Dec 08 Ladies - Maybe this thread they'll ALL sleep through the night at the same time!

[Beans33]

Apologies for rubbish title, couldn't think of anything - mind is totally riddled by hormones...!

Oh veggie sorry cross-posted. Please don't feel bad! You were not to know that he had hurt his finger. Could you try taking him our for a walk in the pram to get him to sleep and end up somewhere where DS1 can have a run around and you can get some fresh air?

JB haha, my DH has said similar before. AFter having DS I said, it's not fair, my stomach's massive, it used to be flat...and he said "Well not COMPLETELY flat no" Thanks.

Random DH comment of the week here:
DH: Are you wearing your armoured preganancy pants yet?

I have no idea what armoured pregnancy pants are, I own nor have ever owned such things!!

My meet up photos are still on DH's camera, will try and get them off over the weekend.

Oh Veg you poor lady. What a horrible thing to happen. Don't beat yourself up though, you will remember it all long, long after the boys have forgotten every detail. Are you sure you shut his finger in the door and he didn't just hurt himself with all the banging?

Trace - your description of your day with Lu inspired me to make chocolate milkshakes with DD1 just now as DD2 slept. Thank you so much, we had great fun. Then we drank them in the garden and inspired by Nolda I stripped DD1 to her knickers. Then when she had done the inevitable and covered herself I'm milkshake is showered her with the watering can. We were both laughing so loudly that our neighbour popped her head over the fence to see what we going on. By the way it is no nice to hear you sounding happy again.

Zoe - I missed your post last night and am now chuckling away that your DH was inspired by a show designed to motivate pre-schoolers. Classic! Loved your pics of the meet too.

Jolly - littlejolly and littlestavo are identical. Seriously! Little blond baldies. I love that look!

Off to see a friend who is 38 weeks preggers now. Her DD1 was born on the same day as my DD1. V excited to see her and so is DD1 who is going to suggest she name her baby "The Wicked Witch of the West" with the middle name Dorothy. If I am pregnant I clearly can't let her have a hand in the naming...

Terrible typo there (amongst many other of my regular typos - can you guys even read my posts?) Trace I meant it's SO nice to hear you happy, "no nice" was my iPhone changing things without me noticing.

Bah, I am going to have a me rant here as no-one else to rant to who will listen to me.

Bloody DH's work - bunch of shitheads, he is going to a conference next week (leave early Monday morning, back late Friday, away all week, no help in teh evenings, etc). Well all fine, that's what jobs are like these days, right. But now he tells me tomorrow he has to go the airport as customs has problems with the stuff for the conference next week. It's 40 mins drive away but I bet by the time he's found the place and faffed around this will take at least 3 hrs round trip. Still, all fine, I guess, as he earns a good wage, etc. But his work, if he asks to leave at say 3pm, or have any flexible time off, eg for an appointment at the Building Society, say "no you have to take holiday". He is only allowed a lunch break at 1pm. It's really starting to piss me off!!! Especially as I wanted us to start throwing stuff out, going to the tip with stuff getting ready for moving tomorrow and I KNOW we won't get it done with him being gone doing this for half a day tomorrow, and we have friends coming on Sunday (I think). Really don't think I can start clearing out the loft on my own with DS around. Sigh. Very grumpy now.

Oh AND he spent a significant amount of our evenings on holiday doing bloody work as well!! Plus making phone calls in the day time.

Poor Veggie don't beat yourself up, you weren't to know! That's the trouble with our little shouty ones - cry wolf...!

Am feeling a bit as DD got up at 4.45am today. DH promptly announced "Oh she wants you" and buggered off to work at about 6am. Bah. And just before he goes to World Bloody Cup (as it is officially known) for a month too. BAD man [brandishes whip]

Veggie you can keep that halo for a while - I had the most disgustingly piggy all-you-can-eat greasy lunch today. Ugh.

Oh - quick bit of advice needed - can anyone recommend a good travel cot? We've had our friends for months and have finally given it back (bad us) so we really need one of our own. Theirs was an absolute nightmare to put up/get down. Anyone got a good, cheapish one they recommend?

Veggie, you poor thing. There's no way to know exactly what happened but yes, I'd have had a little weep too. Can you all snuggle up this eve with a tv dinner and a lg glass of cheerfulness (for you, obv)?

