radical cross stitch, theological debate, Easter bunnies, changing bags,and a baby brother...it must be June 08!

[spongebrainbigpants]

Welcome to our new thread .

Hello everyone. Been trying to catch up. Amber, I'm sorry to hear about your results.

Sponge, this may be totally irrelevant, but B's first couple of months were pretty rough until silent reflux (i.e. no vomming) was diagnosed. I would happily hammer nails into the eyes of the HV who kept telling me he had colic. I wasted a fortune on dentinox, infacol, colycynth, etc etc. That first night after baby Gaviscon was revelation. Might be worth checking it out?

Had a bit of a rough week - I thought we might be on track with B's sleep at last when we had a few nights getting better each night, to the unprecedented night when he went from 8pm - 5am. With me lying awake convinced he was dead of course. And then it's all gone tits up again, with teeth and cold. This week has been the worst, one night he was awake and whingy for hours, another night he was only sleeping for an hour at a time. We are still sorting out house stuff (and will be for a while), and work is mad too. I was a zombie by Friday.

Essie, good luck!

Deb, enjoy your break when it comes - E will be fine.

Gotta go - Duplo time! Wave to everyone else.

Amber so sorry about your results. Sponge clearly knows her stuff.

Deb if you decide not to go away, I'll go for you . I'm madly jealous.

Essie good luck with the job interviews.

Whinegums how crap about the sleep thing. It's somehow worse when you've had a few decent nights isn't it?

Sponge glad you sound cheerier

All those with present grievances - one of the few advantages to being from a small family. I over-romanticise big families so a reality check does me good!

oooh, must really get organised about Christmas. I've been so excited about Advent (have a candle table wreath thingy, an advent calendar and an advent candle) and as we'll all be all over the place tomorrow I have planned a special breakfast and will wake everyone up at the crack of dawn to enjoy it together . But advent means Christmas is getting closer...

We just put our Christmas lights up . We are the first in the village which is slighly embarassing but the next door neighbours are putting up a huge outdoor decorated tree on Monday (her father is coming up to do it for her - slightly jealous) so we wont stick out as much.

After ten years of buying lovely thoughtful gifts for our nephews, our kids have never gotten anything. We're philosphical about it and are glad that we're saving the money now. On the other side of the family, my DB&DSIL and I have never (since we were adults) exchanged gifts and instead mail each other a decoration in early December. It's lovely now to have unpacked all the past decorations they've bought us and the house looks great. (Okay, the decorations look great, the mess hasn't changed).

whinegums where is B sleeping now? Is he in his own room?

sponge I think whinegums suggestion of gaviscon is a good one to try - especially as it's not medicine, just a milk-thickner derived from seaweed so it can't hurt to try with M. But our HV told us that the fact that we were using it with DS1 along with infacol was counteracting each other .

Yay Aberdeen! I'm half dreading put ours up because B just won't leave anything alone these days. He has also developed a right smirk when he's doing something he shouldn't, and if he gets told off, he comes and gives big kisses. The boy will go far....

That's lovely about swapping decorations. I don't even want to begin the rant about buying my nieces stuff and how crap my not D B and his DP are on the present front. This year I spotted that Littlewoods £25 off voucher and pressies on 3 for 2 at the same time, so that sorted my DNs. Still got all the other pressies to buy though.

Rolf, enjoy yourself tomorrow.

Yes, B is in his own room, but he's yet to spend a full night in there - usually starts off ok, but then goes downhill. I'm not up to sleep training at the moment - maybe over the Christmas holidays.

Sadly I know far too much about infertility/sub-fertility. Wish I didn't .

Hm, the presents dilemma - we've had similar thing in that we spent years buying all our friends' children presents and then stopped in the end (partly cos some of them never said thank you which makes me soooo ) but none of them bought A anything for Xmas or his birthday! Ho hum. Tbh, don't want them to start cos then we'll have to start buying for their kids again and it all gets too expensive and OTT.

poppy, your BIL sounds like a total arse .

whinegums, thank you for the tip, didn't know you could get baby gaviscon! Will certainly check that out. Prepared to try anything!

Sorry to hear you're still suffering with B's sleep .

AH, I love the decs swapping idea - much better than loads of pressies that nobody wants .

I'm at the lights going up - it's November guys! No decs til December it's the rules .

Oooh, forgot to say - A slept through last night and I had a fab day in Winchester shopping today, AND I have finally found the perfect bracelet to commemorate the boys . It's beautiful - the designer is going to make one that fits my huge wrists and engrave the boys names and DOBs on it. I can't wait .

Slightly annoyed that M and A both spent most of the day sleeping so dh had a very easy day and probably thinks I'm making a bloody fuss about nothing!

Thanks everyone - it's booked

Amber - hope you follow Sponges advice and get a 2nd opinion.

Rolf - have a lovely day tomorrow

Hello to everyone else, must get shopping now the boys are in bed.Sorry to type and run

It's never too early for Xmas (deb. I tore myself away from the playmobil advent calendar) . Was mildly disappointed as went to Xmas market today. First sight I saw was fat French bloke looking surly taking a cigarette break (a roll up Which seemed to make it worse) in a father Xmas outfit... Nothing says christmas more than that image?

Yep deb I am afraid Austria markets, ahs lights or rolfs table with advent things on are far more festive Than this...

Can people please update me on strictly an x fActor as watching rugby here

Woo hoo! First snow here! (Have we beaten you Deb? Surely not?)

