Babies Born ~ September 2007 #63

Ha ha, the worst thing is my bf is a photographer at country road so she's always telling me about the cute little boys stuff that is coming up. Does my head in cos I want it all! Lol

Hiya ladies, just wanted to pop in and let you all know i've been reading - mostly on my phone on the bus - but it's a bit of a pain replying on the teeny tiny screen, etc.

Ginger, go little J the big 2 yo Rockstar!!! The cake looked awesome, sounds like a great day. My nephews have one of those tables and absolutely love it, still play with it even though they're at school now. :)

Arte, have you recovered from your weekend away yet? Sounds exhausting.

Cass, how come you're going to Tvl? Special event? Is it all cleaned up and functioning again since the cyclone? BTW meant to thank you for posting the Laid vids on FB, watched them all last night, hilarious!

You did a great job on the cake G. I don't really like the oobi stuff - I've tried to LOL because I've seen some great bargains on it, but it's just too impractical for my kids.

I hope Arte is OK, there was a quake in Wellington and I think that was a bit closer to her?

I'm ok. I don't think the Wellington one was out of the norm, they always have lots of little ones there. I am just down about the whole thing. By the time it is all said and done they are predicting around 240 deaths. 240 people, just doing their everyday things and then all of a sudden gone. The cathedral is a tomb. Many of those missing will never be found and will never go home to their families.

Reading but not posting much. So tired and W has started with the mega screaming bedtimes again so I get to deal with that as well as DH being an A-hole because it is obviously my fault and I have ruined W for life by allowing him to be difficult at bedtime. Grrr. Can't be ****ed with his crap as well. Far out I wish I had left him years ago when I wanted to before we were tied down with the kids.

hi girls

arte- are you ok mate? i don't blame you for being down, it's a lot to comprehend. the bushfires here really affected me for absolutely ages, i thought about it constantly and about all the different scenerios. big hugs hun.
what is going on with W at bed time? tell us more and maybe we can help you out. i'm no expert, but you know that both my boys have been shocking sleepers too so may be i can help?

trill- i'm not a big fan of oobi anymore either. i really like the girls' stuff and love buying it for gifts for my friends with daughters but the boys stuff sux once they're past the baby stage iykwim? my new favourite brand is Minti (it's actually from nz arte)

md- thanks for your comments about the cake :) i'm so pleased to hear your nephews still play with their table. it cost a bomb! so i hope the boys get years of use out of it. we haven't actually set up the atble itself yet but i have to say that the boys ahve been playing with the trains just on our coffee table non stop since sunday so i think that's a good sign :)

Ginger, DD1 plays with E's trainset nearly more than E does LOL...plenty of years use yet!!!

Arte, I"ve thought about it a lot too. 240 people, and all their families, and friends - it's so much tragedy to absorb and it just doesn't seem to make sense. :hug: Maybe though you need to try to distract yourself from it for a bit - it's not disrespectful to look after yourself when you need to. xxx Sorry the bedtimes has gone to shiat again, perhaps you need to tell DH calmly what a bad place you're in right now.

Trill, I'm glad you said that about the oobi. As a fan of all clothing/shoes that are practical, I totally agree!!

md- that really is great to hear. i hunted around on ebay for ages to find a second hand table but i just couldn't find one that was suitable within reasonable distance. i put a few bids on but always got outbid so we ended up buying a brand new one and like i said, it did cost a lot so i really hope it's a great investment. we figured it's something we can always add to at birthdays and xmas and i'm going to try to keep it all neat and in good condition iykwim? so its really lovely to hear that your dd1 plays with it.
yes i've definitely outgrown oobi myself as the boys stuff is just too babyish once they hit 2yo and i also agree with something jm said previously and that is that the quality is not great. it is lovely stuff for little girls for special occasion wear though i think.

Arte I struggled a lot with the Brisbane floods, I was so down about it. I felt a little guilty that it was so close and I knew people affected but the GC got away unscathed iykwim. What has happened in NZ is devastating and really is a lot to absorb.
I am sorry W is acting up at bedtime, I wish I had a magic cure for you.

G your cake was awesome. I can't believe little J is 2!! Z has a little Oobi dress that is still to big, its very much a "party" dress. She also has a little long sleeved dress/shirt type thing which will hopefully fit her in winter.

