June 2008: weaning with every flavour baby rice . . . . and loving it!

[spongebrainbigpants]

new home!

Hi everyone, haven't been around but have read all the posts. To whomever had the snotty baby, I find that standing in the bathroom with the shower on full heat so the room gets very misty helps. The hot water vapour soon gets the snot streaming down Jamie's face anyway!

Jamie grabbed and tried to eat my banana on sunday in front of my parents and dh so after some pressure I agreed to try weaning. We haave tried various purees for three days now and you would think I am giving the poor lad arsenic! Not one bit has passed his lips before being ejected. I have also tried a bit of fruit finger food and this too has not been anywhere near his throat. Then last night as he was sitting on my knee he grabbed and tried to eat the sky controller. Dh and I have agreed therefore that he isn't really ready and weaning is back on hold - phew!

HHb - I never sterilise anything after 4 monthsa or so. I just wash them really well and dishwash them when I can. I sterilised everthing for ds1 for months but baby 3 gets slummy mummy I'm afraid!

Not a good night here. Woke at 1.40 and didn't settle again until sometime after 3. Probably because he went to sleep at. 7.30 and got his sleep in then.

Not going into London today as I missed a delivery of new grobags yesterday and if I miss again today I will have to drive into the depths is West Sussex to collect. I also really ought to go and say hello to the HV as I don't know when I last saw her. I always seem to have plans for the first and third Weds of the month. Eczema not great either so could do with someone to take another look at it. Think that weaning will come up which could be annoying as she told me when he was 12 wks to wean at 17. Don't think I am brave enough to ask her what she thinks of BLW!

LOL at militant Poppy taking on Peston and at the complaint to Durex g43.

Sponge do you realize that your sleep thread got a reply from MN royalty? Morningpaper was mentioned when the Times did a piece on MN.

I too have a baby who won't nap anywhere else except on me. Why is this when he will go down in his cot at night (most of the time anyway)?

It's just typical that the one morning I actually get a bit of time to mn you lot are all off enjoying yourselves somewhere else. I could just burble along to myself of course, but how is that any different to what I do at home?

alipalli I wonder the reverse to you. WHy DS sleeps in his pram or cot during the day but needs to snuggle me at night!!

Hi everyone, have just read this morning's posts, but DS screaming and window cleaner distracting me.

Oh, saw HV at baby group today - weaning advice: good on me for trying to wait till 6 months, only introduce one food a week (?!?!?) and should be on meat proteins by 6 months

BDQ Thats some helpful advice!!!

dunno alipalli but have simialr issues here - some days worse than others (today being quite bad). also have low attention span -I'm desperately trying to leave baby einstein til post teatime but its tricky trying to occupy a baby all day.

sybil sympathy on weaning reaction - despite HV sensible advice shock yesterday I'm wondering now as she was defo grouchy for food at lunchtime (mind you she has been particularly minxy today so not sure what to read into that).

g43/neenz I'm impressed..

Sorry for sounding like a petulant cow last week. I hang my head in shame . I was so tired and it seemed everthing was going worng and I felt such a failure.
Anyhow, this week isn't much better at work. In fact I am just waiting for my brown envelope. Can't wait to get out of there to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it;s the bloody politics. It's got to the point where they want me to do this new job, but won't give me the computer access to do my job fully (aparently there are too many people with this access already). On top of that I keep getting called back to my old team and they are in the sh1t. Makes me wonder what they would do if I'd taken my full 52 weeks mat leave! I wouldn't be at the beck and call. I am so frustrated.
Anyhow, thanks for your sympathies. I really do appreciate it. My HV thinks I'm suffering from PND and maybe I am but I don't want to admit it. I hate not being in control of myself as I am quite an assertive person.
On a lighter note, we went to our local animal sanctuary on Saturday and reserved 2 kittens subject to a home check. I am pleased to say we passed the inspection today and can collect the bundles of fluff on Sunday morning. They are nearly 5 months old, so the same age as Luke
Now all we need is to think of some names. Can you guys come up with any suggestions?
My 2 previous cats were called Benson and Hedges (2 boys) but this time we have a brother and sister but are still after names that go together. I.e. something and something. DH said Lambert and Butler which I think is OK for 2 boys but not a boy and a girl. Any thoughts?
Anyhow, off to catch up with the last few pages again.
Will try and check in again later.
LLxx

