May '09 - We've had our first tooth!!

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Here we are, in honour of baby O and the first tooth through.

llare I understand. I've got a soft sopt for slightly greying middle aged men

bedtimes The 1st 2.5m of C's life any bedtime with the 3 C was crying. So I used to have her crying next to us while trying to read the bedtime story etc... v. stressfull. Luckily now she's considerate enough to demand to be asleep by 7, while the others have a bedtime of 7.30. So she's asleep while I do them. Perfect. She did have a little wobble last week, but this week we seem to be back in sink, phew. Oh and I do the letting the other watch telly/play on the computer while putting c to bed too.

momi Don't worry about shouting at the dcs. We all do it sometimes. We all get stressed and tired and sometimes it just gets too much. Mums are only human . If it's balanced out with plenty of cuddles your dcs will forgive you almost anything!

That criminal justice programme has got me intregued too. Hmm, I think I'm going to make good use of our new BT vision package this week and watch Flashforward and CJ on demand.

Tummum I too worry about the little toys lying around the house. The good thing about moving house though is that I got to rearrange everything and all the lego, polly pocket (even tinier shoes than barbie) etc... is now upstairs in the dcs bedroom. It's the only room on the 2nd floor, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep C away from them fairly easily.

OK. Time for C's nap. Time to put my new action plan in action. Wish me luck and wish C a lovely long nap

reebee We did self hire, but we do have the luxury of being able to do the move over a longer time. All the essentials were brought over in 1 huge van driven by DH and packed by me, but anything else is brought down bit by bit whenever he goes up to the old house to do bits of work and get it into selling condition.
I think £650 doesn't sound too bad. I had expected a bit more. It also takes the stress out of moving a little if all the packing gets done for you.

ReeBee we did self-hire the last few times we've moved, but first time I moved from south Wales to here with just my clothes as I sold my flat with contents included. It was very satisfying but also strange to lock the door on my possessions but it did mean we started married life without two of everything!

Second time around we moved from a teeny tiny house so we did it very easily. We also moved less than a mile and without children. If we ever were to move again then I'd pay someone else to pack me up and move, most definitely! Particularly if they had a magic wand would would unpack it all too.

DS2 has fallen asleep in his bouncy chair listening to my new Madonna album. I was pegging out the washing so ignoring listening to his grumbling and he fell asleep. I must remember that and not rush to pick him up.

Right, back to the cleaning. It never ends!

ree, I agree with Belgian - £650 doesn't sound too bad considering the monumentous task.

thanks both also for reassurance re shouting. i think it's the words that i've carelessly used (eg stupid, dumb, etc) that bothers me most. i don't want the DDs ever to think they are any of those adjectives. means i also have to watch when i call myself these things after doing something careless. i picked it up from my dad who always seemed to think he was worthless, bless him. i will keep trying.

today is nursery day, phew. It's beautifully sunny but very fresh and we've just got back from a lovely dog walk. later, taking dd1 to a preschool visit. i hate taking her out of nursery but i think it will be good for her to get a bit of space from her outgoing liitle sister.

be back later.

EEEEK, Just went in to check if C was still asleep (she is) and I discovered the cat was with her . Luckily she was just on the foot end of C's sleeping bag, but still. It gave me a bit of a scare. I've now closed the door properly, I had it adjar to listen out for C as the baby monitor had switched itself off and getting it back on means going upstairs in the bedroom and faffing about and I didn't want to wake C.

momi I understand what you mean with the words bothering you. You'll have to learn to take a breath and shout random more inocent words instead . I've gotten quite good at swallowing my words. But then comes school... DS has taken to shouting out 'what the F...' since he started school here. The funny thing is that he really just says f... I bet he doesn't know what the full word is supposed to be

dandy That was/is C's problem. Well, I'm on day 1 of my new napping plan, which is a softly softly approach to getting her out of my arms or the sling and into her cot and she's been asleep for over 2h now. Unheard of with her! She's asleep in a halfwap place now (the darkened bedroom, but not her cot) and so far so good. The no cry nap book. I'd definitely recommend it. It's not a prescriptive book, but has lots and lots of useful tips for all manner of napping problems.

Afternoon all, what's been happening then?

