Bumpkins & Babies Chat Thread

[Kaites]

Morning!

Happy Friday This week seems like it's lasted forever!!! Probably because we've been sick and a new baby started (lots of tears and trying to figure out his nap schedule). No special weekend plans here. I have some crocheting that I want to finish (geesh, I sound about 80 with that statement ) and hopefully hubby will have some special daddy-daughter time so I can get some me-time. Speaking of daddy-daughter stuff, Emma has learned to fake stuff with her dad- pretty funny, although I'm not sure I want to encourage it. She'll pretend to pick something off the floor (looks like she's picking up lint but there isn't anything in her hand) and pretend to put it in her mouth. Of course, hubby says something like "Emma, what are you eating?" and she starts to laugh. She's been doing that for about a week now and last night she started to do another similar thing, pretending that the cat is on the stairs to get hubby to look at the stairs- she points at them when the cat isn't there and says "TeeTee" (Beasty, our cat likes to watch us from the stairs), waiting for hubby to look over at the stairs and then she giggles. It's like she's learned how to manipulate Daddy

Colsy- no advice on the nap situation- it's frustrating isn't it? I now have the added frustration of 3 babies, who are pretty much all on different sleep schedules Emma and little boy#2 seem to be headed in a 1 nap a day direction but little boy#1 is still a 2 naps a day kinda kid. Emma is all over the place with her nap duration too (sounds a bit like Chloe). Glad to hear Monty enjoyed swimming!

Kte- I hope your assignments go well and you manage to lose the mental block Have a fun weekend, even if it does involve the in-laws

to those that need them!

 

[Kte]

Gosh its quiet in Bumpkin-ville this weekend.

Hope everyone is good busy.

The assingment isn't getting very far but I am hoping ot borrow a lap top from work next week so I can evening-cram. It's the only way I guess. This lap top wouldn't be great to use, plus getting it off Nij when he is in the house is near on impossible (usually he has done for the evening and I get it for 2 sec before he goes to bed or he is on a fag break).

Kaites: Hope you got your crochet done. I was planning to make hats and scalfes for people for Christmas this year but I have failed miserably, I can't even use / understand a loom kit designed for a 12 year old, it has taken me a year to make the hat and I ruined it taking it off the loom and the scalf, well the instructions just did not make sense! I am just useless at textiles! So plan B - I'm going to draw and paint and make cookies! I know I can do those things! Thats really cute how Emma has tricked your Hubby Chloe has Nij wrapped around her finger already, unfortunalty its when we are in shops, Daddy-Daughter day = Chloe coming home with new teddies and magazines Wish I had her spending powers over him!

 

[Kte]

Where are you ladies?

 

[Kaites]

I'm still here Didn't have a chance to post this AM before kiddies arrived. The new little guy arrives earlier than any of the others so I'm still working on getting organized earlier in the morning these days.

Kte- Hope you manage to get the laptop and finish the assignments. I was always a big time procrastinator, leaving everything to the last minute with uni- I can't imagine juggling a job and baby on top of that! The first crochet project is finished and now I'm finishing another one that I started ages ago. I have a bad habit of buying yarn when it goes on sale with a project in mind, but then never actually get around to working on it. I've been making wool diaper covers for nighttime (sounds bizarre I know, but wool is awesome once lanolinised- waterproof yet breathable so the pee evaporates and Emma wakes with a nearly dry diaper- her bum has never looked so good ).

Hope everyone is well

 

[colsy]

Sorry, I'm here, just didn't have time to chat today. OMG we have a grumpy baby today. Reckon he's got one or more molars poking their evil little way through his gums. He's also got a cold and a cough, although that's often due to the teething I think. He actually fell asleep on me twice today - hasn't done that in months. It was really lovely And to think how when he was young I'd want him to sleep in his cot rather than me so I could get jobs done Gosh, everyone tells you to make the most of it cos they're young for such a short time, but nobody ever takes that advice do they? I was thinking that I'd know better next time (not that I have any news or anything, I just meant one day!), but of course next time won't be anything like this, because then there'll be a baby and a bigger brother.

