h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hiya
Just popped by your space to see if you'd chosen any nice decor yet?

How you ugetting on with h2g2? It all seems a little confusing at first.
You seem to be a very happy mum, judging by your posts in the parent and child group. Can I ask how many kids you have?

I got 2, one of each Go have a nosey at my space if you want to be bored silly with all the gushey details.

Anyways, welcome to h2g2 and if you fancy a natter about anything kid realted, I'm bored sily at work and would love the excuse to pass the time talking about something I love.

See ya

Simon

Hi Simon, I'm Karen by the way

Time for decorating? LMAO I wish!!

I love talking about my babies, once I start it gets blooming hard to work out when I should shut up!!! I have an Emily who's 3 1/2 going on 23 *rhe* a Jake who's 2 in October and a Luke 12 weeks, so I have to say my PC time has become a bit restricted of late.

What with reading and posting on the site I've just been promoted to community manager on, and reading all the fun stuff I've found and am working my way through here, I don't get time to write as much as I'd like, but maybe when they're a wee bit older I'll get some time to get stuck into some proper writing. I've contributed a litte here and there, but for now I'm content with boring people half to death with tales of the kids, you'll no doubt know what that one is like too!

And I'm always up for a natter, usually they're all sleeping or behaving when I'm around on here, so not always a frequent occurance, but feel free to grab me if you see me, oo-er! LOL And yes, the kids have sent me just slightly insane *nods*

And just popped back to say after reading some of your gushing I find out that Grace is a day older than Luke *grins* Well my waters did break on the 1st of May at 10.20 pm.... but I managed to hang on until 1.20 am to give birth! LOL

Hello Karen

Ahhh when it comes to babies and kids, don't worry about shutting up, I can listen and talk all day.

Must admit I love your kids names, we had so much trouble picking one this time round. Very happy with Grace though, it really suits her

What a coincidence them both being born so close together? What's Luke doing now? Grace has just started getting really really vocal and is almost rolling on her side.

She's so different to her brother it's scarey. He was blonde and chubby as a baby, she's dark haired and tall

I don't think kids send you insane, I think they just bring out the real you, it's everyone else thats pretending to be sane you know!
It does help so much if you are the same mental age as your two year old Parenthood wouldnt be any fun if I wasn't!

Please thrill me with lots of your kiddie stories, I'm dying to compare notes.

Simon

Hi again

Luke's going great guns. He was 7lb 2 at birth (he was just over 2 weeks early by the way) and is already a stonking 14lb 12 so we're absolutely in awe of his weight gain, if only I could lose my extra pounds at the same rate LOL He's just learnt how to giggle and make those cutie baby noises, so Emily spends her whole day trying to get him to laugh, smile and "talk" to her.

All my three have been little blonde chubbies, but all have had so different personalities! Emily is very very independent and most definitely daddy's girl, a right little faerie princess who adores anything sparkly or pink, and if it's pink AND sparkly she just has to have it!

Jake is a typical boy, very rough and tumble and isn't either a mummy's boy or daddy's boy. He can be a right little monster at times, but has the cutest grin which just melts your heart. The unfortunate thing is he knows it, and you can guarantee he'll turn it on when he's being told off for something, and how can you shout at something so cute? LOL A right charmer in the making I think

Luke is developing his personality day by day, so far he's a mummies boy, but then that might still be because he sees me more of a food source than anything really special LOL. He hates being laid flat unless he's sleeping and much prefers to recline in his chair and watch the other two playing around him. He'll amuse himself for hours like that. Not sure how he'd do at trying to roll over, I haven't dared lay him on the floor too much with the older two charging around all the time, but he loves to punch and kick and wriggle and is showing signs of being a very ticklish baby!

