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June 2013; Toddling into our second year!

999 replies

BeanCalledPickle · 15/08/2014 08:36

New thread ladies:-) I think we filled about ten threads when pregnant and this is only our fourth post natally!

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pinkbear82 · 24/01/2015 17:39

Sunny dd here has managed to pick the one room I have finished decorating to add her own 'statement' to the wall! My 'oyster' wall now has lovely green flecks on....

Shouldn't have gotten excited about the sleeping thru the night thing, that's been quickly forgotten. I'm blaming teeth.

SunnyL · 24/01/2015 20:49

ah thats why we painted all of the downstairs with washable paint. of course i haven't got round to doing the upstairs so i can just guess where she'll be drawing Envy

anyhoo I'm back from my travels. i had absolutely no mobile or internet for 6 days which was made even tougher by the silly anti malarial tablets giving me crazy dreams which included DH asking for a divorce.

Ive spent the whole day with Lil totally crowding her with too many kisses and cuddles which I keep getting told off for. Shes now in bed shouting daddy daddy Angry

cuphat · 24/01/2015 21:09

We painted with washable paint too sunny!

DD likes the simple wooden puzzles. We have some of the large cardboard ones but she's more interested in taking the pieces out of the box and putting them back in again. She's definitely a bookworm like me.

I've seen Melissa and Douglas stuff in TK Maxx before.

Does anyone have a child with really wide feet? I've posted a thread under a different name for privacy (in case family decide to google to help - I've noticed mn results come up pretty high!) but have had no responses. She's an I width with a high instep and Clarks sent us away saying they can't help Sad . They did try a bigger size with an H width but that was no good due to her instep. I had the opposite problem - I was a C width and had to have horrid made to measure black lace ups (like mens) as a child. She must get her feet from DH. I can't even find an option for made to measure though; even if they were awful she just needs shoes!

Mrs81 · 24/01/2015 22:47

Do you have a JL near you cup? They've been good with shoe fitting so far with us (plus they sell other brands, other than Clarks, which may fit her better). DS is a 3G at the moment (much to DH's amusement...particularly as that presumably becomes 4G with the next pair!) which is quite wide... I'd have thought feet proportions can change a bit as they grow though??

cuphat · 24/01/2015 23:13

Funny you should ask that Mrs Grin . We went there after Clarks with the purpose of trying shoes there and ordering our new double pram/ pushchair and we had the experience below (you can skip it, bean!). I wanted to try the shoes first but DH wanted to order the pram as it should have been a quicker job than the shoes. Anyway, he will now never set foot in the store again! The problem is that no stores seem to do an I width, they only go up to an H and they all have bars etc which don't work with her instep. We went to Jones but they couldn't help either - they advised Hotter who don't even do kids shoes!

Unfortunately my feet are still narrow and most shoes fall off my feet. I often have to have sad ones with bars or wear ones that are too small in length to get them to stay on. My sister still has massive (size 10!) wide feet and can only get shoes in Evans. Her feet were wide as a child but not so wide that she had a problem getting shoes so I worry for DD. She just has DH's large head and sturdy frame so while I hope it might change it probably won't.

Boring alert!
"Have just had a horrendous experience buying our pushchair in JL! We still can't believe how terrible the experience was. We'd been in a few weeks ago to have a look at it and the very helpful member of staff told us to come back to the store to order it when we were ready and she knew exactly how she'd do it (as we need two pushchair seats and a carrycot). The lady today, while polite was totally incompetent! As soon as we said what we wanted she tried to send us away to order online (this can't be done for all the parts we need - which is why we were told to come back to the store). She then almost ordered three pushchairs (a double set and a single) which we had to point out to her. Then she refused to believe that you would need a converter kit to add the second seat we want on the frame. She said that by ordering an extra seat it would come with that - which it definitely doesn't. It took 10 minutes of disagreeing, looking at the pushchair and her rolling her eyes before she realised her mistake.

All this took 55 minutes while DD was stuck in her pushchair. Some bits were in stock, some had to be ordered and she said we'd only pay for the in stock stuff today which clearly wasn't the case when it came to pay as the amount was for everything, in stock or not. She was still saying we'd have to pay the extra when the items come in stock until DH added up the cost of the items for her! And to top it off she couldn't even find a way to order the carrycot and is getting back to us.

DH is very laid back and rarely complains about anything (I've never know him to in fact) but he went straight to customer services to complain! And instead of just apologising they said she was a very experienced member of staff (!) and tried to make excuses for her. He's taking it further as he is so disappointed in their customer service. She definitely needs further training!

Can't believe we're spending £1200 and we're still not confident that we'll have all the parts we need. We're tempted to cancel the whole thing and get it from elsewhere but I'd rather have the pushchair from them as customer service is supposed to be great if things go wrong with the frame. We're going to order the carrycot from elsewhere."

Good day for me then!

cuphat · 24/01/2015 23:16

And Grin at 3G and 4G (slow today!). DD measured as 4 1/2 today. We tried 5H but no good due to the instep.

Mrs81 · 25/01/2015 10:26

Goodness, what a nightmare Cup. And shocking service from JL. Pity as they are usually pretty good. Re shoes, they do Startrite (but so must other shops!) who I believe are quite big for their sizes, if you see what I mean...! Good luck!!

BeanCalledPickle · 25/01/2015 18:47

Not that it wasn't just as thrilling the second time round!! On the shoes thing we have a specialist kids shoe shop near us that can do made to measure if necessary. You may have to throw money at it but there will be a solution. I have insanely wide feet caused by tumours in my nerves in my feet. DH has extremely narrow feet. Hopefully DD is in the middle!

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BeanCalledPickle · 25/01/2015 18:48

Which JL was it btw??

