November 2012 - Is is too early for birthday plans?!

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1794169-November-2012-The-Adventure-Continues

Morning quiche. Have a great christening pig

If we kick the bucket I want my sister to raise the kids. She already has a couple so knows what to do. Unfortunately with them being French a court could block this and hand them over to my in laws if they in any way kicked up a fuss. Which they would.

And that would be terrible. SIL is a child shrink with a huge chip on her shoulder who likes to find reasons everyone needs therapy, and MIL is a nutter with a huge chip on her shoulder who likes to find reasons everyone needs medical treatment or therapy. Oh, and DH's son from his first marriage could claim for half of everything we have despite the fact he has refused to see us for five years.

I need to work on getting the girls British nationality so at least if it came to it the French could be challenged. They weren't born in France or Britain so that throws another spanner in the works.

Morning morning. Oliver says ahhwa ahhhwawawawawawaaaaaaa to all the quichettes

Here's a turnup for the books, only one feed last night! We were up late having a barbecue so J wasn't in bed until 9 so he had a feed then but I had wine after so skipped his dream feed. He woke at 1 but DH settled him with a dummy and he then didn't wake for a feed until 3.45 a.m. So I don't know whether it's reproducible or not but if I could crack that then I might be able to get a solid four-hour block of sleep at nighttime.

Lurker thought - for all those without a will and a member of a union, check out if they do free wills. I got mine and my DH's (mirror) wills done for free that way.

Better night here last night, 4oz EBM at a midnight-ish wakeup then through til 6. Hurrah as that's one of F's best nights in months!

Both my two have had tomato skin rashes which i haven't done anything about. Ds1 ate them for a wee while til about 1 when he refused anymore. F currently loves them but does get a bit of a rash, i just assume it's the mild acid. We'll see if he carries on eating them!

Happy Christening day pig and F

vq glad to hear J is so much better
stunt you must be v pleased
det I get itchy hands when I handle raw tomato - intolerance to tomato of one form or another is quite common

Morning all :) I have read nothing yet, am rubbish, hope everyone slept well though :)

I read a really interesting article in the Times yesterday about Carrie and David Grant, who used to do Carrie and David's Pop Shop on CBeebies ( he does songs of praise now) anyway they have three kids all with special needs ADHD, aspergers, dyspraxia etc, it was really motivational. They have bought out a new series of books called jump up and join in and an app as well. I have downloaded the app and it is brilliant at engaging small children with music. stunt right up your street. Anyway just thought I would share that. I get excited about educational fun stuff.

Great morning at church. O went into crèche and had a great time, fab service feeling very good about life.

Have a great day bp

Haven't read Fred yet, just wanted to quickly say, I hope you all have a lovely day today pig and that F enjoys it x

I'm about to kick start freelancing again properly and have been forecasting what work I've got in my pipeline (fnar fnar) and what I can hope to invoice over the next few months. I'm planning on working just a day a week on a Sunday whilst DH looks after the bear. I've calculated that just working one day a week for myself will make me (net) 50-60% of my previous salary as an employee. Bloody hell. Cutting out the middle man is certainly worth it in my profession. Come November when I'm thinking about putting him in daycare for 2 days a week, I'll be earning more than my old full time salary (often with silly consultancy hours) even net of childcare - that's for just 12 - 15 hours a week work! Fingers crossed that my clients have lots of work for me for the forseeable .... I'd like to get at least six months in so I can qualify for MA again. I'm thinking about trying to get updiffed again around Jonas' first birthday....

Does anyone know if you can offset childcare costs against tax? I'm guessing not.... We need a desk and a new desktop PC as my Mac is slowly on the way out - I know that I can offset those against tax.

I'm amused that DH gets just as exasperated as me when looking after a small shrieky incontinent preverbal dictator type. It's nice he has one day a week of housework, childcare and cooking - so he can empathise with us SAHM. Also it's lovely to have some brain space to myself for a few hours even if I can hear the boys banter from the dining room.

In case anyone else is wondering the same, the answer is noooo you can't offset childcare costs against tax. Boo. the taxman is clearly a man bah humbug

You can offset childcare costs against tax in Luxembourg. It's a little more family friendly here.

Hello, hello! You've all forgotten who I am, haven't you?! So nice to just read one page and see familiar names! Have popped back to see whether was anything on 7/8 month sleep regression, will do so now but still ask - anyone suffering/recovered from this? J has been up almost every hour for the past 10 days. I am almost on my knees. Am trying the No-Cry Sleep Solution but that's a gradual process. I think it would help me to know that it's just a phase and that in three weeks (say) it will be better ... mind you, he's never been that great a sleeper.

YW - hello! Good luck with the (very lucrative, by the sounds of it) freelancing. On working the one day a week thing, DH has just arranged with work to take Mondays off to look after our two and compress his hours into the rest of the week. First Monday starts tomorrow. Quite excited. If I can stay awake to do any work.

