August 2008 - I wish it could be Christmas every day, with the TV rows and the ILs you'd like to slay-ay-ay.

[steaknife]

Hmm might be a bit early for a festive thread title but thought we could get in the mood.

None of that tasteful two colour decoration scheme in my tent - oh no. The gawdier the better.

Yep cyteen that is very true. It was just a bit of a surprise. And hey, you never know, I might get offered that job, then we can go for something nice
DP's first comment when we talked about it was 'at least we can get away from the draught' Very good observation there. We will be trying to get a house with double glazing this time!

Queenie you DP has a lovely attitude! for the new job.

The girls are here beside me with a box of crayons and markers. DD1 is coloring. Reese is sitting on the table eating markers and throwing crayons on the floor. Life.

Happy Birthday Cyteen Glad to hear you've been having a good day.

Queenie that sucks about moving, but if you have plenty of notice I guess it's not toooo bad. Definitely fingers crossed you get this job then you ca get somewhere nice

We are supposed to be moving in the spring too, although no idea how we will afford it. I'll worry about that after Christmas...

Bed time for babies now, thank flip. I have been home less than two hours and they are driving me demented!

Oh and my Secret Santa gift arrived today, thanks Loti to my secret benefactor

Evening all . Thanks for all your comments on DNephew - we will be seeing them in Jan so i will hopefully have a good conversation with Dsis then rather than over the phone

Happy Birthday Cyteen . Hope you continue to have a lovely day and lovely evening with DP

QoD Focussing on the positives sound good . Perhaps a new place and new job will herald a time of change and happiness in the Dreams household

dizz glad to hear you are coping so far. How many sleeps until you are free?

santa hope your appointment went ok and you have some new aveneues to explore [fingers x'd]

TS sorry to hear of no free time for you today and i hope DH manages to sort out power for those with none and organises the wekeend with his parents

Red your DS sounds adorable if hard work for you sometimes. On occassion DD1 pretends she can't do a puzzle/does it wrong, deliberately gets numbers wrong, so i shall be looking to you for advice and commiseration when this extends to schoolwork which you can't really ignore

I have been busy with Toddler Group planning in the pub last night and sorting out loads of stuff at home today. Didn't take DD2 to her swimming lesson as she is all bunged up so caught up on housework/paperwork etc. Then had friends over for lunch, loads of phonecalls this avo and here we are at 8pm .
Christmas cards still not written but i now have a list of who i need to write them to. Progress, i like to think

Well done to bucketboy on 'nana'. We have door, wrap and cat. Sadly no use to man or beast when trying to work out what she wants

Hullo all and happy birthday Cyteen! Sounds like a lovely day.

QoD what a pain about the house - very good positive thinking about the draft though, be sure to view houses on a cold windy day as ours is apparently double-glazed but still annoyingly chilly in my otherwise favourite chair!

Hope everyone is well. I am having a tricky work week (again! Will not bore you.) Five more days til 3 week xmas break, phew.

No sign of my secret santa yet Am consoling myself that this may mean it is winging its way from somewhere exotic... may also be fighting its way free of the London post of course! DD now goes to get the post when it arrives and brings it to me ('paper!') so I've told her to watch out for it Today she climbed on a case of wine to reach the kitchen worktop and grab the radio remote ('phone!'). So that has been moved and now I need to properly childproof the cupboard it was holding closed...

oh no are you all doing secret santa i am so out of the loop...

lol at wrap sazzles is that to go with her evening babygro? ds has said rabbit, eyes and mummy - all enunciated perfectly just the once and not repeated.

qod goodness hope you find job/new home OK, and thank goodness you have such a wonderful dp

consultation went ok, we have to go back tomorrow for the actual skin prick testing (8 tests) which will not be very nice for ds but I really want to be sure what he's allergic to. After that we will be referred to a dietitian as ds's diet is very restricted - I have given him lamb twice, any ideas for recipes suitable for a toddler??? - please bear in mind I have never cooked meat. However frying mince and adding veggies is all I can think of (similar to my veggie mince recipe)

Hiya Santa, poor little chap with his allergies. We eat minced lamb quite a lot, DD likes shepherd's pie, moussaka (well she eats the meat, sometimes some aubergine), keema (minced lamb curry with peas), paprika lamb with hummous... don't know if any of those is any good for F. Our dietician was lovely BTW, though of course at a very different stage, we were signed off after DD's op so almost as soon as she started solids. People might remember me ranting about the dietician the first time we saw her but she did improve! (And, erm, I relaxed I guess.) By the last time we went I was quite sorry. Hope you get a good one too.

Hots just remembered I haven't congratulated you - among many omissions, I really can't keep up her atm - but you really deserve a massive well done... hope you and your new car have many happy years of driving together!

