Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub - a German and Austrian autumn thread

[AntiqueMuppet]

A thread for anyone living in Germany or Austria, or anyone else who fancies a chat.

Previous thread here

I hope you get it sorted platanos! in our old flat in Nürnberg half the radiators didn't work; it should have been the landlord that sorts it. But ours were in India most of the year = they only occasionally checked their emails and then of course a decision also took months.... the worst bit was getting out of the shower when it was -10 in the bathroom!!!

One of the ladies on the december thread (there are loooooads of us on there - it's a struggle to keep up!) has popped this morning, about 10 days early I think... But there are possibly another 2 following right behind... it's all very exciting. Although there are more ladies having braxton hicks and tightenings... I'm not sure I've had any BH except when I try and walk a bit too quick.

Thanks for all the pyjama/cosy trouser tips!! I have put in an order from jojo, they sent me 15% voucher code ( I crumbled!) which expires tonight - but I also use topcashback for a sneaky extra 5% :) discount. Although tomorrow I'm popping into town so will be checking out Kik, Primark and Erstings Family :o - I'm meeting a friend in List admylin so I'll go to that one although it doesn't seem very big?? Then I will compare prices, quality and fit.

Oh and DP is at home today so we have sorted a few more bits and put up the curtain that divides the baby corner up from the rest of the hallway... oooohhhh it's looking good!! Have to wait till the end of Nov to put up some wall stickers - paint apparently should be given 30 days to cure... a bit more washing to do...

Hello! I was wondering if I could join you? I have been contemplating for a while, but was never quite sure if I 'belong' here...reason being that I am actually German. But I lived in the UK for 13 years - our eldest was born there, our second missed out by 4 weeks - and we are raising our boys bilingual.

After having lived in the UK for so long (we only moved back to Germany as my mum was very poorly and I wanted to be closer for the time she had left), I still miss it a lot! At the same time, after having been back in Germany for 4 years now, I am not sure we could ever live in England again for a number of reasons. I often feel a bit homeless if that makes any sense.

Hello all. Thanks for all the good wishes: you are definitely the nicest thread on MN! It has taken me all day to read everyone's posts and now I have forgotten what I was going to say in reply. Nothing new there.

Glad the concert went very well and sorry about the wing mirror cheas. I'm in awe of your musical ability. My clarinet is upstairs in my closet and another on my list of things I want to do more often and never get round to .

Congratulations on the new job Bienchen. Did you just decide to move to Germany and find a job when you got there? Apologies if you have already explained that.

Nutella I had one pair of maternity PJs in my last pregnancy as I only needed them in winter and would always have to put something in the tumble drier as the weather can be very cold here with little wind (except today as the wind has snapped the 10ft pine in front of my neighbours' house). Hope you have found something comfortable.

Yay to restored ipod ploom!

Glad you had a nice weekend Linzer. Could do with a nice Christmas market to go to. Hurray for the tortoise perking up too!

Good luck finding a new job platanos. Have you actually lost yours or do you feel that it's a good idea to look anyway? Hope you get the radiators sorted. Love the word omnishambles!

It's nice that you had a special trip with dd admylin. I definitely need to do that kind of thing more often.

Right, I hope you have all had a peaceful Monday. I need to get on doing the Christmas card lists. It's just gone 2pm here so I can't even crack open a bottle of wine!

Hello outnumbered. I'm a German teacher living in Oregon and I'm allowed!

Morning all,

Hi outnumbered, all welcome here! Although an interest in German/life in German-speaking countries probably helps.

Jenny I've got as far as starting to update my Christmas card list, but am sure it will end up being the usual last-minute panic. I'm aiming to get my first Christmas card (to the USA) in the post this week, but still have to locate the box of Christmas cards in the cellar.

Nutella topcashback looks very similar to quidco, but doesn't cover Amazon either. I'm sure I joined one site that does, but can't for the life of me remember what it's called.

platanos Did you find out whether the landlord has to pay? I can't remember anything going wrong when we were renting (apart from the landlord using our deposit to file for bankruptcy ) so am not sure how it works here either. Is your job definitely being cut or are you job-hunting just to be on the safe side? Maybe there'll be another opening out here and we can meet for weekly coffee after all.

