Nov '05 Toddlers!

[Rodeo]

W3ll 1'm sur3 m0s7 0f 7h3m w1ll b3 dur1n9 7h1s 7hr3ad!

Afternoon,
Have only just surfaced as I have a lurgy of some sort, feel rather flu-ey but it's prob just a bad cold and Jess has sickness and diarhhoea and a very sore bottom
Twinkle, How awful! Poor ds Sending love your way!
Feetheart! That's lovely! Glad you've managed a good catch up
Diege, welcome back, hope you enjoyed some lovely unbroken nights sleep!
Londoner, lovely long post! My shins are much better thank you How was E last night?
Starting to feel yukky again so off to hunt out some paras.....Bye x

Hi everyone,

Feetheart - Love the story behind the name, how sweet! Is always good to see you post and read your news.

Twinkle - Sounds like have your hands full - you seem to be coping so well though. Hope your DS is okay and that DH will be home soon to offer some support.

Rodeo - My sympathies, it's awful when the two of you are poorly. Hopefully as it's the weekend your DP is around to lend a hand or at least look after J when possible - hope that it will pass quickly. I only took DS to TTs on Thursday and already he has a streaming, runny nose and is not himself.

Going back with my mum later today overnight for a rest, DH has loads of studying to do and I'm just exhausted - will hopefully be a good opportunity for him to focus on his module and for me to sit surrounded by usual pillows pale faced and moaning..believe me am now counting the days...my ribs cannot take it anymore. Anyway, mustn't moan..I'll save the moaning till i really need to

The old grump x

ChaCha, you're not a grump, you should have heard me towards the end with Sean, 'get this thing out of me', 'I'm not having anymore' etc etc.

feetheart, that's lovely, so cute.

No, Londoner, no pitter patter, although if I didn't know better myself, I would have been buying pg tests earlier in the week.

1. Increased appetite (yes you were right there)
2. Pregnant dreams
3. Horrible, 'bleurgh' taste in my mouth that won't go away
4. Occasional whiffs of marmalade (marmalade was my craving with Owen)
5. Back on cereals (strange milk thing with both pregnancies)

But I am definately not pg. i would love a couple more, but impossible right now.

The name change came about because I was bored of being fat, ginger & hairy! i wanted to keep GG, GreedyGecko sounded cool!

Hope you're not too run off your feet twinkle with your busy weekend.

Heeelllloooooo ladies !!!!

Am back! Cooee - it's been quiet on here!!

Weekend away was fab! Aalthough DH did wear me out, and not from the horizontal jogging olympics either! but with all the walks and hikes we went on! Honestly, I think I am turning into Hiking Heidi!!!!
But really, had a really nice break without little man! (although it was great to see T when we got back!) The food was out of this world, and the service was excellent!

Thomas is a joy, although he is wearing me out! No real words as yet, but he is running, walking and is clearly very bright (well he would be wouldn't he!!?? )

How are all of you guys? Nova / Chacha - hows the bumps? Not long to go now ladies! I am even getting exctied for you!

HAve also got a real taste for Rose wine! Am treating myself to a glass now after a hard day looking after T! gonna watch the 2nd part of Trieal & Retiribution later, and record Prison Break (gosh it's great isnt it GG / Nova - didn't think Veronica would get killed!? There's something shifty about that FBI guy too don'ta you think!?)

Right off to trawl the interweb, and wait for you lot to have a break to get back onto your PCs! You must all be so much busier than me!!!!

xxxxxx

Hi BROWNIE!! OOh your weekend away sounded fab!! When we're away I really appreciate things like reading the sunday papers, from my 'old' life - now it takes a week to get through them if I'm lucky! .
Not much to report here - booking our summer hols in Whitby again (fancy Robin Hood's Bay meet-up RODEO/anyone else up that way??)but summer seems sooo far away!!
Hope everyone is well and busy!
Diege

Glad you had a good weekend Brownie , must be lovely to have some time alone with your DH. It's too late tto say it now but we haven't started watching PB yet. We've been recording it on Sky+ waiting for a decent time for DH and I to sit and watch, as he currently works quite late most evenings, and I've been going to bed early due to noos erratic waking times/getting up all the time to go to the loo/general uncomfiness.

