April 2011 - Hello Grindstone. Nose here, reporting for duty.

[DairyBeetle]

Plumps comfy pillows, shakes warm fluffy blankets, passes them round, sleeps

Good Luck Fizz

With the cups, yes you do need the spout up otherwise it is an airlock and almost impossible to get the lids off.

Buck - isn't it brilliant when they are so proud of themselves and amused and you get a massive toothy grin - often accompanied by bouncing in this house. I love it

I have had to put away some 9-12 month clothes today because they are too small for T! I really must get him weighed, he is gigantic.

I've been having a quick read but not posting over the weekend. I'm trying to catch up with the Sky+ now that several good programmes have started again (anyone else a Forbrydelsen fan?)

Fizz I'm sure everyone will be happy for you to be the drawmaster for the Secret Santa and good luck with the interview tomorrow.

I agree that spout up on the TT cups is easier, although they do vary from cup to cup. DS ended up with about half a dozen TT cups of varying colours/but the same design and some were easier to open than others .

I have no worries about putting the cot down, I was too lazy to raise it up again after DS.

I'm having 3 nights out this week , If the DC let me escape out of the door. Aqua Zumba on Wed. Breaking Dawn at the cinema with the girls from work on Thurs (do you think we could claim it as expenses, due to it's book related nature ).

Sat night I'm going round to see a friend who's expecting her first baby in a couple of weeks. I'll see if she wants my swinging chair and also take her a few bits for the baby (wonder if she's bought breastpads yet, i've got a spare unopened box in the cupboard ).

Good luck Fizz! I am also happy for you to do the ss draw.

I give Baby I tap water, and yes to spout up to get the lid on and off, something to do with pressure or some such ......

You lush Gache! I have never heard of the programme you mentioned. I have got The Killing 2 and Pan Am on my Sky+ at the moment. Along with A LOT of Mike the Knight for ds!

I don't think I will be in 9-12 months for much longer, and M's 12-18 months clothes are summer ones, so they're not going to be reused - there are some gorgeous summer shirts as well, gutted.

Oooh GGF Breaking Dawn is good. Not as much Jacob top off acction as i would have liked, but Edward does brooding soooooooooo well!! Bella?? Meh!!! As usual!! Moi??? :o

Hi all,

ilike, I am so with you on the faff of swimming but I love taking C. Why isn't it acceptable to wear some sort of shorts affair so you don't have to worry about the chuffing pant moustache all the time. That's my biggest grumble. Don't give a stuff about the wobbly bits but am always at the woman in my swimming class who is super toned, post baby, and insists on wearing a gold high leg bikini. I mean, really?

Star, we've had the odd hunger strike here too. I've just carried on offering food and not pushing it too much and it seems to have righted itself. My view is that the most important thing is not to feel stressed about it just make mealtimes fun. C is rarely fussed about breakfast, lunch can go either way and he's always hungry at dinner. When I saw the dietician last she seemed perfectly happy with that.

Good luck Fizz and thanks for doing secret santa.

MrsW, you are so selfless! I have bought loads of new stuff for myself recently. My excuse is that I need smarter things for starting back at work and my old clothes are still too tight and it's depressing wearing clothes that don't fit. And I really needed those lovely boots.....

I've still been boiling water, I thought it was a year but tbh I haven't checked. Also get quite cross with the TT cups when trying to get the lid off.

Thanks for all the finger food ideas.

Yesterday I took C for his first settling in session at nursery. I had already cried once by the time I was getting him ready. The sight of his spare clothes and 'Alan' the lamb in his little bag completely slayed me. And his name on his bottles, SOB! It went ok, he was there for an hour and a half and I stayed in the room but he was off with his 'key person' and the other babies. He got cranky towards the end but then I realised I'd completely fogotten his afternoon bottle so that might have been why. We're back there again tomorrow. He seems so little to be going off. Must be brave. Must be brave.

Fizz, hope the interview goes well :)

I've been trying to get M to nap for the last half hour and have just dumped her in the cot with the mobile. She's lying completely the wrong way round now but chatting to MouseyMouse (comforter) and kicking her legs. She maybe needs a poo. There's no way she'll nap if she does and as we're going out in an hour and a half I can't see her fitting in a poo, nap and lunch

I can't be bothered buying clothes for myself now either, or indeed going into town even though it's only a 20 minute walk; too busy going to various baby groups. I think all my christmas shopping will be online. No idea what I want for birthday or Christmas really. Have asked DH for a facial or something and him to look after M for an hour or two.

I find thinking about the faff of swimming is worse than the reality. The worst bit is trying to get a chilly, tired and hungry baby dried and dressed quickly before she goes into complete meltdown. The throw my own clothes on before feeding her.

