December 06: For my first birthday mummy I would like.......

[Indith]

Here you go Eli!

I almost put 'your clothespegs' on the end there. Ds loves clothespegs. Came home from Rainbows the other day and dp had made a deal with ds. He could play with the clothespegs as long as he did it in his playpen and let dp make dinner.

Hi jabberwocky! I saw an Oprah show once where a doctor was recommending a system which pours water into one nostril, flushes around your sinuses and eventually comes out the other nostril! Looked really bizarre but apparently worked fantastically!
Can definitely recommend Stollen, too, if you can get it!

Sounds bizarrely interesting A friend of mine routinely uses a neti pot (sp?) I probably should upgrade to a more sophisticated method

Will look for Stollen but I'm afraid it's going to be tough to find around here. Is it really hard to make?

Margo you detective you! I am useless when people namechange, can't keep up at all and certainly don't tend to recognise posting styles. Although of your guesses....where is Oli?

yes, I was thinking about Oli last night funnily enough (that her posting style matched her photo in Facebook, I don't know why!)
Will try saline rinse, definitely, thanks jabber.

Not me! I'm lurking but not managing to post atm. I'm with you all in spirit though! Happy Birthday to all the lo's that I've missed, will catch up properly later....................

'ello!

Jabber, stollen isn't that hard to make if you can make a loaf of bread. We always have it for Christmas breakfast. Yum! (Really must get it made this weekend, along with all the sweets DD1 has to make for teachers, Rainbow leaders, nursery nurses, friends, neighbours .....

Thank you for keeping me up to date with name changes. I am completely unable to process name changes which is why I will forever hereafter be known as babypowder.

That sinus flushing thing sounds horrific. I'm sure its effective, but really.

And I am Indith for evermore, while greatly admiring the festive names going around.

Does your dd really make sweets for her Rainbow leaders? Would she like to transfer into mine? I'll have a couple of spaces after Easter I got a mobile pottery woman to come in tonight and the girls painted tiles. Well, some of them painted, some shoved as much paint as possible on the tiles/themselves/the table......

Ds still a star. Not sure what has come over him but I don't want it to end. He is just so......se....well happy And he is back to loving cuddles just in a far more interactive manner, in that he gives them as well as receives them. He just grins whe he is hugged and likes to throw himself at people and fling his arms as far round them as he can get. (I got that treatment when he came out of the bath today, dp had him but he threw himself at me ). While the past few weeks have been far from easy with uni stress and sinuses etc, once ds got over his sore throat he has not added to the stress at all. In conclusion, my child is fab.

You remember the guy from my college whose girlfriend's waters broke? She had the baby several days later in the end (can't remember if I told you that). Anyway I finally met the wee thing today . They are doing well, she had some feeding trouble but she is pretty well established now and just trying to reduce the bottles as much as possible. The thing that got me though is that last night this tiny little bundle of few week old baby slept from 1am to 9am I want me one of those models next time!

AQ you know you want to come...a night out! No children! I'll even drive and pick you up

My DD2 is also an angel. She's just so contented. When I pick her up from nursery, the nursery nurses are always amazed at how happy she is even though she doesn't nap at all when she's there Apparently she's just far too interested in all the other babies and all the toys to consider sleeping. The only time she drops off is if they take her out in the pram.

She never seems to get upset (except when she does daft things like bite her fingers instead of her green beans, things like that), she gives everyone she meets great big dimples and smiles that force her eyes to shut. And she has mastered the royal wave.

I'd just like to bottle this phase, please.

And Indith, if you were DD1's Rainbow leader you could be looking forward to a lovely bag filled with honeycomb (dipped in G&B), peppermint creams (dipped in G&B) and marzipan thins (dipped in ... ah, I see you're ahead of me there)

Isn't it amazing how tiny new babies are? I was looking at a very frightening photo taken on Christmas Day last year. DD1 had received a Baby Born, and DD2 was lying next to it - and she was smaller than the doll. Just weird.

Ok stop I'm drooling now. I'm also going to sulk if none of mine give me things like that. All I ever get are chocolate oranges. Milk chocolate oranges. I don't even like milk chocolate!

I forgot to say that ds has learned to clap! He is so happy about it

In fact, I've just added some photos of DD2 to my profile, including the scary one.

Lol @ BP's TWO baby born's

awww bless baby bp and baby indith
DS2 not an angel (still grumpy and ill in undefined kind of way) but said mama for first time today. Sobbed in front seat.
Tremendously teary and silly today, must be the christmas/birthday stress getting to me. And dp and I not really talking for reasons I'm not quite clear on.

Margo, just having a look at your photos, sooo cute the ones of them sleeping

Any cake experts on here (jabber?) panicking as I'd been feeling too rough this last week to sort a cake for ds1's birthday. I ordered some pirate party bags and hats, eye patches etc and they're all great. He's keen on peter pan and capt hook at present, his grandma's made him a costume of each for birthday and christmas. But Dp has visited 3 supermakrets and not found a pirate cake! What do I do? I'ver never made one, I've never iced anything. But would hate for it to be power rangers cake or something. Birthday party is on Friday morning! Arrrggggh. And havent got any food for all the adults after the kids' soft play party, doing a tesco online now. Double arrgggh.

AQ, what about doing something simple like a pirate ship? Get a couple of madeira cakes (the loaf-shaped ones) and put them side by side on a cakeboard or plate. Using a serrated knife, cut them into a boat shape (you know, hollowed out in the middle, pointy at each end) - sticking them together with icing makes cutting them easier. If you want a bigger cake, just use more madeira loaves! Cover liberally with buttercream, or that supercook soft icing.

Decorate with round sweets for portholes, flags on skewers, cannons made out of licorice allsorts, use chocolate fingers to define edges, etc.

Or just have a plain cake and make pirate ship jellies. Cut an orange in half, scoop out all the flesh, pour in jelly and leave to set. Once its firm, cut into segments and decorate with flags on cocktail sticks.

Ooh, thanks bp, I'm just looking at supercook icing on tesco online. Have never even bought any, is it easy?

This one is dead easy. Just use a spatula or knife to slap it on!

OR, what about making a treasure chest cake - same madeira loaf idea, but you could have chocolate coins spilling out! That would be dead easy, I reckon.

AQ I'll just e mail you a friends number if you get desperate. She lives pretty close and is fab at cake decorating and has been known to do them for people!

I just e-mailed my essay in!

I am done for the term!

Congrats, Indith!

AQ, I cannot even begin to top the great ideas bp has come up with

Besides, I cheated this year you know with my special turkey cake pan

I know what you mean about bottling this stage. It is just wonderful. The days I work ds2 comes at me as soon as I walk in the door with his arms outstretched in a kind of Baby Frankenstein sort of walk. And he was dancing in front of the stereo to Nina Simone tonight, lol.

Did I mention we're doing the whole family Xmas thing a week early? I spent all morning on the house yesterday, came home from work to find most of it undone and I never even made it to the guest room - eek! I have until tomorrow night to get my act together.

Oh why, why, why can I not do the Fly Lady thing???

AQ - hope I'm not too late.

DD1 had a pirate party last year. Cook chocolate cake in a loaf tin. It comes out the shape of a treasure chest. Cover in melted chocolate and when that sets decorate with melted white chocolate. Use smarties as treasure.

Nope, fgs, not too late! Thank you, think I will look at tins I have first, I'm sure I have loaf tin. I just don't know when I'm going to buy the supplies and make the cake as out to Xmas work do at 7.30 and at work today. I do have a birthday cake book with pirate cake in too with more ideas - suggests using chocolate butter cake packet mix which sounds good to me!