September 2010 - meet-ups, pram addicts and the cutest babies in the world!

[Chelle1986]

Am taking the innitiative and doing the new thread! Bombs away...!

Oh Jodey, there should be a 'hug' symbol on here.. Don't feel too disheartened about the weight-loss. Your hormones are probably still having a strange effect, so maybe it'll just take a bit longer to kick in. And even if you don't loose weight straight away, doing some aerobic excercise will definitely make you fitter and give you more energy. I'm v impressed by what you've done - I've been walking lots (and lifting Louis all day long) but I haven't found the motivation to go for a run or get on my bike at all since Louis was born. And as for the bad night, hopefully it's just a one-off. If your dh's at home today, maybe he can look after Harlyn for a bit so you can catch up on some rest... Hope you have fun with your friend.

clumsy we are in East Yorkshire.
I managed to get her in it last night and it didn't slip but it's not ideal.

Jodey I have struggled with my weight most of my life. I have successfully lost weight 4 times in my life. once through weightwatchers, I lost 25 pounds over a year but only went down 1 dress size. I then put 3 stone on the year after when ds was diagnosed with autism.
The other 3 times was when I was pregnant with the girls. DD2 was the best, I lost 57lbs during that pregnancy.
Don't get too disheartened, it is harder to lose weight during winter and you aren't getting enough sleep so your body is stockpiling to give you energy. Keep up the exercise then at least you are getting fitter and healthier

Hi all, sorry to hear of the sleep- and weight-related tribulations! I think maple and Debs75 have the rit of it - even if the weight doesn't come off right away, at least getting the exercise in will be good all round. Weight itself, or indeed dress size, isnt the be-all and end-all, after all - health and fitness and overall energy is! My tum is still a bit roly-poly and soft, which is a bit annoying sometimes, but we had a family occasion yesterday and people said how well I seemed and that sort of thing has got to be the main thing rather than baby weight I reckon.

It was my niece's christening yesterday, so we went to their local church for a service which included 4 little ones being baptised. Very odd it was - extremely evangelical, which is so not my sort of thing at alll - one chap was being prayed over because he's having an operation for oesophageal cancer, and it was like a proper laying on of hands pretty much! Very happy-clappy. There was lots of good spirit and community togetherness happening as well, so I can see some good sides to it, but the thing is that my brother & SIL are really doing this in order to get my niece into the local school. My SIL is catholic by background, dunno how religious she really is, and my brother's pretty much an atheist, so I find it a bit wrong that they're doing this, though it's their choice not mine after all. The wrongness to me is not only that they're doing this for secular reasons, but also that they'll expose their daughter to this sort of very fervent religiosity which goes against the grain for me (none of my business I know) but that I would also have thought it would go against the grain for my brother, and indeed for my SIL. But oh well. That's only my opinion and I wouldn't want to challenge their choices because I don't know what all the possibilities are for them locally.

Anyway after that there was a lot of running around at my sister's house (brother and sister both live very close to each other) to get a lovely lunch together for the family - our lot, SIL's family, the godparents, about 25 in total. Very nice overall but very hectic. We got back home yesterday eve and i'm very glad of the peace and quiet here so we're having a very nice peaceful morning so far!

Horrible horrible horrible morning! what started as a "I will not put my shoes on" escalated to a 90 minute tantrum. I know it was partly my fault as I just snapped and lost it. He just kept saying he was tired so I sent him to bed. we've missed our morning out & I'm just so tired I haven't got the energy to look after them. I know olly sleeps well but he's waking up at 5, half 5. Dh works really hard & last week worked from 6am-5pm everyday. He's on lates this week so will be working 8am-9.30pm everyday except wed. Oh well, tomorrows another day and all will be fine!

Well its day four of baby rice here and it seems to be going well. Sleep has been better the last two nights - whether that is coincidence or anything to do with the four spoons of baby rice - god knows!

We're off swimming this afternoon. Fingers crossed he likes it as much as his baths!

Jodey - I've got so much weight to lose its unreal - but I have no get up and go at the minute!

Also we are starting baby massage tomorrow? What should I expect - has anyone done it?

Olly has been sooooo loud the last week or so! Dont get me wrong he was noisy anyway - chortling all the time - but he's REALLY found his voice now and has different noises for different people and different emotions if you no what I mean - tired, excited etc..

Olly 16+1

Ps re weaning and all the hoo-hah - someone on another thread linked to this good post on the subject:
www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2011/01/starting-solids-facts-behind-todays.html

Chelle Orlaith's become really loud too. I generally find it quite sweet and entertaining but she's also got a very loud shout for when she wants something which is hard to ignore!

