Jan 09 - weaning,smiling,laughing and chatting and loads more fun to come:)

[stripeywoollenhat]

there.

Those of you thinking of doing BLW (baby led weaning) I forgot about Aitch's site and should have pointed you in it's direction:

Aitch's BLW site

and also should have remembered this one too:

www.babybanana.biz/

(Just re-found them in my bookmarks)

This page of the babyledweaning dot com site iis especially useful:

hints and tips to get you started

And if you still want a book here is one by the lady who started it all:

Baby led weaning: helping your baby to love good food by Gill Rapley

And in other news...

DS has suddenly took it upon himself to try and do things he seems to be trying to sit and crawl and there was me thinking he'd be laid giggling on his back forever with an ever increasing girth Although I just got DD's baby record book out and worked out she sat 6 weeks ago in relative terms so hopefully we won't have another 9mo walker on our hands... I couldn't cope with that again.

Books I wasn't ignoring your offer of a sounding board with DH's business. It was kind of you. The problems are not so much the business but the times unfortunately. We are clothing retailers and are suffering the demise of many suppliers alongside a general slowdown in sales. DH is a nice person but right now he could do with being more ruthless, but I wouldn't change him. We've been going over 5 years now and we have always re-invested most of our profits, which at the time seemed prudent but now it feels foolish. It isn't a disaster, it's just a rough patch but when you've got kids rough patches aren't what they were when you didn't iyswim. Anyway I'm waffling

Dog House sounds fab - I hope you get it. Sensible plan with the room with the external door too, clever lady.

Oh and DS moved into the cot last week and he only sleeps in there for his first sleep. Once he wakes I move him into the bedside crib since I am too lazy to keep getting up to the cot and tbh I like to have him nearby as I can intercept him quicker when he wakes and re-settle him so we get more sleep. Oh and I just like him there ok, so that's the main reason...

Thanks for those links Lenni had a good look. Think I may need to invest in a new cheap highchair as DD won't give up the wooden one we have (converted into chair) so I was initally thinking bumbo in middle of table or something. We have a booster seat but I fear the chair underneath will get covered in all kinds, it looks great fun though!

I know what you mean, I was most miffed when Zach decided to sit the other week. I have not encouraged him one little bit because I didn't want an early crawler/walker again, but he looks so goddam pleased with himself

Not out tonight Pat that's next Friday and the following Monday. Still really apprehensive about it.

Dog dd is still in her bedside crib and has plenty of room, no intention of moving her for the forseeable, firstly cos I love having her so close and secondly as her bedroom is nowhere near ready yet!

Haven't bought her any toys yet, she mostly has her brothers old toys that I was too sentimental to part with so:

blossom farm baby gym thing (was ds2's)
dino roar activity cushion that no longer roars
bits and bobs off ds1's baby gym (particularly loves the crinkly shiny seaweed)
annoying babbling bee singing toy that is motion activated and always goes off just as I am putting her down
various teethers and rattles
her current favourite (other than the unputdownable Deborah the Zebra) is ds2's talking/singing Upsy Daisy doll.

We also have a selection of toys for older babies as well including:

stacking cubes
elc wooden building blocks
leappad
mega bloks (although she will have to fight her brothers for those as they still play with them almost daily)
Ikea bead threading thing
about 5,000 cuddly toys of various shapes and sizes

Was thinking of buying a car seat mobile as she is in the centre of our new car and the view must be very boring.

Thanks for the blw links Lennied have been to Aitch's site a few times, found it really interesting. I particularly like the photos. Not starting until 6 months obviously, but like to get me ducks in a row.

DH in a good mood tonight, as he had dd veritably roaring with laughter earlier on when he was playing with her - he's been really jealous that she generally keeps her best chuckles and belly laughs for me.

Evening all! Dog, have my fingers crossed for you, ope you get the house.

DS just has a baby gym thing I got off ebay the other weeks and an assortment of DDs old stuff, he likes sucking a Jelly Cat toy someone gave him, in fact he likes sucking anything in range. Thoose plastic rings that link together seem to be quite a hit too. I feel a bit guilty that he's probably neglected understimulated compared to DD, but it's impossible keeping them both entertained at once.

He's beenin the travel cot now for a few weeks. He was literally wedged diagnally (sp!)in his crib before that, so had to move him and now we can't move in our bedroom as it takes up so much space. Don't want to put him in with DD until he sleeps through so he doesn't wake her.