Katyjo, was lovely to see you and Mia yesterday as well, sorry we couldn't have a chat - didn't want you to miss any of your lesson. That 30 minutes doesn't last long! I really enjoyed Waterbabies; B liked the bits where he didn't have to have his face in the water! Would love to see you for a proper chat soon if you fancy meeting.

Weaning still going well here, and I am sure has helped B's reflux - only time he's vommed recently was when he had a huge milk feed and I wasn't quick enough with the Gaviscon.

Was bad bad mummy today - nicked his finger when I was clipping his nails (he scratches himself a lot so I need to keep them short). Was a tiny nick, but it bled and bled. Felt v bad and worried when it wouldn't stop - I held his little hand above his head for a good 10 minutes!

Paro, no worries, I can send you baby rice if you need it.

Systemsaddict, I think I have the nightgowns from John Lewis that Essie mentioned - you should be able to find them quite easily online.

DP working late tonight, so going to write out my Christmas list and start online present buying in earnest!

Have fun shopping whinegums. Am just about finished [smug emoticon]. Glad the reflux seems better!

S seems to be really starting to need me to hold him before he'll have a daytime nap . I'm giving in at the mo because he's been poorly and it's really hard to have the patience to try and put him down when I know 2 minutes in my arms will do the trick.

Poppy I know what you mean re: occupying baby all day. I do my very best to try and get out at least once in the day to minimise the time I need to occupy S. I try and rotate groups of toys every few days. If he's not seen something for a few days he thinks it's new and gets really excited!

LL am glad you're feeling a bit better. If you do think you might have PND though, I'm sure in the long term it'll be much better if you admit it and hopefully get support in dealing with it. I know you know that and hope I'm not sounding patronising. Am sure others on the thread have had experience of PND so maybe they have thoughts on the subject.

bdq I guess the advice boils down to weaning on mince then....

maybe its a phase with the holding pre sleep bdq if few of us are having it. and brilliant idea re rotating toys - going to try that.

dh out tonight (my turn tomorrow) -just my luck that no I'm a celebrity on tonight..

Right got to beautify edie tomorrow as she is having her photo taken (thanks to clever nct friend who negotiated group rate with photographer). Need to try and summon some energy as feeling very lazy at minute - shoudl finish my knitting etc

Ali, yes Essie told me today that morningpaper was a journalist - hope her articles are more useful than her response!

It was lovely to see Essie, PP and the babies today - and to lunch with a celebrity who I'm sure Essie will tell you all about later . . . that and the knife she carries! I know London's rough nowadays but really . . . !

Hello all - been off a while with illness but I'm back and feeling a bit better now thankfully. Had two days of Luke in the emergency nursery and one of Mark working from home. Being ill has knocked me for six and I have been feeling even more miserable than usual which is saying something!

Clearly I have missed loads and loads and have tried to read everything but it's impossible!

LL - how about Malibu and Pineapple? Sausage and Mash? Posh and Becks (tee hee). Please put up a photo - I so miss my cats and would love to see a picture of your little kitcats .

Still not weaning here - am waiting until we get back from our long overdue mini break so I don't have to fart around with purees. Back 10 days before hos 6 month birthday so will just start then I suppose. I am dreading it.

My other news is that I have decided to go back to work full time in Feb. Not getting into any kind of discussion on the full time nursery vs SAHM thing (as per the thread on earlier pages) as I guess I already feel guilty but I am so unhappy as a SAHM that Luke will benefit IMO in the long run.

Hope all is well with everyone else - nice to be back and sorry to miss London Ladies.

Amber, sorry to hear you've been so poorly and that you are so unhappy at the moment. The whole working mum/SAHM debate is bollocks - you have to do what is right for you and your LO and ignore anyone else's opinion.

