April Munchkins 2013- enjoying our wonderful babies!

[Steph82]

Awe Kristabella, I hope today goes better for you!! Days like that can really get to you!!!

Kristy, Yay for the gender scan!! I guess you will be the first possible chance for the bits to take over

ReadytoMum, Can you order on OldNavy.com and just sent it to your parents house? We do have alot of places to buy stuff, but they are not always cheap either

Lily, i'm so jealous that you are almost done with work... I guess I will continue to be jealous with every UK lady going on maternity leave, while us US ladies wait for our water to break at work

AFM, did some craigslist shopping yesterday and came accross someone who is selling the stroller and carseat I want, as well as the High chair and swing. All items are brand new in the original box and I am getting them at almost 50% off and don't have to pay sales tax . The lady selling them is in Miami, so I will need to drive 45 min after work to go pick them up. FXed that everything is as described!!
I also found a used nursery furniture set (crib, changing table/ dresser, bookshelf, and glider) for sale that looks to be in great condition. They are asking $500 for everything, but I think I can get it for less . I may take a drive there this weekend to check the stuff out. Everything new that OH and I found (that we both liked) was $500 for the crib alone... so we decided that we would be happy with a high quality used furniture set (rather then buying low end brand new).

 

[lily28]

Lily, i'm so jealous that you are almost done with work... I guess I will continue to be jealous with every UK lady going on maternity leave, while us US ladies wait for our water to break at work

AFM, did some craigslist shopping yesterday and came accross someone who is selling the stroller and carseat I want, as well as the High chair and swing. All items are brand new in the original box and I am getting them at almost 50% off and don't have to pay sales tax . The lady selling them is in Miami, so I will need to drive 45 min after work to go pick them up. FXed that everything is as described!!
I also found a used nursery furniture set (crib, changing table/ dresser, bookshelf, and glider) for sale that looks to be in great condition. They are asking $500 for everything, but I think I can get it for less . I may take a drive there this weekend to check the stuff out. Everything new that OH and I found (that we both liked) was $500 for the crib alone... so we decided that we would be happy with a high quality used furniture set (rather then buying low end brand new).

Actually I'm not in UK, I'm in EU, and I'm not taking maternity leave . I 'm a freelancer right now and I quit for as long as I see I will need time off. My (wishful thinking) plan is to work from home after baby arrives. We will see how it goes. I wasn't making much money anyways times are hard for freelancers. I wish I was still working for a big company and had maternity benefits, it would be soooo cool...
I've worked in US and I know how hard it is. My friend (and ex colleague) in US she had a baby last summer and she had to quit as she was working 10-12 h a day, everyday... Sucks...

Oooh what a good deal you got there!!! FXed everything is in good shape!!

We decided to get everything new, since I have some financial help from relatives, and my sis will use most of my stuff. Unfortunately I don't know any women that recently had babies to get used stuff. Only 1 lady that proved to be extra crazy and begun making snide comments and putting me down, so I decided to stop talking to her, as she was really negative.

 

[doggylover]

Kirstabelle are you serious?! That is ridiculous! You need to make sure they change it without anymore charge to you!

Lily thanks for the info about glass and the freezer. Makes sense I guess! What is it that you do that you freelance in?

Steph that's amazing about the stuff you are getting on Craigslist! And the money you will save is totally worth the 45min journey!

Afm, school disco tonight Means I'll be at work until at least 10 tonight I'm hoping I can play the pregnancy card and they'll take pity on me and let me leave early!

 

[maybesoon]

Hello Ladies. Hope everyone has a great day.

Mommabrown.... I completely agree with you on the fact that there is a HUGE difference in spanking & hitting (beating) and having a firm voice & yelling. I think every child & ever situation is different. But I would much rather spank my kids & have them behave & have manners than be some little hooligan that backtalks & ends up in the court system before they get out of junior high.... Just my opinion....

AFM.... Nothing much today. Just in a blah mood & have been the last 2 days. Don't know what it is. I think I have just been letting the crap at work get to me too much. Trying to get out of this funk before tomorrow. I have a day of shopping with the MIL....

 

[lily28]

Lily thanks for the info about glass and the freezer. Makes sense I guess! What is it that you do that you freelance in?

Afm, school disco tonight Means I'll be at work until at least 10 tonight I'm hoping I can play the pregnancy card and they'll take pity on me and let me leave early!

I'm doing translations (finance, and a LOT of manuals) and the odd interpreting job, mostly in business meetings.

Do play the pregnancy card, I do it a lot lately, especially in queues and functions lol

 

[doggylover]

Oh goodness, I can't imagine how difficult it is being an interpreter and translating things I have enough trouble translating what pupils are saying to me IN ENGLISH without others languages being thrown about

 

[lily28]

I like it, it is fun, when I interpret I get to meet all kinds of people. Lately I'm interpreting for restaurant owners looking to expand to other countries, so that means: travel and food which are both great perks!
I'd prefer to translate literature though, especially poetry! sigh!

