Tea Room 17 - The Tropical Beach Hut

[amberlight]

Welcome to the 17th version of the Tea Room. We find ourselves on a tropical beach, with the tea room now in a beach hut on stilts, the waves lapping on the golden sands beneath. Palm trees surround us. Our virtual gardener/beach surfing dude/handyman, Mellors, is here to tend to your every need. He looks like the person of your dreams (male, female or otherwise ). There are of course holidaying Bishops and other leaders of faith, the Camels, the Bison, various guinea pigs, the tea room horses, a life-size cut out of George Clooney, the NMBs (please don't ask me to explain how Mohawk Babies joined us, and a wide variety of other virtual followers. We chat, we relax, we share how life is. All in need of friendship are most welcome. The kettle is on...and the distressed chintz sofa has of course made the journey over. Enjoy.

If you've finished with him, can I borrow him for a go on my neck and shoulders? Not sure what I've done to them.

Aha re the Chamber Music. Thanks

Very at MT being able to play an instrument well enough to play in Chamber Music groups.

To any of the medically minded people, any ideas why the GP surgery would send me a letter confirming BabyScout's hospital appointment and telling me to take a urine sample? Hospital appointment slip doesn't say what the appointment is for, but am assuming for his ECHO which he was referred to at six months. Also, anyone (medically minded and/or with boys) have any idea how to get BabyScout to "wee on demand" into the little plastic pouch they (the nurse at the GP's) gave me to stick over his boy bits to get the wee? Am assuming that I should get his wee the day of the appointment?

Nurse that gave me the wee pouch said that she doesn't know why the GP would say a wee sample for an ECHO either, unless they want to do a dip and other work-up to make sure he's fit in addition to his ECHO. Who knows? But I shall take BabyScout's wee if I can get it! and the GP's letter in case the hospital nurses think I'm mad.

Scout: getting your boy to wee on demand is imposible (he's what 7 months old??). Having been there and done that with Kittenito, the way forward is as follows.

1. It's easier if someone helps you. I hope DH will oblige....
2. You must moreorless know his routine by now. The best sample comes in the morning, so early on: take off Scoutbaby's nappy and affix paklstic bag the best you can with surgical tape.
3. Entertain to the best of your ability SB to avid him ripping off the bag.
4. Keep out an eagle eye for the wee. When it starts, yell for backup so that one of you can get a hold of the bag and make sure it doesn't fall off as it is filling up.

It's a pain, but if you manage to time it to a period when you think it is likely to do a wee it shouldn't be too bad.

Good luck.

Thanks Cat. BabyScout is nine months. And I know weeing on demand is an impossible dream -- but since babies always seem to wee when getting on the clinic scales I wondered if there was some trick I was missing! Unfortunately DH leaves for work between 6 & 6:30 a.m. and BabyScout and I don't get up until about 7 a.m. I shall do what I can solo. Thanks for the tips!

Wow. Exactly the same age as Gatita (2/11/09).

If you are on your own: perhaps you could try getting up with DH and putting the plastic bag on while BS is asleep (or better still entrust DH with the job. Then perhaps (if you are lucky) he'll do a wee before waking up.

It's obviously not going to work if BS tends to wake up easily.

BabyScout was due 7/11/09 but because of my issues he was induced at 38+ weeks and was born 28/10/09.

Unfortunately at that time of day he would wake up easily. Hmmmm... will see what I can do.

I think the reason they usually wee on the scales is because of the slightly cold contact - so might be worth putting him down on the bath or other slightly cold surface with the bag on. Also, put it on just before a big milk feed as thats a common time for a wee.

IME, they ask for a wee sample for everything - DH was supposed to take one for his eye appointment recently according to the letter.

Have had a day of ringing up and making appointments - eye test, smear test, tyres etc. Turns out the fab optician I saw before who really understood my complicated eyes is only in our town one session a month, so have opted to see him elsewhere - a nice excuse to pop to lovely, but very, very,very steep town

Ohh, I like the idea of the bathtub -- thanks CMOT! Not only is it chilly, it has the added bonus of being easy to clean if/when wee leaks! And then I can hose BabyScout down afterwards.

