*** Due Sept 08 *** The third thread....

[MummyToOneForNow]

Thought I would take the plunge as I seem to have killed the previous thread . Will put a link on the old thread so you know where to come!

We're trying a new cleaner tomorrow (after the 'arrangement' with my sister didn't work out). sunshine I shall add toilet-brush rinsing to the list! Oh it'll be soooo good to have someone clean the house regularly again.

splish erm, probably none of my business, but surely your MOP (moved out partner) can rinse his own rice if he's so particular?? Hope he manages to sort himself out in good time, for you and your DD's sake.

sassafrass congrats on the move, and more impressively for getting down the gym! I've only managed to go for a couple of walks since getting back from holiday...I feel so lazy.

FP fingers crossed for you over the next couple of weeks.

leonie sounds like you've coped magnificently over the last couple of weeks.

nauseous 8+3 today, I have good days and bad days, and sometimes just bad moments in good days. Even the bad moments aren't that bad, I haven't puked or anything - I just get a dashing need to go and empty my bowels (sorry TMI at this time in the morning!).

bogie have fun this weekend!

Well, DH made me a romantic dinner of spag bol last night! Which we ate at the table, not in front of the tv. Didn't last long, soon defected to the lounge and ate dessert while watching Baby Bible Bashers.

DG - not just rinsing. We have two and they're both metal so she actually polishes them!

DP and I defected to the sitting room for our entire meal last night, which was nice. We eat in there far too much though. it's partly because our table is so tiny - nice to have the space to sprawl a few dishes about! Beef wellington was v yummy, as was baked cheesecake, but we now have 7/8ths of a cheesecake in the fridge to tempt me, as we were too full to have much of it!

Am very impressed with toilet brush cleaning - I do stretch to drowning mine in bleach every now and again, but that's about the limit of it...

I have started to look at prams. i need help.

What help do you need Hopefully?

Hi there can I join you???
I'm Clare I'm due about 6th Spet but may move a bit when I get a 12 week scan. I also have a 12 month old daughter Isabel

Hello Clareo, course you can join, not that I can keep up with this thread it moves so fast!

To anyone that's got a 'smells' issue - after saying my partner has been really good I don't think he quite realised what effect smells have on me, because last night whilst he was cleaning his teeth I went in to get a glass of water, he farted, which clearly is a smell! This made me instantly gag once and then I threw up with the second gag, he was rolling around laughing for quite some time. I was not amused!

Morning all, haven't posted much lately as feeling too damn bleurgh to do anything!

I am struggling through work and am going to tell my boss next week - at least someone will know why I'm not my normal jolly self!

Well dh cooked dinner last night - it was a French style casserole with chicken, leeks garlic etc and is usually one of my faves. Unfortunately the strong cooking smells had me retching in the bathroom and then I only managed about 3 mouthfuls. He looked so crestfallen but was understanding really. I've told him to freeze it and we'll have it when the ms subsides!

Well done all you folk who have had your scans - I have my booking appt on weds so I suppose I will get more info then.

Am v of the cleaners. Our house is a tip - I am trying to train dd in the art of housekeeping but without much success

Morning girls
Just checking in with you all.
Hopefully I think of myself of a bit of a pramoholic, so maybe I can assist. Firstly, you need to look at your lifestyle. Do you use public transport? Drive alot? Enjoy town or city walks or even both?.

Sorry did not realise there was another page . How rude of me!

welcome clare

Congrats Clareo122! Have you found the list and do you know how to copy and apste yourself onto it?

Regarding prams (this is so tragic, I can't believe I habve started to look), I am liking the look of the quinny speedi (think that's its name), purely based on the fact it can do everything we want. i need a pretty rugged off road pram, as I go for lots of walks in woods and on the beach and other impractical places, and while I don't mind using a sling for some, I want to be able to take the pram. I don't tend to use buses, but I do use trains a fair bit - hopefully not in rush hour though! I also want to be able to use it from birth and have a rear facing option. Travel system is nice, but not absolutely essential - won't be doing vast quantities of back and forthing with the car, so being able to put car seat on pram not vital. How long winded I am today! If anyone has any other opinions, I'll be glad to hear them...

The main reason I am looking so insanely early is that dp's mum has generously offered to buy the pram - money is no object, I have been informed - and if I don't pick one, she is likely to go an get what she thinks is best without checking!

Oh, lollipopmother I'm very sorry but your story had me laughing!

Just bought my DH the Blokes Guide to Pregnancy for Valentine's Day and he was not pleased - asked if I could read it for him! But happily, he actually got a bit misty eyed when I gave him the onesie that said "I Love Daddy" on it. I think it's finally sinking in!

naseous I'm 7 weeks tomorrow and hadn't felt a thing until this morning. Not sure if it's because we gorged ourselves on the lovely meal DH made last night, but I was feeling very queasy this morning - managed to have my decaf latte, but nothing to eat.

Welcome clareo mamamuffin Great to have a pram expert among us! Can we all tell you our lifestyles and you can tell us which is best for us? I'm not sure the one for me is out there!!!! I've done tons of research.

Hi Clareo and welcome.

Hopefully - you need to go into a shop and have a proper play with the pram you like. Lift it up, fold it, unfold it, push it around, try the brakes etc etc. It'll give you an idea of how easy it will be to use.

