Dec 08 mums - any more for any more?

[JumpJockey]

New thread! Hope this is ok :)

[Rubena]

sorry 'their' not 'there' - cannot stand that spelling error! Really going now..... promise.

[Rubena]

Loving the weather! My rambling killed the thread. Back to Twitter then.....

[Artichook]

I think the miraculous appearance of the sun will be what killed the thread Rubes. We were all startled into baring our pasty legs and running out doors. We had a lovely picnic and hour on the boating lake in Hyde Park. DH now cooking a salmon tray bake while I lie about "supervising" the girls on the trampoline.

Did I tell you guys I'm off for a spa day and night in a country hotel with six girlfriends tomorrow? So excited. I really need to get off my backside and have a good session with a tube of Veet, I'm just not sure I can reach any of the Veet needing parts right now.

[DeidreBarlow]

I'm here although I've just been for a run and am struggling to breath

[McKayz]

I'm here. We were out seeing Meat Loaf last night. DD slept really well for my Mum and Step-Dad and drank from a bottle. That's despite refusing to drink from one for DH all week.

Then we've been out in the forest this afternoon enjoying the sunshine!!

[spotofcheerfulness]

How was Mr Loaf, Kayz?

[McKayz]

He was amazing better than I thought he'd be. But he looks knackered, he says he's retiring soon and by the look of it he should.

[beans37]

What a fab weekend! Happy days here in House of Beans. Had friends to stay and we've spent 2 days in the garden! Now sufficiently sun drenched and tired. We're watching Jurassic Park at 4. Girls v excited, but staying outside until then. Although.... It is quite nippy out here now! Clouds, damn them. DH has had to go to work this afternoon, which is a bummer. But I've bought myself a new rotary washing line and garden swing seat cushion. That's how I roll, man.

I cooked up a storm last night. Had another couple round and we had smoked mackerel and baby beetroot salad with horseradish cream to start, then roast lamb with anchovy and garlic and all the trimmings. Then a bought lemon tart with raspberries. Got to say, in an annoying way, I did myself proud; cooked up a storm!

Arti, how was your spa day? Did you enjoy it?

DD2 has started to stammer really badly. Mum says its something called Normal Non-fluency and I should ignore it, but she's getting quite frustrated and it's hard not to prompt her. Any other experience of it?

Brrrr. We're going inside!

[Indith]

how is it sunday night again already?

[spotofcheerfulness]

Ugh, up since 3am. Gonna be a long day!

Any advice about specific event-related nightmares?

Yesterday, T thought we'd left him in the car and forgotten about him. He was inconsolable for ages (we hadn't, btw). He settled fine at bedtime, then at 9.30 had a night terror (screaming, not really awake, but saying "i'm here" over and over).

Then at 3, he awoke with nightmares about being trapped away from me and not being able to get out. These lasted 3 hours - he couldn't get into deep sleep as he kept waking every 10 mins with a new bad dream, all on the same theme.

I keep trying to reassure him that everything's fine, but does anyone have any ideas for how to stop it happening again, or at least my dealing with it better when it does? I feel really terrible about it, it's the first time I think he's felt really scared about being alone and that I might forget about him .

[sybilfaulty]

Oh poor you and poor T, spot. That sounds miserable. I am afraid that we have never had that here so I can't offer anything helpful other than yo send you a huge hug and hope that someone wise will be along soon.

Shameless request ladies. I am doing the swimathon on Saturday and am woefully under sponsored. I have just shared the link on my FB page so if anyone has a few quid to spare and could wang it to the wonderful Marie curie cancer care, I'd be very grateful.

Ah, a seat at last. Have a good day everyone.

[Vagolajahooli]

Spot ds2 had night terrors for a bit though not related to a specific incident it was around when he was dropping his sleep and I think it was Arti who said it was related to being over tired which made sense. It resolved when I put him to bed earlier. I do think they go through stagesof being afraid of losing us. Ds2 is super clingy at the moment which may be due to school and missing being at home with me, but he does have a fear of being left behind & he looks visibly relieved & elated when I pick him up from school bless him.

