March 08:Happy Birthday!!! We made it through a whole year!

[turtle23]

new thread.

envy envy envy the tricky thing for us is doing the 1pm school run, oh well it's not rocket science, i'll figure something out next week ... oh better start this week then.

oooh how jealous am I of all the down time. DD does 1-1.30 hrs at 10 and that's it and 11hrs at night. I tried to move her to lunchtime but she still only did an hour and for some reason used to wake up in an absolutely filthy mood.

However, hope you all had good bank holiday weekends. weather was lovely here, had a barbecue last night, and inaugural paddling pool of the summer (probably the last paddling pool of the summer as well ). Now a week of calming expectations before DS's first proper party, with 10 4 year olds turning up and party games and such. Damn, just thought- do they need comedy hats??

make them as they arrive...get them doing it

have to go buy jelly moulds for ds1's b'day hoving into view. thanks for reminder!

oh yes, I'm on your side pants, salivating at all the other LO's sleep patterns. DD sleeps about 10 hours a night and 1.5-2 hours after lunch.

She seems ok with this, not really sleepy during the day but come 7pm she's out like a light.

I hate you all. We have 2 hours at 1230/100 but we currently have 9-10 hours at night and that's if I sleep with him. Argh.

Afternoon all. How is everyone?

Very very very close to walking on her own now. She is happy to wander along holding my hand, but the second she sees something she wants to get to a bit faster, she is straight down onto her hands and knees. I think she lacks the incentive to walk on her own because she is so damn fast at crawling.

I think we're just about to lose one daytime sleep, although I'm not too sure which will go. She goes to bed for an hour or so before lunch (usually 11-12ish), but if we have been out to the park, or toddler group and are out past 11, she generally falls asleep in the car/pushchair on the way home, so has a shorter sleep. Then she has between an hour and an hour and a half in the afternoon (3-4.30 ish, hence my MNing now!). And 12 hours at night, at least. If we are out in the afternoon then she tends not to have the sleep, but is an utter nightmare to bath and get ready for bed then. I am thinking of cutting the morning one, and then putting her down immediately after lunch, but that would mess with our afternoons, because afternoons tend to be when we head out to see friends. It's a pickle, but obviously I cant complain as she is such a reliable sleeper.

Am doing Race for Life on Sunday - would be really grateful for any sponsorship. (Link is on my FB page.) Am slightly nervous as haven't been able to do any running at all in preparation. Considered trying it with the pushchair, but I am do uncoordianted that I would be bound to fall on my face and push Ff out into the traffic. Am running with a friend who is, while not a regular runner, more than capable of 3 miles, and am a bit scared of losing face. I know it is RIDICULOUS, but I am pretty competitive, and used to do 10ks fairly regularly. Will be dreaming of a cold g&t all the way round!

been reading but otherwise distracted by parents, baby & work to post!

Turtle, how's P? Did he get instantly better when his dad showed up? How are you?

Ewe & Jfly, hope your ailments are better too!

E has 1 sleep during the day for a couple of hours if we're lucky - around 11.30 or so. If we're out & about he dozes in the car or pushchair but at the moment nothing seems to knock him out at his usual 7.30 bedtime. Last night he was still chortling to himself about 10pm & setting off his Clanger hot water bottle. But at least he doesn't wake until 7.45 ish

DP- P is much better, thanks. He's finally eating properly again. And yes, was running by the time DH came home. (argh)

Oh...I think (although not 100% sure) that we have now given up breastfeeding.
Bloody pregnancy.

HURRAH!!! My internet is back, i wont go into except to say that sky are a bunch of wrs who have failed to provide the hd tv, iternet or phone with seperate problems on all three

I have also given up bfing this week, i wanted to take some drugs that dr would only prescribe if i wasnt bfing and got so miserable decided it was worth stopping, ds has not forgotten though and has asked since whereas dd forgot about it after three days
It appeas i have a polyps and am now waiting to see gynae dr

Turtle glad P is better but feel so sorry for you that he always does this when DH is away

FF I share your views on running with buggy am sure if i did it there would be a disater but the other day i saw a mum pop on rollerskates after music class and skate off while pushing buggy

Im trying not to read your sleep comments as ds has started waking at 4.30/5.20 am and it is quite prompt;ly killing me i fell asleep at 7pm the other noight and was still tired the next morning but we do finally have a FIRST TOOTH so am hoping wwhen that settles he may sleep later especially since there is no bfing to look forward too

Welcome back littleducks! (have you seen the poster littleduck... I keep thinking it is you! Tres confusing!)

