Monica yep it is a double pram. I have the original Strider at the moment but needed the double. It is like the Phil & Teds, one under the other.

I have no idea about anniversary gifts, I am so hopeless. Its hubbys bday next week and I am stuck what to get him for that!

Amy, I just finished that routine and am waiting for hubby to bring Chinese home for dinner. Yum

As for Mother's Group, there are only about 3 that turn up now, used to be about 12. Most are like yours Monica, going back to work now. I am not worried about not going anymore, I do plenty of other things with Lil during the week and she gets enough interaction with other kids. Playgroup sounds like a good idea.

Our MG started our own little thing after the babies hit 12months. We all take it in turns to go to each others house (sometimes parks) and just each bring something to eat along. Its great and the kids get along really good. Its 3 years on and we are still going good. Of course we have lost and gained some along the way but its lots of fun. Breanna has some friends there which she has been friends with for almost 3 years now Most of us even have our second child now so its getting bigger.

OMG i think Miss Sophie will be crawling by tonight or tomorrow!!! she is so damn close!!

She just had a vegemite sandwich for lunch, and she kept holding it out to me saying MUM MUM as if she wanted to share so cute !!!

She is going to have her 1st baked dinner tomorrow lunch time !! We're having hubby's family over and i thought she could try some aswell!

I am dying to give Nina a piece of meat she can chew on, it just hasn't eventuated yet.

Went to the fish markets today to get our stuff for our belated christmas tomorrow - we are having teriyaki salmon and garlic prawns (they are MASSIVE).

A mate is coming over tonight to watch the tennis and have take-away, should be nice to catch up.

Hi girls

Just letting you know I am bowing out of online life for a little while. The last 48 hours has been hard on my little family (wont got into it) so I am stepping away from the computer for a few months. I have also deactivated FB.

I am on MSN and email, if you want to keep in touch just PM me. I am going to log out tomorrow.

Thanks for being understanding. I know we will be ok but atm I just need to be with them

Sare xo

SK, I hope you are ok x x

Monica, enjoy your salmon and prawns!

Emma, is she crawling yet?

Lil was up for an hour and a half last night, I ended up giving in and giving her Panadol and a bottle and she slept til 8am this morning. Maybe she is getting a tooth?

Doing nothing today, it is raining. Hubby is home, would love to take Lil out on her trike but its too wet.

She has taken a few steps crawling but she is doing bum shufflg pretty efficently now!!

We' re just about ready for our roast! Can't wait

SK I have have PMed you, hope all is ok!!

Hey SK I hope everything is ok ((HUGS))

I had a great day/night away yesterday. Spent the day at wetnwild with some friends and Damian without the kiddies and I stayed up the coast last night with some friends while Damo came home to the girls Had a ball. Had the most beautiful dinner (Thai).

Anyways Im living on about 5 hours sleep at the moment (if That) Im so tired lol. Might go relax in front of the tv

Weekend of 1sts here

She crawled, She stood up in her cot, and she had her 1st baked dinner!! she is so tired, she is now down for her 3rd sleep of the day!!! I love her so much!!!

where is everyone?

I'm here.

Hope everything is OK SK ((hugs))

Good job Sophie, did she really enjoy the meat Emma?

Bee - sounds like you have a great weekend.

Our lunch was really nice yesterday. I was SO tired last night I fell asleep watching the tennis.

First swimming lesson today, pretty excited!

Yay Sophie!!! You will be on your toes now Emma

Have fun at swimming Mon!

We are off to the ECHN in about 15mins or so. Not doing much else today. Might go up to BigW and get some more formula but thats about it! Im so dizzy at the moment might try and get myself some more vitamins too while Im at it. Think I might be low on iron again. I do have really low BP though so Im sure thats not helping

Emma, that is amazing!! What a big weekend!

Bee, vitamins might do the trick. My Obs keeps telling me to take iron tablets but I keep forgetting!

We are doing our housework today. Mum is coming to help me vacuum and mop. It is getting hard to carry the vacuum cleaner up two flights of stairs! And then carrying Lily up too so she can watch. At least the weather has cooled down a bit.

Enjoy your swimming lessons Mon. We start on Saturday morning.

Morning Girls!

