June 08- the shoes, the food, the glamour!

[pureeandpearls]

Struggling to load pages these days and saw we were over the 900 so took the liberty of starting a new thread.

OOh, sponge, so exciting. Hopefully it won't take too long and we will have the good news soon.

Catching up on a 2 min study break. Very excited about Sponge's news and LOL at acrobatic feat of wiping one's posterior . Glad it wasn't just me then!

Now it's back to HR planning. Zzzzzzz. neenz I'm doing a post grad dip in HR. It's a one year full time course, but I'm doing it by flex learning and it's taking years. Was supposed to start my last 'year' in nov, but timetable changes mean that'll be put back to March.

OMG Sponge - go Sponge!!!!!! I'm so excited for her!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone - no time to post really - too knackered after 2 bad nights with SOS (spawn of satan).

Located parcel - hurrah!!! Delivery driver left it at the estate office. Nice of them to call me and tell me - fuckers. Still SOS now has a winter wardrobe.

PS - gonna get this for the garden...link

Oh dear link

Debs - seen the pics of the boots on FB, I want a pair!

Abdn - Have a lovely hol. Currently staying in my sisters house in Bath/Bristol, just good to get away.

Neenz, Amber, Poppy - Good luck for next month. (Have I missed anyone else TTC? Sorry.)

Neenz - Could DH play football every other week as a compromise?

Dramaqueen & Neenz, come and find me on Twitter and I'll start twittering again. Alixsw19 - hmmm, not very anonymous am I?

Interesting spanx talk. Just watching Gok. I don't want to buy any new clothes until I lose some more weight (and no point buying winter clothes anyway), so have just had the idea of buying some support underwear so I feel better in the clothes I have. Luckily, Bristol now has a Harvey Nicks. Other than spanx, does anyone have any recommendations?

Allnew - sorry about the uneasy work situation. BDQ - Being HR during sucks doesn't it? (I recall being warned by one leaver "turn the lights off when you leave"...)

Ohhh, DH just handed me a mince pie. Yum, yum.

KTPie - sorry but your Mum is bringing her cat and dog!? And yes, I would ecxpect to be offered a cup of tea, esp if I was preg.

Not disbelieving, but how can you die of natural causes at 33? Serious question!

Amber - Great news on the moving in date. Awful about the Debenhams delivery. Surely the delivery guy was aware that the signee was not Amber XXXX, therefore they are still liable, no?

I don't watch strictly or X factor . X factor fans, was Robbie Williams performance really as 'wired' as reported?

Next page!

Thanks for all the comments about putting B in his own room straight away when we move. I'll have to toughen myself up ready for it!

Amber, we should be getting our keys on 6 Nov too, and another friend of mine is also moving that day. How odd.

Looking forward to hearing Sponge's news.

I don't do paints etc here, as someone else said, that's what nursery is for. I did get some washable felt tips, but B wasn't interested last time I tried. Since then though he managed to find a pencil and scribble all over a table.

I'm not watching strictly or x factor either (first year I haven't watched x factor!).

One of my old friends got in touch at the weekend, to say her husband wanted to end their marriage He left yesterday. Stupid sod. It was a bit of a shock. I'm pretty sure she'll be ok though.

ktpie, hope you are coping with your mum!

The person who was the director of the last place I worked and all but single handedly destroyed it has a new job! Unbelievable - as director of another arts/culture organisation. Over your way BDQ - the book festival. Gawd help them.

Viva, soft play sounds good, what is it called?

Can't think of anything else to say or what else I wanted to reply to, going for a bath and then bed. Rock n roll.

Spider - Stand up sleeping would be very determined! Today and yesterday were nap free here too, not fun. I'm really hoping that it's not going to become a habit.

Sybil - LOL at blaming the pencil!

Puree - sorry at the disappointing scan and vague midwife.

Deb - the pic of snow on FB looks great, you bought those boots just in time.

KTPie - Yay at being made a cup of tea.

Great name Puree.

Another update from Sponge at 7.50pm: "Starting to get cramps so think bill will b with us 2moro". It's so exciting!!!!

Think I'm caught up now, phew!

OK, now I've caught up on all your news, some of my own.

