June 2013; Toddling into our second year!

[BeanCalledPickle]

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

It's amazing, Bean. We watched it all in a short space of time just before DD was born! So it feels weird that Better call Saul is now on at the same point before this baby arrives.

No rest for me in the run up to my due date! But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm making the most of the evenings - thank goodness for a 7pm bedtime!

Some tiny babies are easy! Mine weren't, but they both have milk intolerance in one form or another.

Throw in jaundice and a lazy feeder for DS and it wasn't great. Hopefully your DD2 will be nice and easy though. :-)

That's a good point. Though I'm guessing it will be easier to deal with the small one in whatever form it takes if the big one is elsewhere three days a week. DH works four days and it would be weird to have him at home a day a week as well. It's an expensive choice but I don't think he could easily go full time now and then back to part time.

Can breastfed babies be milk intolerant? I'm really hoping that works out ok again. I don't want the hassle of bottles in my life!

They can Bean, alas. Which is why I went dairy free for 6m, and a friend who has exclusively bf her child has been dairy, soya & egg free for over a year. But it is more unusual I think....

Goodness. Who knew! I've known people stop breastfeeding and then encounter all these problems and it's really interfered with returning to work. I want to go back sooner this time so will have to embrace formula at some point so was hoping to combination feed from an earlier point. So I hope no major issues here!

I wouldn't have gone dairy-free if I'd still been BF on diagnosis with DS, it'd have been straight onto prescription formula. As he was already ff I didn't have to make that choice.

And you can't remove lactose from your milk even if you go dairy free, so DD would've been straight to FF if she hadn't been already.

I didn't know these things could even happen. I do hope I can just BF without major issue again. I would be very disappointed not to. Mainly because I need to burn the calories while still sitting on my arse.

Lil has hand foot and mouth again. Except you can't have it twice so god knows what she had last time. Anyway it means me 'working from home' tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I can chuck her in the garden and watch from the dining room while I 'work'.

I had to go dairy free as well because of Lil's horrible reflux. No idea if it made any difference but it made me feel like I was doing something helpful

Hullo - Olimoss here - I lost you all for a whole but have found you again!

Excellent to catch up on everything (have done so whilst sat out the back in the sun as Joe naps) - I thought I might find more number 2 Bebes on the way but no! We just cannot decide what's best. I'm 41 in July so like someone said earlier it's getting a bit risky and also life with Joe gets exponentially lovelier every day as he turns into a proper human being and it's pretty scary to think if disrupting all that.

He knows what weewee and poo are, often tells us after he's pooed but not so much before. I'm happy to hang out and do loo training later and do it fairly quickly, and once, rather than try hurry him. We are not going the potty route, mostly cause I can't be arsed, and have got one if those step up seats that sit on the normal loo. We are just back from a blissful couple of weeks in Australia where he ran about naked in the garden most afternoons - amazing how quickly his awareness of wee and poo came on as he peed everywhere and laid a couple if nice London the lawn. Bean you have the right idea!

Right I'd best go wake him up. He's a demon for naps, still dies up to 3gra a day and sleeps 730pm-7am or so at night, though he's not allowed up out of his room before 8. Next step is getting a GroClock and then it's big kid bed. At home in Oz he was fine to nap in normal beds so here's hoping.

Enjoy the sunshine! It's such bliss....

So many typos, soz.....

Lovely to hear your news Raeside and glad Joe's doing so well

How's L today Sunny? I hope the fab weather has helped things a bit?!

DS has chickenpox spots everywhere. Literally every bit of his body - inside eyelid, inside ears and mouth, underside of feet, bum, willy, etc etc. Poor little thing I'm now delighted to be getting this out of the way while he's so young. He can be distracted quite a bit from the constant itch, and even when he does scratch his aim is a bit iffy and his nails are soft still so shouldn't damage the skin too much...

Yep we're still spotty here too but getting conflicting advice. GP did a phone consultation and said hand foot and mouth and to give her calpol if needed. But then he went to the pharmacy today who said it was bad nappy rash and a fungal infection on her face.

Either way her bum looks horrific but she's in great spirits.

