Dec 08 - the one where we wonder what are our bodies going to do next?

[rosmerta]

Sorry for rubbish title, best I could do

oli, sorry ds is still waking up early, I can't cope if ds is up early one day a week so don't know how you manage it!

verso, sorry but I was lol @ your Ikea story, just like you were wayward children! Your poor mum though!

I've just heard back from the hb support group co-ordinator, going to a meeting at the end of Sept. Am really looking forward to it!

Veggiemummy, I was born in Melbourne, but grew up north of BNE. Went to America for 5 years or so and then came over to the UK about 3-4 yrs ago. DH is British and we're here for a few more years with his job and then hopefully move back to Aus much to mother-in-law's dissapointment i'm sure Where do you live? I'm in SW London now with first bub coming - right now just have a neurotic 8 mth labrador!

I'm looking for a buggy now - has anyone had any of the Out-n-about range? They're my fav so far, but pricey. Can anyone recommend any others? Want 3 wheeler with decent long walk / jog ability! Hope this hasn't been covered already - I wasn't reading it for a bit when my internet was down

Olipop those early mornings are a killer aren't they? My DS is an early riser too though he is getting a bit better (fingers crossed). Still woke at 6am today but he did go back to sleep in our bed for an hour or so.

KMp1/Veggie have you read that thread on moving to Aus? Some of it got quite offensive I thought.

My friend had a baby in a hospital in Sydney a couple of weeks ago.Horrible three day induction ending in a c-section, but afterwards she stayed in for a week and her DH could stay with her. Here in Brighton partners are kicked out sharpish.

I am 24 weeks today which feels like a milestone as the baby becomes viable.

no don't think i've seen that thread - do you have the link?

it is on the homepage titled 'emigrating'. my link did not seem to work. I thought it would be all 'oh yes we should all move for sunshine and outdoor lifestyle' but didn't quite go that way!

oh do they have a fight, i know it's naughty but secretly love reading threads that gets a bit feisty, not mean and nasty just a bit feisty. I think we should have no trouble getting home apart from general moving 10years of crap, as we all have residency (mine by birth DH naturalised & DS by decent).

KMP up until feb this year i lived near Canary Wharf but we moved up to a a bit more country, and cheaper life in Derby. We plan to move home in 2010, i think. We do love it here, have great British friends and unlike many Aussies don't mind the weather but now we have a child and another on the way we think we would like them to grow up in Australia near family etc.

Veggiemummy yeah that's how I think - we actually moved from Devon back to London due to DH work, but I'd like another baby after this one and hope to get home before they are school age. For us it'll be 2012 I think. majormoo I never found that thread - but i'm sure i'll stumble across it!

kmp, here's the thread

We were hoping to move to Oz about 3yrs ago but were quite surprised to find that dh being in IT didn't give us enough points! I'd love to live abroad still, maybe in a couple of years.

i did actually find that thread when you mentioned it earlier Rosemerta i only read 1st page so not sure if it gets any worse, but was funny because all the things the ladies complained about (racism, 20 years behind, sexist) were all things i felt about the UK when i first moved here. I found loads of frustrations i hadn't expected (mainly from working with the NHS and trying to negotiate the banking system) I guess whenever you move OS you have a view of it being greener pastures but it's not always the way. Now i see over here as better and worry about settling back in when we go back home.

the only thing i would disagree with that they were saying is about culture, i feel even though we don't have a long white history, we still have quite a lot of culture esp the arts but i guess it's more to do with how i grew up, it may be harder to walk in and find it.

Olipop: DS is up at 6am at the latest atm, usually wakes 5-5:30 and (if we're lucky) comes into bed with us and snoozes until 6. Not can I manage a lie-in because if DH gets up with him he just comes and shouts at me until I get up too! (DS that is not DH). I can sometimes manage a sneaky nap if DH gets up after breakfast is over and takes DS off to the park, which he did on Saturday

someone metioned the rabbit clock, a friend whose son wakes at 5.30am uses it and manages to keep him at bay until 7am, he either goes back to sleep or stays in his room to play.

T'was me! The rabbit clock has saved our sanity more-or-less. I was getting very tired of 5am-5:30am starts! Problem is it's probably genetic as DH always used to wake up at 5:30am, regardless of me finding it a tad early. (Cause of some tension in the early days of our marriage as I tend to wake up at 6:30am which I think is plenty early enough and am NOT much good any earlier than that!)

Pity the 5:30am waking doesn't seem to happen now we have a DD who wants entertaining at that time...

well I just read some of that other thread and got really wound up by it so had to stop! I agree Veggie I had some of the same probs when I moved here - especially the banking which I found very backwards! I laughed at the "new chip and pin" thing which we have had in Australia for literally YEARS! It's called "Eftpos" Anyway, thanks for the chuckle in posting that link - despite the frustrations I have with my husbands (British) family and the way they are very old school, are very stand-off-ish, talk around things and don't say what they really mean, I do enjoy living here!!! That said, I am also looking forward to moving home one day soon! Kmp x

he he he yeah i say 'eftpos'to shop people and they stare at me strangely. I only read the first page of the thread so didnt see if it got nasty. Don't forget australians can be quite annoying to British people when we go on about what annoys us here.

