December 06: For my first birthday mummy I would like.......

[Indith]

Here you go Eli!

I almost put 'your clothespegs' on the end there. Ds loves clothespegs. Came home from Rainbows the other day and dp had made a deal with ds. He could play with the clothespegs as long as he did it in his playpen and let dp make dinner.

Yikes, Oli, thats not a lot of sleep Hope it gets better well before S'pore! How long is the flight? Any tips for long haul travel with LOs?

I don't deserve the sympathy for teething dd, though its very nice of you all - she's grumpy and easily upset all day but is sleeping beautifully (first time ever, admittedly) thanks to a vastly improved appetite for solids

Maybe I shall transfer all the lovely sympathy to the dd1 cause: she's revelling in testing my limited patience, and when its anything that threatens my worm-vigilance (eg taking pyjama bottoms off in bed, or on sofa) I feel unreasonably wild and have to grit teeth and count to one hundred. dh looks at me pityingly, and I realize I need a holiday

Indith, so sorry ds is sick - you've had a nasty run of viruses recently, haven't you? Sounds like us back in November, non-stop. Hugs and kisses to him, and a fat dollop of my undeserved sympathy to you.

TBH, Eli, it's really not that bad. S'pore is 12 hours out, 13 hours back (headwinds or something ) and we've done it with a 2.3yo & a 6mo, then a 3.3yo, 18mo & 9 wko, now it'll be 4.3, 2.6 and 14mo. Ds1 has got easier each time, he's content to watch the inflight entertainment for big chunks but we found taking lots of new bits and pieces (playdoh, fuzzy felt, colouring, animals, cars, etc) kept them amused.

The sleeping situation is hard because they can't lie down but they usually manage about 6 hours or so. Also, the cabin crew have always been great at coming by and chatting, supplying food (chocolate!) at stressful times.

Really, once you've got the take off out the way, then a trip to the loo (most exciting), a walk round the cabin, then a meal, you've passed a couple of hours already. You'll be fine!

Sympathies on the stroppy 4yo, too. DS1 is a little bugger challenging at the mo. HUGE screaming shouting tantrums when I make the tiniest request of him (usually 'turn the telly off and come and eat your breakfast'), up to 6 a day - grrrrrrrrr. I imagine Tanya Byron standing in the corner of the room saying 'ignore, ignore, ignore' .

Grrrrrrr

Anyone else always feel like they are wasting Dr's time when they go?

I know babies get viruses and there is nothing you can do. I know to cuddle him, make sure he drinks, has wet nappies etc (why oh why did he choose this month to well and truly stp bf? I've offered and it is still no!) and I know to give calpol for temp and that the effect is not instant.

But when he has felt like you could fry an egg on him since yesterday and that it isn't going down even mainlining calpol and ibuprofen I'm going to take him to the bloody Dr!

Oh well, he is asleep on me now. Am wondering if I can reach the biscuit tin without waking him.

And it is snowing.

Thanks Guys. I cant think straight at the moment so cant respond to all your posts.

Hope your ok. I took a sickie from work (for DH) but the kids were at the childminders s a couple of hours rest has helped a bit.

Indith- I can really relate to the wasting Dr´s time. I took DS after he spent two awful nights coughing his little head off.
Dr said he was fine and when I insisted he needed something to stop him coughing he prescribed suppositories

Yes I know they are still common use here but I still don´t get the connection....needless to say they did bugger all to help DS...

Indith, if he's still feverish though I think it's worth having his ears checked. I would have never guessed that ds2 had an ear infection at first.

Oh, and the 3rd antibiotic finally has cleared his ears and he was able to get the mumpsvax that we had waited on for 4 months. Not sure he appreciated it though

Poor little baby jabber, gets well so he can get stuck! I've missed 2 appts for ds2 so far, find it hard to get wound up about it!
Ear infection - could well be, indith, that's how it started with both my ds's (feverish). took nearly 2 weeks to be diagnosed with ds1 (at 6 months) as they didn't check and kept palming me off as if it's acceptable for a baby to have a high temp for that long. How is he at the mo? Poor little William too!
And how are you, fgs?? Have things eased a bit, head-wise? I hate head colds, urgggh,can't think straight. Hope you're better
Is anyone else's LO NOT walking or not even looking like it? He's 14 months this week, I'm not worried I just wonder how much longer it's going to be as he's bloomin heavy! Not that he wants to be carried around much, thank goodness. How much is he going to weigh at 16 months or whenever!!

AQ, that' so funny. I was going to ask if anyone's LO still wasn't walking DD2 seems quite happy crawling at speed - shows no signs of wanting to walk at all. She stands up, cruises at little, but even if I hold her hands she's just not interested. And still she eats for Britain...

So sorry about DS, Indith - is he feeling any better? And FGS, too. Glad your LO is feeling better though, Jabber.

I don't feel as though I've had time to draw breath over the past few days. Work is insanely busy, the house is a tip, DD1 isn't sleeping. If anyone had told me 5 years ago that I would be able to go to bed at 10, spend much of the night comforting one child or the other and then get up at 6am and drive 90minutes to work I'd have laughed. Ho hum,. only another 17 years

I totally agree about the insanity of life right now, bp. I've been going to bed as soon as the boys are down every night and I still feel exhausted. Ds2 is still waking once in the night and prefers to rise around 5:00 am I manage to coax him back down and grab an extra hour but still...

