May 2009 - A new start. Mine's a large gin please.

[runningmonkey]

Here you go ladies.

Ey oop.

Hope all are well (and g gets that poo out fi). S is better her, having fed all evening and almost continuously from 4am. She's crawling around, shouting 'dra-la, bra-la, la la, gra-la, ba-ba, ru-ru' and ripping pages out of books.

Really gorgeous day here today. I think some fresh air is in order.

Morning Fi glad everything is coming together for your ns trip-sounds v exciting!

Flippin Hope you're surviving week 2 with your pil!!

Febes Glad you're getting along with your PIL too!

Jennster & Singing lovely clothes and shoes!!

Llare well done on the run!

Dh is away on a course this weekend so I'm home alone with the boys. Had a nightmare bedtime last night and I ended up shouting again

The exciting news here is that we have a walker Ds2 has taken a couple of steps over the past week, but today he's been showing off his new talent more confidently!! I was hoping that ds2 would be slightly more chilled than his brother, but he's proving to be even more of a daredevil than ds!

Right better get dressed have promised to go to the park with his new ball. I hope the rain holds off! Hope everyone else I haven't name checked is well and has a good day!

hinny glad s is feeling better & muddled yay way to go! well done DS2.

morning, ladies!
I'm happy because the PIL are here for the weekend, FIL has cleaned the kitchen sink but (I don't get a chance, gross, I know) and swept the garden. They're taking over the children, DH is doing jobs round the house and I'm going to get some work done myself. I feel relieved for their help.

singin, that's a lovely story about your DD2. she is a lovely girl.

Llare, well done on the run! 5k, hurrah! I managed to do about 2 miles at a very slow pace this morning... it's been awhile.

muddled, proud mummy about your walker! scary but very exciting. Our dd2 was a quick walker as well, she wanted to keep up with dd1. H is up and about all the time but not yet sturdy enough for walking.

Fi, I'm so excited for you as well. You're really moving ahead with this! To be there for your 40th will be a good celebration.

Jennster, I love that dress! could we have a photo of you in it with your gorgeous tropical tan ?

HI to everyone else. hope you're all having a good weekend and the lo's are giving you lots of smiles.

hiya younger how lovely to have pil that pitch in and help instead of expecting to be waited on i hope you get some you time over the weekend and don't have to spend it all catching up with work.

i really have to knuckle down and have a go at turning my CV into a resume. I have a sort of idea what to do but i've not had a proper job since 2004 so not quite sure how i describe what i've done since then dh's will be easy.. he's been with various sections of the Revenue for most his working life! The thought of making it fit into 2 or 3 sides at most of usa letter size paper is a bit daunting though.

Sorry, no name checking - I just to come on here and scream, and cry a bit.

My request for a career break has been turned down . My line manager supported my application, but the head of unit has decided that he can't approve it for various reasons (none to do with me, I hope - he's blaming organisational pressures etc). so Ieither have to go back to work on the 19th April or resign. Resign would be the obvious choice really, but it's a big step out of my comfort zone, I liked the safety of the career break rather than total resignation.

I'm supposed to be making DD1's cake now, but I'm in a bit of a tizz. DH and PIls and the the girls have gone out.

oh flippin have a hug. in fact have lots of hugs.

Oh, I'm sorry flippnegg.

Oh no, Flip

gah suddenly i'm really tired.. not very long until dc's in bed though. That ice cold lager in the fridge is calling to me! Don't forget the clocks spring forward tonight. I remember which one is which by the seasons saying 'spring forward and fall back'.

Evening ladies

muddled- life is going to get interesting in a whole new way now your DS2 is walking . Well done on DS2 being the first walker on our thread.

fi- hope you love NS and still want to move there- it does sound and look wonderful.

hinny- ah your DD2 sounds lovely .

flippin- sorry about your career break request being turned down. That is a real shame . Do you think they might be willing to allow you a couple of months extended maternity leave (ie unpaid) to make your mind up as 3 weeks is not really long enough to make such a serious decision? I know they legally don't have to allow anything more than 12 months maternity leave, it seems a bit rushed.

