July 2011 we're entering the second half!

[confuddledDOTcom]

F1rstT1meMummy 25/6/11
Ickle: EDD 29/6 pg#1 age 31
Pesha: EDD 30/6 pg#4, age 32, (dd 10yrs, ds1 7yrs, ds2 3yrs)
Blueberryjam EDD 1/7 PG#5 AGE 27 ( 7,6,4 & 8 months)
Loueytbg EDD 1/7 PG#3 Age 37 (DS1&2 3.6, 1 mc)
Tebbles EDD 1/7 PG#1 Age 29 (No DC yet)
Orchid: EDD 1/7 pg#2 age 31 (DS 2)
WolfcubEm83: EDD 1/7 pg#1 age 27
Phlebas: EDD 2/7 PG#10, age 35 (dd1 10yrs, ds 4yrs, dd2 18mo)
Riddzy: EDD 3/7 PG1, Age 31
MadAboutTheBoys 3/7 PG#3 Age 34 (DS1 3yrs; DS2 17 months)
Emmylou30: EDD4/7 pg#1 age 30
Mitchell81: EDD 4/7 pg#4 age 29(dd 10 yrs,ds1 4yrs, ds2 2yrs)
Eglu: EDD 5/7 pg#3, age 33 (DS 7 & 3) - Girl
Twit: EDD 5/7 pg#6 age 35 (3 ds's 12,9,3 one dd 4)
Countrybunkin: EDD 6/7 pg#14 age 26
Miss Lolita: EDD7/7 pg#1 age 31 - girl
ScarIettOHara: EDD 8/7 pg#1 age 34
Oceanfox: EDD 08/07 pg1 age 37
Smiler80: EDD 08/07 pg#1 age 30
Fiatlux: EDD 08/07 pg#1 age 36
MeesaMum: EDD 9/7 pg#1 age 30
wolfhound, EDD 9 July pg#3 age 40 (DS1 is 3 and DS2 is 16 mths)
Mrsfarge: EDD 9/7, pg#4, age 34 (ds 9, dd 3, ds 2)
Scarthy: EDD 10/7 pg#2 age 35 (DS 3yrs)
SpannerPants: EDD 10/7 age 27 pg#1 - boy
emilyplus1: EDD 10/7 pg#2 age 25 (DD 17 months)
confuddledDOTcom: EDD 11/7/11 girl (expected to last until May, ELCS will be mid-June if I last that long and they get their own way) age 30 (3 girls: 1 angel and two amazing girls age 4 and 2)
Sweetiexxx: EDD 11/7 pg#2 age 32 (DD 17 months)
Highheelsandequations EDD 11/7 pg#2 age 30 (no DC yet)
Rarewelshbit: EDD 11/7 age 33 (no DC yet)
Scrivette: EDD 12/7 pg1, age 30 (no DC yet)
canny77 12/7/11
NNABAIW: EDD 13/7 pg#2 age 33 (DD 15 months)
Stottiecake: EDD 13/7 pg2, age 37 (ds 2)
StormBird: EDD 13/7 pg2, age 28 (no DC yet)
Squirrel007 EDD 13/7 PG#1 Age 29 (No DC yet)
