MSE Parents Club Part 5

SugarSpun

Buttonmoons wrote: »

Thanks for that link SugarSpun, looks like the booze sets are sold out but I'll keep an eye on it.

I see lots of people manage to buy gifts from boots but not sure how they do it? collecting points obviously, but you must have to spend loads? Or they do it with those voucher thingys don't they? I can't remember where my boots card is actually....It's not in my purse.

What kinda meals would you serve corn on the cob with? I bought corn on the cobs but have never got round to using them, I'm making cottage pie tonight and corn on the cob doesn't seem like it would go well with that.

I'm thinking Steak?

The vodka and sambuca ones are still in stock. I'm always worried people will think I'm a spammer cause I'm always recommending that site, but it's awesome - and you get 10% off with a code that I will PM or you can search for.

There's 3 for 2 on Boots gifts from October, I think, and people save up their points and use clever till spit wizardry to maximise their stuff.

I'd eat corn on the cob with steak and chips, or gammon, or some chunk of meat and a carb side - chicken with mash, perhaps.

If you're worried about Christmas it's fairly simple to make a cheap gift look good with some creative wrapping and such - have a look at the special occasions board for hampers and craft gifts - you don't have to be crafty to do interesting things. I made a friend of mine a mental health box for his birthday, it had stuff like marbles in it (to replace his), a fan (for moral support), a paper aeroplane (in case he needed to get away from it all) and stuff like that. It probably cost me about £5 but he loved it.

redmel1621

Sami_Bee wrote: »

we all use liquid soap

I knew that really It just sounded like your whole family never washed:p

feelinggood wrote: »

CIO

Was going to ask what this meant but see you clarified it on a later post:D I am a kind of mixture....

Buttonmoons wrote: »

I'm actually a bit worried about affording Xmas for everyone this year,

Don't do it then;)
Honestly.....That's one thing about mine and dh's family, we are all skint so never expect anything off each other...the ONLY people we buy for is our kids.....my mum and FIL buy for our boys and MIL occasionally buys them something, apart from that we all pretty much agree that Christmas is for the kids.
My mum will usually buy a big tin of Roses/Quality street type thing for me and dh...although we tend to just all share them:)

Not sure what to make for dinner, have loads of lovely gammon left over so might do it with some mash and peas today, had it with oven chips and beans yesterday...

Oh! I remember what I was going to say....Kai has filled his nappy 4 TIMES TODAY!!!!!! How many nappies:rolleyes:

Mel x

Buttonmoons

SusanC wrote: »

:grouphug:



£300x12=£3600
+£700
+£250

---

£4550

---

If he is earning that much less this year than last year, they should be able to increase your tax credits. You should be able to phone them and explain that he is getting less and give an estimate for this year. (Obviously it's best to over rather than underestimate so that you don't end up with an overpayment again.)

Unfort I won't get anymore, cause whilst he was earning all the OT and bonus' he was still a trainee so his salary was like 16/17k, and with all the bonuses' etc, it bumped it right up, and now his base wage is 24k or thereabouts, so it works out the same!

Also it was 700 X 4 = big fat ouch now we aint getting it :rotfl:

SusanC_2

feelinggood wrote: »

Cry It Out. I'm the complete opposite of, I don't like Cry It Out or Controlled Crying. I do everything I can to prevent LO crying, I don't think it is good for him

I wish I was in tune enough to do EC. Although LO is with me almost all the time , I still can't pick up on his cues enough. I'm sure they are there, but I miss them!

How does a routine work with breastfeeding/BLW and things? Is it easy to stick to a routine? Were you/are you quite flexible? We have no set bedtime, bathtime or food time.

I found it fairly easy to stick to a routine because I'm that kind of person. It meant my days had some kind of predictability.

I used the routines from the contented little baby book but adapted to us. For feeding I would aim to start feeding Alice by whatever the suggested time was (plus or minus ten minutes). If she was hungry say ten minutes early I would just feed her then. If she was hungry say 40 minutes early I would give her say 5-10 minutes feed and then give her a full feed (i.e. as much as she would take) at the routine time. The way I see it, if you normally eat lunch at 12.30 and you're hungry at 11 you'd have a snack but if you were hungry at 12 you'd probably just have lunch early so it works in a similar way. Sometimes the "snack" feed would end up being longer as I would give her more if 5 or ten minutes wasn't enough to make her happy but what I'd do if that happened was usually do a "late" top up feed (unless she was hungry sooner). I completely ignored Gina Ford's suggested times that feeds should be finished by though as Alice always fed for ages.

For BLW, we just started offering Alice food when we had meals which were pretty much the suggested times in the CLB book anyway. We tended to be one or two routines "behind" Alice's age for milk feeds and solids (probably because of BF/late weaning/BLW) and one ahead for sleeping.

Bedtime has always been seven o'clock but in the early days it would often be anything from 6.50 to 7.40 just because of the length of time Alice took to feed after her bath. Originally it was feed 1700-1730, bath with Daddy 1730-1800 then feed 1800-whenever then bed. Now it's dinner starting anywhere from 1700-1730 followed by bathtime with Daddy then feed at 1830 (although she often turns up late) then bed around 1900.

These days we're much more flexible partly because there aren't as many sleeps and feeds to make up a routine so there isn't so much of a routine and partly because she doesn't spend as much time eating/feeding/sleeping so she isn't so adversely affected if say she eats an hour late or she misses a nap or goes to bed late.

I know some people think that routines are tying but for me (particularly in the first year) it was the opposite. Because I had a routine I knew I could plan to do things at particular times (e.g. go shopping or have people round) whereas if we hadn't had a routine I wouldn't have felt like I had the flexibility to do things as I would never have known in advance when she would need to sleep or be fed. I know most people manage without a routine but for me personally it was easier with a routine.

