bit more work.

There's another tooth. I was expecting screaming, chewing everything and a bit of a poorly tum like DS1 had. So 2 teeth found today.

trace sorry, I think I missed your earlier posts, not sure what a SN is but Google Scholar might help you research, I'm sure the papers Veggie mentioned will be easily accessible online.

indith hope your quarantine is over quickly!

veggie sounds like a nice morning. The mums I met on Monday at the school induction seemed nice so was hoping to do something similar to your lot! Maybe not so much cake though

oh Indith poor you Hope recovery is quick. Oink.
JJ at dd's crawling! Well done babyJJ!
Veggie - did you save me any cake? You know the nearer this interview gets the more earnestly I want the job! I imagine it's very competitive so don't want to pin all my hopes on it but I really really want it! Although I was chatting to one of paeds consultants this morning who said one of the York SNs has just got the new CP job at the hospital so there will be another SN job available in the not to distant future.
WEll my morning was not so successful on the research front - I got to the hospital to find yet more building work which means yet more staff parking lost for eternity, so paid £3.70 for 2 hours visitor parking. Went up to my ward, saw some pals, had a coffee and a chat and fed Phoebs, then bumped into a friend in the corridor so went to the canteen and had lunch with her, then finally went to the library to find it doesn't exist anymore! It's moved to the uni, so I came home instead! Had a lovely time catching up with people but I'm none the wiser about SN current issues!!!

hello all, very very quick one here as I'm in an internet cafe (our laptop has disappeared either put away somewhere so safe it's slipped into another dimension, or nicked by a very very thin burglar who managed to get through a 3" gap at the bottom of the sash window...)

Canada trip all in all was fab, really great to catch up with bro and his family and meet the lovely nephew (even if he found dd's excited shouting 'very scary'). She learned to sit up and is now crawling so need to get safetyfying the house!! She's unfortunately still on canada time as well, up in the middle of the night then sleeping til noon and has decided that going to bed is a very scary thing, even cuddles from DH won't work when she's gone to her enraged stage so the boobs are working very hard atm... will catch up with everyone once we've got a replacement laptop (sigh) and am realising quite how dependent we were on the interweb or just about everything... not sure if this newfound freedom is good or bad - have used the phone book more times in the last few days than the previous year!

love to you all, hope everyone's well and catch up soon hopefully

Afternoon ladies. Have had a lovely morning had some of the mums from DS1's nursery around for coffee, it was one of their birthday, so I bought a cake and some biscuits. Unfortunately they all bought biscuits and pastries and even muffins so we have thoroughly pigged out and I feel a bit sick. The lady whose birthday it was her DD1 & my DS1 are quite good friends, in fact they are a bit of an item. So I offered to take her DD1 so she could get her haircut. Which is lovely as I'm completely shattered today (ds2 has taken to waking nightly at 2am to wail for a but then falls asleep after some time I think it's teeth) so it's nice to have someone to keep DS1 entertained. She is a lovely girl and so well behaved.

Trace any questions please ask if I don't know the answer I may be able to find out. You inspired me to look up jobs for SN in Australia. I was pleased to find there are loads. I think you will love the job, it's recently been recognized how important the role is, they are still very understaffed but there is definitely and imputus to improve things and a nice appreciation of the role. They have a unique place in kids lives.

Indith sorry you've been put under house arrest, how long do you have to indoors. Do you have to take the Tamiflu too?

Cross post - Indith interesting they've given you tamiflu. The docs didn't offer it up for DD, so haven't bothered to take DS in yet...

WG - so sorry about your fil, hope all will be OK.

dysgu - hello! Lovely to "meet" you!

trace - good luck with the interview. It certainly sounds like you are preparing well!Also glad that P is feeding better and you are getting more sleep. I know how stressful the whole bottle thing is - DD never, ever took one but still survived when I went back to work.

arti - glad you and the DCs survived the first days back at work!

All the swine flu news is a bit scary. DD and DS have both run fevers over the last few days and you can't help but worry with everything in the news, although chances are its not the pig lurgy. Its just not obvious to know what to do though. Luckily DD finally seems OK and DS does seem to be getting better today. Can totally understand being especially concerned in your situation JB.

Child mark 1:- wet cough, snotty, grotty, temp.
Child mark 2:- snotty, grotty, covered in rash, temp.

Prescription:- tamiflu and quarantine.

Happy days!

finger foods- chunks of veg (courgette great and nice and squishy in the middle, I cut a lump off and slice in half then cook.) New potatoes, halves of tomato, pretty much any fruit sliced (nectarine a fave here, leave skin on as is easier to hold), pasta (fusili easiest to hold), pancakes, fritters, slices of omelette....

veggie thanks for that interview info - that is sooooooooo helpful Can't stop now as P waking up....
off to work library to check out some School nurse journals!
see you later xxx

DS2 has a tooth. He has bitten me and there is a tooth!!! Complete surprise, no crying, dribbling etc.

kayz have a lovely time shopping!

zj with finger foods, I've given ds2 toast dipped in a puree, rusk, rice cakes. Also I'm just using up purees now, he seems to prefer lumpy food! Am lol at your HV, I guess as a student she's been thorough, but still. Ds2 isn't sitting up but I think that's my fault, he's trying to crawl so I pop him in his chair or travel cot to stop him learning too quickly

trace good luck with the interview!

MoM have a lovely time in Canada!

dysgu hi, glad you've joined us!

wg sorry about your fil, hope they've caught it early enough & that he'll be ok.

jump am sure the medics would be concerned if there was a great risk to you with the flu

Speaking of swine flu, I came down with a bad cold the other day so checked my symptoms just in case . But all good, just a cold!

Think we're off to the soft play today. Its raining, we were stuck home yesterday as I was feeling too ill to do anything, so ds1 needs to burn off a lot of energy!

Morning,

Trace Good luck with your interview!!

ZJ That is rubbish!! DS2 can't even remotely sit up yet and he is 2 weeks older. I've stopped taking him to be weighed. I am fed up of the HV finding something wrong with him.

JB Wow that is really great. I bet the swine flu is a real worry. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Dysgu Welcome to the thread!!

It is our 3 year wedding anniversary today. DH wasn't allowed to have the day off work so is at work at 2
Going shopping to Meadowhall tomorrow so probably won't be on until evening. DH has given me £200 to spend!! So will hopefully find something nice!

Hope everyone is well.

ZJ I'm having a giggle at your HV what does she mean by signing off does that mean she can't go onto the next developmental level???? We don't have another check til 8 months and I'm not expecting that to happen anyway. DS2 basically didn't see a health visitor after his last clinic weight at 7 months.

Hey Arti glad DD was good for the nanny buy know what you mean about traitor. DS1 was a nightmare for daytime naps but apparently at nursey he used to happily lay da own play with his blanket for a bit then fall asleep, cheeky begger.

Mom I have an image of you with babe strapped happily to your back in some rainbow coloured sling, playing a guitar singing the Mamas & Papas songs whilst walking in sun streamed woods.

Daisy I have a mental image of your DD screwing up her nose at jars and giving you the cats bum mouth to ensure that 'none shall pass'

JB wow that's just a little bit amazing I'm so glad we have you with us healthy and special. How cool was it for you when you got pregnant?!?!?

Trace, you need to find all the names of the relevant give White paper etc on or which mention school nursing. Healthy starts healthy futures springs to mind and there's another on the tip of my tongue but can't remember it. Will try to remember for tomorrow. Also if they ask about the future challenges for SN there is obesity, diabetes and also the increasing number of children with complex needs being intergrated into mainstram education. That's just some examples anyway. Also obviously Child protection is a big one but you've probably had some training in that already. But as well as your own CP specialist liaison within the health service the schools you work in will also have a CP officer. I have interviewed for school nurse posts and I have to say the candidates my colleagues and I tended go for were the ones who seemed confident enough to work independantly but who could be easily understood so good communicators and who were likeable so would get on with both their own team and the schools staff and pupils. I think they will def like you. The rest you can daily learn. I would stress that your a keen learner.

I've just been sorting through some files on the computer and found my birth story. I'm now feeling a little teary as it was so lovely to read and remember about my tiny girl coming to meet us. I will go to bed happy now!

PMK I used to find that episode of Friends so funny, but now I don’t even crack a smile at it. I have a fear that I’ll lock DD in the car and I’m always so careful that I know where the keys are (I think it comes from my sis and her then boyfriend’s dog locking himself in the car and them having to call the AA out to get him out!) I am very impressed at how quickly you got back in, so fast DS hadn’t even noticed

Trace E’s conversations are all either ‘eeee’ or ‘aaaahhh’ or ‘oooo’, definitely no baba’s, mama’s, dada’s or anything else. Although she has started to hum and sing a lot recently – we do sing a lot to her (the bathtime song, the porridge song, the getting dressed song etc etc) and DH and I were laughing the other day that we think she’ll be singing before she talks! Hurrah for the good sleeping at night

Katie I hope the test shows up the result that you want to see

Spiggy your new house sounds lurvely, do you have a moving date yet?

Sybil v nosy question here, so tell me to bog off if you want – but how did you know you were pregnant if you weren’t having any periods? When did you find out?

Daisy I suffer hayfever, normally at its worst at this time of year as its the long summer grass/hay that sets me off. Strangely pregnancy seems to have cured it <touches wood> as I hardly suffered at all last year or this year. I swear by eating local honey everyday, plus nasal sprays and cooling eye masks to relieve the itching. Also change your pillowcase and wash your hair every night (if you can be bothered, I was a bit lazy on this one) so that pollen doesn’t get into your bed and make your nose and eyes itch all night

Good luck with the second job Tilly*

*MOM have a great holiday

Hi Dysgu , my DD was due Christmas Eve but arrived a couple of days early, a lovely day for a birthday I think

Jolly it took my DD 7 weeks from rolling from back to front to work out how to get back again, so you may have some time yet before mobility kicks in!

DD had her development check yesterday. A student HV came, who was very nice but a little too thorough I fear. She was disappointed DD wasn’t sitting yet and said she couldn’t sign her off until she did sit so will be back in a month. If she wanted to see her sitting then booking the check for 6 ½ months is a little unrealistic IMO, all in good time ... She also suggested I give her more finger foods as well as purees. I’ve been slack on this as finger foods seem to baffle DD – she’ll happily chew on all her toys, but put some food in her hand and it just gets looked at. What food is good for finger food, I tried a bit of toast this morning, any other suggestions?

Good night everyone x

Evening

Jolly - I can see why Swine Flu is stressing you. How amazing to have had a liver transplant, you always sound so fit and energetic! Is there anything you can do to boost your immunse system (or would that be bad for your liver?).

WG - sorry to hear your news. I hope your trip to Wales goes OK. It sounds like Madam is napping better, how are the nights?

Have fun in Canada Mom. I love the idea of you carting a guitar and a baby all the way to remote Canadian woods.

Welcome Dysgu.

I remember you really suffered with sickness Lal. Did it go on throughout your pregnancy? I would be put off by that too. I was sick for 14 weeks and that was unbearable enough. However, I do think we will go for number three in a couple of years. I don't relish the idea of another pregnancy but I feel like I am not done having babies. I will give it a few ears though I don't want to sandwich DD2 between two siblings close in age, I'll let her have a few years of being the cherished youngest before I do that to her.

So I have survived two days at work. Today was better than yesterday because I felt less fuzzy headed and could actually engage with things. DD2 has been fine, loving watching all the other kids the nanny has, taking a bottle happily and being very smiley - what a little traitor!

That must be worrying Jolly - but as you say if your transplant medics aren't worrying overtly then that must help.

Am really trying hard not to worry too much about pig flu on the basis that worrying isn't going to make a tiny bit of difference either way. But it's hard when you have little ones. And I spend quite a lot of time symptom spotting in me and them. Sigh. Also my asthma has been bad this year - daisy like you I'm usually ok in the middle of summer so not sure what's going on.

Trace how's Lucy's asthma? And congratulations on the interview - fantastic. I always think the thing to remember is that they want to give someone the job - so actually the panel are willing you on. I only realised this when I started doing lots of interviewing.

Hello dysgu. Good for you for joining in. Is weird at first but surprising how quickly you get used to it

Also pmk am and at your wonderwoman antics. Breaking down and fixing the fence. That is nice work. I too take my keys out with me whenever I put a toe out. And even for a while contemplated putting a yale key around my neck a la my grandmother aged 92.

Also all this talk of 3...am giving away all my baby clothes as I go along so I absolutely couldn't afford to have another. And also I found my sickness/food diary from last year the other day. I had forgotten how horrific it was and will be getting it out whenever I feel remotely broody.

Wg am sorry to hear about your FIL. Your Mum sounds amazing.

oh and it's time to get our thinking caps on again...nearly new thread time

evening
JB the interview is wed 22nd. Yikes. Have started to do a little reading up but nothing major yet. I think I'll have to give myself a little MN ban until I can focus myself!

re swine flu - my dh is a teacher and 3 staff at his school are off with swine flu (only 1 confirmed, 2 with similar symptoms) so today all children who are 'vulnerable' were went home from school - so those with liver, kidney or heart conditions. Those with asthma were supposed to be too (local authority advice) but weren't. My dd1 has asthma so if her school follows the same rules she may be with me tomorrow!

Hello Dysgu

Well I have 2 positive pieces of news...
1. Phoebe has only fed twice in the night for the last 4 nights! That's reall progress for us. She's been sleeping till 11ish, feeding, then sleeping till 3.30 ish then feeding then sleeping till 6.30 ish. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
2. Phoebe drank 1oz of water from a bottle today!!!!!!!! Albeit in small screwed-up-face mouthfuls - but she did it! She seem sto want to hold the teat in her fingers and squirt it in, but I don't care as long as there is some means of her drinking something when I go back to work - and this is definitely promising!

Sorry not do do more personals but I'm sleepy so will obey my tired instincts to turn the computer off...

nighty night all xxx

Hello everyone,

Congratulations on the interview trace I think the idea of doing the presentation as you would to 14 year olds is a great idea. Shows them exactly how you'd communicate complex ideas to that age group. When's the interview?

pmk What a scary thing getting locked out. Wow at your super human fence breaking powers.

Welcome dysgu, glad you decided to formally join us.

WG Sorry to hear about your FIL. Hope things are ok when you go and visit. I let DD sleep on me quite often. I love having her snuggled up on me.

veggie I'm a bit worried about the swine flu stuff as well. I don't think I've mentioned on the thread before (I was scared of any real life people spotting me - I can't imagine who really) but I had a liver transplant 5 years ago and therefore have to take immunosuppressants which weaken my immune system. The transplant medics don't seem overly concerned but it is a worry.

mom Have a great time in Canada. Hope the flight isn't too bad. Great that you can take the car seat onboard.

DD rolled from her back to her front today. I fear her being mobile! She only needs to co-ordinate her front to back and back to front rolls and she's off.

Hi Dysgu, nice to meet you and it sounds like your DD is doing great after what must have been a scary start.

mom- have fun in Canada. I visited a few years ago and thought it was a lovely country (and got to see a real bear in the wild which was amazing)

veggie- that's the sort of thing that would nag at me until I went and "fixed" it. I would try and do it when he wasn't looking though...

wg I went down the dummy route with DS, mainly because he would spend 18 hours a day on the boob and I was going bonkers from lack of sleep/food etc. Despite his obsession with sucking it took ages to get him to accept it because he preferred the real thing so you definitely haven't denied your DD, she probably would have spat it back at you if you'd tried!

you may have noticed i am doing a lot of posting today. madam has got into the habit of going down for a post lunch snooze in her cot - waking after an hour, coming down, feeding and then falling asleep on me. i am too chicken to move her (she'll wake up for sure) and so the laptop proves very useful at these times. honestly! i know i should be tougher, but it is so lovely to watch her.

she does so much sucking in her sleep that i worry i've denied her by not giving her a dummy. mind you, most of the people i know are trying to ditch the dummy now, so it would be stupid to start now, i suppose.

Hi Dysgu, so glad you decided to come out of the shadows. Sorry to hear your DD had a shakey start but def catching up, my DS2 was born 8lb 1oz 2 weeks before your DD and is only just over a pound heavier than her.

