December 2011: Of Mice, Men and Tables

[NorthernChinchilla]

Here we go...I hope!

I wondered who the hell you were until I got to the end!

Welcome back Xiao :) Hope things start drifting in the direction you want them to:)

Seven I really hope you start feeling better soon:(

My fuddled brain can't remember much more. Octoboy is still grizzly, looks like tonsil lurgy and chest lurgy. I hoPe the antibiotics can blast both.

Right. I need a coffee and a bath, tumbly filling also advantageous :)

Laters!

Haha it's funny to namechange - perhaps I should have just pretended I was a troll

Oh and I was going to tell you all about our houseboat!! I completely randomly online found an old picture of her stern taken by a previous owner, so you can see what size she is - she's a Humber barge, 57' long and 15' wide, probably about 12 foot ceilings on the inside, so much bigger than the narrowboat you're probably envisaging. She's got two bedrooms, all mod cons and white goods, a normal bathroom (though you can't put too much paper down the toilet) and a big Morso stove for the winter. She's moored just at the foot of Battersea Power Station in Vauxhall. I'll take some more pictures tonight to show you the interior.

She sounds ace! Was she a working vessel on the Humber then? Or is the Humber part just a class of boat?

Oh, an I've managed the painkillers, tumbly feeding and made a coffee!

Roll: I am on you:o

Ooh what's tumbly feeding LMF? Sounds...acrobatic.

She is a beautiful barge...she was built in 1922 and carried cargo on the Humber by sail(!) and was motorized during WWII. She's the special Humber keel model which you can see here, and more pictures here. We lived on her for a couple of years and it was amazing. She technically belongs to my parents now - we sold her to them when DH got his new job and we had to move - but she's a great granny flat (grannybarge?) and is still in the family so we stay there all the time. Our London lily-pad

Posting and running, Ds seems to know the second I sit down to do an epic post.
Seven, fingers crossed it all works out for you.

AF got me, a week & a bit late.

Xiao, beautiful boat!

Sorry awch, better luck next month.

xiao she sounds amazing.

Right, nurse phoned and basically said wait until the bleeding stops then call her for a test. If its still positive she'll then refer me for an early scan. If it doesn't stop I need to phone her on Thursday anyway.

Meant to say we've sold the flat! :o

Amazing xiao!

Fingers crossed seven and congrats on the flat!!

Digits twisted for all who need them!

Tumbly feeding isn't even remotely exotic Xiao for 'tis merely the household slang for loading the tumble dryer:o

Thanks for the backstory on the boat. I live in a skanky city which lurks on the Humber, so 'tis interesting to see the word crop up elsewhere when I'm not expecting it :)

Well at least you've had some good news seven, and that is great about the flat. Fingers crossed ref BFP too; I was really hoping it would be one way or the other for you, but sounds like you've got a few more days of uncertainty .

And delighted to hear MiniM is on the mend too mopsy, though you must be knackered

I'm sitting here Xiao really, really trying not to have boat/house/palace envy- it's amazing. So's DP btw, I just showed him the pictures. And what an amazing place to be moored too- how on earth did you manage that? I'd've thought you would have needed to pass that sort of mooring down the generations like the family silver!
Really sorry about the commuting though, that's tough. Not seeing your baby at all during the day sucks, even if it is just now and then- not surprised you're thinking of a strategic pregnancy! Really hope things look up for you.

Now, DP and I have been together nine years, but today at the Parent and Child Group he not only declared in conversation that I have brown eyes (they're blue/green) but went on to sing a song he'd made up about our baby and my chunky thighs to the assembled (and presumably slack-jawed) masses as he didn't know any of the nursery rhymes they were doing.

May I have suggestions for his punishment?

