May 2007 - They are off and running, wobbling and falling down again.

[JamInMyWellies]

New thread needed.

I am strongly considering a weak Bombay Sapphire. So there.

PJ - I agree with what Tilly said. Put it to her that you're very grateful for all the help, but you insist she takes a break from coming over in the evenings. In fact, you might find that you mum not coming (and therefore watching, read: judging) might make changing L's routine easier for both you and L.

LG&T - Sorry about B. A was grumpy after her mem C as well and hadn't been for any other jabs. MMR to look forward to now, then that's it for ages. Well until September when the next baby needs them! I got the Zoom Tandem in the end. I didn't do any work today. Thanks for the text. . We did playgroup and I bought myself some Marc Jacobs perfume in the village earlier. Nice day. I've booked waxing for Friday and nails and hair for Saturday and I think we'll go out for dinner on Saturday night since I'm 30 on Sunday. Told DH a bigger celebration would be wasted. We're going to have a mahooosive party somewhere fab next year to make up for neither of us celebrating our 30ths. (A's baptism was the day before DH's 30th birthday last year.) In fact, we'll be 5 years married next July, so that's another thing to celebrate. It will give me a reason to lose lots of weight and look glamorous.

Goodness - it has taken me all evening to catch up here....have been on MN a few times in the last week but never seemed to have enough time to read through all you chatters!!
TMAM - took me a while to work out who you were - until you talked about your staff!!
PJ - poor you. It is really hard with the whole sleeping issue. I agree with all that has been said here and I think you are doing the right thing (in fact hopefully, at time of writing, you have DONE it!) Just to say that S gets lively etc if over tired. HE also cries sometimes when he goes down (but then I still go for the easy option of feeding him to sleep quite often....the rule books say no to that!) and can get really p**d off but then I look at my watch and realise that he hasn't really been crying for v long - it is worth remembering it always feels longer.
Re mothers - I get on v well with my mother but we can rub each other up the wrong way. I had one of her friends recently saying to me that she found it tiring looking after my two and I felt v guilty and did try and give her an opt out clause (which she did not take!). I think they do find it hard sometimes watching us being mums when we are their little girls.
I am glad that there was a reason for your friend's comments (although not glad what the reason was iyswim -poor thing). Children do have this ability to let one down at the most embarrassing moments. I was walking home with children the other day when DS1 decided to have huge strop about the fact that he wanted his apple to eat now - it was lunchtime so I said no. I then had some neighbours walking by looking sympathetic but really (I was convinced) saying "she has no control...". I consoled myself with the fact that he was having a strop about an apple not sweets...
TYG - lovely name - isn't it Finn MacCools son as well - the one who gave him the idea to pretend to be a baby?
Lups - really sorry things are hard - poor you. I am glad that your gp etc are being supportive.

Yes anneme. I just realised what I wrote. Osgar was Oisín's son, not the other way round. Really should check my posts! Fionn was Oisín's father and the whole "deer" thing comes from Fionn's wife Sadhbh, who was turned into a deer.

We spend a lot of time reading about Finn MacCool in our house - DS1 is convinced that he built Giant's CAuseway....!

Actually i wasnt going to let you in unless you had bought Margaret Oh where could we go > Scottish castle, nice long walk and a lobster lunch? Good book in the afternoon with a snooze. Heaven.You would be amazed what a bit of TLC can do for a scrawny chicken. Although they may come with mites.

Our chooks had a narrow escape this morning, a fox had Prudence's tail through the wire DH got his catapult out the window and i haired it down the stairs dressed in a towel and weilding a flip flop God what a loon. We chased him off, probably because of a wild woman coming at him and nothing to do with the ball barrings shooting at him from above Chooks ok, phew.

TYG glad you had a rest, you must you know. Dont tire yourself out The dinner out sounds nice, will S babysit?

Spanish student arrives tonight, i'm MAD!!!! But you all knew that.

Pink how was last night?

Aneme glad to see you posting

Blardy hell, kids driving me to distraction. Anyone fancy a loan? Pretty please.

