***Lion Cub Mommies-Back In Action!***

[Mary Jo]

haha, Shiv, your usual days sound rather like mine... today is a typical example - Adam woke about 7am (in our bed) but that was too early for me so I let him watch some stuff on my iphone till after 8am (oops). then we got up and he had breakfast and milk, and then he played till 10am, when I got him upstairs to change his nappy and he went back to bed (his own cot). I joined him about 11.30am and we both slept till about 1.30pm, when he joined me (by vaulting over the cotside). we stayed in bed till after 2pm, then got up and made lunch, and then finally got dressed. went out to doc's appt for 4.20pm, home about 5.30pm and then Adam played with daddy while I made dinner, which was about 7pm. Adam went to bed at 8.30pm.

if we have to go out, I have to make a mammoth effort! I just feel so lazy/tired. fortunately Adam seems to be ok playing in the flat. if we do go out it tends to be after lunch unless we have a morning appt. I sometimes plan to go out in the morning for shopping etc because it's easier to get home on the bus earlier in the day (if I leave it till we're coming home after 4pm we can't even get on the bus) but I am very loathe to mess with Adam's naps. they're just so reliable and I am really relying on them myself for a break/nap.

really hope we've moved house by the time new baby arrives, just so at least Adam has a garden to play in. plus a much bigger house. it's a very small house but compared to my 1-bed flat it's massive.

 

[jelr]

So glad the playdate went well Shiv, I was checking in during the day on my phone to see how it went but only got a chance to get on now, I really hope you make some new friends from it

MJ: I hope the gaviscon helps, I also found peppermint cordial used to help me a little when I was pregnant. I also have suffered from ulcers and was on nexium, but thankfully I had the helicobacter treatment and that helped loads and it really hasn't bothered me too much since I came off all the anti-inflamatory tablets for my arthritis before I had Natasha.

Spidey: FX for that lovely long lutual phase this time, typical that Kira wouldn't play ball for the camera I also find it really hard to get as many photos or videos now as she just wants to see the pictures or videos so just runs after me saying see see.

Cleck: OMG I can't believe it is only a week away from Corey being home. I would love to be a fly on the wall when you guys meet. I would say it would make me cry and be like a romantic movie, (although when I say I would love to see when you guys meet, I dont mean when Corey is rediscovering you )

Now that is a great challenge Shiv, you guys can have a competition to see who meets a friend first and I can be the judge

I told you all - my positive vibes are going to work and you will all meet some lovely friends soon I just know it.

Not much news from me, Natasha is still being fussy with her food, but mainly at dinner time and she does seem to be getting tired around the same time as we usually dont have dinner until 6 as she sleeps from 12 until about 2 so her lunch is usually quite late - So I'm going to try and give her lunch before she sleep tomorrow when I'm off - I know she wont be hungry enough for it as she usually doesn't have breakfast until 9.30 to 10 depending on when she wakes but even if she eats a bit to keep her going and then I will give her dinner around 5 as I would prefer if she was eating her dinner better than her lunch if that makes sense as it has more of the different food groups that she needs.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble getting out of the house early with a toddler, It takes me so long to get Natasha and myself ready as I'm not a morning person at all and am always on the go slow first thing - Thank God my mam minds her when I'm working and comes over here to collect her as she is usually still asleep or has just woken and I have only started to dress her. If I had to get her out to a creche or to a childminder I would seriously be late every day

Natasha also has a fake cry but I think it is really cute because when she does it I have to go over and give her a cuddle and she grins from ear to ear and it has turned into a little game now.

Well I'm heading shopping with my mam and sister at the weekend for us to get something to wear for the wedding so I'm looking forward to that. I'm off tomorrow so am going to have a lazy day with Natasha. I got lovely hand crafted cards done up for Fathers day with loads of photos of DH and Natasha and I'm going to steal your idea Spidey and get Natasha to put her handprints on them so we might do some painting tomorrow.

 

[spidey]

jelr- ahh, you reminded me that I need to come up with something cute for father's day!

