May09 - Christmas is on it's way and Grumpycaaa is comin' to town!!

[essenceofSES]

Hope that works!

Cocktail anyone?!

Hello everyone,

Taking advantage of the calm before the storm to say Happy Christmas to you all. I also wanted to say thank you all so very much for the support and friendship you have given me over the last year. I honestly think I would have PND if it weren't for you lot keeping me sane.

Well, so far DH and I have had one blazing row, and I have a stonking headache. On the other hand, DDs are out with DH & FIL, MIL is in bed and G is crawling at my feet whilst I enjoy some quiet time . I would bitch and moan about the out-laws, but I'm not going to !!!

I wish you all the very best time over the next few days.

Just popping on to say happy crimbo to you all. Hope you have a fantastic holiday.

I am going to echo tum, you guys have been such a source of support, advice and general loveliness over the last year and a bit especially since I moved to somewhere new and didn't know anyone. I honestly think you have all kept me sane

have a good one all xx

Just popping in whilst Dh hogs the living room wrapping my presents . Hope everyone has a lovely day tomorrow, seen as Dh has decreed that we will not be using the laptop at all tomorrow

Hope all who are travelling get to their destinations safely and Pula glad you managed to save the top and got new clothes!

Nearly ready here, then off to midnight mass. Then tomorrow DH and DS are going to church whilst I do the cooking. We have my parents and my younger brother and his GF coming to us for the day. DH has prepared all the veg today so v

Hope all the poorlies are better in time to enjoy tomorrow.

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope you your babies and families have a fab time

Just quickly popping in while DH is putting Ds and dd1 to bed. (C is already asleep) Officially I'm doing tomorrows desert (cheesecake, ds's fave, not v. xmassy, but the dcs don't like the traditional stuff, lol)

Thanks for the thanks re us keeping you lot sane, I'll do the same now too. Thanks everyone for keeping me company and sane during the many hours of lonelyness while DH is away. Thanks for the pregnancy commiserations and thanks for sharing how your babies are growing and changing. It's been lovely to "watch" all the changes.

Today we've been out emergency shopping DH has been buying my present (from Waterstones according to DS, hmmm I wonder what I'm getting? ) While I got the dcs a present, because tomorrow the real santa is visiting us in person. I only discovered it 2 days ago, but in our village Santa comes around in a horse and cart on xmas day delivering presents to the dcs. I did have to drop them off at someone's house first though, so that was the emergency xmas shopping today I can't wait to see the dcs faces when Santa knocks the door tomorrow.

Right. Now off to go and do some cheesecake making!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!!!!!!

popping on as i've my feet up at last.. all tidy and some of the food prep done for tomorrow

I have so much to be thankfull for this year. The safe arrival of our little ones.. sharing a lot of laughter, tears and joy along the way. You've all become my 2nd family and i'd be more than a little lost without you all . So I would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas tomorrow and drive safe if you're on the roads.

Happy Christmas everyone

after being up in the night with ds 2am ish.. G & I are still the only ones up here since 7am. presents and stockings waiting to be opened just waiting for dh & ds to get up!

Happy Christmas everyone. We had a great night (DS2 only up 4-4.30 then slept til 7, DD and DS1 didn't wake at all- DD woke at 7.30 and we woke DS1 up to open his presents). It's mayhem- fighting over presents, paper and boxes everywhere!

it's been a wonderful day again today. Have had an easy peasy day meals wise with all the left overs from yesterday but i'm now starting to flag.. roll on ds & G's bedtime

yesterday was present opening mayhem ds 'helped' open G's presents as well as unwrapping his own.. wrapping paper confetti, bows and ribbons strewn across the floor with dh & I rescuing G when she rolled and the presents if they got buried. We split the presents between our tree and my parents so the dc's had one session am.. then lunch at my parents and rest of presents pm. It went really well and especially nice for my dad as he is quite frail now after the pneumonia a few months ago. Managed to get ds settled into bed shortly after doctor who started so got to watch fair bit of it.. then gavin & stacey later in peace while dh crashed in bed.. he's still quite poorly he had to go to out of hours doc for prescription for conjunctivitus today and has been back in bed since after lunch.

