October 2007 - these little piggies are growing up fast!

[alicet]

Ok so a pretty boring thread title but thought we needed some distance from the last one!

Evening all!
Dal;Op. No night Boobs seems to have worked thanks for asking...still not sleeping through regularly but better than before Christmas, Op. no boobs at all is on hold for a bit until he gets used to the new regime..he has serious problems accepting that boobs are no longer on demand but only first thing in the morning, after lunch, after dinner and at bed time...when he is ok with this we will look to cutting out the day feeds.
I hope the extra reassurance works with settling Dylan at night...I think it very likely that he is already feeling that life as he knows it is about to change...I'm sure they all understand a lot more than we give them credit for so a book helping him to see the big change in the status quo is a great idea.

Baby blue; lol at Sophia piling anything into piles to make snowmen . I hope all their colds are much better now and you are getting more rest.

WWAJC; I hope the right car presents itself soon...if you don't have one by the 25th I'll be happy to pick you up (though probably in the red banger picasso not the lovely lilac one) I understand your not off loading yourself to your parents, though I think it is very noble of you not to heap all the blame on Hs shoulders and get all their sympathy for the sake of keeping everything amicable for Anya ....it is definately the right thing to do ...but still very noble.

off to bed unusually early for me on a Sat night but alex thought 5am was get up time this morning so despite it being my lay in he kept me awake until dh took him away at 7.00..I need those extra zzzs tonight.
Peaceful nights all!

Hello all!

Yep Stan seems fine so although sad it's been fantastic for him. Dex is moping a little but sleeps alllllllllll the time now. We'll see how he goes.

Inzi - so sorry your sister is being a diva, especially on such a special day. Hope you managed to talk about him and remember him though. Your sister really should have kept quiet for just one day. Glad you managed some food and dosrry the ehadaches have started. I had some too and they do go but tough when you have Jane too x

Dal - I think everyone's right about Dylan sensing your iminent arrival! Maybe get some of the baby's things out, let him have a look at the babybath. Can you get him a doll so he has his won 'baby' to look after? Henry is very into being a 'big boy now (My BIG big muumy, not baby) maybe chat about the things Dylan can do but the baby can't?
From our pov Henry was fab from day 1. Wanted to get involved, wanted to squeeze, cuddle Toby and I can honestly say there's been no jealousy so I don't think it has to happen. I also think we were lucky...

We had Toby's christening yesterday and he was a star. It was so lovely getting evyone together and all their little ones. I can't believe we have so many children between us now! Very different from Ollie's Christening when he was the only child. Lovely meal in a local hotel (in Hungerford, we got him Christened in the same church dh and I were married in and also Henry was Christened there too.) He looked the double of Ollie in the gown. to think this could be the last... though you never know!
My best friend seemed happy though she has another hosptial date for more surgery -not sure what, she doesn't like to talk about it and wouldn't really at the Christening. It's great that we are making progress. She is fab but doesn't want to burden people.

Will be back later,

Love to all
xx

apologies for the spelling mistakes!

Muppet; so glad everything went well yesterday...Toby is gorgeous, what fantastic huge eyes!....(I, tongue in cheek, give you 12 mths before you succumb to planning #4 )...and you hair looks lovely, they did a super job on it. I hope your best friends op goes well and that she is accepting support from some source even if it is not from her close family and friends.

Inzi; sounds like your sis is turning into a bit of a bridezilla already shame she couldn't keep it on the backburner for such a differently emotionally charged day (though perhaps she was trying to lighten the atmosphere)...but I'm not surprised you have no patience with her when so much more will be happening between now and her big day. Glad your sickness is abating and that you managed a lovvverley pizza...shame about the headaches starting though [sympathetic emoticon] I hope they pass quickly...so looking forward to seeing your first scan pic

News from Tosca Towers is that Alex slept through last night (good job too because I was an utterly rancid bag yesterday due to lack of sleep) he also has started taking himself to the potty at last... he has been bringing it to me for while but has never shown any inclination remove his own pants but he did it for the first time on Friday and now Mr Independant only want me to wipe him and pull his pants up...on the down side he has hit the nasty, selfish refusing to share his toys stage ...he was fine about sharing just a fortnight ago now he is a brat ...it is a stage, it will pass

...oh and quote of the weekend "Can I have a cuddle please Alex?" I asked. "No, Mummy" was the emphatic reply. "can I have one then?" asks Dh "Of course you can Daddy!" The little rat beamed!!!

