AVID, WISE and keen to debut our Spring buys

[Russianred]

Inspired, eh?!

Morning!

Red I hope your DD is feeling a bit better today, let us know how she is if you get a chance.

Apuski, Reine and other ill A&Wers, poor you, hope you feel better soon too. Rubbish being ill, especially when it means no pay/single handed childcare while feeling crap. DH is still off work. I am the least sympathetic nurse ever, totally bored of him being ill now!

Annie Verity and Rufus agree on the spending front. I really like shopping. I try to be halfway sensible about it (i.e. not get into debt), but it is something I enjoy enormously, and cutting back never quite seems to work, as I suddenly decide that the house needs scented candles/we need to go out for lunch or whatever. I am good at being v frugal if we have no money, but as soon as there's any dosh available, I rather like spending it.

Rufus I am at 'page presser' on the kindle. May have to give in and order one at some point this year I think. Am beginning to see that there may be benefits to it, especially now that I actually have the odd bit of free time in which I might be able to read.

I think I need a new breakfast solution. I have porridge (30-40g dry weight, so a reasonable sized bowl) with flaxseed and chopped fruit (banana or pear usually, sometimes a bit of dried fruit), but it is no longer keeping me full for any length of time - I ate at 7:30 today and am already properly hungry again. Trouble is that I just cannot get my head round the idea of boiling/scrambling an egg at that time in the morning, and I can't think of any other filling/high protein options that appeal. Any ideas?

Amber DS2 doesn't just howl when I'm out of sight, he howls when I break eye contact or move to put him down when carrying him (I am not even slightly exaggerating, sadly). He is insanely high needs, especially compared to DS1, who is reasonably clingy now, but was a v relaxed baby. Very tiresome, but am sure he will morph into one of those incredibly confident toddlers.

red How is your lovely DD this morning?

verity Thanks for the link! The Marni stuff for H&M is to die for, but the colours are no good for me. Will live vicariously through all the autumns on this thread and maybe buy a bag or necklace

apuski and everyone else here who is sick: Healing vibes and get well soon!

ollie Awww, you are a wonderful Mum. Your boys are so lucky! Stripey summer bag is cute. Love Frugality's neon bag but fear the straps would get tangled up and annoy me.

Impressed with notyummy's knowledge of fashion lingo .

Waxed houlis anyone?

OMG,a Reiss concession has opened in a dept store here!!!! Cant find a pirate costume anywhere tho.

Hello all.

Red - hope you managed to get a few winks of sleep in hospital last night (grim memories) and that she comes home today.

Apuski and Reine - hope you feel back to normal soon.

Am jealous of the breakfast pancakes! DD is out at Rainbows tonight and it is nearly bedtime by the time she is back, so I am hoping she will forget about pancake day... I do have ingredients so could do tomorrow if she feels deprived.

Re the breakfast thing Hopefully - I eat nearly double the amount of porridge you do - 60g made with skimmed milk (which is just over 300 calories so not a ridiculous amount by any means.) If I have that around 8am then I am not hungry until at least 11am, when I usually have either some fruit or veg as a snack to keep me going until lunch. Perhaps try upping the amount of porridge and leaving out the fruit - have it later as a snack when you get peckish?

I usually keep easily accessible protein in the fridge to have to fill me up. Cooked chicken; ham; smoked salmon. (Not sure if you are veggie or not?) A couple of slices of smoked salmon in addition to porridge would be filling and if you ate from a plate with a knife and fork would make you feel like you had eaten a 'proper' meal.

Amber - I think your assessment re the walking and bf keeping off the weight is right. After I had DD I walked nearly everywhere and she plumped up like a party balloon whilst I lost my pregnancy weight and more by the time she was 4 months old. To be fair, I was also exercising, but I think I would have lost the weight anyway....and I was still dedicatedly eating cake . Mind you I think it can get harder as you get older unless you either cut down or exercise to build some lean muscle to keep up your metabolic rate - this article explains in graphic terms what can happen after the mid twenties. So unfair...

