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

[Spirael]

Though mutiny is always an option.

Haha tsc that counts me out of offering any help!! Sounds lovely though, i'd love everything, something sweet always goes down well a bit later on imo.
cake ooohhhh take notes about what people are wearing/saying/doing very interesting!! Will the children go with you? Do you have a regular babysitter?
Me and dh did more chores this morning and some more shopping, turkey and all is in the fridge now! Soooooooo hope i get to eat it! We went out for lunch and a drink and then to the cinema to watch Sherlock Holmes, was a lovely relaxed afternoon. Took gifts round to the childminders and she sent a lovely bag of bits and bobs home, things like a card for us made with a pic of devons face a print of his foot for a body and his hands for wings and a little halo made from tiny tinsel, hilarious and lovely. Also a calendar with his hands and a little poem, so sweet. Glad i have taken them nice presents now!!

Sorry memphis xposted.
Im sorry to hear about your dad, does he know what treatment he will have to have? Has L gone to bed now? Hows the pies going?

Sorry it was bad news memph :(

Sorry to hear about your dad memphis that's not what you want to hear :( your dinner sounds v yummy though!

tsc the food sounds lovely, I'd stick with what you've got as people will def be more into the booze. I love pâté and cheese and crackers etc wish I could come!

Yep, all you need is nibbley stuff tsc - what you said sounds fab, add crisps, nuts etc imo. I wouldn't do mince pies personally.

I haven't heard anything about that job :( I'm not ruling it out completely as I am bearing in mind they were 'hoping to shortlist on Monday' so might not have done, and then there's the Christmas post etc. Ho hum, if it's not meant to be and all that...

Glad you're sorted for Christmas now vik. I am doing my big shop in the morning. I really, really hope you get to have Christmas day at home with your boys

vik He starts treatment on the 3rd, he is having 3 full days in hospital on a drip of chemo then a break to recover and then again and again for 3 months, I have just rang and he proper sobbed like a baby on the phone. L went to bed before 7 and I have ran out of mincemeat so have had to stop baking. Im really hoping you get to spend christmas at home.
mlic how much will you spend on your shop? I have bought my turkey from the butchers and all of my veg from the market and I plan on spending around £100 for everything else, my friends have spent £236 not including booze and they arent even eating christmas dinner at their house!! I was so shocked, we really go to town at christmas but we arent big drinkers so it will be 2 crates of lager and a few bottles of wine for visitors.

Well I fancied something fizzy and I have ran out of pop soooo....Ive opened a bottle of champagne... and im drinking it from a disney princess cup I never ever normally drink at home unless its a bad day my friend lands from Australia tomorrow and we are suppost to be going out for christmas drinks, dh was going to go home after a few so I can catch up with friends but now not sure I will go! But then again after facing the food shop in the morning I will probably be down the pub by lunch to get over it!

at a glass of champers in a disney princess cup (why do you even have one of them btw?)

No way I'll be spending as much as you! My mam has bought a goose and is doing that at her house, and I'll just get a chicken (dh doesn't like turkey) and the veg. Mam is also doing one desert and I'll do the other. I bought loads of cheeses etc last year and nothing was touched so I won't bother this year. We have plenty enough booze in so I'm hoping not to spend more than £70/£80 and that includes my normal weekly shop.

I was thinking the £100 included the formula and nappies and the normal food too. Who ever hosts christmas mum gives £100 in food vouchers that she saves £2 a week for the year so im jusy hoping not to go over that, glad you said it as another friend said oh my normal weekly bill is £180 and for this week ive spent £290 like i was being tight so im glad its them being crazies the shops are open the next day ffs
Oh and the reason I have a disney princess cup is (I actually have 2) I dont let kids have glass in my house so I bought princess for girls and thomas for boys but the reasom imdrinking out of it is its the biggest glass I have so less trips to the kitchen, although the bottle is empty! I still have to clean the kitchen, eat cakes, have a bath and wrap presents, I think I will shower and eat cakes and forget the rest!

Memphis I'm so sorry it was not good news for your dad I can't believe you know people that spend £180 a week on the food shop how many people are they feeding? We spend £60-£80 on average.

Its a family of 5, I just worry what it will be like when her kids become strapping teenagers! My DH eats more than any man I have ever seen eat, but my normal shop is £60-£70 and if its above that then I need a sit down after!

memphis sorry to hear about your dad, I think testicular cancer still has a really good cure rate even if it has spread.

cake there have been quite a few threads on MN about those Christmas Eve boxes (they're called "hampers" on MN ), I'm not doing them for mine though I have some new pyjamas for A - she just happens to need some new summer ones so I am wrapping them up for her as another thing to open. Who is your 5th box for?

