June 08 - a Coalition for all (even those with May or July 08 babies).

[DomesticGoddessInTraining]

Abdn liked the title so I just went ahead!

neenz my normal diet is to replace all snacks with apples but I do eat three normal meals a day - I think my tummy would go a bit off if I only had apples....

poppy and DGT Fraser's transfer to a bed (on his birthday) went really well. There was a bit of wandering but nothing too bad and I'm amazed as I'd tried to get him to nap in DS1's bed beforehand and he just mucked around instead. I think once he had his bed he took it much more seriously. We just moved him all in one go as we don't have space in the room for a bed and a cot but DS1 was moved very slowly - we had both for ages (but then he was only 20 months as we were trying to free up the cot for fraser).

poppy hope you're having a lovely time in France and feeling okay. I'm glad the dr is good - it makes such a difference.

The 2x the height is just a rough guideline (thankfully) - it really panicked me with DS1 as he would have only been 5'5" but my MIL confirmed that my DH was the same way and he's 5'11. His family are apparently late growers and already DS1 has massively caught up to his peers and is approaching average height.

Aaarrggghhhhh my choc fudge cake sank in the middle! What would cause that. Do you think it'll be ok if I slather it in icing?

Abdn, thanks. I think we might go for it pretty soon.

No idea on your legal q Bugger! I'd probably contact the police.

Weather forecast grim for tomo - let's hope it's wrong!

Evening All,

Just thought I would share the high point of my day. Whilst giving P some "nappy off" time as his bottom is a bit sore, he managed to wee in my Birkenstocks.

Poppy Thank-you, I would be interested in borrowing your hypnobirthing book, but don't want to put you to
lots of trouble posting it. If you tell me the title and author I could see if there are some cheap second hand copies on amazon. Sometimes works out v chrap that way.

Cheap not chrap

Goddess, buttercream, sprinkles, flakes, etc hide all sorts of things!

The weather is bloody atrocious here today, so we'll all be inside this afternoon . Grrrrrrr.

Someone has posted a link on my legal thread, so I think I've found the answer.

Same here weather wise. It's like we've skipped to Oct overnight! Grrrrrr. Do you think the cake will be edible? I'm going to try and pass it off as brownie- style. My vicoria sponge cake didn't rise brilliantly either, so I'm blaming the waitrose self raising flour because I haven't used it before

DG, my cake didn't rise very well either, tasted Ok though.

Poppy - good to hear from you.

We are taking J on a steam train (not Thomas) this afternoon as a birthday treat, got to wait for DH to get back from cycling first.
It's been quite a relief not to have a party to organise, obligingly our village had a party yesterday, so we had a flyover by a spitfire and J did some great dancing to a not bad local band who were playing ACDC and Black Sabbath covers (H wasn't keen, he cried). The party also featured the most hilarious marching band ever, about half a dozen of them (possibly one family) all wearing ill fitting shiny blue flared outfits, with white stripes down the legs, sounded terrible and they didn't even march!

I'm interested in the bed talk, H will need to move up into a cot soon I think. I've discovered a great tool for getting J to settle down for daytime naps, a ceiling fan, the previous people had them fitted in the bedrooms and I put his on the other day and there wasn't a peep from him, he just lay in his cot mesmerised by the "round and round".

Off to stay with the ILs this week, DH is helping his dad with their boat, means I will be spending all day, every day with MIL, she's fine but has some funny ideas.

We had a lovely afternoon, despite being confined inside. The Thomas cake went down well (pics on FB) although it did stain everyone's lips blue! Made all the kids laugh though.

marking my spot - away on holiday and just keeping up. Happy Birthday in advance for C's fellow June stragglers, B and S for Tues and Wed. x (I think allnew has a July 2 year old too, am I right?)

Hope you're having a good holiday biscuits!

We had a lovely afternoon too Bugger, but am knackered now! Le bouffay (copyright Vallium) was a huge success and everyone had loads of fun.

Off to be methinks now we've put the horseback together and eaten all the leftovers!

Just getting this back on my threads.

