Minsters Sidecar Bumping Along - ttc graduates thread 4

[lucyrp]

Hey girls! I've gone ahead and created a follow up thread for us all. Let's hope we have some more ladies joining us from over on the other thread! ❤️

Oh also I just went to take the washing out I put in earlier & realised I still had it on tumble dry from the towels yesterday. So clothes not only not washed but no doubt too small now. 😩😩

And I've got homemade butternut squash & finer soup for lunch so that's allowed right @larrythelizard?!

Ooo and the jeggings from matalan great yesterday, just normal ones not maternity so I've now got 2 sets of jeggings that fit nice for now & bit thicker than leggings so that's good for a few weeks I think

@Sunbird24 yes, I see exactly why they do what they do. Its just hard for us impatient ones. 🤣
@Minster2012 i thought you were showing me a photo of mince pies then! 🤮 That's more like it. 😁 Were you told not to have internal scans? Too many of those definitely seems like a bad idea to me. Not sure what to say about the clothes, thankfully my washer doesn't have that feature. 🤣 I have no idea what I'm doing for the most part. I just had a conversation with my mum about going up for Christmas Dinner and she was like- we are coming to you this year? 🤦‍♀️ Oh yeah! People would be starving if they depend on me. Let's hope DH has more of a handle on it. 🤣

Oooh @larrythelizard I hope you're a millionaire!

@paintfairy also not a mince pie fan, I think most British traditional Christmas food is pretty unappetising 🤢 oh you best pull your finger out on the Christmas front then 😂 whooops

@Vil10 fantastic excuse with your mum, she timed that quite nicely 🙈 bonus for you!

Still no call back from GP on my UTI, procrastinating at work as an office day so spent an hour working out how much maternity leave is going to cost me 😆

Speaking of maternity costs @larrythelizard when you do tell work it's worth asking if they'll honour the company maternity pay even if you got pregnant early.

@bez91 how bad is it looking? I don't want to think about it.

As the accountant I am I was already fantasising about the JISA I'll be setting up after the baby is born next year 😆

@Minster2012 butternut squash and... Ginger? Yuck, not my cup of tea if it was ginger!

@paintfairy you don't eat mince pies?? Not a fan of cheese?? What do you eat missy?

False alarm on the lottery, was £10 on the thunderball

I think I'll try and have a conversation with my boss @Juno231 but it's a pretty big company so I don't hold out much hope that it won't be SMP. With DS, i had 10months off and DH had 2months, we're vaguely thinking that he'll have a bit longer off this time. All filed under 'problems for another day' as there's a long way to go still!

Both the soup and the pie things meet my approval @Minster2012, more nutritious than my meals of dry wraps and dry shreddies today washed down with herbal tea and sprite!!

@Juno231 right now, toast and ham sandwiches. 🤣 I do eat cheese though. Just wouldn't eat a cheeseboard. I'm missing stilton in my life.....
Mince pies are vile. I just don't see the point? 🤷‍♀️
@bez91 yeah, I wouldn't eat Christmas pudding either?

I haven't actually put DH onto the picture with maternity pay. Ours is quite good but even so. I haven't worked it out.... I don't dare!

@paintfairy Stilton is allowed! From memory it's even on the NHS list of allowed foods

@larrythelizard if it's a big company then all the more reason they might do it! In my line of work it's relatively common that the company just goes yeah whatever.

@Juno231 what?! I thought blue cheese wasn't? Trots off to look.....

@paintfairy yes I was told no more internal scans after I had to have 2 however I had a huge blood clot so that's more why but I think it and be great. Is your DH a good cook? I don't like mince pies you see either @bez91 and was the mat lay good or bad?? Stilton def ok. I've got a whole load of knowledge on what cheeses I can eat 😂, also having steak tomorrow night

@Juno231 the JISA 😂will you go pure cash or stocks and shares? What about your spreadsheet for the nappy changes?! Yep was ginger.

@larrythelizard ive had beef monster munch too I'm afraid but also on the sprite, maybe good for weight loss?!

@paintfairy very first bullet point!