True - I know -- I used to live next door to "The Puzzle" and got really tired of all the Aussie's / Kiwi's in there always going on about how great Australia is and how much they dislike life in the UK - yet they've been here for ever working in Pubs in London! Then eventually they go home saying how cool it was living and working in London!
Anyway, digressing a bit here - I will stay on topic now I promise!!!
Another restless night with the Rugby player in my tummy!!

Morning all

CM is on holiday for three weeks and DH and I are already feeling the strain . He's taken a couple of weeks off (bar crucial stuff) and I have the first week in Sep. I think we'll be heading off to see family (and get some babysitting) at several points! Hats off to those at home f/t at the moment with a toddler. Especially when it's raining...

I don't think the thread got particularly nasty, there were just 2 opposing views! I think a couple of people had moved out there and it wasn't what they were expecting which is always going to put you on a downer with a place really!

Have to say, we want to Oz for our honeymoon and loved it. We have a friend living in Melbourne, she took us to her local pub when they were having a street party and I don't think I've ever met such a welcoming and lovely bunch of people. We had so many drinks bought for us we could barely make it to the taxi at the end of the night .

Anyway, will leave it there now!

Effie/Oli, my niece apparently is also an early waker and while she will play in her room happily, she has to go and tell her mum & dad that she's awake. Nothing they've tried has got her out of that habit!

Kmp, I had a very bouncy junior last night as well!

Hi everyone,

an occasional early morning riser here too, but to be fair he is v good and will lie in his cot chatting to his teddies until we go get him.

Didnt read the Oz thread but I spent a fab 3 wks there back in 2000 visiting friends and it was great. I think whe it comes down to moving to another country there are always good and bad things and you have to be relatively open minded and try and not have set opinions. That said when I moved to NY I assumed everyone would be dressed like the girls in sex and the city I was v relieved to find that that is not the norm.

Veggie, Arti hope your LO's had fab birthdays.

Pretty boring wkend here went up to London village on Saturday to be dipped and stripped in preperation for our hols gwad I had forgotten how sore it is to be waxed when pregnant. Then any of you LOndon ladies in need of maternity clothes I popped into Gap and got some nice cropped jeans and a couple of pairs of shorts and t-shirts all reduced massively.

Had a bit of a panic on Saturday mini munch was vv quiet all day, think he/she might have been traumatised by the waxing . Back to the gymnastics yesterday.

Will check in with you all later.

aargh DS has hurt his wrist

and now DH is on the way to A& E AND locked out of the house

effie, hope ds is ok

Oh DEAR, Effie... I do hope everything's ok and the next three weeks simmer down a bit...

Yes, Jam, Gap have launched a maternity section and there's one on Oxford St. I got some very reduced jeans.

I've got to sort out my residential 'learn-to-drive' course today. I'm only learning in an automatic as I am very lazy. I'm hoping to do it the week beginning 14 Sept, as that's when my mat leave starts. It is going to be very very boring and I have to do my theory test before that (haven't even read Highway Code yet) and most of the residential courses are in EAST ANGLIA so will be miles away from DP, friends and relatives. In a sulk about it but seeing as I am basically moving to the country after DD is born I will NEED to drive...

turnip, sorry you didn't have a better holiday. It's really hard when family don't even think to offer a hand. My dh doesn't always get it either when I try & tell him that this is my work so weekends/holidays I'd like a break too. Anyway ((hugs))

Effie you poor thing, when things settle down with the wrist etc i may be able to give a few tips on what you can do with DS until CM comes back or at least some of us SAHM's may be able to help.

Turnip that is rubbish i am feeling equally tearful due to SIL trouble today too. As you know it was DS's 3rd Birthday yesterday (we had a brilliant day btw at the waterpark at Alton Towers) but we had no phone call from DH's sister all day then now today we got a package from amazon with 2 little crappy books and a colouring book thing and thats it no other contact even though we went down to London for their DS's birthday party (you may remember this SIL as the one who always insisted we go to their place for christmas etc) when i was about 11 weeks pregnant and shattered and always get their DS lovely pressies (mainly because we love him cos he is lovely and our nephew). this was the last straw, i know she is selfish but it just feels like our DS means nothing to her and i really don't know why she looks down her nose at us and him. Maybe i'm just feeling hormonal but how can she care so little for our son, she and DH have always go on well and in fact when ever she has troubles or anything she always turns to him for help.

aaaahhhhhh feel a bit better getting that out.

And Turnip i would love to have given you a hand with you DC's.

oh turnip - poor you. And you should have been having a relaxing time!

My sister is pretty rubbish at offering to help out too - I think most people are when they don't have kids themselves - they don't realise how you crave a break and they probably feel frightened of doing it wrong. But I am not shy about telling my sister when she is due to look after DS .

When we've gone on holiday in a shared house I have on occasion been known to open her bedroom door in the early morning, insert DS and then beat a hasty retreat back to bed and hope they don't hear me closing the door and running away.

DS adores her in a slightly scary way!