The down side is the money is low. I could make the same by tutoring from home. But I don't think I'm a good teacher

 

[doggylover]

Really? For some reason I always imagine translators/interpretors get paid LOADS! Maybe this is just what they told us in school in the languages departments to encourage us to go down that road! The pay in teaching isn't great either...but I guess we do these jobs for the love of them!

Travel and food...for work? That does sound pretty ideal!

 

[ukgirl23]

Hey everyone I've had the day from hell. I had to go see my solicitor today, my ex had confirmed his visitation dates for the 27th of this month for a week, I had booked all the contact center dates up for them and everything and today at our meeting I find out he's suddenly changed his visit to the 3rd-8th of January. He also has to arrange all the contact center dates and times himself. So I basically have no say in his visit, he just decides when he is coming and I have to accept it but he can choose to say no if I offer him contact.. :/ My solicitor was trying to get him to have unsupervised contact oo even though Cafcass were clear in court that he shouldn't be alone with them. She wanted us to go to court for 8 hours next month and the have the kids go straight out with him after, they have school that day too.I said no. I tried to defend the kids and say what was right for them and I got called unreasonable I cried my eyes out in there. She spoke to me like I was a piece of shit.

 

[ukgirl23]

And on top of all that because our funding ran out I have to translate all the court and office documents from Norwegian to English :/ I have about 200 A4 pages (some double sided) So Lily I feel your pain LOL xx

 

[maybesoon]

OMG ukgirl.... What the hell is wrong with your solicitor?!?!?! It doesn't seem like she is working for you or your kiddos. I would be furious!!!

Take a few deep breaths & try to not let it get to you (I know that's really not possible)....

Hope your day gets better....

 

[LittleSpy]

kirstabelle -- Yikes about the name! I'm sure it will be corrected in no time but I know it must be such a hassle having to call to get them to do what they should've done in the first place!

Steph82 -- funny you mention water breaking at work. I was just talking to a coworker this morning and she asked when I was going to go on maternity leave and I said "Um... whenever I go into labor, so be prepared to drive me home!" Very true. I refuse to wimp out this time. Last time I stopped working at 39+2 because I was so uncomfortable but I had an awesome supervisor then and she let me take the full 12 weeks after the baby was born (at 40+5) anyway. This time my work situation isn't so understanding and generous and I refuse to be cheated any time with the baby so I'm working until right until she pops out!

ukgirl --

 

[maybesoon]

lol.... Ladies.... I have already told the attorney I work for it's my worst nightmare to go into labor while at work (I work an hour from where I live & my hospital) and that if my water breaks at work he he better be prepared to drive me in his BMW & it better not take him an hour to get me to the hospital either!!!

 

[ReadytoMum]

Steph: My parents actually live in Canada still, but they live in Windsor, which is a boarder city to Detroit. So while it's a quick trip for them to cross over to go shopping etc. they don't have a US mailing address.

maybesoon: there is a difference between beating a child and spanking a child yes. But if you spank a child to cause pain in order to teach a lesson, to me that's unacceptable. Obviously other people (and a lot of other people) still use this practice. However, I don't think you need to spank children in order to have well behaved children. I'm actually pretty sure that in Canada it's illegal now to spank children. But that might be a province by province thing... I'm not 100% sure.

Lily: that sounds like an interesting job! What different languages do you speak/write? I always loved languages although I'm terrible at them. I had to write exams in Latin, French, and German for my doctorate, but I'm no where near fluent in them!

ukgirl: Oh man! That's horrible... I'm sorry your day went so terribly. I hope things turn around for you and the kiddos!

AFM, I went to bed last night at 10:30ish, and I was still WIDE AWAKE by 3:30am. I just kept trying to sleep and tossing and turning. Poor DH, I'm sure I must have kept waking him up too. So I finally fell asleep around 4:00 maybe and still woke up every few hours, but at least I was getting *some* sleep. So I stayed in bed till 10:30 in order to try and get a least a few hours worth of sleep total. When I woke up I had three voicemails from my College, a text message, and an e-mail!

So of course I called them back right away to figure out what the apparent emergency must be. I work as the evening porter on Wednesday nights, which means I lock up the building when I leave. Well apparently I forgot to return the key to the right place and the secretary was panicking because she didn't have it.

I told her that it was downstairs in the library and that the person working there would bring it up, or she could go down and get it. So she started freaking out asking me why it was there and not with her and why I took so long to call her back when they were looking for it.

I'm afraid I wasn't very nice in response. I told her I put it in the book-drop by mistake, to calm down because the key was still in the building and all she has to do is go get it if she can't wait for the person to bring it back up to her. I told her I just called back now because I had just woken up and that as soon as I saw all her messages I called right back immediately. I apologized again and stressed that it was an accident, I didn't mean to put it in the wrong spot (the other job I have on campus that's where the key goes at the end of the night, so I just mixed them up), and then hung up on her.

