June 08: All we want for Christmas is a good night's sleep!

[bitofasnowqueen]

New thread!

really last thing now - on willy envy - just took ds up to bathroom to change him, he likes to turn the light on and off - when I told him to give the cord a good pull, he said in determined fashion "I want a good pull off!" couldn't explain to him why I was laughing

Im very misserable Im so ill. I tried to go to bed early but when I tested Olis tube all I got out of her tummy was blood

Dh phoned this morning to say he doesnt think he will get home with the weather

Then 5mins ago the door bell ring and the postman is standing there with a huge box. I have been reduced to tears with the kindness. A wonderful goody box for when Olivia goes into hospital.

So all that is left to say is THANK YOU AH you are remarkable, you really shouldnt have though its just too too very kind, I feel awful at the trouble you have gone to.

Oh Josey . I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time. You just don't have time to be ill do you, especially when you have to hold the fort when your DH is away. AH you lovely woman!

I got Medised from my local chemist with mp questions asked as the bottle says from 3 months - it's a miracle liquid and Luke slept till 5.20! He's in much better spirits today although clearly I still woke up anyway at 3am. Night nanny is back on Sunday - I have never been so pleased to welcome someone home!! Done loads of the Xmas shopping this morning and bought decorations to cover up the horrid Xmas tree Mark bought (artifical black and gold - WTF?).

Tee hee about penis envy - Luke's father is a proud man. Hey as long as it doesn't stop growing where it is!

Ali - love the photo - wish Luke was that interested.

Jpsey - so sorry about Oli's physio - fingers crossed she will get through it all.

mincepies - the play sounds gorgeous and it's the bits that go wrong that make it special! I hope Fleur's cough gets better too - BUY MEDISED!!!!!!! I am going to buy shares in it - Neenz can you get me a good deal?

Rolf - how about twinkle? I've heard loads of people call it that!

Libra - Poor you - I hope everything works out for you and your granny. How about some pics of the kittens please?!!

Neenz - lovely pic! Luke has the same top as your little boy!

PS AH - I love your pic and have uploaded mine now and yes ditto what Josey says - what a lovely friend you must be

my superior mothering skills have failed - leg covered in vomit! It was good while it lasted.

Rolf CC isn't nearly as effective with DS2 as it was with DS1 so I appreciate your comment about how it worked for your boys but not your girls. These kids are all so different and that makes it so difficult, but way more exciting.

Amber I love your picture! Oh my, he's absolutely scrumptious!

josey oh no! Crap news about the weather and J's flight! Cory got off yesterday morning, it's such a crap shoot at this time of year. I hope O is okay - what does it mean that there's blood in her tube?

And I'm really glad you like the box - it was no trouble at all seriously, we just wandered around spar - be warned though I let Duncan pick out all the crisp packets and I think he chose some strange flavours. The only thing we had to put in were chocolate buttons for Olivia! And I feel bad we couldn't pick up a magazine for your DS too but I didn't know what a 9 year old boy might read (gamer magazines?). It helped kill a long day yesterday and we thought you might all need goodies next week .

AH you're a very good friend, and josey that's rubbish about your DH.

Neenz love the elf pic - Someone did that for the whole of the team I work in (HR) last year and sent it round the office. It was very funny.

Hello to everyone else, am trying to limit MN time today like Neenz so I'm off to do some chores. My house is a midden!

joseyI'm so sorry you're feeling poorly and that dh is stuck - what does it mean re oli's tube?

amber glad the magical elixir sponsored by neenz did some good. also neenz I am great believer in nightnurse when I'm snuffly ot help me sleep as reckons a bit of a dose up for a night or two gets me better quicker as a I sleep than suffering drug free -have now converted dh to thsi theory..

rolf and sybil I know a couple of my rl antenatal friends are also suffering with teh nights - I don't think it helps when its so cold as know edie wakes up more. and how was teh play (can see what you mean about it being a great time of year to enjoy all 4 of them - bet its christmas fever in your house).

bitofsnowqueen dunno about being sick but edie been very up and down re milk - ravenous some feeds then not interested and bucking away (ifyswim) others..bizarre but it is one of "those weeks" that neenz clued me up on so maybe that?

and lol at essie and alipalli

edie in good spirits as went out to catch up with friends at work for coffee/lunch then wouldnt go down for afternoon nap until I cuddled her then woke up wailing ...now stuck in front of baby valium einstein and is happy as larry... so who knows what is going on

another nanny coming round tonight for interview from decent agency so fingers crossed. My house is a midden but I better not tidy up in case I end up hiring the nanny on false pretences of how I live so impressed with neenz and snowqueen

puree did your tree ever turn up or shouldn tI ask (sorry only skimmed posts if I missed out on update)?

