June 2009 - terrible twos here we come

[bigcar]

Here we are ladies

hey allsheep did you make up wth your mum? hope everything is sorted now.

afternoon naps: I started taking vitamins/minerals (iron etc) around three weeks ago now and I have had so much more energy I've not needed a nap in a while and been able to stay up later in the evening, worth considering maybe?

Hi all!

June, I was also wondering about potty training the other day, maybe some of the experienced Juners will be able to give us some tips and advice. M sometimes tells me when she's done a poo, but sometimes she doesn't. I just caught her right before and took her to her potty and she didn't complain and did it there But I guess I have to be more consistent than that Over here if DH has had a late night I usually get up with M, unless I'm also knackered in which case he does and then he takes a nap with M after lunch How are the ILs behaving lately? Any news from the court case?

Allsheep, glad to hear your week was good You know, if the HV hadn't said anything I wouldn't have even given it a second thought but she scared me a bit. I went to the doctor and she had no idea what the HV was talking about no idea about any meds, etc, so she consulted the guidelines and online system and nothing appeared there. She then consulted a colleague and same advice, if I had already had it there was nothing to worry about. My dad had said the same so... How's your DN? Hope she's getting better and better.

Snow, hope the colds/flu have already left the household

Bigcar, still ing I'd guess

Right, MS has arrived and in full force. It has been renamed "all-day S" as I get to enjoy it 24/7 atm I'm not as tired but MS really floors me, I don't know what to eat, what to drink. What works one day disgusts me the next, the fun! I have such a sweet tooth but I'm only fancying savoury stuff mainly, very odd. M's being very good, thank God! She plays, dances, does stuff but isn't whiny or fussy at all these days. She's taking ages to go to bed, though, which knackers me. It took her 1.30hs last night, I was (figuratively) pulling my hair out

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday!

Waves1

morning all

thank you for your support and good wishes ladies, much appreciated

venetian, hope you had a good birthday and all your unwanted visitors have gone. Headlice isn't quite such a performance but the hair washing routine and combing is a real faff, let alone trying to keep los from letting their heads touch! The big problem is when one dc in the class has it and isn't treated so it just goes round and round and round . . .

snow, wow, two asleep at the same time, impressive Hope everyone's better now. Will keep fingers crossed for fast growing hair Still haven't completely got used to E without his curls.

gauchita, hope Ms ok now, must be almost over with by now? Bloody hvs, I know some of them are good but some of them frighten parents like that on a regular basis, it's not on, hope you're ok. Sorry to hear about the all day sickness, although horrible it is at least reassuring in the early days if you're a worrier like me

june, good to hear C is liking nursery again Dh and I generally get up at the same time on the weekend but E tends to wake about 7.30/8 so it's not too bad, he'll sit in bed with us for a short time so it feels at least a little relaxed. And the big advantage of having older dcs is that they can keep an eye on the los too occasionally! Any news on the il front, has it all gone back to court yet?

allsheep, good to hear the new job is going well, hope that continues Have you sorted things with your mum?

still ing after panels decision last week! But I've also had to do dd3s dla renewal form, about to start on day 5 of those sodding forms Hopefully today will be the last, need to check through it all, photocopy and collate all the reports they want, I could be some time Will be a relief to get it all in the post.

potty training, now that's a tricky one, depends on what works for you really. The trick is to find the approach that works for you and stick to it I think the general rule for starting is that your lo must have some understanding of being wet/dirty or doing something so will look down if they wee when not in a nappy etc. And the communication to be able to tell you in some way they need to go.

