May 07 - The one where some of us are already knocked up again...

[barelymorethantwelvemonthgap]

M2LB, hope you are doing well and the pain/bleeding has stopped.

Abby, I am sure it wont be too long before i get the 'please come and collect J/E' calls. We seem to have gotten off lightly thus far.

M2CM, am hoping that you have a better night with C. J still doesnt sleep and he will be 3 in April! At least you know that she can do it, he has never been a good sleeper. E on the otherhand is brilliant (she says after 2weeks of sleeping through). We decided that the CC was the way forward should it be needed as once it is there its something that they dont forget. We have tried it only a few times over the past 9.5mths and she got the hang of it really quickly. Even now if she wakes, she cries goes back to sleep. Although as you mentioned it could indeed be her teeth. Those nasty little buggers like to disrupt sleep! Not that we have any in Ellas mouth at the moment.

Been to work this morning and then took J swimming this afternoon with his best friend. My mum has always had him on a Thursday pm and now that i have Ella as well we have decided to take it in turns as to which one we have. Just so it gives me a bit of one on one time with them both. I figured that it meant i could do the fun grown up things with J and really focus on him rather than having to keep saying 'i cant i'm feeding/holding/changing Ella'. Then on the days i have Ella i can do more baby things with her. I think he really enjoyed today and for the first time in AGES i havent had to shout at him today. It was nice for me and nice for him.

Well our cup of misery is added to..DH failed one of his accountancy exams..Never rains but it pours..That said it could of course be worse, must remember that and not wallow..

M is also toothless..I expect she will soon get a tooth and all hell will break loose..

On the bright side, Lily has been very lovely this afternoon..she has played really nicely with the other kids from her antenatal class (must be because she met them in utero so to speak , ate all her tea and has been very kissy kissy before going to bed and to sleep (touch wood for the night)at 7.30..she is so lovely when she is good
Thats a good idea the taking it in turns thing so you have one on one time with both AM..I took L for her 2 year check yesterday and left M with a friend and afterwards we went and had a bun (Lil, not me, sodding detox) and a coffee in the garden centre cafe and I think she quite liked having Mummy to herself for once..

Oh the glamour..off to bed now..9 sodding 30..

Scoot poor DH. All that study and to not get through. That really sucks

TYG - get your house valued!! That sounds very promising

M2CM - we had to work really hard to get Tild sleeping a little better and it's still not great. We found the "The No-Cry solution" by Elizabeth Pantely useful.

Basically good sleep during the day means good sleep at night and it's all about routine and giving them cues for when it's time to sleep. We did the following and it's made a big difference.

1. As soon as Tild shows signs of being tired we put her down to sleep. No checking MN one last time, finishing that cup of tea etc... There is a small window of opportunity and after that she is overtired
2. I have a lovely CD of nature sounds (waves, babbling brook etc...) which I play in her room which helps to cover any other loud noises in the house but means she isn't sleeping in complete quiet. Let me know and I'd be very happy to burn you a copy and mail it to you
3. Going to bed at night follows a very set routine that runs for an hour before she goes to sleep. She has dinner at 5pm then upstairs and all the lights are on dim, the nature CD is running and our voices are quiet and peaceful.

• Bath
• Book
• Boob (lights are off)
• Bed

1. It helps to do some of this before the day naps as well so...dim lights, calm voice, music, singing then sleep. HOWEVER if she is really tired then I skip all or some and just put her down

GOOD LUCK

M2LB - thinking of you lovely. I hope you are doing ok. Keep us posted

Well I got her down tonight, but it's still far too late for her to be going to sleep. I'd like to have her in bed at 8, which would then give me a couple of hours to myself and still allow me to have a good, early night sleep. Got her down at half nine. I did cc with her last night and it took 2 and a half hours for her to fall asleep. Did it again tonight, and I only had to go into her once! I can't beleive it. After being so anti cc it seems to be the one thing that may just work for her.

She has a general routine during the day which we follow but it's more relaxed. We do different things during the week and I feel as if if I had her in a strict routine it'd just upset it all. I just need to get the bedtime routine established again. She was so good for so long, but it seems that Christmas knocked it all about for her a bit.

Feel like we've had a mini breakthrough tonight though, so will just work at getting her put down half an hour earlier each night until we've cracked it. We always do play, bath, ready for bed and then a nice warm bottle followed by a cuddle. Then she gets put in her cot for bed.

Must get to bed to catch up on some sleep!

scoot

M2CM it could be teething, try giving her a dose of medised or nurofen and see if it makes a difference. Sounds like you are doing the right thing just bring bedtime forward a bit everynight.

Oh no, Scoot. After all that work. Can he repeat that one exam or does he have to repeat a series of them? And it's bloody awful about your job. To which area are they sending you?

