***Lion Cub Mommies-Back In Action!***

[jelr]

Hi girls

Shiv: Sorry to hear that Cora isn't napping for you, hopefully she will grow out of that soon. Natasaha used to be a 20 minute only napper, but then grew out of it and eventually napped for longer.

That is great news about the house, I bet you are relieved to at least have rented it and not have the extra going out.

Wow on DH's job offer in singapore, I am a home bird too and would be no good for moving so far away, although our current situation is making me think maybe I would these days.

I hope you and Sophia's poos issues are gone, it sounds like a little bug. I spray tea tree around and down the toilet if there is any bugs at all and it seems to help them spreading.

I hope the Christmas shopping is all done and that you got to go out for a bit at the weekend and hopefully that cheered you up. I think this time of year the weather gets everyone down and everything does feel samey because you can't really get out and about.

Spidey: Fair play to you staying team yellow again, we did on Natasha, but I do think I would find out next time, but I would have to convince DH. I would have to agree with you, I don't think it is possible for a toddler to be trained in a week, which is partly why I'm dreading it

I love all Kira's christmas pressies, especially the tent.

Thanks again for the gluten info, my friend was delighted, she is still pain free without the gluten, I know it will be hard for her to give it all up, but like you I think the pain that she was in was wearing her down, so I really hope this works.

The current climate is definitely getting me down. I can't believe we were very very comfortable and now we will be scrimping and saving and we are both in good jobs, I really don't know how other families with no income manage. I had to re-do our budget as I forgot a few things and it is not looking so nice at all, To pay all our bills and save a teeny bit for Natasha's birthday and Christmas we will have just over €800 a week going out and we will only be bringing in just over €900 a week coming in. Thankfully we do have more coming in than going out, but that is not taking into account clothes or doctors or buying anyone a birthday present (which with 2 big families, there is always something) or anything going wrong with the car or house and most weeks I do have €50 in my purse at the start of the week and it is gone buy the end of it and DH is the same and we never have anything to show for it, it just goes on paying for parking or coffee or bread and milk and stuff that runs out, or a takeaway. It actually shocked me how much is going out and scared the life out of me being honest. Thankfully the only debts we have is the mortgage.

It really bugs me how bad the country is and that we have to suffer for the mistakes of others, we are not big spenders and we don't go out often so it is just not fair that we are going to have to watch every penny, when we have both worked hard all our lives or why I even bothered going back to study, when I'm no better off now, yes we have done loads on the house, but we had finally done all we wanted to on the house and were hopefully going to start going on holidays again as apart from a weekend to Paris and London, we haven't been on a proper holiday since 2007, but that is now out the window along with much more :growl: I'm hoping that I have really over budgeted everything and that it ends up better than I expected and we do have the rest of DH's redundancy and I had being saving to take extra time off if we do have another baby so at least we do have some emergency money to work from for a while to take the pressure off, although I do want to try and manage on our weekly money as much as possible because unless the economy does a major turn, things will be hard for plenty of years to come here I think

Everywhere is very doom and gloom here with the budget the last two days and I really wanted to just check if I would be getting a further paycut and I didn't want to know anymore and just stick my head in the sand, but it is all everyone is talking about and it is driving me mad. Thankfully my pay is not cut anymore, but vat has gone up by 2% so everything is going to go up and Carbon tax has majorly gone up so again, that brings everything up. They have now introduced a household tax aswell and these are things that I didn't budget for, so it does scare me. I think it is going to be a case of waiting and seeing and getting from week to week. I hate that I'm such a worrier about money. I used to worry even when we did have money - I am trying to stay positive about it all and not get sucked into the doom and gloom as we are very lucky to have the rest of the reduncancy and at least I do have a job, but it is hard not to get sucked in, especially when my younger brothers are now talking about emigrating when they finish college.

