Caution! December 2011 babies can be hazardous to health, bank balances and carrot sticks!

[LittleMissFlustered]

unforutantly im the same as your dp and i take it out on my dp.

I try to keep my month shut untill i calm down or talk about it 24 hours later.

I use a key word and my dh leaves me alone. Normal i say im very angry right now dont talk to me.

Also tell him that he is the father and its not just your responsability. House rule with reward and punishment set in writing that both of u use helps for boundaries for kids and a unoted front for u and dp.

Also its about relising words have effects and last so think before you speck.

He must want to change you cant do it form him. its also learned behaviour from his mum and dad. Dont let it get passed on to your children.

Good luck it will take time to change xx

Air Touching on his parents there. He thinks the way he was brought up Is the correct way and the way I was isn't. (We have both been raised very differently). I try & make sure the girls are raised the same way, with same rules, same punishments. I was raised differently to my sister. He thinks my way is to soft and I give in to easily. I was raised very strictly, my sister got away with everything hard to make him see it from my point of view, as he finds it hard to understand.

its the same here. My mum and dad were abscent parents. I ran wild. Where as dh mum and dad were overprotective and very involved. We had to talk about our backgrounds and what we want for our children

We picked two things each that air did we didnt like and put a reward for not doing iy and a punshment if it was done. then we both agreed on it before we told air and then we followed it.

We give it two months then introduce two more rules on repeated behaviour.

I guess its about communication and respect.

We have the rule that if air throes things it gets taken off him or for repect behaviour it goes in the bin. Now he only throws rubbish or food packaging at us as he dosnt mind that going in the bin

haha about the rubbish & food packaging.

Well we will try and have an adult discussion about it without rowing with each other. I'm not in the mood for a row tbh. I feel shattered and ill. Nauseous because i'm so tired due to not having enough sleep over the last 9 months and bloody bad PMT - which I don't know how to make any better as I hate feeling the way I do with PMT...I'm a bitch to be around :(

DSM have u been to gp about PMS?

There might be tablets to help with moodswings?

Do you take it in turns to have a lei in on weekends? It really helps to have some more sleep. I stay in bed on Saturdays and dh has Sundays normally till 11am. It really helps.

3 year olds lol

Nope. Think I will ring docs in morning tho - hate feeling like this.

Lay-in what is one of those. I get up with the girls at the weekends as well as week days. Never occurred to DP to get up & go downstairs when the girls wake up so I can get some extra sleep. He brings them in with us and then falls back to sleep himself so I end up getting up

Hope you have a better night tonight hawthers. That is newborn level of waking, blimey.

And trying to 'merge' the way you and your DP were brought up into your own joint style of parenting is hard anyway, even more so if they were totally different like yours air and DSM. I was the only child of a single parent, quiet, and pretty atheist, and DP was one of four in a Catholic family with lots of foster-siblings and arguments but luckily there were some things in common!

Did you actually do the picnic today aethel, and if so have you retrieved blanket/sandwiches/children from the trees?! It's blowing a gale here, and think it's worse where you are and the absolute pits where HLC is. Although you got some naff weather, at least you missed this storm with your camping MsB!

Btw, are you around LMF, hope all's well and it's just your evil phone playing up

DS and DP had a decent day, although DS was wildly unhappy that his first bottle of the day (ebm) was finished and let DP know it...and they also got stuck in traffic for an hour coming home from Bluewater, as one of the main roads was closed owing to emergency gas works.

Can't believe it's Friday tomorrow, I don't feel like I've earned my weekend iyswim. Our entertainment will mainly be watching DS pull silly faces as he tries out food...

DSM, hope you get some help with the pms. Re: lie-ins,
have you made it clear to your fiancé that you want him to go downstairs with the girls on one of the weekend mornings so you can have a lie-in? We have one each but it's properly clear. Sometimes men need things spelled out for them ... !!

Survived the picnic! Went to Bushy Park with DDs in warm clothes and raincoats, unfortunately they are still rejigging the (cool) playground there, will be another 3 weeks before it re-opens (boo) but the new equipment looks like it will be great. So DDs and my friend's DS ran around playing Dr Who (DD2 got to be mini-Amy-Pond and DD1 was Grownup-Amy-Pond!) and we had a picnic under a (shortish) tree. Fortunately it drizzled a bit and then stopped so we were kept dry, and when we ran out of coffee we retired to my friends place for a natter and more Dr Who!

for DSM and Air's DPs, it's a dual effort bringing up kiddies as we all know (apart from single parents, who at least don't have to put up with daft remarks. And apart from polyamory, where it's a triple/quadruple share..... OK, that analogy is enough I think...)

Hope everyone has a better night tonight. I must admit that it's hard to know what will settle them, I was having four night feeds at this stage with DD2 as well, and she only slept through at 6-7 months with 4 formula bottles, 3 breastfeeds and 3 full meals a day... It will pass but I'm concerned DS is getting into a habit of waking now rather than really bejng hungry. Oh well, night all, best of british luck!!

Well done on the picnic!
Good luck dsm, it sounds like you've got your work cut out there.
The man from tesco rang me and said they were sorry, and they would ne pleased to take my order. success! It still won't get here for DH's birthday, but at least I don't have to mess about with gift cards!
We're trying a more strict regime to coax BOi to sleep. I brought him upstairs at 7:15pm for a bath, then I fed him and gently told him a story. He fell asleep feeding. I placed him in his crib on a blanket that I've been sleeping with. Then he woke up. And became very lively. I told him another story, rocked the crib and sang a few songs. Still v lively.
So I gave in. Took him downstairs, made dinner, let him try some pasta. He loved it. Then we all went up to bed at 9:15pm. He finally fell asleep on the boob at 9:45pm.
Mum and dad are having him overnight for one of the nights I'm in canada next week. He'll probably sleep in his crib and sleep through for them. (he's in our bed now. )

oi might be worth trying a hot water bottle in the crib before you put boi in to keep him nice and snuggly.

where's the coffee?

