April 2011 - We understand no but we choose to ignore it.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Welcome Aprilites

I think it's all this nice weather! We're not stuck to the sofa and our phones.....Can I have a small clue, recovering, I'm hopeless at working out name changes!

In exciting news here, we had the first wee on the potty yesterday! Completely by default, as we're not actively training.....he was in the bath and went suddenly quiet. Having had a nasty poo in the bath experience a while back I asked him to let me know if he thought he needed to do a poo. A bit later he said he did, so I hoiked him out and sat him on the potty. He sat there for a bit, no poo arrived, but when he stood up, there was a wee! He was very proud of himself, so we'll keep raving about it and see if he starts to want to do more.

I have no idea either who the name changer is either!!

We had a lovely impromptu day out with the boys on Saturday. We visited a castle about an hour from us which I never even knew existed, it also had reinactors there - which ds2 loves. After that we drove to the north Norfolk coast which I had forgotten was so beautiful. The tide was out so the boys played in a channel of seawater left in the sand which was perfect. The water was warm, very shallow and teaming with small fish, crabs and prawns. Luckily we always keep emergency buckets and spades in the car so we were fully prepared . The day was then finished off with fish and chips on a picnic bench. We all had a great time.

I think we're going to have a quiet day at home today. The boys have had two late nights in a row and only snatched naps at lunchtime.

Dh is taking them camping next weekend with my family and I'm not going! Hurrah, two nights and days on my own. I know i will miss them and feel guilty etc etc, but I am so looking forward to it. Going to bed when I want, waking up when I want. Just generally doing what I want, when I want, with no ones schedule but mine

Well done with the wee, Daisy. It's amazing how exciting bodily functions become!

That day sounds lush, ILTMI. Beautiful!

Glad all is good, Twentieth!

Tis Me! The recently lone-poster of the West, been stuck at home doing potty training! Which is going ok. We've been out a little bit, but he's not asked to go at all whilst out. No accidents either.

And the rain came back yesterday. Boo.

Ah, gotcha RU. sounds like the potty training is a success. Well done both of you!

The quiet day has been a success (so far, touch wood). We all made a cake this morning - although both boys ate more banana and chocolate than they actually chopped! I bought some child friendly chopping knives from Pampered Chef and the boys love them.

I got to do some more work on my quilt while the boys had a nap, then ds2 has just gone to his Granny's until this evening. I think playdoh is next on the agenda for ds3 and I. We've got the ice cream parlour set, I certainly didn't buy it for me. No definitely not

I like the NC!

I am around but chez PiLs where it is hot, hot, hot and MIL keeps fussing over me because I'm pg and supposed to rest and drink lots of fluids and to top it all of DH's perfect brother has arrived with his perfect gf and I am a hot, sweaty, puffy, mozzie bitten mess.

M is nowhere near interested in the potty. Argh! He did a wee on it the other night and I try sitting him on it regularly but he just waits for his new nappy and wees! Little bugger...

The above is why I've not been posting. I'm grouchy and selfish.

I'm still here too! Not much to report - we're consumed with post- house moving stuff at the moment - still trying to get enough furniture to finish the unpacking. And clear the terrifyingly overgrown garden in time for a housewarming barbecue in a fortnight (aargh!)

We have moderate potty interest here. Occasionally I have let her run around nappy free for an afternoon and she's reasonably good at asking to sit on it if she remembers, but if watching TV or eating dinner she just forgets entirely. I'm thinking about trying it out in earnest over summer, but always envisaged taking a week off work to get it cracked, and work is way too frantic for the foreseeable to do that.

Hey! You are all still here!

Sorry you're feeling grouchy, Nom. But you are entitled to, so carry on!

We've just had the ultimate potty test: went into the city 40 minutes away, then got stuck in horrific grockle traffic on the way home so we took over an hour to come back. F weed in the travel potty first in the car whilst in a car park (first time he's used the travel potty), and then again in the car whilst stuck at a almost standstill on the traffic halfway home. I'm relieved we've got the first outside wee done!

Ecuse, that's why we've gone for it now. Save it till you've got a good block of time.

Dentist today said I've got to have an inlay. Anyone had one, know anything about it? He also mentioned a crown, but then said inlay.

Thanks for the advice last week ILike. The midwife I chatted to on Friday was great; reminding me that I had (eventually) got to 10cm on TENS and the lack of the urge to push and resulting c-sec was probably more to do with M's position. She also said that syntocin isn't used after a previous c-sec and that as my body had done it before it should remember what to do a bit quicker this time.
So I'm going to give the vbac a go, especially if I go into labour before c-sec date (which I haven't got yet). But as I've been saying c-sec all the way through I've not had anyone check baby's position or any engagement, etc. I need to ask at my midwife appointment later this week. My friend came round this afternoon with an exercise ball, raspberry leaf tea and clary sage oil for me :)
I'm getting to the 'fed of being pregnant' stage - I feel (and look) huge, I can only wear a couple of pairs of shoes (thank god it's summer) and the walk to nursery is beginning to take forever, though apparently it should be good for positioning.

We did manage to get to the wedding we were going to at the weekend, though arrived only just before the bride walked down the aisle. It was great to meet up with loads of friends from all over the country too. I'm just glad that we didn't add an extra guest part way through the day!

Still no potty interest here, nor with the toilet seat, though she likes to use the step to stand at the sink and wash her hands.

