March 06 - At last! Thread no2 - Halfway Through

[Frizombie]

Ok girls here it is!

Hello all - just popping by.

Glad to see everyone is getting on ok.

Uni we're dropping the day feeds now too although I'm weaning her off the boob completely over the next couple of weeks. Have reduced her to first feed in the morning and last feed at night and then am trying to get her to take formula in a cup during the day. She has squash from her cup no problems but she doesn't like having milk from it at all.

Is anyone else using formula and if so which one? I'm not sure if it's just that she doesn't like the flavour of sma gold (although she's been having it on her breakfast since she was 5 months old so don't think it's that).

Chelle using the SMA progress stuff here cause its cheaper, but the I stopped bf a few months ago!

Uni, I read that as ds had bathed himself then I realised your dh must have been at home too

LL, hurrah for sleep and long may it continue!

Yes friz- dh is OiC of bathing boy here. I do monday nights after my run when boy is in teh big bath with me, have had bubble bath teh last couple of mondays- he likes that. There is someting in your mental pic of boy self bathing, dh is pretty hands off now, just keeps a watching eye on all teh spashing and makes sure he has been washed before getting him out at teh end of it all.

Not sure how to or if I can CAT anyone... its sarah at unicyclist dot com

M&T chritmas party tomorrow at local soft play cafe. secret santa and all, just hope my giftee mum likes chocolate, I played safe with the child and got a book on a subject I think they will like. I'll dig out boys santa hat for him to wear on arrival.

lol Uni, sounds like your ds is very splashy like mine! funny but I don't remember dd1 splashing that much, but I can't seem to stop dd2!
Enjoy your Xmas meet tomorrow, sure your prezzies will go down great
We're off to meet a friend tomorrow afternoon for a quick starbucks ahhh coffee

hi girls, up ver late writing Chrissy cards to catch the last post to Australia tomorrow...so tired

I'm doing ok LL, and the trend with the pnd is better, although still have the odd psycho day. Not nearly so many though

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Friz, you are the nicest person in the world. I have just emailed you...

just a quick post as 1 asleep and 1 naked on my knee, 'helping'!!

Kiah fed 5 times last night and was then up at 6am.

friz, I'm not paid up to CAT but my email is rachel underscore summerscales at yahoo dot com. Reckon it's fairly safe on this quiet thread to put it on?!
I must get round to paying for CAT and changing my email on MN.......

Astro glad you enjoyed stuff!

LL, have mail'd you.

Hi Uni! hope your ok, did boy get your wellies???

Off to North Yorks for weekend, so catch you all late tomorrow or Mon!

Boy did get to teh boots, but I removed them from him before he could take an experimental chew.I know how much cat shit can be found on our lawn.

We went to the woods today- went for a walk, was all wintery and lovely, didn;t see a soul once we had left the pushchair friendly play trail for teh steeper muddier butterfly trail. Boy fell asleep in teh back pack on daddy, gentle baby snores reassuring dad that he was fine back there. Then we picked up a christmas tree and came home. Its a forrestry commison place and teh new vistor hub is great. Haldon forest was always good for walks and biking but now it has a better surfaced car park with toilets and a tea van and an "arts centre", more pushchair able paths and more of teh forest opened up to MTBs and horse riders.
I bet the christmas tree will be the incentive for boy to work out forward crawling...I'll need eyes in teh back of my head by christmas day.
Secret santa was fine, most of teh mums got chocolate so No problems there. we are not unpacking boys bath toy set yet, just incase hes given the same by a grandparent ( we have been hinting) and we need to take one back to ELC for a swap.

Feeing very relaxed and Christmassy today - had a lovely day out with DH while kis stayed with friends for the day! Had a lovely lunch in a gorgeous pub at Monsal Head (know it friz or ll? the stables?), then in to Bakewell for some browsing in the shops and coffee and cake. Found a lovely craft shop and stocked up on scrapbooking supplies, and a lovely toyshop and got a couple of things for DS's 1st BIRTHDAY!!!! Can you believe they are coming up for 1??

On the way home we got a Christmas tree and its so lovely, all set up in the bay window now (so luckily ds can't reach ours Unisarah, although dd can by getting onto the couch. Good luck Uni!) The Christmas trees here are beautiful and so much easier to decorate than the Aussie ones, which seem to have mych longer, floppier needles.

Friends to lunch tomorrow (just put the custard layer on the trifle) and then perhaps some pressie wrapping...oh I love Christmas!

We have 4 Children's Christmas parties on this week - 2 at nursery, playgroup and the womens group I go to at Church! Busy busy, but so much fun with the little ones isn't it?