BeatrixRotter: EDD 14/7 pg#2 age 34 (DD 2)
kalp12 14/7/11
Sues1974: EDD 15/7 pg#2 age 36 (DS 21 months)
filey1: EDD 16/7 pg#1 age 28 (no DC yet)
pennyly: EDD 16/7 pg#1 age 32 (no DC yet)
JazzS: EDD 16/7 pg#1 age 29 (no DC yet)
Nicolamumof3: EDD 17/7 pg4 age 33 (DS's aged 11.6, 4.11 and 3.3)
youpie: EDD 17/7 pg#2 age 34 (ds 16 months)
Nitnatnaboo: EDD 17/7 pg#2 age 38 (ds 5 yrs)
Highfibrediet EDD 17/7 pg#4 age 38 (ds1 8y, ds2 6y, ds3 2 1/2y)
Fraochsmum: EDD 17/7 pg2 age 33 (dd 11 months)
Hefner: EDD 17/7 pg#1 age 28
a11J: EDD 18/7 p#1 age 21
Stangirl: EDD 19/7 pg2 age 41 (DD 9 months)
Fab123: EDD 19/7 pg#1 age 29
Zanzicat: EDD 20/7 pg#1 age 30
Pregnant inParis: EDD 20/7 pg#1 age 30
isitreallythattime: EDD 20/07 pg#2 age 32
Dynababy: EDD 21/7 pg#1 age 34
FessaEst: EDD 21/7 pg#3 age 30 (mc & DD 13 months)
cara2244: EDD 21/7 pg#2 age 31 (DS 2 years)
FallingandLaughing: EDD 22/7 pg#1 age 33
Geordiemam4: EDD 23/7 pg#4 age 31 (DD age 13, DS age 11, DS age 8)
Brassicababe: EDD23/7 pg#1 age 37
Brightsideoflife: EDD23/7 pg#3 age 33 (DD 19 months)
PixieOnaLeaf EDD 23/7 pg#6 Age 44 (DD1 16, DD2 12, DS 9, DTD1 8 months, DTD2 8 months)
GruffaloMama EDD 23/7 pg2 age 35 (DS 2.1)
Inbetweener EDD 24/7 pg3 age 36 ( DD 8 DD 6 )
LadyGoneGaga: EDD 24/7 pg#3 age 32 (DS age 2.5, mc)
honeybabymoon EDD 24or 25/7 age 30 (no DCs)
Emmywoo: EDD 26/7. pg## age 33 dd 4 and mc
Chocoflakes: EDD 27/7 pg#3 age 37 (dd15,ds13)
Ivegotmrbitey: EDD27/7 pg#1 age 31
SelenaDoula 27/7/11
Sugargirl1: EDD 28/7 pg#2 age 32 (DD 13months)
Badgerwife: EDD 22/7 pg#1 age 30
Buttonmoon78: EDD 29/7 pg#5 age 32 (DCs 13, 10 & 3)
ddas: EDD 31/7 pg#1 age 26
sunshiney78: EDD 31/7 pg 1 age 31
ZuluWarrior: EDD ?/7 pg#3 age 32 (DS 20 months)
JimmyChoo17: EDD 16/07 P#1 Age 29

