Any mums in Spain want to chat?

[skydancer1]

That's it really. I'm English (DP too). We have a two year old boy and live in Valencia.

Hi all

Hi dallsporpoise .

supersophie good to hear your feeling well. I wonder if its the name: this one´s Sam as well.

I had an impromtu visit from PiL this weekend. Think I would have preferred the social!

Hi there - to anyone who's around It is absolutely peeing down over here at the moment. The weather has really changed over the last couple of days, definitely a lot cooler. How are we all?

Well, I went against all my principles this weekend and relented and let DH and DS1 put up the Christmas tree. I have made sure that DH knows that this was a once in a lifetime offer, never to be repeated He's the one who wanted the tree up as he's more of a kid than the kids, LOL. He still thinks I want something though as I am always adamant about not putting up the tree until the 2 days off we have in Dec(7th & 8th Dec). Must be getting soft in my old age

Sam stood up unaided in his playpen this weekend. Unfortunately we missed it as I was in the kitchen with my back to him and DH was watching the telly ... typical!

HI all again

Dropped off planet earth last week due to encounter with a dodgy prawn (isnt one for sick so went for sad!)

We put our xmas decs this weekend also, but have to admit it was me who was pestering for them . Hope to be able to blame it on Ds in the years to come but at 20 mths Id be pushing it!

The weather has been pretty fowl here too, but then it usually is on the Cantabrian coast this time of year.

Looking forward to going away for a couple of days for the 6-7th puente. Feels like ages since Ive been anywhere that wasn´t my family or DPs. We´re only off to Pais vasco but still just the 3 of us in a casa rural.

pato - poor you. I had food poisoning once and it was seriously unfunny .

DH's mum arrives on the 7th so him and DS1 are going to the airport to pick her up. DS1 is sooo excited as (apparently) Granny is the "bestest lego builder"

I have a seriously bruised left buttock due to massage after acupuncture to repair a damaged ligament. The ligament feels great, it just absolutely kills every time I blinkin' sit down. Aaaarrgghhh!

Hi there. Just a quick message to wish you all Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo School breaks up this afternoon and then we're off for 3 weeks. Unfortunately our computer at home is broken so doubt I'll get onto a computer during the hols. Have fun everyone.

Love, Soph xxxx

Hello everybody,

I'm a newbie and have just found this thread. We've been living in Spain for five years now, in a tiny remote mountain village where nobody speaks English, and we love it! In fact, our life has been so chaotic and hilarious that I wrote and published a book about it.

Lovely to meet other expats here. Lupin: I strongly advise you not to bring an English car over. The changing to Spanish plates, Spanish MOT on a British car, etc. proved a complete nightmare for us and we wished we'd just bought a Spanish car in Spain. Much simpler. Of course that's only our experience, perhaps others have managed better...

Happy New year all.

Hi VictoriaTwead I also live in a village where no-one else speaks English but DS1 has managed to get them all saying bye bye to him!!

Hope you´ve all had a good one. Im quite glad to settle back into life as normal. We spend about 2 days at home and the rest visiting family in UK and then the same all over again with family here.

Had a look back over the thread and am feeling quite pleased with myself , feel so much more settled here than before and now can´t actually imagine going back to UK. A good thought to start the new year with!

Happy New Year all. Hi Victoria, I don't think I'd have coped too well if we'd had to live in a village where no-one spoke English when we first arrived. Then again, after 10 years my Spanish is sooooo appauling that maybe it would have been a good idea Can't actually believe that we moved out here on 3 Jan 2000

Hey pato - pleased to hear that you're feeling very settled now. I couldn't ever imagine going back to live in England. Visiting is fine, but going back permanently ....

Hi, I've just joined Mumsnet and found this thread.

I live in a village outside Valencia with dd, ds and oh. We've been here 6 years and love it - I would love to be able to chat to some English girls though - all the mums at school are Spanish:-)

Hi all

Welcome twig.

Not been on for ages, had a bit of a mad Jan, and haven´t had time to MN. Have started a new job, just a couple of hours but thrown routine with DS loads. Also just started to learn to drive . Felt had to finally push myself into it, Ive been sticking with the Im doing it for the environment excuse for a while now, but DP is fed up of being taxi and small village/little public transport/DS is not good combination.

Hope alls well. We are going through a cold and miserable snap here. Means no playground outings for DS, this is when I miss Mum & Toddler style group. Dont seem to go in for that type of thing here. Most parents I know put the kids in nursery from an early age, "to help them socialise" and they dont go out to work.

Welcome Twig and Hi Pato. Our weather is dreadful at the moment (orange alert). The only bonus is that after-school activities have been cancelled today so I get to go home at 3.35pm. Looks like Tenerife is going to get the worst of it again poor things.

