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Dec 11: Not tonight dear, I've got a haddock.

989 replies

PerilousStiletto · 07/08/2013 12:46

I liked this one. :)

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Xiaoxiong · 20/09/2013 10:39

Octo so glad a diagnosis was achieved - this is the start of being able to access all kinds of support for Boo and really admire you for fighting so hard for him. You're a great mum Flowers

Same goes for you Queen and hope the SN board's advice helps you and Darcie (and here's a haddock for your DH, hope he pulls his finger out).

DS seems to have got into a little routine now of showing up at our bedside around 5am, getting into bed with us and rootling around for a while, singing to himself, plaintively bleating "cuddle?" every 5 minutes (except it sounds more like "cuddoowh" when he says it), coughing like a Dickensian orphan, and then falling asleep with his head crushing my larynx and his feet kicking DH in the head. He's still not 100% better from his cold so we're not doing anything about it just yet, and I'm sure he can tell the new baby is imminently arriving as well.

A week today!

QueenofClean · 20/09/2013 11:41

Xiao thanks. DH has been trying to help but just in the wrong way iykwim.

1 week eeekkk how exciting?!

Aethelfleda · 20/09/2013 17:15

It's so weird seeing a countdown!!

The weather is warm, work prep is almost done (can't wait to get back into it really) DS liked his settling in 2.5 hours so he is going to do three mornings from next week.

I'm going to miss sitting in the garden with my cuppa when the weather turns....

NorthernChinchilla · 20/09/2013 19:33

I know what you mean aethel, it was still light and warm enough to take DS to the park after work and nursery, and it'll only be like that for a few more weeks.... Really, really pleased DS enjoyed his time at nursery, that must be a relief for you.

That sounds so sweet Xiao and far better than them waking at 5.30 and having to go down to the next storey to get them, have a cuddle and then get up at oooh, 5.32am and hope his cold continues to get better. Dreading this part of winter too, non-stop bugs, sniffles, colds and viruses: we were all so ill last time round! I had flu followed by norovirus over my birthday, and that was just the start of it in October Confused

But only one week to go until new cute baby pictures, yay! And if you need any extra hand-holding, we're all here, even if it's by proxy for your DH.

Sorry you're having a tough time Queenie, hope this evening is better- and if not, only half an hour to go til peace.

Can't remember if I mentioned that DP has been shortlisted for the promotion job- interviews in early October, but very exciting, and very proud of him.

Houses not so great: of the three we looked at, one didn't have a garden (despite it saying so on the plans) one was opposite a large boarded up pub and exhaust centre (!) and the one that was next door to the one we loved...
...well, it's on for £10k more, but it has no kitchen extension, the kitchen is miniscule and was last done in the 70s (some free standing units!), it has polystyrene ceiling tiles in every room, to my eye it would need a total re-wire, and that's not to mention the complete decorative overhaul it would need.

Sob.

I may put in a cheeky offer of about 20% under the asking price, because it needs that much work. OTOH, another house has just come up that ticks every box, and we're considering just offering the asking price and getting them to take it off the market as we're sick of all this now.

Working tomorrow, but DP doing a couple of viewings then we're seeing the promising one together. Fingers crossed.

QueenofClean · 20/09/2013 19:36

Sorry the housing thing isn't getting Better Northern.

DH is behaving like a jealous teenager..he wants to put Sky to bed but he only wants me. He's rather do what he wants and have her stress out than just let me deal with it as in his words 'she doesn't want me'. He just forgets it's not that it's the fact I've always done it and I am around 24/7 so she is closer to me and e feels put out! Most men would love the fact they don't have to do much but it bothers him...I can hear her sobbing and calling for mummy. :(

QueenofClean · 20/09/2013 19:50

Peace Chez Queen. Sky has finally stopped sobbing and I think has gone to sleep. Darcie is at nanny's for the weekend...Sky will join her tomorrow as we are off to London to see The Lion King Grin

ifyourehoppyandyouknowit · 20/09/2013 20:46

Why why why fucking why does DS always wait until DH is away to unleash a flood of vomit everywhere att bedtime?! He doesn't seem even remotely ill but it's like something from a horror film. Have stripped his entire room and got him washed changed and to sleep but now I have to scrub puke off everything. Need wine.

