The Zoo!

[WinomoreTheFruitbat]

Is it feeding time yet?

pull up a rock or patch of grass and get comfy in our new enclosure!

Page 33 now

We've al gone quiet again Has the meet up been decided for definate now?

Well latest update from the penguin household, Gp did think E has reflux, we are trying infant gaviscon at the moment, which seems to have definately reduced the amount of sick/acid which is a godsend for my washing machine and me E seems to be in less pain, just need him to sleep through the night now He was weighed last Thurs and is now 9lb 10oz so has put on 2lb 3oz since birth and will be 8 weeks on Weds, so he's doing well at last! He even has newborn clothes that are too big for him now, so he's a big boy in his 0-3mths. Now the snow has gone at least we are able to get out and about a bit more, I was going stir crazy stuck in the house all day, I've reorganised my unfinished nursery so many times but it has given me time to make my thank you cards so feeling quite smug about that!
Hope you are all well and just busy

Hey Penguin How is E doing? hope the reflux has improved, K has reflux as well, infant gaviscon is a great help, she is on something called losec as well. Great fun in the turkelton household at the minute, poor A is refusing to feed for us at the moment and screaming the house down quiet a bit, bringing her to the doctor in the morning and hopefully she will have some answers for us

Hope everybody is well, keep meaning to catch up properly but there is always something going on at the moment, K was in hospital after having a bad turn, is doing great now though except for the reflux which is quiet bad, promise will get to catch up soon xxx

Hello ladies , apologies for absence. We have been settling into a new routine with work and nursery. All going well, E seems to love nursery and I am putting up with work .

Fruity good job on the wheeler dealering with the jeep !

giraffe are you loving the iPhone ? My DP gave me his old one to use and after a reluctant start I have to admit that it is pretty good

panda how are you my lovely ? Hope you are having a relaxed start to the year xx

Penguin good news that E seems to be responding well to drugs. My friend's baby had reflux and it is a killer seeng them in so much pain - she had to try various combinations of drugs to get it controlled - in the end she had to give up BF as it turned out that her DD has a milk allergy. She is now 1 and all is well but it was a tough time for them. Big hugs and fingers crossed he doesn't have it too badly xx

I am insanely of you ladies meeting up and all of the FB messages . Hope you all have a lovely time - I'd love to be there xx

I'm so sorry I've not been around for so long. The days seem to pass so quickly and I don't find much online time.

Hippo So pleased all is going well and that E us enjoying nursery. We'll miss you at meet up .
Turk Any luck at the docs this am? Hope you've got the support you need. The girls are looking gorgeous.
Penguin I STILL haven't found time for thank you cards. I'll never get around to writing the Christmas ones .
Fruit I'm desperate for an Iphone - I'll then be able to get online during the day. Can G make the meet up? Send her my love. V. of your hol plans. I'd love a break but really don't want to fly - I hate it.
Panda How are you feeling? Have you booked a B&B yet? We're thinking of staying overnight too.

No news here other than the snow is starting to fall again - buggar. Hope schools aren't going to close again. I'm enjoying having DP and DD free time .

hi ladies
looks like things are picking back up here
all is well with us i am back doing my diet and it is gong REALLY well i have now lost 11lb and counting (again)
hi to everypne
ei xx

OMG Panda that is brilliant weight loss - what a postitive start to the year - well done you xx

hyena fingers crossed the snow stops and you can continue to enjoy the peace

well done panda! 11lbs, thats brill, I have no will power at all when it comes to dieting

well doctor reckons A has reflux as well and has put her on gaviscon too, not sure I agree though cause K is being treated for reflux and her symptoms are so different if no improvement by friday think i may go back
Hope everybody else is doing well xxx

11 lbs! I'm struggling to lose any weight at the moment, far too cold for diet food!
Well done to you ei I'm seriously impressed! and quite

Hyena G can't make it unfortunately. Why do you hate flying? It's my favourite mode of travel - best part of the holiday!

