Due Jan 2010 - watching our beans grow into bumps :-)

[sazlocks]

As we all talk so fast the last thread is nearly full so thought I would start us off on a new one

Cantthinkoffunnyname you could almost be my sister she has a spreadsheet for every event - doesn't have children yet however. She's brilliant and super organised. I can't wait till she has children and am secretly hoping they throw her into the chaos I seem to live in lol.
anniemac I know what you mean but I am not a judgy pants and far from perfect lol. I do know one competitive parent who always compares my son and her son and remembers how old my son was when he reached various milestones - very scary I don't even remember these things.

Ha - anniemac as you may have gathered, I was a FT working mum until January - and when I say FT, I actually commuted between here and Abu Dhabi every 2 weeks; 2 weeks in Abu Dhabi and 2 weeks in London, then back again yada yada - you get the drift. When I was here, I used to collect kids from childminder at 6pm, do baths, reading stories, homework etc., bed for them at 8pm and then I'd open the laptop and work til I crashed. Can you imagine the guilt??!! In fact, the reason I am now a SAHM is that I made enough on that little jaunt to not have to work for the next couple of years (although DH still has to tee hee) and the guilt was so bad, I felt I owed it to my kids AND my husband to be what I should be. Now I'm at home all the time, by DH is begging me to go away again LOL!

And I really really cannot stand competitive parenting. One of my friends, who is absolutely lovely - well her DH never ever wanted kids, but she did and they had IVF - he agreed to keep her happy. They have a beautiful baby boy, and I had the privilege to be present at the birth - the DH is now the absolute WORST at competitive parenting. He truly truly believes that every other child in the world is an absolute shit and he is so lucky with his little man who is PERFECT and must surely be a result of his parenting skills blah blah blah - with the pg hormones as they are, if I owned a gun, think I'd want to shoot him! Mmm - any police on here, that was actually a joke?!

Hear hear LondonLottie on the whole dishonesty thing. Here's my confession - I felt guilty as hell being a working mum BUT loved it nonetheless, thrived on it. Then got a stage where I just wanted the option to be a SAHM. Got it, took it and was starting to get REALLY bored when found out was PG. Then spent the next 12 weeks (well about 8 technically) not being able to move off the sofa as felt so dreadful. Felt even more bored, felt like I should be working but couldn't be bothered, felt v lazy, but didn't care. Daytime TV became my new BF. Now past the "urgh" stage, am starting to find a little more energy to do more things each day. Guess the 3rd trimester will be horrid again but then lovely little one will arrive and will be busy busy busy, which is far more me really. So its a no-win situation really isn't it. Doomed to be a working mum, doomed to be a SAHM. I'm just not cut out for all the cupcake baking, trips to the park, making friends with people I don't know etc - apart from you lovely lot of course!!!

Hi everyone!

Heaps to catch up on! Was away for a while, then was simply manic! Am now laid up with ghastly UTI and on antibiotics , so time to catch up on mnet .

Cannot believe we are already talking about what stuff to buy! How exciting!

I bought this for DS, and was a godsend! Collapses in 10 secs, easily moveable and newborns love it! Well in my experience they do.

amby baby hammock

Right off to try and catch up on the thread.

maygirl what kind of side-car cot have you got?

Biccy Elizabeth Pantley No Cry Sleep Solution is great, when I was weaning DD from co-sleeping into her own room it was just what I needed. You're right it has lots of ideas rather than just one way to help you find the best routine/pattern for your baby/child. DD was a crap sleeper when she was a baby, if she had slept/settled herself I probably wouldn't have co-slept. We tried a strict routine for a few days and it just stressed us both out. If you are a first timer you do just need to be flexible and remember the early days really don't last long. They do seem as if they do, though!

Hello all,
am back from a glorious holoiday in Italy which i then extended. I started off in bikini and swimsuit and by the end almost no point wearing them as have become huge everywhere, help have put on 10lbs so far!!
I will try and catch up on all news and newcomers but hope evryone is well and bumps happy. Has anyone felt any movements? am 16 weeks and as yet nothing? apparently with the 2nd u feel much sooner any thoughts.

Am a huge Ebay fan just bought pram from there.
Was also thinking about an Amby hammock but not sure if I am brave enough are they really good?

