September Stars

[Emzywemzy]

OMG I just did a massive reply and it deleted half of it!! Did lots of personals and everything!

This is what was left...

Went out for lunch with my friend yesterday which was nice! After settling herself for her morning nap, Holly settled to sleep in her pram in the pub while it wasn't moving so that's an improvement too! However for her late afternoon nap she would not settle at all and I ended up getting her out of her cot and she didn't sleep at all and she was seriously cranky and tired until bedtime. She had her bottle at 8pm then fell asleep right away on Matt with no crying or rocking or patting or anything, so that's also an improvement. Then she slept right through without a peep til 7.50am, so I can't complain!! Then this morning she has settled herself for her morning nap again with no problem! Any idea why she will settle in the morning, but not for the later naps?! Strange child!

 

[Emzywemzy]

The other things I was saying was:

I iron hardly anything, only 5 shirts for Matt for the week and that's it! I don't do any of Holly's clothes either.

Jelly I hope you get the nursery place sorted. I have been making tentative enquires in case I get a daytime job and the local nursery has vacancies for weds, thurs and fri but not mon and tues. I'm not sure which 3 days a week the HR job is working, I'll have to ask if I get an interview. Perhaps they let you choose seeing as it's not specified. There are also 4 childminders within a 5-10 min walk of my house, so there are options! Childminders are cheaper than nursery though, Nursery is £34 a day and childminders around £25. So expensive!!

xx

 

[Jellycat]

Emzy where did you go to find the child minders?

Yay on Holly settling am, is she too tired by the time you put her down in the afternoon?

Lbb hope James is ok

 

[Emzywemzy]

hmm yeah it could be that Jelly, but I do try and put her down as soon as I see she is tired, so when she yawns or rubs her eyes. The only thing I can think is hat she is overstimulated then, as yesterday she had been playing with her toys when she got tired and I put her straight in her cot. I wonder if I give her a cuddle til she is chilled and sleepy then put her down, if that would work? This I might try it.

I found the childminders here on this very helpful website! https://childcarefinder.direct.gov.uk/childcarefinder/

xx

 

[MrsJ08]

Morning ladies

I've just had 5 pages to catch up on so I apologise in advance because I know I won't remember everything. I'm feeling really guilty as I've forgotten 3 birthdays already this year and one of them was my step-sisters on Monday.

Louise - I can imagine how excited you must be. It was bad enough when I was living in London and DH was in Swansea. The longest we went without seeing each other was 3 weeks and it felt like months, I was so excited about seeing him I was beside myself. I hope you're reunion is everything you hope it will be and more.

LBB & BTP - big :hugs for your poorly babies. I hope they get better soon

Cafferine - I'm on Twitter and I'm now following you (loopyb)

Emzy & Jelly - Bloody HV's. I wish they would just talk to you Mum to Mum. We had a real moan about them at Baby Group on Monday. It was interesting as one of the girls said the HV was giving her a hard time about weaning her baby before 6 months (like she did with me) but when she made it clear it was her second child she completely changed tack and started suggesting to her lots of different things she could feed her. So, basically the advice they give is different depending on whether you are a first time Mum. WTF?! Shouldn't the advice be the same regardless? I just wish you could go and get weighed without the chat. I think next time I'm just going to keep my gob shut, say there is no issues and if she asks me anything contentious tell her what she wants to hear. I think it got her back up when I told her that the Doctor had advised me to wean at 5 months.

Becs - my days are the same with only slight variations and my week is something like this

Monday - Baby Group & Food Shopping
Tuesday - Toy Library in morning & Puree Making in afternoon
Wednesday - Usually have car so go out shopping somewhere
Thursday - Lunch with my friend and her baby & Food Shopping
Friday - Housework in morning & Toy Library in afternoon

I'm finding that Scarlett's awake for longer between naps now and also go's longer between feeds so needs more stimulation. I do go a bit stir crazy some weeks and I know I have a tendency to pounce on DH when he comes home if I haven't spoken to an adult all day. Weekends are fine as DH is about and I usually see my Best-friend

Lady K - we have the same Virgin issues. We don't have a BT line as I wouldn't pay the connection fee. We have wifi but the connection is ridiculously slow. We can't use a wired connection (which is fast) as the port on the laptop is broken. We are using a Belkin router for the wireless but what frustrates me is that virgin won't give any technical support for wireless.

