July 2009: Only &*%$ days till Christmas!

[alibobble]

hey all! Thought I'd start.

so the nappy came back "normal" which just means that it was a virus not a bacterial infection and seems to be better now though 7 days of continuous pooing was quite frankly more than enough! Bottom is doing much better esp thanks to getting metanium on prescription :)

Sorry not been on in ages. Never seem to get any time anyore. As soon as i touch the computer Rebecca keeps pressing the keys.

Some advice needed tho:Beth suddenly having accidents Beth has been happily going to school but thurs this week she had an accident at school and told no one, came home wet and then had one at home too. Fri she poo'd herself and tried to clean herself up. this was discovered by new childminder after she wet herself at the table at new child minders on first day! Bless her heart. been ok today but seems she gets too engrossed in stuff. any tips? Sorry for me post. was up other night worrying about her. She's never had accidents since she was toilet trained soon after she turned 2.

Good name for the new thread Ali

Re accidents...could she be anxious about the new childminder. It is a big change for her and it does take them a while to adjust. It can be quite scary when you don't know the routine. My ds had a couple of accidents at school when he was in Yr1. He needed to go but was too shy to ask and didn't make it in time. I am sure she will get back to normal soon. Perhaps set up some sort of reward chart for a few weeks to get her back into the swing of things. It is such a worry when things like that happen xx

I am off to bed now, had a sleepless night last night so am really feeling it now.

xx

great new thread Ali

re Beth, I think maybe it is the new environment? When I started temping DS1 (who is 5) pee'd himself a couple times like never before. Someone said a mixture of change and attention seeking....hope she gets better.

ali I would agree that the accidents are more than likely to do with the changes and will prob just settle down on their own.

Biting Fin seems to have stopped (touch wood) maybe the threat of losing his favorite fire engine worked I don't know or his initial settling back into school has worn off.

patchy somewhere in wrexham? Poss soft play or at least somewhere kid friendly. I would have chosen the park if I could guarentee a nice day! I am free any day at the mo.

meet up Lydia can do 23rd oct. Can anyone else? Is there any other day you can do lydia? I can do any day that week.

Ooh, shiny new thread! Thanks Ali and love the thread title. I have no idea what to get Cal for Christmas. There's far too many plastic-tastic toys cluttering my house up as it is! Was thinking of a table and chair or something as he's showing a lot of interest in pens and drawing on paper and he just loves Aquadraw (particularly sucking the water out the end of the pen ). Would also be a bit of an investment. I'm sure granny and granda will do the plastic tat bit!

Ali I'm sure Beth's accidents will settle down on their own - I don't have any older kids so probably not best to give advice, but I'd suggest maybe not making an issue of it (I'm sure you're not though!) and she'll get over it soon enough Very frustrating for you I'm sure x

QF Glad the biting seems to have stopped! Now, can you tell me how you managed it?!

Jealous of you all meeting up - don't suppose anyone lives in the far north of Scotland, do they? :)

Ali Thanks for the lovely new thread! Hopefully Beth will settle into her new routine soon and the accidents will stop. These poor babies have no other way to handle their stresses, so I'm sure its nothing to be concerned about.

Just a quick post from me... yaaaawn... just waking up and its half past noon . Will probably go right back to bed too! LOL. These night shifts are killing me. I come home, sleep for 7 hours, then go mad trying to run errands, get DCs sorted, get ready for work, have a quick nap, and its back out the door. 2 more days of this... sigh...

Am very of all your meet-ups!

QF Glad the biting has stopped for you. I think Marco is cutting his fourth molar. His bum is raw, the drooling is uncontrollable, and the biting is in high gear! :( Hopefully the tooth comes out quick because he has been quite miserable the last 2 days.

