January 08 shiny new - year babys , tired mums and dads!

[lilyloo]

Will that do

Hi all

Nice to see so many posts.

Nathan's thanksgiving was great, had me in tears...After that we had lunch with our friends who are godparents, and their two little girls. We asked them to be guardians in case something happens to us, as the only sibling we have between us is my brother, who is a convicted sex offender and there is my father and step mum whose English is not great. We stressed that we did not necessarily expect them to bring him up, as we do not know what special needs he has. We just want them to fight his corner, but they said immediately that there would be no question that they would bring him up as their own and in terms of special needs they would just grow up with us. That had dh in tears in the middle of a busy chinese restaurant. Now to have the wills made.

Nathan did remarkably well with the hundreds of new faces today. Lots of our friends turned up who had not seen him yet, as well as dh's future congregation of course. Problem was he had a bit irritated tummy/bowel and did not want to feed well cos it hurt, then he got very stimulated and because he kept on getting just mouthfulls of foremilk he got more and more gassy and I started to freak about dehydration (good one about freaking me ). In the end I took him to the spare room at my friends' and managed to get a small feed in, then a massive smelly poo out (cue much smiling and a blissed out baby too sleepy to feed). Put him in his jammies for maximum comfort and he slept all the way home in the car and had an enormous feed when we came home, so all will be well.

First jabs tomorrow. Nervous! Someone on the special needs thread said that there was something about pertussis and neonatal seizures. The health visitor sorted it out for us, it is all fine just prevent a fever. So will give him calpol before we go. If the jabs go well we can half the dose of anticonvulsants in two weeks!

madmouse it sounds like you had a fabulous day. Well done Nathan for handling it all so well too
lillyloo not sure if it chicken pox now. Will keep an eye on it. My lot were all different with the pox. ds1 only had a few spots but was realy poorly with it. ds2 was covered from head to toe including inside his mouth and around his 'boys bits' but he handled it realy well. ds3 had quite a few spots too but he seemed the most itchiest. Thank God for Piriton I say. I have never used calamine lotion as tbh I never found it made any difference. Mind you I absolutely love the smell of it. Reminds me of family hols when I was little and Mum dabbing it on my sunburn
Were going to have to think about another meet up soon. As soon as I find out dh's rest days I can suggest some dates. Is everyone still up for the V&A museum?
Anyway ds3 back to school tommorrow so Im of to bed.
Goodnight all xxxx

Madmouse how lovely, what wonderful friends you have

Morning ladies just a quick one from me. I am going to start WW on Thursday. I have found a meeting real close and its at 12pm so I wont have to rush to get there too much.
Ds4 definately has chicken pox he is covered today.
ds3 returned to nursery too. Couldn't wait to go
Hope you are all well today xx

Hi - quick catch up as tons to do (as usual)

Chickenpox - friend of mine said oatmeal baths were great - tie some plain oatmeal (not Ready Brek!) in a muslin and put it in the bath - hang it under the tap if you can so the water runs through it.

Nathan's thanksgiving sounds lovely - and like you have lovely friends too

Wii Fit - can't wait to try it - DD1 got it for her birthday and the courier has just delivered it. But it records how long you've played it so i can't have a sneaky go before her!

Just had kitchen disaster - making up some pureed veg, thought I'd do some potato - I've been whizzing up stuff in the food procssor as it has a mini-bowl attachment for small amounts. Took the lid off to find sticky goop - it's like glue! And to make things worse it overflowed down the spindle so have been cleaning stringy glue off the machine - it's awful, running the blade under hot water made no difference - I had to scrub it off. Just been flicking through the Annabel Karmel book while waiting for the PC to boot up I then spotted the fateful words "when pureeing potato use a mouli or press through a sieve. Do not use a food processor as this breaks down the starches and produces a sticky pulp" You don't say....

Don't puree potato in a food processor !!!

I learnt that the hard way too Hmum.
Try sweet potato too my dc's loved that!
The wii fit is really good but i had a wii fit age of 44 Am aiming to do half an hour a day!

Gingeme poor ds, i am hoping you are just getting all the bugs out of the way for a lovely healthy summer as you do seem to have had a real bad run lately !

Good news Martha's skin infection seems to be clearing , hooray!

Yes housemum we did the oatmeal in muslin baths with ds3. He did smell delicious after
I hope its all over and done with too lillyloo. Couldn't imagine lo's being spotty and itchy in the hot sunshine
Just had a peaceful couple of hours. ds4 has a nap about 11.30 so put him down for a sleep. ds5 was being missy so put him in his cot and he went straight to sleep and dh went for a sleep too so ds3 was on milkshake on the pc and I actualy sat down and read a magazine.
Im going swimming tommorrow too with my friend. Will be proper swimming not like the type you don't do when you take lo's
Well everyones waking up now. Better make a bottle and a cuppa. No peace for the wicked .

