Ruling the roost

With his brothers living it up on tour in Ireland, Angus made the most of being the sole child. He didn't know what to do with all the attention! I was back at work so Sharon was bearing the brunt of him dogging her every move until Thursday, when she headed off to conference down in Birmingham.

With the boys away, I took advantage by tidying up their tip of a room. Angus has been a demon in distributing books, Lego pieces, gogos and assorted small toys throughout the house, especially the playroom and the boys' bedrooms. Recently Rowan was sleeping in the bunk bed in the playroom (and loving it) as Angus had graduated from his cot to the adjustable bed. However, Sharon had snared a couple of IKEA beds second-hand on gumtree.com, so I dismantled Sean and Finn's beds and relocated them to the front bedroom, back to where they were originally. This meant the trusty cot finally being dismantled after well over eight years' sterling service and retired to the front attic. No time for sentiment really: the boys are getting bigger and moving on to newer stages in their lives. Angus's adjustable bed was dismantled too and removed to the garage as he seems to have adapted well enough to a bed and should be OK in the bigger bed. Sean and Finn now have their new beds which are a bit wider than before but there are now four full-sized beds with decent mattresses upstairs, so that should do them for a few years to come.

As Angus was at nursery Thursday and Friday, we didn't have that much time together. We went to Sainsburys on Thursday evening, where he said hello to all and sundry, and on Friday we popped into IKEA for some mattress covers. Saturday was rainy and we spent the day sorting out the big pile of washing and new T-shirts the boys acquired on their holidays.

Sharon meanwhile was having a busy, tiring time of it at conference, presenting two workshops, managing her team and having to take Hannah to casualty after Morven fell on her legs. Fortunately there was no serious problem but it was the wee small hours before they got back to bed. Not ideal. Sharon was a tad weary when I picked her up from the airport late (flight delayed) on the Saturday night.

Sleeping over

Rowan is still too young to go on a sleepover. His compromise on Sunday night was to be allowed to move his mattress into Sean and Finn's room so he could share with them. He is desperate to be a big boy like his brothers. Sean and Finn were surprisingly amenable to Rowan sleeping in with them, especially Finn who usually complains that Rowan talks too much. Looking back to April, I've no idea how they managed to share a bed in Mallorca for a fortnight.

Angus has been moved back down to the spare room after spending the summer upstairs with Rowan. Angus has been waking regularly before 7am and once Rowan is disturbed, the whole house is disturbed, so for all our sakes it's probably best that Angus moves back downstairs until he's ready for a bed. He seems to have had a run of colds and terrible nappies for the last month, ever since he got his MMR jab. He was the only boy not to have his hair cut at the weekend.

I took Sean and Finn swimming at Dalmahoy on Sunday, a free swim courtesy of British Gas, while Sharon took the wee two to Loanhead. Angus was apparently indefatigable in his pursuit of freedom, drinking half the pool in the process. Sharon, who is still battling the jet lag, also took the boys out for an evening stroll up past Swanston Village yesterday.

My exercise at the weekend was a long walk across Morton Mains to Broomhills and back along Frogston Rd. I needed it to shake off the effects of the cricket club dinner on Friday night. A curry in Lancers and a cider or two in the Baillie and the Standard were enough for me as I knew that, getting home at 1am, I wasn't in with a chance of a long lie on the Saturday. It was a good night, with the visiting Matthew Dickens in typically wicked form.

Semi-final success

"Mummy or Daddy!" is generally the first phrase shouted in our house of a morning. When this is followed by "I've had a wee accident!" then it's not a great start to the day. By and large one of us is awake already, in the room with Angus trying to shush him, when Rowan yells his morning pronouncements. Chances are he hears Angus crying, wakes up, then disregards the fact that his clock only says 6. Latterly his explanantion is "I'm just pretending it's wake-up time." Cute as that may be, we ain't buying it, especially when Finn and Sean decide to "just pretend" too.

