August 2007 - new thread as I can't find one!

[shrinkingsagpuss]

Hi all,

VERY VERY long time no see..... just had a little catch up - my goodness, HOW MANY of you are preggers??? Gosh- NOT ME!
Can't believe our beautiful babies are talking walking noisy toddlers.
Evie is still a monster - always has been , always will be. She talks constantly, and is now stringing words together, like " I'll do it" - usually in relation to feeding herself, or getting dressed.. and usually accompanied by a small tantrum.
She does finally sleep through the night.. after a fashion- is up between 5.30 and 6.15 - still a shock after Billy who slept 7-7 from 4 months.
But - she does eat anything which is fab (compared to Billy), and she is happy to walk, or go in the pushchair, so its easy to take her out - unlike Billy who always wanted to walk no matter how long it took.
She has a passion for dolls (oh crumbs), handbags, and hats - she is SOOOO not related to me!
Take care all, can't say when I'll visit next - good luck with the births!!
xx

See you in July then Pink! - It must be a real up heave to move everyone but you couldn't chose a nicer area - I really love living here (not from here originally either so no biases!

Children adjust really quickly - I used to move regularly when I was little (DF was in RAF) and used to hate the thought of it but always found after a month that I liked the new place more than the old one!

gill - hope your better

Hi guys, thanks for all the messages, things are a bit bit better as in I've made all the important phonecalls and got stuff sorted out. We're still skint but I'm sleeping better. I think we just need to make some big changes- I need to get a job, and we may need to find somewhere cheaper to rent. I'm going to apply to go on the council house register but I doubt we'll get anywhere for a few years as we aren't high priority.

Pink, I did look into childminding a while ago but it's not for me. Glad you're doing better, sounds like you're getting really fit too! well done. Good luck with your move, hope it goes smoothly.

Lizzie, I've heard it said a lot that going from one to two is hard (I suppose it's like learning to juggle!) I'm glad you're finding three no more difficult.

Gill, that's so cute about him waving bye with a tear in his eye at night! bet it makes you feel awful! I have to admit that by bedtime my patience has rather run out so I just stick classic fm on, pop him in his cot with a few books, chuck a blanket over him and cheerily shout "night night darling, looove yooou!" as I'm retreating down the stairs, by which time J has his nose stuck in a book and barely notices I've gone. If dp takes him up he tends to stand about saying goodnight and "it's ok, don't cry", so James starts crying and messing about because he knows daddy faffs about on the landing for ages and goes back in if he cries.

Sorry to hear you and the kids have been poorly - wait til your dh gets it, he's bound to be laid up for days milking it for all he's worth! Bloody men. James has eczema too, the best advice is to use a special bath oil like oilatum which won't dry out or irritate the skin, and apply the steroid cream/moisturiser afterwards. Babywipes are bad on eczema so avoid using them anywhere but the nappy area if you can.

loler, I'm ok thanks - think the last post was pmt, although I do get down when I'm due my anaemia jab too because I get so exhausted and mentally foggy. I didn't realise you lived in Stafford, I'm about 20 miles from Shrewsbury, so not ages away. I like it round here too!

We saw a speech therapist at playgroup yesterday who said that James was very clever at communicating what he wanted without words so that was probably why he wasn't talking much yet, but that he was showing signs of being about to speak, so she's given me the phone number of our local SLT but she says that by the time the appointment comes around in a couple of months it's highly likely he'll have progressed more. So pretty reassuring, but also good to have a 'backup plan" too for if everything stops. I also spoke to a mum whose 3yr old son had only just started talking "all at once, loads of words every day" in the last fortnight which I found reassuring!

Is anyone else MASSIVELY BROODY at the moment? I can't think about anything else and it's doing my head in. Even my dreams are full of bumps and babies, and they're everywhere I look. Not fair!

Sorry for the mega-waffle, better go and get something done. xxx

I'm feeling much better now but still a bit weak. Ds keeps saying 'ick, mummy' . It caught up with dh yesterday morning. He had to pull over on the motorway on the way home to be sick (sorry for tmi). He went straight to bed and got up just after 9am today when I came upstairs to work. Usually he does milk it James but he saw having today off work as a great opportunity to do the gloss paint in the living room. At least he's making himself useful! I had to make him toast twice this morning though.

James - It's nice to have you around more often Glad you're getting the bills sorted. Thanks for the advice about the eczema. We use Infacare in the bath which is supposed to be very gentle. The spots have flared up just recently so I wondered if it was the suncream I was using on him. My sister uses an ASDA suncream on her ds who has eczema so I'm going to give that a try and see if it helps.

