August 2007 - milk, mash or puree - take your pick and take cover!

[shrinkingsagpuss]

James - sorry, couldn't wait any longer... hope my link works...

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a lovely time and no-one burns the dinner! (I'm not taking any chances, I'm having a feast courtesy of aunt bessies lol)

Hope your panto was good and your ds1 had fun, pink. Gill, fingers crossed you can persuade your dd to sleep tonight. Lavender bath and a cup of warm cinnamon and honey milk perhaps. You know she'll be up at 5am anyway, I always was, up until being an embarassingly old age!

Everyone still enjoying the festivities? I'm back at work now. I'm covering the early shift so I've been in since 7am trying to work out how to do reports I've never done before (I sent most of them out late). I didn't have to get up much earlier than usual and ds was awake and coughing at 5:35 anyway.

Me and dh were both ill on christmas day. I phoned my dad up at 9:30 and asked him to pick the kids up. We joined them later in the day though after I'd been back to bed for a couple of hours. I didn't get a christmas dinner but my bil was cooking and mum said we had a lucky escape as it wasn't very nice. He thinks he's a good cook but I don't think I've ever enjoyed anything he's cooked. Dd had a really good time though and that's the main thing.

I've already taken back the outfit that my sister bought for ds. When she asked what I wanted for him I said pyjamas. She didn't know whether I meant actual pyjamas or babygrows so, instead of asking me, she opted for neither and got him a horrible brown, blue and orange stripy outfit. I swapped it for 2 pairs of pyjamas and a pack of socks. I'm not telling her though and she lives miles away so she'll never know.

I'm taking ds to the doctor's after work. He's had a cough on and off for months. I got it checked out a couple of months ago and it wasn't on his chest. He's sounded a bit chesty the last couple of days so I phoned the doctors this morning. I got told off by the doctor who phoned me back for not taking him in over christmas. She booked him in for 4pm.

hiya everyone havent had a chance to catch up yet. hope everyone had a lovely xmas. ill catch up later feeding lo atm

only got to read a few posts,
james- i have no choice but to let lo cry through the day when he is just over tired as ds2 tends to cry when lo cries

my laptop broke a couple of weeks ago thats why i havent been on had to scrape the money together to buy another one lol can have nothing with kids in the house! lo still waking threw the night but we had a few occasions where he slept from 11pm - 7pm and on one occasion when he wasn't well and drugged up on calpol he slept from 7.30 - 6.30!! lol. im loaded with the cold just cant seem to shift it, just hope the kids dont get it. ds1 has started waking up in the middle of the night convinced there is monsters in his room. ds3 is still in newborn clothes but they are starting to get a bit tight although 0-3 are still big on him! anybody doing anything exciting for new year?

Hi Tasha. Good to hear from you again. Not doing anything for new year. I haven't been to a new year party for years and now I just can't be bothered. I'd rather go to bed early. Anyway, I've got to work on new year's day.

Apparently ds has a mild form of something like bronchilitis (sp?). The doctor prescribed an inhaler and wants to see him again in a week. We gave him the first dose with a mask over his nose and mouth. We expected him to make a fuss but he just breathed and then sighed.

Hi All

Hope we all had good Chrissy's and our LO's enjoyed their first Christmas getting spoilt
We had a lovely time, i didn't have to do much this year and enjoyed that, it was fun putting out food for reindeers and seeing snata's footprints in the morning. C really enjoyed himself, and LL was so happy and good, so it was all good.

Gill- what a horrible day to be sick, you poor things, and back at work already, busy girl.
we also got a couple of things we didn't like much, a safari suit /overalls thing for C, am i the only one that HATES overalls, I mean i think they look quite cute on kids but just can't be bothered with them, and the straps. Can't really tell my mum though.

Tasha- welcome back, mmm think i'll cross off my laptop dreams for a while, I'm sure it wouldn't last a day here.

No new years plans here, a glass of bubbles would be nice though

lol uki, nothing lasts here i keep finding bits of ds1's playmobil castle that santa got him.
gill-awww poor wee man, lo has now got a cold and his boggies just go into his mouth, cant be too good.

Hi guys, hope you all had a lovely time and the lo's enjoyed their first christmases. We've just got back from mil's- mytwoweegirls I can do sympathise. It's torture everytime I go because my mil and one of my sil's are so pushy and constantly undermine my wishes with regards to James.