Sorry girls enough moaning from me - Natasha is much better as in her nose is not streaming and she is not croaky, but she still has a cough and is still hit and miss with food

On the up side, I'm nearly certain that I ovulated yesterday on CD18, my temp went up this morning and I have the same LP symptoms as last month, which I could do without, but it is still good to know that I am Ovulating. We will see if FF puts in cross hairs in on Thurs or Friday. We dtd on CD14, 16 and 18 so definitely in with a good chance this month. My OPK's came also, but only yesterday so I did pee on one of course but it was only a faint line as I would have missed my surge on day 16 or 17. At least I have loads of pregnancy tests now to also pee on if AF doesn't turn up as I got 20 free ones with the OPK's. It should have been 30 as I ordered 3 lots of 30 OPK's each with 10 free tests, but only 2 of the packages have arrived so far

So it looks like I'm in for a 32 day cycle, if my symptoms are right, so at least I know what is going on with my body these days and my cycles are back to normal - Well I hope they are anyways

 

[jelr]

Oh actually question for you girls - when you started to potty train and left LO's nappy free, did you put any bottoms on at all?? Even though our house is really warm, it is so so cold here at the moment and can be chilly in the morning, so I don't know if I want to leave Natasha completely bottomless when I start over Christmas, but at the same time, she is not able to pull up or down trousers at all - so I'm not sure what way to approach it. Would love to know how you girls started.

 

[spidey]

jelr, you should definitely try to avoid all the doom and gloom talk. You already know its bad so turn off the tv and avoid the news for awhile and focus on all the good things in life. There are people who LOVE doom and gloom and it can quickly wear down people who tend to worry (me!) I have a few doom and gloom lovers at my work and its so depressing listening to all their depressing topics. And DH likes to listen to NPR- not sure if you know what that is. It's National Public Radio and they talk about political and social things. I find it incredibly depressing and he's not allowed to discuss NPR topics with me in the evening. My co-workers use to listen to NPR out loud in the lab and it drove me nuts! I would blast rap music through my ipod so I didn't have to overhear it.

I'm sorry things are so rough right now. I'm the same way with money and worry all the time even though our situation could be much much worse. I have everything budgeted and have a short term plan to pay off the house so all our extra money goes right to that. We only owe $100,000 on our house but it makes me anxious having that much in debt, although its not technically debt. I'm sure you'll be okay since your so conscious of your spending, and if this is fairly short term (which I really hope it is!) then you can make it through these crappy years and know things will improve.

yay for ovulation!! I really hope this is your month!!


I have my 1st midwife appointment Wednesday. I haven't been to this birthing center before so it'll be interesting. I hope I get a good feeling about it otherwise I'll have to go back to the place where I had Kira which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable and I don't know why.

As for potty training, the first 3 or 4 days were really warm so I left Kira with no pants or underpants. I was worried that wearing pants would confuse her, but I don't think it did because around day 4 or 5 I put pants on her and she was just as skilled (or unskilled ) at using the potty. Then after a couple weeks my mom convinced her to wear underpants. My main goal at first was to get her on the potty in midstream so she got used to the feeling of peeing on the potty so having no pants made that easier to do. But very quickly- 2 days maybe, she would start to pee and then stop peeing, and then run to the potty and finish. So I honestly think wearing pants would be okay. She'll probably do partial pees in them a lot at first but she'll learn all the feelings and it'll get better. Kira still can't pull her pants down and refuses to try.. she's being very stubborn about trying so I've stopped suggesting it. When Kira has to pee she says "pssss" or "pee pee" and then we both run to the potty and I pull down her pants and put her on it. Then I wipe her dry (she refuses to do this too ) So it's really just as much work as using diapers

 

[jelr]

Thanks Spidey - I stopped DH watching the news when all this recession started, I told him he could listen to it in work, but that I didn't want it on in the house because it usually scares the life out of me.

Fingers crossed things do pick up, although I they reckon it probably won't until Natasha is grown up, with the amount of money we owe now to Europe and the more they tax people the less people spend, so unless they come up with some brainwave to stimulate economic growth here, it won't be happening for a while and I suppose what scares me the most is before my work swang in roundabouts and if things were quiet I always had the hope that it would pick up, whereas now I will be on a set salary so unless this lift the embargo on public service jobs and I can get a premotion, it is just going to stay the same for a few years anyway. I will get yearly increments, but at the rate things are going up, it will end up balancing out. But sure fingers crossed I have over budgeted and it will all work out.