The remortgage... Hmm. We have a 95% mortgage on a pretty big amount. Since the credit crunch in the US, the banks here are getting very tetchy about lending over 90%. So basically we have a very, very good deal. A 95% mortgage on .75% above base rate. Most loans are now based on LIBOR, the inter-bank rate, which is higher. We've managed to borrow money for not much more than the bank can borrow it at and they don't offer our deal any more. The 95% deals they do offer, are for some bizarre reason, for graduates. Pathetic really. DH has worked in the City and been registered with the FSA and NASD (American Securities Authority) for all that time; so a person of good standing etc. The banks (and this is our own bank we're borrowing from, which makes it even more ridiculous) have just decided that big mortgages are too risky given the "house price crash" that they're terrified will happen, after the problems in the US. The stupid thing is, the US problems are in the sub-prime market, i.e. people who can't really afford a mortgage, which is not what we're at. PLUS, they're not even taking into account that DH is on a guaranteed income for another 14 months, meaning that even if he got sacked tomorrow, he would have to be paid his salary for the remainder of that period, thus giving the bank at least 14 months for house prices to go up before they could in some far-fetched circumstance have to foreclose. It's absolutely infuriating. We only want to remortgage and release equity to pay off credit cards etc and do some work on the house. We would actually be better off and have more money (and thus be more able to pay the mortgage) by doing so. They're very short sighted. We'll go back to the brokers soon and try again, I think. Maybe we'll get an independent valuation with which to go to the bank.

M2LB - thinking about you. Hope all is well.

SOOOOO tired. Went out for a couple of soda and limes last ngiht. Back at 11.30. Bed at 12. A woke 12.30, teething. Back to bed 1am. Up again 1.30, back to bed 1.30, up again 1.45. Got fed up and made up a feed for her. Back up the stairs, no sound from A's room. Downstairs again to put bottle in fridge. Got to top of stairs and she was crying again. Got the bottle again and gave it to her. Cuddled her, she got sick down my back. Put her in bed and she mooched around and seemed happy enough. Dragged self back to bed at 2.30 where DH snored on and off until 5am when A started grumbling again.

TYG your night souns like mine! No more sick problems from C so that's a relief but R is really poorly and woke up so many times last night. I've got her a drs appointment for 10.20 just to be safe. I'm sure he'll say it's just a cold but she has coughed and cried non-stop for three days now and it's wearing me out. She is hardly feeding either which is a bit of a worry. Yesterday she had no solids and only about 12oz of milk all day.

12oz is ok to keep her going for now. If she's got a cold, then she won't feel much like sucking a bottle or eating. Hope all is ok at the doctors.

Well we're back and I'm so glad I went - she's got a chest infection. He's given her antibiotics so hopefully she'll be on the mend soon poor little thing. He said I was a sensible mum who obviously knew her baby well! (polishes halo). He wouldn't have said that 10 minutes later when he saw me holding C while he had a wee up the wall in the car park!

Abby Agree with TYG, you know yourself how when you have a bad cold its sometimes hard to eat, I always lose my appetite which isnt always a bad thing for me lol. At least she is still taking some milk. Hopefully the Dr will be able to reassure you and maybe give something to help ease the symptoms a bit.

We are all full of colds in our house, Ive felt so drowsy that ive been dozing off if i so much as sit down for 10mins. J and his friend were killing themselves the other night because i was cuddling A on the sofa and we both just fell asleep, apparantly I was snoring with my mouth open

M2CM Hope C soon settles back into a nightime routine. A has been a pain for the past week or so, waking up several times in the evening. Im pretty sure its a mixture of overtiredness, teething and her cold. Last night I tried something different, usually we bathe, feed, cuddle, sleep. Last night she had her bath about 6pm, played until 7.30 when she started showing signs of tiredness then i gave her some medised and teething gel, warmed her bottle then instead of feeding her in my arms where she usually starts to doze, I laid her in the cot to drink it. She drank it all without a fuss, gave me a lovely smile, big burp and fell straight to sleep until 7am , no waking at all. Not sure if it was a fluke though so am going to give it a go again tonight.

It was a great evening in fact, usually A is up until about 8.30pm, then by the time the boys are both asleep its 10.30pm (E hates sleeping and will not give in until exhaustion takes over)but last night they were both asleep by 9pm.

M2LB Hope you are ok {{hugs}}

Abby Took so long to write my last post i x'ed with you (and i sent it before id finished). Glad things went well at the Dr's. I always hate going to ours because if it turns out to be nothing they look at you as though you are stupid to have worried.

A is driving me mad, she will not stay on her bum. As soon as I sit her down she is pulling herself up whatever is nearest, last night it was the hoover, and her Vtech walker which of course has wheel and so kept moving away from her lol. I wouldnt mind but she gets carried away and falls over bumping her head, the other day she landed on a toy and cut her head a bit I cant be stood behind her 24/7 otherwise nothing will get done and she hates it in the playpen. She just wants to be free all the time. She also tries to walk between the two armchairs but gets halfway with one hand on the arm of each and then forgets what shes doing. Dont know if i want her to hurry up and walk so she is more stable on her feet or if i wish she would just stay a baby for a bit longer

M2LB - are you ok? Thinking of you

TYG - I kick DH out bed immediately if he's snoring now as sleep is just way too important.

