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

[spidey]

Cleckner- make sure you keep us updated on your ovulation monitor. I use to have so many symptoms around ovulation and also for the week before AF was due to arrive. Now I have that strange nipple pain, but thats it. I'm still not certain what comes first.. is it nipple pain then ovulation, or ovulation and then nipple pain. Did you have more symptoms around ovulation before Emma?

Part of me wonders if bf is suppressing the hormones to ovulate still. Cleckner- are you still bf frequently and on demand? On some days Kira will take little snacks every 15 minutes, but on other days she might go hours without a feed. I still nurse her during the night too.

Oh, and I completely agree with it being great to have one-on-one time with the next baby if our first is old enough for pre-school. We have a free half day preschool program at the elementary school next to my house and I was thinking of enrolling Kira when she turns 4

 

[cleckner04]

No, I never had ovulation symptoms before either. But I don't know what I'm doing either when it comes to checking CM and stuff like that. I don't look. I just wipe and move on. It's the same for us with the BFing. Some days she wants it frequently, others she couldn't care less. Now that I've been putting her in her own bed most nights, she only needs a BF once at night though. Which is an awesome new development. And it's only because she wakes up and realizes I'm not there so comes in, feeds for like a minute before falling back asleep.

Is it sad that I'm excited for my period to come so I can start playing with the monitor? I just really hope with my weight loss and Emma feeding a bit less, that my cycles are getting back on track. Weigh in is tomorrow for my weightloss. We'll see how I did this week. Last week was a .4 or .6 gain, I can't remember exactly so hopefully I lost that and more! I've nearly dropped 3 bmi points so far so that makes me feel really good. My ultimate goal is to at least be in the 'overweight' category instead of 'obese' before getting pregnant again.

Spidey- you totally have to buy a monitor too. We can be monitor buddies. If you're not already pregnant this month of course.

 

[spidey]

Cleckner- how can you wipe and NOT look I've been doing that for as long as I can remember! By looking, sometimes I can catch AF right at the start before I have to change my clothes and get out the stain remover

I'm not quite to the point of buying a monitor yet. I need to hear your reviews first But if I'm not pregnant by the summer, maybe I will buy one and we can both be hard core monitor using, TTC buddies, LOL!

Oh, and thats great how Emma is cutting back on night feeds. We have good weeks and bad weeks, but for the most part Kira is cutting down on night feeds too. On good nights she'll go until 3am before she takes a snack, but then she'll snack more frequently from 5am until her wake up time (7:30).

Shiv- how are you feeling today??

I'm going to write everyone scan dates on my calendar now I'm at work and theres nothing better to do!

 

[cleckner04]

I'm down 2.4 lbs today!!! I know my weight is coming off much slower than other women, but for not dieting and not depriving myself of anything, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.

Emma has her bad nights with feeds too but the last two weeks have been pretty consistently just one feed and that's it. But she will probably teeth again at some point and do an all night feed. She's famous for wanting to comfort nurse literally all night long.

 

[Pippin]

I'm down 2.4 lbs today!!! I know my weight is coming off much slower than other women, but for not dieting and not depriving myself of anything, I feel like I'm doing pretty good. :

Yay congrats hon. x

 

[Shiv]

Well done Cleck, slowly is the best way to lose it and keep it off!

 

[Pippin]

Shiv can't believe you are 7 weeks already how are you feeling?

 

[Shiv]

ALREADY? - are you freaking kidding me It's been a long 3 weeks since I found out!

Feeling ok, a bit tired and still off anything sweet, mainly living off toast! I miss chocolate so much but I just can't eat it

Spidey, any symptoms for us to fuss over?

 

[spidey]

2.4 pounds is amazing!!! And you're due for AF soon, right? I'm always bloated leading up to AF!

Shiv- that is so sad about the chocolate. I eat sooooo much chocolate! I actually stopped eating chocolate in 1st tri with Kira too, but don't you worry, soon you'll be eating tons again!

No symptoms for me! I'm waiting for AF now. My nipples are back to normal and I feel great. AF should arrive at the end of this coming week (based on my nipple predictions) Then the next weekend my brother will be in town I won't be anywhere near my 2ww or ovulation so I can join in the fun BUT... I will test sometime next week anyway

 

[cleckner04]

Yeah, AF started today!! Well, last night while I was sleeping. It always does that. I have a good stain remover for my sheets though. This week my goal is to at least try to maintain the weight. I have typically been gaining a pound each week I have a period. So we'll see how it goes.

So I got to hit the m button on my monitor!! It begins!!!! I'm so stupidly excited. lol.

 

[Pippin]

Cleckner let the monitoring begin. I loved monitoring my cycles with OPKs. Something strangely nice know what your body is doing and I'm a sucker for science (currently watching my 4th CSI of the day ) so anything like this intrigues me. Hope it goes well.

