The new rolling ILX parenting thread, since the other one was getting unwieldy

BABY WEIGHT RACE.

Ophelia knows she will have a brother/sister? Ah fuck it, I might as well say the gender. Well, she has been lifting my t-shirt or sweater to rub my belly. Sweetest thing ever. We tell her repeated, when she does it, that there's a sister in there.

Aidan is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute. :-) Mummy looks great! I wish I looked that grebt, but alas I looked like some pale caked-up zombie those first few weeks. :-) Not looking forward to that. Well, I am... in a masochistic way. ;-)

Awwwww... hello new babies and congrats Nath on girl no.2.

Howie is 6 months next week, can't believe it! This last week or so he has started sitting up on his own. Not as good a stander as Beeps though, he can do it for a second then his knees buckle. Sleep (or lack of it) is still a big issue, but we are seeing paediatrician week after next about his eczema, and he is also going into his own room when we move house next week, so maybe those will help a bit.

Nath and her brood of daughters. (Having met Mr. Nath I am trying to imagine the long-suffering expression on his face when he'll be dealing with a crop of teen girls all at once, every day.)

Roffle Yes, he is aware of the pain he will go through once they hit their teens. In fact even now he sometimes says:"ARGH! A HOUSE FULL OF WOMEN!" :-)

Meg, I have been thinking of you. Especially after seeing a poor baby also suffering from eczema at the crèche.

In fact even now he sometimes says:"ARGH! A HOUSE FULL OF WOMEN!" :-)

And Lucy on top of it all! Well he can always step out and wander down the streets of Bruges and drown his sorrows in one of eight million lambics.

haha He could. But he prefers to stay inside. He's quit smoking and the thought of leaving thr house and not smoke is just too painful. :-)

Congratulations on girl #2, Nathalie! How exciting!

Thanks, Nath. We have got a humidifier for the bedroom which seems to help a bit, but it's not been easy for the wee man in the hot weather. But he is still a very happy chap. We have got loads of clothing from this website so he can't pull the gloves off and scratch at night!

I have a funny feeling that if/when we try for no.2 that it will be a boy as well. I just have this vision of living in a house overrun by boys...

I realized it has to be eczema when I noticed his hands were wrapped. I felt so sorry for him (and Howie too!) because he must be itching so badly and as a parent you want to explain but you can't. And, yes, *duh*, summer must be hard on Howie too. Didn't even realize this! My cousin used to have eczema as well. I remember shaking her hand and noticing the dry and broken (?) skin. She's okay now though.

Jeepers, Julia! She's a smasher.

Here's Ava stealing Porkpie's means of seeing:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/1129825349_ab4d56ca44.jpg

And continuing the theme of blindness, I don't appear to have any eyes in this picture (but Lulu has, like, plenty):

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1333/1129851323_424aed457c.jpg

Lulu is cruisin' furniture like you wouldn't believe and stood upright today with just two fingers of support from her dad. I didn't think she'd walk before Xmas but she simply cannot be stopped now. Unless Ava puts her in plaster at some point, which can't be ruled out.

just a couple of random pixor updates

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1033/1130588510_c625613279.jpg?v=0
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1206/1129747887_9ebabc3f31.jpg?v=0

haha. he's due this sunday :-D

haha. he's due this sunday :-D

You should go into hospital anyway. Get a few hours of gas and air.

Congrats to the new parents! Here's a few more pix...

Ben:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/1133890346_3c8edefe58.jpg

Owen:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1064/1133888188_37a8b033fd.jpg

Owen stalking Ben:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1074/1133036323_913309f646.jpg

Howie has become a total wriggle monster, and has learned a kind of back-crawl version of crawling -- lying on his back, he kicks himself backwards at a surprising velocity. Means you can't take your eyes off him for a second -- I learned this last week when he was in his Bumbo and, in the literally two seconds I turned to open the door, he threw himself out of it backwards and clonked his head on the floor :(

Reminder to self: when choosing a high chair (for weaning which starts next week!!) get one with very reliable straps!

Oh, all these babies and toddlers, it seems like yesterday and yet, here they are at 10 and 6, the 10 year old hassling me for a mobile phone and the 6 year old obsessed with Grease (she sings "look at me I'm Sandra D, lousy with virginity" very loudly at any opportunity).
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1250/1085087264_f8f90f5920.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1213/1036237379_c568b8aeb3.jpg

my six year old niece is also obsessed with grease! she saw the current oliva newton john on tv the other day and was horrified 'THATS SANDRA DEE?!?!?!'

i cant see any pics because flickr is blocked at work :(

Woha! Could be worse! I was obsessed with Grease as well as a young kid. I had the singles and everything.

i still havent seen it right through. i have a real problem with musicals. congrats on another girl! i hope they dont steal each others boyfriends! ps: id bet money youre going with 'farrah'. why wouldnt you?

ok, so american parents: what is/was your highchair of choice? i guess we're going to have to feed this kid something other than formula from a bottle some time.

God, too long ago for me to remember. Probably some Graco model?

I think we had a Graco one, too.

We got the fancy Svan ones. They are nice if you don't have a lot of room, and they are much less garish than most high-chairs.

http://www.babystyle.com/images/product/21066_MID_l.jpg

oh i saw those on ellen! but $250? I dont know about that. maybe if a grandparent purchases it. thats what theyre for. amirite?

