May '09 - We've had our first tooth!!

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Here we are, in honour of baby O and the first tooth through.

Thanks for the advice, Belgian, I might get it down from the loft and give it a go. It definitely reclines but not sure how much. It's a Teutonia Spirit S3 (no-one's ever heard of them but it's especially amazing off road for dog walking and stuff).

PS When I say 'I' might get it from the loft, what I actually mean is that I will make DH get it when he's back tomorrow...

Reebee- I've been using the car seat on the travel system since birth, and at the weekend, we used the second seat on the P&T rather than the cocoon as S doesn't always like lying flat either. The P&T seat is very upright which was a bit worrying, but he was OK with it once i'd added a head hugger and pads on the straps to make him more secure.

Right, just caught up..

spangle I hope your MIL continues to improve. Glad her op went well.
dandy hope your SIL is ok too.
Reebee delighted that F has been deemed perfect!! And wow about your house news.
looby sounds like you had a lovely holiday and everything went smoothly. Welcome back!

On the pushchair point, we made the move from carry cot to rear facing pushchair about 3 weeks ago or so. R couldn't believe it. The first time I took him out in it, honestly, he couldn't stop grinning at me and the world that he could now see. He was def ready. Fortunately its a multi tasking pushchair as you can put it forward facing and adjust the recline/incline dooo dar too.

Who was it that went to a Jamie Oliver party recently? Went to one last night. Ooooops managed to spend too much. Got some xmas presents and also some nice desert glass dishes ( for too long we have been eating soup/puddings/cereal out of the same bowls. Think I may host one mid November to get some more.

Have decided to start a new diet (again) on Monday after reading a thread on here. Its designed by someone called Zoe Harcombe and you have to follow a plan for 5 days and then re-introduce certain foods gradually. Its called thestop counting calories and start losing weight no diet diet! Book arrived this morning so am just compiling my shopping list for next week. It doesn't look too bad, a bit atkinsy, but you can have salad and veg just not potatoes for the 5 days, and no caffiene, and (gulp) no alcohol for the 5 days. Apparantly, its pretty much guaranteed to work so am hoping to shed this last half stone in a couple of weeks. lets see if I can get through the first five days though first! 5 days isn't too long though is it. Should be do-able. Must add WILLPOWER to the shopping list. Where can I get some of that?

Right, must go and give DS1 a race on Mario Kart....

Reebee to sleep train G I am ignoring him until he actually cries. He is in his own room, which helps, and sometimes he has been crying once, then settling with his own thumb, so I only get up once he has cried (i.e. "Waaa Waaa") a couple of times. It is kinda harsh, and I have to own up to be an advocate of the controlled crying method, so I can understand how not everyone would approve of what I am doing. My (personal) theory is that if he is really hungry, he would actually cry rather than whitter, IYKWIM. I wouldn't bother doing this because he is waking up at night, but because he wasn't feeding much at all during the morning, I realised he was getting tanked up in the early hours rather than during the day, so I am trying to adjust his feeding times to be during the day.

Also, G has been in his umbrella stroller for a while now, as even as a baby he hated being on his back for any period. He still doesn't like being in the car seat.

S is still in our room, and I always feed if he cries and if his dummy or a cuddle won't calm him. I do wonder if i am disturbing him as last night he fed at 3.30 and 5.30am and i was awake about 10 mins before each time and then he started stirring. It could be that he was stirring first and woke me because i didn't wake for any good reason. I would put him in his own room if a) he wasn't still feeding 2, 3 or 4 times a night and b) his room wasn't up a flight of stairs with a little chair for feeding in rather than a lovely cosy bed .

Feeling less grumpy today after a better nights sleep - only 3hrly instead of 2hrly
We do have a result of all this grumpiness though as O's second tooth has come through alongside his other one at the bottom!

Tummum - sleep training sounds good

Spangle - glad MIL's op went ok

ReeBee - great about the house! South or North Lakes? I have a brother in Keswick - beautiful part of the country.

ladyH, that was me who went to a JamieO party and bought silly things after a couple of glasses of wine. I also told the consultant I would become one as well for some extra £... but then I watch JamieOliver's programme on his trip to the USA and changed my mind. i think he's a tosser an idiot.

