June 08: I see it, I want it, it's mine!

[spongebrainmaternitypants]

Welcome to our new thread .

I'm sure Sponge won't mind me sharing her latest FB status for those of you without FB: Sponge has been back to the hospital for more monitoring, BP has stabilised and looks like induction plans have been put on hold. You'll all have to wait a little longer to meet Bill : )

more than happy to wait - but poor Sponge stuck in the hospital - I hope they get her home soon! Her last night in the hospital didn't seem very restful.

Hi guys, tis me ! Not posted much over the last few days cos I've had my prison wardens dh and mum telling me off anytime I do anything, even picking up the laptop! PP, thank you for updating everyone .

AH, don't worry, I'm not in hospital - just went in for the morning. Had a horrible scare when we first got there cos the monitor couldn't pick up Bill's heartbeat . The MW was brilliant and stayed really calm, but I could hear from her breathing that she was starting to get a little stressed. After about 15 mins she went off to get another monitor and I burst into tears - dh comforted me while we waited and as soon as the new monitor was attached the heartbeat was there loud and clear . I cried again, and she waited for a while before taking my BP - think it would have been sky high if she'd done it then!

whinegums, you have my every sympathy on the nursery - I have dropped Alex off this morning for his settling off day this morning and it was awful . So busy and noisy and manic compared to the quiet calm off our CM . Alex cried and clung to my legs which is so unlike him. Anyway, I phoned an hour later and he's happily playing with his best friend in the sand pit - apparently he squealed with delight when Lucas arrived and they've been inseparable all morning . So hard though .

Amber, sorry to hear about your awful neighbours - fingers crossed you won't be there long. Btw, I keep meaning to ask you how your sister is, did they have any tests and get any answers about their awful loss of their twinnies?

AH, great news about the cons appt - hopefully there won't be a big wait til the op either.

All the food talk is interesting - haven't tried Alex on fish fingers but I bet he'd love them! Will add them to my shopping list .

Right off to tidy my kitchen and wash up. I've already put the hoover round - see, I am completely rubbish at relaxing .

Hi to everyone else .

Hope Sponge is doing ok. Fingers crossed for a low bp for the rest of her time.

We like the salmon fishfingers here too. Perfectly nice, healthy food. Although having said that, at the moment J is only eating broccoli and meatballs in a tomato (and hidden onion) sauce for tea. Anything else is just not acceptable. I'm not too worried though as both broccoli and tomatoes are really good for you and I'm hiding apple and onions in the meatballs too. Veg, fruit and meaty goodness in one very small parcel! I'm sure he will have moved on to something else in a few weeks.

Afternoon everyone,

Fish fingers are great, we are rather partial to scampi too, they are our quick no thinking freezer stand bys.

Sponge - glad they found the heart beat in the end, must have been very scary.

J has a lovely big bruise on his forehead and cheek after falling from a kitchen chair onto the tiled floor.

Whinegums - glad the first day at nursery went well, and the first day at work, it always takes me a while to get to grip with new workplaces, all the minor things to find out like where the kettle is as well as all the major work related stuff. First days always have a lot to remember!

Fruit and veg - my main problem is having enough in the house, does anyone else find that supermarket fruit starts off rock hard then before you know it is covered in mould? I'm fed up of throwing it away. Morrisons seems slightly better, fruit from there at least seems to go through a ripe phase. I get some things from our nice local organic farm but it costs me an arm and a leg so trying to cut down on trips there.

Had my scan this morning and it was all fine, all the little boxes got ticked so that was a relief. Baby wouldn't stay still though so think I am going to get kicked a lot in the next few months.

I need a nap now, sorry I haven't got round to replying to everyone.

lol at the blw thread Whinegums

It's funny cos the DTs have never really been keen on feeding themselves with their hands, apart from toast, rice cakes and fruit eg if I put potatoes in front of them they just get ignored. But now they are feeding themselves more with the spoon they also seem happier to pick up what they drop using their hands.

lol at bottomless pit ktpie - I sometimes worry that I am not giving them enough when they totally scoff the lot but then I just think they are just enjoying it, they never really moan from hunger and they sleep through the night so I think they must be getting enough. havne't had them weighed for months but they seem ok to me.

