Dec 08 - tears, tantrums, giggles and piddles - and that's just the mums!

[traceface]

Or maybe piddling whilst giggling is just me?
It's so sunny here I feel Spring has sprung - where's that daffodil emoticon gone? Had a friend round this morning for a natter and cake - muchos snot and tears but all good. Think I might go for a little bike ride now to blow the cobwebs away.
And no vag - not a chance!
rubs don't you dare spend all your time tweeting - your first loyalty is here!

Aaaaah. Lovely lovely dress, lovely wedding . Watched it with my friend and her DCs. V handy as we could pause the TV whilst we did half-assed parenting and then ffwd through boring bits of service. I really liked her dress. Mine was McQueen you know. I am her inspiration . Although mine was - ahem - just a cream dress bought from the shop slightly different.

DD was hilarious. She came bowling into the room where we were watching it and looked at the screen when Kate M was getting out of the car and went "wot a princess". My little cockney kid [cgrin]. DS reported back to DH that "the princess was very happy to be getting married and extremely pretty". Other than that he agreed to one day make my friend's DD "his queen". Which we will remind them both of at a suitably embarrassing age.

DH's only contribution to royal wedding chat was mild disgust that radio 4 would not be interrupting the wedding for the shipping forecast. His view was that they always do during test match and this was a bit off. Sigh. As I drove back through town was very pleased to see the number of people standing outside pubs getting v pissed as a mark of respect. That's proper tradition that is. Hope you all had lovely day. I am supposed to be resting but instead am trawling the internet for more guff. Unashamed [cgrin]

So have thoroughly investigated how rest of the world has reported the wedding. Hmm. My language skills not up to much, but I think in general people seem to be pleased [cgrin]. Lots of stuff about how odd Britain is - in a nice way. Which when you step back for a minute is hard to disagree with. And I found this photo. Which is pretty cute.

I absolutely heart pimms. And I never knew that ZJ. So there you go. What was your dress like in the end?

Trace - I failed to post last night - ace news. You must be really relieved.

For what it's worth I thought Mrs Middleton looked top notch too. I really need to find something else to do now.

this was my ideal wedding dress Urbs, simple and stunning. In the end I chose a beautiful one that had lace, frills, flouncy bits, embroidery, beads, sequins and pearls on it, topped off with a hat with a veil, a bow, more embroidery, more sequins and more pearls. Simple it wasn't, but I loved it anyway. Get you, spotting a future royal wedding dress designer!

I am almost bereft today and at a loss of how to fill my time without any pomp and circumstance. I can't even bring myself to pick up the crayons and home made flags of the floor. Need to get a grip!

Where is everyone?

We have had a lovely day. Still on wedding high. All girls loving the photos but both boys underwhelmed. Went for a lovely walk in Kent countryside today too so feeling very chipper.

Hope you are all enjoying the Bank Hol.

Hello sorry to post and run, realise I've been v slack of late because DP's sis has been over with her two from the US and we've been mega busy.

But just wanted to shout a big hooray for Beans's dad and for Urbane's little bean. Lovely news.

And 20th for a Brighton meetup works for me. So - that's potentially PD, Rubes, mom - Effie you around? Any other takers? Our house ain't huge but if we overflow there are two lovely local parks.

lawks it's quiet here. I've been in the middle of what I assume is an early 4 month growth spurt - she's been feeding every 1.5 hours for last 36 [yawn] - also some developmental thing going on as when she's awake there's a cycle of be-really-playful-and-charming, and shriek-inconsolably-like-a-banshee. God bless you earplugs... will wait and see what new skill she develops :)

hope everyone's well and had a fab weekend. Spot would love to come and meet B but Brighton's a bit far...

Aside from the constant feeding, we have that delightful followed by screamy cycle. Really doubting myself at the mo. Also that she only goes down for the night from 10pm-1am which is wearing, when even though madam's sleeP was generally horrific until 9mo, by now 9 weeks she was going to bed by 8ish each night. Ugh.