Belgian, thanks anyway for the Boden/ocado info. I will try Ocado at some point.

ses, glad you're feeling better and congrats at the 2nd tooth! he certainly got those quickly!

Reebee, very happy for you about the house, you must be excited.

sleeping, Harper is in and out of our room depending upon if she's settled or not. because we still have her in the Moses basket (she should be in a cot as she just fits), we can put her in the guest room when she's asleep but we bring her in if it's obvious she needs a feed. we won't be able to do that when we get her in the cot.

another thing, i've just realised I haven't set up her CTF yet! anyone else not done theirs yet? do we have until 6 months? it's getting close.

off to finish vacuuming before the nursery run. Hope you're all having a good day.

Momino I did the CTF yesterday. It has an expiry date of some time next year on it. I even did it over the phone.

Ses Eek. You are far more professional than me. I'm going to have to dig out the cpd package. So in answer to your question, I clearly am not a responsible pharmacist.

Jamie O I'm supposed to be hosting one of his parties in November, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. Is it worth it, do you think? I'm not overly fond of him and we had a pretty dire experience at Fifteen in Cornwall, although the view is amazing.

ses 2 teeth! Wow!

LadyHelen good luck with the diet. The only thing that works for me is exercising. Although I've lost loads I have a sneaky feeling unless I find the time to exercise I'll be putting it all back on again because I have zero willpower and a fondness for baking!

ReeBee The house sounds amazing. WRT your question about the pram/buggy situation, if I am trundling around the shops quickly then I use the carseat which he loves. If it is a longer trip I use the carry cot part, but he is getting too long for it so lately I've been using the buggy seat, which he seems very happy in. I can see him trying to sit up a bit more in it, so I think he is happier. We've also started sitting him in the high chair for short periods.

Right, going out now! I'm off to listen to Sarah Waters talking about her new book. I went to a similar thing this morning but with Fiona Millar talking about the Secret Lives of the Working Mother. It was FAB! We had lunch after it and I was away from G for 4 hours and my boobs were ready to explode but it was worth it. It was fascinating listening to her and listening to the other women talking about their experiences.

Anyway, better shoot off. Got to try and calm B down before I go.

Jenn - err.. me? Nah! That's as professional as I get!

teeth - O's struggling more with this second one. He was screaming in pain earlier so I resorted to Calpol but thankfully it did the trick after about 20-30mins.

DH is away with work tonight so just me, O and the dogs here.

I'm off on a spa trip a week on Saturday with the NCT girls. Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent "hold it all in" swimsuit? Feeling a bit self conscious of my size 14 wobbly curvy body as opposed to their size 8, 10 & 12 bodies!

I give up.

Dp's parents were here today, whilst I was out at uni, nipping into work to get some reference books, sorting out M's passport, etc etc. Went for my mri - results in a few weeks. Came back, was changing M on her table for a bath, looked up and was stared in the face by a teddy. On the wall. It's made of china. It's holding balloons. It's tummy is a clock. It's vile. MIL made it. Dp is now not talking to me because I lost it as I thought it would have been nice to actually ask ME if it could go up. I asked him if he liked it, and he said, no not really, but his Mum spent ages on it, and she was all excited and wanted to put it up. I said tough, it's vile, take it down. So he's going to, apparently. She has also made a wonky winnie the pooh, a frightening giant rag doll, and given us badly painted paintings which dp has actually put UP. God, I sound ungrateful don't I. I also saw a small pale pink coat when I came in, but that's disappeared to God knows where. I have no idea why this man wants to marry me, he keeps ignoring me. He's the one that cooks dinner, and now, because he's not hungry and needs to get some work done, (and the fact that he is ignoring me) he's not making any. Mean, horrid, git. He also came in at 1130 last night, after saying he was coming home at 8.30. He was plastered. Got into bed before me, and by the time I got there his snoring was terrible. I had enough by 1am, and a lightly sleeping M, so he went into the other room. I'm in there tonight, I need some bloody sleep, and he can look after her at night for the first time. I don't care if he has to go to work tomorrow. So there.

I'm not having a good evening. Need to go and make some dinner for myself after a poo day.

I still haven't received the CTF thing. I think I might have to make tomorrow a phone call day. I've got all sorts of calls to make.

