Dec 08 - 9 months in, 9 months out!

[jumpjockey]

Hope you don't mind the dodgy thread name but all our babies are 9 months old now or in the next few weeks

10kg that's huge!!! Well done Mr T and how cool he'll be a beach boy! If I ever get down that way to see my mate down there I'll let you know. Maybe MN needs a Brighton meet up.

Kayz I was telling DH about your DS2 took 2 steps when he was walking towards your DS1 and suddenly the thought about his sweet that was, a little brother walking towards his big brother, made me cry! So sweet. Not sure if yours are the same but DS2 just hero worships DS1 he just loves even if DS1 looks at him. DS1 looked at DS2 and told him he loved him the other day, it was so lovely.

Love you Veggie - so look forward to your posts. But DON'T go to Amsterdam please! Having failed to make a London meet up so far, I am not sure I am yet up to the challenge of a Dutch one.

Thank you all so very much for all the kind words last week. I am delighted to report that I am feeling much more chipper and the problem (with my current husband), whilst not resolved, is certainly less troubling than it was last week. Thanks for your support.

Trace - glad job is going well. My niece is 13 and I would love her to have someone fab like you to do HPV etc with her. My Lucy has a wobbly tooth too and I recall the fairy last left a pound.... The fairy was, however, shortchanged on the other gifts so 50p in the circs more than generous.

Lal, boo to being ill on hols. Glad now better.

Spot, well done for planning to move and on T's wondeful weight. What a bouncing boy! My little M is long but light, haven't had him weighed but he's much less than my friend's strapping 22lb fellow. He's a delight at the moment, pulling up, smiling, waving and clapping. Nowhere near the heights of young Dylan - walking at this stage is truly astounding, wow, Kayz - but gorgeous nonetheless.

Am tired now. I did my one day at work today and got home at 8, having left at 6.45. Need my bed. Sorry to all I've missed, good sleep and good cheer to you all, much love and I'll look in tomorrow.

Morning,

I am shattered. Dylan decided to wake at 10 to 1 and wake up Freddie in the process. Freddie was ok and just laid in his bed quietly but Dylan was awful. He had 2 6oz bottles and still refused to sleep. Eventually at half 2 he fell asleep. Still woke us up at 6 though!!!

I did think now he was cruising around the furniture and taking teeny steps he would sleep but no. Must win Lotto and hire a sleep person.

Hope you are all well. I'll catch up when I am awake.

Oh and RIP Patrick Swayze

Oh how sad I knew Patrick was unwell with Cancer but so sad to wake up to the news this morning. As a Dirty Dancer teen he was a massive teen crush of mine. But I also thought he played a brilliant part in Donnie Darko a really difficult part that he did perfectly.

Kayz, Sorry about bad sleep. I think they are all having growth spurts as well as teething. DS2 woke up a couple of times for feeds and with sore teeth.

Syb sad your having troubles at home (and a seriously long commute) miss you when your not here so do pop in. I promise if we end up going to the Netherlands I'll come down for a London meet up.

Don't worry about me Veggie, I'm a tough old thing and am going to be fine . Just experiencing a little local difficulty with the husband over the practicalities o having 3 under 5 and not much cash. Everyone is calmer this week so things are much easier.

Poor Patrick Swayze. He had been ill for such a long time and was very brave. "No one puts Baby in a corner". May he rest in peace.

Ha ha that's the line I keep remembering too. Oh and Floyd the chef died too.

A v quick post to say that DD LOVES corn on the cob - thanks for the tip (Veggie I think ). The only way I can persuade her to relinquish one piece is to hand over the next piece - she's a chain cobber!

Sybil glad to hear you're happier this week

Effie the wine sounds. We have a litre of sloe gin maturing, its currently a very pale rose colour ... Mmm, can't wait.

Will catch up properly later x

A v quick post to say that DD LOVES corn on the cob - thanks for the tip (Veggie I think ). The only way I can persuade her to relinquish one piece is to hand over the next piece - she's a chain cobber!

Sybil glad to hear you're happier this week

Effie the wine sounds. We have a litre of sloe gin maturing, its currently a very pale rose colour ... Mmm, can't wait.

Will catch up properly later x

Oops didn't mean to post twice. And oops again, meant to say Effie's wine sounds great (but you can add any adjective in the gap in my sentance)

Evening all. DH passed his exam hooray!! If we go to holland he won't actually need it but he is thinking he might do a 3 month contract back here when this Dutch thing is finished (if he gets it) while the DS's and I head home.

