March 2013 - 6 months down, 210 to go!

[StormyBrid]

Old thread.

Keep on rambling, ladies, we have a whole new thread to fill!

Just home from a 13 hour day at work - hope all are ok - I'm done in!

Any it'll be the hatley bear sleepsuit complete with wallaboo slippers and dinosaur dressing grown. And a woolly hat knitted by my mum. So glad I ANBU.

Wing bless you, I don't know how you do it. Your childminder sounds lovely and ill take it as read that your job is frickin awesome, but those hours would kill me. And a nearly new sale to boot? Seriously, you're giving Wonder Woman a run for her money.

Worse being a SAHM is really hard. While I miss the heady days of maternity leave, especially with the long hot summer and an easy baby, I am grateful to have three days a week where I don't have to use my imagination. I get up, take DS to nursery and go to work. It's easy compared to staying home. So please give yourself a big pat on the back from me. And enjoy your early night!

DS probably watches too much telly. ITNG has an incredinle effect on him. And he gets excited by the news, as though they're personally there to talk to him.

I've just been through the nursery bag and they've popped a new playplan for him. They've discovered his love of music and are actually using 'resources' to encourage this. I'm sure childcare was not like this when I was little, and I'm so pleased.

hello. those with food/milk refusers that is apparently part of the 37 wonder week, so hopefully it will pass when the ww does.
thanks for your tv comments everyone. helpful to have some perspective.
after a brief stint of baby-free-ness this morning which was good for the soul I have had an odd day. after the tv paranoia of earluer in week today I have been googling autism signs in babies. ecobaby has started rocking in her cot, on all fours, like a caged tiger who is going mad. I am also mildly worried about mummy cuddles not solving problems. so mr google it was. I got dh to look over it all and he concludes that ecobaby is fine. web suggests 1 in 5 babies and toddlers rock in this way as a self soothing mechanism to recreate womb conditions. lord knows she had a lot of rocking in my hectic pregnancy! I need to get out of this silly pfb phase.
we don't even have pjs here. we have all in one sleepsuit affairs. do baby pjs exist? plonky, please can we have a fb photo of the nursery outfit?
wing, am guessing that with that sort of alarm call you have a dd thst doesnt trouble you overnight? good luck for your day tomorrow.
lovely to have worse and wing back, but where's yummychoc?
betty glad you are feeling improved and that you got a knight in shining armour.
friday is breakfast show day so early night for us tonight too. night night all.

cross post plonky. that sounds lovely. a play plan! they'll be sending him off to watch dvds of huw edwards next!

He's more of a George Alagiah fan Eco

He has a few pairs of pjs, mainly due to outgrowing sleepsuit at an alarming rate.

Do you think you're being pfb because you're going back to work soon? My brother in law to be is classed as high functioning autistic (ie got through school, uni and has a good job, can interact with others reasonably well) and mil says she always knew. Not a massive sample but I trust her on this!

Eco dd also does the rocking thing. She seems to be pretty much asleep when she's doing it. I assumed it was all part of practicing new skills. She also hates being cuddled, although this has improved a little. I'll admit that autism crossed my mind when she was tiny and only happy when put down in her bouncy chair. She used to scream every time I picked her up! However, she smiles, laughs, keeps eye contact, and is, in fact, obsessed with people! I bet your dd is the same.

As for the news- I think dd thinks carol from bbc breakfast weather is her best friend. She gets ridiculously excited every time she appears in the morning.

God I can't wait for tomorrow. Another week with DH away since Sunday, I'm beat. Even worse, he's away next week as well for my first week back at work. Yikes.

Thanks Gerry for that. Yes, smiles aplenty, eye contact, flirting with anyone and everyone. Sounds like no cause for concern.
Will your dh be working away for the foreseeable or is this a one off period? Do you have the logistics sorted for next week, and do you have any other local back up?

Eco just to reassure you, another one here with some frankly bizarre baby movements going on. She wedges herself into her ring and pushes backwards and towards, so I guess you could call that turbo powered rocking. I took it to be her trying to develop crawling skills. I'm with the plonk, you'd know if she was on the autistic spectrum. BIL is most odd, and MIL said he was that way from birth.

Baby onsies are PJs. At least they are here . If the shops are telling us different then I'm not listening.

Gerry that's tough going. I'm always here to help if you need me. Hope work goes well next week, and you don't miss gerrybaby too much.

