July 2005 babies - we are one!

[mrsdarcy]

Hooray for the next year!

And a happy birthday to all our readers

Honestly, every time DD gets a new tooth we have days and nights of misery. Poor Hattie. She now has 8 and seems to be cheering up a little bit.

My brother lent me a push-along trolley thing for her and she LOVES it! The boys line her up with it where she has a good clear run, and she pelts along, grinning her head off, whilst they cheer her on . It's lovely having them all home together.

Its turned cooler here. Yesterday was hot and didn't go to the beach till 4.30pm ( v lucky here, the beach is just 10 mins away). ds had a late nap and the weather was perfect, just lovely and warm. It's a tiny beach in the harbour so very shallow safe water, lots of boats and a couple of pubs just nearby. I phoned dh and he came down and we had a beer on the beach and all stayed till 9pm (who needs to go on holiday on days like that?) Then we put all 3 kids in the shower and they ate their dinner very late at 10pm and went straight to bed. dh and I didn't eat till 11.30!

Bagpuss - hope your ds is better now.

hi all

we got back yesterday from a week in devon with the inlaws. it's a bit of a shock to be stuck in the office rather than lazing by the pool........ dd had a marvelous time sliding down deckchairs & sand banks, & thorougly enjoyed chasing waves. she's refused to walk again, though spends more & more time standing so it won't be too long. ds had a fabulous time with his cousins & learnt how to swim a whole length.

food-wise, dd eats anything & everything. particular favourites are strawberries, olives (ds ate them at the same age too, then went off them...), tomatoes, pasta, and nectarines. she's not keen on lumps of cheese, but i sneak it into things. oh yes, & she loves lentilly things. am going to try chickpea curry tomorrow.

I misread that, HC, as "...cheese, I sneak it into things, oh yes...". She WILL eat cheese, oh yes!

aaaanyway, I went to see a childminder today about taking DD one day a week. I got very defensive the other day when a friend commented on what a luxury it is when I am already at home all day. This is the friend whose DH is home early each night, at home for a couple of months over the summer, is taking their baby for 2 working days whilst she does some work... I am looking at 5.5 hours a week TOTAL. DH is great but not much use with babies and I literally do everything. Which is just fine but it means I can't get my hair cut, or do anything at all without her attached to me.

Sound rather guilty and defensive don't I. Sorry...
The childminder was v nice and DD starts in September.

how lovely mrsd. i bet you & dd will both have a great time!

That sounds good mrsd, am a bit - would love to have a haircut in peace. Don't feel guilty about it, as HC says, you will both have a great time .

ds2 all better now and seems back to his cheery self. I wonder if he was a bit dehydrated with the heat as he seems to be drinking loads more now. Speaking of haircuts, ds2 is going to have his done next week, his hair has grown so much and dh is complaining that he is starting to look like a girl .

HC, the holiday sounds great. We are off for a long weekend before ds1 and dd are back at school. Other than that we have no plans as we are very disorganised. May do some day trips next week as dh has a week off work then.

I think that sounds like a brilliant idea MrsD. It will enable you to have more energy to give to Dd if you have a small break from her once a week. A happy mummy is a good mummy!

We've had a bit of a fright with dd2. I got a call last week from the nursery telling me that she wasn't breathing properly and they were phoning an ambulance for her! It turns out that she had tonsillitis. She's Ok now apart from absolutely hating the medicine she's on. Poor love. It was so distressing seeing her with an oxygen mask on. She did seem to get better very quickly though.

Other than scaring her mummy and daddy, dd2 has been busy walking at nursery but refusing to do it at home. Everyday her feedback sheet tells me how many steps she's done. Yesterday it was 10. The most I have seen was 3. She loves her baby walker (MrsD, dd1 plays the same game your boys play with dd2) but won't walk alone at home. She likes me to carry her.

As to the food front, she eats everything. Current favourite food is raspberries. She will eat a whole punnet! We do some eating with fingers and some with me feeding her with a spoon. It all depends on how much of a rush we're in. When are we supposed to start getting them to feed themselves with a spoon? (Or should I be doing that already?)

