Jan 06 babies - no sleep til....!

[GeorginaP]

Hi there. Anyone feel up to joining me from Jan 06 ante-natal thread?

B-Rider: Apologies first off for getting on my soap box. But why in the name of all things holy are you worried about what other people would think when you feed your baby? It really, really annoys me that women are made to feel guily (usually by a load of male docs) about all things baby. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. Who gives a flying banana boat how you feed your child as long as you're not stuffing chicken dinners down its throat at 6 weeks ? Libby was mixed fed until 13 weeks. I liked (not loved) BF, but wanted to stop before I ended up not liking it. She's been on formula now for 4 weeks and we're both happy as larry.

I agree totally with HTGG, but I know where you are coming from B-Rider. We were given a hard time by a midwife in my post-natal visit because our dd2 was given a bottle of formula in hospital to see whether she was weeing or not (my milk hadn't kicked in yet). In my post-natal hormonal state I retaliated & pointed out that I didn't give a flying fart whether my baby was breastfed or bottle fed, as long as she was fed and healthy at which point she shut up. My milk did kick in eventually and she's predominantly breast fed, but she does have a formula bottle a few times a week as her weight gain is low. I think that there is a feeling that its GOT to be breast but HTGG is right, as long as babies are fed and healthy and you're happy then who cares???

Hi all (and welcome VickiB - ouch at your delivery !!)

Georgie - fab news about the retraining!! Where are you going to do it & have you decided which aspects you're going to do first? I've just sent an ad off to the local rag to say I'm back taking bookings (well, i will be in late June when it gets out) but I'm really torn about starting up again - not least because my treatment room is currently a bomb site of ironing, piles of paperwork and boxes of toys that people have kindly recycled our way and to add to that I've no idea who's going to look after Dom yet either! DH has 2 stints of 3 weeks away in June/July and DD is away for the whole of July too so I've no emergency cover. I really need to get my finger out and soon!!
What's everyone else doing for childcare?

Sweetkitty - how's it going hon? Have you managed to speak to someone/get a bit more support yet? Talia sounds as much of a little monkey as Dominc. He's been stuck at 10.30/12.30/3.30 and 5-6am for what seems like forever. We gave him his bath at 10 last night in the hope that he'd sleep better but he just ended up in with us (though today I'm feeling amazingly awake for some odd reason!!)

Rach - please tell me that Finn has settled down now so I can dream that they're in synch!!
Love your idea of a cafe (especially if it specialised in cheese dishes...ooh and lovely wines to go with them - can you tell I'm pining?) I've always fancied a B&B, in the country but near the sea - and seasonal so we can have the whole place to ourselves in the winter.

Lilstarry - hope your dad's funeral went ok. Thinking of you x

feel v about Dom not taking milk from a bottle. i discovered on another thread that freezing it can cause it to go bitter (enzyme action apparently)& we'd only been giving him frozen EBM (up until we tried the cup) and it was indeed foul! And there was me thinking how clever he was to want a cup so soon (note to self..squash all smug thoughts immediately before they come back to bite you on the bum!!) There's more info about it on the \link{http://www.kellymom.com\kellymom website}if anyone's interested.

anyways - looks like it's going to be another lovely day - best get dressed!! Have a good one all x

Morning all, beautiful day here too :)

Rant alert!!

Have just been given an appointment to see gynaecologist - in mid July . By which time I will have had pain down there for just under 6 months. I mean that's great isn't it! Apparently my case has been assessed as 'routine' and there's nothing I can do to speed it up '. Might well seem 'routine' to those on the outside but it's totally messing up my life - can't go for a decent walk, can't/daren't have sex therefore relationship with husband getting pretty damn strained, worried about going back to work as can't sit for long periods of time.

OK rant over. I will just have to live with it, it's only a couple of months I guess.

As for the feeding thing I was talking about before, I guess my worrying about it is just a symptom of my current gloomy state of mind. Still go over and over the birth in my mind, still cry about it. I'm having counselling and taking the anti-ds and I'm sure it will all be OK eventually. On the bright side my little boy is GORGEOUS and I wouldn't not have him for the world iyswim.

