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

[runningmonkey]

Here you go ladies.

Afternoon all!

LOL at the unexpected latching! A does this, if we're in bed she'll crawl around until she finds what she's looking for - she ends up in some very odd positions! And she's a twiddler as well.

Unexpected moment of peace and quiet - DD1 has gone out for lunch without me and A is asleep! Pox is very much improved, but she's still not right.

Drat...was about to start namechecking properly but she's woken up!

See you later...

flip- quite often I will be lying in bed with S on my tummy after he's come off a breast, and he'll start searching for milk on my wobbly tummy and try latching on to my tummy button . Now i know i'm a bit saggy but my boobs aren't that low down

pula, latching on tummy button! bless.

flip, glad pox is better and hope it keeps improving.

Belg, could have been anything, teeth as well? glad she went down quickly for the nap anyway.

better morning here. DH was here for the morning pre-school run. What a difference an extra pair of hands makes: we were at school when the gates opened at 845! (won't ever happen again!).

I still feel grumpy though. anyone feel like they are permanently irritated? gosh, I hope it's just the fact I have 3 small children and not my age....

also still as hormonal as ever (though not preg nor bf) and get tearful everytime I see one of our babies from the thread turning one. jael's jacob's is today. my H's, tummum's G, ladyH's R, divedaisy's S... am soooo nostalgic.

I think H being my last one has made me all extra-emotional with every milestone.

speaking of bdays, i'm off to survey my cake ingredients. chocolate is the order of the day!

hope you're all well.

Momino- have you not seen on FB- today is not a good day for baking cakes- Tummum dropped hers on the floor and saus ran out of flour mid-way through...

I am with you with the hormonal teary feelings. I am feeling broody but don't really want to have another - I think it is because S is nearly 1, and I know a few pg women and it's so exciting planning for a new LO. Also with you on the angry feelings, but always put it down to being depressed as I worry its my PND coming back. Retail therapy and time to myself usually helps a little until the credit card bill arrives. DD is starting to have really angry tantrums (at the grand old age of 5) and I'm sure it's because I am angry mummy sometimes .

I should be at work today but have a sore throat, ears and headache and generally feel run-down. So i am home with the DSs and DH. Hope i feel better soon as got a busy bank hol weekend ahead [self-pitying emoticon ]

Belgina / Pula if you want I can pick up that blind for you and courier or post it to you? I really don't mind and it won't be a hassle at all.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. G had a lovely time and really liked his birthday present. In the end we bought him a pop-up tunnel and tent combo and he and his brother have had a whale of a time with it today. We also had a cake-making disaster as I went to a pre-school meeting the night before which went until 10 blinking o-clock, which meant that the cake-making nearly went on past midnight!

On the unexpected latching front, G bit me very hard yesterday. My top had fallen down and was covering my nipple, and he gave me a good bite as if to say "mummy, pay attention will you!" Ouch.

Momimo I'm definitely grumpy at the moment, particularly at the PMT time of the month. It is worse than I ever remember it being.

Headless I've definitely lost a bit of work confidence and I'm so grateful that no one has actually got me to do any work yet. I have so much admiration for you! You must be being too hard on yourself, I think.

I wanted to catch up with more of you but I've got people coming at 6pm. I'm off out for dinner tonight with some friends. Have a good night all.

Hi Pula, just put cake in the oven. it was really runny and the recipe says75-90 min in t'oven. wow. after today's cake baking history, not confident about it but we'll see.

Hope you're feeling better and hope you were able to get some kind of rest.

Evening all.

DH is upstairs putting DS1 to bed. Am exhausted. Tried for a nap this afternoon whilst R asleep and some fool rang after 20 mins. Bloody cold caller aswell. Hung up straight away but couldn't restart the nap. Grrrr.

pula any news on the cozy coupe? Do ELC sell them as you can get 20% off with their birthday club. Hope you're feeling better all round now. Glass of wine??

