Desperate Housewife and New Mum

Rowan9

Congratulations on your lovely baby. My first had colic as well but it settled when she was 12 weeks or so. Fingers crossed. My cousin and her OH lived on sandwiches for 6 months and she locked her door when he went to work and didn't have any visitors. What I'm saying is other people have trod the path!
I liked the idea someone had of cheese and salad. What about getting the bags of ready washed salad and just bunging a handful on a plate (or straight into your mouth!) and a mouthful of cheese. Also maybe buy a quiche and slice it up so you can grab a slice when you have a minute. I learned to enjoy eating while standing up, cold food and cold cups of tea. You will get there! Bananas are great for easy eating. Cold baked beans (nice actually!) are another of your 5 a day. Do you drink milk?
I'm afraid I haven't really given you recipes but want to send ((((hugs)))) and support!
w

pigpen

The housework will be there when he is long since grown and flown.. stuff the lot of it!!!

Have the MIL cook you a meal mid week, or throw chopped veg, gravy and some bits of meat in a slow cooker/large pan.. voila! a pan of stew.. you can slop a ladle full in a bowl and reheat in the microwave.. a pan full will last a few days.

Sometimes you just have to let them have a bit of a scream.. so long as you know they are not in pain, dirty, hungry it is ok to let them have a little yell.. they need the lung exercise and if it is only a few minutes they won't explode!!

My youngest had colic, reflux and a hernia.. my 5th had the above plus lactose intolerance.. it does pass.. it does get better and easier and when you have your third you'll think.. what was all that fuss about!!

Dads are just as capable of holding a yelling baby as mummies are so let him have a turn when he gets in from work.. you've been at 'work' all day too!! get a load of washing in, prepare dinner for the next day and have a shower.

LoopyLinz

Hun

Not too sure how much advice I can give but didnt want to read and run!

Probably easier said than done but try not to stress too much about the house. Enjoy your new little bundle, I bet you will soon get into a routine. My little neice is 4 months and loves the sound of the vaccum cleaner! My sister often leaves her in her chair, switches it on at the other side of the room and shes happy as! She has been known to switch it on outside her bedroom too when she cant get her settled!!

Few quick meals/snacks I thought of were.................

Chicken and pasta................boil some pasta, chuck in a tin of chicken soup and there you have it, a tasty, relatively healthy meal. If you are feeling really adventurous why not chuck in some chicken, you could even buy this ready cooked. Some garlic bread and there you have a meal! Actually suppose you could use any sort of soup or a pasta stir in.

I always find mince to be a life saver in our house. Could you maybe leave DH in charge of little one for even an hour. Get your mince going and very easily you could make shepherds pie and bolognaise all in one go. There would be two nights meals sorted.

If I think of anything else I will come back and update, in the meantime though please dont forget to have some YOU time!!

Katgoddess

Thanks for the support and all your replies so far. :beer:

Yes we have a baby carrier which I had forgotten about because I couldn't use it after the c section. After I figured out how to put it on, he protested for five minutes then fell asleep. :eek: So baby carrier has been added to my arsenal of baby calming techniques. Pram and car seat also work (sometimes) but only out of the house.

I managed to make myself a bowl of porridge and cut up a load of vegetables. I then got stuck because I didn't want to start frying mince with him in the carrier as the fat would spit onto his bare legs. I put him down in the pram (I have a bush baby carrier which lets you do this smoothly - apparently) and he woke up instantly. :mad::rolleyes:

I'm hoping he will have one of his happy smiley moods at some point so I can brown the mince and put everything in the slow cooker. If not its raw veg for tea. :rolleyes:

The laundry isn't really a major problem as putting stuff in the machine is a five minute job. I hang everything up inside on a clothes horse so I don't have to stress about the weather. Nothing gets ironed by me, if OH wants a shirt done he has to vertically steam it himself. It's not my fault he hasn't brought me an ironing board yet. :rotfl:All his nice stuff I hang straight onto coat hangers and hang from doorways. The problem is the piles of clean washing to be put away on the dining room table. Once its clean and dried its off my priority list. But its not like we are eating on the dining table. Baby has lots of sleepsuits and bibs so I can get away with doing his washing every other day. I'm living in PJs when I'm at home because DS always manages to get sick down me, even when I have a terries nappy attached to my front like a bib. ( I gave up with muslins - too flimsy for the sick I have to deal with) So other than the piles of clean washing needing a home I'm sorted for that.

I like the chicken soup and pasta idea. I have been drooling at the artisan bread thread but that is beyond me at the moment.

