May 2009 toddling along...

[momino]

here we are. How long will this thread last?

Oh and I should add that DH is with me for being at him and seems to see it as my fault as i have just been sat doing nothing whilst he was making lists of things to do...

Seems like the day for being at DH s. Mine went out last night to wet the DTs heads. Said he wouldn't have many. Anyway he rolls in at 12.30 clearly shedded. In the meantime I've a headache, ds1 has fallen out of bed , r is bunged up and crying as he can't breathe thru his nose and the twins are the same. So am hugely pissed off at him as he is too drunk to really deal with any of them and certainly is not going anywhere near the twins.

To be fair all was well when he went out but to get shedded when you have 2 newborns AND 2 others. , is taking the piss, no?

I'd give him 8/10 for the last two weeks but AIBU to be angry at him for most of today?!

agree with dandy, pula and smokey: I would be very as well. pula, ink on the sofa, very difficult to remove. I don't have any tips, I'm afraid. hope it looks better today.

Smokey, do get your DH to do some work today/tonight while you do something for yourself.

smokey - shame on your DH - he owes you big time. He needs to be in a fit state to be able to help out, and I'd have been if my DH came back any later than 11.30 too when he'd been given the chance to wet the DTs heads .

Anyway, sofa is hopefully OK and DH and I are being civil. I had a go at removing the stains last night (around midnight) and they looked terrible. As we'd been contemplating a cold wash on the covers for some time (given the general grubbiness due to 3 small DCs) i thought it was worth a risk. So at 12.30 I put 2 covers in the machine with some vanish and persil non-bio and they don't look too bad now (you can still see one or two of the marks but only if you know where to look). Just waiting for them to dry and then will need to see if we need to do the remaining covers to match. So hopefully they will last a few more years yet- we don't want to replace them until the DCs are much older and less likely to ruin them. Hopefully DH won't put pens in his jeans any more...

Hello all! Going to attempt a catch up....!

First of all a HUGE congrats to Smokey
Your twins look gorgeous and I read your brief birth story in awe - supermum!!

Momino - really sorry to hear about your DH's redundancy. How is he feeling now he's had a few days for it to sink in? I really hope something fantastic is just around the corner.

Dandy - the others have all given you great support and advice. I completely agree that it was - at best - a bit cheeky of Jack and Jill to ask you. If they're true friends, they'll accept your response and move on.
As for your BP, must be so frustrating when you've been doing all the right things. Hope the next reading gets better results. Have they given you a 24hr monitor at all to ensure it's not white coat syndrome?
Oh and how did you get the pombear emoticon?!

Pula - YANBU! Why do DH's generally not take so much pride in keeping things nice?! Sounds like you did a good job on the covers.

Running - yay for being 16 weeks! V impressed with A's 150 ish words! O doesn't really have any yet except "yeah" when I ask him questions like "Shall I come and get you?" or "Would you like a yoghurt?"

Febes - your trip sounds and looks amazing. How wonderful to still have NZ to look forward to for Christmas!!

saus - pneumonia is no fun. Poor you and poor M. Hope you're both well on the way to recovery.

Hello everyone else - Banned, Llare, Flip, Belgina

We've been ok except for the usual autumn lurgies. As many of you saw from FB, O had a really bad bout of tonsillitits that saw him with a 10 day course of penicillin and just so ill. I'd never seen him like that before. It makes me appreciate his usuall cheeky mischievous self even more :)

Right, I'd best go and get ready as off out tonight with the NCT girls :)

Running, very impressed by your DD's words.

DS2 hasn't demonstrated many, although his comprehension is good. However, his current favourites include: car, cat, Peppa, towel and willy. Unfortunately he likes practicing willy a lot and it has been EMBARRASSING. I have two very boylike boys!

