may babies get sevenny

[spots]

Nice here eh? Seven is a lovely magic number.

DD has horrible cough off DH. They are both hacking away like nanny goats so our house is rather noisy and I s'pose I'll have to get it too, sooner or later. A real workout for the immune system at 6 months anyway.

Think maybe my purees were a little bit lumpy for DD. She really went for the bought stuff I gave her today, and I was quite reassured. Anyone actually tried the Hipp apple and blueberry? So tasty I could have it on toast , no probs.

Georgina hope your hands, feet and mouths are OK.

Twiglett you are a rascal... sleeping through eh? what on earth is she thinking of?

Think I would rather miss my little overnight fixes of DD if she didn't remind me of her presence every 3 hours or so.

[spots]

Grrrrr. Just discovered that a friend's daughter, who loves DD and is often found face to face with her, has flu. This after a time yesterday spent with them, when the daughter had 'just a little sore throat' and was only asked in the gentlest possible way if it was really a good idea that she had her face so close to the baby's if she was feeling unwell. Hate the idea of DD getting flu. Is it really bad for a baby? high temp. and all?

I am still cooking separately for DD. But it has rather informed my own cooking habits... Here's one: Fry a grated carrot in a little butter. Add red lentils and then water to boil. Finish with a splash of orange juice. For baby, whizz it. For us, make it into a bed for a smoked haddock fillet (on Tuesdays from the fish van )and bake it in the oven.
Here's another: Stew some parsnip with some dried mango strips. For baby, whizz it. For us, serve as an accompaniment to chicken.

eat my dust annabel (or has she already invented these? I don't have The Book!)

[Bozza]

Very impressed Spots. I've planned DD's menu for after her christening on Sunday - she is having chicken, cauliflower and parsnip followed by apple and pear. All white foods you notice so as not to stain the family heirloom gown. She is still eating her own foods with a bit of family finger food (eg pasta) thrown in. But hope to be heading towards family food soon.

Kbaby the walking to sleep thing is tricky. I wouldn't really like it with all 3 naps I suppose. IME the easiest nap to get them down for is the morning one so maybe she could try that. Whoever said that she will recognise that different things happen with mummy and granny has a good point. Also got to say that your MIL must be the fittest Granny in town - 3 hours walking a day! Maybe she's a secret member of the pedometer club and thats what its all about.

Took DD to the doctor and he's just prescribed nose drops and said wait it out unless she gets worse.

[SusiS]

good morning everybody!
ds wasn't too bad last night but i still didn't have a great night. kept waking up. didn't help that dp was up till 2am (prop because he's not used to sleep at nights ) but at least dp looked after ds when he woke 1am; well, he fed him. when he told me in the morning i told him off and he got mad with me - i just don't want ds get into the habbit needing food again at nights! AND dp also took ds downstairs at 6am; to give me a lie in aawwww! unfortunately didn't go too smoothly, so an hour later i got up myself - well, dp asked for a manual for the morning routine (bless! how can he know when he is at work that time!)
well, he was sorry for being grumpy and i sent him to bed! and so is ds (napping)
ds seems to be much better! very giggly and smily and better with eating too. but he still prefers solids to milk
*but he keeps rubbing his ear!!! if it doesn't stop over the we i'll see the doctor on monday.

besides that we had a fun evening yday. dp was playing online with a friend on the computer and they asked me to join them which i did - oh boy did they regret it

spots: sounds fab your recipes!! i bought some couscous but don't know yet what to do with it. but it has the right texture for lo! any suggestions?
hope dd will skip the flu!

everybody: what is your lo's fav toy atm?
and what book do you read with your lo's?

well, i gotta do some more cleaning. dp's sister and mum are coming around later. will take them out for a meal

[libb]

Gawd, will they ever stop copying? DS now shakes his head because I kept on saying no/shaking head when he was trying to rip my glasses off. Now the childminder has inadvertantly taught him to click his tongue and it goes on all day long! he also does that weird "crcrcr" sound with the back of his throat - and don't even get me started on the babbling . . .

We are still way behind with the weaning compared to you guys though, although he has not been well at all so I haven't wanted to force it to be honest. Can you all share your recipes and methods of preparation? I only have weekends to prepare/freeze stuff so easy things to start with would be great - am off to nip to the town market soon for veggies and fruit.

Poor little man has developed thrush because of the antibiotics but Canesten seems to be sorting it, his cough is better too - I see the light at the end of the tunnel! hoorah!

