Misery loves company: riding the mo fo out into Part II

[ElphabaTheGreen]

In our last exciting instalments:

Needles was at breaking point with a screaming 10 mo DD

Hear had experienced the magic of ONE unbroken night!

Dreaming was continuing to confound all with her ability to manage three children on four or five minutes a night, thanks to DT the Terrible.

Stitch was still having her sleep eaten by...erm...Stitch.

Poppy was pondering how the actual fark she was going to manage a newborn on top of BabyAmex's night time shenanigans.

And the desperate Elphaba had turned night duties entirely over to DH with mastitic results.

Join us with your stories of misery and woe in this, the most sleep-deprived corner of MN!

*unsettled

DD got up at 5:15 today. She will undoubtedly behave really badly through tiredness. DT1 has been kicking me since 4am though mostly in his sleep. totally fed up already and.its not quite 8am. Marvellous.

I tend to be with Hear in that the mere thought of keeping DS entertained all day seven days a week makes me feel drained. The kind of day you've described ahead of you, Dreaming, with a cranky DD, toddler twins and broken sleep is sending me into a vicarious spiral of despair. As it stands, I'm more than happy playing Duplo, singing Wheels on the Bus 14 times in succession and battling with getting DS to eat vegetables, since I only have to do it mornings, evenings and weekends. In fact, I do actually enjoy doing this with him mostly because I don't have to do it constantly. I'm happy to do it again because I know my time alone with DS2 will be finite, and I'll only be toddler-wrangling at the same time for short periods of the day.

Remind me of all of the above when I'm back to 40 minute wake-ups, won't you?

Yes, but my mum arrived at 10:30am. I put all dc to bed at 11:30. (though let dt2 sleep 1 hour = he was up til 9pm and dd sleep 1.5 hours as couldn't put up with her temper and viciousness and she went to bed at 10pm despite best efforts! !). Went for a walk along the river bank and to throw stones in this afternoon- can't get a better office than that . dd did invite our neighbour, nearly 4, in for a play when we got home though so adding another preschooler didn't help the tea preparation much! fish fingers waffles and peas being such a culinary challenge . I don't battle over veg either. I put out some basic stuff. peas, carrots, or occasionally broccoli. They occasionally eat a pea. dt2 licked some carrot the other day. Can't be bothered to do more than that

I'm in bed with dt1 already. 25 min child free this evening. that'll learn me. first talk with Ann tomorrow. fingers crossed. Wish I hadn't put dt2 in a bed as he just doesn't stay in. hope she'll sort him. paid a twin price for both

Hear,I'm not an ideal parent either,I love DS to bits and I'll love the new baby but I have never imagined myself as a mother.I'm the last of my friends to have a child and most of them were shocked that I decided to go for it as I always expressed my dislike of children,especially small ones.

I find babies boring,I much more prefer my DS when he's older and more interacting.

I can't imagine myself as SAHM,I already said to DH that I have to come back to my pt work for my mental wellbeing,I need to have a break from the kids.It's a bit tricky as I'm working shifts (so no set days) and he works Mon-Fri.I told him that if he won't help me to come back to my current work I'll find myself a weekend job and he will be f…ed with no days off left.

As for the transport to the hospital-taxi is out of question as nobody will come here and 9 years ago after a night out it cost me 40 quid to get home from town.Ah well,will wait and see.Currently considering camping in town

Dreaming good luck with Ann,hope she'll work her magic so your little devils cherubs will sleep through the night without any wake-ups.

Elph have a look at some YouTube videos of nursery rhymes.DS is currently into Super Simple Songs,he loves the farm ones with all animal noises,Bob the Alphabet Train and he also likes Shakira,Rihanna and Beyonce,anything half naked and twerking

39 weeks today,MIL said she's getting more excited every day and so is DH.It's just me getting a bit sad to lose my last bump as we won't have any more children.I'm looking forward to this baby (what is it and how it looks like),stupid thing is that whatever I'll get I'll be happy but disappointed at some point.I'm happy to have either sex but disappointed that it's not another kind.

See?Baby brain. and no fecking name chosen yet!

Night night ladies

Well. Ann has started by removing entirely my 40 minutes of freedom and TV for the dc after their tea. Instead I've got to get them to help me tidy up (thats normal anyway) then play in the garden with them.and get them running and playing hide and seek again . Bollocks. No stair gates for rooms yet and no gro clocks probably as she knows we'd need 3 (as only have 1 faulty one) so would be ££££ . But do need nightlights on timers to indicate it's morning. Oh please let this work!
anyway, on with tea time

Oooh, no. Definitely no TV before bed. DH sometimes tries to sneak the telly on in the evening before DS goes to bed and he gets told off, sharpish. Chin up, Dreaming. Hopefully it will lead to buying you some peace after bed instead. Besides, I'm quite convinced In the Night Garden is full of cultish, subliminal messages that will ultimately lead to all under-threes rising up in a Zombied mass and take over the world. It's the only explanation for that bizarre show and the hypnotic effect it has on children

I've officially started my ante-natal batch cooking. Today's production was a mega-batch of vegetable and bean chilli, now bagged up and chilling out in the freezer. The veg is chopped up into atom-sized pieces. Mixed with rice and smothered with cheese, I can sometimes get approximately an eighth of a portion of veg into DS!

