Secret Garden

[BriansMum]

Hope this works, a shiny new thread girls - come on in .

Lovely Christmas day here too

Good one here too. Quiet day as e and dh out at in laws and I have orders to rest . So what chocolate to eat and what to watch on tv my tricky issues this afternoon

New Years Resolution 1: Spend less time on Pinterest and come back to Mumsnet.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. The mad countdown has begun here, six weeks on Sunday! So I will be back on Sunday in keeping with my resolution (also starting running and shredding the same day, this should be a much easier one to keep).

OMG, Mudwiggle - can't believe it's only six weeks til you come home !

I'm starting Lighter Life (for the final time!) next week so am still well up for the GSR in October .

Hello to everyone else .

No resolutions here apart from trying to cope as best I can with dd2. And also cant believe it's 6 weeks!!!

Or to put it another way, six weeks to find employment! Eeeek... I can't wait to get back to work but hate the application-interview process.

Stitching - Good luck with LL. How are you feeling about it? After the last year I genuinely think weight loss is as much a mindset thing as food/exercise. I wish I knew how to bottle the way I felt earlier this year, I would be a very skinny millionaire if I could. Hoping that exercise will throw me back into it. Nothing like an impending deadline to make me finally move my butt.

Gigondas - LOL (nicely) at "trying to cope as best I can with dd2", I love my boys dearly, but there's more than one reason why I'm looking forward to a break working.

BTW - is it worth me making the effort to watch the Killing? Great reviews but I've just watched "I think we need to talk about Kevin" and whilst it was good, I am fed up of depressing stuff.

Hi everyone! Nice to see you back Mudwiggle. I really liked the Killing but, it's not cheery and I thought the first series was a bit too long.

We've had a good Christmas here. DS loved his presents and we've had a nice time with family and friends. I can't believe it's Friday already though. I go back to work next Wed and it now feels like that is coming around very quickly. Although I think DS could do with being back at nursery - he's been a bit cranky and badly behaved over the last few days which I put down to being overtired and out of sorts due to the lack of his usual routine.

Is anyone getting to do anything nice for NYE? Quiet one in here. We normally visit friends but they had to cancel this year (we went earlier in the week instead).

Good luck with LL. my resolutions are to try and live a healthier life, read more (got a kindle for Christmas), and be more organised/productive generally. It will require a LOT of effort!

Mudwiggle - good luck with the job hunting. What kind of work did you do previously again?

I like the killing too but it's not cheery . Afraid I have been dumbing down with Lewis and midsomer murders of a night .

Mud wiggle any help we can be on job hunting let us know . You did back office for financial services or am I wrong?

And at your comments re having 2. Oddly I am bracing myself for the shock of that (having glossed over it then was completely overwhelmed with dd). Now am just stressing re birth which didnt do last time. Baby still not moved and looking unlikely too - scan and consultant appt on Tuesday to see what to do (ie try to move it which may not work or c section). Have acupuncture tomorrow too so hoping that helps.

I feel so sore/unfit with hip and thought of major op on top of my fears already about how awful it was last time (ESP when had issues feeding ) is worrying me. Couldnt sleep last night thinking about it.

Leo- quiet one here to unsurprisingly.

Re ll/ fitness agree its a mind thing too- I will be coming late to that resolution when I get over the birth (I turn 40 later this year and want to feel normal then- its not so much about losing weight as not feeling totally drained).

I was HR back office for investment bank. Pensions manager - Project manager - Customer services manager - Appraisal 'guru'. Would quite like to get into database management/reporting/development, I love excel. :0) But just get me back into an office and I'll be happy.

Leo - NYE = dinner with ILs. Fish and chips followed by pavlova. DH and I have a lovely bottle of rioja to polish off once they are gone (very hard to get over here), but no big party. We were seriously thinking of a very quiet one followed by an easy sunday afternoon whilst watching Jools Holland with some bubbles.

