June 2008: the One Show (almost)

[Essie3]

Thanks so much for the support everyone - DH's flight yesterday went well and I'm far more relaxed about his flight home (whenever that might be - he's still saying he'll be home for the weekend but it is of course weather dependent).

Duncan's face is definitely infected - it's way worse today. I'd be thrilled with a day off work except I absolutely have to go by the office to drop off my laptop - all IT assets are being checked. I guess I could put it off until tomorrow (D will be off nursery for the rest of the week) and even (cheeky) put Fraser in nursery and just have the day with Duncan but I probably should do it today and not risk the wrath of our IT dept.

Amber and everyone - I've stopped weighing my kids and it's bliss. Now if only I could stop weighing myself (but that could lead to rapid weight gain - I use the scale to stop myself from snacking).

neenz sometimes it's easier to let friends go than fight things... hopefully she'll get back in touch after a while.

That's great about your hubby Aberdeen. I think you should say bugger IT and have the day with little Duncan.

BDQ - hangover?

Well my friend has emailed back to say she is not depressed anymore and that is why she can 'tackle these issues'. She says I have 'bombarded' her with videos and status updates about the twins and saying Esther took six steps was the last straw. She says she doesn't know whether I am doing it on purpose and that I come across as smug and conceited .

I am just happy, what's wrong with that?

[Hmm] Neenz. Does she not know what it took you to conceive them?

just dropping in, been crazy busy! have caught up but no time to respond to everything.

neenz that's sad about your friend, but it's clearly a problem with her not with you. your face book page is not directed specifically at her and she shouldn't take anything on it personally. She has no obligation to read it, watch your videos or look at your photos. She could quietly decide not to without upsetting you. There are lots of people on my FB list whose profiles I don't look at regularly.

haircuts C doesn't have enough hair to require a haircut yet. She may be five before it's necessary - about the same time she's big enough fir a front facing car seat, and can get shoes to fit...

dropping feeds C now only has her bedtime BF. she has an 8oz bottle after breakfast and an 8oz bottle mid afternoon with a BF before bed. She's rubbish at drinking out of a beaker and drinks very little water. I switched her morning BF last week and she didn't seem to notice or care! going to carry on with the night time feed for a few more weeks as we're off on a holiday for a week and think it will be good to have the routine that's been established. Going to switch formula bottle for cows' milk after her birthday (3 1/2 more weeks here!)

Lol viva! I think Iestyn might have gone down again in the centiles now that he's had his hair cut! The forward facing car seat moves ever further from my grasp...

Ok, I can go back and read all the posts and comment now...

(Not hungover so much Abdn but general alcohol related tiredness combined with sleep-deprivation at the hands of a teething baby mean I feel dead on my feet today).

On The Wire - I have the first series on DVD but was completely unable to figure out what was going on. I've been meaning to go back and try it with subtitles though, as everything tells me I should love it! Currently, very slowly, working my way through the 1st series of Damages...

Congrats puree on Cecily's 1st steps.

Big fan of free play here too. We had a bit of dead space in our box window so have turned it into a play area for S. He loves delving into his toy box and pulling out all one or two of his toys to play with.

Hi, ktpie how are you today? Am wondering re: chicken nuggets if I should prepare them, freeze them raw, and then just cook them as needed. Where's whinegums she always knows about these things!

On cows milk, neenz and others - we're going to try it in cereal (oatibix, natch!) at the weekend. Do you usually just give it cold, straight from the fridge, or did you start introducing it by warming it up first?

Puree I'm not actually sure what clomid is/does, but I can hazard a guess. I hope it brings the results you hope for. Fingers crossed for you.

