May 07 - The Terriffic Twos. (No harm in being optimistic, I say.)

[twelveyeargap]

Morning ladies. Sorry I have been AWOL. You'd think with DH having been at home for a full month that I'd have had time for MN. Actually no, if any of you have ever had a DH at home for a full month you'd know exactly why I haven't had time. Get your mind out of the gutter Gin, it's not that.

Thought I'd start a new thread since MKG's lovely girl arrived such a long time ago!

April, am very sorry about your friend. How sad.

Have only had a skim through I'm afraid, but Scoot; you obviously have the patience of a saint dealing with all those tantrums, so I think you'd make a great driving instructor. Is it really what you want to do or are you trying to think of jobs to fit in with family life? Is it a reaction to the current job do you think?

Congratulations on the wedding plans SKY.

Belated birthday greetings to everyone I've missed and happy birthday in advance to all the rest. Seriously, if I go off to find the birthday thread it might be weeks before I get back!

LG&T, is there any way you can channel B's energy into activity? A gets quite naughty when she's bored or hasn't been "out". "Out" can just mean the garden and "out" means she doesn't sound so loud to me, thus killing two birds with one stone. I'm wondering if you being (understandably) afraid to leave the house with him is actually making things worse? Something like a trampoline in the garden could be great because all the bouncing up and down would use up tons of energy and wear him out, whilst also being "fun" for him and "quiet" for you.
Also, re B's nappy rash. Remember A had a hideous rash that needed anti-biotics etc? Well it went away and then was back a couple of weeks later. I thought it couldn't possibly be teeth again as she seems to have all her teeth. Took her off milk and hey presto, the rash was gone in 18 hours. Plus her soft, foul-smelling poos have turned into normal firm not-awful smelling poos. She's fine with butter or the occasional bit of cheese, but any more lactose sets her off. I wonder could B have a similar problem? A's excema also got worse on milk and is now clearing up. I think it's probably temporary, she had a similar problem last year, but for now she's on rice milk or the Lactofree products when I can get hold of them.

I was at the doctor on Weds to get my Mirena removed and replaced with a copper coil to see if my libido would come back. GP couldn't "find" the Mirena. I have to go for a scan to find it, then to a family planning clinic to have it removed if they do find it. She said it's probably just lost, rather than come out, but it's kind of put me off using coils altogether now.

DH still not redundant yet. It's been a month since he was put "at risk". He's seeing HR today and I suspect this will be the final meeting and they actually sack him. His manager admitted they were hiring new people for the desk, but not for "his role", which is just a load of crap. You can't make a position redundant on the basis you want to hire someone "more senior". That's just a staff upgrade. Hopefully they'll make a settlement offer today, otherwise he'll have to appeal and start sending solicitors letters. However, he's had loads of interviews, lots of callbacks and good feedback.

Hey creena congrats on Connor.

We have booked our flights to NY cannot wait

It's not the tag, it's the blardy picture. [fat]

DN (18 months old) has had a D+V thing but suddenly took a turn for the worse on Saturday during the wedding we went to. Stopped breathing, started fitting, rushed to hospital. Was touch and go but stabilised after a few hours of terrifying interventions, had every test going, MRI scans, EEGs, lumbar punctures etc. Found a lot of blood in her stomach. She was sedated for a few days but is awake now, had her nasal gastric tube out this morning, breathing fine on her own and stable. No idea at all what caused it. They were convinced it was meningitis but no. In a high dependency unit at the local hospital. Will be fine but a mystery. Has been hellish for them all. Dear brother lost his fiancee suddenly a few years before meeting SIL and had the mad dash to hospital in a blue light ambulance and SIL's eldest died aged 7 months so both were shattered by this and were fearing the worse. Brother is big rufty, tufty power lifter and has been so frightened.

Oh dear, your poor DN and all the family. Glad to hear she is on the mend.

