July 2009: Grinning, wolfing, rolling and puking! :)

[alibobble]

Hi thought I'd take the bull by the horns and start a new thread. Hope the weaning was covert enough! Fire away!

patchy will have a look around for recipes. Used to have loads for dd1 tho not sure I had rusk type ones as she nevr ate them just rice cakes. not sure where they are now. Was tempted to get some of those plum baby food ones. they are sweetened with apple juice and spelt syrup. No idea if they are any better for teeth. My tesco and asda don't carry them but you can get them in bigger boots stores

these ones

I love the plum baby food for out and about. When you lick the spoon (and I always do!) it actually tastes like real food. those ella's kitchen pouches are dead nice too. dd2 eating pretty much what we have but whizzed so I feel it's ok to splash out on a few pots of decent tating food. those cow and gate and even worse hipp organic ones taste dreadful by comparison tho they are alot cheaper.

Quick post so sorry if I have missed anything. Shocking week for us. DS1 got a gash on his head at school (playground) so had to collect him early the other day and now Tristan has been diagnosed with croup! I feel so over stretched.

I really want a glass of wine, long soak in a bath and undisturbed sleep.

Hope everyone is faring better.

miss eeks croup. that can't be good. Hope other LO is ok.

having bad day today. Ever feel like no matter how hard you try you just manage to do a half arsed job at everything? Bah never mind. I'm sure the fact that DH's work are being a pain about stuff again is not helping. Am helplessly looking on and watching them destroy his confidence and am worried he will get ill again. Never mind. We keep on keeping on.

eczma anyone got any experience? dd2 has this awful rash that is very pimply and raised. Saw hv and got hydromolo stuff on prescription but it isn't going away. Not sure if it's just nappy rash but it doesn't look like nappy rash to me. Is all hard and bumpy. Went back to see HV at weighing clinic but v busy as someone's baby was rushed off to see the doc and everyone was fretting. Might try going back on Friday.

Sorry for being a misery. think alot of us are feeling the jan/Feb blues and the return of hormones. Nice to know you're not alone

missp my sympathies with the croup it's so horrible for them and hard work for you

Sorry for those of you with the blues

My kids have eczcema ali It is usuall a sort of red dry inflamed rash usually in their creases. It usually clears up if you use cream on it a few times a day and don't use any fragranced products (especially Johnsons) on them. Ask away any q's

Ali hope you are feeling a bit less somber? I am so w/you...I am OVER this month and just want Feb to pass me by. I need longer days and more sun to help lift the spirits.

QF how are things on you end w/DH's job? Hope not too stressful.

Croup poor sausage is coughing like a heavy smoker w/the flu. He is NOT eating much at all (bf well though) and I am all confused about his lack of iron. My older DC's by his age were on 3 meals a day and fully ff so this is a first for me.

I've posted on the weaning and bf site about this but as it is not a controversial topic I bet I only get a few responses.

Lydia I think a ante class knitting class of sorts is such a GREAT idea. Useful and a way to meet new moms. I would have definitely done something like that. I bet you are very busy right but can't wait to hear your progress.

Hi Patchy Lady and Baby.

MissP sorry to hear about the croup (and the gash on your eldest's head) I had croup when I was 11 and it lasted ages but I think that was because my parents were smokers. Hopefully your lo will shake it off soon. Don't blame you for wanting a hot bath, nice glass of wine and a decent sleep
dd slept for 8 hours last night She didn't sleep well in the day, then went to bed at 8pm after her bath (usually in bed earlier but had fallen asleep at 6ish)then I woke up with a jolt at 3.40 and checked on her. Still fast asleep. Woke at 4am so I fed her, then woke again at 7am. She completely missed the midnight waking Now if she did that every night I'd be quite happy cos it would mean that dh and I can go out every now and then.