Loved sponges pic on fb ali! Essie glad you asked about the first haircut. S's is getting out of control so I need to organise that asap. Thanks also for supportive words on centiles. My whole anxiety really bugs me, because my natural position is that of lazy parenting and that everything works out in the end! I had really stopped worrying about his weight and we're only getting S weighed because of the car seat thing too, and they keep asking about how pale he is and what kind of diet he's on. Then saying, oh no, I'm sure he's fine. Without sounding a bit PFB, I dont want absent-minded worrying questions and vague assumptions from my son's healthcare provider. My surgery largely covers a pretty deprived area, so without sounding judgemental (I'm from a fairly down to earth working class background myself) they're more used to babies who're overfed from a very early age to help them sleep through and onto chocolate and irn bru by 12 weeks (true stories - it's why I gave up my local mum and baby group VERY quickly). The person who does the weighing etc isn't actually a HV either. I think I might try and arrange a HV appt myself and get him checked out. If they do think that he's pale because he's deficient in iron I want to find out about getting it tested. Not have them just assume that as S must be getting all that he needs, just because he comes from a home where he's fed a varied diet of homecooked food. (sorry, anxious rant over).

On the glass front Essie I've wondered the same actually because we have a big, low window in S's play area. I think you can get safety glass sheet things that you can stick onto the window, but I'm 85% confident that its probably safe enough without... how was your presentation btw?

That link made me laugh ktpie! Sybil sorry to hear that you've been so poorly! Hope you're feeling better today. Happy birthday jamie! I hope he loves his ball pit.

Abdn sorry to hear about Duncan. I second the bugger IT view!

at the haircut keeping Iestyn in the rear facing car seat. S has got loads of hair, so maybe I should hold off! Amber there's a baby in my family who was in the 1st centile when born and in 91st by age 1. But I guess, people are different shapes and sizes full stop, so no real reason why babies wouldn't grow at different rates either. (I know, I need to take my own advice!)

Waves to viva - what plans do you have for the big day?

Right, I suspect this post is massive so I'd better leave it at that!

Just a quick post to check up on Sponge - scan today? --oops, it's tomorrow isn't it, I'#m a day ahead of myself

Hello All

Sorry but will try to catch up later but can't promise it but Happy Birthday to anyone who I have missed.

Have been to Northern Ireland for a few days, great weather, lots of booze, but Essie how do you do that trek to London?

BDQ - I think preparing the chicken nuggets raw should work better but I'm pretty rubbish at these things.

Embarassed to say I haven't had J weighed for ages, our clinic was horrible, the HVs that were there were rude and I hated the whole thing, J eats like a horse so even if his weight isn't right I can't see how he could physically eat any more! Also embarassed to say that he has one of those big car seats that do from birth till about 4 years old and it can be rear or forward facing, we turned it forward when his little legs didn't fit in any more, didn't think about there being a weight limit, should go and try and find the instructions, or is it one weight for all car seats?

Got some of those anti sickness bands this morning and they are working a treat, still had to have an after lunch nap while J sorted out the desk drawer, he found the blue tack, handily.

Fivegomad - sounds like a great holiday.

Neenz - why do some people think everything is done just to upset them? Why shouldn't you talk about the twins as much as you want? I guess she must be going through a tricky patch. Hopefully she will come to her senses and realise you are actually a great friend for still having time for her after she has acted like this towards you.

Abdn - hope Duncan is feeling better.

Deb - hope you are enjoying your tesco order! Has it arrived yet? And have fun with your step dad too.

To go back to bibs I popped into Ikea this morning and was going to get a couple more of their long sleeved bibs as mine are looking a bit worse for wear and they don't do them anymore, she says they might come back in the winter range but might not. I like the way they are flexible and don't stop him moving his arms, the others I've seen look like thicker plastic that would interfere.

You lot make me feel bad that I don't make J any special food, he just gets what we are having, last night it was a thrown together mish mash of omelette, baked beans and fish fingers (not a typical meal, honest!) he loved it and wolfed it all down. Spicy pasta tonight, although we take out his portion before we put the Cayenne in!

I should be tidying the house and I'm not so better get going. Hello to everyone I've not mentioned.

Hmm when I read the stuff I post on here I'm surprised social services aren't knocking down my door. My poor unweighed, fish finger fed baby who is left to rummage around while I have a nap, oh dear!

The thread has run away from me, so I wont attempt to comment on everything.

Except...Happy Birthday Jamie.

I am very excited today because my sophisticated single friend in London (the one responsible for my one hangover in the last year) has invited me to the tennis at Queen's on Saturday for the semi-finals . Poor DH is much more into tennis than me, but sadly there is only one ticket going so he will have to watch at home on the TV with Peter . Fingers crossed Andy Murray is still in the draw. I have been watching this afternoon trying to gauge what the sloaney spectators are wearing. (Jeans and pashminas I think)

On a different note, we went swimming this morning and they had to evacuate the pool because of a pooh . An occupational hazard of going to "toddler splash" I suppose.

