October 2011 - our happy, chatty babies!

[GroovyRach]

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Wow bb3, can't believe you manage to breastfeed twins AND express! I really struggle to have enough for one baby, I seem to run low at 6pm, so much for supply & demand!

When I go to stables dp just gives him a bottle of formula, I'd rather he have the occasional SMA than faff with that bloody pump.

I.e. every evening he's just sucking on empty boob, there was one week over Xmas I suddenly had enough, but not anymore.

Argh bloody phone!!! It deleted a whole paragraph. Sorry your poor wee lad is still poorly, it'll be summer soon and all coughs and colds will be gone!

Quick question for those of you who have takin babies swimming.. what really do I need? Iv got a swim suit for her and will pick up some swim nappies. As its our first time, I can't imagine we will be in that long so do I need to bother with wetsuit thing and one of those inflatable seats

Oh and our baby pool is quite warm

Trying to catch up, sorry if it's long.

Bilingualism - I wrote an essay at uni about bilingual children. From what I remember the most common way to teach children is One Parent, One Language (OPOL) a lot of the studies I looked at were done in Welsh language schools where often children would speak one language at home another at school, and schools would do one language in the morning and the other in the afternoon. But however you do it the children rarely get the languages mixed up, and the don't get the grammar rules confused either.
In the long term bilingual children generally have better comprehension than single language children, and they're better at learning other language.
I wish I could teach my kids another language. I'm trying with sign but it doesn't really count. :)

Scones DD refused a bottle at first, even off DH. She was about 7 months and we had to start using one ready for me returning to work. It took about 2 weeks, very stressful for me as I didn't want to go back to work anyway. We got there by letting her "play" with the bottle, so I'd feed her first then when she was done I'd give her the bottle to chew on. I had to sit her with her back against my chest or she'd start rooting round me again. Once she'd got the gist of it I'd stop part way through a feed and give her the bottle, then after 2 weeks she'd take the bottle on it's own.

I used Aldi nappies now after the MN trial. With DD it was Tescos but I find they leak with Seth. We've got reuseables too which I use when we don't have a wash mountain. :o They tend to be far less likely to cause nappy rash too.

We've had great news today. They've found my car!!! :o Unfortunately it's been in a crash, :( so we don't know yet it it will be fixed. I hope so, I love my car! But the pram base is still in the boot. DD's car seat is there too. I'm not sure what else we've got to go tomorrow to get everything then the insurers will do the rest.
Funny moment. CID phoned to check a couple of items, hoping for DNA I imagine. The first was a lipstick which DH confirmed was mine, then they said they'd found a syringe under the seat!! After a bit of questioning DH realised it was a kids medicine syringe that had fallen out of the nappy bag. :o I wondered where it had gone.

We got Seth weighed yesterday too. he's 15lb 3oz at 12 weeks. He does not look like a 3 month old. DD was 20 weeks before she weighed 15lb.

hey everyone happy Christmas and New Year

i didn't manage to get online for a couple of weeks, and it has taken me about a week to catch up on everyone's news - wow this place moves fast!

sorry for those of you with poorly babies, and for the break in on Boxing day - that is just awful, i hope the insurance company cough-up.

things are going well for us at the moment. J has been mostly sleeping through the night for the past few weeks, and i decided to bite the bullet over Xmas to stop him falling asleep on me or with a dummy. neither was working - when the dummy fell out/he realised he was in bed and not on me he was hysterical. and apart from the odd exception he now mostly falls asleep by himself after being put down awake. i feel very proud, but i think it is more that he is quite an easy baby rather then anything i have done...

he is 12 weeks and is also giggling and smiling lots and chattering away, it is so lovely. having that interaction from them makes all the difference - it makes all the hard times worth it. those early days when i had no idea what was going on, and he didn;t seem to realise i was there were just so hard.

rach i want to start swimming lessons too, so will be interested in any advice

bilblio crossed posts, that is amazing news about the base - you must be so relieved.

