Dec 08 babies are nearly one - PARTY TIME!

[EffiePerine]

As I accidentally filled up the old thread I thought I'd better start a new one

JJ I think she is made from plasticine... We had to install it a little way off the ground because of skirting board/ wall-fixing issues. It doesn't LOOK like anyone could get underneath but my little eel can manage it.

Trace Forgot to say - DD only has one tooth. She got that about 3 months ago so I thought at least the other of the pair would come through, but no...

LadyT I'm definitely up for a pre-Christmas meet

Hello ladies,
super quick visit as I have a hair appointment with my friend but now that I've moved I'm going to her and its not so close anymore
I can't remember anything but Poison happy belated and [grr] at your dp!
so glad the sun is finally out except i'll be sitting inside with foils on my head! Haven't been doing too much prep for work, but oh well hoping to wing it.
DS is into everything at the moment.... Pulls books off the shelves, spins the light shade around, pulls the kitchen bin over, tries to climb the stairs and falls down, swings the shower screen back and forth, tried to stand up in the bath, whacks his cup of milk with his hand when he's had enough so it splashes all over, and does this mad crawling back and forth like a caged tiger type thing - he's a total handful and I can't believe I am leaving him with dh all day every day next week. He's in for a rude shock. I am praying they are ok.
We are having a family do tomorrow for ds birthday (which isn't until Thurs) but fortunately my mil is rather helpful and is bringing a cake [slack mother emoticon] but to be fair I have loads of stuff to do before work on Mon.
Would love to do a meet up before Chrissy but can only do one after the 16th??? Is that too late?
Sorry no personals.... goota rush...
That was a "LadyT style" "just quickly"

I mean Sunday for our family do.....

Hello all. Have been even more rubbish at keeping up recently. But thanks for bday wishes for DD. Haven't even read thread properly yet, but hopefully have a bit more time over the weekend and will do then. Sigh. Have just noticed that the back of DS's t-shirt is completely covered in snot from where DD has been wiping her nose on him as they've been clambouring about playing dens. Gross. And am late for Drs. Will catch up later. Will catch up later....xx

Hello to spot pingu and anyone else who I've missed!

rub have a lovely party on Sunday.

I am in such a good mood right now, I am out tonight with friends which should be fun. I don't like leaving DH in case he sits and stews on the current situation but he assures me that he is fine! So I have painted my nails for the occassion - a real rare treat Have spoken to MIL and she is really looking forward to tomorrow nights party with everyone being there. I am going to use the opportunity to pass out all Xmas cards for DH's family

Am also very excited as I managed to get tickets to see Peter Kay next year. Admitedly its not till next November but it ties in great with my birthday, so I am counting it as my birthday present.

hello!
I just had a call from the GP - Lucy's blood results are all fine. Phew.
kiwi - I got my first period last month and it was a bit of shocker (understatement of the year) but just had it again this month and it was much more normal. Although I did have a TMI question that I was going to ask last night but forgot...here goes (look away if you're of a nervous disposition)...
In my pre-Phoebe days I had no problems with tampons, but now I'm finding that they'r not really doing the job, but it's not the absorbancy as such, more the fit . I keep feeling a bit moist (sorry - I did warn you!) and the string is red (yes it gets worse)- as are my pants - but when I take the tampon out, it's only half full. Could it be that my vaginoso is so cavernous now that the blood is bypassing the plug? I'm finding it rather odd, and also rather gross because I feel 'unclean'. perhaps I need to wear a bell round my neck and go and sit outside the city gates until I'm clean again. Any thoughts?
I had a lovely morning at work today - I went out with the technician to a primary school and did lots of little ones' heights, weights, vision and hearing. They were sooooo cute!
I'm off out to my friend's tonight as it's her birthday, but I fear I'll not stay awake long...P woke up at 10 last night and stayed awake till 2 .I actually think there might be a tooth on the way...no really, this time I think i can nearly see a top one! I guess I'll have to wait and see
Ooh and I've come home from work to find some new neighbours - our lovely next door lady has moved house today so we got some new ones! Hope they're nice (and don't mind crying babies and tantruming children )
Kayz your holiday doesn't exactly sound restful! Hope the arrangements all go to plan - are you going to give us a pic of the cakes?
kiwi LOL at your eel slithering under the stairgate!
anyway I'm off now - my mouse hand is cold!
have a good weekend!

oh and ladyt I meant to say how much I enjoy reading your posts. Your dd is very blessed to have you and your amazing healthy attitude to life. She may be an idle little tick but she can point at things in books! My dh still thinks P is a bit 'simple' becasue she just smiles and waves and says "ah" a lot! Still not big on consonants or on doing anything that might indicate she has any understanding or awareness of anything in life - other than food and boobs
Also I can understand that you must be so frustrated with your weight, but it also struck me how freeing it is to have friends/ relationships on here - where appearance is completely irrelevant. I have no idea what most of you look like and I guess you don't know what I look like. It doesn't matter about our shapes or clothes or hair styles - we just know what we need to know to relate to each other - personalities, sensitivities...Anyway I'm rambling and my mouse hand is even colder now. I should do the ironing to warm it up!

v v quick form me to say JJ I do want to do teh secret santa but have lost the email adress ! Could you repeat it for the less organised of us?

just got to PD's post: and at your DP, you'll just have to have another 40th do now you're back . Glad you enjoyed the sun. Will text about meeting up before you're back at work - do you have to go back in before Xmas?

