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.

Morning,

Veggie, Sorry to hear about your friend. Glad she is on the mend.

Syb, How annoying about your desk. I think I would want to tell her that you have been there since she was a little girl.

DS2 slept last night. I woke up at 5am as I am sure I heard someone downstairs. I got quite freaked out as DH wouldn't wake up. So I got up and flushed the toilet. There was noone in the house so I must have been hearing things.

Hope you are all well.

Sorry I still have not caught up girls. We are having a bit of a hard time as my 4 yr old neice had e-coli poisoning and is v ill. She was in her local hospital on the South coast but her kidneys aren't working & she got transferred to a London hosp for dialysis. It's all v worrying & we are looking after her siblings, plus our two and we are really missing the nanny!

Daisy - DD1 was three on Monday so we have identically aged DCs! It is a lovely age isn't it? Her party has had to be delayed due to family situation and she is being v understanding despite huge excitement.

LadyT - CD had her little boy last week. He was late & it was a 50 hour labour but she is enthralled by him & doing great.

Sorry for no more personals. I have tried to catch-up bit just have no time.

Arti that is just horrible your poor little poppit of a niece, I'm so glad her mum has you and other family to rally around. Poor you though with all of them to deal with and no nanny or nursery to take the heat off.

Syb I love you too, when are we ever gonna meet? It's simple we can set up a webcam porn website for all those perves who enjoy watching slightly overweight women of a certain age sitting around on the sofa in their jimjams drinking coffee. Surely loads of men must find that sexy enough to pay to watch.

Kayz I'm sorry but I'm having a little giggle about you getting up to flush the toilet in an effort to scare off an intruder? But seriously I hate that feeling. DH on the other hand loves it when I think someone is downstairs cos he gets up and pretends to be all brave and check it out for his wife like in the movies. He actually has a pair of nunchuku(sp) hidden in our room just for such occassions.

Weird thing happened last night, I dreamt I was sitting up in bed, then got woken because poor DS2 had rolled out of bed. We are still co-sleeping and when DH is away I set up a little pillow wall on his side of the bed so he won't roll out his side but he had actually rolled out my side, because, I'd been sitting up at the end of our bed in my sleep! How bizarre. DS2 was not pleased.

You lot are amazing - thanks so much for all your wisdom on squints (and yes trace, DS is a fat nosed baby!) I'm sure it'll sort out one way or another, but it was all really helpful to read!

daisy and arti - happy birthday to your DDs! arti - your poor niece and poor all of you really, that all sounds very scary as well as hard work for you all. Hospitals are amazing in an emergency - I hope they are doing their best for her.

kazyz - glad you got some sleep!

syb - are you another lawyer? Office politics are such a bore. One of my junior colleagues only ever speaks to me when the headhunters have come in touch to suggest I might be interested in the job they called him about...slimy so and so. Even more annoying as I recruited him many moons ago.

Good morning Ladies!

Arti I'm so sorry to hear about your niece. How frightening for you all. I hope things start to improve soon.
Veggie I'm glad your friend is improving. I often find myself worrying about DS and DH if something happened to me - it brought tears to my eyes reading your post last night.

JB - didn't realise you lived in Bolton. I'm often close that way as I have family and friends in Chorley! Tokyo Joes - that takes me back a few years!!!

DS has been quite poorly the past 2 days. We have been unable to get his temperature below 38. When it hit 39.8 yesterday early hours of the morning he got his first ever lot of calpol (he wasn't very impressed with it). Apart from not letting me out of his sight (screams if can't see me) he has no other symptoms (yet). The problem we had is that I am medical so knew nothing could really be done for him except riding things out (unless he developed other symptoms) but DH isn't and wanted to get him checked out. We didn't in the end but I'll never be able to forgive myself if it was the wrong decision. Temp 38.0 now and last calpol at 6am so am hoping he may be turning a corner.

Syb - am also a virgo and have lists everywhere. In theory I want my house ordered and tidy - in practice it looks like a bombsite!

Modern I know how you feel. I think it's best though to go with your instinct but any change go to A&E immediately. I always know that they are there if needed. DH once said he trusts my judgement and knows im experienced with sick kids but because of this if I get worried about either of the DS's he completely freaks because he figures if it's bad enough to worry me it must be almost life threatening.

modern Hello, hope the little one is better soon, am in awe that you've got this far without calpol!

artichoke hope your niece is doing well. My niece has a heart condition and has had several scary stays in hospital (and is permanently on meds, my sister has to check her heart rate every 4 hours day and night) But hospitals are really amazing, specially with little ones.