Off I go to enjoy a few more hours of peace before the brood come home from school. Have just put dinner in my slow-cooker so I dont have much work to do later. Had high intentions of conquering the washing, but I think that will have to wait!

quick post backwards got a desk like this on ebay for a lot less. there's a guy who buys the kits and makes them. we collected to save oney but he did do delivery i think. been a real success but then beth is 4 so it's quite big but becca could sit at it no problem

accidents doing ok so far. started rewards with pennies (eeks - no way back) instead of stickers. She gets a penny for her money box for drinking all her juice at lunch and a penny for remembering to use the toilet in time. Seems to be doing ok so far.

Off ot test drive a new car in a mo. Ford focus zetec. new to us I should say, not new. Not won money!

Thanks Ali, had a look but couldn't see anything. There was a nice one in America, but was £80-odd for postage!!

x

oh nevermind. Worth a shot :)

How's everyone doing? phoenix been chuckling at you starting trouble on FB!

Oh no gotta go, becca heard typing and I can smell her from here... yuck!

Hi everyone
Hope you are all ok, I haven't been around much as real life has been quite manic for me and I don't seem to get time to breathe at the moment!!

DS1 is off on cub camp this weekend. I am having slight anxiety about it though! He has only just started doing sleepovers and this is 2 nights away! I am sur ehe will be fine, its me that I am worried about! I have volunteered to cook for them all on the saturday night so that I can go and make sure he is ok! How sad it that!! SO I am up to my neck in cooking as i need to make it all here and take it in, including packed lunches for them all for sunday. It was fun shopping for it all though as I had a budget of £1.50 per child for tea and another £1.50 for lunch but I came in well under budget! Wey hey!

Ali hope the pennies are working, bless her! That is a really good way to do it.

QueenFee soft play sounds good. We come up on the 22nd and back on the 29th. I wont be able to make a big meet up in Manchester as we will be quite busy doing the in laws thing though. Let me know what day suits you. I will fb you my mobile number so we can get in touch that way how exciting!

Hope everyone else is ok, will be back soon xxxx

Well... I survived my night shifts! LOL... but just barely. So glad I took the last 2 shifts as vacation. Yesterday, I got home from work at 4:15am, in bed by 4:30, and DH got me up at 9am after all the DCs were gone to school and nursery. Was hard dragging myself up, but necessary to try and switch my internal clock back to 'normal'. I kept myself busy cleaning house, and finally at 7:30pm, couldnt keep my eyes open any longer, so I gave in to a power nap for and hour. Into bed at 11pm and I was good for the night! Today I am still a bit sleepy (up at 9am again), but at least functioning!

Now I just have to get organized for the weekend. 21 people for Sunday dinner, plus Matteo and Sofia's birthdays to celebrate. Not sure if I should have 2 separate cakes (as there will be other pies served). I got DS's gift sorted (Wii Soccer game). Sigh... good thing I am off work til Tuesday!

patchy you are sneaky volunteering to cook just to keep an eye on DS!! LOL. So what are you feeding your hungry den of Cub??

Ali That desk is fab. We have decided to take Sofia's crib out of the girls room, since she no longer sleeps in it (only in her sisters' double bed), and replace it with a desk. Probably going to pick one up at Ikea, since it needs to be big enough for DD1 who is almost 13.

Hello to everyone else!

AAh Baby you know me too well!! Yes I am going to go and check up on him! (and lots of the others as all of us parents know each other and each others kids well and watch out for all the kids!) We packed his bag tonight and he is such a space cadet, he didn't really help so has no idea what he has with him!!

I am cooking a tomato pasta with lots of hidden veggies,with grated cheese on top, nice crusty bread and a big chocolate tray bake. Mary Berry does a great one that feeds about 25 easily. I made the tomato sauce today and froze it and also the cake so all I have to do on the day is get there and cook the pasta. Lunch will just be a cheese sandwich, apple, carton of juice, crisps and a cereal bar. All that and a bottle of squash to fill up their water bottles for £2.41 and my budget was £3 per child. It has been fun organising it but I will be glad to get there and make sure ds is ok!

