'd'ya ever wonder how many times you will be asked if they are twins?'

[MarsLady]

C'mon girls. Got bored of waiting and started the new thread!

Awwwwww go on OOOGS you knoe you want to really......

I was watching the night garden (i like it ) and noticed that if i had 2 more chldren i would have as many as the lovely PONTIPINES, for those that know of it. If you dont you probably just think im barking

A pic of mine from this morning is on my profile, they were all playing X Men together. It was lovely, Beau just muscled in on the action

i LOVE the nightgarden, is my sanity saving program at pm every evening. whoever wrote it is an effing genius!

I totally agree Meely! DS #4 watches it before bed every night, so do i

The toys are on amazon to order in September. Wahoooo

all 4 of us snuggle up on the sofa and try and guess what we are going to 'catch' tonite....DT2's fav is the Ninky Nonk, calls it the norty ninky nonk!

which names does your ds get right and wrong...we have:

Piggle Piggle
Makka makka
upydaisy
tomboos
pontpines

oh and they love the Toucan which appears in the tittyfers at the end!

(this bit is a secret, dh makes me do the circle on the hand thing to him before bed!!!!)

I saw a clip of in the night garden when I went to a conference with my last job (ass manager in a large toy shop, definitely NOT as much fun as you'd think). It was like a cross between Monty Python and the Teletubbies to me.

Meely!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please keep your perversions to yourself

Oh this weather is foul foul foul!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Id have as many as the pontipones if mine were only an inch tall.

menageriekeeper i think you did a type error...or were you really an ass manager in that shop

And with the comment 'not as fun as you might think'

This night garden sounds v. interesting! I doubt I'll ever see it over here.

largegin - Your kids are lovely!

Elsa - My DTs shared a crib from the day we came home (3 days old) until they were about 4 months, and DS was taking up more room than DD and kicking her. They're 2, now and in separate cribs, but still in the same room. I don't think we'll try separate rooms until we are in a larger house (next Spring - fingers crossed!).

Blimmin eck Elsa, you weren't joking when you said you had a lot of rooms!

Wanted to say as well, good on you for persevering in less than perfect circumstances and choosing to keep your babies when so many people opt for abortion without really thinking it through, then have to deal with the grief of that as well as the trauma of rape. You've turned a horrible situation into something wonderful.

Large g&t, I wanted to pick your brain as quite possibly the ubermum of mumsnet - what's your routine like? Sorry if you've been asked this before, its just that with the holidays (oh joy) here and three months before ds4, I'm taking any advice I can get. Like, are you an early riser? Do you structure the whole day or leave them to their own devices? How much TV do they watch? Do they all have to do chores and things?

I know you don't have all the answers (and are probably too busy actually DOING all the above to sit and write about it) but its good to know what works for other people. I myself go for a less structured approach and try to give them plenty of time to use their own imagination, but sometimes wonder if there would be less fighting or if it would be better for my own sanity to have more control over what they do every day. Kelly, Mars, anyone else feel free to chip in......

NO MORE LG&T

Elsa I have an Erin

Hello mommalove!
I've had my head in harry potter since yesterday and read it twice already!! Did you enjoy it?

Nope! I've seen a couple of the films and quite like them, but never read any of the books.

I've been ill. All this healthy eating and new exercise reigime, and I get bloody ill! It's some sort of weird virus, had a bad migraine and fever for nearly 24 hours which has subsided into just a normal pounding headache.

I jsut want to go to bed, but have a plumber coming this morning, and a playdate for ds1. Just hope the dts are in a compliant mood. Potty training will just have to wait now.

Poor you Chops, hope you feel better soon.

I have Harry Potter but am not getting very far! The children dont realise how important it is

Elsa twice.....

Estar i am not a slave to routine really, it is almost impossible when you have them at school. The morning goes like this...

Beau up for a feed about 6-7 and i get him dressed. I go in the shower and get ready. Downstairs for braakfast (me yelling for them all) they eat while i do the lunchboxes. The 4 oldest get dressed while i clean up. Upstairs to get ds#4 dressed and help ds#3 if he needs it. Top up Beau depending on when his last feed was, then all in to the car at 830, usually amid yells of "where are your shoes\coats\bookbags etc..."

Peace at 910! School pick up at 3, home by 330 and i take up residence in the kitchen. Lunchboxes cleaned and tea to be made. Kids playing around me, freqent checks on demonic 2 year old for level of destruction and\or falling asleep (disastrous) Supervise homework etc... Beau juggled throughout between bouncy chair in the kitchen, pram and my arms.

Tea on table, clean up. Upstairs for bath. Beau and ds2 in first, dress Beau while watching ds #4 (he soaks the bathroom) dress ds#4 with Beau watching, yelling by now usually. Call up dd for a bath, then the twins. Watch Night Garden or read a story to ds#4, off to bed for him. Try and settle Beau. The other 4 say goodnight and go to bed, ds#3 to sleep. The older 3 watch a movie in bed.

