December 2006 - Stairgates and cupboard locks at the ready!

[MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo]

Couldn't think of anything contraversial!

Thanks Jabber. Eli - don't worry if I am coming towards you - its reversing that seems to be the issue.

EV - Hope you are ok. Sometimes a good cry to someone completely impartial is the best way of deciding what it is. Am sure your GP would be happy to help and there is much they can do without medication. I think anyone would be stressed in the circumstances, perhaps you need to lighten your load somehow.

I'm so sorry EV You might try omega 3's and see if that helps. I have anxiety attacks too; they're awful. I have to take zoloft for them.

Another thing worth trying is cutting down on caffeine and sugar. I find I am far more balanced when I'm not eating a lot of sugar.

EV, you can chat to me at [email protected] anytime but I am coming off low dose ADs for anxiety at the mo. This time last year was pretty awful (in fact it had been for several years) and I can't tell you how much it has helped. I am slowly coming off them now. My concern was getting off meds but it should be ok at this pace. Being on them has made me see the light at the top of the black hole I felt I was in (not all but some of the time). I feel totally on top of life now and am back to my irritatingly cheerful self and I don't get stressed by all the sh** that comes my way.
Do what you think is right but I'd say life is too short to suffer, get a quick fix and get back on track

Thanks for advice today everyone. Have self-diagnosed myself as having anxiety rather than depression. Am going to work through this self-help course and see if it helps me manage things better. If not will go to Doctors and try not to cry

Lennie - i need to eat better. I know that. Also have some multivitamins with heaps of stuff in so will start taking them.

Castles - may be in touch.

Awww, EV, hugs! You know that realising there's a problem is half the battle, so it's great you and dh are talking about it and you're taking action. Is there any way you could just get to chat to a counsellor for a few sessions via your gp, having an outlet like that makes such a difference. I just finished last of 5 sessions with a counsellor yesterday, which was mainly about the twins/giving up work etc and it made such a difference having that hour a week. I'm so much more relaxed because I was able to see what the real issues were rather than a mass of things floating round my head panicking me (I did start having panic attacks again). But the course you linked to may accomplish that?
Castles I think recommended pulsatilla (homeopathic remedy) a long while ago and I take it whenever I'm v.anxious & stressed out, it really helps, takes the edge off at least.
hugs again!

Hope you're feeling better soon EV.

Can I ask what your LOs eat for lunch? DS isn't fussed with sandwiches and am finding it hard to think of different things to have (things that aren't like a second dinner iyswim) especially on days he goes to nursery/childminder

ooooo, really shouldn't be on here now but can't resist that question Gloria - DD doesn't like bread so I have had to work on my lunch repertoire, she has... banana, orange segments, yoghurt, sometimes those little pots of jelly with fruit in if I can't be bothered with making much, grapes, small fruit smoothies when I can be bothered, sometimes a slice off DHs sausage roll if he has one, some of my soup (I almost always have soup and a slice of wholemeal bread/wholemeal roll for lunch - am boring - she's quite good with a spoon now so not too messy), small pieces of cheese, occasionally beans/peas/sweetcorn, scrambled egg (quite a lots - quick and easy and nutritious), little bits of cooked meat... oh I could go on....

not all at once I hasten to add.

celery sticks, cracker biscuits (not the salty ones), breadsticks, crackerbreads with cheese spread on or cottage cheese, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries (v messy), melon chunks if we've bought one lately (rare).... see I told you I could go on.... I'll stop now

I find pasta or noodle salads are good, especially as I can make a big one that will last the week. Doesn't really qualify as not dinner like though but I figure ds doesn't care

He definitely eats most things from your extensive list, Lennied . but I mostly give them as snacks. And he totally loves sausage/sausage rolls. Maybe I'm being a bit pfb-ish with a need for variety in his lunchtime diet!!!