Not sure what happened yesterday when my Tuesday post re-appeared. I was confused too, and thought I had lost track of what day of the week it was. I think Peter may have dived at the keyboard at some point yesterday which might explain it.

Ktpie - Peter had fish fingers for tea last night too. Second time this week. He threw the rest of his tea on the floor. BTW I really like you being back on the thread, your posts make me laugh.

The Wire. We are onto series 4. We started series 1 when I was pg, and I don't think I saw, an episode in it's entirety. As a result I thought I was missing loads of plat so I checked the wikipedia entry out, and realised that despite not understanding 70% of the dialogue I still understood exactly what was happening. Series 2 IMO is much easier that series 1. I think this is because the focus shifts to the dock workers and they are mostly white and I am better and understanding their dialect. I know that probably sounds racist, but it isn't intended to be. Series 3 is back with the black drug gangs but I found it much easier that series 1. I quite like it, but generally DH is always keener to watch it than me. It is not easy viewing.

I don't know what "psych" is. However I giggle every time I see a trailer on 5 for "The Mentalist", because I imagine Justin Lee Collins saying "the Mentalist" with a Bristol accent.

If anyone has Virgin Media try looking at the "TV Choice" on demand. There is an HBO section with various series available for free. We have just watched "Big Love" which is about a polygamist in Utah. It is a cross between 6 Feet Under and The Sopranos (both excellent series if you haven't yet seen them)

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Jamie has had a lovely day. he has been playing with his ball pit alot but I think the hit of the day has been this piggy bank - he loves it!

His brother and sister on the other hand are very keen on his whizz around garage and matching car sets. Hopefully they won't have worn them out before he gets around to playing with them.

All this talk of healthy eating makes me feel bad for tea tonight Jamie had cheese on toast and yoghurt followed by sainsbury's caterpillar chocolate cake. And what's wrong with fishfingers? we love'em in this house!

Quick post - ktpie, they should be in a rear facing car seat until they weigh 9 kg. S is just 11 months and is very nearly at that weight and he's fairly light. There are risks associated with being in a front facing car seat that outweigh the problem on bunched up legs, so worth keeping in mind for next time.

I also like having you back on the thread! I mostly only cook things for S for lunch these days as I don't necessarily always have something suitable for him. But tonight we had a bit of a tea disaster so he had 5 organix carrot sticks, a banana and a yoghurt.

Right, chores for me now!

Ali, I completely missed your post on Tuesday about being sorry that it was you and not dh that saw A's first steps . He wasn't jealous - just pleased I got to share such a big moment with someone!!

P&P, sorry missed your news about the clomid too - keeping everything crossed that it's not too long before you're expecting No 2.

Amber, yes the liver sauce does sound grim!! Good luck with the pasta - A absolutely loves pasta and has it with anything (including yoghurt - don't ask!! ).

Like AH, I have also stopped weighing Alex - just not interested anymore . He looks happy and healthy and I'm sure once he really gets moving he'll burn off his baby fat soon enough.

Great news about dh's flight. Sorry to hear about the impetigo, my dh had it a few years ago and it was a bit grim but cleared up v quickly with ABs.

viva, A is still in his rear facing car seat and will stay in it for as long as I can stuff his chubby little bottom in there !

Essie, lol at Isetyn losing weight due to his hair cut!

Neenz, that is v strange behaviour from your friend - and complete bollocks quite frankly! I think you're going to have to let her go however much it hurts to do so right now .

BDQ, sorry you're worried about S - he always looks like a healthy little boy to me from pics, but i know you can't tell much from that . Push for a check up if you're worried, esp on the iron levels.

Deb, thanks for thinking of me - scan tomorrow. It's at 12 noon so don't all be waiting for news from 9am!

Ali, the poo and "toddler splash" did make me laugh ! Enjoy the tennis .

ktpie, how on earth do you nap with a baby bombing around - I need some tips desperately!

x-posted - sybil, belated happy birthday to Jamie, and the piggy bank looks fab!