Kira is really easy to get up and get out in the morning. She usually wakes up at 7am and she's not interested in breakfast until 10am, so I can pack a snack cup of cereal for our trip. She prefers to get an hours worth of cuddles in the morning, but she'll gladly get out of bed right away too.

Shiv, a month deadline to make a mommy friend is not very long!!! I'll search the internet tomorrow to see what else I can find so I can at least attempt to meet someone. There's a girl I was friends with in high school who adopted a little boy who is 6 months older than Kira... so I suppose I could ask her to visit for a playdate. It's not technically cheating since I haven't seen her in 12 years (since we graduated) and we have only spoken on FB. She works fulltime and is split from her husband so it might hard since I think the father has custody on the weekends. Blah- this isn't going to be easy

 

[Shiv]

The girl whose husband left her, just friended me on facebook, I must not be too awful after all (although i get the impression she is just as desperate for friends as I am )

We are going to try Sophia with a duvet and pillow tonight (instead of a sleeping bag) - wish us luck! The plan is get her used to that for a week or so, then take the side off of her cot, and then move her into her new room and her big bed (which we are hoping to buy on Sunday) - although there is every chance come tomorrow night she'll beback in her sleeping bag

 

[cleckner04]

at your mommy friend competition. I'll need to find more mommy friends once I move back home too. A lot of my friends are still childless so it'd be nice to meet more people.

Weigh in this morning. I lost 0.6 lbs this week. I can't complain because it's still a loss and I'm at my lowest yet at 193 lbs even. So I've lost 47 lbs so far. I have been speaking with DH the past few days while they are in port and we've both agreed that I'll get back onto the weightloss track more once he's back. He said he would take Emma so I can exercise in the evenings and we plan on walking every night so hopefully I can get back into that routine. I know I'm not doing that great the past few weeks. But I haven't gained and that is enough to be positive about.

 

[Shiv]

Cleck - it must be good to know that you can have not great weeks in terms of food and exercise and not gain back though. Well done. I do remember you saying that you go out to eat a lot when Corey is home, so be careful not ot fall in that trap too often!

 

[cleckner04]

Yeah that is why I got so big in the first place from eating out. I've explained to DH a few times that things are changing around here. All I can do is hope that he follows through with his promises. Although I asked him what he wants to do when I pick him up and he said he wants to eat at burger king. It makes me so mad because I have really bad self control as it is, so he is only hurting me by eating whatever he wants in front of me like that. I'm so incredibly terrified that I'll gain it all back. I am also worried because when I move home in November I'll be living with his family and they aren't healthy eaters either. Neither are my parents. Pretty much no one eats healthy. So I will be living in a house with crap food and it will be a constant temptation.

 

[Shiv]

You'll have to show them all how it's done. I hope that because you have made such an effort to lose the weight can resist temptation, although I know how hard it is. David can eat anything and everything (and often does ) and he is still skinny, being 6ft2in helps him I think!

 

[Shiv]

Plus, you have Emma now and you need to set a good example for her, and so should the rest of your family!

 

[cleckner04]

I agree! The problem is everyone says they will change and they never do. My parents eat like crap. It's part of the reason I've always ate like crap. Which is also why I don't want Emma following in all of our footsteps. My parents will tell me on the phone that they are eating healthy but in the same phone call my dad will speak about eating a bag of potato chips and my mom will bring up the cake that she bought from the store that week.

DH's family is a little better than mine with eating but not by much. They all always eat out. They are a very close family with aunts and uncles and cousins living within miles of eachother and they go out to eat together at least once a week usually. Which is nice but not good on a waistline.

I guess all I can do is hope that I'm strong enough to say no. I'm thinking the day DH comes back I will make a roast dinner in the slow cooker so he won't have a choice but to take us home to eat there instead of a fast food place.

 

[jelr]

Spidey: I bet you come up with a lovely idea for fathers day, you are good at that. I'm not very imaginative at all - Is fathers day the 19th of June like over her or is it different like mothers day is?

Shiv: Of course you are not awful, you would make a lovely friend to anyone - Best of luck with the sleeping bag move, I hope it goes as well for you as it did for us, dont give up on the first night though. Our first night was a disaster, but the second not so bad and the 3rd perfect.

