December 2012: Now they're all 1

[Barbeasty]

We needed a new thread!

I made chocolate raisin. The recipie was for chocolate chip cookies, but I didn't have any chocolate chips so just improvised. Lots of cocoa powder and some raisins. They're all yummy and warm and gooey.

Oat and raisin are my fave spotty! I've been on a fast day and somehow have managed to ignore the jar of nutella I bought yesterday with the expressed intention of eating with a spoon
Jealous of upcoming hols too. Congrats on the standing/walking. Our little babies are little toddlers now.
nutella take regular paracetamol and get as much rest (haha) as you can. I know its crappy when you can't take the good stuff.
hales sorry H is still poorly. I had mild asthma as a child but totally grew out of it by secondary school. Dd2 has it and has been hospitalised twice which was scary but now has the brown steroid inhaler twice a day and has not had any problems for the last year - touch wood. I was scared of giving her the steroid daily but dr was fab and totally reassuring.

No, I'm not particularly happy with the school - dd1 has been on the waitlist for a better school for 3 years! The previous head was awful and there was zero parental engagement. To be fair, the new head (as of sept) is trying to involve parents and to improve the school - I felt very sorry for her and the class teachers yesterday. Rather tellingly, the other local schools which are much better have really strong parental involvement - exactly as you say mama

T does lovely kisses and can now say 'bye'. Very sweetly earlier dd1 was upset and I told T to give her a cuddle and she went and sat on her lap and cuddled her. Dd1 loved it, dd2 instantly wanted the same. Oh to be the object of such affection!

hales under 5 they are reluctant to use the label asthma and so often refer to 'viral wheeze'. Dd2 is 3 and has been diagnosed - like H she also gets ezcema (as did I as a child). She had salbutamol after her hospital admissions but when she started needing it every day they gave her the steroid.
Is her cot propped up at the head end?

WL, does that help with the wheeziness? TBH i hadn't really thought of it, i know to do it when shes got a cold but as her wheezing is on and off it didn't enter my head to lift the cot. Thanks for the tip though i shall get it sorted tomorrow.

Dd driving us nuts. Waking every night and refusing to go back to sleep. Tried everything. Exhausted and can't function properly at work- just not safe & we need to sort it but run out of options.

Oh no ddas how often is she waking?

WL hopefully the new head will sort it out.

Ds kisses loads 'mmmmmaaaaaa' he follows dp around when he's about to leave for work saying it over and over and always climbs onto dd to give her cuddles, it's lovely until he starts pulling her hair!

I'm home alone with a box of homemade cookies and DS in bed... Mmmm.

Ddas, how often is she waking and when? What have you tried so far? CC was magic for us, but I think we were very lucky it worked so well and quickly. Haven't had to 'retrain' him at all either which is nice.

DS kisses, but he just sort of leans into your cheek with his mouth open, and sticks his tongue out at the last second :) No noises, and he doesn't really do it on his own, just when asked. I think his habit of sucking my nose is a bit like a kiss, but I've no idea where he learnt it - we don't suck his nose, or any one else's!

Ddas, have you tried taking her to the GP for a checkup? A doctor friend of mine managed to miss double ear infections in her DS... Once he had treatment his sleep improved loads. They can be very easy to miss, even for those in the know.

Sorry dd is keeping you up ddas. Hopefully it is something easily treatable or you find a solution quickly. Is she waking often? How long is she awake? Is it teeth, walking, talking ummmmm I don't know what else. I have friends who had two bad weeks when their LOs started walking. Luckily for us it was only 6/7 nights.

whinge alert it's not fair!!
DH had this cold last week and it floored him. He spent two days in bed and took all the pills he wanted. I have the cold, I have DS to look after and I'm pregnant. Paracetamol doesn't really feel like it is doing anything for me. My poor brain is full of goo and I just want to lay down.
I hate being ill. I feel perhaps a tiny bit better today but I still generally feel crap. Poor DS. I'm being a very boring crappy mummy today.
Please send cake & sympathy to Nutella, Grey town, Germany.

Oh no Ddas, i hope a solution can be found quickly for you. Like the others have said what have you tried maybe we can think of something different as a group.

Nutella heres some hope you feel better soon.

I'm considering getting the dc the chicken pox vaccine. It's quite pricey though. Wonder if they'd do it at cuts for me at work

*at cost not cuts

Hi ddas, my HV recommended 'Teach your Child to Sleep' book by millpond. Maybe your library have a copy? The book has ideas for all different types if sleep scenarios apparently.

I meant to get a copy but then F decided to sort his sleep out himself for now

Hales they don't diagnose asthma yet because they can't test lung function (capacity?) with the blower thing cos kids/babies don't understand the assessment process so if there's history of asthma/ eczema they treat as though they do have it. DS has an inhaler from a previous terrible cough but it didn't make any difference I don't think.
The best thing for DS when he has a cough is a wet towel/ muslin on the radiator at night which stops the air from drying out.

