Feb 08 - Never mind my wrinkly tum, look what's come out of my baby's bum!

[Gill79]

done it

She wakes at 6am for a feed and then goes back to sleep! (had to wake her at 8! seems she has inherited our families love of sleep! (thank goodness) - napping now!

God so sorry some of you are having an awful time being back at work. I hope it all calms down for you Omy and Sally. I am the type of person who cries when someone is nice to me (hence sobbing when HV came a couple of weeks ago), I also sob when I am angry. I sob a lot .

Gill how is poor Malc? He sounds really under the weather. You must be so shattered. We had an awful night two nights ago with about 6 wakings in total from all 3 DCs. Last night they all slept 12 hours solid though which is very very rare! I gave DS2 Medised for first time last week when he was poorly. He woke up at 4:30am for a while but then slept til 7:30, his latest ever I think!

Generally DS2 is up some time soon after 6am, and DS1 is often woken by DS2, and then DD usually sleeps til about 6:45. Today nobody was up until just before SEVEN .

DS1 insisted on going for his lunchtime nap at 1pm without a story. He is now up there still talking to himself (normally goes straight to sleep). I think it is because I put his posters up on his wall while he was at nursery yesterday and he has a Cars one (from Disney Pixar film) with all the different cars you can get (he is collecting them with his sticker reward chart for poos!). He is up there saying "oh well I haven't got that one yet, but I've got that one AND that one"... blaa blaa. As long as he lets me watch Neighbours in peace I dont mind .

DD seems a lot better today, but has a really hacking cough that sounds like she is about to cough her guts up. She is back to being smiley again though.

Hi Everyone,

Havnt had a chance to catch up properly, will do later.
Realy feel for those hat have gone back to work and having a bit of a rough time big {{{HUG}}} foryou all.

So sorry that so many LO's are ill. A friend of mine has a 10w old that has got the Nuro Virus . I hope that she and everyone's LO's get better soon.

Im on Day 4 of the juice diet. Its really, really tough but ive got to day 4 and determined not to give in. Only 3 more days to go. I have to confess that i did have a coupe of DS's "home made" potato wedges last night . Well they are veggies and i am on the fruit and veg juice diet afterall .

FIL took a turn for the worst lastnight. They think he's got a lung infection. His temp at the mo is 44.2 and they cant bring it down. DP is finding it all really tough. Hes gone back to work to take his mind off things. Hes not eatin properly or sleeping. Im making his dinner and tea but he dont eat much of it. He is having some juices with me though so at least hes still getting all the vitamins to keep his energy up.

I think Henley is coming down with sometin. He slept in until 11am , had a late brakfast and is now back to sleep.

Catch up properly later

miss nat, i hope your fil gets well soon, it must be so hard for you all waiting and hoping, wd on sticking to the juice diet too- i dont think i would have the will power!!!!!

still doing slimming word here and thats working very well, i have lost just over a stone and if i tried alot harder it would be much more!!!! Cadburys wispa has got to be a weakness !!!!!

anyone had any snow yet???

get well soon to all our poorly lo's, and poorly parents xxxx

Egg your DS1 is so sweet, everytime i read your comments about him it really makes me smile, xxxxx also wd on getting a full 12 hour stretch from all three!!!!!! wow!!!!!

YAY for the weekend! am so happy! God knows working full time is SO MUCH harder than I thought it would be.

Just had a lovely long breakfast with DS in his high chair giggling at me. Apparently when you are 9mo it is the height of comedy to try to eat/drink from the wrong side of your cup/bowl , also to fling your mug/bowl over the side and then to peer over in a "hmm where's that gone?" surprised sort of way . Now he is having a nap all cuddled up to me.

Did I say he has learned to clap? It is v cute.

hi all finally added pictures from our foto shoot if any one fancies a nosy!!!!

Lovely pics Sarah. What a lovely family!

Natalie - FIL sounds worrying - temp of 44!

Egg - DDs cough sounds like what we had - it lasted a week after 3 days of temp and sore throat. Glad DD is smiling again! DS1 sounds adorable.

Sally - it sure makes a day at home like a holiday when you have been at work!

PS LOVE the thread title about dressing an octopus!

Hello. Sorry its been so long again. I HATE HATE HATE my job, it takes over everything and I have no life. No time for anything except work, housework, childcare, work... No time for rl or mn friends or myself.

I think its been a tough run because DS has been sick pretty much constantly since I went back to work. Hes on anti biotics now for a chest infection, but I guess its a virus cause its not getting any better. He was sleeping through but going back to work has coincided with him waking up constantly all night. I know we aren't the only ones so I do sympathise. We also have medised, the calpol plug thing, kalvol, raised cot... it helps but he's just not getting better and I am finding it so hard.

