We will have a serene, pain free, uneventful pregnancy and birth and will BROOK NO ARGUMENT on that.

[scarletfingernail]

New thread.

haven't had a chance to do much more than scan todays posts. Glad the GTT scans went well biscuits and scarlet and brooking for tomorrows scan scream.

Does anyone know where you can buy moses basket mattresses/ foam pad things from without buying a whole new moses basket?

I have a banana and chocolate loaf in the oven and it smells gorgeous. DS and I have been baking this afternoon. His skin is looking much improved as well. He really want to go see his friends though which is a shame, as we have to say he can't this week.
Ooh, the timers gone for the loaf, back in a bit..

I just ordered my repacement mattress for the moses basket from Amazon Ninja. But there's loads of places, such as clare de lune, mothercare and mamas and papas.

So pleased to hear your DS is on the mend.

Not sure who's got the best 0+ car seat at the moment fishcake, but I know the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix is always rated very highly and you can get the isofix base for it too.

D'oh! Of course. Thank you. Apart from buying this and fixing up the pushchair to make sure it all works and we have all the bits, I'm not sure what else we would actually need to buy except nappies, maternity pads, boob pads, teats and boob cream. Hmm, maybe the isofix base for the car seat. We didn't have a car when ds was born so only ever bothered with the seatbelt fitting. I'm guessing the isofix is a lot easier? Oh and a rain cover for the car seat. So actually more than I thought. And thats only a 5 minute thought. Bugger.

Fishcake I have (temporary) access to the Which? guide and I'm happy to tell you which car seats they rate well at the moment, however their list of best buys is very long so there are a lot of options! It would probably be easier if you said which models you're interested in and I could check your list against theirs. The maxi cosi cabriofix when used with the easyfix base is at the top of the list though.

Woohoo, just spent the last couple of hours sorting out the nursery - we now have super sweet stickers up all over the walls and a pretty matching border. Plus the Peter Rabbit clock. We even put together our bedside cot (mainly to make sure it all works and nothing is missing) and that looks really sweet in the middle of the nursery at the moment. I'm ramping up my shopping now, it's fun! I'll be ordering the car seat & base, Dr Brown bottle set, and the Medela Swing next I think. I want to get the more substantial purchases out of the way online before I drag myself out to a boots/mothercare and buy all the random little stuff for the hospital bag. This is fun! Just need to talk DH into buying the proper cot...

Dream you should definitely be on commission for Ventiflow mattresses!

Ninja any chance of that gorgeous sounding banana and chocolate loaf recipe finding its way into No Brooker territory? This is terrible because at least when Biscuits got me all excited about Creme eggs I could just get DH to pick some up, this craving requires me to learn to cook! Might be fun for Friday though.

scream will post the recipe later tonight once i've given ds his dinner. Also did you know that there is a big Mothercare in Kew retail park? (you probably did). I haven't been there for some time but if I recall it was huge....

ps the recipe is soooooo easy to cook. You just need a loaf tin.

Ninja I am clueless about all things baby related so that is very useful information! Personally I always prefer to find one big store and get everything in one go, and I thought I'd be stuck with the little mothercare in my local shopping centre, or alternatively I'd have to brave the madness of Oxford St! Kew is infinitely preferable

scream croydon is quite good too, there is a babies r us/ toys r us, will have a think what else is there and will let you know!

right the recipe is as follows

250g self raising flour
a good pinch of salt
150g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, melted then cooled
2 medium free range eggs, beaten
2 large/ 3 medium bananas
75g dark choc, chopped
100g walnut pieces
(we swapped the last 2 ingredients for 100g each of milk choc and white choc chunks)

900g loaf tin, greased with butter and the base lined with greased greaseproof paper

preheat oven to 180/ 350/ gas 4

mix flour, salt and sugar in mixing bowl
add melted cooled butter and beaten eggs and mix
roughly chop/ mash bananas with knife and fork (ds loved doing this bit the most i think), they should still be a bit lumpy. add them to the bowl along with the choc/ walnuts. mix together until combined.
tip into loaf tin and spread evenly
bake for 55 minutes until golden/ skewer comes out clean (except for melted choc!)
leave to cool for 5 mins then turn onto wire rack and leave to cool.
slice and serve with butter. Eat.
store any crumbs in an airtight container.

