June 2008: birthdays, bunting and bumps make mummy a little bit tired!

[pureeandpearls]

Bring it on!!!

LOL Sponge, have already been and spent at Steamer Trading (we arrived at 3.15, gave Iestyn his tea, did 1/2 an hour in the village...£50 magically disappeared!)!! It's really lovely here. (Well, not the hotel so much, but the village is amazing!)

DH still working...
Viva I think I may have passed you and Iestyn is no longer the smallest on this thread!! I don't know where to go with that information... No, really, I don't know exactly what he weighs, but he was over 18lb a month ago. He's due to be weighed next week - DH and I tried on my scale but we couldn't get an accurate reading. We have a car seat ready to go but don't want to put him in it too early.

Neenz lol at you on that thread. BLW not an option with a baby of Iestyn's size - couldn't afford any mucking about and not eating. Sponge's best friend Leonie has appeared on the thread too!

Sponge am I right in thinking that you don't cook? (This is not a judgement - I'm a sh!te cook, which is why self-catering holidays aren't an option for us. The food would be too poor. ) I ask because of that amazing, well, cookshop really. I was totally overexcited when I saw it, but it does occur to me that I might as well get excited about a fishing supplies shop...

Morning All,

There is a Steamer Trading Cookshop in Guildford. Luckily for my bank balance it has so much lovely stuff crammed in it that it isn't very pushchair friendly. I can take you there next time you visit Sponge / Essie.

I am a rubbish cook too. We had friends over for lunch yesterday at short notice (the original hosts had to pull out). I actually managed to cook a three course meal for 7 without major trauma. I think the secret is to keep the cooking part to a minimum. Heat was only used on the salmon, and everything else was cold. Thank-you Saint Gordon . One of our guests is due to have her first baby in a fortnight. it made me feel a bit broody. However I spent most of the weekend feeling like I only just about get through with Peter. There is a problem in there somewhere.

I?m the one that?s bad at holidays in our family. I normally work myself into such a state of excitement that when I go on holidays and I?m still exhausted and flustered trying to take care of everyone else that I get disappointed and end up bawling. This year we might not go anywhere because I?m so rubbish.

I agree with Deb, life without a dishwasher would be cruel! Although I never missed one until I had one? I think it?s one of those things you quickly get used to. We manage with only one car and I know a lot of people think we?re mad for doing that (and we live rurally ? I know it?d be a cinch in London, we lived in Vancouver without a car for a few years).

BDQ sorry to hear that you might be having problems with your coil ? I had some issues with mine and it was actually surprisingly upsetting. It should be such a brilliant form of birth control, but nothing?s ever that simple?

Right! Edinburgh and Glasgow folks ? I?m going to be dropping my mother and grandfather off at Edinburgh Airport at half eight on the 6th (Thursday) and then I was thinking of maybe taking the boys to the zoo. Is anyone off that day and fancy meeting up?

Rolf I love that site? it looks so brilliantly professional!

neenz I?ve found that each of my boys needed to find a special book they loved before they got at all interested in reading. Fraser?s got a book about a duck and he?s always bringing it to us to read a few pages ? but this is a very recent development. I?d keep books around and try a variety, but not stress it if they are not old enough. It may be that they are just too busy playing with each other.

viva and essie Ha! I think Fraser might be in the running for smallest baby now? I somehow thought your two were still around the 16lbs mark. And he?s older too.

Aargghh, abdn I was all excited thinking I was off that Thursday, but it is in fact the following Thursday . Thanks for comment on coil, it is seriously p'ing me off. I was starting to think something was really wrong until I put two and two together. Need to go and speak to the gp about it. Have no bloody idea what I'll do instead. It was the best of a bad bunch of options for me

I should maybe be relieved that we're not going on holiday this year, with all these horror stories!

