April 2009 - Chapter 5 - The one where no-one is allowed to feel guilty (except about all the chocolate...)

[Guimauve]

There will be chocolate fines for the guilty!

brett, I think it is just a cold. I certainly haven't been getting hysterical about things - it's just something that you have to be vaguely aware of just in case. He seems to be getting better now though, anyway. Although I did pull what was quite literally a 9 inch bogey out of his nose yesterday

Gui, formula tastes kind of chalky to me. What we produce is much nicer. Luckily, I have a fat lad who'll eat anything you wave in front of his face. & sometimes things that you don't.

Going to school - I can't imagine my baby being so grown up! The thought of putting him in uniform & packing him off with a huge bag on his back... He'll never be that big, surely?!

A BF puppy? What? Yuck.

Best of luck to E. I can't imagine how scary it must be for you MrsG, even though it's only a small procedure.

Haha, I hadn't noticed that nobody had commented on the puppy, but good point! It was rather difficult to ignore?

Boff, I am intending to seduce your nanny & have her live here. I can't afford to pay her in money, but I'm sure we can come to another arrangement. We will have to. I need her.

Ooh, where can I buy the Auld books? They sound great fun

WFH, DS1 sounds like he's got parental manipulation down to a fine art Sorry to hear about your job. Hopefully things will be better by next year.

Puzzle, you tag teaming minx It's a good job I have my mojo back, or I'd be shocked & appalled

In theory, I'm very up for a bus to France. I must get my passport sorted, though! I haven't had a valid one for about a year now.

Frekkles, I hope work is a nice break (haha, never thought that'd be the case!) from everything & you feel better for being a grown up again.

Gui, I'm going back to uni in a couple of weeks, but that just means that I'm going to have to avoid essay writing - I think my MN time will actually increase

By the way, that post was brought to you courtesy of Dora the Explorer who babysat my child whilst I typed. So it begins.

I'm here! Not going back to work till March ish, so save me a seat on the slacker bench. And maybe not going back at all...

Tooth 2 is through but we still have some pain - woke last night at 2, 3, 4 and 5am. Then didn't want to get up at 6.30 when we had to get up to get DS1 up and dressed for nursery. (DP left for work at 5.30am today )

Have decided that lovely as I am, Orbit probably needs more stimulation than just me, so we're going to Jolly Babies today. Might go swimming next week.

We were also thinking of going swimming next week, as DH is off on Monday. That means me getting into swimming costume though, which is the rate-limiting step.

Springy - what's Georgy Porgy doing while you're at Uni? Have they got a nursery there? I constantly avoid writing essays.

Come swiming with me! There must be a pool that's convenient for both of us, surely? No?

I keep meaning to go to a baby group, but haven't yet managed to make it. Maybe next week is the week. I don't own a swimming costume, so at least I've avoided that particular shame. I can't go swimming.

We have a childminder lined up for George whilst we're at uni. To be honest, the thought of paying someone to have him on a regular basis while I do my things is almost orgasmic. I don't care if that makes me a bad mother, I can't wait!

swiming? I'm not sure what that is... have i just asked you to do something unspeakable with me?

I'll happily swime with you

I imagine convenient for us both must be Reading or somewhere similar!

I'm nowhere near being able to leave H yet. The longest I've left him is for about an hour (except when DH has him and I have a lie-in). This is mostly because of his need to milk me so frequently. I don't know what I'll do if his velcro hasn't worn off by the time I go back to work.

tigga, pick away.

that sounds even worse than swiming.

Gui is swimeing like swimming but with cake?

GigglingTiggaxx

Just marking. Pay me no heed.

I always swim with cake. Best to be prepared.

Crumbs'n'chlorine? Barf.

Theatre club a roaring success.

I am knackered and my hair is falling out in handfuls. Is more chocolate required?

Seriously, Tigga, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer. Not sure about the animal part, though.

BB is the Lord Lucan of Mumsnet.

My hair also falling out in handfuls! Does chocolate help that?

Afternoon ladies...

Gui, I'm not going back to work until March/April next year... then I intend to get up the duff again ASAP so that I can get maternity pay from my current employer

mwah ha ha

so will be on mn for the forseeable future.