In terms of dropping feeds I only stopped offering a given feed when Alice consistently seemed to not want it but I still give/gave them if she requested them.

Here ends Susan's long ramble.

jillie1974

thanks guys for your answer re the epidural.

i am a bit disppointed that i will more thn likely need togo down this route, however seeing as my birth plan just has '' just do whatever is best for both mum and baby'' on it and if i do my bit and read official websites and info (as well as you guys) i should be ok. i;ll find out on 07 Sept if they will induce me (depends on BP) and i'm apparently so far really lucky to get this far without having induction already planned and arranged.

MrsTinks

Alexandra hasn't really been hunfry today - not sure what is going on but she's had a couple of small feeds straight from the boob - she got so fidgety on the last one I made a bottle thinking the milk bar was running low or something but after much suckling and munching I checked the level and it hadn't moved! :eek:! She'd just been chewing it! But she's sat with a big smile so not hugely worried...

Dishwasher is deffo on the blink - called the guy who fixed it last time and bless his cotton socks he's going to come out early ish tomorrow morning! Luv him! Only charged us £39 last time to fix it and it's done 7 months. I suspect I know what's happened (one of the hoses probably hopped off again) but I can't move it out on my own and especially not with alexandra around. Hubby is useless with DIY so not letting him touch it! Mum might be able to help me with it but for the sake of £39... I'll get the dude out lol
Managed to get a few bits done - might have to nip out for a meeting later - dunno yet *sigh*
Want to get a few more bits tidied if I can though...

Hubby's meeting went well... except it wasn't his boss but the guy who is kinda in charge of the account... basically he'd be delighted to have him on it, but there are a few issues - like they might prefer someone from the US, he'd prefer DH on it so they'll float the idea in a call/meeting tomorrow if possible to see if the people who'd have to foot the bill for our move etc would be willing to entertain someone from the UK given DHs pedigree...
If they agree then he'll officially apply for it and deal with his line manager at that point... As this account is worth more money to the company and DH could potentially be worth more to them on it then it would make sense, but on the other hand he's trying to close a deal on the contract he's on now... all very tricky. If it DID go ahead though we could be looking at him starting at some point in Oct! :eek: :eek: :eek: he'd end up commuting for a month probably (commuting to the US... crickey! LOL) maybe a little longer - before we'd get everything sorted and got moved etc... all very scary and a little exciting... I'm kinda hoping it happens because it WOULD be great... on the other hand I feel bad as mum wouldn't get to see her grandchild as much

MrsTinks

jillie1974 wrote: »

thanks guys for your answer re the epidural.

i am a bit disppointed that i will more thn likely need togo down this route, however seeing as my birth plan just has '' just do whatever is best for both mum and baby'' on it and if i do my bit and read official websites and info (as well as you guys) i should be ok. i;ll find out on 07 Sept if they will induce me (depends on BP) and i'm apparently so far really lucky to get this far without having induction already planned and arranged.

Why be dissappointed? It's not a given yet and even without your BP issue then there is every chance you'd have asked for one come the time (I know I did!!! I was all on track for a lovely birthing pool when I first arrived in the hospital but by the time they felt I was starting to dilate enough to admit me to the pretty birthing suites I was screaming out for an epidural and right the effing now thank you! :rotfl:)

It's only the birth hun - at the end of the day then the thing that matters is the baby - not how it enters the world I think quite often people get too hung up on the "natural" births to remember the risks involved with them.

If we do have another child I'd have an epidural again, yeah I'd love a water birth but ideally.... I want a C-section! Yeah I know I know... but to me the risks would actually be less than giving birth again... Alexandra ended up in distress and had to be delivered by forceps - DH genuinely thought at one point that he might loose me from the bloodloss and the fact they couldn't stop it...

But ultimately if I have another baby it's because I want another child - not because I want another pregnancy and birth

cazscoob

OMG my kids are driving me nuts! abi has moaned all day and charlie is running wild. i have been teaching him to say love you and he can do it but was copying me when i was doing the silly pronouncing thing and sticks his toungue out to say it lol!

jillie at the end of the day the safety of you and baby is the most important and as Mrs T said the decision isnt final!!

wow MrsT that sounds great! i hope all goes well for you and really america is only a flight away so holidays would be sorted for your family!
hope the dishwasher gets fixed soon lol! im the dishwasher here but luckily the kids help dry and put away

jillie1974

caz and mrs t-
thanks for your honesty.
i have to admit lots of people saying 'gas and air only' or 'just use pethidine etc' i hadnt given too much thought to the possibility that i would have to use epidural. but after talking with tia te other day i realised it was the best thing for me. birth plan now has...

Whatever is best for mum and baby
epidural
as much mobility as possible (i know i may not get this but even to walk round my delivery room a little would help)

the one i want at the end of this is a safe delivery and a baby

elle_gee

Ooohh.. pretty new bouncer - just seen this one: http://www.mothercare.com/Fisher-Price-DwellStudio-bouncer/dp/B002DH8HBW/sr=1-1/qid=1251391010/ref=sr_1_1/275-7165507-9745832?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42764041&mcb=core All the nursery bedding is brown and turquoise elephants too, ya see

DH says we can have it cos it's pretty (well, okay he rolled his eyes at me but didn't say no!) and cos it vibrates and plays tunes which is more than the M&P one does and Rhys seems kinda taken with his bum being wiggled!

We've got £65 in Mothercare vouchers which can't be spent online so I'm going to have to go into the store and ask them if they can order it in for me and do it that way

ETA: Oooohh again.. just found the matching blanket too - http://www.lulasapphire.com/Products/DwellStudio/Gio-Aqua-Pram-Blanket-by-DwellStudio.aspx