@Minster2012 s&s ISA fo sho! I had beef monster munch at lunch yesterday 🤔

I'll be continuing to have my beef medium rare (I'd prefer it rare but some compromises are necessary) @clolo - I think it's not recommended in case you get food poisoning rather than because it might harm the baby and I trust DH to cook it properly (he cooks the meat in this house)

@clolo ive had to avoid beef roasts as I hate them not pink but for that reason I don't order them when out for Sunday lunch anyway so I'm like @larrythelizard said for the meat it's the bacteria (which is on the outside) so I shall be doing the steak "black and blue" well a bit more rare than blue but fast & high in a smoking pan so that will kill the bacteria

@Juno231 DS's S&S ISA is outperforming ours & has been since we did it as we went a bit more risky 😂 beef monster munch for the win. Love them

@paintfairy ahh yes I remember reading thst now! That's what OH was going to have to do to go and watch football tonight but it's been cancelled anyway due to one of the teams having a covid outbreak!!

@Minster2012 it's gone surprisingly quick, it only feels like last week I was making the appointment!! Ooo those chocolate and clementine tarts sound lovely, and extra Christmassy!! Yesss to the jeggings being a good fit!!

@larrythelizard fill us in on your wins!! Just scrolled, but you're a tenner richer than you were this morning

@paintfairy @bez91 mince pie hater over here too!!

@bez91 we think hers was from her booster, she said it yesterday and has been throwing up all day bless her, she's never ever ill! Is mat pay looking scary?

@Juno231 fill me in on this JISA??🤣 my parents opened an account for me and my sister when we were born and put all Christmas/birthday/christening money in there and put some in every month from their own money, then when we turned 17 they gave us our cards and told us we could go and buy our first car with it, but couldn't use it all, little did we know until about 4 years ago that my dad has just been updating the bank when we got older (changing from a children's account to student to adult etc) and he's still been putting money in, he said for "my grandchildren, your weddings or just a rainy day", and that's something both me and my OH have said we'd love to do!!

@paintfairy I didn't know Stilton was allowed either until @Minster2012 told me the other week as I was craving a broccoli and Stilton soup!!

So I've had my booking appointment through today for the 10th Jan when I'll be just over 10 weeks, it seems so scary!! I've had a lot of nausea and retching again today and little niggly cramps!! Almost 7 days until early scan, not that I'm counting down or anything

@clolo i don't know. I thought pate was bad full stop?
@Vil10 how ironic they've got covid. 🤣

And yay for the mince pie hating club ! 🎉
I think we might have to have steak! I've been avoiding it but if cooked sensibly at home, I can't see the issue?

@clolo yes the risk lies with the high vitamin A content in paté due to the liver. My girlfriends sent me mushroom paté and pregnancy friendly cheeses last week which I gobbled up quickly 🥰

@Vil10 ah exciting! Can't wait to self refer as well. A JISA is just a junior ISA, which means it has the benefit of being tax free on the gains. You can choose a cash one or a stocks and shares one (the latter is best for most people). The thing is it'll be in the kids name so they'll have automatic access to it when they turn 18 (no access at all before then) - this can be tricky if they're teenage shits that are likely to squander it all 😆. It is by far the most tax efficient way to save for kids though - and friends/family could feel more comfortable adding money to the JISA than to you in the hopes you'll save it for baba. Eg I have a friend that I know would have just spent any money we'd given her kids so me and my friends badgered her into getting a JISA pretty early on so she couldn't get her hands on the birthday money 🤑

@clolo I'd perhaps stick with your mum's one as meat patés could have a small risk of listeria still.

@clolo @Juno231 Apparently it's the risk of listeria, even in vegetarian pâtés, which I didn't know about until had a look after this thread.

I think it's the vitamin A with liver pâté too though.

It's only a week tomorrow @Vil10, that's proper countdown territory 🥰 ahhh @Juno231has explained, yes could have been what your dad did or similar. Each adult can also put aside £20,000 per tax year into their own cash or stocks & shares ISA tax free but like Juno said the junior one is locked for that account holder until they are 18. We have stocks & shares ones for X (& us) & last year a few ppl chose to put birthday money in there as we said he didn't need anything.

I'm also wanting to start a pate hating club is no one with me?? I hate all pate, just can't stand the texture

On the flip side, BabyCentre website (( www.babycentre.co.uk/x536435/is-it-safe-to-eat-pate-during-pregnancy )) says to avoid pate during pregnancy but says if you have eaten it, the likelihood of getting listeria is low. 🤷‍♀️

I've heard of listeria outbreaks in packaged sandwiches before - yet they're not advised against. I guess it's all just risk of different levels isn't it?!

And I had a steak at 8 weeks @paintfairy the night before a scan I had. I worked on the same principle but tomorrow will be the next time so then twice in 17weeks!