December 07 - I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, no!

[Wizzska]

Hello people, is anyone there?

polishing shite - love it! (well obviously it's very mean but still quite funny)

stingy with the heating? Surely it's not heating time yet? Even I haven't felt the need to put it on and I am always cold AND I live oop north

insy - thanks for the tips re biting - will try that. At the moment I just squalk loudly - to think I used to endure whole feeds of agony in the early days and now a couple of seconds has me screaming!

Good luck with ttc - that 2ww is so awful isn't it? And pg envy is completely normal surely?

glad it isn;t just me with sore nips again. and i thought i'd never have to look at another tube of lasinoh again!
went to local rare breeds trust farm yesterday. lovely now that dd is interested in beasties. think she is saying moo when we say what does a cow say, but it could just be frustration at all the ridiculous questions .

Total sympathy with the biting, Kaesha does too, she did it when she first got her tooth and I too did the "no take her off put her down and distract thing" and seemed to work, but she's just started doing it again the last few days and every time I do the same process she just laughs and does it next time I feed her, it really bloody hurts and I don't want this to be the deal breaker that makes me decide to stop feeding but if she doesn't get the messgae soon I may have to!! We need armour plating for our boobs!!
Can't believe it's 3 weeks til I go back to work I am gonna miss her so much, I feel lucky that I only have to go back 2 and a half days but 2 of those days will be 11 hours long with the commute. I also can't believe that means I have been off work a whole year - how did that happen?!
My man away for a few days, first time it's just been us two here, feels very odd - though it does mean I get to eat all the chocolate!!

I've got the woodburner lit here, not really cause I'm cold though, but we only had it put in this summer and I've been so excited about using it that the first hint of a chill in the air and I can't resist lighting it!!

Have just tried to join the group on Facebook but no idea if I've done it right, I've been a member for ages but I really only use it to nosey at how old friends are doing!!

Turned the heating on today as it was a bit cold!

DS hasn't said Mama again, ah well give him time. He did take a couple of steps while holding onto the coffee table, I think he is not far off cruising!

Ds has scraped my nipple with his teeth a few times, and it has been uncomfortable, but not too bad. He hasn't tried to bite though!

No issue with the heating here - we're still using air conditioning!

Sorry about all the biting, they are little devils at this stage. If yours are anything like mine, they will deliberately do it if they know they shouldn't. Dd2 dropped her toothbrush in the toilet this morning, I'm sure she did it because I have previously tried to stop her doing it!

No news for us yet, but starting to gear up for a return home. Looking into nursery/playgroup places - bit of a nightmare as I doubt many of the ones we would want her to go to would have places as you normally need to book them up well in advance.

And I am now laying awake fretting about how you do the "school run" when you have a baby that naps at 8.30 - 9.30am and 12.30 - 2pm.

Clara - you're taking all this upheaval really well, mind you you don't have any choice I suppose.

Re: school run. You don't let them sleep until they're in the car seat. Hopefully they'll be so tired they're out like a light. If you're still using the first size car seat you can then move them inside if they're still sleeping. If the school run is on the bus its harder.

DH told me DS was on the bus yesterday with another little boy in a buggy next to him. They were babbling at each other then started holding hands, bless! Both were being looked after by their dads who looked a bit sheepish but had to laugh.

Melly - yes, work is rubbish. We should all win the lottery and never work again. We would be the richest people in the world because everyone's money is worth sh*t now thanks to America and the stoopid banks.

Looks like my loft conversion is well up the creek now. Have had investments since I was 12 years old when my dad died, just for a time like now when I'm starting a family only for them to crash before I can use them. Oh well, if Old Mother Hubbard can live in a shoe with loads of children, I can live in a tiny flat.

On the plus side, if my work starts struggling even more, they might give me a redundancy payout or let me go part time.

Hi ladies

Hope all the biting stops soon - ouch! My dd got her first tooth at 5 months which luckily and coincidentally was when I stopped bf! Her 5th tooth is just breaking through the gum and she bit me last night when I was cleaning her teeth. She nearly drew blood so I sympathise with those of you who are still bf!

DD has been babbling away for a few weeks now, my mum keeps saying she'll be an early talker like I was. She has a duck toy that she loves and says 'quack' a lot which is really cute. She also says 'dada' all the time which dh loves and occasionally says something that sounds like 'mumumum'

Re Facebook - I do go on it sometimes but I'm a bit wary of it. I have got in touch with a few old friends through it which is nice. I don't think I'll join the mn group though - I prefer this!

