April 2011 - Hello Grindstone. Nose here, reporting for duty.

[DairyBeetle]

Plumps comfy pillows, shakes warm fluffy blankets, passes them round, sleeps

Ali - hahaha at thought of 3 DC in A&E
anyway the 2 boys are at sch during the day so i wall look at it again in the morning. From what i know though broken toes aren't really dealt with, just strapped up and take painkillers - which is what i'm doing anyway. well i haven't strapped it yet, and the wine is doing a very good painkilling job, lol!
Please M sleep tonight!

Muffin recipe sounds good :)

Things i take out for M to eat: crackers & mini breadsticks. Won't last long but work short-term.

Aussie you're not bring unreasonable. My dh was doing this quite a lot recently so I had a talk with him and explained it was all very well him going out and having a night off but where was mine? Since then he's gone out less and has positively encouraged me to go out when I want to. Hope you get it sorted out as it is very frustrating.

Sorry, I need a rant:

Why do nappies have to leak every bloody night, and why does he have to scream all the way through changing every single time? We're using cloth already at night because any disposable leaks like a sieve, but they only last till 11:30pm (or 20mins I've fallen asleep).

Aargh. Every fucking night.

It's shit isn't it!

Buck what are you using, cloth-wise? You can pick up some hemp boosters pretty cheaply online and add these over the nappy but inside the wrap. I am using night nappies with T now, ella's house ones, and we never get leaks.

Microfibre size 2 little lambs with a bamboo booster between nappy and wrap. They do 4 his before midnight but 6 after

Night nappies, where can I get them?

Thanks you guys!

Buck we had 2 full PJ changes last night, but B has had a bit of an upset tummy with the bug he's got. I'm going to put him in size 4s tonight and see if they are any better.

He is refusing all food other than porridge and banana. It's not going to kill him living off that for a week is it? I'm worried about him dehydrating too. GP is call ing me back soon I hope.

DD's nappies were leaking at night before we moved up to a size 4. Not a drop since. Would it be worth trying a bigger disposal?

If it's any consolation, I've had the worst night in weeks. P was so unsettled. Five wake ups before midnight with no interest in feeding. I finally managed to get her to feed at 12:30 and we both got to sleep at 1. Unfortunately she then woke for the day at 4.55. Uuuuurgh...

Fizz Poor B. Can you keep offering him little sips of water?

I've to take him down to the surgery later.

He will take water from his tippy cup, so I'm comfortable I can get fluids into him, I just don;t know how much I should be giving him.

Buck - [[http://www.ellashouse.com/ here] The night nappies are hemp, and brilliant. I have never had a leak with them with DS1 or 2. They are roomy enough to boost inside the nappy and over it.

We are all a bit ill here. DS1's reaction to his jabs seems to have turned into an actual cold type thing, we've had the inhaler our for him and he's lost most of his voice. DH and T seem to have slightly upset tummies, and I just feel knackered and headachy. Lovely.

Fizz - porridge and banana sounds fine to me. If you are worried about dehydration can you make the porridge runnier to get a bit more liquid into him?

www.ellashouse.com/ try that

Morning all :) Sorry to hear we have poorly babies again :( (and mummies and daddies and brothers...)

Shit night again here too, well, probably not shit in comparison to the rest of you but shit by our standards! R woke at 5am, seems everytime she wakes up overnight now the immediate reaction is to roll over and then get in a funk cus she's stuck!! I ignored her and let DP get up as I'm sick of getting up to her every night while he sleeps on!! I know he has to go out and work but still, what's going to happen when I'm back at work? Bout time he gets some practice in for when that happens! Anyway, he just went in rolled her back and came out again and went back to sleep!!! Meanwhile R was having a complete meltdown because she'd gotten herself so worked up so there was no chance she was just going to go straight back to sleep, so really it was pointless me ignoring her in the first place as I then had to spend the next 45 minutes trying to calm her down and get her back to sleep. I've decided I'm no longer feeding when she wakes between 4-6 as she doesn't need it, she can easily sleep 12 hours when she wants to. She eventually went back to sleep at 5.45, me shortly after and then DPs alarm went off at 6.30 with R waking again at 6.55 :(
It's not that I'm not getting enough sleep compared to some but I can't stand this broken few hours before getting up and we've had that the last few nights. It's not even as though she's napping well during the day now either so I could have a little snooze when she does. Mind you maybe the lack of naps is contributing to wakeful nights? I thought sleep was meant to get better as they get older not worse? I'm really starting to worry about returning to work if she's going to be like this!

