December 2006- Here's to pre-school newbies, business starters and twin survivers.

[Indith]

Oh go on then.

I'm rubbish at titles though but I bow down to Oli's cakes and supermum.

Party was nice. We only had 5 kids including my 2 and that was plenty!! The cake was a hit, will try to put up pics on FB sometime soon

Have upped my ADs recently as well. Just too much going on, feels a bit overwhelming atm.

first of our lo's to turn 3. Sigh. Soon it'll be school. They're getting bigger, is everyone going to drift away now? [sentimental emoticon]

funnily enough (although not really) I decided last night to get some ad's as realised I was yelling too much like Oli and it's been far too long now. Also crying every day. Is this just it for mothers, we're all overwhelmed, not coping and depressed. God. Castles posted Happy birthday on FB, I think she's on there more than here these days. I hope you'll start feeling better too, castles, how did gp visit go?

Still, the kiddies are lovable and cute and make us smile at least once a day? I particularly like ds2's amped up present list, we're all the way up to playdoh now woo-hoo. He just doesn't have a clue bless him!

And little elibean is 3 tomorrow, yes?

I'm sure I do smile at least once a day, particularly at the funny antics of ds2. It just feels like all of the pressure of the last two years is now crushing down on me and every new stumbling block is harder and harder to climb. Maybe if not so much financial pressure?? I know there are many, many people in the same boat and feel guilty complaining when we have at least some income coming in...

Ah well, I think I'll go have a second glass of wine

Happy birthday baby jabber and baby bean

am on fb much more these days.

Am never, ever on FB these days, am clearly missing a lot! Just no time.

'Baby' bean is currently pretending to zap jellyfish with a torch, rushing round the kitchen to the music of her mad yellow singing duck ('walking on suuunshine'}, in the grumpiest mood ever, and I'm hoping its just post-viral grump and not 3-year old development

But she had a lovely morning, and a lovely party on Saturday (I had a head full of cement, its a blur) and says happy birthday to 'baby' Jabber and all her fellow 3 and nearly 3 yr olds. She just about got over a fluey cold in time to enjoy it all.

I think this is the gloomiest, most tiring, most stressful time of year and I blame it for a lot of our collective blues...along with a dozen other factors, but still, UGH to the dark evenings.

We exchanged last friday, complete this friday, tis all crazily fast but I think its going to be good....eventually...

Aw, thanks for the kind thoughts. Sob. Am struggling on and not had a panic attack this week! Told several friends which made it feel like I had a little circle of mates looking out for me on the school/nursery run fiasco. The saying "Between me and insanity stand my friends" most definitely applies to me

Happy Birthday Baby Bean!

Sorry to hear you have had to resort to ADs Oli & AQ I hope they do the trick for you both though. Must say if it wasn't for the weight gain and loss of libido (in my case) I'd be on them forever!! As Eli says, this time of year is not good when it comes to mental elf.

AQ ((hugs)), I feel better just for making the decision to get the tablets, tbh. More in control and so more able to

Castles, I actually lose weight on ADs so that softens the blow of having to go back on them - I'm hoping they'll kick start me losing the stone and a bit I've put back on with all the stress of the last few months.

Jabber, you've had an awful lot to deal with over the last couple of years, it's not surprising you're dipping a bit. Thank goodness for the happy pills, eh? Looking forward to seeing the pics of ds2's cake...........

Eli, tis definitely partly the time of year in my case. If I had half an hour everyday to sit with my head in a light box then I'd get one but with 3 dcs, housework, cakes and MN(!) to fit in it's just not going to happen. Glad DD2's party was good and she wasn't poorly for it. Hooray for exchanging contracts - are you actually moving in on Friday or are you taking your time?

AQ ((hugs)), I feel better just for making the decision to get the tablets, tbh. More in control and so more able to deal with the dcs without totally losing the plot over trivial things.

