June 08 - 79 days (and counting) til Christmas, has Deb started her shopping yet?!

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Thought we should update the thread!

5 mins from Ikea here! So don't go out of your way DG, I suspect I may be in there on Monday anyway.

Biscuits - hope C is OK, I bet you are relieved to have finished work.

Spider - interesting about getting the boots on, will let you know how I get on.

Excited as we are having a bit of an impromptu night away, we are going to stay with some friends in Manchester, only arranged it on Thursday. I'm not sure they know what they are letting themselves in for having us all to stay! I must not drink too much wine. Better go and pack I guess.

What's happenend to our thread? Where is everyone?

Stress here, maybe exchange next Fri and moving Nov 20th, so LOTS to do, won't be on here much.

I'm here! Have just posted a 15% off code for GLTC for Knitting which hopefully she'll spot today.

Very exciting re exchanging and moving Deb - hope it all goes well!

I'm here too. Nothing to report really.

Another step closer to the move Deb...

Sybil I'm assuming your DD didn't approve of Pamela's dress on Strictly last night?

HI all, hope everyone has had a nice weekend. We had a great time at the farm this morning and then swimming this afternoon. Luke has started swimming a bit on his own (doggie paddle)which is brilliant. He wears a buoyancy swimming cossie which seems to have done the trick. He did go under though and cried but was fine 2 minutes later!

I have had some great great news! As I have a twin pregnancy and I had a previous c section my health insurance will pay for a private C section for the babies so I am going to the Portland!! It would have cost about £15k to have my care there so I am mega pleased. I was dreading going to my NHS hospital as the next nearest one has closed its maternity services from mid December and everyone would be moved to my hospital so as overstretched as it already is it would have been worse.

Deb - good luck with everything - glad it's all finally moving for you!

Hi everyone! We're toilet training here right now and aside from being a bit exhausted, it's going reasonably well. Fraser's not had a major accident today (yesterday was a different story) but we're still taking him to the bathroom every 30-45 minutes and getting him to try. I think it'll be a while before he starts to tell us he needs to pee...

Amber glad to hear your news :)

Deb fingers still crossed, it must be working...

Hello! I'm 15 minutes from IKEA in London. (But 2-3 hours here in Anglesey, which might negate it. I'm also 1 hr 15 from nearest Sainsburys here, and 2 hours from the nearest John Lewis. )

I've had a strange weekend really. I've been so, so tired: Iestyn slept like a newborn on Thursday night and I only got 5 hours (prob. less) but I'm just not able to catch up, and I was already dead tired and going to bed at 10 before then. Weird.
I went to 1 paper from the conference, found myself totally alone in an empty room with the girl who got the job, and made good smalltalk until she asked a question about my current job when I randomly (and I can't explain it - the question was easy enough) started crying. Maybe it was some held back anger/frustration from last month. Or I'm hormonal. But mega

And I was stung by a wasp. I meant to come on the thread on Friday when it happened (but I went to bed at 8pm ) and tell Amber to ensure that Luke gets extra calpol - good God it hurts! Good news is I haven't reacted wildly. I have in the past and it's on my med records (silly really - something I have to report when seeing anyone in hospital eg when I was pregnant - it's only a problem if a bee or a wasp comes into the room and stings me when I'm in labour!!) that I could go into shock. But I didn't this time and apart from an itchy finger it's fine. But, Dad (a beekeeper) doesn't think I was properly stung, given that wasps are sleepy now. (The b*ards shouldn't even be around, let alone sting me - and Luke! )

Oh, one more bit of news- this is for Neenz - I've been invited to join a secret bit of Mumsnet!

Deb good luck with the moving - hope it's not too stressful.
Great news on the Portland, Amber! You'll see celebs in there! Any important ones having babies at the mo??

Just wrote a post and lost it, so will just wave, and try again tomorrow x

is it a welsh secret society or should we be jealous? (ie if it's welsh then we're not eligible not that it's not cool or anything...) Actually I didn't know there was a secret bit...

No, neither did I until I was asked to join it! I'm damned if I can find it through the normal channels, though. It's not Welsh.

It's not the moldies is it Dewin?

My exams are next week and I have yet to find my exam fear.

Glad to hear that toilet training is going well Abdn.

Am a bit knackered so will just virtually wave to you all!

Dewin - oh please spill on the secret bit!!! Is it like the Masons??

Sympathy on the sleeping. Luke is also sleeping badly suffering from bad dreams. He did OK last night but got up and out of bed at 5.40 this morning wandering around the hallway as usual!

Dewin yes you do get slebs there but i'll be in a normal room and they'll be in the suites! By the way Dewin here is a link to the instructions for the fertility monitor (if you need it!!). Don't forget you need to start monitoring from day 1 of your period. instructions

Dewin - are you still feeling sick? because very tired and not sleeping and crying unexpectedly ... I could be way off the mark here but that 10-days-late period might possibly have been implantation bleeding. When did you last do a test?

