Oct 08 - Chair climbing, spider greeting, potty training? NOOOOOO, they're still babies! <wibble>

[50ftQueenie]

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz
9th Oct (Due 17th Oct) - 50ftQueenie - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz
28th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - RachieW - Boy - Jack - 7lbs 4oz
31st Oct (Due 20th Oct) - KnickersOnMaHead - Boy - Samuel Paul - 9lbs 11oz
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz

Hope this is ok ladies.

lol maybe the babies are going through a "boring" phase
Q definitely keeps me on my toes! He starts with the cm on Monday but I've just realized we have a trip on that day, too... so I'll be away all day with my class in Guildford... so I won't be able to go to him at lunchtime.

Your DH sounds so lovely and helpful
Congrats on another assessment finished! Did it go well?

What a poppet your dh is pistachio. And yay for a good assessment day. Your posts sound so lovely and positive when you talk about it all.

We are still struggling with ds' sleep, so only uninteresting whinging and confusion to post about! He went off beautifully tonight (was tired after a day out at the farm and only a little nap in the pushchair), but has already woken screaming, as he did every 20-30 mins yesterday evening .

Dh and one of my friend's dh's taking the kids out tomorrow so that us wives can have some time to ourselves (wives separate, not together). Don't know whether to spend the time in bed/bath/reading, or doing some sorting/tidying that I never have time for.

Sounds like bliss CSWS. I say do something nice for yourself - I always seem to spend any free time I've got doing boring things like sorting out the washing, cleaning or school work (like this morning). then I realise I've had no time to relax.

Pistachio - well done with the assessment. Hope it went well. It's so great to be studying something engrossing isn't it?

We've been really busy over half term. Went to Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood yesterday. Dp and I were reminiscing about all the 1970s toys and I felt quite emotional (hormonal, I think). S had a great time charging around and getting involved.

Anyway, I must do some more school work. Back tomorrow.

Not sure what's happening now aubergenie, as snow has put paid to this morning's outdoor plan - bah!

Apparently snow isn't so bad at friends' (15 mins away) so they've now gone - hurrah!
Having a quick clear up of the bombsite left in dh's wake, a cuppa and small slice of simnel cake, then will have a long soak in the bath with a book before making myself a nice chicken caesar salad for lunch . Then I might do some more tidying after lunch if there's time, and sort out what's for dinner.

oh enjoy it, csws That sounds lovely!!
What is simnel cake?
Sounds like you had a nice morning too, pistachio!
I do the same as you, aubergenie, but in my case, I feel good after a good clean/sort out... but like to have time to relax afterward, too.
Q just went down for his nap and I'm going to go for a nap while he sleeps in about 15 minutes or so. Waiting for grocery delivery to arrive now.

Are the dhs and kids out all day csws?

hello all.
CSWS enjoy your "me" time, v jealous.
star, Q will have a blast I'm sure. Where are you off to in Guildford?
DD has fully recovered from hideous illness, just has a cold but hope that as she's on abx anyway it can't turn into anything sinister. She still has the rash but it's kind of scabbed over now (v attractive...)
DS2 was so ill. He's got bloodshot eyes where he burst the blood vessels retching . he's exhausted now and won't make pre-school tomorrow - but as DS1 has an inset day that's fine as it means we don't have to get up!
Dh and I look grim! No sleep during their illness and then on Friday night, DH was called up by the Singapore office to work at 2.45am . they never think "oh. it's the middle of the night in UK, we'll wait". Muppets.

Simnel Cake star. I ADORE marzipan.

Had my bath and even did a face mask, and now having lunch.
I have no idea what time they are coming back - all I know is that it will be sometime within the next 3 hours!

Yuk for all that sickness pepper.

face mask!!!
How lovely!
Dh and DS1 have gone to bed . Dh is exhausted and absolutely has to be in the office tomorrow, and DS1 doesn't like to miss a bandwagon.
DD is trying to teach me how to play snakes and ladders! It's hilarious, she sees the boys playing it, and she's got the board out and all the counters and she's chucking the dice around and moving the counters, laughing to herself. She's a dab hand at pop up pirate as well . very cute.

mmmmm marzipan
I think that would taste lovely on a vanilla or lemon cake with the marzipan in the middle and on top. mmmmmmmmmarzipan. The fruit cake looks a bit yuck, though, tbh. I like raisins. But not in cakes and breads. Just alone.

Pepper lol at DD playing snakes and ladders
Off to the Victorian School/museum to spend a day pretending we are in Victorian Times. The kids are really nervous and have asked a zillion times if they will be "beaten" if they are naughty. I've said many times that they will not be struck or hurt at all. They kept asking so finally I just told them that if they avoid being naughty, they won't have to worry about it, will they?
Everyone has to come to school in specific dress for Victorian times and with a lunch in a basket, tin box or brown paper bag and only wrapped in wax paper (or whatever it's called) only food they would have had - no modern stuff. They can bring sandwiches and apples or pears and a piece of shortbread. It's going to be so fun!

sorry - as if you all care about all of those details! sorry about that.

I'm not a huge marzipan fan. I used to go out with a bloke whose favourite cake was Battenburg. Bleurgh!!

of face mask.

I've been brought down to earth with a big bump this weekend. We need to move soonish in order to get a bedroom for Stan. We had plans to try and move down the road to Bethnal Green, but I looked into rental costs and it's around £1200 per month for a two bedroom place in a ex-council block. (BTW I've got nothing against council housing but don't want to pay £14K a year to live in it.)

We need to have a real think about where we can afford that's not too far from my work. Gah!

I hear you on needing to move, aubergenie. There's nothing stopping us from selling and buying except DH being "ready" to put the house on teh market. He claims it's "all about presentation" and it's not finished but he has so much to do and wants to spend time with Q and wants to relax....etc. then I'm putting too much pressure on him to finish it... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah....

Tell him you've booked an estate agent to come round next sat star, that should focus his mind

You could get an estate agent round and ask him his opinion on what else could/should be done and what value if any it would add, and make sure that dh is around to hear the answer directly.

I'm not a big fan of fruit cake usually, but simnel cake is not as heavy as a normal fruit cake, and made all the better by the marzipan obv.

I'm not surprised by that cost aubergenie. I rented a 3 bed (but 2 of the beds were small as made from what was a single bed with a partition wall put half way down) ex council maisonette in Tower Hill in 1997 and it was £1050 per month then!
Is your work in Canary Wharf?

He'd just say (in a snotty voice) "what did you do that for? cancel them. It won't be ready"
If I insisted and said they were coming anyway, he'd just say fine then. They can value it but we're not going to do anything with it.
He doesn't want to use an estate agent either.....

How does he want to sell it then star? Will he use Sarah Beeny's new website and do it himself?