May 2009 - A new start. Mine's a large gin please.

[runningmonkey]

Here you go ladies.

I'm off to bed - feeling very snotty

hopefully have a better night tonight

night all x

looby, when we went out, she'd try to stay awake until we arrived home safely but we'd always come home and find her asleep on the sofa in front of the tv. bless.

my DH said that our DDs are going to a convent .

hope you sleep well tonight.

Morning everyone,

Lol younger @ your dds going into a convent when they're older . Sometimes I feel like wanting to do the same.

pula I hope you got another lie in/some 'me' time in today as well. I also hope that the evening primrose works too. I agree with flip and anyone else who mentioned it: sleep deprivation can be a killer. Definitely talk to someone if you keep feeling the way you are. Hope you're feeling better though

singing flip Hope you're feeling better too.

flip How are the inlaws? I know it's difficult to ask IL's for help around the house, but you being on your own for now I'd definitely pluck up the courage to ask. @ the counseler's suggestion of asking your IL's to look after the dd's for a night though. Don't think she lives in the real world.

Headless You're leaving today aren't you? Have a great time. Not at all me

Looby How scary. Glad M is on the mend now though.

Finally, also apologies to anyone else I might have forgotten to NC.

Thanks for all the sympathies re shift from hell. It did end nicely though, because as I was walking to my car, the husband of the woman I had been looking after (she had an em c/s) came up to me and gave me a big cuddle and thanked me for all my help I felt a bit like a fraud, because I didn't think I had done all that much for them, having been thrown into their room midway my shift.

Last night DH and I went to that ball we had been invited to ages ago. I got to wear my glamourous slimming dress and was a bit at how big my boobs looked in it, lol. I kept being surprised at my own reflection in the mirror every time I passed one, lol. Every one there seemed to have an iPhone and now I've seen them in action I really want one too. DH is the same, so he's decided his current phone is irrepareably broken and is therefore in urgent need of an iPhone, lol.

The funniest thing happened in the night too. DH had one to many to drink (I was driving) and when he got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet he moved the wardrobe because for some reason he thought it was in the way Funnily enough I didn't wake from it, lol.

C's also being snotty at the moment. Poor thing. She's struggling to breathe through her nose, but otherwise she's actually quite chirpy, so clearly she's not too bothered by it. She does snore now though. She's also added quite a few new sounds to her vocab the last few days. Oh is a favourite now and gaga too. I also got her a few new older baby toys, because all she had were rattles, rattles and more rattles and I thought she could do with something more challenging .

belgina, at your DH's moving the wardrobe.

Sounds lovely to have gone to a ball and would love to see pics of you in the Dress. Funny you noticed all the iphones... did everyone have their phones out at the ball whilst dancing/eating/socialising? I haven't been to a ball in years.

H is snotty too. she's miserable as well, eating little, whingey and not-put-downable. therefore, I'm still in my pj's, unshowered, house a mess, coffee cold... dumb DH went to work today so no help from him. hmph. i'm trying not to resent him since i know he's got a tough time at work but, at the same time, I would have liked a shower and a chance to do some more of my work so I can get on top of the job in this first month. oh well, at least it means he'll be home for the bath/bed hour when I find my patience at it's thinnest (pula, you can relate).

. there. that feels good off my chest. my five minutes of MN before I clean or get dressed (which should I do?). very glad H is napping, she's been a clingy pita but then, she's not feeling 100% so I should put cuddles at the top ofmy priority list.

younger hope H gets better and DH gets back in time for you to have a break.

belgina of the ginormous norks . lolol at DH moving the wardrobe. I thought you were going to say he peed in it....

convents for DDs? Oh yes. Here too.

Where did my lovely firstborn go? I now have a spotty, greasy moody boo of a DD1.

loobs hope M is on the mend xxx

S is staggering around with her hippo walker/ride-on and grinding her teeth

Younger and hinny- I hope S didn't pass anything on to S and H - he wasn't himself at nursery on Thursday (off his food and chesty) so I took him to GPs on Friday. Hope your hard-working DHs come home soon to do some proper work.

belgian- for a moment i thought you were going to say your DH used the wardrobe as a toilet, as I've heard men do that before when under the influence . And S hardly ever plays with his own toys - DS1/DDs toys are much more interesting. I did feel sorry for DS1 and DD today though as they were making some lovely towers/brick models, but S kept knocking them down .