Tuesday morning - NZ house to check out visas and stuff. Whilst we were there, Met police ordered us all not to leave our rooms or go near the windows, this lasted for over an hour with police running around all over the place. Still don't know what happened but we got the all clear to leave eventually! I've been around alerts before, but never when I had Ry with me before. I know I'm being over dramatic, but it made NZ seem even more appealing.

Tuesday afternoon - Appointment with solictor to go over my termination agreement. W3 demanded a bit more money for holiday entitlement [cheeky emoticon], then signed and handed it in. So hopefully and scarily, 8 November I will be unemployed!!! And richer.

Wednesday - back went completely. Thankfully, am now taking serious drugs, but mornings still bad, esp when Ry wants picking up.

Thursday - I met my Father!!! It was surreal. Both very comfortable and ordinary, but also so huge! Basically he's just a normal 50-something bloke. Was meant to meet him for breakfast on Friday as well, but I literally felt emotionally hungover. And after this years PND, I know when to wind it all back, which is exactly what I did and stayed in with DH and Ry. I spoke to my Father again today and I think he's coming up to London next week.

Saturday - Had a special speedy appointment to get my passport updated to my married name so I can get my kiwi visa!

Yesterday - travelled to Bristol where I am right now, happily hitching on the next door neighbours weak wi fi signal (he knows).

Phew. So to sum up the last week, bomb scare, confirmation of redundancy, confirmation of move to NZ, back went and met my Dad! I really need this weeks holiday.

BTW - sick to death of my name, any ideas for new one? (My MN nickname that is, not changing my passport again! )

Sorry, already said this, but wanted to highlight it amongst my hundreds of posts this evening:

Another update from Sponge at 7.50pm: "Starting to get cramps so think bill will b with us 2moro".

Thinking about you Sponge - hope it's short and sweet and you're cuddling Bill very soon.

PP - Wow, what a week and you've still got the energy to reply to us all and fill us in on your news. I'm really pleased that it went well with your Father, after all the anticipation.Hope the 8th November comes round very quickly for you. And your new name will have to have either Kiwi or Penguin in it so I remember who you are, took me ages to get used to Spider!

Whinegums - I did wax crayons today with Ethan - he ate them.

Poppy - Ethan's also been off his food with awful nappies all over the cot the other day. Today he finally has an appetite again and keeps miming eating and pointing to the kitchen.

Gosh, it's all happening on here! Sponge hopefully contracting away (and dilating...gah...some bitter memories there because my cervix is a particularly closey one) and having a baby! Gosh, it's really weird to think I (and everyone else, obviously!) was there not that long ago...

Debs, fingers crossed!

And Penguin, OMG! Things are moving so fast!

Sybil that's a tough one. The child in me thinks 'new house! bigger house! big excitement!' but realistically, it's a load of work and money, especially with children, and also if your current house is fine and the area is ok. (With schools, I always think as long as there are no major problems or the child isn't outrageously bright they'll be fine in any school. But that's easy for me to say - put me and my little boy in Tooting and I'd probably react differently and go against all my morals and standards etc etc...) Was it just the bedroom/study issue? I've always wanted one of those swanky garden houses/study things. Won't be happening - garden not really big enough (well it is, but then I'd have a tiny garden! ) and I don't need it even...but still, an adult wendy house...ooohhh...)

I'm tired and going to bed now (day 2 of the 6 nights single parenting...) but will await Viva's appearance (in the appropriate hat, natch) to explain this natural causes business. His lungs filled with water. Now, I'm 33 - do I need to start getting worried about lungs randomly filling with fluid? Because I've never given it a thought before. [Irrational health worries emoticon]

There was something else I'm sure of it, but I can't remember. Back tomorrow. Love to all!

just checking in on Sponge.....

Essie - lol at adult wendy house

OMG Sponge. Best of luck to them for the birth, so exciting!!!

Penguin that is one hell of a week, agree you most definitely need a week off now. It must have been such a huge thing for you meeting your father, especially when you have so much else going on

sorry to hear about those will poorly babies, hope they feel better soon

neenz that is very scary re. the burglar incident. We had a lot of them in our area a number of months ago but I suppose the good thing is that it made us much more security conscious

debs it must really feel wintery now with the snow. Fingers crossed for an offer

Just had my house valued and it will be going up for sale in couple of weeks - dreading the whole thing really re. all the hassle surrounding a move, but will be good once it's all finished I suppose!

