March 2013 - by the time we finish this one we'll be shopping for elf outfits. Eek!

[ecofreckle]

Here we go again then ladies. Plenty more shiny new space to fill up with ramblings :-) Link to last thread

I didn't mean stop talking completely just that you're all making me crazy broody! Come back, don't leave me all alone

I am here but lurking. I was working today and had nothing to moan about say so I kept quiet.

Also, I am quietly eroding away with lack of sleep. I am so tired I am just smiling to myself.

Mmmmm babies.

Ok, it's so not out of my system now Something.

Yummy I hope you find time to put your feet up at some stage this weekend. You deserve it.

Betty how are you feeling today?

Worse any news? Did Babax perform any somersaults?

eco please tell me how you prioritise your workload. Obviously I'm a novice at generating my own workflow, and I know there's a lot to be done. But I'm totally used to working from home. What I'm not used to is...well my day job is so mundane it's hard to switch my brain on to it. This new thing is so exciting that I can't switch off from it! And yet the workload isn't getting done because of that tricksy thing we call Life. So, tips please!

Any have you slept yet?

Life feels very busy right now. But I have clean sheets, some green tea and a book to help me drift off. Night all

Hello you sexy Bastards (Friday).

Quick dip in for Plonky. So I have certain days for certain things here. Monday nap is yurts. Tuesday childMinder day is income generating education work only. Wednesday nap is voluntary stuff. That fairly rigid split helps. Thursday and Friday tend to be a bit more chaotic; I heady mix of all three. Also the early evening when dh gets in is a time I 'work' fairly often, whilst he plays and does bath and bed. That's also my favoured time for getting shit done (technical term). Folding laundry without a mini helper, hoovering, tidying. I resent having to do housework type stuff in evenings.

I have many different contracts to juggle on a Tuesday and I do find that hard. I tend to try and block them rather than flit around. More straightforward on the timesheets and more efficient.

That's probably no help. But I do feel your frustration sister (that's very over familiar Friday, just for you).

You both sound very busy, I don't know how you do it. Naptimes for me are a chance to quickly do whatever housework needs doing then sit. Just sit. Kudos to you!

Today has been hectic at chez Something. After rushing to hospitals, collecting prescriptions, calling ambulances and dealing with paramedics (all DP back related, the poor chap), we got two bits of proud moments...DS said "love you" to DP as I took him to bed, and earlier he requested his potty so he could do a poo! In front of the paramedics. Little show off. Yep, I'm proud of love yous and poo today.

Sorry Something. No more baby talk. Promise! Although first I probably ought to answer Shattered's question. Shattered worselet was indeed by far the easier pregnancy! I glowed. This one I have merely glowered. Completely different experiences.

Speaking of experiences, today, for the first time ever I braved the soft play. I had no idea. I had an image of a ball pit, some random blocks, and not a lot else if I'm honest. I didn't imagine there would be big cages on several levels, with ramps, spiral slides, ball throwing machines, wind machines.... you name it. Had I known I'd have been there every week for months. The toddle loved it. I mean really loved it. DH could hardly keep up. I had a proud mummy moment when a larger kid pushed her aside, and she stood her ground and pushed him back. You go girl!

Something well done on the fitness drive! I'm itching to get back into it myself, but will wait until I can walk without a waddle.

Crossing my fingers we all get good nights tonight. What is it with sleep at the moment? Is it really just molars? Unbroken nights are a rarity in this house, although that said we have just had two back to back, which has been bliss.

Something ambulance, paramedics??? Your poor DP. How's he doing? Sounds awful.

worse I didn't know ikea had soft play area. Thanks for the info. Will check that out soon.

something your poor dp. Does he need an operation or is it to be managed by medication only?

eco your weeks sound really busy. You seem organised and disciplined with your days. I use nap times to have a coffee and mn. I miss my own company.

We just come back from a child night out with friends and it was lovely. I missed ds lots though. I am sure he will be up soon for cuddles so in the mean time I will have a snooze. Goodnight all!

Ah, I got an annual membership to our local soft play as a first birthday gift to me DS. It's quite small and relatively quiet which makes it less like a primary coloured hell on earth! DS loves the wall murals at least as much if not more than any of the equipment but yesterday took me up the big kids steps at speed and tore around there giving me heart attacks for about 20 mins. Well worth every penny of the very reasonable £44!

I've been ignoring questions on houses, sorry. Just in denial I guess . We've had one viewing, no feedback as they won't return the agents calls which tells it's own story. That sounds awful but our place really is rather odd and we knew that we wouldn't be inundated with people. Does make it harder to judge the market though. I'm happy to leave things as they are into spring and then see what happens. At the mo there's only really one place on the market which might do us so hoping more will be coming on in next few weeks. Hard to balance not really looking until we're procedable with keeping an eye on what's out there so we could view quickly if things change - sigh. I hate this bit.

I ended up in hormonal tears last night. DS is generally lovely but we have hair pulling and biting which are particularly bad at bedtime, and I feel like I am failing him in my responses. We are firmly telling him no and giving him brief attention timeouts but that buggers up bedtime and gets him wound up so it happens more and I feel I'm almost setting him up to fail. Guilt about being a bad parent - check!

