March 06 - the other thread ran out of space!!!!!

[laundrylover]

Oh no - the thread ran out of space so couldn't even post a link!!!

Let me know when you find it ladies.......

Girly shopping trip sounds lovely Friz

Yay for House on the market Uni, and for end of breastfeeding - well done - two years!!!

Anyone have any comments or recommendations on cameras for us? thread here?
Thanks

Pink shopping trip sounds a bit toooo pink for my taste. I'm very happy that boy puts up with wearing what ever has been handed down to him from friends or relations kids.
NCT nearly new sale today- sold about half of what we put in so must have been getting my prices about right. I wasn;t there, fitted an extra morning PAT testing in so as to finish that project by Easter. Last of the dance shows tomorrow, then no more work in the diary till.... november for a definate one and july for a maybe.
Notto worry aboutteh ironingm theres always tomorrow- was it your ironing or his? dh does his own, apparently I dont; do it properly

Just me with the booby obsessed child then now eh??

I wrote a post the other night that disappeared so got grumpy and refused to start again! Apols for both my absence and my attitude.

I think I posted to say that Tilly and her mates went to Angelina ballet. Dressed in tutus but without the mouse ears that seemed to be very popular! I think they enjoyed it but it is a proper ballet so has no talking and is therefore quite hard to follow as the plot as is also a 'story within a story' . The costumes are amazing tho and you really forget they aren't mice (can't see an inch of human skin) and my fave bit was the wicked witch dying v. dramatically!

Well, have a had a lovely day today. Cycled into Manchester with my friend along the canal (interesting urban 'views') and then lunched and shopped, altho no purchases made bar jelly beans for girls. We got the train home due to our tender behinds (pathetic eh Uni??) and also bacause I got caught without my Mooncup and my loo roll emergency measure kept threatening to escape. Even had time for a bath before the girls and DP got home and climbed in the bath with me (not DP!).

Am wanting to get an hour of gardening done tomorrow but weather is not sounding promising....

Hope you are having jolly weekends so far....

Hello! Remember me?

I am so glad that you are all still here.

We have internet that is fast enough to support MN!!

I will try to sneak a read of the thread in a moment but I wanted to say a quick hello before another day runs away with me.

Quick recap from the Cadclan:

We are in Geneva, Switzerland.

Charlie is still a content little monkey if not much of an eater or sleeper.

The older three are getting settled into the new routine here but are very much missing Vienna and as a result Canada.

I feel much, much happier here. I will be glad to see the end of the boxes but I think that the move will have been a good thing all around.

Off to try and catch up (again...) Hope you are all well!

Astrophe: did you buy a camera yet? I LOVE ours and I have gone through man over the last few years!

ll: Charlie is also still BF. Thank heavens she is not the only two year old. She is still not a big fan of real food and steadfastly refuses to drink cow's milk. I thought that once we had settled into our new house that I would focus on her eating habits but it has been 6 weeks and despite my best attempts she still dislikes most foods. Thankfully fruit and meat are the only exceptions.

Frizbe: A haircut for DD2 and a girly shopping trip with dd1... AWWWW! Aren't you thinking about trying for another then?

Is anyone thinking about having another LO? (Just to be clear, we are NOT but I could live vicariously through someone who is.)

Hurrah Cadmum, course we remember you! It's great to see you! I'm glad you are happier in switzerland. I loved switzerland when i visited (so beautiful), but have no idea what its like to live in. Are the people friendly? How long are you stopping this time?

We did not buy a camera yet - am thinking now a canon powershot with 10x optical zoom. We have a 3 1/2 year old powershot with 3x zoom - it has been good, but very slow and old now. Still ok outside (without flash), so we will wrap it up and give it to DD for her birthday, rather than buy her a kiddies one as planned

Anyone know about the tax free system, where you save the receipt and get tax back if you are leaving the country?

Hurrah for bike riding LL - just you and mate, or girls in tralier? We had to send our bikes back last week, as amazon sent the wrong ones (didn't realise until I had constructed one of them. grr). Shall order again this week when the refund comes through. Then we will go to carsington water and hire a trailer and baby seat for DS, to see what we will buy.

