Dec 08 Mums - Onwards and bloody well upwards!

[Beans36]

How's this? Thought I'd just press on with it!

Hello!

Wonderful thread name Beans. I hope Izz isn't too bad with her pox. Incidentally Beans, I saw a film with your actor ex in a few weeks ago. I thought he was rather dishy and so googled him. His middle names are quite funny. I'd giggle at them all the time.

ZJ, we are getting DS2 a kidizoom camera for his birthday as he is always taking pictures using my camera.

DH is due home next week, probably the Friday. I can not wait.

Good title Beans!

Is it jsut here or are midges bad everywhere this year? After school the park just turns into a massive midge cloud with the odd huge mozzie thrown in for good measure. When we go play we are just surrounded, if you stop flapping then you end up with around 1000 of the buggars crawling through your hair. I am all prickly and itchy tonight all over my body, I even got bitten through my leggings. Ds1 is probbaly the cause of all the "check your child for nits" texts from school as he is constantly itching his scalp because of all the big scabby bites he has, dd is covered in red spots and poor little ds2 has spots everywhere too. Evil sods. A friend who works came over the the park after school today too so there were 3 of us there trying to have a bit of a catch up while the dcs played but we all gave up and went home.

Thanks for the new thread beans!

Brill title!

Hello everyone

Can I just counsel everyone off the Kids' camera - if it's the Vtech one or similar. The picture quality is dreadful and the kids get really demoralised as the pics are so rubbish compared to the ones they take with our phones etc. WE were given one for DD1 which was used for but a few weeks til she got fed up with how poor it was, then for DD2's birthday we bought her a cheap normal camera with biggish buttons. Much, much better.

Here endeth the lesson.

Noooo Sybs, don't say that!!! It is all that DS2 wants. He doesn't want anything but that camera.

Oh Kayz, what did you see him in? 28 Days Later?
Sybs, wise words!
2nd large glass of rose gently slurping down. Wibble.
Indith, no midges here, I'm afraid. Just the pox, damn it!
Thank God I've got my sister's old nanny coming tomorrow and she's brilliant, so I can get on with the dreaded cremation. It's going to be hell on earth.

How old was your DD1 when she had the kiddizoom Sybs? Having picked up some hideously blurred disposable camera pics today that DD is hugely proud of, picture quality doesn't seem too important to her right now

No it was Snow White and the Huntsman. Not for long just at the start.

Aha! Haven't seen that.
DH home in an hour. Can't wait to see him.

Balance bikes are amazing. DD1 ran her balance bike to and from school every day for 6 months, then when she turned 5 I screws on the pedals, took her onto the pavement and she sat down and pedalled away! No teaching, nothing. Easiest transition ever.

Jam, I for one am sorry not to have a pregnancy buddy. When did you decide not to go for number 3? Wasn't it part of your plan a few months back?

Re Christmas: DD1 loves craft kits, play mobile and Lego, so she is easy. Although she says she wants a dog or, second preference, a fish. That will be ignored. DD2 is all about dressing-up and dolls. She is begging for a Barbie which is something I swore I'd never buy. She is desperate though and now I am questioning whether I should stop pushing my own ideological opinions on her and get her what she wants. Hmmm. Have others bought barbies?

I was about to post the sane as Sybs about kids' cameras: all utter shite in my experience. Much better to get a simple "real" camera that will keep 'em interested for years.

Is it the funeral tomorrow Beans? if so, I hope it all goes well.

My DDs both have barbies, much to my horror, my sister bought them. They love them, but be prepared to dress them for them as they're fairly fiddly!

It's the cremation on Weds. Us 3 girls and husbands and Mum. Going to be very tou. No hymns or anything, just a simple service. Big Thanksgiving on 14th November with big lunch do afterwards x

I'm in charge of said lunch do. Ulp.