Anyway, enough from me as I need to go and make photobooks for grandparents' xmas presents.

Will try to catch up tomorrow.

xxx

 

[Kte]

Good to 'see' you ladies

Kaites: Hope your new routine settles down soon. Well done on completing your project! Good luck with the next one!

Colsy: I feel your pain with the molars! Chloe has two coming through on the bottom right now, last night was not pretty. They really are evil teethies! Nothing I did helped, I ended up bringing her into bed, putting her back in her own bed, bringing her into bed again. Nij left for work at 1.30 and after a few more rounds she managed to settle in with me, having a hug but taking over his now empty side. The snuggles are nice though I agree! Plus your right, its amazing how fast it does go but when people say it you just kind of shrug it off. Hope the present making went well Are you making up the photo books yourself or ordering online? I have a voucher for a Boots one I really should redeem!

I'm doing much better with the assignments thanks, I hope to have an almost complete 1st draft of one today to check over, then have 2 days to focus on the other one. I have an idea for what I am going to write about so hope it flows!

 

[florabean1981]

hey all, i'm here too, just been really busy combined with very unmotivated, lol. Harry's been a bit under the weather with a cold & cough, but seems to be over it now, then 3 days ago he cut his 7th tooth (yay) & 2 days ago, he finally got the courage to just go for it, so we now officially have a walking Harry!

Mum's visit went well, and she even bought me & nice blue cord blazer/jacket & got Harry another book too while she was here. At the weekend, OH bought a new leather 3 piece for the lounge coz our sofas are pretty ancient & skanky now, and Harry's making them even grubbier, so we figured leather was an easier option to keep clean, lol.

Got my dad coming to stay mid nextweek, to hopefully help me start wallpapering the hallways, since I am clueless! The rest of the house is pretty much done now, thankgod. Just the wallpapering & some glossing to do. Next, when the weather picks up again around Easter time, we'll start painting the outside of the house & planting some nice roses & such in the garden Tis never ending this house owning business, lol.

Got Harry's photos back last week too- they're gorgeous. I'll try taking a pic & posting it on here to show you all

Anyways, for those of you on my Facebook, there's a little video clip of Harry walking; definite proud mummy moment

How's everyone else doing???

 

[Kte]

Flora: I got some car seat leather cleaner spray from one of those 'everything is a £1' shops. Its great stuff, works a treat on the leather! We have a faux leather couch and yup, wipe clean is much easier for mucky baby prints!

Hurray for Harry's walking and 7th tooth!

Glad your Mum's stay was a good one and hope your Dad's stay is a good one too

Looking forward to the pics, off to peek and your vid then back onto assignments!!

 

[Kaites]

Good morning!

Well, looks like I have a walking Emma too- after months of the occasional step here and there, she walked clear across the living room yesterday, dolls in both hands, huge smile plastered across her face as if to say "yep, today's the day". She still wants to do some walking holding onto Mummy's hands but I think that is more of a ploy to get my undivided attention for a few minutes while the other babies are around since she was back to walking a bit in the evening without help.

Colsy- It does seem like they have grown up way too fast doesn't it? Hubby and I were having long discussions about when to ttc#2 this weekend and it made me thinwere talking about how far we've come from the colic stages and about how much different it'll be next time around- one kid for each parent kind of thing (no breaks, lol!). I love the stage we're at now but I guess the super-snuggly-tiny-baby phase passed way too fast. I hope the molars cut quickly for Monty wtg on doing photobooks too I've been meaning to do that for ages but have been procrastinating on that project too.

Kte- Glad to hear the assignment is coming together well I hope Chloe has a better night tonight too

Flora- WTG Harry!!! Sounds like the house is almost finished- well, as finished as they ever are I guess Glad to hear you had a nice visit with your mum also

Right, time to get outta my jammies! Kids arriving in 25 minutes At least the floor was mopped by 6:15 and has had time to dry

Hope everyone is having a good day

 

[colsy]

Couple of you mentioned the photobooks. If any of you are thinking of doing some with Photobox (I LOVE that website, and I don't say that very often!), let me know, as I can get both me and you some freebies by recommending you as a friend.

