June 2008: new year, new diets, new resolutions, but when push comes to shove creme eggs are still the solution!

[KnittingRocks]

Sorry, couldn't cope with Christmas anymore!

It's a steam engine day out keepcalm. Was it bugger who went last year, it abdn ?

Oh look, there's a for dewin tomorrow!

Yes, Blooming Marvellous went a while ago! Annoying, I used to buy stuff in their sale (there was a shop near us). Never mind, Boden do maternity!

Hurray, a [stdavid]! Good, because I have none in my garden. Supermarket was sold out as well. My neighbour has some tete-a-tete narcissi which will do, and I'm considering stealing one tomorrow morning. She's away I think...but they are by her front door!

Or a . Pretty.

Third pregnancy, Spider - she must be mad

I'm still tired after the poorliness altho they all seem to be much better now. Daniel is sleeping better, he goes down at 7pm, dream feed at 10 then wakes at 3am then goes till 7.30/8am. I can't wait til he is sleeping through 7-7! I am so tired . i think I could knock that 3am feed on the head if I did cc but not sure if I have the energy/courage yet - I am much more soft on Daniel than I was on the twins.

MIL is having Theo and Esther tomorrow morn tho.

What are you implying Neenz? It was Biscuits friend who announced.

Neenz it was my friend with the 3rd pregnancy! She says she's going to give me the baby to sleep train, as her 2 don't sleep, and D is taking after her sister she goes down at eight, I wake her to feed at ten thirty and she sleeps til half six ish. Unfortunately this is entirely down to luck rather than any skill on my part so can't offer her any pearls of wisdom.

Disclaimer: I do know how lucky I am with this!

Neenz, I think it's critical to be strict with twins and natural to be a bit more relaxed with D. How old is he now? It's probably time for that 3am feed to move to at least four or five am which makes a real difference (cc only helped us extend the main night sleep as the boys were so hungry but even an hour more makes a big difference).

We did the Thomas stream train and it was wonderful. It was with ds1, Fraser was just a baby, so we should probably be going again. He's not as big a Thomas fan though - the influence of his brother who loves cars and toy story.

No news from my friend yet, I was looking out for her dad in the playground at school this morning for an update but couldn't see him ... silly to worry really 'cos I know how long an induction can take from experience but I am really hoping all goes well for her! Am also incredibly broody today thinking about it all - I would love to give birth again and have those first few days with a newborn. If I could do that without having to be pregnant, and then go straight from newborn to about 3 with no sleep deprivation involved in between, I'd do it!

Happy everyone, esp you Dewin! We have daffs in the garden, it's very exciting, I love spring

Morning all, am stuck at home with a cold today. Should really be in bed but I'm rubbish at going to bed during the day!

Hope you get news from your friend soon System!

Abdn - did you go to the Thomas day at Bo'Ness? I think we'll take S this year.

Totally with you on that systems!

My induction with M took three days - is she being induced for being overdue or some other reason?

Happy St Davids Day .

Back at work today after half term - missing my boys . A spent the day with this little friend from NCT yesterday and her baby sister. He is now v baby focussed and took his little baby doll to bed yesterday and then took it to the CM's this morning! Dh thought I'd been trying to influence A to persuade him to have another baby . A did look v sweet tucking baby up in bed with him last night (co-sleeping, MN would approve!) and also asked if she could have some milk .

He will make a fab dad one day .

his little friend not this!

She was due Thursday, but baby stopped growing towards the end of the pregnancy, so they are not letting her go far over. So yes, it could take a while; mine took 3 days too ... Perhaps I should try knitting, to calm my nerves!!

Sounds like a plan .

Gah...toddlers (do I need to say anymore?)

I am feeling your pain Spider! Altho my two are out in the garden right now having a lovely time so I have peace for a bit (not likely for long tho). They play so well together now, their fave game at the mo is dressin up in hard hats and 'kids at work' jackets they got from elc at christmas. They say they are 'going to work on the train' (like DH). They just run from one room to another. Theo has also discovered how to page the telephone - he presses the button and the phone beeps over and over, then he says: 'What's happened? I don't know'

Abdn, D is 7mths next week. He normally wakes at 3am and has both breasts. Last night I tried just giving him one breast, but he didn't settle and I had to go back 30mins later to feed him from the other - but he only needed a couple of mins. But then he woke at 5am too! Should I try continuing with just one breast and try to cut his milk down that way rather than stopping altogether. He fed a lot more first thing this morn so his night intake must have been less (shame I had to get up 3 times to achieve it!) I don't want to do cc if he is genuinely hungry - I assume cos he woke again at 5am it must be hunger?

neenz - I think the oft mentioned sleep book I have suggests cutting the night feed gradually: so for BF - a few minutes every few night's in order to gradually shift those calories into the day. Just an idea .

We went to the Thomas day at Brechin keep calm - much closer to us than you though.

Neenz - we did cc'ing several times with ds1 to get him to go longer between feeds and break the habit of waking at a certain time. It was a bit more straightforward the first time though as we'd been travelling and he started to wake more often which was impossible. Dropping to one breast sounds good - when ds1 was a bit older I was feeding him at around four am but only for exactly seven minutes as that was the amount of time he needed to make it until morning - it's the breastfeeding equivalent of reducing volume - reducing time! You must be pretty shattered by this point!

My friend had a little girl on Tuesday, just seen dad at the school gates, bit dramatic (as these things often are!) but all fine and home within 24 hours I'm so pleased for her, her son was born with a condition that needed emergency surgery and no-one could tell them if it was a one-off or if they were at higher risk of the same thing happening again so it is particularly wonderful news that all is well

That's lovely for your friend Systems.

Thanks for tips on Daniel's sleep. He seemed to take a lot less milk at the 3am feed last night (after 2 nights of trying to wean him down to one side) so i think we are getting somewhere. Will try him with just one side again tonight and see if I can cut it down further. Got oatibix on the shopping list for next week . That was magic sleep cure for the twins.

I have asked CM to take T and E for a day a week from April. I am going to take them out of preschool. It's not cos I don't like the preschool I just think the money would be better spent giving me a whole day without them rather than 2 x 2.5hrs. CM will give them their tea as well so that will be a nice break for me, I find tea time hard usually

neenz switching to a CM sounds reasonable - picking the twins up and dropping them off is probably more work for you honestly! I find it disruptive with DS1 (but since it's a school nursery and he's almost five it's an essential).

glad your friend is doing so well systems!

Okay I'm in the process of getting a new kitchen - any ideas? We're probably going with Howdens as a mix of cost and convienence (we live 2.5 hours from an ikea remember!) and will be getting the local builders to fit it. So far the majority of the cost will be the non-kitchen bit (hoping to get glass doors into the garden).

Just marking my spot.

AH - we went for Ikea units but bought granite worktops after shopping around on the Internet. We then got a local guy to do the installation

No reply from Deb on the phone.

Thanks spider - especially for calling deb. Half term is over down there isn't it?

Seems sensible re: CM Neenz.

Am of your new kitchen plans abdn. I'm hoping that whenever we sell this place and move we buy somewhere in desperate need of a new kitchen (and we can afford to replace it). We put a new kitchen in our old flat and ended up paying way over the odds - mostly because we used the shop's fitters - I wouldn't do that again that's for sure!

I only texted Deb - but on the mobile they were using when I visited at New Year. Half term finished last weekend as far as I know it's the same week throughout England but I could be wrong.

Peter has just been to rugbytots for the first time this morning. DH took him - apparently P loved it and was v good at following the instructions, scoring trys etc. They both came back very happy.