Dec 08 - 9 months in, 9 months out!

[jumpjockey]

Hope you don't mind the dodgy thread name but all our babies are 9 months old now or in the next few weeks

Veggie so sorry to hear your news about your Step Dad, poor him and your Mum. Thoughts and prayers to you all.
Beans Wow! You are the first December Post Natal-er to be back on the wagon so to speak, not for want of trying by myself and Rubena! Hopefully we'll be right behind you. Daisy is right, everything happens for a reason, and think of all the positives this will bring.
Bit of a crap weekend here. DH and a friends DP went to a rugby game together and as friend had to work I offered to babysit for her DS and take my two to her house. Usually mine are angels when it comes to sleeping, but they were a real pain last night. DS and I ended up in tears wanting to go home as DD screamed for 2 hours, and the woke up friends DS, so by the time the boys got home at 10.30 (an hour and a half later than they said they'd be, grr) the four of us were sitting on the sofa in floods of tears! Not helped by the fact that they were both plastered and annoying!
DD woke up with a tummy upset this morning and as a result has the most terrible nappy rash, bleeding and what looks like burn marks around her bottom, poor thing. She has been inconsolable for most ofthe day, so we had to cancel all our plans.
We're off to Windsor tomorrow to stay with my Aunt and Uncle and then going to have a nightmare fun day at Legoland on Tuesday as a treat for DS's first half term. Staying with MIL on Tuesday night,which no doubt will be a barrel of laughs .
Kayz love the new hairstyle and can't wait to see the new colour, purple eh? You're a braver woman than me, I have to deliberate for 2 months before I even decide to have a trim, let alone change colour, and then I usually back out at the last minute.
Loving the Christmas pressie talk. We always doe secret santa with DH's family asthere are so many of them and this year, with the addition on 4 new nieces and nephews we've decided that each adult will give each child £5 to spend on what they want (or Mummies to buy for babies). That way they each get £40, but we only have to spend £30 in total.
My family are a different matter, my sis lives in Zambia, so I usually send out a family present for her and my neice (15) and twin nephews (14). I'm thinking a DVD box set or something this year. My parents will be with her in Zambia for Christmas so need to get them each something small to take with them to open on the day, and then my other sister is married to a millionaire (well, probably not anymore!) so that's always a minefield. Any ideas for the couple who have everything and a 7 year old DD gratefully recieved!

Veggie - So sorry to hear about your Stepdad. Terrible news.

I am up for the meet up on Thurs. Did we end up with a separate thread?

Also, I lost track of the book thread. I think there is a separate one somewhere but I can't find it? Can any kind soul post a link??

All well with the DS here. He is so close to walking! Shame he still can't pull up himself, or get to sitting from lying down, or even remotely crawl.

Congrats on your news Beans! We are wondering about when to unwrap, so to speak. Am using the possibility of being pregnant next year as an excuse for lots of thing in the meantime; i.e. "We have to go to the wine show this year and taste and buy lots of wine, because next year I could be pregnant for it." Highly recommended strategy!

Veggie So sorry, that is awful, poor him, and your poor mum having to go through that again.

I took DD to lunch with a couple of Uni friends today and was rather when they virtually ignored her for the entire meal. I'm not one of those "look at my genius daughter isn't she the best thing ever" type mums (i hope..) but really, you'd think they'd at least make a token effort. Unusual, too, don't you think, in two women who are both considering having babies in the near future? Still, DD flirted with a very sweet waiter so she was quite happy.

So, is there a London meet up on Thursday then? Can I come?

