June09: First birthdays coming up, we're on the move!

[June2009]

Happy Mother's day Juners ;)

hey snow Have you been to Ikea yet? I just can't face it at the weekend. Do they have a "bargain corner" at yours too? We always check it out, found some stuff we actually wanted a couple of times too :D
You got a rotten deal getting the remote on a Friday ;) There is nothing on TV on Fridays unless you watch "The Event". (dh watches it). I usually end up watching the backlog of recorded stuff ("ugly betty"/"desperate housewives")
Hope you got a better night's sleep.
Don't feel bad about the chocolate buttons, call it "watching his sugar intake" ;)

I'm better thanks, just feeling quite tired now and can't face eating anything so just getting some rest and I stuck to a piece of toast and a bit of pasta today.
Also spent the day in my pjs & slippers. Very comfy .

Sweepstake:
bigcar: girl, 8lb, 2 days late (sorry!)
june: Girl, 7 pounds, 25th :D

alloverit one of my mates got some glasses in his thirties and one of the things he said to me was along the lines of "Ohh, your skin is not as nice as I thought"
Don't take it personally, so glad he can see properly now!
We bought a little table and two chairs from ikea (£15!) and C. has the choice between that and the high chair.

bigcar thanks for the "bonkers" thread resume, I eventually read most of it this afternoon while lazying around . I do like slightly eccentric people :D
hope meow is better.

Any tips for 18mo who is shitscared of the bath? C will not go in it, really really cries her heart out when she hears the bath being filled and if we put her anywhere near, nebermind in there. We've tried flling it in first so she doesn't hear it, putting lots of toys, bubble bath, bubbles etc...
I can wash her well with a hot towel and she enjoys that so I don't mind if she doesnt have a bath in her nightly routine but I need to wash her hair and we just put her standing up in the bath for that so that's proving really difficult and stressfull. She screams throughout . don't know what's caused it, she used to really love bath time.
she doesn't like the shower cubicle either.
If we mention "bath" she waves her finger and says "no, no"...
Any ideas welcome!

right, gotta catch up with strictly ;)

hi june we survived ikea yesterday, got there and it was quiet, although getting manic by the time we left. DH has put together the new drawers, A has a table and chair set for christmas from his great aunt.
DH at work again, so I am happily watching strictly and crap factor results shows! Hope you continue to feel better. Day in PJs sounds great!

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions for C and her bath hate. A hated it when he was little and was showered for months. Will she entertain the idea of bathing a dolly?

looking forward to hearing some news from everyone . Hope you are all ok.

back to crap factor

Hi all!

Snow, another one here sucked into the X factor Fingers crossed for a full night's sleep! Well done on surviving IKEA (and thanks June for the tip on the super bargain table!!)

Sweepstake:
bigcar: girl, 8lb, 2 days late (sorry!)
june: Girl, 7 pounds, 25th :D
strawberry: 22nd December, boy, 7lb 2oz
Gauchitabell, 26th December, girl, 3kg 225g

June, hope the court case finishes soon (((hug))) WRT C's bathtime, something similar happened to the DD of a friend of mine, and it started when one evening the water in the tub was too warm and when she sat she "burnt" (she didn't hurt herself but YKWIM) and she sort of got scared of bathtime, water after that and would only be bathed standing up. With time, though, she forgot the incident. Do you think C might have got scared about anything related to water/bathtime at all? Sorry if I'm just babbling and this doesn't apply I second Strawb's idea of maybe taking a shower/bath with her, do you think she'd like that?

Allover, DS looks absolutely cute with his specs! So glad to hear DD eats a bit better when not on the highchair, it must be tiring for you to be chasing her around, but let's look at the positives Hope she continues eating well!

Bigcar, I completely missed that thread (and I have understood half of the gist, tbh but the bears are cute

Right, first day I've actually seen and spent time with DH since we got back Things are SO busy at work these days, but things are going well for him so no complaints We went to IKEA looking for a table for M (thanks June ) only to get there and find out there were none left of the kind we wanted We managed to get a couple of things on our way out, typical!