I'm currently tidying DS1's bedroom he is at a friends house. He has made an amazing building out of lego but one of the Walls is out by a square brick width, is it bad or even sad that I want to fix it? I won't because it's his work but still maybe I need a hobby. I also find that making Thomas the tank engine train tracks has become quite an artistic outlet for me????!!!!!

welcome, dysgu - we love meeting new people in a cyber sort of way - glad you have been lurking - come and join us! that must have been hard with dd2 in nicu - glad she is doing so well now - 16lb15 sounds great! do i presume a welsh connection from your nickname?

having said that about ella's kitchen stuff, she has just vommed most of it up, but i'm not surprised, the amount she tried to guzzle down. she gave me big messy smiles through practically inhaling it down.

yes, we are going up to wales next weekend to see what the real news on fil is - with this crazy family wiht all their secrets, you never know whose version of events to trust. he sounds quite chipper, so we are hoping it is just one of those things which can be solved relatively easily. i have to say i find it quite hard to really take it on board. my mil had kidney cancer a year and a half after my mum died of her cancer - mil was operated on and has been free of it since then. i just couldn't get that worked up about it. my mum was so gracious when she was diagnosed, so brave and got on with life - she gave a lot of her money and possessions away, saw the people she wanted to see, went on holiday etc. with mil it was different, obviously, but i felt there were some dreadfully manipulative melodramatic moments, when she didn't die, she got it sorted without any chemo (and is still smoking btw which infuriates dh beyond beyond), and is now to all intents and purposes fine. blah blah blah...

wg that is awful about your FIL. Am hoping that they have caught it early and that he has a good prognosis.

dysgu welcome aboard!

Re: jars V's Homemade...DS definately seems to prefer the jars. I would normally take this as an insult to my cooking but I must confess that it is so much easier. DD was such a fussy little beggar and wouldn't let any kind of jar near her lips but DS seems less bothered. I am hoping this means he won't be as fussy an eater as DD.

Hello all - do you mind if I join you please?

I have lurked on this thread every now and then. During ante-natal I was on January 2009 thread sometimes but DD2 came 5 weeks early - on Christmas Eve - and was then in Nicu.

She is now 29 weeks old, was 5lb 9oz at birth and now weighs 16lb 15oz.

Morning all, WG I'm so sorry to hear about your FIL, how is DH? Poor things he's had all the stress of work (which can I say again was hilarious) and now this!

Glad to hear about the feeding, I always love hearing when things work, I think I should have given up on home made with DS1 sooner. I wish I'd had you lot back then.

Poor little DS2 had a bad night not sure if it's teeth or a virus, he's just so grumpy and just had really short sleep so is even grumpier. Have given him some calpol but might get some karvol.

why oh why do i bother with home made food for madam??? i've just tried her for the first time on ella's kitchen stuff and now, at last, i know what ppl are on about when they say they can't shovel it in fast enough. and she looked so happy to be eating!!!

fil has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. hoping they have caught it early. we haven't got a great track record with cancer, dh and i - my mum died of pancreatic, and mil has already lost one of her kidneys to it. fingers crossed he's ok.

mom enjoy Canada!

Hayfever a bit better this morning, but still bad. I normally get it bad in the Spring and in late September, but for so me reason it is bad now! I hate it, hate it, hate it!!

DS slept better last night but wide awake for the day at 5am, and DH and I had a row over who should get up with him. He said I should, but as he is off I said he should as I hardly ever get chance to stay in bed! Cue lots of shouting "you get up", "no you get up!". Anyway, he got up in the end. I have just accepted the fact that DS is not a great sleeper, and trying all these different things to get him to sleep leaves me confused and stressed. He is such a smiley boy its hard to stay mad with him when he's babbling away and grinning at me.

Arti: did the medical stuff go OK with the new job? Only 3 weeks to go - resist the urge to sabotage the office before you leave

Hi everyone! Haven't had a chance to catch up after our trip to Ireland and I'm now off to Canada (killing time at the airport now actually). Will have very intermittent internet access from the middle of the woods, but will try to keep up as best I can.

Travelling on my own today (well, with DS of course!) but so far so good. I even managed to schlep my guitar amidst all the multitudes of other luggage. Luckily the flight isn't full and they have reserved the seat beside me so I can bring on the car seat. Wish me luck!

My DS's stats are as follows...Born Dec 16th (due Dec 6th) by CS. Breech despite all attempts at turning him. Tried for a natural breech delivery but labour never started so at 10 days overdue they scheduled a section. He was 8 lb 13 oz at birth and is now about 22 lb. He eats and smiles loads. Sleep, not so much. DS is Sebastian, but known as Seb or Sebi.

Cheerio ladies! Next post from the wilds of the woods in Canada...

Morning,

Tilly Nope they aren't bothered now the results are normal. Just said to drink more water, but I drink 2 litres everyday anyway so don't want anymore.

I hope you get the other job!!

Veggie Moving back to Oz sounds exciting. We'll have to try and get a big meet up organised before you go.

Hope everyone is ok.

Morning everyone, ds2 woke up earlier & now I can't get back to sleep so thought I'd catch up.

verso congratulations on the new job, are you getting excited?

kayz sorry the blood tests didn't come up with anything. Are the drs going to try anything else?

katie you have to do a test!! You can't keep us in suspense until the end of the week

veggie I also have wobbles about having a 3rd even though I'd decided against it. Dh would have one in a shot, I keep thinking about never having a daughter & wonder if we should give it a go. But then I think of my cousin who wanted a girl & ended up with 4 boys! How exciting about your move back to Oz, though we'll be sorry to see you go.

arti hope work is ok!

sybil I was also thinking about the coil but am now dissuaded by all the coil babies!

Things have been ok here, ds1 went to his new school today for a couple of hours. I think I was more nervous than he was! He was so confident though, just started playing with the other children & chatting away to his new teachers, I was so proud of him!

I applied for the 2 jobs I saw, turned down for one, just waiting on the other now!

Oh and I'm being naughty DH is away and I'm feeling particularly snuggly with my boys layely so both DS's are having a sleep over in my bed tonight. DS2 had a funny wake up at 9pm and wouldn't go back to sleep until just now so was downstairs with me until I came up to bed then he was annoying his big brother by trying to climb on him. But they are both all settled and looking like my little angels. Oh I do love them.

Verso are you getting excited about your new job, I think your amazing to want three after all you've been through, but equally your girls are so beautiful it's easy to see why you would want another. It would be very loved.

Oh no all this talk of three now I want another one. I don't think DH would be up for it. Apart from wanting another person in my life that I've made, I want another birth and I don't want this to be the last time I BF!!! But I also don't want to stop BFing DS2 if he goes off my milk while I'm PG and I also remember how exhausted I was and couldn't play with DS1 much and I'm loving playing physically with him again. Oh who knows. Also plan- move home- is definitely underway we have decided that we will go next October, will spend a couple of months in Asia and then hit Australia around early December. So fitting a baby in around all that is a bit tricky. If I were to have another I think I would want it over here.

I had a really bizarre irrational panic about the H1N1 virus today, I got really scared of the boys getting it in particular DS2 and him dying, it was terrible. I know it's silly and he'll be fine but I just got a bit spooked by the deaths today.

Daisy do you usually get hayfever at this time of year, DH seems to be getting it but he usually gets it bad in early spring. Speaking of swine flu, he sneezed on the train this morning and 3 people looked at him suspiciously.

Can we please have no more talk about coil babies? I thought it was the ideal solution for ditzy old birds like me. I hope I have not been misled. I have already had one (delightful but) unplanned baby and cannot have another.

Argggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Katie TEST TEST TEST!!! Go on!!

We are most certainly having a 3rd, no question about it!! But I do think we will wait until next year. I need a holiday!!

arti just a quick one to say was thinking of you today.

Am knackered - mainly because my pre-holiday to do list included taking the car to the garage (with both DCs - who I then tracked to soft play - horror of horrors - with) and then this evening cleaning out the cellar. I don't know why I do this every time we go away. Although both the garage trip and the cellar clearing are mainly inspired by my plan to bring back a lake of wine.

night all.

sybil our contraception plans mainly are "if it happens it happens" so we know we are taking a risk but it is one that we are perfectly happy with No periods does stop me actively trying though! One girl I know hasn't had a period since May 06 and is expecting #3 in a couple of months DP has started playing our favourite game of picking baby names so he's definitely not averse to the idea . I would like to wait til next year though; it wasn't til I was actually pg that I realised that I was risking a very abrupt end to DS's bfing which I really didn't want to do.

I second the coil warning- I have 4 friends with coil babies! The mw suggested it to me and I just went NOOOOOOOO!

katie TEST!!!!!!!! I would totally love to have a third but am on strict instructions from sybil not to even think about it until next year as I put too much pressure on myself over-planning and stressing about things. In any case as the PND this time round was spectacular I'm not sure I could go through that again .

But if we had a big house, and money, I'd do it in a shot!

Ooh... when will you test?!

wg is the coil really that unreliable? I'm still pondering contraception at the moment (not been much of a problem thus far IYSWIM)...hmm.

arti splendid to see you checking in from work. I wish I was that brave! Hope you find your norks settle down to the new routine pretty soon. I find I'm ok to feed morning and night, but if DD2 doesn't take both sides each time I have a bit of a leakage issue .

Three weeks tomorrow I leave my job!

arti - I do know exactly what you mean about mnetting from work, but so tempting when its quiet...I'm trying to limit myself to out of official office hours. Do feel for you though, especially about bursting breasts. Took a few days for that to settle down and did feel very sad about not feeding DS as much as I would have liked.

Will see how things look when I get home - did get a slightly desperate call from home as DD had been yelling for me and they thought maybe getting me to chat to her might help. She's normally little miss independent, so its all a bit unlike her...but I guess my starting work while she is ill and her best friend that she sees every day is on holiday for 2 weeks is pretty lousy timing on my part!

All of that should be putting off the idea of a 3rd! Truth is its not really practical to have another, but in my heart of hearts its sorely tempting - so who knows how that will all pan out.

Found a gorgeous cottage in the Lake District, this. Too big for us though.

arti - loving the image of you sagely nodding and helping to mould this country's future while not quite knowing what is going on as your brain is back with your babes. please let us distract you!!!

sybil - careful with that coil... my dad's ladyfriend's granddaughter (!) is about to have her third, completely unexpected and unplanned as the coil didn't exactly work for her.

<covert wave to artichokes>

Katie: I think eating and sitting up are supposed to be linked in some way. DS2 is certainly managing to feed himself better now he can sit upright. I suppose it's a matter of coordination. You're being v restrained on the pg test, I'd have been down the chemist by now!

Spiggy: we recently moved from a 1 bed flat, you'd think we couldn;t have that much stuff but there was loads. And we had a fair amount in storage, so unpacking was fun . We ordered enough bpxes for a 2-3 bedroom house and didn't have enough.

Hi all, I promised myself I would not MN from work so this is going to be a quickie and a once off (I seriously damaged my productivity levels whiel chatting to you guys when we were pregnant). I am missing the girls so much today. And my breasts are bursting (please don't let the mastitis come back). My mind won't switch to work mode so I am nodding lamely at all my colleagues while they talk about things that just confuse me. Arrgghhhh.

Only two weeks 'til the hols, only two weeks to the hols... must keep chanting...

Oh Katie, sorry, hope the pg turns out the way you want . I have but 19 months between my last 2, and it's hard work but completely do able.

Next one - not likely! I'm coiled up and also pretty shrivelled up TBH (well, I am nearly ffffFORTY!) so I think 3 means I am done.

Now I must WORK!

Anyone else really struggle with hayfever?

I can't even wear my contact lenses my eyes are so sre and itchy(although that could be the tiredness).

Def no baby #3 here. DH vasectomy booked for the 5th August!

Spiggy, I have a 7 month son in the next room whom I thought I could not conceive whilst BF! I have not had a period since June 2006 (and have had 2 kids since!) so don't let the absence of a period stop you. THat said, M is the most lovely little boy and a very happy accident. I can honestly say 3 is no harder than 2 - you still have no time, but it is just divided 3 ways...

Am still finishing my work while M plays with toys in his cot. Like a playpen but off the ground! I really don't see the harm, so long as they aren't used for hours on end.

hello katie I don't think we've met but I have just invaded joined this thread!

Oooh on the pg scare, can I be the first to say test, test, test? As for a 3rd, I have only recently been saying how broody I feel. I keep swinging between we can't afford it til DS is in school and just thinking go for it as the eggs aren't getting any younger. Luckily (I think) the decision is out of my hands at the moment as the breastfeeding seems to be doing the trick at keeping AF at bay. Hope you get whatever answer you are hoping for.

uh oh I can hear banging in the kitchen, hope DS not trying to cook again...

pmk I managed to lock myself out when DS was about 4 months old. I ended up climbing onto the garage roof to get into the back garden where I managed to grab the back door keys by sticking a broom handle through the cat flap. Its amazing how you can do things in that situation that wouldn't normally, am very impressed with your fence demolishing!

Kayzr- glad the blood tests are normal and hope that the tiredness improves quickly

trace DD is just starting to make the occasional sound other than a cry but is definitely not at babbling stage. I remember being worried about DS as he seemed way behind other babies (took ages to say mamma etc and then took even longer to actually use it to mean me.) Then all of a sudden at 18 months his language just seemed to explode, I couldn't shut him up and he raced ahead of the other babies at nursery. I think the hv said that all they would be looking for at his 8 month check was that he responded to sounds (looked over when someone clapped their hands for example) Oh, I forgot he did make a sound other than cying- he would purr! Our cat would lie next to him and the two of them would just purr away. Congrats on the interview as well!

invisible hope you all feel better soon.

We went to see the house we are buying over the weekend. The guy we are buying off is in his 70s and it is where him and his wife brought up their 5 kids. He's ever so nice and has offered to leave loads of furniture for us. We're really pleased cos moving from a 1 1/2 bed bungalow to a 5 bed, 3 storey house meant we were going be a little short of furniture. Am so excited about moving now, although a little daunted as have packed 30 boxes and the house doesn't look any emptier. help!

Hellooooo. Hope every one is well. Just popping on quickly to say hi, I've missed you all, but work has picked up a bit over the last few weeks, so have been spending every spare minute trying to earn money so that we can go to France next month.
All well here, Lily is growing incredibly fast but is still not that convinced by this 'real food' stuff, but we're getting there. At first she wouldn't touch the food I made her so it was costing me a fortune to feed her the jars. She now seems to be at least tolerating my purees but is definitely not keen on the more solid stuff yet. I let her feed herself toast etc but as we have no sign at all of teeth yet it just seems to get stuck at the roof of her mouth and stays there until I realise!
She is not sitting up properly yet but has worked out how to roll. In fact on Saturday she somehow managed to escape from her rubber ring 'donut' and end up on the floor a few feet away. I still haven't worked out how she managed that one.
For the poll, she was born by CS on 3rd December weighing 11lbs 2 oz and is now (at 7 months) 20lb+. DS was born on his due date, 9th April after a very long and difficult labour. He was 11lb 5oz and is (at 4 yrs old) still way ahead of himself in height and weight.
DS has just been diagnosed with Glue Ear which means he is apparently almost completely deaf in his left year. Hopefully it will clear up by itself, otherwise it's gromits. Bit of a shame that he will be starting school with limited hearing, but at least we are aware of it and can make alowances.
On other news, I (think) I am currently having a pregnancy scare . We definitely want a 3rd but had decided to wait until DD is at least a year, so it wouldn't be a disaster if I am, but could be interesting trying to cope with 2 that close together. However it is quite possible that I've got my dates wrong as I'm not very good at keeping track and things have been a little irregular since DD. I'll give it until the end of the week and then test. What are other people's thoughts on the next one?
Right, off to pick up DS from his penultimate day at nursery now, but will try and get on more often in future. x

Just a quick post as dh is at home today. Bloods came back normal. I am just a tired person.

Hope you are all well.

pmk - i did just that a few months ago - terrifying, isn't it? i, too, like sybil go out with keys when even just a toe is peeking over the threshold.

trace - good luck, i'm sure you'll do wonderfully!

invisible - hope the lurgy leaves your house soon.

Forgot to refresh before posting

V impressed by uber mother wall demolishing PMK

Good news on the job front Sybil, sounds like it could work v well

Hope your DD gets better soon TIH: there are a lot of nasty bugs around atm (and DS1 seems to be picking up most of them)

Indith: I had my secret stork narrowed down to a couple of people . I can't remember if I said at the time what a great help the Michel Odent book was: I read it just before I wrote my birth plan and I'm sure all the stuff I put in about keeping the room dark and keeping people out made for a much better first stage. The whole labour was so much more relaxed that with DS1 and I ended up with a straightforward delivery and no stitches. So thank you!

Zoe: glad the christening went well. I was ill for our barbecue and DH has now got the big as well, luckily it only seems to last 24 hours. Crappy timing on my part as DH had to do all the food prep in the morning while I lay in bed.

Trace: fab news on the interview, if they have any sense they'll snatch you up

Bit the bullet today and have put DS1 back into pants, only 2 small accidents so far. Will see how it goes, but am tempted to keep a pull-up on hand anyway.

Morning (just!)

Our weekend was a bit stressful as poor DD wasn't very well for all of it. I got home from work on Friday to find her lying pathetically on the sofa with bright red cheeks and a raging fever. She got better, but not 100%. She's also had chronic diarrhoea for the last 2 weeks so GP this morning reckons its a particularly nasty tummy bug.