Morning Inbetweener! Your kids sound really cute :) I'm 25 weeks and 3 days which (so my iPhone app says) means I have 103 days left ! Exciting but at the same time...eeeek! I've not put up the cot yet as I figure it will just gather dust but am Sosooosososooooo tempted. Got all the cotbed sheets through yesterday too and wondering when to do the mass wash. Want everything to smell nice for her so think leaving it a few more weeks would be best. Also eager to start my cook-a-thon for the freezer. Keep reminding myself most things only last 3 months, so i'm actually doing myself a favour waiting a bit longer.

Made some scones this morning to take over to my friend's on Sunday. There's an NCT sale nearish us so we're going to have a waddle around. I haven't joined NCT...although I keep hearing good things. I just look at the cash it costs to join and then end up on eBay getting things like bedding or Amazon for wipes etc etc

Forgot to say...

Today's my last day at work

Woo-hoo Button! You'll get to enjoy more sunshine :)
Great news that you've seen Confuddled about too. Was quite worried something had happened!
Oh veins in legs go AWAY! I want to wear my dress and get the pins out!

I know. It's a bit . Been wearing dresses but with leggings underneath to hide sexy stockings - like that works! It's not the same as getting your legs out in the sun

My plan is to tan them up in my garden and then hopefully hide the worst of it so I can get them out when it gets really hot. It's a cunning one, cunning as a fox

Oh button you lucky thing !!
When I get back form annual leave I am going to fill my maternity leave application form in and I think Im gonna leave at 36 weeks which makes it the 24th June !! It will only be 9 weeks left when I get back form annual leave ! i cant wait. I was going to work longer but actually with this recent bout of warm weather I have realised that actually I am not going to handle the hot hour long bus journies there and back to work 5 days a week at all well.

fab that IS a cunning plan lol. I dont do sun very well and am currently having a total Eeekkkkk what the hell do I wear crisis !! i am wearing a pair of linen maternity black trousers that keep falling down today along with a stripy vest top that I dont like and a fitted black cardi to hide my builders arms. i DO NOT feel good. I def need some new maternity tops
I could kick myself for throwing everything away 7 years ago but didnt think for a minute I would need it all again !!

I too have builder's arms inbetweener. Currently wearing a v similar outfit - black linen trews, black fitted cardi but a New Look floral top with a few sequins stitched to some of the flowers. It's very lovely, dahling. I must admit that I've looked about for pretty maternity tops - as in not vest tops - and there's very little around. I was quite disappointed!

Fab I'm loving your idea of tanning in the garden. After all, my veins won't require the support post birth but I'm damned if I'm showing my legs in July looking the way they do now. After all, everyone else's will have had a head start and I'll look like a milk bottle!

Hello! Very quick post as just seen the time and ds2 finishes playschool in 9 minutes, will be driving tho [lazy] so still have 7 mins before I have to leave!!

I ordered my Next black linen maternity trousers on wed with a voucher I got for my birthday, had emails saying they'd be delivered yesterday but never came, rang up and told they will come today. They bloody better!! I want them NOW!! If I'd paid for delivery I would have been complaining a lot more as its meant to be next day but luckily I had a code for free delivery so its not too bad.

I also have builders arms, well I'm not entirely sure what builders arms but I'm assuming they're big fat arms?! Cos I do have big wobbly arms so have to wear cardis and shrugs and things! Also struggling with what to wear, bump is huge. People are forever commenting on how big I've suddenly got and I would be offended but actually they are right, even I am surprised by it and wondering how the hell I'm gonna grow this baby for another 12 weeks without popping!!!

Right have to dash

I actually don't mind when people comment on my size. After all, I am getting bigger (I'd be worried if I wasn't!) so I don't find it insulting at all, but I know I'm in a minority there!

Yup Pesha builders arms are those very things which stop you wearing cap, short and puff sleeves. They are the bane of my life as even when I was less fat (I can't honestly say slim!) they were huge and no amount of toning works. They're just made big.

Yep I am the same girls. I HATE my arms. They are all pasty and pale and fat big and wobbly. DH is into keep fit and going to the gym and doing weights and keeps telling me how easy it would be to tone them up. He suggests I sit with the weights while watching Eastenders . Trouble is I would rather sit with a cake and watch eastenders

I dont mind when people comment too much either. Infact its a relief not to be sucking my stomach in when I walk round the office lol

at no longer stomach holding! Feel free to use my arms as a vast survey of one that when you have true builders arms no amount of toning makes them smaller. Just big and muscley instead of big and flabby.

My trousers arrived just as we got back from playschool I'm wearing them now and they are so much more comfortable than my mat jeans!!

Inbetweener - I just literally LOLed at " He suggests I sit with the weights while watching Eastenders . Trouble is I would rather sit with a cake and watch eastenders"

I also smiled in agreement at "when I was less fat (I can't honestly say slim!)" Button!

Before I had ds2 I worked very very hard to lose weight, getting up at 6am at least 3 mornings a week to do my exercise dvd, eating very healthily and I think I got to down to about a size 12 although I still had a wobbly tummy. I didn't mind my arms then (they were far from great but miles better than they are now!) and it had been quite a hot spring and early summer so I'd managed to get a really nice tan in the garden so for the first time since I was in my early teens I was wearing sleeveless tops without cardis, it was so liberating!! Unfortunately it lasted about 3 months before I got pg with ds2, put on a bit of weight when pg but then really piled it on when bfing. By the time he'd stopped bfing and was sleeping ok at night so I had some energy again I was working full time as a cm and getting up at half 6 every morning anyway so no time for exercise! I am determined to lose it again this time and going to try really, really hard not to let myself put weight on when bfing. problem is I struggle with supply so can't really diet.