Just thought I would post this here to see if anyone is interested in a London book club? Would be nice to have a familiar face although I am intending to drag along a RL friend!

FfFf, did you finish the race & did you avoid sunburn?!

Littleducks, hello!

Those of you on the moo-milk, how much do your LO's take now? Would be easy to drop our morning 7oz, but thinking maybe I should only cut it down to 4 or so since it's usually 45 mins -1hr later before he gets to Gran's for breakfast...

Also, is it bad of me to think of putting him in nursery for an extra day a week, which just happens to be my flex day off? I keep thinking how much I could get done round the house with no interruptions, then feel guilty that I should be spending all the time with E that I can!

dontpanic I guess the thing to bear in mind is will you be able to be relaxed and have more fun with E if you have that time to get the chore-y things out of the way first? If so, it makes sense and I, for one, am very envious. . As for milk. DD barely has any now. 4oz on cereal in morning and 4 oz before bed. She has yoghurt and cheese and stuff so I'm not stressing too much.

DS's party went well, the weather was glorious so they all ran around the garden like mad things. Irritating that 3 people didn't even bother to reply to the invite and another one didn't show and one mother buggered off to Tescos leaving her kid! Jay had a good time and that's all that counts really I guess.

Finally got round to going to Bravissimo yesterday to get some new bras and DH complimented me on my (ahem) perkiness this morning . Shame it's all done with scaffolding these days.

I've put a lovely picture of DD on my profile from our holiday and yes she is wearing a handkerchief on her head not a sunhat. [forgetful parent taken by surprise by weather emoticon].I think it so lovely I can even cope with me being in it!

DP - is this so you have time to spend on your hypnobirthing business, or is it because you think you really need a full day each week to get on top of the house? If it's your only day off from work a week I'd say that's a lot of time to a) spend on the house (you need some time to relax!) and b) for E to be in nursery when I guess he'd rather have a messier house and a bit more time with his mum. A few ideas on other ways of doing it:

1. could you get a cleaner for a few hours - far cheaper than a day at nursery and cleaners are way more efficient than mums at cleaning.
2. could you just have one day a month where E has an extra day with somebody (nursery or gran) and you blitz the house then and just live with chaos the rest of the time?
3. could you make yourself do 30 mins every night after E has gone to bed to blitz the house before you sit down for bottle of wine cuppa?
4. can you start getting E to help with tidying his toys and books before bed so at the very least you don't have to deal with that? I've discovered that L actually really enjoys the tidy up session now!

We have a cleaner for 3 hours once a week and it is a lifesaver - she is the only one who does bathroom cleaning, dusting, hoovering and ironing in this house, and she also gives the kitchen a good going over too all for £20! Then during the week DH and I take 30 mins after DS is in bed to run around manically tidying kitchen a bit, putting on laundry, sorting post, shoving shoes in cupboard etc. It's amazing the incentive a bottle of Riesling chilling in the fridge provides . These short blitzes are just enough to keep the house in a livable state between visits from the cleaner.

pants - oh i do love Bravissimo love the photo too - very very sweet (and atmospheric too!)

Hello Ladies

Merry - would LOVE to get a cleaner, but want to get one who is reliable and preferably a recommendation. The last one I got round to give me a quote was £58 and that was once a fortnight . At that rate I'd consider setting up as a cleaner myself! We're in an average 3 bed semi, so it's not like we live in a mansion!! The search continues, but you're right having a cleaner would definitely help the balance.

DS is now attempting to run, but his little legs can't keep up - it's very cute, but we're having lots of bumps and bruises.

Sleep-wise, over the last fortnight DS seems to have cut out his morning nap, so he wakes up at 6.30/7am, has a nap around 1-3pm and then bed at 7.30pm.

My work trip went well, but being away for DS was very, very hard Lots of kisses and cuddles when I came back though, although the novelty of having Mummy back lasted about, ooh, 2mins

Loving the weather - especially sticking ds in his highchair outside so all the mess stays outside!!

