July 2016 #2

[Bluebell20]

A new thread as we (hopefully) move towards longer sleeps and lovely little smiles!

Hello ladies!!!!

Ruby what a cutie!! And a great sleep! Makes such a difference doesn't it?!

Hi Ben!! Those cheeks need a squeeze

becks I feel amazing today, it's a bit scary that I haven't slept that much, but still functioned, in nearly 3 months

Fab photos ruby and becks. Congrats on the sleep too ruby!

Shall we say 28th Nov in Bath then? Could do the Christmas markets too if people fancy that way.

Gorgeous little babies ruby and becks
Wow on the sleep ruby that's amazing!!!

Re rolling. I think it's normally four months? Bloody girls and their determination

We've just had jabs! Seems ok so far. Waiting for a GP app as the reflux is getting worse and I had a breakdown yesterday over the fact Grace can't be put down. DH been amazing and we got her settled I. Her own crib for four hours!!! Win!!

Thursday weight loss progress ...
Last week 12.1
Today 11.13
Whoop!!! Been doing lots of walking!

Thanks ladies, needless to say it was a one off! Weirdly, at 4am today I realised that I'd sort of missed our little bit of quiet time in the early hours #emotionalmummy

tams that's good for me. Who's on the west country list - us two, Cookies, Bluebell... Anna is it too far for you? Who's on the FB group to put the date out there too?

Sorry to hear about the meltdown Anna, but well done to both of you on getting her to go down in the end. Fingers crossed G is fine later as well.

Have walked every day this week, must weigh myself tomorrow morning!

Radio silence from me! Been a busy bee this week.

First swim sesh alone today, marvellous planning from me meant no crying and a washed fed happy sleepy baby at the end of it. Bliss!

I need to have a quick rant arghgghghghghghh - so you may remember I decided to go almost nc with abusive knobjob FIL and stepmil, they are bringing sil and bils over to stay this weekend (13,10 and 7) so I will have Annie, them, dp and dp's older brother (21) staying in our house. Mayhem! I love the kids to pieces (I actually met dp through them as I used to be their nanny - hence the very strained relationship between me and pils). So after our mammoth argument last time we went round to see FIL, and me telling dp I'm not putting up with their shit anymore (especially when they are now trying to bully me via my daughter (!!!!)) dp comes in last night and says 'oh my dad says he wants to go out Saturday night with me and older bil - I assumed it would be a no but I thought I'd ask'. So essentially he wants to leave me with all 4 little ones.
FIL has no interest in dp, dp's brother or his younger siblings. He is an abusive alcoholic. He has suggested this is the full knowledge and hope that I will be pissed off, dp will be spineless and it will cause an argument. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN MENTION THIS TO ME DP IF YOU KNOW ITS NOT GOING TO BE OK!! essentially I think he knows it's incredibly unreasonable, but because he's too weak to tell his dad where to shove it he's hoping I'll relent so he doesn't have to have the awkward conversation with his dad, leaving me looking like a mardy cow. Bloody men

Apologies, needed to get that off my chest

anna that terrifies me! Does rolling affect cosleeping? Wondering if it would be dangerous once they can roll? Clever grace though!! Congrats on the weight loss :D

julf I go to rhyme time and it is lovely, you do have to watch for jumping toddlers though, they get rather excited and end up falling into you/baby if it's particularly packed. Today's swimming sssion was a rhyme time in the water which was fab

bluebell I don't like chocolate but my squashed fly biscuit consumption is appalling

dats I usually lie Annie down for a couple of minutes then burp her or sit her up which is working wonders as a pp said. Maybe try that? Wind is the pits!

mrsrolly would frozen milk in a heavy duty thermos flask keep frozen milk cold enough to have a decent amount of time before it gets to the fridge rule at the other end?

julf I don't ink I've had a hot cup of anything for weeks now. I miss my tea! I have now breastfed in some horrendous places including waiting at the bus stop. I got over my inhibitions pretty quick because it's just easier than trying to stop Annie wailing!

