Loads to catch up on!
evil you're doing so well. Can I help with anything practically? The posts - am a bit busy at the moment but if someone allocates me a 'fred then I will do my bit.
Isles glad the spreadsheet financial projections have given you some comfort. I love a bit of that. Soothes me. 
mcflounce good to hear from you and glad you are ok post-op. How is J doing?
apple yay for steps. QQ - once you have had a few steps, how long are people waiting to buy shoes? S has taken a few wobbly steps but is very far from actual outdoor walking. I don't want to waste money [haggis ancestry ] on shoes that arent yet needed.
pidj rubbish, rubbish luck. FX it turns for you soon. Anything we can do?
pikz enjoy SA.
kyz E's one year pics were lovely.
chasing lovely to read such a contented post. Much like hearing from thechick on her birthday, and the general tone of yw's posts, reading someone's obvious contentment is joyful and should absolutely be celebrated.
eliza that is very funny, concealed bowl feeding Am sure its just messy hard work to do, but your description made me 
. Will E be able to move onto lumpy soon?
isles, yw, horsy, det and those of you with canine children too - I got to see what S would be like with a dog when we were at my DPs. DPs have a boistrous golden retriever who can be very gentle. DD has always liked her but been wary and they never get too close to each other. S on the other hand adores the dog. Proper belly laughs every time she comes past. Totally unfazed and crawls right up to her. Poked her in the nose and likes to touch her. Not fussed when she knocks him over when he's doing wobbly standing and she just brushes past him. Got some nice pics of them together. If we werent all allergic and working FT and generally not available, I'd love to have one.
sophia aawwww, about what DS1 said to you. Bit like when DD tells me to "smooch Daddy again".
Nicknames - well, despite deliberately choosing a one sylable name, S is called Sethy (or Seffy by DD), or Sethalicious (I know, ), monkey-chops (amusing in DD's voice) and little bugger (said affectionally but also amusing not good in DD's voice. DD is DD-monster, DD-pie. DH calls both of them "dude". I don't know what you can do really. Even if you give them a nickname as a first name, which DD's sort of is, it gets changed. I'm called a variety of things by a variety of people, some of which are predictable and others not. What can you do?
Weekend was awesome. Too short. Won't see my DBro until June next year now. The surprise and DPs reaction to it was wonderful. We had a big party on the Saturday and all extended family came along. Always nice to see them too. Watching DBro play with DD and S was especially nice. He is fab with them and they love playing with him. DD saying "see you soon Rabbit" (what she calls my bro) made me cry a lot because it wont be soon. 
But there is skype and my DBro has a wonderful life out there, so things are as they should be. Family is so precious though.
On the friendless thing - I think being a new parent, or having children, can actually be quite isolating. I am quite an extrovert and am lucky to have quite a few friends and try and see people regularly but it simply isnt possible to maintain friendships, much less build new ones, when things like work and sleep and time with DC take natural priority. I tend to do a lot of mine while at work - i.e. meet people for lunch etc. Plus since I moved to my current location, the vast majority of friends are work related, or at least once were. Those that don't work or don't have the kind of jobs where socialising can be incorporated into your day, it must be harder. And my longterm, oldest friends who are scattered far and wide, I only see once or twice a year. Part of modern life - more technology for staying in touch than ever before, and less time to actually stay in touch.
Pennie how's it going in your new location? Have you met many people yet?
VQ, det and horsey hope work situations improve.
Right-ho - am super busy and concealing this long post in an email window so it looks like work is going to result in accidentally emailing someone this if I dont cut and paste right now. haha.