Lol Gloria, I am slowly learning to quash PFB instincts and accept the fact that ds is about 90% pasta and not care too much when he has pasta salad at lunch and macaroni cheese for dinner.

Either 90% pasta or 90% fruit anyway.

Definitely 90% fruit here, DS could live on blueberries, grapes, apples and bananas. He just stuffs them in (worried I might steal them back I think) and doesn't always stop to chew - as we discovered last week when he sicked up his whole dinner and a large portion of fruit appeared, looking EXACTLY like it had gone down

Lol ds is very possessive of grapes and strawberries.

Urgh, dh nagging me to go to bed - he's right, am shattered, and need energy to take dd1 to school induction she doesn't want to go to

Just want to add belated hugs/support to EV: can pretty much echo what AQ said, and am glad yo'uve found a course of action and hope it helps - don't forget we're a source of unbiased ears, too

{{EV}} - I do hope the course helps and that you are able to contol your anxiety.

I felt so ill and worn out the other day that I gave dds 2 pots of muller rice for tea. (bad mummy)

We're no further forward with the boiler and it's now 4 weeks without hot water. &. They are going to come on Friday - please send some "miracle working engineer" vibes to me for Friday.

Poor Margo, hope it gets fixed soon ((good boiler vibes coming your way))

I was so busy yesterday and totally forgot DD1's visit to school at lunchtime that DD2 didn't get fed until 4pm She managed to make up for it from then on and seems ok!!!!

Corn on the cob are great, also good in packed lunches, slices of cold/cooked meat, cut up bits of veg/bagel/pitta/crackers and a bowl of hummous/taz and let her get on with it ...

Glad you are on top of things EV

Margo sending lots of positive fixing-type vibes, how awful for you!

Ooh, lots of ideas re: food, the ds's won't have any salad rats which is so frustrating as I have salad roll or whatever (hummus & grated carrot) and can't just give them the same. Well I do but they just turn it down day after day (surely 20 times now??). I use those small pitta breads sometimes to make mini-sandwiches for ds2 (who doesn't much like sandwiches) and they go down well. Also bits of wrap if they're melted in oven first (e.g. cheese & ham) - you can see I'm persevering re: sandwiches! Corn wraps might be good idea for your household, Gloria? Hadn't thought of pasta salad as I don't eat them myself. Or corn on the cob for lunch, excellent as quite filling!

Was going to ask today for ideas re: favourite toys for the LO's as ds2 must be getting bored with the 3 he plays with regularly. Or is it just me? We have 70,000 toys of course, but ds1 wasn't much interested in toys at this age whereas ds2 very much so. And the drawing, he sat on the road in the cul-de-sac for 3/4 hour yesterday 'drawing' with his pad & pencil whilst ds1 raced around yelling 'Peter Pan, Peter Pan' and then made me fly too. Neighbours must be killing themselves at large pg woman flapping arms and walking quickly!

Lennied, how are sinuses?

Margo - hope its fixed soon.

For food here, I give ham or jam sandwiches for both Dds. Dd1 eats them 90% of the time and DD2 about 50%. They also get 3 of the following on their plate depending on what we have in the house:
sliced apple,
banana,
pear,
satsuma,
grapes,
breadsticks,
cucumber,
grated cheese (neither will eat sliced or sticks )
pom bears or hula hoops (trust me, 1/3 pack hula hoops will not kill them),
raisin bread,
ham,

For pudding they often have:
yoghurt
rice pudding
custard
fruit jelly (not my fave but dh bought them and the kids devoured them)
plain fruit
or a chocolatey treat

And AQ - DD2 plays with:

Baby dolls, buggy, highchair etc(DD1 never interested but DD2 is obsessed with playing mummy)
Play kitchen
felt pens (all over herslelf)
Colour doodle drawing board
DD1s Barbie's
Books

She has the usual baby toys of shape sorter, hammer bench, wooden puzzles, and so on ut isnt interested really.