Mooncups - should I? Have been thinking of for so long. Would they be easier or harder in a campervan, using campsite loos etc?

DS got sickness bug again here puked all over dinner table last night, having just consumed large amount of pizza, chocolate and milk, and having spend the afternon at the swimming pool. It came on so suddenly! He seems ok today, apart from trots, but we have sent DH and DD to church without us in case he shares his germs.

for ds Astro, thats so not nice
RE cameras I've got a Fuji finepix at the mo (we'll technically its the shops) but that works fine for me, has zoom n stuff, erm, not very technical am I takes good photos though!

Hi Caddy good to have you back.
YAY for Switzerland, sure once the kids get settled it'll be loads better all round. Sure the eating will get sorted too, once you get settled.

Uni, soz missed the last feed but, huge well done for making two years for no work, but if you don't need it, it's surely not a bad thing. I wish I did get more handdowns for dd1, but its just not the case.

LL, yay for a lovely day out, sounded like minus the kids right? and for a bath, did I mention our boiler broke again on Friday, looks like the real thing this time, costly job this week

Had a lovely day here today, SIL and BIL came over with their little boy and dd2's present, a Mamas n Papas pushchair, its better then her real one her dolls are very well treated now!

Caddy- you are not teh only owner of a boob obsessed 2 yr old, just people tend not to talk about it. Boy asks about it maybe one morning in 4 now, but is swifty sorted out with a beaker of warm milk and get on with his toast. I have been telling him when he asks that mummy's milk doesn't work now.

Work over for now, I managed to make the show look pretty good today with only 14 lights and 2 of those green. 150 ish kids in teh show, 9 different pieces. One of teh dance groups have a show locally in their own right in June, might contact them about lighting it... I will also be putting in an estimate to one of my customers for some repair work, but if they dont; get on and pay me for the work i did in Jan I shall not be working for them in a hurry. NOt a big problem if I'm not working tho, CM has no spaces on a regular basis so childcare is going to be difficult again.

Caddy- glad you sound cheerfull in geneva, hows your french? and the kids?

ooops about bike rides early finish!
Re- moon cup and camping. I have done, I probadly will agin but I use a mix of mooncup and tampons over the course of a period as MC alone doesn't cope with my heavy days. and towels are a pain when cycling. Campoing I tend to use a MC at night as don't want to stain either teh silk or down sleeeping bags.

Caddy - hello stranger and glad to hear that Geneva is looking good, stick around...when is Charlie's birthday??

Astro, I can't believe that you don't already have a Mooncup, you old hippy!!! Go and buy one immediately as you need to get used to it before you go off travelling. BTW the first mooncup I ever 'met' was when travelling round Europe and that girl was managing fine. I would not be without mine now wherever I was (apart from cycling to town it seems). Yes day out was kid free - canal is not good with trailer anyway as too many steps and gates...DP took girls out for day.

Hope your DS is feeling better.

Friz, how are you and DH getting on?

Uni, glad the kids didn't look too ghoulish under green lights!

My girls made me cry this morning as DP was having lie in after 3am homecoming from a leaving do and I was trying to keep us all warm in the living room with a smouldering pile of logs. Girls then nearly broke the DVD player by messing around despite my warnings...anyway I cried and they apologised and were dead good and went back to playing in their cushion den whilst I read paper and drank tea! Sorted.

Notr too ghoulish, only used teh green in a couple of pieces, did realise part way through that teh only black kid in teh whole show was in one of teh "green" pieces, oops, didn't look too bad she was quite light skinned. The boys being "action men" in " magic toy shop" looked great in green and blue.

Moon cup- yes 2nd get one sooner than later and get used to it, they do take a bit of practise and working out when they won't work well for. I don;t use it when running for ex, but find its fine cycling. Easyier to use if your regular loo has a basin in arms reach.