you can start sitting them on the potty regularly at bath time, nappy change time etc and see if you catch anything. If your lo has a regular routine, you can aim for sitting them on the potty then. You can go for controlling drinks and aiming to get them on the potty, I think, about half an hour after a resonable size drink. Or you can go completely cold turkey and drop nappies completely during the day, but I think our los are probably a little on the young side for that approach just yet

as with anything, it's all about praise when they do something on the potty and not worrying about any accidents. And of course not forcing them to sit on the potty if they don't want to, encouragement, bribery and corruption is the way to go At this age some los, like E, are no where near ready and others will do it fairly quickly, play it by ear and see how it goes

waves to all

Forms are a PITA, aren't they? And it seems you have the king of forms there with you if you're on day five Hope you manage to finish them soon

Thanks for the tips re. potty training Sounds sensible. My gut feeling is that M's not 100% ready yet, neither verbally nor control-wise She's still babbling A LOT and all day long, but words per se are quite few, 12 max. I think we'll start slowly

Her CP is "gone", only leftover scabs now. After a while of quite good sleep during the night she's reversed to waking up coughing every 15-20 mins. Oddly enough she doesn't cough in bed with me at all! I've put a mattress for me in her room and as of tonight I'll see how that goes

hi girls, excuse the one handed typing, feeding Z while DH gets A in bed.
Been trying to sit and post for a few days but not managed it.

Busy here last week minding dear friend's kidlets while they packed up their house . We have gained a lovely rocking horse (not quite the dimensions of junes ) and plenty of other toys/clothes and whatever else could not be shoved in a box.

Z is great, unsettled 10pm-2am but will then sleep till 5/6ish, but only on me/in bed with me. Back to birth weight today, I am so pleased as with the jaundice,vomiting and snot, she had been slow to gain.

gauchita i hear you with that all day sickness. Just so tiring, and on top of M not sleeping.
bigcar Did you finish the forms? Am so pleased for the progress from the panel. If only it didn't move at snail's pace.
allsheep first day back? how did it go?
june as the weight loss guru, can you give me some ideas for low calorie snacks? Am constantly ravenous and need to stop reaching for crap.
venetian have the unwelcome visitors taken leave?
mrsmc how things on your house?
strawb how is your packing?

aaahh, two hands needed now so will sign off

haha snow maybe i should change my name to weightlossguru sounds good ;)
for snacks i often have a handful of nuts (unsalted cashews or almonds, some raisins/sultanas) and maybe half a banana.
nuts are great they really keep hunger at bay, just a small handful though! you'll be surprised.
i have some in my cereals for breakkie and it really keeps me full longer.
or you can try seeds, like pumpkin seeds.
or a glass of "innocent" smoothie.
or a piece of fruit, make some fruit salad one day and have it in the fridge ready to go.
i find that having something ready to eat helps as it stops you reaching for toast instead.
i'm really happy with my training and diet, i'm back to pre-baby weight, which leaves me with around 8 kilos to loose (just over a stone) and i want to achieve that b the time c. is 2 yo. i'm not aiming for skinny, it just doesn't work for me we can re-assess that when i get to my target weight!!

i'm impressed with your one handed typing ;). how sad about your friends leaving, you'll find some new friends at the baby groups, don't hesitate to ask people for their numbers, i just went for it and found that people often really wanted to meet up outside of groups but were too shy to ask for numbers.

ils situation: no news on the court front, i don't want to bring it up with dh in case he is not thinking about it iyswim, i'll wait until it comes up in the conversation.
only seen sil once since xmas and pretty much ignored her as my friends were over and i don't like when she comes over when there are other children here as she just takes c. to one side to play anyway when i want her to play with her friends, that's kind of the point of the playdate. i think she is embarrassed that she didn't get me a present for xmas or for my bday.
i wouldn't care (my brother didnt get me a present for my bday for example, doesnt bother me) but she goes on a bit about what she is going jto get me and "oh its your bday soon innit" and all that stuff and then goes, "oh sorry i still haent got you your present" type of thing which is irritating.
mil has come over a couple of times without any drama so we're in a good phase with her i think. fingers crossed tht it lasts.
seen fil a couple of times but not talked much as dh really doesnt want to hear how fabulous his holiday to asia was, he would like to knnow why he never took mil on nice holiday like that.
i think bil is a little upset with my after i told him he talks mto much, (he does) i should have worded it differently or not said anything though, i feel bad and will apologise next time i see him.

