Oct 07 - this little piggy stayed at home...

[Dalrymps]

Hey guys sorry for the sh*t title, if there's already been a new thread set up please direct me there???

Buffy - sorry you are feeling low at the moment - but glad that you are getting it sorted out. sounds like you have had a v tough time, so no wonder.

Alicet - thanks for the suggestions - i am definitely going to have a look at that book, and am back on the nipple shields. Off to see the GP this morning to see if it might be thrush, as some more internet research i've done says it could be this even if you and the baby don't have really obvious symptoms. And glad you got everything sorted with your friend - these things can sometimes blow up out of proportion can't they?

Muppet - another couple of ideas for the Mr Men party. Why not play Mr Men musical statues? When the music stops you call out the name of a Mr Man that they have to act - eg stick tummy out for Mr Greedy, crouch down small for Mr Small, pretend to sneeze for Mr Sneeze, grin alot for Mr Happy. You may have to act the action and they would copy you? A prize for the best actor?
If you don't want to give sweets as prizes, and you have a colour printer, you could save the Mr Men pics from this site and print them on to labels to make home made stickers.

Alicet - the best train thing I can think of at the moment is to do the conga around the house with you as an engine and them as your carriages! I will keep thinking...

I love this kind of thing - if i lived anywhere near any of you I would volunteer to come and face paint at parties!

Alicet - don't know where I got the idea you needed trains from when its a fire engine party! Must be from your trip to see the trains the other day. Anyway, for a fire engine party you could play firemen musical statues where they have to pose pretending they are fighting a fire when the music stops. or you could have a tresure hunt around the house where they have to follow a garden hose to see what's at the end - like following a hose to the end of a fire. if it's nice weather and you can get outside, then some empty washing up liquid bottles could be filled with water for putting out a pretend fire. all these might be too advanced for 2 year olds, but if they have parents with them perhaps they could help too? you can get firefighters hats from this fire service charity site but they are quite expensive, also fire fighters costumes

V brief message - Strawberry, I bought the book Alice recommends on Alice's recommendation and it's been great. Touch wood my bf is now fine - would you like me to send you the book?

Got to go, but sorry about PND Buffy, lots of hugs, and glad christening situation is sorted Alice xx

Alicet - glad you sorted things out with your friend.

Talking of christenings, is anybody doing a non-christening christening if you see what I mean? We're not getting Anya christened but I keep thinking it would be nice have something else instead. I know you can arrange naming ceremonies, but that seems a bit late as she's already got a name (does that make sense?), plus we don't want 'godparents' or whatever the civil equivalent is, plus I don't want anything too formal otherwise I'll end up having to argue with my mother over why we're not doing it in church and who to invite/not invite. Basically I just want a party for her but something that sounds more official than a party so that long-distance friends will feel it's worth coming to. Does a 'welcome to the world' party seem odd? Especially now most family/friends have already met her and bought presents? Will it seem like we're just trying to get more presents out of people?

Sorry, am rambling now, will shut up.

Strawberry are you a party planner in RL? Your ideas are fab!!!! That website is great too. Nice one.

Anyas mum we keep cross posting

I think a welcome to the world party is a lovely idea. I have a friend who has had naming ceremonies for both her dc - she got a humanist minister to come and do them and had them in her garden. Kind of formal but informal. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to either of them as they were both when we were on holiday but I can ask her more about them if you are interested?

My dh thinks doing christenings are fine as they are a tradition but doing anything like this is a present grabbing excercise which is why we haven't done anything like this. Although he hasn't made those comments regarding other people doing this - just us!!! I really wanted to as it seems strange to celebrate all the other big events in our lives but not arguably the biggest - our boys arrival. And I TOTALLY disagree about them being just an excuse for presents. People will probably bring things but its not the aim is it? In the end I didn't have the energy to fight him on it and have instead made more of a big thing about Sam's birthdays than I otherwise might when he is this small.

One idea if you're planning to arrange it soon is that you say its a party to thank everyone for their generosity and the presents they have already given to Anya when she was born? Then you can get round this if you are worried about that. Personally I wouldn't worry but up to you!

