Jan '07 part 30: where some of us are postnatal, some are antenatal and the rest are plain ANTInatal!

[2Happy]

Wilkie - congrats on the blue

Shimmer - glad you're enjoying it, sounds totally exhausting

Raisin/eandh - ditto on sleep deprivation. Am shattered. And have so much less patience when shattered

Who was asking about milk? I don't intend to swap mine over to semi skimmed any time soon TBH. I admit I am totally anal about what they eat and drink, but as far as milk is concerned, I feel they are 2 healthy and very active kids in no danger of obesity. I think at this age they need calories, especially since I'm so anal about what they eat otherwise !

We had a burst water main here, which was a PITA as these things are. The whole mains pipe is rusted to hell. But the complete donkey who had the house before us built an extension over the water main, so if we decided to replace the whole pipe to prevent more bursts (or if we don't replace it and wait until it does burst again) we would have to dig up the floor and remove half of the kitchen to reach it . This is the same twat as did DIY plumbing and electrics which left us with an enormous leak in an unearthed house

Vino it really is a phase that will pass, just ask eah I remember our conversations about my a and her e doing this to l and h. It will pass I promise x

Vino totally forgot it was the half marathon yesterday. Usually go and watch it as it goes quite close to our house. Maybe we should both do it next year . Glad the garden is nearing completion.

PCF gorgeous photos . They are just so snuggling newborns .

Lal party for 40 . Mad! Was it chaos?

Eah did you have a productive day yesterday? I've got my mum on hand to do hanging baskets for me. For years I've always meant to do them but failed, but mentioned it to mum last week and she said she'd do me some. Hurrah!

Shimmer good to hear from you. Typically I didn't get round to getting a paper on Saturday, but great to see a piccy of it.

Thanks all for your lovely comforting messages. My left boob has just about stopped hurting from going cold turkey. My right hasn't changed much so assume miulk supply therre was diminishing anyway. I've stopped crying about it now .

Wilkie / Vino am up for visiting any time now if you fancy a trip out. DH goes back to work on Friday, so next week would be best. Not sure what day I'll be going to the clinic - poss Wed?

Vino - huge symapthies on the E&S situation like Laughalot said both Aidan and Ellie did this, we tried everything to stop it and now that Hattie gives as good as she gets I tend to leave them to get on with it actually out of the 2 of them Hattie can be more spiteful she pulls Ellies hair and will pinch her glad garden done at leats the bits left mean you can do it in your own time

PCF - handy friend to have they really are lovely

Rgee - you sound happy and glad all going well the main thing is that you and Ben are happy and contented had a very productive day randomnly decided at 8.30 I wanted to paint the kitchen (got paint the otehr week) so sanded down the woodwork and glossed them then emulsioned the walls(had both E&H at home as DH had gone out to do more triathlon training but they were good and didnt touch the paint) and cleaned all of the cupboards out, I'm really pleased with it just need to get a new funky clock and new light fitting (I snapped part of the exisiting one when I cleaned it yesterday).

Then went to Morrisons and finally did all my hanging baskets in the afternoon, I ran out of plants so need to get some more to do the pots and the girls playhouse windowbox and pots. Mum and Dad came back from France mid afternoon so they stopped at ours anbd had a BBQ with us so turned out to be a busy but lovely day

Have now got the decorating bug again after dining room and kitchen and am desperate to do the playroom but it has one huge high wall so need to borrow DH Uncles ladders that have a platform (and find a cool day to paint as it gets hot in there) and finally only painted the lounge/stairs last year but want to wallpaper one of the walls in there and finally get round to taking the mainate up and ordering the carpet!!

taking the laminate up even!!

Dammit lost track again

Haven't managed to get past the first page of the Guardian magazine yet - will immediately hunt it out and look at the shop!

Reg - nothing is worth being in perpetual agony and dreading every single feed. You've given him the best start in life, what he needs is a mum who'll love him every second of the day, not a mum who is in agony and hating every feed. Don't feel bad - don't forget your hormones crash when you stop feeding, the crying is them, not because you're a "lightweight", you aren't.

Wilkie - hope the mat leave going well

eandh - whew what a day!!

PCF - fab news on dh job!

Vino - are you going to change your name to G&T? Ditto about it baing a phase. ds2's a hitter, scratched ds1's face so badly it bled yesterday. Keep waiting for him to grow out of it...... It must happen sometime!

We're fine. I'm off work this week, dh working (he gets much less AL than me) so took the boys to meet a friend at the zoo this afternoon which was lovely, and managed to get a child-free swim this morning, which has to be the first in years!