Still wonder weeking here, and frankly a little tired of it. 4 wakes last night, and quite a few more cries and self settles. After his 3.30am start DH took the wise decision to de-camp to the spare room to get some rest, and the even wiser one that the tiddler should move to her own room this weekend. I think I'm finally ready for that too, as she had her own room on holiday and I didn't feel overly stressed about it, but it does feel like the end of the proper baby phase... which is a bit sad.

Right time to get the day started. Dogs and baby all seem to be wanting something from me. Sigh..... ! I love it really

Thank you wors :) eco, at the mo it looks like this job will finish at the end of next week, so in theory he'll be back then. However, the nature of his job is that he may well then find out last minute that he's on another job away after that! Unlikely to be as tough as this one though, usually when he's away all week I at least get him on Friday and Sunday nights but he's in deepest darkest Wales which means he has to leave at 3pm on Sunday and gets back at about 9 on Friday. That one bath time on a Saturday that I don't have to do is bliss though!

As for next week, again because of his job I have to act like a single parent when it comes to childcare and the working week, as in I have to assume I'll do it all myself! It's going to be tough because I'll have to do it all then work in the evenings but at least it's only 3 days a week!

Pjs are onesies here too, although she does have one pair of proper pjs which I put over vests. She does look pretty cute in proper pjs :)

Today really does feel like the end of an era. I feel very sad.

Hi All

Mini farmer had his 9 month check last friday , Health Visitor is delighted with him and tells me he has exceeded what he should have reached at this stage.

I'm very lucky as he still sleeps brilliantly 18.30 last night untill 08.30 this am , But i fear this is about to change as i can see the shape of front lower teeth !!

I still have mini farmer i nbedroom with me I'm a wuss , also I'm Yet to allow him to go to a Childminder 1 day per week so i can have some Me time , i realy need a stern talking to !

Hope everyone is well
We are all doing a hard job very well, keep going.

Evening all! Well I am ker-nackered but have so all is well!
Yes I do like my job and I actually do like the trips down to London as I get to feel like a proper grown up for a change but as I said upthread it doesn't mean I'm heartless and don't miss my two? DS is used to it and I speak to him on the phone before he goes to school and before bedtime so that's fine but of course DD probably wondered where I was all day.

I came home and gave them both big kisses and whispered sweet nothings into their ears and may have spent some time just inhaling DD's baby scent

plonky and Gerry you actually made me laugh with your DCs' love of the news/weather people

And Gerry well done on holding the fort with your DH away and the very best of luck (and ) when you go back to work and he's away. Can you do shorter hours that week to ease yourself back in or get someone to help in the evenings? Don't underestimate how exhausting it is just using your brain again for work.

I have to say, I told DH how amazing he is last night. Today was quite a busy day with the DCs as DS had dress in your pyjamas for Children in Need at school, plus swimming so all that to remember, plus money for CIN, plus something else and also all the stuff DD has to take to the CM (her snuggle bear, clothes, nappies, bottles) and he had sorted all that out and got it lined up by the front door last night. Then there was lots of running around at different times today, including DS's assembly to go to, dropping and picking DS and DD up in different places and on top of all that he had his own work teleconference this afternoon in between DS's assembly and heading out again to pick the DCs up. AND of course he got them both up, fed, dressed and out this morning and both home, fed, dressed and to bed tonight.

I know it's the same as I would do but I thought of some of the DHs I read about on MN and I realised just how bloody lucky I am. He's such a star.

Right, back to the and footy :)

Hey Wing. Reckon you deserved your and mr wing too. Mr pud is doing sterling work at the moment, I'm really pleased he's starting to get it. Well done those dh's!

Gerry, the thinking about returning to work was worse than doing it for me. Yours will be tougher flying solo, but I am sure you'll do great. Here's to the next bit!

Right, I reckon that nappy's full judging by the face pulling so best get to it... Eco, did you strip wash yours and did it work? Did mine 2 weekends ago and worked a treat here.

wing and pud to your DHs. Mine? Well, safe to say he may as well not bother. I practically had to beg him to help me yesterday - yes, I know you go to work and deliver logs in your time off but do you think that when you're here, at home, you could possibly take over looking after DD so I can a) get better from my cold and not pass it on to her and b) get some other stuff done while I know someone else is watching her? It came out a bit whinier than that because I was crying into DD's head but he got the message. He still manages to prioritise everything over DD though and i'm a smidge worried as I have another KIT day coming up and he'll be off work so can look after her. But can he? I really don't want to sound like i'm telling him what to do but he pays so little attention when I do everything that I feel i'd need to write everything down like instructions - nearly 9 months in, he should be more familiar with her, right? Ok, rant over. I know what I have to do. Deep breath and i'm going to talk to him about 'feelings'. That'll go down well...

