Dec 08 Mums - Introducing our new joiners, TrudyV and Al Fresco...

[Beans33]

Hope this is ok? Thought it was subtle enough for the wider MN and not offensive!!

Trudy, I have similar hair to yours I think. I used to go through the same long hair kept in a pony tail, get a cut, grow it out and put it up in a pony tail cycle. When I was pregnant with DS2 I hardly washed my hair as I I found it never seemed to need it. Now I wash about every 2 weeks and only ever with an Aveda Shampoo & conditioner. I also cut my own hair using a method that Nolda suggested after she read about it on MN. It's simple but I don't have the YouTube link to show you. It layers my hair better than any hairdresser does. My hair is so manageable that I either wear it out and the waves just hang nicely or loosely put it back in a clip. I'm the happiest I've ever been with my hair, and I used to spend 100's on it every 6 weeks. Now all I spend is the Aveda shampoo which I buy in the big bottles so lasts ages. I did once go back to crappy shampoo when we first arrived here and couldn't find Aveda, the difference was amazing my hair felt dirty everyday and I wanted to wash it all the time, it became frizzy & unmanageable.

Beans a trip to the GP will probably just be a reassuring one, but as Trudy says its nearly the weekend best er on the side if caution. If it was Tuesday I would say wait and see but as its Friday it might be best to get her checked out. Also they can prescribe you some dioralyte so you get it for free! Is she still having formula? Generally they say its not bad to give cows milk with gastro bugs but I have had two friends now whose kids have gotten a temporary lactose intolerance after a gastro bug and they wondered if it was giving cows milk too quickly.

She has pooed herself everyday for ten months ZJ, I'm sorry that is not house trained.

Effie meant to ask, what did the shirt say, did they need to be tutted.

Just a quickie from me - this packing up and moving is a right fag (no surprises there!) and I thought we'd already done a lot. Mind you, we are still clearing paints, tools and other debris from the house as well as packing up this end. DP was at work today and is also at work tomorrow, so I am trying to do everything plus manage the DDs. He has an exam next Thursday as well and so all in all he is super grumpy, which always has a bad effect on me. It makes me feel miserable and resentful, even though he will often try to do something to make up for it.

Anyway, your poor little DD1, Arti, but what a thoughtful girl she is. I remember when I was about 4, my parents once joking about my Dad going to prison (because he hadn't paid a bill or somesuch) and I believed it wholly and carried the worry around with me for weeks. I guess you have to be so careful what's said. I am sure she is now reassured, though.

Vag, it sounds like your DD2 has done really well with the TT and that lady is just so obviously jealous. I am in awe of anyone who has succeeded at this. DD1 doesn't seem to know when a poo or a wee is coming, so I think we are a long way off...

Trudy, you are brave with the hair. I know it wouldn't work with mine because it's quite fine and although I only wash every other day because every day is too drying, if I left it even two days it would just stick to my head. I think I have 'combination hair' if there is such a thing...

Hope our little ill ones are better tomorrow. And I wish Jam and also those suffering more chronic sleep deprivation a more slumbersome night. I'd better go, I've got to get up early to carry on with the packing and also get the girls on the bus (two buses) for a tour of DD1's wouldbe pre-school.

Actually not everyday, sometimes she'd go a whole week without pooing at all and end up at the doctors with terrible tummy ache, poor love. To be fair to my friend she handled it all well (or as well as any human could) and her DD is now 4 and a little star. But I often tell her that it is her fault I'm scarred about TT, because that's what friends are for, right?

Vag - sorry all, am blanking all messages in entirely selfish manner, but yes, Pru is on cow's milk already. Eek. Do you think that's a problem?!
ZJ your post made me laugh a lot. I must say, I've never met you but if your posts are anything to go by, I'd like to. Not in a weird stalker way, just because they make me laugh a lot. Lots of people on here do. In a good way, promise!!
Right, sticky eyelids when blinking = snooze time!
Sleep tight lively ladies. And Lady, remind DH gently who's doing the real work!!! Hee hee!!!

