January 2008 Shiny New Year Toddlers -Summer's here and our babes show their butts

[willsurvivethis]

Hello new thread

Hi everyone

WST - you are getting through it and that's what counts for now.

Filly - hope baby gets the message and comes out soon, can't wait to hear the news!!
Oh and i'm really not a fan of baby showers!

um, brain freeze, been out all day, treated the boys to a family bucket of KFC, wasn't sure how they would like it but they did
new last minute tea to add to the list, lol!

this week, just under 6 months post-op, H has brought his gross motor skills back on track
kicking balls, even small ones
taking some steps up on his own, hands free
other steps up using the banisters/wall
and learning about going down steps too

also lots of waving, a real understanding of 'tigger being ever so bouncy' and other things, all good

Good afternoon ladies.
Brilliant news JKS long may he suprise you all with his great progress
WST you keep up the good work too. There will be an end in sight soon xx
How is M Simpson? Has her tummy settled?
Come on Filly your just being selfish now keeping this baby all to yourself
We had a brill weekend. Went to Corams Fields Saturday morning. It was quite busy but not packed. Came back and stopped off at Wood Green on the way home. Had a naughty McD's for lunch. DH and I and DS3 watched the football
Yesterday we went to a school fete in my old junior school. It was a strange feeling going back in there again. Alot has changed in the past ahem years . In the afternoon we wnet to a craft fair for Ladies Cancer. Very beautiful jewelary , all handmade, but a pricey
Well I'm off to FB now. See you later

40 weeks today, but nothing happening!

Baby shower yesterday was surprisingly good fun, partly just because all the other girls there are so different from me and seem to live in a completely parallel universe - but I've known them for years which makes it less weird.

For example....my pg friend has been saying for a while that she's buying a pair of new Louboutins after she's had the baby. Now, I will never understand the point of spending £800 on a pair of shoes, but that's not the point... But then yesterday, her sister gave her an enormous bag of presents (very excited first time auntie for the baby - very sweet) including a brand new pair of Louboutins for her Her sister is a nursery school teacher, fyi, so not exactly loaded. Very sweet, of course, but also completely and utterly barmy (imho!) .

Anyway, there was lots of lovely posh chocolate cake, lots of nice deli food, loads of champagne (sob!) and it was a laugh

WST - it all sounds really tough, sending you loads of love and good vibes

JKS - woohoo!!!! Go H That is so brilliant

Gingeme - a load of our friends went to CF on Sunday and also had a brilliant time, so we're definitely going to head down there soon Thanks for the tip-off about the towels

Off for a pedicure with my mum this afternoon - I bought some very silly, very bright nail polishes from urban decay with my boots points so now have to decide whether I'm going purple, tangerine, shocking pink or...etc...!

Filly - brightly coloured toenails much more in my line than organic cotton towels or Louboutins! Especially without trying htem on . Wishing you patience with your wait, which can't be long now.

JKS - such fabulous news. I'm sure you worry about him a lot still but it must also be such a pleasure to see all that development.

WST - Wishing you strength and peace to get through what you have to get through.

I'm not much good at keeping up lately. Nothing wrong just tired. DH was still manically preparing for the baby (VAXing the carpets this weekend) until Monday morning when I AMAZED myself by staying calm and suggesting that in the run up to a new baby (2 weeks to go) working ourselves into an exhausted heap might not be the best thing. He actually took it pretty well but says that he just wants to feel he has the summer free to concentrate on us all and I can see his point. I rather carried the day though, when he arrived home from work at 11am on Monday pale and shaking and had to go to bed for the afternoon. Seems ok now. He was just absolutely exhauted.

Moses basket by the bed now! Just have to stop that pesky toddler from climbing in!

Lilyloo, Ange, Nicky and Lucky - hello to you all!

Filly - I haven't deserted the other thread but am finding it a bit difficult reading everyone's lovely birth stories. It's just that I'm trying to keep thinking that even if things go wrong with mine, baby and me willbe safe and well. In reality though, I would love to have a safe, natural birth and reading those stories is not helping me be realistic!

