Jan/Feb locals chat

[SJ99]

How exciting to be starting thread

Yay, thanks Sfx, am already looking forward to banana bread, mmmm!

In Sweden they had Noise Police (everything is so formally governed over there) but what a great idea, they used to go and put a stop the noise polluters, no messing.

no worries, paddle.
different situation entirely from your friend in that my friend wasn't close to her mum and they had lots of issues...

but that estrangement brings about it's own sadness and shock when someone dies, doesn't it?
so i wasn't close to her mum, but feel for my friend.

it's entirely understandable you felt such deep grief, though, as you were/are so close to thjem both. i know exactly what you mean about 'hijacking' grief, tho. like when you're at a funeral and thinking;'oMG, i'm crying more than the wife..better reign myself in.."

how's your friend doing now?

rein even

he's okay thanks steppie. they're getting ready to re-locate to NZ so bitter sweet time for us all.

i am gutted they're going but very happy for them. BF will be leaving his Dad here which is hard but he's moving closer to BF's sister and i intend to stay in touch as much as poss.

actually, i am in denial about their leaving. expect me to be a wreck in march!

well, dd seems a bit brighter after quite a long nap. finger's x'd she's over the worst.

looks way to cold adn grey out there for us to venture out - cabin fever for me tho!

know exactly how you feel, paddle.
some of our closest friends are now back in oz and NZ.
one (who was my midwife for ds1 and ds2) rang the other day to say she was pregnant (no 4!) and it's at times like that you really miss them. the time difference is a bummer too..

but, especially as dh's family is in oz, i know that we'll still see them over the years. and with really good friends you just pick up fropm where you've left off, don't you...even it's been months/years..

not easy, tho

glad dd is a bit better, bless her little gorgeousness.
cabin fever, eh? time to get out the chocolate and DVDS..
ages until glug-glug time, tho

gawd! is it glug-glug time yet?

actually to be fair, dd has been very good today all things considered.

CM is happy to take her tomorrow pm so I should still manage my 3 hour conf call to the US. mornings are worst but hopefully she'll be on the mend by tomorrow.

little madam is doing fake coughing and saying "i need my puffer mummy!"

diarrhea is costing me a fortune in nappies!

It is glug-glug time now!

Anyway, a question for Kew experts: has anyone been on any of the guided tours? Are they any good? I'm thinking of joining a "themed tour" which is supposed to teach you to identify common trees. Anyone else interested/been on? I would like to be able to identify more than 2 types of trees ...

Happy Birthday Kew and SFX! Hope you had suitably festive days. PC, sorry to hear dd has been so poorly, that's very hard for both of you. You never know, she might have turned a corner by tomorrow, they seem to get better very quickly once they're over the worst. I have not been on a Kew guided tour but it sounds like a good plan! My mum always puts me to shame when she can point out the names for stacks of trees and plants, incl. the latin versions -she's also pretty good on the bird front. Oh - and she's great at sewing, tapestry and knitting. I think I need to go on some sort of course as am rubbish at everything although have a pretty fast typing speed!

Ds & I have had a lovely afternoon (morning was a little iffy as I think we were getting fed up of each other!), have been cuddled up on the sofa watching Finding Nemo for 10 mins at a time!

Slng - never been on one, sorry but it sounds fun and pretty interesting

Bunyan I am always impressed by people who know the names of any plants etc. I can't even recall the names of my children half the time, let alone plants I am not even related to!!

Paddle - is that our ex-lodger BF of yours relocating to NZ? I'm glad your lovely DD has been a wee bit better today. That feeling of having sick DCs and feeling guilty and worried about missing yet more work is terrible. End up feeling like a bad Mum and a crappo employee, so miserable on all fronts.

