Nov 2008 - because there was no thread space to think of a clever title!

[Yorky]

Had to be done soon, hope it works!

Last time I was on we were talking about 'Waybuloo'!

pinky, thanks for the book recommendation, I have bookmarked it on amazon. Thanks also for the reassurance on sleeping through. M has been driving me crazy this past week, up at least 5x every night. Now she has put J off too and the past 2 nights he's been up 3x whereas he was sleeping through. I hope you're right about the 11 months thing, I have had only about 5 nights of getting up twice and sometimes feel like I am losing my sanity. drswife, i feel a lot worse than when I came back from the hospital!

twinkling, so sorry to hear about dh's friend. It's really hard to know what to say to those going through grief, sometimes just a hug is best. Lots of cuddles for dh definitely.

phee, wow another baby. congrats. are you the first on the thread? LOL about the haircut.

Been having some lovely moments with the babies and ds1, chasing each other down the corridor and all giggling away. It's truly lovely and makes my day! I do love this age so much. I remember with ds1 at this age thinking he was such a big boy, but I just think of the babies as BABIES. I don't want them to grow up, just to sleep through!!!

hello
Am so sorry, I can't remember who said what now I'm here and I keep lurking, meaning to post and then I can't remember so just want to say 'hi' and so sorry about dh's friend twinkling
How did dh's interview go phee? babysigning have been doing 'milk' 'more' and 'food'. am just doing makaton as have used it alot in my working life but bob hasn't used any back but he is a demon pointer and has asked for stuff by pointing at it so that's pretty cool.
carseats we don't have a car but aspire to at some point and was wondering if the more expensive they are the safer they are? I ask because they've got some graco ones in asda for £25 - the next stage up I think but it seems too cheap and I don't want to compromise will's safety obviously.
merry love your fb pics! I'm really loving this stage too and as excited as i am about the next one i don't want this to end either. I remember sobbing into W's hair a few days after we left hospital worrying about him leaving home nuttor!
sleeping just carrying on with co-sleeping. He's been feeding a lot more recently in the night - think cos he's getting a molar and must be uncomfortable. I want to move him into his own room but don't have a bed and his room is storage and needs sorting
allergies had apt last week with dietician. not that helpful altho was nice to offload a bit and she said we were doing grand which is always nice to hear! got some formula which should have been ok for will - meant for babies on no cows milk but guess what - wills allergic - came out in hives even tho the milk proteins are apparently so broken up they're less likely to cause reactions. oh well.
well sorry for the ramble. hope everyone's having a good weekend xx

handle, spout and lid of metal; what's inside the singing kettle.

blooming heck twinkling, is it still Artie and Cilla doing that? They must be ancient by now as my nephews it when they were little and they are now 24 and 23!!

I just don't "get" baby signing, I really don't. I know it is the big thing at the minute and is supposed to help your child communicate, but I just can't see how it helps. Our friend raves about it and was sooo excited about his DD signing for milk, but my DD was saying milk at the same age as his DD was signing, because we used to say milk to her all the time rather than showing her the sign for it, but friend's DD would just sign and not speak. I hope that isn't too controversial, but I just don't see the point unless you have a reason to be teaching your child sign language .....Mind you, I have had early talkers so they haven't needed it as they could communicate well enough with out it.

Although I did teach DD the makaton sign for "all done" but I'm not sure it helped, as her previous sign that she was finished (ie pushing her plate away or spitting out the food) gave us just as clear an indication that she was indeed "all done"!

Achieved loads here today. DH and his Dad have done wonders in the garden and we finally have a gate so are fully enclosed for the first time since we moved in four years ago. They also built another raised bed and widened the path so I can get the pram round the side of the house (no mean feat as it is at the top of our sloping garden and involved moving a retaining wall). Meanwhile, gran looked after the two littlies and I finally got a coat of paint on the walls in the bathroom....only five weeks after it as installed!!!

helllo everyone

coolkat yep im a deffo deffo up for a meet up now that i can find my arse from my elbow at last! We are only new to the aviary thing. Dh's uncle has one and as soon as he saw it Dh wanted one, cue lots of reading and he went straight in for Gouldian Finches which are meant to be quite difficult. We have had our first chicks fledge this weekend and we only put the aviary up in June. prop didnt see your Dh but we are really loving our aviary so let me know if he has any good contacts re: finches.

