Still brooking no argument whatsoever that these babies are happy, healthy and awesome for 2013 too.

[jaggythistle]

eh. attempt at new thread. yo.

Hope your meeting goes as you want it too tomorrow Ninja. When do you start back?

Brooking your house gets sold Loopy. Roughly which part of the midlands are you hoping to move to? I'm East.

How's DS doing now Generic? I hope he's on the mend poor sausage.

How do you feel now you've come to a decision Dream?

DD is snotty again and I think I might be coming down with a cold too. I really want this snow to bugger off now, I've had enough of it!

Anywhere close to Stratford upon Avon, most of my family live round there.

Sorry for not name checking, lots of tidying/cleaning tonight. Awful timing, ds2 had his last load of jabs yesterday and has been v upset today, will have to give him lots of extra cuddles tomorrow to make up for plonking him down lots today :(

Hi ladies!

No Brooking for Loopy's viewing tomorrow! Argh! House stuff is so stressful! I hope the viewer just falls in love and makes an above-price offer on the spot!

I've decided to formally separate from DH, and so we had a whole bunch of estate agents round on Monday to value the house and get the ball rolling. I've been a bit quiet just because, tbh, I have this overwhelming feeling of failure which I hadn't really anticipated. I'm quite apprehensive about the future as well, and the stress of being a single Mum. So I'm not my usual self at the mo, but I'm trying to regain my positive outlook. I made this decision because I could only see more unhappiness in my future if I hang around, whereas if I leave I know the next year or so will be really tough, but beyond that I'm hoping for a second chance at finding the right husband for me and a great stepdad for DD. Who knows. I don't want to drag the thread down with this, I just wanted to tell someone really. It's so hard to admit it to people in RL.

More importantly poor little A's been through the mill a bit for the last couple of weeks :( She's cut four new teeth and had TWO colds from nursery all in the last 2 weeks. Her temperature has been around 38.5 degrees since Sunday, and it was consistently above 37 degrees for the ten days before that. I took her to the GP this week, just to be certain I wasn't missing anything important, but he's agreed there's nothing to be done except managing her high temps with paracetamol / ibuprofen. She's a little trooper though, still grinning away and chatting constantly! She finally figured out clapping last week, and now she claps all day long, it's her fav activity!

Hooray for Scarlet's DD crawling, and as per FB Purple's DS is walking!!! Our first walking mini No Brooker!!! All so exciting!!! Congrats LOs!!!

Sorry to hear that little A has so much company in the NoBrookerVille sickroom. I hope all the poorly LOs get better asap! It's heart-breaking watching them struggle :(

I'm following all the childcare discussions avidly! Dream 2 days a week sounds like a good compromise, when do you start? Good luck with prep, and with getting your Mum to do a day! Is your DH going part-time to cover his day, or has he moved one of his work days to out-of-hours? Ninja I feel your pain with the expensive nurseries in our part of the world! Sucks!

Pomme how's it all going in Italy?!

((((Scream )))) that's very sad news. I know there's obviously a lot more to the story than you've posted on here and you will have not come to this decision easily. I hope you have some RL support? Who knows what the future holds, you just have to do what you believe is right for yourself. You cannot be responsible for anyone else's happiness. As for feeling a sense of failure I guess that's inevitable, but hopefully that will pass when you become more confident about your decision. Is it by mutual agreement? Or has DH been hoping for a reconciliation?
Brooking for little A to get better ASAP.

Aaah, wrote a really long post last night, and must have not pressed post - sorry . Will try to make up for it now while Iz naps...

Scream, such sad news. Feel free to let it all out to us though - we'll always listen :) I hope as scarlet says, your sense of failure will dissipate as you become more confident and move on. It must be such a difficult decision to make. Many un-MN-y hugs.

Sorry to hear about A too. Hope the GP didn't mind you bringing her in with a temp, just to check out about other things. I did the same when Iz was ill over Christmas (to the OOH GP) - he seemed a bit bemused that we'd bought her in, but she'd had up and down temperatures for a week, and was pulling on her ears - personally I was worried it may have been an ear infection, but he shot me down for being silly. Better safe than sorry though.

