40's + Mums and Mums to Be.

[johnworf]

Hello, good evening, and welcome. Our ovaries are tired and withered but we've still managed it despite what the Daily Mail says!

Come on in for a gossip, cake, parenting tips and the nonstop drivel interesting chat.

Newbies welcome :-)

tee Verity loathed the Baby Bjorn - just not an ABBA kinda gal I guess I just always found my back ached too - even when they were small. Mmmm, me a slings - I'm just too much of a weakling!

jw You sounded posher on the radio than you do on the blower! Not that you sound common (digs hole, buries self, plans to stay there a while!) No, it's that you sounded quite rounded of vowels and husky!

I know what you mean about going out - with Verity it can be quite an effort as she shrieks when she sees me leave DP's sis is babysitting tonight but we've hardly got the energy to go anywhere and nothing special we can think of doing...any suggestions?!

I think Star trek sounds like a plan. I bet we end up seeing a film - no idea what's on.

What do you think of the woman who lied to get a place at the school and now the fraud charges have been droppped. I'm divided. I'd be livid if she nicked my place but living in an area where our local school SATs were 32% (as opposed to 97-100% where IRis is at pre-school!) I can see why you'd break the rules. Mmmm, hard one. Why can't these crap schools be bought into line???????

hallo all

D being a bit demanding wee bugger today so couldn't get on earlier but did manage to hear you jw and you sounded great, very measured and natural and not a whit of nerves by the sound of you. Am v impressed. You are clearly a natural at this malarky.

just had massive downpour here and it has cooled down nicely. Went black as pitch for ages though.

Right, got to see about getting ourselves ready for town to get some weekend meats from the one remaining decent butcher in the whole city!
Ou steriliser has died - which is an arse t this stage of the game. Anyone got any good recommends for a good one? Cheap as well since it will only be needed for a few more months.

JW I thought you were a star!!! Very clear and concise ...you made me cry when you spoke of K looking like a little bird (now you know why I named my lost lo 'Robyn')...just as you said in the paper, you were generous in your praise of the nursing staff but put your point (about being left without facts, possibilities, options, and support making those first weeks hell)across very well without being overly emotive. Bravo!!! I hope you have a fab time watching Star Trek ..sounds like a good option to me. (star trek ... [whistfull emoticon].. I won't get to see that until after dh gets back from "holiday")

Feeling a bit miffed this today...got a phonecall a couple of days ago asking me to dsing a tricky role in September with my friend conducting and my fave artistic director...I was flattered and thrilled they wanted me... but the festival director has vetoed me because I would need to take Alex (and dh as baby sitter)...idiot says they have had problems in the past with singers not committed to the opera because of children becoming sick!(and other things)...can't believe his attitude...amateur!!!!! ...

...sorry, just needed to vent...

jw - liked your spot on Woman's Hour, you came across very well - gently spoken but at the same time very articulate, intelligent and reasonable. Good stuff!

ermintrude - welcome to lovely, lovely Arthur! Have just checked out your pictures - impressed by the well-timed hb as well. Your older dcs look pleased with him too!

Re: the clique mummies and too-nice mummies. It does take some persistance to find people to click with, doesn't it? It can be quite wearing trying to negotiate the unspoken aspects, particularly. Or perhaps I find this harder being a bit rubbish at social chitchat (typical Doctor Who fan. btw jw I notice you are a Trekkie - wanna fight?!)

I do remember when dd was a few weeks old and another mum said, 'They're such a joy, aren't they?' Considering my (gorgeous but) colicky little screamer, I was very tempted to misquote Douglas Adams and say, 'Hmm, a definition of the word 'joy' of which I wasn't previously aware'. Probably a good thing I didn't.

JW was catching up on sleep but will use Listen Again v soon!

Iris that's precisely the kind of comment that would make my eyes light up. I have a friend I met at a playgroup and the moment I decided we'd get on was when I hardly knew her and she came back from her 12 -wk scan of DC#3 feeling slightly teary that it was her 3rd boy and slightly embarrassed at the teariness. 'Still,' she sniffed, 'DH says that's not a good enough reason to get rid of it so I suppose I'll have to get used to the idea of 3 boys.' Shocked silence from one half of those present, big chortle from the others, including me . (And she loves her 3rd boy to bits of course).

Arthur slept for 4 hrs 8am-12noon. Hmmm, just need to get him started a bit earlier... in the night he's waking every half hour and feeding for well over that but the milk is well and truly in now so we shall see.

He's crying again, must dash.

JW just caught you on the iplayer, you sounded great, very calm and measured and a darn sight more interesting than the article on mixed doubles .

Oh Dear! I think O is starting to crawl forwards, he is totally obsessed with paper at the moment and will somehow get to any that is lying around

Floria what an ar*e, I don't suppose you had a contract so you could sue????

Iris it sounds like you could have all your family around you while you are in labour .

floria would that man do the same thing to a male performer? I'd have him for sex discrimination. Terrible behaviour towards someone with a child. (appalled emoticon).

hedgepig O is doing fab. Crawling already! K is sat here by my desk playing with matches and a live plug. Oh what a good mummy I am

Well this week has been really good. The paper and the radio aside, I won my very first competition! I won 6 x assorted Ej Sikke Lej bibs from Bambino Goodies website. I needed new bibs too and these are £6.50 each (I would never in a million years pay that much for a bib). Oh I'm so bloody happy I never win anything.

