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March 2013- the one where plonk gets married!

995 replies

Gerrythetootallgiraffeswife · 13/07/2014 18:37

Perilously close to filling the old thread suddenly!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Plonkysaurus · 26/09/2014 08:21

Dh still refers to you lot as Angry Birds, though he's come around to the idea of you lot since the lovely wedding bunting and amazing support we've had over the last year and a half. And since getting to know Something, and discovering he can drink beer and play playstation with Mr Something!

Can I gatecrash a southern meet up? I could combine it with a jaunt to Poole!

Plonkysaurus · 26/09/2014 17:23

I'll take that silence as a big, resounding yes then Grin

yummychocolate · 26/09/2014 18:03

plonky you are more than welcome to gatecrash. The invitation is open to all on this thread. We definitely don't want a north /south divide.

worserevived · 26/09/2014 20:23

Plonky I insist you gate crash Grin.

I think I may have over done it today. Dropped the toddle at nursery at 8am, rushed home, cleaned solidly for 4 hours without a break, rushed out to pick her up, went for a walk to get her to sleep, then grabbed a sandwich and ironed until she woke up. I'm really not OCD, there genuinely is that much cleaning to do... I didn't even finish it. I need a cleaner, urgently, or failing that a DH who knows his way round a vacuum cleaner. Mine could deconstruct a vacuum cleaner and reassemble it as a space rocket... but actually use it? Not a chance.

He is however very good at toddle bed time, for which I am eternally grateful. He's up there now, and I wish him luck. I just know it's going to be a long night.

Wotta did you make it home in good time?

Happy weekends one and all.

StormyBrid · 26/09/2014 21:48

worse, dear, do me a favour? Tomorrow I need you to park your arse, put your feet up, have some cake, and relax.

Count me out for a southern meetup. Cashflow, alas, is not looking conducive to such jaunts. We should try to arrange a somewhere in the middle meet for everyone though. Next summer! And there will be a babax for us all to pass round and cuddle, and hopefully a few bumps to poke too.

Update from Fartypants Land: fake sneezing is funny. Fake pre-sneeze "ah... aaaah... aaaaaah" noises are even funnier, because they provoke a parental "chooo!" sound. I do wonder what goes on in her head, but it's always nice to hear her giggle.

Plonk can you find a subtle way of ensuring DSis stays away from BBC1 on Monday night? Panorama looks like it's going to cut a bit too close.

Nothing else to report, except ky sister is here (yay!) and she's a lot trimmer than last time I saw her (dammit) and this bottle of wine from MIL is really rather tasty.

Anypants · 26/09/2014 23:42

Oh dear god Stormy - Just had a look at the listing and my stomach lurched. I hate that when bad things happen suddenly everything seems to be about the same thing.

I'm up for a southern meet - just let me know when Smile

Plonkysaurus · 27/09/2014 07:40

Good Lord, what a programme. I don't feel I can warn her off it - thankfully she's a sensible sort who would look at the synopsis on the EPG and decide against it. I think her TV viewing right now is limited to the news and Bake Off, thank goodness.

DS is currently having a tantrum at my side. Feels hard at the moment to not just smother him in kisses and give in to his every whim. I'm trying not to cave, because they are genuine stupid toddler tantrums based on the 'I want that because you have it and I don't and I want it so WAAAAH' premise, but so hard to leave my DS to cry when she doesn't have hers. I'm sure this is normal, and I'm not even really looking for advice, just the opportunity to vent.

Although the little bugger did bite me yesterday!

I'm off to spend the night with the PILs. Really not looking forward to it. I love them and all but I've not yet had to discuss the events of this week with anyone at great length. And MIL is very into her personal faith, it's going to be quite testing to not walk off in a huff if she starts talking about God. I kind of feel at times like this you shouldn't have to save other peoples feelings, but I am forever biting my tongue with her anyway. Thankfully I've planned to drop DS and DH off and drive straight to my sister's house.

Sorry, this is a very venty ME ME ME type post.

Back to business as usual - if a nappy starts leaking frequently in the same place is it time to go up a size?

SomethingBeginningWith · 27/09/2014 08:13

I'm down for a southern meet up too. But, since Plonk and I live in the middle, we could make it a middle meet up whenever. That way, we can all go. Next summer is forever away!

DS's bedroom is all finished after two days of hard graft. Just waiting on the delivery of mural animal stickers and it'll be a proper room. He clearly likes it as he slept from 7:30-7:45 in it Smile so he's all rested for his weekend at grandma's. DP and I are off to a spa then plan on drinking wine. There better not be any bloody mention of that damn playstation.

plonk could you tell Mil that you don't want to discuss it? Or take wine?

worse could you sit down today? Or at the very most, have a relaxing swim? That sounds like it'd do me in and I'm not pregnant!

