Jan 2009, baby D0Gs and bumps galore.. lets make room for many more...

[120]

here we are. am going to start a bet on who is next to get broody!

Golly it's quiet on here tonight. I've made 4 jars of chutney this evening as we keep running out. Sooo nice.

Tree, really hope your party went well!

Dog, can't believe you walked 4 miles. It is my plan to get running again this week.. we shall see!

HZ, are you sure you can't fit a booster between the 2 seats? We can in the peugeot so I'm a bit surprised! I used to have H in the front seat and DD in the back. I preferred it that way as if he cried while I was driving I could be sure he was ok and not too hot etc. Hate not being able to see/comfort them when they are that small.

by the way, what shall we bring on Saturday (apart from strawberry jam...)

hey 120...wine...bring wine! The seats kind of go up at the sides on the focus so its a total pita, and the baby seat only fits in on the bulky isofix base as seatbelts are too short. I can cram them in, but not safely, so will have to have one in the front. Tried pretty much every combination in Halfords! Hardly ever use the car anyway so shan't stress about it until I have to!

will bring wine anyway but let me know if you want a starter or a pud or summat. Main thing is to leave the kids behind!

Hello

Hope you are feeling better Moose? Bleurgh to period pain. Hope the cold has passed. Is ds2 better now? Poor thing, have I got my wires crossed or has he had a fair bit of vomiting this last fortnight?

Am a bit poorly so can't really read and retain.

Party a success, although dd1 did two things that sort of surprised me. Some naughty behavour, although she won't have meant it to be. Will go into it another time, but Iwill have to have a little word. Later though, won't spoil the birthday high.

Bee has arrrived. It is Bee It's amazing. It's 3 years since. Naughty me actually mentioned Bruge to her tonight, to see if she still remembered Bee. We are giving her Bee tomorrow. She spoke about Bee straight away, and said she wanted to make friends with Bluebell Halliwell so she could visit Bee. Bless. She said the mayor of Bruge would know where to find Blubell, if I didn't.

Can't wait to see her face. SHould I make Bee dirty and a bit older, or let her have her pristine and say she had a bath?

Feel rough, so have to go. Temp is 38.4 and my skin is so so sore. Not vomiting now though. So on the up.

Just popping on in an effort to catch up.

Wish wish wish I could see DDs face tomorrow tree when you give her Bee. Can you get DH to secretly video or something? Glad you are feeling better.

at nice dinner party with wine 120 and hkz, how lovely. Mostly envy at the wine, but obviously the company too .

Waving to everyone else. Back to back visitors here, just said goodbye to sister and new bf, and now hello to old friend who is here for a week. Lovely to see people but it's severely disrupting my 9pm bedtime! I am having to stay up until all hours chatting.

4 weeks today we will be high in the sky on the way down under! So much to organise between then and now. Eek.

too at the meal at hkz'z. SO lovely our thread has become a people-who-eat-meals-together affait

A fairbit of at your up and coming period of change missj. Wow. Good luck with all the prep you have to do. I really do envy you . Not a nice emotion though, so wll focus on how happy and excited I am for you

I was thinking, I think I have been around mn and the thread for 2 years now. Wow.

Still ill. Fed up of it. At least I can focus on the screen now. Last evening I hit the ill but well enough to be bored stage and was really fed up. On the mend now. I just have amazing levels of pain. Though not like yesterday. My skin and joints are agony. Been in bed for 36 hours which is enpough to give anyone backache.

Lenni - I never really posted on your dh irritation. I totally get it. What more can I say? It seems a universal issue, which doesn't make it right. I find [and I have researched this] that buggering off for a child free overnight stay with a friend always helps to remind them of our good work. Especially if you go on a Friday night so they have some real life real week stuff to deal with on Fri evening too. I know it's rather harsh of me, but I refuse to be taken for granted. I am so motivated and cautious on this one that I am really active in preventing it. Rather than leaving it to dh's good nature to remember I Am A Human Being, I make sure I insert several oppurtunities every few months to remind us all of how important we all are iyswim?

So I will nag and convince and engineer a social or biking something or other for dh, but I will also build in some down time for me.
One evening and one breakfast rush hour usually serve to remind dh of why I make it look so easy. It's because I kick ass
However, I know many can't and won't leave ther children. Like Books says, ideally we want them there, but away . I guess I can do it easily now as I had to leave dd1 for 2-3 nights in a row from 9 months - because of work. And with my shifts I am always leaving them for 12 hour nights and days - which is essentiallty what a meal and a sleep over at a friends would amount to. At the time though, 5.5 years ago when I went back to work with dd1, it broke my heart. It got easier with practice and now feel it is a good healthy thing I can leave them knowing all will be well. That's just for me though, everyone is different.

