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...

at ktpie being due tomorrow!

Amber DH and I had a really crap time when I quit work and then for the next few months. He thought me quitting would solve everything and couldn't understand why I didn't instantly turn into this happy, relaxed person. And his work stress is ever present... I hope that's what this is for you guys because it does get better when you settle into a pattern. (Not perfect, but DH and I are back to normal again).

Oh and Dh is far too cheap to ever pay for priority boarding. He insists that passengers would be happy to move so we can all sit together but honestly we've never had to (and we do this for 8 hour flights). First, DH always takes Fraser which stresses out whomever's next to him (if it was me, they'd probably be less likely to move). Then no one would make DS1 sit on his own at 3... he'd be screaming... Also, they have to let you priority board if you've an under-2 as there's only a few seats which are suitable (extra oxygen masks)... We've just booked to go to Exeter for holidays and we didn't pay for extra seats. Someone will move so DS1 and I will sit together!

We always eat dinner together (or at least plan to, if DH is late then he eats separately). I cook mostly from scratch, which means we eat very simply since I'm no chef - spaghetti, spaghetti carbonara, mince and tatties, cauliflower cheese, stew, chili, bangers and mash (with cabbage) etc. I don't add salt while I'm cooking and I try to keep an eye on the salt content of prepared sauces but that's about it. We're probably way over just from the amount of cheese we eat.

YOu guys still chat too much

Fingers crossed for prompt arrival ktpie.I'm 36 weeks and can't bloody wait. I have a new double pushchair and everyone who's pushed PD in it say its great but I've yet to try!!

Amber- hugs as ever. Here to chat if you need. And totally happy to give you cakes to pass off as your own (it's the only thing I'm still capable of these days)

London meet- would love to but will be in hospital/have a new baby to tend to that week

Football- what's that?

Priority boarding- we're going to Mallorca n the summer and have paid for seats- terrified we'll be split three ways. Does my head in though- why shouldn't they include the cost of seats/food/baggage but give you the chance to opt out to bring down the price???

Panorama- I shall look at that later. Have given PD a few AK meals but find they don't cook very well and agree with Amber that M&S taste batter and tesco better value. PD also mad about the Little Dish Korma...

Saw Silent Witness last night (DH and I finally sorting wedding albums that I was going to do last time I was on maternity leave ) and had to get DH to sleep in my bed (he's decamped to guest room now that we have it back as there's no room for him with all the cushions, plus I wake him whenever I turn over as it takes about 20 mins)and I was frightened. What is the world coming to???

Did I miss anyone/thing. If so, apologies

Wow Ktpie - tomorrow eh? Was J early or late? How are you feeling today, I'm very excited for you. Has your dh got strict instructions to let us all know the news as soon as he can?Have you got family there to look after J when you go in, I can't remember?

Ooh ktpie, good luck, hope the LO comes soon! My sis gave birth on Wed morning a day overdue . Not seen him yet cos she lives 50 miles away but he is gorgeous from the pics.

Spider, I feel exactly the same about bread, it is shocking how much is in there - they were having a go at AK for having 1g salt in her meals when one slice of bread can be same! I try to only let them have one slice a day cos they also have cheese and I put bouillion powder (stock) in a lot of my meals which is salty but not too bad in a big casserole/bolognese etc.

I did a lovely cod, sweet potato, parsnip and pea dish for their lunch but E didn;t eat any of it . she had her porridge for breakfast and a tangerine for snack so I didn't give her anything else at lunch. I think I'll try her with another portion at tea cos maybe she just isn't hungry at 11.30. Might switch to sandwiches at lunch and main at tea. We don't eat with the DTs although I would like to. DH is in too late (6.30pm) and it's nice to get bathtime out of the way and then sit down to dinner. I also like to get them down for their nap before I have my lunch so we don't eat together then either!

Anyone listening to Tony Blair at the Iraq enquiry? I was listening to bits earlier... he is a bloody smooth talker, I think we went to war for the wrong reasons but he is very persuasive and had me thinking maybe he did do it by the book after all .