I know what you mean about the mortgate though, if I won the lotto in the morning I would pay ours off - We still owe €180,000 on ours so as such €20, 000 has only been paid in the last 4 years and it would be a real weight to get rid of that, because I'm always panicked that one day we won't be able to pay it and would lose the house after all the work that has went into it :growl: and it would make such a difference everyweek as that would be €300 extra a week between the actual mortgate and all the insurances that you have to have with it. Aw well I'm forgetting about it now and am going back to focus on Christmas and hopefully becoming pregnant :thumup:

I can't wait to see Natasha's face on Christmas day

Mmm - that does sound like a good idea to have no pants on the first couple of days to be able to just lift her and plonk her on the potty midstream and I do think pants will confuse her. Maybe I will start 2 days before DH goes back to work and he can have the stove lighting first thing (I find it takes longer for the house to actually warm up in the mornings with the Oil) and once the morning nip is gone our house is so well insulated that it does stay warm so hopefully she won't get cold or I could put a skirt on her with nothing under neath.

I really hope the birthing centre is nice and that you get a good feeling about it and that the appointment with the midwife goes well and I really hope that now that you are over 10 weeks that the MS is starting to get better

 

[Shiv]

I'll come back later for a proper reply, but wanted to recommend dresses for early days of potty training. They keep their legs a bit warm but just need to be hoiked up to go on potty which is easier for them to do than trousers.

Sophia is back to going naked bottom half cos if she wears knickers she wees in them but naked she goes on the potty

We created a "Sophia's no wee wee or poo acidents" chart today. She is really keen to wear knickers again, so each day she has no wees or poos in her clothes or on the floor she gets a sticker, 5 stickers = knickers! So far no accidents today, a few wees and 2 poos in her potty

 

[spidey]

I visited my new midwife center and I even got a sonogram They have a machine in the office- so cool!

It's quite far from my house but I got a good feeling about the place. It's attached to the hospital via an underground tunnel, so I can be wheeled over in an emergency if need be. They have 2 birthing suites with tubs that were quite nice. They asked me tons of questions about Kira's birth and want me to bring in her medical records from the NICU stay. I guess they need to figure out if I'm at risk for repeat complications. The other birthing center is very nice but I can't get over my feelings of anxiety and doom when I walk through the doors. I can't quite put my finger on it... I'm not sure if its left over from Kira's birth or if somethings telling me not to attempt a second delivery there. Whatever it is, I have to follow my gut.

Rebel, 10 1/2 weeks old.
https://www.razortoe.com/share/tummy/baby.jpg

 

[jelr]

Aww love the pic spidey - definitely a baby in there :thumup: - I'm so glad that the visit went so well.

I would definitely follow your gut, if you are far happier with the other birthing centre go with it, rather than when the time comes being anxious about being there.

I wish we had a choice, but it would be just the local hospital and that is it

Yay for no accidents today shiv, I hope to use a sticker chart at the start because Natasha loves stickers (although I got a whole load of stickers as one of her stocking fillers, which I may hide until the after the potty training week or the novelty will wear off )

yeah I think I'm going to go with the dresses or skirts number 1 as it will keep her warmer and 2 because of it being around Christmas, we will probably still have family calling, so at least she is not running around naked if anybody does

 

[spidey]

Shiv, thats great Sophia is having an accident free day It sounds like she's getting used to the potty very quickly We had company the 2nd day of Kira's potty training and I only had her in a dress, and she kept pulling up her dress and flashing our company I still give her a choice of 1 M&M or 1 candy corn if she pees, and 2 if she poops.

Kira actually peed in a public toilet today, so that's a big accomplishment here DH took her, so maybe that's why. She seems to behave better with him and saves the bad behavior for mommy

I also forgot to brag to you girls how my high maintenance sleeper is transforming into a perfect sleeping little girl! You all remember how we use to bounce her for 30-60 minutes before naps and at night. Then that turned into nursing her to sleep for naps and DH laying in the bed next to her for nighttime. I stopped nursing her to sleep for naps, so she just lays with me in bed with her pacifier. And the biggest change is at night- DH reads to her in bed, says goodnight and leaves the room!!! He made the change because she was taking 60 minutes to fall asleep at night and would jump around the bed and be super silly, and it was really grating on his nerves as he pretended to sleep laying in the bed. We explained how things were going to change and on the first night she went to sleep with no complaints. This will be night 4 and so far so good

 

[jelr]

rofl at Kira flashing your guests, I can totally see Natasha doing that. She spent days pulling up her t-shirt when I took off her vest for the summer and putting her tummy against the fridge or the patio doors, so I can only imagine what could happen with no nappy on - mind you, it didn't phase her the last time I tried potty training and for the two days she had only a t-shirt on.

