April 2009 - Episode 11 - 'There's Something About Teutonic Penises....'

[Guimauve]

05 Mar: Kazkiss: ISABELLE FLORENCE 4lb 6oz & OLIVER THOMAS 3lb 7oz
15 Mar: Cakeforbrains: OSCAR WILLIAM 7lb 2oz
27 Mar: ZuluWarrior: Alexander James 7lb 15oz
28 Mar: FrogmellaMoonbeam: VIOLET ROSE 7lb 9oz

02 Apr: Oddeyes: ELEANOR 9lb 8oz
03 Apr: Bebemoo: MEGAN LILLIAN CONSTANCE
03 Apr: Bumpalump: JACOB 8lb
04 Apr: BabyBolat: KARAHAN 6lb 5oz
04 Apr: Kingbeat23: IRIS
05 Apr: JumeirahJane: MILLICENT ROSE 5lb 15oz
06 Apr: BoffinMum: FELIX DAVID GORDON 7lb 9oz
08 Apr: girlylala0807 JAMES EUAN
11 Apr: SpringySunshine: GEORGE NATHAN 8lb 15oz
11 Apr: RachelinScotland: CLEMENT JAMES 8lb 14oz
11 Apr: Lou031205: ISLA SOPHIA 7lb 9oz
11 Apr: Electra: ISABELLA CAROLINE 6lb 3oz
11 Apr: AuldAlliance: ALEXANDRE 7lb 6oz
12 Apr: Phdlife: Name TBA GIRL 9lb 3oz
13 Apr: MathsMummy27: AMELIA CHARLOTTE
15 Apr: Guimauve: HUGO GEORGE 9lb 2oz
15 Apr: Bronze: ISAAC JOHN 7lb 14oz
15 Apr: Kalikaroo: Name TBA BOY 8lb
16 Apr: PuzzleRocks: HOLLY ELIZABETH 8lb
16 Apr: Brettgirl: HANNAH GRACE 6lb 15oz
16 Apr: ReallyTired: Name TBA GIRL
18 Apr: Staryeyed: Name TBA BOY 7lb 11oz
18 Apr: Dawntigga: SAMUAL 5lb 11oz
20 Apr: Wrigglyfish: SEBASTIAN 9lb
20 Apr: Swaliswan: BETH 7lb 9oz
21 Apr: B52s: SAM MARTIN 7lb 9oz
21 Apr: Feierabend: HAZEL LOIS 7lb 9 oz
21 Apr: Mrsgboring: EDMUND 8lb 12oz
23 Apr: Tristalewjac: LEWIN 8lb 4oz
23 Apr: NuttyTaff: TIAHNA SKYE 8lb 8oz
23 Apr: Purplemonkeydishwasher: ISLA ELIZABETH 8lb 14oz
26 Apr: Carameli: THEO LAURENCE 7lb 6oz
26 Apr: Surprisenumber3: EVIE ANNE 8lb 2oz
26 Apr: Bicnod: OSCAR MATTHEW 8lb 1oz
27 Apr: Loobylaboobs: OLIVER STEPHEN 7lb 7oz
27 Apr: Gingersarah: VERONICA ROISIN 9lb 1oz
30 Apr: MegBusset: ARCHIE 8lb 15oz
30 Apr: Elpis: ISLA JESSICA 8lb 11oz
30 Apr: Ladyofmuswell: SAMUEL
01 May: Satheresitting: Name TBA BOY
03 May: Conkertree: Name ANGUS ANDREW 8lbs 8oz
06 May: Frekkles: HARRIS MERLIN 8lb 5.5oz

Disclaimer: I don't normally go to Tesco's

Wriggly Star shaped balloons. As for dh, you could make him clean the bathroom with his tongue the next time he endangers Mini Wriggle in that way. BTW the whole food thing is a bunkum, it makes no difference what you feed them, if they are a wakey baby, they are a wakey baby.

Auld, you take your husband, you make him look after the kids - out of the house and you get some bloody sleep. It's what I do as there's no real alternative until they can self settle. As The Cub is about 6 weeks behind developmentally I'll start to try around 11 months. Self settling can occur from 10 months onward depending on baby.