They shove their fingers in J's mouth every time they held him, for no apparent reason. J kept screwing up his face at the taste of their unwashed hands and trying to push their fingers out with his tongue.

Sil had a bad cold and spent five minutes this morning moaning about it and how she'd had to take double the dose of max flu medicine just to feel vaguely human- then she swooped down, picked up J and was kissing him all over his face and hands and "beeping" his nose with the hand she'd just been blowing her nose with. As soon as she left I got my no-germs hand sanitising spray out and sprayed his hands and face (with eyes covered and mouth closed of course) so I'm crossing my fingers he doesn't get it, feels like he's only just got over the last cold.

But aargh! it makes me SO angry and my dp does NOTHING! I ended up crying there one night because I was trying to put J to bed, I'd put him in his pushchair when he was drowsy, and he was having a bit of a grumble as he usually does (and I told them this) but everytime I stepped away for even a second one of them would go to his cot and either bellow in his face "Stop being a pussy, crying like a girl, you big pansy!!!" (I hate that bitch) or pick him up and show him toys. So of course he started screeching and kicking and generally going bezerk.

I lost my rag, wrenched him from her and retreated to the kitchen with him, then had a whispered row with dp as he had spent the whole evening playing on a nintendo ds as if looking after J is all my job and not his problem, oblivious as I got more and more stressed.

And of course as soon as I'd taken J somewhere quiet he calmed down and nodded off- sil came in and said "oh. I was hoping for a cuddle before I went to bed" I had to stop myself from saying "Well, bloody TOUGH you selfish bitch!"

Ooh, honestly, I ended up having some whisky to destress because I thought I was going to punch someone!!!

Bad presents... yeah, everytime we go they send us home with several boring coloured soft toys, despite me asking them not to buy us teddies as we already have a bag full upstairs which J doesn't even look at. I don't know why they keep doing it, unless it's to piss me off. Fuck it, I'll let them carry on wasting their money and just keep chucking them away. Most of them look like free happymeal gifts anyway.

I'm an ocean of calm. I'm an ocean of calm.

Ahem. Nowt better than a long cleansing rant, feel free not to read the post below!

Tasha, great to see you back, we were concerned! Sorry to hear your lo has a cold, must be very difficult wit the cleft palate, hope he's feeling better soon.

Get well wishes too to Gill's ds, poor little guy sighing at the inhaler, he must have needed it. Sounds like a bit of a rubbish christmas day for you but glad your dd had fun, as you said that's what it's all about, isn't it? Can't believe you're back at work already. Bloody callcentres eh?

Christmas day here was ok, I didn't burn the dinner, and would definitely use some of the ready made stuff again for convenience (the ready made gravy was awesome) my dad was a bit of a pita and my brother turned up two hours late, but neither was a big surprise, really! I only invite them because I don't want them to be alone at christmas.

James had some "Grandpa's sunday lunch" baby food today which had chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots in it, and he seemed to really enjoy it! thank god for his savoury tooth as I used it as an excuse to stop sil from giving him a strawberry creme quality street- she thought I was just being stingy and mean of course (not being nasty because as you know I have a weight problem, but there's a reason why this woman is over 30st and her 15 yr old son is over 20st- I'll not be taking dietary advice for my baby off you, thankyouverymuchly!)

Descending into ranting again, sorry! lol- I could do with someone to moan to but my sis is in New Zealand, my friends are home with their families, and I don't think the samaritans would appreciate a call just to bitch about my sil! lol

Thank god for MN, giving daughter-in-laws a place to scream since January 2000.

lol james im stressed just reading that!! poor you.
i fell out with dp on xmas day and threw him out because of his dad i had another thred about it a while ago feel free to have a look. not a nice mad. him and his wife were down for boxing day and his wife who i had only met for the first time insisted on feeding lo, i tried to explain to her how to do it but she just sat there with it in his mouth and he wasn't getting any, i took him off her to show her a few times and she just gave me a funny look!
lo doesn't seem to be as bad today but ds2 has started coughing and im still loaded. think ill be in bed on new years too.

oops 'man'

just noticed that thred isn't there anymore but this is the message dp's dad sent dp and dp's dad was over for xmas.

