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

[essenceofSES]

Hope that works!

Cocktail anyone?!

Hello everyone

What do you think of my new name didn't want to go back to my bring original name and this seemed a natural progression It was either this or sherrytomato?

Interview went okay but some of the interviewees couldn't make it because of the weather so the are being interviewed at a later date- consequently I won't hear until next week whether I was successful or not

J has decided to start waking once in the night again but I feed him then put him down wide awake and leave him and I hear him chat away a bit and then fall of to sleep, it's amazing I used to have to hold his hand until he went off. Feeding to sleep has just stopped working at all, except occasionally for daytime naps. In the evening we get a fair bit of crying as he seems to find it difficult to drop off but he's getting better, no idea why he finds it easier in the middle of the night

running I take it you'd like to have some snow? If so I hope you get some It does feel lovely and cosy to be inside with the heating on when it is all snowy outside, and that reminds me has everyone got their heating fixed?

BLW to those who are doing purees as well, in the book it suggest giving sloppy foods using 'dippers' so when we are eating something processed and salty or are eating much later and I can't be bothered to prepare something esp for J I've sat with him and given him large rice cakes dipped in a jar of babyfood! He can eat a whole jar this way and if we are eating at the same time it's much easier than spoonfeeding. Pitta breads, toast and breadsticks all work well too!

oh yes meant to say Pula relax!- can you not have a mini spa day at home today?! Nice bath, do nails etc

cherry great new name and great idea about using dippers. I might adopt that strategy for baby unfriendly meals as C has taken a dislike to spoons.

pula Relax and keep warm! Hope you're feeling better soon.

momi Glad to hear the preschool run went well

It's snowing a little here, but luckily I did all the big shopping yesterday, so C and I are having a home day today. I think I'll give C a PJ day today too.

My mum phoned just now too. She's a bit upset as ss have declassified my gm from being urgently in need for care to the lowest class of need Apparently her dementia has got better (never mind she called my auntie her neighbour yesterday and she was clearly muddling up events when I was visiting 4 days ago), she can eat on her own (yes providing nurses/mum cuts everything into bitesize pieces), she can wash herself (has had carers doing this for over a year now) and she can dress herself (she's in hospital and only in a nighty) Oh and she's not incontinent (apparenlty she's wearing adult sized nappies for fun). My poor mum is doing so much for her and the idea that she might not be placed soon is really stressing her out. On top of that, my dad doesn't do a thing about the whole situation even though it's his mum. I really don't know many women who would do as much for their MIL as my own mum is doing now for my GM. They've got an app't with SS today and I hope that the situation gets sorted soon. From what I hear it sounds like SS wants my parents to take my GM into their home, but my own mum isn't all that well either. She's got a knee replacement and another knee on the way out and heart trouble on top of that. Just had to get this of my mind. Hope you didn't mind this little rant...

Decided to go out for a walk to the supermarket as it looked quite sunny... started snowing when I left the supermarket and there was about an inch or so by the time I got home (about a 20 min walk!), even had a little ridge of it along the top of my glasses. Be careful what you wish for eh

Hello everyone. I am enjoying an unexpected snow day ! I attempted to travel to an office in Leicester this morning, but the weather got worse and worse, so I turned around and came home . What a shame that the school has now closed so there is no way I can work today double . So I now only have one day of work left today - triple

Belgina I really hope the situation with your GM gets sorted. Your Mum sounds really lovely, taking all of that work on.

Running Hurrah for snow !

Pula IKWYM about the turning tummy thing. I hope you can relax and enjoy the quiet time

Cherry love the new name

Momi well done on actually getting there on time ! It's a real feat getting so many DC to one place for a set time.

I

Jingle has your GM had an occupational therapy assessment- it sounds like she definitely needs one. Please request one from SS or even better from the hospital she is in. Ask whether you or your mum can meet with the OT to provide them with information about your GM needs. Sometimes you have to be a bit pushy about these things but I feel an OT assessment would provide 'evidence' for her to placed as a higher priority for care

Looby how is your mum doing?

Oh Tummum what a shame you couldn't make it to work- am sure you told work how disappointed you were not to be able to get there

hmmmm forgot to * you Tummum* sorry

tummum joining you with the Bother, how annoying you can't go to work today

cherry Thanks for the advice. My mum has worked in hospitals all her life and knows the system in and out. She's quite assertive, so I know she wont rest until my mum has moved back up the priority scale. But she could do without all the hassle. Not sure how the assessments work in Belgium though, I'll mention OT to her and see what can be done. One proplem is that my GM is v. proud and often tries to portrey herself better than she is. Now her MRSA has gone she's all excited about not being in isolation anymore and she keeps cruising the ward with her wheely zimmer frame thingy, a bit like an overexcited 91 yo toddler really. Not that I want to be disrespectful to her, but in a way she seems like that.