If you were going to go and get 1 purchase I would definitely recommend play kitchen if you dont have one already.

Thanks for all the meal ideas - lots of things to try.

Re toys, DS loves his sandpit and I just ordered this. There are loads of different versions, Dora, Thomas etc. DPs DS has it for hers, lots of fun and no mess!

Duplo

It is all about duplo. He has cars, trucks, shape sorters, building blocks galore but duplo is what gets played with. Though he is currently sitting in the middle of apile of stickle bricks trying to fathom out a shape sorter.

Anyone else finding they really have to watch what they say?

Ds- "yum" having just stolen my biscuit
Me- gasp "that was mummy's biscuit!" while smiling.
Ds- Wails and shoves biscuit back at me.

Bless him.

Oh the shape sorter got the better of him, lid is off and he is filling it with duplo. See? Always the duplo

DD likes her Duplo too - got a massive stacking box of it for £4 from NCT sale, a bargain. No one could ever use all that Duplo though - thinking of selling half of it at the next sale.

Her favourites are crayons, fuzzy felt and her pullalong dog that she treats like a real puppy - feeds it, gives it her juice.... drives me crazy cleaning the thing all the time! She gets most entertainment out of emptying cupboards though.

We did BLW Gloria - hence lunch being picnic style still! Have got onto proper 'meals' for breakfast and tea but lunch still like the BLW days.

Margo - so lovely to see your pics on FB and see you in RL!

Play kitchen is on the list I've just started for DD for Xmas/Bday. Am going to have a look around in the secondhand sales that are coming up and if I can't find anything I'll try the internet - don't think I'll feel like shopping by the end of the year somehow .

AQ - sinuses are a bit better, just bunged up now rather than constantly streaming nose. Am sleeping a bit better too, which has made a huge difference. How is your girl twin shopping going?

Thanks for all the ideas, thought I might get to the toy library some time soon, but poss. need to buy him something (no, not more plastic!!!!). Play kitchen v.popular at nursery with both of them, but they're huge! Phaps on the xmas/birthday list. I was thinking of happyland bits maybe too. Loves ds1's cars. We don't have duplo, mum does don't know if he plays with it? I had stickle bricks and chucked 'em as ds1 so frustrated with them!

Lennied, good the pain has gone away (thought this morning of you, as I have one of those menthol thingy's plugged in beside my bed & it helped when bunged up iyswim). Went charity shopping again and got nice little bundle of pink stuff. Find myself thinking anything over a pound expensive now! Did quite enjoy myself, unlike uniform shopping (who else is doing this, arggghhhhhh), cannot manage to buy ds1 charcoal trousers that will fit his petite body anywhere and I think I've shrunk the polo shirts in the dryer this morning. Hmmmm.

AQ, you can get a mini toy kitchen from ELC, I got one for the playhouse (best investment yet: girls, including friends, spend hours in it, eat meals happily in it, keep toys in it, etc) because the standard toy kitchens are too big for it. It has a BBQ on one side, hot plates with sound effects on t'other, and lots of accessories. dd2 loves it.

Other than that, dd2 is much like EV's dd2, and is smitten with dolls. She's got her mitts on some of dd1's Polly Pockets recently, though not the clothes, just the dolls. Happy land stuff, drawing, pretending to be me or dd1, and footballs.

Indith, lol at your ds and Duplo. Much like dd2 and dolls.

Lunches....ham, eggs, pasta, leftovers of whatever we had the night before, veggies (dd2), salad (dd1), yoghurt drinks, fruit. Or make-your-own pizza, if dd1 has friends round.

BLW has paid off here, dd2 eats with spoon and fork at 19 mos whereas dd1 still has to be nagged to, and would like to be fed given half the chance

dd1 cried all teh way to her school taster morning, then was ok but shaking and white faced during/after. She knew no one, big change from current pre-school but they are v v nice people there, and I've organized some playdates pre-September, so here's hoping!