May 09 - The Sleepless Babies Club, All Dubious Fashions Welcome

[Grumpyoldcaaaaaaaa]

Ladies.

Once again I can't keep up!

Jael I concur with the others - you have done amazingly well to rise above your family circumstances and create such a stable and loving environment for your DC. It sounds like you are living in hope of your mum raising her standards and that she's continuing to disappoint you. Keep strong - you are doing a fine job.

Blotted great to 'see' you. Sorry to hear you're still not well. Hope things are better for you soon. H is not properly mobile yet either, and only started sitting well over Christmas. He wants to crawl but ends up pushing backwards with his hands until he's in a sitting position and then looking bemused!

H would very much like to join the baby disco. He is good at banging his shaker and even managed a few notes on his little xylophone the other day (when he could get the beater out of his mouth). H's current favourite tunes are 'The Grand old Duke of York' and 'Wheels on the Bus' which elicit much excited arm flapping. I may have to educate him in retro 70's vibes before the event.

Ses congrats on your new arrival

H's sleeping is completely crap this week, waking up every 1-2 hours. He keeps pulling his ear so I'm thinking it's his teeth, although calpol - no, calpufren - doesn't seem to be making much difference . Co-sleeping doesn't help either. Just having to grin and bear it... aargh... off he goes again!

Not sure A would add much to the disco, tbh - her current favourite things are open doors . If she spots one, she's off exploring. I've caught her trying to climb the stairs a couple of times!

Thanks for co-sleeping stuff. I guess what we're doing now is cosleeping of a fashion, I just want it to be better, iyswim.

spangle - poor H. DD1 had terrible problems with her ears every time she had a tooth coming through - she had recurrent ear infections, poor thing. If it continues, I'd get him checked out just in case. Of course, there is a danger that you could be seen as an over-cautious mum (I'm always terrified of that!)

flippin actually I was going to say/type, until H interrupted, this evening I started wondering if it could be an ear infection rather than toothache - I'm not sure how to tell the difference! You're right, if it continues I'll take him to the GP.

Thanks to those who gave me advice about milk feed the other day. I'm going to have another go at expressing and try different times of day, and maybe look into other pumps. H has done a bit better with his eating over the last few days so I'm hoping that continues.

That is hilarious Dandy!
I can just imagine them having a boogie away to that!

ROFLMAO dandy - that'll be going round in my head when I'm awake at 3am!!!

dandy You are clever and funny.

febes That outfit was erm groovy man!

ses Brown velour? Mmmmmmmmm!

momi I love Airplane ('Don't call me Shirley/Have you ever seen a grown man naked?') and thinking of the bit you mentioned made me smile. It also for some reason made me think of the dancing in the mail room 'cossack style' in Elf, which is a huge favourite in our house (none of us can use an escalator without smiling/trying to do the splits)

Snot central here

I made brownies this aft at DH's urging. They are all gone. I had 1. Only after he had eaten 4 did I casually throw in that they contained prunes (he hates prunes)

Watching the snooker. I love Ronnie. C'mon Ronnnnniiiieeeee!

Dandy [grin[ H knows that one! He is wailing singing it in his cot right now. Better go.

PS Grumpy prunes - or poons, as they are known in this house.

Night all x

Dandy absolutelybloodyhilarious.

Sod the baby disco, I'm strutting my own stuff around the ironing board right now.

lol dandy i too will be singing it in my head tonight!

this thread made me laugh tonight, especially dandy's jingle.

grumpy, we must have similar sense of humour (scary for you), Ilove Elf and the mail room scene. Can't believe you had only 1 brownie. the nerve. prunes? sound like healthy brownies to me. make another batch.

ses, how is pup settling?

all ye with unsettled babies, possibly teething, Harper has been very whingey lately in the afternoon/evening and I can't figure out why -checking the nappy, hunger, pain etc nothing so must be teething? she is chewing on everything (have to clear the dog toys from the floor) and also doing the ear-pulling thing. she still just has the bottom 2 teeth, though.

feeling better, thank you. girls a bit more settled down to sleep. dh has gone to work today , staying overnight again. poor girls begged him not to go but he's so overloaded at work. He's promised it won't go beyond Jan working like this or he'll quit. I'm starting to resent the situation a little as it means I don't have him to share night duties like chasing escapees from their beds at 11.30, 1.30, 3, 4,5.30 etc.

co-sleeping, i don't remember this but apparently last night, I agreed with dd2 who turned up at my bedside that she sleep in our bed. I woke up properly about an hour later as she was tossing and turning so it was impossible to lay comfortably. I returned her to her bed knowing that dd2 isn't a good candidate for co-sleeping.

H often came into our bed as a tiny baby. for me it was easy to feed her and get more sleep. I occasionally bring her into bed now and love the cuddle.

dandy, I would be very annoyed and frustrated as well. Buying a ballet kit sounds expensive. let DD wear the old shoes whilst you look in the next few days (again) for the new shoe. it's got to turn up (famous last words).

also, it is annoying that your dd and dh have the 'stick it anywhere' theme, my dh does it as well and it drives me mad. I don't think you're being unreasonable, you've just reached the point where it's hit a nerve. At least you realise your DH does so many other nice, thoughtful things that you can forgive him (a little) for his being disorganised.

sorry I don't have any advice but to vent as you're doing. and I suppose nag a bit (i hate nagging but it's impossible to avoid). I really hope DD finds that shoe.

dandy my dh does the 'nothing to do with me' thing too.. but in other respects is a systems and extremely tidy person.. but even he causes arguments about this as when he hasn't put something away where he remembered it was i get the blame even when i don't know what he's looking for!! He never manages to accomplish as much around the house when he's left to look after the dc's.. it'll be meals and drinks and that's it. Hoovering, laundry, dishwasher etc get left. but he does like to tidy some of the toys away at the end of the day.. which is a help. It must have been so frustrating to see dd in the ballet stuff needing to go back.. when your dh could have whipped it off in a flash and hidden it out of sight. But i expect he let her play with it for an easy life? i'd let dd go to ballet in her old shoes as your dh was the one that allowed her play to with her outfit and she would have thought it was ok to because of that?
He does score huge brownie points for your birthday though mine would rarely think of doing all that!

dandy - how frustrating for you! Hope the shoe turns up soon. But wow at your DH and your birthday surprises!

