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.

I don't know whether Garrow is repeated, but it was a FANTASTIC programme. Try to catch it on I-player. Sponge before Garrow, the accused (in the programme, of infanticide - not guilty in the end) did not have defence. I.e. no barrister to speak for them, only accusation (prosecution but it was basically just slandering back then). Amazing.

Systems of course, you're in a similar position! Thanks, I may contact you (after my application is in...!) I wasn't sure what to do with the thread - obviously I was identifiable, but I'm not sure why that was a big deal really.

Sponge Eggs are so Christian! Really, I'm not pulling your leg. It's the symbol used by the Christian church throughout the world to represent Easter and rebirth i.e. the resurrection. (See the Orthodox church, for example.) If you're wedded to atheism you might want to avoid Easter eggs because you're inadvertently participating in the whole Christos Anesti ritual by eating them at Easter.
Also wanted to say I was thinking of you in the early hours of the morning when Iestyn was crying last night. Before I used to find it quite lonely, just me and my little baby. But now I think of all the other mothers and babies awake at the same time. (Er, that's more dramatic and emotional than I meant it to be!)

Ktpie you could do cross stitch no problem. But the designs on that website may not be hard, just big, and that would put me off - too much 'colouring in'.

How about 'Needles at dawn' or something similar for the next thread?

love needles at dawn, it covers too many of us at the moment!

essie the difference between you and I is that my work isn't my vocation. I mean I love the maths (the wave equation is amazingly beautiful) but the math can be transfered to so many areas. I don't feel the emotional tie to my research results, just to the tools I use. The thing is, we were confident I'd be able to find part time contract work that would let me use those math skills and it hasn't materialized so I'm slightly panicked that I wont find it easy to get back to work. something like www.daphnejackson.org/ this is probably my best bet.

ktpie wolf hall did win the booker, and it's excellent. Heavy going at first but the ideas in there are magnificent.

sponge sorry to hear that you're suffering from two bad sleepers! Hugs to all of you and I hope A at least settles down very fast.

Eggs might be Christian now but they were a symbol of Easter time long before Christianity - I'm keeping my chocolate!

I will think of you too tonight (does Iestyn often wake in the wee small hours?) - I'm usually up midnight, 3am, 4am, 5am, etc! Dh is up midnight, 3am and 5am with A!

Thanks AH - we're really struggling to work out what's interrupting his sleep tbh . It's very wearing though - and he's not in a good mood in the day when he's tired either which is doubly difficult. Ho hum, this too shall pass . . . .

Hi all - long time no speak (it seems like ages but just a week or two!) Just wanted to say Neenz re my facebook entry that I got redundancy at work but I don't really want to say the word 'redundancy' on facebook as there are people who didn't get it who really wanted it and I don't want to rub it in too much! Hope everyone is doing well. Have our first appointment at the fertility clinic on Thursday so fingers crossed it all goes well!

Amber x

No, Sponge, you're being a total hypocrite, eggs are definitely Christian and there was no Easter before Christ really. So no more Easter eggs for you!

Iestyn doesn't normally wake in the night so last night was a bit odd - he woke at 11.45 (fine!) but was still awake well beyond 1am. I cuddled him, put him down, he cried as I left his room; went back, did the same. Went back, didn't pick him up; he was fine as long as I didn't leave the room. Then I left him crying (whingeing really) but it got too loud, so I took him to my bed, but he was mucking around and then I scratched him. (That was an accident, I should stress!) Took him back to his room at 1am, cuddled him and sang to him, and he went to sleep. Was then furious for half an hour that I didn't think to sing to him before then!
I'm lenient if it's unusual - but I still have no idea why he was awake at that time. Teeth, probably...
Must be tough with Alex, though. He's had some major changes in his life recently, hasn't he.

Good luck on Thursday Amber.

Me? A hypocrite? Why, of course!