Yay for the sleeping also, I can imagine how DH would get frustrated with all the jumping around. I took Natasha into bed with me the first night she was sick because she was really so so miserable and she has never slept in our bed before and as sick as she was, she sang and kept standing up and when I pretented to be asleep, she started giving me kisses to wake me up and then pulling open my eye lids - for the first two hours it was funny, but at 4.30 it was a different story

 

[spidey]

jelr, Kira does silly things like that in bed when she's supposed to be sleeping. Its cute for a minute but gets old fast!

I've been feeling a bit better since the weekend so we rearranged the house to turn the dining room into a playroom! It use to have a large table that was being used as a changing station , DH's computer desk and Kira's play kitchen. I moved all Kira's toys from the livingroom into the new playroom and DH's computer desk is now in the livingroom. It looks so much better and at the end of the day it's nice to have all the toys in one room.

new playroom. It's nighttime so I have the blinds closed, but there's a door that opens onto the deck
https://www.razortoe.com/share/playroom.jpg

the living room without toys! Ignore the clutter- we were still straightening things
https://www.razortoe.com/share/livingroom2.jpg


I ate waaaaay too many nerds candy tonight and feeling really sick from them. I haven't been sick yet but it's close So thats why I'm staying up so late posting here I should be asleep so I can get up for work tomorrow.
these things:
https://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/storyimages/358_wide.jpg

 

[jelr]

I can totally see how it gets old very fast, I only had 1 night of it, let alone every night

I love the new toy rooom and I would not call your living room cluttered at all, it looks exactly like ours does most days since Natasha was born with stuff on the floor

I love Natasha's toy room too and it is so nice to just close the door on the mess some nights when I'm too tired to put it all away. Although we are going to have to do something out there as it is getting a bit cold lately, so Natasha is not getting as much use from it. I think it is because of all the windows, because it is full of insulation (it is our old sun room) so Im thinking maybe some big thick curtains to see if that helps.

I hope you weren't sick after last night - Stay away from the sweets

So glad you are starting to feel better now :thumup:

 

[spidey]

could you run a little space heater in her playroom? We have ones here that use oil and don't get too hot and aren't a fire hazard. Once we move Kira into her own room we'll have to run something like that since her bedroom is the coldest room in the house. We heat the house off a stove that's in Kira's new playroom and the heat has to passively go up the stairs to heat the bedrooms. So it gets quite cold up there in the winter!

Kira just started putting 2 words together! She said "more bacon" (mo bacon) tonight. It's adorable hearing her speak

Today at work the secretary for my department came up to me and asked if I was expecting She said I've gained weight around my middle So it must be pretty obvious now.

jelr, do you have any symptoms that might be pregnancy related? I can't wait for you to test and now that you have all those cheapo tests you can do one every day when it gets closer to when AF is due

 

[jelr]

We are thinking about putting in an oil heater in there, but i'm not sure it will make a difference. We heat the house either with oil fired central heating or we also have a stove that has a back boiler that heats and the house and the funny thing is there is a radiator in that room. When the fire is lighting and the door from the living room / to the playroom is open it heats up, but until the fire really heats up the radiator doesn't seem to be making a difference, so I think the cold is coming in through those big windows. I'm looking around for big thick curtains (they seem to be really expensive though for the size i'm looking for)

Yay for Kira's words, see I knew you had nothing to worry about and she was just doing it in her own time, she will be off now full stream in no time :thumpup:

Oooops for getting found out, what did you say to her?

