Due in November 08: Missing - 2 feet, last seen somewhere under bump in late August. If found, please massage and trim toenails before returning.

[ruthosaurus]

Hi ladies, new thread as we seem to have outgrown the old one!

ohhhh - hello For the Ladies that do London tea - there is a seperate thread!! I have only jsut found it!!

If anyone else fancies joining us we are meeting in London on the 3rd October....please do come along.......

heartmum I thnk Monkeymartgots advice is spot on - DH's sometimes need a gentlr reminder of their priorities - I know mine does!!!

What is everyone doing tonight?>

YUp, heartmum what a sillt old DH.
If he is like mine at all, he has been saving that little nugget for just the wrong moment, for fear of upsetting you
Strange men.
I hope you are able to sort it out, shouldn't they have completed the paperwork for that by now though?
Oh Lrdy, I know, for a fact, that DH has filled in zero forms!
I had better chase him.

I am about to turn my laptop into my own pricate screening of some random DVD (c/o Lovefilms, I have no idea what I am about to watch, it had better be good), on my bed, with a huge bag of popcorn.
Save me from eating the whole lot and getting horrid crumbs in the bed.

Betti, my BH contractions have stepped up a gear and are very period pain like. Keep an eye on it though as anything that wakes you up needs discussing with your MW! Make sure you are drinking plenty and if it doesn't stop when you change position or get out of bed and move around....call the assessment unit or delivery suite!!!!

I'm generally fine in the day, but they kick off as soon as I'm on the sofa with period type pains, backache, hot flushes and taking my breath away. Looking forward to another six and a half weeks of this ......NOT!

heartmum, hope things are better with your DH this evening. He probably thinks that as you have 2 already you are an expert! MerryMarigold makes a lot of sense in her post, and there isn;t much more I can add.....other than remember your notes as well . I would take the car seat if there is room, but not worry about it if not. As DH says, chances are everything will be fine

Lovely day here; a bit of light gardening, a bit of sitting in the sun, hanging some curtains (after three years in this house I finally have curtains in the lounge ) and a friend over for some lovely chat while the DCs puttered in the garden

Thanks ladies, I knew I could count on you guys to talk sense to me!

Alas, dh has been a pig headed butt all day really, mind you, I am not much better, lol! The way I saw it was there is no point taking just a week off because the change in routine twice in 8 days will upset me in a way and most definately upset the boys. Mind you, I don't think he can carry it over and would have to use it by xmas (or maybe feb or april.... can't remember when his holiday year runs to-from). Thanks for the advice MerryMarigold, I have definately taken it on board, today was NOT the right day to try and have that conversation though.

As for the hospital bag, it is packed. I just put everything, my & baby's stuff together, I don't need much for labour, packed waaaay too much with ds1 and never used most of it and with ds2, he arrived so fast the bag was still in the car, lol! As for the car seat, he said he would drive back and get it (we are going to Sherwood Forest, about 2 hours from here), but I reminded him it is not like we have the money for him to waste on 4 hours of petrol, when it won't take up much space in the first place, we may as well just take it. Better safe than sorry.

Kids have also been a royal PITA today and seriously made me wonder why I wanted another. DS1 can be lovely, he just choses not to be most of the time and is a destructive little bugger. He had his room stripped of almost everything today after we discovered he had taken his anger out on his fairly recently decorated walls and the mini hifi he had for xmas. Grrrrr! We took almost everything out of ds2's room as well, not because he is destructive, but he hates cleaning up and being in the box room, he only needs half a dozen things out and you can't see the floor. Plus, at least he went straight to sleep tonight, always an added bonus! The only thing they were both allowed to keep in their rooms were their books. Oh well, at least we finally got around to having a huge clearout before xmas to get rid of broken and unused things. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day all round.

Had a beyond s**tty start to the day ... I arranged for an electrician to come (8am) to check our living room sockets as was told a year ago that their was a potential problem with the sockets so thought get checked before plastering(for those who dont know we are getting the living room skimmed over, new fire, decorated and all that stuff as well as decorating the new skimmed nursery and trying to organise baby stuff).

WELL turns out there is a problem with the living room sockets that cannot even be looked at until next Friday! But on top of that the electrician found that there is an earthing problem in the kitchen sockets but no idea where!!! Might even be a socket that the "builders from hell" we had in last year to do our kitchen/utility may have just plastered over!!! When the electrician left I just broke down in tears.

I'm 34 weeks on Monday and just cant take this s**t any longer. Shouldn't I be resting (as much as you can with a 2yr old and DH that does little DIY or housework), nesting and buying things all happily looking forward to my new baby.

On top of all this plastering, decorating, buying and assembling bedroom furniture (note no mention of baby related stuff) my hoover seems to be on its way out and my whirlpool tumble drier has started cutting out (only just over a year old). WHY NOW?!!!

On a good note sold my first items on ebay! Sold my never used yoga kit and my exercise bike. Got £66 for my exercise bike . Just when you thought fab some much needed extra £ then your electrics need sorting and hoover and drier start to die!

