May '09 Fine and DANDY vive la difference! 3 months on and our babies and lives are changing.

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Well Dandy!!!!!!! Just for you after an annoying night

Like, hulloooo all.

Gert - no idea about 'anti'BLW research, I'm guessing not though as the concept has only had a name for a few years, although I guess it's been going on a very looooong time! BLW is ideal if you don't want the faff of puree: I pushed a butternut squash through a sieve and DD1 refused to eat any of it, that was the end of mush in my house.

running - glad the top-up went more smoothly.

I'm shattered already. A woke at 4:15 and had a huge feed, she didn't go back to sleep until 5:30; DD1 then woke up at 6:15 shouting for breakfast! I managed to get her in bed with me for 10 minutes or so, but she wanted toget up so I just shut the stair gate and let her do her own thing upstairs while I dozed but she wasn't very impressed with that so I had to get up at 7.

I might be extravagant and take the girls to Pizza Express or somewhere for lunch after we've fed the ducks. Obviously A won't be bothered where we are as long as she gets boobs, but DD1 likes going out. Spoke to DH this morning, he's having fun in Tokyo, been shopping and on a bus tour! Should be back tomorrow evening.

hi all.
a bit under the weather today with stomach cramps, etc. (don't want to get into details). dh has dd1&2 and H is asleep. i'm sipping peppermint tea and watching formula 1 , just not bothered to make the effort tochange the channel.

belgian, thanks for the friendly fires link, great song; i knew the song just didn't know whose it was. I can't wait to see them.

running, sounds like a good morning. hope it continues.
fi, hope you got your house in order.
jennster/gert happy hols!

everyone-not-mentioned, have a great day.

flippin, have a good meal out. pizza sounds good to me.

Hello!

Wow - you chatty lot, I had 3 pages to catch up on!!

DH has just gone off to Scotland for 24hrs for a charity do. I've just dropped my parents at Gatwick as they're off to the Canaries for a fortnight. One of my close friends has flown off to Malta for a weeks hols this morning too! Do you ever feel deserted??!

O is teething badly. I had to resort to his first ever dose of Calpol yesterday and have been and got him some teething gel and Ashton&Parsons granules this morning. I've put one lot of gel on his gums and it helped for about half an hour. Everything is going in his mouth at the moment - usually the plastic clips of his toys rather than the toy itself.

Hope Jennster & Gert are having good journeys.

flippin - yum! I love Pizza Express!!

Momino - hope you're feeling better.

weaning - think we're going to do a mix of BLW and mashing up food from our meals.

Its quiet here today!

Momino hope you're feeling better soon.

Ses I can understand why you feel abandoned!!

Fi I got a lie in till 9am Bliss!

We've had a pretty quiet day, which suits me fine. Watching ds1 and ds2 interact is brilliant. Although ds1 still needs watching he's so good with ds2 and they are giggling and smiling at each other!

Hope everyone's had a lovely day and enjoyed the sunshine

We took DD to the cinema to see the new Tinkerbell film, it was in the Family movies, so it was FREE, even better J watched half, he loves the big screen, this will be his 4th film now lol and then he slept through the other half, and then we had a lovely picnic in the park, DP is downstairs cooking our tea, and I'm going to feed J and watch the X-Factor hehe.

BLW I don't really understand. With DD I pureed her food, and it worked for us, so to be honest that's what I'm going to do again. On most nights, we have vegetables with our dinner anyway, so we'll just blitz some extra up and feed him, when the time comes. Any extra pureed food can be frozen into ice-cube trays or the little trays which are almost identical to ice-cube trays, we've got a couple of them still from DD, especially for baby food, but ice-cube trays work perfectly fine, and then the next night, the ice cubes can just be re-heated in the microwave.

Hope everyone has a nice evening X Jael

I had such a lovely day with DH and DCs. Didn't anything special but it was lovely doing it together. Now settled down to watch x factor with red wine -bliss.

Muddled I meant to say IKWYM about the interaction between DCs. They love eachother so much now and I'm pretty sure DD can be mainly trusted now. DS giggles at her and DD gives him lots of kisses and chooses toys for him to play with. I can't wait for them to e palying properly together. Makes me so happy that they have each other. God I'm clearly pissed already!!!

X Factor here too, apple crumble in the oven!

blimey - lots of talkin bin going on

we've been to the Vanfest today we accidentally went the wrong way when we went in so the officials said to just park in the field by the fun fair - brilliant! So we got there by 10, walked round for 2hrs then went back to our camper to cook bacon rolls and a mug of tea and to BF M. Then had another wander round, bought some bits and pieces then BF M and came home.

M was brilliant - put her in a lovely new outfit too . Had quite a few "oh what a cute baby" comments

M was absolutely knackered after a full day outside in the fresh air and went up to her cot sparko before 7.