Floria - LOL at Alex -they are fab aren't they! Henry saw Toby's presents this eveing and demanded that a set of pottery was 'MINE!' I said it wasn't that it was Toby's and he ran off screaming jumped on the floor and started headbutting it. [hmmm] why? I haven't the faintest. Then he started rubbing his head and saying 'HURT!!' I wanted to say 'no really?' but tried to be sympathetic. I thought he'd stopped this but maybe not.

very on the Alex using the potty by himself. Henry still revels in his own filth...(apart from his hands which he hates being dirty)

Toby currently not wanting to go to sleep but when I pick him up he giggles and is fine so I'm being nasty mummy and leaving him for a bit.

Love to all
x

Muppet - just looked at your pics of the Christening and Stan, looks like you all had a great time :-)

Inzi - Shame about your sister and the current animosity, hopefully you can all get back on track soon, try not to let your sisters behaviour come between you too much though, these things have a way of spiralling out of control and life is too short.

Glad the sickness has eased off a little, but boo to the headaches

FT - I too am envious of the potty training, Ben is showing no inclination whatsoever, I keep asking if he wants to try the potty like a big boy, but keep getting a resounding 'NO!' He is however coming to tell me when he has done a poo and when he wants his nappy changing, so hopefully that is a step in the right direction that he is now becoming aware of it all. Oh and long may the sleeping through continue :-)

WWAJ - Hope you have some luck finding a car soon.

Dal - How was the Ben and Jerrys?

Well I have had a very busy week/weekend, spent all last week pretty much spring cleaning the house in readiness for guests on Saturday night.

Friends came round Friday night for a curry and to pick up the cake I spent Thursday and Friday making (pic on FB)

Saturday was spent re-tidying up after the boys in readiness for guests and getting guest rooms ready, plus cooking for the evening. Had a great time so all was worth it.

Said goodbye to guests at noon on Sunday and then went to a surprise 30th birthday on the afternoon. Didn't stay long I was totally knackered. Have now come down with another cough, but this one is leaving me feeling wheezy and with a tight chest, which I'm not used to, doing 45 mins on the XT last night hasn't helped at all, I should have left it

Sam is on half term this week, so dropped Ben off at nursery today and we have been to join the local library, I was a student last time I went in a library Bumped into a woman I had met briefly when Sam was at Tissington, I liked her immediately as she had just moved into the area, but then Sam left, so thought that was that. Anyway we have exchanged numbers etc so I think we may become friends

Ben is doing well still, apart from starting the acting lessons when something doesn't go his way, but I can manage to make him laugh before he starts tantrumming, also picked up a few tips from baby signing. He has been doing it at nursery for about a year now and whenever I pick him up they say how much he enjoys it. Well a few weeks ago I went for a talk with the woman who does it, and picked up some signs that she says she uses a lot with them, and blow me they work a treat

Anyhow, just waiting for a friend to arrive for coffee so am going to have a quick whizz round and tidy up a bit. Hello to everyone else I have missed x

Muppet oh dear about the head banging...Dhs nephew(my godson)used to do that...he stopped doing it in front of me because I'm afraid I just laughed at him [wicked aunty emoticon], he got worse and worse doing it with his Mum and Gran (who used to fuss over him) until he really hurt himself and then funnily enough he started choosing soft spots to 'self harm' ... I'm sure Hen will soon give it up.