Right have really wound myself up now, off to get a coffee!! Childcare - I work for a government agency and they have a subsidised nursery :) So that's my plan, 3 days a week there with D in nursery. 2 days here soaking up the south coast rays :)

Love to all, hope you're all doing well.. isn't life changing fast!

Hello All. It feels as if I've been away forever! Happy to hear some people are doing well, and sad to know some are feeling blue/tired/stressed. It's such a hard full on job, and as much as I know it's completely worth it I think we forget just how well we all do. No one seems to congratulate you on being a good parent, it's a shame! So I just wanted to remind you all that being a mum is an amazing achievement, the love, time, selflessness and endurance it requires far surpasses any other job...

I'm sure I sound as if I have a chain of daisys in my hair :)

I don't have much time, but wanted to let you all know I'm sending healing/happy vibes. Hopefully the sunshine will help people feel a little brighter. Although in a strange turn of events, I have a really bad cold. Bee is beginning to be a little sniffly too! BAH.

The funeral was rather strange. The priest seemed drunk and clearly didn't know what he was doing. The cremation service was running late so was an 'in and out' job, and the wake afterwards was full of people I don't much like. Completely not what my father would have wanted, but not too hideous. I'm ok, which is the important thing I think.

Must dash, am currently at my mums house and her keyboard is naff. Will update more when I get home.
Love and stars xx

sympathies barrelrider.
just to say that i've been given a gynae appt for my prolapse for mid june, which although sooner than yours is not as soon as i'd hoped. i will join you in the rant, especially as they've already warned me it may have to be postponed...

robin is being a complete monkey at the moment. crying and crying and crying. think it's still colicky trouble so i've booked a cranial osteopath's appt for next week to see if that will help. anyone any experience of this?

Hi all, Lilstarry - you have a great attitude to life! I wish I could have your positivity more :) My sister in NZ has just split up with her dreadful husband after 17 years together (she was on seroxat for PND for 11 years but has now (literally) seen the light now she is off the ADs).

Sweetkitty and Lyra - hope you guys are ok {{{hugs}}}

Hi and welcome to Vicki!

Barrelrider - don't feel guilty, there is enough in motherhood to make us feel bad as it is - you do what's right for you and don't even worry what anyone else thinks.

What a nightmare for you and Porolli, my c-section scar has taken ages to heal completely and frankly I need a tummy tuck but on balance I'd rather have my stitches in my stomach - my undercarriage has been through enough with the last 3 births!

Was it Loomer who had tried cranial oesteopathy or am I making that up?

Iris - after that week of frantic feeding, Finn then slept a night 12-8am! Hurrah I thought we had cracked it but oh no, back to 4am feeds. I will be interested to see what his weight is doing next week, he is so long (in 6-9 months clothes) but I would like to put off solids a bit longer - I think he needs the calories from milk more, I just hope I can keep up with him. I think fruit and veg just shoot through them at first. Last night was so humid he was really unsettled and I just kept feeding him thinking he was probably as thirsty as I was. Have you tried Dom with water from a cup? I was thinking of giving Finn a beaker of water to play with - he seems to like drinking his bath water!

By the way, when I'm back in work (August +) and up and down the M4 I shall have to pop in for some post natal therapy!

I trained as a teacher (after my psychology degree) and I have to say that teaching made me want my own kids and my own kids have made me not want to teach anyone elses! Good luck to anyone who tries it though. I now work for an educational trust (from home) and am involved in training project workers and research and evaluation of various programmes for mainly marginalised kids eg young offenders, sexual health, drug users etc. Chuffed - I would love to run a nappy shop! but I fear we don't have the market here.

hi ladies seems like I've been away for ages too. Things still a bit up and down here, planet snotsville here, I have an awful cold and my sinusitis is back too rubbish nights sleep last night. Abbie's got the cold now too. Talia seems to escaped it so far, her sleeps a wee bit better, been giving her at dreamfeed about 11ish, then she goes through to 4am then til 7am. She's so lovely though, very sweet natured always smiling and gets so excited. She's all over the place though Abbie was very happy just to be held and cuddled but Talia's a nightmare she's always on the move. She's reaching for things now and trying to roll.