cars i have spent all weekend so far looking at cars poor DD was bored rigid and wanted to walk around but i wont put shoes on her yet so it was tough! I have a merc A class that I love but Dh has a BMW X5. He is desperate for me to swap cars but I love my little car. So I got dragged around and looked at the 308 GT, BMW 1 series, Audi A3 sportback and the Ford Kuga
(although i forgot its name and called it the Ford Pube!!!)
So those who are into the cars what do you recommend, i didnt like the little hatchbacks as getting DD in and out was tough compared to my high seated A class.

ellielou I did like the Kuga/Pube but its a big leap from my little car to that. How do you find it?

oh and i refuse to drive the X5 cos im scared of the size and its an automatic which is alien to me. Come and educate me...please

hi all

Just catching up whilst J is sleeping. He has chickenpox and is a really spotty dotty

Hi DW - hope you are OK and DD is doing alright with her eyes.

mummynic - welcome back! I have a James too, a brilliant name

Loved reading the updates on everyones LO here we go for us:

J stands up in his cot and baby prison playpen and sort of walks around hanging on to the bars but not interested in cruising

He commando crawls like a pro but not 'proper' crawling. My god he's fast though!

He has 2 teeth at the bottom and think the top 2 are going to appear v soon

He sleeps well (usually) but is a bit disturbed at the mo due to chickenpox

Eats like a horse but was only 16lbs 2 weeks ago - a realy slim Jim

Ah, he's awake and crying got to go.....

aargh, tired to type 3 times and bumble keeps pressing the escape key and it disappears!! Using the laptop is getting more and more tricky when he is around!

anyhoo, sorry to hear about J's chicken pox AL and I hope he's better soon.

I have a Scenic DW and love it for the seats being high up; not exactly as swanky as a mercedes A class though. A friend of mine has a Nissan thing, is it Qasqaui?, and she loves it, again it's high up and easy for getting DC in and out of and being a Nissan is pretty reliable.

just me and bumble today as my big boys are off fishing and DD has gone to the GPs for the day. Yesterday my MIL was taking the little ones out for a walk and bumble was looking a bit grumoy, so I said I asked him if he wanted a feed before they went.....to which he looked straight at my boobs and said clear as day "num num num"

grumpy baby, gotta go.

Morning all,
So jelous at all the fast car talk, I am the self confessed car nut in this house and have always enjoyed beating the chavs at the traffic lights. Sadly our 1.5 Diesel Grand scenic does not cut the mustard, but I must admit it is a fabulous car and I love it!

Autumn hopes J's CP clears up soon, its not nice for the poor little mites.

I have some very exciting news which I am not allowed to share in RL and I am bursting!
My lovely niece is pg again and I will be a grea aunty again in May next year. She is so so pleased.

I also managed last night to get DH to consider the possibility of having 4 children - he was drunk though so i'm not sure he remembers .

AND we are hopefully going back to Florida on a massive family holiday next February for my step mums 60th, I am sworn to secrecy though as my little brother does not know yet and DH needs to check he can get the time off work first.
Will be saving like mad until then .

Barbs sorry the appointment wasn't great but it must have felt good to hear you were doing things right.

coolkat at the comment at work. Thats not nice at all.

Well hope everyone has a lovely weekend, we are off to enjoy the sunshine while it is still out!

daisy I can understand how you feel about baby signing and I am just surprised that someone did not say what you said before now
IMO (I hate typing that, it always makes my think that I am saying it in a right proper posh voice and a stuck up face, which i am Not!) Anyway, IMO, signing helps babies to communicate before they are able to verbalise thier needs.
If you LOs are early talkers then you just would't need it. But how dod you know, with your PFB if they are early talkers or not. So I figure give it a go.
The golden rule is 'Never Sign in Silence' so, I would figure, whichever they are able for first they will do. If they are talking then pos don't worry yourself to continue, but if they sign thn you know that they are able to communicate with out having the capabilities to talk. Which I think is kinda clever.

Wow, at your babe with the 'num num num' What a clever thing!!
I know people think they don't understand but they are totally taking in more than they appear to be.

Ooh, another thing about signing, my fave.
If they are not early talkers and they want something but can't tell you then signing can help. My fave story is when DD was just over a year (cos she was defo walking but not talking). She was ill, I gave her medicine upstairs then brought her and it downsatirs. I set the medicine on the mantlepiece.
She made her way over and was desperately reaching and starting to moan for something on the mantlepiece. I began to say 'sorry darling, I know it is tasty but you can't have anymore'
She then pulled her hand down her hair.
She didn't want the medicine, she wanted the brush that was sitting right next to teh bottle.
I had not taught her that sign, she figured it out herself.
If I had not been teaching her to sign, it would not have occured to her to try and we would both have been upset and frustrated.

