January 2014 -- the birthdays are coming!

[TobyLerone]

Just wrote a long message on the old thread only to have it not post because we'd filled it.

We really ought to do less chatting and more sleeping

Thanks, merry. She seems fine. She's all about the boob today, and she's had some toast and is her normal self. Fingers crossed!

Happy birthday A, have a great day Humpty

Hope you're not too tired toby

Happy birthday A!!

Happy birthday A!

I hope M is better toby. I got sicked on this morning as well, which is most unusual for P. She's got a new cough (hurrah) and coughed so hard she threw up all over the sofa after a 40 minute feed. It was a lot. She's eating okay though, but is actually demanding Nurofen by pointing at the bottle and shouting. I have bred a little addict .

P has her 1 year check tomorrow morning, I am not looking forward to it. Next week sucks a bit. I've got PND craft session on Tuesday (timed so I can't go to baby cinema), then I might go to Mum's (if she'll let me; she's refusing visitors at the moment). The rest of the week is a desert until another birthday party on Saturday. They've hired a sports club. The parties are getting more and more elaborate now. We've had soft play, now the social club, someone else has hired an Iggle Piggle to surprise the kids. I almost feel bad about not bothering. Almost

Happy birthday A
Poor P, I hope she feels better soon!

I've just weighed Henry on the bathroom scales and he's 8.8kg, so 19lb 4. I thought he had put on about a lb in 6 weeks, but on 19th Nov he was 18lb 11. So he hasn't put on a great deal. Maybe I should go get him weighed on Tuesday. Well, get DH to take him. I'll see what he says.

19lb 4 sounds good to me million, I think we're still only 17 something, but we're just off to her one year check to find out.

Poor Percy was up half the night. DH got the hump with going in to her so sent me to get her and bring her in with us. Big mistake. Cue much screaming and clawing at my boobs, until DH took her back into her room. There's a reason I don't do nights She had been moaning in her sleep for hours before she woke up, so I'm wondering if it is a cold plus back teeth. Joy.

million where does that place him on his growth chart? I'm not sure how much of a difference there are between girls and boys at this age (it even took me a while to realise there were different growth charts for girls and boys - oops!). O weighed just over 9 kgs (about 20lbs) when we took her at the start of the month, but she is still hovering just under the 75th centile so slightly larger than normal. Although I think her height is still tracking around the 91st from the last time that was measured.

That sounds tough book

I dunno where that plots him. He was bang on the 25th centile in Nov. They said if he drops below it he gets sent to paediatrician again. He eats loads though

million I just had P weighed and measured and she is on the 9th for both weight and height. We don't have to see a paediatrician, and she has form for this sort of thing. Why are they being so drastic? It is very stressful for you. If he's happy and healthy then do you need to get him weighed at all?

The 1 year check was a bit of a non-event. Obviously P smashed her head against the table halfway through, which caused much crying and was followed by the hv making pointed remarks about how she was watching the baby to make sure she was safe . They are vaguely concerned that she doesn't babble yet, but I just have to wait until 18 months and ask for a SALT referral if there's been no progress. I'm sure she'll manage a couple of words by then.

Million I agree with Book, if he seems happy and healthy to you then I don't see the issue. I don't know why these health professionals don't realise that some babies are just small. It just causes unnecessary stress for you. One of the ladies from my NCT class had the same issue as her dd was always very small and didn't weigh much, and she explained time and time again that both her and her husband were the same as babies, but the HV etc still insisted on monitoring her dd and trying to diagnose problems that weren't there.

million I would check his weight/age in the red book and see how that is. I don't think it is essential to get them weighed very often at this age, and if he seems fine in himself that should be fine. I only get O weighed regularly as she is still on a weight dependant dose of antibiotics so I need to know when to adjust the dosage, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

book glad to hear your mum is out of hospital. Hope she is recovering well. I have 4 brothers too. I am the eldest and the only girl. Maybe that is why I fled the country?

Happy birthday to A humpty. Today is also Orthodox Epiphany, so a good date for an Egyptologist.

I am glad to catch up and find you all again. You are my NCT group and I love that I don't have to get out of my pyjamas or stress about my hair.

I have been too depressed to post since the Charlie Hebdo massacre. The Charlie Hebdo offices and the Kosher supermarket were both about 15 minutes walk from our Paris flat and aside from rage at the killings I feel sad on a selfish personal level that the neighbourhood I lived in will never be the same. There was a coexistence between Muslim and Jewish families that will be difficult to rebuild. I hate that Jewish citizens in Europe are feeling afraid again and that we are unable to separate a political dispute with a nation state from normal relations with our fellow human beings. I also have been questioning whether DD and DS will ever find a place in the UK or France with such obviously Arabic (though not necessarily Muslim) names. I wonder if I am setting them up for rejection by educating them in the French system. I hope I am over thinking but I feel really sad about all of it. I would also like to bang the heads of all the people protesting the cartoons together because, you know, that really helps.

Sorry for the massive moan. Once we get through january we are thinking of buying a car. It will be a stretch but then I could have DH's and get out with the kids. The car specs here give me the rage though. The Kia Carens here starts at £22k and has no ABS or airbags. The Hyundai Elantra is £16k and the same. Even cars that have airbags as standard only have two front ones. Apparently safety features are charged customs duties as luxury trims and so the dealers have them removed for the Egyptian market. Might have to do without ESP. They all have electric side mirrors and parking sensors though.