Expecting a difficult day ahead here. S has ended up in our bed every night for a week now, and he was really unsettled. When we got up this morning he was like a furnace but his temperature was surpringly ok. He's been very upset and clingy today so far. We've already had more cbeebies than is recommended for a week!

neenz S still chucks books about, although he's never really got into chewing them. I think you should let them explore them as much as they want (which includes chewing them). We've always read to S and for a long time he wouldn't sit still for more than a page or two. He still doesn't sometimes. A couple of months ago he started getting really into any touch and feel books and then flap books. We're not too fussed about him sitting while we read a whole book but we do make sure he's got access to books in his play area.

Neenz- I wasn't on here when we were weaning and missed out on the BLW debate but we did BLW and I found it brilliant. Suited my lazy nature! Spoons aren't banned in my house, we didn't use them until he was eating plenty on his own, but then if we were having something like mashed potato or yoghurt then we would use a spoon for that.
I haven't got any experience of conventional weaning so it's hard for me to compare but he is a much better eater than his conventionally weaned friend, this could just be their natures though and may have nothing to do with the weaning.
Would be interested to hear which routes you all took?
I'm impressed that you stuck with pureeing with twins, must have taken ages for you to make their food then feed them both it?

On the reading topic, we don't read to J before bed as I think it would overexcite him rather than calm him down. I read to him during the day (sometimes).

The cookshop place sounds good, we have Denby pottery nearby and they have a great cookshop, I can spend ages in there.

Essie - enjoy your holiday!

I'm starting to get stressed as my best friend is getting married in exactly a weeks time, and as usual I haven't sorted out the wedding present or got anything to wear so will have to go out and do some mad shopping this week.

BDQ - Am I right in thinking the mirena coil also contains hormones? One of the reasons I came off the pill (as well as deciding to TTC) was that it was starting to give me migraines, I tried loads of different ones but after a while they all went the same way. I felt so much better once I came off it. The hormones just don't suit me. I know what you mean about a bad bunch of options, we were talking about this last night as once we have had this next baby contraception is going to be a big issue. None of the methods are particularly satisfactory.

Hope S feels better soon.

ktpie I did blw this time but not with the others. It sounds as though I did the same sort of thing as you - once she was eating well I'd use spoons for things like yoghurt. Thea doesn't eat very much and seems quite slight compared to her contemporaries, but I'm still breastfeeding so need to factor in the nourishment she's getting from that.

I don't read to Thea but I breastfeed her at bedtime so I guess that's our winding-down time. There are obviously books around the house so she picks them up and messes around with them/eats them. Sometimes she's in the room when I read to DD1 but generally I try to keep that a special time for DD1. I try to read to the boys as well but that often falls by the wayside as I'm just too tired. THey listen to story CDs but I always feel terrible about not reading to them very much. I read to DS2 last night and it was lovely. He loved it too.

DH had a client in prison near the potteries, and after seeing this client DH would go to the factory shops and buy all sorts of lovely crockery. He bought enough to fill 2 big cupboards . It's beautiful stuff but ate quite heavily into his fee! We call the pottery factory shops the Prison Gift Shop

BDQ - sorry you're having problems with the mirena. I agree about best of a bad bunch. I am squeamish at the thought of something inside me and I also don't like using artificial hormones - when I was briefly on the pill I felt very odd and found it frightening. I am also paranoid about hormones passing through to my milk. So that rules out mirena, pill and depo. Couldn't handle v heavy periods and see above re wierd things inside me - so no copper coil. DH has a serious case of White Coat Syndrome so no snip for him (fair enough). So that leaves horrid condoms.

Rolf - same here with the contraception, Ihave similar issues with the coil. Condoms here too, which DH hates, hence my current situation. Unfortunately he would quite happily go for the snip but we haven't agreed on how many kids we want (he wants 2, I want 3) so it's more a case of me trying to stop him!

