Dec 08 it's time for sippy, tippy and doidy cups (& wee sticks!?!)

[Veggiemummy]

sorry could think of much and these where discuss on last page.

ps anyone else's babies now communicating with full on screams. not always because they are grumpy but just because they can? my eardrums can't take much more.

also - she has deiscovered her tongue - v funny to see it rolling all around her mouth/chin etc.

Daisydora - your DH has no idea does he? It takes about 6 weeks for everyone to settle into a new routine when you go to work (and then again when you stop), never mind the expenses and hassle of sorting care for such a short time.

Veggie - glad you had a good time!

Congrats to those with good nights and comiserations to those without!

SL - the whole business of getting used to DCs actually having meals does take a while! I'm still finding it quite a shock, even though we obviously need to stop to feed DD as well as DS!

arti - sorry you're feeling rubbish. On the whole periods thing, not sure really. Don't think I've got them back regularly yet, but have had a couple of random bleeds since having DS which I thought were my period then didn't happen again. Didn't get them back with DD till she was 9 months old and then got pregnant a couple of months after, so haven't had regular periods for about 3 years now. Not looking forward to those, I must say...

Glad you are back comparatively unscathed, WG. I think when they first start eating, just get whatever you can into them and after a two or three weeks and you are all used to it, you can try mixing things up a bit and trying different stuff. And yes, DD also likes to 'test her voice', to the detriment of her parents' eardrums.

Well, I went to the office on Saturday to collect my crates of stuff and it was all a bit weird (I had to go when the accountant was there as they have changed the top lock and burglar alarm code - ) and then we decided to go to Shropshire to meet up with friends after all, which was lovely. DP has been told, following last week's blood tests and wee tests after pain in his side, that he has a fatty liver and needs to lose weight and knock the cheerfulness on the head for a bit. I am relieved as it will concentrate his mind. I am on the wagon anyhoo at the moment cos of the diet, but in normal times, my spots of cheerfulness are spots compared to his vats...Worrying but, like I say, really glad he is going to turn it all around.

Indith - I am so sorry you are still having these really punishing nights, and Kayz I am glad you had a better one last night.

Tilly - I haven't been in a car since Feb! It's pathetic, I need to get back into it. I'd forgotten you drove - do you use it much?

Invis - that's a good tip off about the V&A. I am culturally void at the moment but am off to the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford on Thurs...mind you - that's to try out the (healthy) cafe!

JB - I am thrilled you liked DH's book. I was looking at the photo albums from the world tour on Sunday night and smiling. Nutty bunch. We have a two week break from fixtures at the mo so I am having a rest. And what will you wear to the Yorkshire meet up - as I think it was you who set everyone off with that nice spotty mac

Arti - how are you feeling, you poor old thing? Can't be long left at work now. Are you coming to the London meet up?

SL - I am guilty of giving DD wacky things for breakfast but as a result of your post I gave her porridge this morning, which is far more sensible!

ZJ - yes, it was my schoolfriend who I saw recently whose girlfriend has just had the baby. He was my best mate when I was 16. In fact, I really fancied him as well. He instigated my love of coffee, as he went away for 6 weeks over the summer hols, and I was so depressed I started lovingly drinking coffee out the cup he used at my house (I wasn't much of a one for coffee before that) and, er, became addicted to it But I really don't fancy him any more.

DaisyD - it doesn't sound worth it for you to return to work. Seriously. I hope they decide to pay you anyway

Welcome back Veggie!

Right, I must go as DP is coming home early from court and if DP finds me MNing he won't be sympathetic when I ahve got my head in my hands about not getting any work done later....

Survey on our house today. I need your good vibes, my girls!

Lady T - Sending positive vibes for your survey. Also sorry to hear about your DP. BUt at least now he knows what is wrong he can do something about it.

Thanks Daisy. It's funny really as whilst he drinks a lot he only drinks as much as many other people I know, in fact less than some - but I guess some people are more susceptible. It has shaken him up. I don't want him to be upset or ill but I do think he needs a healthier lifestyle.

I am having a quickie night out in London tonight for a treat - sans DD, as DP is off tomorrow.

Hope the surveyor rings, at least to give me a rough idea before I get the full survey....

