Dec 08 - Nanny Anne's Apprentices.

[daisydora]

Thread started - hope i've done it right!!

Right, got to take DD for her jab now. Sorry it's been so me me me! Will try to post later.

Hope everyone's okay...

Oh and spot love the new disguise. Have a great time in Devon - hope to see you soon.

Hello all,

That is an interesting area veggie, a colleague looked at how health professionals break the news of a learning disabiity to South Asian families - challenging sterotypes about large supportive families, the challenges presented by parents perhaps having limited English etc. My own research was about families who have a faith or belief and a child has a learning disability, specifically focusing on how their faith may impact on their coping.

I hope no one I know lurks on here I've just outed myself having such a specific research interest!

Ros I hope something gets sorted for your Uncle. It must be really difficult for him to be loosing his job. Is there a scheme which helps people with learning disabilities find work running in his area?

SL My DH is the same when it comes to cooking - he thinks he's on Blue Peter.

arti I didn't know Adrian Chilles had left his wife. Nice to hear that he was sweet with DD, I've always thought he seemed like a nice bloke. You've inspired me to try and space DD's feeds out more. We're going for a 3 hour minimum! I tend to see she's getting peckish and feed, rather than waiting for proper hunger to kick in.

Nolda Oooh I love the bibs. I saw a baby wearing one and thought it was just a crazy fashion item! DD is dribbling like a mad thing at the moment. I had to change her top yesterday as it had soaked through to her vest.

I got very scared when reading about the clocks, thank goodness they are going forward - DD is waking earlier each day.

trace How can people get so emotional about how often to bath a child?! As long as she's not still bathing once a week when she's 15, I don't see the problem.

I wouldn't worry too much arti about sounding like your grandmother with the service station comments. I overheard three old ladies in M&S this morning having a competetive discussion about how early they'd awoken and how severe the frost had been. "I got up at 6 and the grass was white". "Well I got up at 5.30 and the car was certainly well frozen". "5.30, how lovely to be able to lie in, I got up at 4.30 and there was a deep frost as far as the eye could see"

spot Have a lovely holiday

Thanks, Jolly, those old lady comments sound a bit familiar (am a bit guilty of the competitive tiredness myself, "4.30? Bloody luxury, I was up for the day before I even went to bed, etc, etc).
Having fried egg sandwich for 3rd time this week .
Hope DD ok with her jabs, Poison - and what a lovely idea about the tourist thing, would love to come on a London jaunt with you.

superspot - we went up to north wales for a family wedding (you know, the one with The Dress) - my advice would be: even if you know the way v well, don't forget about the road atlas and leave it under all the junk in the car - really useful to hve it to hand so you can see how far away the service stations are. also, we thought we'd be stopping more frequently than normal, but in practice we kept driving as long as madam was sleeping, so didn't do our planned stops, just kept motoring as long as there was quiet in thew back. also, we made sure we'd tanked her up before leaving so sh'd sleep as much as poss. when i did my first solo journey with her, however, i had to stop 15 mins in and feed her in brent cross car park as she just wouldn't let up.

enjoy! we're off to italy next month - eeeek! - to umbria - yay! any tips on plane travel gratefully received!

poison lovely idea about it being a holiday, am up for Kew Gardens, just let me know when you'll be heading over

trace hugs to you, hope you're feeling a little better, sometimes a little cry does you the world of good

jolly he does have someone that helps him, my mum & aunt met with her, my uncle & his social worker. I think that if they can't find him any paid work then they will get him doing some voluntary work until something comes along. Its just that he's in his own flat now & he doesn't like being on his own so instead of staying at home he'll go to the pub or something.

Bad mummy alert: I realised today I'd missed the appointment for ds2's 2nd lot of jabs. It wasn't even this week though, it was last Tuesday . I've had to reschedule them for a couple of weeks!

spot snap! also had fried egg butty for lunch (a la brown sauce & ketchup bien sur). And I had chucky egg on toast for breakfast - guess who needs to go shopping?

ros I've missed all of DD's jab appointments so far as well ... had her 12 week jabs today at nearly 15 weeks. Shall we see what the weather's like next week for Kew? I can't do Mon or Thurs though - how about you?

wg V jealous of Umbria - would love to go. Have flown a few times with DS (first time was at 9 months though I think). Each time it's been surprisingly easy I've found. If you bf during takeoff and landing it helps to equalise the pressure in their ears. Oh and on the bottle thing (it was you who was asking wasn't it?) I'm not bothering at all. With DS we topped up until 12 weeks or so (not out of choice really) but after that he never had a bottle.