Happy New Year All

Dh only went back to work today so this is the first time I've had a chance to get near the computer! Sorry not had chance to catch up...read p15 and realised that Alex would wake up before I got to p19 and I wouldnt get chance to say Hi!
Christmas was a bitter sweet time for us....on the Sat before we went to a party at Dhs best mates sisters house and it brought everything back....it was at her party last year that dhs best mate announced that he and his wife were expecting;...I has lost Robyn (at 17 weeks, our 6th pregnancy)only 12 weeks before, my Dad had been diagnosed with terminal cancer 2 weeks before, and having decided that I was too old and the pain of loss to great to risk trying to concieve again I was deeply depressed and on tranquilizers.... dhs best mate had told dh 2 days previously so I could be "prepared"...DH "forgot" to tell me!...and I went into total melt down...it was at that point that I realised that never trying again and never ever having the remotest possibility of being a mum was marginally more painful than trying losing...so we decided to give it another go, my period came on New years eve and Alex was concieved on Friday the 12th. We lost my Dad when I was 10 weeks pg, and I bitterly regret not telling him but he had been so upset when I lost Robyn and we didnt want to make him worry when he was so ill...
and there we were again this year...Dhs best mate with his 23wk old son, us with our 12 wk old son bringing us so much joy but no Dad and our hostess suffering from terminal ovarian cancer at just 48....
as I said...bitter sweet....
but I'm envious of those of you contemplating number 2 already....in all honesty I'd do the same myself at the drop of a hat..it is so very tempting to "forget" to take my pill....Alex is the sun, moon and stars to me, I'd just love to have another to adore so much that his smiles reduce me to tears and a puddle of emotional mush.But I'm 43 now, it took 3 years of heart break to get Alex and he needs a fit and emotionally healthy mum more than he needs a sibling so Im having a mirena coil fitted on the 19th...I'll probably sob, trying to concieve it a bit like gambling it can become an obsession and having won so wonderfully at last, I'm finding it hard to quit.....
I must be crazy!Alex developed a water infection yesterday ( knock on effect from my tummy upset last weekend, reducing my milk production and his utter refusal to take a bottle) and is on antibiotics and demanding bf every 2 hours day and night(thank heavens my milk is back in full flow)...I simply couldnt manage if I was pg again.
He stirrs!I'll try to get back later..

Hi Floria - great to hear from you - you have been missed! Understand why Christmas was so bittersweet for you all. But lovely to hear you talk about how in love with Alex you are - you brought a tear to my eye!

Hi Alice
I've missed all of you too but family took over and in the few moments we had to ourselves DH commandeered the pc
I seem to have a habit of bringing a tear to your eye (or is it just the hormones)I'm sure I'm no more in love with Alex than all of you are with your darling los but I think that the struggle we have had to get him, the knowledge that he is going to be our one and only and this whole year of worry and grief makes me perhaps a little more acutely aware of how blessed and lucky we are.
Alex is asleep again having had a feeding frenzy.....which unfortunately made him sick (first time in nearly 3 weeks )I'm hoping the abs will kick in today and he'll get back to normal..his extra demands have got me producing to maximum capacity again...just call me Ermintrude!

I see from this page that you are considering christenings;...
Anyasmum; we havent been to a humanist christening but my Dad was agnostic and had a humanist funeral service which was unbelievably wonderful and very appropriate...in fact two of the congregation asked the humanist for his card afterwards! The humanists are very attuned to what is appropriate for the individuals involved, it is certainly an option worth investigating.
Personally I'm torn as to whether to Christen Alex or not...my parents "forgot" to get my brother christened and he was upset about it when he found out aged 7, so they arranged his christening then and he chose his own godparents (who were people very much a part of his life, not just friends/relations of our parents)who were all thrilled to be chosen (and the people who might have "expected" to be asked couldnt get miffed with my parents), he had a fabulous party full of his own friends and he got amazing christening pressies...A mountain bike, a scalectrix etc. etc....
I can't decide if we should leave it for Alex to decide when he is older or if it is more important to officially declare his godparents/guardians now in a christening ceremony (not that the ceremony is necessary for that of course, but it does make things clear to everyone who you expect to care for your child should something dreadful happen) But I do agree with you about presents, I don't want another pressie giving fest either....and if we go ahead with it I will be putting a note to say as much in the invitations.
oh ho..here we go again...he's eating his fists...I'm definately going to change my name to Ermintrude....moo!

Floria I think you just have a vway with words that gets to me!

Liking your family's idea of your brother begining christened late and choosing his godparents. Might bear this in mind later although we would go down the humanist route...

way even!

Choc - thanks ve much for the offer of the book - I have reserved it from my local library, but if for any reason it doesn't appear, I will be in touch!

Alicet - meant to say - thanks for saying you used nipple shields for 5.5months - just what i needed to hear, as so many people say they are wrong and won't allow you to produce enough milk. Have got some penicilin and thrush cream from doc now to treat possible mastitis and possible thrush. And no, I'm not a party planner in RL, but perhaps I have found a new calling!!

Anyasmum/Alicet/Floria - we are thinking of having a naming ceremony (probably in the summer) rather than a christening. We are not god people and had a civil wedding rather than a religious one, but would like to have some kind of formal/informal way of acknowleding Olly's birth.

