November 2012 - The weaning adventure continues

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1772925-November-2012-Adventurous-eaters-food-refusers-and-everything-in-between

Hope you managed some sleep last night izzy.

Speaking of hair, I have an appointment booked for a full head of highlights next Monday. I used to be blonde before I fell pregnant and then allowed my hair to go back to my natural colour. I want it lighter again for summer but am worried it will look ridiculous in my graduation photos and my 80 year old grandma will lose the plot at me dying my 'beautiful hair' again, despite the fact she dyed hers for years

Thank you for your lovely comments about the house. Dalgety Bay is such a nice area - having grown up there I am hideously biased - but unfortunately property prices reflect this and in my price range my options would be this tiny house, a collapsing 70s semi with lots of work needed or a shoebox apartment. It is small but needs virtually nothing done to it and would have great letting potential further down the line. I am now stressing that I am setting myself up for a fall if it doesn't go through or the survey shows up something nasty or my bank wants a silly deposit, or the people selling it want a silly amount over the asking price

Stunt of course. I had forgotten about that. .,

Izzy I don't understand what you are saying about sick pay. Are you saying we have to be back at work for a year with no sick before we are entitled to sick pay? Surely that is discriminatory as we have been off on mat leave? And if so, Detective should not be on full pay now. Or are you saying after having the full entitlement of paid sick leave you need to be sick free for 1 year to get full pay again, otherwise it is half pay? I was off sick for 6 weeks prior to mat leave as broke my leg. With 20 plus years service I think I am entitled to 6 months full pay, but may be wrong.

I think it's the latter VQ :)

Think you will be entitled to the full 6 mths now as you were off nearly a year ago x

We are having a chicken stew for tea. It's bubbling away in a massive pot. Next to it is a teeny tiny Oscar sized pan with a mini Oscar appropriate version in it!

Hope he likes it!

I'm doing roast chicken, roast potatoes and French beans which once cooked I will fry up with some bacon, garlic and butter. I am even going to make some gravy.

My mum's cooking has inspired me. I'd become lazy.

I am doing crispy chicken fajitas. M had sweet potato and lentil bake, a slice of marmite on toast and some apple.

Can I coat some chicken in plain breadcrumbs for her? How would I bind it? Can she have olive oil?

I had a bagel for dinner . Well actually, half a bagel as Oscar had the other half. I'm starving. Hoping O falls asleep soon so I can crash.

Det I have one friend in Nhampton and one in MK

Detective that is good to know in case I fall off my perch

PR that sounds awesome!

The wee bugger has learned to sit up in her cot. This is HILARIOUS in Matilda's world. She should be asleep, except every time I lie her flat she sits up and laughs in my face. She is currently singing at the light on the video monitor. ARGH.

It was [greedy fat pig emoticon]

Talking of which I put on weight in England. Anyone surprised?

vq I have been thinking of your post earlier since I read it. There is so much in there which resonates with how I feel. I think the word is weary. Fed up of illnesses and the major and minor issues we deal with daily. Nothing life threatening, but day to day is a lot harder than perhaps it should be.

I am craving time to read, or watch a film uninterupted. A day where I don't feel my shoulders tensing up. Love them to bits, but am weary of day to day problems. I feel like optimism is just being sapped away with my energy. And now I'm back from England I feel like there's nothing to look forward to. And am dreading the illnesses which the girls might catch once in childcare. This was supposed to be a happy year, and in many ways I feel blessed. But it's felt like an uphill struggle.

Hia!

Hunners to say. Might have to do multiple posts.

That house is very sweet mm and I think very sensibly priced actually. I live in a new build, 2 bed house in a notorious part of Stirling and paid considerably more than that wee house. Keep yourself realistic and know that if this one falls through then you will have other houses at other times.

Nice to see you back PR. Sorry to hear about the wee ones running you ragged. When do they go into nursery? Your food always sounds delicious. I think we are having cheese on toast for tea.

Amazing news about O crawling det! P has mastered rolling now to such an extent that I wonder if she will give up trying? She can now get from on her front to sitting which is helping her mood massively. So she can roll for toys, sit up and play with them properly. She still does the bunny hop though.

Toasted Soreen is delicious JJ! Yum yum yum.

VQ you are a rock of support to so many and have had such an incredibly hard time that it would be astonishing if your brain didn't need a damned good rest. I have no idea about anti-depressants but if you think in yourself that it might help then I think it is well worth considering.

CMPI FFers . . . Re soy. P's dietician suggested that rubbing a small amount of soy yoghurt was a good, gentle way of working out if the baby could tolerate it. The amount injested is small so any tummy response should be mild and over fairly soon. P will need to be tested like this as she is intolerant to dairy not allergic. Rubbing it on her skin would only give a reaction if she turned out to be allergic. I have done the skin rubbing with peanuts, eggs, fish and strawberries. The only one which caused a skin reaction was egg and the only one which caused a reaction when eaten was egg. Seems a good way to progress with regard to allergies. Also, the dietician suggested testing P gently at 1 year old only if weaning was going well and she was very positive about food. If not at 1 year old she said we would revisit every 6 months or so. The key factor seemed to be to wait until P is happy and confident in food with well-managed reflux. This was echoed by the paed. I don't understand why so many of the medical people seem desperately keen to push the babies back on to cow's milk.

Ach! My post cross-posted with yours PR so I sound all glib. I have one baby. Yet the other day I was blubbing as, yet again, I was on my hands and knees picking up food not eaten. I was down there thinking "I am sick of cleaning up food. I am sick of washing clothes. I am sick of preparing food just for it to end up everywhere but in her stomach. " In that moment I didn't want to be anyone's mummy. Then as I looked up P was hanging over the high chair peering down at me - she beamed and giggled as our eyes met. Lovely moment which stopped the tears but I would still like to have a shower which lasts longer than a few minutes or read more than 2 pages of my book.

