Feb 2011 - major topics include PIL abuse, DTD, early waking, odd habits of DP's. And Luther

[40Weeks]

Here we are girls get stuck in

Sorry, we're out of

jane We went to NY in Feb. It was amazing (and cold, but in a nice 'blue sky, snow on the ground' way). We got a good deal with BA (flights plus hotel). PM me if you want any info.

We had a similar night, deb. Up at 10.30, 1, 3, 5 and up for the day at 7. I'm completely knackered. He's also decided to take his long nap in the morning this week so I don't get much sleep during the day.

Apparently I was jealous of ledkr's last minute holiday and have book a flight to America for TOMORROW. We've been waiting for L's residence permit and it finally came this morning. DH is staying home so I get to take a long-haul flight with a baby on my own.

Right, I have some packing to do...

Wow, Expat! You certainly didn't wait long after getting L's permit! Have a fab time! How long are you going for?
Ledkr, have a fab weekend

to american have a fab time (and of course ledkr too) piccies please when you get back

ems how were the monsters last night?

Had CBT this morning - I've been told to get more sleep at night and do special relaxation stuff for half an hour several times a day to help my anxiety - don't think he gets how difficult that can be with a lo - I barely get 10 mins a day in the sofa on my own

jane did you hunt anything good? I agree with the headache pads btw - a lifesaver (I got the cheapy boots own versions)

how was work needto ?

wow ex pat i thought i was impulsive am packing up today,not even got dressed yet haha.just off for a shower we are leaving about 6 i think so Dilly will think its bedtime and sleep.
I love the "sleep when baby sleeps" saying,yes ok cos someone else will wash the bottles do washing and see to the other dc.s

expat it's draining isn't it. I think last night was particularly bad because S got really overtired yesterday. I'm not letting her stay up so long before her sleeps today- only 90mins and fingers crossed she's just gone down ok for one in her cot. It's just confusing me because she always goes to bed awake, and nearly always goes down in her cot awake for sleeps in the day (except when we're in the car), so she CAN self settle, just chooses not to at night. VERY VERY EXCITING about your trip to the States! Where are you going? Will you stay with family? How long for? You'll be fine on the flight, the happy adrenaline will keep you going :)

reastie that's not really helpful is it, maybe you should suggest he comes round and looks after Alice whilst you do your Relaxation Exercises??

I think Imy may have officially Dropped her Nap. Sigh. She's not actually gone to sleep when her put her in bed at lunchtime for about a week now I think, and she's fine during the afternoon. It's not as bad as I thought it might be though, she is happy to play by herself more than she used to which means I can have a sit down for a while.

ledkr managed to miss your holiday plans, am rather . DH is trying to persuade me to go with him to the New Forest Show next week, I'm trying to convince him to go by himself and visit his friend in Poole over the weekend as well!

Well- she's been in bed for over 10 minutes and not a peep- so fingers crossed she's gone to sleep. Phew!

Quick post as manic busy with last day of term!

Jane boo for AF.

ledkr my birthday is 5th October so I'll bring some cake to the sit in!

Enjoy the trips you lucky buggers! Take care everyone. Summer hols here I come arrrrrrrr.

Wow american you are a fast mover! I hope you have an amazing holiday and L manages well on the flight.

thanks pussing

reastie is your therapist a man by any chance?

I bought a gorgeous silver clutch bag covered in petals for my sister, trying to keep costs down and thought it would be a nice sustitute for flowers. and it was only £7!

I got side tracked and ended up buying bits and pieces for the living room, we are changing colour scheme from purple to turqoise and silver.

im off to see hp tonight, cant wait

americanexpat fantastic news, L will be great - he'll sleep the whole time on the plane VVV excited for you, have a fab time!

emski how was Ben last night?