Catapult good god woman are you married to a boy scout.

PJ how was last night?

Midwife today hope she can find a heartbeat

Hola chicas, como estan?

Thank god it was only the catapault. Imagine the carnage had he got his sword out

Damn stupid fox.

Pink, what happened, any luck?

Good luck Jam, of course there will be a heartbeat, don't fret yourself.

Jasper has fallen over 3 times this morning and it is only 11am He now has a collection of bruises on his face. To go with the snot. I'm off to make him some sausages for his lunch and pack him off for his night night.

I have heard he gets his sword out quite frequently.

He can get it out as often as he likes - as long as he doesn't wave it my direction.

Pinkjenny is either prudish about MrG&T's sword, or L slept with her again last night. Don't worry if you couldn't do it. You can either try again or you (we?) can come up with Plan B.

A has been at the childminders for 30 minutes. Worry worry. Am trying to wait til 10 to phone and check. Plan is for her to go every Wed morning, just to socialise and get used to being minded by someone other than me.

The local (excellent) comprehensive just phoned to say they have a place for S. Hurrah. Have a feeling she's going to resist moving, since she's got such close attachments to her school friends, but it would save her spending two hours a day on the bus to and from school. Plus, she will be mixing with kids who live within half a mile of the school. She finally might have some mates whose houses she can walk to.

Donde estan los servicios?

Quiero un perrito caliente.

Lo siento, no hablo espanol.

All you'll ever need.

I want a hotdog?

Went down very well on our Spanish exchange trips.

I just feel bad because you've all been so good and I'm crap. And yes, she slept with me last night and I ate pork chop and veg in bed, which was easier said than done.

SOH!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!! What do you mean? I thought you were going to send me a life-affirming email.

Loving the namechange themaster.

TYG - A will love it at the childminders, playing and bossing all the other kids around. 30 at the weekend eh? . My cousin moved schools after primary, and went to a secondary school with none of his friends. There was major, major, drama over it at the time. He soon got over it though. No long term damage done.

Jam - good luck, and get on here sooner this time, lady, so we're not all fretting.

I'm less worried about N's sword than I am about LG&T turning up on my doorstep to 'sort me out'.

I'm waiting to see if CC works before I email you PJ... I can send you random drivel if you want because I'm rather good at that.

Have you let Mark take L out on his bike yet??

Er, only with me running alongside them. Was so funny, her helmet kept falling down over her face and she was SCREAAAAAMING. Bless her, we took the helmet off in the end and dh was only allowed to go at walking/light jogging speed.

I have this and absolutely love it. We hare round the county on it and dd even eats lunch while we go/has a nap/ points at random things. Get her a helmet that fits properly or pad the one you've got and let him take her out properly. Today I am mostly dressed as an imp and sitting on your shoulder whispering things btw.

Alas, my beard's not that impressive though.
Am slowly catching up with thread...

Ooh, I like imps. I can't hear you though, maybe should go and clean my ears out.

Her helmet is the smallest size, it was fine until we actually put her in the seat, basically the back of the seat is touching the back of her helmet, and pushing it forward over her eyes, IYSWIM.

Some alternative suggestions.
Put a small (inflatable?) matress in L's room. Get her used to falling asleep in there. LEAVE her on the matress when she's asleep. She can't fall far and you only go back in when necessary.

Does the side come down/ off her cot? Can you lie down beside her in her room?

Get her to sleep on matress in room and transfer to cot?

S used to sleep with me (because I was sine and didn't mind) and went into a small single bed in her own room at about 18 months. I remember we made it VERY exciting and she even understood then, that it was for grown up girls. I think it had a Barney duvet cover to entice her. I put a folded duvet on the floor to break any falls and there were only one or two. If you were to do that, then you're only looking at another couple of months before things change.

I was (sort of) geared up for it, went to mu mum's to get the chair that we were going to put in her bedroom to be fed on, then two things happened:

1. My dad said 'I think you should wait until we get back from our holidays to do this'.

1. DH sent me a message saying, 'I won't be in til after 9, sorry'.

So, I bathed L, fed her, she fell asleep on the bottle, I put her in her cot, and PING, she woke up, stood up, and put her arms out. I completely lost my nerve, put her on our bed, where she fell back to sleep 45 minutes later.