Strawberry, hope L's nightmares stop, poor little thing Do they go on throughout the night or are they at the beginning only?

Right, off to bed!

Waves to all

morning all

june, I'd second what the others have said, have her in the bath with you for now, or start with just an inch of water in the bath with no bubbles and slowly build on that. Good to hear you're feeling better now.

snow, good to hear you survived Ikea, that's quite something I don't watch x factor beyond the auditions, gets boring for me when it starts to get serious. Totally hooked on strictly though! Ann has to go soon surely, there's only so much comedic value in her dancing, gotta admire her for giving it a go as she has my skills on the dance floor, but still

strawberry, hope L's ok

gauchita, just noticed your namechange! Ikea always gets you like that, you never come out empty handed, it's quite nice living close to one as it never turns into the torture it is for others. My mil once got dragged there by my bil and his wife, they spent the day there, she goes white just at the mention of Ikea now, I keep offering to take her but she's just not interested

meow the cat is completely back to normal now, eating well again and a beautiful shiny coat. She would have been back at the vets today if she hadn't started eating properly.

E has finally cracked the cat/squirrel thing [yay] he can't say squirrel but he tries and has the right sign now, so no more battles on that front. Now we just have the cat going loopy when she sees the squirrels in the garden, she'll have had all her jabs by the end of next week so she'll be able to go out. I just have visions of having to get the ladders out to get her out of next doors tree after chasing a squirrel up there! Oh well, I'm sure cat and squirrel together will make E really happy

we're almost sorted for christmas now, just a few more bits to get, have ordered myself a new bag that should be here in a couple of days

waves to all

strawberry ((((hugs)))) that's rough on you both. I can only suggest calpol/nurofen for teething given about 1/2 an hour before bedtime. Nightmares, haven't a clue I'm afraid other than to offer sympathies and suggest you post on the sleep board. I guess all you can do is to soothe her when she wakes and reassure her she's ok.

oh strawbs . You poor things. I am afraid I have no advice except to post on the sleep board and hope someone with some experience gives you some advice. A has finally decided to start sleeping through or only waking once but this is a very recent development. I feel for you trying to function in the day when the nights are sooo draining. Are you resting when L does?

june any improvement on bath time tonight?

bigcar I was almost in tears laughing at Ann dancing but yes, she needs to go! Enough already.

gauchita glad you guys had a productive trip to ikea too.

DH home tonight, better go and chat with him!

Heya!

sam sorry to hear about the nightmares :( :( A friend of mine noticed her little girl started having nightmares when she changed her sleeping routine. (she introduced the nightgarden's tv program in her nightime routine, when she stopped the nightmares stopped).

Thanks for all the bathtime suggestions.
We tried several times to go in with her or be in there and get her to come in but she is just scared when she approaches the bathroom if there is water in the tub. We have tried the bubbles, inc of water, toys etc to no avail so far.
From time to time we just put her in there and just get through it quickly while she is screaming.
Next attempt: I'm going to bring a bucket or the swimming pool in there and get everything ready for her before she comes in, so it's not "the tub" iyswim. she won't have to go in at first we can wash her with a towel next to it. (read that in a book yesterday...)
We will do this this week when the time is right.

A friend of mine suggested going to hers for bath time which I might take her up on if this does not work. (her son loves bathtime).
In a couple of weeks we're spending the weekend with some friends & babies sharing a house so hopefully we'll have a breakthrough then!

Sorry not got anymore time to catch up properly!

Hi all!