OctopusWrangler · 20/09/2013 21:07
Wine
SevenOnwardsAndUpwards · 20/09/2013 21:14

queen is there anything he could do with Sky that's just 'his'? Maybe take her to the park every week on his day off or always do the bedtime story etc? So he's not fighting over bedtime when she understandably wants you and still gets his own time with her. DD1 is the opposite, she never wants me when DH is here.

hop hope the puking was a one-off incident.

aethel glad the nursery settling-in went well.

octo glad he got a diagnosis and now you can finally start to move forward.

northern house business sounds like a nightmare, and its normally selling that people have trouble with! Hope tomorrow's is successful. Do you need to find somewhere urgently or are your buyers happy to wait until you find somewhere? My parents had been on the market for ages, and seen so many dream houses come and go while they waited for a buyer. When they finally got a buyer there was nothing they really liked and really regretted buying one that was just about ok. You'd be better to rent short-term until you find the next dream house if the finances allow it.

xiao wow only one week to go, that went fast!

We're thinking about weaning here soon, can't believe DD2 is already 21 weeks! If anyone has any advice on weaning with allergies (queen and air) I'd really appreciate it!

QueenofClean · 20/09/2013 21:29

Seven what is DD2 allergic too? I'll be able to help better then Smile

SevenOnwardsAndUpwards · 20/09/2013 22:34

Cows milk protein (that we know of!)

QueenofClean · 21/09/2013 07:18

Ok so here's a list of alternatives to use when cooking:

Koko coconut milk - it's safe to use and can be drunk as well as used in cooking. Can be brought in supermarket.
Violife Cheese is yummy. Has to be brought online. I use alternativestores.com
Moo free chocolate - you can get in waitrose otherwise from the online store.
Most gravies have some sort of milk in so we use Knorr stock cubes which are good.
Walkers ready salted & Ready salted Pringles are ok to eat.
No yoghurts or fromage frais unless you can give her Soya then a soya yoghurt is fine.

Lots of veg, pulses etc.

Sky's 2 favourite dinners are:
Potato, leeks, lentils & chickpeas.
Boil the potatoes (chopped up small enough) leeks, lentils & chickpeas in a pan together using a Knorr vegetable stock cube and it's freeze able. Blend till puréed and as gets older no need to blend as much iykwim. Sky's loves it so I batch cook and always have enough in freezer.

Mince & sweet potato mince ( again freezable)
Oil oven in a pan. Chop up half an onion and cook then add and brown the mince off.
Once browned off add a tbsp off tomato purée, a tbsp of cinnamon, as much Worcester sauce as you want and tbsp dried rosemary.
Add a cup of red lentils.
Add a Knorr beef stock cube and a bit of corn flour just to thicken.
Whilst doing that boil your sweet potato. For DD2 again as much as you need to from mince & potatoes and purée.
( makes a good family meal too)

Obvs lots of veg & fruit.

Birds custard in the tub not sachets is dairy free.

Hovis bread is DF,

I'll have a think about what else x

LadyGoodman · 22/09/2013 10:20

Tumbleweeds.............where is everyone?

I'll break the drought by admitting DS is annoying the hell out of me today he's just being naughty throwing shouting refusing breakfast screaming for biscuits taking him to park on a bit to wear him out

Dh and I couldn't go to a wedding last night as no babysitter so had a mahoosive takeaway instead now in eaters remorse

Xiaoxiong · 22/09/2013 10:57

I'm still here, wallowing away in hugeness and headache land. Nothing to add that's not misery guts though Grin

We had a bit of a scare with my auntie in Kenya who was actually on her way to westgate mall in Nairobi when it was besieged by al-shabab yesterday and we didn't hear from her for hours because the phones were overloaded. My grandfather is in Nairobi too but to be honest we didn't really care whether he was in the siege or not.

Actually that's a funny story, does anyone want to hear about my grandfather scamming a kenyan woman who tried to scam him right back, and then my mum and aunties getting involved with the diplomatic police in Nairobi who are like James Bond riding around in fleets of armoured vehicles? (This is currently going on and is amusing me no end.)

