July 2006 babies - on the move???

[MaeWest]

May I take the liberty of starting a new thread ladies?

Thanks for all your encouragement people. Today we managed to get hold of information that has been made available at other local authorities but has been witheld at ours which actually sets out the criteria for the scoring and explains the meaning of the questions on the job questionnaire. From this I have worked out that there are at least two big mistakes and many others where IMO they've assessed me at the level below where I should be. Where I take it from here I don't know though - have an initial meeting tomorrow. Even in the best scenario I'd still come out with a lower salary, like everyone else, unless the buggers get off their arses and rewrite the job description to actually describe the job!

Anyhoooo, sorry to go on . I love all your pics - couldn't resist opening yours CB of course. Aren't they all looking grown up? Aidan's 7 months tomorrow.

Actually though I'm starting to worry a bit about his lack of speech-type sounds. He's experimenting with sound a lot but is using very few consonants and doing none of the repetitive sounds that all your LOs seem to be doing. Is anyone else's LO like this? In other areas he's really very developed eg his manipulative skills are great. I guess they all develop at their own rate but with the tongue-tie and everything I can't help worrying...

I'm sorry, I'm just one long moan at the moment. Can't see things resolving themselves anytime soon but I promise to be more cheery from now on.

twinkle- Dont worry DS just blows rasberries, hums on his thumb and makes screaching and ahing noises. Cant say he makes any constenant sounds apart from mmmm when he cries.
Theyll get there eventually.

[lots of cheery emotions]

Kbaby - thanks for that, it's a relief to know Aidan's not the only one.

Aidan has cereal and milk with apple puree for breakfast, casserole-type thingy for lunch and is now having a "proper" tea, usually veg mixture or some kind of soup with a buttered rice cake. He has a little fruit puree after lunch if he still seems hungry. However, we're a bit worried that he's overdoing it on the solid food now as he's dramatically cut down on his milk intake the last few days and it's messing everything up. Today DH fed him too much at lunchtime (some stupid woman put almost a double portion in the container ) and the poor mite was throwing up at intervals all afternoon. I think we're going to hold back a bit from now on and see if that helps on the milk front.

Hi everyone, hope you and your LOs are well. I took Amelia to the doctors yesterday as she has croup the poor thing. Sounds terrible and has been waking just about hourly during the night. Hopefully its on it way now as last night was the third night of it and she didin't seem quite as bad.

Forgot all about the 8 month check - must find out about that one.

lovely pics everyone
us- What gorgeous eyes Zack has
HC- A mouth to die for there - She looks so cosy in her buggy. (Amelia has the same hat)
CB74- of course I had to look - gorgeous! - I'm always changing my wallpaper to different pics of DC

Hope things get sorted out with your job Twinkle.

I'm still getting into a routine with food. At this stage its readybrek for breakfast, vegies for lunch and some pureed fruit for tea. She'll sometimes have some toast in the morning too. I must get more organised and make sure she gets some meat and maybe some yoghurt too as I haven't given her any yet (yoghurt that is, shes had meat.) Can't seem to find time to get it all in as well as the bf, and sleeps! As I said need to be more organised. Used to do it all with DS!

morning ladies

twinkle - sorry to hear about your job, cant believe they can do something like that

hc, us & cb - what gorgeous piccies, they're all looking so grown up

bloss - glad things are going well with dh, i had a talk with dh last week as felt we were just drifting along and spending no time together. charlotte is normally in bed by 7pm but we were just eating tea and watching tv, neither was making any effort.

re 8 month check - my hv said it is a new thing they have changed, from march the 8 month check is no more also she said they are stopping all future checks (cant remember when they are supposed to be) and the 8 week check is the only one that will continue to be done. hv wasnt too happy about this, she said hopefully theyll realise its not working and will start them again in the future but think its to make cut backs. disappointed charlotte has missed out by couple of weeks though

brekkie - ready break with fruit
lunch - 2 cubes of savoury (chicken casserole, fish casserole or half a jar) then greek yoghurt mixed with half a banana
tea - toast (tend to just give finger foods at this time, tried melon yesterday - very slippery )
dd also has 3 x 7oz formula too

have a good day mums and babies xx

Toby's feeding routine (but bear in mind he is a total heifer)

6.30am - 8 oz milk

8am - 1 x Weetabix with half a banana mashed in (gave him a fromage frais this morning too as still seemed hungry...)

10.30-11am - 5 oz milk (although sometimes don't give this, depends where we are)

12.30pm - Jar of savoury, jar of sweet plus biscuit/rusk

2.30-3.00pm - 5 oz milk

4.30pm - jar of savoury, jar of sweet

6pm - bedtime milk (8 ozs)

Often give own cooked food, but amounts are the equivalent of the 7 month jars. Toby eats these lumpier ones quite happily. Also offer buttered toast/bread and apple as finger foods. A lunch alternative is also 1 x avacado mashed with 1 x banana.