I am back from a huge weekend! I missed the kids like crazy and now have mountains of editing to do. L is at CC today, I am trying to think of something to do with Z..... maybe some baking she likes to lick the beaters.

Oz, I'm so happy for you that business is booming. You do such a great job :)

G, I noticed that with the boys stuff too from oobi. their baby boy stuff is OK, but their toddler clothes make them look like Little Lord Flauntleroy LOL. I would have loved a Thomas table for L when he was younger, but we don't have the room and they both have way too much stuff now for it to all fit on the table. They have enough track now that we can make a track over 10mts long! L will still play with all it and is still keen to get more as well. It's something they don't grow out of quickly and I think its like an investment because you get so long out of it.

Arte huge squishy :hug: 's for you. It sucks that things have gotten rough again and I wish I could just shake your Dh and tell him to pull his head out of his bum and realise that none of it is your fault, because I'm pretty certain that you didn't request not one, but two kids that don't sleep LOL. Tell him if he isn't part of the solution, then he's part of the problem.

Oh, I forgot to say that we are finally starting the boys room! DH picked up their bunks last week and I got the paint and curtains all ready to go. Yesterday I started sanding and washing the walls and hopefully by the weekend we'll have started painting. I suggested to DH that we get the kids to stay at the IL's on Friday night so we can clear their room completely and paint without interruption, but he reckons we'll be fine if they stay here. I don't think we will be because while I was sanding the walls yesterday A came in and rolled all over the plastic sheet covering his bed and got covered in sanding dust :rolleyes: so I don't know how he thinks we will be able to stop him touching freshly painted walls LOL.

Trill, tell us more about your plans for the boys's room. I think you told us once before but I can't quite remember..??!

We haven't painted E's walls yet, dont' want to attempt it when the kids are at home either, but neither of us have very much leave so she might be waiting a bit longer. Not that she minds, she's quite happy with her couple of test-patches that we painted on LOL.

Trill, when I am painting the kids ALWAYS go somewhere with DH. Even if he just takes them outside and I shut the door to the room I am in. Otherwise W wants to help ie not help. Last time I did let him change into some painting clothes and do a bit of the first coat of rolling and he thought he was really neat though.

MD, lol at E being happy with the test spots!

I haven't ever understood the Oobi or any designer clothes thing - personally I like cheap clothing that lasts lol. There is a shop I visit every time we go to Wanganui that has specials on for $3-5 so I usually stock up there. Last time I got three tee-shirts and a pair of shorts for $12. Nothing fancy, but great for around the house and kindy etc. It isn't like we go anywhere worth dressing up for anyway lol

Thanks for the kind words. I am just so tired atm, I have been sick all week and I want to crawl into bed and sleep forever but since DH had last week off work he is too busy to have any days off this week.

The bedtime disaster is just that he is silly and ignoring/growling etc doesn't work and eventually he ends up yelling and screaming for a couple of hours like he used to. I think we might have had a bit of a break-through though - since kindy started he has been a wreak and in bed by 6.30-7pm, but I think he might have adapted and just isn't tired enough then so we are trying a slightly later bedtime again to see what happens.

We went on a kindy trip to the local blueberry farm and got a big bag of blueberries (for $3/kg!!!), so if anyone has any good blueberry recipes...

Three tshirts and a pair of shorts for $12?! Bargain! I always hear about these mythical bargains but rarely stumble across them, or if I do they get disqualified (I have a whole internal checklist of things I don't want on clothes - no cheesey slogans, or even better no slogans at all, none of those painted-on plastic pictures that go to ****e first time you put them in the dryer, no crappy loose-weave fabrics - cos they wash terribly - etc...it's a wonder i ever find anything to put on my kids at all).

Arte, we went through a tricky patch with the bedtimes not so long ago. She still needs a daytime sleep sometimes but it has been counterproductive some days. Then I twigged DH had started giving her Milo instead of milk at bedtime and it turns out that was making her hyper (we're talking sing&dance in your bedroom - with lots of shouting out inbetween - until 10.30 every night :o). Then I realised my late night Milo was interfering with my sleep patterns too. Moral of the story: Nestle is evil and Milo is proof. :lol: (it didn't use to be this way, i think they might've changed their formulation). So it might be worth checking if there's a food or additive that he's having on kindy days that might be setting him off, kwim? On really bad nights we try "lie down and be quiet or I'll shut the door" and even "lie down and be quiet or I'll turn the hallway light off", and I've also done "I'll come back in and rub your back in 10 minutes BUT ONLY IF I don't hear any noise" (rewards lying still quietly which - surprise surprise - usually results in them going to sleep after only 1 or 2 rounds of back rubbing). HTH. :hug:

