December 2011 - they'll soon be one, put away the <haddocks> and bring out the bunting!

[seven77]

I loved kate's thread name but thought we needed a birthday theme for this one. We'll soon have 6 weeks of birthdays to celebrate!

I hve a bulk order coming Aethel :(

Squidge appears to have an ear/throat viral infection. Doctor said to keep throwing painkillers at her until it goes away. She's not amused, she hates taking liquid ibu:o

That's brilliant MissRee, hope you buy the thread some chocs! But that should go a good way towards Xmas. Hope you (and hawthers) get some good sleep tonight.
How's it going with the return to work h?

The gunk coming out of DS's head is (TMI and ) darker with little bits of blood. Not that he's in any way bothered, and certainly hasn't lost his appetite, given the piles of stuff he hoovered up for dinner. I am frazzled with work again, and I know it's going to be like this til Xmas- I just tell myself I'm lucky to have a job though...
I would say to order the biohaz suits aethel except I don't think we put them away

Doing pork in a cream and brandy sauce tonight- sounds dead posh, but the chops were only 80p each, we've got a little cream in for the carbonara, and we have some elderly firewater brandy knocking about too.

Yeah, LMF's right, the little blighters evolve... :(

Thanks for the information aethel. More to think about....

FIL is out of hospital and at BIL's house for now

My plan didn't work. She's been screaming for the last hour. Has had as much calpol and ibu as she can have. I really am at my wits end and don't know what to do with her

Oh no MissRee, awfulness - I'm trying to think what I would do if breastfeeding didn't work (still default mouth-plugging option chez Xiao) and an hour's screaming. Sling? DS usually falls asleep after a while on my back in the Boba. Singing/humming for longer than feels physically possible? A drive in the car?

I gave the sling to SIL as she's expecting but it was a stretchy one so I think Freya is too heavy for it now anyway.

It's not so much getting her off to sleep (or hasn't been until tonight) but keeping her asleep. So I could get her in the car and off to sleep but as soon as we come home, she'd wake and the cycle starts again. Can't really drive round all night

The only thing that works if my two really won't settle is to bring them in bed with me and hold their hand. Doesn't result in the most comfortable or restful night for me, but LO goes off soundly. Good luck MissRee hope she settles soon

Good luck missree have no words of advice as have never had this problem but it must be terribly frustrating

How did it go missree ?

We had 30 mins yowling at bedtime which never happens so we went straight to calpol as he's been clearly bothered by his teeth for q few days now.

All fine until 3 apart from a get up at 1.30 by ds1. But at 3 all hell broke loose. F was up shouting and would only be quiet if I was cuddling him, more calpol, bonjela and teething granules and DS1 woke up... Finally I gave him some milk at 4 ish as he had refused one if his bottles in the day and he wolfed it down. It still took 30 mins to get him to settle properly after that but DS1 was buggering about so not surprising. And of course he is still asleep now.

The question is could it be separation anxiety instead of teeth? I'm back at work next week and the nanny started this week and had f most of the day yesterday and Tuesday which match with the worst nights sleep in ages.

And my mil is coming to stay tonight and thinks children should be able to sleep through anything so generally isn't very quiet. And DH is out at a work thing he can't miss so I've got it all on my own hats off to those that do it on their own. Way better mums than me

I have the best DH in the world. Not only has he been trying harder to help me out and hopefully I can become a stay at home mum but he's got me & Darcie Robbie Williams tickets with Olly Murs making an appearance which will make us the best parents in the world. Olly Murs is her favourite!

for MrDSM!

hope you're still alive over there misree....

some house progress today, had a bloke over to quote for removals who was vairy polite about our hoarding tendencies....hope the quote is reasonable as he seemed v professional. They will give us two quotes, one where we pay a few hundred extra for them to do the packing. I am sooo tempted to say yes please as it will massively reduce the hassle factor. And managed to get a text through to our mortgage advisor who replied to say she will sort everything out tomorrow .

now off to walk DS into town in a cunning plan to force him to nap in the buggy. Have given up completely on cot naps at this end, he won't even sleep in his travel pop up cot anymore...

We're alive!

Had a much better night last night, I only needed to cuddle her back off to sleep once (with a couple of dummy plugins either side). Feeling refreshed today and even the tummy troubles have settled down.

Docs later for pill renewal and smear. Bleh! They've been sending me letters for years months about the smear but every time I've booked an appointment, I've started bleeding a few days before the appointment and then of course pregnancy. No chance this time though

from house of lurgy. Been reading but not posting for a bit. DP has been working away and DS has been poorly, had tonsilitis followed by ear infection and then the tonsilitis flared up again. He's on a nice long batch of antibiotics which i'm hoping will clear it up for a while.

Happy Birthday to all the babies who have just turned one! And healthy wishes to everyone who has been poorly.

DS has learnt his first word other than mama and dada, NO. Said repeatedly and with glee

ooh aethel a fellow cot refuser!

