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Dec '09 - We're learning to roll, we're learning to eat, all we need now is to learn how to sleep!

990 replies

hendo77 · 21/06/2010 16:59

New thread everyone...!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Blatherskite · 19/11/2010 08:05

We're going somewhere to do the baubles. Alex had his hand and footprints done on a plate for his first birthday and I wanted to do the same for Catherine but the woman who came to do Alex's party at our house has stopped doing it so we're going out.

We're having messy play for the older children while Catherine and and other babies do hand prints on things (I think my sister is planning a whole hand printed dinner service! I was talking to her on the phone and she was planning presents for everyone) then we'll have cake and snacks - with clean-ish hands - before hand printing our baubles. The lady has promised we'll have our baubles back before Christmas too.

I'm paying for the messy play, drinks and food for everyone, the baubles and everyone's studio time but leaving any extras items down to the parents to pay for which I hope everyone thinks is fair. Everyone will get to do a bauble and the messy play for free but if I start paying for loads of extra bits (especially if my sister goes as mad as I think she will) it'll end up costing me a fortune!! It is a perfect time to be doing Xmas presents for the GPs/aunties/uncles etc after all.

I'll pick everything up for everyone and deliver it with the baubles too so I hope they'll think it's fair.

DH has finally caved and admitted he's poorly so he'll be home today which is a relief. Although no-one had a temp this morning so apart from being a bit grotty, we're doing well so far today.

LaDiDaDi · 19/11/2010 10:38

I think that all sounds fab Blathers, I think that you are very organised and very generous!

We have put no effort into ds's bday yet. You are motivating me to arrange something for the weekend before but I'm not sure what.

SunshineOnLee · 19/11/2010 10:41

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LaDiDaDi · 19/11/2010 13:12

I have just about finished my Xmas shopping for dd now. I only need the obligatory Xmas pjs and some sweets and hair clips for her stocking. I have also been up in the loft and sorted out which old things of dd's I am going to wrap up for ds and I've bought him 3 things from elc for Xmas and bday.

MIL is going to get a cath kidston shopping bag, will either get my mum perfume or jewellery depending upon what she says she likes when we go shopping together on Mon. No ideas for my dad or fil or bil or dp!

Any ideas from you all?

Oh and do I want a kindle???

Blatherskite · 19/11/2010 18:22

Yey, I'm glad people think it sounds nice. I'm hoping it'll be a good day. Lee - the boys are outnumbered 6 to 5 and I have a spare boys party bag as everything had to be bought in even numbers so if you fancy the drive you're welcome :)

I've done a large proportion of my Christmas shopping. DH and Catherine are the hardest I think. We've decided to not buy Catherine anything for her birthday and put her some money aside for a half-birthday present instead. She'll get so much in December and I'm completely out of ideas, plus she's bound to need something new in the Summer so this way I can spend a bigger chunk of money on her without feel guilty. FIL and DH's BILs are getting a joint present with their other halves because they're all so difficult to buy for. I'm absolutely sure FIL won't be bothered in the slightest about a new Crock Pot but he'll get to eat waht comes out of it so he'll benefit in the end.

DH and I have agreed to buy each other a Blu Ray player to go with our new TV so the only men I need to buy for besides some stocking fillers are my DB and my BIL. DB has asked for some Blue Rays and running bits and I will probably get BIL another Chilli hamper like I do almost every year. He's a ig chilli fan and we have a good shop nearby so everyone is happy.

Kindle... I'm not convinced about them. I know they're supposed to have special screens so it's not like reading from a computer screen but I'm still not sure I'm ready to give up on paper. Would definitely put an end to reading in the bath! Apparently, if you see one, you'll want one but I'm yet to see one so I'm stil ambivalent.

LaDiDaDi · 19/11/2010 21:49

I'm going to look at a Kindle in John Lewis on Monday, so I'll probably want one after that!

What do you think of personalised jewellery with the dc names on? Something like this?
Naff?
Makes me look like I can't remember my own dc names and need to be reminded all of the time?
Nice?

