January 2008: I'm four and 'they're all mine!'

[latrucha]

Sorry Simposn. Just couldn't resist.

Filly - huge congrats on the job!!!

All ok here, am still on holiday but have managed to get Internet connection on my mums iPad!!!

Kids having a fab time, Molly is no longer looking quite so chubby due to running around on beach etc and is even too busy to eat which is a first for her!!!

Weather fab so far, we come back at the weekend.

On the physio from that I know a few kids are going through ( or being assessed) Molly is going to have to miss the first 6 wednesdays when she starts school ( not sure how well that will go down) as she has intensive physio every week right bang in the middle of the day. But I guess it cannot be helped.

Are you back Simpson? Hope you had a lovely time.

Got back today we all had a lovely time

How is everyone doing??

We stayed in a secluded cove which had hundreds of steps we had to do every day to buy wine necessities which has really helped Molly's legs and she has improved no end in climbing steps!!!

She has also lost weight from running around so much which is a good thing as she is prone to being slightly chubby I think....

J is counting down the days until he is back at school!!!

We have tickets for the 100 metre wheelchair sprint at the Paralympics on Monday too which he is excited about, Molly is not impressed as she is not coming!!!

We're ok. Summer has been a total washout, as for mst people. I can see the sea from my back window, but have only been to the beach with the kids twice this summer. Unusually, Sabela has been ill several times with a recurrent stomach bug. She is knackered at the moment and has had a stye for three weeks. I have some wash for it from the pharrmacist - who said it was what a doctor wold give - but it's not shifting.

Any ideas?

Welcome back Simpson....glad you had a great holiday, and even better to hear how well M was coping with the steps. Maybe you need to get the physio to prescribe more hols with wine sea, sand and steps??! We went to the Paralympic Athletics yesterday morning and it was totally brilliant - even saw Alun Davies win his discus gold. Hurrah :)

I'm counting down till the kids go back to school now - buying school uniforms and shoes this week has nearly killed me. I'm shattered, and convinced there's stuff I've forgotten. Every year I promise myself I'll be ready to go, bags packed and pencils sharpened (and labelled) a week before school starts. Every year I fail completely! Tomorrow is going to be busy...they're back on Wednesday!! T isn't very excited about starting reception, but I guess that's not surprising as its in the same building as her nursery, with the same class, and they've changed the reception uniform so its the same as the nursery (a tracksuit) instead of the smart school one that she wants to wear...Annoyingly they're still doing 2 weeks of short days for Reception, even though all the kids know the building, the teachers and each other, and have been there for 2 years

I can't tell you about the new job yet as I'm still waiting to receive and sign the contract and then hand in my notice in RL. So please, no comments on FB for a few weeks!!! :)

LaT - sorry, not got a clue, but maybe take her to the GP to check there's nothing else going on? Not sure if this helps, but the paediatric rheumatologist who saw A & T this week for their hypermobility issues said that it is closely linked to the anxiety gene, and as a result most kids with HM have some level of IBS, too. Guess that's no surprise to Molly, Simpson - but don't know if you knew they were related??? I was quite surprised, but it explains the 'sore tummies' my dcs all get whenever they're worn out or very busy. He suggested we just ignore it....

Been off work this week, spending time with our new au pair. We were so sad to say goodbye to the old one, who turned out to be brilliant after a ropey first few weeks, but the new one seems very high maintenance. I'm shattered....should be making dinner but hiding on my laptop after 1.5 hours of her talking at me non-stop!!!

Oh dear - I seem to be repeating that on here......

Wow filly I never knew Molly's issues could be related!!! My brother suffers from very bad IBS so I guess it is all linked.

LaT - I would take her back to the GP tbh or speak to the pharmacist at a chemist and see what they suggest....

We had a fab eve at the Paralympics too and got to see a gold medal for GB in the 100 metre wheelchair sprint which was fab!!!

Not got Molly's shoes yet for school but she does not start till the 14th so still have some time. She needs to go to a specialist shoe shop to get shoes/ankle boots which will give her enough support.

Forgot to say that one issue Molly does have is going to the toilet and not being able to go long between wees. When she needs to go she has to go straight away and seems to go a lot.

