Jan '09 'All we are saying is give peas a chance....and carrots and broccoli and cumcumber and........'

[hongkongzoe]

...here we go ladies, right I'm off to catch up!

books no nothing yet - one chap has been good, but can't believe how many awful people there are out there at the moment.

stripy sorry - did you buy them off lenni???

sparkle Oh dear? Hope someone comes up trumps soon.

books Hi, hope you are well. Yes back at work and everything running surprisingly smoothly at home in my absence. Doing quite short days at te moment, which is just about all I can tolerate, forgot how much the place does my head in! NOT the kids, they have been great but everything else . Zach being a bit of a monkey and basically having his food and a few sips of milk in the day and then holding out for booby in the afternoon, what a rascal!

MissJ Have a nice day at your mums. Yes do FB me about thursday afternoon. Looking forward to it!

ray have a fab time down south. Looks like you are going to have nice weather for the beach. I used to get very pissed off at the amount we had to take with us when travelling, luckily over the years my mum has resigned herself to an endless stream of grand-children and kitted herself out fairly thoroughly via the local charity shops. Saves a lot of time and effort on my part.

Tink have fun shopping for pressies

Forgot what was on other page, be back soon....

Oh, chef anniversary sounds lovely. How thoughtful of your DH and good on Violet for behaving whilst you were away. I have to say, sad as it is to be apart from Zach his smiley face when I return from work is a real heart-melter .
We are also suffering from grabby hand-syndrome. He often takes things into the bath or to bed with him because I either have not noticed he has them or I can't prise them out of his grip!

Awful night BTW, just as it seemed to be getting better. Mainly DD's fault as still poorly. She had a nosebleed all over our bed at 5.30am (about the 4th time I had been up) which she ofetn gets when she has a cold. Great stuff!

Hi all,

Just a quickie. Shopping finally arrived and just had gorgeous sandwich on fresh baked bread, so that makes up for yesterday.

Total nightmare morning, DH went down to let the dogs out as our lurcher was howling (he hasn't done than since he was a pup) only to discover our border collie cross was missing. Opened the back door to find the dustbin had been ransacked. Poor bloke was in pieces, he thinks he was so tired when he let them out last thing he didn't notice that she didn't rush back in with the other two. They usually all gallop back in together in a rush of legs and fur. She is jet black and must've dived off down the side alley to look for next door's cat (they moved out 5 years ago - stoopid dog) and because it was dark DH didn't realise she hadn't come in and being so tired just gone straight up to bed. Thanks to our crap landlady/SMIL we don't have fencing down one side of the garden just really thick brambles, obviously she had plenty of time to find a hole and escape. He came upstairs in tears, she wasn't wearing her collar as she has an ear infection and keeps waking dd with the jangling when she shakes her head, but she is microchipped and it had been raining all night - she'd been gone for about 10 hours by then.

I got on the phone to the dog warden but they were closed. Called the environmental services department, which was also closed. DH got in the car and started driving around looking for her. Eventually I decided to call the emergency environmental services number and spoke to a lovely guy who had just had a call about a dog found in our area matching our dog's description. He called the people who found the dog and then called me back with their mobile number. I called them straight away and they were lovely people, it sounded like her, but they kept saying they'd caught a German Shepherd and I described her as a collie cross so they weren't sure (she's a Border Collie cross Belgian Sheperd actually) we very rarely get stray dogs around here though and then when they called her name and she perked up and ran to them. Turns out they had only found her just before I called and she had been at the top of our road, in fact the man said, bearing in mind where we live, she had tried to pull him to our house when he put her on the lead. DH went up and got her back and she acted all slinky like she thought she was in trouble, but when he crouched down she was all over him. She ran straight in, drank a whole bowl of water and then got straight in her bed and went to sleep. She's been sleeping ever since, poor thing. She is really stinky, wet and covered in sticky burr balls, but I think we'll leave her bath until tomorrow, she's had enough trauma for one day.

Anyway, all's well that ends well and the whole family is back together again. DH is now going to put a rocket up SMIL's ass about getting the fencing sorted, we've only been waiting for 6 years fgs!

