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

[lilyloo]

Will that do

Just lovely blueball
How about for a title 'night night sleep tight, yeah right!'.

gingeme - can't make meet up after all sorry

henry has slept 7-6.30 the last 2 nights, hooray

think we have cracked it!

missed so much as usual - hi all

oh and someone (forgotten who ) said they might be coming down to southend last weekend and i forgot to reply, sorry
we had lots of family so couldn't have joined you anyway.

bedtime for me, back tomorrow x

So of all with sleepy through babys.
Is anyone coming to the meet up?
Thanks for letting me know justkeepswimming
Im off to bed now too. Lets hope tonight is a little less eventful.
Night all xx

spoke too soon
3.30 feed
5.30 awake
ds1 up at 6...

only 8 and i'm knackered!
and ds1 is moany and whingy, not enough sleep for him either!

Hi all

Katy try to grab a nap!

Nothing much happening here, still waiting for Nathan's passport to arrive but hopefully we will travel on Friday.

Was on the bus with him yesterday and he smiled at the man next to me who point blank ignored him . Nathan tried harder and harder and smiled wider and wider but got no response. Poor thing looked crestfallen and started to whimper. I had to quickly attract his attention and get him to smile at me instead. How hard is it to smile at a gorgeous little baby who is beaming at you . Amazed at the amount of social interaction though

Gosh, I'm off for a mere 1.5 days and there's reams and reams to catch up on...so sorry in advance if I miss something...

Gingeme - the no-children-at-wedding policy sounds awful...one of my best friends did the same thing - she got married in manchester and expected all her friends to come for the whole thing (3pm wedding followed by reception and dinner and dancing until about 1am on a sunday night), even the ones who (like me!) had 3 month old exclusively breast fed babies. When I explained why I couldn't do that she got incredibly stroppy. In the end dh and I drove up to manchester just for the day, then I left him to look after ds whilst I went to the actual ceremony and reception and then we drove back to London. Would you believe that my (now ex best friend) was simply narky at me for not staying for the whole thing rather than appreciating how much effort we'd put in to be there at all?? Anyway, I do hope your dh goes for a bit, it would be terribly sad if he missed the whole thing even given the situation....

Sorry, I won't be able to do the meet up - Friday's are a bit difficult for me as I have to do all the pre-sabbath stuff, and I'm also off to the gynae to get her to examine me again...I never did get my messed up stitches fixed at the time and things are definitely not right 'down there'...we haven't managed it often, but I've been bleeding and very sore after nookie, which is far from ideal

Awen - welcome back!! I can't imaging that anyone on the January thread would have been rude to you on purpose...we all love you!!! Glad all going well with Samuel...will you please stick around now?!

Amani ((hugs))...sorry to hear the lo is still not 100%...it will all get better...

Ange - you really need to congratulate yourself on doing so well so far rather than beating yourself up about stopping bfing. I know how it feels - I was racked with guilt when I stopped at 18 weeks with ds, and I think most of that was because I felt so relieved that I actually felt even more guitly!! Anyway, you just need to do whatever is right for you - and remember what an amazing achievement it is to have solely supplied all the nourishment until that time for a 4 month old baby!!!

Madmouse Nathan sounds like he's doing brilliantly...some people really don't get it, do they?

Susie, sorry the family have been so pants...we'll all give you lots of support on here and tell you how brilliantly you're doing!!! Glad your ILs are supportive, tho...!

Bluebell - well done, and stick at it

Naetha - I'm totally at Ben's eating...Tamara will be 17 weeks next week and I'm going to start with the baby rice...can't wait

Katie ...stick at it - you've managed a couple of good nights, so you know he can do it...just stay focussed

OK, I've got a full hour to get things done...Ari is in nursery and Tamara is sleeping, so I'd better move my backside and get on with the cooking and washing

Hugs to everyone, sorry if I've forgotten anyone (of course I have!!!), xxxx

arrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- DD1 driving me up the wall today - not settling for her afternoon nap and has learnt the art of SCREAMING and is doing that every 5 seconds and won't let DD2 settle for her afternoon nap.....BUT am smiling (and eating my way through a bag of 5 Morrisons cookies)....
ooohhh and now she had tipped the entire contents of her STARS cereal on the kitchen floor.....

madmouse - hate miserable gits like that...

Just discovered a Hansel and Gretal trail of breadcrumbs leading upstrais now... I give up, will tidy it all up at the end of the day (she say's while sitting on her hands itching to get the Dyson out...)