I had a shocker of a night, DD up god knows how many times and DH waking us both up with random coughing fits. I was so tired this mornign that I took her to swim class without swimming costume for either of us. Borrowed for her but couldn't find anything for me so had to swim in top and pants . What an idiot.

She's being seriously hard work today. Actually I'm having one of those days where I think she's ALWAYS hard work. Does anyone elses babe object to being in the pushchair if it's not moving? Yesterday I took her on the bus and she wailed the instant it was still, had to take her out and she spent the next 30 minutes trying to dive off my lap. 8 months today, and she still can't - or won't - sit because it would involve being still for 2 consecutive seconds. I think there was a mix up in the maternity ward and they gave me an EEL not a baby.

Will she EVERY calm down?!

Sorry, that was a bit of a whinge, feel about it now when others babes are poorly.

arti so sorry to hear about your niece. How frightening for you all. I hope she improves soon.

And veggie sorry to hear about your friend too.

JB Not been to Tokoyo Jo's recently, in fact I think I became too 'old' for it about 25. I felt like a Granny last time I went too much lycra and girls with belts for skirts!

modern Chorley is just a few minutes away as I actually live in Leyland. Gosh such a small world! Sorry to hear your Lo is poorly we had 2 days of DS fighting a high temp. But is okay now. In fact he had lunch and a pudding today, safe to say the boy is back!!!

You're right Veggie.
DS asleep on the bed next to me at the moment and I'm keeping a close eye on him. His temp did go back to over 39 and he got a bit upset with it so more calpol - luckily I found a little syringe I had used when giving him colostrum in the early days so squirt it in that way.

Kiwi - I'm suprised that hasn't happened to me yet at swimming. I can't function when DS has kept me up all night. I did once forget swimming nappies and as I knew his weekly poo wasn't due very naughtily risked it.

Daisy - how funny. I went to Runshaw college in Leyland. Glad your DS better now.

Arti, Sorry to hear about your neice. Hope she is better soon.

I think my 5am start has knackered me. I think I am going to go have a nap!

Hi everyone, I?ve lurking and trying to catch up, but not quite managing it. And now so many are back from holidays I?ve even more to catch up on! It sounds like Veggie, Spot, Arti and Trace had lots of fun, and it?s good to have you back. And happy birthday to all the older LO?s, who?ve had birthdays this week

You Londoners and other Southerners look to have had a lovely time together last week. The photos are great, but I?m having a bit of hair envy ? DD is quite a baldy compared to some of the babies with their luscious locks! Comparing the pictures with the first meet up has made me realise how much our babies have grown ? they were tiny little things back then . And Tilly, count me in for a Yorkshire meet up too! That week is fine for me

What lot of poorly/teething/non feeding babies ? poor little babyDaisy, Waitingbaby, babyPanda and Modernbaby. I?m really pleased to hear all are improving now. I hope Kayz and the boys don?t get SF from your DH. And Veggie and Arti, very scary to hear about your poorly friend and neice, I really hope they both get better quickly

Waitinggirl I know just how you feel on the BF and how long to go on for and what others think of it. Like you, I always thought it odd to carry on after the baby stage and that teeth were mothers nature?s way of saying enough, but the more I BF DD the more I thought I would like to continue for as long as possible, even though I got a lot of ?will she take a bottle yet? well keep trying? from well meaning people (although quite often this has been followed with ?I wish I BF for longer?). However now DD has got teeth I?ve realised I don?t enjoy it so much now and find it uncomfortable so I?m slowly weaning DD onto a cup. I do really miss the cuddles though and I?m hanging off stopping the bedtime feed for a bit longer cause I can?t quite bring myself to stop fully yet, even though every night I think ?ow, this is the last night?. I had a chat with my HV yesterday about this and she annoyed me a bit by saying ?mums who are still BF at this stage often carry on into toddlerhood, its completely normal, you can keep going?, she obviously wasn?t listening to me when I said I wanted to stop. I?m starting to feel now that the only option is to BF for a couple of months or until they are 2 or 3 and that stopping at this stage is odd So many different opinions on it ...

And on the christening gift WG, we gave our godchildren a piece of jewellery (we went for adult size, so they would get some use out of it, rather than baby size that won?t fit soon anyway). Could you buy him a nice watch and maybe get it engraved?

