We will brook no argument for a boring, uneventful, blooming pregnancy; followed by a perfectly-timed pain-free sneeze birth; vol 5

[ScreamIfYouWantToMeetSanta]

Hi No Brookers! I do hope this has worked and is in the right place...

I've added a few extra sofas so we have plenty of space for all the Rat Smackers who will be joining us soon. There's also a nice long table filled with mince pies, yule logs, gingerbread snowmen and xmas puds! Plus some non-alcoholic mulled wine. I've strategically positioned a few clean glittery vom buckets under the table, just in case it's still a bit too early for xmas munchies for some people!

As you were...

We also got a free nappy wrapper bin Purple, but the Tommee Tippee one. Same problem. Just one long stinky expensive sausage of dirty nappies. We soon ditched it and like dream's they just go straight out in the black bin now.

Wow dream that's an impressive, lovely looking bump you've got there

Dream will be in the next week, your bump looks lovely! I don't think I am far off what I looked like at term with Dd but I don't think I have a suitable pic unfortunately. 31+2 today :) Are you wearing a H&M top? I put mine on the other day and thought I must recommend it to you as it is really long! I have a long sleeve in purple which went on sale and I have this black one
I also have this cardigan in grey, not my usual style but it is so warm and comfy! I can't remember who was asking about larger size maternity clothes? The 22-24 is probably about a size 20? JoJoMamanBebe is generous sizing also.
I don't usually go into my local H&M as it is like a jumble sale, but I ordered online, and the instore maternity section was surprisingly neat!

It's a Serephine top purple- quite long, hoping it will last!! Will check out yours tmw.

Dream, what a lovely bump! Maybe I'll post a picture of mine in the next week (when I've found the camera)...

Just had a complete preggo meltdown. Left home to get an earlier train than usual (busy day at office ahead), with DH. Got to the station, and as I was buying tickets, realised I'd left a key bit of hardware at home (baby brain?). Tried ringing the other team member with said hardware about 10 times, but eventually gave up, and admitted I'd have to go home. Said goodbye to DH, and then realised I couldn't find my train ticket. Think I must have left it in the machine.. :(

Cue a walk home in fits of tears, another shuffle through my purse, and another ticket :( Late for work and it has cost me double!

Trying to make myself feel better by hoping my train ticket was picked up by someone strapped for cash who really appreciated finding a pricey ticket to help them through their day.. but bet it was someone who didn't need it :(

Will definitely be going for disposables during the meconium stage Purple, but hoping to convince DH of the benefits of reusables in the next few weeks! Then I'll try buying a few, like you suggest, and seeing what happens when the time comes. One of the (many) reasons for considering them is that we have no black bin where we are - just bin liners, and so the smell of disposables is an issue I'm concerned about, alongside all the other arguments. I must admit that I'm rather obsessed with the bitti tuttos now - so pretty!

Hope everyone's having a better morning than me! (I'm sure it'll be fine once I get to the office and can laugh about it. And indulge in one too many biscuits to cheer myself up...

Oh, and I also have a baby that hides whenever DH gets near! However, he has felt where it is before, if you see what I mean (when baby was doing one of it's regular tours of the womb where it plays "Lets see how much we can squeeze musical's bladder"!).

mornin all.

i know a very nice wee Eleanor musical, so that name made me :) the most. we have a possible girl's name, but are really struggling for a boy. it's hard!

i have to admit to being too lazy for washable nappies. Dream glad to hear I'm not the only one chucking the odd nappy out the door. DS's were ok in the house bin for a bit when they were newborn Bf poo, but as soon as the food started they were escorted off the premises!

Dream the H&M tops are dirt cheap, I went for value tomatoes in terms of my Maternity clothes. Mostly because I bought most of Red Herring last time and none lasted! So didn't want to spend the ££s, ooh I am still quite bitter! lol

Music I am sorry you have had such a rubbish morning, I hope things get better for you. And hopefully it will have been someone who needed the ticket.
Can you treat yourself to something to cheer you up? I have been quite hormonal and definitely would have cried over that!