Can I echo what TYG says? We sleep on a futon with a pile of pillows next to it. DD does not roll anyway but we're only 4 inches off the ground. I can settle her down and leave her knowing she won't come to any harm.

The absolute beauty of co-sleeping is that it has a natural resolution. Atm, you are railing against a non-verbal child. She doesn't understand why all of a sudden the rules have changed. What she does understand is how to get your attention so she is using only what she knows. Try not to be cross with her or yourself, it's a learning curve. Contrary to popular opinion, co-sleeping infants usually go naturally into their own beds around 18 months and with great glee as they understand words such as 'own bed' and 'big girl' and 'look at the pretty duvet'! They aren't still sleeping with you at 18. I only say all this so you know that if you do nothing, it won't last forever as TYG says. However, if you really need to do something about the situation there are gently ways and means of improving her sleep situation (and yours). CC is all well and good if you know you can commit to it. If you are going to break after a few minutes each night, it just becomes distressing for everybody concerned. Have you tried any of the gentle methods? Have you read the NCSS or Baby Whisperer for example. You may be one of the people they work for. There's another one isn't there, specifically aimed at co-sleeping babies. Let me think for a minute...

SOH - you always make me feel like less of a failure.

The problem isn't the co-sleeping really, its the fact that once she's asleep, I can't leave her. Now, dh and I have a superking size bed, so I could have a look for some bed rails I suppose as a short term solution - we can't really dismantle that bed and put a mattress down. L's bedroom is only little, and there is no room for any floor-based solution, suppose I could put her in our spare room, which I always intended to anyway at some point, which is much bigger.

Dh is not into me moving her cot into our room.

I tried Pick Up Put Down (Baby Whisperer), but I felt like the constant up and down and being messed with was making her crosser. I can't find my copy of the blardy NCSS, I have it somewhere. I have every book ever written. I even bought 'Your child, your way', in an attempt to justify my crapness.

LGT I bougt A a new cup yesterday as well - anoter nuby cup bit differant style and with handles, no lemony eaten yesterday but did by a big bag of cinnamon balls they are more like clove flavour but still yummyTYG mmmmm bombay saphire, dp has an unopened bottle on te shelve - I love the stuff unfortunatley even if i werent pg i couldnt drink it - ahhh summers evening with tall g&t ahhhhJAM sorry but lol at you dragging your drawers up and dribbling everywere, hope little man was okLGT at least you will have an inhouse babysitter, hope she is nice - do you get to find out a bit about them before they arrive? Phew for the chook just as well your dh is a good shotCAM A is having his mmr in july, hope you get hold of some fancy chooks soonPJ hmmm about your mum, seems to me it would do you both some good to ave some space from each other,maybe if she does feel you arent doind an adult job thats why se comes round every night but in doing so interferes wit you being able to settle L at a reasonable time, as far as the boob comment I would say that was well out of order - do you think (please forgive me if this is out of order) that she is purposfully trying to undermine your confidence on several levels - maybe without even realising she is doing it iykwim, seems a strange thing to say unless she was joking of course. I think If I were you as I said the other day I would tactfully ask her to not come round as often or earlier so you can settle L as this is obviously very important for you to get some kind of evening left - another thought would be to invest in a couple of bed sides safety rail thingys - then when she is asleep you may be happier to leave her if having her in the bed is not an issue in itself

Had a nice day yesterday did mammoth walk to tavi, bought some craft stuff for dd, went swimming wit bot dc's then we had tea in the park and walked home, kids straigt to bed then a 2hr call to my friend - who proceeded to spend the whole time lauging at me for being pregnant bless her

DP home today just about to tidy house but dc seem intent on trashing the place today which is doing nothing for my stress levels, am sure the midwife tried calling this morning but I was soaking in a luke warm bath and it was to cold to get out

Have a good day all xx