August 2008: Crap, how did THAT happen?

[CrispyTheCrisp]

Hi sorry so awol have been up to neck in various things including driving 335 miles in a day in a car that its best mate wouldn't describe as pristine.

Our Volvo got covered in sap parked under a tree and when I rolled the window down crrrrrrack the sap was like EvoStik and I promptly broke the mechanism. So dp kindly got that sorted for me yesterday while I went off in his car. God why am I reporting these tedious details...?

We were on the other side of the country for an appointment for ds1 (dyslexia), long story, but this woman we saw yesterday is a cracker and we all have faith in her methods and in her, personally, so we'll be doing this once a month for the next year or more .

So cyteen you will I expect be searching out people 300 miles away whenever you need e.g. pint of milk, the dentist, now that you are LICENSED well done!!

dizzy, well you got through it ducks, and won't have to again for ages . DH must have a brownie point list as long as his arm for you, and whatever your rel. with the PILs (so aptly named pills) your girls will never reproach you with not fostering the relationship. Really, once you've done your bit, though it might make you sad and angry, the rest is so beyond your control.

Why am I commenting on my comments?

oopsaducky nice news on new car, how long do you think dh's rule will apply? Our no eating, no muck, etc rules usually last about 2 weeks. If I hoovered the car each time the boys had been it it I would be leaving an awful lot of other stuff undone! I'd love to have someone to do it for me though .

Pots your house looks gorge when will you hear about the school - do you mean you might hear before you moved? and when will you make offer andwhensthehousewarming?

Perts haven't seen yours yet but will have a nosy later, not sure how to make FB give me alerts .

LadyCrispydeCrisp your swimming is this weekend? V interested to hear about how you get on. Hope your insurance types stump up a bit for a new car. We have just been there, was vv sad waving goodbye to lovely Golf and though replaced it with Practical Capacious Estate is just not the same .

CC hope you got your paper written! I am of you in many ways, about to sink fangs into nice juicy piece of work.

Miamla - pah! Despite knowing you are right (regardless of content of any argument ) it's always horrors to be away from one another for a few days with a row lurking in the clouds, I hate that. Hope dp pitches up (or at least phones) with a song in his heart before Thursday. Don't stress though ducks.

TS!! You are posting from hols!

Hope you are enjoying a bit of beachside bliss with the family, so nice to be all together and so nice to be somewhere beautiful!

Enjoy

LOL @ Lady's stream of consciousness

Which Volvo do you have lady?

Glad DS's appointment went well and good on you for making such a mahoosive effort to make life a little bit easier for him

DH couldn't care less if his car was like a skip . Although great for DD's doing what they like, unfortunately this attitude extends to the home and he is 'an messy bugger'. Horses for courses and all that.....

Off for a walk in the sunshine

MISSING: One sun - was last seen shining here yesterday evening at 9pm.

Cloudy but warmish here, MIL coming to look after DD whilst I go to reflexology and a sneaky coffee alone this morning. Then I have the dentist later and have booked a haircut for Friday.

VG - pleased you have found someone who suits DS1.

Off to catch up on last night's chat - back later.

It's a V70, the most unglamorous car imaginable. We got it mainly because the boot is the most capacious one you can get, so we can take dogs AND luggage AND pram on hols. Also boot can be split in 2 so I can have dogs and shopping in it at the same time without arriving home to find their jaws soaked in the blood of 4 organic 21-day fillet steaks...

Heating on here DH taking girls to school & I'm off to nurse for some tests

VG wouldn't 300 miles get you near hereish?!?

Oops am not even going to ask lol!

Morning all, up at 6.30 with D so hoping she might sleep this morning no sun here either but can't grumble, we had summer on Sat so not been a bad year!!

