Oct 2007; This little piggie had loads of roast beef and ^This^ little piggie would have none of it!

[Dalrymps]

Psst over here!

Inzi - for you about your knee - how terrible. That must be a nightmare to cope with Jane as well (but what a story about her first birthday you will have to tell her when she's older!) Hope you got your op sorted soon and can get on the mend.

LES - no idea about Christmas yet. Will probably end up spending more than I intended though .

Ouch Inzi!!! I thought it sounded bad last time but this!!! ... Words fail me!...I hope you get lots of help with Jane and you can arrange the op and get back on your feet asap.

As for christmas pressies...Alex is very into books ("boooo-k")and balloons ("b'looon") at the moment so it shouldnt cost us the earth this year. ...though must admit I'm tempted by the Thomas the tank engine ride on this one..more for dh and me than for him though!

FT my local toyrus had the same TTTE ride on for £90

not sure what we'll do as Henry's not into much and we have loads of Ollie's toys so he really doesn't need anything. Might get him a wooden block bench thing you hit with a hammer and a Noah's ark or 'zoo boat' as Ollie used to call it! (Stan ate Ollie's so at least we don't have one)

Ollie is getting a fire station with engine + men + accessories. I have negotiated (get me!) a 10% discount if I buy the lot from our local toy shop but I have found it still cheaper on line (with free delivery) so I'm going to go back and ask if he'll do it for that price. I know it's cheeky but you never know unless you try!

Am going to dig out the brio trains Ollie had too. I was going to be really stingy and wrap some of Ollie's old toys but Ollie would know...

lol Muppet, nooo he wouldn't go for it!!!

Inzi so sorry honey to hear about your knee. Esp as it comes with dh going back to work. Hope you get it sorted and quick!

LES no idea about Xmas. If I were you I would keep the vtech toys you got off freecycle for Zac - he won't know or care that they are not new! We haven't decided what we are getting yet but should chat soon I guess...

Floria that thomas ride on looks fab but a note of caution... A friend bought one for her lo and when set up with all the track it is ENORMOUS. So unless you have a huge house I would go for a normal ride on for a lot less. I have bought an overwhelming selection of ride on toys for Sam and he always prefers the cheap and cheerful plastic ones that double as walkers and do nothing more exciting than drive and have a honking horn! ANother fave though is the little tikes police car (or nee naw car and Adam is beginning to show interest too... Does look great though....

Well I was meant to be on call tonight and it seems I am not. There has been lots of confusion over the rota with them not replacing a couple of registrars, me staying but only taking half a slot on the rota and someone else has just started and she is on call today! Just as long as they don't expect me to do any days I'm not expecting thats fine with me!

Just off to give my big boy a goodnight huggle....

we have a blue ride on car that Ollie played with and played with and played with and would still play with it if we let him!

Inzi you poor thing! I hope you are taking it easy.

As for Christmas. To be honest at the moment unless things change we will be doing nada for any of us. I have to get gifts for my brother's two babies and my cousins who are still kids. I gave Dareh his Christmas present for his birthday. I might look out for something second hand or just get something he needs like jammies or something. Otherwise I guess he won't know and will get some stuff from relatives. Will be at the infamous SIL's for Christmas so it will be a bit embarrassing but that's life.

Stefka - do you have to go the sil's?
unwrapping lots of boxes is far more fun when you're little than the quality -if anything!- of what's inside them!

Oddly I feel less bothered about the whole Christmas thing than I did about the birthday one. Birthday's are personal if you know what I mean and it was his first. You lot made it totally special though Christmas is about families for me so that's what matters. I am not totally sure that the SIL actually wants us there for Christmas - going to try and have a quiet word with my brother.

OUCH! Inzi - that sounds really horrible, hope you can get it sorted soon and it isn't too hard to cope.

Sam has a Thomas the Tank Ride-on/baby walker and he still plays with that most days. The seat lifts up so you can put stuff inside. He also has this wooden trike and he has played and still plays with this loads and loads.