thanks bigcar for your advice on potty training, c. is not ready at all. she doesn't know when she is weeing yet. when she does a poo i ask her :" what is it, what are you doing." and she says "poo" then but she has ever only said it a couple of times before it happened about a month go and never since. we habe not bought a potty yet but i think it's going to be soon, dh is very keen for some reason...i'm more inclined to wait until she really shows signs that she is ready so its done quicker.

allsheep hope your new job is good and you have found a good routine, what do you do?

gauchita good to hear cp is over, you can tick that off the list, sorry to hear about ms :(, i hope it gets better soon. when is your baby due? august?

it's getting lte and i'm supposed to be doing some work tonight, take care juners !!

Hi everyone,

Well I have made up somewhat with my mum, she still thinks that she was totally in the right, but I do not have the energy to argue and N loves her nana so hope she will be more respectful in future.

Have tried to start potty training with N, she does understand about poos and wees, but if she is wearing her nappy she prefers to go in it rather than tell us. When her nappy is off it is more successful, but it is so cold it is not really practical to have her wandering around in the nuddie. I found putting her potty in the bathroom to be the best place so that she copies me when I go to the loo and also before bathtime. It is a bit difficult for me to train her as I am at work all day so DH will have to do most of the training with her.

Bigcar - hope the form is nearly finished, bureaucracy and form filling is one thing that I know well.

June - Well done on the weight loss, keep telling myself I need to find time to exercise, but between N and teaching full time (primary school) I barely get time to wash my hair!

Gauchita - glad CP has cleared up, if M is coughing have you tried elevating her mattress/giving her a pillow? Hope the MS is not getting you down too much, I found reducing my red meat intake helped as did ice lollies.

Snow - Good to hear Z is gaining weight after her cold and that you are getting some sleep :)

Hi to all other Juners, hope life is treating you well.

x

Hi all!

Allsheep, glad to hear things are a bit better with your DM. It's usually hard for mums to acknowledge they crossed the line I know mine would find it hard! At least now she knows how you feel about that sort of "intervention" so she'll probably stay out of it next time Funny that you mentioned the pillow for M, on Monday I tried that and it seems to help a lot. I had elevated her mattress months ago but it didn't seem to have the same results. Oh well, pillow it is!

Snow, glad to hear Z's sleep is quite good! Yay for you. I'm begging God to send me a good sleeper this time I can't possibly get two in a row! What's vegemite? Is it like a veggie version of marmite?

June, glad to hear the ILs have been OK lately. Your SIL sounds a bit quite immature. Those attitudes are a bit childish of her, isn't she around 30? Hope you can patch things up with BIL. I'm quite good at putting my foot in my mouth so I know what you mean. Baby is due 3rd September

Bigcar, hope your form-filling days are over now

I had my first appointment with the MW team today. I was very happy to see the team has changed and now there are two younger (and very nice) MWs instead of the one I had with M She was always grumpy, cold and not very keen to help I was given vitamins, yay! and they even booked my first scan right then and there for me

I'm stuck at home waiting for a House of Fraser delivery. It was supposed to arrive yesterday and they decided to lie and say I hadn't been home when I had! When I did the tracking it turned out they had been here 8 minutes before then and supposedly I hadn't been home The company is so bad they don't even have a contact number! They know better than that So I had to call HOF and have them call them, etc. Let's hope I get the parcel today.

Waves!

