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  • sarahbob - how i laughed at the tale of your daugher latching onto your nose.  jacob used to suck my nose when he was tiny.  in fact, he would suck anything in reach.  now he just bites if you aren't careful!

    i'm going to have a running related rant now.  WHY do fishermen think it's ok to take up the whole footpath with their detritus (umbrellas / rods / coolboxes for their beer) so that there is no room for me to run past??? and then WHY do they have a complete strop when i ask them whether they can move something so i can get by???  i have just been on my lunchtime plod along the estuary and as it's nearly high tide there were several lots of fishermen along the seawall.  one of them had put umbrellas RIGHT across the path so there was no way for me to get past and a huge big clump of brambles all along the inside of the path, so i couldn't get past that way either.  he told me just to bend back the side of the umbrella to get past and i did but i still got scratched to pieces by the brambles in the process.  the other week my husband got attacked by the dog of one of these fishermen and the dog ripped a hole in my husband's running tights (good job he was wearing them or he would have had a hole in his leg, i suspect).  when my husband asked the guy to move his stuff so he could get past, the bloke told my husband he'd set his other dog on him.  fortunately no dogs along there today, apart from the soppy one that belongs to the sheep farmer, and she's lovely.

    rant over.  sorry!

  • My goodness. Am sure I posted yesterday and wow, pages to read. Hope I've not missed anyone or anything. MR and CM, I really admire you both as Minks has said. When I was in hospital and Harry was really ill so we all had to stay in for 3 weeks, I was told I was a prime candidate for PND. Thankfully despite down days all was fine. My only really bad blip was at 6 weeks, I felt rough for 3 days, but nothing like CM experienced. I wish you all the best MR, and I expect being so open about your feelings will be helping.

    Minks I also found it hard wondering where my old life had gone. Now I just think its changed and that life has gone, and how much I do enjoy this life. I get really down about the house being dirty. I try to do a bit every day but often don't, but that also means the house is never all clean at once which I hate. I would love a cleaner but that is totally out of the question!

    I also used to get very stressed about food for the boys as they have such good appetites. Teething really upsets them especially now with their very lumpy food. I now just chop up what we had the night before with a pair of scissors. My two also play up when they are bored with the food so maybe try some new recipes. Maybe also move away from baby rice for tea and give him some finger food or lentil soup or some pasta, he should beable to chew on a rice cake or piece of bread, or cook up some frozen mixed vegs, my two loved this when they started finger food cos of all the colours. We now have days when one or both eat next to nothing. Some days all they have is a few grapes and a piece of cheese. Then like CM says other days they can't get enough, and you wonder where its all going. Today they have wolfed down a massive portion of tuna pasta that we had last night and yoghurt with loads of dry fruit. Last night I made them spanish omlette which took a while and they only ate a very small amount, so I'm afraid they're getting it for tea tonight too!!!

  • Blimey CM thats bad. When I was a student in Oxford I used to have same problem. One runner from our group jumped over a rod and snapped it, now that really served the fisherman right!!
  • My boys used to suck hubbie's t-shirt, he has a hairy chest so only tried without once!! He used to have little wet patches over his chest. They even used to go to their respective sides. H was always left boob, J right!!!
  • MM - I think you are an absolute hero for getting through everything without cracking up.  i couldn't have done it.  all the people i know who have twins are absolute stars - real copers.  not at all like me  - just as well i just had the one!

    that's v. sweet about your boys sucking your hubby's t-shirt.  j used to love sucking shoulders.

    my worry about jumping over the stuff on the footpath is exactly that.  i'm such a clumsy cow i'd probably trip, go splat and break everything.  and then end up being sued by the guy fishing!  i suppose i shall have to start avoiding high tide.  the problem is that the only time i can run along there is when i'm working from home and it has to be at lunchtime, so i don't have much choice about the time of the day i go!

