October 2011 - my, oh my, how the first years flew by!! It's birthday season!!

[MummyDuckAndDuckling]

So excited that the first birthdays are upon us! Will try get a copy of the stats..

pebble i think i forgot to say congrats to you on getting married. So- Congratulations.
Did you like Italy? and where was it you went?

bb3 yikes, sounds hectic. Sorry k's op didnt make much difference. Sounds like its going to be slow and steady, rather than big leaps, but hopefully it will all come good eventually.
and yeah for your new clients- go you!
Big 3 0 is brill- honestly. ive liked my 30's better than my 20's. < Just dont mention the big 4 0, in less than 2 years>

Also pen forgot to say, sorry you didn't get to do your bike ride. your suffering in the training sounded awful. poor you. it was quite a big ride for your first time. You're obviously an over achiever or a little mad

Where's bunt and out ? waves if you are lurking.

pebble I would try and enjoy some 'me' time. he'll be back soon enough. but I know what you mean. I work tues/wed/thurs and get really annoyed if FIL pops over thurs eve when I haven't had a chance to see M much.

Not sure what I expect from Nano...except a novel! have been saying for years that I would love to write, dipping in and out of writers course, btu never really managing to integrate it into my daily life, and this has given me the kick up the bum I need to get ideas down on paper.

I agree sassy re: 30s. I spent most of my 20s feeling insecure about myself, relationships, my job and was never really sure what I wanted or where I was going. I feel so much more together now, the last couple of years anyway.

sassy Tuscany just outside San Gimignano it was beautiful. Will put photos on Facebook when they arrive from photographer.
BB3 agree with sassy and pen on thirties being so much better than twenties.

Well, look, the things is my 30's are good and everything, and we got married and had P etc but I am pretty sure my 20's were good too (based on the fact I was drunk most of it and travelling, so skinny and suntanned). Also I would prefer 20's skin Although I hated being single, even if I did have a good time

Pebble boob is still big and bumpy so am going to ignore it again for a couple of days and see if it goes down (not sure how that really works, does the milk just disintegrate?)

Engels I think your FIL pops round too often

Baby awake will be back

My 20's has been up and down so I'm hoping my 30's can only get better, although I still have a few years yet
cheshires 20's I lived in my teens . My 20's have involved buying my own house and a fair bit of travelling and to many failed relationships
I'm hoping to settle down with someone special come the next few years, although I am enjoying just me and my girl

I agree with Sassy. 30s are the new 20s! And I didn'y make that up, Cosmopolitan did an article on it so it must be true

Hav just got back from a weekend away, will catch up properly later ...

S has now developed a habit of having a total meltdown everytime she sees someone else eating and not her
I'm trying not to give into it everytime but she's getting herself so worked up! Anyone else relate..?

I just give DS a bit of food in that case. He has done this for ages and also does it when he see someone eating something that is different to his. I don't see the problem tbh

I do give her it sometimes but this morning, she had already had banana bread, Cheerios and raisins. She def wasn't hungry and I don't like to see her 'begging' for food like that

Just caught up on the last weeks worth of posts had a mentally busy week at work with half-term and a children's book festival! Still got to meet some great children's authors (little bit star struck by Judith Kerr she was lovely)

Hi bb3 nice to 'see' you again, good to hear that K is making some progress, sorry the op didn't work as you'd hoped.

duck is there a toy that will distract her from food. Tbh I wish W was a bit more like that he rarely seems that bothered by food and I think he has just 'enough' iykwim he's such a skinny little thing a bit more food would be good.

I think there is a risk of projecting food issues onto babies/toddlers. Personally if it if junk food that I don't want them to eat, I don't eat it around them/in sight. I largely trust them to know what volume they can eat and I don't feel they have the understanding. From their point of view you get to eat something and they don't understand why they can't. Food is food and when rules start to come in they can the opposite effect to what they are intended.

It is a long time before they start to have more comprehension so maybe it might worth a think about how you structure food for everyone in your day and what battles are worth fighting (or indeed why you are actually fighting them)

I have been guilty many times of trying to put a rule in place before realising there wasn't a good reason for it in hindsight. There was a culture of obedience for obedience sake which I think still creeps automatically into our thinking.

Anyway just my thoughts and hope it doesn't come across as patronising or otherwise offensive.

you met Judith Kerr strawberry. Have admired her since reading her autobiography as a teen

The food discussion is interesting. Am worried about A getting older and picking up my coke zero habit addiction Might have to cut back or drink it in secret

mummy E does the same as S. I worry too as he eats for England but will then want whatever I'm having. He is right at the top of the centiles too for height and weight so I do worry about him getting too chubby, he weighed just under 2 stone at his one year check

CP I think what you said is interesting. I've often worried that DH and I will project our food issues onto E. I worry as we both have a tendency to put weight on that so will he, but if I try to restrict his natural eating am I more likely to make him overeat later in life?

Re: food we all tend to eat at the same time. I remember as a kid finding it so UNFAIR if an adult was munching away on something and I wasn't allowed anything. We tend to eat all our meals together, and most of the time M eats what we eat.

He's always tucked up in bed if we're drinking a glass of wine and munching some crisps in front of the TV.

