Sept 08 - Insert witty title 'here'

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Sorry about the crap title ladies, I was lacking inspiration and we were up to our limit on posts!

Thanks NC

Glad you are feeling better x

dd2 got my chest infection - last Friday night she seemed to be having to make more effort to breathe, so took her along to an urgent care department on Saturday morning - they decided she needed to be seen at A&E and didn't think we should go by bus (just as well, as it turned out, as riots have left road near the hospital closed and no buses can go anywhere near it for the foreseeable future) so arranged an ambulance for us. Dd1 was upset at the idea but the kind driver let her try putting on the blue lights and that cheered her up.

Ended up being admitted til yesterday lunchtime as she needed iv antibiotics and oxygen - not a nice experience and also after having me by her side that whole time, dd2 has turned into a complete diva - she was shrieking for me / a cuddle about 6 times last night at the top of her lungs - I am shattered but is good to know she is fully recovered!

Still have the school shoe business to do - we walk about 1.5 miles each way to school and dd2 wore out the soles of 2 pairs of clarks shoes last year so am planning something sturdier this year.

Ninja hope you have reclaimed your rightful place in the master bedroom, it's shocking you have had to do that.

Carrie hope your baby is just hanging on to be helpful and wait for the perfect childcare arrangements to be in place

ninja I am indignant on your behalf. Reclaim the bed.

carrie Gulp! The responsibility of having to properly check my text messages! Can't wait to be the bearer of good baybee news.

sadly have an ill H in 'my' bed today, so have had to look after him (as well as the kids plus 1 more) - typical man has a tummy bug but says he was thinking of phoning an ambulance he felt that bad! He was very disappointed that his temperature wasn't higher. I did go in and catch him drinking a beer - to rehydrate

Also have to pack for them all to go away tomorrow (I hadn't been planning to but now .....)

Making a long list of things to do while I have peace

Oh ninja

What a knob he is.

Hope the break gives you some thinking and planning time x

Carrie we are hopefully looking at 2 more next week. My must have's are a bit much tho,
It must have 4 beds and the smallest must be over 10 x 8 feet to fit in ds's safe space.

It must have parking nearby as ds tends to run off when he can.
It must have a medium to large garden as ds can't access parks and needs to let off steam.

It must have a dining room so when he has a meltdown there is somewhere for the girls to go and be safe.

It must be in the east of the city for dd1's school.
They must take pets.
It must have a large cupboard to house dp's batman collection. Not really but that was 1 of the reasons he didn't like the first house.

Ninja you can have your bed back tonight. YAY!

debs I feel your pain! We are currently in rented house (far too small really) looking for a property to buy and there is NOTHING that suits everyone....I am just so fed up of my wants and needs coming last all the time.....sigh.

Dh is being a real arse about his hobby room....the house i.e. living space is the most important thing fgs!!!! aaarrghhh....

Sorry debs but I did chuckle at the batman collection! Your living space is such an important thing, it has to work for your family, but finding the right place isn't easy as I've learned from years of studious Location Location watching

NC loving the description of your DS's hair cut, hope it all turns out well! We'll all have to put pics of our DCs up on our profiles on their 3rd birthdays I reckon :)

splish your poor DD, what a traumatic time, glad she's recovered well though! V.impressed at your school commute - DS will barely walk to the end of the road, I'm hoping he'll take to cycling with DD so that I don't have to use the double buggy for the school run too much, bit embarrassing with a 3yo in a buggy! Not that he looks 3...he's the size of an average 18-24m old, my little mini man

Well its my due date today and I'm neither in labour (as I was with DD) or cuddling my newborn (as I was with DS) so I really don't know what to do with myself. After 9 months of being very careful to do nothing that might aggravate the SPD, I was running, jumping, skipping like a loon at the playground with the DCs this morning, hoping that it would bring on more BH that would eventually turn into the real thing! I've had a couple of really strong BH this morning, but I've been getting them for days. My original due date (by my dates) was tomorrow so I'm trying to be optimistic for then

The dILs have offered to come up and help with the DCs and I've been very rude and turned them down . AIBU??? I just feel like a ticking bomb, and being watched won't help! And having to look after the DCs is the only thing I have to do right now, its my distraction, so if the ILs come and help then what will I do?!!!

Carrie - wouldn't worry too much about the 3yr old in a buggy, have known 4 year olds in one, and 5 year olds on buggy boards. dd2 is going to be in the buggy on the way to school for a while yet because although she's capable of walking 1.5 miles she likes to potter, and investigate, and if she walks home, it can take over an hour - we leave just after 8 as it is, i can't start any earlier!
Fingers crossed tomorrow brings some proper contractions...

Ninja - his tummy bug was probably brought on at the idea of packing - hope he's made enough of a miraculous recovery to go on holiday and you can have some time to yourself to reclaim your room, and think about what you think is reasonable etc.

Sending hurry up vibes your way carrie and shall eagerly await your good news . Best of luck!!

