Fab and Forty, Blooming, Popping, Popped or working on it .... join us

[BonzoDoodah]

Hi All
If you're over "that age" and want to chat to similar mums - join us here for gossip, slander, oggling, dieting, cake, chocolate and more ... get on here and join in hte gossip .. we don't hang round ...

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make a baby transfer some of their sleep from daytime naps to night time? Today for example, E woke up at 5.45 am (having woken me up twice during the night grumbling and crying in her sleep), but then slept 90 minutes at 8.45, and three hours(!) after lunch - it's usually 2 to 2.5 hours. She went to bed at 7 pm as usual no problem.

I've tried making her naps shorter but she just gets cranky and struggles to make it to bath time. I'm guessing I have to do something to help train her not to wake up so early but what?

I want to sort this out for both our sakes. She's still tired when she wakes up so I'm sure would do better on an extra hour, and I'm not looking forward to the 5.45 starts if the nausea progresses the way it did when I was pregnant with her.

Cor - first sit down of the day!
Iris asked for a potty at nursery....apparently it was messy And of course - i'd not warned them about her burgeoning interest in everything pee/poo related! Oh and the bok "I Want My Potty" arrived today - I LOVE it - thanks girls for the top tip Sadly another book (costing ££$$) arrived for me to help Iris with her talking - have waited 8 weeks for it to come from San Fransico....and guess what....?? It's in bloody Hebrew Almost ironic as it's called "It takes two to talk"

mrsJ That's really nice news about you having a new friend. You have a Middle Eastern background? WOW - I bet you can rustle up some fabulous food You really are very exotic - I'm !!! As for sleeping - gosh, I've decided it's pot luck and tough love. Iris is 2.7yrs - could sleep on a clothes line....but recently she's wanted to go to bed later and later Verity though.....grrrrrrr....I've NO idea what to do...such a similar time-keeper to E by the sounds of it. I've made blackout curtains - opened windows...you name it....nah! 5.45 - 6am EVERY day regardless of when she went to bed. I've taken to leaving her to cry a bit and occasionally she goes back for an hour.

tee excellent progress - keep us posted. Sunday would be a superb day for him to come home

ermintrude I shan't ask. Mind you I'd rather give birth than listen to Jarvis Cocker! Oh and Eddie Mair...yep, he's no looker and being gay you'd think he's be all thin and toned like pixie-faced Evan Davies!

Oooo, wailing from upstairs - back later.

A book in Hebrew? Eh?

Sorry just skimmed the posts as today has been hectic and I feel I'm keeping the hours of a taxi driver as that's all I've done all day, drive people about.

Anyway, back home now and just gone to get my bag and heard a thud and a wail and came back to find that K has scaled the Galt ring and was lying on the floor next to it. So, the Galt ring will not be required for much longer She's managing to move around on her back by shuffling her knees up. Think caterpillar movement. Eyes in back of head now.

tee any word on when he's coming out? I guess you're tied up at the hospital feeding LO now.

No ermintrude I see so she's probably giving birth in the living room Btw I love Jarvis Cocker too. I've always favoured that look on a man. Very nice.

The Yank did a pen drawing of two of the older children. It's fab! He draws for CNN at home. He does those sketchy court pictures. I'm really impressed with his skills. Now I need a frame..........

Oh yeah, got K's MMR appointment today; 1st July. Just gonna get it over and done with then it's all over until she's 3.5

I am heading into the hospital to room in with Adam for at least one night before he comes home on Sunday. We are trying to get him to breast feed and having no luck.

He is latching fine but just isn't getting enough when he sucks, so he gets frustrated, I get frustrated and its doing neither of us any good.

I have tried everything to get my milk to come in, so please, no old wives tales or nudges on how to bring it in. I am hoping it will come in over the next two nights and if it doesn't? I'll deal and feed my son on formula.

JJ lol @ the Hebrew book . How did you manage to order that without noticing? I'm quite relieved that I fancy a man you don't - was beginning to think we were clones in that regard. And I don't mean Eddie Mair, although I didn't know he was gay and checking it out gave me a happy 10 mins spent on 'outing R4 presenters' type website [whmm].

MrsJ can I come to dinner at your house please?

Bonzo another John Lewis fan here. If they offered the never-never I'd only ever buy from them, but sometimes interest-free credit has forced us to look elsewhere .

JW I too am fond of the tall skinny geography teacher fop look that Jarvis carries off so well, in a way that only he could. Not too keen on the beard on this album cover, but I'll forgive him. It's his voice, really, and his lyrics, and his accent and his attitude. Sigh.

Being good at drawing and working for CNN! Is there no end to this Yank's charms?

Tee there are no tricks to get milk to come in except have baby suckle constantly - that's how the message gets through. Hope he gets the latch and that you can have some relaxed time with him - not easy in hospital, but knowing he'll be home with you very soon should help .

tee don't stress about it. Give it a good go when you're there with him. You might relax a bit more when you've got a bit of privacy too. Like ermintrude says, the only thing that will get your milk going is having baby at the breast. It'll come And if it doesn't, then you can bottle feed him. Not the end of the world. Honestly!

