March 2010 - Babies: "Climbing like an evil genius". Mummies: "Avoiding the Shred DVD"

[Arcadie]

Welcome to those with a March 2010.
Happy Easter from me....
Unwrap it quick!..

Oh, it's a new thread. I was hoping for chocolate.

Fliss I'm sorry about your husband's job. Can he teach A level stats? I can put in a word for him if he can write an A level stats guide. His cv would still be checked of course.

Do you mean statistics Shroomer ? He's a History and Politics bod.

Thanks everyone for your lovely mentions, we have firmly pulled ourselves together and have got our Positive Thoughts hats on. Lots of jobs applied for now, so we just have to sit and wait...

at the babies with words. We now have no (the default response when asked 'Did you have a nice nap?'), baba, dada, mumumumumum,baba with waving (bye bye), 'Lo which is only when talking on the toy phone. We get the glassy-eyed stare of joy, but not through physical touch - only when watching adverts DD will merrily ignore TV shows but is overcome with happiness when the adverts start.

We have also finally got a child that is properly sleeping through the night, or at least is very much getting there - two full nights this week and one 15 minute wake (on DH's watch, and I think he makes it worse by going in and trying to soothe her back to sleep), as well as a bit of whinging when she's put in the cot before lying down, instead of 90 minutes of Oscar winning dramatic howls and flinging self around the cot performances We had better nights last week too, but this week is definitely an improvement.

Still no shredding here, but have lost 4lbs and I wonder if the improved sleep is something to do with it...

Pacific - Great story about the thigh tickling. I shall try that...

Medical update - saw a consultant at hospital about my lack of periods since, well, conception. He didn't think it was Asherman's, because I'm not getting periods at all - he thought there would at least be some breakthrough bleeding. I've read about Ashermans and didn't follow his logic really. He gave me a choice between a hysteroscopy (under a general an) and a hysterosalpingogram (x-ray with saline solution). I went for the latter. Waiting for the hysterosalpingogram appointment.

Kevin film - article written by Shriver in today's Guardian. V interesting.

ICWAS Nekkid in front of the tv?! But what if ee pees??

My son's words are 'hiya', even though we say hello to him. sss for snake. Woof when he sees a dog, or any animal really. Dada (yup, no mammy forthcoming). 'Ess', for 'socks'. He trumpets when he sees an elephant or Makka Pakka.

Fliss I did mean statistics. One of your earlier posts said he could teach maths, so I thought it was worth a try.

Hi, all .

Just briefly: is anybody else's little darling only eating when totally distracted by other things?? Driving me bananas: Joe will only open his beak if he has my mobile/remote control/toy car/insert other non-food-related-item to play with. Seems so wrong. Like eating in front of the telly ...

DS1 has just been sick +++. Deep joy. He is now asleep. Fingers crossed.

Boo to teething
Double boo to not sleeping
Triple boo to feeling horrible due to sleep deprivation.

That is all

just checking in briefly. I've been lurking but no chance to post really. Holiday in Scotland was mostly fab but passed way too quickly. DD2 screamed a lot at night - she was teething and doesn't like the travel cot but has improved a lot since we got back home. Infact she slept from 7pm til 8.30am the first night back in her own cot :) Sadly it was 6.10am this morning though.
I finally have an evil climbing genius - well no she is not evil in any way at all. She is just obsessive! She climbed my parents wooden stairs - lured up by her big sis so we had to get the stairgate in place pronto. I'm struggling here though as a gate won't fit on our bottom stair. When we go to the toilet with DD1 she sees this as her ideal opportunity to scale the stairs at rapid speed with a cheeky grin on her face.
In terms of words she has been saying dada for ages, some muma and she calls out 'Isla' when we are walking the dog - adding to the echo that I already have - it is very cute though. Tonight she also managed 'night night' and a wee wave for her sister and then collapsed on the floor in giggles!
She continues to eat like a horse. Still mostly fingers but showing more interest in cutlery but doesn't really have the patience for it!
As for walking we still have a long way to go. She stands, the cruises, she climbs but is very wobbly if left unpropped up. Her big sister didn't walk til July so I think that may well be the case again for her.
My big girl has started 'school' well it's Nursery but everyone here calls it school. She has a uniform and everything. It makes her look so old. The daily uniform battle has commenced. I can see that this is going to go on for the full 15 years.... ...... 2 girls !!!!
There is just so much to comment on I'm going to woose out and not do any shout outs at all and try from now on to keep up a bit better!

ha pacific x posts there. No my girl will eat whenever the opportunity arises. It's the big one I have difficulty getting to eat properly. Despite being a BLW baby she now likes (age 3) to be spoon fed while DD2 is Miss Independant and will do it all herself..... and fast!

