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!

Keepcalm - that's the state our kitchen is in but it took us almost three years to save up for it and it'll still be a budget job. But we're taking down the wall between the playroom and the kitchen so it'll be a massive space and I'm really looking forward to that. Any reason to avoid wooden worktops? (probably beech) or karndean flooring?

Exciting kitchen plans, abdn. We had a new one about 5yrs ago and had granite work surfaces - they still look brand new now. Would recommend.

Our mornings are getting earlier and earlier now summer is coming. We are lucky to get 7am whereas 8am was not uncommon. They are good, they just play in their room, but they are noisy and you soon get the inevitable 'need the potty' - they have nappies on but feel obliged to get them the potty when they ask! Daniel is doing OK - still waking once at about 3am but usually then sleeping till after 7am so not so bad. Although a few nights recently he has woken at about 5am and been wide awake, not interested in feeding or going back to sleep! I leave him and he just chats to himself (but very loudly so I can't get back to sleep!) then eventually he will work himself up to a cry so I try to feed him again and then leave him to cry and eventually he falls back to sleep - this took over an hour on Saturday night! Then we had the twins wake us at 7. The joys. I think it might be his teeth waking him - you can see two lumps coming through on the bottom.

Spider, rugbytots sounds cute!

Have you had a look on the property/diy threads Abdn? I bet there are loads of kitchen threads. I think wooden worktops look lovely but I've never had one so I don't know about any pitfalls.

We've finally started the jobs that we need to do around the house, so hopefully we might actually manage to get the house on the market before the year is out! Am very annoyed that we're going to have to spend around £500 on various small repairs - I so wish that DH was a bit handier at DIY! I'm not too bad, but will defer to the professionals when need be!

It's been very quiet on here of late - how is everyone? As well as Rolf and Deb's mysterious absences, I don't think I've spotted HardAndSleazy for a while. Bugger are you still reading?

Not too much to report here. S is getting better at poos on the potty and only has the occasional accident, usually linked to being a bit too far away from the loo. He's decided that he doesn't want anyone in the bathroom with him and insists on going himself. I don't mind that at all, but I was hoping to try and encourage him to use the toilet instead of the potty soon, but even with a step he'd struggle to get up to the loo with his wee legs!

We've not had any earlier mornings here Neenz but S often comes into bed with us around 6ish for a wee bit before we get up. Instead of calling us he's just been coming through and climbing into bed. I think the lighter mornings mean he's more confident padding about the place when the lights are off.

KeepCalm SNAP on the potty training. Iestyn prefers to go privately and have us wait in the corridor/bottom of the stairs etc, but it's the potty not the loo.

Have decided that those kiddy loo seats are nasty. Yuck.

Deb's fine! She'll be along to update everyone soon x

Hi everyone, sorry for my disappearance, nothing mysterious. Just got a bit down, trying to sort out things in Austria, settle things with the removal man(finally accepted half the payment from us today) , job prospects rubbish here,Tristan was finally diagnosed with asthma, house hunting, etc etc so we went off to Austria for last week We went back to the same village which was a bit weird but also nice to be in a familiar place. Met up with friends, went to playgroup with Ethan , and skiing was great. Nigel and I took it in turns to ski/look after Ethan and it worked really well. I was hoping to catch up on here whilst I was away as the apartment was advertised with wireless internet but it was very patchy so I couldn't .

House hunting update - still very keen on house#1 , going in again with a builder as it's got some damp so we want to price the work.Also going to see a couple of new ones on the market this week so we'll see!

Just had Tristan up crying about school, saying he doesn't think he's been "treated very well" - his words. He's struggling with spellings and today was doing R.E and he couldn't answer the questions as in Austria religion was just the catholic faith so we withdrew him from it. Apparently the teacher couldn't believe that he hadn't done religion!Need to write a letter tomorrow and go and see her to talk this through.

Spider - was it your text that said about popping round for a visit? I didn't know the number and also we were in Austria!!!

No Deb, it's probably Knitting when she's on her way to Scotland later in the year. I did text but only to check in and see if you were ok. Not sure when we will next be visiting PILs but will give you a shout once we have a plan. Glad to hear you are ok, I had a feeling you were in Austria but wasn't sure. Poor Tristan. How is DH now? Still missing Austria? Hope you are ok and all your boys are making sure Mum is well looked after too.