ZJ's post made me wonder about poos. I do between 1-4 a day. I think it's a little excessive myself. Particularly when we're viewing a property, I did one before we set off and, meanly, my body pushes another one towards the exit. And truly, if I have to go it is immediate or poo in pants ensues. Is that normal???? Haven't properly tested it yet, but driving back from Homebase once I very nearly soiled myself and had to sprint from car to loo whilst pulling pants down. I lived on a fairly busy street in Battersea at the time. And, yes, I had skidmarks. The shame.
Hmmm. That was ftom nowhere. I am poo obsessed I suspect.

Cross-posted with ZJ - yes, I meant to say that what Trace said was spot on re: allowing kids to let their emotions take their course. I totally agree and get annoyed with DP when he sometimes tries to tell DD1 how to feel (as I see it, ie if she has fallen over and is upset he says "You're ok, don't be silly" etc.) Although if he is grumpy, is that a legitimate emotion that I should allow him to feel?

ZJ, if you wanted to have a Spot of Cheerfulness on Sunday evening as we sleep our first ever night in the new house, and anyone else wanted to join in, that would be grand. Does anyone else live in an old house, by the way? Ours is over 200 yrs old and it does make me feel a bit freaked when I think about how many people will have lived there before us.

Your friend's kid pooed her pants every day for ten months, ZJ? I don't know who is the more determined, the kid or the Mum! I'd have chucked in the towel after a week of that.

By the way, Effie, what did it say on the parent's t shirt that required such zealous censorship? Right, really must go.

Beans I believe doctors always say that annoying line about "normal is whatever is normal for YOU". But frankly, if I had to choose between being a person who hardly ever went, and a person who went quite a lot, I would definitely go for the latter...even at the risk of being Notorious in Some Parts of Battersea

Gosh Beans you've made me come over all funny with your kind words, you would be very disappointed in me should we meet (which I'd love to do) as really I'm just a geek. I don't know whether to be flattered or worried that I make you think of poo . Talking of which, how is P this morning? And little Jolly J?

I am in danger of being early to work this morning, it can only have happened about twice since I started there. I keep thinking I've forgotten something important, like getting dressed

Morning all. Had my phone not run out of battery, then I'd have been on here at 2.30am. DD1 was hideously sick all over herself and her bed. Poor little bear. She was remarkably perky afterwards and DH was a total star and got up and washed her and redressed her. I actually offered to clear up the sick. What was I thinking? Bleugh. Anyway, she's woken up this morning on great form - no trace of feeling ill.

DD2 was up on and off all night a bit screamy, but mostly just went back to sleep on her own, which was great. She woke up desperate at 6am and I gave her some water with diarolyte in, which she necked. She is really pretty miserable still, but has had 7oz of formula milk, which is extraordinary. She hasn't been sick again yet, but I'm sure she will. Will try giving her a bit of toast for breakfast, but we'll see. She's pretty knackered and I'll put her back to bed in a bit.

Lady - my old place in Battersea was built in 1876. I didn't like to think about it too hard as, although not as old as yours, it did scare me a little bit. And also made me marvel at how many different things it must have "seen" over the years and how times have changed etc.

Must go and don my nurse's cap for DD2. Jury's out on whether I'm away this weekend... Fingers crossed.

Oh god, Beans that sounds vile. Hope all are better soon and that you don't get it.

Have had a stressful day or so as my friends' little boy came to stay due to her having her baby the day I had had NO sleep (to be honest I think the reason I had no sleep was because I had an inkling she would have the baby the day DH was away for the day in paris (day beginning at 2:30am!). Anyway it was all fine and both boys had a whale of a time, refused to nap and went to sleep at 7:30 and slept for 12 hrs! Unbelievable. And the baby was born in the evening, unforunately came very fast in one push and father missed the birth popping back to car...oops. And my best friend in Cambridge also had a baby the same day! Lovely new babies, hoping to see them both before holiday. I think I might want another one!

Anyway got to go to swimming hopefully manage a proper catch up before holiday...SUNDAY...CAN'T WAIT!