Nappies, I am going to bore you all to death!
Maybe this scheme could be of help? It is also worth checking with your council as a lot of them have some sort of scheme in place, either lending you nappies to try or even giving you nappies/money towards. This shows a few of the places that have this. :)

was starting to think i was the only one using disposables, glad to hear dream and jaggy do too! Someone we met at NCT preached about how much cheaper the resusables were, but i'm still not convinced. (and in the end, neither were they as they stopped using their reusables and switched to disposables as was much easier!) My doubts were/are that by the time you have bought sufficient quantities of kit, and add on the cost of the washing powder, and the water and electricity to wash and dry them, i can't see how they can be cheaper, never mind putting a value on my time and avoiding insanity! Disposables don't cost us anywhere near £10 week, we did a bulk buy in summer 2010, spent £200 and DS is 14 months and we've still not quite used them all, and did another bulk buy this summer which means we've got all the nappies we need for this bump and pretty much all we need until DS is potty trained. The most we have paid is £9 per box for the pampers baby dry mega boxes (which depending on size have between 99-144 nappies in them!) So it is well worth stocking up when there is a good deal on, if you have the storage space! (and we have loads of Pampers Sensitive Wipes too, a bargain at £9 for 12 packs rather than the usual RRP of about £2.40 a pack!)

When I was using disposables I used eco ones or Huggies as they were they only ones that fit. So that is the cost factor for disposables, I realise you can buy bumper packs and it would be cheaper.

It is a personal decision, I noticed the difference in price on a weekly basis, however you definitely need to use the nappies for awhile to get your money back. You can use cheaper systems than mine, my friend used terries and then a wrap over the top. Other than that I do 2 extra loads a week. The washing powder, I do buy special stuff which works out at 18p a wash, otherwise you can use ordinary powder and you literally use a third of the powder that you normally would for a wash. In my old house they used to go on the airer/washing line, my new house I use a mix of airer, two radiators and the tumble dryer, but I think it costs less than 50p to tumble a week especially as I put them in with other clothes. Hard to say...

However, they are not for everybody and you do need to get in a routine of them. Especially as they are more of an upfront cost, although you can build up over time which helps spread the cost a bit. I had a bit of a wobble when I went to work and was sending Dd to the childminder with disposables for awhile as they just couldn't get the hang of them! Luckily another child started who used reusables and with some instructions I wrote out it was fine. The fact I had spent money on the reusables definitely helped re-motivate me!

I too am too lazy to use reusables, I always buy disposables in bulk when on offer. I do think the reusables are very cute though. (Not the reason people use them I know ).

Musical I hope your day improves. Think I would have given up and pulled a sickie after returning home if it were me.

I'm missing DS. He's back at playschool today and was so excited to go and tell all the staff about his new toys and his birthday. He didn't even notice when I walked out but lovely that he likes going so much. I don't really know what to do with myself now even though there's so much I should be doing but can't be bothered with.

Scarlet have to say one of the main reasons for using them! It is always harder on you than it is them, have to say I still shed a tear on the odd day Dd would cry going with the childminder. So glad I have the choice of being a SAHM if I want!

I am being a right lazy arse, I need to stack the dishwasher and clean down the sides in my Kitchen as it is a disgrace! Oh and do some laundry, but I just cannot be bothered! Dd is playing really nicely by herself so I can do pretty much whatever I like, like mn, especially since we have had lunch. Oh and I do need to do some studying. I need a kick up the arse basically!

Purple, thanks for the extra links! Not sure if I qualify for one of those schemes (I'm in Essex, but somewhere with a separate council that's not listed.. we'll see!), but I'll send off for some later I think! Had also already seen the £10 trial - looks great, though obviously one I'd have to wait until the LO was here for.

Loopy, I didn't mean to sound self-righteous in any way, shape or form for wanting to try reusables! There are a few reasons why they might be better for us though, including:

• The way the bin system works around where we are (no black bin; everything has to go into bin liners, which get stored in the cupboard outside; they get weighty and smelly very quickly)
• The fact I won't get a huge amount of money when on maternity leave. The majority of my income is from freelance composing, arranging and teaching - and I can only get maternity pay from a couple of places I'm actually 'employed'. Not a problem on a day to day basis, but it means we have a lot more expendable income now than we will when I'm on ML, so spending lots in one go on reusable nappies would actually be beneficial than money dripping out on a weekly basis! I don't think it's really disputable that reusable are cheaper than disposable - all the calculations I've done (mostly before Purple starting telling us all about it, when I wasn't even PG!) show that it's much cheaper - even with taking into account special offers and buying in bulk, which I do most of the time - but more faff, obviously.
• The whole green side appeals to me, and the fact we try our best to recycle as much as we can. I hate the fact all these nappies go to landfill and take forever to decompose - or have to be incinerated. At the same time, we have a very eco washing machine (only 6 months old- we like saving money, so refused to get anything that wasn't!) and would be drying them inside using an airer - so the costs wouldn't be too much on that side.