Dandy I am certain you are more than intelligent enough to post on any topic on MN! I don't post on the more controversial topics partly because I'm not as witty or succinct as many posters, but also because I can usually see both sides to a story and tend towards mercy rather than judgement.

I've got a hell of a lot from MN, in fact sometimes I worry about sounding like a know-it-all in front of some friends because of all the info and experience I recount from here. I'm sure I would have found pregnancy and raising H much more stressful without it.

Naps... Belgian if you find away of extending C's naps please let me know! Dandy one of my NCT friends has a baby who won't nap (and nor did her elder sister). I hate to say it, but I think it's the luck of the draw. It's probaby because your H is too bright and interested in the world to sleep The only thing you could possibly try (if you want to) is tiring him out. The rhythm time and baby sensory classes we do are a surefire way to knock H out.

grumpy How's your time with DH going?

dandy The book has a good section about sleep cycles and sleepiness cues and what to do with an overtired child/how to prevent getting in the situation. I've realised that I've got to organise my schedule around C's naps for a while until the problems have been sorted. She woke up about 30 min ago after a 2.5h nap. I don't think she's ever had a nap that long in her life and it was wonderful to hear her wake without crying and to be greated by a happy smiley baby instead of a grumpy one who's still tired. So day 1 is going well so far

Right off to get myself a new mobile. I've got no network coverage here with 3, I've cancelled my contract just now and I've got to send my phone back . So I need to have a look at a few new ones and I'm going pay as you go too. I like the look of the samsung toco. Well, what I really want is an iPhone but that's miles out of my budget. So the toco is also touch screen and seems to be OK for internet use etc... I'm going to have a look at it in rl now.

greated? greated? I meant greeted off course

Oh and dandy, I agree with spangle. You've got such a great way with words, you must be one of those well spoken, succinct posters she's talking about. I'm not like that, so I tend to just lurk rather than read, unless I feel strongly about something. I'm also very slow and by the time I've thought of something clever and interesting to say the thread has moved along 2 pages and my comment is way way behind

Hi everyone.

I am on day 2 of my 'Teach DS to self-sooth and sleep longer without being fed and /or rocked to sleep' and it's going remarkably well. Last night I gave him a dream feed and then he woke at 1 but I didn't feed him and after an hour of shushing/patting/ musical teddy he went back to sleep. He woke again for another hour at about 5 and I feed him at 6 as he didn't go to sleep but what an improvement from the 2 hourly feeds he was having!!

I am also keeping an eye on naps Belgian and Dandy and am planning my day around him for a bit so he can learn to fall asleep himself in the cot. Yesterday we had a lot of tears but today he has gone down for 2 naps with only about a minute of crying down.

DD hasn't napped the last 2 days but has slept 14 hours both nights so I thought it might be curtains for her nap time as she is 2 next month but she has gone to sleep today.

Its really hard to get anything done though but I hope to make it out the house this afternoon.

Sorry about the me me me post but the sleep issues have benn dominating my life so had to tell you all about it.

Criminal Justice Haven't watched it but saw an interview with the actress who used to be in shameless and it looked good. Hope to catch up on iplayer but not sure when I'll have time.

Momi IKWYM about feel inadequate at times. Its so stressful when they all want you at once and you are on your own. Make sure you recognise when things are going well (like your painting with DDs the otherday) and congratulate yourself on being a great mum and don't beat yourself up too much when you get stressed at them. Remind them when they had DCs!!!

Dandy Loved the ice cream place looks uber cool.

Sorry - I'm with Llare - I fancy Martin Shaw like mad!!! Fwar! And like Belgian, I too have a soft spot for dashing older greying men (unlike my lovely dp) - in fact I was VERY naughty a few years ago and, um, was, ahem, doing IT with a consultant at work. In his 60s I was the Sister on the ward at the time, and when he did his ward rounds we went off for crafty snogs in the lift. Very Holby City. The shame. It was amazing that scandal didn't leak......

Ahem. I'm a good girl really.....

Going back a page to see those links that Jennster and Spangle put on....