Dd actually asked for more green beans this evening [smug face] :o

We also have a no TV after dinner rule. Also no TV until she is dressed, breakfasted and brushed teeth. We are mean and heartless. We don't own an actual TV either so get to manage her exposure to awfulness such as 'in the night garden'. Unfortunately she has become addicted to Kipper the dog which is unexpectedly creepy and makes me want to brain myself.

Good luck with Ann. I am looking forward to session 2 of the magical Ann sleep diaries :o

Well fuck me. Tonight, we did playground, tea, tidy up. Garden. Hide and fucking seek for the millionth time. All in and up for the bath with no fuss. All out of the bath with no tantrums (started to think I was in an alternate universe). She's got a new stories-one picked by each child- sat on cushions. All did it. No kicking, pinching or shoving. No wails of "can't seeeeeee!" Was definitely thinking she'd Done Something to them by then. DTs went to bed. DT1 let me just hold his hand. DT2 only got out twice as opposed to 20 times, and the second time DT1 was asleep so I was on duty- he came to the door, clocked I was still there, took himself back to bed and within 15 min was asleep. DD mind as wide awake and came downstairs and had a second tea with us and made me do lot of her Peter Rabbit magazine. Put her to bed 9:30. 2 out of 3 isn't bad and she was only so awake as I put them all to bed to talk to Ann and let her sleep 1hour 40 min so entirely expected.

I'm sure tomorrow they'll fight, resist and have me doubting to make up for this

And bravo to you all with no tv before bed. I really, really missed it though i did have fun playing with them if I'm honest Hwever it's now 10:30 and I've washing to get in. Sigh. And my tv was either Frozen, Finding Nemo or Peter Rabbit recordings anyway, no Night Garden, I can't take it and neither can DD any more!

Oh and wow to both green beans and batch cooking I'm totally shite at child feeding. Tea was chicken nuggets waffles and carrot for floor decorating- choice of raw or cooked. Just in case. Still just got given to me or thrown on the floor (made DT2 go and pick up the bit he launched the length of the kitchen!)

Woop woop for the Terrible Twins! I seem to recall DS having a magical response in the first day/s as well. Yes, there was some backsliding, but there were definitely more 'she's substituted my child with a look-a-like...!' days than not. Apart from being subliminally over-stimulating at the wrong time, I think TV is just bloody hard to pull yourself away from, especially if you're tired. As adults, we can force ourselves to do it, with difficulty. Toddlers...no way. They're going to get shitty about it (especially when Frozen is involved) leading to mass revolt.

I managed to get some tomatoes into DS the other day - roasted and puréed into a risotto (that child could eat his body-weight in rice) AND in a sandwich I had to practically pulp the tomato into a spreadable consistency then melt cheese over it, but it actually got a whole slice of tomato into him without complaint! Dreaming DH was a terribly fussy eater when I met him, especially when it comes to veg, and still is to some extent, which I cannot stand. He's a lot better than he was but he still has his moments, so veg and eating is definitely one of the battles am willingly entering into with DS. I will acknowledge, however, that my resolve in this matter may weaken with two, but thank God it's boob for six months, eh?

DS put a green bean into his mouth the other day, chewed thoughtfully, then leant over the edge of his chair and spat it out in its entirety for the dogs.

I'm the opposite. dsis and I dreadful eaters. no veg at all until about age 14-16 (me 14 when I became a veggie) and we eat everything now so I'm probably way too blasé.

Update: dt2 of the 20-30 get put of beds has just got in bed and gone to sleep without getting out once. Even dt1 asleep by 7:45. Miraculous. but quite hard work for me

*out

Cor, well season 2 of the magic Anne sleep diaries has got of to a cracking start. Can she keep it up? Who can say! Can't wait for the next exciting installment :o

At the moment dd is sleeping pretty well once we get her to sleep but the actual getting her to go to sleep is driving us mad. So we had a talk and even dh (who is even more of a lazy soft touch then me) had come to the conclusion that Something Must Be Done. I have therefore dusted off the gradual withdrawal plan, which rather fell off the wagon when I went away for a few days as dh started doing alternate bedtimes and wasn't doing it. We start back at the beginning tomorrow with the aim of going all the way out the door this time.

I'm hoping that it will be easier this time as ig got as far as the door last round so she should get the idea pretty quickly. Also as dh is doing alternate nights I get a break between battles.

It will all be worth it when you get to sleep a full night in your own bed, following a hassle-free bedtime. DS is just getting lovelier at bedtimes these days. Either climbs into his own bed when he's ready, or does so with a gentle request, recites along with Goodnight Moon (as far as he's able in his Baby-Jake-speak), then tonight when I leaned in to give him his goodnight kiss before I turned out the light, he gave me a firm, squeeze of a hug for several seconds before flipping himself over and closing his eyes.