SK - i pm'ed you hopefully you got it before logging off. i really hope evrything is ok.

Emma - YAY!! congrats. I think Ry has had a baked dinner at school last night he had shepards pie - he is starting to get the hang of meat.

Have fun at swimming Mon. I miss it.

We were meant to start music class today but OH had to work so it will be next week.
Ry had physio this morning and is back in night splints are his feet are getting worse and coursing him to trip when he walks - if he would just slow down!!! He already see's a senior physio but now she wants to refer him to a head ortho pead for further treatment. As he sleeps on his belly and frog sits 1/2 the time and of course has the turned in feet its causing his hips to become to flexi and floppy and really dont want that to happen hence why they wish he would stop walking so much at his age !

Oh and by the way for the mummies with bubs not crawling dont stress as Ry's physio's son ( and you would think their children would be preped to be advance ) wasnt rolling at 9 months!

Summa have fun doing the housework I need to do a big clean up this weekend I think. This rain is putting me off doing it

Alana - How long will Ry be in the splints for? I have a friend who's little girl frog sits and she is only just now getting out of it (at 3) Good thing you are onto it early!

The ECHN has sent ANOTHER referal onto the physio now she wants Chels to be seen asap. She said the sooner the better. She is showing signs of crawling but the nurse thinks if we leave it to long she may not crawl and just walk which she said is not a good thing for them to do Chels has been getting really upset and angry too (flapping her arms and hitting me ) which is from frustration of not being able to get anywhere. She wants to so bad but cant get anywhere. Its starting to upset me seeing her get so worked up over it. Fingers crossed we get in to the physio by the end of the week! On a good note Chels now weighs 8.3kgs

Bee, Lil is similar, is getting really frustrated about not being able to move. She can bum shuffle great and she can walk good now when you hold her hands but no crawling whatsoever. Even when you put her on her tummy there is no movement! Good luck with the referral, I am interested to know how it goes.

Alana, how frustrating, if you could only make him stop walking hey!! Poor little thing, I really hope the splints help.

Done the housework and washing, mum is just about to turn up to help me with the floors. I am exhausted, hope I can have a nap this afternoon.

Swimming was awesome, Nina did so well, the instructor used her as an example heaps as she was happy to go to her, not a care in the world. There were 2 bubs that were not happy at all.

Alana - wow, I didn't realise Ry was walking. Hopefully th splints can fix him right up. How are you feeling?

Bee - I know it's easier to say than do, especially when you have a professional alarming you but I seriously wouldn't worry (same goes for Lil Summa) - they will get there.

Thanks mon im feeling good.

I dont think the splints will work - we have already been down this path after he had the casts on.

He is walking still on all furniture and using the walls to get around too. He walks through the whole house using his walker ( not the ones they sit in ) and has taken a few independent steps from furniture to people.

I'm around- just spending lots of time getting things back on track with DH & trying to control the craziness that is my life.

William has learnt lots of new tricks this week, including how to turn the TV on & off using the button on the side (and generally how to poke buttons in general). He's also doing a new crawl- he puts his feet flat on the floor and 'crab walks' everyone. It's very cute and funny. He's also getting taller, so now as he walks around furniture/walls etc he can reach more things. The finger marks on my TV are getting higher! (Who needs a growth chart? )

Alana- do you think it would help if you took his walker toys away for a little while? Maybe he'll 'forget' about using them to walk around the house? If the splints don't work, what's next?

Monica- I'm glad swimming was awesome! I find it such a relaxing time to bond with my baby, strangely enough I prefer that over any kind of educational goodness

Summa- It's okay to have a messy house when you are heavily pregnant with a pre-toddler. Make sure you have lots of brownie points saved up for those first few weeks when you don't even have time to breathe. You are amazing, I don't know how you keep up with everything!

Bee- I know you are worried about Chelsea's weight, but I think that's just about perfect. You are tiny as well, she's going to love you for it when she's 16 and all her friends are dieting!

Anyway, that's my nightly catchup, I'm likely to not be around very much this week, it's crazy at work and I've got two exams next week (worth 50% of my grade each!!).

Yeah I know




Yeah she isnt going to be a big girl thats for sure. Both Damo and I were both tiny growing up. I must say I love the fact that she still isnt to heavy to hold for long lol.