Amani sounds like a normal day in the gingeme household
We said exactly the same thing as you madmouse when we went out for a meal last Sunday and ds5 was gurgling away and smiling big smiles in his buggy. A family at the next table, Older Mum,Dad and grown up daughter, all giving us snooty looks and tutting. FFS he was happy. Different if he was being miserable and crying
Tried George with some savoury at lunch time today. He lapped it up so to speak. Tried him with a drop of apple juice too he loved it . So glad hes enjoying the different tastes were giving him.
fillybuster hope you get your 'down below' sorted soon. Don't worry about the meet up I don't think anyone else is coming anyway.
Got both the boys suits now for the wedding. Don't know what to do with them realy. Can't send them back there from Ebay.
Ah well better go lo crying for his feed.
Take care all x

ginge - sell them on ebay.

Yah Ginge sounds good to me if no one has any objections will start new thread soon as we nearly up here!
January 08 shiny new - year babys, night night sleep tight yeah right!
No sure about punctuation though
Well Martha had last lot of injectionsand was really put out about it!
I am hoping to get some packing done tonight whilst dp watches footy. Not sure how i am going to pack for 5 in two suitcases for two weeks, any tips ?

no ginge not pregnant dh a bit careless so am waiting for period to arrive in a couple of weeks i hope the other thing was refernce to charlie being accepted by a baby modelling agency housemum inspired me.

Bluebell (i think) we are going to start trying dor dc2 in july too maybe end up on same thread again!!

Gingeme have swollen glands back and slightly fluey feeling so am not sure about friday- might feel better by friday or maybe we could rearrange although i know what a pain that is

DP is becoming a star in this house!! I'm not feeling particularly well today and whereas normally DP would have just come in and gone to bed. Today he came in from work at 6:30 and had DD until 11am so I could get some more sleep. Then he looked after her when I came down, went shopping for me with her (even though it's my job) and has only just got tne to bed at 5 EVEN though he wants to watch the football tonight at 8. I am soo glad I spoke to him instead of just leaving.

So we had a discussion about DC2 today and i have another 6 months of pills so in November we're going to start TTCing! - If things continue as they are.

That's fab Lucky i am so glad you got through your 'blip' and he is stepping up to the mark!
Am and slightly at all this ttc too! I have 3 years between each of mine

Evening ladies.
Sounds like a break through then LuckySalem.
Ds3 has his first assembly tommorrow morning in 'the big hall'. Theyre all singing Wheels On The Bus and hes going to be the bus driver that says 'too much noise' Can't wait. Got my camera ready with extra batteries.
Ok maybe well leave the meet up if no ones realy that bothered. Dh has two weeks annual leave in June maybe we can do something then.
Lo's been a real grizzley today. He had a bit of a temp this afternoon. Gave him some Calpol in my new magic medicine giver and it settled him a bit and took the temp down. Think its more teeth as his hands are constantly in his mouth. Hes woken up for an extra feed the past couple of nights too. Reckon it must be a growth spurt. Well I hope he gets over it soon.
Well off for a shower. Had my hair cut today and Im still covered in hair.

Can I ask an obvious question... I have started to wean Ruby onto the bottle.. now i am doing it slowly but hopefully by next week she will be fully ff.. if she wakes up in the night for a feed, should I prepare a bottle before I go to bed.. without the actual powder just strle bottle and sterle water..? Also as soon as she wakes she wants to be fed, do you ladies who ff prepare the bottle the night before and then add the powder in the morning for the morning feed or do you get up uber early and preparen it all before your lo wakes..?

Have just started weaning this week, although I love bf I just feel it is time to stop no particular reason just concerned that with introducing solids in 8 weeks time forcing the bottle on her too could have created a lot of tantrums.. funny though I have to sing 'little Ruby nyou are special like a star..' they are the only words to taht song but she will not take the bottle unless I sing it, will make amusing watching when we are out in public!

Gingme, hope your little one feels better and Nicky how exciting is ttc again, feel more confident than when we were trying to conceive Rubes because I knowwe can do it!!! Lucky glad you dhis being good, mine was an arse tonight but only because the football is on...still... he moaned that his steak was cooked properly so I put it in the bin he's just had a plate of dry veg!

also ladies I wanted to ask for some more advice on what you would do in this situation...

I am a crap traveller, always backed out on girly holidays, never really been happy being abroad etc... my best friend is getting married in August, her hen night is for 3 nights in Edinburgh, we are flying there, I booked tickets and told her that I would 'see' how I feel, but she has just brushed over it and now I feel like I'm going to cause carnage by telling her I'm not going.. there are 12 girls going and I can't leave Ruby, I can't be that far away from her, none of my friends have children so I know theyw ill just think I am being stupid... I went to a wedding two weeks ago an dleft Ruby with my mom over night, that was bad enough, cried all the way down the motorway and everytime I had to go an express milk in the hotel room I would just sit there and cry for her... I know slightly melodramatic but just want to give you an idea of how much I miss her! ....how would you go about it???

Bluebell, glad to hear you are doing so well.

