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

[dinkystinky]

off we go again

Dinky that's a good idea. We went up to Muswell Hill on Saturday to an NCT event and dp asked why we don't go there more often. I think next month we'll try the park around Alexandra Palace, it sounds really interesting.

DS1 has been loving paddling so we've been going up to Priory Park quite a lot - sadly the council only opens it from the end of May to the end of August - the sign up says it depends on the weather but it seems that even if September is sunny there will be no more paddling.

Just gave A corn cakes with hummous on them for tea and he loved them.

He made the most revolting mess i've ever seen and had to be chucked straight in the bath but at least he had fun... and managed to eat some by himself i think.

bumps... A is doing glacier teething too.... he's so miserable i'm constantly convinced it must be on the verge of breaking through but no sign yet... if this is what he's like with his front teeth though i may have to move out for the molars!

Go A! That's great stuff Pink Danny had much fun with sweet potato chips, chicken and peas and strawberries tonight, bless him. Seeing Danny so evidently enjoy his strawberries almost tempted DS1 to give one a try too.

So Friday MeetUp - are people still on for this? Great if some are, no worries if not (know THOM and Swampfire cant make it).

Dinky - do you ignore the strawberry thing then?

Pretty much - am keeping an eye on Danny to see if he has any reaction to it though but he seemed fine after eating it and when going down to bed.

he he, haven't been brave enough for strawberries yet due to allergy weaning nonsense... i'm generally more lax about the fruity ones but my dad occasionally gets hives from strawberries so i try and wait til closer to one before offering them... shame though as i have several boxes in the fridge as i accidentally bought too many

He had his weekly poo today, 3 nappies full Am going to give him some diluted OJ with his meals from now on and see if that keeps him a bit more regular as it can't be healthy for him to be constipated all the time.

PT we are also having constipation probs with Sam. Today I had to hold him over the changing mat while he screamed and a poo the size and consistency of a sausage made its way into the world . It was like watching someone give birth. Am worried the poor chap will tear something. He refuses water so I need to dilute something to help him along.

PT are you not worried about the sesame seeds in hummous (it's made with tahini isn't it? Or am I imagining that?) I'm a bit nervous with Sam. DD had it today and I thought I shouldn't.

Dinky I would be up for Friday if it's on. DH is off but wants to go to CAr Giant to look at cars so it is nice to have an excuse not to go with him!

Had to stay in all day waiting for my Tesco delivery and now have to put all the bits together. Why do they have to be so complicated?

Better go and clear up the carnage in the living room now....

PT I'm going to try corn cakes in the week. We'll all have them.
PSL and dinky What strawberry thing?

Luke has come up with a nasty red rash like thing on his face again. Thinking about times it's happened before, it's always (3 times it's happened) been after we've been out in nice weather. Yesterday he was out in the sun for a bit. I tried to keep his hat on, and he was covered in suncream regularly but now his face is bright red, little pinprick spots on it and feels really dry I have been putting some e-45 cream on it and a bit of olive oil before bed. Not sure what else to do? It looks like excema all over his face. I don't think it is excema though, is just dry.

lbb - the guidelines say hold off from strawberries until babies are 1 year as they can be an allergy trigger. I'm just aware because of M's milk allergy...

for those of you with bunged up babies I put dried apricots in aswell and it worked a treat for DS1.

Check out the whole recipe section for some great fingerfood ideas. (Particularly the recipies by Spottyshoes ) Just noticed the low salt pitta and cheese straw recipies i'd forgotten all about. Feel a cooking day coming on

morning all
PT and STW at your baby poos and A only going once a week!
H has always been so regular since on solids and would literally go within minutes of each meal. Over the last week however its gone to about once a day. Think he'd explode if he didn't go for a week.

STW have you tried the baby juices from Heinz (sell in Boots and most supermarkets) I water them down a bit for H and he loves them, that might help a little

LBB well done on the home cooking, I still haven't cooked any 'real' food for H but will be doing mainly that when back in KSA as very limited supply of baby food there.