I have also lost my appetite a lot now and put it down to no room for food anymore. Heartburn not too bad lately, I think eating less helps. I do have a major craving for ice lollies atm though and am having probably up to 10 a day, maybe even a few more! But I'm still nauseous quite a lot of the time and can't drink a lot so am using that as justification!! I think nausea is keeping my appetite down a bit too, there is very little I fancy eating as so much makes me feel worse. Lately I've been eating lots of new potatoes and boiled eggs! Unfortunatley the thing that makes me feel most sick is chocolate I had a penguin when we got back earlier and am now feeling very yuck, you'd think I'd learn!!

Meant to say I am also enjoying not to have to hold my stomach in

Button I think my calves are the same as your arms, they're not really fat at all I just have huge calf muscles that no amount of dieting will get rid of, I used to think it was all the walking I did but actually even when I don't (like now my hips are bad) they still look like footballers legs! Minus the hair!!

Right, really must stop procrastinating and go and do some more washing.

Hello all, could I please join this? A little late in the day I know! I'm due July 20th with my first and I'm 32.
xx

Hey Christmas, welcome to the madhouse! Better late than never...

Those are the ones Pesha. When we went to Italy a couple of years ago, DH kept looking at all the momma's with their enormous arms from years of pasta dough kneading and said 'I didn't know you had any Italian in you, darling'. He got a thick ear. But unfortunately he was right!

Hi everyone, room for one more on this thread?! I'm due 17th July with my third, I'm 34, DD 14yrs, DS 9 yrs x

Hi and welcome Christmas and tigerlily.

Inbetweener your daughter sounds lovely. Makes me look forward to being a mummy (sometimes I feel a bit scared of the whole post-toddler bit).

I am 25+2 now and bump seems to be huge. People can't help commenting but I don't mind - it is nice they are interested and what else can they say! I am getting a bit tired now - my iron levels are OK so I can only assume it is the extra weight and all the effort of making a new person. That and getting up at 3am to pee.

How are preparations going? We have just ordered the pram/pushchair/buggy (don't quite get all the terms but love the one we've picked) and the cotbed. I have a drawer full of baby wipes and I keep buying random baby clothes which are all different sizes. Thank goodness Mum and MIL are going to help me work out what I need.

I am also sporting a very large bump. Surely too big for 25 weeks!
I had a feeling faint and dizzy moment earlier which was a bit scary. THink it was a combination of stress after work, and being hungry. My blood sugar just seems to plummet. It wasn't helped by the fact that I couldn't find the wraps we were meant to be having for a quick dinner. I put them somewhere last night and can't remember where!

Fab what kind of stuff are you going to freeze? I'm thinking home made pasta sauces. And then I run out of ideas! We live on pasta these days.

Sounds like pregnancy brain to me cara! I lost my phone for nearly an hour today by putting it down on the window sill in the loo... never usually bother to take it with me

I was going to do a veggie lasagne, bolognaise and a sausage stew that you can serve with pasta/pots/polenta etc. My friend also sent me a recipe for a tea loaf (never tried) and I wondered about freezing that... I have the sausage stew recipe here actually typed up as I sent it to another pg friend yesterday, so I may as well post it:

Do a couple of onions, quite thinly sliced and finely chop some celery and leek. Sweat them off in some butter/olive oil and then add a pack of nice sausages (you can either leave them whole or take the skins off and roll into ping-pong sized balls). Brown them off, add a couple of sliced apples and about 750ml water/stock/cider and 1tbsp wholegrain mustard. Leave it to simmer for about half an hour, until it's reduced a bit and looks thicker, then stir in a small tub of creme fraiche and add salt and pepper. Then just leave to cool and freeze in portions - would prob serve 3 if the sausies were left whole (2 per portion) or 4 if in balls. Then can be served with tagliatelle, polenta or mashed potato.

