dec 2008- the one where they all turn 2...probably.

[VagolaJahooli]

Sorry bit boring I know but I didn't want to make any reference to spot as I don't want to jinx her and have her baby come early, then it would be my fault. Also didn't want the mad rush at the end of the thread. This way we've had plenty of time.

Hi Jam - agreed on the skanky one's make up and snarl - I struggle with it too, but if you just don't look and listen to her singing a ballad, she is very good.

Avo I meant to say. Sorry you are having a tough time about the house and with dd etc. I'm not sure but go with your gut. As I originally wouldn't have gone for it I'm not sure what to advise. I know how much you want it, and although buying a house that needs some work in the best area wasn't an option, it also may not be your 'thing' however this doesn't sound something you are comfortable with either. You haven't been totally convinced it was the right thing to do from the start, so perhaps your gut was right back then. Something will turn up if you do pull out, and also if you do, don't worry a bit about the seller etc - it's a big decision you have to put yourselves first.

Oh Spot, Effie, where are you meeting? Will you be at Spot's? You are brave taking both kiddies on the train Effie or will you not have two?

Oh another quickie who was it that was thinking they might like to think about having our P&T vibe. I do think we need to get rid of it. It has been sitting in the garage for the best part of 6mth unused. Whoever it was WG or was it SPOT. PM me and we can do a deal . I will happily throw in a 3yr and nearly 2yr old as part of the deal.

Rubes: the boys will be at our cm's, so I will be unencumbered. I need to get back to pick them up tho. So I can help out with amusing the kids as needed :).

Unfortunately I can't do Thurs Effie - I wrote an earlier post that I had completely over looked that I had planned on taking the kids to see a friend that day as I got the days mixed up. Is there any other day you and Spot could do? Actually in saying that I am really only free Tues as Wed is possible, but would have to back quite early to do a few things before I have to go out that night so it's not ideal.

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to pop my head round the door and say happy nearly 2nd birthday to everyone. (I was on the ante-natal thread, but I rarely post here as I find it difficult to keep up!)

Hope you're all doing well.

Spot I'm sad to see you're leaving the south coast. Will you go back to Stokey or are you casting your net a bit wider?

FWIW, some good friends of mine - and life-long, died-in-the wool Stokey residents - have just moved with their first born to Alexandra Palace / Crouch End and love it it there.

Effie are you still in Hackney (we've moved to Eastbourne) - how's Hackney life treating you? We'll be back for a bit at Christmas.

Hi everyone, my twp pen'arth on the X-Factor - can't stand snarly Cher, love Matt, bored by one-tricky pony Rebecca, Mary given wrong song, One Direction probably still teething, Katie wrong song choice but not too awful, leaving only Wagner - to win! I only just read about the campaign for people to vote for Wagner to try and stop Sico in his tracks. Considering how effective the Rage Against the Machine campaign was last year I fear they may do the same...

Lady how are things today? I feel so, so sorry for you. Bad enough when you or the littlies are ill, but both . Fingers crossed it passes quickly.

ZJ don't beat yourself up about the eating thing, I'm pretty sure most parents do it and their kids don't come out of it too badly. It's not as if you were standing over her forcefeeding her. Sledging sounds fun (if perilous in my current state). Where do you get sledging stuff from? And what about warm winter waterproofs?

Avo, I think I would do the same in your situation, though I tend to always err on the side of caution. In fact, I would go with what gives you the most options.
I don't think we're going to even think about where we'll go until baby is here so no big decisions yet.

Jam thanks for the P&T (and DC) offer - but we already have one. Think it might be WG?

Rubes sounds like DH is working a lot at the moment. Do you have DC entertaining plans today?

Have to shut laptop so will respond to other posts later.

Morning girls, I am groping my way back to wellness. Ugh. I spent the whole of yesterday either in bed or lying on the sofa, which is most uncharacteristic. As well as the vomiting I had a killer headache, which was actually worse than the sick. Good job DP was around as I would have struggled to manage the smalls. We'd been up with O who had been throwing up through the night. Oddly, she was pretty chipper by yesterday afternoon and I still feel grim now. I am blaming the soft play centre we took her to on Thursday afternoon for her birthday. I had to lead her round the equipment as she is not very physically confident and I think those places are teeming with germs. On Friday I took both girls up to Birmingham on the train, to meet my Mum and her DP. There's a big German market there every year, which is lovely, but I was starting to feel ill by Friday evening. And the car has bust again, which is bad news as DP spent a huge amount of money getting it fixed in the summer (it took 3 months to get it back and we had a borrowed car, which we now don't have).

