Dec 11: Not tonight dear, I've got a haddock.

[PerilousStiletto]

I liked this one. :)

Have you tried anbesol? I put some in my mouth and it made my whole tongue numb. Is a miracle worker on Caspar when he's teething. That and those tubes of fromage fraise, but frozen.

Anbesol rocks, I swear by it as the only thing teething remedy thatactually works.

queen sorry the cake didn't make it.

Evening... We use 5ml of neurofen syrup for the teething grumps over here. (Am on dH's phone, he has **autocorrect. It wanted me to say neurogenic but I def mean neurofen!!!)

We went to a really cool pioneer re-enactment village today, it was fab (went from 1820s log cabins to 1920s farmsteads) and the DDs totally loved it. I have so much respect for the labd settlers coping with minus-twenty winters in a log cabin... (don't go into the thorny displacing-natives stuff though, it is v complicated)....Came away with a wooden puzzle for DS, a Swanee whistle for DD2 and a wooden catapault for DD1!

Hope Boi is down to ten-a-day wheezing tonight and glad you're OK queenie even if the cake wasn't!

queen shame about the cake - how hard is it to follow basic instructions, idiot courier. I hope you get that full refund. At least you found out now rather than when you were doing a big order for someone.

aethel mmm mini donuts Can you bring me back a litre of maple syrup, I'll pay you handsomely

hop and seven I had to read your posts a couple of times thinking "Anbesol?? Why on earth would you put piles cream in your child's mouth??" and then I googled and realised that's Anusol

mopsy how far are you from London? Just thinking now aethel and I live relatively close to each other it would be fun if anyone else within striking distance wanted to have a meetup at some point before Christmas.

queen or any other non-slatterns on here, I have a cleaning question - we have a light coloured laminate floor in the kitchen, we sweep it about 100 times a day thanks to DS's eating habits and also it's the route to the garden so we get lots of mud. Mopping it is a headache and a half with the bucket and the flash and the mop and then changing the water because it's dirty and then we can't go in the kitchen and the garden while it dries and then BOOM it gets dirty about 2 seconds again so we let it slide I've heard tell of steam mops that you just push a button and push it around, as easy as a broom...is this true? Does it really get the floor clean? Should we buy one?

We've taken the bottom off DS's cot today to see if he gets out and runs around. If it goes well then next stop, toddler bed!

DH meeting with his chaplain friend who is also a trained psychotherapist at 3pm to talk about the anxiety and the nightmares. I really really hope it helps, or at least gives him an idea of where to go next for help. He woke up this morning exhausted after yet another broken night and said "I just wish I could have one night - one night - where I could have just a proper sleep and don't have to live through it all again and again"

To keep me honest I'm going to put my list here to get done while DH is still at home - next week is the last week before term starts, where did the summer go!!

• hire a mothers' help to start asap (since I can't carry DS up the stairs or lift him to change his nappy, DH is doing all that)
• buy or hire a set of newborn cloth nappies (if anyone's selling, give me a shout!)
• pack hospital bag
• buy toddler bed, mattress, chest of drawers for baby clothes
• get co-sleeping cot from shed and wash it down

I have this massive nesting tidying urge and it's driving me crazy that I can't do what needs doing because I can't bend or lift. I'm really hoping I can hire some insanely clean and tidy person as a mothers' help who will like nothing more than decluttering and tidying for with me.

Hello all, been AWOL again!

I passed my driving test yesterday, so happy! Nervous at the thought of driving on my own on Tuesday, got to drop DH off at the train station, then drop DS off at nursery, and lastly get myself to work! I'm going to drive us to Tesco tomorrow and on Monday we will do a test run of the route!

We've spent a fortune today, bought DS a winter coat, shoes (somehow his feet have grown to size 6.5!!), and Wellies. I just need to get him a rain suit and then we are ready for winter!

Off to catch up on the thread again!

Ended up back at hospital with a v lethargic Boi. Turns out he has croup, tonsillitis, a chest infection and an ear infection now. We have been discharged with steroids, antibiotics and a throat spray.
Poor lamb!
Xiao - I have a full set of bamboozle stretchies -newborn and normal size. Never used most of them. I spent over £200, and tried them a couple of times.

Oh dear peril poor old Boi and poor you - do you feel like they've got to the bottom of it now, or that they're fobbing you off by just treating individual symptoms? I hope he can sleep tonight and rest and recharge.