I've killed the thread, haven't I?

oh I'm telling, you broke the thread

just a busy week for me I'm afraid, finally got the forms finished just to find the LEA hasn't ammended dd3s statement before they sent the paperwork off to the school we want. So have had to try sort out with the school and LEA arghhhhhh and get all the paperwork out again, scan and email to all involved, oh the fun It looks like the school want dd3 in for assessment which is fantastic so I have this face again. Will definitely be wine oclock later after this week.

gauchita, fantastic mw getting all that sorted for you, must be a relief. Did your delivery ever turn up? May be you need a c*^$ing HOF thread

allsheep, how's the job going now you've had time to settle in a little? Pleased things are slightly better with your mum

june, don't blame you for not mentioning the ils, at least all is calm for now and you're not being dragged into anything

snow, good to hear Z is back to birth weight, that must have been a worry. How are you getting on without your friends being so close, usually here someone would say something along the lines of, well at least it's not the other side of the world, bet I guess it really is this time at least we have email, skype etc these days, skype has been great for us with having dd1 away

strawberry, hope the packing is going ok

we had parents evening, well more like parents afternoon this week for ds1 and dd3, school finished at 2.15 on tuesday and thursday, I was convinced I was going to forget to get them on time. Dh was on phone call duty! Ds1s teacher said he was well behaved and owned up on the odd ocassion he wasn't and that she trusted him to sit at the back of the class and not mess around, well, I almost fell off my chair, just a shame he can't do that at home then, dh won't leave him in control of the remote for the telly

waves to all

Oh, Bigcar, poor you! After all the hard work filling in the forms you had to do it all over again!! Excellent news on the assessment front for DD3 We use Skype a lot too, every single day Glad to hear the report on DS1 was good My mum always used to say the same after every parents' evening "why aren't you half as well behaved at home?!"

Oh, the HOF thread happened but in my head only, too shy for a real one I spent that whole day home and it arrived, ONLY to open it and find the duvet bag broken/damaged. I had the option of shipping it back for free but that would have meant another week waiting for them to sort it and another delivery to expect so I jumped in the car and went to our local HOF. They didn't have any in store but I was kindly offered to take it as it was and be given a 10% discount It's damaged, woman, I wanted to say but just refused politely and asked them what else could be done.

They offered the "order and collect" option, which I accepted and then proceeded to wait 1.20hs for them to figure out the computer system (apparently it's a new feature) and when they finally gave up trying to figure it out they offered me to go home and wait for them them to call me once it was solved I couldn't believe it They called me later that day to say it was going to arrive in store today. I'm not sure I'll use the online HOF service again to be honest

Hope everyone's having a nice Friday

bigcar fingers crossed that it all works out with the school. Hope the school run is going as well as it can! Our parents evening at nursery was also in the afternoon (in fact it does not carry on into the evening, go figure)

gauchita I hope you get your order sorted, what a nightmare, 1h20??? you're very patient, I would have been so .
We booked our food for xmas around 2 months in advance and on the 23rd they called us to say they'd ran out of the cake. (taking into account the cake was the only reason we ordered the rest from there), we were gutted.
Is your pregnancy any different from your first one? dh has started to kind of say that we should go for the second one now rather than later. I still don't feel ready.

I think vegemite is just another word for marmite that australians use? (snow?)

venetian hope you got rid of these worms!!! how's everything else?

snow how's life working out with 2 little ones? Did you manage to get out to new groups and meet some other mums?

What's everybody doing at the weekend?
I've got a blocked nose, very annoying...I'll probably try and rest tomorrow so it gets better quickly!

sorry to not be posting girls, the placid baby has turned into a screaming banshee all the day rather than just at night. She is one month already . How does this happen?

Got her down to sleep, so have strong coffee in hand and going to try and catch up

gauchita vegemite is the australian (and superior ) version of marmite. Saw me through all my pregnancies when i couldn't eat anything else. How are you feeling today?
I can't believe how patient you were with HOF! I would have lost my rag much earlier on.
bigcar dear god, more form filling in? You must get RSI from having to repeat all the paperwork. How incredibly frustrating, could these people to do their jobs properly??
allsheep how is the newjob?
straw how is the packing?

june thank you for the snack tips. Buttered toast has become the default snack, so I appreciate your ideas. Have been having porridge with some dried fruit and nuts for breakfast and trying to use pineapple and apples to curb the chocolate cravings. I know what I should be doing, is just getting back into good habits. We went to a party sat night and all my clothes, apart from the dowdy ones, looked crap. Great incentive.

