February 2016 #2

[haquoi123]

We're into thread 2! Can't believe our babies have been here this long!

Hey everyone sorry not been on here much work has been manic, why did they get no maternity cover?!

DS has started saying mama now which is very cute. His teeth are still playing up and are causing all sorts of nappy rash, loose nappies the lot. Nursery have said they don't want him in tomorrow because it may be a stomach bug, I think it's just his teeth but gps are having him instead thankfully.

How are you all?

Hi ladies! Hope all the babies are doing well, and for you all!
So thinking of buying a cheap stroller for holiday and then for gran to use instead of the travel system. Any recommendations? They have a joie nitro on offer at £50 at the pram centre but have never heard of joie before. Had a look on gumtree and at a jack and Jill market but people seem to be asking for a lot for second hand so may as well buy new....

Hi clara all of my stuff is joie and is lovely and easy to use. Not tried the stroller though sorry.

Sorry been awol, it's been a stressful week (hasn't finished yet either!)

clumsy, I can't believe he's saying mama! That's amazing!

carrot yay to the rolling! is your dd sleeping on her front now? Ds sleeps on his front, unless we're sleeping next to him, and it's made a huge difference here too. Well, saying that, we've had some rubbish nights recently.

clara joie is up there for car seats. I don't know about strollers but they're good for safety with car seats. £50 seems like a bargain!

DH and I have had to talk finances. So far I'm back at work (freelance) 2 half days a week, but then am main carer for ds otherwise. I won't earn enough to keep me in essentials, so we've had a chat about pooling resources. We've currently got a joint account and then our separate accounts for us, but we're thinking of have one account for everything and then giving ourselves an allowance of £200 a month each for savings/divorce nest egg should it all go tits up . What do you all do?

Hey Haq! Glad you're getting a bit more sleep. DD hasn't started sleeping on her front, she doesn't seem to be interested in rolling in her cot, just on the floor. Although she did roll on my bed this morning. She's full of cold so sleep is quite shit here, although last night was a bit better. She slept in my bed though.

We had second men B vaccine for DS done yesterday (privately), and he's feeling quite rough today, poor sausage. Keeps saying his arm is sore. We were planning to go see SIL but that's off the books today as it's a long journey through London. Not good with poorly toddler.

We have separate accounts, bills go from my account and DP transfers me the money, and he also does most grocery shopping. We are planning on opening a joint account though and do what you are planning. I think it's the best set up that way.

Nice to hear from you haq and hope stress levels aren't too high... and hope your ds recovers from his jab soon carrot

Re finances we have always paid the same into the joint account and that covers mortgage, bills and kids stuff. We then have our own accounts for spending on us. Now I'm earning less I don't think this is the fairest way of doing things so need to have a chat with dh. I think it would be better for us both to put the same % of our income into the joint account. Just need to convince him!

Not much going on with us. Sleep has been terrible! We only get one wake up but it's been from 1am to 5am and still only 2 x 30 minutes naps. Think I'm going to have to come up with a plan to deal with it!

babycud is crawling which is exciting but driving ds1 mad as babycud makes a beeline for him and his toys! So definitely enjoying the peace of a nursery day after 3 days of trying to keep them both happy...

Hope everyone's Mondays are going OK!

Sounds rough, cud, hope you get a chance to nap today!

We've had a shit night here too with a million wake ups and constantly demanding boob. Maybe next year we'll all sleep...

Thanks for feedback on finances, that makes me feel better about doing it that way. We worked out that I'd average about £100 a week over the year so definitely not enough to survive on just for me! My mum taught me never to be financially dependent on a man so I feel very strange that I am. She took it back the other day though, stating that when she was a single parent with me she was financially dependent on the state, and with a baby it's either the state or a man... I'm sure there are holes there but it made me feel better.

cud, Whaaa? To that wake-up! Is that regularly?? I did a double take :(

carrot ds has a horrendous cold and two teeth are starting to make an appearance. We had our worst night of ds' existence night before last, it was hell, wake ups were in double figures and he just couldn't settle. Last night was better, but only because I had to work today so DH did half the wake ups.