Have just remembered I never revealed what the big surprise was in store for DH - probably because it was quite a let-down! It turned out to be the boss of the company they were visiting and his secretary singing a medley of songs for them (accompanied by the boss on his guitar).

DH is in Germany again this week (until Wednesday), so gets out of parents' evening tomorrow. I don't mind going on my own, but just have the feeling that the two appointments are going to clash; I hope the teachers of siblings at the school coordinate the appointments (have been puzzling for several minutes over how to say sich absprechen in English - definitely a sign that it's time for a coffee!).

Jenny so glad the lump was benign!

plantanos we rent and the landlord pays for anything that breaks - in fact it is simpler than that or us usually as he has a mate who is a plumber, and we are just instructed to call him (the only things that have broken so far have been plumbing and heating related) and he comes around the next day (always very early, I assume before his official job) and fixes whatever it is, and we never see a bill. It is the landlord's responsibility though, I am pretty sure.

Congratulations on the job Bien - having to move again is a bit of a faff, but I guess that was always in the plan as you are in a holiday home for now.

How annoying you end up effectively earning nothing for the concert cheas due to the mirror incident.

Glad the tortoise is a bit better Linzer - I do almost all my Christmas shopping for everyone on-line - generally a better choice anyway than in the shops, as well as shopping with a toddler generally being a grab-pay-run operation not a day of browsing for some mythical perfect gift. My parents are near impossible to buy for as they are pretty well off and just buy themselves anything they might want, but they still expect thoughtful gifts - makes it tricky as there are effectively 3 dates a year you have to think of something for, and flowers (mum) and alcohol (dad) really only works for one of the 3 per year... humph!

Hello outnumbered welcome to the thread - I understand the homeless / rootless feeling - I think a few on here miss the UK but don't feel they''d slot back in if they moved back - certainly I do.

I've used up my MN allotted time now as I also answered another post on Living Overseas about whether you'd move back to the UK from where you live now if something happened to your OH in fact, but also do'oh as now I really have to get moving - got to go to Kindergarten for DS1's Schuleingangsuntersuchung apt - stupidly I didn't realise he had to have it as we have already decided and informed KiGa and the school he is going to wait a year to start school, but then I was collared at KiGa and told I had to sign him up as all children born before 30th Sept 2007 have to have it - and he was born on 20th... so I got an inconvenient slot and had to try to tactfully explain to him why he's having it, having presented him not going to school as a given...

waves at those whose posts I forgot to reply to, sorry !

Morning all. Having a coffee break before braving the cold to go to the cash machine. Is everyone else also always running out of cash? The dc need small amounts for this and that and the bakery and such like. I wish everyone had a personal card scanner so we could live cash free! Had to pay for 2 lots of school photos, a school day trip, bus ticket for ds today and he needs 8? for this afternoon for table tennis.

Welcome outnumberedbymen which part of Germany are you from? I'm in Hannover at the moment and live din Berlin and near Stuttgart before. Is it difficult to keep the English going for your dc? My dd only speaks German nowadays even though our home language is English. She just refuses to speak it!

english if you find the mythical perfect gift or even just a thoughtful gift for your parents tell me what it is so I can go out and get the same for mine! So far I am proud that I have got some chocolates ready for Nikolaus day for my dc, otherwise I haven't even started yet.

linzer hope you found teh box of cards. How many do you send? Do Austrians exchange cards? Germans don't really do cards so that only leaves my family to send to, dh's family don't do xmas and I've gone the e-card way with my friends.
Was your phone phobia even for ringing friends when you were a teenager? Dd gets frustrate dthat her friends never want to do spontaneous meet ups a sthey won't phone or if she does manage to get one on the phone they only seem to say yes or no and would never sit and chat. She uses Skype to get in touch with some of her class mates now though.

platanos here the heating would definately be the landlord's job to fix. Hope it gets sorted soon, it's far too cold to have no heating. Did the landlord sent the Installateur?

nutella good luck with the pyjama search, hope you get some.