KBN good advice from dinky ref the nanny. Hope the return to work goes well.

STW sounds like your DH is like mine when it comes to cars. He could look at them all day even if he is not planning on buying one and spends hours on pistonheads and other boring websites. He is green with envy as one of our neighbours has an Aston Marin, his dream car. He very nearly got one, we put a deposit on one (2 year waiting list) 3 years ago but about 6 months before we would have got it he accepted that it just wasn't happening anymore and cancelled

weather looks a bit crap here today although the forecast was supposed to be good. We'd planned on going to Tilgate park which has a lovely play park, a huge lake to walk around, lovely gardens and an animal section with lots of bunnies, sheep, pigs etc. Were going to take a picnic but it looks like its going to tip down. Bloody typical. Just realised its really not long til I go back to KSA and running out of time and still haven't seen so many people

PSL Ok, I didn't know that
spotty Will look at that link later. Tuesday is the day that I plan the weeks lunch and dinner menus anyway, so will have a look when I settle down to do that later. I might do sweetcorn cakes tonight.

Meeting a friend in Staines today. He is going to bring an ironing board home from argos for me.

Morning all. No adverse reaction from Danny to the strawberries I'm pleased to report - but then I'm not weaning for allergies and the boy appears to take after DH in his desire to eat anything and everything in sight - with the notable exception of avocado which I tried him on again on Sunday and was immediately picked up and dropped off the table with a look of disdain But god BLW is not for the faint hearted as the mess it creates truly is phenomenal - thank god we have a wipe down kitchen! Tried Danny on weetabix this morning which he enjoyed getting everywhere - had forgotten it sets like concrete if you dont clear it up immediately. Doh!

STW and Pink, Danny is another poo once every 3 to 5 days or so baby, always has been - I'm just making sure he gets lots of fruit in and trying to get him to take water with meals. If he stays this way, will start offering heavily diluted fresh squeezed orange juice with meals.

Spotty - that site looks great. Will check out the recipes more later but they look nice and easy enough for a not very happy to cook person like me to do!

MoS - hope the rain holds off and you get to have your day out - it sounds really lovely. My DH is also a car fan, but generally restricts his car addiction to watching endless repeats of top gear.

LBB - hope you have a good day with your friend. Does the new ironing board mean you'll have an ironing mountain to tackle when you get home? Hope not for your sake.

STW - am happy to meet up with you on Friday if you fancy a day out in London (and being saved from the car show ) even if no one else is up for it.

dinky Yes re the ironing I hate ironing.
I have to wait until ds1 goes to bed too because he likes to shake the board legs and pull on the iron wire, so not the safest....

Re BLW, that is why I'm not giving Luke weetabix! How does D do it? Fingers or do you give him a loaded spoon? Atm Luke has toast for breakfast, but he also has sandwiches for lunch so would like to give something else for breakfast because of the salt content of bread

Mixture of both loaded spoon and sucking off his fingers - did half a biscuit with a splash of milk so it was soggy but not totally sloppy so Danny could grab hold of it abit. He did enjoy it and loved having a bowl of breakfast and a spoon just like his big brother

Right - Friday so far it is STW, KBN, Elkiedee and me. MoS are you going to be able to make it? How about Bumps - understand if you cant with the sleep deprivation/teething that is going on at the mo. Any other takers?

Weather forecast currently looking abit grey and drizzly for Friday - though may well change - so Tate Modern cafe/restaurant or Giraffe are good rainy/grey weather options. If weather is nice, there's the grassed over area in front of the NFT/National Theatre or park near Gabriel's Wharf.

ivor used to be a hold it in for days on end and then have an apoocalypse but now he's a one in, one out boy and regularly rather rudely goes in the middle of feeding him.

i'm doing a mixture of finger foods and mush but not too mushy mush. i decided i didn't want a new nanny who'd not done blw to face that task especially as i wouldn't feel confident in it myself. he's such a hungry thing though which is why i asked about the weetabix because as well as 3 meals a day and 4 x 8oz bottles he still wants a bottle in the middle of the night so i thought a bowl of weetabix before bath and bed might help. he still woke for a bottle in the night but then slept through till 7.40 this morning so no idea if it helped and whether the milk is just a middle of the night back to sleep aid. ah well, time will tell and one quick feed and back to sleep is perfectly copeable with.

