Trapped toddler parents: support through winter and beyond

[squishymamma]

Following on from the previous thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4292353-Trapped-toddler-parents-Inspiration-and-support-needed-through-the-summer-hols

Not the most inventive name but apt I think...

Shes okay thank you for asking, had to go back to minor injuries as her cut started opening and they said it should have been stitched not glued but can't do it now without opening it up so they've steri stripped it. Shes in good spirits though.

Had an epic school run, DS got upset over something silly which then escalated and he ended up crying at everything on the way there and all the way up to the classroom. Off to baby ballet and then coffee after in a minute so hopefully that's all the tears for today

Hey everyone!
Looks like a fairly established thread but mind if i join?
I'm mother to a 13mo DS, a walking running chaos maker! Been at home the full year with him, starting back at work in March where he'll be in nursery 5 days a week, and with a childminder the 6th! Stuck between feeling guilt at being away from him, and sheer relief because I'm exhausted

Always space for more @Scotabroad24 - welcome! I can empathise, nursery is literally my saviour

Glad to hear your DM is doing okay @Motherofmonsters despite the mixup with stitches. Hope you get a peaceful coffee!

I'm planning to do some cleaning today if I manage to get DS2 to sleep, he seems to be a very awake baby regardless of all the feeding and rocking. Currently eating leftover mince pies so might take a while

Morning everyone and welcome @Scotabroad24.

So far this morning I seem to be cleaning up wee. DS1 decided to wee on purpose in DS2's cot, no idea why , then dS2 did a full on stand up fountain wee on my living room rug!

Managed to get DS1 to preschool and now my Dad has turned up like an angel to play with ds2 for an hour whilst I try to do a bit of work!

This afternoon I'm going to Hobbycraft, we have to make an 'all about me poster' for DS1 to take to school.

Sorry it was a stressful morning again @Motherofmonsters, and enjoy those mince pies @squishymamma.

@Lostthetastefordahlias good luck for moving day!

@squishymama - housework, with a 2 wo?! Gosh you're a star. I could still barely walk at that stage although granted I did have instrumental deliveries with both and recovery complications with both too grrr. Tbh my DS has only stopped the evening cluster feeds in the last week or so so I've only really started doing any housework since then, DH has been doing it all since he was born really. I cleaned the bathroom last night for the first time in about 3/4 months, felt odd haha.

Sorry Im on the app and not got to grips with it yet, I can't see the thread when I reply so it's hard to remember people's usernames when responding sorry! I have terrible short term memory too due to dyslexia.

So the good news is that both kids slept a lot better last night phew. I got a 3.5hr stretch at the beginning of the night which felt like bliss when I got up to do the first night feed haha. The bad news is I think I've got a blocked duct again in the same place that I had it a few days ago grrr so definitely think there must be something wrong with DS's latch on that side. Need to call the children's centre to book on to the breastfeeding support group for next week. Also DD is absolutely full of cold so have had to cancel the playdate I was meant to be hosting. It's going to be a loooong day and DD will be square-eyed by the end of it :(

Thanks for the moving day best wishes! In our new home, 3yr old Dd v excited but asleep already, just waiting for DS to go to sleep before I crack open the prosecco while I wait for our Ocado treat shop!! We still have about 59 boxes to unpack but not tonight I am exhausted.
How is your husband’s covid @Plantsandpuddlesuits?
Hope you get that sorted @SecondhandTable. Its years since I bf (didnt with DS) but I remember the pain!

Loving your newborn updates @squishymamma!! Hope your mum is ok today @Motherofmonsters.

@Scotabroad24 welcome her

@SecondhandTable I use the app too but you can type your reply in sections. So you can press the @ key and the names will come up to tag people.
Then press the cross at the top of the page and it will return to the thread but will have saved your reply so far.

Then you can read some more and go back to your half written reply by pressing reply as normal. You can @ as many users as you want in one message without having to remember the names as you can keep returning to the thread.

Also do you know if you swipe left on anyone's message you can choose to bookmark that message. When I found that out it changed my whole Mumsnet life!