Loopy, whereabouts in Anglia are you now? Hope the house viewing goes well. Hope it isn't too stressful for you - and same for you on the housing front Scream. Moving with babes must be so tricky. I got it easy when we moved - 38 wks pregnant - I packed some boxes slowly, then when the removal firm arrived I walked over to the new house with my mum and drank tea until they were done!

Generic, I've gone down the mini pill route. I was on the pill before, and have never had any major problems. That said, I do think it makes my moods more up and down... but at the same time, it used to make AF so so so much more bearable. Can't say if the new one I'm on does, as it hasn't made an appearance yet.. hmm. DH and I have had a similar discussion lately - we want another, and relatively close together (due to career decisions - rubbish when career rules life, but there you go...), but he's a bit unsure about having a vasectomy after no.2 - unsure about having one while still under 30! That is of course if we're lucky enough to have no.2, and if they arrive in a timely fashion...

Scarlet, the diary sounds like a good idea. Hurrah for DD's crawling!

Dream, paying to work sounds completely rubbish. I know your career is important to you, and obviously your registration too.. but there should be a better way around it :( They should be more flexible!

Sad news about Biscuits, but understandable. Brooking is one of my escapes from working personally . I also love reading the threads during night feeds!

Nothing much going on here! Iz is being adoreable, as per usual. I think I've found some more freelance work for a good few months, which is wonderful - just need to work out how to keep myself even busier during the days!

Right, going to post this before I accidentally lose it or close the window or turn off the machine and forget (again)...

Oh Scream, I'm so sorry! Brooking really hard for things to go as easily as possible for you over the coming months. Please feel free to come on here and say as much or as little as you like - we'll be here to hold your hand no matter what the subject matter. And poor little A being ill too.

Loopy, sending buy-this-house vibes your way today!

I meant to say well done to Scarlet's DD for crawling! And Purple's H is walking? Where does it say that on FB? I still can't see it.

Coincedentally, I was just about to post this:

M sort of walked last night! I'm not sure it counts as her actual first steps, though, because basically DH and I sat on the floor facing each other (not very far apart), set M on her feet and let her go. She would go step-step-step-fall and we'd have to catch her. She got really over-excited and started squealing and bouncing with joy and then started just diving forward when you let go of her, so we had to stop before she hurt herself. Shall try again tonight and see what she does. But it was super-cute!

What do you think? Does that count? I'm not sure she was actually balancing at any point during this process.

coincidentally

coincedentally

damn it!

Nice namechange too although personally can't stand the stuff Well done on walking little M! And for purple too! And for scarlet on the crawling!
I hope the house viewing went ok loopy It's a nightmare keeping it all tidy. Hope you get an offer soon.
I'm so sorry to hear that scream please feel free to let off steam here, it must be very difficult in rl. Will you move back in with your folks? How has dh taken it? Is he getting any help for his depression? Brooking it will all go as smoothly and with as little pain as possible.
Work meeting was ok but basically going back to work will leave me out of pocket at least by over a hundred a month till dd is 2 and even then we'll only break even Why is childcare so fucking expensive round here?
Would write more but got to pick up ds from school and that means I have to wake dd who is currently looking v cosy asleep on a giant cushion wrapped up in a blanket.

It's the first spelling, Too - think 'coincide'. :) And I think that defo counts as walking! Woo hoo!

Loopy how did it go?

Scarlet yay for crawling! Clever DD!

Scream we're here for you. So sorry you're going through this tough time. Sounds like you've made a very brave decision and sometime soon the future will be rosy for you again.

Dream :( about work. I go back next month. Really hope our bad boys' sleep improves before then!

Musical glad to hear about the freelance work, and that Iz is her usual adorable self.

Ninja are you in London? Childcare is scarily expensive there.

Gen co- sleeping is proving to be the only contraceptive I need.

I think DS feeds every 2 hours at night, minimum. I'm now wondering about moving him onto bottles overnight so I can try the thing where you water the milk down until it's just water, and then they miraculously give up waking for it.

:( about Biscuits

Obviously there should be a comma between Jaggy and Raa.

Do you know, Pet, now I can see immediately that it's coincidentally. I was just having a dumb not-blonde moment, I think.

Yikes, Ninja, that is really expensive! Do you have to go back to work (I mean to keep that particular job)?

I'm doing a low-carb diet, hence the nc away from MincePies. Plus, it's not Christmas any more. Oh nuts, I just thought of one I like better.