Cleck: I have every faith that you will resist temptation when Corey gets home and when you move back home. I think I told you before I lost 3 stone (42lbs) the year before we got married and kept it off until I got pregnant which was 3 years later, and I found I became much more aware of what I was eating and much more disiplined and able to resist temptation because I knew how much I had struggled to lose it and get where I was and was so much happier in myself and I think you will be the same. Also by the time you move home you will be well at your target and what I found worked for me to maintain it was to be good all week and allow myself a treat meal once a week which was usually a take away on a Saturday night. This helped me to keep my motivation going and stick to it because I also had that treat, so it didn't feel like I was depriving myself of yummy food all the time, so maybe you could do this and eat out with DH once a week or use the time that you will all meet as family as your treat meal. I bet DH will be converted once he sees you and then tastes all the new yummy healthy food that you have been eating

 

[spidey]

OMG, I'm going to crap myself! The lady finally responded to my playdate email and wants to get together in 2 Mondays! eeeek!! I'm not going to write back until tomorrow because I don't want to seem too desperate or say something weird. I was just going to come on here and complain that I tried to join a FB group for mom's in the town I live in. The group said "closed" but I figured I would try anyway since they could see I was a nice person and they still rejected me!!

Cleckner, my family sounds just like yours. Food is such a huge part of the family and how our love is shown. Our family vacations are usually centered around what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner The people at my work are the same way and will actually get offended if I turn down a huge slice of cake or a donut. It use to bother me because I didn't want to hurt people's feelings, but I learned not to care.

It took me many years to figure out a solid system of avoiding fast food (to avoid gluten). Every Tuesday I work on making a meal list for the next 7 days. Complete meals that usually have a meat and 2 veggies and sometimes a carb like rice pasta. For example, BBQ chicken wings with sweet potato and green beans is on this weeks list. To be honest, I HATE thinking of 7 complete meals! Then I make a list of all the ingredients that I need to buy and write them in 4 categories (meat, fruit/veg, dairy, other). And finally I add in all the extra things that I like to have on hand like bananas, yogurt, juice, milk and eggs. On Tuesday evening we go shopping and buy only the things on the list- no extra's!! I freeze any meat we aren't going to use right away. I keep the meal list on the fridge and each evening I check it to see if there is any meat I should thaw out for the next day. I also make 4 servings for every meal since the next day's lunch is always left overs. If I didn't do this, 5pm would come around and I would have nothing ready to cook so I would go out to buy milkshakes and fries for dinner, Kira would never get a balanced meal and I would spend tons of money on fast food!

 

[Mary Jo]

Spidey, would you like to move to London - with Kira - and move in with me? I'll be your mommy friend and you can plan my diet.

 

[Shiv]

Spidey - i do the same, I plan our weeks dinners on a sunday night and then do an internet shop and get it delivered on the monday. If I don't then we would just eat crap or pasta every night! I too stick it on the fridge and when I cook the dinner I check to see if i need to get anything out of the freezer for the following night! We are like domestic goddesses!

jelr - are you shopping today? You'll have to put a pic up of whatever you buy to wear for the wedding.

Well night 1 of duvet and pillow was not overly good, but then Sophia's sleepign has been a bit hit and miss anyway this week. She settled fine, then woke up after half an hour, went in a read her another story, left again and she cried for a few minutes then settled. We checked on her as we went to bed and she had fallen asleep on top of the duvet so David did a nifty lift and cover maneouvre (he told me I had to be in bed when he did it as I am so clumsy I would make a noise and wake her) She slept welluntil 5am when she woke up. Now this has happened three times this week and quite frankly Iwant my 14 hour a night sleeper back, so i decided she was not being got out of her cot until 6.30am (still crazy early). So i went every ten minutes or so, told her it was still night time and laid her back down. At 6.25am just as i was thinking "crap I'm gonna have to get up" she went quiet, and slept until 9am! So that is my plan now if she wakes up ridiculously early - show her who is boss! She is getting bloody clever though, when she really wants out of her cot she now says "Mummy change my nappy", so I have to get her up to check she hasn't done a poo - which she hadn't! cheeky monkey!

