December 2012 - 2nd birthday party chat? Already?!

[PurplePidjin]

Here we are

Congratulations and happy wedding spotty!

O has the worst cold of his life and is super miserable and clingy. Any suggestions for extra soothing? He has a horrible cough plus I suspect earache and nappies are pretty upset too so could be tummy ache to add insult to injury.

Happy wedding day Spotty, though I don't think you should be reading MN today really :)

Utopian lots of hugs. There's a new cough syrup they're selling here now, BronchoStop or something. It's a herbal remedy but I've heard good things about it from people I know. Has thyme extract in, and can be used for any cough type apparently. Might be worth a go? Though don't know if it's good for kids actually. It's so hard when you can't make them better isn't it? The bad nappies could be from swallowing all the extra mucous, is he any good at blowing his nose?

Hales I hope your DH can stand up to his family s bit for you. It must be super tough for you. I worry a bit I do something similar to my DH, my family is full of problems and I see myself as the one that's got to solve them. It's hard being in the middle, so hugs for your DH as well as for you.

Spotty I hope you have had a wonderful day!! And that you aren't reading MN

utopian I think we have a cough syrup like the one stacks describes. It helps. And even though it sounds bonkers I swear by putting a menthol type balm on the bottoms of DS's feet at bedtime when he has a cough. I don't know if you can use Vicks on such a small child. We use a special balm that I got from the chemist here.

DD seems to have been going through another leap or growth spurt or something she has been much more vocal - chatty and giggly - today and seems a bit more exact in reaching for things. I know that she is changing rapidly and developing so much. I just wish she could do it in a more relaxed manner with less fuss!

"This too shall pass, this too shall pass.... This too shall pass...."

Utopian how is O now? I was just going to suggest the usual steam bowls in his bedroom and making sure he sleeps at an angle. For O and you i hope he is feeling better soon. Hows A getting on?

Stacks thanks for your good wishes. I've talked to my dad tonight who has advised me to stop caring as much about DPs family and treat them how they treat us. Its hard as i come from a really really close family and DPs family is exactly the same.

Nutella, this to shall pass, your doing IMO a brilliant job. And it must be amazing to see the changes in H.

hales & nut thanks, will try both tips tonight! He definitely seems a bit better this morning, after a 2.5 hour nap yesterday and sleeping 8pm to 8.30am overnight. Things are also easier with his relationship with A now - cuddles have been had (not instigated by us,) and this morning when A was squeeking for milk, O came over to me and had a go at helping undo my bra!

hope you manage to sort things a bit with your dhs family hales, it's so difficult when you can pick your husband but not his family..

How are things with you, nut? How old is dd now? Also stacks, your youngest must be growing up fast now!

Photos spotty!!!

Utopian I'll ignore your good sleep and just say yay on O feeling better today. I got another non sleeper, but I'm ok with it. She is growing up fast, 20 weeks now and good fun for the most part. We had a consultant advise early weaning to help with her reflux. We're just going to hold out till 6m anyway I think, but it makes her seem so much more grown up that we could, theoretically, be weaning now!

Spotty I'd love to see pictures, hope you had an amazing day.

Glad O is feeling better utopian and so glad we had the difficult one first!!

Today had a trying start. First of all my hairdryer caught fire when I was drying DD's hair. So I had to replace it.

Then I was filling my car up, and had to use the back pump of the free row because my car takes diesel and the front pump just has unleaded and super unleaded. So lots of gesturing and intimidation from the car behind me who could have just driven past me and if he couldn't quite frankly shouldn't be on the road!

Then we drove to Bristol to get both DC's hair cut (A's first). The 40 mile drive (mostly motorway) took 2hr 10m to get parked. That was with a half mile walk. Nightmare!!

Then I decided to get A's feet checked on the way home and he needed his first pair of shoes since January (so pair 2!)

But the DC were good

That sounds epic beasty
stacks 20 weeks already! My goodness. T had terrible reflux and we managed to wait til 6 months to start weaning. Am still waiting to wean her from the boob though!

I feel very sentimental about the early weeks/months though in reality I know they were hard work!
I had to see dd2s teacher on Friday as her school anxiety had got out of control - she goes to bed sad because of school the next day and then is sad/crying from waking up to dropping off. Poor thing. Teacher was lovely and we've got a transition time sticker chart and we're going in 10 mins early each day so she can be a special helper and hopefully deal with the anxiety before the rest of the class comes in.
I've just assembled a 5 layer rainbow cake - dds are going to cover it in smarties before our lunch guests tomorrow. Being a family of 5 and inviting another family of 5 means an instant 10 for lunch!

beasty only his second pair? We bought DS winter/snow shoes. He is on his fifth size since the end of February! - I waited extra long before buying him shoes too. There didn't seem much point ruining new shoes in the slush and snow.