Had a better night with her last night after I gave her 5oz of formula and BF her till she fell asleep, she slept 7.30-10.30 then Bf till 11 and slept thro till just before 4am! a quick feed then slept till 7.

Very quiet here tonight. Everyone must be watching X-factor I suppose. DH is home here, so he's watching something else, probably to do with sports or something.

I'm very excited about receiving a mei tai in the post. It's beautiful. Not sure what I'm going to do with all those slings

looby glad you had a great time at the vanfest. It sounded good. Did you manage to finish your cow print seat covers in time?

jael The attraction to the BLW is that you don't even have to do any mashing. Just give baby some bits and pieces straight from the plate. Cooking a bit extra:yes, doing anything else with it:no!

flippin Hope you had a lovely time at Pizza Express. You sound like you deserved it.

teething C's still teething too. I can feel her 2 front bottom incissors just below her gums. It wont be long before one of them will come through.

muddled febes It's lovely when dcs become best friends. My eldest 2 are so great together. It's such a pleasure to watch. Now they're starting to get interested in C too. Especially DS loves to play with her. It's funny because I knew that would be the way it was going to be. All the while I was preg people used to say things like "Oh your dd will love to be a mummy and play with the baby", but I knew that wasn't going to be the case. She's not a girly girl and clearly not maternal either. DS on the other hand is brilliant

Oh and I had the mini Boden catalogue through today too. Goh, it's just full of cute baby and little girl things. I wish I were rich and could buy a whole new Boden wardrobe for my dcs

Hello everyone! I'm back from my holiday in Filey- lovely weather, great fun. Lots of eating out (yum yum). The DCs were pretty good really (even though they got tired) and DD/DS1 loved the beach. DS2 wasn't so keen as doesn't like wind.

Got about 20 pages to catch up on, so not sure i can read through it all tonight!

I think/hope that DS2 is going through his 4 month growth spurt- he is back to feeding 3 or 4 times a night after a spell of just 1 or 2 feeds a night. Luckily i have been having afternoon naps with him and falling asleep at 9 in the evening the last couple of nights so catching up on my sleep. Now i have my laptop again i am sure i will end up staying up late .

didn't quite finish stitching on one of the seat covers so just tucked the fabric in where needed - looked okay tho - didn't see any others like them

obviously people don't have the same bad good taste as me

welcome back pula glad you had a nice holiday

hi all.
just watching bbc last night at the proms. I'd love to be there someday (gawd, i'm so British ).

it's been quite a day. we're trying to tackle whingeing with both dd1&2. we're trying to be consistent and follow through consequences. really tough work. so, I've got a glass of cold white wine whilst i listen to some lovely music.

belgian, i'd love my girls to be dressed head to toe in Boden. i do get things in the sales like tshirts or on ebay.

muddled/febes/belgian, my heart melts when i see dd1&2 holding hands, hugging, saying 'we're best friends'etc. of course they have their moments... I also wonder how Harper will fit in. at the moment at 4+ months she stares at them and seems to want to share their jokes.

cross-psted.
Hi pula! good to see you again. glad you had a good time.
looby, van fest sounds like a great time. do you have pics yet?

I understand the bit about giving them actual pieces of food, I just don't understand them not eating it if you get me lol when you're feeding them the puree's you know how much they're having, if you're just doing BLW, how do you know how much they're having? Do you just literlly giv them a big chunk of cauliflour? etc I find it very confusing am I really the only one who does? I'd also be too scared about them getting pieces stuck in their throat, I worry too much.

Sometimes I wish that DD and J had a smaller age gap between them so that they might have a closer relationship play-wise...I mean, now she absolutely loves him to pieces, but sometimes she wants to Mommy him, that's the main problem we have in our house. Were almost over it, but it's taking some time. Hence the little incident the other day where she tried to move him, she was only doing what she thought was right. He'd rolled onto his tummy, and over again, so wasn't in the same place, and she thought he shuld be back where I put him, so she tried to move him, she's only 3 and a half at the end of the day. She loves him so much, everyday I have to bring him into her bedroom when I go to wake her up so he can wake her up too lol and she has to kiss him before he goes to bed and she has to be the one to give him his blankie in his cot lol she's so protective of him. She makes sure he's always got toys whenever we leave the house she reminds me! I'd be lost without her... right I'm going for a cup of tea before bed, nite X

Evening all!

Welcome back pula - glad you had a good holiday.

looby - sounds like you had a fun day! Fingers crossed for a good night for you.

DD1(M, can't get my head round DD1!) and A are really getting used to each other now, we have quite long sessions where they just smile/coo/laugh at each other which is lovely. I've been bathing them together this week and it's been fascinting watching them together.

