Aug 08 - odds on this one won't last as long

[dizzydixies]

new thread ladies

wonder why this one won't last as long

Oh ann i feel for you. I have a fear that we'll lose all ours. up to a certain point with dd they're backed up on cd rom but I must get a flash drive thinyummy and whizz the whole lot on it. Will be my after easter job

buckets hmm - let me know what you find re pots.

have befriended said mummy - with - a ft nanny on facebook so may ask in all innocence what her job is (didn't come into conversaion, only dh told me later).

am already feeling the strain of dh being flat out this week. not been that bad so far but the idea opf it stresses me. he's taking dd to the passover meal he's organised tonight so once ds is asleep i'l get pizza delivered (lord, I always think in food as treats - no woder i'm way above what i should be weight wise)

oh - a funny thing - my dd has recently startd watching channels other than cbeebies and is now quoting adverts at me. Is after me to buy cilit bang "cos one squirt and the job's done". lol. when i took her shoe shopping just now she eded up with some geox shoes. her eyes lit up and she said "the shoes that breeze" (breathe but hey she's 6 lol)

Hey Ann, fingers crossed they miraculously appear after the system restore.

Took DD to first day of swimming crash course, had sympathy palpitations for her as I knew how terrified she was. She cried and was the only one that wouldn't get in to begin with (despite being able to float about happily with a woggle when out with us) but when the 45mins was up, she was doing fantastically. V proud of her.

Kurt had his first go in a swing at the park, roared his head off with laughter, so much noise from one so quiet.

Off to the Watercress Line for a Thomas the Tank Engine day tomorrow. Free tickets courtesy of Grandpa who volunteers there. He used to do lectures for the geekier kids and dads on James's footplate til a colleague stuck a hand up a small girl's skirt last year, now convicted. Turns out he had a record but nobody would have thought of needing a CRB check in such an open situation, there's a steady queue of kids and parents coming through the engine all day. James is now out of bounds.

sazzles - sory to be food obsessed here. do you fill one of those tubs? any idea how much you're giving e at the moment? sill not sure i've got it right with h. had him weighed today (23lb12) and he is gaining fine but he's still on a lot of bfs (rarely refuses bless him), so not sure how much is to do with solids (having what i thought was 3 v v good ized meals a day but not sure if they are good sized now )...

Simnel - how could that happen me being a feminist and all? Actually he does cook up a storm and at the moment there are some lovely smells coming from the kitchen.

I like to think of it as a work in progress. I am running an ongoing course called Feminism for Dads, attendance is compulsory and when he gets confused with the arguments I just point DD at him and say; "is that what you want for your daughter? Is it? Is it?" which usually does the trick.

Ann - what a bummer about the photos, glad you have some on FB.

Anyone know how to clean a laptop keyboard I have a sticky 9 and something lodged under my comma (sounds painful). I've done all the proper things like blow on it and turn it upside down and shake it...

Ann you are living my worst fear. Can you get the computer to come up in safe mode and have it go back to a known good start date? That's what I had to do with my last virus attack.

ALBS our daughters are peas in a pod. Mine is quoting ads all the time now. She even requested I order her something completely bizarre at a drive thru the other day JUST BECAUSE she'd seen it on tv. Now where are those MANNERS ads??

Sazzles {{{hugs}}} sounds like you need a mommy break. Kinsley went through a horrible biting stage. I hope dd1's is not a phase just an accident.

Reese is sitting up and trying so hard to stand on her own. I swear she will be walking by 9 months. I've already dropped her bed down to the lowest level and moved it away from our bed. This is the first step towards moving her into her own room. If she'd just sleep from 7-7 I'd have already moved her.

Food Question:
Can I offer Reese eggs? Emma ate eggs at the beach didn't she Sazzles??? Something made me stop this morning. I wanted to give her a try but didn't. I couldn't remember if that was okay or not. Is there anything that is OFF LIMITS at this point??

Eveing all

Nothing much news here. We went out to tea with NCT friends and then home. DD didn't want lunch so just chewed on a mini sweetcorn but when we got home she ate 1/2 a marmite sarnie, 1/2 of one of Sazzles pots of leek and potato soup and then a whole Plum petit filous then some stewed apple and rhubarb and a full feed before bed.

It was strange as everyone today and on here
have been speaking about going back to work.

ALBS - some days DD will only eat 3 or 4 mouthfuls of food and others she will eat like today. She lets me know in no uncertain terms whether she is hungry or not.

Sazzles that DD1 bit you - was there any lead up or was it just random? I think your no more ITNG and then allowing stories was perfect I think she would possibly have forgotten why she was being punished after about 20mins.

Buckets - How was Thomas??

Ann - you have lost the piccies - hopefully they will be able to retieve some of them for you.

TS - DD has had eggs but they do need to be totally cooked no soft bits. DD loves french toast with banana on it

French Toast...thanks Oops I've been meaning to cook some. Note to SELf!!

Oh and you won't hear me talking of going back to work.

Oh dear sazzles. If it is a phase, my DD1 went through one (iirc she was somewhere between 1.5 and 2). It was awful and particularly so when she bit another child at nursery . They were v. reassuring about it though and said it's a very common phase to go through. DD1 probably only did it half a dozen times over 6 weeks and never has done since.

Poor you ann. So hope you manage to salvage them and/or get other copies from FB and friends. DH accidentally threw all my (old style) photos from adolescence out a few years ago. I didn't realise for ages and it was too late to be angry - he also didn't mean to - I just hadn't labelled things properly and blithely said that anything in the garage could go as there couldn't be anything of importance there if we hadn't needed any of it in the last year . Just rather .