Lizz ? am still intrigued how you meant to burn a hole in the top of your microwave?!? How how how??

Vino/Reg ? will email you both re setting up a time next week to visit. Mon/Tues/Weds best for me but not sure which days you work Vino?

Shimmer ? that link just looks picturesque. Are you pleased you made the decision to buy the shop? Any baby making plans?

EAH ? do you ever sit on you arse and relax?? You are the busiest person I know Hope the girls and DH OK.

PCF ? those photos on FB are fabulous! You have three absolutely gorgeous little boys. I can?t believe you are expressing every feed ? am very impressed. My mate is lending me her electric pump so fingers crossed I get on ok with it too.

LAL ? am v jealous of your hols! I am due 14th June (4 weeks and 6 days to go?)

Vino ? have text you so haven?t forgotten you! Glad the garden is nearly sorted.

2Happy ? I want to go to a zoo now?Chester is nearest to me.

Well, I have had a lovely first day of mat leave ? it flew past. LO is squirming away, feels like he is trying to tunnel his way out of my cervix which is oh such a nice feeling. Am desperate to pop early but trying not to get my hopes up.

Just had a convo with J that made me feel sad , he asked where xx would sleep so I told him then he said, ?Does mummy love Jacob?? YES! ?Does Daddy love Jacob? YES! ?Will you be xx?s mummy too?? Yes but I will still love you so much, are you worried about xx arriving? ?Yes, I love you mummy?? He?s been really unsettled going to sleep so obv LO?s imminent arrival is worrying him more than I realised. What do I do?!

Good evening everyone!
Ok, here goes:
Vino - A nursery manager mate of mine uses the 'naughty wall' as something to do time out against. She reckons its better as she doesn't have to rely on a particular spot/chair/step when they are out and about. HTH. DJ hasn't bitten me for ages (touch wood) but the kicks, slaps and wacks are quite hard & hurt now. I can't decide how much is just boisterousness and how much is nastiness though.
Shimmer - Love that they used your shop as the main photo of the article about moving to Lewes. You must be the envy of half the Guardian readers! We ended up in Monkey Bizness instead of Spring Barn last week due to the weather, but I really want to go to Spring Barn Farm so do let me know if you fancy meeting up there sometime.
LAL - Glad your friends boobs were just pregnancy. Can categorically say thats not my problem!!!! (unless its the immaculate conception!) I went into the Drs today to ask about my hospital appt as its been 2 weeks since the check up.
Where are you off to on holiday?
PCF - Glad you enjoyed the Haven Park I am going to. I am a bit worried that its going to be terrible. Its supposed to be awful weather. Truth be told I am dreading it! Glad TOby is putting on weight.
Rgee - Can't believe you didn't actually make the half marathon this year. I mean come on, you had your baby over a fortnight ago now! I had a customer in today with a 14 day old DD. Very cute, but I swear the woman had snapped back into her jeans you'd never know she had a baby that young....plus she informed me that they were already trying for number two.....My jaw dropped. Ugh. Sex after 2 weeks of having a baby????? Is she mad???!
2Happy - Enjoy your week off, what else have you got planned?
EAH - I want hanging baskest too. I have no where to put them. Am fed up with my pots of flowers in the back yard, they make it look smaller and the slugs are feasting on them. i just want to chuck them all away!
Wilkie - Have a Happy first day of maternity leave! Am so so so so jealous! J will love having you to himself more these next few weeks. I think there are a few books which could be useful to read with him about having a new brother or sister. But prob some one else on here is more of an expert than me!
Um, yeah, I had to chuck our the microwave at the weekend. Was cooking some frozen chicken, and the instructions were for half a pack, not 10 pieces. So they sort of melted, charred themselves, the bowl, and blew 2 x 2p sized holes on the inside of the roof. the smell was vile and the microwave was pretty much f**ked. So we chucked it. So now have no toaster or no microwave. Great!

Well, DJ had a 1.5 hour sleep on the sofa this afternoon, which was very stupid of me, as now he is raring to go and I am on my knees. DP is not getting home for hours as he is visiting his mate in a coma in Brighton, so I will have to play train tracks for at least another hour. I want my bed!!!!!!
Big hugs and kisses to everyone xxxx

ps - am a bit scared. I posted on an AIBU thread and think I may be jumped on for what I posted. I'm not sure if I can hold my own in a MN fight tonight!

OMG - its official.
I am a thread killer!

Come back everyone....xxxx

Did you not know we've all started another thread and decided not to invite you?

been awakwe since 4am for no reason at all, in fact everyone else is till in bed and snoring oh well no work today as had to go in yesterday for more training!

