June 2008: birthdays, bunting and bumps make mummy a little bit tired!

[pureeandpearls]

Bring it on!!!

See Essie, I read that post from PP and then had to go back to it to see how she had outed you. I think you have mentioned your name before 'cos I knew she meant you. I think a few of us have outed ourselves though. I distinctly remember a conversation with someone on here who has the same first name as me (think it is abhk).

Glad the viewings went well Deb and fingers crossed.

Thanks allnew - yes he was very delighted with himself. He'd let go of the furniture a few times and was waving his hands in his air in a 'look, no hands!' kind of way before he took the step. He's also a huge fan of a kind of hide and seek at the moment, but in that very cute way of if he cant see us then we cant see him. He's always delighted when we 'find' him.

PP sorry you're form made you feel lousy. Hope you have a better day tomorrow.

Essie let me know how you get on with the OU. I really only survive, because when push comes to shove I take a week off before exams and cram like mad while DH takes sole charge of S. Sorry to hear I is sick by the way, hope he's better tomorrow.

DH is very poorly tonight so I;m hoping he's better by tomorrow. I've never really known him to be properly ill, but he didn't even have any dinner tonight. Actually, I really should go and get him. Believe it or not, I've spent the last hour looking for christmas gift inspiration...

Yes I got to swim finally, now I'm knackered and off to bed, boys have a tennis tournament at 8.00 in the morning, 8.00 on a sunday!!!

Poppy - how's the hair?

Essie - hope the sickness stops soon, for your sake too! The boys don't mind too much looking after Ethan as they know it's that or clean on changeover day!!

Allnw - how's it going? Has A settled yet?

Hi,

I've not posted for ages. I wrote a long miserable post on Friday and then ran out of battery before I got to publish it.

We are back from France. We had a good week, although it was nice to see DH again. However I have now got a seriously case of post holiday blues. My parents drive me a bid crackers, but I do miss them.

P & I seem to have a handful of minor ailments and so we are both on antibiotics. Him: eczema flare up and suspected impetigo. Me: ongoing anaemia and an eye infection. The Dr was strongly encouraging me to stop or at least cut back on the BF as it might help me feel less tired. I am inclined to agree, but I am quite fearful of going about it as P is so into his milk, and as you know it is the only reliable way of getting him to sleep in the day (nights not a problem weirdly). So I think I am going to cut out the bed time feed from tonight, and then take it from there.

Deb - happy to write you a review for MN / tripadvisor. Haven't done it yet though.

Ktpie - great news on the scan.

Amber - well done on the flat.

Rolf - a car, fantastic. Have you driven it yet?

Penguin - like the idea of "Spyder" - a cool nickname.

Sybil - lol at the rollercoaster

Hmm, I've been guilty of some you're/your crimes lately both on here and fb. Must do better .

Ali sorry you have post holiday blues, can you plan something to look forward to to cheer you up?

DH still poorly this morning and has taken to his bed. Am hoping he feels better soon, we're supposed to be going to the zoo later!

Morning!

We had fun camping, J loved it, when we were packing up he sat in the empty tent looking glum.
Abdn- don't think I will want to go camping once I start getting bigger, I'm not at the needing a wee every 2 minutes stage yet, that would be a problem with camping!
We wanted to test out camping with J as hopefully next weekend we are all going to Sleepless in the Saddle, a 24 hour mountain bike race. It's not that far from here so if it is all a disaster I can bring J home and leave DH.
Penguin- that sounds like a serious tent!

Whinegums - the holiday sounds great. It looked fantastic in your pics!

J is also a dummy thief, I think he thinks it is something edible as he also embarassingly nicks food from other babies too.

Abdn - I saw my old job advertised last week with a starting salary of more than I ever got, typical. They value us when they realise no one else will work for the pittance they give us!

Amber - really glad to hear you got an offer on the flat, good luck with finding somewhere else.

Neenz- hope you are enjoying your camping trip.

Puree - enjoy your holiday in Jersey.

Debs- good to hear that you have a second viewing, Italy sounds great, we used to go to Lake Orta when I was a kid.

Rolf - glad to hear you got the car at last!

Sybil - not long ago I cried when I was made to go on the ferris wheel on the pier at Blackpool so sympathy from me!

Poppy - hope the hair calms down.

Allnew - we get loads of tantrums here, about everything. J is also fairly naughty as well, works out what he shouldn't be doing and only wants to do that. He kept trying to knock the table over when camping.

Essie - hope Iestyn is better today.

Ali - hope you are both feeling better soon.

Hello to anyone I've missed.

Hi all, can't believe how many posts there have been on here since I last posted - will try and catch up with everyone's news!

Essie, how is the night settling going? I remember going through this with Alex when he was about 7 mths and it was horrendous so you have my every sympathy .

