Feb 08 - Never mind my wrinkly tum, look what's come out of my baby's bum!

[Gill79]

done it

Ha ha. I thought maybe he was calling them for a take away before it twigged.

Lovely to see the new pics Egg. They're great.

Alkar - no ideas - sorry! Hope things improve.

Bovril - congrats on the progress! And GL with weaning hope it's fun!

Count - hope all improved, just what you don't want is to be getting up extra times, especially if you're feeing rough.

DS slept through last night with only one feed between 11 and 8 - hurrah! He was wide awake when we went to bed, and has started to take the p a bit, like he'll be fine, and then he sees me and he'll start crying. So I came up with genius plan of hiding under the covers and it worked - he thought I wasn't there anymore, crying stopped and within five minutes he was asleep. Does not say a lot about his intellect though!

Morning all x

Alkar is daniel still being sick, is it a full feed or just bits coming back? unless he's had something different in the last week or so i can't think what could be making him sick.

Egg your pictures are brill they are so alike and have the same eye's and cute nose. Any sign of a tooth from either of them yet? We have been up with james a lot for two nights now and he was really upst last night so tooth no 3 could be on its way. And Anbesol does work. Every time i get that out for Ds2 i can't help but smile and think of piles!!

Count are you all better now? i think this strange weather is giving everyone upset tummies, i know loads of people that have been sickly this week.

Bovril congrats on getting first tooth here's to many more!

Gill have you had another good night? LOL at hiding under the covers. is malcolm still in your room, its hard to ignore them when they wake up and are all smiles. Apparently you're not supposed to make eye contact or talk to them when they wake in the night, i've tried it and he put on his fake cough or laugh that he now has

Sarah have you sorted out your holidays at work yet, where are you off to?

Does anyone know if i can give tap water instead of boiled water to ds2 in his bottle yet, i think they have to be over 6 months but i'm not sure.

Hi to everyone else and have a lovely day x

Morning!! Well. sadly I am very excited as am sat watching Soccer Am on the first day of the new season.......yipeee!!!!! Not sure about the new presenter though. Secretly hoping for wet weather so I can set ds1 up with creative stuff whilst I sit and listed to soccer saturday and then footie will be on later!!! And Match of the Day in the morning!! Can;t beat it!!

Alkar - hope sickiness is subsiding. There are a lot of bugs at the moment so it could be a bug or do you defo think its an allergy?

Leesmum - not sure re tap water, I just always did the boiled water until I moved to proper milk!!

Ds2 has a cold, conjunctivitis and teething so not a happy boy!! Phoned docs for an appt yesterday and altho they gave me a time, I then had to sit there for over an hr with the boys waiting. Luckily there were really good but I needed the drops otherwise the weekend would have been a nightmare. Now got to disinfect everything and try and keep ds1 from getting it!! Before he went to bed last night I had to bathe ds2's eye in salt water then put the drop in, then I gave him an Ashtons & Parsons sachet and a dose of calpol!! Poor thing was getting it from all angles!!

Hope everyone's ok and those who were getting tipsay last night aren't paying too much this morning!!

Lovely pictures Egg, DS2's hair is great, my babies never have much hair at this age.

I gave DS4 some tap water the other day Leesmum but only a sip from a cup, didn't occur to me to give boiled water. Presume he's not going to drink much anyway?

Sorry about the sickness, we've had some kind of bug here so I think there's a few going around.

Has anyone else tried those baby food pouch things, Ellas kitchen? Bought the green one (pea, pear and broccoli I think) and it was absolutely foul (tasted it myself, and I like all those ingredients, on their own), poor DS4's face was a picture. DH put it in the bin before I could give it another go! DS4's not actually ingested any food yet, just paper, but he sucked a breadstick yesterday and some of that may have gone down. I don't keep track of how often I feed him but he's very quick and efficient so I'm not in a great rush to get him on solids. He's usually waking once in the night but as we're fully cosleeping at the moment it's not a problem. Still haven't solved the problem of how to fit the cot in our bedroom, might put him in with DS3 instead.

My not-so-little boy DS2 has gone off to SAfrica on a rugby trip, so I'm planning DS4's autumn wardrobe to take my mind off my former baby being on another continent! I hate the way that baby clothes for older babies are just the same as clothes for 10 year olds, sick of sludge coloured clothes for boys, prefer bright colours. And no "I'm a little horror" type slogans on T shirts either! Anyone one seen any nice older baby clothes out there?

