Dec 08 - Nanny Anne's Apprentices.

[daisydora]

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

Hi all, just popping in to bookmark my place. I've had two very grumpy boys this afternoon so haven't had chance to see what's going on.

But must get some tea so will be back later, hope everyone's ok

I like the idea of keeping pigs - they are supposed to be v intelligent and not smell (too much) if you look after them properly. And they don't get eaten by foxes (it would have to be a pretty big fox )

I'm sure one of her cats will have a good go. When we went to see them she kept crouching down looking like she was about to pounce on them

Ta Kayz

I'm glad DS2 has his jabs tomorrow. His left eye has lots of yellow gunk coming out of it, so I can HV to check it out.

Evening all,

katie I'd go for the cheaper units too. If you are planning to move quite soon then it just isn't worth the money. That's what Sarah Beaney would say anyway!

Veggie LOL at your German adventures . How did you find Germany for vegetarian food? We went to the Black Forest a few years ago and one place had nothing that didn't contain meat - the salads were fleichesalat. DH said to the amused waiter in his schoolboy German "my lady, no meat she eats". The waiter and the surrounding diners let out hearty laughs and thankfully they brought me a nice meat free meal .

lal I love your frock. We've four weddings to go to this year so I need to get an outfit sorted. Is it bad form to wear the same dress to two weddings with the same group of friends?!

ladyT I've signed up for the CTF but not sent the voucher off yet. I must do it tomorrow.

DD and I went to the baby screening at the cinema today. She was really good. She just watched the screen for about half an hour and then nodded off. Oh and no sleeping through here. She did 7 till 6.15 on Saturday night (with a 10.30 DF) and it was DH's turn to do the middle of the night feed too. Very annoying! She usually wakes between 3 and 4. I tried to give her a dummy last night to see if she'd nod off but sadly it didn't work.

JB I was quite pleasantly surprised they actually had vegetarian sections on most of the menus and the meals seemed to be local specialties rather than just pasta with tomato sauce etc. Poor DH though is gluten intolerant and most meals had a good helping of flour somewhere in them. He had salads or Chinese. Surprisingly though the restaurant that had the least veggie options was a Thai place at the airport they had one veggie dish. LOL at your dh's german I keep giggling thinking about it.

How odd about the Thai place veggie. I usually found veggie stuff but most dishes were quite meat centric. We're off to Berlin soon and I'm presuming it being a big city I won't have any problems.

I remembered another incident from our last trip. DH didn't catch how much the waitress said we owed so he repeated it back to her but said deutchmark instead of Euro. He got mixed up as of course when he learnt German the currency was deutchmark. The waitress looked shocked and said "Deuchmark, deuchmark?! We have the Euro". I couldn't stop laughing!

aah how kayzr I was born in 1974! I feel old!
Well I'm hoping this screaming is due to B's jabs yesterday... Took him to the weekly baby clinic (HV) which is the first one i've attended, and he screamed most of the time, after I woke him from the car seat Also, he is now 9th centile.... HV asked if I was stressed and I told her no - but now that he's 9th centile - yes! said not to wory but i'm taking him back next week for a weigh in.... He's so fussy feeding recently, and doesn't seem to feed as long, so i'm going to express more.... He's been out since 7pm and now have 5 oz's expressed to give him in a minute, but ok... here we go --- he's awake!

Oh yeah JB it did get the idea that the Germans love their meat almost as much as the Spanish. Your poor DH good on him for trying, I got told off by a tourist information lady when I asked if it was possible to have some instructions written in English, as I was in Germany I should just somehow suddenly read german.

Kmp don't expect too much gain in a week and also 9th centile isn't under weight, are you or dh particularly large if not that might just be his size.

Veggie yes now that you mention it, HV did say come back in 2 weeks and I thought to myself later - why not 1 week, but figured as much.
We are both very tall (DH and I) I am 5'9 and DH 6'4 and they had said B was very long - even at birth, but I spoke to my Mum and she did say that both my brother and I were very long and thin and she had trouble BF putting weight on us, and MIL has said the same apparently about DH so hoping that's it really...
ok he has just slammed 5oz in minutes and now crying - this is so unusual and must be something to do with his jabs I hope

oh and I have hovered around 58-63kg's so far since 15 or so, so I guess normally quite slim though the cheerfulness together with my metabolism slow down is catching up with me these days

Well, I was born in 1972

Just back from playing badminton. Haven't played for well over a year. We took D in her car seat and fitted a net over it in case any shuttlecocks went her way. She slept through it. I picked up some leaflets in reception and they do a Family Roller Disco every other Saturday and I am thrilled by this. DP says he will drop me off but oddly is not interested in participating.