Also meant to say to you that Lydia posted my hats to me today, I can't wait! She said that Sofia and Marco are getting them too. So cute!

Anyway, hi to everyone, I am sure I will be back on here over the weekend for you to calm me down!

xx

Hi everyone hope you're all ok.

Sorry I'm not on here much. I am reading just nothing very interesting to say.

Ali - I wish I'd never put anything on fb lol.

Baby - yay for the job :o

May have bad news on dh's job here. He works on CCTV and missed a robbery happening last week so is been investigated for gross misconduct and as he is still in his probationary period it's not looking great. There is a problem with the certain camera it happened on so hopefully that will get him off fingers crossed. Even if he keeps the job he's said this is the kick up the arse he needs to get out if there anyway cos the money isn't great and he's decided he's not over keen on nights.

Ds1 has finally settled into big school so no tears at drop off time. He had his tongue tie release surgery a few weeks back and his speech therapy starts up again on Monday.

Noah is full of cold right now but it doesn't stop him climbing, jumping etc and almost giving everyone a heart attack. He's currently sporting a grazed and bruised eye where he fell at my parents house and also a scratched nose. How he hasn't ended up in A&E yet I'll never know. Lewis was never and still isn't a climber so we're not used to it.

We've put it off for ages but I'm getting my arse into gear and going to book Noah's christening soon. At Lewis' christening the vicar was really funny about people not going to church regularly and we haven't really been at all so I'm a bit scared to ring him . I hate using the phone at the best of times .

See nothing interesting happening here. Sorry for me post.

Hope you all have a good weekend x

Hi all
Phoenix - hope all is ok with dh and the job. Even if he wants to leave, would be better to go with no blemishes iyswim. Also unfair imo to take this down the gross misconduct route. dd had tongue-tie release at 6 months old. Very glad we did it because the bf counsellor advised against it but with her prematurity etc. we didn't want her to be further disadvantaged. She is ahead of developmental milestones for speech so I am glad we went against advice. Hope things improve now for your ds1. I wish all babies were routinely screened for tongue-tie at birth.

Baby - did you get the job?

Hope everyone is ok. I'm back at work. It's going ok. Mil has Caitlin. She's adjusted well to me being back at work but is clingy before I go and when I get back (fine when I'm not there iyswim). Took her to see Paediatrician recently because she's still not sitting well unsupported. Paed said she is a bit delayed in locomotor skills but on track for other milestones and ahead for speech. He said he didn't take into account her prematurity because they don't once baby is over 1 year of age. He thinks she will be fine because she is able to support self when put to stand against furniture and she sits well on her knees.

Hope everyone has a good weekend

Lady Yes I did get the job!! I start on Tuesday (since we have a bank holiday this weekend). Looking forward to the normal life again. This week of doing nights was brutal, so I am looking forward to at least a year of steady days. Glad to hear that Caitlin is adjusting well to you being back at work. I think the clinginess is reasonable and will slowly pass.

Pheonix Noah sounds JUST LIKE MARCO!! Everytime I pick him up from nursery, the first question I always ask is "Any injuries?" . He currently still has the large bruise on his forehead (at least the egg is gone), a scratch on his head, a cut lip, and several small bruises everywhere else. The teacher has jokingly asked me to bring in a full-face hockey helmet for him which I will seriously consider if this keeps up. My other 3 DCs were not climbers either, so this is new to us as well. And he will literally climb on ANYTHING!

Patchy Your feast sounds fab :) Since you are so well prepared, I can see the mealtime going very smoothly for you... not to mention giving you more time to supervise DS1 enjoy the day

Aaaaargh!!!

Feel free to ignore my whole post i'm having a rant, sorry.

