Due Jue 2005, Thread 5

[LipstickMum]

Katz, thanks for your email. I have replied but also said I would post on here my suggestion for luch tomorrow. Basically all I suggested was that at lunch we give our doatios to someone, and they send off 1 cheque to Katz, makes it a bit simpler. I'm happy to send a cheque.

I like Owain and Ioan, they go nicely with Dylan too. Just have to convince my Yorkshire other half that we can have all Welsh-sounding babies. Used my I've-just-given-birth recovery-room trump card to win on names first time round, may have to do that again.

How old is your little one MrsFP?
Charley - you are so right about sun exposure, I haven't put my face in the sun for years - still got wrinkles though grrrr. Must be old age. I did try touche eclat quite recently - I looked like the lead singer in Kiss.....

He's nearly 4. I keep looking at him recently and thinking, where did we get this child from, he's really not a baby any more.

Sorry posts keep crossing. I've got a Ioan as a friend - he gets called Io (yo!) which I'm fond of too. My friend Owain is predictably called 'O'!
This is starting to make me laugh now - we're obviously totally crap at coming up with original nick names.

Hi All,

Its just taken me about 20 mins to catch up!

Charley, i've bought nothing for the baby at all, and i'm a first timer. I've got plenty of time to clutter up my house. I've only bought 3 mat clothes items as well. Still squishing my huge belly into mainly non-mat clothes.

Ah, and Touche Eclat. One of the 7 wonders of the modern world, along with tweezers. Where on earth would I be without them?

I realise this whole work/home thing is such a contentious issue. Sorry, i think i contributed to it by starting the rant . I wish i could go part time, its just not an option. As for cleaners, we have one by word of mouth, however, it is about our 4th attempt at it as most were utterly unreliable. I know its an extravegance, but like a couple of you have said, I work daft hours, my DH is often busy at night (he's in 2 bands) and I want to see him occasionally without being on my hands and knees (don't be rude) scrubbing a floor. Oh, plus I'm hopeless at domestic jobs. However, DH and I have a running joke cos we are terrified of them. They come into my house, tell me off, disapprove of whatever cleaning products I have bought for them, mutter about us under their breath and still get paid!!

..and I love your DS/DD's dinasour/toast preferences. Can you eat it or play with it? No! Not interested then.....

Welshie - are you sure you didn't grab a mascara by mistake?

JonahB - Glad I'm not the only one!

And yes! I don't know where I'd be either without my Tweezermans!

I've never scrubbed a floor.... should I??

Charley - no the sales woman gave me her best pitch and then applied it for me. I looked frightful - I could see this clearly but she then proceeded to tell me that I must be a bit 'odd' to think that as so many women loved the product. I bought a Lancome one that suited me better.
Jonahb - I've got Svetlana who 'does' for me. She's quite good and she saves me from ironing etc that I hate. I've had a cleaner since dd was born - just wanted to spend my free time with her - not the hoover. That said she now finds any cleaning Mummy does really exciting and insists on wiping up after any spillage - any chance of spray polishing fills her with glee.

Welshie - are you sure you didn't grab a mascara by mistake?

JonahB - Glad I'm not the only one!

And yes! I don't know where I'd be either without my Tweezermans!

I've never scrubbed a floor.... should I??

I haven't bought anything for the baby either. Admittedly this weekend Operation "Blag Stuff from My Family" goes into its first phase, I am off to see my cousin in Oxford as she has a whole load of stuff to give me apparently. After that I have to plan in a trip to Chester to see my oldest sister-in-law as she has a load of stuff to give me as well - hurrah for enormous families and rich relatives who shop in Baby Gap!

I haven't bought any maternity clothes but being at home means it's okay to slob around in 1 pair of normal trousers (the only ones I can fit into) or my joggers when the trousers are in the wash I fear steps may have to be taken soon though.

Just been involved in a debate on another bulletin board site on the 'dangers' of baby slings. Someone was saying he had 'checked recent child safety advice' (I have no idea where he got this from) and there is a risk of using a sling cos you might fall over and hurt the baby. I inquired whether he was going to put the baby in the pram to move it from room to room at home - after all, might fall over whilst carrying the baby inside, tsk tsk. Fortunately various other people have now pointed out to him that he should never take the child outside in case of it being struck by lightening, etc.

I think this is the other advantage of the abovementioned large family, I'm quite used to being around babies (obviously used to being able to hand them back when they get loud or smelly though!). I have a picture of my brother watching the World Cup with his newborn son asleep on his chest - covered by a napkin so he didn't get pizza crumbs on him

My friend Owain is called Oyster as a nickname. Bit complicated. Does not involve him being able to produce pearls if you feed him grit. (Although I've never checked).

Whoops - don't know what happened there -weird! must be something to do with this dusty old computer...

