December 2007 - Not Quite Two, Already Terrible ;)

[claraquack]

Just checking that this worked....

oh wow congrats cazzy! 4 DDs - how lovely Hope all went well and you are feeling fine and enjoying her!

buzzy - so pleased to hear DD is doing ok considering, and that you had such a lovely day. It will be a long road but with you and her sister and her granny I'm sure she'll get through it

hi clara [waves - seeing as you are just down the road rather than across the seas]. That is a great idea to look into counselling. I know I don't know you or anything but you strike me as someone who would be really good at it!

clairey - glad you had such a lovely time with your friend, and well done on the mammoth journey!

Speaking of mammoth journeys, we are just back from a week in Scotland - 13 hours there and 12 on the way back. It was comedy bad - all three DC got chicken pox, all had awful diarrhea on the car journey there [stopping every 20 mins for DD, cleaning explosive poo off car seats for DSs], we hit a kerb and burst two tyres on the way (at midnight), we were supposed to stay at my mum's house en route but got there and realised we had brought the wrong keys (she was already in Scotland).... suffice to say it was NOT the relaxing holiday we envisaged... but SOOOO good to be home!

Potty training - we tried DS for a day before we went on holiday - 5 wees in pants, 1 poo in pants, 0 anything in potty/toilet - so we decided to wait a few more weeks/months. Thing is he REALLY wants to be out of nappies but I just don't think he is ready. He always looks completely startled when a wee comes out!

beckle - hope you enjoy the photography course, and your day away from the DC!

Beckle - just bored of it and fancied a change!

We've tried and failed again to cut DS's hair. He just screams every time we go near him with the clippers or scissors. I just despair - it is hanging in his eyes, going to have to try and trim it when he is asleep. Also he still won't brush his teeth he did a couple of times and is now point blank refusing again. Tried everything, bribery the works he won't do it.

I keep telling myself it'll get better once he is out of this toddler phase. Fortunately he never gets sweets and it is one thing I am utterly precious about is I won't allow other people to give him sweets or sugary drinks. And I don't plan to until he starts brushing his teeth on a regular basis. He does still get chocolate but even that I am cutting down on, don't buy for him and I don't encourage other people to either - after meals and that is it!

So I am both crap and mean

where is everyone????

BT - how is that crap or mean? Caring and responsible I would say!

Hello,
Don't have anything to say really...

Skid that sounds like an absolute nightmare journey, poor you.

Have painted dc room, even managed to fill holes, take wardrobe doors off and rehang them all by myself (although wc did have to use brute force on one of them to get it to close properly after I'd rehung it...)

Last week H tried to cut ds' hair, fecking disaster, really uneven with bald patches, some long bits, some short. Friend came over to fix it for me but the only way we could get it vaguely even was to givehim a no1 all over He looks quite cute I suppose, at least in a sponsor a child or children's hospital type way.

Beckle I was in John Lewis earlier and they have some gorgeous winter dresses for little ones, made me think of you and Evie.

Hey all, I'm here too!

CONGRATs Cazzy!!! :) :) :)

Wow skid that does sound up there in the awful journey stakes. Have you go the new place organised yet?

Beckle, how was the photography course?

BT and clairey, hair cutting is notoriously bad with toddlers. At least with girls its pretty much OK just to let it grow. DD2's is almost long enough for a pony tail now, I just trim her fringe as best I can...

Clara - how was the London night out? - I'm jealous!! Re counselling, have you considered specialising in counselling for children going through grief? I took DD1 to one who specialises in this area last Friday and I do think it helped her a bit - she said it made her feel sad but then afterwards said she's like to go back.

In fact, sitting here listening to DD1 practise her guitar. She's doing much better overall this week. Her father has skyped her twice now. The only problem being that she now expects to do this every evening! He's in Edinburgh apparently. She does seem a little less angry too - more tolerant of her sister which is making things better for me too.