Her physio said that because her pelvis is very unstable it could all be linked. I posted on the hypermobility support thread and people there have said the same thing too.

She wet herself in my dads car yesterday coming back from the shops despite going to the loo just before they left to come home.

Oh poor M wetting herself that must have been horrid for her (and for you)

I had no idea that kind of thing could be related to HM. So frustrating when you find you have yet another thing to deal with. Nathan is asking for the toilet every evening and morning by and large and will sometimes produce something. I think he really wants to do it and that he is getting frustrated with nappies. Just hope he can do it physically.

LaT she sounds run down, like her immune system is having a bit of a struggle. Has she been growing fast? Learning fast? How are you?

Filly getting used to a new au pair must be hard, they play such a large role in your home! Not surprised T is disappointed about the uniform, Nathan is proud as punch of his and loves to wear it.

Nathan is loving going to school full time. Day 3 today and he was shouting There's bus there's bus!!!! Despite going to bed after 9 and getting up at 7 (I had agreed to co-lead a church service and play all the music too then found out dh had a meeting on 'my' wednesday evening so Nathan had to come with me and pootle round the church chattering non stop while I played).

Glad Nathan is loving school, Molly is desperate to start but has another week...

Some of her friends started yesterday and today (they are doing staggered intake with the ones unlikely to settle quickly in first) and they look so sweet in their uniform!!!

J was very happy to be back (he went back yesterday) and he told me he loves his teacher and she has the most beautiful hair (I did not want to shatter his illusions and tell him it came from a bottle!!)

Wow, that's a long day Madmouse...! So glad he is enjoying it....I saw your fb update and was really happy. How is he coping with the long journeys? Are they getting better?

Simpson - poor M :( Glad J had a good first few days back at school - it makes such a difference having a positive start to the year :)

A & T went back on Wednesday. A was happy to go and came home happy and excited about year 3, so all good there for now. T (oddly) burst into tears at the school building when she was lining up with her class, and was clinging to my leg - even though she knows all the kids in her class and its the same building she has been in for 2 years already - its a split site, so she doesn't go to A's building until next year.

Was all a bit :( really, esp as dh and I had both gone with her for her 'first' day, but that might have been the trigger. Anyway, her very very very lovely teacher rang me 10 minutes later just to tell me that she was happy and settled and fine :) She was in a great mood at the end of the day and had the only real 'new' girl back to us for a playdate straight after, and has been super-happy for the rest of the week. Fingers crossed it will stay that way....

Aupair is settling in pretty well....I'm a bit impatient sometimes, as I just want her to be able to get on with things, but she's 19, and I can (just about) remember being 19 and a bit flakey/self-centred/insecure sometimes

Have a lovely weekend - we're due for some sunshine. Hurrah!

He fell asleep in the bus yesterday on the way back, but that's after he had been talking from 4am to 6am (he does that when his brain runs over and he needs to process). He had plenty of energy to race his bike around after dinner...

Molly's first day at school tomorrow!! She is very excited as most of her friends have started already....

The battle over uniform has started already as J does not need to wear his tomorrow as a reward for a handwriting prize so she is ATM refusing to wear hers too!!

Sigh over battles indeed.

Had a stand off with H earlier. All planning to go for evening walk round the block (though we are varying the route now and H is fine with that which is a relief to me as I was getting bored with the same block, in the same direction, with no variation allowed, lol). He has 2 aeroplanes in his hands and wants to scoot.
I lay down the law, no planes or no scooter, you have to choose one.
The others all head off eventually and I sit down ignoring him.
He's stood in the hallway on his scooter, clutching the planes, talking it all through to himself, where's T, etc. I wonder where he is, and so on.
Then he starts saying, 'not choose one aeroplane' and i realise the whole confrontation has been that he thought i wanted him to choose one plane to take.
When i said not choose one, put both planes down he did straight away.
Big
then we had to race around the block to catch up, but luckily he let us add on a bit more at the end so DH & I got to chat a bit while the boys scooted & M watched from the buggy :)

In other news, DH was 'demoted' at work last week :( It was all a bit of a shock and it turns out was perhaps a 'mistake' a case of his name being on one list then not put on another.
He was all down about it as it meant he had a lot more time on his hands but no real 'purpose'. He's now got something else that will occupy some of the time but not as much as before. It could work out well, like today, he came home early and minded M while I got T from school & it meant I didn't have to rush off home to get back in time for H's bus - all a finely balanced juggling act, but so much easier with another pair of hands.

