October 2011 - my, oh my, how the first years flew by!! It's birthday season!!

[MummyDuckAndDuckling]

So excited that the first birthdays are upon us! Will try get a copy of the stats..

I'm so sorry about the letter mrsH, how bloody crap of the hospital. It probably won't help but I still have days when I get a bit tearful. I tell myself it's a grieving process and I need time. I have been told by one or two people that I need to "get in with things" to which I say that I would never have dreamt of saying that when they lost their gran, why should this be any different? To me it isn't.

I find it difficult leaving N for work mummy, but when I rang on Tuesday to see how he was doing MIL put him in the phone and he blew kisses to me :) he has a great time at nursery but when I pick him up now he shuffles over with his arms in the air for a cuddle
.

Tons of snow here - we made a snowman yesterday. N kept wanting to walk in the snow but kept falling over, and in the end gave up and lay down on his back looking up at the falling snow :)

ips that anyone would say that to you. After everything you have been through. Everyone deals with grief in their own way, and while some people may be able to "get on with it" I don't think that's how most people cope (and if they do, it may be that they're just storing up their pain/bottling it up and will have to deal with it later).

DH/Dsis have had these sort of comments with depression. If it was as simple as "pulling yourself together" then people would do that and there would be no grief or depression. Sending you a big hug.

Duck after dropping off M at nursery on Wed morning I didn't see him again till Thursday evening. I hate it On days that I work I usually only see M for breakfast/nursery run and then 2 hours in the evening but long weekend makes up for it.

sassy at orbit

M is still a snot face and his skin is really dry with this weather. He was coughing a lot last night - must put some water in his room next to radiator as the air is really dry.

Got M measured last week and he is 11.8 kg (26lbs) and 84cm. Taller than average and weight is perfect for his height but even so we are starting to cut back on biscuits

Afternoon ladies, can I ask a question? How long are your LO's legs in proportion to their bodies? Seb looks like he has really short legs - is it just me?

I was looking at wellies yesterday and even the smallest size looked like they'd be way over his knees.

Engles On work days I either see Seb for about 2 hours in the morning (and most of that I'm getting ready for work) or 2 hours in the evening. Dh and I swap earlies and lates so Seb is only at childminder 9-5.

Ips we can't put Seb on the phone anymore to say hello as he won't give it back and just wants to press all the buttons .

ips what stupid people! Grief is such a personal thing how dare they tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing.

tally I think W is fairly 'average' in proportions but still very skinny. He's had a massive growth spurt the last week though and outgrown most of his tops but his trousers still fit!

W has started telling me when he's done a poo, he wanders up and taps his nappy then waits expectantly for you to do something!

M is the same strawb - he grows out of tops quicker than he grows out of trousers.

M has refused to eat his dinner for the 3rd night in a row. Wondering if it's a delayed reaction to his jabs last week. Or maybe it's just my cooking

He's normally so bloody greedy he gobbles everything.

Thank you for all the sympathy, feeling a bit better at the moment. Ips, I'm always shocked to hear when people have that attitude - so sorry that you have to deal with it, but it sounds to me like you are dealing with it well.

Engels, L goes through phases like that too, she's normally such a good eater, you really notice it when she doesn't eat for a couple of meals! The last phase was resolved when we realised that she wasn't refusing the food, only refusing to be fed! So it's finger food (or a big mess) for every meal now! And she's back to eating the normal huge amount! (At what stage do you worry about them getting fat?!?!?!?)

I've decided that children this age are gorgeously sweet and cute for a reason. It's mother nature's way of making us want to look at them a lot, to spot them being total monkeys! And also to help us forgive them when they hide things in the bin or dishwasher, or reset the phone alarm to go off at 3.10am instead of 6.10am...!

Mummy, hope you are catching up on your sleep, nightshift must be horrendous. Very jealous of your Canada trip!

Sassy, how is C doing? The whole ex, school and medical situations sound very hard going right now. Big hugs to you all.

Tally, I was recently thinking that L seems like she has a very long body too. Here ankle boots that she got for Christmas go half way to her knees!

Strawbs how clever of W! I discussed potty training with DH tonight, I told him about an article I read recently which suggested telling the DC what they were doing when you could see them fill their nappy, and also letting them see you on the toilet and describing to them what you are doing. It kind of made sense to me - however, his face was a picture!