Anyway, I'm dribbling on.

Morning all. Work here for me! Want to be at home making rhubarb and ginger conserve. boo hiss (sorry HZ, stole it as I like that phrase. You can have it back now).

On the DH irritation front, I too have found it hard, but managed to get it a bit more sorted finally. I think because we like to be needed and best at mothering, it is very difficult to give up the reins. We should be able to do it, we need to be able to do it, but at the same time, it is a bit irksome to come home and find that everything is fine and you haven't really been missed. When people say to you 'they didn't cry at all', on some level that is actually more annoying than reassuring. I see it thus:

DH level 1: can find the nappies, will change it he has to
DH 2: can generally cope for a couple of hours, but the house will be a tip
DH 3: has mastered day routine and can take them on trips, even managing naps at roughly the right times
DH 4: can do trips, naps and has mastered bed times
DH 5: level 4, and keeps the house tidy
DH ninja: level 5, plus cooks your dinner and gives you a lie in with tea in bed.

Ladies, we have a way to go...

I have a ninja, but fails on section b of level 5. I'll whip his ass tonight

Poor dh. I'm a right old battleaxe.

Morning 120. Sorry you are not where you want to be. Soon be home time though.

Wondering if I will be able to manage a shower. I think I smell so bad I am giving off vapours. But thought of water on my skin is horrible. So so sore. Hey ho.

how about using baby wipes tree? good enough for baby...

glad you have a ninja though, makes life much easier! Mine is one too, and also fails on 4b. What went wrong in our training scheme? Hope you feel better soon. I've been on some echinacea 2 weeks on 2 weeks off drops and they are helping enormously!

Like your scale 120, think I have a ninja too, althogh he definitely needs to practice on the cooking me dinner front (unless ordering take away efficently counts!) I think he know more about routines and trip management than me Am sure it will all go tits up when we swap again!

Tree, must be hard doing nights, especailly to begin with. I suppose the plus side is your DDs will be happy to sleep at thier GPS which is a bonus if you ever get the chance to bugger off with DH for a night of sleep passion. Hope you are feeling better. Looking forward to hearing about the Bee reunion.

MissJ, your trip has come around quickly, lucky you getting to miss out on the dreary novemebr december weather. When are you guys back?

I am off on a Mon-Friday residential next week to an outdoor activity centre on the Isle of Wight with some students. MIL is coming to help DH out as he is working a few evenings and his MA starts next week (bad timing as ever). I've never done four nights away from DCs and know I will miss them like crazy, especially with pregnancy hormone raging! (I keep reading DS 'There's a house in my Mummy' and it makes me cry each time!) ANyway I know they'll be fine and thrilled to have thier Granny about.

The weather is depressing here, grey, drizzle and misery !

rubbish. just been rumbled. the boss recognises mumsnet from his mrs. they need a 'work skin' for it!

HKZ - as a confirmed junk food junkie I'd say efficient take away ordering is one of the corner stones of a happy marriage.
Good luck with the residental, although will see you here before then of course. You are doing well considering young family and pregnancy! I guess the only thing is the days will be so manic exhausting you will sleep deeply and well. Might be brill for that alone

Half tempted to bring dd back to Bruge to be 'reunited' with Bee. Could organise for a reunion on ferry, maybe someone could put Bee on her cabin bed or something?

Hmmm........Schemes! I love schemes!

120 - my dh fails on section b [does cook but house a tip] because I am a slattern and therefore he is. It is The Way of Things. Mothers lead. Men follow and jump in front for the good bits.

Can you tell I grew up in a house of Irish Catholic women and no men? My nan only approved of very good looking rich respectable men. And even then only faintly.

I'm with your Nan on most of that one. Slightly less of the respectable. Sadly, there was a lack of them at Manchester Uni. They all failed on one front or another.

morning

mum stayed over here again today :)

Hi Tink.

Meant to say MJ v jealous of your Oz spectacular. Do let us know if you are down this way (and are telling people ) and fancy meeting up in north London. We could get HZ out for a jar or two.

of water

Gah.

Got carried away after feeling ok-ish after a shower. Had a sarnie. Not good. Toilet trips. Bleurgh.

So booooored.

