Dec 08 Mums - Snot Beards, Farty Boos and Willy Milk (not how it sounds!) - let the fun continue!

[Beans33]

Here we are x

Oh my GOD! Watching monday's One Born Every Minute. That opera singer. Dreadful!! Hilarious. What total cheeseballs.

Oh JB crossposted. Glad BP stable. Let us know re scan tmw.

Vag, any news on AK? X

Just got back from the GP, he was a funny little man, I gave him a run down on DS1's symptoms and he asked me what I thought it was. I politely told him that's why I'd come to see him. Anyway he gave him a thorough examination and said he thought it was just a virus but he said to bring him back if he worsened at all. I tried to leave DS2 at a friends house but he wouldn't go in, then he spent the walk from her house (where I left the car) to the surgery whining because he wanted to go back to her house, her daughter is one of his little friends. He then proceeded to cause chaos in the doctors room, grabing at any piece of expensive equipmrnt he could find. He's now crashed out on the couch as he fell asleep in the way home, I should wake him as he will be difficult to get to sleep tonight but its nice for DS1 to have some peace and quiet.

Crikey I've just realise its Feb, when is WG due?

Rubs any news from your brother? I don't know anyone that far up, but I've visited the area often and did a brilliant walk on Hinchinbrooke island. I hope no one is killed but also I fear for the wildlife.

Glad it's nothing serious vagola. Yes it looks like it turned slightly south so the main places hit were Innisfail and Townsville. I think the worst is over and no big problems. They have all gone to sleep downstairs, but his dp hasn't as she said the winds are too strong and it's a little terrifying still. I was watching a live streaming cam of the CNS cbd and it looked quite tame. yes I hope all the animals are safe.

Glad ds doesn't have anything serious and hope he will feel better soon.

Hello everyone! SOrry to have been AWOL but have been applying for a new job. Interview this morning. SUffice it to say first question was "how will you juggle the responsibilities of the role with your family commitments?" I would have laughed except the woman is a trained lawyer. Allegedly. As am I of course. So don't think it's a goer but not that bothered.

Hope all are well. I am off out for a run now but will come back and read all the news shortly.

Lots of love.

Is that a legal question??

Vag, glad its just a virus and nothing too serious. Hopefully he'll feel better soon, poor AK

Beans yes how is your Dad? Has his treatment started yet?

Rubes good to hear that your bro & family are all okay.

JB, hope you get some answers soon on your meds.

Sybs, HELLO

Hey everyone, just marking my place. A quick Get Well Soon to all the poorly ones, especially to T. Spot he's being such a great big brother at the mo

Good news on the reduced BP and appointments Jolly, but keep those feet firmly up

What a relief to have spoken to your parents Trace, one of those things that takes a bucket of courage to start but ends up being dead easy

kiwi your DD is v funny , I'm glad the trumps have passed

Jam I hope you got a big cuddle from your boys last night, sounds like you needed one after the funeral, so so sad

Rubes I'm with you on the worrying, but I also wonder if it's something Mum's do. I'll often mention something to DH and he'll tell ms I've had an easy day if that's my only problem. Its like I feel obliged to have a worry a day, regardless of how big or small. Does that make sense?

Must post before I get off the bus, hello hello to anyone I've missed

Hello - Dad's treatment started last week and so far so good. He's not knackered or anything yet. And is playing golf every hour god sends, in case he can't after he's had the operation to have it removed! And he's apparently having at least 2 large gin and tonics every night before dinner, having always been a bit po-faced about too much booze. Think he's just thoroughly enjoying every moment!!! Good on him, I say.

Thanks for kind enquiries. Much love to all - must rush to do bath etc. DD2 v perky and lying on gym next to me blowing raspberries and saying mamamamamama. Marvellous.