Leesmum I gave DS tap water (not boiled) from 10 weeks on advice of HV.....

I guess there is always a risk of something nasty in the water but then you have that risk with everything they put in their mouths!

Leesmum I think advice is tap water ok from 6 months but I still use boiled water for making up formula (although do use it stone cold) but use tap water for their cups they have with meals. They never drink more than about an oz per meal anyway of water.

Slacker we use those pouches. Strangely that is one of the DTs faves, although it does stink (cooked broccoli mushed up on its own does though anyway). I was only horrified when DH told me he gave it to the babies for breakfast when I was away a few weeks ago . Mine are pretty keen on them all, try something like the strawberry and apple one with yoghurt it's yummy!

Sarah yes forgot to ask where you are going on hols after all the nightmare about work. Hope it is somewhere lovely. We are off to the outlaws for NEARLY A WEEK next weekend. Hoping BIL and his girlfriend will be there quite a bit too to make life easier (his gf keeps MIL talking in the kitchen so I can skulk off).

Alkar hope DS is getting better.

Bean hope you are ok. Not heard from you in a while imagine things are pretty tough at the mo.

Gill love the idea of hiding from Malcolm . I get soooo hot with my head under the covers though. Funnily enough the night nanny did say it is around 8 months I think that babies start to "notice" you are in the same room when they are in their cot even if they can't see you (she said we had got the sleep training done at a perfect time as DD was not realising nanny was there unless light was on, but a month or two later she would sense her being there and not settle so easily apparently).

Thanks for all lovely comments on my pics. Just said on other thread that DD reminds me of a furry potato . Bless her. Did I tell you I gave them Organix baby biscuits (sweetened with grape juice - they taste foul), and DD has never ever looked so happy in her life (apart from when she met Malc of course...). She held on to it for dear life with both hands and ate it like a squirrel. DS2 also was v keen but he gagged on his and I had to rush him into the kitchen to slap him on the back.

Count hope DS2's conjunctivitis does not pass round the family. DS1 has had it a few times and we usually manage to avoid getting it (and I am crap at washing my hands every 3 mins). DH is also excited about start of the Premiership today. He is not really a big footie fan as such (is a Rugby man) but he is part of a Fantasy League and they take it soooo seriously. He spends hours working out his team each week.

Slacker wow your DS2 is so grown up! A rugby tour! Does this mean he is a pretty good player? DH and I have decided for DS1 (yes he is only 2) that he will play cricket for England. Not keen on attitude that goes with footie, rugby too rough for my little boy (ok I do want him to play it though, they even play at NURSERY!) so cricket is the way forward. He has already begged to go out to the cricket nets next to our house for a quick game with DH.

Sorry, I am posting waaaaaay too long these days.

BTW Ginger I too thought your DH was calling for some paninis or something and wondered why you were telling us!

hurrah tap water. thank you gill what a relief. very cunning hiding under the covers, i'm going to try that one. i always end up walking out the room like the pink panther on special assignment-including arms out at 90 degrees-like it helps
leesmum, i too think of piles every time i see the ambesol in the chemists.
love the new pics egg, they are so grown up now. your dd is looking v pretty and the boys are lovely-big envy on the hair front. dd is still v short on the head after almost 2 years.
alkar i do feel like the queen of milk intolerance so if you want to try me on any questions i'll give it a shot. i do know that these things show up more when their immune systems are under strain, for instance when they have a cold or teething. ds is much worse with his reflux with teeth coming through.
gingermumi i did think it was strange that your computer problems were being solved by the delicatessan.
count poor you with the vomitting, glad ds was only poorly with biscuit over load.
dd has learnt how to take her nappy off if only she could learn how to go to the loo first. we had a great morning with everyone behaving here. dd and me even went and bought croissant on the bicyle like something out of a boden catalogue. disaster has now struck-the part time nanny has given notice as of now she gave me some rubbish about her uni course requiring her to do a 9-5 job starting on monday that she has only just found out about today. apparently it's temp and might be for 1 week or 2 months-what?! she reckons her mum or sister can cover for her in meantime. i'm about to ring her back and tell her she can shove it where the sun don't shine. thankfully my dad can help with bath time this week and am away at in laws next week. after which i am shafted. especially as i'm not speaking to my mum. even worse, if i ring her now she's going to think i only want to make peace to get babysitting. nightmare. really looking forward to my weekend away with dh next weekend

slacker i agree re clothes for boys-all sludge with slogans and more pockets than an sas man would find power tools for. so far have seen some in boden and some in petit bateau and a bit in gap but the prices are not pretty. what's h and m like?