I tried a v short run (only 3mins ) to see if my body would cope without catastrophic pelvic floor failure and we seemed ok. Post natal exercise class at the local gym will commence once I have my six week check.

Oh the recipe for tart tatin-it is a total cheats way but v yummy.
REady made puff pastry sheet
60g softened unsalted butter
110g caster sugar
6-8 apples, peeled, cored and quartered (although i tend to slice into 8ths)

Oven preheat to 220 degrees or gas mark 7
Rub butter over base of a 25cm ovenproof frying pan (i use a 22cm tart tin that can go on the cooker and it works fine) and then sprinkle with sugar
Pack the apples pieces in tight concentric circles
Pan over medium-high heat until caramal is golden brown and bubbly (takes me about 20mins)
Remove from heat
Lay pastry over the apples, tucking edge down between side of pan and the apples
Bake 20-25mins or until pastry puffed and golden brown
Leave to stand for a few mins and then invert onto a plate.
Serve with creme fraiche or cream

Enjoy!!
Girls, the banshee is unsettled again so that is it for now. Apologies for spelling and grammer errors, no time to check!
Waves to all.

morning all

having trouble typing today, no lovely baby excuse like snow, cat's just plonked herself half on the keyboard think she has a free 10 minute slot before her next nap for a bit of attention!

bloody hell gauchita, how on earth did you not completely lose it with them?! Have you sorted everything now, guess HOF is off the internet shopping list now crap service. How's the ms going?

june, yes ours was just afternoon too, was all over by 5.30, as school finished at 2.15 there were quite a few cross working parents who'd had to organise and pay for childcare at a weeks notice, can't blame them. School run is a pig, definitely not my favourite thing, E will be going somewhere within walking distance, don't have a problem with that, it's just being on the roads and if dd3 gets this school we want she'll get transport so I won't be taking her. Hope you're feeling better, weekend was, as usual a combination of homework, housework and a visit to the ils, not much fun but at least reasonably relaxed. Did you get a copy of your mat notes in the end? I'm sure there are some lovely ladies on the childbirth board that would chat if you wanted to post.

snow, a month already, wow?! Certainly flies by Poor Z, no fun when they won't settle, remember that well does she just want holding all the time? Would be lovely if the LEA could do their jobs to my satisfaction but I think their main thing is protecting their budget so from that respect they're doing just fine If they put off funding a place out of borough for another year then all good from their point of view. Thanks for the recipe

anyone else thinking about preschool yet? Demand here is quite high for places so should really start looking around, a couple of mornings a week free would be lovely and E is a socialable little boy so would love it. Just hope the prices haven't gone up that much since dd3 went!

waves to all

bigcar pre-shcool, wow, no I haven't thought of that at all. When is that happening? I keep meaning to ask our nursery what age they do until.

argh, that's a whole load of stress isn'it, pre-school, school...we moved to this area because the primary is good, and then their catchment area is getting smaller and smaller by the year, I hope C can get in!! (it's "outstanding").

The weekend was ok, I spent saturday mostly in bed with a cold or like a zombie, dh looked after C loads which was useful! Felt much better sunday after a whole bunch of night/day nurse and vitamins and back to almost normal today.
Dunno what that was about!

Our tv is kind of broken, we only seem to get some random channels so we watched "cupcake wars" on a channel I don't think i had heard of before and ended up making yummy cupcakes at 10 o'clock at night (that's as much rock n' roll as it gets round here nowadays )

Thanks for the recipe snow sometimes I forget I still have over a stone to loose, I'll have to plan when to try this out!
starting exercising is also great at stopping you reaching for the butter.
But you know it's only been a month (already!!) since Z's birth, don't be too hard on yourself, especially breastfeeding.
It took me a year and a half to loose all the weight in a way that I'm confident it won't go back on.
I'm very careful with carbs (bread pasta potatoes) but still have some.

