Due in Oct 06 - meet-up

[whiffy]

Hope everyone interested found the new thread.....

The venue will be central London - maybe somewhere like Pizza Express? - and I need to get the thumbs-up from everyone who is interested.

If you fancy joining the meet can you reply here and let me know if weekday or weekend is best, if you prefer lunchtime or evening (or don't care), and what dates you definately can't do between now and say mid-July. I'll then try to work out what will suit most people and we can take it from there...

Looking forward to seeing some of the gang (though maybe not the really skinny ones.... )

hi whiffy
i think this will be good thank you for organising it. im around apart from the 1st july weekend and 15th july til 21st july. otherwise mainly here in central london. could do evening or day but evening prob easier.

Hi Whiffy
well done for organising. I think I am going to be a bit of a nightmare to accommodate, so just go ahead and organise and I'll see if I can come along. Weekends are tricky for me in the next couple of months, because there is so much wedding stuff going on, though fine after August 12th!! If it needs to be a weekend, just let me know when and I will see if there is a way I can make it.

I could do a Tues-Thurs. Lunchtime or evening would be Ok with me.

Thanks for organising, Whiffy. I'd LOVE to come. As well as getting to meet you ladies, it's possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity to eat pizza with a load of pregnant women. I'm definitely not skinny, I've gone up 2 cup sizes and my boobs still look tiny compared to my belly.

During the week would be easier (I'm not around 28 June to 1 July and I can't do 22 June evening or 14 July lunch.) I've got quite a lot on at weekends, so may or may not be able to come.

Thanks, Whiffy. I'm away 24 June - 8 July. Weekdays best for me (not 10th or 13th July though).

Hope you manage to sift your way through all these!

Huray I found you I can do every other weekend and whenevr my dh isnt working! I think Im probably the same as majormoo you let me know a date and Ill arrange babysitters etc to work round it. Weekends are so much easier for me though.xxx

Weekends and evening best for me Wednesdays can be tricky but other than that I'm flexible. Pizza - mmmm

Ok I think we should go ahead and book something in diaries and then I will add a note on the other thread.

It looks like more people will struggle with a weekend than with a midweek so I thought it best to keep everyone happy by firming up a date soonish for a midweek event and maybe pencilling in something later in August at the weekend, when hopefully people's diaries will be less busy? From my experience with meet-ups you tend to want to catch up again soonish, as the events seem to go so quickly...

So, how is everyone for evening July 11th? And then if people want a weekend follow-up shall we pencil in Sunday August 20th for late afternoon?

I vote for Pizza Express in Langham place for the evening meet, which is one I haven't been to but it has baby changing if anyone wants to bring kids, and it apparantly has al fresco dining and also takes bookings. I'm thinking of booking something for around 6pm so that people can come after work and/or ensure their kids get fed at a reasonable hour if they bring them and/or head off early if they need to (without feeling like a party pooper). And any diehards can of course guzzle on later. Langham place is a few minutes walk from Oxford circus.

Does that fit with everyone?

Sounds good, Whiffy. My enormous stomach is rumbling already.

I can do the 11th. Do I just look for a bunch of pregnant women or do we have a password?

I can make the 11th - bit nervous - never been to a meet up before... thanks for organsing whiffy

Would love to come but will have to give it a miss as DH away for work then and have to look after 10 month old DS at home. Have only just got him into routine of getting him into bed at 7pm and God forbid if I put him to bed a minute later. Will be thinkign of you and hope you all have a great time

i can do the 11th as well. looking forward to it

Great - we're up to six at least so will be a good table's worth of pizza and dough balls.

For those who haven't been to any of these before, don't fret - you'll have a good time and we're all in same boat. I've only done one meet and it went really well - doesn't matter if you don't know people because you have so much in common that conversation very easy....

I'll keep the thread going to see if we get any late additions and will book up shortly.

x

ps secret password will be 'where's the loo?', said with pained expression to waiter. Try to remember, otherwise we'll never be able to spot each other....

Yeah I can come too and it all sounds good to me. My dh has got the day off and will feed my ds's so I can relax with all you lovely ladies. Ill lok on the net where the place is exactly then look for a few rotund ladies

All booked for 6pm on 11th at Pizza Express, 4-5 Langham Place. Directons from Oxford Circus tube - take exit to emerge on Oxford St, North side/Regent Street West (next to H&M) and walk north up Regent Street. Cross Mortimer St and you are now in Langham place. Less than 5 mins walk from Tube.

Booked in name of Whiffen. You can't miss me as I'm the really skinny one that looks like Lindsay Lohan, only younger and sexier, obviously.

I'll try to get there early so no-one else ends up looking like a Norman no-mates.

Well that just about tops it all Wont be able to make this meet up. dh has just rang to say he cant get the day off after all. If there is any chance of another meeting at a later date through August I will definately try to make it.

We'll definately do another in August, gingeme, you need some fun.

Ah thankyou honey though feeling alot calmer about it all now. Seems more real somehow. Boys are realy excited actualy which is good because I know theyre not going under duress(think thats how you spell it).

Hi, I'm back from hols!!! I should be able to make it, although may be a bit late. Hopefully see you there....

Look forward to seeing everyone tonight. But I think I might disgrace myself..... I was at Pizza Express for a work do a couple of weeks ago, and I hoovered up my pizza and then this little voice in my head kept on saying "but you're not full up yet, have some more...." And it was all I could do not to suggest ordering more pizza....horror! I will be the most chavved-up slob on the thread by the time we all give birth. It'll be KFC and Burger King at dawn before long....

And what's wrong with hoovering up a pizza? I can do a whole Italian Kitchen pizza these days and they're HUGE. I know the books say we don't need extra calories until the third trimester, but my stomach can't read.

Hi there, I am a student at Birkbeck College (Uni of London) studying an MSc Human Development, and part of my course requires me to take part in Infant Observations. While this sounds daunting (and maybe uninteresting for some...) it is not as clinical as you may think! It simply means that one hour a week, for about 18 months (probably no more), a warm and open mother will allow me into her home to 'observe' her (or her husbands/other family members) interaction with the new born. I will literally be a fly on the wall, I will not judge, speak or talk to the baby or the mother. I shall not be making notes (this is the clinical part I am afriad people will think), in fact you are not even suppose to notice me. The hour that you will allow me to visit will depend wholly upon the mother's wishes, though hopefully an hour when the baby isnt sleeping... As a mother with a new infant, I expect that some people will be thinking that this is the last thing they will want- an intruder/ and outsider. This is the last thing I would want to feel like too. I would like the mothers to know that this is completely confidential. Names will be changed etc. And if teh mother is interested- at the end of my course (June 2008) I have to submit a paper based on my observations, the motehrs are entirely entitled to read them too. As this is a requirement for my course, I have taken the necessary police/Crimincal Records Bureau Checks, and come from a background in child (and adult) related volunteer work as my CV will testify. If there are any expecting mothers who may be interested to hear more about this, but not necessarily make a commitment to allowing me their time, please contact me on [email protected]. My name is Neda, and I would also like to note that I think it would be in both of our interests if I could meet the mother during the end of her pregnancy to see if we are both comfortable with each other and ask any other questions beforehand. This will take the pressure off both of us!

I am looking for mothers who are expecting to give birth in November or December, or even January, preferably in Central London. I am based in Kensington.

Thank you so much and I really apppreciate your taking the time to read this!