Dec 08 - 9 months in, 9 months out!

[jumpjockey]

Hope you don't mind the dodgy thread name but all our babies are 9 months old now or in the next few weeks

kiwi forgot to say Happy Birthday! Sounds like you were right royally spoilt!!! And deservedly so

Oh Daisy that has made me so angry. The NHS constantly cries poor and blames understaffing for everything but that is just pure incompetence. I remember when DS1 was 5 weeks old and I had that massive abcess the GP said he would refer me for an emergency apt at the breast clinic and I was to go home and the letter would arrive in a day or two (emergency) 2 days later and in a vast amount of pain I rang the GP about the pain and to see if he could check if an appointment had been allocated. It was then that he discovered the referral was still waiting by the fax machine!!!! I promptly demanded a private referral (they get a bit funny about that).

I'm so sorry for what your GP's are going through though. It's just not good enough, no one should have to put up with it but especially people who have supported the system all their lives. They should be given extra special treatment not second class.

Kayz & PmK I missed your posts before yay on the extra hours kayz esp Sunday isn't that extra money? But I'm a bit about you having to be away from your children more to get more money. They are encouraging you to be away from them. That seems wrong to me. I'm a bit grumpy about all this sort of thing today. They have been reporting on the radio about how to pay for the huge debt we are in now because of bailing out the banks people on incapacity benefits will be targetted and encourage to return to work or have to justify the meagre benefit they get. They always target the vulnerable in society with these things. It was the big wigs who got us into this mess and everybody's (the affluent and the less so) need to consume big style. But then when we have to pay the price we take from the most needy. I know it's not the same but I've had to help families fill out the forms needed to get the Disability living allowance, and it's not easy the forms are massive and incredibly detailed and have to be filled out every year! Apart from the difficulty & inconvenience of it, it's not very nice for these people to have to detail exactly what they can't do for themselves. It's quite demoralizing. Sorry I've gone off on one haven't I, it just makes me a bit grumpy that we bail out the big banks bosses give them huge pensions and then demonise these poor people who for whatever reason need our help.

Oh and PMK pmsl about the ironing.

Thanks for birthday greetings all! Chez Bruce was lovely, though I feel slightly hungover today . DD has a streaming cold poor mite and a very runny nose and watery eyes. She looks like she's constantly crying which is a bit

Some bad family news - my little niece (21 months) has a heart condition where her heart races (Infant SVT, for the medical folk out there) - she had been off her medication for 3 months in the hope that she's grown out of it but she ended up back in hospital after another episode last night. She's ok now and back home but obviously it's awful for her parents.

Pmk DD does the tv watching from 1 inch away too! She crawls over and pulls herself up to standing on the edge of the TV stand thingy and watches it from there. Particularly fond of sport, and horse racing specially [hmmm]

Daisy that is awful about your gps, I really hope people get their arses in gear and actually DO something

Kiwi sorry about your niece. How scary for her parents. I hope she grows out of it soon.
daisy that's awful treatment that your GPs have had. Hope it gets sorted soon. They should make a complaint otherwise these things never get picked up on.
veggie - I know what you mean about getting rid of toys. I was sorting through P's toys yesterday because we just keep a small selection in the lounge and the rest live in the cupboard upstairs, and I thought it was time to rotate them for a change, but I couldn't decide which ones to keep downstairs and which ones to put away! I eventually made two piles and was going to take one pile up because she doesn't seem as interested in those things. I left the pile out when I went to bed then this morning P made a bee-line for the pile I was going to put away! Now they're all back in one pile!
arti I see you're famous - your recipe of the week sounds yum!
Here's a question...can babies' gums bleed when they're teething? P was really unhappy earlier and I thought it might be the ear, but then dh noticed she was dribbling blood . I kept wiping it away but it kept coming. We tried to look in her mouth but couldn't see any cuts or see where it was coming from. We gave her calpol and she settled down after about 20 mins and it seemed to stop bleeding. Not sure what it was- or whether it was even coming from her mouth - maybe she was sicking it up? ANyway, she went off to bed fine and is still asleep...any thoughts?
Well I'm off to bed now. Sleep well. Hope Madam is still behaving for wg....

