April 2009 - Chapter 3 - Let us round up the stragglers

[PuzzleRocks]

Ta da.

Ah, that's great Boff is she up to the dairy milk yet? x

But surely you don't produce so much litter / so many dirty dishes between the two of you Okay, dishes in dishwasher if you insist. I do it on my way to bed so it doesn't feel like an extra task. And then turn the dishwasher on straight away. DH says he can't fall asleep any more without the humming of the dishwasher in the background!

bumpalump I'm glad You and baby okay?

Boff, that's great news about DD.

Bicnod, fingers crossed O will go to sleep soon. Sounds like my two have finally given up for the night - off to bed myself then.

((crawls in))....evening all....tired....

been to docs, don't need mesd for BP, yay!! Also, my dodgy looking moley freckly thing is apparently 'fine'. Yippeedoodar

I have done 6 hours office work today...yawn
My lovely mum came to look after E.

My friend is 41 weeks today and just text to say she's getting pains - woohoo - just can't wait. She looked SOOO uncomfortable this morning.

Boff - glad DD is home

Bleu - how motivated you sound! Schulte - your reply to Bleu made me laugh

Nutty - regarding DH. what's going on with these men? Shall we all just move in together? Think of the support!

Sod him....rant n rave till he must!!! feel guilty. I feel awful that I give DH soooo much crap sometimes but hey hoe we have just given birth 3m ago and emotions are still allowed to be all over the place. Hope its gets beta. (and remember its a man thing) xx

Very quick post as I'm exhausted. DD1 was very poorly last night. Her temperature is now DOWN to 38.9c. She spent all night coughing, confused, high temp, crying and threw up her calpol on DH. She slept in a nappy because her temp was so high. I had a lot of trouble getting anyone to talk to me about her this morning because of the swine flu pandemic. Eventually saw the doc who has tentatively diagnosed tonsilitis and prescribed antibiotics (lots of fun giving a 2yo antibiotics!). I am not very well either. I am consequently exhausted. Oh, and B had a huge growth spurt over the past few days culminating in her feeding non-stop yesterday.

On a far more positive note, B is finally weaning out of her pavlik harness. She's allowed to be out of it for an hour a day for the next week. I gave her a lovely bath with DH and DD1 helping. We had wonderful cuddles and a lovely feed. She got really stressed when the harness had to go back on though which was truly heart breaking. I can't wait for her to be out of the harness for longer. An hour is such a teasingly short time. It was extremely special though and DH took lots of photos.

Bumpalump - How are you?

Auld - Good luck with the move.

Boff - I'm glad DD is home. It must have been really worrying for you. Here's to eating chocolate again soon.

Surprise - How exciting. Is it her first.
Great news about your freckle.

Swali - Great news about B but i'm sorry to hear about DD1. Poor little scrap, I hope she is better soon.

Nuts - I'm so sorry sweetheart. Sounds like you need a crisis talk, when you have the energy. You can't go on like that.
I wish I had some wise words for you.

I had a call from a client today who needs me to meet with him and their auditors. I can't get child cover so they are both going with me. Should be interesting.

PLEASE HELP

Boff fabby news about DD

Nutty go on stike for him see how quickly he falls apart. Alternatively, on Saturday leave him with the dc's and just go out. Turn off your mobile, have a nice lunch, a mani/pedi, enjoy an evening meal out then turn in a refuse to talk about it

I'm evil, it's a gift.

PlanningToTakeOverTheWorldTiggaBwahahahahahaha!!!!!

Puzzle replied to your thread

StillLaughingTiggaxx

Good morning.

Swali - so sorry that DD1 is ill, tonsillitis can really knock them out, I hope she'll be better soon and you'll all have an easier night tonight. Glad you enjoyed the harness free time with B - poor little thing but it won't be much much longer now right?

Puzzle - buy lots of Gingerbread men? How sweet of your DD.

Nutty - that's not on, I know how you feel, I get similar crap from my DH occasionally. I agree, dump the DDs with him and go out for a day and have some really nice me time?

Now please can you all help me decide on a suitable punishment for DH? He is guilty of the following crimes:

1. Coming home late from the pub last night, being unnecessarily noisy, waking the whole house up at 1am. I had to tuck DD1 and Upsy Daisy back in, feed H several hours before her usual night feed, and then again at 5am when she thought it was morning, poor thing, she was all confused. And I was so angry I couldn't go back to sleep in between so am shattered today. AND he didn't even apologize, like the girls waking up had nothing to do with him.

1. Putting a pull-up nappy on DD1 this morning rather than a proper one, because she was being a bit difficult about it and he didn't fancy a fight. Unfortunately DD1 always does a poo in the morning and he knows full well that pull-ups don't hold the poo in properly, so it went all the way down her trouser legs, into her socks. It was incredibly disgusting. And who had to clean it up? Me, while he had his breakfast.

