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

[shrinkingsagpuss]

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

Pink, the apricot puree I made didn't need sieving but it's up to you really, I suppose some are drier/tougher than others. Yeah it freezes like a dream, you can either add baby rice and then freeze for ready made portions, or freeze it on its own and add petit filous/fresh baby rice/porridge once it's defrosted in microwave. It seemed to make loads too, at least 7 breakfasts out of about ten apricots (with cereal/yoghurt, obviously)

I'll let you know how I get on with the prunes later.

Ohhh bad night, stayed up messing about on the net and shirking housework til a shocking 2.30am then as penance, lo woke up and would not get back to sleep. Eventually had to feed him, up til 4am and then dp's bloody alarm clock went off at 6am (ooh that MAN!!!) and woke him up again. Grrr!

The tiredness hasn't fully kicked in yet but I've got all my housework to do cos Dad's coming over today for his birthday tea, so by 4pm I'm going to be knackered

Tasha, maybe you SHOULD train to be a childminder!! You know you'd cope, you're used to several kids, and when ds1 is in school and ds2 is in nursery, you'd have your days to yourself a bit more so you could do it.

Off to sort out my spitty raspberry blowing boy. He thinks he's hilarious.

o dear james you will be tierd, ive got into a routine of going to bed around 2am and cant get out of it.
childminding i can just about look after my own lol was thinking about it for a while before ds3 was born.
how do you start off pink? like i dont do enough complaining on here

Actually Tasha I don't think you complain much, given what you have had to deal with with your fil etc. I think you're one of life's copers!

Someone tell me to get my arse in gear for god's sake. Got a mountain of washing up, almost as big as my laundry pile, and motivation is at zero.

Oh, while I'm procrastinating, thought everyone might be interested in this bbc news article on summer babies starting school. Here's the gist:

"Summer-born children, who would be the youngest entering their school, should be allowed to defer entry for up to a year, says the schools secretary.

"At present, many children born in August are beginning school in the September after their fourth birthday. Mr Balls says this can put them at a disadvantage against older pupils"

Haha, Mr Balls??

"For example, summer-born children are up to a year younger than their classmates when they sit tests at the end of each key stage. This can affect their performance right through school age up to the age of 16. Underachievement at GCSE could lead to missing out on A-levels and university.

"Some parents indicated that they would like greater flexibility over when their children can start primary school - for example having the choice to start in September, January or a whole year later."

----

So, if it all comes to fruition, it may mean good news for those of us who feel our august 4 yr olds aren't ready for school yet.

hi my2weegirls! i have def put weight on sinc lo. especially frustrating as all my preg nancy weight dropped off within 3 weeks, back in normal clothes and everything, went downhill from there though! i'm not getting any scales though, just going to go by how i feel and how tight my clothes are!

pink - hats off to childminders, definitely one of my least favoured jobs!!

does anyone know if £37 a day (8-6) is a fair price for a nursery? all food, nappies, milk etc included?

hi james! my niece turned 4 in september, too late to start the school year and she's more than ready for it (so is my sister)! would be good if there was more flexibility and cases could be looked at individually!

stop faffing, get your arse in gear

lol, thanks leifmum! I tackled the washing up before James got fed up, just giving him a bottle before I crack on.

James is lying on my lap with his free arm flailing as I feed him, sometimes he almost smacks my face, and I've been saying "How very DARE you!" and looking outraged but it's making him laugh (and spray me with milk) and do it more so I'd better stop before he turns into a yob!

His favourite toy at the moment is a sleighbell type rattle that isn't actually suitable for babies, but everytime he sees it he gets SO excited, his mouth does a perfect O and he grabs it off me and shakes the bejeesus out of it. I have to watch him like a hawk with it though as it has an eye-stabbing handle and it's essentially bells on small screw in metal hooks on a stick, which if I'm not careful he will gum enthusiastically.

I can just see it now if he manages to yank one of the buggers off, trip to casualty with a gently tinkling baby

not sure about the school thing, my ds was 5 in November and had started school this sept and was ready about 6 months before, but each child is different and i do think it would be good thing if it was the parents choice, my lo will be prob the youngest in his class!!

Hi Leifmum, have not said hello propley, welcome!!! You will find this a hugh support!! The Nursery dosnt not seem to bad, i childmind a boy of 20 months from 7.45am - 5.30pm and provide all food, snacks drinks and charge £30 a day, have you thought about childminders?

James - Tate has this dragonfly rattle thing that is his favouite and holds on to its wings so hard but does hit himself in the face a bit when his going crazy with it!!! GOD I LOVE THIS AGE!!!!!!! I really dont want him to get older!!! he is such a good baby ( seeing as he was hell to start) !!

Hello Leifmum

I depends where you are in bedfordshire where i am childminder charge £3.50 to £5.00 then extra for meals and snacks but you have provide nappies ect. Nursery upto £29 per session eg a morning or afternoon.

Hence why now i have 2dd's i will not be going back to work before either they go to school or when my mum retires in 2yrs time as we can not afford childcare and a 2nd car to get to work.

Hello all - happy new year.