Phew Jam!
Agreed re balance bikes. I can't praise them enough. DS has had one since he was 1 and too small for it, then this Summer, got a new pedal bike. 20 min later and that was it - he was away.
To go from balance bike back to stabilizers will undo everything and defeat the purpose of the balance bike!
On Christmas / Birthday presents. DH wants to get ds a portable console of some type (pre owned or ebay etc to keep costs down) but we'd have to get them one each and make it for Christmas. I'm not totally convinced myself yet, although happy enough as they're very easy to limit usage of if it gets out of hand. DD might get a scooter off mil or us instead as she has monopolized ds's and he's not pleased. mil wants to buy DD the Ikea kitchen but i'm trying to suggest the scooter. We just keep thinking stop with all the large presents that take up space!! (drum kit last year from her!)
DS is all over anything Hot wheels related so that should be easy for birthday.
Kayz, 7 seats was one of our major considerations / requirements with a new car, as we get stuck so many times when family visit since no-one seems to live near us! That, along with obviously more leg room plus space for the dog. We will only put the seats in the back up now and then, but still loads of boot room and the dog can fit in when using them so works for us.
Great news for DH coming home soon!
Primark PJ's update : Tumble dry well - went back for more today!

Ooh new thread!

Impressed with all the famous exes!

I was thinking of getting ds a kiddy camera but the nursery staff today also said they are crap and to get a cheap adult one. However, ds broke our old digital camera a while back so dont want him to trash it if I get a grown up one. Apparently you can get protectors for them though.

Also agreed on balance bikes. Ds can ride a bike without stabilisers due to balance bike. His friend also just got on ds's bike and rode it the other day having never been on a pedal bike before! (but being very good on a balance bike). It was unbelievable - ds at least needed some encouragement and a while of us running behind him - this boy just grabbed ds's bike and took off! Funny as his parents had been disagreeing about whether to get him a pedal bike for Xmas as they thought he might not be ready for it. But they do have to have actually properly got into the balance bike though - ds has a couple of friends who have balance bikes but haven't really used them. Dd much prefers the scooter ( but we are trying to get her into bike!)

I reckon my dd would like a Barbie or similar. She love babies and dolls and all that crap lovely girly stuff.

DD the same SL - I have to enforce her "baby" doesn't leave the house as she would accidentally leave it somewhere and I don't know where mil got the horrendous lovely baby doll from! Might get her some kind of baby or doll with easy dressing capabilities! On that note, when are kids suppose to be able to dress themselves? DS went upstairs then came back (some time later) fully clothed, even socks all the right way on this morning, and the other day poured some cereal (only done that once and he ate it dry) admittedly I have shown him once or twice but he normally gets really annoyed if I help him with things. Not sure if I'm being really dim or should be proud! He often gets himself and DD a yogurt and takes her lid off etc which I got annoyed about as he hasn't asked, but just curious as to whether he should have been dressing himself ages ago or not as I've always just been in a hurry and done it really fast for him

I assumed they could have been doing it ages ago as all the girls in particular of ds' age get themselves dressed! Went swimming with a friend last friday her dd just got herself dressed while ds shrieked and threw clothes around. In general Ds is hopeless and refuses and procrastinates so I have to help him.

Rubes, I tend to dress DS2. He's fairly useless and I end up losing my patience when he hasn't put his pants on the right way on his 6th attempt. He will not put his shoes on for love nor money!! So I do that too or we end up running late for school.

Dd dresses herself fine and has done for ages but before ds1 started school it was a bit of a battle to make sure he could do it himself and he still struggled with jumpers and socks when he started poor teacher on PE day. Guess like anything else they are all different.

We are all playmobil, Lego and stuff here. Dd likes her teddies and dolls and things but has shown no interest in Barbies thank goodness. She would rather have a dinosaur. She is such a little scruff msot of the time then all of a sudden she turns really stereotypically girly. Last niht she carefully put her cuddly Mandeville in her little rocking crib, tucked him in and read him a bedtime story before she put her PJs on for bed .

They appear to be mending the main road where out back road comes out. I was planning on taking the car to school ebcause I need to buy milk and I can't be arsed to lug it home along with ds2 and dd who will probably be grumpy and dragging her feet because she is growing big style. They had better hurry up so I can get out!