I spent the last 2 nights wrapping presents and there is definitley a bit of present inequality I'm afraid, A seems to have a bit more stuff. I have been buying things since about July in sales and from our equivalent of Ebay, then putting it away and now I am emptying it all out of the drawers I have realised there is a lot! Some of it is stuff I would buy anyway - quite a few clothes etc - which I am just wrapping up for more present-unwrapping excitement. I think I overcompensate too for not having many presents from family etc.

Food shop - dh is doing it - I volunteered to do it during the week but he said no, he would do it all on Saturday. The supermarket will be busy but it's not crazy busy like in the UK - we only have a twentieth of the population!

6pm Christmas Eve I am taking A to a kids service at the local church, we don't normally go but I think it's quite nice for her to learn about that side of Christmas too.

Christmas Eve is also our 5th wedding anniversary - we will prob be too busy with shopping/cleaning up/last minute stuff to do anything for it though, maybe just a picnic in the garden with the kids

My shopping last weekend came to £100 but I don't even know why I didn't buy anything for Christmas apart from a few cards. It's usually around £70 though.

Dh is having a half day at work and I'm going to my mums later. How has Xmas come round so fast, this whole year has flown by, can't believe I've been married for 6 months already!

Good morning............no i'll rephrase that, just plain old mornin'!
Nothing good about it, no sleep, no baby, D still has his cough and im shattered. Seems to be one good day and one shite day. I got up to D twice in the night but lay listening to him chat/moan/cough for hours, then i was so awake and uncomfortable that i just couldnt sleep so from 2 till about 5ish i was wide awake and FED UP!!!!Rahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Oh well, we have a little gathering to go to this morning with girls from group so that will be nice, and it will give DH a few hours to himself, although hes still in bed now! He can look after D this afternoon me thinks!
memphis did L sleep well, im guessing you did after ur drinky!
mylife hope ur shopping trip is stress free!! How come it will be ur last friday off for 20 months?
cake are you out and about today? Was your rubbing shoulders with the uber rich last night or tonight?
dh How was ur night? Whens the bed going up?
wss sounds like urs have loads to open, i bet they wont notice any disparity, nice to take A to the church service, i would do the same when D is older, im not really religious but i do think its nice if its relaxed and informal.

Because it's ds1's last day in nursery today vik. From 4th Jan he starts pre-school, so I will only get 8.30am to 11.15am to myself on a Friday from now until ds2 starts pre-school which will be a year in September Unless I get a job...

Shopping wasn't that bad. It did come to £125 though But to be fair there was a CD and a DVD (Christmas presents) in there, as well as a few last minute Christmas cards (ie I still hadn't bought one for dh from the boys, my mam and dad or one from us for the boys ) So that's £100 which is an expensive shop, but I'm hopeful confident we will have enough goodies to last - it costs me a fortune when dh is off work because he picks all the time.

Trudy you're quiet at the moment lovely, are you ok?

vik our night was ok, he slept from half 9 til 7:20 but in our bed.
The bed should be going up around boxing day or the day after hopefully.

Let's just hope it helps with his sleep, if I was him I'd choose a warm bed over a mattress on the floor on my own!

mlic my shopping was 134! but that included booze, birthday cards for my bro and loads of snacks that I really didnt need, oh and a jely mould and candle holders for the table!
vik L woke up once so not too bad!

Right im going to have a rant as there is no one I can talk to and dh will be joining me at a family party in an hour and if I dont rant now I will lamp him on arrival....DH didnt get in touch last night and got so pissed on shots and pints that he slept walk into another hotel room (luckily empty) and slept there, his workmates had to search for him, I kept calling his phone and someone kept answering (young lad he works with) and was pretending to be dh, he only takes a credit card away for work so has put loads of drinks on this, and his work wont cover it, we are suppost to be having a date night tonight but he will feel too groggy im sure, ive just had a major rant at him, I want to cancel xmas but ive shopped to feed HIS family, im sitting here like a twat wrapping HIS families presents before we go to his sisters, im so close to kicking him out, I really wanted him to come home last night, I feel very fragile and TBH im feeling shocked at how im reacting to the news of my dad I really didnt think I would care and he was off getting pissed. I jyst ranted 'maybe this sort of behaviour is why Andy's (his workmate) wife threw him out? and that is why he is spending xmas alone without his kids??' cue dh telling me im on loudspeaker and the bloke is in the car, but right now i dont care...I know im being unreasonable but I feel so sad right now.
so sorry about me me me!
Oh and I broke my wallet grr, there was a nice ted baker one for £140 in John Lewis, I would never spend that but im so angry and have dh's bank card on me!

memphis sorry your feeling shity right on top of christmas, he chose a really bad evening to get that drunk didnt he. I wouldnt have wrapped his familys presents, u have enough to do with the cooking and looking after L etc.
Had a lovely morning at my friends house, 6 mommys and 6 lo's, all at least half a head taller than D, he was such a good boy given what a shitty night he had, i love to see him interacting with the other children, its so interesting.
mylife so W does half a day at nursery??

memphis sorry you're having a crap time, hope your dh knows how annoyed you are. Make sure he doesn't forget it either. Make him do something for you, make him wrap his families presents.

