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!

Argh
Losing my BF confidence. Baby has bitten me 3 times over the last 24hours!!
Why why why?

If it keeps happening I am may need to stop.

Ali so glad I have found a kindred spirit re going out...x

Jetli thanks for that link looks great, lots of ideas there. We are thinking of getting an allotment. There are some fields in the village that they are turning into allotments this summer and the kids are desperate to get one so they can have a veggie patch. I am a little worried that it will turn into just one more thing to add to my list of things to do with seems unmanagable at the moment. Come the summer there is our garden to maintain aswell and it is quite big. Can I cope with something else. On the other hand it wont cost much and I can see Max asleep in the pram and us spending hours in the summer outside, away from the chores of the house, all together enjoying it? What to do???!!

The eating out of the freezer is going well and the meals have been nice so far, its just when you get to the dregs that it isn't too good!!

Ali thanks for the recipe, can't wait to make them. Will let you know if he likes them!

QueenF glad the baptism went well. We have MAx's christening on Valentines day and I am so looking forward to it. Need to get cooking though!

Anyway, Max is on the mend but the rest of us have it now.....feeling really shabby tonight so am looking forward to bed. I have clean sheets too so it will be extra nice! Now that does sound old!!

Hope you are all ok and the babies happy too xx

missp no I totally agree. I hate having a hangover with the kids around so I rarely drink a lot these days and usually home by midnight. Just think of it as Cinderella

miss re biting: dd2 started doing it when teeth were coming through. using me as a teething ring little minx. When teeth came through she stopped again though I did follow advice from others on here earlier about taking her off each time and sternly saying no then putting her back in. Plus I don't know if you can see it coming but I recognise now the change in dd2's latch when she's about to attack! (they have to take their tongue from over their teeth to do it) so I quickly take her off if I spot her about tot do her jaws impression. Also found that a bit of calpol a few mins before a feed or even at the start seems to help.

patchy been following your freezer progress with interest as I'm doing the same thing. Have a big tall freezer outside and need to move it from the shed to the conservatory so I don't have to get wet in the rain/cold at night to get bread or whatever. We are down to the dregs and it's getting harder. V tempting to stock back up but must resist!

Ali resist resist!! It's hard isn't it! Just me and the 2 boys tonight so we are have 2 of the 10 salmon steaks I seem to have.......thats a lot of salmon!!! xx

OK - we're sort of in the realms of weirdness already with the freezer. Beef burger casserole tonight - heaven knows what DP will make of it but he's welcome to start cooking himself if he doesn't like it

Allotment - wouldn't it be lovely? We have quite a big garden but it's very shady with 4 very mature trees so it ain't great for growing veg. Having said that I have a fab gooseberry bush and did manage broadbeans amongst the flower beds summer 2008. If this blardy baby would give me 30 minutes peace, I'd have another go again this year at some veggies hidden amongst the shrubs

Hangovers - I'm with you 100% MissP. Following that huge bruise on my forehead I'm sworn off the stuff. I felt crappy for 2 days and simply cannot hack the booze anymore > I'm trying to learn to savour a small glass of something here and there, rather than letting my Viking Drinking Gene take over and getting horrendously trashed.

Biting - another tip I saw was to pull them in really close when they do it so that they can't breathe - that's meant to make them let go and then you can do the whole, stern "NO" business. I've been heavily gummed a few times but that was before Christmas. It certainly wasn't my first instinct to pull her even closer though

Now I have at least 2 packs of Herta frankfurter sausages - any ideas?

hi all!!

sorry for all the poorly babues i have one here too. he's been full of cold, poor thing. as usual it has buggered up his sleep, so where we had one night of 6.30 til 6 and several 6.30-4.30 he is now waking for at least twice in the night and will NOT settle without milk (sigh!) it's like im being tempted with just a few nights of good slepp then havce it snatched away with a week of horrendous sleep! DD also has been up in the night every night for a week!!

qf glad baptism went well!

baby congrats on the new clothes, im supposed to be on a diet to fit in to a party dress for my friends birthday at the end of the month but with everything im doing for ahop i barely get time to make something proper!

hangovers not looking forward to the day after my friends party, will be feeling rather poorly i think!

phoenix eeek about the mice!! id have been out the house like a shot and have probably left the babies behind!!

moneysaving we do a week by week shop so only buy what we need. excluding all the baby things (nappies and now formula etc) we do a weeks shop for under £50 which i dont think is too bad?? have done this weeks for £20 as dp is working nights wed-fri so im staying at my dads so will raid his bottomless freezer

biting just before i stopped feeding Bill bit me a couple of times, he even drew blood on one occasion not nice!

anyone doing anything for valentines day?? was talking to dp earlier about it, he did the blokes answer of 'why should i be made to be romatic on a certain day of the year when i can surprise you and be romantic through out the year'...i just said 'love ive been waiting 4 years for a romantic gesture and im still waiting!' never mind, our valentines day will be spent puitting upt he shop units we brought today from ikea! i think my wistful dreams of a proposal will stay just that... a dream!

well hopefully shop will be open fror business on friday 20th. still shedloads to do but it'll be worth it. starting to feel really anxious about the kiddies going to nursery, although they dont start til march 15th!

