Dec 08 Mums - Introducing our new joiners, TrudyV and Al Fresco...

[Beans33]

Hope this is ok? Thought it was subtle enough for the wider MN and not offensive!!

Hello dudes, hey Rubes I hope your comment about attention grabbing FB status updates isn't referring to me Cos, YES, all of a sudden we are actually moving house at the weekend! We were thinking it was going to be soon, but then our friends who are helping us are suddenly free this weekend so DP quickly booked a van and we're going to go for it. After all the delay and build up I am actually a bit scared and reluctant, ha ha. Also, once we are in, not only will it take us ages to get straight but I know the decorating of DP's flat has to start. ANYWAY, progress! The thing I am most looking forward to is entertaining DD1's bunk bed was delivered today. It's really nice and good quality but it was home assembly and it took DP ages to put it all together.

Shopping - it varies. About once a month we do Lidl, but more often we do Sainsbo's and top ups from the Co-op (there are loads around here) or local fruit & veg markets if DP walks by one. We spend too much (but food IS expensive now wherever you shop...) However, we are going to have more freezer space in the new house so that should help. I think we spend about £300-£400 a month...er...around that. Prob more likely £400 We should shop at Lidl more. I think the fruit and veg is good. But I have to go to Sainsbo's for Quorn products, the right nappies and formula, diet Vimto and my preferred coffee. I love Waitrose and DP used to do all his shopping there but we can't afford it now and go there about three times a year for treats. And I can honestly say we only have a takeaway about twice a year.

Re: splodgy poos - DD1 treats us to the full range. You never know what you're going to get. It's bum roulette here.

Vag, DP spent three weeks in Malaysia a few years ago. And have some half Malaysian friends as you know, but they are lazy and never see much of the country when they go. I will ask DP. But he adored it there. Thanks for the map of Tassie

Beans, I can't believe your little poppet will be 1 on Sunday! Our first 'second wave' baby! Actually I can though because I remember the cricket team we were playing on the Sunday she was born and we are playing the same ones this Sunday so that proves it is a whole year. Great diversion tactic by your DD1 when she spilled the Ribena I will try that with DP next time I spill my diet Vimto.

Urbs, I await the gossip and I bet you look lovely.

Arti - cheap barbie, get thee to a Tesco. They always seem to have bulk buy offers on. Make your own coleslaw, huge bowls of pasta salad and do loads of jacket potatoes. All cheap to do. People can fill up on that and then you can buy fewer burgers and sausages and spend the rest on wine. Oh, and Arti, you are so not a chubster. What I wouldn't give for a pair of pins like yours!

ZJ, I agree with you on the local shops. We do use ours but it's generally out of necessity. I just need to get the one by the new house to stock the right coffee, a few Quorn products and diet Vimto and they can have all my custom. They have already ooomphed up their fruit and veg. However, they only have in one bottle of champagne at a time, which I find hilarious. Well done to your DD for the great start with the TT!

I can't believe I have mentioned V*mto three times in the course of this post (four now!) I promise they are not sponsoring me. If only they were

Good luck for the scan tomorrow, Kiwi. And Trudy, I hope your day improved.

Yeah, where is Trace? And NJAN hasn't been on for ages.

I will leave you with an fascinating but slightly macabre fact. Since the conflicts in Iraq/Afghanistan, when we have had troops abroad over about the last, well, seven years of so, the UK murder rate has really come down. And the attempted murder rate has gone through the roof. And this is because...many more doctors are becoming adept at dealing with really really serious traumas to the body when troops get brought back to be treated, so they are saving more people's lives. So more criminals are going up for attempted murder than murder...because their victims aren't dying. This is what DP has been told at work, anyway. I think it's really interesting. It can't all be as a result of the various wars - I mean, it's got to be advances in medical knowledge and treatments too.

Anyway, goodnight to all.

That's really interesting LadyT - I know there's something about knife crime in London as well - that some trauma centres have become so expert at dealing with stabbings that people who would have died are surviving.