Oh and I've lost the link to the book thread too, can anyone point me in the right direction?

veggie that's so shocking and sad for you. Hope you are ok.
kiwi how odd of your friends!
Invisible thanks for the reassurance re aunt flo. TMI warning... this period is so heavy! I had to nip out part way through the wedding yesterday to but more supplies . I'm using the super plus extra tampons (never needed anything more than 'regular' before) and am having to change them every 1-2 hours - even overnight - it's been like that for 48 hours now . Is this normal?
katie that sounds like a terrible night you had. I hope half term brings some rest and fun times
Ooh we have some news...you know P has had to go to 2 nurseries? Well the one where she goes for 3 days (where L went) have said they can now have her on a Thursday too so that will save us a bit of money and make life easier. I'll be a bit sad to take her out of the organic nursery because she likes it and they love her (of course!) but I think it's better long term if she is just at one nursery. Funny how things turn out.
right off to bed for me.
Night all xxx

oh forgot to mention my hilarious moment at the wedding...seeing as P doesn't feed from me during the day while I'm at work, I thought she'd manage the wedding, but it turns out when she's with me she wants boob. SO I was completely not dressed for BFing...I had a fitted dress on with a belt and a big zip up the back, and a non-feeding bra, so I had to hide in my pew (thankfully at the back of the church), undo my belt, unzip the whole dress an slip myself out of the whole top half, ping my boob out of the top of my bra cup and feed her whilst trying to hole a cardigan over me for a little modesty . Not my most discreet feed ever! Then had to pas P to DH while I wriggled myself back into my dress and did it all back up again!

Oh veggie, that is very sad. Tough for your mum to go through that a second time and must also be tough for you to be far away and with so much else on your plate.

Katie - your poor DD. Hope she is a bit better. Sods law to be ill at half term when you will have your hands full anyway.

trace - that BF story is hilarious! But good for you for doing it! Good news about the nursery too - I'm glad its working out. Your AF does sound a bit heavy. Mine was certainly quite a bit more than is usual for me, but not quite that much. Mind you, in your shoes I'd probably wait for next month and see how it went.

MoM and Kiwi - book thread is here

Okayish weekend here, although all a bit snotty again. Took DD to a birthday party yesterday. Is is just me, or is it insane to have a 3 year old's birthday party at the end of October with the only entertainment being outside (bouncy castle, trampoline etc). DD ended up with soaking feet and then bare legs. I felt cold just looking at her. Had a nice day today though with us all being looked after at my parents followed by the lovely autumn sunshine in the park. Right now feel like naughty schoolgirl trying to do my last minute Sunday night homework - am kind of behind with something at work, but am being really rubbish at getting down to it.

Hi everyone, how are you all?

Veggie and WG so sorry to read about your step dad and FIL, I?m thinking lots of loving thoughts to you and your families at a worrying time. Great news about your Grandad Daisy, what a relief that it hasn?t spread far

My first period was about normal Trace, although I?d expected more so am bracing myself for a biggy next time. A friend of mine claimed to ?love her first heavy period, as it was so cleansing? ? sometimes you don?t always have to look on the bright side! Hope yours subsides soon. And at the contortionist BF!

On stairgates, I am a little scared to put ours up. A friend of mine has recently tripped over the bar across the bottom (fortunately not with her DS with her) and broke most of the bones in her foot ? ouch! And on telling another friend this tale, she told me how she slipped on her bum down the stairs and scraped her back on the same bit of the gate ? ouch again! So right now they seem to me like a bit of a peril. So far we are managing by keeping the kitchen door shut and keeping a close eye on DD when upstairs

Sorry about your Dad not wanting to babysit for your DD Jump. As you know, I gave my Mum a talking too for trying to get out of spending time with DD, but she used to be a nanny and still does the odd day here and there so is perfectly capable of looking after her and keeping up with her. On a positive note, yesterday DD voluntarily crawled over to Mum and climbed onto her knee ? woo hoo, she doesn?t hate her after all! When was your night out planned for? Is there any chance of you and your DD spending time with your Dad before then, so he could make a more informed decision of whether he could look after her for one evening? And on bedtimes, since I?ve stopped BF DH has does most of them and is now far more successful in settling DD than I am ? in fact, on Friday he was busy so I put her to bed, and I had to ask him what order he did everything in

I am very impressed (and a little in awe) of those of you TTC ? I just can?t imagine finding the stamina to contemplate pregnancy or looking after two right now (or even having regular enough sex to actually conceive! ) Huge congratulations to Beans, have you told your DH yet? And hopefully Rubi, Katie and others will be getting a BFP soon too ? so you can all have ante natal chats on here and not go off to other threads ? we don?t want to lose you!