PD... distraction... DS only eats if he's distracted, unless he's very hungry. What I do is to try to minimise the distraction is to just given him books (hoping he'll be an intellectual and not a geek ) and no other toys (but we are not always successful). Of course the books get bits of food and stains and don't last very long, but TKmax sells very nice and cheap books.

As if to prove that whatever your children do, you worry, Alex eats anything and everything and is much too heavy IMO. This is based on weighing him on the Wii Fit at 2 stone (13kg metric fans) which is 99th centile for age. He started at 50th. He really needs to get off his bottom and walk, although I think he's decided crawling is faster. So whatever they do is wrong.

Word wise we have Mum-meeMum-meeMum-mee, Wow, car, bike and nana. The last three are used interchangeably for any object that he wants or likes, the liking or wanting usually bring based on edibility and number of wheels. Anything with 4 legs is a "ba-bar". Everything else is a constant stream of babble. He can also say DD's name which I think is really cute but DD remains unimpressed.

Fliss, you sound so positive, fingers crossed your job hunting for DH bears fruit.

Evitas, how are the teeth?

Iwcas, how do you find the time/ energy to do all the stuff you do? But I'd vote for you (despite being in the wrong part of the country and being of the entirely opposite political persuasion).

I'm on the train with a bunch of early twenty somethings who are discussing how to enhance their alcohol experience whilst at the same time worrying about the calorific content of what they're drinking. I'm torn between marvelling at how times have changed (they're all male) and wishing I was back in the student life. Sigh.

Have good weekends y'all!

We didn't go to the big annual BBQ we were invited to today. Too much rain . Yes, we are light-weights.

Hope you are all having a nice weekend.

PD - lured back in.

Knackered here a always- the 5.50 starts are now 4.55...... Bloody great eh.

I can normally persuade him back to sleep with a bottle of milk after about an hr with the lure of mams bed and cuddles. No good if I'm nights or early days tho as DH can't do it.

Been lurking but no time to post sadly.

PD DS also wolfs down food under his terms- I.e he has selected the channel he requires on the tv ( picked by screaming stops...hmm) and decided which of the 'non toy' items he wishes to select for amusement- keys/purse/remote/phone. When that daily challenge has been pursued then he will open his gob!!

Anyway- time to post cos off work on a holiday day cos poorly with cold. Isn't it crap how I feel obligated to waste a days holiday rather than go sick!! Theres always the spanish inquisition and interview on return from sick that it's really not worth it for one day soo hoping that one day cossetted under my duvet will be enough to just get through the next 3 days/nights at work

Greetings to all -hope all are well and not too tired from toddler chasing ;-) x

Scooby nice to see you. Did you have a good holiday?
I took a day holiday too on Tuesday instead of sick. I'm so run down.

( munches banana bread and waves at everyone)

I'm off to bed. Not to be competitive, but I got up at 4.30am with DD :( we're visiting my parents as an attempt to have a rest, but the sun rises in the east, and I'm on the Norfolk coast. Even with a blackout blind, the sun/ teeth combo is too much for DD. Yawn.

« Evitas gets one blueberry muffin. yummy!! thank you PD »
Off to do some work. Be back later

Yum thank u PD x

Hey all- back from our wet holiday in wales! had a fab time kids enjoyed it x nice to be home in my own bed etc x

Did u have a good break Scooby?

hope everyone is well and not too tired from early risers x

Thanks all- yup Kos was ok- not trying to moan but wasn't at good as it shoul have been. Brand new hotel and wasn't finished not enough staff, bedrooms part furnished cos it hadn't arrived, food crap, only 2 out of 8 restaurants open etcetera. Shame cos it could have been fabulous!!

Tabs muffin and eats it quickly before Miles demands any..

Sick of night time wakes and early rises here.. Early rises a bit better since dh taped bin bags over the window , he still wakes but is more likely to go back to bed. Not today though, was up just after 5 and we tried to settle him till 6.30 when we gave up and dh took hill downstairs. I had a lay in and now we've swapped over so he has a nap. It's the only way we can catch up really..

Does anyone else have a baby who constantly stands up instead of staying laying down when being put to bed. I sometimes have to pin him down to get him to lay there long enough to just relax and even think about sleeping. He can get up an down 30-40 times and it can go on for an hour or more. So frustrating when you've been looking forward to your evening and you can see it getting smaller and smaller. He didn't go to sleep till 10.20pm the other night!!