Plonkysaurus · 27/09/2014 09:31

Something spa sounds perfect after a week of decorating. I love that you've both taken a weeks holiday to do ordinary things together with a nice juicy treat thrown in.

I plan on evading MIL and her tendency to get vocal about all things Jesus. It's not a good plan, is it? Really doesn't help that I'm a massive Eddie Izzard fan, and every time she starts on about it I just think of Jeezy Chreezy, and how Jesus was the 6th son of god because there was A-sus, Besus (who was covered in bees), Cesus, Desus, Esus, Effsus, Geesus... Silly brain, always lets me down at times like this.

worserevived · 27/09/2014 13:31

If you find a suitable evasion plan Plonky let me know. I get the same from my sister. Apparently DH and I are evil infidels or some such, and little things, like the toddle not being christened, can work her up into such a frenzy my gut instinct is to run away. Tempting though that may be I have yet to actually execute that plan. You can't argue though, in the face of a religious zealot.

A next summer mass meet up would be lovely, if I can get my head round the idea of travelling with two. I'm sure I will. It can't be that hard can it? Other people cope. Plus teeny tiny ones just need milk and then they sleep, so are easily portable. Theoretically.

As for today, I have not as yet sat, but I am about to! DH has taken the toddle out in her pram to get her to sleep, and is then going to fibre glass a drain pipe. Don't ask. I didn't. Me, I have tea (de-caff), and a book, and a big 'do not disturb' look on my face.

Enjoy the Spa Something. Sounds idyllic. Without the playstation that is. Could you disable it? Lose a vital piece temporarily?

ecofreckle · 27/09/2014 14:24

Hello beauties. Worse I hope you're sat down? Plonky I hope you're cuddling that lovely looking boy. Stormy I hope as it's past midday you have already had a cheeky glass of wine. Wotta I hope you got back from the horrors of Surrey unscathed!

I've just been to farm shop to buy meat for the week and now dh has gone to Lidl to get everything else. That's how we roll in this house Smile Ecotod is asleep after a morning walking in woods and at park. Anyone else's toddle want to try the 'big' play equipment with massive toddler sized holes in the rope mesh and blind drops off of the edge and then have tantrums when you coax towards the more appropriate stuff? We had nice fresh air yesterday too, this autumn is beautiful thus far. Nappies are on the line but I think their days are numbered. I won't have a winter of nappies on radiators (no aga here to help Wotta!).

Can we have a quick report on stuff you do with your toddle please? I was chatting to a mum in village this week and she reckons her three and one year olds love a mooch around garden centres and proceeded to rattle off the names of all the best ones locally. That thought never occurred to me. I am in the 'need to get out camp' so I could do with an arsenal of more ideas. We have three or four local play parks that we go to, lots of woods walks which are mostly a combo of buggy and proper walking, doing the shopping, toddler group, play dates, a mobile soft play toddler group and walks up and down the village collecting feathers, conkers and twigs. Am I missing some easy toddle occupation? I want to start swimming soon. I left it rather late I fear.

And another thing! Toys! I went to a village mum's house for play date this week. They have kitchen diner, large lounge and modest garden but loads of toys. I wonder whether we've entered next stage of toys and I should be getting more grown up stuff. We don't have sand/water tray in garden, trike, Wendy house, farm with animals, happyland characters, garage/cars, mini trampoline.....do any of you have these and recommend them? I'm thinking Christmas Blush

Thank you.

I have been baking an awful lot so let's have a meet up soon so I have an outlet for my wares Smile

Plonky your sixth son made me laugh. I hope they're bearable and sensitive. Still pending love your way.

something your weekend sounds awesome. Are you sauna/steam/swim or treatments too? dh having any treatments alongside you like a hot stone massage.....that sounds relaxing? The lady who I see is currently training in male intimate waxing. It's a whole course. Who knew! Anyhow, I digress. There's a wedding in the church a few houses away and the bells are peeling. Lovely day for a wedding.

BettyOff · 27/09/2014 17:03

Very quick as I'm at work and it's busy.

Something, I'm jealous.

Plonky, Cake or Death.

Worse, sit the hell down and enjoy that book.

That is all. Back this evening!

StormyBrid · 27/09/2014 18:01

eco to be honest, it sounds like you've got toddler entertainment sorted already. You do far more than us! We have: walks to the park; playing on the swings; going to visit George the Great Big Lizard in the conservatory in the park. Going to the shops; going to Grandad's for a run around the garden; Tuesday morning toddler group; trips to the library once every three weeks. And playing in the front garden, of course - the back yard is about four foot by eight, so there'll be no wendy house out there! If we had transport, we'd go to the seaside, because it's not far away. Also to WPF type places.

As for toys at home, I feel we probably are due a leap to more complex toys, because there's been such a mental leap recently. I have no suggestions though.