Oh wow - jw they're so cool - well done you!

floria what an ASS, an amatuer, a TWAT [stunned face emoticon] Do people like that still exist?? OK, I kind of thought they might in a grey-suited office building but darling...not in the theatre.....runs off with hand on forehead...needing a lie down* I'm be fuming. I'm fuming for you

hedgepig nail everything down...NOW!

stormfly if you'd have said that quote to me I'd have howled!!! Brilliant! And erm I like the cut of your friend's jib! SOunds like young Arthur will soon be firmly told the difference between day and night

mrsB no hints on sterilisers I'm afraid - got ours from Freecycle and never used it.

mrsb why you still sterilising???? We stopped ages ago on HV's instructions. Ours is under the cot awaiting free cycle instructions

stormfly have used that quote myself many times. But I'm a sarcy cow

ermintrude haha at the woman in playgroup. I bet the look of horror on the other mums faces. Oh, where is a camera when you need one?

mrsB or steraliser broke too, I just god a microwave/cold water one from Tesco it works fine.
got to go and get B from school

V annoyed with Eye Hospital. We had to leave after 2 eye exams on Tuesday as we had to get DSS from school. In the end we were late after 2 hours in the clinic. Had to tell receptionist couldn't see doctor as were running late and as things were all fine from the exams, then all we needed was another appointment through the post. OK she said...................

............today have had an appointment letter from eye hospital. We have to go again a week Tuesday to SEE BLOODY DOCTOR! Nothing is wrong we just have to finish off the consultation with doctor who will tell us that he will see us again in XXXXX number of weeks! God I'm fed up with this bureaucracy. I've spoken to her consultant's secretary who told me it 'was procedure'. Now I have to do another 2 hours waiting in there for no good reason.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

jw could this be why the NHS soaks money like a sponge..? It's the small things that add up. My mate in Oxford works for a PCT.....she's been by the sheer volume of wasted resources etc and how institutionalised people are. She's come from the private sector and says no one has the power to change or simplify things.....GGGggrrr on your behalf!

JW that would make me furious. What a waste of your and their time.

Do these people think that us mother's have nothing better to do? What if I worked for an employer? Do they assume I could get a whole afternoon off at the drop of a hat?

I have worked for the NHS myself in the past. No one can change it because it's wheels within wheels within wheels........

WOW!

I've just been informed by MN that I've won a competition that I did. It's for an online maths tutor for DSS. Two competition wins in one day..

....off to buy a lottery ticket!!!!!!!!!!

phew back from town, a tad damp but done my exercise for the day - 'ere ladies - as of today I have lost 24lbs!! although horrifically I don't look that much thinner yet. Another 3 stone to go. Ho Hum

Ehm I thought we were supposed to sterilise up to 12 months? I haven't seen my hv since D was a few weeks old ( I think they have bigger fish to fry in the locale ) so I never find out this stuff.

jw what rot re the hospital - if there was a problem fine but when there isn't its a bureaucratic nonsense.

Am loving these sarky comments btw One good thing about working full time is that D gets all his fun and playmates on tap at nursery and I don't have to enter the fray of cliquey mumminess...

mrsb fabulous news on the weight loss. Glad you're sticking at it and reaping the rewards

When I asked my HV about 12 months sterilising, especially for a prem, she said that they only advise up to 12 months when (at this point she did a theatrical look around my living room) needed. K was fine to have her bottles straight from the dishwasher. Off the record she told me they only advise to people who have filthy houses.

Sorry, that should read 'they only advise to sterilise to people who have filthy houses'

Hope that makes sense.

Ah yes mrsb but the harridans will get you at the school gates instead

hmmm...

/looks round midden living room and wonders what hv would make of it...

MRSB my sil swears by the microwave sterilisers, she loved her cheapo one from Tesco...I was given a plug in huge thing from the neighbour but barely used it...you'd be welcome to it but it would cost more in P&P than it is worth.

Hedgepig JJ JW, thank you for the moral support and reflecting my exact feelings on the subject...sadly only asked by musical director on the phone, no contract, no official offer....the festival director is so up his own behind its unbelievable... apprently he asked the MD if "that Russian girl who was on Cardiff Singer of the World" was available? ...as in the one that won?...not for that little festival, not for that role and certainly not for even ten times the money being offered and especially not on his "terms".....definate amateur!(with no disrespect to genuine amateurs....I only use that word to diss supposed professionals)... thanks for making me feel vindicated I'm a lot calmer now

JW Wow what a week..stardom and competition wins...get an extra lottery ticket for me will you....I actually bought one this week (first time in years)...as 6 magpies landed in the earth patch that is our garden...using the "1 for sorrow.." etc adage I reckon I'm due some gold

ta floria they are cheap enough anyway but I think I am persuaded to stop sterilising. It's not as if the boy goes short of challenges to his immune system normally but the nasty pathogens that live in milk are supposed to cause v nasty dose of gastro- enteritis so I have been strict about sterilising.

meant to say sorry about the stupid discriminatory man - what a dick! A person's reputation should be what they are judged on not whether or not they have children. I hope a better opportunity comes along instead!

grow on milk residues I meant, not live in milk (to think I have microbiology qualifications )

mrsb I doubt they sterilise at his nursery

I remember when I asked HV about the milk residue - I was very worried about that aspect also - she said that the temp of a normal cycle in the dishwasher was ample to get rid of it. If not dishwasher, then hand hot soapy water. I dispensed with K's steriliser about a month ago and she's been fine