  • i've just found two mini packets of milkybar buttons in the cupboard with a BB date of yesterday.  can't give them to jacob now, can i?  will just have to eat them both right now so that they don't go off anymore.
  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭

    MM, like you I get down about the house being dirty.  It isn't really, but it's not as clean and tidy as I'd like it.  It's also very small so I'm conscious of trying to keep things in their proper place all the time to avoid it feeling cluttered.  Like you, I can never clean the whole house in one go as I just don't get time, so I cleaned half the bathroom (basin and loo) on Tuesday afternoon, then the bath and shower while I was in them after my run Tuesday evening!  The kitchen hasn't been done this week and I hate that, but there you go.  Would love a cleaner too!

    The only reason I'm still giving Kit baby rice for his tea is because he's always really tired at that time (he often won't have an afternoon nap) and it's easy to eat.  It also means that he gets extra milk while he's being fussy with his bottles.  Would like to try him on something else but not sure what.  He's just started on a bit of finger food: so far rice cakes seem to be working, but not sure finger food is a good option for tea just yet as it takes him ages and he's quite tired so probably won't eat much.  I like him to have  agood amount in the evening so he sleeps well!  Could try pasta - I did buy some baby pasta this week - but will wait until he's eating more normally again.  At the moment he's not big on lumps, maybe because he's still full of catarrh from his cold, making swallowing difficult.  Might try some soup although he didn't like lentils when I gave him red lentil savoury (a GF recipe).  Think I will consult my Annabel Karmel book - he seems to like her recipes!  Could try cream cheese in thin sandwiches, or maybe a jacket potato mashed up with butter with some mashed baked beans?  Perhaps he IS getting bored of having the same recipes all the time - although there are about 5 or 6 I use regularly so it's not as if he has the same thing more than once a week.

    CM - GRRRR!  I have a similar rant over people who walk three abreast across the pavement as I run towards them and just won't budge.  The other day I deliberately clipped a woman's arm (serves her right for not moving over) and she yelled abuse after me as I continued along the road!  My pet hate with dogs is those silly little ones on a huge long lead, which in the dark is almost invisible.  The other night I nearly fell over a lead - owner was on one side of the pavement, dog on the other and the lead stretched in between.  In the dark I didn't see the lead and it acted like a tripwire.  No apology from the owner of course!

  • minks - if you want him to eat well at tea time, why don't you give him a main course and then give him his yoghurt after that (if he's having fruit instead of yog at lunchtime).  i didn't make all that much distinction between lunch food and dinner food until jacob was about 9 or 10 months.  he used to have similar things at both meals.  you could try giving him some toast and bits of cheese to chew on while you spoon in some rice pudding, or something similar.  i used to find that worked best with jacob.  i also sometimes gave him porridge for tea if he hadn't had it at breakfast time.  he's not to know it's breakfast food, is he?

    jacob used to eat a very thick minestrone soup (pureed down) with potatoes and beans and things in it.  you could try something like that. 

    pasta can be a tricky one - jacob still won't eat it unless he's at nursery or it's a jar of toddler's pasta.  won't eat pasta i cook for him!

    i used to find that if jacob had even a hint of a cold, anything with lumps in would make him vomit his entire meal.  i used to spend AGES coaxing him to eat spoonfuls of food, then give him a bit of pear to eat and he'd choke on it and bring absolutely everything back up again.  ARGH!

  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭

    CM, rice pudding sounds like a good idea - presumably one has to home-make it?  I doubt I can give him the ready-prepared varieties.  How do you make it and is it time-consuming?

    The cold thing may well explain why Kit seems reluctnant to eat anything lumpy at the moment.  I gave him a rice cake yesterday morning while I prepared his cereal, and he choked on a piece and vomited a little (fortunately not his entire bottle of milk!)  He hasn't worked out with finger food that he has to swallow one mouthful before taking another - he bites the rice cake so that small pieces break off into his mouth, then he chews them a bit, then he takes another bite - without having swallowed what's already in his mouth.  Then he gags!

