May 2009 - This too shall pass.. from leg warmers to pennies

[Momino]

this too shall pass!

Isn't it a beautiful day? We've been to the local museum to make cars out of rubbish. DS loved it, but told me on the way home the lift up to the loos was his favourite bit. Boys, eh?

Anyone fancy joining me on a sponsored swim? It is for a charity called Aspire and you need to swim 22 miles, which is the equivalent of the English Channel, between 12 September and the beginning of December. The charity helps people with spinal injuries. I thought that it is a great way to get fit and raise money at the same time. There's a link on my facebook page if you want to join in.

Both boys are asleep so I've sent DH out to post our ebay parcels, which is becoming bit of an addiction.

febes- we used a travel cot for a couple of months with our DD when she outgrew her moses basket and wasn't ready for her cotbed in the nursery. We did buy a mattress for it to make it more comfy.

We have just moved DS1 (2.1) into a bed- he's fallen out a few times and sleeps with his duvet over his head so gets very sweaty but it seems to be working ok, apart from him getting out to get more books at bedtime when we've told him it's bedtime. We borrowed a cot from friends which DS2 has been in for quite a while now so we didn't have to rush DS1 into a bed.

We put DS1 into a bed when he was 12 months old. He was, and still is, a fearless climber so we thought we'd better get him into the relative safety of the bed rather than have him attempt the cot bars! He has fallen out a few times, but he usually falls out in his sleep and climbs back in asleep. He refuses a duvet, and likes to sleep without a pillow. He usually falls asleep over his Richard Scary book, so that is usually his pillow!

I'm thinking of moving DS2 into his own room. He doesn't wake up at night and is growing too big for his crib, but I still worry.

Oh, and as for 2 DCs sharing a room, we moved DS1 in with DD when he was 1. We juggled timings around to see whether to put DD or DS1 down first, but in the end, they just went down together. We have now separated them into 2 rooms as DS1 is very chatty at bedtime and was keeping DD up, and also wakes up before DD which was making her very grumpy! We are getting a nursery room ready for DS2 at the moment and might be tempted to use it in a month's time (not worth it whilst he's still feeding at night), so all 3 will be up in the attic and us and the guest bedroom on the first floor. There's a bathroom up there too so it's nice to have a floor for us and a floor for the DCs

Hi ladies

Just a quick note before I go into the garden to relax with a glass of something involving a double figured %age...

All I have really done today is get my hair cut and coloured. Obviously there's been washing and cooking and looking after F but nothing else to do. Yay!

Momino, love the photo - at least Harper is straight; Felix looks like a waxwork that's all melted at one side!

Momino, Jennster, sophietom - I'd really love to meet up in York but we're away the last two weeks of Aug so it would need to be the 1st of September or later for me.

belgian sounds like you had a great holiday, how lovely. Hope your cat reappears.

sophietom - yes, they have definitely brought something in - and it is still on the loose but may well have made it to the kitchen. It's a regular thing unfortunately although they both have collars with bells to try to prevent it. Usually whatever they bring in can be quickly caught and released or is off to the big cornfield / forest in the sky but every now and again we get one that we have to rescue. DH took half the skirting board off in the dining room last time. But thank god there's never been a bat...

Right, off to enjoy some sunshine.

Sophie PMSL at bat flapping around living room.

York First few weeks in September ok for me but then we're off to Devon for a week.

running [shudder] at spider on your arm. I was stripping the bedding the other day and found a dead squashed one in the pillow case. Don't know whether it was dh's or mine.

York- we're away in Filey from 5-12 Sept but otherwise should be OK for a meetup.

Thanks to all for your kind words. HAve now stopped crying but have a constant reminder of my incompetence at not using the safety harness by the deep purle/red line across B's forehead. He's just so little..sob...
Just been to check on him asleep in his cot, and although I put him down in his grobag in the middle of the cot, after two hours his head is touching the bumper at the top of the cot. Can't get over his ability to creep upwards.

Hope you've all had a good day today. The sun has been shining most of the day.