Trace So pleased that Lu's blood test came back ok. I will post pictures of the cakes. I am going to make the decoration for my brothers cake tomorrow. So providing it looks ok I will post a picture.

DS2 doesn't do too much. He moves too much though. Just wont stay still, nappy changes are a real problem. He points at everything and like P he waves and says "ah" a lot!! His brother is the biggest amusement in his life, he follows him everywhere and it is a joy to watch them.

Hello ladies I'm back in Gloggiland so good to see DH. The boys both went mental when they saw him at airport. We had a lovely time away, Paris was wonderful and caught up with lovely friends in London, as well as doing a spot of shopping.

DS2 is hilarious at the moment, he is completely crazy. He laughs constantly mostly at his brother, but also at anyone who comes near him. He also does this crazy thing where he throws his head around like some teenager listening to death metal.

Trace I'm glad the blood test was ok. How is Lucy now, is she still pale?

Sib I would love to have you come visit us in the Hague.

Aaaggh I have more to say but I'm shattered better go for now will talk more later.

Oh Lady I love your posts, I'm so looking forward to your book.

HI all, just a quick one to say will get DH to send out the secret santa emails tonight

Great, JJ, I am dying to know who I've got. How is your DD, is she any better?

Glad you had a good trip, Veggie. Meeting up with friends is so cheering, isn't it? Finished all your Christmas shopping? After a stellar start some weeks ago, I have ground to a halt so need to get on with it again. Thanks for the vote of confidence about the book. Actually, last night I was in a terrific gloom as I was typing it up (still a looooong way to go) as it just seems like twaddle to me now and full of mistakes. This was occasioned by reading about a book called How Not to Write a Novel, which lists 200 common mistakes and even reading the review of it caused me to fret and pick holes in my own book. But no use in worrying, I suppose - I just need to get it typed up and off to the agent, whose opinion I trust.

Hope the party goes well, Kayz.

And yes, Trace, how is Lucy now?

Oh Lady like parenting books I'm sure books on how to write novels are helpful with little tips etc but I think like a patenting novel just take out what helps. I find so many novels and movies are becoming so prescriptive these days maybe because too many people follow those books. But someone like you who clearly has a talent for expressing yourself in writing will always be brilliant to read, and you don't need to follow the prescritive methods.

Hey how's it going with applying for the BBC courses?

Well, I've got on a course in March but it was a bit of a struggle to get on it despite my skills and experience as they didn't think I was qualified to attend All ok now (they finally relented) and I will look into doing some others. I think I will be off for at least another year but that's fine and may as well try and write as much as I can in that time and enjoy O (and oversee the work on the new house).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm watching tele and enjoying my last few hours as a 36 year old and as the mother of a pre school age child. Tomorrow is both my 37th birthday and the first day of proper school for my first son. I'll def be up for some cyber cheerfullness if anyone is around tomorrow. DH has a late meeting in the Dam tomorrow so after I put the boys to bed I'll be opening a nice bottle of red I think. I might pop to the bottlo after I drop DS1 at school and buy a bottle of Cote du Rone(sp).

Lady a year out sounds good though, it won't be an easy year study and mummying will be hard, that DP of yours is going to have to start pulling his weight around the house.

Happy Birthday Veggie! I hope your day has already started with much cheerfulness .
I could do with some for the drop off at nursery today, still going really badly and I know that quite a lot of you have had to deal with settling in problems, my question is, how long do you leave it before you look at other options? Everyone keeps telling me how normal it is, but T seems to be constantly miserable there. And Kayz, with you on the nappy changes. At nursery they had to get someone in from another room the other day as two people couldn't pin him down .

I am also struggling a bit with meal times and his constantly trying to get out of his high chair. I realise these are all textbook issues (having just read the thirteenth month in what to expect - the toddler years) but it doesn't make it any easier! I think it's the discipline but I find hard, where to draw limits and how to enforce them and how to be consistent (DP thinks I am way too permissive already)...

LadyT, that sounds like good advice about getting your agent friend to look at the book. I find "How To" books can be helpful in small quantities but they sell so well by making you feel not good enough about whatever you're doing, or they wouldn't be needed! Anyway, I bet they'd have had a few problems with James Joyce's style but it never did him any harm!

Oh, and thanks to Mr JJ for his secret santa-ing. Is there a price that was agreed on? (spot the slack thread keeperer upperer).

Oh, and trace, glad L's blood tests came back ok. In regards to your TMI q, mine have always been like that on days 1-3 of period, I have to use tampon and sanny towel, then it gets lighter after that. But that's prob no help as it was like that before Mr T made his entrance into the world...