No real symptoms - I don't "feel" pregnant so I'm guessing i'm not. The only symtoms that are going on are a lot of cramps, but that is probably because my bowels seem to be funny the last few months, and my arthritis is kicking up, but I think that is from the severe cold we have over the last two weeks. I'm also exhausted but again that tends to come with my arthritis this time of the year and I'm very teary, but I think that is from tiredness and all the stress over my job the last few weeks has finally hit in this week so that is getting me down. So all in all, nothing major - no sore boobs and that is usually a definite for me when I'm pregnant, I am getting a few sharp pains in them every now and again, but not a constant ache.

Although i will probably make the most of those tests and pee on them anyway

Only 1 more day in work for me and then I'm off for 3 weeks - really looking forward to it so I can forget about work and because it will the last year that I will get so much time off with this new job

Will you get long off spidey?

Hope the rest of you girls are doing well if you are reading. Cleck: I hope you are enjoying being home and Shiv: I hope Cora is settling down a bit.

 

[Shiv]

Time for a bit of a catch up, sorry I have been somewhat MIA, any spare time in the evenigns I have had have been taken up wrapping presents!

SO Spidey, I am glad you are feeling less sick, lay off the nerds, we used to have them over here when I was about 10, i LOVED them!

Have you got all of Kira's great presents wrapped yet?

Oh and I love the new playroom, I bet Kira does too. You rlounge is way tidier in that photo than mine is at its best!

We are having the smae problem as Jean with our playroom. It is in a conservatory and it is serioulsy cold. It has a heater in there but I am totally paranoid about how much it is costing to have it on constantly. SO now Sophia picks a toy an dbrings it in to the lounge closing the playroom door behind her

Jean, my boobs didn't hurt at all this time, I think they had everything all sorted after Sophia so there was less disruption. When are you due AF again? Fingers crossed. I hope you can forget about work after tomorrow and have a lovely Christmas.

As for us well, the Christmas shopping is now done, apart from a helmet for Sophia's bike, and I am wrapping a little at a time instead of saving it all to xmas eve like usual!

Cora is pretty settled at the moment. She takes naps during the day, she even puts herself to sleep. And she is sleeping 10 hours at night

Sophia on the otherhand is being a MADAM! We have meltdowns about every 20 minutes over nothing! It is seriously bad!

Potty training is going...........variably well!

So after she kept weeing in her knickers we went back to naked bottom half when indoors and nappies when out. We made a no accidents chart, and each day she didn't wee/poo on the floor etc. After 5 days she got her knickers back. So we had 5 days of only wees and poos in the potty and toilet. Not even anything in her nappy other than overnight. Sooooooooo she gets her knickers, 10 minutes later she's wee'd in them! It took 4 pairs of wet knickers for me to realise that she was weeing in them on purpose so she got to wear ALL her in the night garden knickers in one day! So I've hidden the knickers, she gets a pair in the morning and if she wets them then she goes without for the rest of the day, so far so good but we're only day 2!

Jean will you start when you finish work?

Sophia still has a dodgy tummy. Will go 2 days without a poo, then do 4 loose, mucousy ones in an hour. No other issues, she seems fine in herself, not great for potty training though!

 

[jelr]

Hey Shiv - Great to see you

I'm so glad Cora is setting again and that Sophia is doing better with the potty training - clever girl though, wetting just so she could wear all her knickers - not so much fun for you though

Would the tummy issues be anything to do with her teeth? Natasha is having a lot of loose acidy poos on and off lately and like Sophia has days where it is all tantrums and she had that cold and the cough hung around for the last 3 weeks and then today she woke up with a fresh cold and I'm wondering if it is to do with those back teeth as she would chew on me if she got the chance at the minute and it is so unlike her to be sick like this.

I hear you on the heater in the toyroom, I said the same about the cost when DH decided to put on the heater, but he reckons when we ran it last year the electricity didn't go up that much considering all the Christmas lights were on that bill as well. I must actually have a look back and see.