Sponge, how frightening that they couldn't pick up the HB . I can imagine how awful that was. Are you happy or a bit sad now that Bill might not be making an early appearance? I know I was always so glad that the DTs were going to come early - I was so excited I don't think I could have waited another three weeks.

Amber, 6G! omg T is still a 4F and E a 3E (aw)

Abdn, Sorry for not replying earlier to your q about getting E her app. IIRC I rang the consultant direct and spoke to his secretary and said I was worried as initially we had been told she needed the op within 3 wks and we'd already waited over 2 to be told it would be another 3wks before we even got an inital appt. The consultant said bring her down that day and he did the op the next week. I think she may have got bumped because she was only 12wo and was premature so the doc wanted it done soon as. Hope you get an OK result for F. I really hope your surname has absolutely nothing to do with it - that would be so depressing and against everything the NHS stands for .

I am terrible for giving the DTs the same thing to eat all the time. Not so much their mains, they have something different every day eg chilli, spag bol, casseroles, stews etc and I whizz up carrots/peppers etc and add it in to get veg into them. But other than that every day they have porridge with banana in for breakfast, 2 tangerines each for snack, rice cake with soft cheese on and then a main for lunch, apple for aft snack, then for tea they have a piece of toast each, a bit of cheese or a sausage, plus yogurt. But I figure they are having lots of fruit and veg and a variety of protein so it's not so bad. I am the same when it comes to eating similar things every day. Those chicken strips sound great Whinegums, will definitely try that. I also have a recipe for baked beans and they like scrambled egg so I am going to give a bit more variety for tea at least.

I seem to have picked up their cold (I knew it was a mistake to let E give me a big snotty kiss the other day) and feel a bit shit, like I can't be arsed to do anything, so I have jad a lazy day. In fact I didn't wake up until ten to nine this morning! T and E were just playing in their cots .

Neenz - my bottomless pit here has slowed down a little today due to having a blocked up nose. Think I am getting it too so colds here as well.
After your FB message about someone wanting a canoe on freecycle I've just had a message on mine for someone requesting a palm tree "for my front garden for when my mum visits me"

Hi everyone, just marking my place really after a very full day at the zoo with S and a friend with a similar aged boy. It was sooooo cute to see them running around getting excited at the monkeys, birds etc. Such a different experience than wheeling him round in the pram. However, it wasn't much fun getting him back in the pram whenever I needed to!

Thanks all for sharing snack stories. Sounds like S's snacks are perfectly normal then. We give a main meal in the evening now, so for lunch S normally has soup and bread or a sandwich or something, followed by fruit and a biscuit or something similar.

Sponge, put the Hoover down!

Lol BDQ - have been majorly told off by dh !

Neenz, I am a little disappointed tbh - I had kind of got my head round Bill making an early appearance so the idea of waiting another five weeks is a bit . But then I'm not sure he is going to wait tbh!

ktpie, ouch on the bruise .

Neenz -both playing in their cots until 10 to 9 - you do know how lucky you are don't you?[smile}

Sponge - how scary to not find the heartbeat but glad all is well now, please don't bother with the hoovering again for a few weeks!!

Ktpie - pleased to hear all was well with your scan, how many weeks are you now?lol at the palm tree request

BDQ - zoo sounds great fun

We have now decamped into the large apartment kitchen and my old kitchen is nearly all out - at last I can see some improvement. Just got to make the new cupboards(dh is doing the 1st one now), sort out the tiles(any of you painted over tiles or tiled over tiles?) etc etc... And we have a viewing on saturday so that will be fun!

Bollox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wrote the longest post and it's gone - damn laptop. Seriously I can't write it all again. Has all sorts of issues too - will do it tomorrow. x

neenz thanks - it looks like we've done the same thing and gotten the same kind of response (we're being seen in a week which seems very fair since F is considerably older). I think I'm on edge with the NHS because I've had several snarky comments from doctors/midwives about my "unrealistic expectations" whenever I've had the slightest complaint. They hear my accent and think I'm an American who's used to private health care - but private health care is actually illegal in Canada. I just know from experience you have to be your own advocate or things fall by the wayside in a over-full system like Canadas but people assume I'm going to be trouble and don't listen to what I'm asking for

DH home from Germany and told us at dinner he'd bought us all presents. I have to admit I got excited but all I got were silly fuzzy socks (Germans love fuzzy slipper socks - I've bought some there before). I am such a kid, I was so hoping for something more exciting. Except I'm not a kid as the boys loved their silly gifts (mitts and a ball).

oooh! all sorts of new posts... waves to everyone...