DD2, having woken up 15 times and been brought upstairs because she is so poorly is currently in the kitchen stirring plastic vegetables in a pan . Grobag offers no hindrance to walking and cuddles not a option

LOL, she has just walked in, presented me with a pan of peas and nicked my packet of skips (which i obviously wasn;t eating Hotmama's )

Santa - i can give you a pork and pepper casserole recipe which my DD's wolf down or lentil and bacon soup? Just let us know the kind of thing you want

Hi Pertelote

Hi Sazzles Sorry you're having a disturbed evening - is she ok? DD too has perfected the grobag waddle

She's just bunged up so lying down makes her cough etc, so when up she's fine . I have just put her back to bed, sprinkled olbas oil liberally round the cot, so fingers x'd

I'm off to bed to await DH's return waking me after his Xmas do

Still not received Secret Santa either but still waiting on post.

DS up at 4.30 today and DH on flight to London so not available to help so am incredibly tired at work have girls night tonight with the ladies from my baby group before some of them disappear back to their respective home countries for the holidays.

DS said balloon and hippo (pi-po)this morning - very useful I'm sure

How interesting that toddlers can walk in grobags. I can't.

Reese is up. It's 10:45p. She took a long late nap (i was napping too). Now we are just sitting here in my desk chair eating crackers. I'd like to be sleeping. She's content to sit in my lap and watch whatever is on my laptop screen.

For the lost Secret Santa pressies....should we send out a search party?

Morning everyone

Went out to NCT girls night out last night and got home at 11.45 - DH being a brat and refusing me a lie in until 8 as it's his turn as he got up at 7.30 with DD yesterday Another of our group announced she is PG and expecting DC2 exactly 2years to her DS's due date.

Sazzles - hope you got some sleep and DD2 is on the mend this morning.

TS - I am assuming you got to bed eventually?

Pert - sorry to hear of stressful work, do you have a little calendar you are ticking the next 12 days off [simle]

Santa - hope the pin prick tests go oaky, I have had them done and the actural tests don't hurt much it's the reactions and itching that got to me before they measured the reaction size and added the antihistamine. Fingers crossed all goes well. DD loves lamb in veggie soup, I just fry a couple of cubes off and them make regular veggie soup and add the lamb before cooking long and slowly - the lamb goes all soft and melty[is that a word?] and she loves it.

Snot - have you got any help whilst DH is away?

Ann - blah that you have to move but will you be able to find something slightly closer/easier commute to DP's work?

DD has just announced 'Mama, milk taste yummy' and walked off so I asked who likes milk and she said 'cat' and looked at me as if to ask 'why the stupid questions mummy?'

Bst fo and find some readybrek as she is eating the edge of the telly table or she might want the telly on?

Eek, will re-check my Secret Santa organising next time my wireless lets me on FB. This happens about once a day for 5mins.

Had planned some manic whizzing around town this morning but the look on a friend's face at school when I mentioned my plans was enough to convince me I was being v dumb and overambitious. She has sold me her pasta machine for a fiver, woohoo! I plan to make my sis & her DH some home-made food for Xmas as we're only doing token gifts for adults this year - some fancy bread and pasta and if I'm v good (in a hotmama's way) I'll do some tiny packages of aphrodisiac chocolate truffles for everyone.

Morn'n Buckets & Oops.

AF beat the ILs here so I am TOTALLY looking forward to this weekend.

Morning ladies.
I caught up earlier, but now I can't remember anything. So to everyone and ((hugs)) to those who need them.
that sounds awful. I don't mean to sound uncaring.
S being a menace today. Really really grumpy. I'm trying to catch u p on some cleaning, but it's uphill work. Never mind I'll get there. Got to dash again, see you all later.

VG - I wouldn't be DD will only speak when DH and I are home she makes me look like a giant fibber whenever we have company.

DH working late, there is no dinner in the fridge or freezer so DD will be having the ever nutritious weetabix for dinner, she has just eaten a whole load of grapes, a banana, yoghurt and a clementine for her snack.

LOL VG, DS's vocab extends to 'nuh' (accompanied by vigorous shaking of head and emphatic arm movements ), 'ta' (give me that delicious/forbidden/shiny object) and 'dat' (everything else). I think he said 'tea' the other day but generally words seem quite low on his agenda.

TS wow, Aunt Flo and MIL - what a combo!!

We are nowhere near sentences either, but i can distinguish door, chair, balloon, ball and yoghurt. Plus wrap of course - Santa you asked where it came from and was actually from being at the CM's and having a wrap for lunch. The remainder of items are all still 'dak dak'. I could be wrong and it is actually the universal 'dat'

I subcontracted the catering today . I was going to feed DD1 at the garden centre but they stop hot food at 2.30. So i rang my CM and asked if i could pick up DD2 a bit early if i could grab some toast for DD1. She said 'of course' and when we got there she had cooked a salmon steak and pasta for DD2, followed by chocolate pancakes. I think actually i might move in

< intercepts cosmopolitan on way to VG, takes large slurp>

well, back from testing, ds was a star and very stoic - he's allergic to green lentils. And nothing else (well egg maybe slightly so we're going to test that). and apparently we're not using enough steroid cream so we're going to use more.