November '09 and the months are flying by, our 3 month plus troop, and us, the knitted boob group!

[SirBoobAlot]

New thread, we chat so much!

ds got his top front teeth first, very quickly followed by the bottom ones. but think it varies from baby to baby.

oh Pav! hugs dont know what to say. hope you are ok.

Oh Pav sorry to hear about row, I am sure the fags are part of it, I have a short fuse at the best of times but when I gave up smoking I was deranged for a few weeks- my old head teacher once told me that when he gave up he used to manufacture rows so that he could have an excuse for having a fag and blame it all on the person he had rowed with

Pavlov Sending hugs. I hope he calms down and you discuss it again. Also agree the quitting is probably part of it - when the facts are laid out, its an addiction, and quitting will be hard regardless of what the addiction is. Hope he apologies to you!x

I went out, came back a while later and now he is fine! He even came with me to get the bear cub weighed! I shan't make him apologise. He said he does not want me to stop my MNing though good! I just might not tell him everything i post or read .

So, i went to get the bear cub weighed, and he doing fine at 14lb14oz. The locum HV said he was 18wks, and I said 'no he is 17wks' and she said 'no he is exactly 18wks today' and I said 'he can't be, he was born on a saturday!' so she rechecked her spinny wheel and said 'no, he is definitely 18wks today' oooookaaay but let it pass. Do you have any concerns? 'yes, his rattly chest is still not any better despite DH no longer smoking, and cutting down to just 2 from the day the gp mentioned it 'ok, you need to see the gp for that' so why ask then?.

So, i decided to ask her on her official stance for weaning. She clearly had no clue and read it off her brain. This is what she said

Do not wean before 6 months, at least . When you start weaning, don't use baby rice as it is not very nice, use baby porridge and pureed fruit and vegetables. No cows milk until they are 1 year. 'not even to mix cereal x with?' no, no cows milk at all as it slows down iron absorption, and does not have the nutrients etc 'so what about cheese and yoghurt' oh that is fine though! . Breastfeed until 1year. Oh, and it has just changed to 6 months very recently (no, it has not it had just changed when dd was 4 months!).

Hmm. methinks she has no clue. I was only asking out of curiosity to hear what the take is down here, as it seems to vary from area to area. The training has obviously not reached down here regarding the 17wk stuff then

Ha ha, Pav I've had 3 different answers to weaning from 3 different HV's on the same team here! I think none of them are certain so I'm deciding myself, or letting Ioan decide really as I'm too lazy!

Second the idea that the fags, or lack of, is what's making your dh grumpy.

Just popping in to say hello. Had a great weekend in London. Walked past Giraffe on the south bank and pointed out where my imaginary friends you lot met up.

Great news on the job Scarlotti. DWB I have a friend who is an IFA and he works his own hours around his son. He is freelance but associated with a firm - could be perfect when you have two!

BBL sorry to hear the sleeplessness is back . Are you getting loads of exercise? It's no good with older kids in tow as they are too slow, but could you put Toby in the buggy and charge around the park for an hour? It always does me the world of good.

Meant to ask, does anyone have ideas of a nice dress / outfit I could wear to a wedding and bf in? I prefer to lift my top up rather than get it out but can't find anything suitable.

Laugs I'm going to a wedding on thurs and have a halterneck dress and pashmina type wrap. Not ideal as am a top lifter upper too, but didn't feel weddingy in a top and skirt. Am going to untie one side and cover myself up, if it works. Am also banking on there being a chair in the loo as it's a posh hotel!

Pav glad all is resolved. My dp is a bit jealous of mn too.

Laugs I have a wedding in May. Dp and I have agreed to get fit and healthy together (really struggling/failed to do it on my own). Have no idea what to wear either so pictures please once you have decided so I can blatantly copy be inspired by your style.

SirBoob such awful news about fil. My thoughts are with you, dp and Bryn. Could you make Bryn a box of memories for the future so he knows what sort of person his grandad was? Just trinkets that represent the things that were important to him in life, like a toy aeroplane for travel etc?

