what has happened to the Zappata roll call thread in chat?

[marmitemad]

I've lost it from my watched threads and can't find it by searching either, am I just being stupid?

Don't think always in same place as such, but Nemo is not likely to get lower than Dory now...

ooo cooey im still a zappata

egg - congrats on the wee twin egglets -hope you are well and all the egg clan and mr egg

heeeyyy!!! scottishmummy how are you and your fine scottish prince?

we are fandabydosi and on holiday from tomorrow, so office assistant on from 1200ish, typed a handover, and im happy demob

how are u squonk and the squonkettes still glamarous pushing your zapp. mine out of loft and ready to gogo

god i have missed lots, not much skivve time at themo - you know cant squeeze it in.

o hope all zappata girls are well, i do miss the mad chatty blethers

Think we are all good at the mo. We have a new regular member Marmitemad, who has just gone on hols so she is absent at mo. Lovely to see your smiling orange face over here SM and thanks for congrats.

Hoping everyone is good today. DS full of green stuff but seems in good spirits.

MIL coming tomorrow...

how long is MIL staying, egg?

We are all fine, SM - not so sure about glamorous (think the zapp is the only glamorous thing about my entire life!) but we are all well. Littlies got a bit of the same green stuff babyegg has got, but they're OK.

Gosh I am very breathless now. Had to pick up double blow up mattress thing from Argos for MIL as our new bed for spare room does not arrive for a few weeks. Was not anticipating it weighing so much .

MIL is thankfully only staying two nights. Annoying though as DH has to work from home on Saturday and cannot really leave the house, which leaves me to entertain her and show her round. Maybe I can send her out to the swings with DS for five hours and go back to bed .

House is a tip, and I have found three dead Daddy Longlegs so far today. Methinks I need to clean and tidy before MIL tomorrow but I DONT WANT TO.

Oh, Matthew Wright has just said that eating chocolate daily in pregnancy LOWERS THE RISK OF MISCARRIAGE.

hmmm didn't help me...

Egg - what kind of lady is your MIL? Could you tell her you were exhausted and would she take ds out?

I bet your house is not that bad, will she expect perfection?

I did wonder after I posted that if it was a bit insensitive to you and many others, but thought it could only be a good thing to know, as I was only half watching and thought they said eating choc daily increased the chance of miscarriage, which would make so many women out there feel guilty that it was somehow their fault.

If you don't mind me asking, I presume you have definitely put the baby plans on hold now (I know you said you were thinking about it), now that you have a wedding to plan?

MIL is a very irritating kind of woman. Nice but annoying. Her house is far from perfect (bathroom is vile sometimes), but she seems to think it is spotless, and has made comments on how clean my bath is before. I have a bit of a sore throat and if I do end up getting what DS has there is no way I can pretend to be bright and breezy with her. Trouble is, she has never been to Winchester and wont have a clue which way to go to get anywhere so I can't really send her out alone. Ah well. It is only TWO NIGHTS. And also only 9 days til we go on holiday .

Oooh ooh, my Blooming Marvellous order is here! I have my baby listener thingy. Have to go and unpack it and give it a go (bet I don't have the right batteries or something...).

Will report back shortly.

we have batteries of every conceivable kind! Every blardy toy that dd2 and ds got for their birthdays takes a different sort!

grr

(and they are all loud)

Big Grrrr. I decided to put DS's new step stool together first, and spent ages doing that as it is craply made (but not even cheap, grrrrrrrrrr), and only checked listening thing now, and I need one of those brick shaped 9 volt batts. Can't find one in our battery selection and can't think of anything round the house I could steal from. I want to lie down, eat chocolate to get them excited, and HEAR THEM.

Poo.

On the plus side, DS had a lovely morning at nursery and was apparently very chatty and smiley and even ate some strawberry whip for pudding (he is very suspicious of new puddings for some reason).

egg - ring dp and ask him to buy one on his way home from work, then you can both listen

DH not dp sorry

Hi Egg - don't worry I didn't find it in the least insensitive for you to mention the chocolate..
All the more reason for me to continue eating it just in case...

To answer your question - yes unfortunately we have had to put the baby plans on hold for a while ( as I don't want to be 6 months preg or more on wedding day..but we will continue to try later

Must admit I haven't kept to going to ww's.. just got fed up of paying £5.50 a week to be weighed and told to eat salad instead of choccy ( it's hardly rocket science is it?) But I will be trying to be good again soon...