No texts from Sponge here. Will let you know asap if I hear anything

Thanks for everyone's nice comments about the sleep. After two night's of weird sleeping, it was on the good side of normal last night. He went through till 6.20, which is almost a record for us. Two mornings of waking up post 7am and he is just slumped over the side of his cot was a bit sad. He appears to have cut his first molar, so maybe that was it.

Sybil interesting question about moving. DH reckons that now is probably the best time to move to a more expensive house as the price differential should be at its smallest if we are just about at the bottom of the market. (Unless there is a double dip of course). We are in a house that is the right size for us now, but wouldn't be if more children came along. It also has a hopeless garden for children: small, down lots of steps and not in view from the kitchen. Part of me is desperate to move, and the other half of me likes having a mortgage that will be paid off in 7 years. Round here is so expensive even in the villages that we would have to borrow a huge amount to really gain anything in terms of space and layout. As you can tell, we don't know what to do about houses either.

I wanted to:
send Puree a hug about the scan
and Penguin a big well done for meeting your Dad and all the other things that have happened this week.
Deb a fingers crossed for an offer
Essie - you made me laugh with your last post
A big hello to everyone else.

Morning - I've been in text contact with Sponge (between us we won't miss a single contraction ) and so far no baby, but she's not in agonizing pain and is having small contractions.

Give her our love Essie

Sponge, at least she's not in agonising pain which is good, but means the pain is probably yet to come which is not so good. Fingers crossed she has a really speedy second stage.

Penguin your week sounds exhausting, and emotinally draining. Hope you get chance to have a re-charge now. I really like the Penguin part of your name, and agree with essie that maybe you need to become a Kiwi Penguin cross! (but not a Piwi, as that just sounds daft )

Thanks for the comments about whether to move or not. I think the decision may have been made for us in the short term though. After he was banging on about it I asked dh to show me the type of house he wanted and when hechecked online with the estate agents there was only one in our local area that was remotely in the right area/had enough bedrooms and a study. So we poottled along to see it and it was a complete waste of time. It was built in 1910 and looked as if it hadn't been maintained at all since. Most of the windows were original and completely rotten, and the big family room was only a single brick structure added onto the side so had changed from online details of 'family room' to 'garden room' ie inhabitable except in mid-summer. Plus the 'study' turned out to be a study area that was open plan to the dining room and you needed to walk through it to get to the dining room. Needless to say we will not be spending 800 k on it.

So, we have agreed to wait until after christmas to see if the market picks up at all. Myabe one of us will feel differently then too.

[waves madly to all- how excited are we about Sponge ]

Glad you had an easier night Spider. Those molars are a killer. IWe were up a lot with Pocket Dictator who has a stinking cold and real proper sore throat- you can hear her croak when she talks. It's quite cute really.

Penguin- Mahoooooosive news about your week. Well done for coping with it all firstly. And so glad things went well with your dad (although like the NZ back-up plan if it didn't work out ! I used to do that with my online dating though never had NZ as fallback...) Totally get what you mean about the bottom wiping and will try not to think about that right now given my current girth. Re names I think you should go with an NZ-realted one as you are getting ready to move [halloween grin] BTW if you are feeling brave enough to travel to Bromley I am having a Pumpkin Party on 29th at my house. The PP family are very welcome to come.

Essie- LMAO at Adult Wendy House- must get one of those. You will be pleased to know that your lovely bunting has been noticed by the Pocket Dictator (at last) and she points to it a lot when in the playhouse. We are using it to teach her some letters!!!!!!

Allnew- great news about move, will all be worth it x

Amber- LOVE the treehouse- am totally coming to yours as soon as you are in and it's installed ;-)

So week commencing 2nd November is moving week for eeryone.......

BTW- did I mention go sponge !!!

Must not drink hot chocolate this early in the day ;-)

Just a quick hello and to say how exciting about Sponge! Hopefully Bill will be here before the end of the day!

Mum just walking the dog, still going well and she is leaving this evening so only the afternoon to get through without killing each other.

Will be back later to catch up properly.

I am so excited about Sponge. I bet nothing happens until tomorrow though.