Pg is trundling along, I didn't have a UTI or kidney infection, but the blood tests have shown up a raised bile something level which along with my itchy skin means I'm being monitored for cholestasis. More blood tests on friday and a growth scan. Other than that I've had fun today watching my whole belly move about.

Been doing some more stuff to noos room, it's looking fab now. Her armoire comes next wednesday and then we should be pretty much there, I'll post some pics when it's done.

My Phil&Teds also arrived last week and it's taken me a while to figure it out. DH thinks it's a bit of a tank, but I said he should look at some of the other twins on the market.

Glad you had a good weekend away Brownie. Enjoy PB, def will be Sky+ing it, no way can I stay up that late. You will enjoy it Nova when you get a chance to see it, it still has the edge of your seat endings.

You sound like you're really getting yourself sorted now Nova, hope all the bloods are fine on Friday. I always found it funny when the boys would kick a book off of my belly!

One of the mums at school had her baby yesterday - a little boy, 10lb.

Hello!
Just about recovered, have my post illness rash again (which is actually quite good as I can prove I was poorly after all and wasn't faking!)
Brownie, weekend sounds lovely! Whereabouts did you go? Nice little T update
Ooh Diege, I've been looking longingly at the holiday cottage websites for the Summer, but need to locate spare funds for the deposit! Not having much luck, maybe in Feb! And yes a Robin Hood's get together sounds brill, hopefully no-one will die this year!
Nova, good to hear you're well, hope the itching stays at bay. I won't bother asking about 24 - I've not watched one episode yet and am panicking slightly that I'll never catch up (wish I had Sky+!!).
GG - Hope all is well your end When can we expect your no.3 then?!
No news this end really, have been busy with sorting a fundraising sponsor thing for the PTA for the children to do over half term (which is fast approaching - next Friday for us!) and did the horsey thing this afternoon.
Hope our other pg lady is well? Chacha - you've not signed in for 2 days!!

I'm actually so eager to get the nursery cleaned and ready, but we have guests coming on friday - DH's work winter party, very elegant occasion, have managed to get a floor length evening gown from Monsoon that's empire line, reduced from £160 to £48! - so I'm waiting for them to stay before I get going on it. I got a really fab bundle of clothes from the MNetter that I sold my loola to, a mix of girl and boy stuff, so I need to get round to washing all of that as well as noos old stuff that's in storage. She's also holding onto a bundle of boys 3-6mo clothes for me - just in case .

Have bought a lovely Skip Hop change bag that clips onto the handles of the buggy with the proceeds from my selling on MN. You may not be aware but I've spent the last couple of weeks passing on all the stuff from noo that I won't use again, mainly to make some space rather than a ton of cash. Think I've just about got rid of it all now, will start again when this one grows out of everything!

Hello girls, hope good weekends were had by all.

BB - All that fresh air and good food sounds wonderful, glad you had such a great time I went out with my mum on Sunday morning, something that the two of us hadn't done in years and although i missed DS while I was out, a walk in the park and Sunday shop was just lovely and it was nice to miss him. Typically though, i returned home to find that he'd been asleep the whole time!! Woke up just in time for my return...oh well, DH is a very clever man!

Nova - I hadn't heard of cholestasis before so I just looked it up on google and read a little about it. There were some good tips on how to keep the itchiness at bay. Hope the scan/tests go well on Friday.
Well, as usual, curiousity got the better of me and not knowing now what a skip hop bag was I found myself on the 'happy bags' website...not a good move!! Found myself (other than drooling over bag) loving the bottle wetsuits..how cute!

