June 10 babies are growing apace, teething and crawling all over the place.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Here we are ladies. Let's see if we can manage to chat a bit more on this one :).

I have a mother's help for the afternoons now precisely because I loathed that cooking tea one handed whilst holding the 10 tonne baby and refereeing the older two fighting slot around 4pm :).

Just thought I'd let those of you who remember that J had a hole in his heart know that we had a check up with the consultant on friday, and it has now closed, so no more heart murmur - hurrah!

Yay for J CSWS - must be a big relief.

Once again we are the house of germs & now headlice too! Dd1 has had a bad cold & cough for 2 wks now, Lauren has escaped the worst of it, dp obviously had man flu & was much worse than anyone, I have had a bad cough but felt fine till thurs & have gone downhill fast. Now have a chest infection. Dd1 is covered in head lice, despite them being around at school she's always escaped so I've neglected checking her then she was scratching, had a look & there were loads & loads, even Lauren's got them. Saw a full grown louse on her hair y'day, she's fair so shows up & it looked huge compared to the size of her head - yuk. Fun part is trying to comb conditioner through her hair.

We've yet to have that pleasure. roundabout. DD will freak.

Good news CSWS. How did you find your mother's help? In my fantasy land where we have a baby I definitely need one but don't really know how to go about it.

DIMB - How is Zoe bearing up?

LaT - I advertised on gumtree and nannyjob, and all the replies came from gumtree (which typically was the free advert of the two!).

Hi everyone, I fell off the thread for a while there but it is good to catch up again.

We're also having horrible afternoons at the moment. I was ready to just walk out of the house and leave the two of them to it yesterday afternoon. I think it was worse than usual yesterday as we're just back from a week at my parents' house so they've got used to constant entertainment and attention and were a bit shocked at having to put up with just me again.

I tried having the girls sleeping in one room together for the first time while we were away as I had an idea that Alice might sleep a bit better with some company. It made no difference at all to Alice's sleep but DD1 coped a lot better than I expected with the disturbance so it wasn't a completely wasted effort.

Hello! Long time absentee here.

MrsAlwaysRight my nanny only just mentioned to me today that she had met someone from Mumsnet - I couldn't recall who it might be, but now I know!! Unfortunately our nanny is leaving next week as she is relocating to Bath with her boyfriend, so a new nanny is starting on Monday.
How was your girls lunch? Hope you had fun!

The boys are also at a lovely stage, where they are so chuffed to be running about having fun with their big sister. DD has started pre-school which she loves, and that means the boys get some time dedicated to them a few times a week.

Work is pretty full on and I've had a few rubbish weeks where I didn't see the DCs for several days. Later this month I have a trip to the States for a week - not really looking forward to being away for so long.

Hope everyone else is doing well x

margot nice to hear from you
csws that's great news about J
roundabout - hope you're feeling a bit better, sorry you've got a chest infection, and that your admirable sense of humour continues. We had a near miss on the headlice front with DS in the spring, but it's only a matter of time before we have to contend with it
DIMB sorry to hear about Zoe, hope she's doing ok
mini - you're right - we are some way away from each other - I'm near Dalston

Can I ask what everyone's LOs are sleeping in - Alice is still in a grobag, in a cot, and without a pillow. Does she need a pillow yet? Think DS had one by now. Like DS I am hoping to keep her in sleeping bag and cot for as long as possible. We have an ambitious plan to turn the study into a bedroom for Alice in the New Year, preceded by serious night weaning over Christmas while all our neighbours should be away - because I predict she won't be happy.

WWISA - Thank you, think we are headlice free now after hours of combing, found a fab shampoo that kills them but isn;t too nasty either so will keep a bottle of that handy.
Lauren has a pillow & a cot duvet. DD1 didn't have one til she went into bed at 2.5 but she was happy without & in a sleeping bag. Lauren is terrible at night, hates grobags, blankets, pretty much anything so I tried a duvet & a pillow. To be honest she rarely uses the duvet as it;s so warm in her bedroom & she has a long sleeve vest & babygrow on but she does like the pillow, looks more comfy too. I bought a cheap normal one & cut it open & took some stuffing out & resewed it as the only cot ones I saw seemed really huge & I just wanted a thin one,

Hi all,

Thanks CSWS.

Danny is in a 18-36 month grobag and a thick sleepsuit. He hates the grobag, although he does sleep well, but as we're convinced he will start cot jumping as soon as he gets out of it we're trying to keep him in one until at least 2 and he can go into a bed. I may put him in DDs old 3-6 year one soon so he has room to move around. If it's too big I'll sew some poppers uner the arms.

I do already have his first duvet cover picked out though. It hs farm animals on it but I can't find a picture online (and am now panicking that it's been discontinued). He's going to be in heaven. It may be a second birthday present ( at the idea of my baby being two!)