I tend to agree with you, it's a certain amount of insanity that drives you to have kids, and there is nothing better than re-living your childhood through their play. And it gives you a good excuse to aquire all those toys that you never had as a child. I know what Jake's first scaletrix expperience will be like for him before we even hit that stage! LOL

And please feel free to fill me in on what your two are up to.... I love hearing baby tales almost as much as I love telling them

Take care until next time

Karen

Hi Karen,
Just about got time to reply before I rush off home to see my little lot

Awww yours sound a right good bunch. Wow at Luke's weight gain! Grace was 8lb 15 (poor Clare!) but she got a nasty infection just after she was born so she put it on a little slowly. Think she was 11lb 14 last week, which the health visitor seemed content with for once.
She feeds well and is rarely sick, so that's enough to stop us worrying. I think ideal weights for babies are silly, cos they all grow at different speeds. It just makes mums feel like they are doing something wrong if there baby differs. But enough about that rant.

Grace is just the same at being nosey, she hates it if she can't see what's going on. We put it down to her being a girl

I feel so lucky to have a boy and a girl, was such a shock at first, and still hasn't sunk in properly that I got a girl. We were so expecting another boy.

You planning on having any more? 3 is quite a nice number, any more is asking for chaos! We are planning to stop as we are. But I think Clare might get broody again in a few years, she loved being preggers so much. As did I. I got a thing about pregnant women, but I'm sure you don't wanna hear about that lol.

Sounds like Luke brother and sister get on well with him, Charlie, our son has shocked us so much at how good he's been with Grace. No signs of jealousy or anything. I'm glad we had them quite close together, hopefully they will grow up close friends.

Too true about reliving your childhood. Charlie got his 1st scalextric on his 1st birthday .
Looks like the poor lad might have chicken pox Hope he's alright. Gonna miss my little play mate if he's not well.

Right, must dash to catch my train. Thanks for the lovely reply. Wasn't waffly at all!
Speak soon
Simon

Hiya,

I seem to be finding plenty of time to be around at the moment... mind you got a few extra minutes today because hubby's off work until Monday. We're not planning on anymore, we didn't plan on having Luke, but hey these things happen and I wasn't too upset about it! I'm a tad unreliable when it comes to contraception, nothing so far has worked for us LOL, but DH had a little op yesterday afternoon so hopefully we won't have anymore! And you can uncross your legs now *giggles* Because my faith in contraception is so low and we haven't really got the money or space for anymore, I'm on the waiting list to have my tubes tied too... well got to be doubly sure!

I had great pregnancies for the most part, although I had suspected pre-eclampsia in the last month with the first two, so I had to be induced for their births. So I was overjoyed when my waters broke at home with Luke. Meant I'd get to go into labour on my own without medical intervention. Have to say I recovered a lot quicker afterwards too. We went over to some friends in Manchester to celebrate when Luke was three days old which amazed a lot of people!

Emily hasn't shown any jealousy at all with either of the boys, she has a big mothering instinct though and would cuddle Luke all day if she could! Jake hasn't been to bad with him either, he's partial to a cuddle when the mood takes him although he's not the most gentle cuddler LOL


I'm with you on the weight gain thing. It does scare the hell out of you if they're not putting it on fast enough... but I'm pretty laid back about this motherhood lark and trust my instincts because they're right almost all of the time. As long at they're having plenty of wet and dirty nappies and they look healthy and are feeding well I don't think there's much to worry about.

Hope Charlie doesn't have chicken pox... it can be a right pain. Emily wasn't too bad when she had it, a bit restless but calpol sorted her out. But I have had friends with really unwell kids, so I've got my fingers crossed for you, failing that I have a huge bottle of calamine lotion and a wad of cotton wool on standby LOL If he does get it though, it's worth investing in some piriton (sp?) syrup from the chemist... it's for hayfever and stuff like that, but the anti-histamine in it helps relieve the itching too.


And before I start waffling nonsense I'll head off and do a touch more research for the scalextric article I'm thinking of writing

Catch you again soon

Karen

Good morning Karen,

Glad you're getting plenty of time to do your own thing. I know from Clare and personal experience how much attention kids need sometimes.
Getting just two of them to sleep at the same time can be a challenge. Three must be impossible!

Ouch! at your poor DH. Hope you are nursing him better with lots of ice! Been thinking about that ourselves lately, but Clare thinks it's a bit too drastic, so she decided to go back on the pill for a couple of years, and then think again. Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm sure she's got secret plans for another little baby lol.
Suits me though, means no doctor will be messing with my bits yet!

