Dec 08 mums - from rolling to sitting and everything inbetwean

[waitinggirl]

there i've done it - hope that is ok.

feet not feed!

ooh - the Apprentice final! sralan (Lord Sugar?)-tastic!!

I have another interview Tuesday - eek! Haven't caught up sorry as our roof is leaking due to torrential rain and is being mended as I speak!

I need your opinions please. I want to re-arrange the living room. I just hate the layout of the furniture. DH isn't quite so sure about it.

So I suggested moving things about and then we can always put it all back if we don't like it. I just really can't stand it! So what would you do??

Evening All

I am sooooo jealous of those of you at WG's husband's recording. I wish I was with you and hope you are all having a hilarious evening.

PMK and LadyT it was lovely to see you on Thursday. Both of your babies are gorgeous. I hope N didn't infect either of them with a nasty cold. She developed one within hours of me leaving you. Her nose and eyes have been streaming and she has a hacking cough. It is so sad. I guess it might explain why she was a little unsettled over lunch.

Bisou its lovely to see you back. I have been admiring J on FB. I have a friend who did elimination communication with her DD. Not just poos but the whole caboodle. It was very labour intensive - she had to watch her DD every minute of every day. She did it from birth and her DD never wore nappy! Not once. Its not so much about training the baby though, it is more training yourself to respond to the baby and enhance your understanding of him that way.

Weaning is a pretty slow affair chez Artichoke. I have pureed various veg - carrots, butternut squash, sweet potato but DD2 has not been that interested in them (a few tastes but she certainly does not go wild). I have also tried mashed banana and mashed avocado which she hated. I am mainly avoiding giving her fruit early on because once DD1 had fruit she turned her nose up at veg. DD2's top love is rice cakes. She sucks on them with great concentration. She also sucks steamed broccoli florets with a look of great contentment.

verso good luck with interview! Fab!

trace I love the dress! I would have thought blue strappy shoes with it ideally. But to be honest I don't really like spending loads of money on shoes (I am obviously not a normal woman) so I would have thought if you don't have time to shop, or can't be bothered, black strappy shoes would be fine.

Am i the only person who hasn't started weaning at all yet?

Bisou lovely to hear from you. I can't believe how big J is given he was born the same day as my DS.

arti that elim communication sounds crazy stuff!

wg hope the recording goes well, and everyone there is enjoying.

kayz can you post a piccie of lounge for suggestions?

OK apprentice time!

Hello

Had lovely child-free day at the cricket today. And England won. And it didn't rain. So hurrah all round. Will catch up more later but SL your question about babysitters caught my eye. We've used sitters (the website) a lot when we've been away - but usually when we've stayed fairly close by - like in the hotel for my SIL's wedding. I try not to leave them in strange place with a stranger (harder to cope with than one or the other) but on occasion we've needed to do that I've just made sure I've booked them pretty early so they're introduced before we've dashed out. The CRB checks and fact they are all experienced childminders or nannies reassures me enough.

Have put the playpen up today as DD is wriggling backwards at pace now and keeps disappearing under the sofas. Only thing she really loves to eat is baby rice and banana. Have tried some other stuff as well - but none of it homemade. You can buy these brilliant babylicious frozen cubes of puree...from ocado. I am so so lazy.

lal thanks for that, sitters was the site I was looking at for it.
We are staying in the centre of keswick so we would go really close by I reckon. I'm not really worried about DS in the sense of him being unsettled more about trusting a stranger if you know what I mean.

PMK I?ve re-read my comments on follow on milk and it was a bit baffling so I?ll try again ? my HV?s advice was not to bother with it beyond the 12 month mark (when you can introduce cows milk) as it doesn?t add anything nutritionally that your LO won?t get from milk plus their food. Does this make more sense? She gave the impression it was simply another product to get you to continue to spend money with that manufacturer instead of the milkman. (I can?t remember which brand, but one advert shows a toddler drinking 20L of cows milk to get enough iron or something, but fails to mention that by that age he?ll be eating a range of food so will get plenty of iron from those). Someone (I forget who) has also mentioned the advertising ban on standard formula, so it is a bit of a way round this to advertise their milk. I didn?t realise you can use it before 12 months and don?t have a clue whether it?s worthwhile for babies under this age ? I guess if the price is the same then, why not get a few extra vitamins for your money?