Talking of meltdowns... M cried herself to sleep on Saturday :( Don't worry it wasn't CIO or anything - she hadn't had more than half an hours nap all day so was exhausted by bedtime. I was feeding her to sleep as usual but she kept breaking off and crying, then refused to feed anymore just cried and cried. I'm lost when BF doesn't calm her and passed her to her dad and she just cried herself to sleep in his arms with me stroking her head. It was so sad. That said after a couple of wake ups before we went to bed she had a pretty good night

And I'm off out tonight too - a leaving do from work only 10 minutes walk away and as so many people drive it's straight after work at 6 and they never go on too long so I'll be home for the suppertime feed about 7.30. But I'll be able to wear something that I don't have to consider breastfeeding in ! :o

People who used to be on here... I've seen LittleMilla posting on the feeding and sleep threads.

I have bought loads of new stuff recently because most of my pre-pregnancy stuff is too big. The bank balance has take a serious hammering.

Jo - you always need new boots at this time of year, always...

Ali - M & T must be similar sizes, i've just put away lots of 9-12 stuff too, though the 12-18 month stuff is too long in the arms so looks a little silly. Am on a mission of 'last wear' of various dresses for her which seems sad as some are lovely.

I haven't bought myself any clothes for ages but i know i will get smaller once M starts to drop feeds and i've got loads of 'too small' stuff sitting there waiting. They'll feel like new once i get back into them, lol.

M being a tad grumpy today, not like her, have given teetha, fed lots & tried bed. no luck, hmph.

Well I'm back from the interview. I'm not sure how it went, I was really nervous and felt quite sick. It's difficult when its internal and your boss is interviewing you because you can't really "embelish" your answers like you would if it was external! Plus all my answers related tot hings I'd done at least a year ago which was quite difficult to remember numbers and stuff. My head hurts. The excel test was a joke TBH. Make row 1 bold, insert a column for totals etc! Even with baby brain it was easy!!

I had to do a mercy dash shopping trip this morning for a new top as nothing I tried onlast night fitted or was too dressy.

I've started thinking about the next stage car seat for B. Our travel system seat does up to 13kg so we've got a while, but I need to do my research. Anyone know where to start??

Fizz - I feel I must mention 'extended rear-facing'. there done it :)

To be honest we went with the same brand (Recaro) for all our seats and didn't know about extended r-f when we got them and haven't changed yet. DH not convinced by changing over/paying out for more/getting complicated tethers put it/and so on.

I agree with you on the internal interviews Fizz - it's a right arse not being able to turn completely minor work incidents into project saving triumphs . I normally rely on such examples in my interviews! I caught my boss looking slightly puzzled in my last interview when I was spinning the panel a yarn about one piece of work I'd been involved in. Still got the job though, so he couldn't have been too bothered :)

When will they let you know the verdict?

I'm cooking a stew at the moment that has got 500mls of ale in it. I was planning to whizz some up for P but am now having doubts. Will it be ok for her? I wouldn't be bothered if it was a splash or two of wine but 500mls of beer sounds like a lot of booze. The stew cooks for a good couple of hours - the alcohol will cook off won't it?

Early next week I should hear the verdict. And all the alcohol will have cooked off in the stew so will be fine for P.

I would have thought the alcohol will boil off, don't forget there's less alcohol per millilitre in beer than wine.

We went swimming again today and DP managed to come He's not been with us before and H loved it. DP kept swimming underwater then popping up in front of H, who giggled his head off.

I agree it's a faff though, I always get wet and cold while getting H bundled back up and without DP I can't wash my hair. The things we do for our babies!

Star I just posted on the weaning board earlier about alcohol in food. Someone was worrying about cider in a stew. I've given M strogonoff with brandy in it, well, whiskey actually as we'd run out of brandy. It gets flambe-d and was served as finger food so I can't imagine much went in. She's also had spag bol which I always put red wine in.

Fingers cross until next week then Fizz.

Thanks for the alcohol reassurance. I'll have a look at the thread on the weaning board too - thanks Chilli

Star - that stew will be fine for P - it sounds lovely!

Fizz - I Pmed you with my address, forgot T's clothes size which is now 12-18 months. I'm happy for you to do the draw :)
I agree with you about internal interviews! Hopefully it went well, at least you have given it a shot.

We have actually moved T up into his next carseat today. Weighed him this morning and he is 28lbs so right at the top end of the weight range for his group 0 seat, and he was very wedged in and uncomfortable For now he is just in the one we bought for DS1, so it is forward facing. I haven't really looked into rear facing, and I must admit I am loathe to buy another new carseat when we've just bought the next size up for DS1 as well. If this was our first baby then I would look at rear-facing more I am sure.

Have been lurking again - I love keeping up to date with everyone's news though [nosey]

Good luck with the results of your interview Fizz - I haven't had an interview since I was 23 (am now 31!), I'd have been terrified! And thanks for being chief elf for secret Santa - I'm gradually adding to my bag of pressies to allocate to a variety of SS's, as everyone is of a similar mind this year - I think I'm involved in 3 so far!