LaT, I feel much the same way, and am just trying to remain focussed on the priority - ending up with a healthy baby and relatively intact mother! Seriously, I was half thinking about posting something along those lines on the other thread but then didn't want to come across as a massive killjoy. But equally, just because Sabela's birth was so challenging, there is no good reason why your 2nd shouldn't be much easier. You're right not to get too fixated on it though...I'm sort of skimming the 'amazing birth' stories, thinking "good for you" but am quite realistic that my own experience might be pretty similar to the last 2....and that's ok too, as I've got 2 lovely dcs out of it

I agree Filly. And also, I was going to make a similar post and didn't too! I keep telling myself what the main objective is but I made the mistake of watching that lady's birth video and was in floods! It made me realise that telling myself that the main objective is only goes so far: it's the main thing but it's not the only thing and I have to think about that a little bit before the birth too I now realise.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your super positive birth story though and have everything crossed for you!

Wel I can't wait to hear your 2 stories, however the labours go , and especially seeing the photos of the new babies, yum

Well T decied to climb up the tv yesterday, resulting in tv vs feet.
Trip to a&e later, a possible break in his left foot, didn't show up on x-ray though, we have to go back on Thurs to have another look.

So carrying him around lots which is doing my back no favours, though he can limp a bit now. No pre-sch though, so took them both to the bf group i've been part of since T was born, showed him a photo taken of the group when he was about 6mo old. (he was of course unimpressed, lol)
Some of the other mums have been going on and off since then so they were amazed to see him too.

Otherwise, I seem to be going through a stage of finding loads to put on my To Do list but not finding the time to do anything! must get motivated, some of it is time-critical, like birthdays cards, oops.

Hi all....

I cant wait for the birth stories either no matter what but ultimately waiting to hear the safe arrival of babies and two glowing mums and families. Oh and pictures.

Re: Baby showers I just wanted to say that I absolutely LOVE them, mainly because I just like organising things - but I think that presents just shouldnt be mentioned at all, just come along and have fun.

I won the taste the baby food competition with a 100% strike rate last one and I have never bought one in my life.... brocolli is just brocolli I guess.

JKS - great news with H and ohhhhh about T.

IWST - ditto what everyone else has said.

A bit of a stressful week had here. My brother has had a relapse and is drinking again and not taking his meds so has "kicked" my mum out (dad is in Turkey). They were staying with him in order to look after him, he is refusing to answer the door or phone and when he does let us in just tells mum to get what she has come for and leave so have a bed arriving for my spare room today for mum whilst we sort out living arrangements. My dad doesnt want to buy a place and commit to a mortgage so we have to find a property to rent privately, problem is that my mum works part time and my dad is retired and whilst they have more than enough capital to rent estate agents want to see proof and my dad thinks his bank balance is none of their business so wont show them. Consequently, things a little fraught at home since although mum and DH gets on great it is hard having another person around and my mum cannot eat anything that has even one chilli flake on it and DH wants everythign spicy so he threw a tantrum this morning that he didnt know what to cook.

To top it all dad keeps calling and only asking what is going on with DB and what mum is doing about it and ignoring that she is at the end of tether and is basically looking at her life going "I'm 50 and I have no home".

Sorry for the waffle. Just needed to get it all off my chest.

S & E are doing great although their naughtiness is really testing at the moment. They just dont listen and it doesnt help that I am trying to do the talk to them and naughty step etc and consequences and DH just wants to shout and put them to bed so we are falling out over that too.

With everything else I just dont need DH becoming frankly and a**hole too.

And Lily - so pleased for you about the job.

I am going to make a point of visiting CF and also want to go to the Foundling Museum and am talking to them about volunteering in one of their research projects.

Evening all have to tell you lot , i have just won a place on the ribena farm comp on here So we are all off next weekend , not sure what to expect but looking forward to the night in luxury hotel !

MM sorry things so tough at the moment , can you go down a private let route ?

Filly hope something happens soon !

JKS great news and not great news , hope nothing serious at hospital tom.

I will hang in there x

LaT hope you get your burst of energy real soon !

Gingeme i love a McD occasionally. Coram fields sounds lovely.

Well work keeping me busy but enjoying it. Forget how tiring and rewarding it is.
Off camping again this weekend so busy making prep for that. Will make the hotel next week all the more special!

Hope all you other ladies ok.

Hello all,

Lilyloo - fabulous! Didn't you win a load of lego too when they were all tiny? I always try and enter competitions I really want to win because if I always think I'l only ever win one. Product trials, now there's another thing. I do as many of those as possible!

Mixedmama - wow, difficult times for you all round. Thank god it's the summer hols for you! (isn't it?)

JKS - how is the foot?

Filly - is no news good news?

