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.

Oh and arti, I wouldn't know how to handle that either. It sounds much too grown up for an 8 year old.

Arti eek. My initial reaction was whoa that's too much too young but guess you never know how much the story had been exaggerated. If it's even close to accurate id be having a word with appropriate people. Thanks Hons. Gosh after yesterday's school run disaster, then stubbing my toe badly at the farewell pub lunch, today I stopped en route to school and dd wobbled my already loose bike seat which fell off and bolts pinged into the canal. Ended up standing up riding almost the entire school run then got slammed by stinging nettle, followed by a blow to the head via the garage door after I got home. Was looking at this as a sign.. And then a wine delivery arrived and it wasn't half as bad as it seemed.
Right pub Night showing large amounts of interest but lacking in dates ?

Lady, I feel awful that I did not nention your inquest experience in my last, self obsessed, post. You are so brave to have attended and I also hope you never, ever, have to do something like that again.

Rubes, pub night in very early Sept?

gosh Rubes, did you slap the garage door, by the time the garage door thing happened after all those other events I would have been so frustrated I would have slapped the door.

Arti that's a tricky one. Why don't you ask her how she feels about it. I personally don't have a problem with all of it, what I do have a problem with is this boy seemingly enforcing the handholding etc. I don't like him telling her to hold hands and that she is his girlfriend. I know it is maybe over exaggerating an innocent relationship, but better to nip that sort of dominant behaviour in the bud now. Maybe this is an opportunity to talk to her about having control over her body and if she wants to hold hands etc then ok. But if she does not then she has the right to say no. As far as future sexuality etc it is important not to make her feel she has done anything wrong & let her know it is good to talk to you about stuff like this. If she feels she has done something you don't approve of then she may think twice about speaking to you about similar but more intense feelings in the future. I don't think it is wrong to express to her your concern, but in the context of her age, not that the actual 'activities' are wrong.

Hons sorry about the back. can you get some physio?

Let's all go away and look at some dates. I'm assuming the school holidays might be difficult.

Kayz when are you at Stansted?

The 9th of August Vag, but thinking about it I don't think I'll have any free time. We are in London all day on the Saturday and then going to visit my family on the Sunday.

I went to see Le Tour yesterday. Absolutely amazing. I'd never get bored of watching that even if it is over in a few minutes. Shame about Cav crashing, the bloody idiot. At least he's admitted it was his fault.

oh I feel very unwell. Big night last night, friends farewell plus NL won the football means heel veel seedy spewy feeling.

I love the tour Kayz. if you can ever get over to paris for the final day you should. It is easy to find a good spot on the Champs or the Tulleries and they go past 9 times. It is awesome fun. There is a good camping ground about an hour out of Paris that is cheap to stay or one in Paris also cheap but gets super busy for the tour.

Lady, I hope you're ok.
arti, I'm with Vag. wise words from her.
I'm just marking my place, but desperate to watch Wimbles. it's so very very good.
just back from girlie weekend away. poorer, tireder, but happier. and probably fatter. hurrah!
DH still at his mum and dad's with the girls and dog, so I have the house to myself. heaven.

Arti I potentially could the 6th Sept? Did I miss the update on how you are feeling re the work / life balance situation? If not how are you feeling?

Lady we really need a plan for lunch. Soon as I sort my parents dates out I'm on it!

Off to help for the reception beach trip tomorrow. Desperate for no rain. 90 over excited kids, 2 coaches and the beach, what could possibly go wrong? DS is so excited I'm coming. Hoping he's not like normal and not listening to teachers like he should when I'm helping at school stuff!

Thanks for asking Rubes. I'm still very keen to address my work life balance but I don't even have the mental space to think about it so I'm limping towards the end of July just hoping I can get there. I have August off so I can try and plan then. DH has made it pretty clear he does not want to leave our neighbourhood so I need to explore downsizing and interest only mortgage payments.

The Tour passes my office window today. I'm just rearranging some meetings so I can watch. There are some advantages to my place of work! I want to treat my team to Tour related snacks. Any ideas? I cannot think further than Frech patisserie.

patisserie sounds about right M - or a selection of French cheeses and baguette? I was in Leeds/York on Friday for work - must have been about the only person going south at the end of the day! Not long to the end of July. For what its worth, DH, having mostly run after the DCs for a few years picked up a full time contract for the last few months. No question, more juggling and more stress in some ways, but he does seem a lot happier all rouns

oh and the beach sounds like a lot of fun! DS off to a dance festival with school today which he is v excited about.