AbbyLou - I just snorted hot cross bun across the table reading your post The doc said you were a sensible mum and you've just proved that as well with C

Thanks Pebble. Glad I made you smile Tam . They are actually both asleep at the moment so I'm catching up on housework so I don't have to do it tomorrow. It's actually really nice to have a Friday off - mustn't get used to it......

Well am still bleeding and just did a test and looks negative (but the control line didn't appear) so will retest on Monday, but looks like this was not meant to be.

I don't really know how I feel. I'm a little sad, but then I don't think I have a right to be sad, because I knew I was pregnant for all of what 3 hours before this started. Right now I feel lucky. Lucky to have my boys because I've learned that in a blink of an eye it could have all worked out differently (Mateo is now using this to eat cookies for breakfast, which I'm letting him do).
I also feel a little guilty for not being more sad.

I hope everyone is doing great.

You have every right to feel sad M2LB. If there was no control line, then the test probably didn't work. Have you got another one you could try? I just hope you find out for sure one way or the other really soon.

Poor A. I can see two teeth trying to push through. She was playing this morning and when I looked down half her face was covered in snot from her cold. It was , but also . Poor thing; she's still smiling, the little dote. Gave her some medised and she's gone off to bed for a while now.

I got her this ludicrously overpriced toy yesterday, but I couldn't resist. It's a wooden black London taxi. The roof slides off and there are five little people inside. She loves the little people. She's been carrying them around all day and putting them in and out of the taxi.

Was that from Habitat TYG? think I've seen them there but only let the DCs play with them in the shop!

M2LB - Sounds like you are feeling everything you should feel. Does sound like the test was a dud, are you going to wait till monday to test again?

Thanks to everyone for the support. I don't really feel like I need this, but other than dh, no one really knows (and we all know how useful men are) I appreciate you ladies.

I am going to buy another test and test again later and if still positive test again on Monday.

It was from a local toyshop Benson, made by some cottage industry in the UK. I expect Habitat might have them too. There's a red bus available as well, but the shop was sold out. (Prob a good thing...)

M2LB You have every right to feel sad over this, sounds like you're in a tough position and you can't figure out just how to feel about it yet. I think I'd be feeling the same in your position. Agree that the test sounds a bit Perhaps do another one and see if it comes back with a more definite answer. Thinking of you.

Abby pmsl at you and C in the car park! When C had her ear infection I knew there was something wrong, but the doctors wouldn't listen to me. She got so ill that I had to call one out to the house and he confirmed that it was in fact, wait for it..........an ear infection! Us mums know our children the best, glad that you now know whats wrong with R. Hopefully the antib's will do the trick

TYG what a horrid night for you. Agree with tam, you should've 'called' the bed and kicked dh out with the snoring!

Pebble, A sounds just like C at the minute. I just want to wrap her up in cotton wool atm because she's banging into things all the time. Stuck in limbo over wanting her to be walking already so the accidents calm down a bit, and wanting her to stay my little baby forever. The dog doesn't go near her anymore

C's down having a nap in her cot. Should really be doing something productive with this time but can't be bothered! Energy limits are at a low today. Off out tomorrow night with about 10 other women. One of the mums that I've got to know has invited me out with them, though neither of us know many people going. First proper night out since I had C and I'm going to get incredibly drunk! Going for a meal at 7 to a lovely resturant down by the loch, and then going for drinks afterwards. Have my outfit all ready though the most important part of it, I'm still waiting for. Hope they get here! So beautiful! and also wanting these - DROOL!

I have those black peep-toes. I wore them to death last year, right up until my feet swelled up and I haven't worn high heels more than twice since.

M2LB I went through how you are feeling a few months back when i found out i was pg but then at the dating scan found i had miscarried. When i was first told i was pg i cried, it wasnt planned and i didnt know how i would cope, then just as i got used to the idea I had the scan. Afterwards I went through lots of different emotions-sadness, relief, guilt etc. These feelings are natural, dont beat yourself up about them. I hope everything works out for you

ooh high heel shoes. I havr the peeptoes in fuschia love them love them love them. Sadly my heels have just been gathering dust for ages now and of course my feet will be like balloons again soon so will be back in crocs and birkenstocks

you have all been chatting loads this morning will read back and check in later.

2 more viewings this arvo

Well I haven't worn heels since before I had C so lord knows how I'll manage all night pmsl!

Pebble Can't even begin to imagine how it all must feel

Woohoo on the viewings Julie!

Just printing out my CATCH application form for nursing. No idea what's going on with my degree and am now wondering if it's gonna happen at all! They're not responding to my bombardment of emails or calls!