Well done you clairey for the decorating! The things you do as a single parent eh? I'm feeling proud of myself too as I managed to cut a whole in a door and install a cat door. All part of a new strategy to manage our wily dog who has worked out how to get out of his enclosure and into the rest of the house - cue munched books and "presents" in the corner . So am going to try and limit his access to one room.

Is the weather still nice over there? Sounds like you've had a great summer.

Hi Buzzy,

We do get some periods of sunshine, but it is generally interrupted by rain.

Have been in Blackpool for a few days (hence no posting), and the weather was very mixed! Happily it didn't rain while we were out and about, just in the morning and overnight - it did mean we couldn't let the boys play on the green outside the caravan as it was far too wet, but we were able to do plenty. Saturday afternoon the weather improved lots and when we went in to Blackpool in the afternoon, and spent some time on the beach and on South Pier!

Buzzy glad to hear your dd is doing okay, I really hope her dad keeps up the regular Skype contact. It must be very hard on all of you.

Cazzy hope you and the rest of your family are enjoying your beautiful new arrival!

FO - well done on decorating. at your H's giving DS a haircut! Did you know he was going to do it? I think we have given up the whole haircut thing, I am going to try and trim his fringe when he is asleep though. He also hates having his hair brush or combed, so it is going to be tricky keeping it tangle free!

Oooh I meant to say Clairey. We took your advice on the Tangle Teezer and imported one from the UK by mail and its been a life saver for DD1's fizzy/curly hair!! I keep it in the car glove box and she does it on the drive to school!

Thanks for the congrautions ... should have come and told you guys but lost the thread.

Poppy is a doddle - very easy baby apart from myt blood pressure has gone sky high.. so on medeication which is does pass to breast milk so racked with guilt about taking medicine and breast feeding but figure that is better than formula (at least for the time being)

Poppy? What a gorgeous name! Sorry to hear about your BP - is medical advice to BF? Then surely it is OK? I suppose these things are always a matter of judgement as you can't ethically test the effect of BP medication on newborns! FWIW I would also think it was better to BF

clairey - well done on all the DIY, I am extremely impressed! But and re haircut. Hope DS wasn;t bothered at least?

buzzy - that is great your DD seems better and that her dad is at least making an effort. Hopefully it will turn out a lot better that anticipated

Is anyone with older DC finding the holidays a little challenging to put it mildly? Having 3 DC under 5 with no school to offfload stimulate them (albeit only 2.5 hours a day) is driving me insane. DD is such hard work atm, plus I am potty training DS1 (not bad at wees, yet to poo in an appropriate place!), plus DS2 has just started on solids and is waking all the time due to teething - aaaagggh. I am counting the days until DD starts school.

I agree with DrSkid the transmission rate into breastmilk will be very low. There actually very few meds where they say you mustn't breastfeed.

I like Poppy, very cute name :)

BT I am currently very disillusioned with BF - DS2 is EBF and still got chicken pox from his siblings - isn't that against the (BF) law??!

DrSkid - yeah DS got chicken pox too when he was 1, there was a bit of a epidemic in my area. The thing is I have never had chicken pox, so had no immunity to confer to him.

However a lot if my friends said their little ones were poorly, feverish, listless off their food and generally misarable, where as with my ds (the only one still being breastfed), if he hadn't been so spotty you wouldn't have known he was ill! Lucky for the big open green space 2 mins from my house where he could play without worrying about anyone near by to be infected!!

It totally suck when you babies don't seem to have all the benefits that bfing should bring, but there are other factors involved as well, such as genetics. All bfing does is reduce the risk over the population as a whole, not reduce it to zero for every breastfed child.