And LUcky, glad to hear dp is doing his bit finally

Bluebell, I am making the opposite decision form you. I have heard that baby's digestive system copes better with solids when still breastfed, so I am hoping to breastfeed until Nathan eats a good range of solid foods.

Love the title for the new thread

Fingers crossed Nicky for period. No risk here. Still haven't managed to do the deed. One failed attempt and a very tired dh

Bluebell Ill tell you how I do Georges bottles.
Usualy in the morning,
1 fill the kettle and boil it.
2 Wash the bottles and put them in the steriliser. I have an Avent steam one so I put a cap from one of the bottles worth of water and put it on along with dummies and medicine thingy.
Leave it all for about 20 mins then wash my hands fill the bottles with the water and leave on the side.Empty the water out the steriliser and dry it with some kitchen towel leaving the lid slightly off.
Then I put milk in the boiled,cooled water when needed. Usual serve at room temp unless its particularly cold or Georges last bottle of the day the I warm it for 18 seconds in the microwave.
Probably broke tons of rules but hey it works for me
Hope that helps

I do Ben's bottles similar to you Gingeme, although I wash them in the dishwasher (we need a [lazy] emoticon!) and microwave sterilise them. I'll re-sterilise every 6 hours, and the steriliser goes in the dishwasher once every couple of days.

For his first bottle of the morning he rarely wants milk straight after waking (woke this morning at 6:30, and doesn't seem hungry so far) so I boil the kettle for our cups of tea, and by the time he's ready for it, it's cooled to the right temperature. I'll use that water to make two more bottles as well, then when it comes to the evening bottle, I make DH a cup of tea when he gets home at 6, so I use the water from that for his evening milk. Ben always has it at room temp, unless it's recently boiled (so usually first and last of the day are warm).

And I regularly use a microwave, although not as much as I used to now I use formula, but when I was giving him EBM I'd have to microwave it straight from the fridge.

I'm doing as per Gingeme. DS loves his bottle and really guzzles them down. Since we started the weaning he has been uncannily regular at night with waking, going from 8 - 2 - 5 and 6.30 before we get up properly at about 8am. I am still BF in the night though so much easier than faffing with a bottle!

I was hoping once he's having 5 bottles a day there will be no need for night feeds, if he wakes he would just need resettling... but of course he may not play along with that - we'll just have to see. It's encouraging that he has dropped one night feed already though.

As for leaving your DD I'm not sure, I think it is probably good to get used to leaving them occasioanlly... but I haven't been apart from DS for more than 4 hours yet so don't know how I would feel!!

A lot of the other mums at the groups I go have family on the doorstep and they regularly go out once a week , with hubby say, and their mums babysit, even overnight sometimes! I do feel a mite envious of that!

Morning ladies.
Thats it realy

Morning all

Bluebell, I'm still bfing but when I switch to ff I'll boil the kettle every night and leave it to cool overnight. In the morning I pour the boiled water into a very large jug (with lid) which sits out in the kitchen all day at room temp. Then I just pour the right amount into a clean/sterile bottle and add formula for each feed. Seems easier than filling a row of bottles and takes up less kitchen space!!! Also means that it takes about 10 secs to prepare each feed, assuming the bottle is already clean and sterile...we normally put the microwave or steam steriliser on last thing at night (same time as kettle) so that there's always a clean bottle for the morning.

As far as going to Edinburgh, it would be different this time as you wont be bf-ing by then, so no need to express and hormones should be much more under control. Its probably not a bad thing to get used to occasionally being away from the lo...on the other hand, if you really can't face it then you shouldn't force yourself to go. I guess it partly depends on how good a friend this is and how much it will affect your friendship if you pull out?

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine xxx

Lucky - glad your DH being so helpful
Awen - come back, we think you're great!
Susie - big hugs
Amani - hope no hansel and gretel trails today!
Gingeme - good morning Ho wid dthe 'wheels on the bus' go?
Madmouse - still no passport?
Lilyloo - 3 yrs between each sounds good to me. DH quite keen to TTC soon, but I'd like to have my body back to myself first - still feel like its not really 'mine' as fully BFing.

Builders still here, bathroom coming along nicely, although the old trouble with the boiler has reared its head again and have no hot water for the past two days. Not fun to flannel wash at the sink in the tiny downstairs cloakroom using water from the kettle.

Madmouse - interesting about that info on BFing and weaning....so how long are you thinking of BFing for then?

Had interesting email from my boss. We'd had a conversation about when I'm returning to work and I said I wanted to ease into it, and maybe start with 3 days for a couple of months. He then forwarded me an email that he had sent to HR asking about whether I could use my accrued annual leave to do this rather than making a request for flexible working - this was news to me, as we hadn't discussed that about my leave at all!! He also said he'd received my application for the new post in our team, but hasn't 'shortlisted' yet - why the inverted commas, I don't know.

oops - x post filly