Morning.
My first day with the two of them - dh back to work today. (MIL coming in a couple of hours so not too long to wait)
B asleep, P playing with her fairies and I am on MN . Long may it continue . I have CBeebies and Peppa Pig DVD at the ready!

Eah do you expect me to have any sympathy for your 4am wake up . I was up 3am - 4.30am which wasn't too bad.

Had our first BIG crying spell yesterday evening (from the lo not me). 3 hours early evening. Hope it's not the start of things to come.

Oh ddear another self obsessed post. Lizz we love you really

Shimmer- Picture looks lovely. Great free advertising!

Wilkie- at your child free weekend last week. Hope you survive the rainy day. Must admit that I resorted to tv loads when preg with Rachel. That and a bowl of fidly snacks like cereal or popcorn to keep them sat down! I hate those conversations when they seem so loast and dont really understand. Maybe he could choose something for the babies room to try to make him more involved?

Vino- Glad the garden is nearly there. We are planing a conservatory and new windows and kitchen and I am dreading all the mess and upheaval. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly. Hope you have a good weekend. Again am very . I have not much advice on the hurting S as I seem to have it all the time. I tend to try and give Rachel the attention rather than yelling at Ruth or Luke and then when they have said sorry, give them loads of attention. That is usually why they do it. It still happens though. Jealousy is horrible and must be very hard for them but it def is the thing I find the hardest about having 3.

Rgee- Glad all is ok so far. I dreaded that first day on your own each time! How is P liking her brother?

Pink- How are your three doing? Are you finding it ok with 3?

EAH- Oh no! No sleep and a rainy day! Bad combination. Hope you survive!

Lizz- I couldnt survive without the microwave! Hope you got some sleep.

2happy- Did you have a good time at the zoo? We are going to Stockly Farm tom for a party and I am pretty excited . Prob be dreanched by the time we get back!

Not much news. Rachel took a bottle of formula the last few days so I may actually be able to give up bf! Feel half relieved and half sadf really. Hormones are odd as I was SO ready to give up afew months ago.

Ruth is starting to say a little more which is good. Still have appt at end of month so will see what they say.

Appart from that same old same old.

Dragon - sticker suggestion working a treat - just popped to post office and picked up 200 Postman Pat stickers which he is merrily sticking onto plain paper with wild abandon whilst sticking his tongue out in concentration. Bliss . Someone else suggested J buying something for baby which I think is a good idea.

Reggiee - glad your MIL is coming over to help. Can't wait to see you Weds!

Nothing much to report other than we have done a sticker reward chart for J to try and get him to go to sleep at night - three nights in, it has worked a treat, he has three stickers and a new book! Hope it keeps up.

Hi everyone - I'm so sorry I haven't been on for ages - this two kids malarky is harder than I thought!! But things are getting easier now. Merry is settling quite nicely into Z's routine and pretty much sleeps through. She's put on 4lb ish over her birth weight and is generally quite settled and chilled. We have been wondering whether she's starting to teeth already though as she had days where she will cry and cry for no apparent reason, and will gnaw on my knuckles or her fingers. Oh well!

Z is doing really great - although he is starting to freak me out with his pattern recognition and numbers. He has started to recognise and sound out words, and can recognise "Thomas" "Mummy" "Daddy" and "Zac" (all the important things in life ) and, yes, i know how horrendously PFB I sound and I don't care!

Have any of you started looking at pre-schools yet? I've decided not to keep Z in his current nursery as I'm not happy with the pre school provision there, although it's fine for the moment. I'm very confused with the school system round here, it seems to go nursery, infants, junior and secondary - which is quite bizarre!

Anyway I will stop bragging about my G&T child and slope off. Hope you're all doing well, I'll try and catch up with posts later! xxx

Wilkie - we took Z shopping for a present for the baby and he got her a little pink bunny which she sleeps with in her moses basket. We also had some really good books (here and here) which we looked at every night, mainly to prepare him to share milkies with the new baby but also to try and get him to associate "Baba" (what we called Merry while I was pg) with an actual baby. Nursery were fab too, and let him go into the baby room with his key carer and see all the little ones there. It seemed to work really well, cause he's very fond of her and very protective - although he'll quite happily wallop her when I'm not looking he gets very cross if anyone else tries to do it!

