November 2012 - Roll call!

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/2109948-November-2012-Bring-on-the-summer-fun

Calling all lurkers! If you're reading but finding life too hectic to keep up then please check in and give us a brief update.

Oh no BP. That sucks. Is it because your at a new placement? I thought Dr would get good mat pay.

Stunt for yuky omlet.

Remember that Tuesday everyone ordered dominos. Lol. I'm having pizza tonight. But not dominos. But the memory made me laugh.

Actually it grew on me GT still not making it again though, I'll stick with cheddar in my omelettes.

stunt That omelette did sound nice. I hate it when it comes to making meals. If E is tired/bored/hungry she will just stand on her step shouting at me. I did try doing most of it in the afternoon whilst she naps which works well but of course can't do that with some meals. Today was lovely as DH came home from work early unexpectedly and got the sprinkler out so the girls ran through that whilst I was left in peace.

So that's it, nursery done. I now have the task of surviving the looooong school summer holidays.

Because my contract and training post finish next August, unless I have another job to go into (uncertain), I would only be entitled to 6 weeks at 90%, then 13 weeks SMP. If I had another job within the nhs, for 3 months or more, then it would be much much better than that. Nearly full pay for 6 months. It's a gamble - I may have a job, but equally may not, in which case I will locum for a year.

Anyhooo.

Stunt that sounds revolting!

Oh no PR, what a day.

Haha cross post Eliza.

Good evening beauties!

The TTC is very exciting bp and my fingers and crossed for you. Like you we didn't actively 'try' before so the acronyms mean nothing to me either. I must say that this makes me a little anxious about the possibility of actually formally 'trying'.

I hope little e gets there eventually eliza. I think her weight sounds good but I can empathise with the difficulties of eating.

I also might have been tempted to flick everything off at the switch stunt but I am yet to be awarded any prizes for parenting excellence so who knows. They got burnt dinner - hopefully that should be warning enough for the next time.

We had omlette for dinner as well. More like a frittata. I like to call it 'fuck-all in the house frittata' and it consists of whatever is in the fridge and needs using. It was tasty I thought but p ate almost nothing. Ah well.

Speaking of p she has just gone to bed after screaming and crying for an hour then watching telly with us for another wee while. It was very hot in her room but she has been getting harder and harder to settle to sleep recently anyway. I am not sure if it is just a change of routine with being away and such like but it is starting to concern me. She can't be up until almost 10 when I go back to work. She was clearly knackered and really needed the sleep but was hysterical and saying 'no like!'

She is in bed wearing just a jammy top and the duvet cover (no duvet) from ikea I bought for her ages ago. I think the sleeping bag is too hot even as a 1 tog as there is no way of escaping the heat. I hope she stays warm enough over night.

Worry worry worry!!

Evening quiche! Hope you're all well? Busy day today, e has been hilarious and only a tiny bit of a whingebag which is certainly doable!

ooh vq I like spiders but that'd still make me jump! It's moths I don't like, and earwigs

Thanks pass, you know me I feel like i've left someone out if I don't write a massive post . E had a my first ready bed for camping, a gruffalo one he hasn't much room in it though. He hasn't fit well in a travel cot for ages, he is very restless in one and can tip them over. The ready bed was a huge success though!

Forest nursery sounds fab pr!

Hope you have time to chill now pikz?

Sounds like you're making fab progress with the house yw!!

exciting ttc stuff bp!! may have made a similar decision here too

wow lily 40 degrees! I struggled today with 24 and tomorrows 27 will probably mean the quiche is a kyz down!

sorry you had a shit night pr

wanda I wonder if I could pinch you to weed my garden, it's overrun

wooohooo for E being over 9kg eliza that's fab!!! Hope the graduation and mw appt go well

stunt I would say you are not BU there. If they can't watch him, you can't feed them. Sounds fair!

Hope the girls are better soon pass and lol at dd2!

I have put a stairgate on the kitchen so I can cook in peace - or try to cook in peace anyway! It allows me a little longer to do things usually e just shouts at me and throws things over the stairgate at me!

eliza e loves the sprinkler too, our garden is still awful but mum puts it on most days for the kids

pass E's room is often very warm and I put him to bed in just a short sleeved vest. He has his duvet as I have discovered he will not settle without a blanket he can feel on him if that makes sense, so a thin sheet doesn't work for him. E also has a fan on (in the far corner so he doesn't get a chill) that circulates the air, I put it on a timer for him for half an hour. Would a vest be any cooler for P? You can get 0.5tog sleeping bags too if P likes her bags? Does she have a nap at all that you could fiddle with to help with night time sleep? Sorry, am sure you've thought of all of the above.