Sorry didn't hit refresh before posting that!

Belgina sorry to hear that about your GM. I know my Great GM always seemed ok to everyone but my GPs who were basically running themselves ragged looking after her full time while being elderly themselves. I hope it gets sorted soon.

cherry good idea about the dippers, I have been spreading mush on rice cakes and toast while doing the odd spoonful as well. A breakfast favourite is yoghurt on ricecakes. Still haven't pureed anything myself tho - its all just mashed with a fork unless shop bought!

tum what a shame

Hi there,

Pula Hope S enjoys his 1st day at nursery! I've booked ds2 in for his 1st settling in session next month, where has the time gone?

Belgina Sorry to hear about the hassles your mum has to go through. Hope it gets sorted soon!

Tum Shame that you couldn't get into work today!

Accents neither DH or I have strong accents, but DH keeps getting ds1 to speak in a strong west country accent. Also he gets ds1 to say my name with a Jamaican accent - its quite worrying!

Snow We got a few inches of snow. Unbelievable the amount of trouble its caused! It took me nearly an hour to go 2.5miles back from the supermarket yesterday! This morning DH went to work but came back about 20mins later as he'd fallen over and hurt his wrist. Cue much rushing around and trying to find someone to look after the boys and we were off to a&e. They think he's fractured it so he's now got a temporary plaster and now I have 3 people to look after!!

Sherry love the name! Hope you get the job. I had an interview just before Christmas which I managed to fluff up!

Sleep Ds2 is a nightmare during the night and miserable during the day at the moment. Somehow I have to try and get more food and milk into him during the day cos he launches himself at me in the night as if he's ravenous! He's abit like a dog at the moment as he finds shoes that have been left around and tries to chew them and he's into everything! Also he's trying to stand up

Well I'd better go, I have stuff to sort out and need to get ds1 to make some thank you cards for his Christmas presents before its too late!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Quick hello from me! Not posted for about 10 days I think which must be a record

We had a lovely time visiting my DB&SIL in Cumbria except for a poorly dog, my SIL falling on ice and breaking her wrist and my mum annoying everyone!

Unfortunately our dog is still ill and had to be kept in at the vets up in Keswick whilst we were up there and now we're back is being kept in at our vets. She's got suspect pancreatitis and kidney failure so is not in a great way. The hope is that they can get the pancreatitis under control and then her kidneys will improve. We'll know more tomorrow...
DH is absolutely gutted as he had her from a puppy and our other dog is pining and wondering what on earth is going on

We enjoyed the snow today. I took the one dog out for a walk with O in a backpack we've borrowed.

O has not been great over the past week. His top teeth have (finally!)pushed through. I'm not sure whether he's now got others moving around as he's got red cheeks again today and ahs been v grizzly.

Right, I think that's updated you all on me(me, me, me!) will try and catch up on you lot now or maybe once O's in bed.

Hello Ses, happy new year. Sorry to hear about your dog, hope the news is good tomorrow.

Slightly rubbish day today. Managed to get to the shop for food this morning, but DD1 was grumpy this afternoon - she wanted to play in the snow, but as it was almost a blizzard a lot of the time I was wild about the idea, especially as I'd have to take A out with us in the sling. A has also been grumpy, I think there's more teeth stuff going on and she didn't nap at all after lunch time. She's also got chronic separation anxiety and panics and wails hysterically if I leave the room - mostly I have her in the sling so I can do stuff, but it's just not practical all the time. This phase went on for months and months with DD1, hoping A gets over it sooner. Anyway, to top it all I have a cold.

Sorry, that was a whinge, wasn't it? At least bed time was good - they were both asleep by 7:15!

Hope you're all ok with snow etc.

Right, I'll attempt a catch up!

Tummum - boo at returning to work but yay for snow day today! How is work generally or is it too soon / shouldn't I ask?

cherrytom - great name! Good point about suing rice cakes as dippers. I sometimes put Philadelphia on but have been agiven a freebie jar of baby food that I was trying to work out how to use!

Belgina - your poor GM and your poor Mum. Hope the appointment today went well.

Momi - sounds like DD! did well at preschool

Accents - DH has a strong irish accent ( ) I guess DS will grow up with a fairly non descript southern accent like me

Snow - we had 9" today. DH didn't go to work He reckons he's going in tomorrow though...

Hello flippin
Thanks for the good vibes for Jessie dog.
Sorry to hear about your cold. Hope it doesn't develop too much and passes quickly.

