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...

Hi All, broadband been down so haven't posted for a couple of days. Did my first injection today (after having already had a blood test at the hospital!). Wasn't too bad at all - I must be less of a wuss than I thought. Not too fussed about it at the moment. Dunno - Mark and I seem to be going through an iffy patch - not sure why.

I must say I feel really embarrassed about the feeding thing as Luke eats crap! he eats good stuff at nursery thank god but I never look at salt/sugar. he also eats baby ready meals and nuggets and loves chips and sausage . I have never seen him ever eat fruit unless its a banana. i've probably screwed up his innards for life right? I did make muffins though and they were like bricks but tasty. Luke ate 6!

Very impressed with all the food talk - A eats a reasonably healthy diet, but not a huge variety .

Good to know injection went well Amber - do you think it's the stress of the IVF that is putting a strain on your relationship? It's tough on both of you, but harder for the woman as she has to do it all really .

PP, sorry to hear about the FIL - so hard when you face bigotry like that . Not uncommon in NZ and Oz IME though - esp Oz. Couldn't quite believe the racism we encountered there .

Neenz, about the doppler - what happened to smashing it to bits? Great news about the hb - still think they're evil though!!

Hello

PP, your FIL. And hard as you're new and it's a small town so can't share but you have us!!!

I try and cook our food without salt and give C and D leftovers - that's the fastest food I know! D doesn't like food which has wine in (cooked for several hours is OK, no?) whereas C gobbles it up!

I tend to cook large pots of things and then let C and D have it for lunch and tea when I'm at home. Currently have lamb neck stew in the oven, which is an experiment as I used to hate it as a child but the butcher assures me it's wonderful if I cook it for four hours.

Tediber, like the Sugar Plum thing. Highly impressed by Iestyn eating nut roast. D wouldn't get her teeth round it!

Amber, well done with the injection. What's happening with you and MArk? I hate it when A and I fight. It usually happens about obce every two months and lasts a couple of days but then goes away again.

Poo - D's are usually quite soft. When she was constipated (and wouldn't go for svereal days) they were always quite hard so yay for soft poo, I say!

Neenz, can't believe I am so behind in the football

Can I ask you all a question about travelling on easyjet / ryan air/ We are travvelling from Stansted at half term. Should we get the priority checkin (DH thinks no as too expensive, I've heard that you could then all get separated and don't want DS ending up sitting on his own.)

Oh and I was gutted for you about the footie too - bloody bastard Man U, they always get tons of extra time to score a goal, and of course it was Shrek that scored the goal just to add insult to injury .

Well all those Reds won't be laughing when we sign Rooney for £100m in the summer, will they

UDC, priority boarding is great if the money's not an issue. If it is, then just arrive at the boarding gate nice and early and you get to the front of the queue for the non-priority boarders so will get to sit together. I find all that so stressful. We have never flown with the kids.

Amber, hope the injections go well. I suppose it is normal for it to put a strain on a relationship. Just sit down and talk it through with him, you might be surprised at what he actually is thinking.

Sponge, I was going to say there's loads of racism down under, but thought it was a bit racist to say it! But if you have said it, then it is ok

I was never going to smash a £70 doppler - I had enough trouble not using it for five days! Will try not to use it too much - I just wanted reassurance that I had not had a mmc like the first time.

Lol that "if you have said it, then its ok"!!

UDC, I've heard that cabin staff will ensure children aren't parted from their parents but don't know how true that is? Mind you, I think most child-free adults would rather swap seats than be responsible for someone else's child!

Hello,

UDC we flew Easyjet a couple of times last summer. I am too mean to pay for priority boarding, but, once they have boarded the people who have paid for priority seats, they call all people with children forward, so you should be absolutely fine getting seats. I can't vouch for Ryanair though, and I would prefer it if you double checked first as I wouldn't want to mislead you. We are flying EJ next weekend, so I will report back.

When I lived in Oz for a year I said at the time that if I was South East Asian and had my nationality defamed in the way that it was it would be classed as out and out racism. However POMs are fair game it seems .

Neenz like the home made baked beans idea. We had Heinz at lunch though , albeit reduced sugar and salt. Sorry about the footie, at least you didn't drag your tired pregnant arse to Old Trafford for the spectacle though.

