Dec 08- Must keep chocolate & cheerfulness near, teething time is nearly here!

[pmk1]

Right.... back to post the link now!

Kayz, fingers crossed for your dad. How sweet of the old lady if annoying she can't (or won't!) get his name right!

Veggie, are you an Australian football fan? When ds1 was born, a friend of ours who lives in Melbourned signed him up as a fan of one of the teams there, Western Bulldogs I think it was.

Ladyt, meant to say thanks for clothing advice. I was a bit put off by Debenham's after a session with a particularly rubbish personal shopper. But might give them another go, & will post on the style threads.

Rather annoyingly, dh won a £50 voucher for Boden. Had a look on their website (first time ever!) & didn't like a thing! Don't know what to do with it now!

LOL at the passport pictures!
Kayz - hope Frieda liked her card!!!
JJ - have battled through the bleariness! The shop my friend wanted to go to turned out to be in some back street a few miles out of Leeds so we just drove there and back with no shop stops! Shame as I was hoping to squeeze in a trip to Primark for some new tops. I need bigger ones because my wangers have grown lots with the BF, but one that I bought is too low round the neck line so now I feel like I'm displaying my big bazookas and I'm a bit of a prude so need something more modest but easy to BF in!!! I don't ask for much!
I've started to worry a bit that my milk is not enough for P. My boobs don't feel full any more and with all this frequent feeding I wonder if it's due to hunger because there's not enough to fill her? She's gaining weight fine though and has rolls round her chubby legs!
ALso worrying a bit about how snorty she is and how her puke still always comes out of her nose, and am now linking this to her too-small head and imagining all sorts of anatomical weirdness. Need to stop thinking!
I ought to turn off the computer now as DH is here and we've not conversed for a while!!

Am crossing my fingers for a better night tonight. Last night P went down at 7 as usual but woke at 9.45 then every 1-2 hours after that!!! All is silent at the moment...

see you soon xxx

Am loving the passport photos, girls. Arti, does dd2 talk a lot about "fairmly" ?! Lady T, I trust that DP does not resemble bungle (or, gads, Geoffrey) and you are not Jane.... (for older readers only, sorry )

Kayz, am so sorry to hear about your dad. Fingers crossed all will be well.

Good to see you Nolda

Trace, the reason why your boobs aren't hard etc is because they are so well adjusted to feeding P that they know exactly what to do! Your milk is PERFECT as it is, so dinnae fret, pet. If you are worried, just offer the boob more but I am sure she is doing grand as she is.

Arti, so glad you are feeling better. Hope you are at westfield now getting some gorgeous dress / bits to go with. Loved the LK Bennett story - my DDs are the same and love their shoes.

Veggie, I too have 2 pairs of charity shop jeans. I am a bit self conscious about one of them as I think they are a bit trendy for an old bird like me but DH just told me that they looked fantastic! Very sweet of him, but they really don't. The muffin top is horrendous. I am in my Boden velvet jeans now which are much more comfortable. I am off with some ggirl friends for a curry tonight. Tomorrow, DH and I are off out for our first child free, friend free, romantic dinner a deux night since M was born. I feel a crisp packet coming on, god help me.

Ros, I think with Boden you just have to pick carefully. Their kids' stuff is grea, but I find the women's stuff much more hit an dmiss. It is also quite expensive so I get most of the stuff I buy in the sale. Some of the shoes are fab but at Russell & Bromley prices. If you google "boden voucher code" you can get much better discounts than the 10% offered by MN which might make things more appealing????

Verso, so glad things are better and that Dr is on the case. I think I am a bit booked up next week with end of school etc but hope we can hook up the week after? I'll text you, lovely

Veggie / PMK - I loved the stories of the Aussie - ness in your family, esp with "bin" and "paul". Can't wait for the pics.

LadyT, that handover sounds stressful. I know what you mean about parties etc at th emoment - I am not quite all singing, all dancing as I used to be. It'll come back I hope.

Happy birthday Effie, hope you had a good day.

Hello JJ, hope the fens are treating you kindly. So glad you think you are free on the 8th. I also say "jings", much to my DH's surprise, so I wonder where it comes from.

ZJ, SL, JB - hello to you too. And welcome to Babymakes for and MOM. Any other lurkers, please do join us. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this thread, even when I can't post much, as we are all so supportive and friendly, even with very different choices. I can't believe other threads are so bitchy. Must admit I rarely venture outside this thread as there is so much aggression etc elsewhere. Rather too much testosterone for a bunch of mums, methinks.