I called the bank tonight to get them to send the mystery money back to the person who deposited it in my account. The lady on the phone was shocked and said she'd never had a phone call like that! She couldn't do the transaction and said to call back tomorrow, but to think about it overnight in case I wanted to change my mind and keep the money! She kept saying 'It's legally your money and it's not you that's made the mistake'!!

Right, I must get the washing out of the machine and get to bed. Fingers crossed Lady L has a better night's sleep tonight.

keep the money-

Did I say that out loud...

Hee hee!!

we're teething and mid eczema flare up. It has always been confined to his head before but now is all the way down to his nappy area. Anyone else's DCs acting up in the cold/teething?

He has a gash on his forehead from colliding with some bed side drawers as well.

Apart from having one bit in the night where he was awake for a while with his teeth, his sleep is pretty alright. He has two nights atm.

DS understands some questions and will nod or shake his head appropriately. Cutlery, no where near using, although as we did BLW and he refused to be spoon fed to quite recently he hasn't had practice. I load up the spoon if having something thick, but normally the mornings are busy so porridge we still have eats with his hands mostly.

DS will now tolerate his shoes, I tried putting some wellies on the other day but he screamed until I took them off, so we will forgo that until he is a size four (he is 2.5 atm). Still in 6-9 clothes, he hasn't really grown lately. sticks head in sand. I had a quick look at the centile chart but he's the same and basically would have to not gain weigh for ages to really fall down a line. Am assuming it is a walking plateau like we had with DD.

DD still waking on average twice a night, so the two of the them often compete for most number of waking. Wakings for DS I don't mind but just hope the more settled sleep in between continues.

sorry all about us, but have lost track of who said what in the thread as I read a couple and then forget the line.

Sleeping here has been terrible! My boy who once slept through most nights now wakes screaming most nights and the only thing that settles him is either DH or I taking aaaaages to settle him (feels like hours when it's the middle of the night although may not be that bad) or co-sleeping. Tired. Tough love is turning out to be really tough. Guess that's how it got its name

Although we just went on holiday and he slept well there -I guess it was due to being so busy and seeing lots of new things. And beaches. He loves the beach.

oooh sorry for killing thread with my monologue about self

pen you didn't kill it, it was just having a little nap and btw very of beach

climbing you really sound like you need a break. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be living with such interrupted sleep. Are you okay?

mrsh You just made me laugh out loud with reprogramming phone alarm

Managed to get M to eat last night by giving him spoons, filling them up for him - first time he has ever fed himself (with me shovelling the odd spoon in inbetween). But he wouldn't eat this evening (though at least he has gone to bed tonight - last night he was crying because he was still hungry and wouldn't go to sleep).

The bank has written me a letter - I've to give them permission to take the money back, another bank made a mistake by giving it to me.

Thank goodness I didn't spend it!!

Straw that's so funny!! Seb sometimes touches his nappy if I ask if he's gone poo poo, but he's not always done one. I think he's just associating the word with his nappy.

Engles was it on here or somewhere else where someone said you need to look at what they eat over a week, not a day or so. Could it be teething? Have you tried yoghurt, porridge etc and things that are easy to eat. Although apparently hard things are good to help their teeth come through. Seb hardly ate anything when he was ill last week - but he's certainly caught up now and is eating everything (including other babies food at the childminders!)

MrsH at alarm. Did you notice at 3:10am or before?
Seb is always seeing me on the toilet as, if I'm on my own and I need to go, I take him and a couple of toys with me! I don't do a running commentary though - maybe that's where I am going wrong!
Oh, btw - I think the lady at the bank is wrong and it is not your money unless it was intentionally given to you. But if it were me I would wait until someone asked for it back - their mistake, they should put in the effort to put it right.

Climbing Seb's eczema has flared up again on his back too. I didn't think of the cold weather.

Pene I feel your pain. Poor little thing. Could it be teething? Or he's hungry? When Seb's like that we always end up giving Calpol and some milk.

Oh no Tally, I didn't notice before! It went off and I thought to myself 'It can't be alarm time already!' (this isn't unusual though, I have this thought every morning at 6.10am!) and picked up the phone to hit snooze and that's when I saw it was 3.10am!