Amber, I think the bonus culture is so stressful, glad he has relaxed a bit now they have re-structured. It makes me feel stressed just thinking about having a job where your pay is so directly related to performance. DH gets stressed about getting enough cases but people are always committing crimes so funnily enough there always seems to be lots of work at Liverpool Crown Court . But he does feel he has to make £150-200k a year in fees to justify his wages, which can be lots of hard work. From what you have said about Mark in the past I think it seems quite normal for him to be neither here nor there about having another baby. I don't think that's a problem if that is just his nature and you love him for being that person. DH keeps telling people 'I was meaning to have a conversation with Neenz around November time asking whether having a third baby was really a good idea, but then it was too late' I know he is chuffed to be having another baby, he has always wanted a big family, but sometimes they just think a bit differently, especially when they are responsible for earning the money to put food on the table!

Wow Ktpie! we should be hearing good news from you really soon. My second birth was soooooooooo much better than my first, but I was more scared. I bet J can't wait to meet the lo.

J still has a very restrictive diet. Breakfast is always a bowl of weetos with his brothe and sister (weetos have the least salt of any cereal we could find, only .23 per 100g). Then he has sandwiches or cheese on toast for lunch. Mostly a cream cheese or tuna sandwich but for preference he'd rather have cheese on toast. We use Hovis best of both because its the lowest salt content (.35 per slice). Then for tea he has pasta with homemade tomato/onion sauce with tuna or sausage (he'd far rather have the sausage). Rice with onion and peppers and chicken, shop bought fishcakes with rice and broccoli, sometimes omelette with peppers/veg and cheese mixed in. And thats about it. He likes Waitrose margerita pizza too (bad mummy emoticon)

Yay, we've booked our holiday flights. The price plummeted and we got tickets for us all for less than £200 - which is £200 cheaper than they were last week. I booked priority boarding for DH so he can get on with S and bag me a seat . It was with Ryanair and it was free priority boarding for DH but would have cost us if both of us had priority boarding. The tickets were a whole £100 cheaper than our 'cheap' flights to Southampton!

On food - we do tend to eat with S at the same time, but sometimes it doesn't work out well. i.e. if we get home later than usual or if S is particularly tired and grumpy and cant really wait for us to prepare tea.

ktpie can't believe you're nearly due! How exciting.

Must get back to work!

Blimey - I hardly ever eat with Luke unfortunately. I have my lunch when he has his nap and I have my dinner when he's in bed. I sometimes have bf with him but he seems to have gone off breakfast and won't eat anything unless he is at nursery (where he eats anything).

Agree with everyone - it would be lovely to have someone who was really keen on another baby but Mark was non plussed about the first one too but really happy when he came. I'm not really bothering him with any of it to be honest - I know it probably sounds mad but I don't want to add to his stress. I must say I was totally right to give up work as I can deal with this all a lot better without having to deal with the commute/work/nursery run etc etc.

Am I the only one who gives Luke things like nuggets? I checked the salt and it's feck all. Please someone say I am not alone!!!

Don't get too excited ladies, J was 10 days overdue and my original due date was the 2nd so it could quite easily be another 2 weeks (Puree, you might be first!), I really hope it isn't that long.
The ILs are coming over to look after J and the logistics of that are the thing that is stressing me the most about the labour, I hope it isn't really quick this time, or they might not be here in time, it was 18 hours with J so surely it can't be that quick this time, can it?
Puree - my friend has given us her old double buggy, just a bog standard side by side one, not too sure how we are going to get on with it but can't really justify buying a new one unless we really hate that one, need a new vac as well and can't afford both.
Sybil - not sure J understands, although he has taken to talking to the bump
Deb - will try and update you as soon as I can, if the baby ever comes that is!

I'm a bit fussy about us all eating together, I even drag me and J out of bed at 6.30 every morning so we can have breakfast with DH, I think that is why J is clinging on to his morning nap, poor child. If we are disorganised with making dinner then we have to give him some snacks to keep him going and he just goes to bed a bit later.

Amber - DH has a similar attitude about kids, he wasn't at all keen until J actually arrived. He's a little more enthusiastic this time (or possibly less scared ). The IVF sounds a lot to be coping with on your own though, I hope you are getting some support. The injections sound horrible.
We quite often have a 'freezer meal' something like fish fingers, scampi or ikea meatballs (I bet they are packed full of salt), so similar to nuggets.

DG - really glad you sorted the flights out.