For those who hear that it hinders speach, my other fave story is, using the DVD, DD learned to sign 'where'.
One of the first things she then communicated verbally was juice,
but, as she said juice, she signed 'where'
thereby creating a sentence that we could understand.
I think that is dead clever too Not only was she starting to speak but she was starting to communicate her needs in whole sentences.
That doesn't seem like it hindered DD any, to me.

Oops, daisy you got me on my high horse again
It is not for everyone, but then neither is BF or real nappies or, for me, formula (bleagh) but I do think it is a fun thing to do anyway whether you continue with it or place any great emphasis is up to you.

DD and I still sign cos I think it would be a great skill for her to grow up with, I mean how many people, who are not deaf, can sign fluently? I would love to give that skill to my DD and to learn it myself!

Oh lordy! How many typos!!

I meant How do you know, with your PFB, if they are early talkers.
It looked as if I was asking you how did you know, which, of course, you didn't know.

Bumble bumble, stop talking now twink you are making it worse!

Hi Ladies

All this car talk, I have my picasso diesel and sady admit to loving it, DH has a nice Astra but always feels to fast for me I used to own 2 peugeot 205 gti's the sad thing was they had been glued together and we did not know and lost lots of money

I feel so tired ladies, so tired I could go to bed now.I am sure my period is due. Becca awake every few hours in the night, I am sure it is teeth. She is a diamond though, very fast at crawling and likes cruising the furniture!

Twink sorry about DH's friend. X

Daisy sounds like a productive weekend.

Ladybuzz 4 children, wow not before you go to america! But you need to fi that Grand Espace!

DW will look in my diary, how about the first monday in october for Fosse Park? Will have been paid then!!

Hi everyone - am struggling to keep up at the mo.

Twinks so sorry about your DH's friend

Buzz 4 children Really?? Sends shivers down me just thinking about that

Autumn hope J is ok - chicken pox is crappy but they bounce back very quickly.

Quick summary of Hamster:

Exactly 10 months old today - has discovered clapping today aswell and is very proud of himself Can wave and play peek-a-boo and does this funny pointing thing to his other hand

Just mastering commando crawling but no pulling up to standing or cruising yet!

Oh..and no teeth either!!

Hope everyone is ok - will try and keep up a bit better!!

thanks twink....all good information there, and a lot that I hadn't considered before . Looking back with DD, if we had been signing for milk we wouldn't have had a weekend when she was 10 months old and asking for "ganow" and us not understanding what it was she actually wanted until after three days she saw a bottle and started screaming "ganow". If she had known the sign then we would have all got it quiker and I wouldn't still be feeling guilty that I had been starving her for three days!

Hello
merry saw your pics on FB they are lovely
barbs sorry appt with dietitcian wasnt much help but good to hear she acknowledged all your hard work (must be difficult trying to figure out what to give will). Not sure about the car seat but as long as they are kite marked and have five point harness and impact protection I dont see the problem, we had a bog standard one for DD1 was £35 out of argos and it did her a good few years till she went in a high back booster, it reclined and had all the features of the more expensive ones.
daisy It is still artie and cilla (I was there last spring with DD1) cant remeber the other ones name though Clever Bumble saying num!
doctorswife You cheered me up today we were in the car and just remebered reading about the PUBE , I love it its alot easier getting kids in and out of the back and the split tailgate is great for piling the shopping in.
autumnlady hope J is better soon and doesnt get too bothered by the spots.
ladybuzz thats great news for your niece and the prospect of 2 more babies, have you asked DH if he remembers lol.
coolkat hope things go ok at work this week.
ceebee aww its cute when they start clapping and pointing
We went to sensation in Dundee today for something to do DD1 enjoyed it and we enjoyed bits too so a good day out, we then went out for tea and now am stuffed.

OMG, artie and cilla must be near to drawing their pensions

woohoo, I have an online presence. I'm not selling anything (yet!) so I think I can link this here without getting my wrists slapped!

Lol yeh they look like they need to be, loving the website tho, I really need to get motivated

Morning all. My turn to get up with DS this morning as DH brought DD downstairs at about 1230 when she wouldn't settle, apparently they came back to bed at 2. I didn't hear them! But she woke for a feed at 445 and I had no resistance left. They are both asleep and DS is watching Cars!
Extra annoying as nights had been improving, Saturday night she slept from 11-530

Site looks lovely Daisy
Good luck with the allergies Barb, is there an chance he'll grow out of them? Was it the next phase you're excited about or something else?