When are you off to Berlin, Jolly? One of those cities I've never visited but should've (like Istanbul).

Effie, my late DH used to have a pig before I met him. He was called Lunch and he used to get taken to BBC Christmas parties wearing a bowtie (honestly, this is true). A childlock had to be put on the fridge as he liked to raid it, being particularly partial to cherry tomatoes, which he cleverly used to trample and then suck through the holes in the plastic. He had to go and live on a farm in the end as a) he got too obese to go up and down the stairs and b) got too randy with any female (human) that crossed his path, even accosting women in the street.

It is DD's Real 1st Birthday today, in that (TMI alert) she was conceived a year ago today. Ha! I skived off work for a day and we had a boozy lunch. Had it not been for that she may never have been born!

I hope that little J feels better soon, Veggie. KMP, if your DS is anything from 1-99 he is normal, as that is the normal range (as I am sure your DH will tell you).

Lady Istanbul I fantastic one of my fav cities, you should go definitely go there.

morning all, hope everyone had a good night

Veggie, your trip sounds great, Munich's on my list of places to visit, along with pretty much every other city in the world!

Kmp, hope ds settled last night. Try not to worry too much about the centile thing, as someone else said earlier (veggie I think) they are based on ff babies, you know if ds is ok or not

I found out last night that one of my younger cousins was stabbed on Sat . He's fine & back home, he was hit 3 times, one severed an artery in his leg so he lost a lot of blood . Will have to give his mum a call today

Morning,

LadyT My brother has been to Berlin and says it is brilliant. I'd love to go to Istanbul. We were going to go to Budapest this year but with DH losing his job we're not going anywhere.

Rosmerta I'm really sorry to hear about your cousin. I'm glad to hear he is ok.

Veggie I had something to ask you. DS1 gets quite bad eczema especially behind his knees. The cream we have works for a while then stops working. Is the anything natural we can use instead? The nurse told us to use camomile cream but that made it worse. But I am allergic to it so he might be too.

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Rosmerta-your poor cousin. Was it a random attack or was he in a fight?

KMP- the screaming and eating could be the three month growth spurt. DD2 is having hers and waking lots. In fact since I posted our lovely routine for you she has woken several times every night. Sigh.

Veggie- I love Istanbul too. My mum lived in Turkey in the 60s and we lived there for a while when I was small. We weren't in Istanbul but I know it really well. It is such a perfect mix of chic European city and exotic Muslim metropolis. I can't wait to take the DDs.

LadyT and KMP - the cinema was great yesterday. Loved Slumdog. I have seen next week's film but if you evervwant to go let me know.

Have we heard from Verso recently? I hope she is ok.

Thanks arti, cat & kayz. Afaik, he got into an argument with a group, turned to walk away which is when they hit him. You just never think it could happen to your family

Cat, is T draining the bottles when he's feeding? I wonder if he's ready to have more at the first night feed which may encourage him to go a bit longer. Or he is waking up hungry, would a dummy or something help to stretch it out a bit? Sorry, I know you've probably already tried this!

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I don't follow the guidelines on the tin! I judge it by if ds2 drains the bottle & grumpy after he's finished it or starts feeding earlier. It might be worth trying to increase his feeds during the day. Ds2 has 6ozs during the day but only 5ozs for his night bottles but he still sticks to his usual hours.

Ah Ros your poor cousin, hope he's on the mend soon. Did they catch the person who did it?

veggie very glad to hear the food situation in Germany is better. when I did French and German A-levels back in 1856 you had to do a 10 minute prepared talk on a subject of your choosing and since at that point I was quite a militant vegetarian, I did it on that subject for both. The german one was all about how evil the Germans are for living off sausages, and the French one all about how they eat horse and torture geese I'm amazed the examiners just sat there listening and didn't tell me to shut up aboput their national cuisines!

LadyT roller disco sounds awesome! A local club is doing this gig for comic relief, I really hope they do it again as I'd love a bit of a boogie

dd being uncertain at the mo - am hoping to go to a nearby stately home with gorgeous snowdrops in the garden with SL and some other local mums, but dd not really very happy at the moment, trying to go to sleep but I've a feeling it's going to turn into hunger soon. Thumb sucking getting more intense rather than just for comfort to get off to sleep...