Oh, and Katie, well done on the award. You definitely deserved recognition for that feat

LadyT I?ve been trying to type the right words to reassure you about your DD going to an all white school, but seem to be messing up and keep re-typing this bit. Bear with me here ... it is very much an all white area where I live, and in fact the night of QT we were with friends and discussing it and we commented that if we do see a coloured face then we do almost do a double take. Saying that, despite ?normality? in this area being white, we (and more importantly the children) still recognise that in other areas of the country a mix of races and religions is normal too ? so far our friends children (who are a bit older) have never felt the need to comment on someone?s colour, in that overly loud and inappropriate way that toddlers do. What I?m trying to say is, that with the right information and values from parents and other people around them, I?m confident that our DD?s will grow up just as accepting as children who live in much more of a mixed area. I hope I?ve not been too incoherent here and sort of made sense?

I was wondering what those of you who?s LO?s were born v close to Christmas are doing for birthday and Christmas pressies? We?ve ordered a pushing brick trolley for DD for her birthday, but think we?ll just get something very small for Christmas and then buy her some mid year pressies instead, as she will be ready for new toys and clothes and things then, rather than spoil her rotten in December with more things than she needs and then still end getting more stuff in the summer anyway. Is that tight of me, do you think, or reasonable? We are even considering having a birthday party to celebrate her 1 1/2th birthday rather than her 1st, although we?re not totally in agreement with that (my argument is that the weather will be nicer so we can have it outside ? there speaks the one who?s birthday is in February and always wanted a summer birthday with garden parties like my sister)

Anyway, our news is that DD is now pulling herself up to standing at every opportunity ? her legs are getting so strong and she looks so tall and grown up when stood up. and also a bit that?s not my baby anymore. Think we?ll be shoe shopping for her soon ...

Well bedtime now, night night everyone, sleep tight

Beans . What fabulous news!!!! I am so pleased for you (and I must confess slightly envious!)

sybs sorry I've hardly been around recently. We MUST get something else in the diary. You sound a bit low. Are you ok? You helped me so much when I was at my lowest ebb - and now it sounds like you could do with a break yourself. I'll text!

Rubena both of mine have always been early wakers. DD1 has gradually got better - ie she usually stays in bed til 6am - but I've just had to get used to early mornings really. I think it's genetic, as DH has a body clock that wakes him at 5:30 .

Just had a brilliant weekend away seeing my oldest friend and her two up in Northumberland. DD1 and I had our first Mum & daughter trip away and she was a joy to travel with >heart

Sorry to hear about your stepdad Veggie. Hope they have caught it early.

DS2 is awake and has been since half 3. DH is trying to get him to go back to sleep. Hope he manages it as I am exhausted and I'm at work at 10.

Veggie, sorry about S/dad That's interesting about that book, perhaps I need to read it. I think I am going to send the other stairgate back and just keep the one on the top. Since his faceplant from the 3rd step, he hasn't tried to climb them again. Thanks for all the stairgate stories though.
Is there a meet up thread? I will try and come depending on where it is and if I can get there etc!

SL great news joining the ranks! Hopefully those of us wo hope to, will all join Beans very soon!

I was just thinking Beans, had you been lurking? Otherwise you probably don't know who I am with all my name changes?

Trace, thanks for the chuckle!

Well ds is the most wriggling, mobile, bundle of energy and really hard work at the moment! he still sleeps well b ut oh boy, went to our favourite pub last night (after a day out at a bike race) Forgot about the time change which didn't help and wondered why ds was irritable quite early but ds was not content to do anything!! Went from buggy, to highchair, throwing stuff around, trying to get on the floor the whole time, all while a family with a baby of a similar age, plus an older child that both sat there like textbook childrent while the stepford wife read the baby a story at the table and I wanted to throw up. They were all so calm. DH then suggested I throw back my wine (we were finishing up by that point anyway) when the waitress came around the corner announcing "did anyone own a labrador they founf at the bar!" I thought she was quietly sitting under the table but apparently had decided to flee the chaos and check with the other patrons for pork scratchings at the bar! I was so . We looked totally out of control, so with that we packed up and left very fast!
Anyway, teething issue's galore aren't helping here.... He's really gone off his food and won't really entertain much except his milk, his cereal in the morning and the off mouthful of heavily pureed fruit or the odd yogurt. Anyway, off to do some washing - his nappy came off last night so bedding a little wet thismorning.... I should be thankful it was only wet