Weather has suddenly improved here , girls have been thrown out the back again, only way to cope 40Weeks and Four4me

ledkr hope weather holds for you, enjoy yourselves.

jane how did you guess he was a man? [sarcastic]

Hi all, to your CBT persons advice reastie - did you explain that is pretty much impossible?

ledkr I heard 'sleep when baby sleeps' advice so much when pg and dd was first born that I stressed and worried about it when I couldn't! Either stuff needs doing like you say, or you get settled and baby starts stirring then its worse than no sleep at all. I could only sleep when someone was with dd even if she was asleep. I too will be around for handholding for Dillykins op, glad you have a date now.

deb and american sorry about the bad nights, I have just said to dp how lucky we are with dd's sleep at night after reading how much you were up american.
deb its funny cos dd can self settle pretty well at night, sometimes needs a dummy but thats it, but in the day she can get so worked up and not settle herself at all

ems hope Ben is ok tonight, something I saw on mn is to get a deoderant can and stick a label on it with Monster Spray (or similar) on and spray the bedroom so the monsters go. I don't know if thats really good advice or bad b'cos it could make things worse tbh - but thought I'd share

jane well done on the bargains :)

Well we went to singing group today and dd made it nearly to the end, she normally falls asleep halfway through I'm really glad I went b'cos she seemed to enjoy it and I was deliberating about whether or not to go.

Does anyone elses baby do this - lying on their back lift their head up? She's just started doing the last 2 days and gets very frustrated when she has to put her big heavy head back down

Ben stayed with the in laws last night, mil sad he woke once asking what the funny noise wad. She thinks it was the traffic!
Reastie, I ended my CBT yest, she taught me some relaxation that I mostly do in bed before I go to sleep as your right, it is impossible to do it during the day!
Well, the sunshine has come out here, yippee! Just baking an almond and raspberry cake, from the Morrisons magazine, while Noah sits in the patio doorway in the kitchen getting that all important natural light! Fingers crossed it turns out ok!
Bens at the in laws again tonight and dh is taking Noah there for the day tomorrow so get a day to myself, yippee! Plan on going for a run with my friend then relaxing for the day!
Anyone got plans for the weekend? Apart from those of us going away that is!!

reastie - haha, I was just thinking he's a man. Can you slack on the housework for a bit and have DH help in the evenings?

ledkr - how many weeks is your sister? I spent the first few weeks of my pregnancy sleeping on the sofa after work, waking up long enough to eat then going to bed. Tell her to rest as much as she can. Also I found regular Coke helped when the nausea got bad, even though it was the last thing I wanted.

We had planned to visit my family now anyway, were just waiting on the residence permit. My sister is off work for a week too and wasn't sure if she could reschedule it. I got a bassinet for him, it's in the "extra legroom" section so I can't wait to see the faces of my seat neighbours when they realise they've paid $119 for extra legroom to sit next to a baby.

L is really enjoying the baby porridge and rice. He absolutely demolished the bowl at breakfast and lunch. He also likes pear, carrot and banana but wasn't so keen on peas.

Ponyo - L does that! At first I thought he was taking the piss after watching me do the Shred but it seems like he's trying to sit up?

Ponyo Anna does that, like the worlds hardest crunch. It caused mayhem on Monday when she was getting her hips x-rayed

Have posted a few photos of Anna in her highchair, Mr W was not exaggerating, she's had her dinner in it and she loves it There is also one of Mr W and girls but its a bit far away

The worlds hardest crunch is such a good description wiggles, spot on as always Look at Mr W and his girls - what a lovely photo, proud daddy :) A looks like a pro in her high chair, dd would prob just slide out if I tried to put her in one.

american at L taking the piss, very funny! Good luck with the flight, sure you'll be fine though. dd has had some mushed up food but seems to like tasting it then dribbling it back out (weirdo) so only give it to her every now and then.

expat at the shred comment.
ponyohe wont be scared of the monsters but will have an asthma attack
battery about to die,ill be on later if broadband works at site,if not have alovely weekend,love to all xx esp ex pat have a blinder

Evening everyone,
So at all the holiday talk! Hope you have great times though. american that was a great last minute one, you'll be fine and have loads of fun!

ledkr So glad you've got the date through, definitely be here for hand holding. Re your DSis- I found the wrist bands a bit helpful, actually wore them throughout the pg as became too scared to take them off. TBH, all the rest of the remedies are rubbish and if one more person suggested ginger to me I would've screamed! If she's feeling really bad then meds are the way to go. I had cyclizine which was good for me, was given it even though wasn't actually being sick but couldn't eat or drink because of the nausea so had ketosis+++

reastie so sorry about rubbish advice from cbt man, can you ask to see a different therapist?

deb so sorry about the awful night times, I really feel for you. IME the napping has sod all to do with the sleep at night for B but fingers crossed for you tonight.

