July 2010: the "a ffffew more birthdays, a ffffew more walking but are they all sleeping? Are they ffffeck!" one

[CakeandRoses]

trudy yes G has just really got into Megablocks too, she spends quite a while putting them together. She likes anything that makes a noise too - musical instruments and various toys that play annoying tunes.

I have various boxes of plastic crap toys stationed all round the house and she basically just goes through them all and picks toys out, chucks them around, whatever. Keeps her busy for a while.

We also get out of the house as much as poss, they both need it (and me too).

I do housework-y stuff with them around, A thinks it's great to help me at the mo and G is normally occupied with something. I hang out washing/bring it in when she is asleep. I sometimes clean the bathroom when they are both in the bath. I also do quite a bit on the weekend when dh is around to entertain them while I race round with the hoover.

trudyla I also second what wss about getting out the house, It really alters L's mood when I dont get him out the house for an hour.

mlic WHAT!?!?!? 3 weeks? but..but ..but I will be in Centerparcs!!!! I think I need to question putting L in the kennels too, he isnt ruining my holiday

Trudy, is she crawling yet? I tend to do chores either while j is sleeping or while he's eating in the high chair, and i clean the bathroom while he's in the bath.

She is much beftter when out of the house, but only if I can put a blanket down in the sandpit on the playfground or iff we can sit down at playgrfoups. She doesn't like to be in the pram. Now that all playgroups are on summer break and the weather is too shit to go tfo the playground, I'm a bit stuck really.

She can crawl, but doesn't do it a lot. If I get up and go into another room, slowly while waiting for her, she eventually crawls but she cries all the way there. She can fcrawl really fast if she sees the cat though

fThanks for your help everyone. And keep it coming.

sheeeeeeeeet memph that's strangely awful and funny re your mad knife man!

wss ours was locked AND closed. when F came back up I asked him to show me what he'd done to open it and sho nuf he unlocked it at the bottom and then opened it with the handle at the top . A's pretty good at going up the stairs but both sets of stairs are really dangerous to go down (one ends in a 90 degree turn and wooden panelling and the other with a stone floor plus both are really steep - I've fallen down both sets myself once while pg ) so we just can;t risk it happening again. i have told F not to do it but think i'll have to put an extra lock on to foil him.

mlic hope your day improves when w wakes up. could well be mmr then. can you ever link anything different that's happened with noisyboy's more screamy days?

F is by no means perfect, he's very hyper too, funnily enough nursery commented it on Thursday saying he's not at all naughty, shares well, never hits other children except his baby sister BUT does their brains in is a complete head case in the afternoons. He gets really silly and noisy (eg makes up and sings very loud, annoying songs) he also falls over all the time because he's so loopy and fast - I'm the same, i do everything at a million miles per hour and constantly walk into things or trip up non-existent obstacles.

Luckily (for me) he does have an off switch which means he can sit and concentrate for AGES if he's reading/doing puzzles/'organising things' in colour order etc /drawing/watching a film/playing with his trains etc.

trudy A plays with F and his toys, often in his room. She loves playing musical instruments and painting or drawing. We're always out in the afternoons, most of that time she'll be in the buggy or a highchair and is happy with either. She likes cruising round the children's section in the library and pawing thru the books and also going on the equipment in the park or soft play.

when i cook she sits in her highchair and either plays with one of those wooden bead things on suction pads or is entertained by F singing etc. i do chores when they're playing.

tsc never thought i'd hear you say you;re stopping bf . Who else is still bf? Quite a few have stopped lately. i said to dh last night that i'll carry on til 14m (so it's the same as F) and then review it from there.

mlic i think technically ebf doesn't start til 2yo!

does she like music trudy? like memph's L, both of mine loved it from tiny and really enjoy making a horrific din bashing away on their instruments along to a nursery rhyme cd or dancing. We have some kind of music on nearly all the time.

She loves music (she claps after a song has finished on a cd or after I sang a song to her, very sweet) but she does not see it as an activity enough to entertain her. Other things have to go on at the same time, meaning, I have to dance around with her on my arm, holding her upside down and stuff.

mlic I have the tv or stereo on most of the day too as I hate quiet, we dont watch it a lot but it keeps L entertained, normally adverts with music on catch his attention, like the confused, go compare adverts!
trudyla if she hates the pram what about one of those bikes with a push handle? would she sit in one of those, does she not like the pram as it is facing away from you?
cakes it was quite funny after I had taken it off of him, he threw himself on the floor in a tantrum because I took it off him, I emptied the car of stuff yesterday ready to sell it and took my riding crop out which he has since enjoyed whipping me with
I have done nothing yet today apart from eat half of a Mr Kipling Manor house cake, ive been too ill to bake so kipling came to my rescue!

just woken up . just as well i set the alarm.

but oooooooohhhhh, my babyliss big hair has been dispatched!!

kk! I have just done a semi on my hair (lasts up to 30 days) which is roughly the same colour as my natural one (it's a 5 something). i thought i'd take your advice and do this until i'd made my mind up what to do permanently. the condition is amazing - do semis really condition your hair? i so wish i'd asked you first and done this to begin with as i only had 1-2% grey if that and so it would have made much more sense.

i think i do feel happier being darker again, i feel more me.

