Dec 08 Mums - happy new year, happy new thread and soon some happy new babies!

[sybilfaulty]

Happy new year!

Sorry for the rubbish title but wanted to get the new thread underway. Let's close the door on some of the sad events of 2011 and look forward to a better year in 2012.

Effie its all pretty much done now. Just need to check it all. Oh and make 24 cupcakes. But my friend is going to make half of them.

Morning all! Quick appeal for advice/experience please- Looks like DD1 has chicken pox. It's been going round her nursery so no great surprise. She has lots of spots on her body, legs, back etc. Some already have the little icky centres. But she's absolutely fine - she has scratched the ones on her back a bit in sleep but otherwise no temperature, no aches, absolutely cheerful. Is she likely to come down with temp etc if she's ok at this stage?

Presumably she'll be off nursery all week but DD2 is now also presumably coming down with it and infectious so I'm going to be housebound for weeks aren't i?? Even when DD1 is back at nursery can't take an infectious baby to playgroups etc. Aghhhhhh! I am going to go insane.

Don't know about the actually feeling ill part, my 2 were both sriously grotty when they had it (which actually helped as they slept on the sofa and watched TV instead of bouncing off the ceiling!). Don't worry about dd2 unless she actually does get it. It can incubate for a couple of weeks, you can't be expected to keep her under lock and key just in case, afterall she might not get them.

Dd1 was more off colour before the spots arrived, so your DD1 might not suffer - I guess each child gets it differently. You could probably organise playdates with children who've already had it. Or if the weather stays nice you could head for the park or a city farm or other outdoor places - as DD2 is likely to stay in her pushchair at places like this, she won't be in close contact with other children (although it might be best to check with someone with more medical knowledge than me on this).

DD2 might not get it - my HV told me that babies often don't, as they have natural immunity for so long after birth, plus if you're still BF there's lots of nice antibodies or whatever in your milk.

By the way, Jam gave me the wonderful tip of oats in the bath to soothe itchiness - worked a treat. Hope DD 1 gets better quickly

Kiwi you poor thing, I know how you feel when the boys had it DH was away both weeks and I only knew a couple of people in Derby and none of them wanted to come near us. Poor DS2 was 5 weeks old and had it bad, despite the best efforts of my antibodies. He got them about 2 weeks after DS1 so not sure if got them from DS1 or another contact as there was a lot going around. You can't keep away on a just in case, its not fair to you or DD2. It was sad DS2 having it so young but he doesn't remember and has been in contact a few times since and apart from a couple of pox and a stiffly nose when his whole nursery got it he hasn't been sick with it so I assume he is immune so it is all done and dusted for us. If we were staying a bit closer to you I would pop over with my immune boys.

We had an easy trip over to London and the boat from Calais is all shiny and new so was lovely to shop in a pretty shiny boat shop. As a result we were enticed to buy new watches for DH, DS1 & I and DS2 got a little to. Also I've got my eye on some Pimms and Disoranno for purchasing on the way home. Had a lovely day yesterday, popped down to visit a friend in Lewisham then to 'the Parlour' at canary wharf (awesome child friendly establishment with a fine bar) to meet some other friends, one we haven't seen since his daughter was born so it was lovely to meet his beautiful girl. Then our old NCT mates had a little BBQ so a lovely relaxing afternoon. The boys have had a brilliant time playing with lots of little friends but due to that and late nights my shopping hopes might be dashed as they are currently happy slabbed out watching cbeebies and haven't much energy for anything else.

ZJ I feel your pride, I think with qualities like that everything else follows. I'm under no illusions that either of my boys are genius' but they enjoy learning and they think of others and even DS2 has started enjoying the smiles he gets from me and random strangers when he says please & thank you (to be fair I think with the random strangers it's an 'ah isn't that cute the little English child sounds funny' smile). I know people think its old fashioned but manners are important as it encourages empathy. If we are taught to think of others from a young age we will surely be a more thoughtful and caring adult. Thinking of our fellow man and all that.

Well said Vag.

We bumped into some friends at the weekend who we hadn't seen since J was born. They asked her what having a little sister was like and she replied 'good I love her lots and lots'. So lovely.

After my panic about J last week she started crawling on Sat!

Kiwi Your poor DD1. How horrid to be itchy in hot weather.

Glad dd2 is crawling, jolly

Not long now til the wedding, Kayz. You must be very excited.

I am sorry for not posting mcuh. It is so difficult to get on here for any length of time and then I forget everything I have read! Duh, I am hopeless. Must do better.

