November 2012 - Thinking about first birthdays? Already?

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1813767-November-2012-Next-stage-car-seats-and-yet-more-teething

Oh and Oscar finished his lovely day with steak, chips and peas for tea

Harrow all!

pikz welcome home

Oh pr that looks bloody gorgeous. I had a pasta bake. I eat so crappily it's unreal, but I am trying to get better because it's no good me weaning E with good food if he's going to convert to the shit I eat when he is older. I am going to learn how to do this cooking business and see what I can do. Dp is whinging because he likes his 'comfort food' and i've told him he is very welcome to cook his own meals should he wish to do so. He went quiet, so I am guessing he isn't going to protest that much!

vq that is completely and utterly wank!! Can you not get it changed? Perhaps they have made a mistake? Wankers :(

That's great pennie bless her I bet you were so proud!

Pass E would be like that at one point. A little while back I used to have a pouch warmed ready on standby, because he would eat a small amount of what I cooked and then finish up with a pouch, he hated my food. He got better with it, and unless it's a new thing I do not have a pouch on standby. In fact I don't warm one unless he really really isn't liking it and hasn't eaten much at all. She will get there :) Does she seem to have a liking for any particular flavours? for example eric likes lamb things, cheesey things and tomatoey things. He isn't as fussed about chicken unless it's chicken he can tear and eat himself (The chicken strip things pr said about once went down very well). Maybe you could go with something she already likes in a pouch but home cook it? or have you tried mixing a cube of good stuff with a pouch? Mind you you've said she likes it straight from the pouch... erm. I bet you tried anyway. Smeared on toast/rice cakes? Perhaps giving her her own spoon with a little on and sort of, spoon bits into her when she's concentrating on that?

Eric likes banana but gags alot with it. It makes me nervous to give it, especially since a friend told me her 3 year old nearly choked to death eating a banana. I hate stories like that, they put me right off :(

He had crumpet again for breakfast. It's probably not a staple breakfast is it? D'you think I should do a crumpet as a reserve but try with something like weetabix/cereal/porridge first, or do a crumpet one day, then something different the next day?

Bet there's been loads of replies. well not loads, cos it's mega quiet today!

Sounds like a fandabby day chasing :) E has a small tank with some fish, because my sister had a goldfish she wasn't really bothering with/looking after very well so I nicked him and called him Elvis. And today we got him a couple of goldfishy friends and a plec to help clean his tank, plus a new ornament. They need a bigger tank, methinks!

Oh, of course, lily. the whole situation just bounces from one ridiculous red tape issue to another. It is like the whole establishment have forgotten completely that there are human being involved in all their rules and processes.

kyz there's lots of butter in that recipe. It's v comforting.

pass tbh I'd rather suck off the neighbour. And he is an old, v old man. A shouty one. I don't like unfried mars bars or haggis; deep fried can't be an improvement.

OMG battered haggis and deep fried Mars bars are delish. Tsk tsk PR pearls before swine...

We've had a lovely day out at beecrags country park - I love the views from up there. It was so clear you could see the Wallace Monument so Jonas was all 'Mum, Mum we have to wave to Jacob and Penny' . We went there for DH's office's summer BBQ it was lovely (though the dairy free food bought for me was all gluten free - good thing I ate before!!!) Jonas was basically the coolest toy ever for all the kids - but he loved it.

Tax credits grrr sounds like the feckers at HMRC who can never manage to explain anything correctly (or indeed explain the same thing in the same way twice) - they are either inept or deliberately obtuse .

PR the batter goes all sweet and caramelised it's AMAZING. But yeah if you don't like Mars Bars (dairy free freaker goes 'but how can't you like them!!!!!') its maybes not the pud for you

chasing you are notching up the good days. V happy for you :)

Yeah but yeah but no... Haggis? Sorry I eat all kinds of gross stuff but you couldn't persuade me to eat that. I did, once. Ugh. Never again, not even if it was covered in garlic butter.

I like mars ice cream though ate six of them on Sunday

Mars bars are yuck

pass I don't know if this helps at all, but eats best when his food is in tiny pieces so he can use his pincer grip to feed himself. Peas and raisins are particular favourites. Would P perhaps enjoy the game element of eating this way?

Thanks PR I am certainly making headway in getting over XP. We literally only ever talk about O now and I don't think I would care too much if he found someone else. Going to collect the last of my stuff from the old flat tomorrow but popping in to see O's best friend next door as well so I am trying to see it as a positive trip. Plus cute guy from boots should be given my number by his kind colleague tomorrow

Weather report: no more than 25 the next week, and down to ten at night. Perfect. The heatwave has fucked off. Yay.

But Chasing, everybody should be better off in work surely? And that is not aimed at you, but at the fucking system. I would be better off out of work. I would be better off if I split with my husband. That is not right.

I have run the new figures through the calculator at entitled.com and when my costs go up (Monday) our payments should be about £6K more. It seems the more you pay out, the more you get. I thought it was 70% up to £210 a week if you have 2+ kids, so long as you earned less than a certain amount which is pretty high when you have three of the little buggers. Also they have not taken off my pension contributions which is about £2K. If we hadn't been told just last month that everything would stay the same I would not be so fucking angry.