Woo hoo on moving house

Night was fun, and actually given it was basically sit down dinner my pasty legs didn't matter. Not so much on the celebrity gossip this time. We sat with 2 TV journalists - does that count? Lots of meedya types so interesting but no hugh grant. I really want to go on a tour of pinewood studios now so am trying to think of high level strategic reasons as to why it would be essential for work. That and a preview screening of downton abbey....

Have done a quick calculation and I think we spend about £500 . We get a veg box with bread every week, and then a meat box every 3 weeks or so and a couple of ocados a month. I also probably do a borough market trip and pick up some bits from the local market. And we probably have people over to eat 4-5 times a month. We don't get takeaways though, and one of the problems is that I am a complete ponce- really fussy about where stuff comes from so most stuff is organic yadda yadda. Indulgence really, when we had less ££ we spent less and will do again. One of the problems is that there is hardly anything where we either of us will be happier with the slightly cheaper stuff - e.g. I really like good butter and DH is v fussy about bread. So makes it a bit daft. Does make me realise though that if we want a bigger house we could really save some money here.

SL's list has reminded me that I used to do this (we had a freezer book) and that also I haven't lifted the baskets in the chest freezer for ages. We could have half a pig in there for all I know. Although knowing DH it will be a stockpile of bread and milk just in case of nuclear disaster.

Good luck tomorrow kiwi. Better go as have stupid day tomorrow. But had more to catch up on so will be back...

hello all, sorry for absence but we;re still having a bit of a mare with the sleep. E had stopped the 'up for several hours in the middle of the night' thing, was just waking with wind every couple of hours, but today she's been awake since 4 and won't settle. Grrr. Took her to a cranial osteopath who said there was some kind of tension in her neck that might be causing the excessive sensitivity to farts (5 months yesterday, she should have grown out of the general sensitivity by now) and she was calmer for abot 12 hours after the treatment but then back to normal. Plus now she has these stretches of inconsolable screaming a couple of times a day, which can only be calmed by boob. Love her though I do, this is really tiresome as it means I feel totally tied to her - we were hoping to go out for dinner on DHs birthday next week, but if she does wake up then the sitter will just have to have screamathon :( plus S has taken to needin repeated taking back to bed, she was in the bath at 6.20 yesterday but didn't finally go to sleep til 8.30 - need ewater, need a mummy cuddle, need to cuddle E (oh no you bloody don't, she's only just gone to sleep!)

anyway, sorry for being away so long, anything major happened that I need to know about?!

Jj I will join you in the no sleep my body so shocked by last nights sleep that I have literally not slept all night. And now dd is awake. Bugger.
That is crap about e. Did cranial ost say when it is likely to improve? We have the 830s or 9 even with ds here too think unfortunately is probably normal as they drop nap.

Ours are usually in bed by 7/7:30, but that's more for us than them. I usually have a fair amount of stomping up the stairs telling them to go tinged and stop monkeying about!

Next door have builders in and they've just arrived - better get dressed and put a bra on. How people manage to leave the house in pjs is beyond me - I won't even answer the door without a sturdy dressing gown!

That should be go to bed...

I quite liked go tinged and could imagine myself shouting "just go tinged Dcs" And typing this have realised I inexpertly removed my nail varnish and so have rather fetching yellowing finger nails...

Jj really sorry to hear about E. Sounds really really hard work. Will more cranial o help? Wish I had any useful advice - but much sympathy.

Vag have been meaning to ask if your ds has got into Lego - ours is suddenly mad for it and will happily sit there for hours building all these vehicles. Is great. And I am a complete saddo really like it too - am thinking of buying us the shuttle to do once I'm on mat leave because introducing 1000s of tiny bit of Lego into the house just before we have a new baby is obviously a great idea.

Oh and dd being bedtime refusnick too. V boring.

Vag Just want to write this as brother is on messenger now and we will get on to chatting and I'll forget what he's saying!
He says Penang is a dump compared to Langkawi (but I think you knew that) and he would only do the wedding there. There is only one nice(er) part along the Northern beaches but still not really worth it. Says Langkawai is beautiful if you want resorty style nice beach thing but you could get bored there for too long. says 5 + another 6 days might be too much. Said you should jump border and do Crabi (or an Island there) just up from Langkawi in Thailand (where the rocks jutt out of the water) He is going there this weekend so I will see if he can send me some photo's. he doesn't know you have kids with you (I have just told him now) so will see if it changes things. He may say stay in Langkawi! (He has left his kids with my parents for this holiday)
Just replied and said, no it's fine with kids.