Hi all - a quick flying visit. Life still pretty shit around here

MissP - I'm not worrying so much about iron after some reading I did - the breastmilk iron is more bio-available - plus my friend saw the GP with her 8 month old who isn't eating (teething) and hasn't done for weeks and she stated this whole BM being somehow iron-deficient is bollox really. Its helpful to me that Hetty likes nowt better than to suck on a piece of steak or a lamb chop for half an hour - it comes out like a grey rag in the end! Any brekkie cereals are usually fortified as well.

sleeping - I've lost the plot now. Sooo tired that I'm not quite sure in a morning whether she woke or not - she's co-sleeping at the moment so I just plug her in and I think I'm dreaming about feeding her sometimes when I'm not lady - long may your daughter miss the midnight feed

croup - after SID it's my biggest fear - my nephew suffered badly wih recurrent croup and it's truly horrible. So far we haven't had any episodes. My sis found that humidifiers were the best thing - keep the air good and damp and relatively cool. I think her's was a Bionare one?

The sun is shining here today - cold but very bright - it's very uplifting

Ali - hope your DH is OK. There are some seriously shit employers around

Patchy - am on the lookout for biscuit recipes. Will share once I find something suitable

Back later - have a good afternon ladies & littlies

hi all feeling a bit better today. that said between the 2 dc's and next door's snoring i was awake 1.30-4am last night. despite dd2 sleeping pretty well i haven't has a night wher either one didn't get up in months. i think we are all starting to feel a bit like zombies!

qf went to clinic today to see hv but turned out to be wrong day . have been using hydromol emolient in bath, the grease you rub on them and then the e45 type cream after for a month or so now but no improvement. arms and legs much better but nappy rash is awful. use huggies naturals with aloe vera or simple baby wipes as only ones that disn't cause skin to go red when a tiny baby. johnsons made dd1 rashy so i avoided them like the plague. do i try and combine metanium/sudocreme and the hydrmol? leaving it off or adding it seems to make no difference. also when i'm good and use cotton nappies it's much worse but there's no fabric softener on the cotton nappies. is it just wetness? had no problems with dd1 so am in new territory. btw am totally fed up of the hydromol grease. makes dd2 like a slippery eel to bath. feels so unsafe. gah! taken to bathing her in a plastic box so dd\1 can have bubbles in the bath!

Hi Ali - does the rash look and seem sore (does DD wince when you clean her at all?) - a friends baby ended up with thrush on the skin of her nappy area and she needed an anti-fungal type cream, but I think it was a sore red rash from memory. Redbus or Rooibos tea dabbed onto the area at every change and left to dry is also meant to help with nappy rash and other skin problems. I'm now a drapolene fan since my sis put me onto it - slightly different composition than sudocrem but still medicated, but it is absorbed more than metanium and sudo. I've loads of redbush teabags if you want any - email me [email protected] and I can stick you some in the post, or you can get a free sample here.

Good article about Redbush tea and skin complaints here

MissP sorry about the croup Hopefully that will go away soon. Its hard enough getting any rest without that making it worse.

Lydia Cant wait to hear how the shop is getting along

sleep Marco was up 3 times last night. He seemed stuffy again, so would wake himself up with his snores! He ended up in our bed from 5am on (after I BF him because was just too tired to think). Its getting to the point that I am so tired now, that I can sleep in the most contorted positions around the baby (who likes to spread out and hog my side of the bed for himself!). Although he did snuggle up against my back keeping me nice and warm this morning!!!

sunshine Quite agree... DONE with winter! Cant even complain about the snow this year, as we have gotten only about a quarter of what we had this time last year. Its the cold and the darkness I cant handle! Its been cloudy and raining/snowing for the last few days. Then last night, the temp dipped to -19 degrees. Its frigid today as well, but at least the sun is shining nice and bright. My family room and kitchen get full sun all day, so thats where I try to spend my time.

