June 08: I see it, I want it, it's mine!

[spongebrainmaternitypants]

Welcome to our new thread .

Yes, the cuddling was v cute ! I was also impressed at P and A's 'head first down the slide' act - although I'm hoping A was watching how sensibly P climbed down from the table, rather than just throwing himself off like my little monkey!

Btw, A stayed awake for the whole 75 min return journey home ! How can he do that?!

ktpie - A wears a disposable swim nappy with a 'Happy Nappy' over it (mainly cos he has too for the swimming lessons, but it's extra safe I guess to avoid leaks!). We don't bother with any buoyancy aids . When I go to a public pool I also put a wetsuit vest thing on him to keep him warm (TMF one what I got off ebay)

pp - A seemed much better today but as I felt rubbish I didn't do much with him and I think he was quite bored compared to nursery. Hopefully no sick tonight!

Quite [envy

posted too soon, meant to say quite about all the meetups

where is neenz?

Neenz is off on another one of her mad camping hols!

anyone know anything about safety standards on cots? When we got Ethan up this afternoon one of the spindles/bars on his cot has sheared in 2 , the top half had come out and was on the floor, leaving the other half sticking up with a really sharp point. He was fine but what might have happened doesn't bear thinking about. I bought it last June and have my receipt, in the UK I'd have been able to fight my case, but here I need a bit more ammunition I think.Thanks

Deb - that is quite shocking about the cot. No knowledge of safety standards though. You certainly need to complain.

Yesterday was very nice meeting up with Poppy, Penguin and Sponge. I was very late though, so apologies that I didn't see you for long Poppy. On the way home I was wondering how the bocked/leaky milk duct is now? Did you speak to the consultant about it. Sounds like A has been getting "stay awake" tips from P. Hope he was happy on the way home though. P conked out pretty quickly.

Swim nappies - we double up too. A disposable one plus a standard pair of mothercare swim trunks. I am probably tempting fate here, but the one time he did do a pooh in the pool there were no leaks.

Essie has started a thread on early morning wakings. I am probably not the person to help, but I am off to bump it for her if nothing else.

debs that's awful about the cot. There are quite a few legal types on mumsnet, so if you post on another board I'm sure someone will be able to help you

Ali, yes, he was fine - chatting to himself or looking out of the window, just no sleep!

Deb, that is absolutely dreadful about the cot - made my blood run cold thinking about it . I would second what allnew has said about seeking advice on here about what to do. At the very least the company needs to replace your cot and do a product recall on the others out there .

To make Ambers links work just delete everything after the .html tag? Amber they are both lovely ? I think I like the one with the bigger garden best, but that?s because I have visions of lovely summers outdoors ? which isn?t always the case is it? How do you put in offers on two properties at once? Scottish law is totally different so I?ve no clue how it works in England.

I might have a mild version of what you have Amber; I?ve got the inflamed throat and sore joints but nothing else. After my horrible tummy bug on the weekend I?m hoping I don?t get sicker ? but at least it was on the weekend so DH didn?t have to lose a day at work to take care of the boys. I hope Luke starts to get better soon (and you, but I?m guessing you wont have the time to take care of yourself until he gets better).

ktpie I have a better chance now of getting my job back, it depends if they have a position available, but it means I could keep my seniority if I do go back so well worth it and no more hassle than quitting. There?s some things I can?t do on a career break because it?s a government job and there?s potential for conflict, but I should still be able to pick up bits of work in other industries.

ktpie we use armbands and disposable swim nappies. We also have a wet suit body thing (just like a sleeveless onzie) that helps to keep fraser warm in the water.

Fraser seems fine so far from his jab ? he has a cough but he had that before. Fingers crossed.

PP for a second I thought you were saying that poppy and E were wearing matching dungarees. It made for a very funny mental picture.

Deb that?s horrible about the cot, I would think you?ve got a very strong case! Can you easily return it and get a totally different model?

Amber are you still thinking this could be from the jab? Now that you're sick too it seems like you've been hit by something else at the same time. Poor you - it seems like you've had far too much illness this year!

AH, don't get me started on the ludicrous English property market!! You can put offers on as many houses as you want here and no money changes hands until exchange day (usually about a week before completion and a good 3 or 4 months after you've first offered on the house), so you can spend out on surveys, solicitors fees, etc and then at the last mintue your buyer can bail on you and buy another house entirely. It's crap .

Btw, Amber I'm not suggesting this is your plan!

Will now go back and nose at Amber's houses!

All the meet ups sound like fun, I just need some of you to move nearer to me!

Penguin - Ranulph Fiennes is a pretty good description, funny about the hedgehog!

Allnew, Ali, Abdn, anyone I've missed - thanks for the swimming outfit info. Sounds similar to what I did.

Debs- horrible about the cot, hope you manage to get somewhere with it. Is this the same one Ethan managed to bite chunks out of?

Abdn - sounds like a great solution with your job.