We made it to Pizza Express. M was really stroppy all morning, but she fell asleep in the pushchair on the way to town, she hasn't done that for ages. Anyway, when we were on the way to PE, we bumped into my neighbour who has a baby 2 weeks older than A; her DP is away with work at the moment too so she came for pizza with us too, and we had a really nice time. M woke up for lunch, and ate a whole PE children's meal (dough balls, small pizza, ice cream). I'm sure they're aimed at slightly older childrem she's only 2 and a half! Maybe it's a good argument for BLW - we can take her to restaurants and she'll eat anything and everything?!

M has been grumbling about her shoes for a week or so. Nothing specific, but she's been very particular wbout how they are fastened. I didn't take much notice as I thought she was just being a contrary two year old. Got her feet measured this afternoon, she's gone from a 5 to a 6 in about 6 weeks (. Bit disappointed though, there were two suitable pairs of shoes, so I let her choose which ones she wanted - of course they are the ones I liked least!

Sat here with a slice of bread and butter and a glass of wine . I wanted a snack but we've got no crisps, but I made bread this morning and it's very nice {blush] again.

Jael - it doesn't matter if LOs eat the food or not, until babies are about 1 nearly all of their nutrition would come from milk anyway. Babies have a very strong gag reflex which means that things are unlikely to get stuck, they will gag to clear their throat but are very unlikely to choke as long as you are sensible about what you give them. Some parents consider baby first aid course to feel more prepared in case of emergencies.

Ses poor O suffering with his teeth, hopefully they will break through soon and be less sore
Looby vanfest sounds fab- am looking forward to seeing photos of your van all tricked out in cow print
Momino hope you are feeling better

Nighty night x

Am I the first one up this morning? We're all having breakfast as DH is running a half marathon this morning. I am slightly envious (wierd as though that prob seems) as I have run this one twice and love the atmosphere, and it is fantastic sense of achievement when you cross that finishing line. Come on DH!

pula your hols sound lovely. A mum of a friend of mine lives in Filey and always has nice things to say about it.

BLW I am another thinking about going down this route. I have the Gill Rapsley book and read loads of it yesterday. It makes complete sense! I am slightly ashamed of myself as a girl from my first ante natal group with DS1 went down this road, although it didn't have the BLW label back then, and we were all quite sniffy about it, thinking that the ANnabel Karmel way was the only way. I've had a few hmmm are you sure the baby won't choke comments from friends, but it really sounds like a common sense approach to weaning and having read the book, there is some science behind it too. I hope that I can be as relaxed about it as it does seem to be quite hands off. I'm hoping it will also encourage to eat more as a family, and like flippin I'm looking forward to those pizza express meals where R can have his own Sloppy Guisseppe at 8 months.

I had a stressful time weaning DS1. I remember spoon feeding him and he was so not interested. But was convinced he had to have this baby rice and trying and trying. It was so awful I remember crying sat at the table trying to feed him. I just do not want to go there again which is why the BLW really appeals, and not having to puree....an added bonus!

R seems to be giving up his dream feed now. Last few nights he just ain't interested and last night he went from 7 till 6.30am. I tried to give him a bottle at 11, and he would not wake and had precisely nada.

Morning LadyHelen! I'm up too. Good luck your DH in the half-marathon. Hope the weather is suitable, it's grey and mild here so not bad conditions for running.

I know what you mean about the atmosphere etc when you're running events, it can be great. But I've worked out that I feel a bit claustrophobic when there's people running that close to me so don't always enjoy it. I haven't run since I was pregnant with DD1 though!

Re BLW again (I'm a fan, can you tell ) - we started DD1 on purees and finger food because DH wasn't convinced about total BLW. DD1 soon decided which way she wanted to eat, so it was BLW from about 7 months. She started off pretty well, then around 9 months appeared to stop eating...but then all of a sudden a few months later it all clicked. Now she eats brilliantly. I know some of it is just who/how she is, but I really do think BLW worked for us. I know it won't/doesn't work for everyone.

I'm hoping DH will read a bit of the Gill R book as when we talked about it yesterday, he wasn't convinced either. R is able to get his thumb in his mouth now quite easily and so I think he will prob get on quite well with BLW. That book is brill though. Explodes all those myths about big babies, waking in the night must = start weaning. Someone I know has already started weaning her LO who is the same age as R as the HV TOLD her too just because she was waking in the night. I just cannot imagine weaning R yet! Frankly the longer I can leave it, the better.

Weather looks pretty good here. Its sunny(ish) and temp is nice and fresh. I expect it will warm up a bit. Three years ago when I ran this race, it was really hot (2006 was a hot summer). DH is hoping for 1hr 50. I reckon he'll do it, as on race days you do seem to get that extra bit of energy/adrenaline from the atmosphere I think.