I'm not broody at the moment. The thought of having no money and no sleep ususally sets me straight.

Have you heard from tasha/snot recently?

Hello! I've only just found this thread . How lovely to catch up on everyone's news. And congrats to the parents of the new babies! I was wondering what you'd had Tokentotty. Love her name

So, broody, eh? No danger of that with me. Well, it's crossed my mind but I couldn't imagine having the energy or the money for a while. Two sets of nursery fees sounds scary...

Hello James - nice to hear how you and James are doing. Am jealous of you being able to put him to bed so easily - Nell has seemingly never-ending energy and can out-last me in spite of a regular bedtime routine. Am hoping it won't last forever and that one day I'll be able to reclaim my evenings!

I work a four day week and wish I could spend a bit more time with her. She's very, very funny and chatty and yes, has started to have some spectacular tantrums . I resorted to feeding her chocolate buttons around the supermarket the other day . She's a bit of a tomboy - always clamouring to be outside whatever the weather and asks for brown clothes, not pink! She's now really settled in nursery, which is lovely and a big relief.

So, that's us. Will try and revisit this thread to get the baby news! x

Infacare isn't that gentle imo, I bought it for James but it seems to dry out his eczema further. Oilatum and other ones designed for eczema are much better, they're really moisturising, but they do make the bath slippery so you have to be careful. Then again as you said it could be the suncream, anything can start rashes off really, it's very much trial and error. Do you use a non-bio washing powder?

Wish I could brush off this broodiness that easily, it's been with me a while now ever since I thought I was pregnant a few weeks back. It's frustrating because I really need to lose a lot of weight before trying again ideally, I've got a doctors appointment on tuesday to talk about it. Even if I could lose 3 or 4 stone it'd be better than not!

Hi Annie, sorry I x-posted there. Glad you're doing ok! I know there's plenty of reasons not to be broody but unfortunately my mind won't listen to reason right now He does go to sleep easily but he goes to bed quite late (usually 9.30ish) so we don't get much of an evening together anyway.

Your dd sounds like a little character asking for brown clothes instead of pink! Her and James would get on well wanting to stomp around outside in any weather. He'd play in the dark too! Glad she's settled into nursery, did she take long to settle down?

James, glad you are feeling a bit better, broody - NEVER AGAIN! Love my boys to bit's but i struggle to find time at what i want to do with them now, it would be so much harder with one more, plus they are both in Bed and asleep by 8pm so finally feel that im getting a life back!

Nice to here about nell settleing in well, like james said She would mix well with the boy's, Tates very similair in the fact that he either has to be covered in something (mud,wood chippings, grass, food - the list could go on) or climbibng on something, my ds1 never hurt himself and got many bumps but i feel i may have afew trips to A&E with this one in the next few years!

Gill - Am worried about leaving people but im sure i will settle ok, I have made alot of friends here but mmost of them have been through the school network or toddler groups so i just have to build up my confidence and get out there, i do really worry about Ben (older ds) but as loler said they adapt well and he is a VERY confidnet boy and will just get on with it i think.

Wont be back for a week or so as we aredriving to south of france tomorrow night for a week, Cant wait!!!!! Have a good week girls

Hi Annie - good to hear from you. Glad to hear that Nell is doing well at nursery. I work full time and would love to work a shorter week but what can you do when you've got bills to pay. My dd doesn't like pink either. She keeps swapping between blue and yellow being her favourite.

James - I use Persil non-bio. I started using it a couple of months ago. Before that I used a Morrisons non-bio. I guess the new one could have triggered a reaction. It does coincide with when the symptoms started.

Hope you have a lovely time in France pink.

Here for a rant!!

The other day I posted on MN that James had done a mural on a cream wall with a big black crayon an hour before my landlord was coming over. I ended up painting over it. I've just come in to find he's done and even bigger, much worse one in the same place! Told him off, he cried his eyes out then went and got another crayon (god knows where from, they live on a very high shelf) and did it again right in front of me!

He's trashed the livingroom and his bedroom - he's even pulled all the furniture out, it looks like we've been burgled, and he's rubbed loads of tuna mayonnaise into his hair and tomatoes down his pale blue top, so now he needs a bath - we're supposed to be going to south wales in an hour!

I'm so bloody angry!

Poor you James. I would have been very angry too. Maybe it's the start of the terrible 2s and he's testing the boundaries to see what he can get away with. Hope you managed to get away on time.

lol, we did manage to get away ok, only an hour late (posting from S.Wales now) Sorry for the rant but I was fuming. It's definitely the terrible two's - it's come on all of a sudden!