Leo - DS1 out of sorts here as well. Despite good night sleeping, pretty tired during the day. They don't go back to kindy until the end of Jan here though...

How is everyone doing with school applications? To get DS1 into my preferred school, on the basis of last year, we would need to live with 150ms of the gate! It is still very close (less than half mile) so will put it down as top preference but not holding my breath. A Wimbledon nursery today suggested he stayed at nursery until 5, missing reception and then go straight into year one. Does anyone have any opinions on that? I hadn't even considered it...and they may just be interested in more money.

Please don't fret Gig, although I know that is easier said than done. You are describing me this time last year almost to the day! DS2 hadn't moved at the scan to check at 36 weeks, had another scan at 37 weeks (not a proper one, CS surgeon just liked to have a quick look to know what he would be facing in the CS) and DS2 had moved dramatically. So it can happen - fingers crossed. Equally had real feeding issues with DS1, but DS2 latched before I left the op theatre, not even sure I was involved! What I am trying to say (badly) is there is bugger all you can do right now - so enjoy as much as you can. Take some photos of the bump too! Esp with DD. I love looking back on them.

Thanks- mud wiggle i do remember it wasn't the easiest time for you so tips much appreciated .

Re school apps, stitching didn't you think about deferral? Given the big move you are making it might be an idea to defer- you just need to get a sense of what they miss out in terms of bonding with classmates and learning (not sure it is much about learning as about getting into going to school in reception but am sure stitching and deb have better advice).

Your new years Eve's plan sound lovely- only 6 weeks to plenty of rioja.

Re jobs- I am not sure what is going where I work as seems to be a hiring freeze. Would you consider temping? When things were bad a couple
Of years ago a fair few people I know ended up permanent after starting on temp
Contracts.

Dd been a bit over tired and her diet been horrendous (the house is full of chocolate...) but the various visits from
People (ESP dsc) have kept her entertained.

Hi everyone, Mudwiggle, can't believ it's nearly here, you must be so excited. Do you already have somewhere to live then? I Does the Wimbledon Nusery have teachers in the Foundation stage unit? I would be inclined to say get him into Reception if possible as much for the socialisation and getting used to a school atmosphere before Y1. Once they get into Y1 expectations change and the transition from Rec in the same school can be difficult for some children.

Nothing exciting here for NY, quiet night in, Christmas dinner planned for NY Day as whilst it was lovely at sils the dinner wasn't what we normally have!!

mudwiggle, totally agree about losing weight being very much in the mind - I'm actually bizarrely excited about going back to LL. Like Gig, I am also turning 40 in 2012 and that has definitely helped to focus my mind and make me realise I can't keep pissing about with my health. The MRI scan I had in Sept revealed arthiritis in my left knee which is not causing me pain now, but it will only be a matter of time. Plus I have both diabetes and high BP in my family, so I need to get myself sorted. I know LL works for me and have a wardrobe full of beautiful clothes that I wore pre-pg to fit back into. Bring on the summer !

Good luck with the job hunting. Can totally relate to needing to get back to work - I'm now focussing on the gardening course as a new career and one of my NCT friends and I are starting to do reciprocal babysitting from next week as she is also doing a college course. So I'm going to look after her DD2 and my DS2 one morning a week and then swap round the next day. Really excited about the idea of doing something a little different.

Can also totally relate to the grotty behaviour from the kids - esp DS1 . He spent some time with a friend's DD last week who goes on about being "shy" all the time and now he's taken to saying he's shy too as an excuse not to talk to people . Got very cross with him today and he was on his best behaviour with my friends that came round, after some extremely rude behaviour last week. I'll be keeping a close eye on it!

Re: schools. I'm very undecided as to what to do with DS1. I'm seriously considering putting him in on a p/t timetable in the Autumn term and only sending him f/t from January. He gets so tired at pre-school and I'm very worried about how he's going to cope with 5 days a week and the problem is if I start him on 5 days I can't then reduce it, whereas if he starts p/t and does brilliantly I can then increase his hours. However, it's only December now and I might have completely changed my mind by July! Deb is much more experienced than I am with this though as I teach upper KS2, not the scary little ones !