LadyT/Trace I?m considering mix and match childcare for DD, as I think she?ll benefit with a slighter quieter environment with less children with a CM and with the social side of nursery. Does anyone think that it's a bonkers idea? I?m yet to actually check out nurseries and CMs yet though, so may change my mind once I see them

I grew an inch and a half PD at my booking appointment for DD. In that appointment my BMI reached the target I?d been trying to achieve for months with weight watchers before I got pregnant

at the ?old timer? Sybil (but also at the tights older than her). I bet your new desk is better anyway ? if it?s by the door you can get out quicker at home time!

Kiwi I find DD really quite hard work at the moment too, so whinge away ... I do. She?s going through a really clingy phase, which makes it a challenge to get anything done with only one hand free. on your behalf at swimming, if it was me I think I?d have gone home and given her a bath instead [pathetic mummy emoticon]

Last week was pretty amazing for us ? DD slept through til 6am on 4 nights, and I think would?ve done on 2 other nights if DH hadn?t had to get up and . So for the first time in 16 months I?ve slept right through and not been woken by either DD or my bladder . Also, DH and I ventured into that little oasis on the edge of the desert ? I?m sure the 2 events are not unconnected, so long may they both continue. However I?m still struggling with my Mum and DD, not helped by the fact that today, as my Mum was leaving and DD and I came outside to say bye, MIL came out of her house for a chat and DD gave her the biggest smile after having cried at my Mum all morning. My Mum nearly cried at that. I know it?s simply a case of familiarity, as DD sees MIL nearly every day, so I?m making big efforts to see my Mum more often so DD gets to recognise her too. But TBH it?s a bit of a chore for me as Mum is so negative around DD, I?m sick of hearing how grumpy she is and ?do you hate Nan today?? and ?she never eats anything/smiles/sleeps/plays when I?m here?, I really think a bit more positivity on her side would improve matters, as I?m sure babies pick up on the vibes. Oh well, give me strength and I?ll keep persevering

DD has just woken, so must go see what she wants (and I?ve wittered on for long enough), ta ra for now

I think I've missed something, where are the meetup photos, I'd like a squizz.

Had a great afternoon shopping with the boys. We had lunch at our fav cafe and then hit the shops and westfields kids play area. DS1 wants a pirate ship birthday cake. I am going to cheat and have bought a pirate ship cake tin. I know it wouldn't be that hard to fashion a pirate ship with cut up bits of cake from normal cake tins but is just so cool and on rainy days when we are bored we can make pirate cakes. Now I just have to master icing and a bit of pirate ship detail. Would it me wrong to use nutella, sweets and licorice? I'm just not much of a cake decorator or icing maker, though I could lather the thing in nutella and the pop on some well places sweets and licorice string stuff as well as a long candle for a mast.

Had the most vile day with 2 obnoxious children who did not do as I asked and trashed my house, before hitting DD1 in the face with a bucket . Her gums bled badly and I am worried she will lose a tooth. It's not wobbling but I think it has moved a little. As it's one of the front top ones it'd look awful. Poor child. They won't be invited again. Makes me realise too that mine are actually quite well behaved, all things considered. Am really upset and am off to drink wine with a friend to cheer myself up.

Veggie, thinmk the cake sounds delish. I have used the tins before and they give a good result but aboslutely SLATHER with butter to ensure your ship pops out. Icing sounds wonderful, may I have a slice please?

Zoe, I know it is so hard when they seem to have favourites but I think it's just familiarity at the moment. M's best person after me and DH is the cleaner, who, whilst a marvellous woman, is not quite up there with my mother. Way surpasses MIL of course.

syb how awful for you and your DD, I hope shes ok. Was their mother present?

veggie the cake sounds yummy. You have however put me to shame as I intend to buy one for DD's party on Saturday. However, I am going to be making little cup cakes for the little dears!

modern I went to that college too, from 1993-1995 IIRC. How is DS now? Hope he's better soon.

zoe Fab on the sleep front!

Girls, I am missing you but have literally seconds to tell you that I have been skydiving (still aching all over, had no idea it would be so madly physical), then in London and now the outlaws are here until Fri. Huckin' hell. Oh for an axe. Maybe an axe is too harsh - but a stun gun at least.

Arti, your week in Wales (one of the last things I read) is striking a real chime with me at the mo...

Oh, and Trace, you were just up the road from me on your hols. My late DH's dad lives in Chipping Campden, I go there quite a lot!

More soon. I am just being very, very, very quiet. It's not like me but is for the best.

Evening, I am just back from the the Evelina Children's Hospital where I was visiting my niece. The place was amazing. I cannot explain how brilliant the nurses on her ward were - they had such an amazing way with her and the other children. It really made me think of Veggie and Trace who I know are paediatric nurses - what an amazing job you guys did. You must really have touched so many peoples' lives. Amazing.

