December 08 Supermums: We are all doing fine and our LOs love us!!

[kayzr]

Hello.

Trace I went with your idea!!

I have a question - how do people defrost milk?? DH defrosted some yesterday and he reckoned it took 40 mins, and did it under a hot tap. Is there a quicker way? I'd like to be able to go out and for DH to be able to defrost some milk reasonably quickly if I haven't left enough.
I store it in little cubes, a bit like ice cubes but individual plastic boxes.

Turnip I tried your trick of expressing one side while feeding the other. I got 3.5 oz instead of 1-2!! Brilliant!

arti - glad thingsv are getting beytter and 98th percentile!!!

sl - poor you. well done on keeping sane after a marathon session. i'm sure the shouting hurt you way more than him. have no doubt we've all meither been there or will ngo there. and as for MILOs claiming there isn't enough milk... well, we talked a bit about MIUL craziness yesterday, didn'yyt we?

Please slap me!! I can not stop snacking on crisps. I am tempted to go and throw them in the bin!!

Chuck them Kayz, its the only way. If I have any such snacks in the house I just can't help myself. As a result our cupboards have been totally purged.

SL - 5 hours! Wow. I think most of us would have been shouting at the end of that (althought at this precise minute I am loving he fact that I am breast feeding, so get to sit here on MN while listening to the radio, while DH runs round madly tidying in preparation for a viewing of our house in 30mins).

OK, not even going to attempt to catch up - have scanned really quickly, but if I don't post then I will get tied up doing something else! Big weekend with H's family. Had his GD funeral on Monday which went smoothly and B slept the whole time. Most of the weekend was spent off and on at MIL's. The first night MIL babysat while we went out. B screaming blue murder when we got back after dinner. He had thrown up some of his bottle (prob wind was bad which he gets from the bottle) and therefore starving again. After leaving 12oz's for 6 hours I was surprised he was hungry. Worst part was the awful reception from SIL who had earlier gone home feeling sick and a "where were you" comment was received with horrible undertones.. I was livid at this comment, as I def did not receive a phone called which refelcted the scene I came back to. Instead MIL had called H and basically just asked if we would be long but seemed very calm, just saying that B seemed a little hungry? I think this is the reason SIL doesn't want kids - can't handle the crying as she was feeling ill herself and therefore snappy - still not acceptable, and took me awhile to get over it!

Veggie B got his Aus Cit/ship back on Sat so will apply for the passport shortly!
Still possibly going to the US for a week or so this weekend, but waiting on a few things before we decide.

Sad I didn't make the meetup but I even forgot about the tumble dryer engineer and got a 'where are you' phone call as we ended up staying again at MIL's house after too much wine!
Are there any photo's of the meetup? I will check the thread now.... Hope there will be a South London one as I will def attend!

Right, must post and then will try and catch up

Lovely to see people yesterday - big thanks to Turnip for providing toddler entertainment!

SL: DS cluster feeds as well, he feeds more frequently from about 4-7ish, then more or less constantly till 10/11 but he then sleeps until 2 or 3 am. I just feed in front of the tv/computer/with a book. Tried putting him down earlier last night but just ended up feeding him in the bedroom till 10.30 - v boring.

LadyT: glad the driving lesson went well. Is there a date for your test?

Haven't read thread as mad couple of days. Lovely to see so many at our North London meetup. Effie - I have William's cup, you left it behind. Ladies - we had an overpayment will post about it on the meet up thread if that's OK.

Tried to post this morning from my mobile (was on train to work ) but lost the signal. Sybil count me in on any S London meet-ups! I also didn't realise oli is in Sutton. That's practically next door to me!

Was going to post something else but gone blank. Pleased to report that last week's meltdown has resulted in DH doing one whole night last week, where DD2 happened to have a tummy bug and did 10 nappies . He almost had a nervous breakdown (as did I later with the guilt of having slept through my poor baby's illness! ). Then today he has been on duty all day while I was at work. He copied down my routine really carefully yesterday (bless) and then was a bit surprised today when not everything went according to plan...

Am bit worried about what the night may hold but we shall see!