AH - I once rented a place with wooden worktops. They look lovely but they do wear (especially in a flat share) quite quickly. Granite is easier and looks great when polished, although limescale does build up. The easiest to look after are certainly old fashioned plastic ones that we grew up with.

abdn wooden worktops are high maintenance, need regular oiling. I am a lazy housekeeper and hated ours. They were here when we moved in. They've gone now!

We missed you deb! Sorry to hear that Tristan is a bit miserable. I went to a different high school to all my primary school mates and it took a while to settle in. He'll get there.

D is still doing well, hanging out on the second centile and broke the 10 lb barrier this week (14 weeks!) My sister is coming. up to visit with her DD next week so will be fab to see them together again and compare!

C is hilarious at the moment. She loves her wellies and wants to wear them all the time. Given that she has also developed an aversion to trousers this leads to some interesting outfits her favourite being her red party dress and wellies. Special. I have taught her the chorus of billy connelly's welly song to sing which adds to the overall effect as she sings it with gusto in her rather broad Glasgow accent!

knitting haven't posted the insert yet, will so so this week!

Wooden tops are lovely except when people forget they are not a giant chopping board!

How are you all? I have time to post today and have read as much as possible. Even with a nanny I never seem to have time. God knows what it'll be like when Luke drops down to 3 days a week at nursery! Actually I can't wait for him to be home so I can get more quality playtime as he's missing out at the moment. I'm going to collect him early today and take him to the park as it's such a fabulous sunny day. POtty taining update, well he's getting there. Still in pullups but I'm waiting for him to do a poo on the toilet at nursery before I put him in pants. He uses the nursery toilet about 6 times a day but still wees in his pullups as well. He does well at home and does poo on the potty occasionally but did one on the floor yestrday (nice). I am confident we'll be OK for the school though in May. Twins update - not sleeping great at night but not hideous. Mark and I had so many rows through tiredness we've set aside some money to have the night nanny a couple of times a week until things settle (not getting up just for a night feed, getting up non stop for crying and settling plus the feed and then Luke having bad dreams etc etc). For those worried about weight, the girls are only on the 9th centile, they're weeny! They've just started smiling and it's so cute.

I'm going to try to make more effort to post - I miss the MN ladies!

Amber so lovely to hear from you - sounds like Luke is doing great at PT. You have to accept the odd accident I think, Theo still has them now, lazy toad! The sleep thing is a nightmare - I really hope they get better soon (I remember how awful the sleep deprivation was!).

Deb, we've missed you. Sorry you are having woes. I am not looking forward to having my kids tell me stories of how sad they are at school/with friends etc. You just want them to be happy don't you. I don;t see the problem with the religion really - surely he can catch up!

Wellies + skirts it so cute!

Daniel woke at 2 and 5 again last night - asked the HV about it and she said up his solids by cutting down his breastfeeds to just morn and night

Quick post to mark my spot.

Deb, good to have you back - heartbreaking to hear Tristan was upset at school. Not looking forward to those days either.

Not much else to report except terribly behind on my coursework as usual! I can see the end in sight, but unfortunately I'm not much of a completer finisher so I've sort of taken my foot of the pedals [sigh]. Must try harder!

Appear to have made a toddler group faux pas yesterday. Group of mums I've known since S was a baby (toddlers all the same age give or take a few weeks) and they all have 2nd child under one now. Talking about when they had their second, age gaps, whether to have a third, how hard work it all was. I jokingly said 'I think you're all bonkers' and 3 out of the 4 (the fourth who knows me quite well and I spend more time with) look at me like I was from another planet. I was just really joking (as the only person who only has one child) - I don't really think they're bonkers (not for having a second child anyway ).

Amber, sorry, meant also to say good to see you back on MN and glad Luke is making progress with the PT. S still has accidents and isn't so brilliant at asking to go for a poo in time - sounds pretty normal from what others have said on here.

keepcalm, it sounds like your friends have had a sense of humour bypass! I actually know I'm bonkers for having no.3

Thinking of sleep training Daniel tonight... he is waking at 2am so if I don't feel too knackered when he wakes I might just refuse to feed and do pick up/put down. He will be but just thinking that he might be sleeping through in three days is enough to encourage me! He shouldn't need a feed at 10pm and 2am... I tried to cut down on his milk but I keep getting sucked back in to giving him both breasts because I am so tired and want him to sleep the rest of the night!