Right, off out to Ikea for new mattresses for the boys beds (don't ask) and two new storage units for their toys to replace the one big one so we can move their room around to make space on the floor for ds2's hornby train set. They were going to have bunkbeds to give them more space, but they've decided they don't want them now.

Lol@moose's idea of a quickie!!! But very sorry to hear about your dog. What are you getting for toy storage?

missj sorry to hear about Nye's illness, hope he recovers soon.

Legoland was fantastic... want to go again! (without children- so I can go on everything ) DD LOVED is, but DS wasnt so enamoured- too boring for him lying in the pushchair , and I was too tired to have him in the sling much, though he loved it when he was- he had woken at 12, 1, 2, 3, and 4 during the night, but I was too excited to cancel our trip. Traffic was bad though- 2 hours motorway then an hour to get into park. On the way back we came a different way, and took about 3 hours, but with stop off for dinner. Am tired today... 6 hours driving is too much!

wow mm you re going through it so glad that you got your dog back

have fun in ikea

i managed to buy everything :-

got myself a black cosy with white straps and some black shorts for holidays

bought dd1 her all in one sun suit
bought a gift bag to put teachers pressys in

OMG moose What a story! I bet you guys were frantic!!!! I was just welling up and thought it would not turn out good then, what a happy ending . Hope she is feeling ok soon after her little adventure. My parents dog once absconded for about 4 hours with the neighbours dog. they lived in the country at the time so thought they were both gonners, shot by a farmer or something. Anyway, they both turned up and it turned out the as the neighbours dog was a lady-dog and enjoying her first time coming into heat, they were having a bit of rudey-action in a neighbouring field.......for 4 hours !!!!!!! Fortunately no puppies were produced as a consequence of this romantic escapade.

Eppm Glad you enjoyed LEGOLAND. Just a shame we have to take the kids really! Journey sounds a nightmare though, hope the park wasn't too busy.

Peach hmm, see what you mean. Took longer to get the story out than I expected. You know me, why use one word when ten will do. Glad you had a good time at Legoland.

We have Expedit storage with wicker storage baskets for the boys. They're great because once everything is in the baskets they look really neat and tidy. They currently have two 6 cube units but I want to split it down so they have a smaller unit each when we move the room around. They have the best room in the house to be honest, all the furniture matches and suits the purpose. The rest of the house is a mix and match of old, new and inherited.

Pat I think we thought the story wouldn't have a happy ending at first - she is a dog of very little brain bless her. We were sure she'd would have been hit by a car. We lost a dog a couple of years after we were married when my Mum was dog sitting and she climbed over their wrought iron back gate (6ft) to get out. We searched the area for 48 hours, leafleted and put up posters. We felt sure she wouldn't have crossed the M42 so decided not to go over the motorway to search. Got a call later that evening, she had been hit by a car outside a veterinary surgery just the other side of the motorway, right where we stopped looking. DH was the most devastated, she was his baby as he was unemployed after finishing university when we got her as a rescue pup, so had reared her himself. We never forgave ourselves for checking the other side of the motorway junction, how on earth she managed to get over there without being hit in the first place is beyond us. Apparently she shot out of a field straight in front of a car, they didn't stand a chance of stopping. The people in the car behind thought she was a fox at first, then realised she was a dog, but she was dead before they got her into the vets. Thank god we had a happier outcome this time. We ALWAYS stop for stray dogs and have caught loads in the past, even bringing them home with us on a few occasions if we couldn't get hold of the dog warden. We are so grateful to the couple that found her, we will be sending them flowers first thing on Monday morning.

Got everything we went for at Ikea plus some bibs and towelling cloths (had those for both boys and thought the cloths would be invaluable for weaning purposes) and some stacking/nesting pot cup things in bright colours that she has fallen in love with.

Tink what did you get dd's teacher if you don't mind me asking? I'm agonising over them - as I do every Christmas and end of year. I've bought a really cute red and white polka dot uv sun suit with matching hat for dd (not that I intend her actually going in the sun). Its mini mode and was brand new with tags, got the whole lot for a bargain five pounds including postage from ebay.