Has been ages. I seem to have missed tons of birthdays so a big happy birthday to JB, Kiwi, pmk and loads of others I'm sure. But an especially large print H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y to sybil who is I believe the elder stateswoman of the thread at the moment. What's it like on the dark side syb? Will be following you over that hill next month. Was determined not to be fat and forty but I need to pull my finger out pronto. Unfortunately my finger is too podgy and appears to be stuck fast. Bah.

Oh I don't even know where to start catching up but Veggie how exciting about your move. Congrats to Veggiedaddy on landing the new job. And wow on DS2's standing antics. I just can't imagine DD doing it, even though it can't be that far off.

Kiwi sorry to hear about your niece. Is it just a case of back on the meds and wait & see if it gets better or does that mean she's going to have to stay on them? Must be terrifying for the parents.

trace poor little P. Not sure about the blood. Don't remember seeing any when DS's teeth came through but that doesn't mean there wasn't any - I know he always has a blood blister type thing before they come through so that blood must go somewhere. Other than that the only time my DCs have had blood in their mouths is either from my nipples or once when I gave DD pineapple (it was either too acidic or I just hadn't peeled it properly).

pmk please see new pic on my profile. Oh and am with you on the ironing - it will come as no surprise to any of you that have met me that I don't even own an iron. Have had to buy name labels for DS's stuff for pre-school and have no idea how we are going to get the bloody things into his clothes.

daisy shocking what's happening with your GPs - as if they don't have enough on their plates without all that carry-on. Oh and we always get a proper pasting when we play Arsenal don't we? At least it wasn't Bumley...

JB hope the trip is not too traumatic. Do you at least get to stay in a nice hotel?

wg glad the sleep is improving.

spot how is the packing going? Soooo jealous of your move. Am planning a trip to Brighton in the next couple of weeks - maybe we could meet up for a brew.

Verso great news that your new setup is working so well and that you got a good outcome from your eejit ex employers. You sound a million miles better than a few months ago - fantastic to hear it.

Turnip good to see you back my love. How did your DH's interview go?

zj we had jackets and snowsuits for DS and used them both. Don't know which I'd choose if I had to choose one. Probably the snowsuit especially as you're up north. Realistically most of their toddling is going to be done indoors this winter. However they are a pain to get on and off - I've found ones with diagonal zips the least hassle.

urbane did you find a nanny in the end? Weren't you supposed to be back at work today? (sorry if you said & I missed it - have been skimming). Btw keep meaning to say I do like your shiny new name.

LadyT how are things with DP at the moment? And have you made any headway with your employers on your settlement?

Oh and hello and welcome to Yummy & catlady.

Re the contents of our LOs' nappies - DD is another who has made the transition to proper big ones pretty much straight away, whereas it took ages for DS. And I'd say they have about the same ratio of bm to solids as well. Just in case you were wondering like.

On the word front, DD said her first word a couple of weeks ago. It was clap (pronounced 'cack'). But not to be outdone by inspired by LadyT and her clever DD I have put her into animal boot camp the last few days and she now proudly says cat (also pronounced 'cack') when shown the picture of a cat in her book. She can also say dog, frog, bird and sheep (all pronounced 'cack').

As usual I've probably missed loads I meant to say but must go to bed.

Morning,

Veggie Sunday isn't more money. Co-Op don't pay extra for Sundays. But it does mean an extra £80 in my wages and £250 extra in tax credits. It is stupid but we need the money.

On the talking front. DS2 says Mama but about 10 times so really mamamamamamamamamamamama. He now says Deddie when he wants DS1's attention which is so cute!!