Hello ladies. Lovely to meet you all yesterday, i really enjoyed myself, but now i am going to be even more jealous when you all meet up. Will let you know when i'm down again as would really love to meet up again. Oh and good call on Il Pappagone what a great place, huge pizza. All the babies were of, course gorgeous and very well behaved. I keep thinking of WG's little Rosie's face, she really has the cutest facial expression. Jordy was very taken with JJ's top, where did you get it from JJ, he loved it. Effie, William is lovely sorry my DS2 didnt come along but he has been a bit of a monkey this trip and i fear would have led you very well behaved little man astray. I told DH about the pizza dough thing and he thought it was such a great idea, we are going to ask for some when next at pizza express.

LadyT glad the lesson went ok, still cant believe you did a 3hour driving lesson, i really don't think i could handle that length of time behind the wheel without a coffee break. Also you are as glamorous as i thought you would be. Loved your handbag, but was a little pleased to see you have the same H&M cardie as me, so that makes me feel a little glam too.

Have a had a nice time seeing friends down here but will be glad to get home. DS2 is a little unsettled, i'm not sure if he just misses his cot or he is unwell. He barely fed today and when he did, he puked most of it back up. Why is it that it usually ends up down my cleavage, or even worse, my crotch!!!! i'm sick of having a icky wet patch in my crotch area. Poor little mite though he had a good feed tonight but just really seemed out of sorts today.

oh, veggie - what lovely words for everyone - aren't you great? and yup, me too, as regards the puke down cleavage/crotch.

Effie - well, the instructor said at the end of the lesson that he had a surprise for me - a test booked at the next available weekend opportunity (has to be a weekend as we can't predict when DP will be off to have DD). It's the 8th March. And I replied that I had a surprise for him - I will be in Shropshire that weekend and therefore unavailable I'm not changing it, I love Shropshire and it's a birthday celebration for a friend.

Safe trip back, Veggie.

KMP - at your SIL!

So DD had her passport pics done at Snappy Snaps today. Hilarious. They put a yellowing cotton sheet on the glass counter and shot her from above. She just lolled around whilst the very nice Spanish assistant said "No", "Nope", and "This one's not right." Eventually we got one which she is now stuck with until she is 5 years old. It's madness!

Anyway, am cross with self after falling off wagon again in pub. I went expecting a quick quiet drink with DP and there were a lot of his colleagues there and I got lumbered with the grotty old pervy one who told me a lot of stuff I already knew about wine/life/justabouteverything. Grrrrrhumph. And had too many wine calories. Grrrrrrsuperhummph. Night all.

DH is out and I have retired to bed with a cup of coffee and a small bag of choc fingers. Am supposed to be sussing my wonderful new breast pump but can't be arsed. Think I will paint my nails while I read the instructions and have a go tomorrow.

Lovely to hear about the meet up and so sorry to miss you all, esp Veggie who made the pilgrimage specially. I shall organise a Sarf London one for anyone game/brave shortly.

Had a top lunch town today. Met up with a dear friend who has had breast cancer - first time aged 34 and now again in the other boob at 43. Happy to report that she has finished chemo and radio, just has to have check ups now and now has her hair back. When she was diagnosed, she was esp upset about her hair, until her next door neighbour (an actor) put her onto the man who made wigs for Kylie. "The beast" as she called it was very convincing and natural, but she is now back with thick, lustrous hair and eyelashes! Needless to say, cheerfulness was taken to celebrate .

Hope everyone has a good night.

Syb thats wonderful news about your friend, what a brave lady.

LadyT is that normal to make a booking for a test without checking with you first?

WG have been thinking about your MIL with issues, does she ever say anything positive, also your DD looks so healthy she must know she sounds a bit hollow.

Oh gotta go find the weight loss thread, i did a 30min swim session last night in the pool at the gym that the hotel uses, was so nice to do and feel ok afterwards, exc that i wore my swimmers there under my clothes and forgot to take some undies and a bra so had to go commando for the short walk home. Anyway dont think the exercise will cover the excesses of this trip but nice to be starting to get back into exercise.

Sarf London meet up thread here

When can I take DS2 swimming? Is it after the jabs he has just had or after the 2nd lot?

Hi all, sorry not to have been around for a while. I decided to take a little break from MN so I could balance my time with ds's more. Things have settled now & we have a nice routine in place so I think I can safely come back!