Monty still super grumpy. We went to parent and tot group this morning, which he enjoyed, but he screamed his head off in the Co-Op en route, and even in the bakery, which is unheard of (the bakery ladies all think he's never cried in his life, the way he usually behaves in there). Then we got home and he fell asleep in his with a mouthful of tomatoes on toast, so OH took him straight up to bed - fell immediately asleep without any tears at all. Can't decide whether it is teeth, or whether he actually has a bug of some kind. Still, either way, the poor little thing ain't himself at all. (He was also up at 5.45am today, so we have a tired household.)

 

[Kaites]

I hope Monty feels better soon

 

[colsy]

Thanks Kaites. He's not any better I'm afraid. He woke at 5.15am today (yawn, ), but he dozed on and off until 6.15am, at which point he made it quite clear that he wanted to get up. He is VERY tired, poor sweetheart, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. I don't think it is teeth now, as he isn't shoving things into his mouth any more than usual. And surely teething wouldn't make him tired and floppy would it - it would be more likely to make him grumpy and crying I would have thought. Anyway, I need to work today, so OH has got him. It is peeing it down here, and Monty clearly needed extra daytime sleep, so they've gone to the Trafford Centre, so that Monty sleeps in the car for an hour in both directions! OH never goes shopping, I can't believe he even thought about this idea. However, it should mean Monty gets some sleep, and he might be interested in having a look at the lights and whatever in the shops.

I am slightly nervous that perhaps they should have stayed at home, in case Monty gets any worse, but I guess he'd have got bored at home and sitting in his pram in the shops is not really any harder for him than sitting on the floor at home.

BTW, have I even mentioned that Monty has taken some steps? I can't remember what I've told you all? He's taking it very slowly, and so far the most he's done is eight at the weekend. Each day now he seems to do at least four in one go, but then he sits down again, exhausted!

For those of you whose babies are now walking properly, did you hold off shoe shopping until they were totally walking? Or did you buy in advance? I am just aware that they're soooo expensive so I don't want to buy until we absolutely need to. We don't wear shoes in the house anyway, so he would only be wearing them outside, and so far he has only done indoors steps.

Hope the rest of you are OK. You're all sooo quiet! Kte, how's the assignments going? What are they about?

 

[Kte]

Colsy: Hope Monty feels better soon Ive not come across tired and floppy with the teeth, only tired and clumst with a growth spurt more recently. Has he still got the sniffles you mentioned too? You would hope our Autumn babies would be a bit more immune to the colds and that going around but I guess that's just a crazy theory in my diluded brain lol

Ooo the trip to Trafford Centre as a distraction hopefully it means your OH is sneeking off get you a nice christmas present!

For my 2 assignment I have had to do one document with 4 case studies in (pretty much done hence my B&B break! ) and I have to finnish a report which is the second one. The topic is 'Education and the Law'. For the case studies I have done things on Data Protection, Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences, Hazardous waste disposal and International students visas. My main report is about personal internet usuage and work (she says as she is committing the offence right now!) All these are based within Higher Education. Sorry, I can't make it sound any more interesting

Shoes: I'm so stuck on this one, silly I know. I only put shoes on Chloe if she going outside but I am hitting a dilemma as some of the other walking babies at nursery have shoes on all the time now, in fact some are non-walking babies Chloe has these great rubber soled yet fabric type shoes that are great at the moment. The only other pair we bought her were some Hello Kitty sandles for the swimming pool when we went on holiday. We have been given some shoes but I kind of don't really want 2nd hand ones as I don't think they are good because they have been broken in by someone else. We were given some brand new shoes that I tried on Chloe today but her feet are already too big I was perusing some shops yesterday and there were shoes for £10 which is an improvment but still not great at the rate feet are going to grow! Part of me feels there is no need indoors but that is more at home, possible nursery but other parts of me feel like I'm so poor I can't afford to get my daughter proper shoes I know it's not the case really but it feels like that!

