closeR, I've caught your typo-itis .

Lol Indith, it's a good job we didn;t get any close to the magic 1000 messages!

[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/837375-December-2006-Here-39-s-to-pre-school-newbies-bu siness?rnd=1254686626034 doh]

What Oli asks for [http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/837375-December-2006-Here-39-s-to-pre-school-newbies-bu siness?rnd=1254686626034 Oli gets]]

<EEK> @ rats

We had mice in our house when I was a teenager and my stepbrother killed one by dropping a bookcase on it when he looking it see where it was hiding. He picked it up, the mouse ran out, he screamed and <squelch> . Effective but a bit messy.

Indith, I have 6 hours a week with no dcs in the house and it's still a tip. I had grand plans for that time - declutter and clean but it just disappears with no discernible change to the state of the house. It's bloody depressing but I am resigned to mess until 2011 when ds2 goes to school .

Good luck with the sleeping, will send over my spare sleep vibes.

AQ, glad things are finally getting easier for you - 4 under 5 including twins would be tough for everyone, you should be proud of yourself for surviving it and still being relatively sane.

DS . It's horrible when work stress interferes with home life. If you can afford it, maybe it's worth it for a bit?

Jabber, are you sorted with the new office now?

I've just finished my first wedding cake and I'm quite proud of it . It's on my profile.

We're rapidly running out of space here, next person to post has to start a new thread and link to it here..............

He's been on lactulaose for a while now but he keeps going through no poo phases.

Indith - have you got any lactulose? It softens their poo.

Daily

Mice AQ? Pah, they don't count, we had rats when ds was small <shivers> My friend has just evicted a mouse form her sofa, it was living in there for ages, you could hear it scratching around while you were sitting on it!

Dh sleeping in with dd for the next few nights <evil cackle> the girl shall sleep, I'm getting a tiny bit fed up of shoving my breasts at her 6 times a night.

Ds not pooing again, grr, he also had stupidly high temp today so whether he is ratty form lack of poo or from that I don't know. He kept going on the potty though then crying and doing nothing, always asking for a wee though and never a poo. <sigh>

Oh but I do love him, gentle, caring, funny, crazy boy that he is.

oh, dear dailystale Can you afford to leave? Anything else on the horizon?
Thanks re: clannettes I am finally enjoying having 4 children after a 1 year of it!
Please all stop talking about chocolate now, though
indith, pls come and see my house at about 5.30pm any day and you will feel so superior the unwashed sheets won't matter anymore We have a mouse eeek, I think it's the morsels of food the dt's throw all over the dining room that I sometimes can't find. Sigh.

I'm still in potty training denial and i think I will wait for the half term.

Lovely lovely pictures of your clannettes AQ. Made me feel broody and hungry all at the same time!

Work front is naff.. to the point where DH said "I think it's time to hand your notice in as it's making us all miserable here."

lemon meringue pie yesterday <om nom>

Ds has conkers and has not had an accident today yet. Not that he is asking to go yet but I have managed to get him on the potty or loo without tantrums enough to catch everything. Phew.

Had friends round for dinner last night then friends came round this morning and stayed til mid afternoon so I have done nothing and the house is a complete mess and the washing is not done. I really, deperately need to do a proper clean as I am only just managing to keep on top of the basics. Not dusted since we moved in, not hoovered the stairs ever. Not changed our bed in weeks and there are so many other things to do to for Rainbows, house stuff etc. ARGH!

And while typing this post ds has asked for a wee having already done it <sigh>

It must have been a chocalatey day all around. I had cupcakes but very of Indith's selections. Sorry the sleep didn't last.

Will try to get on FB and look at pics, AQ. I'm terribly behind on everything it seems right now. Keep thinking it will all get better soon. New equipment arrives tomorrow. I saw a last minute error and am hoping the guy checks his email before heading out tomorrow - eek!

Didn't last Eli. There was a lot of ranting and swearing and not much sleeping last night <sigh>

those chocolatey, guilt free, BFing days...(much the same now, but with added guilt and fatter).

Great re dd sleeping, Indith, hope it lasts long and sound!

And glad you had good party and your fair share of cake, AQ.

Bit snotty here, but otherwise still remarkably settled

Yay for chocolate cake!

Yesterday I had chocolate truffle cheesecake. Today I had chocolate sponge with icing and then polished off the cheese scone the dcs had been sharing. None of it my fault of course, dh needed driving to see his mate on Sunday so I went off and met a friend in town while I was waiting ot pick him up then today I took ds to see his little friend whose mother said we could stay in for snack or go to a cafe Her staying in option was a rum soaked chocolate pound cake which is divine (she made one for my birthday last week) but it was a little early for that!

I made chocolate cookies today too and am about to go and eat some with ice cream.

And now I am typing up and defending my chocolate habit to you lot. My daughter has a lot to answer for but hey ho snot almost gone, tooth on the way but she was only up 4 or 5 times last night and did a 4 hour stretch (ds woke up during it ) and it is now 8.30 and she hasn't woken up yet!

I'm hungry.....

I have just eaten a LOT of chocolate cake too. I shall blame indith. I bought 2 cakes (of course) for the dt's and one was left just for dp & I to dispose of. Wish I could have got one of yours, Oli!
Photos of dt's birthday on FB, twas really lovely, thank you for birthday wishes! Kids all adorable.
Glad tantrums settling down, Oli, ds1 was exactly like that and it was awful just horrendous. I couldn't believe that anyone could scream for that long. Cuddles eventually became our way of getting out of them too (and reading a book, that still works now!).
ds2 also fairly keen to stay at school once we get there. Think I shall cry once all of my babies start school.

Happy Birthday AQ's dts

Where did that year go? Oh yes, attempting to move house

dd2 also in realm of second children wanting to skip pre-school: takes 'book bag' (the one the HV gave her at her 2 yr check) in with her, talks about her 'school', and pretends to write numbers and letters. Unfortunately, precocious maturity draws the line where waking at night and throwing hissy fits is concerned...am baggy eyed and in total sympathy with those of you with younger ones, this morning. Grump.

Jabber, good luck with the office move - can imagine thats stressful, be good when its done!

<wanders off in search of chocolate cake and blames you lot>

Oh yes, meant to add Happy Birthday to the dt's! It was quite memorable when their conception was announced

Ds2 is like that, oli. He looooves visiting ds1's classroom.

Ooh, Happy Birthday for tomorrow B&F, can't believe they are one already , it still feels like a couple of months ago that we were all reeling with the news that you were pg with twins.

Eli, glad house move went well and your back in the land of t'interweb.

Jabber, glad your office move is progressing well too- no more looney co-workers, I bet that's a relief!

Indith, posting at 4am is never good. Snuggling with ds2 is the only reason why he hasn't been put up for adoption yet .

Speaking of ds2, <whispers> he appears to be slowly coming out of the worst of his tantrums. He used to have huge epic ones that lasted a good 45 mins to an hour (usually over the wrong size of spoon for his cereal - BIG issues, you know) and he would not be coaxed/ignored/distracted out of them but lately he's asking for a cuddle after just a few minutes if I completely ignore him then calms straight down. I really hope it continues, his strops really grind me down.

He also seems to have decided to skip preschool and go straight into Reception. I went into Dd's classroom on Thursday morning to ask he teacher something. When I went to leave Ds2 was happily sitting at a table with Dd and her friends colouring in then trotted over and sat on the carpet for the register . We spent a couple of hours in there in the end, he was so happy. Bless him, he'll be gutted when he realises he's got 2 years of preschool before he gets to go!

AQ A year eh!! How that has gone by. Happy Birthdays DTs. I'm looking forward to meeting you all too - and thank you for your kind words about my two. They are lovely to me, but then they are mine.

Welcome back Eli nice to have you back.

Chocolate cake Indith, yum, where's the other half send it my way would'ya?

Am having a bf crisis so best go but be back soon

how's it going castles?

jabber, hope the office move works itself out and you're pleased in the end with it all. Can imagine it's quite stressful.

indith, i tried to kick dd into shape and gave up on it in the end, i just put up with it and figured that she'd get there in the end which she has. I couldn't face anymore cc. I got 1st proper period last week after stopping feeding dd and it was awful but no way I am ever getting pg again. Yay! Feels weird to leave that side of my life behind after 4 children in 5 years really.

Best go wrap some pressies

He he Jabber no I was wondering if we had scared everyone else off.

Glad the office coming along. Hope it goes well.

I need to kick dd into shape. I don't have the energy to do it.

Fecking period started. Almost worth getting pg again to make it go away Certainly explains the hormones of the past week though.

lol, indith, did I post something confusing? Just wondering if I should feed ds2 more to catch up with your dd?

Glad the house is nice, eli. Maybe an arnica rub is in order AQ?

Trying to keep up with MN. Life is hectic atm. Got moved out of old place, very tense getting office stuff packed up but new office is coming along well and may be up and running in 2 weeks or so.

Eli, glad the move went well.
HPD to AQ's twins.
Indith, hope you get some sleep.

The snuggles may have made up for the 5am start but I've now been up for an hour already! She is thinking about crashing so I have music on and am rocking her.

AQ I was thinking yesterday that it must be close to their birthday. Very happy birthday B and F for Sunday.

Aha we have eye closure

Eli new house is great. I could tell you more but I am going to attempt bed again!

welcome back eli really glad house is great, that's fab for you.
indith, hope the snuggles enough consolation for being woken at 5 urgghhhh. And am very sure she is not actually a heffalump but lovely.
Pleased to report my 2 have finally settled down, and dd was fairly awful for a while there. She is still v.unpredictable, but sooo cute that I forgive her. I could do without the snot cuddles at my end, I was covered in the stuff by end of yesterday.
Went to 2 hr yoga class weds, now can't walk or bend easily again. I skipped 1/3 of the postures as it was. Double fed up semi-angry resigned sigh.
Still, the darlings are 1 on sunday and I'm so glad they're here iykwim. All 4 being lovely together. Went bowling with ds1 and ds2 today that was really fun!
Looking forward to meeting Lennied's dd and ds in a couple of weeks, looking on FB yesterday lenni and they're gorgeous!

Thanks

How's life in your new(ish) home?

Baby snuggles...I think they're pre-programmed to be adorable and snuggleable so we forgive them the crappy nights. It works, too (still does with dd2, even with pre-schooler cuddles )

Welcome back Eli!

I have dd asleep on my knee, enjoying the rare snuggle. The girl did not sleep well (never does but was very unsettled) refused point blank to go back to sleep at 5am and has hardly napped. Of course now she has crashed she'll probably refuse to go t bed. Her dinner will be ready in a min though. Seems so cruel to wake her.

Mmmm baby snuggles.

Quiet is about to be shattered: we hvae broadband back in our new home

Far too much to catch up on, but will try asap - we're fairly settled in our rental, lovely lovely friendly road, all well! Hope everyone is ok.

Indeed it is........

I ate half a chocolate cake for breakfast today. There. That'll get you talking.

Very quiet round here...

Hey Jabber did we say something wrong?

at dd, Indith! My two were slow growers. Ds2 is only 27 pounds at almost 3 years!

DS2 still intrigued with potty training. Wore pants all day at Mother's Day Out and did fine to the surprise of everyone. Today he has done two wees in the potty. After the ordeal with ds1 I am much more laid back. Anything before age 5 is now a win in our house...

How are the pants Jabber?

Ds back in pants. About 50/50 since Sunday I think.

Dd just had her 8 month check (at 9 months but who's counting).The milk-a-holic is 20lb 13oz which is a fair bit more than her brother was when he was a year old! She is only 1cm shorter than he was at a year too And I was wondering why she looked like she was growing out of her infant carrier carseat that he stayed in til he was 1! Ooops. Best get on the Halfords website and order her a new seat!

DD did exactly the same Jabber - for three days straight everything went in her pants! Bless them. How is the new office?

DS2 requested regular underwear today He did promptly wet himself but at least he's thinking about it...

Yep, coffee table sanctuary also gone here. DD is bemused. DS started cruising properly today - once they are up on their feet they seem to get going so quickly.

Let us know Indith - do you have my mob number? AQ has it if you want it - next time we'll work it out so you can definately make it.

Oli glad things are improving.

Lenni hope ds gets better quickly and sleep returns

AQ how long are you going to have to wait now for ds' op?

Dd is pulling herself up and thinking about cruising, has made the odd couple of steps but no more. Ds loves it although it does mean that his sanctuary of the coffee table to keep things out of reach has been breached

I don't think I'll be able to make the date but you never know, shall wait and see what happens when dh is back at work as he won't be able to drive yet, my parents don't have wireless so he can't work from there so depeneds if he can walk well enough etc to leave him here!

Lenni, I'll bring the Relate books I've got to the Zoo and you can borrow them as one of them goes through all the family stuff. It makes a lot of sense to me as DH and I also have very different backgrounds - I think yours and mine are similar (dysfunctional!) as are our DHs' but it goes into how if influences your relationship with each other and ways of daling with it. Have FB'd you back but it's good for me - we can talk cakes then too!

Glad ds's sleep is better(ish), fingers crossed you get a better night tonight.

Oli - of course you can let me know. In all honesty it is going to be rubbish timing wise isn't it as you've birthdays 28th and 1st plus I'd have to come and collect 2 cakes in the space of a few days. How about you do one or the other and you choose which? Still def want one for PILs ruby wedding anniv on Dec 19th - think I might like one shaped like them in their wedding outfits - is that a possibility?

Yes, lets do it sooner if poss. Next two weeks are pretty rubbish for me time wise as away next week and the week after DH's new shop opens but week after that free - wb 5th Oct except for Tues as our anniversary.

DS's sleep still awful but much brighter today and not slept all day in car seat/pushchair/my arms so hoping for a better night. He's woken a couple of times already but gone back off so hoping he's waking out of habit now rather than from feeling ill.

Glad things are improving - it sounds like a great counselling programme. What kind of stuff does the family influences/history thing involve? I think that may have a big part in our problems too. He comes from such a different background to me, his parents are so hands on, I find it all a bit claustrophobic, and I also feel left out a lot.

I was just thinking that very thing, Lenni and was planning on FBing you later . Would be lovely, if we do it soon we can do it while ds1 and dd are at school so ds2 and your dd can get to know each other.

I'll need to have a think about the 3rd, there's talk of going to my dad's for New Year as they'll be back by then but nothing's been said about dates yet. Can I let you know?

How's ds's sleep/ears now? Poor love, sore ears are horrid. Hope he's picking up.

AQ, things are steadily improving, thank you for asking. Had our second session yesterday and the counsellor seems to think we're making good progress. We're doing the family history/influences stuff next week which I am dreading, far too many issues there but I guess we need to get it out because I suspect that's at the root of a lot of the issues I have with dh.

How're things with you and dp atm? They were a bit rough a while back iirc. Sorry ds1's op was cancelled, I find the biuld up to that kind of thing very hard to cope with so I understand the dread of having to do it all again. Good news on ds2's speech though - were you or dp slow to talk? Is it a hereditary issue?

DS is pulling himself up AQ, but not really cruising just yet <mops brow>, is Indith going to make that date in Oct? Hint hint Indith!! I'll book the train if that day is ok.

Oli d'you fancy a trip to Chester Zoo before the weather turns? And I need to talk to you about cakes. DS's party is on 9th Jan, but DD's is being moved to 3rd Jan as sharing with a friend - is that no good for you with all your birthday congestion?

I don't even know what tethered cord is, jabber something stuck near ear canal got to be removed under GA.

Is it the tethered cord op, AQ?

I've lost track of dd & ds, indith & lenni - are they both crawling and now trying to cruise? It flys past so quickly, I forget what it's like then onto the next stage. Dd is standing for what seems like several minutes and then turns into a lion cub once more. V cute.
Saw SALT for ds2 today, his articulation/pronunciation quite delayed but otherwise ok. Not much to be done but wait. Also have to re-refer ds1 to SALT. Sigh. She suggested it could be genetic! Did I mention that after all my built up, ds1's procedure on monday was cancelled - some silly secretary lost his notes. Got to do it all again in 2 weeks, not that ds cared as he got morning tele (it's banned in our house).
Hope sleep better tonight, indith & lenni, fingers crossed!
How's Relate etc going now Oli?
Hope Eli's house move going ok...

It's a PITA isn't it Indith - DS got the going up part down now, it's the coming back down that is the problem.

He has a virus and ear infection btw - finally saw GP this afternoon. No ABs as he thought it was already on the wane. Hoping for more sleep tonight - I've hit the wall.

Oh dear lord dd is pulling herself up on all the furniture. Where the hell are the bloody screws for the playpen? <tears hair out>

Lenni, have you got an in-ear thermometer? I used to find that the side with the infection was slightly higher than the other side. If he's as bad tonight I'd phone up and make a huge fuss about being seen. FIL caught one of ds2's ear infections last year and said it was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced. He's also permanently deaf in that ear as the infection so badly damaged the drum. The surgery refused to see him too and by the time they did it was too late, which is why I'm so paranoid about ears and infections these days.

I've told the powers that be and they are fixing it ... tomorrow. Not just me either - there are a few bolders out there!

Thanks for ear advice Oli - unfortunately they won't see me at the doctors bloody SF - he has a temp and cold symptoms so got to have tel consultation. I'm a bit since they won't be able to look at his ears!

Good luck Eli - will miss you. See you at your new abode hope it all goes well and not too much sanity is lost.

Night

ITNG

Yes, move, not the bold! Bold sort of matches how I feel (stressed) which is fine

Piles of clothes on beds...huge sacks of dd1's clothes for dd2-one-day ready for removal van...AQ, I can only imagine that multiplied by 3!

Daily, thanks for translating..shame though, dd hasn't been interested in INTG for a long time (blame big sister's influence). Its all Tinkerbell, Barbie, or anything pink now

Lenni, what did you do ? It seems to be a Dec06 problem, my homepage is an old thread (pre christmas, don't ask!) and that's bold too. Most peculiar but much respect to Lenni for high tech breakage.

