April 2009 - Episode 10 - Christmas time!! we can all drink wine, while children gurgle nursery rhymes, with logs in their nappies, and pee by the tree fun will be had by baby and me!!

[SantasNutts]

here we go then Merry Christmas One and all!! xxxxx

Hello everyone, thanks for good wishes to V. She is almost herself again now, we have stopped all the medicines except the antibiotics just to finish the course lest the world be subsumed with PLAGUE and it all be our fault. what have I been doing? Mostly making like Nurse Ratched with an evil little syringe in one hand and the other elbow on V's chest. It is horrible how quickly you become used to dreadful brutality: the first time I inflicted this pharmaceutical abuse on her I was reduced to tears, but I am all bright and breezy now. It is a relief to see her all all bright eyed and scoffing her meals (some of them).

But... will she sleep? WILL SHE BUGGERY. Two hell-nights in a row. I mixed messages terribly by bfing at night at the drop of a hat when she was sick. But what else could I do?

Christmas tree: today I am going to get the smallest, exquisitest real one I can find to perch on the chest in the sitting room out of reach of tiny grabby fists. EXCITED! I have not had a Christmas tree in my house for years (always away at Christmas).

Boff - your unmarried daughter should clearly be running your house at this stage, how dare she be off having a life of her own - then you wouldn't have to worry about nannies. Tell her!

Tigga, Bebe, everyone - I think we have all - on here and the people IRL I know with babies this age - hit a point of ENOUGH with the lack of sleep and feeling stuck in the house. When V was younger I honestly did not want to do much in the evenings and I just accepted being awake half the night. Now it seems different - especially with work looming. We are all ready for a night out and a good night's sleep. SO ready.

HeiligFeierabend GoodKingWhatFreshHellLookedOut WrigglyFairyOnTopOfTheTree

Santa knows where you live! Tinsel heathens.

Oh and Sam has a new nickname now Toinky - don't ask you had to be there

ThinksLackOfSleepMayHaveSkewedHerPerceptionSomewhatTiggaxx

WHAT IS WITH YOU TINSEL FREE PEOPLE :pppppp

Ginger, it's what I did when Hazel was sick... breastfed her all night whenever she stirred. I think it's the right thing to do until they've recovered, then you can go back to normal, Hazel took a few nights but then started sleeping 'through' (that's till 5am) again. Good luck.

Yup Ginger - I always end up doing lots more breastfeeding during sicknesses too. They do go back to normal.

Well I put up garland around the house for him. But I plum forgot the tree. (We never had it anywhere in the house growing up either... Wisconsin is a very traditionally German/Scandanavian state)

I have no objection to tinsel. We always had it when I were a lass. These days we are mostly tinsel-free, but if you're going tinsel-free you do need to have plenty of baubles.

I went off tinsel after accidentally swallowing some whilst wearing it. (Don't ask). I can still feel it in my throat now bleurghghghhg.

We do have a tasteless length of multicoloured tinsel round the standard lamp though. Or would do if we had decorations up or had achieved anything at all towards Christmas bar inviting everyone to ours...

After the wedding!

BTW my MIL has given me some money (lots IMO!) for a wedding outfit given that it was rescheduled and my shalwar wouldn't arrive in time. And what turned up in the post this morning??? I haven't tried it on yet but even if it fits WIBU to save it for the walima on 28th and wear western style dress on Sat? Otherwise MIL will probably be the only one in western dress at the wedding so I'm keeping her company really aren't I?

DHisBackIntheCountrySoNowReallyEnjoyingWeddingDramaMrsGBoringlyUnchristmassy

Definitely some smut in MrsG swallowing tinsel - 'standard lamp' indeed!

Yes, save shalwar and go shopping! You could always do a tunic/ trousers/ pash combo for a western take on shalwar kameez, thus going for a bit of east-meets-west sartorial fusion.

Accidental swallowing is never good Not sure big baubles make up for a standard lamp tbh.

"He stood there, mouth agape, then stammered that she was free to make a fool of herself with the first kid to come."

Just adding to the prevailing smutty tendency with a quote from (yet another) translation paper I am marking...

No decorations here, and as DH is apparently going to be "on call" 60 km away all weekend on the 19th & 20th, and I can't see how to get a tree as well as both boys in the car, sod knows when we'll get one....

Thanks for all yr sympathy/empathy, it does help.
DH remarked that I was tense this morning (as I was rushing around getting A ready for CM's, and trying to assess whether DS1 was malingering to avoid school lunch or really so tired I needed to get him at 11:30 and screw up my working afternoon). You may soon read about me in the headlines 'Scot in France strangles husband with babygro'.

New Year's resolution will be to whinge less.

Hello everybody!!!

How are we all doing. I am soooo looking forward to christmas now. I only have 2 working days left till christmas then off for nearly two weeks wooohooo!!>

Babies seem to be all better now.. (except snotty noses but i think i have accepted they are probably gonna be like that now till they are about 12)

I on the other hand have NO voice! Which is a bit distressing for me but makes everyone (especially at work)! laugh at me constantly. ( i am a bit of a chatterbox)

Ollie has cut his first tooth today!!!! eventually I thought he was going to be gummy forever! Izzie just needs hers now.

Izzie is crawling/standing/cruising all other the the place and is getting to be quite a handful! Ollie is just a roller so i am thanking god for small mercies.

