Fab Feb 2009: too sleep deprived to think of a new thread title

[dinkystinky]

'nuff said

throw not through!

elkiedee Sorry you've been a bit tearful. Horrid isn't it? gentle exercise and lots of walks are supposed to help make us feel better. I've been finding I get through the day alot easier if I force us to go to playgroup or meet up with other people rather than spending most days on my own which is what I was doing.
Calico at what your dh said about being on maternity leave! maternity leave is to give you time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth and to bond with your baby, I don't think it was put in place to make all mum's work their socks off at home so the men can stay in bed! My fw of a dp is far from perfect, but if he ever said that, I'd beat him with my slipper, and he knows it.
nadsss I hope the osteopath works for Penelope too Lovely name by the way.
PT Sawp?!

Feeling a bit better now that I've showered and dressed. I did think about not bothering today, but I really hate not getting showered every day. Now just waiting for Luke to wake for a little feed, then down to Tescos, back for lunch, quick tidy round maybe some puzzles or something with ds1 depending on his mood later and then we're meeting some friends at the children's centre this afternoon. The centre ae starting up a little drop-in cafe type thing so gonna pop along and see what all that's about.
Today's going to be one of those days where I have to physically force myself to move

Calico Your dh sounds exactly like me!! I am incredibly moody if I have to keep getting up in the night, especially if dp is here, I'd much rather he did it.
And isn't that the only way to do the washing? I have never in the 4 years since I left home, ever seperated anything to go in the washing machine. It all oes in together, whites, darks, colours, delicates, baby clothes, the lot. I am though, suprised I haven't had more colour runs and things.

LBB - yeah but I think my DH must have boiled this lot with his stinky black socks! I can't put them on L - she'll look like she's just come out of the workhouse!

Good luck today PSL with hospital appointment and travel to and from it.

MsL, hope all goes fine for you today too.

LBB, sorry you've had a rubbish night.

Crossposts as it took me a while to catch up on the thread.

LBB, I'm planning to take ds2 to a very local stay and play session I've not tried before. One of the workers at the children's centre used to work at a baby group which I've taken both dcs to (separately), I bumped into her last week and she said she'd be there. I've got stuff planned for tomorrow and Friday. There are plenty of things I could do on free days here but venturing to something new on my own is more daunting than the tried and tested stuff.

Calico
elkie I much prefer to go to places I've been before, I get a bit nervous when faced with the unknown, but I'm good at talking (about rubbish I know), although the more nervous I get, the more I talk and talk and talk...............I'm going to have to find a few more things to do with these 2, even just for the practice of watching them both at the same time so I come home with the same amount of children I went out with. Maybe I should practise indoors first.......

sorry, meant to post more earlier but ds1 was shouting for the toilet and i must have automatically hit post before shutting down...

calico.... dp attempted to do washing when i was in hospital... this involved having me write a detailed explanation for him and still ringing me to check which detergents to use and which clothes could go in together. the one bag of blood stained stuff i sent home and said 'if you wash nothing else wash this lot' was still fermenting under the clothes mountain a week later and he'd managed to wash about 2 loads in total and then spent and hour when i got in folding them all into random piles on our bed which i had to go up and completely resort

connections too slow to go back to the last page and reply to everyone so delete as appropriate good luck / get better soon / fantastic / how awful / have fun

my car is still not back, got a call last night to say they'd been sent the wrong part so have to wait another day or two

ps. he's still asleep, had a feed before we went out and was awake for a little while but got bored between garda station one and two and was completely conked by garda station no.3 (don't ask... trying to track down a single garda to sign his passport form... dp is in foul humour after driving halfway around the county) and the all the other places we had to go

Another crap night here too - well feels like it anyway. DS who is nearly 3 is really trying my patience....this morning he started yelling at 4.50am - yes a 4 in front of it?! I'm afraid rather than doing what DH and I agreed and ignore him completely knowing that he knows the magic light comes on when it's ready to get up, I screamed like a fishwife and in the proceedings woke the seemingly asleep DD...At least with a baby who wakes you can, most of the time, feed them and get them back off to sleep again (which is what I did with her), but a 3 year old is an entirely different matter. Once you go in/start a conversation over the monitor he starts demanding alsorts so we've found leaving him is the best way. I was also desperate for a wee but we have a tiny landing and his door is open so I had to creak the floorboards to get there.

We had "words" when he got up and no marble in the jar. He then fell asleep before lunch whilst I was popping DD up for a nap - not surprising really.