I have done something rash and signed up to do a triathlon at the gym. I had vague plans to do it last year and chickened out but I have committed to it now so there is no going back. I am more than a little scared and laughed my little socks off when the instructor asked what time I was aiming for. I replied that I'd be chuffed to just finish the thing! Anyway, I've started training so have bought myself some new kit to celebrate.

llare wow a triathlon. V impressive! I think its good to sign up for something like this to give you motivation to keep up with the training.

running can't believe you are 16 weeks already! And another one impressed by your DDs words. We have car, bike, football, more, baby (useful in our house ), grandma and a few others.

ses glad O is better now. Awful when the LOs are poorly. Hope you have a good night tonight.

DH update. He has been v apologetic all day and has done lots today so am on the verge of forgiving him. Am so tired though as a result of v little sleep though last night. Just hope that R is better - have karvol at the ready and saline drops for the DTs.

llare- triathlon sounds great - i wouldn't mind doing a very short one if i was fitter. I have a session with a personal trainer tomorrow as the gym had a special deal on 3 sessions so will hopefully find a good programme for me to follow!.

running- I am very impressed with your DDs language skills and a bit . S understands everything, but only has a few words and still doesn't say mummy . He says 'mas' which means "sam's" or "mine", and 'cat', and 'uff' for dog (woof) and 'uh uh' for duck (quack quack), and hello and bye (finally!). He has started nodding which is very handy when we ask him questions, and does a few signs. He also does lovely pretend talking on the phone .

ses - to be fair to DH he is usually very house proud but is rubbish at getting stains out and the pen thing is sooo annoying as it's not the first time. Hope you had a nice night out with the NCT girls .

we celebrated Thanksgiving today with some friends and a lovely roast turkey dinner with the trimmings and pumpkin pie! I'm stuffed and ready to put the 3rd dishwasher load on. just taking a break from tidying up.

llare, triATHOLON!!! I'm very impressed.

Ses, so glad O is better, I was a bit worried as was our mutual friend. Hope your night out was fun.

Running, 150 words are very impressive. H knows just a handful like cat, dog, mummy, daddy, get down, etc. she's like our dd1 who didn't really speak a lot till she was past 2. dd2, however, was like your A (I think), saying loads of words. she even spoke in sentences straight away saying things like 'that's difficult' in the right context at 18 months. they're all so different, aren't they?

Pula, we have a cream sofa as well which I regret now that we have a dog and small children. How was the personal trainer?

Smokey, glad the DH is apologetic, hope you've been able to relax a bit more today and hope R is better.

We've had a really hard time with dd1 who's been angry, frustrated, whingy, mean to her sisters, etc. but hasn't been able to tell us any reason why. she hit me at church today then had a screaming fit outside afterwards. and after dinner pushed H down the stairs . she was sorry for both things but I am veryangry at her just trying to impress on her the danger especially of the 2nd incident (thankfully H ok, just scared, bless). I think I need to put aside some dd1/mummy time - all of you had recommended that last time I talked about probs with dd1. i've just slipped a bit, maybe she needs some positive attention. Hopefully this week will be better with her. she's too little to have anger in her .

thanks for your support about my DH. there's a job he's been put forward for by a recruitment agency so fingers are crossed.

Happy thanksgiving, Momino! I hope the recruitment agency is helpful.

For what it is worth, we're having similar problems with DS1 at the moment. He is being bit of a nightmare and can be absolutely vile at times. I don't know what to do with him but currently we are trying to ignore the attention-seeking behaviour and being very positive about the good behaviour. He responds fairly well to chats about his behaviour when he has calmed down so I am doing that too with some consequences. It is so hard not to lose my temper though, and can't always manage it. He is a lot like me, unfortunately.

momino - happy thanksgiving! Sorry to hear about your DH's job, hope things turn around soon, and definitely fingers crossed for the job.

runnning - 16 weeks? Blimey, how did that happen?! And at A's words, clever her. M obviously understands a lot, but doesn't say much, she's too busy moving! DD1 was an early talker though, simple (2-3 word) sentences and loads of words at 18 months.