Not sure what happened to the end of that sentence in my last post .

aww, bless little bean Are you moving soon Eli, I had thought you said spring but what are you doing in the meantime?

castles, that's great no panic attacks for a few days, is that dh being around as well? I hope this is beginning of things improving for you, I really do!

oli, you sound so much like me about it all (minus cakes!). Hope the tablets themselves will also help but I do know what you mean. I blew up again (out of nowhere) tonight, the whole to-do list for birthdays/xmas is just getting to me and I think about that all the time instead of the kids. Plus dp and I are seriously moving house early next year if we can, possibly renting ours to make life easier. It's not ideal timing as I'm back at work in Jan too, but we've got to move esp if ds1 will have to change schools (eeek). Eli is dd changing schools because of your move? DP & I would both like to move out of the area but worried about impact on him esp as I suspect all the change of last few years has been responsible in some way for his soiling.

Must go do tesco order!

who is next in birthday list? ds2 isn't until the 6th of December, I'm giving invites out at nursery on thurs, hope a few of his little friends can come. Even if he never mentions them!

DD not until the 28th, same for Oli's DS

Must be Indith's DD's 1st birthday pretty soon - DS turns 1 in 6 weeks! How quickly that year has gone.

Hope all those feeling blue start to feel better soon. I'm going through a low patch too, I think it is the time of year for sure. Dark nights, and the cumulative exhaustion of the year plus the manic build up to birthdays and Christmas. Why do we all breed at this time of year??

6 weeks, Lenni, eeeeek. Is he walking now? DS3 I'm sure is going to do it properly tomorrow, can't wait for the look on his face when he realises. He spent all day doing 3/4/5 steps. I get so excited when they walk!

I think indith's dd was early december wasn't she, gosh I can't keep track.

how's things, any more jobs pop up?

Anyway, I'm not breeding again and that's official!

Yes, another job has come up but it is totally perfect, one of those too good to be true scenarios so I won't say anymore in case I curse myself.

I seem to remember D arriving near Christmas - am sure it was after my friend had her 11lb 4oz baby on the 19th as remember Indith being suitably disgusted with me for mentioning it in her heavily pregnant state

Don't think I'm breeding again either! And no walking yet - but he is definitely thinking about it as of today. Think he'll be a few weeks yet though. Well done DS3 - get your phone ready to video him! So so cute when they wobble through their first steps.

23rd December

Dd not walking yet but with the clapping, waving and talking I'm kept nicely excited

Happy belated birthdays to baby jabber and minibean.

Fantastic news on the job front Lenni! Hope it all works out this time.

You are all so aware of your dips and ad needs and so good at keeping things in check. I am going to be inspired and make myself get a GP appointment to chat about PND. 11 months on and I am still not right, I'll manage a good week but then it is followed by 2 or 3 bad ones where I spend all my time snapping at ds and generally avoiding interacting with either of them (so no surprise they get grotty and I end up snapping really ). Of course they make me smile a lot, they can be so sweet, and the days when I catch myself and go do something are good. The other day I realised I was sitting in the middle of a bomb site shouting at the children so we went out for a walk, took a path we had not yet been up and ended up squelching through mud and going up the hill so we could see down the other side of the valley and it was lovely.

Dd been teething like mad poor girl. She is over her cold though so hopefully once the tooth is through we can have a go at her sleep again.

Thomas time! I promised ds.

Hello, Hello

I know its months that I posted, but that doesn`t mean I´ve forgotten you all! Hope I´m not blacklisted

Just wanted to say "Hola" and send "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" wishes to all our LOs with birthdays coming up, I know I´ve already missed Lucy´s DS, hope I haven´t missed anyone else!

Hope you and LOs are all OK and life is mainly good for you all....

I´m still stuck in Spain (ho, hum) DS1 goes to "school" now every day although I do my best not to take him back for the non-optional afternoon session, already had a few run ins with the Teacher over this who is totally inflexible, no exceptions even for being the youngest in his class and still wondering if I should take him out all together...anyway...