1. Going to work on his bike today, which meant he had to leave early and will be home late, conveniently missing bedtime and leaving me to do it all on my own again, on no sleep at all.

I am not a happy Schulte today [extremely tired]

Oh dear Schulte, I would be pretty mad too.

Can you express and tell him he can do the night feed tonight?

Or threaten him with these?

Morning all

Massive catchup as wasn't on at all yesterday, for reasons which will become clear [frustrated]

Boff really pleased your DD is out of hospital. You must be due for an easy, illness-free few weeks now in your family.

Puzzle am in total awe of "heavy duty gardening." I have weeds taller than me in my garden, and I'm not even joking. MIL is quietly appalled.

Nutty that is way way way too much liberty your DH is taking. I thank my lucky stars DH isn't interested in football, because it seems that most men think they have a god given right to spend hours and hours and hours on it. You should definitely refuse to make phone calls on his behalf. Or perhaps you could accidentally say the wrong thing to them, e.g. "H has decided we're all neglecting our wives too much and so he's cancelled tonight's practice. Go and buy some flowers."

Swali you're another one getting far more than your fair share of illness. You poor thing - and I really feel for you having to put B's harness back on after she's had some time out of it. This too shall pass, I guess. How long do they think she will have to continue with it?

Surprise Hurrah for all clear at the docs - aren't you glad you went now?

Housework theme catchup - I keep meaning to do some kind of Flylady type routine, but I have to say, Bleu the amount of work that sounds rather puts me off. Hats off to you for putting that into action. I tend more towards Schulte's regime though. Even that sounds like hard work though . Does anyone else suddenly feel more like a housewife than ever before? I went part time at work after DD's birth and have been a SAHM for all but a month since DS1 was born and until now, I never ever felt like a housewife but now I do, and the chores seem endless. I'm very spoilt because DH helps out loads, but I definitely feel like he's "helping out" now, as opposed to just doing the chores alongside me.

Sleep themed catchup Wow Bicnod hurrah for your DH taking control, and good luck to him. All the theory I've ever read says that if he sticks to it over a period of time it will work [only mildy sceptical]. I have to say my experience is the same as Auld's so far. Edmund and DS1 would never ever sleep except at the boob or in a sling. Last night I was inspired by all of your tales of proper bedtime routines to try to put E down in his basket. After a lovely bath, book, feed routine, I had two attempts at putting him down awake, then planned to feed him asleep and put him down if that didn't work. Well dammit he got wise after the two attempts and stayed determinedly latched on. After four hours lying in the dark being chewed, DH dragged me downstairs for a bit of upright evening time (E still attached) and I am back to feeling a total baby bedtime failure. I used to think he would sleep better than DS1. Now I think he's worse

Schulte Punishments for your DH are (but not limited to). All nappies for the entire weekend. All Upsy Daisy calls for the entire weekend. He should also get on his bike pronto each morning to buy freshly baked croissants for your breakfast in bed. Punishment fits crime nicely, no?

Had a lovely day with the whole family yesterday celebrating what would have been DD's fifth birthday. Am very glad the anniversary is over with though. We can concentrate on planning for Legoland on Monday. We are staying in a hotel in Slough [giddy with excitement emoticon]

Wow that is an epic post - sorry everyone!

Oh Nutty, that's rubbish he is being very selfish and unreasonable. How do you guys usually solve issues/arguments? I quite often find it helpful to write everything down (mainly how I'm feeling and why I'm feeling that way) and then give it to DH to read on his own when he's in a calm frame of mind... that way he can see what needs to be said without the risk of it escalating into an argument, then we talk about it afterwards. I also find it useful to frame it as 'it makes me feel like xxx when this happens' rather than 'you make me feel like xxx'. Reduces the risk of DH immediately clamming up and getting defensive. How are things today?

Swali, its so great that you're getting more cuddle time with B poor DD1 though and poor you

Puzzle - how cute is your DD?! That is gorgeous... I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions but your thread made me

Schulte on your behalf - that is rubbish. Personally I would use his misbehaviour as a way of getting a LONG massage

MrsG - don't feel like a baby bedtime failure... as I said yesterday I'm all for the path of least resistance. When you're being a mummy 24/7 there isn't enough left to do sleep training, especially not at our babies' young age. I'm pleased that DH has decided to take it upon himself to do this with O as hopefully I'll reap any benefits, but I certainly wouldn't be doing it myself.

Kali - how were your night wakenings last night? weirdly O woke at exactly the same times (to the minute!) as the previous night...

I'm hoping that one day he'll just start going a bit longer between feeds and then eventually drop one of his own accord - presumably that's how its supposed to work?

Right... Off to meet up with my antenatal group (with their sleeping-through-the-night and naptastic offspring )... O is looking rather cute in jeans and a polo shirt - got to keep up appearances don't you know

x x x

Oh dear Puzzle (about your gingerbread post)I've no other suggestions except perhaps make one out of fabric if Dd finds it's acceptable.

