December 2008 - Summertime and the children are easy......

[sybsie]

Ha ha ha ha....we wish!

Here's to a lovely relaxing summer and cheery new thread for us all.

Two nights in a row Beans! That's UNHEARD of in this house. Glad you had a lovely day.

We had a very nice day picnicking in Oxfordshire. We took our au pair for her first and last look at English rural life, she leaves for good on Friday which will be sad. She's been doing do well given what's happened to her.

DS is driving me round the bend. He's 14 months now and can't walk or talk much do I think he's frustrated but he does full on temper tantrums about the smallest things like not being allowed a sip of my wine or not having me next to him the whole time. It's so draining. Yesterday I kept looking at my girls playing independently and I'm ashamed to say it made me question why on earth I disrupted everything with a third. Our life could be so easy now! Obviously DS is gorgeous etc but he is so demanding.

oooh beans you luck thing .

so much for my catch up . Maybe soon.

I'm in cafe nero in the Trafford Centre getting stuck into some uni work while dh and the dcs are at lego land discovery centre. I have peace, free wifi and hot chocolate vs a bunch of manic children and lego. I think I win.
dinosaurs zoo was great yesterday. Not sure where else they ate going on their tour before they go back to Australia but look them up, it was fantastic.

Arti, I totally sympathise. not because DD3 is having tantrums (yet), but because having 2 was a lot easier. BUT I would never regret having a third, but would always have regretted not having one, IYSWIM.

DD3 will only drink one bottle of formula a day. her morning one. not interested in the other bottles. does it matter??

suspect I now won't be doing sex for 3 weeks! hee hee.

paleo, you definitely win...

He he beans you little minx!

My stomach is killing me. No more vom episodes but it's cramping so badly. Can't eat, the smell just makes me feel nauseous. And I'm just exhausted. But no, I am definitely not pregnant. Must be a virus/bug. Just wish it would pass. DH been working all weekend and I've felt too ropey to take DCs anywhere. They've been so good too. Bless them!

I went out on one of these today. I only meant to go out for about 30km. I had a bit of detour because I wanted to have a look at a castle and the royal residence on the way back. But I took a wrong turn & a ended up doing nearly 50km. I think my legs will be a bit tired tomorrow.

Deids how you feeling?

Deids, I hope you are feeling better.

I am shattered, I took DS2 to the commonwealth games on Sunday and then we went to Chester Zoo yesterday. It was a brilliant couple of days, DS2 loved the athletics.

Hope everyone is well.

Such a good experience for him Kayz. I wish we had managed to get tickets for the gymnastics today. DS1 has been glued to it & the mountain biking. I'm pleased to report Rubes, they are cheering for the Aussies, haven't quite got them knowing the words to Advance Australia Fair, but I will work on that.

Waiting for the offer from the job DH just finished all the interviews for. They emailed him monday to apologise that is be a few days until they got back to him because they are super busy with end of quarter stuff. DH is trying to work out what a 'few days' translate to, I said if it is end of quarter stuff then surely he won't hear from them until after Thursday. He is a bit useless at waiting& uuncertainty.

The way things are going the boys and I will leave NL on or near the 17th October and come to the UK. That way we can be out of the house when for the painting and bits and pieces that need to be done to the house to get it ready for renting. I ran into a mum from school today & she was surprised how calm I am...which suddenly made me realise that within the next 2.5 months I have 3 assessments for uni, a house to pack up, a gazillion bits to sort out and 2 boys on school holidays for a lot of that time. So now, I am a little less calm.

Vag, DS2 has been playing 100m all day. He's Adam Gemili and is running around the house.

Struggling to keep up here!
DD had a lovely weekend at Disney on her birthday. Not your average 4 year old bday treat but my bro had free eurostar tix after a delay last summer and gave them to us. All three had a little quick passing tummy bug at alternate days. Ds on day 1 then dh overnight then dd on day 3 - she was the only one who vommed though - all over the table at planet Hollywood then on the train home. Fine 5 min later. Not sure why I thought I'd be up for work off the back of Disney but now in Vancouver and wide awake at 3am.
Right haven't been able to properly keep up but read bits and pieces - will be back more thoroughly shortly!