right off to do story time.. hope you're all having a relaxing time. Anyone brave the sales today?! x

Just popping on to say.... the inlaws have left the building ! My relaxed Christmas time can now begin

Hope that you all have had lovely Christmas times.x

Hello!!!
Happy Boxing Day (what's left of it!) and hope everyone has had a good time enjoying the festivities

We've had a great time. O loved his christmas dinner. He ate a cheese straw and a couple of breadsticks as an appetiser and then a couple of chunks of melon for a starter. For main course, he had 3 parsnip chunks, one roast potato, 2 chunks of turkey, a brussel sprout, 3 chunks of carrot and 3 chipolatas! He then rounded it off with about a tablespoons worth of trifle and a couple of small spoonfuls of christmas pudding!
Can't believe he had enough space in his belly for that lot!

He did v v well and got v v spoilt as he was the only child amongst the 7 of us. His aunts & uncles in Ireland also spoilt him by sending over lots of presents!

tumm - hope the ILs weren't too stressful but pour yourself a large glass of wine and put your feet up now.

Fi - sounds like wonderful mayhem
Sorry DH still not well but sounds like you all had a good time anyway.

Hi all.
Name Check Amnesty, have limited battery on my laptop and the mains cable not working so won't be on much until I can get Dell to replace.

Just wanted to have a quick read, make sure everyone's ok, and say Happy Christmas, Boxing Day, and weekend.

we're having wonderful leftovers here, too. Certainly makes it easy. Girls have been overwhelmed by pressies but happy and (somewhat) well-behaved.

I've eaten too much! and drunk too much. and we're still at it. tonight haing another bottle of sparkling something-or-other, open fire, leftover roast, game pie (yuk), salmon, brocc/stilton soup, etc, etc. my tummy hurts just writing this.

well, better go as my battery indicator keeps dwindling.

Hope all are well, LO's are well, happy, warm, well-fed. all best wishes.xxxx

I know mostly everyone is away but just wondering.. anyone that has had nipple thrush how long did it take to go? I started giving G the nystatin suspension on xmas eve and although my nips are not as sore.. the cracks aren't fully healed yet and the skin is still quite raw .. how easy/not did you find it to get rid of?

And a quick hello from me.

Its been a busy busy few days. I. Am. Exhausted.

Yesterday and today have actually been better DS1 wise than Xmas day. I think it was all too much for him on Xmas day. All the build up, then the presents and the (modicum of) restraint that had to be shown before the presents were opened. Ie, till 11am when my mum and brother arrived and DS1, DH and the ILs got back from church. He was really quite hard to manage on the big day itself.

However, today he has been lovely. And R, well he is never anything but the smiliest loveliest baby ever.

tum how did the ILs do? We will have to swap stories shortly!!

Mine went last night and FIL wasn't as mad as usual. I think MIL, who is actually a very sane woman, had probably had words with him. They had also driving down from the NE on Xmas Eve morning apparantly through blizzards and such, so I had to hand it to them really.

fi pula ses and momi you all sound like you had lovely days. ses I think R and O have very similar tastes. R loves a good roast dinner!

fi Sorry you are suffering with the thrush. I can only speak from experience in the , ahem, nether regions I'm afraid. But as I had to go into Boots on Xmas Eve for the old Canesten, I did notice the oral capsules. Have you tried them? Hope it clears up for you soon.

I just love these festive emoticons so will use them as much as poss till they disappear.

hi all.
ok today, went shopping in crowded York (what was I thinking?), bought a couple of things then came back home where it is safe and quiet (?). the highlight, though, was going into Clarks to check out the sale range and watched a tiny toddler trying on 1st shoes, taking proud steps whilst parents/GParents watched... i nearly burst into tears with emotion . Ididn't even know the child, what am I going to be like with Harper's 1st shoes? hopeless.