I do love it when summer finally comes round. Took the kids fruit picking at a pick your own yesterday - love seeing how are exciting it is for them!

Sounds like a good plan Arti. Thinking about it more when you have a month off will help.

Survived beach school trip. Dear Hod teachers need more pay. I'm shattered. Was in charge of five kids and I'm sure I had the most behaved group of kids but I still needed to open wine imminently on arrival home!
Vag I. Need to ask you about the tour finishing line viewing feasibility with rugrats. I'm sure you've done it? But if it's 5 deep several hours prior waiting to see a blip go past I'm not sure I'll bother!

oh Rubes it is brilliant for kids. it is really no more than three or four deep and actually we don't stand right at the edge anyway. We have a little fold up step and stand on it and watch them go past. They go past 9 times. There are a couple of sprint points so those can be cool to be near as those contending the green jersey will be racing to get more points there. We have been four times, three with the boys. The only time it was a bit too busy was when we were on the turn near the Louvre corner on the outside of the tulleries. But even then we could see perfectly with our little step. The best place to watch with small kids is within the tulleries. There is a playground & also they have a fairground for that weekend. You can be watching them go past then have time for the kids to wander back to play. The only problem is the toilets, the fairground has a toilet but it usually has a long line. For a view with Toilets find a spot on the Champs elysee which has a cafe (the Häagen daaz cafe is good) & just keep popping in to use their loos. There is a public toilet in the park bit of the Champs but it has massive lines too. They don't get to the Champs until about 3pm (plenty of time to get all the wee out of them) but before they get there all the media & sponsors floats come past which is fun for the kids. If the kids get up on yours or DHs shoulders they will have an awesome view.

oh and you don't need to stand around all day waiting. If you are going to be at the Tulleries then you need to get there a bit before because it gets cut off just before it starts. But the Tulleries is definitely not the worst place to be locked into.

Vag are you watching the football? Absolutely crazy!!

I am watching with several German au pairs.

There is a LOT of screaming, some crying and two Skpe connections to Germany where there is even more noise.

That game was bizarre Kayz it was a complete car crash for Brazil. I almost couldn't watch!

that sounds quite good fun Arti.

Hey ladies! what's the news?
I'm off for DD2's school lunch taster today. joy.

i'm behind again I think. First horror show night's sleep of this pregnancy - woke up at 3.30 feeling like I couldn't breathe. Spent an hour hyperventilating and trying to keep calm. DP is away, he has spent about the last 3wks of this month away. I had this when I was pregnant with DD1, but not with DD2. I believe it's quite common but flipping heck, it's vile. I still feel like I'm shallow breathing now. This baby is so damn high up. I suppose with no. 3 at 42, should count myself lucky she's not virtually drooping between my knees like a poor woman I saw at my last scan.

Which reminds me! Had a consultant's appt this week and who should be waiting not a foot away from me but K. Walsh from Gs Aloud So she must be using the same consultant. However, she's probably off to the Portland not the Lindo Wing at St Mary's, as my obs now does her private work at either.

I am off to Corfu a week tomorrow with the girls, with our little trip to Albania in the middle. We're there for 10 days and then I am off to Mum's for a bit. I am now really scared I will get this breathing thing when I am away and it really is horrid and better if someone's with you. Groan.

Right, have bored on about myself and need to read back to catch up. Early Sept is good for me re: a weekend away. Nothing in Sept as yet.

Vag, when are you actually and definitively off back home? My eldest nephew, who is doing his Masters in Leiden, is absolutely loving The Netherlands. We did have plans to pop and see him but he's around now it's the summer and he finishes at the end of the year.

What are everyone's holiday plans? Apart from Corfu, a week at my Mum's and at least another week at my Mum's, I am taking the girls to London for a whole week (hopefully) to do some fun things and catch up with a lot of people. So if anyone fancies a mad picnic or something....Anyway, that will definitely be sometime in Aug.

Arti, having a long think in your recess is probably a good idea - you might have a bit more headspace and perspective out of the office. What did you conclude about the kissing? It does seem very young but I remember people having 'boyfriends and girlfriends' together with the odd kiss from when I was about 7, and I would imagine kids are even more forward in that dept nowadays.