Abdn, yes that is very annoying getting patronised like that by the docs. You're right, you do have to fight to get what you need quickly, it is sad for those people who do not have the knowledge/confidence to push themselves forward but you do what is best for you and your family. I feel quite guilty now that I do that as it is not very fair, but you can just get stuck in the system, sometimes they need a little nudge and a reminder that you are still there, waiting.

Debs, yeah I know - ten to nine, I am such a lucky git . We paid for it a bit tonight tho cos T took over an hour to settle (cos I still gave him 2hrs lunch sleep). I think it is time to cut his lunch sleep down .

That's terrible re your experience of health care abdn. I also feel bad for people who through lack of education or whatever, don't get what they need from the 'system' neenz - like decent HV's who give them sensible information and advice.

I'm currently knackered with my feet up on the sofa. S really knackered me out today. It was loads of fun though. Apart from the emergence of public tantrums . We had a full on throw yourself on the ground and wail while hammering your fist episode. Wasn't as mortified as I expected. I've turned into one of 'those' parents.

bdq & neenz I'm upset to think that other kids with Fraser's condition aren't getting seen because their parents don't know to phone. The only reason I knew to call the hospital direct rather than the GP (tried that first, got nowhere) was that one of the other mothers at DS1's school is a doctor. I want him to get seen as soon as possible but in turn IYSWIM? Ahead of conditions that aren't worsing but definitely not ahead of kids who are in worse shape...

Amber how's things going? I think you mentioned your rental accomodation is really loud When do you move into the house?

BDQ - stupid question alert, you mention giving S soup, for me that is pretty much the only thing I consider off the menu for us as I can't see how J would eat it, how does S manage? I'd love to start making soups for the winter, cheap and tasty but the only way I can think is to make it pretty thick and soak loads of bread in it.

New kitchen Debs how exciting! My Mum painted over her tiles and it looked a bit rubbish, possibly because they had had pictures on them and you could still see the shapes of the images through them, if you see what I mean, might look better on plain tiles. Think tiling over tiles would give a neater finish but not done it myself. Is it worth seeing how easily the old ones come off, sometimes they leave a fairly smooth surface, not always of course!

Abdn - glad you managed to get the appointment sorted, it is worrying that the systems don't seem to work in a very fair way.

BDQ - zoo sounds great, J's favourite programme at the moment is Animal Park, he was kissing the screen whenever the baby camel came on the other day. J does those sorts of tantrums round the house all the time but, fingers crossed, not while we have been out yet. I'm sure he will.

I need to remember to send my sister a card for her 18th birthday on friday, I'm rubbish at remembering birthdays, can't for the life of me think of anything to get her so may have to be rubbish and send her some money, especially as I have left it so late. Remember those days of being 18? We were walking through the medical school yesterday on our way to my scan and passed a group of new students being told that they would be shown where the library was then would have the rest of the day to themselves, this was at about half ten, caused me and DH to remember fondly our student days spent in the pub!

Really busy here, dh has been away which hasn't helped.

Yesterday I had three naked children running around screaming (well to be fair, J was just copying the other two) while I tried to remove a HUGE spider we had discovered on the way to the bath. I have quite bad arachnophobia but it was on the stairs so we had to move it or face sleeping downstairs. I did manage to get it inside a large wineglass (with the longest stem I could find) and put it outside. Afterwards ds1 said to me, 'that was very brave mummy'. Too true!

Ktpie what kind of soup are you planning on making? I was wondering about soup for J as he likes bread and would enjoy dunking I'm sure! Every recipe I have jas loads of salt though. Feel free to sgare any good ones...