Pet, hope DS stops waking so often - it's soul-destroying! Brooking really hard that he suddenly just gets it and starts sleeping through the night on a regular basis.

What do you think of this one?

I live about 10 minutes from Huntingdon. I have no idea how the viewing went, so now in that horrid limbo waiting to find out if its a rejection again or not. He came on his own rather than with his wife and children, was v quiet and didn't here much of what he said. Nearly everyone who has viewed has said they don't like the fact we have a road behind our back garden but he is currently living in a townhouse on what is apparently a desirable but very busy road in Cambridge and is used to traffic noises (not that you can really hear much from indoors! It'sjust when in the back garden we can hear it. He doesn't have much garden and doesn't have a utility but just because we have plenty of both it doesn't mean he likes it enough to buy it. Can't help thinking he won't want it just like everyone else who has viewed it, feeling so negative about it all now as been trying to sell it for quite a while now.

Anyhow enough re me.

So sorry scream, I am divorced, and my ex had depression but he was nasty with it, a bully and I was scared when with him and so sick of treading on eggshells all the time. He went for counselling but I don't think it helped at all, in his case it just gave him opportunity to wallow in self pity and get attention rather than what he needed which was a kick up the backside in my opinion. It was easy for me though as no children were involved, I imagine its not a decision you have taken lightly and I hope you can keep things amicable for A's sake if nothing else. Is there absolutely no chance of working things out?

Pet re waking in the night and water....it does work :). Well it did for ds1 anyhow. He was sleeping through from 7 weeks (sorry but it is true!) and by 5 months he was going to bed at 7pm so we moved him into his own room as it also coincided with him being too big for his crib. Not long after, and definitely before he hit the 6 month mark, cheeky monkey started to wake in the night and the only way we could get him to settle was for me to feed him (he was BF till 15 months, no formula or expressed top ups etc). I talked to hv re this and she said there was no way he was waking from hunger if he'd been sleeping through for so long and that it would become a habit for him to wake up expecting a bonus feed if we let him. So we did what she suggested, Dp went in when DS woke and gave him a bottle of cooled boiled water in a sterilised bottle. DS drank it as if it was milk, and then went to sleep! No gradually weakening milk, just gave him water on its own. She had said that it needs to be Dp that does it as DS would smell the milk on me if I did it. She said ideally Dp should take a week off work and accept it will be a crap week of bad sleep for him but he didn't take any time off, said he'd be ok working if he didnt sleep (the world hs to end for him to take time off for the hell of it lol) we started this on the Friday night and by the Monday night he'd obviously figured out that there was no point waking up. And ever since he has slept through unless he has been ill. Can't guarantee it works for everyone but it definitely worked for us :).

And dream, that sucks that you have to pay to go to work. Good job you love your work as I don't know many people ( maybe none) who would pay to do their job. Is there any scope for your earnings to increase? Is there no way of leaving and going back or getting another job once the dt's start school? Or when they get the free nursery hours ? That's assuming the government don't get rid of that. Look away if you don't like rants....I know the country is in a mess but I have worked and paid taxes for years (i started working at 13 and worked full time from 18) and didn't have my first child until i was 34. All the time I worked I watched other people get child benefit, child trust fund payments, and the the health in pregnancy grant. I finally start having children and one by one they are taking away the things that everyone else had. I have never claimed benefits and it just seems so unfair. Particularly that a couple could have one person earning little or nothing but if the other earns £60k pa they lose child benefit whereas a couple could be earning £49999 pa each and get to keep their child benefit. How on earth the government could justify that the richer couples children need or deserve the benefit and the other couples children don't is beyond me. Rant over. :)

loopy I am your example of someone losing child benefit exactly as you said below. makes me feel rather stabby at the powers that be.
I have friends who live near Huntington, they live in godmanchester if you know it? hope your buyer liked it.
too best name change yet

Gaah, I am Not Well. Not sure if it's food poisoning or a bug, but basically I am requiring to stay within running distance of a toilet at all times. It is not mixing well with babycare, although M is being angelic, all things considered. She crawled into the bathroom looking for me twice - 'twas v sweet. DH has taken the afternoon off because I begged him to, and should be home soon.

How is everyone? Scream, sending you hugs.