Trying to work from home this morning while having jigsaws, colouring books and playdoh thrust at me was interesting

Sorry to hear about the poor wee ill toddlers - hope they all feel better soon.
Hi Raeside, nice to hear your news. I'd love to hear how you keep your son in his room till 8am - share! DS wakes between 6 and 7 and yells until we get up and get him out of his cot.
I've got the chance to go to a work conference in San Diego in November - should I go alone or take DP and DS and add some California holiday time?? Opinions, please!

The latter, definitely.

Sorted. :-)

Sunbeam - we've deliberately never gotten him up in the mornings soon as he wakes and it's just evolved into longer and longer time. He obv did complain a bit in the early days but now is perfectly content to sit in there. If he's woken early I do go and give him some books which he reads. I know it's time to get him when they start being launched across his room!

My husband works in film/tv and had office hours of 10am-630pm. Cushy! So we should be able to keep the 8am thing up till school starts.

Only drawback is that any threats to put him to bed, if he's being naughty, are met with 'ok' and then a tanty if he doesn't get to go!

Regards California, go alone to your thing then get your family to come meet you after !

Is your DH the sort who would cope with DS well on a plane on his own? If so I'd go ahead and enjoy the child free time and then have them join you. Will work pay for a hotel? If so you probably won't want DS in a hotel room with you, jetlagged especially when you have a work thing to focus on. After that you could move to an apartment which will be more relaxing. We used air b n b in Berlin and stayed in a families flat. Was perfect as full of toys etc.

Oli how was joe on the flights??

Bean - he totally acted his age but I think quite a good version of it. I think that now more in retrospect maybe than at the time !

We deliberately booked certain flights to ensure the longest leg was his nighttime as to try for guaranteed sleep. Worked ok on way over, less so on way back but that was due more to not having as much room to stretch out as anything else.

We had a little bag full of toys and books and stuff he'd never seen before so pulled those out as and when needed. Had mega supply of snacks. Also I'm afraid rather deliberately got him hooked on the Lego Duplo train app and had it loaded on every device.

Worse thing was trying to snap him into the seatbelt every time the light went on - biggest wails definitely came then. It really was otherwise a waiting game. Waiting for him to sleep. And oh! the bliss when he did!

Showed utterly no sign of jetlag either end - we very strictly enforced normal routine regardless of the time difference. We got in around 1pm both ends and just kept him up till 7pm. Worked fine. I think we were a bit lucky.

Sounds good. I think they are pretty adaptable really. You can manipulate as needed:-) You paid for a seat for him then?

We did. Totally worth it.

Yeah I would have thought so. I've often thought that people who fly any distance at 23 months just so they can save the seat price are operating a false economy! I cannot imagine going any distance without Her having a seat now! We did a couple of flights in business cos you get the room and it costs much the same. From now on its cheap airlines and paying for a seat.

The 'music' on that Duplo app is appalling. DD loves it though!

Bean - if flying long haul anywhere I recommend not going too budget!!

....we always go home on Emirates, v child friendly too, easy transit, prams at the airport to aid your transit by locking the shitty tired toddler down. We are off to Italy in June and have gone business for that but think prob waste of funds really for only 3hr flight.

I don't think we will be going long haul for a while. We have a holiday fund that has to last years so I don't want to start spending it until she is old enough to truly appreciate it!

Business is good for the lounge. On BA anyway. The main benefit was the fact that 2*200 quid business seat to Germany effectively buys you the room of 3x 130 quid economy seat so worth it for the extras.

Ryanair to lanzarote in September. That will be quite different.

Interesting today...DD asked to have a wee on the loo (we got a training step up seat for her this week). She's now gone on there twice.

I was considering toilet training soon, but have had my hand forced somewhat.

Sunny, how's your DD doing with it after her unfortunate potty incident?

Wow HH! That's some serious progress.

After the unfortunate potty incident she only sits on it fully clothed now - I think she thinks it's another scooter though cos she keeps trying to drive it round the house.

Nowadays I'm told by her every time she does a poo and most times she does a wee. For poos I'm instructed to change her nappy but she doesn't really mind about wees. I've been told by a few folks that kids in real nappies tend to potty train earlier as they can feel the after effects more than disposable nappies. No idea if it's true but just want to hold off potty training til the summer when all the accidents will water the garden and not my carpets.