Egg - I didn't know you wanted a baby listener thingy..I have a doppler that I would happily lend you?

Squonk - how's dd1 finding school this year? I think my two are a bit shocked at the amount of hw now..especially dd1 as she will be doing her gcse's next spring!

fred: am very pleasantly shocked and surprised about the amount of homework she has been given and is doing

Have taken your advice and not questioned when she wants to go upstairs... so she stays down with us till tea, then she scoots off upstairs and does her homework. If she finishes it before bedtime she comes down again, if not, she stays up there.

Am really really happy about the change in her from last term.

She is still stroppy, but at least she is knuckling down and doing something!

God i am not looking forward to homework days... still a long time to go! I will be asking you two for advice on teenage girls in 13 years time . Strange to think yours will be in their TWENTIES then and you two could be grannies .

Fred I did have an old listening thing but it stopped working. Have now taken the new one out of the box and taken all the bits out of their plastic wrappers in excitement so will keep this one, but thank you for the offer. Hopefully next year after the wedding you will need yours again! Agree with you, ok to be a few months pg at the wedding but you prob don't want to be huuuuuuuuge or you wont enjoy it so much. I do remember being a bit careless about 6 months before my wedding and rushing off to the chemist for the morning after pill just in case. Any other time I would have just thrown caution to the wind but timing was not the best!

Have asked DH (don't worry about calling him DP Squonk, I did the same with your DP repeatedly in the early days, even though I KNEW he was a P and not an H , to get a battery on the way home, but the chances of him getting the right one, or even remembering, are not good. I could go into town but I was there earlier and it is raining and I am TIRED.

Squonk - glad to hear about dd1. She's a lovely girl and seems very bright I bet if she tries hard she will do really well at school. Good to hear she's having time alone - and after a while in their bedrooms mine always want to come down and see what they're missing!! (Although that can take about 3 days for dd1 )

Egg - of course you're tired...bless. You're carrying two babes around and looking after your gorgeous ds too!

egg - any problems with MIL and we'll all zapp her!

If you greet her at the door with "Am I glad to see you! the house is a tip and I'm SO tired" she will pull her marigolds out of her carpet bag and get stuck in (or am I getting confused with Mary Poppins?)

fred: as your advice about alone time was spot on, do you have any pearls of wisdom about what to do about the way that she talks to me? You know that teenager-ish 'fuck off and die' tone they have?

What a fabulous plan!!!!

Good news is DH is no longer working, so at least they can go out, with DS, and I can chat on MN!

Glad DD1 is getting better. I cannot imagine how hard it is having teenagers.

Squonk - I'd love to come across as a teen behaviour guru but unfortunately mine can run rings round me too..!

However it's normally dd1 that has the 'wish you'd drop dead' tone of voice and the 'laser look' that is supposed to shrivel me on the spot.

I find that instead of geting to mad, just grinning like a loon and saying 'sorry were you speaking to me cos all I heard was 'please ground me for a week and take my tv/laptop/playstation out of my room?' surely that wasn't what you mean't to say?'
Then still grinning I wait for an apology..if thats not forthcoming they are then racing me up the stairs beging forgiveness as their tv/laptop/playstation find their way into my room!!

If they are genuinely sorry I let them have it back after a night or two, but if it's bad and they are still being bolshy they lose it for a week and are grounded too.

In quieter moments I tell them that respect/gratitude from them is a big thing to me. I don't want dd3 growing up listening to them backchatting me and DP.
I do joke around with them too much probably and this can let the lines between mate and mother get blurred, but they know when they have crossed the line!!

Sorry this was way way too long!!

Wow Fred you really sound like you have got it sorted. I was watching Supernanny last night (I don't care that loads of people on MN hate it, I find it entertaining and educational ), and I do worry that I will turn out like the mum last night, always shouting and losing control. I have no patience and find it hard to take a deep breath before shouting. And poor DS is only a baby! I am better than I was, so hopefully it will come with time, but I reckon with DS, Nemo and Dory I could find life a bit shouty!

Egg...i have been known to yell too !!

But the strategy I use below I have honed to perfection - they know merely by looking at my face that they WILL be in trouble.