On the nappies front, are you thinking about selling your bamboozle stretchies? No pressure if you want to hang onto them for a potential DC2... And no blushes necessary!! If DS hadn't had a nanny looking after him in our own home, he would have been in disposables long ago.

Cheung massive congrats on the driving test! Now you'll need to drive lots and lots and you'll be massively confident.

Congrats cheung! You'll be so used to driving in no time at all, and will wonder how you ever coped without a car

PerOil I'm so sorry to hear that BOi's been suffering. I really hope he's on the mend soon

Xiao it sounds like you and yours have really been going through it again too. I hope today's session was helpful for DH and that you can hire the help you need.

seven I went for a copper coil in Jan, and so far it's been fine for me. As others have said, hormones were starting to mess me up, and whilst we're pretty certain we don't want any more we thought we'd wait 5 years or so before going the vasectomy route just to be on the safe side! My dad had the snip when with my mum, then went through the pain of a reversal with his second wife. It didn't work, and they ended up having to do IVF.

On phone and can't remember who else I wanted to name check, sorry! Sending out general happy and healthy vibes to all.

DS appears to have decided daytime naps are no longer for him (other than at nursery when of course he happily complies). He is coping with this far better than me! DD was at least 6 months older than this when she dropped her nap. Is anyone else facing long days where you get nothing done around the house extra time to spend with their little one?

Sending mendy vibes to Boi, 48 hours on steroids and he'll be tearing through the fridge at a rate if knots hopefully:)

Xiao I have nappies (2nd hand from a friend) only tried twice with DS and don't honestly think we'll even try this time round.

I think it is these I have 6 waterproof liners - 3 are lollipop ones size small, 3 are a different make (onelife) size XS. There are 10 of the shaped velcro nappies and also 10 flat nappies with 3 snappi fasteners. There is also a nappy bin, a mesh wash bag, a partial roll of flushable liners and half a tub of sanitiser.

I was going to try to donate them to my local nappy library, but it would be appear that they are looking for someone new to take over so they are just sat here. If you want them PM me your address and I'll try to get them posted this week.

Peril hope Boi is better soon xx

DS has been whingy all day, with a couple of tantrums which I still don't really know what he wanted. I may have had a little sob myself during one of them. Oh, then I finally got him down for a nap and SIL and DN turned up to visit baby so still didn't get a break

Oh well, DH is off for two days now so at least I can doze with DD between feeds.

Hope everyone else has more exciting Bank Hol plans that that

Sure there were many other things to name check but I'm going to bed!

xiao we actually were visiting MIL who lives down south but we live ooop north. Would have loved to meet up otherwise. I'd like to know about steam cleaners too as have exact same problem with my laminate floor. Hope your husband gets some useful advice to help him with his stress and anxiety.

OiPeril so sorry to hear about poor wee bOi.

aethel are you a fan of timbits? people kept telling me about them before I went to Canada and I just didn't really Luke them ... Too dry or something. Maybe I'm a weirdo!

We had a fab time at wedding yesterday. Going on a date tonight too. Yay!

Thanks faffin and mopsy - DH came back from his coffee sounding a bit more upbeat and with a name of a counsellor to talk to. I just hope he actually rings them up and gets an appointment next week because once term starts it's full on 24/6 and then collapse on sundays.

oi I hope Boi's feeling better this morning.

kat ooh thanks for the offer! Will see if Oi wants to offload hers first as she mentioned it first but if she'd rather sell on ebay or cloth bum mums then I will definitely take them off your hands.

So far DS is doing well with a three sided cot - I thought he'd be out straight away and running after me while doing his 30 second heartbreaking "mamaaaa" wail before passing out snoring but he hasn't! I don't think he's quite realised he can get out of bed without us helping him...we'll see.

Off to RHS Wisley to meet friends this afternoon, looking forward to it. Apparently there aren't loads of stairs everywhere and it's pretty flat so I should be alright with the ever-necessary co-drydamol and heavily elasticated support garments to hold me together and leaning on the pushchair. DH calls it my zimmer frame

I've had a few responses to my mother's help position but all from qualified nannies. I wonder if they're actually the right people - really what I need is someone to be me for the next couple of months - to get the newborn stuff down from the loft, sort it and wash it, be proactive and declutter and tidy the house, clear out the fridge, make a meal and leave it on the hob, basically do all the things I should be doing if I was fit and able to lift and carry. In my opinion that's a no-quals required, NMW job...not for a professional nanny needing £12 an hour full-time.

