November 2010: Welcome to life on the other side

[bunnygirl80]

Pull up a chair and help yourself to a LARGE glass of wine

Welcome to the dark side the wonderful world of motherhood

hmm I have a bugaboo bee (not the bee plus) and absolutely love it. Think it was £369 new with the cocoon which is a lot cheaper than the new model.
It's v narrow so perfect for bus journeys and really each to push due to good suspension. Have had lots of oohs and ahhs over it from Finns nana ( who has 5 children) over how lovely and easy to push/ use it is.

Only downside i found that although it's light it is a bit awkward to carryif you need to up stairs etc as nothing to really hold on to, but think that will be easier once i have it forward facing.

sgj i think have only ever been there at rush hour so hope you are right about it not being too bad at other times.

Have no idea what Finn weighs, he was just over 13 lbs at 9.5 weeks. His growth does seem to have slowed down a bit though. Must be nearly 15lb now i guess, but i would guess ,ost of his weight must be his giant head and also length as not massively chubby.

He had jabs yesterday and amazingly has coped better than last time without even a temperature, so v pleased.

jenni have given up trying to order my lamaze from amazon. It hates me. Once have moved will make an effort to track one down.

In other good news ( for me) redundancy all sorted bar the actual payment. It shoud fingers crossed mean i don't have to get a job til November( was going back early sept) and can put some away for mortgage deposit.

Also - finn regulalry sleeping 8-9 hours. < hopes talking about it doesn't jinx it>

Really must get off mumsnet and pack

Perhaps just a quick peek at AIBU first?

Ooh, I've just started an AIBU thread, the normal conclusion is that indeed I am, but at least I admit it!

Thanks for the good wishes, Norry is almost back to normal now. He went off to the CM this morning as cheerfully as ever and I am sitting at home praying that he drank some milk from a bottle otherwise I'm going to have to delay going back to work as CM refuses to take him unless he'll drink something during the day.

Lainey, your roundabout sounds like great fun! I'm sure you'll get on just fine with it once the move's out of the way. Now get packing

hmm that party sounds like my idea of hell fun Glad everyone had enjoyed themselves.

SGJ Ooh, good tip about looking at baby pictures, I'll try that this afternoon. You're definitely right, Norry was just being a bit cuddly yesterday, not surprisingly with his sore tummy. I'm still not used to this mother lark though and some days it just feels like being a bit much when every time you pop him down, or move out of the line of sight, it results in wailing He was much better by yesterday evening thank goodness.

Thanks everyone for congrats on the driving test and Lainey I really feel for you on the roundabout- on my final lesson before I passed, I completely had a mini-breakdown at a mini-roundabout and nearly started crying!
James (4 months tomorrow) isn't rolling yet either, although I have got excited the couple of times he's rolled onto his side... but he has got a tooth! I feel a bit mean because he was clearly teething last week and I wasn't very sympathetic as DD was teething for months before she finally got a tooth at 9 months- then lo and behold a tooth popped through.

Fen we've got a clingon here too! it gets very frustrating.. I had F sitting in maxicosy in the bathroom today while having a shower!

Congrats Lainy :)

I love to take a shower with h. he sits in his bouncy chair while i wash, then i bring him in. It so lovely snuggling skin to skin.

h (14 weeks) doesn't roll or anything yet. he makes up for it by being so smiley and chatty

Will be BLW here too. Did it with ds2 - started about 5 months when he grabbed and scoffed a banana I was eating!

Got to see thr GP today and finally after going back 3 times he has now started to sort out the paperwork to refer Isaac to a specialist for his eczema so fingers crossed we might be able to get to the bottom of the matter and start using something that will help clear it up even a little bit.

DP finally fed Isaac for the first time a none milk feed. We thought give the baby rice a rest and try one of the jars we got last night, I swear he ate it down so fast tho then again I guess creamy chicken is alot more interesting to eat over dull baby rice

Oh b00kw0rm dont talk about mini roundabouts they are evil haha, we have a double one here in Norwich and they make you use it on test bloody pointless things

AIBU? Sorry if I'm being a dunce....but what's that??

Was indeed very excited when Evie rolled over.....but for ladies whose babies are happy to stay on their backs for now, make the most of it! Literally everytime she is put down on her back, be it in her cot, under play mat etc, she immediately rolls over! I'm very pleased she's able to do it......however she hasnt yet mastered the rolling back part! Cue - an unhappy baby stuck on her tummy every few minutes! So where she used to happily lie and play for a while at a time on her own, I'm now in and out every 2 minutes rolling her back! Gonna start working on the rolling jack now :)

Well done on passing driving test b00kw0rm

Just washed and dried my hair and am sure I've got half of what I started with left :(!