Well the beefburger casserole was an absolute triumph - DP singing it's praises throughout!

Hi lydia - hope everything is going well with the shop. I'm sure it'll be fab when it opens

Jetli frankfurters are lovely chopped up in pasta with a tomato sauce. Yum! I had forgotten about the bruise to your forehead!! The allotment idea is lovely yes, but not sure I can cope with something else to do. Dh is good with the kids but doesn't help much round the house, is crap in the garden and does no cooking so god love him it all falls to me. It's fine as he works hard, but I wonder if the allotment might tip me over the edge?

Lydia that is a fantastic weekly shop, I struggle to keep mine under £100 for the 5 of us. That includes everything, nappies, formula, meat etc. With my new system though I am hoping for 1 big shop a month and then the rest about £60-£70. Will let you know how I go! Tomorrows menu is homemade chicken nuggets, using up the 2 manky chicken breasts and some frozen breadcrumbs.

Our valentines day will be spent celebrating Max's christening with friends and family. Can't think of anyway I would rather spend it...apart from on that tropical island, with no distractions and a good book!

Activity at the big sleep, nightmare, nightmare, nightmare......hope you get some sleep tonight.

Had a bad night with Max last night, crying on and off from about 1.30pm little tinker. Not like him at all. Hoping it is teeth?

Have been invited out to dinner at a friends house on friday night. She is lovely and a really good friend, her husband is a knob though so dh and i are dreading it. He is alot older than us and a complete dickhead. Deep joy...think we will be home early from that one! I don't want to let her down by not going, but would much rather be at home!

Anyway, dh home in the morning and has 12 days leave to look forward to. Can't wait. He has been away a lot and I am looking forward to a bit of a break.

xx

jetli recipe for frankfurter pasta bake here

lydia dh hates valentines too and says similar things to ur dp and i agree... one day a year is better than none! am holding out for some flowers. have dropped big hints! only need to be tesco ones!

sleep what the heck is that? rebecca up at 11.30pm 1.30pm and beth decided to emerge at 6.30am. ywan! rebecca crabby as heck too today. palming beth off on playdough and playing silly song cds. rebecca currently tryingh to eat the printer. better go!

btw i LOVE my antilop IKEA high chair as rescued from PIL. much better than my fancy chicco one. wish i'd just bought that one with beth not the clumpy but expensive one we had before. so much easier to ke0ep clean and store

current facebook status Alison has an escapee baby. So far today she has attempted to climb out of her baby nest, her bouncy chair, open the kitchen cupboards and get to the chimney.... and she can't even crawl yet. Better batton down the hatches. Did i mention finding her trying to insert her fingers in a socket the other day? oopS!

Easier than typing it all again!

How are all the sickly babies doing? Hope everone starts to feel better and sleep again soon, Marco included. Its moved to his chest so now he coughs all night and it wakes him up

I am a little annoyed right now, so... quik vent. Got invited to lunch with friend from work last week. Had to cancel in the last minute because thats the day when Marco and Sofia both started to run a fever. I did catch her before she left from work though, so no harm done. We rescheduled for today. So I called her to confirm yesterday, left a message. I show up at restaurant with both babies in tow (interrupting both their nap times), and she does not show up!! I waited for half hour, tried calling her cel (turned off), then work, and found out she was sick! So I pack everyone up and go home to deal with the fallout of cranky babies. Managed to finally get Sofia down at 2pm and am still waiting for Marco to sleep. She then calls me at home (2 hours after we were supposed to meet)and says "I hope you didn't go today?" Why the hell wouldn't I have??!! What a daft woman! She tells me she is sick and figured that since we hadnt spoken, that I wouldn't show up? Cuz I am a mind reader I guess!! So I basically wasted time, gas, now have to deal with cranky children, AND had to rummage in the fridge for left over lunch instead of a nice fresh hot meal that I was looking forward to, because she couldn't pick up a bloody phone! Rant over!

freezer You are all keeping me in stitches with the creative meal ideas that include ingredients found at the bottom of ones freezer!! LOL. I have a chest freezer as well... but its mainly a waste of space and energy. I currently have a few loaves of bread, chicken breasts (stocked up while on sale), a frozen pizza, a tub of ice cream and a whole lot of empty space!