I hope you get your weekend, Beans. I'm sure DH can cope even if they're poorly.

Trudy: am not Effie in RL, tis a name pinched from the Maltese Falcon. But inlove the name and at one point we were considering Euphemia for a girl's name, simply because we like both Effie and Phemie as shorts.

DH has decided that we should go off camping in Norfolk this weekend. Am pleased cos I love camping and have been pushing for a family trip for ages, but does he gave to pick the one wet weekend after months of drought in East Anglia? Emergency welly buying needed at lunchtime.

I didn't see the offending t-shirt, but DH reported that it had a rude picture of a cartoon character with his willy out. I'd have been there with a sticker too .

Oh SL - lovely baby stories - how exciting! MAkes me want another one too. But luckily I still remember the hell of the first few weeks, which puts me off again!!

DD2 been asleep since 8.15. I had to go and check she was still breathing!

Hello all,

beans & JB How is the puking? I do hope it has calmed down a bit,sounds utterly vile for both of you.

Spot I hope your day was okay remembering your Dad

lady Hooray for the house move (I'm a bit behind). Will youget everything packed up in time? I'm sure I would waste half my time worrying about getting everything sorted...sorry I'm not sure thats particularly helpful!

Vag I loathe people with TT opinions, DS2 is doing brilliantly- she was clearly very jealous.

trace Lovely to hear from you as always. I'm glad that even though P is being difficult you are still doing okay.

I need your opinions on two things. Firstly, we been invited to my cousins wedding WITH the DC's which is next weekend. The venue is about an hour away and my sister is driving up from Plymouth with her brood for the event. There are no hotels nearby really, and so my parents have booked a taxi for all of us to be taken there and then pick us up at 11pm. DH thinks this is far too late and that we should drive on our own and leave about 8pm. The thing is that I rarely see this side of my family en masse and am really looking forward to it, whereas he is being a miserable tit over the whole thing. Is it really too late 11pm??? DD will be fine and will LOVE it, already excited about her new dress, seeing her cousins etc. DS will sleep on the way home I'm certain, and we are taking his pushchair if he gets tired. Plus my cousin is has arranged for a couple of nannies & some cotbeds to sort out the littlies at the night do, so if need be we can put him to bed (although I doubt he would). Really cheesed at DH because if it was his friend/family that was getting married he wouldn't be so bloody negative all the time!!

Secondly, quite a while back i think i mentioned my dilema about a woman who DH works with giving us some Lelli Kelly shoes which I flogged on ebay. Well, every couple of months or so she gives DH a bag (I'm taking bin bag full here) of clothes for DD as her DD is older than my DD. At first it was fine a couple of pretty dresses, extra jeans to get mucked up at pre school etc. Now I have got to know her a bit and have said over and over that DD doesn't need anymore stuff, I literally have bags of stuff for her Age 5/6/7, plus I would like to buy her some stuff myself. Last time we got a bag and it had vests & knickers in it and she said to DH that what I didn't want to bin. I told her I had binned the vest & knickers and that DD couldn't possibly wear anything else we get given. Anyhow, I will get to the point...just been sorting DD's stuff out. She will never in a million years get to wear half of what this woman has given us. But it is in good nick, so i am flogging it on ebay along with a load of our own stuff. Am I bad??? She obv doesn't seem to want it and is too lazy to take it to the Charity shop imo which is why she off loads it by the bag load to DH....plus he has just rung to say she has more

Sitting at the kitchen table listening to Pascal Obispo on spotify, probably won't mean much to anyone but he's a very naff, middle of the road French popstar from the mid 90s and it's taking me back to my freer and more youthful days.

Deids on the clothes front you are well within your rights to do whatever you please as it sounds like she's totally ignoring your wishes. She sounds a bit rude TBH as you've spelled it out already for her. You're probably right and it's just laziness.

On your other dilemma, I would totally go for your option, it's not as if it's every night and even if the kids are a bit grumpy or tired the next day they'll just catch up the next night. It'd be much more fun en masse. Your DH needs a bit of a shaking I think. Or he can take the kids back and you can stay later?

