The 10th Gemini bus - 2nd Christmas stop

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I'm so lucky to continue to have you ladies to chat to Let's all have a merry Christmas and an even happier 2015!

My "packing" consists of chucking a few things in a bag before walking out the door & just hoping for the best. DH has lists. Plural. He saves them every time to inform future lists. I've not yet caught him making notes on them of things we've forgotten so we'll remember next time but it wouldn't surprise me! My throw-it-in approach is just as effective... If you're going to forget something, you'll forget to write it down in the first place!

I have a list for DS so I won't forget things like monitors etc. but not for myself. I do often make a list in the run up to going away so that I won't forget things when I'm packing - especially things like phone chargers or make up that get packed at the last minute.

I third (fourth?) the loathing of packing. Mostly just because I'm the one that has to pack for 3 kids plus myself and has to do laundry so that DH can throw his fresh, clean clothes into a suitcase for himself and declare us ready to go Which leads me to say that we are coming back to the UK again in August and I am so not looking forward to the weeks of preparations that go into putting this operation into motion. We are stopping over in Iceland for 3 nights so I have to pack cold-weather clothing in addition to warm, summer clothing for 3 weeks worth of travel. We also have a luggage limit due to the size of car that we can afford to hire and trying to squeeze 3 car seats into the back row. So, the lists are already being put together so that I can hopefully limit the amount of stress that will ensue at the end of the summer. Plus the two eldest are starting primary school again 2 days after we get home in Sept so we've got all of the school shopping to take care of before we even leave. Can you all tell that I'm really excited for our uber expensive family reunion that we are being forced into for the 3rd year in a row? I just need to throw another little temper tantrum into this and stomp foot because it's over my birthday AGAIN and this is really the last thing I'd like to be doing the big year I turn 30, but alas, it's all about MIL, all the time

Oh jeeze, I guess my little moan put everyone off and killed the convo.

Sorry, guys.

Here, check out this adorable house that I'm in-love with instead.

I love this house

I want that house! Bring have you seen it in RL? Mega of the price and size but not the temperature although the photos make it look like a perfect summer house Wow I can't even imagine the prep that your trip will involve. You brave lady!

bring If you buy that house I'm moving in with you, just FYI!

I've always wanted to visit Chicago so I'll come for the weekend

Wow imagine if we all met up for a weekend in this house. Would make a good movie

Yeah, then the camera would cut to a shot of us laughing from in the bushes with some heavy breathing...

Gorgeous house! Would love to live somewhere like that (but without the creepy stalker in the bushes Agnu )

Aww, you guys didn't all go running in the other direction from my complaining. I appreciate the support :)

Unfortunately the affordable housing comes with a price over here... try to survive winter and you get a lovely enormous house of which to hunker down in for 8 months.

Yes! Please come over and visit us! We have an extra bedroom for guests who never actually come over despite all the promises of visits for the past 4 years. MIL, bless her heart, has tried coming over 4 different times but had to cancel for reasons like, cancer, so I suppose I can excuse that one. SIL and FIL on the other hand....

Haha what the heck Agnu. Are you planning on breathing heavily from the bushes or.... someone else?

the house is too perfect bring! If it were in a film it would involve a group of women turning up for a holiday & commenting on how beautiful it was only to discover that it's a full moon that night... I'm kidding, I'm sure it'll be the perfect family home sans werewolves...

I have my aunt arriving in about 2 hours. I hate having even my sister stay over, let alone an aunt I barely know & have little in common with! Couldn't exactly say no when she rang up to ask if she could stay the night. My poor mum has been bombarded with phone calls for the last week: "What shall I feed her for dinner? What does she like for breakfast? Which milk do I need to buy?" I'm somewhat freaking out! She'll be in the house for all of about 15 hours!
I've been very productive this morning but I've hit a wall now - still got to hoover &, erm, get dressed! Could do with a shower too & need to get the DC fed early. Instead I'm sitting on the sofa eating a mars. Seriously need a cattle prod!

Hah hah Agnu! Your description sounds more like a part in the Blair witch project! I was just thinking bubbles, chocolate and chick flicks. Creeping around in bushes isn't really my style

Agnu - I hope you survive the family visit. I'm sure you will

So, I had an amazing surprise this morning. My body has finally woken up and is thinking a laying an egg a whole week early!!! So hopefully I'll be ovulating around cd14 this month So happy to have this new shine of hope!!

