Due in March 07 - Counting Down the Days Now....

[LunarSea]

New thread because the old one's about to hit the 1000 posts mark.

Lol Diva - it's okay I was only being silly - although I am really nesh though it's true! I think they may have been bh's, I got them on Sunday as well, can't think of what else they were anyhow! If that's Braxton Hicks what's the real thing gonna be like

Foxy I was thinking those were the sort of questions I might have asked before I joined MN but then I saw your friend isn't a first timer like me, so yes, no excuse!

Oh Lunar you've reminded me about Valentine's day, I think I will make a card for dh just in case he gets me one. We're not big Valentine's day people tbh, but last year he got me a card when I hadn't got him one, so I'd better be prepared this year just in case!!

Foxy, congratulations on your mortgage offer, must be a relief!

Are you really thinking of leaving London? £180k sounds a lot but thinking about it you would probably pay about that for a four bedroomed house in some places up here, and Wilshire is down South!

I don't understand anything about mortgages and interest and that sort of thing though. All I know is that ours is a "special" mortgage because of our bad credit rating!!

Mossy - Janet Balaskas is a natural birth guru - she set up the Active Birth centre. She's all about taking control so you get the birth you want. I've found it quite interesting reading as a first timer.

Sadly, there is no Asda anywhere round here so Matalan it will be. Unless they have cheap pants in Lidl. I was a bit annoyed with Primark - they only go up to a size 16-18 which will fit but I want really big pants :D

I'm a bit worried about money too. Just trying very hard not to think about it too much at the moment.

My DH is not getting a card

Mossy - my friend is very different to you - she's done all this before and also she has all day long to read up on this stuff, unlike most people on mn who either have large families and or work etc and by and large seem very active busy women. She's intellectually lazy as well as physically lazy and seems to expect me to give her info. on everything, while she herself never reads books, never buys newspapers, never looks up stuff on the internet etc. I'm being horrible, but don't care

...oh and another thing. She put her son into nursery 8am-6pm every day from the age of two - even though she's a sahm, because she didn't want him messing up her day (which usually consists of manicures and trying clothes on in shops)but had the audacity to suggest that women who work shouldn't have large families as they're not very committed mums!!

gggrrrr

Mossy - we got a high credit score - purely 'cos we have so many debts, so there was loads of monthly payments going out to score us on LOL

great news on the mortgage Fox! At least that's one thing less to worry about. You are often fantasising about moving, maybe you should go for it, have a slower pace, get a big house with spare bedrooms so your friends can all come stay...less work, more fun I say!

My sister is a honey, she's trying to cheer me up by arranging for me to be able to go swimming. They won't need a wavemaker machine when I get in there

Just phoned the County Court in St Helens. It will be May before we get a hearing in the Small Claims / get the money back from NatWest. I suppose on the positive side it means that I don't have to worry about going to court heavily pg / with a very new-born baby, but it also means that the much-needed cash-injection is a while off yet.

I am starting to feel a little stupid as well; I had the opportunity to take a settlement from them; it was just over half the amount they owe, but we decided against it as we'd heard so many success stories from people who held out getting all the money back. It would have paid off some debts and given us about £100 or so left over for baby stuff.

Ah well. Fingers in ears, theme tune from The Magic Roundabout playing...

Sazzy will look into Janet Balaskas, have you read Ina May Gaskin / Sheila Kitzinger at all?

Afternoon.

My lovely Dad's here wallpapering . God love 'im.

Tour of the labour ward this afternoon. Thought we'd better find out where it actually is .

Foxy: congratulations on your mortgage! We're planning to move out of London at the end of 2008. Everywhere is cheaper isn't it? We want to move to Dorking, which is expensive, but still cheaper than the rather dangerous area we live in now!

Mossy: to give you an idea of the mad property prices down here, we live in a 2 bedroom flat in a relatively cheap area of Zone 2 London, and atm it's worth about £280,000. Foxy lives in a nicer area than me , and I'm guessing her house is worth more. Do it Foxy! You know you want to...

Sorry for your DP/H probs. Lunar: I sincerely hope he's apologised.

Rosy: you sound like you're very patient with your DH. . Hope you've got lots of nice friends to look after you.

Kitty: serves your DH right for being so bloomin' nosy! Personally, I never want to know what people say about me. The only rule DH and I have is that we only moan about each other to members of the same sex. So I won't moan to my male friends about him, and he won't slag me to his female friends. We all need to let off steam sometimes... .

Sazzy: congratulations on your thread!

Sorry to anyone I've missed.