Slacker DS1 has a couple of nice striped rugby style shirts from M&S (two tone green or two tone blue) that are great and bright. Also if you buy the multi pack tops in Next you often just get plain bright colours or plain bright stripes with no slogans.

Also like Gap polo shirts which come in bright stripes or bright plain colours.

Must be honest, DS1's fave top of all time (at the mo) is his new Mr Men t-shirt from Next. It is bright green with Mr Men on the front. He and DS2 both have one so they look v cute wearing them together. Reminds me of things our generation wore!

My lo also loves Ellas kitchen - some strange combinations though!! He's never tried brocolli yet!!

Count - I'm not a fan of football but am gorging myself on the olympics at the moment. Hurrah for maternity leave. My boss e-mailed me this week to ask if I knew when I was coming back to work. Told him I thought I'd be back properly in January - think that's later than he will have thought and so far I have had no response.

Princess - I didn't realise you were back at work already. Lucky your dad can help out until you find alternative childcare but a bit of a nightmare your old one not giving you much notice!

Lovely pics Egg - they're getting so big.

Sarah - how did you get on at your slimming club this week? We made chocolate cake yesterday which is not a good move because I've eaten far too much. In my defence ds1 starts school on Tuesday and ds2 goes back to preschool so I won't have as much time to do baking and stuff with them after that.

Have a good weekend everyone.

rozzy not back at work yet. was going to be but the nanny wouldn't look after both kids and i didn't feel ready so re-scheduled for january. it may sound pathetic but i can't get them both to bed on my own without hideous struggle yet so i need extra pair of hands for the last 30 minutes of the day. ds has to be rocked to sleep before putting down and can't do that whilst entertaining dd as she makes too much noise and gets v loud trying to get attention when she is overtired.

Princess - Doesn't sound like your nanny was much good anyway if she wouldn't look after both kids - maybe a blessing in disguise to give you more time to look for a better one before you go back to work. Doesn't sound pathetic at all needing an extra pair of hands at night - I know Ferdie is still affected by his stay in hospital - hopefully as he recovers and goes to bed easier it'll get easier for you. Can you push his bedtime back a bit so your dd is in bed before you have to rock him to sleep? Probably not that easy in practice but might make bedtime a little less stressful when you're on your own.

DS has calmed down a bit with the vomiting. I think he might be teething again princess, does that mean he could be more likely to react to milk then. DH, FIL, SIL all have a milk allergy (whey products) so its likely that DS has it too. All I have given him is the packets of baby cereals and some yoghurt. Have stopped millk altogether now, he has stopped being sick as much but he's still sick on a daily basis. Have been referred to a paed now so we'll wait and see.

Tyaca I have been using hair slides for ages, they work really well

Sorry to hear about your work problems Sarah, it doesn't seem fair being refused leave when you haven't been there that long.

Love the photos egg, your 2 boys look so alike

lol at the thougth of you hiding Gill

Poor DS2 count, hope he gets better soon

My DS also loves the ellas kitchen food slacker, his favourite is the purple one, sounds awful but he loves it

Hi,

Just popping in, am back now after being away all week. Funeral was yesterday, v grim. My niece did really well as did my brother, was v proud of them both. The congregation was invited to have a moment's silence and reflect on their memories of the departed and ds2 did a massive burp . My dn realised it was him though and thought it was funny, so at least there was that!

Good to be at home though, have hardly seen dh all week and ds1 got very upset last night when he woke up and I wasn't here.

Am going to bed now but will catch up on all your news tomorrow and post properly!!

Ahhh Bean, it sounds so sad. Glad DS2 lightened the mood a bit for your niece. Have your brother's twins been born yet? Does he need anything for them clothing wise?

Alkar glad DS seems a bit better. Sounds likely re: the milk allergy if so many in family have it.

Slacker - totally agree with you on the problems re boy's clothes. I despise the "I'm a right little sh*t, me" lines and sludge and vehicles seem to cover the rest of it. Ds1 wears a lot of stripes!!

Gill - hiding is a genius plan indeed! Was intrigued by Egg's nanny's comment about them noticing you at 8 months. Will have to take that into account!

PL - hope the childcare comes together soon. Nightmare.

alkar - when will ds see the paed?

Tyaca - am seriously tempted to try the hair grips although I do spend quite a lot of time telling ds2 not to pick his nose.