I love the formula tip. Can I add my favourite tip (for older childen) which is nowhere near as good but helps at Faulty Towers - never venture forth en famille without 2 felt tip pens, a piece of paper, 2 plasters, some choc, some wipes and a small bottle of bubble mix. I have sorted out unexpected HOURS with a combination of the above and it will see you through most disasters / eventualities. A miniature of Gordon's might be a welcome addition, but not essential.

Happy Friday lovelies. Back full of curry and wine later

Sybil I absolutely love your tip of the day! Will file that for the years to come! Hope your Curry was nice! DH is having one T/A and I'm having Thai!
Trace for ease of BF esp in public, I bought two singlets / vests from Blooming marvellous in their sale recently (£12)and they are fantastic as I can wear them under any top and they just have a split in them where you can reach in and pull out a nork Then I wear a very cheap non-wired bra as I decided the whole feeding bra with the un clipping malarky was too much trouble and I just pull the whole lot up to feed! (I don't have massive n's to start with though)
JJ very impressed with the fish pate making.... not sure if you can freeze it though?
Right - must remember to check meet up thread....

Ooooh Sybil DH was watching the Justin Lee Collins show the other week and Jane was on there. She used to be married to Rod but she has run off with Freddie.

My mum calls us Rod, Jane and Freddie. She moans that because of Dylan she can't call us it now.

Evening all,

I agree with what everyone says about what a lovely supportive cosy thread this is. I love hearing little snippets from everyones lives whether they be cheerful, fun, interesting or just letting of steam about a bad night or whatever.

Trace If your boobs have gotten particularly unwieldy then bravissimo do tops designed to accomodate the larger bust without being bigger everywhere. They aren't cheap but some of the jersey ones are very good. DD used her new found grasping ability to pull my top down when I was in town exposing rather too much flesh. I hadn't noticed till I felt a breeze, ooops.

sybil Sounds like a good tip, I'll remember that!

kayz Oh my goodness, what a scandal!

Night, night all.

i second what everyone is saying - i LOVE this thread, even if i don't post all the time.

kayz - so sorry to hear about your dad - but wait until you get results back - cross fingers

sybil - great tip!

bisou - sorry to have missed you - am sure it went splendiferously

ladyt- lovely to have you back

and apols to those i have missed out, but i love hearing about everyone

pmk - i have a question re: travel cots - and anyone else, who's got experience. we've been lent a graco travel cot for our trip to italy which is apparently sturdy but weighs a ton and is v bulky (basically takes up one of our pieces of luggage allcoation on teh plane). we saw a little life travel cot (bit like a small tent) in a shop - is that the sort of thing you used for your trip - if so, how was it, would you recommend it? it would save us some considerable lugging around to buy a smaller one and i could put madam in it when working in the garden etc - what do you think?

re: names - i will be amazed if dd ever gets to learn her real name - she's chicken, norbert noggin, grumble chops, manky chops, (any other epithet wiht chops which suits the time) etc etc. and when in doubt i refer to her as madam. suits her.

Those passport pics are so funny , this thread makes me laugh so much it no longer feels odd to be sat alone laughing at the laptop. And arti I also chuckled at your DD and the shoes, another red shoe lover, she will grow up to be very wise making clever choices like that.

Kayz I do hope your Dad is ok. And that lady is sweet with Freida's card, when do you think she will look at Freddie and finally click that he's a boy?!

kayz and others with horrendous MIL's - you make me feel blessed with mine, she's a sweetie. One day this week we passed whilst out on our daily walk, she peeped in the pram and said 'isn't E beautiful?' and I agreed and then looked at me and added 'you're looking trim today', I agreed again and my nose grew very long from the lie, and then we both carried on our way. Just perfect behaviour, I think she deserves a prize sometimes. My Mum, however, is interesting, but at least I can tell her to shut up when she's being annoying.

Today I met up with a friend who's DD was born 2 days before E, it was lovely to compare and contrast the 2 of them. Her DD kept smiling nicely at E, and E just looked grumpy in return and then smiled nicely at her toy horse instead - think I need to teach her some manners.

Well, must go to bed as I need to be at York station to meet DH at 10am tomorrow - as it's an hours drive and I don't think I've yet got DD and I dressed before 10 it will be a challenge to be started at about 5 o'clock (watch tomorrow be the day DD decides to lie in for the first time). Night night everyone xx

WG we were given a regualar size travel cot which is really bulky. I'm quite a light traveller, so I couldn't deal with it so on our short trip away we just took his little sleep positioner wedge thing and he slept on blankets on that, however I wanted something more substantial for our trip to Aust in May so I bought this Samsonite travel cot (although I bought it in beige for B!) Anyway, it's really small packed up in the carry bag (like the size of a dinner plate) and it pops up with a few mini rods to support it. I had it up in about 5 mins max, and it even has a mosquito net / fly screen It's not rock solid so I use his positioner pillow in it too but it does the job and the best part about it is I haven't put it down since it arrived as he LOVES it! He would never nap during the day in his big cot (only in our bed) until I got this! I sound like a spokesperson for Samsonite, but I really do love it -
Hope that has helped and I hope if you buy it, it works for you!