Effie, are you sure you want to go camping this weekend? How about a trip to Brighton instead? Our house has a roof and everything. And a sea life centre .

Beans and Jolly you are doing amazingly well on the vom and poo fronts, as well as being empathetic with your children. (I would be grumpy and resentful and generally Not a Good Mother). BEans, agree with Effie that your DH can manage them even if they're ill. As you are doing today. Or, worst case, you only go for one night?

SL that's lovely about your friend's baby, and well done for stepping up despite your fatigue.

Lady good luck with the packing. What's the situation with DD1's pre school? Two buses sounds like a pain - is it the nearest, or one you particularly like the sound of? Is it a year-round or just term-time thing?

Vag am v of your hair regime. What do you do in between washes? Do you rinse it, or not even that? I wash mine every other day and my scalp pongs by then (TMI).

BEans on the poo front - what I find funny is how it seems to be linked to property viewing. DP often talks about getting a 'dissolving bowel' when passing through the suburbs, I wonder if it's similar?!

After a brief interest B is now not only not bothered about solids, but they seem to cause him even more reflux or digestive pin (sometimes hard to tell which). After having some baby rice yesterday it all came back through his nose . Well, not all, but a fair bit. It's annoying as the paeds kept saying it would be better around this time but it's just not. I'm scared to go back and get in the system again as I have zero confidence in anyone we've seen so far.

That's interesting about your hair, Vag. From reading around last night it seems to be a case of finding what's right for you. One person I read about had a very complex routine of different things on different days involving all kinds of serums and so on, which completely defeated the object for me - I want to use as little as possible as infrequently as possible and leave my hair undisturbed. Maybe Nolda will have the YouTube link? I'd love to learn about that cutting method as I've never been happy with salon cuts. I've woken up quite rock chick today. It doesn't look greasy or frizzy and has gone pleasingly wavy/curly, but my hair's never the same two days running who who knows what I'll look like tomorrow.

Our house is quite old, though the owners did their best to eradicate all traces of that when they wrecked modernised it a few years ago. It was originally a cottage of indeterminate age which has been massively (in relation to original size I mean) extended. We have an antique barn in the garden - I daren't sneeze too near it in case it collapses.

Deids if you've explained the sitch and she still insists on passing stuff on then do what you like with it. It becomes your problem to dispose of unwanted stuff so do it how best suits you. There's a charity warehouse near us where you reverse up to the unloading bay and they swarm over your car unloading things. Just make sure you don't have your weekly shop in the car too or you'd lose it. It's been a revelation for me, no more traipsing through town loaded down with bags of junk to drop off.

I am getting so bored of listening to DS scream. We had 2.5 hours of on/off screaming last night (11.30pm to 2am, more or less) and resorted to controlled crying. Now he's bringing the house down over his nap so I'm doing CC again. Only the second time we've ever done it with him and the jury's out whether he's responding or not. All this bloody crying - those with tinies who aren't sleeping well have my sympathy, the crying is something else.

Deids, we took both kids (and one was sick) to a wedding in NZ! and left at 11pm then got up at 4am for a flight to Aust They had a room with a couple of teenagers texting their boyfriends all night nannies too. Poor ds had the airconditioning leak all over him too and dd got constantly woken by older kids wanting to "play with the baby" (until I went a little postal on the nannies) What your dh is saying makes me giggle, but tell him my story, and he'll probably only say I'm a nutter. Without a doubt, stay until 11. Maybe what I did was a bit extreme, but he needs to put it into perspective. It's your family, and only an hour away, crikey!
Clothes - ebay away!

I'm with Rubes on this one, what's the worst than can happen if you go til 11? A couple of hours of screaming and you have to sit outside with him. And that's the WORST case, chances are he'll either conk out in one of the cots at 9 or so, or keep going and be a bit whingy then give you a bit of a lie in in the morning.

Deids - I'd drive there with DH and the DCs, then when he decides it's time to go, he can head off with the littles and you stay on and get the cab home. I don't think that's unfair and it's not often you get an opportunity like that!