It was a bittersweet feeling - joy that I had another 3 hours to sleep but so annoyed that I'd been woken up again after only getting L resettled an hour earlier !

Have kept M home form nursery today. He had diarrhoea (sp?) last night and again this morning (soaked through his sleeping bag). I don't want to ask ILs who might catch it as well (and are not in the best of health) so have called in to say I'm not going to work today. And reckon it's a good call as have changed 2 poopy nappies since breakfast!

Definitely has a bug which may explain his reluctance to eat. I am convinced it was the curry DH made on Saturday Tally (definitely not my cooking )

always good to be reassured regarding your cooking

hope it doesn't last long.

Poor M. Hopes he's better soon

Busy morning for us. Our local soft play is £1 entry on a Wednesday, so we are heading there shortly. Took her last week for the first time and she loved it! Not so much playing tho, rather she sat in one of those coupe cars watching all the other children!! I think she misses that interaction with not being at nursery. Wish I could afford more baby classes for her :( then we have to go return a pair of boots that I got for her in the next sale, one was a size 4 and the other a size 7! No idea how I never noticed it at the time!! Then I need to come home and sort out the attic. It's being insulated tomorrow and needs to be cleared out . I've not been up there since I moved in 6 1/2 years ago!!!

Aww duck W does the same in new social situations - he's a real people watcher an he goes to nursery 4 days a week so I don't think it's anything to do with nursery or not

eng hope M feels better soon. W has had a temperature today so it's been calpol to the rescue. Given him another dose before bed so hopefully he'll sleep ok and be better in the morning.

eng poor M!

Duck yay for cheap soft play! I don't know about you guys but find A needs to play outside now or in larger spaces, it's become harder to be in other people's houses.

Re shoes I ordered some for A on line and got the sizes wrong so have some shoes that would probably fit a 7 year old. Hmmmm.

Operation stop co-sleeping is still going badly. Last night I gave in after 15mins of screaming. Sigh. I think it is simply that he likes sleeping with me rather than pain etc. Wish I could go back in time and never ever cosleep - we never did it before he was sick before xmas.

Pen-- what about moving the cot or putting up a travel cot in your room for a little while till he is used to sleeping near you, but not in with you. May help with the transition back to his own room. Just a thought, no idea if it would work

And yes to needing to be outdoors!! The other day while we were visiting my parents, S just wandered around the house moaning like she was truly bored!!! It was freezing outside but I wrapped her up and she plodded around the garden for half an hr, came back in a much better mood!! Think she needs a big run about now to burn off all this toddler energy!

Had a great morning at soft play. She even went on the bouncy castle . Honestly had to drag her out crying after an hour as I wanted to take her to be weighed at the baby clinic. Must start doing it more!

Hope temp is better strawberry

Still poo central here but M did eat some fish fingers this evening so am hoping he won't be up at 5 hungry like he was this morning.

My weekend starts here

pen I always kill the thread. i have become a teeny bit paranoid about it.

eng glad m is recovering, even if it is slowly.

All fairly well here at the moment. Isobel was complaining 'ouch my eye' a lot, went to the docs on tues and she has an infection, so we have drops. It wasn't sticky though, so definately the early stages i think.

I think i need to take eva to a soft play soon. I forget that the twins go twice a week and she's stuck in. Wherenever jacob opens the gate on the dining room into the hall, she is off towards the door! We do go once a week, but it would be nice to go with dp on a sat at some point.

Unfortunately one of the rentals we bought is dragging on and on. Dp goes nearly every night after work and at the weekends. I can't wait til it's finished. I sent him a text a week ago that said something along the lines of, 'i can't watch these kids every day and night, and at weekends, without a break. I'm bound pack my bags.' So he has come back a few times a bit early to help put them to bed and gone later at the weekends. I know it's just as awful for him to be there after work too, and he just wants to get it over with, but i was seriously at the end of my tether.

I have been getting my ass in gear with regards to the house. I do the bathroom every week, but i have ignored the floor a lot a few times. Decided it needed wiping- i dont do mops, so it's hands and knees scrub job. Was very pleased with myself, put down a clean bath mat and everything. Gave 3 youngest a bath last night, and while my back was turned, Isobel wee'd all over the tiles! Typical!!!

mrsh Boo! (about the money) but probably a good job you didn't spend it.