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

[spongebrainmaternitypants]

Welcome to our new thread .

poppy I sympathise! After only ovulating once in a blue moon while I was TTC, now that I'm definitely not I'm having regular periods. It's crap being a woman sometimes.

Now I'm worn out after cooking all afternoon so having a sit down while DH does the washing up. The curry experiment was a surprising success (put some dried stew and broth mix in I found in the back of the cupboard in it, a mix of lentils and peas and stuff) and the blackberry bake thing I made went down a treat, J was a little stained with blackberry juice. Maybe it is nesting Poppy!

Abdn - great minds think alike! The raspberry muffins sound nice.

Ali - the taga made me laugh! Like the idea of it though!

Thanks Essie for the wasp sting tip, will remember that for next time, seems to be fine, I can still feel where it was but doesn't really hurt anymore and no swelling.
Although Sponge it did blooming hurt when it first did it!

Debs - how is Nigel getting on?

Evening all. We have a bugaboo bee and love it! Tis fab. Still use it loads although do use a maclaren when on the bus. I don't know many mums round here who are still happily using their original pram but I can see us using ours for a good while yet. That said I was admiring both Viva and whinegums' respective buggies on Monday.

On beds, I'm a bit wary about ikea I'm afraid. We have a cheap double bed from there in our spare room and the wooden slats don't actually attach to the bed and are barely wide enough to sit on it so guests are often finding the mattress falls through! That said, I think we bought the most expensive type of mattress which us very firm. Our bed frame is probably rubbish because it's cheap, but if I was buying another ikea bed I'd be lifting up the mattress on the display model and having a good nosey at how it's put together.

Had another lazy day here - went to the cinema to see harry potter. Is it me or are the films starting to get a bit 'jolly hockey sticks'? I found it all a bit Enid Blyton-esque!

Bdq- you temptress you- I have a maclaren that is very nice so can't justify a bugaboo.

Ah- thanks for sympathy- despite monstrously expensive digital monitor showing a peak each month I am not convinced I do ovulate every month. Also am sure period pain worse post baby.

Ktpie- you do sound very Delia smith. But I think those stews and curries you throw togetther are usually the nicest but you can never repeat the magic twice.

Dh out so channel surfing and drinking medicinal drink ...

Tee hee!

poppy my period pain is definitely worse since having A last year . And I get worse colds...and my allergies are worse!

puree - not sure what it's called, but there's a clinic in London where the founder of nuchal scans works (Dr Nikolades or something like that). I remember reading about the clinic when I was wanting one

ktpie - the curry sounds nice. Is probably nesting - I was always baking (and eating!) when pg

I want a new bed as well, mine creaks when I move

fetal screening clinic

is this the one?

www.fetalmedicine.com/fmc/

is the one I meant

Poppy hope you feel better soon.

Essie no not trying to tell you anything. The Taga is bizarre and would be entirely useless in a hilly place with no nice cycle paths like Guildford. It is VERY Dutch I think (good for a civilised flat place with cycle paths and good public transport). Maybe Paro should have one. Sponge maybe you should get one for your post baby get fit mission : did you see the photo of it's double buggy version? It looks like a mega weight to push round. Essie know what you mean about not having a glamourous buggy. Part of me hankers after something smarter, but in the main I am very pleased with the bargain, and that we have only bought one buggy so far and it gets lots of use. Sponge tell us about your double buggy agonies - what is the dilemma exactly?

Deb how is Nigel getting on with the BP monitoring?

BDQ my parents have had the same problem with their spare bed which is also from Ikea. They have fixed the problem to some extent by putting some hardboard under the slats. When I stayed the other week I didn't fall through once. Still flexes a bit though.

Ok, better go. DH and I currently on the speakerphone to the PILs so I ought to pay attention.

Poppy - sorry to hear you're suffering with period pains too, just to rub salt in the wounds eh? Don't suppose it helps you to know that I've got bad pains today too, I've already had my microwaveable teddy on my tummy and am trying to eat my body weight in sugar!

Thanks for the BP support, Sponge, Poppy, Ktpie - Nigel's OK and looking at the results I don't think it seems to high. Now we have to work out just how he's going to sleep tonight - he has the band round his arm, with rubber tubing going up, round his neck and down to a pack which takes the reading, which you can wear on your belt or on a strap over your shoulder, but it's quite a big thing. Will be interesting, will have to sleep in my most unsexy pyjamas to avoid any high readings!!

Lol at Deb in unsexy pjs!

Ali, my double buggy thing is this - we either go for a Nipper 360/P&T type buggy which is relatively light and easy to fold away BUT is forward facing and the Nipper is only a double (can't be changed back to single), or we go for something like the icandy pear/zoom type which is twice the price and much heavier/bulkier/more of a hassle to pack away, BUT can be changed from double back to single and enables me to change the seating for both Alex and Bill so I can decide whether to have them facing me/facing away, etc.

I don't know whether I want Bill facing away from me when he's really tiny.

Any views?

Sponge - I had a bog standard double which meant that both faced away, but with my precious last born , I had him facing me and I loved it, so I'd probably be inclined to go with that. I never took it in the car anywhere, it was just left up in the garage, and when going somewhere else I would sometimes use a carrier for ds2 with ds1 in pushchair and then ds1 would walk after a while, but your age gap is smaller , - I'm no help am I? Sorry

Sponge that is more complicated than I thought. I just assumed it was a toss up between side by side or one on top of the other. Does a P&T type with one of top of the other have longevity issues when you have a smaller age gap? I am imagining that the one on the bottom gets to the point where they get annoyed about it, and the older one isn't ready to move out of the top berth. Or maybe I just have no idea about how having more than one works (very likely).

