Graduated Elderberries - Thread 8

[Cavort]

The over 30's expecting/just given birth to their first little bundle of joy.

Thread 8 already!!

Yeah I wonder if all the night shift workers get paid for their extra hour tonight? I guess not if they're on a salary.

Brave how strange that you are trying to make H's bed time earlier and we're battling to get ours later. Elodie would quite happily go to bed for the night at 5.30pm, which would be fine if she wasn't waking up so damn early. I am not willing to start every day at 5am. Last night was a partial disaster partial victory though - she just wouldn't settle at 7.30 and would sleep for 5-10 minutes and then wake back up, so by 9pm we had the most miserable, crying, overtired baby which took us until 10pm to get her back to sleep, but the then she was so knackered she slept solidly until 3am, fed for 10 minutes and then went back to sleep until 6.30, which is the best night I've had in ages, so it seems that overtired baby is the key to me getting a decent nights sleep.

Just a note for those BFers or those planning to BF. DO NOT LET YOUR DOG EAT YOUR NIPPLE CREAM!! Since ours ate my Lansinoh on Thursday night he has stank like a skunk ever since. Seriously, our house smells like there is a rotting corpse hidden somewhere in it. I daren't even light a match for a scented candle.

message received loud and clear cav, Cleos a stinky little rat bag too but not yet at skunk levels. Had to clear up her sick Thursday and the cats yesterday....seriously they take the piss! Plus even after bleaching the floor twice the front room still has an underlying odour of dog sick.....manky!

I've just done one of the jobs I hate most....hoovering the stairs! We have three floors so far too many bloody stairs, plus all those stairs have either dog or cat hair (or both) seemingly glued into them. Why do I have pets again

Everyone else got this crazy wind? Wanted to take the dog for a walk but the seafront will be far too windy and don't fancy being surrounded by trees in the woods in this wind....boring street walk it is

Managed to fall over on the stones on the beach yestetday, nothing hurt except my pride and slightly bruised knees. Felt like such a lemon!

Glad you got some sleep cav, sounds like you deserved it!!!! What was she playing at huh.

Marking place as you fell off my thread list

Oh Mother you silly billy, hope your knees and pride recover! I feel for you scrubbing the floors, Boomdog decided that housetraining was all too much for him last night and wee'd on the carpet in the middle of dinner with my inlaws . I'd rather wee than sick though. No wind here yet (Yorkshire) it's a beautiful morning actually, off for a yomp in a bit before the predicted downpours..

Cav laughing at the canine nipple-cream farts

Brave I wondered that! Glad I wasn't working, would have got in a right muddle!

I have a question for those of you who are already using buggies. I've been offered a secondhand twin buggy which I'm immensely grateful for as it's nearly £500 new. I'm not sure it's suitable for newborns though, would I have to buy two new carseats to make it newborn compatible? Don't want to turn down a generous offer but don't want it to end up costing us a fortune either..

boom if you only need it to get from A to B, then could use the car seats, but as you should keep a baby there as little as possible, it's not such a great option of you plan long walks. I wonder if it can be used with the fully reclining part and 1 car seat, at least could switch the twins during the walk.

Here Viki decided that 6AM is a perfectly reasonable time to get up. Only fell asleep at 8 and of course I was not sleepy any more then. Oh well, I guess I can just go to work earlier if he keeps it up during the week..

Boom Hazle has it right, newborns should only be in carseats for a max of 2 hours and its preferable to have them fully flat. So you could have one fully flat and one in a car seat with that buggy but you would have to be mindful of the time they were in there. It's probably worth it as as soon as they are a bit older then that buggy looks perfect

Boom if you decide not to, have a look on the Babyjogger Buy Sell Chat group on FB, there's always people selling double BJCMs (suitable from birth) for a couple of hundred quids.

So I am having a lazy day today. We went to a wedding yesterday and had to leave at about 9.30 as I was getting beaten up from the inside - REALLY uncomfortable movement, lots of it aimed downwards at the cervix and I am sure made worse by the fact that being out in public I couldn't lie down/get on hands and knees to take the pressure off or shift baby a bit. It's left me feeling a bit battered and bruised this morning. Anyone else had this? Seems a bit brutal! I think baby has maybe run out of room.

Thanks guys. It's probably worth getting the buggy and storing it for when they're older, and just finding a proper flatbed pram that I can fit both of them into for the meantime. In all fairness, I'm not intending on taking them on any 2hr+ walks as newborns but I don't like the idea of carseats much anyway. Thanks for the tip Quod but even a couple of hundred quid for a buggy is far beyond us, we're basically relying on charity and freecycle for everything!

Hope your poor cervix gets a break today, sounds uncomfortable!

Boom we are likewise doing freecycle/charity/hand me downs as much as possible. Which brings me on to:

Playmats/baby gyms: my friends/workmates want to club together to buy us one as a baby gift, which is very sweet. Are they useful? Because of the small size of our flat I am trying to keep the amount of unnecessary baby stuff as low as possible, but I hadn't even thought about these. Does anyone have one and are they good?