Kayz wil try and post those bottles off today or tomorrow but you know what it's like...

Haven't caught them yet, police are asking for witnesses. I'm just glad he's alive!

LadyT, the disco does sound fun! A friend of a friend is running this one, thought we might pop along & see what it was like!

Rosmerta that is so scary for your cousin and his family, his poor mum I'm glad he is ok. What makes someone so angry at someone else that they can take a knife and stab them. I find that quite upsetting.

Kayz take him to the GP and get them to prescribe some creams buying them can be quite expensive. Get them to prescribe epaderm and if it is really nasty a steroid cream you will only need to use it for a week but will knock it on the head. Also diprobase is good again on prescrition. I am into natural and homeopathic remedies but when it comes to skin complaints conventional medicine is the best. We used to see a lot a children in the area I worked in with eczema and unfortunately natural remedies sometimes made things worse, and I don't mean made it worse before it got better it just made it worse. I think it's because different skin types react so differently to different things. Be very aware not to put anything on his skin with any perfumes in it, you had that reaction recently with the make up so he may also and in general perfumes can irritate already red inflamed skin. Don't let the GP give you aqueaous cream it will make it worse. The Epaderm needs to be applied very regularly even up to 6 times a day, just basically keep it on to keep the area moist. If they don't want to prescribe that there is also 50/50 which is a combination of parafins which keeps the skin nice and moist too. I hope that's not too confusing.

JJ you reminded me with the Germans and their sausages ds1 and his excitment at the abundance of sausage over there ate so much of them that he is completely sausages out. He is now refusing sausages. Don't know how long it will last.

I took J to the GP this morning because he is quite sad and hot with these pox and also a little worried about him getting them so young. The GP was really lovely gave him a very thorough going over and feels it is just the illness that is making him poorly not any complications, but to be sure he is going to ring a paediatrician to double check if their are any concerns to each for with a 12 week old having chicken pox. Poor little man is just so tired he has gone off to sleep again now but I will have to be him up soon to pick ds1 up from nursery.

We also have a crappy replacement car as ours is getting the damaged fixed from when someone slid into the car in that snowy weather. It is just a little scratch and dent on the passenger door and the teeny tiniest scratch on the front fender (I think that what it's called) but they are completely redoing the door and fender and it will take 2 weeks! In the meantime I've got a tiny 2 door to replace my big prius. Sorry that sounds a bit snobby I now when that is all some people have but it really hurts my back to lean in with the car seat and as it won't take the isofix I either have to leave the seat in and put J in it out in the street (and we have a narrow street so have to keep stoppi g when cars go past) or lift him in and out each time and fix the seat belt. That's why I blummin well bought the isofix in the first place so I wouldn't have to that.

Ros, I think that disco sounds really good. I am SO sorry about your cousin though, that really is appalling! I was reading a thread the other day about someone who was wondering about whether to move to Archway (part of N London for those in other parts of the country) as she had a teenage son, and other people were so matter-of-fact about kids getting stabbed there, it shocked me. I lived there 10 or 12 years ago, and I liked it then (it's close to Highgate). I don't know what's going to be done about this increase in knife crime amongst the young, I see it in the briefs DP brings home. There's just a general sense of life being cheap, it seems to me. Hate to sound like a rotten ol' fuddy duddy but I do wonder about these computer games where violence is all part of the 'fun'.

Jump, I do hope you get to go out, it sounds lovely. Perhaps your DD will perk up once she's out.

Cat, surely giving him a bit more isn't going to hurt? How could it? Perhaps he is just on a hungry, growing phase and it's throwing him out a bit. A friend of mine has a baby who is only a couple of weeks older than mine (ie he is 16 weeks) and he has been on solids for a fortnight. I know that goes against the 'advice' but it was clearly right for him, he was a very hungry baby indeed and used to growl for food and drink an impossible amount of milk. He's like King Kong! Anyway, I tell you that only to point out (as you know very very well) that every baby is an individual and what's right for one won't be right for the other, whatever the books/tins/HVs/other mums say. I fancy the Baby Einstein dvds though, I must order a set.

I have been blithely trying to organise a hol for me, DD, my Mum and her DP and Mum wants to go in July as she thinks Italy in June will be too chilly for her Anyway, I have just remembered...I will be officially back doing my day job part time then. Whoops. I may tell them I will go back a week earlier, so I can have a week off a couple of weeks later. I hope they will go for that.