Internet keeps going on and off, fed up of calling the Telekom people but it's starting to be a joke.

admylin Yes, I only ever rang friends when I was a teenager - once I was on the phone to someone it was OKish, but I just hated having to phone up and speak to parents, brothers and sisters, etc and feeling like I was disturbing them. Being an au pair in Germany definitely helped me overcome my phobia a bit as I often had to answer the phone there and take work-related calls in German (the father worked from home); after that, making phone calls in English seemed easy! But I'm still not a fan of the phone, particularly not if I have to speak German, and would far rather e-mail/text/book online etc. if I can.

I probably send around 50 cards altogether; I know a lot of people don't enjoy writing Christmas cards, but I love it. I think we only exchange cards with two other families here (one German, one Austrian), both of whom send a card with a photo of their DC on it so not really a "proper" card IYSWIM, but I just think it's a nice way of keeping in touch with people, I love getting post and an e-card just wouldn't be the same for me.

English I saw that thread too; it's a question I've sometimes thought about and I can never decide what I'd do. It would be a huge upheaval for the DC to move back to the UK, who are all really settled here - as I am, really. But I don't think Austria will ever be "home" in quite the same way as Britain is, even though I feel like it's my home now and feel very at home here with DH to deal with all the awkward official stuff, official phone calls, etc..

Hi everyone.

Thanks for thinking of me doing my scary concert - the piece was actually the overture to the opera "The Silken Ladder" . Despite the mirror thing, I'm reallly glad I did it since it went really well and all my colleagues were lovely about it. Apparently they rang half the oboists in Mitteldeutschland before I agreed to do it - everyone else said thanks but no thanks when they heard what piece it was .

jenny I honestly think if you spend enough time practising an instrument you end up pretty good at it. I can't really see that talent comes into it much, although I think lots of singing and exposure to music as a toddler probably leads to children having a head-start on their peers and being labelled as having an aptitude for music. I also think that if I'd practised more I might have a permanent position in an orchestra now instead of having to work freelance, but whether that's solely down to my laziness, or actually partly down to circumstances I've no idea.

outnumbered welcome to the thread. I've been here 12 years and I also can't imagine moving back to the UK and being able to fit back in easily. Otoh it's still "home" for me, although I'm very happy here.

admylin yy I seem to run out of cash so quickly these days. I've started asking Dh for cash virtually every time I see him since going to the ATM is such a pita!

linzer that sort of impromptu performance always makes me cringe inside, regardless of how professionally people manage to pull it off. A friend of a friend writes poetry, and has been known to stand up a recite a poem at birthday parties and the such like - it doesn't happen in the UK, does it?

platanos I had to google yolo, but omnishambles is great!

bienchen yy to colds having different symptoms in different countries. I'm always much more ill with a cold here than in the UK. I can't remember getting a temp or feeling so unable to get on with things over there.

english I also have no idea what to get my parents for Xmas. Last year I had made a photobook of dd's first year, but despite being about halfway through the year two book, I can't imagine it being ready by Xmas. Hope your ds understood about having to go to the Schuluntersuchung.

nutella I bought quite a few button-up tops thinking they would help with bf, but actually tops loose enough just to pull up ended up being more practical. I had some bf vests from jojo (but you've already ordered, haven't you) which were really good for wearing under other stuff.

I was up vomiting twice last night and still feel fairly rubbish this morning. At least I don't feel actively sick any more, but I still can't face eating anything . Oh well, good excuse to lie on the sofa reading mn all day!

Hello again and thank you for the warm welcomes :)

I am originally from Lüneburg, thus not far from where you are now Admylin. Dh got a more family friendly job in Kaiserslautern 2 years ago so we took the hard decision and moved down here. Now though, dh has just been made redundant and it's very likely that a new job will not be in the same area. A bit of a nightmare, especially as 2 of our 3 boys have ASD and we all receive tremendous amount of support here. Having to move somewhere else where provisions may be less good really scares me.

Cheas, I have had it happen twice where someone damaged our wing mirror and 'forgot' to leave their details. Although vandalism isn't covered by car insurance, theft is. And in our case, the other driver didn't just damage the mirror but I couldn't find it anywhere iyswim. Just a thought.