Have a lovely time, spot and ladies.

I've got a new phone with touchscreen and t'internet so this is my first mobile post!it's a bit of a faff so I'll keep it to a brief "hello". hope all our ladies and offspring are well xxx.

Morning all,

JJ & WG, I hope you had OK nights with no random screamathons from your young ladies. My memory is that it's all chaotic and unpredictable until about 4 months when I felt my girls became more settled. Not long now!

Spot, how are things with you now? Are you & DP getting on any better? And is B's reflux improving at all? I bet Brighton is amazing in this weather so if nothing else I hope that it making it a nice place to live. Sadly I can't make a Brighton meet up as I have to be around for the school runs but I hope you all enjoy.

Urbs, hows the sickness? I too enjoyed scouting the world's media for reactions to the wedding and perceptions of the British. I found quite a bit of comment about the short passionless kiss and how very English it was. I do think that in most countries a kiss like that would signal real troubles in the relationship.

We had another lovely weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed the wedding and also made significant progress on the house. DH finished painting our bedroom and a new carpet was fitted so we finally took possession of our own room which i love. I also joined a tennis league and didn't totally humiliate
myself in my first game so that wasa relief.

Finally I need your advice ladies. DD1 has always been relaxed about what she wears and let's me dress her. DD2 not so easy. She has very strong ideas about clothes and basically it's a cotton strappy sundress or else. Even on colder days I can't get her into anything else. And she hates knickers and cries all the time she is made to wear them. Yesterday we went to John Lewis and it was windy so I insisted she wore a long sleeve dress with a vest and knickers (unreasonable mummy emoticon). She tantrumed while I dressed her. Rejected all alternatives I suggested. Whined on and on about her "horrible clothes" throughout the 30 min car journey. Refused to walk in John Lewis as her "knickers wobbled" and then stripped off in the soft furnishings dept! It wasn't worth the fight and I ended up running into H&M and buying ANoTHER strappy sun dress which she wore immediately (without knickers) and behaved impeccably for the rest of the outing. Today she woke up and refused to get out of bed until I produced a dress of her choosing and put it on her with no vest (I won on the knicker front by bribing with CBeebies, who knows how long they will stay on). She will freeze and I may get arrested for child neglect. Any ideas?

Hello Lovelies, hope you all had a fab BH weekend. We have finally finished painting the chairs and tabel for outside, hurrah. So just watch the weather turn miserable now.

Anyone fancy lunch on Thursday, SL and Rubes are coming over to mine we are having a we have unruly children so cant do cafe style luncheon.

WG, JJ & SPot sorry you are struggling with the Mcscreamys, no advice sorry just have to ride it out and drink copious amounts of

Trace hows things?

JB how is the P&T working out for you?

Arti crossed with you.

I used to look after a little girl quite similar to this. The hassle over her underwear every day drove me to distraction. She was 8 by the way. Every morning all her underwear was laid out and she spent approx 45 mins choosing! I was only with the family a short while and that was the least of my battles but that is a completely other thread. Anyway. I would say she is trying to exert her authority and when you think about it there is little that they have autonomy over. So clothes is a big thing. I would at night get out 3 outfits for the morning obviously include the dreaded sundress. She has the choice of these 3. There is to be no deviation in the outfits the following morning she makes her choice and thats that. If she refuses to choose she wears her pyjamas. I know this sounds harsh, I am from the mean mummy brigade. But also it does give her some choice and flexibility over her clothes while also giving you a little control over the situation.

DOes that help atall?

Clearly everyone is so shocked by my mothering skills you have run for the hills.

Jam, I am in awe of your mothering skills. We are in process of weaning DD1 off Sheepy, her comforter, which is with her at all times and is a total pain. If she has it in her mouth, she doesn't socialise with other children and her walking pace (never faster than a trundle even at full pelt), quarters. So we have just taken it away and she's only allowed it in bed. Which has double bonus of not just her not having it, but also she wants to go to bed at lunchtime and actually sleeps!!! Amazing.