... and Momino I think you're a great mummy. I think everyone shouts at their children from time to time, don't feel bad. They'd forget it the next day. (and emptying the shampoo AND conditioner is silly, so you were perfectly correct in saying it was stupid, or whatever )

Me again. Love those songs! Never heard of Boris the Spider, but will get that on the list! I think the Monster Mash is already (cool video!) - can anyone else think of any other songs? Am thinking of getting the soundtrack to 'American Werewolf in London' - that had some good songs on.... trust me to leave all this till the last minute, I should have been planning this months ago!

Afternoon.

Got a few mins of MN time while DS1 is playing with his pal upstairs. I left the baby monitor on so I could evesdrop on them! SO far so good. They have been camping, and are now singing along to the Charlie and Lola music CD. If you have DCs who love C&L, I highly recommend the music CD. Its the only one that I could allow on in the car. Note could. That means I haven't but would if pushed!

reebee absolutely pay someone to do all your packing for you. Isn't moving one of the most stressful things so anything you can do (especially with a baby in tow) to relieve the stress, its got to be worth it.

momino hope you are ok,love. You are doing a fab job wiht 3 DCs. I wonder whether if we all had 10 DCs we would still feel like we were ready for motherhood?

spangle am with you on the hoping you don't sound like a know it all as a result of everything I've picked up on MN. How to make up formula, BLW, this new diet thing I'm on ( an MN recommendations), the running programme I have been doing. Its almost like MN runs my life! No advice on the naps though. I just wing it! R is asleep in his pushchair at the mo due to DS1demolishing
playing with his pal in his room. SO god knows how long he will or won't get as its only a matter of time before the Hotwheels is wanted or the Wii put on!

HAven't watched criminal justice from last night yet as DH was away so will wait for him to return. I was in bed by 9pm last night I was so tired. Sadly R didn't recognise my early night and woke at 10.30 for a bottle. Oh well.

Oh and saus did you get your PJ's??

Am bracing myself to go upstairs and see what DS has done. There was a lot of running around, thumping on the floor and giggling.

LadyH - not ventured out today - its pouring down! However, dp has a day off on Friday, so we're going shopping - hurrah! Told my Mum about said pj's and she was all huffy, all 'ooh, what's wrong with that pretty dress you bought her to wear' - FFS - she needs to wear jimjams!!!!!

OOOOH - dp gave me my wedding present last night - I said it was a bit early, but he wanted to just in case I was organising things - I am now a very proud owner of a pair of swanky diamond earrings!!!! Lalalalaaaaaaaa!

I've not seen criminal justice and now intrigued.. must set the box to record it along with the vampire thingy. i've been recording flash forward too but not watched it yet.

has been a day of chores today.. first thing I got a call from the estate agents about a couple wanting to view our apartment today at 4.30pm yay! but then looked around at the toysrus come chinese laundry style we were conveying and went eek! all pretty looking now and just trying to keep the toys contained this afternoon.

part of the reasons i'm not getting so much MN time is due to NS planning and research. also dh is hogging the laptop in the evenings for his revision. still on my phone atm and it's great for reading but posting takes aaaages. the NS plan is coming together though. my degree transcript has arrived and my history since age 18 is coming along. dh's still has a way to go but after his exam on the 13th we'll get cracking. we're aiming to get our application in by the end of the year.

sausage at your lift activities!

right posting this before i lose it all.

ooo and at your earrings sausage sowhataretheylike? details please so i can lust dream!

Afternoon all,

Fi your plans do sound like they're coming along, how exciting. Hope the viewing goes well.

Saus ooh how lovely, I love jewellery. In fact if I did my time over again, I would have done jewellery design and making.

ladyh hope that your DS hasn't been too naughty!

Momi Echoing what everyone else says, you are a fab mum

oooh greying men I too am a bit partial. Have a bit fo a soft spot for Michael Palin...

waves ay everyone eles

Went into work today and seems positive that they will accomodate my request for 3 days. In fact I might get a seconded job doing some non-classroom based stuff and one-to-one tuition until the summer which sounds quite good to me just got to put my request in writing now

sorry about typing got sleeping A in one hand

saus at your earrings. Good work Mr Sausage!

So, braved upstairs. NOthing broken just everything everywhere. Will be tidied up later when guest gone home. They are now watching Cars and having a bit of scran as lunch was rejected earlier. I tell you, its much easier looking after 2 of the same age than just 1. They have been entertaining themselves with limited imput from me, hence the MN time.