Blatherskite · 19/11/2010 22:03

Very nice. I have something close - this Same sort of idea but has Alex's fingerprint on it. Going to get Catherine's done too when she's a bit bigger. They need to be at least a year old to have ridges deep enough to make anything more than a finger shaped dent :)

SunshineOnLee · 20/11/2010 07:47

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Blatherskite · 20/11/2010 08:55

The 12th Lee. The lady only does private parties on a Sunday because it's a teeny shop and the 19th was just too close to Christmas for most people.

EthelredOnAGoodDay · 21/11/2010 00:11

Hi all, hope you are all ok.

Party planning sounds well advanced Blathers! Mine is not so good and have two to organise. One on the 12th, predominantly for family and then another on the 18th which is mainly friends and a few family. The 18th is more of an xmas drinks do combined with A's b'day party tho. No party bags made, not even thought of that - eek! I am a novice with such things! Bubbles are a good idea. not sure what else to put in! Will come up with something.

Had a few days away this week. went on tuesday and came back this aft. weather was pretty crap most of the time, but was a change of scene. had one horrendous night when A would just not go to bed and it was about 1am when we finally had to let her cry down to sleep. Tried her in our bed and tried to get her to sleep on me, all of it to no avail. She just would not be put down into the cot. And it was a couple of nights into the hol, so not as though the place was totally unfamilliar. Not used to all these shennanigans!! Normally we put her in the cot, say good night and that is it 'til 7am. I know we are so lucky, but it makes the bad times even harder to deal with! Also, was horrendous as we were staying in my ILs holiday home which is in an apartment block populated mainly by older people. Anyway,she did eventually go to sleep and then she was fine after that and has gone to bed ok most nights, with just a few tears. she is still full of cold though and has a hacking cough. How much longer do I let it go on before i take her to the docs?!

Not sure about putting A onto cows milk yet. we are still doing BLW and whilst some times she eats loads, other times she just plays with her food and i think would worry about her not getting enough vitamins and minerals etc. I will probs wait until after xmas and hopefully by then she will be eating better and more consistently.

Oh and i bought that cake book that we were all talking about a bit since; think I am going to make the ladybird cake. It looks nice and easy for a first attempt!

HerculesPoirot · 21/11/2010 19:48

Hello everyone. Ethelred, I am really impressed you managed to keep up with BLW as I ended up doing lots of purees and spooning at times. Tonight though we had roast lamb with MIL and she didn't eat any of the bolognaise I had read for her and instead stuffed her face with yorkshire puddings, roast parsnips, carrots and she even tried to eat the cabbage the best bit was though for the first time ever, she ate chunks of roast lamb! I was so proud of her and she loved it and kept shouting for more and more food - we made the gravy with a baby stock cube and she loved the meat and yorkshires dipped in that too! She also ate tuna mayonnaise sandwiches for the first time yesterday - without the bread being toasted at all and seemd to enjoy that too and I am feeling re-excited about mealtimes with her again!

For Imogen's birthday we're just having family and her supporting adult (godfather equivalent) coming over for an afternoon tea on the Saturday. I've also got 3 friends and their little ones coming over one afternoon next week and all our NCT group are going out for a lunch in January together to celebrate all their birthdays together.

Right, enough from me wittering on! Hope everyone had nice weekends. I feel like the countdown to christmas has begun for some reason this weekend!

SunshineOnLee · 22/11/2010 14:25

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Blatherskite · 22/11/2010 19:48

Does anyone remember me whinging about us inviting my PIL to come to Center Parcs with us? Well, being as I had no valid reason for not inviting them other than I didn't really want to and because we have a 5 bedroom villa this time so my Mum and Brother could join us too (for the 3rd time!) we ended up inviting them.

Knowing they're coming has meant that I'm not looking forward to it as much as I usually do - I'm not looking forward to the sarcastic comments like I got in Portugal and I know that their sense of entitlement to everything is going to piss me off - but I was bracing myself and was prepared to live with it for a week to keep DH happy....

But today - a week before we go - they have announced that DH's Dad has run over on one of his building jobs and so they probably won't be coming! Either of them!! You'd think I'd be thrilled but I'm more annoyed that they've left it so late to tell us so there is no way we can get anybody else to use the room. There is no way they would have even offered to pay for their third of the villa so it's not the money that annoys me (any more than it was already annoying me anyway - Mum and DB always offer to pay and we always refuse) but the fact that there were other people we could have invited who would have loved to have come, who we would have had a great time with - but we didn't because they said they wanted to come with us.

