July 2010: It's about time, that we all went back to rhyme!

[Spirael]

Though mutiny is always an option.

Thinking of you tsc..really hope things improve for the little guy soon. Have you had a chance to go home and get a shower and change yet?
trudy poor little F! E had colic and we got a bit of a woo cure done but it worked! some good advise from the women here as usual.
Memph L sounds adorable! E says ho ho ho too and I love it!
Vik thats scary that you're finished up already! Its flew in! Dont feel bad about the pressies. Most of E's are for my benefit! She wouldn't be getting a kitchen only she wants to be up in my arms when im cooking and crys and clings onto my leg so i'm hoping if she has her own kitchen I can cook in peace. Ditto the dressing table. The only things she played with in the shop were the shopping trolley and blocks so thats why shes getting them. Train set sounds lovely!

Just seen on fb you're going home tsc, great news

I've given notice to nursery today for E - he finishes on 23rd December.

I have been exhausted today - I went to bed for 2 hours Bliss.

Ohhhhhhhhh mylife sounds like bliss defo, although u do deserve it. Did u have a nice curry or was it counteracted by ur horrid night? what u going to do about E and nursery then?
tsc i really hope ur home, that would be lovely.
kk it has absolutly flown hasnt it, i cant believe the baby is going to be here so soon. Gona get lots of stuff down from the loft tomorrow, hope its all still good, cant remember if i wrapped it up well or not
D flatly refused bolognese tonight, it was one of those steamed meals, i havent tried on before but im thinking if i can find one he likes it would be good to put in his bag if he has to go to someones house for tea when i have the baby. Oh how i wish we lived closer to family sometimes!
woods how did ur day turn out? Hows J's eyes?
memphis have u thought about diralite, when D was really poorly with v&d thats what the doc recommended. Is he eating ok?

To be honest vik I was disappointed in the curry. But the company was good and I think the fact that I didn't roll in until midnight says enough But yes, the night ruined it slightly.

I think the texture of mince is disgusting personally vik. I always either cook mince in the slow cooker for the boys so it disintegrates or cook it on the hob then put it in the blender afterwards. Maybe he didn't like the texture?

Funnily enough cake I was going to make those mufins today but I slept instead didn't have time. Maybe I'll make some to take to Centre Parcs next week [excited emoticon]

Actually - baking question. I made a lovely carrot cake the other day that was demolished in about 3 or 4 days. The frosting was butter, icing sugar and cream cheese and I left it in a bowl in the fridge as I was worried it would go off and just put it on the cake as and when we had a piece. If I made a carrot cake to take with us, what would I do with it? Will it last 'as is' on the cake or does it need refrigerating? Or should I just not ice it? I'm such a novice :(

back on my mac yeehaaaa!!

mlic i tend to keep buttercreamed cakes in the fridge and then get a slice/cup cake out a bit before i'm planning to eat it so it can get back to room temp.

afaik, buttercream won't last too long out of the fridge but will outlast the cake if it's kept in the fridge.

won;t it fit in the one at CP? you could always use mine

the apple muffins would be a good thing to take as the topping gives it a bit of 'something' compared to a plain muffin but you won't have anything to worry about going off too quickly.

in other news, my mother has finally bothered to ask what we're doing for xmas and invited us down there the week after. shame it's too late and we don't even have a day free now so we won't see them at all over the period. don't think any of us should lose any sleep over it given the last time we spoke (in person or on phone) was when she dashed out 'ill' 30 minutes into my 40th birthday party 2 months ago.

I made banana muffins and oat & raisin cookies today, both the children love them so I'll bookmark those recipes for another day!

viks are you after a bought meal for D? I've not tried the ones for older children. S is back to eating stuff other than weetabix thank goodness and polished off shepherd's pie yesterday. I realised he doesn't want the food on his booster tray, he actually wants it on a plate with a fork or he's not interested!

I'd ice it tbh mlic, they have it in the smaller cafes not refrigerated and if it's gone in 3 days I can't see it would be a problem. It's winter too so it shouldn't overheat.

tsc glad you're going home!

