July 2010: Drool it, maul it, crawl over it - that's how our threadbabes would eat a creme egg. But why the Creme Egg?!

[CakeandRoses]

Will that do us?

/panic

Glad I'm not the only one feeding in the night too. Not too bad when L is well (usually one short waking and was cutting down his milk to just a little drink (plan was to switch to offering water) but that all went to shit when he got.ill again. Everytime we try.bootcamp cos he won't settle, we work out that the not settling is because he's in pain/ill. Last time we tried dh went into him as I had gone to a neighbours for drinks, and he threw up. Dh then brought him over to me as he was so upset. Guess when we finally get his ears sorted out we can sort the sleeping properly.

dh I am sure it will.get better. It is definitely worth the.effort. Did cc with E and it made such.a huge difference. Daytime naps.werent so great with her as she always fought them, but night time was great after cc.

Oh and I often sometimes cosleep when L is poorly just so I can get some sleep, but only if I can't settle him.after over an hour and its the middle of the night.

melissa I switched to water with R but she decided she would just wake for that instead.

dh R has often co-slept with us, its a total nightmare but I am taking one thing at a time. Going to bring the travel cot up on sunday and go for own bed and seperate room. We can chat during the night to keep away from the lo's. And you melissa if your bootcamping L.

mlic what do you do to distract yourself when W is really upset? Think I'd need to throw dp out.

What type of curries did you get ladies? We had fish and chips, bad I know but couldn't resist.

memphis how's your night?

tsc how's things?

Did anyone watch britains got talent? I was crying at the little boys rapping about their grandad, is the lack of sleep turning me into a sap?

It's roasting isn't it? British houses absolutely suck at dealing with 'weather'. Our house is so stuffy, every bedroom is 25C and yet in the winter we freeze to death I'm sure there are better ways to build houses.
I got a lie-in this morning, 6.20
I'm hoping to get DH out on the bikes today with the dc. I've bought croissants so I thought we could go out to a nearby forest and have a picnic breakfast/brunch.

He slept for half an hour....

Fucking fucking hell why is sleep such an issue??

stac thats a good idea, hope you have a bit more luck!

Really hot night here too (well wld be down south wldn't it?). After yesterday's whining, L slept.from 7 to 3.30 then from 4.15 to 7 :-) Unfortunately E had me in and out of bed sorting her out for and hr before hand, so I was still up nearly 2 hrs in the night. Nevermind. L was so cute - everytime I.checked in him (and tried to open his windows wider to cool hiss room down) he had changed position. He must have laid in every direction and every spot in his cot last night

Chul your breakfast picnic sounds lovely.

Mlic enjoy the bbq

No plans here today, other than planting out the veggies into the garden before they all die in the greenhouse. Already lost half the lettuce & cabbage. Need to make an appointment to get my hair cut and E's this week too so it's tidy for hols, oh and so E can see again

Tomorrow I'm taking the children to the beach as dh doing the round the harbours bike ride (bhf) with his much younger cousin. We'll meet up with her.parents my mil and another aunt for a picnic and icecream so shd be lots of fun. It's going to be cooler here tomorrow so going to make the most if the sun today.

Hope u a have lovely days

Survey-time: How back to your pre-baby self are you now (aka have you got your 'non-sex mojo' back?)

How long have you managed to extricate yourself from your baby's clutches for (during their waking hours)? the longest was a full day, when my mum had her.

Have you managed a baby-free overnighter? twice, once for our wedding anniversary and once Fri night to Sun afternoon when my mother had her so that we could go to a wedding. I missed her desperately, but it was soooo nice to meet H's friends without baby food in my hair.

Are you reading actual real books again (Clue: If the title begins 'That's not my...' then it's NOT an actual real book) I've read a lot of knitting books and cookery books (I sit there and read them the way some people read novels!)