Morning,

Happy Birthday Veggie!! Hope you have a lovely day.

Spot It was £10. Are we buying for Mum or Baby?

Morning all

Veggie: glad you enjoyed the trip. Happy birthday! Hope DS1's first day goes well.

Spot: no experience re: settling younger children in nursery, but it took DS1 a good 4 weeks to settle into nursery when he started at 3 (he goes one day a week) as it was such a new environment. I haven't had any major settling in issues with either of our childminders, but that could be down to luck! How long has Mr T been going? Can you go in to observe for a few hours if you're not sure? If he doesn;t settle after a few weeks I'd consider other options, but you know what the local childcare is like.

LadyT: I'd be v cynical about books like How to write a bestselling novel or how to write a screenplay. A good book has to come from teh author, if it gets too forumaic or 'correct' there's a danger of it being deathly dull! Did you happen to catch Book Club on R4? They were talking to John Updike, he was v funny and interesting. He says he always writes the last sentence of his novels first, it took him a while to realise it wasn't an odd habit he'd grow out of and he certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. You have to find your own voice and methods - but you know all this already .

Hi everyone!

Happy birthday Veggie!

Thanks to JJ and Mr JJ for sorting out the Secret Santa.

We had a nice weekend. I spent ALL day Saturday shopping on my own which was lovely. The madness of Oxford Street, but it was very festive. Had to splurge on a couple of treats for me as well as the Xmas pressies. Poor DS is getting a £4 shape sorter for his 1st birthday and empty boxes for Xmas (not going to cart Xmas presents back and forth from Canada) and I needed skinny black jeans from Selfridges, clearly .

Sunday we went to a friend's Xmas drinks party. For the first time, DS was not in good form in a social setting. Normally he saves all his grizzles for me at home but loves being out. Yesterday he was very unhappy at the party, crying when anyone looked at him or talked to him, just wanted to be held the whole time. Poor guy! Must be a new phase.

Spot - I anticipate I will be right there with you with bad nursery settling stories in a few weeks! If you see absolutely no improvement in 3 or 4 weeks maybe reevaluate? But I know that I have no back up options so I will really start panicking if our childminder doesn't work out!

Hi all, another quick one as ILs are still here

happy birthday veggie!

just to say secret santa is £10, if it doesn't say then I don't think the recipient had specified who they wanted it for - apparently most of us have said something like "well I know I shouldn't but can I have a pressie for me as DC has already got a massive mountain of toys"

oh and they're not direct swaps, so you will not be receiving from the person you're sending - I think he said there were a couple that ended up that way but mostly not.

If anyone was expecting an email but hasn't got it, let me know and I'll see what's happened!

Just a quickie

Happy Birthday veggie hope you have a wonderful day and I am certain DS will have a fantastic first day at school

Many happy returns veggie - raising a virtual glass of cheerfulness to you here. I hope and am sure it will be an exciting, fantastic year for you and that this time next year you will look back and be amazed by how far you have all come.

Thanks for the birthday wishes ladies. Ive had a quiet day, DS1 went off to school today and according to his teacher was great in school. He has made a couple of little friends and has told me that nay means no. Typical that that's the first word he learns! He's quiet into it and was telling me all about the other kids all afternoon. He is back for a half day tomorrow and weds and then full days from thurs. I missed him but it was nice to be back together in the afternoon and he always does half days on weds so that will be good.

Unfortunately my day was marred by a lying bloody real estate agent. We move our of this short let next Tuesday and so have been having the odd viewing for the next tennants. It's not let to I'd through the company we have dealt with for our long let (they are lovely) and have been communicating via email regarding viewings. Anyway they didnt turn up for one last Friday at 3pm, then suddenly today at 5.45pm right in the middle of sorting dinner and calming the boys while DH at the late meeting the guy turns up at the door with prospective tennants!!!! Que some frantic tidying and moving of furniture (we have coaches and coffee tables strategically placed to avoid losing DS1 to the unbearably steep entrance stairs). I insisted that the viewing hadn't been booked but the estate agent assured me he had sent an email to DH and had recieved confirmation from DH consenting. I thought it was odd considering the time and well IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! How could DH agree to the viewing of all days and times and not tell. After the viewing and after I had given DH a proper earful he checked his email and of course he the agent had stuffed up. He of course apologised saying he had got the appointment wrong. Seriously does he think we are stupid. How could he mix up 3pm Friday with 5.45pm Monday!!! I think it's more like he suddenly had some people wanting to look and he hoped we'd just let him in. I'm thinking of writing a stern letter but don't think it will get me far. Do you girls think it will be fair enough to refuse anymore viewings until we move out.

Spot & SL I sympathize with your feeding plight as you know my DS1 was difficult. As far as eating just go with the flow the more relaxed you are the better it will be..slowly though. Just keep offering everything and slowly favourites or at least things they like will evolve. As far as keeping in highchairs have something at the table that can entertain, just a small toy and lots of singing and nursery rhymes. We used to sing 'this old man' to DS1.

Right cheerfulness is out so cheers to you all and here's to 37 years.