DD1 predictably watching Chuggington. Lazy Mummy.

hello new thread!

rubes very glad your brother seems to have escaped the worst, it's all pretty terrifying.

beans and vag and spot, hope the poorly ones are better soon.

jam that funeral is heartrending :( won't be able to make it to yours next week as the ILs are coming down from scotland

beans go your dad, he sounds brilliant :)

sybs enjoy your run! I'm sure it's completely discriminatory and illegal to ask a question like that

WG great to hear from you, keep us posted with the news :) I have all the tiny girl clothes to pass on if you need them - or JB depending on how things turn out.

dd2 doing well here, feeding for about 5 mins in every 20 or so it feels, has just dropped off to sleep but dh fetching dd21 from nursery so not sure how lkong that will last! she's developed a very frustraying new way of dealing with things she doesn't like (being dressed, having to stop watching beebies as it's tea time etc) which is to repeatedly wail "mummy cuddle!" which degenerates into ameeeeaahooooo. What's really annoying is she can often be distracted, but then go back into it again when we know she doesn't want a cuddle, just wants not to do whatever we're asking

By hecky, it's quiet on here!

I love the new thread title, ha ha.

Vag, sorry about the poorly nipper. Poor little sausage, how is he now? Oh, and I think WG is 22nd Feb. That's when Katie has her cs as well. JB, I hope your DC2 stays in situ way beyond then.

Rubes, any news on your bro? DON'T worry about the faux pas with his passengers, they will understand I'm sure. (Probably never heard a bloody word anyway, I find speaker phone horrendous to decipher). Has it passed through now? Oh, and as to the dark thoughts, I am a supremely rational person (in my humble opinion, ha) and yet I am dogged by thoughts of dropping the kids on their necks or them straying into the fire at the new house (despite the fireguards) or DD1 being knocked over. I think it's a mother thing. I know you like red wine but I have been enjoying a lovely Spanish white called Albarino. I had some in the nice place in Manchester I went to for lunch with DP, and we noticed some in the Sainsbo's 'Finest' range.

Sybs, I am disgusted at your interviewer. (As is DP, incidentally). Only another woman could get away with asking that. It's crappy. You could probably complain but of course, it would serve no purpose whatsoever and would probably cause trouble for you. I still get distressed about my employers treating me so shabbily after maternity leave. 12 years I worked there! Yeah, so they paid me off but only because they feared a tribunal. Too many mothers get a rough deal in the workplace.

Hey, we got the chimney done today! If the immersion works (we don't know yet, for plumbing reasons with which I won't bore you) the house is in theory livable!

Congrats on your exchange, Avo. I saw only the last 15 mins of One Born as DP gets all sickly when it's on and has to go and skulk in the bedroom.

DB, I am sorry that anniversary of your MIL's death is coming up. Always hard. I hope your DH can feel he can celebrate her life in some way.

Good to hear from you, JJ, despite exhausting frequent feeds.

Spot, I am just sending you a ray of white light, really.

Am trying to buy the freehold of my flat in London (along with most of other flats in our building, which consists of two very large houses next to each other). We've been working up to it for a while, but it's coming to the crunch now and sadly several of my fellow leaseholders are acting flaky, selfish or both. I want to have a share of the freehold, for various reasons, but it depresses me that these people can act like such a bunch of muppets.

Right, am orf to read in bed.

Wahhh! We need a name for dd's bits! I refer to them as 'lady bits' (no idea why, just always has been) and so from since she was very tiny I've told her I'm cleaning her lady bits at nappy change. She's recently taken to blending several songs and names together, eg we get Frere Jaques amended to Baby sister, baby sister, Dormez vous? etc, and today in the bath she came up with "Lady bits, lady bits, where are you? Here we are, here we are and how do you do?" DH and I nearly exploded trying not to laugh, but since the ILs are here next week we need to give them a proper name as she's bound to sing it to them...

lady - hurrah for chimney, our fire really great when the boiler was bust over Christmas.

JJ - love the idea of lady bits in song - how very ingenious. Not sure we can help though DD is, 2 years later, still quite insistent that DS's bits are his ogg pogg. No idea why.