Glad you got your dog back moose...one of my dad's dogs once turned up 40 miles from home.

Hello Books at lady and the chocolate button, I am forever fending off sweets for the DCs from all the Turkish shop keepers round here, they are really kind and I always feel mean saying no sweets, but it's not rocket science to figure that small babies really shouldn't be troughing down chocolate! Work is good...only one week left then the hols, DP is at home with the DCs so its all working out pretty well.

Happy anniversary Chef sounds like you got spoilt rotten. Violet sounds like she's doing great too. Are you having a gorgeous hot summer over there?

Tree at mani and pedi.... my nails are a right old state, need to get them sorted. Just realised its only four weeks til our wedding so had better get on it! How was your day out with DD1? Did you have a proper girly day?

EPPM Glad you enjoyed Legoland. We took DD last month and she liked it, I'm going to have to start getting into the swing of theme parks and stuff...I can see its the future....just find them a bit hard going. That's hardcore driving BTW, especially with two small children in the back...did you go insane...I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when we drove back from wales th eother week!

Pat Hope DD's feeling better and you get a more settled night. I love Jude's face when I get home too, he does an excited wild flailing of his arms too!

Miss J How was your day with your Mum?

Its a bit miserable here today, but managed to take the dog out for a long walk this morning up to the local farmer's market (although, tbh, it doesn't look much like a farmer's market these days...and since when did farmers sell organic cotton baby clothes and designer handbags? )

Have moved Jude into Lily's room as ...not every night but 5 out of the last 7, with only a quick feed the times he did wake up. Hope it lasts...sure it won't!

I spent the afternoon changing the cotbed back into a cot and hanging a few old wooden mobiles from the ceiling in thier bedroom. I found these really funky old 70's friezes when I was at my dad's the other week. They must have been on my wall when I was little. They are really bright and bold pictures of animals, colours, shapes etc done by the same guy who illustrate those old school Meg and Mog books. Also hung loads of little fish and birds from the ceiling, we picked them up in Cambodia when DD was tiny and thye are made of different coloured reeds and bright beeds, have been meaning to put them up for about a year and a half! So am pretty pleased with thier funktastic room. Have freecycled a ton of stuff too, so gradually clearing the clutter...

Right, take away time ..

How are the new nappies going Stripey?

Have a good trip RAy. Tink Hope the birthday preparations are all in hand, happy shopping and all that!

Glad they arrived Stripey and also that you have finally had some rest.

Glad also that the dog story ended well Moose and also LOL at your quick post! I'm exactly the same!

MissJ Hope Nye recovering and you too - must have been traumatic.

£12 a good price for new ittis Sparkle - have you tried here Cloth Bums R Us? They are usually fairly competitive on price and think you can get free shipping sometimes. If they haven't any stock online then it's worth emailing them as they will reserve for you.

HKZ The room sounds gorgeous - I have gone back to my "funky" (for want of a better word) roots on the decor front lately. I love decorating rooms. The fish and birds sound beautiful. 4 weeks to your wedding I'm a bit - it is one of a handful of days I would love to do again exactly the same. DS's birth is another. And the day I met DH.

Took DD to the theatre again today and had a look in the shops in Manchester while we were there. Bought a few books - quelle surprise but astonishingly I've also bought myself a few new bits of clothes now I'm back below my booking weight and it's so nice to fit back into interesting things again rather than boring stuff. I'm getting to the point again now when I can choose things that I really like rather than anything that fits ok/looks vaguely flattering. Has given me a boost to keep dieting.

EPPM Sounds like a lovely day (except the travel). Am at all the Legoland trips. I WANT TO GO

Have a lovely week with your parents Ray Pat Hope this week is better at work - hopefully the summer fever will hit the staff as well as the pupils.