Welcome back, PR :)

Stunt. I don't know what to advise but am confident that whatever you decide will be best for your whole family - but don't forget yourself

In the words of R:

Dadadadadadayayaya nngah

Oh dear, a bit of a sombre atmosphere amongst the quiche today. for all the brow-beaten and weary mummys.

Pass the paed suggested we try F with regular formula in 3-6 months time. Hmm. Given her reaction to pepti jnr, and traces of soy in my diet, I'm inclined to wait a bit longer, and go a bit slower if you don't mind. Why rock the boat when she's doing well, you know?!

Had a lovely photoshoot earlier, both girls were wonderful and there are some gorgeous photos, can't wait for the CD to arrive to gawp at them. Then went on to dsds school fete. Not a massive fan of dhs ex-p at the best of times, but when she was there smugly bragging about how her 12 wk old has slept through from 2 weeks old, I genuinely wanted to push her off a cliff.

Tea was dairy free pizza. A little dull sans cheese but hey ho.

H'okay!

Talking about food (well I was anyway . . . )

After the nomortunity that was toasted Soreen I felt all positive about lunch when the time came around. I offered P some mackerel from my finger which she seemed pretty enthusiastic about so I thought I would try it mixed with a purée. The only purée she will take is an Ell's kitchen one with spinach and swede so I thought it was worth trying - it was delicious! P certainly thought so as I managed to get her to take the whole ice cube full and the mixed fish!

She obviously enjoyed her noms as when my back was turned she managed to fish a rice came out of the bowl (which I had put on the table apparently out of reach) and was happily sooking on it. No problems apart from it having been on the floor.

Inspired by this again I decided to buy some more Ella's kitchen pouches but try the savoury meals. Dinner was roast lamb with all the trimmings including mint sauce. Well! This got a giggle and the most enthusiastic response ever! She even let me feed her with the spoon without interfering!

Hoorah!!!!!

She is starting to get it. I know it could all change tomorrow but I feel so happy that she enjoyed it and that I didn't need to hose down the kitchen afterwards

Oh oh oh! I forgot to say the most exciting thing for me!

Fed F after bath, then rocked her for 2 minutes until she was sleepy, popped her in her cot, where she sort of sighed, looked at me with big dopey eyes, smiled, grabbed my hand, then went to sleep [redundant emoticon]

She keeps grabbing her right ear today and has a runny bum. Teeth? Or ear probs?

Well, exactly BP. What is the hurry? Rather cynically is it so that they can discharge as soon as possible?

Glad the photoshoot went well.

Pass they never even saw her - wrote a letter and discharged. Which is fine, as I'm not sure there's a lot for them to add, but I hope the dietitian is ace!

I would say teeth BP.

That sounds like a lovely bedtime.

pig O has been rubbing his ear a lot today and has a runny bum. His left ear though, just so we can still tell the difference between him and F. He has a tooth which has half popped through so I am guessing teething. Calpol stopped the ear rubbing so it was pain of some sort.

VQ and Stunt I agree with Chasing I've noticed your moods dipping. Personally I think this is partially due to haggis quiche withdrawal symptoms we must rectify this. Seriously do take a bit of time to put yourselves first for a change and go and see the doc if you feel it would help. I'd suggest some child free time but I know it's easier said than done.

Izzy good luck for J's christening!

MM lovely house, a great starter home, in a great area, perfect for seeing your family too. I don't think, if the market is the same as when we looked a few months ago, I'd offer anything OVER asking. Our solicitor advised that nothing is going for over the home report value (and most are going for 5-10% under) as banks simply won't lend on anything higher than what it's worth. Is DP going onto the mortgage? Just make sure everything is in your name - but it sounds like you're all over that. Has his behaviour improved? Did he sort out counselling?

Hmmm I wanted to say lots of other stuff too....

Oh congrats to Oscar and baby proofing commiserations to Det - clever wee man!

So we had masses of sushi, gyoza, and panko prawns etc at Yo Sushi - it was heaven. I had a bit more soy sauce than planned but man its so fucking moorish. So given I nommed soy at 3pm - I'd expect a reaction any time from now til the wee small hours. So far, so good. Touch wood etc. Please, please, please little bear - don't react - Mummy would almost swap you for a Chinese takeaway she is so longing for one..... My scientific soy 'test' might however be a bit fecked because one of the Californian rolls I had, had mayo in which might have contained dairy FFS - so if he reacts it could be to that. I could have eaten solo much more - it was hard to restrain myself....

Really interesting idea about testing foods on their skin!!! I'm going to try that. I figure I probably should have done that before eating soy myself but BM is hopefully a pretty dilute introduction hopefully.

MM I cook with olive oil for him - its a good way of getting fat in.

He had home cooked cottage pie for tea and loved it. He had a bowl as big as his head! Tomorrow is going to be tomato and salmon pasta I think.

God he's asleep already -

I was going to say ear! D'oh!

O is currently taking a room temp feed.

Never thought I would see the day!

BP you should have said to her that F sleeps 7pm-8am and has done since birth. The bitch!

Cross post - awesome nomming P!!! I bet there'll be some celebrating tonight in Crisp Towers.

And well done little pig on self soothing. I always know with j if I put him cackhandedly in the cot and get a sleepy grin - he'll settle. If he frowns and waves his hands - I'm destined to more feeding.