July 2009: Toddling towards 2 and a full nights sleep!

[Phoenix]

Good one QueenFee :o

I had a few mins at work so started it :o

my half term not too bad for a change but mainly because we are touring round the grandparents.

We have a wii which my 2 treat like any other game so they get it out for am hour maybe once or twice a week. Fin (4) is only just starting to get it. Actually I think it really encourages turn taking and as long as they are not obsessive about it I think it can be as good a toy as anything else. Both mine got ds's for christmas. Cerys (6) loves hers fin and alfie occasionally play his but still needs me. Again I treat it as another toy and they tend to just come and go at it and are ap happy playing hide and seek or with the ds. The ds however has proved a 'godsend' in church lol

Alfies sleep is anything from 2 (min) to 6 night wakings. Fin has a habit of wanting to get up for the day at 3am which doesn't help anyone :(

The Wii would belong to the family not actually for DS1 if that makes sense. I like the idea of it being like just another family game and "brought out" a couple times a week. I grew up with both board and computer games but it seems like the electronic is taking over hence my apprehension. My friend (who I love to bits so not trying to sound critical) uses the Wii LOADS for her DS and they don't play board games together. He also gets Wii games as presents for his bday/xmas now. I just want to avoid it taking over the home.

Parenting is hard. Where is my manual that gets me through this!!

Ali we are having loads of fighting with the 3 DC's here too. QF I really should have planned a couple outings.

I now know...........

I have to say I love the wii it's one of the few games we can all play including us and alfie that is age appropriate to us all. It can be a chore to play some 3 year olds games. We mostly play the sports games and compete in multiplayer mode :)
As for the ds's they live on a higher shelf so they are mostly out of mind and therefore only get them out if they think about them or I can see they need a change of scene. My lot are big outdoorsy types though and would happily choose the park over anything inside. Roll on spring!

We have a Wii but it is rarely used by any of us. Lewis has a ds but he goes through phases with it. He hasn't bothered about it for months then he asked for it yesterday but it was nearly bedtime so i said no but he went on it this morning and tbh i wish i'd have thought of it at the beginning of these holidays because he's been a nightmare but sat as good as gold and quietly while he was on the ds :o

Hi everyone, hope you ok MissP We have a Wii that we bought as a family christmas present when ds was 8 and dd 6. They love it and although they play it with their friends when they come round we do also have family time when we play with them and have a ball. They love it, in particular that I am so rubbish. It does cause fights sometimes but on the whole a good fun thing. We play lots of board games together and I think this is just the modern version of that really. I think it is good to ration it though and also I use it for bribes....if you do this you get 10 more minutes on the wii!

Will be back later if I get the chance xxxx

The Wii it is then. I personally want to use the fit stuff too.

I am feeling loads better. I met a gf for cocktails last night and even missed my fav spin class this morning as feeling slightly fragile but really needed to let my hair down after the week I had.

Patchy hope your half term with the DC's wasn't as traumatising as mine.

Spring I want to fast forward to it now!!

Phoenix how is the sleep training going?

MissP what went wrong? You are normally so on top of it all (or seem that way at least . I do find this the hardest half term though as the weather is not great and by the end of the winter you kind of run out of things to do! We have had a good time, very busy but fun. Last day tomorrow so I am going to take them for a swim and then they can finish their homework at lunch time while Max sleeps.

Off to veg in front of the tv with the remains of the toblerone I got for valentines day! Yum xxx

Sleeping is fab MissP :) I'm sure he's just been trying his luck all these months cos he more or less got the grasp of us leaving him to cry/sleep after one night. I'm really happy with myself too cos even when he's been unwell I've been strong and not actually put him in bed with me, although i panicked and brought him to our bedroom when his temp was touching 39 degrees 2 nights running, but I gave him calpol and unhappily put him back in his cot (but listening constantly on the monitor to him) and he was fine. He hasn't been in our bed once (apart from watching cbeebies on a morning once he wakes up but strictly after 6am) since we started the training :o

Thought it was about time I popped back in to see how everyone is getting on - wasn't sure if I'd find anyone still here as it's been so long! Well done on keeping the threads going.

Many congratulations to JetLi on little Milly Hope. She looks like a real sweetie.

Can't believe the little man will be 2 soon, it has gone SO fast! Could possibly have something to do with him being number 4??!!

Phoenix we are finally getting on with better sleep too. Hooray right? Waking at 5/5:30 is more of a rarity (1-2 times a week max) and most days it is 6:30/7am. Makes a difference.

Patchy I think I hit a hormonal slump last week as well as feeling overwhelmed. It was possibly the one of the worst weeks EVER.

Tantrums my LO is very tantrumous. Anyone else dealing with this? I find this age so hard. 3rd time round and I still am none the wiser.