Hope the haircut goes well Bagpuss. I think its going to be a long time before I need to take dd2 to a hairdresser! She's folically challenged!

I'm so glad DD2 is ok, Belo. How frightening for you. I guess it's reassuring that the nursery handled it well.

oh, DD is having horrible baby tantrums. She really flips out and smacks anyone who goes near her. She did it today on the train (both journeys ).

Oh dear, is this the beginning of the terrible twos for you MrsD? Girls are supposed to start earlier than boys. Dd1 definitely did.

Glad nothing serious with dd2 Belo.

Oh dear, mrsd . Would it be very awful of me to point out that my dd (who is 4 in a week) is still going through this phase too ......

Bagpuss, my dd1 is 4 in a month and all of a sudden has become so much better behaved. It happened overnight about a month ago. Everybody at her nursery has commented on her transformation. Hopefully it will happen to your dd soon.

But, that's not good news for you MrsD. 3 years of temper tantrums to go!

Oh blimey, could this really be the terrible twos already . We've already stopped going out for lunch as it's just not relaxing. Because the boys are a bit bigger (6 and 5 now) we had a couple of years of being able to go out as a family in quite a civilised way.

It's like getting to the end of a game of snakes and ladders and landing on a v long snake .

We now have a lovely sitting room and have painter and plasterer booked in to do the other sitting room and the 3 main bedrooms in October and November. So we have somewhere to put a babysitter - all I need to work on now is how to get DD to settle if she wakes up during the evening and my boobs aren't there - any ideas?

How is your DD2 today Belo?

Mrsd, does that mean that there will be no lovely lunches in Manchester or thereabouts for us come the return of school. I do hope not. If you fancy putting a date in the diary for next month sometime then let me know. DH keeps telling me Le Petit Blanc is very good (child friendly too) and does a good lunch menu for a tenner a head. at "other sitting room". dh still remains unconvinced that we need any extra living space here so my plans for a conservatory have been thwarted. It is satisfying when all the jobs around the house that need doing get completed though. We have just had our flooring replaced in the upstairs bathrooms and a new carpet on the stairs. I keep remarking that the house now looks and smells just like a show home, that is until you open any of the doors to the rooms . Not sure how you get around the no bf in the night thing. Have you tried introducing a cup of cow's milk yet?

Belo, thanks for that. dd is actually fine in the company of others, its just at home that she does it. She starts school in a month, goodness knows what she will be like then.

If I can sort out someone to collect the boys from school, then I'll give DD the opportunity to surprise me! Would Le Petit Blanc have anywhere she could crawl around? I can't see her accepting being strapped in her pushchair all day. It would be lovely to have a day out in Manchester (and of course to see you and DS2!)

Have e-mailed you with another suggestion, mrsd .

Hi again,
Well, it's a miserable day in London and my poor little dd is going stir crazy! She is having a bit of a clingy time at the moment and likes to be cuddled a lot- quite difficult when you're trying to get to the shops with the rain hood on!
MrsD, I think my dd is a bit terrible ones as well- she is very strong-minded and screams when she can't rip up the Guardian Guide as soon as it comes out of the pack- I don't know where she gets her bloody-mindedness from...
and I thing it's great that you have a day with dd at childcare- it's done my dd the world of good, she absolutely loves it and we all need a bit of time to ourselves. Comments like your friends really get me- I have had the opposite like 'selfish mummy working full time'- but someone's got to pay the bills!

Belo- hope your dd is better, dd has had tonsilitis too and it was horrible. She has had to have a nebuliser recently for a very nasty wheeze (I have asthma so it's pretty likely that she has it too unfortunately) however, dd thought it was the best game and just shouted into the mask- not sure if any medicine got in but she slept like a log all night! Whenever I have a nebuliser I get as high as a kite, so god knows what'll happen if we both have attacks at the same time!