Beautiful baby photos from everyone! They're looking so big! Annie's a right chunk now :)

Happy Thursday!

anna hope the appointment for the reflux went well. Fingers crossed something will help soon.

ruby no idea who else is travelling distance to the West Country. I'll pop it on Facebook though. 28th Nov in Bath.

primary nightmare! I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say or suggest. Is your fil a bit flaky? Maybe he'll give up on the idea? Go you with the swimming solo though. I'm mighty impressed!

Goodness finally catching up a little.

Primary don't get me started on in laws. I get parenting lessons every week from MIL. I fell out with BIL well more so with his girlfriend but it's carried on for ages. Long story short the truth hurts and she won't forgive me. It's just awkward now and the children (mine) have been brought into it and that's unforgivable in my eyes .

I don't think I will make the meet up. I am in the Midlands. I don't think there are many near me.

Anna well done on the weight loss. Are you following a diet? I was on weight watchers but I hate paying for it. I may do 5:2 as I hardly eat some days so I don't think sticking to the two days of 500 cal will be too difficult.

Julfin well done for breastfeeding on the train.
I too wish I had taken videos of all my children. I was actually going to come on to ask for video camera recommendations. The other day Giovanna Fletcher posted a video advertising her new book about parenting. It had loads of videos of her babies and it made me think I must do this. She's a bit of a girl crush.

Bluebell wow at writing a book. Have you written anything before? I would love to write a book but wouldn't know where to start. How do you go about it all? I've just started a computer course as I wanted to improve my skills on word and excel.

Dats have you tried gripe water for wind. I found the best way to get it up is to hold MB with his head leaning on my shoulder and kind of jig up and down if that makes sense.

Cookies im so jealous of all your exercise. Any suggestions on how I can fit some in. It's so depressing ll I want to do a few DVDs but he child doesn't sleep in the day.

I haven't done well with baby wearing I've only used the sling about four times. I get too hot and I don't want to baby wear him all day although it's getting to the point I may not have much choice.

So sleeping at night is going well here. For about two weeks MB has slept from 9pm until 7.30am. However, he does not sleep in the day unless in his pram and only if it's in motion. It's so frustrating as he wants entertaining all the time which means I don't have time to prepare food for myself half the time and chores have to be done in super speedy style.

DH is still working away and looks like he will be for another 3 weeks. I just hope his next job is a local one.

11+6

tams it's a fifteen minute walk from the station- I will try and think of somewhere more central between the main car parks and the station! 28th Nov is good for me though. DH is worried you might all be one axe murderer pretending to be multiple people, haha!

Ruby what did you eat for bake off in the end? My friend brought round some windfall apples the other day and I am tempted to have a go at one of those fancy Apple rose tarts that are all over Pinterest...

anna wahey on the weight loss! I have a nasty feeling I might have put weight on this week! Hope the reflux gets sorted.

primary sorry about the horrid family situation. Your DP really should have bloody well said no if he knew you wouldn't agree to it!

beaut I've written quite a lot before - I did an MA in writing - but never managed to finish a novel. This one is racing away though - I've planned it out in quite a lot of detail (I thought it through in the early weeks of night feeds), plus I am not trying to write Great Literature - I was before and I didn't get very far!

So I went into school today to show off Ruben. Kids loved him. Didn't let them touch as apparently there is impetigo and ringworm going round - rank!!! I'm sure one of the six year olds said my tummy was still big... I didn't quite hear them and chose not to ask them to repeat it!

dats so sorry about the wind issues - sounds frigging frustrating. My nan - who had five kids, ten grandkids and is currently on great grandchild number six - swears by 'tick tocking' for wind - basically swaying them side to side like an upside down pendulum - so their feet stay in your lap but you move the rest of them, if you can visualise that at all (and I want to be a novelist with those powers of description?!). Worth a try anyway.

Primary top work on the dress. I am getting a bit nervous about breastfeeding in winter - I quite liked just wearing a stretchy vest top that I could whip down!

MrsR I don't have anything sensible to suggest about keeping milk frozen, but are you sure you only have 24 hrs to use it once defrosted?

julf I seriously loved that video.

Going to sleep now; I'm absolutely pooped. Bit before I do so.... How exactly does one take a baby on a long train journey? Do they need a ticket (please say no)? What about needing a car seat for transport at the other end? I am thinking of taking my rather bulky buggy which is awkward but which I can clip the car seat into. But I'd have to take the seat off to fold it up. And then where do I put the car seat? I don't want it to get damaged...