On the upside, DS has been very jolly and actually slept through for the first time last night - so I guess that means he gets the bug next!

veggie - well done to your DH, it must be lovely to see him so valued!

trace - congrats on the interview, that sounds very exciting!

pmk - sounds like amazing house entry skills!

Morning!

ZJ Glad the christening went well, and I do hope your DH is feeling better soon.

Re: letters. I used to send thank you's when it was just DD but since having DS I struggle to find time to go to the loo let alone write letters. My late nan used to write to me weekly when I was at uni. She had such beautiful handwriting and they were packed full of gossip on what her neighbours and my wayward cousins were up too! Everyone I lived with loved reading them. I wish I had kept some....

DH was quite spritly yesterday and we went to a local transport festival. Which sounds very dull but was actually really good. Loads of families and DD had a great time.

trace Well done on the interview. I am certain you will be fantastic, and although I don't know any other candidate, if you come over in the interview the way you do on here then you are bound to impress

DS was shocking last night. He woke at 11pm and never went back to sleep till 3am. I'm not really sure what was wrong with him. He wasn't hungry, we gave him some Ibuprofen, cuddle, rocked, let him cry...everything really. He just would not sleeep. But he is chirpy enough this morning, just me that feels like a waslking zombie and DH is working till late. So DD is watching Madagascar (again), but she is coping well with mummy being miserable.

Morning all

PMK, I am deeply impressed by your wall scaling activities. Having been caught out myselt but with a 4 year old ("I know mummy says never to open the door, but it's mummy here, open the door to let mummy in ....") it's never come to that. I now take my keys out when I put a nappy in the bin.

Trace, the presentation sounds exciting. I look forward to hearing how you are going to pitch it. Presumably they would be thinking along the lines of what you would say to year 8 girls, as your professional quals and experience would show that you are able to absorb the necessary medical info? Not everyone has the right tone to communicate with teenagers, so perhaps that is what they are looking for. BTW, M does make lots of noise, although I've never really thought about vowel and consonant sounds, but he hardly eats ANYTHING apart from boob, so I guess that they all have things they do a lot and things they don't. As long as she can hear and reacts to loud bangs etc, I think it's fine.

Well done to your DH, Veggie. So glad he is highly thought of.

CHristening sounds lovely ZJ, have you pictures we can gawp at? FOr the stats, M was 8lb 6 oz at birth (38 +5) and I am guessing about 17-18lb now, though he's not been officially weighed since 4 weeks. He is long but quite slim.

News here is that I have gone down to 1 day a week for a year - partly to avoid redundancy, partly to have more time with the kids and partly as I was childcare free on that day anyway. Means we will have less £££ but I may stay a bit saner. It's only for a year and I have guarantees about virtually everything in place for my return, so fingers crossed it works out.

M now asleep so need to crack on with some work. Hope you all have a good day.

Trace, I thought it would be band 5 (though I've always thought School nurses should be higher but don't get me started) the reason I asked is that usually it's only band 6 and upwards who need to give a presentation. I would go with what you feel comfortable with. I think the pretending it's year 8 girls is a good idea actually. I think as it's only 10 mins they are just wanting facts and are more interested in your ability to present information clearly and concisely. HP is a big part of school nursing so that's probably why.

Oh we've run out of eggs, now I want eggs, better have another coffee, hope DS2 doesn't want a feed when he wakes.

Hey where is Spot? I saw on FB you are going to mamaheaven, so jealous, I thought if DH was made to leave work this month and we therefore could go to Holland I might be able to come but alas he still has a job so can't come.

Hey Kayz, DH got DS1 the new arsenal away kit for football yesterday, he wore it all afternoon and to bed lastnight, he has laid it out to put straight on after nursery. Lucky he doesn't get BO.

i mean NOT starting it yet!
oh and lol at veggie's shoes being precious to her! in my head i hear a wise Yoda-type Veggiemummy saying "ah and Shoes - they are precious to me!

veggie it's band 5. All it says about the presentation is 10 minutes powerpoint entitled "The HPV Vaccination" so I guess the rest is up to me. Not sure whether they want me to just present to them to show I can do the research and present it articulately, or whether I should present to them as though they are a class of year 8 girls! Am starting it yet - I tend to give myself quite a few days of just letting it sink in and usually find that my subconscious is doing its bit and when I come to start I find that I have some ideas!
zj so glad the day went well. Well done babyzj
pmk at the lock-out! I think wg did a similar thing a while back? Can't imagine the panic! Well done you for using your mama-tiger strength
Can I ask what other babies are doing language wise? I started a thread last night about speech but only got 1 reply - obviously not a contentious issue so didn't attract anyone! I know I'm probably being daft but I've always thought that a text book baby should be babbling by 6 months. trying "mamamama" and "dadadada" and "babababa" etc. P is still so very quiet! I'm sure she can hear fine but she makes no noise other than hungry or tired cry, bored feeble moan and the newly acquired growl . Not a consonant in sight! (or earshot!) Do you think I should worry or have a just got a quiet one?

or poached rather.....

lol oh I did, I was frantically trying to ask the builder next door for a hammer who didn't speak a word of English! Had all these horrible scenario's in my head and was even telling the dog (who was barking like mad at me ripping the gate down) to go and check on ds!
Thanks for joining me in a coffee... I'm also having poched eggs on toast

I'm having a coffee with you PMK.

That pub sounds nice, I have to say as hard as it is these days to watch DH compete rather than competeing myself with him, I'm quite enjoying the wife sitting in the pub with the kids thing, while he complete the race. You poor thing on the lock out, what an absolute nightmare you must have got that crazy adrenaline mother strength thing that they talk about. Glad it was all ok.

Hello,
It's been a while since i've been on here. Have skim read again, and I use the term loosely
Has anyone seen the episode of Friends where they lock themselves outside with the baby inside? I re-created that last week A friend came over and I answered the door then took 2 steps out to help with her buggy, when a gust of wind belw door shut back door open but garden gate 6 ft high and locked. Neighbours fence easier to just but not home. ds inside sitting on bumbo - bad parenting alert -->(slightly elevated on glass coffee table)I turned into a crazy woman and ripped all the planks of wood off back gate enough to climb through a small hole I made - didn't know had strength tbh! ds blissfully unaware and still watching baby tv in Bumbo. Quick trip to B&Q dh fixed fence.
Lady BBQ at friends after that and friend was talking about cricket book which spotted on shelf - he couldn't praise it enough - said it's bloody brilliant, and so is the Author etc.
Wales Sat night for bike race Sunday, lovely B&B ds was very good although wanted to sleep on his tummy as per usual with no success with the little bed I made up for him so dragged him in with us into a very small double! Parked up 5 miles before the finish line in a lovely pub with tables right on the road where race went past. Had 2 other tables looking out to cheer dh along when he went past - did quite well but is irritated that he got a puncture - never mind as still a good time for doing no training.
Veggie you do make me laugh - loving the Pizza Express! very excited they sell Plum baby food there!
daisy had a big chuckle at your dh / kebab story!
Sorry to all with swine flu.... Mastitis.... Kayz what happened with bloods - yuk - needles - I'm the --worst-- however I think having the CS helped a lot as I had to have all those needles plus one in the tummy for 10 days after - however they went missing after five right, coffee.

I miss letters too, when I cleaned out my bag from the basement I found all the letters friends and family wrote in the first few years after I got here. That was before emails were so common, I keep some emails from good friends but it's not the same as having it on paper. It's nice to look at them.

Thats a good point veggie - we did actually invite them because we wanted them to join in the fun, not because we wanted a gift, so that's what we should be thanking them for. I don't mind either way if people send a thank you letter, but I dislike lazy thank you letters 'thank you for the gift, it is very nice', which have no sentiment or meaning and just feel forced, so don't want to write one like that myself. I love letter writing, I find it a lovely way to keep in touch with people and recieving a letter is so exciting, so much more fun than an email. But as no one does letters these days (I sound like my Gran! ) thank you letters are my only chance to get out the nice writing paper and fancy pen - I am known among my friends for thanking them for the littlest thing, but I enjoy it, even though I am the butt of many jokes!

'shoes they are previous to me'???? Sorry should have been 'shows they are precious to me'

Oh Trace that's brilliant news, is it a band 6 role? How are you going to approach the presentation. Do they want information on the vaccine, a history of it, or the controversy and how to improve uptake?

ZJ your DH sounds quite unwell, sad he didn't get to enjoy his rousing hymns. Hope it's nothing too serious. I guess you'll be nursing him tomorrow.

Daisy how is your DH? Over his annual hangover.

ZJ just write the thanks for the gift and also make a deal about them being there for the special day I doubt they'll mind. I'm actually against thank you cards I tell friends not to send them. I give a present because I want to provide the receiver with something that shoes they (or their offspring) are previous to me, I don't then expect something in return. It seems such a big thing, my mother goes crazy if people don't send them which I think is rediculous. DH's sister gets miffed as well if we don't send them. Why turn what should be a thoughtful thing into a bone of contention, so I send them now just to keep the peace. Seems silly though. I do like to show people I appreciate their attendance though.

Well done on getting the interview Trace, and best of luck, I'm sure you'll do a fab job. Why don't you use MN for some research on the vaccine - there must be some mums of year 8 girls on here and I'm sure they'll have strong opinions on it!

Glad to hear you're on the mend spiggy, and I bet your milk was a bit odd. When I had mastitis I was frantically searching on threads for suggestions to clear the blockage and someone did mention that if the duct had been blocked for a day or two the milk might be off, which would explain why your DD went off it until some fresh milk behind there got through again. I don't know if that's actually possible, but it makes sense in my head

We've had a lovely day, DD was very well behaved and barely blinked when she was baptised. Poor DH's man flu hit him like a train today, he kept going pale and sweaty in church and I thought he was going to keel over at the alter, but fortunately he didn't. It's a shame, because I've had such a lovely day and I know he's not been able to enjoy it as much. DD some very lovely gifts - but a couple came without labels on. I think I've sussed who gave what, but should I actually ask the people 'did you give x?' or is it better to send a 'thank you for the present' letter and be vague (which I hate when I recieve one)?

OK, going to retire for the night myself. Night night everyone xx

evening ladies!
I've had a hectic weekend so I'm just popping on before I crash out for the night (or the next hour or so...!)Lots of busy-ness of in-laws, dancing shows, village gala, birthday parties...I remember when weekends were for lounging around reading a book!
spiggy sorry about the boob - glad it's feeling a little better.
Veggie hurray for your clever dh! I have decided to stop being a worry-wort and have agreed to go camping over the summer! We used to go before we had dd1 and I liked it (although I only really like it if it stays dry), and we've taken dd1 a few times and she LOVES it, so really I'm sure it will be fine with dd2 Might go somewhere local like the Dales.
Kayz I thought of you the other day - I flicked the TV on and caught a programme called "Britain's worst Mother in-law"! I got quite sucked in - I reckon yours might have given the winner a run for her money
Well I've had a letter inviting me to an interview for the school nurse job - eek! It's Wed 22nd - good because dh will have broken up from school so can have the dds - and I have to do a 10 minute presentation on the new HPV vaccine for year 8 girls I may have to limit my MN time and do a little preparation!
Hope LadyT is enjoying Italia...
good nights to all - sleep babies sleep!

Feeling slightly better here. Still got a slight temperature but boob much less painful and DD has decided that the milk is fit to drink again. It did go a very funny colour, deep orange so I bet it did taste nasty for a while so I can't really blame her.

its funny so many of you like the name Harriet, most of the people we told just looked at us when we said that was what we were going to call her. Effie, my best mate loves the Wimsey books and the first thing she said when I told her was oooh just like Harriet Vane! Kayzr Freddie is the name that I want for a DS2. DP isn't too sure but I love it.

zj hope the christening went well and I'm sure your singing was fab. As for bibs and feeding- I tend to strip her down to just a nappy and then have to dump her in the bath afterwards. She loves her food but she is definitely not the tidiest of eaters and I find that easier than the 3 (or more) changes of clothes I would need a day [lazy mummy emoticon]

I haven't seen much of the cricket yet. Tend to have the tour on all day. I know the Aussies are do well though. Might have to watch some soon. Brett Lee is another of my crushes.

It's fair enough Kayz Aussie are quite lovely, not too bad at cricket either..........(was that over doing it a little on the elipses?)

It is quite sad how much I am enjoying doing the cleaning with no interruptions.

Ooooh my favourite f1 driver won today!! Mark Webber(not very patriotic as he is from oz) but he is gorgeous nice looking. Very happy here and both boys are asleep!!

Right DH has taken the boys out for a couple of hours so I can have some uninterrupted house cleaning time, 1st job, put the kettle on.

Mmmmmm need coffee just got DS2 off for his morning nap now need caffiene.

zoe have a wonderful day!

Am shattered today. Stayed up too late to watch a film and then DS decided to wake up at 2am, and want to play! Both DC's up at 6am for the day. Meanwhile DH slept through it all as he had --passed out-- fallen asleep following his drinkathon! Still he is up now and says he is feeling fine...so we are off out for the day although who knows where as the weather isn't too great here either.

I wish I was in Italy...have a drink for me ladyt

Morning!

Zoe Have a lovely day today. I'm sure your singing will be fine!

RE William, MIL wanted us to call DS1 and DS2 that because 'it is a good strong old fashioned name unlike Freddie' which is what she said to us when we told her DS2 was a boy. Hence the reason I will never use it despite the fact I used to love it.

It is chucking it down here!! I was going to take the boys for a walk but not in this.

LadyT Hope you are having a lovely time!

Hope everyone is ok!

JJ great to hear from you from Canada, its sounds like you’re having a great time. Just realised you’ll be on that night flight as I type – hope your DD is being an angel. What a bummer about the blocked duct and fever, but great that you got it sorted quickly. It seems like mastitis is turning into a mini pandemic on here at the moment - sympathy to Spiggy too, I hope you get some AB’s soon to make you better

SL I also put DD in 2 bibs for feeds – a normal one that’s quite snug round her neck to catch dribbles and one of those cover everything ones to catch the rest of it. And on the weaning/sleeping – I’ve found its made not a jot of difference to her – although I don’t think she’s eating a great deal yet. The Annabel Karmel recipes I’m making for her say things like ‘2 portions’ but for DD its more like 6 or 7 portions! I haven’t given her meat or fish yet, but thinking of trying that soon. She would be useless if I’d gone with BLW – I give her lots of things to hold and she just looks at them, bless her, but enthusiastically sucks at her spoon if I give her that (before sticking it in her eye/ear/nose)

Gosh Arti, back to work on Monday. Are you going back full or part time? I’m really quite scared about rejoining the real world as a) my brain no longer works and b) I am never out of my pyjamas before 9 in the morning

Have a fab holiday LadyT, I hope the sun shines for you and the 3 generations of the T family have a great time

Hurrah for MrVeggie, what a great resolution to the work situation

Those of you with Williams – if DD had been a boy (we were convinced she would be), she would have been William. It’s still a favourite name, so if we do have a boy in the future then I’m sure he will be William

So we’re all ready for DD’s christening tomorrow, and I’m really quite excited about it. I’ve just painted my fingernails in honour of the occasion, for the first time since DD was born! I hope we have a lovely day. Poor DH has lost his voice, which he is gutted about as he requested lots of rousing hymns in church as he loves a good sing, and now he won’t be able to join in. And worse, without his good singing people might hear my bad singing! I’m a bit worried DD will look silly as we’ve got her a 6-9 month dress, but she’s still firmly in 3-6 month clothes so it might well drown her. Oh well, she’ll be cute none the less

Night everyone, good sleeps I hope xx

Mmmm...there is a lot of currency from a child with a sweet tooth. We did spend much of the night reminding DS1 that he didn't have his ice cream yet to make sure he stayed in his seat. Cakes at cafes are a little bit of a problem as I usually go with the idea of being good and not having cake, DS1 sees all the pretty cakes innthe cabinet and says he will have one then when it comes to actually eating it he has a nibble and then I have to finish it off. I know I could just say no when he points it out but something in my subconscious takes over and I say yes

Ds was very well cafe trained, he still is pretty well behaved and has good table manners but I don't take him to cafes all that much as he won't sit still long enough these days! The problem with a child who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and isn't a cake fan, especially when it has icing on it is that you can't really bribe them into sitting still long enough to eat yours!

Oh I like that dress Indith I need to find a dress for a wedding in the Lakes district in October, it is all in the hotel thing we are staying in so I guess that means I can wear anything really, doesn't it, I mean like short sleaved and not warm.

Indith I have cafe trained DS1 he has been saying 'I'll have a pannini and a babychino please mummy' since he could talk. He can be cheeky in various situations but is amazingly good at cafes and restaurants, oh and on trains, another thing he has done a lot since birth. I often get comments actually on his behaviour on the train from old ladies. They say he is such a well behaved boy not load and boisterous etc but I have to say it irks me a bit. Why is it that children making normal sounds and chatter on a train is bad behaviour but adult havng conversations or whose phones are ringing and carry out load phone conversations are ok? Probably why I got so grumpy a that women the other day. Oh and indith Pizza express is really child friendly they have colouring stuff and really good childs menu and it's noisey anyway so they get drowned out.