Poppy good to see you're back with us, knew you couldn't stay alway for long

Very confused here as I've been trawling the net for places to buy or rent in the village we like and no luck so I've been investigating the location round the house we like and it's looking OK, with a big thumbs up for the secondary school. Now just to confuse matters this evening we've been offered a house to rent in the village we like!! There is a v nice art gallery/cafe in the village and I'd chatted to the owners when we were there, anyway I e-mailed them my dilemma and they put my e-mail up in the cafe to see if any locals could help us out!!One seems to have come to our rescue(but don't know the rental price yet though)and has just e-mailed me.So we might have a house to rent in the village BUT I've gone off that secondary school now HELP!!!!!!

oh no deb what was it in the secondary school that's put you off? An art gallery and cafe sounds lovely...

summer holidays here - it's after 8am and I'm still in my pjs - must go get dressed!!!

Hi all - just came back from a weekend camping after A's birthday on Friday (well remembered biscuits!)

dewin we stayed at a site called Awelfryn in Newborough. Very scenic & nice and quiet. We took a lovely walk along the beach over to the lighthouse on the end - my legs are still aching!

debs - it's always so complicated isn't is with finding somewhere that ticks all the boxes, or even most of them. From a personal perspective if I'd been put of a village because of the school then I'd look somewhere else, even if the house/village was great

I have (another) MIL problem that is really starting to become an issue. She is constantly treating DSS's and leaving A out. Some small eg.s are, turning up at Easter with bags of colourful eggs for the 2 DSS's, and nothing for DS, buying the DSS's clothes, taking them out, and then on Friday, giving them each money and DS nothing (DH did say something to her this time, and she just said well he got his birthday presents - yes, try explaining to a 2yo why his 2 brothers are buying things on a weekend away and he can't because it was his birthday yesterday! If it was a one-off I could try to see excuses, but it really is a regular occurence now. I've told DH that when (not if unfortunately) she does it again I will say something to her

Quickly posting to keep this on my threads.

allnew I would have said something already I think! Best to get it out in the open (as tactfully as possible) rather then let it fester.

Deb Such a tricky dilemma. Personally, I think schools are a huge deal. It can make such a difference to a childs life to be in the right school. Sorry, I know that isn't helpful at all!

Abdn, Sybil and Allnew - the secondary school near the house offers German Gcse and the one near the village we like doesn't and that is the big difference. Apart from that I think the schools look pretty similar.So I need to decide how important German GCSE is. I really want them to carry on with their German but Stefan would find the GCSE very easy and maybe his time would be better spent on another subject. I suppose it's only important if they will need German in their chosen career. I don't think they will forget it now.I'm talking myself round!! The woman with the house to rent has got back to me with the price and it's OK but she needs to know in the next 3 weeks if we want to rent it!

Abdn - summer holidays are great, mine have 1 more week.

Allnew I think you'll have to say something if your dh won't, it's not fair is it?

thanks sybil & debs - I don't know how I have managed not to say anything by now, but I'm now definitely preparing my speech for next time

debs - if it's the german gcse that's putting you off the school in the village you like, and if you're happy with everything else, then if it was me I'd overlook the fact that they can't do the gcse. Their german is probably now of a standard where the gcse would be quite basic for them. I would instead look for other ways to keep up their language, and I imagine they'll be very keen to do so as they get older, whether for career purposes or not. Even reading german books and maybe radio/tv would probably help them more than school

deb I agree with allnew - can you work to maintain their german in other ways (books? comics? TV etc?). If it's the only difference in the schools then it doesn't sound like a complete deal breaker (to me).

allnew that doesn't sound very fair of your MIL - can you get your DH to mention it as it should really be dealt with by him? Although my DH never wants to deal with his mother so I can see this would be difficult. Anyways you will need to say something eventually even just to demonstrate to DS that you don't think it's acceptable behaviour.

hugs to everyone else - DH has just phoned saying he thinks he's forgotten to file a whole bunch of invoices and can I sort it out? Fortunately it's the start of the month so there's lots of time...

debs I really wouldn't worry about the German GCSE at school. By the time your boys reach the age to do it the schools may or may not be offering it. You could set up your own german lanugage club, that way the boys keep it up and you earn some extra money!

I'm with the others Deb, I wouldn't let the german gcse put you off. It might not even still be available by the time they do their gcse's or they might not want to do it when the time comes. Go with the village!