My first day back at work is Friday and I have to say I'm quite looking forward to it! I've had a few texts from colleagues and I'm looking forward to catching up with them. I'm only doing a Friday for the first 2 weeks then I'll be going on to my new hours - Thu and Fri. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon enough though

hellooooo all lovely to read all of your news, I've been having a quick read through every night then running out of time to post!

clara glad you are ok, and hope you get some news soon as to where you will end up!

BT whizz and everyone else back at work how is it going?

I am HATING every minute of it! The guilt is just awful, I'm crying leaving dd in the mornings, and the work is going to KILL me. Arcadie I think it was a teaching job you are quitting by what you said? In which case - Good Move!! Honestly it's awful, home at 5.30, 2hrs with dd doing tea,bath bed etc, then straight into 3-4hrs work and that is at the weekends too. I have observed lessons, parents night and an assemly coming up and I think I might just crack up .

DD is doing well however, although not nearly as advanced as some of your LOs seem to be!

moving - not moving! Thankfully! A lot of bum shuffling but no official crawling yet, and thankfully no walking!

feeding - still bf-ing in the morning, late afternoon and evening (oh and alllll night loonnnnnnnnnnng!) and she takes a bottle in the day, so far so good! Also loving her solids, eating all manner of stuff actually, we are BLWing I suppose (really known as too lazy to puree and just giving the baby bits of our own tea!).

teeth 2 on the bottom finally through - no biting yet - do I have to start brushing them now?!!

Must dash have no lessons for tomorrow yet eeek. But just wanted to say hello!

Caz 10 Yup. Leaving teaching. With a huge sense of regret as I trained very hard to get into it and quite enjoy the job. But cash wise and havingalife wise it's got to be the best plan for us. Don't envy you the next couple of weeks. I did an assembly last week. Didn't have enough time to prepare and made an arse of myself in front of the head.

And in terms of your DD's development. Moving = snap, Feeding = that you're up all night long. And teeth = snap. i hate brushing her teeth. She just gets grumpy with me. And DS who's 2 & 3/4 still isn't a big fan of teeth brushing.

Keep smiling. Think of half term looming soon and good luck with tomorrow's lessons. What do you teach?!

I'm in Yr6 this year (having been in Yr1 so quite a shock to the system!!)
they have all this extra stuff going on too, it's never ending. Do you think you will go back? What do you teach? i love my job too but it's going to be the end of me...

Caz - I hate work. I just resent the time away from DS. My job is quite dull usually but I've got more varied work now because of redundancies. I'm now doing the gallery photography and colour proofing and today I've got to do the rehangning after our exhibition. Last week I did cry every day on the way to the bus stop. And I hate it because when I get home he's asleep or ready for bed quite often. If I'm lucky I get to bath him.

Re: teeth cleaning, how do you do it? I've been letting DS do it himself. He loves the taste of a smear of toothpaste so he happily chews the brush and puts it around his mouth. It is much harder to get him to let me actually brush the 4 teeth he has.

oh you poor things caz and wizz - is there no way you could stop work or at least reduce your hours? Must be so horrible being there when you don;t want to be.

arcadie and caz - no crawling here either although he does cruise and walking holding a hand (no more independent steps since 9 months and 2 days though!)

louise - DS says mumumum as well, usually when he wants a hug - very very cute!
your working hours sounds great - just enough to have time for yourself and still loads of time to spend with your DD - am a bit tbh!

clara - there you are in the middle of bombs exploding and you're worrying about the school run?!!! Has there been any more news re coming back?

I am sooooo with my brother. He is coming up this weekend, has been arranged for ages, and last night he phones to tell (not ask) me that he and his wife will basically be leaving their three children with us all weekend (3 nights) while they go off by themselves (he's doing the Great North Run and then 'needs' to go out for beers the following night) - I was so shocked I didn't really say anything - don't know what to do now. They are lovely girls but he is just taking the p*ss assuming we will take them at the drop of a hat

Skid, I'd be cross with him too. There are ways of asking and if he assumed you'd do it that's a bit much. It isn't exactly a small favour if you ask me.

skid . I would be tempted to tell him no, but then i am a hard bitch

thanks suey and wizz, I am VERY tempted to say no but DD will love hanging out with her cousins and we were expecting them - just thought their parents would also be here - I feel like a bit of a fool tbh - I thought they were coming because they wanted to see us but they are actually just using us as a free babysitting service - they do this all the time to both sets of grandparents but I didn't think they'd do it to us too...

Skid, what goes around comes around, you should do it back to them one time. It's the only way they'll learn.