Told dh exactly what I thought of his theroy that boy was ready to drop day time nap.... dh hadn't made him have one over the weekend while I was working. this morning boy didn;t wake till 8.30, was V grumpy and didn;t wantto get up, I put him back to bed at 9.15 for 30 mins doze, then again at 2pm for 2.5 hours. only after that did boys mood improve.

hurrah for drinking tea in peace LL, and for sucessful lighting Uni

Just ordered mooncup I have been dithering for so long - just getting my head around the whole idea I think, I don't really like tampons...but hopefully mooncup will work out better, especially as there is no TSS risk, which freaks me out a bit.

So tell me LL and Uni - what should we buy to carry DS while we cycle? We will try some trailers and seats out, but would love your opinions.

Feeling a bit sad tonight. Just found out that a mate in Aus, married a year, has discovered her DH had 6 affairs/flings since they married, and has now left her It's hard to be so far away at these times.

Friz - how is your DH behaving? And how is the boiler situation? Hope you are going ok.

{{{{hugs}}}}} Astro, but sounds like she's well rid of him.
Yay for ordering Mooncup, they're great I use mine everywhere, camping the lot, although agree with Uni that a basin can be handy, but so can a bottle of water in your bag for the odd rinse.

LL for the kids making you cry, better than you being shouty mummy like I was on Sunday morning though

Uni, that's good then, quality time with boy hope you get paid soon though?

Dh and I are fine thanks for asking, he went away for the weekend, had fun, and came back more chilled out He's still had no results from Dr's though, so I'm making him phone them tomorrow as he's feeling like pap again tonight, all fluey again Doesn't help that boiler not fixed yet, though parts are on order!

dd2 seems a bit off her food here? dd1 was whingy before nursery and trying it on again afterwards, although we had a very funny incident earlier, she came downstairs, going 'Am I going to die? will I die, am I dying?' so we managed between wobbly lips and verge of tears questioning to us, to find out that she'd touched an un plugged plug by accident. Dh took her back upstairs and explained once again how electricity works and that if you stick your fingers in the socket you will die etc, bless her

Astro, how sad for your friend but as Friz says, she's better off without him.

Bikes....I would get a seat to be honest as the prob with trailers is that you are quite restricted as to where you can cycle. For instance, the towpath is a real pain. Also when you are travelling you will always have you and DH so a seat on each bike would work well. Seats are also better for parking up as it's hard to lock the trailer up securely...HTH!

Uni, sounds like that boy really likes his sleep still!

Friz, glad that DH is feeling chirpier -you know there's a bug going round which really knocks you out - DP has it and I suspect Tilly has too as she is really out of sorts. Maybe your DH has this???

Have lost all morning helping my Mum to sort out her uncle's funeral on Thurs...ah well.

Astro- best advise is to try out as many differnt types of seats and trailers as you can before you buy. its quite possible to think you will love one kind and actully hate it in RL.

IF you go for trailer do consider what you will do with it. Do you want it for one child or two, for long distnace in all weathers or short leisure summer use only. Cheap trailers tend to be heavey, light ones tend to be pricey. 2 child trailers generally won't go through a single width door, a single child trailer might do. some have push chair handles, some have buggy wheels stashed on board. 2 child trailers are pretty hard work to tow with 2 todlers in.

If its for two kids you could consider a seat and a trailer, might give you more flexibility.
Trailers do need more storage space than seats. Seats are awkward to use rear panniers with.

We have a trailer for the following resons- dh had used a seat for his littlest sister ( 12 years younger) and hated it. We both use rear panniers so a rear seat would make life awkward. a front seat didn't fit well on either of our bikes due to the stem length and heights we have.and with my drop handlebars i couldn;t reach teh gears or brakes with it on. We use it for drop off and collect at childminders one way each, so had to be transferable easily between bikes. We use it for long distnace rides in all weathers so wanted somewhere dry for small boy for up to 5 hours in a day. I use it to go to townm and find the pushchair handle and buggy wheels V usefull as have been doing this since he was 6 months old, even now he can't always walk all teh way through town and round shops with out getting tired and horrid.

Thanks for all that info Uni and LL. I guess a seat will suit us better really, but I'm just not sure about DS fitting in it!

We have a little front seat for DD, so its just for one really. I don't fancy towing 28kg! Interesting re the panniers - I guess whoever has DD in the front seat will have to carry the luggage as well. It's really just for days out whilst we are travelling - I don't think we would use it if the weather was grim.