When are your folks coming Rubes? And a lunch would be smashing. Next week is a bit crazy with going away on the Friday when the girls break up - also I have to make two trips to London as I have glucose tests and other stuff - but I am back in Oxfordshire from Mon 6 Aug onwards. As I say, I have another week at Mum's and a week in London to fit in but should have at least two full weeks at home over the summer. Erm...that doesn't sound like much actually. How is the new house settling down?

Jam, are there any developments re: your house situation? Are you going for another mortgage?

Invis, that is quite a change for your DH. Is it a long contract?

Beans - any further word from your eldest sister? Have you yet discovered the perfect form of contraception that's going to change all our lives? I'm not sure my current method, which is pregnancy, followed by a period of Just Not Doing It, is sustainable....

Indith, I watched some of OBEM last night (not something I watch often) and I did think of you! I don't normally see a midwife until the morning of delivery but the Lindo Wing are making me see one this time, in August. It's their new policy, even for those with consultant care.

I am now going to have a self-indulgent moan about everything I have got to do in the next week, which is all completely self-inflicted. I have to finish off a newspaper piece, do a huge bit of freelance editorial work, finish writing all the detailed staff appraisals for pre-school, do research for two potential radio projects, one of which I had a meeting for this week and one for immediately after my holiday; that's not without fripperies like my Italian homework or finishing my book group book for tomorrow. The house is a SHAMEFUL PIT. And I have just got myself on a County Council education committee, but fortunately that only meets 5x a year. Now, I do like to keep things interesting but it is starting to reach critical mass, and once I have this baby I am simply going to have to scale back a bit because I will honestly go bonkers. My eyes are bigger than my belly when it comes to projects. But when I was up in the night, gasping, I was also getting hugely stressed about fitting everything in and that's probably not ideal.

To which end, I had better go and do something. Am off for a 5 mile speedwalk this afternoon

Oh, and in case that big long list sounded like some weird stealth boast (it wasn't), I should admit that my kids probably watch a lot more telly than they strictly ought. DP makes comments about it - but yet, if he has a day with them, I don't see him packing the day with Mary Poppins activities. AND he doesn't do any bread and butter housework along the way (I mean just keeping the dishwasher and washing machine loaded and unloaded, trying to pick up toys on the way etc). I don't worry so much about the telly watching though. They are also good at playing on their own, spend more time drawing than doing anything else (even telly) of their own volition, and my rationale is always that I watched a lot of tv as a child, which I did. But I played outside and read a lot too. Does anyone else worry about telly stuff? How do your kids spend their time on? What I am very poor on is scheduled activities - largely because of not driving and being able to take them.

Thanks Vag. The back cleared up. I'm going to try and do pilates to try and strengthen it.

Lady I removed all tv privileges from dd2 yesterday. Usually on Wednesdays I'm off and apart from gymnastics we like to take it easy. It was so such harder not to have any time for myself. It was more of a punishment for me!

Generally they watch less in the summer as they want to play outside. They both do gymnastics and dd1 tried rainbows but didn't like it. We're rubbish at swimming. Children all seem to have lessons or go with parents. I feel bad we hardly ever go.

Rubes Glad the wine delivery created a better end to the day!

Dd2 is going through some horrendous stage of not listening, tantrums at the slightest thing, not going to bed without screaming and getting out. Is it a belated terrible twos at 3 and a half nearly?

Hello all! I haven't got much to report but am conscious if not checking in every now and again and dropping off like last time!

Lady that sounds like a helluva lot if stuff you've to get done in not much time at all! No wonder you woke in the night. Do try and take it easy...and enjoy Corfu! I've only ever been there once. Whilst it was very scenic it rained all week and there was a mad influx of mosquitoes. By the end of the week is been bitten do badly I looked like I had the pox. And as a rule I never get bitten! So I'd advise bug sprays .

Thanks for the heads up Deids - mozzies love eating me. And DD1. I can't use much in the way of repellants at the moment as I need to avoid DEET so it sounds like I will be a sitting duck. I have already been warned the place is chock full of wasps! Too much insect action for my liking...

Hons, DD2 can certainly have her moments and they are a similar age. Actually I think at this age, they see their older siblings with a bit more stuff in their lives (school stuff) and it can bring on a bit of frustration and rage.