I don't keep buttercreamed cakes in the fridge, I don't like the way it dries the cake out! I'm after a cake stand with a dome so I can display anything I bake Might have to buy my own though, DH hasn't taken the 'subtle' hints ie: "I hope there's a cake stand in my stocking" and so on.

I made those apples muffins cake, they were delicious - too bloody delicious, I scoffed about 5 of them in one go. I take it you don't see a lot of your mum then? What's block feeding btw? I've never heard of it.

I'm going out for a curry on Monday mlisc it's our playgroup Christmas meal out and piss up, well it will probably be fairly tame being a Monday but I'm sure a few drinks will be had.

Woodlands any improvement in J's eyes?

vik I haven't got G that much for Christmas - we have lots already and at this age they're quite happy with the wrapping paper usually.

Dh has just taken A to gymnastics, G is wandering round wrecking the joint. In an hour we're all off to watch a Santa parade, then to a primary school Christmas fair, then off to town to pick up dh's car he left there because it was his work do last night. Tomorrow he is playing golf and after that I might manage to get to Lush - I have 50 quid in vouchers I got in June for my birthday, I haven't managed to make it to a shop to spend them yet...

Can anyone suggest a good Lift-the-flap book? I want to get one for my nephew (7 months ish) but I can't think of any for that sort of age.

Dear Zoo lift-the-flap always a fav in our house chul

See I don't like Dear Zoo, I don't know why but I find it very hard to read - it doesn't flow properly so I feel like I'm stuttering...perhaps 'tis just me though cos it seems to be very popular!

I don't like it massively myself having read it approximately 75000 times (in 8 years of working in childcare followed by 4 years of being a parent) but kids seem to like it and if it's for your nephew you won't be the one reading it will you

Failing that, those ones that open up to reveal a mirror the baby can see themselves in are quite good.

yy chul re cakes if your house is cool in winter they'd be fine but maybe not if you have heating high - mind you, i don't think they'd actually be a health hazard, prob just a bit melty. in summer, i struggle to even make buttercream it melts so much - what do you do then?

love the cake stand idea and think i'll ask for one myself!

we like snake hotel:www.amazon.co.uk/Snake-Hotel-Brian-Moses/dp/0230013821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322862940&sr=8-1 and

i LOVE meerkat mail: www.amazon.co.uk/Meerkat-Mail-Emily-Gravett/dp/1405090758/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322862955&sr=1-1

neither of the above are specifically for babies but they'll still enjoy them.

A really likes: www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Acorn-Wood-lift---flap/dp/1405090251/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322863043&sr=1-26

glad you liked the muffins wss - they are bloody too good aren;t they? and deceive you that they're all healthy cos they're appley when they're choc full of sugar.

vik A suddenly started talking lots the last couple of weeks. was funny cos after reading about memph's L and kk's E saying Ho Ho Ho I tried to get her to say it and she was doing it whilst bf like 'hmm hmm hmm'

she said 'moon' earlier which i thought was too cute.

oh crikey tsc, bet that wine tastes like nectar! hope they both have a good night.

J's eyes seem much better thanks, they didn't send him home from nursery anyway! DH picked him up and said he was in a bit of a state poor thing, grumpy and apparently had been teething like mad. we're staying with our friends an hour away, so did bedtime and got him into the car and came down. he settled in the travel cot nicely when we got here. fingers crossed for a good night.

one handed bf typing, so no capitals

tsc - glad ur home dude. bet u enjoyed that wine. hope F'll be all better soon.

woodlands - how was j's night? not really sure what conjun... is. Is it just the gunky eye or are they properly poorly?

mlic - are u going to centre parks next week? why didn't u mention it before? when exactly will u be off and leave the thread all empty?

kk - glad ur business is thriving. some nice pressies for e there. good idea about a little kitchen for her, it;s so hard getting owt done when they cling on to ur leg, isn't it.

memph - poor L, how is he today?

viks - what are steamed meals? (i assume u didn't just mean steamed minced meat?)

wss - thanks for link and advice. it does seem to be worse in the evening, so prolly more colicky than refluxy. i've been giving him some herbal remedy before bf and have been taking some mixture the midwife gave me of cumin, fennel and dill (boak) myself and he seemed a litttle better last night. fingers xed. i have to keep him upright after feeds or he'll get terrible hiccups.
how is it going ur end? are u still having probs with dh?

chulita - i will cut out all dairy after the weekend (sil is visiting). it's worth a try sinve intolerance seems so common. it's gonna be hard without biscuits and chocolate though. any tips on substitutes?

cake - thanks for ur advice. i already do block feeding for the reasons u mentioned. (wss - block feeding means only feeding from one breast for several hours befor swapping, so they don't get irritated by too much foremilk) We're trying him with a dummy also but he's not that keen when he is in so much pain.

what is everyone uo to at the weekend? we're gonna try and have a relaxing time with our visitors with no doubt several trips to the christmas markets.

have a good one y'all.