Jlo2 hey how goes it? I didn't realise you had 4. I must stop feeling sorry for myself - 4 must be a real handful.

Where is spring????? I am tired of this rain/cloud.

I had to spoil it didn't I? Since I put that Noah's sleeping was fab it hasn't been. He's been awake in the early hours of yesterday and today for quite a while. This morning it was 2 hours of me going up, laying him down, him been quiet for a while, then crying, then me going back up etc. but i didn't bring him into bed with me. His going to sleep is bad again now too. He's still awake messing around as i type this. Both me and dh have been up a few times each.

Phoenix: don't give in! Beth and becca been ill and me now with some combination of D&V and a head cold. All very unpleasant and resulted in lots of sleepless nights but all sorted now thank heavens.... in time for me to get it. Never mind.

Miss: LOL at tantremous: Def describes becca. She's far more strong willed than beth ever was. Her bottom lip shoots out about a foot when she hears no accompanied by high pitched shrieking. Have taken to leaving her to it on the floor. Janggles your nerves though. As for hormonal stumps I think I have one for 10 days of the month. It's dreadful how something so pesky as hormones can debilitate you so much. Anyone else get that feeling like no matter how much sleep you have it's never enough once a month (well what am I saying... a bit more once a month!)

It sounds like we all need a bit of sunshine to cheer us all up and gives us a bit more energy

We're definitely tantrumous here (think I might use that word regularly) I also try and leave him to it (either on the floor or in his cot) and then give him a big hug when he's calmed down, mainly to make myself feel better We had a full blown one the other day because I put his grapes in the 'wrong' bowl! He also doesn't like being told no - but then who does!

Phoenix - how long do you leave it before you go to him in the night? (apologies if you've been down this alley - haven't been able to read back all the threads I've missed) It sounds like he's got into a habit of using you to help him get back into deeper sleep rather than doing it by himself.

Having 4 boys (oldest is 13) I am well versed on computer consoles and games! We all love the Wii and often play on it together, which is great fun. It's far more sociable than any other console/computer.

hello jlo2 :)

Alfie and I have had a horrible d&V bug and all he wanted was me and the boob... so he has been back in my bed for the mo. Still he usually prefers his own bed now so I am not worried once he is better

He also managed to be sick all over me last night and dh put my dressing gown in to soak without checking the pockets. My phone was in there and has now died. However really pleased as Virgin have given me an early upgrade on the same tariff but a much better phone :)

We seem to pick up bugs more since we had swine flu :( anyone else experienced this?

Hi all - just checking in. Getting over coughs, colds & D&V bugs here too - has been just joyous with a newborn in the house...!
Have my feet up, pinned under a 10lb monster just now. She doesn't half like to feed this one

Hope all are well

QF experienced it? Suffered it! Never been more sick or the other in my life. Becca also was vomiting everywhere and had bad diarohea. Beth also with runny tummy but not so bad. All this combined with a head cold in one. What a disaster! I was off work Wed, Fri and sat (don't work that thurs) so that's pretty much a full week off work. Yesterday was he first time I'd felt better.

Jetli 10lb? [eyes water]! Hope you are doing ok.

Friend of ours from church was rushed into hospital for emergency section on sat 33 wks. Baby and her both ill. It's her second. Been praying for her and her dad told me today that they both had a better night last night and she might get to see him today :( how sad. Imagine having your baby and not getting to see it cos you're both too poorly.

gosh it's quiet on here!

I know it is isn't it!
Have been glued to the news in Japan. It's so sad I can't imagine how difficult it must be especially as a parent :(

Nothing interesting happening here. I've had a haircut which I love.
Still not getting a reasonable amount of sleep is anyone?
Just getting Alfie to bed as he came to church with me this evening and he spent the whole time fluttering his eyelashes at people , little flirt!
I need to get his hair cut but keep putting off as i think he will look older

QF Ali are the sickness bugs gone? So far we just have the perpetual chesty coughs.

Japan DS1 said to his friend not to worry because Superman would fix it. Bless him - he has just seen the film where Superman "fixed" the earthquake. It is all so sad. We are off to San Fran in 8 weeks and feeling a bit weirded out with all the earthquakes in the ring of fire region of late.

Haircut Tristan keeps being confused for a girl! DH wants to cut it. I love it. He looks cute and QF like you I reckon it will "age him" .

I hope everyone is well. I am loving the longer days and sun. Hurry spring, I say.