Ollie and Izzie brought home-made cards and calenders from nursery yesterday and it made me cry. (proud mummy emoticon) sooo sweet.

We are going to see santa today at bluewater!!! i am SOOOOOO excited. (probably much more than the babies..)

I hope everone else is ok. been very busy lately and not able to catch up but will make more of an effort v soon.

(why have we not got festive emoticons yet!)

I have had an industrial accident in my office.

The story is this. In the light of recent events surrounding a certain Climate Change Unit which may or may not be near here, I decided I should sort my office out and make sure I know where all my own raw data is in case there is concern about scientific standards in educational research at any point. (We can only dream they would care enough to do this, eh?)

Then there was a bit of mission creep as I got up a head of steam, and after putting nice lables on my binders, arranging my stationery and cataloguing various things, I decided to sort out all my student files and make sure they were up to date.

Now one of my doctoral students is an extremely prolific writer, not always of great quality, but he tries very hard. I was just printing off and then brandishing a huge pile of thoughts about postmodernism when one of the pieces of paper caught my cornea and made a slight rip in the surface. It is now very uncomfortable and my eye is crying all the time. Colleagues keep looking at me funny. They don't believe me when I tell them what happened and I think they reckon I have a Domestic Situation with DH or something.

You take your life in your hands, going to work as an academic. 'Elf n Safety!

BTW Gui, can you tell me about Gabapentin as the consultant might be giving me that instead of Rheumalgan.

Also do you want the matching leggings that go with the dress? I have finished with them now.

Am I a slummy mummy for teaching moo to 'drink'out of those ella's pouches of pureed fruit/veg? (it make's my life so much easier though)

but that's not all i give her honest. it's a snack

Not at all bebe - they're incredibly useful things, those pouches! DS1 still asks for them when he's not well and can't eat much.

Boff sorry to hear about your industrial accident - a friend of mine has the same sort of injury when his baby daughter shoved her finger in his eye, he said it hurt a LOT.

Now ladies coming to the meet up - am having trouble deciding whether I can make it. On the one hand it would be lovely to see you all and have a night out, plus DP is going to a business do the following night so I'm owed a night out, iyswim. And I'm wondering if there's something fun we can do as a family the next day nearby before DP goes to his business do (which is in Windsor).

On the other hand, it means travelling a long way and staying in a hotel, with DP looking after the boys while I come out. So it's quite a lot of money and effort and travel to hang out with some hairy handed truckers for one night.

Thoughts, anyone? And does anyone know any nice hotels in the Kingston area? If there was one with a spa then DP and I might do that as a Christmas treat.

Too true, Fei, too true

Boff - yowch @ cornea! The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it's paper that's the real killer. Perhaps get it looked at in case of fibres or summink. Anything specific about gabapentin? No to leggings, though thank you. I seriously don't have the chutzpah for leggings with my arse and thighs! The dress was brilliant btw. I think I looked Rather Nice. I didn't even bother with Pants of Steel, deciding it was preferable to be able to eat than to look marginally slimmer, which turned out to be a good call as the beef wellington was mahooooosive. Hugo discovered he really rather likes smoked salmon. I gave my brother a kiss, which is a first in 29 Years!

Re: snacks - what does everyone give? Am racking brains for high-cal snacky stuff that ideally isn't too messy. Suggestions other than Plum/ Ella/ Organix et al?

Howdy Kaz, good to see you! How goes work?

Hello girls - I'm back from a few days at my mum's - will try and catch up later but anyone care to bring to my attention any highlights I have missed?!

Kingston meet up getting closer - woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooo

O has another blardy cold and slept so badly at my mum's that we came home a day early. I think it may have been because he was missing DH...

he's currently twirling around in his door bouncer smiling and dribbling like a loon.

Hope all mummies and babies are well... will try to catch up properly this evening
x

WFH you MUST come. There is no excuse. There's a couple of very nice hotels in Richmond, right up on the hill next to the park. This is my favourite one, then opposite there's the Richmond Gate and the Richmond Hill hotel, also owned by Folio Hotels (so same website). One of them has a spa. I know all this because we looked at them as possible wedding venues

Gabbapentin is FABULOUS!!!! i love it, tis for nerve pain specifically, mine are bright orange and huge they make me smile just from the colour alone!!

wfh - you have to come!!!

I am all dressed up to go out I can't even remember how to walk in heels, and the holdups feel like they're going to fall down and this must be the first time in about 2 years that I have had a normal handbag instead of a changing bag to carry around! Woo hoo.

Boff - sorry about your industrial accident. I hope a thorough record of the incident has been detailed in the accident log. But seriously - does sound painful.

Auld - if you are going to strangle your DH, France is as a good a place as any to do it. I believe 'crime passionel' may still be cited as valid defence in murder cases between spouses. But your DH is the lawyer, so you may want to check with him first.

Kingston meet up - yes WFH do come. Those suggestions of Fei are all good. I think she's right to suggest staying in Richmond rather than Kingston itself, although it may be more expensive. The Folio hotels have Cedars gym attached + an elemis spa. DH booked me in for the day for my birthday last year and I came out feeling thoroughly pampered. One word of warning - the lighting in the treatment rooms is a little odd, so the nail polish I selected in a chic nude tone was actually Barbie pink and pretty revolting.

Oooooooooooooh Fei - have a great time!

Holdups? Naughty girl.