Dear Christopher,

I have to give you my honest opinion, even though I risk that we fall out over it.

I think that you are being foolish to even think of marrying this girl, I don't think she's right for you. Looks like she hasn't even tried to get her figure back after Dylan's birth, and now pregnant again.

A wife is supposed to give emotional support, and despite the modern trend of equality in a marriage, I think the wife's role is best as suppportive, the husband being the dominant partner.

From what little I hear, you work all hours and then babysit at weekends while she goes out? (That was the beginning of the end for me and your mother, allowing (actually, I didn't allow, she just did) her to go out as I'd stopped drinking.

So, here is my advice, take it or leave it.

Move in with Michael, demand a paternity test and then the name Beckett on Dylan's birth certificate (oh, I'm sure he's yours, but I think you should play hardball with her). Then, make the normal arrangements to have Dylan ALTERNATE weekends, even if you can have him every weekend, don't allow your love for him to give her an easy ride. Pay the absolute minimum to support him when with her, and buy additional things for him directly which you keep with you. Sure, you'll want him more often than that, make arrangements accordingly, but, again, don't let her use this to do less than her share, unless she agrees that you have custody, which she never will, thats her trump card, your love for your son.

Second (third) pregnancy. If abortion is out of the question, same procedure, paternity test, surname,etc.

Then pick up the pieces and get on with your life.

If you're determined to marry her, I won't be at the wedding, I'll hang around for the divorce.

Oh, and stay away from Nicola and wots-his-name, they are bad news.

Love,

Dad

Tasha21

My god didn't he go to a charm school. I hope your dp's takes after his mother more and not his father.

I can understand why his mum left his dad if this is his attitude to his wife, as for allowing you to go out, if dh said this to me i would be allowing him to find somewhere else to live . Go ahead with your wedding and enjoy it without this miserable bar steward.

i know, didn't mean to hijack thatone james, il's really aren't worth stressing yourself out about, but i know wat its like they just don't seem to be able to accept that mother knows best!

Tasha, don't worry about hijacking my rant, we all need somewhere to moan. My god your fil sounds like a nasty piece of work! Was that an email to your dp? Did you find it or did your do show it to you? I wonder what your do thought about it. Your fil must have written that whilst you were pregnant with ds3- what an utter shithead, speaking so casually about abortion as if the child didn't even matter. No wonder his wife left him, he sounds awful. You poor thing, I hope you don't take any of his poisonous words to heart.

So have you really thrown your dp out? permanently or just to scare him? I hope you and the boys are ok. xxx

Well, the weaning appears to be going well here. Yesterday he thoroughly enjoyed cow n gate Sunday Lunch, so today I tried him with baby spag bol and he scoffed it! He definitely prefers "dinners" to sweet stuff, fruit purees etc

So I invested in a £3 blender today and I just spent a couple of hours making babyfood (I wasn't sure of how to do it really) I grilled a lamb chop, chopped it up into tiny bits and added it to a boiling pan containing chopped onion, carrot, swede, sweet potato, parsnip, butternut squash, potato, peas and sweetcorn. Cooked it all until tender and blended it to a puree then pushed it through a sieve. Now have ten little pots of lamb stew in my freezer, lets hope he likes it!

I was going to do a pot of each vegetable but I got fed up and mixed it all up. Dp said it tasted nice (I couldn't taste it cos I'm a veggie) and said as my cooking is generally healthy but totally bland I "may have found my niche" - why I oughtta!!!!

He currently has one meal a day and five bottles of formula, but in a week or so I think I will start to give J a breakfast of porridge and a dinner while our dinner cooks in the evening, working up to three tiny "meals" a day when he gets to 6 months. I have no idea if this is the recommended way of weaning but frankly I'm learning to trust my own judgement more and more as time goes on, so I'm paying less attention to the books these days!

How's everyone doing these days with the weaning?

"Did you find it or did your do show it to you? I wonder what your do thought about it"

dp not do. Duh!

(Wonder what do stands for? dear octopus perhaps...)

