February 2014 - We've got big bumps and we cannot lie...

[DawnOfTheDee]

You other mothers can't deny,
When a girl walks in with an ever expanding waist
And a round thing in your face
You....'d better give her some cake....

etc, etc,

New thread! Enjoy!

LovesToBake Oooh we were there are the same time then! Me and dh were there 1999-2002.....although we did hang around for an extra year in Selly Oak. I worked full time in the Soak if you remember that fine establishment?

We also used to go to Snobs about 3 times a week - indie heaven or was it hell

Oh no marzi! Wee seat bleurgh!

Champagne - worry not I love my rock but I also have my fair share of cheesy loves. I have even seen A1 in concert. A number of times!

DH and I are coming up for our 8 year anniversary on 2nd jan. We met in the ritz in Manchester and I saw his beard and wandering staggered over and told him he had a beard and looked like he "likes this type of music" (I think those two factors plus a pair of all stars were my dating criteria back then - luckily I overlooked the lack of all stars!) and we've been together ever since I do love a nice beard!

marzi that's great that the carpet is in, but I'm shocked they left the place like that. It's really disrespectful, are you going to complain?

I hear what you're saying about a new build. Much though I love my house, the constant maintenance does my head in. I've asked that we buy a new build next.

I know Eeyore :( I'm not sure there's much point. All my dealings with this company have been a complete nightmare (they were meant to fit last Wednesday, I've been calling them every day since and getting either lies or nonsense) so I don't know who it's worth complaining to!

This is just a rental and ultimately it's the landlord who's paying them and who employed them - I've let him know, but he lives overseas and I think he's just as fed up as we are with all the work that he's been forced to have done this year.

Before we lived here I never wanted a new build, always loved period properties (but I grew up in one, and own another, and neither of those have ever had any issues...) but now the thought of a well insulated recently constructed home fills me with glee!

We've lived in a couple of new builds and the house we just bought is a new build. As much as I love period properties, I think new builds are fab. Somehow it makes all our old shabby furniture look great! Also good deals to be had for first time buyers etc.

I like music, but I'm more of a 'whatevers on the radio' person. Always preferred to spend my cash on clothes and make up rather than cds. I do look back on 90s music with affection though!

Dh and I met travelling in 2007 on a little minibus in Australia. I'd quit my job, had no home and a small inheritance so thought sod it and splurged on a round the world trip. Completely luck and fate that I picked that tour out of all the others I could have done. Took us about a week to get together, finished the tour in Oz with him, then changed my plans slightly and flew to Bali with him for a week (he was going home from there). I then went back to Oz and continued travelling with friends I'd met over there for a month. We emailed every day and I flew home a couple of months early, and he picked me up at the airport I stayed at his parents for a couple of days in Cambridge and then went to stay at my mums in Hartlepool. He visited every weekend for about 6 months then he moved up to be with me.

Been together 6 years, engaged for 1, married for 1.

Oh marzi how bloody frustrating. But at least the carpet's in, and you can clean it, and the bathroom, and never have to think about it, or them, again.

DH and I met on New Year's Eve 2006/7, at a goth club, where I had gone to tend to my broken heart. A friend randomly introduced us, and we got talking, and then as the bongs went I thought "what the hell" and snogged him. He handed me his card, we went to separate after-parties and when we finally made contact a week or two later he told me he had just signed a contract to work overseas. So we had a lovely flingette and he flew off and we kept in touch and after I went to visit him a second time he suggested I move over. Which I did, after a little thought, and we've lived together ever since. His New Rock boots are a little dusty, my corsets are packed for the immediate future, and I think he's going to have to cut his long, beautiful curly hair off sooner rather than later in order to avoid IT cliche, but we're still hanging out with filthy gofficks and rockers. (I did engage with the Indie thing, and Pulp, Menswear and Blur were definitely on my playlist, but would still walk over broken glass to get to a Nephilim gig when not knocked up )

Thanks all - the bathroom has been thoroughly disinfected and the carpets will be done in the coming days! At least we can get a Christmas tree now and that will indeed make everything better.

If I wasn't already convinced, I am now. We are moving to a new build in 2014. That's my New Year's resolution.

I love these stories. Isn't it so interesting and brilliant how a ticket booked or a broken heart dragged to a party can lead to something so life changing and wonderful?!

gnitting I also have (recently!) been a corset wearer. And I have New Rock boots

I went for an eyebrow appointment today and the woman who did it had a horrible cold and was breathing all over me - soooo don't want her cold! Argh! Beautiful eyebrows may not be worth it! I did ask her to rewash her hands half way through because she was talking to a colleague and touching her mouth, and was about to touch my nose as a balancing point while waxing/ plucking.

DH and I met online, a little over 3 years ago, and we got married this April. All very dull (apart, possibly, from the site we met on!) compared to you guys!

Oooh that's intriguing Julietee! I sooo want to know what site it was now? Was it dodgy..? Not the usual sort of site for meeting people...? Pleeeeeeease tell us.......

julietee yay someone else who met online! I started chatting to DH online when we were both 15 in a teen chat forum. (so probably not a site quite the same as yours ) We ended up moving onto MSN messenger and both had our separate teen romances but always ended up spending hours talking to eachother almost every day. I moved to uni and broke up with my long term bf and he drove to meet me. We spent a night walking around the city talking and then he ended up in my halls single bedroom for the night . 10yrs on we are married, bought a house and expecting a baby. Didn't expect that at 15!