JJ I was reading up on flying with LO?s madly, before we went away. Someone mentioned that the bassinet was great ? for storing all your stuff in, leaving your hands free for your DD

LadyT I?ve found some shoes on Aldo?s website, but thanks for the tip, I?d forgotten about LK Bennett so have just enjoyed a 10 minute dream about the next occasion when I may need some new colourful shoes

I?m having a bit of a downer at the moment about DD?s lack of daytime sleeping, I?m finding it really hard, more difficult than the newborn stage to be honest. She just fights fights fights sleep all day long, and is such a grump, which makes me grumpy and therefore neither of us are nice to spend any time with. She used to sleep like a dream: 2 to 3 hours in the morning in her pram, and again for at least an hour in the afternoon, with an early evening ?power nap? thrown in for good measure. Today we achieved 20 minutes between getting up and going to bed, yesterday 30 minutes and the day before nowt! We?ve had to put the carrycot for the pram away, as she?s too big these days, and she doesn?t seem quite as comfortable in the pushchair. I?m giving her the opportunity for a nap in her cot, at the same times (ish) as she used to nap when she?s showing sleeping signs, but she just fights it, whinges, screams, cries, wriggles and won?t shut those eyes. On Friday it became a proper slanging match with me shouting ?FFS just sleep child? too loudly and , and just getting even louder screams in return. I?ve tried, shushing, patting, pick up ? put down, feeding to sleep, music, silence, darkness, daylight, sleeping bags, blankets, mobiles, blah blah blah and I?m getting nowhere. Does anyone have a tried and tested nap routine that I could give a go. To be honest I?ve probably just confused DD with all the different things, and I?ve certainly confused myself, so I think I need to wipe the slate clean, decide on a new nap time routine and go with it. My big concern is that with all the upset I will create a negative association with her cot, and the silver lining in all this is that every night she makes my heart burst with pride at how easy she is to settle at bedtime, and I?d hate to ruin that. I do put her in her cot with some toys in the morning, when I have a shower, so maybe she thinks daytime cot use is playtime? But I have nowhere else safe to leave her at this time. (although, talking of safe places ? Lal, you?ve just mentioned a playpen. We?re intending on getting one, for times when I can?t be in the room with DD, as we have a fire ? which one have you got). Oh, have just realised how much I?ve waffled, but I have so much going round in my head and I?m feeling so useless that I can?t even help my DD to sleep that I just needed to put it all down.

On a lighter sleeping note ? last night we went to my parents for tea, and decided to take DD?s travel cot so we could put her down and enjoy a relaxed tea rather than dashing home for bedtime. They bought the travel cot for DD when she was born and we did struggle to put it up at the time and my Mum was going to return it but then Dad got it working, so we kept it. Anyway, last night it would not go up (so DD, bless her heart, slept on a yoga mat on the floor) so Mum decided that this time she would definitely take it back and complain. However we got it half up and it also won?t go back down ? and it is wider than the door, so she can?t actually take it back. Her solution is to go to mothercare tomorrow with a picture of it and ask whether they want her to saw it into pieces to get it out of the house to return it, or if someone will go to her house and get it themselves. Wish I could be a fly on the wall!!

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with the naps ZJ - I'm afraid I don't have any great advice to offer as the only way we can get J to nap these days is to feed him to sleep, which will no doubt lead to problems later on. And he still fights it, we're down to 3 x 30-40 min naps and sometimes he drops the last one in the afternoon too. We sometimes put DS in his pram when we need to have a shower though, it has straps so he can't fall out and we can wheel it into the bathroom too. Might be an idea if you want to keep the cot for 'sleeping' only?

Those travel cots are such a b*stard I hate them sooooo much! My husband worked at ToysRUs in his youth & had to put them up all the time, and even he has a few choice words to say when he has to deal with one these days, cause they're so finnicky. They're also really hard to reach into as they're so deep. We ended up just putting J on the floor too when we were in Melbourne for 6 weeks (!)