We finally got a car at the weekend, an old bmw 318 coupe. It's not really my taste, but drives like a dream I'm hoping to get myself a nice practical car soon - either a c-max or an octavia, depending on car finance options. My local Ford dealer is doing 0% finance on all used cars for up to 5 years but I haven't found out what the catch is yet...
Plus will have to wait until after our holiday as all spare money will have to go towards that

All this talk of weightloss - mine fell off initally but over Christmas I've been piling it back on. I really need to think about the amount of crap I'm eating.
TMI - I have awful piles. Anyone else suffered? Any tips??
Fruit Woohoo for car. I feel so tense the whole time I'm flying. It scares the crap out of me. I'm awful with heights but I'm also convinced the plane will fall out of the sky.
Turk Hope A is better v soon.
Panda Well done love. That's really amazing!
Hippo How is E doing at nursery?

Well, penguin is going to kick me in the shin for this but J slept from 930 until 6 this morning. Felt amazing when I woke up but my were VERY sore. He'll prob wake every hour tonight to make up for it!

hi ladies

hyena sorry bout the piles DH suffers badly il find out what he uses cos i dont like to ask usually also i booked in at the travelodge in oxford and it was £50 for the three of us with breakfast which is ALOT cheaper than most B&Bs around there. it is a 10 min drive from jambinos aswell if we are still meeting there obv its the wheatley one if you are gonna check too as there are 2 within 15 miles of eachother
turk hope the girls feel better soon
penguin glad things are going well. hope E feels better soon! reflux seems to be so common recently, almost everyone i know IRL who has had a baby recently has been told their child has reflux hope it settles down soon
hi to everyone else
xx ei xx

Hello animals!

I last started a message to you all between christmas and new year which I never managed to finish, and now it's horribly out of date so I'll start again! Dh on duty tonight as I did last night, whooppeeeee!

Mamafox I'm cold!

Ei am so impressed with your weightloss! But obviously gutted to hear your other news, just can't believe how much you've been through. Will you see your mc consultant soon even though you've decided to put ttc on the back burner for a bit?(Which, by the way, fwiw, I reckon is a very brave and very sensible decision) Can't wait to meet you & S in RL next month!

Fruity Aww what a lovely thing to say about photos of T, thank you! Which ones were they? Fantastic that you got so much for your jeep and that it all worked out, DH sold his old car on ebay for far more than we expected and the b**stard never turned up to collect/pay for it! Grrrrr...

Turk am still in awe and wonder that you're not only coping with 2 babies but managing to post on here as well! Hope they're both ok now, T has refulx too, though given how many babies seem to have it I do wonder how often it's misdiagnosed, like you said....

Hyena - or should that be FarmerHyena? No tips sorry though (how's this for tmi.... brace yourselves ladies) I don't have piles, but I do have a fissure... [GRIM] Like broken glass every time I 'go' Urgh. My daughter has ruined me!

Giraffe am so of your massages! But glad to hear N is doing so well. How are you doing with BLW? We'll hopefully be starting in a month or so! Are you going to make it to Oxford?

Impala Did you do BLW too? Hope E's sleeping a bit better now. I (sadly) now have a much deeper understanding of what you and Giraffe have ben going through, in fact I've just started a thread on the sleep topic. I think T's teething and over the last week or so she's been waking anything from 3 times a night to every hour. Am buggered! Especially as I'm now working occasionally and back full time from 8th feb. T's starting with a childminder Am dreading it but nothing to be done about it so just need to get on with it and stop moaning, or that's what I keep telling myself anyway!

Hippo I really feel for you with E starting nursery, as you can see from my post to Impala I know exactly how you feel I hope in time we'll have another baby and then after that I think I'm going to have to startb looking for a new career. It's just not possible to work part time in any meaningful may with my job. No idea what I could do though, or whether I'd be able to find anything that would pay enough to make it possible Ah well. Am more than aware of how lucky we are.

Penguin glad you're finding the gaviscon helpful, it certainly made a big difference to T. Am really looking forward to seeing you in Feb too, and to having my first cwutch with E, M's I and H's J Think that's all he arrivals since last we met? Poor babies, they'll be passed from pillar to post!

Right. Dinner I think, before our little horror is up again... [on-my-knees emoticon]

xx

By the way, here is the thread I started in case you're interested. Any/all suggestions welcome! xx

Nemo Sorry you're having sleepless nights. I remember L going through something similar at 9 months and it was exhausting. Hope you had a better night last night. I have the exact same problem which I put down to piles but I've been told it's actually a Fisher (??) which is a small cut which re-opens every time you go to the loo. GP friend told me that it's good to take a softner for a few weeks whilst it repairs.
Ei I still haven't looked at B&Bs. I'll get on the case this week.