Signing in, my most exciting highlight of the day was the rather easy on the eye plumber telling me I now have running water in my kitchen again.
I am now also humming "poos on the patio" in my head to the tune of "cows in the kitchen" courtesy of ILikes post further up thread.

Day one of our holidays and dh is driving me nuts! He just can't relax. Must be doing something. We should have gone away, but thought it would be ok to stay home.

So far he has rearranged the living room, backed up the pc to an external hard drive, lifted the carpet in the spare room and screwed down the squeaky boards and tomorrow wants to cut down the trees at the back of our garden. He'll have nothing left to do by Wednesday!

[Sad] Going through a rough tantrum patch here - it's all centred on getting dressed in the morning, he just refuses, he can now see through all our negotiating tricks, and the last two mornings I've literally had to pin him down and force him into his nappy and clothes. It makes it worse that I'm on school hols at the mo, I think maybe he knows I'm not off to work? Mind you, we didn't go on our planned outing on Saturday morning either because he refused to get dressed so I'm probably just feeling guilty about nursery because I know he doesn't strictly HAVE to go. We want him to go to keep going through August (we were away en famille most of July) so that he keeps his routine going - he's also in the process of changing rooms so it's best he's there for all the settling sessions etc. They say he's happy and jolly all day long for them and loves the new room, so I think it's a power struggle rather than some awful nursery phobia. He's also waking too early, development spurt again, I think. Sorry for the massive ramble! Is there any wise alternative to wrestling with my beloved son every morning?! It upsets us all so much........

That should have been , pedantic use of capital letter caught me out there...... Should also add that I do have lots of practice to do so I can't just keep him at home. Justify, justify.....

Fizz, my DP's like that, it's SO annoying but actually jolly useful in the long run as I am the opposite and leave things like shed clearing undone for years even though they bug me!

I'd still send b to childminder this week if she was back at work. But she isn't, don't feel guilty for sending him.

B is a nightmare to get dressed in the morning. We have given up many time and just let him run around while we get ready in his nappy. He has actually started to dress himself.

Do y do breakfast first? May e try swapping the routine a bit?

We are taking b to see monsters university today! First trip to the cinema! Are we mad? Going to the 12.00 showing so there should be loads of kids. And we are totally prepared to leave if he is a pest. I have bags of treats to bribe him. I think he should be ok......

I'll report back!

Thanks, Fizz, for ideas and reassurance, it's SO not fun wrestling clothes onto a red faced, screaming, virtually foaming at the mouth child, is it? Apparently I went through a similar phase - my mum tells the story of how I didn't want my vest on - she finally managed to get me into it, plus the rest of my clothes, and I immediately ran to the other side of the room and stripped myself naked again! Come round to bite me on the bum, that one...... Was thinking of changing routine a bit and dressing him before we go downstairs, he's just so grumpy when he wakes up at the moment! His trousers looked ridiculously short this morning, must be tricky thing, growing, poor lamb.

Enjoy cinema - bet he loves it! There'll be plenty of other noisy kids there too, he might even be telling them to be quiet!

Still here - just back from hols in France with my parents. Bloody hell it was hot. V.relaxing though, and I have only gained 3lbs which considering the amount of wine drunk and cheese consumed is quite amazing

Will read through this afternoon, I'm taking the boys out with a friend today and I'm running a bit late.

Daisy - while the weather is warm like this I would take him in his pjs or nappy, whatever he will wear and let nursery have the battle. It will only take a day or so and he will change his mind.
T is a bit of a nightmare with this - but he insists on dressing himself from pullup to shoes. He is remarkably good at it, but slooooooow which is very frustrating!

Worth a shot, Ali, thanks! DP says he rang nursery just now and within two minutes of drop off he was his normal bouncy self. Maddening but reassuring.....

Well that was a disaster! We left early because b just wouldn't settle. Not helped by the fact a play scheme was in and running riot. I know kids have short attention spans but these kids were between 8and 11 I would say and they were awful. Running back and forth to the toilets in groups. And the leaders were sitting behind us away from the bulk of the group and were chatting the whole time! Staff even asked them to keep control of the 30 kids in their care.

Anyway, we will just wait for the DVD!

Oh dear, baby is breach. Back to a elcs!!

From what I've heard (and its not much) electives can be wonderfully calm and lovely. I hope yours is.

How are you feeling about it?

My cs was as elective as an emcs will allow, 24 hours notice.

It was a really calm experience. Only thing I regret is not asking for skin to skin straight away and asking if DH could cut the cord.

The nurses and anaesthetist chatted to us about the royal wedding the day before. My surgeon was Greek. He was gorgeous. The midwives called him gorgeous George! He was also very lovely and talked me through the whole thing. On the whole is was like I had a pedicure and came out with a baby (looking back, at the time I was os grateful to not be of anymore, then my bp spiked and they thought I was going to pop, so I maybe wasn't exactly like having a pedicure, but ykwim)

Fizz that sounds horrendous!

Green my elective with T was great, a totally different experience to my EMCS with DS1. I went through my notes with the doctor who performed my first section, and he said that there was no way DS1 was going to have come out on his own because of the way he was lying, he was totally stuck. He booked me in for my elective on a day when he knew he would be there to do it, and it was so so different and very cathartic. For one thing I wasn't totally spaced on masses of drugs so the aftermath was just lovely, we were tucked up in bed and feeding within 45 minutes :)

See, I knew I'd heard some lovely stories!