Wow sorry for the essay!

David's mum is visiting today, wonder what comment she will make to upset me this time!

Cleck is this your last weekend alone with emma for a while now! I was thinking about you the other day, and I seriously do not know how you have coped with no break for so long. I would be actually insane by now, quite frankly you deserve a month off from any childcare duties!

My mission today is to get a video of Sophia singing, I have given up trying to take photos as she just won't sit still

 

[cleckner04]

Shiv- I can't seem to get photos of Emma either lately. She refuses to look at the camera. I miss the days when she would just sit pretty and smile at the camera. And LOL at 'mummy change my nappy' I seriously cannot even picture Emma speaking like that yet. She just has single words still and it's so weird to think that some of the august babies are already having full blown conversations.

spidey- I don't plan my meals that detailed but I probably should start. I'm thinking I may get into couponing once DH loses his job too to help save some pennies on our grocery bills. So planning our meals like that would probably be really beneficial for that.


Is it bad that I get sad when I realize I have to share Emma with DH now? She's been all mine for so long and it makes me sad that I'm gonna have to hand her over and he gets to have some of those cuddles that would've been mine before. I'm so selfish.

 

[Shiv]

Cleck, I reckon after a week of sharing the cuddles you will soon see the benefit! A bath without being disturbed, being able to cook dinner without a meltdown, maybe go for a haircut, or to the shops.......think of the possibilities and when you get back from doing whatever, Emma will be there with a big cuddle just for her Mummy!

 

[spidey]

Shiv, are we domestic goddesses or just anal retentive?

Cleck- I agree with Shiv 100%! I do understand what you mean though, but once you see Emma playing with Corey your heart will melt. Getting a break from being the only caregiver will be awesome I still have no idea how you managed... the daily breaks I get keep me from insanity

Shiv, I'm glad the transition to the duvet went okay. She might need a couple more weeks to fully adjust to the new house and her new room before she turns back into the 14 hour nightly sleeper. Everything is different- even the smells I bet. I hope you got the singing video!

coupons- Cleck, have you seen that new show about couponing? Everytime I watch it I feel like such a lazy bum since I pay full price for my food. Are you going to stockpile food too

Kira is telling me I should stop.. she is laying on my hsnds as I type!

 

[Shiv]

Oh and I forgot to say EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK for your playdate Spidey! Perhaps a month is not such a tight deadline after all!

I just ordered a ridiculously expensive food shop becuase there were thingson offer so I bought lots 4 packs of chicken breasts, 2 packs of nappies, etc etc DH will flip when he sees the bill but some of it should last us a while. We have a nice big freezer here so may as well fill it!

 

[Shiv]

Me again! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

We went out and ordered Sophia's bed today. We changed our mind from the other bed and this is what we got:

https://www.dreams.co.uk/bed-frames...etal-steads/cadiz-bedstead/211-00979/product/

David really liked it, as he thinks it is very girly, and Sophia took a shine to it, and it was dead cheap. So that is being in delivered in a week, so I am on the hunt for bedding and wall decals. We are going for a kind of a vintage country garden theme, so maybe a patchwork duvet (so some pink but also lots of other colours), then maybe some flowers and butterfly decals, and perhaps even some pretty bunting around the ceiling - wow that sounds very over the top now I have written it down! I LOVE these cushions (the duvet is too pink for my liking, but the two little scatter cushions are cute):

https://www.next.co.uk/g362690s1#992969g36

and perhaps a duvet like this:
https://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1194733.htm#pdpProductReviews

Also I have been trying to get a video of her singing but I can't get her to sing more than a line before she is off doing something else. So this is a rather long (probably not very interesting to you guys) video of her, well just being her!

https://youtu.be/f8IkIyt2UeA

 

[cleckner04]

Oh my goodness!!! Sophia seems SO much older than Emma. I love her saying 'ready steady go!' It's amazing how well she speaks. I love her accent too. And yours. Now I'm kind of worried about Emma a bit. Emma doesn't talk anything like that.