 

[cleckner04]

My parents love CSI too. I've seen a few but I can't really watch them without DH home because I get freaked out that someone is going to come in the house and murder me.

I don't think I get to pee on any sticks until day 6, we'll see how it goes!! I am SOOO hoping my cycles are back on track.

 

[Shiv]

ooooooooh Cleck, this monitoring business sounds like fun! You get to press buttons and pee on a stick, I hope it will give you some confidence in your cycles in time for Corey's return.

 

[cleckner04]

You pee on the stick than basically feed it to the machine and it tells you if you are at a low,high, or peak in your cycle. Cool right?! I don't have to sit there and wonder if the opk is positive or not. That was the biggest stress for me when I took the OPKs that one month. Because some looked positive or close to it and I was worrying and stressing that I'm wrong. Now the machine will do all the work for me.

 

[Pippin]

Sounds fun to me Sam my friend has one ad she's trying to conceive a girl with pcos so she's dtd three days before the peak. Can I just point out though I conceived my little girl on the day of ovulation so I blow that theory way out of the water hehehehehehe

Not long now Shiv, 5 days isn't it??? Have you told your folks yet?

 

[Shiv]

Yep 5 days to go. feeling a bit down today - bloody hormones! i remember i got so sad in the first tri with Sophia, I would literally cry over the silliest of things (including tv adverts)

I am thinking of putting off telling my parents until after my 12 weeks scan. I just don't want them to worry, and maybe by 12 weeks we might have more of a clue about what our future as a family holds (although I doubt it). David has applied for a job in essex, and one in cambridgeshire so we will see what happens.

Today I have terrible heartburn - this I was not expecting. I got it SO bad in the latter stages of my pregnancy with Sophia but not early on, I hope it disappears, I don't fancy having it the whole way through my pregnancy (all being well, haven't said that in a while, getting complacent!)

Listen to me moan on - on the upside we have a roast chicken in the oven, with home made yorkshire pudding (Cleck and Spidey do you get yorkshire pudding out there with your roast dinners? In fact do you guys even have roast dinners out there) So today we are having roast chicken, yorkshire puddings, brocolli, carrots, cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes and gravy - yum!

This is how hormonal I am getting, this morning I was thinking how sad it is that in real life I bet we could all be great friends but we live so far apart - it's such a waste!

 

[spidey]

awww Shiv Hormones can be awful. I would love it if we all lived closer- I know we would be great friends in real life too. I live very close to DC and we have the National Institutes of Health close by so perhaps you guys can move here and David can get a research job at the NIH!

I don't know what yorkshire pudding is, but I just googled it and its nothing like I imagined LOL! I was thinking it was like a rice pudding or tapioca pudding... but its more like a biscuit-y thing We have roasted dinners here too. To make a roasted chicken with veggies I would put a whole chicken in a pan with some salt, pepper and butter on top and then put veggies (carrots, potatoes, onions) all around the chicken and bake it in the oven. Does that sound right?

Tonight I'm making "pot roast", which is a big hunk of beef slow cooked in a tomato based sauce. I'm also making mashed potatoes, broccoli, and collards!

Pippin- I'm sooo happy that my instincts of you having a boy were wrong

 

[Shiv]

yep that's a roast dinner, apart from I usually do my veggies seperately as I am not a fan of roast veggies.

Yorkshire pudding is.............hmmm hard to desribe, it is made from plain pancake batter (so just milk, eggs and flour) and you pop it in the oven in little moulds (I use a cupcake tray) and it rises up and is fluffy and light and crispy on the top! yum, good soaked in gravy! For the first time today I think i have perfected the art of making them, they were gooooooooooooood!

 

[spidey]

I can't think of anything similar to a yorkshire pudding that we have here. The closest thing would be a biscuit, but biscuit dough is thicker. But biscuits are also yummy when dipped in gravy Yorkshire puddings sound soooo yummy though. I love having a bread-like thing for dipping

 

[Pippin]

Shiv you're not that far from me really let's see if we can arrange a meet soon and you can get to it. Last time we almost did didn't we but you got taken away somewhere lovely if I remember! I get emotional about everything at the moment. Even bloody neighbours can get me and I don't even watch it that often...... I want yorkshires now.... yummy. My Mum would kill me if I waited until 12 weeks to tell her, she was hurt I didn't tell her until 6 weeks with the one I lost. So this time I showed her the test on Skype as soon as I had done it lol. She reacted a lot better.

5 days how exiting, do you have a gut feeling on gender yet? Spidey I thought girl for ages and then I think more convinced myself it was a boy so I wasn't disappointed Stupid I know because I'd love a him just as much. Just need to get to term safely now.

Any symptoms Spidey??? Bet you are dead excited about your brother coming

KNow what you mean about looking at positive Cleck I always took my darkest one as the positive and it worked for me lol. I really think this will give you a good idea of our cycles. Try ebay for the sticks though they are cheaper I think they were for my friend in the UK.