Also on a good note DH actually cut ALL our grass (after a few well dropped hints). But (due to hangover) he didnt decorate the nursery . He said he will do it all day tomorrow.

DS has also been his super star self today and makes me smile so much. However he did have some moments .

lacks & heartmum - hugs.

oh vbab what a stressful day. Things always seem to break down/need mending just when you've got plenty of other things to sort out already. Last thing we needed was buying furniture but I think this 3rd pg was the final straw for our poor old sofas!
The tumble drier may be fixable,though, could be the thermostat cut out thingy wire has come loose- I remember that happening to us once, so all may not be lost!!

Big hugs to you and grr at All The Things That Need Doing!xx

Am awake.
Love and hugs to Vbab and Heartmum.
Good advice form MerryM to Heartmum.

Been watching Strictly come dancing then Merlin. Fab. best friend came and had cake. Lovely.

Need a light for baby's room. Plug in ? Big ? Dimmer ? For when I get up in night to bf. Searched all old threads on products and bf - nothing. Any suggsestions ? Why can I not find threads ?
Something like this light but £20 seems alot, no ?

I have leaky bobs. And still sore hands. A bit better. But not much.
Trying to do my birth plan, prior to seeing Mr Marsh, head of Obs, at Kings on tues. Am only 32 wks, but hoping to get a date out of him.

HI Oblomov, I'm up too. Very bumpy bump and heartburn.

I put a dimmer in DS's room and it works a treat- much easier than stumbling around with lamps, and cheap.

I've been looking at birthplans, too. Never done one before. Very kind lady on vbac thread has ent me hers which I'm finding very useful. Do you just hand it over, or refer to it and see what they say first?

Pinky, are you namechanging

What dimmer though ?

I have never done a birthplan either. And I do want it to be basic, becasue I don't want a 15 page document, in case they think I am fussy.
I just want :
immed skin-to-skin
no formula unless necessary
dh's concerns followed - he kept saying i was hypo last time & they ignored him.
That is it basically. Maybe disscuss different pain options - voltarol, etc ?

They do say, show it to MW's and head of obs/consultant, in the last few weeks.

i'm fed up with typing such a long name in

It was just one from B&Q. It has an on/off by pushing it in or you rotate it to dim. Still working after 3 years so must be ok- I know they can be prone to breaking. Can't find it on the website- thye only seem to have the expensive fake metal ones on there.

Plan sounds good.

I like 'Pinkyminky'

I am pertified it may come up in google now my new domain is pinkyminky. Last thing I want is my mother finding me on here. I may go for a complete change but no idea what. I'm rubbish at this sort of thing.

It's 4am and can't sleep again. I am shattered, busy day y'day, but have some indigestion which means sick keeps coming up my throat when I lie down. Still, I did stuff myself with all sorts of nice Nigerian food at a party so only myself to blame. Also went to Ikea y'day and walked around for about an hr (virtually without stopping, it just takes that long to walk round the market hall to the checkouts!).

Obs, I got myself a light. The way I did it with ds last time was to leave a low light on all night (enough to see to change a nappy!) so there was no light on and offing. He slept fine through it and so did I. Anyway, I think we chucked that light when we moved, so I got another light from Ikea and then realised it must take some very weird, tiny bulb, and not sure at all where I'm gonna find one, except go back to Ikea. Grrrr...advantages are it's a very pretty little light and cost about a fiver.

Pinkyminky, I lve that name but yeah, wouldn't want my mum finding my threads. And I definitely don't think you would! . Maybe something with just the minky bit in it..how about slinkyminky or minkypinky?!

Lacks, thos BH's sound intense. How horrible for you. I get them a lot in the morning, which is odd when rested all night, but I think all my muscles go a bit spasm-y in the mornings, legs do too. It doesn't hurt for me though, just the tightenings, uncomfortable but ok. I hope yours do wear off, but I guess if they did not last time...is this your last baby? When I REMEMBER, I always say to myself, "You will never be pregnant again. Enjoy the good bits - the amazing feeling of growing a baby, the movements, the ability to be fat as you like and not have to cover it up etc."

vbab - grrrrrr...no wonder you are cross. Oh well, what does not get done before baby can get done after. It will all be ok...promise!

heartmum - sorry for bad day. Kids pick up vibes don't they? Ds always, always plays up just when me and dh are most tired/ stressed and irritable. Arghhhh...the room thing sounds like a good idea though, I will be using that later on. Your ds's look so sweet and lovely in the pics, and I'm sure they are. It's hard being a dc1 though. I am one. Ds is fine for now, but I am anticipating things will get a lot worse when there are others to contend with.