We got a load of Denby stuff as a wedding present, handy to be near the factory to replace any breakages. Went a few months ago as I'd broken a glass and was shocked to find they were meant to be £26 for 2 (seemed an awful lot to me), luckily there was an offer on and they were reduced to £16 for 2 plus that day it was BOGOF so I got 4 for £16 which seemed a lot more reasonable. They do have good offers!

hello everyone! I have a quiet week this week so treating myself to a quick skim of the thread and saw people were asking about me, am v. touched as thought I would have slipped off the radar completely by now so thought I would say hi! Things are OK but hectic.

Caitlin is now a complete live wire and needs watching / stimulating / entertaining / protecting all the time she is awake. She is having proper toddler tantrums and nearly got barred from nursery for stabbing her keyworker with a fork. But she is also very charming and funny so just about got away with it .... Many teeth, and her first molars are coming through, but she isn't suffering too much, I didn't realise till she had a bad night and I tried teething gel and felt the huge bumps. She is standing for a few seconds now and desperate to walk, I think it might be this week.

She tries to say lots of words, though you need to know what she is saying - she says 'doctor' at the TV (because Liam watches Dr Who constantly) and sings and dances the Bob the Builder song (sounds like 'ba de ba ba, ba ba ba ba' though!) Life is clearly very different for a second child living in a three year old's world!! I have night weaned her now which has helped her sleep a lot, it's not rock solid yet but miles better than it used to be.

No offers on the house yet but lots of viewings still - we are so crap at domestic stuff that keeping it pristine (or as near as it ever gets) is quite a strain, hence my radio silence these days. But I may have a quiet couple of weeks coming up so will try and catch up with you all properly then.

love to you all xx

SA - good luck with the house viewings, how long has it been on the market? I hated having our house on the market and trying to keep on top of the cleaning just in case anyone came to see it. Ours was on for 13 months but with no viewings at all until the last couple of months so sounds like you are doing better than us, will keep my fingers crossed for you.

I seem to have been on here a lot this morning and I'm shattered so should be taking this opportunity while J naps to have a sleep. Of course he will wake up as soon as I close my eyes!

I'm laughing at reading about all your holiday tales, makes me feel better. We never go away together, dp thinks work can't cope without him - really if he has time off he'd rather stay at home catching up on sleep and playing on his PC (he's still 15 at heart). I used to get to travel with work by planning extra days around conferences but that's not really an option now! We did get a weekend in Center Parks with his family this year which was nice but stressful ... We have a week all booked off together next week and thought we might do something with it but nothing is planned yet and we have no cat feeder so I fear it is unlikely!! but heartened to see that last minute holidays are at least possible ...

Only since 10 May ktpie and things are moving quickly around us so fingers crossed ... I fear that my lack of homemaking skills puts people off though as we had LOADS of viewings and no offers which in a way feels worse, it's getting them through the door that puts them off!!

SA I was wondering where you had gotten too, I'm glad you haven't forgotten us. our house had lots of viewings too but most of the people were just being nosy - we could tell that they had no interest in actually buying anything, let alone our place. (We took 3 months to sell). As for mess, I did see one house that had dirty laundry (pants included) all over the floors of the bedrooms. It was a big turn off. But I didn't expect a house to be pristine - it just had to make me comfortable to be there without gloves on.

BDQ that's too bad that you're working! It feels odd that you're all so close (and yet not...).

ktpie, rolf etc, I've the copper coil - I like not having hormones and I'm lucky enough to have light periods so I can get away with it. It's not ideal though as it is causing low levels of irritation. My GP promised me that it's okay, but I think if I was sure I wanted another kid, I'd have had it removed. If I was sure I didn't want another, I'd be sending DH in for the snip. We are not good at decisions in this family (still haven't quit work...)

SA - The whole house buying / selling thing is so stressful. Now we have moved I have no intention of moving again for a long time.
You just need one person to like it and make an offer so at least with lots of viewings you have more chance of getting that one person, although it is annoying having to keep things tidy for loads of pointless viewings. Good luck!
I'm still here, not had a sleep and J definitely awake now, better go!