Are you back in all your pre-baby clothes? ahahahaha. given that my pre baby self was a skeletal waif with a 25" waist and a very unhealthy relationship with food, i don't think I ever will. Before I got pregnant I hadn't eaten a proper meal for about 10 months- I lived on cigarettes and tea

Have you achieved anything (non-baby), e.g. created something; done something brilliant at work; found time to help someone else? We threw a street party for 1000 people for the Royal Wedding. I was pretty proud of that.

Have you got anything which could be described as a hobby or interest? Knitting, sewing, dressmaking, baking, swing dancing and I sing in a choir. I suppose there's Shred, as well.

Have you got an actual social life (note: Stay 'n' Play doesn't count)?
Not bad actually. I make the effort to see my good friends as often as possible, and theyre very accomodating about the baby. I've got one friend who's baby is due next week and I'm so excited for her!

Are you and dh/dp managing to talk about anything other than whose turn it is to change the poopernova which just erupted/have a lie-in/get up in the night/clean up after Hurricane Mealtime?
We're pretty good about this actually, and have been from the beginning, because a) I didn't want to turn into one of those baby-boring couples and b) It doesn't matter what the job is. It's always my turn.

Have you done any of your pre-baby favourite activities, e.g. go to a gig; watch a play; cinema with dh/dp; rock-climbing; dogging
The only thing we havne't really done is to go back to proper dances, and that's as much for lack of opportunity than lack of interest. The problem is that all our babysitters come from the same social group, so when there's a big dance they're all there!

Have you got your actual sex-mojo back?
Yes, I got it back pretty quickly actually, but since I've started properly losing weight things have improved tremendously.

Excuse me for taking sooooo long to do this. We're going to a big group picnic today, so I spent pretty much the entire day in the kitchen yesterday cooking (I get very competitive about picnics) Today we're having roast beef and mustard sandwitches with rocket, sausages with honey and mustard glaze, spicy cheese and ham muffins and chocolate chip pecan pie. I'm considering making some cupcakes or a pasta salad as well, but thought it might be overkill. I made everything except the bread, because I didn't have time, but I did roast the beef myself. I also did a spicy sausage and bean casserole and a grashopper pie for last night's dinner and found the time to do my Shred, so I fell into bed a 2.30 feeling pretty good.

And of course, it's a miserable day today.

DH- I think you need to listen to MLIC, she's usually right. It's going to be a mission to get D used to not being pandered to, but for the sake of your own sanity, you must set yourself a time to do it. As for not having your wedding night- I'm sure your mum would be perfectly happy to have him, even if he is a pickle, so that you can have your wedding night (be warned though- everyone I know inc me said that by the time they got to bed on their wedding night they were soooo tired they just wanted to collapse and go to sleep. That's why wedding morning afters are so important too!)

Any advice on how to deal with my thug of a daughter? She's very grabby and scratchy at the moment, and NO only seems to make her laugh.

mlic its ok I agree with you, Im way too soft and when it gets to midnight and hes still not asleep I feel like screaming. I obv like my sleep way too much.

I agree with waiting til after the wedding/honeymoon too.

needle my mum has said shes glad hes not going to hers, she likes her sleep too.

Ouch, A up with teething from 4.45 til 7 overlapping F who is convinced 6am is time to get up lately but then she and i slept from 7am - 8.40am so i'm not feeling that awful. she's been sleeping thru (bar her 11.30pm feed) since her top tooth came thru so i feel up to coping with her being up at night again knowing it's temporary.

our house is supposedly one of those 'warm in winter and cool in summer' ones as it's 400yo so the walls are massive and have horsehair and stuff in them, can't say i've noticed the 'warm in winter' part but it is coolish in summer - i recently lowered our thermostat to 20c and the heating is still coming on for some of the evening, even now.