Higirls,

I can't believe how quickly the time is going! Some of us are weaning! Sabela is definitely giving us a lot of looks while we eat, so I wonder how long it will be? I'm just going to follow her, as usual

She's being incredibly cute at the moment, and changing so fast. Yesterday she did a roll, held a rattle and supported herself sitting up for a few seconds. On one day! She's also really working out that she can touch things, although as usual she is more interested in DH and I. When we take her into bed in the mornings for her first feed, we lie with her between us afterwards and she puts one hand on each face. Well, usually on DH's nose, which is, I confess, pretty big. It's so adorable.

She has also learned to squeal with delight, which is a bit disconcerting as i'ts practically the same as her 'I'm so peed off' squeal. She often does it when in her cot looking at her animals and I go running, simply to find her grinning away

All ok here and apart from a lingering sore throat all is well.

Charlie so sweet and slept through til 8.30am again so am having proper nights of sleep, she is having jabs tomorrow almost tempted not to take her as it may be the end of the sleeping frenzy but must be a good mummy and not selfish on sleep front.

charlie spends all her day talking and babbling away also gives such big smiles cant wait to get noise when she laughs.

hugs to all

Nicky, same here, Nathan is starting to sleep through the evenings (went down at 8.30 tonight) and gives me four hour stretches. He was supposed to have his jabs today and I was wondering what effect it would have on that lovely sleeping. But the nurse was sick so it has been postponed till wednesday. I am keen to have it done so we can wean him off his meds.

Hi its me again. It would seem weve all had slap cheek syndrome ds4's rash has gone as has his temp. My niece and nephew have it and I looked up the symptoms. It ties in with all the coughs,colds,sickness and rash weve all been sharing these past few days. Once the symptoms show you are no longer contagious.
So that means we still have chicken pox to look forward too. Grrreeeaaat
Ah well off to bed to see what wonderful bugs tommorrow brings.
Night all xxx

Hi guys,

Just wondering where you put your Los down to sleep during the day. I've been using our carrycot so i can have her downstairs with me but she's getting too big. I'm not keen on putting her upstairs away from me .

Aaliyah sleeps in her bouncy chair or on the sofa depending on where she falls, I should really put her to bed but as soon as we try adn put her in either her cot or basket during the day she wakes up so I just take the easy route for now.

morning all, been up since 4.30, lovely...not
ds2 up then and wouldn't resettle, didn't want him to wake ds1 so came downstairs and sorted washing. fed him again, then he fell asleep, of course.
he sleeps pretty much wherever, on sofa in kitchen at mo, tho i have found that he will sleep amazingly well in the phil&teds even without being walked about so i put him in there during the day. if he falls asleep when we are still upstairs in the morning i pop him back in his cot with an extra blanket as it seems cold in his room.

gingeme - think ds1 had a touch of that the other day, just the 'slapped cheek' part tho no temp.
ds1 fell and hit his head on his bed last night, looks like it could be a big shiner

madmouse - that's so annoying about the nurse and delaying everything for you. nathan really sounds amazing and i'm sure you can't wait to get him off those meds.

susie - sabela sounds so advanced, not a hint of rolling here! i remember from ds1 that they do have these 'development spurts' when they will pick up loads of new skills all of a sudden then calm down again. if your dh or g-parents don't see them for that spurt, they really notice the difference.

housemum - lol at potato

lily - my bro is on the case for the wii, never been to a step class in my life anyway!

right, i am so ahead of myself this morning don't know what to do! may go and peg out some washing if it's not too cold out there, ds1 having a beebies morning!

oh, also meat to say, we had decided (and checked with them obv) that dh's bro, wife & 2 kids would have our kids if we both died, they are now emigrating to Australia..we have to decide if we want to keep the arrangement - and so our kids would move over there (seems a bit traumatic, to lose both parents, then move to the other side of the world; but maybe a better lifestyle??) or find a new plan...

think my PIL would NOT be impressed if all of their g-children were over there!

Hi girls - it's a bleak and rainy almost autumnal morning here in east finchley! Really feel like hibernating here.

Housemum - thanks for the tip on the potato - would never have known about that. Am starting to read up about weaning in preparation. Have some baby rice in the cupboard and am marvelling at how many words it take annabel karmel to say "cook carrots, mash em"!

Gingeme - never heard of the latest - you are a bit like an almanac of childrens illnesses at the moment - easier than looking them up in Stoppard - just ask Gingeme - she will probably have been thru it in the last 4 weeks.

Susie - we put cerys in her cot most of the time now as she wakes earlier otherwise, even in the day unless of course we are out and about. I carry the monitor with me tho'. When I remember.

Nicky and madmouse - I reckon you will find the good sleeping will help on the jabs front - when the sleeps are well established I reckon little ones are less likely to be bothered by them. Don't forget the calpol - my pharmacist said 1 dose and hour after the jabs and then another at bedtime and it worked a treat for cerys - don't think she really noticed them at all.

