July 2010: C'mon threadbabes: eat like MLIC's; drink like TSC's; smile like Memphis's; laugh like Cakes's; crawl like nearly all of them (except Cake's)... but mainly: sleep like Spireals

[CakeandRoses]

Here we be (phew!)

Hello everyone, have you all eaten your Easter Eggs? [busmile]

The dc's were sooo excited this morning, they didn't dare go downstairs in case the Easter Bunny was still here [bugrin]
I now have a dining table full of chocolate eggs, roses chocs, jellies....

mlic - could W have hayfever? We all have it here and I'm sure C has it too but he's too little for Piriton Syrup. Can't believe the little brat who kicked him!! Did his mother do anything?

Cake - thanks for the pizza dough freezing tip (although not intended for me..). I've been wasting loads of it so it's nice to know I can save some for another pizza meal!

Memph - Hope you lo is better soon, poor little dear :(. What kinda car you got in mind for later this year then? I'm fancying a 6/7-seater, just don't know which yet. I want with slidy back doors

TSC - Happy bonnet making! We thankfully avoided that this year as they made them at school and didn't want to make another.

Ive been to italy 3 times, I love it there and really want to go with D and DP (and prob next dc aswell)

cake funny you should say about young man commenting on baby. I was in a department store and this 20 something guy said to his female companion "aww look at that baby, hes really cute!" I was quite surprised!

cakes cheers for the info on hols, maybe something to look into in the near future!
cherry dh wanted a focus zetec, his mates all have cool family cars a bit like kk but we cant afford something like in his friends league but i want a focus c-max as they are slightly bigger but not full on people carrier as i would have no hope of driving one so it will be big enough to go on road trips with possibly 2 kids in the future and the dog, we plan on driving to France as its a trip we did when i was 3! so now he has agreed on a c max (ive won)

mlic i reckon there's some type of weird pollen this year as I've got slight hayfever for the second year ever - and the last time was about 8 years or so ago. A couple of other people have said they/their DCs have hayfever this year too. Hopefully, E won't have it again - or not for 8 years anyway!

i'm v excited for you re this house. hope you do buy it.

A pizza maker eh cherry - you'll fir right in here

fit. FIT!

OK there's 82 posts on this thread since I was last on MN, I'll be back when I've read them!

Hi WSS, nice to have you back. Hope you had a lovely time.

Sorry I've been so quiet. Didn't have much to say for myself. Had my nuchal scan on Thursday and all was OK.

M still has this virus and is waking herself coughing every night. I slept on the floor next to her cot last night cos it was just easier than having to constantly run in. It's not very comfy though and I will buy a little fold up mattress for me or DP to sleep on in there. Poor baby coughs so much that it freaks her out. I feel so sorry for her. It doesn't make for good sleep and she is very grumpy today.

Another reason for being quiet was that we made some big decisions here. We've decided that once baby no 2 is here that we're gonna go back to the UK. It's a big thing for us, we always seem to think that the grass is greener in the country we don't currently live in. I'll have to ask you all a few things and get your opinion about living in Britain these days.

1. Do you think things have changed over the last 4 years? (which is when we moved away).
2. Is the atmosphere different what with the recession and all?
3. I've only ever lived in London, DP is from oop north (Manchester) but we are now thinking small city / town or countryside in Norfolk, Suffolk or Cambridgeshire. What is it like for kids in a town?
4. One reason we're moving away from here is that people are soo, soo unfriendly and arrogant. Customer service doesn't excist, everybody is all about themselves. It is very depressing, especially in winter. Are you happy with the people where you live?
5. Would you move somewhere different just for better schools?

It would be wonderful if you could answer some of these questions. I really want to make sure we are doing the right thing for the babies. It suddenly made me realise that everything we do from now has consequences for our children and can't be as self absorbed and selfish and all about us anymore. Quite a scary thought.

Wow, that's a long post. Thanks to everyone who has any thoughts and tips about it at all.

Oh and HAPPY EASTER [busmile]

1. Yes, mostly due to the government, and things are still changing.
2. Slightly, where I live people dont seem to be changing their attitude, the shops are still thriving.
3. Dont know about Norfolk/Suffolk but in Kent the schools are very good.
4. At the mo I dont like the town I live in because of the people, thats the only reason I want to move back to my hometown, the people here are very rude and rough. Its not like that everywhere though!
5. When the time comes to it Id have to weigh up all options but as I said, the schools around my way are good already.

[busmile]

Morning all. You'll all be glad to know I was awake last night between 1 and 3am as Little Miss M decided randomly that she didn't want to sleep and wanted to play instead! Managed to convince her otherwise in the end. Was hoping for a lie in, but she then woke 7am on the dot as usual. Oh well, hopefully she'll nap more today! [caffeine]

I'm in the process of emigrating to Canada to escape the UK, Trudyla, so I'm probably not the best person to try and convince you it's worth coming back to. I'm already more than a day trip away from all my family here, and I really just don't seem to fit in well with society. I can't stand football, don't really go out anywhere or drink and there's really very little that's child friendly in my area, or any good schools. Also, aside from the last fortnight, the weather on a whole is just grey and depressing all the time!

