June 08 - 118 (and counting) sleeps till Chistmas, but don't tell Deb!

[EddieIzzardismyhero]

Welcome to our new, cosy thread. Log fires, big jumpers and Christmas shopping .

What do you mean it's still August?!

spider, found the thread I was telling you about. So so sorry to hear about your friend - I know she was having the pg from hell, but even so .

First day was fab! Must go, bedtime and then night out with the girls .

Spider, we did a lot of reading up on this when it happened to my colleague as we weren't sure what to do (work normally sends flowers, has a big collection etc for a new baby). I didn't do the research myself (I found it a bit too difficult) but someone in my team did and she said that she found stuff on different sites that talked about how parents in these situations were upset that their new arrival wasn't acknowledged. In the end I found a simple but subtle baby card that didn't scream 'congratulations' and we put a message in along the lines of 'welcome to the world, hope you get stronger ever day'. You can also find some sites that sell very preemie clothes in lovely soft cotton that are designed to be easy to wear in the intensive care cots. HTH.

Sending very un-MNetty big hugs to all of you that are pg btw.

Biscuits - glad the boiler didn't necessitate a 2nd mortgage!

Amber - a lot of people are very cynical about Myers Briggs. The consultant we use is fab and we've had some really good results - especially among the most cynical of teams! Some of whom included real rough and ready manual workers in their 40s and 50s who are very suspicious of all this 'hr pish' My own team all have very different types and it's really helped my understand that one colleague in particular just works very differently to me and actually brings lots of good qualities to the team. I used to just think she was rubbish because she works in such a different way to me. But then, part of my type is a general intolerance of things that don't fit my way of thinking

Thanks DGIT and Knitting. That's just the sort of advice /suggested wordings I was looking for. I find writing anything meaningful on wedding cards hard enough. I am a bit worried that my text reply to her was too upbeat because I used the word "congratulations" but then did say that I hope the baby is out of intensive care quickly and that I am thinking of them etc. It is so tricky not sounding glib, and yet not sounding morbid. Especially in a text. Her text to me sounded weirdly chirpy but it is difficult to judge her frame of mind. Biscuits I wouldn't let my friends' situation prey on your mind too much. She has had an horrific pregnancy from the start and I know there was a possibility of a planned early section. Which is my assumption of what has happened. (You may recall that a few months ago she had the high Downs risk at 12 weeks, which turned out fine. This was a relatively minor episode in the pregnancy)

Glad your first day was good Knitting.

Spider your poor friend .

The boys didn't continue the compromise thing in a structured way but it broke the stalemate on how they played together, so was a v useful exercise. They ended up playing together pretty well over the summer.

DD1 has disgraced the family (again) by addressing the very grown-up man in our road as Barbara

Knitting glad your first day was good.

Lots of love to all the pregnant ladies here

I think we may have to consider cutting/dropping the daytime nap . S is still up again. DH just off the train so is charged with trying to get him to sleep. Despite his late night last night (around 11pm) he still woke at 6.30am this morning and his his usual 1 1/2 hour at nursery today.

Penguin just seen the news about the NZ earthquake. I can't remember which island you are on but have a feeling it is the South. Anyway, hope that you and all your family and your house etc are all ok.

DGT sorry your evenings are such a struggle at the moment. At least if he drops his naps at nursery you don't have to entertain him for an extra 2 hours each day and you get more "value" from your nursery fees IYSWIM

I'm pretty sure penguin is on the north island but v scary nonetheless. Did you also see the news about the skydiving plane crash? Nine people died.

Not a good day for NZ.

No, I missed that story. How was your girls' night out?

Plane crash .

Girls' night was really good thanks - although we were home and in bed by midnight cos two of the girls are pg! No stamina !

Have our house warming party today and it's set to be lovely weather which is a relief! Off to Asda to buy food .

Domestic sorry to be the bearer of potentiAl bed news butwe substantially reduced luke's day sleep to 30 mins Nd it did not make the blindest difference to sleep or wake up time. He was just very grumpy and then went a bit mad in the evening. It went back to normal on it's own after a few weeks it was yet another phase! He must be tired - what about trying cc?

Rolf, your DD1 is hilarious. Can you let me know which websites you use for your church creche material? We start ours a week tomorrow.

Hope PP is OK.

DG, if the DTs sleep at lunch then they don't go to sleep at bedtime till about 9pm, but with no sleep they are flat out at 7pm so I think it will make a big difference to his bedtime. If he is at nursery you can't lose cos you don't have to entertain him! He might get grumpy at tea/bathtime tho but it is a small price to pay. Sometimes they just need a lunch nap every third day or so, you could try that.

Our Multimac is coming this afternoon so must go and remove the old seats from the car

Lurking...

Dewin - crap about the job. If you want to email re: HR & discrim, feel free. I thought plan B might be baby no 2! You'd said Sept I think.

