The Ultimate Incentive part 10. The only thing holding you back is you.

Birdie85

Ooooh, Vegas! Will be awesome Cinny! What brought this on? Have fun doing the 30DS!

My weekend was quite nice, OH was out on Stag do #2 but was home by 8 (it kicked off at 1) and I'd been out for lunch and shopping with a friend then went back to hers for a couple of drinks. Was nice. Last night the in-laws took Zach for a few hours and we went out for dinner and watched the X-Men (Hugh! Much sexy. Such hotness.), was lovely but typically we missed the little dude!

Went to a pottery painting place this afternoon with a friend and her baby and 8 year old son. God, he's such hard work! I was doing that think of tutting to myself and looking at Zach thinking 'You'll never be that naughty, son! You hear me?! Never!'

Lara44

Wow Cinny Vegas sounds amazing! Have a great time. I think there's a big thread on the Holidays board here with tips.

Am sure you're tired looking after Poppy with a little one on the way too, Wendz. Hope your OH is giving you some nice time off this week.

Your weekend sounds lovely Birdie. Great you had date night. Ofc Zach would never be naughty

We had the in laws up. It was nice but knackering! Got so many jobs to catch up on now, drowning in work and life admin, I can't wait to feel back on top of everything... hopefully someday soon

wendz86

Haha Birdie. I used to look at people and think why couldn't they control their children and now i just give them knowing looks :rotfl:. I am lucky really but she has her moments....

Glad you had a nice weekend Lara and hope you catch up with some admin stuff, not long till baby eek.

I am going to a wedding Sunday of a work colleague so get a nice afternoon/night off as staying at a friends! Stressing a bit about what to wear though as am at that annoying got a sort of but not quite bump stage so think i just look like I have eaten too much .

Cinny91

Birdie85 wrote: »

Have fun doing the 30DS!

So. Much. Fun. My body can't contain it _pale__pale__pale_

Good luck with catching up quickly Lara, nothing I hate more than a million tasks (oddly, nothing I love more than a good to do list..) I'm so excited for Little Lara!!

Hope you find something to wear, Wendz. Must be a bother Don't you have any empire line dresses with a poofy skirt to cover it? I have a tubby gut that is just from me eating too much and that's my go-to trick

Zach won't be like that! And if he is, it'll be totally different and excusable because he's your kid I really want to see X-Men! But we've been to see too many movies recently and need to stop Especially seeing how I use anything as an excuse for the IMAX screen.. *ahem*

Vegas just came about by OH's brain, he's getting a decent commission now. After all these years! So we're very lucky and can afford it from one wage slip. He was really sensible last month, managed to pay some things off and actually *gasp* get a savings account set up. So he wanted something fun this month? Certainly not going to complain, just need to focus and get on a budget so I can contribute something :o

wendz86

The wedding is black tie and most of my dresses are very florally etc. My lovely manager has lent me two dresses but one is a bit of a squeeze and the other is slightly too big although i think it looks better.

Vegas does sound great and even better that you can pay for it straight away.

tinkerbel

Is it 8 days til your first target Dinah!? keep going! I have such good feelings for this baby! and Lara its so close for you now! This is all too exciting!

Cinny - vegas sounds AAAAAAMAZING! Will you be meeting up with your sister? its awesome that you can just pay from it from one pay check too! Living the dream and well done to your OH for getting the commission! I would definitely check out online offers for Vegas shows if you fancy seeing one because we went and got 241 on tickets through an online deal and saved about $99 and the show was awesome! Another top tip.. the Bellagio (?) Fountains stop after a certain time - yep, we were the ones waiting for it to start for about had an hour in the early hours when we realised it had been turned off for the night! Where are you staying?

Hows everyone doing otherwise? It feels like there are a lot of babies / going to be babies on the thread at the moment!

Cinny91

Definitely too much baby excitement, Tink How's everything going your end?

We've been looking online for ticket deals, but it just gets so confusing. Especially when I keep on giving shows different names and OH has no idea what I'm talking about *ahem* Will remember that about the fountain!! We're staying at the New York New York hotel on the strip, I can't wait to get fat(ter).

Oh hell, I forgot to say. Yes, my Sister is coming up for the weekend with her hubby (that still sounds weird) so we'll see them Friday - Sunday Then we have the rest of the week to ourselves. Which, as much as I love my Sister, I'm looking forward to the most

ETA: Forgot to say, I'd go for the bigger one Wendz. Gives more space for the forming bump and the guaranteed food baby!! Plus you don't want to be uncomfortable if the weather turns out nice like promised.

shrimpy_80

Hi everyone - I've been AWOL from the thread for ages, bad threadie.

Loads of lovely news on here at the moment So glad things are going well for you Dinah, hope NIM and Grace are better and you didn't come down with it in the end.

I'm sorry you sat through The Link Birdie - not the most gripping of shows is it? They did my hair like that because I'd dyed it the day before and it had gone slightly silver Excited to meet Mark Williams though, gave him a hug which I'm not sure he fully appreciated! No way was I missing the chance to hug Arthur Weasley!

shrimpy_80

Oooh forgot to say Cinny, Vegas sounds amazing!!!

