June 2008: New Year, new thread, new names, new words, new goals, but no resolutions!

[abdnhikinginawinterwonderland]

New thread since the last one's at 997 posts...

Sponge - I thought it was too early as well, but he certainly favours it when he's eating!!Shame your left-handedness hasn't ensured that Wimbledon win!!

Looks like the London trip is back on, sil has found a friend to come with her and mil!!The boys are so excited that we're going away and are planning parties without us, Tristan would really like is to take Ethan with us too!!

Defo a leftie here. Has looked that way for a long time. DH also happy as it will help with tennis (albeit not wholly seriously). Having said that, just today he ate his lunch looking more right handed for once.

Had the swine flu jab done 2 weeks ago. No dramas. He didn't even cry when the needle went in, and he wasn't poorly afterwards.

Night all.

Just a quick hello, I'm still here, just not up to much. Had a bit of a rubbish day yesterday, lots of strange pains going on and a grumpy boy, not a good combination. Pains seem to have subsided and J seems to be in a much better mood this morning (so far!).

Looks like J will be right handed.

Lol at Tristan wanting you to take Ethan with you deb !

Dreadful night with M so totally knackered.

Hi to everyone else x

C was supposed to have her swine flu jab today, but it's my last day at this hospital before changing to a different one, so I couldn't take time off. I have phoned twice to try to reschedule it, and each time they tell me that they will call me back, then they don't.

NO idea about handedness, is showing no preference either way that I have noticed. I'm quite ambidextrous, although left predominates, but IIRC handedness does not 'fix' until about 2-3 years. I also read something recently that said there is no left handed gene, rather there is a right handed or an either handed gene, so A could still be right handed sponge

I suck at tennis. although had a handy manouvere where I would swap from left to right hand to avoid a back hand.

Hi everyone, after 2 weeks of a bad back and now a cold, I was clearing the car park of snow this morning and slipped on an icy patch, went straight back and banged my head , and knee(don't know how I did that?), now I have a great headache and very stiff neck. Ouch.

Hope you're all OK, should I be worried that we haven't been offered swine flu jabs?

Ktpie - how much longer?

Sponge - fingers crossed that the boys sleep simultaneously for you today

Can I ask you all about nappy contents? Ethan very rarely has solid poos - you know the ones you can tip off the nappy and flush away - they are usually very soft and squelchy, and I'm wondering if he's intolerant to something? What do you think? It's not something I can ask in German at toddler group here!!

Debs DS is still often like that. DOes he eat a lot of fruit?

going - usually a banana, plus a few grapes or half an apple a day, oh and sometimes raisins

Deb, sorry to hear about your fall .

A was at nursery today so did manage to get an hour's nap this am.

A's nappies are usually always soft and squelchy - never occurred to me that they should be anything else .

Sorry about your fall, Deb . E's poos are really soft as well. I think they should be harder, T's are, but not sure if it means intolerance, though it could. I think E doesn't have the right balance of food, not enough protein. She eats a lot of fruit, but it is a struggle to get her to eat anything else. She has even started refusing yogurt and toast now. Yesterday she ate a tangerine for breakfast, some sultanas for a snack, sweet potato and butternut squash for lunch, a rice cake, then a tangerine for tea . And two beakers of milk. She does wear her bib now, though!

J's poos are normally of the 'mold to you bum' variety. So, fairly soft but hard enough to hold a shape.

Ouch Deb, hope your head feels better soon.

I bought a couple of mini-boden things for the kids for best and they are huge! dd's 7-8 year dress would fit a child of 10 easily I am sure. I am a bit hacked off actually as now I have to return and reorder which is a bit of a faff. Back to Tescos for next years party frock I think!

J's poos are variable, if he's had sultanas then they are very runny.

Debs - fall sounds very painful.

Boring day today, I've been asleep for ages this afternoon so probably won't get any sleep tonight. J is having a good old snooze as well.

