Aug 08: fine and dandy with matchsticks handy.

[oopsRonanOGarascoconuts]

Boo!

nice nails no1 , hope your dd feels better soon

crap night so only able to offer up weetabix, cheerios or crunchy nut cornflakes

no1 wasn't stressful in the slightest as I lost the plot with overtired bickering children and had them in bed (unbathed) by 6.30 and they were sound asleep within seconds!! my friend who was over to babysit arrived at 6.45 to bath them and read them their bedtime stories only to find out she was too late lol

glad you had a good night, pampering sounds great - hope DD improves through the day

DD1 and DD2 slept through until 6.45 this morning and are both on great form - we didnt have a good night with Dylan at all though. She slept from 6am until 1.30am when she had a dirty nappy and a feed, put her back without great results so back in with us where she proceeded to throw up all down me and then slept on and off in the middle of the bed for rest of night (knocking lumps out of us for good measure!)
the sooner she cuts this eye tooth the better as its causing her a lot of bother

anyway, poor DH only got home from work just after 1am and is nights tonight so I'm going to head off to mothers and toddlers this morning and give him peace to sleep - am not that fond of our toddler group - on one side its a load of mothers who all seem to know each other and on the other side its the child minders who arrive laden with kids who run riot - have only been twice and didn't enjoy it so am going to persevere (well for a bit longer anyway)

pertelote I hope your first night at home with Marianne was a restful one (dare I mention arnica, it helps with healing you know )

expectant have emailed you back and well done you getting your cup of tea and a sit down!

Think I'll pass on the Guinness thanks Sambo, just a little bit too early [bleaugh] Glad you have still got sunshine, it's cloudy here at the moment, although the forecast for the whole week is pretty good. Who needs to go to Florida eh?

Dizzy have fun at soft play. Your night with Dylan sounds a bit like mine, although thankfully without the poo and vomit. On the bright side DD came in our room at 6, I said 'go back to bed sweetie it's still night time' and she went! Straight back to bed with no fuss and she's only just awake now!

No1 glad you had a good time but sorry to hear DD is still feeling poorly I hope she picks up today. Did DS take a bottle? Is your Friday night out still on then?

pertelote another one welling up here so so glad you;re home with beautiful brave marianne

Am attemptng to call drs to get app to check out ds's ear.... no joy getting through as yet. grrr.

he slept 7.40 til 6am though

Dizzy thanks for e-mail have added you as a friend.

albs is he shaking his head? DS just started doing this today and given that he already has some kind of virus was wondering if it's got to his ears? The second tooth has come through though so maybe just that?

Off to have a pint of the black stuff tonight.

expectant no, but when i kiss one of his ears /side of head he howls and that is how i detected his last ear infection..... Just got thourgh to the dr after 45 mins calling/failing then in a queue and got one for tomorrow afternoon. grr grr grr. I should have gone down and sat and waited but could not face the inevitable up to 2 hour wait with wrigglesome ds, plus he woke at 6 this morn so was due a nap at just the time we'd have needed to leave and you're not alliowed to take the sodding pushchair into the drs anyore so i'd have had to have woken him up. And breathe . rant over.

Where is everyone??

Seems your post is unanimous in the welling up stakes pertelote... me too! So pleased to hear you're all home so soon and Marianne's making such good progress. Hope last night went well and you're all able to start relaxing.

What a PITA ALBS. No buggies in the surgery . And no appointment until tomorrow for such a little one. Hopefully he'll have a good nap now though and that will help him (and you!) get through today.

Can't wait to hear all about your new project Dizzy. Hope the toddler gp goes ok. Ours sounds v. similar. I try to avoid it but have somehow found myself on the rota so no choice really .

All calmer here atm now that the teeth are through. In waiting for the boiler man to arrive and tell us, as he does every year, that our boiler is no longer manufactured so if anything goes wrong there will be no parts available so we'll have to get a whole new one.