Sorry ladies for being completely checked out here. I did keep up for a few days but the last 2 days have been grueling for me. So tired and yesterday a threw up about 6 times throughout the day! This pregnancy is not even remotely as easy as the first. DH wanted me to go to the walk in clinic. MW and Dr. on holidays. I told him that it is very normal to be excessively tired, spontaneous bouts of crying and fits etc. I said the only reason it seems different this time is that I'm dealing with a toddler and an uncle and his girlfriend upstairs who don't really give a f&^%$#k about the fact they clump around on my head all day. Yesterday, after lunch I was so knackered but knew nap time was coming up. DD went down, I crawled into bed and just as I was drifting off to sleep, they started running around upstairs, hooting and hollering and vacuuming and doing whatever else it is that they do upstairs that makes my pictures on my wall shake. They are incredibly inconsiderate. I'm still pissed at my uncle from a few days ago because the selfish prick wouldn't sit with DD so I could go to DH's grand opening of the restaurant; babysitter cancelled. All he had to do was sit down here, as she would be in bed before he came down even. I would be home no later than 11pm. He said he couldn't because he had to work in the morning and when I went to bed at 9.30 that night, I had to listen to him and his girlfriend upstairs back and forth clumping on my head and the drone of his voice until well after midnight! WTF! This is the first and albeit the last time I ask him. It was a simple thing to do for me. I'm not even really that surprised. After all the stupid bull shit selfish things he does, I shouldn't be surprised but am tired and angry about it. Every time I turn around my family is letting me down. Well, my moms side of the family and most of DH's. Just in general I guess. I don't ask for much. I've been out once since being back on out stupid trip by myself. I'm going a little insane. He probably figures that because he picked me up sparkling water at cosco yesterday that it makes up for it, seriously. Anyhow. Just a bit of a bitch.

I'm going to try to keep up better... just so tired. (MN really needs a sleepy emoticon)

Oooo you sound steaming Chef. and for you. Especially at missing the open night.

There is not feeling like the early pregnancy tiredness. I get it, and it's like jet lag with a hangover. Awful.

Will they still be there when the pregnancy insomnia kicks in? Think of the revenge......

Just been on FB, MANY HAPPY RETURNS TREE! You kept that one quiet! Sorry you are spending your b'day curled up in bed.

Chef I am rembering back to the first 12 weeks and was overwhelmed with tiredness, I was going to bed at 7 and waking at 7....just sleep as much as you can, it will get better soon. Its a lot more knackering with a toddler in tow. And don't even get me started on the throwing up! I guess the reassuring thing is that these are all signs of things going as they should. Grr at your uncle, he sounds like a charmer....oh well, soon you will be able to get your own back with the sound of small baby crying in the middle of the night.

MissJ, I second 120's idea, come out for a drink lovely meal if you get a chance between now and then.

Happy Birthday Tree! (not allow FB at work!)

I am soo tired my eyes are stinging and I'm not even pregnant. Oh Chef you poor thing, I hate it when I can't sleep due to noisy neighbours, related or not, that truly sucks! Ear plugs? Sorry the sickness has kicked in I found that stage the hardest ((hugs)) lovely.

Miss J - cannot believe how quickly your trip is coming round, exciting! Sorry that we never did get around to arranging to meet Very too. It'll be so lovely.

120 - I'm sure in customise you can change the settings to something more subtle for work? LOL. Yum at your chutneys! My DH was level 2 but mostly level 1.

Tree - how are you feeling now? What did you get for your birthday? Loved all the pics on fb. Very exciting about Bee.

This is my poor attempt at trying to keep up on the thread again, I still haven't caught up on the previous posts from the 7 days prior. Oops Too tired. Need to tidy up and study.

Poor you Tea. What a lot you have on, no wonder you are tired out. Don't worry about not keeping up, just bob in when you can and join in the conversation. That's what they say about friends isn't it? You can not talk for ages and then when you do it's like you were never away.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I got some Belle and Boo big wall stickers for the playroom, as a joint pressi from everyone.Also a cupcake type door stop, £30 and some smellies in a travel case thing. They have spent a lot of money on me. Bless them. I feel strangely flat. Probably as have spent the last 24 hours on my own really, and also because yet again dh got me cards from the girls that you would get for your auntie. No mention of mother or mummy or anything. Obviously there is inside, but still.
I think I will go get myself a nice mummy card when I'm out and about again.

Really fed up now, 2 of my days off gone and wasted and pap and arse and tut. No doubt I will be well just in time for work to loom over me.
Will also no way be able to take dd2 to the expensive swimming classes we are signed up for .

Still, have had 2 grapes. Lets see if I can keep those down, or in, or somewhere