Moose I always appreciated things the children made or put their own efforts to far more than chocs/wine/smellies for presents. Not that I got all that many once my form hit Year 10 - before that though I would get quite a few end of term gifts, it was lovely. I got given a pen pot one year which had started life as a plain ikea cup - you know those plastic ones you get in a coloured pack? His Mum He had decorated it with my name and stick on bits and pieces and filled it full of sweets. I still have it on my desk. I also still have a pebble - a smooth one like you'd get off a beach that I was given painted with a picture of my classroom. And I have a paper mache 'vase' with a silk flower in it that I used to have in my classroom also a homemade gift. The pebble and the vase were from when I worked in San Francisco - which partly explains them, since the parents there were all expert lentil weavers. I loved that job, was the street down from Haight in case anyone knows SF. I'd spend my lunch break in the record store and the pizza bar on Haight and my wages in the secondhand stores on vintage clothing - I laundered stuff over and over but even now some of those things still smell of Haight Street.

HKZ Everytime you mention Lily being a Lily it makes me broody for another. I never got to use that name

Tink When is DD1s birthday?

We had a night out last night but DS didn't settle at GPs and cried a lot of the time we were gone I wish they had called and told us. I am meant to be leaving him next Friday overnight, I can't really cancel but I am already manic with the thought of going. We had a good night though, just feel so guilty now.

Chef Anniversary sounds divine, well done MrChef. Do you rent him out? I could do with someone giving DH a few pointers! And I melted at Violet's smiley face, I love picking DS up from his naps for that big gummy grin that stretches right across his chubby cheeks to his ears

Busy as usual on here!

Had a Poo journey down here. Bloody M25 and Dartford Tunnel. Someone once told me that the Dartford Tunnel was due to stop charging a few years ago, as the idea was just to use it to pay back the money used to build it, so they would abolish the pay stations & therefore speed up the traffic, but no... they are still charging and STILLL clogging up the traffic. Grrrrr.

Missj Oh, thats strange about the bathroom. A friend of mine recommended a humidifier instead when Esme had a cold, but it cleared up before we needed to resort to that. Hope you had a lovely day with your mother?

Moose What Drama. Hope you are relaxing now!

Pat Luckily my mother has saved alot of thing, such as my cot, and highchair from when i was little. I don't NEED to bring all the things i've brought.... but Esme just loves her Jumperoo so much- i thought Sod it, i'll bring that too! haha. Plus, i didn't know what we would be getting up to, so have had to pack for all eventualities!

tink DD1 Presents sound lovely. I'm sure she'll be a verr happy & Excited girl!

Right, off to camomile Tea & bed!

Lenni Yay for weight!!! And get you having some nights out and a social life . Hope the theatre was good. I'm sure next week will be fine. I am actually venturing out to the cinema next sunday and although they will only be left with my mum for 3 hours, I'm dreading it.
San Fransisco sounds lovely, a few of my friends have stayed there and they loved it too. the nicest gift I ever had was a hand-made and hand-painted mug from one of my year 11 form. She was a lovely girl, really creative, who also made some goody-bags for my hen-night and thank-you cards for my wedding (I paid her of course!).

Oh and can you and HKZ come and decorate my bedrooms at the new house. I am dreading it! I like the idea of it but everything I do just seems to turn out crap as I am not arty at all .

Just put loads of my baby stuff on (netmums) nearly new for sale. Meant to have a big clear-out but failed miserably so quite of you HKZ. 4 weeks to go, bet you are so excited!!! I would love to live my wedding day again, they go by in a flash. Can't even bring myself to wach the DVD until I'm a bit slimmer, maybe some time next year then .

Awwww moose so that you lost that other dog. Bet those memories made you evn more worried this time.

missjackson If your bathroom doesn't get too steamy, try going to your local pool and go into the steam room for a couple of minutes at a time over 10 minutes. I did it with DD when her allergies were full bloom. Mine too. It worked. I stayed near the door too so it wasn't extremely steamy.

books Good grief on the choc button. What are people thinking. Actually, I wouldn't allow DD to accept any food from strangers just for simple hygiene reasons. You just don't know where that food has been or the persons hands. ('ick' emoticon Besides, what about that rule about not taking candy from strangers?