Cripes. DD2 really not up to much. Am actually a bit worried. She slept for 3 hours this morning, then when she got up, she wouldn't really have much to drink and nothing to eat. I HAD to go to the shops. so we pottered off to Sainsburys, the 3 of us, and she was so quiet all the way round - not like her at all. DD1 was boisterous and happy, which was great. Then we got home and I offered her the bacon crispies again and she ate about 10 of those, which was heartening. Then had a bit of ribena and then quietly did a very smelly runny poo - although not as big as last few, as clearly not much in her. She nearly fell asleep on the changing mat, only 1.5 hours after her last snooze. So she's back in bed now and fast asleep again. I'm so very worried about her. But know she hasn't got a temperature and her nappies are wet, so I think she'll be ok. It's just horrid.

I'm knackered. Getting through with coffee and diet coke! Re my weekend away, to my surprise, I actually don't really want to leave DD2 while she's like this. So have said to DH that I might hang around tonight, depending on how she is, and then head down tomorrow to stay with parents. But will wait and see. If she perks up, will go tonight. But think I'd only spend the time worrying about her anyway.

Oh and Beans - you remember the first few weeks that puts you off!!?? DD nearly 12 months and I still haven't had more than 4 hours in a row except 2 nights in Spain and perhaps the odd night about 3 months back. When will she ever sleep through properly / stop getting new teeth Hope the tinies feel better soon.
Trudy I have that hair too so will check out that thread. You can cut layers in your hair at home by flipping your head over and putting it in a pony tail then snipping it off level. I have done it many times in the past -but my friend / hairdresser now would kill me My hair is sadly ruined now as I had it straightened and it didnt work. I've also had the Brazilian Keratin Blow dry and I must say that was great but only lasted 6 weeks.

Oh yes - great idea Beans. Suggest that deids. Hi Summer

computer just had a fit.... I meant to say that wasour plan at the wedding we went to with kids. DH was going to take them back to the hotel in a taxi (just a mile away) if they didn't settle as it was my friends wedding and he offered (probably knackered himself) but they ended up sleeping until about 11 (after the aircon incident) and then we left after that when they woke which was about 11pm.

Thanks ladies. Think i'll do what beans suggests and see if DH wants to drive and bring the DC's home with him whenever he likes! Thing is wild horses won't be able to drag DD away from my sisters boys. She adores them and hasn't seen them since xmas. I for one can't see what harm a one-off late night can do. DS has gone till 10pm before now with no nap so not hugely different. DH is just being a knobber.

beans poor DD2, do you think its just a stomach bug thats just washed her out?

Agreed, although if I'm really honest, I'm probably more up your DH's street and a bit of a killjoy and worry about the DCs, which is weedy of me.

Thanks for asking, Deids - I do think it's just the bug. Just been to check on her and she's deep asleep, but stinks of poo in there. Poor little bird.

Rubes that's interesting. Being terribly precise about these things, where exactly do you tie the pony tail - right on top of your head as far towards your (front) hairline as you can, or more where your scalp curves from top to back? I'm quite tempted, esp as I've grown out a shorter style that has left me with a bit of a shelf effect at the back.

Beans poor little DD DS had the most horrible bug a couple of months back (at spring term half term, I think) and he would lie there, eyes sunken and just roll his head on the pillow to look at me from time to time, it was absolutely horrible, so distressing. I'd never seen him so ill. We went back to the doc four times in five days as the dry nappies, er, dried up and they were very concerned about his hydration. Have you tried ice lollies? We fed DS Ribena ice lollies which he loved. We knew some liquid and sugar was at least getting in, even if it didn't come out the other end. He was retching on nothing, couldn't keep down even water, and had terrible runs for at least a week after the voms stopped (sorry) but the little treasure didn't have any accidents and was so recently TT, was very proud of the little guy though it's pretty meaningless really. I'm not surprised you don't want to leave her.

DS has just woken up, after 30m of screaming before going for his nap. Sheesh.