Also,
that is the place I bought it from - it's the cheapest around as I think they are £34 from Samsonite. Make sure you get the delux, and they are really quick with delivery too.

Veggie it was arti's MIL with the pressies, not mine. Our DCs are MIL's only grandchildren so no competition so far (although one on the way). My own mum is pretty bad when it comes to favouritism though, not with pressies but with other stuff - I think she thinks I will be pleased when she compares my DS favourably with his cousin of similar age, but it just annoys and saddens me.

Verso glad to hear things appear to be brightening up somewhat for you.

kayz hope your dad's okay - DP's mum had skin cancer a number of years ago and is fine now. It's one of the more treatable cancers if that what it turns out to be.

wg would DD be happy to sleep in the pram or could you make her a nest on the floor? That's what we used to do with DS. In fact we still often just take his cot mattress away with us instead of the travel cot even now.

Nicknames: we also use Madam (and Missy, and Lady) as well as Whingebag, Sweetie Baby (DS's name for her), Tiny Baby or Teeny Tiny Tears (showing my age), Neena Nana and Nina Nina Ballerina. DS used to have a plethora of nicknames of the more colourful variety, but we have had to knock that on the head for DD given DS's talent for parroting swear words.

Where is mibbes? And hatty? Hope they and all the others who haven't posted in a while are doing okay.

oh blimey, just seen an ante natal thread for Nov 09, but some of the mums to be on there are actually due in December! I can't believe a whole year ago that was us

pmk and pd thx for the travel cot advice - looks fab - will let you know what we decide to do.

Oh dear. Bit pissed .

WG - I have the samsonite and the LL tent thing. If you were going to buy one, I'd get the LL one as it lasts longer, takes virtually no room and even I can build it (in a hotel room with a glass of wine - Christmas day rules extend to hols chez nous. We have to have a sunshine drink on arrival from the minibar - any time of day - and then drink from the supermarket etc) The Samsonite one is great but won't do once your DD can sit up. The LL one lasts til age 2. You could get the Samsonite one and ebay it, or have 2 children close together and use both, which is what we have done since DD2 arrived and will do now.

Am going to change a nappy and go to sleep. Can't believe I am at ballet in 8 hours. Oh dear.

Morning all, anyone else up?! Ds2 decided it might be nice to wake up & have a little chat with us, that was 2hrs ago. I will admit to feeling a bit peed off with dh but then he told me to go & sleep in the spare room so I'm feeling kindly towards him again! Only now I'm awake so thought I'd pop on here until I get sleepy again,

Echo what everyone else has said about this thread! I do venture out into other parts of MN, in fact I posted on my first AIBU thread but it was the one about nuclear families on children's tv so not to bitchy!

Sybil, loved your tip though can I add a small lump of playdough to your list? We keep a bit in a little tub so that goes out in my bag of tricks as well. I went out with a childless friend the other week & she kept laughing at the amount of stuff I had in my bag, said I was like Mary Poppins!

Zj, I've actually been wondering when a Dec 09 thread would appear!

Sybil, meant to say thanks for the Boden tip! I'll have another look and see if there's anything. Maybe a pair of shoes even if they are R&B prices. I know I could get something for the boys but I haven't bought any new clothes for myself in about a year!

Guess I'm the only one up, anyway am off to try & get some sleep, night night!

syb glad you enjoyed your curry and wine!WG totally agree with Sybil* We nearly bought the LL one for that reason that they can use it longer... Then I decided since we would have another one close together we would get enough use from it. The LL one does look good too though except the one I was looking at was only unti 9 months.
I feel like hell - full blown cold set in now

Hello .

Hope everyone is ok. We're doing fine but I am not managing very well to keep up with you girls AND keep food on the table and clean clothes on the bubs! Heidi is doing great. Sleeping quite well (although she did wake me with one of those terrifying piercing screams that they occasionally do in their sleep last night) and putting on weight nicely. She is 12 weeks now (as of yesterday).

I'm going back to try and glean what you girls have all been up to. Ros said that there have been some namechangers! Can you out yourselves for me! Thanks lovelies!

kayz there is nothing wrong with the name "Frieda" ! I know it must be deeply annoying that that silly woman calls your Freddie Frieda but some of us like the name!!