[GeorginaA]

TBH libb, I just use the Annabel Karmel book - pick two or three recipes to cook at the weekend, do them, then if I'm running low cook another 2 or 3 on a Wednesday night. Also make use of "instant" food for some meals like banana and papaya.

Used 2 jars in total so far (but then we're only just starting the 4th week) and they were so horribly runny and ds2 hated them so much, I'm going to do my damdest not to use them again except for real emergencies.

[GeorginaA]

(meant to say - those 2 or 3 recipes are in sufficient quantity that I'm freezing 2 or 3 meals in the freezer for each plus one kept in the fridge for next day)

[libb]

I forgot to mention, despite the lurgy he went down at about 9 last night and we didn't hear a peep out of him until 8.30 this morning (except a brief oy! I'm here cry at 6.30, then he found his fingers and went back to sleep). I could almost imagine feeling rested . . . except there is too much housework to do.

Now that I have had my smug moment I daresay there will be a few weeks of hell now. Hope you are all feeling better and lots of love to you all xxx

[GeorginaA]

We have a TOOTH!

Am ridiculously excited. Let out a crazed scream of delight when I found it in ds2's mouth and he started giggling and looking incredibly proud of himself, bless him!

I've also made a decision today. I am categorically NOT going to express ANY MORE. I hate it hate it hate it. So, I'm going to pop out and buy some formula for any time someone else needs to feed him and shall start mixing formula in with his cereal/baby rice/cooking to get him used to the flavour. Will still keep breastfeeding for a while longer though.

[prufrock]

Hurah for Georgina's tooth. We have had one for 3 days now, and boy do my nipples know it. Little blighter keeps dragging them between his gums.

I am just giving ds anything we have now. I freeze some of our meals for him for the occasions that we are having something he can't. But tonight we all had Shepherds Pie (salt added to mine and dh's on our plates) an last night we all had an Indian takeaway. It was from a very high class curry house (David Beckhams local) that I know uses only decent ingredients. Ds had lots of tarka dhal and a little bit of chicken tikka)

Flu isn't that bad - just dose with lots of medised. You might get more broken nights, but you'll probably just find that she sleeps a lot. It can be quite worrying when they have a very high temp though -they can be all floppy in your arms and red faced, but once the paracetomol kicks in they are fine. Remember as well tahat after 6 months you can give Nurofen for babies too - and you can alternate (so give medised or Calpol, then 2 hours later give Nurofen, then 2 hours later another dose of Medised/Calpol)

Ds is doing a lot of blowing and saying "b" - mainly when I am trying to get food into him . He is also standing up when propped against the sofa - he's very wobbly, but can bear all his considerable weight on his legs now. Dd didn't do that until Xmas day, and h was only born 2 weeks before her. He still can't sit with any reliability though - usually ends up flat on his face within seconds.

[Egypt]

blimey prufrock, you have a proper little man on your hands, curries and standing and teeth!!

It's our happy six months today

i am still doing seperate foods for dd and mainly still veg. dd's breakfast is in a mo and i am pondering over the weetabix or sticking to the usual babyrice with fruit. she's just a baby! havent dared mash up any of our whole meals, although i spose there's no harm at all is there. except gravy, everything else we eat is fine. although, i do do alot of packet mixes and jars, like chillies and bologneses and casseroles. she cant have the packets. will do a roast today and blend some for her to freeze.

had a strange night last night. dd woke at 1130 and although i fed her yes must get back to cc, she cried for an hour. just wouldnt go back to sleep. weird. that was our cc in a way, cos i had fed her before. gave some ashtons. she went til 430 then 8. this does seem to be our pattern now. about bloody time for one i say, but must get that cc underway. havent had a night through since.

[Egypt]

congrats on tooth G!

[SusiS]

ds didn't wake once last night!!!!! wohooo
first night! - don't know really what was diff. well, he went to bed later (but he was all happy yday evening and i want him to go to bed later anyways) and he also was wrapped up much warmer than usual (mainly because we called nhs direct to get some advice on his constant ear rubbing ) was well impressed! very efficiant, helpfull and quick! - so ended up with no bath and much warmer bedding, and closed window. well, he got some medised but he had that the last few nights and didn't make him sleep through. so not really sure; but i'll find out

aaaaanyways! silly mummy as i am, i woke at 5 completly shocked why i didn't hear from him all night - was hard not to go and see to him! - at 7 i got up; still no ds! - 30min later i could hear him play

had a quite nice day yday. dp's sister and mum came to visit (well, mainly ds!) and we all went for a meal. and ds was just fab! sitting in his highchair and i gave him bits of our meal (bread, cucumber, potato, ribs - oh boy he loved the ribs ) - he skipped his nap time and was still well behaved - so proud of him!!!

wohooo Georgina: congrats on tooth! aren't they just cute showing it off

[GeorginaA]

Well despite tooth's appearance he's STILL waking at 4am (and 10pm last night too - and his gums felt really swollen, poor mite) so I suspect another one is on the way.