We had a marvellous long weekend. Loved the dress and actually shed a tear.

Speaking of tears, went down to see Dad today, which was lovely. He was on great form and he is so relieved and when a friend of theirs came round (a lovely lady, who is very religious and just gorgeous) and told him that she'd been praying for him every day, he started crying. Which obviously set me off and then her! Luckily Mum was out! She does have emotions, but she doesn't like to express them! We had a big hug and all was well. Then we were giggling later at our wetness with Mum and when Dad told Mum what Ju had said, he started weeping again. It was just so sweet and lovely and he has been through so much. He said he just wants to see us all all the time. He's so relieved and happy and feels so lucky. It's lovely to see.

Ooh and on the good news front, having had weeks of being up 4 or 5 times a night for DDs, they both now seem to be back on sleeping through the night. I'm sorry for JJ, Spot and WG as it is hellish. But I promise it gets better eventually.

On the clothing front, DD1 is currenly pulling down her pjs and her nappy. Nice. She is regularly telling me that she needs a wee wee, and then doing one on the potty, but she's still in nappies. I need to concentrate on her properly with pants, so will start on Thursday, when I have her all to myself with no DH and no nursery. I would start tomorrow, but she's at nursery. Maybe I should let them do the first day??! What do you all think?

hello. Back on the lap top so I can witter in a lot more easily!
Arti that sounds hard. P is also very stubborn, but she doesn't have the language to explain things like 'wobbly knickers' and 'horrible dresses' so I suppose it comes out more as tantrums. I imagine it is a phase that she'll move on from, when she finds something else to turn her attention to, but I think Jam's suggestion sounds very sensible (not at all mean, Jam!). Is she more stubborn than your dd1 in lots of areas?
Beans that is a lovely tale of your visit to your pa. It's actually nice to hear, because, as a Christian, I'm often praying for people who are unwell or struggling, but never really know whether to tell them or not. I wouldn't want to make someone feel awkward, or even cross or upset, but I am sure that in some cases it would really encourage the person, so it's so nice to hear how your dad responded.
P has a husky voice at the moment and it's so cute i want it to stay like that
I've decided today is the the day of Properly Trying to sort out my extra pounds and wobbly bits. I was looking at a thread on the 30 day Shred - has anyone done it? It was getting good reports on MN so I've ordered the DVD. I'm also going to only eat when I'm hungry (sounds obvious, but I often eat when I'm not!!), have smaller portions, stop eating when I'm full (instead of feeling the need to clear my plate), snack on better stuff than I usually snack on, drink at least 1 litre water a day (I know it should be 2, but I'm trying to be realistic!), have my 5 fruit or veg a day, and do 20 mins of decent, proper, heart-rate raising exercise a day! Today I have done well on the food side, and did 10 mins hula hooping , 15 mins wii fit and ran up and down our stairs 10 times!! I can't see a difference yet [disappointed] but my aim is to lose 7lb by end May/ mid June. I'll need your support ladies to kick me up the bum please
OK I must do the ironing as it's giving me evils from across the room.

Arti am keeping an eye for bright ideas on your DD2 dilemma. DD is similarly stubborn and similarly has a thing against wearing any knickers - which is a bit tiresome. I am not very consistent; which I don't think helps. But limited choices seem to work fairly well. Is exhausting though. Am hoping it's just a phase.

Beans so nice to hear about your Dad.

Trace I can't imagine you needing to lose any weight, but am impressed you're getting fitter. I really need to start going swimming or something.

Yikes. Past my lightweight bedtime. Keep waking up at 4:10 feeling really sick so have to try and get some sleep in before then. DS outed me to the nanny today (Mummy keeps feeling ill in the morning, but she's ok by bedtime). God knows who else he's told. Night all.