Oooooh all these holidays, you lucky things!
Well today I have just been (jokingly) questioned by 2 different men as to whether or not I am expecting a baby, as they have a bigger belly than I do! I wouldn't mind so much, but I've put on 4kg already! Admittedly my extra 3 cup sizes may account for some of that... At 18+2 I'm convinced I'll suddenly balloon one day - the midwife says he's a good size so I'm not worried.
Londonlottie, I would ask parents of twins what they found useful to get - is there a thread on here somewhere?
As for competetive parents...I remember being at a highland dancing competition when I was about 10 and seeing a mother argueing with the judge about her daughter not being placed. I swore that I would never be like that as a parent, it was so embarassing.

I like the look of the amby nest thingy... just a tad expensive - even for a 3 year old one on ebay. Hmm. But dd wouldn't sleep in a moses basket, was not great in a crib either... so I will definitely be watching these on ebay for a bit.

By the way, I am 15 + 4 and have just weighed myself - have put on 121bs - that's nearly a stone.

But I don't feel fat, just preggers, so I'm not going to worry too much. Also, have to start walking to work again now as we have just moved office to a place with no parking and I can't afford city centre parking. Should do me good - just means leaving the house at 7.15...

quirkychick I've got the mothercare bedside cot. I don't think it's the best one out there though, but also don't think was v expensive. It has several mattress height options, but none were exactly the same height as our bed. So we ended up having his mattress slightly higher than ours, and had the cot bars up just halfway while he slept. Worked out ok actually as meant could push the cot way from my side of the bed when went to loo without risking him rolling out. If totally sideless against your bed you have to wiggle to bed end, or roll over DH, neither really an option after a c-section!! With it pulled up next to my side of the bed I could still lift him out over the lowered bar without getting out of bed, and it acted as a bed guard when he slept actually in our bed.

I didn't bother at all with a moses basket and he went into the cot the first night home. We did have a plastic cot divider to make a smaller sleeping space. As you have to place them with feet at the end of the cot, he'd have been way down the bottom with a tiny amount of sheet when tiny, and nowhere near me which was whole point of the bedside cot!

Morning!

Timette & Biccy - I have heard some people say it did nothing for their bubs. But DS slept in it a dream (especially when away at Xmas for a week when he was only 14 weeks old). I have since leant it to a friend who said it helped her DD sleep. I also recommended it to another friend whose DD would not sleep (she was a preemie) unless she was in someones arms. She was tearing her hair out, her DD went in and slept 3 hours straight.

So, my first hand experience of it is fab.

The only downside comes to when you try taking them out of it and putting them into a cot that is obviously still. Caused problems for a few nights, but DS settled pretty quickly.

I have such lovely memories over how long I agonized over what to buy...I read magazines, online reviews, went to soo many baby shops (although avoided baby show at earls court like the plague)...happy days! Such exciting times. All the first timers..enjoy!

As this is my 3rd and I got rid of everything last time around to a needy first-timer whose partner had left her penniless and 7 months pg (!), a very dear friend of mine whose youngest child is just over 1 has sent me a list of everything she has that she can give to me FOC! I have borrowed a moses basket and stand and need to buy a cheap cot (have loads of other single beds in the house so don't need a cot bed this time). Other than that, I have coming to me cot top changer, nappy bin, complete travel system with infant car seat, isofix infant car seat, steriliser, bottle warmers, activity mats, toys, baby bouncers, plus a heap of unisex clothes. Then I've got mates saying if its a boy/girl - we've got loads of baby clothes!! Absolute result!! So, I need to buy some blankets, muslin square (an essential), nappies, the toiletry bits and probably will be there!!!

hello, wow! trying to catch up on the thread, so much chatter, what things to buy, who sleeps with whom! very exciting!

CToFN I noticed you used to commute to Abu Dhabi. I live in Dubai. I can't really imagine doing that as a commute but it seems that it isn't as uncommon as I had at first thought, I've recently met a few people who's spouses have decided to stay in their home country and find it more beneficial for the kids. It must have been grueling though.

I co-slept with my DS. It wasn't intentional I was initially petrified about the whole thing and he started off in a cot with the railing down pushed up against the bed and then in the space of a few days we just ended up sleeping together. As I was BF it worked really well for us and I managed to get a lot more sleep as a consequence. At about a year he started sleeping in his own cot in his room and I sometimes snuggle up with him if he's having a difficult night in the spare bed which we have in his room. His favourite sleeping position seems to be with his head shoved up under my chin with his arm around me.

I don't know what I'll do this time round, I guess it depends on the baby. Hopefully if BF works out well again (which it did only after a very rocky painful start) then we will do something similar again. Of course, I can always hope for one of those illusive babies that you always seem to hear about from smug mummies that sleep 7-7 from 2 weeks old.

Happybunp do they exist babies that sleep 7-7 at 2 weeks - my ds certainly didn't .