Now if the Canadian Immigration Office would just kindly process my application that's been sat on their desk for three and a half years, I'd be very grateful.

For holidays, I'd be kinda nervous about a cruise too, Cake. Not my idea of fun, being stuck in a tiny cabin all evening trying to keep the noise down so not to disturb sleeping. And what if one of your LOs gets sea sick? Could be pretty awful.

With the criteria your DH gave, I'd go and book a villa in Florida and stay there for a week or two. Not necessarily in Orlando/Theme Park area, there are loads of nice places in Florida. Key Largo is beautiful and has loads of stuff for kids (Would F like to cuddle an alligator? Or a giant snake??), or Sarasota area is gorgeous too. With a nice villa, you can tuck the kids into bed and retreat to the jacuzzi lounge with the baby monitor for more relaxing evenings.

Never been to Italy, it's on my to-do list at some point, if only for the cheese food! My holiday this year is a week in France near La Rochelle. We're sharing a villa with the babysitters my parents.

We've also booked a romantic package at a luxury spa hotel at the end of June for just DH and I. Chocolates, champagne, the works!! My parents will be taking M for the weekend. It's in celebration of our wedding anniversary and DH turning 30 in July.

I've never been to a spa hotel before! Any tips, ladies? We've booked one treatment each for the Saturday, which as far as I'm aware should run simultaneously in the same area, so we can talk.

Ooooh I love spas, Im going to 2 spa days this year courtesey of 2 very kind friends.

I think Im going for a manicure and back massage for one of them and not sure on the other yet, Im really looking forward to them!

Glad the scan went well Trudyla. Can't help with your UK questions I'm afraid but quite interesting reading the others' answers.

Had a nice 3 days away, caught up with an old flatmate who lives near to where we were staying, went to the beach, went to a nice pizza place, did an Easter egg hunt in the garden, that kind of stuff.

The weirdest thing is that I was planning on trying to drop G's night feeds this week but not worrying about it while we were away - guess what she did. 2 of the 3 nights we were away she slept through and i mean properly through, 7pm - 6am! . So we'll see how she goes tonight...

Congratulations on the scan results and on your big decision trudy

1. Do you think things have changed over the last 4 years? (which is when we moved away).

It rather depends on whether you moved before or after the recession hit which was roughly four years ago! I guess the main changes have been recession-driven, as below.

1. Is the atmosphere different what with the recession and all?

Yes but in some ways for the better (down here in the materialism-driven SE anyway - there's less keeping up with the Joneses and conspicuous over-spending now).

Within the corporate sector (where dh and i both work) there's been huge cuts with jobs and budget and it has very much affected strategic decisions which has a knock-on effect to everyone in the company.

We've been v lucky as a family and not directly affected by the recession but I know people who have been heavily hit and have been made redundant (saying that, I know 3 people in banking and only 1 lost their job). There's definitely been less movement between jobs and people are more nervous about starting up their own businesses.

I feel there's more of a sense of optimism lately (here anyway) and a number of friends are talking about career changes/starting new businesses/moving house again.

1. I've only ever lived in London, DP is from oop north (Manchester) but we are now thinking small city / town or countryside in Norfolk, Suffolk or Cambridgeshire. What is it like for kids in a town?

For us, a town has been perfect but the location/type of town is obviously important.

We LOVE where we live (medium-size old market town in Herts) and so far has been ideal for bringing up children. There's tons of people in the same stage of life as us and we've made some lovely new friends.

We have lots of great coffee shops, good shops, restaurants, baby classes plus theatre, cinema, park etc (all walking distance from our house), all of this helps us feel like we can happily spend days here.

We are on an express train line/easy drive to London and Cambridge (for when we need a bit of culture/city life) and that helps too. DH lived in London before here and so feels the need for big buildings etc now and then!

We also have the countryside on our doorstep which is great for walks now and bike-rides when F and A are older.

1. One reason we're moving away from here is that people are soo, soo unfriendly and arrogant. Customer service doesn't excist, everybody is all about themselves. It is very depressing, especially in winter. Are you happy with the people where you live?

Very much so, people often comment on the community feel that still exists here. It's lovely going into various shops/coffee shops and getting a really personal welcome (e.g. If I go for a cup of tea somewhere with just A whilst F is in nursery, people will ask after him).

1. Would you move somewhere different just for better schools?

Schools are one of the best things about this particular town (some of the best in the country) so it's not been something we've ever discussed (we didn't move here for that reason altho MANY people do). I personally wouldn't move for a primary school but maybe would for a secondary school if we were v unhappy with the options. I have some odd views on schooling tho so I might not be the best person to advise on this!

xposted like mad so will catch up again later

also, dh is originally from oop north too (Yorks) but prefers many aspects of living down here. As a Yorkshireman he can never admit the South is better tho

Oh, thank you all so much for your answers!

I suppose it will be necessery for us to really check out the area of any particular house we would be interested in.

It's interesting to hear about the change the recession has brought to people's attitudes. Like you said cake I was wondering if it might bring out a less materialistic, more thrifty and community orientated side in people.