Just a quick hello, HELLO. I don't think I have any chance of catching up but might have a little skim back tomorrow. Had a luuurverly time away, the weather was great and the accommodation was perfect. It was all very easy, the flights were easy the boys were so good, the beach we were staying at was 10mins taxi from the airport and we literally fell out the door onto the beach. We went for one wander around the old town and on a red top bus tour on Friday in honour of the royal wedding, but otherwise we just chilled out. DH and I took turns to do some exercise and I had some lovely long, long ocean swims. And of course we ate A LOT. Ah there is nothing like pizza in Italy. Why is it so much better there. Anyway nice to be home. I read loads, finished 2 books, a Patti Smith book, and a book by the author of Seabiscuit. Both were surprisingly good. Right I've probably rambled enough. Will be back when I've had some sleep, also better remove my royal title.

Lovely to hear that everyone has had happy bank holidays. Terrible Mum that I am, I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow Not that it's been a bad weekend, just that DH is flat out with work at the moment and is working 6am to 7pm (at the earliest) every day and has been doing for a few weeks and for the foreseeable - and with all my friends having family plans for the weekend I am rather sick of toddler talk and looking forward to some adult conversation in the office. I absolutely loved the wedding on Friday and despite DD doing her best to distract me from it all day, she has asked to watch the wedding and see the princess every day since then

Don't know where that moan came from, sorry, thought I was in a good mood today.

Spot I hope you're having fun with your SIL? Are her littles similar age to T & B?

Sorry to hear about the lack of sleep and too much screaming Jump and Waiting, remember this too shall pass - we are all proof that it passed with our Dec 08 babies and lived to tell the tale. I seem to remember time crawling by during those phases though, you poor ladies. On the other hand, hurrah for Beans getting some decent kip!

Arti you are making great progress on the house. We are still only part way through decorating our room, which we started before DD was born . Jams theory about needing some control sounds a good one. Is there any other areas you could offer DD2 some control over, such as which toy to take out with her, so the clothes don't seem as important to her?

I'm so pleased your Dad is doing so well Beans. And good luck with the potty training. I'm vaguely thinking of making a start with DD, but as yet she's not actually done anything on her potty (I put her on it every morning, when she's normally full of wee) - if I time it right and she does need to go she asks to have a nappy put on or just runs off and wees in the corner. Until she does achieve a wee in the potty, I don't know how I can get the message across that that is the thing to do and I'm a lazy arse and looking for any excuse to delay it as long as possible

Good luck with the weight loss Trace, I've been thinking I must do something positive about my weight today and have packed myself a healthy lunch with good snacks for tomorrow. Wonder how long before I nip to the shop for crisps or choccy?

DD had her 2 year check today and all was well - in fact she excelled herself with some independent play while I was chatting with the HV and quite creatively as well, neither of which she's ever done before, so I was super proud of her ability to pick the right moment. The HV did annoy me a bit though, as she was going down her checklist she got to feeding and said 'of course, you won't be BF anymore?'. Do I look like I wouldn't, or couldn't, BF until now? I wish I'd said 'yes', just to make her dig herself out of a hole.

Crossed there, welcome home Vaj. And Urbs I'm quite amused by your DS outing you - have you told him you're pregnant, or is he just quite observant?

Morning all. ZJ - you're not a terrible Mum at all - I sometimes would love to go to work, just to have a day off!!! It does get a bit dull doing toddler chat all the time, however much you love your toddler!

I, too, am a lazy arse and DD1 now tells me when she needs a wee and I still haven't bothered to potty train her yet. I'm hoping it'll be quite straightforward now!! She does wee in the potty, but no poos as yet.

Must go and make a shopping list. How exciting my life is!

So much for my healthy snacks, I've just tucked into a delicious lemon cake. It's my bosses birthday and if I refused I could lose my job, right?

In better news, my friends poorly baby had her heart op on Friday and I've just heard she came out of intensive care on Monday night . I'm no expert, but that sounds like great progress to me. Hopefully she can come home soon

Hello me dears

Oh my gosh, I don't seem to have a minute spare lately. We have started taking stuff over to the new house. We have resolved to take a carful every day and to be honest I think in ten days or not even that, a lot of the stuff will be over there and it will only be big items like our bed, for which we are hiring a small van (I have a fair amount of furniture over there already, like a sofa, dining table and chairs, spare beds etc). Then unpacking/finishing off of DIY/decorating DP's flat will ensue so I will have even less time! But not moaning, any progress is good.