Gig, easier said than done but try not to worry too much about DD2, it's amazing how these things have a habit of working themselves out . Have you tried baby spinning? I have friends who swear by it!

NYE - we're going to an NCT friend's house. We were planning to have a quiet one at home but had an impromptu invitation and decided to go for it. Six adults and six kids - what could possibly go wrong !

Here's to 2012!

New Year, New Name! I think it's easy to guess who I am

Good luck with the job hunting Mudwiggle. I'd agree that temping would be worth considering if you don't find anything permanent quickly.

I'm glad to hear that it's not just DS who is playing up! I can't wait to get him back to nursery next week although that will mean my Christmas hols are over and I'll need to go back to work too!

No advice to offer on the schools front - with the different system up here DS won't go until August 2013. In Scotland if you defer you do actually do properly defer a year rather than join your original class a year later. Schools are on my mind already though and I'd be interested to know what Deb and Stitching thought of our current dilemma. We're desperate to move, mostly because the area isn't brilliant and our neighbours are disgusting. However, financially, it really would make sense to stay here for a couple of more years. Our house isn't worth much more than we paid for it so it would be sensible for us to have a few more years with a cheaper mortgage, pay off a bit more of the house and build some savings so we're in a better LTV situation when we do come to buy something. Also, we're not in any kind of mortgage deal at the moment because interest rates are so low and that would change once we moved. However, if we don't move for a few years then DS would start primary locally (and the local catholic primary is absolutely fine) but he'd have to move part way through primary. So, my question after all that rambling, is what do we think of changing schools during primary? I know you've got personal experience of school changing Deb! I moved schools a lot in primary and then went on to be really picked on, my siblings both moved schools later on (as did I but I went into 6th form then which was a different situation) and hated it. The other consideration is that we're likely to ttc this year (but only for a short while) and if we were successful, taking on a bigger mortgage at the same time would be a struggle (SMP only for me, so I'd probably have to take shorter mat leave than I'd like). If we're not successful that would affect what size of house we actually need too.

On the health front another one not too far from 40 here (I'm 39 in a few weeks) and really feeling it in terms of health too. I just want to have more energy all round so that I can spend more quality time with DS but also get jobs and chores out of the way so I don't feel we're having to dump DS in front of the tv at the weekend while we catch up on 'stuff'. This will of course have to wait until next year as today I'm still in my pi's. We had friends over for dinner/staying over and much wine was consumed.

Hi Scottish- is there not a "change" age 7 (ie after 3 years in school) from infant to junior in Scotland. I know in England most kids do stay at same place but it's reasonably common to move schools then.

Given your circumstances I would stay put as seems to make a lot of sense for all the reasons you say. I think waiting and having a bit more savings/ no stress if you do ttc next year makes more sense.

Everyone's NYe plans sound lovely- am looking forward to nice dinner and early night.

Re shifting baby tried acupuncture this morning which was odd to say least (it involves burning incense stuff- have got some more to repeat at home). Fingers crossed (it was oddly relaxing if nothing else).

Have seen that website stitching but trouble is with exercises is I can barely walk downstairs so much movement/exercises is tricky. I am meant to see Pilates instructor to help move baby this week but tbh even getting there let alone doing exercises (and thinking about how best to space pain relief to allow me to do it ) is a real effort. Am having to plan trip to scan/hospital on tuesday fairly carefully as am seriously worried that may get up there and be crippled by pain . Serves me right for having all my luck with dd as was not really too bad in late pregnancy .

Any other new resolutions and happy new year to you all.

Hi Gig, no just the one primary school here which is from 4.5/5 through to 11.5/12. I do think staying put would probably be more sensible, but getting out of here is tempting!

Sorry to hear you're in so much pain. It sounds absolutely awful, you poor thing.

Are neighbors really that bad? Sympathy as our old neighbour was a cow and it does get you down.