Beans when are you in Lyon we are down that way in the may holidays. Dh has a conference in Paris so we are going there with him, then he is taking a week off and we are driving down to stay in a little on site van in one of our fav csmpsite chains. Even when it's cooler weather I can't get away from campsites. I'm quitellooking forward to it, but I have an assignment due on the 17th, 5 days after we get back so I need to get moving on it so I don't have to do much while I'm away

[Rubena]

Spot, sorry to hear about Ts nights. I was confused about when you said yesterday he got upset and thought you'd left him in the car? Do you mean he just suddenly started saying all that in the day? Was he napping at the time or something?
I'm not much help either but we've been through phases of ds waking in the night really hysterical but we can't get any sense out of him. For a period if about a week he would wake one or two times in the night or sometimes every other night but he never remembered in the morning. The only pattern I noticed was it was times when he was really really tired - over tired. It just sorted itself out in the end. Dd has had one or two nights like that but not for ages.

Schools update look away if bored by this. After all weekend going over options we had decided that if we got offered soon any one of our 3 choices that would be the preferable situation as we'd never planned on independent school until either secondary, or from when we moved from here in a couple if years if a decent state school wasn't available.
I decided to ring The council today to clarify a few things and get numbers on second round offers from last years intake. She got all our info up then put me on hold for ever to make another call. When she returned she said she wanted to double check with her people before giving me wrong info as there was a provisional offer next to ds's name. She confirmed a firm offer was sent out this mornings post for our first choice! I could have kissed her we are v pleased not to be paying private school fees until at least another couple / few years.
So I will now stop banging on about the school thing.

My friend just completed the London marathon yesterday to raise money for Bliss. Her target was 5k and she raised more than 6k I believe. Her baby was born at 28 weeks and is all lovely and healthy. She only started running from scratch about 4 months ago. I'm so impressed.

Sybs, good for you. I'm on it

[Artichook]

What fabulous news Rubes! And what a fast moving waiting list. I'm so pleased for you. I'm sure it's a good decision as although the facilities if private schools are alluring a good state primary is, in my opinion, a lovely way to start school: ultra local friends, a proper mix of the community etc.

Sorry to hear about T's nightmares Spot. As others have said I've noticed a link between being overtired and having nightmares. But ours were never about specific fears either. Why did T get scared that he'd been left? Can you talk him through what really happened and help him see it was a misunderstanding?

I am just back from a heavenly 24 hour break in the new forest: amazing spa, great friends, lovely dinner, stayed up to 1am setting the world to rights, gorgeous long brekkie and game of croquet this morning. Loved it. Now off to surprise DD1 by picking her up from school. I've never done pick-up on a Monday before. I quite like this maternity leave lark.

[McKayz]

That's great Rubes!!

Poor T Spot. No help here as we've never experienced it.

Sybs, will do it tomorrow on pay day.

My bloody sinuses are playing up. My nose, eyes, cheekbones and forehead hurt like hell. No GP appts so I need to ring tomorrow. It's my birthday tomorrow, I want a lie in not having to get up and try to get an appt.

[beans37]

Sybs, have sponsored. How are your sickly daughters?

Arti, that sounds smashing.

Kayz, yuck. You have my sympathy.

Rubes, so glad about the school situ. Hurray!

Girls watching Scooby Doo. They just love it. I've seen all the episodes when I was little. Genius! Dog snoring gently. I'm so very tired. Am dreaming a lot at the moment and I wake up knackered by it!

No tips on night terrors here, I'm afraid. I guess just comfort as best you can. Is there any way your DP could sleep inT's bed for a night or two, Spot, and you share with him so you can snooze while you comfort him? I did it with DD2 the other night when she was ill and it meant I got some rest. And she didn't cough much, just knowing I was there helped, I think. I'm really not a co-sleep person, but found for my own sanity it helped, or I'd have been up every 5 mins with her.