Lots of bugs seem to be going around at the moment. Ds3 (he's 2) is home today with a fever. Let's see how long until the other two get it.

There are so many of you on here! Hopefully soon I'll know everyone's name a story :)

cheas Poor you, stomach bugs are horrible. Hope you're feeling better soon - and enjoy your guilt-free MNing!

outnumbered Hope your DS is on the mend asap. How old are your other two?

Argh, just need to vent - does anyone else manage to get visiting DC to eat what they've cooked? I've given up on anything other than pasta and pizza - and even then, pizza toppings get scraped off etc. I made pasta with a kind of chili (not hot) bolognese sauce yesterday and none of the three children we had over would even try it. One of DD2's friends is here today and I made a cheese and broccoli pasta bake. I wasn't surprised when she immediately picked the pieces of broccoli out, but I then noticed she was scraping the cheese sauce off! (Although I've seen her eat lasagne at home, so she can't dislike cheese sauce per se.) Looks like it's back to plain pasta and a separate sauce - inevitably to be rejected. How does everyone else deal with children not wanting to eat the food they've cooked, or is it just me who has this problem?

Argh (again) - she had about four pieces of penne in the end and left the rest! Would IBU to ask her mother later on what she likes to eat (and if she says something like "most things", point out that she rejects most of my food) or should I just feed her pizza margherita for ever more (any other toppings get scraped off)? I'm just so fed up of having my meals (other than plain pasta) rejected by every single visiting child every single time.

And yes, I know it would BU to mention it - but I'm just so tempted sometimes. Maybe before her next visit if I haven't calmed down by then.

cheas hope you feel better soon, good idea to stay in bed if you can. My dh told me I looked really tired yesterday which means I must really look bad for him to nitice as he's the type of dh who doesn't notice if you've had a hair cut or if you put new curtains up you have to point them out to him. I just feel run down and tired.

linzer if visiting dc don't eat what I have cooked I offer fruit or yogurt and then just leave them to it. I must admit I always put dishes out so they can serve themselves, so rice, veg and sauce are never mixed. Maybe they eat a main meal at different times to you so aren't really hungry? Must be annoying for the food to be wasted though. I usually put a plate of apple slices, pears or oranges out with drinks and a few of those Leibnitz plain biscuits on the table and tell them to help themselves later on.

outnumbered hope your ds feels better soon. Are they settled in school and Kindergarden? If it's any consolation, my 2dc have moved quite a few times including big school changes and I think it was all worse for me than anyone else! Hope your dh has some luck with the job hunting. My dh s applying for jobs constantly as we're here on a contract until 2015 then we have no idea where we will go or if he will be able to stay on here (looks unlikely though).

admylin I usually offer pasta, sauce and grated cheese in separate dishes (sauce is never touched) but as we had that with the visiting DC yesterday, I thought I'd be daring and offer something a bit different, albeit still pasta-based, today. Maybe I should do something with rice and veg next time. I don't think it's a time thing though, as DD2 and her friend weren't home until after 1pm so must have been fairly hungry - and the DC yesterday all said they were hungry before I made dinner. Think I've calmed down enough not to mention anything to the mother now, anyway!

Linzer maybe you could mention that the dc didn't eat any of the things you offered, although that's what I remember once in Berlin the dad was quite put out and said oh well we'll have to get you home and feed you then to his dd. She had eaten half a bag of crisps that she brought with her and nothing else! I think they were too busy playing to be hungry.

Taking ds to table tennis then collecting dh from work in half an hour. He's really cutting down on the long days and over time since the boss has still got 4 of his publications all ready to be sent off and still locked in her drawer. She won't let him publish anything until she's checked it, reshuffled half of it and deleted some bits that he usually has to spend half a morning explaining to her why they do need to be put back in.

Linzer just replying quickly as had evidently left MN open, just got the laptop for DS1 who wants a go at Readingeggs...

