Due in Jan 2009 - Grumps, bumps and heffalumps (the 3rd thread)

[LenniEd]

He he Loved that idea FLF!

thing is, when it comes to it:
a) you are unlikely to have much choice
b) you are so desperate to have your baby out you don't care how it happens
c) you are so tired you are just happy that you and your baby got through it and are well and that you will probably..

d) will never, ever have sex again so you never have to think about.

easy really.

the problem is that d isn't really an option as the excuses run out after 6 months

Scholarships! That is the answer

We have just figured out that we can't afford to buy in any kind of decent schools catchment. Very early to be thinking about it but better than fixating on the birth!

i'm sure you are right... LALALALA...

today i feel as though something is gnawing on the inside of my right breast. oh well, at least my left breast isn't hurting. small mercies, eh?

i should stop whinging really. since i am actually ridiculously pleased about my kid - my bump has stopped feeling like an excess of biscuits to me and has started feeling like a bump, which is completely amazing.

fy&b my little ones go to a private school (3.10 and 2.6) we were going to continue them on in private education. i used to teach in a very good public school until i had my first child. i was hoping to get a job in one again as the teachers get upto 70% off their children attending, depending on the school. we cant afford it now we have twins on the way but we can opt to send our children to a state school outside the catchment. we might not get in but i am looking at other schools. my local one is better than it was and now i am going to be at home for longer i have more time to top up their education and give them more of what they would have had at an independent school.

one word of warning about independent schools, look closely at the teachers qualifications. To teach in a state school you need to have an honors degree and a teaching qualification (often a PGCE) these rules dont apply to independent schools. some (like my old school) expect you to have more than a state school would expect and they look for people who have done things outside uni that can be of a use to the pupils and the school. BUT one school i have seen teachers qualifications lower than degree standard. they have made no effort to train further and therefore they are stuck at that school (as they are not qualified to teach in a state school, and most independents will not want them). i certainly would not pay £4000 a term for them to teach my children and the school is obviously not investing in its teachers. also most fees will be going up, if they have not already. they are also increasing class sizes quietly as the cost of running the schools is increasing.
there is a big change in assisted places happening in schools with charitable status. There was an article in the Times Ed last week about the assisted places for choristers might be at risk as they are finding it harder to discriminate for musical talent. it might be the same for sporting talent as well. financial background might be a bigger factor.

i also agree with you moving at this time, your house might have fallen in value but the bigger house you will be buying will have fallen more with any luck.

eachpeach my whole family are brack addicted!

I love brack too - its just about the easiest baking you can do. You just have to soak the fruit in the tea overnight (although I have been known to leave it for a couple of hours instead if I'm desperate to eat some ) then mix in the egg and flour and bake.

I started out with the basic bero recipe here (at the bottom of the list under scones and tea loaves) but have adapted it over the years and now make it in different ways depending on my mood.

I tend to miss out the sugar and add extra fruit instead - that way I get to eat more of it as I can truthfully say its low fat and has no added sugar. The dried fruit is a good source of iron as well so now I have even more excuse for eating tonnes of it )

Another way to adapt it is to use a weaker tea solution and add cinnamon or mixed spice or use a fruit/herbal tea (I like elderflower and lemon tea) in place of the traditional tea for a more fragrant flavour.

Can you tell I love baking problem is, I also love eating the results!

Oooh Moosemama- thank you!
When I was a wee girl, the Bero cookbook was my favourite one! (With the little dark haired girl on the front)I didn't even know they still sold Bero flour

I am going to make this this weekend! Yummy!

so am I, that looks great!

When DH and I moved in together My MIL proudly presented me with a Bero cookbook! It is still my best baking book - a gingerbread house gets baked every christmas from there! DD was born 28 Dec - gingerbread house was my nesting that year, it was a masterpiece

Oh, and on the birth thing am with FLF totally and the LALALALALAs - also - and hate to break it to you - I tore quite badly with DD but her crowning was so painful anyway and finally getting it all over with such a relief that I never even knew I'd got a tear until about 30 mins later when they got the needle and thread out

Don't worry about the birth - there really is nothing you can do about it now. What goes up must come down as they say

...and its a long way down .

I grew up with the Bero cookbook and was sooo excited to find a copy for sale in Morrissons when I lived in Lancashire a few years back.

You can still buy a copy for £1.50 by sending off to the address here

Don't think I've seen their actual flour for sale anywhere recently, although tbh I haven't been looking out for it.

I assumed it was, because there is a picture of the packet on the website

morning

ye for sat

i am off to toysrus to chose dds xmas pressy have the money being organised!!
in aft we rae having lunch in town then asking in estate agents about selling.

Hey ladies, hope you are all doing well. I'm 16 weeks today, yay!!! Good luck with all the moving plans, don't know how you all do it. I'm overwhelmed just keeping the house clean and planning to move rooms around to make a baby room (DH's has to give up his study and move it downstairs to the empty dining room).
Seems like everyone has started shopping, suppose I should too but it just seems so early. I find out the sex at my 20 week scan, so I'll really start shopping after that. Does anyone have any thoughts on second hand cots? if I buy a new mattress it should be ok right? I'm in the US, and good baby furniture is really expensive here. Wish I could pop down to Mothercare or John Lewis!!

hi shanster
i'm amazed that people are shopping - though i'm sure i'll regret it when i'm doing an impression of the goodyear blimp at mothercare later in the year... but still feel vaguely like it would jinx things, somehow.

pretty sure it's the mattress and not the cot that matters, but will defer to others with greater expertise...