Haven't I mentioned it Trudy? We go on Monday, yaaaaay!!!
We booked visit to Santa last night with a carriage ride for all of us there, then E gets to do a pony trek back. Then he's got pony trekking the next day too. All he keeps saying is 'can we go on holiday this afternoon? Then I can go swimming and ride a horse' So sweet. And he keeps saying 'it's my birthday soon isn't mammy then Santa is coming'.

This time of year is amazing with LOs

Nothing exciting this weekend, food shopping today and seeing FIL and MIL tomorrow.

Hopefully putting up the Xmas tree tomorrow when we get it from FIL. Might need to get news decs as last year our tree was about a foot hight and didn't need much doing to it!

trudy - i had to make my blocks 2 feeds long iyswim? so each block was 3.5 hours when the feeds were 2-3 hours apart. as well as block-feeding, i also had to take A off the breast once the letdown started and let the initial jet of milk spray into a muslin for about 30 seconds, i really found that helped. the other thing i had to do was press down on the other nipple during the start of the feed which will slow the milk flow in the one he's feeding from.

hiccups is also a sign of reflux. also being sick, arching the back and coughing crying, and spluttering during feeds. A was never sick, she had the 'silent' kind which is more painful whereas F was maffisly sick everywhere after every feed.

your F may well have both reflux and colic (my F had colic and reflux, he outgrew the colic but had reflux til 6m+ but i didn't know how to treat it then ). ime the colic symptoms only come between pretty set hours in the evening - F was between 7pm and 10pm and nothing would help or console him during this time. the rest of the time he was a really happy baby but had the reflux symptoms 24/7.

sorry, big waffle but hoping it might help you a bit.

tsc great to be home but a bit scary too no doubt. how's f's stats and poor c's nose today?

oh and quiet weekend here (yay!). will get xmas tree and put up ridiculous shitloads of decs. will attempt some xmas shopping too.

dh decs are so cheap these days. I have LOADS. Well put it this way, I went out and bought a new tree (6ft one from Adsa and it is quite slim woodlands, it wouldn't take up much room if a fake tree would interest you ) and I didn't have to buy any more decorations because I already had so many Lights are cheap as chips too. I got 200 lights for about £12

How's F this morning tsc? And C's face?

I think most of the babies have over-taken W on the talking front now. W still says what he said a few weeks ago!

X post cake

Glad to see you're all joining me in the Christmas spirit by putting your trees up. I am pleased to read this

tsc omg how much more is coing ur way, i hope thats it now for u and F starts to improve asap, how was ur night with both?
cake and chu and mylife ur cales sound ace, im really envious but seriously dont know where you get the time from, i have enought to do with keeping the housework under control!
mylife ur holiday is going to be lovely, again im
We were going to go up to brum for the last time before xmas and baby next week but i have said no, its too much, ill be 38 weks by then and tired!
D has slept really really brilliantly again last night, 7 till 7.40!!! he cried out once for a second, and that was it, i soooooooooooo hope this is the beginning of the future! I have put a pillow in his cot, maybe that will make a differance, who knows.
gona send dh up the loft in a min!! cant wait to gat all the baby stuff down!!

oh how exciting vik!! and great news on the night!

chul and other bakers - any thoughts on equipment you wouldn't be without?

mine's probably my set of american measure 'cups' and also my (emma bridgewater spotty) cake tin. i might put another on my xmas list actually as it's often a squeeze to fit all the cake in it esp if i have a couple of types on the go. plus cake tins look so pwetty! mind you i suppose if i got a cake stand i wouldnt need another. decision decisions...