Momi / Reebee + northerners will hope to join you on the meet this time. Will want to escape early Sept as we have a loft conversion starting.

Reebee we have become dab hands at rescuing mice. Hate it when they bring in live birds though. Remember coming home from work in the pre-dc's day to find a dead pidgeon on our draining board, but it had obviosly been dragged in alive and killed itself trying to fly out of the kitchen window. Our cat must have been tormenting it too as there was blood and bird poo all over my drying crockery. I binned the crockery as I couldn't face eating any future meals off them. .

Llare / pula do you have bed guards / carpets / toddler beds? On my last month's visit to A&E it was because dd had fallen over her bedguard which then collapsed with her weight onto the wooden floor. She doesn't want me to remove the bed guard, so at the minute I have a folded duvet by the bed in case it happens again.

Hi sausage . Nice to see you back.

Running lentil and spinach curry sounds lovely and v v healthy. Enjoys your hols.

Tummum v v scary. Hope you managed to put it behind you and enjoy the rest of your break.

Belgian welcome home .

Looby are you ok?

reggiee- we've never used bed guards, but with DD we had her bed against the wall which helped. DS seems to be getting better at not falling out. We do have carpets but if we didn't, I'd probably put cushions or rugs by the side to make the landing a bit softer.

Hi everyone,

Funny how you're all talking about the gorgeous weather. We were all dressed a bit more warmly than we have been over the last 2 weeks as we thought it was a touch chilly when we left the house at lunch time, lol. That's what happens if you've got 2 weeks of near 30C.

Reggie Hope you're feeling better now. It must have been the most horrible experience. It just brings it all home how our little babies are growing. They're getting stronger and it can take us by surprise how they're suddenly becoming mobile. Don't feel too guilty about it. I don't think there is any parent on here who can hand on heart say that they always strap their baby into their buggy/bouncer.

Jenn Reebee at both of your spider experiences.

Hi sausagen Nice to have you back. I was wondering how you were doing. As for your milk supply. Do try the fenugreek and don't judge the amount of milk by what you can express. I know C gets enough, but if I don't get let down I can spend ages to only get an once or so.

cats Our cat showed up in the end... At about 8 o'clock in the morning with a little cat friend. I caught them on the landing. Our cat was all purry and happy to see me and the other quickly ran off Ours usually only brings dead or nearly dead birds or mice into the house, so we can never rescue them. If any severely wounded are left behind I tend to shorten their suffering. Her killing mice is a good thing though as we used to have them in our house all the time and now that's finished.

toddlers and beds I had a bed guard when I moved ds into his bed when he was 20 months or so and he was fine. He only had a few nights of coming out when it was all new and exciting, but that was it. Dd1 was 2.5y because it took that long for a space to become available in our house for another bed. Anyway. I didn't use a bed guard and just put a spare duvet + loads of cushions on the floor next to her bed. She fell out on the 1st few nights without waking (but turning so she was wedging the door shut making me panic when I went to check on her ).

C is still in her crib, but when DH comes back I'm going to get him to bring the cot down from the loft. We can fit a cot in our bedroom so that's OK. I do have to climb into bed from the bottom of my bed when there's a cot in our room. I'm also wondering how to get her into a bit more of a routine. She's easy enough to put to bed, but she doesn't seem to get sleepy at the same time every day. Today it was 7, the earliest ever. I have a feeling that if I can get her evening bedtime sorted, then the daytime sleeps will become a bit more predictable. The other 2 dcs just sort of naturally fell into a set time of day they went to sleep. So I'm not quite sure how to go about it and whether I want it to be the same or earlier than dc1&2 and whether I want to move dc1&2's bedtime to half an hour later to do C at their current bedtime. It's all so complicated.

This post is huge and took me ages to write, so I've probably missed loads out. Sorry about that.