From what you said about ds last night I'd say ears are definitely the problem. Haing to be held upright to sleep was a sure sign that it was bad. It was usually followed by the eardrum popping which solved the problem but needed ABs so maybe keep a check for icky greeny yellow gunk coming from his ear over the next day or so.

Lots of luck, Eli, see you soon!

DS2's room also covered in outgrown clothes with no place to go. DS1 is so much bigger than ds2 so I will have to keep his clothes for years and years before ds2 will fit into them and I have nowhere to put 4 different sizes of clothes (ds2 is just moving into 2-3yrs, ds1 is going into 7-8yrs) so I don't know whether to keep them or pass them on to someone else who could actually make use of them.

I was kind of hoping dropping day feeds would mean he would eat more food. But he eats a fair bit anyway so probably wishful thinking.

Yes, is about time we had a new thread. But at least I can't make this one any bolder... a new one is a danger for me!

Good luck with the move, Eli - is that why you're switching off? Or the bold...
I'm sure it's not you, Lenni Will text you about date but mobile went awry today. Re: dropping feeds, if you drop a day one won't he just be more likely to wake up at night? With ds2 and dd, I stopped trying, they give them up when they're good and ready unfortunately. The dt's up until last week were having 5 bottles a day which is ridiculous. Realised that I needed to cut one out when ds3 started throwing everything over the side of his highchair grrrr. Ono one bottle this morning and ta da he didn't throw a thing. I did get really sick of the feeding with ds2, introduced a lunchtime bottle at 9 mo for that reason as I couldn't stand it anymore (the faffing, I mean). Although it probably led to eventual end of bf, I'm sure.
I've kinda missed everything else this post, and need to sort a mountain of boys' clothing on my bed in order to get into it. I hate summer/winter changeover time in my house. DS1's saved for ds2, ds2's saved for ds3, ds3's in charity bag, get out next sizes for all, go to NCT sale to buy clothes for dd. Arrggghhh.

Oh, yer all very bold, so you are.

Is it time we had a new thread?

In The Night Garden Eli

Thanks Indith. Cross posted, or rather, delay between posts due to hairwashing night...

What is INTG? If it keeps ds quiet, it might keep dd quiet too.

Oooo, very bold.....

Goog luck Eli.

Lenni what did you press woman? None of the other threads I'm on has done this! Hope sleep is better for you tonight and that ears are ok.Sure pupil is nothing to worry about.

Dd in bed, ds watching ITNG before bed. Soon peace will reign. Until dd wakes up anyway.

Disconnecting tomorrow (computer, not me, hopefully, though doubt I'll be far behind...) so quick wave and sleep vibes and get well ears...

Into the Chaos I go

OK, i've made the thread go bold sorry abot that...

Oh and went to hospital yesterday for DS re: his pupil. Not sure if I told you all about it but one dilates more slowly than the other so GP referred us to have it checked. Was all ok except it is 'abnormal' so got to go again in 6 months, but vision fine so that's the main thing. Consultant said to me "You remember Madeline, the girl who went missing? She had an abnormal pupil." Well that puts my mind at rest

DS worse last night - am off to GP to have ears checked, but not until tomorrow, hoping for some sleep tonight. Last night was awful, he wailed and wailed and was up most of the night. He only stopped crying when I held him upright and rocked him back to sleep. Had to do it for 20 mins of every hour though! I'm not complaining about his usual night feeds for a while after this!

Funnily enough Indith, DD is also evil before she poos! Really grumpy and irrationally toddler like.

Lenni I'd say the same about ears, ds is still like that when he has an infection, makes me feel very when it finally pops and I realise what was causing it (again) though dd was quite like that with her teeth so maye something will come through and he'll settle down.

I think I was vwery lucky with bf as ds dropped everything so naturally and so has dd (well, apart from at night of course). Dd tends to feed before going down for morning nap (so around 8) then after lunch (12 ish), sometimes during the afternoon, especially if we are at home, if out she won't bother to ask she'll be too busy looking around) (maybe 4 ish) and then before bed (6.30). At the moment I don't feed first thing, she isn't interested, but she always feeds at 5 anyway.

Ds being evil, he is mostly regular now but sometimes dosn't poo for a few days and after 1 day he turns horrible. We are now on day 3. When he finally goes it is like someone flicked a switch and he is all sweetness and light again. Given up on lactulose as he doesn't struggle to do it anymore he just doesn't.

See new HV on Thurs so shall see if she has a magic sleep wand. And talk legs for ds, am slightly concerned as he still walks and runs like a baby and stands with his thighs together and legs splayed out from the knee.

Anyway, lunch. Dd is complaining.

"asks"

I'm with oli on both - sounds a lot like when ds2 had ear probs and we never dropped feeds. In fact, he would proably still be bfing if I had not had a week long workshop out of town. He still wistfully asked for mommy milk.

Lenni, have you had his ears checked? It sounds similar to the way ds2 behaved when he had his ear infections. He didn't really have symptoms in the day but screamed blue murder at night and wouldn't settle because the pressure in his ears changed and hurt a lot when he lay down. Might be worth getting someone to have a look, especially as he's got a minor temp too?

I'm no help with the bfing either as ds2 was feeding 3 hourly until he was well over 1. I used to wear baggy t'shirts that dropped down easily if he got distracted but other than that, no idea! Never sit down is the best thing I can think of, as ds2 would demand it the minute my bum touched down .

Also - Oli/Indith/Jabber/any others of you who carried on with bf, did you ever get them to drop feeds in the day and if so how/when? DS still feeding 3 hourly and only really dropped 10pm feed, other than that day and night feeding like a newborn. He looks about 12-18mo now, he's off the height chart he's so tall and I'm starting to get fed up of feeding him constantly in public with him crawling off mid feed and my boobs being on seemingly constant display. Am desperate to get him to drop a daytime feed but he's resisting - any ideas?

Argh. DS awake all night last night. 11am-2am actually up out of bed playing. This baby malarky is hard work. Think it might be teeth (wishful thinking) but sounds like you are having a much harder time Indith. Are you out of the area of your sleep person now? Maybe worth another plan since a lot has changed since you last saw her? DS now firmly in the camp of not sleeping for anyone but me and last night and tonight have resorted to cuddling/rocking/feeding him to sleep. He wailed horrendously even with that so there was no hope of him going off by himself. He is refusing his dummy too which is what makes me think teeth, plus has a temp of 38 and is snuffly but comes down with calpol and seems totally fine when awake.

<<wanders off worrying>>

I know, oli, it's hard to know what to say as ds1 adn ds2 were both horrendous sleepers

at least, I've been there, too and survived...barely

Gah, forgot to send much sympathy to Indith over DH's knee and dd's sleeping. Can't give any advice on the sleeping except to say I've been there, so I know exactly how you are feeling. I remember the time around 7/8/9mo as being particularly horrendous but just when I thought I was going to go utterly crazy, he improved a bit. Hang on in there .

Gosh I'm finding it hard to keep up on here for some reason.

Hooray for Lenni's changing lump - vvv good news .

LStC, yay for a nappy free house - makes life sooo much simpler!

Jabber, hope the move goes smoothly and work life is a lot easier once you're in the new office.

Eli, how long til your move now? Oxford sounds like a great plan, especially if there's no reason to stay where you are. The living apart/knock effects aside, our move up here has been the best thing we ever did. DCs are happy and our general quality of life is so much better.

Well, like castles, my nest is empty for the first time in 6 years (for 6 hours a week anyway!). DD adores school, ds2 has trotted into preschool on his 2 mornings without a backward glance, never mind tears . Not sure whether to be pleased or slightly miffed about that, tbh!

Hello

Yay for changing lumps, potty training and whatever else I may have just read that needed a yay as it has just gone in one ear and out the other so to speak.

Dh has been sliced and diced and is now hobbling along on his crutches so tis all fun and games. Ds seems to have cottoned on to the fact that daddy has "hurted da leg. Careful daddy! Make it all better" Dd still not sleeping, gone right back, will not let anyone else settle her, has to be breast and bloody hell she yells, before it was surprisingly easy getting her to settle by patting rather than breast once we actually did it but now within 30 seconds of going in she just yelling, screaming so loudly she makes herself hoarse nad snotty and starts coughing so much she almost makes herself sick so of course I just feed her. Sometimes, rarely, like last night she goes 3 hours between feeds, other times I'm up around 8 times. I just don't get the girl, putting her to bed is easy, she naps well too. She feeds before naps and bed in her room as she gets far too distracted out of it but I don't always put her down awake and she often chats and giggles for a bit before going to sleep so it isn't as though she has a major milk/sleep association problem.

ARGH!

Anyway, I just fed her (she managed a whole 2 and a bit hours woohoo ) so off to brush teeth and go to bed.

Sorry I've been AWOL again I'm glad to hear lump seems better and impressed at the potty training. lol at Indith's poo story glad things seem less stressful at the oli house and hoping for smooth transition for eli.

things are moving at breakneck speed it seems around here. We are having a belated birthday party for ds1 on Sunday. I don't know how many kids will show up but we invited the whole class of 22 so I am well and truly frightened at the whole prospect. Dh has planned the whole thing so I just have to do last minute party cleanup that morning and try to survive.

i have one more "real" day of work at my current office then start the moving in process at the new one. Still working 3 days a week at my commute offices to bring in some regular funds and tryng to stay sane in the midst of it all

Ds2 is doing a tentative move at potty training. Managing one or two pees in the potty with much fanfare but no move towards poos (no pun intended!)

AQ, I'm so sorry you are still having poo issues with ds1. We have had some very tense moments with our ds1 as he has had several wee accidents since starting school Please feel free to email me anytime if you want to talk about it off-board. It's a really hard thing to deal with and I can't imagine doing it with the dts as well.

I made a brief foray into FB. Like eli I'm still figuring out new names and matching everyone up. I'm wondering if my love of wine has damaged my name-recognition brain cells...

Castles, I spend those 40 minutes of dd's first morning shopping too

Today, she did the whole 3 hours solo, with a big smile on her face...possibly because I tucker her Nounours into her backpack and she knew he was there in case of sadness, or possibly because Daddy took her and he's far easier to let go of

Daily, I think so...tbh, its ages since I even looked on FB. Would I know if I was? As in, email alerts etc? Am a total FB avoider (don't dare start, no time) so hopelessly out of loop. More .

DD2 loving nursery. Not had one tear. I on the other hand am spending too much money

Eli - Are you in our facebook group?

pps to TT - she's dry at night now, though, if I lift her onto toilet before I go to bed. Thank god.

ps to the TT sagas: I go for days thinking dd has mastered it, then an evening like this one where she pees a) on chair in restaurant b) on kitchen floor with great interest. She then says 'oops, I think I made a mithtake Mumma, I weed on my sockth'.

Day 2 of pre-school tomorrow, she was very sad when I wasn't there on Wednesday (all 40 minutes) but loved it when I was. Which bodes well, I think

AQ but yay for ds anyway, major male life skill he's mastered, after all....

And loudly echoing yays for toilet trained dds, and extra loud for changing lumps. Very good news, and what I was logging on hoping to see (the latter, that is, not quite obsessed enough with TT to be looking out for it....though not far off at times )

Am going to have to admit defeat over name changes, far too disorientated generally with moving chaos and schools starting etc to keep up. Can anyone do a subtle hint type list for me? <whispers> I haven't even had time to keep up with why they've changed, though I do know its something to do with the DM....

Yay potty trained dd and double yay for changing lump! What a relief, lennipillar! No sign of potty training here, ds just stand at the toilet holding his willy now and again to no avail. Hasn't got a clue
all I have time for, sorry...

Lady - well done you and DD. Such a relief to have it over isn't it. Now potty training is over life resumes as pre-DCs doesn't it??!

<<Whispers>> Have possibly got some good news. Lump seems to have changed, not quite like it was before - doc said if it changed it was probably a bf thing or cyst and harmless, am sure it has softened and shrunk and has moved a bit.

Well done LadyStColumb (trying th think how I could shorten your nickname)

DD2 potty trained. Yay. Dry pants for over a week and she has mastered no 2s

AQ, I am secretly quite pleased with myself More importantly - yay to you coming to the Deep. I'm excited now. My DD is very shy with people she hasn't met before so would probably be quite quiet with DS2, I'm sure they'd play.

Off to London now so will check back in on Thursday night.

Must be hard to not think about it, lenni, I know how I'd feel. Hope MRI comes in soon. BTW, don't you think you're amazing for bf this long when you never did with dd? Would love to go to deep (the dt's have been and loved it). Could go on day when nanny is here and take ds2 too or just me & dt's? Wonder if dd and ds2 would actually get along? Anyway, deep is quite grand from LO pov. Yay, will mail you.

AQ - lovely to hear from you. I would love to meet your DTs. Let's sort it out, I'll come to Hull one day - have been meaning to take DD to the Deep so I could tie the two together. I can get the train from me to Leeds and then on to Hull, it is only about 1.5hrs. When is good for you?

Oli - I'm certain that the pressures you've been under have a lot to do with it. When I think on what we've had go on in the last couple of years I can see exactly why DH and I row. I keep saying to him we just need to hold it together while the DCs are little and then once DS is DD's age we'll have more time to invest in our relationship. We compare ourselves to childless friends too often for our own good.

No news on boob - been referred for an MRI today but unlikely to hear anything for a while unfortunately. Need an MRI rather than a mammogram as mammograms apparently no good while bf and waiting list is very long for MRI. GP did warn me that I would probably be asked to wait until finished bf and have a mammogram but she has referred anyway since she knows I don't intend to give up all that soon. It is in an awkward location to be able to rule out being a cyst, but doc didn't think I should worry too much as still a good chance it could be bf related. <<Buries head back in sand>>

at castle's empty nest syndrome...
We're starting to realise how expensive house buying is up here too, we need a huge place and don't have enough deposit for one. Glad you've got a rented place sorted out at least though, Eli. Such an upheaval though?
Oli, couldn't quite remember how long dh had lived away etc but did think that you didn't make much of the adjustment at the time. I have control freaky tendencies too (as does my dad so why we thought 2 weeks in close proximty was a good idea I'll never know). They're always going to come to the fore to cope with difficult situations. I have teetered on the edge of OCD during the worst of it. But clearly not in the grip of over cleaning etc now as ds1 v.happy today to hear about dust bunnies and how many of them he could find in our house. Bless.
ds1 starts school tomorrow, god knows what it'll be like. Bit less worried about ds2's language lately though as he's talking up a storm, yay. Dt's are absolutely adorable. Would really like to get indith's dd, lennied's ds and my 2 together!
must go sew some labels on. I've never done it before, could take me all night!

Am having early 'empty nest' symptoms here and DD2 hasn't even started at nursery yet

Feel like taking them all out of school and heading off into the sunset at the moment.

AQ, sorry about holiday. Onwards and upwards eh.

Good luck with move Eli. Agree everything is still ridiculously expensive round here. We'll never be buying at this rate

And, AQ, its v nice to have you back

AQ, you are bringing back memories of our hols with my father and dsm <shudder> there were good bits, but we felt quite mad by the time we got home. Maybe ds's soiling exacerbated by some of the holiday stress?? Just a thought, really hope things easier for/with him by first day of school. When does he go back?

Oli, agree with you and with AQ...in which case, I'd think some Relate will help hugely. What a year.

We're moving into rented house nearer dd's school, further from shops but not too far (ditto dd's pre-school, should keep me fit) and not bad. Smaller house, bigger garden, some stuff to go into storage.

Seriously thinking about move to Oxford, and might spend half term there looking around...prices here where we are still nuts, and no stock

LenniEd, you are in my mind m'dear, hope the appointments have come through and you're haning in ok, I'll never forget the feelings I had first time (and second) I had lumps to check out. Ongoing hugs.

Personally I think you're spot on AQ. A year living apart in the week and ds2 not sleeping for all of that time and so long afterwards is almost certainly the major cause. That and my own control freaky tendencies which came to the fore while I was on my own and haven't really retreated since dh has been back .

Sorry ds1 is still so bad re. soiling. What happened with the appt he had a while back when you thought it was becoming a psychological thing - did that bring up anything?

Holidays with parent and dcs are vv tricky ime. My dad is ok (or does a good job of hiding any irritations) but my dm is a bit like your dad and makes everyday situations seem 100x harder.

Trying to keep you all on radar and failing, perhaps once ds1 back at school (if we send him, soiling is that bad at the mo). I shall surely dream of someone from MN tonight now tho
glad things looking up a bit, oli with dh. Have the two of you considered how difficult it must have been to live properly with each other again after the spell you had apart a lot of the week? Phaps some of it delayed adjustment? I've found when I go into counselling and I've had a LOT that they do tend tomake you realise what pressures you've been under. That most of the time we underplay or pretend don't matter. If thatmakes any sense. Cake website yes! Drool. So glad you're finally doing something with your talent there (aq sighs and thinks of last 4 tesco birthday cakes...).
eli, thinking of you in moving hell.
lennied, so sorry what's been going on, will text/email you soon as I can. Hugs
indith, hope op with dh sorted out and dd sleeps! With 3 boys, I still hold that dd is the worst sleeper of the lot! She's so delicious though.

back from hols, obviously. Bit crap. Dad v.critical, couldn't cope with kids around, had forgotten that about him as he lives in oz now! We got up at 2am, drove half the night then stopped in Leeds so didn't get hom until 5pm and it was the best day of the whole holidays!

I think that's a bit more 'normal', then , I'd forgotten you'd met him in RL. Have you found a rental place yet? I'm totally confused as to where you are in the process.

Ah, but I've met Castles' ds, so does that still count as subconscious MN surfacing? Actually, think the whole school term/pre-school start is struggling to surface in my subconscious because my conscious is utterly taken up with moving house. Poor subconscious, doesn't get a look in atm.

I wonder where we'll end up?

Oli, well done you and dh - thats good going, pre-sessions, I reckon. Good luck with the cake business, am delighted to hear you're going for it (and if you get to sending cakes further afield, will be your first customer please!).