DS2 just turned 6 months and is adorable (of course) and I should have more free time but don´t seem to

Off back "home" for a few days at the wkend for my Birthday on Sat when I shall be 36 how did that happen??????

Love to you all and I promise to pop back in again before Christmas

PS: Oli just saw your cakes on FB and they are AMAZING, I am truly in awe

Hi Bebespain!

Thnk I might be next: DD2 is 3 on Monday (30th Nov)

Happy bithday los!

I'm to see that depression is looming once again, Castles, Jabber, AQ and Oli. I saw my Aunt who's recently been diagnosed and I am really crappy at support. I felt I avoided subjects and felt, because she didn't tell me directly, that I couldn't ask her how she was coping. She appreciated the lowdown on "lazytown" from DD1 and they were both attempting to do the splits which made us both . They were both well behaved which I felt made the visit a bit more enjoyable for her.

Hi Castles! (waves enthusiastically)

Welcome back bebe!

A better day today - so far, lol. I have tomorrow off since it is Thanksgiving here and am hoping for a nice day with extended family

Tomorrow is my last out-of-town Friday! I'm thinking that the less commuting I do the more it will help things in general.

I promise to get on FB soon and look at/post pics

Someone slap me please.

Friend came round, made her a coffee, it started raining so I went to get her pushchair in as she was holding her dd. I put the coffe down on the table and of course next thing I know dd is screaming haivng pulled the cup over She is ok, had to go to A&E as it blistered but thankfully it has all gone down other than the bit around the blister so she just has a dressing on it and we have to go back Friday to have it checked.

I just feel so guilty

Oh, indith, it's just an accident, please don't beat yourself up about it! Poor little dd, but she'll be fine, they're so resilient.

ds3 did walk today, oh bliss. However, I now have to take my newly walking baby to Ikea tomorrow arggggh. Have to go, mum & I are braving it with them and I am just about to pack a mountain of snacks!

glad you had a better day, jabber, enjoy thanksgiving!

hullo bebespain, so glad the first months eased off for you and you're enjoying two!

Hello Bebe (blacklisted?! what are you like...)

Indith, poor you and poor dd, and I agree with AQ: accidents happen, all the time, to all of us, don't beat yourself up! My neice fell down the stairs on Monday night and was concussed - accidents DO just happen, and you're a lovely mum!

AQ, not moving till spring as tied in to rental...so will use time to attempt building work (extension) without living in the rubble. Good, really. No, same area, no school move...but several of dd1s friends have moved area this past year, and from all I can see/hear the kids are fine as long as the parents are happy about the move. Where were you thinking of heading off to?

Rushing off, not really had time to catch up properly but am aiming seasonal hugs and light-beams at all who aren't hug or light averse! Sooo badly need to sleep (one of those bone-tired head colds)....

ps congrats to AQs walking dd!

Indith things happen to all of us. It's just not possible to watch them all of the time. I'm glad it wasn't too bad.

Congrats to AQ's ds3! Wow, they are all growing so fast. I can't believe we have a whole second set toddling around.

eli, that sounds like an excellent plan. We did something similar with the house before this one - although it was 6 weeks of work just to make it livable

Thank you (even though nobody slapped me)

Dd is crabby today after a dreadful night but she also has a new tooth (finally!) so I suspect taht had a lot to do with it!

Hello bebe and yay to a walking ds3 for AQ.

THanks Jabber, hope so - we completed on it this morning!

Congrats to Indith's dd on tooth gaining (ironically, dh came home last night from dentist minus one large molar - was infected/cracked, ugh - clearly at the other end of the tooth cycle . dd1 is fascinated and keeps wanting to look in his nouth with a torch).

Hope everyone has a good weekend...I'm making a huge resolution to try not to get overwhelmed with Christmas/school/birthdays 'stuff' and to make sure I get one hot lazy bath in which to think about what I want for Xmas (can be utterly unrealistic), this weekend: anyone care to join me?!

Metaphorically speaking, obviously, not in the tub