No spoilers on the book I promise

Steppy sorry to hear about your friend losing her Mum. If she was estranged she probably has all sorts on mixed emotions, including lashings of guilty feelings atm

DS2 slept most of today and then has spent the evening vomiting all over me (and the bed). Changed my clothes about 7 times and am all out of clean dry towels and am resorting to sheets and duvet covers to mop up/catch sick. We put a new mattress on the bed on Wednesday would you believe it - so am feeling abit agitated about it now smelling of Vom!! gave him some Dioralye about 40 minutes ago and he has perked up. He also managed to keep one BF down this morning, but puked up the BF this arvo.

I went to the cash point earlier and got £20 out which I then dropped somewhere. I also discovered that my health club took out four direct debits on Friday instead of one . Am so cross with them!!!! Anyone had experience of that before? I set up one DD and they took the money four times...

Bunyan LOL - I am crap too - can't ride a bicycle, can't sew, can't knit, can't cook, rubbish at foreign languages and can't swim

I do a great girly gossip though

Oh and I am developing skills in cleaning up sick...

Hi MrsR [waves]!!

DH just left so am also on glug-glug hour

Poor Foxie and cub - hope he feels better soon & you both get some rest, illness seems terrible, it is just horrible when they are ill

Steppie - sorry to hear you're still under the weather and to hear about your sad news. IKWYM about missing distant friends - 2 of my best and oldest friends live in Oz, one is getting married next wkend and the other is expecting her 1st at end of the mth. So gutted not to be with them to share in their happiness

Glad Mini-pads is feeling slightly better, good news that she can go to CM tom for some of the day.

Re: Babysitter, we use the 17yr old lad next door! We did use Sitters a few times but they were expensive and they let us down in Oct so we haven't used them since. I was telling my neighbour about this and she offered up her son's services! It's fine, no travel for him and he can watch a film or homework while we're out. So far so good.

Slng - haven't been on tour but I think it would be really good

Have finally got stuck into Kite Runner, it's a little bit hard to put down

Ros - you can't beat a bit of Nemo in my book

Slng - have emailed you teh recipe now so I hope you get it!

glug-glug o'clock!

actually we've had a pretty okay day tbh. dd has been really very good and once the morning onslaught of dreadful nappies is past we're pretty much set till tea time when it starts again.

she's asleep by 7pm which also helps and i have cooked a lovely stir-fry so don't feel too bad about the belgian chocs i am about to scoff!

foxie, other BF and his wife and their 2 kids who're moving. they're my rocks and i am incosolable about it. ex-lodger BF is here for a while. he's doing great and has been offered permie job etc. he sends his love btw.

hope mini-cub picks up tomorrow. it is a working mother nightmare isn't it?

sj, good skills on the neighbour. going on recent reports any 17yr old neighbour of mine is likely to be a druggie

i feel remarkably relaxed and for some reason teh day passed very quickly. prob due to a good chat/rant/moan with BF's wife who was having a major stress with her kids when i called. we agreed we gave each other mutual therapy, and also agreed that that sounded very dodgy

hope the birthday girls have had a lovely day.

ros, once again thanks so much for offering to have dd tomorrow. looks like we'll be okay tho. really generous of you. still have ds's b'day gift here so must catch up soon.

good morning all

many thanks for the birthday wishes I did have a lovely weekend birthday with lots of family cake and relaxation.
we went to Southbank yesterday for brunch and art while dd and me spread our germs around but had a jolly good time.

paddle - hope dd is better now,my dd never had diarrhoea associated with teething she just dribbles and gets grumpy.

slng I have never been on the tours but dh is very good with trees and birds and dd makes me read the labels on trees and shrubs so I am learning. still it is a good idea but more to the point can't wait till dd is old enough to do sleep overs and their kids 'midnight rambles'

foxie hope ds2 is better poor poppet

bunnyan - hope the house is less troublesome today

steppie - excellent singing sorry about your friends bereavement.

wave to SJ Ros and mrsR too

I think we will stay close to home today dd has a cough and cold nothing serious but I think we both need to recover

morning all, well dd has gone off to CM and i feel an enormous amount of guilt about it.

she slept 12 hours and hasn't had any dirty nappies this morning tho.

working mother guilt, so i guess i should get n do some work to justify it then!