Bilblio-wonderful news! Happy for you :)

Emma- what a good baby! Up until yesterday C would scream absolute blue murder if he thought we had put him down! J must be a big baby, he's heavier than Cyrus who's 15 weeks!

3rd night of early bed & dream feed, C still getting the hang of it, he's fast asleep and suckling but keeps forgetting to swallow and has milk dribbling out, yummy!

My back's suddenly really hurting, it must be his weight, do others use support pillows?

bil wonderful news about ur car!! The syringe made me laugh!!

Grfoovy when we go swimming P wears a swim nappy, a happy nappy (it's sort of like a wet suit nappy) and a wetsuit. The wetsuits are good for getting hold of them as I find naked babies slippery . I cannot imagine you needing a chair, she will be fine with you bobbing her around.

Our lesson is 30 minutes and the pool is usually around 30 degrees.

Thanks cheshire! I'll stop by mothercare and try get a wetsuit for her. Have a voucher from Xmas so will be put to good use! I'm rather excited (albeit a wee bit nervous) taking her swimming, but she does love the bath so I'm sure will enjoy the even bigger bath!!

I done pump and combat tonight and feeling it already so hoping the warm water will ease my muscles too

Couldn't read and not post. Fab new bilb re base and Carseat, tho would Carseat still be ok if been in crash?

Didn't anyone see thread with link to what baby cries mean? Just watched it with dh and it's really interesting. And we can hear those cries with J.

Re swimming - those of u with preschooler age, have u taken them swimming with baby? Not sure how to manage it

engels I have to watch giving A names as well, DH and I went through a phase when he was constipated refering to him as El Constipado and forgot and did it in public and my sister was very about it.

And Amotai is sleeping badly too! I am tired. I had gotten used to only waking once a night, so 2 - 3 times feels rougher than it used to as I have become accustomed to being more productive in the day

Bilbio that's great news! Also re the languages, are there any probs with speaking one at school/creche and another at home? We are thinking of using a bilingual creche, but neither Dh or I are very good at the language (have a basic knowledge though) so were wondering if that would ne a problem

our pool doesn't do lessons for kids before 6 months, boo

I was also wondering - are most of you taking a year off? I had only 6 months booked but have now pushed going back till mid April which is good, I am really happy about it. Maternity pay in NZ is really crap - it's capped at the equivalent of 150 pounds a week for 14 weeks so it's harder to take a full year off.

I'm on phone so sorry if I get any replies/names wrong
groovy u only really need a swin nappy and cosy towel, I would take the towel to te poolside though so she can be wrapped up as soon as you get out. And check if they have somewhere u can lay her safely while u get dressed IME if it's a members only type pool they tend to have communal areas with no change tables if this is the case take her buggy/car seat in so she has somewhere to lie while u get dressed.
mama I think u can only have one under 4 per adult so you may need to get DH or a willing GP to come with u if u have more than one.
bilb great news about the car/pram I also thought u couldn't use the car seat though as it's now been in a crash?

Re: the Costco huggies offer it is 2 boxes of 198 nappies per box so 396 nappies in total for £32. Works out around 8p per nappy.

M had her first jabs today and was a brave wee soul just wish I was as brave I was a nervous wreck!

Also took kids to soft play today, ds has fairly come out of his shell, a wee boy knocked down his tower he built with blocks and ds slapped him :-O he's never hit another child before and didn't really know what to do? The boy he hit looked about double his age but was balling his wee eyes out! I told ds off and told him to apologise but by the time ds said sorry the boy was walking away with his dad. I feel/felt terrible I did apologise to the boy and his dad is there anything else I could/should have done?

Sorry for huge post!

Oh and re mat leave I'm v lucky as y company offer enhanced may pay so I get 6 months full pay then 3 months statutory mat pay (I think is £120ish per week?)
So I'm hoping to take 11 months in total which is 9 months paid 1 month unpaid and 4weeks accrued annual leave. This is all depending on if I can stretch my savings for 3 months on SMP and one month with nothing. ATM that is looking unlikely between boiler breakdowns, car/laptop/phone repairs! And I went a bit to OTT at Xmas!