Hi Lowrib, I can't remember where you moved to? Hope things are good.

Anyway, speaking of illness, Rubes, oh my gosh, your bug has really hung around, hasn't it? Did you rearrange your dinner with the neighbours? What are your plans for this week? I have lots of chore appointments this week.

Spot, I second the calls for insisting on a referral. I am utterly amazed you haven't been given one. I am not sure where you stand on private health but if you get no joy, there's an ENT Clinic on Harley St. Prob about £125/150 for a consultation, I'd guess? www.harleystreetent.com/ Might be worth giving them a bell? Even one consultation could shed some light.

Avo, what a worry for you. What does your DH think? He strikes me as quite a wise fellow. I though what ZJ said was incredibly good, about imagining the implications in varying amounts of time (thanks ZJ, I'll be hanging onto that one). What I would say, though, is even if you worked (say) 3 days a week, your DD2 would still have the transitions. Do you think you could ride it through? Also, do tell your nanny that you thought she was a little hard on her the other day, if you haven't already. Work/life balance is the equation that can never be fixed, though, darling, once you have kids. I don't mean that to sound gloomy, but I am at home and I still feel like I have NO TIME and not enough time for the children, DP, myself or things I want to achieve. I hope you can find your way to the right decision (or the 'least wrong' one).

X-Factor - DP hates it but I watched bits of it on the sofa last night (I do catch what I can) and I don't think it's a very good year. Mary and Wagner are particularly awful. I just don't think any of them can sing. I think Cher, whilst a bit grotty and also not able to sing, has something about her (but not much). I liked Danni's eye make up last night but I am not a fan of her either. And Louis winds me up most of all. I prefer Strictly but I missed it last night.

Beans - the hamsters are called Zhu Zhu pets. DD1 calls hers her Momster (monster has got muddled with hamster).

ZJ, I hope the snow isn't inconveniencing you too much. We had a dusting yesterday but barely any.

Vag, that kid in the violin class sounds a right pain. And maybe I will see you if you are skimming through Oxfordshire? I wonder if we will be able to move 11/12 Dec though, as the heating needs to be sorted and the plumber has been at his second home in Turkey

Urbane, what hoops you are having to jump through for work. Poor you. As for redundancy, I swoop from thinking it was the best thing ever to the worst thing ever...

Jam, cool that you might be coming to WW. As it's turned out it will mean me coming back into town on Monday after returning on Sunday, but heigh ho! Will still come.

RIght, must try and rouse myself.

Lady you poor, poor thing. That just sounds horrible. And awful news about the car. Is it something related to what happened over the summer? If so, are you able to take it back to the same mechanics as presumably the parts will still be under warranty? Or if it's something they missed, get them to fix it for free?

Thanks for the ENT specialist suggestion, I think I'll prob go begging to GP next week sometime and if no joy will wait until after this one is born because I'm such a whale now I don't think I would be physically able to make the trip up to London with my lumpen offspring at the moment.

Speaking of which, T seems a bit better in himself - well a lot better despite an unusually early start this morning, but I wonder if it was the cold that woke him. We've got the heating whacked right up 24/7 but the max temp in the bedrooms is still 15 degrees. Doesn't bode v well for a newborn, does it?

Rubes, I am around on Tues, but only the afternoon - and it sounds like you weren't able to make it pm? Maybe you and Effie could do separate trips if we can't all make the same date? I totally selfishly would love to see you both, but understand if you'd rather wait until we can all get together.

Hi Lowrib, how are things in Eastbourne? The trip back to the big smoke won't happen for several months yet, and even then we have no clue where we'd go, but sadly couldn't afford the space we'd need in Stokey so would have to be further out anyway. So will def still be around for a couple of Brighton meet-ups before that.

Forgot to say, Urbane that is bonkers about your job. I'm not surprised you feel somewhat ambivalent. It doesn't sound like they're going the right way about maintaining valuable staff morale at all.