Goodluck with the exams too Amy!

Good luck Amy - hope things are improving with DH.

Bee - I am loving having a little baby as well, at 9kg that is more than enough for me up and down the stairs!

Did anyone hear from SK after they sent her PMs? I am quite worried about her.

she sent me her mobile and emails, I sent her a txt the other day and haven't heard hope she is ok

Let me know if you hear from her.
I am off to make Nina some pancakes

The pikelets I made soph last week, mostly just get musher and played with. I'm thinking of make some berry crmble of some sort for her

Yes I got one back from her. I got her contact details. She was on FB earler too. I hope she is ok.

Yeah, I guess they were pikeltets, smaller in size than a pancake - she lvoed them, ate two!

I also made custard and cheese sauce.
Am going to try tuna, rice and cheese sauce for dinner with custard for dessert.

For lunch she just nibbled on cruskit, piklets, cheese and crackers, snobbed her nose at the rockmelon and drunk nearly her whole drink bottle and had the entire milk bottle an hour later!

She has been down for 20 mins and is just talking

Mon, its funny what they screw their nose up at hey. Lil loves rockmelon, but gave her pineapple yesterday and she wasn't interested.

So bored today, just hanging around at home. Have vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, done 2 loads of washing and made the bed. Maybe I should clean the car out? Just organised for someone to come mow the lawns cause I am too big now to do it and hubby has been doing 18 hour days.

Lil is watching Hi 5, she loves them! We are going to their concert in March so thought I better get her into them.

She really didn't like the custard until I added some mango to it. I didn't bother with the scrambled eggs this morning as I fear should would snob that too. She is actually getting really difficult to spoon feed - I hope this is just a faze as I have SO much puree in the fridge (about 3-4 weeks worth of sweet, savoury and meat).

Wow Summa look at you go I wish I had your motivation today

Breanna LOVED hi-5 when she was little. She still doesnt mind them but we dont watch it near as much I think I know every word to every dvd off by heart now We took Breanna to see them when she was 1. Had a great time. The kids love it. Chels isnt into watching tv AT ALL.

Whats everyone been up to this week??

Not much here, DH was home yesterday and today (usually it's Monday and Wednesday) so it's been nice to have him two days in a row - today is his day with Nina.

MG tomorrow which will probably be at a cafe give the weather, not much else here at all, trying not to go anywhere so I don't spend any money, LOL

haha I am doing the same as you Mon! I cant afford to go anywhere lol.

Hubby is off next week for a week so that will be nice

I am not up to much this week either. Having the neighbours over for a playdate, her little girl is 2 weeks older than Lily, that is tomorrow, then groceries on Friday and swimming lessons on Saturday. Hubby's bday on Sunday, I should probably look at getting him a present!

Hi girls, been so busy at work, my new assistant manager started last week, and he came in guns ablazing
Anyways, the air con is fixed at work!!! after 9 weeks, but of course it is now pissing doen rain and the sun is no where around

Sophie is gettign around everywhere now! i love it she makes me so proud and i'm just incredibly blessed!

Our routine has changed a little bit now, and she has been waking at about 4.45-5am and i give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep to anywhere from 630-730!! I then give her breaky when she wakes, and go from there!! works better esp on DC days
She is eating more finger foods, and having more 'real' meals. Tonight im going to make a cottage pie, and tomorrow i might make mini meatballs...

For breakfast this morning she had 1 pce toast, 1 weetbix and 1/2 fruit puree snack!

i found a rice pudding recipie, and it calls for pudding rice, what is that?

Emma - good to hear that Sophie is doing so well I have no idea what pudding rice is?? I guess its a kind of rice so maybe its just with all the other rice??

Breanna is a FDC today so me and Chels are going to head to the shops once she wakes and do the food shopping. Might do Chelsea's invites today too while Im bored Its a wet day here today so we wont be doing much else.

its super wet here too! i have alot of washing that will have to go thru the dryer, and i want to go and get Sophie weighed today, i am pretty certain she is over the 10kg mark now, i want a sort of starting point from when she is crawling to see if she evens out a bit now..

For the other mums with crawling kids, did you find they're food intake increased?

Hi everyone!

Sorry its been so long between posts - crazy things happening in my little world at the moment but hope to have some more time to hop on here now.