Katy - poor you on the sleep front - sounds as tho' you were incredibly efficient in the time given.

Not sure what to do today - too wet for ambitious plans. Feel like hibernating in with dvd and buttered toast.

hi all

charlie slept through the night again til 7.30 hoorah - i am now calling it her routine as she has done fit for nealry 2 weeks.

During the day if we are in the house charlie sleeps in her cot or if we are out and about her car seat or her pram. A friend of mine who has 3 children said if you can get them used to sleeping in pram during the day makes life easy if you need to go out and about when they are sleeping.

Might have had a break through this morning charlie will norally only sleep for 45mins -1hour in the morning and really needs longer as gets tired before next feed, but today she has slept for 1 hr then woke up but i settled her and now she is back asleep - hoorah. That means beds are made me showered washing on bottles sterilised and on mumsnet at such an early hour.

Me and dh off to our ballroom dancing class tonight - good fun and drop in we only started a couple of weeks ago and then dinner after my sister babysitting.

Just to share dh forgot last night that i am no longer on pill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoops. Hopefully will be ok as bit early for another one methinks

ooh Nicky your brave ! What a lovely idea doing dancing with dh and then going for a meal, if only. Dp has two left feet and struggling for sitters for 3!

Susie Martha still in her moses basket but nearlt touching both ends so will prob go in cot in day with monitor on.

Barristermum it's a beautiful day here i would od the dvd thing , i guess i will be going to park this afternoon with dd.

Madm what a pin about cancelling his jabs!

Gingeme that's what ds had a couple of weeks ago it was really odd and i had never heard of it, he was much better once rash was out though!

Katy that's a tough one tbh i think i would still have them thoguh!

Lucky hope Aliyah doing well !

We ok here other than am still very of those whose lo's are sleeping through we seem to be getting worse!

Lilyloo IKWYM I feel a bit and despondent DS seems to be nowhere near sleeping through, last night he woke every 2 and a half hours. He took one big feed and 2 small ones, I can't seem to get enough food into him in the daytime for him to be able to get through the night.

Also he still naps in my lap or in pram / car seat if we out and about.

Right we are going on an excursion to the garden centre.

Afternoon ladies.
Lol Barristermum. Your forgetting my other two ds's and all the ailments theyve had . My gp does actualy call me 'wise Wendy' when it comes to my kids
I usualy put George to sleep in his bouncy chair but have been putting him in his cot the past few days because my other two ds's make such a racket they wake him up. Saying that he does have some days when he doesn't sleep at all in the day.
of all the sleepers through. George sleeps from 7.30-3.30 has a bottle and bum change then sleeps till 6am for another bottle but rarely goes back to sleep
Well Im off to swimming with my friend in half an hour. Havn't told the boys though as I wouldn't get much swimming done.
Oh 5th May or 15th for next meet up. Anyone?

Gingeme - i can't do either of those, but poss up in london with both ds 22nd/23rd (thurs/fri i think?)?

right, name change notification...was katyt1 but that was way too boring.

watch nemo ALL the time with ds1 and i end up saying this to myself on days like these when i haven't had enough sleep/rest/time off/etc.

just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

(has to be said in an overly cheerful voice too!)

charlie had jabs cried a few seconds and then played for an hour or so when we got back and then she has gone for her normal little nap at 5.30, not even used any calpol yet!! Maybe those meaty little legs dont feel pain.

How about battersea park for a meet up they have a childrens zoo there too.

be nice to put some names to faces - anyone heard from beller recently?? or fluffy??

Toby's got his 2nd set of jabs tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it. I know he needs them but I hate seeing him crying!

Hope he handles it as well as the first lot. Is it right that the 3rd lot of jabs are 3 injections?

wish i could do the meetup

Liking the new name Katy

How did the swim go Gingeme ?

Glad Charlie was ok Nicky makes you feel better if they get through it unscathed!

Betterhalf Martha had 3 for her 1st lot and 2 for her 2nd not sure about 3rd ? Hope it goes ok.

Ange sounds like our night last night I am now crossing my fingers she isn't going to be like ds, he was 3 before he slept through but dd1 was sleeping through by now! No reason for it but would love afull nights sleep at the mo! Didyou ge anything nice at garden centre ?

Well a bit of news here , dp a mortgage advisor and things really tough at the mo with the credit crunch and he has said today he may have to give up his buisness and get a job or get a part time on top of that job to keep things going. This has lot's of repurcussions if he gets a job that means more child care as he takes ds to school and picked him up when i was working and it won't be wrth paying a childminder on top of nursery fees for dd's.
If he get's a part time job we won't ever see him as he works every hour now! At the min we just feel like packing it all in and moving abroad!