This thread has gone all chatty! I've just skimmed it so sorry if I've missed things.

Happy birthday Jamie

Neenz sorry you're so upset by your friend. She does sound ill and you're being a very loving friend to try so hard to keep things going.

Puree hope the clomid doesn't make you feel horrible and hope it does the job!

I'm lying a bit low with all the chat about lazy parenting as I am the laziest parent in the world

Thanks sponge I am actually sure he is happy and healthy. Just those pesky pretendy HVs and their thoughtless questions and comments putting doubts in my mind.

Glad the birthday went well Jamie! I'm getting very excited about S's now, it's great to hear about everyone else's.

Neenz as you know I've got loads of pictures of S on FB - no-one has to view them, comment on them etc etc.

How's Duncan abdn ?

Sponge good luck tomorrow!

Hi all - great news Luke ate his pasta with liver sauce- hurrah! He yummed it up as I said - sounds grim but tastes lovely

I made Angel Delight today. I haven't had it since I was a kid. My God - it is utterly gorgeous - who knows what crap it's made of but it's the necats of the gods!

The nursery told me they wanted to move Luke into the next group up and was I OK with it as it's 4 months early. It means he's stopped being a baby . I bought him a police car toy today and he has not stopped holding it. He was so gorgeous and happy tonight I didn't want to put him to bed and when I did I told him I loved him which is very unusual for me. I wonder if he understands...

Neenz - I don't think you need a friend like that at the mo. You have enough on your plate. She obviously has issues and she's taking them out on you. She may come round one day.

Aberdeen - hope Duncan feels a bit better today. I looked up impetigo and it says it's really common in kiddies. In fact it looks a bit like something Luke had round his nappy area once. Maybe he had it?

ktpie - the only rason I make special foor for Luke is because a. I enjoy making it, b. I enjoy seeing him eat it and c. Mark and I mostly eat stuff from plastic containers that get microwaved so he can't have that!

That'll be 'nectar' of the gods even...

Hiya, been too knackered and busy over the past few days to keep up. So have spent the past hour in between sleep training catching up. Yes, I'm trying CC again - it took about 50 mins for B to give up and go to sleep, but better than last time. I feel awful, he was so upset and confused. I have to do something though, I'm knackered, and I need to spend some time job hunting. I can't do it during the day, so I need my evenings back. And sleep. I need sleep.

ktpie, nice to see you back again.

Sponge, glad you are back to being Sponge and good luck for tomorrow.

Happy Birthday for any I've missed.

BDQ - chicken nuggets (I love your new domestic goddessness, PLEASE change your name to BitOfADomesticGoddess to reflect this!!) - make them and open freeze them on a baking tray or in a Tupperware box, i.e. not stuck together and covered loosely with foil, and when frozen, bag them. You should be able to cook them from frozen - just cook them a little longer, and perhaps start them on a slightly lower temperature, and then turn up the oven for last 5-10mins to crisp them.

BTW, I got a really lame reply after following your advice re the job and lack of interview issue, but I do think I put the wind up them. No point in pursuing any further though, chalk it up to 'experience'. And bloody unfairness!

Glad to hear about other 'lazy parents' not that I think any parenting is lazy.

I'm interested in other stopping bf stories, we're not quite ready yet, but will be soon. I gave up on nursing bras ages ago, I needed some uplift back in my life! I'm going to wait until we've stopped, and then restock my underwear drawer.

Apologies to anyone I've missed...

Oh Deb - what are you like with that game on FB???!!! It is too addictive!!!!

Thanks whinegums ! I knew you'd know. If I remember how to change my name, I might just consider it

Sorry you got such a lame reply, but if it did indeed get the wind in their sails then at least that was worth it. Grrrrr. I hate companies who behave this way. Fingers crossed with the job hunting.

Ages ago someone posted a link to a website that sold fab dolls - ragdoll type dolls. If anyone remembers posting the link can you post it again for me? I saw some lovely dolls for presents and forgot to bookmark it.

whinegums, good luck with the sleep training - and the job hunting x

bdq, that's why I avoid the clinic - then I don't need to listen to their questions!