CRESH - Crap ham, stinky Brie, gin and lol'ing at birth plan believers

[AlpinePony]

Heeyah.

Alps cunts indeed. I reckon I am going to turn up on day 1 in a couple of weeks and face redundancy. Just this feeling I have. Fuckers. I don't mind as long as they pay me a wedge of cash. Also, I have that phone. It is a work one that they still pay the bill for. I "accidentally" forgot to switch off roaming when I went on hols. I do tend to cut people off with my cheek quite a lot but I have discovered you can "hide" the keypad which helps.

I rang my boss today to discuss retunring part time........... he didn't sound overjoyed, but didn't say Christ No! either. So I need to put my full proposal in writing. Just feel better for warning him. Would be nice to get it agreed, then I don't have to worry about it until next year. Work seems like a whole other universe at the moment.

Just had a wuick catch up - Alps I had no idea what was going on. What total twats! Utter, utter wankers.

Cos good news you're not dead too - that's always a bonus I find

Fucking hell I've only had a sip of wine quick catch up......

alps that is fucking shocking, bastards.

glad to hear you are still alive cos :-)

i think you have been very considerate loz the amount of tales i hear of people messing about, not going back ant the last minute, pushing rtw dates etc your boss should be grateful you are thinking about it now. On the other hand after my ex employer saying she wanted me back 'on my terms' she seems to have changed her mind now she has heard them. oh well, might still work out.

loz my pal has been told she def has no job to go back to and they will have to find something for her to do. . It's proper rotten.

okie I took a pool phone to Thailand a few years ago. Never bothered me tbh when some of my colleagues were running up 6k a month bills I figured 2 weeks in Thailand wouldn't hurt... anyway, the hand that controls the database controls the world. I hope things go a little better for you back at work

I am delighted to discover that cossie is not dead, and she did make me laugh this weekend when she put on my fb that Artie has the same top as Bear. Those two boys, same toys, same clothes - Artie can come and stay and we'd have all his regular equipment here.

Muser How are things in the House of Vom?

Loz I think what you're doing is very respectful and very generous of you - you're giving them absolutely loads of time to consider their options and figure out an appropriate solution for all of you.

I am staying at home again this week - on advice from company doctor. I know work are furious but I don't care anymore. I'm still trying to get word back from an independent union because I'm wondering... and this is wholly, utterly unethical of course... could I claim some form of unfair dismissal due to pregnancy? Because it's personal, no reason has been given to me - but I'm sure the guy who instigated it doesn't know I'm pregnant. Because they've been unable to say "it's because of X" - AIBU to suggest it's because I'm a differ? I ought to say, my company has 30 billion in cash reserves, we're not talking about fucking over a small family business.

Midwife today - will get to hear baby's heartbeat again hurrah. We are still absolutely no closer to finding a name at all. I'm going to print out all the boy's names I can find and just circle the ones I like. Eventually we'll find one we can agree on.

Bear is getting well and truly in to his terrible twos and getting him dressed right now is a battle of wills and his gymnastic displays worthy of inclusion in the Cirque du Soleil.

Hey Alps - it's not really my field and dunno how the law works in your part of the world, but round here I think if there can be proof of discrimination due to pregnancy, then you can claim damages rather than just redundancy payments, but you would have to show you've suffered a loss economically/career prospects-wise. Even if you've not actually been fired, you could claim constructive dismissal, whether that's due to preggo-ness or otherwise, but you'd have to show that they're basically taking away your clients as a ruse to make it impossible to do your job and make you quit. Not sure if that's any help?

Not much to report on round these parts. Still haven't heard back on that Dream Job I applied for, and I noticed on Friday that they'd extended the applications deadline, so I guess that means they haven't seen anyone they liked the look of so far. Hey ho.

In other news, Squib stood up unsupported for about 10 seconds today before he realised what he was doing.

We also have toppling baby!

lights is you on facecrack?

I suspect he won't repeat that trick for another month now.

I am indeedy. That where you lot have all decamped to?

yay, we got a date for TGOs MRI scan!!

pone do them for everything you can! Ah I loved hearing the heart beat almost more than the scans. Enjoy!

lights sorry it been quiet round these parts, t'other place has been busy, just find it a bit easier to deal with especially on phone.

Great news about the MRI cos

alps If they are still paying your salary, and not threatening that you'll lose your job, then you haven't actually suffered any material loss. If the guy that fucked you over didn't know you were pg at the time then you also can't claim sex discrimination for unfair treatment for that particular event. Not saying you haven't been treated badly - don't get me wrong on that! Just that you wouldn't actually gain anything by getting all legal on their arses just yet.

In the UK, bullying is a weird thing in legal terms. You actually have to show discrimination for it to be counted. There is a well know defence called the bastard defence. i.e. the person who did it is just as horrible to everyone on staff, so just because you are female and pg and were treated unfairly, it doesn't necessarily count as bullying.