Sounds like you two havent had much luck with contraception. I'm pretty sure you'll be safe if you take the plunge too. I mean that's super mega over precaution! lol. Good on ya though, if it will put your mind at rest and keep your sex life active, it's gotta be worth it!

Glad you had good pregnancies, Clare loved both of hers, even though they were both problematic. Charlies labour was an ordeal, tried for what seeme dlike days to get him out, but he was so stuborn, in the end they gave her a C-section.
Grace was a natural birth, and went very smoothly indeed, much to our relief.

Charlie is terrible with the heavy handed cuddles, you can't be too hard on him, cos it's so sweet to see him want to cuddle Grace, he's got better as she's got older though.

Looks like it is chicken pox got the camomile ready, but I'll go get some of that piriton Great idea! He came in our bed today, and clare said as your not well she'd be his nurse and get him anything he wanted. He asked for a sausage! lmao. Kids are so funny.

Right I'm off for lunch, this talk of sausages has made me hungry.
Speak soon, and keep me posted about the scalextric!

Simon the hungry

Afternoon

Hope you had a good lunch! Bless him asking for sausages.... they're just way to cute sometimes aren't they.... actually you reminded me of something there, I must go and add sausages to my work in progress about finger foods... if you get a chance have a sneaky look and tell me what you think... the link's on my home page... still not got used to how to do those things yet!

I've put the scalextric thing on the back burner until I get a load more research done.... finding out about a million things I never knew at the moment and trying hard not to make it into a 16,000 page essay LOL Once I get it all gathered up I can start sifting through and making some sense of it LOL

Good luck with Charlies chicken pox... I can just see you now after a trip to boots armed with calamine lotion, cotton wool, piriton and a huge bottle of calpol! Lukewarm baths with a couple of tablespoons of Bicarbonate of Soda in will help with the itchy thing too.... and if you're into homeopathy at all a Rhus Tox tablet crushed between a couple of clean teaspoons may well help. They're supposed to let them dissolve in the mouth, but it's easier to crush them for little ones. If you buy the 6c ones you can use them one ever 2-4 hours for 2 days and then 3 time a day for a further 3-5 days. If you buy the 30c strength it's one every four hours for 3 doses only.... so I'd advise the 6c for a longer lasting effect

Spot the mum who is open minded to all sorts of remedies to help her kids through illness LOL

Anyway... back to the grindstone

Catch you later

Karen

Morning Friday whoooohooo!

Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday, got a little drunk at lunch time and I didn't want to start talking about kids in that state, cos I really drivel on then lol.

Loved the finger food article I've added a few notes on the parents group post. Can't wait till little Grace gets to that stage.

Charlie has a few more spots, but he still seems fine in himself, happy and energetic. Keeping a close eye on him though. Thanks for all the tips on the itching. Luckily we already have all the calpol, calamine and puratin indoors, you need a well stocked medicine cupboard when you got nippers!

I must admit I'm not into Homeopathy at all, couldn't even tell you what it was mate. I'm normally content to take the advice of our doctor who is fantastic with kids. My mum was into trying every known cure known to man for every ailment, and was constantly fussing around me with bottles and pills. It drove me mad. So I don't wanna do that to my kids.
You would do anything to help your kids when they are suffering, so I probably would try that if nothing else was working.

We are off house hunting this weekend, which is fun with a two year old and a baby lol.
Have yourselves a good one
Speak soon
Simon

Hey don't apologise! You have work and drinking to do... me I'm just a lady of leisure with nothing better to do than drivel on LOL

I couldn't find a decent link on here for choking which I would have liked to link my article to so I think that might be the next project on my list LOL... that and the scalextric one A797934 which I've made a pretty significant start on and shoved into the collaborative writing workshop for some different ideas to be added... well you can only do so much on a subject like that on your own I think.

For once I haven't really got much to say... think I've been working overtime on my stuff here recently and exhausted myself LMAO

Have fun with the house hunting this weekend. I hope you find the place of your dreams in the right location and right price bracket too!

Karen

A woman stuck for words! quick find a doctor. :P

I'll go take a look at the new article. I do love scalextric

No mum is a lady of leisure, unless you mean you are her for the leisure of your kids.