Dh text me earlier to say he bumped into his old boss who's told him there may be a job for him doing what he did before. Good news you'd think and in a way it might be but he took volutary redundancy from that job because there were big changes, he didn't know from one week to the next what shift he was on and because it was shifts he wouldn't always be there to pick Lewis up from school when he goes full time in January (I work afternoons) So he's said he's considering going back which would mean us relying on his parents to pick Lewis up sometimes and i know what they're like and i don't want them doing it. I want me or dh to be able to pick him up. I know the job is better for him but he can't do a regular shift there. I know i'm probably been unreasonable. He just rung me while i was writing this and i told him i wasn't in the mood to argue and hung up on him. I'm such a cow

Rant over!!

Hello :)

I'm a lot calmer now :o

I know where dh is coming from that it's a job he can do with his eyes closed etc. and he's realised the grass isn't always greener on the other side. He doesn't regret taking the redundancy because it got us out of a whole load of credit card debt but he does want to go back if the opportunity arises. I really don't want to rely on the outlaws alone so am a bit more happier that my grandparents have said they'll help out if needed too. Just now i hope he keeps this job until something better comes along. He's got his meeting about his employment there on Tuesday afternoon so all fingers and toes crossed please :o

Sorry i'm rambling again

Baby - Noah climbs on everything too. He is seriously gonna give someone a heart attack with the things he does.

Lady - HV did query a tongue tie with Lewis when he was tiny but then said she didn't think it was and we didn't really know what it was so we didn't ask any further questions. When I had Noah my midwife said about ds1 'is he tongue tied or can he just not talk properly' which got us thinking. I mentioned it to HV at one of his checks and she referred him for speech therapy and said to get the GP to check his tongue. GP thought it was so referred him to ENT. At that ENT appointment the horrible doctor almost laughed us out of there saying he didn't think it needed snipping because he could stick his tongue quite far out of his mouth but he did say if the speech therapist thought he needed it they could refer him and look at it again. When he eventually got to see a speech therapist she thought he was pronouncing some sounds from the back of his tongue so she re referred him to ENT and we saw a different doctor who actually looked in his mouth and could see that it was slightly tied and releasing it could help his speech so he did it. He goes back to his speech therapy sessions tomorrow so hopefully we'll see an improvement soon :) (sorry that was long)

Patchy - Hope ds1 has had a great time at camp and you were ok too :)

hey all. Got a new car on sunday so am tres excited but v nervous about parkingi t at our local trolley war tesco! Hope everyone ok. Not been on for a while. Sorta been keeping an eye out.

Ok scare me people. Who is organised pressy wise for christmas? Was in argos yesterday and heard people saaying they'd done all their christmas shopping. Am so disorganised. still no idea what to get the girls as THEY DON@T NEED ANYTHING!

Hope you can read this typing with no glasses so can't actually read what I'm writing :)

Apart from a few more bits for the boys' I'm all done :o this is the first year I've ever been this organised though.

iv'e got about a quarter and know what i'm getting another half so just left with the last awkward pressies for the people you never know what to get!

Is it just the 2 of us meeting on the meet up? Can no one else make it?
I've had the most manic day i'm just putting the kids to bed then I still have tons to do sigh
Since 3 I have been to hairdressers for ds, done dinner, been shopping for goggles that I had frgotten had broken last week. Taken the kids to their swim lessons then dropped kids off at baby sitter and went to parents eve. I'm shattered!

Hi everyone,
Is it just me or all you all glued to the tv today. I can't stop watching it and thinking about those poor men and their families. Feeling a bit emotional about it all!

All ok here, cub camp was a nightmare. DS enjoyed it during the day but found the nights tough and when I went to cook on the sat night he just went to pieces when I was about to leave. I felt awful and the cub leader (who is a bit of a knob) wouldn't let me take him home. There were 2 others there who were in pieces too (I am friends with their mums so know them quite well) and they wanted to come with me too. He said that if I took ds they would all want to go! Needless to say I cried all the way home and then really regretted not telling him to piss off and taking all 3 of them!!! Anyway a lesson learned! DS has said never again!!!!