Hello verso, hope you are well!

<waves frantically>

DD will be 3. The 17th is my Grandad's birthday so equally a fab day to be born.

We are off to the local petting farm. Its an absolute bargain as they let you cater yourself. I think we have about 15 on th elist and I am hoping that some of them drop out.

DH has just rung to say he loves me and will be home in an hour and do I want a kebab Who says romance is dead?? I do hope he goes straight to sleep I hate drunk people when I'm sober!

Hello >waves<. I've not been on the thread for AGES. How's everyone doing?

I'm afraid I haven't read back on everything but spotted chat re the name Harriet, which is DD2's middle name Are you all sharing birth stats or something? I've no idea how much DD2 weighs these days - except that it's quite a lot . She's quite solid!

Oh that was his due date (or was it the 19th) his birthday is the 17th how old will your DD be? DS1's best mate is the 18th his mum and I were testing during labour. Well DH was texting her DP actually I was in no fit state and probably would have dropped the phone in the birth pool in my gassy haze.

I know I have no idea what we are going to do if the all say yes. We just didn't know who not to invite. I asked his teacher who he didn't play with much and she said he plays with them all! They're a close bunch. There are his old mates from London who have said to invite them as they may be able to come up but I think I'll just say don't worry.

Effie my ds is a William too, tis a great name I must confess (may I now confess, we never did do a reveal did we?) but I had you fo rhte secret stork and was quite amused to find myself (baby wearing would be extended bfer had ds not decided against it linguistics geek) buying for...well... We are planning a bbq next weekend, do hope the weather holds. I love a good bbq Next door keep having them and the smell is always amazing. Actually they have great cooking smells all the time, they are polish. I feel I must learn some polish cookery.

Veggie you are very brave, the though of eating out with both of mine fills me with fear We did share a cheese scone between the 3 of us in the cathedral cafe the other day though so maybe I'll work my way up to it!

Kayz have you seen the new fatface stuff online? I am in love with this dress

Veggie when is DS1's birthday? DD was born 18th August and is having her party on the 22nd August. 25 is a lot of little people, I'm dreading it when DD starts school!

Oh and sorry about your mastitis Spiggy, you can try compressions while your expressing and even if she doesn't like it try her on that side first anyway. Also warm water running over your booby in the shower is nice. Also rather than going to the walk in clinic do you have an on call number for your surgery you may be able to get someone to come to you or at least speed up the process.

Evening all hope you've all had nice Saturdays. We spent much the day procrastinating, then made an assault on the front room which had the last few annoying bits from the flooded basement in it. I found the DVD that lady wanted a copy of so will let her know when she returns.

We have just gotten back from a lovely family dinner at pizza express we got sat at the window table I have always coveted (sad I know). It meant that DS1 spent much of the meal waving like a maniac at the passers by, and at one stage I flashed my boob at the general Derby public as DS2 took a break from his meal. Nice. He also enjoyed the limelight, he has started realising his pulling power, and smiles in a very I'm cute don't you just want to eat me kind of way that draws them in. DS1 often decides to capitilize on his brothers pulling power by starting up a well timed robot dance for the waiters and diners. It's makes for a busy but enjoyable dinner. They sell plum baby at pizza express now, we bought a spinach and something with something else one but DS2 was not impressed and preferred our salad bits and pizza crusts. Oh he sucked the very life out of an olive.

After booking that birthday softplay place we got the names of DS1's school friends and there are 22, add to that his mates outside of school and his cousin there will be 25 invited. We originally booked it for the weekend before school gets back to maximize attendance as most will be back from holidays but have now changed it the weekend after his birthday 23rd august because the booking is for a maximum of 20 so we have to hope some are on holidays now and can't come. I was kind of hoping for 15, what are our chances that 10 won't be able to make it.

actually DS2 would have been Harriet. I think we'd settled on Eleanor for DS1 but I was never fully convinced so good job he was a boy after all. But we have now used up 6 boys names we like (both of them have 2 middle names) so if we have a third boy we will be stuck.

Spiggy: DS1 would have been Harriet if he had been a girl - I love the name (and makes me think of Harriet Vane which is a Good Thing). And NJAN: DS1 is a William. Which goes to show that we all have astonishingly good taste on this thread .

Friends over for a bbq tomoz, so have been frantically cleaning! We've invited loads of people we haven;t seen for ages so should be fun. The forecast is for RAIN but we have pimms and DH is planning to make homemade lemonade so we will be summery whatever

I'm trying to find a dress and a holiday at the same time and I can't seem to find either. Holiday is proving easier then the dress. I'm off shopping on Thursday so hoping I find something there.

DS2 is in love with the kitchen. As soon as we put him on the floor he goes straight to the kitchen. He is now in there with DH and all I can here is lots of babbling and giggling.

DD decided that the milk tastes funny and is refusing to feed off that side- not what I needed! Luckily I brought my breast pump home (usually leave it at work) so am expressing a lot. I can't get a lot out though- usually I get 4-5oz but am only getting 1, if that. Not feeling as shivery as I did at 3am so hoping that it is getting better rather than worse. I'd rather avoid the walk in clinic as it is bound to be filled with people who think they have pig lurgy.

Lal- Ds was nearly born on the 20th Jan. It was just that he was being a stubborn so and so that meant he was dragged out born on 21st at 2am.

Indith- Crikey we are similar. I do like cake eating meeting people as well.

Daisy hope your grandad gets some good news. At least he's not waiting long. fingers crossed for him.

Uh oh dd wailing better go

Woohoo Veggie!

Spiggy you poor thing. I love the name Harriet by the way, it has always been floating around near the top of our names list but never makes the cut because it is a bugger to say in French (my mum is French, much family over there). You will have to come eat cake play with us you know, Ds was born Jan 07

<whispers> dd has had 2 decent nights! Last night slept 6.30 til 10.10. Fed and slept til 1.50, fed and slept til 3.50 so I sent dh in and there was much screaming and refusing to settle then she did a poo and needed a pj and grobag change so I fed her and by now it was 4.40 and she was wide awake so since 5am is her usual getting up time I wasn't holding out much hope but I put her back in bed wide awake and left her and she just went to sleep and the next thing I heard from her was a chirrup and a giggle at 7!

Of course I feel like a zombie, not sure my body knows what to do with sleep!

Urgh. Bad night here. DS up a lot. And waking DD. And we've got people for lunch...

Spiggy and Njan we have almost the same gap between DCs - my DS was born on Jan 20th 2007 (14 days late) and DD on 29th November. Though she was early - prob because I had such bad hyperemesis.

Back later. Quick woo hoo to Veggie - so pleased for you. And of course to wg for madam sleeping better.

Nope the 12th. He was a rare due date baby. My MW had never had a lady give birth on her due date before.

Kayz, was your due date the 13th then ? Spiggy, hope the mastitis clears up soon. WE'd also like a third, but will have to wait for the same reason. May never happen

spiggy I hope your feeling better s oon hon. Can you get an emergency appointment with the doc for some AB's today?

DH is on his annual drinkathon today with his friendsit starts at 11am. It has been a tradition since he was about 20 (he is now 40!). So he is currently making himself the mother of all fry ups (another tradition) because as we all know that will stop him getting drunk. He is like a kid at christmas - pathetic really. I am already dreading the drunken 'I lurve you and my babies hic hic' chat when he rolls in at stupid o'clock.

Off to see the GP's today. My Nan is doing great but my Grandad has just been told he has skin cancer and the melenoma(sp) is getting bigger and dangerously close to his eye. he has an emergency appointment next week. I'm hoping a visit from me and the children will cheer him up.

Spiggy I hope you are better soon!

NJAN I had DS2 on the 12th. No labour for me on the 13th! I think I would have killed someone, I was so fed up.

now I have mastitis! I'd like just afew days when the entire family do not have one illness or the other.

have also just worked out that nursery fees cost us £9k a year that was the gross salary at my 1st job. #3 will have to wait til ds is in school.

hi SL - thx for the thoughts about weaning. yes, maybe. madam also doesn't guzzle her foods (never had the experience where i couldn't shovel it in quick enough) - she tends to tentatively try something, grimace, then ask for a couple of spoonfuls more. recently she has started crying after only a couple of mouthfuls - before she was getting through quite a bit. can't decide whether to lay off the solids for a day or two, or keep going?

also, slightly intimidated by the variety you are all giving your babes - we really are only doing one or two veggies/fruits mixed. carrot and pear, or squash and banana. you seem to be serving highly complex foods - wow! mind you, we only started recently, i suppose.

she slept much better last night after thursday's catastrophe (i literally got up to see her 8 times before 10pm - must have been something wrong with her). last night -woke only twice - yeee haaaa!!!

yay VG on your dh's job news - hurrah!

daisy - yes, she has a funny cough - must be the saliva dripping down. i think she's realised we pay her more attention with it, though, and may be using it for attention now. quite funny, actually.

ladyt enjoy italy, you lucky lady!

arti - let us know how going back to work is - good luck, thinking of you!

in terms of development, madam was born on christmas day - 7lb 10oz, a couple of weeks ago she was 16lbs 3oz. she can roll but rarely does. loves lying on her back and playing with stuff - very dextrous both with her fingers and toes. she can and does sit now and only topples after quite some time (lulls you into a false sense of security - oh, she's fine, i'll go and do something... whoops she's just gone arse over tit). she is, however, the chattiest baby out of the ones i've met. she cannot keep quiet for love nor money - and with parents like us, you'd expect that, i suppose (dh is a writer/performer, me an actor/voice coach). am seriously thinking of videoing/taping her to show to my students.

am feeling great - amazing what some sleep can do for you. it's been one bad night, one good for the last few nights - let's see if we can break the trend and have a couple of good ones on the go.

have lovely weekends

Hi - great news about the job veggie, and the run as well - you have so much energy ! When are you planning on going home ?

Swine flu news - think we have had it already. DS1 came back from the midlands and got a sudden high temperature, lack of appetite, sore throat and shakes for 3 days about a month ago. He was out of sorts for a week. A week after DS2 got it, but a bit more midly (no obvious temp), but they both had bad racking coughs, gooey conjunctivitis and sore throats. Then a week that after DH got it, he had dioreahaa, v.sore throat, shakes, conjunctivits, headache and muscle soreness. I didnt get it at all, apart from a very vague sore throat For one day. Hope thats our lot tbh, and if that was it, it wasnt too bad. Not as bad as the seasonal flu I had 2 years ago...

Birth stats - DS1 (Tom) was born on 11th Jan 2007, he was due on the 1st. I went into labour naturally but he was posterior and the labour didnt progress. The midwife who first examined me made a mistake and said I was 5cm dilated when I went to hospital. After 12 hours of painful back labour, contractions every 5-10mins, a forlorn midwife at hospital told me I was 1.5cm dilated !

So I moved from the MLBW to the standard suite in tears and demanded an epidural. Some 7 hrs and 2 hrs of pushing later, hurrah ! I was quite traumatised physically and emotionally by it. Anyway, he was 9lb 5oz.

DS2 (William) was due on 13th Dec. I was booked for an induction on boxing day, late on. It took one gel only, but I cried a lot and was very scared, after DS1. I forcefully demanded an epidural as I was frightened and they did give it to me, but it wasnt worth it. It didnt work down one side and by then I was 8-9cm dilated anyway. He was born with about 3 pushes in 10 minutes. No tears, no piles, nothing. About 6 hrs later I couldnt tell I'd given birth, so very different from DS1. It took less than 4 hours, and next time I wouldnt bother with anything. He was 8lb 11, but larger than DS1, just skinnier.

What an essay ! Hope your blood tests results go okay kayzr. I was so jealous when you went into labour on the 13th !

Morning,

Been up since 3 thanks to DS2. DH bought him downstairs at 4 and I managed to get a bit of sleep.

Spiggy Of course 3 is a good idea!!

Hope everyone else is well.

yay veggie, fab news, glad it worked out for you. Need to catch up with the rest of the posts so sorry for lack of personals.

News from here- been feeling ill all week (DP has had most of the week off work which isn't like him) and today I went to pick DCs up from nursery to find a big notice saying that there have been a number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the children. So we've either just had it or are about to come down with it. marvellous. Ah well we're bound to get it at some point, just hope DD is fully recovered from chickenpox.

My stats for the list. DD was born 27th Dec a little bit early as she was due 1st Jan. She weighed 7lb 2oz. I have no idea what she weighs now She's only been weighed at birth, 10days and 6 weeks. I obsessed over DS's weight and was determined not to get into the same pattern so have studiously avoided the clinic. I suspect that she is on the small side though. Has just moved into 6-9month clothes. I also have a DS who was born Jan 07 so almost exactly 2 years older than her. DS is Milo and DD is Harriet (but usually called Harry) She was an unplanned homebirth, nearly a garden path birth

Am feeling ridiculously broody now, somebody please tell me that #3 is not a good idea....

Oh I went to centerparcs at longleat years ago for a girls weekend (I know bizarre) loved it.

Next year Veggie!! We want to go to Longleat so we're looking at somewhere nearish there. Though Butlins looks good.

Kayz DH is from somerset he says exmoor or the quantocks for holiday! It is a blooming long way from you though!

Kayz Somerset trip sounds lovely but it's July now.

Just went for a lovely run in the coontre sard which was lovely but took a wrong turn and had to drag myself through a thick load of nettles to get out. Ouch my legs are a bit stingy now.

We are having a celebratory take away but can't decide between Chinese or Thai.

Hi posting from phone so will be brief!
Veggie that is ace news! I think you should have a tipple to celebrate even if you don't go out!
I meant to say earlier wg lots of sympathy on the terrible sleep situation. I had a thought was wondering if it could be to do with weaning? As I think e has been waking as he is not used to what is going on in his stomach with solid food. He's not being majorly disruptive sleep wise like your dd but he has had some wakings where he seems uncomfy. Also his stomach and bottom have been making some truly spectacular noises like something out of a comedy movie! Ignore if the doctor said it is an ear infection it is just a thought as I know you have just started weaning like me.
Also sympathies on the work confidence thing! I am the same, I know it is common for women on maternity leave to lose their confidence work wise but I am not sure this makes it better!

Oops, sorry!

Yeah when we went to Devon last year we went to Minehead to go on that railway. That Butlins looks great from the outside.

Just popping in quickly, off to do some NCT stuff tonight

Kayz we've been to Minehead in Somerset, was lovely. Admittedly we stayed at the Butlins there but the town itself was nice as well. Lovely sandy beaches.

veggie hooray for the veggies! That's fantastic news, am so pleased for you both

Ladyt probably too late but have a brilliant time!

Right must dash, I'm setting up the equipment room for the NCT nearly new sale!

Just popping in quickly, off to do some NCT stuff tonight

Kayz we've been to Minehead in Somerset, was lovely. Admittedly we stayed at the Butlins there but the town itself was nice as well. Lovely sandy beaches.

veggie hooray for the veggies! That's fantastic news, am so pleased for you both

Ladyt probably too late but have a brilliant time!

Right must dash, I'm setting up the equipment room for the NCT nearly new sale!

Veggie That is brilliant news!! I am so happy for you and Mr Veggie!!!

LadyT Have a lovely time in Italy!!

We aren't going to go to Paris anymore, we are going to have a family holiday in July. We are looking at going to Somerset so if anyone knows of anywhere nice then let me know!

That is fantastic veggie!! Hooray for Mr Veggie being super at his job too.

Now in other news DH has been talking with his big boss over the last week they have tried to convince him to stay with them but he had said he wants the voluntary redundancy with the payout they have said they can't give it to him of has been to-ing and fro-ing between him them and HR. We were pretty sure he was going to havevto just work his notice basically on garden leave and at best do some work on the side and update one of his qualifications which is due for renewal in December and finish off another qualification which this company promised him. Both of which make him very sort after as a contractor and would be very lucrative for us. So we were kind of resigned to the no payout. Then his boss came back to him today and said he if he would work hard for them for the next 3 months, help train the people who are staying (the dregs) up to and help coach them through the big exam for the special qualification be has that they need, they will give him the VR payout at the end of october! They will also make sure he leaves with the new certification and update he wanted!!! We cannot believe it, it's like we've one the lottery. I think if it weren't for the kids we would be out now getting thoroughly trollied on Champers. It kind of hadn't sunk in but it's great. We are going to put the money away and not touch it and use it as our home fund.

It also means we don't have to cancel our trip to Holland. But suddenly we don't want to go there, we want to go to Italy, so might see if it's possible to drive to the lakes maybe and can do some cycling and stuff around there.

Arti, I hope that was ok, about E?

Right girls, I am about to run out of the door to go up to my Mum's - I ran out of time today so no proper catch up, forgivez-moi, and am still packing and I have to be out the door in ten - off to Italy in the morn and won't be on here again until Monday 20th, probably, but will be reading now and then on my phone.