JodeyLea I know it must be horrible putting all that effort in and feeling like you've got nothing out of it, but, like others have said, you're doing a fantastic job and it can only be doing good things for your body and your mind. I for one am very impressed that you've managed to do all that. I'm still 16lb heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight and my exercise is getting off the sofa and walking to the kitchen to make another cup of tea!

comix I agree that it seems so wrong to be doing all that essentially for a school place. Especially if this group of people are expecting your niece to become part of their congregation, it would be so hurtful to them too to know they'd been used.
Although I can understand it's difficult wanting your child to have the best possible education but not necessarily having the best school available.
I don't know what we'll do when Orlaith's older because the schools near us aren't fantastic. I don't know of anyone who's been to any of these schools and done well academically. DP wants us to move to Bournville (where the chocolate comes from!) in a few years and I know the schools there are better. Otherwise she's going to hate me making her do extra work at home with me!

My cousin had a little boy yesterday afternoon. I got all emotional hearing about even though I'm not close to her and rarely see her. Got all broody and now the TTC'ing has officially begun!

comix I find all this so pressurising, despite the fact Orlaith's ff not bf. My sister's DD is EBF and is 4 months today so lots of people have been saying things to her about these 'findings'.

Firstly, I honestly don't see why people think that their opinions matter to my sister. She's hardly going to read lots of weaning info, read about studies, look at the medical evidence etc, then have her uncle say he thinks she should be weaning her now and think "oh, he's right, why have I been getting a balanced look at things and making my own decision, I'll do what he thinks".

Secondly, since doing so much stats through A levels and now doing a stats degree, I've realised that you can never really trust any statistical outcomes unless you've done it yourself from the raw data. We even did pretty much a whole module at uni on how you can manipulate any data to show what you want it to show depending on what method you use and how you eliminate anomalies. We even used studies that has been widely accepted by the medical profession and ripped it to pieces used the data another way to show the opposite outcome.

I personally think think the scientific and medical evidence (like when babies can digest certain things and when they develop certain enzymes) is the most significant thing I'll be looking at when it comes to making these decisions.

Sorry, I'll shut up now

Orlaith 16+3

JodeyLea it could also be an increase in muscle or retention of water. Really you shouldn't weigh yourself every week although easier said than done!

I couldn't agree more comixminx! My mum christened us to get us into a good primary school and I had to go to church with school although my family didn't believe at all and I resent it now. My dad disagreed so my mum had to organise it on her own. It's the reason I didn't get married in a church because I believe it's disrespectful to go into a church and pretend to have faith an I dent want to swear vows to a God I don't believe in.

Sorry to hear about your morning bananastew, I saw on the news this morning that today is the most depressing day of the year so you're not alone!!

I was in the waiting for weaning camp but then ds1 was very content on milk and has become a very good eater. As I joined te EAT study I have started early this time but Luke isn't happy. I think it's so personal as babies and mums are so different. Every mother does what she feels is best for her baby. Some are more informed than others so simple guidelines are very helpful in many cases.

I hate hate hate the rain :(

jodey you could run from Huddersfield to my house! That'd help with weight loss. Tis about 6 miles

cinnamon I saw that too! Blue monday they call it! I've stuck ds1 in front of the tele & had a snooze this afternoon. Don't feel much better tho! I'm just an absolute mardy cow & if anyone tries to talk to me....raaahhhhh!!!!!

beadit, Jodey I did my training at huddersfield uni.

Well Olly officially loooooves swimming! Giggled all half hour!

We held him at first then one of the lifeguards gave us one of them yellow baby float things and we plonked him in that. Several people commented on how much he seemed to love the water! Yay!

Glad to hear it chelle1986, I love swimming and was so glad when ds1 did and Luke enjoyed his first 10 mins anyway! I meant to answer your question about baby massage but forgot. I went with ds1 when he was about 5 months. He loved it, was just the free ones from the NHS they ran after the mum and baby group where we were told about teeth, weaning, first aid etc. He loved it, they encourage you to do it naked but you don't have to. We had to take a towel and natural oil (like sunflower, veg, olive not anything petroleum based) and then strip them to their nappies or less if your happy. We started with arms then the next week did arms and legs and built up so on the sixth week you can do a whole body massage. You start by stroking the baby in a way of asking permission which I thought was a bit funny but he did get to know what was about to happen. He got very restless during the first week and I had to pick him up but they also taught ways to do it with them in your lap. By the last week he was happy to be massaged for the whole session and I got handouts so I could do it at home too. Anyway was really good for us and well worth giving it a go.