M has been awake a few nights screaming from teething pain. he's got one molar completely through and some mroe on the way. 2 good night's sleep in a row. fx is continues for tonight asI'm at work tomorrow.

Am trying to get some schoolwork done so I can write my novel while M is sleeping later so have cut down all of M's birthday balloons for him to play with.

and strawberry!

Did I kill the thread with my Judith Kerr meeting ways? btw her new book The Great Granny Gang is fab.

Currently sat on my sofa with a sleeping W waiting for my FIL to visit. Might see if W and I can make a cake later (or possibly just a rather large mess in the kitchen!)

Hope everyone's ok and busy doing fun stuff

Hi strawberry very of your day I was at work all day.

Busy organising party Saturday for all our uk friends who couldn't come to the wedding.....will be glad when it's all over I'm not good at parties I never have them for me.
Lots of people MIA....where is everyone?

Ed how're things going with your H?

ipswitch hope all ok with N and your little bean

bunt? I need your banana cake recipe come back!

I am snowed under with work right now. feels like everything's coming at once - marking, reports, planning new units. Just escaped MIls birthday drinks early and left DH to it. have to get some sleep to get me through my (unplanned) lessons tomorrow.

DH managed to bring back M form nursery without socks today and a full dirty nappy (which muggins here ended up changing).

M has been quite restless at night the last few weeks - I'm not used to this!

I am FED UP! Going to get some sleep in the hope I am a more cheerful person when I wake up tomorrow!

I've managed to pick uo a few shifts, so that's my excuse

Iv to go for a meeting with an advisor at the job centre tomorrow. I tried to explain that I have a part time job but its not enough for them . I'm so nervous about what they are going to say to me, it's gave me such an awful headache

So bed time, up and out the house for 8.45am tomorrow. Not looking forward to that!

engels hope you are well rested! Sometimes it's easy for things to get too much eh? Hope Nano's not an extra pressure too! TBH I was getting a bit stressed about it (very busy at work too) so am now cutting myself some slack. I have been adding to a current novel anyway so have decided to aim for 50,000 as a total, rather than new word count. I feel much better already having done that - and it still means aiming for 35,000 new words!

had one drink tonight after work and almost fell asleep on bus home. Anyone else visualise their younger selves looking at current self and tut-tutting at what they saw? Younger me would probably judge current me for:

• wanting to fall asleep after one drink
• not losing my baby weight even though 13 months has gone
• spending some "me" time doing housework
• Seeing 5am as an early morning, not a late night

What about the rest of you?

pen all of them would apply to me, accept maybe the falling asleep after one drink.

My biggest would be not going on a girls night out for nearly 3 YEARS!

Which is to be rectified this sat as I am going out around Manchester for a day and night sesh if i can stay the distance
Way to throw myself in the deep end.

Hope you feel better today engels

I'm here

I'm supposed to be spending this and tomorrow afternoon reading science

someone come and give me a kick up the back side, alternatively just explain to me what I need to know.

climbing I can offer a kick up the backside if you really wish! .

We've been in lurgy-land for a few days. Dh and I came down with d & v on Monday/Tuesday. I don't think Seb got it but he was quite sick on Tuesday so we kept him from the childminder. Not fun cleaning up baby sick when you feel sick. And trying to entertain him was hard. He was such a good boy for the main, playing with his toys on the bed in between dh and me. We eventually took him to the childminder this morning so we could have the day to rest. Still feel a little odd but I guess I need to go to work tomorrow.

Sassy enjoy your girls day/night. Jealous . I've been planning on going to the cinema and dinner with a friend for ages but either she's ill, I'm ill or dh is working the late shift so I need to get home to pick up Seb. I'm sure we'll get there eventually.

Pene all of those for me too.
Plus, not being spontaneous anymore - like going out for the evening with no notice.

Feeling a bit more human today thanks ladies.

Sometimes I think I build the amount of work I have up in my head so it seems loads but actually isn't that much iyswim.

got a solid night's sleep and had a good day at school, got a fair amount done and my classes were lovely. Came home to DS in a great mood, dinner ready in the oven, the washing-up done (DH even did a load of washing like I asked him to) - everything seems a little bit sunnier

haven't done any writing for 2 days pen so am going to get back to it today - actually missed not writing the last 2 days!

just as I was leaving the house this morning there was a massive long boom - like a fighter jet overhead, but longer. turns out there was an explosion at the power station in my city this morning not sure how bad it is at the mo (haven't caught up with news yet) but we still have power.

climbing - did you feel it?! (though technically it'a not afternoon anymore!).

pen I was uppoed to go to a party on Tuesday night but cried off because I was so tired. I mean, it didn't even START until 8.30 - on a school night! I'm normally ready for bed at 9.30 and after half an hour reading I'm done. My BIL was laughing at me last nigth because I went home from MIL at 10pm because I had to get up this morning (tbf I had been there since 6.30).

One drink and I'm gone. Two and I have a hangover. Three would prob result in alcohol poisoning (trying to remember the last time I had 3 alcoholic drinks on one occasion).

at housework being "me" time - that's what I tell DH at the weekend when I take an hour to do upstairs!