Can I ask opinion on something? BIL wants to get the dcs playmobil/Lego advent calendars but it would be their Christmas present. What do you think? I think it is a bit odd. No present to open on the day from him (how do you go about writing the thank you letters afterwards? But Uncle D didn't get me a present mummy! Yes he did it was the calendar. Bit that wasn't a Christmas present!") plus they build into a scene which is fine when you have somewhere to put both of them but we don't, so the bits will end up in the general boxes of toys so every day they will have alittle thing or couple of bricks that won't really build into anything. And we really dont' have space for the scenes, apart from the kitchen windowsill we only have one teeny tiny sill downstairs (yes our house is odd) and that will be behind the tree come Christmas anyway. Anyway I don't want to be ungrateful but as far as I can see he hasn't thought about it and only wants to buy them because HE wants one (same applies to most presents he gets but since it tends to be lego that's usually ok). I agree they are pretty cool but as the only present?

Beans I'll be thinking about you, your mum & sisters tomorrow x

Rubes Forgot to say, someone bought DD 3 pairs of Primark PJ's last Xmas. They were very pretty and have washed fantastic. A bit small for her now but still in good condition. I need to get some bigger ones for both of mine so Primark seems a good place.

DD was 3 when she got her first Barbie, in fact she has lots of Barbie things now that she has requested over the years but she plays with them nice enough. She is currently wanting Monster High dolls...I think they are vile!! She even has a Ken that resembles Justin Bieber

DS sometimes gets his pants and trousers on but struggles with jumpers/tops...DD could dress her self at this age though. In fact she could do a lot more than he could. People say that's a difference in girls and boys although I just think that I treat DS like a baby still! Even his teachers say he still has a baby face.

Indith Yeah I agree with you, they sound pretty good but not as their present. You would have to explain that it is their Xmas present, even though its not Xmas (Day) and then by the actual day they will have forgotten all about it.

DH had a huge row with his Dad last night. FIL is 70 in a couple of months so we had all planned to go out for a nice meal sans kids. This hasn't been done since before MIL got sick. Anyway in a nutshell we had decided on a really lovely Indian Restaurant but it isn't cheap. BIL has said that given its sooo expensive we will all just go and have a main course. DH said it was cheap, it was his 70th, if just a main course no point in fancy restaurant just find a nice pub etc... The sad thing is FIL was all up for a really good night out till BIL stuck his tight fisted oar in and now we are going their like paupers!!!!

Beans lovely thinking of you and your family. xxxx

Tricky one Indith, but I too have refused the idea of lego or playmobile advent calendars as all the bits will end up with all the other playmobile and lego stuff. Never to be found again. Why dont you explain this too him.

RT we sort of decided a couple of months ago that we really liked our life as it was and that we have been able to do a few weekends away without the boys and feel like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding little people. PLus the boys are such good buddies the dynamic of our family is great. I know a third would add to us greatly but for now we are sticking with 2. I think if we had had more time together before children rather than the meet get pregnant have baby get pregnant again really quickly have another then maybe we would be keener.

Rubes I am always a bit unsure re Primarni. Think its the way the clothes are made. I watched a doco about it a while ago and its put me right off them.

Christmas this yr we have decided to buy the boys a Wii U and a couple of games then do lego, art stuff and puzzles. Hopefully my mum and dad are buying the whole family pantomine tickets this yr instead of gifts and we are going to have a mass outing. Especially as my Dsis will be here for 2 months.

On the DSIS thing. She gets married the wk before DS2's bday and therefore 2 wks before chrimbo and the costs are spirally out of control. I dont think she is atall aware that the rest of her sisters all have children. Her and her DP live in California work for the search engine poeple and earn a fortune. So wedding is vvvv swanky. They are absorbing 60% of the room costs for us all but it is still going to cost us 500 for 2 nights accomodation. You can imagine the sort of place it is. Last night she sent us all an email asking did we want any spa treatments the day before. Lets add another hundred on to the day erm nooo! Ilove her dearly but she hasnt got a clue.

Right got to dash will try for more later.

Families eh DB, love em to bits but by heck don't they just conspire to wind you up!