  • names needed on the-

    how many people will pass through rw today thread (clubhouse)

    cause kittenkat is curious

  • you can buy jars of baby ricepudding. there are some suitable from 6 months so would be fine for kit.  not sure if you would want to give him that, and anyway it could be quite expensive.

    you can buy rice flakes (think they sell them in the supermarket but i bought organic ones from H&B) and cook them up, either in the microwave, or in the oven or on the hob, depending on the time you have. quantities more or less the same as for porridge - ie half a cup of flakes to a cup of liquid (milk or milk and water if you prefer).  if you cook it in the oven it's probably marginally nicer as it cooks more slowly and softens up better.  probably cook for an hour in the oven or about 15-20 mins on hob (very low heat or will stick) or 2-5 mins in microwave (depending on quantities).  i used to make up batches and freeze them.  then defrost, mix with pureed fruit and heat very very well (because rice can be dodgy once frozen).

    if you buy pudding rice, the only way to cook it is in the oven (i think).  you can stick it in there for hours with a load of milk and some sugar and it will cook away on a low heat.  it will tell you how to do it on the packet. to be honest, i don't buy pudding rice.  i just give jacob rice flake pudding, or the odd jar of hipps organic rice pudd.

  • MM and Minks - totally with you on the clean house thing! I used to blitz our old place on a Saturday morning and that was me, rest of the weekend to run, shop and drink (usually in that order). But now the bathroom gets cleaned when I've got a spare 5 mins and my mum has been doing my hoovering once a week! We just moved into a new place at start of September so there are loads of little jobs that need finishing off as well which are just beginning to bug me, and our third bedroom (which will be the guestroom/study) is just a dumping ground at the minute and its very depressing!

    MM - hat off to you for coping with all of that, and as CM says hats off to you and Hetty for managing with twins! I don't know how you do it! Hetty - sorry to hear the news about your dad, hope all is well.

    Having a better day today, Megan is beginning to be much more alert and we are getting our first attempts at smiles. Also got out with pram for good couple of hours this afternoon and made it to a Starbucks as had big plans for a gingerbread latte (since I had heard rumours 1st Nov was the start of their "christmas cups" season). However, just timed it all wrong and the Starbucks I went to was mobbed with parents and children from one of Edinburgh's private schools, no spare seats and the queue was a mile long! So am going to try again tomorrow morning instead - i will get that gingerbread latte yet!!

    And all this talk of baby rice has put me right in the mood for rice pudding - DH is having to get off his bus a stop early so he can go to the local store and buy me a time of Ambrosia Rice pudding, yum yum!
  • MR - we moved into our house 4 years ago and there are still lots of little jobs that i wanted done then which haven't been done yet image.  and there are 4 years of other jobs to do as well.  ho hum! some things are more important than others, but i really would like our outside lights to work because we live in the middle of nowhere with no street lights!

    so glad you have had a better day today.  when you get your gingerbread latte tomorrow, i'll join you for a virtual caramel macchiato!

    fab that megan is starting to smile as well.  it makes it all so much more worthwhile! 

    nearly time to go and fetch my little monster from nursery and then i have him for the next 4 days.  we have lots planned this weekend, including coffee tomorrow at a neighbour's house; swimming on saturday; fireworks on sunday at caldicot castle and an afternoon / evening at a different neighbours house on monday for playtime / tea and then bonfire and fireworks.

    haven't heard from EF for a while.  hope she's ok.

  • CM - funnily enough caramel macchiato is normally my Starbucks order anyway!! Is your moniker linked to your liking of same? Sounds like a busy weekend ahead for you though...

    Can vouch that EF is OK - had couple of texts from her last night. She has been reading the forum but not sure she's had time to post (mind, just reading the forum would take some time theres so much posting at the minute!).
  • Hi Mummies

    I always make rice pudding on the stove or in the microwave, if you make it in the oven the dish is a real b*&^% to clean afterwards!