Beans is in her new place and says she needs to buy a lot. Haven't spoken to her yet but will fill you in when I do.

Gosh, children are ranting at me AGAIN! Back shortly XX

It's Sybil by the way, wearing a new name. I can't remember why I changed now. Oh, and DD2 has lost her first tooth!

Big waves to everyone, mad here at the mo just off to the parish council meeting. Thats something I never thought I would say when I moved here. Will endeavour to get back later.

Hello everyone, just popping in. Kiwi, did you manage to find any pox-hardened playmates?

I like your new name, Sybs.

Vag, sounds like you're having a lovely time back here. What's the latest on your DH's job? Would he look for something over here?

Big news here is that DP has resigned. Without a job to go to. It's probably a bit bonkers and we'll have to downsize, but he's smiled more in the last two days than the last year, so I'm just enjoying that for now.

A journalist rang me today to get my take on parenting manuals after reading my blog. The internet is a wonderful thing, blogs in particular. I do wonder how journalists researched anything pre- internet days. Hit the phones a lot more I suppose.

Jam, your sentence is the reason I feel fear about living in a village. Have you gone armed with a pitchfork?

JB that is very sweet about your DD1 saying that about her little sister. I can't imagine T ever saying that about B (maybe it's a boy thing) but he does show his affection by nibbling his toes. And top news on the crawling.

Went to Bikram Yoga today. Fucking hell, is all I can say. i felt like I was going to die.

Spot most disappointing there was no cake or tea. Although am pretty sure my name is now being spread amongst the villagers as an annoying incomer who knows nothing.

Sybs I just knew that was you, not sure why, don't even know what it means. Mmm...not what should I call you...spoony...no....spooner...no. I know, Cible! Hooray!

We just got home after a long drive home. We left London at 7.30am and got here 7.30pm our time. We did hit a little traffic but also stopped off for a little shopping on the french side.

Wow spot how exciting, you and I are in a similar position then, our menfolk have had a gutfull and have chucked it in. Good on him. As far as my dh goes, he told his boss and long story short, he is a lot less nervous now about leaving as there is going to be some big restructuringband all going to be a bit messy. His boss is acally looking for a job himself. He did what he set out to do l,eave on good terms so that if hehis current boss is looking for contractors in the future in whatever company he works for he wito happily seek out DH for the work. He has a meeting in the morning with a guy who works within a little group of contractors who basically do what dh does and companies seek them out to do either ad hoc or long term contracts. It is quite postitive that they were only told about dh late last week and they already want to meet with him.

For now we will stay here in NL, there seems to be plenty of work, it's handy to Germany and Belgium for possible clients there and while it was lovely going back to London, I do love being close to the beach and the lifestyle here. I have become quite 'relaxed' about my children's behaviour in public. I think we were by far the noisiest and most inquisitive people in Waitrose yesterday afternoon. I ran into a friend and she was just laughing as I was chatting to her quite calmly, while ds1 had wandered off to look at goodness knows what and ds2 was enjoying the slidy floors and swimming along them l capoanain Barnacles. Both boys were quite loud and cheerful as they had talked me into buying a gGup A & D. Ds2 did meltdown eventually though near the checkouts, which I ignored as I couldn't conceive of him getting any louder (he did) and I couldn't give into his demand (he wanted Kermit the frog, and thanks to the muppets not cashing in on their latest movie, we cannot find him one) I'm not sure why he chose the waitrose checkouts as a place to voice his displeasure at a lack of kermits, but he was quite expressive. I was pleasantly surprised to find that no one seemed to care, or bat an eyelid. Well if they did I didn't notice.

What I did enjoy in London wasold friends, I am missing having friends who knew me as Vagolajahooli, not wife&mother -vagolajahooli. I do have a couple of lovely friends here, but with some of the wider group it seems to be more about what your husband does and what international school your child goes to. Quite strange. Anyhoo, I was thinking after seeing some of the very lovely people that I am so lucky to know and call my friends, I might have my 40th in London. Not sure where or how but it seems the perfect place to have it as so much if the past 15 years and most of my adult life has been spent there.

Beans if you get online and read this I hope your getting on OK with the house.

Oh Jam I love that you went to a parish council meeting. Seriously though you are going to have to work on your ample bosom and start wearing slips under your floral dresses. I hope you wear a suitable fascinator to church on a Sunday.

NO TEA! Scandal, they can hardly gossip about you when they are clearly be very remiss in their hospitality.