Fi, not had it as bad as you (to the cracking stage), but mine went away in a couple of weeks with cream. HOpe you're better soon.

headless, sounds like you had a great day and glad things were ok with family and IL's. Ikwym about LO's being overwhelmed on xmas day, we had the same with our dd's, mostly 4yr old dd1.

ok, time for another drink

i've had a little bit (1cm in a tumbler) of pink fizzy and i'm all light headed.. i'm such a total light weight alcohol wise these days!

Thanks momino & headless i'll wait until we've finished the nystatin and give the doc a call for added stuff if needed.

Headless IL stories, now let me think.... apart from FIL leaving DD1 to shit herself because he refused to take her to the toilet, and MIL ruining the Father Christmas reveal because she wanted to see the DCs faces, and neither of them lifting a finger to help (apart from FIL chopping potatoes on my flipping wood worktop and leaving huge score marks on it), all went well . Thank duck they have gone !! I think I might need one of those alcoholic beverages now please

Hi all. Just a quick one whilst dd is entranced by The Gruffalo (on again) and ds is having a nap.

Sounds like most of you had a lovely Xmas (Tum they've gone!! Hurrah!). We had a fab time - dd was great - getting old enough to be really excited, whilst B enjoyed trying to eat all the wrapping paper.

Building up to dd's birthday now, on NY Eve.

Not too sure what to do today. The paths around us are still an ice rink. I nipped into town yesterday and managed quite a few bargains from M&S and a bit from Next.

Oh help oh no it's a gruffalo..........

Arrggghhhh the DCs are driving me nuts! So much giddy excitement, shouting and messing! It doesn't help that DS2 has only had 2 x 20 min naps today so is very squealy. Guess it's a sign he's feeling better as he's not having those lovely 2 or 3 hour naps anymore.

It was DDs 5th birthday yesterday and we had a lovely day including tea out at cafe rouge.

Well DS2 has developed loads this week - he's rocking on his hands and knees when on his front, he's started trying to pick little bits of fluff and paper off the floor (our cleaner is on holiday and it shows!) and when he dropped his toys yesterday, he started to look for them on the floor. And his sleep is going well at night. Last night he only fed at 1.30 so we got some sleep in before and after.

Hi I'm back. We had a lovely Christmas. DC loved it and had loads of attention and presents and food.

R was a bit of a nightmare sleepwise but couldn't do much as we were all sleeping in the same room and the walls at my friends were thin. I just feed him and he took full advantage and woke every 2 hours.

So last night when we got home things changed. We put DD upstairs in SILs room in the portacot and R went into DDs room in the cot. He woke at 10.30 and cried but DH went in and offered water and then we left him to cry. He settled himself after another visit from DH. He also woke at 2 but DH offered water again and then he woke at 7am .

I just hope he can go that long again and without waking and then DD can join him in her big bed hopefully in the New Year. So I had my first decent sleep in ummmmmm 7 and a half months.

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas.

Febes- that's amazing that R could go from snacking every 2 hours to not having any milk at night . Gives me hope to tackle S if things don't improve once we are sure he's back to full health (and eating good sized-meals again). Well done for persevering.

Hi everyone.

Phew, just as well the thread has been a bit quiet and there's only 1 page to catch up with in 3 days!

pula It was my dd1's b'day yesterday too! She's 6 now. We were as SIL's so she had lots of presents (again)

fi Not sure how long it takes for thrush to go. All I know is that it is very effective and works fairly quickly.

Talking about BF. I got 'the food of love' from DH for xmas. It was on my wishlist of books and it's really really good. A definite must for anyone who's new to BF, but a bit late for us I suppose

tum Hurrah for having the house for yourself again!