Neenz - I've seen some of the Iraq inquiry, although J wasn't impressed and smeared his apple all over the TV screen then went and found the remote and put Cbeebies on (that was just a lucky random pressing of buttons, he was as surprised as I was). Tony is such a smooth talker, although he has had a few slightly flustered moments.

I forgot to tell you all my cute toddler story. When DH gets in he does a load of stretches (because he's just cycled home) and now J joins him and does his stretches too, he takes it very seriously but it's hilarious to watch, especially when he pulls lots of effort filled faces.

Ok, bit perplexed. P has just thrown a massive tantrum whilst the bath was running and is now half asleep on his bedroom carpet, naked except for a towel. Daren't move him as that set him off in the first place.

I think you might have to move him Spider!

It's ok. He roused himself enought to be calmly dressed. Quick story. Bit of an altercation as he is very into switching lights on and off but I wouldnt let him do the side light because of the hot bulb next to the switch. Now in bed, silent but awake. When I switch the hall light off he wails, which is totally new. TGIF!

BTW the light thing is because at music group this term we are doing different kinds of light, including electric.

ktpie, I can't believe you get J out of bed to have breakfast at 6.30am ! I could never bring myself to wake A that early!

Spider, glad P was happy to be dressed - had visions of him sleeping naked on the floor all night which would have been interesting!

Sad news from here, my friend who conceived twins has just lost one of them at the 8wk scan . Going to visit tomorrow and just so gutted for her.

Oh that's tragic Sponge. I hope she's able to stay strong and look after herself.

S is regularly up at 6.30 which we need him to be during the week anyway. I do love it when he has the odd lie in at w/e.

Cute story alert: when S finished his dinner tonight he took his plate to the bin and starting trying to spoon in his leftovers!

sponge fingers crossed for your friend's other twin

ktpie i probably shouldn't say this but I was 21 hours with DS1 and 3.5 hours with Fraser. And he tries to do pilates with me

right, I've tons to do so I'd better get organized....

Sponge your poor friend

Deb how is your head?

Ktpie any day now! How exciting!

Hello to everyone else. We've finished the taxes and are very proud of ourselves. We've even made a start on them for 2009/10.

Sponge - how sad for your friend.

J is normally starting to rouse or he's awake by the time we go in from the noise of all the alarms DH needs to wake up. So it's not as cruel as it sounds, honest!

Oh, I forgot to post my offerings on the food question. Well, T has been eating very little recently but generally, the children eat breakfast together and I join in if I'm not rushing too much. They have porridge and toast.

She might have a piece of fruit mid-morning. She has lunch with me, soup with a bit of buttered toast, or cheese on toast, something like that. But the past week she's either not hungry or asleep at lunchtime.

The children eat super together. Sometimes I eat with them, sometimes we all eat together. I'm finding that DD1's behaviour is much better if she eats at 5pm so I'm trying to feed them all then. We had roast chicken this evening.

What we have is generally determined by what's going on for everyone else. So on swimming nights we have a casserole or pasta - something that can be on the table v soon after getting in from swimming. On cubs nights we often have fish fingers/chips/peas which is as junk foody as we tend to get get. My total dysfunctionality meal is pasta/pesto/parmesan, but T really likes it. This week I think we've had steamed salmon with veggies and potatoes, falafel with cucumber and tomatoes in pitta, bangers/mash/onions/cabbage, fishcakes (made with leftover mashed potatoes). I don't think T ate much of anything. She has a thing for penguin bars at the moment, which is what the others are having in their lunch boxes . She doesn't get many of them but now I think about it that's the only food she's shown any interest in all week

sponge - so sorry to hear about your friend's loss, tell her about my friend who, following a m/c, went on to conceive again, started bleeding, I went with her to hospital thinking it was another m/c, scan revealed one very healthy surviving twin, she's now 5 years old!It's one of my most precious memories, seeing that heartbeat on the screen.

Rolf - firstly congratulations on the tax!! Dh has 2 deadlines currently one is the tax - he hasn't started it yet! the other is today, but he figured that they wouldn't look at the stuff over the weekend so he'd send it on Monday, turns out the deadline was last Monday! He's managed to get away with it.
And thanks for asking - my head is much better, my neck's still very sore and I have an impressive bruise on my knee.I made the boys clear the snow today - they have less distance to fall.

