January 2009- toddlers turning 15mths and all that jazz (really just a new thread so DOG can fit it on her poncey iphone!)

[PatTheHammer]

Good enough for ya dog .

And sorry I do realise some are only turning 14 mths and some are nearly 16mths etc,etc......apologies!

All officially toddlers now though i think (well 120's H and HKZ's J are pulling up/taking steps now I think, think mostly everyone walking of some sort!) Scary thought!

moose You'd think that with such a possible diagnosis of DS, they would get him tested ASAP... is there that many children getting examined for ASD that it takes a year to see someone? Shameful.

Oh DOG that whole situation with 2 LO's screaming would've made me feel stressed enough, let alone DS running off and having to catch him and then a lady making a scathing remark. Sending you ((hugs)). You sound like you coped exceedingly well considering, as I'd have ended up probably yelling if it had been my eldest DD doing that

Your post made complete sense. Hope today is a better day for you BTW I thought your scan pics looked amazing, really clear. Very exciting

I'm off to a soft play with H who we're meeting up with. Divorce still going ahead but starting to feel more peace about it. Making sure the LO's see him regularly and we do nice things as a family and I try to smile and not show anythings wrong to LO's as they're so small. So he may not have lived with us now for 5 months but they have seen him lots and lots since we separated and I try to get along with him for them. It's probably the hardest thing I've had to do. Hope I one day meet a man with integrity who will sweep me off my feet and love my two LO's as much as if they were their own IYSWIM?

poor u mm - with bed times

poor u dog how streesful!!!

hi miss j - good luck

we enjoyed teddy club bracken luved lots of soft play mats etc and a bouncy castle,balls etc
she didnt sit still

Oh god, hopeless catch up attempt in the busiest of busy-busy weeks..................erm, read everything and retained nothing!

Except, HZ hope L has a lovely party at the weekend
so

Hope all back to normal soon and I can get back on for 5 mins!

Hello everyone! Hope you remember me. What have I missed?

I see there is lots on, I'll read along nad try get back into the swing of things. x

Treeeeee... your back! Hooray! How are you? What's been going on in Tree world? Hope you are good and the girls are well. How is work going?

Pat..hello..its that busy time of year at school at the moment...hmm, that's why I'm on MN...coursework marking avoidance.

Dog, big hugs to you. What an old dragon at the car boot. I hate hate hate judegemental people, glad you got backed up by the other mums. You are a faberooney mummy and sometimes it is jsut impossible to keep cool and sort out screaming children at the same time...I know I've been there quite a few times in the last 15 months.

Morning tink.
Enjoy softplay with your H tea.

Right, gotta go...

Hello HKZ.

Oh DOG. The old bag. What a nightmare for you.

tea - have obviously missed some major news here, but hope you are all ok.

Moose - I'm going to have soooooo many questions for you on sbling in the coming years. DH and I are both onlys and have no idea how siblngs interact.

H [dd2] has started to pull J [dd1] off my knee. DD1 couldn't believe her bad manners

Hello Tink and Pat and 120 and all. Still loving my watercolour 120

Supposed to be going to a baby belly dancing class at 1.30. H is snoring in bed next to me

Oh Dog, you poor thing. It sounds like a really stressful situation. Everything always feels so much worse when the little one is crying/screaming as well, it just winds everyone up even more. I find I can't think straight when dd is yelling.

I absolutely hate people like that, always ready to judge and stick their two penneth in where its not wanted. She's probably like my MIL and had perfect children that never did anything wrong because she was a perfect mother - er NOT! I know its hard, I would feel exactly the same as you, but people like that really aren't worth worrying about. In my experience they are usually horribly busybodies with no friends or life of their own and far too much time on their hands.

I do know where you are coming from, I know my (attached) neighbours judge me for shouting at my dcs, but they no nothing about our life other than what they hear through the walls. They don't see or hear all the nice times we have or the good things we do together and they don't know about ds1's problems and challenging behaviour. They are also almost at retirement age and have never had children or pets, so really have absolutely no idea. Sometimes it really gets to me and I feel like going round and saying something to them, but as they've never actually said anything to me (just lots of dirty looks) it would probably just make things worse.

TREEEEEE!!!!! Where on earth have you been? We've all missed you loads! Having a RL is against MN rules you know. How's things in your part of the world then?

Morning Tink and 120, I am not walking or eating healthily today. Had almost no sleep thanks to dd last night. I reckon she woke me at least three times an hour all night. As a result, I was a proper grot to dh and the dc's this morning. I have now spent the morning sorting out some of the long-term piles of miscellaneous junk that seem to accumulate in this house and cleaning the downstairs and feel much better so am rewarding myself with a slice of simnel cake and spell on MN.