If this had happened six weeks ago, I would have probably asked for admission to a MH unit for fear of playing with traffic. Thankfully I am a lot better now.

Deep fried haggis is awesome. Have yet to try mars deep fried but I know I would love it too much.

Oh absolutely. I am entitled to income support as a lone parent until O is 5. But I have a work focused interview when he turns one and that is when I aim to get back into work. But if I doesn't make sense financially then I'm not sure what to do. I can't really afford a drop in income but equally I don't want to be out of the work place for another 4 years.

Have you looked into tax credits for O? And as this years money will be less than last year, you update them once the claim has been processed. I have no idea how income support etc works, but I know you can get Child Tax Credits without working or paying for childcare as they come under Working Tax Credits.

Jeez all you Mars Bar haters... I'd trade a limb, OK not a limb, maybe a digit for one right now. Nearly nine months since milk chocolate....

Chasing that's great news about XP. I found when my ex got together with a new girlfriend (actually two ladies at once, who didn't know about the other - he was nice like that) it hurt when I first heard - primarily the speed with which I was 'replaced'. Even though I left him - the speed of change can be .But when I saw how he treated them it was good confirmation to me of how poorly he treated me and it helped me not to take it personally as treating women like shit was, I then realised, just what he did. It wasn't about me at all.

When he got one pregnant and the other girlfriend found out about the other, and they set to at him like drink throwing banshees - in the same beer garden as me and my pals..... well I'd be lying if that wasn't a karmic high point of wooo my entire twenties. Seeing him trying to calm things down and act all cool and debonair, dripping wet, with two furious women, I nearly soiled myself

The UK needs to learn from France, Germany and Luxembourg on this. In France childcare is very heavily subsidised. I'm going to be paying the maximim amout for my two of 800? a month for both of them together. Someone on minimum wage for example would pay maybe ?100 for two. Tax deductible. Putting children in nursery creates jobs AND contributes to the economy as parents are freed up to work. My problem was that there a very few subsidised places in France for cross border workers, and I'm not entitled to cheap places in Lux as I live in France. Which would have meant that if I had had to put the girls in nursery in Lux I'd have been looking at ?2500/ month. Tax deductible even so.

I get really angry at the striver vs shirkers debate in the uk. Ffs create jobs and make it easier for people to work. Germany manage it. France less so but the French are contrary buggers

fillnsqueeze.co.uk/

it sounds a lovely dinner pr, dp is very fussy but even he might like that. I say very, compared to me he is very fussy.

sounds like a great day yw

I am not a mars bar fan either - now, mars bar ice creams on the other hand are scrummy

The system seems to be against people, it's so unfair! It would work out better for us if either neither of us worked, or if we split. I really want to get back into work but I am actually scared at how we would be affected financially! I'd love to go back to uni but i can't see it happening tbh.

it's like they like to make it harder for you to work, rather than easier! Seems like it encourages people to not work, which is very unfortunate :( I prefer to be working, makes me feel useful. I am 'ok' with the fact dp works and i currently do not but I want to be doing something productive after E is one, i think. Fuck knows what, though :(

Fish tanks are lovely for babies. Like telly but better.

I do not like mars bars. Yucky yuck. Coat one in batter and deep fry it and it becomes amazing.

I also like haggis. Deep fried or otherwise. And black pudding. I have the dietary preferences of an old man.

P would have loved a wee wave back at her pal YW. She was in a very sociable mood today. The ladies at the vet today were complimenting her excellent social skillz.

And chasing you need to ensure xp pays his full whack to you

yw I would have loved to have it out with XP with the other women. Loved it. But he was such a cunt charmer that when he did get caught out he brazened it off. One day I will ensure he gets his comeuppance. Not bitter, just... Still angry.

I love mars bars ice creams. They remind me of being on holiday with my parents in the south of france many many many many years a go. Don't think I could eat six in one day though, i'm impressed pr.

To answer your question from a long time a go kyz E is doing really well without the tube, thanks for asking. The proof of the pudding will be when we see the dietician on Monday but she is coping well. She doesn't drink that much milk. Prob has no more than 8ozs a day but she does eat well. I do need to try and up her fluid intake inc water but not sure how. If she doesn't want something she just clamps her mouth shut. My main struggle is the bedtime milk. She's just not interested. She does self settle well though and goes from 7pm roughly 6.30am so she doesn't wake from hunger. I'm interested to see if she's gained weight on Monday but also dreading it in case she's lost some.

VQ I get child tax credits for O. As I didn't work during the last tax year and it no longer counts XP's income, I am getting a reasonable amount - £60 p/w Then I have child tax credits and income support of £70 a week. It is enough to live on. Just. I think I will end up working part time - less than 16 hours a week, so either two full days or a few evenings. Luckily, my dad is willing to provide childcare for 2 days a week.

Hmm. Sobering. DH is investigating life insurance for me us as as of next week I will be back to travelling 400 miles a week and suddenly that really matters