Why oh why was I born in the 21st century - surely by now we were supposed to be able to clone ourselves.

Poor Boi! What a dreadful combination Oi, if an adult had all of those illnesses they would be confined and on the peeled grapes for a week. Hope he's on the mend soon and it's not too exhausting for you and DH.

I'm drinking an 'oh gosh' tonight, ver' nice rum cocktail dontchaknow....

Had an interesting time at my Dad's...my little brother sadly decided to greet me with a practical joke pen, one that gave you and electric shock when you touched it . I hate that sort of thing, and unbeknownst to him, it is now an ex-pen... But in true English fashion we went for a walk through the forest in the rain; it was me and DP, DS, my brother and sister (15 and 10) and their step-cousin (also 15).

It basically looked like DP and I had been really busy for the past 20 odd years!

Hope your DS is a bit better too figgy, and that you're getting a bit more sleep. Having now seen an article about them being vandalised, I now know what you mean when you're on about Gromit-spotting!

Sounds like you're having an awesome time aethel, anything else exciting planned?

Well done cheung, and I hope it all goes smoothly...it's the other people on the road that are the real problem

And so, so glad to hear that your DH has taken the first step in speaking to someone Xiao. I wouldn't normally do it or recommend it, but encourage/nag/force him to make that call. I have been in exactly that situation with another family member- also related to pregnancy/birth issues- and it's so important for everyone's sake that he does it. And can't believe you'll be a Mum of two so soon, it's like we're all stuck on fast forward at the mo.

Off to a farm tomorrow- we're going to have a proper family day out, I can't wait

Well today DS has survived on a smoothie, a babybel, some melon, jelly and a few spoons of salmon, mash and beans this is day 4 of no milk and he recoils from food like it's toxic. He's happy enough in himself as long as he's nurofened up but definitely drinking less water/juice too. This is the first time hes ever not eaten EVER!!! Usually he's scrounging off your plate but he is not interested I swear he feels lighter already how long do I let this go on? He's eating a third of what he usually does refusing breakfast including soft things like porridge and weetabix won't touch bread so not had lunch for days don't want him getting Ill.

We went to zoo today his fave things were chasing pigeons and the ball in the lion enclosure glad we spent £30 taking him they have dino exhibits at the moment and they have a full sized animatronic T Rex DS was scared witless by it when it moved its head and roared leaped in the air screamed and cried then clung to me like a limpet until we got away from it. Poor thing .........me and dh thought it was hilarious .....evil or what.

Hiya! mopsy, Timbits are rather nice in that they are little manageable mini-bits of donut and so serve to counteract the excesses of North American snackage (admittedly not when you buy a box of twenty )

xiao I have procured you a litre of maple syrup, we may be putting it in its own suitcase to get around the silly baggage allowance (we are allowed five suitcases in the baggage hold of 23 kilos, but not two of 24 kilos...how nuts is that...)
I'm now worried about what exactly a woman in your condition is planning to DO with a litre of maple syrup...

Grim on the teething front figgy but have a look in his mouth and if you can see teeth coming just plug on with ibuprofen/teething whatever and pile in whatever snacks he will take. We had about ten days of DS subsisting on nibbles of banana and copious lollies as everything else got thrown...

Today we took the DDs to the coolest bookstore ever, it has a second floor that we've never yet reached as the ground floor is so fab... It's a wooden-shelved rabbit warren of floor-to-ceiling books, all about 3-8 dollars apart from the rarest/oldest ones and it just has absolutely everything, arranged by genre. The girls loved it and settled on four books each, DS got some sci-fi and I got two Canadian pioneer history books and a crime novel about a ten-year-old amateur poisoner of pies... Apart from shooing the DDs gently away from the vintage erotica section (not there, girls, those are Kissing books" I said, which amused the shopkeeper no end: she was a Princess Bride fan who got the reference, which explains what sort of a bookshop it is) it was all most straightforward. I love having DCs who share our love of books and geekery.....

