July 2008 - Anyone tried dressing an Octopuss?

[JODIEwantsanewname]

New thread here.

Where is everybody?

Hi, I'm here!! (Just about)

Am in the throws of potty training, day 2 went very well, only 2 'accidents' and by the end of the day he was able to hold it in until I put him on potty, next stage is getting him to tell me he needs to go.

We had a lovely day playing today, just sat in the garden all day and painted, drew, played tents, raced, had a picnic, it was lovely, then DH came home and we had a BBQ for tea! Am wiped out now, got to do it all again tomorrow!

Had both boys development check today (Sam's 9 month one and Olivers 2.5 year one) HV came to house and said that they are both above average abilities for their age [Proud mummy emoticon!] So good day all round, which is a good job as I lost my job (again) on Friday, so I've had to enquire about Job Seekers allowance and need to get my CV out there at all the bars and restaurants in town on Weds/Thursday for some hours. Oh well, I can't say I'm that bothered as I hated the job anyway, but it does mean I;ll have to take them out of nursery, and Oliver loves it there I'll keep him at pre-school though as I don't think I could cope with both of then 24-7!

Hope everyone else is enjoying the good weather. x

Pigley - Great Yarmouth was pretty much my nearest beach when growing up...fond memories!! We are not gardeners here but we are trying to rectify that...any tips...DH is starting to dig up the lawn (previous owners had a puppy, looks more like a ploughed field out the back) we are going to 'start again'!!

Jodie - about your job, fingers crossed something turns up soon!

My SIL thinks she may be able to sell some of my paintings!! (She works in a home stuff shop that her mum owns) Very excited, not sure of details yet but still all wrapped up in planning & researching!

Don't know if you guys remember I said DH had disciplinary at work, it is still all ongoing. But he has been signed off work sick with stress & depression & been prescribed beta blockers. He has to go to see a therapist this week. Bit worried about him TBH he is usually the life and soul around here & he is really not 'him' at all.

P is STILL snotty, she keeps pulling at her ear so keeping an eye on that, don't want her to get another ear infection! Small progress on crawling forwards she can do about 5 motions before falling over/going backwards! But her sitting has come on leaps & bounds.

Anyway must go, promised DH we would watch a film!

I'm here, just got sucked into the guess the book AIBU thread for any MN time I've had. Not that there's been much, been out and about in the sun. DD1 has school again tomorrow though . I don't want the holidays to end, never mind her. I am not looking forward to getting them both up and about early tomorrow (DD2 back to playschool). And it's also the last school holidays before I go back to work {even more ).

No real news, Orlaith is getting on great guns with food (pumpkin risotto tonight) but not so hot on the moving around. She can get 1 leg underneath her but the other one just refuses to join it. I've got a playpen up in the livingroom now, so she can't fall down the stairs to the kitchen. I don't think she minds it too much, except when DDs 1 and 2 both get in there too, and it's a bit cramped!

Anyway, got cooking to do for tomorrow's night tea - night all.

Jodie - your day in the garden sounds lovely; shame about the job though fingers crossed something else comes up.

pigley - fingers crossed for you too that abigail sleeps again!

bebe - crossing the rest of my fingers that your dh is better soon xx

Nothing to report here - Poppy is now on tooth number 4 (when 3 weeks ago she had none!!) and still can't crawl. She can shuffle, and will roll a bit, and is trying hard, bless her, but just falls flat on her face.

Jodie- Glad you had a nice day. Doesnt the sunshine make you feel much brighter!

Glad the boys checks went well - Well done you! We dont get 9mth checks here as they dont have the staff
about your job.

Bebe- re gardening, top tip is buy decent grass seed. We have found you do get what you pay for. At least starting again you have a blank canvas to work with. I like palms and ferns and have some rather expensive ones. I also like evergreen bushes( redrobin, Azalea, Rodendrums etc)- I hate the garden all bare in winter!

Hope DH perks up soon It must be alot of worry for him.

Had a guy come to look at the central heating tonight as its been playing up. Seems some motor has gone and needs replacing costing £200 and he basically said everything is extremely old and on its was out! Sounds very expensive indeed!

Also have a guy coming tomorrow to quote us on turning the front garden into off road parking. I see many many pound signs!!

Abigails crawling has begun to pick up speed now and she has learn that there are other rooms through the doors that she can explore too. On that note im currently looking at stairgates....... Any recommendations from you experienced mummies Our stairs are quite wide (85cm) so that also limits our choices abit.

