August 08 - Sleep thiefs and baby lags in stripey tops with bags of swag.

[Steaknife]

x post buckets... morning!

and vg eurgh re your rug taste! sorry, but eurgh!

I have found those different-height rugs a bugger to hoover actually, the brush can't really get to grips with the lower level. That's my excuse anyway

Miamla my DH has tried to settle DS once at night, when I was trying a not-feeding regime (didn't last) but he screamed so I just do it, much quicker and happier all round . Glad you and Steaky had an improved night, after DS's unexpected 10pm wake up he slept till 5 and then till 7.15 however DD was up at 6 and in our bed wriggling

Sazzles I turned the light off in the end, and the monitor, so he was in pretty much pitch darkness

PF - sorry you are feeling so low. Take the RL time you need, and know we're thinking of you and will be here when you are ready to come back. How long is DH going to be in Afghanistan?

Any attempts by DH to settle babies here has always ended up with much grizzling. And that's just from DH [Boom-boom]

What works here is that I do the night stuff, and get to listen to lots of interesting middle-of-the-night stuff on Radio Five and he does the early morning bits when I don't function.

I had a spectacularly bad mommy moment here with DS this morning who seems to have lost his coat and two school jumpers in the last week. How can he explain to me how smart drugs work but not remember basic stuff? I lost the head ... Feck. Feck. Feck. I need to sit down and think about better ways of dealing with his 'lights on but no-one home moments.'

On a brighter note, it's been jigsaws, bubbles and hairdressing here in front of the fire with the girls this morning. Too cold to head out to playgroup I think.

Miserable weather here too. An excuse if ever I saw one to stay in and put on a DVD of Mary Poppins I found. DD1 is spellbound. Still one of my faves and with DD2 happily mooching around on the floor so all calm here today. Do need to head into work this afternoon to sign forms about my return that I failed to sort out two months ago . Denial? Moi? V. of these open fires.

Sorry to hear about the DS annoyance sibh. My brother was always doing things like that as a child. Is it just a boy thing? He was so bad about losing things that even at university he kept his wallet attached to his jeans . Still hopeless now but more on things like dragging his bag up the wall when he goes upstairs, leaving a huge blue line the whole way up .

Wow, we've got glorious sunshine here! Don't know how long it will last ming...

Quick hullo from me - RL intruding here too though nothing to complain of compared to some - just party/holiday planning, DD has a bit of a cough, and term has started so DH is busy again. Got to go to work to discuss return tomorrow - just heard that my job is being moved to a different dept so my blithe assumption that I can go back part-time without difficulty may need to be re-examined

Big hugs to Albs and PF and anyone else who needs them...

Glad to hear of a more co-operative night Steaky! Dizzy that Woven Ground site is dangerous! You asked ages ago about my trip, wedding is 1st Aug so I might be free for mini-meet that morning or Sunday 2nd, not sure yet.

Enjoy the sunshine if you have it!

Just had DH on the phone and good news, we don't have to move after all. Turns out they wanted someone with more experience in the middle of nowhere Veynes position.

I am very pleased about this as it means less hassle and stress and also that we can continue making this flat nice without feeling like it is a waste.

Mind you I found this site the other day so was getting all excited that we might actually be able to afford something in the next year or so.

I like this one

and this one

Still possible if things go well though

just popping on whilst I have a spare minute, skim read the last 100 pages and it looks like I missed a cake fest...

dp was made redundant yesterday . He is a bit down although we were kind of expecting it. I have to look at our cash reserves today to see how long I can stay off with ds. Dp told me this morning he plans on getting all the diy done on the house first, then look for a job

steaky the girls have a rag rug from IKEA in their bedroom and they love it so would be fab for Izzy if you actually make her one oh and thanks for pointing me in direction of another moneyspending interior website - love a bit of internetshopping inspiration

buckets had looked at Tesco but not ASDA, will do that now!

VG am very touched by your late night devotion to the rug search

with regards to faces/bodies etc, I am frankly appauled with myself. I hate my size/hair etc and very rarely look in a mirror. I no longer have clothes but cover up disguises and am coming to the conclusion that my well meant giving myself a break moment a few months ago has to pass and something has to be done. there are people who are pregnant that look smaller than me and my huge boobs/belly and I'll always find an excuse to put it off so enough is enough! you're all allowed to remind me of that as I'm munching sensations/chocolate/sweeties etc

buckets can't wait to hear how lime/coconut cake turns out and shall give some serious consideration to some lovely wood pannelling

poppy sun has FINALLY come out over here, yipee!!!!

I tried toddlers group again this morning but the few ladies I've managed to previously spark up a converstaion with weren't there so I felt a bit spare and left after an hour - will give it a couple more weeks before I binitcompletely rethink

painter been in and whizzed round again and off for the day - he doesn't work past 1pm apparently but then he is 68, retired, here at 7:50am and cheap as chips so I'm so NOT complaining

lady who delivers from next was just here (have ordered my usual tonne of stuff to try on for christening, hate and send back) and told me she was delighted to hear I was trying to get the cafe open jungle drums are beating apparently!!!