Now S is on the mend, I have decided to get tough again about sleep training. We had 1.5 hours of feeding him/walking him around and up and down the stairs/cuddling etc last night (thankfully it was 9.30-11pm) as he has got into "bad" habits. He will fall asleep on us, but wake himself up when put down. So just now, I decided to do CC after he kept sitting up in his cot. I went in every 5 mins (i don't like leaving him longer) and it took 25 minutes. I felt a bit bad though as I was pottering about tidying the other DCs rooms whilst i was up there, but as soon as I went downstairs he stopped crying and went straight to sleep, so maybe it was worse that he could hear me/knew i was there . I will have to go downstairs next time. I've never done CC in the day before as he usually goes down no trouble. CC does seem to be the only way to get him back on track. I never needed to do it with the other DCs and I don't like it , but I neeeddd sleeeeepp.

Oh and as for convents- DH and I joke about boarding school for DD but not sure I could do it .

Ah pula S is a little snotty at the mo .

Right, off to sort out DD1's ex-friend, who's been going around saying DD1 is a bitch and a thief . Now I know where my lovely DD went, she's been bullied away . My poor, poor girl. She's been through tough times. We're off to this girl's house to have it out with her and her mum.

Letcha know how we get on, wish me luck.

Oh S has just woken after a 20 min nap (worse than the 30 minute naps he's been doing lately).

sinnin- good luck with dealing with the bully- poor DD1.

singing Good luck with dealing with the bully. Go singing [cheerleader emoticon]

pula Hope S settles again soon and that the CC will work quickly. If sleep deprivation is affecting you as much as it has than I think it's right to try everything you can to get lo to sleep through. Here C still needs to be cuddled to sleep for naps, but at least we can leave her once asleep. She seems to be getting better at night too, not demanding milk everytime she wakes, so hopefully she'll soon stop waking too.

drinking DH Actually, when I 1st moved in with DH he weed in the wardrobe/against the door/on the landing/stairs several times, until I learned to wake up when he got up and drag him to the toilet. Luckily he doesn't drink very often anymore.

Poor dd1, singin. hope she's ok and it can get sorded.

Pula, good luck with CC.

Belg, at dragging your drinking DH to the toilet. hehe.

well, DH is back and trying to cram Sunday family time into an hour. I can tell he's feeling guilty. He wanted us all to go to the park so dd1 could try out her newly obtained pedal bike from freecycle. I'm still in my pj's and not going out, thank you. also, it's 4.30pm and time for tea not going to the park. if he wanted to do this, he should have skipped work.

so, i'm staying back to mn make tea for the girls and try to fit some work in (not going to happen). easy for him to go out to the office and come home to play. i'm grrrrrrrrrring right now.

ok. i'll calm down now. i actually don't feel like doing anything. might be back on later.

get sorted not sorded.

also, Pula, i think H's prob is a combination of teething and a snotty nose she's had for weeks.

ok I admit defeat.. I'm just not managing to keep up at the moment I'm going to try to do name check from all i've read from memory..
pula i could have said some of your post at times too.. but would go to the gp if i felt i wasn't quite right too.
shoes i have lots of lovely heels i no longer wear because of walking everywhere with the pram.. winter it's my ugg type boots.. rest of the time it's either my crocs mammoths or crocs sandals. V glammy not!
belgina i'm sure you were a great help to the couple even if you did only get involved half way through. my ex once mistook the front door of our flat for the toilet after one drinking session.. i woke to the sound of him peeing on our letter box!
looby V scary for you but glad M is on the mend.
younger i hope bedtime goes ok and you get a well deserved rest this evening.
singing how did it go wrt the bully? poor dd1
flip how's it going with the IL's? are they staying much longer?
oh and the ball sounded lovely belgina i bet you looked gorgeous in your dress. I looked at getting an iphone but ended up getting this phone instead.. a samsung omnia as the iphone had a 1mega pixel camera and this phone had a 5mega pixel.. don't know if they've upgraded the iphone one since.

what's everyone up to tonight?

Fi - I'm struggling to keep track too!

Just watching Dancing on Ice with a bar of chocolate. DH will be home in about an hour.
Had a nice day with O. We walked the dogs this morning and he sat in the backpack watching them and laughing as they were playing.

Looby - hope M is doing much better now. How worrying for you.

singing - hope the chat with DD1's "friend" and her mum went well and things are getting back on track there.

Belgina - any piccies of you in your dress?! Be you looked gorgeous!
I have an IPhone and love it - only thing missing is a better camera and video facility.

younger - hope you get some time to yourself this evening whilst DH does bedtime?!

flip - How long are the ILs staying for? Hope they've been well behaved today?