DD1 is eating a packet of Cheddars and has just said "There is naughty drawing on this Cheddar." I said "What naughty drawing?" and she said "Graffiti!" I tell you, the child is away with the fairies. I explained about graffiti a few weeks ago, when we saw some on the bus shelter in the village. There was a rather shlocky prog on ITV the other night, about little kids who don't eat and so we watched. It was crap though. Also, most of the parents were a bit potty and clearly exacerbating the problem and I don't think we do. DD1 is still a fussy eater and reluctant to try new foods but at least she now eats items from all the major food groups and though a little chocolate/crisps heavy, her diet is balanced if unorthodox and rather snacky!

Am putting head in sand about potty training still, I'm afraid!

Jam, I thought your advice to Arti was good. Arti, that sounds hard. Could you compromise with agreeing to a sundress if she also wears a light cardigan?

I am not surprised your Dad is so relieved, Beans. It's just such good news.

Vag, I am glad you had such a fab hol. And how did you find the wine?

So many ladies on a slimming programme when you are already slim! I am still a fatso, still trying not to be. Sigh. I haven't been eating a lot, but still enjoying the odd spot of c. Need to do more exercise to up the ante.

ZJ, I fully understand your desire to get back to work to have an adult conversation. I have almost forgotten what it's like to go into work and have that. I would love it now. I had a rare day to myself on Monday where I met up with some friends who were over from Sudan, and DP stayed at home and looked after the kids, and it was blissful. (I should have done other stuff really but I couldn't miss seeing them). Glad DD's 2yr check went well, and pleased to hear about your friend's babe.

What did the nanny say, Urbs?

I did really enjoy the wedding, despite my natural cynicism. In fact, in the evening I felt a bit flat, and felt as if I ought to be at the reception, or at least watching it on ITV2

To the news just for a moment - can't somehow join in the general jubilance re: the picking of of Osama. Not that he wasn't an evil fiend, but he is only a figurehead (not even THE figurehead!) of a vast, enduring problem and if the Pakistan govt were indeed aware of his presence, that is frightening and depressing...I am not even saying that he didn't deserve to die, but the idea of someone being cornered and shot, then given a leg and a wing over the side of a ship is not really something I could ever find myself cheering.

Will try to come back later as want to ask you about a situation I have with the MIL (but it's quite boring). Must dash for now but how's DD, Rubes?

Hi everyone! Sorry, for the long silence. Trace, you should know that if anyone mentions 30 day shred I miraculously appear! It is fab, and even if you don't loose masses of weight to start with, you do lose inches quite quickly which is a big motivator for holding back on the chocolate and cake and just makes you feel more fab in general. I must go now to cook some lunch but will come back later.

Congratulations, Urbane! What super news! (Not the being sick part, but the baby part )

Hi nolda. It' s the inches that I'm more bothered about than the pounds, so that's good to hear :)
How are. you?

So did you ask nursery to try potty training Beans, or are you going for it tomorrow? I know what I'd do

How exciting that your move is imminent LadyT, is it starting to look like home, with some furniture in? I'm with you on Bin Laden, I feel like I should feel something but not sure what. I do wonder what it will achieve as he must have a few right hand men still out there

Hey Nolda, lovely to hear from you. And now we know the buzzword to summon you we'll mention it more often Hope you and your littles are well?

Lady - agreed re Bin Laden. I found it really unpalatable to see people cheering and shouting "USA USA" outside the White House. He was an unspeakable man, but somehow being that jubilant about a killing is distasteful to me. I certainly don't want to see the picture of him dead as is being called for. I'd rather just take their word for it!!!

Must go. Have crippling tummy ache today and it's time to get ready for bath. Yawn. Repetitive life. Sometimes love it. Sometimes not. Today not so much.