We've had a lovely few days. Xmas day was just the 5 of us. We didn't have our dinner until late as we went out for a drink at the local pub and met up with colleague of dh's. So C missed out on the xmas dinner as she was tucked up in bed by then . It wasn't that late really, but she was still recovering from her illness. Santa did bring her a new tooth. She's got 4 now and apparently you only need 3 to start grinding them

Boxing day was spent at my SIL's house, we stayed overnight. My eldest SIL hadn't seen C since she was 3 weeks old and my other SIL and my PIL hadnt' seen her since the summer, so it was lovely to be able to show her off . C was on her best behaviour to giving out lots of smiles, cuddles and being quite chatty. Her fave gift was this lion. She loves it for some reason, especially the song it sings. AND it keeps 8 yo boys entertained too, lol. DS keeps spinning the wheel and singing along.

The final high light of the festivities was that dd1 put my Max Factor Colour stay lipstick on her eye lids thinking it was eye liner and it wont come off!! It's been 3 days now and the last bit is still on there . Little girls and make up, can't resist it.

C's been a nightmare sleeping though. I presume it's been a combination of teething and illness. She keeps waking with a scream and around 11 and wont settle unless she's in physical contact with me. As soon as I remove that contact she wakes again, so she's been in bed with us from earlier and earlier. If it doesn't get better I fear I'll have to do a little sleep training with her in the New Year, because I need her to sleep well at night by the time I go back to work (due to the shifts work)

Now we've been home for 1 day and tomorrow we're off again to Belgium for the new year. So I might not be on here again for a few days. In case I don't make it before then I'd like to send all of you my bestest New Years wishes!

Merry christmas everybody!

We're still on holidays in Swansea and had planned a lovely walk on the beach today, but it is raining and windy and just horrid. So I am staring out the window and instead of the sea all I can see is greyness and misery!

We're trying to decide what to do because snow is forecast for the Midlands so not sure whether to hang on here until Sunday or come home. Tough to call as we have a party planned at our house for NCT people on NYE.

The boys are completely overwhelmed by presents and christmas and we've had a lovely time. Thankfully DS2 has started babbling "ma ma" "da da" and "ga ga" which I'm really relieved about as the HV had suggested that he may need speech therapy because of the tongue tie. SHe said that if he didn't start babbling soon then we'd have to be referred. So phew!

Anyway. Name check amnesty from me as we're going to soft play again to run some of the energy off DS1 in the absence of a dry beach!

Have a good couple of days!

Hi everyone

R did quite well last night too. Asleep by 6 as he didn't nap in the sfternoon and was shattered woke at 7.30pm DH offered water and comforted him but it took an hour to get him back to sleep. He woke at 2am and went back to sleep pretty quick. Then he woke at 6am so I fed him as he had gone 12 hours. He then dozed with us till with got DD up at 8.30am

I was a bit today as I went to the BF cafe at my children's centre as I do normally on a Tuesday and I was the only one there when I arrived so the office lady rang the HV to come along. When she arrived she asked me who had the BFing problem? As I was the only one there I told her I didn't have a problem as such and the group wasn't only for people with problems but I did want to discuss R's feeding and sleeping issues and get some ideas/ support (as I do everytime I go ) She hadn't been to a BFing cafe before as she was covering over the festive season but I felt a little silly for being there. Another lady with a 2 week old came a little later so the HV was happy to see her I think.

febes- well done with R again. S seems to be improving all on his own- last night he stirred at 9.10, and wouldn't settle without milk and then calpol- we were expecting a bad night as we had put him in the cot in our room with him not settling, but he didn't stir til 5.30 and that was due to coughing. At 5.45 he started crying so i fed him and put him back down, and he slept til 7.30 .

But I must say jinglebelgina- it's amazing how quickly they develop new habits when they've been poorly- I started to feed S to sleep for his naps. Well now he screams and screams when i try and put him down awake. And it is hard for DH to settle him because of this too. So I have started feeding him downstairs before a nap, so i am sure he's not hungry, and settling him without- it worked OK today. I still have to rock him and walk him round, which will be the next thing to try and stop as he was doing well at just being put down.