Hi ladies thankyou do much for your messages i'm feeling a little less wicked witch of the west (as it appears to be a legitimate name) and he seems to still
love me. We went out shortly after for a little meet up
with the ANZWC girls and their offspring at the beach. We chose a bar to meet up in which has a brilliant beach play tower and slide thing. I decided to catch the tram to the beach rather than ride as I figured DS2 would sleep in the pushchair on the way and then I could relax and have a bev or 2. But of course he didn't sleep. But suprisingly he stayed quite cheerful and both boys had a whale of a time. I let DS2 roam and only lost him twice. Unfortunately there is a big beach concert tomorrow and the stage is at our end of the beach so instead of a nice view of the North sea we had a huge stage and temporary fence as far as the eye could see. However it helped to contain the wee ones. It was lovely I indulged in 2 ice cold beers and had a lovely natter. Finally on the way home DS2 crashed and I'm attempting to settle him into bed. He had an extra lunch at 3pm as he decided to eat a large amount of my late lunch and he hasn't slept and played hard so I'm hoping he will stay asleep now. Whether he sleeps through is another matter.

Kiwi I'm having pizza tonight so halo will slide off with all the cheese grease.

Sorry about your DH's work summer. It's funny isn't it that the media gets so judgey about working mums yet if kids saw a bit more of their dads it would have to be beneficial. Yet you don't see the media bagging dads who work late! Really I think it is more likely that a culture of late working and long hours plus high stress would have to be worse than mums who go to work a few days a week.

Kiwi I think a lot are much much of a muchness but the one I wouldn't recommend is a pop up tent one (we had the bushbaby nest egg after seeing rave reviews on here). It had one or two outings but we couldn't fold it up properly and it got all bent out of shape and ununsable . A v expensive mistake.

Summer I think you're right, I should probably call in a favour from a local friend as I think it's v likely I'll have an even faster labour this time. I agree I would be v happy to come and do a mad dash to pick up a child in the middle of the night, I just don't think I could ask that of others, which is stupid. Anyway, T has a lovely little friend he knows well who's about a 10 min drive away so I'll ask his mum.

I feel very angry on your behalf about your DH's work. Companies think they can take the piss in the current climate and "people should be grateful to have a job". Also a decent wage does not mean he should be exploited, it probably means he's worked hard to get where he is and takes on extra responsibility. I also sympathise about the working on holiday thing.

Veggie, you poor poor thing. How has this afternoon been? Please remember you are a fantastic mum and the boys will forget this incident v quickly. I recommend a large vino as Effie suggested.

Summer
dh used to say I had my barbed wire undies on when I was pg as I was so uninterested in sex

Just bought ds one of these but didn't get it till almost bedtime so he watched me fill it up and got very excited, so have told him tomorrow he can try it out

Kiwi we were given a travel cot which is from Mama's and Papa's and looks exactly like this one It is a little heavy but really easy to put up and down (having said that I'm not sure how heavy they usually are so it might be average)
I also have one of these which I love but it's only good until they can sit up on their own so I think we had to stop using it at about 6 months.

Feeling better. I had my pizza et al. DH was home just after nine and with DS2 waking up and needing settling at 8.30 I didn't really get much of an evening to myself. But DH has bought the new car home and it's brilliant. Hope we can go for a spin tomorrow. DH is raving as it has park assist and he loves it, it parks itself!

Well apart from waking at 8.30 DS2 has stayed settled so fingers crossed for the night.

Gotta tell you sonething funny. DH took the car back
today so washed it a couple of days ago with the boys. It had a lot of bird poo on it so in his infinite boy wisdom he took to it with a scourer! Yes he managed to scour off a decent amount of paint. He then told me we will probably have to pay one of the excesses?!?! One, how many are there? Well it turns out he gave DS1 a scourer too and he managed to do some damage on the bonnet. I wouldn't mind so much, but he did the same thing a few years ago with a Peugeot we had that got something on it. How can seemingly intellegent men be so stupid. He knows loads about engines and, well you know car stuff, but he can't seem to fathom that paint comes off with a scourer.

Oh & Spot forgot to say. I started the prelabour contraction things at around midnight, so left DS1 asleep then at 7.30 I woke DH & DS1 and because I felt ok I was happy to hang on to DS1 for a bit but he had football at 9am and was keen to go so our designated childcare friends came and got DS1 took him to football and then kept him for the rest of the day. Their son was due to go to a birthday party so they rang the birthday boys mum & ok'd it for DS1 to come too & even bought a present for him to take to the party. They were very good. We had key to their house so at around 11pm when all had settled down and the house was cleaned up and the midwife gone, DH popped around to their house and picked DS1 up & he met his new brother and we all slept that night in our room together. Thinking back on it now it was quite lovely. They were willing to pick him up anytime of day or night and were quite honoured to be asked. We did the same for them when they went into labour.