Evening all I am still here, another horrendous night and day with Bethany, her nose will not stop streaming, you wipe it, it runs again, she is really snoring when she sleeps and choking when she feeds. All I can do is give her Nurofen, she is really not herself, her eyes are all glazed and she is usually so happy and chatty and smiley but she was so miserable today, just crying all the time which is so hard when I have the other two to deal with. Am hoping she picks up tomorrow will give her a few days then think about the doctor, my poor poor baby On a better not D2 started in the 3-5 year room at nursery today 5 mornings a week, she loved it

Momma23 - I was secretly laughing about the baby as his Mum is very prim, she was telling us that every week he has put on 6ozs apart from this week he only put on 3, I said I haven't had B weighed since her 4 month jabs but I put her on the WiiFit now and again

ponto - crawling up a notch here too, she know knows to push herself onto her side from sitting so no sitting nicely on a blanket in the garden for her she would be off, she does rock back and forth and hang out her buggy too, she is everywhere in the downstairs toilet after you, I have the gate across the dining room/kitchen so she cannot go in there anymore, her lastest one is to crawl to the back patio doors and watch the older 2 in the garden oh and bang on them too, she also tries to open cupboards and bangs them too.

pigley - your new garden sounds fab, ours in really quiet and I always feel bad for our neighbours as we must be the loudest around with DD1 singing and then the two of them fighting and my constant shouting at them nightmare about your heating though we had to order special extenders for our stairgate for the bottom hall it was a Lindam one, have a look in Argos it gives you the width they fit.

Jodie - sorry to hear about your job hope soemthing turns up soon. Well done on the development checks though don't get them here either now.

bebejones - sorry to hear about your DH I sympathise with the snotty baby DD1 and 2 were never like this.

hello to everyone else I have missed

Disney if you are lurking hope all is well with all of yours

Glad to see everyone is still around.

Jodie, well done on the potty training, sounds like you have it sussed already! How old is your ds1? sorry to hear about your job, don't be about jobseeker's allowance, you are entitled to it and you are actively seeking work, not sitting around doing nothing!

Pigley, boiler problems are a nightmare, my advice would be to get several quotes, when we had ours done, the cheapest was £1300 less than the most expensive!

Re stairgates, we got some cheaply from NCT nearly new sales for dd1, but they weren't very attractive. I've now bought a nicer wooden Lindam one from Argos, as it is used to keep the dog downstairs and therefore will be around for several years, not just a few months.

Poledra, you sound like me not wanting the holidays to end. We had a great day today at the PILs, took dd1's friend and family there to do some pony riding, so we had 6 squealing girls running/crawling around - poor FIL! I am going back to work next week, so trying to enjoy my last week of 'freedom'.

SK, poor Bethany, dd2 was like that her first winter, she had a constantly running nose from November to July, it's such hard work! I think dd1 was bringing bugs home with her from nursery - guess you probably didn't have that with dd2 as dd1 was still so little and presumably not going to nursery when dd2 was born?

Pigley
Hope you oven arrives sooner than you think. I dont think i would cope without.

Jodie
Fingers crossed you get sorted with some hours. I have been trawling the jobs pages even though there is no chance of me going back yet!! would love to though..

BEbe
Exciting for you on selling some painting, hope you sell loads..... Hope your DH is feeling better soon, its alot of worry for him.

SK
WHAT weighting him ever week!!! I have never weighted leah Bet she was not a happy mummy when B gave him one LOL and it sounds like her first.
Hope B is felling better soon, poor thing and mommy cause it sure is hard work if baby gets sick and just wants mammy all the time.

Nothin to report weather has been great and DD1 & 2 are having a ball in the garden. Toys are all over the place.

Pigley - advice re boiler is look into British Gas homecare. We took over the package the previous owners had here & we had to have the pump on the boiler replaced twice within 3 months, cost us nothing except the £30 monthly package cost, the part alone (and we had 2) was £180 so was a huge saving. Plus they come out and service the boiler annually & if you have any problems at all they come out straight away if you have a baby in the house! Well worth it IMO. We have had them out here loads, they had to replace thermostat just before Xmas!

