June 2008-keeping little hands off mummy's creme eggs

[poppy34]

New thread here

Ooh debs which photo is that - is it part of the group of pics you put up yesterday? I couldn't see it. How exciting for Stefan.

PP, I don't know anything about TTs - what are they?

Spider, is your Dh with you?

Deb that sounds so exciting. How did he get on. His face on FB opening his pressie was a picture. You have lovely kids.

Neenz - DH left on Sunday night and is back this evening. I have missed him . P has too: each morning he has asked for "Diddy" which is the closest he gets to calling him Daddy.

So, Penguin, are you feeling like you are settling into life in NZ? The farmers market sounds great, but having lived abroad myself I do know what it is to miss the things you didn't expect to be bothered about.

Just went to have a look at your photos Deb and got totally sidetracked, love the coat pic (last one Neenz), your boys are so cute!
The piste machine sounds very exciting.

Penguin - it sounds great in NZ! Have heard of TT but not had anything to do with them, would be interested to know what you think if you join.

I agree Spider daytime naps are essential! I've found that if I set an alarm to have 20 minutes then I feel a lot better when I wake up than if I sleep for longer and go into a deeper sleep, power naps I guess. I think I've mostly adapted to the lack of sleep now, although sometimes I suddenly feel shattered. Most annoying thing is when you have the opportunity to sleep and can't get to sleep, I was awake unnecessarily for an hour the other night and couldn't manage a nap yesterday despite being really tired.

Better go, Henry has a poo leak that needs sorting out.

We're not going to move to the house we saw. Meh.

Sorry, meant to wave and say hello too!

Don't think I know what TT is either Penguin?

Spider - S really missed DH the other week when he didn't see him for a few days. He wasn't actually away every night, but early departures and late returns meant he was away for ages in S's world. He was a bit unsettled for a while when he came back, but thankfully seems to have settled again.

Deb I also loved your pictures.

Can I ask some advice to those with older boys? As we're not moving house (meh, again) I think I might redecorate S's room later in the year so it's a bit more toddler-y and less baby-ish. Do you think a bright, jungle/zoo theme with lots of primary colours would last through the pre-school years without becoming too babyish? Thinking something based around this duvet cover.

Goddess that's a lovely duvet cover! We've never "done" children's decoration (gormlessness, not attitude!) but I imagine it would work fine.

DH has shown hidden depths over the past few days. He's looked after the children and the house and done a fabulous job. DD1 has decided that she likes him after all, and he's put T to bed every night so help her move on from having breastmilk. My boobs are still engorged, but getting slightly more comfortable. Because I can't shower or bathe properly I'm not able to do the hot shower thing to help with engorgement. I'm finding that the GA knocked me sideways, more than I'd expected, and my leg seems to be healing well but I'm needing much more rest than I'd anticipated. It's put me off the idea of getting my tummy fixed, tbh as that's quite a big op, so maybe now The Netherlands has banned the burka I can get some cheap ones from dutch ebay .

Goodness, that was very me me me. Deb those photos on fb are lovely and your boys are gorgeous

ktpie you are v sensible trying to nap. I have an overwhelming urge to have a nap at 3pm most days, which is when I'm racing off on the school run

Neenz glad you're looking forward to having "just" one baby! I bet you'll really enjoy it.

Spider that's v sweet about "Diddy". T calls me "Mimmy"!

Penguin that farmers' market sounds lovely. Much more the real deal than the ones I've been to here which are straight out of a Nigella cookbook (not in a good way).

Thanks for all the comments on my photos

Rolf - so pleased that your dh is looking after you so well and that the stopping bfeeding is going OK despite the engorgment

Ktpie- you're very sensible with your power naps, you must need them, how are you getting on as a Mum of 2?

Spider- enjoy your rest with the in-laws

Neenz- glad to see your scan went well, were you disappointed not to find out the sex?

Goddess- yes the duvet cover looks like it would last a while before he moves onto Dr who or star wars, can I ask why you're not moving or is it too painful to talk about?

Well Stefan came back early at about 8.30 as there was too much snow so if they pisted it all it would all be covered again by the morning. So his friends Dad has to be back again at 4 am to piste the slopes before te lifts open. He said Stefan might be able to go again tomorrow night with his camera this time. But Stefan loved it , he was so excited when he came in.

Thanks for all the comments on my photos

Rolf - so pleased that your dh is looking after you so well and that the stopping bfeeding is going OK despite the engorgment

Ktpie- you're very sensible with your power naps, you must need them, how are you getting on as a Mum of 2?

Spider- enjoy your rest with the in-laws

Neenz- glad to see your scan went well, were you disappointed not to find out the sex?

Goddess- yes the duvet cover looks like it would last a while before he moves onto Dr who or star wars, can I ask why you're not moving or is it too painful to talk about?

