April 2009 - Episode 11 - 'There's Something About Teutonic Penises....'

[Guimauve]

05 Mar: Kazkiss: ISABELLE FLORENCE 4lb 6oz & OLIVER THOMAS 3lb 7oz
15 Mar: Cakeforbrains: OSCAR WILLIAM 7lb 2oz
27 Mar: ZuluWarrior: Alexander James 7lb 15oz
28 Mar: FrogmellaMoonbeam: VIOLET ROSE 7lb 9oz

02 Apr: Oddeyes: ELEANOR 9lb 8oz
03 Apr: Bebemoo: MEGAN LILLIAN CONSTANCE
03 Apr: Bumpalump: JACOB 8lb
04 Apr: BabyBolat: KARAHAN 6lb 5oz
04 Apr: Kingbeat23: IRIS
05 Apr: JumeirahJane: MILLICENT ROSE 5lb 15oz
06 Apr: BoffinMum: FELIX DAVID GORDON 7lb 9oz
08 Apr: girlylala0807 JAMES EUAN
11 Apr: SpringySunshine: GEORGE NATHAN 8lb 15oz
11 Apr: RachelinScotland: CLEMENT JAMES 8lb 14oz
11 Apr: Lou031205: ISLA SOPHIA 7lb 9oz
11 Apr: Electra: ISABELLA CAROLINE 6lb 3oz
11 Apr: AuldAlliance: ALEXANDRE 7lb 6oz
12 Apr: Phdlife: Name TBA GIRL 9lb 3oz
13 Apr: MathsMummy27: AMELIA CHARLOTTE
15 Apr: Guimauve: HUGO GEORGE 9lb 2oz
15 Apr: Bronze: ISAAC JOHN 7lb 14oz
15 Apr: Kalikaroo: Name TBA BOY 8lb
16 Apr: PuzzleRocks: HOLLY ELIZABETH 8lb
16 Apr: Brettgirl: HANNAH GRACE 6lb 15oz
16 Apr: ReallyTired: Name TBA GIRL
18 Apr: Staryeyed: Name TBA BOY 7lb 11oz
18 Apr: Dawntigga: SAMUAL 5lb 11oz
20 Apr: Wrigglyfish: SEBASTIAN 9lb
20 Apr: Swaliswan: BETH 7lb 9oz
21 Apr: B52s: SAM MARTIN 7lb 9oz
21 Apr: Feierabend: HAZEL LOIS 7lb 9 oz
21 Apr: Mrsgboring: EDMUND 8lb 12oz
23 Apr: Tristalewjac: LEWIN 8lb 4oz
23 Apr: NuttyTaff: TIAHNA SKYE 8lb 8oz
23 Apr: Purplemonkeydishwasher: ISLA ELIZABETH 8lb 14oz
26 Apr: Carameli: THEO LAURENCE 7lb 6oz
26 Apr: Surprisenumber3: EVIE ANNE 8lb 2oz
26 Apr: Bicnod: OSCAR MATTHEW 8lb 1oz
27 Apr: Loobylaboobs: OLIVER STEPHEN 7lb 7oz
27 Apr: Gingersarah: VERONICA ROISIN 9lb 1oz
30 Apr: MegBusset: ARCHIE 8lb 15oz
30 Apr: Elpis: ISLA JESSICA 8lb 11oz
30 Apr: Ladyofmuswell: SAMUEL
01 May: Satheresitting: Name TBA BOY
03 May: Conkertree: Name ANGUS ANDREW 8lbs 8oz
06 May: Frekkles: HARRIS MERLIN 8lb 5.5oz

Fei and Bronze - I have to recommend buying a wreck and making it your own. Bloody hard work, but having at long last come out the other end I love my little house so much. It is immensely rewarding. I appreciate every little detail.

(obviously I am already romanticising it and forgetting how bloody awful it was when I was 6 months pregnant and having to lug home sacks of wood and coal to keep myself and DD warm cos we had no central heating. And then DH started ripping out the skirting boards, bannisters, floor boards etc etc etc to put on the fire cos we were so blimmin freezing! And I was actually envious of DH who was spending 3 nights a week in a crummy hotel on a motorway flyover in outer Birmingham as the hotel at least had heating. Aaaah those were the days.)

Fei - we have a good contact book of local builders if you get the house.

I really want to do work. dh isnt so convinced but I think we'll just end up with what fits our citeria. There isnt much choice. This one will pass us by though unless someone puts an offer in on ours pretty damn quick.
In my head though I'm already deciding that we'll take it off th market next winter and wait til theyre older, thats got to be bad

What's the motivation for moving Bronze? Do you need more rooms?

Hi all,
Am I able to join this "club"

Wriggly, you moved out for quite a long time though didn't you? We'd have to live in the house while doing it up, Not sure how safe it is to have a house rewired with little children around? Actually I posted a thread earlier this week and everyone said, don't do it.

Hello SardineJam, of course you are, tell us about you!

Sardine - welcome, welcome . Do not be ashamed - I'm a newcomer too and they seem to be pretty nice so far .