No sun here either - it's positively grey

Miamla - Poor you - chin up and enjoy the break from DH, sure you enjoy seeing each other again on Friday

Sun has mostly gone away now, but a lovely walk first thing . DD2 asleep in the pushchair so tidying for me

Lady Volvos may be unglamourous but their owners most certainly are

dizz hope nursie is kind with you and the needles. Are they just testing iron levels or do they think they might be able to work out why it is that little boys are lost to you? Hope all goes well {{hugs}}

foggY how is the house of ills?

oops sounds like a lovely relaxing day, good on you. My friend due on the 15th is like a caged animal on angry acid atm. One sweep yesterday and another tomorrow and then induction on Sunday. I really hope it doesn't all set off a cycle of intervention

Hope today goes OK Dizzy

Everyone is fine thankfully Crisp everyone got it bar me but everyone only lasted 24hrs max thank god

OK - I am going to use this thread for some advise. All thoughts welcome and in desperate need of them.

We have 3 DD's (5,3,1) and are considering DC4 - I work full time while DH is a SAHD - I am just so unsure what is the right thing to do so am listing my pros and cons :

Pros:
A lovely new baby
DDs would adore a new sibling (were only asking me the other day if they would have another)
Would give me the opportunity to stay at home for a while.
We have a 7 seater already
We have a big enough house, although no spare room for a baby, DD's could share.

Cons:
Money - generally the cost of a baby is fine - however, as I am the sole worker me going on maternity leave would cripple us - although the plan would be for DH to be back in full time work by the time my mat leave would drop to basic.
Looking forward - The girls are all at ages now where they are either very independant or becoming more so. No stair gates, starting potty training, not having to lug a buggy everywhere etc
Holidays - would mean it would be highly unlikely to afford holiday abroad
Childcare - only another 2 yrs or so before all would be at school and then both DH and could work without the worry/cost of childcare

So ............... ?

Foggy sorry but I'm not much use to you on that debate we have different pros/cons, the biggest of which being I'm not sure I could put myself through that again. I always used to say I would regret NOT having another but would never regret having a baby, that was with DD3 though. I have an inherent feeling that someone is missing in our family but it's difficult to explain sorry.

Sazz the nurse took bloods etc, main conversation with GP on Fri when hopefully will have some results from the hope.

Sorry Dizzy, that was very thoughtless of me :-( I feel awful now

Tbh Foggy, the fact that you're even considering DC4 is quite a strong indicator towards trying for one Seriously though, having all the infrastructure in place probably means that the money side of things could be minimised compared to other families who might have to get a new car/consider moving house etc. As for holidays abroad, well, we haven't had one for four years and although we would like more of them, it isn't the end of the world. There are loads of beautiful, interesting places around the UK, especially when we get some freak good weather.

So I guess in your place I would go for it. But obviously, only you can make that decision.

Dizz - I do know what you are saying though, I know for a fact I would never ever regret having a baby but would I regret never having another .. I just don't know.

Cyteen - Financially our main worry is that DH would need to find full time employed work as given he is tradesman at heart, it's not that easy at the moment. As for holidays abroad - we are having our first in 3 yrs this year and I know we wouldn't mind going without out. I am concerned about DD's missing out on things because of having another baby too.

Hellooooo, when did I become one of those women too busy to Mumsnet?

Off to Corfu tomorrow, DD is not happy and fair enough but tough. Have been spreading her birthday celebrations out since Saturday to try and make Thursday less of a big deal but it can't make up for it, I am just a rotten mum going away on her birthday. I have now knitted friendship bracelets for the big two to wear while we are gone! Have been having daily dreams about missing transport connections and forgetting children at stations. Funny that.

Kurt can say thank you! Well claghcloogh but he says it in context. Now I feel redeemed for never teaching my kids to say 'ta' (yuck yuck yuck would rather people thought them rude LOL but that's another MN debate.) He is just being adorable lately, really interacting with people and being quite soppy with me. Has also toughened up a bit in order to play with the big two so they are happy they can 'push' him further iyswim.

Foghorn Couldn't resist giving my 2centsworth on your debate - for us, we are really looking forward to being baby-free and having DS2 old enough to join in with the others more. Tomorrow will be 7yrs of daily pushchair-pushing and nappy changing and getting skinter by the minute. I'm not planning to go back to work for another year but I am looking forward to taking the financial pressure off DH a very little. DH & I are currently at a really happy point, despite having no money and him still being on anti-Ds, so are thinking if it aint broke don't fix it.