I'm a wimp when it comes to spiders too Sybil, I've not really thought about the type of soup I would make, I usually do a vegetable soup which is essentially any veg we have lying around the house chucked in, I guess I used to put a stock cube in (can't quite remember as I've not made it for ages) and a bit of salt, I have some of those boots stock cubes with less salt in so may use one of those. Always mean to make a particular flavour of soup, say potato and leek or whatever then I look at all the veg that needs using up and could be chucked in and end up with veg soup again.
I used to work for New Covent Garden Soup and we got the soup free so have been a bit spoilt, but a lot of their stuff is not very healthy, the chicken soup in particular is very fatty and salty, heart disease in a carton one of the girls used to call it! In fact I have one of their books somewhere so will dig it out.
I watched Masterchef last night and fancy having a go at French Onion soup, looked lovely, and should be fairly cheap to make (I think) for those of us on a tight budget (me!).

lol at the spider Sybil - I take it the DCs were naked cos they were about to have a bath?

ktpie - I would also love any soup recipes, I think definitely make it really thick and lumpy so they can pick bits out. I have been inspired by my own (depressing IMO) post about the lack of variety in my kids' food, so I am going to put more veg out for them to eat with their hands now they are getting so much better at feeding themselves. Yesterday they had butternut squash and sweet potato for tea (mashed up and eaten with a spoon). Before, any veg I put out would get ignored and it gets depressing cooking it just to chuck it away, but will try again with some brocolli next week.

E's talking is really coming on (not so much T's) - she even said grandma the other day to my mum. Mum was so chuffed and got it on video - it's on her FB so I will see if I can get it onto my FB. It is so cute.

I am feeling pretty rough today - sore throat, tired, feeling generally rubbish - and it was so tempting to not come to work today. The thought of packing the kids off to the CM and having a day by myself on the sofa was SO tempting. But I am rubbish at ringing in sick, unless I am dying I just can't do it. So here I am. I feel OK as long as I have paracetemol but I think I would feel even better if I was at home watching Entourage .

abdnhiker hope all goes well with the appointment. It is very sad that some people get over looked or are at the back of the line becasue they don't realise that enquiring about an appointment can help your child be seen faster. We have private healthcare and I do think it's wrong that last week for example DD2 had a consultant appointment on tuesday and he booked her operation for the very next day as there are childen who need the operation probably even more urgently than DD2 did, especially as it was done in an NHS hospital.

x-posted ktpie - for stock I use this Vegan version of Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon as it is reduced salt. You can get a non-vegan reduced salt one but the only reduced salt one I ever see in my Tesco is the Vegan one so I use that. The amount I put in is pretty low anyway - and actually there is probably more salt in the bread.

x-posted Going! We have private healthcare too and it doesn't sit too comfortably with me, but when I had my miscarriage and I only had to wait 24 hours not 48 hours for a D&C I was so relieved to go private. And no one waited longer to get their D&C on the NHS because I went private cos that surgeon would not have been doing NHS work instead IYSWIM. In fact, if you go private you are taking yourself out of the system therefore NHS patients behind you get seen quicker. A much different proposition IMO to private schooling, for example, where the kids who get left behind are at a disadvantage. We have the private insurance through DH's work but I don't think I would pay for it otherwise. E was seen on the NHS and it has improved so much since Labour came to power that private cover is just not as useful as it once was IMO. I remember when I was 18 (under the Tories) I needed a knee op and would have waited 2.5yrs on the NHS! Waits like that are just unheard of now.

That would have been a long wait! We have had it for a few years through dps work but it didn't occur to me to use it until quite recently when our gp asked if we had any cover. Glad to have it for dds hearing as she was starting to fall behind where she should be at school so I wanted everything done quickly.

Neenz- Someone mentioned Marigold the other week (not on here) and I'd never heard of it before so I will have a look out for it, thanks for the tip. I presume you can get smaller tubs than in that link!
I feel like I should have some proper soup recipes now rather than my method of just chucking whatever we have in the house in! It's so easy to get stuck in a rut with meals, I keep trying to vary things a little and try new things each week, today we are having an experimental meal, a sort of bean stew where I just chucked a load of stuff in the slow cooker earlier, it tastes good so far. Going to make some cobblers for the top, they make all stews yummy!

Hope you are starting to feel better Neenz.

Goingto - You are right about the private healthcare, it can create a two tier system, although at the same time I guess it takes some of the pressure off the NHS.

I seem to be on here a lot today, perhaps I should go and do something more productive wiht my time!