The Relate lady we saw for our initial appt said it might well feel false for a while, Castles, we've had a couple of stresy moments but they've stayed as moments rather than hours of ignoring each other as used to happen. There's still a long, long way to go though. We are steadfastly staying away from too emotive topics until the sesions start but we can at least be in the same house without falling out.

No website yet, DH has an ex colleague who is very knowledgable about it all and Lenni has given me some contacts so it shouldn't be too long. I'm going to sort my business account on fri as I'll have NO dcs at the first time in 6 years - they'll all be at school/preschool so I thought I'd do something significant for me. I might even go and have a leisurely coffee in the very lovely coffee shop I've never dared venture into!

Party was lovely, so calm and quiet. No squealing or shrieking, they just played beautifully together, bless them. I heart all girl parties .

Eli, I dream about other MNers too, but not usually you lot, random ones who I don't 'know', like castles does. Bizarre (and worrying ) how it creeps into your subconscious.

Isn't that funny Eli. I have dreams about people I've never even met on MN! DS has had no homework yet!!! Just lots of tests presumably as they start streaming them now. Not sure how this differs to the KS1 ability tables . I think it will all kick in this week.

Oli, usually half the battle is admitting there is a problem in the first place. I hope things continue to improve and it doesn't become a strain being so 'nice' to each other. Your cakes are truly amazing btw. Had a good look yesterday. Do you have a website yet? You should.

Oli, one of your cakes should tame any amount of 4 yr olds! Glad life is feeling easier atm, hope the apt comes through soon. And thanks for the luck, I need it

Castles, woke up dreaming about your ds moving into KS2 and my dds and school....that image must have stuck! How's he finding the homework levels? Big change?

Thanks for all the thoughts and good wishes for dh and I, you're all so lovely . We're just waiting for the Relate appointment to come though but we are trying hard to listen more to each other and be more considerate so I'm feeling quite positive atm. Life is certainly nicer than it has been for quite a long time.

Had manic week, 3 cakes, ds1 back to school and dd starting school. She's only doing afternoons for the week so it's 4 trips to school and back each day . Still, she's loving it so far which is great. Ds2 starts preschool on tues which he is looking forward to in a big way. No vouchers here til January either. 2 lots of dinner money, Relate fees and preschool fees is making me a bit about our money situation - it's a good job the cakes are picking up, I think I've got about 10 orders between now and Christmas so we can have toast with our teatime beans .

Lennipillar, sending lots of love and positive vibes your way. Hope you get some more detailed answers next week.

Eli, HOORAY . Finally it's happening for you. 2 weeks though, that's quick, isn't it? Hope it all goes much more smoothly from now on in.

Indith, I properly LOLed at DS and the Poo. Classic .

Castles, hope you're feeling better. with your dh on yor behalf, you of all people need some pampering when you're poorly. Thank you for checking up on me, am touched .

Daily, saw your dd1 pics on FB - she looks so proud, it's so sweet. Will add new cakes and dd in her uniform at some point before Christmas!

Must go to bed, have 8 4yo girls coming for dd's birthday party so need to prepare my eardrums for a major assault at a pitch normally only heard by dogs .

Yup, private pre-school here too - hence 3 mornings per week for now (though think that'll be plenty for her anyway). She's looking forward to it, albeit a bit anxiously. I look forward to having dd2-free time, but as she hated the playgroup there last term (we pulled her out after a few weeks) I'm worried in case she hates this too.

dd2 starts pre-school on monday too. the grant doesn't kick in until january so I'm guessing it'll be lean times this quarter!

Eli, are you staying local in your rental move? Congrats on sale btw, if I haven't said it already.

Yes, DD2 starts nursery next Thursday. Not sure who is looking forward to it more: me or her Am having to pay for it though - they don't do the pre-school thing here until the year before school and then your chances of getting in are bugger all.

DS & DD1 are well and truly back at school. The holidays seemed to go by in a flash. DS has moved to KS2 (juniors) now and staggers to school every morning under the weight of an enormous rucksack!

Hope everything goes well for you Lenni.

And still hoping everything is bearing up chez-Olihan

Oli, still scanning far too fast and may have got it all wrong, but seems you're going through rough times with dh...am v sorry, hope you're getting some support, ideally together? Thinking of you, lovely.

Lol at poo plop. Its a great age for memorable quotes

Sorry about dh's op timing, Indith, and sympathies on bedridden dhs - mine had torn ligaments and asthma last week, beautifully coinciding with vomiting bugs and the day of insane exchange phone calls Do you know how long he's likely to be out of action?

LenniEd (sorry, keep forgetting to memorize new names before posting ) its horrible going through breast lump hell, I so wish you weren't having to with two small ones in tow. Mine were all pre-LOs (so far) and that was bad enough. FWIW, they are absolutely right to be thorough and check, and they do tend to these days - which is good: only downside being the anxiety it causes, of course. MRI at your young age is even better than mammo, too - hang in there. Cysts, especially post-baby, are hugely more likely than anything sinister.

Am supposed to be hunting down storage shelves for rental house and shouldn't be here - don't tell dh please Daily, thanks, I thought belly-up too - even the EAs thought so. I've lost 3lbs this week without even having caught the dds' bug.

Oh, before I go though, are any other LOs starting pre-school this/next week? Its getting a tad lost amongst the house move stuff, but I'm definitely emotional about dd2...along the lines of 'nooo, she's a baby...<sob>...they'd better be nice to her and protect her with their lives...<growl>' etc. Much like first time around, IIRC.

Oh Lenni, everything crossed for you.

Eli glad you've exchanged, hope moving goes well.

Oli I hope things continue to go positively for you and dh.

Dd is reckless. She has no fear. She is amazing. Unfortunately she still is not the biggest sleep fan in the world!

Ds keeps doing poos at night and during naps. Never does one during the day, always at sleep time. Then he sticks his hand down his nappy. When half asleep he roots around, se=mears it on bedclothes and gets upset. When awake it is hysterically funny.

Indith hears ds getting annoyed and goes up.

Ds sitting on bed with nappy and pj bottoms on bed in front of him "done a poo"

Where?

Ds slithers off bed and looks under it "down there"

Indith looks under bed, can see no poo. Reemerges to find ds proudly holding a perfectly round juggling ball sized poo. "Go plop"

"ok yes ds we will take it to go plop but put the poo back in the nappy now. No ds really put the poo down, put it back in the nappy. Ds put the poo in the nappy please...."

Gets slightly irritating when you have to change his sheets 4 times a day though.

Dh was supposed to have his op today but it got cancelled, hopefully next week now but maybe the week after which just screws things up right royally for a couple of wedding we have coming up and for Rainbows (since when totally crippled he can't look after the children)

I'm sure you're not going to listen to me but try not to panic. thank goodness you checked for lumps <cyst vibes> thinking of you.

Eli - good news about the exchange - for a while there I thought it was going to go belly up.

dd1 started school today -dds had an early night and were in bed by 6pm dd1 not asleep though

Don't know DailyStale - was a bit of a fiasco. I had to go and sit outside waiting room to feed DS as there was nowhere to sit left inside and the receptionist forgot to call me so only saw practice nurse and then someone else but not my GP. There are 3 lumps and only one is likely to be unrelated to bf. Could be a cyst, but needs checking out. Mammogram apparently out while bf so might have to have biopsy/MRI on it or wait. Going back on Monday to see my own GP for referral and trying to bury my head in sand until then.

Glad you've finally exchanged Eli - what happened with the buyer? Hope you have recovered. 2 weeks to move isn't all that long, are you ready? Will be thinking on you rushing around packing with a toddler and littly trailing you from room to room!

All okay Lenniepillar?

Very brief appearance, sorry, not even had time to scan this time - though did notice lump post and will be thinking of you big time tomorrow, L-as-was. I've had one or two biopsied and scanned, bricked it, had bad feelings, but all was well - hoping exact same for you.

Basically disappeared due to vomiting bug (first time ever, should be grateful really - well, maybe in a week or so when I've recovered from 3 nights without sleep) first dd1, then dd2. Fingers crossed not me next! Sorry you've had flu in your house, Castles, hopefully not the sicky sort.

Somewhere in the middle of all that we exchanged contracts, will feel like a relief once I recover from a) horrible time the buyer put us through on the day and b) lack of sleep

We are moving in 2 weeks. dds not back at/starting school/nursery till the 9th, either...

HOpe everyone else ok, do miss you, will re-appear asap. xxxx

Oli, DD2 has just been cooing over your DD's birthday cake. You are a very talented, and patient, lady!

Apologies for posting in triplicate. Blame it on the lurgy!!

Ah, I see you are here Eli. Must remember to read further back that last few posts! Sorry to hear about continuing house hassle.

Congratulations on your move Indith. Must be lovely.

Good Luck today Lennipillar. Sorry about your birthday weekend fiasco. Bloody families.

Hope you ok Oli. Been thinking about you.

Congrats on the business Oli. Very and Jabber on finding new premises.

Have had flu bug for 4 days but in typical fashion it was me that was up with DCs whilst DH languished in bed. Maybe we should be going to Relate

Where is dear Eli? Is she still on holiday? Or moving?

Fingers crossed Lennipillar x

I had a cyst in my breast a while back. It was really scary when I first found it. I hope things go well and that's all that yours is, lennie.

Off to bed now, really nervous for tomorrow. Am almost certain lump is nothing now from reading everything I can google but still feels very hard and I have a bad feeling about it.

Oli - Well done at getting your cake business up and running. I hope the counselling goes okay for you. My friend told me that she has separated for her partner and i'm really sad for her. I think she'll cope, but of course she's breaking her heart for her dd. I've told her about Relate too and hope that if she feels there is a chance then she'll use the service.

There - is that better? <<twirls>> I didn't like being a Tiger anyway.

I used to be Lenni if that helps.

Good to hear you've found new premises Jabber - hopefully that'll be the end of the troubles with your colleague's wife.

Off to bed now so will catch up tomorrow on the rest. Am still doing my single parent bit, hopefully not for too much longer.

I'm still figuring out names too

Have I posted yet that I found office space? Will be moving out of my situation with my friend in a couple of months. I need more room and it's just not working with the two of us. Not a good flow, staff can't get it together etc.

I'm taking ds2 to a baseball game today. He is SO excited, lol. Was going to take both boys but now ds1 has a birthday party to go to. He will enjoy that much more anyway and I can't handle the two of them very well these days.

AQ, what issues are you worried about with ds1/2? Do you think they may be on the spectrum?

All these name changes - gah - sorry, can't keep up!

Oli, so sorry to hear about your troubles and hope counselling works for you both. Hope you are ok xxx

Survived my week with MIL. I deserve some sort of award. She was behaving extremely irrationally by the last day/night no doubt fuelled by my complete zen-ness. Counselling really does help. Need some more!!

Will catch up later. Have mountain of unpacking/washing to do.

Just doing a very quick glance but saw oli's post and had to say AQ is most definitely right. I thought things were over for sure between dh and me but after only about 2 months of counselling we made an amazing turnaround. Really hope it works out that way for you. I'm happy that the first visit was positive.

Hi AQ - hope you have a good time in Scotland. What are you worried about with DS2? His speech? Or more general development?

Not sure on the op for DS1 - how does he feel about doctors generally? Would he take to the idea badly? If he would I might be inclined to let the nurse explain since then you can take on a supportive role rather than him feel betrayed. If he is likely to be okay about it but worried rather than cross, I'd tell him myself since could control better what you say than the nurse will and could just give him some information rather than all of it in one go.

Have had a really shit week here. We'd planned to go away for a couple of nights for my 30th in April. Booked a nice hotel in Italy and PILs agreed to have the kids. Yesterday FIL informed me that they have booked to go to their holiday home at the same time so can't have the kids. When I asked why they booked for then he said it was because they wanted to take his sister and that was when her holidays were and she didn't want to go later in the year as it would be too hot. WTF!! When I said we had booked hotel and couldn't cancel without losing our money he replied with "Oh well." MIL has offered to reimburse us but I'm still really cross and it's about more than the money - I don't want to go when it isn't my birthday and there really isn't anyone else we could leave the DCs with. I don't see why they think it is ok to make us cancel when we booked this months ago. And they go away every 6 weeks, so they really didn't need to book for the same time - knowing we had already booked for then. Whay didn't they discuss it with us first? Only option now is to take the kids with us - but would have to change hotel since current one is adults only. Hotel company will let us swap to sister hotel. Am so annoyed about it all.

And to make matters worse I have a lump in my breast. I've been aware of it for a couple of months but thought it was a bf thing and would go. It hasn't and now I'm starting to worry so am going to GP on Tuesday, am sure it is nothing.

back for a day between holidays
oli, so sorry to hear about you and dh, no idea it was like that. Relate did save us a couple of times and even now helps us get through some bad times (at the moment not fantastic). Jabber also tried counselling and that helped her too, didn't it jabber? Really glad you're trying to sort it out, but hard to see wood for the trees sometimes. same for eyeliner - is there a relate in ur neck of the woods?
indith, house sounds great, glad it went well. dd not so good although at least ds better, if not one it's t'other!
eli, welcome back, do hope house stuff gets sorted vv.soon!
got to go, leaving at 2am to drive to scotland! been ok week, had to be persuaded to go away again but nice to be home if just for a day! dc's all well again and all v.lovely with exception of ds2 who is still major PITA. Spends whole day running after me saying where nunny, where nunny (can't pronounce m). Getting v.worried about ds1 and ds2 and their development after speaking to dad & stepmum (both paeds). plus ds1 has to have GA in 2 weeks to remove stupid thing from his ear. How do I talk to him about it anyone? We've got pre-assessment in 10 days where ped.nurse will talk to him about things, but need to raise it somehow.

Anyway, really really must go now and will check in again in a week!

Could you link them for me please Oli - I can order them from the library. The mobile libray man might look at me like that but ho hum.

Didn't say anything to anyone, I am the original bottler . I'll let you know how it goes, AQ has said in the past that Relate saved her relationship with DP so I have high hopes.

Our issues mainly seem to be down to communication, or rather poor and lack of it. I guess it's a fairly classic problem when you've got young kids, stress over work/money etc, you're knackered and you don't get much time for each other. My dsm and the PILs both said they went through similar at this stage of their marriages. We just seem to need a referree to keep us focussed - we tend to get waylaid into tit-for-tat, 'my life is harder than yours' stuff so we never achieve anything and it's all snowballed to breaking point (mixing my metaphors a bit there!).

There's a couple of good Relate books on Amazon that we're working through before our proper sessions start, I'll link if you like.

Oli Sorry to hear about the relationship stuff. You never let on. I hope relate really helps. I think DH and I could do with some marriage counselling. We aren't at the considering splitting stage but there is a lot of bickering. I've noticed lately that we do it in front of DD when previously we didn't and she is taking note.

Hello all! I'm back too, it's like a reunion on here atm, isn't it .

Indith, glad the move went well, vv impressed at the speed your t'internet is up and running, not ot mention stunned at your organisational skills - will you come and do my house when dh's knee is fixed? I'll pay you in cake, if you like!

Hope AQ's dcs are all better and she's having a lovely holiday.

Is Castles away with the loopy MIL atm? Hope she's surviving or at least taking IV gin to take the edge off!

Eli/Indith, am with you on the stairs thing during night wakings. Ds2 was in the loft during the worst of his shenanigans and it was soooooo tedious trudging up and down all night.

Hullo, EOTT, <narrows eyes> I know who you are . TDS had me flummoxed for a good while though.

Life chez Oli has been, erm, interesting for the past few weeks. DH went away for a week, I realised the constant rows and not agreeing on anything was wearing me down too much and life was much easier without him . DCs went to my mums for a couple of days as he got back so I told him I thought we ought to consider splitting . Horrible, horrible few days, we put a brave face on it for the dcs then I went out to my dad's. Had a good chat with my dsm about it all, then spent the rest of my week being spoiled rotten by them so went home feeling a bit better. DH had got in touch with Relate while I was away and we had our initial session on Monday which was quite positive so I'm hopeful things are looking up for us. We've a long way to go but it's not looking as bleak as I thought.

On the plus side, my cake business is officially up and running. I've got my first commission from a client who I don't know (word of mouth referral from a friend of a friend) plus a wedding cake [fear] in October for a friend of SIL's who saw my FB pics. I've also got to do a Star Wars cake for one of ds1's friends this week. So it's all go.....[half scared, half excited ]

Dd's 4th birthday was last week, her cake's on my profile and this time next week she goes to school .

On that note, I'm off to start sewing in name tags. Oh, the joys!

<<Twirls>> Do you like my new look? Mwahahahaha...

(Northerner who lives in the sticks btw)

DH away until Monday so lots of MNing time on my hands - yay!

<waves back at LenniEd>

Indith, do something useful?!? You sound like a flurry of usefulness. You are almost unpacked after a house move, I am almost unpacked after a 3 week holiday

Hope dd better soon, I sympathise with the stairs at night thang (us in loft, dd not and currently waking me several times a night with anxious wails of 'MUMMMAAA I need a PIPI!' as she's hell bent on going commando (ref nappies). And has forest green etc too, though from nose as opposed to other end (hence down another flight of stairs to kitchen to get soothing milk etc, which results in more pipis, etc).

Anyway, congrats on the move, house and space sound great and worth all of it

I'm back!!!!

I have missed you all. My sorry little life is even more sorry without MN.

Hope you are all ok, AQ how are the dcs?

I can't name change, way too confusing for my little brain, I am probably pretty traceable though.

The new house is lovely, lots of space! Instead of shoving stuff into whatever storage was in the rental of the time all the baby stuff, camping gear etc has been sorted and stored properly! I have boxes of baby clothes by size and gender and it doesn't matter if they are not full to bursting because I'm not trying to get it all into 2 drawers! IT feels wonderful and very satisfying. We only have a couple of boxes of odds and ends left to go (you know, the ones with thigs like stationary, sponge bags etc that you never quite know what to do with) so my goal is to get them done by the end of the bank holiday as then it is dh's knee op so I know full well that nothing will get done for a while after that. Keep the unpacking momentum going!