Hope tonight is better for you both. Not expecting a good one myself...

Hello everyone!

Teething madness continues here - his first two seem to have been very easy. He's got at least one more coming through now, and it's taking weeks and he's so unhappy!

On finances, we've always had our own accounts and a joint one for bills etc. We paid the same amount into the joint account every month and then had our own money for jollies etc. Since my SMP kicked in, I'm paying half of what I used to into the account. He covers all of the mortgage, and I still pay my half of bills, food, baby stuff etc. I saved enough before finishing work that I will have enough to pay into the account until I go back. If I go back parr time we might need a more permanent agreement, but I feel I'm paying my way at the moment, helped by some tax rebates I've been getting!

I'm that awful one getting proper sleep and still moaning about being tired I'm afraid! DS goes to be about eight and wakes up about half past six! Then we're back to bed until about nine once he's had milk and a clean nappy and I've pumped. I'm so very conscious it could all change though so I won't gloat about it. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts!

Handbag I hate you
Fri Dd had a brilliant night, only woke twice between 8 and 7. Now she's full of snot again, has a temperature, and to top it off her bcg has erupted and gone all minging. The past 2 nights I haven't really slept as she has been crying on and off all night and has needed feeding/rocking several times an hour to get her back to sleep. Dp tried to give me a couple of hours last night and I tried to nap with her this pm but I am now in some weird wired state where I can't sleep. Sigh.

Finances are a little more complicated for us as older dc aren't dp's and me and dc moved into his house. But basically we both pay the same amount into a joint account and all bills and food etc comes out of that. Dp pays a bit extra towards the mortgage as he is over paying on it. My personal stuff (contact lenses, hair cuts etc) comes out of my own account and most stuff for the older dc does too. Dp pays for pretty much all of our 'fun' though so I'm very lucky in that respect. But like you say haquoi I am totally financially dependent on him and it's pretty scary. Although I was fine on my own before (with state help) so hopefully would be again if it all went tits up. Dc's dad contributes nothing BTW.

How is weaning going for everyone? We're mostly doing BLW but I don't let him near yoghurt by himself so there is some spoon feeding going on! Today looked like:

Breakfast - Ella's Kitchen red fruit porridge (3 large spoons mixed with formula) and a bit of my crumpet because he was jealous!

Lunch - Brioche roll and a couple of chips off my plate (we were out and I prefer dry food when we're out! Less mess!)

Dinner - Half a Philadelphia filled sandwich thin, about a third of a banana and a Yeo valley yoghurt pot.

I'm just a bit anxious as his milk intakes really dropped. He is now actually eating and I think he had quite a lot today, but I'm conscious he should be getting most of his nutrition from milk not food...

Finding the whole process a bit mysterious so it would be really interesting to hear how you're getting on!

Weaning going pretty well here. Mostly spoon feeding as Dd seems to be a bit lazy . Also dp hates her having 'big' food as he is so scared of her choking. I generally rough blend our dinners for her (so it's in little bits rather than smooth) then give her some bits of everything whole so she gets the individual taste /textures and gets to feed herself a bit. She's got pretty good at her pincer grip now from chasing peas around her tray.

Today she had
Aptimil porridge
Roast chicken dinner (from the freezer)
A baby biscuit
Bolognese
Little yeo yoghurt

Bag how much less milk is he having? I'm sure he'll be fine. I think DD is having less too, as I'm feeling much fuller between feeds, but it could be also that she's over her cold now so having less milk because of that too.

And she's sleeping better now too, and only had 2 wake ups last night, although second time she was awake from 3am till nearly half 4

I measure obsessively as he's been on formula and expressed milk since day three so I can tell exactly what's going in! He was on about 900mls a day and is now between 500-600. I've read that it's fine, and he's having wet nappies and putting on weight, it just gives me something else to be mildly concerned about! He's properly eating now, which is great, but almost overnight he's gone from drinking 7oz bottles to barely making it through 4ozs a time.

