TTT.....

[AtLongLast]

OTT / self-indulgent I know, but Toddler Twin Tantrums..... aaargh! Just as well they're so cute too. Ds2 was v funny today wiggling his bum singing uh, uh Bobby' in response to me dancing round the kitchen to Bobby's girl'...

FFS in Cornwall, had a lovely time yesterday for my Nan's 80th, but V started getting a temperature at lunch, was 40 degrees again in the night, took her to out of hours doc and she has an ear infection, again.
We are off to Centreparcs tomorrow but she won't be able to go in the pool just crossing fingers that F diesn't get it.

Hope everyone else is well, are S&R better Cerubina?
ALL hope the nutty neighbour hasn't caused too many problems.
LL how are you settling in to London life? important question, what were the first outdoor shoes you bought E&J?

Sorry to hear that LVB, god illness is just the pits with them, isn't it? You can be as organised as you like, as adventurous as it's possible to be, and it all goes tits up if they get poorly.

Sorry haven't posted much of late, we have now been reconnected to the known world and are back on broadband.... there may be a concurrent decrease in my general levels of productivity...

Re. shoes, hard to think back, think I got them some TTJ 'sneakers' in navy, a bit boyish but they were great. Also bought them some cheapy sandals from local Swiss shop, which covered the toes well as I was phobic of them getting their toes all cut up as they were still crawling around a lot. This summer I'm definitely going to get them those Saltwater sandals again as they were a big hit and still looked good after months of wear and tear, and probably get some sort of sneaker again. Am currently lusting over bright yellow Spring Courts but must resist the Smallable lure!

Did someone on this thread mention 'French Children Don't Throw Food'? Was it you tarti or did I imagine that? Am reading it at the moment on my Kindle and it's v good, really enjoying it not least because it backs up my cod parenting philosophies

Glad a good time was had by all in CP. We're off to Cornwall on Saturday (LVB do we miss you? We're now going to Fowey although still south coast I believe...) and I can't wait.

Did I update to say girls start in nursery the week we get back from nursery, have a week's settling in and then we're up and running (hopefully). Cerubina - meant to say huge commiserations re. getting called back so much but do back up tarti's experience that it does get better. I am SO bloody pleased though that I'm starting them in nursery at the arse end of winter, might manage to stave off some of the illnesses going round. I have really enjoyed that part of them not being in a nursery, we've barely had any illness at all this winter - and I know damn well that's the only reason!

Yes was me Lottie, keep me posted with your thoughts, I really enjoyed it too.

Sorry to hear that LVB - hope your CP week goes well anyway.

MUST go to bed, catch up properly tomorrow

Am liking it so far, although not sure I'll be able to translate much of it into practice. Definitely agree re. sleep though, just feel so pleased we had twins which forced me to be a bit more hardcore than I might otherwise have been.

WELL - yesterday's post was definitely a case of Famous Last Words re. illness... J up with a fever last night, and me full of cold. Have cancelled appointments for today and we're having a sofa/duvet day. It's 10.30 and I'm already going a bit stir crazy...

Oh no Lottie, what bad luck! I hope you're all feeling better soon. I've wishlisted `french children...' to remind me to have a read when I've finished reading the book ds1 kindly bought for me. Bloody one-click-buying.

I've felt v harassed this morning. Too many plans made, none of which worked out. Food shopping by 9am & pick up wallpaper while out. Back in time to feed boys / naptime before nursery then I'd be ready to start diy stuff this afternoon. We haven't been out of the house. I've lost my glasses, & coming to conclusion they were left at CP. Not a huge prob cos I only wear them for driving & even then don't need them to be legal, but I'm v annoyed with myself. Phone crashed & have just managed to get it up & running. Luckily managed to cobble together enough edibles to make something resembling a lunch that ds2 would eat. So now having a toastie & caffeine (& regaining some perspective since none of that actually matters) while all 3 are sleeping before the madness that is getting to nursery... and then grocery shopping.

Have fun at CP Lavita & I hope you are all well enough to enjoy!