Dinah93

Hi ladies and Poolie, how are you all? Sorry for going awol. I said the dreaded words that the bp was behaving and it went off the deep end something horrible as a result. Back under control now, but it wasn't looking great for a week or so, and I felt awful too. Been pretty much on bed rest the last week, mum has had Grace almost every day and NIM took 3 days off work too, but it's paid off as I'm still here with puddin' cooking away. Been to hospital a few times and medication going up very often, but no admittances thankfully. Only 2 days to go to where I had Grace, so excited to get past that point. Really feel like my 30 week goal is in sight, anything else is a bonus. I can't help fantasising about a nice 37 weeker I get to cuddle on the ward and bring home with me though. Just taking it one day at a time. Another growth scan on Friday, really hope this one is alright as it looks like I'm going to be going on my own as NIMs work wouldn't give him the time off, mum is at work, and dad will probably find it easier to look after Grace at his house while I go rather than come with us - but I've given him the option as I'm just really grateful he can watch Grace while I'm scanned. I had to have my eyebrows done the other day with Grace straddling my chest jumping up and down going 'bouncy bouncy!', it was not remotely relaxing and definitely not an option while you're having a scan on your abdomen.

Baby boy remains nameless. I have at least gotten myself together enough to show NIM my shortlist of names, I was so scared of him just rejecting them all out of hand I wouldn't tell him the names I liked as until I told him I still had hope for my names if that makes even the slightest sense? He continues to like much more traditional names than me.... with the odd Spartacus and Hadrian thrown in for good measure.

Lara are you term now? You must be there or thereabouts in the next few days, exciting stuff!

Dinah93 wrote: »

Money is still at a standstill. Not good. So I'm going to aim for 3 positive money steps this week, as that seems doable.
1. Send off all benefit forms (child tax credits/maternity allowance/employment support allowance) - don't think we're entitled to all these at present but still worth checking. Definitely entitled to maternity allowance though.
2. List 30 things on Amazon and update all prices for things already up. We have a LOT of stuff to sell, most of it is for ebay but Amazon is so much quicker. I'm also thinking I might just trade in a load of clothes on music magpie, and sell all Grace's clothes/toys at the next NCT sale, so much quicker even if it won't necessarily bring in quite as much money and at this point I think having £10 in our pocket now is worth more than £14 eventually.
3. List 5 things on Ebay. Probably focussing on things which are in the way rather than things that make the most money at this point!

None of these are completed. Should feel a lot worse about that but I'm really 95% focussed on just cooking this baby and everything else can go to hell in a handbasket. However I have sold one of my woven wraps on facebook, and NIM has sold the two water butts from the garden at work. We never use them as they don't have enough pressure to attach the hose, and we have very few plants, so getting £10 each for them and clearing a big enough space on the patio to put a small table and 2 chairs is a win-win scenario for us. We've been really loving having the garden and making good use of it, Grace and I have been outside for a few hours every dry day.

Grace still has her nasty cough, been over 3 weeks now. Doctor says there is no sign of an infection so has given her an inhaler. It's worst at night, woke her at 5.10 this morning poor mite, so she was down for a nap by 9.20, hoping she gets a couple of hours in otherwise this will be a long day for her, there might be quite a few meltdowns, not just from her.

Debt wise we're not going up, we might be able to pay a bit off. Our bank balance looks very, very healthy right now, but its the start of the month, no bills have come out yet, we haven't paid the fuel/food off from the amex last month, and we need to pay for the appointment with the solicitor. Oh and my car tax should come out in the next day or two and that's £265. A few smaller bills due too like Grace's Tumble Tots fees which are £35. She absolutely adores the class but I'm starting to find it hard going myself with all the bending to help her and the bump, not to mention the fact I've got a lot of pain in my pelvis and knee atm. Mum has said dad might take her for the next 5 weeks until the end of term, but he's had horrendous migraines for over a week now so can't really form sentences let alone take Grace out for the morning.

Work paid me the last of my holiday pay, I thought they already had so I'm very glad to have had another £360 in. From now on though we have to live within NIMs wages, and my maternity allowance when it starts in about 10 days, and child benefit, so going to have to start watching things a whole lot more.

Still haven't contacted an IFA and our mortgage fix has now run out. I NEED to do that in the next week, I don't think he's told you but it looks like NIM is moving jobs in a few months. The new one is in care, on a management pathway, which is what he's passionate about. It will be a decent paycut on paper, however as it's 20 minutes away where currently he's just over an hour it's going to be a massive, massive saving on fuel, and we'll be entitled to some tax credits too so we should be very slightly better off we think. More to the point he's excited, and there is a lot of career progression, the only drawback is if his CRB comes through quickly he might swap jobs before the baby is born, and won't be entitled to paternity leave. Anyway we stand a better chance of being able to get a mortgage with his current salary and a permanent contract than the new one where he'll be probationary for the first 6 months again, so we need to look into it. Our fix was at 5.89%, the variable we're now on is 4.99%, but there are lots of fixes around at under 3% so it's really annoying still to be paying so much more in interest than we need to be.

I am proud to say I'm actually doing a creative project again, I'll put pics in the threadies room of wonder when it's done. My brother got me a half day learn to quilt course for my birthday, and I finally did it last weekend. So I've been sat hand quilting a little blanket for the baby while I've been on bed rest. It's hellishly slow going, but I'm proud of how neat it's turning out even if the design seems a bit dull - keep reminding myself its a first attempt and I always pick complicated projects, they go wrong and I get disheartened and never try again, if my first project goes well that'll give me the skills and confidence to built up to a more intricate design.

Apologies if any of this is a bit hard to read, I have gone back and spellchecked it but my 't' button has some sort of toddler based biscuit/grit/playdough under it and is fighting me on functional use.