Oops, I really am a barrel of laughs today. On a positive note, we now get Polish Cbeebies and Italian Disney Junior on satellite. DD loves Peppa pig and oinks away. She no longer answers to anything other than Peppa and calls DH 'Daddy Pig' when we are out and about. Kind of glad we aren't in the Gulf.

million, I was referred to the paediatric specialist gp at my surgery with DD1 because she was little. He said "are you worried about her? Because I don't see anything at all to worry about."
I said I wasn't, and was only there because the HV made me.
That was the last we saw of him :o

altered, it's so sad, isn't it? And another extra thing for you to worry about :(
I laughed at Daddy Pig! And the car situation is rubbish. We have a Kia Carens and it's fine but there's no way I'd want to pay 22k for one!

Sorry P is ill again, book. M now has a gammy eye. So that's nice.

I'm the only girl too altered, but I'm the middle one so I think I got off lightly :)

She's too ill to go in to the creche today, so my first PND craft session is cancelled. Even though I wasn't especially looking forward to it, this has got me down a bit. Oh well, maybe next week. I'm sooooo fed up of being trapped in the house with a sick baby though. She's almost lost her voice today, so when she cries it is truly heartbreaking and sad and a bit cute.

Oh, poor P :( and poor you, book. Let me know if she's any better tomorrow or Thursday and we can always get together for a tea or something. M is also a bit under the weather and she will not stop asking for milk.

Altered good to have you back. You have every right to be sad about it. I actually thought of you when it happened as I wondered if you knew the area well. A very sad situation

I also laughed at daddy pig

Book sorry she's so I'll and you've had to cancel your session. S is ill too and I'm also sick of it. She seems to have a week of being sick then a week of being ok repeated. Over and over again.

Book hope P feels better soon.

So after saying we hadn't organised anything for O's birthday, sent a quick text round to some friends inviting them over for an hour or two on Saturday, and assumed as it was quite late notice nobody would be free, but it turns out everyone is free! So looks like we will be having a bit of an informal party after all! Hoping to bake her cake Thursday night and put it together and ice on Friday night. Hoping it goes ok, but if not I have time to buy something on Saturday morning!

That sounds really rubbish book. I would be tempted to stick P in the car seat and go for a quick drive just to stop myself going stir crazy, but I think you mentioned before that P isn't keen on her car seat. If it helps I am on my fourth day without leaving the house, it does get really depressing.

The best thing about the daddy pig thing is that she says I am Peppa pig and Nour is George and you are Mummy pig and Daddy pig is Daddy pig! She obviously thinks this is his actual name.

N and DD have been snotty and coughing on and off for weeks. It is really rubbish. Sympathy to all the sick babies.

N will no longer sleep in his cot at all and is back to feeding to sleep after all the colds. The weather here was really really cold so I let him sleep next to us at MILs and now the habit has stuck. I have a horrible feeling this will be it until he moves to a proper bed.

Sounds like O will have a great party nature. I wouldn't stress too much about the cake, it will be lovely just to have people celebrating with you, and I am sure O will enjoy everyone making a fuss of her.

N has started pointing today, mostly to biscuits and my breasts. He has also started doing the funniest dancing I have ever seen. He manages to wriggle every part of his body. Being one does have its upsides!

Ah but altered I have a cake reputation to uphold . Attempting a 3d Olaf cake as O loves frozen at the moment. I've just not baked much since O was born - didn't even manage to make Dh a birthday cake this year.

Ah, I have long since let my standards slip. I forgot to do a crumb layer on DD's bday cake and it came out looking like a white turd.

DD is obsessed with Frozen and keeps watching how to Elsa cake videos on youtube. I have no idea how she gets them, she is 4 and can't read. I will have a quick look for Olaf ones now.

is DD's dream cake and she is having a tantrum as we speak because we aren't making it NOW.

Olaf ones and .

altered that first Olaf cake is very similar to Dh's birthday cake from last year only his was a pig sty complete with wallowing pigs

Think I'm going to attempt something like this

www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/olaf-cake-frozen-disney-movie/

I've made similar in the past so hoping it will be ok

I am in awe of the cake people. I am utterly unable to cook, no matter how carefully I follow the recipe, and P's birthday cake was some sort of miracle as it was only the second successful cake I've ever made! I hope O's party goes well nature.

The pointing is a double edged sword altered. This evening, P pointed at Makka Pakka and said "mum"

P had a decent second nap today (an hour and a quarter, longest ever!) so I dragged her to the garden centre to buy some seeds. I need to get planting in the next month or so, or there will be no decent veg this year. Also, I still haven't filled the empty borders.

I didn't use to be this dull. Promise

book, could P be complementing you on your cleanliness? We are living in a pigsty at the moment. I am not the tidiest at the best of times but our flat is open plan which means N has free access to everything. He takes all the toys from the bedroom and scatters them about and then heads for the kitchen to empty the cupboards. By the time I have put everything back he is on a new round. I have given up and am ignoring sarky comments from DH on the subject. He doesn't last 15 minutes with N anyway.

N called DBIL and DMIL Mama before me. Now DBIL has moved away MIL is still Mama number 1 and I come a poor second. I had the same with DD, I am not sure exactly what I am doing wrong!

I actually googled "what happened to james and amber's mum sofia the first" today. The constant kids' tv has clearly done something to my brain.