Yes you're completely right BT and DS2 was absolutely fine with it - so I think I will attribute that to BF! Glad your DS didn;t suffer with it either. I am not really disillusioned with BF - I think I just feel a bit foolish for blabbering on about how he wouldn;t get it and then he did

Skid, eek! That journey sounds terrible! 12+ hours in the car is bad enough with out the illness and other bad luck! We had a totally terrible journey down to Cornwall last week due to traffic (should have been a 7 hour journey but took 12), I think I would have turned around and come back had there been anything extra to deal with, well done you! I am also finding the holidays a bit challenging but mainly because DDs routine is totally wrecked with her brothers being home. Plus she is copying their arguing, and their annoying/pinching/hitting each other. And she just wants to play out with them too (and has been known to let herself out and go running off with no shoes on). I love the holidays but will be glad to get back to normal, 6 weeks in one go just seems to be too long a holiday for everyone! Oh, and DD got chicken pox while being BF (although she was 10 months so on solids too) but other than the spots she didn't seem to suffer with it and got through it much easier than her brothers did.

Skid & Buzzy, photography course was good thanks! I now know how to use my camera out of auto mode and how to adjust bits depending on light conditions etc so very pleased! I have also discovered that I find portraits easier to take than landscapes. It was very odd being without the children for the day - DH kept them very busy though taking them to a soft play place, pizza hut and then a friend's house. I was a bit annoyed though as he forgot to change DD's nappy all day but thankfully the friend he visited did it (she has a 2 year old too) while he was outside chatting to her H!

Buzzy, I'm glad DD1 seems to be doing a little better, it must be so hard for her Its good that she is willing to go back to the counsellor too, I'm sure it will help her understand it all. How's the dog getting on with the new house arrangements?! Oh, and weather here is mostly rainy! There are severe weather warnings out for the bottom of the country, Cornwall in particular (so glad I'm home now!). I'm sure we get our summer in April/May these days!

BT, no suggestions on the teeth thing, I always tell DD (and the DSs) that if she won't brush her teeth she'll have no sweet stuff the following day. If I need to I resort to laying her on my lap and just doing it for her. My DS1 never liked having his hair cut either, we used to shave it ourselves as he wouldn't even sit in a hairdresser's chair! Luckily the other 2 have always enjoyed a haircut.

Cazzy, hi! I am sure very very little of your BP medication passes through to your milk! I know you will feel bad anyway, I did when I was taking the mini pill whilst BF.

Clairey, I am in awe at your DIY skills! Even changing some of the light bulbs in our house is beyond me!

Right, off to check out John Lewis's website...

Cazzy, just re-read what I wrote and it hasn't come out quite how I meant it to sound! What I meant is that I think feeling guilty comes with the territory when you are a mother, you would feel bad if you didn't BF, you'd feel bad if you didn't take the meds and you feel bad because you are! If it wasn't safe you wouldn't be given it

Morning everyone. Just arrived back in St Lucia (yesterday) - up at 3.30am with jetlag this morning.....It's nice to be home but the heat is still awful so it's a bit depressing as we still have unpacking to do from the house move let alone from our trip to the UK but all I feel like doing is flopping in a corner.(I had forgotten about the mozzies as well.....)

Congratulations Cazzy! Did I read it right that you now have 4 girls? Wow - what does your dh think of that? Did you see that 4 Daughters versus 4 Sons programme? The father of the 4 girls just looked totally shell-shocked, as he sat there letting them make him up and paint his nails....I am sure the dr would have said not to breastfeed if the medication was likely to have any real effect so please don't stress about it.

Ugh to all those epic car journeys! I find 4 hours enough and we have a portable dvd player for the car and everything. Skid - what did you do when you got to the house and had the wrong keys, did you break in?

My dd's haven't had chicken pox yet and I actually wish they had and they had got it over and done with! What I don't want is for them not to get it at all in childhood as it's more worrying when you are pregnant if you never had it.

BT - you have my full admiration for resisting the sweets and sugary drinks for your ds. Perhaps it is because dd2 is the 2nd but I am ashamed to say I frequently resort to lollipops as bribes treats!

Buzzy - glad to hear your dd is coping with her dad being away. Are there plans for her to go and visit him? With the counselling - I haven't really thought much more than the initial one year course (which I need to actually apply for...) but would certainly be interested in working with children if that was an area I found an affinity with. Hope the puppy is starting to behave itself! By the way my night out in London was great - I met up with dh and his colleagues, including one dear friend, got very sleepy drunk on about 3 glasses of wine (I am such a lightweight!), ate Tapas, then the next day walked around all my old haunts and favourite parts of London like Westminster bridge, got lost in the Trafalgar Square maze, bought myself a new bag and shopped for presents for the dd's - and dh! - in Hamleys....