Sorry I meant congrats BOOKWORM!

rinnyx - that's good :)

bean - nightmare! hopefully she will learn front to back soon!

babybean AIBU = am i being unreasonable? If you haven't seen it before one of my fave parts of mn to lurk. Lots of bunfights and people generally telling each other they are being unreasonabke for thinking or doing x

hmm I've got the Bugaboo cameleon. It's great now Will's in the seat cos it flips from facing out to facing me so easily. I face him out when he's awake and looking around and towards me when he's sleepy. The only downside is that it takes up the whole of our car boot (and we have a massive car) so it's not so great if you're going anywhere where you want to take luggage/buy anything. It's not been a massive problem so far as I just put Will in his ergo carrier if we're shopping, but it'll be a pita if ever we're going away anywhere

I've just finished mopping the kitchen floor after Will decided he'd join in with us eating dinner. I'm pretty sure he's almost ready for solids so I'm letting him take baby friendly stuff off our plates if he chooses to just to see what he does with it. He stole a couple of bits of pasta off DH's plate this evening and sucked all the sauce off them, unfortunately in attempting to grab them several other bits of pasta ended up on the floor. Then he wiped his sauce covered hands all over the table. Was going to by a high chair and spoons and bowls etc at the weekend, think I need to add a large tarpaulin to the shopping list as well

Did anybody watch One Born Every Minute last night? Very sad story of the lady who lost one baby when she was 6 weeks old, and the next one was stillborn .

The picture of the stillborn baby will haunt me forever. I have decided never to moan again for being tired or having a clingy baby!

hello all :)

congrats on passing driving test bookworm

wow at all these eating babies, merryn is showing no signs of wanting food, and is only taking 20oz of formula a day, somedays not even that much!! i took her to clinic today tho and she is 14lb 3oz so has put on a lb in a month and despite not having much milk is a very content little baby, sleepign really well, tho as RINNY will tell you if there is anything going on she is a nosey parker and will fight to stay awake! i think she is just going to be long and lean, pretty much out of 3-6mth clothes lengthwise now at just 12wks, cant believe on the 5th march she will be three months exactly and on the 15th march ds4 will be 3yrs old how time flies!

jenni i have two episodes of OBEM to catch up on, not sure if want to now :(

re highchairs, all fourmadboys have a stoke trip trap chair, they are expensive BUT we have really found them very good,, used everyday by all of them, totally adjustable so they can all sit at the table and they are meant to be very good for posture etc, i am sitting on one now and it is very comfy we will be getting one for dd.

oh merryn not showing signs of rolling, but the other day she kicked her feet and there was a cracker packet under them she LOVED the noise and the proceeded to kick like mad, very cute but she squashed all the crackers to smitherines and as they were open some came out and made a big mess she also loves her baby gym and now grabs the toys and tries to put them in her mouth :)

Thats still good tho isnt is 4mad I mean Isaac has just put on over a lb in 3 weeks and you see he eats like a pig

Oh does anyone have the Quinny Zapp? I am debating on getting it come the end of the year if DS is not walking by then as I really dont fancy DP and I taking turns to hold him as we go about HK, I have seen them for as low as £120 new online
I might see if I can find one in stores tomorrow to test it out

Congrats bookworm!

Thanks very much indeed to everyone for expressing tips, those are really helpful. It's hard finding time in the day at the moment - also the reason I don't get to post enough! But I am lurking regularly...

Ned hasn't rolled yet although he kind of wobbles onto his side from time to time, and if he's on his tummy will roll onto his back, definitely not on purpose though!

Hmm I have a Bee, it's about 2 years old and I got it from ebay - if you don't mind secondhand then they have some good bargains there, mine was £250 including the cocoon so pretty good value. I love it and it's v handy for buses etc as others have said.

Thanks for pushchair tips! Can't decide between the bee and the cameleon. I like the size of the bee and think it'd be better most of the time but am worried about the small wheels. This year I found it impossible to push the maclaren through the snow, the P&T with it's big wheels was much easier and living in the countryside means we tend to be pushing it along dirt tracks and over grass too. Have you tried your bee on any of these? Hoping it's the last pushchair I'll ever buy so want to get it right! Bunny Is it annoying having to take the seat off the cameleon before folding it? I feel like I'm constantly having to load pushchairs in and out of cars so if it's a nuisance to fold then that might be out too.

yes rinny, merryns weight gain is good, 4oz a week so they are happy with that, funny isnt it that she can eat so little and yet still put on a lb and isaac eats so much more! crazy!

re pushchairs i wouldnt have thought the bee would be good on rough ground, ihave a frog, basically the old version of the chameleon, have had it 6yrs and used it for 3 kids and its still going strong! we love it, merryn just fits in the carrycot still but will have to put her in the seat soon as she is so long! i use it with the frog buggy board for ds4 and its a doddle to push. it is a bit of a pita taking seat off but i went to london with mine with merryn recently and it was fine, depite having to fold it as there was a bus for part the journey due to works on the line

rinny i know people who dont like the zap as it tips very easily apparently and doesnt lie back at all, not good for babies/toddlers that like to sleep.

have you thought about the micralight? they are meant to be good, i have a friend with one and she loves it.