Anyway I'll stop moaning now. I'm loving my new job and feel it's something I'm just naturally really good at. Thaw doesn't happen often for me. I love getting to know the residents and helping them and trying to make their time there more comfortable.. Makes me even more sure I want to do a job that is a caring role and midwifery comes under that heading so I feel more sure of my decision..

Anyway enough about me. Sorry for those of you suffering with early wakes too, it's dreadful.

Scooby- sorry your holiday was a bit of a dissappointment, not what you need when you've paid all that money hope at least some of it was enjoyable.

Miles doesn't need distracted whilst he eats, he mainly feeds himself unless it's a pudding then he still does but I have to load the spoon for him. If the mood takes him he might let me spoon feed him once in a while.. Dylan on the other hand was a nightmare and had to be read book after book and given all manner of objects just to get him to take some food. Left to his own devices he would just play with the food. We stopped feeding him around tw age of two and just left him to it whether he ate or not. Once he got out of the distraction habit we started sticker charts (when old enough to understand) so he got a sticker if he gave a meal a good go. Even now at 3.5 we still have to remid him every 2 mins to eat his food! No reminding required for chocolate however

Off to make some chocolate crispy cakes to save money on shop bought treats, yum!

Back soon ladies xx

grabs muffin!

Right, this afternoon I have killed at least half a dozen threads . Maybe I should go and find A Life...

May I join the Reluctant Early Risers Club? Joe's record stands at 4.20am and very cute he was too, but my goodness
On a cheerier note, he does now seem to get the point of naps and will on occasion even sleep in his cot during the day .

Anyway, apologies to anybody who had a rainy afternoon - it was my fault as I put my washing out, sorry.

Greetings all from Sunny some of the time Greece. Well, killing four hours before we're picked up to go to the airport... this place (Sani Beach Club for those of you interested) is gorgeous, really great for familes with littlies, but oh my goodness, James has been a demon all week and it's simply been Hard Work the whole time. For both of us. If anything I'm returning more completely exhausted than before I left and we all have colds/sore throats (plus James seems to have an ear infection too. Trip to the dr's tomorrow I reckon).

Fingers crossed for an uneventful flight home that James sleeps the whole way through...

Manda, I was just thinking about you this morning and wonderng how you're doing. Sorry to hear the holiday hasn't been as restful as you'd hoped, and I hope the GP sorts J's ear infection. Fingers also crossed for an easy trip home for you :) Izzy slept about half of the way home from Montenegro but she was a nightmare at the airport before we got on the plane. Just bored and tired I think.

It's quiet round here at the moment, what's everyone up to? I think we need Pixie back to keep the thread moving :(

The FB-ers will probably have seen my status on it, but for the FB-avoiders - Izzy is walking I feel like I've been waiting so long, and since I had problems with my feet as a child I was starting to worry just a tad. But it's so cute seeing her tottering about.

Dalrymps I'm glad you're enjoying your new job. Another late sleeper here too; if left to her own devices Izzy would be up until at least 10.30pm, but we've taken to putting her in bed at about 8.30pm and letting her cry :( She settles after a while (between 10 and 30 mins usually), and I think it's gradually getting better.

iwcas have you made any decisions about standing as a councillor? I think it sounds like something you'd be good at. It's always scary though, taking a leap into the unknown, and having little ones to think about complicates everything.

OK, Izzy is literally dragging my swivel chair away from the PC , so I'd better go :)

At last! A chance to catch up with the Mad Marchers! Hello all, it's been a while since I checked in. But it seems like I'm not the only one distracted by RL - it has been very quiet in here lately, even with bun fights/muffins/banana bread wafting around to lure us back in!

I'm joining in with all of you in the 'early risers' club - R's settling into a pattern of waking at 6.30 most mornings - except for the ones when she decides she wants to get up at 6. And when she's awake, she's AWAKE. Almost immediately she starts calling for Daddy and scrambling over my semi-conscious body to reach him (yes, we are still co-sleeping ) so I feel obliged to get up quickly and remove her to the living room, where her coughing/crying/screeching almost always rouses her big sister, so they're both up and about early doors before I barely have a chance to get my brain in gear!

And while we're on the topic of early waking, DH now seems to think it's cool not to bother letting me have a lie-in but to very generously offer me the chance to go back to bed. At about half 8. After 2 cups of coffee. When I'm pretty much awake and ready to get on with the day. I know he'd give me a long lie if I asked for it, but WHY should I have to ask??!!