I am absolutely knackered. The week away was brilliant but tiring and not very restful. We came home Saturday, I did loads and loads of washing on Sunday, we went to Pleasure Island Cleethorpes all day yesterday and had a little party today for Lewis for his birthday.

Tomorrow I am not getting out of PJs!

Tilly - running in the road is a nightmare - we have a wrist strap and reins but sometimes he really doesn't want them on.

Hi Creena, L is 1 today - I really don't know where the year went.

I think all the photos are lovely. I look HUGE and now need to get back into my diet mode.

Crikey SOH. rather scary.

Will remove the pic but honestly you do not look fat you are like a stick

Blimey SOH - how awful and scary for everyone Glad dn is on the mend though. I know it shouldn't make any difference, but seeing big rufty tufty men being scared/upset always gets to me.

For the record - NO BODY LOOKS FAT ON THE PHOTOS - YOU ALL LOOK LOVELY I have such a mahooosive bump already - DH got a side on pic on hols and I look gigantic (on fb).

When are you off to NY Jam ?

Congrats AM on your podium finish btw

Eeek at SOH's niece, hope she recovers soon

Gosh, SOH - wishing your DN a super speedy recovery. Sounds so traumatic but glad all is well now.

I agree with TSM - you all look lovely on the photos of the meet up. Maybe I should have come along after all - you could have just made sure you were next to me in all photos. I am a female Giant Haystacks these days, honestly.

Wow SOH how scary for the whole family. I am glad to hear she is on the mend. Poor wee thing.

Great photos MrsJB, April and Jam, I'm afraid I didn't take as many of all the dc as I would have liked.

Happy Birthday mini callum Lewis! The time flies by doesn't it?

Pink, are you still feeling yeuky? Poor you, I hope it ends soon. Charley how are you doing? Gin are you enjoying the peace and quiet? Perhaps you are actually having a chance to put your feet up a bit hahahahahahaha.

I am officially fed up with the rain. I am going home. We leave tomorrow and we are all now looking forward to getting home. Although I hear it is even raining there just now.......

Glad to hear that dn is on the mend SOH. Was worried that i hadnt heard from you. I hope that she is back home very soon.

SKY must be lovely to get home after being away for a while. Nothing like your own bed. I hope you all had a lovely day with Lewis yesterday.

Creena, would have been great if you could have come along. Perhaps the next time

MrsJB, How is J today?

Pink are you feeling any better? No more vomming on your knee....

TMAM I hope you all have a safe journey home.

JAM how exciting that you have booked your flights to the BIG APPLE

Mrs JB - hope J is feeling a bit better today x

Just remembered it is my sisters wedding anniversary today and even though I saw her yesterday I forgot to give her a card. My plan for staying in PJs may have fallen through, unless I can pull up to her door, run out and put it through the letter box . Or better still get one of the girls to jump out and do it.

Ls birthday was quite nice but it RAINED and I was planning to have his little friends in the garden. It went ok in the house though.

IT IS STILL RAINING and I am fed up with it! Is it too late to climb in a suitcase TMAM? At least yours will be warm rain.

SOH, love to your DN, sounds very scary, glad she is getting better.

J rough, mummy tired, Dr's tonight 8pm, think it's hand foot and mouth disease but hoping it's the onset of chicken pox. Mummy tired, did I mention that? May cancel Maddies b'day pty this weekend if it's HF&M disease.
HOT!
going for a swim.

Hi all.

SOH i am so releived that DN is getting better. I know you have had a rough few days Is J back at work yet? I would take some time chill out a bit and relax. Dream of shoes that kind of thing

MrsJB B and I were so poorly last week. I came out in a rash all over on Saturday and i was sure it was hand foot and mouth. It disappeared within hours though so must just have been a reaction to her spiking temp. She gave us a huge frin on Sunday and J (twin) looked at me and said "Mum, she is back!" She had been so miserable.

I hope J improves soon, has she been near CP recently?