(the "d" in my dp stands for "daft". And sometimes "dickhead")

i found it as dp told me to go onto his email to find a cv he had been sent and fill it in for him. i know i shouldnt have looked but the title gave it all away and well curiosity an all. thing is he has only met me three times as he works in asia, i am a size 10! lol and i wouldnt use my kids like that and ds1 is proof of that, his dad left me for another woman and it really hurt, he pays nothing to me but i still send ds1 every week to see him.
his dad sent it in july, dp only told him i was pg when i was 5 months gone but i only found the email about 6 or 7 weeks ago. i threw dp out on xmas day as i was hurt because he wanted to bring the kids on xmas day to see him. he came back that night and i agreed (for dp) for his dad to come down on boxing day, it was so hard. i told him how i felt when we went out the back for a smoke, i wasn't going to be false with him.

dp felt hurt about it too as he has been so supportive to his dad who met his wife on the internet then went to the phillipines and proposed within a week and is now expecting a baby!

on a lighter note ds1+2 are destroying my house! gonna have to do something before the dump starts to feel like a better place to live

Tasha, you're a brave girl, I wouldn't be so cheery if I had everything you have to dela with. I'm glad you don't let it get you down too much, he doesn't deserve you to be sad. How are things with your dp now? If you ever need a chat you can chuck me a text on (07969) 458757, (although if you do, don't be offended if I don't text back straight away as I'm notorious for having my phone in the bottom of a bag covered in nappies so I don't hear it buzz!)

Off to get plastered in baby porridge!

thanks james thats really nice of you, it kept me awake for too many nights, im just gllad i said wat i had to say to him although i dont think it made a difference to him as he seemed pretty sure of himself in the message. dp was really grateful that i allowed him down but i had to for dp as it was getting him down alot and although im always giving off about him, i love him lol

No worries. I know what you mean about your fella, you love them even when they're a pain in the arse.

I just looked over to see dp and James staring at the TV with exactly the same expression on both their faces. Aaw.

Hello everyone. Happy New Year!! I've tried to post a couple of times using the laptop at home but it's been a bit crap recently.
I'm at work today. I was due in at 12:30 but didn't arrive til 1. Dh made me feed ds before I left and I was still doing that at 11:50. Then dd said she didn't want to stay home with daddy so I phoned my mum and asked if dh could take her there for the day. When he realised ds was still in his pjs he looked quite stressed so I offered to take her on my way to work.

We've managed to get ds napping in his cot now (something dd refused to do). He used to fall asleep really easily in our arms but he much prefers to be laying down properly. He seems to like laying on his side. It's so much better now cos I don't have to keep dd quiet and I can get on with the housework.

Sorry to hear about your ils James and Tasha. You must have been devastated reading that letter Tasha. Even if you don't like the man it's still awful to have someone saying untrue things like that about you. James - my dh does the same thing. If dd stresses him out he goes upstairs to play computer games and I get stuck dealing with both dcs. I'm never allowed to escape even for 5 minutes. I can't even go to the toilet on my own.

uki - Are overalls dungarees? If so, I hate them too. They're so fiddly and never fit properly.

James - weaning is going really well here too. About 2 weeks ago Ds didn't seem that interested in his milk and only had half so I tried him with a petit filous yoghurt. He cried when there was no more so I gave him another one and decided he was ready to eat. I spent ages on Sunday pureeing carrots, parsnips, swede and sweet potato using my new Babycook, which I love! I'm not bothering with freezing them into ice cube trays as ds will eat half a bowl full of pureed carrot in no time. One ice cube would be devoured in less than 30 seconds.

I'm starting him off with veggies and fruit for a couple of months and then moving on to meat. He still has his 5 full 8oz bottles plus solids so he must be hungry. He currently has his veg between 11 and 12 but next week I'll probably get my mum to start giving him a yoghurt or some fruit with his late afternoon bottle.

It's much more enjoyable weaning ds than it was with dd. She was never bothered about food. Ds wolfs his food down and cries if I don't give it to him quickly enough. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the odd lump either. I don't think we're going to have any problems with him.

Do i have the only baby who doesn'i like milk.

Although dd2 is 14lb 10oz she still only has 5 - 6oz feeds every 4 - 6 hours.

She is now 16wks so i have decided that i am going to start weaning, as she is more interested in what we are eating then milk.

She watches us eat and if try to feed her her milk she screams and refueses to eat.