Sorry to have been a stranger but I had a stinking cold over Xmas, then Cait got it for new year and we then went to Mum's in Spain for 6 days.

Am getting depressed at going back to work in just 6 weeks - it sounds so close.

We have just started giving Cait a little baby rice which she thinks is hillarious and giggles like mad after each mouthful.

Will try and post more later but my azy little madam is just waking up. Obviously she believes Sundays are for lay ins too !

Have updated my profile with some recent pics.

Hey Hersetta, nice to hear from you again, sorry about the nasty colds. Those pics are lovely, she's so cute! Glad lo's enjoying the babyrice even if she does think it's a big joke.

Pink I made the prune puree last night. I didn't sieve it as it they seemed to break down really well. Gave lo a mix of apple and prune this morning and he really enjoyed it, even with small lumps in. He scoffed a whole jar in about five minutes!

So I guess prunes are on his favourite foods list along with butternut squash, apple, peas, pear and (shhh) lamb. Currently on the reject pile: pumpkin, blueberries, spinach, readymade cottage pie.

Off to get the new highchair in a minute so I can finally top feeding him in the bloody bouncy chair!

Hi James - good to hear your LO is doing well. Ooh but prunes - get ready for some explosive nappies !!!

Think we will stick to baby rice for a couple of weeks then introduce something like apple or banana. She is a bit behind some of the babies on here as she is one of the youngest (31/8). She's still putting on weight well - was 15lb 14oz last week and still on her 75th centile line.

Has a new nasty habit of waking at 4 in the morning and singing. Have to give her a dummy to shut her up and she's asleep again in 10 seconds.

Aaw @ her singing! James mainly razzes now, seems all attempts at speech are inferior to farty noises.

Going to try James on hungry baby milk as he keeps waking in the night peckish despite 4 x 7oz bottles and 2-3 small meals. Not sure how he'll get on with it, I know a few babies get constipated on it but he's having plenty of fruit n veg so I hope it will balance out..

Is anyone else using hungry baby milk?

Blimey, you've all been very chatty this weekend. Ds was up at 5am this morning. He wasn't hungry so I'm not sure why he wouldn't go back to sleep. He had his bottle at about 6:30 and then went back to sleep. I went back to sleep (on the living room floor) and dd woke up - dh had opened her gate, gone back to sleep and sent her downstairs to me. At 8 I made him get up so I could go back to bed. I'm starting to get really tired now.

Apricot puree sounds like a good idea. I might even have a pack somewhere. Ds loved his apple puree mixed with a bit of milk. He was actually really tired and kept screaming but he did actually eat most of his parsnip and apple (not mixed) once I'd managed to calm him down. Then mum got him to sleep. She's very good at that.

Dd has been to 2 childminders. I think they charged £3.25 per hour and £3.50 per hour. This was from 8am til 6pm and I had to provide food, nappies, wipes and anything they might need. They definitely earn their money and I couldn't do it.

hi pinkranger! thanks for the welcome! i have been an observer on mn for a while but only just plucked up the courage to post! must admit there seem to be a few militant posters who scare me at times but i guess everyone has their own opinions!

hi lizziemum! i'm in bedfordshire too. i'm thinking this particular nursery seems quite good but hopefully i won't need any childcare. if it all works then i'm hoping dh will have lo one day and then for any extra days hopefully my big sis can take her. think in the long run though one day a week at nursery will be good for lo, socialising with other kids etc. childminders do seem to be a bit cheaper though.

we've had a good couple of days. lots of walking yesterday (i will get rid of these hips ) then just chilled out today. went to friends house for chat and tea and biscuits. now just waiting for dh to get home. he's been missing dd as worked late past two nights!

Morning folks, hope everyone's doing ok!

Slimming world today but don't think I've done very well what with thursday's vodka-fest, one too many quality street and the pizza I thought was low fat which turned out to be shockingly lardy. So wish me luck, 1lb off would do!

Had a nightmare last night, decided to move some furniture round to make more space (we're slowly being suffocated by a sea of primary-coloured plastic, I'm sure you all feel my pain on that one!) pulled the sofa away from the way and to my horror the entire wall behind it was greenmouldy! I've treated it but it really is the last straw- it's been added to the list of things going wrong with this house and I've HAD IT, I want out!

So I've been having a think about my future, and what I can do to improve quality of life for us all. I've decided I need to do four things- as well as stick at Slimming World, of course!:

1. Work! Get a job of some description to keep us afloat and scrape some money for a deposit together so we can...
2. Move! out of this achy breaky house to a little town I used to live in which has everything we need, has a decent primary school for James, and is close to a college, where I can...
3. Study! Towards getting a childminders qualification, so I could mind children and therefore stay home with James. But to be a decent childminder, I would need to be able to...
4. Drive! so I need to make dp give me some lessons before I inflict myself on a driving school. I've always had a fear of driving so if I manage this it will be something HUGE for me, and a brilliant step towards full independence.

Hi leifmum - the nurery I use is about £34 a day with only meals provided. I agree that nurseries are really good for socialising when children get older. My dd started school this september and it was made much easier because she was going with children from nursery. I have no family around me and don't know any childminders (wouldn't like to use one I didn't know or have referred) - so ds2 will be going to nursery when I go back to work.