Back from the dead! We finally have replacement laptop for the one that got nicked so time to get back to my lovely MN pals

well having been away for a month I will clearly never catch up but if everyone would like to post a quick summary that would be fantastic

News from us - DD is now crawling and pulling up to standing all the time so time to safety proof the entire house. Also (shhhh....!) she's slept through the night twice from 8pm til 6am. And has finally moved into her own cot mostly sad because it means no more snoozy snuggles, but happy too because it means we don't wake her up at bedtime, and in the morning she's really pleased to see us and also means we've finally got out of the desert [nudge nudge].

food is going fine, she's got past the stage of just playing and now shovels everything in with great gusto - whole nanas for breakfast, lots of pasta for lunch and absolutely loves melon, could eat a whole one if I'd let her as a result getting v chunky which is great. And has learned to laugh properly at last, a realy giggle and chuckle if I tickle her nose with my hair. And she's got tickly kneecaps

Employers having a bit of a shocker, they're so short of cash that they're thinking of not filling the other 3 days of my post for the first year (while I'm back 2 days a week) which will stuff up my department regally, still haven't had confirmation of this. It would be good for us though as then could be much more flexible about which days I work.

Oh, and I managed to get a proper haircut last week too

Will try to catch up a bit at least later on, meanwhile love you all lots and missed you loads (is that really sad? I don't think so! )

Hello JJ! Any news on the job? Glad DD is doing well, they are developing so fast at this age. DS2 still not really moving, he does a good starfish impression when he's on his tummy but hasn't the strength to move his massive bulk!

DS2 is hapily gumming on tomatoes, pitta and hummous as I type. I decided to ditch some of the purees as I think he was eating too much for his tummy to cope with. Must try pasta soon (maybe tonight)

Daisy: do you have annual leave to take which would eat up some of those 6 weeks? Or could you negotiate doing some from home? I'm sure they don't want the hassle of you coming back for 6 weeks.

STOP PRESS DS1 has done a poo in the potty! He's post-cold wheezy and is demanding telly so I must give up the laptop.

Hello from a slightly more cheerful Arti,

First day of my hols today. DD1 is with the nanny (last three days of childcare this week then I have them both full time until December). I have had a lovely morning with a very smiley and cuddly DD2 who I have not been alone with for four weeks so it felt very special. I took he to the park and put her on the swings for the first time and she chuckled and chuckled. Then I made her salmon steak and new potatoes for lunch and she ate more than me. She is now down for her nap so I have two hours all to myself which I am going to use to MN exercise and tidy.

LadyT - I am glad your DP's pains were nothing too sinister although it does not sound nice. I hope his new diet works and does not make him too grumpy. Have fun in London tonight, what are you going to do?

JJ - Yay to your return and your new laptop.I can't think of any headlines to catch you up on. S sounds likes she is flourishing. She is really quite physical isn't she?

WG - Glad the tuppencing was reduced. As an only child myself I whole heartedly agree with your reasons for having two. After looking after my Mum alone I swore that if it was physically possible I would have at least two children no matter what. I must say that your description of your Mum in the Waitrose wheelchair made me at the parallels with my life as cruising the produce aisles was my Mum's favourite day out when she was very ill. I once suggested we try Ocado to reduce the hours I spent in Waitrose and she got quite cross with me.

Daisy - Why don't you suggest to your DH that he take some of his leave days to look after the kids while you go back to work for those six weeks. As it is so easy it would be tantamount to giving him a holiday anyway.

Kayz - Hooray for Dylan's sleep through. Fingers crossed for a repeat tonight.

Right, I am off to do 20 minutes of pilates practice. I WILL NOT MN UNTIL I HAVE BROKEN A SWEAT.

xx

For December read September (I don't get THAT long a holiday).

And Effie I am very excited to hear about the poo. We def found poss the hardest to crack. She still often chooses to save them for her nighttime nappy and then calls me to change her 20 minutes after going to bed .

We've missed you, JJ! (Well, I have, and taking the liberty of speaking for others )

Oh, and my MN is playing up - I can see new replies in Threads I am On but when I get to the page it's an old version. I think Arti and ZJ had something like this recently.

Oh and JJ, think you could make the London meet up next month?

Cross posted.

Great news on the poo, Effie! I must say I do not relish the thought of TT, but maybe it is one of those things which isn't so bad once you are doing it (like so many other aspects of childrearing...)

Arti, I am going to my much-loved club in Soho to meet a friend. It is too short notice to do much else but I don't mind as I love going and it is my special treat and indulgence. It doesn't offer much more than a good atmosphere but I have many happy memories of going there with DH. I might have to get a v early train back tomorrow morn if DP is working (we don't know yet) but it will still be worth it. Yay for the start of your hols!

