Due April 2009: Episode 17 - We're off of work and ready to push, time for DH's to attend to that bush!!

[BabyBolat]

Inspired by our Smutty x

arrrrrgg!! oh yeah! didnt think about that hmmmm will have to keep a few old towels handy to sit on just in case and maybe a platic sheet underneath

i dont mind so much about the carpet as it was a remnant and 20% off so got it for a snip at £51 not bad for a 13ft by 14ft piece

Night swaliswan

it has been really quiet today??? hope everyone is ok and just busy xx

anyway big day tommorw so i'm gonna call it a night no doubt dd will be bouncing on the bed at an ungodly hour (i dread to think how bushed shes going to be by 3 when she has her party eek) WOOHOO my lil babys going to be 5 (she thinks shes very grown up now)!! goodness it really does go sooooo fast.

and girls this is what we're all working towards!! birthdays, bed bouncing, time going too quickly, smiles, facination, watching them grow up, excitement, wishing they were small again and ooodles of love and fun and creating memories. THIS is why we are enduring this 9 months of hell!!! you get soooooo much back its unreal

anyway i'm going to stop getting mushy xx

night night & sweet dreams xx

so with you Nutty

night all xx

Hello
Pg insomnia again.

Did someone say 'man meat'? I think that's a rival to 'gentleman vegetables' for excellent willy euphamisms.

Happy birthday to Nutty's DD!!!

£51 for a lounge carpet is just brilliant btw Nutty, so I am definitely taking you shopping with me next time. My carpets plus underlay for the bathroom and downstairs loo were £100 altogether.

Glad the sofa is such a success. Mine are a bit threadbare but I think I have spent enough on baby stuff and the bathroom, so I probably should be good and not splash out on new covers.

Anyway off to this website to check my grocery prices - just what a girl should be doing at 5 in the morning. You type in your shopping list and it tells you where everything is cheapest.

www.mysupermarket.co.uk

God I live dangerously at the moment.

Just saved £25 on that supermarket website. I am very please with myself. It was slow and clunky but well worth persevering IMO.

Morning and happy birthday to Nutty's DD.

Trying to catch up on threads I've missed but computer keeps crashing on me so have given up.

Have spent the last few days in some sort of Ikea nightmare going to different branches around the country in order to assemble all the vital pieces needed for builders to start assembling kitchen next week. My head is swimming with words that contain unusual looking vowels.

Boffin I must try mysupermarket. Have promised myself that when Baby2 arrives I will get groceries delivered. Trouble is at the moment I do 2 supermarket trips a week - I tend to get my household cleaning stuff and store cupboard basics somewhere cheap like Asda and then go to e.g. Waitrose for some of my cheeses, meats and deli items.

I'm particularly hung up on the quality of my cheddar at the moment. If I am restricted to simple cheeses through pregnancy then at least they must be really yummy.

OMG - tried to catch up. Computer was obliging and not crashing but when I got to the bit about nasal rape of Daniella Westbrook I had to give up. Tis way too early on a Sunday morning! May have to toddle down to church to purge myself.

Loving the pics of Kazz's babies. Goodness they made me broody. Lucky I only have a month to go as am having seriously broody moments.

Ju - on fabric softener it is generally discouraged with all baby stuff, but particularly with nappies as it affects their absorbency. I did use it a few times by accident and they come out adorably soft.

But also you aren't supposed to use too many products on stuff which comes into contact with newborn skin as they can be very sensitive to these things. So, despite the fact that there are cute pictures of babies cosily snuggled up on the bottles of softener it isn't recommended and you should just be using a very simple non-bio.

With baby's clothes I would say it's up to you though. If your baby's skin doesn't seem affected and you prefer the softer feel....

Oh and on the subject of poo-monsters, and specifically the lesser spotted bath-poo-monster I have been meaning to update.

Nutty - thanks v. much for your ideas for curing this. Lots of them helped - DD is on the slow road to recovery from her insanity. We cleaned the bath and then spent time playing in the empty bath together and paddling in it in our swimsuits and then we blew up loads and loads of balloons (she has an obsession with yellow balloons!?) and floated them in the bath. And gradually we started to have normal baths again, although she does prefer to wear her swimsuit in the bath.... and if there are bubbles in there (DH will only have a bath with bubbles) then she needs to check under them all to see if there is a poo-monster lurking.

Tis fabulous though - a warm bath before bed has roughly halved the time it takes for her to fall asleep once I put her to bed.

Hurrah!

And Bleu - on Zurich - not much to add to what Boffin has said. I would definitely be happy to live there for a few years. Like everything in Switzerland it is very clean and well organised and you have access to some of the most fabulous countryside in the world. IMO Switzerland is very underestimated as a summer holiday destination - mountain walking in the fresh flowers, waterfalls etc and windsurfing on the lakes - gorgeous and healthy environment to bring up children in.

Awake again now - Lego protests from a nearby room have woken me. I will really have to think about some strategy for making them stay quiet in the mornings if I have been up all night bf.