Sorry for anyone I missed

I've been feeling low this week hence my absence. We've been having issues with our mortgage company as we have arrears and they are being difficult about accepting our payment plan. The bottom line is we can't really afford the mortgage anymore as I bought the flat when I was earning a lot of money and it cost £240k (One bed flat not in the nicest of areas for anyone who isn't familiar with London prices) Now we can't afford it as DH is earning less than half of what I was when I bought it. I'm resigned to the fact that we will have to sell it or it will be repossessed but we need to keep hold of it until at least September. I think it is sorted now but it is a constant worry, especially with DH's operation in the summer. At the moment nobody has resigned so there isn't a definite position for him in September. The school are doing everything they can as they desperately don't want to lose him, but it might be that he will have to do supply for a few months. We desperately need someone to resign or get pregnant

 

[Emzywemzy]

Quiet in here today ladies! Is it because the sun is out?! It's lovely here today, been out for a nice walk into town and had Holly sat in the upright position in the pram. Usually I recline it a bit but I sat it right up so she could see out and she loved it!

Got some baby pasta in boots, it's just tiny mini pasta stars and I'm going to give her some with some of our lamb tonight as she hasn't had pasta yet. I did her eggy bread for lunch and cut it into fingers and she LOVED it. She's really getting into her food now and prefers to feed herself. I just lay it all out on her hightchair and let her tuck in. She makes such a mess but it's so fun and lovely to see her get stuck in. Her fave finger foods seem to be toast, eggy bread, tomato wedges, cucumber and laughing cow sandwiches. I also gave her a bit of jam on bread yesterday but not too much as it was a mega sugary one, but she loved that! What are you all giving your babies to drink? I've just been doing water so far but want her to drink a bit more, so was considering very dilute sugar free squash. Would that be alright? Or should I dilute pure juice instead? I guess that would be better for her.

And... Holly did it! She settled for her late afternoon nap herself! After about half an hour of spitting her dummy out and crying, she fell asleep after I covered her up and stroked her face, bless her. Not helped by the damn ice cream van though who sat outside her room (her room is at the front) playing it's bloody tune really loudly! I can hear him coming back down our street as well, I think I might just have to strangle him! I can see this becoming a recurring theme throughout the summer!

MrsJ sorry to hear about your mortgage problems, it's terrible having money troubles we're completely skint as well. Managing to pay everything just about, but with nothing left afterwards so we can't go out and do anything. It won't be any better when I go back to work either, as what I earn will probably only cover what I get from Maternity allowance unless I get a better paid job, but then that means working during the day and paying childcare! Grr you can't win can you!!

xx

 

[_LauraK1982_]

I put a few raisins in Olivias water when its just boiled. They give it a sweet taste (I actually think it tastes lovely !!) Its meant to be quite good for them

And go Holly - she really does sound like a very content and happy girl Emma. xx

 

[genies girl]

I've had a horrid day ! Feeling stressed not about the girls just other stuff.

Emzy I think you can buy juices and flavoured waters from the baby companys I think hipp do one , holly is doing great I love hearing what she eats it gives me ideas

We have porridge and yoghurt for breakfast biscotti crispy snacks or bread for lunch and a main and a fruitpuree for tea baked beans , carrot and potato apple and blueberry are favourites

Mrs j sorry your having a difficult time , I assume your not entitled to a payment holiday? We are totally skint but the mortgage company won't give us one as we had one before

 

[lilbumpblue]

thats a good idea Laura x

yay holly! X

James has been to the docs and he has lots of rubbish on his chest so it on antibiotics for a chest infection! Lost 2oz too due to being poorly and not able to feed well x

 

[lilbumpblue]

sorry Mrsj i was going to Pay about payment holidays northern rock gave me a 6 month maternity break when i phoned to use my payment holidays x

 

[Jellycat]

Emzy I think you have to be careful with sugar free squash because of the sweetness aspartame and pheylenine I'm sure they are not good but can't remember why

Louise - hope you manage to work out something soon for your mortgage xx

Went to dentist and they think my tooth / jaw ache and pains is because I'm grinding my teeth.

Spoke to nursery and they have three days available, checking out two nurserys Monday Tuesday and hopefully make a decision then which to choose.

 

[Jellycat]

GG hope you have a better day tomorrow. Wow sounds like the girls are really enjoying their food, love the idea of biscotti umm

Lbb hope the antibiotics start working. Take it the HV behaved herself today?

