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!

just quickly, SL there was a good kids chest of drawers in the saturday paper, if we'v not recycled it I'll look it out, solid wood but under £100 (I think...)

oih and a teeny tiny miracle, E has fallen asleep in her bouncy chair on her own for the second time! :) so am managing to have breakfast in peace

ah bugger, it was a storage cabinet not a kiddies' drawers. sorry

Nice work with the peaceful breakfast. Ours was the opposite of peaceful - involved a trek to tescos, 2 changes of Pjs and 3 tantrums (DD, DS and me).
Am now back in bed

I forgot to say congratulations pingu - lovely news. I would wholeheartedly recommend a P&T - if you have the baby in the sling you can't pick your DD up - my DD used to sleep blissfully in the carrycot bit and I had free hands for DS. Made a real difference. It's also really knackering carrying a baby around and pushing a buggy with a big toddler in it. Buggy board was great for fairly short distances but if you really schlepp around not so good - your DD will probably get tired and great to have the option of sticking them in the buggy. Although have just realised that your DD will be nearly 3 so this might not be so much of an issue.

Rubes I'll come and be your slatternly housekeeper in your devon mansion...If you are even half serious about it don't think about buying anything listed if you can help it - my parents place is and it costs ££££ to do anything because you can't use any modern materials/take any shortcuts - they had to have lead guttering even on the bits of the roof that you can't see.

I am feeling suspiciously sick and my boobs hurt but have just done cheapy supermarket pg test and was negative so must be bug.

oh urbs how the truth is sooooo different,....! only one girl was peaceful, it was just nice to be able to use both hands for once! see my other thread - in fact any feedback on it would be really helpful. to get her dressed this morning, I asked about 20 times and in the end the only thing that worked was simply walking downstairs leaving her wailing at the tair gate - she only decides that she'll do what I ask after massive threats - the usual treats don't work. "if you get dressed nicely you can have a sticker!" "don't want sticker" "oh bugger"

other thread

Hello,
lady hope that sodding cheque has arrived. I have my fingers very crossed for you!

urbs are you going to do some more healing retail therapy today?

pingu hello! Hope you got some sleep. Bummer on the house moving - strange how some areas the houses are still selling like hot cakes! At least it means it's a desirable area and so when you buy there your house should keep its value.

Chest of drawers - Thanks for the feather and black tip. Found one I like here. Also this one but DH doesn't like white furniture so probably wouldn't be a goer!

rubes I agree about the other one, a wee bit pricy considering not solid, but I did see it in store (sorry lady was not clear that I had actually seen this one and liked it) and it looked good and DH and i both liked it which counts for a lot. Yes it would last hopefully for years, just worried about DS trashing it really! This is all in preparation for taking side off his cot bed, cos at the mo the chest of drawers is v knackered and he tries to climb on it and makes it worse!

jj that sounds hard. I think it is typical behaviour, my DS does it but it sounds like not as much. He's also v good with roads and car parks and will stay near the car. But the throwing the shopping outside and the not getting dressed, yes, we have that! And he laughs when he does it too. I tell him that I will get DD dressed first and put him back in his cot for getting dressed in the morning but that won't work for you as S is in a bed.
I also go for the manhandling approach sometimes, but while joking and teasing him so it doesn't seem so harsh. So I'll grab him and make him get dressed while joking around. And with stuff like throwing shopping around, I tell him not to do it and move him away and try and distract him, then tidy up myself (though I would ask him to put it back, which probably wouldn't work). Like you say, pick your battles. Beento see either of those houses yet?

I am going mountain biking this weekend, have to clean my bike which hasn't been ridden for 2 years, I hope it still works.

JJ - have posted on your thread, but also, with the running off thing (I have experience at this too) I would always get dd out of the car and into the buggy first or if you are out and about and she runs off. Warn her if she does it again she's going in the buggy then strap her in - she'll learn. I have one of those wrist straps which I don't use anymore but I would often threaten him with putting that on if he didn't stay near me or hold my hand. Just the other day he lay down kicking and screamming in the middle of the farm shop car park because he wouldn't hold my hand until we got into the shop (he usually does) and so I told him I was going to carry him if he didn't and he promptly got up and held my hand nicely.
Pingu - DEF get the P&T for the above reasons! I have the Buggy board (ds hates) and the Bjorn which I do use for short trips here and there but it is MUCH easier to be able to put ds in the P&T when he gets tired. if he wants to walk that's fine too as his seat then fits all my shopping
I couldn't have managed very well at all without it, but having said that, your DD will be older than mine was when dc2 arrived so depends how she is I guess. Thing is, you never know what reaction she might have when a new baby comes along....

how lovely to be going out on your bike SL. My parents bought me a folding bike for my birthday and my ambition is to cycle up to the serpentine and go swimming at lunch time. First hot day of the year that will be me....

