December 2006 - Terrible Two's here we come!

[Olihan]

Here we go. I thought the title was apt as ds2 has morhed into a stroppy little horror overnight. His favourite expression at the moment is 'I cwoss with you, I sceam at you AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH' .

Happy Birthday ToddlerJabber and ToddlerEli .

DD is poorly again. I swear every bug in the vicinity has some kind of magnetic attraction to her . She has a bit of a temp, headache and earache today. I need to buy shares in Calpol and Medised I think.

Aoa, hotel is a very good idea - go for a posh one so you can have a vvvv hot, deep bath!

LenniEd, it will be mostly watery-ier milk in the shells, you're right. Nothing hugely wrong with that, he just may not go as long before he's hungry again. DH used to give ds2 a bottle of EBM last thing at night so I could get to bed a bit earlier, so I'd bf at, say 7pm, express at 9 then go to bed and bf again when he next woke. AFAIR we started to do it after the evening cluster feeding ended and he went for at least a couple of hours or so between feeds.

Castles/Eli, nights are shocking here too, atm. I was in tears this morning because I can't remember the last uninterrupted night I had and seem to be surviving on 4 or 5 hours in 2 hour stints, max. If I had a newborn I wouldn't mind but at 2.1yo it's getting a bit silly.

Bebe, hope you're enjoying your break at 'home'.

DS2 is still poorly - having appeared to be on the mend yesterday he's spent today throwing up everything, including drinks. Poor mite. He's not bothered about being sick but is getting distraught at my attempts to starve him so I'm in a quandry.

DH still well . I maintain he hasn't cleared up his fair share of sick/poo!

AQ, that's a good start think it takes a few sessions before you get talking to people.

D&V bugs are so blreughhh. I feel for you oli.

Nights are better than they used to be here overall but ds2 will start waking once or twice again at the slightest thing - like his recent cold

DS1 was the same. Definitely over 2 before sleep even started to get sorted out.

Sorry about the bugs Oli. I have always been told by GPs to feed as normal if they want it.

Glad it's not just me IYKWIM on the lack of sleep front. It's not just DD2's nightly crooning sessions, I either have some fiasco with DS or DD1 (last night DS had me up for 3 hours as he had a runny nose ) and DD1 can never get to sleep before about 10pm. Then they still all get up really early. Sigh.

Glad you are ditching the power walk Eli. It was making me feel lazy

Yup, Castles. If it was just ds2 I could manage better but invariably one of the other 2 will need something too so I'm in and out of ed like a blooming yo-yo. DS2 got up at 4:50 this morning - usually it's nearer 5:30 but it still hurts to be woken up at a time with a 5 in!

Its so comforting to know one isn't alone in 4am muttered curses

Castles, sorry to tell you I got talked back into the PPW this afternoon by the peppy, enthusiastic, team leader. I know I will regret it, but hey ho, at least I walked for 45 minutes very fast this afternoon and am still alive (I did have chest pains, but they were dissed as being out of work muscles, almost certainly rightly as they went away whenever I pulled my stomach in ). O God.

dd1 is pale faced, having melt downs, and very very unusually pooed a bit in her pants then had the runs (in the toilet) this afternoon while her poor friend looked on in horror. I suspect a D bug may be homing in on us, though it would be a first for dd1 - she has a cast iron stomach to date.

Eli, so do ds1 and I. I just don't 'do' tummy bugs but this one is a baddy . DH usually gets any stomach bug going so quite why he is still unaffected, I really don't know.

Ds2 ate some tea and kept it down - hopefully he is on the mend.

And sleeps past 5......

DD2 not well with a tummy bug It has been lingering for about 5 days and today she had a high temp to go with it.

Sympathy on the sleep front - really not fair to still be lacking sleep with 2yos is it? I have to admit that DD is a pretty reliable sleeper but that said she hasn't napped for about a year now and never slept through a single night until about 18mo so it was a long time coming. She sleeps 7.30/8pm to about 7/7.30am pretty much without fail and we get the odd 8.30am maybe once a month or so. But if I feed her tea earlier than 6.30pm she wakes screaming for breakfast at about 5am. If she falls asleep in the car even for 10minutes she can't get to sleep so I avoid car journeys after about 5pm and if we have a day or two stuck in the house she is unbearable and tantrums while I try to change her for bed. She is a delicately balanced creature!

Castles - I feel like it is my special time with him in the evenings when DD gone to bed as its the only time I really get to play with him and make the most of him without DD needing attention too. I think I'd miss it if DH fed him instead of me. Perhaps I should get DH to feed him EBM at tea time so I can get the tea cooked without interruption. That would be nice.

I collected 3oz today and topped that up to about 6oz by expressing during his first afternoon feed. Only took a couple of mins to get 3oz, think I might ditch the breast shells and express during feeds instead as would get better quality milk and I've had far too many breast shell spillages already! I am so clumsy, they don't suit my personality!