Have to work in the morning too and cover sat morning court. Its ok really as when I finish I will go and have a sneaky coffee and cake in town and then buy R's present which will probably be a ball. I don't mind sat court, its being on call that I hate hate hate. Having told work about The News, I've been able to off load my on call slots for the next four weeks and we'll see how it goes after that.

spangle hope the next few weeks go quickly for you and the tiredness/sickness isn't too bad. I would say good luck with the booking in but it was just a lot of form filling here so not much was achieved really.

momi tum and muddle/divedaisy it was Friday night this time last year that things began happening. I don't know about you three but I keep thinking this time last year.... I know the birthdays aren't till Sunday, but it was the friday afternoon my waters went, and by 9.45pm we were on our way in to hosptial, and at 2.15am Saturday morning R arrived. Oh dear, I'm welling up.Again. Have just welled up at Adrian Chiles leaving the One Show. Hormones all over the place here I think!

ladyH, at least you have preg hormones to blame it on! I keep thinking to last year as well and welling up.

it's funny when i looked back on the thread and I'd posted about 11pm (i think) saying Nothing is happening... good night, etc. Amazing, i think i truly believed it was constipation pains . we were at the hosp for midnight i think and i was already 9cm!

girls sleeping, not going to work tonight. going to get a glass of something sparkling and virtually toast to you all.

momino ladyH a while ago I went back and read the old thread at the bit where you lot gave birth. I was in awe of momino sounding so chilled out about the whole thing.

ladyH sorry but I had to laugh. Adrian Chiles! That must be the pg hormones. DH says he heard he had an affair with his co-presenter - ewww, I just wouldn't.

flip hope the pox has fully left your house soon.

pula sorry about the internet shopping. Really frustrating isn't it? LOL at S latching on to your tummy button. If H sees my nipple when not feeding, eg in bed, he likes to twiddle it between his thumb and forefinger . He had a go at DH's nipple the other day.

Had a nice but fairly nothingy day. It's my birthday today so DH took the day off. We couldn't do much though as I was waiting for DHL to pick up a parcel and then it started raining, but we did pop out to a local outlet centre for a mooch about the shops then on to a pub for a meal. H refused to sleep at all this afternoon so I thought he might kick off in the pub, but no, he had a whale of a time. He's such a sociable baby - he spent most of the meal leaning round to shout and laugh the group on the next table. Don't know where he gets it from, neither DH nor I are the party animal type.

Oh yes - H gave me the best birthday present - a good night's sleep! It was probably the best night's sleep of his entire life, only waking at 12.30am & 4.45am then going through til 7.30

Spangle - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Great present from H with the sleeping! Sounds like you've had a lovely day

Headless - Grr! at cold caller

cakes - hope they all turn out ok. saus - yours looks great in the pic on FB. I'm being a bad mummy and have taken my mum up on her offer of making O a chocolate sandwich cake and then I'm going to decorate it.

Latch habits - O seems to enjoy feeding off one and twiddling the other at the same time

Pula - hope you feel better soon

Can I have an excitable wordy splurge?!
I have a new job!!!!

On Monday I got a phone call asking me to attend a meeting on Tuesday. Me and the other 11 Area Pharmacy Managers went to this meeting and were told that the company is restructuring and the role of APM will no longer exist from June!
We then had one to one meetings where we were each offered a new job (from a choice of 5 different roles).
Because there's no change in terms and conditions, they had already decided which job we are going to do and basically just told us.

The good news for me is that out of the choice of 5, I've got the role that I would have chosen!
It's a brand new role that's never existed before which means I'm not totally sure what it will look like on a day to day basis but also I can make it what I want to a certain extent.

The role entails being line manager for a team of about 30-35 relief pharmacists who are employed by us but work around a number of stores covering holidays, days off, etc as needed. I will also line manage the 2 admin assistants who plan where these pharmacists are needed on a daily basis. The final part will be to be involved with the recruitment of new pharmacists.
Our relief pharmacists are typically not v happy people. This is because it's not an easy role being in a different shop with a different team on an almost daily basis so one of my main tasks will be to motivate them and get them feeling more positive.

Sorry to go on but this role (on paper at least!) really seems to play to my strengths and I'm really pleased that I've got something good out of a restructure for a change! They're also happy to stick with my current hours/days and potentially I could have a bit more flexibility around working from home as they're going to give me a laptop (finally!) Also may get a fleet car as the geography my team work over is quite large (East and West Sussex, so from nearly at Portsmouth to Hastings with approx. 60 stores).

The only concern I have is that I've got an awful lot of direct reports that I need to sit down with individually and set performance plans, development plans and have career discussions with!

Sorry I've typed loads!!

Hello to everyone I've missed....

Sorry but I am posting and running! Have time to read, but not post - most frustrating!!

Am getting all sentimental about all the 1st birthdays!!

Life is manic here - I have 2 clingy children. Can't do anything on my own at the moment! Ds2 has had yet another cold and I have mastitis again. Cannot believe it!