Twig - we're here in Gran Canaria (me, DH, DS1 & DS2) & have lived here for 10 years now, got married here & had both boys here. My spoken Spanish is still absolutely diabolical though, quite embarrassing really.

Anyhoo, must go for now as need to tidy up seeing as I'm going early. Would be lovely to have a day off tomorrow but I don't think the alerta is going to last until then Hey, it's chip day at school tomorrow so at least have that to look forward to LOL

Hi Pato and Soph,

Pato - We live on a mountain outside a tiny village and I would be lost if I couldn't drive - good luck with the lessons. We've had a couple of days of snow this year, which the kids thought was great but the locals aren't used to it I really missed Mum's and Tots when ds was born - we where still in England when dd was born and went to M&T twice a week.

Soph - wow chip day sounds great I guess from the home time you work at an English school - my two are at local Spanish school - it means 4 trips into the village every day but at least they aren't home till 5pm. I hope your weather has improved.

Hey Twig Well we did get yesterday off as the orange alert was still active. Fortunately chip day was today instead . Yes, both me & DH work at the British School of Gran Canaria & DS1 is in Year 3 here. I work till 4.50pm Mon - Thurs & 3.35pm on a Fri. The good thing about DS1 being here is that we don't have to worry about school travel arrangements. It might be a bit different with DS2 as he has Mosaic Down Syndrome so we still don't know whether he'll be able to attend our school - fingers crossed he will though.

I couldn't cope if I didn't drive. I do roughly 700km a week because of all DS2's appointments. I wish someone would hurry up and invent an autopilot for cars

Hi, glad you got your chips What do you and your Dh teach? It must be difficult to fit the doctors appointments in with work. how old is your ds2? will you know soon if he can go to your school?

Sorry about all the questions

I just have to read the messages to remind myself that I have to get back to living in Spain. I get so caught up in the daily s**t in London that time is just marching on.....please anyone kick start my thinking -I want my kids to have a quality of life in Spain!

Hey Twig how you doing? DH is Head of Studies & teaches Geography & I'm the Library Co-ordinator ... exciting stuff DS2 is only 22 months so we'll probably discuss it with the Head during the next year. He probably won't be ready to start at 3yrs old like the other kids but hopefully he can stay at the guarderia another year and then start here.

saintpeta - hi there! Consider yourself well & truly kicked Where abouts do you live?

Hi all

I like the sound of chip day too .

Santapeta: second kick! Cant even begin to describe quality of life difference here to when was back in London.

Driving lesson going OK, but have been warned by a friend that the instructor is a "feely-type" .

And I cant hold back anymore, Im 13 weeks pregnant ( ) and have been bursting to tell people but dont want to unitl have had the scan, which isn´t till next week. But just can´t wait any longer!! I was about to give into DPs pressure to start telling family last week, but then a friend phoned and said she´d had a MC the previous week . So put us off again.

Off to try and squeeze in a bit of feet up time with cuppa while DS is napping.

Oh pato how wonderful. HUGE congratulations

We're battening down the hatches at the mo - wind is blowing a gale outside, sometimes living on a mountain gets a bit scary
at least it's a bit warmer now.

Congratulations Pato, how many lo's will you have with the new arrival?

Soph good luck with ds2 - sounds like you have everything organised.

saintpeta another kick from me too - the kids get to be kids for much longer here and life is soo much more laid back for the grown-ups to.

Twig - I was looking at the piccies on the meteo channel this morning and it looks like you're getting all the nasty stuff we had the other week. I understand about it being scary as we live right on the sea front and that gets a bit hairy at times

I wouldn't say I've got everything organised ... I just sort of bibble around in a general, sort of, type thingy direction & hope I get there eventually!!! Wine & chocolate seem to help as well LOL

Soph - wine and chocolate are always good

Hi

Will make 2 (assuming theres just one inside!) which tbh I wouldn´t be surprised as I´m like I was 6 mths gone with DS1. Or possibly its more that nausea and funny mouth taste only go away with biscuits or chocolate cake . DS1 is 23 mths old.

Im on the coast as well and the wind gets a bit scary sometimes but the sun´s come out today .

Twig, where are you? I know you´ve mentioned it´s near the mountains.

Oh sorry just noted it´s saintpeta not santapeta !!

Hi Pato we live in Godelleta, which is 20 mins outside Valencia.

The wind has finally dropped and the suns out here to.

You'll have your hands full with two lo's, I hope you get over the nausea soon

Soph how are you coping with the 'perfect storm'? We're due to get it tonight so we are bracing ourselves

HI

Was wondering also how things had gone in Canaries. We´re on "alerta roja" here in Cantabria also, just been out on balcony to bring in my plants and doesn´t seem too bad yet.

hope alls well.

Patito formally know as patoamarillo!!! (Changed nickname as was confusing on another thread.)