December 2006 - The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray, tshghho now let's keep these bugs at bay

[LenniEd]

I got all brave and made us a new bug free thread...

The Relate lady we saw for our initial appt said it might well feel false for a while, Castles, we've had a couple of stresy moments but they've stayed as moments rather than hours of ignoring each other as used to happen. There's still a long, long way to go though. We are steadfastly staying away from too emotive topics until the sesions start but we can at least be in the same house without falling out.

No website yet, DH has an ex colleague who is very knowledgable about it all and Lenni has given me some contacts so it shouldn't be too long. I'm going to sort my business account on fri as I'll have NO dcs at the first time in 6 years - they'll all be at school/preschool so I thought I'd do something significant for me. I might even go and have a leisurely coffee in the very lovely coffee shop I've never dared venture into!

Party was lovely, so calm and quiet. No squealing or shrieking, they just played beautifully together, bless them. I heart all girl parties .

Eli, I dream about other MNers too, but not usually you lot, random ones who I don't 'know', like castles does. Bizarre (and worrying ) how it creeps into your subconscious.

Ah, but I've met Castles' ds, so does that still count as subconscious MN surfacing? Actually, think the whole school term/pre-school start is struggling to surface in my subconscious because my conscious is utterly taken up with moving house. Poor subconscious, doesn't get a look in atm.

I wonder where we'll end up?

Oli, well done you and dh - thats good going, pre-sessions, I reckon. Good luck with the cake business, am delighted to hear you're going for it (and if you get to sending cakes further afield, will be your first customer please!).

I think that's a bit more 'normal', then , I'd forgotten you'd met him in RL. Have you found a rental place yet? I'm totally confused as to where you are in the process.

Trying to keep you all on radar and failing, perhaps once ds1 back at school (if we send him, soiling is that bad at the mo). I shall surely dream of someone from MN tonight now tho
glad things looking up a bit, oli with dh. Have the two of you considered how difficult it must have been to live properly with each other again after the spell you had apart a lot of the week? Phaps some of it delayed adjustment? I've found when I go into counselling and I've had a LOT that they do tend tomake you realise what pressures you've been under. That most of the time we underplay or pretend don't matter. If thatmakes any sense. Cake website yes! Drool. So glad you're finally doing something with your talent there (aq sighs and thinks of last 4 tesco birthday cakes...).
eli, thinking of you in moving hell.
lennied, so sorry what's been going on, will text/email you soon as I can. Hugs
indith, hope op with dh sorted out and dd sleeps! With 3 boys, I still hold that dd is the worst sleeper of the lot! She's so delicious though.

back from hols, obviously. Bit crap. Dad v.critical, couldn't cope with kids around, had forgotten that about him as he lives in oz now! We got up at 2am, drove half the night then stopped in Leeds so didn't get hom until 5pm and it was the best day of the whole holidays!

Personally I think you're spot on AQ. A year living apart in the week and ds2 not sleeping for all of that time and so long afterwards is almost certainly the major cause. That and my own control freaky tendencies which came to the fore while I was on my own and haven't really retreated since dh has been back .

Sorry ds1 is still so bad re. soiling. What happened with the appt he had a while back when you thought it was becoming a psychological thing - did that bring up anything?

Holidays with parent and dcs are vv tricky ime. My dad is ok (or does a good job of hiding any irritations) but my dm is a bit like your dad and makes everyday situations seem 100x harder.

AQ, you are bringing back memories of our hols with my father and dsm there were good bits, but we felt quite mad by the time we got home. Maybe ds's soiling exacerbated by some of the holiday stress?? Just a thought, really hope things easier for/with him by first day of school. When does he go back?

Oli, agree with you and with AQ...in which case, I'd think some Relate will help hugely. What a year.

We're moving into rented house nearer dd's school, further from shops but not too far (ditto dd's pre-school, should keep me fit) and not bad. Smaller house, bigger garden, some stuff to go into storage.

Seriously thinking about move to Oxford, and might spend half term there looking around...prices here where we are still nuts, and no stock

LenniEd, you are in my mind m'dear, hope the appointments have come through and you're haning in ok, I'll never forget the feelings I had first time (and second) I had lumps to check out. Ongoing hugs.