SL I think retail therapy today might involve furniture shopping too. We have some completely knackered ikea drawers on the landing and they've started opening and closing randomly. One shot out and knocked into DH this morning and after I'd finished laughing like a drain I realised this might not be great for DCs. So am stalking your choices. Unfortunately it's an odd sized space so choice not great.

JJ I have written epic post on your other thread. Rubes' post reminds me that we also occasionally use those little life bags and although DD hates the strap she will just about tolerate it.

What size do you need then urbs? I have heard BHS furniture surprisingly good quality (though also surprisingly expensive). didn't see anything I liked on there though. Similarly M&S and Next worth a look?

What i didn't say about the biking is that it is a very complicated long weekend to scotaldn with DCs. So massive amounts of packing involved. I should start it now really as today I have only DD as DS at nursery. Packing with the whirling dervish around difficult.

Urbs - meant to say that your nanny's old gig was for a SAHM! Oh and dh probably was serious but not a chance we could do something like that at the moment if ever! We have the Little Life bag too - ds hates it when I attatch the rein but loves wearing it without (would just swing off it) tbh we have had more succcess with the "strapped in the buggy" threat as he loves to walk so much. I even do the same with the trolly at Sainsbury's.
Urbs are you trying for a 3rd again or if it happens it happens type thing? How exciting!

Not really trying for 3rd - and have been on the pill but am mistrustful since last year . Thanks for recommending yasmin by the way - I really like it.

I need something that is no more than 84 cm wide but quite tall as it's got to have all of our bathroom stuff in it because our bathroom is so tiny. Which reminds me we are supposed to be doing the bathroom but I can't bring myself to decide what to do. Useless

I know about being SAHM and having a nanny. Amazing. Weirdly disempowering for the Mum I think - our nanny is obviously a goddess but she is still relied on by the family to do all sorts of stuff and she's so good natured she often takes the children out on her day off. She is genuinely close to them too - in fact she said yesterday that the reason she doesn't want to be a nanny for her whole life is she can't bear saying goodbye to the children she's been close to. . I think I remember to be grateful to her/for her almost every day. DH got cross with me at the weekend because I discovered that someone had eaten almost a whole bar of the chocolate I'd bought - I was grumpy with him when I thought it was him but not bothered at all once I found out it was her. Anything that makes her happy. I think he found the imbalance a bit hard to take

URBS as an ex nanny it is so lovely to hear you speak so highly of your nanny. Too often nannies are disregarded as second class citizens without a brain cell. So well done you for recognising your nanny is so fab. Oh and BTW my last job was for a SAHM & Dad and the children were 14, 13 & 8 so not exactly helpless infants. Oh and I had to work 24/7 as they wouldnt look after their children without help.

Right swimming, joy. [sacrastic face emotcion]

Hmmmm. Maybe a double is the way to go....
Furniture wise I love the stuff at indigo furniture ( sorry, can't link on phone) and considering that it's all solid I don't think it's badly priced. In fact, if we ever find a new house I am going to fill it with the stuff!

I can only pop on briefly as lots of cleaning to do. Joy of joys! Mine was a quick response to Lady on flathead.

DD2 does still have a flat head at 9 months, but I'm afraid I think those helmets are a total waste of time and money. They are a new invention and seriously, how many people do you know out there who were born long before the helmets, who have very odd shaped heads? DD2 will grow out of it and she will also grow even more hair than she already has, which will cover any oddities. My friend's little boy had a v v odd shaped head and he's now 2 and a bit (same Dec 08) and you can't see a thing now. Honestly, don't worry about it and tell DP not to too. It WILL sort itself out and it sounds mild!

Thanks for asking re house - the garden and upstairs were fantastic, but unfortunately, the downstairs was quite wrong. Just didn't feel like it was normal and it was structural, so nothing we could do about it. For that much money (even if they accepted a cheeky offer), we'd want to feel "YES" as we walked in , if you know what I mean?!

Also, quickly, we bought a cheapo maclaren double buggy for having 2 kids and it is shit. Wouldn't recommend it. I wish wish wish we'd invested in a P&T or something like it, anything apart from my heavy, rubbish maclaren. It's a triumph, not a techno, so maybe that's why I hate it. But both DDs hate it too, so worth spending a bit more if you think you're going to use it a lot!

Man oh man I am gagging for a pack of Frazzles or Roast Beef Monster Munch. Cannot stop thinking about them. What's wrong with me??! And no, I am not preggers!!!! Just hungry and hankering. Feel early lunch coming on...

