cakes I can't believe your day, what a nightmare. I hope your car gets sorted soon.
fryn i don't know why they do it when they know all you want is some help to actually bf and you don't want to try formula yet. Yes surestart has been amazing for DD so hoping they'll still be around next January onwards. On sling side I had a bjorn handed down and I use to get really bad back ache withnit after DD turned 2 mo. I've been doing lots and lots of MN research and the wrap ones seem to come out the best for mum and baby comfort, so I got one called a sleep wrap. Like i said I even managed DD in it now which I was amazed about! And although your DD is a bit relaxed now, 5 months makes a huge difference at this age so you never know!
knitty I'm hoping being a more relaxed second time mum will help establish bf too, I'm sure it will. On the clenching jaw side I did a birth workshop the weekend before DD was born and it just taught lots of relaxation techniques which did make a huge difference. DH actually almost fell asleep at the workshop when he was practicing them! So I though this time I'd try a hypnobirthing course because I think it would help to do it over several weeks to really get the hang of it. Also it may help you with doing labour alone. I'm lucky in that my sis will come over to look after DD when it happens this time. Or I keep pondering over the home birth idea to make it easier on everyone.
With all this baking going on would anybody like my address?! Any leftovers are very welcome! Well done redhead for managing to bake after all the puking. I still can't even look at food let alone cook it. But home made cakes are acrually sounding tempting, may have to send DH out shopping!
I think mum2be mentioned monitors. I have to really recommend the summer infant zoom camera monitor. It is expensive but it is just amazing. To start off we had the angelcare sound and movement one which is also very good. It's just when the babies start getting a bit bigger they start moving around in the cot a lot and often sit up or stand etc, and when you can actually see them rather than listening to all this rustling noise, it makes a huge difference in not going in inappropriately and accidentally waking them up. The summer camera allows you to move it around the room from the hand held monitor and it has a zoom feature. We have blackout curtains in dd's room and you can still see her very clearly, and follow her round and round the cot (she's a very active sleeper.) It's just great enerertainement watching your little dc, and any visitors are always fascinated at watching DD sleep too!
Pumpkin patch sales are a great buy too, they are a really decent price on sale and they last forever, you can evern wash them at 90 and they don't fade or bobble at all. But obviously I emphasise sales because normal price is very steep. In fact I buy nearly all of dd's clothes in sales for the next size up. But sainsburys are fab and I have loads and loads of baby clothes from there.