DS slept until 725am after falling asleep on the couch yesterday from 4pm-530!!!! I thought I was in for torture, but again, it was only dd that tortured me!
Lady that's interesting, I will have to ask DH - or did you, while I was trying to console the littlest the other day at lunch?
Great new on the move. Happy fathers day DP! Let me know if you want any help, though that said, we are chocka's for Sat, and Sun will be doing something with dh however after that....
I sold our Cross Trainer on eBay as I get so bored using it, and I feel guilty if I get on it with a dog here to walk / run (well, that's my excuse!) Anyway, they were suppose to be here at 830am to collect it but came a bit before that and said sorry we are a bit early at 7AM!!! crikey, 1.5 hours is certainly a bit early! Anyway, so glad the garage is getting less cluttered although we filled it right back up with the freezer!
urbs, we used to order meat and seafood from a great company called HERE but we just had a leaflet dropped off for an organic one we are going to try. might start ordering Veggies that way too.
For stuff we can't get anywhere except the giants, I have used Sainsbo's, Tesco and ocado, and although expensive, I must say Ocado is by FAR the best. They don't send out of date stuff, they ALWAYS have what I order and I love that they text you ahead of time to tell you if your order is complete or not. Sainsbo's just show up at the door and say what they don't have in stock
Right I had more to say (no surprise there) but kidlets are a callin.....so best be off for now.

Thanks Rubes, yeah I am wanting to reduce the 5 days in penang for the wedding to 3, but its a friend of DHs so he wants to stay longer. I think the wedding is in that beach area in the north. We went to Krabi years ago as we are (or were) both avid rock climbers so stayed at one of the beachy bits that have lots of rock climbing. I was really good, maybe I should follow DHs desire and go back there, maybe we peaked at Krabi.

Aaah, ok, I will tell him Vag. He may want some tips from you in that case if you've been!

My parents have been to Langkawi twice, Vag and they're total holiday snobs, so would only go to nice places - go go go!

I'm so sorry with the rubbish sleep, SL and JJ.

DD2 back to waking last night, but only once. She has woken up and just been sick and sick and sick. Do I just give her water? I can't remember what I'm meant to do as it's been so long since either of them have been unwell. EEK! She's asleep at the moment and am just going to let her snooze as long as she needs to. And give her sips of water. I got covered in puke - nasty! And have just spent 15 mins cleaning the floor! Oops.

Lady - so exciting to be moving house this weekend - wooo! I'm heading down to my parents' place this weekend without the girls. Leaving them with DH. Am so looking forward to 2 good night's sleep. Yay! And my lump has pretty much gone. Gone right down, anyway!

Right, am going to wash my hands again - can still smell lingering puke. Yucky.

All this talk of shopping, combined with my lack of funds this month, has made me examine our statements to calculate exactly what we spend on food. It is horrendous. I do a weekly Ocado (that, to be fair, includes cleaning products, toiletries etc) for £80 then top that up with an average of £15 a week at the butcher and £15 a week at the fishmonger. I spend (wait for it) £46 a week on work coffee/breakfast/lunch at Pret a Manger and DH spends about £20 a week at the work canteen. We get an average of one takeaway a week at about £30 and we eat out an average of once a week. On top of that we spend £70 a month at Majestic wines. And we pay £15 a week for DD1's school lunches. My Gosh. That is an average of £240 a week on food and wine WITHOUT factoring in the eating out (sometimes it will be a family lunch at a pizza place at £25 for all, sometimes it will be an adult dinner at a restaurant for £70ish). In a month our total expenditure on edibles is about £1000...

