April 2009 - Episode 12 - 'I'm wearing mine pink one Princess Tutu'

[Feierabend]

Here we go!

Hello Auld

Orbit has been front facing for a long time now, he just got too big for his baby seat, so we bought a Britax that goes both ways, but ended up putting him front facing quite soon. But he is a beefy baby and reached and breached the 9kg frontier very quickly.

We did try out some of the seats that rear face for a long time, but they don't fit in our car and I draw the line at buying a new car!

I'm quite keen on rear-facing, but DH wants forward-facing as he thinks H will be happier in the car if he can see more of what's going on. Is 9kg the limit for the stage 0? (Actually, don't know if ours is a 0 or a 1 or what - car seats are a blue job, but I have pink power of veto).

MrsG - can you help me with some book cleaning advice? (Have I made up that you are a librarian?). We're having a new carpet, and in emptying the bookcases ready to move them, have found that the back-board of the shelves is covered in horrible mould-fungus-yuck, and that almost all of the books there now have similar mould-fungus-yuck down their edges . I have been pondering giving them a wipe with a well wrung-out cloth dipped in a Milton solution, but I don't want to damage them any further. Any ideas?

Now just have to worry about what has caused the mould-fungus-yuck.

Thanks, WFH.
A is over 10kg, and rear-facing seats are hard to come by here, without breaking the bank.

(I meant advice, obv, not advise. )

x-posted
Thanks, Gui!
Hope H's eyes are better soon.
Your book yucky fungus stuff sounds...yucky. Hope you get it sorted...

Both of our boys have been happier forward facing, but rear facing is on the whole safer.

To be honest though I think it's one of those things where you do what you can to keep them safe, and then you have to trust in Fate/God etc. When you consider that I was carted around unsecured in a carry cot wedged in the boot of a Renault 4, I think the boys are definitely safer than that!

Yup, I'm all for the rear-facing = safer, but DH is not keen on how squashed up they look in them. Plus, I sit in the back with H at the moment (is this worthy of a ?), and I think DH is worried that if we go with rear-facing I'll continue to sit in the back until H is 4!

What kind of car have you got? We tried a BeSafe rear facing one and you need a LOT of room to get one in. Otherwise you have to sacrifice the front passenger seat. So it might be a moot point, really, if they don't fit in your car!

Volvo V40. Am assuming they will fit as I think rear-facing for older children is fairly standard in Scandinavia (Kali?). I think cost is more likely to be the deciding factor unfortunately.

Evie is in a forward facing. When she outgrew the carry seat, we got her a bigger rear facing one that was supposed to be up to 30lb but even though she is only 23lb, she is very long and her feet were pushing into the seat. Now we have borrowed a forward OR rear facing seat but it only fits on the seats properly forward facing. She is a lot happier forward though!

Umm book cleaning is not really my area, Gui, but I'll have a look through my stuff and see if I can come up with something. I do know what to do about wet books but that's not what you need (though I would suspect that a combination of damp/wet followed by heat has caused the mould in the first place)

Re rearfacing carseats, a Group 0+ seat goes up to 13kg. Britax and Maxi Cosi rear facers are both 0+ and also really good carseats. Unfortunately, forward facing car seats are indeed much less safe than rearfacers, particularly for very young children, so my personal inclination would be to try to lay hands on a Maxi Cosi or Britax or other Group 0+ babyseat for a couple of months if a Group 0 (9kg limit) seat is outgrown. (FIL is a road safety expert and I got him to consult a carseat expert when we purchased ours originally so not totally talking out of backside)

forward facing is nicer for all concerned so when we got to about 12kg we made the switch to an isofix group 1 forward facer

Thanks MrsG. I think it's probably down to crappy windows and having the heating on all the time. Pre-Hugo, the heating tended not to be on much so it never got warm enough for mould to grow, but as we've been trying to keep the house warmer, it's probably been just lurrrrrrvely for it. I'm just hoping it's just a superficial problem and not actually some damp in the walls.

If I have a go at them with the Milton, I may well be back asking you what to do about wet books

Auld I read that as garlic kisses and went a bit [EW emoticon]

HasHadAShedLoadOfChocolateAndIsNOTToBeTrustedTiggaxx

Auld - Holly has been in a forward facing for ages. She's too leggy for a rear facing.

[Waves to everyone else]

Okay so first day back at work was a complete joke... didn't get there until noon because of H's eye infection / having to take her to the doc's. Then my computer wasn't set up properly so had to call IT helpdesk and go for a walk while they sorted it out. Then spent time calling around pharmacies because nobody seemed to stock the new eye drops we got prescribed for Hazel. THEN just as I thought I had finally settled in and could do something useful, I got a call from nursery saying she had a temp of 38.9C. So I got a taxi home, drove her to GP at the hospital (because our local surgery had no appointments left), who said it's just a non-specific virus, and by the time we got back home it was 5pm.

I'll have to keep her at home tomorrow and just hope she's be better by Wednesday when I have both girls...

