Due December 08 - time to start blooming and glowing.

[JamInMyWellies]

New thread lovely ladies

I am moving to a very small village in Oxfordshire. I don't want to, I love London, but DP lives there and it is not feasible for him to move. However, I am NEVER giving up my London flat so I hope to have the best of both worlds and come to London often (ask me once I've taken a crying baby and a huge pushchair on the train to Paddington, though...)

LT that is so funny that your little lady was playing with herself.

I hated it, but used a mousetrap and it did seem to work. A mouse ran through our garden the other - hundreds of others probably close behind!!!

Guys, on a different note. What do I do about a friend who never stops whinging to me about her life and how miserable she is. She's single and not very happy about it. I can understand, but it honestly is draining and frustrating and feels like we rarely talk about anything good. I'm constantly trying to boost her up and make her feel better and I'm quite tired of it. Got my own things on my mind now.

I sent her a massive, very carefully thought out email a couple of months ago, telling her that perhaps she should stop wallowing and get out there and DO something with herself and she did go off on an exodus holiday, which is great. BUT she's back and despite having a kiss, it didnt' come to anything and she's back to it again. I'm SO bored of it. Which sounds awful, but it's literally been going on for 2-3 years now and I can't pander to her for much longer. BUT she's also one of my oldest friends and I don't know how to tell her. I don't want to hurt her as she's so down anyway. I've told her to see a counsellor as think that would help, but I think she thinks I'll do the trick. Hmmm. Tired of it. Sorry, feeling rather desperate. And hate to sound selfish about it, but it's reaching crunch point!!!

oh no i love catching the train into London with DS, if you book ahead you can get 1st class quite cheap, very nice.

Just having a giggle as have just read an article saying that eating tofu lowers a mans sperm count. DH has eaten tofu all his life and quite a lot of it and we got pregnant in the 1st month of trying both times we tried. I think that means the research is a bit dodgy. but he is gonna think that if he didnt eat tofu he would be the daddy of all spermholders. The fine print of the story does say that it is overweight men who eat tofu who have lowered tofu (not sure how they managed to rule out other contributing factors) and DH is def not overweight.

LT: Mice, ugh, I can rant about them endlessly. Living in London I think you have to resign yourself to at least one infestation, esp in Victorian buildings. Yoiu have the kill the little buggers, any attempts to be kind mean they bring theor friends and start using your flat as a student dosshouse.

I recommend the cheap spiky killer trap (think old fashioned spring and big spike, made of wood) which you can get in most hardware shops for about a quid. DH;s top tip: set them up on a sheet of newspaper so when you kill a mouse you just bundle the lot up and stick it in the bin. Also (yawn) keep things clean and swept/hoovered to eliminate crumbs. We also tried poison but didn't seem to do much BIG SPIKY TRAPS is the way forward.

White tops: Dorothy Perkins have some good maternity ones.

Good news on your scan but grrr at an hour's gymnastics to get a view of the nasal bone!

Zoe: am originally from Lincolnshire but moved to London about 10 years ago. Family still there so we are up periodically . I love the wolds, hilly without being precipitous!

Beans: I would quietly detach for now. Keep talking to her and listening but stop offering advice or getting involved. Practice 'mmm' and 'what do YOU think you should so about it?' People like that can be very draining and you don't need it at the moment. Also, sounds like the most helpful thing you can do is get her to sort herself out - no-one can do that for her.

Hello Ladies - sorry to barge-in, hope you don't mind... im due 17th Dec, and I agree with LadyThompson I love London aswell have lived here all my life. (Rotherhithe)
Hope the move goes well. x

Beans...steel yourself for a frank chat with her or ever franker second email. I was widowed three years ago and I could've collapsed in a heap and spent the rest of my life like that (tempting) or resolved to enjoy every day of my life, as my DH would have wanted me to. I chose the latter and however difficult someone's life is, one HAS to do this or it's all just a stupid waste. She has got to sort herself out.

Effie, my DP stayed last night and insisted on bringing two of said spiky traps. He is worried about me catching something from the mice and it hurting the baby. We loaded them with KitKat but they didn't go for it. They obviously preferred the taste of the sequins in the kitchen drawer, which weren't attached to a killer spike.

Contrary to everything you read, our mice didn;t go for chocolate or peanut butter, only cheese

Hello Purple! Thanks. I even love London in the summer - was gorgeous walking through Marylebone and Mayfair yesterday evening.

Turniphead, yes we do! I see him at weekends and we have never actually properly lived together. So........it's going to be potentially problematicinteresting when the nipper arrives and I am in the country, mourning the great Metropolis.

LT good on you for your resolve considering what you have been through. and wonderful you have found someone and have a new little life coming along. As the daughter of widowed mother it is not an easy time to get over, and not sure you ever completely do.