I have GOT to tighten our belts in a drastic way. We are living like we lived pre-mortgage. Not only have I run out of money for the BBQ but we are going to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party next week and DH has to hire a tux and I have no appropraite outfit so will need a new dress and matching hat (hats are obligatory, although I may go for a large fascinator). Its all going to have to go on the credit card and I HATE credit cards. Wahhhhh.

Sorry, that was a me, me, me panic post. I could never talk about money with RL friends and I promise not to go on about it anymore.

Very sorry you are struggling with E, JJ. Could it be a dairy intolerence? Could you try eradicating dairy from your diet for a week? This worked with my DD1 who turned out to have a Cows Milk Protein Allergy.

Crikey, Arti / Avo (never know what to call you) I didn't even factor in Take away or wine. (we sometimes buy wine at the shop but then also do a Virgin Wines order too) at one point we were averaging 2 x takeaways a week but now it's really one. but still, that's nearly £200 per month there alone Right, going to go back to ordering meat in bulk online as I'll be able to keep more tabs on it, and wine instead of just picking up several bottles everytime I'm in a shop that sells it

Sorry had to post cos phone was having a seizure. That's what we found Rubes, we originally started shopping with ocado as we kept getting expired stuff. The final straw was half our shopping including a load of hommous was expired. I wrote a big email saying how annoying it was to keep getting expired food, I wrote.how many days the hommous was off by but AA there was loads of expired or nearly expired stuff I didn't list it all. I got a short email back saying they would refund me for the expired hommous, but no comment about my other complaint. So I swapped over. I think in all I actually saved money with ocado, because other than the vouchers, the veggies were always fresh so lasted longer so never had any wastage. Also if one egg was broken I got the whole lot for free, this happened so often I think we only ever paid for half the eggs we bought. And if the were a few minutes late we would get a discount off our next shop.

Urbs glad you had a nice night, dispite the lack of sleb bashing. Both boys are lego mad, we are currently slowly working through the pirate ship, but DS1 does the smaller stuff himself now, which is a bit

Lady excited you are finally moving, but understand that it opens up yet more things to sort out. That is really amazing about the murder rates. The upside of violent conflicts is that medical advancements are common during times of war. After the horrid atrocities against the ethnic Albanians, they found that mass grave with 8000 bodies. At the time DNA could not be extracted from bone. The grave made it impossible to establish DNA identification from anything other than bone, so they developed a technique for extracting DNA from bone. Several years late they flew the same scientists to south east Asia to use the technique to identify tsunami victims.

JJ when DS2 used to the see the CO his spewing would settle for a short time after the treatment then slowly increase again until the next session. However, each session it would last a bit longer until it finally resolved all together. It also sorted out his latch problems over time too.

DS1 had his last two NL catch up imms yesteday and he slept in today until well after 8. For some reason jabs always make him sleepy. He only has a half day today so I've kept him off school. It's crappy weather here so we are all staying in. Will pop out later to the butchers & fruit & veg shop (they may not have waitrose here but they still have independent butchers & fruit & veg), but otherwise just chilling. I was really proud of DS1 yesterday, after nearly ripping the door frame off the clinic last time he had his imms, this time he sat in the chair without me and, with a smile, let two nurses give him his last men C & hep B shots at the same time in his shoulders. Amazing.

I think its the buying all the catch up bits that's costs the money. The reason we started doing to mass ocado shop each week was we were spending a fortune popping in for bits at sainsbos. We would only go in for milk and bread but would always buy more. When we bought online we kept to budget but when we went into the shop we didn't take a proper list. We are back to being like that now, and we also go to the Chinese supermarket a lot and shop like it may close down next week even though its right near my gym so can pop in whenever.

Rubes I can't believe those people turned up that early, how rude.

Beans, just give her whatever she fancies, but most importantly give her water or watered down apple juice.

Those people turned up at 7am, Rubes? I'd have blown a gasket right there in my Effie-style dressing gown! I didn't ask your DH about the huge strides forward in treating people with massive traumas as DP only told me yest, but although it's borne of horrible stuff (and also v interested in what Urbs and Vag had to say - Vag, that is utterly amazing about DNA from the bone, I didn't know that) it's heartening. DP was doing an attempt murder trial and was told that the guy's stab wounds were so severe that even a fairly short time ago they wouldn't have been able to do anything for him, but they managed to patch him up a treat).