And as for your PILs and the language thing - out of interest, are there any Welsh speakers who don't speak English? I'm assuming it must be pretty hard not to speak English too as Welsh is spoken fluently in such a small part of Wales. So surely your in-laws are worrying about nothing? I guess they don't want to feel that you can talk with I without them knowing what you're saying though! I am extremely of this gift and am thinking of taking a crash course in French for me and A so that we can communicate without my ILs having a clue what I'm saying!

Deb, great news about the house viewings - I get the feeling that things seem to moving on the housing market a bit more, and with Amber's offer and your viewings it would seem that we may have turned a corner? Or am I being hopelessly optimistic!

ktpie, good to hear your scan went well - and you enjoyed your camping trip. We love camping and were planning on going this summer but no way would I contemplate it while pg so hats off to you! My new dream is to buy a camper van when the boys are at school (I should be back in f/t work then so we might actually be able to afford it!). It would be great just to take off at the weekend for the seaside and would mean we could offer them an outdoor lifestyle we couldn't hope to achieve here .

whinegums, your holiday looked to die for - how did you win it again? The photos were fab.

PP, hope you had a lovely weekend in Bristol - was it the balloon festival this weekend? Whereabouts does your sister live? I grew up in Bristol so know it well.

To all those with dummy thieves, A is the same! Despite rejecting his own dummy at four months he is more than happy to go round and steal other babies' dummies . He also likes to take food/toys and anything else they have that looks of interest! Will have to channel this cleptomania to something useful .

AH, how is the work situation?

Amber, things still progressing ok on the sale?

Rolf, fab news on the car - we're getting ours on Wednesday and I'm ridiculously excited!

sybil, bless you and your fear of scary rides! I love theme parks - has anyone else been on Stealth at Thorpe Park? Fantastic adrenaline rush - but not as good as skydiving, that is amazing!!

BDQ, that's so sweet that both you and dh saw S's unaided step .

Ali, sorry to hear both you and P are feeling under the weather .

Hi to anyone I've missed .

Oh dear, now I've killed the thread!

Lol - no will post later but coming to terms with my hair ( which dh finally admitted he prob wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't said but that was only after calling me natalia all evening). Edie very lively today so need all my wits...
And Essie thanks for offer but beckenham prob bit top far...
Hello to everyone else for hair tips

ktpie glad you enjoyed the camping! I hope to go next week

ali sorry to hear you're both poorly, and good luck with scaling down the bf

debs well as I suspected, I was first to give in last night. Went to bed at 9 and put A in with me. He squirmed around the bed until 11pm before going to sleep. I was so frustrated I was ready to scream myself. All fine today thought so fingers crossed for tonight

sponge welcome back

Who is Natalia Poppy? Am I being thick?

Feeling much better. We went for a walk on the South Downs followed by a pub lunch. Amazing views to the sea, Portsmouth, and Goodwood Racecourse. The weather here is blowy and sunny which is definitely good for morale.

Sorry for moaning earlier. I shouldn't really need anything to look forward to BDQ. At times though I just feel a bit overwhelmed by being the sole parent for 14 hour stints Monday to Friday. I know it's nothing compared to those of you whose DH's are away for weeks on end.

I am going to stop now. DH is sleeping on the sofa and P has just woken him up by shoving the blue wooden man in his mouth

Ali, I'm sure no-one begrudges you a moan. I'm very impressed how so many of you cope with DH's away so regularly. My DH does travel a lot, although not as consistently as lots of you and I find it very stressful when I do a night or two on my own.

Just come off the phone to my mother. I swear she drains the lifeblood out of me sometimes .

I really need to open a child trust fund for S tonight, the voucher expires next week! Although, given the Market over the last year I suspect it's probably worth more upstairs than it would have been if I invested it a year ago!

We're also going to try S on a cup of cow's milk tonght instead of FF so fingers crossed that goes ok. Hope so, as no formula left in the house!

Sorry, bit of a sef-centred post - distracted by the self-centredness of my mother. Oh the irony...

BDQ- if you open the fund through here you get £50 cash back, I can refer you as well , once it is open you are free to move it to any other. TCB are very reliable, I have had £300 from them in the past year or so! Very canny of you saving it until now, J's is worth less now than it was originally.
I know what you mean about mothers, mine does the same to me sometimes, makes me want to go and bang my head against a brick wall!

Ali - glad you are feeling brighter.

Allnew- have fun camping!

Spponge - I have a secret desire for a camper van as well.