LOL at being like the Masons! It's the academic mums thread I was on - we had to go secret because some of us (me being one) are easy to track in RL and some (all!) of the issues are work-related and so need to be confidential. (Moldies, though? I think not - although I might search for them on the secret bit, once I've understood it! )

Thanks for the instructions Amber and I'm still hoping I won't need them - a few days to go! Systems I'm feeling sick today and still dead tired. I haven't tested since my 'period' came last month, but it definitely wasn't implantation bleeding (too much of it) and I do think it was probably a chemical pregnancy because 10 days is ridiculous, I had so many symptoms and then they stopped. Oh, and the other point is that Amber also gave me her one remaining ovulation test stick and I used it and was ovulating.
I do wonder about my overemotional state and the tiredness (I cried looking at a picture in a magazine yesterday ) but then I have been under a fair bit of stress!

Mmmmmmm ... perhaps just bear it in mind as a possibility if you keep weeping unexpectedly; ov sticks can go +ve with HcG as well as luteinizing hormone (2 years infertility and academic brain = lots and lots of conception related trivia washing around my brain still!)

Very exciting Amber let us know if you see anyone really exciting!

Deb fingers crossed it all goes through finally.

Dewin I didn't even realise they had secret parts to mumsnet. Do you get special spy smileys?

Ah Dewin, I suspect your thread is in 'off the beaten track' which is only accessible to members and won't show up in google searches.

Must get back to revision...

Ever so quiet on here!

Sssssshhhhhh.

Damn it, just lost a giant post. And am too tired to write it all out again.

KT - How was the wine?

Spider - Hurrah on getting the pushchair. Am being optimistic and going for a single only here....a maxi cosi mura I think, it switches from toddler to newborn in less than 1 min. So hoping only one boy needs to be in it at once. I'm dreaming aren't I?

Deb - Yay!!! Come back on confirm when you've exchanged though.

Abdn - Fantastic news on the potty training. Are you using any form of bribery? (Just getting my tactics ready).

Dewin - I'm crying all over the place ATM, but yours doesn't necessarily sound hormonal, but a reasonable reaction to stress. Hope you get a break soon.

Amber - I had a endoscopy at the Portland, it was lovely. The Portland I mean, not the endoscopy! But even that was done under anaesthetic and I had a screen where I could watch what was going on or something else if I preferred whilst it was being done!

OK, off to bed now. Big day y-day (Bday) and I'm now officially too old and too pregnant for big days.

It was very nice thanks Penguin, with hindsight I could have done with a little less. Enjoyed myself though.

As predicted my Mum fancied a trip to Ikea yesterday so we got an easel, £14.99, bargain.

My new boots arrived yesterday, but disappointingly they had put size 4 in a size 6 box, so they had to go back, not reordered any yet.

Debs - great news! Hope it all goes smoothly.

Right I should be off, ILs coming to stay at the weekend and the spare room is full to the brim with junk.

Well done on getting your pram sorted Spider and Penguin, I am still in the process of making a decision, which isn't helped by the fact that the one I think I want isn't in stock anywhere.

we had great fun making biscuits yesterday - a trial run for C's Christmas presents to people - they were these ones jammy dodgers my next door neighbour came over too with her 3 year old and 5 month old, somehow it's easier to do messy things with 2 adults, even when there are more children!

ktpie - how annoying about your boots!

deb fingers crossed for the next step, sounds good!

domestic go and study, only 1 more week and then you're free again!

dewin secret societies, very medieveal! how did the proof reading go by the way, did you get it finished?

amber that's good news about the hospital. Think it might be standing room only at ours as they closed one of the 3 maternity centres in Glasgow and they expected the patient load to split about 70/30 between the other 2, but apparently it's been more like 90/10, and I know an awful lot of people due in the next few weeks!

Is it quiet because it's half term?

Happy birthday for yesterday Penguin!

I'm on annual leave this week to revise for my exams (which isn't going as well as it should..) Am currently waiting for the announcement from Take That at 10 am about their tour

Glad you got the easel ktpie. My spare room is in a similar state and we also have visitors this weekend.

Not much else to report from here. Oh, S got a massive bump on his head (he bumped it on our bed frame again, which has the only particularly sharp edges in the entire house and what he cut his eye on previously). He had a 2-3cm line imprinted on his head immediately, but thankfully the skin was only grazed so no stitches this time. However, we have got some 'mr bump' plasters so he is now insisting on 'mr bump' for his bump. I went to wake him up this morning and the first thing he said was 'I need new bump mummy' because his plaster had fallen off.

Oh, actually, on the sleep front, I hate to jinx myself but he's sleeping a lot better and more regularly in his own bed. DH still sits with him till he falls asleep, which we really need to tackle but it's a vast improvement on a few months ago.

My word Biscuits - how did you know I was here. Do you have superpowers?!?!?!?!?

I'm really struggling with this parenting lark this morning. Caitlin up at 5.20 again - but can't CC her back to bed as she wakes Liam if she screams at that time in the morning - he has been an absolute monster since starting school and if he's woken up too early he is completely impossible. Every little thing becomes a struggle, to the extent that I'm considering whether we should have him 'assessed' for something, esp. after a disastrous parents' evening last week (and he's only in Reception!!). Considering starting a thread in behaviour / development about it but don't know where to start!! It feels like such a catch-22 situation all the time. Sorry just venting .

Though did have one entertaining moment yesterday when my Grandma phoned in the evening while C was still up. Grandma's 99 and a bit deaf and first of all she thought she was talking to Liam. Instead of correcting her Caitlin had a nice chat about how much (s)he is enjoying the new school then she went back on as herself and had another chat!