Might be easier to just drive, but oh, I hate driving on the motorway, and it would be the first journey I've done with Ruben longer than an hour and DH won't be there with me. Booooo.

bluebell I pulled my finger out and baked. Here we have the remainder: Rosewater drizzle cake with coconut & almond icing.
H sat in his bouncy chair and raised an eyebrow at me, he knows only too well that I could be doing this more often, so glad that he can't speak!

Good grief primary, they sound like a right handful. What's the plan to get yourself through this?

Wow, that is great sleeping from MB beaut, but I get what you mean about the constant entertaining, it's exhausting!

bluebell I have made the similar mistake by being in the 'wrong' BTP in Bath! Couldn't find my friends anywhere... ! I remember one was great for pushchairs and they bought things to me.. the other I couldn't even get my pushchair in the door to order and the toilets were down a steep uber narrow flight of stairs?

About the train - I've never taken a baby on one! I've only ever taken my 7 year old ( when she was 6!) I was thinking about 'slinging' it for this reason.. I think I would take a car seat one then fold and put where the suitcases go? Car seat on seat next to me? Sure one of the London based ladies will be a pro and have actual advice...

ruby and becks those photos are gorge!!

Wooop wooop go anna !! The walking definitely paying off. Another 1.5 lbs off here this week (thank god) really hope the reflux gets sorted for you ASAP

julf I miss hot/ warm coffee/ tea/ dinner. Ate cold mince for dinner tonight.. positively vile. I did baby massage with my last and really enjoyed it. Helps with poo/wind issues from what I remember too. Well done on the train feed. I find situations like that the worst because everyone is so 'close' to you?!

dats I second the gripe water. . Have you tried it? That and a good jig

ruby good luck on the weigh in!

Oooo I think I can do 28th Nov! I dont think I could stay hours as I'm between school / nursery runs but deffo want to make it!

primary sorry to hear about the poo-y family sitch. Naughty DP should not have agreed!

beaut that must be so hard with your hubby away- don't know how you do it. We've had no sleep today either - so hard to get anything done isn't it! The school runs are even more stressful now he won't sleep and demands to be fed at 3pm every day! Takes me over an hour round trip so so stressful with screaming baby in the back of the car ..

Sooo week 4 measurements - a total of 19.5 inches off! Sounds more than it is but I'm pleased. Off to get pissed have a few drinks this weekend with a friend in celebration . Don't tell the breast feeding police!!

DP hasn't agreed - he will have made some non commitall noise about "checking with me" and then will tell his dad that "primary said no" rather than "no dad, for obvious reasons that won't be happening". I do love the kids but it does force some level of contact between me and fil and batshit step mil which pisses me off but I have decided for my own sanity and Annie's safety I don't give a shit who I piss off now, I'm not tolerating their abuse anymore. It's making me dread my upcoming wedding!

beaut well done monty! No idea for advice for you but wowwww on that sleep. Will he be entertained by things other than you e.g. Playmat?

Oops pressed go too soon

bluebell ewwww worms. It was going round my school all of last year, the little darlings. A week before I left for mat leave one of the year 6s asked me if I had had the baby yet - I was 37 weeks pregnant! She shrugged and said she couldn't remember if I'd been fat before I was preggers
Also depends on the train, which line.is it? Lots of trains have seats near the door with a big space (usually where a luggage rack could have been) that are perfect buggy holes. Will you need the car seat at other end in a car? If not maybe buy a cheap second hand one that can be a seat for baby on the train but no risk to damaging your actual CAR seat?

ruby that looks delicious! Botanical inspired?

cookies fab progress :) I've had a couple of glasses and bf at the same time!

Friday progress:
Last week - 10.4
This week - 10.3
Lbs til goal - 3!

On another note, I think I'm in love with solasi

Hmmm I need to start a proper exercise regime to shed these last few pounds as my loss has stalled now!

Last week: 8st 10, 28.5 inch waist
This week: 8st 10, 28 inch waist
Goal: 8st 5, 25 inch waist

Is it totally unrealistic to try to regain my waist size? I may be setting myself up to fail big time!

