medic!

"What's the matter, mummy?"
"I've got a little tummy bug, Jack."
"I'll go get my doctor's kit!"
[listens to my heart, looks in my ears and mouth] "Your belly is hurting because your daughter was in your belly. I need to put a bandage on it so it doesn't 'splode."

And so my belly didn't 'splode, and I felt much better after a couple of days.

[Fast forward one week, arriving at my in-laws', Jack announces...]
"MUMMY HAD A POO BUG!!"

Well. So much for doctor/patient confidentiality.

my colourful girl

I came across a term recently that I'd never heard before: Rainbow Baby. Apparently, this is used to describe a baby born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, or death of a child. (Because they "bring colour into your life" after a loss.)

I got pregnant with Mia exactly 19 days after finding out Squeak had died. Immediately after I got a positive pregnancy test, I looked out the window and saw this double rainbow:



I always felt that Squeak and Mia were connected somehow, and the double rainbow always signified this to me. Both Squeak and Mia are rainbow babies because I got pregnant with Squeak immediately following a very early loss before the 5 week mark. My double rainbow babies. I like that.

i don't feel so bad about that duck now

Cake Wrecks - when cakes go wrong.

how to eat at a sushi bar

Love this.

splash

Mums of boys - you know this is SO true.

Yearbook Yourself!

Thanks to JenC for the inspiration! This is from a site called Yearbook Yourself, and I cannot stop giggling. You upload a pic of yourself and it places your face in various yearbook poses from years gone by.

Top, from the left: 1952 (looking scarily like Joan Crawford), 1960, 1966 (that hair ain't going nowhere)
Bottom, from left: 1978 (digging my 'fro), 1994 (I actually had a perm like that in the early 90s), 2000 (hey, it's Diane from "Cheers"!)

Click on the photo for a larger image.

waving two flags from the sofa

It's that time again - Olympic Fever has struck the Durbin household, and the TV's on the Eurosport channel permanently (with short breaks to flip to CBeebies, of course.)



And what about Michael Phelps? He'll never make it through aiport security with all of those medals, and you can't put them in one of those trays because some wacko will nick 'em. Surely he won't check them in with his regular luggage because they'll probably end up taking a round trip to Samoa before arriving months later, battered and empty, in a disused airport in Iowa. It's a stumper.

Tripp Trapp highchair

Oh yes. Put this on the list of 500 Things I Keep Forgetting To Blog About. We recently purchased a Tripp Trapp highchair, and my word. It rocks. I was never happy with Mia sitting so far from the family table (due to the enormous tray on the old highchair) and wanted something that could be pulled up right to the table. The Tripp Trapp not only takes up far less room, it can be adjusted for use right up to adulthood. You buy the waist bar/harness and seat insert separately, then you just need to remove them and lower the seat as the child grows. I love it...and wish we'd discovered it 3 1/2 years ago. Along with cloth nappies, slings, co-sleepers, and the other million things I purchased several years too late. Doh.

feel the love

I hate grocery shopping. Hate it. I would rather chew off both of my own arms than go to Tesco on a weekend or evening, so we've been doing all of our shopping online with Ocado (Waitrose.) On the most part, it's been fine. Sometimes they give you stuff that's due to go off in 2-3 days, but no biggie - it can go in the freezer. Recently, we've had a few little niggles and an incident last night prompted me to give their customer service department a ring. It went thusly.

Me: Hello, I have a problem with my order today. I ordered English muffins and they were substituted with bagels.
Customer Service Girl (CSG): Yes...
Me: Well. Erm. That's not really a great substitution, especially considering that the bagels were already on my list. Now I have two packages of bagels.
CSG: Okay, let me explain our substitution policy, because you're obviously too retarded to understand how this all works. [Lisa's note: I might be making up that last bit.] Rather than sending you nothing, we send you a substitute.
Me: Yes, but bagels for muffins was a bit odd.
CSG: What you need to do is give the item back to the driver immediately. I'll give you a refund on it this time, but that's what you should do.

So a) I should have known better and b) she doesn't really give a rat's arse. And for this I pay an extra £3 per delivery. I also complained about our groceries arriving soaking wet the last three times because of condensation in the delivery van (as explained to us by the drivers), and CSG informed me that if it happened again, I should call because it would then be considered an ongoing problem. I reiterated that it was the 3rd time this had happened, so it was ongoing. CSG said she would investigate.

When a customer complains (reasonably), all you really need to do is listen, agree, apologise, and make it right. For example: "You're right, bagels for muffins is a bit rubbish. I'll refund your £1.79 right away. And hey, have you lost some weight? You look GREAT." Sorted. Not difficult.