May 07 Darling buds of May crawl this way...

[scootermum]

Sorry, best I could come up with in between making tea and trying to get Lils off to bed before the football starts...

LG&T could you really make that? And I thought the train was hard...Thanks for asking after R, she is fine now. She has a few little scabs left now but most have gone and we were very lucky that she wasn't at all badly affected. Hope B is on the mend too.
TYG congrats on the blue bump. Bet you're all really excited. I know i only have 1 of each so it's not much of a survey but based on mine, boys are a million times easier as babies!!
Well, I think my car is on it's last legs. I have Y reg Punto and it has had a few problems recently. This morning it wouldn't start so I called the RAC who came out. The guy said the battery was flat but he checked the alternator and that was fine. He charged the battery for me and advised me to keep it running until I could get out to get a battery. He waited by the car while I got R ready and off we went to Halfords. I noticed also an orange light had come on on the dashboard which according to manual is injection system failure - sounds serious doesn't it? Anyway, at Halfords the guy there checks the battery and it comes up as 100% ok. So he checked the alternator and guess what, his reading says faulty. He didn't know anything about this light. So now I am left with a car which at the moment is drivable but has either a faulty battery or faulty alternator or both,plus another problem with the injection system whatever that is. I was really hoping to jave had a new car by now but the money isn't really there what with dh starting his own business. The problem is I'm sure if I can afford not to get a new one now. I don't want to keep forking out for this one over and over again. Will have to have a serious money chat with dh. Sorry for boring you all, just realised how tedious all that sounds to anyone else!!!

Abby - sorry to hear your car is crap... Mine is also making some very weird noises (possibly brake disk related) and I hate going to the garage. My dp is handing his notice in next week to set up his own business as well so its all belt and braces at the moment. Very bad timing !

LG&T - you're a very handy sis to have with your cake baking prowess ! The choccywoccydoodah site has some fab cakes on if you're looking for ideas. Glad to hear the pox is clearing up. One more to go maybe but at least its done with then (until next one/s arrive of course )

Nothing exciting happening here... I'm bored silly. Me and Til both have colds and are feeling a bit rotten. On the bright side, her sleeping does seem to be getting better (only woke up once for the last few nights and a quick stroke sent her straight back off). I wouldn't be stupid enough to jinx it and say we may have turned a corner but......

Am very of your meet up.

Hope everyone else is ok. TYG - have you done any blue shopping yet ?

Well now i am VERY excited. I have had a chat with dh and he thinks the only solution is for me to get a new car. We have a close friend who runs a Citroen dealership and did dh a brilliant deal on his Picasso 2 years ago - I have already emailed him. I am looking at the C3.

Luck you Abby Quick before he changes his mind!

Tilly bake a cake then scoff the lot. Instant entertainment

Will look at the cake site, thank you!

PMSL at bake a cake ! I don't think I've ever baked a cake in my life Actually, I lie - I did a swiss roll in Home Ec at school. It was way too big and I just kept rolling and rolling it until it finally collapsed under its own weight A domestic goddess, I am not ! Like the idea of scoffing them though

Abby - yay ! I love French cars and the C3 is lovely (I looked at one but went for a Renault Megane in the end - felt I had something in common with its big "ass")

Good morning everyone.

It a lovely sunny day out, and I have nothing on the agenda other than hanging out at home.

So do I dare get out of my pajamas. . . . I don't think so.

Cinnamontam, Juicylucytoo, I hope I'll get to see you next week.

JW, sorry that you haven't found baby groups that made you feel comfortable/welcome. The ones that I've been to locally are all friendly but I've been to one or two a few months ago that weren't.

Woo-hoo! Just got the call that my HCG levels finally went back to 0. Yesterday was the last test.

lgt, how can you stand it? I guess I will get to be stuck in the house for more than a day or two at some point, and confidently predict that I'll go completely insane with just one LO. Hope your kids are better soon, and the other May babies with chickenpox too.

Great news M2LB, now you don't have to worry any more.

LG&T, it must be kind of nice to be all snuggled up just the three of you, no work for dh. Lots of opportunities to practice for that BFP To cheer you up i have posted a picture of our chicken shed. That'll make N chuckle Also I have added a picture of our horny horned chameleon and its amazing, they really do change colour. I expect TYG will be along in a minute to explain how that happens

Charley, so sorry hear the worries with little George are not yet over. It must be so draining for you all. By the time he is a strapping 4 year old fighting imaginary pirates and dragons you will wonder what all the fuss was about. Fingers crossed.