Yes and yes. Miles loves his now. IMO they're a rip off new though - up to £60 for what is essentially some fabric and bits of plastic. I got mine from eBay and it was about £15 I think, same on selling in Argos for £59.99.

I have heard good things about this one though if they want to get you one from new... And it's half price!

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004V8VQC8

Clickable link sorry

Lucy likes hers and its just a basic fabric one (about £20) I fold it up and put it away (behind the sofa!) when not in use to save space.

Anyone worried about this storm? I'm in Devon on the coast with a garden full of loft building crap that could turn into 80mph missiles, could be in for an interesting night!

baby gym

This is the one Lucy has got.

The barn doors on it open up and there's a mirror to amuse them during tummy time. Not sure what the expensive ones do that's any better than the cheap ones really?

That's exactly it purple. Fabric and plastic - how can they be so expensive?!

Saying I'm not worried about the storm... But DP thinks I'm going mad as have made piles of candles in the kitchen and found a few torches to take to bed "just in case". Have also made him turn the garden table upside down and secretly checked we have bottled water and food to last a day or so

I'm sure this wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest a year ago. Has being a mum somehow made me worry about ridiculous things more?

we have one i.ebayimg.com/t/Beanstalk-Lion-Play-Mat-And-Gym-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTk1/z/i7EAAOxyjP1R0bvw/$(KGrHqV,!n0FG)BBmV8QBR0bvwGNlw~~60_35.JPG just because it's cute and fits with the nursery theme

i.ebayimg.com/t/Beanstalk-Lion-Play-Mat-And-Gym-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTk1/z/i7EAAOxyjP1R0bvw/$(KGrHqV,!n0FG)BBmV8QBR0bvwGNlw~~60_35.JPG

Trying that again, we have the above just because it's cute

question, are your babies making stinkier diapers nowadays as well or should I worry? He is not getting anything extra, but the poop that was yellow and pretty much odour-less before is now definitely brown and quite stinky. Is that normal?

Deffo less lovely smelling. If I'm honest I used to like the biscuity smell but now it isn't pleasant at all. And due to the fact we're both a bit ill with a cold (both had slight temperature and absolutely full of cold) he appears to be going 2-3 times a day, rather than every 2-3 days. Lovely.

So I don't know, if it's normal, but def what's happening to us!

Nope we've still got the usual runny mustard poo here, don't think it's any more stinky and disgusting than normal.

Elodie used to do a watery grainy poo a few times a day until she was about 8 weeks and then it changed to one every few days and is more like the colour and consistency of a Chicken Korma. You can smell when she's done one but it isn't particularly stinky IYKWIM.

Hilarious storm preparation Janey. You mean you haven't dug out an underground bomb-proof bunker? Hopefully it's all hyped up out of proportion because the news and weather have nothing better to report as per.

I agree on only needing a cheap gym. We were bought quite an expensive one as a gift and all we do is ignore most of the toys that came with it and hang Elodie's favourite ones (bought from elsewhere) off it, which we could do just as well with a cheap one.

We have been to DH's parents' today and didn't get back until past Elodie's bed time so she's not long gone to bed and now some arsehole accross the road is letting off fireworks. I know I'm a grouch but I wish bonfire night would just fuck off this year.

tell me about it, I'm already dreading new years. Not because of Viki, but one of our dogs is absolutely terrified, actually ran away once when a neighbour was letting fireworks off.

I think we found a nanny (or is that babysitter, not sure what the difference is.) Turns out that a relatively new neighbour across the street is a qualified babysitter, and she herself has a little girl a month older than Victor. Also has 2 older kids, everybody seems lovely. So we'll try her for a few hours per day, a couple of days per week, so DH can get some work done as well. Couldn't get any more convenient than that, I can still come home at lunchtime to feed him. Vic was actually quite interested in the other baby and as she's older, he will learn loads of new things from her I hope.

It's difficult being away from the baby. Seems ridiculous to pay someone to spend time with him, when I would love to do it myself, but bills have to get paid..
I have to say though that I appreciate the time a lot more. When I was not working, I was sometimes waiting for him to fall asleep so I could get some time for myself. Now I try to keep him awake even when he's sleepy, just so I can play and chat. So I guess we'll manage..

At my in laws now and FIL told me I should not speak FOREIGN with my own daughter as she is primarily English . I said no, she's not actually. So not in a good mood right now.
Routine has gone out of the window as well as we've not been at home and she's still awake! Oh dear.
How's everyone else's weekend been?

Hazle good news on the childminder/nanny/babysitter (I also have no idea what the difference is?) and how convenient being just over the road. Just my opinion, but I think it's very important that babies and toddlers learn to socialise so it will be great for him to go to someone else with kids for a few hours.

And I really feel for you having to leave Viki to go back to work. It must be so hard even though you know he is being very well looked after by your DH. But yes, I bet it really makes you appreciate every second you spend with him. I know I keep on moaning about SMP but we really are very lucky in the UK to be able to take a full year off.