June 08 - 79 days (and counting) til Christmas, has Deb started her shopping yet?!

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Thought we should update the thread!

I've not been on for a week, it's going to take me an hour to catch up! Parenting 3 under 3 is bloody time-consuming and tiring. There just always seems to be another bum to change, mouth to feed, tidying up to do, washing, ironing, bathtime etc. I am shattered by 7pm.

Going back to Santa, of course I will let them believe, I just won't make a big deal of it. we are going to Centreparcs on Nov 26 and going to see Santa then and of course santa is comign to visit our house this year and we'll leave a mince pie and carrot out

I always used to leave my car in gear too Knitting, cos we had a steep drive. Peter used to shout at me though when I moved here cos he used to start the car without the clutch in.

Debs, I am def looking into playgrp/nursery for the twins after Christmas! A day or maybe two mornings. I am shattered so i need to break!

Amber, I would go for the MB but the nipper does the job too. The carrycot attachment is so cute and the lascal maxi buggyboard fits on it. MB is so durable, you can really throw it around. I have a friend with a Nipper and she seems happy with that too though.

Spider, lol at using Daniel - of course I wouldn't mind! It is a lovely name so of course you want to use it .

Rolf, how awful for your friend . Hope she can get some support.

Dewin it took us 4mths this time when ttc and it seemed like forever! Don;t worry - it will happen.

Had rough night here - we needed to do cc with Theo cos DH has been cuddling him to sleep and he started waking in the night wanting 'cuddle!cuddle!' and not going back to sleep. So last night he was screamin, then was sick, we thouught he had made himself sick but then me and DH were sick too! I felt queasy again this morn altho T seems fine. DH a bit rough too. Mum came to look after us this morn and I went back to bed. So feel great now, I could do with a bit of vomiting once a week if I get looked after like this

Neenz I'm planning to get tough with Caitlin on sleep from here on in too - think her current awfulness is due to having too many cuddles in the night while she was ill - though I think it's going to mean a LOT of putting her back in her cot and screaming which I'm not looking forward to we can be moral support for each other! hope the queasiness passes.

Dewin another book? I'm still impressed by your previous one with the beautiful cover! (triads or something?) How can you be this productive, I am very ! FWIW I thought from your symptoms and the one faint line last month that you could have easily had a 'chemical pregnancy' (ie didn't implant) but have been forcing myself not to say so in case it upset you - but since it makes you feel better I can!

Deb fantastic, fingers crossed for you.

Thanks Neenz

Spider I've also revised my thinking on single buggy and sling, and currently am contemplating the baby jogger city mini double, have you looked at it? I have a few friends with the single, and they love it. The woman in John Lewis was of the opinion that she would choose it over the out and about (and it's slightly cheaper)I'd love a city select, but realistically it isn't worth it for what will be about 6 months use!

Rolf sorry to hear about your friend. It really makes you feel far away when sad things happen doesn't it.

Amber, do you think you'll definitely need a buggy for Luke come January? is he still going to be in nursery during the week? If so, could you get away with having a double for the twins and using a current single for hhim with Mark pushing one or the other?

deb great news about your buyers, fingers crossed you are on your way here before Christmas!

Haircut went well - C was quite excited, especially as she saw the neighbour's 3 yo get her hair done first, and she sat really well and kept saying 'look Mummy, I'm getting my hair cut!' she's looking very sweet with her tidy littel pixie crop! On the down side, no daytime nap for 2 days in a row now, could do without her dropping it at this stage!

Quick post, but excellent news on exchange Deb!

That is good Deb. Fingers crossed.

Biscuits - I don't think I any of the side by side doubles would work for us because our house is a Victorian terrace with a narrow hallway and no garage. So I assume I need a tandem (or a bigger house)

Just marking my place - am bamboozled by double/triple buggy chat

Great news on exchange deb! V cute on haircut Biscuits.

DH has just put tea on the table so must dash!

Dewin, I had assumed that it was a short-lived pg too - AFAIK you can't get a false positive pg test . It is sooooo hard ttc as it is something you have no control over. But I'm probably not the best person to advise you on it, as my history is somewhat pecualiar in that respect .

Fab news on exchange Deb!

Re: 7/7 bombings, it is utterly horrendous listening to the evidence and I too have avoided most of it . Dh was also in London on the day - my head came to find me at break time to let me know what had happened and I had a frantic half hour waiting to get through to him on his mobile. I couldn't for the life of me remember where he was or whether he was likely to have been involved. Rolf, I'm so sorry that someone you knew was killed, and Dewin, being in London must have been awful. It beggars belief to think of what they went through .

On the sleep front, we're also having to get tough again as fell back into some bad habits. We did some ignoring last night and M went back to sleep after 20 mins.