Ds loves it here (though he keeps telling me he is scared of new houses). He loves his "new" bed (my old bed from my parents'!) and is sleeping so well! Until we moved he was up several times a night needing a cuddle but he is sleeping through, til at least 7.30 and napping Dd decided to do some teething and get a bug jut to ruin the good work we had been doing so I am back to collapsing point. TO make it worse she is in the loft and the bathroom in dows=nstairs and at the end of the extension at the other end of the house so I get up, go up to her, down 2 flights of stairs to the loo, up a flight back to bed, out of bed, up a flight to her......She really isn't feeding at all at night at the moment just is so unsettled. Mind you I would be if I had my second tooth coming, a temp, was producing forest green slurry instead of poo and had today come out in a rash. Poor girl. Dh has said he will sleep in her room fri, sat sun to give me a break as after Sept 3rd I'll be on my own til he is mobile again.

I feel I ought to be doing something useful while they are both asleep.....

<<Waves to Eli>> Lovely to see you on here again! Glad you had a good time. Will catch up properly at the weekend when DH away and family gone home.

Hello

Am back, and finally beginning to feel like I'm back, after 3 mostly great weeks away...good weather, good people, and the first time ever we had a whole holiday without rushing dd2 to a GP.

Speaking of which, am sorry to see poorly LOs and hope they're better v v soon...AQ, special sympathy for breathing worries with ds, I know how upsetting and stressful that is. How is he now?

We're still (its getting embarrassing even mentioning it) in house hell limbo, with PWA about to be signed but buyer getting increasingly neurotic and bizarre, and my instinct says this is not good. Wondering if we should just remarket, urgh. A year so far, are we mad?!

Apart from that, and a badly sprained ankle (dh trying to do frisbee stunts on the beach on last day) we're all well and glad to have a couple more weeks before school kicks off - and pre-school begins

Indith, you probably wont' see this by now, but hope move is going well and is fun, if chaotic, and that getting back online isn't too tricky (past experience ).

Catch up some more soon, sorry to be rushing!

I've been thinking I need to get in the habit of doing FB more. It's just so hard to add one more thing...

Lenni - yes, I am the bra-giver!#

LadySt - I have a little look every now and again...I'll probably post a bit more on there in September.

Thanks dailtstale - havent seen your pics. Will go and check your pics in a bit.

I might start posting in the fb group a bit more for anything sensitive. do any of you read it?

Mysterious lurker - are you M?

I have been following the DM thing. Dear me it goes on and on.

Thank goodness your dds are better EV. How are yours doing AQ?

Castles - my mum wasn't diagnosed with thyroid problems for ages. Blood tests are sometime negative for a while.

The flower girls were lovely EV. Did you see my recent additions to FB. DD2 had a lovely bruise to go with the pox spots!

I'm lurking mainly...

Have never asked for a post to be deleted, I really haven't given it any thought! Eeek. On hols from sat, might not get the chance to pop back in although I can lurk online a bit. Getting even more stressed about it all and my lists are not complete. I just want to sit on my arse and watch tv tbh! sigh, best go and do something useful.
Have a good 2 weeks everyone, when I come back term will have started for some yikes. I have new school uniform but labels haven't arrived so it's a last min job just like last year.

No, not ideal by any means. I've asked for a few to be deleted. Nothing major - just a couple where I had given my email address, not identifiable from it though, but just to be on the safe side.

I found the posts really easily by searching on dd's "firstname lastname". I have had my posts deleted so the only ones that stand are the ones with the summary of all of us.

I wouldnt delete my entire history as it is nice to see some of the issues that came up and I have regularly namechanged. It's like a diary of development. However, if you are in the position where someone may seek you out, as I am (long story) then it isnt ideal.

Its a difficult one. TBH my personal stance on it is that someone would have to be searching for one of us iykwim - they would have to know us off MN and be trying to find us on it. If someone was doing that then they obviously could use those old threads to confirm our identities but they'd have to find us first. Now I'm starting to sound paranoid... will go to bed before the men with straightjackets arrive

I did look to see. If you type in Ds2's name to the MN advance search it does come up in the post-natal thread. I hate to delete the post though as it was my first one back from having him...Thought about name-changing but looking at the post you would see jabberwocky and any posts up til now so then thought "What's the point?"

Of course, with me living in the US I'm at far less risk so it's more of a theoretical thing. I went through a phase of only posting on a couple of long-running threads that would not be likely at all to be picked up so may go back to that

I think those would be hard to find really now. You would have to either trawl through pages and pages of posts or know the nickname of the person who posted them and then trawl through pages of search results for that person. Also so many people have left the thread or namechanged that being able to identify who is who now would be pretty difficult. Plus first names and DOBs don't in themselves help identify any of us. Perhaps we should all namechange and then there would be no trace!

I recall original threads where we announced names and dates of birth

The DM stuff makes me a little nervy too Jabber. I don't really mind this thread being in the public domain since we are all pretty incognito and in amongst the chat it would be hard to find anything particularly easy to lift out for journalistic purposes but has put me off other threads - especially sharing experiences with others. Can't say I will be going near any sensitive birth/pregnancy threads for a while after the article.

Can't imagine packing all the kids up AQ. You've definitely got more energy than me.

Swine flu...eeek!...I vacillate between denial and terror as dh is leaning very much toward the new vax and I am quite fearful of how the dcs may react. With ds2's excema and tendency to run fever so often I am now worried that he is as sensitive as ds1. <paranoid emoticon>

The daily mail thing is just annoying. A well known MNer has lifted an entire thread in leau of actually writing a weekly column and it has people worried of being outed. I think they have a very good point as the UK is smaller than one tends to think. I'll never forget the thread someone started about some badly behaved children in a restaurant and within an hour the mum was posting and

Oh, good (re: dc's I mean)
Haven't ever read daphne du maurier, always meant to.
i do have a list, it's just 2 pages already and I'm bored with it now I'm avoiding it all because I'm stressed out about it.

Hi AQ.

Lady St Columb was a character in my fave Daphne DuMaurier novel.

Try and get a good holiday list going. Takes all the stress out of packing and means you can delegate.

My DCs are all healthy now

what daily mail stuff? don't get the new name, ladyS. God I'm so behind, ignorant and living in a vacuum! I need to go back to school. Is dd better btw, ladyS?
jabber, am sure you will take every precaution against SF unlike me
getting a little excited about going on hols saturday if I can somehow find the energy to make lists of it all and pack it in race against the clock saturday morning. Urghhhh, I hate it. I'm going to have to take about 20,000 items of clothing for the twins so I don't have to do 2 loads a day whilst away, they're such grubby little munchkins. \
must go write a list or alternatively play a game on my iphone as I am now completely addicted

Hello all.

I think EV may be on holiday agin ;)

Jabber - I'm not too impressed by the DailyMail stuff tbh. Primarily as I thought the MN archive had a shelf life and was deleted after a few years. It seems it doesnt and all of our posts will be around for ever.

Not sure how my children will feel about me discussing they illnesses and behaviour on the internet.

Hope everyone is OK.

Or is it the Daily Mail thing that has everyone off?

Poor EV and AQ and all the sick little ones

Sending lots of get well vibes your way.

AQ, can't imagine dealing with 3 on meds. Dh has taken over the whole med thing with ds2 when we are on it as I am traveling so much these days I can't keep up...

I hadn't heard about bacteria being a worry

<jabber runs to google>

Oh, poor dd, EV! But how were you to know? I find it so hard keeping on top of multiple kids now, giving them meds, making sure you've checked temps etc. I'm sure she'll improve rapidly now, though.
God, having kids is such a worrying business. I just kept bursting into tears about ds3 this week as they nearly admitted him for breathing problems. Still on ventolin etc, doc reckons asthma. DS2 took turn for a worse yesterday with chest infection as I hadn't managed to keep up with all the meds for the 3 lo's.
jabber, you will laugh but dp and I at loggerheads this morning about whether to take ds3 in the bathroom whilst I had a shower, he read some rubbish on the net about bacteria from steam and we got into a big barney at 7am! We're just both tired and stressed.
Indith not replied to text, so she must be deep into house stuff. Whenever I think about moving next year (I hope!) I shudder but got to be done as you all know!

Thanks Jabber. They got back at about 12.30am. It was tonsilitis and a urine infection. I feel really guilty for not getting her checked sooner but she hadnt complained of a sore throat at all. It turns out she didnt realise that 'hurting when you swallow' is the same as a sore throat although that only came on yesterday aftermoon. She has antibiotics which she hates and we are still giving calopol/nurofen to keep the temp at bay (shoots up if we forget).

They werent sure of the cause. Could be bacterial, hence the ABs or viral. We came home early as at least she has her own stuff here.

Not sure about sunstroke but we have had vast experience with fever this year. The word from our doc is if it's still there 2 days on gotta go in to check so you did the right thing. Hope everything is OK.

Hi - not sure if anyone is still around tonight. On hol at the moment. DH has just taken DD1 to A&E as she has had high temp since Tuesday night and it isnt really improving. She was out in the sun all day on tuesday so we put it down to sunstroke but now i'm a bit worried. Went and bought a thermometer and 2 hours after calpol it was 40.1. She's been having nurofen too and we thought we were keeping at bay. She had a slight uset ummy earlier but i think that might be the nurefen. how long does heatstroke tend to last?

Jabber, sorry about the sitch at work. What a nightmare. I was in a similar situation years ago and ended up leaving too What a hassle for you. GL with it all.

Hmm, do have dry skin but it's also getting greasier and spottier and have problems sleeping and brittle nails. Sound lovely I know!

Good luck from here too Indith. We'll miss you!

castles, underactive thyroid does require a specific blood test but not sure your symptoms match exactly. Tiredness yes, but not the fainting. With thyroid you would also have dry skin, problems sleeping and brittle nails. Any of those?

LenniEd, you are sooo right. Unfortunately, with her being married to the doctor I work with I think she is there for the duration. Dh and I have decided the best thing is for me to look for another place <sigh> I had been told by more than one person that she was extremely difficult so not a big surprise. I'm just disappointed as it could have been a really good thing for everyone.

Good luck Indith will miss you, hope the move goes well.

AQ you are going through it there - hope DS3 better quickly. And hope you are better quickly too Jabber and that you resolve problems with manager, sounds to me like she needs taking down a peg or two.

Right-ho folks I am off to order curry and start packing the downstairs now I have 2 dcs in bed. See you in a couple of weeks once I have interweb again. May the SF and other bugs and beasties pass and I find you all a picture of health when I come back. Take care x

Thanks Jabber & AQ. Have made appointment to see GP tomorrow (DH is coming home early to look after DCs ). Need more tests done as am constantly exhausted/stressed/fainting. Am a bit concerned that friend (who goes to same GP) was given the all-clear on blood tests and then told 3 months later she has under active thyroid and she has all the same 'symptoms' as me. Need to be fit and strong to handle my ILs, not to mention my own family

Jabber, hope you feel better and there are no further disasters at work.

AQ, poor DS3 hope he is better soon.

Poor boy

Hope you and yours all ok Jabber.

Ds has found a plastic fairy wand. He has been waving it around and declaring that his name is Bella

I am resolutely ignoring packing, dh and I are going to do downstairs tonight once dcs in bed. Instead I am eating cookie dough making cookies.

Oh, AQ Does it help to take him into the bathroom and run a hot shower? My boys always felt better after that.

I am freaking out about the doctor's wife/manager at my office. She seems determined to ruin my business...I called at 8:00 this morning to tell her I was ill and to cancel my exams but that my therapist would be in for my regular therapy patients. She proceeded to not get one of the exams canceled then accused my therapist (in front of the patient's mother) of not putting a number in the computer. My therapist doesn't even make exam appts ffs The woman (dr;s wife) has some serious issues....

Hope you get better soon, jabber.
I do'nt really think the sf is all it's built up to be. Flu is flu, anyone vulnerable can die from complications from it, I do think it's all hyped up in the uk. I had 3 people ring me up yesterday and tell me about the new 'news' that children shouldn't have tamiflu! What am I going to do?
Poor ds3 doesn't even have sf and he is so poorly, he's on steroids, abs and ventolin to control his breathing. dp nearly dragged him off to a&e last night. How any of you coped/cope when you have poorly lo's regularly I don't know. I'm a mess after 2 days of it and no a&e!

castles, no depression or acne. I was younger then and had not had depression before so don't know if it would be different now or not. But I was having a period about 3 weeks out of the month and desperate. It worked very quickly and I don't think I had to take it that long. iirc it just helped my body get back on track.

Well, it turns out that one of the reasons I felt so bad last night is that I was coming down with a stomach flu <ick emoticon> Ds1 had it too but fortunately dh was OK and dealt with ds1 while ds2 blissfully slept through the whole thing! Feeling a bit better so fingers crossed it's a 24 hour virus.

Have never driven overnight with the kids before but I know lots of people say it's the only way to travel.

I hate o/night drives. But I hate children screaming in the car more.
Is there another one that might tackle heavy periods? Ask on health etc?

Jabber, did the mini-pill have any noticeable side effects? My main concerns are depression and acne that I have been reading about. Hope you catch up on sleep. I have been feeling like I've been run over by a truck all week and I have no excuse

AQ, we will probably drive to Scotland o/n too. Should be fun! So, thanks for the offer, Indith, but you probably would not be pleased to see us!! Good luck with the move. Very exciting.

Oh, AQ, I'm so sorry the dcs are so ill Dh and I are very concerned about this fall and encountering SF over here.

Indith, I know you must be so excited about the new house! Wonderful to have more space.

castles, I had a similar period problems a while back and took some type of mini-pill that fixed the problem.

Going to herd the dcs into the bath now. I flew out to Oregon on Saturday to take a class I needed for my Washington state license on Sunday. Had to get up at 4:00 am to catch a 6:00 flight home and I feel like I've been beaten and/or run over by a very large truck...

thanks, indith, dd had it bad 2-3 days so I guess ds3 will be the same. Hopefully ds2 will perk up tomorrow once ab's kick in. Did you get any joy on the continuing ear infections for ds?
hope all goes well Thurs/Fri!

Oh the poor things AQ, never just rains does it. Losts of wishes for speedy recovery heading their way.

We have this place until the 25th, we are moving on Thursday though (so will be without interweb for a couple of weeks until they flick the switch for us) We have to be here on Friday morning for the waterboard ot come and fit a meter so the plan is move all stuff Thursday, come back here on Friday morning to clean and then chuck keys at landlady early, we can't wait to be out!

Right must go wash up else dh will do the whole being annoyed while telling me he is not annoyed and I am allowed to relax thing.

ooh, exciting! have you got a little while before you move out of rented place? Very handy that, we decorated our old place before moving in. <aq sighs and looks round at tatty paintwork> dp and I think we are selling next spring. Just not sure whether we can afford to stay round here.
hope sleep better. ds3 has dd's bug now and ds2 has chest infection following on from flu so I really ought to stop on the mac and tidy/sleep/whatever.

Maybe not then

Went over to the new house with some of our junk after naps today. The estate agents managed to give us the wrong keys so spent quite a while trying to get in before giving them a ring! Someone brought the right ones round fairly quickly. Needs a good clean! I'm going to head over with the Vax once I've put dd to bed tomorrow and do the carpets before we get furniture in. It is still very nice though. Dh has gone over with the fridgefreezer now so I suppose I should do the washing up so I can collapse into bed. Hoping for a good night tonight, last night was abysmal from both dcs <sigh>

Would love to indith, but would be at midnight! We travel overnight, got there at 5.30am last time. I was so wired couldn't sleep when I wasn't driving. Will wave across to you when I get there, castles. It must be really hard to bite your tongue for sake of dc's castles, very admirable. Hope dh appreciates your efforts?

I think there must be one than one pill for heavy periods, castles, side effects are all different for each one. Why don't you research them?

AQ come break your journey at our house if you like (Castles too for that matter).

Mmmm Bordeaux. I adore that city. Hopefully we'll be going in April for Mamie's 90th.

I'm petrified of pills in general as I went loopy on one. Also petrified of getting pg at the moment (not that I have periods back yet) so I might have to get over one of the fears!

We can wave at each other then across the highlands! Yes, the rellie sitch really does add stress to my life. I only bother for the DCs I really do make an effort too.

I've been reading that micronor can make you depressed which isn't good with my history and terrible acne!!! I probably need to try it and see but am terrified all the same.

What's prob with micronor? I've only been on pill a few months in my life so don't know much about it. dp had the snip a few months ago, before that coil without hormone.

black isle is east highlands god your situation with rellies is just dire isn't it castles?? Must add so much stress to your life.

Went to GP today and have been given Micronor (progesterone mini pill) for my heavy periods. Have been reading up on it and am absolutely terrified to take it!! What does everyone else do? I can't have mirena coil btw as bicornuate uterus.

Hi AQ, I'd rather she didn't speak to me actually We go to West Highlands. Feel quite anxious about it all now Where is the Black Isle?

Gah indeed! Will she speak to you on the trip? You get up to scotland quite often, don't you? Where do you go? We're going to my dad's place on the Black Isle (he rents it out now that he lives in oz).

AQ we are going to Scotland on Sunday. I was really looking forward to it (even with the 10+ hour drive) until MIL said she is coming. Gah!

DH been in Bordeaux all weekend. Alright for some

teeth are great, well done indith-dd! I noticed the food intake increased a lot last month when dt's both got 2 teeth.
Lennied, sounds really hard, I struggle if dp late home from work! If you could sort ds on the sleeping front I'm sure you'd cope better though. Is he old enough to consult sleep clinic you saw re:dd?

dd doesn't have sf, well so dr says. Throwing up all her milk feeds now but managed a large bowl of risotto so can't be that bad. She sounds like a wounded animal poor mite. DS2 still lying on sofa all day but won't watch any tv. Sigh. What will I do when he stops having naps?!!! He just follows me round the house bleating. Think he's on the mend nonetheless. I want my routine back!!!
Did I mention dp volunteered us to go to scotland after our week in cottage in a fortnight? 9 hour drive overnight with 4 lo's. Double sigh.