Lottie - Fowey is lovely . That's the closest `civilisation' to the YH we stay in when doing field trips in Cornwall & we take the students there for a night out. We fell in love with Fowey the first yr & took the students every yr for a night out during the trip. Unfortunately the students are too used to clubbing in the cities & never appreciate it. Heathens.

Thanks ALL - I can't believe in a few days we're driving down to Cornwall. Feeling very sorry for myself today, have to say. Had terrible nausea mid-morning and thought I was going to heave every time I had to pick the girls up/change nappy/etc. Put them down for early nap at 11.50 and they are still asleep!

Did find myself just Googling toddler beds though, could this be a sign that we'll make the big move soon??

Do all the other twins share a room? Ours do, but our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms aren't that big - think it'll be a squeeze with two single beds in any room to fit much furniture in afterwards. DH determined for them to share, they love it at the moment... but..?

LVB So sorry to hear your DD is poorly :( Really hope that she doesn't pass it on to the other. Hope you can still have fun at CP - I'm sure it will still be brilliant!
Lottie I know slightly off topic, but I do love to talk about shoes! So hard to know what to put the DD's in at the moment! One minute it is scorching and I'm tempted to buy them sandals, the next minute its freezing and they are back in winter boots. I'm tempted to get them a pair of Clarks Doodles to get them through; sods law it will get even colder and they will only be able to wear winter boots for a while, and doodles wont fit! DH can't stand all the shoe faff, but I have reminded him that its slightly different than with 1 child - if they don't wear them, its not a large loss - with 5 children, its a pretty big expense!

Re: sharing rooms - DTrip's share a room. Is quite strange, but when I was pregnant we just assumed that we would have them in separate rooms. Decorated 3 gorgeous nurseries - after all the nightmare of the pregnancy, I threw myself into making the most beautiful nurseries with amazing matching accessories - each one really different; I think it was because we were still (subconsciously) worried whether we would have 3 babies to bring home, and so, again, subconsciously I put a lot of effort into the nurseries with the mindset that they had to be okay and come home. Anyway, after coming home and staying in our room for first few months - when we put them into their own room they just hated it. Was the most horrendous nights of our lives.. They just screamed for hours on end, and we had no idea why. Even with them now, I'm not the kind of person to get stressed over crying babies - we knew nothing was 'wrong' with them, but nothing would settle them. After 3 nights, we couldn't physically cope with the lack of sleep and ruined routine (so tired in daytime) so put them back in with us. Tried 2 weeks later, and got the same response. In desperation I looked on some twin/triplet website for some advice, and it suggested that they don't like being separated. Well, Bobs your uncle - we stuck all 3 cots in together and they slept from 7-7 . They refuse to be separated even now!
We are looking into knocking the wall down between 2 of the nurseries, soon. I can't imagine, until they are much older, that they will want to be separated. Could you knock through bedroom #2 and 3, or is that not possible? I suppose you could put them into those extendible beds until they are big enough for bunk beds? DD2 (very tall 4.5) has hers 2/3's extended, and my 8YO niece has slept in there before with plenty of room!

LL sorry to hear you and J are ill. Hopefully a short lived thing and you will all be healthy for your upcoming trip.

My boys share their room and I think proably will for quite a while. When the day comes that I can no longer keep them in cots (the horror ) I'm planning on toddler beds for them. Think they are a complete waste of money to be honest, and H just sent from cot to single bed, but we can't fit 2 single beds in that room and I can borrow 2 toddler beds for a while so will probably do that for a while. My friend with b/g twins put them in seperate rooms at about 18 months as they were disturbing each other, one was a night owl and stayed awake singing for ages (and liked a long lie too) whilst the other was shattered at night and just wanted to sleep but also like to get up early.

Boys share here too & most likely will until they request not to. Our 3rd big bedroom is in the attic so it would mean us being on a different floor to the children. I'm not up for that, especially not as we'd have to use the attic room because the staircase is open tread so we'd be well away from potential trouble. We'd get single beds in fine as things stand but we bought cotbeds so hope not to have to think about that for a while yet. and we are supposed to be moving house sometime this century.