Essie, don't think Alex would appreciate me singing to him but I like the image of you singing Iestyn back to sleep . Yes, Alex has had alot of changes, bless him - with moving from CM to nursery, then me being in and out of hospital, then in hospital for nearly a week having Michael while dh was in and out visiting me, then he had my wonderful mum with him for a week, then she went home, then the out laws came to visit . . . etc, etc. He also has about six teeth coming through .

It's hard though cos we've been up and down with him in the night for weeks now and I'm not sure whether it's become a habit for him now or whether he actually needs us. Bless him, he's so happy normally and I hate to hear him crying in the night .

amber it's great to hear from you and that you're leaving work (on your terms! perfect!). It does make mornings around here so much saner! Fingers crossed and lots of hugs for you re clinic appt.

sponge, essie share those easter eggs! chocolate is universal and can only bring peace and happiness to the world...

Good luck Amber both for the clinic and for your new life as a lady of leisure (ha ha)! What great timing for you, it will make all the clinic stuff much more straightforward.

With all this Easter chat, I wonder when creme eggs will be on sale

have 1st exam tomorrow. Think I know the core stuff reasonably well-ish, but it's the killer questions on the smaller lesser known topics and need for knowledge about topical case studies that are letting me down at the mo . Can the believers pray for a miracle for me

great news about the job Amber btw, and hope all goes well with the appt. Nice to have you back!

BDQ - you're a mind reader re the creme eggs!

Abdn - I've bookmarked the Daphne Jackson link as it may come in useful when I decide to return to work, thanks for that.

Amber - good news about the redundancy (I hope). Is this the week you move house? Hope the clinic appointment goes well.

Singing works here as well for settling J, surprisingly as my singing voice is terrible!

Creme eggs! Yum yum, I still have a bit of halloween chocolate left to tuck in to later.

BDQ - Good luck for the exam tomorrow, I hope the right questions come up for you.

I've been asleep this afternoon and still feel shattered, I keep waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to sleep again, falling asleep during the day doesn't help.

Bad evening here, L has nasty cough and cold, then just got him settled when C started screaming 'no' and writhing in what looked like agony for an hour - then suddenly calmed down and slept all night. It seems we have entered the joys of ear infection season. I am expecting a pillow covered in gunk this morning.

Which made me think: sponge how is A sleeping now? When C was little L was the same, lots of waking and v. disrupted nights, and we naturally enough assumed it was the major life change upsetting him. Turned out he was ill with an ear and throat infection that wasn't clearing up and got quite bad before I realised - I felt awful! If he doesn't settle might just be worth getting him checked over?

Good luck BDQ and huge hugs ktpie there is nothing like that killer exhaustion / insomnia combination, hope you can fit naps in whenever possible in the day.

Morning All

You lot got chatty yesterday. I couldn't keep up.

I did want to say how sad it made me that Essie and AH are so traumatised by work. I haven't read your other thread though Essie, so sorry about that.

Sponge how was last night?

Amber hope the clinic goes well.

Nothing to report here. The early starts are continuing...

Morning all. I disscovered late last night that the really tough exam that I've spent about 95% of my revision on, at the expense of my next exam on Friday was in fact yesterday .

I had already deferred one exam already till May so I could concentrate on this one. Which means I've wasted two weeks holiday revising for an exam I won't sit till May. Am gutted. And I'll have to pay to resit them myself so my bad planning will cost me £100.

Feel awful. DH has done so much for me to free me up fir revision and I've missed so much time with S and it's all been a bit of a waste!

oh how horrible BDQ, what bad news. You must be so frustrated. But things like this just seem to happen when we're all juggling too much ... try not to get too upset with yourself, although being frustrated is perfectly reasonable!!!

Thanks abdn. It is very frustrating and completely unlike me. But need to stop feeling sorry for myself and get cracking on todays revision!

SA, that is a really good point, thank you. Hadn't thought of that tbh . He was up for two hours again last night (12 - 2am) until dh gave him some painkillers and he went back to sleep. It's so hard to tell whether it's attention or pain or something else, but we're really struggling at the mo .

