November 2012 - Isn't age one a lot of fun?

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1896209-November-2012-The-birthdays-are-coming-thick-and-fast

Yay stunt just let me ow when, I'll be there.

We're still piled high with boxes PR but we're getting to a usable state at least. My parents are coming over tonight to visit for J's birthday on Friday so I have to at least get the downstairs habitable today while J is at the CM for four hours. We had shoved so much cr@p in the loft at the last house that it's going to be a good while before we're organised. There's also a fair bit to be done, e.g. putting up towel rails, shelves, buying furniture for DS1 etc. but the coffers are empty so we're only doing the urgent stuff now and the rest will have to be done as we can afford it. DH and I are slightly stunned at how good the house is, we have a lot more space than we did before with two more reception rooms, one extra bedroom and a garage. We were all slightly crammed in before. The best thing is that the boys have a room each unless I can talk DH into number 4 so we have space for the masses of toys and books they have accumulated.

Maybe towards the end of the month Sophia as we're gearing up for J's birthday at the moment. Did I mention that he's going to be one?

I ordered a fire guard yesterday. Been looking for the right one for ages. We can't attach one to the walls as our walls are so flimsy we haven't added any holes to the ones already in it when she moved in.. The thought of attaching something the girls might pull on scares me.so it is just an adjustable old gashioned fireguard which won't wrap right round the whole fireplace but will protect it just enough. The main problem is that I have two hibernating hedgehogs in our wood store. I have an idea of whereabouts they are but does anyone know what to do if you wake up hibernating hedgehogs? Will they die?

When we moved in.

Hi Jims < waves >

Yep I'm wearing my monitor, feel like I should be doing some exercise! Maybe I should wear one all the time as motivation... Glad I wasn't the only one having trouble keeping my child away from all the tempting wires and equipment - they should have had a play area or something. It was like they hadn't realised one-year-olds might want to move about a bit. And yes it was frustrating seeing the sunshine through the windows. We didn't get away till nearly 4 as L still had one section to do once he woke up. Anyway it was nice to see you even though F&L were too zonked out to meet each other...

Well he's at nursery. He was a bit weepy at handover so I've told them that if he's just not settling to call me and I'll pick him up. And he has a bag the size of a suitcase with everything bar the kitchen sink in it. So the nursery think I'm mad and paranoid already .

My to-do list today includes: dye hair, hang a couple of pictures, sort out baby clothes and errr... do some freelance.

Have a great day. yw I always race around In the morning and then feel a bit lost in The afternoon when I have done my jobs and miss them. So pace yourself. Lots of tea breaks!

Hmmm done jobs and cooked tea already! I see what you mean about pacing yourself Sophia BTW am thrilled to share a birthday with O. Can you make me an owl cake too xx

I'm doing special mac 'n' cheese tonight. It's been too long... Will have to be sans bacon as cba to drag the girls to the supermarket. It was supposed to be sunny and cold today but it is foggy and cold.

I share a birthday with Stunt's J

Grrrrr sleep dodgers are us today. I have so much to do aswell. I have just put a lovely shoulder of lamb in the oven on low though, should just be ready by the time dp gets home.

How did it go last night isles?

All the extra space must be lovely stunt

Looks like we won't be going to Turkey to see ILs after all I had booked time off work and was looking at flights and villas. Then discovered DP needs a minimum of a year left on his passport to get a visa and he will have just under a year left. We can't afford to go any earlier because it would have taken us until June to save enough money. So DP is aiming to apply for his British passport by the end of January which will cost us over £1000 and there's no guarantee he'll even get it! The passport he has now has to be sent away with the application so no holidays for us for the foreseeable. I'm gutted.

Oh and it could take six months or even more to get a decision. So I can't book to go somewhere later in the year because I have no idea when he will get his passport. If he gets it.

apple i applied last July and got it at the beginning of October. Ceremony was 2 weeks after and I got the passport 4 days before O was born. It took 4.5 months. And I received old passport back in October after I received the decision. Just make sure he has all his paperwork sorted, supply work reference (even if not needed), post the cheque and make sure an acceptable person counter signs his picture. Friends got applications returned because the person counter signing wasn't British or didn't have a certain job, didn't submit enough p60s. Does he need to take the knowledge test?

That's useful to know thanks lily. Yes he has to do the test. I'm going to book it soon for a month later so he knows he has to knuckle down and do it. What kind of jobs do the people that do the references have to have?

Lawyer, teacher, doctor or priest. I think some chartered professions can do it too but not quite sure.

Oh gosh I better have a think about that. I know a social worker and health visitor but none of those

His GP would be able to do it. Maybe a social worker you would have to check.

According to this a social worker can : www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

My ob-gyn in Paris did my last one. She was most perplexed at such a bizarre ritual. I need to get my French nationality sorted I hate dealing with the Embassy for this kind of thing.

Apple our local GP is too busy to do countersigning of stuff anymore (cheers for that!) so I made an appointment with the local Justice of the Peace - they usually have one morning a week given over to countersigning official documents and they were happy to do it. I'm going to go straight to the JP next time as it was so much easier to do it that way.

Apple chartered accountants can do it often too... Weirdly quite a few friends have that qualification :)

A civil servant did it for me.

Tell him to download tha phone or iPad applications for the test, I studied one week and passed without making any mistakes. I didn't read the books, just did the tests endlessly. Most of it is common sense anyway.

First public bf! in an empty kiddiecare cafe

A fantastic milestone GT!