My OH is somewhere inbetween!

I need your help ladies - I'm still FAT. I've barely eaten breakfast or lunch all week at work and much less booze, but I just look in the mirror and wonder how on earth I was ever slim

I bought some 'boyfriend fit' jeans because skinnies just don't work anymore (I spend the whole time trying to not show my arse to anyone from the back) and OH told me they made me look huge.

Argh!!

Breakfast is the answer. Have something substantial like porridge, which should take you through until lunch. Have protein at lunch and dinner and make sure you chug down about 4 pints of water a day. I spent years not having breakfast thinking if I starved myself i'd get thin but it just slows your metabolism down. Tou can kickstart it in the morning by having a decent brekkie. Also, I only eat when DD does and I try to have the same thing.

The sensible answer is porridge for breakfast, fruit and a yoghurt for lunch, protein and veg for dinner and no snacks . Have you thought about trying that 5:2 diet? Everyone seems to be raving about it, even my Dad's doing it & has lost 2 stone! To be fair though, I'm probably not the one to listen to having never dieted and hoping to not have to, I can't bare it so if I need to slim down I just cut my portions a bit and do a shit load of exercise which I could probably do with doing sometime soon

We're trekking off to the ILs in the morning. Joy. I'm hoping that everyone will be too busy marvelling over the wonderful DD to feign shock over the fact I am STILL breastfeeding & moan about how nothing we do is ever good enough mostly because we don't live in the same village . Ah well, it'll be nice for DD and there's plenty of opportunity for some nice country walks. Wish me luck!

The 5:2 diet?

On non-office days I have eggs for breakfast. No snacks ever really. No sweet stuff either.

Boo

How about carbs Leni?

I'm currently reading a book called why do we get fat? because I'm so fed up. It's really worth a read, but the short answer is carbs raise blood sugar which raises insulin which inhibits secretion of the hormones that determine whether we store fat or burn it.

I'm attempting clean eating with only complex carbs (most of the time, I'm only human and cannot resist a bowlof pasta). So far it's good, 4lbs this week. I'd be tempted not to calorie count (including 5:2) but that's just me. Clean eating and a little bit of what you fancy. Don't beat yourself u, ad tell your dh he could be more tactful!

Wing I'm truly envious of your drive to work and be a mum. Sorry if I came across as patronising, if I did it was totally unintentional, but your last post sounded a bit defensive. You sound like a fab mum.

Having a bit of a low day here. Dp seems far too content to spend his weekends doing nothing but dicking around on his ps3 or watching sports. I understand everyone needs cave time (except working mums, obviously) but I fear were spending too many weekends arguing and not enjoying our young family life. This in addition to the realisation that I'm doing a pointless job for ficking peanuts and I'm not a happy Plonky today. Oh! And I have a smear test tomorrow!

Going to have a long soak in the bath once DS is in bed for the night and have a good think. I've got a working-from-home idea that I'd like to test, and I'm looking forward to seeing Somethig tomorrow. Eco can you do one of your happy cheery posts to make me smile please?

Hi guys. Tis a day of change here, so I've been a busy bee bustling around doing stuff. The house has been blitzed, stuff has been tidied, other stuff has been recycled, and the worselet is finally in her own room. Huge wail. Oh ok, huge sigh.... of relief . I think she likes it actually, as she is currently asleep in there (an almost unheard of event) and DH is doing a victory dance after his top tip of putting the musical seahorse in the cot actually worked. If you haven't got one, ladies, you need one. I have never known anything send a cross wakey worselet to sleep as fast, and if it works on her I'm guessing it'll work on other similarly nap refusing small people. Here's what I'm talking about:

uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=crmas&va=fisher+price+musical+seahorse

Diet and fitness, I agree breakfast is the way to go, but not sweet sugary cereal as plonky is spot on about quick release carbs. Carbs aren't evil though, complex ones are actually extremely good for you and full of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Didn't Gerry mention a personal trainer brother? I bet he could give some helpful tips.

My only wisdom is up the exercise. I'm like a whippet, which is I suspect largely down to the fact that I'm hyperactive and walk miles every day. I currently have a rotten cold so have walked nowhere, and am feeling rough for it.

Oh Plonky . Hope your day picks up. I wish I could send you happy vibes over the ether, but I think that's as yet beyond the scope of even the best technology. You never know, your home working idea could be the next big thing. Stranger things have happened... look at JK Rowling. One minute a single mum, the next a mega buck global name I still don't 'get' Harry Potter though. Here's hoping .