Schulte and Nutty- Poo on your partners -literally if it makes you feel better, or have the baby's do as it'll seem less your fault- I think Bicnod's idea is good and is what we do in this house when things get bad, the other option is a 'I really cannot handle anymore I'm going to flip out on the kids cry fest...I'm just no good... what am I going to do?'...directed at dh's without suggesting that it's because of them that it is you cannot cope. It may help.
On the same lines: I realised today why I'm feeling stressed as once AGAIN I'm rushing DH to work...Why did I start in the first place? And why do I continue? Sometimes because it's easier than fighting. Sometimes because I feel guilty that he's working and I'm not (thus I supposedly have more time on my hands). Sometimes because I'm trying to be nice and generous like one wants and hopes other people are. Thus I'm being 'used' because I cannot seem to say 'no.' I must learn to put my foot down before things get so bad again I say...and I do for a bit then I let it go again and find me in the same position again...

Boff and Swali hopefully you're finding your DDs are even better today and things get back to [even better than] normal soon. And hopefully your individual ills also pass quickly too. It makes life so much harder when one is under the weather too (I woke with a sore throat and it's made me a bit surly).

Schulte I showed Dh you're post about my routine when I was re-reading it and giggling a bit. He nodded and said he ought to be doing more BONUS! Thanks! And he said I really ought to be writing an hour a day too and that you seemed very wise.

Swali yeah for harness free cuddles and here's many more to come!

Surprise good that the Gp has cleared you healthwise. I bet that has taken a load off your mind It's good to stay on top of things.

Dawn you make me laugh.

Hugs to everyone!

Hello ladies!

Swali, hope you get that harness off soon.
Puzzle, your gingerbread man story made me smile. DS is crazy about this, but it might jog her memory.
Kali, hope the anniversary went better than you expected.
Mrsgboring, hope yesterday wasn't too hard, and that your wild times in Slough go off well too.

I really cannot be bothered packing any more boxes right now. Am v tired as couldn't get to sleep for ages last night due to serious and radiating pain in my lower back/right hip. God knows what is causing it.
Handy for house removals, I don't think.

Lots of DHs seem to be being a bit crap, to say the least. I have no advice: after a day of juggling childcare and packing, I ironed a heap of clothes and cleaned the kitchen last night, before collapsing into bed at midnight. DH got in at about 2am, I think. He was out with a friend discussing setting up a law practice together, but that is no excuse.

Our bloody landlady is keeping her house on the market for sale but is also attempting to rent it out as soon as we leave so as to keep the income coming in.
DH is threatening to tell her in no uncertain but highly legalistic terms that she cannot turf us out so as to sell and then re-let as soon as we go, and that she must therefore pay our removal costs. If he'd had this plan earlier, I'd have got movers in instead of phoning round his climber friends on the basis that they have big biceps and good stamina!
One agency is bringing viewers this afternoon - hence the late-night housework, what sad need have I to hide the true state of my home from the public? - and the landlady herself wants to bring potential tenants to see the place soon. I am so p'd off with this whole thing.
Roll on the 18th when we finally move into our new house!

Hi everyone, just popping in to let you know me and DS are still here, I just don't seem to have any time to go on the internet anymore, not that I posted much before (I'm a lurker )

Happy news.

1. Meg seems back to normal today. Well, stil has yellow flecks in spit up but the rest is good.

2.I bought a lovely new nappy bag I've was salavating over the bags that company makes before Meg was born but could not justify the cost..but I only paid £25! at TKMaxx for the bag. I'm going to use it as my long day out bag. It's really nice. Lots of pockets and space. I thought it would be nice for a carryon on a plane too.

1. DH has been offered a new contract for much better pay starting in mid Aug. with a company that we were praying to be a consultant with/get into because they always have jobs going and the money is good. (Which is such a relief considering how problematic finding this one was). The job is in Farnborough/Aldershot though...so we're thinking of getting a cheap apartment there. Anyone know the area?

Here's a round of grrrrrrrrrs to all DHs who deserve it.

Feel better now.

Auld, like your DH's cunning plan. Landlady sounds a right bitch.

Bleu, it's because I ought to be writing to but I know it's not going to happen until the dds are much older.

Ouch. H has very sharp fingernails.

Oh Auld I wish I could come around and help. I always find packing on my own to be such a lot more work than packing with others. And I agree with Schulte about your landlady. Does not seem right at all. Try to not too stressed about things and take things one at a time. That's what my routine is about, taking things one at a time and in little steps that I can cross it off so I feel like I'm getting somewhere during the day.

Speaking of which Meg's asleep so I'm going to tiptoe off to the kitchen...

didn't tip toe queit enough it seems...