We've had the worst evening ever! Aunt has been lovely, Calf on the other hand... Complete manic meltdown, I got frustrated so decided to try & freak him out so switched him & Runt, Runt in the bedroom, Calf in the cot. All went quiet until we heard an odd rattle... He'd reached out of the cot & grabbed a whole load of junk off the top of our chest of drawers. I found him with keys, phone batteries, contact lens solution & an empty bottle of head-lice stuff! Oh, & greasy splatters all over everything, including the walls. I'm just glad he didn't appear to have tried to drink it! It was already about 7 years out of date! Utterly embarrassing! I was too preoccupied with trying to keep the disruption to a minimum to really be cross with him. DAunt read him a story while we cleaned up. Eventually I got him settled in Runt's bed in their room by lying down with him & promising him that if he went straight to sleep there'd be time in the morning for another story with DAunt. Runt's only just settling now though - Calf kept him awake & then he got himself tangled in his quilt. I heard this little voice calling "Mammy, epp help, duck stuck" He'd only got it over his head but could quite seem to find his way out!

DAunt has gone to bed so I've got time to have a bit of a chill out before I crash. Need to be up earlier than usual to play hostess again. I might end up getting stuck at nursery with Calf tomorrow. We've been growing caterpillars & released all but one of the butterflies yesterday. I kept one & said I'd take it in tomorrow for them to see & release in their garden. I'm really hoping they'll take charge of the release so I can come home for a couple of hours to sleep while Runt plays quietly.

pear that's so exciting! Everything crossed that this is your month!

Oh god Agnu that sounds both hideous and hilarious. Sorry.

Fingers crossed for you pear! AF came on Monday, having stopped taking the pill on Sat. It's trailing off now so will be in full mucus-monitoring mode in the coming days. So many memories! I was also in Boots yesterday and wandered near the vitamins and suddenly though 'oh! Folic acid! I should probably start taking that!'. How quickly we forget. First time around I was SO on it with all that stuff.

Eeeekkkk lor how exciting!! Someone else to live TTC through, will you be monitoring straight away or going the relaxed approach for abit? Pear fx for this month!
Sorry I've been so absent, we've been very busy and have sold our house eeek we are waiting on whether the house we previously offered on is still for sale ( it is but it's an old lady and I just have the feeling she knows she should sell but doesn't really want to)
Fast approaching kittens bday, she's be comming a right little Madame striping and smaking and has me wrapped around her little finger as she still loves nothing more then a snuggle and told me yesterday "luff you" with no prompting, never heard this off tiger without saying it first she can do no wrong now
She also has lovely manner lol

Going to try relaxed approach for a bit first.

Big stuff going on with you! Hope you get the house you want.

'luff you ' adorable

Kitty - Wow that's exciting!! More bedrooms for more children perhaps? Ha ha bpear is smacking any child that comes into his personal space So embarrassing isn't it!! It's made worse for me because when I tell him to say sorry to said child he then goes and heads butt them because this is how he says sorry. Awkward Do you have any birthday plans for kitten? I'm so that you get love yous

I never get it from number 1 pear dd2 is particularly a mummy's girl and very lovey dovey!
Yes she's a temper on her and it's embarrassing luckily she doesn't hurt but it's worse that she thinks she can smack us then other kids I think

Oh and dh has said no definetly no more kids

My DH says no more too kitty... I've not given up hope though!

One thing that might put a little spanner in the works though... My sister was born with dodgy kidneys but has made it to early 20s without needing a transplant. We thought she'd be ok now that she's stopped growing but her blood tests are suggesting otherwise. She's just had a whole load of tests/scans done & is going back on Tuesday for the results & to discuss future plans. We're all hoping that she'll be put on a different medication & that'll sort it out but I don't know how realistic that hope is. If she does need a transplant, she has 2 siblings & I know that I'm a suitable blood group & have lived a healthier lifestyle than other sibling so should, in theory, have healthier kidneys. I've known since I was 6 that it could come to this & would absolutely step up if she needs it... but then it would introduce a risk factor for getting pregnant again in the future if I only had one kidney. FX the doctors can buy her more time with medication & I can point out the added risk to DH & encourage him to give in to baby #3 sooner before the option is taken away from us... I still don't fancy my chances of convincing him!

agnu when I was apprenticing we had a homebirth mama who had donated a kidney and while it was something we monitored a bit more closely with her, she did absolutely fine and was able to have both of her children at home with midwives. So there's still hope for you! I do hope your sister is ok and that everything works out for her!

That's super exciting news kitty! Moving house is so much work, but it feels amazing having a new life adventure like that :) M is a little smacker too. She hits everyone and I still am completely unsure on how to get her to stop. Timeouts are pointless with her age and talking to her about it basically just makes it so that she can smack us in the face at closer range.

So we have two TTC'ers. This is so exciting! I really hope we have two new babes on the bus next year! DH and were talking again about possible #4 and we are still hmm'ing and haaa'ing over it. I think if we do, I'm going to wait until M is at least 3 and is able to get herself around playgrounds and such so that I don't have to heave my giant body around after her!

We have a birthday girl on the bus not me lol

Awwww happy birthday kitten!! 2 today

Bpears water table arrived today. It is massive. From my present choices you would think I was running a nursery