Hello all. Hope the babies are on the mend AQ, poor things.

A tooth Indith! Am glad the sleep seems to be improving, esp during the day.

A lot going on here hence my relative absence. DH away a lot working and I'm struggling with being on my own a lot with a tantrum queen and DS. She is dreadful when DH away for a long time, she misses him and of course it is my fault. Business is pretty crap, hoping we make it through the year now, if we can get through the next 5 weeks then should start picking up a little for Christmas - sorry to mention that word. All a worry.

DS crawling properly now and sleeping occasionally think I need to start being more firm with the night feeds, and get DH to settle him if he wakes before DH goes to bed at around 1am.

Loved hearing about DS2 and the pull ups Jabber, made me chortle.

Poor babies AQ, ds was the same just opn the sofa all day watching cbeebies with a glazed expression. Dd did have tamiflu yes, was prescribed by the GP. They weighed her to get the dosage, under 1s can have the suspension rather than capsules, I think she had 1.6ml twice a day.

I"m waiting until 3 too, castles ds2 interested, just hasn't managed anything in the toilet yet. I'm sure he'll get there, Indith, often a few backwards steps before they get it. No pressure on him he's bound to figure it out. Glad you're having such a great holiday, castles

I have got the "How to talk' book (must fish it out of massive pile of papers tho) but I guess change in routine and illness last few weeks has made things harder. DS had ear infection 1st week of school hols, followed closely by SF and now I've got ds2 at home instead of nursery a few days and can't take him out really as ds2 & dd still infectious. Ds2 and dd both really poorly last night and today, she's so hoarse she can hardly babble and it's obviously hurting her. Ds2 lay on sofa all day, I've never known him to do that. Didn't you say dd took tamiflu indith, as when I did the assessment online they said she couldn't have the antiviral?

jabber, if he can do that I'd leave him until he goes to school!

sounds good to me Jabber.

Castles I don't know, he was so good! I was at the point where I didn't mind so much about the pants and figured I could have him naked at home and just have a nappy on to go out and sleep. He was pretty much always dry after naps or even in the morning so he only actually used a nappy when we were out for a long time, I thought he'd twig pants eventually! Shall have to give him a few days to get back on track and see.

Dd has a tooth!

Can't even think about potty training. Ds2 can, however take off a pee pee diaper, put it in the diaper genie and put on a pullup by himself, lol. Dh and I figure if he can do that we don't care when he gets trained

Gotta run, will do proper catch-up soon!

Indith, I waited until DS was nearly 3 and he was potty trained in a day. Literally. And at night. Is it worth waiting? Fwiw, DD2 is a feral creature. She couldn't care less if she doesn't do it in the potty/toilet. Sigh.

AQ you keep rocking til she is over the flu, I always thought one of the first rules of any sleep training was to wait until they are completely well in all other respects.

I think AQ, boys just fight, it is how they deal with jealousy etc. Dh tells tales of him and his brother being chucked in the garden when they started fighting so they could get on with it out of the house! Of course your problem is that ds2 is stuck in the middle, old enough that ds1 sees him as fair game but too young to understand that he can't behave in the same way towards the dts. Have you read "how to talk..."? I get the feeling that it could be pretty useful. Is ds1 getting out and about on playdates or other activities with children his own age? I imagine going from school to then being at home with the little ones for so long must be hard and he will be taking a lot of his frustration out on ds2

Anyhoo feel free to ignore that, outsider perspective, shall probably change my mind in a few years when ds is older!

Sorry about the job Margo.

Castles glad you are having a good summer.

Thanks for the food advice. Tis true of course he just wants what dd has. He is annoying though at that "want this nooooo! don't want it want that!" stage <sigh>

May I nominate dd for poo of the year award? She started concentrating very hard during lunch today but I left her too it as she carried on happily eating after she was done then when I went to get her out of her chair to go up for nap I realised there was a puddle of poo on the splash mat! The little moo had gone out of her nappy, out of the wrap, down her leg and on the floor. The scrubbing was accompanied by a lovely commentary from ds "Oh well done Daisy, good poo".

Ds is going to drive me mad with the potty training. He was just starting to twig that he still had to use the potty when wearing pants (was perfect naked) but he completely regressed with the ear infection and in the past few days I've had poo in pants, in nappies, on the floor, in the garden. And wees on the upholstered dining room chairs, both armchairs, the rocking horse....the list goes on <weeps>

Indith, most kids become very carb based (apart from DD2 who is a carnivore ). I guess they need all the energy.

Margo, sorry about the job. Anymore in the pipeline?

AQ, have you had DS1 assessed for SPD? Sorry about the SF. Sound's like you are doing a brilliant job. It is so challenging with under 5s imo. TG I only have one these days

Have to say, I am having a great summer. Was so proud yesterday watching DS (esp) & DD1 in the display after a week at gym camp. I was expecting a phone call after an hour on the 1st morning to say DS couldn't handle it. He lasted the whole week and loved it

Sorry bout the job, Margo . The world of work seems so far away from me right now, but I do remember how stressful the job hunting days are!

DS2 slept until 2.30 this afternoon after we (mistakenly) took him and ds1 out for the day whilst dt's at home with nanny. First day with just the 2 of them in a year, twas lovely but ended up with ds2 screaming the last 45 mins in the car. Dd then threw up later in the evening so I guess another round of tamiflu for the family (starting to wonder if I should just get it in bulk as how will we avoid all of us?). DS1 away for the weekend now though thank god as he's really really annoying. Surely this phase is going to go soon??? I seem to have this really badly behaved child and don't know what to do about it. Plus he and ds2 fight, I mean really fight, so badly and hurt each other several times a day. DS2 now quite violent with the dt's and he never was before. Can't leave him in the room with them now. I know it's attention but I'm only one blood person with 2 arms and they all want me.

Anyway, Indith, nowt wrong with the food ds is having, sounds great, he is at that age anyway regardless of what you do. Poor dt's must be fed up of their limited diet right now as I just can't be arsed lately. DS is I'm afraid to say absolutely right - he wants to have the same as his sister, can't get around it. Sibling rivalry right there. DS1 counts up the number of pieces of things on his plate & ds2's plate to make sure it's even. And it is nice for them to have main meal together. You can still send dd to bed early and spend time with him so he stays up later, but unfortunately you've hit the little problem of when do the adults eat? It will get better when dd gets older, just a compromise in the meantime. Glad some of the sleep is getting better. I've been told (by sleep clinic lady, dp and mum!) to do controlled crying with dd, but she's got swine flu for god's sake. I stuck it out for 2x10 mins spells then rocked her to sleep as usual. Sigh. Where's that rod?

Ev - I've been feeling run down with a cold too. I didn't get the job but it's really hard to be on the ball when you're under the weather.

I'm off to post on the FB group now.

Hi All.

Indith - DD2 used to eat anything. Now she is quite faddy really. Both of mine snack a lot and then dont eat dinner. I get cross but in reality as they gererally have healthy snacks (fruit, yoghurts etc) I shouldnt really complain.

DDs are flower girls tomorrow! Will add photos to facebook next week.

I feel full of cold atm. DDs seem ok, thankfully.

Hello

Ds watching beebies

Dd napping

Waiting for delivery of fridgefreezer to add to the mountians of furniture off freecycle in my dinning room with the packing boxes and goodness knows what else besides. The fridgefreezer is coming anytime between 8am and 6pm. I am of course feeling deep joy at the thought of a day stuck in the house. If I've resorted to beebies this early what will the rest of the day bring?

Thank god it's Friday is all I can say, can palm the toddler off onto dh for the weekend at the end of today

How is the SF?

Lennied hope the growth spurt is easing/ebm taking improving etc. Sure he'll take it or just put up with not having any when you are not there.

Sleep is doing something. Not sure what but something. First 2 nights were good, second 2 terrible and we've just had 2 ok ones. The biggest change though has been the days, the knock on effect of not feeding at night (well only feeding twice anyway!) has transformed the days. She has settled into a lovely pattern of feeds and naps which is erally great.

Ds being something of a pain in the arse at the moment. The ear infection won't have helped of course (again, why the hell does he keep getting them?) We changed things around so he was eating with us and going to bed a bit later and it was working really well so we had bath at 6 with dd, then I'd put her down, we would eat as a family and he would then have stories and bed. Then dd started on solids and he is a massive pain, I was hoping he would get used to it but he just wants to eat with dd at 5, I have tried giving him a smaller afternoon snack at 3 and then a slice of toast or something at dd's dinner time, I have tried shoving him out of the way in front of cbeebies, I have tried havin ghim at the table with us but decorating buns or painting, everything results in a massive tantrum of "William pasta too!" and the like. He will then proceed to complain until bathtime and then hang of dh's legs while he cooks. I have given up and started feeding them together at 5. Thing is I'm not sure ds is really hungry for his dinner then, last night he refused to eat his dinner and just ate 4 carrot sticks . I don't know. I need to get back in to good menu planning and making sure we keep portions so the kids eat what we eat, no substitutes because ds has gone from eating most things to eating pasta, couscous, risotto and pizza. Not bad I know but I feel as though all I ever feed them is pasta and sauce half the time.

Another wuss here

AQ, what a phenomenol memory you have! Yes that was my "sorceress" outfit which did turn out fab even 7 months pg Hope the dcs are getting better today. The climbing wall is a great idea. We did one for ds1 and it has helped him with his floppy muscle tendencies.

LenniEd, do you use breast compression when you express? That helps get the hind milk in there. I also did 1/2 formula, 1/2 ebm with ds1 and it worked well.

Love the idea of scanning the artwork. Will have to tell dh.

That's a wonderful idea - might start taking photos of the not scannable things too - I never know what to do with all DD's creations, and they inevitably get destroyed by her playing with them.

Wuss looks right to me I think - not a word I write down very often

Good idea re the scanning AQ. Just need to plough through the whole (yes, whole ) cupboard of artwork once they are back at school!

I always spell is 'wuss' but phonetically it should be 'woos' I guess ...

Absolutely castles, I have hope that my woosiness (honestly how do you spell that) as a parent will result in great things for my dc's. A little heartwarming moment there for you castles to make it all worth it

I saw a lovely idea recently for scanning children's artwork and turning it into a book (for them or you or anyone really). tempted to do it for ds1's first year at school although he's not remotely gifted like your ds.

Thanks Castles/AQ - that sounds like a good plan. Would make my stock of ebm go further too.

What a lovely email to receive Castles - he sounds very talented in many respects from what you say.

Hello. Wondered if you'd really all gone to Tuscany after all

Lennied, <funny how you forget these things> but had similar problems and sure I mixed a scoop or 2 of formula into ebm to con one (or all ) of the DCs. Bulks it out a bit as well as similarly my ebm was never very filling or maybe it's just a comfort thing?

Am total wuss too. In every respect

Someone has just sent me an email out of the blue though to say that in all their years in working with children they have never seen a child with such artistic ability aged 7. (Went to see aunt last week and DS drew her a piccy - she's obviously been showing it off). Proud mum moment. Don't get many of those. Anyway, my rambling point is, maybe my overly wussiness towards my DCs has led to them having heightened artistic ability?! Definitely got the right temperament

I don't have the courage for dummy bashing. DS2 still has one! DS1 gave up at 3 so I'm waiting. I just don't think I can get by without them <aq slides into a corner furtively>

Could you try mixing ebm and formula, upping the percentage of formula each time? I've read that's a good way to get them to drink it? He's weaning now as well isn't he so if he's having decent lunch you mightn't worry so much?

Sleep and babies. Arrgggghhhhhh. I hate this bit they're driving me loco. I'm not even going to bed early anymore because I can't relax knowing I'm going to be woken up!

still selling....

Hello AQ!

Poor DS2 - and you - no consolation but at least it's out the way. Hope he is over it very soon.

DS glugs ebm in a bottle but it doesn't fill him up - he cries to be bf afterwards. Not got to the bottom of why, maybe I'm only expressing foremilk?? But whatever it is giving ebm isn't enough for me to escape for very long unless I leave oodles of breastmilk and yes, this is all with thought to going back to work. Don't mind carrying on with bf - just need to cut out a couple of daytime feeds. Am still offering him a bottle at lunch but so far none taken for about a week. Have tried getting DH to give it, but no luck there either. Might knock it on the head before it becomes a battle. Am out all day Thurs and not back until after bedtime so he'll have to take one then eventually - although will leave ebm, as much as I can manage anyway.

I think I'm a wooss with DS as well - need to be firmer at night lately. He's taking the proverbial with his gazillion feeds atm. Need to knock his dummy on the head too.

at teenage vampire books, jabber, I was thinking of that party you went to a while back in fancy dress?

ds2 has SF as well, on tamiflu. Not as bad as ds1 but pretty grumpy. Dd's not looking great. GP's were meant to take boys for the weekend, but now may not happen and I was soooo looking forward to it. Finding school hols + illness a bit much right now. Oh well.

yes, margo, how was interview?

lennied, oh dear! He seems to have permanent growth spurts that one! Don't give up on the bottle. Lots of people have to experiment and if you're going back to work he'll need to take one won't he? Worth establishing if it's the formula or the bottle that he dislikes. Will he take ebm in bottle?

EV, how're you at the mo?

castles?

Had sleep clinic lady here again and she says I have to be very firm with dt's, apparently I am a wooss. Is that an aussie term, I don't know. Anyway, of course they were v.well behaved nap-wise rest of day. She's asked me to speak at a weaning group (or groups eeek) about BLW as she doesn't know anyone else who has done it in them there parts. I am quite happy to rave on about BLW as I really love it and so do the dt's!

must go off and sell stuff to fund ds1's climbing frame. Our garden now so full of plastic it makes my eyes hurt.

How did interview go Margo?

Lol at your addiction Jabber sounds interesting. I love getting hooked on books, those were the days!

Feeling a bit sorry for myself, hence relative absence. No sleep to speak of (hoping it's another growth spurt) and covered in hives. Bloody things are driving me crazy. Haven't had them since I was a kid - if they don't go soon I'm going to GP since Pharmacist was shite at trying to decide what I could take while bf and ended up leaving with nothing.

Talking of bf - tried to get DS to take a bottle of formula at lunchtimes so I could detach myself from his limpet self for the occasional hour or two - so easy in theory. Little swine cherub glugged it on first day, and has refused ever since. He'll happily go without any milk at all rather than have formula but that means about 25 feeds (slight exaggeration - only slight mind ) during the night to catch up. SO when did all yours get the hang of a cup? Or am I stuck bf every 2-3 hours forever?

I've been off MN for so long everything dropped off my threads-I'm-on

Much sympathy for the SF. Dh and I are nervous about it hitting our area. Otherwise I just feel like I'm working all the time. The good news is that it should bring in some extra money just at property tax time.

Oh, and I'm totally addicted to teen vampire novels atm

I get a lot of 'bloody bike' etc under the breath from ds1. I just ignore it and hope he stops.

glad sleep better indith, hope it continues. have I missed dh having op?

best go out and help dp, we just bought huge plastic playground thingy off ebay and have to put it together. If we have a hull meetup can stick all the dc's on it!

ds1 much better today , very perky. But ds2 still fast asleep, hasn't woken since 6am.

[Grin] Oli. Ds has thakfully managed to miss the "fuck" out from "will you shut the fuck up" although having him going round telling people to shut up is still enough of a reminder that I need to watch it.

It really is just about having to remind yourself that oyu need to be a saint isn't it. I've been having a horrible time with ds recently because I just want to hide and not play this that or the other or read Thomas for the nth time whilst listening to Nellie the bloody elephant but of course a couple of days of reminding myself to polish my halo and be saintly, talk to him, difuse situations, give options etc and things are much better.

Hope the SF gets better soon. It is horrible

Hope you are ok EV.

We have begun some sleep work, have just typed it all out on the other thread so can't be arsed to do it again but went ok. Shall see what the next couple of days bring.

Impressed at the decorating Oli. Dh has gone out with the dcs, I am supposed to be starting some packing so I had better get my arse in gear as they shall be back by 12 for lunch. Hope dd is ok, think the noodle went out without a snack for her and he habn't quite got the hang of baby is on solids, sometimes baby is grumpy due to being hungry, if you have taken baby out just after a nap and she has not yet had a snack the possibility of baby being hungry while out increases.

I'm here. Have been away but not on holiday

AQ, poor DS1. Is it SF? Hope he is better soon.

Oli, am very envious though not about the decorating! lol at the "f*$king bed". Have made many similar faux pas. One elusive (at the time) castle in Scotland is still known as "the f*$king castle"

EV, are you ok? If you want to chat at all, FB or email me xxx

Gorgeous day here today. Will it last?

Oh no AQ. Hope it is all mild.

Hi Lennied
ds2 has it now I think. Sigh.

I'm here, will catch up tomorrow.

Poor DS1 AQ, hope he is better soon.

Is everyone else on holiday?

EV, do you want to vent some or are you just to tired? Some days/weeks/months it's just about getting through it, isn't it?

Oli, it is nice to accomplish something though whilst dc's away (for some reason we always do the garden if we just have 2 or I like to tidy the garage weirdly). I always make plans for when the boys are at their gm's but dp wants to veg out every time!

ds1 not well at all, he's slept nearly all day, just wakes up periodically day and night struggling to breathe and v.panicky. Has eaten a slice of toast all day, will barely drink and I have to coax him to have meds. plus threw up twice from the tamiflu. He's already skin and bone again. I have renewed sympathy for you, Indith with both your two having it. I am wishing, hoping anything that the other 3 don't get it. DS2 already has a bad cough. Best go to bed early and keep my strength up in case!

Hi Olihan

No illness yet except a bit of a cough/cold for dd2. They're both grumpy but then it's been raing and dh and i are tired.

Packed them off to bed early.

No DH, no DCs so what am I doing?

Decorating.

Gah, forgot how tedious and time consuming it is. Still, DD has a lovely pink room now.

AQ, hope ds1 is feeling better, poor boy has been through it recently, hasn't he?