Hello all

Having a rubbish day today, I feel really fed up for some reason. To make it worse Zack is now not having milk or solids and is miserable.

So no food or sleep makes a very unhappy baby and mummy

I'm dreading his check on Friday
"is he drinking plenty of milk?"
"umm no"

"is he taking plenty of solids?"
"umm no"

"is he sleeping well?"
"umm no"

I feel like not going but its only putting off the inevitable, I can see myself bursting into tears as the HV makes me feel more and more inadequate.

I'll pull myself together and come back later, need to give myself a good shake

Us - for you - as KZ said, babies go through phases - I know Josh does - sometimes he eats more than others. And try not to be stressed about the HV (easier said than done I know!) - is it just me or can they make you feel very inadequate with just one look?? Zack is obviously doing well so ignore them!

Had to ring in sick today - I felt so crap yesterday and this morning (achy, shivering, feverish, swollen glands etc) but feeling much better now - thank god. I took Josh to nursery this morning as I thought it better that he was there so I could rest and get better but why did I feel so guilty doing it?? It felt (and still does feel) wrong and the house seems so empty

Thanks girls
I feel really emotional today for some reason, I lose all logic and perspective when it comes to Zack! Although I'm exhausted and I'm always an emotional wreck when I'm tired!
At least he tends to eat breakfast because he's not having anything else, I don't think he's having anymore than 10ozs of milk a day either.

Hope you feel better Ceebee {{hugs}} and don't feel guilty, it sounds very sensible to me. You wouldn't be feeling so much better if you had been running around after Josh would you? x

evening ladies.
Sorry I havent been on lately. We are experimenting in our house at the moment and have packed away the tv from the lounge. Over fears that the girls were getting too attached. And also decided that computer time is limited till after 6pm. So that leaves both dh and I fighting over it, he's in the bath at the moment so thought i'd sieze the opportunity.

Got Jazz weighed today, she is 12lbs 15oz at 32 weeks. Feel a bit dissapointed as I thought she might have been a bit heavier, but they're not too concerned. It is a 7oz weight gain in 4 weeks..

My little break at the weekend went well, except for me setting the fire alarm off at 7am and waking everyone up (oops). It was only the toaster!

Twinkle - just read about your job, i'd be livid. What r you gonna do?.

Well can hear dh coming down, better make way as he'll be wanting to try out his new flight sim.

night all!

I got a from birth Maclaren for T (more portable than the proper pram that we had for the DDs) and it's terrific, T looks really comfy in it. It copes really well at over rough tracks, not as well as a proper all-terrain but pretty good for such a light buggy. Get one!

very quick mini-post!!!

Kayzed - what do you mean by a from-birth Maclaren, do you mean something like a Techno?

Am in middle of writing a longer post, so till then xxx

Hi Girls

Just a quick post before Desperate Housewives!

Gorgeous pics Us, HC, Prettymum and Ceebee

Jom ? poor Amelia, hope she is on the mend now

Twinkle ? that does sound very unfair, hope you can find some good strong ground to fight on!

Bloss ? your post brought tears to my eyes, aaaw. Glad things are better with DH

Pink ? Jazz is around the same weight as Emma then, she was 12lbs 5oz just over a week ago.

Kayzed ? glad the pram post was helpful, good luck with the search ? let me know if you spot anything interesting!

Ceebee ? I think you did the right thing using the nursery when you were ill, I had Emma at home last week when I was ill and it was really difficult. I found myself sobbing hysterically one afternoon because she just wouldn?t stop screaming and I had a splitting headache, had absolutely no energy and just wanted to lie down ? I was no use to either of us.

Us ? hugs, hope things are a bit better this evening. Kayzed is right, try not to worry about the HV, they are supposed to be there to help not judge. I?m sure you are doing everything you possibly can and it may just be a matter of time before he?s eating well again. xxx

Emma has been off solids for over a week now, she wasn?t really interested and when she did eat them she was sick. So I gave her a few days on just milk, then just milk and a bit of banana (her fave) till today. Tried her on avocado, pear and rice today, she wasn?t really interested though. She seems lighter and thinner than ever but is still a bundle of energy. No appointment for the paed yet, the doc didn?t say how long it might take.

Have good nights all xxx

oops she's 13lbs 5 not 12lbs 5, brain missing!

Thanks again for all your kind thoughts.

