any other over 35 first time mums?

[kosh]

Sorry about your sinusitis, angel, but please try to go out with Beau. And if his parents used to live in Argentina (why?) they should be used to ppl being not very formal

storm, again, don't know how you're coping. Hats off to you

I was in a terrible state today. Had a really bad night with who knolws how many wake ups and was relly struggling at work as my head was very foggy
dont know if I mentioned, im visiting my mum in Spain this weekend an im already regretting it as I know I will be ridiculously tired when I return....oh well

Proud mummy story: I asked Gael in Spanish, how do you say shoe? And he replied in english! He can do it for 4 words: shoe, apple, airplane and cloud I was very impressed. I knew he knew the words but hadnt realised that he can already make the connection and understands that the two words mean the same.

 

[SabrinaKat]

Finn's latest 'trick' is scream 'mommmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeee' (okay, I am mommy as opposed to mama, but........it's very OTT!). He can say quite a few words at the moment and we think some phrases, e.g. 'all gone', 'tanks' (very dublin as they don't pronounce the 'th' in some words, but mommy keeps insisting on 'thanks', so Finn responds with 'welcome' (not quite sure whether he thinks I am thanking him or correcting him)...

storm - you are amazing!

yawn! OH was working later (which means I get LO from 2 until almost 7, which is fine, but LO seems bored with mommy about 6pm....!) and am so tired....

bye!

 

[clio]

Storm--I wish J would tell me what's wrong! The red cheeks should be an obvious give away. But even then, he's so often in good spirits, and it is so cold here that he can also have red cheeks from the cold, or from a heater to guard against the cold. That was the cause of last night's debacle, actually--I was worried that I was dosing him for no reason, so I didn't. Turns out, I was wrong...

J now tells us when he's having fun. It's so sweet. "Jonah having fun."

My Dad goes in for his op tomorrow, so J and I phoned him to wish him good luck. I said good luck, and J sang him Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle and The ABC song.

Oh, but Borboleta--the "Frog Letters"--as J calls it--DVD has been banned by OH. He said he can't stand to hear it ever again while preparing dinner. J, however, still loves it. But nothing beats Pocoyo yet.

You know, I think I'll be so sad when I realize that J is actually talking, and not just messing about with sounds and words anymore. It is so amazing what he comes up with every day. I'm sure something else amazing will come our way, but this has been an incredible development to watch!

kosh--go bilingual G!!! Now you get to watch it occur in two languages!

Okay, turning back to Downton Abbey. I was bored so I decided to start the fourth season (and was shocked about Matthew! We don't get the Christmas Specials here). Now I remember why I didn't finish the third season, though... So slooooooow. I loved it before, but they also repeat the same tired theme over and over again, in every episode: the effect of modernization on an English manor. I've got it, okay!?!

Oh, and Angel, I'm glad you're going!

 

[clio]

Oh, and did you know that 10 below plus windchill is only "cool-ish"? I wanted to pound OH when he said that.

 

[SabrinaKat]

I watched the first season of Downton, but lost interest when the mc happened to one of the characters (don't want to spoil it for anybody!)....

not much here - LO slept through again last night, so am thinking maybe this bout of teething is over. There hasn't been a biting at creche for over two weeks as well, so cross fingers, it continues.

storm - - I am doing some newborn/0-3 hats for a friend who is having a little girl and as I have extra wool in white/cream, pink and purple -- shall I make some for you (and some mittens)? Let me know as it's not enough for a big project and of course, my own LO might not like pink or purple. (purple is one of my favourite colours!)....

um....oh, I bought this carry along owl night light and it's fantastic as I can turn on in the early am if LO wakes up (like yesterday morning) and then he doesn't wake up fully; OH hasn't fully grasped the concept of a gentle waking, e.g. he turns on ALL the lights and then everybody is grumpy....

oh, well!

bye

clio - it's hard to know whether it is the cold or teeth, as I myself get very rosy cheeks in the winter, but we can tell especially if LO has his hand in his mouth and seemed to be chewing everything in sight!

 

[Storm1jet2]

Clio I hope your dads op goes well today! I’m so impressed with Js singing! L tries to sing twinkle twinkle and play the piano – it’s hilarious – she doesn’t know the words and obviously can’t play the piano so you just get lots of twinkle twinkling and key smashing! Oh and I laughed at your DHs its just a little chilly – men eh!