MD, thanks. We do the "lie down and be quiet or I will move away from the bed" but the other night I was out the door and ran out of threats! We ended up holding the door shut for about half an hour (in which time he trashed his room!), and when it was opened again he settled down very quickly. But it was 10.30pm by then. I don't think there is anything foodwise that is causing it because I pack his lunch and it is nothing that I don't give him every other day. Interesting about the milo.
The bargain clothes are awesome. They are generic print tee's, so maybe a pic of a motorbike/surfer/4x4 but no horrible slogans on them. I don't tend to use the dryer for clothes because we have the fire over winter so they stay alright. The pj's from that shop warp terribly but the rest has been fine.

hi girls

a lot of the clothes i buy are the more expensive type i guess, but having 2 boys so close together in age means that my clothes get a huge amount of wear as they are handed straight from one to the other iywim? some clothes have actually had 4 seasons of wear! i have found that all of L's Cotton On clothes have not made it through to J, so i guess this just seems like false economy to me. anyway i've learned my lesson the hard way from that shop, and don't buy anything from there anymore! i love buying stuff from myer and country road on sale cos i know i'll get my moneys worth iykwim? i get depressed going to Target as there is 1 ailse of boys clothes to 8 ailses of girls stuff so i just don't bother.

so in other news we've just found out that it looks like we'll have to move with the times and replace our septic tank with a proper sewerage system over the next few years which will probably be super exxy. septics are super bad for the environment though so i guess it's a good thing, but just another thing to spend money on grrrrr

trill- what colour are you painting the boys room?

G, There is a cotton On in Wagga and every time I walk past there you can just tell their clothes are nasty and wouldn't last. I get what you mean about the more exxie clothes. I always had a few 'good' outfits for the kids and most of the stuff was good enough to be handed down so I certainly got my money's worth out of it.

Arte, that is a lot of blueberries! The last time we painted a room in this house was back when P was only 6 months old, so we had a 3yr10mth child a 2yr 2mth child and a baby and I have no idea how we got it done with them around LOL. But it wasn't a room we were using at the time so we could close it up when we weren't in there.

MD, we're doing a pale grey for the walls, and then a charcoal for the trimming and the built in robe, which takes up one full wall. Their curtains are a steel blue and their new bunks were charcoal as well.

Trill, W loves his grey room. Sounds like it will be very cool in there.

Ginger, if I had two of the same gender I think lastability would be more of a priority. But then maybe not - by the time W is done with clothes they are usually stained up pretty badly and a bit too cruddy to hand along anyway. I have never had luck with the napisan type products. I try them all thinking there must be a good stain solutions somewhere! Anyhow, your boys always look georgeous!
Why are septics bad for the environment? I just had a system designed for a bit of land we have and the water leaving the tank is supposed to clean by the time it gets to the surface. But sucks you have to spend heaps of cash on something unexpected and not strictly required. I know I have battled my neighbours next to my land for the last 6 years to get them to put in new septic systems that don't leak sewage water onto my land but they resist because 20k is a lot to spend when their current system is working just fine (they tend to ignore the raw sewage discharge on my land lol)

trill- yeah their stuff is trendy but shocking quality. all the t-shirts go out of shape and the jeans stretch in the wrong places iykwim? i would just keep walking if i was you!

arte- the best stain remover ever is the white king spray. i fiknd it much better than napisan.
septics are bad for the enviro as they pump the waste back out into the national park- apparantly it affects the eco-system- promotes weed growth, contributes to land slip, attracts euro wasps. not pretty. our house was originally a holiday house for melbournians as it used to take 2 days from the cbd in a horse and cart to get here so it was a perfect holiday destination. i don't think it was ever intended to have whole families living here full-time iykwim? so the septics are pretty dodgy

Ginger, fair enough that it should be fixed if it is just discharging with no treatment. A town I used to live in discharged directly to the local wetlands but the council was working to put in piped sewage - certainly noticed the efforts at rates time!

We have a septic too, but we've got no choice LOL. But we have ours set up so the water drains into a rubble drain, which filters the water and then that water is then piped to meet up with the grey water from the rest of the house and then it outflows near the dam and soaks into the dam itself. So by the time it gets into the dam it is pretty clean.

