Fab Feb Fourth Thread: are we blooming yet?

[onwardandupward]

Here we are! This should do us for a few weeks...

Lol Yes must convince dh to buy the house to suit the buggy not the other way around

Night x

I was just looking on the product review on mn for the double buggies - there are a few good value side by side ones but I must confess that I get a bit arsey with women struggling round the shops with those wide buggies - they just seem soooo cumbersome but OTH seem best for the kids. With the tandem (is that what they're called) - I always feel sorry for the one who has to peer out the side !....

Hard isn't it.

Sitting here surfing MN for a holiday suggestion. Wondering whether to blow our new carpet for the bedroom budget on a holiday - last chance to maybe get some sun before baby arrives - we both need a break. We're moving house in 3 weeks so maybe we might be able to fit it in just after then....

Hi - just catching up with the double buggy talk. A couple of friends of mine had great looking side by side versions for twins which seemed the fairest option but they are awfully difficult to steer into anywhere that doesn't have sliding doors.....

I need to find something that folds up reasonable small too as I live in a teeny cottage with absolutely no storage space so unless we want to look at the TV around the buggy it'll have to fold up against the wall or live in the garden!

lol winemakesmummyclever I thought I better clarify

I have a sheet of exercises and a booklet of how to do things, but thanks for the offer. Just need to get a copy to my GP who told me that I don't need a belt (physio said to ask if I can get a script before I spend a lot of money on one) because they don't do any good and I need to exercise more because the pain releases endorphins (etc) so it will make it all better. Forget the fact that my obstetric physio said not to push past the pain because that's when I will do damage and my other physio has said I'm not allowed to carry a car seat with Tink in it (when she was still tiny); push a pushchair; use a baby carrier; push a shopping trolley; exercise (because I don't have lower back muscles that work, annoying as I used to do crunches every day but now I can't even lie on the floor without it hurting my back); or do anything that hurts my back. I need a letter for my housing association so I can get Band 1 for a transfer but don't know who I can ask as I don't think the GP will do it, there's another one I can try hopefully.

(sorry, went on a ramble there!)

lol PinkTulips even if I can convince them to let me VBAC they'll bring "her" out at 38 weeks so they can stop my anticoagulation first. A few more weeks than last time would be great, but if I have a normal size baby s/he will be the same size as Tink when they're 3/6 and then overtake her! So I'm half hoping for a small baby for Tink's sake [tongue-in-cheek]

o&u same here. I don't bother with a pram (see above) BF (this one is NOT getting formula under any circumstances, even if my HV calls SS!) BLW, co-sleep (but Mum has got us a nice little swinging crib for when we're not in the bed) so my £500 is going to go on luxuries me thinks (maybe bras and tops )

I have a Phil and Teds - four years old now. I borrowed a friend's P&T which was about a year old on holiday. I LOVE my buggy but they have improved greatly in that space of time (think about it, Mr Phil and Mr Ted over in New Zealand must have a great wodge of wonga to spend on research and development since they cracked the overseas market!).

The 'one that has to peer out the side' was never much of an issue as DS1 was two+ by the time DS2 came along and was doing a lot of walking and then scooting - so a double buggy has only strictly speaking been necessary when one (or both) are asleep - and then it is a life saver.

For buses I mostly used a Maclarens and a sling when necessary. I had a buggy board for about a while and it was great, especially in crowded places as it is nice to know they are close by. But we wore it out and I never replaced it.

A friend has an Out and About Nipper side by side double and it handles BEAUTIFULLY - I was dead jealous cause I could steer it with one finger. But I couldn't handle the width on a day-to-day basis.

Phew that was long. Now back to lurking...

It's a lovely morning here and DD has a friend over and I want to stay at home and bake things and potter about in my little house.

I don't WANT to go to work!

Hope it goes ok today Spotty

Hi Swampster

Stop lurking- keep posting woman!

Swampster - good to hear about the "peering out issue" and someone who has experience of it - the P & T's is one that I've considered but that was my only concern. My sil gave me a mountain buggy but that's a side by side and I do a lot of town stuff so going on the bus etc will be pretty hard (specially as I will most probably be having a c-section). E-bay surfing here we come me thinks. It'll be hard steering a double when I've just got used to a lovely light Maclaren....

Back at work today. Iwas counting my days til I go on mat leave this am on the bus and it seems to be 16 weeks...I think I'm leaving on 24 December and then am taking A/L for the period until the baby is born. I only work part time so my A/L covers quite a few weeks !!

It'd be nice to have some time off properly with ds in nursery for half the week to prepare myself for the tiring bit after baby is born (hunker down in bed for a morning whilst it's (most probably) a cold and wet January).....

Sunny here today - hurray ! But I'm at work ..

Morning all. Hope you had a good weekend. Went to outdoor gig in Regents Park last night and had high expectations of weather after glorious day on Saturday - unfortunately the heavens opened half way through first support act and having toughed it out until the end of the support act we decided to squelch our way home. Typically the sun is shining again today -bl**dy English summer weather!!

Swampster, Calico etc. - friend of mine (DS was 18 months when DS2 arrived) got a Phil & Ted - both kids love it. Know others with side by side Maclarens - impossible on public transport in London (too wide for bus aisles and nightmare to get up and down tube stairs) but otherwise ok outside of London and pretty easy to steer apparently. Friend with twins had out and about nipper - she loved it and the twins looked v happy. This time round, am going to use quinny buzz had for DS for baby while still in pram mode then switch to a Maclaren with buggy board or sling for no 2 if DS wants nappy in buggy while we're out and about.