Worse you better be sitting down still!

Betty, random question. Is it possible to get pregnant while menstruating? I'm leaning towards "pretty bloody unlikely" but the man was reminiscing earlier about magazine articles in the eighties, and apparently one article said "of course you can; always use a condom!"

worserevived · 27/09/2014 20:22

Blimey Eco that's a schedule and half, and without meaning to sound rude your friend has an insane number of toys. The only outdoor toy I have is a trike, and to be honest it is a little redundant. She much prefers 'helping' DH and I. All time favourites are filling the dog bowls with water, washing the car, hanging on behind me when I push the wheel barrow, picking up sticks, that kind of thing.

On a more organised front her social life is nursery, two mornings of learning to share, and play, and do activities we have yet to start at home like cooking I am gearing myself up for the mess. I tend to rely on the dogs for daily entertainment, as she will spend any amount of time running round the field carrying the ball thrower and trying to catch Dog1 as he is the more cuddly of the two. We also go to the park to play on the swings, climbing frame and playing field. The field has patches of sand, so that's the sand pit, and if it rains there are puddles. Who needs sand trays Wink. I don't do toddler groups, or soft play, and don't feel the need. I probably would if she didn't have her nursery friends, just for the social aspect.

As for toys, two I'd recommend are giant lego bricks and an aqua doodle mat. Both of those require a bit of thought and coordination. I'm not sure having loads of toys is such a great idea. It's expensive, for a start. Have you tried hiding half, and then swapping them over every week? I also think one big thing for outside is enough, especially if you are out and about going to activities much of the time anyway. If you have loads they won't really appreciate any of them. Interesting fact, when my parents were staying they had only one toy (lego) in the flat. When we visited the lego was the most interesting thing ever, and she played with it for hours. Put the lego in a room with lots of other things and ironically she gets bored much more quickly.

You'll be pleased to know that not only did I sit this afternoon, I actually had a nap, and then afterwards a quick swim. It'd have been rude not to as DH got up at 6am to clean, back wash, and de-pond the pool, a job that took him a good 2 hours... and, even better, he got the heater working! 22C may not be balmy but in comparison to what it was it felt really quite luxurious. Strange man my DH. He won't vacuum the house, but he will vacuum the pool!

Stormy interesting question. I guess you can if you have a slightly random ovulation schedule, but I can guarantee if you were actively ttc you definitely wouldn't.

Eco what have you been baking? Your culinary dedication makes me feel bad. Today I bought cheese scones. They are the easiest and quickest thing to make on the planet.... but the ones from the local store are good Blush. It's a new local store. It's fab. I predict the demise of a few of the other local specialist shops, not because supermarkets are ruining their business, but because they are fundamentally rubbish and they no longer have a captive market.

Hope you all had a lovely relaxing saturday.

worserevived · 27/09/2014 20:40

Stormy I spotted it too. First para Blush. Oops

yummychocolate · 27/09/2014 23:29

eco I don't think its about the number of toys but the quality of the play. In my opinion a child needs 1-1 with an adult to know how to play. A child will also need independent play to try out new skills they have gained but also develop problem solving skills too.

Activities for us include nursery 3days per week, soft play, play dates, park, farm but also mundane things like shopping, cleaning etc. I try to get ds involved with day to day activities because things need to get done.

Toys wise lego, shopping trolley, aquadoodle, ride on toy and football are huge hit. To be honest ds has only started to play with toys in the last couple of months. I have got him a xylophone for Eid. We don't have any musical toys so I thought I would buy that. Even if he doesn't play it now it is something he will grow into. For Christmas I am thinking to get him a rocking horse type toy or maybe an easel. Still not sure.

something enjoy your weekend away.

StormyBrid · 28/09/2014 00:00

Reading and rereading and desperately trying to spot it... Yep, there's the mistake. I will skip the explanatory lecture because I don't know most of the words in English, but really, worse, how could you do that to a poor innocent pronoun?

Big lego aka megabloks is popular here too. Didn't really grasp the concept until the 18m ultra-wonder-week, but now she loves them. And balls too, for throwing and kicking. No xylophones here, because the man has Views when it comes to musical instruments. So Fartypants has a full size adult keyboard, and a ukulele. The latter she does actually play with quite a lot.

ecofreckle · 28/09/2014 14:05

Hello everyone. I made a new thread. And I am excited about it because it's my first time Grin

Link to new thread

ecofreckle · 28/09/2014 14:26

Thanks for all the toy thoughts. Library Stormy; great idea. I have joined our new one but it's not become part of our weekly landscape yet. Does your DD go crazy with excitement when she visits and pull books off of shelves or do I have a delinquent on my hands ? And what is WPF?

