October 2011 - my, oh my, how the first years flew by!! It's birthday season!!

[MummyDuckAndDuckling]

So excited that the first birthdays are upon us! Will try get a copy of the stats..

I am making my own advent calender and Xmas decorations so ill do a bit more work on them this weekend. so far I have resisted getting the Xmas CDs out but I'm soo tempted

engels am thinking of doing NaNoWriMo as well! Have you done it before? I haven't although have written one novel and that took much longer than a month! Maybe I will ... although is it cheating if I have already done 10,000 words?

Well I've opened the wine. Making the most of not having S here. Just wish I could go out... I need to get my social life back, I've become a total bore

I haven't done it before pen but yes it is technically cheating if you start with 10,000 - but you're only cheating yourself

and I won't tell anyone if you don't

Am just getting started with some ideas. 12 days to get some kind of outline together. I think the whole idea is just to write and get the material down, rather than editing and agonising (and procrastinating ).

I'm not quite sure I know what 50,000 words looks like

Duck your social life cannot posibly be any worse than mine. It's 10.30, have finished the bottle of wine we opened last Sunday and now I'm going to go to bed and read (and this is a late night, with wine, so slightly more exciting than the average night in the Engels household).

don't think it's as bad as you think

as you say, sounds like the idea is to just bash away and not get caught up in the details.

good luck i say

I plan to take advantage of will aid in November, to write a will, take out a life insurance policy and nominate a carer in case both me and DH peg it.

eng great news about the helmet, does that mean he can stop wearing it now?

cheshire recovery time for the operation is roughly one week in hospital then another 4-5 recovering at home, so even with the December date he'll be home at Christmas even if he isn't 'better'

Thanks for he offer climbing I'll pm you when I'm next on MN proper instead of the app.

Good luck to those of you planning to do NaNo I don't think I could find the time at the moment!

Harry Potter fans here to, DH more so than me. I got us tickets to the studio tour for our anniversary and I have to day it was well worth the money the sets and props were incredible - we really did walk down Diagon Alley it was great. Not a big LOTR fan tho I'm never sure why the books get such praise they are horrible to try and read! (and don't even get me started on sparkling vampires give me Spike Buffy any day)

I think 50,000 words is about 200 pages (?) And you're right engels I will start from scratch - either that, or start counting from 10,001 . Need to decide if I can find another plot. It's hard to know what won't be naff when it's actually written down! Am excited about the idea though - I need a project at the moment

I totally agree about the LOTR books I managed the hobbit and really enjoyed it. But when I tried to read the trilogy it took me 1.5yrs to get halfway through the 2nd one and every bit felt like really hard work. Films are great though.

Yep strawb helmet is toast, though tbh we haven?t made him wear it for the last week since his birthday. The difference in 6 months is amazing. They measure the diagonals on his head and work out the differences between them. Not sure exactly what the number means but a perfectly symmetrical head will be 100%, 100-104% is classed as normal variation and 104-108% is classed as mild ?flat/wonky head? (I?m very technical me). M started out with 116% and is finishing with 106% so we?re pleased.

Am very at Diagon Alley. DH is not a fan (but doesn?t hate them either). I must say that I?m not a huge fan of the LOTR books, I found them hard work (and I am a serious bookworm and English teacher) and they?re certainly not on my re-read list unlike Harry Potter, Twilight, The Sookie Stackhouse and Jilly Cooper?s collected works .

pen I have the NaNoWriMo Ready,Set,Novel! that I bought a few years ago and am using it to brainstorm right now. Even though I have had a few ideas brewing in my head the past few years I?m just doing this as an experiment to see where it takes me. DH thinks I?m bonkers.

Wow ed just saw the time of your post?.late night?

We managed to all sleep in till 8.40. DH has gone to help his brother with some DIY so I am MNing tidying the house for tomorrow.

Very impressed by the novel writers among us! Let us know how you get on!

Happy birthday to more one year olds! I read somewhere 'Parenthood: The days are long but the years are short'. So, so true!

Last morning of our holiday. Very damp all round but we've had some lovely walks and caught up with lovely friends. Lizzie has been quite unsettled at night but a joy during the day, this is such a great age isn't it!

Was out with a childless friend the other day. She and her husband are struggling to decide if they are going to try for a baby or not. She says she doesn't want to not have a child, but has no strong longings for one. I really feel for her. Like me, she's on the wrong side of 35 and met her DH only a couple of years ago. However, I knew I really wanted a family from a very young age. We both wish we'd met our OHs ten years earlier but I know that I would then have started having babies earlier whereas she would have travelled the world! Do you all agree with my advice to her that she would never regret having a baby but she might regret not having one? They would be wonderful parents and are universally adored by all their friends' children. I don't want to add to the huge pressure they already feel to have a baby but I would be so sad if they never had the joy we all get from our bambinos.

Bit of a brain dump there!

Ips! Fantastic news! I'm shocked by how jealous I feel...maybe the hyperemisis (sp!) scars a beginning to fade...!

Right, off to pack the bags and prepare for the drive home. Happy Saturday!

Haha engels I was in bed at 11pm last night after sleeping kn the couch since 9pm but M still wakes some nights so because I had slept so much I was wide awake after getting her back down.
I'm also impressed by all the novel writers. I love writing but I've never had a good idea for a decent plot/characters etc so don't think I could write a novel.

mrsh that to me sounds like wonderful advice. I've always known from a very young age that I wanted to have children and I honestly can't imagine how it would feel to never have a baby. I knew one lady who was very 'business minded' and found herself unexpectedly pregnant at 37. She went through with it then had another 2 years later! She says now that she wishes she had done it much sooner but had never though of herself as maternal.