Still, apart from her early waking, R continues to be very, very cute. She's begun to blather on a big load of nonsense, as if she's telling you something very very important, but it's all gobbledegook! Although she's starting to form a few more words now - like 'Peppa' and 'Daisy Doo' Yes, I can see the beginnings of a Night Garden obsession starting already.

And I can't remember who else brought it up (iwcas?) but R is another big fan of a pre-bathtime naked wander/play/runaround!

Glad to hear some of you have got away on holidays and that they've been good ones mostly - except Scooby perhaps?! I'd love a holiday somewhere in the sun but - and I think Manda will testify to this - I'm sure it would be more like hard work than a relaxing break just now!

Jobs - IWCAS I totally also think you should be a councillor - it sounds like the sort of thing you'd be ACE at!
As for me, I've all but given up searching for the crappy admin posts I've been applying for - I reckon there's probably about 50 other people who are actually qualified in secretarial work applying for the same jobs. SO I'm going to forge my own way and I took my first step this week towards some proper freelance journalism. Fingers very crossed it'll develop into something I can make at least half a living from. Also - my MIL has decided to retire! So I'm really hoping we can come to an arrangement where she'll do a day or two of childcare each week.

Ok, this post is already waaaaayyy too long - I'm off. Toodle pip, everyone, I'm off to check we've got enough candles and batteries for torches - the wind here is still apocalyptic!

Hi, heckle, it is blardy scary here too! Trees have been uprooted - I am not kidding.

But nevermind, if you waited for the weather to cooperate around here, you'd never do anything, ever .

So, DS3 and Joe and I ventured out and saw evitas and luscious V today. They had very kindly invited us to theirs, and I got homemade soup and delicious puff pastry spinach-and-cheese savoury gorgeousness. In return, we left a bombsite of crumbs and snot-wiped-on-settee ... Next meeting at ours, me thinks, this place is pretty much permanently trashed.
V is just scumptious, so different from my boys. Joe and V demonstrated beautifully how 1-year-olds can at times play alongside each other, but not with each other, and that one person reaching for a neglected toy instantly makes it hugely attractive to the other .

Re disappointing/hard work holidays: I can honestly say that most summer holidays I've had with babies in tow have been mainly for DS's benefit who feels strongly he has to be abroad to have had a holiday . I do find it very hard work, you don't have your usual creature comforts when away, babies don't sleep well in travelcots, travelcots creak with every breath movement of said unsettled baby so I don't sleep well, it is too hot/wet. Anyway, boo humbug, sorry to be so negative about the whole thing, but I'd rather be at home. Or in a 5* hotel with not a nappy/potty/buggy in sight .

Right, I am off to batten down the hatches or whatever one is ment to do when it is this WILD - in May!! 'Tis just Wrong...

hey all- lovely to hear of the mini meet pd and evitas glad u had a great time x

i have just completed the shred- been avoiding it for afew weeks, ouch ! worth it though when i drop some more inches! :)

hope all is good, MissP- yay to isobel walking, hope she doesnt end up with too many bumps and bruises like elliott! he has fell over so much today- am wondering if he may have an ear infection! poor lad-

hope ur journey home is ok Manda, x

lovely to hear from u heckle, lots of babble here too- he is saying very clearly ROSIE, Harry, Grandad, MAM! dad, MERLIN(the dog) shoes is by far his fave, and today he walked up to me with some random toy and sad- whats this! hahaha! another chatter box for me i think

Up here everything is a mess with the airports closed! Yesterday we had the strong winds and now the ashes... oh dear...

It was lovely to see PD and her gorgeous boys! They are absolutely delicious :) I think DS got some inspiration from J. and by the end of the day he gave another couple of steps on his own.
And I confirm:PD is a SUPER Mother! I was very impressed how she managed to feed 2 children, to give them lots of cuddles and individual attention, she's so relaxed... I definitely need to see her more times to see if I get some inspiration for the second one

heckle good luck!

Scooby I'm sorry about the early wakings and the holiday. But at least you had a change of scenery

Siamese hope C. has managed to sleep a bit longer than 4.30 am! That is definitely tooooo early

Sarah glad you had a good holiday. How is R. doing at nursery? Still enjoying? I hope E. gets better soon!

BMI well done on the walking!!

Manda hope you had a good flight back home.

BlueyDragon 13kg?!! That's a big boy

RKD how/where are you?
the same to Sariska, Flip, Melk, Blessed?

Pixie I hope you are ok!

Waves to everyone else
x