December 2009 - Still waiting for our Silent Night

[BlathIceSkate]

New thread

Lee, we have a lovely gingerbread cutter that makes a little boy and a little girl with every press and they're just the right size. I can post the recipe for our Gingerbread Alex's too if you like :)

Hope you had a lovely day with jake ABF.

Noticed when brushing Catherine's teeth tonight that she has 2 new ones - one of the bottom fronts and a top molar. She's been off her food today and has napped lots even though we've been out and about and busy. Hope she's not coming down with something.

I got a family of gingerbread cutters in Sainsbury's, Lee, if that's any help. Was a while ago, but I'm sure it's one of those evergreens.

Sleep still hasn't improved so either Conrad's coming down with something as well, or he's going for more teeth. Well, they've got to come sometime so might as well get it over with.

We think our problem neighbour has been sectioned so at least that's one fewer cause of sleep disturbance (for now). I hope she gets the treatment she needs.

Gingerbread men recipe:
* 75g softened butter
* 50g caster sugar
* ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 50g treacle
* 2 egg yolks
* 250g plain flour
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 tsp ground ginger

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

Beat together the butter with the caster sugar until creamy.
Stir in bicarbonate of soda, treacle and the egg yolks.
Sift in the plain flour and ground cinnamon and ground ginger then bring together with a wooden spoon.
Shape into two balls, knead until the dough comes together, then chill for 30 mins.
Roll out one ball at a time, to about 2 x £1 coin thickness.
Cut out your gingerbread men then lift onto a greased baking tray and bake for 10-12 mins until slightly risen and golden brown.

It's adapted from a Good Food recipe that wasn't quite right so I upped the spices and added the treacle in place of the Golden Syrup they'd used to make them look a little less anaemic when cooked. It's still not too spicy though so good for little ones.

Sorry to hear about your neighbour Blue. Hopefully she'll be getting the right sort of help now and can get better.

Do you like my Spring name by the way?

I know I'm always changing but at least I stil to a theme these days. Will go back to normal soon

Hello everyone! Love the new name blathers, was getting a bit worried you hadn't changed for a while .

I will be trying that gingerbread men recipe after I get myself some cutters too! Imogen really likes those little Goodies ones, so hopefully she'll like my homemade ones just as much.

We have more teeth here too - at least three on the bottom. I am not sure if that was what woke her up rather than her rash for those three nights, but at least she is back to sleeping through again.

Lee, that does sound terrifying, but well done to your DD for reacting so quickly to your knocking. It might have shocked her as much as you too, so hopefully she will remember to keep her eyes peeled at all times next time.

Gosh Blue, a sectioned neighbour, hope the noise at night does get better for you and all the teeth pop through soon!

Hi Ethelred, ABF and anyone else out there!

HI guys sorry this is quick but I need some advice....we are having some tantrums.....but he has started smacking me and his sister...... noone else..... not the childminder just us!!! HELP
WHAT SHALL WE DO????

Sparkly, When Alex did this, whenever he did it, we made sure he was somewhere safe, said "No" and then walked away from him.

He was doing it to get our attention and when he saw that what actually happened was the opposite, he stopped smacking.

Hope that helps

Looks like we're sticking at 2 new teeth for now - Conrad lasted till 6.20am last night - way hey!

Hope you've recovered your equilibrium, Lee. Very scarey.

Sparkly, I think what Blathers said sounds good. Imogen does very occaisionally hit, but more often throws things, or hits the chair or floor and like Lee said usually out of tiredness or frustration. I usually just hold her hand and say no, and then try to distract her... I have to say though Imogen mostly has a killer scowl which seems to be her way or expressing dislike at the moment, and it is very funny!!!

Imogen had her first pancake tonight and really enjoyed it! I am enjoying the fact we can have pancakes and pretend it is for her benefit really.

I am such an idiot - today I managed to scrape the side of my car on a fence post driving into the car park at work. it looks like a big graze down the side, very annoying and then I went into the staff room and started telling someone and burst into tears like a right idiot!!!

Elizabeth has such big teeth! Seriously I turned her upside down so I could get a good look at them and the one front tooth that has fully come through is massive! Bless her. No wonder she has no trouble chomping her way through pork chops!

Well done Lee, you've done amazingly to bf until now, you should be v proud of yourself. I know I don't know much about it, but I think if they get enou other dairy, like yoghurt and stuff, then they don't need much milk as they get all they need anyway.

ABF, your post made me giggle, both the turning upside down to see the teeth and the demolishing of pork chops. Imogen is a real carnivore and eats meat, tearing it with her teeth like she's been starved for days sometimes - mostly Sunday lunches!

Well, I hope no-one had a night like ours. Conrad went to sleep about 8, then we had wailing from 9-10pm. Finally got him to sleep (in our bed again) but wailing from 2-4am and a bit more at 5am. Glad it's a work day as that's much easier than looking after DCs.

I think it must be teeth as he had his fingers in his mouth nearly all the time, but calpol didn't seem to make much difference. Teething gel did slightly better but it doesn't last very long. However, he did have a mammoth nap at the CM yesterday; they're going to limit it today, so he'll probably come home in a vile mood.

However, DCs and I have also got annoying dry coughs; mine responds to ventolin so I guess I'll have to share it with the boys.

Sorry for the long moany post; off for a now.