So much has happened in here - sure I have missed lots and I'm sorry I misssed SK leaving - we will miss her and I hope everything is ok. If anybody is chatting to her pls send her my thoughts and best wishes.

Brief summary of us - Mitch has been really sick with a viral gastro bug so all last week I had a very sick little boy. He's never had anything like it before so it was a bit of a worry to see him so tired and lifeless. He is back to his normal destructo self now though. I must say I did enjoy all of the cuddles I got when he was sick
He is walking around on the furniture, getting countless bumps and bruises (mainly to the head!), saying a few words which is lovely and seems to direct his mums and dads to the right person now which is lovely.
My dad had to have an MRI for ?brain tumor so that has been stressful but luckily that came back ok so now onto the next specialist - not fun.
What else, I haven't been feeling well and have been thinking I might be pregnant (S%%T!!!) as I have all the symptoms as last time and no AF but tests are negative so not sure what is going on there. Mitch has flat out refused boob for about a week so that is also strange. He is now completely bottle which makes me sad but it was distressing trying to feed him.

And we are moving in about a month to another part of VIC. I'm not looking forward to the packing/unpacking. Will be nice to be closer to family but will definitely miss my friends and mothers group.


Emma - congrats on Sophie crawling!! YAY! It is so cute and I bet she is keeping you on your toes now. They just get into everything. Mitch loves his 'real meals' too. Last night I gave him meatloaf and veges - all in finger food and he ate all the meat first then all the veges down to the last pea and corn! It was so cute to watch. Cottage pie and meatballs sound good. Mitch eats more dinner I think now, not so much the other meals.

Will be back later for more personals - sorry - have to run to the shower before the master wakes. we start Gymbaroo again today which I am really looking forward to.

Hope everybody has a great day!

I miss our big chatty days where have they gone??

I found another recipie for a rice pudding that had normal rice, and i have it on now, will see how that goes. I would ideally like to be able to make my own desserts for her as she is still so spewy after yoghurts and custards.

Cottage pie is yummo, i wonder if hubby will even eat it?? if not, i'll just freeze it for DC lunches.
Do your DC's provide food? ours doesn't.. i was sending the mum mum crackers a few days last week, and every day they came home with her, must find out why.. I have kept her home with me today and will do again tomorrow, i love being with her now !

Hi Tanya - glad your man is over the stomach bug, nasty stuff, we are yet to get that, I dread the day. Good luck with the move, I know how much that sucks. If you can have someone take Mitch for a day so you can get stuck in to things, that really helps

Em - Nina hasn't been great with food, some days she totally refused the spoon and won't eat much finger food either, constant battle really. All she seems to want to eat is bread and biscuits. I can get pureed fruit and veg in to her if I really try but she is pretty poor with finger food fruit or veg. Sophie sounds like a machine, good stuff.

Not having a great day.
Woke up with a sore neck, went to MG even though I wanted to stay home and realised I'd left Nina's food in the garage so I left her with the other ladies and ran home. Then I had to go and get my phone put in for repair. When I got home there was an email for a market research which I was stoked abo9ut as money is so damn tight only to find out it was about the pill and periods which just made me sad

Am having lunch with my old boss next week to hopefully pick up 2 days work for a few months and I am going to register to work on election day and my local Bunnings needs stocktakers for one day only later in the month, I'll take anything I can get. After buying the essentials this week I have a grand total of $30 left in my wallet to last another week

Nomes - we're pretty tight on cash this week. I am trying to implenet a tight strict bidget. Scotts OT at work was cut from 6 days a month to 1, so thats like $1000 a month less, so that was a hige chunk...

Wow, that is a big cut.
We generally only have about $150-200 a week left over, and we usually split it but I pay for the groceries out of mine - we do get family tax which equates to $200 a week but that always seems to go on more bills and a little to savings. I hunt those specials each week and will shop at where has the best. It sucks sometimes. Currently putting my money away so I can afford to go to a hens in a couple of weeks (minimum $120) and get my haircut - doing my own colour to save some $$$

Im contemplating having my mum do a colour for me on sat, my hair would be completely grey if i left it, and my roots now are about 2 inches I had a customer comment yesterday how young i was to have grey hair...
I have started doing a grocery shop once each 3 weeks, butcher each 3-4 weeks (on a different week to the grocery) and i'll visit the fruit and veg as needed, usually once a week-10 days.