We've started the christmas saga already

MIL is a nightmare at Christmas. She never, ever, ever makes firm plans so if you invite her she says "we'll see what everyone else is doing", or last year she half invited us with a "but we are waiting to see what dh's dd is doing". I get fuming, even dh has had enough.

This year my sister and her df are going to my mum's so we decided to go there too. All good. Told MIL at the weekend and said if they could let us know as their plans fall into place what they want to do, either come up her for the 23rd (dd's birthday) or the 27th or we could go to them for the 27th. So she asked us to go on Christmas Eve "on the way to Hull". Don't get me started on that one. It isn't bloody well on the way! It is 2 hours from here to Hull. It is an hour and a half to her house then an hour and half from there to Hull. Anyway fine. We'll go Christmas Eve because she says BIL will be there so we can see him and maybe his dw (nurse so shift work). Then we speak to BIL and in transpires that he doesn't finish work til 2.30 so won't be there until at LEAST 5pm probably later so we won't see him unless we stay for dinner but then that means getting to my parents late. Then she rings us again and asks us to stay the night and leave on Christmas morning. Erm, did you miss that part when we said we were spending Christmas at my parents house? We are not getting up, opening stocking and presents form us and BIL and MIL and then shoving the children in the car before they can play with them for a mad dash down to Hull to arrive in time for dinner. Anyway surely if we are spending the night that means nobody else can and they will end up alone on Christmas day?

Every single bloody year she has to try to muscle in on everything. SHE has to see everyone on the day and see them open their presents and see every grandchild as well as dh on their actual birthday and so on and so forth adn SHE has to buy the best present and will spend the rest of the year telling you why it was the best. Honestly every year we end up seeing her 2 or 3 times over the Christmas period and then 2 weeks later for ds1 and dh's birthdays. But because she refuses to make plans she often ends up with things not going how she wanted and then sulks. Last time we went to my mum's she and FIL ended up alone for Christmas day. They came up here for dd's birthday. My mum felt sorry for them so invited them over to theirs to join us all for christmas dinner and then after than invite was given she managed to guilt trip round everyone up (her dh has 3 children and various grandchildren) for boxing day at her house so we had to go too and saw them again. But she still bloody well sulked about not having us at their house for christmas. But the year she invited us we were the back up plan and then were uninvited . So we tried to avoid it all this year by making plans ahead of teh game and she has still tried to get in on the act. I'm leaving it to dh to deal with. WE are NOT staying the night. We will get there around 10am and leave around 4pm. The children are NOT going to open any presents. I WILL have some distinction between birthdaya nd Christmas for dd and that means she gets her day opening her presents and then there is a day with NO presents before it all kicks off.

You'd have thought she'd get teh message. One of her dh's children lives a couple of hours north of us and doens't have space for people to stay so when mil and dh visit they stay in a b&b. They are staying home this year for Christmas because they jsut can't be doing with it all. We know that is why because they told us when we saw them a few weeks ago. They know that they are safe staying home because they won't go up and stay in the b&b for christmas.

Sorry did I rant enough?

So that's 2 people who agree with me on the calendar thing, at least I am not being entirely UR .

Jam people without children really don't have a clue do they!

Blimey but everyone is chatty today. Love the title Beans.

I feel the same about a third Jam, Blimey that must be a posh hotel.

DS2 has been dressing himself for about a year but usually I choose his clothes and he has only been doing his buttons and zippers for a few months. He can choose his own clothes but that is because I have set his drawers and hung clothes in such a way to make it easier. Also he has a big brother.

DS2 has a balance bike but prefers his scooter. I'm not rushing him riding his pedal bike because when he can he will want to ride out & about like his brother & I'm not comfortable with him doing that until he is at least 4.5years, I've only just started relaxing with DS1 riding on the road.

We have decided to go skiing in Austria with my niece for Christmas, woot woot. Very excited.

Yay for DH coming back Kayz. SIL got DS1 a vtech camera and I hate it because it has games on it and I thought when she gave it to him he was too young for games. But he does love it because he can make videos.

Ok gotta go time for pick up then violin.