Regarding Xmas pressies... I have bought a joint one for Ben and Sam, the idea behind it being they can't argue over it, its a big kitchen from ELC. I will also be getting them some bits and bobs of their own. Today I bought Ben this Sam has a fireman Sam engine and they have started arguing over it, so now they have one each. I will probably end up spending approx £75 each.

we bought this www.toysrus.co.uk/ProductImages.aspx?ProdId=725897
for Zachary a few months ago and guess what?? he doesn't go near it..

another £42 down the drain!!!

If anyone is interested in the ride on we bought Zachary please do say as it is just sitting here and I want to buy him a wooden trike.

I have a real thing for wooden toys lol.

I am also looking for a kitchen for him but i think my mum is buying that (we hope lol)

how much would you want for it les as it would suit my fat lazy lovely man!

Inzi - poor you! That sounds terrible. Sorry we're none of us there to pop round to help. Hope it starts to feel better soon.

Dal - nice pics. Love the one of Dylan on the beach. Well done on the cake front. Can't believe you've never made one before. May this be the first of many

As to Christmas - we won't be getting Huw anything major I'm pretty sure (taking advantage of his extreme youth). DD has asked for Topshop vouchers. I've been trying to persuade her that money is better becuase you don't have to spend it in Topshop, but she's having none of it! We'll be in Singapore on Christmas Day this year, so any presents on the actual day will have to be small and light, or edible!

Am chuffed with self cos managed to cook from scratch and wash up this evening. Doesn't sound like much, but lately I've been finding it hard to manage both, which leads to the vicious circle of having last night's washing up to do before you've even started on anything else, and so it goes ...

So excited about US election. Wish it was all happening now, while I'm still awake!

right, I'm off to spend some time with my family

See you xxxx

Ouch Inzi-hugs, hope you feel better soon.

hmm christmas, so far i've got Shannon a pop up Dora the explorer toy box and some socks, oh and a couple of little outfits that where on sale, dd1, i've bought a bit more for, clothes mainly, although i feel like i should spend money on them, theres nothing they need, would rather use the money to put towards a holiday next year, plus i'm sure they'll get plenty of junk presents from other people. Stefka, how about getting the gifts you have to from a pound shop? theres some decent stuff in them and the kids wont care, as for Dylan, he will love the packaging the most anyway, and maybe see if anything comes up on freecyle if you've got one hows FIL?

well, Shannon is finally walking, just a few steps at a time, but getting more frequent.

I'm going to bed, got a shitty headache, and need to go to dentist tomorrow for root canal, and i have to take Shannon as i can't get a sitter, so not looking forward to that!

night all

J20 is that the same holiday we are saving for?

Muppet message for you from DP...where do you live? to save on postage? and how about £10 plus courier or postage and a pair of fleece pjs for Zachary? lol they are £3 in primark

lol LES-could well be

lol J20, well the 2 older males here are set on it lol and I am looking fwd to it, have already started saving and looking for a big enough suite.

Also have a buggy for sale if anyone wants one. It is a micralite fastfold

cool, will have to look into finding some deals for after chrimbo, maybe March ime when Rich gets a bonus right, i'm really off to bed.

May is better weather is warmer!!

Hello everyone!
Just popping on to say hi before going to bed - DH and DS already there, but then they were both asleep when I phoned home from work at 6pm!

Inzi - ouch - your knee sounds v painful
Apricotle - I am also excited about the US elections - think i will listen to it on the radio in bed. But I am sad like that re: politics, esp as this is so like my fave show ever The West Wing

I've decided we won't be spending much on Xmas this year - mainly because we want to save up to build an extension on our house in the new year, and because I don't think we really need anything and I don't like the idea of others spending money 'just because'. So DS has a couple of inexpensive wooden toys from Ikea - a train and a shape sorting truck thing. I've just got some bargain cars in Asda for friends kids, who are all boys aged 1-3. Will get niece and nephews something small as well. And then everyone else is getting tins of chocolates or biscuits! (my theory being I love quality streets, but wouldn't go & buy them for myself, so they make a nice present...)