    Just boil milk and then cook as if you are cooking rice normally, if it starts to dry out but the rice is still crunchy add more milk. For us grown ups I add cream and sugar, but I guess for the babes you would cook it to the correct consistency (probably over cook rather than under?) and then sweeten to taste just before serving. Yum.

    I use Arborio rice because I haven't found anywhere to buy cooking rice in Melbourne yet. Works a treat. I have also made it with brown rice which is not very puddingy but still tasty, and with coconut milk mixed in with the milk or instead of milk.

  • Wow, it's been so busy on here! And all this talk of rice pudding is making me hungry!

    Quick question for you all. Have other people found that losing weight through breastfeeding is actually a myth?? I am trying really hard to eat healthily and I've strated running again, but seem to be stuck at just over 10 stone. Very annoying.

    MR - JP is smiling now too. It makes the hard times seem worth it, I think!

    xx

  • TB - same here - stuck at just over 10 stone and running (but maybe not eating terribly healthily, TBH!).  I've resigned myself to the fact that my body is clinging on to the extra fat at the moment as insurance, and it will go when it's ready - hope my theory's true!

    Better go and get J off to school - will catch up again later ...

  • Just trying to think what I did for tea when the boys were younger. I think things like cauliflower cheese, potato and courgette gratin. I just used to do the veg type recipes from annabel's book, and give them meat/fish for lunch. Little sandwiches with cream cheese are great. I would wait a while with baked beans as they do have quite a bit of salt and sugar in them. I started about 11 months with baked beans but my two aren't overly impressed by them to be honest. Scrambled egg is also good as pretty soft, although my H doesn't really like the texture. He did eat his omlette last night though.

    My two have our dinner from previous night for lunch plus fruit and yoghurt, then a light tea of sandwiches (cream cheese, egg mayo, peanut butter, marmite), soup, cheese chunks, toast, warburton's raisin bread is good toasted, I love it too!! Jacket pot with cheese and beans, scrambled egg, cheese on toast. I also if adventerous make little pizzas out of muffins, another annabel recipe.

    I am lucky as my two eat pretty much everything, so I know something is off if they go off their food. Tea time is when little is often eaten cos they are tired. I haven't made them rice pudding yet, too much faff i always thought but may get some rice flakes. I try to make sure they eat savoury too as like me they already have a very sweet tooth. They did have a proper pudding at our friends on sunday, she made apple sponge with cream, they loved it unsurprisingly!!

  • Have not read everything on here so not sure if someone suggested, but to Minks if he takes to long with his finger food, why don't you feed him the baby rice first and once you are happy with the amount he has eaten - give him the finger food and let him chomp what he wants afterwards.

    Good luck to you all on here being a Mum (or in my case a dad)is the most amazing experience and if I could pass on the one peice of advice that I have learnt in the last 4 and half years is Don't be afraid to ask for help, from whatever quarter it comes from - being down or depressed or struggling is not a weakness. remember everyone feels the same at times and it is not just you.

  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭

    Thanks MM and Grendel - good idea to give finger food after the baby rice; he can have that to 'play' with while I clear up and get his bath ready.

    Like the cauliflower cheese suggestion - will give that a go, also means he'll get additional milk and calcium which is always good.  Fair comment about baked beans - I did wonder about the salt/sugar content actually and had intended to check before giving him any.  I guess I can give him mashed jacket potato just with unsalted butter though?  He was good with his bottles yesterday, taking 7oz from all three bottle feeds, but may have been because I made his lunchtime solids smaller as felt he was struggling a bit with the amount because of his cold.  He was as good as gold for my mum - typical, isn't it??

