April Munchkins 2013- enjoying our wonderful babies!

[ukgirl23]

see this is the thing, after the whole crazy MIL thing I don't like getting baby presents because I feel like other people are taking over, I know that sounds insane and I know myself it's irrational too but it's just the way I feel after everything with my previous marriage. So I was going to tell people not to bring gifts anyway. I was going to have a few games to play, and maybe a baby cake and some baby shower balloons so maybe I should foot the bill I'm just now trying to figure how much 10 people at pizza hut are going to cost me :/ I have legal bills to pay this month too

 

[doggylover]

Honestly, if you say to people "no gifts, just a nice dinner for us all and I'll bring the yummy cake!" Then I think it's more than reasonable to expect they would pay. If I was invited, I wouldn't feel comfortable for you to pay for my dinner just because I show up.

Readytomum at your cat! He'd better get used to loud, screaming noises soon! Funny I hadn't even thought about our cat and the baby. Our cat is such a weirdo, he never comes in to cuddle anymore, just comes for his food then leaves again!

I missed the 16 kids show, I might watch it online now just to experience her craziness Am I right in saying that the American family with 20 kids, all the kids names start with the same letter?

 

[Mommabrown]

Had to share a photo of me and Laurynn! She is so ready to meet her baby sister!


Doggylover yes they all start with a J! Personally i am not one to keep patterns or same letter names going.


I have been thinking about a baby shower but i don't want to ask anyone if they are going to throw me one so i have just left it up in the air.

 

[ReadytoMum]

Honestly, if you say to people "no gifts, just a nice dinner for us all and I'll bring the yummy cake!" Then I think it's more than reasonable to expect they would pay. If I was invited, I wouldn't feel comfortable for you to pay for my dinner just because I show up.

Readytomum at your cat! He'd better get used to loud, screaming noises soon! Funny I hadn't even thought about our cat and the baby. Our cat is such a weirdo, he never comes in to cuddle anymore, just comes for his food then leaves again!

I missed the 16 kids show, I might watch it online now just to experience her craziness Am I right in saying that the American family with 20 kids, all the kids names start with the same letter?

Yeah the poor guy has got a big shock coming! lol That's why it was good he got his first taste of baby last night. Start getting him ready. He's a cuddle whore, so he's always desperate for attention. I think he'll be ok with baby wanting to pet him, but the noise will certainly be an adjustment for him!

Yes all the kinds in "20 and Counting" have the same first letter... I think it's J? I watched a few episodes a few years ago. Can't believe that show is still on the air. Bunch of nut-jobs if you ask me....

 

[nimbec]

Kealz that really made me LOL!!

Ukgirl I agree with the others...I'm undecided what to do as I live quite a way from friends so I'm thinking its unfair to expect them to come to me? So maybe I should travel to them and meet up somewhere maybe Pizza Hut?! Or a coffee shop....maybe cheaper if I have to foot the bill...grrr and I know this sounds really silly but I have an irrational fear that nobody will turn up

 

[kirstabelle]

On the Duggar thing, because there are so many kids the older siblings get assigned a younger sibling to help each day to dress and get breakfast and help with homework etc. Obviously this is just my opinion and people can do what they want, but I think it is wrong to have so many children that you expect older siblings to take on parental responsibilities. That's not really the role of an older sibling and I think its an unfair expectation. Obviously older kids will help out with younger kids in any size family, you know helping them with little things and keeping a eye on them if you are not around etc. But I think its not appropriate to actually have an expectation that daily parenting responsibilities will be taken on by your other kids when deciding to have more children. Just my two cents!

 

[ooSweetPea]

Honestly, if you say to people "no gifts, just a nice dinner for us all and I'll bring the yummy cake!" Then I think it's more than reasonable to expect they would pay. If I was invited, I wouldn't feel comfortable for you to pay for my dinner just because I show up.

My thoughts exactly! Especially if you say it's just a get together there is no reason for people not to pay for themselves and if you are bringing a cake I think that is plenty for you to be doing sweets.

 

[doggylover]

Nimbec, I live with the fear that if I invite people to something nobody will show up too. My mum said I've been that way since I was little and used to wait in the driveway on my birthday to make sure if people drove down the street they didn't miss our house and just leave and still now I always feel that way when I invite people round.

Kirstabelle totally agree about that family, it's not fair to ask older kids to look after younger ones in that way. If you decide to have 20 kids, you need to make sure you look after them!

And as for all their names beginning with a J... I bet some of the names they don't even like, they just chose to keep in with the theme. Ridiculous.

Mmmm some more of my cloth nappies arrived today. Itti bittis. They are SO SOFT I just want to snuggle them all day long!

 

[kirstabelle]

Honestly, if you say to people "no gifts, just a nice dinner for us all and I'll bring the yummy cake!" Then I think it's more than reasonable to expect they would pay. If I was invited, I wouldn't feel comfortable for you to pay for my dinner just because I show up.

My thoughts exactly! Especially if you say it's just a get together there is no reason for people not to pay for themselves and if you are bringing a cake I think that is plenty for you to be doing sweets.

Yep, I agree with this as well. Especially as you are saying "no gifts" I think that is a perfectly reasonable and lovely idea.

