Post Grad Brookers - we're in here....

[Biscuitsandtea]

New thread - t'other one got full up....

Ha. Mine was really not impressed with the car incident...

I think my new theory is to binge eat all my birthday chocolate as surely if you eat 10,000kcal of chocs in one day you can't absorb it all? Then start tomorrow temptation free. Good plan?! I just looked in the mirror and I'm so looking 20 weeks (with one baby not the dts!) Plus I've gained 3 lb over the course of the day so actually not that thin, probably more just dehydration in the morning

that's the way i do it with chocolate surplus. eat the whole lot any time, no point saving it up cos I'm eating it anyway.

i do occasionally buy Lindt 70% bars and just have a couple of squares if i fancy a wee bit chocolate of an evening. although a milk chocolate one sneaked in the last shop and i might struggle to have just a wee bit of that...

Into battle I go...

A was so screamy today and fed so little I took her to the docs. They found nothing wrong. No magic cure for sleep then...

That's what I do with chocolate too. I like milk choc so if I buy 70% Lindt it lasts longer...but sometimes often DH and I buy one big bar of Cadbury's for him and one for me because he likes Fruit and Nut and I like Caramel. Not that I don't like Fruit and Nut, you understand...

Um, I have a confession. I'm not going to manage to Shred today. We ate really late and then I had a big mug of tea and basically I feel too full and can't be arsed to start now. Sorry sorry sorry Scream! I am hopeless. I will definitely do it tomorrow, though. between driving DH to work so I can have the car, walking the dog slowly to allow for his sore paw, taking dog to vet to get his sore paw looked at, fetching DH from work, making shepherd's pie and cleaning up a bit for my dad maybe possibly coming to stay tomorrow night and PIL definitely coming to stay Friday night

i stopped at 4 squares of milk chocolate just now...

good luck pomme! :(

Am so behind I don't think I'm going to remember anything I wanted to say! But I will try:

First, Biscuits Sky Plus HD looks the same here.

Scream and Too I tried to eat more healthily today except for the packet of crisps and small chocolate lolly while picnicing with friends and chose to walk, not drive, into town pushing my big buggy. Took an hour. I ended up sweaty with sore feet. DH rescued me on the way back when I was halfway home. At least I tried...

Does anyone else's DC struggle to nap when it's hot? DS was really grumpy in town and I'd expected him just to fall asleep in his pram like an angel. He finally dropped off in GAP where they had a sale a shop with air con. Pity we had to leave eventually.

Hawthers great potty-training!

Dream I hope you find some nice night help if you decide to go ahead with it. Sounds like a good idea to me. Great weights for the BBBBs!

Pomme I customise the car too!

At my 6-week check my GP didn't check me at all - just asked if i was OK. All he wanted to talk about was contraception despite it being totally irrelevant as no dtd here so I let him prescribe me a mini pill with a 12 hour window. Can't remember the name. The prescription's still sitting on my chest of drawers... Scream I particularly love your chosen method of contraception!

DS woke early this morning and I couldn't get him back to sleep so fed instead. He's just finished. Hope he stays asleep for a few hours now...

Dream, thanks for pointing out the blindingly obvious (putting baby down on muslin/changing mat!). Means I can use sling too. Handy as I haven't tried the buggy yet. Reminds me, need to buy it a rain cover... Liking your chocolate theory!

Pet, DD doesn't nap well in the heat either. Then again, she's not a brilliant napper full stop - think I need to work on noticing when she's tired better.

DD didn't settle well at bedtime tonight, making me think I'd jinxed things by my earlier post. But she just did a 3hr stretch followed by 4hrs! Not counting my chickens, but it's the most sleep I've had in ages so I'm very grateful!

She looks wide awake now mind you, so perhaps I'll be punished for my sleep by having to get up early...

Feeding again. Up for the day now.

Forgot to say Biscuits I think Baby Whisperer also advocates pick up put down. Not sure who does the other method you mentioned.

Re motor skills, I noticed yesterday that DS can pull his dummy out of his mouth (unintentionally, I think) and hold it for about a second. He may be what the Baby Whisperer calls a Textbook Baby. He's 12 weeks on Saturday.

Musical that's good sleeping! Well done I!

Not a good night here. Several hours if full on crying between 2 and 4 as well as various other wakings and more crying around 6. Think it is due to the cold which I hoped had gone away. Bah.