Deb - sorry Tristan is having a tough time. I'm sure this is really hard on you to see him not totally happy (which might be too much of an understatement but didn't want to overstate it either). It's a huge transition and it'll take a whileto settle - we really struggled the first year here but now I never want to leave.

Neenz- fingers crossed for the sleep training. 2am is almost the worst possible time isn't it!

Thanks for all the worktop advice - granite and stone etc are out of our price range unfortunately because they are the nicest. At least wood is cheap enough that if we need to replace it in a few years we can.

Keepcalm - your toddler friends sound a bit baby obsessed which is easy to do when you're sleep deprived and doing nothing but changing nappies. As the boys get older I'm more aware of what you give up with having more children - I'd never have considered just having one kid previously (I'm from a family of two as is dh) but now I can see the benefits.

Biscuits - we're a wellie household too because Fraser can put them on himself. It's nor as cute without the skirts though and the one time I wore wells with a skirt for the school run I got teased!

Amber -it's so lovely to have you post but you must be shattered. Oh hun! Does saying this too shall pass help or does it just make you more frustrated? Friends of mine who had twins while still in grad school had to get a loan from their parents to pay for a night nanny because they physically needed the help - im glad you're keeping yours for a while!

Nothing much happening here - Fraser also likes to go to the toilet on his own but you need to hang around outside in case he poos and wants you to wipe. I'm still wiping ds1 too :( because he seems incapable of reaching that far and i hate the idea of skid marks in his underwear all the time. Deb, is he old enough at 4.5? How do you teAch a boy? Actually do they reach between their legs or from behind? Just realised I've been teaching ds1 to go front to back from behind but Maybd he'd reach better another way.

That's a good point Adbn, I'll maybe let them off I think!I think they just didn't get that I was joking. If anything, I'd quite like to be free to have made a decision on whether to ttc for a second by now I suppose, but there's a range of housing/employment/finance factors which make it difficult (although at 38 I don't really have the luxury of time).

Will be interested to hear about training boys to wipe their bums! S is a bit obsessed about using his toddler wipes so he's on rations now

How did the sleep training go Neenz? S is going through one of his really awkward sleep phases (refusing to go to sleep in his own bed, massive tantrums etc). We're trying to hold firm (and keep telling ourselves it will pass) but of course DH and I end up frazzled and grumpy with each other. By the time we get him settled it's long past 9pm and the evening has mostly gone.

Didn't need to do sleep training - he slept from 10pm to 4.30am! Much better. He did eat quite a lot yesterday. Going to do core night method from now on - no feeding between 10 and 4 cos he has proved he can go that long.

Keepcalm, it's horrid when you're not getting time to relax and it's causing tension. Do you want to get tough on him and crack it or are you happy to let it go for a while? My mum and sister had to get tough with sis's DD - she had got into a habit of letting her come downstairs after bedtime (cos her dh works at sea) and then really struggled trying to get her to go to bed. She screamed the place down on the first night and they had to hold the bedroom door shut so she couldn't get out. They just kept saying 'go to bed, it's time for bed'. After the first night it was much easier but after 3 days it was cracked - about a week later she tried it on again though! You should be able to put him to bed and enjoy an evening together.

He goes through little spells of this Neenz. As soon as you put him into bed he gets out and legs it to the top of the stairs. His bed is very near his door so there's no way to even get out of the room and shut the door before he scarpers. We don't let him come back downstairs, but it is very wearing. I'm sure he'll be fine again in a few days or so. He's always been a bit tricky at bedtime. Even on a good night DH for-bloody-ever to put him down. But I'll not start on that particular rant

Keepcalm that sounds like a nightmare. Luke goes to bed at 8 but by the time he's had a story and been tucked in etc it's 20 past and then yes you feel the evening has gone (clearly I mean pre twins as I get no evening now!). Mo suggestions I'm afraid other than a lock on the outside of the door!

Neenz glad the sleep went well. Have you started the oatibix sleep training method yet?!

Aberden yes I'm shagged out and that's with a nanny! All my help has gone now (marks dad and wife do I'm on my own now for mornings and evenings with 3) so preparing to be even more so!

Where's Essie? Dud we find out the sex of her baby or is it a secret?