I think if you plan for move (ie speak to school etc) It can be managed but suspect deb has better advice. It does sound good that you have a decent option where you are.

Dh on massive spring clean (partly due to boot space In new car ) so having a big clear out. We have sent off old cds and DVDs to place that buys them off you. Surprisingly easy and can get a fairly decent amount for what is basically old plastic gathering dust on shelves.

I suppose they're not the worst neighbours but their garden is foul, loads of problems with overflowing bins and fairly regular parties, visitors who are always blocking our driveway and ugly van parked outside - I'm talking myself back in to moving now

Where did you sell your cd's and dvd's? I want to have a clearout of ours.

at van- there is a man with a van (actually has ads on as will move stuff) that lives round corner from me. It brings out the hyacinth bouquet in me when parks it on our steer

If you hunt in iTunes app there is a music magpie app- you scan in what you want (think there is a minimum sale of 10 and up to 500). They then give you a value and you either print off a free label to send or for bigger orders arrange a courier. I got quite carried away DVD scanning.

Thanks for app recommendation - I'll check that out. at reaction to van Gig, that's exactly what I'm like!

Having a thoroughly dull NYE here. We've been overindulging all week so a bit meh about it all now. I've just downloaded an app to help organise housework as part of my plan to get myself sorted!

Dull NY here too with crap telly too

I went to bed at 10 after watching Harry potter

Thank you for the school advice. Think I will see what happens with the applications, but I like the part time idea more than deferring.

Workwise, I am more than happy to temp. I actually think all jobs should be temp to perm contracts, much better than interviews to see if you are really suited to a job and vice versa.

Deb - We are moving into our old place in Wimbledon, we rented it out whilst we were here. Could be interesting as tenants are moving out on the Sat and we are flying in on the Mon. Please let them have cleaned! Would have loved a Xmas dinner for NYE. DH has the next two days off work so may need to do a big roast to make up for Christmas day BBQ & salads.

Baby spinning - Am I the only one that pictured infants on exercise bikes?

Technically it's still the 1st in the UK and that is where I am spending most of 2012 so I haven't really broken my new years resolutions already by posting at 12.05am, not running or shredding today, right? It's sounding dubious even to me, but providing I run & shred tomorrow morning before UK midnight, I'm counting it as ok.

Horrid about the earthquake in Japan. I am not unhappy to be leaving a country prone to earthquakes. Back to one of the biggest terrorist targets that had mass rioting last year, I grant you....

Gig - Remind me of your due date please. DS2 was born 10 Jan, so I am vividly remembering this time last year. I really do sympathize, I hate the last few weeks of pregnancy. It was better (although not easier) with the first, because you only had yourself to worry about. However I found the whole birth and first few months so much easier with DS2 cos you knew what to expect and do.

Happy new year all.

Consultant and scan today - after some discussion (as baby not moved) on whether worth turning and trying for vb , am booked for elcs in two weeks . Vb rejected as 1. Would need to try to turn which is quite high risk given my history (I have zero tolerance on any risk )2. And given I can barely stand or sit, even with an epidural, we felt all too much.

What's the betting baby turns now ?

So mudwiggle dd 19th (9 days after your ds). Talking of which what are your birthday plans for him?

Did everyone else have good nye? I would moan about weather but from your fb Scottish looks like you have had weather and house issues.

OMG Gig - that's so exciting !

We get to welcome DD2 to the world soon - yay! I know an ELCS wasn't exactly what you were looking for, but as you say a no/low risk solution is the way forward.

Btw, does anyone mind if I start a new thread for 2012? This one is taking forever to load now! Any thread title suggestions?

Now it's decided am feeling bit better - given how incapacitated I am at the moment , c section recovery can't be a lot worse.

I agree about new thread - how about moving from the secret garden to the Olympic park?

That does only give us 2 weeks to get A name - grace been discarded , current favourite is violet . But that will change as dh was showing signs of going off that