I got the recipe from the great british book of baking which is fab. Its the book from the first series of the great british bake off.

DS is currently stuffing his face with some.

I am soooooooooo hungry right now! Need to make some of that loaf asap!!

Thanks for sharing Ninja!

scream I believe kew retail park also has a massive boots, m&s, next, gap and gap kids. It could be worth a visit? It's a lot easier than Oxford Street!

you could always come to sunny kingston otherwise it has john lewis, mothercare, h&m kids, pumpkin patch, gap kids, at least 2 boots, bentalls, jojo maman bebe, etc etc. Oh and opposite jojo is a pushchair shop called peppermint which I think is quite good.

I will be in sunny Kingston tomorrow for my scan/consultant appt so I might try to get into the shops as well! I've been to John Lewis in Kingston before, but it was for wedding list stuff so we didn't venture out of the store to the actual shopping centre. Sounds good though! Plus that list of shops in Kew sounded perfect! Literally all the shops I want to go to! Need to buy some of Gap's super soft yoga pants for general house-lounging and posssibly also for the hospital bag!

Awww you guys! I'm getting all emotional now stupid hormones! I think all of you have taught me loads of stuff! I honestly think I'd be so much more stressed right now if I'd never found this thread and had no one to tell me all this practical stuff as well as listen to my constant whinging!!

I wonder if there's any way when we're all not working, and after the new arrivals are all a few months old, we could pick a spot in the middle of the country and all meet up! Just once!! It would be AMAZING!!!

scream if you need to know where anything in particular is, either for tomorrow or another time let me know.

Oh, I can't tell you how jealous I am of that list of shops. We have a small next and boots who sell baby clothes. That's it. If i drove to Preston there's a gap with kids section I think and mamas and papas and h&m. But as I've never been there yet with only one child...

Yoga pants sound like a must. I think I've seen a recommendation on here for The White Company ones in case you have a section, roll top to go over the wound. Will have to check out Gaps too.

The info on this thread is amazing. Love your list fishcake. Must write it down before the thread moves on n I can't find it.

Had a busy but Ok last day at work. I was only back 3.5 months in.the end but have been sent away with flowers, smellies, a £20 next voucher and a voucher for a pamper treatment for preggos. I feel very lucky (and a bit blooming cheeky having been back so briefly). A 10 year old told me I'm going to be in 'baby hell' soon today!!!

So, tips for rib pain anyone? It's so bad already. Worse on left so wonder if he's still breach? Getting anxious about my scan tomorrow now... Eeek.

Hope yours goes well scream and you're not too sore to have a peek in some baby shops.

Glad GTT's ok today biscuits and scarlet and that they think your baby's size is ok biscuits. Shame about the kidney not having magically righted itself but yrs, I agree far better to know now than have a problem after they're born & not know why.

A meet up would be amazing! I will wait to see how the twins travel though, dd screamed in the car for a looong time...

Oh, and am I being super hormonal to be irritated with a friend who has put a link on her fb status that she has signed a petition for extended rest facing to be compulsory to age 4 (based on our young children deaths in car crashes where there are none in the Rf Scandinavian countries where its standard) yet I know she's considering turning her ds round any time soon at 9 months and blows hot and cold on it?! And has semi-mocked the vastness of dds seat?! and that when I saw her and others this week and she said I looked tired and I confessed to feeling exhausted from the bad nights plus dd wanting 25 hours attention a day, as they all do at this age, that she said 'oh no, my ds was never like that, and your dd wasn't either was she?' to another friend (their dc are 3 and her youngest is the 9 month old). Er, oh, cheers.

and at your friend's cheek dream. Better to just laugh at her I reckon. I'm sure you won't be the only person who knows her thoughts on car seats to look at that status and think wtf is she on about.

