December 07 - I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, no!

[Wizzska]

Hello people, is anyone there?

Aww Skid, how sweet of your DD. Let us know how her birthday goes.

5-6 hour commute . Is it worth it? I complain about my hour long one. Sorry your Oxford plans have gone tits up. Our loft conversion plans have too, all the money has gone. DH still thinks it will be possible but he's rubbish with money, luckily I'm in charge. I keep his dream alive because otherwise he'll start frittering away the money that he's currently putting aside. We'll have to have DC2 in our tiny 2 bed flat if we go ahead.

thanks wizz

Bummer about the loft conversion although FWIW we have the four of us in a 2 bed house and it is fine - I love that the DCs share a room and wake me up in the morning with their giggling. Mind you we have a big downstairs and a garden so I can imagine a small flat might be a squeeze.

The commute would be a Monday - Wednesday thing staying at a B&B or something. Can't even think about being away from the DCs on such a regular basis but atm it is our only option as DH hasn't got a permanent job anywhere

Quick hello from me, from sunny Spain - it is very hot here (sorry you prolly didn´t want to here that!)
Been good, ds has been having lots of fun playing with my dad´s dog and pushing a chair around the kitchen! He won´t walk alone though and is showing no signs he wants to though he has tried to stand unaided by pushing himself away from the chair, but then he sat down again!
Suey - glad to hear you are feeling more positive, hope it continues.
Skid - happy birthday to dd2 for tomorrow.

Glad you're enjoying yourself Bouncing.

Skid, the joys of living in London mean small flat. I guess we're lucky in that we have garden space so I can't really complain that much. And the guy downstairs is friendly so doesn't moan about hearing DS crying and DH farting through the floorboards. I know he can hear because I can hear him too!

'Ello everyone.

Suey - so glad you feeling a bit better.

Skid - ahhh on your DD, hope she had fab day.

My girl been really poorly bunny this week nasty cold and fever and doesn't want to eat a thing - isn't even that interested in boob so I know she's not feeling right! Thank God for Nurofen

Does anyone else find it near on impossible to get anything done? I really struggle and it really gets me down after a while when the house is total tip and the fridge is empty (again) a lot of it is down to sleep deprivation I know, I really don't want to resort to controlled crying but I'm starting to crumble through lack of sleep and me and my man keep fighting cause we're so tired and that's not like us, Any suggestions on other ways to get her to sleep?!!

Poor you Melly. Lack of sleep makes even simple things harder. No tips I'm afraid. CC worked with us. Sometimes it's easier to feed to sleep if you're still bf but in the long run that actually seems to make their sleep worse.

Friday night DS slept through without a peep until 7.30! He never does that. Did that mean we had a lovely sleep and woke feeling refreshed? Did it f*ck! Some stupid bint rang our doorbell at 4.30 am asking for money because she was locked out. DH told her to f off. She came round a couple of years ago and used the same story, took a tenner off our daft downstairs neighbour. DH and I were so angry it took us ages to get back to sleep. She rang our bell 4 times ffs! And it's loud. Sooo glad ds didn't wake up.

what a nightmare neighbour! hope you get good nights sleep tonight
I can't not tell manager I'm pg, I think i need to be nice and tell him I'm only working 4.5 months, I'm not even back at work yet - I think if I was back at work then I could take job as its possible I wouldn't know I was pg but I'll be 12 wks by the time I go back on 15th dec so I think I need to let him know I'll only ruin my career chances in the furture if I don't - just got to be brave and have the meeting to tell him - not looking forward to that

skid - hope you had lovely bday party for dd

suey - glad some days are getting easier x

melly - if you don't like idea of cc then look at baby whisperer pick up put down method as you stay with them the whole time, takes longer in my experience but at least you are with them the whole time - we've done both for diff situations and both work after a few nights

had lovely weekend away and loads of sleep - great to see boys again tho, really missed them, must have spoken to dh every few hours but he didn't seem to mind, I think he enjoyed the oportunity for adult conversation!

