AUGUST 2008 - Ladies & Babies Enjoying Life

[TwilightSurfer]

How's that?

Ladies - I'm off to bed as I fear it will be another night of to-ing and fro-ing in the cold and dark. She frustrated being confined to one room in the house during the build, has teeth coming and is being refused her precious booby in the night. Life is tough for a 1 year old!

I have singlehandedly finished my 3L box of wine in 10 days - hoooooooowzat? Having withdrawals already.

Brilliant idea about the t-shirt! DS1's 'friend' is only 4 but at least 120cm already, great long arms and legs. Comes across as a rather slow-witted 8yr old. I shall make him an 'I am 5' t-shirt for his birthday next year (size 7-8yrs of course).

Dizzy and Sazz with the peculiar FILs, do you ever play Grandad Bingo? Things my FIL can be counted on to shoehorn into conversation:

1. mayors (old, new, Lord, whatever)
2. the bugle call 'Reveille' (pronounced Ravalli)
3. to list various towns vaguely near the one you are talking about (like David Brent in the Office when he's thinking of places other than Slough.)
4. to give you directions to your home/place of work

nIght oops

Buckets obv there is a leak in your wine box.

Yes, yes, yes buckets

1. The vagueries of the expenses system for the Hospital Car Service
2. Availablilty of wheelchairs at the hospital and how these could be mended more efficiently by a Royal Engineer
3. Listing the number of types of bread you can create in a bread machine
4. Reiterating the wonders of a Skoda Octavia

Oh, i'm sure i will be dreaming many more

LOL at the leaky box - how's your bottle btw, you have been very quiet steaky

or should it be a leaky wine box? [Can't be arsed to spell check emoticon]

Only on my second, small glass, waiting for an old friend to drop by on a flying visit.

Had a lovely day swimming with DD and a friend and her DD then off up to Exeter with my mum.
Shouted at Told off some teenagers who were playing on the baby swings and told them to go back to their alcopops. [judgy] They got all hoity toity cos they weren't drinking. Don't make teenagers like they used to eh?

lol @ predictable FILs, here's mine:

1. His latest money-saving/slightly dodgy deal struck with the local newsagent
2. Foodstuffs in tins/sushi providers (he works in the food industry)
3. How mad/backward/foreign all his overseas contacts are
4. Who he has taken to the football lately (on company ticket)

Bless him, my dad is just as predictable:

1. The kids he teaches at school
2. The teachers he works with at school
3. His latest guitar pupil and how massively talented they are
4. Teenagers in general and how useless/stoned/lazy/ill-read they are
5. Society and how Thatcher has fucked it up.

Tried on some wedding dresses today, just made me even more determined to go for tea-length 50s and not proper swishy gown...how can anyone enjoy themselves in those things? [genuinely baffled] I guess they're just not for me. Although I did try on one that looked like a real non-starter on the hanger but was amazing on me...is in the sample sale too so reduced to £360. Still not buying it though

Has anyone heard from sambo303 lately? Been thinking about her today, hope all is well.

cyteen, she was due back to work (full time or 4 days? i can't reember) after parental leave so i suspect sambo has little spare time now.
great news re you finding a style you like for your dress!

LOL at straight edge teenagers. The bigger swings were obviously too exciting for them.

My dad is easier to predict as he will just tell you about the 1920s electrical system he is lovingly restoring in the loco shed at Ropley station on the Watercress Line. Or whatever obscure bit of machinery he has won on Ebay for 10p and forced my mum to accompany him the 150 miles to go collect it.

Ooh, i forgot about 'rare train ticket journeys'

steaky you are obviously VERY scary to the 'ard yoof

cyteen the dresses sound wonderful and i think you are right about being able to strut your stuff better in a prom dress

Right, i am off to bed. Hope your friend turned up to help drink the wine steaky

LWFH meant to say before that i have THE BEST braised red cabbage recipe. However it involves a whole bottle of red wine and some port so maybe not the best for a pregnant lassie (although i do realise the alcohol should all cook off)

FIL bingo.

a) initial 'hey, whatever' hippy shit for up to six hours after initial meeting.
b) reversion to Daily Express, 'in my day' persona once six hours have elapsed.
c) references to middle of road cutting edge bands to show he is yoof.
d) sarky ref to media female (Natasha Kaplinsky, Condoleeza Rice etc) to indicate to mardy daughter-in-law that women are rubbish.
e) affectation of extremely refined taste indicated by the overuse of Latinate words.

Dad -
a) story about very large hole I dug this week.
b) account of battle with quantity surveyor about said hole.
c) stealth reveal re. being proved right about hole.
d) account of rescue of down-on-luck person / family in distress/ local Bengali taxi-drivers collective
e) exploration of workable plans for world peace.
f) insane business plans for retirement.

So which one would you rather go drinking with?

Can I say a big thankyou to everyone for being so kind when I was sick. I have never felt so bad, and it was so lovely to get support from you all.