Veggie - I am on a cake making mission too. We are having DD1's party at the weekend and for months she has been dreaming of a Russian Doll cake. This dream involved a cake inside a cake inside a cake - all beautifully iced! Thankfully she has had a last minute change of heart and now wants a caterpiller cake. I am going to make 20 cupcakes and cut crescents off each so they fit together in a chain. I am going to attempt to ice them different colours using butter icing. Then I am going to do a face with Smarties and Liquerice (sp?). If its a success I will post a picture. If its a (more likely) failure then I will rush to Tesco's and fork our for something ready made.

WG and Jolly - v interested in both of your thoughts about breastfeeding and when to stop. When I had DD1 I never dreamt that I would BF past six months but it turned out she was allergic to formula and I sort of had to. I eventually stopped at 15 months but I have to say that I had not realised how babylike 15 month olds are. I never felt like I was feeding a toddler, not that I would necessarily have cared. To be honest I vacillated between loving and hating it. I loved the closeness it gave us, especially once I was back at work, those after work feeds were such a good way to reconnect. However, at times I felt shackled to DD, never able to let anyone put her to bed. Sometimes this lead to resentment which I felt terrible about. I was like a pendulum swinging between these two emotions. With DD2 I am still loving breastfeeding and will continue for a few more months at least. But then unlike her sister she happily takes a bottle so I can leave her with DH for an occasional night out.

Daisy I am making it out of guilt really, it is the only thing I have to do for the party as we are paying for someone else to do the rest, even the infamous party bags! The amount I payed for the cake tin it probably would have been better to get someone else to make it!

Also on the longterm BF, I fed DS1 until he was almost 2 when be weaned himself off, I guess that is a toddler but it never felt strange. I did get comments from GPs at around 10 months but apart from that no one else found it unusual in fact most of the girls in my NCT group BF for well over a year. At the time I didn't have the same confidence in BF that I do now, I was just doing it because we both liked it and I figured it wasn't any different to continuing to give formula after 12 months. Now I know what an advantage it is, and am much more convinced of it's benefits, I wish I could give those GPs an earful. I'm happy to go on as long as DS2 is, however I have a sad feeling that he may finish up earlier than DS1 as he is quite partial to solids, whereas DS1 took some convincing that solids where the way forward.

Well done on the skydiving Lady wow!!! Your not going to amuse us with the delightful comments your MIL made on hearing of your exploits in the air.

Hello everyone,
Sorry have been so quiet.
Was lovely to see everyone at the meet up and to meet KiwiPanda and mini panda for the first time, and also theinvisiblehand! V sorry that I left JUST BEFORE the cheerfulness though. Most disappointing.

Sorry to hear about all the ill babies, and I send get better vibes to all of them. Best wishes to artichokes niece, I really hope for a good recovery, and also to veggie's friend. arti I hope you are coping with the expanded brood!

I am currently starting to finish BFing and moving over to formula. DS will hoover down a bottle of formula and doesn't really seem as bothered on the comfort aspect of BFing any more so I thought I would wind it down now, especially as I am going away by myself for 4 days and will be going back to work. But am feeling a bit sorry about it. Also it hurts!!

KiwiPanda on the sling front I have a mei tai, it is a lot more comfy for bigger babies than a baby bjorn (never tried a baby bjorn but I have heard this is the case) They can go on your back or front (or hip but not tried that) so is quite versatile. I got mine from natural mamas second hand, it cost me about 35 quid but you could get one cheaper. I just asked on the Wanted forum for a mei tai and got several offers. You could also think of a soft structured carrier, the Ergos are popular. These are a bit like a Mei Tai but with buckles. So in principle easier than a Mei Tai as you don't have to tie it yourself

Also don't worry about whinging kiwi that is what we are here for. Also you made me giggle with the eel comment!

zoe sorry to hear your mum is still being negative. I am sure things will improve eventually when DD gets a bit older but it does sound a bit wearing.

sybil what horrible children. i hope your DD's tooth is ok. Also sorry about your work but I also had a chuckle at the tights comment!

mmm...what news from here? Oh we got a new car, a big grandad Ford Mondeo estate. Great, we can now transport all our important belongings junk around with ease.

DH is off with work for a week and a half to America and then to France. Including the bank holiday Monday ... pah. Returning the day before we go on our family holiday to austria. Great for doing washing and packing!! Am a little nervous too, I know a lot of you do the home alone thing with DH's away but I haven't done it yet!