A freezer is on my list of things to get but we have no space in the house at the moment. Did i mention we moved in on my due date. :eek:


Please keep the ideas coming. :beer:

Nicki

You can brown the mince in the microwave or in a hot oven if its hard to do it on the hob with baby in sling. For the oven spread it on a baking tray, and stir it well when it comes out. For microwave, sling it in a bowl and nuke for about 3 mins on high and stir well. For lots of other slow cooker recipes you can just add the meat in unbrowned. It won't look as nice but should taste OK. With mince though it tends to clump if not pre-cooked. Though if you roll it into balls and put it in the slow cooker raw, with veg and gravy or tinned tomatoes, it will make good meatballs without pre-cooking.

Hth if you can't manage to get near your frying pan today!

pigpen

Katgoddess wrote: »

I managed to make myself a bowl of porridge and cut up a load of vegetables. I then got stuck because I didn't want to start frying mince with him in the carrier as the fat would spit onto his bare legs. I put him down in the pram (I have a bush baby carrier which lets you do this smoothly - apparently) and he woke up instantly. :mad::rolleyes:

The problem is the piles of clean washing to be put away on the dining room table. Once its clean and dried its off my priority list. I'm living in PJs when I'm at home because DS always manages to get sick down me, even when I have a terries nappy attached to my front like a bib. ( I gave up with muslins - too flimsy for the sick I have to deal with) So other than the piles of clean washing needing a home I'm sorted for that.

A freezer is on my list of things to get but we have no space in the house at the moment. Did i mention we moved in on my due date. :eek:

When we moved in our last house.. we moved on the Monday (33 weeks pregnant) and the baby arrived Friday the same week!!.. so we spent a week in SCBU.. it isn't fun and I do understand how it is!!

As for a freezer.. if you have to.. store one in a shed, garage, or even a bedroom!!.. anything is better than not having one!! If you have 2 bedrooms keep it in the baby's room.. no doubt he is in with you at the moment anyway

Hubbys new job on his way up the stairs.. he takes a pile of laundry.. and it all has to be gone before he can go to bed!! it isn't rocket science or hard work.. poke him in the eye if he moans! lol

PJ's are good.. I didn't get dressed for weeks unless I had to go out!

a plastic apron looped over your neck and over baby on your front or just a towel tucked SECURELY so there are no lose flappy bits is perfect slotted over the baby in the carrier means you have cook safely without burning anyone. Or.. use a pan with a lid and steam it rather than fry.

my best trick.. strap baby in the carrier.. onto daddy.. and send him out for milk, or bread, or chips, or ANYTHING so you can have 15 minutes peace... just a walk round the block.. anything.. I used to send mine out every night like that.. some days baby would scream all the way there.. and all the way back.. other times they would be fast asleep in minutes... either way it meant I didn't have to deal with it (the noise not the baby) for that time and I could deal with other pressing matters.. like frying mince..

mummygems

Congratulations!

I totally sympathise with you. My dd2 is 15 weeks old and she has had awful colic, doesnt sleep in the day and just seems to cry ALL the time lol.

Ideas for you:-
Bouncy chair that vibrates (seems to sooth them) and you can move the chair with you i.e. into the kitchen to cook so you can talk and baby can see you.
Cooking dinner/lunch one day in advance i.e. make a spag bol tonight (when your partner is home or baby is asleep) then re-heat tomorrow. Make a sandwich tonight for your lunch tomorrow etc.
I know your lo is breast fed so not sure about this but a dummy always seemed to help my dd (although she was bottle fed so not sure whether this would work for you).
If your MIL is close perhaps she can either pop over with some food(!) or pop over for an hour so you can quickly run around and do what you need to do. If she did this once or twice a week it would help a little bit.
Dont worry about the household stuff as I am sure if will get done as baby gets bigger lol

jessbrown100

Hi OP, I'm 34 weeks pregnant so am gearing myself up for this in the not too distant future :eek:. I have been and bought some of those camping cups, don't know their proper name but they are shiny (stainless steel effect) on the outside and have a click on top. They insulate whatever's in it and also prevent the contents splashing over the top. My theory was that I could always heat some soup up and put it in the mug and then have a mouthful when I get chance- also not going to knock it over myself or junior. I have also been thinking about getting a Thermos food flask. You could heat up some snap before you OH goes to work (and you still have a spare hand) and it should still be warm at lunchtime. HTH, best of luck!

maypole

Olliebeak wrote: »

As regards amusing baby, have you tried putting him in his pram in the garden to watch the washing blowing on the line - with a radio for company! My No.1 son was utterly convinced that the man on the radio was talking to HIM and that the washing was waving to him!!!!

A great idea:rotfl: babies are just fascinated by that type of thing.

the_cat

Congrats on your new arrival!

If it helps you at all, I never bother to brown mince before putting it in the slowcooker and I've never had a complaint