Pat Glad to hear work is OK. I am really glad i work from home. I missed DD when I went to the spa. It is such a great feeling to be loved unconditionally by our little ones. Those smiles they give you when they see you. Priceless.

moose Sounds like your dog had an adventure. Too bad you couldn't put little cams on them to see what they get up too. And nice to hear you got a good sandwich. Its important, eh? The last bad sandwich i ate was at Subway in Richmond, (Vancouver suburb basically) after the Ikea run. It was just awful. How can you make a veg sandwich taste like cardboard, I don't know, but they manage to do it. At first I was convinced it was the bad sandwich that made Violet decide she was coming out.

eachpeach I can't believe that I lived in Gerrard's Cross for over a year and never went to Legoland... wanted to many times but we always ended up going into London when we had a chance.

hongkong 4 weeks till wedding! It came up fast! DH wants to do something huge next year for our 20th but his brother is getting married and we kinda have to go back to Ontario for that, next August... argh. I hate the extreme humidity there and up north the deer and horse flies love me. Those buggers take chunks out you. They don't suck blood, they eat flesh. The weather is sooooooo hot. I don't really like too much. Not so bad if lounging at the park or beach but I always seem to need to walk to the store (or as I call it, Cement Land... you know, big box stores and open parking lots with no trees) when its this hot. We're in the Highlands, on the mountain, (not snow capped or anything but we are very about sea level) so it gets hot up here. Victoria is cool because it is right on the ocean. That goodness our flat is cool.

We had a rough night. DD is still not sleeping well. A few weeks ago I suggested to DH that perhaps her mattress was uncomfortable and finally, today, he agrees that may be the reason. If she is really tired, she'll sleep for 2 hours but usually she goes at 1 hour intervals. By 4.30am, I lost it and cried and cried and couldn't stop because I'd yet to sleep. She sleeps great in her stroller, but the Quinney is very comfy. I'm at my wits end. The only other thing I can think of is a sedative... At least our new couch is comfy. (DD slept on it this morning with DH for 5 to 9 so I think that was why DH thought her mattress is too hard.)

That aside, she is pleasant throughout the day. We went for a swim with K and M then for lunch. We past by a second hand store that had a bear rug draped over a chair so I had to take Vi over to see it. The head was huge but she laugh at and was staring and checking it out. It was hilarious. She also is noticing the wildlife around here. There is Mother Rosa and her two new spotted fawns, Percy the raccoon, Winifred and Bob, the squirrels, Big Red the hummingbird, The Smiths, a family of quails and The Three Amigos... three young bucks roaming suburbia. We actually can hunt deer year round with a bow and arrow if they're on your property. They get so close that I could just walk up to them and... well, I won't go there. Violet just loves watching them.

ray Have a fab time at your parents. Take lots of photos. Esme is becoming such a little girl... I think I said that on a picture on FB.

Hi all,

Am back. DD1 went off to nana's for the night to avoid a commute back and for big plays. I was so waving bye to her. I loved our day together - I have msised dd, she is such good company. Sizes an arse though - 3yo too big on waist, 4 yo too short in leg, 4yo too huge in chest, 5 yo too short in body...dd is infact a string bean!

Was a way from dd2 for nearly 12 hours though, didn't get back till 8:30 and my boobs were fit to burst. The little tinler has had a great time necking 3oz bottles whilst watching tv with dh, instead of having lots of little feeds buried in my boob.

She had a decent feed when I got in though then I expressed 5 oz and stashed it in freezer.

Off to bed - so tired!

Ohhh Lenni How did you meet your DH? Am all sentimental at the mo...am in the mood for a romantic story. BTW you can have my Lily if you want, she's been a pita somewhat chalenging today! Wow, SF must have been a cool place to live, I love the hippiness of it, I've never been but have read a lot of armistead maupin (sp?) Tales from the city...
Going on a bear hunt was on at the HAckney Empire last week and I missed it, we read that book sooooo much, DD would have loved it. What did you see? I want to take her to see Gruffalo later on in the summer too.

Pat All the freecycle stuff went in about 5 mins, am getting excited about uncluttered house, will probably be filled with clutter again immediately. You don't want me doing the decorating..my philosophy is 'paint everything white and stick nice things on the walls'...(We never seem to have any money to do the places we live up....so lots of white paint!)