Gosh roundabout and latrucha you are both obvious a dab hand at sewing! Seb is also in an 18-36 month grobag with full pyjamas as our house is pretty cold. He has a thin pillow which I think helps when he has a cold - I got sick of putting books under the head of his bed!

csws that is absolutely fantastic news - you must be so relieved - what a clever boy healing it all by himself!

greensnail hope your afternoons have improved?

We had a lovely weekend, it was ds1's 4th birthday so had a couple of small tea parties for him. Had to really drag him to nursery this afternoon though, poor thing was really tugging at the heart strings saying things like "I hate it when you go out of the door and leave me, I miss you so much, I just want to be with you" etc etc. The thing is I have a totally emotional reaction to it and want to cry for him as that is exactly how I felt when my mum used to drop me off at school so probably don't deal with him very well - any tips for drop off? I do know he has a good time although it is taking him a while to completely settle, I just do find these mornings rather harrowing!

have I missed a thread move...?

No! We're just not posting much. Come on ladies!

You must have a hundred cute stories abotu LOs learning to talk, walk and squawk.

Daniel is a squawker. He has such a temper! He throws himself backwards without any thought of how he might hurt himself. He is also making me rethink my views on gender stereotypes. I was sure it was all parent induced and now I am sure it is not! He digs through toyboxes to find cars that I bought for DD that she has never touched and pounces on the with glee, lines them all up and then tests drives them over various surfaces. He is also deeply attached to Thomas the Tank Engine. He put his in DD's pushchair, along with a dump truck and took them for a walk today. DD took her baby doll. All toys are there freely for all to play with

Gosh what a lull in activity. Well we have survived DS' 5th birthday party - just. It seems to have coincided with me having asthma for the first time in many years (wonder why that might be, lol) so now I am high on a mixture of quavers and inhaler contents.

Alice has done a leap in development I think - she is more confident and less clingy. Still hardly any hair though. Her latest quirk is, having finally been bought proper shoes, insisting on having them removed, and then as soon as you do that, shouting 'mine mine'. She is still bf mad, I think due to two more molars just doing their evil bit, and has a plaintive voice in which, when she says 'mummy, booby' at 2am, it's hard to be too annoyed. Also started swimming lessons, which have been a great success.

DH is still trying to get DS to sleep, about 1hr after getting him into bed. The predictable aftermath of a child's party I feel. I'm off to open a bottle of something. Hope everyone is ok, got a shock when I saw how quiet it had been.

I feel awful as I never take D swimming. I took DD every week! Neglected second child.

His car obsession hit new heights yesterday. I put him to bed and instead of just rolling over and falling asleep as usual he was very grumpy and restless. After a while, I realised he was complaing, 'Car, car, car, car, car,' so I went to get him a little one, put it in his hand and he rolled over and went to sleep without a sound!

It has been quiet. Hope that's because everyone's ok.

Ruth has started walking around saying what sounds very like "fuck", but with a northern accent, so I'm not sure what it's meant to be.... At least I know that sex are what you wear on your feet!

We're also getting lots of "mummy" in a really plaintive voice, which just means "I don't want to do what you're making me do". Often preceeded by a cry of "no no no no no"

Other than that things are going along quietly. Still not sleeping through... I think she'll be in a sleeping bag for some time yet- she wriggles far too much for anything else- at least twice this week she's woken up wedged sideways across her cot.

Hi everyone, wow it has been quiet on here. Thought I would have a lot to catch up on as we have been away on holiday for a couple of weeks but nope it was nice and easy :) We went to Sicily which was lovely, very off season there so quiet and the weather was in the low between 18 and 22 most of the time. Had a couple of rainy days which were tough in an apartment without all usual toys but all in all it was great. We stayed right on the beach and shocked the locals who were wearing full winter gear by swimming in the very warm sea and playing on the beach in shorts and t-shirts every day.

Fergus was absolutley doted on by all the italian women and has come home quite missing all the attention. I am missing the sun and the cheerful people.

Fergus is doing pretty well, his sleeping improved on holiday and he slept right through 1 night and quite well the rest. The last two nights since we have been home he has slept through as well. How is everyone getting on with the clock change. Despite continuing to put Fergus down an hour later he is still getting up an hour earlier at 6. Not happy about getting up in the complete dark him. La T I agree with the gender thing, Fergus is the first boy in our family for 3 generations on my side and everyone remarks on what a boy he is despite having only girls to play with. He loves his cars and balls although he also has a fondness for his babies. He is talking loads now, some sentances coming through and he can repeat pretty much anything you say.

I would like to take him swimming more as its something to do on miserable days but he is still scared of the water (hates his baths still also although he was worrying obsessed with bidets on holiday, glad we dont have them here).

Okay think thats a long enough post, off to catch up on my pregnancy forum which is impossible to keep up with!

Glad you had a good holiday goodname.

We have a lot of very early mornings here - often as early as 4. Sigh. But he does sleep well the rest of the tiem so I guess I am lucky.

