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wolf no - not allowed to travel. The ferry company won’t accept preggos after 34 weeks unless they can prove it’s the intention to have the baby in the U.K/France.

Also I’m struggling to walk about and get comfy now. So sitting on centre court in the sun for god knows how long at 37 almost 38 weeks? Probably not the best idea. Especially given that ds arrived at 39 weeks.

I will absolutely check out her first match though.

The client in particular had a relationship with one of the big investment banks in London. I mentioned the pregnancy and thanked them so much for the generous offer. Did say that I’d be preggo free by December so if they’d like to wangle me some tickets to Olympia I’d be more than grateful!! Haha.

They are 2 Unescorted . It feels like very hard work at the moment.

It's just started raining here too. Such a shame for the weekend after all the lovely weather this week.

Hi all.
A busy couple of days. NSD Thursday.
Spends yesterday £40 on the food shop. Will be a NSD today.

Hi unescorted!

life, you have had a rough few days, take care.

Sea, hoping the weekend will be better for you.

Laputa, how exciting to have your DSD living with you for a while and I'm sure she will understand about your mental health.

Tayto, sorry you got hurt by the bike, hopefully the bruise will have calmed down by Thursday?

Em, wow your pregnancy has gone so quick! Hope it is cooler for you today.

Sunny here today with a bit of cloud. £10 ish spent at the school fair. Home now as feeling a bit wobbly. I've over done it today. £11.50 on cinema tickets for DH and DS while we still recover.
Good plan for tonight em. That sounds like a long day for bil/sil.

£25 at gardening centre including treats for scouts
£5 at scout event

Will buy myself a takeaway later I think although honestly it’s too hot to eat. My paint was drying as I was putting it on earlier and towels dried outside in two hours.

Binge watched ewfl except last night's isn't working for us either. Feel a bit shit at how samey our diet is.

Life we have tried some of the EWFL recipes and they are brilliant. The savoury pancakes from earlier this series are lovely. I'm hoping they do another book. We also get a bit samey so we've written a huge list of all the meals everyone likes and we refer back to it when we're struggling for ideas. We aim to try something new at the weekend and if it goes down well it goes on the list. It's a good reminder of nice meals that we might have forgotten about.

Well the sun has finally managed to get to this side of the hill.

life ours is really samey. It drives me mad how restricted it is. I have resorted to eating a really big salad at lunch because that is the only vege I will get in a day.

Snuggly that must be hard. One at a time was bad enough in the toddler years.

hi curvy

I'm going to write a big list of our meal, that's such a good idea.

Had a lovely meal out with my DB, SIL and Dad. Brie for starter followed by a gorgeous seafood pasta. Then a Baileys coffee for a nightcap. All tucked up in bed now.

Most of our meals are a bit samey too.
So this week I have changed it up a bit. Not everyday because the kids would hate me!
Meal plan:
Sun: vegan tagine
Mon: meatballs and pasta
Tues: giant fishfingers sweet potato chips and salad
Wed: fruity cous cous
Thur: spag bol, with hidden veg sauce
Fri: probably noodles as the DCs are going to their dads

Popped in to see Bil and sil yesterday afternoon then popped back home for a bit. Then went back for bbq.

Fil has his dog now. An 11 week old jack Russell puppy who is incredibly excitable. Ds doesn’t like it. It kept jumping up at him and no one else. We think probably because it hasn’t seen a small person before. Fils gf told ds off for stressing the puppy out. Ds was fine with it when I picked it up and sat it on my lap. He was very gentle patted it and it licked him.

It was so nice to see Bil and sil. They’re here for a week then go to Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia then back home to Aussie. I am jealous of their trip.

Ds dh and I left at around 8. Dh helped me get ds to bed (as he’s heavy and I’m realllly struggling to walk as my hips are super hurting now) then he headed back at my insistence. He wanted to stay to make sure I was ok here - but he hardly ever sees his brother. So he helped me into bed, packed me in with cushions a herbal tea a jug of water my laptop for Netflix and catface and left me to it. I think he came home at around 11.

Bil has just called they’re coming over (jet lag). They’re coming over. So I’m going to need to get up in a bit.

Ds has swimming at lunchtime. Yay.

Then we’re headinf to see dparents for dinner.

I would be pissed at DS being told off! He’s a toddler FFS. Hardly his fault is it.

I need to do that meals list thing. Very very samey here. My kids are annoyingly fussy. Cagletini will eat pretty much anything but isn’t getting the chance to try new things as I don’t bother, knowing the others won’t!

Our meals have got very samey too. I have to admit i’ve now given up until the summer holidays though. Salad and new potatoes have replaced cooked veg.

My mum rang up in a panic yesterday morning as my dad had gone out two hours previously to get the newspaper and hadn’t returned. Fortunately 20 minutes as I was about to head out, he came back and my mum had forgotten he was going somewhere else too 🤦‍♀️

We then hosted DD1s birthday party. It went ok and we didn’t do all the activities we planned. Very noisy though (our poor neighbours) but food etc was eaten in the garden so the house is still clean and tidy.

