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'...

Happy Birthday ALL !!!! Safari parks sounds brilliant :)

Ohh is 3 weeks long for a nursery?? Maybe I should double triple check!

Ours take a 2 week summer break Kate. I don't think 3 weeks is so long... at least, I keep thinking that the girls' Key Worlers must desperately need a break from them...

Have been down to my bro's for the evening, to celebrate his birthday. Off to bed slightly drunk and meant to be attempting a Jamie '30 min meal' thang tomorrow which I'm slightly dreading with a hangover. Night all...

Thank you for the birthday wishes . We've had a lovely weekend & I even managed a play on my new sewing machine today. Feeling a lot better too. Just left with a meaty cough but I did worry I was going down the same route as poor Tarti when I was having to focus on breathing .

Haha, sorry Kate, I've no idea on norms for nursery. Ours doesn't close over summer & can't even remember if they shut over Xmas other than the bank hols.

Poor you Lavita! Seems we're all in the thick of it tho have to admit our lot have been better this last week so I think they must have been under the weather too.

How did your Jamie thing go LadyM and which one was it and was it any good ? I'm hoping you left purplepantathon for another day - sounds like you've had your hands full today as it is!

Poor you ALL, that sounds terrible. Hope you are on the mend now and the sewing machine gets a workout soon. DD's curtains first is it?

How's 'potty training - take two' going so far mucky? I applaud E having a clear idea what colour the pants should be - obviously has a strong sense of style and is getting the most important aspect sorted out first. Sorry the flight back was so hellish but well done for surviving it on your own - I hope DH was impressed.

Hope tarti is enjoying her hols and how is life in the battle zone LVB? Is it that the girls are fighting with each other constantly, or beginning to gang up on you? I dread that moment coming actually. I'm sure they are more than capable of defeating stair gates and front door locks and all sorts.

Kate, our nursery just shuts at Christmas luckily. I feel for you having a 3 week break from it forced upon you, I can only imagine how you must look forward to those days off.

My nursery is not in my good books right now as yet again my two are off with conjunctivitis. R got it on Tuesday last week, the doctors (rightly enough) don't want to give antibiotics all the time to young children so I am having to tackle it with water only. She seemed OK eventually this morning and so off she went, but they both got sent home before lunchtime with it!

More importantly and dramatically, S had to go to hospital yesterday as he had a febrile convulsion in the middle of the night - thank goodness for the baby monitor and that I actually heard it and went to investigate. Poor thing was absolutely out of it and twitching like mad. The paramedic was unbelievably quick in arriving - literally 2 mins after DH put the phone down - and S had come back to himself within a few minutes but that space of time where he was floppy and just gazing upwards without seeing anything was awful. I had a thought of brain damage and couldn't bear to see my bright little boy so changed! Within a few hours at hospital he was more or less back to normal, very tired and tearful though, and he seems fine today. Apart from the sodding conjunctivitis.

I just feel so annoyed at the nursery. I know they don't want other parents seeing their charges running around with bleary eyes and having little Johnny come home with it, but there's me stuck in the middle with pressure from all sides to do everything and me seeing my money wasted on nursery that it is so regularly not earning by actually looking after my kids, and nobody ever acknowledging that this is BLOODY HARD. They actually thought it was unreasonable of the doctor not to give antibiotics when it is their inflexible rule that is in fact making my life harder.

With one thing and another, I have only averaged one day a week in the office recently and the workload builds up when I'm not there - no one else does my job, only me. So you can imagine I get pretty hacked off when my ability to keep on top of it is scuppered by this sort of stuff.

Doom and gloom, thank God for the Olympics. It's just about keeping my pecker up! And my experience yesterday reminds me that I'm lucky to have my two and perhaps I shouldn't complain quite so much as they are bloody lovely children.

Oh my god, Cerubina - poor poor S :( Watching them having convulsions is just horrendous. Did he just have a horrifically high temperature?
I remember when DD2 was only 4 weeks old (but 5 weeks prem) and just went grey and started convulsing - it was so severe that she was barely touching the floor. Its so hard to know what to do (other than to call 999 of course) - I was scared to touch her incase it made something worse etc etc. Is such a horrific ordeal, so I really feel for you. So so glad to hear that he is on the mend again now.
Are you just using boiled water for the conjunctivitis? Strangely I think Emme may be coming down with it too - she woke up with gunky eyes and very blood shot. Every half hour or so I have been bathing it with warm boiled water and it seems to be helping.