Oh I'll look it up online later when I get on the comp (on phone right now) and have to get DD from cello class now really lol
Will have a nose in mothercare and boots tomorrow

Can't believe it was a year ago today I got my BFP!! Time has gone so fast! Evie celebrated by waking up 3 times between 10pm and 7.30am where she would normally wouldn't have woken once! Ouch :(
Did greet me with lots of smiles and chatter now tho so she's forgiven :)

Advice re: pushchairs hmm....as you'll see from my FB status yesterday, I would reckomend a 'smaller' pushchair so your able to fit it into stupid sized doors and avoid the risk of confrontation with ignorant childless idiots!!

Oh and that's for AIBU info....will have a look :)

hmm it only takes 2 seconds to take the seat off the cam so it doesn't really bother me. It fits better in our boot if I put the chassis in first, so it can be a bit of a faff taking the seat off, putting it to one side, folding the chassis, then putting the seat in the boot, but TBH it's very very rare that I try and load it all neatly into the boot. Normally I just lob it all in and listen to it all rattling around every time I go around a corner

Has anyone tried to introduce a comfort object to their babies? Will's started wanting to self-settle in his cot rather than being rocked to sleep, but he likes to hold my fingers as he drifts off. It's all fine until he stirs and wants my fingers back. I think he might sleep better if I could just replace my fingers with something that can stay in his cot with him. I've tried giving him a little fleecy square to hold, but he doesn't seem impressed. If anyone has any bright ideas as to what to give him and how to encourage him to use it instead of me I'd love to hear them

Well done bookworm! Can't believe all of these rolling and eating babies. Astrid is showing no inclination to roll (is 16 weeks tomorrow) and is happy with milk for the moment. Although, she does stare intently when I am eating, it's like having my very own Gilliam McKeith .

Finally got her weighed today (last time was early Jan) and she's now 13lb 6oz. Has dropped a down from 75ctl to 50th, but seems happy so I'm not too fussed - but HV has instructed me to come back next month to check she's not fallen any further. A is still a happy chappy, in 6-9 month clothes which are very baggy but do fit her length wise. I put a 3-6 sleepsuit on her yesterday as she had "slimed" all of her bigger ones and she kept bursting open the poppers at her legs like a mini incredible hulk.

It was my eldest's 6th birthday on Tues, complete with birthday tea and hyper kids. To be topped off with a visit to the cinema with 5 small girls, plus Astrid tomorrow to see Gnomeo and Juliet. It's a INSET day here tomorrow, so I thought it would be a good way to entertain them otherwise I'd be forced to play 3D Snakes & Ladders alllll day!

You've just reminded me I need to get Lottie weighed Boris, last time I took her was at 12 weeks, she's now 19 weeks, Oops, sure I'll get round to it eventually! And happy birthday to your Dd!

Bunny and 4mad you've convinced me, have just put a bid on a cameleon on ebay so will see how it goes. Figure it can't be any more of a PITA to get into the car than the phil & teds.

Hope they get Isaac's eczema sorted Rinny, poor little man.

Bunny, Dd1 has a ted that she's had from a week old, she still takes him to bed with her every night and sniffs it's paw to get to sleep. It used to be white and fluffy but now looks rather grey and mangled, he gets included in any pictures she draws of the family. It's great but also has a downside, I live in fear of losing him, so if you do introduce something so specific I highly recommend buying a few and rotating them on the sly so they all wear in the same way!Ds used to snuffle muslin squares which was easier as he didn't care which one, unfortunately he was shoving too much in his mouth and the gp and dentist both advised us to take them away, so that was a very distressing few days .
Lottie sucks her thumb which again can't decide if good or bad, I've heard it can cause buck teeth and cause problems with speech, but I've spoken to 2 friends who are dentists and they say not to worry, so yay! They all have definitely helped with settling to sleep though. If I did it again I would maybe insist that soother stayed in bed at all times, apart from the thumb of course .

Bean AIBU is the best place to hang out it's normally hysterical and occasionally thought provoking but always worth a nosy. It's also a massive time waster so be warned!

Rinny how worrying, hope his eczema gets cleared up soon.

Just to add to the pushchair debate, I love my high trek but we also got a maclaren for travel as the ht takes up the whole boot! It's lovely to push though and surprisingly narrow (although quite long).

Happy birthday to little Boris!

We haven't found a doudou (as they call them here) that Norry likes yet. CM does recommend we find one though as it makes it easier for her to settle the babies. I'm currently sleeping with a Sophie the giraffe soft toy and a lovely square comforter from my best friend to give them my smell and we'll try to introduce them again. He also has discovered his thumb hmm which I'm also not really too keen on as I sucked my thumb until an age that I am thoroughly ashamed of and had braces (my nose took years to stop being skew-iff too). But as he spits any dummy straight back out I suppose we'll have to live with it.

Bit of a rocky couple of days here. Norry still refuses to take a bottle from the CM so I've taken him out for now (actually she won't keep him, so no choice). I'm going to (try to) give him the bottle for the feeds he should have during the day and breast feed the rest. CM reckons it should take about a week for him to get the hang of it. Fingers crossed as I was really looking forward to going back to work, and if I do need to take parental leave at the moment it will be unpaid as the bloody social security haven't processed my dossier yet - it's only been 9 months. :( and