Had DD weighed at the clinic and she's still only 11 lb 8oz, so still the size of some newborns! She's still dropping down the WHO charts - was hoping it might have started levelling off by now. Anyway, she seems well and all that, although she still does massive pukes every couple of days or so.

On weaning - another one not going near solids till the 6 month mark here. We did BLW with DS and will be doing the same with DD. Don't really get the fad thing - would it be controversial of me to say that surely if anything's a fad it's purees?

kayz Happy birthday to DS1 - hope you all enjoy the party. My DS also turns 2 in a couple of weeks. We're planning to take him to Thomasland and I am beside myself with excitement!

Well back from DS jabs, DD didn't duff up the nurse. But while DS was crying in the waiting room afterwards DD was running around shouting "Harry needs breast-fooding mummy he really needs it" Cue half the waiting room looking over at me, I shoved DS in car seat and fed him at home

kayz hope freddie has a great party!

poison thanks for the bf tip whilst flying. We go to Cyprus next month and was wondering what to do with DS. DD was a lot older when we first flew with her and it never bothered her. I'm just so glad she finally has her own seat this time. I can stick her with my parents and pretend she's not with me when she starts playing upo mid flight

DD has something sharp and white coming through her bottom gum... surely not a tooth already . It would explain the dribbling etc

ros Voluntary work can be great for PLD to learn new skills, as well as the opp to meet new people/get out of the house, and might give your uncle more options when it comes to finding paid work. DB helped out in a charity shop for a year or so before starting at tesco.

Sorry to be brief - one handed typing.

JB a tooth?!!! wow!

Thanks all for the hugs. I'm feeling much better. I'm sure it's tiredness so will get myself to bed as soon as I can tonight.

P has snacked today because she's too snotty to feed properly so I'm expecting bug lumpy boobs tomorrow! Last time she was snotty like this I got mastitis...

Hey guess what? My Bathing a 4yr old thread has made it to the 'hottest threads' section of the mn email!!!! ha ha

Nice to see you back PD - now GO AND SORT YOUR CLOTHES OUT!!!

trace I know, I know! Ha ha just had a look at your bathing thread. Daren't post how often my DCs are bathed as I would get carted off by Social Services, but let's just say that hygiene is a dirty word round here.

JB that's got to be a thread first - your DD should win a prize! If my DS is anything to go by I have almost a year of dribbling and whingeing to go before the first peggy puts in an appearance.

Hi Poison, I hope you have finished doing the clothes. I'm glad things are getting sorted for your move.

Pmk Ah the G&D! We used to go there a lot round the Wargrave/Shiplake Regatta time. For those who don't know very different to Henley, more like It's a Knockout without the big shoes with paddling punts and punting canoes.

JB congrats on the tooth.

Glad you're feeling better Trace. I had a quick look at the bath thread. What a lot of nutters there are.

Rosmerta I play the clarinet too but rather badly I'm afraid. I hope you find a group or orchestra near you so you can take it up again. I play [whispers] in the local town band which is great fun even if it is not a superior musical group and it is great to get out of the house and not think about children and domesticity for two hours each week.

Off to do baths now (rolls up sleeves).

nolda - was wondering where you had got to.

and anyone spied pingurocks? what with all this talk of another rfh meet up, i remembered her and her lovely dd.

Evening everyone, lawks you've been busy today! I'll open with this utterly brilliant video sheep botherers

Managed to feck my back this morning so have spent the day mincing around like someone who's been on the receiving end of a massive kick up the bum but took dd for a long walk which kept it all moving, so I've not seized up, thank goodness. Also met up with SL and her lovely ds (and lovely dh too ) for lunch, all very cordial and the babies seemed to be getting on jolly well as ever

JB crikes an actual tooth already! Time to get the baby toothbrush out??

wg I think pingu was on the south london meetup thread, hope she's doing ok though = pingu we miss you

daisy bless your dd, that's so sweet!

pd good to see you again mmmm fried egg sarnies, lucky you and spot

very glad the whole extra hour/lose an hour thing was worked out in our favour. I'm so rubbish at conversions and sums that for that kind of thing I usually have to draw myself a little diagram

trace hope you're feeling a bit cheerier, I'm sure they appreciate you but may have just been a bit distracted. Print off the MN mothers day handy hint sheet and leave it somewhere obvious Now risotto, surely that's a one pan dinner, how can your dh have used loads??!