Angel is there anything you can take to try and ease your sinuses? So not nice at all. How are the boys getting along with the their dummy swapping? I love the pic of them doing that it is just too precious! How is your painting coming along? Can we see it when you are done? I too remember your lovely painting last year 

Leeze I hope Kia enjoyed her birthday celebrations, all 3 of them! It seems like yesterday they were all turning one and now we have our first 2nd birthday – unbelievable! Our little girls are getting all grown up 

Kosh I hope the trip to Spain goes well, I know what the horrible exhaustion is like and it can totally break you – you would think our Los would all be doing 11 hours straight at night by this age!

Clairey how is your mum? Is L in her big girl bed yet or still co-sleeping and keeping poor mummy up half the night?

I had another rough night last night, not so much L but DH had me up with his smokers cough at 4am and then L woke up at 5am screaming for me so she came in with me and didn’t settle back down until nearly 6 and I had to get up at 6.50! YAwwwwnnnn Miss L also had 15 oz of milk before bed and 3 (yes count them 1,2,3) 9oz bottles of milk between bed and up time. I swear I’m going to have to buy that child a cow… but what do you do, we don’t get any sleep otherwise – sigh!

Now for the DH rant, you might want to skip this paragraph as it’s a hormonal rant – first off I get home from work, DH was off and has collected L who is playing in the living room and watching peppa pig – as soon as I arrive in apparently DH needs to supervise the playing and tv watching leaving me to make the dinner, set the table, feed the animals etc.. Then when I serve the dinner he sits down to eat his dinner while I try and eat mine, get L to eat hers – have L eating my food.. the usual toddler mayhem while he sits there quietly eating his dinner and ignoring the rest while I am hoping a piece of steak gets stuck in his throat and he chokes to death… Then later I’m having a shower while he baths L, I’m in the tiny bedroom with the shower which is right beside the main bathroom, I’m only having a shower cause I needed to wash my hair and knew I wouldn’t have time this morning when my nose explodes, I can feel the warm liquid running down my face and put my hand up – yep its blood gushing, have a quick look in the mirror facing the shower and yup free flow blood out one nostril and I’m coughing it too as its going down my throat. So I have a problem, I’m in the shower – I have shampoo in my hair and I’m streaming blood. I try holding my nose with my hand – not working too well, give up and finish washing my hair blood everywhere – then shout at DH to see if L is still in the bath, she is – so I ask him to grab me a pile of toilet roll and bring it in quickly, which he does to find me in the blood bath of a shower with blood running down my face – so hes naturally wanting to see if I am ok and I’m shouting go back to L she will drown (its about 6 steps to the bathroom – I am a little dramatic) – so once I’m sorted DH is a little concerned (I’m not – had a couple when pregnant with L) so checks my blood pressure which apparently is low so that’s ok, he was concerned it was up. Later I go to put L to bed as the bleeding has stopped and ask DH to clear up Ls books (all over the living room) and put out the recycling. By the time I get down he has done precisely that – he literally lifted the books out of the rest of the mess in the living room and left all her other toys scattered over the floor! Why would you do that???? Why! Then this am he is leaving L to nursery as he is starting work later than me and nursery is in the opposite direction to my work now – so while I’m feeding L, feeding the dog and getting her out to the toilet and getting her clean water, feeding 4 cats and cleaning 3 litter trays (which I really shouldn’t be touching) DH is adding more food to his packed lunch and making coffee for his journey to work! Not only do I want to stab him to death for waking me at 4am, but I want him to at least scoop the cat sh*t.. and oh my word my dads cat generates so much poo and pee its not funny… she had more in her one litter tray than my 3 had combined in their 2 litter trays… and why can’t DH scoop the poop instead of watching the kettle boil??? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???

Ok DH rant over – now for dad rant (again feel free to skip) so my dad is the king of telling you he will do things and not doing them… we have a terrapin, just one now as we had to get one put down a couple of years ago – this terrapin is nearly 26 and its HUGE! It lives in a big plastic tank of water in the shed with a heater and a light and a little wooden platform so it can come up and sunbathe under the light. The light broke months ago and my dad hasn’t replaced it. The water is FILTHY – my dad told me he would have the light fitting replaced my the weekend and change the water – not a huge job but I need him to show me how to as he has the tank connected to the waste water so you just pull a plug to empty it (if I knew where the plug thing was) – today is Tuesday the light isn’t fixed and the water is FOUL. I’m so annoyed I ask him today can he change it or show me how to tonight, apparently he will do it today – Ive also put Ls nursery lamp in so at least the poor thing has some light today… argghhhhhh men! And my dad wants me to keep feeding the wild birds in the garden, but hasn’t bought me any birdseed – I am NOT buying sacks of birdseed at £30 a month if he doesn’t so he better go buy me some… I’m already paying for the litter and food for the resident cat which is literally doubling my cat bills! I swear its like having 6 cats not 4..