A friend of DP's has come down from London to visit with his 6 year-old son today so they're in the park now while T sleeps. They went to WW yesterday and loved it.
We're all off to Sea Life Centre in a bit. I realise I should have made the most of the time and stayed home but I love looking at fish and would def feel as though I was missing out if I didn't go along. Oh well, will have 15 mins of feet up before I wake up the small.

Thanks Spot, I must be feeling a BIT better as I am now back to worrying how little I am getting done. Yesterday I was too ill to care Glad T has perked up a bit. The car is a conundrum. DP thinks it's the gearbox that's broken, which is different stuff to what went wrong in the summer. We don't know what to do. It was a second hand Audi which cost just under £4k nearly two years ago and seemed great. However, the work in the summer cost over £2k (gulp). We did this on the basis that we simply hadn't got another £4 or £5k for a car and once this one was back to health it would be good again for years. But if the gearbox has gone that could be another thousand pounds. It's all so annoying. But some cars are just dogs. DP is beside himself as where we live a car is essential, and we have been haemorrhaging money for months now. I'd better earn some money in 2011.

V quick from iPhone... Jam, tWas me with the p&t. Thx. Am trying to convince myself we'll get by with a buggy board, so am going to wait for no. 2 and see how we go. If you can wait until march on the off chance, that wd be great, but pls don't do so if you need to get rid of it sooner. I suspect I may be being a tad optimistic about the buggy board.

Spot- we live v near ally pally/crouch end - in bounds green and moved from stokey. Check put prices here, they are most surprising compared to the rest of London, when the time comes. And the tube is around the corner.

Must go. More later.

Lady, Yeah I've had it lingering for over a week now maybe longer. Never get any consistant sleep so no time to recover I guess! No haven't rearranged dinner with the neighbours. I feel awful, and didn't go to her Avon party either however that was meant to be firmed up at dinner. I will have to make an effort soon and head over with wine
mil wants a day with the littles this next week so might take the op to do some B'day / Xmas shopping that day. Might actually go to Bluewater and give her a break from the drive over here. Also going to a Pampered Chef party Wed, going to see a friend on Thurs with the two of them and she will do my hair too, then plumber here all day Fri to sort out heating but I'll nick out to the toddler group while he's here.
Sorry to hear about the car. We've just had the works done on our as it had WAY over ran it's service due date.
I've just bathed the dog ds woke really early from his nap and dh had not long been home so he went up to settle him, then soon after ds came wandering out and dh fell asleep for about an hour in his bed
Spot I'd be driving to you, so I'd rather go and come back after and before rush hour so the afternoon probably no good but we'll figure something out. Are you going to WW?

Results night

I'm going to miss x factor results! Am on Eurostar now and once in Paris i can't check t'ibternet on phone due to bloody roaming charges. Will have to wait 'til work tomorrow (unless anyone wants to text me...).

Hey Lowrib, so nice to see you here, how are you finding Eastbourne?

We have hit on a house plan! The 4th bedroom is a large attic room with an en suite. DH points out that we could put an au pair up there. Au pairs cost about £200 a month with free babysitting. Once we have covered taxes we pay the nanny £2200 a month. So swap the nanny for an au pair and I cld go down to three days work and we'd have money left over fit the odd hol. I am going to mull this solution over for a few days as it would mean sharing our house and I am quite a private person. My friend with two DDs the same age as mine has a live in au pair who is lovely and not intrusive on their space so I know it can work. But I also know it could be v different from her experience.

Exchange is Friday so I have these four days in France to make a decision.

Glad you are feeling a little better LadyT. How is D's sleep now? Still waking every 3 hours?

And Rubes, does A go through the night now?

Right. The train is about to depart. I'll be lurking girls but will try and resist the temptation to post while away (we'll see how that goes).

Avo: that sounds like a good option. You could also consider a lodger - again it's a stranger in yr house but the first chunk of rent is tax free if you're renting a room in your house.

Avo, I reckon that could be the answer if you kit the attic room out with a pc, telly, perhaps even a microwave and little fridge. I am sure you'd get lots of sage advice on it on the right section on MN. I know having someone in the house would be hard but sorting out the transition probs and saving all that money is v attractive... Enjoy gay Paree. I know you are on a work thing but whenever anyone goes to Paris and yes, I know I always say it, Diptyque candles are so much cheaper there and they are the absolute best. I have got a Jo Malone candle at the mo and it's not a patch on Diptyque. A lot of money but they last ages. I haven't had one in about three years, as I am now too poor

Anyway, why am I talking about candles? Yup, D is still every three hours usually. Needless to say it's tiring. But last night I fed her about 1.15am, then she went through until 6am so a good result.