Oh veggie that is very funny. My younger brother once scraped snow off my bonnet with an ice scraper but he has learning disabilities so I couldn't be too mad! I did ask him to clear my windscreen.

summer Grrrrrrrr, that is very annoying. A workplace that expects work to be done out of hours shouldn't be so strict. Like the sound of the armoured knickers though, good for contraception post-baby .

Avo I do think I'd struggle with a child with proper hair. Are you not going to test?

kiwi I got this one I bought it because of the good reviews and it really is v easy to put up, seems comfy etc. JL do it cheap, cheap, cheap too.

Have good weekends everyone.

JB - nude cleaning??? my mind is boggling

VG - sorry to hear about the finger incident - i second those who said you will remember it way longer than ds

avo - when are you testing??? fingers crossed for you

daisy - i keep a photo of my mum's grave (and one of her alive) in my purse. because her grave is so beautiful (it's in germany - they take way more care over their cemeteries there than here).

first session with dh was fine - it was actually an assessment session and we basically told the lady everything about ourselves and our history together - it was actually lovely to really sit and talk. we do far to much watching tv together. i was so proud of him - he was so nervous and scared, but was being brave about it. and as a result simply of going we are getting on better, i think. but next week is when things start getting serious, i reckon.

madam and i had a great day today - morning on hampstead heath with a friend, only a 30 min nap which made me nervous, but she was wonderful this afternoon - got the paddling pool out, played in the garden, took her upstairs to put the new sheets on our bed and we played tents under the duvet for about an hour - she is being a dream child at the moment. must savour it. lovely weekends to all...

oh, and seeing mrs smuggy smugness's new baby daughter tomorrow morning. humph...

there was a conversation a while back about needing time on your own? I feel like I've got the opposite problem. Feel like all week I'm with ds (which I love) and when dh gets home he's usually knackered and the evening goes so quick then the weekend comes and he has now gone on the bike for 6 hours.... ds screamed when he left and I know he has this massive race coming up but on a normal weekend, he would still get on the bike unless I "suggest" things to do. He asked me if I would object but I know he has to train etc, but on a normal month / weekend / with no races coming up etc, although he doesn't ride as much, I feel that if he knew I didn't care at all how much he went off on the bike he would go out more then too. I often wonder if he's just staying home or doing stuff with us because he feels he has to.... I don't know.... The stupid part is, that if I've ever made my own plans when he isn't at work or planning a ride, he seems at a real loose end and bugs me about when I'll be home so it doesn't make sense. He said he'll see me about 1pm but I said I probably won't be here cause I was pissed off (and tired since ds is very trying this morning)
ds has been really whiny, he has 3 teeth coming through and he's just following me around with his whole fist stuck in his mouth. I've just given him more calbupfofen....

WG glad things are looking up in your camp. Miss Smuggy would not want to be my friend at the moment!

Avo when are you testing?

Oh Vaggie - why are men so smart with some things and stupid with others. dh wouldn't do that but he's done some equally dumbass things which just make me and

Daisy I mention it all the time and if I get pissed off he will then just not go but then that's not a solution either. He says he doesn't have any imagination and can't "think of what we can all do" - he did say the other day we should go to the Lido with ds but then it never happens unless I enforce it. Its actually not relevant at the moment I spose as he clearly has to go on these rides or he won't survive the race, so I guess I will see how things go after it.
Thing is, I just want him to want to do stuff with us above the bike occasionally without feeling like I have to always initiate.

In db-gate news, I did send another 2 liner email to reinforce that I am not refusing them tickets, I'm just only helping if he calls and apologizes and explains a few of his lies and crappy attitude towards me. He replied with a pleasant but short email saying they are going to "make their own way over and will let us know when they have dates and hope to catch up with us in the UK" wtf? Typical - just WILL NOT swallow his pride, and would rather pay 4 times the price than explain and apologize! Or perhaps it's all just bluffing, or perhaps it's all her... I don't know, but then got a normal type phone photo forwarded to me like nothing is wrong. Dunno how I feel about it really but it's not going to be like we can all act like we're the Walton's when they see us - fact is, he still won't apologize. But whatever, I will see them etc but it won't be the same until he explains his lies to me.

Daisy shame you aren't near us - I would like to do something today as I'm bored too, but we will go in the new paddling pool this afternoon.... Might even get some Pimms

Yeah, It'll be very very interesting to see if he actually does buy full fare for all of them. He has only just told me that he had to take a 25k pay cut at work and has recently said he bought another house - who does that when they have been given a pay cut? Probably more bs....
There isn't much alcohol in Pimms right?

excellent..... to the shop I go....