biting After all the gumming he was doing to me before, ever since Marco has sprouted his 2 teeth, I have not been bitten once. Thank goodness, because I was worried! Sofia bit me hard enough to draw blood, so Lydia, I know how you feel. Had she done it a second time, the boobs would have been put away for good!! lol

ali join the club! Lets see how much mischief our pre-crawlers can get into!! LOL

Valentine's We are planning to go out to our favourite breakfast place, and thats pretty much it. Not very romantic when you have 4 kids in tow! DH and I already exchanged gifts last weekend too.. lol.. he got me a new running jacket and I got him new work boots... again, not horribly romantic! LOL... all I really want is a nice bouquet of tulips (my fave). If he buys me roses there will be hell to pay, since I dont agree with florists doubling the prices one day a year!

naps am very Activity! Could use one right now!

hangover Not much of a drinker, but I am a cheap date! My head starts to spin after one glass of wine!

So I was posting every now and again on another post-natal thread. Well... hadn't gone on in a few weeks and when I did, was I ever shocked at the contents! I returned to a full out war between a few long-time members of the group! It was VERY ugly! Humpf... my question is why bother? These are people you have never met, will probably never see, but you feel the need to fight like cats and dogs??? Isnt there enough of that in RL?? It was so bad, the remaining members abandoned ship and started a new thread!

Anyway... its almost 3 and Sofia is finally asleep, but Marco is still hangin on! Am going to attempt to do some baking for tomorrow. My neighbour and I get together once a week for tea and conversation. I am thinking of blueberry muffins, since I have a tonne of blueberries in the fridge (on sale and intended for a baby puree).

Have a wonderful evening all

baby very annoyed for you i have a friend whom I invited by text to Alfies bsptism. I saw her the week before and she denied receiving the text(yeah right) so K asked her in persln and asked her to let me know that week if she was coming or not. She never replied. I don't care that she chose not to come but very offended she didn't have the decency to tell me.

ali lol at the escaping baby (that never came through on my facebook have I not added you?) my ds was a climber. I came downstairs one day to find him playing with pins he had somehow anaged to get off the top of a box which was at ceiling height on top of a set of shelves my house realy has been childproofed!

valentines were having to be creative as with dh out of work we have limited it to £5 each

Outfit - I have bought a gorgeous coast skirt off ebay see the style and beauty thread for a link!

Ali Dont think I have you on FB either??

Ali we all want you on our facebook!!

V impressed with all the freezer dining
I don't celebrate Valentines Day anymore so h knows not to bother getting me anything.
Teething is taking forever. She has been dribbling and gumming for 2 months now but no sign of teeth.
Weaning is going quite well but not sure when to add meat/fish and not sure when to increase amount. It seemed so easy with ds as he demand fed but dd keeps opening her little mouth for more even when she is so full she gets sick
Sleeping has gone downhill. She was waking up just once but it is now twice again. Feel knackered. Thyroid is unstable so have had to increase medication. Hopefully when that kicks in I'll feel better.
Snow here today. Had enough of the cold. Just want some warm, sunny weather now.

Moan Warning
I am literally at breaking point. DD now sick and has poo'd and vomited pretty much since Sunday. DH can't take time off work (as he is freelancing) and I am dealing with a sick baby, sick toddler and a "just finished being sick" little boy. Do you know how crap it is to be bf a baby while your toddler vomits next to you???

Activity recent events has made my anxiety even worse. I am tired, fed up and keep hoping this isn't some sort of PND creeping up. I am sure it is just my hormones shifting again. My hair has finally stopped coming out in clumps and I am down to about 5/6 bf a day. Thanks for asking. BTW did you see the programme on CH4. I thought the policeman was awful!!!

Ali I may be getting the Ikea chair. We have a M&P one from DS1 (and DD used) which cost about £160 (much to DH horror) and has seen better days. The material is torn in places and a pain in the big bum to clean.

Patchy hope the baptism preps are doing well. And 12 days with DH?? Does that mean more babies? LOL.

QF and Baby friends can be inconsiderate and take for granted how hard it is for moms to get out and do anything. I think people forget how hard it is to organise things w/little people at our feet all the time.

Lady I am giving some meat from time to time (chopped up in pieces) but nothing daily. Thankfully Jetli put my "iron worries" at ease as I am bf (thanks again Jetli) Food Shop we spend about £100 easily a week. Where it goes I really don't know. We buy our meat from Costco in bulk and cram in the freezer. I wish I had a huge deep freeze to pile with homemade meals, bread, milk etc. It would make life so much easier.

Lydia when is the shop opening? Anyone else going back to work ? Phoenix did you rid of your mice?