Excellent start the the day. Sigh.

 

[maybesoon]

ReadytoMum I will agree to disagree on spanking children. I think it is different for every situation & every child. I know with my stepsons we tried multiple multiple different techniques & the spanking method worked & once we used it, it didn't have to be used very often at all. To me it is no different than mentally scaring your child that they will get something taken away, sent to their room alone, sat in a corner or grounded. I personally would rather be spanked & get it over with than the mind games the others play. I was spanked as a child & I never feared my parents. I knew when I got spanked why I was getting spanked & as an adult I can honestly say, I deserved it when I got it. I have seen young kids afraid of their bedrooms because that's where they get sent when they are bad.... ummmm I'd rather my child not be afraid to go to his own room...

But like I said..... That's my opinion, my experiences & I agree to disagree....

 

[ReadytoMum]

But like I said..... That's my opinion, my experiences & I agree to disagree....

All I did was give my opinion as well. I tried to say at the very start that people have different ways of parenting. In my own experience it was a very negative thing that I still remember as an adult. I'm glad your experience is not the same, because it's not something I would wish on anyone.

 

[Steph82]

LittleSpy and Maybesoon, I can see us waddling to the car from work... while crowning . But like you LittleSpy, I won't waste a day. I'll try to suffer through till the end!

ReadytoMum, Ah I understand. Well I hope you get a chance to get everything you need while you are there! You have quite the long trip to get to Canada, don't you? I just took a 4 day trip to Oregon and was on a plane for 5 hours... ouchie on my back!! Hope your trip goes well!

UKgirl, sorry to hear about all the hassle!! FXed that the translation goes quicker then expected!

 

[ReadytoMum]

LittleSpy and Maybesoon, I can see us waddling to the car from work... while crowning . But like you LittleSpy, I won't waste a day. I'll try to suffer through till the end!

ReadytoMum, Ah I understand. Well I hope you get a chance to get everything you need while you are there! You have quite the long trip to get to Canada, don't you? I just took a 4 day trip to Oregon and was on a plane for 5 hours... ouchie on my back!! Hope your trip goes well!

UKgirl, sorry to hear about all the hassle!! FXed that the translation goes quicker then expected!

Heh, I think we're having some geography issues Steph. I live in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), and my parents live in Windsor, Ontario (Canada) It's about a 4 hour drive/train ride from here to there. It will definitely be a long trip though!! I hope I can get everything I need too, but that will depend on whether I can convince my mom to make a trip to Detroit or not. Detroit is a bit of a scary city and she hates driving over there... but I might be able to whine and plead enough.

 

[LittleSpy]

Haha, I'm not at all worried about crowning on the way to my car. If labor starts at work, I'll be going from work to home. Then I'll be freaking my husband out refusing to go to the hospital until I'm ready to be tied to a stupid bed with an IV. Ugh. I hope to labor at home until I get super uncomfortable (which last time was right around being dilated 6cm but I think that was mostly because of my pitocin-induced neverending contractions; would've been rough at that point even if I had a break between them, though, I think. Seriously. Intense.). Or until my water breaks because that's something I don't want to have to deal with at home (IME, it gushes out with every contraction. Ewwwwww!).

I may end up being surprised, but I kind of anticipate labor lasting at least 8 hours. When I was induced with dd, it lasted about 11 hours from start to finish and I started at 3cm dilated and almost fully effaced.

 

[ukgirl23]

everyone deals with their kids differently some parents spank some use timeouts, both are just a matter of what works for you and your child, I personally have a time out spot, outside the bathroom door lol. Usually I will give them 3 chances and if they continue to be naughty monkeys I say ok becuase you didn't stop when I told you to you are going to time out, They have the count of 3 to get there, other wise I start adding extra minutes lol.. Needless to say they move pretty fast! When their time out is done I ask them why they went there and they tell me, and I ask them if they know what they should have done instead and they tell me, then I ask them to say sorry, and mostly they do then I tell them I love them and give them a hug and ask if they are ready to play. Mostly they are ready lol then we just go and carry on with what we were doing or find something new to do. Sometimes they wont be ready to come out and they will take themselves out when they are ready and come get a hug lol. So personally my kids aren;t scared of loosing toys or going to their room. I found that if I stick to the rules I put in place and if I follow through with what I say then I don't need to spank them because they know what I say goes.

Plus I don't want my kids to think that in life you can solve your problems by smacking the person who has upset you. Usually when I am very angry at my kids I think spanking them would make me feel better but it wouldn't fix the actual problem and only be a short term solution causing a long term issue.

I'm just trying to calm down after my solicitor, I've set up a meeting with a new one and he looks a lot better than the one I have now. I am going to contact the CAFCASS worker and fill her in on my solicitor situation and that he has changed his dates last minute. Hopefully she has some good advice for me. I have such a bad headache I'm going to make dinner, feed my monkeys and then chill out with Eastenders and The Apprentice and some hot chocolate and forget today xxx