SL the Pikkolo can cinch in at the front so they can face out, it's one of the reasons I bought that particular carrier. Of course now we only generally do back carry or hip carry though as DS is too heavy to wear in the front. Oh well, it'll be good for da next bub I suppose

morning everyone, am just watching the apprentice now!

kayz I would give the furniture moving a go, as you said if you don't like it you could always put it back.

summer we've used sitters.co.uk once & the woman we had was fine. Though this was when ds1 was sleeping through & wouldn't wake up if elephants were marching through his room!

lal glad you had a nice day at the cricket!

zj I seem to remember ds1 going through this phase of not settling for his daytime naps or waking up after 30mins. I think at this age now they're so much more aware & don't want to miss out on anything. I think the only thing is perserverence. Does she have a mobile or anything that can play a bit of calm music? I used to read ds1 a story & then put his musical light on. If he woke up then I would just gently pat & shush him & leave him. It took time but he did eventually get back to having a proper nap. Hth

Hi folks, first off thanks so much to WG for arranging to see her DH's recording, 'twas really really good and was great to finally meet Veg and LadyT in the flesh and indulge in some much-needed Sunday night cheerfulness. Would love to come to some of the other recordings if poss? If only Mr T hadn't decided it was really time to pull up the bootstraps and start the day at 5 (he had slept through until 6.45 for the previous 2 days so I was lulled into a false sense of security .

SL on the nap front things are completely haywire here, I wouldn't mind if he was still happy and bright on less sleep but he's just grumpy and I end up having to put him to bed at 6pm (so not surprising he wakes so early). I'm afraid I'm chickening out on doing anything drastic - yesterday I spend an hour and a half by his cot trying to get him back to sleep with a confusing mixture of techniques (feeding, shush pat, PUPD), all of which just made us both miserable and frustrated so am going back to wheeling round the park for a bit until I decide what to do.

On the weaning front, I'm afraid I haven't given T any delicious food , just putrid mush so the poor wee soul doesn't know any better. He actually thinks a combination of swede, green beans and swede potato is pretty tasty. I think he'd spontaneously combust at the taste of banana .

hello...?
is anybody there...? It's eerily quiet on here today!
I have a poorly P! She's covered in a rash - all viral I think - is generally miserable and just wants to sleep, or be cuddled. She's only had 1 BF all day and has refused all solids Oh well. I shall just savour all the cuddles...I'm sure she'll be right as rain in a few days. I saw the doc and he was lovely and is going to ring me back later to check she's had another feed. How lovely
DD1 demanding attention...back later xxx

trace, poor dd2, hope she's ok

Ds2 has just wolfed his banana down, I don't think there's anything this kid won't eat!

Hi,

Sorry, been away a few days, hello everyone.
JJ SL is there still a meetup next week on the 18th at the botanical gardens ? I could make it then.

Gotta go, hope everyone is OK

evening all. WG thanks also from me for last night it was hilarious. I want to come to the next recordings. Your DH is very talented, and well just plain funny.

Also very much enjoyed my spot of cheerfulness with Spot & Lady, such lovely drinking partners and general fun to be with. Was having tipsy giggles all the way back to the hotel. DS2 was awake when i got back. DH had tried him with the formula but he flat out refused it and just waited til i got in for a champagne laced feed. We now have a large box of formula to get through and were thinking of having it in our coffee! I was very happy to find that C&G have complied with the new government labeling rules well before they had to, and have advised that the formula is not sterile. The other companies fought against the ruling and lost but the government agreed to gave them until 2012 or something to update their labels.

SL DS2 is on all fours. He gets up on knees and elbows and kind of rocks backwards and forwards and always looks like he's about to launch himself forward then suddenly his legs collapse under him and he then starts sliding himself under the furniture as well.

SL no idea what i meant about your team, i may have meant where did you place or something.

Evening,
dammit, sorry to be a flailer but I think I may be going to see my parents at the end of next week on the Thursday, so probably no good for meet up for me....sorry!
jj, njan do you fancy meeting up later this week? I can do any day if we decide soon?? Or next week early in the week. Sorry for being crap. Also I might be able to get free passes for botanical gardens from DH's work.
veggie have since found out we came 6th out of 11 in the women's teams...which is not bad!

I have also heard that this going backwards when trying to crawl is a normal thing! It is hilarious isn't it, bless them.

hi there - very quickly - glad spot, vg and ladyt could make it last night - sorry i didn't get to see you - made a mad dash there once madam was asleep, and a mad dash back to save my friend from continually rocking and shushing the poor lady to try to get her back to sleep again.

would love to come to a cambridge meet, but can't do the 18th nor any of the following week. could do the week beginning 29th, but don't base it around me.