Hi to everyone I have missed.

facebook email is [email protected]. Send me a message and let me know who you are on MN!

baby can I recommend the following DELICIOUS cake recipe for using blueberries. Was baking one at 6.30am this morning for some insane reason but it is lovely!

lemon curd blueberry* cake

Beat together the following till batter just comes together:

6oz softened butter
100g yoghurt
2tbsp good quality lemon curd
3 eggs
zest of lemon
8oz self raising flour
6oz caster sugar

Line 2lb loaf tin. Pour in half the mixture. Add 40g blueberries then the rest of the cake. Add another 40-45g blueberries on top.

Cook 1-1 1/4 hr 160c/140c fan/gas 3

To ice mix 5oz icing sugar with juice of the lemon and ice.

YUM YUM YUM!

miss yeah! Join me on the cheapy but fab high chair! Much easier to clean than my other one.

finger food Rebecca sat like queen of all she surveyed today and ate her way through cucumber stick, bread stick, chunk of cheese and bit of wrap with cream cheese for lunch! Granted alot ended up on the floor repeatedly (should I say I picked it up and kept putting it back on her tray?!) but she loved it. She's doing what Beth did which is now she realises she can hold the spoon she won't let me feed her unless she's holding it or something else and I spoon feed the goo by stealth! better get cooking the mini quiches and chopping out funny shaped sandwiches like I did with beth. Saves a fight and then she suddenly went back to allowing me to feed her (beth did) so hoping that will happen here too.

valentines I agree with whoever said roses are a rip off. Beth made me pick a card for DH which has the picture of a sock puppet on the front. She also said she wanted a valentines card too!

SAD finally bought my SAD lightbox. Been having 10/20min treatments for the last week. Am hoping it will start to help me feeling run down. Will have to let you all know as some people seem to be struggling here too.

miss (((hug))) How horrid. Vomiting bugs are my nightmare. DH particularly prone. I pretty much never get them. I have one continuous head cold all winter. Even the thought of being sick makes me feel sorry for you having to deal with sicky children. DH not freelance but unsympathetic work. Never takes time off. Was murder to get him to take a day when I had swine flu! Hope you all feel better soon.

missp sounds like you're havig a bad time of it with poorly dcs! cant imagine how hard it must be with vomitting and diahorrea (sp) toddlers! hope you're feeling better in your self too xxxxxxx

baby how rude of your friend!! Its funny how things can get so heated on some of these web forum thingies...i make sure i stay away from the ones i know are going to end up a bitch fest on here!

activity glad sid wasnt too bad, i have to make sure Bill doesnt sleep past 3.30 or he will not go to bed at 6.30! Shop wise we're going to have a big opening next friday with cakes and refreshments...loving the idea of some humongous scissors, may scuttle off to ebay to find a comedy pair!

patchy 12 days together sounds lovely especially as your dh travels alot! have you any nice things planned?

so had a crazy idea, dont want to put on sleep thread as im sure i'll be flamed for even thinking it but i need my bed back with dp in it as he has taken to sleeping on sofa as Bill takes over our bed but...was thinking how stupid it would be to try him in a bed?? with guards on obviously? he just seems to hate any kind of cot.for instance im at my dads as dp on nights. He goes down as usaul then wakes at ten where he screams i try control crying for 30 min checking every 5,7 min and so on (i know its not long but hear him being sick!) so put him in a bed where he finally goes back to sleep!

lydia - I don't see why not so long as you take precautions. If that's how he sleeps then maybe you need to take your lead from him Maybe run it by a HCP just to see what they say? They might be able to suggest something that will make it safer iyswim.

Message withdrawn

Lydia - I don't think it's mad because i've been thinking the same. Noah just will not sleep in the cot and its driving me mad. I was thinking of taking one side off the cot and once he's asleep rolling him over into his cot but i'm not sure if it would work because the cot is different height to our bed .

Weaning just seems to have clicked into place for Noah. He wasn't that interested at all at first but is eating 2 or 3 meals a day now and finger snacks like rice cakes. I have to admit to been lazy and buying those Ellas Kitchen pouches (stage 2) as well as occasionally making my own. He's still having 4 8oz bottles (7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm) a day on top of that though. How much milk are the other babies having?

I think we still have the mice but i'm a lot more relaxed about them now although i still want them to feck off so i can completely relax. I started to relax last week though and then Saturday night we were watching tv and both me and dh saw one of the cheeky little feckers run accross the room. It's been just over a week since the poison went down so fingers crossed it won't be long.

Valentines - I like to have a card, because i keep them, but we don't do presents, never have.

for all the poorly babies.

Ali I just sent you a Facebook friend request

I've gone and forgot everything else i was going to say