veggie booo to the feeling coldy, hope you're better too.

arti I'm sure you're not turning into your granny just yet with all the service station chat wood boring beetles sound bad, is there anything that can be done to get rid of them?

spot fishy apples?? were they cox's orange haddock or some such newfangled genetically engineered abomination?

nolda lovely to see you again

Can I have a moment of soppiness? Even though every day this week dd has had a half hour meltdownathon that makes me feel awful and like a bad mummy for not knowing how to calm her down, she's still utterly lovely. I was lying hext to her on the bed as she went to sleep in her crib just now, I reached across to rest a hand on her tummy and she grabbed hold of it with her little hand and gave me a squeeze [melt] and looked so peaceful and beautiful. She's the best (all your LOs notwithstanding, of course )

DH is cooking - I can see those pans piling up but no swearing or rifling through cupboards shouting 'where have you hidden the mustard' which is an improvement on the usual course of events! Have glass of cheerfulness, found baby monitor and had a lovely wander in the park with Spot this afternoon (not sure about that name, sounds a bit like a dalmation. Which she does not resemble at all. Maybe Cheerful would be better. Or Soc.)

V nice to see you too, Effie, and your lovely DS2. Sadly I do now resemble a dalmatian as am covered in patches of dried sick. And, call me a weirdo, but I kind of like being called spot. .
JJ, I know exactly what you mean about the heart melting moments, I almost started blubbing yesterday when I was changing T, listening to Perfect Day by Lou Reed and singing along as he gummily smiled at me, but then remembered it was about heroin so I didn't.
Oh, and the fishy apples - no explanation but they totally tasted of mackerel.

Perfect Day is about heroine . That was on our short list for our first dance at our wedding. Soooo glad we didn't choose it.

I am officially an old woman. Not only did I indulge in the service station chat but I then went shopping to get some clothes for fatties my new size. As I wondered round Oasis, TopShop and Zara I kept looking at the clothes and thinking "but these aren't proper outfits, the look like fancy dress". Yes I really am my grandmother. Tragically I think those shops are no longer aimed at my demographic. I am probably a Boden marketter's dream. Dear me.

JJ - lovely image of you putting your DD to sleep. I just love moments like that.

Bloody hell J is in one of those baby nighties with the elasticated bit around the bottom and have just realized it is way too small. I'm sure it fitted him last week but right now the sleeves only come 2/3rds down his arm and I can see a lot of leg.

I had an egg earnie today too, very popular!

Speaking of celebs on our children I had a chat to Emma Thompson on the tube once her dd was playing with my ds so we got chatting as you do, and she kept staring at ds1 and saying how beautiful he was. I love the way posh English people say his name and she has that lovely accent and it sounded lovely when she said his name, Alegzarndur (it's Alexander but that's how it comes out when posh English say it)

I'm off to bed soon too I have a huge day tomorrow and still feeling a bit crap. I'm telling ds2s birth story to a homebirth group in Nottingham and then hotfooting it to Wolverhampton for a supervision session for the BfN helpers thing. Thankfully dh is home so don't need to take ds1 with me.

Oh and we finally bought a dishwasher tonight hooray no more dishpan hands. It will be delivered on Monday. Now we just have to work out how to install it????

It's kicking off on Trace's thread so far it's 2 chilled out cool bath em when they need it types against 1 have to bath them everyday type. I really need to go to bed but I can't stop looking... must avert my eyes...no don't look...oh just a quick peek won't hurt.

Hmm, never been convinced by dishwashers myself Veggie - all that loading and unloading is too much like hard work.

No wine in the house so I have invented a cheerful bedtime drink - hot milk and Tia Maria. How very desperate resourceful - do I get a brownie badge for that?

We have a really small sink area and I have to wash up several times a day just to stop it from overflowing esp when DH is working from home, and with the 2 boys wanting my attention it all too hard so I just pack it in as we go along then unpack in the morning and I can drink coffee play with the boys when I would normally be doing dishes hooray!!

OMG someone on Traces thread just said she washes kids before bed to keep the sheets clean. More daily bathers have arrived.

Oh that drink sounds lovely PD >awards PD her resourceful use of alcohol badge

Why does my line strike through never work?!