Love to all. Be good! Gloves up, everyone!

LOL daisy at the winky removal very cheeky.

Have just caught and can't remember what I was going to post but Kayz, DS1 lived on hipp organic courgette & mozarella penne pasta breakfast lunch and tea for ages. I kept trying him with lovingly prepared completely organic purees but he refused point blank be also wouldn't eat the 7mnth + lumpy stuff til about 12mths. It was a little heartbreaking as I had so intended cooking lovely organic wholesome food (I could make a fortune on eBay with my library of organic wholemeal grow your own lentils baby meal recipe books) but hey ho. As a result I get quite excited when DS2 eats his veg heartily. I think he finds it amusing when he sees mummy all smiley and jumpy at him knawing on an asparagus shoot.

Quick Q...has anyone noticed that their lo develops a cough when teething? DS was very out of sorts last night and coughing lots, cheeks bright red and today has been a grump. I'm sure its his teeth but no sign of one yet. I've taken him to the Dr's on a couple of occasions about his coughing and they say he is in fine health.

DH just gone for his consultation re: his vasectomy. I have told DD that Daddy has gone to see the Dr about getting his winky cut off. Naughty mummy.....

ladyT you are so right girlfriend!!!! We mums are truly amazing.

summer weaning has made bugger all difference to DS and he is now going at it great guns!

He is on 3 meals a day and puddings too! Most of his food is home made (sometimes he has pureed whatever we have) but he is fond of the odd jar, which is good as DD refused them completely. We have tried 'mashed' instead but he does not do lumps!!!!

Right am roasting a butternut squash for his tea and have already left it too long catching up on the thread.

SL, M is not big on solids either and he's one of the older ones! He's had some puree which goes down with a struggle and some finger foods which he likes gumming on but does not really swallow, so it's a bit hit and miss here too.

Kayz, blood test sounds terrible, hope you don;t end up very bruised.

Veg, you are absolutely right, I don't know how we fit it all in. When DH looks after the children, they are fine but the house looks like a bomb site with every cup, plate, saucepan etc in use, no washing or washing up done, nothing put away etc. It's not good. At least the kids are safe and happy though. Twould be a very different place if men had to do everything!

Am currently in talks with work about going back 1 day a week for a year. Seems hardly worth bothering.

M can now sit for a little while, and has just moved from one side of my bed to the other! Don't know how he managed that as I am looking at the screen. At least I rescued him before he went onto the floor!

Thannks for the advice on the weaning.
I am feeling better now, he appears to be swallowing again, and was doing his usual grabbing the spoon. I have also realised that I am being daft about my food not being suitable, as he liked the look of my flour tortilla wrap thing, so I gave him a bit of it with banana and avocado on it, and then some with cream cheese on it, plus some separate chunks of cheese and he loved it! So spent about 45 mins letting him try feeding himself, interspersed with feeding him some pureed stuff, and he enjoyed it, so that is good. Still an almighty mess, in fact even worse than normal.
I was just getting fed up with thinking that I would have to feed him 3 times a day and he wouldn't seem to enjoy it. But when he's having fun it seems like quality time with him so it doesn't matter if you see what I mean.

SL and Veggie I am so with you on having a messy eater. DD2 was having about 50% purees which I spoon fed her and 50% finger foods which she fed herself. Both were as messy as each other as she grabs the spoon when I feed her. In fact a pureed meal often left the kitchen looking like the Battle of the Somme as puree can really fly. However, over the past few days she has taken to clamping her mouth shut if we are trying to feed her. She either wants to feed herself - or at least hold the food while we spoon a few extra mouthfulls in. This means she is eating less than before and it makes it hard when we are out as I can't spoon feed. However, she is happy and so far she has continued to sleep well (we def noticed a sleep/weaning link but then we started solids around the same time we hired Mrs Sleep). Her favorite food at the moment is pasta. I buy the rice flour fusilli made for kids by the Peter Rabbit label - it is small but big enough for a baby to grip and it goes down a treat. I mix it with tomato and veggie sauce and give it to her for dinner so that I can clean her up with a bath straight after.

What a day you had yesterday LadyT. You are right, we are amazing (esp you, I would collapse after all that). I saw E of D&E yesterday and she told me about seeing you and little O and finding out that we know each other. She said O was uber cute.

Its my last day of maternity leave today . I am v sad about it. I better go and make the most of it rather than MNing

Ooooh Kayz you poor thing, horrible blood test. Reminds me of the poor student MW who did one of mine when pg, the poor thing was so nervous and I was trying so hard not to flinch as she stabbed, and stabbed, and jiggled the needle, and pulled it out a bit when she changed the vial and blood started oozing out around the needle and dripping onto the floor. Was rather glad when the MW agreed it might be time to let her take over

Work. Meh. I want a job too but I want to be able to spend time with the dcs. Having it all is a joke (well, we do have it all...all the childcare, all the laundry, all the cooking, all the washing up, all the cleaning...) and yes, I agree that life would be so much easier if men could do what we do! I really want the student union to start recruiting for welfare again and give me a job then I can have both of them in the lovely creche I used while studying, when ds turns 3 he can go to nursery at the lovely little school just over the road and all will be utterly wonderful and amazing. Of course chaces of that happening are slim to none and I doubt the pay would cover childcare for 2 anyway so hey ho.

I can just about cope with folding an dunfolding the P&T but I didn't realise the frame locked when you fold it until I accidently managed it and then spend half an hour in the carpark trying to unlock it again!

Weaning. Dd generally prefers to feed herself but if she is tired she likes a spoon. She also gets very messy indeed! We still mostly cook in baby friendly fashion because we eat with ds so we save a portion and she has it the next day. I occasionally make a soup or risotto or pasta sauce and feeze portions so as long as I cook one of the above once a week I can keep portions of all 3 in the freezer at any one time to get out if we have had something unsuitable but not much is unsuitable in my book. I find it pretty easy anyway, yesterday she had a couple of new potatoes and a big chunk of courgette which is no more fuss to prepare than it is to defrost something or open a jar. Lunch ds, dd and I have together and is cheese on toast or sandwich or eggs, tomatoes, cucumber the fruit and yoghurt. Dinners are pasta, risotto, chunks of veg from a stew, left over roast, fish, whatever veg we have around then fruit/yoghurt. The girl loves nectarines, she can eat a whole one in one sitting

We still don't talk about sleep. I inteded to be strong but it all ended in huge amounts of tears and shouting. Last night though she slept til 9.30, I fed and she did 3 hours so I fed again and then she woke at 3.30 so I sent dh in, she screamed for half an hour but then slept til 5.50 and have a feed and dozy cuddle in bed so oyu never know, if I keep sending dh in she might get the message!

summer I have found that weaning has helped ds2 sleep better. We found that once he was having 3 meals a day he dropped his 11pm bottle. Some babies take longer to become interested in food, I think the important thing is to try not to stress about it or push it too much. Just keep offering some everyday.

Weaning-wise, I do very similar to trace, he has lots of veg/fruit puree but lots of things to hold as well. I gave him toast yesterday & just dipped it into a veg puree, that went down really well. And he always has to have his own spoon to hold, but yes it is always messy. I often have to change his tshirts even with a bib on! I have started to whizz up our dinners for him, I eat with ds1 so there's no salt etc & he's really liked that. And yes, he does have jars as well, much more than ds1 did!

trace for breakfast, ds2 usually has either baby porridge or 1/4 oatabix mixed with his formula. Though I'm looking for more ideas as well!

ladyt & veggie you're both so right! We should just be able to get on with things without feeling watched or judged at every turn! You two really are the wise women of the basket

just re-read my last post and realised it is duller than Dull Jack McDull, winner of last years Dullest Man competition.
sorry
Must try harder not to empty entire contents of brain onto thread.

Summer P does nor seem to sleep any better now than pre-weaning, but I'm starting to accept that her waking is not due to hunger.
Veggie I actually hose the highchair down too! I'm a bit anal though and want it to be spotless so I'm scrubbing away 3 times a day! I think I need to chill out but I can't
Kayz sorry you had to have a blood test but at least it might give a clue as to why you're so tired - especially as you'll be TTC soon - you want to be tip-top! ALso I've been giving P a few jars/ pouches. I never gave Lucy anything that wasn't home made but this time I'm a bit more chilled about doing whatever is easiest at the time (you'll note the complete contradiction in that sentence and the one about hosing the highchair down 3 times a day !). If our food is suitable (ie spag bol, lasagne, pasta bake, fish, chicken casseolr) then I whizz it and give it to Phoebe the next day. If it's not (chippy tea, pizza, stir fry...) then I don't so I have given a few jars and she likes it! I still have lots of veggies frozen in the freezer (where else!) but she needs more than veg puree now so I sometimes add that to a bit from a jar. I've also frozen lots of portions of cheese sauce so add that tpo lots of things too. I generally give her something to hold and chew each meal aswell - bread stick, cucumber, cheese, potato smiley face , rice cake... It seemed that the amount of puree you get from a pear is teeny weeny so a pouch of pear is cheaper than the equivalent number of pears to make a pouch-worth - IYKWIM!
Does anyone have any breakfast ideas? P likes yohgurt or fruit mush so gets that every day. She's not keen on porridge or cereal (unless I mix a tiny bit in with her fruit), and I give her toast fingers but she consumes about a cm and the rest goes on the floor/highchair/table/walls/ceiling! What do you give?
Must go to Asda today. Really must. Am going to try to buy some different things too because we're a bit in a rut of buying the same old same old.

Just tried to persuade ds2 to have some food with lumps in. Not remotely interested. Being naughty really he has only jar food now. He only has the hipp organic ones but I just don't seem to have the time to make him loads of food. So I tried him with one that has lumps and says from 7 months but he doesn't like it.

oh and I should add that as well as washing the cushins daily we would take the high chair outside and hose it down every couple of days. BLW I'd just as messy but less stressful for me but that's just me and I have advantage of an older child that I have to cook for I just tailor whatever he is having to DS2 as well. If what he is having is inappropriate for a baby (too salty) I just cut up some veggies chunky and steam them.

SL I think the sleep thing from earlier in the threads was more to do with under 6 months and HVs recommending solids to help sleep. After 6 months they can actually digest and therefore use the food so would feel more satisfied so quite possibly sleep through. Also their tummys are only little so don't need much to fill up esp solids which don't leave the stomach as quickly as milk.

I will try to upload some photos of DS1 during weaning tonight and it will make you feel better about your DS's very normal weaning mess. I actually thought mess was what happened to all weaning babies until I was having coffee at a friends house whose two DD's where both over 12 months at the time. I noticed she has the same high chair as me and I made a comment about how it's great that they have removable cushins as they have to be washed so often (in my case daily and I had 2 sets!!!) she looked a little embarrassed and said actually i've never washed the cushin, i've never even removed it!!! It turned out she had never even wiped down the chair and the thing was pristine!!!!

Hello

Blood test was horrible. The nurse dropped one of the vials so just left the needle bit in my arm while she got it. Results are back on monday so just the weekend to wait.

LadyT - you are very right. Its amazing anything gets done with small DCs around, never mind the amount everyone manages to fit in! Its the multi-tasking thing - not sure men are cut out for it. DH is finding it really difficult when he has to put DCs to bed on his own as he can't get his head round the fact that somehow they both need his attention...

Thanks everyone for your responses, and thanks tilly for asking - DS seems fine today. Was it worried as DD seems to have had the runs for about 2 weeks and thought DS might have picked something up from her - so have asked DH to take her to the doctors in any case. Its times like this I really wish I didn't have to be at work...

jj and SL glad you are enjoying/enjoyed your hols! jj any tips for transatlantic travel very welcome - I have to go to Denver Colorado in January for my brother's wedding and am already dreading the thought of transatlantic flights with a 1 year old and 2 and a half year old, not to mention freezing cold!

SL - in answer to your question, DS absolutely sleeps better since weaning. He had been a reasonably good sleeper, but around 5 and a bit months really regressed, going from waking once or twice a night to 3-4 times a night. Seems to have gone back to sleeping much better since he started getting the hang of solids, so I think he was just really ready for them. As far as feeding goes, I would just let him make a bit of a mess. When DD was small we were a bit obsessed with making sure we got enough down her (she was refusing to drink milk) so took charge of feeding and now at 2 years old she still wants to be fed, which is a real bore. You can get all in one type bibs with sleeves and everything so you don't have to change everything every time they eat. I don't think I'm really cut out for BLW, but I'm much more aware of letting DS having a go at eating himself even if it goes all over the place and I'm not sure too much gets in. Will still feed him bits of mush as well though.

Hello all,
Got back from holiday on Monday and been lurking, meant to write a bit catch up post but failed, so just going to jump back in!

Had a great holiday, did loads of walking/biking/sightseeing/drinking/eating, etc!

In a bit of a bad mood though, stressed about sorting out my return to work (LadyT was sorry to hear about your work situation, totally shite of them. I hope you can work something out...and that all your finance worries sort themselves out too. Also sorry to hear about those of you with redundancy hanging over you). I am hoping to change my role at work when I go back but not sure work will go for it. So putting it off and worrying about it.

And generally stressed because I can't get DS to eat properly. Not really interested at all. I thought this was normal but then all the other babies I have seen being weaned don't spread literally almost EVERYTHING they are fed down their front. I don't feel I can feed him if we are out as it is such a joke and EVERYTHING gets filthy, I have to put him in 2 bibs and everything gets dirty. Originally he was grabbing the spoon and finding it fun, even though he wasn't actually swallowing much, but now he doesn't seem interested in doing that any more so I am finding it a bit of a chore as he is so disinterested. Oh and he seemed to get the hang of it properly swallowing for a couple of days and now he has regressed. I know I should not bother getting so worried but it is such a pain in the arse. And i don't really want to do BLWing, in some ways that seems more hassle as I eat dinner after he has gone to bed, and most of the stuff I eat isn't really suitable.

veggie I agree with you on all that! I was thinking the other day you are an inspiration, you manage all your exercise/camping/fun stuff/festivals with 2 children! DH was saying the other day that he wasn't sure about having another one, as he didn't think we would manage to do stuff still with 2, so I shall cite you as an inspiration if he says this again!!
Oh and I don't care what stupid people think re pregnancy choices/birth/feeding. I think I am missing a guilt gene as don't seem to get guilty about parenting choices! In fact any criticism makes me more stubborn.

Oh can I ask something controversial? Have people found that weaning has helped their DC's sleeping? On monday and tuesday DS ate more food than normal and slept through pretty much! Weds and Thurs he decided that eating was not for him, and he woke twice in the night. I know weaning is not meant to help sleeping, and he didn't eat loads so it cannot have been that many calories, but it does seem a coincidence?

Right off out now, catch up later!

I hear ya sister!!! Lady I was never much of a feminist but just lately (well last 4 years) I have started to be quite suspicious that motherhood guilt is actually an conspiracy to make us not realize how bloody amazing we are. Pregnancy - we are bombarded with what we should and shouldn't do, if we do we are bad, if we don't we are paranoid. Birth- if we do it naturally we are hippies, if we don't we are posh/weak/lots of other bloody stupid things. If we have a homebirth and even worse if we actually enjoyed it, we are sandal wearing deluded liers. BF brazen hussys, FF- denying our babies good nourishment, SAHM- brainless boring housewives, WM- selfish feminist types. All of this is designed to take away from the fact that we are blummin amazing, we grow a person in us, then we nuture this baby with amazing level of love skill and care and a considerable amount of intelligence and multi tasking. And through all this we manage to keep ourselves (vaguely) normal and continueing on with our lives. As much as I love DH and men, the world of maternity care, leave etc would be a lot different if men could do what we do.

IYSWIM

Kayz, I think PMK knows where you are coming from. I'll hold your hand! I know the anticipation is horrible but you will be amazed how quickly it is over. Don't fret. Remember, you gave birth to an over 10lb baby boy at home. That would leave most people floored! Look away and start thinking of all the capital cities of the world. I doubt you will get past London-Paris....Good luck!

More shortly, ladies. Yesterday I:

-got busy commuter train to Paddington
-walked to Maida Vale and carried DD up the 65 stairs to my flat to change her
-Went back out to cab it to Tottenham Court Road to my opticians as I hate the new contact lenses they have given to me
-Dashed to Chancery Lane for lunch with a schoolfriend
-Jumped in a cab up to Islington to leave DD with a friend for an hour and a half
-Got cab back down to Piccadilly which took ages
-Had meeting
-Legged it back up to Islington to collect DD
-Got cab to Paddington
-Missed train because of traffic so had to get the 1921
-Got home at about 2045.

The reason for the indulgence of taking you through my hectic day is that I was thinking how brilliant mothers are. I do all this stuff and I do most of the dealing with DD, most of the housework...It's a lot. Mothers should get more respect, whether they have a job outside the home or not. Tilly, you talk about the guilt - we are all pulled in so many different directions all the time...