Friz and LL are you finding your DD1s are really getting into Christmas for the first time this year? Luie is very excited. I explained that its Jesus birthday and we will have a birthday cake (for breakfast...mmmmmm!), and she said that Jesus would com and blow out his candles! I explained that he would be there but we can't see Jesus, and she somehow concluded that he had gone into town on th bus.Huh???

Hope you had a lovely w/end Friz

catch you all in a few days...

Astro
x

OOooooooo this time of year is great isn't it you all sound like you've had lovely weekends, putting up trees and chilling out. Uni the forest sounds lovely
Astro, yes I know the pub I really like the Treeline gallery at Bakewell as well, did you find that one? its tucked away down a back alley there's a really nice deli shop there as well, that does weird n wonderful breads/pies n chutneys
We had a fab weekend thanks, although consumed far too much wine last night my friends dh took the kids off me this am when all the kids got up at 6.30, he took one look at me, and sent me back to bed, when I tried to get up about 9am, everyone shooed me back to bed again then dd1 got taken out with the other kids her age into the forest for a walk/play 'a journey to find the magic key!' and dd2 got cuddles from the remainder of my broody friends who didn't go on the walk
We finished off the afternoon with a drive down to the sea, but by the time we'd got to the beach at Filey (quieter than Scab and nicer for a long walk) she'd gone to sleep and wouldn't wake up for anyone, she was most perturbed to find herself at J30 of the M1 when she surfaced but after 10 mins of my protesting I had tried to show her the sea, she sighed and gave up moaning!!

Hello all, your jolly posts are making me feel all Christmassy. We haven't got our tree or decorations up yet as we just had a mass family weekend at my parents farm - boys to Blackpool for bro's stag and girls in the farmhouse. Sat night I went out with my 2 sis's and SIL2B and had a fun night out and a few vodkas. Tilly had such fun playing with her cousin who is 18 months and we don't see very often. Anyway she is VERY excited about Xmas so will do the whole tree/lights thing this weekend....made her cardboard nativity this morning as tho we are not religious at all I want her to understand the Xmas story.

Uni, the forestry place sounds great I think they are really making an effort to get people out and about more. I bet our LOs will be off and crawling in order to pull those baubles and get a good mouthful of needles....

Friz/Astro, Bakewell sounds lovely so will put it on my visit list. You both sound like you had great breaks and Astro it's fab to hear you sounding so happy.

Boy did well yesterday- his 1st day ebing "minded" and I'm told he was Ok all day, he slept for an hour and a half in a their travel cot ,he ate LOADS and seems to have drunk enouugh as hes been weeing plenty. Bodes well for Thursday when hes with them again for the day. Work for me was Ok too, I was on time, which is always a good start. I did find that with teh baby seat inteh truck I couldn't se my wing mirror properly! so once I'd dropped boy off I had to turn the seat round. Fotunatly DH is dropping himoff on thursday so i shouldn;t haveto use the seat in teh truck again till hes forward facing.
Any ones LO already forward facing? I think boy is heavey enough and It'd be a load easier in many ways. I'll take him to clinic on monday for a weigh in to be sure I think.

Uni, Emily's been in a forward faacing one for ages. She really wasn't happy in the rear facing one and was much much happier facing forward, especially with her big bro sitting next to her . As long as you're happy he can support his head well enough it should be fine.

So, is your work going to be fairly regular from now on? and will he be going to the minder every time? I'm really pruod of all of you that have gone back to work. I'm not going back. I handed in my resignation the other week as my DH didn't want me to go back and when I went back in to see people their stress levels were so high and I didn't see the point of sacrificing the time I have with emily to go back to a job where I would be stressed and would no doubt come home and take it out on the rest of the family. We can just about survive on DH's wage so I am now officially a SAHM. Finding it a bit odd sometimes but most of the time it's good. .

So, is everyone ready for Christmas now? Dinner bought? Presents bought and wrapped? Tree and decs up? Is anyone being brave enought to have people coming to them or are you all going elsewhere?

hi chell. technically i'm a sahm AND a self employed lighting designer/technician. I'm only doing just enough projects to pay my NI and PLI and keep teh business going, not planning on making much money this year or doing many days (5 in 9 months so far!). By keeping my hand in tho I hope that next year I can do a little more and so on so that once boy is at school I can be back to working "part time" .problem is that part time in my industry doesn't mean half days- it means fewer full days. On the project this week I'll have done 3 days this year, 2 years ago I would have done 5, maybe next year I can do 5 again. Thankfully its for a custonmer who wants me badly enough that he has found someone else to do the other 2 days (on PAYE so they are cheaper).
Boy is being looked after by a friend this week rather than a childminder, but its boding well for his spending some time with a childminder next year. I've talked to 2 about doing trial half days with them in teh new year. My eratic work pattern does make it hard, the type of care I need is clased as 2emergencey"care and not many Cms will take children on on that basis.

