May 2004 babies - new thread

[helsy]

Well, d'you think anyone will bother?
I feel like I'm having a party and waiting for people to turn up. Dorito, anyone?

Hope you managed OK last night Egypt - that all sounds rather worrying. DD doesn't even get out of her bed. We went to Ikea today and she fell asleep in the car on the way home so I tried to lift her into her bed and get her to continue her nap. Anyway she just laid on her back and kicked the wall for 40 mins.

Hi all. DD has also graduated to big girl bed this week, after thrilling somersaulting adventures which she enjoyed but nobody else did. The new bed (well, cot bed turned into bed) has only one disadvantage - its lack of sides mean that all her soft toys spill out and block the doorway...

and talk about co sleeping, blimey... I almost climbed in with her as I put her to bed tonight. DD2 is in our bed all night still and hates being put down in the evening, so the whole 24 hours is tiring at the moment.

Am particularly toddlered out tonight. You know when you have nothing planned and it turns into the most stressful adventure of all? We went to the library and DD was in extra barmy mood. I love the phrase 'contra suggestive' (from my penelope leach book) for toddlers. That is what she was being. And more so when we got back home. Lots of tearing up important bits of paper and violent 'loving' attacks on DD2.
But DD2 has fallen completely in love with her older sister; it's so funny. She wakes up when DD1 enters the room and gives a sort of anticipatory (?) chuckle. DD1 has then only to open her mouth for the baby to end herself laughing. And today DD2 made DD1 laugh with her new sitting up trick; she was biffing DD1's little piano with her wobbly fist and looking up at us with such a chuffed grin on her gummy face. She may be a scunner at night but she's pretty adorable.

I go to bed at this time these days.... it's shite... honestly what a life... 9.30... honestly.

Spots I was in bed for 9.30 last night and mine are 5 and 2. DD is sleeping really badly just now - loads of bad dreams or sometimes just noisy dreams. The other night we had just gone to bed - was about 10.30 and we just heard her saying "no, no, NO" in her sleep - was so funny. Anyway DH woke me up coming to bed at 11.45 and then DD woke me up several times. She woke up at 6.15 and I went to her but she didn't settle, then DH went to her and she had a major rant because she wanted me, so he dumped her down in her bed, she was properly cross then back asleep again. But by then, of course, it was time to get up.

930pm is about my limit too! its all hitting off then with the bed thing. your dd's sound so cute spots.

dd was fine the first night after the fiasco. she slept through and called in the morning to be got up. thankfully ..but last night was a different story. would NOT go to bed. climbed out, screamed, ran back to the lounge (we're on one level), wanted a wee, a poo, a story, to kiss nanny, play with her bricks, another wee, a wee on the toilet, a wee on the potty, kiss nanny.... you get the idea. i tried the tanya byron rapid return thing but she got herself so wound up. my mum did the old 'its nothing to do with me but....sometimes its just best to bring them out and let them calm down'. hmph. so i did. she drank more milk in the lounge and had a bit of a story. then we put her sleeping bag on her in the lounge rather than in her bedroom as that was part of the struggle and she went straight to bed as normal! didnt get out or anything. then at 2 heard her calling and wanting more milk. went into her and she was out of bed. bum. she asked to go back after her drink. then at 730 i heard a door open and shuffling down the hall. straight into the kitchen she went with a croaky voice 'nanny?'

so i guess she is the sort of child to get out at will. so many people have lo's that call and never get out of bed. and considering dd's routine IS to call - her whole life, why is she getting out now?! phew. i'm tired.

sorry to ramble. this had kind of upset our nice easy life with a lovely bedtime iykwim.

So frustrating isn't it Egypt? I am a wise secondtimer. DS was always one to call and not get out of bed. But on weekends we got into the habit of shouting back "just get up". And he took to doing it everyday at about 5am. So I never do that with DD and luckily she hasn't taken it on herself. Also she can't because she is still in a sleeping bag. Hmm wonder if DS could do the zip for her on a weekend?

hee hee
unfortunately dd can so anything in her sleeping bag. my mum reckons that if we bought her a duvet she would be more inclined to go to bed. but i think that would just create more probs. ie, kicking covers off, the novelty would wear off, she actually likes her sleeping bag despite fighting me lately. what do others think? what are your experiences with quilt vs bag? i am tempted to go and get a nice girly duvet and cover set, but thats just my 'need' to shop rather than her need for one!

