Frugaleering, cakes and baby talk

[Taytocrisps]

Just starting off a new thread as the other one was getting full.

My dad is useless with this sort of thing so I phoned DH at work 😂😳 I have literally never phoned him at this work before so he was convinced it was the baby different sort of plumbing

Have taken the panel off the bath and the floor is a bit wet under there. Not a massive puddle but very damp. Checked pipes and nothing is leaking. Have shoved a load of paper towels in there and shut the door with the heating on to try and evaporate it and see if it gets better. And will gently hairdry the ceiling. DH is thankfully on a day shift today not a late so will be home much sooner

Yy to letting agent/ll.

Not an idiot at all Cag. I once caught a tap at the bottom of an immersion heater with the strap of my bag & as water spurted at me under pressure shrieked "whatdoidowhatdoido" until Dh shoved me out the way to tighten it.

Is it near a junction in a pipe as either it could have worked loose or a washer could have gone?

Don't panic. it can be sorted

cag do you have a shower that could be leaking through sealant or through a shower curtain / shower screen?

That happened to us! Don't panic! XX

That is exactly what DH reckons it is actually! The shower over the bath is crap - we don't use it at all anymore (soooo excited about one day getting a wet room in new house!!!) and it does sometimes drip a bit. DH was asking where the screen was and I was wondering why the fuck he asked me that 😳 until he explained - he thinks the water has run along by the edge and down under the bath.

Not much is soaking up under the bath though. But I've dried what I can of the ceiling (quite difficult standing on a chair while heavily pregnant and with epically low blood pressure 😂😂) And also drew around the wet patch in pencil to see if it gets bigger 🤔 It's certainly not anything leaking right now though so that must be good.

DH will be home fairly soon and he can get the bath dried out properly - due to the position of the bath and sink I can't reach much due to the bump getting in the way 😳😂

There are so many little things wrong with this house and the LLs are always oh yeah we will sort that... but nope

cag ! Step away from the chair no climbing about! Hope you get it sorted quickly, drippy bits are always such a pain. We got a roofer out as either side of the chimney breast was damp, turns out the shower outlet was leaking and running along the wall, very slowly.

sunny my dd1 is brilliant. Still a moody arse, but doesn't melt down or have 3hr tantrums anymore (they stopped at about 9 iirc), her behaviour is not an issue now, she's usually a joy to have around. Academically she flys (without effort or help/pushing) and is very talented artistically. But she struggles socially, very much in the nerdy group, and has taken a long time to aquire a small knit of friends. My non screamy babies are all much more outgoing, but perhaps not so gifted academically.

Gave in and got MacDonald's for tea £22 for being lazy. Not worth it.

Thanks for book titles! I will be ordering them soon, as I use the old JO books I have often.

Cag Can you get to the floor above that? It's probably a pipe leaking or even a bottle of something in the attic that has tipped over.

Wreck that's amazing that your daughter is reading Harry Potter too. One boy in my ds's class finished them all half way through year 2 and a lot of the kids looked a bit worried about that as if they were getting behind. I'm really happy for ds just to read books he enjoys though and not necessarily long ones. Well done her on her reading. :-)

Cag What doors does a diagnosis open for your children? Did you have to go on a ten week course in child development in order for your kids to be referred for assessment? It is mandatory here and I'd much rather just carry on with beavers than go on a long course like that.

i'm slogging through the side effects of the flu vaccine and hoping i get the two day version this year.

Sunny I've stopped dd reading anymore of Harry Potter because I'm worried they'll get too grown up for her. Her favourite books are Jacqueline Wilson. Ds on the other hand doesn't even know all of his letters yet dd really struggles with maths.

DD isn't naturally into reading fiction really which surprised and saddened me! But I am starting to understand that it may be down to her (probable) learning difficulties - she can read as in decode phonics etc but her comprehension is really poor :( she prefers simple non fiction, learning facts etc so often takes Usborne and nerdy magazines to bed. She likes being read to - I think because I can explain as we go along if needed. Have somewhat lapsed while bedtimes were so stressful (as she was so anxious about going to bed that reading was just another way of delaying the inevitable meltdown) but now she is doing so well on the melatonin that we are adding it back in. Just picked up the newest Usborne illustrated original from my friend - around the world in eighty days. Gorgeous.

DH will be home soon, I should probably get the Caglets back in! Had planned on early dinner etc but got in a right faff over the whole leak thing.

Will answer your Q in a mo sunny x

What about audio books cag?

Cag have you had your dd's eyes tested by a person who is a member of the COVD (www.covd.org/)? It may be that she has a small bit fixable hitch in the way her eyes work together. I did, but I had it fixed with exercises. I was also anti-reading before.

Wreck I agree about the later books. They do get very adult.

A course before referral Sunny? How peculiar... here you only get offered any kind of course (the NAS early Bird) after diagnosis. Absolutely nothing is available before that. Even when you know there is an Issue and the only hold up is the paediatric waiting times .