Anyway, we've had quite a nice day today and it's Little Kickers this afternoon - my mum comes with me to keep an eye on DD as DS has taken to want me to "join in " a bit more and is a bit clingy.

Calico my DH is a bit like yours - copes badly on little sleep and I'm fine (never needed a lot to function although little sleep day after day grinds anyone down) - DH does the late (10/11) DD feed though 3x a week - twice in the week and a Sat night. I do it the rest of the time and then now she wakes between 6-7am another feed isn't an issue, but I did the other feeds too when she was waking. Now DS is waking uber early, we're both feeling it so I get on average 5.5 hours a night.

MOS Happy Shopping.....go flex that credit card. I'd love to - if I had some spare pennies.....

Elkiedee - are you feeling a bit "groundhog day" perhaps? Change of scenery and some exercise might be just what you need.

nadsss cross fingers for the CO working their magic eh.

See you all later

afternoon all, nice retail therapy this morning which was good and only 1 of the 3 items of clothing I bought didn't fit (although I had to go up a size in a pair of trousrs_

LBB how scary with your DS escaping. DD1 did this years ago when she was around 3 when were were abroad. She quickly escaped from a restaurant into some shops and it took around 30 mins to find her hiding under a rack of clothes (scared shitless emotcion)

QK poor DS, how awful for him and you and your OH

Calico glad L is better but you need to divorce your DH. You could divorce him on the basis of his unreasonable behaviour (ie the fact that he thinks the kids are 'your work') you can then sort out the 'normal' scenario ref residence and contact. DC live with you and he would have them every other weekend which would give you a bit of sleep and a few lies ins each month Or is that maybe a little bit extreme?

herby, glad you had a good time at your sisters hen weekend

MS sounds very posh, colour co-ordinated buggy? Most of us just get a matching handbag if we are luck

KT, it will be hard being apart from your DP for 3 months but you can do it. I spend quite a bit of time apart from my DH over the summers as its just too hot to stay in Saudi in July and August (in fact your post reminded me that although I'm really looking forward to the 12 weeks I've just planned for the summer, I'd forgotten I will be apart from him for most of that ) Hopefully you'll be able to keep in touch by phone/email and that makes it easier. If you've got friends and family around you as well that will really help. Although I love going back to the UK in the summer I do struggle as I don't have family nearby and most of my friends have sort of drifted or moved since I came out to Saudi. Putting P into a nursery one day a week would give you a bit of 'me time'. I've already made enquiries about our local nursery in the UK about the possibility of putting DD in there 2 mornings a week but still waiting to hear.

Right, off to cook dinner now, really looking forward to our weekend. We've got a rock festival on our compound tomorrow from 12 noon to midnight which should be good as long as its not too hot.

Hello - it's the return of the prodigal Pluto! Have been very flaky with you all I know, but there's this baby called big Al who moved in to my house in mid Feb and has kind of taken over from all the lovely tinternet time I used to have. We are doing really well (ongoing sore nipple excluded) and managing to sleep OK at night - if going through to 3.30am is deemed OK that is! He's a total milk munchkin, especially in the evenings but of course we all think he's a cutie and are probably spoiling him rotten!

I sometimes think perhaps that now we are approaching the three month mark I should be aiming for more of a routine - he has no daytime sleep or feed pattern - but actually I don't really care. He's an easy baby so it doesn't really matter. Our days have been pretty lazy - I love the Sky+ box, have started reading again and have recently acquired some wheels so getting out to supermarkets to stock up on choccy bics is now much more straightforward. Big bro is a fantastic help and has adjusted well despite the 9 year gap, he's grown up a lot in the last couple of months really.

I have arranged a part time contract for my return to work next January - same job but a four day week, this should go some way to preserving my sanity. It's so nice to be at home and I feel so lucky to have this baby. I wish it was a realistic prospect to have another one but we're probably going to have to face the fact that we're really getting a bit old now - and Albert was a bit of a miracle.

I know I've been a rubbish poster but I do often think of my "imaginary world" Fab Feb buddies - I hope you and your babes and your families are all well.

Osteopath seemed pretty good - he did a few minute movements on baby at 11am.... and she has been asleep since. That's 5 hours!

Instead of catching up on sleep myself though I have been worrying that all this sleep now means she won't sleep at all tonight. I don't think i can take another bad night. oh GOD!