6 hrs sleep in a row last night Sky only woke once at 23:45 and was fast asleep again by midnight

for Sky DSM! Hope you have a decent heart to heart with DP this weekend. x

Throws an espresso over aethel Sounds like you had a lovely time at the picnic!

Oi, good luck with the sleep routine!

What's everyone upto this weekend?
We're going to be mostly watching the F1 & Euro's..and braving the hell that is Lakeside because we need to go into the depth of Hell (or Ikea as some people call it).

thanks AWCH!

Well, 1.5 - 2 hourly wakeups overnight again, then DS bright and perky at 5.30. He's smiling and cooing. I'm just going to have to stop whinging about this and wait til he grows out of it. I didn't feed himevery time but can't get him to settle in the cot while I'm in the same room and lactating. In two weeks DD1s new bed will be ready, I'm hopeful swapping rooms will help him as less noise from us, plus switching milk may help.

Hope you ladies did OK (well done Sky!!). Today we're off swimming for first time as DH has day off work and i have a cute beoprine swim wrap for DS that I'm hoping will give him
A bit longer in the pool before his lips turns blue.....

Bleurgh. We seem to have gone back to the newborn stage too. Got 2 and a half hours sleep last night and a couple more lightly dozing holding DD as I just couldn't put her down. She slept fine 7.30 to 1.30am and then was up every half an hour to an hour. Only fed twice though. Can't work out if its teeth, wind, growth spurt or what. Also coincided with starting solids but don't see how that would cause bad sleep? She is 26 weeks now and I didn't start early and she's only having a spoon or so, doesn't seem very interested.

Thanks everyone.

My girls & I are having a Blu-Ray day starting with Tangled

I'm really sick of this cough now it woke him up at four he went back to sleep about five woke himself up coughing at 5:30 and then was screaming for some reason at 6:30 he is now sitting in his highchair destroying a piece of toast I'm glad his daddy isn't here to watch him as he is making a terrible terrible mess. I don't think any of it has made into his mouth but I thought I would give it a go. I don't think I have the time or patience for BLw and his daddy definitely doesn't have tolerance for the mess I think I'll stick to spoons

Supposed to be going to Bristol zoo for their summer evening special events can't see it happening based on the weather at the moment. Very disappointed as would have been little ones first time and was really looking forward to it. This is honestly the worst weather I can remember while having been on maternity leave.

Just got into work. :( M61 was closed - just after we'd got on it. It's taken almost 2 hours to get here, but luckily BOi slept through the traffic jam. (Not in bed, just in the car!) As a last second thought as I packed him into the car, I threw in his taggy (this is the latest "toy" - he loves tags on toys and rattles, so I got him a taggy - a square of soft fleece with lots of tags sewn around the edge - John Lewis - it is like catnip). I was dreading him waking while we were motionless on the motorway, but when he stirred, he found his taggy, put a tag in his mouth, rolled his eyes as though in ecstacy, and soon was asleep again.
When we eventually started to move again, 1 hr later, that rocked his bowels into motion, and 45 minutes later I dropped him at nursery where he could be changed. POor thing. He just looked a little dazed and confused.
Normally, after wasting so much time, I'd have turned back but last night, for some unexplained reason, I decided to leave my laptop at work.

Any of that expresso left?

You think toast is messy figgy? Today we had extra-thick porridge for breakfast

Has anyone had any bad reactions to food yet? Yesterday he had cucumber which he seemed to really enjoy & a smidgen of kiwi which he spat out & a while later he was inconsolable & obviously in pain. I gave him calpol in case it was teething but he screamed like nothing I've ever heard before. :( Then DP remembered that his dad gets the worst heartburn from eating cucumber...didn't even realise this was possible but I think we'll stay clear of it for a while. Could've been the kiwi I suppose but he barely ate any. Both are off the menu until he can tell me if they hurt him though.

Today we are going to baby group & then to visit my friend who's opening her home for the week for Cornwall Open Studios She's a very talented glass, textiles & ceramics artist so I might treat Rocco myself to a little something. She made him a sock monkey when he was born which he loves :)

Sorry to see so many people struggling :(. Im finding it bloody difficult at the moment. I feel bad moaning about her waking at 5am when she does sleep from 7pm while others are still up at all hours. What I'm struggling with us during the day I just can't get anything done. Eva is just such a clingy baby, she wants to be held or kept amused literally all the time, and will rarely nap during the day anywhere other than on me or in the car. Everyday the house getsa bit more messy and I just don't have time to keep up with the cleaning. DH knows how I feel but he works 50+ hours a week and just says he's exhausted, then I feel like a bitch for wanting him to help.

Sorry for ranting, hope everyone else is ok.

seven I would agree, and have said many times that going to work is much easier than looking after a LO.
If your financial situation is OK, you could consider getting a cleaner for a couple of hours a week.
This raises eyebrows with people who think I am lazy, but as far as I'm concerned I fffing hate cleaning and can think of better things to do with my scarce free time am providing someone else with employment.
This means that once a week I HAVE to tidy up the clutter before she comes, but then also once a week the bathroom is cleaned, the kitchen is given a good clean, the living room is polished and hoovered, and all our ironing gets done. Costs £20 but the benefits to my sanity are priceless! (When she comes you have to get out and leave her to it, so arrange it for when you're normally out or go and eat cake somewhere.)

Seven Sorry to see your struggling. have you thought about every morning just letting eva cry whilst you whip round and clean quickly - if you keep on top of it (easier said than done I know) then won't take long everyday.