All this talk of fissures and piles. I now realise c-sections are the way to go. seriously girls, no stitches (down there anyway) no bladder probs, bits all in tact, get to choose baby's birthday. It's all very civilised you know. Don't quite keep all ones dignity though as you have to have a catheter shoved up there just book yourselves in next time ladies
Too posh to push? Well yes, actually I am

Hello girlies

I am in the house ON MY OWN, a luxury these days I'm sure you will all agree. DP has taken N out for a few hours so I am trying to make the most of it.

Hyena I suffered terribly when I was pg and ended up in bed! I found the best thing was cream plus a cotton pad with which hazel on which could be left on the..ahem... offending area. It was a tip i got from good ol' MN! Really helped. Also Prune Juice keeps everything soft (yuk)

Nemo Great to 'see' you. Yes we are planning to come on the 27th and have persuaded DP to help with the driving. BLW weaning is great but takes some patience. N currently has a cold so most food is going on the floor as he's just not interested.

I totally feel for you with the sleep - we are still not getting enough. Looked at your thread and agree teething gel better when it's really keeping them up. Also have found with the whole nurofen/calpol thing that Calpol is better for us as you can re-dose after 4 hours.

I have spent many hours trying to 'work it out' and have come to the conclusion that there is so much going on for them developmentally and they are still so new in the world. Some babies sleep well from very early and some take longer. I can't tell you the amount of people that have suggested an extra blanket, more food, dummy/no dummy, less naps etc etc etc. A friend even asked this week if N was sleeping better now that he'd got into his door bouncer. I just don't think it's a simple as that.

I know all of this probably isn't making you feel any better - sorry about that. Luckily I don't have to go to work, if I did I would consider sleep training or CC I think.

Sorry about that - it turned into a bit of a rant!!

Fruit At last we hear the truth about you being too posh to push - are you actually a wag and all this talk of childminding is just a ruse to fit in with us normal people?

EI Wow on the weight loss - well done you, that is brilliant. How's the job going?

Penguin Hope E is a little better. Sounds like you are hankering after some sleep too, hope it's not too bad.

Hello to everyone else, I'm sorry but my rant has used up a bit of time so I need to get the parsnips in the oven for lunch.

Had a night off last night and feel like a sleep junkie who's fallen off the wagon - I want MORE MORE MORE!!

Meeting my boss this week to chat about possible jobs but honestly it's a nod to considering going back to work so I will soon be an official SAHM! eek! We will be poor but happy.

Hello ladies !

Hyena E is settling in well and seems to love nursery which is a relief. It doesn't make me feel any less bad for leaving him though . Oh and you may have noticed on FB that he has started walking - sooo funny ! He staggers with his arms outstretched

Fruit I'm with you on the 'too posh to push' - that fissure malarky sounds nasty !!!

giraffe lucky you being a SAHM !! I hope you enjoyed your peace and quiet

and finally Nemo so lovely to hear from you. Sorry about sleeplessness but I have to say it sounds as if you have been spoiled so far !! I read your thread and for teething we use A&P power and gel then if he still wakes up I resort to calprofen - usually works a treat. E has always been a dodgy sleeper - he didn't sleep through the night until 6 months old and even then it has been on and off. Lately he has been a nightmare but he starting to get his molars through (1 appeared last week). TBH I am used to getting up now so am more than likely in a permanent state of sleepiness but no longer notice !! Other than teething we just try a wee cuddle (lately that is all it has taken as it seems that he suffers from separation anxiety at night ..). There is nothing worse than losing out on sleep and it is 10 x worse when you know you have to work in the morning - big hugs xx