Oh and I got stung by a nasty wasp this evening. I made a right fuss shouting and squealing, fortunately I was out on my own on my bike so no-one heard me being a wuss. There are loads of the little blighters around this year.

Oh i am very impressed with the CAKE MAKING antics. I look forward to photos.

Oh also I have a question for the FFers, how much milk do your DCs now have a day? DS is having 3.5 bottles (a bottle being 210 ml of water plus formula powder) plus two full breast feeds a day! The formula box says he should be having 600ml a day, and he's having way over this in formula alone!! Am I feeding him too much? Not sure how I could cut down as once he starts he'll just cry if I take the milk away!

Mmm, those cakes sound yummy and I bet both the pirate ship and the caterpillar will look fab. Veggie and Arti - you MUST post pictures of the cakes

Your poor little girl Sybil, I hope her tooth stays put. I should think your DD won't ever want those children in your house again either. Hope you enjoyed your evening out tonight?

LadyT if you are brave enough to even consider skydiving, then you can handle the outlaws (although easy for me to say, as mine are fabby). Remember 'this too shall pass'

SL have you gone cold turkey on stopping BF, or winding down slowly? I'm dropping one feed each week and now we're down to just bedtime. But yes, doesn't it hurt! I leaked all over my top on the way to the library van this afternoon , which I haven't done since DD was only a couple of weeks old. I asked my HV the same question about how much formula and apparently 20 oz a day is average (about 500 - 600 ml??), but a BF counsellor has told me that BF babies are great at just having what they need, as they've been doing that all their lives. So if your DS is happy, then keep going I'd say. Is he a big lad? And on DH being away, I find the hardest part of the day the last hour or so, when I'd normally hand DD over to him and doing something other than mothering, so I plan nice things to keep us both entertained then. Also, if he's away for more than a couple of nights I make sure all my friends are well warned and because they are lovely people, DD and I get lots of sympathy and invites for playdates/lunch/tea/time out which gives me the chance for conversation other than nursery rhymes. The good thing is that the time seems to fly now DD keeps me occupied, far more so than before we had her. And you get lots more time for MN without DH around too

I decided tonight to stop being nice to my Mum and listening to her moaning, and to act. So I rang her earlier and said if she wanted to build a good relationship with DD, which I wanted, then we need to make the effort to meet up regularly so DD starts to recognise her and that she needs to be nice to DD when we do see each other. She sounded happy with that plan, so we're seeing her again on Friday. I hope this works - I was scared, as the only other time I've stood up to my Mum and tried to boss her around was along the lines of 'you are not going out dressed like that', 'yes, I am' - needless to say I lost that one!

OK, must go to bed now, night all

zoe fab news about your mum! Hope it works out!

Yes I am winding down BF slowly, currently only doing dream feed and early morning feed as BF. Oh lordy I forgot in the last 24 hrs the little monster has actually had 4.5 bottles as he woke in the night too!! holy s*. I am actually wondering if my boobs are stopping working so well already and so he may not be getting so much from the BFs if you see what I mean. Possibly meaning he woke up in the night as well last night (first time of 7pm feed being formula). And tonight he took more at 7pm than last night. And no he is not big, but has gone from being between 9th and 25th centile pre weaning to 50th percentile, and is quite the little tubster now (though he has shot up in length too), hence me being slightly worried. He is quite active though so must be using quite a lot of calories, plus he is a milk monster and not as bothered on solids as a lot of other babies. So I am thinking he's probably fine.

Forgot to ask Syb, why on earth did you have those nasty kids in your house. I get really mean with kids like that, where you mean to them? I often think kids like that need to reduce their sugar intake.

SL make sure you cut down slowly and even if you get down to just a little feed keep that up for another few days as that last milk production is actually reverted back to colostrum to give the baby a little boost of protein and antibodies before it goes off on it's non BF way.

Morning.

I have been awake since 2. Nothing to do with the boys. I just couldn't sleep. I feel awful today, got a dreadful headache and my eyes hurt. Meant to be driving today but I just can't do it, I think it would be dangerous to drive when I feel like this.

Hope everyone is well.

Kayz you poor love, that sounds awful. Have you checked the SF symptoms as your DH has had it hasn't he? Hope you feel better soon.

Veggie, I told them off as I would (and did) my own, but to no avail. I can't bear children who don't defer to adults. I mean, my 2 give ME the run around, obviously, but would jump to it if ano mother told them not to do something. Anyway, I could rant for days but it won't do any good. DD1 has not mentioned her tooth today so fingers crossed it's all going ot be OK.

Have a good day everyone. Best wishes to your niece Arti. The Evelina is a wonderful place.