Taking Marco for his 6 month portraits this weekend. Hopefully he co-operates. I am happy the bruise on his lip from his mishap has healed, so I wont have to give him a make-up job!!

eczema Not much experienxe with it. DS1 was covered in it as a baby, and still gets the odd patch on his elbows or his face when it gets cold. As a baby, I used straight extra virgin olive oil on him. Was messy, but worked well. Would then moisturize with Aveeno lotion which is hypo-allergenic. Nowadays, he just uses regular moisturizer. As for the bum area, we have a cream called Ihles Paste which is like Sudocream. Works well. DD2 used to get raw in the nappy area whenever a tooth would be coming

Gotta run... Marco up from his 3 hour nap!! He's gonna be starving!

eczema A friend of mines little girl had terrible eczema and i was eventualy linked to food allergies. If it's been going on for a while I would insist on seeing a skin specialist. I have found with the NHS that if you don't ask you don't get.

DH has a few interviews booked up so hopefully they will come to something! We are feeling quite positive at the mo. thanks for asking.

Having family portrait done tomorrow so could be a complete disaster! Will let you know

recipes for those of you on facebook I have co-started a facebook group called rogues recipe roundup for mums to share easy recipes - been some good ones added please feel free to join!

MissP I hope that things are better for you and you got that wine and a long soak! It does make things better doesn't it!! DD sufferes from croup quite a lot, lots when she was a baby and now when she gets a chest infection. It is horrible, but does clear up in a few days normally. She is asthmatic so her inhalers really help.

Eczema - again dd is a sufferer. Ali it might be worth getting a different cream from the gp. some work for some and others don't. Worth a try. Also I used that metanium or whatever it is valled on Max and after a while it worked really well. If it is in the creases you can also use aloe vera on it, if you have a plant or can get hold of some, break off a leaf and rub the liquid on the eczema. Works really well on dd.

QueenFee hope the family portrait worked well!

Max has had a cold for over a week and last night was not himself, didn't want his dream feed and then woke up at midnight screaming so much that I fed him. This morning he has woken with a temp of 101 and isn't himself at all. Poor baby, its horrible when they are ill

Hope you are all ok, enjoy the sunshine today while it lastsxx

Oh yes forgot to ask.....do any of you know someone called Kaiashtah Love? Have had a friend request on facebook and don't know who it is!! Not a name I recognise! xx

Message withdrawn

eczma thanks everyone for helpful posts. Will have a try with the metatanium again and be more diligent. An easy place to start. Also have red bush tea at home I think.

QF have joined your recipe group though my forays onto facebook are very brief.

colds are back here again. DD1 was so awful at church and at home today that dh nearly sent her to her room. It's very unlike him to get that annoyed because he's the patient one. that said it did illustrate to him how bad a bad day is! Not sure she stopped crying/whinging/refusing to do anything all day. dd2 snotty and been up last night again but there we are. Cracked out the karvol plug in again and hoping for the best tonight. Have restarted the 10pm dream feed again as was getting up for her at 1am for a bit but I'm pretty sure that despite it I'll prob see her tonight anyway.

swimming really miss taking dd1 swimming but because she's 3 and LO is only 6mths then you are not allowed to go with just you. you have to have another adult. Wanted dh to take her this weekend but she's been too poorly to go. Is so long since we went (hols which was september). Anyone else have this problem or is it just wigan council that has these adult to child ratios?

swimming this is one of my bug bears half the nation can't take their kids swimming because of it. There are two ways round it. Ring round your local pools, some are ok as long as you stay in the baby pool and kids are wearing armbands. The only other alternative is to put one in the creche and take the other.

Anyone got any suggestions to help me with DS1. He winges all day constantly demanding things (that he doesn't necessarily need) and won't have anyone but mummy. He goes to school fine but if I try and leave him with DH he gets really upset even if DH is playing a nice game with him and I am just popping upstairs. (it's not just DH either but normally surely they are happy with dad) It 's driving me mad I feel so suffocated. He was 3 in August. He did have a hard time adjusting to the arrival of Alfie.