I know what you mean about knowing what to do. Can you keep a diary of what you eat? I know you're a bit short on time. seeing a nuritionist and/or a trainer helps as well, someone you can share your goals with.
something else that is quite good actually, setting some goals, shhort term and long term, one for a month time, 3 months time, 6 months time, a years time. As in, write them down, and write down why they are important to you. I had some really soppy stuff about not dying last year because that's the age my older brother had died (he had a very poor diet, smoking etc and fatal heart attack at 33.)
I emailed it to myself so I can look at it and re-adjust my goals.

I have a lot of salads for lunch (in a breakfast cereal bowl type thing), I usually get some round lettuce and wash it all when i get it and then leave it in the fridge in a freezer bag ready to use. and I add smoked salmon/chicken/salmon sweetcorn/peppers/tomatoes/cucumber. Easy quick things you can grab and eat within 15 minutes.
dressing balsamic vinegar, lemon, olive oil, mustard.

I also stopped having tea, because that means a lot of milk and of course, biscuits or cakes, just swapped with plain tap water and now sometimes green/jasmine tea. (I learnt to like it.) and tea actually takes too much time to make.

sorry for the novel, it's just not been easy and there are lots of things that help along the way!
I now have to get back to doing some work while c finishes her nap.

Hi all!

Bigcar, at what age do they start pre-school? Here I was thinking we had time to think about that My cat used to loooove standing in front of the pc monitor, no keyboard napping though Glad to hear your weekend was nice and quiet.

Snow, oh hope Z settles back again Is it a colicky or pain related cry or just because she wants cuddles? How's A with her sister? Any complaints so far? I've never tried marmite, so no idea how it tastes. I think someone told me what it tasted like and I ran away was in no rush to try

June, I think the other day my brain was mush and I forgot to congratulate you on your weight loss! I think I wrote a huge post to you and I left that out, You must be so happy, and so proud of yourself. So, 8 more kg to go and then you see how you feel? I'm dying to see you! How fab, congrats again I can't believe HOF did that to you! What happened in the end? Did you have to order all that food you weren't actually dying to try and leave the cake out? Or did they send you the cake in the end? I'd have been very Re. pregnancy, see below

Right, HOF really didn't want my custom any more When I went to pick up the duvet on Sat they had me waiting AGAIN for 30 mins because the order number I had received by SMS didn't appear, then the order appeared but under a different name I just sat there looking at them in silence, which made them feel worse than if I had been screaming at them. They were very apologetic but I don't think I'll be rushing to shop with them soon. The only reason I shopped with them was because I was exchanging a birthday present. It was quite expensive so I had a bit of money to spend and I bought a few things. The duvet is gorgeous, I've never had a "luxury" duvet before, so I'm chuffed

Pregnancy, oh dear lord, I'm having such a hard time, ladies. With M I had MS but it wasn't like this. It's getting me really down, I feel quite bad ALL day long, I don't want to do anything, I don't want to be home, I don't want to go out because I'm feeling so bad so it's a vicious circle.

M's behaving quite well but she's being such hard work with food, every meal is a hit and miss, I can't win. With the little energy I have I'm cooking different meals every single day, more interesting things so that she doesn't eat the same every day and when I sit down with her and she just refuses to eat I want to crawl down a hole! I spent twice as much on our weekly shopping this weekend trying to buy nice things, different things, gah!

I'm really hoping I start feeling better soon. I also want to go away for a few days with DH and M. DH has been working hard and we haven't had a break for a while. I want to go down to London and go to fun places with M (I think tiny town life is getting to me a bit these days ) Don't pay attention, I'm rambling

Waves!