LOL at all the ad quoting DCs!

So... DH and I have just chatted about the ML extension and I think we've decided that I'll go back as planned in June. I'm think I'm fine with this. It'll be galling missing out on beautiful, sunny days and I'm NOT looking forward to getting the girls out of bed and into nursery against the clock three days per week earlier than is strictly necessary. However, I think I'd feel at a bit of a loose end and v. conscious of the sacrifice being made if I was off.

DH's big reason for being against it was worrying about pissing work off. I said I didn't really care (although I am grateful that my boss was so accommodating about working hours and would feel a bit bad moving the goalposts). Anyway, he's started on a 'I fell in love with you because we were equals and I hate the thought that you don't care about work and are not interested in challenging yourself' etc. etc. I can see what he's saying but is forgetting that I don't really like my job and we have two small children who need to be someone's priority. Really couldn't be bothered with a row though. Ho hum.

Ok I'm going to post first and catch up later

I have caught that Sazzles' dd1 is biting. sazzles assuming you are still on for Wednesday I am an authority on biting as ds1 was doing it 4 or 5 times a DAY at one stage, so can talk to you more about it then if needs be!. Needless to say, he grew out of it, as they do. But it was a long old stage.

Lovely weekend and have survived the first day of Easter holidays (thus far). Today I have done a scooter/bike trip to the post office and been to the park on the way back, made a 'you will behave yourselves' decorate it yourself chart (they loved this), made models with paint/glitter etc, been to the bank and had a 'fluffy' (read babyccino) in Costa coffee. However this still was insufficient entertainment apparently

Oh and Toby is rarely having bf milk until 230pm atm - he has a night feed then won't take bf first thing, then has breakfast, then lunch and then bf. I am not sure quite how to get him out of this pattern apart from stopping him night feeding - and dh plainly not going to do controlled crying with me.....

Back in a mo - hoping I can catch up now!

poppy I think my dh feels that it takes the pressure off him if I work. On two counts (this is when I am office based rather than home based though) - one that I am stimulated mentally and have company and depend less on him all the time for my happiness and two it just takes the pressure off him financially - not hugely but enough to make a difference. Just might be some similarities there I don't know.....

It's hard isn't it Poppy. Hopefully once you get back there will be some positive things about it and you can start thinking about applying for something more interesting? (Think DH needs a little reminder that not currently working doesn't make you any less equal and certainly not any less challenged though!)

Conversation turns to work-return everywhere I go at the moment. I emailed my boss today to request a meeting to discuss - I am hoping to go back PT - and she's just gone on leave for 3 weeks. Oh well, no decisions just yet then.

about your photos Ann. Steak I use exactly that argument!

Sazzles when you say DD has been refusing all day do you know why they do that? DD has had screaming fits before her last three feeds - really struggling to get away for about 10/15mins before giving in and feeding nicely. She's never done it before, v strange. Hope I didn't do something awful this a.m. without noticing but which has given her a fright... She has been biting a bit when tired but I just take her off and say no then let her back on - and she hasn't done it in the last few days so I don't see how this could be connected... [baffled]

Hope you all get good nights tonight.

Sazzles and PF - I think you guys may be getting wet!!

I think you've got something there pf. DH doesn't want to be an alpha male provider and wants to be involved with the DDs, which inevitably means that he can't give everything to his career. I love him for that. However, I guess I am a bit more traditional than he is and ultimately see work as his priority and the DCs as mine, which is an unwanted responsibility for him. He also definitely doesn't like feeling that all I have in my life is him and the DDs, even if he gets irritated when I moan about work.

Poppy I do think it's funny that pregnancy, childbirth and childrearing are not thought of as mentally challenging. Yes I suppose you could sidestep the whole intellectual side and stay in a certain level of ignorance but most of us do a lot of research and are constantly in retraining. It is nice to use other bits of the brain though and give the parenty ones a break - really don't think men realise quite how many new synapses get fired up when a woman becomes a mum. Maybe he is the one not challenging himself enough for you. Apparently learning a musical instrument increases links between both sides of the brain...

I can see what PF means about pressure on him, tis why I started carework part time (then promptly found I was pg with Kurt!) as DH's job was getting him down. But I don't think he would agree that I'm not stimulated enough at home, he gets a good earful of my random adventures everyday and moans about me never being in. Even Mumsnetting is educational!

sazzles - I think unfortunately work would be annoyed if I changed this around as our activity is currently expanding hugely (office has doubled in size since I've been off ). A later return date wouldn't screw things up in that I don't have maternity cover who's been given notice, but my job is currently not being done which has been planned for on my current timings. Our year runs with the academic one so returning two months before the start of a new on is perfect for planning, but if I didn't get back until it's started it would be problematic.

On the flip side, so much has changed that it may all be different . Don't think I'll look for anything else for a while though. Better the devil you know...Still hoping for that flash of inspiration of what I really should be doing with my life.

DH would be oblivious to all difficulties of juggling as he thinks that reduced hours means that all will be easy .

I agree buckets - motherhood is mentally challenging (although more often than not, for me at least, in a deep breath, count to ten sort of way!) and I learn SO much from MN. However, DH and I started off on the same career path and although we have divided off from one another somewhat, that is what he perceives to be work and, I think, likes that fact that we and understand one another's worlds and advise/sympathise on them.