Another cot refuser over here . I've got a 90 minute Skype call with sleep consultant on Sunday, so we'll see how it goes. I've had to keep a diary, so it's been interesting to see how many times DS wakes. It was 6 last night .

It's very cold here today -22. I need groceries too, so will have to bundle Harrison up and venture out later.

We also have our first tooth!!

moose -22 (falls over in fright) I was feeling excited about it being -2 at the moment

Moose I have a friend who lived in Minneapolis when her DS was newborn and they actually moved from a house to an apartment with underground parking as they were so worried about him getting frostbite when transferring him from the house to the car. -22. Wow.

Another cot refuser here. He stands up and screams as though someone is chopping his leg off. Delightful. Especially at 3am. Needless to say he's ended up back in our bed at the first wake-up all this week.

Oh, and another one who isn't actually saying no, but stop when you tell him to the sits, grins and shakes his head. Before standing up and hitting TV/grabbing lamp/swinging door/whatever we've told him not to do.

Choosing a CM is haaaarrrd! I've seen 3. Lets say A B & C. C was a definite no. The other 2 are so similar I'm not sure who to go for. Same age, both been in childcare since school, both worked as nannies before getting pregnant themselves, both still in touch with the children they were nannies for. A works alone, has a lovely playroom at the back of the house with areas set up for painting/craft, reading etc. B works with an assistant and seemed to offer slightly more structured play. She had a group of 2yo there when I visited who are all being potty trained together. She already has a 10mo she minds full time so he'd have a friend there of similar age. They are concentrating on the colour blue and there were paintings (potato prints I think) up on the wall drying including one for the 10mo. I really like the fact she included them all in the activities even at different ages. I think I'm leaning towards C. Who incidentally is £5 a week cheaper. But she did say "Bless!" alot when talking about the children. Is that going to bug me?

Sorry that was epic!

Kat did you mean B?

Strangely, -22 isn't that bad. It's really dry here, so as soon as you get inside, you're warm. I don't miss damp chilly British winters one bit! The dry air makes static a nightmare though.

One downside is that the snow is too dry to make snowmen with. You can't roll it. The best you can do is pack it into blocks and carve it.

We live in a town house, so we are above our garage. Most vehicles have auto start. We have a swishy Ford Edge Sport (it's an SUV but its small compared to some vehicles here and 4WD is ESSENTIAL) which you can personalise the set up on, so it moves the seat, changes the mirrors and sets the heated seats and heating to the driver. You set it going by clicking the key fob. I open the garage and start it about 10 minutes before I need to leave.

Hmmm heated seats. What luxury. Although clearly essential for you in those temperatures!

Yes I meant B.

Having a duvet day today. We are waiting for our delivery of stair gates (an additional 3 needed in this house!!!) And Seb let us sleep for about 2 hours last night. We were strong though. No milk after 3am. As a result he did actually eat his breakfast this morning fir the first time in about a month...please let him nap soon. Yawn.

Today is first shoes Day I'd put it off but today is the day!! Then singing, swimming, lunch, shopping, car to garage I almost would be better off at work!!

Oh and DS just nosedived off the bed onto the floor it's taken 11 months but it finally happened

figgy if its any consolation DD has worked out how to climb on the sofa, she has no common sense. At this age DS would sit on it nicely then turn round and lower himself off again. I've already had to catch DD once today when she tried to launch herself over the arm. Hope figgyboy was ok.

moose wow -22!

No first shoes here yet, though she's walking more than crawling now so I guess we'd better think about it soon. She doesn't walk outside so I don't know whether its really worth it yet, I might just go for some soft leather ones to stop her slipping on the wooden floors in the hallway and dining room.

Sorry to those with cot refusers, Eva very rarely goes to sleep at nap time without five minutes screaming first, which my mum judges me for

Hi everyone,

I think I've finally cracked the childcare thing! Two days a week in nursery and then 1 day a week at cm (he will probably sleep all day at the cm's after two full days at nursery I think!). The nursery are sending out a letter today and we will sort out some settling in days in January (back to work at the end of January).

I'm strangely really looking forward to it! I think at this age DS is starting to need more than just me at home and tbh I'm not cut out for being a stay at home mum...it's bloody hard work & I miss the money and work gossip :)

I'm really lucky to have been able to take 12 months maternity leave though, I think taking this long has enabled me to make the decision of going back to work without feeling bad if that makes sense?

That's one busy day planned Figgy!

Moose I can't even imagine how cold -22 actually feels?! Do you have triple glazing windows? I don't think we'd manage in the uk, most of our houses are poorly insulated.

Kat I'd go with C and if you find she gets on your nerves after a whole you can always change cm if you want to. The main thing is that LO is happy and they do seem to like these jolly types :)

Aargh, just had a phone call from RM they want me on a training course on Monday about an hours drive away and to start work on Wednesday. I've just arranged the settling session with the CM on Friday.

Going to have to say no can do....not very proactive but 1330 on Friday is a little short notice to start on Monday.

And I thought I was organised for once