<blows SF bugs away from EV's house>

Eli, have a fab holiday.

Indith, can't help in the slightest with dd's sleep. I went /am going through it with ds2 so I know exactly where you are. Masses and masses of sympathy, it's horrible. All I can really say is, I used to get to the point where I really felt I couldn't carry on, have a total meltdown then somehow be a bit more able to deal with it again. I have come to the unhappy conclusion that, despite what you are told to the contrary, some babies just do not sleep and no amount of training will change that. I think once I accepted that it wasn't my fault, there wasn't anything I could do about it and I just had to get through it then it got easier. (I still had nights of crying on the floor in his room and begging him to sleep, mind you).

This tale might cheer you up a bit. DS2 had a run of bad nights last week so I was up and down to him like a blinking yo-yo. At about 4am on the 4th or 5th night I finally lost it and screeched 'Will you just lie down on your f*$king bed and go to sleep' .

In the morning, dh was getting him dressed and ds2 asked him 'Can you lift me up on the f*$king bed, Daddy?'.

Oops .

I'm around.

AQ - I'm a bit up and down atm. Lots going on.

DD1s best friend has swine flu. We saw her on Tuesday afternoon/evening. Dds are being flowergirls next Saturday. Eek.

I'm around.

AQ - I'm a bit up and down atm. Lots going on.

DD1s best friend has swine flu. We saw her on Tuesday afternoon/evening. Dds are being flowergirls next Saturday. Eek.

You're all v.quiet.
Will miss you Eli.
Indith, hope you get a breakthrough soon. Dd was doing the screaming thing last night at 4am and I thought of you. she's stopped feeding too, I thought that might have stopped it.
Margo, good luck, fingers crossed for you! Is dd2 better?
EV, were you just having one fed up day or more than that?? Hugs whichever, sorry I've not been on here much or FB, you're always so lovely when I am having fed up day!
must go, think ds1 will be waking us in the night as well as the dt's - he's just got up with trouble breathing, has temp although not that high. Dp thinks SF but I'm loath to give him drugs he doesn't need. Both dt's better thank goodness but poor ds1, he's not been that great since ear infection last week!

Good luck on the interview Margo. I'm glad dd2 is feeling better.

Indith, no advice I'm afraid. Ds2 woke up every 2 - 3 hours until he was <gulp> 2.

Have a good time eli!

<waves 'bye> off on Friday morning, Mum arriving tomorrow (she'll be 81 on Friday, have packed party glow-wands and assorted silly surprises to keep her and dds occupied on arrival) so prob. last chance to MN.

Margo, good luck with the interview - v glad sit. improved! Hope dd better soon too. Sorry I missed the bit about dh's op, and relieved to hear its over and he's better - bet it wasn't fun, to say the least.

Wishing Indith sleep, and everyone health and a happy August (in spite of forecast rain ), and see you at the end of the month.....

Yes Margo. If you are enthusiastic you are more likely to succeed. Try and dress smartly, and dont be negative about current/previous employers. I was interviewing someone last week and a lady told me she hated her current job and the people she worked for and she was really unmotivated. Not a good interview.

Indith - I echo AQ in seeing if you can get some help from your mum/mil. Coudl they take your 2 out during the day and you get a bit of shut eye?

I felt crabby after having just one night like yours last night. You're blinking fantastic to be even barely functioning after dealing with this for so long.

Just coem back from A&E. DD2 wasn't gettig better nad wouldn't drink so was getting lethargic. They gave me rectal paracetamol and boy it's made a huge difference. She's eaten a bit of dinner and drunk her milk. And she's smiling. Thank goodness.

EV - Interviews are okayish. 50% of it is being in the right frame of mind, don't you think?

Good luck for Tuesday Margo - and hope DD2 is better soon.

Indith - Have read your other thread poor you. Sounds like things are tough. I can relate to a lot of it, although DS does sleep a little better than your DD, we also have the screaming if DH tries to settle him and I'm feeding him to sleep during the night. The hardest part for me is dealing with the fallout with DD and DH. Can totally understand why you are short-tempered and frustrated with them. Are her daytime naps in any pattern? I always think it is easier to address sleep problems by getting naps sorted first as during the day I don't feel so emotional and am not losing precious sleep by constantly having to go back in to resettle him.

Margo - Yay. That's great news. How are you with interviews?

Oli - I took dd2 to gPs yesterday. They gave me anti bs but the medicine is rank and she refuses to take it and is refusing other medicines. temp of 38.6 last night. She seems slightly better today and she's actully had some piriton. I phoned the GPs to see if there was a cream he would prescribe but he wouldn't. I've been able to hide all other medicines except the anti bs in her drinks.

Ev - I followed your advice re. CVs and now I have an interview on Tuesday. Tahks

Oh yeah AQ, in case I forget by the time I unearth my phone from whichever sofa ds has shoved it down, parcel arrived thank you

<grumble moan shout swear grumble shout some more>

Anyone want to share words of wisdom? I don't expect her to sleep through but I do need more than 2 hours of broken sleep a night.

Day 3 of dh being away and life is, dare I say it, actually easier than when he's here . DCs go to my mum on Thurs so life will be even easier .

Castles, hope ds is improving. Your ILs do sound like loons, keeping your distance is probably in your favour . How ever did your dh turn out alright?

AQ, how are the dses?

Margo, did you get back to the docs today? How is dd2? Work situation sounds so much better and less stressful.

LenniEd, I'm glad I'm not the only one addicted to the moldies saga. It is dull and repetitive but still completely absorbing once you get stuck into the threads. T'interweb soap opera!

EV, big congrats to dd1 . That's one of the thigs I want to do with ds1 this summer but may leave it to dh as I don't think I'm patient enough .

Eli, have a lovely holiday if we don't cross keyboards before you go. Norfolk is beautiful, quite close to my mum so we went there a lot as kids. Are you doing the broads?

Hi All. I'm fine, just feeling a bit fed up at the moment.

On a +ve note dd1 just learnt to ride her bike without stabilisers. Yay.

Hope all the poorlies are on the mend...

Castles - I'll keep my fingers crossed for your DH. My work stich has improved of late. My manager has left and we have a new one who has worked his way up to this position rather than recruited externally. He seems nice and I'm actually able to have nice conversations with my other managers. (previously they were spending a huge amount of time in "performance management meetings" AKA telling us we MUST TRY HARDER)

DH and dd1 have now recovered. dd2 has CP now and has one on her eyelid which is swollen, I went to the emergency doctors and they gave me eye zovirax to protect the eye.

Confess to a quick search, and then realized I knew about Moldies thing ages ago, but didn't do more than notice in passing 'cos it was in the dark ages pre-dd's op - so am taking your advice, Castles, and leaving well alone

Have enough silly arguments going on in close family members (can you believe, 81 yr old dm and 78 yr old uncle coming to blows over a microwave?!?) without hearing any more...

Castles, hope ds is ok. The diagnoses seem so utterly confused to me, wish they'd invent a home test for flu.

Eli, re Moldies thing: don't It's really very dull and, as I said, like being back at school again!!

IKexactlyWYM Jabber and Eli <hangs head in shame> It was DH I chose - not his family. It's bad enough having a bunch of nutters for my own Not that I would wish anything unfortunate on anyone, of course.

DS aching all over now and had 2 hour sleep this afternoon. Not SF according to NHS/SF help desk thingy. Similarly, Eli, quite a few of DS's classmate's/year have had SF and noone was told

Nearly forgot.

Moldies. I am only just resisting rushing off to find out what you're all talking about, can hazard good guess, but am torn: I have no time to get intrigued...aaaargh!

Good luck with the grant writing, Jabber.

Have to admit felt the same about FIL dying a few months after our wedding - he was a v v difficult man, especially re women and made life hard for dh. I am mostly relieved the dds haven't had to be exposed to him (now feel I should post a , but doesn't feel quite honest ).

Castles, hope the headache is nix, agree, lots vagues symptoms around here too - not to mention suddenly finding out last night how many of dd's classmates, teachers in year above, etc etc all had SF in final weeks of term, and I never knew! Not nearly so worried about dd2 these days though, so am fairly relaxed about it for now. Sorry for the IL fiascos, my own family in knots atm (brother and sil; mother and uncle; etc etc) so sympathies.

Am starting to think about packing for Norfolk holiday next week, and getting excited about escaping everything (well, most things )....

castles, it's things like that that make me think it was a good thing dh's mother had already passed before we met - although I know that's a terrible thing to say She was apparently a very "difficult" person.

Has anyone ever done any grant-writing? Not sure if it's different over there but I am taking the plunge to try to get one sorted in a month

lol at all the moldie stuff. It's like being back at school again

Margo, what is happening with the work sitch? DH is currently expecting to be wondering if he will be fired. Again. Glad your DH is getting better.

Thanks for asking about the ILs sitch! Well, it currently stands that they aren't seeing the DCs (as I'm not invited it's a logistical nightmare not to mention totally unreasonable and childish ). Sadly, the DCs aren't seeing their cousins who are over from Middle East on annual visit either, as they are staying with ILs And another thing: FIL is coming up to Scotland with us in August (to go fishing) but MIL refuses to come (because of me I guess) even though she has nothing else on at that time and it will mean FIL (72) has to drive all the way from South Coast to Highlands on his own. She's 68 going on 12 if you ask me especially as I think I'm quite nice .

DS has a headache. All these weird symptoms abound but nothing coming of it. Am off to Kew Gardens anyway

Yes, you kind of vanished and then reappeared in new clothes. Very suspicious

still chuckling.

Ah LennieEd, I posted under another name around Xmas as I was trying to obtain advice for my friend.

Heh heh at the moldie suspicion.

I think the problem with the moldies <<confesses to being an addict>> is you have to be one to understand since some of it seems to go off on their site. Have to admit I vaguely suspected you might be a moldie at the start Margo you disappeared a while at the right time - think it was just cos you were following it all with intrigue

It is better than television though

Jabber - I'm only too happy to pass on lovely comments about my cyberfriends.

EV - I put your advice and hard work to good use and sent off another app.

Oli - I'm toying with the idea of making dd1 a castle cake like the one in the Lakeland catalogue - but I'm placing a bet with William Hills that I'll be sloping off to Sainsbos for a disney pricess cake! lol. You're so good at sugarcraft (is that the right name for it?)

I'm with you on the moldies thread. I spend hours reading them and I still feel I've got no further forward to fully understanding what it's all about.

Yeehah! - Indith and Eli - good luck with the house moves.

AQ - I can understand the exhaustion. DH is finally feeling better. (He also had a D&V bug whilst recovering from his tonsil op) DD1 is better and I'm hoping dd2 won't get CP because my sister is getting married next Saturday.

How's the IL situation now Castles?

sorry out of touch everyone, ds1 & ds3 both poorly and other 2 not that great either so bit exhausted. will find time to catch up with all news soon

Oooh, will be in touch then Indith/Oli/AQ and arrange visiting Hull. Had a look at trains and is only 1 3/4 hours from my closest station so do-able for me with the DCs.

Moldies? Will go take a look <<MN consumes more of my life>>

Congratulations on the house Indith and the cake making Oli. Heaton Park at end of August suits me too and hopefully the weather will have improved a bit by then.

Hope it all goes smoothly from here on in with the house Eli.

Get you Jabber - very impressive. Feel honoured to know someone held in such high esteem

Also hope all ok EV, and with you Castles. Wine <<lusts and salivates>>, yum.

Good luck on the house moves Eli & Indith. Am very

Am exhausted already by school holidays. Probably not helped by my yearly visit (and o/n stay) to old travelling pal which involves wine the minute I pitch up

Hope everything is alright EV.

New houses and master cake designers How nice!

So, eli does this mean you have leisurely time to pack? I always start off very organized and then wind up throwing all sorts of random things together in a box and not even bothering to label

Trying not to think of swine flu <shudder> they are talking about mass immunizations in the fall but it scares the bejesus out of me to think of ds1 getting another jab and the repercussions it could have <chews fingernails nervously>

Had no idea the moldies had risen again. I did feel disappointed in MNHQ that they sanctioned a separate board. I think if the moldies wanted that they should have done it independantly. But OTOH, several of the posters who I found particularly irritating dispatched to moldie-land

x post oli: more congrats in order! Am also v impressed you're en route to officially professional cake-making. D'you think you might sell them long-distance, one day?

<bosom swells (even more) with pride at knowing such a magnificent bunch of MNers>

congrats Indith!! That is very very exciting, and will make a nice change from poorly dd and potty training!

We are now quite relaxed about the glacial slowness of our sale, because buyer has gone on holiday leaving signed contract with solicitor, ready to exchange the minute he gets his mitts on the Party Wall paperwork. Which will be in about two weeks <yawn>. Frustrating from the pov of planning the actual move, but as dh pointed out its saving us money on a rental

Jabber, how lovely, am v impressed

I'm here, been lurking on the moldies threads (WHY?) so that's wasted the last few evenings. Also had EHO visit yesterday so have been madly cleaning my house (it appears that it is a good idea to clean one's oven more than once a year [slattern]) but I passed - hooray - so that's the first step on my path to cake makerdom .

EV, hope you're alright.

Indith, hope you are exchanged by now and almost bona fide homeowners . Will it be manic packing and de-cluttering for the next 3 weeks. How are the dcs now? And you and dh? There's been a couple of unconfirmed cases of SF at ds1's school but no sign of it here yet. DH goes to India tomorrow for 8 days so my money is on it arriving on Sunday. <glass half full>

LenniEd, Heaton Park sounds great. After 17th August is best for us, I think. Between dh, the dcs and then me going away the first half of the hols is a bit manic. I'd like to come to a Hull meet up too - can you let me know if/when it is, pretty please?

Eli, sending <hurry up> vibes for the PWA. If it's meant to happen, it will, have faith .

Jabber, I'm very glad ds2's symptoms are nothing sinister and that he'll grow out of it. You must be so relieved <understatement>.

Best go, ds1 has a friend here and it's hell so much fun so I need to go and take some valium join in.

<fawns over Jabber as she is now all popular gatting on one of those threads>

Eli I hope things progress for you

Lennied I can be in Hull pretty much whenever you want me to be Thanks for the potty advice too, I think I do just need to be firm and ban the nappies, he clearly knows wehn he needs to go as when naked he stops playing, goes to find the potty even if it is another room and does his wee/poo. Oh and ds gets very annoyed at dd for trying to swipe his toys too, hate to think what it will be like when she can actually crawls rather than roll, shuffle and flail!

EV hope everything is ok.

We are all much better now, dd even doing a reasonable job of sleeping (I was worried that we would be back at square one after it all) so project sleep can start again.

And

We exchange today! Pretty house all of our own will be ours! We complete August 10th.

Margo, thank you so much! Pan and I go way back and he is one of my favorite MNers too

This has made me unreasonably happy tonight

Jabber - for you

It's on the Favourite Mumsnetter thread. (I thought you'd like to see it)

By Pan Wed 22-Jul-09 22:39:06 Add a message | Report post | Contact poster

and jabberwocky in whom I have utter faith. She won't see this as she is stateside.

EV, are you ok?

ps moving: aargh - not exchanged yet, still waiting on party wall agreement award. And we're going away in just over a week

Am joining in to yawn with Jabber (not shocked, jsut yawning)

LenniEd, v glad the night out was ok...not least because now you can dare to think of doing more!

Also glad the LOs and dh are mending, Indith, and v impressed that you put idle (ha) hours to good use dreaming up tips. The only tip around here is in my kitchen, as we are now <drumroll> on holiday - yeay!

Got to go to bed...not, alas, in Tuscany...

I'm here, can't think of much to say though I think I'm still trying to recover from huuuuge family reunion last weekend. Feeling totally exhausted <yawn>

Aww, EV - why fed up?

Oli are you here? Do you fancy that trip to Heaton Park sometime over the hols? Talking of which Indith/AQ I am still determined to come and see you both sometime. When are you next in Hull Indith?

I'm here. Just feeling a bit fed up and nothing very interesting to say....

I'm here. Tuscany sounds lovely though.

If you are sure he's ready then I'd stick him in pants and that be that. Explain that he's not having nappies again and he'll work it out probably. DD had a few very wet days before she started to realise it wasn't pleasant to wee in her knickers all day and probably better just to use the potty. There was a few pleading sessions for a nappy which were a bit but I knew she was ready so stood firm.

Having a few sibling issues here. DS up on all fours and making a decent stab at crawling and DD being very jealous now he can get at her toys and worse still her Mummy and Daddy. A lot of aggression but so far no actual violence. Is getting to be hard work though.

Lalalalalala <<puts fingers in ears at SF talk>>

What no internet in Tuscany?

Jut hide all the SF threads Castles. The mad hysteria isn't worth it. If the Dcs sart coughing their heads off and have foreheads you can fry an egg on then start thinking about it.

Hi Indith

Been avoiding MN a bit as all the talk of SF on other threads kept making me wonder if that explains the DC's tetchiness/talk of sore tummies/heads etc. Hoping it will just go away if I avoid thinking about it!!

Anyway, hope you are all on the mend. Re potty training: it is the worst aspect of parenting imo (pathetic I know) but they usually do get the hang of it at around 3 even if they just ain't getting it at 2.5

Everyone else has undoubtedly gone to their 2nd (or 3rd) homes in Tuscany ...

Hellooooooooooooooooo!

See now if you lot would talk to me I wouldn't be venturing into other bits of MN now would I.

It's the amount of time I've spent sitting on the swivel chair playing classical music through youtube with dd in a sling Jabber, enough to send anyone mad!

She seems less coughy today though. She even slept for a whole 3 hours straight last night Of course we went to the bf picnic yesterday so ds didn't nap and has shown that he is not yet ready to do without a nap as he had 4 night terrors last night so I didn't get to enjoy the 3 hours stretch. Dh did though

Potty training ds is driving me mad. We went back to nappies, he started asking for the potty, he is now completely accident free when naked, he'll take himself quite happily but the instant you put pants on him he starts having accidents and after a morning of accidents starts asking for nappies and I then spend the next couple of days having to persuade him that he doesn't need a nappy. Do I just need to bite the bullet and head out for a day with no nappies and lots of changes of clothes to make him realise pants are not to be peed in? He can pull his own pants down and up so I know it isn't that stopping him. Argh!