Oh goodness sambo. Sorry to hear that. No matter how matter how 'on the cards' something like that is, it still can't be nice.

Glad to hear there's no more upheavel for now chez steaky. Am sure that will help Izzy as well as you two.

Sun having a bit of a go here dizzy, but no luck yet. Glad the painter's working out.

Good luck with the work meeting pertelote. Remind me, what is it you do?

sazzles - you had me LOL at your description of Emma's breakfast. E puts an incredible amount away. This morning it was a reasonable sized bowl of porridge, most of a piece of toast and most of a banana! She wolfed down a whole 1 egg omelette for lunch and a ton of fruit for lunch so I guess it's no wonder there's so little space/inclination for milk now. Should I cut back on the solids so there's still space for the milk?

Hope you're having a good day VG.

Sambo That's bad news for your DH, tell him not to take it personally. Is he going to look for jobs in London still or are you prepared to move out?

Steaky Hurrah, bit of stability sounds like what you need right now as a family.

My cake went pearshaped as I made the rookie mistake of adding 3tbsp baking powder instead of 3 tsp . Has a beautifully circular dip in the middle! I based it on Marslady's recipe - bloomin 'ell it's huge! Was so flustered I missed toddler group. Tastes great though.

Feeling unreasonably tired this week, despite an enviable amount of sleep. Have no hormonal excuse either, maybe my overeating is having this effect? Even managed to grab an hour's nap/doze this afternoon while DS1 was watching telly.

I have just caught up but now I'm having writers block. ||||||||

I can't comment on the weather or you'll kick me off the thread.

Miamla my dcs settle differently with me and dh. It's best that I do the settling really. DH is a black & white type person so it's hard for him to realize the grayness of a child moment. That doesn't make him bad just clueless....ALOT.

I'll go reread today's posts. Can't believe I lost all that mental crap so quickly. So much for being a F?G of anything.

Hi all.
sambo so to hear about your dh and job.
Is he taking the diy opportunity to think about other options??
pertelote Hope you can come to some agreement at work that is good for you. Hope dds cough isn't too bad.
buckets I didnt put any baking powder in. It was most amazing today,as I put it in the fridge overnight and the top section of it about half inch down was all gooey and sticky and lemony mmmmm.... rest was all bouncy and soft.

there was some lovely rugs on here last night.
right off to recatch up as have forgot everything.

I am off to a psychic evening tonight dh keeps taking the piss mick things its all gobbledy gook. I asked him if he could put them to bed and if he could cope, he said I dont know ask the psychic woman when you get there if Im coping and they are in bed

Holy crap, have just had the biggest tantrum from DD ever! All because she'd made a mistake on a drawing and scrunched it up right away so I wouldn't let her have another piece. Screams, hurling herself on the floor, totally lost in her own world of pain. All cured half an hour later with a piece of cake! Kurt's been a grizwald all day really anyway so he was terrified by the noise. DS1 kept bouncing on my bed (with baby on it) so I yelled at him as DD wasn't listening. She's only 110cm but tantrums are so rare in our house lately that it was quite scary having someone so big being mad at me! Have run a bath now for Kurt, trying to work out how to keep him happy til 6.30 feed and bedtime.

pmsl at Buckets and flusterment at the enormous cake I have this image of you opening the oven and it oozing out like The Blob, with you backing away in horror.

Can't remember all of what I've read today Miamla DP is great at settling, he works some kind of sleep magic. I'm not sure if Joe reacts differently but we certainly use different methods with him. Sometimes I get the sense that Joe plays up more to me, as in trying to keep himself awake, but that could just be mummy paranoia But then other times, DP will go in to him when I would have chosen to wait and see if he'll settle himself, with the result being loud cries for a few minutes.

sambo What a gutter.

still glum here

ds not feeding - acting like I';m trying to posion him.

maimla collctred my dd from school and they seem to have had a wonderful time together. she's wonderful. She evn listened to me moaning about ds's lack of feeding AFTER 3 hours of my dd constantly chattering at her. A saint!

oh my goodness! albs' DD is lovely but my my she can talk! she barely stopped for breath and even my cunning plan of taking her to the park didn't wear her out!

sambo sorry to hear about DP's job

Have made a momentous decision - am giving up real nappies. Have been changing nappies for 2 for nearly 9m now and even though DS1 is in disposables it is wearing me down. DH was lovely about it and worked out that an average of 6 nappies a day every day for 6yrs is 13000 disposables not in the landfill thanks to me. As Kurt now does a wee in the potty before bed, I don't need to worry about leaky disps at night and fingers crossed with his potty abilities I might even be able to train him relatively early. Will be nice to have trousers that fit him properly too .

sambo in the absence of CC I think the term she would use it fucksticks

just watched DVD from easter stay at farm and DD1 looks brill riding the horses, have to say the easter egg hunt looked fab too even though I missed it stropping napping through in my bed

and for the benefit of those on the edge of your rugwatch seats, I have plumped for the nonsymetrical ebay one in the smaller size (that will fit) for the grand total of £32.99 boo hiss to you miss Keily and your £650 pricetag, who needs you?!?!