We've moved up to size 4 disposables for overnight now too (and mostly during the day as well) as the 3's, although they fitted ok, just didn't have the capacity to hold what R was passing overnight and they were always damp on the outside by morning.

Aussie I feel for you re: DP. Mine has actually turned out to be a lot better than I imagined but was terrible for going out all the time while I was pregnant. Now he only goes to play pool every Monday night (which he has done for years) sometimes he has 1 or 2 drinks and sometimes he has a skinful but I try not to don't grudge him that. Think I might have a different opinion if it was every Saturday though. Just try and talk to him and explain how you're feeling. Hopefully he'll see it from your POV although I know how hard that can be sometimes, DP still doesn't grasp that looking after R and keeping the house is as much work as a full time job, we regularly bicker about that one!!

Other than that, still no teeth :( but still lots of drool & stinky poos! I live in hope.

I've made the list,
checked it twice (ok 18 times),
of course I know you've not been naughty, just nice!

All recipients have been sent to the Santas now! I cannot tell you how much I had to concentrate sending the mails! I was getting confused between NN and RL names!

time now for me!!

Woohoo, Secret Santa!

Thanks for organising fizz

lol at getting nn and rl names mixed up. I met a mn'er in rl and we kept calling eachother by our nicknames by mistake!

Cheese Muffins (makes 9-10 standard sized muffins)

250g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2-3 tbsp white granulated sugar
85g grated cheddar cheese
1 egg
240ml milk
90ml veg oil or 85g of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375-400F (190-200C)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in sugar and grated chesse.

In another bowl beat the egg, then stir in the milk followed by the oil/melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry. Stir just until combined. Batter will be lumpy but no dry flour should be visible. Do not over-stir

Spoon into tins. Bake for 20-25 mins, until tops are lightly browned and spring back when gently pressed.

Cheese and onion muffins: finely chop one small onion. Saute in a small amount of oil until softened, and add to the wet ingrediants.

Cheese, onion and ham muffins: as above plus add 80g of finely chopped ham.

I tend to leave out the salt but add black pepper and mustard powder to mine. When I freeze them I wrap them individually in cling film, then put them into a container. To defrost I leave them out and then when defrosted I put them in the microwave for 15-30 seconds which really revives them.

I have also used this recipe for goats cheese and watercress muffins and they are delicious.

Hello, Hello,

Fizz thank you for acting as Santa, I got very excited opening the message to say who I had

ILTMIMI Those muffin recipes look lovely might actually get my backside in gear and try and cook some this weekend.

I've spent the last two days off work to look after a poorly S. He's had a cough for weeks but this week it's got so bad he's coughing himself sick a couple of times a day. (Usually either just after I've got him dressed or all over me). Had him to the doctors yesterday as he's very wheezy and I was worried. S now has an inhaler with little mask attachment. The doctor warned me that they often don't like the mask but "even if they're screaming at least they're taking nice deep breaths"...Thankfully S is totally unbothered by it, seems to find it quite amusing actually though I do have to resist doing a Darth Vadar impression...

I'm sorry I can't remember who's said what (I have been reading, just so snowed under I haven't posted!).

Nappies: S is still leaking out of the huggies at night but we're nearly at the end of the box (at last) so I'll try something else. I would love to go back to using cloth but it's fallen by the wayside recently. I can barely keep up with basic cleaning and washing so nappies are sitting unusued

My DH now has a lower alcohol tolerance than me! Vair amusing he's 27 and might go out once each week, but even that is rare these days. He doesn't drink at home either where as I like a (or Baileys at this time of year) of an evening. My point is, if he was going off every weekend and I wasn't invited I'd sulk!

I think it was Jo with the nursery settling? I found the settling in days far, far worse than the actual first day. Being at work distracted me so I didn't constantly worry and with S there for a full day he was able to get into routine and settle properly by the end of the day.

Sorry if I've missed lots out of this but am aware it's going to be a mammoth post as it is!!