[DeidreBarlow]

Ahh Rubes that is excellent news on the school situ!! Such a relief for you.

Spot, no advice on the night terrors as I've never had any experience. I guess all you can do is keep reassuring him that your not going to leave him, and hopefully he will feel secure and the scared memory will fade. Poor chap & poor you.

[JamInMyWellies]

Super news Rubes

[beans37]

I started cooking myself a double cheeseburger at 7.45. I have finished eating it already. Deeeelicious! Oink.

[spotofcheerfulness]

Thanks for the tips, folks. I think tiredness did have a certain amount to do with it, (the car thing was that we normally take the stuff and Billy into the house first and come back for him, but maybe we took longer than normal and he started to panic). Also, my friend who I saw today suggested there may be a certain amount of separation anxiety with all the chat about school. Even though he isn't young for his year, he is quite immature, especially emotionally, and the thought of having to go to "big school", and the "grown upness" it entails, may well be quite daunting.

At last a local job has come up, but it's badly paid and a pretty dull topic. It's pretty comical in fact. But not sure if i should go for it because it'd be regular money (it's FT, 9-5), it's not too far away (two train stops) and I could then go onto something else. But they want an all singing, all dancing, policy, press, web editor, internal comms, research bod, for well under 30K. I should probably keep on freelancing until something more interesting comes up, but it is tempting to go for it as it's a regular wage. Hmm.

Rubes that is top news about the school. You must feel so relieved!

Arti, what a wonderful weekend, and the first nice weather one of the year!

Kayz, am a sinusitis buddy for you. Have same symptoms, tried sudafed, painkillers, saline nasal spray and hayfever spray. I keep expecting it to go away, and it keeps not doing that.

Nice burger action, Beans!

[Vagolajahooli]

Rubes that's brilliant news, what a relief. I bet you feel like you can breath again. Big glass of red for you then.

Sybly will sort out sponsorship when DH has sorted his pay into all the right accounts. Blimey I'm a bit of a keen swimmer, as I know you are, but 2.5km that's a long old haul. Is it in a pool or a body of water somewhere.

Kayz poor you that's a bit crap. Could it be hay fever? Happy birthday for tomorrow. Dh is still around isn't he?

Finally got started on my second assignment, I am a terrible one for procrastination. But finally made a start.

What a lovely day yesterday was so sunny. It is nearly Queens day here which is one gargantuan party, with a sea of Orange. But this year it is even bigger because Queen Beatrix is abdicating to her son Willem-Alexander. So we get a coronation this year, hooray! So anyway there is a big fair in town for Queens day & the boys had a blast at it and ate way too much sugar. Brilliant fun. They both managed to win a little prize too. Now bring on more sunny days please.

[Vagolajahooli]

Cross posted Spot, that's a tricky one, they are asking a lot for the money. So do you think it would lead onto something else eventually? Would it be nice to have an office & workmates though?

[Honsandrevels]

Brilliant school news Rubes!

Spot Never experienced repeated nightmares but there must be a book about them that explains they are just pretend etc. Topsy and Tim maybe? I know that won't be much help at night but it might help rationalise it in the daytime.

What's your second assignment on vag?

[McKayz]

Spot, I can't take anything other than paracetamol or ibruprofen as I'm still feeding. I was almost begging the pharmacist today for something.

Vag, I don't think it's hay fever. I've never had hay fever symptoms, just get this now and then.

We're going out for dinner tomorrow so I am hoping I'll be ok.

[sybilfaulty]

Kayz, when pregnant I had sinus trouble and used to inhale menthol crystals in boiling water. Big tent with a towel and breathe in. It helped me but I appreciate that it may be as useless a suggestion as a sodding gibger biscuit to someone with hyperemisis.

Cat, I would apply for the job even though the money is poor. Looks good on cv and convenient. It wd have to be strictly 9 to 5 though a d with a view to a move after a year or so to something where they recognise your fabulousness and reward it appropriately.

Thanks for the sponsorship and support girls. Hugely appreciated.