I think we took the polar opposite to you with nurseries Kate! We couldn't see babies' at the end of the pg (for no other reason than it was too good to be true) so did nothing in preparation. Then when it started to look like things might possibly work out OK (that'll be about 36wks then...), I was too knackered to do anything. So we bought cotbeds & then <span class="line-through">finished</span> did nursery when we needed to put them in it at 6months. & even then it's more of a room with cotbeds in'. Dd is 4months and we're about to start thinking about her room & buying a cot. Poor neglected children.

Shoes - I can't see us ever being out of wellies. Ds1 has worn his shoes twice since we bought wellies (Xmas eve) & one of those times was only because I was sly & had him strapped into the buggy & well distracted immediately before leaving the house. Every other time I put his shoes on, he's whipped them off & put his wellies on by the time we're ready to go out. I have enough trouble trying to keep clothes on. He can win Welly Wars . I was wondering earlier what I'm gong to do with them on days not suitable for wellies. I know. I have Very Strange Children .

Mine also are addicted to wellies ALL but I hate them wearing them because they're always falling off when out and about. Or is that just my children, helping them come off and then affecting an innocent face and saying "oh no, my welly boop!" (Yes, J calls wellies 'welly boops'. And my boots are mummy's big boops"...)

Ours will share till they say they don't want to too, I think anything else will feel mean now. Either we split them when they were too young to know the difference, or we wait until it's their prerogative. DH is particularly keen for them to share. I'm starting to remember why we wanted to sell this place though because we only have 3 bedrooms, unless/until we do an extension and even then it's going to be hard to add proper bedrooms because we're in a conservation area and planning regs for 2/3 storey extensions are impossible.
Anyway, Chesti - I think we're going to have to do the same and get toddler beds and like you I also think they're a waste of money but to get anything bigger is going to be tricky.

Was doing drawing with them yesterday in a rare moment of them not watching Cbeebies and sighing at What It Is To Be A Mother Of Toddlers. We have two pots of crayons and two drawing pads. Somewhere amongst each pot of crayons is a white crayon, which obviously doesn't actually DO anything when they use it on the white pad. But every bloody time they do drawing they get really obsessed with the white crayon, saying "I want THAT one!" like that character from Little Britain. Then they get it, scribble it around a bit, look upset and say (as though it's happened for the first time) "white crayon no work mummy?". Sigh...

Am feeling a bit better today although last night I had a fever and took to my bed at about 8.30pm wearing two jumpers, joggers and socks...

Def not Lottie - with you on wellies (and white crayons!). Ds1 had a strop this morning after I refused to put his wellies on for the 3rd time in the car & put him in the trolley in only his socks. I did relent in the end but spend the entire time pushing wellies back on along the line of feet. Then I left ds2's wellies in the car & carried him into the house rather than putting them back on again. Not so long ago they were both wrapped in their winter coats/hats/gloves..... with bare feet cos I'd given up with socks & wellies. One of my most oft used annoying Mum phrases at the mo is oh oh dear is for accidents, not for on purposes'. Honestly, I might as well have had octuplets with the number of times I have to dress my two for an outing.

Just hope both boys are in agreement & not that one (prob ds1!) wants out but the other wants to keep sharing. Though it seems ds2 and dd might get on quite well as they seem to adore one another now (well, as much as you can tell from a 4 month old) so maybe they will choose to share instead!

Glad you're feeling a bit better. That feverish feeling is horrible.

Lottie That is so strange - my DD's do the exact same thing with the white pencil! The crayons we have are a bit cheapy so even the bright colours come out really really pale. The yellow and pale pinks and blues come out clear - and they know this, yet the first crayon they all head to is the yellow, blue and pink! They whinge for ages, and then 10 minutes later try it again 'still no work!!!!!' Sometimes if they are a bit emotional (you know those days!) the pale crayons will just tip them over the edge, and it turns into a major tantrum..

lottie and Chesti Why don't you get the IKEA extendable beds? They are gorgeous, but cheap and brilliant. They exend 3 times, from cotbed size, to 2/3 extended, then to fully extended. As I said, they can easily stay in the 2/3's extended for years - until at least 8! Saves a lot of space!