Have a nice time rooming in and spending some family time together.

ermintrude yes, it is the geography teacher look I go for! Alas DH was a maths teacher which explains a lot

I'm a JL fan too...and they're having a sale. wooohooooo!

I'm quickly seeing The Yank as SiL material.

Evening ladies. When I left you earlier due to wailing...I found Iris in her room - COVERED, COVERED in factor 50 sun cream. No idea how or when she got hold of the bottle but it was EVERYWHERE She'd fallen asleep while creaming everything in sight - her soft toys, her douvet, her rug ..... herself! Her teddies looked like they were off to swim the channel, covered in goose fat So it's been a bit of a mare on the cleaning today. Oh, her hair still looks weird.

tee It is so hard when you're not with them and they're being tube / bottle fed. Boobie milk is hard work and it takes a good three days of constant sucking just to get the milk established properly and that's when you've got them 24/7. My milk never 'came in' with Iris - she never really 'got it'! I managed small amounts for around 5 mths then through sheer exhaustion I gave in! Wished I'd done it sooner. You go with what's good for you - best advice I've got - is ENJOY him

jw wow - K is really starting to escape! Verity is now honing her bum-shuffle and can whizz round the floor til she gets to the rug where the friction thwarts her progress!!

How fab of your (poss) future SIL to do a drawing on the (big) kids...brill...hold onto it....he may be like Rolf Harris!

I am so tired....can't see me lasting more than an hour ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just pmsl at Iris and the sun cream! Sorry. Probably wasn't funny for you but the mental image was for me I expect I have this all to come. I remember my boys when they were little getting hold of a tub of bright red powder paints, mixing it in the bathroom sink and painting our bedroom wall You'll look back in years and laugh. Ha. Ha. Ha, bloody, ha.

Yes, K has turned into Houdini. Pulled a plant over today. Marvellous. Her hands are outstretched when you're carrying her, ready to grip onto anything in her path. She's also developed a range of different voices for the 3 words she knows. She's quite scary when she does this growly version of dada...like something from The Exorcist

Wonder how tee is getting on? DH wasn't with me to room in. He had to look after DSS but don't think the bed was big enough for both of us anyway. I expect tee will have DH with her though. Hope she's training him up tonight

morning all

just a brief pop in to say hi as I've been possessed by the mad nesting bug and have to do a load of cleaning/baking/washing/ironing today and get everything sorted for this LO to arrive. I've a big list and it's got to be done today All lurgey's throughly removed from the household now (thanks for all your get well wishes ) and we're firing on all cylinders - Woohoo!

ermintrude - summer solstice 0145 tomorrow. I will say no more

jj - Oh nooo! factor 50!! that's got to have been a pig to get off! what a bummer about the Hebrew book too!

Tee - hope you had a good night with Adam and the feeding. As everyone else has said, a few days of constant nursing and he'll get the hang of having to work for it rather than the ease of a bottle! And don't forget to drink plenty of water to keep your milk supply up!

jw - hope K's jab went ok - she's really coming on in leaps at the mo isn't she

mrsj - think I missed something was it because of where you live that you got kicked off MN?

wonderwitch - hope you're keeping ok and the stress has gone down a bit

Hope everyone else has a good day - have to rush, first load of washing done and need to cook some breakfast (.....we need a manic nestingfest emoticon methinks )

iris. Your post made me exhausted just reading through it! Have a great time cleaning/washing/baking etc. After baby is born you'll turn into a slattern like the rest of us popped ladies on here

K's not had her MMR yet iris. I got the appointment through y'day for 1st July. If I wrote 'JUNE' in error, then I apologise for the confusion. I'm told that the MMR goes in one leg and the booster for the other goes in the t'other leg. I'm taking a wild guess here but I think that her ladyship will be most unimpressed by this course of action.

We have rain here again today. I think we were promised praps 5 minutes sunshine over the weekend so it's yet to arrive.

No plans to do anything with the LOs today although I'm going to have to talk DH into taking us all out somewhere.

I'm having the full set + 1 yank over tomorrow to sunday lunch so I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll be busy. As he wants to experience all things english (so far he's had fish and chips and that's about it), I'm thinking of doing a trifle for tomorrow. I have a feeling that americans don't have custard over there but may be wrong. I know they certainly don't have trifle (remember Friends where she made half trifle and half shepherds pie cos the pages got stuck together?) I could do a bread and butter pudding too as my lot absolutely adore it. I just hope this poor chap isn't perplexed by the yorkshire pudding build up he's been given by my kids .........and left wondering why we eat bits of leftover batter, call it a pudding, and pour gravy all over it!

tee hope you've had a good night with Adam and he's sucked you dry! Well, he's a growing lad afterall I'm sure that you'll get into the swing of things and at least you should have some help on hand while you're still in there - that's what rooming in is for Tomorrow will be a fab homecoming day for you and the family. Enjoy it, take lots of pics for us to coo over and don't forget to put your feet up when he's asleep - Adam that is, not DH

morning all! father's day 2moro, no idea of present

JJ F50 suncream must have been a bugger to remove from child and furnishing - it's like zinc and castor oil!

Iris there's plenty to do here if you've energy remaining - I did mop the floors yesterday which produced backache mostly.