Novel word count: 8,050
Goal: 85,000

Ruby your cake looks delicious. Skillz!

Cookies and primary thanks for the train thoughts. I'm a seasoned train traveller but have never paid any attention to what people do with babies! I'd be travelling on s Friday afternoon so there won't be spare seats for the car seat. I do need it at the other end, so I'm starting to think I might just have to suck it up and drive. Especially as I can't take the travel cot on the train, and I need one of those at the other end too - I was going to buy one and have it delivered there (I'm visiting my brother and his fiancée and so there will be many more trips) but I think maybe I'm being a mite ridiculous. Just drive, woman, for god's sake!

Cookies, amazing work on the inches!

Primary, what are kids like, eh? One of my little ones cried all morning when I told her I was pregnant because 'I feel sorry for you, you're going to get a big tummy'. She was quite keen on Ruben when she saw him yesterday though! I also had a Year 5 ask me yesterday if Ruben was the receptionist's baby (she had one in January). I gave him a bit of a look. 'Remember how I was pregnant.....????' Kids are ridiculous!

And oh yeah, that ombre buttercream. I so much know what I want for Christmas (a piping set), and it's not going to help me shift this weight.

Oh and it's husband's birthday next week. He is very unmaterialistic and I am plum out of ideas for gifts. He likes woodwork and cooking. Any ideas?!

May have sorted the gift thing. Found some cool looking cookery classes!

ruby am very impressed with the baking effort! Don't know how you find the time!

Sounds like a tricky situation with the in-laws primary especially when they are staying with you.

Anna I feel your pain with the reflux. It's hard seeing E in pain and writhing about when his reflux flares up. Hope the GP helps, we've had massive improvement with ranitadine but it's not perfect. He is happier to be put down now and sleeping better so there is hope for you and grace.

Great work on the weight loss so far! Unfortunately I seem to have put on 2lbs this week . However I have an ancient manual set of weighing scales so I'm blaming the calibration thats my story and I'm sticking to it so should prob invest in some digital ones.

On the plus side E slept from 11pm to 6.30am last night!

Hope you're all having better times with dh's...
we are in Greece ATM along with my mom n dad (thank god) and dh got up at 530 to feed the baby (after she had screamed the place down and woke everyone else up) and dh has then slept on the sofa since. Yes that's about seven hours. Having gone to bed at midnight and that being the first time baby woke up. Am stopping myself saying anything so as not to ruin the holiday but to say I'm pissed off is an understatement!!

And to top it off dd is teething so is impossibly hard to settle and having screaming fits- which somehow dh continues to sleep through.

I'd like to scream myself but it'd wake the baby!! Arghhh!!!

bluebell I can see your dh's point of view. How do I know that you aren't all one axe murderer (hadn't thought of that). Can't believe I'm doing something I said I'd never do in meeting people from t'interweb. Could make an interesting storyline for your next book though!
On the train travel front there is good news. No tickets for babies. We took our pram with the car seat attached. On some trains (we needed to take seven in total) we managed to keep the pram up and used the bike/wheelchair spaces. On others, we folded the chassis but put the car seat on an empty train seat or managed to get the car seat and chassis into the luggage rack. Will you be going alone or with another adult? People tend to be willing to help either way.

Teething already sophie? What age do they usually start? Greece sounds lovely. Dh sleeping and leaving the baby cry sounds less so. Just try to make the most of your time somewhere else, especially somewhere sunny.

That showstopper cake was amazing! Wish I could do that but I don't have the patience for arty things like cake decorating. Happy to make the cake in the first place though.

We think so tams, dd was born with two teeth! They took one out but the other is definitely coming through more and can feel bumps on her gums - this should be fun!

Need to catch up on the thread properly, but just wanted to say that it's quite common for babies to start teething at around 3-6 months (although can be earlier/later). They'll start being fractious and chewing their fists several days beforehand. Jasper's been doing this the last few days - very grumpy and chewy! So I'm bracing myself for the first tooth, Calpol at the ready... Or it might just be a development phase that's troubling him.

Other than that, all fine here.

11w & 2d

That seems to have come round a bit too quickly! Can't imagine teeth yet. Maybe she'll be like me and wait until she's one to get her first tooth...