[Egypt]

well done susi! and lucas
what did nhs direct say? was the room too cold before? earache from the window?

dd seems to have dropped her morning nap. its now nearly 12 and she woke at 8. would have normally been asleep at least over an hour ago. she did this friday too. yesterday we went in the car so she slept anyway, but i wonder. dont want her to drop it. i need my spaaaaacce!!!!!! and my sleep.! have put her to bed 3 times this morning. gone quiet then cries. tried the pram, in front of washer, etc. nope. not walking as raining. now i've given up and shes in her door bouncer lauging her head off. oh well. at least i can now do my tesco shop online.

[spots]

We've been away for the night, so just back to a cold empty house - DH is in london for a 40th birthday and will come back with hangover later. I took DD up to Perthshire where our country friends live opposite JK Rowling's posh pad. They have a baby too. So great just to talk babies all the time! DD hasn't got flu so hurrah for that, but Prufrock your advice has been filed away.

Congratulations all teeth growers!

Ah, the world is good.

[Egypt]

sounds lovely spots. and jk rowling's posh pad? your friends must be too! what's it like?

dd had just one sleep today. she eventually went down at 1.45pm. well, in her pram in front of washing machine! slept for 2 hours. dont mind one sleep so much if its for that long. hope she takes 2 tomorrow though. i am sooooo tired. just having glass of wine now.

[Egypt]

hmmmm, just thought. maybe thats a good way to make myself not feed dd when she wakes at 11 ish. have a whole bottle of wine then i know i can't. she'll have to fall asleep again on her own. bless.

maybe not

[spots]

no our friends aren't that posh, remember it's the country and they are on one side of the valley ... JK's on the other amongst the trees. nonetheless they do have a certain je ne sais quoi, our friends... they just have all the gadgets, all the baby stuff. like all the stuff you see in the catalogues and think it would vbe good, they have it. The sky and clouds cover for the changing mat; the stainless steel nappy bucket (two of!) all burt's bees stuff for him; that sort of posh... really really lovely to visit and have a shot!

[spots]

ooh, I have to say how sweet DD was just as I put her to bed. She was sat in her cot while I put a vest on her, and the sheet was a bit rucked up. She kicked her feet and it made the creases in the sheet change. Coo-ee! She was so impressed! And kicked again. And just turned to me with this incredulous, delighted look on her face. She really wanted to share her pleasure with me! And of course I told her how clever her feet were and said 'do it again' which she did, and again turned to me saying in every way but with words 'HOW GOOD IS THAT ???' Oh, it was just hilarious... she's such a puppy at the moment, getting such enormous thrills from the world. She was laughing like a drain by the time I had to settle her down to sleep and I was so misty-eyed. Don't know if it really sounds like much does it? You maybe had to be there. Maybe you had to be her mum...

[prufrock]

No- you are making me misty-eyed too.Ds is currently going through a stage o looking in wonderment at my face, and feeling my hair, eyes, mouth, nose etc. It is so lovely to see their little eyes light up, and the way that they are so eager to share their new discoveries with you.

[Judd]

Yep, completely agree. DS thinks DD in particular is FAB. He watches whatever she does. At teatime, he was in his highchair and I was jokingly telling him off for dropping mushed up bread and butter on the floor. I went to get a cloth and as I came back into the room, could hear DD whispering urgently "Baby Ollie, frow it down !!" ("th" not one of her better sounds!). So she is at last seeing his comedy value...and maybe even his future potential as an ally

[GeorginaA]

Oh spots that's absolutely GORGEOUS!

[Twiglett]

Anyone else still solely breast-feeding (as in no express in bottles either?) or is just eejit-me??

[GeorginaA]

Sort of, Twiglett, in that I very rarely use a bottle of expressed now ... last time was when we were looking around schools for ds1.

Have bought a packet of formula now though, which is sitting on my kitchen counter and making me feel guilty every time I walk in, but I just don't even enjoy expressing to make up his porridge in the morning.

[Twiglett]

you can use dairy milk in cooking though

I also have a tin of formula sitting in the cupboard but am loathe to use it (or invest in bottles actually .. only have 2 of the 4 oz ones which I am currently using to measure out my milk allowance on this diet )