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

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Thought we should update the thread!

Spider, what great news to wake up to, congratulations to you both. How lovely for Peter to get a little brother to play with.And you did it, you gave birth,and early too, so pleased for youafter all your worries. Hoping Baby's temperature goes down soon and you can get home.

Rolf, are you OK, up at that time?

Yay spider - though my friend won't be pleased u beat her to it! Can't wait to meet the new arrival .

Congrats spider- hope mini peter can come home too and well done you- hypnobirthing is ace.

Rolf - how do you know was a boy and do you have hunch about the other bumps to be?and hope you are ok.

Realyy pleased for you spider ,glad the hypnobirthing worked well! All of mine had to have antibiotics as new borns and all are fine. Take the opportunity to rest in hospital, you will probably feel really good when you get back home!

nts over to Australia with you and do it all there Congratulations Spider! I only logged in to check on your twinges and you've gone and had a baby! Hope you're not in hospital too long.

Neenz, glad to hear that you've had a good holiday. I don't think there's any such thing as the right time to have more children. You only have to look at all the threads on the subject on MN. Maybe you would have had more time with the twins if you'd waited a while, but having them close in age brings other benefits I'm sure.

Not too much to report here. We had a pretty lazy weekend and caught up with a few friends along the way. I just really enjoyed not having any exams to revise for! I'm really behind on stuff around the house though, so will need to catch up on that. Am a bit that the shower in our en suite has packed up, just as I was about to get some work done on the main kitchen/bathroom. Still to get it quoted for, but I suspect replacing the shower will mean re-tiling and possible replacing the shower doors. It's very annoying, as we'd really like to put this house on the market next year and have a lot of cosmetic jobs to do first, so could do without funds being diverted to essential maintenance jobs! DH isn't particularly handy, so we'll need to pay to get someone in to do our jobs.

Deb, how's the packing going?

Abdn, that's great about the job, although a shame about the pension.

H&S - will you take presents over to Australia with you for Christmas?

I am starting to get VERY excited about Christmas I can't believe Knitting has already wrapped all her presents though :-O. I usually do mine the first weekend in December - get the tree, wrap the presents, write cards etc. Can't wait. We're having a small festive gathering at the end of November, so need to start thinking about a festive menu for it.

I was up because T had twirled her hair in her sleep, and got a strand wrapped tightly around her finger . I couldn't get it untangled - she was hysterical - so had to cut off a chunk of her hair. We sat in the kitchen with the woodburner while I re-filled her hot water bottle and I checked to see how Spider's twinges were coming on .

How are you Spider? Hope you've managed to get some sleep. DS2 was given ABs shortly after he was born, and although it wasn't very nice I got a few hours sleep whilst he was in SCBU and felt so much better after that.

Knitting you've wrapped your presents? . I haven't bought any yet, although that is partly because we are madly skint. Like, no jam skint. DH is owed the equivalent of a year's income, all supposedly being paid imminently - not just all the crummy bad debt. If anyone has any ideas for lovely but inexpensive presents, including stocking fillers, I'd love to hear them!

My friend is doing ok after her op. She's hoping to be out of hospital for the weekend (so 8 days in hospital altogether, which seems like forever). She says it's really painful and the scar will be v big, but the main thing is that the tumour wasn't malignant so hopefully this will be the end of her problems.

Wow congratulations Spider! Hope you manage to get home soon and look forward to hearing more about it.

We all enjoyed the firework display we went to, although it did drizzle the whole time. J liked the fireworks but I'm not sure if he was more excited by all the umbrellas and hats .

I need to get cracking on Christmas present buying. I seem to be able to think of masses of things for J but nothing for anyone else.

Ouch Rolf! Poor dd .

I'm v organised this year but don't forget we only buy for the boys and our parents so not that impressive! Oh and I buy everything on line too as I hate shopping at Xmas time.

What's ur budget Rolf?

Congrats Spider that's lovely news, so pleased for you! hope you're home soon. Am chuckling at the thought of all these women in disparate places logging on to check on your twinges, I was doing it all weekend!

And good to hear the news about your friend too Rolf. Poor Thea though - sounds very scary for a little one

Our fireworks do was very nice and the food greatly appreciated by all so thanks for the ideas! Parkin ridiculously easy too - no creaming or folding or anything tricky - I am planning to bake more now!

I would do a search in your price range and see what they suggest - that's why I love Amazon, does all the hard work for you!

Hi All!

Spider - congrats - I can't believe it - an early baby! Can't wait to hear his name and how Peter reacts!