Brooking for good scans for both Scream and dream tomorrow. Hope everything goes well for you both.

I'm also jealous of your shops Ninja. I'd love to visit a jojo shop.

Oooh OBEM starts soon. Although we're eating late tonight and DH might not appreciate me putting that on tv while he tucks into his spaghetti bolognaise

Mmmm, jojo shop...

i'll keep quiet about the cath kidston shop on one side of it and the white company shop on the other side of it then

Oh ninja, I feel cheated!!! I wonder where my nearest White Company shop is. Manchester?! I'd never get that far pg or with multiple children...

My friend now wants to borrow our spare rear facing seat- the two way elite- to try with her baby. Maybe I am being irrational and she has genuinely made up her mind to go for it (in their tiny KIA picanto!)

Dd loving being sat in the top seat of our monster buggy (which seems to live in totally blocking our hall ) . Maybe it'll work out better than I'd thought.

And now I must get off mn and go to bed...

Hello, just a quick one, Dream you wouldn't happen to know if the TWE would fit a landrover freelander?
Glad your DD liked the top seat :)
My ribs have been hurting again, coupled with killer heartburn, if I lie down that sometimes helps. Oh and I did reply to your pm I hope you got it?

I am waiting for post tomorrow, birth ball, hypnotherapy cd, carseat for baby (pebble), new mattress and some computer parts. Just a bit then

Considering a Stokke Tripp Trapp anyone know if they are any good? Dd is a shorty so hoping to get it with the baby set as prices go up in feb and then buying another if they are great. Dd is just such a shorty bless her! And she won't go in our current chair which is also a pita and I hate it!

So glad the GTTs have gone so well and look forward to scan news tomorrow.

Hi all! Glad the GTTs went well scarlet and Biscuits, and glad the DCs all seem to be slowly on the mend?

Scarlet, completely agree with you about cigarette smoke, urgh. Horrible :( Biscuits, sorry they had no clearer news on the kidney, but at least there's a plan of action now.

Scream, good news about the physio and crutches. Not such good news about the BIL. Good for you for having a plan for when the baby's born though - as in, inviting him to the open house then banning him - sounds completely reasonable to me. But you still think your DH will argue the case for seeing him at the time? You should point out how saintly you've been at dealing with him thus far..!

Oooh Ninja, are you based in Kingston then? I went to Kingston University back in the day, at the hillside campus but lived just off of Penrhyn Road - far too close to the shops! Where's the Jojo shop?! I still have lots of friends in Kingston, and may be making a trip soon - this could be dangerous... Scream, I also did my JL wedding list shop at JL Kingston! Quite lucky that where I am now (Essex) there's quite a good selection of shops, both out of town and in town, with Lakeside not too far away. The only thing I don't have that nearby is a JL, but will pop to Eastfield Westfield Stratford City to go get the few bits I want from there at some point.

Dream, I'm finding myself irritated by FB statuses too. Predominantly those of a PG friend. A couple of weeks ahead of me, but makes a big deal out of everything - and has to post about it constantly.

Speaking of being annoyed... I was called by someone I did my Masters with today, to arrange meeting up, and he sound generally surprised and in a way disappointed about me being pregnant. This isn't the first time I've heard this lately. Getting slightly annoyed that some people don't think women can have a career and children. Or that I've potentially decided to have children quite early in my career because of its very nature, and that it's easier to do it that way round. Grrr... rant over, sorry!

Sorry for the short post - and the very select replies - couldn't resist reminiscing about a place I loved so much! :) Manic day tomorrow teaching wise, but a day off on Friday - hurrah! - so at least I don't have to worry about being exhausted. Oh, and I got a letter today saying that I was supposed to have moved up a pay scale earlier in the year but due to a system error didn't, so they'll be catching up on the missed pay in my next payslip. Fabulous excuse for a shopping trip I reckon!