Been out for the day today and had a lovely time apart from J driving us mad by refusing to eat anything at lunchtime. We then got him home and he refused to eat his tea. I was getting quite cross with him when I realised he felt a bit hot, and yes he has a temperature, and now I feel like the world's worst mum

Hope I is feeling better Essie. And that Alli and P are on the mend too. Weirdly J seems fine apart from not wanting to eat. Have to go, am meant to be doing the dreaded sunday night ironing

sybil don't feel bad, I think we've all been there. I remember once getting really annoyed with A and telling him off, then realising he'd had a poo in his nappy all along

I've got a load of ironing to do as well

I'm another one who'd love a campervan, although might end up going for a caravan as it'd be cheaper

Thanks Ali, just turning the computer on and will have a look at that website. How does the referral thing work? Did you open a ctf through this website? Is it very easy to switch? Sorry, lots of questions - can you tell I long ago lost my ctf pack .

In other news, S went down without a feed and no interest in a cup of milk. Can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing. There's no way he gets a pint of milk during the day if he doesn't have some at bedtime. But he comes from a long line of milk averse people so is there much point pushing it?

Same here on guilty moments btw. Too many to mention!

Oops. sorry, thanks ktpie

poppy, I was going to ask who Natalia was too!

Ali, that's a tough call being on your own so much - and it's crap when your parents live miles away. Dh isn't away too often in the evenings thankfully, but I really wish my mum lived round the corner for those days when nothing goes right .

BDQ, sorry your mum makes you feel bad .

sybil, I would second what allnew said - we've all been there and not been able to interpret what's wrong with our LOs. It's so hard when they're pre-verbal, don't be so hard on yourself.

Wanted to share a web link with you for a company that makes hand made books and dolls - I have the My Quiet Book and Alex adores it. We have it out in the lounge and he plays with it every day. They are quite expensive but so beautifully made. Essie, they also come in Welsh which is good to know!

Fun 2 Learn

My Quiet Book

Forgot to ask, anyone else's LOs desperately tired at the moment? Alex had 2 x 2 hour sleeps today (8.30am til 10.30am and then again 2.30pm til 4.30pm) and still sleeps 12 hrs at night.

Is this normal for a 13 mth old? Is it the walking? He has got a little bit of a runny nose but doesn't seem unwell and is still eating well. Just being a paranoid mummy .

BDQ- if you open a topcashback account here, then I get £2.50! I won't be offended if you don't. Then you need to go through their link to the engage website, open an account online and they ask you to send the certificate in. TCB will pay you the £50 when they get it, it usually takes a couple of months for that to become payable. To be honest I still haven't got round to moving J's account so I don't know how easy it is to move, but I think there was some mention of how to move it in the paperwork they sent me. I'd wait until the £50 is in your pocket first though.
About the pint of milk, is that how much they are meant to have? J has some on his cereal and a cup full in the afternoon, I don't worry too much if he misses it and he doesn't seem bothered.

Sponge - J will happily sleep for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon and he sleeps well at night. It seems like a lot to me for this age but it seems to be what he wants so I'm happy to let him sleep! This week he has missed loads of his daytime sleep and the poor boy has been worn out, hopefully we can get back to normal now.
Those books look lovely.

ktpie I'm going to go with that CTF - hoping your online again this evening if you want to refer me. Do you want to email me via fb to sort out? I need to set it up asap before it expires.

Am very {envy] of A's sleep sponge. S managed on 20 mins all day today. HE sleeps between one and two hours (but only one nap) at nursery, but I think his key worker sits and strokes his cheek and I am so not doing that for him

Someone else asked about tantrums - yes we have those here too!

Thanks Sybil & Sponge. Four hours sleep in the day plus twelve at night sounds unimaginable here. Best case scenario for us is 10 at night and 2 in the day, hence the 14 hour day that generally starts before 6am.

Ok, enough moaning, from me. Tomorrow I will be positive.

Didn't mean to make people - sorry .

I was honestly worried that he's ill - just doesn't seem natural to me. But if J's doing it too then not so abnormal.

I think the reason I'm worried is that A never used to nap in the day at all, then started napping in the morning and now has two naps a day - seems a bit back to front to me!

ktpie, books are lovely - can't recommend them highly enough and, no, I'm not on commission!

Oh sorry, sponge I didn't want to add to your worries! I'm pretty sure it is quite normal to sleep more around the time they start walking, or when going through a bit of a growth spurt. S has also slept a bit longer when he's been a wee bit poorly - nothing serious, just a bug picked up at nursery etc.

ktpie I'll happily earn you the £2.50! I had a look at the actual CTF and it all seemed in order, I might just change to one of the 'ethical' ones though as that suits me better (not enough to miss out on £50 though ). Am going to see if I can do it now!

BDQ - did we cross post? Did you get it sorted? Email me or something if you are stuck.

Sponge - that is why I had kept quiet about my freaky sleepy baby! He can easy manage 4 hours in the day. Now I have blown my secret I can't really complain about not having enough time for housework etc (that is just laziness), recently I have been using his nap times as my nap times!