Archel - hope some of those ideas help! I totally remember getting up in the middle of the night to pump; my husband used to try to get up, too, so he could wash up the equipment afterward. One time I tried to get up quietly so he would get a bit of extra sleep and he got irritated with me. I was like, "one of us should be sleeping here!!!!" I think he got my point... otherwise, that whole first year is kind of a haze...
― Sara Robinson-Coolidge (Sara R-C), Saturday, 23 December 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Gem (gem ), Saturday, 23 December 2006 14:34 (seventeen years ago) link
Cutest swaddler ever:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/331222961_f7acbbf084.jpg
― schwantz (schwantz), Sunday, 24 December 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link
Did the cookie dash across SE London tonight with our homemade gifts for the neighbourhood mums, and received a few visits ourselves. What a lovely start to the holiday - especially the big, unprompted kiss from little Campbell when I dropped off their present.
Tallulah has finally dozed off, Ava has been down since her bath at 8pm.
A merry Christmas to you all!
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Sunday, 24 December 2006 23:48 (seventeen years ago) link
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Parents!!!
― Ned T.Rifle (Ned T.Rifle), Monday, 25 December 2006 10:54 (seventeen years ago) link
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/146/333146077_1553762b97.jpg
Ava rolling around in gift-saturated heaven:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/125/333143296_c4dca8edde.jpg
Ava showing Tallulah there's no hard feelings despite the clashing outfit faux-pas:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/125/333135029_42e71d6498.jpg
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 01:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie (aimurchie), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 04:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew (enneff), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 07:27 (seventeen years ago) link
However she's grown fed up with the formula milk so I think we'll need to introduce a *proper* breakfast and give the milk as a *side dish*.
― nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 09:22 (seventeen years ago) link
I spent most of yesterday firmly in the "basic zone" on the 300D but I'll start experimenting with it a bit more today having had a peek at the manual. The top two above were taken with the 300D, the bottom one with the Ixus i. It's pretty great - God bless Pam, eBay and PayPal accounts linked to credit cards...
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 10:35 (seventeen years ago) link
With the Fischer Price house.
I'm very keen to get myself a SLR camera - once I have saved up enough money - cause the one we have now is sooooo fucking slow to react! If I want to take a pic NOW, that doesn't mean five minutes later cause then O is somewhere ELSE. Grrr.
― nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link
RInging the doorbell!
― nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matt Cibula (Formerly, the Haikunym), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie (aimurchie), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 16:51 (seventeen years ago) link
Ah, nothing says Christmas like pacing the room with a crying baby at 3am... and yet mere hours later she looks so angelic:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/334185899_22bb9309ca.jpg?v=0
Oh and I love Ophelia's skirt nathalie.
― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:02 (seventeen years ago) link
You know, ILxors make some pretty good looking kids!
― luna (luna), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― luna (luna), Tuesday, 26 December 2006 19:10 (seventeen years ago) link
The skirt is from Mexx. Personally I love it, but I prefer Gap. Sadly (or luckily financially speaking) we don't have it here. My parents do send me stuff from Japan. I have warned'em once that I'm in Japan - in february eep! - I'll be going there on a shopping spree. :-)
Yeah, O is big, I know! Noone fucking told me that she'd be no longer a baby by the end of the year. BOOOHOOO. :-( But it's so much fun having her crawl around so much. :-) We're now decided to NAME EVERYTHING. She's been pointing at things like mad so I figure I better teach her what the things are. :-)
― nathalie (stevienixed), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 09:20 (seventeen years ago) link
On the way to the football yesterday we passed a horrible building that I happen to work in:
Mark (7): It's kind of dull looking isn't it Dad?Me: Yes.Mark: What does dull mean?Me: Well you just used it correctly so you should know.Mark: Dark?Me: Yes, like the opposite of bright and colourful.Mark: Okay... what does "YOU ARE GAY!" mean?
― Onimo drank ALL the wine! (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 10:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link
Nathalie, those pictures of Ophelia are great, but I keep going back and looking at your excellent shoes. Square toed loafers? Give me your shoes.
― aimurchie (aimurchie), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 14:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― nathalie (stevienixed), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 14:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie (aimurchie), Wednesday, 27 December 2006 14:47 (seventeen years ago) link
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/147/335610826_d9592eed1e.jpg
here he is at 12.5 mos next to his 28 mo cousin.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/328345071_d9228b92a9.jpgafter shots.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/326471527_f38f43ad2a.jpgI think the cuteness of this pic may force my family to move closer.
― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 28 December 2006 01:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― aimurchie (aimurchie), Thursday, 28 December 2006 03:48 (seventeen years ago) link
He's so big! And gorgeous! I want to smooch his cheeks and grab his little chubby arms and legs. Oh teens, I am in love with your babydoll.