Brooking for good scans for both Scream and Dream tomorrow! :)

musical I grew up in kingston and have lived away in other parts of london and in the midlands but dp's job brought us back here. I live just up the road from kingston (think of The Good Life if you are old enough to remember it).

purple no idea what to do about rib pain or heartburn but hope you feel better soon.

rigt off to bed with me I think. I'm so hoping I don't get ds's spots.....

Really quick as should be asleep before dd wakes up (hampered by rib pain too purple, its awful, one of my worst memories of last time and that bad already now...), but yes, sorry, got your pm purple, haven't Googled price of the double yet so still undecided. thank you, sorry been ungrateful and not replied yet. Will see if the car list is with the instructions for the TWE. Must be, or on the incarsafety website as I checked if it'd go in the mini recently (it didn't!) . Y Y Y to tripp trapp. They're great. By far the best for learning knife and fork skills with feet resting on the footrest bit not dangling (saves working on core stability/balance while trying to coordinate cutlery, eating etc). Dead easy to clean, no pockets of manky purer hardened up hiding anywhere. All the paeds therapistd use them or cheap equivalents. I have an East Coast one we're still using as highchair but same idea- take off tray and adjust foot rest/ seat height to suit your child. My friend has two, as does my step sister. I'd like them for the twins, but oh, the price!!

Hi musical, I don't think I can have a career and children, lol. Many do it, very well indeed, but it is hard and other people's opinions of how you'll change etc when they've no idea of your plans/dreams are infuriating.

purple have you found anything's helped with the rib pain?! It's driving me wild... I can only get comfy with arms over head to stretch a bit but can't sleep much like it...

Another Tripp trapp fan here Purple

We had it with the babyset for DS and he still uses it (just as a chair) at the dining table now (so for every meal). And he is not a shorty. But I still think it's nice for him to have his feet resting while he eats. He's such a fidget bum anyway I think he'd be worse if his feet were dangling.

In fact I have bought off eBay the newborn set to click on to the top of the chair for the baby. I figured with DS we just ate when he slept, but that won't work this time round as obv DS will still need to eat. So I thought that way the baby could be sat up at the table while we're eating so they can see what's going on. So we'll probably buy another chair at some point as I don't really want to have to take ds's off him yet.

Interesting though that the prices go up in Feb . I was thinking I might wait until the baby was here to buy that bit.

I guess the only thing is there is no tray etc. well actually you can buy a tray to go on it but at typically stokke prices!

When DS was weaning in our old house we had the Tripp trapp in the kitchen because we had a low breakfast bar - like table height. And it made everything dead easy to clean. As Dream says the chair is easy to clean but then because it was in the kitchen the floor and table were easy to clean too. This time we have a high breakfast bar in the kitchen so no use for the baby. So they'll have to eat at the dining table. I've got wipe clean table cloths etc so the table shouldn't be a prob but it'll be a bit of a pain floor wise now I think. Our dining table is on a rug which I might have to do away with for that period? Has anyone else dealt with similar while weaning? I suppose more so than weaning it's the bit where they learn to feed themselves that's so messy! Or when DS went through a phase of throwing dropping stuff on the floor .

Good luck of the scans today Dream and Scarlet. I have a mw appt later so will have to tell her all about all the scans etc and extra appts

Ooops, posted too soon.

I was going to say......

I'm going to ask the mw if she thinks a predicted big baby will make any difference to how I should have it - ie if she thinks it will open up the CS question again.

Gah, busy morning this morning. Have to leave the house about 9:15 for ds's swimming and then straight from there to the mw appt, at the same time getting some lunch down DS as he's got to be at pre-school straight after the mw. Busy busy. Suppose I'd better get up and get on with it all.....