I had lived in London for 10 years and love that city sooooo much, summer runs along the regents canal, swimming in the london fields Lido, and wandering along the river from Wapping to canary wharf. But i have been quite surprised how easily i have gotten over it and almost feel a bit guilty that i don't miss it more, i'm sure my friends thought i would be pineing for the big smoke and desperate to get back but i do love the lifestyle we have up here and love that we can drive off for a weekend away and when we get back the last 13miles doesn't take 2hours. It does help that we still have the connection of our flat and will always have a connection as we met there & DS was born there. Def hang onto that flat, will you rent it out?

Beans dump her she is taking your enery without giving anything back. I think you may need to be direct and just tell her to do get a hobby, change jobs or see someone professionally, tell her you don't want to be her counsellor, you want to be her friend.

alternatively you could start describing in detail you symptoms and maybe throw in a few things that you think might happen during birth and she will run a mile.

Newspaper under the mousetraps, genius!!!! so simple but so obvious!!!!

LT - wow, your attitude is completely the one to have and I really admire you for getting yourself back on your feet. must have been bloody hard and it's fantastic that you now have such a positive attitude.

Veggie - good advice. I've tried your first three, but think now I'll tell her that last - very wise - I do want to be her friend, but really not her counsellor - thank you! And i will definitely tell her my symptons! Good plan!

Effie - thanks for your advice too - will stop trying to help. I really can't! She does need to sort herself out! Will go a bit quiet.

I too love London - been here for 12 years - same pad in Battersea - and would love to stay here for ages, but unfortunately our house is only weeny, so after arrival of beast, will have to move somewhere bigger and DH is gagging for a bit of garden. He's a country boy. And I'm happy to go too - think I've done cities for a while. But I'll miss it!

beans I would have another word with her. A few years ago I was in a job that really dragged me down and a friend told me (nicely, but it hurt) that after a year she'd heard enough of my job and if I wasn't going to actually do something about it (ie get out and find another) then she didn't want to here about it. I didn't take offence, and actually realised that I could be proactive, so now I'm grateful. Can you have another chat with her, but maybe make it clear this is the last time, otherwise in another few months you'll be reminding her again. Good luck

ladyt great news about the scan (and so funny about her hands, but worried now what nasty habits my littl'uns got when we see it next week)

effie I agree about the hills (but magically they do become precipitous the minute I get my bike out ...)

veggie will keep an eye out this afternoon for your waving hand!

Ok, signing out for the weekend now, have a good one everyone

We had mice recently and we got a humane mousetrap which really worked. It's like a little tube and you prop the door open, bait the cap at the end, they run in, tip the tube & the door closes. They definitely can't get out. Then you just take the tube outside and tip them out. We found peanut butter was definitely the best bait!

LT, glad the scan went well, even with all the gymnastics!

Veggie, I might give that dvd a go. I have a yoga card deck which you can mix & match but as I haven't been to a class for a while I think I need a proper routine.

Thanks Rosmerta, but someone told me that mice have a phenomenal sense of smell and you have to take them two miles away before they can't make their way back. Sounds unbelievable to me...

Veggie, I won't rent my London flat out unless I absolutely have to. It's going to be my bolt hole! Or mouse hole, at this rate.

We tipped them out into the street outside our house & they haven't been back! Mind you, these were field mice so they might have got a bit lost in the first place!

Rosemerta that card deck sounds interesting too. if you want good preggers yoga dvd i can recommend the Tara Lee one, it's gently without being boring and putting you to sleep esp, if you have already done yoga before. also has a little sub menu for specific poses to deal with certain symptoms.

i have just arranged a phone apt with my old homeopath in London (i'm sure they have them up here but i love this women she's awesome) it is on sunday so i can get myself sorted with some other remedies other than coffee and chocolate. She is a specialist in maternity and child birth care so will be good to chat about stuff and get some advice.

thanks veggie, this is the card deck

oh how nice LP you will have a london pad, or at least the mice will cheeky things. although if you don't have food in the house while your away there will be no point hanging around.

Hello Purple sorry i didnt see your post before welcome. So you live in Rotherhithe, i used to live directly across the river from you. Where are you planning on having your baby.

thanks for that Rosemerta i might have to purchase that for an alternative to the DVD. For postnatal yoga at home i can't recommend 'baby om' enough.

Hi Veggie, St Thomas's - apparently they do tours of their maternity unit, but don't think i'll go until nearer the time. Thanks for the tip about the pregnancy yoga dvd i was looking to start a class in my area, but have had no joy they're all during the day.. so no good as I work. So thanks again.

Yes, being by the Thames is glorious during the summer. So you've obviously moved out aswell then - everyones leaving a few of my friends have moved to Kent and love it