Amber - nice houses! Can I vote for the one with the big garden too, I presume your final decision will be based on our votes

Sponge - you are right the property buying system here is crazy, there is a scary thread on MSE at the moment about a seller pulling out just before completion and weeks AFTER exchange as they haven't managed to get as favourable a mortgage as they thought on their new house and think they can get more money for the one they are selling. The fact that they have passed the legally binding part of the process doesn't seem to worry them.

Can I have a little boast? My DH's team came 6th out of 122 teams in the 24 hr mountain bike race he did at the weekend. The teams that came above them were the Army's top team, the RAF's top team and 2 pro teams, so really they were 2nd out of the ordinary folk! I'm very proud .

ktpie you should be proud of your DH Good for him!

ktpie, that's why we think we'll try and extend our house rather than move - I love moving house but hate all the stress beforehand .

And well done your dh!

amber great houses - like house2 best. How are you feeling today?

question for you all - A has developed a scowl over the past couple of days. He's doing it loads and we can't think where he's got it from. It's a real scowl as well - looks like he's chewing a wasp. Anyone else experienced anything similar??

My vote for House No 2 too - and it's cheaper and has more bedrooms!

Can't help on the scowl allnew - does he seem to be doing it in context? i.e. is it when he is cross, or it just a facial expression he's trying out?

sponge he's doing it in context, so when he's displeased with something (or yesterday when i was clipping my nails )

cot update - the woman in charge of the baby section is off today so she'll sort it out tomorrow this is Austrian customer service at it's best isn't it? I have e-mailed them photos and hope that it gets resolved soon, and yes it is the bitten cot. Good job we have a travel cot!!

photo of cot on FB

Amber agree with the others: house 2. More bedrooms; a proper garden which Luke will love, and it's cheaper. I would prefer it even if it was more expensive though. What I am intrigued by is that house 2 seems to have 3 children living in it, yet it is all white. How does that work?

Allnew that is weird about the scowling. Is he copying someone in your family (I honestly don't want to accuse you or your DH of being grumpy though ). They are definitely at an age where they replicate what they see those around them doing. One of my friends makes a surprised (literally ) face at he DD, which her DD does herself now, it is very funny.

New climbing endeavours here. I caught Peter climbing up the step ladder which was near vertical leaning against a wall on the landing. Dangerous doesn't begin to describe it. He is very strong though and made it onto the third rung.

haha ali - maybe it's me and I didn't realise it! Not sure if he's maybe picked it up in nursery. Hope he stops it soon though!

Quiet on here today

v quick as J not inpressedn I'm using 'his' laptop. Amber def. no. 2.

J finally seems to be getting over his sickness bug. He is starting to eat small amounts but now has a bit of a runny bottom...

Deb that is awful, you should give them hell when they get in touch tomorrow. I would want my money back rather than a replacement tgoo.

Amber I also prefer house number 2 . They're both really lovely houses, but at the price of house number 1 I'd want a wee bit more space between me and my neighbours.

On the swimming front - cant remember who asked (sorry I read earlier but only got to post now!). We use products from Konfidence. There's a great reusable swim nappy that does from 3 months to 3 years. We've never had any problems with it. Our swimming pool doesn't have the 'double layer' requirement (only really private pools round here have that) so that swim nappy on it own is completely fine. Cost per wear is pretty bargainous! We've also got the 'babywarma' wet suit vest type thing. We started using the 6-12 month one at about 4 months and he's still got plenty of room in it now.

We love soft play here too sponge. Most of the Edinburgh leisure ones are pretty basic, but there's a few private ones now and the one we've been to is pretty impressive in the under 3 section. It has a proper climbing area and tunnels and a slide. S loves it.

Went to the zoo today - started p-ing it down so we had to abandon and come home. Of course its bloody glorious now. We're on a week off and all our attempts at family time have been hampered by poorlyness or weather. Grrr. S is due to go into nursery for the next 3 days too (so DH and I can have some quality time hanging out). Then we're at a wedding without him on Sat.

Right we're off out to the festival tonight, babysitter en route so better get organised!

Hello to everyone else!

Debs - saw the pic looks lethal!

Allnew - J has a massive range of faces he pulls. I don't know where he has picked up a lot of them. Scowly and grumpy are part of his repertoire. The face he pulls when he gets splashed in the face or rain on his hair is particularly amusing. Recently he has started doing a cute baby look, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek on his little chubby hand then tilting his head and smiling (think those cheesy baby paintings) and I have no idea where he has got the idea for doing that from! Honestly our walls are not covered with cheesy baby paintings.

Ali - more climbing! J keeps making himself into a human bridge. Bridged the gap between a chair and the kitchen table and got stuck. Nice hard tiled floor underneath him so not ideal.

I'm feeling a bit rubbish today, headachey like I'm starting with a cold. Went back to bed for a few hours this morning and had a long nap this afternoon and still feel tired.

Oh this is where we're going on holiday btw!