QueenFee I hope you have recovered from your manic day!!

I am very about you all with being so organised with christmas presents. I have Max's, we have bought him a radio flyer trailer. DH got it in America so it was alot cheaper! DS1 wants an ipod touch, which we aren't going to be able to stretch too. I have been selling stuff like mad on ebay and have raised enought to spend £60 on each of them so that is it!

I got my hads from Lydia the other day, I can't begin to tell you how lovely they are! Max loves them and seems to forget he has them on so fingers crossed! I haven't managed to get a pic of him yet though as as soon as I approach him with the camera he takes it off or looks gormless!!!

Anyway, school run beckons

xxx

Just quick, Dh has kept his job this time but if it happens again he's gone. Hopefully he'll find something better (or go back to his old job ) before there's a chance of it happening again :)

:( for your ds Patchy. The scout leader sounds like a lot of a knob.

Baby - how did the job go?

We're going to go and see the vicar to book Noah's christening next week, finally. We're only planning on having close family and friends to the church and then back to our house for a bite to eat and a drink. I've just put my requests in to my friend who's making his cake and i've just ordered him this outfit. My only headache is godparents. My options are our close friends who are also ds1's or my brother, his girlfriend and my other brother. The prob with having my brothers is that dh has a sister who i'm not bothered about having as i think she's only seen Noah once or twice but dh doesn't think it's fair to have my brothers but not his sister. Aaaaargh!!! WWYD?

Sorry i only seem to come on here to moan lately :o

Evening all
Been glued to the TV here all day, sobbing at the miners. Dad works down the pit which scares the wotsits out of me at times. Got a rotten, stinking cold & given the lack of drugs I can take due to up-duffed-ness I've been in bed all day feeling shite. Lockets & hot lemonade don't quite cut the mustard compared with lemsips, sudofed & night nurse Just had a mind-blowingly hot chilli for tea so hoping that will help sweat it out a bit!

Phoenix - so pleased DH has kept his job - must've been a very worrying time.

Christmas - failing miserably here. Had an early flurry of Internet ordering but more than half of it ended up being out of stock, so I fell at the first hurdle. Plus when I tried the Argos 3-for-2 toys most of what I wanted was sold out locally so that was a waste of time as well. I need to get Hetty some new shoes this weekend so I'll try & get a couple of bits & pieces whilst I'm out & about. Must get organised as I can't be waddling around the shops, like a weeble, come December. But we have booked to go away for Christmas - yay!! After all the arguments & falling out last year, I couldn't bear the thought of sticking around here for a repeat performance. Besides, I have my own little family now so its time for us to have our own traditions. Of all things we've booked a Travelodge so for the 3 of us for 2 nights B&B its a grand total of £120 - I just need to choose a hotel for Christmas Day lunch & get it booked & then we're all sorted. Bargain!! The rest of the family are a bit & which made me a bit wobbly at first but now I think stuff them. We'll be here on Christmas Eve during the day, & home on Boxing Day night so it's hardly the end of the sodding world is it?

shoes for the baby - where does everyone go? A friend recommended Clinks as at least they do Start-rite, Clarks, Birthdays etc. She's properly walking now. The first lot were Clarks but I had a brief look at our local tiny store & they had bugger all TBH. Any suggestions?

Lady - hope things are still OK at work & Caitlin is settling down.

Ali - congrats on the new car - I only ever park in spaces that I don't have to reverse out of Bloody hate driving! But it's a neccessary evil, what with work & nursery.

Missp - has the temp job finished yet?

baby - congrats on the new job fantastic news.

Patchy - about DS's cubs experience. My BIL went with my nephew on his which helped a lot. I think they're awfully little to be left overnight at the cub leader - what a tosser. Power goes to the heads of some of these people doesn't it?!!

Meet Up - what's been decided in the end? Not sure whether or not we can as Mum is moving house by the end of the month, but would like to try.

Hi backward

Hi to all the lurkers