Sorry I wasn't on the thread in the wee small hours, ros. I was up at 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am though. Ugh.

zj you've made me misty-eyed pointing out that a year ago we were starting our antenatal thread . I am soooooooo broody at the moment, despite all the stress of the past months. I must be mental (or v hormonal) (or both). Somebody SLAP me!

syb your top tips for what to take when venturing out of the house made me smile.(Maybe you could talk some sense into me re third children?)

My mum (bless her) has started going on about when am I going to get DD2 on the bottle (not necessarily Gordon's ;-)). Started in a low-key way a couple of weeks ago but now she's reaching fever pitch. When I came back from the GP she asked me "what did he say about the bottle?" At first I thought she was alluding to the quantity of cheerfulness I used to quaff, but no. She was surprised when I said he hadn't mentioned it at all, "well, I thought he would have told you all this breastfeeding is too much for you". Hmph. I guess I should have expected as much. When I was readmitted to hospital with DD1 she did, after all, turn up at my bedside with six bottles and several boxes of ready-made formula . Given that I was trying to get my milk back at the time it wasn't the best!

Sorry - that has obviously struck a nerve. I will pootle off now...

Sybs, I second (or third) your tip about stuff to amuse toddlers, we also have at least 2 toy cars. I suspect playdough would be put to nefarious uses... but I am a wuss about messy stuff. I cart DS1 along to messy play every week so as to not have to deal with paints/glue/playdough/sand/glitter in the flat

I think a better night for us last night, wakings at 12, 4 and 6 (that I can remember). Realised I hadn't put DS2 back into his moses basket at 4am and promptly forgot all about it again! He's tucked in bed with DH at the moment, DS1 woke up in an exceptionally bad mood at 6 so we have had two tantrums already . Not helped at all by DH getting cross and shouty (not at his best in the mornings). Then he wonders why DS1 shouts back... this parenting lark is tricky, isn't it?

Raining here (ugh) so need to work out interesting stuff to do inside. May try the Housework is Fun routine as the flat is a complete tip. DS1 already playing with the hoover which may be a hint (he's feeding it pennies, poss in the hope that it will play a tune).

Retreated to the bath last night with a glass of wine, I like to follow a tip from an ex-tutor of mine that cheapo red is best served warm rather thanjust at room temp - bathwater ideal for warming the glass and if you calculate the depth properly it will float (barring sudden movements).

Oops, better rescue the hoover...

before I forget: Samsonite cot v good, we have one for trips to inlaws.

Turnip: think I was one of the people to leave early from last meet-up, second LadyT's idea to spend on booze and poss cake. My other thought was to put it on a horse, but I wouldn;t take any tips from me or lal

Verso There is nothing wrong with the name Freida, I think it is lovely but not for my little boy. I just find it a bit disheartening that there are several people that we know that insist on calling him "Freida", "Fran", "Sophie", "Danielle" and the latest was "Dixie". I am just sick of telling them that he is a boy and he is called Freddie. Even when he was in jeans and a camoflage(sp) top last week I was moaned at for dressing 'Sophie' like a boy.

DS2 has taken to waking in the middle of the night again. Lat night it was 3am(sucking fingers), 4:30am(he had a sneezing fit) and at 5am he finally wanted a bottle. So I feel like death this morning.

Verso I have been feeling really broody but I think the scare I had this week has knocked all broodiness from me.

DH has just rung to say he'll be in York in 2 hours Nothing like a bit of good news in the morning to get me multitasking, haven't done more than half a job at once since DD was born!

Seems like too many of you had sleepless nights, I hope you have opportunity for a quick nap on the sofa at some point today

Morning everyone!

Sorry you had disturbed nights Ros and Verso. at you mum Verso, not v supportive!

WG DS is Cheekychops (when smiley which he isn't at the mo'- pauses to apply more milk - ah, that's better, peace reigns).

That's a very helpful list Sybil but would probably swap crayons for pens as DD gets them all over her clothes and I'm with Effie on the playdough.

DH left at 6.45 this morning to go sailing [grumpy emotion]. He did ask if I minded but I find it difficult to say no as he does deserve some fun now and then, I suppose.

It's nice and sunny here, so I may take DD to the park for some scooter practice. DD was talking about slippers yesterday: "my slippers have dogs on. Mummy's slippers have flowers on". As DH's slippers are plain, I suggested we drew some pictures and stuck them on. I'm hoping she has forgotten as I doubt DH will see the funny side. Or maybe I don't .