Fab Feb 2009 - hey ho, hey ho, its off to babyproof we go...

[dinkystinky]

off we go again

London Zoo is pretty expensive LBB - £18.50 for an adult and £15 for a child over 3 - but DH and I have sorted annual passes and got one for DS1 as we live only around 15 minutes drive from the zoo so we can drop in there for a couple of hours here and there (and we get half price tickets for friends and family with our passes). And you definitely have to take your own food for picnics as the food there is disgusting and really overpriced at that. Though the enclosures are nice (especially Gorilla Kingdom - they now have 3 gorillas there) and DS1 (and even Danny today) enjoy it.

It sounds like you had fun dinky def will not be paying that amount to go though!

OMG! Jacob has just eaten some toast!

Result! We spritzed and H only got up at 4am - and wasn't screaming - yay! Sam only up 2-4(I had been asleep since 9 though so not a problem this time!)

Sorry for lack of personals, shooting out the door in a mo V busy day and tonight is my 1st proper going out to dinner date with DH since Sam. (Not sure I really want to though as he is doing my head in a bit )

Have a great day y'all xx

spotty Great news
Have fun tonight. Might be just what the pair of you need

Hurray Spotty - glad you finally got some sleep! Have a great time tonight

morning all........... Guess what...................... Owen only woke twice last night (hip hip) He went down at 8 and woke at one then again at 3 both times he had massive feeds and went straight back off again......

He finally woke at six and wanted to get up so we came down and had early breakfast and now he is asleep in his bouncy chair.....

I am so pleased I feel human again........ I think I may be seeing those pearly whites at some point today because he hasn't fed that well in ages.... And hasn't been grouchy all morning either... oh an SLEPT yaaahoooooooo

Owen is 6months old today... Its all going too quickly...

Hello my lovely Fab Febbbers!

I've been off for a while dealing with various issues - MN and RL - but I have finally given myself a good shake and am back like the Prodigal Mother!

Please accept me back into the fold?

Hi PSL - lovely to see you back How is the lovely M, Dannys birthdate pal, doing? Hope all good with you guys.

ps congrats on the long overdue sleep bumps!

Hi Dinky. .

M is great, thanks. We're going great guns with BLW but her sleep pattern is a bit up the wall as we're not massively consistant with it! Today is the start of trying to be a bit more routine based... Can't be worse than yesterday - J had her for the day (I'm back at work) and took two bottle with him, but no powder! So by 3pm she had only had her 8am bottle and half a rusk...

She's crawling; nearly sitting (she can manage about 45 seconds) and is chatting away (she starts Sing and Sign classes with her Dad in a week or so), but having been dribbling for Britain and chewing on everything in sight for the last 3 months, still no sign of any pearly whites!

Wow, sounds like M is doing great! Danny is sitting and scooching (mixture of commando crawling forward, rolling and backwards motion) but desperately wants to be crawling. Saw him get on his hands and knees a couple of times yesterday so dont think it can be too far off. No sign of teeth here either - but DS1 was a glacially slow teether so not expecting any from Danny any time soon either. We're BLWing too - yesterday lunchtime he threw away the yellow pepper strips I'd brought for him and launched himself at the lettuce on my plate, splattering us both with the balsamic dressing. Tis not a tidy thing this weaning lark!

How's it going being back at work? Sounds like M is getting lots of quality time with her dad which must be nice for her and J - hope you're not finding the separation from her too difficult though. Sing and sign sounds like fun - have been v lax with Danny and not taken him to any music things at al yet (was taking DS1 from around 4 months to a music class) - must try and make a couple with him before I go back to work in mid - September.

I'm really liking being back at work - didn't think I would pre baby, but now I relish the time away from her (aren't I a bad mum ). I know she loves being with J, and Granny 1 day a week, and Nanny 3 days a week. They also love it (obviously) and when I get home (around 3pm) we have quality time.

She loves music, and when term starts, she will have Music Tots with Nanny on Tuesdays as well as Sing and Sign with Daddy of Thursdays and Rhyme time at the library with Nanny on Fridays, as well as swimming lessons on Mondays with my mum and baby yoga on Wednesdays with Nanny again! Talk about a busy schedule!

With the BLW thing we seem to be making it up as we go along so have ordered a few books from Amazon to bone up on it, but so far she LOVES brocolli, likes banana, pear, carrot and melon, and is a bit unsure of avacado! Does anyone have a handy idiot-guide of what stage to introduce each new food? We're waiting on full allergy tests, so we're avoiding dairy and wheat for now, but I'm keen to expand her diet as much as I can.

Hey PSL... good to 'see' you again

I forgot to mention A figured out how to get from tummy to sitting the other night, he hasn't done it since though so i think it was just a fluke. He's crawling now but ridiculously slowly, it took him 10 mins last night to go 3 feet... at least he's going forwards instead of backwards though right?