Sorry about your squelcher of a day. We had a looooong pub lunch with family then a spot of running around in the park/playground.

DS1 was in a sling for AGES. DS2 was never a sling baby and only ever went in under duress. Wonder what I'll get this time round?

Mini micro scooters are the cat's pyjamas for getting small people mobile - I've even managed them on the bus on my Maclaren a few times. Once we had scooters, the buggy board went out the window - just have to make sure your kids know the rules about roads cause they are really nippy.

My Next maternity delivery has been coming in tiny dribs and drabs and I am stuck at home waiting for the next installment. (This is from their sale about a MONTH ago...)

Oh, and MarkStretch, I think I'm officially due the same day as you - 6th Feb. Seems I was WAAAAAY out on my estimate . Keep meaning to change it on the list (and, perhaps, my name too) haven't got round to that.

Funny how babies are sling-babies or not from an early age isnt it. DS was a v nosy little baby so loved the baby bjorn as he could see loads more - hated his pram until I put millions of toys in there for him to look at and eventually play with...

Swampster - a long pub lunch would have been a v good idea... went to pregnancy yoga class over lunch and had the same teacher as I had when pregnant with DS (and for baby massage with DS afterwards) which was really nice, as she remembered me (and DS especially as he was a favourite of hers)...

I think it's probably more of finding the right one for the baby. There was a time when people wouldn't have used pushchairs so all babies would be slung, so they wouldn't have the option of being a sling baby or not. When I was in Majorca a group of older people were laughing and looking at me (not in a nasty way) one of the ladies said "we were just debating whether you were Welsh or not!" Apparently wrapping is very popular in their part of Wales. Mum is full Welsh blooded, second generation Brummy, but my grandmother died before I was born so she didn't have her there to teach her things like that, so I'm glad I found it for myself.

I don't agree. I think some babies just don't like being in slings. I used a variety of slings with DS1 who loved in all of them. I tried them with DS2 and he tolerated them sometimes, got really cheesed off sometimes, but was happiest when he wasn't in a sling at all. I wouldn't have believed it until it happened to me.

Swampster - what age did your ds('s) use the micro scooter from - my ds will always try and nick kids scooters for a play on in the park and has tried out a bigger one which belongs to my nephew. He's not quite mastered the technique yet but I don't think it'll be long. He's 2.2 years ?

I'm afraid I'm going to sound like one of those 'my children are VERY advanced' mums now.

DS1 got his shortly before he turned three and 'got' it right away. DS2 tried to nick it (mostly unsuccessfully, DS1 is VERY possessive!) pretty much as soon as he could walk. He was scooting (sort of) by the time he was about 15 months old and got his own for Christmas when he was a year and a half old. He was making the 15-minute journey to the park on it fairly soon afterwards.

I just love them for the amazing mobility they give to teeny tiny children. It must be such a thrill for them. But it really is just the mini micros, I think, no other scooter will do.

Herbgarden - some friends of ours got their little girl a scooter when she was 2.4 months - she had it down by 2.6 months (including the stopping at roads for mummy/daddy to catch up, hold her hand and walk across)

I want a scooter.

I am lurking working.

I've got heartburn.

I wondering if I can justify getting a scooter for myself.

I just feel like a bloater and I walk like a duck.

Oh no Markstretch - did you get heartburn last pregnancy too?

I want a scooter too - and those silly wheelie trainer things - so I can be towed along trails up and down Shenandoah national park by DH when we go on holiday next week (DH has been mapping out lots of v long walks, oh joy) .. though may just nick DS's trunki instead...

Yes I did get heartburn last time but not this early I don't think. I'm not drinking anymore orange juice.

DD has got a scooter but is too afraid to go on it so I have taken it off her before and whizzed about on it whilst she walks in the opposite direction pretending I'm not her mum.

The dreaded arse ache is bad today. Sat in a meeting for 3 and half hrs this morning and then have sat down all afternoon doing admin.

Now have searing pain down left leg.

Ouch.

Moan, moan, moan.

sympathetic .

Markstretch - maybe worth seeing a chiropractor or kinesiologist (see if you can get a GP referral) - my friend (due in Sept) had awful arseache for first 20 weeks then started seeing a chiropractor and is a million times better. I saw a kinesiologist (work with body alignment) after having DS as had shuddering backpains due to pelvis being misaligned (long story) and worked absolute miracles - saw her privately though as waiting list on NHS was wayyyyyyy too long and private health insurance from work covered it.

Hope it gets better for you soon.

Hmm - I might have to wait and see whether next baby is a sling baby or not before I invest in a new buggy. DS will be 23 months when new one arrives so might just try the sling with existing Maclaren for a while. For some reason DS can't seem to sit upright in the Maclaren and is always a bit slumped and I'm constantly heaving him into a more comfortable position. He has worked out how to get out of the straps too so it's days are numbered anyway......

Didn't try a sling with DS as a newborn but he loved it around 5 months or so, shame he's to heavy and wriggly for it now.

The scooter option sounds great - I wonder if they do them with remote controls.....then he'd go where I wanted him too (wink).