Still, will hire some alternatives and see how we go

DS has recovered again from trots, but now I have vomit bug again DH took the day off today, then sat downstairs on the computer, shouting at the kids to be quiet and stop fighting - so I am now downstairs minding the kids whilst DH has the day off - it really is impossible for SAHMs to get time off

Oh Astrophe... Not vomit again?!? I am glad really sorry that your DH took the day off and then behaved like a child. What a familiar tale! How many times have I been in that exact situation over the last 11 years? Having said that my DH was home sick himself yesterday and did pitch in with all of the daily chores so I ought to be careful about being overly critical.

My camera is the PowerShot A570 and I LOVE it! It is only 4X optical zoom and 7.1 MegaPixels BUT I chose it because a woman who processes pictures for a living consistently thought that photos taken with this particual camera must have been taken by professional photographers and they weren't. She bought this very model because of the quality of the pictures she saw going past her on a regular basis. (Especially true of the fireworks ones with the special feature)

Hello everyone else. I am at the end of dd2's naptime and the kitchen is a tip so this is just a quick hello before rushing off to RL.

Small gloat: I have only had one AF since dd2 was born but I guess that still means that I need to think about mooncups as well as some kind of BC again...

Astro about your tummy - again. You can't shake the bugs off in your house eh? DP is the same with this cough and cold.

Caddy - at your one AF! BC - pah - not needed in this house....we had a little bonk last night and I said 'you know, we should do this more often'!! We just use the old rythym method as i know when I ovulate and a condom if we feel it's a risky time. Think the pack will be out of date soon though.

Well, I set off for a run from school in the drizzle and 20 mins in got a terrible stitch - first time this has happened. I had toast instead of cereal for brekkie so could be the cause? Anyway I phoned MIL and she ran me home as had stuff to pick up at our house - what a cheat!!!

Have to get haircut, get repeat prescription, buy some half chaps for riding, get car washed and pick up kids for a funeral at 1.30pm!!!! ERk.

It's my Great Uncle's who was 81 - I did the order of service last night and the printer messed 20 of them up so I had tantrum and threw them across the room! My neighbour is ging to a stillborn baby's funeral this morning. I took her little boy to preschool for her - looked like the pied piper with 4 four year olds!

Am looking forward to seeing my sis from Scotland later and her HUGE bump. She is bigger than the other sis even though she is 6 weeks less preggers! Also get to see my nephew Logan for the second time ever...

LL: There is no room for error on the BC front in our clan. We already have 4 children and I have been pg 7 times in the last 11 years... I only need to think about a baby in order to conceive one. Your morning sounds positively manic! I don't envy you. I am still in my jammies for the second day in a row as everyone is home sick.

Astro: I hope you are feeling better.

Friz: I didn't know that you and dh were having trouble... (Not that I know anything about any MNers at the moment!) Are things sorted?

LL have you seen BMI babys sale for £6 uk internal flights? thinking Scotland for you
for the funerals.
for the 'bonking' though

talking of which dh went for his Dr's apptmt re the snip not working, and he's re booked for investigation end of April, as the Dr was so sure it should have worked, as so much taken out he thinks dh might be a rare case study as apparently one in x million blokes have more than one tube......in which case its very hard to get them all, as apparently its a major op, under a general etc....lots of small tubes in the few people who have had this so he won't be having another op if that is the case.....and we'll have to look at other alternatives BAH! Still there is a small chance he might have re attached, so we're clinging onto that at the moment.

Astro for the bug and at your dh for behaving like that, men!
Hope you're feeling lots better for Easter {{{Hugs}}}}

Caddy, we had a few disagreements with working and living together recently, mainly due to dh being a pita, and feeling poorly for over a month, but he had a weekend away and came back saner, thankfully.

Anyone fancy a mile in memory then? I sent off to say I'd be up for walking one, and they sent me back an organisers pack again Chatsworth sometime?

Hello Friz: I can't believe that your DH's snip might not have worked! I had better not let my DH catch wind of this or he will never make an appt for the initial consult. I hope for your sake that he has just become re-attached.