We are all well at the mo -yay!
Tbh alfies hair is not the type to grow funky long tomorrow is haircut day
My sisters boys all have longish rocker style hair very cute

bugs all gone here though beth has had the chesty cough and raging temp. Should have been going to the farm with PIL but cancelled so they came to us instead of meeting us as the farm. Previous time to meet = 10am. when did they rock up at our house? 3.30... that was after arraging to meet "mid morning". I ask you. they defy logic.

japan have 2 friendso ut there but they are further south. Pictures look awful.

becca's dedication is next sunday and friends from church are doing food for 60 for me :) Hurray. Was supposed to be same date as some baptisms that happened a while back on this thread but we had to rearrange as we clashed with another big baptism in church so people would havebeen forced to pick between which "do" they attended and seeing as ours is pretty low key (jacket spuds all round!) we thought we might not get anyone.

haircuts tried to get becca's done last time I had mine done. Was a disaster. she screamed the house down. Better luck next time I think. was only trying to save her from a mullet!

Haircuts - My 2 always have short hair. Noah had his first cut in May 2010. I'm not over keen of long hair on boys, some do look cute. Also, a bit , the thought of nits makes my skin crawl so i think short hair = less chance of nits been able to live in it.

PIL - PITA here too. They seem to have forgot where we live and expect us to go to them. MIL sent me a text Saturday night saying hope we were all ok and hope to see us all soon (come and visit us then ). Dh decided to take the boys for a visit on Sunday but i didn't bother going. Dh said his mum spent most of her time in the kitchen, hardly uttered a word to him or the boys and his dad was still in bed. He said it was totally pointless going. She gave the boys 50p each, yes a whole 50p. I know she didn't have to give them anything but they have SIL kids all the time and i know she buys them stuff all the time so 50p doesn't come close to what she spends on them. I'm not bothered really cos the boys are spoilt rotten by my parents and grandparents. It was quite funny when i said to ds1 on Sunday morning to get ready cos he was going to grandmas. His eyes lit up and he said 'I didn't know we were going to grandmas today' Then his face fell slightly and he said 'oh yeah grandma A's.'

Hope everyone is over their bugs. We keep getting cold after cold here so it's snot central :(. Roll on the hot weather.

Quick post - finally both kids are asleep. Now I shall run around like a knobhead getting a few jobs under my belt. Story of my life at the moment: I opened the microwave this morning to nuke a lukewarm that I hadn't even started, only to find another already in there, stone cold from yesterday....!

More bugs here - coughs and colds AGAIN! Aaargh! - would it be too much to ask for a bug free month?

Haircuts - haven't been there yet. H's hair is scruffy & curly & utterly lovely Struggling with my own now the hairdresser is on maternity leave - anyone else loathe changing hairdressers or is it just me?

Japan - have offices there & we went once for work. Amazing place. The pictures are terrible

Ali - hope the dedication goes well at the weekend
Phoenix - PIL sound poo
QF - post a pic of your new hairdo

to all the lurkers. Must dash & peg some washing out before anyone wakes up

Laundry tips gratefully received - I'm drowning in the stuff. I've started taking my ironing out when I visit family & borrowing their iron & board - just because it means I have a bit of time whilst someone else minds the babies.
xx

Hi everyone, sorry I have been missing in action for a while, things just seem crazy here and although I often look in I seldom get the chance to post.

I have a horrible day yesterday as my granny died last week and it was her funeral yesterday. It was a long day, I flew up to Edinburgh, leaving the house at 6.30am and got home at 10.15pm. i didn't see the kids all day and although dh was looking after them I was anxious about them. All was good though and I am glad I was able to go. I am exhausted today though so looking forward to an early night.

Jetli my washing tip is to take everything out of the washing machine and shake it and fold it so that the creases come out. Then leave it in a big pile for a while, I often do it overnight as I can't be bothered to hang it up when I am about to go to bed. Somehow the weight of the washing manages to get some of the creases out of things and I have found that it has halved my ironing. DH shirts etc I hang up straight away after a good shake and they only need the iron quickly run over them. I hardly iron any of my stuff, t shirts etc at this time of year as it is always under a jumper!

We took Max to the specialist the other day about his teeth. Sadly it wasn't good news. They condition he has is called amelogenesis and they say that it is hereditory although both sides of the family say they can't recall any thing like it. Although his teeth are beautiful and white she said they will probably stain eventually and the molars that are a strange peak shape will start to break. With that in mind they are planning to give him a general anasthetic next summer and fill all of the molars to make them a better shape and then put metal bands around them to make them stronger. His adult teeth will also be effected and this will be corrected with veneers and caps. I was so gutted about it but actually thinking about it, it isn't life threatening and although he needs a lot of dentistry over the next few years, he will eventually have lovely teeth. Horrible to think of what he has to go through next summer though, poor baby.

Sorry for the slightly miserable post, its not all as bad as it seems!!!

xxx

Oh Patchy I'm so sorry about your Gran hope you got your early night. And so sorry to hear about Max's teeth as well.

Thank you for the washing tip. I will give that a go.