Hello all, marking my place for later.

I'm off with the dds this week. They squabbled for the first few days about almost everything but have settled down nicely. Dd1 invited dd2 into her top bunk for a sleepover tonight. They've gone to sleep so that's a minor miracle!

Aww Hons, a sister sleepover is so sweet.

Glad A had a fab birthday Rubes.

We just took our au pair to the airport for final goodbye. Girls are besides themselves with grief at her leaving. It was all rather emotional. I thought having an au pair would be hard because of having a stranger in your house. Now I realise it is hard but because they don't remain strangers, they become a member of your family, you spend day after day with them, your kids comedy bond and then they go. I honestly feel a bit like my feat daughter just left home! I can't do this year after year.

DH and I have discussed moving etc. he won't leave London. New plan is to move to cheaper neighbourhood so we can be mortgage free. We are thinking your neighbourhood Sybs. It's lovely, has good schos, we have great friends there and it's an easy commute to work. We could get a similar house for about 25% less meaning I could take a career break. That's our thoughts at the moment anyway.

Oh come and live here! It's fab. I love it. Plenty if green, lovely schools, nice restaurants and a real community feel. You have a friend with a child at R, I think? I hope she likes it as much as I do.

Yes my oldest friend has a child at R. It's been great for him even though he's had some challenges. And DH's cousin and his family, who we are very close to, live in the village and have kids at A ll eyn s. I wouldn't want to move to a neighbourhood where I knew nobody but your neighbourhood actually contains two of the families we are closest to. I just need to find out how likely it is to get places at R or the village school for kids in Y4 and Y1.

Remember that the village school is infants only so you would need to check out D Ham let J unior School as well for year 3+.

At R there is some movement. In L's class (year 5 in Sept) two new children joined in the year and 1 left in July. In T's class (year 3) one child left at the end of July. Not good for yours of course but people do come and go.

Do you know your friend's new class at R? M is in Miss H's class. The teachers next year are Mrs L, Miss D and Miss H. All the classes were shuffled for the start of y1.

Has T just finished Y3? If so, and if we ended up at at, her and DD1 wld be in the same year and M and DD2 would too.

My friend's DS is repeating Reception. It's a long story but R have been really receptive to innovative ideas for helping. He is a late Aug baby so youngest in the year.

I'm madly Rightmoving. Do you know whether Beckwith Rd get me into either primary and Charter for secondary?

No, T just starting y3. I am sorry Th has had problems and glad that he has been allowed to repeat. That does mean that there was a space I. Y1 though.

Beck with road. I know approximately where it is but will check re Charter. The catchment is really small now though so it has to be super close to be sure of a place.

For primary the list is controlled by the school I think so where you live to join after reception doesn't matter.

True! N cld take Th's place. What a funny thought! Do you know him?

The reality is our move won't happen that quickly as we won't even get our house on the market before the start of next term.

I don't but M does. So glad you have a plan. Do you know which bits of round here you fancy. Where are your friends?

A glad you have a plan.

Well our house situation is no better so we are upping sticks and bogging off on holiday.

So ladies I have 3wks to lose a stone and fit in my bikini without serious overhang. Is this possible???? While I have the big boys on holiday so exercise is pretty much out and still BF the monkey. Doable? Or shall i just buy a victorian swimsuit and not worry about beach body?

Jam you need to see this

I love that Montserrat.

Wish I was that self positive about my body. Victorian swimsuit it is.

Where are you going? In Europe (on t'continent) and in a America they all wear bikinis, however huge. You are not huge and, even if you were, you are still glorious. Kindness, compassion and fun are what it's all about and you have those in abundance. The kids won't remember how big or small you are. They will remember fun times in beach. I am fully intending to get my beach fill, in whatever garment takes my fancy on the day. So get out there darling. No knee length britches for you

I am at oval waiting for cricket to start. I have pimms. Sun is out (just). It's great. Hope you are all having fun

A America = s America