I think I should stop now as this is just a rant that doesn’t have much to do with being a mum!

 

[Storm1jet2]

Oh SK just read your post! YES PLEASE Thank you

 

[AngelUK]

Storm why should you only rant about mum and baby related things? If I were you I would be spitting with fury too. What would your men do without you? Probably live in filthy hovels with dead pets and children gone back to the wild and not even notice. Feel free to vent on any subject you feel like!

 

[Kitty_love]

Storm - oh my, how incredibly frustrating!!! And from now on, no more litter box cleaning! Send that oh a text, it's hard for me to bend over and any dr/nurse would tell you to step up and scoop the poop! And I can imagine my oh doing the exact same thing about picking up only the books and leaving the rest if the mess, then I'd get the snotty-toned, well that's what you told me to do..grrrr! Big hugs girly! And no more litter box cleaning!

Angel - oh, those dummy liner uppers are sooooo adorable! I just loved those pictures! Isn't it so sweet that they collaborate and share and line them up in the middle together, instead of one grabbing all he could find and put them in the far corner away from the other? Lovey little sweethearts!

SK - I was exactly the same about Downton Abbey. I was so excited to watch the first season, but that mc put me off as well. Very gloomy. I did like Mr Selfridge though, hopefully that will be back next year.

Snow here this morning, maybe an inch or two on the ground! Bye bye allergies (hopefully!) B is doing well, except for the bothersome teeth. Found a "seasonal"
flavor of his jarred baby food over the weekend, so he got pumpkin apple yesterday and really liked it! So did Sammi kitty surprisingly Sammi kitty is really warming up to B now that she gets to lick his bowl after his breakfast, silly food obsessed kitty. She sits under his highchair and yaps up at him, he's now started to look for her when it's food time and smile and squeal at her once he sees her, then he's ready to eat.

Kosh - very, very cool about bilingual G! You must be so proud!!!

 

[clio]

Gotta love it. Long post, computer froze, post gone. And here I was thinking that it had actually really improved.

But, the highlight: Storm, quit it with the litter boxes! Doesn't your OH know about the whatever-it's-called dangerous infection? Also, ask your husband for me if he actually knows you're heavily pregnant, because he appears to acting as if you weren't!

Oh, and the other highlight: Storm--when have we ever stuck to just LO stuff? Friends don't limit friends. Unless they're drunk and are about to drive or engage in an unwise hook up.

Re: Birthdays--I know. J is next on the 16th of Dec. At least it's not as bittersweet as last year. The next door neighbours with the two boys wanted to know if we were having a party, to which I immediately said yes, and would the boys like to come? I hadn't thought about inviting "outsiders" to what will essentially be a Sunday Dinner with presents, so I became rather excited. Until I realized that that will be five loud and far too energetic boys and eight adults in our tiny house. We'll have to get that basement entirely kid-proofed by then!

Okay, off to find the cat. J is at the Day House this morning, so I'm trying to warm up in my room with the heater blasting. But there is nothing more wonderful than a blasting heater and a feather duvet to a cat.

 

[SabrinaKat]

THANK YOU, storm - I read bits of your DH story to my OH and it made me laugh and feel somewhat better also. Again, YOU SHOULD NOT be cleaning any cat trays! I have been reminding OH about my favourite coffee (I make it at work, but as OH had a 'coupon' for one supermarket, I just kept reminding him, but he forgot...so no yummy coffee tomorrow)...

must dash!

bye!

 

[SabrinaKat]

Here's LO and foxy in 'matching' sweaters....

 

[SabrinaKat]

and the hat/mittens made for LO in blue....

and the original sweater (as was hard to see before!)

and a collection of very basic sweaters/jumpers, etc.

 

[SabrinaKat]

and finally, the pink and white hats made for my friend (haven't started the purple yet), but hopefully, okay?

 

[Claireyb1]

Oh storm!! I wish I could do more than just sympathize!
Your dh needs a boot up the bum!!

Just a short one for me as we are in cold/cough hell right now. No sleep ( well, not much)for me last night and Lucy got up at 5.30 as she just couldn't sleep with this stupid cold!
On another note, my mum is doing well and is able to do a bit more for herself now

Bug hugs to all ladies.

Ps. Storm......still co-sleeping

 

[charlie15]

Ok so this is my 3rd attempt to write a post! My long one this afternoon disappeared again

So a shorter version.

Clairey good to hear your mum is on the mend but sorry about Lucy's cold, it's one thing after another for you!