This one is gorgeous for a more girly room:

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S99827959/#/S59827956

and this one could look gorgeous in a boys room, but also a girls room. They both extend to normal single bed size - so there is no reason why they couldnt, potentially, keep them until teenage years!

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S69847510/

Tip them over the edge, Kate? It tips me over the edge after the twentieth time. (As a note, how bloody annoying are crayons that don't work properly, what's the point??)

Ooh, which reminds me, we got some of these as a gift and they are BRILLIANT. They don't break easily, are really easy to grip, and the girls love stacking them into a tower, counting them, and the latest thing is to stick them on the end of their fingers and pretend they are monsters. () And they come in a sturdy box which lasts. God I'm dull

ALL not the season any more but can they get tights off? When we went through or go through difficult clothes phases I put them in a bodysuit at night and then just pop a pair of tights on in the morning. Worst comes to the worst you've got everything covered if they refuse other clothes (although of course your child does look bizarre but what's new IME..)

PS: thanks for the Ikea links Kate - or rather NO thanks. They're just too good to dismiss, and there was me hoping to be able to convince DH into buying some poncey ones...

Fantastic idea re. beds Kate (though mercifully am not at that stage yet) - I've seen both those in IKEA but not looked closely enough to get the whole extendable thing. Clever! Don't you need a new mattress each time though?

Lottie your link doesn't work - am enjoying speculating about what can be stacked, counted, gripped or used as a monster

Mine are welly obsessives too. I keep wellies in a bag in the car otherwise I'd never get them out of the house in any other footwear. And yes ALL many's the time they've been barefoot under their buggy snuggle bags. Which can get embarrassing when I realise a mile into our walk that they've decided to kick the bags off in sub zero temperatures... hm, that explains the tutting old ladies then.

I was poorly over the weekend, the inlaws were here and were fab, taking the girls out all day on Sunday and staying until lunchtime yesterday to help out too. Thank god - I felt horrendous (although on the plus side I did shed 3lb). But slept for NINE HOURS last night and woke up feeling great. Hope same happens for you Lottie! Am off to bed shortly to try and replicate the experience...

Wonder how Lavita is getting on...

Here you go tarti, I know you won't sleep properly unless I link to them again ...

Friend has just recommended this one from JL - £100 and she's been very pleased with it Anna bed. Her 5 year old still sleeps comfortably in it and she thinks it'll have a resale value on Ebay. But she also advised to keep them in their cots for as long as possible. No idea why I'm starting to think about it really, I'm dreading the whole thing! Mine never try to get out of their cots so why rock the boat?

Oh, I've seen both those beds in Ikea but hadn't realised that about them either (and then didn't even think about the mattress Q!). I did wonder about the sides tho - presumably the

Please let me escape hen night hell ..... I love my friend and really want her to have a lovely night, but seriously do not have the time to organise people when they don't even bloody respond to my emails/texts. the friends that is, the bride is being ok (well a bit stroppy actually but that is only case she is pissed off with everyone too) By the way, my emails would be a lot easier if mumsnet smileys such as and were available on email, might make my last minute chivvying emails seem a bit less stroppy!

Those beds look great (as do the crayons!). However am planning on keeping my boys in cots until they are about 5yo so will stick my head in the sand until then . Surprisingly neither seem to be trying to get out of their cot, even D who is a real climber. But then again D is like H and a complete teenager who has to be coaxed out of bed (apologies to those with early risers).

Hope LVB is having a good time, there was a thread on Chat the other night hating Longleat CP. Anyone know which one she went to?

Omg E has not yet slept one wink. It's three a.m. I am shattered, we all have flu, so grim.

Nightmare Lottie I hope the rest of the night was better. Roll on summer, sickness is the worst.

Nope, no need for 2 mattresses - you get one like this:

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90213257/

Obviously start with the big square one when the bed is at its smallest setting, then add another mattress piece when you extend the bed further, and then the last piece when you put it to full size.

there are about 5 different mattresses in the 'extendable' range - ranging from £35 - £100.

They are truly brilliant ladies, definitely the way to go!
DD2 has the white metal one, but I'm tempted to go for the dark wooden ones for the DTrips. I'm not thinking about getting the beds anytime soon - I'm with Chesti - why cant they stay in cots til 5? But just thinking about bedroom ideas and how we can make it nice and girly with the wooden ones..