Today is hopefully going to be a quiet day with no drama. Need to go to the supermarket as need some eyewash as I have what feels like an eyelash in my eye

I'm the same lap. I don't cook when it would be rejected by DD which isn't fair on the rest of us.
Sounds lovely em but yy DS shouldn't be told off they both should be taught how to be around each other. Sounds like you did your bit.
I'm sure the neighours won't mind kids party noise. They are cranks if they do.

Feeling better again today. Got to pop to Sainsbury's for some bits.

I was too. I did say to GF that it wasn’t his fault. And that puppy needs his claws clipped and to be properly trained.

At the bbq someone else brought their dog - an adult jack Russell. Ds was fine with it. It was very placid. Not jumpy. He liked patting it. GF questioned why he was ok with that one and not her baby. Errr because your baby jumps and is excitable and is only a puppy so doesn’t know any better yet?!

She also made out I hate dogs. I don’t. I love a doggo. Just don’t like when they jump up on ds (fine if they jump on me - I was taken out a while ago by a rather over enthusiastic ridgeback - my friends dog. She always does it. Paws up on shoulders. I encourage it with her though because she’s such a lovely girl. That time I just lost my footing.

I’ve also been knocked over by a basset hound...bent down to pat it and it barrelled right through me...!)

They’re coming round in a bit. I do hope GF doesn’t bring the dog with her. I’ve said no because of catface.

Morning all. Em I second Life’s comments re the dog

More windowsill painting today

We are the same with meals. I’m having real trouble with ds at the moment who has always eaten everything and is a massive foodie. He has taken a dislike to pretty much everything we’ve had for weeks now. It’s wearing

Morning.

I had a very vivid nightmare that I was living in a Nazi occupied country and working for the local version of the resistance. I was singing in a pub (a la Edith in 'Allo 'Allo but younger and blonde). I woke around 3 a.m. and was quite relieved to find myself in my own bed. I had really bad indigestion (and flatulence ). Probably not a good idea to eat rich food so close to bedtime. I sat up and read for a few hours and then nodded off again.

We have lovely sunshine today so the washing machine is humming away.

I might go for my usual castle/river walk.

NSD yesterday. LSD today. I just need bread and milk.

em agree with everyone else re: DS and the excitable puppy.

Also having problems here with boring meals. When I suggest something for dinner, DD complains that we always have it. I need to come up with some new meals. She doesn't eat eggs and eats very little veg, so that doesn't help.

Snuggly I didn't know the EWFL people had brought out a book. Thanks for that. I might look out for it. I like the sound of the savoury pancakes. Wonder if I could order it from the library and photocopy the best recipes?

There are some ewfl recipe on the website.
£39 Sainsbury's on stuff we had run or of/don't get from Aldi.

Morning all,

Agree re the others em not okay to tell ds off for basically being a toddler. Do you think they're still annoyed you said no to them getting you a puppy?

Can't believe some of you have rubbish weather, it's lovely here (smug) very sunny and warm but not unbearably hot.

Tayto sorry you had a bad nights sleep (but your post did make me laugh a bit 😳 💨🤣)

We went to a local fete thing Ystd, spent around £15 but that included fish n chips for lunch.

Today need to do some boring jobs including clean the bathroom and do an Aldi shop 😒 will try and fit in a nice walk at some point as well.

Hello, I hope you're all well, and sorry to hear about the selfish men in some of your lives.

We've come back from holidays in the U.S./Canada (including Niagara Falls, wow!) a few days ago, which was an amazing trip but not very frugal!! Suffering from jetlag and a head cold but the house really needs a good clean inside and out - hopefully DH can do most of it while I mostly watch ds maybe ds will help by running back and forth with weeds to the compost pile like we did last time. Some of my trousers are a bit snug at the moment - too much vegan ice cream and not enough exercise on holiday! - so will need to rein it in and eat more fruit and veg like our normal diet.

Curvy what is the recipe for your vegan tagine, if you don't mind sharing? Ds (almost 2.5) is usually quite good about trying new foods but I'm keen to keep exposing him to new tastes so he doesn't end up as fussy an eater as I was as a child!

To try and re-start my frugal habits after a few holiday excesses, I've downloaded an app called Emma and it seems quite good so far. Fingers crossed it'll help keep me on the straight and narrow, or I'll never meet my savings target this year!

Happy sunny (I hope) Sunday all.

Yep probably annoyed we said no.

They came round. They brought the dog. Apparently it can’t be left alone. I said no to it going inside. Dh backed me up. Gf was mightily pissed off.

