MSE Parent Club

jenpoptab

thanks for welcome mesages.

Bailey I have urban detour single buggy which I have had 4 years and has done brilliantly, not sure about twin ones though. I have graco stadium duo, which is rubbish really.

Bailey, I have been in bed at 8.30pm most nights with OH doing a bottle at 10ish, then I do breastfeeding the rest of the time, which is usually 2am and 5 or 6am, but very quick feeds then so can get back to sleep quickly. Other two kids sending me insane, done lots of baking this morning, then off to have picnic on local meadow in hope that they will be amused for little while, then back home for visit from Health Visitor.

Take it easy guys.

Jen

jenpoptab

Good morning

I hope that you are all well. Weather ok here today, was also nice here yesterday so we managed to go and have our picnic.

Girls have been quite well behaved so far today. I think if they are amused then it's ok. I've been trying to read Harry potter whilst feeding Hayden, which although not easy, is the only time I get to do it really. Must say I am thoroughly enjoying it. OH wants me to hurry up and finish it so that he can chat to me about it as he finished it on Sunday- obviously he had far too much time on his hands.

Bailey hope the flood is sorted.

Purplepatch, sounds good about progress of eating. It's scary how quickly they grow up isn't it.

Anyway have a good day.

Jen

Becles

The health visitor came this morning to weigh Charlotte and for a chat on weaning. Charlotte is putting weight on at a steady rate and she's happy with her progress.

When the boys were little, you used to get a box load of weaning freebies from Bounty. Do you still get that? If so, when and where do you get it from?

I just found the sample packs of food really handy, as you could see what they liked and disliked before buying the full sized packets of food.

moozikgal

Normally around 6 months you get the next bounty pack. Its sent out in voucher form which you can then go and collect from boots. Asda also do them now and if you collect from there you get a £5 George voucher to spend on baby clothes, no min spend. If you havent got your pack by 6 months, there will be a number on the bounty website to call to claim, you still have a little while yet!

Lu_T

Deleted_User wrote: »

Its probably going to be at least a £3,000 claim possibly more, but we are unsure whether to or not as we might be labelled flood risk. It wasn't a river or stream which got us, just an exceptionally large amount of rain running down our drive towards the house.

Hey Bailey, sorry I couldn't respond sooner, I've been away.

Apologies in advance for the long post, but there are some things which it is important to be clear about.

Don't worry about being labelled as being at risk from flooding due to this incident. You might have picked up I work for the Environment Agency so I know a bit about how this works. I can't speak for individual insurers but can tell you the broad framework for flood risk and insurance.

Insurers will know whether you are at risk of flooding from a river or stream because of the maps that the EA produce (some also have their own). It is only houses in the flood plain (and only in certain areas, at certain levels of risk) which are categorised as "at risk of flooding" for insurance purposes.

For more info and to see what the map of your area looks like follow this link http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/?lang=_e and put your postcode in the box on the right.

You say that it was the sheer amount of rain and bad drainage which caused the problem. This is known as surface water flooding and is basically when the drains can't cope. Lots of people living nowhere near a river will have had these kind of problems in the last few weeks.

The decision for you is probably more about your no claims status and the possible increase in premiums because you have claimed - rather than an increase because your house gets labelled as "at risk of flooding". If we were to work on the principle that if you get flooded from surface water you may have probs with insurance, then no one would get any!!

It's just my opinion, but I'd be tempted to claim because of the cost of making things right - it's what you have insurance for. Let's face it - no washing machine with a baby and one on the way is NOT a good thing.

If you want more reassurance you could speak with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) http://www.abi.org.uk/

Hope this helps and you've had chance to put your feet up.

Lu T

[Deleted User]

Wow Lu T, thanks for such a detailed reply. That was really interesting and reassuring, i will forward that onto DH.

Since my last post about it DH has cleaned the bottoms of the washing machine and freezer and reckons the water only came up to the feet of both, maybe a fraction higher but not in the appliances, so we plugged them back in and they work.

Therefore I have been able to do some washing, but I am not 100% happy about using them as they've had dirty rain water around them and they smell slightly of pee. Now we think its catch 22, we can't afford to replace both of them and don't think the insurance will pay out for them if they are seen to be working. Even if we said they weren't (which we couldn't do) they might come out and inspect them finding them ok.

We have had some builders quotes for the work to prevent this happening again. It seems that the structure of that room wasn't water tight to begin with and that is why its happened. Iin order to make it good, we've got to have gulleys and drains installed. We are also looking at seeing if we can afford to have a wider door installed to that room allowing for a double buggy to pass through.

If we claimed on the insurance (we have accidential buildings and contents), we would have to pay for the extra work ourselves, but reckon we would only be able to get money for a new lino with a £50 access first. We couldn't expect the company to pay out for work that wasn't there in the first place. Every month we pay money into a house maintenance fund, which has built nicely in 18 months, but this will take all the money and give us nothing left in case any other part of the house needs something doing, or the washing machine/freezer konk out.

Its a dilemna and I can't think straight.

Your right purplepatch, its not our time for good luck. Since last Friday we have all had stinking colds, runny noses, sore throats and poor Jack has suffered badly too. Its been no fun nursing a sick child, when all you want to do is put your head down yourself. He's been cling, crying and whingy and prone to temper tantrums because he doesn't feel well, doesn't do much for my head either. We've nearly got through a box of tissues in less than a week. I'm hoping we'll all kick it by saturday as we've got lots of nice things planned which we've been looking forward to for ages.

I think he might have fallen asleep now, cue for me to have a lie down. The house is a tip, but I haven't the energy.

Lu_T

Glad things aren't as bad as they seemed Bailey and that my explanation helped.

Now off to that settee for some feet-up time. An untidy house is the last thing you need to be worrying about right now, get some rest girl!;)

Lu_T

Yummy Mummy Week 15-23 September

Hi girls

Just wanted to let you know about Yummy Mummy week for Clic Sergeant, the children's cancer charity.

It's basically a fund-raising week for them, but there are lots of money-saving ways to do it.

Find more info and ideas here http://www.yummymummy.org.uk/page.php?id=1

Sounds like a great excuse for a get-together with your mummy friends!

Snaggles

Natasha is teething!!! :eek: She's only a few weeks old, bless her! The last few days she's been shoving her fists into her mouth, biting anything and everything (including me, while she's feeding......ouch!!!), dribbling, crying....

Ryan didn't teeth until 10 months, so this has come as a bit of a shock..

[Deleted User]

Aww bless her, i think nature is cruel to put babies through teething at such a young age, I know we don't remember it, but other animals don't go through it, so why should ours??

We are still waiting for teeth, I think it will be soon though as Jack is knawing everything in sight including his clothes. Yesterday my mum said she saw him running his tongue up and down his bottom gum, but we still can't see anything.

A friend of mine who has had 3 boys suggested I put a damp clean flannel in the freezer for about an hour, then give it to him to suck on. It really helps. Be careful as you don't want frost burn but just enough to numb the gums and something cold to chew on.