And Worse, dogs. If we had a dog or dogs we'd be pretty sorted. Ecotod loves dogs. So much so that when she wakes up we're off to a local dog show to watch the agility classes and generally dog it up. Dh and I are both allergic when we touch them so it's not a great outlook for her. My parents always had dogs though! We just had quite doggy dogs that lived in the conservatory and never went in our lounge. Is that frowned upon? Probably. They were very much loved through and had lots of walks. But yes, dogs would solve a lot. And I like your sand idea too. We went to a sandy park today and took her sieve, bucket and spade. She had a brilliant time. So thanks for that. And the washing the car idea. I'm a bit Blush to mention that the reason she hasn't shown enjoyment of this particular task is because I cannot honestly think of a post-baby car wash that has even occurred. That's this week sorted then.

Don't think that we're on a crazy schedule though. I just wanted more ideas for those blocks of time when you think 'I can't do another 2 hours in the house'. I think my outdoorsy bent makes cabin fever creep up more quickly than in normal people.

Yummy I don't know what an aquadoodle is but I'm going to explore because it was mentioned twice. Must be something in it.

I went to a car boot sale whilst DH was putting ecotod to bed. I got a trampoline with a handle on it to add to the pile of junk in the garden that we make assault courses from. Hopeful that will see a couple of years of action.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. What have you been up to and how are the toddles getting on? We have just got rid of a week long cold here and now have a bit of a chesty cough. So much for fresh air and vegetables being the elixir of life!

Plonksome Plonky how are you feeling today? How is DSis? Are you back to work this week and is your bro in law able to take more time off? I have no idea what the employment rights are in his horrible situation but it seems like it'd be fairer to give him a longer paternity leave than normal. Still thinking of you all. Of course.

Worse 22 degrees? That makes me feel a bit winky (that's the face you pull when you eat a Gooseberry in case you were wondering). Does babax respond to the cold plunge? How are you looking in a swimsuit these days? Most certainly pregnant? I'm sure the Fb marchers would appreciate a bump photo at some point (I love seeing people with bumps). What are you going to do about the cleaning situation? I guess these things can take a while to sort and you'll want it sorted well ahead of 35 weeks I'd say. Would an agency like merry maids or similar be an option?

Something, remind us when your new job starts and what age you'll be with. Exciting times.

Shattered how's life over your way? Busy papping George Clooney and his new wife?

Gerry it's ages til half term. I fear that might be when we next hear from you. We shall presume that no news is good news in the interim!

Any your most recent photos on FB are lovely. Well done! Looks like you are getting the business off to a great start.

Best dash. I'm supposed to be using nap time to develop my own business but appear to be on MN. That'll be why it's currently failing I suspect Smile

worserevived · 28/09/2014 15:13

Eco if conservatory dogs our frowned upon I guess I might be ostracised by the great and the good of the dog owning world. Mine live out. Period. They are working farm collies, that don't actually work, but kind of think they do. Collies tend to find work, and in our case this involves regular fox patrols, cat patrols, deer patrols, and passing dog patrols. As you can imagine the wild life in our fields is much diminished (as is the intruder rate). They have 6 acres, fenced, so are free to roam, get plenty of attention, and have warm insulated kennels with cushions in a stable, so have a softer life than some might imagine. That's about as doggie as I can cope with. Dogs in the house require regular baths, and regular baths mean they can't live out, even in the day, as they don't have the necessary oils in their coat to stay warm and water proof. They also don't grow a thick enough coat. It's kind of an all or nothing thing.

An acquadoodle is an essential drawing toy. It has a water filled pen that only marks the special mat.... so no doodles on the walls or carpet. Clever huh Grin

A bump photo Confused. Are you quite sure! I look ridiculous, like a snake that has swallowed a whale. Or failing that Mr greedy. If this is what I look like at 21 week, god help me at 40. It is entirely possible I will have to start carrying a stool with me everywhere I go to prop my stomach on Grin

All sorts of fun happening here today. We went to Sainsbury. The toddle loved it... as DH is one of those parents who lets their kids run about in shops. You know the ones.... that everyone hates! To be fair to him he did have her on her 'lead' aka littlelife ladybird rucksack with reins, thus limiting her scope somewhat. To be less fair to him, when I turned my back for a second I found he had chosen her a new coat. A white fake fur coat Confused. Why???? She's 18 months.... she rolls in mud.... and she has no interest what so ever in modelling her look on Katie Price I hope. I still bought it though Grin

Yup, 22C is kind of cold. He's put the thermostat up to 24C today! I am about to make the most of it! As for cleaners I am on the case. I have rung an agency. They are proving hard to pin down, given they seem to want to come and do a quote thingie before I can sign up... which sounds expensive. Sigh.

Plonky I hope the weekend sunshine is proving restorative and you have been out and about enjoying the fresh air.

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