    This morning he 'discovered' how to blow raspberries with a mouthful of porridge and spat his cereal all over me - not good as I was dressed for work!  I said, "No, Kit!" several times in my best strict parent voice but not sure he took any notice!  He only started doing this when the cereal was almost finished so maybe he'd had enough by then and that was his way of telling me.  Sadly I suspect that's not the case and we have some messy mealtimes ahead while he plays his little game!

    MR, glad you're sounding a bit brighter.  It honestly DOES get easier - and the early days ARE really tough.  I look back now, though, and wish I'd savoured them more as Kit's so big now and the tiny baby days are behind us.  At the time I think I wished them away sometimes.

    Hubby and I were talking about the possibility of having another one last night.  I'm really torn - in some ways it would be lovely to have a sibling for Kit and to be a four-unit family, but in other ways it would mean a complete life change.  We'd have to move, and because I'd have to give up work we'd have to move a way out of London to be able to afford a mortgage just on hubby's salary.  I would have really struggled in the early days without the constant support of my mum, and I'm not sure how I'd cope without that especially with two children.  Am also scared of another C-section.  I know it wasn't that bad and I recovered well, but knowing it's going to happen is a bit different than it being a last-minute thing you have no choice over.  I'm not sure I'd want to try for a normal birth though, especially as Kit was so big.  Second babies are often bigger and I never would have got him out the normal way!  Also feel hubby and I have so little "me time" as it is - with another that would only reduce further.  Although I had a really good pregnancy, not sure I want to go through being pregnant again either.  Hmmm - so much to think about!

  • mm - agree on the warburton's raisin bread.  we always apply a toast tax to jacob if he doesn't eat it quickly enough!

    you can get reduced salt / sugar baked beans, but they are fairly foul.  you can also get organic ones from health food shops with no sugar and less salt in them.  they taste ok but probably not worth the hassle of getting unless you are going to the shop anyway.  jacob is the same as harry with scrambled eggs. doesn't seem to like them at all.  i haven't ever made poached eggs for him, and i haven't made egg mayo either coz i hate it.  should try it sometime really!

    i've just been out to a friend's this morning.  there were 8 kids there in total and they all had a whale of a time.  jacob was so bushed by the time it finished that he fell asleep in his buggy on the way home.  he hasn't done that since he was about 8 weeks old! 

    nice to see a few other people posting on here.  lovely to think it's our kids bringing us all together!

    minks - my parents live 2.5 hours drive away and my husbands parents live in newcastle (a good 5 hours away).  i have been lucky that my parents have been to stay a lot since j was born, but you do make a lot of friends associated with your kids anyway.  i didn't know the neighbour i've been visiting this morning at all before i had jacob.  it's still only 8 months since kit was born - perhaps you just need a bit more time to enjoy him and settle down in your life as a family of 3 before you have another one?  we were talking a lot about that this morning with my friends.  everyone apart from me is desperate for another one, but most of them already have 2 and their husbands are saying no!  the being pregnant / giving birth bit was easy for me - it was what happened afterwards!

    and MR - yes, i'm a caramel macchiato fan.  not sure why because it's very sickly, but i always end up ordering it if i'm in starbucks.

  • Hard one Minks. My feeling is that the pregnancy, initial months/years are worth it to get a bigger family. I had a horrendous pregnancy as you all know with only about 8 weeks when I felt remotely OK and certainly not normal! But would love more so would be prepared to go through the hell again.

    I am the same as Janie and CM my family live nowhere near. We're talking 7 hours to my Mums in pembrokeshire, maybe 5.5 in the middle of the night!!! 4 hours to hubbie's parents in somerset, but his mum is disabled so they struggle to help anyway, and 4 hours to hubbie's sister in newcastle. My brother and sister are both about 2-3 hours away. I have built up a tremendously helpful network of friends, living in a village is very helpful for this and I have made some great friends, and antenatal, postnatal friends are wonderful too. I have two friends with twins about the same the age. We meet every week which is so supportive to all of us I think especially early on. I have set up a baby sitting circle in the village which helps with baby sitting. Mum tries to see the boys every 6 weeks or so by coming over, I have yet to brave driving over there by myself!

