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

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Thought we should update the thread!

How funny systems, we've done exactly the same thing! (Although not with quite such good results!). Our heating goes on at 4am and the boys now sleep til 6.30am .

Oops, friend here, speak later.

We haven't switched on our heating yet this winter . We're just using woodburners at the moment.

We went to storage this morning and got out my maternity clothes . Only 3 years too late! We're getting rid of them, together with the pushchair collection: the double buggies and the carrycot they all went in. We were a bit sad about it and DH even asked if I'm sure I don't want any more babies.

Any news today deb?

And what did you say Rolf?

J snapped the plastic clip on his pushchair in half today whilst trying to escape it in sainsburys. Can't replace it safely so now hve to buy a new pushchair which is really annoying. Still, it was dd's old one and really bashed so it probably would have needed replacing soon anyway.

Nah, don't think any more would be a good idea . I don't think DH does, either, but I think that if he thought it would get him lots of nookie he'd probably go for it

That's annoying about J's pushchair. Ours in on its last legs and I'll be so pissed off if we have to buy a new one, when within the year we'll be able to manage without it.

If I was more organised about ebay and NCT sales I bet I could have made plenty of money from the stuff we got rid of today. But there's just so much of it and I know we'd end up swimming in the stuff.

I'm going to see Take That too - my sister got us tickets for Manchester, halfway between where we both live, and very convenient for staying with Granny! We last went to see them 16 years ago I think, just after Robbie Williams had left, so will be fun to see them again!

rolf your DH is funny!

spider glad you are pleased with your buggy! taking DH to see the options on monday and then going to make him part with cash so it's done! leaning towards the BJCM Twin, and mothercare said they will price match JL, even though it's out of stock there, so should be 283 which isn't too bad. The cheapest place at the moment is Boots, if you count the £50 of advantage card points that we'd get, but you can't order there's if they are out of stock which they appear to be all the time!

Am going to book tickets for the Children's Christmas Concert at the Concert hall in Glasgow, here in case bugger or domestic fancy it sounds great, my neighbours went last year and are going again, so am going to be brave and take C - and I guess I will be taking a tiny baby too, gulp!

That concert looks great Biscuits. We're taking all the children to see "this one www.liverpoolphil.com/3421/events-classical-music/rudolph-on-hope-street.html". We taking the boys to see a whole load of musicals as well which we're very excited about. And some more "serious" plays and concerts for DH and me.

We've had a few moments recently where we haven't had enough croissants/room in the car/hot chocolate because DH can't remember how many children we have . Sometimes it's a genuine mistake, but sometimes I think it's because he's trying to "help" me with "areas in need of improvement" (eg my waistline) which pisses me off something rotten.

Wow Rolf, there's an actual reindeer!

My DH also sometimes does the helping thing. It's really annoying. Luckily I currently win on pregnancy grounds, but otherwise I just get annoyed as I know he's right

Hello all- well done those who got through on take that tix- man at work was trying all morning. Re Xmas concerts am bit [jealous] as although trip will be fab won't do any Xmas stuff and not even bothering with any decorations (and I have five boxes full- but don't worry deb have resisted the playmobil advent calendar).

Weekend away was lovely if cold as was in Sweden. But been knackered all week and work been mental. Will pop back as need to eat now.

lol Hardandsleazy

Rolf, well we assume that they exchanged on Wednesday but they didn't think to let us know even though we spoke to them on Tuesday night. Apparently they sent a text to the estate agent here saying yippee so looks like they did. So we have one bookcase taken down and have started on the packing, still haven;t got removals sorted, got my dad on the case of looking at a rental property for us next week.

On the plus note though as it's been half term and the boys have been helpful so we had a day off today and went to the spa , also took my lovely friend with all the children. She had never been before, had never spent so long in the water, and it was great to see her relaxed and happy.

helloooooooooo....

Hi Deb . Did you get the exchange confirmed today?

Hi Spider, yes they have exchanged , so we sign the paperwork on Tuesday then it's sent to the Austrian embassy in London for them to sign!!Should be moving around 22nd November all being well.

When are you due? What's your actual date?Still feeling sick?