I've just come from the kitchen. While there I could hear the cat faintly meowing. So opened the back door, no cat... cupboard under the stairs, not cat... check outside again, no cat... Listen carefully, open a cupboard, no cat... Listen again, open cupboard under the sink... tada there she was!

ses no suggestions for your bathing suit. I think any of the control suits would be OK. If I remember rightly I read somewhere that the M&S ones aren't bad and not too expensive.

I keep doubting whether to get something from Boden for C or not. Miniboden has a good resale value I've noticed, but is it worth getting something now? I still like the little dungarees I've seen and I like the older boys' stuff too because it's not skulls and skaters etc... which is about all I can find for my eldest.

belgian Haven't you only just sorted your child benefit? I think they are linked, so could be a short time before you get it. I'd ring anyway. My friend hasn't got her's yet and she applied for her chb a while ago.

I think that's probably why it hasn't arrived yet + although I have informed them of my address change, you never know they might be still sending stuff to my other address. I still haven't got round to setting up the forwarding service, but DH still goes up there every other week.

I'm going to watch the thing on BBC1 now about twins. Seems interesting.

May have xposted as this has taken me ages to send.

sausagen, .
and at your dp.

and [rolling eyes emoticon] re: your MIL. i can relate somewhat as my MIL buys the ugliest pinkiest clothes. she also knitted a wonky (like the word Saus)poncho like thing in candyfloss pink with sparkly fur on the hood. it looked like an oversized barbie doll hoodie. dd1 wore it once when mil was visiting then i put it to the back of the wardrobe.

could you put the teddy up only when she's there?

belgian, i wanted to watch that twins program but got caught up in masterchef. was it any good?

It's still on for another half hour Momi (I like that nickname too)

llare, my friend who just hosted got £40 to spend towards things. I think that's worth it! Some good stuff but, like you, I'm unimpressed with the man.

ah, Jennster, dh is now watching Buzzcocks which is rubbish with that Smithy character instead of Simon-what's-his-name. if twins was on the bbc then i should be able to catch it on iplayer .

I'm going to take a cuppa chamomile upstairs.

momi -

actually. i shall be going to bed now. the little sleep of the past week is now catching up with me.

good night all.
x

Saus ....and....breathe..... My MIL does this too. We had rather a large barney when DD1 was born because she kept on buying dresses, and I didn't want DD1 to wear dresses, I liked funky jeans and T-shirts. I finally lost it when she bought the fluffiest, tackiest, lacy-ist, loo-roll-holder-doll-type dress, and got in a strop when I refused to put DD1 in it. Your DP is also being an ignorant git. I think he is trying to please everyone (i.e. your MIL and you) and not hitting the mark in either case. I like your plan of him looking after M. Hope it works so he can understand how tough your life is at the moment.

Ooooo, lovely baby twins on telly. My ovaries are twiching.

Right, gotta go put out the bins. My head is still hurting after the car boot incident yesterday. I also feel a bit sick and dizzy. DH reckons I am concussed, LOL !

PS Does anyone want a Christmas / Birthday card. I'm drowning in cards !!!

Oooh, CTF - I keep forgetting to do it! I'll have to find the paperwork, I've got two voushers for A as despite having her birth certificate they managed to spell her name wrong.

sausage - grr at your DH, and huge sympathy about MIL's creations. My MIL knits, and a lot of the time the things are beautiful, but every now and again she comes up with some monstrosities.

ladyhelen - hope the diet goes well.

Well, the in-laws are here. DD1 was very excited and a nightmare to get to bed with all the excitement. We've had a busy day before the visitors arrived and it was all a bit much. A was as good as gold though. MIL has already driven me mad by pronouncing A's name wrongly every time she's said it so far. Ah well, only 11 more days

tummum - sorry to hear your head is still hurting, it could be mild concussion. Not sure what to do about though, sorry, apart from send you get well soon vibes.

Thanks Flip nothing to be done other than sleep and let my head recover ! Thanks for your concern. Have you spoken to ILs about A's name pronouciation (sorry, can't spell for toffee) or is it not worth the hassle ?! One of my friends is insisting on calling Gethin 'Gethan'. WTF?! I have corrected her 3 or 4 times, and every time I text her I use his full name, but she isn't getting the hint ! Gethin isn't that difficult is it? Maybe it's me...