EDD 3/3
37+1
Boy

Booboo !

The last place we rented up here, just under 18 months ago, a two bedroom terrace with an upstairs bathroom, back yard, GCH, double glazing... cost us less pcm than a teeny, one bedroom flat, no central heating, no double glazing, no yard or anything, in Lewisham (also Zone 2!) about six years ago, goodness knows what it costs now!

So... move up here! Come and eat chips & gravy, I'll look into whippets for you and I'm sure you can get a lovely flat cap at the Asda!

Booboo have just re-read that, it was not meant to sound as gloating as it did!!!! It was meant more in shock than anything!!

Hey, remember, you get Greenwich Market and the Cutty Sark pub ... I get St Mary's Market and The Ship Inn!

Laidback did the post mortem shed any light as to what went wrong for your friend that you recently lost? I seem to remember you saying she was a nurse... the horrible thing is they are often the worst people for ignoring warning signs... well a friend I have who is a nurse nearly died of septicemia thinking she just had flu... so they can definately be a breed apart.

Happy Monday all

Still ill but dragged myself off to Mothercare this morning. Got a gift for a friend's new baby and a few essentials.
Managed to pick up some raspberry leaf tea tablets so will start necking those later today

rosy - sorry about your dp, hope he makes it back in time and his mum is not as bad as they think

kitty - at your dh reading posts and leaving comments, next he'll be posting on here too! are his ears burning yet?

good news on mortgage, fox. did you get a fixed rate one? must be good to know it's all sorted, last thing you want to be doing with a newborn is all that form filling.
it's definitely worth your dh at least trying the pat leave though - honestly - dh was just the same, he only checked their policy about 2 weeks ago, turns out they didn't actually have one but now they do and he gets a week full pay then a week statutory. probably he was supposed to tell them when as well but didnt read that bit. i'll have to get him to check.

lucky you, booboo! keep him working hard!

terrible nights sleep worrying over stuff and rock hard stomach all night. at this rate there is no way I'll last til 40 weeks so better make sure everything is ready for action I suppose. every time I think about things I get horrendous braxton hicks that last about 20 mins of rock hard stomach. cannot be good for either of us.

lol Mossy: I didn't think you were gloating.

I loved living in N. Wales, and thought about buying a house up there at one point. (When I lived there you could get a 3-bedroom in the town with a big garden and view of Snowdon/the sea for £50,000).

However, we're lucky in that the flat has really shot up in value since we moved here. One good thing about living in an 'up-and-coming' bit of London is tha the prices increase at a faster rate than anywhere else, so hopefully we can move from our flat into a mansion.

Or perhaps not.

Morocco: try and relax if you can! Have lots of lovely baths in the evening and listen to nice music. hope your tummy softens up soon.

Muppet - no news from the psot mortem yet - I asked my midwife if she had heard anything - but she is not allowed to say because of confidentiality - fair enough if you ask me.

Boo - my friend bought a studio flat in Ladbrook Grove in July last year for £260,000 and has just had it revalued at £500,000. It DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A BEDROOM !!! Has the world gone mad. He is selling up and cashing in - good for him I say whilst people have got cash to spend !

How did everyone get on with their scans ??

Boo - my friend just sold her two bed flat in Richmond for £511,000 and it went to sealed bids - its obscene!!! I've been there and it was OK but nothing special IYKWIM (not a penthouse)

Dorking is where my very attractive GP moved to . How srious are you about moving

Mossy - I reckon it may be worth the wait re your Nat West claim - be patient my dear you may end up with double what they offered you?

Morocco - its a tracker on 4.84, interest only so we can overpay, then take a 3 month break without going into arrears, so I can stay off work slightly longer

Hope the scans are going Ok for Jay and Kitty...

Must try and do some work this arvo...

Fab pics of Jordi Nat/CAllie and very funny captions
reckon your sense of humour must have really helped see you through the last few weeks.

Arrghhh dd is really ill, hacking cough that troubles her (and therefore me) all night and all day long - she is clinging to me 23/7 (I'm here for the 24th hr)

I have had about 4 hrs sleep TOTAL in 3 days and am wrecked and also coming down with it myself.

Dp is not being nurturing at all, no affection am feeling very very tearful and rundown, he is his usual self nice and friendly and kind but no words of pity or a anything.
when dd got up on Sun morning, he could have got her up and taken her downstairs and let me sleep a bit longer, which he did but only after she had climbed all over me for an hour.
Men just lack that little something...
He sat playing pc game last night - I said at 9pm I wanted to go to bed, he said he was not tired, then I remembered no ironing of his work stuff had been done so I mentioed it and he went oh yeah, damn and went back to his pc game, so like a bloody mug I did it all...
I'm ready to spit in his food tonight.