. LK bennett here too!!!!

ollie Stripey T-shirt, bandana, eyepatch (you can buy them at pharmacies here), old pair of jeans (ripping them or cutting holes optional), transferable tattoos, draw a scar and/or moustache on his face - done!

ollie Focus on the carnival costume

Rufus, glad you had a great time. I love that stomach flu line, I must watch the movie again. I have nothing much to report but I will pm you!

Your boys sound so cute, Ollie.

Hope mini Red is doing well today.

Apuski, get well soon. I worked right up until the day DD1 was due as I was contracting (happy days). It is the downside to it.

Bloss, those olive jeans were actually a good neutral (curse my temper).

I finally set up my Kindle and I really like it. I would never have bought it myself and scoffed at them before but it is awesome. I'm reading This Beautiful Life.

Hopefully, I add almonds to my porridge, it makes it a little more filling.

Amber, your outfits always sound great to me.

I am quite boring in cream Whistles sweater, skinny True Religion jeans, R&B tan rockafella boots and when I go to Westfield later (on my own, yahoo!), navy Barbour and alexa.

Emo, thanks for the sizing info.

Got a costume, literally grabbed it out of toy shop assistants hand as she was packing it away for next year! Half price too. Im going back to Reiss!!!!

hopefully how do you manage with two when your DS2 is like that? I felt like I was going to murder one or both of them yday! You cannot be a less sympathetic nurse than I am, if DH dares be ill for longer than a day he is branded a malingerer. To be fair, love him though I do, he is a terrible mummy's boy and has had attention heaped on him if he so much as sniffs. I don't do illness however, and was back at work a week after I nearly died of blood poisoning while heavily pg with DS, which is probably where the lack of sympathy stems from.

ny I know my age has a lot to do with it, really need to buck my ideas up re exercise! Will be a lot easier when the limpet sleeps for more than an hour at a time!

scarf great outfit, I am navy-barboured up today too! V of Westfield!

ollie how exciting, you've basically got a British high street now, only cleaner!

Sympathies re the clinginess Amber. I do remember DD doing that when she would have been around 9 months and it was wearing. It did pass though, and oddly she was still happy to go to nursery and always chuckled when handed over to her lovely Key Worker there, and proceeded to ignore me . At home though, if I left the room, she howled.... But she did sleep, so I really I didn't know I was born.

Reiss dresses have arrived here and here.

Alas, they will be going back (good for the bank account, though!) What is the sizing normally like in Reiss, because I found it really pretty big? I had the 10 in the floral print, and a medium in the stripes and they were both too big - massive on top in particular. Neither of them did anything for my figure, and the hem of the floral dress hung unevenly. Was unimpressed with the quality overall tbh. Ahh well - perhaps the Dotty Ps bargains will be better!!

One very happy little boy at school now dressed as a pirate. One hot and sweaty Mum tho - MFP pressure made me decide to cycle into the city instead of taking the tram or car, didnt realise how windy it is. Still, thats 40 mins exercise done.

I saw this Paul and Joe Sister dress - the bird print has a touch of coral red in it. Didnt have time to try on. didnt look 100% poly so surprised to see it is, nicer in real life. May be a bit too little girly on my frame tho.
Paul and Joe dress

I tried the KM purple dress on. Wow. It did wonders for my figure, clinched waist and clever rouching over tummy. Loved the neckline off one shoulder too. Just too dressy to buy, I just wouldnt wear it. Shame.

Grabbed this cream scarf tho to try at home.

I was overly excited about Reiss and LKB - I turned into my Mum and sought out a sales assistant to tell them how pleased I was.

Hello All!
Red Sorry to see that Ms red is poorly, I do hope that she gets better soon.

Apuski Best wishes to you too, 'hope that you are on the mend soon.

It must be an international bug, as DD2 has just come back from the doctors in France and she too has a tummy bug and will be on medication until next Monday. She is coming home for mid-term on Friday though, so we are all looking forward to seeing her.

On the subject of skiing we have found that both skiing and sailing are two sports that work really well in a family with a large age spread (DD1 20 ,DD2 16 & DD3 9) and we have been sking together since our eldest was about 2/3 we lived in Norway then, and we all really look forward to it every year. I skied with my parents growing up and the girls have been lucky enough to ski with their grandparents.