Egg - twins are due on 28th Aug by section as they are breech. Will ask db how they are doing for clothes though! Love your new pics. Ds1 and 2 look so similar!!

Ds1 is playing "lympics" with his train track. Methinks we may be watching too much. At least he has stopped doing his "Mummy, I am the primeminister Gordon Brown" thing.

Am going to try and add some pics to my profile.

Hi Beany i was wondering how you and yours were getting on? Your niece and brother did very well considering and you can always depend on the youngest member of the family to lighten the mood! At my dad's funeral ds1 didn't come to the service but i picked him up and took him to the wake for the last hour, he was walking round trying to figure out what was going on and suddenly he shouted " who's trumped? that really smells eh mummy!" i was mortified and then everyone started laughing and the sombre mood changed a little, and as for the trump, well no it wasn't me!

Hair grips are a brill idea for getting snot out! I personally have a "crow finger" this being my little finger which i have got it down to a fine art of sticking it up and giving it a twist and voila! He always asks if i can see his brain afterwards

Beany will you be watching the football today.............COME ON YOU REDS!!!!

OK, I'll give the baby food pouches another go then if they're not all revolting, DS4 attempted a bit of bread and some cucumber yesterday so I'm sure he'll get the idea eventually! We had lunch out yesterday, just me and DH and the baby, to celebrate our anniversary, then a half bottle of champagne and a DVD later on - that counts as a good night for me these days

I got DS4 a few things in baby Gap, they've got some lovely organic cotton rainbow striped things, so I got the bodysuit and socks from that range, plus some nice soft lined jeans and a cream fleece lined knitted cardigan - I just hate scaled down versions of big kids clothes, especially with loads of pockets and scratchy fabrics. Then DD and I were diverted by Monsoon's sale, so that was the end of shopping for boys clothes! Petit Bateau is a good idea, that definitely means a trip to Bicester Village soon, does anyone fancy a meetup there? There's a lovely play area...train from Marylebone for you Londoners.

Egg, DS2 is pretty good at rugby, mostly due to being twice as big as everyone else - I got him new boots for his tour - size 10!!! For a not quite 12 year old! He plays for school and club, so in season he plays or trains at least 5 days a week. It's the only sport that my boys aren't in the D team for!

Bean, glad the funeral went ok, and hope future living arrangements for your dn are working out too. LOL at your ds aspiring to be Gordon Brown, wouldn't be allowed in my house

PL, wtf kind of nanny won't look after 2 kids?? You'll look back and be glad she's gone, once you've got something else in place. Nightmare though.

I'm back to my pre preg weight btw! Unfortunately that's a good 1.5 stone above what I should weigh - will have to start putting some effort in.

Hello all-

i have been feeling sorry for myself so havn't posted much as dont want to always moan-

I am feeling much better in myself- now

Went out fri nite and was very poorly -didn't drink much but had nothing to eat since luch- (we were supposed to be going for a balti but it never happened!!!!oh dear)

Egg- my DD love those organix biscuits too- she has finger sfood down to a fine art- never misses her mouth(i remember ds used topoke himself in the eye before he found his

We are off to Perranporth- Cornwall for our hold on 8th sept and cannot wait- Work are still being funny but have said i will have to take unauthorised absence and will have a disciplinary hearing when i get back(the others have said its nothing to worry about its fairly common because of the way the hoidays are) I am not worried TBH they could sack em and really wouldn't care right now- i love my job but hate the greif and hassle!!!

GLad funeral went ok beany- Hope you DB and DN are coping ok-

Slimming world was great i lost 3lb, have bought a receipe book and made soup today they have some lovely menu ideas so will give it a whirl i think- am hoping to be slima nd able to cook!!!!!!hahahaha DH just laughed!!!!#

We loaded our car up last night for me to go do a carboot sale got up at 5am to go and called the checkline to make sure it was on and -yep it was bloody cancelled- we had a fair amount of rain in the early hours so it was rained off- weather has been lovely all day though, such a shame, DS now has a room full of junk again till next week!!!!!
Hope everyone is well-

Nice to have you back Bean - how is your niece?

Does DS2 really pick his nose? Wow

Well I've just looked out a load of bigger clothes for Malc and yesterday he was wearing a top that says Authentic Industry Quality Vintage Brand Watch Out!Here Comes Trouble The Original Funky Little Dude Little Geezer 74. He looks GREAT in it (with navy blue cords) and I love it .