Sleep isn't great here either as like STW if we get the timing of meals wrong he refuses and then is cranky and hungry and up all night so think i may have to bite the bullet and figure out a routine for him... might wait til the older 2 are back at school as things should be a bit simpler then, atm we're out so much during the day we sometimes just aren't here to be giving him food... even the simplest meal takes him over half and hour so i can't just shovel some food into him and head out which is a pain.

bumps Try netmums

They have a good section on allergies, inlcuding some goodrecipes.

Hi PT. Clever A. M attempts it - she can do the manover, and then falls forwards and has her face in between her feet! But she loves her toes, so it doesn't bother her!

Hi PSL Welcome back
Just read about J having M yesterday. Men hey.....although I'm sure I've done the same, this is why the cartons come in handy.
She's crawling? Wow, very impressive. This is where the fun really begins, it's amazing how fast they can actually go!
She is going to be a very busy girl with all those activities. Me, ds1 and Luke, just put a toddler cd on and get the tamborines etc out and have a music session in the bedroom
Re weaning and new foods, it's recommended to stick to the 3 day rule. You introduce a new food after 3 days so you'll know what it is that has caused a reaction if she has one. I don't stick to that though, but then there is no history of allergies here.
Tonight for dinner Luke had sausages, tomatoes, mushroom and peppers in balsamic vinegar with couscous on the side. It got everywhere but he looked like he enjoyed it.
PT Good for A on the crawling front. Jacob didn't do it until he was 10 months, Luke gets on his knees but then his face is buried in the rug!

We do have allergies and i don't stick to the 3 day rule Lifes too short, he'd hardly have tasted any foods at all by now if we'd done it like that.

I'm highly offended at the little gurrier today. It's dp's birthday so we wanted a nice easy evening as i'd taken the kids out all day to give him some peace and quiet and i picked up one of those Ella's kitchen purrees for A to save having to faff about defrosting ice cubes (no microwave) and he gobbled it up like he'd never tasted food before, he ate so much i warmed him up a second portion amnd he ate all that too... and finished it off by eating a bit of apricot by himself. ~You'll never guess what flavour it was though..... Butternut squash! Apparently it's just my cooking he dislikes, not butternut squash itself

Pink - DS1 used to reject my lovingly prepared purees in favour of jar food, so I just gave him jar food until he reverted to wanting lovingly prepared home food - mind you, he's still not that great a fan of home prepared food

dd was the same, it got to the point when i went back to work at 8 months that i just bought jars as i got sick of spending my weekends cooking when she refused to eat a single bite of it!

She still hates my food but now she hates pre prepared food too

Ah children - bless their contrary little cotton socks.

Most impressed at A's crawling away, must come of being the youngest of 3.

We're steeling ourselves here to commence bottle battle with Danny tomorrow - poor boy, doesnt know what's coming.

lol, he seems to have forgotton how to do it today, he keeps pushing himself up on feet and hands with his bum in the air and collapsing back down to the ground with a big belly flop

Strange child....... i seem to breed them odd though so no surprises there.

Poor Danny, hopefully he'll take to the bottles a bit better now he's older though, and if not he can use his sippy cup now he's figured out it's purpose Good luck with it though

Jacob preferred jars too. He still isn't keen on my home cooked, but I am determined to get them both eating my food, it's that or hunger now I will not be making the same mistake with Luke that's for sure.

hello all and welcome back PSL good to have you back, so many others have deserted us

You'll have to let me know how the sing and sign classes go as I've finally accepted I'm not going back to law anytime soon and have started my own business and will be doing sing and sign classes! Just got permission from DH's company in KSA and will be starting the beginning of Oct. DH put the posters up last week and a bit anxious that no interest yet but a lot of people are still on leave and only returning over the next week or so and all the pilots and their wives will be away on leave for ramadan so not back til late September.
Am hoping it will be a success as I've put a lot of money into it so far with all the props, books, music etc.

PSL, do you mind me asking how much the lessons are there? I was thinking of charging around £4 per session (varies coz of exchange rate) and am doing 10 week courses.
Views from all, is £4 a reasonable figure or too much? The only other kids activities on our compound are swimming and ballet which are both 30 min sessions and due to the exchange rate work out around £7 which I think is a bit much. My classes will be 45 mins.

H likes a few of the jars, particularly the ones with sweet potato in and also some of the heinz/farleys powders, ie cauliflower and broccoli cheese. He loves all the fruity ones too. Feel a bit guilty as haven't managed to make any home made food for him but will do that when I get back to KSA. On the verge of a breakdown here at the moment but thank god DC1 and 2 back today!

Happy weekend everyone x

Hi PSL

£4 sounds about right MOS it's 3.50 here for 45mins. Sounds like you should get plenty of interest

Had a lovely time last night. DH and I actually laughed together for the first time in ages. We had dinner on a boat on the marina and had gorgeous crayfish tails and a lovely wine. Mmmm getting hungry again!

Off to get DS1 a bed rail now as he keeps falling out of bed