Anyway I had better go Abbie is whinging about something.... take care all I'll catch up again soon xxx

aggggghhhhhhhh

i have absolutely no right to come on here and complain - i havnt read anybody elses posts and im sure no-one has life as easy as i do but if i dont just say this to someone im gouing to EXPLODE!

dp is driving me NUTS! hes 'around' more coz hes quit his job to comcentrate on setting up his own business, but hes so bloody useless and self centred i'd rather he wasnt here and i really was just on my own in looking after the boys.

and he keeps blanking me. wtf is that about?? he doesnt even know hes doing it, isnt trying to be offensive he just loses interest, or dosnt have it in the first place, in what im saying and wanders off halfway through what im saying. does it all the time. drives me nuts!

and thinks hes being so supportive and useful and hes anyhting but and i want to wring his neck!

aggggggghhhhhhh!

hmmmmm. thats better. thanks ladies.

Hi all
Not been on for ages coz Lola and I went up to Glasgow for a week and still haven't quite got back to normal over a week after getting home. Just getting up the energy to unpack almost did me in.
As I'm pretty much unable to eat due to the Gall Stones I'm now a stone less than my pre-pregnancy weight, but it's not quite the way i would have liked to lose it. I'm pretty much existing on cans of slim-fast. Saw my GP last week re my diabetes and mentioned it to her, she said keep taking the slim fast plus a multi-vit til you've had the operation. Oh well. If only it didn't leave me so lacking in energy. Went back onto Prozac too, I don't know if it's PND, or just as a result of my other health problems and the impact they're having on my life as a whole, but hopefully the prozac will help. It has before when I've suffered from depression.
My mum came down last weekend to babysit while Andy and I went to the annual Army/Navy rugby match at twickenham. Unfortunately it was a wet miserable day and we got soaked, but the army won, woooo!
Porolli - We didn't try Cranial Osteopathy, we tried the Chiropractor which is very similar I believe. Lola's been a gem. Since the chiropractic (or hitting 12/13 weeks) cleared up the colic she now is just smiley all the time. She goes to sleep between 8 and 9pm, I give her a dreamfeed between 11 and 12 and she sleeps til about 8am. I'been a wee bit concerned that she's not eating enough, she only takes 5oz feeds and doesn't always finish those. I probably shouldn't worry as she certainly doesn't look skinny and she sleeps thru the night just fine, but I think I'll take her to get weighed this week just in case. She has her 4 month jabs this wednesday, maybe the nurse will weigh her for me then. It's hard to believe she's already 4 months. I'm getting lots of pressure from family and friends to start her on solids but I reckon while she's only taking 5oz feeds she's not ready for them so I'm just blocking out the voices lol.

In my old life I worked for the Dept for Work & Pensions. More specifically I was a manager at the regional head office of Jobcentre Plus for London. I started off pretty much straight out of Uni as a receptionist in my local jobcentre (meant to be a stop-gap) and three years later was running my own office with about 30 staff. In my most recent post I was responsible for keeping track of the Job Entry targets for all our offices in the London region, anticipating problems, providing support to offices not meeting targets, briefing the Regional Director and ministers on occasion on Jobcentre performance. I took a career break when we were posted to Aldershot as the commute (2 hours door to desk, each way) was doing me in and I was waiting for a transfer opportunity to come up at the Regional Office for the South East in Guildford, but before anything came up I found out I was pregnant. As a result I hadn't actually been working and getting paid for just over a year when Lola was born, so I was entitled to NO maternity pay/benefits etc. It was a bit gutting after 7 years continuous service, but my wee bundle was well worth putting up with being skint. I am entitled to take a year's unpaid maternity leave I believe, and can then take up to 5 years career break so it's my intention to go back to work shortly after Lola starts school, assuming I can get a post in whatever area of the country we're in by then.