Re feeding, P has worked out that she gets dessert (which she likes) after savoury (which she doesn't like), so now she will do a spoonful of savoury in order to get dessert. Nightmare! Have stopped giving her dessert if she doesn't at least make a good effort with the savoury! Sounds really mean, but I know she is doing it coz she gets all excited when she sees her pudding coming & reaches for it!

momma23 - yes weighing every WEEK, I know I only have B weighed when she had her jabs as she was there anyway, it's her DS2 as well.

bebejones - B can be the same gets bored with the savoury after about half of it but then the dessert comes out and she polishes it off - madam

Had another awful night last night sorry to keep moaning about it but I am quite down right now, I am now giving her Nurofen and Calpol alternate every 4 hours IYSWIM. She woke about 11 last night and just wouldn't settle, I am getting really hacked off with BFing as well now as she is like this, latch on-suck suck suck, latch off, turn head away and cry, turn head back and look for boob, get angry until she finds it then bite, latch on, suck suck suck x about 20, it's bloody sore. Poor DP he cannot comfort her at all all she wants is boob, I try to cuddle but no it's boob or nothing. It means in the evening I cannot relax as I think she will be waking up any minute also when I go to bed you know that chances are you will either just be getting to sleep or been asleep 5 mins and she wakes up.

Sorry moan and whinge over just v tired and fed up, am off to tackle some of the huge ironing pile whilst B is asleep and A and T are watching 102 Dalmatians again.

Sweetkitty
Could she have tonsillitis or could you try and look in her mouth? (not easy i know) L had this only 2 wks ago and it was hell, she would be up all night doing the same thing with a bottle. Wanted the feed but could'nt swallow. When the doctor seen her she also had an ear infection.
It does get you down esp when your up on a nightly bases and need all the sleep you can get! DP askes me every morning were you up last night!!! This morning i replyed what house did you sleep in last night! He never hears any of the kids when they wake...

Momma23 - I don't know as it's just water streaming from her nose not green gunky snot, she is snoring loads and is noisy when feeding, I said I would wait until Friday and if no improvement get an appointment that day for her, they are usually really good with babies. DP is good he does hear her and feel her as a lot of the time she's in the middle of us and kicks him but there is nothing he can do to comfort her, he gets up if any of the other two are up but thankfully they have settled down a bit and are rarely up now. Must be the new beds

Glad to hear your older twos' sleep is improving, SK, even if B is still a snotty little monster. I always feel for you with that, as my older 2 are pretty good with sleeping and don't get up much through the night. Which is just as well, as DH doesn't hear them any more readily than he hears Orlaith.

Had a terrible night here - O got up at midnight and was up till 2am, crying for god only knows why. I dealt with it for an hour, then took her downstairs to DH, who said 'Oh, just take her up, I'll be there in a minute.' Err, no, you'll take her now so I can take some paracetamol for my headache before I lose the plot completely. Then DD2 had a nightmare so I was up with her. In addition, we had to get up early as DD1 was back at school today. DD2 refused to open her eyes, so I got her up, to the toilet, dressed and at the breakfast table and she still hadn't opened here eyes (which is pretty determined). DH and I assumed she just didn;t want to get up - then she threw up her orange juice over me...... luckily that was all she'd eaten at that point. DH is lucky to alive - he laughed as she was sick on me.

Anyway, I managed to get DD1 to school (DD2 in the big buggy, O in the sling), DD2 had a nap and has been fine ever since. And I am desperate for my bed!!

Hope everyone else is having better days. Will do a less of a me me me post when I can think straight.

Poledra - poor you (((((hugs)))))

SK - P is exactly the same re snot. Just clear constant snot & phlegm. She sounds like a smoker the way she coughs first thing in the morning (neither myself or DH smoke btw) We took her to docs last week coz she has been tugging/hitting her ear & were worried was another ear infection. He gave her the all clear, its just this persistant dripping nose (which is now looking red from the wiping). Thankfully she is a good sleeper, but does snore something cronic atm although she is in her own room. We have been steaming it with olbas before she goes to bed which has helped her get off to sleep.

Question for anyone FF, was just wondering what teats you use? We have Avent bottles & are on number 3's. Don't know if I should be switching them up to the fast flow ones? P is happy on this one which we have only been using for a couple of months. But wondered if a faster flowing one might help her adapt to her cup? Got her a Tommee Tippee sports bottle type thing today & she has done fab with it but she can control the flow which she cant on a cup IYSWIM. I'm not sure how much water she should be having but she does keep getting constipated & as the weather gets warmer I know she will need more fluids but don't want to keep giving her milk just as a drink. She doesn't like juice but most of the water ends up down her front!!! Any ideas ladies?

SK
My DDs have taken to the bed great too. DD2 was a nightmare waking every night. Now she sleeps through which is great, only have to be getting up to one baby.
Hope B is feeling better today, how did last night go?