Pat, am in the same boat with highchairs. Dd has a nice wooden one which converted into a chair and she still uses it, so am going to do an ebay hunt for a cheapy one with a tray on it.

Jude is still quite happy lying on his back. He'll sit up with support but hates being on his tummy. Completely the opposite to DD who was crawling just shy of six months.

SOunds like everyone is enjoying the sunshine. Tree where are you? Hope you're ok and not too stressed out.

Am sitting here waiting for DD to get the pox, every single one of the kids we hang out with has now had it or has it, am thinking its only a matter of time. Hopefully she's been lucky and escaped for now,,.

Think I'm gonna try a combination of BLW and weaning and see how it goes.

Out of interest I was wandering how everyone heard of mumsnet. I had no idea of its existance when I was pregnant with DD, I only stumbled across it doing a pregnancy related google when I was up the duff with DS.

Hope everyone is having a lovely time in the sunshine, am going to venture off to bed!

Ohh, Moose, we've got that Blossom farm play gym, its really good, DS keeps falling asleep on it as its so fleecy and snuggly. Those IKea bead things are a winner too.
Right..bed..

I am a geek - I read the MN pregnancy book when trying to conceive DD after buying it in a bargain bucket outside a local bookshop (sorry MN!) and looked up the site after that. Whenever I google anything baby/pregnancy related though MN comes up and I find myself straying unintentionally to check threads- tis most time consuming!

evening all - can't hope to catch up properly, it's too late and am too miserable; another blocked duct and c has excelled herself with the screaming refusal to fall asleep this evening, so dp and i are crestfallen on the couch, wondering why we aren't in bed... excellent way to spend a saturday night...

c is a big fan of her elmo (sesame street character), she particularly enjoys sucking his eyeballs. she has a baby gym but is losing interest in lying down - may buy a jumperoo, thanks rray. her favourite toy is part of the baby gym though - it's a lion with a pink mane. makes her laugh and laugh.

rray, in terms of c's routine i can only say, what routine? we think this might be the root of our problems, thoguh, and are thinking of getting all military, timewise...

lenni - siena was lovely, but the apartment was pretty small and quite hot. no air conditioning and not well positioned for open windows (campo lively till 4ish on friday and saturday, too old and parental to enjoy it, sadly). if you are interested though i can find the link.

dog, hope you get the house.

hkz dd falls asleep on the baby gym frequently (as did her brother before her) she always looks so comfy.

I'm for bed as well now - shouldn't be up this late but am starting to dread going to bed.

pat banana conditioner!

lenni i guess i've done baby led weening unknowingly. she just grabbed at my hand one day when i was eating a mango and from there it hasn't stopped. DD just tried pineapple and cantaloupe the other day and loved it. she even likes red grapefruit. i do give her brown rice cereal and mush up a vegetable for dinner. we usually have a banana or other chunk of food for a snack after getting up from afternoon nap. i just keep introducing new foods and she eats them. great chef's kid.

ray nice routine. sounds peaceful. i do one with DD as well and have found that going into the bedroom 15 minutes before i want her to sleep and finish feeding there is very conducive to getting her down without much fuss. don't even have to turn her mobile on sometimes, which is nice because i am ready to crack if i have to hear 'London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.' well, its just the tune but for some reason i am incapable of not singing the words in my head.

so get this. my uncle chats with DH outside this morning (i was sleeping in), and gives his comment, 'oh i heard Violet crying up a storm last night. she's really getting her lungs'. DH says 'no, she wasn't crying last night, i was home at 11.' he is usually home later but had pulled in moments after uncle had. she hadn't cried. what the hell is his thing making up such an outright lie! his response was stuttered 'oh i thought she was' and then went off to work. what a dick. family.

DH made an outrageous statement yesterday. DD must go into her own room soon. my stomach dropped. i love having her in there. i know its not so good for our sex life, but its nice having her there. her room doesn't have a window either and i feel bad about her being in there all by herself at only 6 months old. it was such a shock to me when he said it. i think it'll change when the new couch comes because it'll be comfy to crash on. he just needs to sleep. (i mean i would go out to the couch with DD, not poor ol' DH having to sleep on the couch).

Hello all. Will try catch up but can't promise replies - depends on bubba!!

Busy here with washing and sorting camping and spending money despite havong no income. Jesus. Trying not to panic..............

Well - I think I am on the wrong thread!
All your babies are playing and bouncing and being put down - mine will do 10 min max, very occasionally indeed. Why?????

Mine still behaves about 2 months old - including the 3-4 times a night business.