Cag I do indeed know how awful all that paperwork is. Ug and good luck.

In our area you'll be offered a family support worker to help with parenting strategies whilst you await an appointment with a paediatrician, or if the referral has been refused. I think with some families it's hard to tell if the behaviour is environmental or not.

Right Caglets back inside now and DD is sticking a pizza in for her and DS :o (spatchcock spicy poussin risotto for us later DH said...)

Anyway sunny I think the provision really varies by area but certainly here there is fuck all on the NHS. There's just no money. It's all charity and council run stuff and it includes anything like respite breaks/days out, discounts on all sorts etc. I'm only just starting to get my head around it really.

We didn't have to do any parenting courses but my friend who is in a different part of our county has had to jump through those sorts of hoops. There was a lot of insinuation that her youngest's issues are down to poor parenting so they have insisted on courses and support workers etc... even though her older two are already diagnosed so clearly she knows what she's looking for!

We had issues getting the melatonin as we had to be taught how to help DD sleep. You know, bath book bed, the stuff you read about when you have a one year old. Never mind the fact that we actually had far stricter rules than even the sleep workshop told us! No caffeine after 5pm? How about noon... but once they actually believed us that we had already tried EVERYTHING then we were allowed to try the meds.

There is unfortunately a hell of a lot of inconsistency even within PCTs. One of our friends had their DS diagnosed with ADHD by the same clinic that diagnosed his autism. While someone whose child was being assessed in the same clinic at the same time (just a different doctor) was told that they couldn't possibly assess for ADHD and they needed to go to CAMHS for it. Shambles, IMHO. It's really hard to know what to expect from where TBH. We have been incredibly lucky that our specific paediatrician is awesome and thorough and has invited the Caglets back to look at other conditions rather than discharging them - I have heard very different things about other doctors at the same clinic :(

Hi all 👋 and another 👋 to creme if she's reading.

I'm just about to head into a coffee evening at Ladybirds 🐞 dd is super excited because it's a pink party in her eyes. I made 38 buns last night for it totally outing but they were decorated afterwards

Eek Cag is it a council place? If so there will be an out of hours emergency number to ring if not you will need a plumber. Well done to your dd thats fab she is doing so well in climbing, hope the forms aren't too stressful.

I can't believe you can buy dishwashers that cost more than a grand I think i would want it to cook dinner for that price as well I had a Bosch one which was def at the pricer end when I had one God I miss my dw it always worked well and i hear its still going strong from my friend who brought it off me.

Dd struggled today with tiredness which wasn't a surprise really, she has also managed to leave a load of stuff at school which is annoying. Will put her to bed early again tonight and then only tomos to get through before the wend.

NSD.

Such a lot on your plate cag but you are a great advocate for your DC. Ahhhh to the leak too

em if you didn’t admit to some tension between you and DH while you have a newborn —children of any age— , we would honestly think you were making up having a baby! Tension, sleep deprivation and cross words are part of adjusting to parenthood

I ended up coming home from work at lunchtime as had a migraine. Unfortunately the thought of commuting back home whilst feeling crap made me worse/anxious. Was very relieved to make it home and slept all afternoon. Still feel rubbish.

Poor DD2 is still very constipated. The meds from the doctor on Tuesday don’t seem to have had any effect yet

Ooooh christmas that is an amazing perk for DH. How have you not spent it already??!

Love I get migraines sometimes and they're awful. How old is dd and what did the dr give her? www.eric.org.uk is an excellent website for all bladder and bowel issues in children.

I think we are ok re the leak! Might need someone to look at the taps as they are difficult to tighten fully, but it is not anything like an urgent leak. But as I said LLs are fucking useless.

Can't bloody wait to move into a council house TBH. I know there will be issues with delays and stuff but they actually act on their duty to fix stuff. Quite reliably according to local friends. And they have set contractors rather than any old bodge it bloke (as happened particularly with our first flat - lost all our deposit thanks to that twat). Our LLs aren't even via an agency (they used one to set up the tenancy but after the initial 6 months that was it) so nobody to complain to really.

DH my hero is currently drying under the bath. It was so gross under there he found a fag end FFS. Awkward job as the screws on the bath panel are rusted shut .

Not to mention the fact that we would have noticed the issue earlier if the bathroom had, you know, tiles or Lino or whatever. Not trade carpet that I couldn't even see was wet. Carpeted bathroom. Gross.

I really really can't bloody wait to move. 6 months max I reckon. It will genuinely feel like a palace compared to here!

Sorry that ended up more of a rant than anticipated!

wreck she’s almost three and the doctor prescribed Lactulose which we have been hiding in her milk

I would go back and ask for something else, they'll probably give movicol. Lactulose won't help to get it moving it'll only soften it (this is what I've heard people being told at work)

Unless she has some movement overnight I think I will take her back to docs tomorrow. Have an appointment booked for Tuesday to follow up, but it is too long to wait. She keeps whimpering

Sunny! OMG that's awful (the tailbone thing) how on earth had that been missed?!