Well, I looked into the nursery closing times and they actually only close for 10 days! No idea where I got the 3 weeks from!. It works out quite well as we are going away for about 4 days when the nursery is closed, and the other days they wouldn't be there anyway if that makes sense. So its not too bad.

We got seriously caught out today - it was a bit chilly and over cast this morning, but then decided to change DD's clothes as it got really really hot and they were boiling. (Even put suncream on! And I am not a suncream obsessionist!) Went to the park (no buggy!) and is a good 20 minute walk! 2 minutes after we got there, despite boiling sun, the heavens literally opened and we were just completely drenched from head to foot. There was no shelter, but no point running home either, so we just carried on getting soaked! Girls bloody loved it!

P.s totally agree on how annoying it is with nursery. Our nursery is quite good and tends not to ring unless there is clearly some kind of bug (i.e sickness). They don't leave the poor ill children stranded, but if they are fine then they just leave it - or ring to let you know, but give you the option of leaving them there if they seem okay.
Our pre-school was a nightmare last year - DD2 went through a stage of coming home most days with some random illness. When I would go to pick her up she would be bounding around screaming, clearly nothing wrong with her, but they insisted I take her home. In the end I had a word with the manager and explained that it was getting silly now, and that there was obviously nothing wrong with DD2.

Oh Cerub!! My blood ran cold just thinking about it. Poor you & dh (&S!). Did they find any reason? I know it's pretty common in littlies & dreaded it but were lucky here. It was bad enough coming across a bloke convulsing in the street yrs ago but seeing it happening to your own child - aargh!

Lucky with nursery too that they're pretty good with illness. The only thing they seem really twitchy with is insect bites spots. Which is understandable I suppose. Extra annoying that current guidelines suggest they don't need to exclude from nursery for conjuctivitis but I guess their own rules override that. Do they allow them back once antibiotics are started - is that why they're so anti the dr policy of not prescribing?

Dd's curtains are made & hanging as I do have 2 other an old machine. I'm doing little rucksacs for nursery for the boys first. Fancy making duvet covers for boys too as I can't find anything I like. & bunting for dd's room. & `hanging things' for the boys' headboards with lots of pockets, zips, buttons & laces to play with. & pillowcase dresses for charity. So many ideas, so little talent .

lol at your outing Kate! Glad they loved it though or it would have been a total nightmare. I'm sure my two would have been freaked out. Strangely dirt / wet out-of-context really doesn't go down well with them .

Oh Cerub, you poor thing (and your DH, and little S) - what a horrible time. I was only thinking the other day that febrile convulsions is something we have so far been spared. Thank goodness S is on the mend now - and that you heard it on the baby monitor, not sure I could trust myself to have heard something like that. Big hug.

Bit knackered to write much but have to say that Operation Purple Pants was a bit of a damp squib (ho ho). We tried on Saturday but were definitely making loads of really stupid parenting decisions because by the time we got the girls back from pant buying, it was about 1pm. They refused to go down for their nap (another story, am mourning the loss of the lunchtime nap ) so in our idiocy we decided to start trying then. They were tired and grumpy and basically we just had piles of wet pants, puddles everywhere, and not one discernable victory from either girl by bedtime. Then yesterday we had friends over and I was doing loads of cooking - just didn't seem like a good idea again. And today we were down in Sussex visiting family, again didn't seem like the right thing to do.

So I'm in a bit of a quandary. We're also thinking about getting beds, but I don't want to institute too much change. Any expert opinions - since they seem to be dropping the lunchtime nap, I'm thinking it might be a good time to move to beds to minimise their enthusiasm for bedtime high-jinx. But if we move to beds, I guess I should hold off potty training because it might all be 'too much'?

Or am I just coming up with any old excuse to put this off a bit longer?

Very sad today, however many weeks it is since we dropped the dummy, from nowhere this morning Juliet pleaded with me, over and over again, to be allowed to have it back. I nearly cried, felt so mean not saying yes - she wasn't even doing it mid-tantrum or upset - it was as though she genuinely, rationally, wanted it back.

Ooh, was going to try and be quick but have now re-read a couple of posts

ALL - get you with your sewing prowess! I am most impressed! You go for it making duvet covers for the boys, I have just been hunting for same and have struggled to find anything I like.