Xiaoxiong · 22/09/2013 11:00

I love the eaters remorse Grin I have it terribly too as DH and I went out last night for a curry a deux while my mother babysat and then I was awake with heartburn from 2.30-5.30am and I think my bump expanded about 10cm just from the food Blush

Aethelfleda · 22/09/2013 13:00

Eaters remorse?? I refuse to acknowledge such a condition! which is why I'm still wearing size 18 clothing a year after stopping BFing

Harvest festival singing today for me and DD1 (lots of fun!) and now DH is cooking us spag bol for lunch. It HAS to be covered in grated cheese, right?!?!

To continue the food theme, I'm currently reading The Hunger Games....

Aethelfleda · 22/09/2013 13:02

Ps kenyan story? Go for it!
(glad your auntie's OK though)

LadyGoodman · 22/09/2013 13:19

We have found Madagascar 3 DS seems to like it he is glued it has also stopped him shouting to get his own way over which pen he wants to colour with, what cup/bottle/beaker he wants to drink out of etc

I'm also up for a good family story here's mine quickly my cousin once stabbed my aunt (his mum) as she was going out with "a black bastard" - obviously his words not mine. Families eh!! Blush

QueenofClean · 22/09/2013 13:28

Kenyan story sounds interesting xiao.

I've just made us a yummy beef roast. Very quiet here today as the girls are at Nanny's still.

Xiaoxiong · 22/09/2013 14:59

Ok - first a general question and then the Kenyan story. DS is growing out of all his 18-24 month vests - we're using vest extenders so they still reach under his bum but the shoulders and sleeves are getting tight now. But nowhere seems to do 2-3 year plain multipack bodies with poppers, am I just looking in the wrong places? He's nowhere near potty training so it seems silly to put him in a separate vest and pants for the winter and then his tummy will be cold

Ok story (VERY LONG).

My grandfather is a little...eccentric. Well, that's an understatement - he's quite a mad grandiose larger than life type. He is a doctor and by all accounts a very good one but when he started getting older he was worried they wouldn't let him practice any more (he was working around the world on Medicins sans frontiers contracts because no job would keep him in the US or Europe) so he forged a bunch of papers, got himself an Irish passport under false pretences - so his passport now claims he is a year YOUNGER than my mother, his eldest daughter! He is in fact in his 80s in very good shape for his age but not to be confused with someone in their mid-50s...

Anyway my mother cut contact with him when I was about 6 so he hasn't ever been a part of my life except as crazy family mythology but when my grandmother died in 2009 there was a sort-of reconciliation and he's been coming to family events/holidays since then.

My aunt adopted a baby boy in Jan 2012 who was a few weeks old at the time, so he's exactly the same age as DS. Adoption has been trundling along since then but she has been bringing my grandfather along to the court hearings to show that she's not just a single woman adopting, there's a wider family network, etc etc.

Last time he was down there for a court hearing, he apparently met a woman (under 30 years old by all accounts) on a bus. We don't know what happened but next thing we know she is emailing him when he is back in Europe asking him to get her a visa to the EU, send her money, she loves him, they need to be together, etc. Assumption: she is scamming him, elderly vulnerable man, right? We only found out about this when he forwarded one of the emails to one of us by accident. My aunts and mother hit the roof, read him the riot act about scammers, he acted contrite but secretly bought a plane ticket to Kenya Angry

Next: my aunt gets a call at work in Nairobi from the security guards. An elderly man is in her house, looking for his shoes and a book he left behind last time. By the time she gets back he is gone - staying with the woman down the road in Banana Hill, a big slum, no address given. We all worry - oh no he is being scammed again!

So my mother and aunts come up with a brilliant plan. They start sending scammer emails to the woman's email address (they had this from before when she was asking him for a visa). These emails are along the Nigerian scam lines: "Our father has gone missing and we hear you are supporting him, praise Jesus that you are a kind soul, he has huge debts that you must pay, his granddaughter is in hospital pregnant with her 12th baby and must pay medical fees, please send us money urgently as you are clearly so rich you are supporting our father, may Jesus bless you and grant you the prosperity that we do not have" Shock

They hope that this will make the woman think: this old guy doesn't have any money and isn't worth scamming, I'll kick him out. Woman seems to be getting suspicious "who is your father, do you have a picture of him, he doesn't have a granddaughter, why do you want money when everyone in Europe has money..."