Xiao - take up Kat's very lovely offer. It sounds like she's got it all organised. It could take me a week to find the bag that lurks somewhere in the garage/Lucy Tilley room. We have all the bamboozle nappies, and then a few other kinds (singles) that I bought to try. I really should get around to sorting them out and selling them.
The Boi is much better. Steroids are good aren't they? After being a lifeless zombie all day, he completely became himself again. But due to it being evening when they were administered, it was 11pm before he stopped running around and dancing.
He was much better yesterday. He sounds less like he's on 40 a day. He still has a hacking cough sometimes, and he's really clingy and very easily upset. But most of the time he's charging around and back to his usual self. However, he now hates medicine. I am bribing him with chocolate buttons. It's not working. He goes into full on meltdown - and that's not helping his sore throat. Last night we put the antibiotics in his milk. Anyone got any other ideas?
We have had family staying with us since Friday. Whilst I love having people around, and even though i said: help yourselves/make yourselves at home, it's still been work, work, work. All with a clingy Boi wrapped around my legs.
Hey ho! They'll be gone this evening.
...and then I'll be back at work.
Really need a holiday. Really need to get Boi a passport!!!!

peril if you can go back to the doctor and request a new script for non sugar free antibiotics it will help, and don't try to get it at boots as they only do the sugar free kind. Alternatively you can add a couple of spoons of sugar to the antibiotics and shake vigorously (as recommended to us by the boots pharmacist) but if possible try to go with the first option as it makes it so so much easier. I still don't know why they make sugar free medicine, I really don't see what parent would prefer to watch their child gag until they vomit to a little bit of sugar.

Oh no that terrible Oi, hope Boi gets well soon. Icecream helps with sore throut and soup, jelly and warm/cold milk and lots of hugs and cuddles xx

I have droped off thread a bit so off to catch up and place marking.

OiPeril can you hide the antibiotics in smoothies, mashed banana, yoghurt mixed with some baby cereal, half-melted ice cream or diluted juice? That's how we got stuff into DS when we were building him back up again after his rotavirus and immune system nightmare in January. How frustrating to have to look after guests as well as Boi and they didn't just muck in - really hope they step up to give you a hand today.

aethel this thread is like Christmas and you are awesome. I'm planning to drink it by the pint, isn't that what everyone does?? That bookstore sounds amazing. I bet your guys will like this when it's published - Knopf are bringing it out book one later this year: worldofwollstonecraft.com and www.kickstarter.com/projects/airshipambassador/wollstonecraft

Ok kat you're on - I'll take all the nappies and accessories off your hands, I can't remember if you live anywhere near me (SL4)? Or very happy to pay for postage and/or do anything else to help?

northern enjoy the farm today and love the image of you all bravely soldiering on in the rain with stiff upper lips

figgy I actually laughed out loud at your DS leaping into the air at the T-rex - my DS has done that too and I find it so hilarious when he gets startled! Especially of the hairdryer or any hand drier in a public toilet bad mama

Yup, Xiao, the only way it could've been more British is if we'd gone back to a caravan to eat slightly damp egg n cress sandwiches...

We had fun at the farm/history place today, spent four hours there and it will definitely bear repeat visiting. Only downsides were the amount of wasps and the fact that DS had dropped off as we arrived, and then the action of spraying him with sun cream woke him. It was ridiculous, we'd gotten him out of the car, into a pushchair and off with no problem, and then a little spray on his leg woke him! So he was a bit grumpy. But the history element of the place was great, the animals were fabulous, and so were all the play things- DS finished by going off on a bouncy castle and loved it- he let the world know when we dragged him off....

So glad the Boi is better- steroids are truly wonderful things, they have worked miracles for both me and my Mum. You must be knackered though now Oi, what a few days.

And I'm sure DS will be fine figgy, it is just really weird when they go off their food. When the bloody things pop through you'll probably just find he has a week of scoffing to balance things out, so I'd stock up now!

All hail the steroids! So glad they're doing their thing:) I once ate my parents out of house and home after a course of iv steroids. It was Christmas. Serious munchies!

cheung congrats on the driving test.

peril hope BOi has perked up a bit now.

faffin good to know you've had a coil with no problems, I'll definitely look into it.

aethel that book store sounds amazing, I'm very

xiao try Lakeland for a steam mop, I drool over them every time the Lakeland catalogue arrives.

Having never enjoyed exercise in my life I've decided I need to do something about my weight and overall health. I'm back on myfitnesspal, and I've lost 1.5lbs since Sunday. I also started doing couch to 5k last night, I actually enjoyed it and not aching as bad as I expected. Next run tomorrow, looking forward to it. I've started a C25K thread in exercise, there's 12 of us doing it starting this week so far.

cheung sorry I also meant to say congrats on the driving test. That's fab. You're dead right to jump straight in and get driving. I did mine eleven years ago now and rarely drove during that time. Now I've to do a commute of an hour's drive each way and I'm still nervous about it!