Particularly i would like to have 'supporting adults' (the equivalent of godparents) as I know i've found my godmother to be the most fantastic person and a great support, and I would like Olly to have the same kind of thing.

There's an internet site here which has ceremonies you can 'buy' if you want to do it yourself. Your local registry office may also have people who can officiate, but it does cost money...

Strawberry my attitude with the nipple shields was that I had nothing to lose as if I couldn't bf with them it was too painful and I would be giving up anyway. Therefore if it meant my milk supply dried up so be it - at least I had tried! In the end I stopped bf because Sam decided he didn't want it anymore. I was on ff at night and once during the day by then so about 50/50. So I suspect that in the end a combination of that plus nipple shields reduced my supply and he had enough. But I figure 5 and a half months wasn't much less than I had planned anyway so all good!

I have a cold to inzi - it's horrible

Strawberry - definitely get yourself checked for Thrush. I had it but Dareh didn't have any symptoms and if you have it you want to treat asap. I hope you can get it sorted soon - it's awful having pain when feeding.

Thanks for the book reference alicet! Just hope it's not too late already... oops. I skimmed the thread about the christening. It gives you a horrid sicky feeling inside when you feel left out, well it does to me anyway! But just think, they are friends, and they wouldn't do anything in a malicious way. I'm sometimes a bit insecure when it comes to what i think people think of me, even tho deep down i know i'm being daft! And i'm glad you talked about it, cos a lot of people go on through life without doing this and it can just build up resentment x

Hello everyone , nice to hear from you again FT, sorry Christmas was so bittersweet for you, hopefully next year you will be able to look back with some happier memories and that Alex has helped you get through.

Hugs to those of you who have colds, hope you are feeling better soon and that your LO's don't catch them from you.

Strawberry, great party ideas I think you have a calling so if you could just keep the ideas coming that would be great, I am a brownie leader due to go back in Jan and am seriously lacking in ideas! But like the Mr Men idea for a themed weekend away lots of scope there

alice glad you sorted things out with your friend, I would have felt exactly the same as you did. Groups of friends aren't easy are they you think it will get better as you get older but it never does!

Sorry can't remember what anybody else has said but hello to you all

Zoe's jabs went ok yesterday, I just hate taking her as her wee face just crumples with the jabs and then she screams. But she settled fairly quickly and has (touch wood) been fine so far. She went to bed at 11pm last night and I had to lift her at 10.45am this morning as we had people coming for lunch at 12 and needed to go out beforehand!

Saw something really lovely at the Drs yesterday. There was a wee boy of 8 or 9 playing on the floor and a man in a wheelchair came to the door and without being prompted by anyone the wee boy got up and went to open the door

Went shopping with the lo this morning. She had screaming abdabs when i was trying to feed her and then decided to have 2 very wet poos that i could smell a mile off in the space of an hour and a half!!

BTW, you're all probably going to say 'course we tried that!', but lansinoh worked wonders for my v sore nipples. used it after every breast feed.

Oh also meant to ask, do any of you know at what age can you take a baby swimming? Do you have to wait until they have had all their jabs?

Hi all

Ellen - does that mean you've ALREADY started trying?! Wow. Your lo must sleep more than mine; mine is a v effective contraceptive. Oh and was I wrong in thinking bf delayed periods from returning? I am not trying for a baby in 2008, no way - might in 2009...

Good day here - went out for lunch and Rebecca slept through it. We had a crap night though - she thoroughly hated the sleeping bag and kept batting herself in the face and waking herself up. She's back in it tonight, so we shall see...

Polar - I'm interested in the answers you get to that question about swimming too!

Floria, your Christmas does indeed sound bittersweet. Alex really has been a blessing for you! and I like Inzi's idea that your dad is looking on and keeping you all safe.

Trying to remember what everyone said - Inzi I've had that cold too, it's horrible, and baby got it too. Alice glad the christening stuff got sorted...

She is apparently asleep so I'm off to bed now too! Hugs to all.

when i had ds1 i first took him swimming at the grand old age of 8 weeks. he is now 9yrs and loves swimming, am taking ds2 next week as long as his sniffles clear up.

Regarding swimming: When DD1 was a baby, the advice was to wait until they had all their jabs, but when I had Shula I asked the HV and she said ok once she had her first lot at 8 weeks. I yook her 6 days after her 1st jabs as DD1 was inviting to a swimming party.

i have taken her with FIL since and she absolutely loved it.

We're not 'trying' as such, just leaving it in the hands of fate! My doc told me that there's only a 40% chance of conceiving if you just do it ad hoc, which sounded pretty low to me. Famous last words.