Pelvicfloornomore - another Lola, cool, I keep getting "how unusual" from people, but I also keep hearing of loads of people with Lola's so it can't be that unusual!

Bit late, but here's my stats update:
Gender & Name: Boy – Lola Rose Catherine

Any Siblings: Not til I lose a further 5 stone (4 down in 4 months so on the way!).

Birth weight/ Weight now: 7lb 6oz, now no idea, I reckon about 15lb plus
me being diabetic Lola had low blood sugar at birth and had formula pushed on us to raise her sugars quickly, after 2 days of that in SCBU she wouldn't even contemplate the nipple. Persisted for 9 weeks expressing for hours a day and kept trying her to breast but she just got stressed and I just got worn out. Will know better next time and will be expressing colostrum in the week pre-birth for use in SCBU.

Nappies - Reusables/Disposables: Bought Onelife reuseables but not yet using them, they still make her bottom half huge like a telly tubby, and I'm not quite on top of the routine housework and laundry yet never mind washing nappies too.

Babies Health: Excellent with exception of reflux which is largely under control with infant gaviscon

Your Health Diabetes better now than it ever was pre-pregnancy (probably due to my not eating much with gall stones tho). Weight going great, 2lb away from 4 stone down since birth. CS fully healed by 8 weeks which really surprised me. Still a bit stiff with SPD tho.

Sleep Pattern FAB. Sleeps thru from approx 8.30pm til 7-8am with a late night dream feed

*On any routine (i.e. GF/Baby Whisperer): Not especially, tried GF but Lola wouldn't stay awake enough

Immunisations - have you/will you: Yes, terrible reaction to first lot, screamed for hours and hours. Chiropractic visit within a couple of hours of 2nd lot and there were NO problems. Got same booked for after last lot this week.

Christening/Naming Ceremony - Are you having one? Still undecided.

er... sorry about that earlier.

best wishes to everyone and their broods. Gus is doing great - gorgeous little thing, just smiles and coos all the time. loves everything and almost everyone, adores being in a walkabout thing (you know, the seat with wheels thing) and practicing standing up. and sleeps quite well too. dont actually know how much/often he feeds in the night as hes in with me and i just wake up a bit, latch him on and go back to sleep, so i dont even know howmany times ive done it in the morning. brill. hes the easiest baby yet.
have had the mirena put in, so no more babies for the next 5 years at least (phew) mind you, we seem to make such lovely kids, it seems a shame not to make more! and heres something wierd; i actually like giving birth and wouldnt mind doing it more often, not that i could hack being pg for 9 whole loooooong months again! OK, so maybe the hormones in this coil thing are affecting more than i thought...

ho hum. off to bed. hugs to all.

BTW, blimey Lisa, 4 stone in 4 months - wow! congrats, even tho its not exactly cause for celebration given how crappy youre feeling. hope things improve for you soon.

Oops, just saw on my stats I forgot to delete "boy"!!! Should read GIRL! Duh

Hi Guys

Sorry it took so long to reply, DS has been unwell, he had some sort of virus so I stayed at home with him last week.

A few of you asked about my job, I am a legal sec in the city, I used to do days before DS came along, fortunately a position became vacant when I was 8 months preg doing an evening role 5:30 to 10pm with a cab home. Only problem was they weren't too keen on me going off on ML for 6 months so I said that I would come back to work asap. I left work the week of Xmas, had the baby new year and back to work before Feb.

At first it was very hard because my hormones were all over the place, I cried the first time I left the baby but I truly believe it helped me to get back to my old self quicker physically and emotionally. It was actually a few hours break for me!

I must say though if I didn't have an amazingly supportive and capable partner it never would of been possible and I love my job, I have kept my independence and more importantly of all 2 wages still coming in. From 40 hours a week to just 20 with hardly a pay cut at all (unsociable hours), no child minding fees and DS gets the best of both worlds with mummy and daddy and is still 100% breastfed - I am very lucky to have this job fit in so well with my life.