Hi everyone, thanks for all the messages, still struggling to respond to you all personally though - sorry.Got Stefan and Tristan both off school today with hacking coughs.Off to show house # 1 to mil today

Anyone on a diet at the mo - well I bought the diet chef meals you see on the telly. They are still sitting in their boxes. I have eaten some and they are nice but they are so small I can't imagine how I would survive.

We have decided to go on holiday this year. I had to fight mark about it and tell him that we can't let babies stop uis having a normal life! We are going with my sis and her husband and their little boy and they are bringing the mother in law too. That way there will be 4 kids and 5 adults - hurrah! We're going to a villa in Portugal within a complex with kids stuff and a creche plus lovely restaurants on site. My sis has already been moaning that her and her lot will not be hired help to look after our three and it's their holiday too, miserable old cow. I didn't even mention it! All I said was it would be better to fly from the same airport so they could give us a hand (us 2 adults one child will be 3.3 other 2 9mo plus double buggy plus single buggy, them 1 x 1.3 yr old and three adults - come on!!). Anyway hopefully my sister will get over being such an old bag and we'll have a lovely time!

All three DCs have a cold which mean none of them can breathe through their noses and therefore can't sleep properly - again! Luke was up 3 times in the night with it, although one time he did say an owl had woken him up - funny but not at 1.35am.

Hello Deb!

Lovely to hear from Amber and Debs! Good idea to keep going with the night nanny - a couple of night's sleep a week will make a huge difference.

Abdn we stayed in a holiday cottage with wooden worktops and they had rotted all round the sink. Wasn't nice. I think they're lovely if you're a houseproud type who would keep them oiled and dry, but very high maintenance if you're not.

Ds isn't wiping himself yet, he's 4.5, he's only just started doing poos in the toilet (to my huge relief!). Caitlin, of course, is wiping herself already given half the chance. She has started sitting on the toilet once in a while too. It will be interesting to see how my laissez faire approach to potty training pans out with her, she is showing all the signs of readiness but I just can't be bothered with all the stress of 'potty training bootcamp' at the moment. Particularly when she is changing her own nappy so I barely even have to worry about that .

My friend with the new baby is completely knackered. I had forgotten how rock hard those early days are. My broodiness is dissipating!

oh and Amber I'm on a diet - have been since New Year - but it's a controlled carb one (Carbohydrate Addict's Diet) where I get to eat chocolate once a day - weight loss is very slow but it is nice and easy to live with!

abdn yy what systems said about the worktops. That's how ours were when we bought our house. Have you looked at ikea surfaces? They have quite a big range.

amber glad you've got a holiday booked, sounds sensible to fly together!
I am doing weightwatchers propoints at the moment. Started when D was 6 weeks and have lost 24.5 lbs in the last 9 weeks. I had tried ww before, propoints definitely easier and better.

I hammered the weight loss just before Christmas by not eating snacks when I wasn't really hungry. Just three healthy meals a day and fruit for snacks. Lost about a stone and now I am only a few pounds from pre-baby weight (and not bothered about losing the rest)

Amber, that's a bit harsh your sis assuming you will want her to look after your kids! You'll have the creache for that . Sounds lovely where you are going. Yes you do deserve a holiday and yes life doesn't stop (just don't expect it to be very relaxing, certainly not in the way it used to be!) Being outnumbered by your kids can be very exhausting. We have just booked our first camping trip of the year - to North Wales in June, altho DH is not sure he'll be able to come cos of a trial (Dewin and Rolf will understand!) but my sis and mum and maybe PILs are coming and its only an hour from home so dh should be able to spend some time there even if the trial hasn't finished

Daniel is not well, will hardly let me put him down and just wants to feed all the time . it's weird cos he had moved onto that stage where he was refusing the breast quite a lot i suppose cos he was full of solids. He slept great last night though - sleeps better when ill

Amber this is the sister whose twins died right? I'd cut her a bit of slack if I were you. It could be a difficult holiday for her.

Biscuits well done on the weight loss. As for me I am guaging it by whether I can get into my normal jeans. For months now I have been in my fat jeans. They are too big but the normal ones are too small. At the last attempt they zipped up but gave me tummy ache after 20 mins. I have lost all self control with food though, so I know the source of the problem lies with me. I have just bought "Fat is a Feminist Issue" as it is the MN Feminist bookclub book for March. Never done a bookclub read before but I am feeling the need to raise my reading beyond potty training literature.