Baby belly dancing! What a great idea, I love it! Dd hasn't really got the belly for it though.

Nor mine Nor the energy it seems as she is still snoozing and has to throw some lunch around before we attempt to go.....

... need to pack for that, school run and gym - seems we need a picnic to go to these places. Want to stay and catch up!

DD has hit the heady heights of 8.5 kgs, bless. HV chortled at me when I said she was looking chunky, but she is [a bit] She has little fat wrists and legs like tree trunks

Npo news as such, have been busy at home trying to spend more tme being organised, laundry and house etc. It worked too, but today I missed everyone too much and gave in to temptation! Addict!!!!!

Ooh, she's still a cute little tiddler then. Dd is about 19lb 4oz nowadays. HV agreed with me that she is 'well covered' though and obviously just going to be petite. She is just on the upper end of 6-9 months clothes now. Most 9-12 drown her, but I have tried her in a couple of tops.

Must be in the air. I have been trying to be more organised as well, only to be scuppered by organising two fairly major birthday parties for the boys over the easter break that seemed to take up every second of my spare time for most of March and April.

I was just on the phone to dh and he agreed we really do need to do something about getting dd into her own room, as we are definitely disturbing each other's sleep. The plan for this weekend is to have a go at sorting out the junk that has accumulated in the room that is supposed to be hers. We shall see though, we have tried and failed to get it done several times before and dh has a trampoline to build in the back garden for ds2 this weekend as well.

Oooohh we DO still have a thread. Very sorry i have been a long lost person!

Dog... I have an iphone, is there an App for Mumsnet? Maybe i'd actually keep in touch more!

Anyway..... Can one of you with a better memory than me remmeber which of our mumsnetters is the jeweler? Got to get wedding rings sorted, so love to throw business your way if i could?!?!

Real name on FB would be a great help!! xxxx

Ray! Gosh what a morning for reunions. Long time no see. You have obviously been very busy with wedding planning.

Did you buy a house in the end? I have a vague recollection that you said you'd found one last time your were on here. How's little E?

Sorry can't remember who was the jewellery person.

Hi Books, sorry your week isn't improving. If you believe the adage 'a change is as good as a rest', hopefully next week will be better. At least you will have dh with you to share the childcare and maybe give you the odd break.

at staircase climbing antics! My dd is also a proper little mountaineer. She is far more adventurous than her brothers were at this age.

Moose...have baked the maderia cakes for sunday...would it be better to freeze or to put in the fridge. SHould I just wrap them tightly in cling film?

ray...theres a link to it on our fb page its ... here its fym/sparkle and shine (her rl initials are CS) Hope all the wedding plans are coming along. When s the big day?

Books sorry your rubbish week continues to be rubbish. Old fashioned seaside resort sounds great, am very . Am so not into being at work at the moment.

Tree how is the whole sleeping thing going with H? has it got better? Hope the whole work and home thing is good. DD sounds tiny and lovely. J is 15kgs now...he's breaking my back! Think he'll be a rugby player if he ever gets the hang of walking!

Yay for cake baking HKZ.

I always freeze mine now. It makes them easier to carve to shape. For the boys cakes I just froze them overnight and then defrosted for an hour or two before I was ready to ice them.

To freeze or refrigerate, wrap tightly in a couple of layers of cling. I also like to do a top layer of foil as well, to keep out any other flavours that might permeate via the fridge/freezer.

I am planning my own 40th birthday cake at the moment. Current thinking is something incorporating a paisley pattern. I was hugely into purple paisley as a teenager, but am thining either pale pink and pale green or bright clashing colours this time. I will probably change my mind a million times between now and then though.

I am also mulling over the idea of a cupcake stall at the school fayre in July. Need to price it all up and see if its worth the time and effort. They have a cake stall every year, but it often full of boxes of Mr Kipling that people send in rather than baking anything themselves.

I was horrified the first year I went, as I had baked and decorated 24 fairy cakes, some apple and oat muffins, two bracks, two banana loafs and a gorgeous ginger loaf that dh wanted to buy back, but which never made it to the stall (apparently one of the staff snapped it up as soon as they saw it) he was most put out.

Dd just had a spectactular tantrum because I wouldn't let her bring her colouring pencil into the living room. I can just see red crayon all over my walls if I'm not careful and its the only room we've finished decorating!