Abdn at decision-making. I know what you mean - we still haven't got a car...
I know lots of people who've gone for permanent methods of contraception and been very happy with it, but I just can't imagine having that degree of certainty about having no more children. I have no idea what life will throw at us for the (few) fertile years we have left - illness, bereavement, family issues, huge windfalls, orderliness...I know from experience, for example, that bereavement has in the past made me obsessively broody.

Oh golly, Thea has opened the bread drawer and pulled out several slices of bread, licking or nibbling at a slice before throwing it on the floor and moving onto the next one. Sometimes DD1 puts food on the floor for her: "I'm feeding her like a dog!"

I have been told in the past my children eat like Henry VIII, flinging chicken legs over his shoulder ... not far from the truth at the moment!

lol at feeding her like a dog Rolf!

We have books scattered about the place and the DCs love to look at them so maybe that's enough for the time being. When we try to sit with them they get fidgety.

ktpie, you've opened a can of worms there . Only kidding, but blw/purees caused a few small rucks on here back in the day. I really wanted to do blw but weaned at 5mths due to cluster BFing from the DTs - I couldn't keep up, they wanted to feed all the time, and were much more settled after I started to wean them. But they wouldn't pick any food up at first - they just ignored everything I put in front of them - so I spoonfed them. I loved the idea of blw and was so disapponted when they didn't eat anything. I know that the point of blw is it doesn't matter if they don't eat anything but obviously I was trying to BF two and they were continously feeding. They did quite quickly start picking up rice cakes/toast/fruit and I gave them mashed/lumpy food from the start really. But even at 7/8/9mths, whenever I put a meal on their trays for them to eat themselves, Esther particularly would just ignore it and not eat a thing. But she would love it if a spoonfed her the same meal. I just think blw is too 'strict' in that they say you should not put anything into the baby's mouth yourself, they should only eat what they can put into their own mouths, but as you say with things like yogurt that is not very practical! I totally agree with letting a baby lead the way on amounts etc and not trying to force-feed them but I don't really get why there has to be this big divide wrt spoon-feeding and not spoon-feeding. Gill Rapley has lots of good points to make in her book, but it is all 'probably' leads to less obesity, 'maybe' leads to fewer food fads etc, it is not proven to be better or healthier. I have absolutely nothing against blw, I know it works for lots of people and it's a perfectly legitimate way to wean, but then I also think spoon-feeding is a fine way to wean your baby too. It doesn't take ages to feed them, I just use one spoon and one bowl and give one a mouthful then the other.

Neenz- I must be tired, like a complete idiot I had this idea in my head of you slaving over the oven cooking up something to puree then feeding it to one twin only to start the whole cooking process over again to feed the other one! Just the thought of it was making me feel weary. It's making me laugh now thinking about it! Your method sounds a good bit quicker. Lets hope I never have twins and have to organise myself to do 2 of everything, it would be a disaster!

I can totally sympathise on the hungry baby thing, it seemed for a long time that all J wanted to do was feed and I think if I'd had to feed 2 hungry babies I would have done the same thing.
In fact I started J at about 5 and a half months which I know goes against Gill Rapleys advice and would probably get me shot down in flames on the BLW boards but after reading her book I felt there was a contradiction between the idea that you should only feed babies when they are ready to feed themselves and the very strict "not before 6 months" idea. What if they are ready before 6 months? I'm not a doctor but I am a biological scientist and I'm fairly sure there is no sudden physiological change to a babies gut on it's 6 month birthday, the change is going to be happening gradually. Anyhow I gave him a banana and he managed to pick it up and munch on it which is pretty good going with a slippy banana! We took it fairly slow for the first month or so but he was soon wolfing down loads.
My only real experience of a conventionally weaned baby in RL is my friends baby who in comparison to J doesn't eat very much and is very fussy about new foods, textures etc, so I think I have become a bit biased towards the idea that the BLW was a more successful approach (I also liked the fact that it made life easier for me!), but of course it could just be their natures and they could have come out the same however they were weaned. The scientist in me isn't happy with the size of my test group!
This is obviously a subject that you guys have discussed at length, I imagine you are all yawning and saying not this old subject again!