Absolutely loosing my mind DD woke up at 10 before I fell asleep and is wide awake messing about in her cot with the random junk she insisted she had to take. I just want my bed, I've tried sneaking away but she shouts for me after 2 mins.

@Motherofmonsters oh wow that is so frustrating isn't it. Hope you managed to get some sleep eventually.

@SecondhandTable I was really lucky to have an uncomplicated birth with both DC, and didn't really tear so much or anything - so I'm feeling fairly normal again. Didn't do any cleaning though but managed the ironing! Sorry to hear about your blocked duct. If it's just one side your DS is struggling with and you can't find any obvious latch issues it might be worth taking him to a baby chiropractor - sounds weird I know, but I had loads of issues with DS1 despite being told I had "a perfect latch" and tried out the chiropractor, apparently he had some tension or whatever in his neck from the birth - a few sessions and the problem was solved! Blew my mind.

Yay glad you're in @Lostthetastefordahlias! Hope you enjoyed your first night.

We're losing the will to live with DS1 and bedtimes, he acts really tired when we're going through the bedtime routine and then when he's in his cot he point blank refuses to sleep - it takes well over an hour of going in and out, stroking and singing, sternly telling him to lie down, physically picking him up and lying him back down when he's stood up...I just don't understand the reason for his behaviour, we've tried both leaving him until he gets reasonably upset and sitting with him the entire time and there's not really any difference in his sleep with either approach. Let me know if you guys have any ideas before we go insane

DD fell asleep at one and woke up at 4.30, why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is going to nursery today which is something but my MIL has offered to come up at 9 to help me with some sorting out so I can't lounge.

It could just be a reaction to having a new brother @squishymamma, you may have to ride it out. Will he listen to an audiobook or some baby lullaby/meditation? That seems to help mine drift off.

Ugh that sounds like a challenging night @Motherofmonsters we have been up since 4:30 too but with not going to sleep til 1 you must be shattered - I would be asking MIL if she would mind if you napped while DD is at nursery rather than sorting, sometimes sleep has to come first! Fingers crossed DD is so exhausted after tonight and a day of nursery that you will get a good sleep tonight.
Thanks @squishymamma we were going to celebrate with takeaway but I fell asleep so we are saving that for the weekend! My DD went through a period of taking ages to go to sleep after DS was born, I think she just wanted some time on her own with me/ Dh - things improved when one of us would take the baby for half hour early evening and the other one would give her focused attention, reading, chatting etc. That was when DH was wfh constantly though - so may be difficult to organise otherwise!

@squishymamma your post just made me remember that straight after dS2 was born DS1 ( who was just 25 months when he was born) did exactly the same. It was as if he thought he was missing out on something by going upstairs to bed and baby dS2 was still downstairs. We had no magic solution, we just used to let dS1lie on the couch watching Moon and Me and sometimes he would just fall asleep on the couch, I think he just didn't want to be upstairs on his own.

@Lostthetastefordahlias congratulations on the house move! Hope you are very happy in your new home . Hope you can relax sometime after all of the unpacking is sorted.

You are having a tough time of it with sleep at the moment, poor you, it's exhausting.

@Motherofmonsters. Hope tonight is better.

My dS2 keeps waking up about 4 times a night at the moment and shouting out random things. Not much news here at the moment. We've made DS1's 'all about me poster', didn't realise I'd be doing his homework already! I love all the sticking, and gluing and picture making luckily. He's good and will do it as well though. Talking about beads, I got a tray in Hobbycraft yesterday as DS1 says he plays with them at preschool. So annoying though when dS2 tried to grab a handful to chuck around the room. Hope everyone is ok.

Morning everyone.

Congratulations on the house move @Lostthetastefordahlias it's always a relief to get in!

Hope you are ok @squishymamma I have various age gaps between my tribe but one of them was 24 months and I remember things like that happening it's like a bit of a regression

@Chocolatetrifle how are you doing after the loss of your fil

Well it's busy times here, DH like I said has covid he's not too bad actually which is a relief. Work have already put in the diary he will be back on day 7 and it's like erm no it depends on negative tests etc

One of our children also got an (asymptomatic) positive PCR so we have some in school some at home.