And on nanny front, we did a nannyshare when I went back to work after DD1 and our nanny was a total gem. A bit odd in her personal life, but a total sweetie. Beryl, Barbara and Colin (the ficititiously named nightmare sharers, you might remember), seemed to think that she was a secondary citizen and treated her as such, which pissed me off so much. If they'd been nicer to her, they'd have got so much better results. I found her brilliant and made the effort to get on with her etc. I pulled a sickie once and spent the morning with her and the girls so that she didn't feel I was a stranger. It was really nice. Then gave her the afternoon with just one of them and I think she really appreciated it. But she was just a star. I miss her!!

PS Brief post, my arse. Anything not to clean!!

I'm not convinced by the helmets either, I'm concerned that they restrict sight and movement at a time when stimuli are really important.

JJ: haven't read your thread, but I either leave DS2 to it or manhandle him. I don't have the time to faff about when getting them out of the house/over the road/whatever. Have you read Toddler Taming? Some good stuff in there about rewarding toddlers with lots of attention and disengaging to discourage the stuff you don't want. Not much about stomping down the stairs with one tucked under your arm and the other propelled before you yelling 'We are leaving NOW' but I doubt that's an accepted parenting technique (oops).

Failed to post this hours ago! Boys taken to hairdressers and looking far less urchin like :)

Trace: hope your first day went well.

Trace, hope you had a good first day back :) also good to hear that L's tummy troubl;es are completely sorted, that was such a worrying time for you.

arti - hope investigsations get you some results re coeliac/anaemia

beans I'd forgotten about your hilarious nanny share, good old barbara and colin!

ladyt the bloodt hmrc, what a hopeless bunch of idiots. Pingu's idea re 0% credit card is a good one as emergency measure.

deids, good to hear from you but sorry to hear about sore eares, hope all better now.

WG are you better lovey?

jb congrats on the outing - and to heck with people seeimng your boobs! feeding your lovely girl is the most important thing :)

sl we didn't offer on the holland st house in the end,gorgeous but was already above asking price so would have been a waste of time to put in a lower bid. drawers (after my disastroyus mis remembering this morning ) they have lots in the junk shops on hope street yard, might be worth a look.

rubes you simply must get a hot tub and invite us all over to use ot!

thanks all for input re dd2, she was actually really good today and we didn't have any argiung/tantrums apart from getting dressed, so a great day and I'm feeling much more positive :)

oh and good news, my friend C who lost a baby last year just had her 20 week scan and everything is fine this time round :) also dh and I were in town at the weekend and bumped into one of his old patients, she is a lady in her 50's who had acted as surrogate mum for her own daughter! (not a breach of confidentiality, she told me herself) what an amazing relationship they must have :)

SOrry I have not been around. Am working my bum off and trying to co ordinate my brood, school, ill parents and parents in law and various other bits of crap too dull to mention. I am coming to the end of it now though.

DD1 is 6 on monday. Am seriously underpresented. Myst get on Ebay and Amazon for a few bits.

Am going to make supper then pop back for a read with a glass of wine. Hope everyone is well and all the babies old and new are behaving. Lots of love X

Hi Ladies,

My tube train hasn't moved for 17 minutes so I guess I may as well use the time productively and say hello. I am rather stressed though as I'm late for a meeting.

Sybs - lovely to hear from you. Sorry you are crazy busy. How exciting that DD1 is turning six, does it make you feel very grown-up having a six year old?

Urbs - are you feeling better? I am glad you are having such a positive experience with the nanny. As you may remember we've had our ups and downs with our nanny but she has always been great with the girls and for that I am very grateful. She is the one person they spend most waking time with each week which is a strange thought but undelines her vital role in our family. She has been an absolute star the last few weeks coping with the move, helping sort things, obtaining poo samples from DD2... I'm trying to set her up with our builder this weekend.

JJ - I completely relate with what you are going through with DD1's behaviour. My DD2 is constantly defiant and if you tell her off she gets in a huge strop and behaves worse. She has no motivation to please others which is so different from DD1 who, even aged two, wanted to make people happy. Both my DDs have the same swimming teacher who recently remarked she'd never met two sisters who were so different... No advice I'm afraid. I'm stumped about how to handle DD2. Let me know if you make any break throughs.

Got to run. X

Sorry so not keeping up.

But, Spot, constipation in babies is tricky because not much you can give orally especially as he is already having a lot, the bott bott glycerin are the best at the moment, though you could always start a thread in case others have delt with this. Unfortunately I think its probably a combination of the meds and the special formula. It's not fair but at least its giving him calories and staying down (?).

Arti, I hadn't thought of ceoliac but could be, fingers crossed?

Trace, how was work?

Pingu, how are things going bump wise.

Urbs, the cycle and swim sounds fun.

WG how's the infection, things sounded better on FB.

Sybs, my poor Sybs you always sounds so overworked, I really dont know how you do it, have you managed any sneaky swims lately.

Bugger gotta go, back later I hope.

Oh and Lady would your bank do a consolidation loan, just a short term one.