WouldLikeToFindAllTheSmugMumsWho'sBabiesSleepThroughAndIntroduceThemHerLiidleFriendNotB itterJustTwistedTiggaxx

Morning lovely ladies.

Auld, I too am beyond tired. O has started having a regular massive poo at 3am and then not going back to sleep properly afterwards.

How do I stop him from pooing at night?!! Impossible I'm guessing.

He's STILL bloody teething and waking on average 4 or 5 times each night, with the big wakefulness at 3am.

I have no idea how I'll deal with going back to work if he doesn't improve

Fei - very exciting about teddy bears picnic You still coming to play tomorrow? DH might be working from home but we can banish him to the living room so we can gossip have extremely intellectual conversations

Hmmmm. Can't remember what else I wanted to say and O is calling... will try and catch up again later...

p.s. Zulu - I laughed loudly at your 'hell' typo

Ooooooh Fei - I went on a pilgrimage all the way to that mahoooosive Tesco on the A3 last year to get those LED lit balloons for DDs birthday. We didn't have a party for her as the builders were still here (and I was over 39 weeks pregnant). But the moment the builders packed up for the day I strung up some bunting, blew up the balloons and got her cousin over to eat pizza and play with the balloons. It was lovely.

I am hoping I never have to have a Disney Princess birthday but it is inevitable isn't it.

Tigga - if DH ever bruises my baby ever again I'll send him to your house to clean the bathroom with his tongue. After he's done mine. And all the neighbours. (Puzzle is nearby so if she sees DH heading her way with his tongue covered in Cif cleaning fluid she'll know what happened.)

Hello hello

birthday parties, how exciting! I'm a big fan of edible things in party bags (allergies notwithstanding, obviously) instead of plastic tat. Also don't go overboard, at that age they're entranced for hours by one free toy, they don't need eight.

Auld not sure what to suggest about A. Could he be going through separation anxiety? Orbit had a terrible patch of it where he wouldn't be left in his cot, we just had to ride it out but as we always end up co-sleeping, even though he starts the night in his cot, his night wakings don't disturb us too much. Having said that, he's teething something big at the moment and just wants to suck and suck and suck at night at the moment, until last night when he was clawing and grabbing at my top I said 'STOP IT!' and plonked him down firmly in the bed. He didn't seem remotely perturbed.

Wriggly I am the same as you, trying to remember when DS1 gave up night feeds - I gave up feeding him around the age of one, and I definitely didn't do night bottles either, so it must have been around then. Orbit is showing no signs of giving up, sadly. He eats tons of stodgy solids in the evenings, seems to make no difference but I think teeth are a factor at the moment. In desperation I bought some Hipp Bedtime Milk despite Panorama saying it made no difference to sleep, but haven't tried it yet. Haven't decided whether to try it or return it unopened to Waitrose. It was on offer so it was only £3.50, but it would involve me not feeding him last thing, which I'm not quite ready to give up yet.

Mum is getting better slowly - felt completely overwhelmed at the beginning of the week and wept down the phone at my sister, as I felt like I had to take care of both children, move house all by myself as DP is constantly away and can't do much, and make sure Mum eats, and she's on the other side of Bristol, and it was just too much. Luckily Mum's neighbour is helping out with meals this week, otherwise I would have collapsed. When she's well enough to have the surgery, I'm going to insist she comes to stay with us to convalesce, as it's impossible to help when she's 15 minutes drive away, much easier if she's in my house and I can take food up to her. And we'll have enough room by then.

New series of Desperate Housewives and Mad Men start tonight. Bliss. Mind you, our PVR managed to screw up last week's Silent Witness and the one the week before was completely scrambled by bad weather affecting the aerial, so I'm not going to rely on it but watch at least one of them live. How bizarre.

Boss coming round at 2pm to talk flexible working. Gulp.

Hope everyone is ok today. BA spotting I see, this is getting a little obsessive. (I'm only not doing it due to lack of time.....)

Today's missing toy list - one Squeeze and Squeak Egg and Gordon's tender from DS1's train set.

oh and bubble mixture compulsory for party bags

Bubble mixture. Good idea. It was in all the party bags DD1 got last year but people seem to have gone off it. So if I add that and a couple of celebrations chocolates (nut free) to each bag I'm done, right? I saw some very cute mini painting sets but they probably don't work well, just look pretty.