Last night was tough with hail pounding the windows but it's beautiful sunshine now!

Toddler and I have come to soft play and are going to a garden centre straight after for lunch and a browse. As you can tell from my username I'm a keen gardener. Our greenhouse got damaged in storm arwen so I need to work on it and buy more pots etc as they all smashed

Not sure if I've mentioned but I'm deaf. Soft play is hard as it's a cacophony of noise and shrieking. Have had to take hearing aids out as it was a wall of noise but now I cant hear my toddler uurgh

@Plantsandpuddlesuits, thank you for asking, I'm ok , the kids keep us busy don't they? DH is doing well and waiting to be able to start sorting things out for the funeral etc.

How was the soft play centre? Hope you get what you want from the garden centre. We had our back garden landscaped in November so I need to think about pots etc for the spring and will try to do some seed planting with the DS's etc.

We've lots of hailstones here now. We have turned a delivery box which had lots of shredded paper in into a lucky dip box and I have put different things in it and DS1 has to close his eyes and guess what the item is. Passed a bit of time anyway! Thru both love the boxes and paper etc.

Hi everyone! I'm soo very tired, bedtime seems miles off. MIL came up and we pulled every single thing out of the playroom (conservatory) sorted through it all, cleaned everywhere and put it all back. Got rid of loads of stuff that was not played with or broken. It's looking so much better and is making me happy looking at it but it took like 5 hours. I've got to do both baths & bedtimes today to.

I've picked DS up from school and we're lounging on the sofa watching tv before we get DD. Debating whether to just pick up food on the way home as I can't be bothered to cook but also feel guilty them eating junk as it's not been the healthiest few days.

Hope you had a successful trip to the garden centre @plantsandpuddlesuits. I can't cope with soft plays I've only been a couple times in 4 years

A lucky Dip box is a great idea @chocolatetrifle.

Hi all, hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

I had my booster jab yesterday so feeling achy today with a headache to top it off

Good to hear you all had similar experiences with your oldest when the next one was born, makes me feel better about it. DS1 struggled to get to sleep again last night but didn't wake up so much in the night so hopefully we're slowly moving in the right direction.

Sorting out a room is so satisfying @Motherofmonsters, hope you got some sleep last night. And it's totally fine to have a few junk food days to preserve sanity/avoid cooking!

@Plantsandpuddlesuits glad to hear your DH isn't so ill. Hope you had a good time at the garden centre! I want to get a bit more into gardening, we only have a balcony and a tiny bit of land at the side so I'm struggling for ideas. Think I'll have a soft start this year and learn what things I can plant in my boxes before I jump in to everything else!

@Chocolatetrifle that lucky dip box is a great idea!

Hello everyone not a great weekend start here. I rowed with my H as he's so tired after he's actually been asleep all night and snoring so loud he woke the baby.

It's too close to Christmas for me to have a any desire to spend a whole weekend with him yet 😂

Glad your DS1 slept better last night @squishymamma.

That would annoy me so much @pompomsgalore

DD slept 7.30-5.30 without waking up so she's back in my good books. It's absolutely torrential rain here so we are housebound.
MIL gave us one of those flat trolley things with 4 wheels, a bit like what a mechanic would lie on to go under cars. They've been scooting around on it. I've been shouting a colour and then they have to find it and bring it back. Kept them amused for ages.

@pompomsgalore I hate my husband's snoring, he sounds like a cross between a walrus and a yeti.

This is why I co-sleep with DS1 and 2 most of the time, although for the sake of our marriage I probably should return to the bed ha and stop co-sleeping. I can't decide who makes the most noise at night, him or the DS's!

That sounds like fun @Motherofmonsters. Glad you had a much better night.

This morning it was football class and this afternoon we are going to the garden centre, not been for a couple of days so due a visit.

This weather is a bummer isn't it. I've done the party food shop for my baby's first birthday. 😢 can't believe my last baby is one.

@pompomsgalore

It was my DS first birthday last month, I cried more than I ever have in my life over that weekend! These babies do funny things to us dont they... although it has made me broody again, I must be mad!