November 2012 - Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your ornaments are history.

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1917769-November-2012-The-last-few-first-birthdays-then-were-on-to-Christmas

I am excited about the advent calendar tomorrow as Mary makes an appearance. And Wednesday is the angel Gabriel. I am loving playmobil this year. J is loving it from a distance.

BP I love the idea of Christmas bunting. I need to make bunting. I wish I had evenings to sew and knit but I have only just wrestled the boy into bed. Poor chap is suffering. Teeth mostly with added reflux obviously.

I also do not understand how if the trigger is removed, in Js case dairy and soya, how come reflux is there even with meds? I dunno. Too late for such thoughts.

Pass I cannot crochet. I need to learn as I think it is lovely. There are videos on You tube. Apparently.

I have come up with an awesome idea for work We have lots of problems and I think I have found a solution that will solve most of them. I am going to be brave and email my boss with the suggestion, then I can refer to it at interview. I am very pleased that I am feeling confident and worthy at work now.

I have also ditched the ADs as I forgot more than I remembered, and then they made me feel really thick headed. My mind is a lot clearer now.

If you think I am going crazy again, do tell me. And no, I do not think the confidence at work is a manic phase as I really am that good

Night night my lovely quiche family x

Oh, and Sophia please do visit that lady. She is very lucky to know you and hopefully she will turn out to be a pod friend for you too x

Good friend. Not a pod friend. That would be weird.

Oh look here I am marking my place again at a stupid time of night or shall we call it morning?!

I am hoping I can rest all day tomorrow. My bits are killing me and every time I went upstairs to lay down today DH came up to ask me a kitchen question. I may have mentioned already were in a kitchen fitting hellhole just now

DH and DSis are going to give blood tomorrow after work. I'm feeling peed off they won't accept my blood anymore. Surely if they screen and filter it etc then my blood shouldn't be undonatable just cos I've had a blood transfusion!? Hmmmm.

DH is up settling j again. We're supposed to be watching some telly but I don't think he's coming back down. So I shall continue shopping for my kitchen...sad but true!

BP what a lovely idea. The diary. I keep thinking ill write lil things they do that make me chuckle. I never do.

Things went from bad to worse.
Went into rant over mode. Mil over heard.gota love the baby monitor, fml but obviously she only hears the bits about her and ignores the bits about how I'm exhausted and how A wont settle. She ignored the me sobbing part. FUCK IT.
Feel bad for FH he has been trying. As I slowly break to pieces he is taking on more and more.
He is doing everything while I look after A and a few things with H.
He has to look after me have a break down, his mums bad back and his dad and sorting his meds and appointments taking them to hospital etc
not feeling very motherly not enjoying it just want to run away and hide from it all.

Luis did so well at WWF he broke his account! I'm going to try really hard to beat the new luis account.

Hope everyone else is asleep right now! flouncy I can't give blood either :( hope j settled?

gt you are doing very well I think. Just keep with everybody fed nobody dead for now and hopefully the rest will come. Bless you, you have lots to cope with

Hope everyone else is asleep right now!

L and I are not. Hiya.

GT You are brilliant.

Been up with e who refuses to sleep dice 2:50. This night alone has me on my knees. How do people do it ? :(

VQ with my J it took months for the reflux to stop after egg was eliminated from his diet. I cut egg out in July and there was an instant improvement but I suspect it took time for his gut to heal and the inflammation to die down. He's even off his meds for a couple of months now but even then he had a mini flare up just after his MMR. Only in the last two weeks has there been a marked improvement in sleep and I have put a lot of effort into sleep training over the past few months as well, I'm sure it wouldn't have got better by itself.

Flouncey if it's any consolation I wasn't allowed to give blood because I might have malaria! My mum is from a country where there is malaria and even though she emigrated here in 1968 the concern is that she might have had malaria, somehow not noticed, and infected me. Completely ludicrous reason for turning down two blood donors not that my blood's much use as it's AB+. Now I doubly can't give blood because I had an abruption during my last labour and J's blood has affected by blood type somehow. The hospital was supposed to give me a card to carry in case I ever need to have a transfusion but they lost my records again.

I'm struggling at the moment. I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet. I don't have the imagination this year to choose presents. DS2 might get a furby as his letter to Father Christmas only asks for a TV for his bedroom and a Playstation. I feel so overwhelmed with all the things I have to do that Christmas shopping is an extra pressure I can't handle. Also my MIL has backed out of making Christmas dinner this year so I'll have that to do as well. I don't mind the cooking but it's so much work when I'd rather spend the time with the children. My mum suggested I let DH do the Christmas dinner - hollow laugh - the state of the kitchen would be unimaginable and everything would be cold.

This feeding ones self game is a v messy one. I have moved Os chair from near my lovely curtains to the side by the white wall theory being the wall can have a quick lick of white paint the curtains aren't so easily rescued. It's the moments when I attempt to hold the spoon he is holding and guide to his mouth. And he pushes it away from his mouth. And he won't let go. So when I do. PING.

Do you think that having the initial J has anything to do with our babies being sleep dodgers or super refluxers? That and having a penis, obviously.

Come to us stunt we are not having as many as I first thought. There will be slow. Looked brisket and turkey and all trimmings plus Yorkshire pud. And wine. And maybe a trifle if I can get my act together. And they will all go " this is not how we do Christmas In our outpost" and I will go "ha"

Stunt I would go to Sophia's if I could. It sounds lovely About the Christmas gifts, pop over to the big bargain thread and there are lots of great links and most are internet based. I have got most of my shopping with their help.