Hi everyone

Arte - hugs on the bad going to sleep. We tend to allow two visits and then the threat of shutting the door seems to do the trick most nights. Is he OK once he goes to sleep these days? Does the local council inspect the neighbour's septic? Ours are all inspected every 3 years and we're required to act on anything if there is a problem.

K is obsessed with having a baby at the moment - she keeps holding up all her fingers and saying when I am this many I will have a baby in my tummy - I say I don't think so, not until you're 30!

Ginger - you can get some pretty cool septic type systems these days. We've got an old style one on our other block, but it's supposed to be connected to the council sewer in the next 5 years so we're hoping it lasts.

I like the Cotton On pj's, but the latest summer ones (and now winter that I've just cracked out) are terrible quality. There are some tiny holes in them and the winter pj tops don't have ribbing on the wrists so they keep sliding over her hands. And last years winter ones are too small and this year are massive so we might have to go elsewhere - but where to find pj's that don't have Dora or other cartoon characters on them??

Trill - good luck with the painting, I can't imagine trying to do it with the little ones around!

Well I let fly today at work at the super slow, no desire to ever finish the job contractors I am working with. Gosh it felt good, will see if there is any effect though!

Out for dinner to friends tomorrow, then the weekend. Ahh....

Hi Cally! Good on you for telling them what you thought! Myer have gorgeous Winter PJ's for little kids that aren't branded studd and they aren't all that expensive either and certainly much better quality than anywhere else.

cally: i picked up some pretty basic flanelette pjs for L at Big W...

:hide: i guess i am alone in liking oobi then :rofl: ahhhh i am a sucker i guess...or have been just lucky with what we have bought in the past...no doubt it'll go to crap with the first wash now lol.

Arte: dude. your DH is totally bananas man :o. if a kid doesnt want to sleep it seriously isnt anyone's fault. i was a non sleeper (just couldnt shut off) and it certainly had NOTHING to do with my parents parenting...i was just a non sleeper!)

cally-awww K sounds so cute with her wanting a baby. how gorgeous!
i agree with trill about myer pj's.

cass- seeing as you are the no 1 Oobi lover now i need your advice! i need to buy a present for a little girl (friend of jimmy's). it's her 2nd birthday and last year i got her an Oobi skirt and top that she wears a lot (which i love seeing) LOL. i would love to get her something from the new Oobi range but i can't decide between 2 dresses. can you help me choose?

eta- the new range is up on the 'babys got style' website and oobi baby website. i'm trying to decide b/w the Kitty dress in Navy stripe or the Audrey bow dress. i think i've already made my decision but want to know what you think

hmmmm...they are both cute...but i reckon my pick would be the kitty in navy blue stripe....but it is hard to choose without feeling and seeing them IRL IYKWIM...arrghhh! now i want to win lotto and buy them! hahahahahaha!

yeah i was thinking the kitty as it is more for everyday use and it's also a bit cheaper. which colour do you like best in the Kitty?

cally - i got L some Mambo brand pj's at big w and they have been fantastic. they just have dinosaurs on them so no 'merchandise' iykwim?

I have also noticed that cotton on clothes stretch badly in the wash. Like Ginger I am a bit of a sucker for the designer clothing, but thats not to say I dont buy from target etc as well. And that being said alot of the designer clothes I have bought, I have bought overseas in the factory outlets, like $3-$5 for baby gap and guess etc. Also I have packed away a huge crate of clothing that E will eventually wear. As for Oobi, love their girly dresses, but I keep them for special occassions.

Ginger - Go the blue kitty dress. Its practical and a good winter dress. Girls have so much pink, its nicer to have a bit of blue once in a while. Also the blue nautical kind of look is 'in' at the moment lol.

Arte - I hope you are ok :(

Cally - Thats gorgeous, and I am with you on being at least 30 before kiddies lol!

As for train tracks, they are always a great unisex toy that never lose their appeal!

H, Pumpkin patch have gone crazy on the nautical theme this winter! It's actually TOO much because there is bugger all clothes that isn't that style.

After saying how great Myer PJ's were, I got the kids some really good ones from Target today too. They had 20% off so they come back to about $12 a pair. And none of it merchandise stuff either!.