I would love to have the evening I tld DP about being pregnant with Lily again, my 30th when DP proposed, both DC's births...lots of special days in fact. Looking forward to the wedding now, so much to do though, need to get my dress taken in which is a pita, I am at loosing weight but at how much it costs to get it adjusted!

Right DP is taking the piss as we are meant to be watching film and I am MNetting at the same time....its a good film too, Burn After Reading, would recommend...right, back to it..

Hello to all btw - and that heavens you got your dog back Moose! Well done on ringing everyone, I wouldn't have a clue! Phew!

Enjoy the trip Ray!

HKZ - get thee to a beauty therapist and get them nails done! Exciting times! I have pic of me on the day, huge and framed. It's taken from above [from upstairs] and it shows how hair is exactly what I wanted, shows how the dress looks like whipped cream like I wanted....and shoes a lovely manicure too. Am such a sap for a wedding!

Stipey - not getting Chris Corcoran either, and I am was a right slapper man appreciator!

On other hand watching The Killers at the mo, and really, Brandon Flowers, Oh my!

that should say 'above sea level'.

hong its a great movie. Pitts character is hilarious. Actually, they are all fab characters.

Chef I very much appreciate the Cohen Brothers use of George and Brad in the same movies too. Where you live sounds pretty dreamy...(apart from the shopping outlets, but they look pretty barren the world over!) DD had a mattress made of some kind of natural grass fibres when we were in HK, very good in humid climates, will try and find out what it was, she slept like a dream on it...

Tree It must be a pretty seminal moment, buying your first DC's uniform, awww. I think someone will need a hack saw to make my feet pretty!

I have a packet of posh breast milk storage freezer bag things, if anyone wants them I am happy to stick themin the post while I am on a decluttering mission!

Lenni that's what I thought about the teachers' gifts, I always think homemade means so much more than shop bought. The boys want to do hama bead hearts for them, although they did hama bead stars for christmas and I thought they might be a bit samey. Last year they gave each teacher and TA a hama bead heart and I supplemented them with a beautiful carved chocolate heart from Hotel Chocolat.

HKZ even though dd is called Elizabeth we seem to have fallen into the habit of calling her Lily, or Lily Boo. Don't know why as it wasn't on our list of possble names. Think it has well and truly stuck now though. She was supposed to be Beth, but that doesn't seem to suit her somehow. Exciting times with your wedding coming up so soon!

Tree glad you had a good day with dd1. Ds1 is a pain to buy clothes for too, he is short for his age with absolutely no bum, a tiny waist and disproportionately long legs (same shape as daddy).

It took me a good while for my brains to kick in and know what to do about the dog, but then my training took over. (I did canine studies at college when we were in Lancashire and used to be dog obsessed with lots of doggie people connections, so I should know what to do, although all I managed for at least five minutes was panicking and shaking).

HKZ....me?

I am starting the expressing mission for the egg donation period when milk will dry up but as it's all in a great great cause. So will need bags and bags!

Tree bit of advice. If using bags, make sure your freezer isn't frosted up. Up until our freezer disaster the other week some of my bags ended up with tiny holes in the corner where the ice/frost has pierced them. I now double bag just in case. I use Lansinoh bags, by the way and find they are much better than the Avent ones.

Tree you can email me your address at hongkongzoe at gmail dot com... They are open as I have used a couple, hope thats ok. What a fab cause, and very selfless too, very much admire you doing egg donation.

Just peaked in on the DCs to check onthier first night of room sharing and welled up completely, was jsut filled with an over whelming surge of love [sentimental hormonal mad woman emoticon]

Moose DC's teacher gifts sound lovely and heartfelt. I don't get that many gifts at secondary level, but have had some beautiful cards that I have kept over the years that really mean a lot to me. And wine and chocs are always appreciated too!

They are Lansinoh bags btw!

moose we had that same UV suit/hat combo for DD last year- it is gorgeous!

chef love the way you name all your wildlife! We do that too... but mouldy old pigeons don't get quite such sweet names...