Hots Home Ed as a temporary filler would be fun (if your DH was up for it.) He could just do it til your LO gets to the top of the waiting list. It's not hard at that age. HE is big in Southampton, I do get a little sometimes. Also when's DD's birthday? She's eligible for a free 15hrs at pre-school til she turns 5 - perhaps there's a Montessori / hippy school nearby that blurs the year lines and accepts the funding?

DS says ta, but then so do I

The sun is popping over the horizon now. I will go have a chat with it and tell it to promptly shine on all parts UK!

VG I love your rambles.

I believe we are going to take a drive today. We never have as I feel we are in the truck so much normal that a drive would NOT be vacation related. However the thought of having blackbean soup appeals to me soooo Apalachicola here we come. A little restaurant called Tamara's has my name on it.

Why is it all I've done is sit and eat on this trip. Well really not SIT SIT since I've been chasing Reese most of the time. Lordy that child is not afraid of anything.

Sun's up now. Must run to catch it before it gets too high in the sky.

foggy, please dont' be ordinarily I would be more than happy to debate the larger family but am having difficulty getting my head around it all

ladies, I do believe I have just launched myself out of the Trust/Cafe project - angrily typed emails have been sent this morning and whilst now is not the time to be making rash life changing decisions I also believe that it is too short to be dealing with this bunch of utter wankers

what to do with under qualified/hectic life now

TS Surely it has Tamara's name on it?

Dizzy Sit back and enjoy the free time. Take up knitting! I am now totally hooked and have just completed the bag part of a little backpack for Kurt.

I forgot to mention the other day, I was trawling FB and suddenly realised that my ex-boyfriend has had a baby with his new partner. Very happy for them both, but it feels a little weird - not really sure why since I finished the relationship (because I was in love with DP).

Anyway, was most amused to note which name they chose for their little boy. I bet you can't guess!

By George Buckets I believe you are right!

Cyteen shrug it off. Water under the bridge.

Dizzy I don't believe you did/wrote anything wrong. Sometimes a bit of housecleaning is necessary. Decluttering some of the CRAP of life allows for better living.

Showered! Thought ya'll would like to know.

TS yes, it is...thinking about it now, I think it's more a touch of envy/nostalgia for those heady newborn firstborn days again, rather than anything specifically to do with him. Rather like how I sometimes feel nostalgic for our ante-natal threads, when August came and someone was popping every day It was so exciting!

[broody]

Sounds like you're having a lovely vacation. I hope you're getting enough relaxation time in, after all your hard work.

Cyteen it won't be long before you can get pg again and relive the piles heartburn exhaustion heady joys of pregnancy and life with a newborn

Dizzy I am so cross that you seem to be surrounded by twats on many sides Is there any way all those who commented on the planning can take back their approval now, or at least get the committee sacked????

We are also a 'ta' household, maybe something to do with being northern? Although DS can now say 'ankoo' too , in fact he can do 3-word sentences now [proud] my favourite of which is 'no dungarees mummy'

Thanks for thoughts on home schooling Cyteen and Buckets, having looked at the bus timetables we could actually get her to the school she would go to if we didn't move in less than 20 minutes door to door so not such a massive journey after all. Maybe we will actually move after all

Afternoon, just flying through

Just waiting for DD1 to wake up and then off shopping or to the PYO, will let her decide

Foggy, sounds like the only 'real' downside to 4 is holiday plans and maybe a bit of 1-1 time/DD's hobbies. TBH i think they will all keep each other entertained far better than 'organised' stuff which we all go to because we feel we ought to . On that basis i would say go for it, only 3 more years and you would be on the independence trail again which is not so long in the big scheme of things

hots am very excited for you as we are not allowed to move . Not that i really want to or anything but i love the moving house excitement (excluding all the hard toil of course)

Yay buckets for DS2 and his toughening up and increasing interactions. Is brilliant seeing their little characters emerge

No Ta or thankyou, DD2 just uses the sign for it. Usually because her mouth is stuffed full of the food she has just requested and us saying thankyou for

TS i do believe i have been to Apalachicola. Don't remember Tamara though

Cyteen LOL at the name, but you can be smug in having got there first, so it is by rights 'yours'