DS has just one nap now- since he went to nursery. He sleeps 1.5-2.5 hrs after his lunch.

He also gives kisses on command. He just opens his mouth and lunges at us but it's very very cute :)

I'm so jealous of all the cookies. I think I need to learn how to bake!!!

Spotty I just remembered you asked about the cough medicines I gave DS. It isn't really medicine, more of a syrup with herbs in that is crazy sticky and smells a bit funky but I think it soothes a bit.

Maryland cookies are so easy! My favourite recipe at the moment is the hummingbird bakery chocolate chip cookie recipe - it works every time and you can use whatever chocolate you like - I usually cook half ish of the dough it makes. Leave the rest of the dough in the fridge for an hour or two (makes the next bit easier), roll it into a big fat sausage, wrap it in cling film and stick it in the freezer. Then when I fancy cookies take dough out of oven, turn on oven, slice dough about a finger thick, place slices on baking tray bung in oven....

I have to go now get some dough out of the freezer

spotty don't eat too many oatmeal cookies at once... I found it not helpful for errrr... Bowel movements

These are the hummingbird oat and raisin ones it's supposed to make twenty but I do twelve giant ones

Blimey spotty they must be huge!! Have you ever attempted the mega chocolate chocolate ones? I made them once they were amazing! But honestly, I could only eat a half (ok a whole one at a push).... I might need to make more of them soon

They are the size of the ones you buy in the supermarket bakery. Yes I've made them twice they're a little bit too much for me I think!

nutella cakes and tea to grey town in Germany :)

She's been walking for quite a few months now but is starting to say more words so could be a developmental thing but to be honest think she's just a rubbish sleeper as I apparently was and still am. She's never been a great sleeper but we're just getting to end of tether now. stacks she's just had 2 ear infections & chickenpox-last day of ab tomorrow and when's she's ill she actually sleeps weirdly enough! It's normally the first sign that's something's wrong if she sleeps through lol. But now that she's better she's back to her old tricks. I've heard someone else mention milpond- will look it up. Straight cc doesn't seem to work on her as she's so stubborn & determined she'll happily cry for hours till you finally give in. The things we're going to try at the moment which seem like a good start are :

1. Not letting her fall asleep on me. Putting her in her cot when she's drowsy but awake.
2. Not getting her out of her cot at night unless needs nappy change etc. try and settle her by being there, patting etched but feel that as soon as we get her out she knows that's game over and she's won for the night!

She tends to wake between 3-4am and then not want to go back to sleep. Open to all suggestions! Just want a good night sleep to be able to function. Worked this wkend and think I'm just feeling a bit down through tiredness.

spotty all this cookie talk is making me crave the soft American style cookies they have at Sainsburys

And cringing at my awful grammar but I'm too tired to make sense at the moment! You can see why I don't feel safe at work if I can't even string a proper sentence together!

ddas that does sound really hard. Although similar to DS. I think he hates sleeping on his own and would quite happily be in bed between us. I found slowly slowly softly softly approach good.
It started accidentally with me putting him down when he was really sleepy but not asleep and then finding a way to settle him.
Then when he woke in the night laying him back down and comforting him and not picking him up (yes he still frequently ended up in our bed, but sometimes you have to do whatever gets you the most sleep).
Then recently we bought him a thicker sleeping bag 3.5 tog - I was terrified he would cook but it has so far helped dramatically.
And instead of going to him in the night when he moans we ignore him. I know that sounds really harsh but actually he falls back asleep within five minutes and it isn't crying he is just calling us and being annoyed that we aren't there.
That's probably taken around 6 weeks in total but in that time the improvement has been consistent and we have had many good nights.

Thank you for the cake

Bet I could eat them! Have managed most of a jar of nutella today! Fat pig I know but I was up 4 times last night and then up for good at 6. Just had an epic bedtime after T fell off the toilet (she's obsessed with climbing on it) and gave herself a massive fat lip. She had then hidden dd1s special toy so I had to hunt around before she would go to bed. Wine (not a very nice one though) and pizza for me now.
ddas really hope you find an answer - sleep deprivation is tortuous - I'm sure dd1s terrible sleep was a factor in my leaving a previous job - it was a full on stressful job and she would wake for 2 hours a night every night. Looking back I should have just done some proper cc (although I'm not saying this is the case for you). I ended up doing it later and it sorted it right out.
nutella you poor thing. Could DH take a day off and take ds to his parents, or could the cm have him for an extra day so you can just spend the whole day resting? If not, send DH out with ds at the first possible opportunity even if you feel better.

Ooh, might have to swing by Sainsbury's tomorrow for some cookies.

I wish I could give some advice ddas but A has yet to sleep through.

For coughing vicks on the radiator works well. We tried the mumsnet cure of putting it on DD's feet, but she hated it. Just remember it's on the radiator though....

A doesn't kiss, he sticks his face in my cleavage and wiggles it wiping his nose then laughs.