Dd1 has also started sleeping v badly again- crying for one of us to sit with her until she goes to sleep, which takes hours. And then she has been waking in the night, absolutely howling, so dh has been sleeping with her in the spare room. She's nearly 3, surely she should be able to sleep better?! But it seems any little thing knocks her off course. And now she is horribly overtired which means she is finding it even harder to sleep

The result of this is that we are all pretty bad tempered in the day. I am really feeling the lack of a social network at the moment. I have been avoiding toddler groups this week because dd1 is being positively bratty and while our friends wouldn't care others might be less understanding.

Sorry for the enormous grumble. Can't really moan to dh because a) he is knackered too having also spent alot of the night with dd1 and 2 and b) because when I talk to him about the lack if friends he feels terribly guilty for making us move. Not that he made us but ykwim.

too and scream my replacement shred DVD hasn't even arrived yet! Maybe we should reschedule the start for tomorrow? I am going to push the buggy up a big hill to brave toddler group though whichust count a bit as long as I don't count all the biscuits I will eat whilst there

Right. Onwards and upwards.

Motor skills - I tried giving DS one of the toys off his playmat yesterday to HS - one of those with a plastic link thing on for him to hold. Now I put it in his hand and put his hand round it so his thumb went the other side to his fingers iyswim so he was holding it. He then held it for a few minutes and looked at it and put it in his mouth for a bit. Then dropped it. So he can hold onto things but he didn't take hold of it - should he be able to actually take hold of it himself? I might try again when I'm not rushing so much and I've got time to see if he'll actually take it when offered?

I was considering buying a baby whisperer book but there are gazillions of them! Would those of you with a book recommend one? There seem to be all sorts and I can't work out what's in each one as they have all nonsense nondescript titles. There is one that is just sleep tips though. What else is in the other books and do I need it?

fishcake so sorry you are having tough times. Brooking that it picks up soon. DS1 who is nearly three still wakes in the night as well.

Big news here DS2 slept until 6.50! Shame DS1 woke at 5.45

Cross posts with you Fishcake - sorry you're having a tough time . It's a huge thing for our dc1s isn't it - either having a new sibling or moving, let alone both, so I have every confidence that your dd1 will be back to normal soon. It is hard though if you're trying to meet people and she is being, erm, challenging . Hopefully today will go well at the playgroup.

I know it must feel very difficult when you don't know many people. Have you thought about trying anything run by the NCT locally? Or any bf support groups?

I would say this though - everyone with children knows they can be difficult at times. If you're at a playgroup and she's being hard work, of course this makes it harder to actually meet people (if you're constantly having to deal with her) but the people who look down on it aren't worth knowing. Anyone worth their salt will understand. It could even be an ice breaker to say that she's struggling because you've moved and have a new baby - that way you've introduced yourself and pointed out she's normally an angel

What sort of things did you do with her before you moved? Are there any things you could re-create by finding a similar activity to do? That might make it seem a bit more familiar for her?

Oh and one last thing - have you spoken to your new HV about it? They might have ideas as to the best ways to meet people, or where to find people with a baby and a toddler too? But get any support you can from anywhere you can.

Does dd1 do any childcare or anything? That would give you an opportunity to catch up on a bit of sleep perhaps? Or even to do some activities with dd2? I've just started baby massage and suddenly found 4 other new mums in my village (one literally lives on my road!) and 2 of those mums have older dc too. That was through the surestart centre and was free! Do you have a local surestart centre as they do loads of stuff for older and younger children?

And of course, we're here for you. Not the same as physically being there but we are always here for you xxx

at Scream not Shredding either. And Fishcake at least has the excuse of not having her DVD yet. Could we make it Saturday for starting? I've got to get showered and make lunch and get us to the vet's for 1.45, and then I'll probably nip home briefly before heading off to pick up DH at 4. I really need to spend this evening cleaning up the tip kitchen and sorting out the spare room for visitors, and then tomorrow morning I'm meant to be going to the Highland Show with Dad, and then PIL will be here in the afternoon and there is no way I'm Shredding with them in the house. Far too embarrassing!

Fishcake, hope you meet some nice people at your class today! Brooking for lots of kindred spirits ready to be friendly. Biscuits' SureStart idea is good - they ran that ill-fated baby massage class I went to once. Now DH is back at work I might make the effort to go to some classes and start to make friends. [hermit emoticon]

Yay for DS2, Hawthers! I had to wake M at 6.40 so as to get a feed in before bunging her in the car to take DH to work, and she's been v grumpy ever since. Currently lying on me half dozing, half feeding.

*Biscuits, M hasn't really got the hang of holding/taking things where she has to put her thumb around them. She sort of takes/holds soft things where she can curl her fingers into them but her thumb is still tucked into her fist, iyswim.

Yay for two good sleeps, Musical!

Pet, I need that Pill with the 12 hr window! That said, now I've started taking it at bedtime I'm doing much better with mine. Long may it last...

