March 2013- the one where plonk gets married!

[Gerrythetootallgiraffeswife]

Perilously close to filling the old thread suddenly!

Valuer*

stormy i will try activefit when I have used the ones I have now.

To become a tea taster do you have to drink tea with milk. If so, yuck. Im plain boring no milk and no sugar for me please!

something if marriage is what both of you want just go for it. The amount of times we wait to do things and time flies by. Life is too short. Get that ring on your finger and walk down that aisle.

alba have you got used to south London now? Maybe ds is coming down with something else? Nope you missed that vital lottery winning information. Congratulations.

Woah woah woah. Lenidross, you won a what now?! And you went and did the sensible thing? I feel like such a grown up. I know lots of people who are making all these good decisions. That must have been a very happy day.

We were engaged for three years before getting hitched. When dh proposed he did say that he wouldn't like to get married for "about four years" because we didn't have two pennies to rub together. I immediately gave him the ring back, and told him to get stuffed then because i think getting engaged = getting married soon. We agreed we'd do it ASAP but needed to save lots of money first. Because apparently vendors don't like to be paid in hope. A year later I was pregnant. He proposed again because "it's the right thing to do". I used far stronger language and enlightened him on how we no longer love in the 1950s. Needless to say my dh is a very sweet man who always tries to do the right thing. He's just hopelessly misguided.

Nappies. Ooh did I tell you lot we sold all our reusables? We made one of those compromise thingies what people in healthy grown uppy type relationships do. His compromise was to be more present in our home life, mine was to just fucking chill out ok!! and make home life as stress free as possible by using disposables. Oh and the money made was immediately spent on wedding shit - a car for us, I think.
So ds wears aldi size 4s. I think if we went for any other brand we be in 4+. My mum keeps sainsbos 4+ in for ds and they're a bit...rubbish. The aldi nappies last from 7-7, sometimes 7.30 if I'm particularly bleary eyed of a morning.

Wish Something and I look for tomorrow! Five miles of mud and obstacles. Best go eat all the chickens in preparation tonight.

Ooh ds squeaking, best be orf.

Nappies we've not moved up a size for eons, still in Pampers baby dry size 4 maxi. Sometimes wees through, but he doesn't have milk at all during the night, so he can go over 12 hours with no leakage unless he drinks loads right before bed.

I did notice a couple of new spots by his bits today actually, so maybe you're right about him coming down with something else

So, well, ahem.... OH woke me up one morning holding a phone in my face, and it was an email saying 'congratulations! You've won the National Lottery!'. I thought I was still asleep obviously, but nope, he won £20K! Not a life changing amount (and yes I do feel guilty as hell saying that), but it gave us a new deposit so it was just timed perfectly

We're one of those couples who have simultaneous amazing luck and shitty luck. And I do mean shitty, bot just a little bit rubbish.

So this whole wedding thing - do you just pluck a date from the air and then see what you can organise before it actually happens?

Oh yes and Greenwich is actually amazing!

Lenidross (good name btw), I think you're right in saying twenty grand isn't life changing - I'm the poorest of the lot of us, I think, and, while it would be quite nice to win that amount, all it would do is render me ineligible for benefits, so it would just be frittered on living costs for a couple of years. Now, a hundred grand, that would be a different thing entirely. That'd be a house fully paid for, and that level of security sounds very attractive.

A sentence I never thought I'd say: "Please stop poking your bits with the toothpaste, darling." The child's obsessed!

£20K isn't life changing. But it's a year's salary for me, and actually the amount we're trying to save for a house deposit. Obviously not an amount you'd want to jack in your job for, but still! TWENTY GRAND! and you'll be sole owners.