Anyway, proper catch up when I have fed the little lady.

I feel really sick now! I hate needles and I am dreading this blood test. Got to take the boys so have to try and be brave.

Can someone virtually hold my hand?

Oh dear, that last post sounded very self-pitying, sorry!

pmk there's 2, but the one I really want is working from home. The guilt is not giving ds2 the same amount of time I've given ds1. I've been at home with ds1 for 3 yrs but ds2 will be lucky to get a year . I know it won't make any difference to him because that will be what he knows, it's completely irrational on my part!

But we really need me to start working again, we've had to cancel our holiday at the end of August, our appliances keep breaking down & need replacing, just never ending atm.

jj glad you're having a nice time, fingers crossed for the flight home, sure it will be fine

Am going to try the travel cot as a play pen today, hope it works, ds2 is getting fed up of his bouncy chairs & I need somewhere to put him so I can get on with a few jobs

Tilly whats the job? Why the guilt?

LOL Effie! Yes that's right Kayz.... I was actually doing that -eventually- but now I have read the instructions it's a bit clearer as you have to turn the buttons 180 degrees first and I wasn't sure which direction to put them...

Invis missed your post yesterday - hope ds is ok now...?

JJ glad you are having a nice time - good luck for the flight - ds did really well on the night flight back from the US. I'm sure it'll go well

Buttons? It has buttons?

JJ: lovely to hear from you, clever DD too

Baaad night here, DS2 awake most of the night (hot, grumpy, feeding) then DS1 woke at 5:30 and started agitating for breakfast . He's in his post-virus manic mode while DS2 is prob going down with whatever it was.

Veggie: DS1 loves softplay as well, I didn't go for ages out of misplaced snobbery but when we did try it I wished I'd gone sooner!

Oh that was it. The P&T is really really easy to fold. You just push the 2 buttons in and hey presto!! Then just turn the wheel round and push it until it locks. Unfolding it is much harder I think.

Morning,

Jump Hope you have a good time in Canada. Sorry to hear about the Mastitis. Hope the flight home is good.

I've got that blood test today. I'm already feeling a bit hungry so by half 9 I'll probably be starving!!

I hope everyone is ok. I'm sure there was something I wanted to say but just can't remember it now.

Evening everyone! just a quickie here from Canada, no idea what time it is with you lot but here DH and I are on babysitting duty while my bro and his lovely wife go out for a movie and some grown-up time

we're having a great trip, dd is loving her cousin and laughs at him lots - alas he's 2.5 and finds her a bit scary (and there's another baby due in a few months so probably a bit threatened by the whole smaller person in the house thing) but she adores watching him playing. Main bit of news is she's learned to sit! So we can pop her down with a couple of toys and chances are she'll occupy herself for a few minutes before falling over and rolling all over the place again.

It's like a whole new world has opened up... as a result her sleep has gone a bit barmy - one night she'll go off really easily, wake once and then go back off for the rest of the night, then the next she;s back to up every hour and refusing to sleep except for with nip in mouth. but hey, we're on holiday thank goodness so I can nap with her, and DH and bro can talk man stuff ;)

Also I managed to get a really nasty blocked duct and all feverish and fainty, ended up going to the drop in clinic which cost $530 god bless travel insurance, have antibiotics and the fever has gone away, lots of sympathy to people who had full on mastitis, this was utterly grim and only a mild case.

if anyone's keeping a summary of what's been going on, I'd be v grateful we're back on Sunday, so fingers crossed for Saturday night, we;'re a night flight so hope she's got the hang of snoozing again by then! lots of love to you all and big kisses to babies one and all

Hi ZJ, I think I would annoy commuters more than a big ol' backpack on the tube.

Trace I suddenly just remembered you asked about mail to Australia it usually takes about a week.

NJAN a bit of a late comment on your formula post, but my friend did a taste and smell test on a variety of formula and her breast milk, and apparently Aptimil was the closest on both

Veggie just because you’re a nurse, you can’t stop accident’s happening – in the same way a mechanic’s car will still break down, he’ll just be better at fixing it. It sounds like you fixed your DS2 perfectly today. Oh, and please can I come to your DS1’s party, if he goes to S America – I’ve never been there!

This week I’ve made a big batch of Annabel Karmel’s ‘lovely lentils’ for DD and she is LOVING them – probably because they have an orange factor of 3 (carrot, sweet potato and red lentils). Anything orange is the best in her book because it makes maximum mess on the way in and the way out again. I think I will have to try baked beans a la Trace, as she’s sure to love them and stain yet more clothes (mine, hers, who cares)

Kayz I still have those stats and have been adding in the 6 month weights too, to see what’s happening (can’t resist ). If the newbies – spiggy, row, staines, njan, mom et al – are interested and want to post their LO’s vital stats (date of birth, due date, weight, weight at 6 months, whether they are your first child, whether they were home birth, CS etc), I can have another geek moment and include them. Looking at my list Daisy’s DS was our fifth baby, but the 4 older ones don’t post (or their Mum’s don’t anyway), so he is officially our oldest baby, and Olipop’s DD is our youngest

Good luck with the walking tonight Lal, hope you have fun

OK, off to bed now as swimming tired me out more than it tired DD out today. Night night everyone <toddles off, imagining Jolly and Veggie arranging a meet up to swap playpens and taking it on the train>

I wish we lived closer JB I don't think we'll use our playpen it's a babydan one, you could have it, but it's a bit heavy to send unfortunately.

Hello everyone,

I've read a bit of the thread but won't be able to catch up before our friend comes round to drop off his keys. We're looking after his cat even though we're away this weekend . Not sure how that's working...

Anyway, before I go I just wanted to say thanks for your playpen thoughts ladies. I had NO idea they were such a contentious issue! I just didn't want to buy one and not use it. I'll either go with the travel cot thing (we've still got a little samsonsite one at the minute but will be getting a huge one soon) or go for the ZJ one.

Must go knock at the door!

invisible how's ds? Hope he's ok

veggie glad you liked the soft play, ds1 is a fan also!

I'm just updating my CV, there's a job which I'm thinking of applying for. Just have to get over the guilty feeling though

Invisible is DS home now. If there is no other obvious sysmptoms should be fine just keep an eye on him. It's probably just some bile which can have a greenish tinge to it as well as the usual bright yellow.

Well we went to our local soft play which is 5 mins walk away and that I didn't like last time I went but actually it's quite good, I think I was heavily pregnant and didn't like their coffee (still not good). But the staff are lovely and their party deal covers everything but the cake so I think we'll just do that DS1 was thrilled he loves soft play. I started taking him to soft play when he was a baby as it was a chance for me to switch off and not worry about him banging his head constantly (sounds familiar) the only problem with it was the mastered it quickly and it was often quite alarming to see my 11month old DS1 waving at me from the highest level of the softplay. I became quite adept at getting around myself after a while as I was worried some big kid would squash him. It was really nice to throw DS2 into the baby bit today and let him stand and crawl and rumble around while I drank my (adequate but not great) coffee. I think he liked it too.

but thank you very much for the offer I meant to say.... and enjoy your night!

Lal don't worry about instructions I have found them online

at all you lot never folding / unfolding it!

row - no not eaten anything, just had (breast)milk.

Obviously I haven't seen him and DH didn't see the vomit, but everyone seems perfectly happy that he seems well, so I am thinking maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Invis
I would see what you think when you see him. If he looks absolutely fine - no temp/responding well/wet nappies etc - I wouldn't worry. But if you think he looks poorly as well then maybe take him to the out of hours GP?

Do bear in mind though that you will probably be surrounded by people with swine flu - a friend of mine sat in A&E with her 8 week old daughter at the weekend and people were taking their masks off to talk to each other. And a couple of people were throwing up on the floor. .

But Veggie and Trace are your experts. Right. Got to get ready for night out. Am not sure I can still walk in my nice shoes but determined to have a crack at it. Could get ugly. Also I have to get ready before bath time - strictly speaking I have a charlie and lola episode in which to transform myself. Is friend's bday and everyone else is childfree and gorgeous. So don't want to turn up covered in sick. See you later.

As = Has

invisible As he eaten anything green before the vomit?

also I think NHS Direct make babies priority so I'm sure they will speak to your DH soon if he hangs on the line. I would wait and talk to them. I once called them and the automated thingy said they would call back in 5 hours, but I got put through to someone straight away.

OK - quick what would you do question. Just got off the phone with DH, who mentioned in passing that our nanny had mentioned in passing that DS had done a green vomit sometime this am. He apparently seems to have been perfectly OK since and no one seemed to be too worried. Have since been on the internet and read all kinds of scary things about green vomit (I know, step away) that say you should get to a doctor immediately. Did persuade DH to try NHS direct, but apparently they are trying to persuade any but the most desperate cases to get off the phone as they are flooded with swine flu calls. So what would you do? Leave it at that unless DS is sick again? Go to the GP? Stay on the phone to NHS direct for ages to get some reassurance?

Effie - I'll join in the confessions. Have never managed to fold or unfold the P&T either. DH makes it look easy though

veggie How rude of that woman, I'm glad you didn't book with her, and I'm not sure your hubbie's work can change his work description, they have to find him a role with the same one or follow redundancy rules I think. It may be worth seeing if ou can get some advice from an employment solicitor. And I hope your son's head is ok, i banged my son's head against the ceiling the other day, I felt so awful afterwards

wg Glad you are feeling better.

after yet another night of unconsable screaming every two hours until the newly administered drugs kicked in (teething granules were doing nothing) I decided I should get it all checked as teething surely can't be this bad for this long and the poor sod has a slight ear infection and tonsillitis. So we have antibiotics and hopefully he will better soon. I feel like death today but hopefully it will all be over by the weekend and I can sit in bed all morning and just do feeds from there.

PMK glad they finally seem to be doing something. Hope it gets sorted quickly.

Watching the tour. Getting very excited as miller looks like he might win it!! Both boys asleep so trying not too cheer too loudly. 7km to go and he is 45 seconds ahead. Just been 2 massive crashes.

Oh no worries Veggie many things drive me mad about home - I completely came unglued one time on a visit home when the Qantas central reservations number was closed for the weekend??? Invisable you can put the cocoon in either way without the toddler seat on (I only have the single at the moment) and on the box for the cocoon it has it in that way but I can see with the seat on the top it would get ugly! I have no velcro at all anywhere on the cocoon, however I do have the little loops on the bottom of the buggy for something?
Just back from the bank after being on the phone all morning I finally got from the fraud dept that they never actually received the signed decleration that I made a special trip in to the bank last week to do as it would "speed up the process" -yeah right! So they had me go back into the branch thisafternoon, the branch called to get the paperwork emailed over for me to sign again, and they suddenly find it again Apparently now they "know" they have it, they will get on with it - they have said 5 working days so many times I can't tell you, and if they used the term "fast track" one more time I am going to fast track my useless debit card up their clackers! They wonder why there are so many cases of fraud! I'm sure the fraud dept is in cahoots with the service station I got screwed over at! the branch has honoured my standing orders - nice of them - and I demanded politely requested some cash on the spot to get through the weekend as we are suppose to be going to Wales for another bike race. DH doesn't seem to understand the fact that our bank account is a complete state so I'm not going to mention the cash I got and see if he goes into a flat spin when he realises he may not have fuel to get to his little lycra clad party - is that mean?
Was it Zoe who said about dh's not listening? There is no book - trust me, i've scoured the internet and there isn't one... I do have a book called "If men could talk" which I've had to reference quite a bit in my life! But the best advice I can offer when dealing with the male species is is "Actions speak louder than words"

I remember that Daisy! And Tilly i know it's just so annoying they are so medically minded and seeing that they are taking the choice away from women. They have also managed to make the population believe that women and midwives who want this choice are weirdos who risk their babies lives even despite the overwhelming evidence the contrary. Oh i'm just so angry. Unfortunately australia is traditionally a nanny state and this is what comes of legislating individuals health choices. Oh i could go on. I should write a paper.

I have never folded the P&T . It's all too complicated for my tiny mind.

Just a quickie veggie at the bloody woman! Cheeky old bag...not sure I would have been half as controlled as you. My tolerance levels have never recovered from pregnancy!

wg good to hear your feeling a bit brighter. It certainly sounds like she might be coming down with something with all that vom! Although DS had random bouts of vomming when we first started weaning. I put it down to his body adjusting to food, well either that or my cooking!

Yes DS is probably the eldest on the thread, 24th Nov born 2 mins to midnight. In fact my waters went as I was posting. Still makes me giggle

Argh!! Please give me strength. DS1 is really trying my patience today. He says he wants to nap in bed, then when I go to take him to bed he wants to nap on the sofa. Then nap in bed again. He won't let DS2 sleep as he has dropped of in his highchair and I don't want to move him.

veggie glad ds2 is ok. I've lost count of the number of times ds2 has banged his head or had ds1 landing on him! About the midwife law, I was chatting to an antenatal teacher in Queensland & she was telling me about it, they were all hoping it wouldn't come in as now women in Aus basically don't have a choice over where they give birth . Lol @ ds1 wanting to take everyone to SA!

pmk how frustrating for you over the bank, hope it will all be sorted soon

We went to our usual play group this morning & ds2 was bitten & scratched by a little girl . I was trying to fend her off, trying to find out who she was with & she was lunging over me & trying to bite me to get to him! I got really cross as she was with a childminder who was basically sat gossiping, at least keep an eye on what your mindees are doing! I saw her do it again with a couple of other children afterwards as well! Bless ds1 though, he was telling her off as well & gave ds2 a kiss & cuddle!

WG - Glad things seem better for you - and yes, we're not too far away from each other at all!

On the how they grow theme. We were having a picnic with some friends at the weekend. (Male) friend, looking straight at DS: "Where is J?" Me: "Right there in front of you" Friend: "Oh, I didn't recognise him, I was wondering who that child belonged to...". This person does have a one year old of his own, so no excuses really!

pmk - I can't see how the cocoon would work with head facing inwards - I'm sure DS would have got squished by DD if we had done it that way! There are various velcro straps on the cocoon, but having looked into it, I don't think there is anything to attach them to on the sport. And yes, the P&T is a bugger to fold. Not really sure why I bothered now as DD is determined to walk everywhere anyway.

Sorry about crap bank stuff. Can't believe it's taking so long and you have no money, we have had some stolen money debarcles (bank got postman to deliver new credit card and just gave it to someone who happened to come out of he communal front door at the right time who then went straight to Argos and spent £800) but was always sorted quickly.

I am livid right now, bloody Queensland Govt had just passed a law that comes into effect next year which says it is now illegal for a midwife to attend a women at home for her birth!!! God they are so backwards (sorry PMK) it goes against all current statistical evidence and the directive of the WHO!!!! Bloody QLD!

Lal yes it's the Sport - just 3 months old. Thatb would be great if you could send them!! Do you have a scanner or I can email our address?
Does the cocoon attach? - I found the hoops on the buggy kays is talking about but the cocoon has no velcro just clips on the sides of it which don't attach to anything?? Prob wouldn't bother anyway
veg I hope J is alright. Don't worry, dh you should see how slack dh can be, and he should know better...!

Banking fiasco still on going - now have zero funds available and they have lost my cases paperwork - thanks.... Benefit of Private banking? Zero. Only difference is they can screw you over in private, and we pay for that!!!!

thanks lovely ladies, he seems all fine he is giving me his best cheeky grin and snuggled in my lap eating his toes. Even though it's sunny I'm taking the boys to a new soft play that I am thinking of having DS1's birthday at, so he can stand and tumble as much as he wants and I can relax for a bit.

I asked DS1 what he wanted to do for his birthday yesterday because we wouldn't be having it at the village hall. He said he like to go with his whole class to South America! I think that might be a little expensive so that's why we are having a look at the softplay.

oh, vg that sounds scary. i'm sure they are pretty resilient, though. and don't beat yourself up about knowing better... glad to hear he is sounding well. keep us posted.

madam slept well last night - onlly 3 wakings (on my planet that is good). doctor said there was nothing wrong with her apart from a sore throat. so all well here. feeling so much perkier and surrounded by our lovely circle.

am starting a sleep diary, so maybe that will elucidate something. the fog has lifted, let's try to keep it away...

You poor thing Veggie - it happens to all of us at some point - but I know that you mean about it making you feel stupid. Especially as invariably you're inches away when it happens. Hope he - and you - are ok. As you know babies are very tough really.

pmk have you got the sport? Do you want me to copy our instructions and send them to you? Not that it massively helped with folding it right. In the early days I was quite often to be found standing by the car boot with instruction book in one hand swearing at it.