BBL sorry you are feeling down . I liketo think that the sun will shine soon, we'll be able to go outside without a big winter coat and the windows will all be open in the house. Little things will get us through xxx

I feel a bit blue and have been taking it out on dp in the most despicable ways, really snipping at his weak spots and basically trying to make him feel useless. His response is to try and change the things that I'm stressed about, at this moment he has taken Alfie to the shops to give me some space. I really don't deserve him.

Hi All - been lurking. LO is more and more alert and demanding of my time in the day, won't be fobbed off with stupid toys for more than 20 mins at a time before wanting mama's face close or, better still, mama's cuddles... Never mind some stupid work that mama needs to do...

Ninja sorry you're feeling blue... How nice of your DP though.

BBL sorry too that insomnia is back.

Scarlotti wonderful news on the job.

Ursi enjoy your visit home. Easter is a massive holiday in Poland, is it in Austria? I'm thinking of starting to bring the little traditions into our little family, too, although DH is not used to celebrating it at all. His parents are not religious and I get the impression that in England it is the religious folk that celebrate it more (well, Easter being such an important religious holiday, duh...). Goodness, what a ramble, not sure I follow it myself...

Pavlov Lucy does that breathing thing too sometimes. Don't know if you know the Aussie comic Tim Minchin, but he does a brilliant little story about it. Apparently it's quite common. And well done to your DH for the quitting fags, and well done to you for your patience and understanding.

Lucy's tummy is still gripey, but not as much as before. So maybe the citrus thing suggested by hv is right... I do wonder if I'm making the rod for my back too: because she's in pain in the evenings the only way she'll go off to sleep is when I carry her. She used to sleep fine after a feed, go down still awake and nod off, but not anymore. As soon as I put her down, even if she's asleep, it's knees up to tummy and waaaaa. Takes a good few tries.

Right those of you with 4 / 5 year olds. I need advice - am looking after a little girl tomorrow whilst her mum is moving house and I have no idea what to do. I have made some play-dough, and printed off some colouring pictures from CBeebies. If the weather is good we can go to the park, but if its like this we will be inside for three hours...

skorpion, glad to hear that Lucy is already getting better but do you think there might be something else? We had "painful" poo here today. Very strange, has never happened before that she was actually crying to get it out and then even worse at the nappy change. I have no idea what had caused it???
And your second question:
Austria is very catholic in theory (people do not go to church), so the catholic holidays are important but easter is much smaller than christmas. My parents are really religious so it is very important in this house (also about lent (sp?), not too strict though). On Easter Sunday morning children will go and search the garden for coloured easter eggs (real eggs), sometimes (lots of) chocolate and maybe a small present. Those things are brought by the Easter bunny. Is it the same tradition in Poland?
I'm personally not very religious but it is just part of my life and I do find traditions important for children. It is actually funny, we are going to meet the priest for the christening tomorrow (christening will be on Easter Monday), so we will actually have to talk about why we want her to be christened. And although I never go to church, I could actually not imagine to not get her christened.

sirboob the cbeebies website is great for learning games. I'm constantly amazed by what my nieces and nephews can do on computers now. Anyone else brought up with the BBC computers in school? I also remember a home computer, maybe an omega, which you put cassettes in. I feel so old!!

ninja your other half sounds like a superstar. Very understanding.

laugs If only I was an IFA... sigh! I'm the lowly assistant. Not sure about the big cities but in Glasgow there is a 'grey hair or nae hair' prerequisite to becoming an IFA. Very frustrating as I'm better qualified than all of the advisers in my firm but would never be promoted. One of these careers you need some life experience for. Hence the decision to study for an OU degree in Music, my first love. Actually started a music degree straight from school but was young & daft at 17 and dropped out. Thoroughly enjoying it now at 27 and even got 100% in my first assignment! It'll probably take 6 years part time for the honours degree but fits in well around starting a family and hopefully in 6yrs I could do a full time post grad then get out of the cynical world of finance!

I've eventually received my amazon order so have the BLW book to read and the no cry sleep solution. It says at 4months, DS should be sleeping around 15hrs per 24hr period made up of 2/3 naps and 11hrs at night. Ethan's daytime naps last on average half an hour unless we're in the car or pram so I think this'll be the first issue to work on. Hopefully there will be some helpful advice.