Oh, colchester zoo - yes, have been, it's good, we went for A's birthday and the girls both loved it. Good use for Tesco vouchers!

llareggub - triathlon, wow! Hope the training goes smoothly. Which bit are you strongest at?

dandy - how are things with you now?

pula - I'd be at the ink thing, and the sofas, gah. Hope things have been smoothed over now. And you too smokey!

Phew, that's enough NCing I think, don't take it personally if i haven't mentioned you, hello!

All ok here. MN coat being used a lot, be interesting to see how it copes with the arctic conditions we've been promised later this week!

A is mostly over her chest infection, I think, but is still snotty and not sleeping brilliantly. DD1 decided that she'd like A to move into her room, so we've tried it for the last week with mixed results. It's taking A a bit longer to get to sleep but that could also be because I'm trying to get her to settle a bit more on her own than before, but being very gentle about it so no CC or CIO. I should say here that we aren't just moving A at DD1's will, it was our plan all along but were trying to be gradual about it! A seemed to be quite excited about sharing with DD1.

Right, think that's it from me for now...hope everyone is ok?

v quick post and run as I'm supposed to be working while A is asleep... am currently eating a magnum and thinking of you all :o

Will attempt to catch up properly later xx

magnum

Hi Everyone!

I'm also back after a long absense. Dodgy computers and being generally distracted by other things have kept me away.

A quick NC, for as far as I can remember everything.

Smokey YANBU for being annoyed. It's difficult enough with 4 young dcs.

pula I would also be very annoyed with my DH if he did something like that. I purposely bought a brown leather sofa though, they're wipeable and virtually indistructable

llare Wow, I'm very impressed with the whole triathlon thing. Good luck!

running 16 Weeks! Amazing how quick things go! I'm also very very very impressed by your A's vocab. C clearly understands a lot (and in 2 languages). This especialy took off once she got the hang of walking properly. She really only says baby and boo (book). Clearly her 2 favourite things. She especially likes the Mothercare catalogue as in her opinion it's a nice combination of the 2 The other thing she says is "bo", which appears to mean "I want that"

dandy I can understand it must be very frustrating about your BP. Actually, just like Ses I'd been wondering whether they've done a 24h bp monitoring to rule out white coat syndrome.
Your ds sounds like he's actually a very clever resourceful little man. Great at problem solving too Unfortunately toddlers have oodles of energy and I think boy toddlers more so than girl toddlers. Just say to yourself that he'll grow out of it in time I also understand about the non stop chatter. My ds used to be the same when he was your dd's age. I used to try "See who can be quiet the longest" games, but he always cracked after about 30 seconds, lol. Now he's older he's a bit quieter, but still a chatterbox.

ses Glad O's doing much better. Must have been a very difficult time.

momi Happy belated thanksgiving :) Hope things are on the up with dd1 again.

banned I haven't managed to start that hat yet. I've had a few weeks of neglecting my crochet projects, but really do have to get stuck in now, because xmas is getting close!

flip Hope you're allwell. Sounds like that MN coat was just what you needed :)

Well, exciting times here. A house has come on the market: this one and it's near enough as perfect as it can be and within our budget. Still within walking distance of the school and just on the edge of the centre of the village. It's soo spacious inside and everything was redone 8 years ago, but looked after very very well. It's 3 bedroom, with the master bedroom being ensuite and built in wardrobes EVERYWHERE. After living in this place with no storage, it just seems like heaven if we could have that house. It's 1 bedroom less than we'd hoped for, but the loft is fairly big and I have a feeling we could add a loft room. I viewed the house today, but haven't been able to talk about it with DH yet. I'm soooo excited, can't wait to talk to him

Oh and seems like a lot of us are starting to have some toddler tantrums. Glad C isn't the only one. The ap is finding it difficult to deal with C when she's having a tantrum. E.g. today she tantrumed when she strapped her in the buggy to pick up ds and dd1 from school, so the ap thought she'd let c walk, but C still decided to scream and cry and carried on while being carried. I told her that she should just put C in the buggy and walk in that sort of scenario. I think the ap is feeling a bit self conscious when she turns up at the school with a screaming child, but I reassured her that all parents will know how she feels. C is feeling a but yuk at the moment though, through teething and a stuffy nose. I'm pretty sure that's not helping her grumpiness.