Hersetta - Caitlin is lovely, she looked very smart at christmas.

I've lost 4lb in the last week - am very pleased as still pretty much been eating what I normally do. Have just stopped grazing durring the day. DH is also on diet and getting very competetive about it - he lost a lb less and said it wasn't fair as I could bf to lose more!

Hello all. I struggled to get myself out of bed this morning but by some miracle got to work only a few minutes late. I ended up shouting as dd to get her shoes on as she was more interested in playing with them on her hands.

At least the weather has cheered up a bit. It was very grey and dark a few hours ago.

Wow - James, that's what you call a plan! What sort of job will you be looking for?

I always hated driving lessons but learning to drive was one of the best things I have done. It gives you so much freedom. We spend so much money on cars though that I would have to give mine up if I didn't work. We pay at least £250 per month just on petrol He does have a performance car though and I drive 80 miles per day. Instead of spending his grandmother's inheritance on doing up the house he bought a £24,000 car

Well done loler! Lol that your dh thinks you have an unfair advantage.

arrgh - dd1 has sickness and diarrhoea (really hope she keeps this one to herself) . it's her birthday on thu so fingers crossed no-one else gets it. trying to keep dd2 away from her but i think they are missing each other - awww.

not read all the other posts will try and catch up later....

Yuck - good luck at keeping it just to dd1!

have had really bad day and had 2 chocolate cakes (homemade so as no label assuming they are calorie free!) - blaming it on terrible 2 year old ds (anyone want one of those, any good home considered?).

Off to clean black biro from cream kitchen cupboards........

hi james! i know just how you feel about wanting to get out your current house. we have a big damp problem, getting worse daily and just looking at the mould makes me want to cry!! had big "discussion" with dh earlier about how we're going to cope, can we afford to move, move where etc. etc.

don't you just hate being a grown up!!!

definitely do the driving lessons. i learnt a couple of weeks ago because of moving here, small town with NOTHING to do and desperately needed the independence. hated the lessons but sooo pleased i did it. have totally forgotten how to park now though. typical female unfortunately!! was bought a lamborghini driving experience for xmas. don't think i'll even get out of the pit lane without stalling!

Gill- if my dh did that with the money he would definitely no longer be Dh, and possibly not even h!!

Well done loler. I wish I could stop grazing - that's my big problem. I don't seem to get time to have a proper breakfast or lunch so I just end up eating biscuits or cream crckers and cheese or peanut butter - all of which are very bad for me.

Tried Cait on banana for the first time today and she physically shuddered at the first two mouthfuls and spat it out but then ate the rest of it and looked very pleased with herself. Will maybe try apple in a day or two.

James - go for it. Sounds a brilliant plan.

£24,000 car? lol, our little 106 cost £350, but only costs £37 to fill the tank, and apparently the tax and insurance are cheap too. Might have to get another if I ever do pass my test!

Hersetta, you could swap your cheese and crackers for ryvita and laughing cow extra light cheese triangles, it's a healthy low fat SW snack. And speaking of SW, I've lost another 2lb this week, going to do my best and aim to lose 3lb by next week so I've lost a total of 1 1/2st in 2 months.

Loler, well done on the 4lb loss- don't worry about the chocolate cake, just start again tomorrow, you'll be fine!

Are any of the babies smacking at all? When I'm feeding him, James often has an arm flailing round and round like a windmill, either slapping the bottle or trying to smack me. He's not in a bad mood usually, and obviously I'm not taking it personally, but I have no idea what he's trying to do, whether he doesn't like the bottle, does like the bottle, or just wants to hit things because he can.

Leifmum, the others could tell you on here the "unexplained" and severe skin problems I've had over the last few months- I think we now know why I'm always covered in bad eczema, all the bleedin mould spores flying about in this crappy house! Ooh, I hate rented houses.

Gill, no idea what I will be doing workwise just yet. I have been looking but haven't seen anything suitable. I'm quite worried about it all to be honest, I left J with dp for 90min while I went to SW tonight and when he picked me up he said J had been screaming for the last 30 min. Now, I know it does happen. Babies Cry. But I can't help thinking "he doesn't usually cry with me!" so still don't know how the hell I'm going to leave him with dp or a childminder even.

Hi All

Hersetta- hello again, Cait is sounding great with her eating and singing.

My LL is like JB's and likes to make loud raspberry noises in the middle of the night, quite funny though.

Leifmum- hi welcome, hope i'm not one of the scary mn's i sometimes have a lot of opinions. but am eating my words about having a half way good toddler today.

Gill, tasha, my 2weegirls - speaking of older siblings---I had the day from HELL with ds1 today, everything resulted in major tantrum(s) all day screaming, time out, more screaming which then resulted in dh and I screaming urrrrrg these toddlers
I wanted to be anything but a mum today, even the book i'm reading about the lives of brothel girls was starting to sound appealingds is just so stubborn, and it all started with trying to get him to sit on the toilet(he is untrained) and stubborn about it, i've tried the reward/kind route but i reackon it will never happen that way with him.

anyway the day is almost over here, thank god.

anyone else losing hair by the handful?