Just trying out my new name... suddenly realised i was still christmassy

ses sending your doggie get well soon thoughts, it's dreadful when they're poorly.

belgina Fingers crossed your mum gets the ss to upgrade her status again. It must be so frustrating grrr.

accents DH has a soft glaswegian accent (much stronger after a few whiskeys ) me... i don't really have one. Not the brisle or somerset twang... but can do a good impression of one if asked

snow we had a highly unusual 4 inches today and ds's pre school closed (tomorrow & fri too if conditions have not improved). I left G inside with DH and ds & I headed outside to make a snowman. The result was bigger than him lol. I must take a photo of him next to it tomorrow as i'd be surprised if the snow here lingers for very long.

looby sorry to hear about your mum, it must be very hard to see.

tummum YAY what a bonus having to stay home.

cherry love the new name & G loves the dipping thing too... but it's one of her messiest meals too!

snowdays have a happy fun packed one tomorrow if your schools are shut again...

ooo my name didn't work off to see where i went wrong?!

Welcome back ses Hope your dog gets better. It must be horrible to have to leave her behind. Hopefully you can pick her up soon. 9" of snow!! Wow, we've had about 2 I think.

Talking about snow. My Swedish friend's fb status said that it was -24.5 up there and snowing, lots of it! Compared to that our -5 (that's here in the countryside) seems tropical, lol.

flippin Separation anxiety is going on here too. As soon as I'm our of her line of sight she squeals and starts crying. I'm doing peek-a-boo games with the door to hopefully teach her that walking out of there doesn't make me dissapear forever I also ended up doing some of the housework with her on my back.

Right off to bed now. The bottle dream feed didnt work out today. She woke after expressing, but before I could feed her. She messed with it, but luckily didn't get upset and somehow managed to have some, but I had to give boob too.

belgina just noticed x posts last night.. we're playing a lot of peek a boo too. It's ds's favourite game with G atm.

we might have a bit of separation anxiety.. i say might as it could also be 'hey where are my boobs going?!'.. same instant crying with both!

didn't explain that v well.. she crys when I leave the room when hungry.. hence the where are my boobs going?

Morning,

flippin hope you have a better day today, sounds like yesterday was tough.

ses happy new year. Sorry to hear about your dog. Thought of you when we were down at the ILs... almost came on here to see if you were about to meet up so I could escape for an hour or so Next time definitely!

separation anxiety not really happening here yet but peek a boo is a favourite game, A quite often starts playing it by herself with a muslin

I don't want to sound like I am boasting but sleep is getting better and better here - last night was 7am- 5am with no wake ups at all Sorry to go on about it so much but its just such a relief after so many months of no sleep and lots of RL friends giving me pitying looks whilst talking about their lo's 12 hour stints. Am still not taking it for granted though

The next thing to tackle is feeds/meals. What I'm aiming for by the time I go back to work is

wake up milk
breakfast
mid morning milk
lunch
mid pm milk
tea
bedtime milk

Do you think that sounds sensible for a nearly 9mo?

Morning all,

I'm happy to announce that we've had the best sleep in months. In fact she did her old fashioned pre october 11.30-4.30-7.00!! The bottle dream feed didn't work out as well as planned and I gave her a 2nd dream feed at 11.30 when I went to bed. I did wake up myself at 2.30, out of habit I suppose. I hope this is the start of something good We did have a more structured day and definitely more food with 3 solid meals + that double dream feed. She loved our dinner (I managed to give it early too) She had 4 whole pieces of spinach and ricotta tortelini with tomato sauce

fi I understood what you meant C just screams as soon as I leave the room or just walk away from her.

running That schedule sounds about right. I think a lot of babies cut out the mid morning feed by 9 months though, but with C and BLW I'm not sure if that'll be the case with us.

School is open here, but I can imagine half the children not coming, especially the ones that live a bit further away. There's about 2 inches of snow I think with more expected overnight tonight. This a.m. they could choose between playing in our outside when I dropped them off and ds chose out while dd1 chose in. dd1 has never been a snow lover. It's a shame really, I get more excited about the white stuff then her and so we never get to make a snowman together etc... Ds made his 1st ever snowman on his own yesterday. Oh, how he's growing up I've also looked everywhere for our sledge, but it seems to have been left behind during our move

C and I should be going to swimming this morning, but I don't think I'll go because I don't fancy going out on those little country roads around us.

Morning all,

flippin- that sounds about right to me- I do the same but S doesn't seem that bothered about the mid-am and mid-pm milk feeds. Yesterday at nursery he refused his morning milk and only had 1oz in the afternoon.

I have decided to tackle Ss sleep again, doing pickup-putdown (pupd). At nursery yesterday he would only sleep being held, and then being pushed backwards and forwards in the pram (although he did have 3 naps of 50, 45 and 30 mins which is more than he has at home sometimes). At home he usually only settles being patted vigorously or rocked/walked a little, so i am trying to move away from that. Last night he woke at 9pm after a big coughing fit, so i did 20 mins of pupd and then he slept til 2am which was good for him. This morning i got him to fall asleep with just a back rub and the occasional pat, so will see how things go. I really have had enough of broken nights, and with work looming, i don't want to be going to work shattered.

Sorry that should be running not flippin .

belgina- glad you had a good night