Amber when you say "iffy" do you mean seriously worrying, or just being a bit snappy with each other? I remember reading that IVF can often make the relationship more difficult, so you wouldn't be unusual if that was the case.

Regarding food. Did anyone else catch the Panorama on BBC1 this week? I stumbled on the second half of it. It was about pre-schoolers' nutrition. Annabelle Carmel was interviewed and came across pretty badly. They were focusing on her range of ready meals. Not only was the salt and sugar content not especially low, the nutritional information she admitted could likely only be understood by "educated mothers , and per kg her lasagne was the most expensive at over £10, whereas Tesco Finest was £6 something. They also looked at the quality of food in nurseries (Which are about to publish a big survey) and concluded that the 5 a day message has gone into overdrive with pre-schoolers getting too much fruit, but not enough healthy fats like oily fish and starchy carbs. Anyway, worth a look on the iplayer if anyone is interested.

UDC I've flown easyjet and ryanair with C. Easyjet were great, you get to board with the priority booking people anyway. Ryanair don't do this, so would book priority boarding with them.

neenz two good games of football though, and my Dad said that the game went off really smoothly from a crowd control point of view, so the City fans can hold their heads high.

sponge now, now, there was plenty of stoppage time for City to score too.

amber hope all settles down for you glad you managed the injection ok.

[waves at everyone else, but only if they're not going to be mean about my football team ]

Thanks all for food suggestions. I aspire to having portions of stuff in the freezer for S but somehow never manage! I need to get some more small tubs which would help for decanting leftovers.

I like the idea of frozen fish Spider - do you buy those portions frozen or do you freeze them yourself? It would never have ocurred to me to put new potatoes straight into the microwave either.

S is staying with his GP's this weekend so I'm going to try and bake some snacks to have in. Amber I'm a novice baker but I find this muffin book fab - completely failsafe (As long as you pay attention to instructions for fan ovens/using mini muffin trays). I've made a few different ones and they've been perfect every time.

Interested to read all the flying chat. We've got flights to Southampton booked later in the year with flybe and paid an arm and a leg to pre-book our seats (the only way to guarantee we'd sit together). Mind you, these were the tickets that started at £2.70-ish per person each way and ended up costing us nearly £300! UDC can you book just one of you on priority boarding? One of you could race on and nab some seats. I've thought about doing that when we book the flights for our summer hols. I'm getting a bit nervy about the flights for our summer hols actually. We can only fly with Ryanair and they're quite pricey at the mo. I'm convinced that once they stop flogging their cheap tickets for Feb/March they'll start doing promos for April/May and I really dont want to pay full price to find my flight going for 99p in a month or so. I must hold my nerve...

Neenz I also meant to say like the beans recipe. That would freeze ok wouldn't it?

@ *biscuits!

Oh, Spider, I missed panorama but there was a thread on here so I read some stuff about it there. I haven't bought any AK meals because I think they are ridiculously overpriced but was a bit to hear the salt/sugar content wasn't great. I do buy ready meals occasionally but I get the M&S ones as recommended by biscuits and suburbia last time I met up with them.

I think it is worth pre-booking. Friends of mine didn't on a 9 hour flight as they mistakenly thought no airline would expect their 5 year old to sit alone. They were wrong and the in-flight crew washed their hands completely. In the end one of her parents did get to sit with her but only after pleading with other passengers. Nightmare.

Spider - I have befriended James!!

Penguin - sounds like you could be having some interesting conversations with your fil over the years!!I have to say that a lot of locals here are quite racist, 2 boys at school yesterday got in trouble for saying that English people were stupid after Stefan had thrown a snowball at them!!That's obviously a minor incident but a Belgian woman we know has been told to p off and go back to where she belongs.

Bugger - haven't read the book but I'm going to look for it now!

Neenz- about the heartbeat

UDC - we don't get priority either as it's a rip off, everyone queues up anyway, then the priority ones get ushered to the front, so if you queue anyway, you could feasible be getting on the plane straight after priority people. People tend to steer clear of families anyway so I wouldn't worry.If you did get separated, make a big point of giving him a sick bag, see how quick the adults will swap seats then.

Just read what spider said - with ryanair they don't call people through with children next - they used to in the good old days!

Goddess - when's your holiday?