Grrr, H just wants to stand all the time now. And I need to hold her. Can't get anything done!

Bicnod, yes we're still on for tomorrow. Hazel has her first settling in session until 11.30 and we'll be right over after that. Can I bring anything?

Thanks for your responses.
I can't really get DH to take him at night, or he'll be so knackered he'll fall off his motorbike. He got in at 10:30pm last night. At the weekend he always tells me to have a nap after lunch and he clears up and has the boys. But on Sun when I came down after an hour, DH was asleep on the sofa and A and DS1 were laying waste to the living room.

I think I am not physically up to leaving him to shriek for hours, as it deprives me of too much sleep, so I will just stick him on the boob when he awakes and postpone the trauma until later. Does sucking help the teething, then? If so, why does it have to be me he sucks and not his dummy?

I am feeling like a shit mummy today, as I took DS1 to drama club and then A was loking sleepy in the pushchair so instead of popping home to get lunch I walked around for an hour like a zombie. A slept for 40 mins, and I served him some leftover mush which he refused, as he did the tomato soup DS1 & 1 were having. He ate the end of a loaf and some petit suisse and compôte. Then I thought he might be screaming because he was tired, so tried to put him down and yelled "OK, OK, I get the bloody message!" at him when he expressed opposition.
He is now standing by my chair, singing and smiling up at me, and I feel awful.

Your birthday parties sound brilliant!

Orbit always wants to suck like mad when teething, but he has always refused a dummy so I'm not sure why A should prefer boob to dummy. Maybe it feels nicer? And I imagine nice warm milk laced with sleepy endorphins etc is probably helpful to sleeping when having toothache.

Orbit is currently laying waste to our lounge while I MN. He is incredibly methodical at getting every single toy out of the baskets and strewing them everywhere.

Poor Auld. I think there are two ways really, one is to feed him straight away whenever he asks for it and put him back to sleep (and hopefully go back to sleep yourself). The other one is to decide not to feed him and not to pick him up and not to cuddle him back to sleep, but then you need to ride it out and not give in, and he will probably cry for a few nights before he gets used to it (and I don't know if it works for all babies!). What I wouldn't do is sometimes feed him, sometimes not, because that will confuse him and you will have listened to all the crying for nothing.

I have just stopped bringing Hazel into bed with me in the early morning and it seems to be making a difference.

Yay Fei can't wait to see you and H - just bring yourselves. Ooooo - scary about settling in session... is that at nursery? How are you feeling about it?

TT - glad your mum is getting better. Any idea when her op will be? Thanks for the heads up on Desperate Housewives, I didn't realise the new series started tonight I tried the night time milk with O and he hated it and it didn't make a blind bit of difference to his sleep. Nothing does. I am trying very hard not to feel depressed about it but failing miserably. Makes me wonder what the hell I've done wrong

Auld you are a lovely mummy its very difficult to know what these babies want sometimes.

O is asleep even though the builders have started banging on his wall again. He keeps stirring when they bang but has somehow managed to stay asleep so far - fingers crossed he has a good long sleep he so needs it.

The Cub is making strange squeely noises and looking annoyed - I'm concerned he's possessed!

MayHaveToPerformAnExorcismTiggaxx

Yes nursery. I am supposed to leave her there for an hour but I bet they'll beg me to come get her after 15 minutes

TBH I feel relieved - I can't wait to have a break from her Have been cursing my decision to take the full year of maternity leave, I am so ready for some grown-up time.

Evening

Holly gave me a fright today. I left her downstairs and nipped to the loo. When I emerged from the bathroom she was sitting at the top of the stairs.Yesterday she could only climb the first one or two. Now I am in big trouble. And the design of the staircase at the bottom makes it impossible to put up a gate.