 

[kirstabelle]

Doggy, yes I thought the newborn rental idea was great! I did the math and figured out that even if I buy a stash of newborn dipes and use them for two children, that will still be more expensive than renting the diapers twice. It would also be a good way for someone who wasn't sure they would manage cloth diapering as you could rent the diapers, try it, and if you decide you hate it you may still have saved money over disposables (the rental ends up being $60 a month) or you will only have lost a small amount of money over buying your own dipes. And if you decide you like it you have two months of the rental to gather your own stash of bigger diapers. No loss really.

ETA Yay for getting diapers in the mail today too! I LOVE getting diaper mail. It is my favourite!

 

[doggylover]

$60 a month is a great price! I don't know how expensive the diapers are with you, but the ones I had looked at were all between £8 and £12, and to get enough to do a day (say 10-12) that would be about £120...and I'd probably need more than 12 and only use them for around a month until my monster baby grows out of them, so if they did that here I'd be all for it!

 

[ukgirl23]

thanks everyone! I'm thinking in a cafe or pub and bring my own food like little sandwiches and shit. LOL.

 

[ukgirl23]

doggylover I have no idea where to start with nappies? where are you buying yours from and how much do they cost? xx

 

[ReadytoMum]

thanks everyone! I'm thinking in a cafe or pub and bring my own food like little sandwiches and shit. LOL.

I'm doing something like that for my local baby shower with friends. My mom is holding a big shower in Windsor for all our family at a restaurant with dinner supplied etc. But I wanted to do something small and fun for my friends here in Toronto as well. So my sister has offered to host it at her house and we've decided to make it co-ed. So we'll have about 10 people over, and have little finger munchies, play some games and have fun! Over Christmas and NY when they had all the big sales on frozen appetizer stuff I bought a few boxes and tossed them in my freezer. So we'll heat those up, maybe do some sandwich fingers, and have a cake. Nothing too fancy or formal, and DH will end off the gathering by giving us a dramatic reading of "Go the F*ck To Sleep." I don't know if that book is as popular over in the UK as it is here... but oh my goodness it's hilarious.

 

[doggylover]

Ive been looking online a pile and decided that while ill get a couple of different bits, fitteds and wraps will be the main port of call for newborn/first few months, as everyone says they are most reliable. I also plan on getting some prefolds to use with my wraps and shells, and then try out some cheap pockets when baby is bigger. I've looked at loads of websites:

Clean green nappy machine
Kingdom of fluff
Millie's nappies
Fill your pants
Kittykins
Twinkle on the web
Baby bots
Lizzie's real nappies
As well as brand own websites.


So far I have:

Nappies
2 itti bitti all in ones (from itti bitti website, got on sale so £10 for both)
2 itti bitti snap in ones (as above)
4 little lamb fitted size 1s (little lamb website, on sale £20 for 4)
10 bamboo little lamb fitted size 1s (little lamb website, on sale so £60 for 10)
30 bamboo tots bots bamboozle fitted in size 1 and 2 (preloved on eBay, £80. Also got 5 wraps, lots of inserts and 20 reusable wipes)

Wraps for fitted
2 rumparooz (fill you pants website, £8 each)
1 grovia shell (fill your pants. £12.50)
1 happy heinys (fill your pants, £7.80)
1 blueberry mini (Millie's nappies website, can't remember price!)
1 tots bots (Kittykins website, £11)
1 thirsties (kittykins, £9)

So I've spent around £230 and as far as I can tell, that will do us for at least 6 months unless my baby is huge, or one of the systems doesn't work for us.

 

[ukgirl23]

Go the fuck to sleep had me and Aaron i stitches its so true haha.. I might have mine in my house yet and send Aaron out with the kids to softplay cinema or out for food. its only 2 hours so not a huge deal. we have a shop here called iceland which sell those party boxes for a pound each. So I will probably get some of those.

Doggylover you have quite a stash of nappies there!!! I just cant seem to get started they are so expensive! And Im picky I guess I will have to just do it. but Im wondering if I should stat CDing from 1 month onwards when baby is not pooing as much haha.

Well nesting is officially kicking in I was up at 9 ON A SUNDAY!!!! To clear a book shelf haha... oh help!

 

[doggylover]

Oh honestly compared to what some people have, I have hardly any cloth! And the bulk of mine is preloved, which is great as it was much cheaper.

If you don't mind buying some preloved look on clothnappytree.com or on the forum on here and you can get some good deals. The wraps I got in my preloved bundle aren't very good, but the nappies are still soft (and no stains!) and lots of liners etc as well which is great.

I love Iceland party food. One of my favourite things about Christmas is going to wee parties and having that!

 

[ukgirl23]

I looked on ebay but I didn't like some of them, I don't mind preloved, actually I prefer them as all the prep has already been done. I will check out that website. I'm only after all in 2s.

Sometimes when I cba to cook i bung loads of those party foods in the oven and tell the kids we're having a party... shhhh bad mummy!!

 

[doggylover]

Hahaha that's amazing! I will remember that trick for the future - both not having to cook AND getting party food would mean I'm likely to do it all too often!

I only have my itti bitti all in2 for now, but love it so much. They just seem to make the most sense to me, so I'm planning on using them heavily in future as well.

 

[Jenny_J]

Hiya ladies....how are you all this afternoon?

I cannot find a cot bumper or set that I like

I want something not brightly coloured or covered in patterns, and that isn't like 50 quid. Arrrrrrggggggggggggggggg.