I thought i would come on here, as I know DH is with me so I'm avoiding him. Basically, DH made dinner, and fetched me a glass of wine (as usual and yes, I know i should make more effort as he's tired too). So as I fancied some ice cream, I asked DH if he wanted some. He then offered to go and get it (our freezer is down in the cellar) so me being lazy, said "if you don't mind". Then there was a lot of banging around downstairs as he pulled the ice cream out , which disturbed S (even though he's up on the 2nd floor). Cue lots of screaming from S. I was as i wished i'd got it myself, so i didn't rush to go up to S. So DH went up and tried to settle him but he just kept crying. I got again as we're doing CC so DH should have left him after a short while, and eventually he did leave and guess what, S went quiet straight away. Anyway, DH has now taken his laptop upstairs which is not a good sign. I'd better make him a cup of tea to say sorry .

pula how's it going now? is your dh speaking to you yet? i've had times like that.. sometimes you can be wrong no matter what you do.. hind sight is always 20:20 anyway!

well DS has been asleep for 20mins or there abouts. he was C bit of a monkey tonight and found it hard to settle.. in the end i had to lie next to him on his bed talking about what he'd like in his garden when we get moved to a new house.. he's now upped the chickens to 6 and I had to think of names for them all! so we had fluffy, big red, white socks, happy, sparkle & cheeky

fi still not made that cuppa or gone up to see DH. Better make the effort...

Glad your DS has settled now - he sounds very sweet (love the chicken names ) even if he was a little monkey.

Right i'm off. night night. S has been very restless on the monitor so hope i don't wake him when i go up to bed.

Evening all. Thanks for the hugs. Feeling realy peed off about it all. I think I am just going to resign, but it's really annoying because that's what the guy wants. Gah.

Anyway, this time three years ago I was in labour! I made the cake, it looks fine (if you squint a bit , I'll get photos on FB another day. I think DD1 will like it which is the important bit.

pula - hope you manage to clear the air.

muddled - yay to walking!

fi - loving the chicken names. And yes, that's how I remember the clocks changing too.

night night pula x i'm off too.. absolutely shattered.

x post flippin glad the cake turned out good I'm sure dd will love it!

flip good idea from pulapula. Could you ask for 13 weeks unpaid parental leave to help you make that decision? Do you have to re-pay any of your maternity pay if you don't go back?

Afternoon everyone!

Hope everyone is coping OK with the clocks changing for now.

muddled Our 1st walker. Clever DS2! I keep thinking that at this stage dd1 was walking, ds was crawling, but C stays firmly rooted wo the spot with the exception of the odd bit of rolling. She's my least mobile baby yet.

flippin Sending you a hug as well. I also like the pula idea. 3 weeks really is too short to make up your mind and/or prepare for going back to work. I hope you can find some sort of temporary sollution.

fi Woohoo to your trip. Very exciting! Not too long now before you'll be off on your reconaisance trip.

hinny Lovely shoes! and your dd sounds wonderful too. No wonder you're so proud of her

pula You and your DH talking yet?

jenn Lovely dress you bought the other day.

I've also been asked by sausage to say hi to everyone and that she's OK. She's finding it difficult to go online at her parents' as her wi fi doesn't work there and her dad keeps the laptop occupied most of the time.

Here I've been busy working and crochetting. Neither of them going too well TBH. My flat circle thing I tried was very frilly and wobbly , but I'll keep at it. I'm determined now and once I've got something in my mind I don't let go . Work's OK. 3 weeks and not 1 normal labourer ending in a nice normal delivery. Maybe I've lost my touch . I also had a card in the post from all my colleagues at my old job. That was so lovely. I miss them a lot.