Too tired for proper posting, but yay for impending house moves, virtual cooling thoughts for feverish DCs, and thinking of those with the babies to come (WG would love to hear more of the vbac tips).

jam - I do envy you fabbo NYC. My bro lives there but he annoyingly keeps coming to London so I can't quite justify a trip over, esp with the DCs. Love the place. More sadly though, your post on the funeral was heart-rending.

syb - good to see you on here. Fraid lawyers seem to be perversely bad at the interview stuff. Did hear of one case (big firm that should def know better) where a candidate was asked if she needed a work permit, just because she was not white.

LadyT - buying of freehold is exhausting and rubbish. Gave up and sold my old flat before we managed it, but I think my successors got there in the end. Does not bring out the best in human nature. Bon courage.

Rubes - hope all well with your DB - from the news sounded like it was better than feared

Just chucking myself on quickly. Our phone line has broken and BT have helpfully told me it will be fixed by 7th Feb. So can only use my iPhone which would be fine but can only get reception if I stand at the bottom of the garden pointing the phone at the moon. I love living in the country.

Will try get back properly later when I go out with the fellas.

How is your brother today Rubes?

Beans I love your Dad's attitude

Deids I'll be thinking of you this week, on your MIL's anniversary. How is your Nan at the moment?

That interview question is shocking Sybil, any chance it was a trick question and not real . I guess anyone who asks that won't be offering the best work life balance. How's things with your DH?

I wonder where Mom is? I hope her and her imminent one are well.

Hurrah for chimneys and getting ready to move Avo and LadyT

Hope all the poorlies are less poorly

Training course today, have my enthusiastic face on ...

Lady - great the house will soon be inhabitable - YEEEEHAH! Brilliant.

Sybs - my sister worked at a big law company (again will remain nameless) and was made redundant when she was 16 weeks pregnant and had told them. It seemed a strange "coincidence" that it should happen after she'd had her first child and had gone part-time and when she was pregnant with her second. Nasty scenes ensued...

JJ - that is a quality song. I'd like your DD to go on X Factor with it. I am giggling. We call the lady bits DD1's fanny. Someone thought it was a bit advanced, but I just think it's fairly normal. Perhaps, in honour of one of our number, you could call it a vag??! Hee hee! My Mum used to call mine a penny place, because it's where we did pennies from. And a willy was called a penny man. HAHAHAHA! That made me laugh a lot. Post Pennyman Pat. Hee hee.

Coming to you from sickieville again today. Poor DS1 is still hot and my thermometer has packed it in. Oh well its not really necessary you don't need to even touch him to know he's hot, he radiates heat. He has very dry lips so I have bottles of milk, water and juice available to encourage him to drink more. I'm pretty sure his headache is from dehydration. Poor DS2 is full of Beans and desperate to get out. It's really sunny here too. I'm a bit desperate to get out too. Oh well we are off to centerparcs tomorrow, hopefully DS1 will be a lot better by then.

Rubes, sounds like the cyclone was pretty scary and caused a far bit of damage at mission beach and Tully but no loss of life which is good. How did your brother far. I would worry about the J's at least you called them that rather than some of the other colourful names Australian's have for them. What business does he run?

Right it might be time for the first movie, DS1 is dosed up with calpol and now neurofen owing to him having some milk so he might perk up soon.

Oh JJ that lady bits song made me giggle. ZJ I'd love to see your enthusiastic face. Lady hooray for your chimney. I had friends go through the freehold thing, was fairly straight forward for them but still took forever.

Syb that question is a bit dodgy, but you sound a bit resigned to it. The most annoying thing for me is that prep for this interview has kept you from us. Maybe we should all put up a case against the firm.