Why do you worry about the visiting DCs eating? Maybe I am mean and horrible, but we have DD's friends here quite a lot, and they get what I'm serving anyway, I really don't care whether they eat it or not, if they are hungry they'll eat, same as my own kids. Admittedly these are caual drop in "can X eat with us?" meals almost always, as we very rarely invite a child to tea, as there is no need with the friends all living so near and mostly getting here under their own steam... I did used to try to cater to the neighbour kids at first when I looked after them, though I soon stopped when I felt I was being taken advantage of! There are some silly kids who will only eat plain pasta, but DD's best friend, who eats with us at least once a week, usually finds enough she likes on her plate to keep asking to eat here (she cleared her plate last time, we had Aldi lamb steaks, home made carrot, sweet potato and regular potato chips and sugar snap peas), and I never fuss if they leave stuff, it's the stress free approach, no idea if its the "right" one! Pasta sauces are one that most British kids eat and most German kids are weird about though I agree! If they want plain pasta I just shrug, no skin off my nose, I'm not employed to give them a balanced diet or anything if they are just here once a week as a visitor!

Get well soon cheas, opps got to go, back and reply better next time!

admylin Good on your DH for not making the extra effort - it really doesn't seem worth it. Does he get paid overtime?

English I wouldn't say I worry about it; I just get a tad annoyed occasionally (subtle difference ). I'm quite used to visiting DC only ever wanting plain pasta most of the time; I think it was just having my food rejected twice in two days that annoyed me a little today! If drop-in visitors, i.e. the neighbours, don't like the look of what I'm offering, that's fine; it's also fine if friends are here from 3 till 5.30 pm, say, as they can always eat when they get home. It's just when friends come straight after school and stay until late afternoon that I feel I should give them something they'll eat. I don't fuss, though - well, not outwardly; I just asked DD2's friend if she didn't like broccoli and, once she'd eaten the three penne finished, asked her to take her plate into the kitchen.

I think the other thing I get a bit about is that most children won't even try something they don't know. But, like you say, it's no skin off my nose really if they only want plain pasta.

Evening!
Had no MN time today but dc are all fed, in their PJ's and busy and dh isnt coming home till late so thought I'd sneak some time in now.

linzer - I'm like english, I couldnt care less if visiting dc dont eat whats served. I think you've been more than reasonable in giving plain pasta or a plain pizza especially if thats not what you would normally eat at that meal. I think admylin's idea of leaving out some fruit after will stop anyone going hungry till they go home. ds1's wee friend has weird food issues and hasnt been here for lunch for a while since I think he only eats bratwurst and mashed potato at home. I made this for him one time and he still didnt eat it - the mash wasnt the same as his mums!!! He'll be one of those freaky eaters when he's older.

good on your dh admylin for taking a stand against his battleaxe boss. Do you think you're coming down with something? Maybe some vitamins might help? There's loads of bugs going round at the moment so keep warm and hopefully it'll be nothing.

welcome outnumbered - I had to look on google maps to see where you were - my German geography is so poor. I'm in North Bayern so fairly far from you. Will your dh be able to get work in another part of Germany? Fingers crossed for him.

cheas - how are you feeling this evening? Hoep your enforced day of rest has helped. Please dont worry about cancelling our shopping trip if you dont feel well. Glad the concert went well. Will message you later.

english - how did the Schuluntersuchung go? Were they happy for your ds1 to stay back a year?

platanos - like the word omnishambles - very apt a lot of the time. Hope your week has been better than last week .

nutella - oh not long to go now if other people on your dec thread are already having their babies. I remember dh phoning me from work when I was about 31 weeks with dc1 to ask if I'd packed my bag (which I hadnt!) as his colleague's wife who was due at the same time as me had had her baby early. We were totally freaked out by this in the way first time parents are at the thought of there being a real live baby coming soon. In the end dc1 stayed 13 days over her due date and only came out with the help of lots of drugs and very big spoons .

Thankfully I'm feeling so much better this week - still was coughing far too much at the weekend but took the cough suppressants which seemed to settle it down and I woke up on Monday feeling so much better. So I've cleaned the whole house between yesterday and today and done all the washing - a definite post-poorlyness bounce back to normal.