Claire learnt a new trick this week. She cana now clap on demand It's so cute when she does it. Otherwise she's turned into a little velcro baby and grump. She doesn't seem to know what to do with herself half the time. I'm hoping it's the whole developmental growth spurt thing and that it'll pass very soon. I can't even put her down on the floor to play half the time nowadays.

belginadon't give yourself a hard time, i'm sure you've not lost your touch.. just luck of the draw with who you get and how they go? as you know there are so many factors involved that can end up with either a natural delivery or an emcs. fingers crossed C is less velcro soon as that must be very wearing on your energy levels (no pun intended!). Sounds like you're doing really well with the crochet.. regulating the tension is the hardest bit before long you'll manage non frilly circles (unless you're doing it on purpose!). i've nearly finished my coat design.. just working out the optional flower decorations and then to type/dtp it all.

fi You're so clever with all your designing. I can't imagine how you do it. I'm finding patterns very difficult to read at the moment, but I'm not that far yet. I'm just doing a square of each stitch at the time to get the hang of them.
Thanks for your words of encouragement re work too.

forgot to say clever G with clapping on demand i bet she has a huge grin on her face when she does it

i'd been thinking of sausage this week & hoping the family weren't driving her demented.

belgina it's the terminology/abbreviations that make it hard in the beginning as you're learning a whole new language! my coat uses very few stitches.. doubles for pretty much it all.

Hello ladies,

belgina- I am sure you are doing just fine. I remember being [shocked] when on our NCT they showed us the stats for deliveries in Sheffield - "normal" deliveries were a minority. And of my friends, I only know of one or 2 who had a really good birth experience with no complications, and they were both induced too.

Everything was OK in the pula household last night after i made DH a cup of tea and cleared the air. Also, last night was a first - I didn't feed S at all . I'm not breaking open the champers yet, as he still woke at 2am and didn't settle til 3.30 (after crying on and off and some cc) but then he slept until 7.15am new time. Now he's done it, we're going to persevere which means no evening feeds either as that would probably confuse him. I noticed he has a really good feed at bedtime tonight so I am hoping he was tanking up for the night .

Ooo fingers crossed pula that within a few days you'll have little or no cc at all. Amazing the wonders a great cup of tea can make

DS being a bit of a monkey again tonight.. in the end we left him reading in bed.. off to have a look n see if he's now asleep..

Our plans for this evening have gone out the window. When O and I got back from a walk with the dogs earlier, we found DH had managed to burn himself badly thanks to a garden bonfire and some petrol!
He'd used his chainsaw in the morning and filled it with petrol. In doing so he spilt some on his polyester trousers. A couple of hours later he decided to have a bonfire to burn some garden rubbish and his trousers went up in flames. He threw himself down on the ground and took his clothes off.
(At this point when he was telling me, I said "What, you stripped down to your boxers in the front garden?" "No", he said, "They came off too!")
Our poor neighbours!!! Although fortunately our front garden is a fairly quiet spot!
Anyway, we went off to A&E and he has burns all down the right side of his torso and on his right hand. They've dressed the burns and bandaged him all up and he has to go to the burns unit tomorrow to get checked over.

I sort of feel sorry for him but how silly!! It must have been v scary for him at the time though.

We were meant to be doing an evening of DH putting O to bed without my boobs me tonight but obviously that's not happening now! O finally went to sleep about half an hour ago after an extended day due to our A&E trip!

Muddled - yay for DS2 walking, clever boy!

Pula - sounds like great progress with S on the sleeping front

Belgina - v impressed with C's clapping on demand too. O is also being v clingy when with me. Not sure if he's trying to make the most of "his boobs" whilst he has them and he's not at nursery. He just seems to want to settle there and as soon as I move him, he screams the place down. It takes a lot of distraction to get him happy anywhere else when I'm around

flippin - that's awful news for you about no career break. I'm another that thinks Pula's suggestion may be worth investigating.

Fi - hope DS is now asleep

younger - yay for helpful PIL!!

Febes - hope your ILs visit is going ok

Saus - how frustrating about no wifi and laptop being hogged. Hope you're doing ok and your parents aren't driving you too mad.

Hello Llare, hinny, running, Jenn and anyone else I've missed!