Feb 2011. Now they are (nearly) 3 <gulp>

[Reastie]

Just starting a new thread as noticed old on nearly full up.

Ponyo how rubbish. FWIW I know someone who had the same problem as you (only the other way round, they couldn't sell their house) and they ended out renting out their house and moving into a rented house near a school they liked in desperation for a year and then put their house back on the market after that once their DD got into a school to try again to sell it so to move closer to the school. It sounds extreme but they couldn't shift their house and weren't sure what else to do.

Ledkr we have a house we have a mortgage on we rent out which, once paid off, will be a big part of our retirement fund. It'll also have the advantage that once we pay off the mortgage (only a few years left now) we'll have all that rental income every month. This is all assuming the housing market doesn't fall flat at some point...

ledkr he does pay in the pension, the costs are crippling, we are sticking with it. But I really understand the desire to pull out and reinvest in the house. I just wouldnt to it in NI because of the way the housing market imploded 7 years ago, it hasn't really recovered and they're was so much money just wiped away. I'd consider it if my housing market was more stable.

Weather desperate here

Isn't it a lot? I don't think people realise how much they pay in.
Used to be worth it but now I'm not so sure.

Hello ladies!

Live birth thread maybe?!

Waters started trickling around lunchtime today (had a 2nd sweep yesterday)...just had a shower & more waters & contractions starting to get stronger...pool is half assembled by hubby...hopeful that bubba will be here early hours of the morning!

Good luck granny! Ill be thinking of you x

Amazing Granny. Keep us updated (as you can!!!)

Grannyapple - fingers crossed this is it. Good luck sweetheart xxx

Ohh Granny fab. Hope it's all going well for you.

Ohh exciting stuff
Granny, I hope you are snuggling your little baby now. X

Ooh just seen granny's post, eek! Exciting!

Hi ladies!

Baby Adam James smith was born today at 1am at home...a whopping 8lb 10oz which I was not expecting! I asked them to reweigh him as I was expecting another clone of Nate & Amelia at 6lbs 14oz!

Huge congratulations to granny and family! Welcome to the world little Adam.

Congratulations , welcome Adam! xxxx

Congrats, granny! Did you have a 4 hours labor?!

Congrats granny that's fab. How was the labour? Did the pool get blown up in time?!

Congrats to granny! Lovely news

Yeah american 4hrs from start to finish
Pool was ace..as was hubby. Was just as well we did a test run the other week with it. Called mw's at 10pm & pool was 3/4's set up by the time they arrived at 10.45. Got in the pool at midnight & started pushing about 12.40am.

Wow granny sounds brill! How are the elder siblings Doing?

Congrats x

Hello all, hope you're all ok and new ds is settling in granny!

Well after all of my house drama we may have found somewhere, please keep your fingers crossed for me... Clearly me coming on here and having a big little moan worked! Now we have the task of hoping it all works out and A gets into her chosen school, apparently we'll know by next April what a stress. I'm trying not to think about it too much as worrying won't help, but it's hard isn't it.

Reastie we did consider renting, but there's nothing where we want to live to rent! Plus the thought of moving twice was just grim, haha

Ledkr I'd love to see where you live, is it all idyllic countryside and naice-ness? At least you don't have to worry about the school side of things, one less stress isn't it!

Wiggles if this house works out we're hopefully never moving again too! No way

A is now fully horse obsessed, she often answers us in snorts and neighs, and has decided she wants an 'Elsa pony' for Xmas. No chance love! I bought her the Elsa and Anna dolls (from frozen) for Xmas from sainsbos the other day (and hid them), and a few days later she declared she didn't like frozen anymore and didn't like Elsa and Anna either it's like she knew!

Thank you ladies. Nate loves having Adam around already...DH made him close his eyes when he returned from our friends house, tongi see him...he was like "aw he's only little!" & is constantly wanting to hold him. Amelia just keeps trying to snaffle his toys from the Moses basket, but so far so good tho DH & I are shattered.

Great news on the house ponyo. Yeah the schools process was stressing me out too...we're in catchment for one really & it's really good & on our doorstep so should get that one...but still...need to submit our application when DH returns to work in early November.

How cute granny, I love N's reaction! I bet you're shattered. To be honest I don't know how anyone with more than one does it! Although my (not a parent) friend said to me today she doesn't know how parents of one child do it, so it's just what you're used to isn't it.
Agree about schools, just shows that you have a good one on your doorstep but you're not guaranteed a place, gah! Rubbish. Good luck though; I think it's April next year we find out ages away then!

Ponyo - hope all goes well and quickly with the house , and school. I'm officially banned from mentioning my impending panic about school places, I'm not sure I could manage 6 months or so of panic, I completely lost the plot when Liv was applying and I like you all too much to put you all through that again

I wouldn't worry too much about A changing her mind re Frozen, my lot are always doing that. Olivia told me she didn't like Monster High, Ever After High dolls any more, then she got a few from her friends at the weekend and they're barely out of her hands!

It's her birthday on Thursday and she had a friends party on Saturday - 14 6-7 year olds, it was soooo loud, but they were all lovely and she had a ball. It's was her first school friends party so I was really pleased. God they ate a lot

Grannyapple - hope all 5 (eek) of you are doing well and you are at least pretending to take it easy!!

Bonsoir British chums (and American)

Congratulations granny!! Adam is so cute, why am I broody despite having an 8 month old currently snuggled up on my lap? Impressed with home birth, you are much braver than me. How weird that he's massive, both mine were diddy, I'd be really perplexed if I had a random huge baby.

Wiggles, happy birthday to liv.

Ponyo, so pleased you have seen a house you like, have everything crossed. I love the "nebbing round other peoples stuff" bit of buying houses but don't like it once things get serious.

Reastie we have looked at one school so far and have another open day next week. The one we've seen is about a 5 minute walk and conveniently located next to mine and nates favourite cafe, so that's all my boxes ticked .

Blizy, wow well over halfway!

Ledkr DH has arranged for a meeting with a financial advisor to discuss pensions etc. I am rubbish at thinking ahead, but yes if I don't sort things out I'll be working until I'm in my 70s.

In other news Nate has finally managed to pronounce 'th' but is now mixing up his 's' and 'th' sounds so has basically given himself a lisp. He also got his first swimming badge but when I praised him, he did a face and said "yeh they just give you a badge for turning up". Next thing he'll be rolling his eyes and telling me Santa is not real

Ooh didn't see these