There's also the thought that I won't be going back to working full time for a while- or not going back to a situation where the LO would have to be looked after by someone else, at least. If I were, I could understand the problems with reusables and childminders - and would it be worth investing in them if I were going to use disposables that regularly! I'm also a huge fan of being systematic and organised, which one has to be if wanting to use reusables

Having said all this, I might try them and hate them! And I have yet to completely convince DH I think. I also don't expect people such as grandparents to be that keen - not sure, we'll see!

Purple, glad it's not just me who would cry at a situation like that! Daft really - only got to the office 30 minutes later than I would usually. Treating myself sounds like a lovely idea..

Scarlet, that would have been tempting! Was supposed to have a colleague come in today to go through the process files for my replacement though, so had to be here. However, she's not in now, so I've got a lovely peaceful day! I also love the cute-ness of the reusables - trying not to let that sway my decision though!

May have to get a couple of H&M maternity tops - need two or so more to ensure I have enough to last the week. I've got a couple of New Look ones, which are similarly value tomato-ish (or were - they were on 2 for £12). Currently getting away with stretching some older tops that I had bought previously in a size too big, but they're beginning to struggle now..

I also am too lazy to use disposables , but also bulk buy nappies and wipes when offer. I guess I'll need to buy some nappies for this baby won't I - that would be an oversight....

DS is back at nursery today too, and with DH back at work it's my first day to actually do anything around the house for yonks - I was so busy in the run up to Christmas I can't remember the last time I only had to do the cleaning and ironing.

So far I've done two loads of washing from the baby stuff out of the loft, pegged it all out, got it all back in because it started raining (), and cleaned a bit of the kitchen. My house really is a disgrace and is desperate for a clean. I so wish we could afford a cleaner, even though I have big all else to do all day . I do hate cleaning. Dot kind ironing but hate cleaning. It all just gets dirty again .

Oh, and I've built DS a Scoop thing out of some stuff he got for Christmas. I appreciate that really his Christmas presents are meant to be for him to build but this was quite complicated and had to have stickers all stuck in precise places and stuff so I thought I'd tidy it up a bit by building it . He can rebuild it in to other things so I've not stolen all the fun, but at least I don't have 10,000 nuts and bolts floating around now.

Aim for today is to get all of downstairs nice and clean - come on Biscuits - crack on!!!

Oh I'm sure you can all translate all the typos in that last post. If in doubt as to what I meant, please feel free to interpret in the way that I come out looking best .

I might think about trying reusables once we've get our feet on the floor with this one - and once all the Meconium is gone! They do look super cute . Will see how we're doing though I think managing with DS and the new baby etc - I don't want to commit to any extra work until I know how it's going. I like the idea of being greener etc - and I am much tempted by the way Purple describes never actually having to touch the contents! I have to say, having potty trained DS and done plenty of handwashing of pants (Bleh!), I thought that was what reusable nappies would be like, but am intrigued to hear otherwise.

There is obviously something in the air, if you can't be arsed today Biscuits.

Even if you bought some reusables and didn't like them, they do have good resale value. Much more contact hand washing pants than the reusables. However, it is the disposable liners that save me from poo contact, if you use reusable liners, you do have to be more physical with it. Bleurgh.

Music our bins are collected every two weeks and is just bin liners, it is foul. Luckily DH does the bins! Glad you have a more peaceful day :)

I thought about reusables last year as DS developed a supersensitive bum. He'd been fine with Tesco ones but I think Pampers may have disagreed with him and he was in a right state with nappy rash for a while :( He now has the biodegradable made out of maize stuff ones and a perfect bum

Not sure what we'll use for DC2, think the eco ones might be expensive when we're at the 10 a day stage (if new baby poops all day like big brother did) so maybe use up free ones and do Tesco Newborn ones again as we liked them.

DS is settling for a nap and his wee friend is coming round to play later when they both wake up. I have ironing to do too and am also trying to figure out the application process for nursery - has to be done this month even though he won't start for a year. I am so cluless about this stuff!