AND then what do I do if DD1 gets ill too? It's her birthday party on Sunday and she's been talking about it for the past 4 weeks. What if she has a fever on the day....????

Gui sorry about mouldy books, what a nuisance. Hope you can clean them.

Car seats - Hazel is in a forward facing one now but would have probably been okay in the baby one for another couple of months. It's nice though to turn round and see her smile at me. And with regards to safety, rear facing seats for 4 years old are on a par with toddler helmets as far as I am concerned. You can overdo it really with the health and safety, non?

Gui sounds like H has something similar to Hazel - cough, fever, snot, eye gunk? Hope he's better soon.

Auld - Aoife has also been in a forward facing one for a while as she is rather long. She LOVES being able to see everything and often waves and yelps at passers by (never waves at me when I try)

Schulte, I'm so sorry about your day. Aoife became really poorly with a virus in my first couple of weeks back and it was hell (shared with DH and MIL). However, she did get better, work generally were quite good(ish!) and I've almost forgotten. Sending healthy thoughts...although we're rather cold ridden here!

What do you mean she was ill for two weeks? Oh please don't let that happen here...

Gui University Challenge is on but then I willbe right with you. In the meantime step away from the Milton.

Tigga I too am full of sugar. It has not cured my headache and have had to fall back on paracetamol. Tedious.

Ooo picture round

Schulte, what a rubbish day. Poor little H. Was it H having repeated trouble with conjunctivitis a little while back, or was that DD1? Yes, sounds like a similar thing to what Hugo has. A week of generalised cold/ snot, then gunky eyes, and a secondary bacterial chest infection on top of the cold. Abx seem to be working as his temp is down, but he's been in a dreadful mood today. I'll put it down to teething .

No hurry MrsG, the books (and the mould) aren't going anywhere (except out of the living room).

I ate a whole bar of G&B earlier. It slipped down very easily. Have also just made brownies. Oops.

Schulte if she has a fever on the day then Calpol Calpol Calpol!

Spotted this on our local Freecycle, made me laugh - especially the last bit!

"OFFER - 15 empty Asda peanut butter jars - Keynsham BS31

These have plastic lids, good for home made chutney!

Could be collected from Yate.

Only polite responses please."

Right, how bad is the mould Gui?

TBH I haven't got any notes or info about getting rid of mould so it's just googling and guessing just the same as you could do, but I would say this:

Unless the mould is rampant I would start by getting them as dry as possible. So, if the pages are stuck together at all, delicately separate them as much as you can then stand the books up somewhere dry and cool (unheated room would be fab, otherwise just as far away from a heat source as possible) with the pages fanned out. Leave them like this till they're bone dry.

I seem to remember reading that mould removal is extremely difficult with books, so you probably can't expect them to go back to perfection. You need to concentrate on preventing any more mould growing (for which drying may well be enough, otherwise there are various bleach recipes on t'Internet though I don't know anything about their relative merits) and then getting off what you can with as light a touch as possible. If it were me, I'd try to dust and vacuum the mould off and if that produced a bearable result would leave it there. Possibly you could also put them outside on a very sunny day to get some UV light on the books.

DH is trying to send me to bed now because of my headache, or alternatively make me order online the sodding bookcase we went pointlessly to Ikea to get yesterday but of course was too big for car.

Hiya all! Sorry have only been able to manage to read past few pages....

Birthday party went very well! babies were gorgeous and sooooo well behaved..

It would have been perfect if it wernt for the bout of d and v i suffered afterwoods.

I will need to look at what i am doing on the 15th Ju, I dont mind driving (although i have NO idea how to get to richmond so may be a sat nav jobby methinks.)

I have had forward facing carseats since about cristmas, not tooo bad but babies now dont sleep much in the car as it is far too interesting outside. I am not sure if they feel as secure as there old car seats but that might be cos they are not as bundled up iykwim?

Hope all the returns to work are going well. I feel a bit old hat about it now.. (have been back since nov) still doesnt feel 100% not being at home with bubbas. especially when i miss bedtime like tonight .

Although i have to personally say i am very glad that gui is back at work now!! yipee... ( i must publically profess my love for her over her work on a student technician induction pack!!!)

ooh mouldy books can i direct you to this website which has been very good for me in the past... mouldy books

Don't worry...I was able to go back after a couple of days, just still very bunged up/not sleepy very well for a while. Once the virus turned into an ear infection they gave antibiotics and she got better very quickly. We did a Calpol/Nurofen diet for a few days too!

Are you all playing somewhere else and I'm not invited?

Hope all babies and Mums and Grandmums are well (and everyone else I've forgotten!).

I'm at a loose end. We've dropped the morning nap and babywarrior has now been asleep for 2 1/2 hours. I've pricked out the tomatoes, iced his birthday cake, made the tea, had my lunch and watched Neighbours . What bliss!

Ah. He awakens. Later .

DS1 has chickenpox, conjuncivitis and a cold.
DS2 has a cold - but was signed off from the cardiologist yesterday at the hospittal!!! They ultrasounded his heart and said it was perfect. So relieved!