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!

Congrats, Aloha. That's great news! :-)

And Rae, that sounds really hard. I couldn't do that, so you're one up on me even attempting it.

As for birthday presents, it's a Melissa and Doug kitchen here. And a few other odds and sods as I bought too much at Christmas!

I also buy her stuff all of the time. But I wouldn't say she's spoilt. The last thing was a 99p watering can for 'helping' in the garden! She loves it.

Congratulations Aloha!

DD also recently got a watering can for 'helping' in the garden. And I thought £2 was a bargain! I'm limited to Sainsbury's here though. I wouldn't say she's spoilt either. They certainly won't be getting things on demand when they're older.

I do feel guilty about the contribution I'm making to filling the world with plastic crap!

I am normally a big fan of eBay but DH made the annoyingly valid point that maybe it's not the best when it comes to outside toys and safery. So we've bought a little tikes cottage, water table, slide etc new. The idea is that we make the garden fun enough that we don't need to go to the park as much. Or rather I don't on my own.

She's getting spoilt at the moment which I think is fair enough when there is a new baby. But I try not to otherwise!

99p shop here!

The good thing is that DS won't need anything as we already have it. :-)

That's our idea too, bean! The in-laws are getting a play house for our garden.

With that and the swing and slide (Plum/ little tikes - I agree with your DH, bean) hopefully DD will be occupied enough that I can relax a bit and she won't miss the park too much.

I've seen a water/ sand table but I don't think I could cope with sand!

And yes, our DS won't need anything either! We're going to struggle for birthday/ Christmas ideas!

I've washed all of DD's baby toys ready for his use. I am looking forward to being able to get rid of stuff once he's grown out of it!

Don't bother with sand! Just do both halves with water.

Be warned the baby toys are apparently the most amazing thing to a two year old

That's a very cute view, Bean.....

I have a tiny decked back yard so all the fun stuff like sand and water seems a bit squeezy. I think maybe a little paddling pool we can dismantle might be the go. We have a really lovely park about 200 yards from home so would have to be particularly lazy (which is totally doable) not to bother to go so J could run about.

Good plan!

Aww love it - so cute! We have the same baby gym! And I don't think DD was quite ready to let go of it when we put it away so I can see her doing the same thing!

How do you manage to go to the loo etc? I don't think I could leave DD alone with a baby for a second - will I have to carry him everywhere with me?!

It depends on the lay out of your house. And the trustworthiness of your child! Polly seems to understand she is not for playing with and hasn't poked or hit her except accidentally. I wouldn't risk leaving them unattended though.

Loo not an issue at the moment as Sean is still off work but I reckon that I will just ensure one is on one side of a safety gate and the other on the other! We have a bouncy chair in the kitchen and a Moses basket in the front room so always somewhere for the baby to be. The beauty of tiny babies is that they are normally where you left them. Toddlers not so much.

Sleep terrorist was a bit better last night. After a feed from 2-4 I hid my mammoth milky boobs on the other side of the bed and she went back to sleep. Seven hours sleep in three chunks feels amazing. Relatively!

It seems to me you're all skilled up, Bean, on how to deal with #2, on the basis of what you learnt with #1. Does it feel different? I think I'm asking whether you feel much more the boss of the situation this time around....

I think it's easier in that you have a fair idea what to do and what's normal. I haven't googled 'is green poo normal' or 'baby is sick after every feed is this normal' at all. You also realise that you can essentially ignore a baby in a way you could never a toddler. Which makes you wonder why you spent hours trying to entertain a baby.

The exhaustion is still crippling though. And you are two years older dealing with it.

The easier ride with the baby is definitely offset by the presence of a toddler. Especially at this stage where I can't play with her or lift her properly. We try and make sure she gets some proper cuddles with me though.

Polly is in nursery today. I'm sat watching TV. This feels bloody wonderful!

DD wouldn't do anything on purpose but I'm scared she'll accidentally squash him or something. Or knock over the Moses basket (a friend of DH did this as a child!).

I'm glad last night was better.

I'm managing about 4hrs a night at the moment. Have been really struggling to get off to sleep. So much for getting as much as possible before baby arrives.