Filly - I don't envy you the change over with au pairs. The nanny we've had for nearly 3 years ( really that long? she started before H's surgery!) is fab, we just wish we had more money to keep her on retainer as she works for another family some days a week now. Means we can't ask her to come in for extra days over the holidays for eg.

Speaking of holidays...MIL has agreed to stay here with the kids while we go off for a few days I've booked somewhere in Barcelona, fingers very tightly crossed it's ok, i'm having wobbles now i've booked it, maybe i should've looked somewhere else, maybe it will be noisy, etc. Hopefully the lack of DC will override any concerns and we'll have a great time. MIL may not offer again!

sorry for such a long post, lost you all for a bit.

ps LaT - def sounds like immune system having a tough time. some extra vits and more sleep?

Oh my goodness! All out little ones at school! So nice to hear about them all.

I'm sorry I've been away so long. First my broadband went down, then the kids were ill and I've also been ebaying lots of my baby stuff, which tkes time. Realistically, even if DH and I pull through this, there won't be more babies so I am looking forward and am going to use the proceeds to learn to drive. £175 so far!

JKS - the plane story rang so many bells! So many times the problem has just been the way I've said something not what. I'm sorry to hear about DH. Is the new thing helping? Enjoy the break. Take it while you can! Mine survived without me, somehow

Madmouse - how is he coping with the tiredness two weeks in? I'm glad he's having fun. I was thinking about his Wow bus the other day. I guess he doesn't sleep with it any more, but it made me smile.

Filly - T still good at school? How's the au pair now? New job? Gosh you're a busy lady.

Simpson - Battles over uniform sound horrid. I'm very fortunate in that I still have the whip hand over S. She loves school and I seem to have convinced her that I allow her to go there as a special privilege. I'm sure by the time it's Danny's turn it will have changed and I'll have hell on my hands.

She did have more of a wobble than usual on her return to school. I put it down to being run down, and also her age allowing her to realise more of what is going on around her. Until now, she just has liked everyone except for rough boys and she's beginning to realise some people like one person more than another. Having said that, she is utterly bemused by the big girls making a fuss of her. A lot of them do, and stroke her hair and fuss her. We got to talking about it today and she asked quite candidly, 'Why DO they do that?' She sees herself as a big girl and actually really bosses them about when she plays with them. I wonder how long they'll allow that for

Healthwise, the paediatrician has said that her knees are fine but htat hse doesn't have full range of motion in her hips so we need to do swiming and cycling and trampolining if possible. She'd like a trampoline, but our garden is really small and it would completely dominate so I think it is out of the question. She thinks we couold probably just move house and that would sort the problem .

She has had a stye for 6 weeks which hasn't budged with usual treatment so she has to go to the eye clinic.

Daniel has also had a virus which has left him with painfully swollen glands in his abdomen (which apparently can happen in children: interesting to know), so he has been very restless and very shouty.

So another reason I haven't been on is that I have spent most of this week with doctors!

How are all your little ones now term is in full swing?

LaT - can you get one of those little trampolines that can be stored in a shed or even a fitness one to have in the house??

Molly is very hit and miss on our trampoline. I bought it for her tbh, to help her legs but she complains that her legs bend the wrong way.

She was sooooo happy to start school today but not happy because J had won a handwriting competition and got a uniform free day today ( which explains the grumpy pic of her on fb this morning!!)

She got a sticker for "making the right choices" whatever that is today!!!

We got to have a food tasting session this morning so used it as a practice for her to carry lunch tray etc ( she was watched by HT, deputy who is also SENCO and EYFS co-ordinator. So not much pressure then!!) to make sure she can cope and although she did it, it was obv that she may struggle so they have come up with a plan I am happy with which is good.

She cannot have school dinners till wed next week as apparently they need to send her diet sheet off to a nutritionist to check it. So she will have a packed lunch for the first 2 days next week. She is only in till 1.30 for the next 2 weeks anyway.