I don't know what to do about the potty training now, my plan was to start after New years day as before that we have loads of visiting and days out planned and that week DH was back to work on the 4th and I wasn't due back until the 9th, but I was told today that now that we are permanent staff our contract will actually start on the 3rd so I have a few options 1 to work, 2 to take annual leave (which is not an option to use it all up so early in the year and it is more time from the summer) or 3 work back the days (which I'm not really in favour of either as it would mean working 4 days for 3 weeks) so I think I'm going to have to work - well start on the 4th as DH is not back until that day so I will owe them a day. The silly thing is my boss is away until the 9th and the groups are not back until the 9th either so I actually won't have any work to do. It probably will take me some time to move my home office into Head Office so I'm going to that and hope that I have enough to keep me going for the 2 days as I really can't just sit around and do nothing, it is just not in my nature - So I spent another day crying over this stupid job. I swear if I knew there was work out there, I would definitely pack it in, because I'm so angry and upset over it all and the worst of it is I have nobody to be angry and upset with and I'm terrified my work ethic will change if I don't let all this go.

I'm thinking I might start the following week as I will be in Monday to Wednesday and then off until the following Tuesday. Do you think 5 days at home without going out will be enough to give her a start at it?

My mam reckons I'm staring her way to young, that none of us where potty training until we were nearly 3 and in one sense I am wondering if she is really ready as apart from sitting on the potty fully clothed when I'm using the loo, she really hasn't shown any signs of wanting to go or telling me that she needs to go. On the other hand, I probably won't have 5 days off in a row until Easter and that is not until April and because it will be only time off until the Summer I don't really want that we are stuck in the house all week and I'm thinking of maybe sending her to playschool 1 morning a week after Easter as most children here go a few days when they are 3, but If I do become pregnant soon, then a new baby and her staring playschool in September would both be coming up around the same time and I don't want her to think she is being pushed out if that makes sense, where as she will already be settled if she goes 1 morning beforehand and I will send her 1 of the mornings I'm working so that we don't miss out on time together. Ah I don't know really, there is 50 million things going on in my head now between ttc, work and Natasha being sick.

Anyways on a brighter note - I'm finsihed now for 2 weeks so I'm going to enjoy that and make the most of it and try and snap myself out of this silly crying and fed up humour

Well I hope you all have a great weekend girls

 

[spidey]

jelr, enjoy your time off work. I think there is no harm in waiting to potty train if you don't have time over Christmas break. If Kira didn't catch on quickly I was going to wait until April or May once the weather warmed up. Our house gets really cold in the winter and I wanted to have the option of her being naked when she started learning.

Shiv, Kira went through a phase of peeing in her pants because she loved picking out fresh clothes to wear. She'd purposely run off to pee, and then come back to me so I could take off her wet clothes and then she would run off and pick out a new outfit. We overcame it by keeping a baggy of M&M's right near the potty out in the open, so eating an M&M must have been more appealing than picking out fresh clothes It sounds like Sophia's doing great with using the potty

I didn't have any symptoms with this pregnancy but I had very obvious ones with Kira. The only possible early symptom I had was some feelings of doom. My boobs still don't hurt and my nips are just a little sore, not even as sore as when I would ovulate. Kira still nurses 2 or 3 times a day for a minute or so and it doesn't really hurt like I thought it would. Fingers crossed this is your month jelr so you don't have to wait very long.

I spoke too soon when I said I was feeling better. I had the nerds incident but I've also been nauseous all week. I'm getting my energy back so I've been cleaning and cooking a little and not eating frequently like I should be, so the nausea creeps up on me until its really bad. Only 1 more day and then I can get extra rest and a break over the weekend. This week is dragging by...

For the week between Christmas and New Years, DH and I are working Tuesday and Wednesday but taking off the rest of the week. So it'll be like having 2 long weekends. At some point my brother will visit, and DH wants to save leave up for when the baby is here, so we didn't want to use too much time at Christmas.

I know there was more that I wanted to say, but I'm pretty tired and should attempt to sleep. I haven't felt well enough to sleep until midnight but then I wake up at 4am for no reason at all and can't go back to sleep until 7am but Kira wakes up at 7:30 My dreams have been so realistic and scary too... crazy ass pregnancy hormones!!

 

[Shiv]

jean - i have considered teething, but I have no evidence to back it up!

I hope Natasha feels better soon. I will certainly feel glad when all their teeth are in!

Spidey - what will you do with your time off over Christmas?

I weighed myself today, having not done so for a couple of weeks, and I am 9stone 5lbs! That's 4lbs under pre-preg weight! Don't know how it's happened, but the more weight i lose, the worse my belly looks!