Ouch deb. S's poos vary in consistency. It never ocurred to me that they could be related to food [dim]

I am feeling that I'm feeding S the same thing all the time. Anyone got inspirational snack ideas? Or quick and easy 'store cupboard' teas for those nights I need to give him a quick tea? He normally eats with us, but occasionally it's not possible. My staple is pasta tossed in some butter mixed with frozen veg (cooked obviously!) and cheese. Could do with a few more ideas though.

Yay...lets talk about poo....

...generally soft here. Occasionally getting to the mold to your bum variety. Not suprising given that P eats vast amounts of fruit (and everthing else really) . By about 2.30 yesterday he had worked his way through one piece of each type of fruit in the house and we had to start a second round.

DGod My fallback option for a quick tea in 10 mins is:
1 piece of frozen white fish microwaved for 3 mins
a couple of new potatoes cut up and microwaved for 2 mins
frozen peas microwaved for 2 mins.
The fish I buy are the cod or coley portions that come in perfect rectangular blocks from the supermarket. Normally 6 to a packet, but I saw that Tescos do them in 4s.

My new teatime innovation (yesterday) was Delia's oven baked wild mushroom risotto. It is in the Winter Collection. I got as far a sweating the onions and mushrooms then split it into a P sized portion and the grown ups portion. I then made P's without the Madeira or the salt. I thought he might not like the mushrooms, but it was a big hit. DH didn't moan that it was veggie either. A miracle all round.

HTH

Ooh, I have a vast amount of Madeira that needs to be used up! I wonder if I could do the white fish - is it safe? (I mean, I don't eat it myself and wouldn't taste it - what if it didn't cook through or something?)

DGod I struggle with snacks. Tea - well, yesterday he had the filled pasta I was having, with a sauce of sauteed veg batons (julienne them but not too small, then 4 mins or so in a hot pan with a bit of oil until soft - I did carrots, courgette and mushrooms) and my sauce was a dollop of greek yoghurt mixed with some pesto. Delish. He will also happily eat the filled pasta on its own - although I guess it could be ILLEGAL according to mumsnet and the salt content. Tonight, a crisis happened and I couldn't get the beautiful cabbage and chickpea soup ready in time, but I could get a Tesco's nut roast and chips ready, so he had that. And ate the lot, a whole nut roasty thing. But then I gave up on the salt worry. Probably Illegal.
I also make a massive batch of Annabel Karmel's special tomato sauce, freeze it in potions, and use that on pasta and it can make bolognese etc. I also have creamed spinach in portions which Iestyn loves on pasta.

What do people give as snacks? I mean for afternoon tea - he gets a sandwich, some fruit and a plain cake etc in Siwgr Plwm, we sometimes give him a yoghurt. What else can we do? I make cakes for him but really I probably shouldn't and aim for something more nutritious...

From food to poo... Variable here. Phases of Sybil's good 'mold to the bum' consistency, but also phases of squidgy. I doubt it's to do with what he eats but after the day when he had 3 satsumas we keep an eye on that...

Now some minor corrections:
I don't freeze in potions although I am a witch. I freeze in portions.

now, I'm only guessing here tedi but my innate Welsh skills tell me that Siwgr Plwm is roughly translated Sugar Plum?

poo we have a full range of consistencies here. I wouldn't worry Deb, sounds like a high fibre ish diet, so soft poo is to be expected.

[biscuits is about the football again neenz 15 minutes to go....]

or possibly 45...

Thanks for all the poo talk!! Don't think I have much to worry about, he's not keen on protein either Neenz so maybe that could be it!

Spider - gutted that FB have Bejeweled blitz offline at the moment - I was definitely going to beat you today!

head's feeling better but I have such a sore neck -probably whiplash, when Stefan came home from school he finished off the snow clearing, said he slipped but didn't fall, my screeching from the window like a fishwife for him to put his ski helmet on didn't work did it?

p.s. - just watched the film Perfume on BBC Iplayer - it was really good, anyone seen it? Well the baby bit at the beginning was difficult to watch, but it was intriguing to watch.