Well, I think I have picked my tumble. How exciting! It is an Electrolux B rated one and looks like you can set it yourself as well as leave it to go on its own. Just hope it doesn't leak now. Some snobby Which report said the only reliable ones are AEG and Miele which all START at around 500.00 plus. Errrrrr...yeah, RIGHT. I quite fancied myself a black one, they are SO cool looking, but are in a similar price range and had to remind myself that I am not cool looking and nothing else in our house is either (except for ds in his 'rock guitar' top ).

I hope everyone is having a restful speey sunday after all the late nights and no sleeping.

DH and DS are fishing; DD is at the PILs so I am having a nice realxing day. Gotta get up and do something now though as back is starting to ache!

I have got a couple of bids on chairs like these to see if it'll help. also, kees below hips = optimal baby positioning.

wtf is a speey sunday?

I think I meant sleepy?

Childcare Voucher ladies....can you help HERE?.I've posted a link to ceebees thread, but thought you might have more to add given recent developments

ok decided just to spell it differently!

WE went to Ikea on friday- it is abit of a trek,but the children love it. And we now have our lovely comfy sofas.
The little lights you get from Ikea are lovely.But yup you need to stock up on the funny little bulbs at the same time!

DS has a green bug light above his bed which he loves. Will prolly get the flower ones for the girls- 'the girls' sounds really exciting!!

The dimmer I mean is just a dimmer switch on the wall for the main light.

For DD we just put the hall light on and use the light from that.
I have some flower fairy lights I put around the mirror in our room above where the changing table is, and that's enough light to change nappy etc. They were from a local cheapo light shop near here in Chorlton.

Hope you win a chair, Lacks, you need a comfy seat!

WEnt to Quarry BANK mILL today it has been lovely but we are all sleepy now!

pinky, is your DD closer in age to the new baby, or your DS?

I'm having a quandry about rooms. It makes sense for the two littlies to share, but obviously after a point it'll be pretty rubbish for DD having to share with a smelly little brother, and vice versa. But, there will be 6+ years between DS1 and the new baby, and I can't see DS wanting to share in a couple of years time.

Short of turning our back room (ex dining now office and general glory hole) into another bedroom or building a loft extension for DH and I (as if!), so they can have a bedroom each; I'm in six different minds what to do!

At the minute I have set up DDs toddler bed in her little room with her (soon to be DS2s) cot, a chest of drawers and a chair and it's a bit of a squeeze, but works. And the baby will be in a crib with us for a few months anyway, but not sure how it's going to work long term.

DD is only 16.5 months younger that DS, and she'll be two and a month or so when the new baby comes- so not a great deal in it.
If this baby had been a boy, I had planned for her to share with the new baby anyway, until they were quite a bit older, just because it would mean less rearranging of rooms (DS's room isn't big enough for two).

They don't need much space in their rooms when they are little, do they? as they play downstairs most of the time, but I can see why you are in a quandry. At some point, whoever is sharing is going to need the bigger room.

yup, and if it's the littlies, it means DS going back into the little room (which is quite big by boxroom standards as the people who bought this house off the developers had it made wider as it's on a wide plot), which he obviously isn't very pleased about. Some toys and games and all of his clothes will need to stay in the big room as even using the space under his loft bed there isn't enough room for all of it!

It's a tricky one, but could you get him a loft bed? DS has a similar type room- it was double room but we pinched a bit off it to make a victorian bathroom into a proper bathroom, so it's a single now, but not tiny tiny. He has the one from Ikea- it's like anormal bed at the mo, with a canopy, but when he's bigger we'll turn it over so there is space underneath.

sorry totally missed that, you already have a loft bed!

He needs to declutter!! Would he prefer a smaller room to having to share? Maybe put the option to him?

DSs is actually the metal bunk beds they do, but without the bottom bunk attached. It isn't as tall as a normal loft bed, but safer for a five year old we thought.

We can always get him a full sized loft bed now he is older so we can get a wardrobe and decent storage underneath it and then we have a set of bunks for the littlies as well (not sure if it can separate into two beds though!)

and I struggle as it is to change the sheets when the mattress is at my shoulder height, let alone having to climb up the ladder to do it!

and that's the line of reasoning that we are working on, but he is adamant that he wants to share with his brother!

lackaDAISYcal - I too feel desperate need to declutter. But DH and 2 kids do not share the same feeling. I throw stuff when they are not looking. I managed to do a whole shelf of magazines yesterday. Only a whole house to go. Main area is a little room (well almost a room, others would say it is the hallway) across the landing from our bedroom where we will put baby for the first few months/year or so. At the moment it has no curtains and is full of work papers, old printers and general crap that we don't know what to do with.
DH been pretty good yesterday and today and has been demon with drill and screwdriver putting up mirrors, lightbulbs, and bits and bobs that have needed doing for up to 2 years.

I have just woken from a 2 hour nap. I feel so shattered. I'm getting around 10 hours sleep at night yet am still so shattered. I'm still in my pjs and have not left the house today other than to go into garden. Baby is so low in my pelvis it feel so tender, and I have PGP. have been doing yoga at the active birth centre which is helping me to feel calm and confident, for a few hours a week anyway.