I have been shopping as we need but ti's not really budget efficient. I just make sure there is meat and veg and DH has to come up with dinner ideas, thank god it is only 3 nights a week as we couldn't afford him home 7 nights, LOL. I buy lean cuisines when they are on special because at $4 a meal that's pretty damn cheap

Tanya, glad to hear Mitch is better. My girlfriend was the same as you, feeling crappy all the time etc and it turned out she is pregnant! She has a 12 month old little girl.

Emma, how rude of that lady to comment on your hair!! I could never imagine saying something about someone's grey hair!!!

Monica, you sound like you are a great budgeter. I spend around $230 a week on groceries, and it is just the three of us! That includes meat and fruit and veg but not nappies. Perhaps you could give me some tips??!! How is your neck?

Lil has been a real grizzle bum today. Looking forward to bedtime!! I am starving, having a sausage and lamb chop casserole with mashed potato for dinner, yum!

I just scour the brochures each week - is it possible for you to shop at either Coles or Woollies? I find Coles cheaper in general though. I buy meat that is marked down and whatever veg are on special and we cook accordingly, I don't meal plan and then buy for it as I think you can spend too much by not buy specials.

$230 is a bit, I reckon you could get it down.

Does DH take his lunch to work? If that $230 included lunches that's not to bad.

I also buy in bulk if say cleaning stuff, washing stuff is on special, we never run out and we save heaps.

Aldi is also a pretty good place for basics.

Freezing bread is good for saving money, especially when they usually always do a 2 for 1 each week on a different brand.

Do you make Lil's food or use store bought? There isn't a lot of difference but it can save money to do it yourself.

Cooking in bulk and freezing meals can save as well, no wastage and there is food in the freezer for when you can't be bothered to cook.

Hi girls!

We made it to Rocky on Tuesday. It was a very very long trip! It's only 600kms but because of all the flooding in this area we kept coming across flooded roads and bridges and had to turn around and find a different way.

Will be back in a bit more often now

Every time I see you have updated April 07 babies thread I know you've posted in here to Nyree and I go, Yay! What a mammoth move. I moved 600km in my early 20's and it was just me and it was super stressful, you are super Mum. Can't wait to see you around more.

My neck is terribly bad, hence the spits and spats I am going on the forum

glad you made it there safely Nyree!!! Hope the unpacking isnt too painful!!

Well, i just found the DA application for my new shop online, still isnt even approved yet, and its suppose to open around april/may/june. Once its approved, i know it will only take 10-12 weeks to build, but if we go by the length it took to approve the other store locally when i opened that in 2005, it wont be ready until the end of next year hope it doesn;t take that long, the council here is soooo bloody slow!

Hope it doesn;t take that long Emma

I got one days work doing stocktake for Bunnings, so stoked, it's the week we go away so it's paying for the rest of our accom and our entry to the Masters Exhibit!

Great news!!! Are you able to look at night fill? That pays pretty good, or maybe you might get your foot in at bunnings

Good luck with the unpacking Nyree! I moved over 2,000kms so I can sympathise with you!

Monica, congrats on the work! That money will definately be useful.

I write a meal plan before I go grocery shopping and do it according to specials. I pack hubbys lunch 4 days a week and he buys it on a Friday as a treat.

I shop at Woolies cause the Coles is too far away. There is an Aldi but I HATE the way it is set up. So I don't go there! Just lazy, hate paying for a trolley, packing my own bags etc.

I make all Lil's meals but buy her yoghurt, rusks etc.

And if I can I always cook double and freeze.

I am really fussy with my bread and only eat it the day it is baked, so we buy bread every second day but that is an extra expense, not included in the grocery money.

So it seems like I do everything right but it doesn't show at the checkout!! And it's not like I buy expensive brands of everything either. Lots is home brand or woolies brand.

Oh well, I might be extra cautious when doing the groceries today and see how I go!

We are off to the shops to buy hubby a bday present and do the groceries. It's gonna be hot again so we might go after Lil's morning nap and get it out of the way.

Happy 10 months old Lil and Chelsea!!