Uni, sounds like you have a good gig with the part time work - and a good idea to keep your hand in as you say. I am a SAHM Chelle - I want to be, but also don't have anything to go back to as was a student before I had my DD 2 1/2 years ago. I have lofty dreams of starting a catering business one day (plus the more attainable goal of finishing my education degree...maybe). But for now I am just Mama .

Uni, DS has been in a forward facing seat for about 3 weeks. We had to but a new one as our baby seat (we brought over from aust) did not fit in our new car! BUT, we did hold onto our old car until he was 9kg, which was the switch-over weight, as I read a report about how much better babies in forward facing seats fare in crashes (and crash tests with dummies) once they are over 9kg. Seems to be some sort of 'magic' weight. So we didn't want to risk it. But I imagine your lad would be 9kg by now? Am I remembering correctly that he was quite a big boy (or was that mine )

LL, was thinking about Tilly and her sleeping today - hows it going? Is she settling any better in the evenings? And how are Kiah's night feeds going (more to the point - how on earth are YOU coping!!!???) Eli was up from 3-6am this morning - absolute nightmare - , but went back to sleep until 10, and was DDs nursery morning, so I went too.

And Friz, was thinking about your poor cousin today too - hows she doing?

Just a quickie as meant to be working....

Hi Chelle, respect to you for being a SAHM - I can't manage it full time, no way!

Friz, just been to the PO to pick up parcel - you are a star!!! Am going to wrap them up and add to the mountain in the loft!!!

Well, dp and I did all the xmas shopping yesterday (mostly in Borders) and I actually wrote some cards last night! We are out for dinner at our friend's new pizza restaurant tonight and then back to cards and wrapping Friday night.Next year I will be much more organised.....

Astro, thanks for asking about sleep - still shit! Guzzleguts is on 3 or 4 feeds a night and Tilly is going down OK most nights but waking for a cough and cuddle just when Kiah goes down!!

Tilly was a star in the nursery nativity yesterday but we couldn't see her as she was sat at the front - I'm sure she was excellent and really got into her role!!!

Work was intersteing today- noisey, very noisey. I've been working in teh sports hall of a secondary school , rejigging a lighting rig froom lighting a stage for a concert to lighting a gym and dance floor. It all got a bit mad as the school seem to have no idea about safe working practises and we kept finding kids wondering about when and where none should have been.
Thankfuly my part was done by 3 so I got back to DS at about 4 to find him having fun with paint at friends house and some one ( probadly DS himslef) had painted his head red. Fortunatly he has very little hair still , so not a problem.
I go back to teh school tomorrow night after teh last performance of teh gym and dance show. Will be taking all teh lighting, sound and rigging out again and then taking truck back to the yard. So probadly working 8.30pm-2.30am ish so just a 3/4 day again.
Was talking to my customer ( teh production company manager) about work in July today, hes keen to get me signed up for shows then already.

Car seats- with the model we have (brittax SI) the manufactures advice is rear facing till at least 9kg, then either till 13kg and forward only from 13kg up. As rear faceing is reconed to be he safest way for any passenger ( including adults ) I want to keep rear faceing as long as practical, but ts getting harder to get him in and out AND its not safe in the production co truck for me not to have both wing mirrors usable as have no central mirror. I have no idea how much he weighs, am curious to know , hence going to clinic on monday.

Hi all, been sooo busy sorting house and sorting xmas prezzies not managed to get on here
LL glad it arrived ok, Uni has yours?? will check my e-mail in a mo actually, not even had 2 secs to do that today or yest
Chelle, congrats on kicking the rat race into touch, does that mean we'll be seeing more of you! we're the subject of a feb thread discussion, how no one posts much on here or on April!!! lol
Astro, thanks for asking about Cousin, she's in Malaysia at the mo, assume ok, as not heard from her for about a week or so now, guessing Xmas will be very hard tho........
So dd2 managed about 30 secs of standing by herself today, called dad, dad and perfected the art of crawling over the 'poof' time to re jig living room and block off dining room with sofa totally again....

Hello!

Sorry that I seldom find a moment to post here. Is Feb much better then Friz?

Christmas will be chaos here as DH's parents land on our doorstep next Thursday and will stay until January 11!