April, i meant to say what a genius daughter you have, however what is the link between Jack and cat I wonder??? I also do confess to having only fed J pretty much exactly what the other two get for the last couple of months Don't tell the MN police but that has included sausages and baked beans. (both of which he loves!!)

I've missed most of Attenborough's "Life in Cold Blood", so you'll have to Google it.

Cam I wouldn't worry about the sausages and baked beans, if R would eat anything I would be happy. I think when it's the school holidays it really hits me how little she does eat becasue I see her all day and every time it really gets me down. I had decided that this holiday would be 'Operation Make Ruby Eat'. So far I am failing miserably. I feel like I don't know who to turn to for advice. I can't see the hv as I am always at work when the clinic's on and it seems ridiculous to take her to the drs when she looks so fine and healthy and happy.
As an example today she has had:-
7am breakfast - 6oz milk, tried Weetabix- 1spoonful and spat it out. Screamed whenever I put it near her mouth. Put some on the try but she wouldn't go near it. 5 raisins.
10.30 - 1 baby biscuit, 1 rice cake and a tiny drop of very weak squash.
12.15 lunch - 1/4 of a Babybel cheese, 1 Cow and Gate savoury biscuit, turned nose up at chicken and cucumber. When I put chicken in her mouth she spat it out and as soon as she touched cucumber with her finger she went mental. 1 Petit Filous. 6oz milk.
3.00 1 rice cake. Juice.
5.00 Tea. About 1/2 a small slice of toast. Futapura fruit pot. 4 oz milk.
6.45 Bed time - 7oz milk.
I have started to give her things like the yogurt and fruit pot as a pudding to try and help her realise what a meal time is like. Is that a stupid idea? Do you think she will get even more a sweet tooth. For some reason all she seems to want to eat are hard, crunchy things like biscuits. It's not a teethng thing because she is always like this. I feel as though she doesn't eat anything 'proper'.

Abby! That's loads, honestly! It takes something like 6 times of them trying something new before they adopt a taste. I put bits down on J's tray for him to taste, he picks them up shoves them in, sometimes spits them out, sometimes will eat very little, little bits. I try to make sure he has a yoghurt if he has eaten little else at a meal time, or some fruit that I know he loves, like a banana. He doesnt have any snacks yet during the day so is only eating at meal times.

Is Ruby moving yet? If not it might change as she gets more active, she may get hungrier. What about dunking the things she does like like the rice cakes in something, like veg soup? J loves mini pitta breads with mashed avocado and banana inside, he smears it all over the place. Chicken is quite difficult texture-wise and taste-wise it is very bland. Have you tried well cooked big pasta tubes smothered in a ratatouille type sauce that you can blend (a little or a lot depending on how she feels about lumps) beforehand, and then she can pick them up herself? Don't go beating yourself up too much, some babies eat a lot, some don't.

Abby! That's loads, honestly! It takes something like 6 times of them trying something new before they adopt a taste. I put bits down on J's tray for him to taste, he picks them up shoves them in, sometimes spits them out, sometimes will eat very little, little bits. I try to make sure he has a yoghurt if he has eaten little else at a meal time, or some fruit that I know he loves, like a banana. He doesnt have any snacks yet during the day so is only eating at meal times.

Is Ruby moving yet? If not it might change as she gets more active, she may get hungrier. What about dunking the things she does like like the rice cakes in something, like veg soup? J loves mini pitta breads with mashed avocado and banana inside, he smears it all over the place. Chicken is quite difficult texture-wise and taste-wise it is very bland. Have you tried well cooked big pasta tubes smothered in a ratatouille type sauce that you can blend (a little or a lot depending on how she feels about lumps) beforehand, and then she can pick them up herself? Don't go beating yourself up too much, some babies eat a lot, some don't.

Sorry, I don't know what happened there

Here's another thought Abby, do you think she associates meal times with getting milk so holds off on the food til she gets her milk? Have you tried giving her milk at different times of the day, eg, 6.30 on awakening, 10.30 at snack time, 2.30 at afternoon nap/snack time, 7 at bedtime?