we have got 2 valuations for the house mon and tues.
got through 20 wk scan date is on 29th of aug dds 3rd bday.
decided to leave xmas pressy and buy nearer the time instead got dd some jigsaws and threading beads in elc sale.
congrats on 16 wks shanster i am 16wks thursday.

shanster, i think it is just the matress as you can detox/milton the wooden cot. i gave our cotbed away last year but not the matress as we had moved it into my little girls car bed (she is mad on cars and has a little yellow bettle style bed).
in our local adtrader cots/cotbeds are really cheap secondhand. i will probably be getting ours from there and getting new matresses.

oh and when i had my little boy i was told that if you give birth/go into labour in mothercare you get £250 or a years supply of nappies. it might be just an old wives tale sort of story but people kept telling me when i was overdue to go in there.

tinks, i have bought a few xmas pressies already, in fact i have had them a while, i bought some great babyborn accessories in boots 70% off sale and couldnt resist.

i have bought loads of baby items but i am just worrying that i will be so big later on that i will not be able to go out much. i already think i am the size of six months and i am 16 weeks today. the books say i could be full term size for a single baby at 28weeks with twins.
they could unfortunately come that early as well and i will certainly not want to be shopping with babies in SCBU.

Evening all,

Am 17 weeks now!

Wow, are we discussing births already! Yikes, don't think i want to think about it.

I felt the baby move last night. It's such a wonderful experience.

Has anyone else felt definate moving yet?

Shanster- where abouts in US are you? [nosey emoticon]

I think 2nd hand is fine- very green too!
First time round, by the time dd was born, we had spent a total of £67.30 excluding the travel system (which we did buy new)- that was for everything, as we got much second hand, and passed on by friends etc.

This time, we will have to buy a new buggy as the other one is on its last legs, and a changing mat... seems to be disintegrating, but don't really need anything else.

stripywoolenhat i've had the same breast pain. WTF is it? it was keeping my awake night before last. just my right one too. strange.

i'm a bit miffed today because DH has been pissing around with the laptop the last couple of days, downloading 'crossover' for our mac so he watch Man U games and now something screwy has happened. everything has a box around it and i have no sound. go figure.

i'm feeling really moody, to the point that i'm ready to rip someone's jugular. heres to hoping i don't come in contact with another human today. think i'll hibernate in my room. my uncle is driving me nuts so it very well may be him that gets today. grrrr...

chefswife I'm with you on the moodiness. My poor kids have really had a tough time since they broke up on Tuesday. The combination of them being over excited about our holiday next week, my hormones and me having to get everything organised and ready has resulted in quite a few 'short fuse' episodes.

To cap it all the camper only came back at about 3.30 this afternoon (should've been back on Tuesday, then Thursday, then Friday!) When it did come back it was absolutely filthy inside and out as it has just had a whole load of bodywork done. To cap it all the new door and opening rear window haven't been fitted as they 'ran out of time' (they only had it for 7 weeks!) and because they thought they would have a new door on it before it came back they have damaged the old one even more (DH is on the drive as I type trying to do a temporary fix.)

So I have spent the entire evening scrubbing and vacumming the camper when I should've been packing!

Ignore me, like I said, verrry moody this week - the heat isn't helping though, its making me too tired to do anything before I start!

as much as i bitch about how utterly boring suburbia is, it is a blessing on moody days. i'm glad that i don't have little ones right now because i'd probably lock them in the basement

i'm also very anxious to back to artmaking. just waiting for some supplies and it's probably going to another week. i do art writing as well but with preggy brain, i'm writing as if i'm sixteen.

aaaaarrrggghhh! moosemama - sounds like you have good reason to be annoyed - that would have me screaming like a banshee down the phone at the garage hormones or no hormones! But then I get wound up easily when things don't get done on time - just can't help myself

Shanster I was told by my midwife last time to spend as little as I could get away with on a cot (as long as it met safety standards) but as much as I could afford on a mattress. Looking back it was sensible advice I think as DD was out of the cot by 15mo and only went in it at about 4mo so it got less than a years use, and even with being used again with this one it will only get 2 years use in total. We paid about £70ish for it in Mothercare and it is still good as new, so I would imagine secondhand cots are in pretty good condition really.

cot... is this a crib. i think i just had an epiphany. well, a better understanding anyhow. i've been looking at ones that the sides come off and the mattress drops so it becomes a bed. i wonder if this is a waste of time seeing as how we are likely to try for another child about a year after this one.
this whole baby accessories buying stuff is making me mad. i think the only investments i'll make is a nice blanket, they can sleep where they lay and a leash and leader for the the back yard where they can run around naked and the goat can babysit them till they go to kindergarden.

in my humble opinion a cotbed (that is what the ones that change into a bed are called here) is prob a waste of money if you are planning on having 2 close together. My DD went straight into a normal single bed at 15months - no trouble at all with falling out and has saved us buying an inbetween toddler bed and all the asociated bedding - plus there will be no more bed changes until she leaves home - apart from the mattress!

Some people prefer the codbeds as they are roomier once the baby starts moving about, and apparently they don't end up with their arms and legs trapped as often. But I personally think that is just luck rather than anything to do with the cot since they aren't much wider really, just longer and if the baby gets to the side they aren't going to think 'Hmm, I'm at the side, I'll move over' they'll just stick their arms through the same as in a cot and scream when they realise they are stuck. But then I am a cynic when it comes to spending on baby gear - they will sell you anything on the basis that it has a multitude of uses, and you'll think 'oh, how handy' when really you are just being marketed into spending more than you need to.