Deb - hee hee. James now having to contemplate having more than one friend (i.e. me) on FB. Let me know if he accepts.

Hi All, everything seems back to normal with Mark. It's not the IVF because Mark couldn't gove a toss if we had another child! I think it's Mark's job getting him down as it's so stressful which then rubs off on me as I'm the one that it all comes home to. I think this exascerbated because I am at home and he's a bit jealous (plus he expects me to become Bree from Desperate Housewives which is nt going to happen (see previous comments about breezeblock muffins)).

PP - I know loads of racists. I ALWAYS say something - not have a go but ask what they mean and why they have said it. Mark's dad said he didn't want a Pakistani family to rent his flat as he didn't trust them. I asked him why and said he couldn't possibly generalise like that and he didn't really have much of an answer.

Priority boarding is a bit shite - I have had it before but only when I've been alone so I can run for the legroom seats! All the other seats are the same and I'm sure people would move to allow a fmaily to sit together.

I saw that prog about kids food. I buy AK ready meals but M&S ones are better. Luke only has them once in a while so I'm not too bothered about what's in them. Made a lovely shepherd's pie today that Luke scoffed. Put grated carrot in with the meat and butternut squash and sweet potato in the mash - yumbo!!!!

I think I'm going to give muffins a miss from now on - maybe a cake would be better

Mmm, the shep pie sounds great Amber. I saw the programme, the most shocking thing was the Growing Up milk which is loads more expensive than cows milk and really sweet. I would never buy that anyway (too tight ) but it makes me really that they market it as 'better' than cows milk!

I was also shocked at the nursery food not having enough protein in - too much veg! It's so hard to get the balance right. I think the AK ready meals are fine but very expensive way to feed your child all the time and how many nutrients are left over after they have been sat on the shelf for ages? A bit high in salt and sugar too, she got a bit of a hard time and was brave to be interviewed.

Amber, I get a bit of that from DH cos his job is stressful and sometimes it feels like he is doing all the hard work and I am reaping all the rewards. But its me who thinks that way as well, and I feel guilty about it. I never liked work so love being at home and feel bad that he still has to go out to work. He does enjoy work tho but he does say he'd rather be at home with the kids. Not sure how long he would last. I do do pretty much everything around the house and I like to remind him that if I worked more days he would have to muck in a lot more with the housework. I like to make his home life easy so its easy for him to go to work. Call me a 50s housewife

Biscuits well the ref indicated three mins of injury time, which we were told following injurytimegate that that can mean anything between 3mins 01sec and 3mins 59secs. And Rooney scored on 92 so we should have had at least an extra minute on top of the 3. But he blew up after 3mins 40secs But it's not like we would have scored so I'm not complaining... but it's funny how when it's Fergie time the ref can find at least an extra two mins!

Yes beans recipe will freeze

amber - how does it make you feel embarking on IVF if Mark doesn't care about having another baby -surely that could also be putting a strain on your relationship?

Amber Mark's in finance - surely the whole tax thing happening in the next day or so (or never in this house but that's denial again...) could be affecting things?

Ooh, I'm really tired and I've just had a beer (quite quickly) and I'm feeling all tipsy! Will try to respond properly.

UDC always good to see you on here! But you're not around at half term - I'm coming to London then. All other London/nearby folks - anybody free?? (I should say I don't mean to make it sound like some amazing event, me coming to London - it always sounds like some kind of royal visit when I announce it on here! I always expect someone to tell me to get lost...)

Who was it who guessed at Siwgr Plwm being Sugar plum? Dead right - but it is slang, a term of endearment; siwgr is sugar, but a plum is not plwm normally. Oh, and my name:
'Teddy Bears are so cheap'. Second part of a saying - who would have/rear children when teddy bears are so cheap'. It's what you say when your children are running you ragged...

Amber on the baking - no domestic goddess here, but I do get good results with loaf cakes, and I think they're easier than muffins, and they freeze. (And mixed results with cupcakes - I have a lovely book, the Primrose Bakery one.) I recommend John Barrowman's banana bread, and Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake. I'm going to try a madeira cake tomorrow. But loaf cakes are basically...bread, so they're good for you, right?
Spider I didn't see the programme - and didn't they hide it away? - but I now want to watch it. I've bought AK's ready meals, but they don't cook easily from frozen. No decent M&S near us (I know, I know...) but the Little Me ones which I got on special offer at Tesco seemed good. I get them because I don't cook meat and I want Iestyn to be unfussy. But actually he's not keen on ready meals. (The nut roast didn't really have many nuts in - that's Tesco for you!) He eats a really good balanced diet at nursery - it's superb, he eats better than DH! - and they're also starting a takeaway service!!