 

[lilbumpblue]

she wasnt there today plus i had to rush cos id only got 1 person in front of up in the queue to see the doctor! X

 

[Emzywemzy]

aww lbb poor James! He has really been in the wars lately hasn't he poor lad. Don't worry at all about his weight, he hasn't been well and 2oz isn't all that much. He will gain it all back and some when he is feeling better after his antibiotics xx

Laura thanks for that I might try the raisins thing! And Genies I saw the juices in boots today, but wasn't sure if she could just have normal no added sugar squash? I think I'll do the raisins thing or put a splash of apple juice in with her water. She has normal tap water now she's 6 months.

I had to ditch the lamb as it was off so we had a ready meal and I made cheesy pasta stars for Holly. I got the idea from Annabel Karmel, here is the recipie if anyone is interested in making it for their LO:

Cheesy Pasta Stars:

125g (4 oz) carrots
30g (1 oz) butter)
3 medium tomatoes (approx 200g), ripe tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and chopped
50g grated Cheddar cheese
2 tbsp Annabel Karmel pasta stars cooked until soft (I just got boots own)


Method:
Steam the carrots for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Warm the butter in a separate pan, add the chopped tomatoes and sauté until mushy. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until melted.
Meanwhile cook the pasta stars in boiling water according to the instructions on the packet, then drain.
Mash or puree the cooked carrots in an electric hand blender, together with 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the bottom of the steamer and blend together the tomato and cheese mixture. Finally stir in the cooked pasta stars.

I think the recipie is meant for slightly older babies, but all the ingredients are suitable for 6+ months I believe. I think it's aimed at older babies as it was quite lumpy with the pasta in it, but Holly doesn't mind fairly lumpy food anyway so it was a hit! You could always blend the pasta as well to make it smoother.

xx

 

[Emzywemzy]

Here's a pic of Holly eating her dinner tonight lol!!

 

[Emzywemzy]

Thanks Jelly, that's a good point about the aspartame, I imagine it would be bad for babies. I think I'll do a splash of pure juice in some water instead x

 

[babythinkpink]

In agony still, dentist drilled a hole said it bled, plugged it with a dressing and temporary and said hopefully that will be it for about 4 months when my dentist is back from maternity leave.
She said if its still bad tomorrow i would need antibiotics, i was hoping i wouldn't need them, can i breast feed ok still? and the one she has said about gives me thrush so i am going to have to ask for a different one, wonder if i should call the doctor and ask in the morning which one i need?

Did have nails done, they are great, really pleased!

Rosie much better today, i had though of snot sucking but it sounded all rattly and chesty as well, I am not sure, will see how she is tomorrow, it is more flowing now than inside her and she hates me wiping her nose poor baby

Sorry I am not chatty tonight, in pain and can't believe i am still in pain, bloody dentist

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Louise3512uk]

Hi all!!

LBB poor James, as Emzy said he seems to have been poorly for ages! Bless him!

Emzy, Holly is doing fab isn't she!! Lilia isn't keen on anything that isn't completely smooth, although she will happily have finger food from my plate! She gets really agitated when she sees me eating! She HATED mango when I tried it with her! Her favourites are sweet potato, potato and carrot, swede, and she loves all the different 100% fruit pots that you can get!

MrsJ sorry you're having financial troubles, look into some of the things the girls suggested, may help?

Forgotten everything else, sorry!

Been to a homecoming briefing tonight which was a bit surreal, they are telling us what will happen and what to expect when the lads come home, medals parades and everything, and how to spot post traumatic stress etc. Very weird as Wayne hasn't even ahd his R&R yet!!! He will miss everything and by the time he gets back most of the blokes will have actually finished their 6 week post operational tour leave! I'm still going to go to the medals parade though.

My mum is on her way, she'll have Lilia tomorrow when i go to pick up the boys from school.... argh it's getting so close! 3 sleeps! Oh, and AF arrived today! Argh.... it's cutting it a bit fine!

 

[Louise3512uk]

BTP hope the pain eases up tonight for you! Sounds like Rosie must be on the mend if she's a bit chesty and snotty, it tends to be the last leg of the cold doesn't it! x

 

[Jellycat]

Lol at Holly she definatly looks like she enjoyed the cheesy pasta! When did you start Holly on water ? Jjs on two meals a day and hasn't cut back any of his milk but my mum says he should be having some water by now, also when did you start putting it in the beaker? Sorry Emzy for all my questions , but I haven't a clue !!