If it had been a holiday they were playing for he'd have made sure the job was bloody finished!!

So now we're going to have a wasted empty room because they left it so late to drop us! I bet they've not even considered that we might want to take anyone other than them!

Apologies. It's not making much sense as I type it out. Money is a bit tight at this time of the year with Catherine's Birthday and Christmas etc and there are jobs on the house that need doing that we can't afford to do so it just pisses me off that they are basically wasting our money by making it so that we are now paying for an extra room - in an executive lodge! - that no-one is going to be able to use. It just feels like such a waste!! I don't mind paying for things that my family and friends are going to get some joy out of but to throw it away on an empty room when it's not like we have the money to burn just seems criminal! Angry

Blatherskite · 22/11/2010 19:54

Lee - you're in Nottingham aren't you? Last time I did the drive it was the best part of 2 hours so yes, probably to far for a 2 hour party.

It's very sad that your family wouldn't travel for A's birthday because the novelty has worn off Sad It hasn't worn off for him, it's his first birthday :(

Should we make a new list of when all the birthdays are so we can remember to send birthday wishes? I think there was a list on one of the previous threads when people started giving birth but it would probably be a nightmare to find. Probably easier to start a new one with just the people who are left I would think - especially after all the name changes Blush

EthelredOnAGoodDay · 22/11/2010 21:11

Good plan Blathers on the birthdays. Sorry to hear about your CP situation. What a PITA. Bet you are well hacked off. are there none of your freinds who'd be able to go at short notice?

SunshineOnLee · 22/11/2010 21:35

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Blatherskite · 22/11/2010 21:39

I'm not sure. It's very late notice and although I know a few SAHMs, their DH's work and most people will have booked up all their remaining holiday for Christmas by now. Can't be many people who have 5 days left over holiday at this time of year! PIL promised to ring tonight to tell us for sure what they've decided - but haven't. Typical!

Shall I start the birthday list then?

Birthdays
Blatherskite's DD (Catherine) 17th December

Blatherskite · 22/11/2010 21:45

I want to do this with the children's baubles. It's so cute :)

Catherine is the 2nd GC for my Mum but the 7th for the PIL. I'm not sure they're that bothered either which is why the party is primarily friends. My family are all driving 3 hours to come and see her. PILs live just down the road so they'd better come and see her!

I will ask my friends about CP. Can't do anything until PILs say for sure though which is leaving it even later. Just wish they would decide so I know what's happening. I was there yesterday and was talking about food and they didn't say anything to me even though they mist have known

EthelredOnAGoodDay · 22/11/2010 22:48

I hope you can find someone to go. You never know, you might just be lucky.

Birthdays
Blatherskite's DD (Catherine) 17th December
EthelredOnAGoodDay's DD (Anna) 13th December

HerculesPoirot · 22/11/2010 23:06

Definitely ask your friends you never know, even if one your friends without their DH could come they might do! What a PITA though - dh's family can't make a decision about christmas either it seems without it being ridiculously complicated and everyone speaking to everyone else seperately. It is sooooo unnecessary in my opinion!

Birthdays
HerculesPoirot's DD (Imogen) 8th December
EthelredOnAGoodDay's DD (Anna) 13th December
Blatherskite's DD (Catherine) 17th December

Hope you don't mind - I switched them to birthday order so easier to remember (well for me anyway).

HerculesPoirot · 22/11/2010 23:08

ps Lee I was just thinking it was less than 2 weeks ago you were asking if you should be worried A wasn't crawling or looking like moving at all and now it sounds like he is everywhere! It always amazes me how quickly things suddenly change!

SunshineOnLee · 23/11/2010 12:58

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HerculesPoirot · 23/11/2010 21:58

I was due on the 13th, but am diabetic and my hopsital policy is not to let you go full term so I was booked in to be induced on the 10th but luckily Imogen decided to come early so I was spared that!

Blatherskite · 23/11/2010 22:12

Catherine was due on the 27th but I opted for an ELCS and after much messing around finally got a slot for the 17th when someone else had their baby early.

SunshineOnLee · 24/11/2010 07:35

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