Wedding wise...yes, we plucked a date out of thin air. Prior to this noone knew we were on the cusp of just going for it, although we had done a tiny bit of research into wedding costs. The wedding option we plumped for was the most practical - a registry office do and a garden party at my parents'. I looked at nearby hotels and didn't much like the thought of paying £10K for an identi-kit wedding, corkage, cake tasting etc. In the end it was a lot of work, but I'm reasonably organised so that was ok. I think Eco, Betty(SoYo) and I could pool our resources, should you be interested

Oh dear Stormy. Bits are fascinating though. I mean, layers. Poor toothpaste.

Good luck something and plonky.

Good luck Plonky and Something. I'm looking forward to some pics later.

20k is great Leni, it's nearly a years salary for me too and although not life changing its a massive boost!

I had a crappy night on labour ward last night so I'm off to bed with a rum laced hot choc

I'm just about alive. Things hurt. I need tea.

I punched a sign.

And she punched me! I was not safe from punching. It was out of excitement and SHEER EMPOWERMENT though.

We did it we got/are very muddy!

Apparently I smell like a swamp.

I need to know why a sign got punched - is that part of it?! Well done ladies, I don't envy you AT ALL. But I do want to see photos.

I didn't mean to sound flippant about winning the lottery by the way...

The biggest issue with the wedding is the venue, and the dress for me, the rest I don't mind, as long as it's not in my in laws' back garden (because it's a farm).

Has anyone else seen that YouTube video of the buggy that folds itself and thought 'but what if a child gets stuck inside?'

Ok I'm home, I'm clean, I've inhaled a lemon muffin and a cuppa, and it's about 5 hours since I punched anyone.

Signpunching was just the right thing to do at the time. We were on the home straight, hobbling running to our final obstacle - a tall water slide that could only be accessed by climbing a giant net and a ladder onto a muddy platform. That obstacle stood between us and victory. Between us and burgers and pints. There was a sign saying "Own your strong", whatever the jeff that means. In a fit of spirit I punched the bugger.

I'm recuperating now. Quite stiff. I can hear dh getting vexed by the cat and ds. I don't care.

Well done Plonk and something! How marvellously satisfying were the baths or showers after?

I'm confused this morning. Fartypants woke me up about twenty past seven, and I did my usual lying there like a corpse for a few minutes thing, trying to get to grips with concepts like 'consciousness' and 'verticality'. Then I got up and it was quarter to nine. I've lost an hour!

Oh wow, lottery wins and mud runs. I have missed a lot haven't I?! Congrats all round to everyone. I must go away more often if this is the sort of news I'll be coming back to.

Holiday was a bit errrrgh. The Lakes are lovely, but word in your ear like, if anyone ever suggests to you the idea of going on holiday with friends with small but not that small children, say no. Small children are portable... can go in back packs... you can do outdoorsy stuff like hike, and get fresh air. Larger kids are not, but unlike large kids can't actually walk any distance by themselves, so, by default you spend 60% of your day in the car going to 'attractions' and the other 40% hanging around said attractions wanting to shoot yourself. I had one day at home to rest. Because I was pregnant and tired . The second they were gone I was out of the door and up onto the heath for a proper 2 hour blowy walk. Best day of the week.

Oh and The Toddle went down with a vomiting virus on the last day, so we spent that day in hospital, the journey home bathed in vomit, and the rest of this weekend puking our guts up ourselves. The washing has been exponential. I am sure it will be done one day. Just not for a while!

Next weekends guests have been cancelled, as parents are pitching up a few days after, I have a party to organise, DH is working in London all week, and I've run out of cope!!!!

Other than that, nothing much to report. Other than tiny2 is fine, and seemingly unaffected by the puke fest. Top tip from the hospital by the way. If your dc has a vomiting bug, don't let them drink water from a bottle or beaker. They'll take a gulp because they are thirsty, and be sick. Dribble water very slowly from a syringe into their mouth. 10ml every 15 mins for a 10kg child. It really does work, the toddle stopped vomiting pretty much immediately once we started doing this.

Re nappy leaks, we had this problem recently, so I moved her up to the next size and all is well again. 4+ for the day, 5 for overnight.