My bf who i stayed with this weekend called me yesterday and said that her youngest has come down with CP. Incubation period 2 weeks... sisters wedding weeks away. Oh it WILL happen won't it Fuckity fuck.

Sky you do need a jamma day!

AM i ama pleased you slobbed out for a day at least. The house looked pretty tidey to me love. Sit down!

I too looked FAT in the pics on FB

I have been here there and everywhere, mostly sitting in the car in a jam though.

Nice to be home. The kids are all having fun i'm sure, no word from them.

I plan to clean and sort the house out in the next few days, i may have a visitor next week

Why do dh's have the ability to be such knobs at times...... Answers on a postcard to....

We are doing this positive parenting program (triple P) to try and help us (me mainly) deal with the tantrums and other issues that J sometimes has. The whole program is 4 wks long and consists of 4 meetings once a week. So far dh has been great and been at the 2 we have had, although has liked to point the finger at me - fair enough i do lose my rag more but then i am not the soft touch. Wk 1 was looking at his behaviour, this issues we have and how we deal with them. Got given a form to fill in when ever we had a 'special' moment and it helped look at what happened before and after the 'event'. It made me realise that most of the 'moments' were pretty trivial but because we are both stubborn (Mummy & J) that it escalated out of control. Wk 2 (last week) looked at strategies on how to deal with negative behaviour - most of which we use already, which was good to know. It gave a few other examples such as the planned ignoring, something that i am not too good at, athough have been working on it . The health visitor running it (she comes to the house) put together a checklist to make sure that we followed the strategies she thought might work. Again, this has been really helpful and i have used it twice when needed. We got given a dvd to watch that explained in more detail what we had talked about and also showed examples. Our next appt is in 45 mins and i have just called dh to tell him what the dvd was like as we had run out of time to watch it together and i wanted to give him a heads up. When i called he told me that he was just off out with the office mgr and our tech director for a meeting in town... I reminded him about the meeting again and he responded with some load of crap about how i had said that i could do it on my own if he was swamped at work.. I did say that but only because normally we meet at 9.30 and it doesnt eat too much into the day.

I know it probably does sound VERY petty, but would it have killed him to a) called and said that he needed to miss the appt or b) come to the appt that is to do with our child and re-arranged the 'mtg' with the lads until just after?? Our appt was set up before we even knew that the tech director was coming down. Honestly, i think he just looks for a way out of things and then turns it on me just to wind me up!

Anyway, sorry about the boring moan, i realise that there are far more serious and actual problems going on in your lives, but just really needed to vent! I mean ffs we only have 2 x30min appts left!

Oh AM I'm sorry, I know how much it meant to you to "sort" out this together as a family unit. You can still do it though, don't let C not being there ruin what was working for you and J. maybe the "fame" has gone to his head.

lg&t, probably a viral rash....still horrible though, we went to the dr's last night, he confirmed (as much as he can) that he thinks it is hand foot and mouth! She is very uncomfortable, blisters on her tounge and inside of her mouth and chicken pox type blisers on her hands and feet. calpol helps, I am keeping her drugged dosed up! We have sourced the start too, apparently two of the english children at the wedding had it!!!!!!! ffs! Would be spot on as it is 3-5 days incubation and her spots arrived Tuesday. The dr even said to me, it's unusual here in France have you been back to the UK? Waiting for H & M to go down with it now and hoping we don't get it too!

First lot of family arrive this afternoon. Yay!

April what a pain he is. No it wouldn't have killed him to let you know but we all know how rubish they can be about these things. Out of sight out of mind and all that. Harumph for you.

MrsJB poor J. B had that not so long ago and was just the same. Scots girls had it very badly last year didn't they? Horid thing to get Parents who bring sick children out drive me INSANE!

I am not at home... my bf who i saw at the weekend called this morning. She went in to labour night 5 weeks early. They had to get all the other children up (including 19mth old) and do the 40 minute drive to hospital. The hospital wouldn't let the children in!!! Her dp had to keep going from car to hosp room They finally let the children in to the waiting area.