Strawberry, aw bless poor L, and you must be so tired getting up so many times during the night. Glad she had a smooth night last night with no nightmares. I have no useful advice, unfortunately, but hope the nightmares stop soon. So cute how L is saying all these words esp. telling you when she'd done a poo, they say it's one of the signs they're getting ready for potty training

Bigcar, glad to hear Meow is all better now and that E's found the difference between cats and squirrels Oh the fun he'll have with Meow when she can go outside! I modified my nickname a bit after getting a bit paranoid about Google I sometimes forget everything we write is "out there" LOL at your MIL being scared of IKEA since that trip

June, my friend did that, one day we were visiting and we got both girls in the bathtub. M loves water/bath time so the other girl enjoyed it much more and even sat down, something she didn't do at the time. So, it might be a good idea, yes

Snow, Glad the IKEA shopping got sorted/assembled already I assembled M's small table and chairs today, that's a first for me! I usually get DH to do that but he's too busy these days and I didn't want to wait until the weekend

M seems to have had a breakthrough at nursery as she's not crying when I leave her and pick her up. If she does it's only a tiny sob and then she's OK (yay!)

She surprised me today with her table, she sat down and had her dinner with no wandering around and she ate very well as well Hope it's not just due to the novelty

Off to bed now, waves to all!

morning all

snow, good to hear you got to see dh at last Have you packed your bag yet, or are you on the second baby not so bothered line now?!

june, hope you sort the bath out soon

strawberry, how's L today, does she remember much from during the night? Loving wubbies E doesn't have that many words yet but I called him this morning as he said yeah in the very bored voice that ds1 uses, was very funny. We have loads of happyland stuff collected over the years, I love it, someone gave us a big bag of the train set stuff last year so we've masses of that as well

gauchita, good on M going into nursery, must be a relief And well done you on the Ikea assembling!

dd3 had yet another accident in school yesterday, fell off a scooter and banged and scraped her nose, went inside managed to wallop herself on the nose again and had a nosebleed [sign] can't wait to get her out of there Also found out yesterday school are messing around one of my friends, her ds also has additional needs and is in nursery, but they are refusing to change his nappy when needed, funny because they change dd3 everyday as routine [sigh] it's ridiculous.

E seems to be changing an awful lot at the moment, his speech is slowly coming along and his understanding is great now. He's figured out that if dd3 gets too close all he has to do is pinch her glasses and it stops her in her tracks Still loves his muslin and thumb though

waves to all

Hi everyone,

Sorry to be away for such a long time, but work coupled with N having a chesty cold for the last three weeks has left me with no time for Mnetting :(

Gauchita - I like the small table and chair idea, N is very independent and hates being fed in the high chair so maybe that would work for us. Hope the novelty does not wear off!

Snow - getting close now :), you are brave facing Ikea I couldn't even face it now and I am not heavily pregnant with a toddler!

Sweepstake:
bigcar: girl, 8lb, 2 days late (sorry!)
june: Girl, 7 pounds, 25th :D
strawberry: 22nd December, boy, 7lb 2oz
Gauchitabell, 26th December, girl, 3kg 225g
AllSheep: 25th December, girl, 7lb 6oz

Bigcar - Am pleased to hear Meow the cat is getting back to normal and that E has cleared up the squirrel/cat confusion :)

June - N loves bath time, but hates hair washing! I put her bath toys out on the floor in her room and encourage her to add them into the bath herself which gets her interested in playing with them. Also when she needs a hair wash I get in the bath with her and do it with a sponge, as she hates lying back. You could try getting her used to playing with water by getting a sealed plastic box/old baby bath and a new water pouring type toy to get C used to splashing water and the idea that getting wet is fun. C could start by leaning over the side, but could progress to getting in with the toy when more confident, then onto the bath.

Strawberry - the whole teething, nightmare thing is gruelling. It will get better, I survived with Calprofen (stronger than Calpol so good for molar teething) and by bringing N into our bed, the smell of a parent can calm those nightmares down, alternatively we have now for the canine teething slept with a pillow to give it our smell and then put it into her bed which seems to help. When she was little I used to wear a t-shirt all day and then put her down to sleep on it! Also I removed any stimulating activities after dinner time (like TV, song, very active playing with DH etc ...) as I found that she was dreaming more vivid dreams and ended up crawling around in the cot and smacking her head on the bars.