Foxy we could end up with about £2k in charges, plus our costs. Trouble is, we've had to stump up the costs, which are over £200, in advance, just at the time when that £200 could have been spent on far more useful stuff!

But you are right, it will be a welcome bonus in May, much needed too, as that will be just after my maternity pay goes from 90% of salary, to about £108 per week. Always look on the bright side and all that

Booboo / Laidback, isn't it ridiculous how house prices go up? When we first moved back up here, and were renting, we used to see terraced houses for sale at about £50 in the really nice bits of St Helens, and semi-detached houses at £70k. By the time we came to buy, only a few years later, they'd shot up by £30k! And yet no one's earnings shoot up like that, surely it has to stop at some point?

Still as you say you can buy a mansion now if you move out of London!!

TheBlonde I got the Raspberry Leaf Tea, it us just like any herbal tea imo, smells lovely but tastes of lightly flavoured hot water! So capsules are probably a wiser idea!

Piffle what would he have done if you hadn't done his ironing? I hope he at least thanked you!!

Morocco hope you get some rest, when are you due?

Piffle go on strike! You poor thing, you need to rest.

Morocco I am being absolutely tortured with braxton Hicks aswell. It seems constant at the moment and it's so tiring and the house has been trashed by the children again, and I need to tidy up for the cleaner coming tomorrow! Argh.

Well dh has booked his flight to go on friday and come back 27th suggested by his sister over there (who I love) because she said he needs to be here at that point...I couldn't say that to him because if anything happens to his mum I couldn't forgive myself. So if her health holds up there is hope he'll be back in time ...fingers crossed anyway...

Wondering how the scans go too.

my mums hous ein NE london would have been worth about 280k last time she looked into the prices.its a 2 bedroom terrace.

my house is worth about 170k so they told me.

how can anybody afford to live down south now?thats what annoyed me about that single parents benefit thread,people were saying that if you live in a high unemployment area you should just move.er,yeah,if i owned this house,imagine what i could get for 170k in london

fox-i keep feeling hot,it comes and goes like hot flushes

moss-my dp likes chips+gravy,yuk.northern food is something else,i remember when i first moved up here my ex's dad bought everyone a meat+potato pie,and i said 'what meat is it?'.they all looked at me like i was mad.
the first things i always get when go down south are a decent chinese(with no gravy on)and a saveloy

I had chips and gravy for lunch

Diva lol at "what meat is it?" When I came back up here from London the first thing I did was sort myself out with a huge chips & gravy; no proper gravy in the whole of London!!! And a decent tub of scouse. Oh and a Birchall's pork pie... the queue round Birchall's Butchers literally goes all the way around the shop, then outside (although that's St Helens, not Liverpool, it's a bit odd even to me; I mean they're nice, but...)

What's saveloy?

We could never have afforded to buy a house in London in a million years, it took us long enough up here! I think tbh that was one of the things that depressed dh about London so much, you'd walk past these normal looking houses, like three bedrooms, semi-detached, so it's not like they were absolute mansions, and realise that you hadn't a chance of buying them. Whereas up here you can at least look at a nice house and think, "one day..."

Rosy, this might sound like a silly question but why do you need to tidy up for the cleaner, isn't that their job?

Rosy dh has stopped us eating takeaways partly for cash reasons and partly because he's on some kind of health kick!

Diva - I thinks its all a bit obscene really - Our house has gone up by over £100k since we moved in 2 years ago and I don't see why we should just be "given" that money. On the other hand we just live to work to pay our mega mortgage - its a ludicrous way of living.

If this "leave the rat race" urge continues while I'm on mat leave we'll deffo consider moving to Wiltshire. We like Sussex too (near the sea) but I think sits also expensive so would defeat the object.

Hey working girls - are any of you getting a send off and presentation (talking gifts/vouchers here) from your colleagues? I didn't think about it until someone asked then remembered I got pressies in my last job.

Foxy re: sendoff - frankly I doubt it. I imagine they will club together a fiver each to get me some Mothercare vouchers, at least I bloody well hope so because I've put in so many effing fivers into people's birthday / leaving prezzies over the years!

Anyway it would be far too tempting to quote the Blackadder line, "I'd like to say how much our association has meant to me over the years, but as we both know, that would be a complete and utter lie. So I'll just leave by saying 'Sod off, and if I ever see you again, it will be twenty billion years too soon!'"