Hmmm. We could do with a child who could produce pearls if fed grit at the moment.

Trib, you sound much more prepared than me - I've only ever held a baby a couple of times (I usually decline) and I shook with fear least I drop them

Trib, if you have to go to chester you should coordinate with the northerners meeting!

I'm off now - probably won't log in much over the weekend. Have a good one - and if anyone is stuck at home infront of the TV and fancies a laugh American Idol on ITV 2 has been hilarious. (I am so sad - but I am home alone at the moment)

Well, the Cool Names Book did the job! We have picked two names, quite independantly, that we both agree on!! Am amazed! We've decided we like Bailey and Willem, so hopefully we'll still like them in a week's time!

Dp has gone to a stag do in Barcelona today so am home alone... can eat what I like, watch what I like, do what I like!! Yippee! Being the generous soul he is, he's given me a wad of cash and said he'll treat me to some support maternity knickers and one of those seat-belt things to protect the bump. Great.... I spose the "thought" was there. LOL

Charley, I'm a tweezermans fan as well . Under no circumstances must you ever scrub a floor. Your DH might get used to it and expect that sort of foolish behaviour from you in the future.....

Trib, there's a v. obvious (and dirty) comment to make about your friend Oyster and what my personal thoughts are of what his namesake tastes of, but I won't go there

Can you tell i've lost all inclination to work now?

I agree, Charley. Don't do it. It's bad for your back. Chiropractors can be very expensive, as can private medical insurance. So it really would make more sense to hire a cleaner (who probably already has a bad back anyway ).

What? TREAT yourself to some support maternity anything???? Men are dumb. I've been trying to explain to my dear hubby that maternity clothing of any king is not perk, but a mere unfortunate consequence of being pregnant. Even a new maternity suit does not count as a treat. It simply enables me to go to work to pay the bills. He SOOOOO does not understand. Probably never will. I think for Father's day I may buy him some petrol for his lawn mower.

Charley - don't worry, if you drop them they bounce (Just kidding all)

I don't know whether my experience will do me much good - like I say, it tends to be in the field of bottle feeding, game playing and admiring hamsters / posters of Will Smith / dinosaurs as appropriate. I've never changed a nappy (I draw the line at that) or done breastfeeding (obviously!) so the first few months will all be new to me I think.

As to my friend Oyster, I have no comment to make (Other than it's because his nickname was 'Oster' (like Toaster) and then it got turned into Oyster).

Just had this comment from my friend in Holland: "next to the fact that there are experienced and fully qualified midwives which help you deliver the baby at home, we also have the so-called 'kraamzorg', they help you the first 8 days with housekeeping and caring for the baby and yourself."

Fortunately my mum will be coming on 'Granny Duty' (henceforth to be known as 'kraamzorg duty') but wow - imagine it being provided by the state! Wonder if I can move to Holland and get the benefit of some of that tax I paid there over the years.

Uwila - I agree! I think I might think of something equally boring to give DP so he fully understands my situation!!

However, to give him credit he got very mushy last night when I was complaining about being fat and spotty and said that he doesn't thibk he'll ever not fancy me and that he probably fancies me more now than ever! Aaah - he won't be thinking that when I prance about the bedroom in a pair of support maternity knickers! He he he

I want how countries afford these perks. Do they pay enormous taxes, or do they have some means of independant wealth? I think if the uk emforced these perks on my company, they would just pull out of the uk.

Yeah, but your company sounds like a bunch of a*s, if you get my drift? What you said the other day about pay rises and jobs made my blood boil. Is it quite male orientated or sthg? They seem to have little compassion, empathy or understanding. Perhaps the bosses are all robots with no feelings?

Must go get train. Will hop back on when travelling, if you've all gone by then, have a good weekend! x

ahhhh... scraggy speaks truth. Huge American company. But, I believe all big companies act this way. They are there to please the shareholders. It's the name of the game. But, my question was sincere. How do these country's afford it. They must have their finances set up in a way we don't in the UK.

Oh, and I work in the oil budiness. So, yes, mostly men. Tis true. This was in fact a wonderful perk when I was single.

Uwila - the top rate of income tax in Holland is 60%, if that goes some way to explaining how they can afford such things! Whether companies are also taxed at a higher rate I am not sure.

Partly - without wishing to get too controversial - I think countries like Holland and Sweden can afford much more extensive welfare systems because their spending on things like defence is lower (although Sweden has a HUGE military for a country which hasn't fought a war in 200 years - recently the navy said they would have to start only working 9-5 because of budget cuts ) and because they have much smaller populations, if that makes sense. Also I feel that people there feel a sense of social responsibility to pay taxes so there may be less of this taking wealth offshore, although I have no evidence to back that up.