I have to admit, DTrip A has managed to get out of her cot a few times.. but it certainly doesn't mean that I'm getting her a bed. I know you probably all think its cruel because she could fall out - but shes like a bloody gymnast.. could get herself out of anything. Their room is above lounge and you can hear them all being silly - a few times we've heard the stairs creak, and a proud little face appears 'Im out mummy!' - by the time we've got up to put her back in the cot, she's legged it upstairs and climbed back in herself! Bearing in mind that DTrips are teeny for 2.5. Have 'tested' her to climb in and out, to see how she does it - and she is quite 'safe'. She has only done it about 4 times, mind you - normally if her sisters fall asleep and she gets bored without any entertainment!

Lottie So sorry to hear that you were up at Silly O'clock with DD - poor little thing, bet she is feeling very rough, as I'm sure you are too!

Those crayons you linked are bloody amazing, I want some for myself! DD's would love stacking them and stabbing or poking each other

Good old Ikea - they think of everything. Shame for them that I'm so lazy though. I've def looked at the Leksvig range but missed that feature. We've just gone all Ikea' for storage for kid stuff so maybe for the best that we have the cotbeds! Loving the proud I'm out Mummy'!! Really surprised ds1 hasn't tried climbing out yet.

Don't envy you the hen night arrangements Chesti. What have you got planned? Not sure which cp Lavita decided on? Think possibly Sherwood pipped Longleat? Missed the thread!

Better luck with sleeping tonight Lottie - and that you're all better soon. I can't work out of we're on the verge of something here or if we're just in a stroppy phase (though I think I've had tonsillitis for the last week or so self-diagnosed so is a possibility).

Better night last night although I woke up at 5am regardless and couldn't get back to sleep, so here I am

Sorry for whiny bleat before; I think half the reason I was so depressed was because I felt we were making things worse with our approach. She just wasn't settling back to sleep, and so we kept going in and bringing her down. She seemed so poorly and kept saying 'me no bocked!' (= 'my nose is blocked'; must work on that grammar ) that we felt sorry for her, but in fact the best thing for her would have been to let her cry it out a bit and get some sleep. In the end she had about 4 hours sleep in total that night, didn't sleep again during the day yesterday, and was in a complete state by last night. We were a bit stricter last night because I just knew all she needed to get better was a good night's SLEEP. (She wasn't the only one.) DH is terrible for always thinking 'oh maybe she's got a sore throat, maybe she's got a hurty ear, maybe maybe...' whereas I think in most cases sleep is the best thing for them.

We're off to Cornwall on Saturday, I feel like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards but phoned the hotel yesterday to book myself a spa treatment for Sunday. (DH yesterday - "it's a spa hotel. A spa hotel? You never mentioned that!" Me - "oh, didn't I..?") As I sat huddled on the sofa surrounded by the detritus of illness nothing felt more distant and yet welcome than the prospect of a bloody spa treatment.

Can see buds out on our plum tree as of this morning; will be blossoming soon. Let's hope that heralds some better health for us all.

Am glad I raised the junior bed issue, if only because it has convinced me yet again to stave it off for at least another year

Just a quickie - have taken the plunge and bought a couple of those Funpods Kate - can't wait! We made cakes yesterday (trying to keep J amused while poor E sat on the sofa all day with a fever) and I really wished I'd had one for it. Also bought a couple of those safe knives... ta for the tips :)

OMG, near-disaster averted. Just put boys down for nap and discovered ds1 didn't have a nappy on . We've been at playgroup all morning so the monkey must have taken it off (and hidden in toybox) & put his trousers back on while I was sorting the other two out. I did think at one point this am that nappy must have slipped a bit as he had a builder's bum thing going on but didn't occur to me he mightn't actually be wearing one! How bad is that?

I would be v tempted to get funpods if they would store under the table. Had a big discussion with dp about how easy they would be to make. Won't happen then...

Hope you are having a better day today Lottie - best get it out of the way before Cornwall I suppose. We're off to Wales again this weekend and then up to our folks next weekend.