LLL; you have been busy! No wonder you were knackered.Cake looked afntastic though. I'm afraid excersise never helped me when I got a cold either (though I have friends who swear that it does)I hope a bit of rest will help you recover quickly. Isn't the signing amazing? Alex uses it whenever he wants to emphasise what he is saying/wanting/seeing/feeling or if he is too excited/upset/uptight to say the words..All the publicity Alex got for doing that article for Talkfirst baby signing classes has won me a free place on their advanced course, (2x 2hr sessions for parents only) at the end of this month. I'm really looking forward to it. Great news about bumping into the friendly aquaintance.. I hope you do become firm friends.

Inzi; I understand you annoyance with your sister but think LLL is quite right when she says to try not to let it come between you, life is too short... your grief will be less acute eventually, your hormones will get back to normal and her big day will come and go and it all will have been such a tiny irritation in the big scheme of things.... certainly not anything that should be allowed to affect either of your enjoyment of the events...even if it does stick in your throat at the moment

Am very of all your LO's who are potty training. I have not even attempted with Sofia just yet. She is not showing any interest and to be honest, neither am I! I am just too tired! Baby is now 6 months and is still not even remotely sleeping through the night, and the 2 older DCs have gotten to the age where hormones are kicking in, and they bicker constantly! Sigh...

Inzi - hope you begin to feel better soon. Headaches are the worst while preg. I got them all the time. With my 2 older DCs, I got migraines for the first 3 months. And I am quite stubborn about taking meds whilst preg, so I made due with ice packs. Hopefully things between you and your sister calm down, because that added stress wont help your headaches either.

I know I am still relatively new here, but if anyone wants to add me to FB: [email protected] (just let me know who you are )

Anyone have any speacial plans for Valentines Day?? We are taking the kids out for a nice breakfast. Not horribly romantic, but the best we can manage this year!

Dal - I never had any issues with Sofia when Marco came along. It took her a while to get used to his crying, but not too much jealousy. She usually sits next to me and rubs his head like a magic lamp while I BF him . All we did was talk to her about the baby in my tummy. Sometimes when we see a preg lady on the street, she still lifts my shirt and says "Marco out now!!" LOL

Anyway... off to try and get some baking done. My routine is all out of whack today (long story short... got stood up on a lunch date with a girl friend so I wasted my morning and now the kids are off their nap schedule too).

Have a wonderful evening!

Hi all, just popping in to let you all know I'm thinking of you, have major PMT at the mo and had a pretty shitty day so won't stay too long as I don't wanna keep moaning!

Hi BB, have added you on FB. We haven't got anything planned for Valentines day, we didn't last year either, I'm not really into that kind of thing. Chinese takeaway probably.

Inzi-Sorry to hear about your sister. Not sure what she is like, but you did say she is not generally like that(?) so maybe give her the benefit of the doubt this time, swallow your pride and apologise for whatever it is you're meant to have done. May be the hormones making it magnified. Great news about scan, am looking forward to seeing pics. Oh I went to Belfast for weekend for Richs birthday, was okay apart from I always feel ill when I go away and soooo tired, not sure why-so spent the weekend wanting to go to sleep.

LLL-Crap about you having cold after all that business, means you will have to rest now.

FT-Any news on whether you're getting the car or not? LOL @ you laughing at DN, I would have probably done the same. Also LMAO @ Alex wanting his Daddy, DD1 wanted to take Shannon down the other day and she said No I am staying in bed with my DADDY, Rich loved it. Glad Alex is pulling his own pants down now, makes life easier for you. Shannon is generally fab re potty training now, but last night she took her nappy off and wet the bed, so cleaned her up etc and then she did it again grr. At nursery they said she'd had lots of accidents today, they put a pair of dirty pants in her bag with the turd still in, was not impressed with that, why not just chuck them! She had plenty more.