Hello everyone,

L at nursery + J in her moses basket = 2 handed typing, hurray!

Thanks for all your thoughts on the double buggy debate. Think we'll have to invest. Thanks very much your offer urbane but London is a bit far for me to pop over and borrow. Hope you are feeling better soon.

jam Ooh if you'd be prepared to faff about and post your P&T then email or PM and let me know how much you'd want for the pram and postage.

JJ We have a littlelife rucksack. If DD1 holds my hand them we leave the strap bit inside but if she refuses them we hold that. She gets a bit mad but complies mostly in the end. We lost the one that comes with it so I bought a dog lead as a replacement! Works very well but would disgust the anti-rein MNers I'm sure.

trace Good thinking on the saying that L was younger than she is. I think I'll do the same. I took her to Toddler group yesterday and even though most of them knew she was premature people were still a bit at how tiny and floppy she was. Hope your first day back was good.

vag You sound run off your feet. Are you ok?

sybil A nice glass of wine sounds like just what you need. 'Underpresented' is an excellent word. I shall adopt it.

ladyT Hope that cheque has arrived. Must be horribly worrying and frustrating.

Contracts have been exchanged and we move on the 8th. 10 days, eeeek! Thankfully the removal chaps are packing (hurrah!) so I just need to ensure that we don't take loads of crap with us. Oh dear, my sleeping baby has awoken. Must go.

JB just PMed you.

Hello everyone, gosh it is quiet at the mo on here.

Trace how did work go?

Love our little life back pack Use it with DS2 all the time.

DOes anyone fancy getting together during the Easter hols?

Am skipping spinning tonight as DS2 thought it would be a good idea to wake at 1.50am this morning and then refuse to go back to sleep in his own bed then kicked me all night. SO to tired to cycle fast and get shouted at.

Think I might do takeaway.

i'm afraid i haven't read for a day or two and this is going to contain no personals. after 3 days of feeling much much better (went out for brunch and to the park 2 of the days), i have gone back to chronic diarrhoea and the misery it brings with it. fever has gone, but i am shitting myself silly. have now stopped it with immodium (used my whole 24 hour dosage in 1.5 hours). i have spent most of the day in tears. dad and lf leave tomorrow - dh may stay home (he's only been back at work 2 days). i was expecting this to be hard, but i thought it would be to do with sleep deprivation and looking after 2 babes, not to do with being this ill. if it is still like this, i'm going back to the doctor. surely this isn't normal? surely it shouldn't be like this? i keep hearing people tell me it took them 2-4 months to feel back to normal. i feel very very strange. very unlike me. and it is scary.

Hello loves

Not been around much as was painting entrance hall at house yesterday (interestingly, Arti, was a Fired Earth paint and thought the quality was v good though bit disappointed with colour) and been helping DP with a very difficult work thing...No cheque, though Accountant taking up the cudgel on my behalf and HMRC now 'looking into it' though we haven't yet cancelled original cheque. Bank have agreed to extend my overdraft a bit so if I keep my head down can probably eke it all out for another month or so. Pingu - was a great suggestion about 0% credit card but already did it at beginning of year!

Which reminds me, Pingu - I have got an iCandy Pear as my double - does your iCandy cherry convert? However, I only started using it a week ago and prior to that was managing with Bjorn carrier and regular Bugaboo (carrying DD2, but putting her in pushchair whenever DD1 would walk). I will carry on doing that, when in London, as big pram too unwieldy (for me).

Thanks for all the reassuring stuff about flatheads! Effie, I hadn't thought about helmets restricting stimuli/sight. I didn't really want to get one anyway - DP just panics a bit...

Ooops, DD2 awake, will finish this off later as more people I want to respond to....

typing onehanded but wg - are you still on antibiotics? diarrhoea could be cos of those. really recommend dioralyte - please do get some, is soothing stuff but replaces lost salts and helps with dehydation. second, consider getting probiotics from boots or holland and barrett to replace healthy bacteria in gut. both these things will help but do not hesitate to go back to doc AGAIN if things still not right. i didn't have runs but did feel shit for weeks after second cs - pot luck i think but so so sorry you feel so awful

hi girls.
Thanks for your lovely messages about my first day at work All went well - I didn't even cry Feel completely shattered though after a day's work, then a day with P, so think I need a mega early night to prepare myself for tomorrow.
wg sorry you're feeling so naff. Good advice there from LadyT. And LadyT it sounds like you've managed to ease the money pressure a little - good for you. Hope the cheque materialises very soon.
I've got Midsomer on (dh likes it!) and I have so far seen 3 of the old Drop the Dead Donkey cast - that was a funny show . Talking of which, has anyone seen White Van Man on BBC3? It's making me laugh out loud, though I fear it may just be northern humour!
veg and syb are you ok?
DH wants the laptop to do some work...
bye for now x