Beckle = the photography course sounds great and something I might think about when I get back as I am CRAP at taking pics even thought it is something I enjoy. I have no idea what all those little pictures on my camera mean....

BT - ah the toddler years! Actually one advantage of having an older sibling is that the younger ones do tend to copy them so I have found teeth cleaning not too bad but her sleep is a nightmare at the moment. We got in terrible habits while we were away as we moved about so much and she was - understandably - fairly disturbed by being in a different bed so frequently. So now we need to try and get her to sleep in her own bed, on her own, all night long....

Right HELLO to everyone else. Sorry this is such a scatty message. As usual trying to deal with requests to sit on my lap/watch me cycle outside/get me some juice etc as I type. If I have forgotten any important message I will be back later!

OH YES just quickly re holidays - we have TEN WEEKS here! Hence holiday school, then 4 weeks in the UK and I STILL have two weeks to fill! Am rather dreading the start of term though as dd2 got used to being with her big sister at summer school and is going to scream and cling to me when she has to go on her own.....

beckle - I read it as intended...anyway Poppy is doing fine and putting on weight - although she has thrush and so I need to take her to the docs!
What photography course did you do?

strandedatse - glad your back

Clara wow your time in the UK went quick Glad it is nice to be back there though.

Mine haven't had chicken pox either, dd has been exposed about 3 times and every time I've spent the next 3 weeks waiting for spots to appear but so far nothing.

Sick of grey wet weather

hi clara and welcome home. Glad you had a good time and that you're glad to be home despite the heat. I can imagine the thought of unpacking and being busy is awful in the heat. I reccommend you sit down, have a cold drink and do a bit of MNetting!

I saw that prog about having 4 girls vs. boys too - thought it was rubbish - assuming the dad with girls would really like a boy, and the mum with boys would like to have a girl - although maybe that's because I have been secretly fantasizing about having another girl.... MUST send DH off for the snip ASAP!

beckle - glad you enjoyed your photography course and that you had a whole day to yourself although at your DH forgetting to change DD's nappy all day!

Well news in skiddadle household is that DS1 is now completely out of nappies, day and night - yaaaay. He has been brilliant apart from holding in a poo for nearly 3 days but no accidents since day 2 or 3 and we are now on day 10 or so. So pleased I only have one lot of nappies to worry about now

Taking him to the opthalmologist (??) tomorrow to look at his eyes. I think he has a lazy eye, or maybe a squint - not really sure what the difference is - does anyone know? (impressive knowledge for someone whose research is on eye movements in children )

BT - re toothbrushing, I just hold DS down and brush his for him - has never really occurred to me to let him to it himself - do most 2 year olds brush their own teeth?

Hello everyone else

DrSkid - I think that is what I am going to start doing. I have tried before and he screamed blue murder.

I don't even let my 8 year old brush her own teeth - she has a go and then I do it!

Well Cazzy I think I am going to have to stop wimping out and go down that route.

Freaky - is your ds still into Pink? DS is now very into pink, he likes wearing his pink t-shirts, and we were looking through the Studio catalogue and he said he wanted a pink car, a pink teddy and a Miss Piggy towel!

How on earth do you brush your 2-yr-old's teeth? I couldn't get close...(think mouth clamped very shut) She does her own - admittedly not brilliantly but she has now had a dental check up and he was happy so I am not too worried!

Errrmm I think you need to start when the first tooth appeared.

I tried it, pinned him down, sort of brushed his teeth, and he went into utter hysterics so violent he threw himself off the bed
Took me about 15mins of cuddles to calm him down. He is now asleep in my bed as he insisted he had to sleep in mummy's bed!

He doesn't get sweets apart from the odd bit of chocolate and ice cream, he only drinks water and milk on occasion. He'll be fine...

I'm just too bloody soft with him :(