DS doesn't seem quite ready for potty trainng yet Biscuits, am quite tempted to wait until summer (unless he shows a major interest before then). Have had some stuff to handwash recently though as he has had a couple of leaky nappies. Dh kindly saved the poopy stuff for me getting in from work...

We may have to ask for a bigger bin when DC2 arrives. We have excellent kerbside recycling - umpteen wheelie bins. The 'general waste' one is at least 80% DS nappies and is a small size one so pretty full after 2 weeks...

How old is your DS Jaggy - I forget? And when are you due? I'd be really tempted to leave potty training until after the baby arrives, as I hear regression is so common with a new bean - so unless they were desperate to train before then I'd be sorely tempted not to put myself through it? But I guess it depends on how ready he is iyswim?

I have abandoned potty training Dd, she was refusing the potty and asking for a nappy on, so leaving it until the summer when she will be 3. Just didn't want to force the issue and her be put off completely!

Jaggy Dd was the same, rashes at the drop of a hat and thrush to, took me awhile to realise it wasn't me being a crap parent and just bad luck! Oh the guilt!

Sounds v wise Purple - I think if they push back and aren't ready then it's better to wait. We were hoping DS would show some interest last summer just before he was 3, but he just didn't seem to show any awareness even when we tried him nappy free.

Then when he was 3 we thought perhaps more nappy free time would encourage him in the right direction and he seemed to get the hang of it a bit so we thought we'd give it a go. That was about mid October, and it still took us quite a while for him to be totally reliable. Not my favourite period of parenting for sure!

I'm going through potty training hell at the moment. DS has more or less mastered it at home, but relies on my constant reminders. So although he will wee on the potty, I think he'd forget if I wasn't putting him on it every 45 minutes or so. Maybe I should just let him and see what happens...
I'm not confident at all at letting him leave the house wearing pants. I know it's confusing going from one to the other but I could do without any extra stress and hassle at the moment. I'd really like DH to take a week off work and us get it mastered together, but that's not going to happen! I have to say this is the worst thing I've had to do so far as a parent. I'd take middle of the night feeds, permanent tiredness and weaning over this any day.

I realise it's my hang up though and I'm being very positive and encouraging with DS, I certainly don't want him to think he's doing anything wrong. But it is so hard.

Crikey, I've managed to inhale half a pack of chocolate chip cookies while typing this post

DS (nearly typed his name there!) is 2.3 (and a bit), so no big rush i guess. I'm due end of April.

he's quite good at talking and telling us what he wants and a bit interested in the toilet thing. he doesn't stay dry long at all though! i figure waiting till baby is here and things are a bit more settled might work. DH is a SAHD so we'll both be around.

i know my mum will be a bit but i figure a few extra nappies a day will be easier than puddles of wee with a new baby! my younger sibling was dry in the day by 18 months you know...i was apparently all trained by 2.4. ...

I agree Scarlet - it is hard isn't it!

We said in Oct that our target was to have him reliable by Christmas and I would say we just about managed it. He is still having the odd accident (a wee yesterday when he got stuck in a maze at a playground and couldn't find his way out in time ) but generally he is pretty reliable. Poos took longer than wees - I would say maybe 4-6 weeks to totally nail wee's and at least 8 weeks to get the hang of the poos. Going out is tricky too I agree. Mostly when we're out I try to remind him frequently and take him at regular opportunities - I find he'll go if I do so for once being able to pee on demand because of being pregnant is actually helpful .

Oh and when we started going out I literally took a travel potty everywhere. It sounds a bit sad but I took a rucksack instead of my handbag and had 3+ changes of clothes and the travel potty in it, plus wipes and nappy sacks (for wet clothes) etc. We needed the changes of clothes sometimes and rarely needed the travel potty but I think I felt easier knowing I was prepared at the drop of a hat. We still take the travel potty for long car journeys, although DS thinks 'having the travel potty' is an activity in itself, completely divorced from needing a wee so we often end up stopping when he says he needs it but he doesn't at all!

purple we had mega guilt, DS's skin got so bad so quick that it got infected and the poor wee guy was on antibiotics and everything. :(

Oh Jaggy I'd say no rush there at all then. I know what you mean about mums being about it all. Some days my mum would say I was dry in the day by 12 mths, other days it was 18 mths depending on how strongly she wanted to make her point . I think things are just done differently now.

And it'll be nice having you and DH around for the new baby - and the potty training. How long do you think you might get to take off as maternity leave?