Right. Better go and be a bit sociable. Have a good night everyone :)

Why hello! I've been here all along.

Momi Sorry to hear about your DH's redundancy. I hope you get something sorted soon. Would this be an opportunity to visit or go back to the States? I recognise your picture of getting the children out of the house in the morning. I am a crabby crappy mother

who seems to only shout now a days though. (I'm sure you are not!)

Dandy I hope you get some help with your BP soon. It must be very frightening. I am having no more children either. PMSL at toddler Banksy.

running Congratulations! Isn't it funny how we are all at different stages of our lives, and yet (sketchily ahem) still linked on MN and FB. 150 words is brill! R still surprises us with the odd word. She clearly understands WAY more than we think. She nods and shakes her head mostly in response to questions.

llare I'm a bit jealous. Good luck with that!

smokey Here's a for your dh

Pula Here's a (make that cross) for your dh

Tumm Thanks for all your help with the bank card rant! What is more frustrating, is they don't give a flying f*ck.

Saus Hope the illnesses are better soon, poor things.

If I've missed anybody I'm really sorry. It seems I need to have a sleepless night to get time to go on MN. I've been awake since 4 feeling sick. I think a day of not eating may resolve it. I'm just SO tired though. Absolutely exhausted, so why can I not sleep?

I don't really have any news. I lost a load of weight, and put it all back on again. I've run a 10K race 8 minutes slower than when I last ran a 10k race. I'm doing a fair bit of knitting. I'm loving being back at work, although it's tough getting out of the house on time. At my appraisal a few months back I was basically told I'm very lucky to be in the position that I am, and it was made clear it wasn't permanent. I know there is another person who wants to work what I do. She is a lazy cow, who when she covered my branch barely lifted a finger. She wants to work there because she thinks it's an easy ride. I do above and beyond there (or that's what I like to think) I work 20 hours over 2 days at a branch 12 minutes from my house. It's a brilliantly run branch with a very strong team. I'm a relief manager, and technically should be able to work all over the patch but don't. If I worked anywhere else, I would have to be out of the house a whole 30 mins earlier 7.30, would be back much later, and wouldn't be guaranteed the 20 hours. My line manager then went on to say that actually it's working out very well for the branch, and she is happy with how it's working. If at any point she said I would have to go somewhere else, I think I'd resign. I'd rather locum somewhere local. Fingers crossed I keep my manager happy.

just did a massive post that took me aaagges. and lost it.

testing. can't post!

And again!!!!! [angy].

I give up.
truncated version:
belgina, love love the house.
Flip, hope the room arrangements are going smoothly. Still holding your book, meant to send today but forgot to bring it with me to the post office . You'll get it for Chrismas .
Jennster, you sound so busy with work, running, knitting, etc, etc. thanks for the best wishes to the DH. wish we could go to the US at this time but his redundancy package is the legal min so, unless he would get a job straight away, we need to be very careful and US flights alone will costnearly 2000 quid. scary.
Dandy,no advice for you I'm afraid, except have a drink tonight. then go into the LO's bedrooms whilst they're asleep and perhaps the lovey feelings will come flooding back . sigh. bless their little cotton socks.
Llare, Running, Pula, Ses, Smokey, and those I haven't NCed, hope you have a good friday night!

worked for the 5th time. I've figured out it was because I used the pound sterling character. who'd have known?

Momino, you killed the thread!

We're all ill. It sucks.

llare, hope you're feeling better soon.

I thought the same thing: I killed the thread- so sorry!

Where is everyone?