Arti, don't worry. I didn't factor in eating out (not that we do much of that now, we used to do it loads), or my separate eating out if I am in London, or what DP spends on lunches/coffees (haven't a clue but I know it's not loads as he has tried to cut it down), so probably not a fair picture. But with one proper income and three properties/two mortgages plus waiting for money owed by the Revenue, generally speaking I have to keep an iron grip on finances. What I mean is, I don't like to stint on treats, so if I can economise on boring things like shopping staples at cheap supermarkets like Lidl, but still buy the things we can't economise on at regular supermarkets, I can salt money away to spend on more fun stuff. Hmm, that sounds a bit dull of me.

Beans, I do hope DD2 feels better soon. So horrid when they are ill. I think you will find the weekend very restorative.

Wonder if Kiwi is finding out the sex?

Right, don't know what I am loafing around for, I have got MEGATONS to do.

Trying to catch up and just saw Ladys post saying you buy diet vimto. I thought we were the only ones, love it! Go through about a large bottle and half a week. Very retro.

Anyway gawd food shopping no idea we go to costco once every 3 - 4 months and buy nappies, wipes and all cleaning products about 300, Then I do sainsbos or tescos every 10 days and spend about 80 - 90 then I also do the butchers every 10 days and spend about 50. Am sure we spend far too much on food but its all fresh fruit and veg cost a fortune.

JJ sorry you are still having such a tough time.

Got to dash and pick up the wee monsters but will try post more later.

DD2 seems to be feeling better, although back in bed and snoozing. But has been happily scoffing my Bacon Crispies from Sainsbos. Not something I would normally let her have, but as she's under the weather, it seemed to be the only thing she wanted to eat, so let her have them. Terrible me. And also, not something we normally have in the house, so she probably won't have them again!

We definitely spend too much on food/booze. I reckon, if I'm honest, including everything, our weekly spend is about £150. I was discussing with DH and Vag - I think your way of doing it is definitely best. One big weekly shop with Tesco or someone and no nipping in for bits and bobs. Apart from probably milk. But literally limit self to that. Will have to do that. Yes. Starting next week.

Jam, Diet Vimto squash has enhanced my life

Beans glad dd2 feeling better. Agree, we are going to do our shopping for the month I think. I reckon I will allocate a certain amount then as Vag said (and I agree) you don't run the risk of buying loads of stuff you don't really need. Also i don't like taking ds to Tesco at ALL - I can't get him off the escalator and when I do, he helps me but throws the veg and fruit in the trolley so hard and probably bruises it all.
Yuk to Vimto. They used to provide it at work - yuk yuk yuk. Sugar free squash for this house.
Jam I think ds was taking notes from ds2. This morning he said "I want a knife mummy" thought I misheard him so asked him to show me and he dragged me to the kitchen knife block next thing he had dragged a bar stool over but was distracted by the toaster so opted to play with that instead. Still not sure what he wanted the knife for
I'm so bored today. Oh and Beans, you never said, what buggy do you use for running with????

before we used the milkman, that was exactly our problem. DH would go to the One Stop for milk (as we would run out all the time) and come back with ice cream, chocolate, wine, beer, and random other things. Right must do something constructive. I can smell an awful nappy from the larger child.

Oh sorry, Rubes - DH bought a second hand Babyjogger Running Buggy when DD1 was born. We don't use it that much, but it is brilliant to run with. New they cost about £300, but we got it for £150 and they'd never used it. Brilliant. Comes with a really cosy sleeping bag as well. No rain cover though, unfortunately. But then, who's going to run in the rain anyway. It adds a certain something to our buggy collection: Running buggy, Bugaboo with buggy board, hauck collapsible fake Maclaren and double Maclaren. Do you think we've got enough???! Seriously ridiculous. Never use double one. Think we might sell it.

I've just noticed Peppa Pig and fam don't wear seatbelts what kind of message is that they're sending. Went to Rebecca Rabits house for dinner. No carseat for George either. Shocking.