Completely off the subject now - is anyone going to the Hyde Park meet up on 9th July?

hi guys

thanks for your concern. i'm still very up and down, just taking one day at a time at the moment.
some days i get really tense, panicky and indecisive and other days are much better. i'm trying to limit what i do and get plenty of rest, my dh is being very supportive, he stayed home from a planned walking weekend last weekend as i just didn't feel able to cope without him.

alex is thriving on the whole, although he definitely picks up on my anxieties when i'm having a bad day. his sleeping is rather erratic, occasionally he sleeps through, but the next night he can wake once or twice. i'm much better if i sleep, obviously, but sometimes alex sleeps and i don't.

just hanging in there really and waiting for it to get better, although trying to do self-help stuff like exercise, talking to friends and family about it, eating healthily, having a good laugh every day if i can, giving myself little treats like a baby free dog walk, having time off alex. all of that helps if i can remember to do it. on a good day i do.

hi all just popping by to say hello

Lisa - good to hear from you and well done on the weight loss too. Good to hear you were up in my neck of the woods too Lola sounds like a wee gem too.

Nappies - don't apologise for having a rant. My DP is doing my head in this week, he's on a course and has to do loads of "homework" it's for some professional qualification I know it's important but's he been a right crab recently, he has promised to make it up to me though.

Kegs - am truly about your working hours. I found I just couldn't leave DD1 for 12 hours a day with someone else (even 3 days a week) and we couldn't afford to live in SE England on one wage so it was back to Scotland for us. Q v stressful move last year whilst pregnant. Am happy being a SAHM for now though am planning another one relatively soon then will try and resurrect my career once they are at school. (mm who am I kidding??)

Hope everyone else is doing well with their growing bundles.

Talia is doing great as usual, must be something magic in my breastmilk as Abbie, DP and I are all snotty and T isn't at all. We've got the last round of injections next week so I'll throw her on the scales whilst I am there. I sorted out some of Abbie's 6-9 month clothes today too as the 3-6 month ones are getting a bit tight. I went a bit mad last week and bought some lovely summer dresses for them both but thats what having little girls is all about I suppose? Picked up a 6 month old boy today at Toddler group and he was nowhere near as heavy as T! I know I keep saying it but it's so different for me as Abbie is so delicate, have pictures of Abbie aged 6 months in 0-3 month clothes T grew out of weeks ago. I love chubby babies though aren't they just fab lovely chubby arms and legs yum yum! T's also started really laughing and blowing raspberries now too.

Still totally shattered though but we are down to one night feed now (well past 5 days so fingers crossed) like you nappies I feed half asleep in the night and wake up with boob exposed and baby snuggled up to me.

Oh I have to tell you all this before I go please don't report me to the bad mother police. Last week I gave Abbie a snack of raisins and apples and she wanted a drink so I fetched her one, when I came back T was lying on the changing mat on the floor so I sat down beside her and she gave me a big gummy smile complete with a raisin in her mouth wonder how that got there? Anyway after the shock and telling Abbie not to give T any food as she doesn't have teeth etc that was that or so I thought 3 days later changing T's nappy with it's usual yellow poo and theres a raisin in it!!! She's had food so much for the waiting to 6 months! Will have to watch A like a hawk around T now with food.

Well raved on enough tonight better go ER on in a bit.

Hi all,
Thought i had better say hi as it's been a while !I haven't done much of anything exciting (no change there)We took Raine and Lola to the park yest and Raine hurt her face on a bouncy castle and then fell off a balancing thingy and had a massive dent in her head -managed to get some ice off an icecream seller!and then had to take her to the minor injuries unit,as we dont have an a&e anymore!!! Lola then decided to do a huge poo
and could be heard straining by all,luckily raine was ok!Then we arrived back home to find the kitchen full of ants
Today we have done the rounds at the doctor's too -me for my depression and raine for exema (cant spell it)and lola too(just diagonosed).I also had to book Lola in for her 2nd lot of jabs as i have been a bit slow at taking her as i suffer from anxiety as well.So all in all we have had our quota from the Nhs !
I need to phone my occupational health at work as gp said she is not happy for me to return next month!