Chelle Great that Jack likes swimming, I love going with DS and we´ve put Maia´s name down. The waiting lists closed wher we go, but they let us put Maia´s name down as we´ve going 2 yrs now with DS. He still loves it and well worth taking them young so they get used to it.

Regards massage, DS didn´t like it at all when he was younger but does now (although usually ends up more of a tickle session ). Maia has taken to it straight away, she just gooes her way through it.

Does anybody else not have a routine, feeling a bit, well actually dont know what Im feeling about it... . Everybody seems to have a rountine going on and knows when LO feeds/sleeps etc. I couldn´t tell you how many times Maia wakes to feed at night cause Im half asleep myself and dont even open my eyes (can I admit that at first I thought dream feeding meant feeding whilst I was still sleeping ). Am I supposed to be keeping track of things like sleep/feed pattern?

Always forget this bit- Maia 18 wks

Luke is very regular at night patito, he always goes 8hrs for first feed and then 4 and that's the same no matter what time he goes to bed which was 6 tonight :(. Otherwise he varies a lot during the day. I don't think you should be keeping track but it helps me and I also have a very good memory for numbers so remembering times is very easy for me. Ds1 was in a routine by now but Luke is much more laid back and I don't feel any pressure this time as it will only be me looking after him

Hi Ladies :)

So has anyone heard of woombie, I've been looking for swaddle blankets for 3-6 mth and have come across these. I dont know how to link it up so you can all see? Anyway Maria-Ann is not sleeping well at night, I use my own swaddle blanket but she can break free. The woombie comes in different sizes, colours and there is even one with legs in. I was thinking of getting one when I nxt get paid and was wondering if anyone had used one and if they were any good?

I started weaning Maria-Ann about a week ago now and she is now has breakfast, dinner,tea and a small amount of supper which sometimes helps her sleep :) she really loves her grub and crys if I dont spoon it in fast enough She seems more settle in the day and will nap that little bit longer.

Maria-Ann 16 wks +6

chelle Obviously meant Ollie , was just laid on the bed feeding Maia when I realised Id mixed you and Beadits little chaps up . Sorry about that

Here you go watersprite. You have to put before and after the website address to put a link here. If you want to put it as words instead of the address you need to put a space and then the words you want before the ]]

Thank you cinnamongreyhound :)

saoirse, I think my niece will become one of the congregation - her mum is already referring to herself as one of them - so I don't think it's so much a question of being used, more that it is a decision for reasons I don't wholly agree with. And also that the church is one I personally wouldn't get on with!

Love your degree in stats and your thoughts on such things. Yes, it's possible to use stats to prove a lot of things, and of course as per the blessed Ben Goldacre we know there's a lot of just plain bad science journalism that isn't even about misusing stats so much as misunderstanding, miscommunicating, science. I wish he'd do a piece on the bf stuff (though at least he's done one on the contraceptive implant).

My mum came up to the room where I was bf'ing yesterday and started to ask if I'd read the Times article about this - I went into rant mode and she ran away quickly! It turned out later that she'd already talked to my SIL about it too and got a rant from her as well...

Gosh, so many people starting to wean now. I'm going to feel left out! Not really. Aphra doesn't seem to be showing much signs of interest yet so although I'll be looking out for them I don't think it'll happen right away.

You can see what Luke thinks of weaning here comixminx, scroll to the bottom!

patito I have no routine at all, no clue how often Flynn feeds or for how long, no idea when he naps or for how long, no idea how many times he wakes in the night (i just know it's a lot and always within 3 hours of last feed!)
Am very happy in my routine-less world!!

Dixie Phoebe was unsettled the first few nights too. Now she takes the first half of the bottle in a dream. I change her to wake her up enough for the second half. She is awake for around 20mins and then when I give her the second half of the bottle she nods off again. For the past 3 nights she has slept til 6.30 or 7.

Jodey Im on the dreaded diet too but cannot summon the energy for exercising. Stay the course -the body does funny things after pregnancy dont take the scaled too literally. After the boys I felt that was piddling against the wind for the first 6 weeks nearly then around the 6month mark the weight just started to melt off. I think your body holds on to it longer in case its needed.

Comix I dont think I will brave weaning Phoebe for another few weeks. She is eating her hands like mad but that could just be teething too.

Anyone else feeling a but umph lately? I feel subdued or something -cant quite put my finger on it but am not a happy camper.

cinnamon, that's classic! What a great photo. What does the article itself say - though I suppose you might also need a subscription might you, or do they send you a copy for free?