DS2 fell head first off the arm of the sofa this morning he had his hand on it and was trying to eat some papers on the arm of the sofa I was behind him and was trying to get the papers out of his hands when his hands slipped on the papers and off he went head first. It was about a 1 meter fall and I think be landed straight onto his nose. He cried straight away and did all the right thing. He was due a nap at 9 and this happened at 8.50 do he got quite sleepy afterwards but hard to say if the fall caused it but he was very kind of doppy so I let him fall asleep in my arms and have kept poking him to make sure he is rousable. He has just woken now and seems happy and appropriate. I'll keep a close eye on him. But I feel just terrible I'm a paediatric nurse and should know better.

Right I am offically mad!! But I'm going to book a holiday for next July so I have to be able to drive!!

I always had it so DS2's head was at the end so I could see him. On ours the cocoon has bits of velcro that go into some hoops on the pushchair. But I never used them.

Q for P&T users.... which way around does the cocoon go? (ds too big now but just wondering) the box shows head facing the front but everyone says the other way as then you can see the baby's head? Also, it has little clips on the side but doesn't seem to attach anywhere on the buggy? Someone said the clips are only if you have the "Vibe" model? I didn't get instructions, and also having a battle with folding it up and down but usually get there after pressing many different buttons!

and Katie is very quiet these days - you lot lurking still I hope?

I just looked back over my really old posts and it's funny there is still a few of us that are regulars on here - from way back. it's a really strong little group of core regulars isn't it

morning....
Veggie I'm surprised you didn't march down to have the conversation with that woman in person! How bloody rude... Bummer about your dh'd job situation, but he must be very good at what he does so that's a nice feeling!

Lal, we went to the Natural History Museum when ds was 1 week old! I remember being obsessed with where the baby change facilities were, since i'd never had to pay attention to these things before! Then my nieces were trying to get me to stand on the scales and compare my weight with an elephants - not ideal a week after giving birth!

WG, glad you are feeling a little better now...

I haven't had ds weighed at the clinic for literally months, however I plonked him on the bathroom scales yesterday which are hugely inaccurate at low weights or any weights for that matter, but he was 8.2kg. He was born on Dec 10th and has no teeths yet, still doesn't sit up for long on his own, but has perfected the art of blowing raspberries at 6am

Where's Kim these days? Pixsis? And remember Beans from way back? Wonder if she ever lurks....

Morning all, quick one from me, just wanted to add my thoughts to those for WG to those who've already expressed them so eloquently.
I could have written your post a few days ago when T was waking all night, not napping in the day, being grumpy for me and then smiling the moment anyone else came near him. Assumed teeth. Still no goddamn pegs. But it's just the total "am I ever going to sleep again and will this person stop crying have I damaged him by sometimes ignoring his cries he's already got the genetic predisposition who am I where have I gone I never thought it would be like this will someone please take him away" awfulness. Sorry, totally incoherent.
Just yesterday DP asked me "do you enjoy having him around, do you like being with him"? . I couldn't believe he'd said that but he said all i ever do is complain about how tired I am, how much of a drudge I'm feeling like etc etc. And I couldn't explain how it's all to do with sleep deprivation and finding a new identity and the sheer relentlessness of it all, but that I wouldn't change him being here for anything.
sorry ramble, we're off to my mum's today, am hoping t lets me leave him with her for more than a second..

oh, and am on your behalf veg, i hope she gets fired for turning away business, i wouldn't blame you for wanting to tell all the other mum in the area about it....

Morning,

Ds2 woke up at half 5 so I had to get up. Tried to make DH get up but I was wide awake.

WG Hope you had a better night.

Zoe Glad you are better. I did have a giggle at the romance at your house!!

Lal I am very of your trip to the Natural History Museum. I love it there but haven't been for years!!

Veggie That lady(I use the word lightly) is a loon!! How on earth do you discipline a nearly 7 month old anyway?? On a lighter note did you here about Van Persie???

Shameless plug here but if anyone fancies a whole pig for a spit roast then please visit my Mum's website She keeps pigs(which are so cute) and they have now set up a business. Extremely free range piggies!!

Hope everyone is well.

Yet again I'm failing to go to sleep. Useless.

Wg am so glad you feel better this evening. I remember having weeks like that with DS. As everyone says it's perfectly normal to feel as you did with DD. I used to make myself feel dreadful by knowing that if someone offered to take DS away and make my life back to how it was I'd bite their arm off. I now can't believe I ever felt like that - it's really hard to write as I love him so much and spend far too much time worrying that something might happen to him.

If I were you I wouldn't worry too much about feeding to sleep either - I know that's probably bad advice according to sleep gurus. But you won't be doing it for ever. I really miss feeding DD to sleep.

Anyway. Am actually much cheerier than this all sounds. I braved a trip to the Natural History Museum today with the 2 of them and DS loved it. Absolutely loved it. Even though we had to queue for 20 minutes to get in. I've hardly ever seen him so excited. Only problem is it slightly undid my reassurance that dinosaurs don't exist. Also he is already correcting me on my mis-identification of them. It's as bad as hucking Thomas (with thanks to LadyT).

Veggie grrr to that woman. How unpleasant. Just console yourself with the knowledge that even when you are old you won't be anything like that (imagines veggie as old woman surrounded by young mothers listening to her wisdom).

ZJ am glad you're feeling better. And at your romance...

Effie DD is one of the oldest - born on 29th November. She can move about - not proper crawling - but can't sit up on her own and no teeth. All so different. DS has only just - at 2.5 - learnt to wave and he 'should' have done that aeons ago. In all other respects he's genius obviously . Can see why you worry though - similarly as DD probably had meningitis I'm much more concerned about milestones. Stress for nothing though as it's not like you can change it.

Probably possible to re-order that into coherent English. But am too tired, sorry.

Night all.

NJAN - my dh mentioned it might be ears just this evening. have an appt with the doctor tomorrow morning. oh, all of you - trace, too - thank you thank you.

she has settled tonight with not a huge amount of fuss - she grizzled at 10, but silence since then. hurrah for now. let's see what happens tonight.

watching state of play - wow, it is fanastic - the series, that is, not the film (saw the film a couple of months ago). surprised to find a friend of mine plays the hitman in it. gosh, he's scary!

good night, all, and good nights for all. fingers crossed.

Hey thanks for all your kind helpful words I'm feeling better now though am a little surprised by how much it upset me, might be premenstrual or just a bit stressed. Trace your just lovely.

thanks NJAN I imagine her as a sad grumpy old bag and I'm the 'young' happy mum she wishes she was.

WG it would be a good idea to get ears checks at GP if it isn't that it could be a UTI, sometimes unexplained vomming can be that, she may be crying when she wees.

WG X posted, but think lots of vomming can also be caused by ear infection, but I'd have to check as fortunately DS1 hasnt had one for ages. And my head is full of shopping lists, work related stuff and sleep deprived fug at the moment.

Veggie My friend has a theory about rude old people. She reckons they are jealous because we have better lives than them and more opportunities. This may well be the case, but they should stick to being rude in their head, like I do

WG I'm very sorry to hear you have sleeping problems again. As others have said, this will pass and I doubt its anything you are doing, DS1 and DS2 are so different and I honestly havent handled it any differently.

I used to want to throw DS1 out the window too. Just to get him to be quiet for a bit. One of my friends also said she wanted to push her baby into a canal and go home and go to bed when she was out on a walk once too. I think these are normal feelings if not nice ones - we have to have some outlet and way to cope with the constant demands, we wouldnt be human otherwise. The fantasy at 4am is the safe way.

I have nothing else to add to what anyone else has said except to say that is it worth getting her checked out at the GP ? I only say this because DS1 went through a phase of very similar sleeping to what you describe once and in desparation I went to the doctor and it turned out he had an ear infection and the doc reckoned its unpleasant for them to be lying down when they have them, and they feel pretty rotten, hence the frequent wakings and general unhappiness at night, as THEY cant sleep even though they want to. DS1 had ear infections quite regularly.

I feel for you (and Veggie) with home stresses too. We have also had those with bereavements and DHs work stresses, its very hard. Dont be too hard on yourselves, our children are too young to remember if some days we are merely coping, and arent the parents we would like to be. The only way I have taken to deal with it is to take 30 mins for myself every so often and also try to be nice to DH, as sadly he gets the brunt of any anger/resentment or stress I am feeling and vice versa. When W had one of his nursery visits I was able to sit in the grounds of my work for an hour and not have to do anything. This was when I felt able to think about and shed some tears for the sad things that have happened recently. It really feels like there was no time until then. I hope that you can get into a bath, get out for a walk and just get some clear headspace.

TBH when DS1 was 6-7 months old I could not believe anyone would want to do it again, I was having such a bad time, and part of the reason I had DSs as close as I could was to get it all over with. It will get better and in the end it didnt put me off.

Blumming heck, long post. I just really feel for you WG as I remember how that felt, I really do. Every weekend I was desparate for just a bit of my old life back.

Hi to everyone else ! Thanks for your formual tips, I am going to try a variety of cartons next week, given he has never refused any concoction I have given him I'm sure I can find something he will drink...

On the developmental side, DS2 can roll, but doesnt much. He can sit for quite a few mins on his own, but has to be watched as he may fall over. He doesnt crawl, pull himself up on things, or anything like that. He has bumpy gums and no teeth. HBut he is a lovely laidback dude Most of the time he is fighting off his loving but a bit heavy handed big brother..

hello hello hello. thanking you all so much for your kind and reassuring words. i can't quite believe how much this group means to me - such a wonderful place to splurge on feelings and thoughts and experiences with such supportive people.

went swimming today (after last night's maelstrom) where she seemed perky enough - then she napped on and off all day (including a mammoth 2 hour stretch on me - wonderful for writing long neglected emails). she also did a mahoosive vom which kept on coming - it didn't seem to bother her, but it seemed like an entire week load of feed came out. i was, unfortunately walking in the rain iwht her in the buggy, so i couldn't clean her up much. then she fell asleep, so i let the poor girl sleep in her own vom until she woke up (with more vom, bright yellow this time, would you believe it?). all this vom makes me think she is actually fighting a bug, so that probably had something to do with the past bad nights. aside from vomming and being difficult at night, she is pretty much her usual smiling self, so reasons to be cheerful.

this evening she giggled her head off at dh dancing like a lunatic, and found a hilarious laugh in her bathtime fun which we have never heard before. it really makes up for the shit. i have got her off to sleep with relatively little fuss (getting her off isn't the hard part, though). we await the night with interest, and renewed faith in her and ourselves. dh rang me in teh middle of the day to say he has decided to think positively about things - regardless. he made a list of what was important in his life, and his list started with "i love my wife, i love my daughter and i don't need anything else". i knew there was a reason i married him.

thank you all for your thoughts - i'm sure they are helping.

can't remember much from other people, but vg - ooooh, that woman!!! you did well! and hello invisible - i remember you live in east finchley - not too far from me in bounds green.

and yes, bisou, sl and i all have the christmas day babies - all emergency cs, too. weird.

thank you

Trace is right. D was born on the 12th, his due date and he weighed a wopping 10lb 5oz!!! I actually still can't believe how much he weighed. I also think he was one of four that was born on his due date. I love those stats that Zoe did. Does anyone have them saved?

Row - P was born on 11th December and I think babyKayz was very close.

Veggie good on you for telling that silly lady what you thought. I can't believe she would be so rude - and stupid!
I had a funny moment today when an old-ish lady from across the road came over to me while I was gardening with dd2 in the buggy. She looked at her and said "I can't believe that's the little baby you had at Christmas - babies grow up so much more quickly these days" (?!!) she went on about how she had to stay in hospital for 10 days when she'd had hers, and how she was told to swaddle the baby which hindered their development (!) and that she thinks it's great how today's babies are doing so much!! All she was doing was sitting in a buggy playing with a toothbrush (her favourite toy!) - how advanced!
I remember taking Lucy swimming when she was a few months old and a lady there said "ooh isn't she long for her age" - which I found baffling and amusing considering she had no idea how old she was! And Lucy was in fact far from long as she was so prem!
DH is watching Tour de France and keeps updating me and filling me in on 'interesting' bits - " look at the way that group has been split because of the wind from the right" - I just nod and "mmmmm" a lot because it seems a little rude to say I could not find the cycling any less interesting!
ZJ - loved your romantic scene!
Invisible that's very reassuring that your dd just weaned herself off the night feeds.
Veggie - you're not sure what we will think of you?!! I think it's safe to say we all think you're Wondermum! You seem to have such energy and enthusiasm and inspiration in your parenting - and yet you are so real about the hard stuff. I'm not surprised you're feeling trapped - don't feel bad about it. I often get a sinking feeling when P wakes up from her nap! I think we just enjoy our freedom and having someone so dependent and always there is exhausting.

Just nipping in as it's that hectic time of night!

Just wanted to say good luck for tonight Indith - what did you win?

Veggie - sorry you have had a mauling from an old dear. She has got nothing better to do than carp. Don't let it get under your skin. It sounds very difficult for your DH, poor bloke.

Zoe - I am so glad you are feeling better...good to see you back in the land of the living!

Row - my DD was born on Nov 25 as was Verso's. And DaisyD's DS snuck in the day before, I think! Oli's was the last on the thread and Turnip's was quite late on too. Who was Christmas Day - was it Summer, WG and Bisou?

Must dash!

veggie - that's outrageous!! (Both stories actually). Your poor DH as well - we had that kind of situation a few years back where DH was desperate to get made redundant and he kept getting missed off in various rounds and was refused voluntary. He eventually did manage to badger them to give him voluntary somehow. I guess its flattering that they are so indespensible, but really thoroughly rubbish. In any case I'm no expert on these things, but if his old role is no longer on offer and they insist he should do a completely different role, that might be constructive dismissal in any case...

Oh and I overestimated DS's weight - got him weighed at the clinic at bang on 6 mo and he was 20 lbs 8. He's jumped up to the 91st centile which must be down to him gobbling down anything within reach!

Veggie: have you got a travel cot? Would that help for bunging DS2 in? We have one of those inflatable ring nests (a loan) and it's pretty good tho DS2 keep getting himself stuck so not ideal for long periods. I am not looking forward to DS2 being mobile, it's hard enough running round after DS1! Tho he still isn't well, poor chap (DS1 that is), despite an afternoon of snoozing and watching Fireman Sam. DS2 is grumpy as well, hopefully the tooth rather than him getting ill too. That woman was very rude, I'm sure you can find a great venue that isn't policed by an old bag. Who would think it a good idea to give a complete stranger parenting advice over the phone?

Invisible: great to see you back

Re dates, DS2 was born on New Year's Day, Oli's DD was a couple of days later I think - and I don;t think there was anyone after that. Verso and LadyT's babies are among the oldest as I think they were both end of November. So we're pretty spread out

Thanks ZJ giggling a little at your mum pushing you over, I wonder if it made you more determined. I did have chocolate, I had my usual butterscotch G&B delivered with the groceries yesterday and was quite proud that I hadn't eaten it by this morning. I was saving it for after dinner tonight to share with DH after all his work crap but I ate all but 4 little bits and that's only cos DS1 guilted me into giving him a bit and then I managed to halt my progress through the block to save some for DH.

Continuing with rude oldies, my friend and were walking down bethnal green road with our baby DS1's on a chilly winters day. Her DS refused to wear mittens and would kick off so she gave up on them. An old man saw her DS with his naked hands flailing above his blanket (he refused to keep them under) and pointed right into his pram and said 'tha' chil' nees' miiens'' we were so shocked neither of us could repond because the old geezer was using a lit cigarette to point out my friends neglect!! He wandered off with us still open mouthed that the old dude had put a smoking cigarette so close to a tiny babys face.

veggie at thatlady, an old lady came up to us once when we had DD in the carrier and just said straight out 'in my opinion babies should be in prams, not fancy strapping things', I blathered on something about the pram having a puncture (which it did that day) but so wish I'd just replied with 'in my opinion you shouldn't be a rude old bag'. Rudeness is my biggest bugbear so well done to you for standing your ground - I'm sure you'll find another great venue for DS's birthday, but it sounds like that place is less likely to get another booking so its their loss. And on the development, my Mum actually used to push me over (gently I hope) to delay my walking, which I always thought was incredibly cruel of her but now I totally understand where she was coming from - so you're not the first to feel trapped by your developing baby, and you won't be the last. Do you have any chocolate in? You deserve some this evening!

Row I have a copy of Bisou's famous list and we have one other boxing day baby - hattyyellow's DD was born that day. She still pops on from time to time, but as she has two older DD's as well (twins) her hands are quite full! <waves to hatty just in case she's lurking>

Effie your DS2 is so expressive - his face on those pictures are excellent!