E can say alpaca perfectly. Makes me chuckle. He also is drinking really well from a cup most recently. He keeps calling me mammy which I find adorable. Then when I ask him something and he's very excited I get 'yeah YEAH YEAH YEAHHHH' as the reply. Also makes me smile :)

pass E has become difficult to settle at bedtime too. She is clearly tired and quite happily goes through the rest of her bedtime routine but at the actual point of putting her in her cot she clings to me and says no and starts her shouting cry. I would have thought she'd taken a dislike to her cot but she plays quite happily in it in the morning when she has woken up. I just think she wants to stay up. She feels like she is missing out on something. She does delaying tatics like asking for yet another story after I've read her loads, tells me she has done a poo when she hasn't, wants a different toy to cuddle etc etc. She was actually better today with no more than 15mins of shouting. Anyway what I'm saying is I feel your pain. But I have no solutions for you

That sounds exactly like it eliza. Lots of "moar tweenkle?" And manic running around once it gets to actual bedtime.

I have cut her day nap right down to try to counter it - during the holidays I have no problem with later nights as she can sleep longer in the morning but I don't want hours long battles at bedtime either. Her 'routine' has now become 8-8:30 am wake. 1:15-2:30 nap and attempt in bed by 8pm. She is kept running all day and although the times are different this is the same timings as work time -7am wake 12:30-3pm nap and bedtime 7pm roughly.

I am starting to wonder if she needs to drop her nap as she was taking up to two hours to get to sleep during term time anyway. The problem is she seems so knackered without it. I might try tomorrow

Pass sounds like us before we ditched his nap (on approx half the week - he might still nap 2-3 times a week). Bedtimes now are 20 minutes including stories!

Right not saying my boy is a prodigy and ready to toilet train but J and pals were running naked around a friends garden when he ran up to me and said urgently 'poo Mummy' I asked if he wanted a nappy on to catch it - and sure enough he had a shit! Not going to train until next spring but he's clearly been paying attention to his cousin's toilet training!

Awful headache overnight, I thought I was going to throw up. Hardly slept anything. The heat is awful here, we are out of the house by 7.30am and back by 10 than going nowhere all day. 40 degrees is not fun. O sleeps in an aide and anais sleeping bag with nappy on only, it's 0.5 tog. Her window is open and shutters down so feels actually really good overnight in the room. Her big bed and wardrobe arrived yesterday but still waiting for the bed guard and some shelves.

That sounds unbearably hot lily. It's pretty hot here too (not 40 degrees though). The boys have a cool bath in the evening then go to bed in light PJ's but no sheets.

L still likes his sleep! Even with a decent daytime nap he is happy to be put down for bed. Infact often before his stories are finished he toddles off to his cot and tries to climb in it.

I can't explain quite how active he is during the day though, he literally never stops moving until he goes to sleep. It's like he needs permission to have a break by being put in his cot.

As for potty trauning yw, out of nowhere he found The toy potty for A's dolly and tried taking his shorts and nappy off (not quite managing) then sat on the potty. No idea how he even know what a potty is as he'd have only been about 6 months when we trained A. Surely he can't remember? Maybe he's seen one at nursery? Anyway I've dug out A's potty and left it downstairs for him. I had heard that it's a good idea to have one around before you intend to start training them.

I could not cope with 40. It is perfect for me here around 20 maybe sneaking up to about 23 it doesn't get much warmer because of the sea. So you can go out in a sundress or shorts and just be happy. You have to be a bit hardy to swim outdoors but then I just am.

The nights have only been warm for a couple of nights and we have a velux in the roof over the landing which we open and it lets a breeze all through the upstairs. We have an air conditioning unit from the old house but I think it will just fester in the garage.

I am just roasting some garlic for tea tonight and it smells deeeelicious.

We saw 26 degrees here yesterday. Not sure why I bothered going to Tenerife now!

pass DD1S most manic time of the day (and she's pretty manic all the time) is right before bedtime and she's 4! In fact last night me and DH were saying why is it our children go bat shit crazy round bedtime. I tried dropping E's nap but she dozes off in the high chair at dinner time and still doesn't want to go to bed. I think it's just a faze to be honest. I recall DD1 doing something similar and she has always been fantastic at going to bed. Never wants to go but doesn't resist it. I think it's just a case of riding it out. They'll get the message eventually.