And as for the house, the place of my dreams isn't available for the price I want to pay. The hareem of buxom blondes alone would cost more than I could ever afford!
Fingers crossed we see something half nice though.

Cheers
Bye for now

Simon

FOCLMAO...yup call that doctor I think I'm seriously ill... as you have probably worked out now I actually own sense of humour! I always have had, but I think having the kids has just made me worse... I've learnt to laugh at myself a lot more... and I'm often pulling stupid stunts to impress the little ones *giggles*

Hope you enjoy the scalextric article... I start writing these things and then get stuck for ideas... The finger foods on has been on my HD for some time and I finally plucked up the courage to submit it.... the scalextric one I've been thinking about for a while and researching away... finally found some time to write it up too LOL

And I know it's not exactly the most leisurely pursuit looking after kids.... but it beats going to work any day! Roll on the day we win the lotto so hubby can join in the fun!!!

Damn those buxom blondes, they just charge way too much *giggles* I'd offer my services, but I'm not blonde LMAO. So the house of your dreams is off the list, but I hope you've found something you're all happy to settle with

Wishing you a warm and sunny weekend

Karen

Good mornging Karen,

Well thank you kindly for the warm and sunny weekend wish! It was wet and misserable all weekend lol. I hold you entirely responsible.

We did manage to find the house of our dreams though Already put in an offer, but it's a little way from the asking price. But lets see what happens. If anyone else shows an interest in it, I'll just snap it up quickly. No point throwing money away if it can be helped though. The owners have dropped 10 grand from their inital price, so with a bit of luck we can get another few quid off

The rest of my weekend was spent trying to tidy up our house and garden so our house looks half sellable. Must admit that Clare and her sister did a stunning job inside, It almost looks too good to move now. lol.
I got stuck out in the rain doing the garden, what joy!

I see you've added my name to your finger foods article, oooh how sweet, thank you thank you thank you
I'll go take a look at the scalextric one in a seccy.

How was your weekend then? Did you get upto much?

Sorry to hear you aren;t blonde, very kind of you to offer, lol. My Clare is blonde (and buxom) enough for me, so perhaps the house of my dreams is attainable.

I did guess you had a it of a sense of humour , you need it with kids. You can't take yourself seriously when you have baby puke on your shoulder and you're humming the bob the builder theme tune

Speak soon

si

What a fab article You can tell you put in plenty of research. Very informative and well written.

You mind if I point out a few bits? Nothing major as it's great as it is, just a few things that I thought of. Please please please don't feel like you have to include any of them, I just wanted to give you the first things that came to my mind after I read it.

You probably already realised my mind isnt the most stable of places, so you have been warned!

In the opening paragraph, you might want to mention the track goes in a circuit, just to give a better mental image of it.
Mention that you control the speed of the car round the track. going too fast on the corners causes you to spin off. Just so the uninitiated get the point of it all.

Comparing it to a train set doesnt do it justice, you dont race trains on a train set! It's the competition that makes it so darn addictive. Try playing solo for an hour and see how quick the novelty wears off.

Was it originally just one car on a track? or has it traditionally been about the competition of racing head to head?
Did they ever make tracks for more than 2 cars? So that younger sisters got to play too

What is a 'dapper'? I'm sure it;s probably something I should know. But that description got me guessing all sorts of devices. (Mostly looking very rude! but thats my mind for ya)

The controller seems to have some sort of magical power. It turns perfectly rational people into self obsessed speed freaks whos only goal in life is to lap faster than their opponent. The outside world melts away, you cannot hear if anyone is talking to you. Taking your eyes off the car for a nanosecond will break your concentration and lose you the race. Your inner self is zapped down the wire and you become the plastic driver inside the car. You are a race driver. You must win. Life itself depends on it! But there is no finish line, you have no choice but to keep going faster and faster and faster. Until......... Disaster, you cornered too fast and spun off. That half lap lead you had is all lost, everything is lost. GAME OVER!
It is phically impossible to prize the controller out of someones hand while they are racing. This is the opportunity to change drivers. While they are sitting slack jawed at their own stupidity, swipe the controller and prepare to race!


Everyone tries putting both cars on the same track/slot. for no logical reason just for the sheer stupidity of it. might be worth a mention.