Tomorrow is D day so by this time tomorrow we will know what is happening. It will be so good to know as we have been in a kind of limbo waiting to see what we will be doing in a few months time.

My mum called today, there is a bit a who har going on back home at the moment because my niece is coming to visit and as her parents are divorced and do not speak trying to sort the logistics is getting tricky. Also my brother is a little unhappy because he is not completely happy with her coming over for so long and also when her step brother is due to be born. But knowing my brother he would also be quite happy for her to come and knows it's a good opportunity for her. However my mum likes to over dramatize things and like to embelish information when she is gossiping relating a conversation. Her particular favourite thing to do is it add her own thoughts and opinions on situations but pretend the other person said it. She doesn't realize that we all worked this out years ago, and I enjoy calling her bluff on it. Today I had a great time, and completely freaked her out because she was saying 'oh your brother is not happy at all about he going for so long and said you may not even be there because your always all over the place anyway' this is a dig at the fact that we go away a lot, either with DH when he goes somewhere interesting for work or just away for weekends or holidays. I know my brother wouldn't assume I was going to go off and leave my niece. So I said 'well that's an odd thing to say, I'd better give him a call and speak to him about that' she got such a shock and started back peddaling, bless her.

She kind of made out that she had had an extensive conversation with my brother about it but later on stuffed up by being surprised when I told her she was coming for 8 weeks as she has thought she was only coming for 2 so had clearly not spoken much to my brother about it. Unfortunately I then realized I'd fallen for her other trick of giving away information about something by assuming the other person knows about it. My brother doesn't get on well with my mum so tends not to talk very deeply with her so I should have known he wouldn't have discussed much with her.

ZJ DS2 is like a dog protecting a bone when he is eating corn on the Cobb. I have started giving him yoghurt sometimes for dessert. However, he will only eat from the spoon if I give him the spoon and I have to feed him with 2 spoons as when he has sucked all the yoghurt off one spoon another one has to be readyand waiting full of yoghurt or there will be a whole load of trouble. He is crazy when he eats sometimes I think if I don't get my fingers out of the way when he's feeding I'll lose them.

Hi again, catching up now as promised.

Lal what a bummer you were ill on holiday, but at least you got to enjoy some of it

I wish I was the tooth fairy in your house Trace, getting all those gifts. How was the run?

Great to hear from you Spot, your post was lovely to read, it made me smile

Veggie DD likes to scoop the yogurt of the spoon & then lick it off her hands - nice! If I'm clever I can swoop the spoon in & out of mouth extra quick, but more often than not I fail

DD clapped today, proper clapping with flat palms, not just bashing her hands as she waves her arms. And it was in public, so I was very proud of my show off baby!

hello all - had the lovely millpond lady round today (normally they only do telephone consultations, but we live around the corner from them, so they did a face to face for no extra (i should bloody well hope not) cost). we are on a plan this week to get madam off the boob both straight before bedtime and during the night. it is a very gradual approach which really suits us. we were scared she would advocate the cc approach, but she said no way for a child this young and so dependent on teh boob. one thing at a time. it's just shifting things around in our bedtime routine, like giving the majority of the feed downstairs, then v quiet bath (had previously been a bit of a fun fest), then small amount of boob then sleep. next week we reappraise and carry on. gulp.

re: patrick swayze - my mum died of pancreatic cancer, so feeling a little out of sorts. i mean, it is great that these celebs get so much attention, but that really should refract to the other hundreds of thousands of normal unceleb people who are still suffering, without money, recognition, anything. i wish she were here, but again i can't imagine how our lives would be if she were. sad.

madam is doing everything in her power to stand - it is hilarious and delightful and scary. she is still one of the most expressive babies i've met. hurrah for madam.

anyone else's display gone into bold? everyone's posts are now in bold. is it my crazy computer, or new mn?

No same here WG all in bold here too. I know what you mean about the media thing with Patrick Swayze, I've been surprised that the news coverage etc hasn't mentioned anything about pancreatic cancer like the signs or where to go for support if you have cancer etc. I kinda thought they could have wheeled someone in from a cancer charity possibly to at least get some promotion for them. Instead they've just gotten sound bites from other celebs.

I'm yet again impressed by the sleep ladies. Like Arti's lady they seem to go for a baby focused approach, you seem really happy with it which is great. Are you feeling good about it now WG, you seemed a bit almost unsure that you should. I say well done.

And hooray for clapping and standing attempts.