Nursery induction today was good. I got a very positive vibe from the moment I walked in, so feeling much better about taking/leaving BabyScout for a few days. Tomorrow I have a drop-and-run for an hour, to let him have a play, snack, etc. AND they'll take pictures of him if I put a camera in his bag (they have a nursery bag to send all of his daily supplies in). Since I have pictures of lots of other of BabyScout's firsts, I'm sending a camera in for tomorrow and asking if they'll take a picture for me.

Are there any snacks hanging around the beach hut tonight?

One rocky road ice cream coming up scout, would you like to accompany it with a hot choc ? A rather nice combo I've just had for supper.

Or I can rustle up scones and your choice of butter or cream and jam?

Or we can ask teh nmbs to play pop corn basket ball with your mouth as teh hoop?

Glad your feeling positive about nursery. Tis reassuring to know they will be cared for when we can't for what ever reason. Boys CM has offered to pick us Both up from hospital after boys hearing test and drop me back in village before keeping boy for the rest of the day on Thursday. I've got work in this village which is nice.

Thus far I'm not aware the hospital want a wee sample from boy, its a hearing test.

Wot no twiglet surprise? Has Smallbunch eaten it all?

Yummy breakfast -- chocolate digestives, rocky road ice cream, hot chocolate and scones with cream & jam. I'm full now....

I have a whole week to look forward to the adventure known as wee collection. Joy oh joy!

Today is drop-and-run at nursery. I'll be fine -- right?! I'm not worried about BabyScout, just me. LOL

Oh dear, this is harder than I thought. Like I said, I'm not worried about BabyScout -- he'll be fine and have fun playing with new toys. It's me. It means that treatments are upon me and it's hard to admit but I'm scared senseless. And I hate being so far away from my family when I feel like this.

I should have gone out, but I have chores here at home I want to try and get done with my hour....

Think I might have some more of the rocky road ice cream and chocolate digestives.

(hugs) Dig into the chocolate and icecream Scout.

DS started at his current nursery at 14 months, and will leave there this month - was chatting to nursery manager yesterday about it, and felt quite upset that he won't be with them anymore

Need a stiff drink - took my car for new tyres this morning, forgetting that this car has posh run flat tyres. The price for all four is EEEEKKKK

I could buy another car for the price of four tyres on mine. Have a gin.

In fact, with ds needing a car soon, that might be the best plan we have...

Thanks CMOT. Had a wobble when I got home, allowed myself to have it, and was fine within 10-15 minutes. But that tends to be how I operate -- deal with the situation, wobble for a few minutes later and then I'm fine.

It sounds like he had a good time/was a good boy. Only wobbled when they got him down from the table after snack, and they figured it was because he was tired and didn't know what was going to happen next. Proud of my little man (and proud of myself for not letting him or the nursery staff see me wobble).

We got two new front tires on The Mistress yesterday and I was EEK at those. HubbyScout is a bit of boy-racer and has cars with big engines so likes really expensive tires, etc. Would anyone with tire and/or car misery like some Mars Cakes?

Oh... UniS -- thank you for the patches! They're so tiny and cute!! I've put them with BabyScout's other badges that need to be sewn on while we're at camp.

Umm Mars cakes - lovely, thank you. Glad he was OK.

Get the FineLad a vintage mini Amber - the insurance is really cheap, and they are ridiculously easy to fix. One of my nephews has been restoring one for the past year, and he isn't 17 till the end of the year.

Dh has a Jag, and the tyres are v expensive and get worn out quickly too - he's had 5 sets in 3 years. But his is a proper company car, so he doens't pay for them

Scout - I remember my wobble - mistlechick's first leave alone taster session at nursery - I popped into the nearby town centre to do a few things, happened to see a coffee morning friend who said 'where's mistlechick' and I fell apart on her shoulder .... Needless to say, when I got back, mistlechick had spent 40mins of the 90 min session asleep on a cushion at the side of the room not that he'd ever let me put him down for that long! Anyway - that showed me that he was clearly relaxed about being there which was good.... Next wobble was first day of reception - and I really can't understand why as he'd been going to nursery at the same school for a year by then!

