Jelly and ice-cream and candle shopping here we come for our amazing ONE year olds!

[beaditAli]

Hope this covers it! Not sure what cakes we'd all be making so kept that out

Thanks

Well done chelle - that was fast work! It's good to be appreciated.

newmum Sorry you were so down yesterday. It drives me nuts when people think that somehow it's fine to have no sleep when you're looking after a baby all day. Sure, some los have good long naps, but not all of them (and I can't sleep in the day anyway). It's so much harder to keep your emotions in check when you're exhausted and, for me anyway, time with Louis is infinitely more emotional than my job. Even though I'm flat out at work now I'm trying to cram 5 days into 3, I'm still more tired after a day with Louis.

jodey It's what sisters are for isn't it? (Bearing the brunt of irrational outbursts) Mine got a hell of a serve at Christmas 'cause she chopped the carrots wrong

Re child-proofing, we're doing some, just to eliminate the really serious things so we can take our eyes of him for a few minutes without worrying about him sticking his fingers in a socket, strangling himself on the blind-pull or downing some paracetamols. But he's always bumping his head on things, whether we're right there or not, and I'm sure he'll find plenty to get up to that we haven't thought of, so we're just on standby with the cuddles and let him get on with it...

That's great news chelle.

Yes, me and my sus were talking again by the following morning! Being sisters, it's a lot easier to forgive and forget I think as we know each other too well.

I'm also in the "let them learn for themselves" camp. I can see my mom, dad and sis ready to leap towards him when he goes near the tv stand but I figured the more I move him away the more he wants to go there.

Well done seachelles must be nice to earn a decent wage. Am hoping that when I get around to studying there will be a well paid job at the end.

We don't childproof much here. We don't have a fire as ds would just feed it plastic. DD2 has worked out to open the stairgaste, which was really there for the dog so we are on a watch and go get mission. if you don't childproof everything the babies start to learn what they can and can't do which is safer then relying on barriers, esp if you go visiting and there are no barriers.

Hi all, feeling much better today! Grace slept better last night, 3 wake ups but only little ones and I only had to go to her once! I hate being tired, I think it's worse then being ill cause you know that an hours sleep will perk you right up but you can't have a sleep cause you have a baby to look after. Grace's naps aren't really long enough for me to catch up on sleep during the day.

Well done chelle I bet u felt amazing!

Hi all, feeling much better today! Grace slept better last night, 3 wake ups but only little ones and I only had to go to her once! I hate being tired, I think it's worse then being ill cause you know that an hours sleep will perk you right up but you can't have a sleep cause you have a baby to look after. Grace's naps aren't really long enough for me to catch up on sleep during the day.

Well done chelle I bet u felt amazing!

Think Luke must be having a growth spurt, he's eaten so much today. Have been feeling close to tears all day, pretty sure it's hormones though. One of my mums had her baby today, in the birthing pool just how I wanted so that set me off plus bring happy for her of course. A couple of songs nearly had me in tears plus didn't have enough in my account to pay for shopping which also upset me! After working a 50hr week plus babysitting I should at least have enough for food for the last couple of days of the month :(. Oh well tomorrow is another day!!

And Luke took 4 steps today and didn't fall over at the end, just kind of wobbled there!

Crikey, I go away for 1 night and you lot go crazy!

Well done Chelle we're always here for you to moan to when you're feeling down.

newmum sorry you've been feeling rubbish, grace, sleep!!!!!!!

Cinnamon I read your comment about ds1s body shape all wrong. Thought you were talking about your dh, Lovely image of a pot bellied bloke in pjs!!!

Me and the boys have had a fantastic 2 days. We went to my mum & dads & Ds1 drove the car, sat and played in the broken down combine, drove the tractor & helped my dad load 2 lorrys. We've then spent today with my cousin who has 2 boys similar ages. How the hell bellabelly manages with 2 sets of twins I'll never know. It was a great day but such hard work!

I tried to get ds1 a bike helmet today but have a major problem. Because he has a flat head they don't sit right. To put it on properly the front is actually to one side, above his eye. As a result of this the straps don't go right cos 1 ends up over his face, the other at the back of his head! I don't know what to do cos he needs to wear one!

Well done indeed Chelle!

Glad to hear others also are doing minimal baby proofing, not just me being lazy then...

I had such good intentions to baby proof everywhere but have only got as far as plug hole covers. Need to get baby gates and a lock on the cleaning cupboard door as I found grace with a bottle of fabreeze yesterday and she'd somehow managed to unscrew the lid and soak her pants with it!

I had such good intentions to baby proof everywhere but have only got as far as plug hole covers. Need to get baby gates and a lock on the cleaning cupboard door as I found grace with a bottle of fabreeze yesterday and she'd somehow managed to unscrew the lid and soak her pants with it!