I am enjoying all the links but find that because I work so much that my leisure wardrobe just doesn't get worn, I really need to buy for the life style I lead rather than the one I aspire to! ie: lady of leisure!

Because I have bought no clothes lately I too have fallen into the 'I must buy something trap' and bought clothes for the DDs, it's so weird how I don't feel guilty at all and actually get as much a kick out of it!

Well done Ollie on the costume, very W & A!

I haven't really used my kindle, I must get it out and have and have another look at it.

I have that leather jacket from Zara that you linked to Fritzi, I have worn it a lot at work as it is very structured and jazzes up some of my more conservative outfits, I wouldn't wear my biker jacket to work as the industry I am in is quite conservative.

Sorry if I have left anyone out but am so caught up in RL life that I am reading thread but can't always post.

Sorry! 'Just seen how long my post was!

I really wanted to like this on but too billowy & flappy sleeved for me h&m blouse

Just been examining the marni stuff for h&m and rather like a lot of it. Not in any of my local stores so will be forcing DH to do school run so I can be glued to my laptop.

I'm ill too but am back in my 'thin' jeans - and laughed at stomach flu line - my sister and I always joke the silver lining to any trauma is weight loss [not sure what that says about us]

Bit sad for my eldest at the moment - some rather mean boys in his year - I actually got upset talking to his teacher yesterday whilst brave DS held it together.

Has anyone taken their children to see the Horrible Histories show - we adore it on cbbc so thinking it could be good . . .

Thanks for all your thoughts - Dd's oxygen levels weren't great during the night - lots of people in and out of our room and not much sleep for anyone. She has finally gone down for a nap having been awake from 4. Am exhausted - Dh on his way with toiletries, thank goodness. Nancy seems brighter in herself but think we could be here a while...

Will have a little look back now - hello to all.

Oh no Red - you poor things -have they worked out what it is yet? Do you need anything - am not far and could drop stuff off if necessary.

Shame the dresses didn't work ny. FWIW I have never been terribly impressed with Reiss. Know there is a lot of love for them on here but I have found sizing and quality erratic. Think you can do better for the price!

I agree Amber - reiss don't cut well for shorter/smaller people. And the sizing is generally huge.

Illness and weight loss: spoke to my sister this morning who has decided that she is a bit over her ideal weight and was wondering whether she might contract some toddler germs when she visits next week, thus rendering her a bit slimmer. Nice to know we all think the same way

Portia I find clothes for the DCs are guilt free and satisfying too. My shopping bug is easily pleased.

Ollie can you not justify the dress for potential future events if it's that nice? Can imagine it being useful in the long term, and you obviously like it a lot.

NY Reiss are, I think, the ultimate vanity sizers. I bought everything in a 10 from there last time I shopped, and they fitted, and it was before I lost any weight, so was still a good size 12, 14 on the bottom.

Amber I spend a lot of time playing on the floor with one or both DS on my lap. And I listen to whinging when it is absolutely necessary to pay one full on attention (toilet visits, getting coats on to go out etc). I'm actually finding it reasonably stressful and some days am a bit shorter tempered with them than I would like, but I'm keeping fingers crossed that it will improve as DS2 gets over the worst of the separation anxiety and gets on the move (he isn't crawling yet, at 11 months, the lazy bones). Things like cooking dinner are an absolute joke - I tend to do it in fits and starts throughout the day rather than trying to abandon both of them to play for twenty minutes at any point. I sometimes wonder if I should make more effort to encourage them to be independent, but I am rubbish at listening to them being unhappy, so never do. I know the one thing that makes life easier is, weirdly, going TV free, as DS1 becomes more able to entertain himself, but everyone's been ill in rotation for the past two or three weeks, so TV time has crept up. Oh well, swings and roundabouts, they'll get better at it at some stage. At least they're cute

Cross posted Red. Your poor DD, and poor you. I really hope she starts to pick up again soon. I assume she's asthmatic? Don't know the details, sorry, I'm too new! Is it just a case of waiting till her oxygen levels are right and she begins to recover? Glad she's a bit brighter, and hope she's better after a good nap.