lbb your housework and organisational skills amaze me. i'm so impressed at all your cleaning, ironing and planning meals.

when i went to wales with the kids my dp did a really thorough spring clean of the house. it was lovely to come back to but of course it doesn't take long to get back to the usual chaos.

as i'm certain this is my last child though i'm being really hardcore with clearing out grown out of clothes and baby accessories. 'sitting up on your own in the bath?' bath chair to a friend then. no more big bags of clothes under the bed, in every cupboard etc.

I'm hoping to make Friday although we've got so much to fit in particularly as I've now got my aunt staying from Saturday am til Monday and then we just have Tuesday and kids to boarding school Wednesday. Where has the poor excuse of a summer gone

Has a time been set for meet up? Also, where is the nearest tube to where you are suggesting? I'm crap at knowledge of London.

Had an okish morning at local park. G played in park for around an hour then fed ducks and walked around lake and of course it poured down for around 10 mins when we were as far away from car as possible. Picked some blackberries and planning on making a summer fruit pudding later. Then went to see animals and home.

DD1 and I are going to the cinema in an hour which is a treat so I'm hoping DD2 is worn out and will sleep, if not DS1 is in for a hard time

I'm afraid I'm dithering a bit about Friday - my NCT antenatal class is also meeting up way out in Enfield. I'd like to do both but obviously can't!

South Bank is near Waterloo so probably no tube needed, MOS.

Sorry MOS, do you come in at Victoria rather than Waterloo?

KBN I have control issues. I also like to know exactly what's going to happen and when and seeing as I can't fully control all aspects of the children, I like to have full control over everything else in life
It all started when the PND was treated, kind of helped me to get back on track, making lots of lists and doing planning etc.

The sweetcorn fritters went down well with Luke. He also had a bit of bacon and even some avocado (yuk)
Jacob didn't even try his. I left his out in the hope that he gets really hungry in a bit and at least has one bite. We shall see.

i come into victoria. Am still having nightmares about the last trip to London last month which was a nightmare. Had to stand up on train all the way home (obviously all the busy commuters didn't see the woman with the toddler standing breastfeeding a baby!

mos It's shocking isn't it? So many selfish people out there.
Today I got on the bus with both my ds's asleep in the double pushchair, 4 young girls got on wwith a toddler not in the pushchair, but the pushchair full of primark bags, in the seat and on the handles. The girl with the buggy tried to push infront of me so had to tell her I'd been waiting longer and she wasn't going to get on before me etc, then when I got on (have to take my chair on the back) she asked me to move around so that she could get her buggy in! I told her the only way to do that would mean that mine was half out in the aisle and there was no way that was gonna happen so her primark knickers could have priority place. I also told her to just fold her buggy down if her dd wasn't going to sit in it, she said she had too much shopping on it and needed to park it up. There's just either no understanding or people just don't give a crap about others safety. How could anyone let a child (your dd) stand on a train? Or a woman with a baby. What a joke

And then there were four...

MoS - grr at the selfish commuters on your last journey back from london and LBB and grr at the primark primadonna!! MoS - hopefully trains will be abit quieter this week as the city tends to empty abit over the kids' summer holidays. If you come in to Victoria you can take the circle or district line along to Embankment and then cross over to the Southbank by foot over the Hungerford Bridge (v handy bridge - has lifts at both ends!). Or you could cab it. Would you have all 4 kids or just H and G? Again, understand if you cant make it.

Elkie - understand if you cant make it given your NCT meet up too on that day but of course would be lovely to see you also.

STW and KBN - up for a bijou meet up? If not, no worries - if you are though maybe we could aim to meet around lunchtimeish and have a glass of wine or two while catching up

i'm still up for meeting. wine sounds good!