Row my DS2 was born 13th dec and is the only one born on that day. We did have a list kicking around, where is Bisou when you need her? Also calpol takes well over an hour to hit full efficacy and ibuprofen about 30 mins. I use pulsitilla & chamomilla for short term remedies as they work within minutes and help their mood as well as the pain. Have a look in boots or holland and barratt for them.
Well look out me-fest. This is pretty silly to get upset about but around lunchtime I rang a number I had taken down of a village hall that I could hire for a couple of hours in August for DS1's birthday party. It's nice because it's right on a park so if it's sunny the kids could go outside and has a little wood next to it so perfect for a treasure hunt. An elderly sounding WI type lady answered the phone and seemed quite pleasant if a little standoffish. But they have been because I started the conversation by saying I had rung a week ago but no one had called me back. She asked my name and I told her and then spelt and to be fair it is difficult to pronounce but she kept pronouncing it as if she wasn't listening to me and thought of was an odd name, but whatever. Anyway I was talking about what days I wanted and she was saying what was available. It turned our the day I wanted there is a annual jumble sale and the day after there was a unconfirmed booking. She was pretty keen to fit us in as I think they depend on bookings like this for funds to run the place. During all this DS1 who was building a pirate ship on the couch made some noises to do with his imaginary play and I guess was little loud but not often and def not distruptive and hey it's our house. She made a comment about the noise and I said yes that's one have the birthday you know how they are at this age. She said if it was her daughter she wouldn't be making all that racket. I ignored the comment and continued on with organising the booking when DS2 who had been pulling himself up to try to see DS1's couch pirate ship suddenly fell backwards and let out a scream. This she also commented on and I said well you know when they are learning to to things they inevitably get some bumps and I said what he had done. We tried to continue but DS2 was quite upset I said I might have to call her back after I settled him. She then got quite rude and said he needed discipline! And ranted on again about her daughter and childrens these days. I couldn't help myself and I said, of course things are different now these days we actually cuddle our babies when they want us. She said children need discipline (bearing in mind she is making a judgement on my childrens discipline on the phone) so I said so tell me how & why would you discipline a child who cries because it has fallen over. She then claimed to not have known he had fallen over, even though I had told her couple of times why he was crying. She then continued to go on about her daughter (who is probably now 60 and a bullied reck) so I said I didn't want to make a booking because our 4 year olds party would clearly not be to her liking and way too rawdy. She suddenly back tracked and yabbered on about how she didn't know the baby had fallen but I just said I didn't like her ends judgemental comments even before he had fallen and didn't want to deal with her and said goodbye. I was so riled by the way she spoke to me. To make things worse at the same time DH was on the phone to the big company boss who is refusing to let him take voluntary redundancy because they need him for the new team they are setting up. He doesn't want to stay there but he has basically said he has to resign to leave. It means he doesnt get any compensation from them completely changing his job description. He came down after his phone call and I was in tears after my phone call.

I am also feeling really trapped and stressed as DS2 is really trying to climb upwards anywhere and everywhere but is just to little to sustain any standing up long holding the couch so goes flying backwards and hits his head so screams. Just trying to go upstairs to the toilet is hard. We have a playpen (nicknamed the rage cage after the incredible hulk) but our livingroom is so small here it's not really workable. So I have to carry him up with me everytime I go upstairs even just to find the wipes. I know it sounds ungrateful to resent his development but I just feel it's too early to be having to watch him so much I want him to be a passive lay about for a while longer...sorry that's sounds horrible and not sure what you will think of me but I need to express it.

WG - sorry that you have been having such a bad time of it. Don't want to add to random conflicting advice, but don't assume that feeding when they want at night will end in disaster. When DD was small and I went back to work I decided that I would feed her whenever she woke up at night. For a while she was waking many times a night, but gradually just gave up night feeds on her own - no big dramas with settling to sleep at all.

NJAN - re formula - DS is a little fusspot! We've discovered that formula is OK from a bottle, but not if its expressed breast milk. And at one point we found that he would drink the aptamil we offered him if it came from a pre-mixed carton, but not if we mixed it up ourselves from powder Luckily we managed to break that particular expensive habit.

Lovely to see old friends on here! Don't worry trace I didn't flounce off, just virtually never managed to log on to my computer at home and certainly not often enough to properly keep up with you all!

arti - I know exactly what you mean being sad about all the "last" things you're doing with the DD - its horrible.

waitinggirl I hope you start to get some sleep soon, sleep deprivation really is a killer. I would concentrate on you just getting maximum sleep at the moment. Forget sleep training, just feed her off and get yourself back to sleep quickly. Once things start to calm down a bit try to start up again with the getting her to sleep without the boob and from awake, or if you really don't want to stop yet try it with one nap a day to keep the good habits going. Maybe the first nap of the day? One thing that keeps me going is just knowing it isn't his fault - it may take me a while to figure out the problem but he isn't doing it to annoy me, he just for whatever reason needs me right now. In other cultures the baby is still sleeping in their mum's bed and helping themselves to food whenever they like all night, so even if he just needs a bit of comfort that is normal really.

effie's post has made me wonder when all the other babies were born. N was born on boxing day so I assume he is one of the youngest - does he have a twin on here?

we're having a complete nightmare here, teething is causing N to scream out every 2 hours in the night. We are now on the full dose of nurofen and calpol but it takes a while to kick in and then he is fully awake, making settling him (even with a feed) very hard. He is completely knackered in the day, has refused all milk today and refusing to nap (just managed toget him off after 1/2 of rocking etc). Where is this tooth?!?!?! I'm very jealous of your tooth effie

Btw have added some of DH's genius photographs to FB. Yes, DS2 is that supercilious (and DS1 is a loon)

I won the 02 survey thing! Me! I won something! <skips>

Ds being a pain, got to grab stuff for Rainbows and head to Dr with him. Blinking constipation.

I am going to be strong tonight. Have been having a go at the Mrs sleep technique and it has had some results at times so shall be string, shall set my feeding targets and I will have sleep. Not tonight but soon.

Dd baffles me with her sitting and lunging around prowess. Ds didn't see the point of rolling and didn't sit til 9 months. I wouldn't worry Effie!

We have a tooth! Well, a line but it's there!

Oh and I was thinking of you this morning Kayz cos I took my (wrap) sling on the walk so DS2 could have a good look around - some of the looks I got! I also met the first actually unpleasant mums I have come across since having DS1 (not a bad record, and maybe they were just having a bad day). Snippy and snidey and not at all nice. Unlike you lot who are all luvverly.

Greetings from the house of ill - I've developed a sniffle and DS1 after happily running round the woods all morning has just been sick and is now fast asleep in bed. DH is muttering 'swine flu' and has popped into town, presumably to buy a mask. Thanks for all the tales of non-sitting uncoordinated babies , I am looking at DS2 kicking and gurgling away and wondering how I could think anything was wrong. Apart from his being too fat to sit up.

Zoe: great to hear from you and so glad you're better. Hope you are fully recovered for the weekend. We have a few friends down for the afternoon, about 1/100 of the stress of a christening and I'm worried about getting organised for that! Can you palm a few jobs off on family and friends?

Trace: when will you hear about the job?

Kayz: boo to work, though it sounds like you won;t be back for long .

DS2 is trying to eat the pillow so had better go (tucked up in bed with a packet of wine gums, making the most of DS1's nap. When he wakes it will be Fireman Sam on loop. Then I have to scrib the buggy - ick)

wg- you sound like I did with DS. He was a horrendous sleeper. Woke every 20mins- 1 1/2 hrs and would be awake for up to 3 hours. I was going gaga from lack of sleep and spent most of my days in tears. I was dreading DD's arrival in case she did the same (luckily she is nowhere near that bad)
A few things that I discoved along the way:

1) His sleep issues seemed to be linked with his deveopment. The very very bad nights were usually in the week leading up to him doing something new and the week afterwards while he practiced them Perhaps you are going through something similar and the crawling/sitting etc will suddenly happen next week.
2)I did whatever it took for me to get through the day(and night) I tried most of the sleep techniques and tried to give them a good run, apart from controlled crying which just felt so far away from how I parent that I lasted 10mins before cracking. In the end me and DP would split the night into shifts and would take it in turns to co-sleep in a futon in his room. He settled much more easily if he had body contact at all times so thats what we did. As long as I got 4hours uninterupted sleep I could cope with the rest. When it was my turn away from him I bought earplugs so I couldn't hear him fussing with DP and go in and take over. This gave DP the chance to learn his own settling techniques without me helicoptering over him. If he got really really upset I could hear him through the earplugs and go through but normal cross shouting didn't get past the earplugs.
3)It may not seem like it but it WILL pass. At 13 months DS sat bolt upright in our shared bed and demanded to go in his cot. He went from waking upwards of 10 times a night to sleepng 7-8 in two weeks. We did nothing different.
4)I made getting him to go to bed (he'd start the night in his cot) DP's job. I would feed him and put him to bed. Any time he woke after that, until we went to bed, was DP's job. He pushed the futon up against DS's cot and would lie there (listening to the radio normally) holding DS's hand through the cot bar. DS gradually learned to fall asleep on his own in this way. It gave me some much needed childfree time and DS learned that milk and sleep didn't necessarily go together. I still fed at night- anything to shut him up when it was my shift! Some people would say this was mixed messages but I really didn't give a damn. It worked for us and that is all I cared about.
Some children are just crap sleepers and there is naff all you can do to fix it before they are ready. (my mum takes great glee in my children's lack of sleep as I did exactly the same to her. Really hope that things improve for you soon.

zj- anytime you need a hand just give me a shout.

right my boobs are about to explode so I must go and do my expressing.

Hi everyone, I’m back and healthy again at last (thanks for thinking of me arti, I was using my free time to rest and recuperate, but I’ve missed you all). As my fever was showing no signs of relenting last week I went back to the doctor and he agreed that the first anti biotics weren’t working so gave me a second set – and discovered that as well as the mastitis I also had a throat and ear infection. The new AB’s started to work almost immediately, I was able to take all my fleeces off that afternoon! But unfortunately they irritated my tummy and made me vomit several times a day. But I persevered as I was feeling so much better otherwise and finally by Monday I was vomit and temperature free – hurrah! It’s so great to feel back to normal again, although I’m sure I’m overdoing it this week as I try to get everything prepared for DD’s christening that was I supposed to do last week – oh well, its just a relief that we didn’t have her christened last weekend, which was actually plan A.

Kayz I loved your christening pics, but your DS2 looks so grown up compared to my DD! (and Effie no crawling, sitting or teeth here either)

LadyT very sorry to hear that your employers are being uncooperative, to say the least. I do hope that your new plan is acceptable to them. And Spiggy, I read with interest your post to LadyT as I’m likely to need to pick your brain myself on work matters (sorry)

Its great to have you back Invisible

WG so sorry to read that your progress on napping and sleeping has taken a step back – remember this too shall pass. I can only offer sympathies on the sleeping, but on napping I feel we’ve made some progress – I too imposed exile on DD and myself to try and sort out the naps, until I realised it was getting me down. My compromise was to make sure DD got one good nap a day (for us the morning one was the one most likely to succeed) and then go with the flow for the rest of the day. I also put a tick in my diary every day a nap goes well – hey, if it works for toddlers it can work for me too I found it encouraging to be able to say “we got a tick on Tuesday and Friday this week, so we managed it twice and we can do it” and most weeks now I get 4 or 5 ticks, which is great. I’d second Tilly’s idea of resting whenever your DD rests, as that should help you feel stronger with the nights. Big hugs and lots of luck x (all great advise, coming from she who battled for 40 minutes this morning to get DD to nap, and she managed 15 minutes - don't think that deserves a tick!)

I want to get a playpen too Jolly, I know what people think of them, but we have an open fire so better to have a ‘prison’ to use when necessary than to have a badly hurt DD. I’ve got my eye on this one, as I think it can be used as a play pen, or as a fence to keep LO’s away from areas

Hi <waves> to everyone I haven’t caught up with, hope you’re all well?

I will leave you with this conversation from the ZJ household last night at bedtime:
MrZJ “are you feeling rude, or shall I bring my book to bed?”
ZJ “I could be persuaded”
MrZJ “well why don’t we crack on with the rude things and get it over with quickly, so we still have time to read afterwards”
who said romance is dead?

Greetings..... horrible crappy weather here....
WG - sorry to hear your troubles, and again I can't really offer any advice that the others haven't said as I don't read the baby books for exactly that reason (that they are conflicting and a load of crap)I try loads of different things when one thing doesn't work, until something eventually does. For me it was ditching the dummy..... He hasn't been napping for as long during the day recently, so is extremely knackered by 6 and so last night went straight to sleep just after 6pm which is early (normally 7-730) I thought oh no, here we go it'll be a busy night, but not a peep until 6am I have also ditched the "sleep sheep" so no more sleep aids at all (poor boy lost his dummy, his sheep, his 11pm feed all in the same week but it worked.....) No longer needing to turn on the sheep or re apply the dummy 5 times a night. I also give him teething powder before bed too.
Effie - ds will be 7 months on Friday and he still doesn't sit up properley - except like baby Tilly for about 10 secs then topples over! I thought it was his shape since he's quite long and lean. He also doesn't have any teeth at all yet there are lots of bumps on the gums, and as for crawling, he still just flaps his arms and legs while lying on his tummy.
Sorry - there has been about 2 hours break in my typing here as I have been fuming over tenant procedures with the change over in our flat, and subsequently tied up in time wasting email exchanges simply to point out legal obligation I will post this and then read again!

Hey WG, we did miss you.

Effie, of he's a chatty thing he's probably working that side of his development. Ds2 isn't much of a chetterer. Also with all the stuff he can do he hadn't worked out how to sit himself and from the sitting position to get back onto his stomach he does fall forward onto his hands he just falls forward and face plants. Onto carpets or grass outside it's not so bad but straight onto wood floors it's nasty.

WG you poor girl. Nothing you said in that last post is unusual or something to be ashamed of. DD1 was also similar to Madam and DH regularly joked that she hated him and it broke my heart to the point I would force her on him and then get sad when she cried. I think Trace's last post is lovely and so true - this would be a lot easier if we were not so overwhelmed by our love for them. Big hugs to you and I second the idea of getting mates around to hang-out with you while you get Madam into a home routine.

Effie - DD2 still can't really sit. She does it for a minute and then either cries with fear or face plants. She hates tummy time and just lies with her face on the floor moaning in fury until I turn her over. She once tolled front to back and once back to front - but that as over a month go and has never been repeated. She does have two teeth but only used them to make bite marks in my nipples... I really would not worry. Like your DS2 she has great eye contact and babbles away and smiles at everyone who smiles at her - those are the signs you want if you are worried about autism.

I forgot to tell you all about the house in Horsham. It was amazing to look around. I ended up taking Veggie's advice and telling the Agent my story. I had even brought a couple of photos of my Dad playing in the garden and I tried to work out where he would have been standing etc. The Agent was really interested, especially when I explained my grandparents were doctors and had turned the house into a nursing home for injured soldiers who they cared for during WW2. I would love to live in a house like that - it was so lovely and big with a huge garden. Lucky that we really can't afford it else I would be blackmailing DH into a out-of-town move.

I am worried about Zoe. Have we heard from her since she was really suffering from mastitis and her DH was away? I hope you are OK Zoe.

just logged on. thank you so much, all of you. very teary. thanks

Oh well Im in bits now this thread has made me teary and giggly this morning I'm going to give you a too many gins style 'I love yoooooo guuuuuuyyyyyysssss!'. I want to make coffee for WG, whilst eating an Omelete (yes I feel like omelete now) whilst simultaneously calling out the window at passes by 'your all a bunch of cat's bumfacers'.

WG your post was so sad to read but also felt so familiar, it was like I was reading a personal journal entry from 3 years ago. DS1 was very similar to madam and in the end I just went with it and fed him when he wanted and also put him into bed with us. After a while of this I got more sleep and felt able to tackle eventually putting back in his cot and into his room (often sleeping by his cot myself on a campbed, the floor is surprisingly comfortable). I have also mentioned here before the pain I have felt not knowing what the hell is wrong and walking away from him, then with the distance having some perspective and hearing what was wrong. I also can relate to the baby as crutch thing, I still often feel quite naked without a baby in front of me in groups, unless it's with close friends, and it was a year after DS1 was born tat I felt able to cope with being in groups of more than a couple of people. I just couldn't follow the conversation. I have been thinking I'm going to join a singing group or a triathlon club to force myself to do something other than look after the boys and talk babies. I am becoming quite comfortable with my life and need to get uncomfortable.

I doubt any of that helps but sometimes it is nice to know other and going a bit loopy too. All of you gave such lovely responses to WG it was so touching and made me feel so lucky to know you all. In particular Trace, you have such amazing empathy & weve said it before you really really really should consider starting a support group for PND you could do such amazing things with it.

I want to write more but have to go as DH is just off the phone from his boss it's all a bit stressful here.

My friend(and supervisor) just text me. I need to go and see my manager about going back to work I really don't want to go back at all. I am really upset about it.

On a good note though we are definetly(sp) ttc in November!

Hello girls

I can't stop as I am having a work crisis (already?!) and need to get on while M sleeps. I have not been exactly honest with work about the fact that I am childcare free on a Wed so I am itting it around naps etc.