Hello everyone else. Can't believe it's Monday again tomorrow!

belgina- yes, I think i need him to sleep better for my own sanity. I would be OK if S just needed to be cuddled to sleep and could then be left. But he has to be moving otherwise he cries, so 1-2 hours of it like last night is just too much. At least DH and I had him in shifts- i found it hard when DH was away the other week.

younger- have you told DH how you are feeling?. I would be if my DH worked 6-7 days a week, then turned up at tea time suggesting a trip to the park. grrrrrr. Did he do bathtime tonight to get some time with the DDs?

I didn't have any "me time" today and even took all 3 DCs to church today whilst DH did some house chores , but i am feeling much happier. I didn't mentioned this before, but I think i was traumatised about seeing a traffic accident last week, and the image haunted me for a couple of days, but now i don't visualise it anymore I feel much better. Has anyone else experienced this? I remember Jael being upset when her train hit someone and couldn't stop thinking about it and i said to just try and forget- easier said than done I've found . I saw a car hit a cyclist who was travelling at speed downhill, and the cyclist was thrown up 8ft or more into the air. I was a few cars away in stationary traffic. I was sure he was going to be dead, but he was sat up and conscious although in shock and bleeding when we pulled away (i couldn't help but look). At least I have become a much more considerate and aware driver around cyclists as a result.

Evening!

sinninhinny - hope you managed to sort out the bullying situation. Poor DD.

pula - glad you are feeling a bit better today, long may it continue. I can understand the traumatised thing, sometimes things just stick in your head and bother you, don't they. I had something sort of similar a few years ago, it was something that had happened to someone that I knew only vaguely from work but I couldn't get it out of my head and had nightmares about it.

belgina - glad you enjoyed the ball and felt a bit glam. LOL at your DH though!

lol at convents! DH insists that he'l be relaxed when the girls are teenagers, and that they'll never be embarassed by him. Oh how little he knows about teenage girls...

Peace and quiet here for now, the ILs have gone back to their hotel for the night, they'll be back at 8.30 for breakfast though! DH got back yesterday, severely jetlagged. PILs not too bad, just lots of small annoyances, MIL still says A's name wrong (10 f£$%ing months she's had to get used to it ), she insists on washing up after meals but doesn't do it properly, she nags DD1 to eat her food, if I'm asking/telling DD1 to do something she joins in etc etc. Phew, breathe. Anyway, they're here until a week on Tuesday . The counsellor's suggestion was rubbish wasn't it, but not only because of the whole BFing/separation anxiety problem - also because quite frankly PILs would be rubbish and I couldn't do that to the girls!

A is still coughing, and daytime naps have been terrible but the nights seems to have been improving slightly. DD1 is coughing now too.

Hi all.
hey Ses,how's the puppy doing?
flippin, hang in there with the inlaws. Iknow the Little Things would really get to me after awhile. Hope the coughs get better.

Pula, I told DH how I felt but was a bit sarcastic about it. I think he also feels guilty about going to work over staying home with us. well, he should. btw, how, HOW did you take 3 DCs to church today? I thought about it but it seemed too much. I bow down to you in total awe.

Also, now I'm up doing a couple hours of work whilst he is going to bed . speaking of, i'm desperately tired and have to stuff envelopes before I can go to bed. yawn.

pula (again), how awful about seeing the cyclist hit. I can imagine the effect it would have on you. very upsetting. hope you're ok.

and again: HOW did you manage to take 3 DC's to church?

Morning!

younger - hope you managed to get your envelopes stuffed oand off to bed at a reasonable time.

Well, I jinxed it, didn't I?! Absolutely shocking night with A, DH brought her downstairs for acouple of hours in the night because I got a bit cross , she kept pinching, scratching and biting me. She settled eventually, and then slept until about 8 this morning, and she seems really bright now.

Morning all,

flippin Sorry about the bad night with A. I recognise the pinching/scratching/biting thing. It's not too bad when DH is away, because I can move away from her, but when he's there.... She goes through spells of doing that and then spells of sleeping nice and still Hope your IL's will behave today.

pula How awful about seeing that cyclist hit. That must have been scary. I hope you can try and put it out of your mind. I realise it's easier said than done when you see something that traumatic. I also hope that you continue to feel better and better now you're tackling S's sleeping again.

ball Sadly no pics of me in the dress. I forgot my camera as we ended up hurrying to get away. The reason everyone had their iPhones out was that DH's colleagues were showing DH some fab navigation apps that he can actually use for work. Then the women took out theirs and showed what they did on theirs. A doc had the BNF on there, just amazing. Maybe I'll hang on until they bring out one with a better camera though