Sorry Twink, the sympathy was from Ellie

daisy that site looks really lovely. Im a bit jealous, i'd love to have a little business of my own. We have a big converted garage that Dh has just put a bloody pool table in and i look at it thinking what a nice space it would be for kids if i was a childminder but DH says no way!!

Ive spent all weekend looking at cars, and sorry to the petrol heads on here but I have no interest whatsoever in cars! My mind is swimming because DH now informs me he thinks we should get a Ford Pube, An S-max or a picasso.

Ive told him that as my job is to "look after the kids" well DD, as we aint managed to bag number 2 yet, then im gonna treat it like a company car. He can provide whatever company car for my role so long as it is suitable for the job in hand! We'll see what he brings home.

I def feel more inspired to start signing along with talking with DD, shes walking much more but still no more verbal development other than a raspberry in my face!

coolkat I can do any day except Mon 5th Oct as my independant midwife has started buggyfit at market bosworth and is asking me to go. I feel obliged as she did you know, help get my baby out and that. emotional bloody blackmail any other day that week?

Can you do any other Monday's DW as I work the rest of the week unless I opted for a day in half term week? I can ask DH to have DD1 then!

aaarggghhhh, I have a velcro baby! J is sooo grumpy and keeps crying when I put him down, which is so unlike him

Spots look a bit better though and some are scabbing [yuck emoticon] so hopefully we are through the worst.

DW - am laughing my butt off at you possibly having a Ford Pube! I need to srt my car out as t&^t of exdh has kept our lovely Audi. Am more upset about that than him!! . Am a bit of a petrol head too but my funds will now only run to a Ford Focus or similar. What I would like and what I can afford are now strictly 2 very different things, but hey-ho never mind.

Hope everyone else is ok, i'm trying to catch up as off work and left J (now asleep) in front of 'In the Night Garden' DVD [bad mummy emoticon]

Ooh, your website is lovely daisy
I have one too now pixiespocket at webs dot com

I am scared, I am on the phone to the hydro electricity people and they have just spotted that one of my meters has stopped. I noticed it too, on the last bill, but thought nothing of it and left it.
Now I am frightened that they are going to demand lots of money from me.
I have been paying cheap rate for everything, it turns out.
Bet they try to demand the difference.

now J has woken up and I am on hold!!!
What am I going to do!?

We have no money and DH off work cos of the accident. Full pay, but no Overtime, which we rely on

Phew. They say it is ok, it is their fault and that they will only charge me 6 months for the electricity they have't charged me for.
Also they are cancelling this months payemnt and lowering next, cos I am paying too much anyway.
So that will make life a little easier next month and should cover the lack of overtime for DH.

I only hope it is their fault and not the fault of the friend who did a bit or re-wiring for us[scared]

J is not signing anymore, just whining
And the new game is to get what he wants and to promptly throw it away, what a fun game it is to retrieve everything from the floor

Meant to be going into town, to a friends, to practice our signing for class on Wed, but just not in the mood to go out anymore.
DD has broken a(admittedly cheap and not terribly precious) necklace. spilt her milk down her arm, then all over the table, then dribbled the last over the table again. I am not an especially happy camper right now.
DH a hundred miles away at a counselling thing no idea when he will be home.

that web addy isn't working for me twinkling.

ouch on the leccy meter. Hopefully it isn't too bad. Whatever you owe them though they will let you pay it off, usually by adjusting your direct debit, if that's how you usually pay or will set you up with a direct debit if not.

bumble stood on his own for about five seconds today!! He was holding onto a ball so I think he thought he was still holding the side of the ball pit. He looked so surprised when he realised, and then promptly plopped down onto his bottom.

Just touching base. Had M weighed today - 23.5 so that is good.
daisy website looks fab. intrigued as to your ground breaking idea.
We did car boot on sun and made £125 so that is good. Really need to e-bay my expensive things.
Sorry to hear of J with chickenpox Autumn - I so wish M would get it, but so far he hasn't.
Am having a really terrible time of it right now. To outsiders I am sure it all looks fine. But things are not really. I so wish AD's had made me feel better. My new mantra is "be happy" - (make myself happier) "and def no shouting".
Will let you know if it gets any better.

You sound like you're having a rough time Twink, hope you feel better soon

Daisy, that sounds really cute. DD is quite good at walking if we're holding both her hands, and loves standing watching the bath run holding onto and chewing the side of the bath but hasn't considered independence yet - phew!

I remember when DS had chicken pox AL, he was quite ill for a couple of nights which I hadn't expected, but at least he's had it. Hope J feels better soon - velcro babies can be a pain, in a cute way

pixiespocket dot webs dot com
Doh, silly me!