We left 4 years ago, pretty much a second before the recession hit. We were very lucky with the sale of our flat, but we still can't afford some areas. Your area is lovely cake, DP's sister lives close, but I don't think we could afford it.

I'm not against the idea of moving oop north MLIC, we just have to be near an airport with reliable connections to Germany, which makes the wider Stansted area our best bet.

Getting a bit annoyed about all the righmove searches. It is just impossible to judge from the internet but it might get trickier and trickier for us to go over and check out houses, the more preggers I get. Oh well, I should just try and enjoy the search and remember that it's still a year away.

Once again though, thanks so much for your input.

As for a cruise cake, I couldn't think of anything I would less like to do. I would be so scared of the feeling trapped thing, especially when your other idea is sitting outside an Italian villa sipping wine. I would also be scared of me the children being sea sick, like spirael said.

Spirael Good luck with your Canada plans. Quite exciting. I really hope it will all go smoothly (and soon) for you.

DH Are you thinking about moving then?

trudyla I've spent many an hour trawling rightmove and it's soul-destroying. We looked at so many houses it's unreal. I hope you find somewhere that's right for you. Choosing a place to live is such a tricky one cos that's where your children will have to grow up. I suppose I look at anything that's on offer in this country and it's nothing like I had when growing up - it makes me very sad that I can't give my children the same sort of childhood I had!

mlic sorry both your boys are ill, that's rubbish :( Maybe the bank holiday sun will perk them up a bit.

dh having friendly people makes a huge difference doesn't it?! Everyone here seems to know each other already which I find difficult cos they're not bothered about getting to know anyone new. I wouldn't choose to stay here I don't think.

cake I'd love a cruise and would happily go with children but I'd never convince DH so that's out of the question really.

memphis I've been thinking about 7 or 9 seaters, I love our car but we just couldn't get 3 car seats in the back which sounds stupid cos it's an estate but a booster wouldn't fit. I really like the VW transporters but they're pretty big...can't help thinking of the fuel costs!

hey everyone! just home from my cousins and had a lovely day and night!
trudy i'm in ireland so no input im afraid! enjoy you're search though it's very exciting!
mlic the poor boys .
E is starting to cruise round the furniture now! she's pulling herself up everywhere including the cot so no chance of just putting her down and expectinbg her to fall asleep! as we speak dp has dozed off on the couch and she's just pulled herself up standing and started smacking him in the bum!
she's pretty dosed up with the cold at the minute too. streaming nose and quite a chesty cough even though she's only finished her antibiotic about a week and a half ago . don't feel as though she needs an antibiotic with this one though. it's probably teething

wrote a big post and its gone!!!
chulita a 9 seater???!! although I can see the logic as you want a huge brood, I will never have more than2 kids, 1 dog and maybe a few more goldfish so will never need more than a big 5 seater, I struggle to park a Fiesta at times my dad's 7 seater costs £87 to fill my car costs £43!!
mlic your poor boys hopefully tonight will be a better night!
trudyla i think area is important I lived in wales for 5 years and now live 12 miles from the village i loved in Leicestershire, I hate it here, i feel more alone than when I lived 200 miles away in Wales! we are moving back to the village I loved next year so that L can go into the school I want him too, he has to be on the list by 18 months, our house here is amazing (even if i hate it!), great links to areas, live near loads of schools but none I want to send L but there is no community i could be beaten up on high street here and people wouldnt care less!

its lovely here weather wise and i made mistake of wearing boots!!! dh has buggered off out and dropped all our plans this afternoon for his mates and his off roader, im thinking laxatives in his tea later as pay back!!!

Can I recommend Wine.o.clock mlic? Hope your boys treat you more gently tonight, you poor thing.

I'm sorry MLIC. You must be shattered.

I'm so with you though. Never in a million years did I think that motherhood would be this hard, this exhausting and never in a million years did I think that I would have to cry every day. Is it possible that I had a very easy baby for the first six months, and then it turned into a grumpy crier? I don't know what I would do without my DP who handles so much. I'm even more in awe of you MLIC, dealing with all that without any much help. Go get your wine!

Chulita Sould destroying is the right word. How are you doing with your house purchase?

KK That's a funny image of E smacking your DP's bum. How are things with you two these days?

Memphis I know, area is all important. Location, location, location as they say. Good luck with your move next year. Is it normal that you have to enroll them at 18 months?

Despite M being quite grumpy in the evening, she was a good girl in the afternoon and we had a lovely time with some friends. We went to a caf with great waffles and coffees and then played in the sand with M's new bucket and spate that she got from the Easter bunny. I think the grown ups got more into it than M

How are all your babies with other people? M still won't let anybody other than DP or me hold her nevermind staying with someone else while I go for a wee somewhere. Even with good friends, that we see every week, I can't leave the room or she'll start screaming. This makes it extra hard cos I can't get any help and I have to carry her with me for everything. She is quite heavy now as well and I'm supposed to not carry anything cos of the bleeding in early pregnancy. Ha! That ain't working. So how are your babies? Are they happy to be held by someone else?