Congrats on Monty's steps too, I think you said OH had seen it and came and told you?

Oh well, its time and off to do report

 

[florabean1981]

Kte, I know some nurseries insist on the kids wearing shoes once walking confidently due to health & safety, in case they get stamped on or anything like that... I know when I worked for Social Services one summer, we had to ensure the residents all more shoes or slippers outside of their own rooms due to crappy H&S, lol- drove me insane trying to enforce that one!

Colsy, we bought Harry's shoes last week, once it seemed clear he was gonna be walking pretty imminently (sp? lol). They were £22 from Clarke's & they took a picture of him wearing them & stuck it on a card which had the date, his name & shoes size on, which was quite sweet. He's a 3F- I thought he'd be bigger than that, but apparently not. We've been given some little trainers for him in size 3 & OH's mum bought him a pair of size 5 trainers for the future too. He only wears shoes when we leave the house; I dont see the point inside.



Anyways, Harry seems to be ill again. He threw up the night before last out of nowhere, then crashed out on daddy's lap with a temperature He seemed ok again yesterday morning, so we went to toddler group as usual & got him weighed again (19lbs 12oz now) , but while we were there, he went downhill again, then when everyone was singing, he went over to the couch with a cuddly toy & curled up in a little ball & started crying. It was heartbreaking Then he puked again last night, but without any temperature this time luckily.... Then about 2 hours after that, he was totally hyper, but was refusing to eat/drink anything & then went to bed. He woke up (but self settled again) a few times in the night, and only ate half his brekkie thismorning & went down for his nap at 2pm without having any lunch... If he's still like it tomorrow, I'm gonna demand a Drs app for him.

WTG Emma for walking now too


For those who've been walking for a while, when do they stop the crazy wabving of arms in the air while looking a bit manic while they walk thing???!!!

 

[Kte]

Thankfully the baby room don't have that rule, or they havent said anything if they do! All the staff wear slippers, no shoes allowed on the carpet - which confuses me as why can the LO's wear shoes then?!? The next room up they have to wear shoes but that's all laminate anyways. Lol H&S! no offence but if you stand on a foot, slipper or not, your still going to feel it! . . . . wonder if they do baby shoes with steel toe caps in? Chloe is a 4-something! Barratts do some decent shoes I noticed the other day for around £10. I love some of the Clarks shoes but they are just a tad too expensive for out budget. I hate being so skint sometimes!

Aww really hope Harry feels better soon

Lol I love the little crazy walk, I can't remember is Chloe did stop but now she has figured out she can go a little faster so her arms are usually in the air - stopping is an issue and when I am kneeling on the floor she has a habbit of flying at me and grabbing my hair to stop

 

[colsy]

Harry seems to be ill again. He threw up the night before last out of nowhere, then crashed out on daddy's lap with a temperature He seemed ok again yesterday morning, so we went to toddler group as usual & got him weighed again (19lbs 12oz now) , but while we were there, he went downhill again, then when everyone was singing, he went over to the couch with a cuddly toy & curled up in a little ball & started crying. It was heartbreaking Then he puked again last night, but without any temperature this time luckily.... Then about 2 hours after that, he was totally hyper, but was refusing to eat/drink anything & then went to bed. He woke up (but self settled again) a few times in the night, and only ate half his brekkie thismorning & went down for his nap at 2pm without having any lunch... If he's still like it tomorrow, I'm gonna demand a Drs app for him.

This sounds exactly like Monty, except he hasn't been vomiting. Like Harry he's had peaks and troughs and just when you think he's getting better, he gets worse again. And he is soooo off his food, which is very unlike him. He's still drinking water, and still on 2 BFs a day, but his temp is up and down and he's doing a lot of curling into a ball and crying, followed by some mad hyper sessions. It's all a bit odd. We haven't been to the dr with it, as I'm pretty certain they'll say it's a viral infection that just needs to run its course, but it is that time of the week when I start to wonder whether we should go just in case, otherwise we have a potential weekend illness, when the GPs aren't working.