I tried to read a book to J this morning prompted by the talk on here, he sat for one page then got cross until I let him look at the book himself. He then read it to himself. This involves turning the pages with a very serious expression on his face whilst he makes a loud monotone drawling noise (his reading voice). I don't know where he has got this from, it obviously in no way resembles the lively animated way I read to him! Weird eh!

lol, ktpie - I did think 'not really, I just make double!' when you said it must take ages to make food for twins

I agree that 5.5mths is fine and that is one of the great things about blw - if they can pick it up and put it in their own mouths then they're probably ready to eat it no matter what age they are. With blw you can't really wean too early, which is its appeal to many people I think.

I am doing the single parent thing until Wed (maybe Thurs) as DH has a case in Canaerfon - and is staying in a holiday cottage in Anglesey, Essie! It's the first time he has spent nights away from home since they were born, but as he often goes to work in the morning before they get up and gets home after I have put them to bed I don't think it will be too much of a diversion for me .

Lol Essie, no I don't cook but am married to a fabulous cook, which is why self-catering is perfect ! But Steamer Trading has so much lovely stuff that you can just stick in your kitchen and look at - you don't need to use any of it!

Ali, sounds great - although I will not mention that to dh before I come visit!

Hi to everyone else. Still too tired to function .

Hi all - Reading all your posts but too tired to keep up. am impressed re your feeding neenz as you always seem to have it cracked - e"s eating erratic. Can I ask about bedtime routine- I give e a bath after quiet play/ watching DVD at about seven ( or dh gives her bath) then bottle in dark quiet room and then she is usually very sleepy or asleep so put her in cot. Now am I making rod for my own back here - I am not bothered re milk( I had milky drink at bedtime then toothbrushing when I was little) but is this bad thing re routines if I ever have another one. Btw she doesn't generally need milk to nap in day or get back to sleep so not worried about that. Am still confused re sleeping routines a year on.
Also have had most horrendous nappies (but no other signs) since Friday - edie had injection on Thursday. Is this a side effect, teething, bug? Seems fine in every other way.

ktpie - hilareous decription of J's book reading - just like Luke! He wants everything I ever have in my hands so trying to get him to sit through a book is pointless. He loves turning the pages but his fave book is buzzy bee which has bits that move if you pull the flaps. I have however had to repair it so many times that every single page has sellotape on it now.

I can't write too much today as I am so shattered I feel ill. Luke's been doing the 4.30 am thing again and I've had a full day at work.

Re contraception, Mark and I will just do abstinence I think!!

Re buying houses, Mark and I have had our flat on the market 18 months. It's soul destroying when we have viewings and no offers - not one - we haven't even had a second viewing ever! It's really nice - and the right price for what it is. Have a look amber's flat

Lol at luke Reading- we hve Sellotape issue here and worse - it's no wonder edie can't find maisy for all the weetabix cemented to the page !
Flat looks lovely - can I ask why you want to move? Is it cos you want a house instead?

Couldn't resist a mosey Amber - that's one nice flat. Exactly the kind of place I dreamed of living in back in my London days! I forget how pricey London is though! Hope you get more interest soon.

Question for you all - when do babies switch from body suits to vests and pants. As a rule do your LO's all still wear a bodysuit under their clothes.

Also, anyone particularly good at fancy dress ideas? Been invited to a James bond party... Am not feeling bond girl like at the mo...

Poppy - S still has bottle last thing before bed. We're going to finish current pack of formula and then try him with a cup of cows milk. It's the only bottle he has now, and there doesn't seem much point trying to persuade him to take formula in a cup at this stage. He's just started swiping his bottle away and pointing to his cot when he's done (still screams blue murder when he goes in it tho) so we're hoping it'll be a smooth natural progression. Everyone I know with older toddlers has said they just give it up eventually when they're ready.