Glad I'm not the only one without stairgates! We've been offered some but am a bit converned about DS1 trying to climb over them or some such madness. He has no sense of self-preservation.

Veggie: so sorry about your news, on top of all the moving stress .

Dasiy: please don't feel guilty for offloading, we've all done it and will doubtless do so again. You have so much on your plate and broken nights - I have the latter and not the former and I;m climbing the walls sometimes.

WG: I find I can't read anything at home which takes a modicum of brain power or concentration, I just re-read or read trash. I am a big wuss when it comes to reading new books, so the great thing about a train journey is that I am there for an hour with one book and no choice! I'm an English graduate as well, but I think I did most of my reading in my teens when I would pick up anything and give it a go. I think it's a bit sad that I've lost some of that enthusiasm for reading, I'm not sure how much is down to studying and how much to ageing.

Aub: how are you feeling?

LadyT: we have the Boris book, DS2 loves it. Actually must start reading to DS2 on his own, he gets a bit bored with DS1's books at bedtime and wanders off to gnaw on the train set.

Beans: congratulations! Have you told DH yet?

Oh Veggie - I'm so sorry for you - must be so distressing for all of you. Thinking of you massively. I'm not surprised he's terrified - 70s isn't old any more, so please send him my best, even though he doesn't know who I am. x

Effie - we don't have a stairgate either, despite the steepest stairs. Just can't quite get the enthusiasm for it.

LT - thanks for prezzie tips - will look into it. We had a book with a finger puppet in it, which was a puppy. I tried to read it to DD and she reached out for the puppet, which I was wiggling, touched it and screamed the scream of all screams! Meanly, I found it hilarious! But had to give the book to someoen else because she kept on screaming!

I told DH last night. He was ok about it. Bless him, he tried to be all upbeat, but could see he was terrified. And pissed off because I mentioned moving house again and apparently I do that a lot. Oops! Just do think we need to be grown up and start thinking about that sort of thing now second baby on the way.

Not sure what it means about work as I'll be going on maternity leave at beginning of June if all goes according to plan. God I'm not going to be popular at all. Oh dear. And we finally managed to find a nanny share round here and I'm going to piss them off too. GOD! It is the best news ever and I'm chuffed to bits, but it's not as straightforward this time round, that's for sure!!!

Never mind. Had a terrible night last night. DD has terribly runny nose and was up between 10.30 - 11.30, then again at 1 for half and hour and 4 and 5.30 and 6.30. Each time for about 20 mins. Ouch. DH kindly dealt with her this morning so that I could sleep for a bit longer as he didn't have to be at work til 11am. But I do feel a bit drained. Luckily she's kipping now. Phew.

Wow, droning on, sorry! xxxx

Congratulations Beans lovely news. Is Lal by the way - with a not so shiny new name.

Wg I keep hearing the trailer for BH on Thursday and thinking of you. Really looking forward to it. I think for one heavenly week Peep show and the Thick of it and Bleak E will be on together. Marvelous.

ZJ we have stairgates but they just swing across - there's no bottom bit to trip over. Think it entirely depends on how much of a climber you have - DS would have spent all day throwing himself downstairs whereas DD seems a bit more sensible. Famous last words.

Trace that's good news about the nursery. And nice work on the undressing at a wedding When I was only Bfding DS in the morning and evening I was forever doing that. Forgetting as opposed to stripping off at weddings. As we all know I like to strip on the eurostar

Katie I hope your DD is feeling better.