Yes, the toddler thing must be the spanner in all the works. How you manage late pregnancy with one is....well, I can't quite imagine.

I know you have your reasons but I would really consider going back and asking for the Friday section date! Surely gives you more time with husband at disposal if starts with a bank holiday and I doubt the time you have with DD will be of particularly high quality at that point. More of the 'oh please make this be over I'm in so much pain and discomfort and I'm shattered variety' . With the fear of labour looking more likely!

DH's parents are giving us a play house thing for our garden. And we already have the sand and water table (water only for now!). There's a little ride on thingy out there, but DD isn't that bothered by it.

We need to fetch her trike back from his parents' house as it was put there when we moved. And DS is getting a trike for his birthday this year.

Won't be able to move for stuff out there soon. Her toy market got shifted out there after she started to throw it round a bit!

As for leaving two littlies together without some sort of barrier, I made that mistake once and DD put her box of squeaky eggs on DS (threw them?!) and tried to climb on him in his bouncy chair. He screamed the house down. She was only 18 months at the time, so difficult to reason with. There's not so much issue these days!

Late to the party as always - congratulations Aloha. Not jealous in the slightest. Nope not me. whistles innocently

We had a sand and water table last year. Ditch the sand - it just fills up every time it rains and is an arse to tidy up.

Oh and how can baby gates work for you? Lil can open all ours.

Just back from voting and found myself getting all choked up! How bizarre, I blame the pregnancy hormones!

BTW for those looking at garden toys I just got an email from ELC and they have discount on outdoor toys right now - 20% off Little Tikes and Plum.

Congrats, Aloha. I get emotional about voting too!

Totally agree with everything you said, bean. Didn't think of any of that under pressure though! DH refused to get involved. Will see what DH thinks. When the consultant started going on about coming in asap for a section if I go into labour I did ask if I should change it to the earlier date but he just said no and that it'd be ok so I don't think he wanted to change it even 5 minutes after I'd decided!

I sometimes forget that DD even has a trike (she got one for her last birthday). We shove it in the shed so it hasn't been used much. Must get it out!

Thanks hungry, I will try to avoid leaving them alone! DD will probably try to be 'helpful' which is where it'll go wrong. I have no idea how it'll work in practice though. I was trying to work out the baby gate thing and how that'd work. We only have them at the top and bottom of the stairs so they'd have to be on different floors. I have been tempted to put them elsewhere but we've managed without so far.

Thanks Aloha, have finally ordered the Plum swing (and baby seat)! I knew there was a reason we'd been leaving it! Also ordered a sand and water table - will definitely avoid the sand though! It also let me use the mc birthday discount voucher (don't think it should have) so a very good saving overall!

I couldn't live without Lily's trike. But then we have a dog who needs walking 2 500 times a day. Tying her to a vehicle that I can push is the best invention ever.

I had a postal vote in case walking to the polling station was too far post section. I've really missed it!

I had the MC birthday voucher as well. It specifically said you couldn't use it on little tikes etc but went through no problem. Annoyed could have saved even more!

As well as saying it can't be used on Plum and little tikes etc it also said not to be used with other promotions! I think it worked because the Plum stuff is discounted automatically rather than a discount code being needed. I'm not complaining!

Congratulations Aloha!

That's brought a smile to my face after a depressing day of politics.

Thanks for the tip off re outdoor toys. I'll investigate. We're not fussed about getting ds anything particularly special for his birthday as a month doesn't go by without him getting a new toy/book as he lurches from one developmental leap to another. But I'd like to steer those who ask us for ideas towards things that he would LOVE and/or be the bees knees over the next 6 months. We don't need more cars, balls, etc and I'd like to avoid ds being given more of that sort of thing!

Just bought a slide for E for her b'day - Smoby one at toys r us was actually on good offer and cheaper than reduced ones at ELC. Also got her a cozy coupe :)

Bugger. Just bought her a chute off ELC after that tip off earlier. Hadn't bothered shopping around because I'm a lazy arse

We've already got a cozy coupe though - the police one to match DH's work car