Today is my due date by LMP (they moved it 3 days earlier cos of scan) so am I bovvered? DH is on standby for conjugal rights since he's been winding down with work in preparation for paternity leave and so there's only boring stuff left and he doesn't want to go to work on Monday .

JW Yanks eat their fried batter with bacon and maple syrup; a bit of gravy won't phase him. What meat are you doing? I fancy a roast tomorrow - if I bother defrosting my Waitrose organic chicken (which must be about the same price per kilo as swan) then surely I'd go into labour, on account of sod's law?

heron I waddled to the local shops, one of which is a kind of kitchenware and knick-knack place with a Thornton's concession (why are they always in those funny little shops?). He's getting a chocolate footie boot and tee-shirt iced with Best Dad or something, for a fiver. Meanwhile, his as yet unborn youngest child has bought him series 2 of The Wire. . So he should count himself lucky, because all that waddling was exhausting.

I mean a bit of gravy won't FAZE him. Doh!

ermin sounds like good pressies for your DH. and the waddling should count for a lot! top effort.

my LO is 5.5 months old and i am seriously thinking of giving up bfeeding. how do i decide when to give up?

heron are you weaning LO onto solids at 6 months? That's often when reducing b/feeding gradually can make sense, although you'll still need to make a transition to formula from a bottle or cup until baby is 12 months and can have cow's milk.

Once they start eating some food you'll find yourself b/feeding less anyway and so if the reason you want to stop is because you feel you're doing it too much, that will reduce on its own. I b/fed mine till 22 months and 18 months, at which point they were the ones who initiated the change, so I have no experience of getting a 6 month old off the boob but sure others can advise.

ermin wow you did so well bfeeding for so long. i dont think i can do it for that long.
yes am planning on introducing babyrice at 6 mmonths

ermintrude I'm doing roast beef with the other stuff. I'm sure he's used to gravy, just not having it on batter

I'm making a good old english trifle today and I've been and bought all the ingredients. Not made one for years. DH and DSS won't eat it (no surprise there) and I'm also debating doing a bread and butter pudding with or without custard. DH is taking himself off to Slattery's and buying himself a good old english black forrest gateau or something of that ilk.

For Father's day I have bought a stand by mug with DAD on it (bit fancier with details too) just in case I didn't make it to the shops or buy anything online in time. Well, I did manage to get him something else in the form of a professional dart board and some darts. It came this morning so I'm going to wrap it and make a tag along with finishing off his card.

It's bleedin' hard work being a mum. I bet the men folk never go to these lengths for us women on Mother's Day

I wonder if mrsb is lost underneath an avalanche of ironing?

You gonna have this baby today then ermintrude?

heron good luck with the weaning

ermintrude I am in awe- 22 months wow! I am going to try for 3 months and see how it goes as last time I just couldn't keep up and had to top up with formula.

Hello all. Not had a moment to stop by....that bloody sun cream...WHAH!!!! All Iris's teddies have been through the wash but they look awful...and feel like they've got a film over them. They're now in a vinegar wash with a load of nappies!

Then Iris fell all the way down the stairs(steep and uncarpeted) this morning - it was horrible - but bound to happen one day.

erm get that chicken out...you can always have it cold once the LO is born!

heron I think it's a cross between personal choice and baby's demands. Verity didn't want solids till 8 mnths and I almost gave up then as I was so tired. But now at 12 mnths she's pretty much weaned herself off. She has one feed (sometimes)in the morning and one at night - but she's not really that interested...huzzah! I thought it was going to be hard as she was SO breast fixated but she lost interest really suddenly.

DP is getting Mistry of Sound Chilled Vol 2 for Father's Day...and a Ben Stiller movie (Night at the Museum) as it was on offer for £2 at the till in HMV! I'm going to say that the DVD came from the cat! Then we're off to the Marlow Rowing Regatta tomorrow..where the girls sponsor two races....it's DP's local club...and Sir Steve (not very interesting) Redgrave....but who's he in comparison to Iris and Verity eh?! Oh he's getting profiteroles as well,,,,he's VERY partial to them!

Hope tee had a lovley night
iris enjoy nesting
Off to see friends in Oxford - pop by later x

Meant to say jw your DH and DSS won't eat triffle I'd have thought that would haved totally been up their boulevard! Hope you go out somewhere!

BTW I mean't DO is getting profileroles....not Steve Redgrave. Not getting him profiteroles...he can get his bloody own!!

I was puzzled for a minute there JJ. Expected an announcement that Sir Steve is in fact the baby(s) daddy in the style of Jezza Kyle. Lovely profiteroles. I feel the weight springing back on just saying the name of them Ministry of Sound choice is a good one.

Nope, they won't eat trifle. No idea why. It's because, I think, there are more than 2 foods touching and combined. Yes, this is No.1, Odd House, Weirdville.

I've been to the supermarket today and that's about it. We're holed up inside away from the rain. DH is watching F1, DSS is glued to his XBox (sigh) and I've just finished off the card. Now I'm gonna try and hide in a cupboard where baby screams cannot penetrate.....

AHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's across the room in his grandmother's arms. He's home...