Skid - at your brother! Sounds like he is taking advantage of your good nature

Caz & Wizz hang in there with work - I am looking forward to going back to work but I do worry that I will feel like you once it actually happens. I know I'll miss dd but I feel that me working 2 days is the best compromise -it's the minimum hours I can do to qualify for my employee benefits and it allows us to keep childcare costs at zero as dh and my parents will be looking after dd. I'm not going back to the job I had before as I couldn't do it in just 2 days so I will have less responsibility but that suits me fine as they still have to pay me the same! We'll just have to see how it works out - I work for a bank so who knows what will happen!

Hi - well the news finally came through today, you heard it here first, they are evacuating us. We hopefully won't leave until half term in just over two weeks time, but planning to go on our holiday to Thailand first (I think we deserve it!). No idea yet where we will be living in the short term or where dd1 will go to nursery or what will happen to us in the long term (another posting?), but at least we know now we are definitely going. That's one thing.

Skid - I would tell your brother you can only do one night max. What a cheek!

Happy Eid (or should I say Eid Mubarak!) to anyone who it means anything to. Possibly only Amani but I haven't seen her on here for ages!

Hello all, not been on much last couple of days so got some catching up to do!

Louise - good luck with the return to work, think of all the workplace gossip you can catch up on! Oh, big hint, generally workplace gossip doesn't usually involve poo

Caz/Wizz - I feel your pain . I too find it very hard being away from my little love. I'm hoping I will be able to drop to 4 days a week in January but atm I have a very heavy workload.

Skid - at your cheeky bro & sil, I'd be tempted to book a night for just you and your dh at a nice restaurant and drop it on them that you expect them to babysit ds

Arcadie - hope it works out for you, giving up work

DS has no less than 4 teeth coming through (still!!!) and I've been sorted of trying to brush them in the bath with not much success!
7yo dss also hates brushing his teeth! And you know what, so do I

Hi all, sorry for another long absence from me. DD's cold turned into a chest infection, on the day I returned to work no less - how bad did I feel? Thankfully she is much better now and back to her usual delightful self! Work is rubbish and being back there is just so depressing but at least it is only a couple of evenings.

Evie has been standing independently quite a lot, she is so cute when she does it! She looks at you to check you are watching and then lets go! She has tried to come towards me when standing but doesn't seem to know what her legs are for and just falls towards me!

She is babbling a lot and will make a "hiya" sound when waving. She also says "Mum" when she wants a cuddle (love her).

To those of you with teeth brushing troubles, I always find singing a song to DD makes it more enjoyable for her - I sing the teeth brushing song from Bear in the Big Blue House.

I have had a quick scan through to see what I have missed but my brain is not working too well tonight (am only up so late cos there are people round - watching a film I don't like so I am MNing...) so have forgotten most of what I wanted to say!

Glad you are okay Clara, hopefully you will know where you are at a little more before you go to Thailand so you can enjoy your holiday!

Well that's all I can manage but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things again now that I am getting used to being back at work again.

Love to all xxx

Hi Beckle - sorry to hear of dd's chest infection, glad she is better now!

Claraq - hope you find out soon where you are going, just focus on your holiday, my exboss and is wife went to Thailand a couple of years ago and they loved it, said the people were so lovely and friendly and there was so much beautiful scenery, my exboss who is a bit of an amateur photographer, was able to take loads of amazing pictures.

Anyhoo just thought I would say (and jinx myself forever) Daniel slept from 7pm-6am for the very first time ever!!!! Sorry no tips I'm afraid, it happened on no intervention on my part, he just decided on his own to not wake up!!
Sadly, mummy didn't...

BT that's great, you must feel so refreshed after so much sleep. DS was better last night too. Just a 4am wake up wanting his dummy which DH dealt with then he went back to sleep until nearly 7.30. I'm still knackered though because I was out late last night because of my evening class, didn't get back til 10.30pm. Tonight I'm going out with the girls from my NCT class for a girls night out. I'm quite looking forward to seeing them because now I'm working I'm missing all the meet ups. It does mean I'll miss my boy again tonight. I feel like an awful Mum and I feel rotten piling all the childcare onto DH.

hello all.
Wizz I wouldn't worry: your dh is rorys dad too! But Ivan empathise.
I went to the doc this week for something routine and she said that she thought I was sliding. She wants to see or hear from me in 2 weeks (she has given me her email address) and if I am still this whacked out she may want me to stop bf and give me antidepressants for a bit. I was a bit shocked tbh, but grateful that she noticed! Dh is working v hard and knackered himself: at least I don't have to worry about money. But I have had to ask him for more financial help even though I have been working ft for the last month. I hope I will be better now that I am back on three days a week. But I have decided to bf morning and evening, but not during the day. That, I really hope, will do the trick.