In terms of baby proofing, we haven't done much. Just become a bit tidier, moved some stuff. I haven't done sockets covers as I found out that there are more accidents caused by them than there are when not using them at all! It's because plugs don't conduct electricity unless the top pin is pushed in so unless the child has long, thin, flat fingers, they're not going to have any harm done (unless you've got some kind of faulty socket). Orlaith doesn't even take notice of sockets anymore. We have a gate on the living room door because the staircase is completely open with no bannister and the kitchen door doesn't shut so I prefer to know she's safe. She does move pretty damn quick with loads of giggles when she spots the open gate though! (completely proving the point it makes the danger seem more exciting )

newmum and seachelles I don't know about anyone else but I am more than happy to listen to your complaining about tiredness/stress/annoying DP's etc so please don't feel like you need to stay away. Sleep deprivation is just so hard to deal with and it makes everything seem so much more difficult to deal with. It really annoys me when anyone says it's easier looking after a baby than working. It's so difficult because you have to be "on" all the time and you can guarantee if you stop and put your feet up your LO will find some way of stopping that! DP definitely has it easier at work. He works for himself so if he wants to go and get a sandwich he can, he can take the dog for a walk with a couple of friends with dogs in the afternoon, he has waves of customers, so always has time in the day when things calm down. The one day a month I go into work is definitely my easiest day of the month!

watersprite I don't give Orlaith juice yet and mixing it with water doesn't work. She looks at me like "mum, this water's off, please take it away and get me a proper drink"! She is getting a bit better with the medicine though, she took it all today without spitting it out, still cried loads but got over it quickly.

My PIL's have Orlaith today so I can do some work and all I've done is 2 loads of washing and half cleaned the bathroom.

No baby-proofing here. Other than the gate we already had on the kitchen door from when we had the dog.

Thanks saoirse.

Olly just about waking from a 2.5 hour nap now, but has been a right bruiser this morning! Head-butted my knee cap at one point in his rush to get to me, fell against the table while I was sat at it working this morning (again in aim to get to me) and bashed his face - looked up at me with a blood filled grin! Think he must have bit his tongue, because I can't find any cuts or anything on his lips/gums.

I must admit I don't follow him round all the time though. I just let him get on with it - he will fall over regardless of whether I'm behind him or not! To be fair he is very steady on his feet now and we only have about 2 tumbles a week!

Ofsted now don't require cm to have the socket covers now for that reason saoirse86, also if the top prong gets snapped off it makes the socket more dangerous. The locks on chemical cupboards and putting drugs out of reach are a must imo and stair gates stop the stress of moving them all the time! Dh lifted our carpets and put cables underneath and put them back.

I am so cold today :( but had an unexpected child so am £20 better off and we are having a Chinese tonight. I love Fridays!

I do actually follow Aphra round a fair bit but mostly passively, sort of thing - so that I am in the same room as her but not necessarily right by her. I have my phone in my hand quite often so I can read stuff on it while she plays! She's very steady on her feet now but I mostly try to be in the same room in case of getting too near to the step down to the kitchen, or being too near to cables (which she loves to pull if she possibly can).

Re our house being on the market - we're aiming to move within Oxford, not too far away hopefully. But it's all dependent on getting someone to actually make an offer in the first place... all a bit dispiriting as commented. Ah well, it will happen eventually I'm sure.

Ok tell me if I am being unreasonable to want to go and smack BIL and SIL round the face right now....

DP and I have been discussing godparents and while I have chosen 2 on my side of the family, DP was unsure for his side and we had spoken privately with BIL and SIL last week about perhaps having our Niece (their daughter) as a Godmother, as we wanted to check they would be ok with it so that we could consider her. Now she is only 13 and we had to check this would be ok with the Rev'd and also confirm that she is who we wanted, so we advised them SEVERAL TIMES not to say anything as we weren't sure and also wanted to ask her ourselves if we decided on her.

You can see it coming now can't you....

So 10 mins ago we get a phonecall from said Niece saying "Hi Uncle DP - Mummy and Daddy have just asked me to be Olivers GM and I said yes...." FFS!!! What if we had decided we didn't want her! I am so so so so so pissed off. Just another in a long list of twat-ish things that DP's family do all the fecking time!

I'd be livid chelle, I'd ring them back tonight when their daughters in bed and have it out with them. At least if she was older you could have explained it to her but with her only being 13 it'd break her heart to tell her now that you've chosen someone else!