We also got a present for Z from Merry, I think it was an ITNG playset to go with his Ninky Nonk which he loved. It also seems to work to get him to fetch nappies and wipes for her, although i did come downstairs to find her nappies strewn all over the hall as he was looking for one with Elmo on it! Anyway, I reckon either way you'll be fine - just try and get dh involved (or more involved than Ali was anyway!) as the new baby will take up a lot of your time and he'll need to be JJ's main carer. xxx

We got Ellie a present from her sister and you can get now you are a big brother/sister cards (she got a few of those) we got her a little wicker moses basket from ELC so she could put her baby to sleep when I put Hattie to sleep, iirc she got sticker books, dvd, books and a few small toys from other people as well. She picked Hattie's first outfit to wear and also a special blanket. I do remember being up at night with Ellie more in the first 4 weeks after having Hattie as she was very put out by H arriving (developed anxiety exzema whilst I was in hospital so was constantly stratching/itchy) agree with Raisan that if possible DH should try and keep JJ routine as normal as possible and I found H slipped into E's routine quite nicely (although it must be a nightmare with your dh job and the
time of year)

Raisan - that sound slike our school system

Preschool 2-4 (pay until the term after they are 3)

Infants (reception to year 2)

Juniors (yr 3 to year 6)

although some infants are joined with a junior school to be a primary school they then stay from reception to yr 6 then straight to secondary. The school Ellie is going to is an infants only but has seperate junior school on same site so we have to apply for her to go to junior school in yr 2

Secondary or grammar school (yr 7 to yr 11 or yr 13 if you stay to do A Levels)

In Kent not many preschools are linked to local infants and thereofre you are not guaranted a place at infants just because you go to the preschool (Ellie did not get into East Farleigh school although she goes to EF preschool)I think nursery schools tend to be linked and on same site as infant school.

Hattie starts preschool in September for 2 mornings a week (we have to pay) and then I'll increase her sessions next Easter (oooo I am so counting down till September when E at school and H at preschool I'll get 2 whole mornings a week to myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quiet here. Soooo, first day home alone with B (no MIL to help), and I'm sat listening to him fart . I've only changed approx a zzillion nappies in the last 24 hours.
Having a nice day so far - still can't believe the complete contrast to P - he sleeps! Off out for a walk after our next feed - the fun!

Hope everyone else ok. Good to hear from you Raisin - teething already

Looking forward to seeing Vino and Wilkie on Wed . Not sure if my dsis is coming this week as she is poorly atm.

PCF - i took Merry to the cinema with me to see Star Trek! Dh wasn't that bothered about seeing it but I have a friend who is in a wheelchair who really wanted to go but obviously can't go on his own, so his wife looked after Z while we went to an afternoon showing. It was great - she just slept through it!

Waves hello !!!!!!

Lol at star trek I dont get it at all. Glad all you new mummmies are doing well and coping fine .

Im fed up with this wind and rain I cant my washing dry . Im looking forward to tomorrow as im going holdiay shopping child free .

Did anyone see on here under promotion codes that M&S this wed are doing a penny bizaar to celebrate there birthday.They are giving away a load of things for 1p . Its for 3 days and is on a first come first serve basis. The list included mugs, sweets, scarfs, cufflinks, underware, socks ect up to five items per customer.

Right off to tackle the ironong pile can we have a new thread ? I would do one if I knew how x

Right I am sure from memory of secret santa someone from this thread lives near Seaford who was it????????/

Rgee - lol at the farting

PCF - great news about Tobys weight

LAL - did you manage to get Lauren in her car seat to take her to your Mum and Dads?

UD - impressed at Merry being so well behaved in cinema

Had a day from hell at work, all new computer systems, transferring all B&B accounts to abbey accounts and general stroppy customers but missed my lunch so got to leave at 4.15pm

Coo-ee!
Paranoia @ Wilkie saying that you'de all started another thread!

Well, I am back from the Haven camp at Weymouth Bay. Really cold and windy, but a nice place, and very kiddie friendly. We've never stayed in a caravan before but I would do it again. DJ loved it too.

Eah - LTH lives in Seaford. I live about 20 mins drive from there. How come? Are you coming down?!

Pcf - we stopped off in Arundel on the way back. Wanted to pop into the castle, but it is closed on Mondays. Have you been?

I WANT TO SEE STAR TREK TOO! Its not fair. I'm never going to get to go. DP doesn't get back from work until gone 8pm and it starts at 8pm.

...off to continue sorting out the mess which a weekend away spurns. Ugh!

we will be in uckfield near seaford on sunday 27th september as dh doing another triathlon based there but me and girls will be bored so thought we'd use the chance to meet up with someone!!

Ooh!
Uckfield is not that near. BUT...its very near a place called Blackberry Farm. (Didn't you go there last year?) How about we meet up there if its open? Or we could always meet up in Lewes, and do Monkey Bizness if its a nasty day. In fact. Why don't we just schedule Sept 27th to be the SE meet up which we were talking about ages ago?!