Dd came home today crying as she got a 4 in her Maths test. Really didnt feel like she deserved anymore criticism from me as she's already so disappointed in herself. She'd stayed home specially last week rather than go to dancing in order to learn but just didnt manage the questions on the day . But we've been thro the test together and think she understands where she's gone wrong. Although one of the questions I still dont know the answer to and I'm good at Maths. Thats my homework for tonight .

oh and my IL's are finally on their way home - feels like they've been away forever (although its only been 3 1/2 months). They've only just left China though so they wont be back in Germany until tomorrow morning. I know I'll probably regret saying this when my MIL is driving me mad in a few months time but I've really missed them. Will be glad to have them back .

admylin all three dcs are at kindergarten. Although they are all failry settled there (ds3 only just started a few weeks ago), I am not so much worried about removing them from their friends but more the change in general. As ds1 and ds2 have autism, they rerally do deal badly with change, and a move is a massive change. When we moved down here 2 years ago, the first 9 months were literally hell, as their behaviour was so challenging. I took me lots of visits to children's psychiatrists and me sitting at the Jugendamt sobbing, asking for help...eventually the Jugendamt did act and found a charity that focuses on autism. I now have a 'Integrationshilfe' at home every single afternoon!! Overall the provisions and support the boys receive here are fantastic and quite exceptional. I am so scared of losing the support if we have to move and going back to that sobbing mess I was a year ago.

ploom thank you. I reall do hope he'll find a new job soon. He has sent out quite a few applications, but he's in a reasonable high salary bracket, thus jobs are fewer and there is quite a lot of competition for them. AT the moment we are still hoping that something will come up allowing us to stay here. But at the end of the day, we just need a job wherever. Unemployment benefits wont cover all our expenses, so it really is quite worrying.

ploom I can sympathise you missing your ILs. When we moved from the UK to Lüneburg - where we stayed for just over 2 years before relocating to where we are now - I got rather used to having my parents a mere 15 mins, and my IL's 1.5 hours away. Now my dad is 6 hours away, my PIL 7 hours! no chance for us getting a breather every now and then, although we do have some fantastic baysitters here so at least we can go out for a quite meal or so every now and then.

Linzer I would be annoyed too if other dc would constantly not touch what I had cooked. otoh ds2 is an extremely fussy eater as well. i dont think he would touch anything at someone else's house either. ds1 is the complete opposite - when he is somewhere else they tend to think he doesnt get fed at our's as he eats so much.

admylin re my ds' speaking English. It's difficult. ds1 (5) is the master of speaking Germish. Sometimes it quite difficult to understand what he is saying as it is such a mix. he does it out of laziness really and I do try to make him speak English only with me. ds2(4) doesnt speak any English with me but understands everything. But he just doesnt seem to actually 'get' that there are two languages spoken in the house. I am not sure if it is an age thing (although even ds3 (2) can seperate the languages already) or if it has to do with his autism. Ds2 cant even translate a simple word from one language into the other, which ds3 can ds.

What do you all do to keep their English going? we obviously have lots of English books, DVDs and CDs. we also receive TV via satellite dish, and we have opted to receive UK TV, thus Cbeebies for the dc.

cheas I too hope you feel better soon! ds3 is still feverish and has developed diarrhea now too. Stomach bugs I find the worst to deal with, although it's much worse the other end.

anyway, I am sure - despite the length of my post - I have missed out half of you, so apologies for that. How do you keep up??

Oh dear, really should proof-read my posts. Sorry for all the typos!

Evening all!

Having a quick wine break from packing so thought I'd pop in and say hello.
I think I've managed to sort and pack more in the past hour with DS in bed than I managed the whole day with him awake and distinctly unimpressed that he didn't have 100% of my attention.

cheas Hope you feel better soon! There do seem to be a lot of bugs going round at the moment. Did your sofa day help?

jenny You must be so relieved! Good news that it's benign. Are they going t remove it anyway?

Ploom Glad you're feeling better now. Sorry for your DD on her maths result - it's so much worse when you know you've worked hard for it.