Oh, I love Bluewater, Rubes. But who am I kidding, I like shopping centres full stop. This week I am supervising the chimney sweep at the house on Tues, Wed I have to take DD2 for her v overdue 6 wk check (she will be 9 wks) and Thursday I may have to schlep the girls into London to supervise a mattress delivery then come back. Friday night I have cricket Christmas drinks and Saturday I have a party in London but may only go to the latter. DP has kindly offered to babysit. I feel a bit guilty but if it was the other way round I wouldn't turn a hair.

I feel like the house is going to look a bit crummy when we move in and I am making no progress with the packing up here but I am not going to moan about that again...

Tranquil Molten Brown bath, glass of wine and peace started well...... ended quite quickly with toddler insisting on joining me, then splashing about delighted to be in a deep green coloured bath, toddler farting and giggling, toddler pointing at my boobs repeatedly, and hot water running out. Not ideal.

DS has a recently fav food of late which is creamed spinach from Sainsbury's. However, Never. Again. DS was 75% through his creamed spinach and chicken nuggets, when I found a cockraoch type flying thing dead in the spinach I nearly vomited. It was straight off a bush tucker trial type stuff.

Lets hope the evening improves

Avo good luck with your decision and have a nice time in Paris. I will gladly text you the results if you FB me your number or something?
Glad you have an option to ponder. it wouldn't be for me, but I'm probably just weird about things like that.
Oh and A did once go through the night at about 10 weeks (well about 6-7 hours) but that lasted all of maybe 2 weeks? Now she's in bed around 7pm then wakes about 11pm (fine as I'm just going to bed) then wakes about, well, anywhere between 2am and 4am, and then at 7 or 8. She's always really sleepy and I can do it with my eyes shut really so I should be thankful as she chugs it in about 5 mins and straight back to sleep - no burping or anything necessary, and if she could talk she's just say 'get out let me go back to sleep'- is how she acts! So I can't complain too much as my friend with an 8 month old still has a 3 hourly waker for feeds....

Lady, was just looking through the Jo malone catalogue and bloody Nora those candles are pricey! I bet they are noice. I'm going to put Jo Malone Perfume on my list for mil and she wants a christmas list (which I HATE doing)

Right dinner for dd and bed for both then adult time.....

Hello everyone

Very quickly as I am trying to wash hair etc before Strictly results. Will try to read later. Can I just ask, did we agree how we are going to do Secret Santa? I would love to do it and am happy to organise it if no one else volunteers. DH can do the draw.

BBeans, am so sorry I haven't replied to your text but my phone is buggered. Can't do the 9th alas. Is there any other day which is good for you?

Love to all XXX

Lady ok, that's confirmed it iykwim!

So Secret Santa - I'm in. What was the £ limit?

Shame about the bath, Rubes. I love those Molton Brown green salts. Mmmmmm.

Secret Santa - yes, we need to collate. I know you volunteered, dear Sybs, as did Summer who said she could do some sort of techy email thing. I don't mind. Was it on this thread that people said whether they wanted to be in it? Whoever wants to be in it, whoever is going to organise it, perhaps those interested should 'message poster' with their addresses or something?

DD1 is currently screaming her head off over supper. This vomiting bug has put us back to square one. In fact, it's worse. Maybe she will pick up in a day or two.

X-posted Rubes, I think it was a tenner last time?

Yes I thought so too Lady.
Quite pleased with the Strictly result, but won't say more if someone hasn't seen it.
I hope dd1 feels better soon. Perhaps just give her what she's comforted by the most and get her to sleep. Well that's what I do with ds as I always feel so helpless when he's feeling rubbish.

I'm wondering if we should have some kind of childless MN Chrissy drinks meet up?

Justin Beiber is 16!! Born in 1994! And singing he needs somebody to love??????? Oh dear God I feel old

1994? 1994?????

They had best vote off Wagner!

Ok have looked at the diary am defo on for WW. A can skip nursery and L can miss gymboree.