Bebe
I have L on no 4 she likes them, she has no interst in cups so i'll hold her off till i see she can hold her bottle first, did this with DD1 & 2 and they both were off the bottle at 12 months. Different but works for me.

Leah pulled herself up in her cot yesterday, When i went in she was standing there all proud of herself... I really dont think she will crawl and go stright for the walking.... Have to check the weather and do tons of cloths... the joys!!

Well, after my major whinge yesterday, it seems Orlaith was listening - she slept from 8.30pm to 4.15am! And at 4.16, all I had to do was put her dummy back in and she went back to sleep till 5:45am!! I feel renewed today and have done the laundry, made beds, scrubbed the kitchen floor, put away all the ironing I did last night and am going to move into tidying the living room and vacuuming. What a difference a good sleep makes!

Don;t want to waste any more time (O is sleeping right now). Hope everyone is having a lovely day and enjoying the sun.

Poledra, MN is not a waste of time, it is an important activity for mums to save their sanity. Now dusting, that's a waste of time, it just all comes back.

Can't post more now as B is screaming

Just a quicky to let you all know I;m still about.

Potty Training going very well, (better than expected) Last night (day 3) he was using the potty without telling us (the first we heard of it was when he came to show us the 'contents'!) He even managed a poo this morning! I;m very proud of him! He's at pre school today so we shall see how he gets on!

Sam is doing well too, currently eating a jam sandwich singing to me in his highchair.

Right, better get back to the cleaning

x

Jodie
Well done to your DS (very good indeed) can you pop into mine and do DD2 fro me pretty please!

Well done Jodie's ds1!

It's dd1's 6th birthday tomorrow and I have just been to the cbeebies website to do an online birthday message for her. It's fab! Honestly, if any of you have LOs who love cbeebies (not the babies, obviously ), I'd really recommend it. You can put in your child's details and there's a video of Chris from cbeebies, who appears to be actually reading a card from you, like they do on TV. I am so pleased as dd1 only asked me last week to send in a card to be read out and they have to be in 4 weeks before, then there's no guarantee that yours will be picked.

Just need to wrap presents, write card, clean house and do shopping now! Best be off.

hi everyone am so about all you out enjoying the sunshine it's windy and overcast here

I have to admit I put B down at 8 last night and she was shattered having only ahd 20 mins all day, she woke up 20 mins later and had a comfort suck, then put her back down and left her, she was so tired, wouldn't be comforted and she fell asleep after about 10 mins whinging and never woke again until gone 3am then once again at 6 ish and that was her, that is a brilliant night for us. She is still really snotty and her breathing when feeding or sleeping is horrendous.

ponto - happy birthday to your DD1, checked out yours pics on FB and your girls are beautiful and you are a stunning Mummy too

Jodie - thats great news on the potty training well done DS1

Poledra - glad you had a better night last night, your DD2 sounds a bit like my DD2 although she had a major strop at nursery today, took us 20 minutes to get out.

I was at the GP again this morning for more ADs don't know if they are working or not anxiety still really bad, GP asked if I had parents around to help out (as if) and that I should relax my standards on the housework

Hope everyone else is enjoying the sunshine

SK
Way Haaaa sleep, delighted you had a good night. Its makes life a little easier when that happens.

Went to the garden centre and got some flowers today. DDs planted them and had loads of fun doing so. MAjor mess involved but good fun. Dinner on and have a house that looks like a tip but at least the flowers look nice

We did the same on Saturday momma23 except we planted some seeds, they have a pot each but you have to make sure they don't dig in it or water it every 5 minutes

Well my DD has finally started to crawl properly! There is no style to it & is hardly graceful...more awkward & clumsy TBH. But she has been doing it all evening with varying degrees of success!

Also this evening she has worked out how to splash in the bath with her hands (has been splashing with her legs for ages but splashing with hands gets mummy wetter )

DH had his appt with therapist today. He seems quite positive about it, am hoping he will continue to go, although at £30 a session I hope he won't need to go too often! She asked him all sorts of things, including about our sex life & relationship, he has come out of it thinking that if we have sex more often then everything else won't seem so bad not sure that is what she meant!

At 8months are babies too young to get hayfever? P has been sneezing loads & has red itchy puffy eyes today & we had the window open when next door were cutting their lawn, is this just a coincidence? Her cold/snot had been loads better today. I get quite bad hayfever, in particular with grass so just wondered.

Still very buffudled about her bottles, tried her with some no. 4's, she just kept gagging & having to stop so prob too fast for her. Will hold off I think!