I however am about to order a custom toddler sized sling - it's all about moomins here...

Wotta I think your response to bad behaviour is fine. Dh is into shouting at him for things like that but I'd rather not go down the shouty path - it has no effect on his behaviour anyway. I tend to say "no we don't bite/hit/pull hair" in my best cross voice, move him away from us and ignore.
Ok I'll stop asking after the house. It sounds like a stressful can of worms.

Hmm I have mixed feelings about soft play. Ds is a naturally cautious type so if it's busy he doesn't enjoy it, and then it feels like a waste of money. But it's a good way to ensure safe physical boundary finding I guess. And it means I get a hot coffee.
worse I'm half expecting you to come on and say dd had the best sleep ever after tearing her way around soft play. At least I hope that's what happened.

Something The love you's sound so cute! Can toddlesome teach toddlesaurus please?

eco thanks for sharing your work time tactics. Ds has more nursery time than your dd, but two days a week have to be given over to the job that actually pays the bills. Im aiming to do photography work one full day a week, some evenings and in every available nap time. It'll be different when I've (hopefully) got a few clients a month. Right now it's getting the bare bones in place so what happens when I get a customer is fairly straightforward and automatic. I guess it's a good job I don't have a social life!!

We finally managed to get one lot of our shelves up. The other lot will be going up today, and my lounge is going to feel huuuuge. I can't wait!

I have half a dozen responses to things you've all said, and they're all going to fall out of my brain by the end of this paragraph due to brain frazzlement. Theoretically I get a lie in today. DD had other ideas. Over an hour of inconsolable screaming for no apparent reason. Halted eventually by calpol, cuddle, and CBeebies. Argh.

I rather liked your house, Wotta. Can't remember the layout now though, I may have to have another look later. And thumbs up for the toddler sling. He's a delicately constructed child so you could easily still be carrying him in two years. I'm looking forward to seeing a photo.

Soft play, eh? I remember the last time I went, when we were in Cornwall for my sister's wedding. DB and I went in with the eldest niece. There were bits I struggled to fit through. So I'll not be taking DD by myself until she's big enough to go round on her own. It's a shame, cos they're good fun, they're just built for skinnier people than me.

On a related note, we now have a star chart. For every day I get through without hitting the biscuits.

What else...? Ah, discipline. It is a hard one. Easy to say how you'd deal with it when things are calm, but when you're in the middle of it... Your tactics sound good though, Wotta. Persist, and he'll get it in the end.

I am not sure, sometimes my shouty no makes an impact. He cries and comes to me for a cuddle. That isn't my usual reaction though. The shouty bit comes after a calm no and distraction x3 then I get impatient and end up shouting. Dh is opposite he is a lot calmer than me but he sees less of ds and he gets most of the fun bit of parenting. Like everyone else said wotta you have good tactics. Perhaps because ds is tired he is more into hitting and only doing it out of tiredness. What if you try a slightly earlier bedtime?

Ds is much better now I just need to wean him back onto solids again. I remember when he was 6 months he used to eat 2 weetabix now he only eats 3-4 spoons.

It's the nursery days that are generally the killer, no choice on bedtime . And the move from 2 to 1 to 0 naps (any combo possible at the mo which is hard to plan around) can mean he's fried by the end of the day. Talking of, he's been chatting to himself for 30 mins without sleeping but is starting to whinge so I guess it's up and visit grandad instead!

Our house is moderately conventional, although there is no central heating. That's sort of the odd bit. It's a former council house and one of only six in a village where the average house price is several hundred thousand more for chocolate box cottages and Victorian gentleman's residences. Those that want our postcode don't want a council house and those that want our house don't think they can afford the village . Eventually someone will decide it's a fab position with stunning views that they otherwise couldn't afford, just like we did, but it might take a while...

Your house sounds fab Wotta. Some people can be v funny about old council houses though, but aren't they fairly solid? My grandad lived in the same (council) house for 50 years and it never had a problem. Meanwhile our 1992 new build fell down around us...
We've discovered that this house was built with blue bricks. Three drills later and we have 8 shelves! On the other hand it means the neighbours probably can't hear ds's moaning. We had lots of moaning yesterday thanks to a nap fail.

I feel completely shattered this morning. Yesterday was busy but not that busy, yet I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.

Yummy how's it going with ds and food vs milk? I found we've had to cut milk intake right out if meals are going to be eaten. So he has about 4 flozzes in the morning, and he tends to have porridge with milk for breakfast, then about 6 flozzes in a cup at bedtime. Apparently at this age they really only need about 11 flozzes? I could be wrong though.

Brr chilly today. No snow here but DH's car looks like a sugared almond.

We had a light dusting of snow that has iced over into a deathtrap. Guess who isn't leaving the house today!

Really, Plonk, only eleven flozzes? For the first time ever, Fartypants is drinking the recommended amount.

