Due April 2009: Episode 9 - April Mums with Guns: Rise of the Fanjo Warriors?

[BabyBolat]

Here we go again....

Puzzle - can i just say a huge THANK YOU

sometimes i forget that DS IS a lot of fun. yesterday he thought it was hilarious to give me a kiss while he had a runny nose so i would yell 'Snotter Kisses!' it took 5 times as long to walk home from the shops because he needed to stop to kiss all the time. i love that kid i really really do.

oh and i have a tip for when DHs are on pat leave..
if you are allowed...take a mortgage holiday. we did that last time. made it a lot easier.

DH and I are discussing the time off alot also. Since he's a contractor he gets no pay what so ever for time off...which means we're really screwed...We're thinking either short days and hoping that family will be able to come and help out if things get a bit wild with Sprite, or that the MA will allow us a little respite.

hmmm i wonder about a mortgage holiday...hmmm

i think most mortgage deals allow 3 months worth. obviously there'll still be bills but if you are like us the biggest chunk is the mortgage.
doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

Yes it would help; and maybe one when we're thinking of going back to the States... I'll have to see what we can find out/do.

We are a really interesting lot!

Nutty, would you like to co-present an episode of Top Gear with me?

Just watched the Ellen McArthur lap on digital TV this afternoon. Classic!

I think we have Dave. DS1 watches it perhaps.

We just fixed our mortgage at a relatively high rate for 3 years before the rates dropped, so we are very poor at the moment. being sensible doesn't pay, clearly.

Argh, what's happened to the format? I hope I get used to it... (Haha, I just saw Nutty's observation on the logo being like MumsWithGuns - I'm most amused )

I shall try to do a quick catch-up, but there's loads, so if I miss something I'm sorry! (Fortunately, so far, most of the chat I'm reading is about previous experiences with nappies / breastfeeding, etc - I legitimately have nothing to contribute!)

I want to know where Kitty is!

Nutty - yay for DH! Well done him

I wish I could raise a bilingual child, but there's very little chance of that. I did shockingly badly in my AS level French (although that wasn't entirely my fault as we were taught the wrong sections of vocab ) & that's the height of other language knowledge here. Poor child will have no varied cultural heritage or language - a minority on this thread!

GRRRRRR, quick intermission - I've just been violently sick (again ) & come back into the living room where DP's on his laptop (we're so sociable ) & he didn't even slightly look up or ask if I was okay or anything. It was quite funny when it was the bathroom cabinet incident, but I'm just fed up now. I'm 30 weeks tomorrow & still puking (although it could be morning sickness, my kidney infection or a mild allergic reaction to the antibiotics [these are the only type I've ever managed to have which haven't made me feel a million times worse & caused a rash, so there is a history of allergy] & I really don't know what it is causing it now. But I've been lying around in lots of pain & feeling generally rough & all I've had to eat so far is a bowl of porridge. I know he'll make me something if I ask (& I will ask now) but I wish he'd be more proactive. I sarcastically said 'Yeah, I'm fine thanks' when I sat back down & he apologised, but he's still not asked if there's anything he can do, etc.

I KNOW that he's fed up of me being pregnant & grumpy & miserable, I know that he's generally been very good (practically, at least) but there are still 10 weeks or so left & I'm really not feeling good at all & still need his help. Grrrr. Okay, rant over.

BB, sorry that your antenatal class wasn't up to much (love that you were mentally dismissing what was being said because of Boffin - we're so lucky!)... I hope that mine aren't too irritating - they start next Thursday (Nutty's birthday, I believe ) & I really want to try & make friends but can just see me sitting there sulking because it's winding me up

DP update - he just came & gave me a cuddle & said sorry & that he thought that I didn't want pestering after I'd been sick & shall he make me some pasta? So he's redeemed himself, I suppose.

Haha, bless you lot putting out a call for me I was actually out last night having dinner with DP & spent a while in the pub losing lots of money on the itbox, but during the day yesterday & today I've been feeling awful. I'm currently on the sofa, naked, with the quilt strangely wrapped around my body so as to preserve modesty whilst being comfortable & not too hot. It's a skill

Auld, yay for fudge & sick leave. Big faces about the school again, though.

Hahaha, just read the SPD advice given to BB. Oh Lord, that doesn't bode well.

Can you have a mortgage holiday if you are interest only?

I'd be a crap undertaker as well, I didn't think of that. With my gallows humour I would get the sack on the first day probably.