Well, after grumbling so much about sleep we had a fab night last night! Well, A slept brilliantly, woke at for the first time 1:30 had a feed and went straight back to sleep in the cot(!) and then woke at 5am and came into bed with us and dozed/fed/fidgeted until 6:30. I didn't sleep very well though - it took me ages to get to sleep when I went to bed, I couldn't relax because I was waiting for her to wake up.

Quiet day here, DD1 is at the childminder so it's just me and A. Need to do a bit or ironing but that's all really.

dandy what a PITA about the ballet shoes. Hope it turns up soon.

Love the "staying Awake" song

M is coughing today - giving her tixylix and if it gets more on her chest its off to the docs tomorrow.

llare have your goulash recipe bubbling away in the slow cooker - have followed the recipe but have added some green/orange peppers I had to use up. What do you usually serve it with - was thinking brown/wild rice?

Mornin' all

Had this cold for quite a few days now, S not sleeping well. Feel poorly. Look 800 years old.

A brief rant from me:

Just went to get DD1's PE kit, which I had to buy from a particular shop in small market town in which her school is located.

1 pair blue shorts
1 'Gymphlex' top
1 pair sky-blue socks

£24.50. £24.50 £24.50 twenty four sodding pounds fifty pence

I mean come on, it's a pe kit! But of course, it has to be from this shop, as it has to be these particular garments. I've already paid £25 for a blazer from the uniform shop, a horrible, polyester, cheap blazer with a bit of embroidery on it.

It is, of course, stuff wot I can't get in Tesco for a fraction of the cost. Makes me

dandy I would be hyperventilating and fanning self in rage. But he was marvellous for your birthday. My DH is actually the one who does most of the tidying (as he enjoys it ), but he has a tendency to forget where he's put things. Imprtant things like DD2's reading book from school. That I've had to buy a replacement copy of. Apparently, she should have kept it safe. Oh and the cheque book (for school dinners and whatnot) has a habit of turning up in his car and stuff.

M is being very shouty today, she's currently sat on the floor banging her shape sorter shapes together and shouting at them

Have really got to sort the house out/put stuff on ebay this week. Have been sorting out some neutral vests and babygrows for a friend who's due in March but don't want to give too much away JUST IN CASE. DH says why don't I give it all away we're not having another - hope he changes his mind I'd really like another.

OMG twenty four fifty for a top shorts and socks! ouch!

i dread to think what ds's uniform will cost when he starts in sept.. no idea what they'll want us to buy!

looby yummy goulash.. i'd go for rice & btw it took 2yrs to talk dh round to trying for #2 he's now chuffed we had another and doesn't regret it one bit. our only regret is that he's 46 and i'll be 40 this year and i've needed 2 cs's.. or we'd have kept going!

Morning all,

PMSL @ the 70's baby disco chat from last night, especially dandy's "Staying Awake"

dandy How annoying about the stuff you wanted to return being used and the lost ballet shoes. My DH is the same when it comes to "tidying", he likes to shove stuff in random places out of sight, but it takes me ages to find them back. My systems are forever messed up. In fact one of our arguments last week was about something similar.

grumpy @ schools insisting on PE kit being from a certain shop etc... I spent a fortune on my dcs unifor too because its 1) in an unusual sort of green and 2 bears the school logo.

co-sleeping We also take the part time approach. C starts her night in her cot and comes in with us after her 1st feed. This used to be around 4-5, but she's also had a very very unsettled month behind her and it ws often 12 recently. However, I think there's light at the end of the tunnel . Last night she slept a 6h stretch followed by a 4h stretch I didn't sleep all that time because the 1st bit was from 8.30-2.30, but still,... It's the 2nd or 3rd better night in a week now, so things are definitely on the up. I think it must have been a combination of being poorly, teething (3teeth over xmas) and then the developmental stuff happening according to the wonder weeks book.

We had a lovely time in Belgium. It was nice to see my family, but I definitely have a very different approach to baby rearing than my cousin. Hers is a very technological one, lol. She even carried around her blender to prepare her ds's food and he's 10mo, both my others had finger foods at that stage. She gave me a very funny look when I told her I did BLW (she'd never heard of it). Then off course to top it all of I put C in the sling on my back to send her to sleep because I knew she wouldn't go in the buggy. They must have thought I was some funny hippy woman, lol.

grumpy £24.50 complete rip off.

fi hope my DH comes round to the idea, I'm 37 now so obviously don't want to wait too long and I know that it would be another CS

Just sorting out clothes for my pg friend and getting broody

belgina lol at 'funny hippy woman'

M is def going off BF she was whining and obviously wanted milk but would only take a bottle earlier - no wonder the dreaded periods have started again oh well we made it to nearly 9 months I guess.

Am stuck on the sofa, M's been asleep on me for 10mins so far.