Sorry, just an explanation for why I've only been on MN to ask selfish advice and not to be friendly

So, had a quick read. Ginger, congratulations, am v happy for you and v jealous.

Swotty, thanks for asking after me and am really glad to hear your scan went well. Are you starting to feel better?

Count, sorry about your DH but as everyone has said, hopefully it all being out in the open will help.

Everyone struggling with work, I know how you feel. I did it last time so all I can say is I think it does get better.

Hope you've all had good weekends, I am going to try really hard to keep up this time....

strawberry you're having a crap time. hope lo gets better soon.
huge congratulations ginger. wonderful news,i know you thought it would take ages.
count-what a shocker. you have a strong relationship if you're both coping now he's told you, you sound like you're being really brave.
have just come on briefly, finding it hard to keep up. am on my way up to bath and bed. more childcare than i'm used to this weekend as dh working all weekend.
ds so huge he weighs same or poss more than his 2year old sister . not even the 12-18 month clothes fitting. have now put him into sister's grobabs (18-36months )as poss sleeps better. he's too small for his cot but tried taking side off dd's cot to get her used to big bed and she didn't like it. any advice? sadly still only 2 teeth although misery teething. still polishing the kitchen floor with his weird crawling and no words. he's such a pain to dress now-right on cue; a month after the rest of you! must read more what all yours are doing now so know for next month.

Strawb - work sounds miserable - I hope your little one gets better soon. Lack of sleep is a killer when you have to work and leaving him when he is ill must be awful.

Princess - helloo! Nice to hear from you. Working ALL WEEKEND - blah horrid. Your son sound HUGE - reminds me of my first DD - a giant baby - a perfect size 10 now at 16! (he he with a LOVE bite on her neck - first ever I think!) She is not working very hard on her A levels and I have to confess I don't blame her - it is a crap time in your life to have to work hard. Don't you mean his cot is too small for him? confused! How old is DD? - I remember DD1 falling out of her new big bed aged 3 - it was such a loud thump! and i felt so guilty! Maybe you could get her a princess bed for christmas (with some side protection!)

Leila got through 3 sets of clothes today and had to go to bed in day clothes as I had no babygrows clean! This eating business is a mess!

Just had a brain wave for Christmas - I have found online under 'halloween costume patterns' Butterick and mcall do loads of fabulous dressing up type patterns. My niece has been wanting a red velvet cloak for ages - now I just have to find the time to sew it!

Morning, hope you all had great weekends

Omy.. a love bite!! is she trying to hide it or show it off, 16 is a very tough age, not a child but not really a proper adult yet! We are changing clothes a few times a day also but i got ds2 some of those long sleeved bibs that tie at the back, it saved his clothes a little bit!!

Hiya Princess, wow Ferdie is chunking up nicely, after everything he's been through it's good to hear he's doing so well, we put ds1 in his own bed at 2.5yrs and just put pillows on the floor in case he fell out, i didn't want a bed with side protection on it cos i didn't want him getting too used to it and sleeping against it.

Strawberry your poor ds, sound like he has a virus if the AB aren't doing much. I too am finding myself with less and less time for myself, it's so hard working and trying to get everything else done AND keeping everyone else happy, my New Years resolution has to be to make more time for myself

Sarah your Family is beautiful, love the Photo's xx And a huge well done on your weight loss hun, hang on in there your'e doing really well, it is hard at this time of year when comfort food makes you feel better mmmmmmm chocolate!!

Thread title about dressing an Octopus is brill, and very appropiate

Egg how is your dd? it's a shame that so many of the Feb babies are so sick. Your 3 are pretty good sleepers aren't they? your Ds1 is getting a big boy now not wanting a story, i think the posters are working!

Missnat, how has your FIL been over the weekend, any better? And what about Henley was the long lie in a lucky one-off or is he poorly? hope not x

Love to everyone else, i've just started a thread on the Christmas section, Ds has to go in school on last day dressed as a bloody christmas cracker!! anyone got any ideas? i didn't fancy buying one, i've got enough to spend my money on at the moment

hi leesmum, how about red tights/leggings, red poloneck and then for the middle find some foam that comes in a long flat piece that you can wind round and round him with maybe sheet or piece of felt safety pinned to it?

Hello ladies! Strawberry so sorry work is shit at the mo. Do you have to stay there a certain amount of time to get paid all of your maternity pay (that was the clause at my old company, I would have had to go back for a whole year to be able to be paid and keep the full maternity pay). I think the bad nights must be making it hell for you at the mo.