Non licensed clothes in target trill? Wonders will never cease!! I'll have to have a look. G there might bd 8 isles of girls clothes in target but they are mostly sickly pink, have bad slogans or licensed. I find it hard to buy anything I Ike there.

15 hours later have landed in brissy. Have the morning to shop tomorrow! Bring it on!

PMSL JM, they are shockers aren't they? But yes, I was pleasantly surprised. Target does have nice stuff and most of it is good quality but until they get to about a size 7-8 in clothes it is mostly covered in character ****. Well 15 hours is certainly better than your trip home from Melb last time LOL. Have fun shopping too - in two weeks Mum and I are going to Canberra for the weekend and we had some serious shopping planned. Her partners estate was finally settled so she can go and get all the stuff she has been putting off buying because she's not had the money till now.

See you at the shops in a fortnight Trill, we're up that weekend too! I'll be in Myer and Big W, children's pj section!!

LOL Cally, Not sure if we were going to Civic or just Belconnen on our way out but I will certainly be keeping my eye out for you and your gorgeous blondie!

I agree JM, I am so over pink pink and more pink and also some of the slogans on kids shirts are just so tacky. Enjoy your weekend in Brisbane you lucky thing.

Trillian - I got the pp catalogue the other day and yep its all nautical. I like nautical, but to an extent lol!

Arte - Was in a rush the other day when I read your post, but I have been thinking of you and hoping you are feeling a tad better. I hope W stops with the bedtime dramas very soon.

Need some advice re expressing. My sisters 21st is coming up in late April and she is holding it at a pub (which is almost more a nightclub as heaps of young ones go there) in a function room. No problems sending M for a sleepover with DH's parents, but I'm thinking what can I do with E? Dont really want to take her for obvious reasons, so I'm thinking I may have to express and also send her on a sleepover. But I am worried, will it affect her b/feeding as it wont just be one or two overnight bottles? The inlaws live 100kms away so in reality they will probably be down there for almost two days and one night. And I'm not expressing because I want to drink, I have no choice how do I take her along? On top of that I am already getting negative comments from a couple of family members (on DH side) that breastfeeding controls your life and you cant go out, so I dont want them to be able to use this against us iykwim?

So how do I actually express, do I do it after a feed? And will taking out extra milk make me engorged?

I'm no help with expressing. I am useless at it. In that situation I would get someone to look after baby nearby so i could duck out and feed if I needed. I am a bad cow! Lol

I think by then feeding will be well established so I don't think it will effect your supply. You will prob have to express that night for comfort. But honestly I have no idea and probably shouldn't be commenting! :p

what about taking E along in a HAB? that's what i used to do when i had a function when the boys were little.
oh and tell your family that having a baby controls your life, not breastfeeding.

Spot on Ginger. I cant believe people would discourage bf'ing like that. Lack of knowledge clearly. Don't let them influence you Isa. :hug:

I too took the girls to weddings, parties, anything ;) when they were young if it was acceptable.

Isa, how long are you planning to leave E for? Expressing usually works better when you're leaving them for a few hours not a few days at a time (IMO) but you might be able to organise it with enough planning, etc. The ABA have some good booklets/fact sheets which is probably a good place to start. I expressed better by hand than I did with a pump (except with the hospital's whizz-bang electric one) but TBH breastfeeding was always such a priority to me I tended to organise my life around it. In hindsight (and I can say this now) it is such a short time in your life. Could the family organise to have a nice dinner for your sis before the party at the pub (might suit some of the other family members better too, kwim)?

Isa: oh man i suck at expressing. all i have learnt is to not express too much at a time. i could only do a max of 60mls at a time or i risked engorging. I second the others and vote that you just take her :) i take marta out with me when we have girls nights out. we went to the pub the other night :). that said i do limit my alcohol to just one, but man i cherish it lol!

I'm going to have to put myself on a ban again - I have 3 assignments all due the same week and two of them are bat**** boring LOL and it is making it very hard to get into the groove of writing them, and when I'm struggling I find I wander over here and that's not getting me anywhere ;) so I'm going to be AWOL for a week to get them done and then I will be back. Love you all xoxoxo

oh no! bye trill, best of luck with your assignments. head down, bum up!

Good luck Trill. Might have to do the same - have an assignment due in a couple of weeks that is the.driest.topic.ever. Seriously makes me fall asleep when I try to read it!

On that note, got a B+ for my summer school (70-75%), which isn't too bad since I neglected it terribly.