Lola is so big now ,she nearly fills 3-6month clothes!i cant wait to have her weighed next week.I went to buy the hungrier formula today as s he never stops guzzling!lol.She is so so strong and is simply gorgeous!(makes me broody to look at her-even though i hated the pregnancy)-am i crazy?

????How come i ran out of room?

Anyway maybe that tells me i have to shut up!

take care all.xxxx

I've been away so long this is liable to be a long (rambling!) post! Just thought I'd forewarn :)

Barrelrider & Porolli- I can't believe they're making you wait so long for an app! Well, fingers crossed when you do get seen all will be resolved very quickly!

Rach69, aww thanks! I try to be positive and happy, I find it helps! I'm not always a bucket of sunshine, but then who is? Although I'm sure your sister is probably emotional ATM I'm glad she's finally broken away from such a negative force! O and you sound as if you're in the same career area as my mum - she's a manager for AddAction! (Not sure if you've heard of them?)

SweetK - Hope you and the family are feeling better? Colds are such evil things! We've all just been struck by the snotties. BAH. Is it wrong that I laughed at the raisin story :) Aww, big sisters ay! Being the eldest I've heard many stories about my attempts to 'help'. This included feeding my little sister soil to "help her grow" and changing her nappy in the middle of the night... Oops. I wouldn't worry, Talia sounds as if she's growing extremely well!! I love baby chubb! Bee has always been fairly compact (small but not light!). She's recently had a growth spurt and my DP and I take great delight in kissing all her fat bits! I never knew you could get fat feed!! :o

Lyra - Sorry to hear you aren't feeling as happy as you deserve to be feeling! PND is such a difficult thing to battle with, sounds as if you're doing a brilliant job at trying to stay positive! We're all here if you need to rant! Sometimes just writing down all your
anxieties/fears/worires helps greatly!

Kegs - As others have said, I'm also envious of your working position! It sounds lovely, I might start looking for some evening work in a local shop. I don't much fancy returning to my old job, and the hours wouldn't really fit in with Bee. Pre-baby I was a full time English Literature student and a part time IT Security Assistant for Norwich Union! I'm hoping to return to Uni in January, but the office job was never my 'career' so I might switch to something mindless and flexible!

PelvicFloor - Blimey, what a day you had! Glad that Raine is fine! It's amazing how easy little ones bounce back! What seems like the most horrific injury to us doesn't seem to bother them so much! Glad you're getting some help with the emotional side of things, I can understand why they'd be reluctant to send you back to work - I'm sure the extra stress is the last thing you need!

Sorry if I've missed people out, I do always read how you're all doing, but find myself lacking the time to comment on everything!
Bee is beautiful, she's really alert and completely determined to do everything! I'm hoping to get her weighed tomorrow as I know she's had a growth spurt! She's still fitting into a fair amount of her 0-3 months stuff, but I've been having a good sort out... our loft is choc full of baby stuff! I'm hoping to have another one (not yet!!) so it seems silly to get rid of stuff!

O and one last thing - where would I find the details about the Hyde Park meet up? I'd love to go.. but London is a bit of a trek from Norwich.
Best dash, need to take full advantage of sleeping baby and actually eat something :)
xxx

Hi all, arghhh! – up at 3.20 to feed Mr.Finn who then woke at about 5.30 and gurgled in my ear for the next hour and a half. My house is filthy (mainly due to the dog) but couldn't care leass and going to pop into town for some retail therapy and to pick up my gorgeous Venture picture :)

Nappiesgalore – feel free to rant love!

Lisa – well done for your weight loss, I just cannot get motivated, dp makes me feel too good in my blubber I think! I’d just love to lose a couple of stone.