Not much news from the Tiny household... T has been having finger food for the past couple of weeks, and has taken to it like a pro (although I don't think much is actually going down yet!). I haven't braved a spoon with him yet (not looking forward to my carpet being plastered in porridge), but I arrived at my parents house last night to find him guiding a (metal) spoon of ice cream into his mouth, so it would appear that he won't object once I actually get around to it!

I think T is probably one of the titchiest of the gang! I had him weighed 3 or 4 weeks ago and he was 15lb 8.5oz which puts him between the 9th and 25th centiles (he's been there since about 12 weeks). He's getting great wear out of his clothes - I can still squeeze him into some of his newborn t-shirts, and he's got several 0-3 outfits which still fit! He's six and a half months, and so far the only 6-9 outfit he's worn is his Halloween pumpkin (which I bought for £1 when he was still a bump last Nov!). I'm modifying some of his more summery outfits by putting long sleeved vests and tights underneath - he might have more pairs of tights than the average girl! I can't stand socks though, they're either huge or tiny and they never stay on! I picked up 4 more pairs last week in JoJo Maman Bebe (I live 20 mins from their warehouse, and they have clearance sales every few months) for £1 a pair - usually they sell for £6 or two pairs for £10! How did you get on finding tights for M, Frak? Spotted your thread a couple of weeks back!

I've often wondered about Gormers (think she might have had a few names?) - her little girl was born very prematurely (Eva?). A friend of mine had a little boy at 28 weeks recently, made me wonder how she got on.

Sorry for length of post, I should post shorter messages more often! Well done if you've got to the end!

Hi everyone. Back from Geneva and DH did an amazing job on his own. No a&e trips at all and only one bruise on S's head from where she rolled into the cot bars

Great to read all the food ideas. Frak, what are porridge balls? I need breakfast ideas, boring to give toast every day, S doesn't really like Weetabix and I can't be arsed making breakfast bars all the time. Her fave thing is strips of steak. She sucks them for ages. Little carnivore. Other hits are rice paper rolls filled with rice vermicelli noodles, cucumber strips and steamed carrot strips, mint & coriander.

Can't believe some of our Aprilites are pulling to standing already! S is only just reliably sitting up but can't get there herself yet.

2 Teeth here to date. Sleep gone to shit again, 3 feeds min per night. Yawn!

Ali thanks for reminding me about car seats, must get S weighed soonish and see how close we are getting. Is it weight only, or how squished in they are too? When do we decide to move them up again?

No idea who Brian is, poor sod!! :o

Never heard of Forbrydelsen ilike Have a look at this on YouTube if you love Sarah Lund's Jumper.

I've also been watching PanAm. Mike the Knight too - DS has become obsessed with clocks "is it 4 o'clock yet Mummy, Mike the Knight might be on"

I use summer clothes in the winter - I just layer up with long sleeved vests, tights and cardigans. Admitedly it can be a bit milder weather wise down here but the wind chill factor is .

I do like the Twilight films but have to confess that neither Edward or Jacob really do it for me, they just seem a bit young. Broody teenagers don't really float my boat. Alexander Skarsgard (Eric in True Blood) OTOH .
DS wasn't named after him BTW, it was a happy coincidence they share the same name.

H went 7.30-6! Am in shock! Pity I was kicked out of bed by DP for my repeated coughing fits. He says he was talking in his sleep.

Another one here who has wondered about Gormers. She got in touch with me when I had Conor but then I didn't hear from her again. Hope all is well x

How was day two at nursery Jo? I felt really sad reading your post about packing Conor's little bag. God, I need to harden up before P starts!

Cycle about H sleeping through but am loving your DP's claim about sleep talking. I might try that one next time DH gets in a huff with me for swearing about his snoring...

It felt cold in P's bedroom last night. She's in a vest, sleepsuit and 2.5 tog bag though, so hopefully that's enough. Her little hands were freezing this morning though. I've got lots of blankets but not got a clue what to do with them.

If I need to add a blanket, what do I do with it? Do I just drape it over her or do I need to tuck it under the mattress? And if I need to tuck it in, how do I do it without waking her . Gah, can you tell I'm a clueless first time mum?!

Porridge balls are just thick porridge, made into a ball shape with an ice cream scoop and then I fridge them overnight and warm in the morning

DH is being as much use as a chocolate fecking teapot ATM. I know he works hard and I know he's tired by half of that is his own doing and all he wants to do when he's home is laze around and 'relax' which means we have to be quiet. OR he chills put OB the he'd next to us when I'm trying my hardest to get M to sleep! Hello! You are a new and exciting person. Sleep ain't gonna happen!

ARGH! I really wish he'd do something or leave me to it.