Evening ladies,
Sorry, I went a bit AWOL recently. A combination of E not sleeping (so what's new!) and lots of work. But I am very much looking forward to our meet-up in Oxford next month!
Nemo Lovely to "see" you and I agree that T looks absolutely gorgeous. Can't wait to meet her IRL. In answer to your questions, I didn't do BLW with E (she was so hungry all the time and impatient I don't think she would have coped with it at all!). She thrived on purees and is now eating what we're eating, just cut up into smaller pieces if necessary. As for the sleep, see above, although she has been better over the past couple of weeks. I actually have my evenings back rather than spending all my time settling her. I know what you mean about wakings in the early hours though as she does regularly wake then and it's a struggle to get her back off to sleep. Like Hippo says, I think she suffers from night-time separation anxiety because if I need to get up to go to the loo (we co-sleep) she wakes instantly and screams the house down. Whereas in the evening I can leave her without any problems and in the mornings too if I happen to wake before she does. Very strange. I agree with Giraffe that there is so much going on developmentally all the time and some babies just cope better than others. But December/early January was very hard work and I was struggling at times. Apologies for those of you who may have this yet to come around the walking stage... I've been getting one cold on top of another because I've been so run down. The lack of sleep is horrible - at least I can just stagger to my PC and work but I feel for you having to go out to work. Hope she settles down soon.
I do have a suggestion for teething though - have you thought about getting T an amber necklace? They're very popular in France and are becoming more popular over here. The amber is meant to help somehow and since E has had hers (at 8 months) she has had no problems with teething. She even had one molar come through without us noticing until she opened her mouth! Just another suggestion.
Sorry to hear about your fissure by the way - ouch! The scars we have to bear for our little bundles of joy
Hippo Glad E is settling well and enjoying nursery. It is hard leaving them though, it wrenches my heart every time I leave E behind and she only goes for 6 hours! Well done on the walking too - they're so funny aren't they? E walks around outside with her arms in a police "hands up" position She's more stable inside and now carries her toys and stuff from one room to another.
Giraffe Hope you enjoyed your day off. My DH took E to see his mum yesterday so I had a day to myself too, it was lovely, although I didn't do much as I was recovering from a really weird bug on Friday afternoon which gave me a temp of 39 for a few hours and then went away, leaving me with aches and a cold. I really thought I had flu and I'm so glad I don't!
Good for you becoming a SAHM Sorry to hear that N's sleeping is still causing you problems. Like you, I've had all the well-meaning comments. I've found the MN sleep threads most reassuring, and also the Dr Sears and Jay Gordon websites very helpful. Although we have yet to find an illness-free week to implement the night-weaning tips...
Ei Well done on the weightloss, fantastic!
Turkelton Hope the girls are better soon, and Penguin's E too. Like Ei I have a couple of RL friends whose babies have been diagnosed with reflux too, it seems to be very common.
Hyena Thanks for your comment on FB - E loves her snowsuit and goes to fetch it as soon as I tell her we're going out then lies down on it in an attempt to put it on! Hope J is still sleeping well.
Hi to Mamafox too, hope you're OK and enjoying your summer. It seems so far away here with all the grey cloud and cold. At least the days are getting noticeably longer now though.
Anyway, better get myself off to bed in case this is one of E's unsettled nights... Night all!

Hi all! gosh you're all busy I'm almost up to speed. nothing major here, 'I' is doing well with the weaning and eats loads! we still have a busy social calendar. off the Tiny Tots this avo. We took her swimming for the 1st time yesterday, she was incredibly cute, she really is so confident and takes to new activities/experiences like a duck to water, she's no delicate flower! just like her Mum! still no luck with her sleeping through, we currently put her down at 7pm, she wakes for a feed at 2am 'ish then for dummy at 6am finally i get her up at 7am. Any tricks you lucky mummies with sleeping babies want to share? she's basically 6 months now.

if any of you need to add dp/dhs to the fb list fruit created please do so we can book etc really looking forward to seeing/meeting you in Feb!

How are we all doing? It seems the meet up arrangements have made is all decamp to fb.

nemo hope we haven't scared you off with our talk of bad sleepers. Is she improving at all? I hope it's just a little phase she's going through.

Oh blast! Why doesn't N get he needs to amuse himself while Mummy is MN'ing!! Pesky children.

impala I feel for you, so much harder when you have a cold. You sounded tired.

Must go as the squawking has esculated. N seems to be going through quite a clingy stage. Wants to be held ALL the time.

Waves to all.

Go on......treat yourself to a post.