ZJ I thought what you said about schools was very wise. It's one of the things I'm really keen on living in London - that our DCs are surrounded by so many different cultures. Having said that I went to school in rural-ish N Yorks, so all white (in fact 95% yorkshire) but my parents brought us up to be - I was going to say tolerant - but I mean better than tolerant (even of people from Lancashire ). In the end that's probably more important.

Both DD and DS have birthdays a month either side of Christmas (a fact my MIL is forever bringing up as if it was a great failure of planning on our part). With DS we have bought him a summer holiday present this year (a bike) and I think might do the same next. So just one major present - probably for their birthdays given they get so much stuff at christmas. Also I did that terrible Mum thing last year and put away a few things after he'd opened them and then got them out on a rainy day when he'd completely forgotten. Poor DD will get short shrift again though while she's still so small she won't notice. Last year she got a towel

Is supposed to be a working day but am back at home working from here as DS isn't very well - he spent all morning before I left telling me how much he didn't like the nanny. Am not really sure what to do. He occasionally tells me he doesn't like Daddy so am sure it could just be nothing. But worrying nevertheless.

Would love to come to meet up on Thurs if there is one.

SL I know I had something to say to you and have forgotten. Useless. Might have been from the book thread though.

Jump am sorry about your concert. Doesn't seem very reasonable. But I think the whole grandparents thing can be a bit of a nightmare of expectations on both sides. Am trying very hard to be grateful for the upsides and ignore the down at the moment.

Better go - apparently there's a giant baby on the line. DS is slightly obsessed with his brio track at the moment and DD not altogether helpful...

Urbane: we have train ishooes as well: DS1 loves his train set (cheap version of brio) and DS2 loves pulling it apart. I have to distract DS2 with big shiny toy, hurriedly contruct a complicated double loop line then grab DS2 as he lurches towards it. Yesterday DS1 magnanimously let him play with James' fender while keeping the rest as a baby-free zone. Sympathies on the childcare front, DS1 told me he didn;t like nursery, then DH asked him about half an hour later and he said he loved it. Funny beasts. His current favourite person is our childminder's daughter's grandpa who wears a hat and plays 1-2-3-4 (whatever that is).

Re schools, I went to a 99.9% all-white school (in fact about 90% nth generation from 30 mile radius) and I hope I am not a bigot . I did notice the difference (in a good way) when I moved to London. But like Lal my parents didn;t make any distinctions on the basis of race or colour which was a big help.

DH and I are most excited at the new Thick of It. And the new Peep Show. Though I have to escape from the room at the cringiest bits. Also saw Armstrong and Miller for the first time the other day - very good as well. It's a great time of year for telly . Other favourites are that Attenborough series with the stunning films and the theory show with Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter. I am v fond of Andy and DH is keen on Reg so we watch in harmony

beans! How massively exciting! I'm sure your DH will be as excited as the rest of us you once it's sunk in

veggie will be keeping your SF in my prayers and your mum too. Will you be able to pop back and see them at all after your move?

daisy good news about your grandad, and great that he's getting his treatment so soon.

stairgates - can't remember if I've chipped in on this one. We have one at the top of the stairs only, which gives dd the top landing and her room and our room to play about in, but stops her from always dashing onto the top step which is her favourite way to avoid nappy changes It's the screw in kind so no bar to trip over. And one across the kitchen door just so that when I'm cooking she's not trying to clamber between me and pans of hot water. We have a cupboard of stuff for her to play with which is fine most of the time, just not when there's hot pans around.

re pressies for younger children, golly I have no idea. Just tend to go to the 'middle class wooden toy shop' in town and ask what's suitable for the age of the kid.

SL so pleased ds is getting on well at nursery!

katie poor dd's bum, hope she's well again soon. It's amazing how quickly their bums can go from sore and red to just fine again though, do you stick some sudocrem on?

trace am at your brilliant bfing! I wonder if that made it onto the wedding video...

verso good to see you, glad the job is going so well

rubena oh dear, were you the family that everyone else tuts at took me a while to work out that labrador wasn't a nickname for your wandering baby!

urbane it sounds like a great idea and not a terrible mum thing at all - putting pressies away that is. We're afraid that all the IL's mates will shower dd with presents again and she'l have more stuff than we've got space for, so may well put some away and bring out later in the year.