Hi Georgie (and Ditsy too from a few days ago!). According to my sister the 9 month sleep regression (which can start anytime from 7 months) was much shorter than the 4 and 6 month ones and seemed to be linked to when LOs are thinking about moving. Hope it goes past you quickly. Jonas is 9 months on Tuesday and as yet we haven't had this sleep regression darken our doors, but then he's an inert kinda chap - he's thinking about crawling but I'd be surprised if he does actually manage it for another month.

BP how's the christening going?

YW - thanks lovely. James is madly rolling around the floor, not crawling but wishing he could, if you see what I mean. I'm hoping this is a regression, not a permanent state of affairs. I remember his sister having a terrible few nights at 9 months and then magically sleeping through for the first time just after that. I would never imagine that happening with James (who's always been a worse sleeper) but back to up only three times a night would be good! Seems a luxury that, at the moment! Gah! Best wishes to you and little Jonas - keep expecting our paths to cross somehow at some under 5s do or venue in Edinburgh!

Oscar 'made' his first cake today. An apple sponge. He had more of a supervisory role but found the whole thing highly fascinating.

pig make sure you put pics on facebook please!

YW that sounds very lucrative and a brilliant set up for you and the bear.

Georgee we've been having regular Scottish Nov babies Mumsnet meet ups - you should come to the next one - we'd love to meet you! Are you on the FB group? Search Facebook for Nov 12 babies and you'll find a group with a pic of a preggers lady with a flower on her bump - that's our group. That's probably the best way to keep in touch with us if you can't keep up on here. PM on here if you can't find the group and I'll email you a link. Right that's my work done for the day - the haar has burnt out and I'm off out to play in the sunshine with my boys go to Sainsburys oh the excitement

DH has agreed that we should try to get updiffed before Jonas' first birthday. Hecky thump! Just need AF to feck off now

Hey georgeee :)

Hope you have a lovely day today bp

gazelle I was here. Just tricky to post while bottle feeding and couldn't be bothered when I got into bed. It's tricky to decide if it made much difference, he didn't go to bed til midnight which is a about an hour and a half later than normal so isn't really a fair comparison. He slept 3.5 hours after first bottle but did go 4 hours from that bottle to next. He then went straight back down and slept 1hr40 mins, woke and needed settling it no feed and the slept a further 1hr40 mins but wanted fed. I BF him as couldn't face going down stairs - - which was not meant to be the plan--. I think this wasn't my best move. He wouldn't settle without me beside him so we slept on the floor and he had fed at 7am,8am and 9am. So from that I deduce that he is comfort feeding, as i hadn't expressed since about midnight and fed him at 7 so you would think he didn't need fed at 8 or 9.

Im not sure what to do now. I thought after reading all the opinions that I was ok to switch gradually to FF. HOWEVER I've managed to confuse my decision... Firstly I'm worried about this heat and FF and also our holiday in sept. If J is BF he can have a drink for thirst as well as feeds for hunger. He won't tolerate a sippy cutting obviously is still on no solids, and not likely to be soon. Another incredibly selfish thing is that I am still not having periods, if they return on my holiday I won't be able to go in the pool as can't use tampons due to hideous prolapse and pads wouldn't be so nice in the heat :-( My excuses are getting ridiculous now aren't they!

yw wow on the salary! That'd be fab! Also very exciting yoire considering trying for baby wellies number two!!

Ooh yeah good idea with the meet-ups YW - fallen out of the loop on the FB page too. I'll get back on and start monitoring!

Hi Kyzordz (waves)!

Izzy 3.5 hours then 4 hours sounds like a major improvement to me. Especially as it was hourly after BF. if his milk is no longer hurting him there is a good chance he will be more willing to drink and eat other things. On holiday you could always water the formula down a smidge if very hot. Remember it needs to be what is best for J. You could go on the pill to ensure AF does not affect your holiday.

J has been asleep 3 hours and counting. On his tummy. He fell asleep in the Jumperoo again. I think this might be the growth spurt.

Last night he slept to 5.30 which is awesome.

LO has been sleeping better at nights the last few weeks I think it might be down to growth spurt. Hope she's nailed it this time.

Horrible spending a sunny weekend working out arguements and counterarguments but that is what I am doing...

Dull. But too hot outsode to do anything anyway

VQ O has just had a 3 hour nap too .

Am I right in thinking that at some point they go to one nap, and usually after lunch? I think O is on that transition, as his morning nap is definitely getting shorter, and his afternoon one longer. Where as until 10 days ago it was the other way around?

I'm currently watching DP hoover. He is wearing just skinny jeans. It's a nice view from here . He suits them... probably ovulating time again here!.

YW Another?! I wish I had the stamina. I don't! V. jealous about the freelancing though. There is no business for freelancing midwives .

Izzy things sound like they are heading in the right direction? Forget about periods! Like VQ said, that is easily sorted with the pill :)

Thanks for the will advice buries head further. It's so complicated :(

O slept through last night. Was a lovely relief from 5am wake ups and struggling to get him back asleep after. I'm pretty sure I know the reason - weather has suddenly clouded over. So I think I should definitely get that black out blind! When he woke I thought it was about 4.30 due to the light! And it wasn't, it was 7.10 .

Oscar's naps are getting shorter, he has 3 of 30-50 mins. I don't think it is enough, although he is getting more at night.