Loopy, fx that the guy likes the house! What you say about giving water sounds like a great idea. I wish I'd known that when M stopped sleeping through at 5 months!

House still for sale, he told agents that he really could not fault the house but that the noise in the garden from the road would be too much for his wife :(. I am so sick of rejection.

Yes I vaguely know Godmanchester, went to a Chinese restaurant there once and been to Wood Green shelter a few times. (I like cats)

Ah sorry Loopy that's bad news. Have you considered dropping the price or is that not an option? If it's the road noise that's putting people off and the house is fine, that could be someone's compromise?

Already reduced it by £35k and not made a jot of difference :(

Anyhow, enough misery. Happier news is that ds2 was asleep in his crib by 7.10 tonight, so I'm snuggled downstairs in a blanket watching tv for the first time in ages live rather than catching up via sky +' and about to eat a hot pizza, and got a naughty drinkie on the side :) looks like we might have our evenings back :)

Loopy, so sorry to hear that :( I'm from nr Cambridge, so not too far from you (in Essex now though). I'm sure the right person will come along and snap your lovely house up - right when you least expect it. I hope it happens sooner rather than later :(

Fabulous that DS2 was asleep at such a good time though! Pizza sounds wonderful - haven't had pizza in ages . I've just spent my evening working, and more to go.. sigh.

Too, hope you're feeling better now? Bless M, how sweet :) I think they naturally want to check you're ok. I had itchy eyes the other day so closed them for a second (I could hear her playing on her table at the other side of the room) - then I heard her crawl across the room, climb up my legs and tap my hand until I opened my eyes! So sweet :) Lovely new name!

Does anyone have any cunning plans for fidgetty babies when you're changing nappies? I used to use a toy to distract her, and keep her lying down, but as soon as I put her down she wriggles, rolls over and escapes!

DD has a habit of grabbing her bits when her nappy is off so I either put a sock on her hand or something over her face like clothes, blanket etc which she then pulls off. I just keep putting it back until I've finished. It distracts her and she lies still

Ooo, thanks for the idea Rubber! The socks on hands wouldn't stop her from being able to escape, but we play with muslins over her head a lot (she loves trying to pull them off too), so will give that a go when she's wriggling lots and not letting us change her tomorrow!

I hear standing up nappy changes are quite common with toddlers though? She usually escapes to play at her toy basket - which she normally stands at - so I suppose I could always change her there!

I'm also from East Anglia originally. Beds/Cambs border area. Family are all from a vair nice part of Hertfordshire and mostly still there. (If I'd not outed myself before I definitely have now).

I'll keep brooking for a sale for you Loopy. Someone will fall in love with it.

Are you still using reusables Musical? I usually give DD a disposable to play with. Keeps her more entertained than any of her toys

I cannot believe we're being bombarded with yet more snow! The flakes that are falling now are humongous!

Oo loopy my parents are moving to Stratford at the end of Feb! They only live about 10 miles away currently (i grew up in Solihull). Tis very nice.

Italy going ok. I have sacked someone for the first time this week. Horrible thing to do.

I am also following the child care discussions avidly! How are you feeling dream?

Hugs to scream

Go...the...f*ck...to...sleep! I spent hours this afternoon trying to get M to nap, to no avail. First try at 2pm resulted in zero sleep, just bad baby climbing around the cot and standing up - I could hear her over the monitor giggling when she got to her feet, and then howling when no one appeared to pick her up. I gave in and let her get up again and then at 3.30 she napped for a grand total of half an hour. All my attempts to get her to go back down after that failed.

Pomme, eek to sacking someone. That sounds rough on you. Why did they have to be sacked?

Scarlet, I give M a spare nappy to play with when I'm changing her too! She always tries to grab it anyway. of your snow. We have torrential rain instead.

Rubber, M hasn't really found her bits yet! Btw, I have found all the bits of the breast pump and I just have to wash them and get DH to post them tomorrow when he's off.

Musical, I'm better today, thanks - yesterday I was still pretty rough until about 6pm, when I suddenly developed a craving for chips and cheese. Classy. M had a temperature of 38.6 yesterday afternoon but hasn't had diarrhoea, so I think she had a cold/virus thing (is also v snotty with bad cough) and I had food poisoning. Bloody DH's chicken curry with undercooked chicken thighs!