And, AQ, its v nice to have you back

Am having early 'empty nest' symptoms here and DD2 hasn't even started at nursery yet

Feel like taking them all out of school and heading off into the sunset at the moment.

AQ, sorry about holiday. Onwards and upwards eh.

Good luck with move Eli. Agree everything is still ridiculously expensive round here. We'll never be buying at this rate

at castle's empty nest syndrome...
We're starting to realise how expensive house buying is up here too, we need a huge place and don't have enough deposit for one. Glad you've got a rented place sorted out at least though, Eli. Such an upheaval though?
Oli, couldn't quite remember how long dh had lived away etc but did think that you didn't make much of the adjustment at the time. I have control freaky tendencies too (as does my dad so why we thought 2 weeks in close proximty was a good idea I'll never know). They're always going to come to the fore to cope with difficult situations. I have teetered on the edge of OCD during the worst of it. But clearly not in the grip of over cleaning etc now as ds1 v.happy today to hear about dust bunnies and how many of them he could find in our house. Bless.
ds1 starts school tomorrow, god knows what it'll be like. Bit less worried about ds2's language lately though as he's talking up a storm, yay. Dt's are absolutely adorable. Would really like to get indith's dd, lennied's ds and my 2 together!
must go sew some labels on. I've never done it before, could take me all night!

AQ - lovely to hear from you. I would love to meet your DTs. Let's sort it out, I'll come to Hull one day - have been meaning to take DD to the Deep so I could tie the two together. I can get the train from me to Leeds and then on to Hull, it is only about 1.5hrs. When is good for you?

Oli - I'm certain that the pressures you've been under have a lot to do with it. When I think on what we've had go on in the last couple of years I can see exactly why DH and I row. I keep saying to him we just need to hold it together while the DCs are little and then once DS is DD's age we'll have more time to invest in our relationship. We compare ourselves to childless friends too often for our own good.

No news on boob - been referred for an MRI today but unlikely to hear anything for a while unfortunately. Need an MRI rather than a mammogram as mammograms apparently no good while bf and waiting list is very long for MRI. GP did warn me that I would probably be asked to wait until finished bf and have a mammogram but she has referred anyway since she knows I don't intend to give up all that soon. It is in an awkward location to be able to rule out being a cyst, but doc didn't think I should worry too much as still a good chance it could be bf related.

Must be hard to not think about it, lenni, I know how I'd feel. Hope MRI comes in soon. BTW, don't you think you're amazing for bf this long when you never did with dd? Would love to go to deep (the dt's have been and loved it). Could go on day when nanny is here and take ds2 too or just me & dt's? Wonder if dd and ds2 would actually get along? Anyway, deep is quite grand from LO pov. Yay, will mail you.

AQ, I am secretly quite pleased with myself More importantly - yay to you coming to the Deep. I'm excited now. My DD is very shy with people she hasn't met before so would probably be quite quiet with DS2, I'm sure they'd play.

Off to London now so will check back in on Thursday night.

DD2 potty trained. Yay. Dry pants for over a week and she has mastered no 2s

Well done LadyStColumb (trying th think how I could shorten your nickname)

Lady - well done you and DD. Such a relief to have it over isn't it. Now potty training is over life resumes as pre-DCs doesn't it??!

Have possibly got some good news. Lump seems to have changed, not quite like it was before - doc said if it changed it was probably a bf thing or cyst and harmless, am sure it has softened and shrunk and has moved a bit.

Yay potty trained dd and double yay for changing lump! What a relief, lennipillar! No sign of potty training here, ds just stand at the toilet holding his willy now and again to no avail. Hasn't got a clue
all I have time for, sorry...

AQ but yay for ds anyway, major male life skill he's mastered, after all....

And loudly echoing yays for toilet trained dds, and extra loud for changing lumps. Very good news, and what I was logging on hoping to see (the latter, that is, not quite obsessed enough with TT to be looking out for it....though not far off at times )

Am going to have to admit defeat over name changes, far too disorientated generally with moving chaos and schools starting etc to keep up. Can anyone do a subtle hint type list for me? I haven't even had time to keep up with why they've changed, though I do know its something to do with the DM....

ps to the TT sagas: I go for days thinking dd has mastered it, then an evening like this one where she pees a) on chair in restaurant b) on kitchen floor with great interest. She then says 'oops, I think I made a mithtake Mumma, I weed on my sockth'.