Good morning! Hope all sick LOs are on the mend now, poor little things - and hope the parents are bearing up too! All chugging along in the bunyan household, lots of drilling and vat-loads of tea - found myself in Tesco at 0710 this morning stocking up on sugar, tea bags and choccy biccies ready for the onslaught. dd keeps asking me "when will our sick house get better"?! Gosh, half term soon, just going to scoot off and see what's what in terms of entertainment!

PC, try not to feel too guilty, getting out of the house will probably be good for your dd (as well as you!) - and she'll most likely have a great day. They do recover from these things much quicker than us. Fingers crossed, anyway!

paddle - glad mini pads had a good sleep - ang you too. hope that is the end of it. when we first met you and mini she had a teething related sore bum - she must be susceptable to it

sfx - your birthday weekend sounds lovely - very civilised

bunyan - oh yes, builders and their tea!!!! lol!! i had a builder once who survived all day on custard creams

excuse typinh - chubba on lap

chubba still vomiting continuously, i though he had diarreah but when i looked realised his poo has reverted to newborn mustard poo, as all he's had for 36 hours in breast milk!

ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG THIS MISERY IS LIKELY TO LAST

QC/Paddle

ooops

Morning all.

Happy birthday, QC and sfx. Hope you had a nice day. Welcome to the club (40s), sfx. Hope sfx&mini sfx feel better soon.

Paddle - hope DD on the mend. Like bunyan said, going out of the house might be good for DD.

Bunyan - hope all the work go smoothly.

foxie - hope DS2 gets better soon.

Steppie - sorry to hear about your BF's bereavement. We already have two cats so not much help here, sorry. Three weeks on, I still have the coughs and am, too, sick of feeling ill. Hope you feel better soon.

Have a lovely day all.[Waves to everyone]

foxie, yes you're right. i'd forgotten that! mind you, this diarrhea doesn't seem at all toxic in the same way.

nhs direct said up to 5 days is the norm. thank god at least dd didn't vomit. the BRAT diet is recommended and dd has done well on this. Banana Rice Apple and Toast.

dd has had lots of toast, rice, mash potatoes etc but turned her nose up at banana. also had some white fish (well, skinned fish fingers!). NHS direct recommended jelly and diluted fruit juice and said the old avoid dairy advice is outdated now.

so she's had her milk and the odd babybel plus biscuits and rice cakes. little and often. they said she needed to flush thru her system with food and fluids to get the bug out.

if it goes longer than 3 days i would see GP tbh.

no word from CM so hoping all okay.

hope cub is better soon.

Paddle LOL at BRAT diet - good name - is that for vomitting too or just runny poos. someone on my other thread just mentioned that her DS always getting runny scarey poo when teething

Sushi did you view that house. I found you a house actually - will try and do link...

foxie - where!?[v excited emoticon] We didn't 'view' the house but saw it from outside. There's a family looking at the house, too. So it's going to be snatched up pretty soon, methinks.

Morning all. Sorry to hear so many of you and your little ones are sick. Guess it is that time of year. Paddle, gp recommended pro biotic drinks for ds when he had this d+V bug recently. Might be worth trying those with dd.

We have bitten the bullet with ds this weekend and have ditched the epull ups in favour of real pants in an attempt to get this toilet training sussed. I have lost count of the number of trousers/pants I have put in the wash the last 2 days. He can do it he just chooses not to.

Hello all

Glad the LO's & mummies are feeling a bit better now

Good luck with toilet training COV. We haven't ventured down that route yet, apart from a few requests to sit on the toilet no real interst or understanding shown

Sfx - glad you had a lovely birthday

Bunyan - good luck with the next part of your house renovations

Went to playgroup this morning and felt a bit embarrassed when a glamourous mummy sat next to me and I was in dirty jeans and jumper splatted with this morning's porridge courtesy of DS Anyway we got chatting and she was very nice