Morning all.

flippin turn away now, you won't want to read this - S slept through from 9.30 last night until 6.30 this morning . I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd time she's done this. Oh and your IL's? You're amazing, putting up with them. It's the little things that make up a collective big thing IMHO. Chin up, they will soon be gone

younger I really hope you're ok today and managed to get the envelope stuffing done. I like stuffing envelopes and folding letters. DH cooked roast chicken for us yesterday and managed to overcook all the veg. I kept quiet and made appreciative noises - it was lovely to have dinner cooked for me.

pula I hope you're feeling better today, I understand about the trauma thing. And I second younger - how? How? HOW?

ses yes, how is the pup? I hope you have a good week at work.

fi always lovely to see you

muddled always lovely to see you too

belgina I hope the tablets start to work for DS

Well DD1's friend and her mum were out, so we shall try again tonight. I want to get this sorted. DD1 has had to change school twice, moved country, new sibling etc etc in the space of a year. This is the last thing she needed. She's strong but very sensitive.

I need coffee, back later, have a great day all x

belgina xposts - S understands 'are you dancin'? and starts swaying from side to side. She thinks 'no' means carry on being naughty, mummy finds it hilarious.

Hellooo

This is going to be a quicky as am sitting at Dad's desk and its bloomin umcomfy.

Just wanted to say hello...

Pula - hope things look chirpier today? Fingers x'd for a good nights sleep soon.

Looby - sorry to hear about M - hope she's better now.

Belgina - please do fb me - my consultant, although based in south London, does outreach clinics over the south of England and covers Ashford. If you are still worried I could get you into his next clinic there - you would need a GP referral tho...

Singing - your poor, poor DD. Girls can be so mean. I changed schools cos I was bullied. Was bullied at the 2nd school too, but that got sorted pretty quickly.

Am not doing too badly. The painkillers I was sent home on were NOT working and on Saturday morning I couldn't move without pain searing throughout my leg, I was sobbing. Mum called the out of hours Dr and Dad went along to pick up a prescription for tramadol and oral morphine. Haven't touched the morphine yet, the tramadol (and paracetamol and ibuprofen) are just about covering it. It hurts to sit down and get up but the rest of the time I am sitting down with my leg up and its not too bad. Got worse again last night when I FINALLY poo'd (a week!) good god, talk about agony! It reminded me of my first poo post giving birth. Bloody codeine. Spending most of the day really sleepy and sometimes sicky. Sausagebruise has spread nicely and is now half way down my thigh from my groin, and is mostly purple with green edges and LOTS of yellow. Yuck.

Must go and lie down (!!) - parents are out and have taken M. Bless her, she is being an absolute angel. DH, on the other hand, is being a COMPLETE pain in the arse and has gone back to work / home. Phew.

hopalong- sounds like you are having a tough time, but glad to hear you can now move a little without searing pain. Glad you are getting TLC from your parents, and that your DH has gone away as it sounds like he hasn't been much help .

flip- sorry to hear last night was a bad one. Our LOs seem to take it in turns to play up. hinny - glad S had a good night and hope you get to talk to DD1s friend and mum soon.

Last night was one of the better ones as I got solid sleep from 12 - 5.15 and then a snooze with S until 6.40. We did CC at 11.30 after S had fed and deliberately woken himself again . At least today I could put him down for his nap with the usual face stroke and bottom pat so the CC has done the trick. And he had an hour's sleep which is better than usual so I could do lunch for me and DS1 and tidy the kitchen after. At first i was when he woke after I'd just sat down but then i tried to think positive and remind myself he napped longer than usual.

As for going to church with 3 DCs, I must say i was very relieved when i got there to find the DCs were to go straight into sunday school so i didn't have the usual 20 mins trying to get the DCs to sit still/keep quiet. Instead I got to sit in the creche with S for an hour so not too tricky really . I must admit to be being an atheist (I used to be a believer but lost my faith, but my DCs enjoy going to church and will make their own minds up when they are older).

Hi All,
Just a quick hello, thanks for all the support and advice about the cm last week, sorry I didn't get on to read properly. We've had a really good chat with her and have come up with some strategies (don't think it helps that she has OFSTED in this week). We've agreed we are going to give it until May half term but I will look at alternatives in the meantime in case A jsut dosn't settle.

On top of that A has been poorly all weekend - gross nappies and one spectacular projectile vom all over me and her room on Sat night

Will try to catch up properly later this evening. Hope all are ok x