Kate - keep meaning to ask if you are pleased with the Leander beds? I am tempted by them but my sensible side opting just for a simple white wooden one from JL instead. Can you store anything underneath the beds?

tarti - if you're checking in at all, hope the hols is going well.

mucky We are totally loving the beds - would definitely recommend! It was a big decision for us and we, like you, were tempted to just get a bed from JL/IKEA; but with multiples we rarely splurge on big things because you have to buy 3 of them, whereas if we only had DD1 and DD2, then we wouldn't think twice about it, IYSWIM? Its a bit hard to explain, but if I had 5 singletons then I would just buy the beds (rather than having to bulk buy!) so I don't see why DTrips shouldn't have them!

I have to say that I think it would be really hard putting your DT's down for a nap in the daytime, in beds. At night time they are totally shattered, its dark and they've had 'wind down' time - in the daytime I think it would just turn into one huge game - so I don't blame you for keeping them in cots whilst they're still napping. Then again, if you are currently cutting down on naps, they may be even more tired at bedtime and therefore more likely to stay in their beds rather then get out - out of sheer tiredness!
Dtrips were still potty training (still are!) when they went into beds and, personally, I don't think it was too much for them - but I can see why you think it might. We did find that if they were naughty going to bed, and so went to bed really late, we would have lots of accidents the following day because of tiredness.
We still haven't cut out dummies yet Actually feeling quite guilty about it now. DTrips were 3 in June. Bedtimes are still not good, and by cutting out the dummies I know that they will just be a total nightmare. When we cut out DD2's, that was when the bedtime problems started, because she didn't have anything to help her fall asleep. A dummy gives them something to concentrate on, but without it I know DTrips will be awful. It will then have a serious knock-on effect on behaviour (still being v.naughty with all this 'no' business - no threats put them off - more on that later..) and then knock on effect on potty training too because they will be up til some ridiculous hour. I think they will just be big babies' forever!
But yes, the behaviour is not improving and I really am at the end of my tether. We've had the same with DD2, but I can easily pick up one kicking, screaming child and put them in time-out, but it is virtually impossible with 3. I'm beginning to avoid taking them to public places like the supermarket because of it, which is absolutely ridiculous - you know you've got a problem when you can't even take your own children to the supermarket.
DH took DD1 and DD2 somewhere on Sunday and I only needed to get a few bits from Sainsburys (wouldn't do a weekly shop). Firstly they flatly refused to get shoes on - i.e, I would stuff their feet in and then by the time I had stuffed another childs foot in their shoes, #1 had taken theirs off. Once we were finally in the car and at Sainsburys, they wouldn't get out of the car - in the end I just had to go and get a trolley, grab them out the car and put them in the trolley. Once again, once I had put 1 in and gone to get the other, #1 had climbed out. I had tried all bribary and threats and they just carried on saying 'no' and laughing. I'm too stubborn for my own good, and wasn't going to go home now! They then started behaving slightly so I agreed that they could take turns in walking (2 in trolley, 1 walking). 'A' was walking and then sat on the floor and refused to move, kicking me at the same time. I couldn't stuff her in the trolley as we'd put food in it by now (a few more bits than I'd planned). I picked her up and stood her on her feet, but she just laughed and collapsed back onto the floor - welcome back 'jelly legs'. After 10 minutes of reasoning and bribary, and her being incredibly rude, I picked her up and stuffed her under my arm and carried on shopping. She started kicking off and somehow managed to get down (even DD2 couldn't do this!). I had had enough and was a total evil mummy and said 'If you don't start being a good girl and behaving, I will take you back out to the car and leave you there whilst I do the shopping'. (No matter the behaviour, I would never do this, but I genuinely thought she might snap out of it) She was still smiling and just kept saying 'No!' as though she wasn't even bothered. What happened to my lovely girls who rarely said 'no' to me?! Other 2 girls were laughing at her and basically egging her on so I abandoned shopping, mid aisle, and frog marched all 3 back to car where I stuffed and strapped them in, locked the car and then stood by the boot of the car where they couldn't see me. Just stood for a few minutes and calmed down, then got back in car and drove, silently, home.
I still cannot believe that I had to abandon shopping - even with 3 stropping 2YO's, or screaming babies, I've not given in and gone home! But with 3 year olds?!?
Worst part was, when we got home and DH came out to get them in and could see how angry I was, he said that he thought they should apologise to me for their behaviour; all 3 went like this: 'Showwy!' and went running off happily into the house!
Literally, within seconds they go back to their normal, lovely selves - but when they are in the 'no' zone, they are awful.

Sorry for whole running commentary of our Sainsburys trip, just needed to vent!