<jabber peers in and notes that Indith is now getting obsessed with competitions due to excess staying-in-the-house-with-sick-children time and quickly backs away>

<basks in glory of being tip of the day>

Anyone else find themselves trying desperately to think up a tip to enter competitions?

Thanks Castles, I keep seeing different things, today I saw something that said 7 days after last symptom gone! I think I prefer yours.

OOo, Indith I like your tip of the day. We have a weetabix rule - not allowed to be left on anything. Like cement.

AQ - things do sound manic but fun there - you are almost tempting me to have another. Almost but not quite, am envious of your brood though, will be gorgeous at Christmas with them all round the table.

Indith, I have heard and separately been informed by my GP that 24 hours after last fever (I presume that means high temperature) you are ok to go out. If the picnic is outside, surely that won't be as bad?

Eli & Jabber, yeah for good health

AQ, sound's like everything is on the up for you. Great news. Isn't it funny how we manage better on our own i.e. DH-less

On holiday here. Hooray!

Glad the night went ok Lennied.

AQ great that you are getting the spd stuff sorted finally! Must make life a bit easier.

Am bemused by the pig germ advice. The dcs finish their tamiflu today, some stuff says can go out, other say stay home til feeling better. Most stuff seems to suggest contagious early on rather than later. Ds is at mostly ok but big grotty/quick to tire stage, still snotty but probably ok to go out. Dd very grumpy, still a bit spotty but the rash is clearing, very snotty and has a horrible cough like a dog with TB, don't really know if I should take her out tomorrow or not. Am thinking the bf picnic not a good idea as spreading it round a big group of small children and babies perhaps not the most responsible thing to do. Dh has been wiped out for a coupld of days but now just coughing up impressive goo. Nice.

To add to it dd is very much off her milk and I am leaking through everything and getting really sore and lumpy on the side that I'm not so good at expressing.

I want sleep.

I hope you manage to get out soon Indith (but obviously you're making up for it by being online ref ur comment on FB about 2 mins after I posted the photo ! I too go insane with being inside with them all day, please please please let no-one get sick over the school hols or I shall kill myself. I dropped a table on my foot last weekend and the dc's STILL keep stepping on it so still limping round half the time. Dt's and ds2 all have colds but I'm just grateful that all it is. They were all terribly sweet this morning, I took a video because older boys playing game together nicely and babies happily bouncing in their chairs. First time ever!!

how's it going in your household, margo?

glad you had goodish news, Jabber. Can you sleep again now?

what's happening on the moving front, Elibean?

castles, how're you doing?

feeling quite perky this week, osteopathy finally helping with the post-spd problems which turn out to be from a coccyx injury 20 years ago! . So pleased to be able to get down on the floor again and play games etc. Plus have spent a lot more time with all 4 dc's this week as dp away for 5 days and really quite enjoyed it. Knackered of course due to all the night wakings still but they're seeming more manageable now.

school hols started, eeeek. See you in 7 weeks......

Back from night away sans DS - bit of a disaster bf-wise but still hanging in there and should come right in a few days hopefully. No disasters with the ILs thankfully. Well, none reported anyway. Have been grilling DD for full details sounds like it went well.

Glad blood results were clear Jabber, and also understand need to know.

Hope things improving with SF and CP. Would think you will be clear by Monday Indith - bf picnic sounds nice.

Jabber, great to hear nothing serious for ds...and totally understand the need to know part, I would be the same. Hope you get to celebrate the peace of mind

Get well soon Indith and family (did dh get it?) can imagine the need to reconnect with people at this stage - sounds like a good sign that you want to, at least!

Piggy flu in dd's class now, so am slightly when dd2 gets a headache (she claimed one tonight...though bouncing around now) or dd1 looks extra pale (had school trip to Brighton yesterday, all day, accounts for that one) but think they are basically both in shining good health. Which I am truly appreciating, tbh.

Two more days of school....yeay yeay!

hello all.

((hugs)) to anyone who is poorly.

Margo - I've emailed you back.

Glad anything nasty ruled out Jabber, hope it stops by itself soon.

Dd sooooo grumpy today, will only sleep (and neeeeds to sleep) in sling with finger (mine) in mouth.

Tisn't the pig flu that kills you though, tis the need to kill each other after being locked away for a few days. Dcs finish tamiflu tomorrow, hope symptoms gone by Monday so can leave the house <selfish> Tis the breasfeeding picnic on Mon and I really want to go to see friends but not sure it is wise.

Goodness at the sickness

I have resisted whining posting until we got all of ds2's bloodwork back. It looks like he basically does have just a mysterious recurring fever that he will hopefully outgrow. A heartstopping 24 hours while they repeated one test to rule out hodgekins/non-hodgekins lymphoma among others but as of 4:30 today all seems well. My brother (the doctor) thinks that we just spent hundreds of dollars for nothing and that our doctor overdid it. I am actually thankful to have ruled out all of the scary things and am grateful to have found someone who understands that I cannot mentally go through another 6 months of this without some answers

castles, this may sound ridiculous but it is something I have done in the past when I feel that I have lost myself, so to speak. I remember how I used to be and I just start pretending/going through the motions of being that person again. It's a bit like putting on a costume at first but then it starts to feel more familiar and, well, not like pretending anymore iykwim. Hope that doesn't sound totally ridiculous

Oh dear CP and SF you poor things.

There is a 2 day high temp thing going round the DCs school (no other symptoms). Unconfirmed case of SF a attached nursery.

Am longing for the holidays. Only a day to go

Great list EV, shall have to remember all that for when CP hits us, because it will at some point won't it.

Thanks EV. Thankfully I've used all but Calomile cream.

EV - I'm going to e-mail you on FB

Dont know if this helps with the Pox

Chickenpox Survival Guilde

Calomile cream (not lotion as it dries out)
PoxiCiln - foam from boots - expensive but really good.
Piriton syrup
bicarbinate of soda for the bath. Helps reduce acid in the spots or something and reduces itching.
Oats in a muslin for the bath - very soothing
Metanium cream for nappy area.
children's magazines a godsend. Free gift, puzzles and new stories were good distraction.
maybe a new DVD as an alternative distraction.
oversized t-shirts as they wont rub the spots and will cover most bits.
nail scissors - cut nails now so any scratching has less effect.

Oh dear. CP and swine flu

<tuts> I turn my back for a minute and CP and swine flu? You poor loves, hope both lots are recovering, Margo and Indith. I've read that Tamiflu is v bitter, poor ds...would cheese work, d'you think? I think bad CP is every bit as nasty as the less nasty cases of flu, for kids, so sympathy to all of you and get well soon.

Including Indith's dh, of swine and man flu both

I think I'm going to sign myself up for another course (if we can afford it ) - want to do a management qualification. Thought it might come in handy at home work

ouch MArgo, do hope your dh is ok and that the CP isn't too bad.

I think we all (at least the SAHMs though the workers are free to join in)need to follow Eli and sign up for a course. We could start a movement, "I have a brain and I will use it". I need to do something before I go insane and my brain starts seeping out of my skull.

Children asleep. Ds has spent most of the day watching beebies. Struggled to get tamiflu down him though as they don't give the suspension to over 1s so you have to empty the capsule into something and get them to eat it. Trouble is only really sweet stuff masks it and we all know ds turns his nose up at sweet stuff. Poor boy though, spoonfull of calpol, spoonful of lactulose, attempts to persuade him to eat doctored yoghurt/drink juice with stuff in it. Dd covered in a rash, only slept in sling all day and not even wanted to eat nectarine (she would eat a nectarine at every meal given half the chance). I feel a fair bit better erally today, just feeling a bit dense that in retrospect I've been walking round for the past week or so with syptoms which of course means I've been at toddlers, bumps and babes etc . Dh claiming to feel rotten now. Are men allowed to have man swine flu? I feel he should be made to just have regular swine flu like everybody else and not manify it.

Off to bed, dd has yet to awake which is something of a miracle so shall see what happens. Last night ds and I slept together so I got him fussing and waking all night plus dd waking a million times and dh slept peacefully in ds's bed. He did have an interview at work today to be fair.

Margo - hope your household are recovering too. Boo to CP - horrid, horrid. Hope they pass without too much trauma, although a couple of weeks in the house enough for anyone. Poor DH too.

Castles - can you recover your former self and just go for it? Did I see on FB a while back that all yours are at nursery/pre-school/school some of the time now or was that my imagination? Would you be able to get out and do some studying or work or something and get a bit of time to yourself? Situation with my family always seems worse to me when I'm down in myself, having another purpose seems to help me out.

Indith hope you all get better soon. Don't think you can take tamiflu when bf my GP told me yesterday, which is odd since babies can have it . Look after yourselves.

Run away! Run away! Swine flu has hit the Indith household. Both kids now on tamiflu. Me? Well I've just been sneezing for 2 weeks and am all achey, no need to check me out Dr <<mainlines choclate and caffeine>>

Aw Castles. I can't believe ILs when they do this - Doesn't it just label them as pathetic and silly?

DH had his tonsillectomy today. He's in bed now. DD1 has come down with CP and I'm waiting for a fortnight or so for dd2 to come down with it.

Thanks Jabber. That's what my friend said! It's also what I would do if I was the person I used to be (pre DCs) and wasn't so worn down by our families in general.

I am pretty much a 'lone' parent already so not sure what excuse I have ... Sorry to be so miserable!!!

castles

What would happen if you very sweetly said "You know, you're probably right. I'm coming with you all as I'm sure they did mean to invite me."

That would show them

Anytime I think I'd be better off on my own the dcs start to play up considerably making me realize I cannot do the lone parent thing whatsoever. but then that's me...

lol at patron saint of air con Jabber!

I think it is a sad fact of having children later in life (in my case anyway) that you don't get any free childcare. My parents are young still (though disinterested) but I'm not Lennied, I have one local friend who would help me out but she has her hands full with 2 plus recent bereavement and tiny house and I just don't think I could do it to her overnight as she is so kind and it would be quite hard for her esp with all DS's ishoos. Sigh.

DH and I had a blazing row last night over the ILs. Sigh. They invited the children and him down for the weekend and not me (quite clearly) to see my BIL/SIL/cousins from Middle East. He told me I had got the wrong end of the stick (er, no, MIL does stuff like this all the time) and then that I always ruin everything. I often think I'd be better on my own

Both dcs currently chattering in bed. It's 9:30 here so not too terribly past bedtime

Family reunion weekend coming up. Am at the same time excited and a bit as it turns into something rather like herding cats but they will all be gone on Sunday...

Let me rephrase first sentence: ds1 very quiet (could be the melatonin) ds2 now yelling but in a very good-natured way.

I am fretting over swine flu. There are talks of vaccination in the fall and with ds1's issues I really don't want to have to deal with that <sigh>

Ds1 has spent the night with gp's with great success but not sure when they would be up to having both of them as my parents are well into their '70's. Also wondering if my mother is still coherent enough. The air conditioner at their house went on the blink temporarily and she had ds1 praying with her about it she is fully aware that dh and I are not in agreement with them about things like that. I am now dreading the "talk" that will have to come...although dh and I did have quite a giggle wondering who exactly is the patron saint of air conditioners

I only leave mine with family overnight. My mum or the PILs have them occasionally but never have any trouble with them . Ds2 sleeps through for them and they all sleep in til a reasonable time in the morning (7:30 or so). Why the hell they can't do that for me I don't know . Although it all goes in our favour because they don't mind doing it again, so I'm not complaining too much!

Bad sleep here too, atm. DS2 (no surprise there then) is very unsettled but doesn't seem to know why he's awake or want comforting. Hey ho, it'll pass at some point, as usual.

Well DH had a firm 'chat' with MIL today and made it very clear that we wanted to know if either of them was upset and that there is no heroism in keeping them there if they clearly don't want to be with PILs, we'd rather know and come home and deal with it. MIL seemed to think she'd of upset us if she called to say he was crying and they couldn't settle him, when it was more upsetting to know he'd been crying that long unneccesarily since we were only up the road. As for DD, MIL is now under strict instructions to put the baby monitor on during the night as much as she hates the damned thing. I'm feeling very proud of DH, about bloody time too! They love having DD and are fantastic with her but they are reluctant to have them both which I'm fine with, but they aren't getting to know DS at all which doesn't help. I do trust them though.

Castles - it must be hard with no one to have yours at all, do you have any friends you could trade babysitting with that you trust? I think that is going to have to be the next option to look at for us. I have one close friend I would trust and they know well but it is a big step, I don't think I'd do it until DS is more like 2yo perhaps. And probably not even then.

Eli, DD2 is clingy. Must be their age!

DS & DD1 are back at school, thanks for asking, but DD1 still isn't in her plate (as they say in france ). Need to ring GP to get test results later.

Sorry about the lack of sleep. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had a decent night sleep for 2 weeks now and my youngest is 2.5 (or something like that!)

Lennied, I've always found there are consequences to leaving the DCs with anyone overnight (only GPs in our case). You have to weigh it up and decide if it's worth it. I don't leave them with my mum anymore, it just is not worth the aggro. Up until now have gritted my teeth and left them with MIL (once a year max) but even that has taken it's course I think

Midsummer and sleep

LenniEd, that sounds upsetting re GPs and LOs...I am dreadful at leaving mine if upset, so do sympathise. It does also depend on the GPs though, as to how much you trust them/how receptive they are to learning from experience..?

dd2 is going through a clingy phase atm, which is annoying at times and upsetting at others - depending on who I'm leaving her with, etc. Wonder if it coincides with toilet training, nursery induction etc or is it just developmental phase? Can't remember a thing from first time around...

Castles, how are the DC? Flu? Lots round here, have started the dds on their preventers early this year, and am going to chat with the asthma nurse on Thursday. dh has got his plan in place, and we're stocked up on Calpol etc. Makes me feel like a well-prepared soldier

Jabber, Indith and LenniEd, hope you all get some decent sleep tonight...

Sorry to hear about crying babies and sleepless nights. Ds2 was up until almost 11 last night jabbering away We went to the lake today and purposely skipped nap in the hopes he will go down earlier tonight.

I did not have a good night. Grrr.

Sorry things didn't go very well with leaving ds. When you say he cried for 2 hours, I assume they were comforting him? Obviously you don't want to have him crying but so long as he knows his grandparents pretty well and is generally happy with them then it isn't the same as him just screaming his head off if he is being offered comfort by someone he knows. Not that that is much confort I know, I stressed so much the first time we left ds overnight and that was only last August! Hopefully they will have learned with dd wetting the bed and will remember.

<<sweeps down cobwebs>>

Sorry - pressed post too early...

Castles - Also sorry about your SFIL.

AQ - I am a calendar devotee, although it is a little disturbing that as result I never have any idea what I am doing when. If I am parted from my diary I am a walking disaster. In actual fact I am a walking disaster with my diary but hey-ho!

<Waves> I like EV better than FGS - although I did like the interim one when you had hurt your leg(?) EV? Can't remember exactly what it was FunkyGlassStocking??

We left DS last night for a night out with friends - first time really, only left him during the day before and not longer than a couple of hours. I left him asleep at GPs but DD woke him as they shared a room and he cried for 2 hours until we came back I wish they had called us. Am a bit that they didn't. Also DD has been out of pull ups for the last week and has been waking at about 5.30/6am for a wee and then going back to sleep. She stayed over but they obviously slept through her asking for the toilet and she wet the bed. Poor soul was slept in it until 7am. We're meant to be leaving them overnight on Friday, I feel sick about it.

Hope you get a good night Indith. I hate that zombie feeling when you get some rest finally, such deep sleep. The only cure is more sleep.

Not a soap fan here - don't really watch tv at all I'm permanently out of the loop as result.

neighbours is ace

AQ I am ning at the image of a herd of small children jabbering away from behind the gate reachiing out and brandishing empty bowls as you prepare food. Perhaps a little more Dickensian than the reality!

My children are in bed and as I am falling asleep and there is bugger all on TV I am about to follow.

Everything crossed for a decent night from dd, she has been ok the past 2 nights. This morning I even dumped her back in her cot wide awake at 4.40 and the next thing I knew it was 7am and she was gurgling happily Don't think my body knows what to do with sleep though, I feel like a train wreck!

Spent years watching neighbours, but seems like a looong time ago...didnt' even know it still existed

AQ, yes, rented - there are a couple of possibles on, but we'll have to move fast! Re asthma/swine flu: asthmatics have a risk of their asthma being triggered by the flu (as in any flu, I imagine) and are at higher risk of breathing difficulties than non-asthmatics. Basic advice is to make sure you have all your meds, use your preventer well (if you have one) and generally keep your asthma under control as much as poss.

EV, I'd forgotten all about FGS...now I'm nostalgic...that, and all this Neighbours talk, has me living in the past

Castles, sorry, that was me rushing - yes, of course, step-father. Hope your Mum behaves, my step-mother was a bit of a nightmare when my Dad was diagnosed, tbh.

Hi All

Never really got used to Maggie so glad to be EV again.

Sorry to hear about the big C, castles

Yes, I am a neighbours fan. Love it.

Oooh, yay, Eli moving after all! But where to?? are you planning on renting?

Indith, I know nothing about lactulose as ds1 has been on Movicol from the start but agree with jabber about the dosage based on talking to other mums. And I shall close my ears at any idea that my ds will give up his nap before Christmas although he has given it up at nursery 2 days a week (aq wails now....). What can I do, the little darling won't watch ANY television argggghhhhh. At least I put a stairgate on the living room last weekend so all 3 now stand there squawking at me rather than crawl around me as I try to cook dinner. I am absolutely sure that you can use your powers to persuade dp that a trip to ikea perfectly in order. It is sooooo cheap for things like that, I love it! Extremely pleased btw to hear that you watch Neighbours

Have only just twigged that EV is back durrrrr, I hadn't really got used to the other tbh (and indeed still think of you as FGS!). Aren't you closet neighbours fan too?