How is everyone else going who was having bad nights? Ours are v up and down. Had 3 great nights last week, and then 4 not so great. Last night DS1 refused to go to sleep and got so worked up screaming it took 40 mins from when we put him to bed to him going quiet (had to cuddle him and tell him I loved him over and over bless him). Babies went to sleep ok but DS2 woke at 6am and woke DS1 who had only gone to sleep at 8pm so now poor DS1 is at nursery today and will be shattered.

Sarah your pics are so stunning. I would really like to get some done but DH is not keen. He hates having his pic taken at the best of times but having to pose etc for so many different pics would send him crazy. Your gorgeous DH is clearly more patient than mine! Love the hamper pics too. I have decided to give each of the nursery staff a little bottle of cava each. They are only the mini ones (200ml) and are on special offer at Tesco. They look nice and I will just put ribbon round the neck of each one. I have actually hardly spent any more than I did getting them lots of nice chocs to share last year but feel like they get a better present this time! I do need to get something a bit extra for the 3 keyworkers though, but not sure what?

Princess I thought the same as leesmum, it's good that Ferdie has not suffered after being so ill, do you have any recent pics? I had a look at your profile to see your gorgeous DCs again! Did I tell you your DH looks familiar before? He's not a surveyor is he????????

Princess we moved DS1 into his own bed about this time last year (he was 20 months). We got him this car bed and I think he has only fallen out once and didn't hurt himself (it is v low). They have these ones for girls too. We put it together a couple of weeks before he actually slept in it so he could play on it and have a lie down while having a story etc and he changed over without a prob (did expect it to be hell but thankfully not!). Think it will be harder for DTs as they will just have sides taken off of cotbeds so not so exciting! Plenty of time left for that though!

Omy - I am dreading my DD ever coming home with a lovebite! Or my DS's tbh! I know it is years and years away but still. I only ever had one, aged 15 and I thankfully wore a lot of polo necks back then so my parents never saw it (I think they were away that weekend anyway and had left me and my older sis to behave ourselves!).

I second leesmum's recommendation of the bibs with arms. We have 6 of them and they are always in the washing machine so I can use them for all main meals. It means that unless the food goes in their laps (or they projectile puke) their clothes stay more or less clean!

All DCs gone to nursery today. DD still got hardly any voice and now DS2 is losing his, but they seem more or less ok! DS1 still having poo issues and food issues. Getting a bit worried about his poor diet .

Leesmum - I am dreading having to do costumes for my DCs. I am the world's worst seamstress! I can't even sew on a button successfully. Did you find some pjs for DS1 btw? They have lots on Amazon like these Roary ones. Not Christmas ones but fleecey type I think and not too expensive (have ordered my niece some HSM3 ones from there today).

Sorry just seen those pjs were too small for your DS1 leesmum and can't see them in a bigger size...

Hey all. Thanks for the commiserations about work. I have to stay to pay the mortgage unfortunately. Today I am "working" at home which is nice. DS is just back from the doctors and has been diagnosed with bronchiolitis . Poor little thing, am that the locum we saw first didn't take it seriously, he just seems to have been sick for ages. We had another rubbish night and the doctor put him on a nebuliser and he fell asleep in my arms. I brought him home in the pushchair and he's still sleeping nearly 2 hours later, so its good to see he has finally had a good sleep. He's got stronger ABs too so hopefully any secondary infections will get cleared up. Am so glad he's not newborn and suffering, that would be really hard.

Princess, am impressed with your DS, my DS is so small, he's still wearing some 3 - 6 month clothes quite comfortably. He's still not 16 pounds yet. My DD went into a bed just before 3 and she's fallen out a few times but still likes it. I was more concerned about her having the ability to get up whenever she wanted.....

Omy, I cannot imagine DD having a love bite although I know the time will come. It must feel quite strange, kind of amusing but also the feeling of your little one growing up. I agree that 16 is a tough age.

Leesmum, the cracker sounds horrible. I am so terrible at fancy dress. Put him all in red with a gold belt and a crepe paper hat??!!

Egg, yet again I sympathise with lack of sleep as does my DD who has also been disturbed and then had to go to nursery. I am working at home today and no one actually got out of bed until 8.30! Your nursery presents sound good. I have gone for smart biscuits to share and then a really nice mug for DD's key worker. Not sure what to do for DS though because they all seem to dote on him in the baby room, because he's the smallest. Does it sound terrible only to get a group present, since's he's only been there 8 weeks anyway?

DS just woken up coughing so I'd better go...

Gosh Strawb your poor DS, that's what Ginger's DS had and he was in hospital for a few days so keep a close eye on him.

We don't do too badly on nights compared to lots of people on here. I shouldn't complain!

My DD and your DS should become an item. They can be the tiniest Feb babies . I think DD is 15lbs. She is fat but small though. She wears some 3-6 month clothes too (although is today in a new outfit that is 9-12 months, but is quite big on her).