I am having a night out tomorrow with my best friends from uni, they are coming here and we are going out for dinner and drinks and maybe ddancing! Very excited. have got 15oz milk expressed to hopefully get Cora to sleep and a feed in the morning!

 

[spidey]

Shiv, I hope you had a wonderful night out and Cora took her bottles with no problems! Congrats on the massive weight loss too- that's so fast to lose all your pregnancy weight plus extra! I'm already dreading what my tummy will look like when this is all over. My muscles have already split so if I lay down and then tighten my abs, my insides sort of herniate through the giant opening. My belly button has already popped and I know its going to look dreadful when it has to go back

We're planning on decorating Kira's bedroom over the Christmas holiday. I never did much for her nursery- I just stuck some animal stickers on the wall. Right now she has a mattress on the floor and some really old mis-matched furniture from various places. I want to buy her a matching bed, dresser and night stand and put up light blocking curtains. The walls are dark gray and the carpet is blue, so I want to get white furniture and white/ pink accents. Once we fix up her room to make it hers, we're planning on transitioning her to her own bed.

I'm planning on doing tons of cooking over the next couple of weeks. On the menu is coconut macaroons, fudge, pumpkin roll, and strawberry toaster strudels. Yum yum yum! I need to get my fill of carbs before I'm diagnosed with GD

 

[jelr]

Spidey: I can't believe your belly button has popped already. Sorry to hear that you have been feeling sick again, I really do hope it settles down soon.

You will have to show us loads of pictures once Kira's room is done, it sounds like it will be lovely

Shiv: I hope you had a great night out, I see from fb that you have a hangover, so always a good sign - I hope Cora was well behaved and took her bottles too.

I actually don't have any evidence that it is teeth with Natasha either, I'm only guessing, although she did ask for bonjela the other night and I did manage to get a feel and although there are no teeth through, I can feel the actual shape of both the bottom teeth in the gum, so they are just there on the other side, but just need to actually break through the gum and I know on the previous back ones, that she was sick and cranky before they actually broke through rather than when they were breaking through, so I'm thinking it might be the case again this time.

I'm amazed at how easily I had forgotten how hard teething can be. I will definitely be glad when they are finished with teething, this week has given me deja vu to this time last year.

Well not much news from me, we were meant to go visiting this weekend but had to cancel all. On saturday we were meant to go and see DH's nieces new baby, but I didn't want to bring Natasha up with a cold on top of a new baby and then today we were meant to call to friends of ours but one of their family members is very sick in hospital with suspected meningitis and they have all been in contact with her. I hope its not for their sakes as they have 2 small children too, so it is a big worry for them and obviously about the family member too. But we didn't want to chance taking Natasha up, especially when her immune system seems to be low at the moment also, so it was a quiet weekend here.

AF really did knock me for 6 yesterday, even though I didn't think I was pregnant, I just didn't expect to see her until Tuesday and fed up that my cycles are still wonky because when ff said that I had ovulated on Day 18, I was delighted that things seemed to be back in order, but they are obviously not as that is only a 29 day cycle and a LP of 11 days and it was still disappointing too that I'm not getting a christmas BFP like we did with Natasha 3 years ago. Aw well as I said on FB new year, new start and 2012 will hopefully start off with a BFP. - and the doom and gloom that I felt for the last two weeks over work has lifted so I'm thinking some of it could have been hormonal too.

 

[spidey]

jelr, fingers crossed Natasha is back to her happy healthy self for Christmas. I'm dreading Kira's molars coming in. We've had such a nice long break with no teething so it'll be hard when it starts up again.

I think your cycle was perfect! An 11 day LP is plenty long to get pregnant and it means the 2ww is a little shorter too I'm glad some of your doom and gloom has lifted and now you can focus on having a really fun Christmas break.

Shiv, I'm assuming your night out was fun and full of drinks

:wave: to anyone else who is reading

I finally wrapped all the Christmas presents this weekend. I cannot wait until Christmas!! Kira has so much fun stuff that I want to play with I felt a bit better this weekend too, so maybe things are really looking up this time.

My belly button has always been shallow so its not too surprising its popped already I'll have to take an updated bump picture next time I have the camera out. I can't hide it now and I don't think its bloat- I think my uterus is gigantic