Rodeo - Glad you're better now post illness rash and all, hope J is good too. Well my section date has been moved forward a few days, DH couldn't have been with me on the date that was given so they've kindly changed it for us. It will be in just over 2 weeks It's really weird knowing when it will be but strangely calming being able to plan in this way.

I haven't told anyone the date as I feel it should still come as a nice surprise for relatives and friends, have only told my mum as she has to be here the day before, do you think i'm being mean not wanting to tell anyone else? DH does, particularly as he thinks his parents should be able to plan accordingly too - but in reality, had it to be a normal birth, no one would have a say so what is the difference? Thanks.

Well, there's my ramblings for the day. DS had NO nap today so we were 9am-10pm - straight mummy shift - I am pretty exhausted but glad of some 'me' time even though i should be in bed making the most of it. Where do they get that energy from i wonder, he just keeps going and going and going... night night all x

My goodness Chacha, NO nap in all that time . Noo got home from nursery yesterday lunchtime after no nap in the morning, and was an absolute screaming wreck within seconds of stepping foot inside the house. A two hour nap then followed, but I hate seeing her so tired.

Happybags is where I got my Skip:Hop from . I saw it on a mums buggy at swimming and she said 'oh, it was from America', and I just knew I'd find it online somewhere. It's such a good but simple design, I'm surprised more bag makers don't do it.

As for c/s dates, I would agree with your DH that if your parents know it would be fair to tell his parents, but I don't think you should feel the need to tell everybody else. Just over two weeks - very .

diege, let us know the dates for whitby and we will be there as its only 45 mins down the coast from hartlepool any sign of number 4 yet?????? we r seriously thinking of it!!!! i must need my head readDH back from columbia safe and sound
twinkle

Hello - just got back from Brownies! Gosh I must be a mentalist - we are still absolutely FULL - with a massive waiting list and Mums phoning me every week, trying to see where their daughter is on the waiting list!! I am soo tired, and am also v busy at work - never seem to have the time to do much - isn't it always the way!!??

Nova - remember back when I was going on about Blue Camou bags etc a few months ago? Well it was a SKip Hop Bag that I bought - soooo wish I had bought it originally instead of the M&P one I did get! I ended up with the REd Skip Hop Duo, and I love it! Well worth the money and I would fully recommend every new parent to get one! true endorsement indeed!

We have booked our Summer Hols too!!! yippee!!!!! Used the same website as last year, and this time have booked a cottage in Carmarthenshire! Same people as last time - my parents, me, dh, ds, and 2 of our best friends, who are Ts godparents, but not a couple - hence I share a room with Becky, and DH shares with his mate! But it was soo enjoyable last year, we are all doing it again!! It is a working farm, so T can go and see all the animals can't wait!!

Right, off to do some more mooching on the interweb - looking for a bag for my yoga mat, oh and a heat resistant mat for my ghd's - any ideas?

Brownie
xxx

I thought it was a skip:hop you got Brownie, you did cross my mind when I was looking for it. I've got the black duo.

I've got one of these for my GHD's -

heat proof mat

and this is wonderfully pink -

yoga mat

No imminent news about n0.4 yet TWINKLE (feel tired just thinking about it at the moment!]but if we do go for it, then we'll probably start trying (and believe me it will be an effort ) May-ish. Don't worry, you will receive way too much information . Hey excellent news of your plans for a 4th too !!!! Wow, what made you reconsider?? Great too about Whitby ; who knows, we might both have (little) bumps by then!
RODEO, Robin hood's bay would be great - seems ages since last year's events - hoping you'll get a chance to get away too. BROWNIE: Brownies sounds exhausting - don't suppose you can just sit back with a cup of tea and a biscuit either!
Right, bed for me, as I've just got back in from evening teaching...my last session till september !!!

Hi girls a flying visit from me, thanks for all your kind thoughts for my grandad, he's doing okish and my brother and I are visiting him a couple of nights a week

Chacha wow 2 weeks till d day how wonderful, hope you manage to enjoy the last couple of weeks and that knowing the date helps you to feel calm and in control.