But... if there are any redundancies, the person who is pg or on ML is automatically protected unless all people doing the same/equivalent job are made redundant at the same time.

There's a statistic I heard that 20% of working women who have a baby no longer have a job afterwards. And I don't think they all resigned happily to save their employer a bit of money...

Crap, isn't it?

Oh my goodness it is veh quiet in here. So I thought I would just say something to keep things alive a bit. Any of you knowing my little predicament at the moment I don't think pizza for dinner was such a great idea . To be fair I haven't eaten much since Thursday and I am feeling well hungry, just the gut isn't liking anything be it liquid or solid. This is also the 3rd night in a row of no booze! I haven't done that since preggers!

So Alps are you doing any work at all or are you totally off work?

Peppa is 1 in 2 weeks and mini is 3 in 3 weeks. Err, where did that go? I have decided that Peppa is getting some bricks to stack and a plastic musical hammer (she likes twatting things) and Mini is getting clothes. The MIL has already bought some massive plastic pink ride on thing (for Peppa) and a rather than JCB digger thing (for mini). So large and so impractical. However, it does relinquish us from buying "big" gifts/main presents.

okies boiled rice for you for the forseeable if I were you. Good point raised on pressies. We are currently trying to figure out what to get Sprout for Xmas, she will be 7 months old. Its a bit of a funny one as lots of 'big' pressies I see advertised are ages 12+ or older. I'd quite like to buy her a soft rocking horse/animal but seems a shame to get her something she cant really use for a while. The other option is a 'walker/jumperoo' type thing but they seems to be enormous and we don't have much room, plus not sure they have much longevity. Anyone else with a summer baby got any ideas?

TB of course wants to buy her a bike

well, I was thinkking that she'll get so much on CHristmas day that there is probably no harm in having some new toys to bring out in a month or two. Age ranges are just guidelines anyway, apart from the safety ones, so she might be ready for things earlier, or just play with them in different ways until she explores its full activities.

I bought a walker type activity centre recently second hand - £25 for a leapfrog groove thingamajig - I decided not to wait till Christmas as she would be 9 months and it only lasts until they are walking.

Thats true medee and I can always help her with it to begin with. good idea to buy a second hand activity centre. Might look for an eBay one, but gutted we forgot about the NCT sake recently (although apparently it was hell)

fanny you've got to the absolute crux of the matter right there. I am not being made redundant... And that won't happen for at least 18 months. I just don't know which way to turn, I feel so incompetent, I seem to be going backwards. :(

rrrrocket I got bear a rocking horse last Xmas, he was much too small for it of course. He rides it now with gusto. The worst age-inappropriate toy I ever got was finger puppets on the front of a cbeebies magazine, just the right size to be choked on. :( wtf?

medee walkers are used long after they're verticle. They can be rammed in to daddy's toes, back of mummy's knees, over dogs paws. He literally chases the dogs with it ramming it in to them. Of course EA is a lady and so not prone to such behaviour. ;)

Walker was a big hit for Squib. Got one off ebay for a tenner when he was 7 months. Looked good as new when we got it and he had plenty of fun taking our our achilles tendons with it. It's great for when they're at the age that they want to be moving but haven't quite got the co-ordination for it yet. Now he's crawling/cruising he's not bothered with it any more so I bunged it back on ebay - and sold it for a £11.50! Result! Makes up for the number of times I've made massive losses .

I'm getting to the point of giving up getting Squib a birthday present at all. I've had to give so many present ideas to so many people I've completely run out of ideas for us. Was thinking rocking horse too, but most of them say they're for 3 and up. What did the one you got for Bear look like Alps?

www.amazon.co.uk/LeapFrog-Learn-Groove-Activity-Station/dp/B0002C6N16/ref=sr_1_7?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1320057971&sr=1-7 This is the one we got, bought it via the Netmums local for sale board for £25.

lights I don't give a shit about what age it's "supposed" to be for, surely it's more about what mummy the child is ready for? E.g., when I was a step-mum one of my nieces was able to play with a toy at 3 years old which her 5 year old cousin struggled with... Rocking Horse - when you squeeze its ears it goes cloppety-clop and neighs!

Having looked at medee's pic, I realise I mean something else when I say walker.

pone are you thinking if one of those truck things they stand behind and push? The rockers are funny as some of them say 12 months some 9 and others 3 yrs. like you say it's discretionary! I think Tilly would get a lot out of one of those activity centres NOW because she loves standing up but can't sit unsupported. So shea either lying down or being held. Or do I mean I would get a lot out of it as she could amuse herself! But then she should be sitting but Xmas anyway. Hmm. I think I'd rather get something she'd grow into than be half done with by feb.

At the moment she is ignoring waybaloo and the various toys I have provided and is playing with the skeleton printed on the front of her baby grow!