Anyone else got any ideas or recipes for The Big Freeze?

evening all! hows everyone? looking forward to a sunny weekend? Im meeting a friend and her boys in the park tomorrow with my little two boys and big one (nearly 12) off swimming with his friends. Then lunch out with my parents. Lovely!

Pesha i love my next linen mat trousers, i have two pairs and just ordered some (shock horror) shorts!!

Morning all! It's so beautiful here, I've just put the second lot of washing out on the line. I'm thinking it's so lovely I'm just going to keep washing until I run out.

Re freezing food - anything with mince is great: bolognese, chilli etc, stews & casseroles, the bottom half of shepherd's/cottage pie. Worth remembering that if you have a chest freezer (a la mine) you can keep stuff for up to 12 months. I'm trying to get ahead and start freezing now but then I have a really busy day and think 'it's ok, there's that batch of chilli/stew/whatever in the freezer, we'll have that' and so it disappears again!

I'd love to order some shorts Nic but what with wearing leggings to hide my un sexy stockings I think it'd ruin the look somewhat! So I'm going to stick with the trousers. Has anyone seen the sand coloured ones from Next in RL? I fancy the white ones but as I'm planning on using them as my linen trews for the rest of the summer (as they're not vv maternity-ish) I'm thinking white post-birth might just be a mistake. What with wearing big knickers and pads for at least a hundred years or so afterwards.

Must admit, I'm feeling a bit today. Nothing specific, just feel as though life is getting on top of me a bit even though I thought I'd be feeling great today as I left work yesterday. Think it might be time for a brew and a bit of my hidden stash of emergency chocolate. DH currently out with dds but thinking fish & chips would be a plan for lunch. Nothing like a bit of good, old fashioned comfort food eh?

Ho hum. Off to fetch chocolate whilst ds is not looking...

Sunshine sunshine! So amazing. I've actually got a chest freezer on our baby shopping list just so I can do this as our teeny tiny one is currently just enough for some ice and fishfingers. Actually quite looking forward to the cooking bit.

Sending you sympathy Button, hopefully the sun will help lift your spirits. I've also been feeling down for a couple of weeks. I think it's mainly hormonal as I've suddenly started feeling sick all the time too. Serves me right for getting off scott free in the first trimester maybe. I do hope it doesn't last right up until D-day. New found sympathy for people who've suffered really bad morning sickness!
By the way, my dh and I have occasionally noticed what feels / looks (and sounds to his ear) like maybe a heartbeat in my bump? It was below my belly button anyway so I'm assuming it's not my heartbeat but it's much slower than when I heard the babies at the hospital. A slow rythmic pulse. Anyone else noticed this? Could it be something else? Strange!

Hi Christmas!

Sounds like your own pulse.....it's really loud in there since being pregnant! You can hear babies heartbeat thru the belly so I am told but later on I think...but I'm a first timer so am due the other ladies can help!

Pram and car seat bought today, cot mattress to go and we are all kitted out with the basics whoo hoo! Well I think we are anyway.

Am in process of eating our way thru the freezer contents to defrost it and can see some really random meals coming up...

As for loss of appetite..I am getting this now but not all the time, like tonight when I devoured a curry. And choc fingers

Have had some nasty stomach pains over las t 2 weeks. I think might have been a bug to start off with but this weeks ones I am wondering if they are Braxton hicks? E eryone keeps telling me they are never painful tho. Is this your experience ladies?

[peeps round door]

Sorry to interrupt, Ladies. Do delete me if I'm typing out of turn...

The sun is shining - and I've just listed rather a lot of summer maternity clothes on the Adult clothes and shoes for sale board. Some of you may be interested!

Wishing you all happy and healthy pregnancies, Lemonsole.