Londoner sorry to hear you were all poorly, hope you're all better now.

Love the name changes girls.

Wow too at all this talk about no.4 for Diege and Twinkle - I'm in awe.

GG lol at your dreams, I dreamt my mum was pregnant the other night how bizarre is that

Brownie glad you had a great weekend away. Thank you for your post about my grandad it made me cry, but smile too.

Nova your nesting must be contagious as we've finally got our backsides into gear and decided what we are going to do with the loft room and the lucky winner is Ben so we've been painting each evening this week as he didn't want the yellow room (my dad had just painted it for us) he wanted a blue and green room - so anything for a quiet life it's what I've done. Hopefully we will have both boys in their own rooms by the end of next week - fingers crossed!!!

Things here are still rather hectic, we are still the house of the lurgy, I have had a cough for 3 weeks - grrr I hate coughing, Ben has the same cough and now Tom has a stinking cough and cold, I am not impressed and have every window in the house open at every possible opportunity, trying toget rid of the flaming germs.

Ben is still crying when he goes to school so any suggestions on how to stop him would be greatly received. He did however, love the snow except I was walking Tom plus 4 kids to school, one of whom has a broken leg so all I did was nag and moan all the way there

Bet I've probably missed loads of stuff out here, but just grabbing a quick five minutes before bed, so hi and sorry to anyone I've missed, hope you are all well and will catch up again soon Beks x

Hello all,

Good to see you post Beks, hope you all manage to shake off that cough soon! Well done on the room decorating - you're amazing, it seems even when you're right up against it you're doing a million things.
I can really sympathise on the Ben crying about school front. Had the same with ds2, it's so awful isn't it. My son did 'grow out of it' in the end though, think it was just that he's v.sensitive, loving and until a certain age would rather have been with with me than at school... is this the same with Ben? Can you pinpoint what it is he doesn't like.... particular teachers/kids/ lessons/luchplay or whatever? A few things mine have all found hard were
-being hurried up over lunch/grumpy dinner ladies(no offense to any nice dinner ladies out there)
-general overload and confusion surrounding multitude of rules....
-lining up is a particularly difficult time as it's often a time teachers get tense trying to 'shush' or tell off unruly pushers.... wonder as he's tall if Ben, quite literally, sticks out in the line and poss, unfairly gets scolded if he's jostled as it can look like he's messing about.... just a thought as this used to happen all the time to my , very tall, ds1.
Can he come home for lunch perhaps?

sorry gotta go, school pick up.

Just a quick one, shouldn't really be here during the 'hell hour' - but they're all eating yoghurts and watching Power Rangers Mystic Force(!) again! I have been bored to tears watching it with him this morning as he was off school today.
Hi Beks Glad Grandad is ok-ish, hope he gets out of hospital soon. Sorry to hear about Ben, Joe was the same last year - it took a couple of months TBH, he would say he liked school but it was missing us that made him sad, a sticker chart worked quite well with us, with 4 stickers a week = a reward but even then we'd end up giving him a sticker when he only cried 'a little bit'!!
Oh dear, the peaceful-ness of 5 minutes ago has gone so I'd better too - teach me to post during the hell-hour I'll be back later x

Hello - Beks - no probs, glad you managed smile re. my post (something to do with picturing me prancing around in pink wellies talking to a shrub no doubt!!!!!????? ) Anyway, glad Grandad is doing ok-ish, look after yourself, and remember we are all here if you need us.

Thanks for that link Nova what a fab idea for a ghd mat! Have been scouring the web looking for one, but no joy as yet, as John Lewis sem to be out of stock - bum! Had also seen that yoga bag, but have also seen this which I also think is fab! Choices, choices!!

Just watched Monday's prison break - oohh how excting! it just keeps getting better!! Oh and did anyone else watch last night's new series of CSI??!! It was absolutely brill!!!!!

