hi girls! cant help you with the mat leave stuff as it came in between my babies! doh!

Hope you are all cruising along well.

Just wanted to send a special hug to possums. HOpe your little man stays there and happy and growing for a bit longer. rest up love. and i'm thinking of you.

my best advice for buying baby stuff is buy the minimum and buy 2nd hand. you can always go shopping once bubs arrives and you'll soon discover half the stuff you bought you won't use lol.

the things i'm so glad we spent $$ on was a hug-a-bub, which i used all the time and am using again now; my new wonderful jazy double pram; and my new breastfeeding chair. we've upgraded our folding change table to a timber one (2ndhand) and it's much better as bub grows. so Immy gets the folding one now, Ash gets the wooden one. And the terry towel nappies and covers. A couple of really good, well fitting maternity bras with no padding in the boob (easier to pull down).

but for DS the things we bought which we didn't need were: baby bath (he outgrew it quickly and it hurt my back to bend to it even on the kitchen table. easier to shower with them); bouncer/rocker (never used it with ds past a few weeks old); a variety of mcns which never really fitted ds properly or as well as the terry towel. hopefully DD fills them out a bit better.

we never bought a breastfeeding pillow, just use one from our bed or a steriliser (used the kettle or a pot on the stove).

That's my two bob.

Oh and Immy is growing so well. she was back to birth weight by day 4! (she's a porker) and had put on more than 200g on top of that at 1 week old! can't believe she's 9days old already!!!

I'm intending on writing my BA soon, just haven't got there yet. Apart from that, DH and I are just enjoying our two beautiful children. we are truly so blessed.

hugs to you all oxox