Wing your DH sounds wonderful. Is he clone-able?! You'd make a fortune

Christi I had no idea there was a 9 month check, so thanks for the heads up. I could do with some top tips from the lovely HV on how to encourage dd to actually eat. She is at least showing some enthusiasm now, but is hanging on to her milk like her life depends on it.

Think we might be coming out the other side of a wonder week now, as the tiddler is back to her smiley little self and has a whole new set of skills to add to her list. Sitting up from lying down, new words like ba-ba and ma-ma (Ma-ma means 'I'm seriously cross.... which tells me everything I need to know ), and proper hand and knees short crawls. I emphasis the short here, in case any of you are expecting a video of the worselet traversing the room in civilised style.

Other news, my best friend has a lovely new baby daughter so I'm wallowing in that warm fuzzy feeling you get when good things happen to people you care about.

Right. I've been trying to get on here all day, but after a huge row last night where DH shouted about me being on my phone all the time and I shouted about him always falling asleep on the sofa at 8pm, I've been trying to stay off the net today thank god he's gone back to work tonight so normality can resume it's been a frosty weekend chez Gerry...

I wanted to talk about weight loss. I know that those of you who are on fb will have seen pics of me and be wondering who I am exactly to give advice, but that's the thing about being fat- you become an expert on how to lose weight, and hope that being an expert is enough without actually having to do anything...

I've tried all sorts, but the regime my little brother has got me on at the moment seems to be working. I trust him- he's fully trained and a professional personal trainer. This is a summary of what he's said to me.

1. For the most part, exercise is irrelevant to weight loss. It's 90% diet, at least at first. So no more 'I don't have time to exercise'

1. Carbs aren't great. Wors is right about complex carbs/vitamins etc BUT carbs should be something that we use for a purpose,(like when we need extra energy or IF we're doing lots of exercise) not a part of every meal

1. Protein fills you up, and more importantly doesn't really affect blood sugar levels. Low carb/high protein means no more afternoon slumps

I have just finished the first two weeks- a kickstart 'detox'. My fortnight has looked like this:

Breakfast: either 2xboiled eggs on rye bread OR small amount of no sugar added muesli with soya milk.

Lunch: portion of lean meat with salad/veg and if necessary v small portion of rice/Cous Cous.

Dinner: portion of fish with green veg only.

Fruit/nuts in between. No carbs after lunch. At least 2 litres of water. No sugar/bread/pasta etc. lots of green tea.

I've lost a stone. Now it slows down and gets more sensible. The above stays roughly similar but I get one cheat day a week. This doesn't mean pizza for breakfast and chips for lunch, but I can have, say, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. I can have complex carbs if I feel I need them (not just if I fancy them), but still none in the afternoon.

I feel great. I've always had shocking afternoon slumps and I'm a terrible sleeper, probably because of the insulin resistance that comes with PCOS. Both of these things have improved. I am VERY wary because as I've said before I'm a yoyoer, but I already feel like my relationship with food is changing. I'm much more honest now. In the past I dieted (and ate) in secret. Now I'm telling anyone who will listen so that I don't have to have a piece of cake through politeness...

I hope this helps. The other thing is that from what I've seen none of you really have much to worry about. I can understand that you might want to get rid of the extra bits caused by babies and the biscuits that come with them, but none of you that are worrying need to go as crazy as me. I also hope none of this is patronising, just wanted to share what my lovely brother has done (I'd recommend him as a personal trainer but none of you live anywhere near him I don't think!)

Right. Strictly results, then a soak. All in an attempt to pretend I'm not back to work tomorrow...

I had anorexia throughout my early twenties, so I have to be careful... My brother's a male fitness model so he's also a bit of an expert on eating for the perfect body (so annoying!) But this is a normal day for me:

3 boiled eggs and two slices wholewheat toast (or nothing on a work day)

Tea/water during the day, maybe a couple of Finn Crisp crackers with ham/leerdammer lite (or noodle soup if no breakfast).

Wholewheat pasta/rice with veggies/chicken.

I don't do white bread/rice/pasta at all!