And I need to join on the sibling rant. Ds1 is really trying my patience. He had been doing much better re: potty regression and then peed his pants 4 times today!!!! I'm just so put out with him.

HAve been packing whatever I think we can live without for a few months. Makes me realize this house would fit us perfectly if we could get rid of half of our possessions

BP and Jabber, it does seem alternately that life is wonderful with 2 and then absolutely back breaking. FWIW, jabber, I counted up the last 2 days dirty pants which go in with the nappies as I hung them out to dry and there were 9 pairs! V.fed up, lost my rag last night about it as I am so sick of cleaning up poo. DP insists things are better, but I can't see it. Know I have to stay positive so have spent the morning saying whoo whoo about any effort!

And relieved that ds2 not the only one, but he won't stand unaided either (tho loves his baby walker). He seems to be developing in other ways, interacting with toys quite well etc. I guess that's where his energy's going!

Walking? What is that then? Ds is such a careful boy. I think he takes ages to finally do things as he sits there and puzzles them out. Then when he tries if he has the slightest wobble and thinks he can't manage it he stops and starts all over again with the calculating.

Jabber, as the house moving expert as you pack, anything which you have never quite found a home for, you have not used in a couplke of months, you know would get put straight in the loft when you unpack...throw away/ebay/charity shop. Even if you do that you will still end up with random stuff. I can't believe I still have about 4 boxes of random stuff still to be homed and most of the pictures waiting ot be put up and now I have no motivation to get it done!

Life insanity.....don't even go there. Stress doesn't even begin to cover it. (yes yes I know so what am I doing on here instead of working my way through the to do list)

Ds is making progress I think. Slow progress. He has eaten small amounts of things that are not rich tea biscuits and has been more cuddly and subdued than screamy. Still waking once or twice in the night for more painkillers but this morning was the first morning for some time that he has woken up with a rather more welcome babble instead of screaming until drugged. Still very snotty and pouring goo from his eyes. I think the second molar is through now too which probably helps. Am hoping he eats ok today and remains content to be cuddled so I don't feel too bad about leaving him at creche tomorrow as I cannot lose another day.

On the plus side, guess what we did yesterday!

Go on!

What did you do, Indith? Tell us!

Hi Guys,

Tell us Indith....

I am still full of cold but my head is no longer pounding. DH and girls might be coming down with it though. DD2 has her MMR on Wednesday. She has also taken 7 steps today so I think she may almost have cracked the walking thing. Sge has been on 2 steps for a whole month!

Oh ok then

We went here to get a ring made

So that is part way there on the marriage front. Still working on the TTC thing though...he's gone and got all money worried on me and my arguments that a second one won't cost us anything much until much older due to already having all the stuff are not working!

Glad you ar feeling better FGS, hope the family doesn't suffer too much.

This afternoon I have reinforced the fact that I am gong to fail Russian. Spent most of the day in front of the computer and done very little

Indith, congrats on the ring-in-progress! FWIW, dh was very hesitant for the second child. It took about a year to persuade him and he was even more detached during the pregnancy than with ds1 But it finally came down to either ttc or having a wife who was rather insane with broodiness.

Are we the only ones doing the singles route vs. MMR? It is really hard to get them all done. Ds1 is not happy about getting two extra jabs (he's ready for boosters). Fortunately ds2 doesn't realize it.

Oh for crying out loud

Went downstairs earlier, took ds for a cuddle and instantly noticed he had a rash (are all men blind or is it just mine?). Rash was behind his ears, down his neck and all over his torso and didn't go away with a tumbler. Called NHS direct (obviously)and are just home from out of hours. He is fine (ish) and at least this time we didn't feel like we were time wasters. Has a respiratory infection and the conjunctivitis to go with it but the infection is (probably) viral. Have piriton for the rash and cream for the eyes and hopes that it will clear in a few days. It had bloody well better do he has been ill for over a week now! Of course the eyes mean no creche until they are better (so probably all week then). Last time I missed an entire week of lectures I never really did manage to catch up and ended up with extensions yet again.

Oh, good news and bad news in one spell, there Indith - poor little ds, I'm sure the medication will help him feel better pretty soon though - ds2 had pretty much the same and it was much better within 12 hours. Didn't know you were planning on getting married? Congrats! Pshaw to dp, babies are cheap, may as well do it now as later.

Oh, and um

Congratulations!

AQ How far along are you?

And Indith Fantastic ring news. And sorry to hear about DS, you must have been beside yourself. Hopefully he'll be on the mend quickly now.

OMG!!!! AQ, how wonderful I was wondering who would get pg again first - although I am definitely out of the running altogether. How far along?

Indith, glad it was just a virus, although goodness knows they can be quite miserable even with that Here's hoping everything clears up soon.

Aw poor baby Indith! I have had an itchy rash with this cold. And my eyes are gunky. Particularly nasty. It is not a head cold anymore but mloving down to my chest. Sigh

Yay AQ! Congratulations....