Evening all!

well, it's my last night of solo parenting (this month, anyway) - we've nearly survived. Sat here with a (slightly too generous) G&T and a dish of olives. Girls both asleep. I managed to tire DD1 out enough to go to sleep quickly but not so much that we had huge tantrums, almost perfect.

llaregub - sponsored swim is a very good cause, good luck! Not sure I could do it though, I'm rubbish at swimming and can only manage about 2 lengths at a time, I've have to go swimming every day to get anywhere near 22 miles. Was it you who was talking about Bosinver? I told my mum about it, she's booked two house there next year for the whole family to go for her 60th birthday, thank you! She'd been having problems finding somewhere big enough and wheelchair and small children friendly.

The news has just come on, just seen the headline that three more soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. I hate hearing those headlines, DH's closest friend is out there right now and it terrifies me.

Oooh, yes! It was me that mentioned Bosinver. We're going back next month in fact. Do you know which houses your mother has booked? We've stayed in Coliza, Trerose and are in Laburnam next month. Coliza is right by the childrens play area and DS absolutely thought himself to be in heaven. I'm really, really looking forward to it. I do hope your mother enjoys her birthday there.

re beds I decided to move DS early (12 months) because I thought that he would be less likely to start exploring. Obviously his climbing ability was a huge factor in our decision. Interestingly, he did not start exploring at night for months after the big change, but I think this was because he had a cotbed so I don't think he particularly noticed the bars going.

We've had an exciting week. DH's business is really taking off and we're looking at premises on Monday. It is a very small unit, but will get him out of the garage before winter comes. It is a really lovely little unit in a converted mill, and he is busy checking out IKEA's office range as I type. It is amazing really that we've gone from complete financial meltdown to a very cautious feeling of recovery in a month.

How exciting about the business llaregub - that's fantastic. Keeping everything crossed for you.

I think mum's booked Jacks Barn and Olearia - we were slightly limited but what will be accessible for my dad, although as he said he's used to washing in kitchens or out of bowls as most of the Greek islands they've been to have no idea what accessibility means. The holiday should be good - there'll (hopefully!) be four generations of our family going, current ages ranging from 12 weeks to 85!

I haven't seen Olearia but I know Jacks Barn as it is right opposite the reception. The cottages are lovely, I am sure you'll be very comfortable. I'm pretty sure that there are steps up to Jacks Barn though. I assume that your father will be in Olearia? You really won't need to take any baby stuff with you. We've borrowed bed guards, high chairs, and they were all spotless. One thing though, the curtains in Coliza were really thin so DS used to wake up really early. You might want to take a dark towel or something to block out light just in case!

Thanks for the tip! Yes, Dad will be in Olearia with other bits of the family, adn I think all the bits with children will be in Jacks Barn (lol to myself, wasn't concentrating and typed bra first!). Thanks for the tip about the curtains. I'm excited already, it's 9 months yet!

Gah, typos and repeating myself. Time for bed I think.

Hi all. Not been on for a few days so name check amnesty for me, please!

Blotted Reggiee sorry to hear about your LOs accidents. It must have been terrifying. Hope you are both managing to start to put the experiences behind you. You too tummum llareggub at your weight loss and your DH's business doing well.

sausage great to hear from you.

grumpy or should I say jammy - your move sounds so exciting. We'll come to stay!!

We've had a hectic few days around my step-sister's wedding. We had a great time but I must admit it was all rather exhausting, with bridesmaid things (getting hair done etc), looking after H, rushing to the venue/unpacking/getting ready then DH having to go and get the groom in his old sports car (which developed a problem the night before that he had to fix on the morning of the wedding). Phew.

I never did manage to express or, in fact, get H to take a bottle at all, so I had to fit in bf-ing too (around drinking champagne ). H was very good though, smiling and cooing most of the day. He had a few moments, but they were easily remedied by a bf or putting down for a nap in our room. I managed to enjoy the evening do by having H sleep in the baby bjorn - he didn't even wake up when the live jazz band started up! I did feel a bit mean about it though, and he was a bit tired and grumpy the next day but I'm sure there was no real harm done.