June, x post, I'll go back and read now.

June, those are great tips. And you're proof they work Sorry to hear about your brother

afternoon all

june, good to hear you're feeling better You're doing great with your weight loss! It's the motivation I lack, completely. Sorry to hear about your brother, that was very young even with the smoking and diet. I know what you mean about getting to that age though, my dad died at 45 but had been ill with cancer for a couple of years previous to that, I'm fast approaching that age and it's making me nervous.

gauchita, wow, HOF have excelled themselves in their crap service haven't they?! Marmite is luuuurrrvely, you should try it on hot buttered toast, yum Hope the ms passes soon, just take it easy when you get a chance, being pregnant with dd3 really knocked me out between about week 6 and 10, couldn't get through the day without a nap. Thankfully it did get better Don't stress about M and food, honestly, it's a phase very common at this age, if she were desperately hungry she would eat, just make sure there's fruit around if she wants it. Have you managed to sort out some time away with dh?

the whole school thing is a minefield If your dc goes to private day care they can normally stay there from a few months old until they go to full time school. The term after they turn 3, so september for our los they qualify for the nursery education grant so will get 3 hours a day funded by the government. Presuming of course this isn't part of the cuts!

then there are preschools that that take dcs from around 2 years of age (hence me asking) these are not day care in that they run 2 separate sessions of 3 hours per day (although some smaller ones only do mornings) and your dc will often just start doing a couple of sessions per week. You pay for this until the term after they're 3 when you get the funding mentioned above and (unless you can afford it before) normally then your dc will do 5 sessions of 3 hours per week. They can stay here until they are old enough for a school nursery or until full time school starts.

and there are nursery schools, usually part of a primary/infant school. You can start the term after you turn 3 and it's free because of the funding mentioned above. Same as preschool you will do either 5 afternoons or 5 mornings of 3 hours each per week. Now this depends on the demand in your area, some dcs will be able to go from the term after 3, some will only do 1 year before they are due to go into full time school. Usually your child will move into the school the school the nursery is attached to, depending on application and demand again.

just to confuse things, some schools now have nurseries that do a combination of all 3 of the above.

When your lo starts full time school will vary from area to area, here they do one intake per year, so everyone starts the september before they turn 5. Other places will do a january intake as well, dependant on birth date, this is the reception year. You can usually find details on your councils website for application dates for schools and nurseries as you usually have to apply about a year in advance.

now that I've confused myself and most probably everyone else, I'm off for a cuppa, waves to all

bigcar thanks very much for your reply about pre-school! when you say "The term after they turn 3, so september for our los" you mean next september right?

june, it'll be september 2012 before they'll get funding

evening girls,
Solo parenting here tonight, DH on call and won't be home till tom night.
How is everyone?
bigcar thank you for the v comprehensive explaination of nursery options. My brain hurts just thinking about it. Who knows where we will be living by then.
june v sorry about your brother .
Thank you for your thoughts on the exercise/diet/goals. Finding it v useful and starting to think about some short term goals. Really looking forward to getting to the post natal exercise class and I have a great dvd that is still in the packet!A loved helping with the pre-natal one so I might get him on board for this one!
So impressed that you and your DH bought in an area with view to the schools.
gauchita vegemite is the antipodean version of marmite. Fab on hot buttered toast like bigcar says. Also good on rice cakes and sandwiches. Must be thinly spread.

More mother guilt about A missing out on swimming now Z has arrived. Might see if there is a babysitter/nanny who would come to the pool and look after Z while I go in. Anyone have any other ideas?

Z and I went to london yesterday. Got her passport and had yummy vietnamese lunch. Bit of celeb spotting too- david walliams walked past as we ate lunch. Z was amazing, slept in the sling and timed her feeds perfectly. I was not looking fwd to trying to feed on an overcrowded commuter train but she waited till we got into town.