Just been to the christmas play. DD was an angel and she looked so angelic (total mis-casting!) that I cried. She was supposed to give the baby Jesus to Mary but one of the others forget his line and she didn't get to do it - she was very disappointed! DS was in the choir and was very well-behaved for the whole hour and twenty minutes - apart for the five minutes spent picking his nose which had me in stitches. Jamie came too and was so good, hwe watched gobsmacked for most of it and then just fell asleep completely exhausted by the spectacle!

Sorry very ego-centric post but I am in proud mummy mode and had to share!

josey that's pants, hope the weather turns and your dh can get back after all.

sybil it was ds' nativity play yesterday too - first one - he was an angel, one among many, I didn't see any of the play because I was too busy staring at him! This was at nursery so much shorter and punctuated with lots of 'hello daddy' from the massed ranks, and a pause when snowflake no. 1 had to go to the toilet

josey here's hoping that things get better. What does blood in the tube signify as in level of seriousness? And AH what a star.

So we are off out to the Officers Mess Christmas Cocktail party and taking advantage of having a babysitter and going out for a meal as well.

Essie, I appreciate this is probably a bit late but I popped into Boots today to get some details on that beaker. It is part of the Boots baby tableware range, and is called a 'first non-spill cup' for weaning stage 1.

Josey, fingers crossed that Olivia's tube is not serious. Sorry to hear you're unwell too, and that your dh is not around. HOnestly, I don't know how you cope but you are doing a fantastic job.

Bless you for asking poppy- I signed for a tree-shaped parcel on Tuesday and then had to go to playgroup, where I received a text from my neighbour to say that our tree had been deliveerd. So after a week of wrangling and sobbing and swearing I now have TWO trees....so have had to go and buy a second stand and set of lights!!!!

Loving everyone's pics xxx

Guess what he made it home after 25days on my own with the kids yeeha!!!

Im going to have a very large hot toddy and hope for a major recovery, like Rolf said I just dont have time to be sick, especially with OLi going into hosp next week.

The blood will be from trauma of a tube going down, not very nice

feeling a bit incapable of posting to everyone as I should, so if I neglect you please don't be offended.

Amber - Luke looks so grown up in his Xmas hat what a lovely picture.

Josey - so pleased AH was able to brighten your day a little. It must be so hard having DHs offshore for such long periods, you both manage with multiple DCs as well.

Lumpy boobs seem to have gone back to normal today thankfully. It is probably because Peter slept from 6pm to midnight last night, then decided it was time to party thereafter. I ended up in the spare bed with him because DH was having a work crisis.

I had a lovely time today despite sleep deprivation as Penguin, Sponge and Essie came round for lunch. 4 babies in my lounge was a bit chaotic especially as Iestyn has developed a screech that it shouldn't be possible for a human being to hear. It was very funny. Ladies - hope your trips home were ok in rush hour. Sponge - it was lovely to finally meet you, you instantly felt like an old friend, MN is weird like that.

Peter has gone to sleep early again, so lights out for me in a bid to keep pace with his weird ever changing sleeping habits. BLW is making him him sleep more, I just can't predict when at the moment.

Evening all,

Thanks for the sympathies, but to be honest I'm trying to be philosophical (sp) about my job. Ive been with the company over 20 years so I'll get a pretty decent payout. For whoever was asking (Neenz I think) I work for one of the big Banks (the one that has refused bail out by the gov, instead going to the Sheiks in the Middle East) and has a turquoise logo.
Funnily enough I work as part of the Redundancy Team, so if I was to go, I would be one of the last as would be needed to do everyone else's first
But I am training on Data Protection as well, which is extremely interesting and I know that part of the business isn't being offshored due to the complexity, so you never know!
DH has finally made it home for the weekend. We're planning on putting up some deccies as DS1 wants them. They'll probably come down again on Sunday though once the kittens have had a field day with them.
DS1 had his school play on Wednesday and it was fab. He played the old man who owned the donkey before selling it to Joseph (yes I know......) anyway he had a dress rehearsal on Tuesday and came home with makeup on (beard) and refused to have it washed off as he needed it for the play the next day. Had to explain that they would do his make up again, bless him.
Anyway, the reception class were brilliant. Can't believe the improvement in a year from his nativity at preschool.
Looking forward to a weekend as a family (for once) before DH heads off again next week. Honestly I'm thinking of issuing divorce papers and citing DH's company as the third party .
Right better go as DH now out of the shower and we want to catch up with Grey Anatomy.
Hope everyone is OK, I've only skimmed the posts. Huge hugs to everyone and I'll try to upload some photos of Wallis and Gromit.