Re the concert/babysitting thing, we're now wondering if it's a good idea full stop - the wonderful SL has offered to help but DH has pointed out it's the Saturday after my first 2 full days back at work, so dd may be utterly shaken up by the whole situation and not be much fun for someone else to look after. She may of course be fine, but I don't want to inflict a possibly dreadful child on an innocent party!

Last thing - a horribly TMI question, but how many poos do your LOs do in a day? DD seems to have a mucky nappy every few hours. I know she eats loads and it's all got to come out again but is this really normal?!

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh my head is a complete whirl how on earth are we going to get all done and on that plane on sunday... breathe we will be on the plane we will be packed up we can do this.

right one thing i have finally sorted is the meet up thread for thursday hope many of you can come. meet up

in other news we have a lovely family home for Leo hooray, and Rubena im sorry that was hilarious. However, as a mum of 4.5 years now i may be able to stand up for the mum with the quiet children, either they are in fact terribly boring dull and possibly sedated children or she is secretly empathizing with you and quitely saying a prayer of thanks that for once it is not her children causing chaos. Also after many restaurant and generally public displays of nightmarish behaviour i have decided to forget about other people and just concentrate on doing what my offspring need, worry about what others think will only lead to ulcers. Thanks for the giggle though i needed it.

Right back to it.

I've just left a not so cryptic message on facebook about the meet up for those who are on there more than here. I think it may just seem weird and confusing though. I think I need a shower. Is it bad that I can't remember when I last had one?

oh Veggie you have so much on and you're still coming on here and keeping us sane . I hope you don't neglect us when you get your new life...
jj P varies from one poo every 2 or 3 days, to 4 poos in a day! I guess it depends a bit what I've been feeding her, but I think the 'normal' range is pretty wide. If she's thriving then there's no need to worry.
We had a fun day with L today - we took P to nursery so that we L could enjoy a day without P, because we've had a few comments from L over the past few days ("I wish I didn't have a sister", "I hate it when P cries", "P ruins everything"...), so today we took L iceskating in Sheffield - definitely not for little sisters! Lu loved it . I'm not too worried about her recent comments either, because yesterday she also made P a card saying she loved her, and today when we picked P up, she was lovely and wanted to kiss her lots! I think it's just about allowing her to feel whatever she's feeling and not make a big thing of it. I'm hoping so anyway...
Well Aunt Flo has slowed down a little although she's still very much present.
Ok the ironing is beckoning.
must go. P has had a croupy cough for the past 2 nights so I'm hoping for an early night when the ironing is done. Here's hoping the babies all sleep well...
(have you noticed that it's those with good sleepers who are TTC?!!)

hello everyone,
veggie what awful news about your step father, much love to you and your family. And good luck with the move, step away from the computer and get cracking!

trace re TTC and good sleepers, yes I had noticed that too! I am hoping for a good sleeper again if we have a second - I think DS has DH's sleepy genes...more of that please.

rubena I had a good laugh at your night out! The other perfect family cracked me up, particularly them telling the story and it making you want to throw up! It reminded me of something out of Outnumbered,.

jj we have massive multiple poo syndrom here as well. DS has maybe 4 a day and sometimes they leak (usually when we are out or at friends)

trace nice work on the wedding! Had a good giggle at that.

LadyT thanks for the pressie recommendations.

Oh on the birthday and half birthday things, DH wants DS to have a proper half birthday as his main celebration. May be a good idea as having birthday on christmas day is rubbish.

Hi ladies
Sorry for being so rubbish at posting (and unfortunately also at doing big catch-up posts) but I have been trying to keep up with you all. Big hugs to everyone suffering at the moment and congratulations to Beans.
On the sleep front we still have multiple wakings but inspired by WG's success with madam I'm no longer feeding to sleep at bedtime after just the one night of crying (DD was fast asleep by 18 minutes!). So big thanks to WG because I feel like the certainty even just in the evening has made such a difference.
On stairgates, we have one at the top of the stairs so DD can roam around between our room and hers without tumbling down and then a couple more keeping her out of the kitchen and in the lounge. She seems to like using them to pull up and walk along.