Hi everyone. beautiful day here. No name check, just a quick one to say hope you're all well and having a good day.

took Harper to Sainsbury's earlier and she was so good. was awake for most of the tour round the store then fell asleep when we got to the till. thank goodness. dd1 as a baby would always scream the moment we got to the till. she seemed to have something against waiting in the queue or bagging the groceries or something anyway.

those with dogs - now that we have 3 children our border collie doesn't get much attention and sometimes only one walk a day. he seems happy as he gets stimulation from the girls but I've noticed he's been badly behaved on his walks off lead, not listening to us. anyone else having probs with your dogs? I'm going to focus on him a bit more but it does make me think perhaps we should rehome him . we'd be devastated to lose him but maybe we're not thinking of his best interests .

spangle, glad H was good at the wedding. hope he got some champagne as well .

Evening everyone,

Looks like everyone has been enjoying the nice weather today.

Everything's great here. C went to sleep last night at 7, dreamfed at 11 and then she carried on until 6.45. Not bad. Unfortunately my cat didn't let me have a good sleep waking me at 2.30 because she wanted to sleep with me (which is a nono at the mo with a baby in our bedroom).

Today for the 1st time I tried C in her crib for a daytime sleep. She went at 9 and slept until 12! What a nap . I even got to do my huge pile of post holiday laundry and ironing without interruption. Then we went out and unfortunately she had to sleep on the go which I think made her tired a bit early tonight. So I spent an hour trying to keep her awake so she went to bed at 7. Because of that for the 1st time ever I read a book to just her and she loved it . She was crying when I got it out and as soon as I opened she calmed down and started smiling at the pictures. Really sweet. I'm going to have to go up in the loft and hunt down our old baby books to read to her. I'll definitely do a bit more reading with her now.

Momino I haven't got a dog, but our cat has had the same fate. I've been trying to make a bit more of an effort recently. Personally I think it's only a temporary thing. Once C's a bit older and a bit less demanding the cat will get more attention agan. I'm sure it'll be the same with your dog. Oh and I'm impressed that your dog listens when off the lead. Our dogs never did and that was without babies around

spangle Glad to hear H behaved at the wedding. In a way expressing is more hassle and it's easier to just quickly put lo on, isn't it.

evening all..

haven't been on here much for the last few days - I've had my stepdaughter to entertain this week as well as M so have felt even more tired than usual.

Glad you had a nice holiday belgian we're looking forward to going away in Sept (6 weeks 2 days to go!) have just bought M a wetsuit in case the pool is cold - it'll be the first time she's been swimming unless I get round to taking her to our local pool first. I had a good nose at your hol pics by the way - where did you get the yellow floaty thing for C? We've bought M a tiny blow-up dinghy cos we figured we could pull her round the pool in it but the floaty thing looks better!

I made M laugh so much today she projectile vomitted (bad mummy)

I'm rubbish at working out who's who on FB but someone has a great hat!

My friend who has a DD a week older than M is getting her 2 DC's christened in October so I've bought M a gorgeous red dress off ebay with a matching cardy and velvet shoes - so cute! Just got to find myself something to wear now - might get that BF dress recommended in dark teal.

Looby The little baby wetsuits are great. I used it with C at one of the campsites where the water in the pool was on the cold side. I put my hand inside it and it felt lovely and warm! C's floatation devise (as we call it) is just from Mothercare. I'm pretty sure they still sell them or something similar. ELC used to sell them too. It's still from back when ds was a baby. If you want to you could borrow it, saves you from buying one just for a holiday.

The hat is llaregub's.

Yes, I second the yellow floatation thing as being rather good. DS was very happy in his and we'll be digging it out for DS2 next month when we head down to Cornwall.

Yes, the hat is mine. Don't tell anyone but it was an ebay bargain! I'm very fond of it but it does mean that I always wear brown to weddings.

As you might have guessed, we've been to a wedding today which was lovely. DH did the photos, and DS was shipped off to the inlaws so we had a very relaxing day with only DS2 to worry about. He was wonderful, so well behaved!

We're going to tackle the disaster than is our garden tomorrow.

Belgian loved the holiday photos. I'd love a caravan. at you being in a bikini after 3 children!

belgian I assume they don't have to wear nappies inside the wetsuits? Did M wear a swim nappy in the pool on holiday? just have to work out what to pack - new to all this

lovely hat llare