Us - so sorry to hear you're feeling so down about things. Just remember you're doing a great job, no matter how it might seem sometimes

Very interesting reading about all your food routines. We're still having problems on the milk front here, which is so strange as for ages and ages Aidan didn't reduce his milk intake at all. Should I be reducing the solids to make room for more milk? Or going with Aidan's lead (blw? ) and letting him have the portions he wants, with plenty of dairy stuff, and accept the reduction in formula intake. I think he's just scraping 16oz most days - I think I read that amount is OK?

I had a meeting today about the dreaded job evaluation and found out that I'd originally been evaluated even to the band below the final result. It was then remoderated upwards and scraped into the new band by one point. FFS!! That means I was classed lower than a call centre worker (no offence to any call centre workers) even though I scored highly on providing specialist advice and guidance, degree level knowledge, etc. etc. It beggars belief I tell you. I'm going to fight it though since it's made me realise I actually enjoy the job and I want to fight for it. I anticipate the final result will be doing higher level work for the same or less money though .

hi everyone

twinkle for you - i know i'm a bit late on this but only been on for first time for a few days! keep at them and fingers crossed you get your own way and don't get too pooed on

bloss (i think sorry if im' wrong!) glad to hear things are better with your dh - we too have the same ups and downs sometimes and end up having a huge barney that clears the air.

and as for the overfeeding ceebee - we have had this on quite a few occassions with jacob - he just keeps giong and going and then you hear this gurgling and before you nkow it eurggghhh it's everywhere! last time was as we were trying to settle him to bed last weekend at a cottage with friends and lots of sets of pils! he was all tucked into pjs and grobag and power vomited all over himself and all down the front of my halterneck dress! you can imagine how that spilled out when i bent down to get clean stuff from suitcase for him!!!! sorry totally tmi i know

it's our last day in NZ tomorrow and then on saturday we fly out to singapore, 4 nights there then home - KZ how has the jetlag been?

and i too am really about the 8 month check - we really need jacob's what with him being 2 months prem as all his development is a bit off we have been told for the first year or so, so I may have to do some feet stamping and general bad mummy behaviour!!!

haven't had a chance to look at any photos but will once home

lol everyone

Morning all

KZ- we have just bought a Quinny (from a mumsnetter) Zack is still a little wee in it but I think it will be great in the summer.
We also realised last night that our car seat fits it so we may use it like that for short trips around town.
I have a mamas and papas travel system which I'm still happy with, I don't drive so Zack spends an awful lot of time in it and looks very snug!

Lysettes- enjoy Singapore, I love the shops there and we had a fab day at the zoo

Twinkle- thanks for the reassurance
I think
Aidan's milk intake is probably ok especially if he is having good meals. Who would have thought weaning would be so hard?!

F@F, It's frightening isn't it, the responsibility overwhelmes me at times. I really hope you get your appointment soon xxx

pink- I'm glad your weekend went well, lol at the toaster
Since Zack came along I rarely watch tv and its actually really nice. I may have to make an exception soon though because Fame Academy starts as does Castaway

My day yesterday went from bad to worse, Zack fell backwards off the bottom step and hit the back of his head hard. He went totally floppy and sleepy so ended up at A&E.
Everything absolutely fine of course, in fact he had a whale of a time playing with the other children with hurt feet, broken noses, swollen knees...
My boy definitely likes to test my nerves

Have a good day all x

oh US how WORRYING for you! So glad all is fine. Bless little Zack, big kiss.

Hmm, 4.30am start this morning as Toby woke early for his bottle, then did a poo (cannot leave him in it feel too guilty) then DS1 coughed himself awake at 5.15am, so that was it. Yaaaaaaaaawn.........

Us - how worrying for you - glad Zack is ok though - maybe time for a stairgate

Lysettes - lol at image of vomit and a halterneck dress!

F@F - I realised yesterday that it was the right thing taking Josh to nursery - I slept all morning and felt a million times better afterwards which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise - plus I would have paid for it anyway.

Twinkle - I think the recommended intake of milk is 16-20oz so if he is having 16oz, plus good meals, he should be fine. My friends baby who is a month younger, only has 2 bottles (first thing and last thing) so he barely gets 16oz aswell - but seems to be ok. I think you just need to make sure he is having lots of water aswell.

Am taking Josh to the docs this morning - he is still being sick (3 times yesterday) and he has had a cold & cough for a month now - his vomiting usually seems to be preceded by a coughing fit so not sure if it is linked. Plus, very worrying last night as he woke at 11.30 coughing so I went in and he was led on his back eyes wide open and retching but the vomit was like really really thick porridge (TMI sorry!) so he was struggling to get it out so I turned him on his side and it came out - am really worried about what happens if he is on his back and I am not there to turn him over??