I'm in a deep hot bath. It's bloody chilly out and the bath is lovely. Not long back from dad/sisters where we made nine Christmas cakes. Mum used to do it for various family and waif/stray types who needed some extra Christmas cheer and just after she died we found her cupboards stock piled with all the ingredients so we now carry on the tradition from her recipe. Badly! But it was fun and am now full of festive cheer and nails full of chopped walnuts. Ecobaby really loved the dog this time and spent most of her time in his face laughing at him much to his confusion.
Well done worse and Worselet on the room swap. Seahorse success and his bedroom reclaimed, no wonder Mr worse is happy. Had you sorted her room ages ago or have you done it since birth? We did ours pre baby so it's very gender neutral with primary colours, bunting, a big green world map on one wall and ladybirds and bugs on the curtains. As befitting an Ecobaby. What did you Do worse? How exciting. Just Christi left then I think with baby in her room still?
Plonky you could sound us out about Your business idea after an initial chat with something. We promise not to steal your idea! Hope the bath helped lift your spirits. For the coil fitting last week they used, among other stuff, a speculum and without giving tmi, post-baby its passage was smooth! NOwt to worry about.

Betty how were the in laws? I am starting to feel the 'well, that's a bit unnecessary and eccentric' vibes with my still breastfeeding too. I though post six months would feel weird when thinking hypothetically but it feels fine to me, so damn them all. None of their business. Ecobaby is done and dusted within four mins now generally so it's pretty swift. I even fed in front of aged father this weekend.
Leni I know bugger all about weight loss as am a)hyperactive and b) in possession of bonkers metabolism but I do know if my oh suggested I looked fat I'd probably be livid and shout a lot. Not fair. Mothers need nurturing. Tell him that from me! And, I'm sure you're not fat in the first place. We're just different shapes now we've made these babies.
Any you certainly need to Have that chat. IT's time he stepped up. How did it all go? Did you kick a discussion off? Fingers crossed you see an improvement.
PUd, what's a nappy strip wash? I need to do one. When wet they smell a bit weelicious which isn't lovely. Please educate me!
Wing. Respect! A good day by the sounds of it. And a friendly pat on the bottom to your lovely dh too. Proactive?! CAn he put together a training course for all of the marchers?
Gerry are you all set for the week with a cast iron plan in place? I'll be thinking of you. The kids will be so pleased to Have you back! Enjoy that.
Dh has applied for A job a a uni in Bedfordshire. I don't think any of you are from that area so I don't think I'll offend anyone by saying "where?".no one knows anything about Bedfordshire do they? I take that as a bad sign. However, it's a great opportunity for dh so I need to warm to The idea of not only a relocation but a relocation to Bedfordshire yikes. Homemade biscotti in the post to anyone who can tell me something positive about moving to Bedfordshire.

Leni, is there a chance that you've still got a slightly wonky self image? Eco's right, it sounds like your oh isn't helping. Ignoring how you feel about how you look for the moment, what do the numbers suggest? How do they compare with a time when you were happier with your image?

Definitely have breakfast every day. Every time I think I don't have time for breakfast I remind myself that I managed when I was pregnant (or I'd be sick!) so I should still be able to find time. Also it sounds like you need to eat more in the day. You might then find you can cut down a bit on the evening. I know that if I don't eat enough in the day I'm guilty of having relatively healthy, but HUGE dinners! I now tend to have a small snack when dd has her tea at 5.

My iron cast plan for the week... Drop dd off with my mum at 7.30, pick her up at 5, give her tea, bath, bottle at mum's. Drive 30 mins home. Put to bed, eat dinner, work til 11. Do no work on days off, no work other than unavoidable when dd is awake, no work at weekend. Work 18hr days (minus tea/bath/bottle/bed) on the days i have work. Hope dd doesn't forget how to sleep like she did last night. Collapse in a heap on Thursday. Remind self it's only 5 weeks til the end of term...

Eco- Wikipedia tells me Ronnie barker was from Bedfordshire. Doesn't get much better than that...

Bedfordshire...is...on the m1. That's the sum of my knowledge.

Gerry a stone? That's fantastic, well done you. And you were so worried a couple of weeks ago. 18 hour days? Eek!

Eco the Christmas cakes sound lovely, such a nice tradition. Dp and I started discussing the business idea yesterday. It needs a lot of research but ideally it'd mean working 2-3 days a week from home with the odd weekend day.

Leni skipping breakfast is 100% bad, if anything it just slows down your metabolism. Your breakfast when you do have it sounds very healthy though.

My overall aim with food is to lose 20lbs - I was 10 stone pre baby and very happy with my body. Now I'm 11st9 and I hate it. I know it's not massive weightloss but its enough to bug me. I do eat complex carbs though, I just try to limit them as Gerry suggests.

I need to sort my head out about work too. I'm happy to go out to work but its such a headache and I'm paid a pittance for a job that means nothing. Should I be spending this time with DS instead? I don't know.

Sorry for the rambling self pity.