I weighed M today by weighing myself, then weighing me holding her and subtracting the one from t'other. She weighs 15lbs! No wonder carrying her around makes my arms so tired.

It is a miracle! M has slept in her pram for 40 minutes! This was preceded by me trying to put her down while I went in the shower, which resulted in a screaming baby with me trying to jiggle the pram from the shower . I desisted when I realised how wet the floor was getting . A slightly unnecessary nappy change, 10 mins feeding and 10 mins snoozing on me later, putting her down in the pram worked! I have managed to get dressed, brush my hair, cook and eat lunch in that time, even with a stir-fry lunch which meant I had to chop onion, pepper and mushrooms.

Right, I'd better go find some socks and brush my teeth ready for our vet visit.

R just fed and pooped and stayed awake all this morning. i eventually put him in the sling so i could get DS1 washed and dressed and fed. he ended up having a 2 hour + nap in there. poor neglected wee soul! he was so hungry when he woke up.

I feel like a new person today . When dh realized what night help would cost he agreed to a new nighttime plan. Normally to help he'd given an ebm bottle and kept the babies downstairs until 2am ish, but I'd often get almost no sleep after that as they're much more unsettled after midnight. Last night I made him get up and help juggle babies and settle them at every feed. Flukey in a way as though they fed 2 hourly, and at the same time (!!!) and we were able to settle them inbetween, so they went down after their 2:30 & 4:30 feeds, and DT2 went down again at 6:30 so when I got up with DD at 6:30 there was only one baby awake and it all felt so managable. Dh says he'll continue with this on Friday and Saturday nights so I'm super chirpy. A bit of sleep has made the world of difference.

Good pram napping M :) . Isn't it lovely when you suddenly get a break and a babyfree meal?! Dt2 been in his carseat napping for 2.5 hours now- I do feel a terrible mother for that.... But one baby and one toddler is sooo much easier I still don't feel bad enough to wake him up by moving him out of it

Yay! Yay for Dream! Glad your DH is making plans to help - I know he has a stressful daytime job with long hours etc, but it is so so hard to struggle on alone at 4am. It just makes it feel so much easier even if all the other person does is get the baby out of the basket to pass to you. Whereas if they do nappy changes, winding, jiggling etc then it must feel like a breeze in comparison. Oh, and, when we went up to Aberdeenshire the other weekend we thought f*ck it and made a straight run, taking about 3.5 hours. M slept like an angel the whole time and doesn't look hunchbacked (as my sister suggested ).

Jaggy, that's not neglect in my book. R is cuddled in comfily close to you and he's quite happy. If he wasn't he'd have let you know. And you want him to start to nap for longer! This is all good practice for him.

Minor rant: people who sit behind a desk and watch you struggle to get dog and buggy up first 2 steps and then 3, tangling with a door and nearly losing grip on the stupid chunky handles extendable dog leads have. And while I'm at it, vet practices that have 2 steps and then a totally gratuitous extra 3 at their entrances! We had already negotiated the dog realising where he was and trying to run away, thus wrapping his lead around the pram and causing us to screech to a halt, whereupon he crapped on the path in panic, so I was not exactly in calm serene mode. Which is a shame, because it meant dog picked up my stressed vibes and promptly growled at the vet so wound up wearing a muzzle during the examination. And his toe isn't sprained, it's broken! Poor doggy.

on your behalf Too, sounds like an expedition and a half. Hope your pooch's toe gets better quickly.

Dream wonderful to hear you've managed a bit more sleep. Was paid night help ridiculous money?

Fishcake sorry to hear you've been having a hard time. I'm sure most people with toddlers are fully aware that they are not angelic all the time and would completely understand given your circumstances.

at The Shred chat. You're all already better than me though, at least you intend to do it.

DS is having his first day time nap of this week, I nearly cried with joy when he said he wanted to go to sleep as I'd already got DD in her bed 10 minutes before. I thought I'd have an hour of bliss to myself, maybe a short nap, maybe prepare tonight's dinner without worrying about DS prodding and poking DD, maybe get to start a book. Ha! DD had other ideas and woke up as soon as DS's bedroom door closed so I've been stuck on the sofa BFing for the last 45 minutes and now it's time to wake DS.

DD was awake from 2am until 4.30am this morning, not particularly hungry, just unsettled and full of wind. She was then up properly at 6.30 so I'm feeling very tired and disappointed we didn't get to 3 good nights on the trot.

Meant to say Jaggy your new pram is the same as mine (also in black)
Have you tried it out yet?

no! been so busy and with it peeing down with rain all we've done is go to the supermarket. do you like yours?