Beau feeds and settles about 8. All quiet by 9, i try and eat then.

The routine is the same but the timming is not. It can differ quite alot fom tea at 5 to tea at 630.

Weekend routine...i feed Beau and yell for one of the twins to bring me cup of tea in bed

They are normally out playing (very safe enclosed area out back) or in the garden (ds#4) While i am in the kitchen, if it is wet the TV is inevitably on. I dont kill myself about it, they are only watching kid programmes.

In the day when they are at school i do toddler groups and see a friend. Anything to keep out the house, i go a bit mad otherwise

We are off camping today, car packed, pissing it down with rain not.....

Back on Friday, dd's birthday and rellies coming dh helpful planning. Off again on Sunday to Plymouth. May not be on for a couple of weeks. Happy hols to you all, no news from BIBI????

HI all

Back to the land of the normal - had a kid free weekend, and I'm more tired than i would have been had they been home! (far too much wine!)

Having my bathroom decorated at the moment and it's been hell. Dh put his foot/lower torso though the floor and into the hallway below on thursday so now we need new ceiling. Luckily that is covered on insurance to we having the whole thing redone for £50 excess! We'd just got over that when we found new beth don't fit....so major rejigging going on today, and I will await the results when i get home this evening!

Amoungst it all the boys have been fab, they are the least of my worries which makes a change!

Hope all are well, speak soon

Are the school holidays nearly over yet?

Hi ladies - I posted this story of my weekend on another thread and thought I would share it with you. As you know we live in Harrogate but we were going to saty with friends in Bristol over the weekend.

We set off on Friday afternoon at 1pm expecting to get there around 5pm.

At 7pm we were only just on the M5.

At 8 we came off at the Tewkesbury junction (we werent to know......) and by 9.15 were about a quarter of a mile down the road into the town. We stopped at a garage and rang B and Bs and hotels but they were all full. Our friends in Bristol were ringing round for us too and rang to say the only option was a refuge centre put on by the council. I burst into tears at this stage but a man appeared in wellies and asked if we were ok and if we needed any baby food for the baby. DH asked if I could use his loo as I was desperate and I went over and met his wife and she said we should go in and have a cup of tea for an hour and then see what to do.

We all traipsed in and had some tea and she cooked the DTs beans on toast and we realised there was nowhere for us to go. The couple were so kind, they told us we could bed down in their granny flat at hte back of their house. The lady's mum would sleep upstairs. So around 11pm we finally got ot sleep.

At 2am they knocked on the door and told us to get out as the water was coming in. DT1 was about to get soaked as he was sleeping on the floor right next to the wall. We got the kids upstairs and spent the next two hours carrying the couples possessions up the stairs and moving furniture so it didnt get ruined. By the time we had finished the water was probably half way between our ankles and calves. Incredible - I have never experienced anyting like it. Looking out of the window there were people stranded everywhere and firemen with inflatable rafts heading up towards the town. We got a bit of sleep for a couple of hours and after a cup of tea in the morning we waded thorugh the water to try and get to Bristol.

The reason I'm posting this story is that it restored my faith in humanity. I was at the end of my tether, worried sick about my kids and finding somewehre to stay after 8 hours of driving and some complete strangers took us in and helped us. I cant believe they did it and it makes me feel humble. There were people sleeping in their cars - we were some of the lucky ones and I hope that in some small way we helped them back by helping with ethe lifting and shifting when the house started to flood.

So there you go - that was my weekend - eveyrone else?

hats off to you Harrogate, you have had by far the most 'interesting' weekend! Warms the ole cockles though to find out real human beings still exist and it isn't everyman for himself. I feel for the people of tewksbury and surrounding areas, looks like thousands of people have lost everything....been such a crazy year so far, i hope beyond hope things get better.

omg hm, what an experience! What a lovely couple though.

wow harrogatemum - hope you are all ok

very sunny down here for most of the weekend, suprisingly!!!!!!

next sale saturday am, ds1 nursery summer fete (doing Usborne book stall) saturday pm and sunday family stuff as mil down.

Erin can now roll onto front then screams and Jack can't roll anywhere as his belly gets in the way

omg HM my sis lives down there in winchcombe - she'd have put you up for the night, although she did get stranded even in her landrover discovery so perhaps not... glad you are ok anyway. I love Bristol, reminds of Harrogate in many ways (the nice bits anyway!)

I'm having a panic about the weather tbh, my parents live in Sheffield adn although not flooded they were affected transport wise, likewise my sis in glos, we are reasonably safe here, but meant to going to Dorset camping next thurs (aug) and I'm really not sure I want to risk it - am I being a wimp? I just have visions of the tent getting washed away with us in it...

oh, forgot to mention that we are trying the DTs out in seperaterooms^ tonight - how will it go? Watch this space

my dt's slept together until they were 11/12 even though we put them in seperate rooms my son always went into his sisters room - and that was a regular occurance most nights.

then - i think she kicked him out