Muppet-Glad christening was lovely, pics are fab. I have to say, I agree with FT re number 4

Hi everyone else, Dal, Alice, Eva, WWAJC-hope I haven't missed anything major xx

Evening ladies,

Muppet - Stan looks so happy at his new home playing away, must be a comfort to you

The christening pics are lovely, you have 3 gorgeous boys! You looked lovely too

Thanks for the tips re getting Dylan prepared for number 2. We have been showing him the baby clothes we've been washing and saying 'these were Dylans but they're too small now so they're for the baby' . Also shown him the bouncy chair.. He has a doll and a pink stroller he got for his birthday from my bro and sil, it has nappy and bottle and magic potty so he's very practiced in looking after that now... although he does occasionally hug it then just chuck it head first

Floria - Glad op no boobies has worked, good idea to have a break before talking daytimes too.

Wow on Alex sleeping through, bet that was great, bet you could hardly believe it!

Sounds like he's doing excellent with the potty too. Dylan's still very hit and miss, he occasionally poo's on his but we're not really actively 'training' yet and sometimes he just won't sit on it for long...

That's great about you getting a free place on the advanced baby signing course!

Inzi - Wow scan on monday, that's really soon! So excited for you.

Sorry lunch was stressfull and your sister was being self absorbed, some people! I think a falling out was inevetable what with you all feeling sad and stressed then you being hormonal (not by any means saying it was your fault!) and her planning a wedding. Weddings can be stressful and highly charged events too although hers is a fair way off so she could have reined it in a bit!

Hope you manage to make up and are speaking regularily agian soon.

Hope your headaches are just a short term thing, I had some for a while and it's awful.

LLL - The Ben and Jerrys was scrummy thanks, choc fudge brownie flavour mmmm

Just reading about your weekend makes me tired, glad you had a nice time though.

Lol at Ben and his acting lessons, Dylan is off to hollywood soon i'm sure. He's really good most if the time actually but if he's going to have a tantrum there is absolutely no way he will be diverted away from it, he's a determined one!

Hope your cold is better soon.

BabyBlue - Sorry you've been so tired, hope the baby starts sleeping through a bit more soon.

Well done for talking baking when you're so busy though!

Hopefully Dylan will adapt well to the new baby and we won't have too many issues...

We haven't got any plans as such for Valentines day, got a big box of lovely thorntons chocolates (half price at morissons at the moment) so we'll probably share those and watch a film

Off to try and add you on FB in a min...

NC - Sorry you're suffering with PMT it's such a pain.

Glad you had a nice time away but sorry you felt ill and tired, i'm usually like that too!

Glad Shannon is doing so well at potty training although not so impressive the nursery left a turd in her pants for you .

I had to laugh a little at the idea of her taking her nappy off, little monkey, thankfully Dylan leaves his clothes and nappies firmly on so far

He did hide from me today though... we were upstairs and I popped for a wee then went to get him from his room where he'd been playing and he was nowhere to be seen! I couldn't understand for the life of me where he was but could hear some slight noises so knew he was in there. Anyway, it turned out he'd crawled in to the bottom shelf of the changing table and I could just see his little feet poking out very funny!

Off to watch 'one born every minute' now, love programs about birth!

Hi to anyone i've missed x

Where did everybody go?

I'm here Dal
I'm still a ratty arse though.
You had a good day?
We went to get some storage boxes and a few other bits and Shannon was an absolute monster child and had a tantrum on the floor, so I left her and went to pay (could still see her) then ppl started surrounding her, trying to get her to get up, saw me watching, said 'is she yours?' Yep, 'is she stropping?' Er yes 'we'll just leave her to it then' Yep, thanks I finished paying and went and picked her up round her waste and stormed out. Was probably quite funny to other people but I was very annoyed with her, threats of no Dora ever again where muttered!

Have you got any friends that have baby's that Dylan could meet? See you holding to get him used to it. How long have you got now?

Shannon hides too, I was in the bath the other day and asked her what she was doing. 'I'm in your bed, hiding from you' she said We had lots of singing this morning, not sure what it was, something she must have learned at nursery maybe, didn't sound like a nursery rhyme.

Had an ok day thanks, trying to get things in order for baby coming.

Sounds like you had an interesting day, hate it when they have a tantrum in public, so embarassing!

