October 08 - Toddling round the Christmas tree & Ooooing at the lights!

[50ftChristmasTree]

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz
3rd Oct (Due 26th Sept) - purpleflower - Girl - Rebecca Jill Erzsebet - 8lbs 10.5oz
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz
9th Oct (Due 17th) - Marthasmama - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz
28th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - RachieW - Boy - Jack - 7lbs 4oz
31st Oct (Due 20th Oct) - KnickersOnMaHead - Boy - Samuel Paul - 9lbs 11oz
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz

Oh and the good/bad food thing. It is classic anorexic behaviour. Healthy people casually discuss good/bad food and use these labels loosely, to mean healthy foods that should be eaten all the time and less healthy foods to be eaten in moderation. However this behaviour can escalate to the point at which the list of good food becomes smaller and smaller and the bad foods increase. But this is again taken further because 'bad' foods will be avoided completely and the anorexic will only eat from the very low calorie list of good foods. Most counsellors say that we should dispense completely with the idea of good/bad food as the language is too emotive & misleading.

Just read your post properly Pistachio - What you're doing sounds spot on! We have been similar with DS. He never had a McDs until a friend took him. Now his favourite fast food is Leon and he would rather have a jacket potato with beans than a burger! Good lad!

Oooo it's the 50ft show! All me all the time!

50ft - I'm sure you're right about anorexia never really going. You know far more about it that I do. I just meant that the healthy-looking young woman I know now is very different from the skeletal child who was literally stuffing food in between the floorboards to avoid eating it. She's left home and is able to maintain her weight and appears to be eating in a reasonably normal way. She's had a lot of counselling and support and although I'm sure it will always be with her I think things are as good as can be expected, if that makes sense. Certainly her mum isn't constantly gripped by the fear that she could die at any time.

Coming back to the good food/bad food thing, the doctor I was talking about feels very strongly that the whole healthy eating message that schools are pushing at the moment is misguided. She feels that the whole "healthy eating" message makes children feel guilty and pushes them towards eating disorders at younger and younger ages.

It's such a tricky one isn't it. We used to have to spot check childrens' packed lunches and if they weren't suitable send the child for a school dinner. And some of the packed lunches were truly awful, so I can't help but feel that some kind of healthy eating message is important. One child was given cold chips from the night before. Two packets of crisps and a chocolate bar (no sandwich) another example. School dinners are free to all children in our borough now and most children have them so it's much less of a problem now.

I agree, aubergenie. There needs to be a balance. Last year I saw a lunch that was 2 chocolate bars, a bag of crisps, a slice of wheat bread, gummy bears of some sort and 2 juice boxes. This family knew better, too... it was just "what she wanted" so the parents felt they "had no choice". Not my place to judge the way families feed their children... but a line must be drawn.

Aubergenie - Just re-read your post about your friend's dd. I think I misread what you said, I thought you'd said that you thought it always stayed with you. I hope I didn't come across as condescending. Many many recovering anorexics remain perfectly healthy by keeping the illness under control. I am sure your friend's dd will be one of those!

Oh it's fine 50ft . I imagine, it's a bit like being an alcoholic, in that you're always aware of it, and it never goes away and keeping it under control is the best you can do. I hope she manages to do that, as it was horrendous for everyone involved.

Also, about your best friend 50ft. She must have had some issues of own to treat you like that.

The good/bad food thing is definitely more commonly a symptom rather than a cause Myjob. It is just a useful method of control, but some anorexics are dieters that took things too far. Many anorexics become veggies or even vegan as it adds another layer of control and separates them from the rest of the family, making it easier to control food at meal times. All very cunning, all very secretive, all very difficult to detect....

Aubergenie - My friend was anorexic herself so she did indeed have issues. I was a little bit plump when I was a teenager but it was due to being put on the pill for terrible periods. That's when it all started for me. I stopped taking the pill and got very very skinny. Strangely enough, my friend's other best friend ended up bulimic because the mutual friend did the same thing to her too.

Happy happy joy joy eh?!

Is anyone going out tonight? I am home with DH and my mum and dad. DS will try to stay up but will probably have a nap at about 9.30. I really hope we don't have the same problems with M that we had last year! She saw the New Year in with us, screaming her head off!

We have eaten - om nom nom.
Recommend reducing the amount of ginger in the pudding. I put in 30ish g of the fresh ginger (well, the fresh in a jar stuff) instead of the 50g in the recipe, and missed out the ground ginger from the sauce, and it was just nice. Went perfectly with some fresh cream to cut through the sweetness and ginger. Is a very dense pudding.

Dh tried to get ds off to sleep in the car before tea pistachio, but it didn't work, so he had to battle on, and have just put him to sleep 10 mins ago.

I've got my family over and DH is being grumpy with me for being on MN. Hrumph!

The book is fabulous Pistachio. You will enjoy it!

We had a 14 yr old boy eat it with us, and we wouldn't tell him what was in it (parsnip and courgette) until he'd finished it. He was quite surprised!

Just nipping in to say Happy New Year, when it comes.... Am off to bed as dd has decided she is scared of noises and everyone setting off fireworks has led to a very disturbed bedtime already. I'm just hoping that she'll sleep ok for the night now

Which book is this you are all talking about. I must have missed something

With regards to eating - dd is at the moment being a complete pickle. She is only picking at her food and as she is skinny it is unnerving. However I'm trying not to do the whole begging her to eat thing though it can be hard to restrain yourself when they've barely eaten anything all day . However we do have a rule that if you aren't hungry enough to eat the food on your plate you can't be hungry enough to need dessert so the Xmas chocolate santas provided an incentive for her to finish her tea today. Thank goodness for chocolate! Ds on the other hand is eating for England - he can put away a full adult bowl of cereal followed by a slice of toast for breakfast and often has second and third helpings of lunch and tea. He ate 2 slices of pumpkin pie for dessert tonight . And yet he remains on the 9th centile - I have no idea where he puts it all

Sounds lovely CSWS. I must try a few more recipes from that book.

Anyway, I'm going to trundle off now. I don't think I'm even going to stay up till midnight. Wishing you all a happy new year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year ladies!

Happy New Year everyone.
I ended up going to bed at 10.30 because we were tired and knew I'd be up at 5.
DH and I were going to watch a movie with champagne but he was too tired by the time I got back. My friend asked if I would babysit from 7-9. Ended up not getting back until very near 10. It was ok. DH and I didn't have exciting plans anyway.