Hello hello! I love these autumn days (even the rain). I am going to do a proper catch up later (honest guv) but just for now, DaisyD I am appalled at your GPs' treatment in hospital. It makes me so cross. When I was in hospital in April last year (before I was on here) my treatment was rubbish so DP phoned the manager of the entire hospital and told them it wasn't good enough and I was magically whisked off for the scan I had been waiting for at 1 in the morning . If they think you will take legal action or ring the press they spring to life. It's awful. Even my sister admits this and she has worked for the NHS for over 20 yrs.

Is anyone watching Criminal Justice? The first part was last night. Bit depressing though.

Anyway, I digress. We exchanged on the house on Fri and complete Nov 13. DP is trying harder I think, which is really nice and appreciated. We are off on trips this weekend and next - Northern France and then Bruges the following weekend. I still feel a bit flat about everything but I know it will all improve and one probably has to accept some ebb and flow in a relationship. He has certainly been a lot less grumpy and is actively trying to say nice things.

I think I got too excited about O talking She has gone on strike with the book so she is probably bored of it and my incessant "Where's the...?" Although DP has his glasses on yesterday and she kept taking them off and after he said "Glasses!" x about 64, she said "Gla'! Gla'!" Anything to shut us up, poor kid. But I will stop talking about this now as her default is complete babble, however elaborate and fulsome. Kayz, I would love a "Mama"! But it ain't happening.

I realise this is all about me and I am coming back later on to do all my personals as there was quite a bit of stuff I wanted to say to others.

Right, got my toast now. I am worried I sound like one of those ghastly pushy mothers. But you know what it's like, it's so exciting when you feel they might be communicating in actual, bona fide English words.

Kayz, I didn't realise it was the Co-op. I love the Co-op, there are tons in Oxfordshire. I hadn't set foot in one for years until I moved here but I am a convert now and even have one of those cards. I don't think working on Sundays for an extra £80 plus £250 is silly at all - that's going to make a big difference to anyone's budget.

Hi PD, good to see you back. Work settlement is all done and dusted thanks - just waiting for the cheque. I got a bit wistful the other day as I had an email saying how Q. Tarantino was interested in the film rights to one of our books again. Had I been there now I'd have handled it, and it just would have been FUN. Ah well, what can you do. 'Tis only a job. Not sure what I am going to do when my redundancy cash runs out though. Hope one of my other irons in the fire has got hot, I suppose

Jolly, I hope your trip is going well.

Veggie, will you still come over to see us once you are in Holland? I was socialising in London, nothing worky (Arti, I had dinner with D) and also going to my storage place to peer at what's in there and think what can come to the new house and how it can be pared down as storage is just like BURNING money. So remind me - what is the precise date of moving? And have you found a new place? (Apols if so and I have missed it).

DaisyD - I have been to Preston - when I was about 6 and I went with my father to get some special plants from a nursery there. I only remember being taken to Morecombe afterwards to go on the beach.

WG - is your MIL still with you? She sounds immensely trying. I know of someone who found a dead mouse in the crumb tray of their toaster, although better not tell your MIL that.

Spot - ugh, packing. I am utterly dreading it, but I don't think we'll move in until after Christmas...Are you sad about leaving the Smoke?

Trace - I was amused at those 6th Formers wanting sperm keyrings. Dear me. You are doing a sterling job. How is little P now?

Effie hasn't been on for a bit - I hope your DS2 is feeling better, if you are reading.

Tilly - do you know what your DS1 did for Star of the Week? Bless him. Have you seen young Olipop recently?

Kiwi - Oooh, Chez Bruce. Never been but I bet it was fabby. We went to a party on Saturday night and I was hungover on Sunday. Not good.

To which end, what were you up to in Soho, Invis?

ZJ - glad you have got the job stuff sorted in your mind, and also that your Mum and DD have got an entente cordiale going!