No babies to meet at the mo but he doesn't seem to jelous with other younger children, just have to see how he goes I guess.

We decided to paint the hallway before the baby comes as it's grubby but i'm hormonal and dh is being a bit annoying so we've just had an argument and stopped painting it instead. He does this thing when we're arguing where I try to make my point and he accuses me of shouting or in this case 'talking too loud' (Dylan was in bed at top of stairs but I would say I was whispering loudly at the most), anyway, every bloody time I opened my mouth he kept saying I was still talking too loud even though it was bearly louder than he was talking . After he did this for about the 10th time I got annoyed and told him to f off and paint it by himself and that he was doing what abusive husbands do and accuse me of shouting to stop me making my point. He's now come in to sort it out with me and i've told him he wouldn't listen when I wanted to talk so i'm not going to listen to him. He says i'm a horrible person. Rargh!

Hope you sorted things out with DH Dal, sometimes I think they get off on just p you off!

Have acquired the nephew for a few hours today, was in Asda for 2 hours and they where both really good. I'm getting lots of smiles but still not put shopping away yet.

Dal; sorry to read that last night was a bit heated. My Dh does the same.. if I say something he disagrees with I'm "shouting" when I'm merely talking a little more pointedly... I have, before now, offered to demonstrate the difference ...men are of course always reasonable and right and women are "ridiculous" "wittering" and "wrong"

NC; Well done you...the temptation to do as my mothers' generation did and spank 'em in public is hard to resist at times like that, your restraint was admirable.....Dh cousin was recounting last week how he clearly remembers stropping in a shop and his Mum (the most even tempered woman I have ever met)saying "Your behaviour is embarrassing me in front of everyone. If you don't stop this now I am going to take down your pants right here and smack your bottom and you will be the one who is embarrassed"... he stopped and he never did it again

We had a 'cute' moment yesterday...I had put Alexs new "Thomas the tank engine" duvet cover on his bed on Tues, he hadn't seemed too impressed at the time, but when Dh got in from the airport yesterday he was greeted with "Daddy! Daddy! Follow me! See! See my bedroom! I got Thomas pillow case!"...so sweet to see him that excited over such a little thing.

started to write the last at 1.00...but got caught up in teaching and telephone calls, thought I had better post before losing it.

NC...aaawwwww at aquiring the nephew. As to the car question...well...that is still under negotiation...the seller has gone on hols without coming back to us so nothing is final yet and I have looked into the price of doing the house ourselves and think we could do it very reasonably...so we may well yet get both.
The biggest problem it Dhs attitude to money...In the job I used to do I have always had to live pretty much hand to mouth and considered enough to cover the next months mortgage and bills in the bank to be comfortable... Dh has always had a pretty large safety-net of a bank balance below which he is not just uncomfortable but positively frantic...In my comfort zone we could easily afford both luxuries, in his we can only afford one...at a pinch. The only good thing about this stand off is a company came and gave another quote for the house (we invited them to get a comparison)and we could get a brand new "10" plate picasso for the price they wanted so at least we know the guy who did next door does a good job and is very reasonable.
I'll let you know if/when we get either...probably at the meet up on the 25th at this rate

Oh and BabyB as to the Valentines question...well...I have bought him a card have put a BIG circle on the calendar and will probably do a nice meal (we should be at home because my bros birthday is on Sat and we will be dining at Mums then rather than her usual sunday dinner)but I will be very surprised if I get anything...Dh thinks it is just another over commercialised date...he might take me out next week as a consolation if I stick my bottom lip out enough. I have a pal who refers to Valentines day as "half price chocolate and flowers eve"

Hey ladies,

NC - We made up in the end and I made my point several times that I hate it when he does that!. We got some painting done which was good, just did the cutting in round the edges

Ah nice you've got your nephew to look after, an extra bonus they were both good in Asda too!

Floria - I think our dh's would get along well from the sound of it. I did do the same, offered to shout if he prefered! Oh yes I am always the one 'going on' about something but you should see him when he gets a bee n his bonnet!

at the story about your dh's cousin, will have to remember that one...although not quite sure what i'd do if it didn't work cause I couldn't bring myself to follow through!