AND I've found out today that there's a Waitrose opening on the island!!!! In Menai Bridge, 10 minutes away!!!!

I can't tell you how excited I am. It's tragic!

Lol at poppy's Santa and Essie's Waitrose!

I am sooooooo at the snow though - is it much? Put some piccies on FB, let's all see .

I don't know which has me sniggering more, Poppy's Father Christmas, or Essie's Waitrose

Sponge glad you had a great day and I know what you mean about your DH having an easy day. It's the whole "what exactly do you do all day?" horror. The bracelet sounds lovely. I'm quite keen on a baby-commemorating thing and of course it's such a good present opportunity! DH gave me a beautiful eternity ring a few years ago which I love.

Poor DH is working working working at the moment. He's still there now. I can't remember when he last had a free weekend, actually. I am trying (not very successfully) to be nice about him not being around, especially when all these tradesmen need dealing with and rooms need emptying, and I get so cross when he comments on how little I've done

I think the swapping decorations idea is a lovely one. I might suggest introducing that with my family.

Isn't waitrose a mixed blessing tho As doesn't it have some kind of Anglicising of local culture symbolism? Or is it ok as they buy lots of welsh produce?

[ runs away scared for teasing an ebullient Essie - also blaming red wine and being bored at being made to watch new zealand v wales on the tv a ]

sponge today is the first Sunday in Advent so while yesterday might have been early, today is definitely the Christmas season!

oh Essie you beat us to snow - but there must be some on the peaks - it was 1 degree and raining last night here.

'tis the season to be jolly tra-la-la-la etc

Santa smokng a fag? Whatever next? Did he have a tag on as well? .

Hey thanks for all the comments ladies. I think I am at one of the best clinics in the UK so I dunno what a second opinion would tell me. Still we need to chat to the consultant and find out next steps anyway. Don't know what they will suggest. Will make decisions based on that. Have read on t'internet of women having babies with lower AMH than mine.

Just done some internet Xmas shopping. Christmas costs a fortune doesn't it? Don't know what to get Luke. I was going to get him a garden climbing thingy but now MArk said that Luke's granddad will give us the money for it and say it's from him (why do all relatives do that?). So now I need to start again. I have already picked out colouring books, paint and brushes for Mark's nan to buy Luke and a couple of books for other relatives who have no imagination. Run out of ideas now for myself! Wanted to get a garden playhouse but it's too cold for him to play in it. Any ideas folks? Maybe I shouldn't bother - he has so many toys anyway and will get loads more!

Essie - we had hail today - does that count?!
Excelent about Waitrose - they will be 'doing' christmas for me this year.

Sponge - Luke had silent reflux too and had Gaviscon - worked a treat. Stupid HV said he didn't like the brand of formula we gave him. I could have lamped her. Glad you had a nice day off!

Dunno what to do about decorations. Luke will think we have put them there for him to play with. They'll need to be 3 feet off the ground same as the lights! Not a good look!

Amber Santa's bringing Fraser this for Christmas as he's totally into tractors these days. My farming family next door neighbour (who's kindly storing it in his loft) said we should have picked a different brand of tractor though but the Ford one wasn't as nice a colour . Reading the comments - ours came assembled (bought it from a local farm supply store). It's smaller than most of them which is nice as it means it's really a gift for fraser rather than DS1.

Amber S is getting the early learning centre garage from Santa. He's also getting various bits of elc happyland stuff and fisher price little people stuff which he really loves playing with. Boots have some nice Brio first railway sets too. If you're looking for something a bit bigger now you have all the extra space how about a play kitchen? There are some fab ones around - and a few threads on here about them. S makes a beeline whenever he sees one.

Rolf, your advent sounds lovely!

Am going to write Christmas cards tonight as I'm feeling festive!

essie marvellous news on Waitrose.

Just marking my spot as pretty knackered - although dh and I got an hour in bed together this afternoon as the out laws were up. Twas lovely not to be playing sleep tag or sleeping in separate beds!

Oh, and we bought our xmas tree today - have bought a false one, and only plan to put some tinsel on it. Can't risk a real tree with lovely decs this year as A will pull it over and break it all, and/or hurt himself!

This weather is dire - how much bloody longer is it going to last?

sponge I have a dirty mind - I'm guessing in bed together might not be what I first thought of.

I'm preparing for this OU interview and it's taken about 7 hours so far. I'm guessing I'm either ridiculously overprepared or my brain melted over the past year and a half - it shouldn't take this long I think.

Advent candle lighted, christmas music on the stereo, shortbread and a book in my hand (in a minute), I love Christmas. (Fraser has already played with all the decorations and decided they are rather boring).

No, you were on the right lines with what you first thought of AH, !

Good luck with the interview .

Bloody hell: with MIL in the house too.

Hello all, not been posting much. Last few days a bit of a struggle, but feeling more positive after DH took over the reins this weekend. Anyone else just finding a 17 month old completely overwhelming? Maybe it is just me.

Amber - big hugs, but nice to have you back.

It's not just you Spider

awah You are making me as two weeks til our decorations go up (as away next weekend)... Decided that I am still going to put most of them up but keep the more toddler unfriendly ones out of reach. Have been trying to teach E some christmas songs - we are doing quite well on jingle bells but not so well on the rest...

am impressed at your use of leisure time sponge

and no spider you are not alone -I have been going to bed on average between 9 -10 each night (having a cold hasnt helped) and i'm still shattered. E is very lovely and great fun but she does have about 10 times the energy I have.

Right need to think of a xmas name - as ah says it is advent now..