N has been quite unwell and not really able to go out in the cold for long periods to the sandpit in the park (her favourite thing). DH had the bright idea of buying her a Thomas the Tank sandpit tray with a two trains and a crane that carries and dumps sand that we could have indoors . It is on a plastic sheet and N loves it, but I am waiting to come home to find little piles of sand all over the living room!

allsheep new bath toy that pours water is a geat idea. We haven't been brave enough to do it this week yet...C has been teething and having nightmares too sam talking in her sleep, crawling and all sorts!

I need an emoticon with smoke coming out of its ears to explain how mil made me feel today. I'm too furious to even explain it, in the end dh told her to only come back to our house when the court case is over and she has calmed down. She was shouting in our house!! (while C is sleeping no less).

I worked so hard to make it the perfect day for dh's bday and she turned up and ruined it. He was visibly shaken and shocked after, she got right in his face and even poked him several times (she's angry with pil's alleged behaviour, nothing to do with dh). He was ever so good not to raise his voice or retaliate.
We're not pikeys by the way, that is not normal behaviour round here!
I have felt like crying several times today but I just won't let her crazy behaviour do this to me. I arranged to go go boxing tomorrow morning to let all the anger out!

dh loved his present (photo album from snapfish) and we went out to sushi tonight so that mil has not completely ruined the day. C had some too and it was lovely.

Sorry for the very me posts lately, much need to vent!

take care!

June - Vent away! I am so sorry to hear about your and DH's day and MIL's shocking behaviour. I am glad you managed to get some 'you' time tonight for you and DH to unwind a bit. Your MIL will no doubt in time realise how unreasonable she has been and apologise for her behaviour in the mean time a little distance does sound like a good idea to give her time to reflect. I find that often people take their frustrations out on those closest to them, maybe because they feel that they will listen to them when the person who is the source of their frustration will not. I hope that boxing helps you get it out, I always found the Wii Sports boxing very therapeutic when I was p**d off:o

Bigcar - so sorry to hear about DD3's accident and the experience of your friend , have they said how long for a possible place elsewhere?

afternoon all

allsheep, you'll have to excuse my laughing at the sitting room sandpit, I've so been there, I had one of these in mine for about a year We need permission to officially approach the school we want from panel, that's 7th december, realistically it's going to be september before she's moved [borrows junes steaming ears emoticon]

june, a belated happy birthday to your dh and well done him for putting his foot down, must have been very hard for him given what you have said previously. Glad you managed to enjoy the rest of your day Hope today has been better.

it's so cold here today, dh said he saw snow first thing, so pleased it didn't hang around long enough for me to see! Anyone snowed in yet? May be this year we'll get that white christmas

waves to all

Hi all!

Brrrr, it's COLD! It snowed a bit on and off but not enough for it to settle. I guess we might have a white stuck at home Christmas again this year

Bigcar, wow, your living room must be huge to have fit that house in it Atm we have an inflatable sofa, a small table and chairs and M's baby and pram Everything crossed for the panel to authorise you to approach the school you want. at the treatment your friend's DC is getting at school. I can't believe it.

June, (((hug))) how awful it must have been for you to have to witness such sad scene the nutter And poor DH on his birthday! As bigcar said, glad he managed to put his foot down and put her in her place. It's not easy for them so well done. Distance is a good idea, at least for now. Glad you managed to enjoy the rest of DH's day and you got to have a lovely dinner together as well. Allsheep's suggestion of bath toys is brilliant, that might get her to see it can be fun Fingers crossed!

Allsheep, I sympathise with you on the cough/cold/runny nose front, this is M's 4 week (with a minor gap last week ) It can be knackering as cough usually brings sick events here during the night, lots of broken sleep Hope N gets better soon. Bless your DH Sweet present but I know what you mean I'd die!