Abby, it seems as though Ruby is eating quite a bit so Im sure shes fine. Alana is quite a good eater usually but there are still times she refuses to eat properly and as a mother you do worry in case they arent getting enough. It sounds as though Ruby doesnt like getting messy which is why she seems to prefer 'solid' food. Apparantly I was the same as a baby, would cry if I got a bit of dirt on me and wouldnt touch messy food but I grew out of it (Im sat here with remnants of tea down my top as proof lol) and started eating normally. If you are worried though your HV will be able to arrange a time to visit you to at home to discuss it with you, if not then any decent gp would prefer for you to go see them than carry on worrying.

Cam I too give A similar food as the boys sometimes. Last night she had fish finger, chips and veg, cut up into tiny chunks, she loved it, she also loves pasta bake . She usually has 'healthy' food but now and again its a lot easier to dish us the same as everyone else, she usually tries to pinch it off our plates anyway lol

Im having a nightmare with regards to J's birthday party, I think hes been watching MTV too much. Hes decided he would like someone from Pompey football team to make a guest appearance Obviously I have more hope of Elvis returning from the grave and marrying my mum so now i need to think of something equally as good but more realistic. I understand he wants his last party with all his school friends to be special and memorable but I dont have the connections he seem to think i have. Now a Havant and Waterlooville footballer I could probably manage but it wouldnt be quite the same lol. Kids!! Im sure whatever i sort out will be good enough in the end though, hes just upped the ante a bit

Clearly i am entering some strange paralell universe where yesterday did not happen I posted yesterday and people posted back and now nothing is here

Please someone tell me i have not gone insane?

And now it is all back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohmigod i am hallucinating.

Right all back to normal, obviously i am losing the plot not.

Abby good advice from Cam there, give her milk at different times. Let her try everything and dont bother with spooning stuff in. If she will eat a yoghurt or pot of fruit then mix something in to it, for extra calories. A dollop of cream in her fruit for example or mash an avocado or banana in to her yoghurt. I would hold off on the baby biscuits for a snack and dont offer them at meal times as a substitute until she is eating everything else. It is so easy to fall in to theat trap and be stuck there when she 2 and screaming for a biscuit at tea time. Spread humous on her rice cake or philadelphia too. Hope it helps, please dont worry. Children will not starve themselves and the more you make an issue out of it the worse it will become for you and her.

Cam i love the horny creature! He is HUGE! The chicken shed is shocking, i will send N over with his tool box asap How are the kids doing at school?

Latinomom so glad to hear about the levels finally settling. Hope you stayed in your pj's all day.

We have been mooching here and not doing a lot. AF is here so am fairly incapacitaed anyway. I managed to soak through a pair of clean on jeans yesterday I then popped out to see a friend who just had a little boy on Friday (so tiny) only to have to dash home as i could feel the inevitable It is so debilitating and farcking annoying. The pain killers are just not cutting the mustard either.

My sis had her appointment with the consultant following her laparoscopy on Tuesday. Good news really, only slight endometriosis on her left ovary that shouldnt affect her fertility at all. They are going to put her on a 3 monthly cycle pill so she should only go loopy every 3 months now (lucky fiancee )She is a psycho with her periods but they are not too heavy. Think mom and i have endometriosis on our womb rather then ovarys as we are not psychotic just suffer with the bleeding and pain. I need to get pregnant agin!!!!

Baby up screaming for 2 hours in the night, i am curbing his waking for food\comfort this week. It is not going well. I am incredibly mean though, i am leaving him to scream his little lungs out and just laying him down and patting him vaguely every hour or so He will learn 9 months old next week and still up for food and on a bottle i dont think so. Tough measures...

How evil am i?

Thanks for the advice everyone, I really appreciate your cool calm heads when I am losing mine. I think because C was such a textbook baby with everything including food that I kind of expected it to be the same with R. Cam I am trying your idea about the milk today and we'll see what happens. I suppose it's obvious really, how thick am I? So far this morning she has had 5oz of milk, a yoghurt and half a box of raisins. Then she helped herself to a big bite of dh's toast! That was at about 7.15 so I am trying to hold off until about half ten to give her a bottle and I'll forget about the snacks.

Good luck Abby, fingers crossed today is a better day

Pebble, how sweet that your ds has such faith in you being able to pull a celebrity out of the hat for his birthday! You put such effort into the kids birthdays you put me to shame, its ds1's birthday next month and I am trying to work out just how few boys I can invite . I thought we might make wigwams with poles from our very own enormous bamboo bush and some cheap bits of material.

LG&T, you really have lost the plot woman - for all we know you were probably imagining dh's spots . Poor Beau and his cold turkey sleep regime. Cruel cruel mummy. Don't worry it only takes a day or so, we did it last week Now we are at that waking at 5.45 am stage. How do we get out of that one?