One month today until erin's birthday and finding it hard to believe she's growing up so fast.

carrie DS was only fully out of the back seat of the Phil & Teds 2 months ago at the grand old age of 4.8, and he's a tall child! I truly didn't care what anyone thought of me. FWIW no one ever said anything and the old ladies all seemed to love the P&T's and wished they had them in their day! Until the dc's can keep up with me, and TBH DS actually has to run , then they go in the buggy. DD will stay in the buggy for another 18 months or so until Spring 2013, I'm not walking in the winter with her whinging about her legs not working.

Hello to kagey and splish .

splish your poor DD. Glad she's much better now. I hope she cuts back on the diva behaviour though!

I have vague plans about taking the DC's on a bus for the first time this weekend. It will take longer than actually walking to the shops but should keep them amused for a while.

We didn't take the buggy on holiday and ds2 didn't ask for it once. But we will still need it for the school run as it's nearly a mile and would take forever for him to walk (and I don't think he would do it often without complaining). I also use it to enable me to get to places quickly. And to carry the shopping.

A bus trip- that could be a good idea to fill some time next week, esp if the weather is as bad as today.

Robyn refuses her buggy and it is easier to walk her and take forever then it is to force her in one. Or more usually I carry her
With DD1 I had her in a buggy until she was about 3.5 as she was lazy and ds was in a normal buggy until 5 when we got a Mclaren Major. The ones you buy now though have a weight limit of 15kg which Robyn is already over and she is on the 50 percentile. DD1 was off the chart at that age so buggies were made to last better 15 years ago. If the weight limits were higher I would of bought a side by side buggy for the little ones ages ago but iknowing Robyn was near the limit put us off.

Both of my 2 have never really used a buggy from being about 2.5....wish Toby would as he is very heavy and not as compliant as ds1!!!

He is a bit obsessed with his bike (well, ds1's old one!) atm so wants to cycle everywhere

Thinking of getting him a scooter for his b day - are we talking b day plans yet??? As the house we are in atm is so small we are not planning a b day party as such but are planning a trip out for the day to a local steam railway which he will love.

Cant seem to find a suitable house so looks like we may be here for longer than I wanted...really wanted to be in our new house by xmas but I dont think thats going to happen now

Am very excited!! My birth pool has arrived!! DP got it off ebay without telling me. Am v pleased!

Back to work

mrsa ooohhhh....exciting!

Bec when we started looking last april I told mtself we had to be out by the time Lucy was born, then it was Xmas then when Lucy turns 1. well we have missed all them deadlines which is why we are now looking at private rents. Currently in council which means a low rent of less then £300pcm for a large 3bed. But we are just not a priority and they are so few 4 bed houses. We would be moved up the list when dd1 turns 16 but I really need to get out now!
By the way does anyone know what a home owner guarantor will be liable for, eespecially as some don't want a security bond?

MRSA I woould of loved a water birth with ds but the pool was in use when I got there. Very excited for you.

debs Yes...I can see that happening to us too

hope you find something suitable x

Of course it does mean I am now committed to a homebirth, which I DO want but it's a bit scary!

Debs I've no real experience of the rental sector but I'd guess the guarantor would be jointly liable for any rent/debts. ie if you did a bunk or couldn't pay, the landlord could then ask the guarantor to pay any money owing. A role not to be undertaken lightly as it's legally binding.

debs Sadly you will pay a LOT more than that for a private rental

My parents pay £280 pcm for a lovely 3 bed LA property in a nice village.

We are paying double that for a 2 bed with courtyard garden!!! (very desirable location though)

Couldnt afford to buy here!!!

Just had my first ever sweep...really wasn't too uncomfortable cervix is still posterior and long, but soft, and the mw was able to sweep right round the baby's head. When I said about lots of tightenings over the last 4 days but no regularity to them, and having been woken in the night with painful BH the mw said "stop start" and she and student mw both said "third baby!". Oh joy.

Ooh carrie fingers crossed here.
Bec we can onoy get £550 per month from HB so are only looking at 4 beds under £600. I suppose we are lucky that our area is one of the lower house prices but ut still makes me mad when an ex council house is up for almost twice as much rent as a council one. The one we looked at today was almost good enough but was a bit small so we are giving that a miss as well. DP thinks that just for 1 extra bedroom we would miss out on a good garden and a living room and the rooms were smaller so its not worth it.

carrie I had a sweep with Toby on the monday pm and started losing my waters tues pm (he wasnt born til thurs am though

Come on mini-carrie no. 3!!!! I am getting impatient!!!

debs 4 beds round here are from £750-900 pcm

You would just about get a 1 bed flat here for what you pay Bec!

Debs it seems mad that with 4 children you aren't priority for a 4 bed house. Although saying that, my mum's job is allocating council houses (she is/was a doctor and looks at the medical reasons for wanting particular houses) and she's mentioned before that there's a big lack of big houses where she is too.
I just did a quick 4 bed search on rightmove for houses to rent here and the cheapest is £1000 and is ex council house! They go up to £1600!! Crazy, crazy money!!