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

[pureeandpearls]

Bring it on!!!

whinegums that is great news, well done.

Bravissimo is great isn't it. Well I finally got a tankini today! Very chuffed with it as it fits really well and I won't have to hold in my tummy too much

poppy - on the funny nappies, is this after the mmr?

Whinegums - Congratulations! Great news.

Poppy - thanks for the nappy warning, it was the 12 month one allnew, not the MMR.

Stupid question alert! - Now that J has TWO teeth should I be brushing them? I dug out a baby toothbrush and toothpaste tonight and had a go, it went surprisingly well but I wasn't too sure if I should be brushing them (I seem to remember reading somewhere about wiping them with a cloth, or is that when they get them earlier?), and whether I was doing it right. Your tips / advice would be appreciated as you are all more experienced in the baby tooth department than me! On that subject how do we get him to stop biting our shoulders!

Whinegums - great news well done. Visit as many CM/nurseries as you can and go by your gut feeling or word of mouth - that's my best tip!

Spone - keeping A at the CM will be great for him and for you. When I had T, S still went a couple of times to the CM to keep his place and to give me some sanity!

Ktpie - with Ethan's mouthful of teeth I do brush them but not as much as I should. As for biting, he gets put down on the floor with a definite NO.

Allnew - well done on the tankini!!

Thanks for asking Poppy - it's better than it was but still not right, I have to get an x ray done then take it back to my Drs, just haven't got round to it yet.

Ethan slept for 3 hours after his MMR today!

Nappies after 12 month jab - putting off mmr in case she gets a rash as if do it when it's due will get rash whilst we Are in France

Am very grumpy because all the airlines near everywhere I want to book for my holiday wont release their schedules for next year till god knows when (curse of the no frills airlines) and I dont know what day to book e.g. sat to sat etc because I cant guarantee when the flights will be :-(.

Viva - sorry to hear about all that your family is going through just now. Puts my woes into perspective!

Thanks all for jeans comments. I'll still manage a cake on Monday whinegums (but just to celebrate the fantastic news about your new job), which reminds me, I haven't replied to your message on fb.

£56 for a day at nursery is seriously expensive!

Amber that's rubbish re: the house. My tuppence worth (for what it's worth, and no basis for a decision) is that I hate it when people get greedy about property prices and buyers shouldn't have to overstretch themselves to satisfy others greed. I'd leave them to rot on the property market and try very hard to believe that my perfect home is just around the corner. But easy for me to say!

ktpie it took us ages to start remembering to brush S's teeth regularly. Twice a day now, but really struggling with the night time one. We're trying to do it after he has some milk out of a cup but by that points he's exhausted and in no mood for it.

Question for you all... We dropped S's bedtime bottle and giving him cows milk in a cup instead. He's not interested in it at all, but still settling ok. Should we just drop the bedtime drink? I'm worried about his milk intake, but wonder if it's really worth making life difficult for ourselves to get him to take a few sips. Surely once he's nappy free at night further down the track we'll be trying to discourage a drink just before bed anyway? Opinions received gratefully.

Haven't spotted five but did want to let her know that I went for the inflatable booster and its fab!

kpie I brush A's teeth morning and night. He hates it though and screams so I have to hold his jaws and somehow keep his hands down at the same time which is tricky!

Had a funny incident today. He's never had his hair brushed (bad mummy alert) and finally I got his hairbrush out and was just about to brush it when - he picked it up and did it himself! Didn't realise he even knew what it was for - I guess they really do notice everything

Five is around but said something on fb about thread taking too long to load

bdq can I ask a daft question - does the booster attach to the chair? - i.e. straps like a normal booster? A is a little Houdini, and I like the look of the inflatable one

Hello, busy here today! I should have posted at work - I did nothing. Literally nothing today. Shocking. But I was really tired for no reason.
Ktpie I did lots of quilting so if you fancy having a go, message me on facebook. I machine everything! Also, glad you've raised the toothbrushing issue. Deb when you say 'not as often as I should'...will you confess? Because we don't manage to brush every night here because Iestyn hates it. Did a bit better than usual tonight though. But he hates having the toothbrush anywhere near his mouth. Anybody with top tips?

Whinegums well done! With childcare, where are you based? Iestyn goes to nursery and I would highly recommend - it's great for developing interaction and Does Them Good (according to my Mum, who knows her onions on early days). But - BUT - this is a v. rural area, and there aren't that many childminders - stories of people here interviewing several amazed me! And, because of that, it really was a no-brainer for me: in London, a CM can go and meet other CMs, go to baby signing, soft play, playgroups etc. Here, it's 2 a week if you're lucky and not too remote, and so the child would be a bit isolated in some ways. I feel very, very fortunate in my childcare. Iestyn settled well at nursery (not all do), and last week he cried because he didn't want to leave and grabbed his keyworker like I was going to beat him. He clearly gets a better time there than at home. He loves going to my Mum too.