My DH was in London on 7/7 as well, at the court of appeal. But I must have spoken to him early that morn when he got to court cos when I heard of the bombs (well they didn't realise it was bombs when the first reports came through) I knew he was safe. Sorry about the woman you knew Rolf .

I have a triple buggy (T3 jogger) and although the twins don't need the buggy all the time now I do envisage using it till they are 3-ish. It is really handy to always have somewhere for them to sit and something to threaten them with if they don't behave ie 'you'll have to go in the pram!' It works so far. I was keen to move back to the MB and use a buggy board but I think it would be a mistake to do that too quickly.

The DTs went to bed fine tonight altho not straight to sleep cos they had a long nap at lunch. They were playing/reading quietly though. Then DH came in and T started with his screaming, he really thinks he has DH wrapped round his little finger! Anyway we ignored and he stopped after about 10 mins. Hoping for a quieter night tonight cos last night he woke Daniel up and he didn't go back to sleep for two hours .

Spider, our side-by-sides don't fit through the front door so I take the kids out on the drive then keep the pram(s) in the garage. I like it cos it's out of the way and doesn't get the hall all mucky

Do your boys share a room, Knitting? My girls share, and it makes a difference to how I deal with them in the evening as I don't want the noisy one to wake up the sleeping one . T is sleeping horribly at the moment and finding that extra surge of energy to deal with it is so difficult isn't it?

Our buggy doesn't fit through the door either, but M gets put in first and then I go back for A. He's normally really good at waiting patiently for me outside the car/house while I sort out M, but then he can't remember any different now!

Forgot to say, had v cute moment yesterday when I had just nipped out the playroom to open the door - when I came back A was helping M to walk by holding both of his hands and walking gently backwards leading M . It was soooo cute. A is desperate for M to walk - a partner in crime!

Rolf, yes the boys do share but you'd be amazed at how little they wake each other. The main problem is in the morning - but even now M wakes at 6am and A not until 6.45/7am. I can't believe the noise they can sleep through .

Yesterday I went to put M down for his nap and woke A up accidentally - A looked at me, and I said "Sorry A, I didn't mean to wake you, do you want to get up?" He give me a filthy look and said "No mummy, Alex sleep!" turned over and went back to sleep! Result!

Now that's progress Knitting !

S's manipulation skills are entertaining me at the moment. When telling him off today he looked at me with a very cross face then smiled and said sadly, 'sore head mummy, Struan bumped head' (this was a diversion tactic, he hadn't bumped his head at all). Little monkey

On the Chanel/Channel chat - I heard today of a Channelle (pronounced Chanel). It must be catching on!

Very sorry to hear about the 7/7 memories that many of you have. I used to live in London and recall being frantic with worry about my friends. DH had been staying in one of the areas affected only a few days before which made me really shudder at the time.

We tend to leave out buggy folded in the porch or the car currently - we also have a victorian terrace, but it's a Glasgow Victorian terrace, and for some reason they were seriously into wide doorways/halls here at the end of the 1800/beginning of the 1900s. I would bring the buggy in but made a silly carpeting decision in the BC era, and therefore it remains in the porch!

V cute about the nap knitting we've had two days of no naps here. it's not good, I'm knackered. only 3 days left at work though We had quiet time this afternoon though which seemed to work quite well, C sat on a beanbag under her blanket and watched most of toy story while I reclined on the couch. She brought me over a blanket from the other side of the room and offered to tuck me in and gave me her bunny.

I was on call for orthopaedics on 7/7 and we were on standby in Glasgow as they started receiving threats for bombs up here. that was frightening enough, I can't imagine what it must have been like in London.

We don't have a garage though so nowhere to store a buggy apart from car boot or lounge. It's street parking too so the car won't necessarily be outside the front door.

That aside Peter did something new today. The new car has front and rear parking sensors that bleep and a screen display showing you how close you are getting to objects. I was parking the car on our street when from the back of the car Peter pipes up with "Uh-oh, uh-oh" etc as the sensors are bleeping. Does he lack confidence in my parking skills?

spider we don't have a garage or a drive either! it's unusual not to have car pretty much outside the door, but not unheard of. Have a look at the baby jogger side by side, as it's narrower than most, allegedly!ALternatively, go for the city select, I'll bet they'll have a good resale value as the reviews have been great, and you could sell your current buggy to part fund it as you'll be able to use it in single mode afterwards? I am wishing that the the city select or the icandy ones had been about when we bought our pram, as they seem like a really good idea.

Sorry enough double buggy chat...

going to go and pester DH to talk about names again, I might threaten to start a MN thread if he doesn't come up with some suggestions soon.

Will do Biscuits. Can't remember how wide the front door is, so need to remeasure.

Hope you have better luck on names with your DH than I did at the weekend.

I am beginning to feel like Rolf as all the baby stuff is still in the loft...

Thanks for all the well wishes! It was only a tiny step but it's in the right direction.