A few other extras I've seen for slot cars these days. crossover points where cars can collide, Gravity defying loop the loops, bridges, jumps, direction changers, etc. Just to show how far the concept has come from a clockwork car.


Please dont take any of the above as things that are lacking from the article, they are just my wandering thoughts.
I didn't put them in the colaberated writing section, cos we have our nice little conversation going here.

My son Charlie calls his frist scalextric 'uppy-downy cars' cos they go over and under a bridge I get the feeling that name will stick until he has his own kids.

Afternoon *wipes sweat from her brow* I've been having one of THOSE days! LOL... You know the ones where you run around like a headless chicken for half the day... finally get to sit down, look at the clock and think "Oh my god.... what happened to the last 6 hours?" LOL

Sorry about the weather... I promise never ever to mention it again If I knew I had that effect on it I would have wished it to bucket down with rain all weekend LMAO

Pleased you found a house!!! Now do I cross my fingers for you and hope that your offer is accepted... or do I do the opposite? I'll let you decide I think LOL

We just had the usual relaxing weekend... Just spending time with the kids and the In-Laws.... making the most of time with hubby. Mind you that will be cut down a bit in future.... 18th of August he jets off to his exotic(?) new job in London and we'll only see him on weekends then *sighs* Sort of permanent temporary... he's going for new experience which will in time lead to promotion.... and once the promotion's in the bag we'll all be moving... so I can put up with a year or so of turmoil knowing the future will be even better

Thanks for loads of input on the scalextric thing... got my mind whizzing again and I'll have stacks to add to the article when I get time to sit and think again... bless you, my guardian angel of things scalextric LOL No seriously now, lots of good points and knowing me I'll end up with an article almost twice as long as I have there now... thanks hun


*giggles* @ uppy downy cars.... bless them... if they can't pronounce or don't know the right words they always seem to come out with something that really explains it to a tee don't they... kids, you just have to love them... even if they do puke on you and always manage to pee on your side of the bed when you change their nappies in the bedroom LOL

Catch you again soon... and thanks once again for removing my writers block!

karen

Good morning to you

Hope today isn't as hectic as yesterday for you. Looking at the clock and wondering where the last 6 hours went is my life! Except you can substitute 6 hours for 28 years (29 on Sunday eek!)

Ahh don't worry about the weather, it's only to be expected in Britain. Mid August = Rain. Just feel sorry for anyone that was on holiday in this country.

Lol, don't worry what you wish about our new house. If it's meant to be, it will go through, if not, nevermind, there was probably something wrong with it. Fate will decide if it's right for us. Going to up our offer today or tomorrow. Depends on how much the estate agents (vampires) reckon our house is worth.

Glad you had a chilled weekend. Not easy with three kids. And usually the words 'in-laws' and 'relaxed' don't go together, but sounds like you get on well with yours.
Poor you being left all alone while hubby comes down here all week Bet you and the kis will miss him like mad. Least you can catch up at the weekends, but I dunno if I could handle something like that. I'm addicted to my daily dose of Clare and the kids.
Like you say though, you gotta think of the future, a year will fly by.
And living and working in London is great, no matter what anyone tells you.
What area will he be working/living in. I might be able to point him to some nice sleazy bars lol.


Glad you liked my scalextric comments Was tempted to get Charlie's set out from under his bed last night, but with all the estate agents comming round today, I thought it was better to keep things tidy. So we played horsie rides instead. My knees hurt today!

What sort of things is Jake into right now, Charlie's fave toy or TV program seems to change by the minute lately. Luckily he's not got fussy with his food yet. That's a godsend.
Put Grace on some faster flow bottles yesterday, and she seems much happier feeding now. Taking about an ounce more and bringing up wind alot quicker and easier. You bottle or breast feeding Luke?

Catch you soon.
Si

Morning!!!!

So far so good.... no hectic mad person things on the horizon so far! Actually Mondays are normally a pretty busy day for me, but I have to say I was a bit knackered after all the running around in the morning, so I skipped the baby clinic visit for once and went to bed for an hour. Persuaded Emily she needed a rest too, and actually managed to get all three of them sleeping while I had a quick doze! miracles do happen!!!