WG I saw your FB post earlier and the line that said 'Patrick Swayze, Alan Bates, my mum' really moved me. I completely agree with Veggie that it seems a shame and a missed opportunity not to get some info out there. Another friend of mine has posted a photo on FB today with the comment 'DD's tribute to Patrick Swayze' - the photo is her beautiful and smiley baby girl wearing a bib saying 'nobody puts baby in the corner' - I loved that!

I'm v interested in how your DD reacts to the sleep plan - she sounds very much like my DD (having a little too much fun in the bath, and having the boob last thing before going into the cot), I have however introduced a story between the boob and bed (as long as she doesn't fall asleep on me first), which is seeming to be ok. Although not stopping her waking in the night. Oh, and Veggie, I'm pleased you mentioned a growth spurt - I couldn't work out why DD was going food crazy during the day and milk crazy at night last week, but that was probably the answer.

Forgot to report earlier that I've sorted out a nursery place for DD today - she's going for one afternoon a week until I decide what to do about work. I think (hope) it will do her good to spend a little time away from me, increase her confidence, and also settle her there until she has to go more often - and I chose that nursery because they suggested that an afternoon off each week would be good for me, and I could get my hair done or treat myself to a massage (obviously there were other good points about the nursery too!) However not working at present, plus paying the nursery fees, plus paying for a hair cut or massage each week could become financially unviable ...

Ok, going to bed now, because in the last hour I seem to have developed a cold. Contemplating a dose of night nurse, but I know if I do I won't be able to get up if DD needs me and DH is away. Night everyone

Hi!

It's BOLD here too!
Yay WG that sounds so good with the sleep ladies. Sounds like they really work with you and Madam which is the only way it will work. Really hope it brings your family some precious zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs!
syb so lovely to hear you're sounding a bit brighter.
And Spot hurrah for your Brighton plans and your happy baby . And don't apologize for sounding smug - it didn't sound smug at all it just sounded like a proud, happy mummy enjoying her son

Invis any job news?

Another night of minimal sleep here...hey ho...there's always the next night...!

I actually really enjoyed my little run last night and my friend and I are going to go again very soon. really. we are. She's pregnant with her third so I hope when she gets to far on to run that I will stay motivated

anyway...this going to work thing takes up so much time! I feel like I've barely any time just to catch up with life at the end of the day, but I guess I'll find a way as I learn the job and settle in. So it's bed time for me.

nighty night.

Hello everyone,

I am back from Turkey. We had a lovely two weeks. The first night did not bode well as we arrived on a plane containing the very worst specimins of Brits abroad, they were truley horrible and it turned out many of them were staying in the same resort as us. This was a big shock as last time I had been there it was a tiny undiscovered fishing village and in the intervening years it turns out it had changed into little England. For our first meal we were offered Fish and Chips or a Sunday Roast with Girls Aloud playing us through our meal - there was no sign of the yummy Turkish dishes I was craving. As a result our holiday was quite different than the lounging by the pool experience we had planned. I could not do it, I could not stay there. So we hired a car and everyday we explored the local area. We found tiny rural villages and unvisited ruins and gorgeous bays with only one or two small fish restaurants. Because I speak some Turkish we were welcomed everywhere and got invited to dinner in villagers' houses and taken on trips on their boats. It was lovely and I did not miss the lounging one bit! Both girls were great although DD2 cut several new teeth (she has 8 now) and started to crawl (backwards only) so she was slightly off her game for a couple of days.

Enough about me. I am very much enjoying scanning through all your news.

Firstly I was soooo happy to read about your brother's prognosis Poison. I am sorry that the joy of that news was no doubt diluted by the death of your friend though. I do hope his funeral will be cathartic. When my mum died I totally threw myself into funeral planning and I found it really helped. I still watch the video of her funeral sometimes - it was quite an event: orstrich feather lined coffin, three eulogies (one by Mum herself...), dancing in the church, white doves at the graveside. I digress, but I am pleased for you and your brother.

Second, I wanted to show my at D's walking Kayz and at Bisou's J following suit. I cannot believe how early they both are. You will both be super fit soon with all the running around.

Third, I am not sure what emoticon to use to react to the behaviour of LadyT's employers. I am glad you are pleased they have offered redundancy LadyT - it is so like you to be positive about it all. Did you manage to negotiate a better pay-off (sorry if I missed that, I was skimming)? I do hope you did. Anyway chin-up, I saw your Facebook status tonight and I do hope you aren't too down - you have a long way to cartwheel before you become a bench!

Fourth, I am on tenterhooks waiting to hear if you are off to Holland Veggie. Would you like to live there with the kids for a bit? I know its a great job oppurtunity for your DH but are you also excited about it from your own perspective?