    You wouldn't necessarily have to give up work as the costs should be less than for my two. Kit would be going to pre-school in 2009 so that would help immensely as much much cheaper than private childcare costs.

    I would love another chance, but my risks of twins I'm guessing are pretty high. I would love a little girl to balance out the family. Hubbie not convinced as we would also have to move. But to be honest we will have to move in 2-3 years anyway. House will not be big enough for two energetic boys, and two places for us to work at home.

  • LOL about the raspberries Minks, I remember being covered in orange coloured gunk! I'm afraid its not always when they are full!!! Both mine still do it now but not so much when eating. They usually have a raspberry competition in the car!!!
  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭

    Hadn't realised how lucky I am to have my mum living so close - she is less than 5 minutes' walk from us!  I think I've been grateful to have her around for emotional support as much as anything else - although hubby is wonderful and hugely supportive, he obviously can't fully appreciate what it's like to be a mum!  I have made friends since having Kit, whom I saw weekly until I came back to work, and that's been great, but I suppose I haven't made that much effort to join mother/baby groups locally because I've tended to see my mum a lot.  Also I've found (certainly earlier on) that the times of these groups always clashed with Kit's feeds/naps and his routine was more important to me than meeting up with other mums.

    I suppose it depends on how big an age gap there was between them as to whether I'd have to give up work, but can't quite imagine how I'd juggle a baby, picking up Kit from pre-school/nursery AND a job, especially without having my mum round the corner.  If we could afford a larger house where we live now it would be fine!  Part-time jobs are hard to come by so if we moved away from where we live now and I couldn't commute into my present job then I'm not sure how easy it would be to find another.

    JT, was reading on another website earlier that lots of women have to fight to be allowed to have a second C-section even if their first baby was delivered that way.  Really surprised me as I thought after having one C-section, you would automatically be able to choose to have another one.  Although I don't like the thought of having another - think I have horrible visions of the scar being painful as my tummy expands, and also of them making a mess of it next time: at the moment I have a really neat scar and would like to keep it that way!  But Kit was quite big and I'm not at all sure I'd want to go for a "trial by scar" either.  Maybe it's just too soon to be thinking about it at all - Kit's only 8 months and I want to enjoy him as he is before I start thinking about a brother or sister for him.  Actually think I'd like another boy though - don't know why!

  • Minks/ JT - I think it depends on the consultant / hospital policy as to whether you will be offered an elective c/s - and also the reason why you had it in the first place.  My first c/s was a failed induction which led to failure to progress, but H was also a big baby (9lb 5)  so I think that played a part - 2nd time round the consultant was keen for me to consider an elective but I opted for attempting a VBAC (again ended up in c/s for failure to progress - even bigger baby at 9lb 10) - 3rd time the consultant categorically stated I should have a c/s but I went against this and opted again to attempt a VBAC but as you know ended up with 3rd c/s.  Can reassure you that I had no problems with the scar in either subsequent pregnancy - even this time when I ran till the end.  And the scar seems reasonably neat this time - it's hard to tell for definite as there's still a lot of shrinking for my tummy to do, I hope! If I were to have a 4th - which we're NOT planning to do! - I would def. have an elective c/s as I think it's too risky to opt for a VBAC after 3 c/s.
  • Have a similar dilemma with having a second (or indeed third!). We definitely want to add to our family, but I've been told to expect a 12 pounder next time round (JP was 10/6 and a half)! image Obviously in view of this, I would prefer an elective C/S, but my M/W told me that most consultants at the hospital I'm with would say that I'd delivered one big baby naturally so I could have a go at doing it again. I have to say I'm not too sure about that!!! But if I do end up using the more traditional exit route (as it were!), then I will have an epidural from the very start - I don't intend feeling any more pain than I need to!

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