I also haven't left O for more than an hour yet. I'm not sure if the velcro is more on him or on me [blush}

Oscar hates napping unless he's in his pushchair. We've been trying pick up put down but I couldn't stand the crying this afternoon so just gave him a dummy. DH will not be impressed but screw it - he's asleep, he's happy, I'm happy. Rah.

WFH - I keep trying to persuade myself to go swimming with O but haven't quite got there yet. Before I got pregnant I was convinced I'd be taking him swimming by 6 weeks. In fact, there were a lot of things I was convinced of before he actually arrived, none of which seem to have panned out.

What I didn't forsee was the extreme cake eating I would be participating in. I think I am almost 100% cake now. Yesterday I had cake for breakfast and lunch. I only had fish fingers for dinner because DH made them - would have been quite happy with cake.

Countdown to Cornwall - T-5 days.

Frekkles - how was your first day back? Really hope you're ok. Its really bloody tough with a non-sleeping baby. Hang in there

Gui - my hair is still coming out too. Cake clearly doesn't help - maybe I should test the chocolate theory...

Blimey, I haven't had any cake today It's because I had bread and jam for elevenses (okay......nineses) instead of my usual cake. No wonder H is grumpy. He's withdrawing....better get this remedied asap.

Ignoring Puzzle (but thanks anyway for kind FB observations about DD's utter gorgeousness).

Ooh, Gui you domestic goddess you. Yummy home-made bread Is it cheating to use my breadmaker? It's a start at least right?

All those going back to work - sending big energetic vibes and much admiration for working out those baby brains so soon.

Springy/WFH - I too keep meaning to go to a baby group or something but wasn't sure if they're old enough to know about socialising with babies their own age yet? What if it gives them ideas of mischief?

Well she's been sleeping like an angel for 2 hours now, I've played all my scrabble games/built an amazing online farming empire/uploaded and catalogued all my photos finished the ironing and done all the household chores. I bit the bullet and booked her second immunisation appointment too on the grounds that Tony can take her on Saturday morning, and this time he doesn't have the excuse of sport on TV.

My hair is falling out in (not handfuls!) but bucketfuls! LOL Or so it seems! And since my hair is half way down my back, it is super annoying, as there are very long hairs everywhere! Husband always seems to have them hanging from his clothes, or I find them wrapped around poor Clement - or in nappies! Arggg! I think it would be nice if we still had normal hair falling out while we were pregnant, rather than it all coming out at once when our babies are several months old! I had it quite bad after my first baby, but not so bad after the second one (they were only 16 months apart) but this time it's like twice as bad - guess it's the 24 month gap!

mines falling out in clumps too

Yup, hair falling out here too. I have very long hair, so it's particularly noticeable around the house, ick.

So baby groups - well, they're quite a lot about meeting other mums, as well as about the babies. I think also when they hit 4-5 months or so they need some stimulation other than just home and toys, and it's a good way to get out of the house for a bit and show them something different to look at. Orbit gets grouchy if we stay at home all day, definitely.

The one I went to, Jolly Babies, is just literally half an hour of little songs and actions which the babies respond to to varying degrees, and then everyone goes off and consumes coffee and cake.

Orbit loved the songs and beamed at being bounced up and down, but when we got there another baby was crying and it completely freaked him out, he screamed the place down and it took me about ten minutes to calm him down - there were tears just rolling down his cheeks, poor thing . He hates other babies crying.

There was a tiny tiny newborn there too that just looked terrified of the whole thing - I really wanted to say 'Take that poor baby home and give it some peace and quiet!' to the mum, but that probably wouldn't have been very fair.

I'm eating the bits of the lemon drizzle cake I had to cut off to make it sit flat on the plate - can't waste them, after all! Have a friend coming tomorrow, hence cake making.

Springy, I know, you are really just jealous because I want to marry the nanny and not you.

Conversation yesterday after first day back:

DH: You did not leave enough milk today. He needed 15 ounces and you only left 12.

Me: I am not a machine or a cow. I am a human being. I cannot just produce it like that, you know. You can't just pour animal feed in my head so more milk comes out my front. It doesn't work like that. You can't just give me targets to meet.

DH: Well what are we supposed to do?

Me: Use the stash in the freezer.

DH: But that will run out you need to make more. Our theory is you have been breastfeeding him more than you realised.

WTF?!!