Meanwhile my aunt is terrified that her son may be kidnapped for ransom by this woman and her confederates as of course she assumes my grandfather has told this woman everything (still assuming grandfather = poor elderly gent suckered by a young woman, woman = scammer). She gets diplomatic police involved - I'm in danger, my son's in danger, my father is being held against his will by a gang in a slum.

Diplomatic police show up in a convoy of armoured vehicles, dressed like James Bond and armed to the teeth with automatic weapons. They have apparently found him without difficulty so they take my aunt along to speak to him (but too dangerous for her to get out of the car so she speaks through a window to him).

But before this they sit my aunt down and quite seriously give her a long talk about witchcraft(!!) Apparently this is well known, a young woman will bewitch an older man with a piece of hair or skin or nails, then keep him prisoner not by force but by magic so he cannot leave and the family has to pay. So if he is under a magic spell they cannot help. This is the DIPLOMATIC police force, not all local Kenyans but all with a sincere belief in witchcraft Hmm

However upon speaking to him, it rapidly becomes clear that while he may have fallen for some of this woman's scamming, in fact HE is scamming the woman right back!! He has found out she owns some valuable land so they are getting married so he can develop the land together and then he can run off into the sunset with the cash!!

Aunt is furious, winds up window, refuses to speak to him ever again but the diplomatic police are VERY interested. They all take out their little notebooks and start scribbling. This puts the wind up my grandfather who starts backing down, oh, it's just an idea, we're in love, I want to help her (with his extensive Kenyan property development experience) Hmm

The next day the police pay him another visit without my aunt and really put the screws on him - he must leave the country asap, he is putting my aunt and cousin into danger. He is cowed (like all bullies when someone stands up to them) and apparently left this morning.

Still waiting to hear if he thinks he's done anything wrong putting the safety of my aunt and her son at risk, potentially derailing the adoption process, and basically admitting intending to scam someone. Watch this space.

LadyGoodman · 22/09/2013 15:44

Wow Xiao that is a story!!
As for suits we dumped them in the summer and have been thinkin about vests too to go under his shirts/jumpers. Dont think we will get him more poppered babygro type stuff just vests for when it is really cold.

He has finally gone for a sleep after a 15min screamfest by the fridge for another bloody yoghurt.

jigglebum · 22/09/2013 17:06

HI - we have some poppered vests up to 2-3 years from DS which are from Mothercare - dont know if they still do them. I have tried to get freya to wear poppered vests twice this last week and she has refused each time - but I will persevere as I think they are good in winter still.

xiao - brilliant story - your family are a lot more interesting than mine!!

Had a good but tiring day out a a local farm today, with SIL and nephew. Was good but at least 3 temper tantrums from Freya, and a few houdini escape moves - I turn my back for a second and she is climbing some wall, going through a "staff only" door etc. DS was really good though after an initial talking to so that helped lessen the stress, as it was just me, as DH away all weekend (and looking like he will be late back annoyingly) Nephew was of course beautifully behaved all day - no tears, no strops, did as he was told etc etc and he is 3 months older than Freya!

ladyg - think your DS and freya would get on very well!! Latest meltdown here - she wanted to sit holding the carpet vanish and a cloth and I had put it away again! I have resorted to cbeebies and a few smarties and peace is restored!

NorthernChinchilla · 22/09/2013 18:09

Just a quickie but Mothercare definitely still do popper vests 2-3 years, DS is modelling them now!

News to report shortly after I've watched this travesty of a Derby....

Aethelfleda · 22/09/2013 19:31

We have usually moved to vests after the 2 year stage, expect we'll do the same again.

Wow, xiao that's quite a story!!

mopsytop · 22/09/2013 19:54

Wow xiao. Just bloody wow.

I'll have a gin ta aethel. Omg on that note please gin drinkers try the fevertree elderflower tonic asap. YUM. Times a hundred.

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday at a hen do. Coffee, afternoon tea, espresso Martini and the prosecco (your kind of do Oi!). Then met Mr. Mopsy for a dinner date as MIL visiting so could babysit. Very lovely day and break from the stress. But I'm just sooooo tired that we went home to bed at ten and fell asleep ... Blush We are both ridiculously tired at the moment Sad But was a lovely day.

Today we went and bought a new cutlery set from our wedding gift money (four years later)... David Mellor Embassy. Very expensive but v v fab.

Better go will try do name check kater