OMG - I must be tired that didn't come out right at all, the rest of the film was intriguing, not the baby bit. By the time you've read my ramblings it'll be off iplayer anyway!N NIght x

Tedi - obviously vary the microwave timings to suit your oven, and turn it over half way through so it cooks evenly. I don't serve it until it is opaque white and all the translucent bits have disappeared. Also microwaves create hotspots so give it a few mins after to cool down.

Deb - I have not yet made my first bejeweled move for the week. We were neck and neck last week though. You should befriend James and then he would have two opponents on FB. He won't befriend his RL best mate because last week his mate got a score of 369k and beats me hands down every week. It is most annoying.

Night all.

Opps not keeping up v well, just posting quick before this falls off the threads I'm on...

FIL came round as I was in the shower this morning, came out to the sounds of his dulcet tones. Wierd case over here of a man being refused entry to a club as he was wearing a turban which is 'headgear'. I laughed at the ridiculousness of the club this morning and was very clearly told by FIL that the club was right!!!??? And that if the guy didn't like it he could....you know what I'm gonna say here don't you? And I couldn't believe he actually said it...fuck off back to where he came from. So there you go, my FIL is an unapologetic racist bigot. Aaarrrgggghhhh. I said quite clearly that I thought that was complete bollocks etc, and was told NZ was fine population wise until about 40 years ago when all the poms started coming over....! He is the only person I know that uses Pom as an insult. BTW his wife and my MIL is english (as well as Ry and I obviously).

I just don't know what to say. DH's attitude is that's just him, but I feel really uncomfortable with it.

Sorry for the self centred rant, but I had to tell someone IYKWIM and I can't tell anyone here (small town and who knows, they might agree, altho I really, really hope not).

OK, will try and keep up with you all again,.

B is booked in for his swine flu jab next Tuesday - I feel it's the lesser of two evils, I'd hate for him to get complications from the flu.

at your FIL PP. I'm not surprised you feel uncomfortable. I have the same with some of our older family members - I hate it, and always point it out to them. DP has taken the face off some of his rellies when they've done it in front of the kids. Don't know what to suggest really.

I sometimes feel I'm giving B the same things too Goddess - I freeze portions of stuff I make for us, and I can microwave it for his tea - bolognaise (takes a few minutes to cook the pasta to go with it), chicken korma with rice and peas, roast dinners, casserole, fish pie, cottage pie, etc. Other quick teas are salmon fish fingers, veggie pancakes (pancake batter with sweetcorn, peas, etc stirred in), various types of pasta. Afternoon snacks, which he gets at nursery, are things like fruit, yogurt, pancakes, raisins, breadsticks and soft cheese. He's also partial to a hot cross bun.

Deb, I quite liked the film of Perfume, but I love the book, have you read it?

Ooooh iPad, I want one!

Absolutely gutted about the football - I actually choked up but that is probably just my hormones. I have never felt so bad after a match... it felt like my heart had been ripped out and stamped on. It felt worse than being relegated (and I have experienced that a good few times!)

But good news! I know I said I'd stay away from the doppler but I had a go this morning and found a hb straight away It was so fast I couldn;t keep count - about 40 beats in 15 secs so entirely normal. I am so happy.

PP, that sucks about your FIL - he has naffed you off a few times already hasn't he. I would just calmly challenge him every time, maybe say 'so me and Ry should f off back to where we've come from too shall we?' Or just 'I find that quite offensive'. It doesn't have to confrontational... just stay calm.

Loving the food ideas - I struggle with variation too esp for E. I have not thought of putting the fish in the microwave, I always poach it but mw is easier - will try that. A nice quick tea and good for veggies is home-made baked beans - just fry a chopped onion and throw in a couple of cans of haricot beans and a tin of tomatoes, some tomato puree and some mixed herbs. I sometimes whizz up some carrots and put them in too so it ups the veg count and makes it taste sweeter.