Amber - Holding fast on names until we know the sex, finding out on Friday. We're pretty awkward though as we don't want my child to have the same name as his/her classmates, so looking for less common ones again. I grew up as the only Penguin and loved it. DH grew up as one of many and hated it. Oh and we are just difficult. I also like boys names for girls.... or girls names with a shortened boy version IYKWIM, eg: Georgina.

Fsther's day here today. Ry bought DH a bike that he can turn into a fixie, so I may not see DH for a while but when I do he will be very happy. Luckily almost every house here comes with a workshop sized garage!

Poppy - In the space of 24 hours DH caught a mouse here and so did our cat! None since thankfully. DH actually trod on it's tail and put it in a box and released it outside. I was so proud. The cat was more brutal. One of the disadvantages of country living in wooden houses = mice in Winter. They don't eat anything though, or perhaps my cooking is that bad!

As some of you know via FB R had a big spill here last Fri. I came home from work just as he cracked his head open on the coffee table (having leapt off the couch). Blood everywhere. Awful. Esp as the gash was so big I could see the inside of his head. Luckily drs still open and they glued him up and he has been fine ever since, but seriously scary.

Neenz I've typed out a long e-mail and realised that I don't have your e-mail address! Mine is firstname dot lastname at gmail dot com.

Domestic - R loves toy kitchens, obsessed with the microwave though which casts further aspersions on my cooking?

Biscuits - a girl here would have middle name of Joanne, not because we love it but because my Mum is an Anne and MIL is Joan.

Spider - 28 weeks! Hope everything?s ok.

Sybil - Interesting about Georgia, DH and I loved it when preg with R, but it was in the top ten then?

DG - I hate myers briggs! Bankers used to use it to explain why they were being rude/sexist/racist! Not the actual systems fault, but was so abused at my old place.

Rolf - Your DS sounds wonderful and I agree with Rolf about sixth form and uni. No advise on neighbours from hell, but I feel your pain, my solution twice was to move, which isn't particularly helpful. DH and I were discussing moving back into our London flat when we come back and then we remembered our neighbour...

Biscuits - one speed and one volume, loud! I have one of those contracts cos we?re so far away and have tenants in our place, but £160 is less than three months premiums, closer to two in fact?.

Neenz - Wow at Daniel sleeping!

Spider - I'd still send a card, but keep it brief IYKWIM. Just seen Domestic?s advise and that sounds perfect.

Just got to the end of the thread, we?re all completely fine thank you. We are North island, apparently the earthquake could be felt here, but it was 4.30am so for once I was asleep. Amazing that no-one was badly hurt. Horrid weather this weekend, gales and torrential rain, so I really feel for those forced out of their houses or without electricity. DH, FIL & BIL considering volunteering for a week or so to see if they can help.

OK - all caught up now! Hope you all have lovely lazy Sundays. We're off to a kite show before a family Father's day thing, must go cook quiche! (Yes, I took the lazy option).

Just a quickie

Glad you're Ok there Penguin

Spider - how's the baby doing?

hi to everyone else,

We are being tourists at the moment, we've bought a Salzburgerland card, which gives you free admission to loads and loads of places and saves LOTS of money . We are on day 4 of 12, so far we have been on a cable car up to the snow, a spa bath, a chair lift, a castle, 2 museums and another swimming pool, tomorrow is our favourite spa bath the day trips will take us up to when the boys start school again.Photos on FB!

Penguin - glad you are all fine.

Deb - no news on the baby. I texted a mutual friend who seemed to think Mum & baby were both "fine", but I suspect she knows little more than me.

I have just discovered that P is too big for the top deck of a Phil & Teds in newborn+toddler mode. I had read on MN that it can be an issue for tall toddlers. Tried out the Sport and the Dash and his head is wedged in the sunroof. Vibe apparently a bit better. Wondering what the alternatives are. It has to be a tandem not a side by side as we have a narrow hall and no garage. Then there is the buggy board and sling option which is much loved on MN but sounds like v hard work persuading an escapee toddler to stand nicely or walk in an orderly fashion in the direction Mummy wants to go in. P is actually very good at walking long distances but on his terms IYSWIM.

spider, that's a tricky one. There are lots of tandem pushchairs, but most of them are huge and very expensive.

I would go and seek out the advice of the people on the pushchair thread - it was a huge help to me when I was looking for inspiration.

Had a busy weekend, culminating in an afternoon of filming today! We're going to be on GMTV on Tuesday morning if anyone's interested .

What are they filming you for? Miracle babies? Isn't it the new Adrian Chiles/ Christine Bleakley thing starting this week.

I have been perusing the pushchair threads this afternoon. I find them a bit scary if I'm honest. Clearly some people find pushchairs much more important in their lives than I do. On baby centre I even looked at 27 pages devoted the baby jogger city select which might be a good option if I could bring myself to contemplate the price.