I suggested we go for a walk. Take ds to the park and to see the cows. Sil hasn’t seen jersey cows before. And she wanted to see them. So we took a walk to the farm shop where they always have calves outside. She took ds to pat them. He loves her. He shared his crisps with her yesterday and offered her a half eaten strawberry this morning. #truelove haha.

gF was a bit annoyed because puppy hasn’t had his vaccinations yet so couldn’t come with us to the farm. So now feels excluded. I didn’t even think about that. Oops. There was also the “oh you don’t have a Water bowl for him” comment. Sil mentioned these fold up plastic ones you can buy (her and Bil have a Rottweiler back in Aussie) and she takes him everywhere with her so takes him a pack up of his food and water etc. Gf said doggo could use catfaces fountain if we just brought it outside. Nope. Dh found a bowl for doggo. But it’s annoying because I shouldn’t have to. Apparently we should have a spare because they’ll be bringing the dog everytime they visit. I’ve said no. The dog doesn’t come in the house.

They also think it’s funny that ds is scared of the jumpy dog. Which obviously it isn’t. When I had doggo on my lap he was fine. He was gentle and patted it and laughed at it. It’s the jumping he doesn’t like and he’s allowed to not like it. Apparently we need to respect that it’s a jumpy dog. And that’s that.

Dh has said that if they want to see ds they either get doggo trained not to jump. Or they come round to ours but leave doggo behind at home.

Apparently it’s something he’ll grow out of. Not sure whether they means ds or the dog to be honest. But I’m not putting up with ds being frightened.

We are going round there this afternoon to see Bil and sil. Fil and gf will be out. Doggo will be there. I want to try and get ds ok with him but I get that he doesn’t understand that the dog is just excited and means him no harm and it’s scary. So baby steps. Well start again with dog on my lap and gentle patting. And take it from there.

Em fil’s gf sounds like hard work!

On my fourth kid of washing hoping the last load is done by the time I get home with ds so that minging scout kit can go straight in the wash.
One coat on windowsill and garden dead headed. Need to do another load and watering when I get home.

Tomato ragu made for tomorrow’s tea with an extra lot for the freezer. Had some unblended on toast for lunch. Le yum.

Nsd so far. Hoping to keep it that way

Some ironing done

God, I hear you about the repetitive diet! We are in quite a rut, especially with kids’ food (outs isn’t too bad - I am quite a foodie lardarse so make an effort 😉) . DD isn’t too bad at trying stuff but DS has very restricted eating habits and if DD is eating with him she wants the same as him i.e. pasta. I end up taking the lazy route with the kids in the week (we eat later cos of work) but at the weekend I try to cook something a bit different for DD and us and we all eat together, and I make extra sides that DS will eat. It’s very tedious cooking extra all the time though. Tonight we are having chicken fajitas with all the sides and I am also making roast potatoes and boiled carrots for DS 🙄

Thanks for the sympathy re. My crap few days! I was okay though, just rolling my eyes a lot and a doing fair bit of swearing under my breath! I have spent most of the weekend cooking, which is nice and distracting. School fete people were a bit worried about lack of cake stall donations so I made LOADS: 30 pieces of millionaire’s shortbread, 18 vegan chocolate brownies (good for allergy people), 20 chunky squares of lemon drizzle cake and 35 gingerbread men (I was icing them last night during Killing Eve so need to rewatch it as I missed a lot of stuff!) . At £1 a piece that’s a good amount of money raised! I am quite tired now, but still need to make 1.5 dinners for us, as above, plus some meatball sauce for in the week. Bit sick of my kitchen tbh!

School fete was good. They had live singer doing jazz classics and he was ace, and then the usual stalls and bouncy castles... all fun. We had to leave quite quickly though when both DS and DD hit the wall - DD because her nap was overdue and she turned manic, and DS because he couldn’t really understand taking turns on the bouncy castle and got very upset. Think the supervisor thought he was just naughty but I tried to explain, in the interests of education at least! . Anyway, home now. Dh bought the tokens but I think we spent about £15, including buying some of my own cake back!

I have to go and try on some frocks to decide what to wear for a wedding next weekend. And then buy a wedding gift, plus a present for 7-year old boy’s birthday party (any ideas? You lot are good at that!).

Em, it was BIL’s jumpy jack Russell puppy that made then 2-year old DS completely phobic of dogs. People just don’t get that a bad experience early on (maybe just being jumped at or a lot of barking, no harm meant but scary nonetheless) can really scare a little child and have a lasting effect. It’s very selfish not to consider that.

Moi your trip sounds amazing!

I got an EWFL book out of the library a couple of years ago and did just that!

Lovely day out at NT place in the sunshine today. We're members so it didn't cost us but we did by ice creams.

Em I am so fed up with dog owners who let their dogs jump up at the kids, especially dd1 who is terrified. They always say "oh he's so friendly!" with a little laugh as if we must all join in with appreciating their dog while the dcs scream and try to hide. I have started to say quite bluntly that dd is frightened of dogs because one jumped up at her a few months back.