I am still finding it really hard living here and it has been nearly 5 months since we moved to this house. (dh only has 6 1/2 months left on this contract!)

Ooh strange new layout!!

Caddy, love the xmas name! It's such a shame that you've never really settled in Vienna - I have only passed through very early in the morning and all I remember is that it smelled of horse piss but had superb recycling facilities. At least you are having a hectic family xmas to liven things up a bit.

Feb thread - can we help it if all the people who popped in Feb have nothing better to do than gossip on MN!! I for one enjoy our quiet corner and at least I can keep up with the thread after a few days away. I am a bit distracted at the mo as my Nanny is on a downward spiral and as my mum is her carer she is finding it really tough. It is time for her to go in a home really but she says she doesn't want to. Difficult time.

Uni, I really admire you up on those rigs as I found it terrifying when I did it at uni. What is the boy getting from FC then?

Friz, did your cousin take a holiday then to Malaysia? They really deserve some R and R. I spoke to my friend who had the twins a while back about her ordeal and it was really touch and go for a while with her heart. Anyway she is home now, has had good counselling and has bonded well despite not being able to bf, so all looking good. Just need to tempt them up north now for a coo and a brew.

Well, Kiah is desperate to crawl but can't quite do it tho she does move around the room by some unknown method! Tilly helped us put the tree up last night (after doing my Mums in the afternoon) and Kiah just sat surrounded by choking hazards having a great time! DP has taken Tilly swimming now so look at me having quality time with my baby.....

Poor boy not feeling well today. hes running a slight temp and just not a happy bunny at all, was sick inteh night but didn;t make a fuss so we didn;t know. He slept till 9.30 this morning at which point we woke him up finding him lieing with head in pool of vomit,and rather yellow baby grow, nice.
hes gota bit better as days gone on, hope its just a 24 hr thing.
Friz- no post from you yet.
LL- I don;t moind hights, tho I didn't do much up teh ladder this week, justa bit of focusing. one of my colleges did the rigging of poits and I did teh ground work this time. As it was truss rig we put points in teh roof with chain blocks on an rig the truss on teh ground then send it up to 5m on teh chain blocks.
Father chritstmas is giving DS - nothing. Presents come from people in our family. Hes having a sit and ride from me and DH, other people are giving him toys and shoes and a wetsuit.

Not sure I like this new layout - thnk it's going to take a bit of getting used to.

You may be seeing more of me on this thread and if you pop over to the due in august thread I may be posting on there too We seem to have had a little accident and looks like I'll be due around 4th August - oops! We couldn't decide on contraception that we agreed with, that suited me and that I could have while breastfeeding so we went with the really safe method of.... hmmm... ...nothing. Hey ho - another christmas of not drinking [grrr].

Friz - glad to hear your cousin is getting away from it all - will keep her and her family in my prayers over the Christmas period as I'm sure it'll be really hard for them all.

Uni - ahh - big hugs for your poorly boy. Have to say that most of that rigging stuff went completely over my head! (and I'm sure if I was there you would be over my head too). Really pleased to hear you're having fun though and that the boy is settling well with minders etc. That's a sign of good attachment cause he knows you're coming back for him and won't leave him forever

LL - sorry to hear about your Nan. I guess all you can do is be there to support your mum as much as you can and hope that the right decision is made sooner rather than later be that home help or a lovely place for her to stay. I presume your mum has contacted social services to see if there is any support they can offer?

Off to sort out christmas shopping list so that I can go into town get my stuff and run away. It'll hopefully all be done then other than the food for the day - yay!!!!

and Chelle congrats!!! is this no2 your expecting then??

LL and Chelle, yep cousin went to Thailand for 3 mths, but has hopped out to Singapore and Malaysia for visa purposes, heading back to TH now.
LL great quality time eh!!

Uni, have put another thing in post today, as not sure what's happened

Caddy, sorry to hear your still having settling trouble, so with only 6mths left any idea where next??? hope you have a great family Xmas next week tho!

Which reminds me, must not forget to track Santa

So got the festive shopping finished today, hurrah!!! and wrapped and put away, just the remainder of food to do now, prob wed/thur...sigh......did wine at the weekend with a fist full of money off vouchers, made the checkout guy smile when he asked if I'd done my Xmas shopping n I told him he was putting it thru now!! and hick!

dd2 has turned into a horse, is now braying instead of panting like a dog had taught self to climb and sob....now playing catch the baby a lot....can also stand up on own - hence mastered climbing...but can't quite do unaided walking, phew......my baby is all grown up farrrr to quick (puts bottom lip out)