That sounds horrific Doli... And now I'm worried because we just had the biggest poonami I've seen in months - do toddlers never chew baked beans?! I'm hoping it's just because he's been eating masses over the weekend, and not the start of yet another illness. Where did you pick up a vomiting bug from?

I loved the video of Something and Plonk going down the slide - did that feel as good as it looked?

We appear to be in a phase where DS is playing nicely with cars (it's all about the cars) and then starts yelling 'no!' And hurling them across the room. He also spends hours talking on any object he can pick up and put against his ear like a phone. I feel tired just watching him. He still isn't 100% right after what ever spotty disease! and he tore his maxillary frenulum again yesterday it was my fault for pulling his shirt over his head too roughly, so I felt shitty the whole evening.

doli i am just exhausted reading your post. Are you all better from the bug? Holidays are just never the same pre baby are they? how many do you have to cater for the party?

alba I had to google frenulum. you learn something new everyday. That sounds painful. Did the doctor say it will heal it self eventually? Don't feel bad these things happen. I think we are in for more bumps and bruises with our scrumptious toddlers.

We have been to our third childrens birthday party in 2 weeks. Ds is a party animal already.

Thank you all for the nappy info. I am going to try active fit aswell at night and will continue to do a midnight nappy change when possible to avoid leaks. What I really need to do is to cut drinking milk at night malarkey but don't have the energy to go through with it and feel guilty that he genuinely may be hungry.

Oh dear Doli, sounds a rather vomitous time all round. I love that you pulled the pregnancy card to go for a bit of fresh air on your own. Good on you.

We're away tomorrow and I cant wait. It's the same location and the same people we went away with this time last year but the major difference? Ds is a walking talking toddler, and I'm not cracking up with tear tinged pnd-inspired episodes. It feels like a well timed break rather than a chore this time, and I'm determined to let MIL do all the babysitting she wants! We did virtually no rock climbingy sight seeing interesting stuff last time.

Anyway, Eco not heard from you for awhile. Are you yurt-wards?

I'm enjoying early morning snuggles on the settee getting climbed all over while we watch the CBeebies prom. Mr Bloom is nice to look at.

He does have a certain charm, doesn't he, Plonk? We've seen the CBeebies prom twice now, and Fartypants things the ding ding noise they found on the bus is brilliant.

I'm quite tempted to take ds next year. I hope Mr Bloom will be there. And Bernard Cribbins, but for very different reasons.

Did you see the Ugly Duckling ballet on CBeebies? It's fantastic!

Well done to the muddy girls. Very impressive stuff! Have to say the slide looked !

Doli, you are a star! I don't know how you survived all that with your sanity intact. Hope the vom fairy has departed for the foreseeable.

I had a bit of a struggly few days. DS isn't ill, in fact he's lovely. Amazingly developing in front of my eyes. Every day brings new words and skills. It's brilliant. But so intense and dh has been working a lot so I'm solo and he's quite needy with it all so yesterday was just Ehmaahmee, Ehmaahmee (mummy) all-ll day. I feel quite drained trying to think of stimulating things to do with him that don't all involve taking him to a play park or soft play.

Sorry. That went a bit whingey and me me me.

Lottery is fab Alba! You deserve some positive karma and I know what you mean about life changing but if it's turning you into 100% owners then it is a bit. Fab!

Hope those feeling are feeling less so.

The MAMAAAAAA days (as they're known here) are draining aren't they Wotta? Don't feel bad about, I doubt there's not a single one amongst us who doesn't feel like that at least once every day, sometimes more, and even on good days.

The slide was epic! I had to really gear myself up to get down it, but after the claustrophobic tunnels and ditches of mud I climbed out of, there was definitely an element of 'oh just bloody get on with it!' The feeling afterwards was incredible. I highly recommend it.

Hi...I've name changed (hopefully with more success than as my brief foray into a splashier nickname).

Shouldn't be too difficult to figure out who I am. I used to be a dinosaur.