HQ nope, not for business stuff, mainly cos my job wot pays the bills means I'm shattered of an evening, & 30 mins a night would be wasted within 12 hrs once my DH gets cracking on mess creation. Don't tend to get sitting down until 8pm ish as it is.
Already have a cleaner, just does floors & toilets once a fortnight, can't clean any more as due to so much clutter, she can't tidy clutter away anywhere. I need to sort it all out as it's depressing me! Only get every other Fri on flexi & MIL has him 3 days a wk so don't like to take the piss asking her to do more.
Figure I will just have to take a few Mondays off instead since E's already at nursery on that day. £20 is a bargain for your cleaner,btw mine's £8.50 an hr though works out at £50 for the basic clean (& that's only 2 out of 3 floors, our top floor is unreachable with clutter.
Am laughing at the thought of E helping to tidy. His mission is to destroy toys by dropping from a great height, then screaming if you take them off him before he can ram them through the tv

Race for Life went really well. Thanks to DP and MB for sponsoring me. It was a lovely day, and obviously a cracking cause. Was very surprised at how painless it was, and have been well and truly bitten by the running bug again. Can't wait until Bloke gets back so I have the opportunity to go out running in the evenings. Littleducks, I actually have rollerblades in the shed, but am laughing just thinking of what would happen if I attempted to skate with pram and dogs.

11 weeks down now, and if all goes to plan Bloke will be back for a week's R&R in just over a week. Am trying not to get too excited though, because the RAF are notoriously shite at keeping to schedule in these situations. Still, even if he can't come back that week, I'll still be off to see Take That, so it's not all bad. Think that I definitely need him to come back soon though. Had a thoroughly disturbing, and oddly exciting, dream about Simon Cowell the other night, which I blame on too much BGT last week, and lack of husband for three months...Seriously, Simon Cowell...I expect much better from my subconscious!

Finally traded in the back-facing car seat for a new model yesterday. I felt a bit sad as it is the last of her new baby things to go, but she is thrilled by heing up higher and being able to see what is going on. She spent the entire journey home from the shop blowing raspberries at me in the mirror.

Is this meet up ever going to happen? I can't manage tomorrow now as have work being delivered that I have to sign for, but can do next Wed, if that works for people?

have i been evangelical about cleaners again? can believe it
waiting for ours today. 11 quid an hour here, but really really amazingly good and long term, and can look after kids if needed.

loving the weather, had a wonderful morning in the local woods, ds1 finally growing some body confidence and climbing on fallen trees etc. ds2 having to plucked off great heights between blinks. very different that way.

he's down to 3 milk feeds a day, and 1 in the night about 4am 3-5 days a week (grr). but they are HUGE feeds, usually 2 bottles between 0630 and 0830 (and 2 b'fasts!) about 9oz after lunch and 2 more bottles totalling about 13oz between 1730 and 1900. he's not really that huge, it's all going on boundless activity i think.

shall we start again? :)

BTW..sausage if you are still about do say hello...we miss you. xx

Hello, all. I've been lurking now and then but haven't been posting. All the babies seem to have grown up so much and I can't believe so many pregnant wimmin on here. Congratulations all.

I've been a bit quiet recently as there has been so much going on here. A few months ago my PND therapist referred me to an emotional disorder clinic and after much assessment I have been diagnosed as having Borderline Personality Disorder. I was initially resistant to the idea that there was something wrong with me and kind of wanted the old "recurrent depression" diagnoses I've been having since I was 15. However, after five minutes of being in a room with 5 other people with BPD I kew I was in the right place. I am being offered a two year course of Mentalisation Based Therapy in a group setting twice a week and an individual session once a fortnight. And it's all good.Instead of believing, as I have for years, that I manage to fuck things up, I actually have been doing a bloody brilliant job, despite my circumstances.
So treatment looks positive if I can only get childcare, I'm banging my head on brick walls here (no pun intended) trying to find someone/somewhere who will fund Ds's care and DD's holiday care. No childcare, no treatment, one still nutty mother. Really don't want to bring in SS but am despairing of finding other help. Anyway, mustn't ramble on so. Typical BP thing that, all or nothing .
Better dash now but will check in later
Thx to those who FB'd me. Will be in better touch from now on, I promise. xx

Sausage, that must be quite something getting a diagnosis after such a long time. I hope you manage to sort some child care out.

Turtle, glad P is getting better, How is your sickness? I'm still feeling awful but less actual chucking up (fingers crossed).

Scan tomorrow, I thought I'd feel calmer tis time round, but if anything I feel more nervous. I haven't even been on any of the pregnancy or antenatal threads!

LOL at FF and Simon Cowell!

st, helllooo you can refer yourself to, or get referred to homestart to have a volunteer come hang out with you for a few hours a week. it's not childcare per se, but might be of use. they helped me when i was adjusting to RA.

and a big congratulations to you for this step forward, xfx

www.home-start.org.uk/

and yeah, sorry Ff. there's no helping you, simon cowell is beyond the pale.