Day 2 of pre-school tomorrow, she was very sad when I wasn't there on Wednesday (all 40 minutes) but loved it when I was. Which bodes well, I think

pps to TT - she's dry at night now, though, if I lift her onto toilet before I go to bed. Thank god.

Eli - Are you in our facebook group?

DD2 loving nursery. Not had one tear. I on the other hand am spending too much money

Castles, I spend those 40 minutes of dd's first morning shopping too

Today, she did the whole 3 hours solo, with a big smile on her face...possibly because I tucker her Nounours into her backpack and she knew he was there in case of sadness, or possibly because Daddy took her and he's far easier to let go of

Daily, I think so...tbh, its ages since I even looked on FB. Would I know if I was? As in, email alerts etc? Am a total FB avoider (don't dare start, no time) so hopelessly out of loop. More .

Sorry I've been AWOL again I'm glad to hear lump seems better and impressed at the potty training. lol at Indith's poo story glad things seem less stressful at the oli house and hoping for smooth transition for eli.

things are moving at breakneck speed it seems around here. We are having a belated birthday party for ds1 on Sunday. I don't know how many kids will show up but we invited the whole class of 22 so I am well and truly frightened at the whole prospect. Dh has planned the whole thing so I just have to do last minute party cleanup that morning and try to survive.

i have one more "real" day of work at my current office then start the moving in process at the new one. Still working 3 days a week at my commute offices to bring in some regular funds and tryng to stay sane in the midst of it all

Ds2 is doing a tentative move at potty training. Managing one or two pees in the potty with much fanfare but no move towards poos (no pun intended!)

AQ, I'm so sorry you are still having poo issues with ds1. We have had some very tense moments with our ds1 as he has had several wee accidents since starting school Please feel free to email me anytime if you want to talk about it off-board. It's a really hard thing to deal with and I can't imagine doing it with the dts as well.

I made a brief foray into FB. Like eli I'm still figuring out new names and matching everyone up. I'm wondering if my love of wine has damaged my name-recognition brain cells...

Hello

Yay for changing lumps, potty training and whatever else I may have just read that needed a yay as it has just gone in one ear and out the other so to speak.

Dh has been sliced and diced and is now hobbling along on his crutches so tis all fun and games. Ds seems to have cottoned on to the fact that daddy has "hurted da leg. Careful daddy! Make it all better" Dd still not sleeping, gone right back, will not let anyone else settle her, has to be breast and bloody hell she yells, before it was surprisingly easy getting her to settle by patting rather than breast once we actually did it but now within 30 seconds of going in she just yelling, screaming so loudly she makes herself hoarse nad snotty and starts coughing so much she almost makes herself sick so of course I just feed her. Sometimes, rarely, like last night she goes 3 hours between feeds, other times I'm up around 8 times. I just don't get the girl, putting her to bed is easy, she naps well too. She feeds before naps and bed in her room as she gets far too distracted out of it but I don't always put her down awake and she often chats and giggles for a bit before going to sleep so it isn't as though she has a major milk/sleep association problem.

ARGH!

Anyway, I just fed her (she managed a whole 2 and a bit hours woohoo ) so off to brush teeth and go to bed.

Gosh I'm finding it hard to keep up on here for some reason.

Hooray for Lenni's changing lump - vvv good news .

LStC, yay for a nappy free house - makes life sooo much simpler!

Jabber, hope the move goes smoothly and work life is a lot easier once you're in the new office.

Eli, how long til your move now? Oxford sounds like a great plan, especially if there's no reason to stay where you are. The living apart/knock effects aside, our move up here has been the best thing we ever did. DCs are happy and our general quality of life is so much better.

Well, like castles, my nest is empty for the first time in 6 years (for 6 hours a week anyway!). DD adores school, ds2 has trotted into preschool on his 2 mornings without a backward glance, never mind tears . Not sure whether to be pleased or slightly miffed about that, tbh!