Sorry what I meant about work was could you move jobs maybe? Is there any possibility or do you need to stick it out at current job? I know moving jobs could be more stressful anyway mind you.

Hi Egg. I'm probably just whinging to be honest. I think its been a bad combination of DS being sick and work being busy. In the current climate I should just be grateful to have a job at all really!!

I will tell DS he has his first girlfriend. He's a smiley little flirt so I am sure he will be delighted.

I've checked him out on your profile and I approve. Will let DD know when I get her from nursery that she has to be faithful from now on...

I might have asked before but whereabouts in SE London are you (I am from there although realise it is a big place!).

I am always whingeing on here.

How is your DS now? Hope he is doing ok.

Glad you approve!! Have also looked at your pictures, and we have a deal

I am in Bromley. I am also from here although have moved around a bit and come back home for help with childcare!!!

DS is ok, he woke up and ate the best lunch he's had for ages, lumpy bits and all. He's off at nursery now and DH has gone shopping so I am finally getting some work done, sort of!

Can I ask, how did it feel to find out you were having twins second time? I am v broody and would love a third but don't think DH will go for it. Just wondered whether you always wanted 3 or whether it was a surprise? I know 2 families with twins and a singeton, although both had twins first and then single baby second. They both have mixed twins and then another boy too. Bet your DD will be completely adored by her brothers

Ooh I used to hang out in The Glades sometimes as a youth . I am from Dulwich originally, lived in Sydenham briefly as well, then moved in with DH in Putney.

Glad DS is feeling better.

As for twins. When I found out there were two I was . Have a look back our old threads (will find the one and link it for you). But I was excited too and felt a bit "special". Before I had DS1 I wanted twins (did not realise there were ever any in our family, even 4 generations back) but after he was born I was incredibly thankful he was a singleton as I found it very hard work for first 6 months esp.

Even now, as much as I love the little blighters, I would not choose to have had twins as I often feel sorry for them and DS1 that they don't get much one-on-one time and it seems like hard work to actually go out anywhere. I used to chat to DS1 endlessly and take him out every day either just wandering round the shops or for Monkey Music, swimming, swings, softplay etc. DTs get none of that and I dont often sit down to chat with them like I used to with DS1. I do feel proud of them, and I am pleased that DS1 thankfully now likes playing with them and they will hopefully soon all play together while I drink gin do the housework but people tell you "oh twins entertain each other" "twins hold their bottles sooner" "twins get used to waiting for their food" etc but it isn't true for all of them!

God I know i sound like I am moaning (yes I am indeed moaning) and I am very lucky, I have them at nursery one day a week, I don't work, I have a DH who rarely goes out on the lash etc, but it is just hard work esp with a high maintenance toddler!

We did only want two children. Initially before we had any I wanted three or four but we had decided to stick at two for financial and various other reasons!

I think to myself that if I had twins first time round I would NEVER have had more, and it would be so easy, but my god if I hadn't had the experience of having DS1 first I think the twins would have broken me!!!

Loads of people do have three children, including twins and a single, and find it a doddle. I do think from reading on here and from other friends, that those people with three children did find the transition from two to three easier than from one to two.

Sorry, long winded..... I got my cleaning and chores done too early today and am spending too long on here!

How funny, we have very similar paths. I grew up in New Eltham (sort of between Chislehurt and Greenwich) and I used to live in Sydenham when I was first together with DH (by Crystal Palace park). We moved to Bracknell, then to Barnes (which I loved) but for financial reasons and because my mum is local and helps me out so much when DH is away we moved back to the South East.

Interesting what you say about twins. Both my friends with mixed twins first went on to have another baby because they felt they had missed out because it wasn't really like doing motherhood twice. Both sets are quite hard work and I really admire them, but I really think that what they miss out on in terms of individual attention they reallly make up for by having the brother/sister so close to them. The ones who are the same age as my DD (just 4) are so close to each other and really look out for each other, and it makes me a bit sad that my DD will never have that with anyone.

I did once hear of a couple who decided to stop at 2, had an accident and then found out that that was twins, so now have 4 !!! If I ever convinced DH to go for another one and that happened to us I think he would kill me

Strawberry now I have looked at your profile again and seen you like Snow Patrol and U2! Same as my profile! Now I know you are fabulous . When did you live in Sydenham? I was there from Sept 1996 for a year before moving to E Dulwich.

I have heard other people saying that about twins, that they missed out on the special-ness (made up word?) of having one baby and being able to have that one-on-one time with them etc. I still dont think I would have dared have another after having twins, esp as I would have been worried about having twins again!

I think I am going to get the last post here! Now I can head over and keep Betty company on the new thread!.

I will have the last post

I will

I will

I will