Dh will be home at half 3 which will be nice, going to chill at home might even crack the Malibu open merry Xmas!

Yes he was an arse memph, no denying it

My dh also has a wrapping fairy that sorts all the presents out

I've just bought the rest of ds1's school uniform in town I nearly cried as I walked out of M&S, I didn't think I'd be affted by it! Clearly I was wrong...

That sounds really crappy memphis.

Not sure what's up with J, this afternoon he's been really sleepy and just wanting to snuggle on my lap. He just fell asleep on my lap and I've put him in his cot. Not normally a time I'd want him to nap but I couldn't keep him awake! He's not feverish or anything. He had a nap in the car earlier for about 45 minutes so he had slept. Normally if he gets tired he's really grouchy but he was really quiet this afternoon. Hope he's not too ill right on Christmas.

My poor parents set off to visit us 2.5 hours ago and they're not here yet - they only live about 15 miles away! That is across London though. APparently the traffic has been horrendous the whole way.

memphis I'd be pissed off too, I know it's Christmas and people get pissed and all that but you have just had some crappy news and he could be a bit more considerate.

Can someone please tell me why, when D has hardly coughed all afternoon as soon as i put him down he is going for it like he smokes 40 a day??? I have just given him tixylix too!! Rahhhhhhhhh!!! again!!
Got quite a lot done this afternoon, i have amazed myself, done all the ironing, done some more batch cooking, had a kip and seen to the boy and mostly maintained an even keel and not got angry when he was hanging off my leg whilst i was trying to cook!! DH looked into clingyness on the net, tis very interesting when you delve into the whys a bit, i shall try not to get frustrated when hes like it as its just a development thing and hes doing it because he wants the security of knowing ur there but also wants the independance to go off and do stuff on his own so they are basically a bit confused.........if u believe what 'they' say.
DH is making me pizza right now and im leting him get on with it! just waiting for him to ask for help like he usually does! I dont mind but found it amusing that i stood and ironed 5 work shirts and 2 casual shirts of his while he played on the computer...........so he CAN jolly well cook tea!!

memphis that's really, really inconsiderate of your dh, I hope you read him the riot act. Sorry to hear about your dad too, not nice news.

tsc get a lie in today? Wrt to desserts I'd go for something small, nibbly and sweet like coconut ice or truffles, almost everyone likes something sweet at the end.

woodlands I hope that doesn't mess up his sleep, that's a very bad time to nap. Fingers crossed he's not coming down with anything!

My DH cooked for me too viks :) He said he would and then at 5 he was still faffing around on the pc so I started and then he told me off! The children usually want to eat at 5 so I don't know what he was planning on feeding them...

mlisc L isn't starting school but I'm really going to miss her when she finally starts nursery. I think we'll be a while getting her settled in cos she's never been away from me for any length of time and she definitely likes to know I'm there. I think I'll cry and she'll only be in for 3 hours at a time!

Nearly a week since we put the two in together. It's ok but I keep wanting to separate them again. They were going down and out at 7pm and L would wake around 6.30, play til 7, S would wake around 7 (this isn't including the night wakings). Now they tit around til gone 8pm then S is up shouting at L about 6 so they're both knackered. When they wake at night I have to dash in too so they don't disturb the other...the big thing is that they will have to be in the same room when we go to the weddings, we have no choice so they need to be able to sleep together.

Chul my advice is worth nothing that you have done really well getting them to share and I think, whilst I understand what you're saying about them messing around, they will settle into a better routine soon enough. Persevere is my advice. Better for them to get it out of their system now than when there's another baby (bloomin eck!!!) around.

We have had (technically I'm still eating actually) homemade pizza for tea too memph. And I've made the gravy and some caramalised carrots with red onions for Christmas too. Have you had any more words with dh memph?

Chul he'll only be there 3 hours too, but it's at 'big school' with a full uniform and every day, instead of once a week. I felt totally 'in my stride' about it all, honestly don't know what came over me in M&S When does she start? How many days will she be going?

mlisc that's what DH says, we're going to stick it out cos he's off all this week and the next so there are two of us to fend them off during the day when they're crying and exhausted. L actually took herself off for a nap at 11am! They will settle eventually, it's just so tempting to take the easy option and then pay for it later! (they're still up now...)

L starts on the 10th, I did have her down for 3 hours every day but decided I couldn't be doing with that much picking up/dropping off with a newborn so changed it to 2 full days Monday and Tuesday and just Thursday morning. She'll only do the mornings to start with though and build up to a full day (8.30-3 is a long day for a little one!)