Thanks for all the advise everyone, we do have a family day each week and he is always happy to look after DI anytime i say i want to do something (but last time he forgot to give DI a bottle and she went 6 hours between feeds !) I think its more the fact that i wish he could just go for a couple of hours but its always has to be 6-7hours and then comes home drunk so is useless and irritating !! plus im over going out and partying and wish he felt the same, id much rather be with DI ! We will see how the chat has worked, usually get a couple weeks change and then back to normal !! Ahhh Men !

Got my SS, soooo excited, gonna go shopping this weekend ! woo hoo

Chilli Boo blocked duct, glad M fixed it

JKS Hows the toe ? any better

Cycle You must be excited re wedding, DP & I have been together 12years now and still not hitched, will probably have a small ocassion when we finally do it. Maybe a beach wedding at home in Sydney would be nice. Im sure your venue is fabulous !

Joew DI also loves figs ! DP outings are with the boys &/or with his dad to usually watch football so not really a girls come along one, but hope to see some improvement, hopefully i wont have to wait till he is 40 !! (he is 32)

Buck We use Tots Bots shaped cloth nappys in size 2 which is a size up from her day nappy, it has a built in booster and i add a 2nd double layered booster plus a minky liner which seems to keep her body dry with a wrap around it all. it ends up being super huge but that has stopped the leaks we did start getting in the size 1 with just the built in booster, you can always add some folded up muslins aswell. Luck !

MrsWajs What a painful night, DI is basically a good sleeper so on her occasional off nights which compared to most must seem like nothing to complain about, i always really feel it. DI never sleeps as well if she doesnt get a good nap too

Fizz Thanks for organising the SS.

ILike Gonna try your goat cheese and watercress muffins, they sound delicious ! Also like the idea of mustard powder in cheese muffins, how much do you add ?

DI has had a chesty cough for a few days now, DP had first and then passed onto DI & I. I get so sad hearing her coughing thru the night but she is a little champion and will just pop her thumb in her mouth when she gets upset so hasnt been waking up, is there anything i can do or give her or does she just need to go through it. Ive been giving her Calpol and she seems pretty happy and normal just this awful cough !

Also i was wondering, ive been giving her water in a little freeflowing cup and also tried this one with a spout that she needs to press down on for water to come out but it seems like she ends up covered in more water then she is drinking, is this normal ? or is there a suggested cup for giving her water, she seems to like it but just not swallowing much i think.

Hope everyone has a good night

The water thing sounds normal Aussie. P ends up covered in it- partly because she shakes the cup everywhere and partly because it dribbles down her chin when she's drinking.

Heading for another nightmare night here. She slept for a couple of hours from 7 but has been awake every 15 minutes or so since. She's really crying, which is unlike her at night (normal she chats and coos incessantly when she wake). She's got some teeth coming through at the mo, so think it might be related. II think it could be medicine time...

Hope you're having better nights elsewhere.

Medicine worked! She slept through to 6:30 after a dose. Phew!

We call it magic pink in our house!

at magic pink

F's got a streaming cold and is really bothered by his back teeth coming through, so he's dosed up on it tonight too. Let's hope it's as effective as you found it star.

Thanks all for the nappy support. I might try those Ella's ones. Re: disposables, we've got the size 4+ ones, so they're already a bigger size. I've stuck an extra bamboo booster in a size 2 cloth one tonight.

If he didn't keep waking up wanting milk it might not be such a problem.

Have BumGenius V4s Buck and they work well for us. Is it worth seeing if you can pick up some second hand ones just to try a few makes. Some seem to fit bums better then others.

Horrendous day. DP woke with what we thought was migraine so I had to take H to music school with me. Of course it had to be on the last day of term when the parents were coming into the lessons and I had a kin concert to run. Of course it was a day when a mum turned up unannounced with a two-year-old (minimum age is three) who ran around, kicked my precious vegetable shakers like they were footballs, breaking one in the process while his mum sat there doing absolutely nothing in front off all the parents. Aaaaaaargh! She then asked if our normal lessons were more structured and when I said the minimum age was three she said along the lines of 'but he's very advanced'. Advanced my arse, he was a spoilt little monster.

Anyhoo....

Wedding is imminent, just us, two witnesses in the local town hall. Veeeery posh. I shall announce details closer to the time!

Buck we.were the same... couldn't find any permutation of nappy that worked until last few weeks when shred seems.to have dropped a night feed (fingers crossed, touch wood, turn around and touch the.ground etc etc). Now she.usually goes through dry . Seems as simple as less milk = less wee.

Shred? Bollocking auto correct ...