Linzer I think I would be a little irritated if food I had cooked was constantly rejected by visiting DC, especially if I had made something we wouldn't normally eat just for them. I think English has the right attitude though.

admylin Good on your DH for show his boss that he's not happy. I'm still utterly gobsmacked by the way he is treated there.

outnumbered Hello! Hope your DS feels better soon. Fingers crossed your DH finds a new job fairly soon and somewhere close so you don't have to go through the hell you went through last time again.

platanos Hope this week is a little better! Good luck with the job hunt. Are you looking just in case or is it fairly certain you'll need something soon?
I'm going to make a concerted effort to get 'omnishambles' into conversation tomorrow even if it is just with DS :)

English How did your DS react to the Schuluntersuchung?

We're going to start moving stuff into the new house on 1st December! We're not planning on moving in until about 10th December though, which means I don't have to rush too much with the packing, phew! I'm really looking forward to having a garden. The landlady has even put a fence up so DS can't escape from the garden!

Hi outnumbered! Welcome to the thread. Don't worry about keeping up with everything- I have no DCs (for at least the next few weeks anyway) and I struggle sometimes to read everything :)

admylin I've been meaning to ask, how did you get on with an appointment for your DD's lip? Did you manage to get to a dermatologist yet?

cheas I did order two BF tops from jojo as well as PJs :) that was another good reason for ordering from them... Or at least a good enough reason for me ..... I met my friend in a different part of town because her work changed at the last minute, so I had a look around H&M instead, which was rather fruitless.... Will try and get out again later in the week....

ploom I'm 34+5 today baby has been head down for a while but swaps occasionally from lying on my left to lying on my right... Blimey is that uncomfortable! Hospital bag is started... Errr I have flip flops, a nightie, shampoo, a comb....ummmmm

Antique sounds like the packing is getting there, you'll be moving stuff really soon!

Outnumbered sounds as if the support set up you have now is amazing and a move likely to be really difficult, really hope your DH finds something where you are now!

admylin good for your DH standing up for himself!

Ploom hope you're feeling OK this morning? Poor DD when she's worked hard :(

The Schuluntersuchung was a bit odd - well, the thing itself was exactly as expected as I experienced it two years ago with DD, but the woman told me DS is "Sehr intelligent" and needs to go to school! Argh! I'm sure they say all children of normal intelligence are Sehr intelligent... but the thing is its not his intelligence that's in question, I know he's as bright as his big sister, but that although she's doing OK (in fact now, after some hiccups at the start of 2nd class doing quite well) as the youngest child in her school year, she has always been an outgoing and very confident child, and DS1, though a wild child with lots of friends in his comfort zone, will look at his feet and say nothing if spoken to by an adult he doesn't know... The tester wanted to put him down for Ergotherapy and to start school in Sept, when he'll still be 5 - I argued her out of it and got her "fail" him on the basis of social maturity He just needs another year of KiGa and to start school as one of the oldest instead of the absolute youngest, which, just like with DD, I know he would be as the intake is purely from his Kindergarten and we know all of them, so know the next youngest potential school starter is an August birthday and his parents also want to keep him back! The tester said school still might call him in and ask to assess him themselves as his test results suggest he should go to school, but Kindergarten agree with me that he'd benefit from another year and will speak for me, so hopefully he'll get another year! Argh, wasn't expecting it to be a hassle! He's learning to read (English) at home so won't be lacking intellectual stimulation :o and he enjoys Kindergarten - he's so not ready for school in the form it takes in Bavaria though - he'd thrive in UK reception, which is where he'd be now if we were in the UK, but that's just Kindergarten with a bit of literacy and numeracy :o

Morning everyone. I wrote a really long post yesterday and then my laptop froze and I lost the post and then ran out of time.

outnumbered welcome to the thread. I hope your ds is feeling better this morning.

jenny you must be so relieved - great news.

English Well done for being assertive. It always amazes me when people think they know your dc better than you when they´ve only met them for a matter of minutes.

I had a lovely time in England catching up with friends. I didn´t really have time for shopping, so just stocked up with a bit of chocolate at the airport. I sat next to a man with a terrible cough on the way back, so am half expecting to be ill myself by the end of the week.

I´ll catch up with everyone else later. I´m off to brave the shops and start present buying - mainly stocking fillers I think and I´ll use the internet more this year for the other presents.