May 07: The one where SOH gets her tweed clothes and LG&T doesn't get any...

[ShowOfHands]

New thread...

They said to take smart and casual and they do both. An hour of smart and an hour of casual.

Jam, thank you for saying nice things, but I believe those photos are from the ribs up! Covers a multitude of sins.

Jewellery I can do. I'll just go naked.

That's really nice SOH. Treat yourself, celebrate all your hard weight loss work and show off that fabulous new bod!

Naked could work. Right well if your lalas are your best bit sod it take a deep breathe and a sniff at some alcohol and get the ladies out for an airing. Does DH have plain white shirt that you could pull in tight use a bull dog clip to get the desired effect as they are not going to photo you from the back so no ine would see it, and then leave the first 3 or 4 buttons undone? Whack on a big ol necklace and there you go instant glam. Do they do your make up if so as for neutral with just a tiny slick of mascara and lippy.

Oh God make-up. Bloody hell. I don't wear make-up. I'll look like a clown.

My boobs aren't my best bit. I have ok feet. That's it. Maybe I won't go.

Stop panicing woman you will be fine. If oyu have D cup boobs I bet they look fab. What are these photos for I take it its not you that has prganised them I am assuming there is a MIL involved.

Oh how on earth did you guess? MIL's doing.

Yes DD/E cup boobs but one's more full than the other depending on which side dd has fed from, they aren't properly supported by my nursing bras and they have stretchmarks on them.

I am a mess.

Do you know what SOH fuck it wear what you like wearing and sod them all. If you are happy wearing a sack wear it.

Ooh no TMAM Colin and Justin would jut rip everything to pieces too scary. Can I come with you on your trip, please?

Ouch Jam hope you are okay, the paper is B&W, fancied a splash of colour I think, just not sure.

Am well done on the work. You deserve a pop out and a cuppa with a slice of cake.

LG&T will be out with the bleach tonight, getting evrything disinfected. Deep breath and count to ten.

TSM will raise a glass for you as DDs birthday is that day.

PJ your house is lovely I can tell, is that your house in the pic with your breasts my dh admires and L?

SOH you don't have stretch marks you have baby growing lines. You wear something nice and knitted/crocheted, or how about a nice shot of you with DHs uniform on and no knickers waving his truncheon baton and looking all domiatrix, could probaably get some money from them as well. Get a nice BF one if you can SOH, twill all be over quicket than you can shake a stick tit (don't know why but don't like that word) at.

I'm with you ladies who try to discipline and then they melt you with a cute expression I beg of you how will I ever get them sorted.

dominatrix sp see just the thought of it got me all a flutter.

You see I said the other day that I would wear my handmade skirt that I love and a shawl and have a photo taken of me feeding Tank. Somebody said 'what on earth do you want a picture of that for?'

CM, how's dh now? I'd put green in your kitchen. But I love green. It's calming.

Who's somebody, tell em to bugger off and get a nice BF one done, even if they don't want it it will be lovely for you DH and tank.

I think that is a splendid idea, handmade skirt and shawl it is.

DH is green SOH it does not seem calming at all at the mo. I had a limey/apple green kitchen before I painted it lilac and do like it but feel a change would be nice. No votes yet for orange/copper though, I think I am on my own with that one.

Would send you something SOH but my clothes are fat bird ones. Would accomodate your norks though.

CM - yes that's the view out of our bedroom window. My norks are enormous, but I am used to them now. LG&T was scared when I was talking to her on the webcam, like attack of the killer norks.

CM - Are you busy on Monday? I can't remember why Scoot and I aren't meeting you.

SOH - natural is the way forward. Or you'll look at the pictures and hate them because you don't recognise yourself. And STOP putting yourself down all the time. I wish I was a size 10!

Right Mrs SOH, you will look gorgeous whatever you wear! You have a lovely figure and i wish i still had my E cups. Family photos are about being natural and the important thing is that the 3 of you will be in it.

LOL yes Pink i remember LG&T reaction to your ladies

Charley, i like Scoot's suggestion of dove grey to go with the paper and also JAM's suggestion of a slightly smokey glass.

OK ladies, I am starting to wonder whether mumsnet is for me. (not you lot, just the rest of it.)

I have been feeling a little anxious again lately, mainly due to L's health again. Worrying about being able to feel her heart beating through her chest being the latest ridiculous paranoia.