Oli, how goes the cake? Not sure what kind of course, I have no interests/hobbies/life so never know what to do. At the moment all I dream of is a quiet tidy spot in my house to read books, can you do a course on how to achieve that? The only thing I've done in the last 15 years that I really really loved was an evening course on architecture. Fab. <aq scurries off to see if any architecture courses in sept....>

castles, how is dd? And sorry about your FIL too

umm, what is link between asthma & swine flu as I am asthmatic? I don't read/watch news anymore, I live in a vacuum.

lennied, horrible shopping trip, I can imagine having done it myself, I get this knot between my shoulder blades about 30 seconds in and a tension headache. Even taking ds1 is ghastly (I want, I want, mummy can you buy me everything in this shop and the next 5 shops NOW).

I think a great deal of my time & energy over the last year has been devoted to thoughts of calendars. It's good to know I'm not alone. After 2 lifebooks I"m not going to bother anymore tho (even if they have moved the monthly thingies to the end, Lennied). The stickers are quite nice. DS1 & ds2 think so too which is why I don't have any left. The dt's have also become reaching, grabbing little ratbags as of last week and my god they move fast.

Thanks guys It's actually my step-father who has prostate cancer. Someone asked if I have much to do with him (sorry can't remember who): he's been married to my mum for 23 years so quite a bit I suppose. I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone obviously. My RL friends are a bit concerned about how my mum will play this one (our relationship is a pile of cr** at the best of times). Hey ho, back to the counsellor as soon as I can afford it!

Eli, great news on the house

DD1 went back to school today but she's been asleep on the sofa since 5.30pm so not sure how she is really, although she did do a 1.5 hour sponsored walk followed by swimming lesson today and she is a 110% person

Still not heard anything from BP. Really hope she is ok and just doesn't want to know.

castles, I think I missed the news on your FIL. I'm so sorry

Indith, yeay on the winning, but ouch re the shoulder - don't let it go on too long, if its not improving, without visit to GP: agree they're not great on shoulders/backs etc but if it gets 'stuck' a physio might help. I had one once that got a bit 'frozen' and took ages to be all well - hopefully won't happen to yours!

Castles, sorry about your FIL...it was so scary and upsetting when my father was diagnosed. Email me if you want to chat about it, BP was v helpful to me at the time (she had experience) and v reassuring. Dad, btw, is in fine form at 82 - 18 months on - and seems to be in full remission.

Also sorry re dd and unwellness, swine or otherwise...lots around us, too, and with dh's recent asthma history am also a bit worried. Not sure whether to worry about the dds or not - one has mild, virus triggered asthma and the other, well, you all know more about her breathing history than anyone would care to

Lots of helpful posts on Childrens Health section re kids with asthma - and DPs, too, LenniEd.

Oli, good luck with the campervan cake - sounds extraordinarily difficult to me, but what do I know!

Oh - our house sale if finally de-blocked: neighbour's basement plans are being surveyed next week, and our buyer wants to set contract exchange date! Won't be moving till start of next term now but barring disasters on survey, we will be moving after all. Longest drawn out sale in the history of sales

Indith, try icing your shoulder. I had major shoulder problems a few years ago and the physical therapist told me that you can sometimes go wrong and increase inflammation with heat but you can never go wrong with ice. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

What dosage of lactulose are you giving? A lot of times you need more than you think. We were using Miralax and it might be different but AQ would know what to advise.

I can hear ds singing in his room <sobs> He is giving up his nap again isn't he <wails> <hurries off to watch the end of neighbours before he gets bored>

You do realise you lot are discussing calendars right? <<secretly takes notes>> I am terrible at remembering stuff so I probably should get involved!

AQ GP said to keep pushing fluids (am struggling since trying not to give him milk!) and keep on lactulose but if he has another bout I will be pushing for more.

Ds was doing so well on potty since being back in the security of nappies and was asking for it a lot but since the uber bad poo has been refusing it <sigh> <takes out a loan to keep buying sposies>

Hello EV

I love IKEA too but dh thinks it is hell on earth, of course it is hell on earth with dh and dcs. Wonder if I can persuade dh to let me go on cheap rug and cushion buying trip with a friend and not him after we move? (because obviously we will be moving because the structural survey will be fine and on Monday we will be able to ring solicitor and give the thumbs up to exchange)

Hope the swine flu passes without doing harm.

I ahve pulled something in my shoulder I'm sure of it, I keep gettingreally horrible pain from it but hey ho what would a Dr tell me to do, rest it?

I love my life book - this years (2009/10) is so much better than last years too as they've put all those annoying in between month pages at the back. We had a weekly planner calendar last year but have just taken delivery of my shiny family planner which is much nicer. I go all precious over it at this time of year and write everything neatly and use the stickers. By December standards have dropped to a less worrying level. DH daren't write on the calendar until after Christmas.

So not only are we united by the month of our DCs birth, but also by our calendar choices.

Castles - Swine flu it's creeping ever closer here too. My DSis teaches at a school with about 25 confirmed cases now. I hope her DS doesn't get it. I worry about DH with his asthma. As I'm sure many of you do with your DCs/DPs.

Good luck to your DH Oli

AQ - Also interested to hear what kind of thing you were thinking of. And I still haven't emailed but I haven't forgotten either. I love Ikea - far too long since I last spent a fortune went. <Tries to think of something I could need from Ikea convincing enough for DH to take me>

So today I learnt (again) why I don't attempt shopping with two. Bloody nightmare. Made worse by needing petrol on the way home and pay at pump machine broken so had to drag a screaming DD across the forecourt whilst lugging DS+car seat and resist urge to shout "Shut up!" at her as she wailed "Caaaaaake!" at the top of her lungs. Then having finally got them back in the car I realised my car keys were on the counter in the bloody kiosk. Arrrrggh! And breathe.

Welcome back EV!

Castles, I like the fact I can fill in odd bits and bobs that are going to happen between Sept and Dec instead of scribbling
them on the end of August's page in no particular order. I just transfer them over as soon as the new one arrives. As soon as DH gets paid next week I am ordering my new one .

AQ, I bet there's something at your local college that you could do on one evening a week. What sort of thing do you want to do?

Ikea also my spiritual home, went on Tuesday for furniture for dcs' rooms. I did have ds2 but he was oddly well behaved after I bribed him with a big bag of Daims.

LenniEd, forgot to say good luck with the job. DH applied for a new one last week which will be a million times better than his current one and exactly what he wants to do (and it's better paid ).

There's confirmed swine flu at DH's school now - 1 pupil (who was sent in to school with obvious symptoms ) and a member of the office staff (who came in to work despite the fact she was obviously ill ). DH is meant to be going on a 9 day working trip to India on the 23rd July, anyone like to place a bet on when he gets it?

Oh, no, castles, swine flu?!When will you find out?

congrats on vouchers & joggler (not that I've got a clue what it is), indith - fatface excellent choice (aq peers down at fatface necklace, top & cardigan...). What did you hear back from the gp? How long has this been going on for because I'd be tempted in your position to ask for paed referral just to make sure there aren't long lasting problems (but then I am a bit wary of these things given ds1's history).

courses sound grand Eli & Oli, I was thinking of looking at something for sept but prob. booked up already. Need some stimulation to remind myself that I'm still in the human race sometimes.

I have life book (hated it) and the calendar which I think could be useful but haven't been arsed to fill it in. I have an iPhone and a v.v.v.small pink diary. Seems to work so far, I carry both with me everywhere! I like the online listmaking etc but not putting calendar items in using one finger typing.

lennied, job sounds fab, hope you get it!

jabber, when are bloods back for ds2?

welcome back ev! how're things?

had day off today, went to ikea (you know I love the place!) with mum and NO dc's.

Oooh, I lurve the Life Book. Am peed off though that I lose 3 months so to speak when I buy a replacement.

DD1 possibly has swine flu. I just hope it's not a UTI which is the other possibility

Cooeee. I'm back

Ah, but which one do you have?

I had the Weekly Planner calendar 2007/2008, loved the tear off shopping list every week <saddo>.

I tried the Lifebook this year for it's kitchen-to-bag ability & hate it, could never work out what was going on so only use the month-to-view page of it now.

So from September I will be using The Home Planner Calendar. I think it's as close to perfection as I will achieve in a calendar .

I love my organised Mum calendar too how MN is that!

Ooh, well done Indith - sparkly new clothes for a sparkly new house .

re. DS, could you water down the milk a bit? Or just let him have bm, that has a good 'moving' effect iirc.

With LenniEd on the Joggler, I love my Organised Mum calendar too much to defect to more technology!

, sorry castles. Do you have much to do with him?

Eli, course sounds fun. I'm carrying on with my cake course after the summer. I love those 2 hours of concentrating on something completely outside of dcs/house/dh. Pure bliss .

I'm trying to sort ds1 and dd's rooms atm. All I seem to be doing is moving clutter from their rooms to the rest of the house. So they have lovely tidy organised rooms but the rest of the house is a pit .

And I'm trying to make a VW campervan cake. Looked easy in the picture.

It isn't!

Oh, so like a texting diary sounds interesting - but I like writing in my diary so not for me.

Yes, with you on fatface. And no straying into the children's section <stern look>

I'd go with the milk, but I'm clueless so ignore me. Why not breastmilk? Or is it too much of a pavlova?

I'm thinking Fatface Have to tell the powers that be. The joggler is some fancy gadget thing that holds all your plans and sends you texts to remind you to do stuff I believe, I'll have to get Margo to instruct me on it!

GP said for the moment just keep ds on the lactulose and try to up his fluids so shall keep battling on. Since his fave drink in the world (apart form breast milk ) is milk, what is worse for constipation, lack of fluids or dairy? Have been struggling to get him to drink much today but I know if I give him milk he'll down the lot.

What is a joggler? [dumb emoticon]

Well done Indith! Any store at all?? Pick somewhere where you can treat yourself definitely nothing baby related.

Sorry about constipation - poor DS.

Am ebaying here to see off all my baby equipment. Sold my tens machine for £40 already, and am working on the rest now. Is wonderful to see all the enormous inaminate objects go.

Well done Indith - I am trialling the joggler for MN.

Thanks for you help on the other thread Eli. We haven't spoken to the GP about it but DH will speak to them when he goes for his pre-op on Friday.

I will have a read through and catch up.

I used to manage to slip a teaspoon of califig (or prune juice) into diluted apple juice for DS. Can you try doing that?

Oh Castles

Re constipation I have been giving him lactulose but as soon as I stop he goes right back. He doesn't hold it in for long (max has been 3 days) but he screams like hell and especially this time has been very distressed, spent the other night with him in our bed massaging his tummy all night

He loves nectarines (same effect as peaches?), peas and pears but prunes are a no no. Have been trying to get him to drink prune juice but he is on to me.

Wooo Indith

Sorry about the constipation, missed that one. Poor little DS. My DS was bunged up for 10 days post MMR vax and a few doses of lactulose unbunged him.

Just been told my step-father has prostate cancer. Starting to wonder if I have a case of Typhoid Mary

Congrats on the vouchers!!

pooor little ds. Have you tried the "P" diet? peas, pears, prunes and peaches?

I won the 02 survey! I get £100 voucher for the store of my choice! All suggestions gratefully received Oh and I get one of them there joggler technological jobbies to sit and gather dust/get covered in muck or drowned by a leaky water bottle should I put it in my bag

Hope BP is ok.

Course sounds good Eli

Good luck on the job Lennied

Ds still struggling with constipation, we've been getting overflow He has managed to go today after much screaming but we have an appointment with the GP this afternoon.

Lol at the charity shop giving LenniEd. And good luck on the job. It sounds interesting.

wonder what's up with bp?

Sent BP an email but haven't heard back. Hope she is ok.

GL with the job application Lennied. Sound's interesting.

Jabber - we are now at the point with cleaning and organising where so much time goes between that we can't even remember what the neatly organised piles of junk are for so I wouldn't worry about missing the spring! I dug out a load of boxes from the nursery last week and took the one marked charity shop into town with me, feelign all efficient only to get there and find it is full of size large nappies that I am waiting for DS to grow into. I looked a little miserly when I refused to hand it over! I did part with the last of my maternity clothes though - I gave my sister the good things that suited me as she is the same shape and the rest went to the charity shop. I won't miss them!

Course sounds lovely Eli - and 1 morning a week will be enough to give you a break. Plus there will be things to do at home. Am looking forward to hearing about it.

Have applied for another job - this one 4 days a week. A better balance I think. Working for the hospital education service with children with brain injuries and mental health problems. Won't hear for ages though

Sounds nice, eli. Good to stretch the brain a bit beyond toddler/pre-school talk I always think Dh complains that he gets too bogged down when he hasn't been around adults in a while.

We are doing summer cleaning/organizing - somehow missed doing it in the spring

Jabber, v glad re ds

<mouth watering over your Twinkie cake and Oli's cupcakes...>

Re course: no, no made it sound much grander/more exciting that it really is. Its exciting to me, because its all mine and not about dds or dh or house...but its only one morning per week, another writing course. The 'scary' part is that its not for beginners - feels very daring. I was v tempted by more beginner-y courses, but know I like to hide in beginnings and not swim out into middles - iyswim - so am challenging myself

I always try to shop without dcs If I take them with me they are consigned to the cart.

Indith, exciting news on the house - only a month away! and dd sounds adorable.

eli, you do have to share more on this course you are taking. I can't imagine taking on anything like that. Kudos!

oli, can't even begin to imagine 100 cupcakes!!! You so deserve a vacation. very

Ds2 much better today. He had perked up enough last night for a little family outing. And since today is Fourth of July we went to my parents for a little holiday/family at the lake day. It was nice. I made my annual Twinkie cake decorated like a flad. It's very white trash and very, very yummy

Course Eli? Enlighten us...

Oli - I'm with the others, you'll miss them, but it'll be lovely. And you'll come back refreshed and suffer enjoy them more for it.

AQ - I'd also stick to the crem, but am going to haul my two over to accompany you sometime before Christmas, I've added it to my mental list of plans for the year. I'm determined!

Indith - I know how you feel. Perhaps once you've moved and settled somewhere you know you'll stay a while you'll have more chance for friendship. It's hard with a baby and a toddler since playgroups are no longer as much for you as them... we are now the frantic women dashing between precarious baby and tantruming toddler rather than the serene mothers-of-one sipping coffee whilst organising playdates. I haven't made any new friends since DS arrived. Fortunately I have a couple of close Mum friends with DCs DDs age, but both of their husbands have been made redundant and one has already moved away. I've started taking DS to a free baby massage course run by our local surestart children's centre and there are two Mums there with older DCs who I think could become good friends, I'll have to brave asking them over or something. MN is great since there is none of the complication, although have to say it takes just as long to get to know people on here - my other PN thread only started to feel like a nice place once we were all about 7months pg.

<<whispers>> I send DH and DD1 to the supermarket on Sundays if I havent sone an online shop.

oops, that took so long we x-posted

Of course (aimed at Castles)

I think, probably, BP wouldn't mind a 'we're waving at you and hope you're ok but not hassling you' kind of email/cat? I used to have her email too...what d'you think?

Indith, but vicariously excited for you re house: its going to be great, and as dh just told me (I enrolled on a course for Septembe ) nothing exciting is ever not a bit scary too...she said, breathing deeply. As for the friends bit, sympathies -my two oldest ones are moving away. Its hard to find time/space with 2 very young LOs to nurture adult friendships, beyond a certain level. Also, it seems to take a long time for the majority of people to open up and talk about anything very important/vulnerable, in RL, in this country - and being impatient/half-French I find that frustrating when making new friends. Hence my passion for you lot

Oli, I know I would have mixed feelings too, but I also think it'll be great and you'll be fine once there. I wish I could be packed in your suitcase and come too - its been a looong time since I walked down Orchard Street. Please can I send dh on a dh-course with yours as tutor?

Jabber, hope ds still improving, been thinking of you.

AQ, supermarkets with 4? WHY?! Isn't that what internet shopping is for ? I can have good ones with my two, on occasion, but am always on tenterhooks, speeding through aisles at ever-increasing speed to avoid melt-downs/boredom etc. I vote crem every time. Or a small, safe, playground maybe.

Am still struggling with frustration over the house sale thing, but am determined to focus on other things: hence booked course, and am starting to sort junk anyway (a trifle defiantly, but am never going to be perfect)!

Btw, I am one such loony lady who takes all her DCs to the supermarket frequently. Mostly because I am too disorganised busy to order on-line They aren't too bad though. Or maybe I am just immune these days

Indith, some of those acquaintances will become good friends one day. Take it from me as someone who has been there

Oli, break sound's wonderful. Enjoy it and don't ruin it by missing the DCs How lovely to 1. have somewhere to go 2. have such a wonderful competent DH.

I have got BP's email address. I often think of her but wouldn't want to hassle her esp if she is 'done' with MN IYKWIM. However, I do worry about her.

Am cream crackered after a day of birthday parties on top of a hangover and a bad back and damaged achilles heel and general hurry-up-end-of-term-feeling. Whinge whinge! Does everyone else feel like there is just sooooooooooooo much to do and you just get through the day doing the bare minimum?

humph no toileting reports today. Shall just have to try again in a few weeks.

We got a letter today form solicitors to say that contracts are ready for exchange and the sellers want to complete on August 4th <scared> <excited>

AQ I like the shoes. The lady who takes all her children to the supermarket is clearly a loon. I get a monthly delivery and I only have the 2! Why don't you try somewhere like the farm shop in Cottingham? Animals to look at (they have chickens, goats, pigs etc) and a coffee shop serving scrummy homemade cakes with a play area so easy to keep them entertained and all in one place. Oh and when ds is in a huff he shuts down, puts on a glassy expression and totally forgets how to talk, doesn't respond to questions at all and I just want to throttle him. I have discovered that "what can mummy do?" and "do you want a cuddle?&