On a slightly negative note, I have a Quinney Zapp (so def. not a Speedi) and I hate it. Harness is too tight for DSnow he's a toddler, there is no shopping basket, it's really unstable so you can't hang anything on the handles and the suspension doesn't feel great. On the plus side, it's v. light and folds v. small (and is easy to fold/unfold) so it fits the purpose we bought it for but I really don'y enjoy using it.

Thanks for your thoughts sunshinemummy. I'll keep all the negatives of the zapp in mind when I eventually go to look at the speedi (and any other recomendations!) in real life. There appears to be no aspect of baby buying that isn't a total minefield...

ooh i love prams, have you looked at the micralite toro, i think it's what i'm going to get

it has the big back wheels so it nice to push and the seat reclines and it folds one handed, we have the micralite fastfold at the moment and it's great apart from the fact it doesnt recline much

i have had about 10 different buggies since i had dd (2) and am still searching for something perfect

Hopefully have you thought about a bugaboo. It would suit you for the beach and woods etc and if dps has said money is no object. Splash out! She will regret having said that.
I had a pilko pramette with ds. I did like it but found that after 4 months he was too big too face me and I did not like him facing away from me. Also, When he was learning to talk it would of been great for him to face me sometimes. I also could not stear it with one hand once he started doing little walks.
PregP there will be a pram out there for you. Its not something you should rush into getting. In six months time you too will be a pram expert, knowing exactly all the features of every pram you see whilst out shoppping. (Sad but true!).

Gosh mustsleep, I thought my two, soon to be three, were excessive

I have obviously been out of it too long. There are gaps in my knowlwdge Microlite toro looking it up.

mamamuffin I already stalk prams going by to see which they are

Ours is a tough situation though. We've got a small-ish flat so I don't want too many pieces. Love convertible prams as it means you don't need a carrycot, but if not possible, whatever we get needs to be suitable from birth. I also want to be able to put a carseat directly onto the chassis without having to have the seat unit - we don't have a car, so if we were to travel to visit relatives and they were to pick us up from the train, we'd need to have a carseat. Always on public transportation so need soemthing light and not too big. But also live close to the park and like to go on walks so want something with good suspension. So far I'm liking the Silver Cross Linear Freeway, but concerned that it's not quite rugged enough. The M&P Skate seemed perfect, but saw it when I was 'passing by' M&P the other day and it looks huge and heavy. Got lots of time, so I'm sure I'll find something. And I'm sure my priorities will change a billion times in between - but in the meantime, I love looking at/researching them all!

Well PrePG I love my Bugaboo. One of the problems is it won't fit up the aisle of buses so you have to get the driver to let you on in the middle, but there are loads of plus points.

yes the skat is good but massive, also if you buy from m and p i wouldn;t buy diectly sd their returns repairs poilicy is scandalous, we triedto take aour pram back after two weeks as the catch that held it shut broke and they would not give us a refund or an exchange they would only repair it, so sent it away for two weeks repair (lending us an inferior pram) when it cam back took it home and it was all scrtched and was broken in a different place so took it back again and they still refused to refund or exchange..... anyway to cut a long story short ended up having to stand there most of the afternoon complaining loudly until i got a refund

anyway the micralute sounds like it would be a good match for you PrePG the seat fabric comes off the frame so you can just stickthe carseat on that for travel and you can buy the big all terain front wheels for walking off road etc god i am sad!!!!

we had a bugaboo and that was great but becuase you had to lift the seat off every time you found it it was a bit of a pita

I did look at the bigaboo, but it looks a bit 'urban rugged'. Is it robust enough for proper off roading?

I haven't even considered storage problems in our house - the smallest hallway'ed house in the entire UK, I swear. I think the pram may spend most of its life in our sitting room.

I think I need to take one of you shopping with me!

I'm liking the look of the Mothercare Urban Detour Quantum travel system. It seems to match what we need (car seat, cosy toes, raincover included etc) and still looks good. Is within our budget too (most importantly!)

bigaboo, that well known pram...

lol, hopefully....

my top tips for pram buying are to think about what you will do with your child once it is a toddler. For example, we got a graco travel system (which at the time for us was still a reasonable spend even though it was 'only' £200. We couldn't afford a dearer one. Would have liked something like Jane 3 wheeler) which came with a carrycot as well as the car seat. The carrycot was really useful but as ds was quite big he didn't last in it for long. The pram was fine for the 1st year and wasn't as issue that he couldn't face me unless he was in the car seat as he liked facing forwards. But then we bought a McLaren buggy for holidays as the Graco was too big really for the car and by the time ds was about 1 I found I was using the McLaren most of the time as it was so much easier to manouver. The graco was still useful sometimes if we wanted the big shopping basket or if we were walking on tracks but now we don't use it at all as he is just too heavy for it. Its very hard work pushing him up a hill and off road.
The point is- is it worth spending a lot if you think you might only use it for a year? I think we got our money's worth out of the graco but if we'd spent more I'd have felt obliged to use it for longer.

My other tip (and I didn't actually do this) is to borrow a baby or toddler from someone for testing out buggies, a pram will feel very light and manouverable in the shop but could be a different story with a child in it.