The problem I have is, as you know, I have major drama queen tendencies. And for every person on MN that says something is 'just a cold', there are five other people who have stories of death and doom relating to the same ailment. I am currently sitting here with a knot in my stomach as I read on another thread someone whose child's heart was stopping every three beats. And now I'm thinking, 'Maybe L's was doing that? I thought L's was doing that?'

It's ridiculous, and I'm not sure if MN is feeding my paranoia. My RL friends think I should leave MN.

WWYD?

And to clarify CM - the first picture on my profile is NOT my house - that's my PIL. I hope you didn't mean that one!!!

Oh PJ only you can decide that. It's why dejags left after all. But she left the internet in general as she found google to be just as bad, if not worse.

What you have to decide is whether or not you are able to change the way you read things. MN is an absolute wealth of knowledge/help/amusement/support if you are able to read and use it in a healthy way. Firstly, and I love you remember, even if you read 7,000 tales of 'it's just a cold' and just 1 of 'it was a terrible, incurable mutant bug', what your anxious mind attunes to is that one possibility that it might be more serious. Well, frankly, that's life. There are risks in every situation, there will always be the one who is the exception to the rule. When you drive a car, accept a drink in a bar, cross the road and turn on the gas cooker, you do so knowing there is a minuscule chance that something could go horribly wrong. But you don't panic because you know that it probably won't. You need to be able to parent in the same way. You need to do that for yourself and for Lexie. Chances are she will sail through this life with fabulous experiences, wonderful friends and a great family. She will also fall down, be ill, not get the job she wants, have her heart broken, God forbid, she may have unruly hair. You will be there to support her through that as and when it happens. What you cannot do is imagine things that aren't happening or worry about them because precious moments are slipping by and you're not enjoying them.

Say you leave MN and you're sitting in a cafe with a snuffly Lexie and you overhear the woman on the next table talking about mutant super bugs that manifest as a snuffly nose. Is that not the same? Will you resist the temptation to google and read all the highly improbable stories of evils around every corner? What's ideal is that you use MN to inform and convince you that things are alright. You talk to us, you ask for other opinions, you take heart from the tales of how others get through a neverending virus.

The other thing is, the nature of talk boards. Example: if you post a thread saying 'my dd had an injection 3 days ago and her arm is swollen still', several things will happen. Most MNers, all of whom have probably seen their child injected at some time will not click on your thread or leave a comment because they will shrug and dismiss it. Luckily, they know a swollen arm is usual after an injection and can last for weeks. A few, kind, selfless MNers will click anyway and reassure you. A couple will scream PFB and laugh about it. What will certainly happen is that those few MNers whose child/friend/neighbour's 3rd cousin's dog had a bad reaction to an injection will come and tell you their story. That is because your thread title piqued their interest, it reminded them of a tale, they have a vested interest. Now, what you should be able to do is read the lovely reassurance, stick 2 fingers up at the teasing twits and bear in mind that yes there are tales of it all going wrong and here are some examples, but you knew that there is a risk involved anyway. These tales do not alter this fact. And you know what, MN can actually help in these situations. Somebody might say, I tried this with my dc and it worked. You may never have thought of that and it may work for you too. That's why we post, that's why we keep coming back, because it might help. If you're coming back to feed your anxieties, if you know you're not going to be able to resist reading the horror stories and being affected by them, then perhaps we must lose you on here for a time.

I don't have the answers (but I have a lot to say apparently), but I know that you and Lexie deserve you being able to find a way to deal with anxiety. I don't know how. Heck, I do it too. Sometimes pretending I know what I'm doing helps. Oh look at me, I'm coping, administering medicine, soothing my child, not panicking and once I've pretended for a while, you know what, actually her temp has come down and she's fallen asleep. You need to find a way of getting through those horrible bits and not letting them affect the lovely bits.

And, er...

Please don't leave. I'd miss you.

What a fantastic post SOH. I have considered hiding all the Health topics for a while and seeing if that helps. I was so proud of myself after coming through my anxiety management course, and I don't know what has triggered me off again.

It's very strange. I don't really want to leave you all though.

Are you alright PJ? Is she in bed?

Evening. I'm so busy i don't know what I'm doing any more. Please don't forget me. Maybe I'll get time to post again soon...

Er what SOH said Pink. Don't leave. Hide the topics, pass A over for a squeeze and i will tell you she is all good

I was not afraid of your norks btw i wanted them

Now SOH what did you wear to the photos and how does your hair look?

Abby we wont forget you, sometimes RL takes over (dagnamit) Hope you and the family are ok

Am unfeasibly happy, the housing officer just came over and reassured me we can have the carpets replaced and the walls painted i even got to choose carpet and lino colours Farck me i need a coffee.