To add to our woes he has his MMR tomorrow which could set us right back again if he has a reaction to it .

BDQ, so sorry to hear about your exam - how incredibly frsutrating and upsetting .

Waiting for my parents to turn up today, can't wait to see my mum - all is well in the world when mum turns up .

Oh, and puree, I bought the bag off someone from MN - can't wait for it to arrive now! [saddo emoticon]

Oh BDQ how bloody annoying! That's the stuff of nightmares. Hope you manage to put it behind you and concentrate on the next one.

Thanks SA, I slept well last night so feel a lot better today.

Sponge - I hope the nights start to improve. Have fun with your mum.

Have a friend who I used to work with but haven't seen for ages and her baby coming over for a coffee this morning, will be good to catch up.

Soonge, that's how I used to feel when my mum turned up

BDQ, how horrible . Agree with abdn that since I had kids I find I am much more forgetful but that is just because there is so much going on. Try not to beat yourself up, just move on and try to see it in a positive light (if possible!)

Essie, I lol'd at your Halloween lecture, when I said 'celebrating the devil is its origins' I thought 'Mmm, not sure about that exactly...' I should know better than to post something on MN without being sure! I am going to ask our vicar what he thinks, I know our church is against halloween, we have a 'light party' instead for the kids which I think is a lovely idea. If it was celebrated in medieval times, did it go out of fashion recently? Because I don't remember any trick or treating or celebrating halloween when I was a kid. I thought it had all got popular due to US influences, mostly Wal-Mart . So when Sponge said eggs at Easter were around long before Christianity I thought 'Surely there was no Easter before Christianity?' but thought Sponge must know something I don't

Amber, good luck at the clinic. And well done on getting redundancy!

Thanks all for the sympathy!

Neenz we went 'guising' as kids, but only to a few neighbours. Fancy dress, and you had do tell a joke or sing a song or something. You got monkey nuts, fruit, sweets or a few pennies. I definitely remember apple bobbing in school. I went to catholic school but don't remember any anti-Halloween stuff.

I think my Sky box has died. Quite traumatised as Spooks is on to night and we can only watch tv via sky.

Oh BDQ how gutting! If it helps I have in the past missed one of C's hospital appointments in a similar mix-up and felt absolutely dreadful, we all do it! The revision will absolutely not be wasted though. In fact if you can slot in the odd 15 minutes overview of what you have just done a few times a week between now and May, you might well end up much better prepared for it than you would have been now.

L is now wheezing to the extent that he can't talk properly, though still quite perky, so we're off to the dr.s this afternoon. Bugger, I hate winter.

aponge huge sympathy, know exactly how you feel, only comfort is that it does get easier!! hope it settles down soon.

oh bless, he has just told me very seriously and with great struggle 'you have to go to Bethlehem to be counted'. There are some recompenses to winter after all

Lol neenz! I am of course an expert on Easter and paganism! The giving and receiving of decorated eggs dates back to ancient Chinese times apparently, and pagans celebrated with eggs as a symbol of new life. So, sorry, Christians can't take the credit for that one! (I've never understood, tbh, why Christians use the moon to decide on the date of Easter and don't have a fixed date which is the anniversary of the crucifixation/resurrection? Using the moon seems a bit witchcrafty to me.)

Anyway, mum here now but dad has stinking cold - really hoping he doesn't give it to anyone here .

Neenz - we did Halloween when we were kids, I remember apple bobbing at school as well and Halloween decorations and I went to CofE schools.
There wasn't as much in the shops though so you are right about the Wal-Mart influence.

BDQ - you really are having a bad couple of days, hope the sky box recovers.

SA - how cute about L, hope he gets better soon.

My friend has just left, J was very good with the baby, apart from when he was walking past her when she was lying on the floor, he has no concept of the fact his feet are almost kicking babies heads. He was very sweet when she was in her car seat ready to go, he was rocking her and leaning right in and smiling at her.