Commiserations on your DP's liver LadyT. I remember one of ny tutors at uni going to see his doctor to get his liver checked as he drank a fair amount daily - it came back 100% fine and the doc said it was mostly due to heredity (unless of course you're making a huge effort). He celebrated with a nice bottle of something so prob not the best answer for his overall health! Cutting down seems v sensible and he'll soon feel all the side benefits of weight loss and so on. A friend of ours (a pretty heavy drinker) takes every February off and he saysit's always an effort to start drinking again! To which my Presbyterian soul says 'why bother?'

I have just been very naughty

DS refusing to nap and mw feeling a little weary, so we all went upstairs got into bed DD watching a Balamory DVD and me and DS had an hour long nap!

Maybe DH is right....I am lazy

Daisy: I did the same thing yesterday, only it's Fireman Sam for us!

WG - DD is doing OK out of your room and you are getting better nights! Also glad the weekend with the in-laws was OK. I can imagine how frustrating it is to be in one of those no one ever says anything situations - my ILs are a bit like that, and it always feels a bit uncomfortable even if perfectly pleasant, especially as my family is big and shouty.

I am all for big family despite the downsides - only wish it was practical to have more, but I would love to have more than 2. My mum is one of 6 and they are a real clan even though they are dispersed all over the world they get together regularly and it is fun to be around them. Having said that, my dad is one of 4 and they have all kinds of prickly misunderstandings, so I guess it just depends.

LadyT - sorry to hear about your DH, but I hope he takes it all in his stride and feels better for a healthier lifestyle. Enjoy your night out - am very jealous, can't think when I last got an evening out in Soho!

effie - hooray for poo in the potty! Its mad how happy something like that can make you? Hopefully it will all get much better quickly from there. Probably a rod for our own back, but we found DD perfectly willing to poo in the potty if sat in front of the TV...

arti - enjoy your hols!

oh and though DS2 isn't crawling, I've noticed he can spin round on his tummy pretty well to get things that are out of reach

Daisy you have balamory on DVD, poor you. Miss Hooley scares me, DH is sure she tops up her meagre wage as a childcarer, working as a bondage dominatrix.

Glad your DP is getting his liver sorted Lady, my family on my mums side have weak livers, and unfortunately we have a propensity for alcoholism as well unfortunately. My aunt was an alcoholic and died quite young from Liver disease. I used to drink the usual amounts that young raver do in my 20's but have tried to tail off a bit because of this liver thing. The good news is though that contrary to previous thinking, livers regenerate quite well if given some time off so your DP will be fine if he gives it a rest from now.

DS1 is at his friends house for tea and will be home soon DH is leaving for Swindon in about an hour and will be home on Saturday morning so que a sad and sulky DS1 for the next few days so will have to keep him occupied. I might call some of his little friends over to play. Wow it's absolutely peeing down outside!

WG I'm glad your sounding brighter and the PIL's were ok but I'm sure I speak for some of the other ladies when I say I'm a little dissapointed your MIL didn't come up with some choice words for us. Oh and DS2 loves nothing more than pulling himself up to standing at the sofa and getting on tip toes and giving us a good old squealathon. I think he is singing because he loves us singing to him and I think he is just giving us a performance but it's very high pitched.

Better go DS2 asleep now. Poor love is on a cotbed matress on the floor because he has completely outgrown the hammock but we haven't got around to putting the cot together (DH is blaming lost screws) and I can't put him down in our bed when i'm not there as if he wakes he will crawl straight off the side.

WG: DS2 isn;t screaming yet but does this horrible grinding GRRRURGGHH sound when he wants something, drives us mad! Also does high-pitched RRRRRs to get our attention. We know he's happy when he burbles dadadadad to himself (usually when eating or bashing something).

I've been thinking about baby signing: I know PD did this with her DS1, has anyone else tried it? Not sure we have classes locally but might keep an eye out for books and dvds. DS1 knows some from watching Justin ('friends' being his favourite) but it would be helpful to start the basic signs with DS2. I like the idea of being able to communicate before they can talk as the pre-verbal stage was a nightmare with DS1, he got so frustrated.

effie - a friend of mine swears by babysigning... in the sense that babies love it/makes life easier, not that one can say eff off in baby sign language. am trying to find a course.