PMK - so sorry about your friends...unimaginable. That cat story was quite something. I haven't looked at your FB pics yet so I must do that and put a couple up myself. It must be about time for you to have another trip - any plans? How is your DH getting on in his new job?

Welcome to Yummy - are you ever coming back?

Turnip, it is so good to see you on here again, lady.

Right, must press on. Sorry to anyone I have missed.

Hi all, just doing a quick catch-up before I have to pick ds1 up.

veggie good luck with the packing & chucking! Wow on ds2's standing too, he'll be walking before you know it!

spot how's your packing going?

kayz I'm glad you've got the hours you need

kiwi so sorry to hear about your niece, how worrying for her parents

wg how much longer is your mil there for? Fwiw we don't have a crumb tray either under our toaster. WHat an odd thing to get obsessed about!

ladyt ds1 got his star for 'being a very helpful member of the nursery & for always having a lovely smile' . Its written on his certificate, we've put it up in his bedroom!

Hi to everyone else, I'm sorry I don't have time for more personals but will be back later

Ds2 has been bumped from the baby room to the older room at the baby & toddler group I go to! Because he won't sit still he has a tendency to crawl over the little babies, kick them etc etc. Feel a little about it, he's no longer a little baby.

Well I wrote a big post last night before bed and was just about to press send when the battery on my itouch died and took the unsent post with it. I really can't rewrite it all because I'm supposed to be sorting through DS1's toys while DS2 is asleep. DH is on the phone but I might get caught chatting in class if I stay on too long.

I just wanted to say hi Lady and hooray for the nearly moving in house thing. We move on the 1st November. I think they are coming to pack up part of the house on the 30th then the rest the day after then will meet us over there the following day. I want to stay til the Sunday because DS2's school are having a big Halloween party so it will be his last hoorrah with his mates. However it is his school holidays the last week in October and my niece will be over here so we are going to take her down to London to do some sightseeing and catch up with some friends down there. It would be lovely to catch up for a coffee if anyone is around will let you know when we will be down.

Oh better go I think he's nearly off the phone and I'm not even surrounded by toys to make it look like I've been busy.

Hello ladies, long time no keep up, sorry! I haven't been on MN for so long that they seem to have changed the way the pages look, very confused. I'm being naughty really as I need some help with a work thing.

I am doing a survey on behalf of a client on how women cope with the menopause and need at least 500 responses by Friday .

Participants will be entered into a prize draw to win £150 of M&S vouchers. I know none of you lot are anywhere near menopause, or I hope not anyway, but if you could fill out the survey using artistic licence anyway I'd be really grateful, and also forward it on to anyone you can think of, especially Mums/ Aunts etc who may be going through/ have gone through menopause.......pretty please. Here's the link:
www.yours.co.uk/Health--Beauty/Search-Results/Health/Search-Results/Menopause/Cancer-menopause-and-P hyto-soya-/

Sorry to anyone on FB who has already been asked to do this, I'm posting it everywhere to try and get as many responses as possible! Hopefully one of my MN mates will win the prize though .

Thankyou and although I haven't even attempted to catch up since I was last on, once I've got some of this work out of the way, I promise to come back and rejoin you all.

Hello! Thanks for thinking of me . Still finding it hard to catch up - DS1 is having a settling in session at nursery hence a little uninterrupted computer time! Looking forward to being able to keep up more regularluy once I'm back at work (next week, eek!).

Just wantewd to say NJAN: we hve the exact same issue with DS1 and potty training. He just won't or can't use the toilet or potty for poos and it is driving me MAD. I have about 5 dirty pairs of pants on Sunday, thank god for Monday childcare! He was of course brilliant for the childminder and came back in the same pants and trousers having had no accidents all day, something I haven't managed with him for a while .

DS2 is doing well, but i'm not sure where my placid baby went! He's very restless at night and still not sleeping very well, as well as making his wishes heard during the day. I'm pleased that he's holding his own with DS1 and they still seems to like each other which is nice.