Re: Grandad Bingo, how cool.

My FIL is fairly normal but my dad (although fantastic) is a complete nutter. He is also 81 and so even I was slightly surprised by the staunch lecture he gave me in support of breast feeding.

Buckets - if your FIL likes discussing mayors I would suggest to you that he may also enjoy a conversation about high sheriffs. My father would happily lecture on the subject for hours.

Sazzles yes please to the braised cabbage recipe. As long as it is easy to cook, as I am not very patient. Am also missing wine at the moment.

miamla - DS doesn't walk yet but I think that he is quite high maintenance and often much more noisy/demanding/screamy than other babies that we meet with. I often feel fairly crap about it, sometimes we just come home early - or do something nice together if we have had a stressful meeting e.g. today the music group that we went to wasn't easy, but afterwards he chased the cats in the park for half an hour which he enjoyed and so made me feel better. Also, indoors stuff just doesn't work very well for us, meeting outside is always easier, especially as if he is very noisy then it doesn't sound so bad. Harder in the UK, I know.

I agree with whoever suggested a small group so that in the end you know the other babies and mums - this has helped for me as the mums that we usually meet with have kind of got to know him/me.

Also, DS gets grumpy if hungry, so going out with loads of snacks helps a bit too.

oh and those of you who are on facebook can (I think) see my friends calculations to see if a double buggy will fit into our lift. Not looking hopeful so far ...

miamla we have a similar problem although not quite so bad as DS is quite small but was always well ahead of the others when it came to moving. We did have one of our best music lessons yesterday though in terms of his behaviour probably because he had his nap a bit earlier and so was not tired when we got there. What I've found that is as the others all started walking it's now ok again as DS is very confident on his feet all the other mums have to watch their DCs much more closely as they are still likely to fall over (mostly onto another unsuspecting child) whereas DS can now get out the way of their drunken meandering. So hopefully things will improve for you as they all start to cause havoc!

LWFH DS is also very loud so think I will have to try and teach him the concept of inside/outside voices sounds easier said than done!

Dizzy hotel looks lovely.

On the Grandad bingo for my Dad tis likely to be:

Latest round of office gossip (despite the fact he retired last year)
How Leicester Tigers fared in their last match
Whatever athletics/race walking event news there is
Conversations he's had in Sainsbury's with various people that I am supposed to know
The latest 'hilarious' joke he's come up with

FIL well who knows - maybe (to DH) oh by the way you have another brother/sister in Vietnam, Shanghai, Xian

Morning ladies.
I am actually sitting here crying You don't want to hear my rant about Seb's sleeping habits. It includes a lot of swearing, and doesn't sound very loving I'm afraid. I really can't take this any more. I'm so angry and wound up now I really just want to kick something to bits. So tonight I finally got him to bed at 10 pm and he decided at 440 that it was time for up. WTF is going on with this blasted baby? Oh btw he had several wakeups in that fecking pathetic excuse for a night. Fecking sick of it.

Oh Ann sorry to hear nights are so tough. Please feel free to rant away. Can you get some time out today to have a rest/sleep?

Just finished morning at work so won't be back on till later if DS has a sleep but thinking of you.

Oh Ann, sorry you're having such a bad time. Hope you can get some rest today somehow. Don't worry about feeling cross with S, it is just because you're tired.

I know what Miamla means about taking all week to catch up... Sorry everyone, hope you're all ok. So glad to hear about your little bean, Oops. Take care.

Ann - oh how rubbish for you. I expect we all have felt how you feel one day or another so don't feel you can't let it out and have a good rant.

My porridge offerings don't feel up to the job to cheer you up, so I might sneak into the tent's booze cupboard and make you a bloody mary, just don't tell the others.

Ann - that's bad news from you. Is your MIL around today - she always seems quite helpful iirc - is there any chance she could swoop in on a mission of mercy? For the moment all you need is sleep time - if she can help you don't be tempted to use the time to clean, shop, etc - back to bed. And when you are rested later today or tomorrow when dp is around to share the load you can think about a sleep strategy for Seb - or rather everyone on here will do the thinking for you and you can pick whichever suits you & him.

You poor duck.

(((((ann))))))) hope your day perks up Have you spoken to your HV about Seb's sleep (or lack of)? My biggest sympathies, ds1 was a shit sleeper and was waking several times at night despite being in our bed . HV suggested some sleep strategies that actually worked, might be worth a try? Sleep deprivation is wrecking. Hugs for you honey. BTW, kick something soft....less painful on your toes

pertelote I was just thinking about you yesterday, how's M doing? How long is it since her surgery now?

cyteen am loving the descriptions of weddign dresses. I had a big ole dress and you're right - I had to get one of my bridesmaids to come to the loo with me as I couldnt' fit in the cubicle and lift my dress up!!!

a weddign dress....

Where are you all? Not working or doing housework are you?