Quick question for those with dummy loving babies, when did they learn to put them in on their own in the night. My friend with her 1st baby is struggling with sleep and baby fusses in the night for his dummy when he loses it, he's 5 months.Thanks.

About 5 or 6 months I think Deb. Best advice I got was to put a few dummies in the cot.

I got a buggy board last week, this one, figured for that price (worked out at £20 delivered) I would have a go and see how we got on. So far it's a big success, J loves it, but I'm only using it when DH is about or for short trips on my own. Our double buggy (a cheapo version given to us by a friend), fits through a standard door and is only a bit wider than our single buggy. It's impossible to get round poundstretchers though , the aisles are wide enough but in ours they insist on putting teetering towers of crap everywhere. I got fed up after getting stuck in there last week and stormed out knocking a load of sweets off a halloween stand as I went. Maybe I need to go a little more upmarket for my shopping!

Amber - I'm interested in the UFO! Must have been a bit scary thinking it might have been a plane.

We have been brave and put J in a bed, it has been fine so far (I'm crossing my fingers as I say this). Although when we went up last night we found him fast asleep on his rug but all tucked up under his duvet.

How cute ktpie! I can't remember if i mentioned that Luke has worked out how to get out of his bed now. He gets up every morning holding onto his two doggies and walks to the stair gate. I keep wondering what he will do if I don't call to him!

Got a lovely big stain on the kitchen ceiling now from our flood. I keep telling myself it could have been worse but at least the plumber is going to sort it out.

Luke got stung by a wasp at nursery yesterday. They called me when I was at my ante natal app and said I had to come immediatley and take him to the doctors. Of all the places the wasp chose to sting him on his bloody eye and poor thing it'#s all swollen up. I jad to go to A&E in the end as the doctors would not make room to see him the bastards.

Can you believe Mark offered my MIL my car for a few days without even asking me? How the feck am I meant to take Luke to nursery? I'm so annoyed I told him that she could have his car instead (BMW X5 4.8 litre ha ha!!!). God knows how much that will be on the insurance. What a fecking cheek.

Dewin I have been thinking of you in the last half hour as I have just bought some Joseph Seibel shoes. They are so plain that it's not even worth posting a link, but the style is called "Alison". I saw your boot thread yesterday after I realised I needed some really comfy shoes when I walked 20 mins to nursery and my arches were killing after 5 mins , and was looking in S&B for inspiration. WRT your thread though definitely get Timberlands if you fancy them, both my boots and my sandals have been fantastic and so comfy over the years.

Amber - sorry to hear about the flood and poor Luke's wasp sting. We have some sort of slow leak in the shower which has created a brown path in the kitchen.

just quickly for spider tesco direct have the city select with 98 pounds off - it's out of stock, but might be worth watching it if you are seriously considering it?

Thanks Biscuits. I have measured the front door and anything more than 28 inches is going to be a struggle and 29 inches is definitely not going to fit. So I checked the baby jogger site and the Baby Jogger City Mini double is just over 29 inches. Doh! The City Select would fit, but the £££ is a bit of a stumbling point. However my new thought for the day is to get a Britax B Dual which is similar to the City Select but a slightly lower RRP and seems to be getting some big discounts. Most notably here. This includes the double seat all for £275 (Mothercare including the double seat is £550). So I am contemplating hotfooting it down to our big Mothercare tomorrow to see if Peter actually fits in it. I think I saw one in RL when Knitting and I were at Wisley a few months ago and they are very tall, but I am 5'9" so it should be ok. If you are interested there is a lengthy discussion of the B Dual on babycentre

Everyone Else many apologies for being a pushchair bore.

Spider well I'm a fan of Josef Seibel shoes. I had one pair which split, and I took them back and the shop completely swapped them for a new pair in a different style. So that was impressive. I think they look quite funky too, but I suspect that might be because I am Officially Getting Old. Very old. (There are other signs too.) I looked at your style - made for you?! - and I think they look pretty trendy too. They're ever so comfortable as well. But that's the European Comfort Shoe for you. (To be fair, you'd expect an European Comfort Shoe to look much, much worse than that. )

Amber wasp sting - that's bad. (Dad's a beekeeper and I'm v. allergic.) On the eye is awful too, but probably looks worse than it is? The medieval monks in Ireland were really worried about bee/wasp stings on the eye.

Speaking of medieval...back to my proofs. I have until tomorrow to finish them and a lot to read through which I'm going to have to do now. (systems book was 3/4 finished before Iestyn was born, and the work goes back to 2002 or so, bits even earlier than that - so it sounds more impressive than it is. I also have good childcare - my Mum...)

Back later. Hopefully...

Just quick post, spoke to an Occupational Therapist today and she said that easels are the best present you can buy a toddler/pre-schooler in terms of what it will do to improve their fine and gross motor skills.

Sorry to get all teacherish, but thought some of you might want some inspiration for pressies.