Have just uploaded some photos of the kittens and the chritening.
Have also cahnged my name to be more seasonal.
Hope it's all worked

I think its worked!

OK here goes

AH what a great friend you are. Your boys look lovely in that photo

josey Hope you have had a nice drink now DH is back and hope everything is ok for Oli next week.

LL sympathies on all that has happened. Enjoy your Hubby this weekend

snowqueen hope your house looks better now

purre LOL at 2 trees

poppy how did the nanny go?

neenz your photo is georgeous too. Do you have to get Medised over the counter as I had a quick look in our local pharmacy and couldn't see it

Ali I am gutted even more so now that I couldn't make it, but am looking forward to meeting up with all the London Ladies in the New Year (how weird is that to say)

All of you with older children I hope you have enjoyed your nativity plays.

I have spent the day trying to get Isaac to sit in front of the christmas tree in his santa outfit I have knitted as I am making photo albums for the majority of family and need that as the last piccie. Would he perform . So I will have to try again tomorrow with maybe a sneaky hand from DH, which can then be edited out

Right I should really go and pack as I am off to the West Country on Tuesday (by train) wish me luck.

wow sorry really long post

A v.v. speedy post as my takeaway has arrived (no oven! and Tooting has the best Indians of all!) Will be back later to post properly.

Lovely time at Ali's although had to leave with a screaming baby - the screech is getting worse and really getting on my nerves now! Shame we can't have sound on mumsnet then you could all suffer. Also, this is the brilliant changing mat I was talking about. More on that later although it's self explanatory.

my profile has totally disappeared. Any ideas? I hope it's not permanently gone.

Also Neenz loved your link, but, ahem, did I spot Esther and Theo there?? Had you created the page, or have they used your babies in their demo??

FOOOOD! God, 9.30

Essie you can transfer your profile page over to your new name and make it public. I've just ahd to do that with mine

I've just spent the last hour and a half doing the Christmas tree - it looks fab and it's my first ever tree (always was my parents tree before that I decorated). It's made me feel quite sad as it reminds me that neither of my parents are with me this year. I don't think it really sank in last year as I was pregnant and I'd not long lost my mummy but I am determined to have a lovely Christmas this time with my little man and my big man. Christmas can be really hard for some people but it does make you realise what you've got. Preach over!

Luke's cough is so much better today - Gonna Medised him again tonight though so he gets another good sleep (or maybe it's the antibiotics - who knows!!). Might have a cheeky Medised meself! Why does it say on a children's medicine that you shouldn't drive or operate heavy machinery after having it?

libra enjoy your family weekend. essie have a good scoff- I'm sorry I missed the catch up (edie very good though meeting work friends so I look like a good mum ).

hedgehog -nanny v.good - great refs, good experience, nice ,reasonable salary but young and quite clear on fact she and her dh want to move away when they can save up/she wants her own kids (basically said it would be max a year) plus detected a hint of smoke on her (distinctly asked for non smoker ...)

have other nanny coming back next week who I liked but have question as she is a bit more (nearly £40 per month plus i'd have to pay for ofsted registration) but is older/clearer on being around long term... I don't mind paying more but dislike being fleeced (although have some sympathy here as nanny was very open about needing to save for a mortgage). plus I don't like the agency much (the one who sent me 2 duff cv, insist going rate is higher than it is and is now trying to foist some jobbing nanny who has never had a job for longer than 3 months and really wants to go back to design when I clearly asked for a nanny who would be around for the long term). still haven't actually opened up the big guns (ie DH) on teh agency as want to play nicely so they keep sending candidates through.

sorry turned into marathon post but am bit engrossed in process at present -don't mean to be so selfish

Am loving the nativity stories...