Have had quite a good weekend - hosted a dinner party last night with three courses and home-made rhubarb crumble [proud] and didn't get too embarrasingly drunk, and then went out for lunch today with some long lost uni friends. Apart from that have been as lazy as possible (may be just about to finish a book for the first time since pregnancy and actually lay on the sun lounger both days!!!) as am fighting off something horrible, have been feeling quite floaty and feverish since yesterday afternoon - please all keep your fingers crossed that Malc doesn't catch it!!! On Friday we're heading off for a week with my parents to an island off the west coast of scotland so a poorly little boy in the car would be no fun. I think I will be sending him off to go to the beach with granny and grandad while I sit and do nothing a lot; at the moment I'm feeling like I really need a holiday from being mummy.

Princess - where are you and DH off to?

We're loving the olympics here too - is a great excuse to watch tv from the moment we get up!

Love your excuse for making chocolate cake Rozzy. I am NOT weighing in tomorrow, that's for sure.

BTW I heard from Tyaca a few days ago and she is having computer problems in case you were wondering where she was.

Well done Sarah! I've made that mistake with no food a few times before...

DS manages to get finger foods into his mouth however he doesn't understand about eating them! And when the bits crumble in his mouth he pulls the funniest face and gags cause he just doesn't like bits in his mouth.

SLACKER - Dare I suggest Primark for kids tops? I got DT1 an orange stipey polo top and cotton jumpers for both, green & cream and blue & cream stipes. Primark have a fab set of baby grows that are in acid colours. Spots, stripes and animals.
Also Asda had some good boys stuff. A lot of their stuff is Disney [puking emoticon] but the bits that are not are nice. They also have Mr Men t-shirts.
My two had avocado mixed with philly cheese today. They loved it. Also rich tea fingers spread with philly but Thomas turned it upside down and licked the cheese off and threw the biscuit away. Bless.

i'm liking the idea of bicester village slacker-have to work out who i could leave/palm dd on if i did come. impressed with your ds's rugby life. i only made it into the d team once in my whole career at school-i think it must be great for confidence to be good at sport. well done on the weight front. i'm slowly getting there, not helped by my new passion for walnut whips.
bean i love the idea of your ds doing gordon brown. i'm always getting hope to say 'labour' and 'gordon brown' in enthusiastic sounding voice to wind dh up. she also says 'bye george' when dh's boss rings up -try to make her say it as loud as poss to give him the hint when it's at the weekend.
have managed to persuade my friend's little sister to come and help us for a month whilst we try and get a new nanny. she's going to be living with us. i hope i don't regret it. she's been slightly wild in the past and never lived in london before and has just finished school. she is one of 5 kids though and really good with kids and unspoilt, friendly and helpful. am i mad. we're going to pay her £110 per week for a month to do 3 half days plus thursday bathtime and one night babysitting a week. does this sound fair?
am really going to need the help as am still not speaking to my mum. i tried to broker peace this morning and it didn't work. dh says at least i made the effort to try and sort it out. and i can now tell my brother and dad that i've done what they said and rung.
we had a fab day despite the phone call as one of our mates came round to cook for us and some other friends. so easy to be chilled out when someone else does the work. slight embarrassment when discovered after they all left that hope had put an entire loo roll down the downstairs loo piece by piece as she'd been potty training her dolly. not only blocked the loo but left princess loo seat on and scarey doll and doll's scarey knickers on floor-totally put off dh's friend who is a city boy and has no child experience. he then went to the upstairs loo instead, in which dh had left one of hope's dirty reusable nappies in as he couldn't find nappy bucket and everyone was arriving.. we sound like the most squalid parents reading that.
rozzy and slacker thank you for comments re crapola nanny, really cheared me up . will be road testing rozzy's plan on putting dd down first and then ferdie tomorrow night.

alkar-milk intolerance could go on for a while after stopped milk. not sure how long. teething would defo make it worse. i think there are 2 types of milk intol in kids too. mine have eosinophillic intolerance which wears off around 2 years old, sounds like if yours had it it would be the other type because the reaction is more instantaneous.
gill, we're off to the ile de re on the west coast of france. i cannot cannot wait [have i been watching too much charlie and lola . good luck in scotland. we took dd last summer when she was 8 months. the only bummer was that it was hard for her to crawl in the wet sand. plastic backed picnic rug was helpful as was all in one waterproof outfit. she loved the beach though, so beautiful.