The family portrait went reasonably well. I think he got 1 of all of us. Turns out the guy is an ex-venture photographer so really looking forward to seeing the pics, and he only charged £20 to come out to the house to do them.

Christiana hiya - hope DH is getting better. It must be hard to do everything on your own when he is poorly.

Swimming I used to go w/DS1 and DD when I was pregnant with Tristan (on my own). I have to admit, it was quite an ordeal. The actual swimming with the 2 was fine, it was getting all of us showered and ready that was a pain. We didn't have any adult ratio limits (that I know of) but going with 3 is just NOT going to happen anytime soon.

Croup thanks for all your sympathies. Poor little man still sounds awful. I have a feeling A&E is inevitable.

Jetli I am glad someone else is primarily BF and still going slow on the solids. I was really getting my knickers on a twist re the supposed iron issue.

Baby how is Marco's sleep? We had 2 nights of 11-5 and now back to feeding at 3am (or thereabouts). Hmmmmm. What is sleep again?

Patchy hope you are coping ok w/sorting the conservatory on top of all your regular stuff.

QF DS1 had trouble adjusting when DD was born They are 22 months apart and the first few months were a nightmare. He was VERY tantrumous and used to just scream at my feet while I would try and BF. That along with other issues made me stop BF at 3 1/2m. My advice would be to ride it out. It does get better. I think 2-3 is a difficult age range anyway. Good luck.

Right time to get going and let the day unfold. Hope the stress levels are at a minimum.

qf/miss am off to the library today to get a copy of that fabulous toddler taming book by dr green (is that his name?) read it when dd was 2 and it helped alot. Am also having terrible time with clingey/whiney etc 3yr old. Want to re read as it helped me nip alot of things in the bud and helped me understand the decisions dd1 was capable of making and explaining that maybe she is just 3?! (I hope!) Gotta go, dd2 crying.

swimming Would love to take the babies swimming, as DD2 is a little fish! However, our community pool also limits the number of children under a certain age to one per adult. To be honest, I dont think I could manage the both of them alone without some sort of mishap. DD2 is a bundle of energy and does not always listen to directions. Not just that, but the clean up afterwards would be a nightmare.

sleep Its neither here nor there at the moment. Some nights Marco manages with one dream feed, and others, he is up several times. I wish he would just fall into a routine at least. He seems to be calling midnight his dream feed these days, and will sleep til 6ish. That is FAB for me. But last night, he was up at 4 and then again at 7ish. I miss unbroken sleep!!!

babbling What is everyones baby doing in this regard?? Marco is vocal in the sense that he coos and screetches in delight and laughs and makes various noises... but nothing repetetive like da-da-da. I'm not really concerned since DD2 didnt do this until later as well, and now she is exploding with words and sentences.

hi! eczema my mum advised me to put aqueous(sp) cream on Bill when he started to get what looks like eczema on his fatty bits on arms and legs! Worked as well but may not have been eczema!

croup hope your little man is doing better missp, it was horrid when Bill had it couldnt do anything for him. How's he doing now?

swimming its ratioed here too (leics) i have gone swimming with them and a spare adult but dd is a nightmare in the pool wanting to go in the deep end or generally buggering about and scaring me to death!

patch never heard of her/him!!

queenfee my friend swears by the baby whisperer book, have never read/ dont know anything about it but she says its helped with her toddlers behaviour.

dd hasnt been as bad as i thought but she is just constantly asking questions and shouting at the top of her voice, im hoping nursery will tire her out when she starts going!

sleep have almost dropped the 4am feed. have started just cuddling and trying to get him back to sleep or at least wait til 6. although sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt!

with all the rush of trying to get shop open totally forgot my bloody tax return!! im hoping that since i hardly earnt anything when working for my mum i wont owe anything so can avoid the fine!!

going down to paint on thursday, pregnant sister is having the kids. i feel quite sad as dp is helping me and im looking forward to spending time with just him even if it is painting!

ooh forgot to say babbling Bill still only makes weird squealing/growling/excited huffing noises. he also quite funnily, shakes with rage if something is taken from him!! he pinched dds biscuit so i took it off him and he went rigid on my knee arms out shaking and growling!!