I've never known anyone to regret having a baby. You just wouldn't

I sometimes feel for celebs like kylie and Jennifer Anniston. They have both spoken about their desire for a baby and the likely hood of it now is probably so little given their ages.

My only regret, no its not even a regret, with S is that she wasn't born into a stable relationship, but then again, I wouldn't change anything for the world

mrsh I agree with you about your friend. But would probably have been too scared to say It in case she has one and regrets it!

Very impressed with the novel writing. I'm the opposite Ed I think of loads of ideas but wouldn't have the first clue how to write one.

Plus my Wiganism `s would be hard to digest, not sure people could put up with "I had fort go shop"

Buono Sera! I finally have Internet in Italy on day one of our two day honeymoon. Just having a bath while DH () sleeps and E pulls a loo roll apart on the floor.

Ipswitch congratulations! Very jealous I'm trying to persuade DH to try again....

So Italy has been amazing, great 1st birthday for E followed by the most beautiful wedding. Just chilling out now everyone else has gone home. It's lovely to be just the three of us for a while.
Catch up properly when I get back.

Hooray MrsPebble!!

Congratulations x

congratulations pebble
sassy we could do one together you come up with the ideas and ill write

Congratulations pebble

ed it's very vague ideas, not really a beginning, middle and conclusion! Like parrell universes etc

Congratulations Mrs Pebble

pebble congrats! That's exciting!

Mrs Hende I think that's good experience. Anyway - in my experience of having lots of friends who have had babies - being maternal beforehand or not doesn't seem to make the blind bit of difference to whether or not someone is a good mother once they make the decision to have a baby. Longing for a baby since you were 10 and thinking of baby names at 12 or spending your 20s not even sure you want them and not deciding until you're the wrong side of 30 - those things aren't determinates of anything once the babies are here.

sassy and ed you should put your ideas on paper! My first attempt at a novel flopped, as did my second (neither made it past chapter three). BUT the learning experience was good and now I have finally completed one on my third attempt! I did it when A was a baby actually, while he slept. I started when he was about 6 weeks old as a way to ward of baby blues initially and took it from there.

Although is harder now I work and he sleeps less

Congrats Pepple, so glad it all went ok.

And Isp double congrats to you.

And Happy Birthday to all the birthday babies. It's all round!!

Just to put my tuppence in...I loved LotRs- books and films- and am looking forward to the Hobbit. Not into Twilight at all (give me True Blood any day) nor Harry Potter (the kiddles version of LotR if you ask me).

I like the idea that every has a novel in them, I just would not have a clue what mine would be or where to start. I think I'll stick to reading them - much easier.

MrsH I was in the same position as your friend a few years ago. No desire to have a baby but didn't want to not have one. Dh eventually persuaded me (rough part of our marriage) and now I love Seb to bits and don't regret having him at all. Not sure about another one though.... It is a decision that they need to make.

Climbing we plan to do all that too! Only a year overdue!

Cheshire Seb is still in babygrows at night. We call them his jim-jams but only because he only uses them at night now. Although he's outgrowing them again so I might move into proper PJs in the hope that they last longer. As long as the tops don't ride up too much in his bag.

Just fitted an AirWrap I got on e-bay - why did I not buy one sooner?! With any luck it will stop the 4am dummy-on-the-floor searches!

ooops "advice" instead of "experience"

Congrats pebble hope it was a fantastic day

mrsH I agree, even with all the hospital trips etc I've never regretted our choice to have W. Currently trying to work out how I feel about a second, don't really want him to be an only but no strong feeling for another baby yet either. It might come after his ops out the way and I know he's ok, that's sort of how it worked for W - pretty much as soon as we were married I wanted a baby just took DH a couple of years to catch up!

pepple glad it you seemed to have a lovely day

I wasn't sure I wanted children but am very glad DD is here now. In hindsight I do think maybe we should have waited a bit longer. DH wanted DD as he is a few years older than me, I agreed, then changed my mind but turned out I was already pregnant. I'm sure once my career is back on track I'll be recommending it to everyone thought

I have a meeting with a university group in a few weeks to see if we can agree on a research idea for me put in a fellowship application. Should know by the end of that meeting if things look like they will move forward or not.

We've just had our friends party for M's birthday and I am so tired. DH's friends' kids are all wild!!!! Complete gannets, wolfing everything in sight (and then asking me if I have any more), running around our tiny house and nearly knocking M and another tiny one (15mo) over, trying to open all of M's presents and new toys, sticking Sophie the Giraffe into a pot plant (wtf!), sucking on our sofa cushions (they're in the wash), sitting astride the arm of the couch and then falling off into another pot plant......Ducth children are CRAZY! or maybe I should blame the parents

Whatever, I'm completely exhausted!

DH just got really irate because an inconsiderate arsehole parked in our drive and then wandered off, blocking us in. We didn't see them arrive but DH rolled it forward further into our drive (they'd left it in neutral) and then blocked it in with FIL car, waiting for them to get back and have to come and grovel to get their car unblocked. But after an hour and half, still no sign. We figured they were visiting our neighbours, who have their own driveway on the other side of their house (plus there's LOADS of free parking on the other side of our road - the lazy arses would just have to cross the street). So DH went round next door to interrupt their dinner ask them if it was one of their guests and it was. DH said he recognised the guy - he'd told him once before not to park in our driveway. Not good for DH's blood pressure. Sounds such a petty thing, but why do people have to be so anti-social?! It's not like we were going out, but we could have been, and anyway, that's not the point.

Feeling emotionally wrecked. Time for a stiff drink

Congrats pebble !

happy birthday to j and l (bunt+out) i think.