See cake! People should listen to me all the time! Yes semis really condition the hair. They're brilliant I love them. When I get my highlights done I sometimes throw a semi in as a toner as it leaves it so soft!
My dad was up today. Brought him for lunch and bought him a top as it's his birthday on thursday. And he gave me gis credit card to book flights to london! We're going the last weekend in august from saturday til tuesday! Really can't wait. Just dad, ellie and me. Will stay in my uncles house

the lifestyle coach has been about L's eating and drinking habits, we talked about changing him to soya or cows milk then adding a vitamin, still not sure, got to do a food diary, made me feel a lot better as portion sizes are smaller than I thought, talked about breakfast and now changing him to cereals rather than sloppy porridge, I said oh he eats my cheerios and bran flakes and she said they were too high in sugar, I was shocked thinking they were healthy! It was good to hear im doing ok, just tp start him eating what I eat and if he doesnt eat it then thats ok dont offer him porrdge or slop instead, she thinks its just him being lazy and wanting to be fed rather than feeding himself!
I have a black eye, L hit my with a metal sieve and it hit my edge of the eye socket! He did it in front of her so I acted all brave when really I wanted to cry!

v exciting about your trip!!

memph lifestyle coach??! what did i miss?

just baking a choc cake for A's birthday tomo. Nothing especially 1ish altho will buy some decorations in town later. It's just for us really as we won't see anyone else til her party on Saturday - and I've 'commissioned' some cupcakes for that

mlic I think boys with blonder hair get tarred witht he girl brush, my friends boy looks like the milkybar kid and always wears blue and still gets called a girl, my brother who is 4.5 always gets called a girl when he clearly is a giant boy
cakes its someone the hv put in touch with me due to L not really eating anything but slop and not drinking anything but milk, she told me to perservere with him drinking water as it takes 20 tries for a babies taste buds to decide if they really dont like it ot not. Everything she said was quite interesting, one thing I cant wait to tell dh is at mealtimes you do not answer the door to people, meal time is number 1 so hopefully I wont have to have fil watching me eat asking me what it is, where did you buy it? you MADE it??? what from scratch????!!?!its got chilli in it?? and your giving it to L??!!
L is being a pain in the arse today, he has somehow smashed my big pyrex dish :(, given me a black eye, and is now gagging from crying so much in the kitchen but wont let me comfort him and ive just remembered dh is going out tonight!

Sounds like your tough week is carrying on into this week too memph. Is it a proper black eye?

Sounds like she gave you some helpful advice. Def just keep persevering with water and let him see you drinking it too. Both of mine glug water all the time but weren't that keen to begin with, I just offered it several times a day every day and nothing else (other than their milk).

mlic no, F never gets called a girl despite wearing pink and flowery clothes often! Tbh, I think it's this area as most boys I know have long hair - I know there's a silly, snobby view that boys with short hair are chavvy or trouble iyswim? I don't share that view - I just like the look of boys with long hair.

People don't think J is a boy, don't know why! There was a little boy at nursery today who I wondered if he was a girl - he was wearing blue but apart from that it was hard to tell, and the nursery staff were calling him Carrie. It was only when I looked at the nappy/sleep charts that I realised his name was Cary!

I am taking J for his first hair cut tomorrow! It has got quite mulletty at the back, and since my mum and I need ours done, he's having his done too.

So we're all settled in and ready to start at nursery. I've filled in all the endless forms and have a long list of things to bring on Friday. On Fridays he'll be doing a full day, but this week it will probably only be 10-4. I need to pop into the office to pick up my laptop and some work for next week, and then I might do some shopping.

Right then I need some advice, its not baby related but I dont know where to get advice before tomorrow lunch, we bought our car from the dealer (used) dealer 120 miles away, there is a local branch but car we liked was up there, bought it all fine get it home and bonnet catch wont open, on way to dealer to get it booked in to be fixed car was making whirring noise from rear wheels, so got that checked too, said bonnet catched had broken and that the brake discs were severly worn, lipped and binding, which is unsafe, due to me not driving far they said their branch would never have sold it on in this state and that the northern branch need to authorise the work to be done which they cant see as being a problem, booked it in for tomorrow, they called tonight and said other branch are refusing to pay for work done as it left them in line with their checks, I have I warrenty and I know that brakes arent normally covered but local one said they shouldnt be that bad and should get covered. so they have asked me to call other branch myself. spoke to head of office but he cant auth work done, it was his boss that had said no to paying for work done, ive yarped on to him about it very calmly and he is going to try and sort it with guy above him, I have a feeling he will come back with a no...so what do I do? do I threaten legal action? would I have a leg to stand on or just pay for it myself? FWIW I feel that the bonnet not opening is just as unsafe as brakes as you cant get to the works of car

sorry for highjack not even sure any of you would know consumer rights, oh and we payed half on a credit card (interest free) as my friend said you have more rights with faults etc if I did?

memph that is shocking service!! Is it a big chain or just those 2 branches?

I'm not an expert but it sounds as tho what they're suggesting isn't illegal but is very poor.
Call your credit card co tonight and talk to them as it does give you cover but might not in this kind of dispute.

I would demand ask to speak to the top boss and then keep calm and rational as you have been, explain your situation plus the fact you have a baby and are ill and ask for his help. say clearly that you want to resolve this amicably and quickly rather than 'involve my solicitor' or 'give the story to the local newspapers'. If he's not an idiot then he'll sort it.

I'd be happy to make the call on your behalf if you think that would help?

Im still bf he only has it morning and night now, he has no other milk during the day unless its in cheese/yoghurt form. Im just going to carry on til either he wants to stop or I think hes too old for it (really really dont want to do it past 2).