Eating - breakfast is a bit hit and miss in the week, we eat it together at weekends. We eat all other meals together as we're at home and boys are only at school for the mornings - I get so fed up of thinking what to cook.Today I made English style fish , chips and mushy peas(from the dried marrowfat peas) - Ethan loved mushy peas.

Having a very bad night .

First girls' night since Michael was born, got to bed at midnight, dh looking after M so I have Alex. Alex woke at 1am and was awake until 4.30am - I tried everything, calpol, cuddles, etc. Dh woke to feed M about 15 mins ago, went into to see A on the way back to bedroom, gave him another dose of calpol and a cuddle and he's gone straight to sleep.

Feel like such a crap mother .

Sponge we had almost exactly the same here! S was awake for hours last night. A will have gone back to sleep quickly this morning because he's exhausted after being awake half the night. That's the only reason.

I'm a bit miffed. As well as S being awake half the night I've been feeling hot, headachey and queasy. S is off to the GPs fir the weekend and I had loads of child free stuff planned

Sponge and Goddess hope things are better this morning.

enough of the crap Mother talk Sponge - we all know how grim things look at 4 in the morning, like Goddess rightly said A fell asleep then because he was too tired to stay awake - not because you were doing it wrong!

Goddess - hope you feel well enough to enjoy your child free time.

Hi Rolf

hi everyone - sponge agree with deb that nothing does for logic like a late/all nighter with a kid. Also "change of arms"syndrome is well known here (ie e wailing like a banshee with me but instant calm with dad) and there is definitely an even more pro dada thing than usual going on at present. I can only assume its an attachment thing but she wails/throws tantrums etc when he leaves in the morning (not fussed re me) or if I try and pick her up. So you are so NOT a bad mother-if you were would you be fussed?

ktpie cannot believe its come round so fast - will be checking in for news now.

amber am sorry that things are a bit stressful with mark. I suppose you could look at in the light of it easing your stress as if he is relaxed about having another it eases your burden of worry a bit. also agree with ah that it must be a real adjustment to being at home coupled with the ivf to make so its not a surprise that things seem a bit tough.

puree I am too much of a coward to watch anything like silent witness - in fact I have to turn over at anything remotely scary as am a big wuss. Also miles worht about anything in the news these days (I can't bring myself to think about those children allegedly murdered by their mother ).

spiderwilliam I did laugh at your sympathy with tantrums -there is no logic to what produces a ronaldo impression here (except tiredness/hunger makes them worse) but unresonable behaviour on my part about not letting her play with lights, eat my earrings/dhs cufflinks/watch (her two favourite things) definitely provoke it.

rolf glad tax return done.

Now done all my tests - had some of results back (prolactin not the issue which is good/bad as would have been simple to fix but does show my little lumpy friend in my breast isn't the issue). Won't have rest of them back for another week or so. I am not too bothered (at the moment)given there is not a lot I can do about it and its better to know than not (plus have a hunch they'll find nothing obvious) . DH getting quite wound up I think as keeps askign why not got results yet (I think tehy probably do have them but we have to wait til go back to specilists to discuss).

re ready meals , I do have few m&s ones (have bought annabel karmel but e didnt like them -and cant blame her as tasted vile unlike m and s ones) but the standby tea is usually fish fingers or scrambled egg. And yes we have had chicken nuggets on occasion.
the fact that annable karmel were found to be full of sugar etc doesnt shock me-although I have some of her books and they are useful , annabel does seem to max out her name on anything these days.

the hunt for a nanny goes on.. have had some interesting applications (as well as some good ones).

Sponge - J has always settled much better for DH than me, good excuse to kick him out of bed when J wakes up

X posted last night with Abdn and Rolf, really hope this isn't a really quick labour! at the pilates.
Glad you got the tax sorted Rolf.

Poppy - hope you get some good news from the tests, something easily sorted.

I've been in a lot less pain today and done loads (compared to normal), some gardening, been to the farm shop (and we saw a very big pig there wallowing in the mud) and just trailed round Morrisons, I'm now feeling it a bit so taking it easy.

Ooh ktpie maybe it's a pre-labour surge of energy . I'll make annoying remarks like that daily if you like!