CM i dont like orange, most hated colour i'm afraid. Ducke egg blue very nice with oak though.

SKY - If you need to try to keep him awake after his 5pm bottle, then you could try putting him to bed earlier. 6pm maybe. A was restless at night when I was putting him down at 7.30, but if he's asleep by about 6.45 then he's fine. Overtired babies don't sleep well at night because they're full of adrenaline. MID, same for you. It really is true that you should never wake a sleeping baby, so restricting naps isn't a good idea unless the nap is too close to bedtime. A sleeps 2-3 hours in the day. Not all toddlers need to, but if she doesn't sleep in the day then she needs to go to bed by 5.45 or 6pm and is completely manic with fatigue. Freddie might actually need more sleep in the day. A was waking between 5 and 6 recently and it was because I was giving her her tea too early (to suit myself if I'm honest). She was grouchy on waking, which told me she didn't want to be awake, but couldn't help it. I occasionally even do bathtime before dinner if I have to. I also found that a high protein & fat dinner helps her to sleep on that last hour, so we often have buttery scrambled eggs and toast, or I make sure there is plenty meat or cheese in the meal. Get all the fruit and veg in during the day leaving lots of room for the long-satisfying foods at night. She has a cup of milk and a biscuit for "supper" just before teeth and bed.

Pink, my dad has lower incisors on a bridge and has been known to superglue them back on in an emergency - particularly when short of cash. Also, if you can restrict yourself to our thread only, then there's no need to leave MN. I don't bother with other threads atm because I don't have the time, but even if I did, I'd stay away from health and ANYTHING which could be controversial. Learned my lesson the hard way!

SOH - Can you take in any of your tops? Or could someone (us?) lend you something you'd like? Incidentally, do you like ginger "cake" or just the biscuit-y stuff?

LG&T - How are you doing, my lovely?

Party was a roaring success. Everyone loved the food. Only thing I was upset about is that I realised AFTER everyone had eaten that all of the "garnishes" were still in the fridge. Pomegranate for the veg stew, coriander for the meat and passionfruit for the forgotten pudding. Gagh! Oh and one person didn't tell me they were allergic to almonds on arrival and ate some of the flour-free chocolate orange cake (for the wheat intolerant person). Of course almonds replace the flour so he was violently sick. Thankfully doesn't have anaphylactic reactions and felt fine once it was "out". Had stern (kindly) words when he said he never told people in case it sounded precious and told him that any host would prefer to be told so they could accommodate (and not have people barfing or needing epi-pens.) Was so tired on Sunday that I couldn't be bothered doing much more than loading the dishwasher a few times and ended up out in the rain on Monday taking down the gazebo and washing the disgusting floors and so on. DH spent HOURS in the garden fannying around with rocket launch sites and it was only at 4pm when I was starting to get anxious that he goes, "Oh, you should have said, I could have come in earlier."

Oh and my dad told me mid-party that I have a half-brother. Probably. Thought I already knew when he said it.

Oh bugger. Just realised when I saw G&T's post that the photos already happened! How did they go?

Photos are at 5pm tonight. Hair is after lunch.

Oooooo. Now listen SOH, stop feeling so sorry for yourself and MAN UP. You are a gorgeous creature and a new haircut will flatter you. Keep it simple. Wear that dress that dh bought you in the summer, you look stunning in that. Oh and you must take a hat, a hat needs to feature somewhere. Otherwise just relax and enjoy.

I wait and watch the outcome with interest as dh has now insisted we do the same thing for Christmas.

Pink, we couldn't live without your norkslovely self. I avoid all the 'emotional and subjective' threads and simply enter into the non-judgy ones in a lighthearted manner.

TYG, we went to see Quantom last night at a special premier. I agree with you, it was an utter load of twoddle. I had no idea what was going on half the time and I felt so badly for poor Daniel Craig, having such an awful script. I almost wanted to take him home and rescue him.

Come and visit Jinchini with us. You are all welcome. It only costs 60 pounds a day for 4 beds and a chef! It's very relaxing... LG&T it is a little jaunt before Christmas, with the ILs too. School finishes in 3 weeks time for a months break over Christmas Sometimes I wonder what we pay all that bloody money for.

DD is equally abhorrent this week. It's pay back for me going off and having fun last week. Is N around just now?

That dress does not fit me anymore. I was 2 dress sizes bigger then.