SL could do this thursday or friday, or thursday or friday of the week beginning 29th.

I am on holiday week beginning 29th.
But this thurs or fri would be ok! Gotta take car to be MOTed on thurs, but MOT place right near the botanical gardens if it needs stuff done on it.
wg don't suppose you fancy the end of this week?
jj what about you?
If that doesn't work out then feel free to arrange without me, just thought I would shout as there are not many takers yet and may be a small meet up otherwise!

sl - can't do this week, alas

Morning all, firstly re the meet up, my dad has now rearranged for this thursday (but mustn't grumble, at least he's near and happy to see his granddaughter!) and Friday morning is our bumps and babes - maybe Friday afternoon? Weather's looking a bit b*llocksy though, so shall we just call it off until later in the summer when a few more people might be keen? Not that it wouldn;t be lovely to have just a mini meet but if NJAN is making the effort to come from out of town, would be good to get a big gang together.

Let's try and rearrange for July then? NJAN are you back to work full time or will you have a day free that we can set as the meet day? Could always do a weekend!

ZJ re the daytime naps, you have my sympathy, it's so hard when you're trying to keep them happy all day and don't get a moment's rest. It seem that the 'put me in the cot and I'll go to sleep by myself' is saved for when daddy's in the house , she's up there grizzling at the moment and I'm not sure how much longer to leave her in case it goes to full on yelling. About the confusion as to what her cot is for - it's really hard, within the space of two books by teh same author I've seen the advice to make daytime naps different to night sleep (ie darkened room, routine, sleeping bag etc) so that they know it's time to sleep for a long time. then also supposedly daytime naps you need the same routine as night time, so they know it's time to have a sleep full stop. not exactly very helpful. So I can't really offer any sage advice, except that do you have a sling/carrier for if you're desperate? If DD's really knackered and won't sleep lying down, she'll usually go off within minutes if I sling her and go for a walk. It's not ideal, but you do know she's had at least a bit of sleep during the day.

weaning - blimey trace you've been cooking up a storm! We're going blw because I#m a lazy moo it fits our lifestyle better hem hem, she's had bits of melon, nectarine, pitta bread and hoummous, pasta, ham sarnie (!!), toast, mango, broccoli, breadstick, carrot. Most of it ends up over her face anyway but she seems to have fun That dress is lovely and summery, I'd go for maybe a cream/white wrap cardy, or a nice big shawl.

bugger sorry pressed post too early - anyway, the lying down grizzle has gone ballistic so back later.

Morning,

Hope everyone is well this morning.

We had a huge row this morning Work rang and asked him to work this morning despite this being his only day off this week. So the only day he can spend with the boys is now being spent at work and I have to try and cheer up a very very sad DS1. He has also been asked to work next tuesday which is his day off so I have told him that he has to tell them he won't work it now.

So a bit pissed off this morning.

hi, sorry to hear about that, kayz. DH has very family unfriendly work too and its horrible. He is thinking of looking for a new job.

SL JJ I work mon-wed in July and mon-thur in aug so can do any thursday or friday in july at the moment.

Sorry, gotta go, whiney baby today and so busy sorting stuff out for work and nursery visits....

Arti sorry to hear dd is not well she def did not infect B - he is fine - just getting frustrated as he is attempting to get up on his hands and knees these days but can't figure out that he has to bend his knees!
Zoe Ahh you are talking about that "Growing up milk" and all that stuff - yes I can see that is a bit unneccessary, but the follow on milk I'm using is from 6 months so when he can have cows milk later I'll just be using that!
Bisou hi - yes I did come over - but up north.... next time I will be coming a bit further south so perhaps we can have a coffee!
VG and everyone who went on Sunday - sorry to miss it, and miss meeting you VG, maybe another time if you're in London? Yes lady is a good cheerfulness partner, and I can imagine Spot would be - given her name!
Anyway, must get out and get some fresh air / exercise, and sit the boy upright to get rid of hiccups! He gets very upset about them!
Got a million things need to be doing but just can't get motivated... lady how is your London stay going? lots of social engagments i'd imagine?