SK, love all those knits! Wow, you are a talented seamstress and that photo of F and his fox, very cute. I did laugh when you said how F says welcome when you are correcting his thank you! I wonder what he thinks you are thanking him for

Clio, hope your dads op went well and again, with J singing to his grandpa down the phone! Ooh I can't believe J will be 2 in another month, the party plan with the neighbours sounds great!

Storm will you stop with the cat litter! Toxoplasmosis...,get your OH to read up on it! Honestly does he remember to look at your belly an remind himself that you are PREGNANT! A good friend of mine told me that her OH was a lot less supportive 2nd time around despite having a toddler too. I don't know if you have found this or was your OH the same last time??

Right I am posting this before I loose this one!

 

[charlie15]

Phew, so 2nd part of short version!

Kosh, yey for a clever and bilingual Gael the bilingual thing is a bit if a sore point between me and OH, he just will not speak in his native language to Sophia and wants to teach her later. I want him to jus talk to her so that little sponge like brain absorbs both languages! He speaks 6 languages, I speak 1 and have always admired linguists!

Where in Spain is your Mum? I hope your trip all goes well. How's the new job?

Kitty, lovely to hear from you again, good to hear Blake is doing well and enjoying his food and the cat when is his birthday? Can't be far away, will you be able to go out with him then?

I had a rant, but I won't bore you all with details. Only to moan about the other party in a car accident TOTALLY lying about what happened and even lying about where it happened some people!, what happened to good old fashioned honesty, so that's all a bit of a headache at the mo! Today I went back to work to get new uniforms...they now don't want charge nurses in navy, but bright red and boy are they bright!! Just as well I can wear red! Funny feeling being at the hospital, I didn't pop into A&E but I counted 12 ambulances outside on my way past not sure I am ready for the onslaught of my job again tbh!

Right am scared to waffle on and loose this too.

 

[Storm1jet2]

Aww ladies thanks for all your support. I honestly think dh just doesn't think, that and I'm one of those,headstrong people that wants everything done yesterday! My dad keeps reminding me that dh doesn't really know what family life is. Dh is still at work but I did text him and ask him to do the litter trays. Yup they need scooped again! I've ordered a Tesco shop for tomorrow and had to order 5 bags of cat litter! I swear 3 1/2 will be for Poppy, I also ordered 24 tins of cat food and they get dry food too but Poppy is eating 12 tins a week! In other news my dad cleaned the terrapin so I feel better.

Not much new with L this evening although I did try her with some cabbage and she pulled it out of her mouth with her hands saying YUK, tbh I couldn't really argue with that

New baby is kicking up a storm, wow she has some strength already! Energetic little monkey, still no name btw!

Hey I've just realised this is the first evening I've been on my own in the 'new' house in absolute years! Weird... I'm too tired to do anything.

Clio it is so hard to believe J is nearly 2, but yay for birthday party! I'm not sure what to do for L this year given I'm doing Christmas and I'm sure to be huge and wrecked. I do know I plan on a 2 1/2 year party on 29th June as 29th Dec is a sucky birth date

SK F is adorable and I wish I was better at knitting! I'm useless

I'm tired so shall be taking my big fat pregnant butt to bed soon

 

[clio]

Dec 30th was J's EDD! But then the little monkey came two weeks earlier. I've also considered a Happy Half-B-D party in June.

Oh, and "monkey" is actually J's new name for himself. Ah, the Day House. J comes home with new idioms and vocab every time. OH can't wait till he comes home speaking Farsi.

ETA: I can't post and run without commenting on your wonderful knits, SK! You are a powerhouse! J's turtle still hasn't got legs, and I can't figure out how to seam a giraffe's bum currently. Oh, and little F is a doll! He looks so cuddly!

 

[SabrinaKat]

thanks for the compliments, ladies -- but I can only do basic stuff. I would love to be able to fair isle and proper cables, but as am 'self-taught', easily get frustrated! My grandmother (now passed away) tried to teach me years ago, but I wasn't interested then. Unfortunately, LO doesn't share your enthusiasm as he likes to take off any and all sweaters, hats and mittens -- it will be interesting when we are in very cold NYC in mid-December to see if he will wear heavier clothes.

LO slept through last night again and was in okay spirits this am; although he still hates having his nails clipped (I have to do in the am because if I put my contacts in, I can't see anything clearly very close up (one eye is both near and far-sighted, but contacts only help with one or the other!)

haven't heard anything further regarding some applications, so am feeling slightly glum. OH is looking for another job here and me thinks if HE gets a good job, I'm stuck here for awhile longer as an academic job can't really compete financially with a well-paid computer/IT job...sigh.

hugs to all!

bye!