Will miss you at the London lunches though . In fact, after talking to Essie and PP today, I'm in serious danger of lunching on my own from the beginning of next year!!

Tc x

aww amber - sorry you've been poorly.

And sounds like you have made a good decision for you - FWIW re nursery/sahm - you do what is right for you - my horus of therapy have taught me nothing if not its not as simple how happy etc you are as does your mother. work

Well we can have virtual lunches instead and maybe the odd weekend lunch. Remember we will have A LOT of 1st birthday parties to attend in June!!

Thanks for the support re going back to work.

oh god - had fishcakes for dinner and now whole house smells like fish and I've got nct lot coming round for coffee tomorrow. hwo do I get rid of the smell?

poppy, candles! They work a treat everytime!

ohh.. spongethanks!

Hi all

amber sorry to hear you've been feeling poorly. It's so easy feel guilty about going back to work FT - I am going in Feb too and feel awful about it, but I can't afford to stay off longer, simple as that. So annoying when people ask 'so are you having the full 12 months mat leave then?' and then look all horrified when I say no

And talking of judgemental folk - had an annoying woman in the doctors today telling me that I must give A a sibling otherwise he will be lonely and spoiled. She has 4 DC - did I tell her to keep her legs crossed for once? - no!

poppy/bdq I've also been having a very needy time with A - the only place he'll sleep other than on my knee is in the pram or car, never in his cot. And we're still co-sleeping - the cot is only used when I'm in the shower .

A has horrible cough and he is miserable, not helped by his final injections yesterday

Amberc I went back full time after Duncan was born and he thrived at nursery. Luke will be fine, especially if you find it a good choice for you. Happy mums make happy babies.

I'm excited and stressed again tonight. We've put another offer on a house today. This house I really want (I was almost relieved when we didn't get the last place) and it would mean that we'd have a home for Christmas. I really really want this house, but we've offered a bit less than they want so I'm nervous... It's a lovely 3 bedroom bright bungalow in good nick (but horrible decor - it hasn't been updated since 1960!). Fingers crossed... I'll be gutted if we don't get this one.

(And sorry to keep posting about this. I know it's not relevant to this thread and I also know we're really lucky to be able to afford a house in the current financial climate).

allnew and Amberc I think your LOs will adjust better at nursery because they're younger. I'm going back in May and I'm a bit worried that Fraser will be old enough to have trouble adjusting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that being with his big brother will be enough to settle him!

Evening all!
Bit tired after our adventure to London today. That's me, sponge penguin and Tom Jones. Yes, the Tom Jones, who passed by me a couple of feet away. Alas, my photo is mainly of a pillar but with a short-ish, tubby man with an orangey hue looking the other way...darn it!! We really did see him. But didn't throw any knickers at him, although I could easily have whipped out the knife I keep in my changing bag to rip them off.
FYI, ScaredySponge, it's not illegal - the government advice is 'knives where the blades fold into the handle aren't illegal as long as the blade is shorter than 3 inches'. And mine isn't a flick knife. I freed 3 sheep on my way home, you know!

What else now...carpal tunnel has been a bit annoying today but Aberdeen (or was it Systems) la la la I'm not thinking about it staying permanently. It's quite painful, but I just avoid opening jars. Today I bought a bottle of water and had to go back into the shop to ask the shopkeeper to open it.

Iestyn was rather overtired tonight, but he's asleep now. To all others suffering with disturbed nights - Iestyn has never slept through or made any attempt to do so. But we'll be the smug ones when the sleeping-through-babies stop sleeping through due to teething (show me a baby who slept through whilst teething and I'll show you a mother with pants on fire) - we'll cope better with it!

5GoMad and Purees all the best with the travelling. We do London-Anglesey or vice versa regularly, and whilst the packing is stressful, it's normally fine. Hell, Neenz has been camping with twins! Although the top tip - which Sophie has already factored in I think - is try to coincide as much of the travelling as possible with sleep time. We now go late afternoon, as going in the morning causes problems (wakefulness) later on.