Angus's sleeping is slowly improving, with him often going past 0615 before he wakes. He has had some terrible morning nappies recently, which may be waking him up (although he isn't happy when he wakes up on his tummy as he gets stuck) and which we hope are teething nappies. Still no sign of any teeth breaking through though as he approaches the eight month mark. He's getting quite mobile with his caterpillar crawling and hauled himself up on Finn's bed the other morning, tried to take a sideways step then collapsed. I had to lower his cot base at the weekend but I'm not sure it's low enough.

It was freezing at the weekend. With Sharon down in Castle Douglas on Saturday, I took the four lads out to Beecraigs Park but we did well to last an hour (especially with Sean falling twice and screaming the place down) as I fed Angus in his buggy and started to painfully lose feeling in my fingers. The boys were treaetd to a Greggs lunch in the car in Linlithgow then a wander round the Hopetoun House Garden Centre where discs of ice frozen on top of water features were of most interest. On Sunday I went with Sean, Finn and Rowan to climb Blackford Hill which they did very well, especially the littlest 'un. After a hot chocolate in Victor Hugo's which prompted Sean into further dramatics - "I'm going to be sick!" - we went to the East Meadows playpark. Things were going fine until the cold suddenly penetrated Rowan's defences leading to his obligatory dissolution into tears and trauma.

Sharon and I had a curious night out on Saturday, dining at the 110 Restaurant in the casino at Fountain Park which had all the charm of an airport departure lounge. The meal was decent enough but I suspect, given the subsequent bowel problems I've had this week, that I was "glutenized." We were then stuck in second row seats in the cineam, craning our necks to view the appropriately named "Up In The Air." We enjoyed it.

The cold weather resulted in a surprise return of the snow and ice. This didn't stop Rowan going to get his prescription for his glasses, nor did it stop St. Mirren reaching their first final in 23 years as they defeated Hearts 1-0 in the League Cup semi-final. When we won the Cup in 1987 we beat Hearts in the semi-final too. This time we'll have to overcome Rangers in the final. Straightforward enough?

Lunch with Finn

I took Finn out on Saturday morning to help me do a bit of fish and fruit and veg shopping in Marchmont. He enjoys getting time alone with us. The lady in Eddie's Seafood liked his glasses and the man sneaked him a little Twix. We went for lunch in Annabelle's, having had no joy at securing gluten-free guarantees from the girl in Victor Hugo's. Finn tucked into a bacon roll and scrambled egg while I had a chicken curry.

The snow has all but cleared. There wasn't much grit laid on our road so it hasn't left too much of a mess behind and since the road was recently resurfaced it remains in decent nick, unlike some of the other roads in Edinburgh which have developed some desperate pot-holes. The Browns came round for a visit on Saturday afternoon, the last time we'll see them all before their imminent departure to Australia. Their plan is to go away for two years. We're struggling to see if we can book a holiday in Mallorca!

We're persevering with Angus. He seems a lot more settled in the evenings now - not that we needed to get him up but he's been crying less - but is still a bit hit and miss through the night. He has managed to go to 0630 on a few occasions, but they seem to be the nights when I'm "on duty." Sharon has had to put up with less successful nights which also seem to coincide with a variety of children arriving by the bedside at inappropriate intervals.

Cries in the night

Angus is now at nursery. Over the course of this week he had sessions that gradually increased in length, leading up to him being in for the full day yesterday and today. He seemed very happy there yesterday so long may that continue.

As we have decided Angus doesn't need a night-time feed and that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him when he wakens up crying, other than he wants, and is now used to getting, a cuddle, we are now practising controlled crying at the suggestion of the Health Visitor. She reckons Angus expects to be brought into the bed and that we need to break the habit, which could take a couple of weeks. So Sharon has gone through at his first cries the last two nights, which have been around 1.30am and slept in the room with him while he has cried himself out. He woke repeatedly last night and can take the best part of an hour to cry himself out but Sharon has held firm, waiting until he has finished crying in the morning before feeding him after 7am. I've taken to the wax ear plugs once more but they'll be put to the test tonight when I sleep in with him. Hopefully we can endure and Angus will finally settle into longer sleeps.

