MSE Parents Club Part 16

SusanC_2

aless02 wrote: »

Susan, that's a great idea that you do with Alice's pocket money. I wonder when a good age to start that sort of thing...probably around 3ish? They have to be old enough to understand.

We started when Alice turned three but she did already know about money and what it was for because we talk about it (e.g. Daddy can't stay at home all the time because he has to go to work to earn the money to pay for all the things we need) and I had already been giving her the money to pay for things at the till for me if it was just buying one or two items and a straight forward transaction.

SusanC_2

redmel1621 wrote: »

Right I really must get on with this budget, the main problem is knowing how to get started actioning it, when we are behind with everything to begin with!!!

Anyway...before I go quick children update. After a wonderful christmas and school holidays L has turned into the child from hell, his attitude is awful and I really felt like slapping him last night, obviously I restrained, but did shout a lot:( I really hate yelling at any of my kids but his back chat just riled me sooo much. J is being his usual annoying self, but is lovely with it so I try to not let him bug me...problem is he follows you round the house wittering on down your ear and trying to keep on showing things he has discovered/made etc on the iphone, he really doesn't take a breath! But like I say a really lovely lad atm. K is being a complete monkey, climbing all over the furniture, snatching toys away from T and generally being a toddler....he has started eating his dinners again (mostly) after his weird, only eat sandwiches, phase. T is getting stronger by the day, she is sitting up on her own now, only the odd wobble but not really falling over, she will also sit on her hands and knees for ages now laughing, which is cute, she is still very clingy and I can't even leave the room with out heer screeching, but hey...it's a phase;)

Can you overbudget for everything you are behind on so that you'll gradually catch up? e.g. if you were £120 behind on electricity budget an extra £10/month for a year or £20/month for six months.

J sounds really sweet.

SusanC_2

Becles wrote: »

Have you heard of Open Learn from the Open Uni? It's small sections of old courses in the public domain that you can work through at your own pace and it's all free :money:
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
If your brain is bored, you might find something interesting to read on there.

I don't think my mental capacity is quite great enough for something like that at the moment but it sounds really interesting so I am bookmarking it for the future.

SusanC_2

Buttonmoons wrote: »

Keira is obsessed by poop, honestly, I hope she doesn't grow into some scary chick that gets off on poop!

Alice finds bottoms really amusing at the moment because of this Usborne French video she has. She'll say, "la derriere" and then giggle as if it's the funniest joke ever.

SusanC_2

sir_monster wrote: »

Did anyone do baby led weaning, I am reading the book at the mo and seems easy and makes more sense than doing purees? Also don't want to wean till 6 months if poss so would fit in with that.

I did it and it was really easy - weaning was pretty much a non event. There's a post I wrote here about what we actually gave over the first few months of weaning.

SusanC_2

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

I just feel like he wants to feed constantly, and I'm worried that I'll end up completely confined to the sofa, never able to move!!

I fed him for over an hour earlier, and when he came off he just started screaming again. I was so sore by then, we gave him a bottle of formula which has now seemed to calm him a bit.

*looks at feeding times spreadsheet*

I found Alice fed a lot more in the first couple of months (around 28 hours per week) but after two months it dropped significantly (to around 18 hours per week) and then continued to drop gradually after that. It did fluctuate sometimes quite significantly but the overall trend was downward.

I should also add that I think she fed a lot more than the average baby. I once asked a friend how long her baby usually fed for and she said, "Oh a long time - sometimes as long as twenty minutes." I found it very hard not to laugh as Alice's typical feeds as a baby were around 40-70 minutes with an average of around 50 minutes.

Anyway, that is a rather long winded way of saying that even if he seems to feed for ages now, it will decrease as he gets bigger and this is probably the peak for feeding times.

SusanC_2

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

Last night wasn't a good one. Josh woke up at about 2.50 am, I fed him for what seemed like ages, but he just would not settle. I tried to express some milk for him, but didnt have much. We gave him what I'd expressed, but he was still crying for food, so in the end we gave me a bottle of formula. He eventually went to sleep at about 5.10am, and then slept until 8.30am, so at least we got a few hours.

The MW was quite reassuring though when she came earlier. He has gained 100g in weight, so almost back to his birth weight now which was good to hear. He had his heel !!!!! tests too, and was so brave!

She said that if my nipples need a break, then it should be fine to just express and feed him from a bottle for a day or two without it harming my supply.

From ten days I expressed every morning and just before I went to bed and then OH did a bottle at 10.30pm. Having that daily break made a huge difference to my ability to cope with the soreness. (And whilst "they" usually seem to say you shouldn't supplement with formula, if you used formula and it enabled you to continue breastfeeding it may be worth it.)

SusanC_2

Becles wrote: »

In other news, my appeal is back and they are not altering the results of my uni exam, so I've gradated with a 2.2 BA Honours in Business Studies. Disappointed overall but I did write my uni story with all the challenges in that I overcame which made it seem a bit better. Regional support worker told me to do that and it has helped.

I'm sorry they didn't reconsider but I still think that is an impressive achievement. I scraped a 2.2 in my degree as a full time student and there's no way I could have managed to fit a degree in in the time since Alice was born. And you have more children than me. And dogs. And a job.

SusanC_2

LOL - I've been posting as I caught up and evidently nobody else is here so now there's a whole page of posts by me.

smartie12

SusanC wrote: »

LOL - I've been posting as I caught up and evidently nobody else is here so now there's a whole page of posts by me.

Attention seeker;):p:D