― luna (luna), Thursday, 28 December 2006 03:52 (seventeen years ago) link
She's been pretty grouchy the last couple of days, I think it's because we're still struggling to second guess her feeding patterns/needs. Can't just shove her onto a boob when she looks hungry, unfortunately. I am growing to hate her bottles and the eternal round of washing, sterilising, measuring, warming... not to mention the dreaded breast pump. But she's putting on weight like a trooper which is the main thing.
― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 28 December 2006 12:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 28 December 2006 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link
But weirdly she seems to be able to stay fast asleep even while snuffling and spitting up, so she must be reasonably happy (if messy).
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/92/336141033_b160ec521e.jpg?v=0
― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 28 December 2006 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 28 December 2006 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link
i am SO sick of being pregnant. over it over it over it!
here's something weird though: i've had morning sickness throughout this entire pregnancy but while I was in Australia I didnt get, or feel, sick at all. now, i've been back in the US for 24 hours and I've already puked 3 times. what the hell?? does baby want to be born downunder?
― sunny successor (katarina), Friday, 29 December 2006 13:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 December 2006 14:37 (seventeen years ago) link
Just how financially secure should potential parents be?
This is Mr Pumpkins main reason for not having a baby, he says he doesn't want to just 'manage'. I think he's being unreasonable.
― Rumps (Rumps), Friday, 29 December 2006 14:42 (seventeen years ago) link
Whatever you do, don't go thinking that you'll get pregnant straight away. Yes, it might happen, but I think the current stat. is that one in six couples experience problems trying to conceive that means it takes over a year. The longer you leave it, the more risks you take with dwindling fertility.
However, I'm not a parent (yet, hahaha....)
― vicky (Vicky), Friday, 29 December 2006 14:50 (seventeen years ago) link
We figure the amount we would save on not getting to go out ever again should be enough to keep a baby in baby things forever, but this doesn't mean I'm going to try this hypothesis out.
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 14:55 (seventeen years ago) link
I would probably go back to work part time, but to a better paid job.
He's terrified of losing the flat, but at the moment we're left with a full wage to live on after all the bills are paid.
― Rumps (Rumps), Friday, 29 December 2006 14:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rumps (Rumps), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― thebingo (thebingo), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link
(though it is a good time to go looking elsewhere, and you hand your notice in as soon as possible after you return - well, that's what colleagues of mine have done in the past)
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link
Ah for the olden days. Bet our grandparents didn't worry about finances and careers before hopping into bed.
― Rumps (Rumps), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link
xpost, no, because in our grandparents' day, a lot of kids were an asset, not a liability. (My dad is one of twelve.)
― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link
Example, some family friends just spent nearly £200 on a baby monitor/alarm thingie. £200!!!! God knows how my mum coped with having to just keep an eye on me.
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link
It's if they give you above and beyond the statutory that they have the right to claim it back, but not all employers will.
Nothing to tell at the minute Ailsa, though Chris and I definitely would like to have kids, I don't think that would come as a big surprise to people though!
― vicky (Vicky), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link
I reckon Ava & Tallulah cost us about £230/month in food, clothing and other essentials and, yes, nearly a quarter of that is disposable nappies. That's excluding all the extra washing machine/tumble dryer/central heating/car usage that the kids make necessary (couldn't have T in a room below 18C for the first few weeks, etc) or the hefty occasional outlays (buggy, car seats, cot, changing table).
We get £127/month in Child Benefit and £96/month in Child Tax Credit (they're calendar month equivalents, not what we get every four weeks) so, in theory, it's nearly covered. (The CTC will drop to about half that when T is one and, obviously, the costs will mount then; also, before T arrived and the benefits increased, the disparity between CB+CTC and monthly outlay on A was greater).
We slide ever further into debt, though, but that's mainly pre-parenthood profligacy, spells of unemployment and going horribly overbudget on the house refurb. We spent daft amounts on each other this Xmas too, despite saying we wouldn't... :)
No one can ever afford kids, certainly not underpaid lower-middle-class thirtysomething goofballs like us, but, as Vicky said, you can't wait for the promotion/partnership/Lotto win.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:25 (seventeen years ago) link
We probably spend about £200 in the pub in an average month, so losing that in itself should be enough to cope with the expensive early years. Not that we have any intentions right now of having kids, but if we did I can't see myself having any truck with nonsense like changing tables and disposable nappies and £200 baby monitors and stuff (having had it hammered into me by my mum that these things aren't necessary since they didn't have them in her day, yadda yadda yadda). I think we'd manage just fine - most people that I know do.
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― scott seward (121212), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:39 (seventeen years ago) link
Our baby monitor was a gift (and definitely not a £200 model); it went barmy at the beginning of the year (picking up everything but the transmitter) and we don't really need it. We don't live in such a big house that we can't hear the kids fretting/crying from practically everywhere save the shed or the garden.
We seem to run the washing machine semi-continuously already - God knows what it would be like if T was soiling half a dozen cloth diapers a day as well. Good luck doing without the Pampers*!
(* - or eco-friendly equivalent)
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― scott seward (121212), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:54 (seventeen years ago) link