Melly, total sympathy, feel exactly like you do. I have the BW and am thinking about trying some of the ideas to try and encourage ds to sleep longer!
Still nice though not as hot as it has been, back home tomorrow!!
Wizz - at your stupid neighbour!

at being in sunny Spain BT! Glad you're having fun, whereabouts are you?

melly - hope your DD is feeling better. Sympathies with lack of sleep - my DS is not a great sleeper either and I also can't bear the thought of CC. I keep making excuses (teething, cold etc) for his sleeping thinking it will all be fine once his teeth have come through/ his nose has unblocked. However, I don't know how much longer I can keep making excuses... maybe I should just admit he is a rubbish sleeper and it is all my fault for feeding him to sleep!

Insy - great you enjoyed your w/e away. I am the same with not wanting to leave my DC when the time comes but I always enjoy myself when I do go away. You might as well enjoy this brief burst of freedon before you have THREE children to look after. Do you have any feeling about whether this one might be a girl? Are you planning to findout this time?

witchka - nightmare about your 4am visitor - she must be mad if she thinks anyone woken up in the middle of the night will give her anything but grief!

well DD's party went really well - thanks for all your good wishes. When she went to bed afterwards she asked if she could start her birthday again from the beginning, bless her. Predictably, the beautiful expensive and tasteful dolls house I painstakingly picked out for her was her least favourite present and instead she preferred sparkly glittery pink tat sent by distant relatives!! I should have known...

Oh Skid, what a shame about the dolls house. DS is getting a cardboard box and a balloon for his birthday!

I think we're heading for more teething nights. His two top front teeth look really close to breaking through - he won't be Fang anymore . I like his little fang teeth.

skid - I came back from weekend all refreshed and started having a clear out of everything, dh and I sat down and planned to rip out a fitted cupboard in ds1's room so we can get bunk beds in, its very exciting. No idea if this will be girl, I don't think we'll find out but I know we did the timing thing well (more luck than judgement) but bd'd 3 days before ov and I've had dh in tight pants instead of the loose boxers he wore before so who knows maybe that swayed the odds??? this is last baby tho, don't mind what it'll be (remind me of that when ds3 arrives ) only thinking of ds names tho...
glad dd had a lovely bday, its typicall about presents but at least the dolls house will last

Insy - 3 DSs imagine that! Whatever you have it will be gorgeous. Hope the timing thing worked for you, I think I'll try doing that for our next one. I can't imagine having a dd though. Somehow I have an image of my future with 2 sons.

speaking of fang teeth - i noticed yesterday that after I feed DS I have two big teeth marks on my nipple afterwards (top ones) - it has been sore recently - is this normal to have teeth marks? Doesn't seem right to me. I know they can't bite you with their bottom teeth because their tongue's in the way but can they bite with their top teeth? I also have been having problems with blocked ducts recently - thinking it might be time to knock BF on the head but am very torn...

insy - how exciting planning bunk beds! Three sons would be lovely but then so would two boys and a girl - just three babies would be lovely fullstop, oh I am so broody!!
BTW I think you should call DS3 Noah - didn't you have that planned for DS2? It is such a lovely name.

Witchka - I think it is really hard to imagine having a baby of the other sex when you have had one. it really freaked me out that i was having a boy after DD but now I can;t imagine not having had a boy IYKWIM. Do you think you'll stop at two then?

Skid, 2 definately enough.

I think I want to knock bf on the head too - perhaps the coming front teeth will decide me.

Yay, day off work tomorrow. Am spending it with my NCT mates.

skid - wow at your memory, yes we did have Noah planned for ds2 but my brother said it was awful and really put me off, this time not telling anyone except you guys on here Noah has since failed dh'd 'telling off test' so won't be on the list this time (btw the 'telling off test' is can you tell your child off in public without sounding stupid/pretentous/chavvy/etc etc - he said saying 'No Noah No Noah No No' would drive him bonkers ) I personally want a crazy/more unusal name seeing as its my last child, ds2 would have been casper if my choice alone, not that mad but vetoed (apparently its a good cat name...)
love milo tho, think thats v unusual....

witchka - skid is right once you have one its hard to imagine having one of diff gender. Have a fab day tomorrow x

Insy - I think you and I have similar tastes in names - I also love Toby, and like Caspar (but can't get past the ghost association) - I had loads of lovely names lined up for Milo but DH vetoed them all, miserable old sod. I will try and remember what they were and you can see if you like them...