We chose my best friend of 23 years and dp's cousin and we were told by dp's (quite religious) family that you can't choose friends and we should be having my sister and dp's brother! We put them straight and said we'd choose who we though were the best people for the job! I can not imagine asking anyone other than my best friend. I've known her nearly my whole life, I grew up with her, she's got me through everything from break ups to deaths! She's held my hair back while I've thrown up and held my hand through really tough times and I would trust her with my life therfore will trust her with my daughters life! Choosing god parents is all about who YOU think is best for the job! aoaoooh I'm angry on your behalf!

I'd be livid chelle, I'd ring them back tonight when their daughters in bed and have it out with them. At least if she was older you could have explained it to her but with her only being 13 it'd break her heart to tell her now that you've chosen someone else!

We chose my best friend of 23 years and dp's cousin and we were told by dp's (quite religious) family that you can't choose friends and we should be having my sister and dp's brother! We put them straight and said we'd choose who we though were the best people for the job! I can not imagine asking anyone other than my best friend. I've known her nearly my whole life, I grew up with her, she's got me through everything from break ups to deaths! She's held my hair back while I've thrown up and held my hand through really tough times and I would trust her with my life therfore will trust her with my daughters life! Choosing god parents is all about who YOU think is best for the job! aoaoooh I'm angry on your behalf!

Oh no SeaChelles I'd be annoyed too. Actually I thought you had to be over 18 to be a godparent. I don't know, I just thought that is was something about being old enough and responsible enough to guide a child and also to be able to take care of them if need be. That's possibly a bit old fashioned in some ways so maybe it's not the case any more.

Chelle I'd be furious! We had to have our two Christened in secret because of the arguments that where starting about the godparents! It really annoys me when people, especially family don't respect your choices or do things you've specifically asked them not to.

I'm not religious in anyway hence I have not had mine christened and don't know a lot about it BUT if you ask them not to say something they should not have said anything regardless of the risk you might change your mind and hurt her feelings it's yours, dps and Olivers special day and you should be the ones to have asked her not her parents SeaChelles.

We've had a lovely day, Luke didn't wake up until 7.45!!!!!!!!!!!! We have had a relaxed morning, then been swimming and got ds1's last school bits :( and are home relaxing again (although I need to cook dinner!). Ds1's speech therapist isn't coming now until September as he's really getting fed up with 'f' now, which is easier on my pocket too! Am hoping when she starts back up my dad will pay again as not sure how we'll continue to afford it! We even have a bit of sun today too

Agree with everyone saying that Chelle's BIL and SIL should have kept schtumm. How rude! and unfortunate.

What a lovely weekend so far! Went to Milton Keynes to meet up with my oldest friend - she's moved up to near Newcastle recently but her mum and sister still live in/near MK. Makes it a lot easier for us to visit from Oxford of course! We all sat in the garden for hours after a nice lunch at Pizza Express.

Chelle could bil and sil have asked your niece if she minded being asked? Not asked her outright. Kind of 'would you mind if chelles asked you to be godmum, would that be something you would like as it is a big responsibility?' she could of said NO! so they could of said to you don't bother asking her she isn't bothered.

I do agree though that it is annoying and has forced your hand

Tried Lucy in a kiddy guardian pro yesterday. we were going away with ds's group and her m&p 0stage seat wouldn't fit in the mini-bus so she had to use dd2's seat and dd2 used a booster. She really liked the no harness bit and the bumper part she fell asleep on. She is only just big enough to fit it though so glad it was just a one-off. Am getting her weighed next week as only 2 weeks till her birthday

Little scare at bathtime today! Her nappy was pooey, obviously not that surprising, but it was a very dark colour we'd not seen before, and looking very liquidy. We were worrying whether it might be some indicator of something being wrong until I remembered that she'd eaten lots of very juicy and purply cherries this afternoon... phew! They'd obviously gone straight through her. No discomfort either so it seems.

Luke has greeny black poo at the moment comixminx because of the blueberries he's eating! We went picking last Saturday and got 2kg, got 500g in the freezer to make jam and about 200g left, not bad for me and the boys (dh doesn't eat fruit)!

We've had a lovely peaceful day other than the 5.45 start! Had sprinkler on in the garden for ds1 which is always hilarious and Luke is stable enough now to walk on his own with the ride on fire engine/walker I have without it getting away from him. Plus he has his last two incisors come through today . Been to my mums for dinner and boys played in the garden, Luke pushing car, ds1 playing football and each on their own little trampoline. Plus my mum insisted Luke had his smart trike now so we can get use out of it in the nice weather so dh and I built it and it's awesome!!! Dh thinks it's amazingly clever and was scarily excited by it, the joys of being married to someone with an engineering background! Just time for some snuggly time with dh once Luke has finished his milk