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cuphat · 25/01/2015 20:46

Grin They are usually good, and I shop there a lot. Apart from the time I wanted to buy a pair of shoes in a different branch and they couldn't find a matching pair (they could find one in my size)! There was no offer to order them in or to try to find the other shoe to the pair or anything so I left disappointed.

We went to brantano today and managed to find a pair of shoes that will do! Hadn't been there before but liked being able to browse all the shoes ourselves and just get on with it and let DD have a good walk around testing the shoes without crowds full of people around. No I width but they had three pairs in the larger H and two were ok - a Hush Puppies and a Clarks pair (not bothering with their stores again after they said they wouldn't have anything). They're probably not the perfect fit as her feet come up very high where the rounded bits - no idea on technical name! - are at the front (on all shoes) but at least she managed to get into them, they don't look like they'll cut into her and she walked around in them comfortably.

Is that just a local kids shop Bean or a chain? I wish DD's feet were in the middle! DH's were wide but not so much that shoes were a struggle. Will PM you.

cuphat · 25/01/2015 20:54

Oh and we've ordered the bits that for some reason they couldn't find on their system (like carrycot, footmuff etc) directly from icandy as we figured they're not likely to go wrong! We'd have ordered everything directly from them if they had a better reputation for customer service (in case the chassis breaks), as their website allows all the different options and combinations with no problems at all.

AlohaMama · 01/02/2015 19:09

Hi all. I know there was a discussion on duvets earlier, can anyone tell me where to get cot duvet covers? I really can't find any I like, lots of place only do single size (not cot size), Vertbaudet do crazy sizes, and JLewis seem a bit expensive. Any ideas?

SunnyL · 01/02/2015 20:15

I got a couple of nice sets from Tesco. The other place I looked was Argos.

On another note don't you just love this fussy eating phase? I particularly like it when I cook a big roast dinner with roast potatoes, carrots and cauliflower cheese to be met with NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO. It's great isn't it Angry

HungryHorace · 01/02/2015 20:23

Asda and eBay, Aloha. Or that's where ours are from.

Mrs81 · 01/02/2015 21:36

Ikea are good too for cot bedding.

Fussy eating? Hmmm. DS has always had a picky streak. I make a lot of pasta and risotto. And try to introduce one new thing a week. Sometimes he'll like it, sometimes he won't but at least he gradually broadens his horizons!

This week has been a frankly shitty week. My dearest friend developed eclampsia at 31wks. She is ok, finally, but has been too ill to see her (really quite prem) daughter for more than a couple of hrs in the past 5 days Sad It has been a week to well and truly appreciate what we have.

SunnyL · 02/02/2015 16:29

oh Mrs that is tough - your poor friend. My dad was so reticent about telling anyone i was pregnant because as a doctor he could only remember the bad stories. We forget so easily how lucky we are with our happy (apart from when we feed them roast dinners) and healthy children.

Mrs81 · 03/02/2015 07:30

Thanks Sunny Smile
You're right, it is so easy to forget how lucky we are. I have to say, after the events of the past week I won't be forgetting for a long time.
I totally understand your dad's reticence - it's easy to end up with a disproportionate view of things when you work in the medical profession/work with particular groups of people.

Ho hum. On that cheery note, happy Tuesdays one and all!

HungryHorace · 07/02/2015 07:47

Arghhh...croup has hit. Poor DD clearly feels like crap (sounds like it too).

Regular Calpol it is, bless her.

cuphat · 07/02/2015 08:48

Poor thing, I hope she gets better soon (and that your DS doesn't get it!).

HungryHorace · 07/02/2015 09:48

DS is the cause of the household germ crisis (or was the first one to get ill, anyway!). He's definitely on the mend now, thankfully.

DD seemed to feel worse before the cough turned to the croup cough and the snot went green. She seems more herself - despite sounding worse - today.

Hopefully we will all feel better next week!

cuphat · 07/02/2015 20:08

Oh no, I'm glad he's getting better. I don't even know what a croup cough sounds like.

DD has had yellow snot for the past week but seems fine in herself (thank goodness). She is now very good at her colours and tells us that it's yellow every time she blows her nose - nice!

BeanCalledPickle · 07/02/2015 20:09

What is croup?! Sounds very Victorian!

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HungryHorace · 07/02/2015 20:47

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Croup/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Here you go, Sunny. It's a wheeze that goes along with a cough really. Bloody horrible. I'm listening to her wheezing and coughing now. :-(

DS is really snotty again tonight and would only go sleep on my shoulder. Thankfully he's in bed now, but god knows how long it'll last.

That's great that your DD can recognise her yellow snot, cuphat. :-)

HungryHorace · 07/02/2015 20:47

Sunny? Bean! Being dim and illiterate tonight it seems!

cuphat · 07/02/2015 22:08

She scares me, hungry. She has a thirst for knowledge and you usually only have to tell her what something is once and she remembers it. Had no intention whatsoever of teaching her colours at this point but if she had a book where it was showing say ten cars and they happened to be different colours she kept pointing to them all wanting to know what the difference was. She now goes around throughout the day pointing to things and naming the colours. I'm scared that she's going to start asking things I can't answer earlier than I expected (I have a rubbish memory). Thank goodness for google!

Latest thing, and even more annoying than 'no' is 'fix it'. If anything is off or the batteries have stopped working then she repeats this over and over every day until it works again (even if you hide it). Recently struggled to get batteries for a couple of her sound books and she drove us crazy until we could replace them. And I wish her tots group would replace batteries in toys as she brings the same toy over to me every single week asking me to 'fix it'.

It's even more horrible when they're ill that young, before they've learnt to breathe through their mouth when necessary.