PP - it has to be something like kiwi project but I have looked in the thesaurus and can't find anything beggining with a c or k which means the same thing. Any other birds native to NZ?! Bugger just looked on NZ website and it says 'Apart from bats and marine mammals (such as seals and dolphins), New Zealand has no native mammals!' So glad your meeting with your dad went well hun.

Deb you are funny writing that Ethan ate a crayon and then in the next para saying he was poorly!! Luke loves drawing and has the washable pens. I won't let him have them anywhere other than at his highchair though. Not good in a rented flat!!

Spider - I know about the molars. Weirdly Luke has 3 molars although still hasn't got most of his front teeth - how random!

PPGP - welcome any time!

Hi to everyone else x x

PS what happened to the London meetup which was meant to be on 2 October? Are we going to do a pre Xmas one?

Thanks for the lovely welcome back and Deb thanks for the fb message .

Sponge go go go! How exciting. Makes me very nostalgic for when all our June 08 babies were born.

Puree that's too bad about your scan. Frazzling and frustrating.

finger paints - is some mad woman letting their child use them? Nurseries do that! I am useless at messy crafty stuff and prefer to outsource it!

Sybil so the house decision is on hold? We initially planned to stay in this house for a few years and then move somewhere bigger, but in the same area. But we're still getting work done on this house and we think that to move would not be in the interests of the family as a whole We still get the odd pang about it as we are both real homebirds and would love a bigger house (more room for all the books!) but it's a lot to put the family through. If you are v organised it can work, but we make moving even more of a meal than it has to be. How big an issue is the school thing? FWIW I think it's worth a bit of foresight on that to avoid it becoming a big problem in the future.

Deb won't mention the O but fingers crossed!

Neenz how scary about the burglary down the road. We leave windows open all the time but we have sash windows with security bolts so they don't open more than 4", so I assume that means we're safe? DH in his most space-cadet moments has been known to leave the house keys in the front door . Actually, he can't do that any more as he's lost his keys - probably left them in an envelope with our address on it .

Penguin what a week! Have you got jobs lined up in NZ? V impressed at R saying "bum" .

BDQ I'm v impressed at you doing post grad work. I'd love to do an MA (purely out of interest) but would definitely need to turbo-boost my placenta-addled brain first. I've just joined a book club and that's going to be my v gentle re-entry into the world of civilised conversation. I used to be in one before we moved up here and really enjoyed it.

Essie lol at adult wendy house! We have a ridiculously large shed/cabin thing which could in theory be an adult wendy house but we prefer to fill it with dangerous chemicals and sharp blades. It's far too big for the garden and I had a secret plan to co-opt it into use as a playhouse but the crap garden stuff got there first.

Hello to everyone I've missed

Yey, go Sponge!

I lol'd at your numerous updates PP! Sounds like a hectic week. Glad your meeting with your dad went well. Sounds like you did the right thing putting off the breakfast meeting - well done for putting your own needs first . I know what you mean about London v NZ - with the house prices, commuting, security situation etc London can be a pretty scary place. Exciting tho too. It is all or nothing with DH's football really, cos the manager needs to know he is reliable, if he doesn't play one week he gets dropped the next. Understandable really.

Allnew, fingers crossed with the house!

Sybil £800k!! . Know what you mean about having to spend loads more to get any significant increase in space - we're the same cos we live in a large extended four-bed semi but it's only worth about £250k. Houses in this area that are detached with 4/5 beds and an extra reception room are about three times that, so not worth it imo. The schools thing is an issue but I wouldn't get too hung up on which is the 'better' school - cos your DCs might do just as well whatever school they go to (within reason). I actually disagree with Essie in that if your DC is exceptionally bright you could send them anywhere. It's when the child is of average ability that a good v poor school can make a big difference. It;s a tough one.

Essie I think the 'natural causes' thing just means he died of something like a heart attack or some sort of failure in his body, rather than caused drink or drugs or something external. Sometimes they just don't know why, like SIDS.

Love the adult wendy house idea - it's pretty common I think to have one of them . Maybe only in the north

Whinegums, how sad for your friend's marriage. Did you put something on FB recently about the book festival thing? The person who just left the job?

Amber, yay for the parcel. Love the tree house thing. My one 'rule' for outside toys is that they can play on them without supervision ie not too high. That looks perfect. Bit pricey but might go for it anyway.

Your DH is classic Rolf