Hi folks and a diddly eye, top of the mornin, be the hokey, the tatties are nearly cooked, etc etc Happy St Patrick's Day to ye. If I had the energy I would be but I haven't so am having an Irish brekker of toast, Marmite and coffee.

pertelote superb news to hear Marianne is home again! What a little star. Onwards and upwards for her and all of you. Zackly what oops said re. collective sigh every time a flicker of update. You must be so proud of her, and we are so proud of you. xx

Sorry nothing dramatic about being awol apart from Reassessing My Whole Life and doing holiday weekend things. Extravaganza of balls big success for both boys, treasure hunt on Saturday involved walking 5 miles around the city - two and a half hours, dp with ds2 in the backpack, ds1 scooting ahead, doubling back, you name it. Was good fun.

Re. life reassessment (wake up, there, snoozers in the back row) I have not figured out the not / going back to work etc BUT I have slapped my own wrist over the writing I am meant to be doing, have bought a whole load of relevant books (spent the ds's inheritance in Waterstones but at least they have a loyalty card), signed up for an online course (which may or may not help), have dealt with last week's demons, and perhaps most importantly have got back to work on the thing I am supposed to be working on.

Expectant cyteen's Joe was doing the headshaking last week, see earlier posts but I am not sure has she seen doc yet, she was trying to get appt.

albs what a great sleep for H! Hope you manage to pin a doc down.

dizzy darling sorry about the rugby! Hope you enjoyed the match anyway. I must say I've not been great with the mother & toddler group thing either... though I was thinking of giving it another go. I always feel really awkward and that the situation is a bit contrived, even though babies are a great ice-breaker.

I have been trying to think of a new "activity" to do with ds, though - I can't remember did I post on here about the buggy keep fit thing - seemed a bit gimmicky in the end though - so I am investigating Baby Sensory this is a UK thing so might be a class near some of you, too, also swimming lessons, but I might spread them out over the next few months. I really loved going to yoga and massage with him but they don't do over 6 months. There seem to be a lot more things on offer in the UK, it's really hard to get a baby swimming lesson here, we don't have signing classes etc.

Sorry. Long. For all you Lenten fasters, St Patrick's Day is a day off (I wonder would MrALBS agree... always was in our family, anyway...).

pertelote i too got a bit of grit in my eye when i read your post in the very nicest way, of course. Marianne is amazing - pure steel! hope you're enjoying cuddling up to her and getting back to normality.

albs your doctors won't have pushchairs in the surgery? that is absolutely outrageous i think you should name and shame in the local press seriously though, we all know how quickly little ones can need seeing, i can't imagine that policy is helpful at all.

dashing off to baby group now as have very grumpy tired boy who needs a sleep in the pram [crossed fingers] Laters all!

Hey dizzy Dunfermline is in Fife!

The king sits in Dunfermline town
Drinking the blude-red wine
Oh where will I get a skeely skipper
To sail this new ship o' mine?

But somehow I never actually wondered where Dunfermline was. Cool. Anyway there is Baby Sensory there.

Hello everyone. Decent night here. Little man slept 11-7. I think a tooth is actually coming throughnow as well Been hoping they'd hold off as I do love the gums!

pertelote so glad to hear Marianne is home. What a brave, strong girl you have. You must be so relieved!.

On a different note, I'm strongly considering doing a masters degree. I'm not sure how it'll benefit me career wise, but hey ho. Those who have done this, please give me some opinions! (not just on the career thing, but just generally)

Yes the gummy smile is very sweet. Although ds has 2 teeth, you never see them - whatever way he organises his tongue and lips they are completely hidden unless you go poking!

Re. masters I have done 3 in different fields, one while ds1 was about 7, but none with a babby in my arms! If I can be of any help let me know. For info I loved loved loved all of them, but I do love any type of course .

GG am pmsl - was staying overnight in Dunfermline on Sat night after the rugby its just across the Forth road bridge and I couldn't be further in fife if I tried - am just across the Tay riad bridge from Dundee - thanks though

very of your masters Ann, am still mortified I didn't mage that HNC I started in 2006 if you think you will manage it and they'll be flexible enough then go for it - won't be as helpful as Sibh and VG but I can type REALLY quickly (someone screaming down a 999 call at your really helps improve that skill )

poppy looking forward to tomorrow too, if its like this again tomorrow should we venture to the park?

MORE balloons! You guys are spoiling us I think these have been forwarded from GOSH. They are so jolly, Marianne has never had helium balloons before and she's finding them most entertaining!

