Cherry that sounds like a perfect diet to me, your FIL is full of Sardines are an excellent source of nutrition (as aethel says). In fact, many types of tinned fish are excellent sources of nutrition (except of course you have to be careful about the mercury in tuna etc.) - there is a place for both tinned and fresh fish in your baby's diet. And it's nonsense about strong flavours if your baby likes them. Minimopsy horses into the fish pie and the chicken curry. I don't make it spicy but I put curry powder and ginger in. That's a fairly strong flavour. It is good for them, I am sure! Can't believe your husband said he is leaving over a little argument, that is such an immature thing to do. Next time call his bluff!
Oi, oh dear, sounds like you are going through a really tough time right now :( I can imagine the stress of being the sole wage earner with a big new mortgage is tough enough without the gambling worry. It is good that you are not ignoring things but staying aware of them, I am sure you will sort it out. As soon as your husband has a new job I am sure he will be fine. Oh dear though, I hope it isn't too hasslesome and you can sort it out okay.
DSM you looked gorgeous! And so happy. What lovely pictures.
Great news re your friends' baby MissRee, what a relief. It must make them so much more nervous though bringing the baby home. I was nervous enough and all was fine with us.
Kitty, minimopsy has sort of waved a couple of times but she claps away and has done for weeks now. She is so cute clapping and laughing. She is also doing lobster hands now - you know touching her thumb to her fingers. Don't know if it is fine tune the motor skills? It is cute anyway! She is so vocal too, and says ba, ga, da, ma, ra, la, wa in various combinations. Mama is now used to mean various things, including more food NOW! I am upset. I am happy. It doesn't mean me yet though!
Haha aethel your knicker shopping made me laugh - we always got new knickers and socks as stocking presents at Christmas! My big sister also wraps up things like socks, knickers and pyjamas for stocking presents for her kids, it's a very clever ruse. We were rarely bought knickers at other times (birthdays it was used as well) so mum got to cleverly bulk out the gifts while buying us essentials. It is a ploy I will definitely be using!
Re: judgyness, I am so there with you all. Minimopsy has a soother (dummy you say here I think?) at night and the odd time during day time nap. It really helps her to sleep. But I hate seeing toddlers running around with them in their mouth. Ugh. So I must wean her off it if I can. But I don't give it to her during the day anyway except the very odd time in her buggy if she is screaming her head off, but as soon as she goes to sleep/quietens down I whip it out again! I am such a snob.
How do I get her off the bottle and onto a cup? She will barely take water from the sippy cup so not sure about formula. She drinks loads of water at nursery mind, so don't know why she won't for me. She just waves the cup around and gets soaked and usually clamps her lips together if I try getting her to drink it (although there is definitely some progress because once in a while she will actually drink). Is there a vague timescale by which they should no longer take a bottle? I hate seeing toddlers drinking juice out of bottles. More snobbiness!! So far minimopsy has had formula or water. Avoiding introducing juice for as long as I can!
Another question re: brushing their teeth. She now has four little toothypegs. But I can't find a toothbrush for under age 2. Do we just use one of those? And what kind of toothpaste? Also there are two tiny bloody bits on her two new top teeth - is that normal? She doesn't seem bothered but I didn't realise they actually would bleed?
Well this is a pretty long post for me and I should be writing an article! So I had better get back to it. Hope you all have a good day, things sound pretty rubbish in some quarters. Chocolate is good.