He's been dead naughty since, too. Yesterday he posted a digestive biscuit in our friend's video player, drawn pictures in spit on their TV screen, thrown an assortment of stones,dog toys and finally the dog's basket in their fishpond. He had loads of tantrums, and he wouldn't sleep til 12.45am!

He hasn't been too bad today apart from hitting mil's dog with a wooden hammer, but the day is young...

Apparently the dog exacted its revenge on James this evening, bit his hand. He didn't break the skin but left teethmarks. James wasn't doing anything mean to him (I was watching) just wandered over.

James - sounds like you are having fun - of your list of things though I think the only really naughty one is hitting the dog. The others are just experimenting with the world (in a messy way) - you just need eyes in the back of your head to stop it!

The dog biting him would really worry me - even if he was pushing him around earlier. Can they be seperated when you visit? I always keep our dog in the kitchen when we have visitors who aren't used to dogs. A toddler can't be expected to read a dogs body language and avoid being bitten.

I'm currently entertaining the dc downstairs (well sat with them while they watch tv!) so that dh can have a lie in on fathers day (to make it different from every other day this week - ds2 been waking at 5am everyday).

Yeah I am worried about the dog - to be honest I've always been wary of him, he's a puppy (probably 7 months old) but full size now. The trouble is he's mil's baby she lets him sleep in her bed, sit on the sofa, feeds him from her plate etc - the dog thinks he's further up in the pack than James, so he was putting him in his place when James wandered over to where the dog was sitting on mils lap.

You can still see the bite mark on his hand today. I'm keeping the dog away, I don't give a shit if I piss mil off, I've already told her if he ever bites him again I'm going to kick him round the room (and yes I am an animal lover but you know how it is when something hurts your baby)

Whenever we spend time at someone else's house I spend the entire time chasing round after ds to stop him doing things he shouldn't. Even though most people tell me not to worry (saying 'it'll wash off' etc) I would still feel really bad if he stained or broke something.

Hope the bite didn't put James off dogs. Alex used to love animals but my mum's cat often swipes him when he walks past (innocently, minding his own business) so now he's scared of cats and dogs.

loler - that sounds like every day in our house too. I very occasionally make dh get up with the kids but most of the time I let him lay in. If he doesn't get at least 9-10 hours sleep at the weekend then he's not worth being around. He spends the whole day snapping at the kids.

Anyone else's lo still not got all their teeth? Ds has 8 altogether at the front and 4 molars. One of the canines has just cut through after months and months of nothing. It's seems like he'll be teething forever.

I don't think James has been put off dogs, he was attempting to play with him the day after, but we wouldn't let him. And funnily enough, the dog went for dp yesterday too when he went to speak to mil. Next time we go there we'll be keeping him away from James full stop.

I think J has 8 teeth top and bottom, I'm not sure how many milk teeth they're supposed to get though.

What shoe size are your dc taking now? James is a size 6g, his feet barely seem to have grown since last year.

I'm not sure how many teeth they should have. I thought it was 20 but I could be wrong.

Ds is currently in a 6H but I have a feeling he won't be in them for much longer. He was in a size 5H for about 8 months and then 5 1/2 G for 6 weeks before he went up to a 6. He loves his sandals though. They're a 7 but, when I took dd to get some Sandals from Clarks they told me that they fit them a half size bigger. Ds' are from ASDA but he doesn't walk outside much so I don't mind getting the cheaper ones for him.

Hi everyone, been months since I was on here. How is everyone doing? Sounds like we're all very busy with our nearly 2 year olds! I can't believe how fast it seems to be going now.

James at poor James getting bitten, I have a dog and I love him dearly but if he dared bite Joe I'd go ballistic. Thankfully the dog is just so daft and gentle with him which is good.

Joe is growing up so fast. Seems to have stopped with the tantrums (for now but then he did start having them from birth!)

He's a proper little man now and every day gets more and more wonderful! He's obsessed with bin lorries at the minute and loves being outside (regardless of the weather!) He sees to be such an old soul though... I can't explain what I mean by that but sometimes he just looks at me like he's been here before! He knows thing that I have absolutely no idea how he knows them. Yesterday he told me that houses were made from bricks and that rain comes from clouds. Now.... the bricks thing I can sort of see how he's picked up on that but I am damn sure me and dh have never mentioned rain coming from clouds. He also told me thesun was 'bright and hot'. Sometimes he scares me with the things he comes out with.

Yeah think they are meant to have 20 teeth, Joe has all but his very back molars on the top so has 18 teeth altogether.