Moan: I do sometimes feel so tired i am sometimes doing automatic pilot parenting instead of really fully engaging with the baby. Oh dear.

welcome back Pluto, think we all know how manic it is at times. Glad Al is doing well.
Well done on your part time contract, that is really good. When I had DCs 1 & 2 I worked part time, initially 3 then 4 days a week and it was a perfect compromise. Some of us need to get back to work for our sanity.
Don't think you are THAT old are you? Thought I was the oldest on here (41) and I'm coping (just!) Just do what I did (twice) give away or get rid of all your baby stuff and you'll get pregnant again

nadssss, define 'fully engaging'? can't we get away with autopilot at this age?

engaging as in entertaining during wake hours with mirroring, dancing and generally performing for baby to make her laugh/smile etc

i hope autopilot is okay at this stage too - what i mean is that i worry i use the play mat and chair too much and should take every opportunity to do the mirroring etc

hi all - had one of those days today too as the DSs (aka the dinkystinkys) have been living up to their names. Woken with a stealth megapoo from dinkystinky2 at 5 am this morning (when he decided it was a good time to start the day) then when DH went in at 6.30 to get dinkystinky1 we found that not only had he done a mega poo too but had smeared it all over his bedsheets and - to use a mumsnetism - (boak) - it was in his hair and mouth. So I got to share my shower with a pooey toddler - great! - and spent my early morning dealing with pooey sheets. Still day can only get better from that start right? Nope - on top of that discovered today that DS1 has nits (boak again) so currently sat here smelling of licorice. Danny has been a bit tetchy today and just wanting to feed or sleep (baby massage class today was abit of a bust as he didnt want to do anything there except cry feed and sleep but at least I had a nice walk there and back) so it must be something in the air.

Pluto - lovely to see you on the board again. Welcome back! Hope Big Al is doing well.

LBB - scary re the rash but you did the right thing getting it checked out.Hope its getting better now. Hope you're not too exhausted today and you got your chocolate in the end.

MsLucy - Danny had bad milk spots at around 2 weeks but they totally disappeared after a week or so. Am sure Stanley's will go soon too. Yup - am pushy mothering next friday (but missing the following 2 weeks as on holiday in rance then) - would be lovely to see you and elkiedee there if you can make it.

Elkiedee - sorry you're feeling abit down. Definitely get out and about while the weather is nice - always cheers me up no end.

Nadsss - lovely name for your dd. Hope the cranial osteopath helps. DS1 used to sleep loads for 24 hours after his sessions (but Danny never does) so you may have a better night tonight. And dont worry about autopilot parenting - we all do it - and it gets easier to interact more with your little ones as they get bigger and start doing more. Doing something like baby massage or mummy & baby yoga is a nice way to feel like you're interacting with your baby but you really dont need to - they just get a huge kick rom being around you and watching you.

QK - kidney investigation sounds horrid but glad they've ound out what caused the infection. My mate's little boy had this and was on precautionary antibiotics but it was resolved and all absolutely fine by age of 1.

Herb - ouch at your 4.50 wake-up call. Was he scared of something or just wanting to start his day then? Hopefully he will sleep better after little kickers today.

MoS - hurrah for your retail therapy! The rock concert sounds interesting - hope its not too close to your house. Not long now till you're over in the UK now! How is the nanny working out?

oh fgs.... a crack in the wall or a pot plant is as entertaining and educational at this age as anything you could be doing.

when i was sick last week aaron spent over 2 hours sat in his bouncer cooing and laughing at a tree in a pot, he had a ball

don't start beating yourself up now over such insignifigant issues, at this point in her life all she needs is to be fed, cleaned, cuddled and plopped in a new and interesting location every once in a while to survey the scenery.

if you spend every free minute entertaining her she'll lose the ability to entertain herself and when she's 2 you'll be wondering why she can't play by herself for 5 mins while you cook the dinner!

God - apologies for the missing fs in my last post (left DS1 with the laptop a few months ago and he removed the f key - its been v temperamental ever since) - here they are so pop them in where needed.......... fffff!

Nadsss - Danny LOVES his playmat. So much so that if DH tries to take him off it to interact with he bursts into incosolable tears which only stop when he's put under the mat again and he starts flailing around talking to the flashing lights music thing in the middle. Strange child.

And Nadsss one great way of entertaining the baby and you is mum and baby screenings at cinemas. Used to go to them with DS1 and they were great (particularly on the rainy days when oherwise you wouldnt get out the house). Not managed to make one so far with Danny but have discovered there is an independent cinema which does them on Mondays over in Kensal Green so will be giving that a go the next rainy Monday we have...

I am never going to London again.

Decided to travel up early and my lovely brother picked me up for the train station and drove me to the hospital so I didn't have to take M on the tube/bus by myself. Appointment itself was ok, will take a few weeks to get results through, but at the time they said things looked fine (phew...)