I have terrible gallows humour too (you should've seen my conversation with my friend when he told me that he'd 'found a lump' the other day ), but am also really squeamish. Not so much about blood in itself (my favourite programme is Grey's Anatomy - I noticed that BB is a fan, too ) but just the whole dead people thing... I'm still yet to have anyone I know die (touch wood!), so maybe it's partly to do with that. Sometimes I get really worried about lots of people I love dying in one big accident or something to 'balance out' my lack of loss so far. I know that obviously it doesn't work that way, but still...

Oops, bit late, but here's the fudge...

Was just seeing DH and DS off on their ski-ing weekend and cadging a lift to get my blood test results (I still don't have toxoplasmosis).
Am sitting here trying to resist the urge to get out the hoover. I may be online a lot tonight!

Well done on the e-mail, Boffin. If you ever want anything written in French to be checked/confirmed/re-read, you have my RL e-mail, so feel free.

Most unsuitable jobs for me:

1. Accountant
2. Maths teacher
3. Surgeon
4. Hairdresser (photos of DS confirm this)
5. Anything very stressful (I get wound up easily)

Dream jobs:

1. The one I do now, BUT with decent pay and proper working conditions (e.g. tutorials with less than 4O people, not having a shared office with 6 colleagues which contains 4 desks and 1 computer, etc.)
2. Translator
3. Journalist
4. Fiction writer
5. Sometimes I think I'd like to live in the country, open a gîte, have a vegetable garden, orchard, hens, etc. and lead a rural life, combining it with job number 2 or 3.

Springy, sorry to hear you're still being sick. It's grim that it's going on for so long.

Hello
I have now officially joined the SPD club - GP has faxed the form off for physio but doesn't expect anything to happen for a month at least.

Yesterday I was packed off from work in a cab because I could barely walk or stand. I have used up all my sick leave with the chest thing so now I have no idea what I am going to do.

I haven't done anything for the baby having not really been up and about properly since the middle of December. Now I am panicking. DP doesn't drive. This little thing is going to have to be wrapped in a scarf and put to sleep in a drawer.

I have just mainlined two tearful chocolate bars while I remind myself that it will be ok, I will cope, and some of you lovely people have been dealing with far worse for longer!

My could-never-do-in-a-million-years jobs:

dole office worker
taxi driver or bus driver
door to door sales
one of those PAs to big shots who don't exactly need any admin help, just a pretty girl to be constantly and sycophantically available
meat packing

Dream jobs:

music teacher for talented non-rich kids or music therapist
agony aunt
very well paid and respected housekeeper and cook for someone very busy and appreciative who likes things done properly by someone who knows how to anticipate (actual cleaning would be only supervised by me - I would do cooking, shopping, tidying, post, social organising and catering, sort out niggles and quibbles and do general nice touches)
novelist

Oh Ginger, I am so, so sorry to hear that you have been struck down by the dreaded SPD too!

Can you go onto maternity leave straight away and put off the sick leave problem to the end of maternity leave, when you might have some more accrued, perhaps? Or beg for some more discretionary sick leave?

Also are you able to see a chiropractor or osteopath? Acupuncture is often recommended too.

A month seems too long for a pg woman to wait for physio - normally they see you asap once they have the referral. What area are you? I can check the regulations and procedures if you like.

Don't worry at all about being ready for the baby. All you really need to get through the first few days is some disposable nappies, a packet or two of wet wipes, a starter pack of babygros and vests, a little blanket, some old towels, and a Moses basket or similar. If you are ill, everyone else will bring stuff around and generally sort you out if necessary. Alternatively ring my beloved Babylist and get them to do the worrying for you and deliver everything.

Look after yourself.

For Ginger, minimum starter recommendations for an April baby from good old John Lewis:

Cheapest Moses basket at the moment - as purchased by BoffinMum!:

www.johnlewis.com/230397510/Product.aspx

2 pack of cellular blankets:

www.johnlewis.com/230480272/Product.aspx

2 sheets:

www.johnlewis.com/230229386/Product.aspx

Changing mat:

www.johnlewis.com/230419743/Product.aspx

Lovely toiletry gift set - tried and tested by BoffinMum!:
www.johnlewis.com/230436400/Product.aspx

Starter pack of babygros:
www.johnlewis.com/787/Product.aspx

Starter pack of vests:
www.johnlewis.com/4032/Product.aspx

You could get away with this lot given a decent washing machine.

www.babylist.co.uk/