Other news: can't remember if I said we's had an offer on the London flat, we've accepted it and are waiting for the vendor to get moving. I'm a bit sad about it (though still a chance for it all to fall through of course!) but the cash would be handy at the moment.

Good luck with your moves Veggie and Spot, and well done on exchanging LadyT!

Oh and speaking of child-free time DH and I managed to have lunch yesterday when the boys were at the childminders (in between DH working and me shampooing the carpets). Very nice it was too. And the carpets are fantastically clean

and please send positive vibes to my SIL who is in labour as I type. Last news was that she might have to have a CS, so we're waiting on more news.

buyer not vendor - that would be us

Hi Katie, good to see you back! I will imagine what the menopause is like and fill in the survey

Effie - fingers crossed for the SIL, though I am a big fan of CSs, as you know. Hey, will you buy somewhere in Essex then?

Should have been doing my book today. I have fewer than six weeks to finish it (need to finish it before we move) but I ended up getting sucked into going for lunch with DP and we went to what will be our new village pub. Patrick-Stewart (have hyphenated so not googleable) was in there and DP nearly combusted, he is not very cool around famous people Anyway, PS was slagging off other actors and talking about himself in a rrrrringing voice - which is what all actors seem to do. He lives locally, it turns out, so I think we'll be seeing a lot of him when we move

Daisy - dangers of skim reading, I completely missed the bit of your post about your grandparents. So on your behalf. They should certainly be treated with more care and respect they deserve.

LadyT - congratulations on the house news! I'm afraid my Soho exprience was pretty tame, just a fairly mediocre meal at Kettners, but we did get fizz and it was GOOD to be out! I've probably missed stuff, but writing a book sounds like good going! Hard to get down to stuff like that I know. Bad enough when I have a big written project to get stuck into at work - its so easy to find other things to do!

Effie - glad you have a buyer, sorry the waiting game is stressful.

Sorry Lady I forgot to answer your question about the place over there. We haven't started looking yet we are finalizing all the quotes from the relocation company and have to send that to DH's new HR for final approval then we can formally engage them and they can get started looking. We've narrowed down the area we want to move to and hope it's not too expensive. With having to pay extra on top of the rent on this place and the cost of renting in The Netherlands I think I'm gonna have to get tough on budgetting if we are to save any money while we are over there.

Effie fingers crossed on the house sale and a blinding White light for your sister, I hope your new niece or nephew is born safely whatever the method of..erm..removal. Your poor sis will be exhausted.

PD you said something I was going to respond to but I can't remember what it was so will have to reread your post.

Oh it was the 'cack' thing made me giggle.

good evening
This will be short because my eyelids are already fighting against me...
PD I loved your interpretation of dd's linguistic skills! You know I just had a very dense moment. I looked at your profile pics and when I saw the one with dd in front of the tv I thought "Oh she looks quite a lot older than P. I wonder how old she is - over a year yet?" then remembered that we're all dec 08. doh . I think P maybe looks younger because she won't put weight through her leggies yet so I'm always surprised when I see babies standing up!
There are lots of house moves going on aren't there?. Hope things all go smoothly for you all.
P seems a bit brighter today and hasn't cried as much this evening - and there's been no more blood, so maybe she's on the mend . Which means it's probably time to start leaving her to cry a bit again and taking the boob away at night again. One day we'll get this sussed!
ANyway, sorry this is so brief but I'm so sleepy I must make packed lunches then take myself to bed. It's all action here!

nighty night xxx

stop press... madam went to sleep after ONE MINUTE OF GRIZZLING. can't. quite. believe. it.

ok, will stop now, in case i invoke the gods of hubris.

WG Fantastic! Now can you send her round to BabyPanda to tell her how to do it?

Hi everyone, will promise to be more brief this evening (I was quite after posting the other night and seeing how much page my waffle took up!)