Rewired is no problem IIRC Fei. Lots of little holes everywhere and electric going off all the time, but really not that bad in the general scheme of things. However, the mess and dirt and disorganisation of having any significant work done would get me down very quick. Even having our utility room done was a bit hard for me and that was largely contained in the garage (but the stuff was everywhere)

Sorry all I haven't got back to the thread properly. I just can't keep up at all and now DS1 has developed a horrid wheeze and I've spent all morning at the doctor's feeling guilty about it (but also getting it sorted thank goodness)

Hello SardineJam

Yeah but you stalked us first ZW !

SardineJam welcome - the only requirement for membership is a baby in the region of 9/10ish months old.

Fei - I did end up moving out for a couple of months. But you should have seen the state I lived in it for a year! Wires sticking out of walls can be coped with. I used the playpen to screen off a small section of space that was just about habitable and safe. But obviously couldn't live here when there was no staircase, doors, windows or internal floors. It really depends how much needs doing. We stripped ours back to 3 walls

Well the bastard estate agent (the nice guy I usually deal with is off today) just told me that a) he didn't know anything about our offer so I had to send it through again, b) it was far too low anyway and not even worth putting forward to the vendor (well it's your job young man so you'll bloody well do it) and c) slagged off the agency we're selling our house with (because it's run by one of his ex employees and he's actually doing rather well). I am fuming.

I believe they have to put an offer in to the vendors however ludicrous. Dare you to go back and say you are now revising it. To, say, 25 pence....

Wriggly- 6 of us in a 3 bed
I want a playroom too!

Hello SardineJam

Fei yes legally they have to put your offer forward. I've found estate agents can be sexist bastards and end up getting dh to deal with them as they take him seriously.
We would have to live wiht it too but I'm hoping that we could cope with living in part of the house as we're used to less space anyway. I'm not talking as back to bare bones as WG though. Well actually in the house I love the kitchen would be (waal removed etc) but the rest would be habitableish

The guy I spoke to runs the office and does the valuations. I suspect he's hurt in his professional pride because there have been only three offers and all of them way below the asking price. He keeps saying the vendor wants more well tough, this seems what people are prepared to pay. Will be interesting to see what it goes for in the end.

Bronze, yes definitely sexist bastard. You know what he said? 'Have you not been told this offer is no good?'

Eh - so what? This is what we are offering.

Fuckwit.

Sorry

They will try every trick to get more money out of you. They told us our offer was no good on this place originally. Then they told us someone else had put in an offer so we left it at that. Then eventually they came back and said that our offer had been accepted. I don't believe there ever was another buyer (you would have to have been bonkers to put in a bid on this place ).

Sorry my typing is crap. Exhausted, ds1 having a bad day today

He'll come back to you saying I told you so. Git

When I tried to arrange a viewing for this hous eI like the ~EA was really off with me. IT was the maddest conversation on the phone. anyone else listening would have thought I was trying to get someone who didn't want to sell to give up their home. Very odd

So our offer has been rejected, no surprise there (we knew she'd rejected a similar one last week). We'll just sit tight now and see what happens. They keep saying she doesn't NEED to sell - we we don't NEED to buy

Evening ladies

O is sat on my lap chewing the baby monitor as its the only way I can get on here. Hope he doesn't destroy it in the same way he destroyed my mobile

Sardine welcome tell us about yourself and your littl'un

Fei estate agents are a different breed - nice ones are few and far between. Have you given him your best and final offer (to quote Kirsty and Phil - who i LOVE)? Oooooo buying a house is so fucking stressful exciting

So we are on day 3 of The Plan. O didn't sleep any better last night BUT we managed to settle him several times without picking him up which is a first. Baby steps. And he's napping longer at lunchtime now we've dropped his morning nap which is a lot better in terms of organising the day.

Seeing the CM tomorrow. Eek. I have a number of questions to ask her:

• will she register to accept childcare vouchers?
• how will settling in work?
• what happens about holidays?

can anyone think of anything else vital i should ask? and does anyone know what the usual thing is about holidays? will she get paid holidays? and do we have to pay her when we go on holiday if its not at the same time as when she goes on holiday (so we'd be paying twice IYSWIM)?

x-posts Fei - that's how we got our flat, we put in our offer, it was rejected, we waited a bit and they came back and said if we increased by £2k they would accept it

fingers crossed it works out for you.

Bronze - am of your being jumped, can't remember the last time DH and i were spontaneous

Bicnod I would want to know a little bit about the other children your CM looks after - ages, routines etc the activities she does with them, food they are given.

I'm pretty sure there is a certain amount of gut instinct about it though. If she feels right to you that's what matters.

Oh - policy on sickness too. If she looks after several kids she may be very strict about not having an ill child. If it is just her own children she may be a bit more relaxed. It's the start of Chicken Pox season now!

Thanks Wriggly - I've added 'routine' to the list. Would be handy to know what time she does lunch/naps etc so can start getting Oscar used to it.

I've already met her (don't think I was clear) and have decided to go with her - mainly because she was lovely with Oscar - but I didn't ask enough questions when I first met her which is why we're popping over tomorrow for lunch and a proper chat.

She will only be looking after Oscar in addition to her own two boys who are 2 and 3

Bicnod, ask her what happens if she or her sons are ill?

Yep, good idea Fei - I'm assuming it isn't usual to pay for childcare if the carer is ill? And assuming if O is too ill to go to her then I still pay her.

What about holiday pay? Anyone got any experience of this?

Dunno but my SIL's cleaner asked for holiday pay!