All my children have a crazy hour before bed. You can I again what is like with all 4 of them doing it. I don't know why they do it. Second wind after supper? Tiredness? Or. Just to be awkward?

Have a nice day with just A and me
And he is having his milk almost asleep so I get a hour or so to clean. Yeppie well I'm aiming for quick clean then left over pizza for lunch. Yum!

Sounds great gt!

Thanks, ladies. I am wondering whether to just ride it out without changing too much. She has had a lot of changes recently and I am not sure there is a point in fiddling when she will be starting full time childcare in a few weeks. Maybe just leave her be

Today is a cooler day thankfully. I have air con which was used the day before yesterday but thankfully my flat is cool as it's next to the river. Although it gets humid.

I think I'm going to have to stop putting J to bed. I can't afford to spend 90 minutes getting him to sleep every night while DH is away for two weeks. The other two squabble and won't take themselves off to bed and after wrestling J down I'm just about done and then I still have to get the washing up done. Is it alright to keep him up until he just falls asleep on his own?

I don't know Stunt but am in a similar boat. Mainly solo bedtimes here as DH works evenings. It's taking longer and longer and DD gets bored waiting. But we have a hol in Sept so am thinking just ride it out then sort post-hols.

It would be okay if I didn't have the two others to get to bed as well. When DH is here he gets J down to sleep really easily but I can't do it. He'll be kicking, getting out of bed, wriggling, rolling around. He won't even sit still for a story.

Hi quiche,

Have been very busy and not really had time to catch up, but just checking in with an update.

Naps are becoming tricky here too. Today is the first day he has napped this week. Luckily he is still a good night sleeper.

O had his first full session at nursery today and I'm pleased with how it went. He waved me off quite happily but was apparently crying 'mummy' after a little while. He was easily distracted by the chickens though, which he is now obsessed by. All I have heard this afternoon is 'chick chick' He's becoming a proper mummy's boy lately, which is a big change for him and I'm loving it. We have a lovely bond at the moment

I will try harder to keep up with the thread!

Hello lovelies!

I love reading updates so don't worry about not keeping up. I think we will ebb and flow as our lives change. The nursery day sounds great. Chickens are fantastic - our neighbours have some and p was entranced!

I also feel that p is a lovely sooky wee thing just now. Not clingy but enjoying love and cuddles. I have noticed that during the day she periodically asks for daddy and if upset she asks for daddy cuddles. It is lovely.

Bedtime tonight was like a different child completely. Exactly the same nap as yesterday (she woke half an hour earlier this morning) and was in bed quite happy by 7:45. No singing or shouting or upset. She appears to have gone straight to sleep. The room is cooler although not cool at 25oC but she did have a lovely big dinner - that girl loves prawns and pasta!!

Mind you, we are sitting here watching dexter listening to a poor wee soul giving it the same story as p did last night. It sounded so similar that I went to the stairs to check - we live in a two up two down so this was quite ridiculous given the level of noise!!

Other news . . . P had a proper dance with macca pacca and oopsy daisy tonight while watching ITNG. Normally she is a relatively passive TV watcher as she gets bored but she nodded her head when the narrator said about wanting to dance and she gave it laldy!

And the nappy request impressed me yw! Smarty pants! As you know we bought p a potty after she started showing an interest and she periodically sits on it for 'wee wee' usually fully clothed. Last night she was in the bath and yelped "poo poo!" And I asked if she wanted a poo. She said yes, grabbed her potty and threw herself on it instructing me to sit on the loo for 'wee wee'. We sat like that for a fair while including her utter hilarity when I actually did wee! No poo sadly but the whole thing did make me laugh.

How is everyone else? Enjoying the sun? Been a while since we saw vq.

DD1 goes to bed here first which I know is a bit backwards considering she is the oldest. Not ages before. I do bedtime solo 90% of the time. I take E to DD1's room and she amuses herself whilst I read to DD1 (sometimes E listens too but she gets a bit bored with DD1's books). Then tuck DD1 in and take E to her room and read E several books. She'd only had a 15min nap in the car today and I was a bit late getting them to bed and she still resisted. She didn't cry long though although not exactly sure how long as my phone went and I got distracted. Can't have been that long though as was on phone for less than 10 mins.

I think I'll have to rejiggle bedtime routine a bit but I'll wait till September as I'll have to start waking the girls up for school run so hoping another pattern will naturally come to light.

chasing Glad to hear O is loving nursery.