Sorry Northern but I'm in hysterics at the (presumably lone?) man at the baby & toddler group making up songs about your thighs (which are in no way big at all in fact I'm very jealous of your teeny figure)

Oh balls, crossout fail

Fingers crossed seven and better luck next time awch

Well, now DS has started on the formula there's no stopping him, but he's still not sleeping through. Today he's had 40oz plus 'real' food (although there's still not a great deal of that making it down him, despite him giving it a reallly good go!). I'm just giving him 1st stage Aptamil, which is all DD ever had, because I thought follow-on milks etc. were just a marketing ploy, but I'm now wondering whether I should switch him on to hungry baby formula. Your thoughts please ladies?

Well its finally finally happened he has rolled from back to front, i know thats old news for everyone else but he has refused to do it so far. In fact he's done it twice since he got home.

Im utterly sick with jealousy over the houseboat so thats all im going to say over it

Got an appt with gp for lo about the cough they still happy there is nothing wrong so i need to attack him with saline drops to clear his passages.....he will not be happy!!

Im watching superstar from over the weekend love a good bit of musical theatre!! Absolute fave is les mis cant wait to see hugh jackman in the new movie version.

Wow, 40oz is a lot Kate. Freya has been on hungry baby since she was a few weeks old though so the switch to follow on has been pretty much uneventful. I would speak to HV as I'm sure at 6 months they should be dropping slightly on the milk front (F now has 4 x 7oz bottles a day).
What are the feeding guidelines on the tin for 6 months?

Tin says 5-6 months should have 5 7oz bottles a day, and 7-12 months should have 3 7oz bottles a day. He's having one night feed and then wants to feed 3 hourly during the day, so we're on 6 feeds a day. Tried giving him 5oz rather than 7oz bottles, but he just wants more! He'll be 7 months old next week

Are you BLW or purees? Have you tried rusks mushed in formula, baby porridge or rice? They're all things which seem to keep F full for longer.

I'm BLW. He's not interested in cereal or baby rice and I won't get rusks because I think they're the work of the devil too sugary. Even when he has eaten, say, quite a bit of breadstick or toast, he still wants as much milk.

Kate i was the same he was having 6 7oz the hv told me once he was eating food he only needed 20oz so i just dripped the 2 in the day to 5oz and now he is on 4oz in day and 7oz morning and bed. I know he would keep taking 7oz or more at every feed if given chance have you tried just reducing them and seeing how he copes? I was sure figgyboy would freak out at less milk but he didnt at all i was shocked really.

They do reduced sugar rusks, that's what I've been giving Freya

Try him on the six month plus milk kate, it's casein-based like hungry baby is, (we're using Aptumil 3, clearly other brands are available!)

We is watching The Lord Of The Rings extended version boxset, it's still very pretty. Porr wickle Ellijah Wood as big-eyed Frodo is quite a watch (though Aragorn and Legolas float my boat rather more).

Reclaim-The-Boob update: still hanging steady on 4 feeds in 24 hours (morning/postlunch/evening/wee hours) and two 2oz bottles of formula and EBM. At least it's cheap in formula!!! He's still grumpy as hell with the bottles but hopefully will improve as I switch feeds (will try dropping the afternoon one later in the week I think). Have found the Kellymom site weaning information very useful too.

Sympathy for the work hassle xiao, there is rarely an easy route with these things, I've had so many friends messed around by their (almost exclusively male ) bosses over flexible/family friendly working, sadly it's still seen to be a distraction from work to actually have family needs rather than family fulfilling your life and making you a more psychologically rounded and secure worker. Good luck with thinking out your options (and be aware that another pregnancy this soon in may not be an easy option!!)

Crossing all manner of things for you seven and hope test stays positve and you get an early scan.

And for Octoboy...

I had all my hair lopped off today feels soooo much better now!

This time next week I will most likely be dead on my feet after my first full day back at work! To say I'm dreading it doesn't come close....

Like you, Xiao I'm going to be doing ridiculously long (12ish hours including commute) days and will hardly see F during the week

DS is also taking 6 7oz bottles at the moment Kate and we are blw. HV said that milk is likely to reduce gradually and not to worry about it untill more food is going in. But he is quite a small fidgity baby so probably uses up lots :)

On a cereal/breakfast note DS seems to love these Porridge Pancakes www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/breakfast/hub2dees-porridge-pancakes/