Rowan has been as chatty as ever, although he maybe has a wee tummy bug and is a bit lost without his pal, Paps. His evening tantrums now stem from not getting to play on the Wii, which he doesn't actually play on anyway; he just watches his brothers. The last couple of nights he has instructed me "don't close my door over because my heart will be broken." His ability to trot out phrases like that always amuse, even when you are mad with him for not doing what he is told.

Finn spent all yesterday with his school sweatshirt on back to front and has gone beyond that today by putting on all his clothes back to front and refusing to change. This is so Finn. His reading is coming on well. I'd like to encourage him to read for pleasure on his own.

I was looking at photos from our trip to Nafplio back in May 2004 yesterday wondering how Sean, that little 18-month old blond boy, our only child, had got to seven, with missing teeth and three younger brothers, in the blink of an eye. It is hard work at the moment but we need to get some of the fun back with the boys else they'll be all grown up and we'll miss it.

Sleep sliding away

Angus's sleeping has plumbed new depths. Since recovering from his RSV he has been very fractious during the night, save for the night when Sharon was down in Manchester when he slept from 6.45pm through to 5.45am. So he can go a long stretch without needing a feed or to be lifted or to be brought into the bed, but he seems to be easily disturbed, especially once the house goes quiet, and unwilling or unable to go back to sleep. It's not been made any easier the last week as he has been "sleeping" in our room while Michael and Marie have been over, but we can hear him wherever he is in the house once he decides he's awake and needs company. Rowan chipping in with the odd calls in the night for a drink and then wetting the bed isn't helping our mood either. It really is a struggle at the moment, going to bed exhausted knowing that you aren't going to get a good night's sleep.

Sharon was desperately disappointed at the cancellation of the Pampered Chef Leadership Conference down in Manchester. She had to revise her travel plans several times from car to train to bus as the continued big freeze (now the worst in Scotland in fifty years) brought cross-country travel to a standstill. Then, after a two-hour delay following me dropping her off at Edinburgh Airport in -9°C temperatures, she was in the air when Marie got a message that the conference was cancelled on account of the weather forecast for the southern half of England on the Friday and Saturday. With Sharon's recent promotion to Executive Director due to be recognised at the event and the bolster it gives her and those of her team who are attending, she was quite upset that it couldn't go ahead. About forty people did make it (out of an anticpated 300 who were due to travel) so there was an impromptu event and dinner with Sharon having to pick her way north on the Friday, eventually getting trains to Preston and Glasgow and thence to Edinburgh.

Adrian was delayed too, his flight on Wed cancelled after he had checked in. He appeared on Friday but his stay was brief as Sharon drove him through to Prestwick this morning for him to fly to Sweden, which is even colder than here! Sean and Finn and I got our long overdue haircuts yesterday, with Finn looking especially smart now that his mop has gone. I put in a new fluorescent light in the kitchen today and tried to dig out some of the snow as a slight thaw has arrived with the temperature struggling to 3°C. Our metre long icicle has finally crashed from the front gutter, fortunately not impaling any of the children.

The Bad Shepherd

Sean has continued his theatre trail this week, adding two more to his list. First he went to see Peter Pan with the rest of the school, Finn included, at the Lyceum on Monday and then Sharon took him on a big night out to the Playhouse last night to see We Will Rock You, the Queen musical. He seems to have enjoyed the music but been a bit vague on the storyline. At least he didn't start howling at the noise and darkness like he did the first time I took him to the Festival Theatre to see the Singing Kettle in May 2005. We ended up sitting up the back with him on the stairs! Of his three trips in the last week, Sean said Peter Pan was the best. I think he most enjoyed being the big boy who got to stay up late two night while his brothers went to bed!