Baby boy showing no signs of budging, but I have found something which is really taking the edge of pregnancy gripes ATM. Instead of showering in the morning, I have a long soak in the bath at night. I miss that fresh feeling in the morning, but I am much more relaxed at night. Even though I still have to get up to pee, I go back to sleep much more quickly and don't have that awful jumpy feeling in my muscles.

Anyone else's LO look like they want to go to bed earlier these days? I've realised thta Sabela is being really naughty when she is tired and is absolutely DELIGHTED to be taken up to bed early. What time do yours go to bed and get up ATM? She is normally 7.30pm to 7am. I'm wondering what will happen if we go earlier. We went up at 7.15 today.

I know LaT and i also did the feedback for disney with a £50 goody bag due anytime and am doing feedback on the appletiser too! Lucky me I tend to enter sporadically not been around for ages then 3 come along at once , bit like a bus i guess

Bedtimes struggling here , getting them in from playing out is so difficult with light nights. Obv i am 'playing out' with M too which is becoming slightly tedious... M doing 8.30 -7 roughly , hoping it will change when she starts pre school and she is more tired.

I'm doing Appletiser! It's yummy. And wasn't the box fab? I now have to buy someone a fancy present to put in it.

Lily and LaT - how do you find out about these things... are they all on here?

Lily - well done on winning though it will be lovely.

Well we have a bed in the spare room now so mum at least has a little bit of her own space. DB is refusing to talk to anyone so still quite stressful, but I am coming to the point of we all have to just get on with our own lives, he isnt rational at the moment so it gives us space and him space. The kids love having nana around though.

E is becoming a real nightmare in terms of behaviour. He was always a little bit of a handful especially in comparison to S, but since leaving nursery he has really got bad. As an example, yesterday:

We went to Starbucks and he didnt want to get in the pushchair, cue screaming and lots of Hampstead yummy mummies and their non-crying babies staring intently at me.

We decide to feed the ducks, he decides he will climb on the fence, I tell him that if he does it again we will go home. He does it again but struggles so much that I worry he might fall in the water, then screams most of the way home with more yummy mummies along the way. We get home and he refuses to go upstairs then once inside screams for a FULL 10 minutes in his pushchair.

Eventually he gets out. Naps then we have the same issue with the pushchiar when we arrive home with S after nursery. And he doesnt just cry he screams.

It is driving me slightly round the bend and it is pretty impossible to talk to him as he is creaming so once indoors yesterday I just left him to scream it out and eventually he just came into the living room as if nothing ever happened.

Best thing you did right there MM ignore him it sounds harsh but it does work. Realy
LaT bedtimes are staggered here. Edward and George go to bed, Edward in mine George in his own about 7.30. David and I read his book and he goes at 8 where most of the time George is asleep. Then I put Edward to his own bed about 8.30. They wake about 6.30-7
DH and I did a bit of furniture moving yesterday in the boys room. David and Edward share bunk beds but George has discovered he can climb up to the top bunk he has fallen 4 times one being 6.30 am Tuesday morning and there are only a certain amount of times he will bounce . So we have now seperated them down to 2 single beds. Much better except they now bounce on the beds

Mixedmama - if it's any consolation, Sabela has really started with the screaming now. I'm pretty convinced it's almost always when she's tired. It's so hard when you're out but I'm sure people were just thanking their lucky starts it wasn't them this time (she usually does it at home, but then we're not out and about that much ATM). I think ignoring is the best thing too, although Sabela often does it just to see, so she's not really upset and can be talked to. Ignoring good, and so is the threat of going into her bedroom on her own for a minute. She hates that so much that whatever she is screaming about pales.

There's a talk topic on product tests but I usually find them somewhere around the top of active convos.

Gingeme - well done on the beds. Sabela is just getting into climbing and it's a bit hairy. She was trying to climb the saftey gate at the top of the stairs just now. We'll have to watch that one, for sure.

I had a smashed bottle so my box was wet mush

They are on the comp links at top of page or usually stickied at top of active convos MM!

Well done on the Ribena competition Lilyloo - I really fancied that but my dcs weren't quite the 'right' ages and my due date (Monday just gone!) didn't quite lend itself to it either!!! Can't believe you got that, the Disney bag and the Appletiser thing though...I really wanted the Appletise trial (and was sufficiently pg!) but got there too late

LaT - Tamara is doing the same thing and she's actually asking to go to bed earlier on a fairly regular basis ! She doesn't always go to sleep, so when A goes to bed 30 mins later she's still awake and chatting, but she seems to be wanting the extra chill time.