Enjoy your day off Wizz

DH has started a (part-time) job - yay - a little bit of money coming in, he is happy, AND he shaves every morning and wears nice shirts (instead of dressing like a 36 year-old teenager as he usually does) - all making him really quite kissable

yes skid lots of name suggestions please!
at dh being more kissable, its funny the simple things that make them v attractive

I'm still stressing about work here - asked manager if I can take max 2 mondays off a month as part of my annual leave, dh to take other mondays so boys with either me or him and only in childcare 3 days a week and I get to work 4 days... he was so unconvinced, I think he'll say no thing that bugs me is that a lady (that since has become an ish friend as we've been on mat leave) did this and shes a management grade (same as my line manager) and it was fine for her!

still don't know whether to tell him I'm pg but I'm only 5+ wks its too early to tell anyone but 12 wk scan won't be till week before I go back to work and feels like I'm taking piss if I leave it that late - I'm worried I'll tell him and lose baby, ds2 was a threatened miscarriage till 17 wks as I had heavy bleeding, obviously was fine but don't want to potentially lose baby and job at same time.... what would you do??

Am now back in Blighty!

Insy - what a dilemma you are in
Not sure what to suggest I'm afraid!

Skid - we were near Alicante, in Busot. Very nice there, not too many tourists. Local seaside town of El Campello is very nice, lovely beach, went down on Sunday and it was very busy with all the locals going for walks, nice to see all the babies in their pushcairs and the littlies on their trikes and bikes

Saw my family too who doted on DS

Wizzska, Suey, anyone else in London

Can I interest you in the MN Xmas Meet up on 22 November?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/meetups/602085-london-xmas-do-22nd-november-come-see-here-for-details

Waves vaguely, feels embarassed about lurking and not posting for ages and ages and ages, stopped when feeling totally miserable so has lots of sympathy with everyone else finding things rough

Insy - what a nightmare. Don't know what to suggest except try try try (easier said than done I know) not to get stressed about it.

I don't know much about it but isn't he legally obliged to consider granting you flexible working hours? Could you work from home in the evenings or something to make up for those two Mondays (not sure if that is possible in engineering)? Hope you are wrong and he does say yes, I will cross my fingers for you.

Re telling him you're pg... I just don't know. if he was being really decent about it then i would say tell him sooner than later but since he is being unaccommodating i would be tempted to tell him when you are legally obliged to do so. You already know you can't accept that really good job and he certainly can;t get rid of you so you have nothing to lose. But I really don't know. Maybe Suey or someone who knows about employers' rights and reposibilities will be able to give good advice

BT - sounds lovely. I bet you're none too pleased to be back in the dreary NE although it is nice and sunny today, isn't it?

Hey wobbegong - good to hear from you. I hope things are better for you now.

Sounds good Wobbe. I was wondering when you'd pop up again. Have you been lurking?

Hello all,
Insy what a nightmare. Your boss just has to suck it up. I think only you can decide when you tell him, but if he is being an arse I would be tempted to leave it until after the first scan.

Wobbegong I sadly can't do the meet up- am going on a hen night.

Hope you enjoyed your day off, wizz!

Hey y'all (in southern drawl)

Insy you certainly don't have to mention being pg before you go back. It's really not taking the p. I think it's perfectly justified not telling anyone you don't want to before the 12 week scan (if your hospital does them - mine didn't for DS) on the basis that you want to make sure everything is ok before going public. And as skid says - keep trying. Is it worth while bringing up that there has been a precedent set in your company by this other lady?

Wizz DD has also just graduated from the realms of "fang". But blimey have these teeth been a long time coming and are STILL making her miserable ( or maybe there are MORE still to come soon). Getting fed up very sympathetic about the teething nappies too!

Insy again ( sorry - must write more before posting but computer crashes periodically losing everything I've typed.... Loved the name Noah - very tempted but it had already been kind of bagged by a close friend (who went for it as a middle name in the end but no problem) We went for as crazy an Old Testament name as we thought DS could get away with without having his head kicked in in the playground. Really like Toby and Milo good too. All have the advantage of never having been the name of one of my pupils and therefore having no negative connotations ( another reason for the crazy Biblical choice). Saddened slightly that our "out of the box" choice of name for DD has turned out to be one of the most popular in our area.

A question: Is it tight to get people to buy "classes" for our DC for Christmas / birthday? E.g. A term's Tiny Tunes subscription rather than a whole load of clothes/ toys that we really don't need. Won't be able to afford swimming / singing/ tumbletots etc when we're down to one salary...