Gosh, what a weird stream of consciousness post. Sorry, am very 'odd' today. Think I'm premenstrual.

treee how r u? and the treelets?
hope all well with you

w r getting r leather sofa tom very excited have been waiting 12 weeks they take so long to come
getting 2 chairs as well and a storage stool

hi mm

hi rray

Am feeling very virtuous.

The downstairs of my house is sparkling (will just gloss over the upstairs) and since school pick up I have fixed ds1's poorly finger with the first aid kit, done homework with both boys, drawing and reading with dd, hand washed all the tea towels and dishcloths then soaked them in milton and put them to dry (washing machine is still kaput) and cooked the tea which is now in the oven bubbling away (macaroni cheese, ds1's favourite and choc full of gluten).

Dd is sat with me on the sofa and keeps crawling across to ds2, putting her head on his shoulder and her arms around his neck and saying "Ahhhhhh" then giving him a sloppy kiss. Its sooo cute!

Well, what a day for old friends getting in touch. First Tree, then Ray, then a phonecall from a Great Aunt I'm very fond of but hardly ever see or get to speak to, asking if I'm free for coffee tomorrow morning. Just need Lenni to come back to us now to round things off nicely.

Shame my evening won't be as pleasant really, as I have to trim the coat on my old stinky dog and she loathes being groomed so makes it a really stressful exercise. Actually I did half of her last week, so she looks really daft with short hair on her head, chest, shoulders and front legs and then a big bushy bottom, back legs and tail! A bit like a Lowchen in reverse. Poor thing, she hates being laughed at, I've never known a dog like her for taking personal affront!

Just have to add - Tree, every time I scroll past your name on the page it makes me smile. It so lovely to hear from you!

Sounds lovely Moose.

OK ladies please help me. My boy is so tenacious that no matter how often I tell him "no" he keeps going back He has learnt how to climb over almost any obstacle I place in front of the tv and now switches it off/ on, off/on. No matter how many times I pull him away and say "no" he does it again. No distraction works, he's back at tv within 5 minutes. Being a single mum now, the tv is how I cook them tea and know they're relatively out of mischief and I just keep walking in to check all is ok, as the kitchen is across from the lounge. He also is so persistent on everything else he isn't meant to do as well. My DD was never this bad. So come on ladies tell me what to do. As he made me sooooo cross tonight and now I feel so so bad for shouting at him etc.

Hello Tree! Hello Ray! Good to see you both.

lots of posts, read all, no idea as per usual.

tea, please don't feel bad. I'm not a single mum and I end up shouting at them too. It is pretty normal as they need to find out where the boundaries are and they test us until they find one. When I tell H off or shout, he has heard it so often, he merely laughs at me and runs away. Makes me very, very cross. Have you tried putting him in a travel cot to watch it?

Hello 120!! Hello Ray!!

Tea - travel cot idea is fab. Other thing I do [not one my own but do the meals on my own as dh is out 5.30 am till 5.45 pm] is park dd2 in her high chair in kitchen. She can see what is going on on the worktop and I pass her little bits of yum and lids of plastic boxes etc. Keeps her entertained for a little while.

Hiya Tink, good to see you are purchasing lots of lovely things. Did I read you have bought Christmas pressi's??

How did the partied go Moose? I know you put loads of thought into them, bet the boys loved it all. Have we cake pics to oogle? Paisley cake sounds fun.

Did baby belly dancing - H a bit young really. Then school, then gym. Thursdays are manic. On annual leave ths week, yet in tomorrow for a study day so am a bit glum about that. Oh well.

Ooh tree, need some advice! I have been asked to attend a midwife supervisory audit to share my experiences with them, see the new unit and then go for lunch. Am feeling v. nervous!

In terms of baby entertainment whilst cooking, I do the same as you tree (no tv here). I use a cushi tush to sit H in on the counter. DD just sits straight on the counter as after a year of cushi tushing, she knows what to touch and what not, so it makes for excellent cookery safety tuition. And small children are great at peeling onions, picking leaves off herbs and cracking eggs (well, mostly).

Would love to see a vid of baby belly dancing. Can't quite get my head around it!

My advice would be to eat all you can

I guess you could take this as an opportunity to say what they could have done better/different, what you appreciated and what you found unhelpfull. Ask them how they expect the new unit to improve experiences, and how they are traning staff and informng women to help this happen.

Baby Belly dancing - wriggling and swirling to some ethnic music, possibly turkish but not sure . Lot sof swishing of coloured scarves and a few games wth hoola hoops and balls. Cute! 2-3 years would heart it big style, H-bomb just wanted to push everyones buggies about.