As for school - B is absolutely in love with being at school, they are pushing them harder than at UK preschool and he is really enjoying it. D on the other hand is not so happy. She is one of the eldest in the class (which is the top class) and so very mature (too much sometimes) that I think she is a little understimulated. I don't think she finds the work too easy, more the whole school environment and her teacher I think are not stimulating enough. Still she will be moving to a prep school in sept where there are 7-13 year olds so I think she will blossom there. She blardy better had cos its costing an arm and a leg.. B is at school today for lunch and stays til 3.30, J and I are a little lost without him around...

This will make you laugh, today I went to a market where they sell second hand clothes because I really needed a new pair of lightweight trousers, the ones I had bought in the UK are all now too big (!). Most of the second hand stuff was from the UK, Primark, Asda and Tesco mainly and my friend and I reckoned that what we paid for the trousers second hand was probably more than you would pay for them originally in Primark Also I thought how funny it would be if I had ended up buying in Kenya one of the pairs i had given originally to a UK charity shop

LG&T, I did stay in my pajamas all day yesterday. (Do you have cameras in my house)

My sil has endometriosis, and it is brutal. She just got done with a 6 month cycle of testaterone shots to stop her period. It has been brutal. Her doctor told her when her period comes back to have one more baby (has a 2 year old now) and during the C-section to have a hysterectamy.

Well am very happy. The two other houses that were for sale have both sold. That means that now we are the only game in town, and it proves that people are out buying. So we're next. (hopeful emoticon)

Hey all,

LG&T and other poxy ones, hope you aren't going too crazy being under house arrest.

Charley - hope you get to the bottom of G's anemia soon.

We moved A in with his brother last weekend and I have been up most of the night every night since with one or other of them. A is still getting stuffed up at night after his last bout of bronchiolitis and wakes up coughing and then sits up in the cot and yells and yells unless I feed him. DS1 has been waking every other night and either coming through to our room or yelling and waking up A, either way he manages to get himself so thoroughly awake that it takes ages for him to get to sleep again. I'm very tired and grumpy. I scared myself yesterday by how angry I felt when DS1 wouldn't do what I asked him to do. Must get more sleep and a grip on myself!

DS1 started playgroup this week. I stayed with him on monday and then on tuesday he said he wanted me to stay but as soon as we got there he was so busy with the toys that he barely noticed when I said goodbye. I think he is going to love it.

Evening all. Cam tou are an absolute genious and I love you to bits. Thanks so much for suggesting the idea with R's milk. I tried it today and we have managed to drop a whole bottle just like that. She had her normal bottle with her breakfast and then one mid-morning. She ate a bit at lunch with some juice and then had another bottle mid-afternoon. She had a bit of tea and polished her bedtime bottle with gusto. I feel a lot better because although she hasn't eaten a vast amount I was worried she was drinking far too much milk. To be able to drop a whole bottle has really settled my mind.
We went in to Derby today for C to choose a treat. He stopped wearing pullups at night last week and only wet the bed on the first night. Dh told him if he did a whole week of dry nights he could choose a treat. He chose a Thomas the Tank Engine game and he and dh are playing it now. We've let him stay up late to play it. It's lovely to get some time alone with him sometimes.

hurrah we have internet again no idea how long for so may disappear again. As DP said he is not installing new tinternet till we move.

Massive news here have sold the flat!!! And bought a house hurrah hurrah hurrah. We are going down there this weekend will take a pic and post it. Am so excited its the one we really wanted in the tiny village am joining the WI and DP has already bought me a pinny to wear will be looking at wellies to wear tramping in the fields.

I need advice ho the feck do I get rid of a cold in my monster he has now been snotty for nearly 4 weeks it is gross all my clothes have snail like marks on them.

Have I missed a meetup god darn internet.

I did read back the 6 pages am really sorry cant remember half of it but massive big wave to all did I miss Lups leaving? Have all the pox ridden households got better?

Can I ask a post miscarriage question. Had practically no bleeding afterwards but then last Sunday eve (10days after EPRC) had a bit of a bleed thought it might be AF as had been feeling a bit periody but woke up on MOn and nothing. How long till my cycle gets better should I be concerned that had random bleed. Also been feeling quite angry not about miscarriage just in general, hormones prob dont you think??

Anyway enough of my waffle have wellies to buy. woohoo