A while back someone apologised for doing some me me me posts and I just wanted to say that I am really grateful to everyone for posting their experiences as there have been many many instances where I have found it reassuring to know that others are going through the same thing and I sincerely think my experience of parenthood has been a much happier and less stressful one as a result. So a big thank you to all of you.
There were a whole stack of other things I was going to say but I can't remember what they were now and I think I've probably gone on enough. I will try and be better at keeping up....

Hi all, greetings once again from the house of ill (think we all have swiney now) -Aubergine I think it was you bemoaning your immune system - I'm with ya. I was warned before I had T that we would all be constantly ill for the next 5 years but thought people were exaggerating...

Once again have failed to keep up sp will just post what I remember...

Daisy, you have so much going on at the moment my heart goes out to you, I can't imagine how hard things must be at the moment. Please keep posting.

Veggie, wish I could come to meet up but maybe the next time I will see you will be in the netherlands?! Good luck with the move, by this time next week you'll have done it. Woo hoo!

Beans, congratulations, that's fantastic news and no doubt your DH will be over the moon too once the shock has worn off. (tis catdean in case you missed the name change earlier in the year). I'm sure things get a lot more complicated with 2, but doubly fun as well.

JJ, on the poo front we're anything from 3 to 6 a day, but usually at annoying times (like waking him at 5am for the day or from a nap) but I think I read that anything around that number is fine, but if it's always after a meal it could be a food intolerance? But someone who actually knows something about it might be able to advise you better! Tricky on the concert babysitting issue, are you able to make the call at the last minute after you've seen how she is in nursery?

Urbane, I LOL-ed about you giving DD a towel for her birthday. This year T will be lucky if he gets anything at all, I feel like we buy him stuff all the time when he needs it (toys, clothes etc) so might wait til next year. Is that horribly mean?

Effie, we also say hurrah for new telly, though Dave (the channel) is on far more than it should be here. Need to read too.

Can I ask some advice? T, while charming in a roguish way, is becoming a bit of a naughty fellow, and snatches toys off other children (His worst party trick is straling food from other babies' mouths ). Obviously I say "no" in a loud voice and give toy back to other child or offer them some of our snacks (it's not as if the little butterball is starving) but it's getting a bit embarrassing. Any ideas?

Hello spot sorry PMSL at your description of T!! No advice I am afraid. I just do what you do and apologise and tell him off in a nice way, to which he usually gives me a cheeky grin, and I have to try and keep a straight face. My DS doesn't do the stealing food thing though, but that's because he's not really that bothered on food.

Hello pingu!!! I agree re me me me posting. I have never really thought it was rude of anyone to post just about themselves. Often there just isn't time to respond to everything, or indeed anything!

Where is Nolda, Nolda, are you lurking?

Ha ha Spot. My DS does the same. He is double the size of normal babies this age, and he is like a big bruiser . So embarassing. He takes food from anywhere - babies' mouths, the floor, the bin (I found him eating a piece of mouldy bread from our kitchen bin this week....need those cabinet safety latch thingies!).

Argh. must just have a small rant (again!) about the flipping HR woman at work. Not only did she make it impossible for me to be back on the payroll when I wanted to be, thus effectively losing us about £1500 of pay I could have been having over the last couple of months while using up my accrued annual leave at a time that suited both us and my department, she's also failed to put through the authorisation for my KIT days pay of another £450 or so. One of these days was in bloody April I spoke to the payroll office and then sent her an email that said "You need to email person X with the following information by the 12th October [which was several weeks away] and they'll be able to pay me this month". She's not blimming well done it.

Gah. I was going to copy in person X to my message but thought it might look a bit rude. Now I realise I should have done as she just can't be trusted to find her own bottom with two hands.

And breathe...