My in-laws are fab... MIL especially... she's like another mum to me which is handy with mine being 2 hours away! But she spoils us all rotten... and will take the children off my hands at every opportunity she gets!

Estate agents aren't vampires... they're the devil incarnate! They don't just want your blood... they want your soul too! Can you tell I hate estate agents too? LMAO

Mark's going to be working and living at the Thistle Tower Hotel... which I understand is at the foot of tower bridge... He already works for Thistle in the Head office up here in Leeds, so it's more of a transfer than a complete change of jobs. He went down a couple of weeks ago for a training week and ended up with blisters from tramping around London getting his bearings LOL... and I have an uncle who lives in Oxsted and works somewhere near London Bridge so I'm sure they'll get together on occasion too!

LMAO... I don't know if I dare tell you what Jakes favourite toys are at the moment.... he spent most of yesterday clomping around the kitchen in Emily's blue sparkly heeled dressing up shoes carrying a fluffy pink handbag! He's a bit of a TV addict and will watch Bob, Teletubbies, Tweenie,s Noddy etc for hours if I'd let him. He's just getting into jigsaws... and is especially fond of airplanes, helicopters and trains! Good job we live on the Leeds/Bradford flight path and not far from the police helipad! Keeps him amused for ages LOL.... he gets his train fix when we go to pick Mark up from work because the main line into Leeds from the East runs past his workplace.

I'm a complete lazy cow so I'm breastfeeding Luke.... Emily was b/fed until she was 5 months old, Jake until he was 6 months... and who knows how long I'll go on this time? As long as we're both happy with the situation and there's no reason for me to stop I'll keep going. I'm very relaxed about it... I gave up with Em bacause I went back to work... I had to give up with Jake because I got PND and had to take antidepressants which aren't an ideal ingredient in breastmilk LOL... but so far so good. Happy I'm able to do it, but if things hadn't worked out then I wouldn't have been majorly upset either.

So coming up for 29 then? Ha... that's nothing.... I'm the big 30 in arrrrggggggghhhhhh 85 days! Think 29's a scary one? ... just you wait until next year! LMAO

And thanks again for the Scalextric stuff! I managed to do a touch of updating last night.... couldn't find a proper explanation of the "dapper" controller though and I'm crap at describing things I don't really understand so I tweaked that bit to fit LOL...

Right onwards... now got to do my community manager bit over at DN for a couple of hours... Catch you later

Karen

Oooh what a lovely long reply
How on earth did you get three kids to sleep at the same time?
Whenever I try that with C & G one usually screams constantly for 2 hours, then drops off the moment the other wakes up.
Glad you got yourself a bit of kip though. Emily must be nearing the stage where she doesn't need her afternoon nap now.

Is she going to nursery yet? We are having a terrible time trying to get Charlie into one Just waiting for the new term to start now so we can see if there are any spare places.

Are you sane? Your MIL is especially fab? WHAT????? I'm sorry all blokes mums are pre programmed to hate any women who enter their sons life aren't they? Least that seems to be how my mum acts. My family are the only thing that ever causes me and Clare to argue, and it's so frustrating, cos we both dislike them equally lol.
Luckily her parents are fab, more like mates than parents. We go on hols with them at least once a year

I know the Tower Thistle, go past it every day on the train. Very handy if he can live there, have you sen londons property prices?
I work in the City, which is a stones throw from Tower hill, so if you want any local info, please feel free to ask. But if it were my spouse going away I'd want him tucked up in bed every night at 6 PM lol.

ROFL at Jakes fave toy. High heels and pink handbag? I'd freak if I saw charlie in that lol. It's bad enough when clare lets him play with her makeup.
Charlie loves his telly too. Clare worries he watches too much, bet he's never stuck there glued to it on his own, one of us is always playing along too, and getting him to sing the songs and do the dances, so I cant see it as a bad thing. Kids TV is so much better than when we were young.
They do some very good jigsaws of trains planes and busses in early learning centre. Nice big pieces that even I can manage!