Anyway, haven't had chance to catch up fully. How are all the new babies? Anyone else pg?? Still not even on our adgenda to have another, Joe is too perfect lol (and the thought of the first year of hell is too much to bear again!!!)

Hope all is OK with everyone, I will catch up on this thread and see what you've all been up to! x

Hi everyone, hope you have had a good week - James at your MIL dog, i would have felt exactly the same as you, it can put kids off for ages. with regards to behaviour as loler said he is only exploring and as a mother of a 6yr old boy as-well, sit back and enjoy, it only gets more fun! lol x

As for teeth they are meant to have 20, Tate is cutting his last four, no moaning ( yet) but lots of dribble -
and shoe size he is still a size 4 1/2 has been that for 6 months, his first pair of walking shoes were a 2 1/2 bless -

Had a Fab holiday, drive down was not to bad as we drove over night but way back was tough, Boys loved the pool and we just chilled out, may me notice this week how stressed out with normal life i can get, only 2 days back in and already im losing patience with the kids, where on holiday we had all the time in the world

Hi Joe. How spooky, I was thinking about you yesterday. Joe sounds like a lovely little boy and very bright. Ds surprised me this morning when he heard a siren and said 'police car'. I was really broody at the beginning of the year but had to put off having another one because of my job but, as ds gets older and easier, I can't help thinking that I want to wait a bit longer.

Glad you had a good holiday pink. I'm glad I'm not the only one who loses her patience quickly. I find myself shouting at the kids every morning, especially when I have to get them to mum's in time to get my train to London.

Dh is away for work for 2 nights. Fortunately both dcs went to sleep in the car yesterday evening and stayed asleep all night so I managed to get everything prepared for this morning. I was up at 5:30 but I still managed to leave late cos dd didn't want to get up. I don't blame her though, it was 6am! I'm hoping they're going to be good for me tonight.

hi All, hope everyone is well, very quiet on here now, Im so glad its cooled down a bit, we all was getting a bit moany with each other, I love the sun but my kids ( as all) get moany with it!

had a good weekend, went up to where we are moving to and ds1 visited his new school today, he said afterwards that he was a little bit excited which is good, its breaking my heart seeing him so angry and upset about moving and it feels it all my falut as i could stop it if i wanted, im sure he will be fine and make new friends but he is such a tough cookie, seeing him all emontial is killing me! .....

On a different note is anyones darling child escaping there car seat straps at EVERY opportunity, it is driving me mad!

Hi - we've just got back from a week in the Isle of man - would like to say it was very relaxing and I feel refreshed - it wasn't and I don't! Have hit the stage where all 3 dc are very hard work! Wish I could go back in time 2 years - everything was so easy.

Escaping from car seats is also an everyday occurance here as is throwing any food not high in fat, sugar and salt (although he does eat everything at nursery , refusing to sit in a pushchair then running in the opposite direction (or sitting on the floor refusing to move), grabbing anything that someone else is touching while screaming MIIIINNNEEEE, crying uncontrolably if told 'no' and then hanging from my leg until I give him a cuddle. Life is so much fun with a nearly 2 year old! However - he still is very cute (even if his hair is in his eyes as he won't let the hairdresser within arms length of him) and I'm enjoying his emerging sense of humour.

Pink - I've just found out about some short tennis lessons 9.30-10.30 on Sunday mornings £2.50 a week. You just turn up and pay weekly, everything provided by them. If you're interested I can give you directions. DD is going to try them this weekend I hope.

loler - Lesson sounds great we will hopefully be up there the 1st week of August ( fingers crossed ) He likes anything like that! - Thank you, my email is [email protected]

Are you sure you dont have my 2 year old there, I dont remember ds1 being this difficult but i look back, we didnt have other children around so he was happy to plod around in his own little world (now he is hard work) Someone posted a link to a hudini strap thing for the carseat - going to get one - ill post link!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/785972-ds-20-months-escaping-car-seat-any-advice-highly-appreciated

Was also meant to say sorry that you didnt have a relaxing break, i hate the thought of going away with just us 4, it can become sooo stressful

Thanks Pink - will see if this is a temp blip if not will invest in one of the clips!

Have just seen how moany my last post was - holiday was lovely but very hard work. I sort of pictured long lovely lunches in seaside cafes followed by reading a good book on the beach while glancing at 3 happy dc building sand castles - it didn't happen and I don't know what planet I was on to even expect it? It's full on from 7 til 7 at home and a 3 hour boat trip isn't a magical machine so it was the same on holiday. OK moan over - 6 days of school left and I can have those lazy days at home!