We tend to give ds whatever we eating where possible, but it has made me realise how much bloody bread I eat.

Still on 4 8oz bottles a day despite the food. He is a beast. Still only has one tooth too, for about a month now!

clara we are still on 4 feeds a day too. I'm managing to keep bfing in the morning and night so that's good.

Ds is very jealous about food too and wants whatever we are having, I'm thinking about trying him with some stronger flavours this week, light curry etc. Has anyone got some good recipes? Mil keeps insisting on giving him pouches when he is at theirs even though I send him with home cooked food for their freezer

Sleeping is becoming a nightmare as he regularly wakes at 4am for boob and doesn't really settle after, I'm really struggling with work after being awake for so long. It doesn't help we are both on antibiotics for chest infections...bloody nursery germs!

Hi clumsy. I made this the other week for DH and I and DS loved a bit in a bowl...

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1364/spicy-root-and-lentil-casserole

You can get low sodium stock cubes in most shops.

I also love the Facebook group BLW recipes for ideas. I've made banana pancakes, sandwich thins pizzas, and a few other bits, and I have .ots of screen shots to try out next week!

Ooh that sounds lovely, thanks handbag I will give it a go! It's just the spicy stuff I'm unsure of as I tend to cook things quite hot for the rest of us so I don't want to put up with the moaning of 'this isn't how you normally do it mom' so I was looking for new recipes

It is a casserole rather than a curry - I was worried it was too watery, and have made it a second time with more lentils. But you use balti curry paste so you could whack some more in to yours once the baby's portion is taken out of the pot?

I've given ds lots of spicy stuff and he eats it as though it were same as anything else! Textures rather than flavours seem to bother him more.

One thing I did do early on was make kedgeree but take a bit out before adding the smoked fish (which is salty) and gave that bit to ds as a soft introduction to spice.

I'll just bite the bullet then and try him this week. I still haven't given him fish the hv made me really nervous to try it because of dh's allergies and I just need to do it!

Teething + butternut squash = the worst nappy we've had yet. I am heaving just remembering it.

Also we are up to six teeth, 3 of them having cut through in the past 48 hrs.

Wow 6teeth! That's some growing baby handbag!

I braved fish today with ds and no reaction and we've been swimming for the first time since I've been back to work which was great.

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Wow handbag!! And I'm curious to know about this nappy! But then again I'm a weirdo who likes the surprise each time - ooh look, there's the spinach!

Ds has two teeth now, at the bottom! And the top ones are on their way just another few days I think. I can't believe it, he's growing far too fast!

clumsy glad the fish went ok. I made a sweet potato soup the other day, no stock cube, but I did put a whole heap of garamasala in there and if had a good amount of spice to it. Ds gobbled it down.

My house is so horrendously messy it's a trip hazard and I'm awake thinking about it. Ds is having a clingy moment though and DH is (genuinely) ill, so I'm stuck here going 'Omg, it's awful, when will I get a chance to do anything about it??'

I've got a nappy question. We're in reusables still, but have found it difficult recently and have used some disposable nappies. He's in size 5 though. What happens when he grows out of that?

Another question: he won't stay still long enough for me to cut his nails, but is like a cat and constantly scraping them. His foot was covered in blood today... Ah!! Nope, the nursery did a foot print in red paint, penny's just dropped, oh the relief!

Haquoi - Size 5 is meant to go up to about 55lbs so I think your DS will be ok in them for a while yet! There is a size 6 at least in pampers but think this is normally school age children size! I know he's big but he can't be that big! 😊

On nails I have read about doing it while they sleep but DH does this job and usually in the evenings when he's calm and lazing in DHs arms an hour or so before bed.

The nappy... it was really dark and wet. It had butternut squash in the texture and I think bits of indigested raspberry - it was not so much the colour of the fruit but some of the texture. It smelt so bad!