Vag: you sound very happy and relaxed, it's really nice . Glad DH is feeling happier about the move. I remember DH being so relieved when he quit. Good to hear Mr Spot has made the decision too. DH quit with no job to go to, the best career decision he's made.

For those needing half term distractions, the CBeebies special mag is Mike the Knight, complete with finger puppets and many stickers.

Isn't the weather gorgeous? Of course we are now muttering about how it won't last.

Vag sounds like a very productive trip. Good on your DH. Mine too has jacked his new position in because it's not what he was expecting and is miserable. Thankfully the old boys network means he has got something pretty quick and is off to B of E.

Effie and PD would love to get together. Drop me a FB message and we can sort it out.

Gotta dash again. Think I might need to do random post and runs otherwise I will never post.

I got in!!!!!!¬!!

Congratulations, Indith! Well done!

I'm knackered and haven't the energy to post so this will be short but a mahoosive CONGRATULATIONS to Indith that is brilliant news!

DS still peeing his pants for a laugh . GP has given him the all clear so he is quite simply being lazy. I'd throttle him if he wasn't so bloody cute.

Hello to everyone else...promise a better post soon.

Congratulations Indith, that is marvellous news

Hurrah for crawling Jolly

Exciting stuff about the journalist ringing Spot, and well done to your DP, very brave thing to do but clearly the right thing to do if he's happier already. And ditto to Mr Vag and Mr Jam

No cake or tea , I'm surprised you didn't walk out of the meeting before it even got started Jam

I also recognised Sybil/Cible Vag ... spooky!

I hope Beans is settling in and the unpacking isn't too much of a nightmare

Oh and Spot, I was reading the Kirstie Allsopp web chat and saw your question was the very first one she answered - you're practically her new best friend!

Is it Kayz wedding day today? If so, I hope you have a beautiful day. All the best for a happy day and a happier marriage

Good news and bad news from us - the bad news is we had to take a trip to A & E with DD2 on Monday evening . DH managed to trip while carrying her in her bouncy chair and drop her (yes, we know we shouldn't carry her round in the chair, and everytime we do it, we think 'well I don't know why we can't do that'. Now we know). Fortunately he kept hold of the chair until it was less than a foot from the floor, but in trying to grab it and stop it from falling he ended up flipping it over so DD2 was underneath and hit the floor first. Typically it was the wooden floor and not the nice soft carpet. Because she was underneath, we didn't see which bit of her made the horrible thud as it hit the floor, but we assumed it was her head. She screamed blue murder for about 2 minutes, then promptly fell asleep, which was scary as before the fall she was wide awake and playful. I rang our local district hospital, but their minor injuries unit was closing for the evening and they suggested we ring NHS Direct for advice. They were 'experiencing a high volume of calls and could only call back those with a genuine emergency' ( shouldn't they be ringing 999 instead?). So I then rang my friend who is a paediatric nurse and she advised me on rousing DD, checking her pupils etc. All seemed fine, but DH and I decided for our own peace of mind we needed her checking over. Fortunately she is fine, [relieved and grateful] but she's been rather grumpy since then, I wonder if she's got a headache? Poor love

However the good news is, that despite us being neglectful and abusive parents, I got a lovely smile yesterday , so gorgeous

Indith that's brilliant!!! Well done

ZJ poor DD2 and poor you. Must have been horrible
Wedding day is next Thursday.

Sorry I've been quiet. I've badly sprained my ankle and spend most of the time sat on the sofa in pain.

Hope you're all well.

Oh, I was looking forward to excited pre wedding chatter while you had your hair done. Next week then! Hope your ankle mends quickly - do you have heels or flats for your big day?

Ive got heels. Stupid person that I am. They are very little heels so I am hoping it will be ok by then.

The doctor prescribed ibruprofen but I haven't taken it. Everything says not to take it after 28 weeks. So might ask MW today.

Hello all! Coming back later for proper catch up but well done Indith!

Quick question for those whose DCs have had the pox. DD1 got first spots last Friday. They all seem scabby now (tho they are all v small so it's hard to squint at a wriggly 3 year olds back..!) and she is fine. In fact she's been a bloody advert for chicken pox all week, absolutely full of beans and not remotely poorly, has barely even scratched. So could she go to nursery tomorrow? That'd be a week after outbreak. Too soon?

I don't want to be irresponsible obviously though given she got them at nursery seems a bit ironic...

Kayzr hope you are applying lots of frozen peas (or indeed ice) - can you try a topical spray like deep heat type thing?