Heck!!

Fingers crossed for the house Dog! Big good luck.

Pistatio [sp?] kulfa - drooool. I had lots at uni as Indian shop at end of road sold it. So creamy. I really miss dairy and cups of tea.

DH really needs a job.

Ray! Disney! How ace!

tree - we were up three times last night . no sign here of sleeping through... sleep issues completely hellish, dp and i both foully stressed. so even when she is playing and laughing, you know she'll be howling from exhaustion but refusing to go to sleep shortly...

hope things pick up for dh (and you) soon

books, the ikea highchair is part of the next shopping wave here, i think. maybe she'll sleep better when she is eating real food... stupid breast milk [pouting emoticon]

better go and see if ican do anything about howling coming from bedroom...

Oh stripey

Are you co-sleeping. We are, only because I can't stay awake to feed.

I reckon this baby is in our bed and on my hip till at least 5. What a little clinger!!

she is in a cot in our room - we got no sleep at all towards the end of the co-sleeping, as she was keen on continual snacking... and yes, we are trying to acclimatise to the notion of a haggard, screaming four year old if we can't manage to teach her how to go to sleep... hope you are alternating hips or you'll wind up with mismatched biceps

off to lunch now with dp's colleagues. am expecting to be scintillating conversationalist, what with the four month sleep deficit. lucky them...

Stripey for the sleep deficit. It is incredibly debilitating isn't it? I found myself doing comedy trying-to-keep-my-eyes-open yesterday when a friend dropped round in the evening, she said I looked drunk.. However, ds was a terrible sleeper and even he started to sleep through eventually (at 8 months) and now goes down brilliantly. It will change, promise.
Having said that, dd, who has so far been fab at self soothing, and had lovely long naps, has become very odd over thelast week. She's had a bit of a poorly tum and that seems to have started a run of terrible sleeping - she won't go down, and then only sleeps for 20 or so mins during the day. At night she is better and only wakes at 1am and 4am, but she seems to think 4am is time to start the day, which is just so WRONG especially as ds has started to wake up when he hears her and join in with demanding breakfast at ridiculous o clock. dh and I are snapping at eachother and I know it is mainly tiredness.. grim

Ray - the jumper thing looks great. I need to get something like that - we're moving house in 2 weeks and will have a playroom so will have the space for it!! Rosie starting properly rolling the day before yesterday and now rolls as soon as she's put on her back. and then gets stuck as she can't roll back, so after 5 mins she wails because she's had enough. She loves to be propped to sit up and stand so I think that might be the answer.. it also means ds will be less likely to stand on her. bonus.
Hope disney is fabulous!!

I second the IKEA highchair being brilliant, one of our best buys I think..
anyone thinking of BLW, ds loved it and ate everything and anything. Broccoli and courgettes were particular favourites!! not any more - I had hoped BLW would mean no fussy eating and tho he is good at trying things he is also good at spitting them out.. ah well, sure that will change too!!

by the way does anyone know which high street shops stock Crocs? ds needs summer shoes and I've heard good things abut them. Tink, I bet you'll know where the best buys are!!

Dunno myself - but loads of online places do free next day delivery.

I had a confirmation of lard ass status yesterday when welly bobs I tried on for up and coming camping trip wouldn't fit over shot putter calves. Even DH [a true gent] had the hide behing stand to smirk.

I used to have lovely long legs. Now I have a whole lot more of them.

ooooo want one [all] of these

Ray - was reading your bedtime/nap time routine. Am thinking might need to do a bit more in that line. She doesn't have her room, thats me, I am a bit weird about her sleeping away from people, but maybe I do need to get some more sleep cues on the go.

We made dd1 a bit too dependant on them, she needed dark, strokes, snugler toy etc etc and in the end I felt I was looking after them and not the baby! She couldn't slep in cars or pushchairs etc. But have maybe gone too far the other way with dd2.

Sadly Harriet's sleep regime is 4 sets of 3 flights of stairs, buried under a blanket, with her head in an armpit - she prefers dh's. Not ideal! Def needs a dummy too, though she spits that when going into a deep sleep. We needed it big style for the colic, and still do to get burps up.

She just had 2oz from a bottle, so will keep trying her. Hurrah for Dr Brown's. She refused last time we tried.

I have great pity for anyone camping near us next week. We'll clear the field in one evening. Mwwahhh mwwaahh across the valleys.

hi

too hot!!!

Quite chilly here. Blooming coast.

When so you think you will find out? Did they say?