Daniel has been taught to say 'no' by his sister (who says it to him constantly - do they get over this?) but he finds it hilarious. He is fairly obedient though. DD likes to try out sounds and went through a phase of endlessly reeating 'bigger bugger bigger bugger' - I swear she just made it up though. She also did 'deedle idle deedle idle' and 'calackalackalacka' in fact she is often still called 'calackalackalacka' at home.

No LaT I dont think you can consider any situation which involves getting up at 4 as lucky! :)

Well we got to the bottom of fuck- it is either fork (which actually means any cutlery) or fruit.

Very jealous of the holiday, but looking forward to breaking up for Christmas in a few weeks.

LaT I don't think 4am is lucky. DH says he gets a guilty pleasure from getting Ruth up at 7 though, when she clearly doesn't want to get up because she's been up so often in the night.

Ah Barbeasty! I have plans for when they are teenagers and want a lie-in on a Saturday morning

D seems to have settled on a 4.45 wake up. Ugh. I had my first cnversation with him yesterday though, about what he wanted for lunch. It mainly consisted of him saying yes or no to questions I asked him but I was very surprised. I find the develpoment of language even more impressive than I did last time. I could be told 'choo choo' a few less times at 5am though/

Everything's "pretty" at the moment.

LaT- I've got the advent buckets up. This year I've put the garland up with them, threaded through the banisters. No chocolate in the buckets, but so far Ruth is much more interested in the "pretty" berries and for cones on the garland. Whether that will carry on when there's chocolate involved, we'll have to see!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while - looking back I think I just got a bit down while Zoe was in her cast and perhaps the little things that took a bit of extra time (dressing her, bathing her etc) maybe added up to a significant amount of time and I felt I couldn't really get on top of anything. The good news is that the cast came off but not without its drama. The pins were meant to remain exposed so that they could be pulled out when the cast came off, but they somehow worked themselves under the skin and the wound healed. This mean another trip to the hospital for her to go under GA and have them removed in theatre. I hated it but am happy to say that everything went smoothly and her wound is now healing well. Lots of talking and cheekiness here. Her brothers have taught her to say "No way" which she said repeatedly at the hospital. They referred to her as the baby with the temper .
I definitely see a difference in how Zoe plays with toys compared to her brothers. She is more thoughtful when she looks at any toy and doesn't create as much mess as her brothers - in fact she quite likes putting things back in their box. I love your story about Daniel telling you he wanted a car LaTrucha. My 3-year old DS is going through a phase where he walks around constantly with a car in each hand and sleeps with them in his bed. I remember his older brother went through the same thing.. it is annoying when you are trying to dress them, but otherwise very cute.
Really looking forward to Christmas but haven't done any shopping and not a hint of decoration here yet. Best get started...

Ah DIMB - it must have been very distressing. I hope you canwrap yourself up in a cosy festive season and put ti behind you.

Barbeasty - I'm embarrassed to say I completely lost the plot with DD today over our advent calendar, so the less said the better. Yours sounds idyllic.

Well, took D to a play group today and they had a train table out which he hasn't seen before. When I took him out of the pushchair he stared at it for a full two minutes, then sat down on a little chair and played solidly, hardly looking up, for nearly two hours. When it came to packing away, which they do before singing, he screamed and bucked and threw himself around like you wouldn't believe. I finally calmed him down and we started singing. Suddenly, I felt him wriggle away: he'd found a train abandoned on the floor so at the end of the group he was completely hysterical when I took it back. I wheeled him round town as he usually cheers up pretty quickly but he just wouldn't so I rolled him into a charity shop which always has lots of train and cars hoping I'd get lucky. In front of him, he saw a toy garage, fell completely silent, and the exclaimed happily, 'Car car!' as if nothing had happened. Our house, now has a garage but the little sod!

Ooh hello. Thread dropped off my list. :)

You all have very talkative babies. Ds doesn't say anything yet, except 'yeah'. Dd's speech developed fairly early, and ds1's was exceptionally late (c2.5 before he really said anything much), which was really hard going, so I'm hoping that we get some words from J soon.

J still feeds masses, doesn't sleep through, only has 4 teeth, and likes hitting people and biting them and taking toys off them. But he's very cute when he's in a chirpy mood!

Sounds like a tough experience for you and Zoe dimb, but glad that all is well now.

Sicily sounds good goodname. I've never been there. Are the beaches sandy? I would like to try a trip abroad with my lot either next year or the year after, finances permitting (dh finally has a new contract, but only for a couple of months at the moment), so need to think about where would be a short enough flight to cope with them all on.

CSWS. I love the unsentimental attitude.

Daniel has finally gone to sleep this morning, after saying 'Pane' (plane) and 'Mimmy' (Lord knows) non-stop for three hours. I thought I was going to throttle him. I don't feel like often, though