Fifth, I am thrilled that Millponds have taken a helpful approach with you WG. I hope they get Madam sleeping soon. My DD1 sounds so much like your Madam - she was a total boob fiend too, like you I never knew when a feed was over, in fact no feed ever really was. I have found feeding DD2 a totally different experience as she has no time for hanging around on the breast. Having felt rapped by DD1's feeding I now miss the long cuddles and quiet times with DD2!

Right, there were so many more people I wanted to mention but my brain is so tired. I know I wanted to say to Lal/Urbane that I am very glad you are feeling better after your scary holiday experience - being ill abroad is, in my opinion, ten times more scary than at home. You poor thing.

Oh and Trace I am really pleased that you are enjoying the new job.

Now I must crawl off to bed. I have a full day at work tomorrow and need a fresh mind. Its also our first day with the new nanny and I am very nervous about how DD2 will settle. xx

Really should go to bed, just thought I'd have a look at 'that Mitchell & Webb look' soooooo funny, now can't get off the couch.

I'm quite excited about going over there Arti, although I've just today realized I will not know anyone over there, well we know one guy vaguely through a friend. Oh and the ladies I've recently met on a MN thread I started about living over there.

Ooh I think I just saw your DH WG.

Morning,

This is the only thread that is bold for me, maybe we're special!!

Dylan decided 4am was a good time to get up I am shattered. Plus I am sick of people telling me that if he was in a routine during the day he would sleep. He is in a routine that he sticks too 99% of the time.

Hope you are all well.

Kayz I'd put your fingers in your ears when people start trying to tell you what will work 'better' for your family. What do they know?!!! You're raising 2 gorgeous boys fantastically

I'm taking P swimming this morning with a friend and her dd (my preg running friend). I don't like swimming (or getting wet unless it's a very hot shower!) so I definitely need encouraging to take her otherwise I will end up with 2 little water-phobes like me. I feel quite guilty that I never take Lucy so I have no doubt hindered her because some of her friends can swim and she never gets the chance. Bad mummy. So it's good that I'm going this morning. Although I'd rather stay in my warm house drinking lemon tea.

I have a mega headache today that woke me up in the night and refuses to go. grrr. I have tried eating a huge chocolate chip cookie but it hasn't worked yet

P was awake loads again...tonight is a new night...this too will pass

right am off to start a thread on how socks are ruining my life.

catch you all later xxx

Oh goodness so glad your there Trace, I'm so nervous and excited I'm gonna wet myself, DH is literally minutes away from the office in Amsterdam where he'll meet with the boss guy over there. We have been texting each other constantly, he is really nervous too. He's had a few interviews since being made redundant and has been cool as a cucumber for them all, and in fact has been offered jobs as a result of all of them but this one is so going to change our lives and is such an amazing opportunity personally as well as professionally that he is all nervous and a bit spooked bless him. DS2 is having a long sleep and I should be tidying the house but I'm just too excited, I've had my coffee and had a chat to the girl I'm doing the BF support group with and tried reading this weeks nursing times (I only ever read the job ads to see which ones I could do if I was so inclined), but now I'm beside myself and can't concentrate.

Kayz just nod at people who say that and say 'oh thanks for your advice, that will really help your right' then give them the bird when they walk off. I know there is mystical thing called a routine but I'm buggered if I've worked out how to get a baby into one. I think eventually they get themselves into one. As long as your not completely chaotic like get up at 6 am one day and them 1 pm the next and leave them 3 days with out feeding surely they will be ok won't they. I put DS2 down to nap when he looks sleepy and that tends to be around the same time each day. Is that a routine.

Trace you make me giggle. You and I are so so opposite I bet we would make great friends. I would worry about the swimming. A friend of mines 2 girls were never into swimming when they were little we used to take her 2 (who were older than DS1) and DS1 to the pool together. DS1 would be swimming and splashing about happily while her 2 would be wanting to get out and go back to the changrooms, desperately afraid of getting their face wet. Now they have both started school and part of their sports thing in summer is swimming lessons and they both live swimming. I think it really helped that their mum, while she was worried they would never like swimming (she is Aussie married to a POME) never berated them or forced them to swim she just went with it and eventually they have started to enjoy it.

Oh my Amazon order just arrived I ordered some books for DS1 and also Lady's late DH's book. I'm gonna read it then send it to a friend back home who is a mad cricket fan.

oh dear I just read through one of the books I got for DS1 it's called Love you forever, I'm glad I read it once before I read it to him because I'm in tears now, at least I'm prepared but might wait a few days til I read it to him. I also got the book no matter what, recommended on MN, might not read it today.