hello ladies.
ZJ I hope you are having a wonderful time on your training course!
Poor little AK vag. Is there anyone who could have ds2 for a while to run off some energy while you snuggle with ds1? Hope he's soon feeling better.
jj as for lady bits, we've always used 'front bottom' and 'back 'bottom' with L, which seems ok - not too gross but not too random either! Her friend calls it her 'fairy', which makes me wonder what she thinks the tooth fairy looks like . No danger of P repeating anything in song at the moment, but one day she will erupt with words and I dread to think what she's storing up in her little brain!
syb have you heard back from the interview? If you're not successful would it be worth mentioning as feedback that you felt that question was inappropriate/ unnecessary/ whatever?
I'm off to see my friend's 2 weeks old in a few mins. Just calling in really to distract me from the fact that the CPN is coming today. I've got her some adorable crocheted booties (the baby, not the CPN).
Also my boss said she'd ring today. I'm kind of dreading it - she'll ask how I am, in which case I either say I'm ok (in which case why am I not at work?) or I'm not ok, in which case I will feel the need to describe how I am, which is a) unpleasant to do and b)not something I'm obliged to do to her (I'm assuming?). Oh well. Cross that bridge when it comes...
JB so glad to hear the BP has settled ofr the moment. You don't sound your usual self though, which is entirely understandable. Are you ok?
rubs I wouldn't stress about your comment (well actually I would stress about it, becasue I'm me, but I don't think you need to stress about it!). We all say stuff we wish we hadn't when we're anxious or stressed - and it's not like you knew they were there.
ladyt that's exciting that your place is nearly ready for its family! BTW does O still call you 'Lady'? Makes me laugh when I think of that!
Do you remember this place which we were looking at a few months ago? Well we can't get it out of our heads and are thinking we might put ours up for sale and go for it. eek! It's been on the market ages, I think as it's a bit no-wherey, but we're both so drawn to it. We asked L about moving house, and she said she'd like to stay where we are because we get butterflies in our garden! So hard. I can't even plan a meal at the moment, never mind make a big decision like that. but it does really appeal. What to do!

oh and thanks for the new thread beans. I like it!

Just a v quick one to Trace. I would think up a sentence in advance of your chat with the boss. Something vague but which does not invite further questioning, like (I dunno) "Things are a bit challenging at the moment but I am trying to rest my mind and not worry, as this is what is going to enable my recovery". Anything, really, which skips over how you feel and yet simulateneously implies you are in a process of recovery and need to be home. Don't let it fret you. I hope you are finding the days at home ok. More later as I have to feed DD2!

Trace, please don't be offended but your over thinking your bosses call. She cannot bring you back to work as she doesn't have the authority to do that. Unless your consultant changes his mind no one can make you go back. I think she is just checking in with you. I think she is probably worried about you, if one of my staff were signed off for a month I would be (if I had staff).

Now on the house thing I can see why you can't get that place out of your head, its lovely and huge. I wonder if we'll ever have a stand alone home like that. That garden definitely looks like it will have butterflies

This post took ages to send as a friend rang offering to take DS2. Unfortunately, I don't think he would go, but hr seems happy enough with us. He'll get a fair bit of energy use this weekend.

Trace: please don't worry about the call. The current thinking on managing things like sick leave (and maternity leave) is that your boss should make the effort to keep in touch, so that you don't find the return to work too scary. That's what we have been told anyway. I think it's a fine line to tread as you don't want to feel under pressure, but just say something noncommittal.

Vag: hope DS1 perks up soon. The doc wasn't much use, was he? Will he eat ice lollies?

DS1 that is, not the doc...

thanks guys. you're right (and i'm not offended vag) about over thinking the call. Lady that's a good idea to have a response ready. This basket is so helpful - 2 brains (or more) are better than 1!

I def need more than one brain.

I put an ad onto a den Haag Expats yahoo group buy & sell group thingy, for a cat. When we move to our new house we want to get a cat for the boys. We had one in Derby at it was lovely for them and for us. Anyway we want an older cat and were going to go through a rescue shelter but I thought I would check if any leaving Expats were needing to rehouse their older cat. Anyway someone who uses the group passed my email onto an Icelandic couple who are moving back and had found a home for their 11year old female cat Quincy, but it had fallen through. They are moving back on the 22nd Feb so just before we move in, so perfect really. We are going to meet Quincy next Wednesday, DS1 is so excited. It's nice because it has made the idea of moving again less difficult for him and well basically he is really excited about it. Hoping it will help DS2 settle in too. Not sure what Emily the rat/hamster will think though.