Hey Kate - thanks re. the beds, and I totally get what you're saying about the fact that you would do it if they were singletons so why not otherwise. I bought cheapie cots first time around so am tempted to splash out a bit more now although it's not good timing in a way since DH is still 'in between' jobs.

Don't worry about your Sainsbury's rant, it sounds awful and basically sounds like 50% more annoying than it is when I take my two there, because they are also bloody annoying in that situation and I only ever take them to the supermarket if we have one or two bits to get. Mine always refuse to get in the trolley unless they can sit in the actual trolley itself (not the seat) and almost always have tantrums about who gets to sit in which part of it, and then scream because one has sat on the other's foot, etc etc. I am always exhausted by the time we get in the actual shop...

I don't blame you for giving in and going home. Don't feel as though somehow there is something wrong with you for having done that, most people would say they wouldn't have the strength/courage to attempt it in the first place. It sounds like you kept your cool! (Unlike me, who can be seen on CCTV footage at Zurich airport saying very loudly through gritted teeth "You are driving me around the fucking bend!" to Juliet as she cavorts like a screaming banshee under my arm... )

All I can say is thank fuck for Ocado

Right, off to browse those beds again and might just go through with it. They're a bit longer than I thought (150cm vs 140cm) so need to double check their room can take the increased size. Re. the potty training, I just thought that if we get the beds, maybe I should hold off starting the potty training for a couple of weeks until they've got their heads around the 'bed' bit. Not sure what to do about naps - they refuse to go down if I put them in their cots now, they just play and shout and laugh, but they just fell asleep after 30 seconds in the car on the way home from the playground at 2.15 and are now napping on the sofa. Think we'll just do it that way for a few weeks, napping on the sofa if they feel like it, and move towards beds at night.

We do sofa naps too - most days we have a DVD and quiet time at around 1.30-2 ish and if DTrips are tired they will actually fall asleep watching it. If I know they are really tired, I'll get blankets out and close the curtains to make it a bit darker, and to make it more likely that they will fall asleep! Sometimes they won't have a nappy for days and days on end, other times they are so tired.
Just go for the beds !
I think you've got a good idea there - do beds ASAP, and then in a few weeks, maybe when they're a bit more ready, do potty training. Once J and A get better I may start training E although I still don't think she is properly ready..

The Zurich aiport trip doesn't sound like it was very relaxing!! At the beginning of this 'no' phase I realized that I was pussy-footing around them, not wanting them to go into a 'no zone', and then started putting my foot down and getting really cross when they said no to everything. Before bed last week (after an exhausting day..) J wouldn't put her PJ's on; E and A were happily putting theirs on but once they heard J kicking up a fuss, they turned around and started saying no too. I didn't lose it, but I ended up literally screaming 'STOP SAYING NO TO ME!' they were a little bit shocked, but the answer was still, of course, no, and they started laughing - which pissed me off even more! I had just properly shouted at them and they were still laughing!
The 'I'll take you to the car' was more of a hiss through gritted teeth, she wasn't phased though.

I know that most people wouldn't take their children, let alone triplets out, and so really I only do it to myself to prove to other people that we can cope. When I tell people I have triplets, they usually say 'Oh god, how do you even get out the house' - to which my reply is 'We put our shoes on, open the front door and walk out' because I can't stand the assumption that if you have triplets (or multiples) then you must be stuck in your house 24/7, and sitting in a corner, rocking. And when I read about other triplet mums, trying to make people feel sorry for them, who say that they can't do 'normal' things like go to the shops/doctors/post office because they have triplets , as though its some sort of disease. I don't know, I'm just rambling now. I guess I'm too fucking stubborn for my own good!

Sounds horrendous Kate and totally infuriating. I've already used the threat of leaving them home alone / in the car when they're being a pain. God help me when they're 3 & actually understand that I can't. I had the pj fight with ds1 two nights in a row last week & he knows now he goes in his cot til he's ready to cooperate keeping cots forever. Ok here at mo tho cos the other goes all `butter wouldn't melt' and smug and tells me how naughty the other is being. Can def see it being more difficult as they get older though. I guess they can be reasoned with more, but only if they're cooperating & a gang-let of 3 yr olds flexing their combined will v Mummy.. hmm not sure many would win that one every time . I mostly do the grocery shop with my lot but the boys are def getting bored more quickly/ more challenging/ sneakily (or not) annoying one another. I did leave a music gp the other week when ds1 was being stroppy but tbh it was the excuse I needed cos I always forget how much I dislike that session.