Right, piles of washing await me and Z is stirring- getting ready for her 10pm-2am awake time. Dummies have been bought to try and break some of the feeding frenzy/vomit/feeding cycle she seems to do at this time. Lots of wind/screaming/vomiting in the day and night. Do most babies go through this windy stage? She is so irritated and farting and burping alot. Angus was so poorly at this stage so I don't have a 'normal' to compare too. Any experiences greatly appreciated.

take care girls

bigcar yes thanks, that's the september I mean ("next" one as opposed to "this" one this year.) I need to ask our nursery what they do, they're so busy I would imagine that we probably have to start worrying it now.
snow another good snack which I have after training in the morning is poached egg on a slice of bread. (no spread.) Also get wholemeal everything (brown rice, pasta, bread iyswim).
I think the mistake I was making before (4 years ago when i was training to loose weight for my wedding) was that I was just cutting calories and living on salads. You need proteins, make sure you eat meat/cheese/eggs, just make it plain, grilled/steamed/fried with no spread, use olive oil and healthy. stir fries are good too.

dh grew up in the area we bought the house in so it was not just because the school is good, strictly speaking. But it is a sought-after area for this reason and we had to wait a few years for a house to come up, we bought in 2005 and until the end of last year ours was the last property on the street that had been on the market.(!)

Thanks for your kind words about my older brother, he passed away in 2000 so that was a long time ago yet it still affects my life now, as long as I can turn it into something positive then I'm doing all right. Grief is such an unstable feeling.

Well today is a good day, I got a free manicure from the gym (they have their own little "spa" (makes me augh when they call it a "spa", it's ONE room!!) so I am going this morning!

snow can dh come along to swimming at all? A nanny sounds good, would anyone from the nursery be available on some days? They're a bit funny at our nursery about this type of thing, we're not allowed to ask the staff if they are free to babysit, which is such a shame!!

I would love to catch up some more but have to do some work before I have a manicure (it's only fair I suppose!)

gauchita hey, hope the CP is over now and that you're ok. One of my friends was due on the 18th, she had not had the baby as of yesterday yet.
I didn't buy the food from HOF it was from a place called formans, don't think we'll bother next year. (though their macaroons were to die for!!)

june don't worry. They give you the website link for the local council when the time comes and you just complete it online. That is then offset against your fees. They are all used to it.

gauchita - congrats honey. Another bubba on the way. I had terrible wobbles when I got pregnant with no. 2. Felt like my life had vanished into a big hole, and the knowledge of what lies ahead can be a bit overwhelming at times. By the time of my first scan, and when the MS started to subside, I felt much better and excited by the thought of having two. My dd was very nurturing and always considered F to be her baby too. It's very sweet. They play so well, and laugh so hard (and they giggle so hard it hurts sometimes) - that makes it so worth it.

Schools are a bit of a minefield. Very tactical too. Good idea to start thinking about it - even go and see a few if you want to start to cement your ideas about what you would like for your little ones. It does make a big difference once you actually visit. Before that it's really just viewing paperwork and listening to others' opinions, which can be very different from your own.

snow - thanks for the tarte tatin recipe. Will try that. I remember know that the main stumbling block was the frypan that could also go in the oven. I felt nervous about putting frypans in the oven!

As for celebrities - I am useless at noticing them. We have a few footballers nearby but I don't know one from another. Did manage to spot Samantha Womack (Eastenders) in Selfridges a few days before Christmas, and queued in the supermarket beside that lady from Coronation Street who has been on forever. Always find it disconcerting as your first reaction is to say 'hello' to the familiar face as you naturally think they are a friend, and then you have to hold back as you realise you know them from the telly.

Fraser is at nursery for 2 hours. Gotta go and collect him now. He starts two mornings a week, so I can start to think about/chase some work. I'm having a panic/head in the sand, moment this week......trepidation. You do loose your confidence after 6 years out don't you think?