BDQ - we have a similar problem with our ikea bed, the slats fall through, DH has modified it in some way and it isn't too bad now, don't think it helps that in our old house when we had the cot in our room we had to walk over the bed to get to the cot, didn't do the poor bed or mattress any good.

Debs - hope Nigel managed to get some sleep.

I love my pushchair, the Britax vigour, someone on here pointed it out so thank you! Not very trendy or anything but the pram attachment was great and the pushchair bit is brilliant, I have still never turned J out to face forwards, I like being able to see him and he can nosy at everything past me anyhow.
It's a shame that the next one won't be able to use the pram bit again. As a kid I remember sitting on a little seat on top of my brother's pram, presume they don't do that anymore. Need to get J walking!
Sponge - the icandy looks good but from the pics it looks fairly difficult to see the kid on the bottom anyway, I'm liking the look of the P&T, from the pics of that it looks like you would have a pretty good view of the baby anyhow, especially if it was reclined. In real life it may be totally different.
I'm not much help am I!

J is meant to be having a nap but isn't, we are going out today for lunch and to a play place and if he doesn't sleep now he will be worn out all afternoon.

Morning all,

Deb, what is the age gap between S and T when you had them in a double?

Ali, 5 loves her P&T but I think it was AH had the problem with F not wanting to be underneath in the cocoon and I know others who've said that they find the arrangement far from ideal. But then I'm beginning to think that there is no such thing as an 'ideal' double buggy!

Sponge we managed to post at the same time again!

Morning all, bit of a rough night, I slept OK apart from a huge thunderstorm waking me up and the blood pressure alarm going off because there was a kink in the tube. Nigel didn't sleep much at all!

Sponge - 23 months between them, I used the double for going to the shops, toddler group etc... it was something like this graco one but I wasn't so precious about ds2 and he went straight in it in lie back mode -no carry cot for him poor boy, Ethan has had the Rolls Royce of prams in comparison!

My Dad works at the equivalent of a B&Q and he says one of their top requests is from customers needing new slats for their ikea bedframes, but if the mattresses are okay, it?s not hard to replace slats.

sponge I hear you on the double buggy issue! I loved having DS1 in a proper carrycot and having him face me for the first three months. By the time he was three months old, he preferred to sit up and see the world so a forward facing buggy was fine. For Fraser we had the P&T, and yes, he hated being in the newborn bit so we hardly used it for the first three months. BUT for the past 11 months it?s been brilliant! I have gotten so much use out of it. Fraser is happy to sleep in the lower seat although he seems to be growing out of it now. In hindsight I wish I?d bought the side by side double P&T ? as we already have a single Mountain Buggy that I use if I?ve just got Fraser.

I?d offer to sell you our P&T for cheap except it?s been pretty much trashed ? I think I?ve put around 800 miles on it.

I think it depends on how much you plan to walk, the icandy would be rubbish for walking any sort of distance and I love heading out with the boys for a good few hours. If you want to use it for short walks and shopping malls then it?d be fine, but otherwise, get something you can push easily!

Also, I found that the best thing for me was a sling (closebabycarrier.com ? I can?t recommend it enough) for Fraser. He loved it, slept very well in it, and it kept my hands free to deal with Duncan. It?s much easier on your back than a baby bjorn etc. and works inside as well as outside. Fraser loved to be carried too so it really saved me.

deb I bet you're glad that night is over At least you slept - can Nigel grab a nap once he's done with the monitor?

Ditto Abdn- hope you both got some sleep Debs.

Sponge- have had my twinsclub spy on the double buggy issue and they slated the iCandy pear thing. I've been having the conversation with SIL who is a month ahead of me ad she says she doesn't like P&T but feels she has no choice. Does the Mountain Buggy not do a cot attachment that faces mum? If you are considering the Nipper, presumably that means the side-by-side hasn't been ruled out. There is also the P&T side by side. Current fave in our house is a First Wheels City Twin for day-to-day use (taking a leaf out of Debs' book) and then we'll get a lightweight something to take in the car.

puree mountain buggy to do a twin with a single carry cot option - the absolute gold standard! - but priced to match unfortunately. uk.mountainbuggy.com/category.pasp?categoryid=124&full=1

ktpie, ok, this is getting seriously bloody spooky now!!

AH, no, I'm a serious walker (when not pg!) - I walked everywhere with A before Christmas and loved it. We have an M&P pram/pushchair that faces me and is great, although A spends the whole time leaning round the back so he can see where he is going so I'm wondering whether he's that bothered about being able to see me!

puree, that's interesting that the icandy got slated - I don't think it's going to be any good for long walks either. The mountain buggy looks the same as the nipper to me but is twice the price - anyone any idea why?!

Thanks for the tip on the sling - used a babasling quite alot when A was small so may use that instead, esp as it will be winter so won't worry so much about me overheating him .

Why does your SIL feel she has no choice on the P&T?

AH, can't find the price! Go on, tell me!

Hey everyone, been away for few days so trying to catch up. Interesting to hear all the double buggy talk. We had a tandem one (not sure too many of those around anymore)as a friend with twins found it really difficult to get her side by side in the boot and through shop doors. It was really good actually and we got loads of use out of it.

Othe than that I am no use as we still have the mamas and papas pram/pushchair we bought for ds 9 years ago. Not sexy but still in good nick after three kids.

How wide is that double mountain buggy? Looks like it would be tricky to get round the shops. The city twin looks pretty wide as well. Ideally I need to purchase all the different makes so I can pick out the relevant one each day depending on what we are doing.