Lydia lol at the shaking and growling! Max had a complete paddy earlier when I took the phone off him, he went rigid like Bill and screamed his head off. he managed to lock the key pad on the phone and I then spent ages trying to find the instructions and finally resorting to looking up on line what to do! He also goes rigid when I put him in the pram or car seat!

Missp Hi, hope you are ok. We are just waiting to hear back from the loss adjustor having sent them our list and quotes etc. Its come to about £17,000 in total which is such a huge amount of money, I just hope they don't make a fuss. the whole conservatory has to be knocked down and re built.

Christiana about the migraines. I suffer from them and have the 3/4 day ones aswell but normally once a month. Touch wood they haven't come back yet and if they do once I stop breastfeeding I can go back on the meds. Has he seen his gp, as there are so many things that can help. Once I found meds that worked for me I felt like my life changed. I had suffered from them since I was 13 and only got proper medication from my gp a couple of years ago.A real life changing experience.

We had one hell of a weekend. Max has had a cold for about 10 days, but nothing major an dno temperature. On saturday he got a mild temp in the morning that gradually crept up, despite calpol. By 9pm it was 105 degrees (40.6 I think) We phoned the out of hours gp who told me to take him straight to the hospital as they really worry once the temp goes over 103 and won't come down. I double dosed him with calpol and nurofen before i left as they said and by the time I got there he was babbling away, flirting with everyone in the waiting room and having a ball! The worse thing was they rushed me in, skipping te queue and he hardly looked sick! Anyway they checked him over and declared it to be viral (like everything they can't diagnose!)

He hasn't had a temp today but has been miserable, either sleeping or crying poor little man. I felt so sorry for him. hopefully he will be better tomorrow.

I hope you are all ok xx

lydia we used to live in leicester. Have a good friend still there expecting another LO in May.

behaviour dd1 was much better today thank goodness. Prob because me and dh had sat down last night and formulated a plan to tackle the constant whinging etc! Still a relief none the less.

icancook anyone's children watch this on cbeebies? I love this programme. Made the golden rock cakes with dd2 today. She loves it and sings the washing hands song. She's mostly not fussed by TV ie will watch anything but a big fan of only a few things ie peppa, charlie and lola and Katy from I can cook.

eczma it would seem that the HV diagnosis was a little off as changing nappy brands has made it disappear almost over night. that and going up a size. Was still being cheap and sqeezing dd into size 3 except for over night. Am loving huggies superdry. Never had this problem with dd1 but I guess dd2 has a more sensitive rear!

babbling dd2 just makes this funny ga ga ga noise and then blows raspberries if something is particularly interesting eg the cat who is very perplexed by it! Looking back dd1 came out with fist words round 1ish but you'd think she's swallowed the dictionary now. My mum says my sister hardly spoke when she was little cos I never let her get a word in edgeways. think this may happen in our house too.

Hope all are doingok. patchy hope insurance sorts it all out. See you all later. Off to watch tv as DH out and I get to hog the remote. (Not that I don't anyway, it's just guilt free hogging!)

Thanks for your tips on DS1. I have noticed that he has been worse since DH lost his job so maybe he's just a bit insecure about it all. I do have the toddler taming book around somewhere must dig it out.

Alfie has just started babbling I forgot how cute it is sometimes it feels like they are having a conversation with you!

Little mans 1st tooth has finally appeared so hopefully will put and end to the pain he has been in.

ali glad the 'eczema' has gone. Might be worth following some of the eczema tips though if they have sensitive skin. lol at the cat's perplexion (is that a word?)

icancook not watched that. Will put it on for DCs tomorrow and report back