Nodding along to your `stubborn' thing - me too. It bugs me when people tell me how impossibly hard things must be for me with 3 such littlies and how I can't/won't have time for stuff. Think I'll be the judge of that. Had to laugh at the checkout assisstant the other week who, after making disbelieving noises about me shopping with all 3, was totally flabbergasted that... I managed to bring bags with me. & the congratulations at dr surgery for managing to take all 3 to an appt...

Haha, no sewing prowess here LadyM. I've only made things with straight lines: curtains, blinds, duvet covers & only rarely & (discovered recently while reading various sewing books) def not using conventional methods. More of a make it up as you go along' and queen of cutting corners' thing. I also have zero spacial awareness and creativity so not a great combination. Our local adult ed centre is running a sewing course next term so planning on enrolling on that to learn some basics. My old machines are ~1940s , v basic & with dodgy tension so it's lovely having a new one.

No, I hear you re. the 'don't feel sorry for me, I can do it just fine' attitude re. twins/trips. I know Cerub has moments of feeling like that, and me too - I used to get quite annoyed by the 'god, how DO you cope?' although have fine tuned the smugness in my response now - at first I just used to say 'well, you HAVE to cope - I mean what else am I going to do?'.

Curtains now up in the girls room and other than the fact I'm already annoyed at myself for not opting for blackout lining they look LOVELY, so chuffed. I am so crap at ever making 'deco' efforts in the house (every other bedroom has plain cream roller blinds bought en masse when we moved in 7 yrs ago) that it feels quite inspirational to have actually chosen something with a pattern. Finger hovering over that 'Confirm purchase' button on the beds Kate although should really mention confirm it with DH that he's happy to shell out for them.

ALL - forget having any actual talent, I'm just impressed at the effort involved - I would never have the nouse to actually just get on and do it, which is a shame because I used to have the confidence to just 'give it a go' when it came to sewing. I'd love to go on a course, know they do them locally - go for it and let me know how you get on... :)

More sympathies with kate for that utterly hellish supermarket trip. Sounds appalling. I don't have any clue what you could do differently with them apart from avoidance tactics (i.e. not going to supermarkets for a while), which isn't really a solution. But they're not a simple outing at the best of times really what with car seats, trolleys, choosing a sensible combination of food, paying etc to negotiate. As mucky says (but in a more foul-mouthed way!), Ocado is a godsend. Presumably though you suffer the most really when you abandon outings and end up going home - the walls must start to close in on you if you don't feel able to have a successful outing.

I guess toddlers do everything to get a reaction and to get a feel for where 'the line' is. It must be impossible not to lose your rag but clearly shouting 'stop saying no!' really did the business for them. I hope this phase is out of the way PDQ for you, really.

Good work on the curtains, mucky. I know what you mean about getting bored with safe choices but when you are furnishing a house all at once it is very difficult to have the confidence and time to make bolder selections. Before you know it you'll have feature walls and frescoes and all sorts...

And ALL you are always far too modest about your creative achievements. The fact that you have a list of things you want to make is about 1000 times more creative than me...

Went to the Olympics yesterday and my parents looked after S&R all day (they would normally have been in nursery but as you know we are Not Welcome at the moment thanks to sticky eyes) so they had more of a workload than we had expected when we signed them up to it. I may have mentioned my mum is paranoid about catching a cold from them, because she tends to get chest infections. Hence during the winter when it was really bad they kept as far away as possible but yesterday with snot pouring from every nostril she had no choice but to look after them. I really hope she doesn't get anything now or it'll screw my chances of further help in future! But on the upside she did say they were exhausted when they got home, so she now has an insight into what life is like and perhaps will be able to empathise a bit more...or will it just mean they're less likely still to offer help?!

I'm resigned to my non-Olympic-attending fate now Cerubina - how was your trip?

Thanks re. the curtains, am so pleased although my finger is now hovering above the 'purchase' button on so many things it's not funny. I need reigning in...

Argh, I meant rein in, of course!

Well as long as no one is expecting great things from my efforts . I'll def see if I can get a place on the adult ed course. `Fashion & accessories'.... whatever that entails, but I'm sure I'll pick up some skills. I'm still waiting for boys' curtains to be hung. As ever, it is waaaaay more difficult than it should be . Had to get new curtain pole which is apparently too wide for the bit of wood it attaches on to. So curtains, pole and new wood baton are awaiting dp's attention.