Sharon attended a nativity double-header today. Finn's was rearranged for the school hall due to bad weather which meant it was rather a tight squeeze for all the school-children and the P1 parents. Finn was a "party person" which involved sitting at the side in his party clothes with a toy and singing "Away in a Manger" on cue. He has been practising that almost nightly, reading the words from his sheet. Sharon had to retreat to the doorway with Angus but could still see Finn doing his bit, although Finn threw a tantrum because he saw Sharon leave and wasn't aware that she could still seem through the door.

In the afternoon, Sharon went to Rowan's nativity at Fairmilehead Church hall. Given that he misses out on singing practice at Fairmile, his role as a shepherd was nominal, but he injected life into the piece by battering baby Jesus with his crook. He then turned on Sandy and gave him a few wallops too. Rowan is a boisterous child, very much used to rough and tumble with two older brothers.

We had hoped to get into the Winter Wonderland today but the bad weather dissuaded us of that notion, it being rather slippy in town. Angus is getting up on all fours now and is keen to crawl. For now he makes do by spinning on his tummy and covering ground by spiralling outwards from wherever you leave him. His sleeping is still no better and with Finn continuing his early evening night terrors, Sean leaping about in a dozy stupor and Rowan occasionally joining in with night-time crying it is a tiring time for Sharon and me.

To sleep perchance to dream

Back on my favourite topic: sleep, or lack thereof. We've had a difficult few days with Rowan and, to a lesser degree, Finn. Finn is suffering from night terrors at the moment and is regularly waking, screaming and difficult to calm down. Well I say waking, but he's probably still asleep and only does calm down when he gradually wakens. At least this is happening in the evening, before we go to bed, so it isn't too disruptive for us although he runs the risk of waking all his brothers, especially Sean. It's not pleasant to see Finn in such a state either.

Rowan has an ear infection. Ever since he had the RSV virus when he was just a few weeks old, Rowan has been the most "sickly" of the boys, although he is so robust that he hardly warrants that description. When he does have something wrong with him though, he is miserable and he lets us all know it. He'll yell from his bed in the middle of the night, holler uncontrollably when you try to comfort him, argue at the top of his voice when you try to quieten him (Rowan only does loud) and is not one for going back to sleep easily like his brothers. Bringing him into the bed is like introducing a bag of eels beneath the quilt: any hope of sustained periods of sleep soon evaporate. Add into the mix Rowan's insistence on getting one of us up if he needs a wee in the night and him and Finn flouting the "six means stay in bed; seven is wake-up time" rule and you might understand our current weariness.

Fortunately Angus is settling into a routine against this backdrop of nocturnal mayhem, even if we are having to lift him for a feed before we go to bed. He is great when he wakes, with lots of smiles and ga-ga's and hardly a cry as he is fed, changed and put back down. He's generally going from 2345 to around 0630. If only the others would do the same.

Weary week

The clocks going forward by one hour always seems to have a disproportionate effect on our daily rhythms. Last weekend was compounded, for me, by having a rare late night on the Friday. It was Brian's leaving drinks after 18 years at Standard Life. In retrospect, walking home from Princes St may have provided me with some much-needed exercise but it deprived me of an hour in bed.

On Saturday the Valentines and Pattersons were round for dinner then on Monday I had a very long day, down to London and back up for a rather fruitless Enterprise Architecture forum. So I seem to have spent the week playing catch-up. Sharon is finding it increasingly hard to get comfortable during the night too, so we're well on the way to practising for the disrupted sleep patterns that lie ahead this summer.

Sean did a beautiful reading yesterday at the Pentland Easter assembly which was being hosted by the two P2 classes. They've been working hard practising for the day and Sharon and I were there to see them narrate the Easter story, interspersed with songs they had been learning. Sean did his reading into the hand-held microphone on his own (most of the others were done in groups of two or three). He stepped forward confidently and read very clearly. He said he felt a little bit nervous but had said to himself "I can do this" and did not falter. Sharon and I were very proud of him. Finn was there too, as Alison had brought him along.