Aww so cute Alex was excited about his bed covers

Been for a check up with the midwife today, all ok! She took some blood as i've been tired and she wanted to check my iron, not long left now though so not sure how much they can do if my iron is low...

Have been busy cooking, made a corned beef and potato pie for tea and some flapjack cause I just fancied it!

Hi to everyone else... where are you all?

Dal-Glad you got your point across and that mw said everything's okay. Hope you're eating lots of spinach etc.

FT- I have to say I'm more like your DH when it comes to money, would rather go without than dip into any savings. My mum was really rubbish with money so I'm quite tightfisted with it tbh. Well hopefully you will get both then Aww at Alex and Thomas. When I was getting the baby out the car earlier he started whining and Shannon said 'It's okay baby Jamie, Mummy is getting you out' so cute.

Re Valentines day, I've just got a champagne and glasses set details here They're marked at £12 but if you find one that hasn't had a sticker over the barcode or pull it off then they're going through at £3 so that'll do, haven't got him a card though. Also got some oysters to try, only 25p each, will prob have to eat them by tomorrow night though.

Thanks everyone for adding me to FB Nice to put a face to the names... as well as getting a chance to take a peak at your pics (not in a stalkerish sort of way )

Dal - Glad things went well with the MW. Hope you start to feel more energetic soon Are you painting the entire house? I HATE to paint! We were going to pay someone as well... but then decided the money would be better spent elsewhere and did it ourselves. I was preg with Sofia at the time, but did all the cutting of the edges while DH did the rolling. We like to paint every 5 years, so I wont have to worry for a while.

We use baby signs with Sofia as well (not sure how many of you ladies use them). I love it! We started her at about 9 months, and she still uses some of them (especially when she wants to emphasize a point and uses both the spoken word and the sign at the same time!). Sofia caught on pretty quick, and am hoping Marco will do the same. We didn't take any classes though... I just bought a book and went from there. The older DCs loved learning the signs and did them all with us.

Floria - how is operation no boobies going? DH is currently giving the baby a bottle at night, as we are trying to drop the night feeds. Marco is stubborn though, and has adapted well to the bottle. LOL. Though some mornings, I am just too tired to bother and I give in and plug him in .

Speaking of tired... its after midnight... guess I should try and get some sleep. Spent the day making sweets for the weekend and am tired!

OMG BabyB making your own sweets!!!!
I did that one Christmas when I was student to save money for partying the next term...it took forever! and made such a mess I swore I'd never do it again ..though I've never had pressies so well received since, everyone just loved them...well done you!
Good on you for getting Marco on the bottle at night too. Alex never took to the bottle and Dh was too bad tempered and impatient at night for me to let him keep trying for long..I never thought I'd end up doing extended breastfeeding it just went on and on and he started showing signs of self weaning around his 2nd birthday (though he never dropped the night feeds) and I though "yay! textbook!" then he got a gastric bug for a few days and could only keep bm down and reverted to a newborn, wanting bm rather than solids ..we gave him until after Christmas to start selfweaning again but when he didnt we decided to drop the night feeds ..I slept in the spare room and Dh took over when Alex toddled in ... It is wonderful to get our nights back again after 2 years!
Sounds like Sofia is using sign like Alex does..we took classes from 5/6 months...the teacher said that her 7 yr old will still use sign to emphasise what he is trying to say...apparently he came downstairs recently, couldn't speak, but signed "sick" which gave her enough warning to get him to a loo!....useful eh?

Morning ladies

Floria - X-posted with you yesterday.. Would be great if you could get the car and the house done, keep us posted!

