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i'm pretty sure my J was 20lb before he was even weaned. he was ginormous. still is, although not fat these days. just ridiculously tall. he is up to his grandmother's chin now, and above my armpit!

can't do any baking at all as my oven is totally buggered. not only are the shelf holders broken on one side so i can't put any in, it is also only hot at the back, so everything burns at the back and doesn't cook at the front. also because i have to put everything on the bottom of the oven, nothing cooks properly anyway. i am having a new oven fitted on friday - assuming i am in when they come. they have given me a 7 - 7 slot. argh. and it's J's school concert at 3.45pm which i have to go to on pain of death (plus i want to as kids with T this weekend so at least i get a glimpse of them both briefly)

I have a friend EF who has had two pregancies by IVF and had just one child from each one ... interestingly they are both from the same original egg harvest done for child no. 1, she then had a fresh load of eggs done for no. 2 but they were not good enough and the old batch were still up to the job! The wonders of nature hey?

Hoggle - great that she is getting on so well with other kids and yay to the gunky eye clearing ... J used to get that a lot with colds.

Caro - J was a mega chunky monkey - in fact I looked back at some old pics the other day and couldn't believe how huge he was!!! Esp as S was such a lightweight in comparison.  he was very skinny when born, turned into a bit a chunk and then stretched out again ... now just right really, is going to take after hubbys side of the family for height etc as we are not tall in my family. S has the long legs of hubbys family but is a streak of nothing at the moment.

Matilda has always been a chunk!! 4kg when born and now 12kg at 16.5 months. Long body, short legs and plenty of belly!! She grows out of t-shirts so fast  (esp because of the belly!!) but bottoms last for ages.

Aw, my Aidan has suddenly shot up and looks much more like a boy than before, he's lost the chub crease from his legs a bit ago too.  Must crack on with potty training as I think he's ready...

EF - well done on the upgrade, hope you don't have a late night.

CM - a 12 hour slot is rubbish, shame they can't narrow it down a bit!

J had the short-leg/long body thing too when younger, had to buy the correct age so the waist would fit but roll up legs lots; whereas S has had long legs from word go so we have always struggled a bit with leg length vs waist size.  Wow, CM, your J IS tall ... mine is one of the tallest in his class and he's up to my shoulder, but then with me being just under 5ft 3" it's hardly a challenge!!

Boo Camlo, hope he's better today.

oh dear, camlo. not good at all

no voms overnight and J gone off to school this morning after a moderate breakfast. am really praying that he and E don't spew at T's because he doesn't believe in not eating when you have a tummy bug so still feeds the kids and tries to get them to eat even when they are ill, plying them with all sorts...i don't know anyone else who has the same philosophy as him regards tummy bugs. he reckons you need the strength from the food to get better, whereas i think if you starve the bug for 24 hours, you will recover faster than if you keep putting food back in there.

oh and hurrah for eBay. have just picked up a pram, a baby annabelle, a baby travel cot and car seat for £16 from a lady in Crosskeys . that's E's xmas presents sorted! i have never had to be such a cheapskate before, but all of E's presents are second hand this year. more difficult with J as he wants moshi monster stuff and Lego and neither of those are really do-able second hand. do feel a bit mean, but she is still young and what she doesn't know... i also have all her birthday presents from eBay already too.

struggling badly financially at the moment. since my parents have stopped making a payment to me for the kids' CTFs, i'm having to fund their contribution plus mine each month. and i am now paying for extra swimming lessons and ballet for E, plus swimming, athletics and art club for J. plus all the school activities, school meals etc. and i've started putting the child maintenance i get from T into an ISA for the kids for when they are older. so i am brassic constantly. it is very stressful too. i really need to increase my hours at work but with the redundancies recently i don't think it's the time to ask that question.

oh CM, tough times indeed. My friend got a load of Harry Potter lego for her seven-year-old off Ebay the other week, so maybe worth a try. I'm with you on the starving the sickness, and if it is food then we are talking plain boiled rice or dry toast!!!

Camlo - glad Archie is responding but that's not a nice way to spend the night for sure!

EF - hope you didn't get spooked!!

Interesting run this morning, my route I was planning to do was blocked by too much water for me to cross the ford (and that wasn't for lack of trying, but too deep and too fast-flowing). Lovely yomp anyway up on the moors, feet totally frozen and soaking and got sleeted and snowed on a bit, was 1 degree down in the car park, add a brisk north wind and was a bit chilly, then when the sun does shine it's so low in the sky it blinds you!!! Not a soul around but me and few ptarmigans!!

wow, sounds lovely CC. i was going to plod but have been back and forwards to the toilet about 7 times this morning so something not right with my tummy!

J has been very specific about which star wars lego he wants from father christmas, and i haven't been able to find it second-hand. am going to have to bite the bullet and order from amazon or somewhere. part of the problem is that E has lots of large, cheap bits of plastic (all second hand) so it looks like she has loads. whereas in fact, it's not cost me more than about £30 in total. i will pay that for one box of star wars Lego that he wants.