(And we needed a little ray of sunshine, last night was not much fun... Did I mention the clingy?!)

ALBS that is terrible about the Dr surgery not letting in pushchairs what do the mw/hv have to say about it?

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY!

VG you sound very solid in your direction now. Good for you.

Expectant Reese was shaking her head due to her teeth.

Not much more to report other than crap night here. Both dcs tag teamed me. I've had little sleep and feel a grumpy-me setting in. Thankfully the weather channel appears to have clued in and promised blue sky all day.

pertelote we stole brought home the helium balloons from my dad's 70th and Dylan absolutely LOVED them, even more so once they'd gone down a bit and the could grab them and wave them wildly and crinkle/crunch them all up - hope they cheer her up a wee bit and help with the clinginess

did I mention DD2 compltely called mu bluff at toddlers? We dropped DD1 at school (9am) and decided to walk along to my friends house to walk to toddlers with her and her ds. Got to toddlers and DD2 wasn't up for playing a great deal, kept coming back to me and wanting biscuits so after an hour I say in best reasoning voice 'Ok then DD2, if you're not going to play then we'll just have to go home' to which she pipes up 'ok' and puts on her coat I normally have to drag coax her to leave amidst screaming sessions, so we went for a wee walk instead

outwitted by a 2yr old - doesn't bode well does it

Thanks GG and Dizzy. I wouldn't be starting this year. I need to work and save money first, so probably will start 2010 and do it part time. Would probably have to work part time as well. But it should be do-able. I did consider doing it before I finished my degree, but by the third year I knew I needed some time off. My mum thinks it will be good for me. She says I'm a student at heart I'm very excited about the idea of it, and I haven't felt this way about anything I've considered doing so far.

Dizzy lol at your dd2
GG 3 masters
pertelote an extra helping of {{HUGS}} for you and Marianne

And to the Irish ladies {{{pints of guiness}} happy St Patrick's day!

ann I think you've answered your question yourself "I'm very excited about the idea of it, and I haven't felt this way about anything I've considered doing so far."

GG wow 3 masters, fab. I am another course lover, even if they involve exams

ts hope you manage to rest plenty today - we had another crapola night with 2 hourly wake ups. Got 2 sleep books out the library which I have just skim read, apparently I am to blame

dizzy your dd2 sounds bright as a button, maybe she's just not into that toddler group either

hi all

sambo i do have good ideas occasionally!

diz re dd2!

ann re masters..go for it!

vg i used to do iris dancing at school once you've got a bit more energy we can show these girls how its done!

more messages in a mo to others!

sambo this is the reason I've never bothered reading any of the parenting books. Some babies sleep, some don't. You are not to blame, and you're doing the best you can for your baby. Step away from the books
I actually don't mind exams - I'm good with exams but terrible at coursework. I'll have to get better at it to do a masters though.

oh yeah, sambo I thought that with the sleep books too - except for no cry sleep solution which said that there is nothing wrong with breastfeeding your baby all night, it's a lovely thing to do. So I bought that one. Needless to say he is still breast feeding all night and we are still sleep deprived, but at least it's not my fault.

PS a nice trip out is to go to waterstones and play with the childrens books and flick through the sleep books

dizzy apparently it's the pct who say no pushchairs. is health and safety - would be hazardous in the case of needign to evacuate . Dh says it's against all disability legislation as babies who can't walk are notionally "disabled" so are being discriiminated against (actually he says it better than that, but i can't get it right, hence have never tried quoting it at the gps).

ds on second good sleep of the day. I woke him after 2 hours this morn and has been asleep for 1.5 hours so far - will need to wake him for school run soon.... After a terrible week a couple of weeks ago where every nap was a screaming sesion and i gave in and took him out in pushchair a few times, we've got over that and, even though he now stares at the chair and demands a little feed-let before he'll go down, he'll go off like a dream now. Bizarre howit all goes in cycles....

hotter
Fishfingers are FINE. If they get outlawed on MN then I'm off. They are 95% fish fgs and have lots of omega 3 in them. Not that my fussy ds1 will eat them anymore

dizzy lol at dd2 - she sounds like my dd - sharp as a tack that one. I am warning school about her when she starts as she knows just how to get what she wants (already)