I have to say, again your attitudes to money seem to match ours somewhat. Well, dh doesn't need a 'safety net' as such (mainly cause we can't afford one!) but he just generally worries about money a lot more than I do. I just have the sort of attitude that if things get bad well be able to do something about it and we'll be ok for eg: sell stuff, take on more work, cut back somwhere etc etc. He tends to just get really stressed and it affects him quite a lot. Lately we've been dealing with this by me taking on responsibility of checking the bank balance on a regular basis and writing all bills etc down and working out where we are and how well we're doing each month. Seems to work quite well as I say to him 'well we have this much to last us till fri but we'll be ok after then etc etc'. I'm less likely to panick if the bank situation looks bad, I just go in to 'find a solution mode'.

We've argued about it in the past as he's taken my relaxed attitude as a sign I don't care about money which isn't the case. I'm sure i've mentioned that here before.

NC - That champagne is a bargian, shame we don't have an Asda here... although I can't drink it anyway atm! Hpoe you both enjoy it

BabyBlue - We painted the whole house when we moved in 2 years ago when I was pg with Dylan... The problem is, we used crappy paint in the hall that isn't wipe clean so it has become really grubby. Thought it would be best to get that sorted before there are 2 little ones with greasy fingers running about. I quite like the planning part of painting and choosing colours etc but I soon loose interest once I start the actual painting, always takes longer than expected!

Wow at you making sweets, waht type are they?

Inzi - How are things with your sister?

We had a late lie this morning, Dylan didn't wake till 9.15 so he's still finishing his breakfast now! He takes ages to eat and faffs around but he does eat a reasonable amount in the end so I just leave him to it, he just grazes away [girn]

I need to get some sncks for my labour bag this weekend.. last time I just out sweets in but think it'll be better to have actual food in there this time. Last time I made it through on a random sandwich brought to me by a healthcare assistant and I shared it with dh as he was starving too!

How is everyone else anyway? Muppet, Alicet, chocstar, Heinz, Herjazz, WWAJC, Muppet, LLL, Eva, Strawberry, Crochet, Mine???

Floria - I find it really funny when Sofia starts with the signs now that her vocabulary has exploded (her new word for the week is 'avacado' which she proudly shouts throughout the house for no reason). Last night when I was baking chocolate cake, she was licking the spoon. When she wanted to lick the bowl as well, she started shouting "MORE MORE MORE" and doing the sign at the same time! Funny! I hope Marco catches on as well as she did... it was such a useful tool!

Sweets - I love to bake! I make Christmas cookies every year as gifts for friends and neighbours. Its time consuming, but relaxing (this year I was in the kitchen for 16 hours making 8 different recipes for my tins). Yesterday I made cake balls see here and chocolate covered strawberries (made to look like tuxedos) for Valentine's Day. I posted some pics on my FB. I also made brownies (the recipe can also be found on that Bakerella site). All quite easy to do... but they look like you have spent ages slaving away! Its a wonder I dont weigh a tonne! LOL

This was just a quick post. My DCs will be home from school shortly and then my house will become the zoo it normally is! LOL. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi all,

just a quick hello from me without catching up yet - going to try and catch up later on when not so busy.

We have had a pretty manic couple of weeks. had the dinner party with my collegues that I was fishing for recipes for (Thanks Floria for the excellent veggie suggestion which went down a treat!). The last weekend was Sam's 4th birthday party. We had a party at home for 15 children in total which was totally manic as i am sure you can imagine! We did lots of party games including a treasure hunt which they loved. They made their own pizzas (well toppings anyway) to eat and it was all a lot of fun although I needed to lie in a dark room after!

It was his birthday on Tues so dh and I had the day off and we all went to soft play in the morning and pizza express for dinner. We gave him a new bed - a really fab one which is a cabin bed with a den under, a slide down and a tower over the slide. Boys both absolutely love it! But it was a fun Monday night putting that together for dh and I - think we finally finished about 11.30!

Last week though we have all been ill apart from Sam. Started with a call from nursery on Monday that Adam had been sick - thankfully he was fine by Tues am. However I was up all night vomiting on Wed and dh has been ill since Thurs pm. Think we have all turned the corner now and fingers crossed Sam stays well!

Another childrens party this am so heading off now but will catch up with all your news later - sorry been absent so long!