Thanks for all the thoughts on the snowsuit/coat ? I?ve been browsing the JoJo Maman catalogue but all I can think is ?why don?t they get babies as cute as mine? ? what a self obsessed mother am I?

Jolly how is the trip away going? I hope you?re keeping busy and not left to worry about your poor lovely DD and her teeth. The best thing about our night away last week was all the cuddles when we got back, DD isn?t normally cuddly but since then she?s been throwing my arms round me at every opportunity

I love the lollipop and keyring Trace, we were never lucky enough to get anything that exciting at school! I?m pleased to hear that P is getting back to her normal self

Kayz great news about the extra hours, but so annoying that you have to work a certain number of hours to be classed as working

Oh Daisy, I hope you are feeling better and DS hasn?t picked up the bug. And your poor poor grandparents (such pathetic words when they hit by such incompentence) I hope that someone gets their finger out and NOW

Kiwi I do hope your niece gets better and grows out of it in time

at PD?s DD vocab I love it!

LadyT at France and Bruges, is O going with you? Please have some moules frites for me (although you?re a veggie aren?t you? Do you eat moules?) And forgive me, as I know you?ve told us this before, but was this the house that needed a lot of renovating, or was that the other one? Great news to have a completion date sorted

Hi Katie , lovely to hear from you (even if it is about the menopause!)

Positive vibes heading to Effie?s SIL ? let us know when the baby is born. I saw a friends new baby at the weekend, and did you know how small newborns are? DD was never that small, I?m sure (even though actually this baby is 2lbs heavier than DD was!)

And finally, hip hip hooray to babyWG!

Morning all. Bad night with DD, she was up at 2,3,4,5,6... Feel grim today. She has a very minor seeming cold so can't think what all the fuss is about.

Also, can I ask, has anyone elses DC gone off food having previously loved it? We've done Baby led weaning with DD and until about a week ago she absolutely loved getting stuck in to anything and everything. Now suddenly she's got no interest. She's never really been spoon-fed but she will usually take it if it's something she really likes, but now she's just whacking the spoon away when it comes near here and won't even try what's on it. Pretty much the only thing I got her to eat yesterday was a small pot of yoghurt. Does anyone have any ideas?

oh, kiwi, i'm so sorry. that is just so draining. i know with madam when she had a cold she just didn't want to eat as her nose got so stuffed up. and ditto sleeping. we used karvol and put a towel under her mattress to raise it a bit. is she going back to sleep when you go into her?

am off to see a good friend in bristol who is expecting a baby in 2 weeks. this may cause havoc with madam's new sleeping routine, but hey, we can't live in a vacuum.

much love to all (hi katie), and will be a better mn correspondent when i get back

Morning all,

kiwi I'm sorry hear to hear about your shocker of a night. Not good here either , afraid I can only empathise. I' d say more about how horrid my night was but all I seem to do is moan about DS and his sleeping so I'll not bore you alll again. No idea about the food but DS eats like a horse some days and barely anything on others. From my experience of DD being a fussy eater I am just going with the flow....

wg well done to madam, a star indeed!

ladyt, spot & effie well done on the buying/selling/moving. hope everything goes smoothly.

PD at cack, sounds like a Rovers fan already!!

Hello katie nice to see you back if only briefly.

Supposed to be out on friday night with friends. I really need a night out away from the DC's but with DS's crap sleeping its now looking doubtful, as DH is working at the weekend so I will have to get up early with the DC's as he leaves for work, and they tend to be late nights. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be another time when(if) DS ever learns to sleep better than a newborn.

Well, my Nan has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, MRI in 2-3 weeks as its urgent. She sees someone on Monday to discuss her treatment, although it won't start until the MRI has confirmed if she has cancer anywhere else. As for my Grandad, his scan results have been found just not reported on yet they'll send for him 'in due course'. His scan was 2 weeks ago.

Apologies to anyone I missed sleep is affecting my memory!