so all fine in hop-a-long central. dad is ok, if completely stuck. i'm depositing him with his sister on thurs, then picking him up again on sat to spend - gulp - 5 days with us. wish me luck. he and his ladyfriend seem to have broken up over hte same old issue: she wants more commitment, he likes her, enjoys her company, but doesn't "love" her. i find it so difficult because with her in his life, he is a joy to be around. with him on his own, a complete pain in the arse. i want her back for my own selfish reasons...

arti - how have you made salmon and new potatoes for dd2? pureed? gummed? i gave madam an apple core to chew on after some puree today and my aunt (who is a nurse) nearly had a fit - she kept telling me she was about to choke on a bit. is she right, or am i discovering old-fashioned oppositino to blw (if that is what it is)?

am back in the room with madam tonight - and she is in her third different bed in three nights. poor lamb.

WG babies should always be supervised when eating, whether it's purees, lumpy or BLW foods. But after 6 months their gag reflex improves and they are more likely to stop food catching and blocking their airway or going the wrong way and causing them to aspirate on food which can cause chest infections. There seems to be some old fashioned idea that because they can't chew they can't deal with small bits of food, but I also think some people just don't like what they see as fads, that is different to what they did with their own kids. Tell her next time a peadiatric nurse recommended it to you. By the way DS2 loves apple cores too and also partially eaten corn cobs, we eat most of the corn off and then he can hold and knaw on the cob and the kernals that are left, he loves it.

Morning,

DS2 slept all night again!! Still won't go to sleep before 10. So that is the next challenge.

Hope everyone is ok. I'll attempt a catch up later.

Well done Kayz!

DH is getting increasingly grumpy at DS2 being in our bed (he finds it hard to sleep as worried about him) so must try and get him back in the cot (sigh). Am reluctant to move him into DS1's room as he's still feeding in the night (plus there's not much room in there!). So I think we have an unsettled few nights coming up...

WG: DS2 loves apple cores but if you're worried maybe stick to softer fruit?

Another big fan of apple cores here. And self feeding toast. He gags a fair bit but doesn't seem to mind. Sitting up now (still not crawling) which has made a big improvement to his mood. Still no teeth though. We're off on holiday to Powys for a week on Sat, anyone ever been there? Any suggestions as to what to do seeing as our "barbecue summer" has been cruelly wrenched away from us?

WG, really feel for you and having to do nursemaiding duties on top of looking after madam. How is it going? Sorry about your dad's ladyfriend too, I think I must have missed that in an earlier post. When my dad was alive I always tried to get him a girlfriend (when I was 12 I filled in a form for him with a dating agency - he subsequently married one of the women he met, though not without some bad matches first). In the end his wife was even trickier than he was and I think he was so in awe of the fact he married her!

Effie good luck with the cot shifting and TT, it must be really tough dealing with two "issues" at once (though sounds like the light is at the end of the tunnel on the TT). Really miss you and PD around here, I'm afraid I'm going to be on holiday for the meetup but promise promise will come over to Essex at end of Aug if you're around then?

Sadly T's long cot nap least week was a one off, but at least I know it's possible now!

Have a great time in Soho, LadyT. DP and I did pub quiz in Highbury again last night (mum was babysitting), and did pretty well but still no cash. Must watch more university challenge.

WG - the salmon steak I just back in foil in the oven with a little olive oil. It comes out all soft and breaks into near flakes perfect for DD2 to grab hold of and feed herself. She loves it and can eat more than half a steak in a sitting. The potatoes I boil until they are v soft and then cut into long thin slices so not bit is wide enough to block her airway. Again she self feeds. She loves apple cores too. I figure that with only two tiny teeth she can't bite a chunk off big enough to choke on, instead she just grinds tiny bits off and sucks it. Fusilli pasta is another fab here, it's perfect for gripping and as long as it's not al dente it's soft enough to slush up with her gums. Ditto broccoli florets. Occassionally she gags and coughs a bit but she hasn't choked and as Veggie says I always watch her carefully. Hope that helps. Madam has got ages before she needs lots of solids so don't stress.

just grabbing 5 mins on laptop so will have to be quick.

Night terrors- DS has these and the best way I found of dealing with them is a sudden change in temperature- usually taking duvet off him and opening the windows will stop it immediately. he never wakes up at all. As soon as the screaming stops I cover him back up.

DD has learned to wave- it is so cute!

DS is having his adenoids out today so feeling a bit nervous. DP is staying with him in hospital overnight so for the first time in 2 1/2 years I will be away from DS overnight . Hopefully it will fix DS's permanent dripping nose and hacking cough though.