I'm treating myself but I think the treat ends here.....whinge, whinge, whine. (Wine - yum - but it's only 1030am )

Saw some of the FB messages. I'm happy to go along with whatever. Eating times/sleep times not such a problem with L anyway and J has no routine. Can't wait.

hi ladies
im in work at the mo so is anyone around to amuse me??

i am soooo looking forward to the meet up

DH was made redundant again by text message on NYE so we are very very skint at the mo due to the total lack of jobs out there for electricians. good job i booked and paid for the hotel as that means DH cant make excuses not to go and if he does, me and DD will come along on the train

hope everyone is ok

Hello ladies, it is very quiet in here, sorry I haven't been around but I just don't know where time has gone!
Nemo How's the sleeping going?
Panda Sorry I wasn't around to amuse you yesterday, more pants news about DH's redundancy again! I suppose the things is wherever he goes now it's always last in first out Hope he finds something very very soon.
Impala Are you feeling better? Sounds like you need a little pick-me-up I prescribe some quality me time and sleep! (Like you'll get it??)
Giraffe I am very disappointed that you haven't trained N to entertain himself when you are MNing yet! All these different stages I have to come are getting me quite edgy!
Hippo How are you coping with E walking? Have you developed eyes in the back of your head yet

Well E is definately not letting this reflux problem affect his weight, he's finally starting to fit into his 0-3mths clothes, hurray it's only taken 10 weeks! HV advised I put him on hungry baby milk as he was still only going 3 hours between feeds and was therefore having 7/8 feeds in a day, no wonder he's starting to put weight on so quickly! He's now going on average 4 hrs, sometimes if I take him out for a walk in the pram he will go longer. The other night he actually went 7 hrs but unfortunately it was 8.30pm-3.30pm and I didn't go to sleep until 11.00pm so I didn't get the full benefit Never mind I will not be of Hyena who is now getting more sleep at night it will happen for us hopefully, eventually, maybe!!!

Shame on me! I had to do an advanced search for our thread

I'm so excited about our meet-up in .......2 weeks and 3 days, woohoo!

Nothing majorly interesting happening my end but just wanted to say I'm still here

J is turning out to be a very impatient, stressy baby, which DH reckons is from me as ("ask my mother") he was very chilled out as a baby
Ah well, gotta get something from me!
J has taken to shouting to demand what he wants and has proper tantrums which, at the moment, is quite funny really.
He's worked out how to turn the TV off and, just to really wind his big bro up, he turns off the playstation mid game (har har har ) I think people could start to go off J if he's not lucky
He stood up by himself for about 3 seconds on Monday. He was sitting on my knee (I was on the floor) and we were at the library listening to a story being told. All of a sudden he just stood up, without any support I think he was trying to see the book as we were behind a few other children.
I wonder if he'll be walking soon as C was definitely walking before his first birthday.
It's a bit sad as that means my proper little baby will be heading towards toddlerdom

What else? err nothing really apart from trying to lose the christmas bulge so I can fit into my pre christmas clothes again. I keep weaning myself off sugar then relapsing as "friends" keep buying me chocolate and it'd be rude not to eat it.

Do any of you have cleaners? I was just wondering the rough cost and how many hours etc.... I had a cleaner growing up and as a result, I'm utterly crap at cleaning and hate it with a passion. My flat is permanently dusty! I also barely have the time as I can't do it while all the children are here - they get in the way.
I was thinking of getting someone to come for a couple of hours a week while I'm at a playgroup. It's such a tiny flat, it shouldn't take long at all.

I'm wondering whether or not to go out with the mums from school tonight. We do it every month and it's always very local but one of the mums suggested going to the next town (Tooting) which would mean a bus/tube home and it's bloody freezing!
I'm always a bit weary of going out on a school night

Better go and pick up my PFB up from school
Cheerio!

I'm hoping to get more MN time over the next few weeks. I'm suffering with withdrawal symptoms.
Started a bedtime routine and trying to get them both settled by 730ish - have already resettled J twice and I imagine I'll be up and downstairs all evening but it'll be worth it.
Nothing new here - J is 3 months old today and had second jabs this week. He's full of a cold but otherwise ok - very smiley and starting to giggle. A totally different personality to his sister at that age.
Love to all - looking forward to meet up. Only two weeks .