Her teacher (the same one she had in nursery last yr) is going to start giving her homework next week

Filly - how is A coping with yr3?? J is loving it but my God the work level has gone up!!! Don't know how I am going to cope with having 2 kids having homework!!

Molly had her first session of a 6 week course of a hop, skip and write programme. It seems to be for KS1 kids and Molly is the youngest by far but seems to like it which is good.

Goodness me Simpson! She's a fast one, isn't she? Homework? KS1? Does making hte right choices mean not throwing a massive strop?

I think it has to be one of the ones where they can throw themselves about a bit. He says it's to do with understanding how your body moves in space. Also, I think Daniel would find a way of making one of the little ones into an express lane to A&E.

Nathan is not tired at all! He slept until 8am this morning but that's it. It's not unusual for him to come on an after dinner dog walk racing his trike for half an hour. He is loving school and the bus and screeches when the bus appears in front of the house and we make him put a coat on before he can go.

He got a Gold Book Certificate in assembly yesterday for being so happy all week

Homework?? I do find that daft and worrying. Kids need to be kids after those long school days. But then Nathan doesn't get home until 4.45 so when would he do it??

Y Y to glands in abdomen, gives you nasty sicky sore feeling, blegh no wonder he is restless and a bit off.

JKS enjoy your trip, I'm sure MIL will cope.

Nathan now has a star chart for wees on the toilet. He asked for a wee last night, I quickly yanked his trousers and nappy down and put himn on the toilet and hey presto another wee. When he does one we call daddy upstairs and Nathan tells him (well. shrieks loudly) that he's done another wee, wiggling with excitement and nearly falling off the toilet. Followed by inspection of bowl contents and flusing . I have told him we can do weewees downstairs too, so not just at bed time. Will see what happens.

Molly had homework in nursery too, lists of words to read etc etc...

LaT -I have a feeling that making the right choices does mean no screaming!! She told me (very gleefully) about a boy who screamed and then he did not get his sticker!!!

Well done Nathan on the wees, that is brill!!

I think Molly is going to struggle with tiredness actually, she asked to go to bed at 7pm last night and she was only in school for just over 3 hours.

Not sure how she is going to cope at school actually as she is in a class of 74 but will wait and see!!

Deffo then Simpson!

It's great you're making it such a happy thing for him Madmouse. I'm in danger of putting pressure on D just because he's got an older sibling. I mention it even though I'm in no hurry. He's really resistant as yet, and I'm worried I'm going to turn him against it.

Needless to say I have been googling trampolines! (and toy cookers ... any thoughts?)

LaT the difference between Nathan and D is that we cannot be sure that Nathan is fully capable of doing it physically, we do not yet know whether the musces 'down there' are affected by cp.

But surely D is still quite young to pt for a boy? Why not shelve the whole thing for a few months? Boys do generally train later than girls, significantly so.

Sorry what I meant to say with that is that we need to keep the pressure off with Nathan because if he cannot do it despite his best efforts we will end up damaging his self esteem.

I understand Madmouse. I'm not even trying to potty train him, though but we both find ourselves asking him if he wants to use the potty, even though he says, 'no' every time! I wish we would just shut up because we put no pressure on S and it was so easy.

LaT -have you found a trampoline you like???

Cannot really help you on toy kitchens, Molly has one from the entertainer in her room but does not touch it tbh (unlike her dolls house which she plays with all the time!!)

Sounds like Nathan is off to a good start re potty training....

Molly has only been in school for one day and she has a birthday party next sat and another one the week after too!!!

I've found some for a good price, and I think the kids would love it. I just don't like the idea of it blocking up the garden and collecting seagull poo (we live in sight of the sea). Undecided.

After Christmas, inthe Monsoon 70% off sale you can buy up lots of little bags and thing for a coupe of quid. It sees me through a fair few parties!

My back garden is truly tiny and the trampoline takes up pretty much all of it!!

But it is worth it's weight in gold and the kids are on it all the time although I do have to watch Molly on it if she is tired....

She is looking forward to going back to school tomorrow so that can only be good!!