I can only imagine how stressful it must be for you and your DH to work together. It would end in some fairly major issues in our household for sure. I don't even think that every week-end away would sort out my dh!

Astro: Are you feeling any better? Is your man over the 'real' flu yet? `

My DH is also in bed... He was magically well enough for work yesterday and will be right as rain for work again tomorrow afternoon when they need him but now he needs to keep his head down.

DS1 is also glued to the couch but at least he has a fever to show for it...

It snowed here this morning and the little three made a snowman! I might try to link to a picture in a moment.

I am bound to be on here through the week end but in case I find a real life: Happy Easter!

I spoke too soon. Work called and DH is gone... It figures.

Surely there must be something wrong with me that I find this frustrating and discouraging. He didn't go before he shouted at me and made me feel unreasonable for suggesting that he is only well enough to run in to work and that this contributes to the feeling that I always come last (if ever).

Well done me! Nothing like a peaceful family week end.

Aaw Caddy I don't know what it is about men. I think they generally mean well, but, when it all boils down to it, they are just hopelessly incompetent at prioritising their wives/partners. When DH and I fall out, he is always genuinely (I think!) sorry, and agrees he needs to show the DC and I more respect and give us priority, but he certainly finds it very easy t say "yes" to work/favors for friends/fun stuff, and very easy to say "no" to me.

It sounds as though your DH must have a particularly high power/demanding job though - I'm sure that doesn't help. Fortunately my DH is fairly new and young in his company, but heaven help us if and when he climbs ladders and becomes a big business man. Maybe there is something about the employee-boss dynamic that we just don't understand? (I have never worked in an office type job) - I guess it muct be hard for them to say no. If only they realised just how far a little apology and understanding would go though.

I'm sure you're not being unreasonable though Caddy. It sounds to me like you are a great Mum, and that you work hard for your kids, and also that you have given up a lot to be traipsing around the world like you do. It must be especially hard having DH working a lot when you are new to the city How long are you stopping in Geneva?

LL - sorry to hear about your Uncle I hope things went well at the funeral.

Friz - glad things are looking up a little with DH - did he get the blood tests back yet?

So, I got a mooncup! Tried it yesterday (thought: "crikey...its BIG!" - was expecting tampon size!), but used it and it was fine. TMI ALERT!!! When I took it out it kind of unfolded itself suddenly ??? or something, and injured me! Ouch! Not badly at all, but I couldn't use it again without it feeling uncomfy, so will have to leave it now until next month as it was the last day of AF. Think it will be good though.

Exciting news: Our Bongo Van is ready! We collect it tomorrow! Hurrah! Especially good news as we are off to Lakes-Glasgow-Mull-Edinburgh-Durham in a week and a half!

DH is in bed - has not kicked flu Made a show last night when I was making kids tea saying 'wow, you are so amazing, I know you are not feeling well and look at you, you just keep on going, blah blah blah..." which was nice, but still, does he think I 'keep going' because it's fun?! I did point out that I keep going because otherwise the children would starve - he did not argue!

I am on the mend, hopefully for good this time!

Happy Easter to you all!

Friz - someone here wants to know about Matock cos she wants to move there - you are pretty close? Or am I wrong?

I'll take a look at that link in a Mo, Astro, I'm not a million miles away! (can't afford it there though!)

Astro I'd like to congratulate you on your very eloquent post to Caddy, I think you've said it all for us Totally agree with Astro Caddy, it must be so hard having to keep adjusting yourself and the kids to new countries every couple of years, yet you keep on doing it, pretty well it seems to me I can imagine your dh probably has to jump when someone yells though, which is not nice, as often 'work' tend to forget about home lives, which isn't good. I certainly know from my old 'corporate' job that the world and more was expected of you (one of the reasons I didn't go back) It sure is a tough one, and you have my sympathies {{{{Hugs}}}}} Hope you manage to swing things around later and have a Happy Easter.

Astro, you got snow? keeps flurrying here, then going again?
Yay for the Bongo

Hi to LL, Uni and anyone else about? DTM?