She had the baby at 217am, vaginal breech. Super scary end to it all with his HB dipping. He was 4lb. Ok though thank goodness. Her dp got the children home and in to bed at 6. I arrived at 11 and he has gone back to the hospital so i have the children.

Hoping to go tonight when mine are in bed. A lovely little boy! I can't wait. She sounded teary on the phone, i need to give her a hug. I wish she didn't live 250 miles away Her sister should be down to hold the fort over the weekend.

I really must get home and sort it out. I have been in and out since Saturday. It is a mess.

My vivitor may arrive middle of next week and i have to tidy and CLEAN!

Ignore typos am so tired.

LG&T, does the state of the house really matter? Honestly, just tidy the blardy bedroom and have done with it.

AM, bloody hell. It absolutely would not have killed him. Stay calm, rationally explain when you see him. Use the feckin techniques on him since he can't see fit to behave as a rational adult.

MrsJB, poor dd2. Horrid thing hf&m.

DH is in the kitchen teaching M how to make shortcrust pastry. He has also made mini pizzas, gingerbread and tealoaf. He wants something, you mark my words.

DN much, much, much better but can't walk. Side effect of viral encephalitis apparently, she can't 'remember' how and has to relearn. How's your dn MrsJB?

Congrats to your friend LG&T - not liking the sound of a VB, although with a 4lber it cant have been too bad.....

SOH how did M's cookery class go?? I have just been making cakes with the kiddies and they smell so nice

All sorted with dh! Didnt help me feeling like total poo yesterday, still dont feel 100% but hey ho.

MrsJB hope you have a fab time with all the family. How is J today?? What will you do for M's b'day tomorrow?

Just signed Ella up to start a French club at nursery from September. Every Tuesday at 9.30 starting 8th September

Also, [proud mummy emotion] Ella started to write her name today. She was finishing a picture at nursery when i picked her up and i said are you going to put your name on it.. Do an E and she did the rest was a scribble but i was so proud that a) she understood and b) she knew what an E was.

How is everyone else?

Wow at your infant prodigy April.

SOH, all that baking sounds fun. Will he get a reward?

LG&T, congratulations to your friend. How many kids are you looking after at the moment?

Not quite sure she is an infant prodigy Elkiee! I sometimes forget that she is the 4th eldest out of 30 odd babies and about 6wks older than most of them...

Elkie too many...

AM clever girl. The delivery was pretty awful, they prepped her or a section then told her to push... she said his little body was out for ages and wriggling round before his head was born Bizzare! She is a star though and looks great already.

The children were very good and it was actually really nice to spend some time with them.

I am home now, took 4 hours to do a 2 hour trip. Blardy caravans It was ridiculous.

I have sorted the house out a bit and put some washing on. Need to go shopping but just can't be bothered.

I am zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wow at your bf Gin and congrats too. You are such a good friend, going up there to hold the fort.

MrsJB I hope you have all had a good day. Is J feeling any better?

Very clever Ella indeed

We are back home after a 3 hour drive to the airport, most in torrential rain with me aquaplaning along at 70 mph, only slightly scary . I managed 4 huge bags and 3 huge children from the rental car, to the rental car place, onto the rental car bus, into the terminal, through checkout in one piece with no tantrums. I bought both ds' a proper aeroplane, which of course ds2 has not put down since. We then spent a happy hour watching planes take off and land in the rain. Everytime one moved J said loudly 'ooooooo mummy look at that aeroplane' This got to be a little tiring after an hour. Onto the plane and after a little supper all three went to sleep . Yesterday was quite hellish with three very tired dc and a very irritable mummy, but we are all back on form today.

Oh and Gin, mystery guest? Forget the cleaning, shouldn't you be down the old ladygarden parlour and shaking out the fancy undies?

Perhaps....

Well done on the airport solo, i would be quaking in my flip flops. Not sure i could do that. No dh to help?