DS came out of sleeping bag when he went into a bed and had covers - that was May and always kicked them off. About October he started waking up cold all the time. So we put him back in a summer bag with the duvet on top, seemed to keep the covers in place as his wriggling was inside the bag and also if a leg or whatever came out, it stopped the draughts. DD has a duvet but it is folded down and has a plain cover on. I will get her a girly cover when we decorate her bedroom which should be next year.

DD has a soft brushed cotton cover on her downie. She loves it. Now, don't all rush at once... but it's so soft she has been known to turn over and snuggle back down to sleep upon waking in the morning. The whole quilt thing has therefore been a ringing success for us.

so where's this soft cotton cover from then~? is there one online?

You will have to await Spots on that one. DD has a kids starter duvet from Argos and a blue jersey cover (inherited from when DS was this age) from Asda. But as I said it is folded in two.

My main issue with the sleeping bag is that DD is nappyless at night. When DS was nighttrained we left a potty by the side of the bed. But he was so much older and more able to manage these things. I don't suppose it would make much difference since DD refuses to wee when she gets up anyway. So we send her to nursery at 8 am having not had a wee for 13 hours. Wish I had that level of bladder control! AND she has slept through 2 nights this week.

Dunelm Mill! We got single covers even for mini downies, with the thrifty thought that I could take a big tuck in them which could then be let out as the DDs graduate to full size single beds and downies later on.

im in bed at 9.30 also. dh only gets in from work at 7 so im in bed about 1hr after dinner, what a life eh!
dd has taken to waking at 6am and then is so grumpy by 11am shes impossible to take anywhere, plus shell only nap if were in the car so most days are very trying.
bozza- ive just started getting lazy and saying to dd' come on then im in bed' maybe ill have to stop that sharpish before she realises she can get out at any time.

weve got a quilt on dds bed with a sheet which she insists on having on her on even the hottest nights, i have to take it off her when shes asleep and sweating. i think its too high a tog though, its a child starter quilt but tog 10.

I think DD's is like that. It is a lot thicker than DS's, but his is just an old one that my MIL gave me for the spare bed when I was renting a flat before DH and I even bought a house - so that is saying it was second hand 10 years ago. But he is such a hot thing.

It was DS's first day at nursery today. He was a little star. No crying involved from either him or myself. I did feel very sad though. I hope all his days go this way.

Hey everyone,

Well, we've been to France and now we're home again and I have to say I've never been so glad to be home again in my life.

the trip was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Our flight leaving Edinburgh was late so we were late for our connecting flight. They made us Run and I mean RUN to the last gate in the entire universe it seemed, for the plane. And when we landed in Bordeaux it appeared that we made the plane but our luggage didn't! that was the Tuesday, we didn't get out bags until 10pm on the Wednesday night, so we spent the whole day in a temperatures of 37 degrees celsius with only the clothes we stood up in, no hats, no suntan lotion, no swimmies, it was awful. I really wanted to just come home.

On the upside the rest of the week was better once we got our bags. We could go out in the sun, go swimming etc. the wedding was good, if a little different to everything we've ever been to before and it was nice to see dh's friends who we haven't seen for ever so long. the girls had a great time.

The place we were staying was a tiny little place in the countryside, we stayed in a campsite with no shop or restaurant, no car to take us anywhere and it was too hot to walk. But there was a mountain bike with our chalet so dh would cycle off in the morning to the little shop and get bread etc.

all in all it was an experience but not one I'd like to repeat.

dd's school was ok about her going away during term time. She had to fill in a homework diary and I printed out photo's for her to take with her to school to show everyone. Most of the kids were mostly interested in the wedding cake which was fab.

dd2 had a brilliant time. she loved the pool and liked jumping in and going right under the water, no fear in that child. unlike dd1 who just clings to the side of the pool.

so now life has returned to normal, back to school and work and dd2 being her usual self.

better get to bed just thought I'd pop in and say hi.

by for now

Linnet

Sounds quite an experience Linnet. Impressed at DD2 in the water - unfortuately DS is like DD1.

where is everyone?

sounds like a nightmare linnet. nice to hear from you.

mum has just left after being here 10 days. dh will be home from his epic trip to china, singapore and india in about half an hour. dd is saying 'i dont want daddy to come to my house. daddy go to his house. where's nanny?' worrying.

Well I'm still here! You can't get rid of me that easily. How did DD greet DH then Egypt?

DH been away from 6.30 Tuesday to after 6 today. I had a right job tonight, dashing away from work, throwing £10 petrol in my car just to ensure it would get me home (light on since yesterday), racing to CM and then to nursery and home in time for Asda coming at 6. Just would happen to be busy at work when DH is away.