Hope everyone else is doing fab! My little monster took ages to get off to sleep tonight - little herbert was stood up in his cot playing "peepo" by bending down and bobbing up looking all cute and sheepish!!! little monkey!!

Right, off to see if I can find some fabulous things on the interweb!

Brownie
xx

Bugger - just checked that link and it won't link to the page with the yoga bag on it! (incase you all think I am madder than I am!!)

It was a Gaiam Eco-Smart Yoga Mat bag......honest!

B

Hi girls

Sorry did much chance to post at mo, this gastric flu has a grip on us still with baby vomming this a.m again, mon dieu. Took me hours to do my post yesterday in between this n that and then cut short when realised it was school run. Hi to all. It's not right when you dread phoning school office again, had a letter from attendence officer fgs, rang school and said would he like to come and help clean vom off carpet? Hope you all are well , glad all better in rodeo house and that Joe seems better settled at school. Lol at BB and Nova shopping posts, you guys. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp, off to bleach doorhandles at suggestion of ds1 school office.x

OMG ChaCha!

Hi all

Londoner, Oh no, at you all still suffering there. Grrr at school sending you out a letter.

BEKs, sorry, I don't have any suggestions to add to what Londoner & Rodeo have already said. It can be so difficult at their age to find out what is bothering them isn't it. Could he be feeling a little out of place because his friends from nursery are already settled having started in Sept?

Rodeo - good luck with the PTA fundraising. Just a little idea for you if you're ever fundraising for books . Usborne do a "Ready Steady Read". The children are sponsored to read for a set time, e.g. over a weekend, 1/2 term, money raised can then be spent in a variety of ways, e.g. al for the school, some for school & some for each child... (and the children get a certificate for taking part). The more raised the more free books. E.g. raise £100+, get 10% extra free books, raise £500+ get 60% extra free books.

Nova/ChaCha,hope you're both OK. ChaCha, No I don't think your being mean in not telling anyone when baby will be born. IMO if ILs don't need to be there to look after Z or help in any other way then it will be a nicer surprise for them to not know.

Hope everyone else is well. GG xx

ooo Londoner you had me all a flutter, I thought that was going to be a birth announcement! I'm still mighty that Chacha is going to be holding her widgy one in a couple of weeks time, and I've got another 5-7 weeks depending on when this one decides to make an appearence (moan, moan, moan).

Went and had a make-up session at benefit today as I haven't really treated myself since my wedding, and my skin is shocking. They worked miracles and I've now got a make-up bag stuffed with magic wands that make my skin look wonderful. Just hope I can re-create it all in 30 mins tomorrow night! I did then have to take noo swimming, to some strange looks from the other mums, and ended up with panda eyes, lol

Evening!
Oh Londoner! We're in the same (sicky) boat! Thought Joe was on the mend but he's been being sick again today! Sickness bugs always seem to take a hold of him, he looked so bony getting out of the bath tonight And Jess still has runny nappies - I've been bleaching the kitchen and bathroom like a maniac (although never thought of door handles!!)
Brownie - sounds like you're enjoying Yoga Love the pink yoga mat! Very of you booking your hols already! Can't wait for the summer, had a touch of sun today which was lovely (but maybe a bit worrying for all the wildlife!)
GG thanks for the fundraising ideas I've made a 'Animal Alphabet Hunt' sponsor sheet for the children to find animals for. But I will think of Usbourne next time
Chacha - I can see your point, but I agree with Nova and think they should know too. Also it is major surgery, and they will be worried about you and their little GC. Ok so an ELCS not got the surprise but it's not a bad thing - it was lovely my family all knowing the date. Getting the good luck texts, friends and relatives all sitting at home waiting for their phonecall (Also I think I would kill my future DIL if she didn't tell me her section date I'll be a monster MIL...)
Hi Diege, how's your marking going? So have you finished your evening teaching for now then, I bet that's a relief
Right I'm off my sister is IMing me and getting me to look at different links, I'll share if any of them are any good! x