AQ - Wow! Twins to baby massage is a feat! Twins group sounds like a good plan, am sure it would really be supportive. How is everything else? And have you heard from Indith?

x-posts EV - Hope she is better soon.

Are you using the electric, LenniEd? That sounds like a plan to me. MY best trick with the shells was to put the in upsode down or tip them the wrong way as I attempted to liberate them from my bra! Them were the days .

Used the manual one today Oli - am still irrationally scared of the electric one. No reason per se... just have visions of nipples being electrocuted or something but I've washed the relevant bits tonight so am going to have a go in the morning. It looks a bit like the machines used to milk cows which I find a little disconcerting but I used to be horrified at leaking miniscule amounts of colostrum and am now not at all phased by leaking milk everywhere so am sure I'll get over my udder machine fears/complexes too! Thank you again for lending them to me, really is much appreciated.

I lent over to change DS's nappy last night with breast shell in and poured milk all over my pillow and DH! He looked absolutely horrified!

AQ - Meant to say earler, thanks for your support with DH. I think he'll come round eventually. It will help once we're back up and running in the bedroom department and once we get a bit of time in the evenings when the cluster feeding settles down and work is quieter. We really don't spend any time together other than working time right now which isn't going to be good for any relationship. But I'm not letting him off lightly this time, he's going to pull his weight whether he likes it or not!

I am intrigued by this shell business, never even seen let alone used one but they sound extraordinary!

LenniEd, I felt that way about electric pumps initially, but its amazing how used to it you can get after a couple of attempts. Loud, though, used to send me to sleep with its giant hummmmm

And I think you're allowed a sleeping dd1 atm

EV, sorry about your dd's bug....urgh, there really are some nasty ones around this year. Maybe other years, but I've never met one face to face, as it were. Hope she's better soon and her temp comes down - am off to check sleeping dd1's forehead now.

Where is Indith? Is she ok? I miss her!

I keep thinking of those really big pasta shells

Yes, where is Indith??????!?!?!

LenniEd, I just LOLed at the bending over, I'd forgotten that manouvere. Mmm, not good .(use the silicone cover things (petal) ones from the avent on the electric pump, they're a bit gentler on the old nips.)

Eli, DH much preferred the hum of the electric, the hand one squeaks after a bit and it drove him crackers! Breast shells look like this.

Was also wondering about Indith, it's not like her to be AWOL for so long. Doesn't AQ have her mob number? Do you know if she's okay, AQ?

I bought some breast shells with ds2 but couldn't seem to manage them However, I had the electric pump down pat I did feel a bit like a dairy cow though.

Sorry about the continuing tummy bugs out there. The European strain must be a doozy. Ours was only a 24 hour type of thing.

And, yes, where's indith????

Have just FB'd her to check all is okay with her.

Thanks, Oli. How are you and the LOs (and dh ) today?

Breast shells extraordinary! Very impressive. Whats the little tube-y bit for? Suctioning milk inwards, or pushing it out afterwards? Sorry, am fascinated...

dd1 had the runs at 3am, 7am, and again just now. But inbetween bouts she's bouncing and bored and driving me slightly insane. I shall try and blame it on the Bug.

dd2, otoh, must have had burning ears with my posts yesterday and only woke once, at midnight, for a drink of water. On the one night dd1 was up half the night, but still, am crossing fingers...

DD2 has the bug now! Am wondering if you can catch it cyber-ly as I don't know anyone in RL with it

a microscopic Cyber Virus wreaking havoc amongst MN LOs....

poor little ill dc's
have texted indith, no reply yet but said we were worried about her!

Hi All. DD2 seems better today. Any advice for me here

glad to hear it, ev hope you get other issue sorted.
indith fine btw, just tired & busy as you would expect!

Oh good, thanks for that AQ. S'long as she's okay we shan't worry .

Sorry, Castles, it's a whole new kind of computer virus [weak].

DH merrily toddled off to Birmingham yesterday for his conference today. Spent the night having the runs then threw up his breakfast. Bless him. He's now lying on the sofa wrapped in a duvet looking very pathetic. I am, of course, a model of irritation and annoyance care and compassion for his plight.

Ds2 seemed to be over it - he slept for 12 hours straight last night and demolished 2 breakfasts, lunch and several snacks then threw up copiously just before tea . Oh well.

Thanks AQ, glad Indith's ok

Oli, sympathies - your family has really been through it this week with The Bug.

I'm confused by dd1's version....she has eaten a fair variety of non-dairy foods today (including, against my better judgement, a sausage, mashed banana, toast, tea, etc) and hasn't seemed too bad. She does have the runs when she goes, but isn't going that often, iyswim...and isn't in pain.

I'm eating all sorts of bad things tonight on the grounds that I may be on the BRAT diet for the next day or two