On the 90s discussion: Yes, I was a Rimmel Heather Shimmer kinda gal. No I wasn't a cool indie kid. Yes I did cry when Take That split and never quite found comfort in Boyzone or Westlife but did start to enjoy 90s R&B (En Vogue, Destiny's Child, BoyzIIMen etc). When I went to 6th form (noughties) I started to get into proper music. I used to obsess over Kickers shoes, my parents spent a fortune on them. I loved making mix tapes from the chart show on a Sunday. I yearned for a pair of Adidas trackie bottoms (though this may just be an Essex thing, not necessarily a 90s thing).

On the recurring hospital bag discussion, my hospital has this info sheet which suggests less is more due to the storage available on the ward. Think might need to trim my packing list down a bit.

I love the stories of how everyone got together with their partners

I'm having a quiet night in watching one born. I'm so emotional I've cried several times already. DH is out at the theatre so I'm on my own in the evening for the first time in ages. It might even be the first time since we were married I have lots of nights out with my friends but he rarely goes out without me unless I'm out anyway.

Loving all the 'how we met' stories. I met DH when I was 17, on Millenium Eve - his best friend was seeing my best friend at the time (they've long since split up) and we shared our first kiss hours and a lot of alcohol later outside the pub while the Millenium fireworks went up. Very cheesy :-) I moved in with him six weeks later and my parents were very far from impressed. A twice-my-age divorcee with two kids?! Looking back, I'm not surprised at their reaction. But here we are, coming up to 14 years together, 7 years married and (nearly) 2 kids of our own... Who says a big age difference can't work!

Ooh, and I wore Heather Shimmer too!

Jazz Adidas tracksuits were totally a 90s thing where I was! I got one for my bday in year 6! Must have looked like a stripy moron. I never heard of heather shimmer but I didn't wear makeup til my early 20s.

Dawn Um. Yes. Let's say it was a site for people who knew they wanted someone interested in kink for a relationship. So, a bit 50 shades before that was a thing. Not that that plays any part in our lives anymore! (and probably won't again for aaaages :( )

Yowzers Julietee

I met my DH in true Shropshire styleeeeeeee, at a hunt point to point. We'd not met before but had lots of mutual friends, really thought nothing would come of it as he was at uni in Durham and I in Oxford, so for the first time in my life I didn't completely obsess over him. We fell in love, moved back to Shrewsbury, moved in, bought a dog, got married, bought a bigger house, got another dog and then got up le duff.

Ah Shrops how weird that you know EE. I saw the mat the Forum in Kentish Town. Sat in Costa Coffee until about 9 to save the legs rather than watching the support band then ran down to catch their set!

I love the weird chance encounters of how you all met your baby daddies.

Me and DH met when his band supported
my band at a tiny local gig put on by friends when we were 17. Rock and roll.

wide awake and starving hungry it would be silly to start baking now, right?!

It's never too early to start baking

Never too early. I was baking most of yesterday for ds2's Christmas party but my amateur efforts were rubbish against the other mum's elaborate cake designs. One had made a Christmas tree cake with working lights and the winning table had brought a Snowman cake with a removable head and sweets inside. I was a bit embarrassed about my Iced star biscuits and flapjacks that all stuck together.
So if any of you first time mums want a chance of winning Christmas party awards you better start practicing.
I am so happy. It seems that my Restless Leg issue that led to almost constant insomnia is actually a mixture of cramp and RLS which means I can help it just by putting the heating on at night and eating a banana (hate bananas though). I slept for 3 hours straight last night and I feel amazing. Also, last day at work today. I know some of you left yesterday so enjoy your first day off.

Dawn I remember The Soak well. My DH worked at the Gunbarrels throughout his time at Uni.

Shrops which college was your DH at? Thinking if he's the same age as you we may well have overlapped.

Julietee you dark horse

So...sorry if a horrific amount of information...but pooing this morning was very painful and a fair bit of blood when I wiped. Is this the start of the dreaded piles/hemorrhoids and my true descent into old woman-dom?!

Sounds like it could be, marzi. I really wouldn't worry about it though, just up your fruit and liquid intake and it should stop the bleeding in a couple of days. I got them with my first when I was 19 so I started old age pretty early I guess. It does come and go though and mostly disappears after the birth. It's really common but not many people admit to it, obviously.

Thanks Thingy. I was thinking I'm probably a bit dehydrated at the moment (find it really hard to drink when it's cold) so that's no doubt it.

marzi eeek! But don't worry just yet! I used to get this once in a blue moon when I was a hard-smoking, heavy-drinking, generally disrespecting my colon kind of girl, and it probably isn't piles, yet. Drink lots of water, eat lots of fruit, take some stool softener and treat your bowel like the tetchy tyrant it is. Apples and pears have a specific kind of fibre that's very good for you, so scoff those if you can. Don't go overboard on the insoluble fibres, as they might make it more sore. And flushable moist tissues by the loo. Good luck, and don't panic!