Found out yesterday that my local playgroup that I take the kids to three mornings a week is closing without notice.
I have to get out of the house or I’ll go insane, so here’s hoping to find some alternative options quickly. If I manage it then I will have proven to myself that I am competent.
This is written calmly whilst inside I am cracking up.
Well, we’re all knackered after a fortnight of moving things round in the house in our spare time - furniture everywhere and the contents of cupboards scattered to the four winds!! AJ’s bedroom is stripped of wallpaper - a whim I’m now regretting as it means I actually have to decorate it! lol I’ve bought the paint, etc, but finding the time is a pain.
Made a trip to Ikea the other day and it was fab, but boy did I hurt afterwards! It was a great afternoon with monopod and baby EM and I got lots of idea for sorting out our wasted space problems. Not to mention some chocolate from the Sweden shop and a lovely meatball-y lunch! Yummy. Must do this more often.
In other news, Happy Birthday to H and congratulations a million times over to D who has just annouced that she is 12 weeks pregnant!! I’m so happy for her after all the problems that I can’t stop grinning!!
This morning I am shattered, I have a headache, my eyes hurt, I have no voice, I ache all over, my joints aren’t bending properly, my boobs are explosive and I am so stiff you could iron on me if I wasn’t so bumpy.
It must have been a good night out.
I have a dentist appointment in a few weeks’ time.
It is at 2.30 in the afternoon.
Roll on the Chinese dentist jokes.
Groan.
AJ made a valiant and impressive attempt to use chopsticks whilst eating his hoi-sin chicken and noodles this evening! Aww, he’s so clever. Even if he did settle for holding the chopsticks in one hand whilst eating with the other (and I mean that literally, the little blighter wouldn’t even use his fork! lol). This bodes well.
I took Alyssum to the baby clinic today (13lb 15oz at weigh-in) and had a chat with the HV about the lack of (ahem) substance in her nappies for the last week or so. Had a long chat about why (the weaning), when I should start worrying (after 10 days) and possible solutions if it doesn’t clear, not to mention when GP intervention would be required.
Went home in a more positive frame of mind (Bumpster in particular has been worried about the li’l lassie), and when I lifted her out of the car seat I noticed a familiar whiff.
Guess what?!
Why on earth is she so set on intermingling the two families? K is A’s bd? Why?! What will that do to A and R and little J? Just introduce new characters for crying out loud! How difficult is it to use a different surname? The book would have been perfectly good if K had been nothing to do with the family before. Who B marries makes no odds to anyone!
Grrrrrr.
And this is why I shouldn’t get so caught up in my reading material, but when she messes with AJ and Alyssum’s namesakes, it bugs my brain! I just want them all to have a happily ever after. Wah!
Lady at the fairground today said that AJ looked like a blonde Orlando Bloom. So cute, with that lovely smile and those big eyes.
Well, about three years ago Orlando and I…..
Oh, dear, I’ve said too much!
Well, Alyssum’s first feed on the bottle last night was……A SUCCESS!
Can’t believe I’ve made it nearly 4½ months without resorting to a bottle feed - yay for Alyssum and me! After all the grief we had with AJ I think I’d built this up in my mind so much that it was wayyyy too big a deal to me, and my little poppet took to the bottle with no issues whatsoever. Expressing was fine, being held by her grammy was fine, feeding was fine. Couldn’t have asked for better, really.
I had two types of bottles on standby, the Avent ones I used before and some of the Tommee Tippee shaped ones ‘just in case’. Tried the Avent ones first as these are the type that fit in my steriliser and would prefer to use them long term, and it was fine. Just fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Am I repeating myself?! lol It’s such a relief that I’m gushing and I know it. Sorry!
I should have known better I think. Alyssum’s a completely different baby to AJ and the way she takes a dodie when he never did should have been a good indicator. Muppet me decided to stress over virtually nothing.
Right, off to express another bottle so we can go out for the day to the Transport Museum without being on constant lookout for the next suitable feeding station and my dad’s looks of horror (grrrrrr).
While at playgroup the other day, a new person turned up with her son. She seemed pleasant enough, and we were all chatting away, no problems. Then just before she left, she said something that perplexed bemused annoyed the hell out of me. She said that she enjoyed the group (held at the local community centre) and how she was glad we weren’t spouting propaganda like the other group in the village.
Huh?
Upon further questioning, she told us of her visit to the group at the village church where she enjoyed the first part where the kids played with toys, but was deeply offended by the second part. This would be where everyone went into the hall and the kids took musical instruments to sing and play along to a ‘goodbye’ hymn. She refused point blank to participate, absolutely disgusted at this display of what she called ‘religious propaganda’.
She went to a playgroup held in a church, it was free, they sang one hymn. I’ve been to that group regularly myself, and it’s a lovely time for the kids, with really nice people running it. As far as I’m aware they weren’t trying to hide the fact that it was a church - I’m fairly sure I saw a sign on the front to that effect and there may have been a cross on the wall which I think is some kind of religious symbol and should also therefore have been an indicator. And she calls this religious propaganda?! She insulted the vicar, who is an absolutely lovely woman and I was so offended on the vicar’s behalf I had to seriously bite my tongue after a few very restrained comments and walked away from the situation.
The vicar walked into the community centre a little while later (she pops in regularly) and someone must have told her the story because she came over and thanked me for sticking up for her and the group she runs and was flabbergasted at the attitude.
As far as I’m concerned this woman needs a) an attitude adjustment; b) a dictionary; c) a kick up the bum or d) all of the above.
I’ll let you guess which option I would personally choose.