Errr how does breast feeding make you lazy? It's a million times harder than bottle feeding! I mean I can help Clare by doing 2 of Grace's 5 daily feeds, formula fed babies sleep for longer. There's no cracked nipples or engorged breasts, plus all the other complications that can develop. blimey, I got so much respect for a mum who can breastfeed. It's best for the baby, and that's our priority right?
Clare tried with both our kids, but Charlie was too tired after a traumatic brith, and Grace was back in hospital for a week, which made it impractical. She was well gutted, but in retrospect I think it made life simpler for us.

Sorry to hear about the PND how you doing since Luke arrived?

Arrgghhh not another older woman! Clare beats me by 3 weeks, something I remind her of everytime she annoys me lol.
I seriously dont mind getting old, I still feel 16, I have a good life and nothing to grumble about. It's just shocking how quick the time flies.

I see you included my drivel in the scalextric article, you didnt have to go and do that, I was only rambling. but thank you so much
I think you should put 'dapper' back in. Even if you cant describe it, its intriguing. If that's what they called it, tahts what it is. perhaps someone will knwo what one actually looked like.
I'm guessing it was just ssome kind of on off switch / button. But 'dapper' is what you call someone who is smartly dressed, is a cool mismatch of words. people on h2g2 love that kinda thing.

Good luck on your DN job. I took alook at the site, but it all seemed a bit confusing and involved fairies! so I away!

speak soon (didnt proof read this message so sorry for typos, feeling lazy today)
Si

*giggles* Guess you went to Avalon side first rather than Lifestyles then. Avalon is the role play side where we all get to do the pretend to be faeries and things. I'm a seamstress FOCL... a real one though... not the Ankh-Morpork kind! The lifestlyes setion is where we all get to be ourselves and share all sorts of fun and games as well as serious discussion on occassion!

Emily has a part time nursery place at the local school, so during term time she's there in an afternoon and she loves it to bits. Really upset that the teachers are on holiday and she can't go at the moment. We actually put her name down about a year ago... I didn't think she's be going until September, but they took her the first term after her third birthday which was great for me. She started a couple of months before Luke was due so she'd settled in well by the time I had him.

She has given up her afternoon nap now... but with a little coaching she will go for a rest and invariably falls asleep for an hour or so.... and the boys have both slipped into the routine of a nap straight after lunch...so it's not as hard as it seems.

My mum in law is the best!!! She has two boys and treats the Daughter in Laws like real family. She did lose a daughter at 12 years old (Gail, not my mum in law), so I think that may well have some bearing on things... we're like the daughter she never saw grow up if you know what I mean.

Mark has got staff accomodation at the Hotel... some poky little room on the third floor.... but hey he gets all his bedding and work clothes laundered and three meals a day provided so I think he's on a good thing really!

Breast feeding is ultra lazy!!! No washing scrubbing and sterilising loads of bottles, no making up feeds, no warming up bottles holding a screaching baby... LMAO.. I express off a bottle a day so Mark can do a feed for me... but that's the only sterilising I have to do... and I can do that in the microwave in 8 minutes LOL I love breastfeeding at night... when he wakes up I drag him over into our bed and invariably fall asleep while he's feeding.... there's something going on there that helps you get back to sleep really quickly so unless I've had a really bad night I don't get that knackered.

And they say breast is best, but what they don't say at the end of that is Breast is best if it works for the family unit. If it's not working for mum and baby then it shouldn't be pushed down their throats. It doesn't work out for some people and they can feel extremely guilty about that... and that is not a good thing. I'm all for breastfeeding... but only if it makes everyone happy

PND hasn't come back this time (touch wood) so it's a case of so far so good.... but even if it does come back I'll be more prepared and not let it get so bad as I did last time... I'll spot the symptoms and do something about it before it gets out of hand... People were a bit surprised when I told them.... kind of how can someone this bright and bubbly have PND... guess that just makes me a good actress LOL... and this time around I'm not afraid to say things are getting tough I need help!


And of course I incorporated your 'drivel' It spoke volumes about the sheer addictiveness of Scalextric.... put across the feelings better than I ever could after spending my chilhood being the person who replaced de-slotted cars for my brother and his mates LOL And I'm a northern bird... if I see something I like I say so and give credit to those who said it. Just say things as I see them LOL

Catch you later...

Karen