On the move front- I am still waiting to hear back from my bosses, but have picked out where we wnat to live and have started to contact estate agents- it's all part of my positive thinking plan! We have decided on Shrewsbury as my sister lives there and it's lovely- plus you can afford a four bedroom house for the same price as a one bed in London- which of course we're going to need the rate we are reproducing...

and I turned 30 last week so it's about time we settled down somewhere!

anyway, I have really gone on today- and there's still two birthday cakes left to eat. have a nice weekend everyone- hope it's a bit nicer than here! x

Happy recent Birthday DaF.

It's mine tomorrow! I am a LOT older than you though

Need to read through the post properly so catch up later.

DD made a three year old cry today, and say to her mother "get that baby away from me" . What on earth has happened to her? She is a thug! She smacked this poor little girl and said "diddle diddle diddle" to her

She also likes to grab DH's most exuberant tie (he generally doesn't go in for jackass ties, honestly) drape it round her neck and race off giggling.

She can take one step and is SO proud of herself. Although she's still mostly cruising and trolleying.

mrsd your post made me lol. Poor little girl but maybe dd wanted to give her a tickle?

ds2 had his hair cut yesterday and looks all grown up now. He was really good for the hairdresser which surprised me. Wish he was as good about getting dressed and having his nappy changed!

Daf, I like Shrewsbury from what I've seen of it. We sometime use it as a meeting place with my parents when neither of us fancy driving all the way to each others' houses .

Happy belated birthday to Eulalia and also to daf .

Happy belated birthday DaF. Funny to read about the glimmers of independence from the babes. We're beginning to see it with ds. His reaction to 'no' is priceless - incomprehension, disbelief, lower lip wobble, strop, distraction, forgetfullness, try it again....'no'...repeat ad nauseum.

We're back from Slovenia since Sunday. It was gorgeous, lovely, gorgeous. And remarkably easy travelling. Cannot recommend highly enough for family holiday. The pics are the capital which I am too relaxed to try and spell again, and lake Bohinj where we spent 7 utterly chilled days.

Spending rest of week off interviewing for new nanny as current star is off to have her baby in a month. Hope we're as lucky this time.

Have the house to myself today. Well, me and the AARGHH cockroaches (2) that we have come home to. Got to go ring the council and clean the floors for the umpteenth time.

They are the price of the amazing July weather, I take it. Nasty beasts. Hope the house treatment isn't too brutal when we have it done. TTFN, xfx

Your photos are great MB. We're off to Montenegro next week armed with our Serbian phase book. What languge do they speak in Slovenia? Was it easy to communicate? I'm so exicted about our holiday....

Daf, 2 of dh's many brothers have recently moved to Shrewsbury. Dh went to visit them a couple of weeks ago and said that the pubs were excellent! He really liked it and his brothers are very happy there.

dd2 has completely got over her tonsillitis. That was a horrible scare. She's now walking at home as well as nursery, but she hasn't done more than 10 steps at a time. She's so proud of herself when she does it. She's started to develop a jealous streak. If I give dd1 a cuddle dd2 becomes hysterical and heaven forbid I dare to hold a friends baby....

Happy belated birthdays to DaF and Eulalia.

what lovely photos MB! ds is absolutely gorgeous.
I am just taking a quick break from what is turning out to be a really hectic week at work- August is supposed to be quiet for us as European wineries shut down for the month (very civilised) but I am busier than ever! How rubbish!

dd is hilarious at the moment- her favourite game is cat chasing and getting away from mummy as quickly as possible (I do tend to chase her about with a tissue at the moment as she has another cold!) I wish I was with her all the time now, she is so much fun. Oh well, better get back to my marketing budget.
x

Kept forgetting the birthday girls! Happy birthday! DaF - I was pregnant with DS2 when I turned 30, and we left London shortly before he was born. I guess the simularity ends there as my bunions prevent me having an effective shoe fettish

Lovely photos MB and don't you have pretty cheekbones

Belo, so pleased DD2 is better. It sounds as though the babies are all turning into real pickles.

I had a (kind of) day off - only 1 child today (DD). We went to the Big Scream for a treat and saw "Imagine You and Me" which was crap but in an inoffensive way. We were the only people in the cinema - how sad is that? Knackered mother in cinema in August watching lesbian film on her tod!