Rolf - great news about your friend. She must be so relieved. I have no idea about presents, frugal or not I am useless! I need to think of something for Mark. He really needs a new suit for work but it's hard 'cos he needs to lose weight so don't know about sizing. He's pne of these men who has practically everything he needs. He has just done the garage up to be his 'den' maybe something for that?

Luke adored the fireworks. He was woo-ing and screaming with delight it was lovely. £6 each - WFT?! It used to be free when I was a kid. It nearly killed me trying to get back to the car which was parked about 10 miles away though!

I am ecstatic that I have chosen a buggy - The baby jobber city mini double. I went out to try some yesterday. The Mountain Buggy was actually the size of a mountain and the nipper's seats recline so far back when 'upright' they look like they're lying down (agree with Knitting on this!)! The Baby Jogger is brilliant with the easiest fold mechanism I have ever seen. I haven't bought one yet as I am now going to see where I can get the cheapest deal. Hurrah!!

Sorry, I deleted my post as it was a bit indiscreet

Crikey rolf, how can you be owed a years salary! Just think, if it does all come in before christmas you will have a fantastic time. Otherwise, I would try to pick up bargins on Amazon.

Spider! you clever thing! Congratulations. Hope baby is doing well and can't wait to hear what you have decided to call him.

Am imaging all sorts of potential subject matters for Rolf's indiscreet post .

Rolf, great news about your friend. Fingers crossed that she doesn't have any more problems. With regards to presents that don't break the budget, I would have a good look on the promo bit on here as well as the Christmas topic. People are always posting about bargains that you might otherwise miss as well as discount codes etc. I got quite a bit on Boots '3 for 2' and used 20% off vouchers at elc. I usually compare Amazon and Play for other stuff - if they're the same price I go with Play because I can use topcashback with them. Sainsbury's just had their half price toy sale - I don't know if Tesco have one coming up too.

I have a wee bargain to share actually. I'm not usually a fan of personalised books, but I just ordered a personalised Thomas book that should be £10.99 for around £8.79 delivered. Link here takes you to the discount details and has a link to the website.

whoever asked, packing is happening....slowly. I think we have just packed up the last of the boys Lego, we have 4 very big boxes of it!!!Trying to pack toys whilst Ethan is asleep otherwise it's too stressful

Ooh, am very excited. Randomly completed a survey to get a berghaus jacket to test via MN and I've been picked to get one! I hope I get the one that I liked the look of most...

Didn't realise that spider gave birth within a few minutes of Ed Miliband's wife last night!

IIRC I don't think Ed M is married. (useless fact of the day)

Ur right, course he isn't!! Naughty boy !

Yes, I heard about Mrs M having her baby this morning.

We have a name: William Serlo. William in honour of two of DS2 (feels weird typing that) Great Grandfathers, one on each side of the family. Serlo is seemingly more random, but I will set Dewin the task of finding out more (if she doesn't know already).

Thanks for all your good wishes. I was impressed by Rolf's 3.30 posting too.

William has been v sleepy all day, but seems to be waking up for the evening now, and wants to feed which is good. The infection is as yet unidentified, but they had some bloods back today that warranted them taking a spinal tap . apart from being sleepy, he seems ok in himself: poos, feeds etc.

Just put a pic on FB.

Just saw the pic Spider - he's scrumptious. Lovely name - will you use William or opt for a shortened version?

Oh u poor things, how stressful. Glad to hear he's more awake, off to look at photo.

yeah spider! two boys are so much fun! I hope he's feeling/doing okay and hugs to you...

rolf my budget Christmas last year was a bit more budgety than most people on here - less about discount codes and more about less stuff. But your kids are older which makes it harder (and we've got grandparents and great-grandparents that send gifts for the boys so they don't notice that we get them very little). Adults - Used books from abebooks.co.uk make a good gift if you get lovely old hardbacks, not sure if your DH reads though. Otherwise I just make gifts with the sewing machine - not clothes as fabric itself is too expensive - but cute little bags for girls and capes for boys etc. DH always gets homemade pjs from me too.

Congratulations Spider! William looks beautiful, hope all comes back clear from his tests.

rolf that's great news for your friend, hope she makes a swift recovery.

Amber glad you've made a decision on the buggy - we really liked the look of them too, it was between that and the nipper for us - the fold was very impressive! Try Boots btw, they were doing a special offer on baby jogger and double points/parenting club points make quite a big difference. John Lewis were price matching somewhere so were cheaper when we asked in store than they were on-line. Mothercare were expensive, but said they would price match? HTH!

DGIT jealous! I entered that draw for the berghaus jackets as well!

Got my 38 week appointment tomorrow, am hoping baby is engaged now, as suddenly feeling that bump is lower and I'm definitely more uncomfortable today than I have been.