Well Stefan came back early at about 8.30 as there was too much snow so if they pisted it all it would all be covered again by the morning. So his friends Dad has to be back again at 4 am to piste the slopes before te lifts open. He said Stefan might be able to go again tomorrow night with his camera this time. But Stefan loved it , he was so excited when he came in.

how did that happen?

No, it's not too painful Deb - just very frustrating! Basically, it's all to do with loan to value. Because our house was valued way lower than we expected (even allowing for the recession) we're not able to fund as big a deposit as is required for mortgages these days. Since the recession, mortgages here are all about loan to value 'LTV'. It's just really frustrating, because it's not that we couldn't afford a much bigger mortgage than this house would cost, it's just that you have to have a sizeable deposit already. So we've decided to stay put, do some work on the house, focus on increasing our deposit and look again next year maybe.

Thanks for comments about duvet cover Rolf and Deb - Deb, I am trying to put off the Dr Who/Star Trek whatever as long as possible!

Em, you pressed post twice

Ooh, Easter emoticons!

Hmm, that was supposed to have a question mark after 'twice' and before which wouldn't have read so cheekily!

Goddess- what ashame about the house, hope things improve for next year for you. With all 3 boys sharing here, I'm looking forward to living in a normal house where if we're very lucky they'll have their own bedrooms and we can decorate them properly. We've just made do here as any decorating time always goes on the guest accommodation.

Thanks Deb, it's just one of those things I guess. Considering the problems that some people are facing in the recession, we can't really complain. Anyway my completer/finisher in me is quite looking forward to get our house decorated

I'm with you Rolf, we just have plain blue wallpaper and some cheap pics in DTs' room, only cos we are lazy and tight and don't want to decorate again!

Sorry about the house DG . But I am sure the one you eventually move to will be even better. It's usually the way.

Debs, the FB pics are gorgeous - I will try to post one of E in her new favourite hand-me-down coat!

I wasn't too disappointed not to find out the sex. With a boy and a girl already it won't be much of a change either way. It is nice to do it different this time even tho I would have found it if DH had said ok. I have uploaded the pics to ingender.com and just waiting for the crazy nice ladies there to tell me what they think!

Well from the info on the ingender website it looks like a girl - but I feel quite strongly it is a boy! Well I suppose we'll have to wait until aug to find out for sure.

Just a quick wave - I passed my exams (hoorah) and am off to Cyprus for a holiday/wedding with a big group of friends... see you in a week!

Well done Biscuits. Have a good time.

Just a quickie to say hope you all have a Happy easter.

Well done Biscuits. Hope everone has a good Easter, hopefully the weather will improve.

I LOVE BALAMORY!!

Finally found something on iplayer that Ethan will sit and watch for 5 minutes alone- yippee!

That's great Deb!

I am feeling very refreshed - ILs had the kids last night so me and dh could have a lie-in this morn. I slept from 11pm till 10am, and I think I could have slept more! But I feel so much better, was starting to feel quite tired (and I am spoiled because the DTs are sleeping till about 8am atm - but I am making a baby so I'll let myself off ).

The DTs didn't go to bed till 9pm last night(we were there, it was FIL's birthday) and got up about 8am, but when they got back today T was really badly behaved during his lunch (tantruming and throwing stuff on the floor) so dh just took him straight up to bed and he was very happy to be there. It was amazing to see how a bit less sleep really affects their behaviour. When I took E up she was trying to climb up into the cot - she looked really tired too. But I think her tiredness just made her docile not badly behaved!

Neenz- 11-10 sounds amazing, you're bound to be tired with 2 toddlers to run after and pregnant too, rest when you can. I am shattered today, we were drinking with guests until 1 last night and then Ethan woke up at 1.30 - aargh!He normally sleeps 8-7 ish( Deb hides from all those with early wakers) but last night ended up in with us and hardly slept at all.

Evening all. Am of your lie in Neenz. S hasn't actually been too bad this last week but I've been waking before him so haven't had the benefit of his lie-in's!!! I've been absolutely exhausted of late. Could really do with a lazy week off but have exams in around 4 weeks. Gulp.

Well done on passing your exams Biscuits - are you done for now or any more in the not too distant future?

It's been incredibly quiet on here of late - I hope everyone has been busy doing lovely Easter things. We've had a pretty good weekend. Was at the in-laws yesterday for an Easter feast and some rolling of eggs and today we went to Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow which S really loves.

Did most of your LOs get a lot of chocolate this year? I'm a bit at how much S got. Of course, I'll just have to force myself to eat it for him .

I've also been busy in the kitchen this week on my continuing quest to develop some domestic goddess credentials! One of the things I made was the infamous marslady lemon drizzle cake from MN. Has anyone made it before? It has a serious amount of sugar and butter but it was pretty delish.

Must go and make a start on tonight's revision!

waving hello! We're back from holiday and today's a work day for me so I should be getting ready. It feels strange putting on a suit at 7am...

I'll write more and try to catch up with everyone later on - I've skimmed all the posts (thank goodness there wasn't too many) but don't have time to reply right now.