Kegs – what a fabulous opportunity with your job! I felt exactly the same way after I had ds1 – I went back to work part time when he was 10 weeks (crap mat leave then) and it saved my sanity. I was lucky enough to have my ex-mil to look after him. This (fourth!) time I feel that I want to be with him more, I’m dithering rather a lot – my first choices of childminders are gone already and I’m hoping I can get away with paying for 3 days with dp’s mum doing a fourth. Although I work from home most of the time, I can be away from 6am-8pm if I go to London or even overnight occasionally. I want to keep bf as much as poss but not sure how I will manage, maybe just morning and night feeds by 7 months. I want to get 35 hrs of work done in 4 days and hope that dp can drop off/pick up LO later/earlier depending on his shifts so that he is only there for a few hours at a time. The problem is, as Sweetkitty says, is that when you are a SAHM (I was for 3 years) you spend a lot of time worrying about what you will do in the future! I love to drop to 3 days but I earn more than dp and have an extra 3 kids to support!

Would love to go to Hyde Park but too far I’m afraid – let me know if anyone comes to South Wales!

Sweetkitty – don’t feel too bad, I think I;ve said this before but when dd was a tiny babe, I found a cheesy wosit in her mouth! So much for first weaning foods! I also found a pea in her nappy that had obviously been all the way through! Two little boys (then 2 and 4) had a stern talking to!

Pelvicfloornomore – I too am broody already! I don’t want Finn to be a little prince – spoilt by all (especially dp’s parents!) I’d love him to have a playmate his own age, it will be hard when he sees the other 3 go off to their dads for a weekend or a holiday. I quite like the idea of a two tier family! Dp jokes that we they will have to have pods instead of bedrooms but ds could leave home in 6 years so I reckon it could work.

Happy vibes to all! :)

Lilstarry - there is a meetups section/thread thing somewhere I think, try scrolling down the talk home page. Thanks for the thoughts about my sister, I just wish (as I have done for the last 10 years!) that she wasn't on the other side of the world (NZ). I have been there twice in that time and she's been home twice and I really miss her. I'm not so close to my other sister but at least she is going to meet up with sis1 in the US for a holiday next month.

And... I think we need a new thread now the babies are 4 months!

Sorry I'm all over the place today! Lilstarry - I haven't heard of AddAction, perhaps they are regional? She may have heard of my old company 'Include' we used to have our head office in Ely.

Hi all - haven't posted for ages but have been reading all the posts so I don't get left behind!

Porolli have you been to the cranial osteopath yet? We took Scarlett for four sessions altogether, to try and help her with colic. Unfortunately it didn't seem to make much difference - certainly not the miracle cure that many people report. After that we also tried a chiropractor (another four sessions: no good for the bank balance!), and that didn't help her either. I'd be interested to know you got on. In the end with Scarlett time proved to be the greatest healer - although there are so many variables that it's quite trcky to tell what's having a positive effect.

Now what is it with all these summer colds eh? I'm battling something at the moment too, and Scarlett has had a lovely snotty nose for the past four days - how delightful! Fortunately she seems to have settled back into her night-time routine of two feeds (midnight-ish and 4am-ish) once again, after an unsettled week following the 2nd lot of jabs.

Kegs how lucky are you with work?! That's fantastic that it's all worked out so well. Although having said that I'm really happy to be out of the loop at work now - I still hear on the grapevine about all the political rubbish going on (I work in the marketing department of a university) and am so happy that I'm not involved.

As far as going back to work is concerned I'd like not to go back at all, but it really depends on DH's income. He's a sculptor and our bank balance can vary from the dizzying to the depressing from one month to the next. We'll be OK until the end of this year, but I might have to go back to work in January in order to hang on to the monies that they've paid me so far. Ho hum, let's hope not... I am awaiting DH being discovered by Saatchi and commisioned to make an enormous sculpture at vast cost!

Right, I was determined not to write another essay with this post, so I'll sign off quickly. Lovely to see some new names on here, and sunshiney thoughts to all the old hands.

Who's gonna start the new thread then?!

LOL Rach, I know what you mean! My DH and I met at a club called Big Girls Paradise in London, he used to drive hundreds of miles every month to go there to socialise coz he prefers big girls. He keeps threatening that he'll divorce me (in jest I'm sure) if I get below a size 18 (not likely anytime soon as even with 4 stone off I'm a 26/28). It certainly doesn't give much of an incentive to drop the pounds!