Amber so, so sorry about the house. But why crass? (Actually, totally honest, I don't know what 'crass' means. I'm second language! )

Poppy MMR was totally fine here, but the 12 month jabs weren't. But we also rearranged around a break... (Ktpie Iestyn knew exactly what was coming with the MMR and started crying on arriving in the HV room, and refused to read any books because he had to keep his eye on her.)

Allnew well done on the tankini! I also prefer them - somehow a one-piece makes me look like Mr Greedy from the Mr Men. Or a large jelly baby. I'm having a real crisis about my figure at the mo. I put on a top today which looked good, but when I sat down it stretched over my flab and was stretching at the seams (it was silk - unforgiving!). According to the scales I've put on 4lb, but my tummy is humongous. Running machine hired and on its way. But now I'm hungry...

Had an interesting one today at work. A colleague's wife has just had a permanent job at Oxford, but he's at Bangor. She's thrilled (who wouldn't be) but upset because it means she won't have a family. This is pretty common in academic circles - I know loads of people who live in different cities to their OHs - but I really feel for her. I said I'd chat to her and tell her it's possible - but in all reality it would be horrifically hard for her. She has no family nearby - both he and she are German. Puts my dilemmas about having more than one in the shade. (Anybody noticed my silence on that one? One of these days I'll spill my guts on the topic on here - be warned! )

My tooth is hurting. The gum is a bit swollen - feels sort of shiny IYKWIM. My dentist is in London...

Mega x-posting!

Essie I have friends who are academics. At the moment they live in Scotland and teach in different universities, but both in Scotland. She's just got a job in Exeter . She seems quite relaxed about it but I just can't imagine how they will cope. He has some cushy setup tenure so has big blocks of time when he doesn't have to be in Scotland, so I guess they will spend most of their time in the South. They have 1 child and don't want any more. Can't imagine how it's manageable otherwise.

Ah, Rolf, that's the thing. I never wanted to have an only child. But then I never imagined - when I was ten and imagining being married - that I would be living alone on Anglesey with my DH in London, only appearing at weekends (on the whole). Mind you - you manage, right?
So, I decided sometime last year that I was only having one, and had no interest in no. 2 and was, in fact, uncomfortable around pg women! (Sorry to all on here - Puree is too bright to have missed the undertones when she told me - so a big sorry! I'm actually really thrilled for you and had a premonition about your pg so maybe I was just shocked that my premonition was true!) But, someone lovely on here told me that she didn't want another until she had stopped bfing. And I'm down to 1 feed a day...and suddenly musing about baby no. 2.
But, but, but...
I do have job issues. But then it didn't stop me last time!

See what you've done now, Rolf? Set me off!

Trying to catch up!!! Got as far as yesterday morning so:

Ali - You've got a London meet up to look forward to!

Sponge - It was the harbourside festival in Bristol, we saw the posters for the balloon festival and are gutted that we're missing it. The balloons over Clifton bridge look amazing. My sis lives in Warmley, about half way btw Bristol and Bath (I love Bath). It's on the Bath-Bristol cycle path actually so we'll be taking our bikes next time. We were sleeping in a queen sized bed (used to a king) and for the first time ever had to bring R into our bed as he wouldn't settle after a 2am waking. Not the best night's sleep ever...

I want a campervan too! Shall we all chip in and get a June 2008 timeshare camper?

Milk - Pint to pint and a half here.

Sleeping - Just the one lunchtime nap here about noon which can be anything btw 30mins and 2 hrs! 12 hour night sleep, normally (PP touches virtual wood)

Essie - I'd second a wii-fit. It has more varied options than a treadmill, but is less punishing. After you've used it a bit, you can do step and running whilst watching tv.

Right, just two more pages to catch up on now!
T=R Come round and try mine out if you like.

Very very briefly. Essie. Well done for cutting down ... (Still on three and hanging on for dear life as already have enough!!!!!)

sorry sorry sorry . Put it back in the bottle. Cork in. Lots of sealing wax. I'll put the bottle in my messiest cupboard, so you can't find it for a while.

ROFL @ rampant rabbits on the wii!

Haven't tried cutlery other than a spoon here yet. Will give that a go this week, any particular baby cutlery recommendations?

BDQ - Well done on the jeans!

Viva - what an awful, awful weekend. Hope everyone is on the mend.

Whinegums - Congrats on the job!

Amber - I would go with your gut feeling about the house. Do you think you'll look back in a years time and wish you'd paid the extra or would it be something that would grate on you thinking that you'd paid over the odds?

I saw that 5 posted on FB that MN was loading too slowly for her ATM. BTW, where's Neenz? Is she camping?

KTPie - we brush once a day (think r has ten teeth now!), however R has started biting the brush which makes it harder. Re: biting, we had an awful time of it for about 2 months. R actually bit Luke . Mostly he just bit me (not DH, grr), I kept doing the loud 'no's, etc, but he seemed to just grow out of it. I wondered if it was connected to teething in some way.