Sorry to hear I missed the meet up, hope you all had a lovely time. I might try to make the next one.

LadyT, I used to have 3hr driving lessons as well. It always left me with a massive headache & would take the rest of the day to recover, so respect to you doing it with dd as well! Good luck with the test, though I agree it is a bit odd him booking it without telling you!

Kayz glad your dh is feeling better. I was wondering about swimming as well. I remember taking ds1 when he was about 3 months old but I don't know if its changed since then.

veggie I've done the forgetting the underwear as well but I had to come home on the bus .

Just before I left there was talk of a weight loss thread - did one get started? I could really do with it!

Sorry I've not caught up with all of you but hope everyone's ok.

Great to hear from you Ros and glad you're settled into a nice routine. We're still floundering a bit, mainly cos an unsettled night/grumpy DS1 can throw the whole thing out for me, must be more organised. Have resolved to get moving more quickly in the mornings as it's a flashpoint for all of us, need to get out of the house by 9ish (rather than 10ish as has been the case). I'm also taking today to watch DS2 (DS1 is at the CMs) to see when he's ready to eat/sleep etc. and try and get some consistency. Wish me luck!

LadyT: sounds like your test could be soon if you can coordinate your schedules! Your instructor must be pretty confident you're ready

Veggie: did I bring a cup? . I tend to leave a string of possessions in our wake so could well be so.

Veggie: at well-behaved DS, you obv didn't spot the bit where he tried to pull down the neat stack of logs for the pizza oven on his head... or the expressions of the people on the next table as he charged past for the nth time .

Kayz: sorry to hear your DH has been ill, hope he's recovering.

Verso: hurrah for DH stepping up (and JJ's DH - how did the day go?).

DS2 on my lap making agricultural noises - better go and change his nappy

sorry, getting me turnips and veg mixed up there!

Thrilled about your friend, Syb. That evil disease, how I hate it. By which train of thought (that other thread about Jade) are you a lady of the law?

Good to have you back, Rosmerta! There is indeed a fatties thread and Summer L has done the most fabulous spreadsheet charting our progress. Do join in. It's here

That is my first ever link so I hope it takes

As for the driving test, I think it's just his hamfisted attempt at psychology. I am basically as ready as I will ever be, so the test will be whenever they can find me one at a weekend. I just feel like I will fail again, though. Driving is the thing I have most sucked at in my entire life. Though I have a trainee skydiving lesson thing booked so that could plumb new depths (hopefully not literally). I was going to buy a car after I'd passed and I had been looking forward to it, but we are going to see if we can manage with one (though it might mean running DP around quite a bit). Two cars are such a huge expense.

I watched Enchanted April again last night - the sweetest, loveliest film. Were I to hit the jackpot I would invite everyone to a few days of all-expenses paid indulgence (with DP/Hs and DCs of course) and one of the things I would do would be, between all the massages and beauty treatments on offer, I would have a screening of Enchanted April. It is filmed in Portofino in Northern Italy, one of the places I visited in September, and it is just SOOO beautiful.

Yikes, I need to get ready to take DD for her jabs. We have to go and get the crazy country bus again.

TRAINEE SKYDIVING LESSON????? fainting emoticon...

Don't worry, it's not from the sky. You 'fly' over a giant fan to learn all the moves so you're only about 30 feet up.

hello typingone handed! just one a quick scan....I'm not sutton but whitton near twickenham so good for a south meet. poor H is all snuffly. keep getting puked on. ah the joys!

This is my first post from my new iPhone so just testing. I love this thing. I am in a cafe and can still mn, how cool is that?

LadyT-presumably the training is with a view to jumping??? You are a braver woman than me!

I would like to jump in future - if I can ever find the time! I will see how the training goes though.

DD was fine with her jabs. Screamed the place down of course. Seems happy enough now.

Thanks LadyT, link worked so you can do a proper curtsy now!

Oli, hope dd gets better soon, how's ds1? Ds1 keeps asking for him after you came over!

With ds2's jabs they kept us waiting 30mins, poor thing was screaming with hunger by the time they got to us. I should've just fed him but kept thinking I'll start & then they'll call us!