Strawberry, hope L's having better nights.

Right, lots of things to do these days, and I don't know if it's because it gets darker earlier but time is flying during the day and I feel I can never finish everything

Off to learn some French!

Au revoir!

Bon soir!
gauchita how are the french lessons? I don't think I will mind too much if we get snowed in over christmas, we can walk to the hospital!
allsheep poor N, hope she on the mend soon. Love DHs present!Hope you have a good vacuum cleaner.
bigcar i love the idea of the wendy house in the loungeroom, wish we had enough room. looking for one second hand for outside on ebay. Poor little DD3, is she ok now? Good on E and his speech etc. A has good comprehension but v little speech. He has started the 'what's that' and pointing at everything. Of course, he can't say what's that but the sounds are right.
june oh no, your bloody MIL, what on earth did she think she was doing. Hope your boxing was therapeutic.
strawbs how is L? Did you post on the sleep board for some advice

bit of a stressy day, ended up at the hospital as baby decided to go quiet for 24hrs. Let home again after a few hours as baby decided to perform for the CTG .Of course, DH away for a few days. Timing wonderful! Luckily a very good friend here took A for me. I don't know what I will do when my two 'besties' here move back to Australia at christmas. Must make more of an effort for new friends.

Think it might be an early night.

Take care

have i killed our thread? anyone out there?

Hope the weather not causing too much chaos with you. Luckily we don't have any snow, I walked home from the beautician in flip flops after a manicure today. Frosty toes by the time I waddled home! Look lovely though and didn't trash the polish!

afternoon all

snow, I know you're not a native of these parts, but have you not noticed how cold it is flip flops . . . in november . . . you are a brave lady We don't really have that knid of room, but hey ho, that's my dh it was supposed to go straight out in the garden in the first place! Hope all's well with you, that must have given you a fright, I'm convinced all babies do that at some stage, it's horrible. Think I've been in with all of mine not moving at some stage, sat at home and done the really cold water, poked and prodded my belly, moved around lots . . . nothing, just to go in and the second they put the monitor on backflips and somersaults all over the place and of course then you feel a total fraud, pleased all was ok

gauchita, hope Ms feeling better now. How's the french going?

No snow here yet, it's supposed to turn up later. Hoping it's not too bad as I'm picking dd1 up from uni on friday when she breaks up. Waves to everyone, hope you're not all snowed in

No snow here either. Never mind just that fact that cbeebies have started playing their winter song has given me the excuse I needed to look at snow boots for N! Hope we do get snow, I can't wait to see her face :o She was too young to appreciate it much last year.

Snow - glad DC2 is back wriggling around again, was probably sleeping and given the cramped conditions there can't be much room for maneuver in there anyway :)

Bigcar - Wendy house great idea, not sure we could fit one in either. I am looking forward to creating dens under the table with blankets as I did when I was young and have done for my nieces when they come to stay. Guess I am still a big kid at heart :o

Hope everyone else is coping with the cold weather. Just phoned my Granny up in Scotland who is 86 to check she is ok, apparently she is fine, but not wanting to go out due to fear of slipping, but my Uncle and his family who live up a steep hill are all snowed in! Makes me think that I should stock up on tins, but living in London we never get it that bad.

santa tracker from norad, 2 days till it's up and running ladies

Hi all!

Bigcar, oh, I bet you're excited to see DD1! They break for 2-3 weeks? French is going well, I'm motivated and study every evening, unless I have work to do Not today, though, as DH took my CD driver to work It'll take me a while, though, I can feel it

Snow, oh babies are just like that, aren't they! It happens every time, they give you a scare and then you're in front of the sonographer and they start doing the conga Glad to hear things are ok. Not long now!!

Allsheep, oh, I heard in Scotland they're having it pretty rough, minus 17! Brrrr... I can't blame your GM for not wanting to go out, even here with all the hilly bits pavements are very dangerous. Another fan of dens under tables So much fun!