Still waking up at five fifty-something a.m. most days, mind, which is a little rough. I could use this time off work and pre-DS2 to reset the GroClock to 6am to try and get him staying put until then, but I really don't know if I can a) be arsed for just 10 extra minutes and b) dare risk upsetting this glorious applecart. He rarely wakes in the night now, unless he's ill or has a bad dream, although he will whimper intermittently most nights when he's kicked his cover/s off, so obvs I go in and re-cover him. Not quite sure what, if anything to do about that. I need to send Ann a two month update so I'll casually drop it in and see if she has any tips...

What? ! you never said he rarely woke now elph I though you were still up to sleeps well and wakes most nights but resettled very easily with minimal input from you! I'm even more encouraged. must do the 1:1 in bedrooms asap when? !? She's miraculous. If she only sorts bedtime here it'll be worth it.

Good luck hear . Seems we have all given up Riding the MoFo out and are up to Plan SMBD. hurrah for action

First night of PlanSMBD 2.0 in the Roar house and things are going well. I bit of moaning when I sat by the bed and a couple of attempts to get out but once she got the message she settled really well. Asleep by 7.50pm. Haven't been out the bedroom before 8.20 for ages! A bit nervous about how dh will do tomorrow as it will be his first time not laying next to her.

Night 3 did not go. well for me. We had been in the car in the afternoon to a playground- no one slept in it but think they might have got the 'zone out' time Ann talks about. All got colds- dd feeling grotty. not even sent her to preschool for the morning this morning. got dt2 to sleep for 8:30 ish, dt1 up and couldn't stop him crying 8:40 (so I presume reflux as it's always worse if he's got a cold) so gave always bottle (did I tell you just before we started with Ann I finally got rid of bottles?!). Anyway he was such a wriggly pain overnight I snapped at home. twice. Sigh.

Sounds excellent news hear well done! We've been told to do the role playing putting teddies to bed and rough play in bedroom like elph so maybe worth a go too Any port in a storm

Well, we got woken up at 2am by a small vomit covered toddler trying to climb into our bed. Sick everywhere: all over dd, all over her bed, our bed where she had climbed up, plus vomit footprints down the hallway between bedrooms. Lovely!

Spent a delightful couple of hours cleaning it all up and then trying to get her back to sleep again.

Thankfully she seems fine today so I think it was just one of those unexplained toddler vomit moments. Though saying that I can currently hear her wailing at poor dh while he reads to her.

Oh dear!

It will pass

Ds has croup.

Dd2 is a bedtime jack-in-box with sleep apnoea that messes up any routine I try, as sheis often exhausted in the daytime due to poor quality sleep and gets over tired.

Dd1 had her birthday yesterday so Weds night was up 3 times asking if it was her birthday yet, she is meant to be the sleeping through one

Glad everyone else is having more success, gives me hope.

I'm not stitch, I'm still with you in solidarity. Today I took the dc shoe shopping. 40 min drive. All slept.for 20-30 minutes on the way home. Cue me working my are off to keep them going all afternoon/evening. Both boys asleep by 7 pm. was going to go for a run. Then DD got out of bed a ridiculous number of times and only stayed in after 8:30pm. when dt1 woke up. No bloody run for me... cba now They've all got stinking summer colds (hence I didn't send DD to preschool for one of her measly 2 mornings there) . Still. One pair of new shoes bought. Sounds dreadful stitch though. sleep apnoea means you're pretty stuffed til she's a bit better doesn't it? Is she having adenoids looked into did you say?

hear sounds horrendous. I fecking hate clearing up vomit and that trail at 2am is beyond grim. Vanish-o-rama. Glad she's ok though and it hasn't continued. Maybe she'll sleep it all off tonight to make up for it?!

Do you ever feel like you are playing that game whack-a-mole dreaming? If only there was a sleep mallet to bonk our little darlings on the head with.

Well, after much deliberation, I've just ordered an Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper. This will magically and instantly make DS2 an outstanding sleeper from day one. Our other option was shifting bedrooms and using DS1's cot bed, which we used with DS1 from his first night at home 'to get him used to sleeping in his cot'. Since that made not a jot of difference, we'll stay put in our regular bedroom, and go for bloody expensive scream management instead. DS would only sleep either on one of us, with a hand on him or with a finger/boob in his mouth for his first few nights, so I'm hoping it will at least pay for itself for those early days. And I can flog it in eBay afterwards.

Dear God, I don't know how you cope with three small children. The woman ahead of me at the MW today had two in a pram - one probably around 18 months, one around 4 months and she was there for a first appointment for DC3 How she ever found the energy to DTD I really cannot comprehend.

Today was my work leaving do. Even though I waved the white flag and finished a week ago, the leaving do was kept to the same day, as two other pg physios also finished today. One of the (male) physios in our team specialises in doing incredibly fancy 'Cake Boss' style cakes. For me and one of the girls, he did a relatively tasteful pregnant torso cake - twee, but skilful. I have attached the photo of the cake he made for the third girl. The design was her request. Yes, that is what you think it is.

OMG elph just OMG. I can't believe she requested that! I have just spent ages trying to get off the (cr) app to see that. Kind of worth it. Made my morning

I love having a little team of three though most of the time and still try and talk my long suffering husband into having a fourth