DWB is that 11 hours straight or with feeds in the middle? I don't even get 4 straight at the moment! I might have to get that book this time, and not go just on website info like last time (although it did work great with DD anyway)

SirBoob 4/5 yr old girls normally love craft type things so colouring and play dough are great ideas. Girls tend to have better concentration and pen skills than boys at that age. Other favourites are dressing up and putting on a show - great for you as you can just suggest people to dress up as and watch! (obviously this would rely on her wearing your clothes!) A show is always a good one as she needs time to practice before putting on the show for you!

Ninja hope you feel brighter soon. Have you spoken to your HV/GP about it at all?

Easter is a big deal in our house as I go to church and take the dc's. Dh doesn't though so it's more just about the eggs for him

DWB don't put too much store by what they say in the books about the actual hours, all babies are different. Ioan roughly does 12 hours at night, with 3 feeds in there, and then 3 naps in the day lasting about 40 mins each. Some days are different though especially if he's woken early.

I have read through the pages, but now cannot remember who said what so I'll give a general reply-sorry!

teeth ds had his bottom two through first, followed by the top, which I believe is the most common but as someone else said, they are all different!

pt work I returned 2 days a week after ds, with him being in nursery for 3 days so that I could get all my marking and planning done and keep my weekend free. It worked out well. When I return this time and Anya goes into nursery, my wages will basically be paying for childcare and thats about it.

We had another great night with Anya in her cot. She only woke once at 3 for a feed then back to sleep and was woken by ds at 7. SO I would highly recommend getting babies into cots so they can stretch out their arms and legs. Anya spends alot of the night lifting her legs up and thumping them back onto the matress!

Oh and she rolled today !!! She did it while I was in the kitchen. I came back into the living room to be greeted with her looking up at me and grinning as if to say "look what I did mummy!" Obviously she did not repeat her magic trick while I sat there for the next 20 minutes watching!

TOK great news re Anya's sleeping. Is she still in your room, but in the cot? Well done for her on the rolling

pav not in one go. The book is actually pretty relaxed about night time feeds but our problem at the moment is daytime naps and bedtime. Once asleep at night, he sleeps well.

It actually says naps of 45m or less don't count because they only take the edge off their tiredness and when overtired in the evening, fight sleep. After a bath at half 7, Ethan is still awake. We definitely have the added factor of teething but this boy is tired... He needs to sleep. It was around half ten last night as well so it's not getting worse. Oh and he then went on to sleep til 6:15 so if that happens tonight I'll be reasonably happy!

DWB interesting the bit about the naps and fighting sleep. Ioan rarely will nap for longer than 40 mins, although when really tired he will, and the last week or so has been fighting going to sleep at night. It's starting to creep into daytime naps too. I wonder if this is part of the problem then?
How does it suggest you extend naps?

Don't know, haven't read that bit yet!!! Hang on...

Sorry I spoke too soon, screaming unhappy baby. DP just threw our bedroom door open to take Ethan a walk up and down the hall, the second time in 2.5 hrs he has taken a turn... The dads really are useless during the night.

I'll report back tmrw when things are calmer!

sirboob if weather is awful make cakes! my daughter loves helping in the kitchen and eating cakes..good luck!

sirBoob the worlds easiest fairy cakes:

Heat oven to 180degrees
Weigh 2 eggs in their shells
Whatever the weight of the eggs is use that same weight for each of the other main ingredients (butter, sugar and self raising flour)
Cream together the butter and sugar
Beat in the eggs
Add pinch of baking powder to the flour
Fold in the flour
Loosen with a splaxh of milk if needed
Divide mix between approx 12 cases
Bake for approx 15min

When cool decorate with icing made from icing sugar and water (food colouring if allowed) and top with Dolly Mix/smarties/jelly tots etc...

Or make chocolate crispy cakes (melt chocolate and golden syrup in a pan then mix with Rice crispies - like you didn't know) shape into nests and top with mini eggs for a festive feel.