Essie - Quite the opposite issue here re: 2nd child. I always thought that I'd have at least two, no more that 2 years apart (so I'd need to get preg by end of Sept), but job issues, which country to live in issues and the pills I'm on have buggered that up. Add to that I'm not even close to my already overweight pre pg weight and I feel quite sad actually. DH said over the weekend that he thinks we should wait until R is about 5 before having another, but that really depresses me for some reason. Not sure I've fully processed not having another soon TBH, in an ideal world I'd want to be TTC now.

Amber I was hoping that you'd have posted a link by the time I'd caught up. Go on!

More EMDR tomorrow...so I pop a spaced out head in tomorrow evening. DH and I banning TV this week (House, Ugly Betty and West Wing re-runs allowed), so more time to catch up with you all.

Night y'all!

Sorry, Amber I meant a link to the house.

Essie - Bad tooth here too. Wisdom tooth swelling up again so can't eat properly (v good for diet). Been referred to St Georges EMERGENCY dental unit who have a six week waiting list....

Interesting posts tonight! I couldn't actually imagine living in a different city from DH, but then I couldn't actually be an academic so it's all, well, academic . I'd find it too hard, though I suspect it might suit some people?

essie everything in my head says no more babies, but as I see my 'baby' disappear I do wonder (and I really worry about him being all alone in the world when we're not here). Actually since having him I really worry about death - a lot.

Re booster chair straps - it works just like a regular booster seat. Not used it too much yet but pleased so far. Tempted to get a solid plastic one for everyday use though.

Hi, just dropping in. My family leave tomorrow and then I'll be back

ktpie I'd be so annoyed to see my post advertised for more than I made - they'll probably advertise mine at the same rate but take off a few responsibilities. It is so true about them not appreciating us until we're gone!

I'm in for the June08 campervan

Rolf you sound a bit down - hugs hugs hugs

Essie you do an excellent job as a half-time single mum and I think it does make it hard that you've got your DH around part time - kids are slaves to routine and you're routine is more variable than most. And while my DH does go away, it's not that often and we're still always based in our house. And I'm quitting work to cope with it... So I can completely see why you're feeling uninspired to have another kid.

Also, I'm not sure that having one kid isn't a great gift for the kid - think of all the travel and opportunities that are possible to a family of three. Everything has it's own strengths and drawbacks... Plus my DH and his brother do not get along so I don't buy the "have another to keep the first company".

I could be an academic, well, I practically was, but we couldn't manage two careers and two kids. Partially that's due to my need for 8 hours of sleep and my anxiety issues but hey...

anyone need some numerical modelling done? I'm going to set myself up as an employee of DH's company and sell out market myself to the oil industry. We've done the math - money is going to be tight!

Amber I'd love to see a link to the house. Now that we've all asked you it wouldn't be crass, it'd be only polite! Normally I just see these houses in magazines I guess maybe I'd be jealous if we were trying to live in London on DH's salary but I wouldn't trade you, I love living here.

Oh, and we put in two bids for houses that I really wanted and was gutted when they were turned down. It turned out for the best as I love love love this house and we didn't even find it till we started looking further afield... Although we did have to spend about five grand more to get this one than I wanted which was frustrating. The owners had died and the daughter held out for more than we wanted to spend. So if you love it, go for it, but if it's just 95% perfect, I'd say wait!

and congrats whinegums!

on the babies front - I'm not having any more. I only ever wanted one (in fact wanted none until a few years ago!) and tbh have no yearnings about newborns at all. Sometimes a little bit of me thinks it would be nice to have another one, but I really don't think I could go through the newborn stage again, and I find I get a bit stressed if I've got too much on the go at home. Also no way would be able to afford childcare and I'm main earner so can't give up work. So that's that sorted then!

essie lol at mr-greedy. I find how I feel about my shape is mostly dependent on what I wear (which is my excuse for buying too many clothes) - nothing worse than when something is sticking in or too tight. I've been on a fairly strict diet now for a week and have lost - wait for it - no pounds! Was gutted this morning when I got on the scales as I have been hungry all week

That's a difficult one about your friend, especially if she wanted to have a family. I guess a lot of you on here are testament to making it work, but I know that must be through a lot of effort and difficulty at times

whinegums - A is doing great at his nursery. I went to see about 5 and was only truly happy with one. He's settled in really well and they always say he's had a great time. I think the cm/nursery decision is probably also a lot to do with the child's personality. Some may prefer a smaller more homely environment, but A loves hustle and bustle and would run riot around someone else's house

Whinegims - massive congrats on the job front - was worth all the effort then!

Ktpie - Luke HATES having his teeth brushed but does love the toothpaste (a baby one which tastes like bubblegum). We do his bottom ones no problem but god knows how much actual cleaning the tiop ones get. yes they should be brushed though once they start to come through even if they don't have anything sugary.

BDQ - I am always worrying about dying now and what would happen to Luke - Awful!!

So here is a link to the house - we are going in with another bid today but that REALLY is it!

house

wow amber that is one seriously nice house

...and round the corner form an ace soft play place!

Oh God we need to start thinking of a new thread title. No point in me trying to think of owt as I'm in the very small section who think it should just be called part I, II III etc (i.e. dull and unimaginitive!).