Very jealous of all the visits to the Olympic events! I thought you were going to the athletics LadyM, what a pain the ticketing has been. & my Mum is the same Cerubina. She sees us with the expectation that she will catch some nasty or other. Not entirely fair. But then they still make such little effort to see us that it could be worse....

We're I'm pulling my finger out & getting started on getting work done to our house. It's soul destroying. I hate phoning people as it is & our of the 9 tradespeople I've booked appointments with, only 1 has bothered to come out to give a quote. Clearly don't need the work here and there is a fair bit to be done. Oh to have the training & ability to do useful stuff.

Cerubina How is S? All sounds sounds horrendously scary

Very jealous of anyone who has made it to the Olympics, I'm feeling very left out, might try and get Paralympic tickets when I get back, have you seen the rugby! It's incredible.

Of to France tomorrow, still haven't packed, oops.
I've lost 4lbs no doubt will put on 6 with all the wine and cheese in the Alps

Sorry for being rubbish, I've been reading, have loads to say but will update soon

Thanks Cerubina - I can nearly laugh about the Sainsburys incident!

You are totally right - it was the best thing I could have done for them, to make them realize that I am serious and that I will take them home if I've threatened it; but also it was the worst thing I could have done for myself because I felt like a total bloody failure!

It would be so easy if they only did this 'no' thing in public, but they won't do anything that I ask them, inc eating/drinking/getting dressed/putting clothes on/tidying etc etc. They will happily do it of their own accord, but even if I asked them to eat a whole bar of chocolate, I would get the 'N' word as a response. It is truly exhausting having to battle with 3 3year olds over everything .
I also don't want to give in and stop doing things, because they are then, essentially, winning. If I say 'you need to come and do your hair', if they refuse and I let them off, they will carry on this 'no' thing as they know that they can get exactly what they want!

I too am very jealous of anyone going to see the Olympics!

No ALL - we couldn't get tickets, and I got bored (if that's the right word) of desperately clicking on things that became available only to find the tickets were £725 each because all the cheapies had gone

Sigh, we're at Day 2 of potty-training again Round Three that is. Moderate success yesterday with Juliet and Eve managed to do one microscopic wee in the potty before bed, which felt like an almighty triumph after the multiple puddles we'd endured all day. Weather gorgeous but we'll be stuck at home all day trying to crack it I think... hope everyone else enjoying the weekend!

Grr, and so annoying when you watch & still see empty seats! V sad it's almost all over now though - we've been glued to it (well, between Pooh Bear, Dumbo et. al.)

Had a lovely weekend here. Seems we've finally managed to find a builder so we went looking at kitchens yesterday & ended up in Pizza Hut for dinner. First time dd has been properly engaged in eating when out & all 3 were great. & today we met friends at the safari park as Peppa & George were there. They all loved it!

How has day 2 (v3) `purplepants' been?

Can you stop killing the thread please ALL?

I have Olympics withdrawal symptoms and I think a lot of the country does too. What a brilliant fortnight of forgetting about politics, whinging about unfairness, predicting the end of civilisation - such a feel-good event. How long will it last until the media are back to doom and gloom?

S&R finally back at nursery today and they'd better bloody stay there. I have been signed off work for a couple of weeks with stress. I just don't know if nursery is going to be sustainable or whether we need to cave in and get a nanny (and remortgage the house to do so). When they are sent home all the time (this last bout has been a total of two weeks with me trying to do my job during nap times and evenings, and I can hardly look them in the face at nursery I am so utterly furious and resentful at their stupid rules) it just makes me terrified for how it will work this winter, when illness is all the more likely to be non-stop if the last one is anything to go by.

Oh, and my mum did get a chest infection from caring for them last week...bang goes any chance of further assistance until they're 18.

LVB how has your holiday been?

Mucky have you cracked it this time with the potty training? Should I ask?

Tarti happy birthday for today! I'm sure you already know you were born on the very day that Elvis died - I wonder did your mum flirt with the idea of calling you Elvis in homage?

Oh Cerub so sorry to hear about all the stresses re nursery. I'm not surprised it has got to you, what a total nightmare. How do the other working parents cope??

If you fancy meeting for coffee tomorrow ( assuming S&R are still in nursery - joke! ) I am child-free and can travel, if you fancy letting off some steam. In all seriousness, how much more is a nanny than nursery when the fees are x2? It sounds like it would relieve your stress enormously.

PS re potty training, don't ask! Total disaster. Again.