Nothing much to add. After a hell bedtime with an hour and a half of screaming, then cuddles and calpol at half two in the morning, my brain is not functioning too well.

Personally I love ex-council places. Well the older ones, I've no experience of newer builds. Larger rooms, solid walls, better sound proofing, and the houses tend to have decent gardens. DH's and my first home together was a London ex-council flat. It's lovely, we still have it, but there is a stigma so we tend to get US tenants. They look on it as a typical brownstone apartment, whereas UK viewers have that lip curl thing going on when they look round. Nation of snobs aren't we.

Awful night again last night (and the night before). Molars. Must be. Can't think what else it could be. DH is very anti dosing her up on anything so calpol is an emergency only solution in this house, meaning wakes can last 2-3 hours until I sneak a bit of calpol past him. The upside is she sometimes ends up cuddled up with me in bed in the wee small hours, which I love. I know, I know, rod for back and everything, but... Go on, admit it, I bet you guys love it too!

Nursery morning, stuff to do, best get cracking. Funny isn't it how 3 hours plating 2 year old games can really drag, but 3 hours 'free' time to get all your housework and admin done flies by.

I don't love middle of the night snuggles! Perhaps they're fun with a child who keeps still. Not with one who wriggles incessantly and isn't into cuddles.

As for DH and calpol, worse, that's an interesting one from an ethical perspective. Does he have the right to deny her painkillers when she's in pain?

Stormy I read it on MN, 11 flozzes is fine from about 2 years. I guess they can digest pretty much everything now, so provided they don't have allergies we should all be aiming for a balanced, varied diet. Thankfully baked beans and chicken soup can be included in that.

Worse oh dear, it's tough to know when to give calpol. On the one hand you don't to dose her up needlessly, but on the other, sleep. Sleep is important, and toddlers waking in pain is thoroughly unpleasant. I like our sleepy cuddles but only if they happen after 3am. Before that and I know I won't spend enough time sleeping in a comfortable position.
Speaking of sleep, ds was rubbing his eyes and complaining half an hour ago. He's now running around talking about dinosaurs. Hopefully he'll just collapse into a sleepy heap on the floor.

ComPetey agree about older council houses and "attitudes". Until I was 17 we always lived in brand new houses. They were shit! Small, no storage space, thin walls, baaaad plumbing. Give me a Victorian terrace any day.

Not sure how to fill our day today. We're both shattered. I've got some filo pastry that needs using so samosas and sleep are definitely on the menu, but is that enough? If I'm feeling brave I may attempt to cut ds's hair.

Well if you read it on here it must be true!

Fartypants has been asking for a nap since about twenty minutes after she got up. It ain't happening - if she's up from her nap before noon we'll be in for several hellishly grumpy hours in the afternoon. On the plus side, tiredness means she's happy to sit on my knee eating toast and watching Mr Maker (who I am still convinced is on drugs: no one should be that perky and cheerful naturally).

Speaking of dinosaurs, the man bought DD a magazine yesterday because it came with a little plastic T. rex with it. She loves it. Guess that's her birthday sorted - all the toy dinosaurs we can find!

Stormy I think his issue is we don't know she is in pain. We don't actually know why she is waking. I'm assuming it is molars, but it could just as easily be nightmares, too hot, too cold, lonely, scared of the dark, anything really. He'll dish out calpol when she has a temp, or is poking her gums and dribbling a lot, but if we're unsure he's against it. This is why I really can't wait until she can talk, properly. Nice, no, and finished have made meal times much more straight forward, now we just need her to learn some medical terms and we'll be sorted!

That's a perfectly sound justification Worse. DH errs on the side of caution and will happy give ds calpol if he suspects teething pain, headache, whatever, will stop ds sleeping. It's lovely that he's so sympathetic to ds's perceived needs, but I don't think a bad mood warrants calpol. But then I spend a lot more time with ds, I know the signs of genuine needs medicine urgently a bit better than dh. However if both of us are unsure we give half doses.

Aaaaand he's finally asleep. Sink full of washing up and some work to crack on with. But I want to go to beeeed

Oh but Stormy don't you agree that MN is a wonderful resource? I wouldn't take medical or baby/toddler advice off here without further googling, but I consider it to be an incredibly good springboard for info. Diverse demographically, for sure, but lots of highly educated, competent, wise ladies on these boards. I'd be an idiot not to sit up and listen to what they say!

A way to test the teething theory is calgel on one of those chewable toothbrushes. Topical relief so instantly helps if is teeth and usually quickly rejected if not.

Very clever trick, Wotta! I'll remember that for the next one cos Fartypants only has these last four molars to go.

Yes Plonk, the mumsnet wisdom can be excellent. Depends entirely which bit of MN you're in though. I'd be wary of taking advice posted in eg AIBU.

DD's looking and sounding rough as hell with a fresh cold on the heels of the last one. During 2.30am cuddles last night I asked if she wanted calpol, and she said yes please. Offered it verbally a couple of times today and she's declined. So it's easier in that she can tell me if she needs painkillers, but her not always knowing what's best for herself is still an issue!