D`y ever wonder how we managed without the shag pile?

[triplets]

Well...............?

I'm a bit bored int he kitchen atm. Have been experimenting with morrocan cookery, which was nice, but my next plan is to visit a ostrich farm sometime during half term and make ostrich hot pot.

sounds interesting - I have never had ostrich, kangaroo is very nice if you can get it, but has to be cooked rare or its pointless (goes like shoe leather).

You have persuaded me, pork meatballs in a tomato sauce.

Just checking in chucks. Still here, still loving being a mummy and managed a 4 hour sleep today. Yay !
Am lurking when time permits but have to say am not up to date on the news.

oh LG&T thats dreadful hope dh & B are better soon

Erin is better and we are all well at the moment (never lasts long though)

just been to Newton Abbot for new shoes for ds1, lovely trip on the train, great lunch but at price - I need a LG&T

Evening ladies. Have spent the day checking my DS partners tummy for stretch marks!!!!Yes I know, we are a very weird family.

Em is very slim, about a size 8, she is walking very oddly - cause she is not used to having a big belly .

My DS is so excited - he bought two outfits for his DS today - all pale blue and white!!!Awwwww - dont think we will ever have pink in our house - but never mind - girls frighten me.

They are going to Manchester tomorrow to get Lewis a firstborn size Manchester City kit - thats my boy

Everybody had a good day?

momma - at price of shoes and I had a lager with lunch as it was part of the deal and as we caught the train I could

evening all - chops if you are around, the pork meatballs are about to go in the oven! I did my tried and tested Jamie Oliver recipe but added some fennel seeds as thought they might go nicely with the pork!!

Shabs - girls arent scary honest!! I was a bit worried when I found out that DD was going to be DD after having boy DTs but other than having ot use more wipes when you change a nappy, its just the same! WEll she is very into he rough and tumble is the Madster due to hte older brothers.

I'm having problems putting children to bed on my own.

Erin wants her bottle and takes it and goes to bed with no fuss, Jack wants 'one to one' and can't have it because when dh on lates I don't know what to do with him. When dh is here he has him while I sort Erin out.

Normally I do dts together whilst James watches tv for half an hour but while Erin lies down and takes her bottle, Jack fidgets, talks, creates and is generally a pita.

I have tried putting him in the cot but he makes too much noise, I can't leave him in front room with James as not fair on James to 'watch' him' and Jack would do anthing he could to cause trouble!!!

any ideas please?

If I fed Jack first and left Erin & James he would be an angel, drink milk, go in cot awake and go to sleep.

But............ I normally feed them together and leave James (4.2) in front room (next to nursery) with tv for half an hour.

He just won't feed together anymore, and she is more tired usually hence why easier to do her then sort him out, its just what to do with the little monkey .

He would just like one to one (wouldn't they all) and when I am on my own what do I do with twin 2 when I sort out twin 1?

Oh yes, MN fame again! I made up a discussion of the day ('Clocking Off' on the home page).

I'm on a roll....

estar - we are not worthy

they were DELISH Mfg, really nice.

They were followed by Bill Granger's Cherry Tart which I made a couple of days ago and seems to get better.

I am now stuffed and retiring to my pit.

NIghty night all!!

Um, yes LargeG&T, of course Levi is nearly four months weeks old now, how clever of you to know .

Oooggs, no advice sorry, but sympathy. Ds4 is very unsettled between 6.30-8.00pm while I put the others to bed, and its really hard work. Ideally, I like to get them pjama'd, teethbrushed and have them drinking milk in their rooms, then two stay and 'read' and I take the other one for special time (practising ds1's reading and writing, listening exercises for dt1 and speech therapy stuff for dt2, all disguised as fun activities!). This kind of worked for a few weeks, but now Levi is so unsettled (and I'm usually so knackered) that its all keeps disolving and I inevitably throw the older three in their room at 7.30 with the light on, then feed Levi just to keep him quiet. If dh is around, he does try to occupy him while I sort the others, but he is a typical man in that he jigs him for a little bit (noisily in the background so I end up rushing special time), then says, 'I can't do anything with him, he must be hungry.'

Must not diss dh tonight actually. He has worked his ass off all day doing the beautiful tiles in what will be our amazing bathroom. Then on nearly the last one, he dropped one of these huge travertine tiles onto the base of the brand new shower and now there's a hole in it . He is soooo gutted.

LOL Shabs my sister kitted B out in Man City stuff!!!!

Morning my lovelys.

Off to church in a little while!!! No, I'm not going cause I like it. I am going in a very hypocritical way to try and get my DS a place at a great secondary school!

The schools in this area make Grange Hill look like Balamory. With the exception of one - but to get in this school you have to be regular church goers.

Yes I know God will get me. He has to find me first!

DS quite likes church but sometimes sits there yawning and acting like Homer Simpson. The things you do for your kids............

the things we do!!!!!!!!

I am just worrying that ds1 won't get into either scholl we have chosen - don't find out until 18 March for a September start

oogs we find out on the 1st March. Am sure that DS will get turned down because we only started going to church about 9 months ago, if he is we then have to go to appeal.

I am determined to get him in there. The secondary school used to be 'ability based' but now its if you go to visit god every week

I'm prob the worst one to ask anything about sleeping, since I left mine to cry from when they were very small. I'm sure even quite small babies get overtired in the evenings, and by about 6-8 weeks I found putting htem down, leaving them for a 10-15 minute cry they would then fall asleep. It worked for me, to get them out of nightmare on/off feeding in the evenings.

what were the meatballs like? Fennel def a great idea with pork, I will try that next time. My recipes for meatballs come fromt he chilli lovers handbook, I have two - a family one and a grown up one with lots of red wine and chillis. Jamie Oliver makes me laugh most of the time with his flipping 'herbage' and zest in everything. His roast chicken is the dogs bollocks though.

sympathies shabster. I really do not like the way that so many schools are now church related. I really think that state education should be secular. dd goes to a cofe school, and I really don't like it, but it is the best (and closest) school in the area. I have no objections to her learning about christianity, but they spend whole terms focusing on one story from the bible and neglect teaching anything of other religions.

morning chops. I agree with you about the religion thing in schools. One of DS4 friends goes to church every week and has done for many years - he will 'walk' into this school.

The only reason he goes to church every week is so that his mum can go to another area and deal drugs......everyone knows this but the school will accept him.

Not the little lads fault - he is quite a sweetie - but it makes my blood boil. DS4 is the most gifted of my children - probably because he was born that way and because we are much older parents we encouraged him all the time. He is sooooo clever, but, sadly that counts for nothing these days.