Hi all, wow what a busy day!
Mama E has the chubbier thighs I've ever seen and he fits in tesco's nappies fine, just not Huggies as they leak everywhere.
Bilblio so pleased they found car with pram base.
Re mat leave, I was hoping for a year but we can't manage financially so will probably be going back after 9 months . Can't bear the thought of it at the moment.
E has baby massage tomorrow, baby French on Thursday and we are looking into swimming lessons, he has a busier social life than I do

Hope everything goes okay for collecting the car etc today Bilblio The Police must have wondered what kind of criminal they would be dealing with who left a syringe

Pene I am not due back until October but hopefully never to the company I left. We have some bits and bobs going on this year which hopefully will come good, fingers crossed.

Edward that's very good mat leave. I am already on the SMP :(

Pebble what happens at Baby French? I would love to do something like that with P.

Re maternity leave, I'm taking in total 9 months off. I'm a nanny and was working for 2 families up until June last year where I dropped to just one (only 7 hrs per wk). One family (who I'm still with) I have known since both kids were babies so they feel like my own family and the others were two boys who I had only started working for in feb. actually started the day after I found out I was preg! I never liked the parents much from the word go but decided to put up with them as it was a job but I would only be with them short term. I never even told them I was pregnant . By June it was starting to become obvious but there's me trying to hide it

So as i was only part time when I left for mat leave, I didn't qualify for SMP, so iv been on mat allowance which is £124 a wk, which I get for the full 9 months. It's good but I'm starting to struggle slightly financially. All these promises from exp about help before she was born have went straight out the window . Think my dad was most concerened about how I would manage. But to be honest, my parents think that he has been helping me, I can't face telling them that he isn't. The whole situation makes me really but I'm determined to show everyone that I can manage!!

Good thing with my job tho is when I go back in June, I can take S with me . It'd only after school hrs twice a week so would be perfect with her. I'm looking into other things to build up my hours but it's all still in the pipeline at the mo.

Groovy can you get CSA to get onto him to set up a regular maintenance payment? You should get a contribution from him even if he's not seeing her its not fair for you to have all the worry on your own.
cheshire baby French is teaching them nursery rhymes and words in French. Not sure if it can do anything when he's so young but I've read that even at this age the different sounds help their communication skills ( possibly being a PFB mum but some friends are going and think it will be fun!)
We've had E in bed by 8.30 for last 2 nights it's great I've got a bit of my life back

Groovy don't know how u manage don't think I'd be able to! But do remember that you're parents love you and won't think badly if/when u do need some support wether that's money or a babysitter or just someone to moan to.

I'm also curious as to what happens at baby French?

ed my parents are a great help to me and would never see me or s go without. I think it's more the fact that I don't want to look a fool after me going on about how I would be recieving money from him monthly to help with her. My mum asked me a few wks ago when he would be next through to see her (last time was start of nov ) but I told her we had had a huge argument (true!) and I didn't want him mentioned again. She was a bit but I think got the message!!

Re CSA, last I heard from him when he asked about seeing her after Xmas was that he had been made redundant from his job just before Xmas but he would put £ in my bank when he received his final pay (still waiting on that one ) do really, don't know what good the CSA would be at this point since as far as I know, he has no job! I told him not to get back intouch with me until he was ready to cut the crap and be serious about it all.. Guess he isn't!!

Sorry to moan about him. Feels good tho

Groovy, never had any experience with CSA but if HR said he'd help then I'd contact them. It's okay saying you cam cope now, but you obviously need the money. Even if you don't you could save it. Babies are cheap, children aren't and malign him pay might make him wake up to his responsibility.

pebble you're right, it is good to expose children to different languages when they're young as they lose the ability to hear some noises and make some noises if they aren't exposed to them. Chinese L and R are a classic example, they never hear them so can't make them. I learnt Spanish for years but still can't roll my R's.
Oh I do like it when my degree is useful.

Thanks for the carseat advice I think it will be okay as it's just a booster but i'll check.