Today is the day I've been waiting for all week! My tonsillitis came back on Tuesday but the doctor didn't want to prescribe me any more ABs until he'd done a swab and found out exactly what sort of bug I had.

Which is fair enough - I had 8 penicillin tablets a day for 10 days when this flared up the first time and it's not cleared it so throwing more random ABs at it wasn't going to do any good - but these past few days have been awful. I've been taking painkillers and Strepsils but they're not fighting the infection so it's been getting worse and worse. I managed to get DH to come home on Wednesday afternoon and I just went to bed. I had a fever and uncontrolable shivering and just felt awful He was home yesterday too but had to be back at work today.

But the results should be back today and once they are, the doctor will wrote me a prescription for the right ABs and I can get on with beating this thing and feeling better. I cannot wait.

Thankfully, Catherine has been sleeping through so I haven't had to be getting up with her too. I hope Conrad goes back to sleeping properly for you soon Blue.

Well done on the feeding Lee. You've done a brilliant job getting this far. I was sad when I finished feeding Catherine too even though I desperately wanted to. She's not a great milk drinking either but loves yoghurt and cheese so I think she gets enough calcium. Glad Andrew is OK after his trampoline scare too. The stairs are my biggest worry in this house. Catherine seems to have no sense of fear about them at all and I know I rely too heavily on Alex to remember to shut the gate sometimes. He's not 4 till next week - I can't lave it to him to remember.

Catehrine hated pancakes but then Alex did too till last year - and then he ate 8! I think he managed 6 this year. No idea how I'm still struggling to find trousers slim enough for him when he eats so much!?

Oh stairs are a nightmare in this house! The stairs are large and also not made of wood (unlike bloody normal stairs ) So we have a big gate at the top so I can mumsnet in peace and the kids can play safely.
I was tidying our rooms upstairs when I could hear Elizabeth squealing angrily and I rushed out to see her hitting the dog round the head whilst the dog stopped her from getting near the open gate.

I love my dog!

Hope you get the right AB's now Blathers. Tonsilitis is bloody awful I remember when I had it before Christmas.

Top dog ABF! Not only for stopping Elizabeth getting to the stairs, but also for putting up with being hit round the head without snapping. Not sure that I'd have been so forbearing!

Blathers - can you try and get the dratted tonsils removed?

Last night was better, but not brilliant. I ended up taking Conrad round the block in the buggy at 10pm. The moment we went outside he stopped wailing because of the novelty. Put a blanket over the buggy and off he went to sleep. So I think it's not just teeth, but frustration at not being able to get back to sleep on his own when he's under par. Any suggestions to help?

Hope everyone has a super weekend.

Doctor phoned, no results back and I am feeling awful so he has prescribed sympathy ABs for the weekend - something caled Augmentin whihc he says are stronger than the Penicillin I had before. Just got to wait for Catherine to wake up from her nap now and then we can go get them - plus more Nurofen plus. I asked him about them as the box says not to take for more than 3 days as they are addicitive but he says if they help, then carry on and as they're the only thing that does help, I will be.

Hopefully, this bout of ABs will fix it. Doc is going to possibly change them if the results show it to be a different bug when they finally arrive but I'm hoping that one way or another, I'll be feeling better by next week. I guess if these don't get rid of the bug then removing them will be the next step. I've never had an operation - at least not one I've needed a GA for, both sections were done while awake - so that would be scary.

Blue - When Alex was poorly, the doctor recommended we gave him Nurofen 3 hours before bed and then Calpol at bedtime so he was as comfortable as we could make him allowing him to fall deeply asleep. He didn't seem to wake as often once he was properly asleep.

Blue, nothing to suggest I don't think I'm sorry - wish I knew the magic answer! Imogen likes to have muslins to go to sleep, she holds it with one hald and sucks some fingers with the others until she falls asleep - therefore I put at least three muslins in her cot each night because I reckon she can easily find one if she wakes up. We also still use white noise (a dishwasher track!) playing on a continuous loop all night... I don't know if it helps, but I think it stops her either being woken by us banging about, or if she wakes up and it is too quiet. I know however, that when Imogen did wake up those couple of nights nothing worked and we ended up letting her play for an hour basically until she was tired and then we just did the bedtime routine bit again... hope he remembers how to do it for you soo.

ABF - you're dog sounds great! Although sounds like Elizabeth didn't think so at the time!!!! We've been teaching Imogen to climb down the stairs backwards in the hope that should she find herself in that position by mistake she'll be a bit safer, but it still scares me she'll go tumbling down one day when she's not being careful or if we've left gate open or something...

Blathers, hope the results come back so that they can target it properly for you.

x-post Blathers.. hope they make you feel better.

It's quiet isn't it?

My only news is that I've got Tonsillitis again andd feel rubbish again which I figured was boring by now.

Phoning the doctors today to see if 6 days is long enough to get a throat swab result back and if I am on the right ABs this time.

Trying to decide whether I should take Catherine to Movement and Music and Swimming today. On the one hand, I probably have a bacterial infection which I wouldn't want a small child to get and which would grow like crazy in a nice, warm pool, on the other... If we only did Music and Movement we'd probably be safe as I'm not likely to start snogging random children as they go by and I'm not 'poorly' anymore just a bit tired and sore so the chances of passing it on are tiny - but this has floored me for about 3 weeks now so is a tiny chance too much?