Work was great yesterday, adult conversation was amazing! I was so shattered after though as was a very long day, ended up working for longer than expected and going in next Thurs and a few times after that through August. Made me realise just how easy life was before motherhood.

Hope everyone has a good Friday night, I'm attempting to stay awake past 9pm to watch Shutter Island with my mum, ROCK ON [sarcastic emoticon]

Haha ledkr yeah good point! Have a good weekend too.

NeedTo pleased for you that work was good, what do you do? (sorry if you've already said). Shutter Island is great by the way, well I liked it good twist at the end.

dp is off out tonight and I've just put dd to bed, got some nice noodles for tea and some vino for me for later
We are having 2 nights away from her in 2 weeks time, having a little break, my mum will be having her eek

hmm lots of 'having's in that last sentence

glad it went well at work needto . How do you think you would've got in if you were teaching? Can't change therapist as I'm apparently mega lucky to get CBT full stop, let alone asking to see someone else. This is my one and only chance

american gl in USA - last minute like that is prob best as you don't have time to dwell on what you need to pack/worry about flights etc

ponyo I've seen a baby at baby sensory do that neck thing - it looks like he's desperate to sit himself up but not yet managing it

wiggles love the piccies - anna is so grown up looking (as are all the babies now). I tried alice with pear puree today and had much more sucess than baby rice - she almost liked it as much as calpol . Just a spoonful though so far.

Quick post before Simon Hopkinson's on-

S went off like a dream tonight, having had ALL her naps in her cot, and had LOADS of feeds, including one at 4.45, 1/3 of a banana mashed with milk at 6 which she gobbled down in about 5 mins, and another feed at 7.15 before bed. Fingers crossed.....

Ooops he's on, back later

reastie pear is a huge hit in our house I know your therapist was unhelpful shall we say, but you need to start putting yourself first,I do actually know what I'm talking about re this I know when I had anxiety / depression I used to run around like an absolute mad thing, cooking, keeping the house tidy, being in control of everything, working full time - it was like I felt that by keeping on top of all of that, the anxiety etc would be kept at bay, well it wasn't and this was before I had any children!! I needed to just lower what I thought was acceptable ever so slightly bit by bit until I relaxed - unwillingly at the start. Oh and drugs helped too!! There are two of you and Alice, the house could not be that dirty, everyone in a familys life changes when you have a baby, so maybe you need to stop taking care of everyone, think about yourself.

NeedToSleep Good luck staying awake - I made it to midnight a few nights ago - it was very rock 'n' roll

debka Brilliant, well done Sabine but mostly you!

jane You do know you are going to have to take photos of all the bits and pieces you are buying and have already got and post them for us to judge have a nosy. Did you go for the wedding dress you showed us?

I agree with the others Reastie. I can keep going nd going doing everything then at least once a month I have a meltdown and hide away fir a day to rest. It's got much easier noepw I've admitted to dh that I need help. You must think about yourself more and take time out. I know it's hard when you have a first baby to let things go but maybe leave Alice with dh more and just lie on your bed and relax or o out for a walk on your own.

I dont know if any of you watch it but a guy I grew up with is on Come Dine With Me at the moment. He's so funny and very very Bristolian!

morning all!
firstly, deb, well????

reastie that's so bad about cbt, and i'm sure it's not right. so for you. thanks for the comments about work and to answer your question, there's no way i would have handled teaching! i was just writing some stuff ofr the british council inspection (like ofsted but for efl schools)

ponyo i love shutter island and made it all the way through without dozing! I was/am an English teacher in a private French school. Wasn't going to return to work until B was at school but thinking of re-training as a speech and language therapist (sorry for the long boring answer!).

think that the last week's rubbish sleeping has been down to a growth spurt as the last 2 nights have been loads better. but i can hear him waking now so better go, hope everyone has a good saturday