Wow, the beer is affecting me so I'd better go. Such a lightweight - but very tired due to my first week of teaching since last summer...

So do you all eat with your toddlers or separately? We always eat with J but I guess it helps that DH is home in time to do that. He just has whatever we are having. At the moment it is all quick food because poor DH is having to make it when he gets home, I can't stand up for long enough now. Last night it was stir fry, tonight it's spicy pasta which is DH's own creation, peppers, mushrooms and bacon chopped up fairly small and fried in lots of olive oil with tomato puree and cayenne pepper, then just mixed through pasta. Takes as long as the pasta takes. Probably not the healthiest thing as it is very oily but it's tasty.
Lunches, however, I struggle with, it tends to be something on toast and if I've left it too late and am about to keel over it's just Philadelphia on toast, not very inspiring.
I've stopped worrying too much about salt, we don't add much to our cooking anyway and we don't ever put any on Js.
The Panorama programme sounds interesting. The only baby food we've bought is some of the Organix finger foods, they didn't seem too bad on the sugar/salt content.

Tedi - like the meaning of your name! I love banana bread, haven't made that for ages.

Neenz - no idea what is going on with the football but it all sounds very stressful.

I always seem to be surrounded by racists too, my Nan is the funniest, I try to tell myself it is just her generation. Did I tell you all about the gollywog incident? But her best friend is a Chinese man.

I am impressed by anyone that does any flying with kids, we can't afford it anyway but even if we could I don't think I would be all that keen. My friends are moving back to Oz next week and I really don't envy them that journey with an 18 month old.

UDC - how did the lamb neck stew come out? We've had that quite a bit and it's always lovely. I didn't used to like lamb.

Baby is due tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath. I think it will be at least another week, although I would like it to come as soon as possible. I can barely walk now and me and J are getting very bored of being stuck at home.

OMG due tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark hasn't mentioned the tax thing so I don't think it's that. He's happy today 'cos they changed the pay structure - reduced bonuses and more basic.

The fact Mark isn't bothered about having another child is good in a way 'cos of this all doesn't work then i won't feel guilty! He would like one but if we didn't have one he would not be devastated where as I would. Hey ho. These injections are horrid. I have put on 4 lbs in one day!!!

Essie I am here for you when you come to London of course!

neenz, us non-Man U fans all know that Man U always get given enough time to score the winning goal then the whistle is blown - it's how the rules work in footie .

Tedi, count me in for a meet up - Weds/Thurs/Fri good for me w/c 15th Feb, if that's the week you're talking about!

ktpie, can't believe you're due already .

Amber, sorry to hear Mark's so disinterested in having another baby .

Wow Ktpie, I hadn't realised it was this week. I thought you had a two more weeks to go. Many sympathies on not being mobile.

DH is never home in time for tea with P, so P has that on his own, with me sitting next to him trying not to nibble any spare. Lunches and breakfasts I eat with him. At the weekends I try to ensure that we all sit down together for our main meal as well as breakfast and lunch. If nothing else it does minimise cooking and clearing up time.

I find getting variety into P's diet difficult. Breakfast is pretty much the same every day: milk, porridge, banana, half a slice of my toast. Lunch tends to be something on toast, although I don't like giving him too much bread. One slice of bread can have 1g of salt in, so it doesn't take too much bread over breakfast and lunch to hit the salt threshold for the day (and that excludes the marmite at breakfast). What I am hoping is that the government's guidelines on salt are a bit like their guideline on alcohol, i.e. the scientific basis for them is a bit imprecise and gives some room for leeway.

Amber I think Deb's question is spot on. It must be very hard for you embarking on IVF if you feel that you are not doing it for both of you. I hope Mark is being super supportive, even if he personally isn't that concerned about having more children.

X post Sponge. Tedi I could meet up the week Sponge suggests if that is when you are here. Not Thursday though.

Amber xpost with you too. Doh.