UniS - mistlechick recently had a 'proper' hearing test with the earphones etc - and was really unhelpful and said that he couldn't hear the noise regularly. Luckily he's not cunning enough to just ignore them - and obediently said each time he heard a noise that he couldn't hear it

at tyre prices, without even knowing the exact figs, I can guess! Even for my scrappy old car in the UK, the tyres were ridiculously expensive. DH's car here has proper low-profile tyres, which no doubt will cost an armanaleg, but that is a company car, so not our problem. Mine are quite normal but will be our problem of course.

What's a mars cake?

Scout - an idea for you that you may or may not know about - minimarsbar cars! Made of a mini mars bar with a biscuit teddy stuck into it, about 1/3 from one end, with a Smartie stuck in front of him for a steering wheel and 4 more Smarties stuck around the sides for wheels. They look very cool! M&Ms will do if you haven't tried Smarties but Smarties are a better size and shape.

TW - you might be interested in this thread...

Vit D etc

Ooh thanks MT - will go and read and put in my twopennorth if needed!

CMOT, in what way are your eyes complicated?
I sincerely hope 4Mbaby doesn't inherit mine... around minus ten diopters each, plus astigmatism. I had LASIK in 1996 which was fantastic, as before then, if I'd lost my glasses or contact lenses, I'd have been pretty helpless. My eyes have regressed a bit but I only wear glasses for night driving. Every once in a while when I put them on in the daytime, I am startled to think that this is how most people see

Scout, (((HUGS))) for the wobbles. Here, have some more ice cream for breakfast
But seriously - who could blame you for being wobbly. We're here for virtual handholding

I have had a very crap but very productive weekend. Crap as in, lots of anxiety and irritability. I have to remember that my brain was getting candy for two years and now there's no more candy and it doesn't like it. Bloody hell, it's so hard coping without the stupid AD's. Actually, they should be called AA's (anti-anxiety rather than anti-depressants). Whatever. Anyway, I have felt like the Evil Bitch Queen Momma most of the weekend and have found myself shouting at 4Mbaby when he whines and literally trying not to allow my head to explode. He's going through that two-year-old whiny phase. It's horrible but it's not his fault. I keep telling myself, "he's two, this is in his job description". And then he whines again and I find myself almost shrieking "stop... WHINING!!!!! There is no need to whine, we give you anything within reason that you want, and if we don't, it's because it's not good for you... so you are in no way deprived and FFS, STOP WHINING!!" Which actually, comically, stops the whining for a few moments. He smiles at me and says "I want -whatever- please" very nicely. And then whines again four minutes later.

How long does the whiny phase last because I am not coping very well.

Anyway - productive weekend because the more my anxiety skyrockets, the more I need control over my external environment so I weeded out, did paperwork, computer work, organized drawers, you name it. Very satisfying... don't know if it helped at all though.

4Mbaby had The. Worst. Night last night. He was exhausted and went to sleep at 7:30 pm with not even five minutes of nursing. Woke up an hour and a half later, back to sleep quickly. Up again an hour and a half later again, sobbing and crying for no reason we could determine, and so on through the night. My arse is seriously dragging and I have a full day of work.

Sorry for the rant. Actually, no I'm not. Was thinking last night where the hell else am I going to get this off my chest. I'm sick and tired of trying to tell people when I feel really crappy, and not being taken seriously (because I usually wear the capable and calm mask) or worse, being trumped by someone else's tale of woe which is usually worse. Sorry to sound heartless but it's not a fucking competition - my feeling like crap on any given day does not invalidate someone else's feeling like crap. Maybe I've fallen into an occupation trap (listening to my patients at work) but I am sick and tired of always being the one who listens. Can I please have a rant occasionally without being dismissed??

Ok, better get in the shower before I a) work myself into an even shittier mood, on top of being really tired and b) because I tend to MN and FB too long in the morning and then run around like a blue-arsed fly to get ready for work.

See you all later. Maybe. If I have point-two seconds at some point today.

BabyScout woke up screaming after a very short nap. Am going to go take him out for a walk for some fresh air. He didn't have a morning nap and now a very short afternoon one, so must prevent wobbles that will come when it's dinner and bedtime. Don't want to put him down early because that means up early and tomorrow is a day I need him more routined. Oh dear, looks like rain... maybe a trip to Focus and Sainsbury instead.