you know how some of you said your social life includes taking your baby along? do you also leave them at home with dp/dh and have an evening out on your own? i do that a few times a month (just meeting friends for meal, cinema or going round to see them), soooo nice to be out with no child/change bag/snacks etc etc, i come back feeling much less bogged down in 'it all'

dh i agree with mlic about leaving it til after the wedding - you need all the sleep you can get now

stac i only tried giving water one or two nights and then dropped that too (she wasn't interested anyway), she took about 3 days of waking crying at her old bf times. after the first few days, she would still wake up but go back down easily, that went on for another week or 2. she now doesn;t wake at all (except when teething or sometimes for dummy tho hasn't done that for past week)

i had poppadoms, veg biriyani, samosas and a chapati. yum!

poor L 's ears melissa, sounds like you have to wait it out before sleep-training but maybe you could at least try to drop the night feeds? unless they really settle him

needle 1000 people?! gosh, that IS an achievement! re G being scratchy/grabby, i think most go thru stages of that and will just outgrow it. if you look underwhelmed and put her down it'll probably end quicker than if you squeal/say no etc. your picnic sounds amazing

your breakfast brunch sounds lovely too chul, dh would love to do that but it takes a lot of persuasion to get me out of the house in the morning. perhaps i'll suggest it tomo and shock him.

we're going going to the park for a 1yo's birthday later - there will be cakes and rounders

dh has just taken F out into town for breakfast so i'd better get downstairs and give A something (she's currently happily banging away in F's room with his brio track)

we did similar with our F, tsc. he'd sleep in his own bed til the early hours then come in with us so at least we all got some sleep

your freebie meals sound great

oh stac i used cuddle then shush/pat to get A out of her night feeds

Anything where I am in eyesight of him will not work, he gets worse and puts his arms up to me and if I cuddle him leaning into the cot he roots for my boob.

I can say it took 4 hours the first night but he only slept half an hour then came in our bed.
So its the same as what TSC is doing? Then it cant be that bad

Cake DH has Gwynnie every thursday, and I go to my knitting group half the month and choir the other half, which is really nice. I always feed her and prepare her bottle and I sometimes bathe her, then go out at about 6pm and get back at about 10.

I'm also planning to put her in the creche at the swimming pool on a Monday morning so that I can swim for an hour, mainly so I can have a day off from Shred!

We had a great night last night. She slept from ten till 4, gave her a hug and she slept till 6 a quick bottle then would you believe slept till 8.45. She's staying with my aunt tonight so will advise her the same to keep the routine.

We were supposed to be going to a one year olds party but dp has been asked to do a trial for a new job so we're not going. Its his friends so feel a bit out of place going alone.

mlic I was just wondering if you do something to shut off from W's crying when he's cio? I know you wouldn't leave him if you think there's a reason he's upset. I suppose I was just asking for some coping strategies iyswim.

chulita sounds like a lovely brunch.

needles wow at a tea party for 1000 people.

dh I have found R is much better for others than me. Also bear in mind D will be shattered on your wedding day as its a long day for him too. I'm sure your mum doesn't mind having him one night as she would be able to catch up on her sleep the next night. I agree to hold off till after the wedding.

melissa was E just too warm? It was roasting here last night too.

cakes I think that's what may be happening with R I have taken all bottles away during the night and last night was the first time she didn't search for one so I think she's getting it, well I hope. How's A now?

hopefully dh will appreciate you when he's done a tiny bit of it on his own.

but where was this week's meal plan?

sounds a great night stac. keep with it and enjoy your night off

your thurs evenings sound good needle. swimming pool creche sounds a fab idea - have you tried one before?

sounds yum mlic. are you actually going to eat lunch then?!

did you eat meat too last week or just dh?

are you making the burgers?

have just uploaded a couple of pics to fb group

sounds yummy mlic but also sounds like too much time in the kitchen for me!
stac hopefully the break tonight will do you good!
have been reading the last couple of days but no time to post so can't remember all the conversations now!
been busy with work and have the mini marathon on monday so been focusing on that! E has been in such good form the last couple of days and we're knocking so much fun out of her. she's a little messer and just loves playing!
off to do the survey........