Happy Birthday Spangle

Anyhow I'm off to bed as I'm shattered and working tomorrow!!

muddled - don't worry about posting and running! Hope DS2 gets better and less clingy soon. Sorry for your mastitis. I've been lucky and never succumbed but I have a friend who's suffering at the moment and it really is nasty.
Hope work is ok tomorrow for you. I'll think of you as I'm working as well in the morning.

Ey oop

Just swigging wine relaxing, albeit whilst listening to DD2 and her friend cackling in bed (she's here for a sleepover - she's the daughter of my friend who died and they've been playing funerals )

muddle hey, lovely to see you again

momi Please give H a big kiss from me - we're actually in Yk this weekend but hideous busy weekend

spangle and headless hope you're both ok

Hang on, my services are needed for non-sleeping sleepover....

muddled- ow mastitis again- poor you. Hope you have ABX that will get to work quickly.

ses- new job- exciting- sounds like you are really looking forward to the challenge

spangle- I think S is like a little piggy snuffling around for truffles when he looses my nipple and goes looking for it on my tummy or arm .

cozy coupe shopping is looking more positive- I have a £30 off code for the VERY website if you spend £60 on your first order, so as the coupe is £50 I need to spend another £10 and I basically get it for £20 (+ £4 p&p) so a real bargain, although it's still the standard coupe and not the fire truck or police car. If anyone wants me to email them the voucher codes (I have various codes for different spends) let me know. You can buy clothes, toys, housewares etc

spangle - also meant to say, well done H sleeping the best ever so you got a lie in on your birthday- such a thoughtful son . Sounds like you had a nice day too.

grumpy - playing funerals - but at least it sounds like they are having fun and keeping you busy.

llare- also meant to say (brain like a sieve tonight) thanks for the offer for collecting and posting the ebay blind out. I have emailed the seller to find out exactly where they are in Warwick as I wouldn't want you to have to drive too far- I will let you know what they say. There are also some more coming up for sale on ebay so i may bid on them, although I will let belgina know if i bid on any, so we don't end up bidding each other up

Pula Warwick is tiny, only around 20,000 people so it won't be far, so really don't worry about it.

Happy Birthday, Spangle!!

happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear spangle
happy birthday to you

spangle

Happy Birthday to you
Many nights of sleep to you
A healthy baby
And gorgeous Harvey (mwah)
Happy Birthday to you

ses What wondrful news about the job, I hope you enjoy it

funeral game - it seems unbelievably heartless, but she's very matter-of-fact, it feels weird as she looks just like her mum

Ooh Russell Crowe's a bit of a munter now......

love the belly button, nipple twiddling baby stories!

great news about your job Ses hope it works out well for you

get well soon muddled

pula I just bought a new phone from Very and it came the next day! Super-quick service! Hope you are treating yourself to make up the money

Ooooh Reginald D Hunter mmmmmmmmmm om nom nom

Evening all Should be in bed really. But I'm on here instead [naughty emoticon]

ses How exciting about the job. Sounds like it's the right job for you.

llare Thanks for the offer. I think I'll just keep an eye on eBay instead.

muddled Ouch. mastitis. Not nice. Hope it clears up quickly.

spangle Happy b'day. How thoughtful of H to let you have a nice sleep

momi I get days like that too. Especially when I've had a day where I haven't had a second of me time and I just want to be left alone long enough to enjoy a cup of tea or a biscuit or a page in a magazine.

Aaw. Those birth stories of last year make me go all misty eyed and emotional. I've been seeing mums with my old due date all last week and I saw they were 39 or 40 weeks. It made me realise how close C's b'day was and how huge my bump must have been back then, lol.

C regularly tries to latch onto my face. I think it's her way of trying to kiss me Today she was trying to suck my leg for some reason. She wasn't mistaken either, because it was daytime and she was sitting on my lap facing away from me, lol.

Dh has just left to go and collect our last bit of rubbish-- few things and then the house will be sold. It's a little bit sad as it's the place C was born and my oldest 2 were babies.

Off to bed now. Fingers crossed C will sleep better tonight (so far so good, she's been waking at 10.30 for the last month or so and is now still asleep)

Lol grumpy Are you watching Jonathan Ross by any chance?

ladyH I'm not pregnant, but I'd have gotten upset about the last Adrian Chiles episode if I'd remembered to watch it. I don't think the One Show will ever be the same again without him

hi! who's awake?