WL poor dd2 that sounds like a nice plan with the teacher though I hope her confidence grows soon

Wow beasty ds is on his fourth pair I think.

WL that's a good idea. Dd gets to go into class before everyone else because she gets the bus so she gets to help set up. I think this has really helped her as she used to get worked up standing in line waiting for them to open the doors.

We did buy him sandals in the summer, but they were the same size as February's shoes! We'll see how long these last. And clothes wise he's only in 18-24 months, so clearly doesn't grow that fast.

Hope the plan works WL. We've been lucky with how well DD settled, although I wish DH didn't cut it so fine- she's arrived as the 2nd bell goes more than once. But nothing I can do, I'm at work then.

The education of older siblings - 'T can you say free Nelson Mandela?'!!

Haha WL that made me giggle. Also i hope the teachers plan works it sounds like a good one.

H hasn't really gone through many shoe sizes this year i think shes just gone from a 6 to now an 8. But i can't really remember either.

Utopian hows O?

I have that headache and vomiting bug. H said 'me look after you?' i said yes please so she grabbed my hand and said 'nail varnish' then she pretended to use a hair dryer on me. Then she listened to my chest whilst saying bum bum bum (the sound we make when we talk about her heart) and finally gave me some pretend medicine. It all made me smile to think that 2 years ago she wasn't even here and now i'm sat having conversations with her.

Wow hales! That's incredible understanding and language. Bless her. Hope you feel better soon.

WL we were at my Grandads yesterday and it was his birthday, he opened his cards and presents then pretended to cry as he didn't have a badge. H shouted 2 minutes and ran off, she rummaged in the kitchen drawers and came running back in with a badge shouting 'here grandad'. My nan said that she can't have any secrets in her house as H goes through the house and knows were everything is.

I forgot to ask WL how is Dd2's eye now?

H sounds so cute (and grown up) hales! O behaves in a very grown up way, but still has only about 30 words, which can set up some odd contrasts.

O is still coughing horribly, but does seem a bit better and at least sleeping decently at night still. It's good in some ways that it's coincided with dh's pat leave as there are two of us to manage it and A is being blessedly easy for a newborn. not that I'll count on it lasting

Just weighed myself and I have 1st 10lbs to lose in 6 months. Ugh. And can't get stuck into proper exercise for another 4.5 weeks still.

utopian even though I do exactly the same it really isn't worth worrying about weight right now! I am losing weight in a similar way to after I had DS - first month I lost loads although it was probably mostly water now it is a teeeeny bit at a time. I'm not really trying though so I'm going easy on myself.

WL that made me laugh. I wonder if they will be upset if they discover NM is dead

Hales that is so cute! DH was away this week and I got really upset and frustrated and DS saw that I was crying and gave me a cuddle and stroked my face

H has been so good today shes made me laugh loads....... until her bath when apparently she became best mates with satan. She has kicked off smacked hit kicked and tried to bite, thrown things out the bath and at my head. I love bedtime now

A decided to play with the taps when he was in the bath.

He managed his own version of the ice bucket challenge when he turned the cold tap on full, whilst sitting pretty much under it! Sadly I wasn't filming.

Did he squeal beasty? That would be so unpleasant!
Poor dd2 - major tears at bedtime about school tomorrow. Poor soul has worked out that going in a bit early to be a special helper means that she'll leave me a bit earlier. Not looking forward to the morning.

Oh WL hope she's ok in the morning. I had to tell dd earlier that our neighbour (who is 9) doesn't want to sit with her on the bus anymore apparently she doesn't talk to him! Her bottom lip went, it's so hard, they're still so little!

Beasty did you laugh? I would of but i am a little bit evil?

WL how did this morning go?

Spotty, bless i hate seeing the bottom lip go.

H slept well last night, she only had 3 wake ups but was easy to settle and i was in bed at 10pm so feel quite refreshed today.

spotty you are not allowed to resume daily chat until we've had some more wedding news!! Did it all go well mrsspotty? Poor dd. why doesn't she talk to him? Is there a chaperone type grown up who looks after the little ones?
Dd2 did well this morning. We had the usual tummy aches and not wanting to go but no crying. I wanted to cry though!
Glad you had a good night hales, nice to feel human again! T has got the cough now and coughed herself sick twice last night. I was up from 2.30 til 5 with her. Yawn! Defo early bed tonight.