Snow's everywhere here since last Thursday, IIRC. Not as excited as last year. I'm not an experienced driver, you see so it's quite disruptive in my case. It gets quite bad here as the drive that leads home is only for us residents, so it doesn't get gritted, snow-plowed, etc. So it snows, sun comes up, everything melts a bit, then night falls, everything freezes and voilà, ice rink! So we're stuck and can't drive out. I'm going to start leaving the car on the next road as it's a proper road so no problems there.

Mad weekend as I got a big job on Friday delivery Sunday . But, money was good so I took it. All was well until M came down with a tummy bug on Sat and things got difficult. We saw the doctor, who said we should keep her hydrated and content and it will pass.

I'm in an odd school moment right now. I know it's good for her to socialise with other children but to be honest I'm very tired of her catching a bug every 10 days. It's good for the immune system but for some things you don't get immunity, you just catch them again and again She's literally down with something for 2 weeks and then 4-5 days well and bam! another cold/cough/bug. So after a lot of thought (with a guilt-trip in the middle and thinking I was being paranoid or suffering from PFB ) she won't go after Jan. We have to give a 2-mth notice, which is why she'll be going Dec and Jan.

Oh!! Without wanting to step on anyone's toes, just for you to maybe PM her Bunnymother has had her twin girls! (I saw it on FB) They were born last week and mum and babies are doing great. I just thought you'd like to know and send some Juner congrats!

Waves!

Heya no snow here either nope, definitely not.

gauchita How is it going, do they have a lot of kids at this nursery? Maybe M would get less bugs at a childminder instead? C goes 3 mornings a week and she does get a cold from to time but she really hasn't been too bad in comparison.
Hope learning french is going well, you know where to ask if you get stuck on anything ;)
Are you learning it from english or from argentinian? I've been learning greek on and off (for years!) and was wondering if I would assimilate it better if I learnt in from french rather than with books in english iyswim.
Our road is the same as yours, I really don't want snow.
I couldn't remember bunnymother's nickname .

allsheep mil is not going to apologise anytime soon, she's going round telling people her evil son has thrown her out of his house and that she is not allowed to see her granddaughter (both things 100% not true). Boxing was GREAT, I think my trainer is too proud to admit he has bruises on his legs from my kicking. (I swear I am not a violent nor an agressive person!!).
Hope your gran is ok and has enough basics to keep her going for a little while, do you have her neighbour's number maybe they are more mobile and can help out, snow usually brings the best in people, doesn't it?

bigcar the trip to pick your dd up sounds nice, I like road trips. Hope the snow is manageable for you. She'll be excited to come back, it's nice to see family again when you're away like that (and get mum to cook for you!) :D Has she met the new cat yet?

snow It is scary when they go quiet isn't it, I had this too and same thing happened. Did you have to click on a button each time you felt the baby move? They asked me to do this and I was paranoid that I couldn't tell the difference between gas or whatever and the baby moving. :S
Were they your own flip flops or the salons's polysterene ones? I can't walk in those. I love getting a pedicure, might have to try and fit one in this week. What colour did you go for? .

I have issued with sil again, this is a vicious circle, I have issues with her and probably send off bad vibes, she backs off for a while and I love her again then little by little she takes more liberties and encroaches upon our life which irritates me. I think my feelings are exacerbated by the (irrational?) fear that she could live here for a while when the divorce is over and she has "nowhere" to live.

bath update: no update yet...we have a plan for next weekend though as we're going away for a couple of days with rl friends & babies. I am stupidly excited about it . They were over here this pm and we made lists of things to bring with us (we're sharing a house).

xmas is a b*h, so many things I want to buy!!! Presents are almost all done now (all online, can't face the shops already!) just waiting for deliveries. xmas cards next!!

What decorations are you going for that are baby friendly?