We've got the same tantrum issues here, and I also think they're partly tiredness related, but I totally agree with Gingeme - we stick T in the corner in the hallway and insist she stays there (screaming) until she is ready to stop and come and say sorry. Normally she ends up sobbing "want to stop crying now!" after 5-10 mins and then I'll go and give her a cuddle and she'll say sorry nicely. Then we'll have a little chat about what is or isn't 'nice' behaviour and be friends again. She's quite good at putting herself into the corner now when she really wants to have a good scream, and I think its probably quite healthy to let them get it out....

...but you do have my sympathy MM, I know what its like when all the Hampstead mummies are watching !!

Fillybuster - good luck for tomorrow. I hope it does the trick. On your way there, pick up a bottle of raspberry and pomegranite Appletiser. It's heaven. Leave the mango one: it's nothing special.

I've put the other two away to be taken in my hospital bag nice and cold. I am addicted to ice lollys and fizzy drinks ATM!

Thanks for all the advice and sympathy ladies, much appreciated. I am completely taking the putting him somewhere safe and letting him scream it out, it is just when we are outside that I have issues, I feel like I should be placating him in some way. This morning because DH carried him onto the bus he spent the whole journey sitting on the floor screaming until DH let him play Sherk racing on his phone - it mad ehim stop but it also rewarded his behaviour. The other day when he threw a tantrum at MIL she gave him a packet of chocolate fingers - but I didnt let him have them, have to just explain to everyone that we are ignoring and everyone must adopt the same strategy.

Filly - fingers firmly crossed for you.

Hi all

Has anyone popped their babies yet??

M goes to bed pretty early around 6/6.30 and wakes around 8ish in the morning....

Her tantrums are legendary in our family and can go on for ages although ignoring seems to work well for her.

The main problem we have is biting She gets put on the naughty step when ever she does it but it does not seem to deter her.

She was at the creche this afternoon for an hour while I do my keep fit class and she managed to fall badly twice

Filly - how is T's walking these days?? M does seem to fall a lot still and is constantly covered in bruises etc

Good news is that I have date for J's grommets op which is set for 23rd July as they had a cancellation but bad news is we have a masssive family reunion on 25th so not sure what I will do about that yet...

Lilyloo - glad work is going well

forgot to say i think potty training M might prove a bit difficult to say the least

We have a battle every time I need to change her nappy as she does not want one on but she refuses to sit on potty or toilet and when I ask her where she wants to wee she says "in my knickers" or "there" and points to some random spot on the floor.

Sigh indeed!

Moan of the day:

When, oh when, do they start playing by themselves? Example: remember we bought a slide for the garden? Well, I chose a slide becasue I know she can do it alone. DH, however, invented games to play with her on the slide which are much more fun and now she refuses to go on it by herself.

Ditto EVERYTHING right now!

No baby yet....40+4 (oops, I just typed 50+4, but that's how I feel ) and no action at all. I've had 2 sweeps in 2 days now; baby is firmly back-to-back (again...sigh...), but everything looks good to go if it wants to. It clearly doesn't...

Induction now booked for Monday, which will be 41 weeks and quite long enough. DH has just popped out to get a half time curry and I have invested in castor oil for tomorrow morning....fingers crossed we'll get this baby out on its own!!

Simpson - T is now walking absolutely fine....she still runs like a little old lady which is amusing, but her jumping and general control are excellent, which is generally a relief. She's always covered in bruises, but that's mainly cos she's quite brave about what she'll try to do, and isn't too bothered about trying a few times if she falls down when climbing etc. She's now even wearing 'normal' plimsolls and sandalls, as her feet have finally grown (after a full 12 months!) out of her hugely expensive Ecco boots...but at least we got our money's worth from them

LaT - I think the trick is not to invent fun games that involve adults or generally over-involve with a playing child. Having said that, we found that holding back came much more naturally with #2 (maybe because there just is less time to over-involve with them?) than #1...so DS is only really getting to the 'playing nicely by himself' stay now (age nearly 5) whilst T will happily sit and play quietly for hours given the chance....if her big brother would just leave her alone for long enough! And yes, it was usually dh who would get over-involved as he really wanted to spend time playing with DS rather than just watching him when he was around....

If it helps, #2 really took the pressure off us, as DS was happy to count T's presence as someone to play with/keep him company, from very early on...fingers crossed S feels the same way about her little bro