DD has slept through the last 2 nights though so life is much rosier. She is insisting on wearing pants under her pjs even though DS has visually demonstrated that he doesn't. And TBH she is a bit smelly . I think it is a girl thing because DS never got smelly like that. But pants, long pjs (she insisted, apparently she doesn't like her Dora ones anymore and has also fallen out with her nighties) and a sleeping bag (only lightweight) when it is as warm as this is bound to make her a bit sweaty.

I'm here, too. Glad DD is sleeping Bozza.

Yes what did she say when he got back? How are you feeling at the moment?

My god, Linnet. That sounds like a very stressful holiday.

Well I'm off to have a glass of wine and cut into DS's precious ba-de-ba (sleeping bag comforter). He drags it with him everywhere he goes and it returned from nursery all painted blue and yellow today! I've decided it's time for it to become a waistcoat so it isn't so stupidly large. I'm going to don a hard hat when I show it to him for the first time. I have a feeling he might be a little cross. At least I'm not cutting off the bit he really likes and bites on the arms and at least he has another one if he takes it reeeaaaalllly badly!

gosh, best of luck ponka, how did that go?

well, dd tried to shut the front door on him, then turned her head away in a shy way when he tried to kiss her. then spotted his suitcase and said, 'where's my present?' and spent the next 20 mins with him in the bedroom unpacking and playing 'boating' in the open suitcase!

dh came home with jetlag and a rotten cold - well manflu actually. and , bloody hell..... is he hell? sniff sniff, cough ..oh god...my head aches...my sinuses hurt....etc etc

WELL I HAVE FELT SICK FOR THE PAST 2 MONTHS BUT I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO PUT MY FEET UP AND WATCH TV ALL DAY LONG WHILST YOU RUN AROUND AFTER ME MAKING ME LEMSIPS!!

plus we are looking after next door's 2 labs for 2 weeks whilst they are on hols. have been looking forward to dh coming home so can walk them together. my mum hates dogs and whilst she was here managed to walk them with me, or look after dd. dh is the one who actually WANTS a dog but, oh no, he's far to poorly to walk down the lane and back OR look after dd. so there is ME, PREGNANT, CARRYING DD DOWN THE LANE, as she's scared of cars and WALKING 2 DOGS. aarrrgh

glad he's home?

.......and now he's on the golf course....

Surely he could manage to sit in front of Cbeebies with DD for a short while Egypt? Doesn't sound like the homecoming went too badly. When my sister was born and my Mum was in hospital I was 17 months and went to visit and hid behind my Dad. Bet Mum was well chuffed about that!

Ponka you are being very brave!

DD forgot to insist on pants last night. But when I finally persuaded her to go to the loo this morning and she discovered she didn't have any on she had a right strop. We've been to the Railway Museum today with a friend and her DS. DD was like a mad thing running off all the time.

... and Egypt guess where DH was while we at the NRM?

Oh Egypt. That sounds like hard work. You have 2 kids to look after

I'm glad DH isn't into golf. At least when he's on his computer he is in the house for me to shout him in an emergency.

Well cutting ba - de - ba went quite well, although my sewing is pretty appauling. It seems that if I call anything "special" then DS likes it so this was introduced to him this morning as his special new small ba - de -ba waistcoat and he actually laughed and got quite excited. I think I'll have a go at the other one now. They'll be pleased at nursery. One of the carers looked shocked and said "please tell me that's not his comforter" on his first day! It is huge. At least it's half the size now.

lol ponka, glad it went well.

yes he could have watched cbeebies with her and prob would have to be fair - IF i had asked him. but, dont know if you're like me, but i wind myself up by thinking that he should offer and i shouldnt HAVE to ask! dd likes coming out to walk the dogs anyway, even though she wont actually walk much! and i knew if i'd left without her she would have thrown a strop so couldnt be ar*ed with that. stubborn of me really. but he is a sod. aaaaaanyway. he came home and walked them and even did his tea, AND managed to somehow find it in him to ask me if i wanted anything. (this is rare). so i guess a bit of realisation going on.

bozza, had to laught at the whole pants thing. why are some things so massively important to them? like with dd, she HAS to come with me to make her milk so that she can count the numbers on the microwave. if i dare to make it without her she goes mental, and insists it goes back in so she can 'count the numbers'. but then of course its too hot, which she cant understand. so i have to water it down with cold water......and the evening continues....