I seriously think you are better off with one of these kind of things:
http://www.baby-equipment-rentals.com/images/booster-seat-in-chair.jpg
They are very portable and storable, you can take them to people's houses or restaurants where they don't have a baby chair and you can put them in the dishwasher from time to time.

(Grandparents DID purchase them :) )

xpost. Actually, that's not a very good one - get one that straps securely onto the chair and has a seat base that goes up and down as the baby grows up. But this is the general idea. They are ultra-handy.

My wife said that one of the parents in her play-group had this, and that is worked well, and was portable.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/410V5MRVHRL._SS400_.jpg

is=it

Yeah, that's the kind of thing you need. We've got a professional quality vintage-look high chair that's been completely shelved because of those things. Much handier.

We only have benches in our house, so we needed the chairs.

I'm like famous and shit

You sounded good! Good advice too. Of course when youre the one who is pregnant youve got to get the drinking and sleeping done 9 months before the kid arrives. the day you find yourself standing in the bathroom holding a stick with two stripes sure sneaks up on you.

Thanks, for the high chair suggestions everyone. Id ruled out the ones you put on an existing seat but they do seem to make sense now.

I belatedly agree with the booster-on-existing-seat suggestions, I got some enormo graco model from my mother-in-law and it takes up half my kitchen. Check out the book Baby Bargains from the library, it compares and rates both kinds (and a lot of other items as well); there is a toddler bargains version too. I got a booster but had to return it because it was only rated to 30 lbs, reached long ago. I have that problem with a lot of items unfortunately, this kid is enormous. I think he's 34 pounds now at 20 mos? I know he hit 20 before 6 mos and we had to junk some things (like the car seat) that we expected to use for a year.

Here he is with me recently, I feel like he's going to be taller than me any day now. :)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1104/1121152076_1f2ac748c9_m.jpg

Oh Teeny, your boy lookes so cute. I love his hair. I love his... EVERYTHING. I sometimes wish we could hang out (with the other mini-ILXors and their 'rents). :-)

We bought something like this:
http://www.dreambaby.be/dreambaby/dbad/957212_5.jpg

It's handy but difficult to clean. So much food, crumbs and *shit* gets underneath the cushion. But it's very stable and she loves to sit in it (even when not eating).

hay what do yall think of this

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

It seems like really great, useful advice. It's one of those things that feels intuitive after reading it, but that maybe I wouldn't have figured out on my own. Thanks for posting that!

We are also on the lookout for a highchair... gotta be one with a tray 'cause we are going down the baby-led weaning route. Gonna be messy!

Hi everyone.

Just getting back to the land of the living after Alice's second operation, this one to repair her cleft palate. It went fine and she's very cheerful about the whole thing, but since getting home she just won't sleep (and since she was doing pretty much 8pm to 7am every night before it's been a BIG shock to the system). Also she won't drink liquids at all yet, whether by bottle or cup, so the only way to get milk down her is with a spoon, mixed with solids. Fingers crossed this is all temporary...

Re. high chairs, we just recently got this cheap and cheerful one from Argos which does the job fine (it doesn't fold away but it doesn't take up much room either). We'll probably get a booster type as well at some point.

We have something like this:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3754559/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500006108.Toys%2Band%2Bbaby%3EC%24cip%3D1500006115.Baby%2Band%2Bnursery%2Bequipment%3EC%24cip%3D1500006125.Highchairs.htm

Megan seems comfortable in it plus the top bit handily lifts out to become a low chair with the bottom bit flipping round to become a table. It's magic!

Quite at home in hospital:
http://photos-756.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v121/230/70/632911756/n632911756_214122_8302.jpg

Alice is such a doll!

so happy!

Oh she's gorgeous. Give her a cuddle for me.

Where can I get an adult sized fleecy thing like that?

yay for alice! she looks to be in a perpetual good mood! even when she's not sleeping at night I bet she's hanging out in her cot smiling. and huzzah on the arrival of julia with the amazing eyes!

we have done pretty much all baby stuff on the cheap and been pleasantly surprised at how long it has lasted. we bought the ikea blames wooden high chair in the winter sale back when we still lived in the flat where we ate at the coffee table every night and fed ava in the bumbo on the floor. she was itsy so she could still sit in it at a year old when we moved to a house that had room for a table. that ikea high chair has been fab! we didn't buy the tray but it pushes right up under the table and it's sturdy.

now that lulu's claimed the high chair and to give ava a break from standing on her knees on a big person's chair at the table, we've bought one of those stokke tripp trapp chairs: http://www.stokke.com/functionality.aspna=UK&la=EN&div=C&nr=01&p=TrippTrappFR

it's got the adjustable slats and should last her till she's 10 or so. but it comes with a high-chair bit for babies, if we had it to do over again I'd consider getting it as a high chair. they're outrageously expensive new, but ebay is totally your friend if you're hunting for a tripp-trapp, there are gazillions of them for sale and lots of people spell the name wrong, cutting down on the bidding competition.

if we were made of money, of course, the kids would be kitted out in mozzee nests! all you lottery winners out there will be pleased to know that the eco black nest is back in stock!

http://www.mozzee.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=30

(can you tell I don't know how to put images in here?)

My friend sent me a link to this site, which also seems great if you have money to burn.

we ended up getting this crazy thing:

http://www.coochicoos.com/images/BoonFlair_white_web.jpg

maybe a booster later for grandparent stays.

Man, that is one fantastic booster!