I have spent £9 on J for Christmas, and that is including a Peppa Pig DVD which is really for DD2. I also have money from Nana and Aunty and my parents. Not sure they will be impressed if I put it towards a car seat for DD2. He got his car seat with his birthday money. But he is not missing out as he has toys from his sisters. I am not that mean.

Ooh slow-cooked brisket I was thinking about doing that as well. What else do you put on with it? A mirepoix or something else? My FIL only eats beef for Christmas dinner but I can't be bothered trying to cook a steak in amongst everything else. And no we can't just have beef for Christmas dinner because my MIL doesn't eat beef. Still it won't be as bad as the year we had to cater for a vegetarian as well. I made her cheese fritters with a red onion marmalade for her Christmas dinner and ended up being a teeny bit jealous of her dinner! The story started with MIL was supposed to be getting a new oven and she was going to 'christen it' by cooking Christmas dinner. After much to and froing and arguments with my FIL about whether to get a new oven or a whole new kitchen my MIL is no longer getting a new oven because they just couldn't agree on what to do and hers is inadequate for anything more demanding than cooking a ready meal. So after hearing this sorry story I said, "Well you'll just have to come here for Christmas dinner then." I know what you're thinking, problem solved right? Apparently not, after much negotiating between FIL, MIL and DH now we will be cooking Christmas dinner but they will be buying Christmas dinner. How does that work exactly? Are they going to turn up with a turkey on Christmas Day? I'm away for my mum's birthday from the 20th to the 23rd December so I'm not going to be around to sort out any last minute catering crises. I hate it when things get complicated. Couldn't they just chip in a few quid for the turkey and leave it at that? With DH's family everything ends up much more complicated than it really needs to be. AIBU to contemplate just staying at my mum's instead of coming back here?

Wahey we've had only one wake up the last two nights - thank god the reflux is calming down. Combination of the MMR effect fading, being back off dairy and, of course, booking a doctors appointment . VQ their guts can be damaged for months even years from exposure to triggers - the longer they were exposed and how sensitive they are can influence how long they suffer. But sometimes it seems there's little rhyme or reason.

We're having turkey and haggis on Christmas day. Christmas Eve has always included Polish food (my Dad's family are Poles) so we'll have borscht, pirogi, then some Scottish treats - venison and partan toes (crab claws). Nom.

Morning all.

Not decided on my Christmas menu yet. Last year I did beef wellington but it was such a miserable Christmas with us all being ill I can't remember if it was good or not. I'm thinking something gamey like slow cooked boar or venison this year. The baker will do the log and the nibbles. Probably I will do a smoked salmon starter too. And French onion soup if it's v cold that we can snack on. DD1 loves soup.

Oh, as I refuse to buy oysters the neighbour has told DH he will keep a dozen back for him - he gets food direct from the source being in the business. Oysters are a traditional part of French Xmas dinners so DH is chuffed he's going to be able to have some.

I'm doing xmas dinner too. We have in laws coming, an uncle and my mum. I've done it twice before. first time was ok but I packed too much in and timings went astray. 2nd time I planned much better and was much more pleasurable so this time I will plan and prepare as much as I can the evening before. I take the girls to the Christingle and leave DH at home peeling potatos and veg. I'll do braised red cabbage the day before too and just warm it through. mil has bought the turkey for me but will drop it round on the 23rd. I'm not doing any beef, we have beef on boxing day.

sophia loving the ping. we have that here too, a lot. As E's food is still heavily pureed it gets everywhere.

Dp does the Christmas dinner in our house, if it was left to me it would be a disaster! He is a very good cook and loves doing it so I get the added bonus of no moaning while he does it either. We just get a turkey crown though, a whole turkey is far to much for us and just a waste of money. He's also doing it all again on Boxing Day at his mums for all of his brothers and sisters and their kids. He is one of 7 so that will be chaos. I will be staying away and celebrating Boxing Day as I always do..... at my local social club with all of my extended family

Sophia Jonas pings food everywhere too. Though this morning he did a good job of getting his porridge into his own mouth (I did most of it but giving him a spoon distracts him).

DH weaponised the dog this morning. The cat had vommed in the spare room so he let the dog in to clean it up .

Right playgroup then off to my sisters.

Happy birthday to Isles' M and isn't there another quichelette today?

My DH is cooking our Christmas Day dinner! He doesn't cook normally so should be...intriguing! I'm not allowed to lift so can't do much. I said we could keep it easy and just have turkey but he insists we need to have nigellas ham in coke too. I'm thinking of just getting a turkey crown but we like a lot of leftovers! I was looking at asda and m&s and they confused me as their turkey crowns claim to feed between 10-14 people yet are very different weights. Asdas weight is a lot heavier so how do I know which is best?!? I'd normally go into a shop and choose but this year that's not going to happen.

Not even going to moan about Js sleep this morning, it's not worth it and I just get grumpy. What I will say is night DH asked what we should do and I said adoption. That's horrible and I can't believe I said that :(

Can't catch up, sorry, out of time!

Books are essential in this house - but if he can drop £2 in a charity shop on himself why not on me in some wrapping paper?

Physio is getting cancelled. He needs it, desperately, but it's too much money at £70 a session. We'll look for something cheaper. Lecture delivered on discussing this kinda shit.

Dp has a job interview on Friday. He's been head hunted. Serious serious money for short term trips abroad, perfect as he can come home to rest in between. Please keep everything very firmly crossed!!!!!

Hello all. Things are going okay on day 2 of not bf. H has been taking it a lot better than I thought he would. We were down to 2 feeds, one in the morning and one at night and he was a bit tearful yesterday but okay. I've been expressing which is taking a long time. I'm going to have to find my electric double pump. Thanks for all the well wishes. I appreciate it!!

Happy birthday to the Isles's M and anyone else who's birthday it s today.