Hooray Deb . Only a few things to do, then . You'll be back in the UK for Christmas!

We saw Antony and Cleopatra last night, with Kim Cattrall as Cleopatra. She was very good.

Ooh Deb - that's great news!! DH sends his congratulations too.

Due on 11th. Still feeling sick and shattered quite alot of the time, but have only actually been sick once. No sign of a nesting instinct energy surge.

Rolf - glad you enjoyed the theatre.

We have a Halloween party this afternoon at a neighbours. It's for the kids and I have been asked to bring "a trick or a treat for the children". What does this mean? Any ideas? Is seasonal confectionary appropriate?

Oh fantastic news Deb, that's brilliant!

Spider yes I'd go with confectionery - normally try and avoid nuts and hard toffee for that sort of thing.

Congratulations Deb! Home for Christmas!!!

Biscuits - thanks for that link - I'm going to show DH and see what he thinks. Looks great.

Have done no revision this weekend so far (despite exams being this week) as DH was away so had to entertain S. Had friends over to stay though so had lots of fun with them. Think I might be coming down with something now though as I feel terrible - Not A Good Thing.

H&S - is it Australia you are going to over Christmas? How long will you be away?

I can't find our box of hairy spiders...

...and T is picking up on the boys' bad habits. She has just come into the kitchen and said "shut up, fat boy", shrugged, and walked out

Just left Tristan at a Halloween party, in complete costume, (pics on FB), no-one else was dressed up, apparently they take the outfits and get ready there, shame no-one told me

Thanks for all the well wishes, in packing mode here, just had our last Sunday lunch as we've run out of Oxo cubes now for gravy and tea is rationed as we're on our last box of PGTips!!Must be so confusing for Ethan but he is enjoying the boys finding new toys for him to play with.

Aaarrrgghhhh, can I have a rant about DH?

We're not particularly 'into' Halloween, but usually get some treats in (like you do) for local kids trick or treating.

DH was tasked with getting some stuff while he was out today and came back from M&S with a large bag of cheese puffs. FFS. He thought they'd be good in a bowl, kids could help themselves... I could see that would work (at a party in our house) but not so well with a group of 6 grasping excitable kids at our front door. I can only envisage clearing up crushed cheesy puffs from the hall floor. And I wouldn't testify to the hand hygiene of some of the people who appear at our door. When I asked DH what was wrong with a bag of mini chocolate bars/haribo etc he said they didn't stock them in M&S. What was wrong with the Sainsbury's or Co-op 5 minutes from our house I don't know...

I'm probably being really grumpy and unreasonable, but FFS!

No DG I'd be ffs'ing at that too. I sent my DH out to Sainsburys today for some meatballs and he came back with ice cream topping and halloween spiders webs.skeletons to hang outside. Guess what he didn't have?

Fantastic news Deb you must be so excited!

If they had common sense they'd be dangerous Sybil [hgrin]. He's since been to the Co-op and come back with something more appropriate, but of course has ended up spending a small fortune in the process. If you want something doing...

Thanks for the advice we went for a big tub of choccie bars: seemed to hit the mark.

Can I join the DH moan please? DH managed to lock us out of the house as we were going to the neighbours' party. Spare key currently in the house. Absent builder has other spare key. Grrr. Luckily one of our bedroom windows was open so DH climbed back in as one of the other neighbour's has a ladder. Phew...

Welcome Spider!

After all my grumpiness, I'm feeling a bit mean at the absence of any halloween festivities. I might pick up some halloween 'stuff' when it's half price in the shops this week and put it away for next year so we can have a wee party [hgrin]

Just got a very tired boy to bed - on schedule, despite the clock change! And DH has gone on the train.

Great news, deb - Christmas in the UK! But it won't be white... [hwink]

I've been having a minor crisis - I'm suddenly wondering whether I actually want another baby at all, because of how I'll cope, how my parents will be stretched (I lean heavily on them with Iestyn) and going back to the baby stage now that I have my life back and so forth. It will be a 3 year age gap, obviously, but how does it work? Does anyone here have that gap? (I vaguely think someone does.)