Allnew that sounds like a pretty intolerable situation. I take it she doesn't by J presents when it's your DSS's birthdays? I would definitely be asking your DH to put his foot down and ask them to treat them all the same.

I've let S watch Thomas the tank engine for the first time today (he got some dvd's at Christmas that I'd forgotten about) and I can't believe how mind numbingly dull it is! However, S is mesmerised!!!

might be worrying about nothing, having trouble getting in touch with the english agent at the moment to find out what's happening as we still haven't received the formal offer yet even though the agent says that they have paid a deposit. i'm beginning to panic quietly!!

I think you're all(who is don'tmisshim) quite sensible about the german gcse but I do love that house!!!!

goddess - my mum's emergency house packing/house planning parcel came today - something special and fireman sam dvd's for Ethan and 2 new films for the big boys!!!

Allnew - why do you think it is that your MIL is being so weird? DS is still her grandson by blood isn't he? I'd be utterly livid and would have said something myself by now and literally just come out with it and asked why. How horrid.

poppy, not moved the DTs into beds yet, but my sisters always just moved in one go - apparently they sometimes don't realise at first that they can get out. My niece even used to call to my sister to get her out of bed in the morning.

ktpie, village party sounds fab, as does the ceiling fan!

My MIL really annoyed me yesterday and the day before, it was such little things tho I must be hormonal . The first was she helped Dh move the furniture and wasn't happy where the cot was (behind the door). But that's where I wanted it and it fit fine (the door hits it when you open the door but only when you open it fully). She said 'have you measured that the other cot fits there too?' Er, yes . Then yesterday she said she'd read a 'really good article' in the S. Express magazine about how 'paranoid' some mothers are about sunscreen - they put too much on . Some kids end up lacking in Vit D. When i read the article it made sense - they do need about 30mins a day without sunscreen to get enough vit D but only early morn or late aft not in bloody high summer. The sunsafe campaign still said use sunscreen apr-sept. The 'paranoid' mum the article talked about put sunscreen on in feb, which I do think is rather OTT! Anyway I just felt like MIL was saying I am a paranoid mother and that I use too much sunscreen (I'd just put some on the DTs at 5pm which I wouldn't normally at that time of day but the sun was blazing I could feel it burning my own skin). It was just the way she referred to it as a 'really good article' (sat there with her leathery tanned skin - she is a sun worshipper) that got my back up. It thought it was a bit irresponsible really cos sunburn is a much bigger risk than a lack of vit D.

Glad B and S's parties went well - I did think of you when I heard on the radio that it was going to be an autumnal day in Scotland .

Debs, v exciting about the rental but bummer you are now having second thoughts! What is house availablilty like in the other place with the school you like? It is so tricky - I would think German GCSE is quite a big deal because it is a certain A grade and not difficult for S! But then if he already speaks good German he may pick up French very easily too.

allnew, get DH to say something to MIL. It is not fair but perhaps she doesn't feel that A would appreciate the treats as he is so young. Are these your stepsons? But they and A are all your MIL's grandsons? It does seem very strange. You are brave to say something yourself but well within your rights to ask 'where is A's treat?'.

neenz lol at the leathery skin. I agree with what you're saying with the sunscreen - if the sun is beating down, whatever time of day, then it would be plain ridiculous not to use suncrean. at suncream in Feb though!

Yes, DS is MIL's grandchild, so really they should all be equal to her. It always has been very odd. Ever since DH met me, she seems to have an attitude about helping him out with anything (and I don't just mean material things, I mean anything) - difficult to describe, but I think that because she knows I have a good job, she resents giving us anything, and now also, it seems, DS. Ever since I've known DH, she has turned up every time with treats for the DSS's, and continues to treat them like babies. Actually, the same way she treats BIL - she treats him like a child and still pays his car insurance for example, even though he's 38, has a job, no children and no responsibilities. See, I'm on a rant now

WHen I moved DD1 into a bed she didn't realise she could just climb out for a few days! I didn't phase in the move for her. DD2 moved from our bed into her own bed at 2 1/2 and was fine. WIll have to get a bed for DS at some point as he still sleeps with us!

Neenz find an article about how bad sunbathing is and give it to MIL.