Also, I have now got the beginnings of a sore throat, so I wonder whether that's what Monty's got, and he's given it to me.

Right, need to go to shops for milk to finish off the rice pud and then put a choc cake (new recipe) in the oven.

 

[Kaites]

Happy Friday ladies!!

This week feels like it has dragged on forever!!! Work has been a bit busy this week- the family that I don't really like very much are going to be leaving at the end of November (yayyy!) so I had someone come around yesterday to check the place out (of course, the kid who is leaving was being totally obnoxious, probably leaving a bad impression of the daycare- grr...) and today I have a playdate with one of the kids who is starting in January. Emma and I are finally getting over our colds (I still feel a bit weird, but I'll get to that in a bit...).

Colsy- I hope you and Monty feel better Re shoes, I only started putting them on Emma everytime we went out when I started the daycare because the other kids always had shoes on (and they started walking before Emma). One of the big chain grocery stores here does a good line of kids shoes for cheap so we just bought some trainers for $12 (I've noticed all the other daycare parents have bought the same brand for their kids too- must be popular!). When she's doing more real walking, I'll probably invest in a better pair of shoes for her- her feet have been the same size for ages now so I'm wondering how when she'll move up to the next size (I don't want to buy them too soon beccause of that). Emma has worn the finish off the toes of her shoes from crawling around on the ground though

Flora- I hope Harry feels better soon too Emma's never done the arm flapping walk- sounds cute Emma is a slow and steady type atm- she always has a doll or two in her arms so maybe that has something to do with it? (she's turning into a real girly girl despite hanging out with all boys, lol)

Here's a question for you lovely ladies (esp the BFing ones) ... When your first af arrived after baby, did you have any warning? AF is still awol for me but I'm starting to get a bit antsy about the whole thing. Either AF is on the way or I'm in a 2ww situation here - something's up with my body though. Hopefully it's just af since hubby and I just finished having long convos last weekend about when to ttc and now was not the mutually decided upon timeline, lol It's been a nice long run- 2yrs in december- but I'm really ready to know when an egg is about to drop by so we can plan accordingly...

 

[Kte]

Kaites: Hope you managed a secret dig the obnoxious kid like, 'Oh i'm going to miss you once you leave' so they know the kid won't be around! I'm sure they realised it was the kid and not you AF wise, sorry I can't really help, mine has been jiggered ever since as my cycle has moved. I was never really sure when my 1st AF was becasuse I was bleeding for just over 9 weeks, I remember as I though "great, well that's the last 9 months I missed out now caugh up on" Plus my GP though I had already had it because the bleeding subsided but then started again but just carried on. I really hope eitehr way your happy with the outcome

Flora: Hope Harry is on the mend

Colsy: Hope you and Monty are on the mend too

Best get back to the assignment, had some technical errors yesterday so am behind!

 

[Kaites]

lol, yeah turns out the woman was the sil of bratty kid's teacher so I'm sure his teacher will have a few stories to share with her Thanks for the reply too- I think after being pg once, it's a little too easy to symptom spot, driving me crazy since it's too early to test. Of course, it also sounds like screwy cycles are common too so who knows what's going on in my body

I hope your technical difficulties haven't set you back too far

So anyone have weekend plans? I think my parents are going to babysit Emma so hubby and I can go out on a "date" tomorrow- last time we did that was Valentine's Day so it's looooonnnng overdue!

 

[Kte]

Once you spot one it seems to get worse (spotting more and more) until you know either way! Hope you don't drive yourself too mad!

Hope you enjoy your date, any idea or you letting hubby treat you?

I was having 'fun' with files not opening etc but I can finally put my feet up and say THEY ARE DONE!

Plans for the weekend are fun time with Chloe, cleaning lol the Inlaws on Sun . . . . but tomorrow I'm excited because I finally am getting my hair cut!!

Have a good weekend all