Made it to the right bus stop (just as a bus was pulling away) and so had to wait a few minutes, but when the bus turned up, he refused to let me on unless I folded the pram (she was asleep in it at the time!) despite the bus being almost complealty empty. So I turn myself around to head for the tube station, at which point, the front of my pram fell off... The wheel, and half the steel foot board it attaches to.

Cue me bursting into tears , and phoning my brother, who came to get me, took me back to his office, and put me in a taxi all the way home - which he paid for! So it ended ok, but I could have screamed... So, we are buying the new buggy a few weeks earlier than planned! Although the one the car seat fits onto won't be in stock for a few weeks, so if anyone has a spare buggy we could borrow for a week or so, I'd drive almost anywhere to pick it up!!!!!

Just got home, and we're definately getting take-away to chear me up tonight...

Not sure what ust happened, I touched something and everything disappeared.....
herb Sorry you had a rubbish night too, here's hoping tonight's better
MoS I really would have a breakdown if ds went missing for any longer than a few minutes. Half an hour must have seemed like a whole life time! How scary.
pluto Welcome back Glad everything's going well. I've just scrapped all routines here. Far too much pressure i was finding, although they still go to bed at the same time and ds1's meal times are roughly the same time, but everything else now is just as and when.
nadsss Relax, I think we're all feeling like that, inevitable with a newborn I think. I for one know I'm not 100% on the ball, I think I may be functioning at about 85% of my true capabilities.
As long as you have the bases covered, baby is warm, fed, clean nappy and loved, they don't need anything else at this stage, so I wouldn't worry. Plus it's not like you can actually play with a baby this age, and there is so much going on for them without you even realising. The baby just watching mum move from one end of the room to the other is enough stimulation in these early days anyway (IMO/E at least) If you're worried that the baby is bored or understimulated, just sit them in the opposite corner of the room from normal. Luke loves it when I put him on the other side of the room and he gets to see the world from a different angle.
FWIW, Luke spends most of the time in his bouncy chair or laying on the floor, he just watches ds1 all day and seems happy enough (apart from the colic, but I think that's easing up a bit)
dinky What does boak mean?????
What a horrid start to the day! I draw the line at poo covered things. If it has poo on it, it goes in the bin. I have even thrown away one of my duvet covers because of it. I just cannot face scrubbing poo out of stuff
Back later.........

PSL - what a saga, and what a git of a bus driver; they shouldnt make you fold up prams unless the area is already full or a wheelchair user needs to get on. on your behalf. And no wonder you burst into tears when your pram broke - thank god for your lovely brother! Glad the scan went well and all is looking good for M. Hope you enjoy your takeaway tonight.

LBB - boak is the sound for vomitting methinks. I discovered it on mumsnet and believe me, its most accurate for describing what I felt this morning...

Back. Sorry abou that, my dad called and then had to bath ds1 and get him to bed.
Right, where was I?...........
dinky The rash was most odd, the way it just all of a sudden appeared, no gentle spread or anything that I noticed, his face was clear one minute, then -bam-the next minute he was covered in these red pin prick rashes.
I have been told today, that a girl at one playgroup we go to has slap-cheek and a boy at another play group has shingles, but if it was either of those, surely the A&E staff would have picked up on it, and like I said temp is fine, but will keep an eye on it. They said dry skin but I don't think it looks like dry skin and it doesn't feel especially dry either Not like ds1, his belly is very dry, he is now being coated in E-45 cream and I'm putting some oilatum in his bath.
PSL I have 2 buggy's here. You are more than welcome to one of them for a few weeks. They are both forward facing and have obviously been used. I have the one I brought to the meet-up (that doesn't clip shut when folded) or a black one. Both are suitable from birth, both have rain covers, but I don't have the parasols anymore.
Dp is bugging me to eat my dinner before it gets cold, but I'll look for a link for them in a bit.

Ugh at Dinky's morning. LBB, good thing they invented disposable nappies, isn't it? Our washing machine does a pretty good job of getting most things out of the little monsters' clothes though. I was annoyed with myself yesterday though - C's clothes were fine when I opened up his nappies but I somehow let them get dirty on one change and wet on the next - if I'd taken everything off both times I could have just put it back on.

PSL, grr at that bus driver.

PSL this one
You are more than welcome to borrow it for a while. I would need it back after you get the one you want because my mum will need it for when she has ds2 at her house. I do have another single one, so don't need it atm.
You are more than welcome to come have a look at it, and if you don't want it after seeing it (or before) I won't be offended

lbb you're a dreamboat... Could we swing by on monday?