Auld - Yes do tell. What is BA's daughter's name?
Sorry I can't help with the night feeding issue. I am still feeding Holly one or twice in the night and anticipate doing so for some time. I cannopt begin to imagine doing so if I had to go out to work though. Something has to give. Have you had a nose around the sleep threads? I'm no fan of CC but if it were that or my health I know which I would choose.
And don't talk nonsense, you are a great mother. It wasn't a deep fried mars bar you gave him. Oh and if he is singing and smiling at you I would say that's a pretty good sign that he didn't really take any notice of you snapping. We all do it. I told Holly to go away yesterday. Last week Ellen asked if she was doing my head in. Where did she hear that I wonder. 99% of the time I shower my children with love and attention. I refuse to beat myself up about the odd slip. We all expect way too much of ourselves. Turn on the news, there are some really shit parents out there. Bad mothers we are not. Gosh I sound like i'm barking at you now. I don't mean to.I'll shut up. Just don't be too hard on yourself.

Wriggly - for S
for DH

Wriggly/Fei - We are having a family day out for Ellen's birthday. I figure once she starts school she will be begging for a party but since she hasn't asked this year yet, i'm not about to mention the idea. Am I a mean old cow? Don't answer that.

TT - That's sounds like a good idea to have your Mum stay with you.
I hope you worked out suitable arrangements with your boss.

Ahem, I am embarrassed at the extent of my BA expertise.
Flora.
I'm sure I am pretty much alone in finding it old ladyish. It is, as I said, partly because my great aunt was called Flora. I'd be the same about Agnes, Doris, Muriel, Dora, Vera and the other names of my relatives from that generation. But it's also, I realise, that having left the UK 14 yrs ago, I am a bit 'stuck' in perceptions of the time, and all the 'old' names that have come back in seem very, well, old - or posh - to me. I haven't caught up with changing trends. Hence my kids' names, I suppose...

Auld you say Flora you think margarine.

YesIAMThatOldTiggaxx

I rather like Flora but I do think of Cecil Parkinson.

Auld I have been thinking about the sleep thing and trying to analyse why I don't feel as hideously overtired as I did for the first year of DD's life.

Obviously I don't know how to make babies sleep. If I had sussed that out I would have bottled it and made my fortune.

I think it is partly that this baby 'only' wakes once or twice a night, which seems easy compared to every couple of hours for the firsy year. But the other big difference is that I go to bed between 9 and 10pm (usually much closer to 9). With DD I desperately craved some adult time after DD was asleep. This time round I realise sleep and sanity are much more precious.

One night last week I was tucked up by 8:25 .

I realise you may find that very unpalatable. Particularly if your DH isn't getting home until late. But it seems to be working for me (I only feel marginally insane rather than certifiable , so I thought it worth sharing.

Good morning. I feel very inadequate this morning. For a start, I joined a style and beauty thread but people on there are totally ignoring me. Must be because I have no style

I also read bits of that thread where people say nice things about themselves and it's depressing how many mums there are with great hair, rock hard thighs, who win every pub quiz and claim they are good in bed... I have straw for hair, wobbly thighs, have never even contemplated taking part in a pub quiz because I would be useless at it, and can't remember when I last had sex!

Oh well.

Puzzle, is there really no way you could fix a gate, maybe half way up the stairs at the very least? Well done Holly for climbing up though!

Doris is a good name - I predict it's going to become popular again in the next few years!

Flora though.... no, it's got to be Florence.

Wriggly - I second that, I try to go to bed early, it keeps me sane. Unfortunately that stupid DH of mine often keeps me awake until at least 10.30 so I still don't get as much sleep as I need. Often he comes to bed just as I have drifted off to sleep, waking me up, and then I have trouble going back to sleep .

Puzzle - that helmet has ears. Very cute. You know anything with ears on melts me.

Flora? I quite like it. But there is always going to be some tw*t who says 'her legs spread like butter'

Auld my grandmother was Edith and for the life of me I cannot get my head round why it is in vogue now. Sounds hideously old fashioned to me, but we all have such strong name associations.

(I have a secret penchant for the name Mabel though - can't ever use it though cos the neighbour's farty Pug dog is called Mabel. Shame)

Fei - are they really talking about pub quizzes on style and beauty? I thought they were seen as impossibly geeky (another guilty secret of mine is that I love a pub quiz - not that I ever win)

And Fei your thighs are in better shape than mine.

No the pub quiz one is another thread - 'Mother Love' in Discussions of the day.

On the style thread, one of the mums on there is always dressed in 'teal' or 'berry' pretty much from head to toe, which frankly freaks me out, so I will stop reading it