I have measured P. He is 92cm/36.5 inches. Which is 80 somethingh percentile, so tall but not crazily so. How do other people's LOs compare? It's annoying he doesn't fit the P&T but I am glad I worked this out now as I have come close to bidding for a P&T on eBay a few times.

Yes, it's actually Daybreak now . We won't get to meet AC/CB though - they wanted us to go to the studio but couldn't contemplate it with two small children!

Don't know how tall A is - he's clearly shorter than P but not massively so I don't think. Will try and measure him!

Quick post to mark place- penguin-any chance of borrowing your husband to catch mice ( bit of a trek tho). And agree myers Briggs woefully misused At my work.

Wow at tv slot although I loathe cb knitting.

Spider e about 87cm so quite little. The pushchair types are a whole new world - it's people who have 8 pushchairs in a year that shock me.

Restful lazy weekend here- will try to catch up tomorrow. Hi to everyone else

Hi everyone. Tonight was night one of CC - 2 hours . Am knackered. DH is away again later in the week though so need to try and knock this recent refusal to settle on the head.

Spider I chuckled at the more 'value for money' if S wasn't napping at nursery - DH is always complaining that he sleeps for nearly a day a week at nursery!

Now that S is finally settled I'm off to bed -

Deb - that sounds great. I used to love being a tourist in London when friends came to stay.

Spider - I don't know what to do re: double buggy vs sling/buggy board & current buggy either. So will watch what you do with interest. R has recently decided that he likes to be carried....not good. I thought that the jogger style buggies were only suitable from 6 months onwards though?

Knitting - If you put the TV clip on utube, let me know!

Domestic - at two hours, hope tonight is better.

Not a great day here today, has been raining all night and I woke up joking about Noah. My jokes are not as funny now as our garden is flooded, between 1&2 feet of water! We're about 5cm away from needing to evacuate. Have unplugged elec stuff and put as much as possible above ground level. I can cope with being flooded, wanted to get rid of lots of stuff anyway, not sure I can cope with staying with ILs!

DGT - sorry to hear about the 2 hours of CC. Not nice for anyone. Hope tonight is better. I am beginning to panic about the clocks changing next month. 5.55 this morning, and DH saying "I think I need a little more sleep"...err, yes so do I.

Poppy I guess the 5cm difference would be the difference between having your head in the roof of the pushchair and fitting it nicely, although it doesn't sound like too much of a difference. I am hoping Amber that is going to come along and say that Luke has broken the 1m threshold

Penguin NZ is getting a hammering in the natural phenomena department this weekend isn't it? Hope the water doesn't get any higher. The BJCS would need an extra carry cot to be suitable from birth, at an extra £100+ of course. Link here: babyjogger

Thanks Spider/Penguin. Pleased to report that at least S stayed in his own bed all night and had to be woken up this morning. I'm going to try and restrict his nap to 1 hour today (I thought if I have to wake him I can put a dvd on for him so at least he can sit and have some quiet time)

Penguin - hope you're doing ok, the flooding sounds awful!

Re: myers briggs - hate it when it's misused and people use their 'type' to get away with bad behaviour. The whole idea is that it should be used to improve interpersonal skills not excuse terrible ones!

Deb - the tourist stuff sounds great fun! I wish I'd done so much more touristy stuff before I left London.

Double buggies - no idea obviously, but my slightly odd mum friend has a P&T and her daughter is quite tall I think. Not sure what height though. Spider have you tried ebay etc for an extra carrycot - sounds like the kind of thing people would sell to recoup some cost because it's probably only used for such a short time.

Knitting - exciting about being on tv tomorrow - will it be on whatever the itv version of iplayer is?

Now, I don't know why but my toy kitchen accessories hasn't really attracted much opinion. If anyone is having a mooch around MN today when they're supposed to be doing something else, please feel free to come and post. Especially if you have a toy kitchen. I'm a bit gutted I was in Costco yesterday and they had this very girly kitchen in stock for about £80 but not the red one (which is almost identical to the elc one). Grrrr.

Oh, we took S to see Toy Story 3 yesterday. He sat through the whole thing which was a relief as he was the only child in the screen! We had been to the Disney store before hand where he picked a Buzz which hasn't left his side since! When we came home he showed Buzz around the house and introduced him to his toys. I definitely remember when I was pg being adamant that I would keep S away from all the branded tat as long as possible, but there we were yesterday with him barely turned 2 buying him Thomas the tank engine pants and vests as well as the Buzz.

waving hello quickly...

spider DS1 fit in the phil and ted until he was 3.5, it was a bit of a squeeze at the end though, I'm glad my two are on the shorter side :) sorry that's not very good help for you though.