This sounds like it was great poo monster therapy. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for my DS1 (11), who has a current phobia of dying alone (who knows where that came from). This means he hates to walk around our very light, bright, modern, inoffensive home by himself, and either forces his little brother to accompany him whether he wants to or not, causing loud protests, or alternatively he rampages from one venue to another, eg to go to the loo, upstairs or whatever, making a big noise and/or disturbing everyone. This was particularly irritating when I was trying to do hypnobirthing in the room below his. Interestingly he is absolutely fine being on his own going to school or to the newsagent, i.e. out of the house. It is very strange.

Strategies I have tried have been basically quite non-nonsense, such as telling him to face his fear; telling him by 11 even if you have fears you just have to steel yourself a bit, like mums do with spiders; talking through all the possible death scenarios and what he could do to help himself; that kind of thing. Nothing seems to have helped.

If I could sort this out before the birth, it would be very useful, as then he could be made to do more errands!!

Wish I could offer some advice Boff, but not sure what I'd do except that which you have already tried (it's the right grammar but sounds wrong..why?)

DD woke at 6.45 this am but I didn't get up until 8.40 a she was happily pottering..hurrah. although she was pottering in the baby's room so not sure THAT will last. Boff or anyone else with 2 am I right to be irrationally fearful she will go in and pick baby up in the mornings?

Why is Dora so SHOUTY?!

I don't think that's irrational - IME they tend to pick up their siblings all the time and sort of drag them in a reasonably safe but random way to the parents. The baby is usually absolutely delighted with this once they are old enough to recognise their sibling, but the parents usually have heart failure. However once a baby is over about 6 months it's not too awful for them to do this I think. Babies are very resilient, I reckon.

How old is DD by the way?

Yes, that was my feeling..when they get to that fat grub sort of stage it's not the end of the world, but probably not before. I'm quite relaxed about this sort of thing usually (one of six, lots of sibling-dragging)...

How is the Boff household this beautiful morning?

oops x posts, she is 3.5 and generally very well-behaved. I especially like the way she has all of my bad qualities (stubborn, headstrong, independent, opinionated..) but a very good moral compass to ofset them.

Gosh isn't it annoying when people go on about how great their chldren are

LOL @ fat grub!!

Well if you are one of six then you know how it all works. Obviously if it's a new baby, it will be with you at first, so opportuities for sibling dragging will be more limited I imagine.

Boffin household is now peaceful now they have woken me up. DH very thoughtfully left me a breakfast tray in our room so I could eat something first thing, which was very welcome.

It does seem a bit like a larva cycle thing though doesn't it? all delicate and papery for a short time, and then they get all chubby and delicious.....

although DD's cheeks never quite reached
these proprtions

That baby is surely about to explode!!

OMG - faaaaaaaaaat baby!

Ooooh I'd like to squeeze those cheeks.

Boffin I think an interest in death at around that age can be a normal phase. I remember myself going through a phase where I tried to go to sleep with my arms folded across my chest in case I died in my sleep. I had read that people were laid to rest in their coffins with their arms like this and I thought that it would make things easier for people if my arms were already folded .

I would imagine the phase will probably pass normally but otherwise maybe a pet might help (if you can face that). If he had a dog that scampered around at his heels he wouldn't be alone. Or perhaps a budgie or a goldfish would be easier and could be placed in rooms which often don't have anyone in them. Probably the last thng you want to take on with an impending baby though....

I can't believe I missed a whole day yesterday and we are still on the same thread.

These last few weeks seem to be really tough on everybody. I hope everyone is having a better day today.

Sommes-nous un fil multilingue maintenant ?

Very sound survival tips there from Schulte and Swali.

Nutty - Hooray for new sofa. hope DD has a smashing birthday today and loves her fab gifts.

Lulu - I get a weekly delivery from Sainsburys, all the brand stuff, cleaning, non-perishables, bulky stuff etc. I shop instore once a week at Waitrose for fruit, vegetables, meat. I love Waitrose.

Puzzle - I love Waitrose too, but I'm always appalled how much money I manage to blow there on yummy bits and bobs. But I offset that against the benefit of free parking and try to time all my other errands with my Waitrose shop.

Have also been wondering about a veg-box delivery but then my next door neighbour has a massive allotment (lucky woman - I can't even get on a waiting list!) and produces way more than she can eat herself, so prob not necessary.

Maths - Funny that you asked that question. I have been wondering about DD picking up the baby while we are asleep. Having said that we always wake with her so perhaps the opportunity will not arise.

Boff - Sorry, no advice. I was a bit like that at the same age, I think I grew out of it with in a year or so. Sorry, that's not very helpful.

I love the size of Waitrose. All the staff know DD well.

Aaah - that's nice Puzzle. I always hope they don't remember my DD. She threw a phenomenal tantrum a while back which ended up with her kicking and flailing around on the floor in a sea of blueberries .

And last time I went in she escaped again and I found her sitting on the floor in the booze section pretending to swig 'papa-juice' (ie red wine)from the bottle!

(Mathsmummy what were you saying about people boasting about their DCs?)