The Ultimate Incentive Part 11 (or 10B) It's The Final Countdown

Dinah93

Birdie85 wrote: »

Brilliant news about the Quidco job! Hope it goes well. When will you start?

Shame your holiday has ended on a sour note and ouch to the bites!

Good news about NIM's course but I'd be wary about counting on him doing weekend work on top of his course. I know several people who've attempted nursing degrees (and dropped out because the workload was too much...) and a common complaint was barely having time to sleep and eat once they'd done all the necessary reading, essay-writing and the 12-hour shifts on a ward, I'd imagine that it may become too much for him to spend what little free time he has to go to work when he's on placement.

The fun pool we go to is Northallerton

Eeek don't say that! I really don't think we can afford for him to do it without working. We have two friends who've done nursing in the last 5 years and the one who has done a previous degree described nursing as laughably easy in comparison so we were definitely planning on the work being easy enough to fit in. Panicking now!

I start on the 31st, going down to London on the 1st to meet the team.

Cinny91 wrote: »

That's awesome about the Quidco job! Although I'm not surprised you got it, you've had almost 8 years on the MSE forum as practice

Your poor Mum!! I'd be more upset about the loss of the camera over anything else Cards can be cancelled, keys replaced etc.. but all the holiday photos were on that?? At least your Dad had some money, and they got back fine Must have been a shock though - you're told to be cautious but you never think it'll actually happen to you?

Thanks for the perfect prep offer, but until we're out of the game on breast feeding - we're not really after getting formula things? And thanks for the help offer too I'm "only" wanting to breastfeed up until around a year, so I hope my body is up for it! The clothes would be awesome though, if you don't mind letting their things go! Would you want anything for them, or at the very least to cover the postage?

Worryingly my 8 years of practice have set me up perfectly - I can find great deals, I just haven't learnt to say no to them!

I've kept the few baby bits that really matter to me, certain babygrows etc that are very 'them' - but I still have mountains of boy stuff especially. I've been selling on ebay recently, not the vests and babygrows but the proper stuff, and to get £2 for 10 bits of baby boden, frugi, gap, little white company etc is just miserable, I'd much rather they got some love. Going to turn those babygrows into a blanket one day, probably when I'm retired and have the time!

Try to set up a breastfeeding support network before you have the baby, so many people quit in the first few days when they don't need to, but honest to God you feel like you're losing your marbles, so little sleep and my friends who fed directly from the start said in the first few days they fed every 30 minutes or so day and night the first week, so they thought they weren't producing enough milk, which in the first few days you're probably not as no one does, but you have to keep letting them suckle to get the proper milk to come in. In some ways thats where expressing was easy for me, I could see exactly what was going on, measure it, I knew how much I produced to how much they took etc. Anyway I've done the first stage of peer supporter training before I decided not to go any further in case I decked the next person who told me breastmilk could cure cancer, provide world peace and cause unicorns to shoot out the babies ears and sing them lullabies while I napped. I was a bit too 'it's damned hard work but if you really want to do it you can and will succeed'.

Mums camera had about 5000 photos of the holiday, and all the pictures shes taken of Ben and Grace the last few months. It's definitely the memory card shes most upset about. Out of curiosity if you were abroad with your car and lost/had stolen your car key, would anyone know where to turn to? Assuming of course you don't have a spare.

tinkerbel wrote: »

Well done on the quidco job Dinah!! That's awesome! What kind of thing did you say you would be doing? Deal hunting? (You'll have to share any insider tips lol!) hope your holiday is nice too! Are you still getting bitten if you use a repellant with a high deet percentage? I find this usually works for me. So sorry about your mums bag - can you claim on insurance

Yep it's a Deal Analyst role so finding the best deals, some weeks on a theme and others just whatever I can source. My first week is a freshers theme.

I don't know what DEET percentage it had tbh, it was Autan so I just expected it to work. I was so glad to get a full nights sleep last night with no waking up to scratch!

How long is she away for Wendz? NIM could never take Grace away without me, I don't think she could even go away with her beloved nana, after about 48 hours away from me she gets herself really worked up to be back with me, which was fun when I was in hospital having Ben. Even in Italy after the first few days she got so clingy and it was only mama who was allowed to help her do anything, it was my knee she always had to sit on for dinner etc. I love being so loved, and Ben is currently a daddys boy (who he calls 'Ga!' - it's the only 'word' we've worked out he has. I went in to try to settle him tonight as he was crying, he looked at me, took the dummy out and pointed at the door 'Ga! Ga!' - nice to be wanted!)

Anyone else not getting any emails about new posts since the forum changeover? I also can't find most of the control panel options anymore, keep having to swap back to the old version.

Lara44

Great news about the Quidco job Dinah! Sounds like a brill fit for you . So sorry about your Mum's bag, that's awful. Hope it hasn't dented the holiday experience too much.

Cinny, good advice from Dinah about breastfeeding. In our area there are lots of local drop-in sessions to get help and I was glad to use those several times. They were not always well promoted by the midwives. I didn't find breastfeeding too difficult, we were lucky. But it's still great to go and speak to people. I think it's so normal to feel a bit of anxiety as you can't see what milk is going in. However you choose to feed the baby, getting the baby fed is the most important thing. You're going to be great.

Hope you have a fun staycation with Heidi, Wendz.

We are settling in well, enjoying the peace and calm of a smaller and much greener place! I think DH is a bit bored with R and no social life, hope we he can connect with some people, and find some hobbies he enjoys. He is quite up for trying a few new things, which is great. I've been back at work a week, I hope my brain will wake up a bit more, it's pretty rusty right now.

Cinny91

How awful about your MIL, Birdie At least she has other lovely family members to fall back on! Kind of makes sense how he didn't want to celebrate his birthday, and now he's kind of lashing out at other people. Doesn't excuse it, just makes a little more sense! Hope this weekend cheered her up

That is a LOT of moving in such a short time, CMD!! I thought I was a busy bee moving twice in 5 years :eek: I bet Brighton was lovely with the weather we had this weekend!

Will be lovely for you to have a little one-on-one time with Heidi though, Wendz I'm sure Poppy will have a great holiday! At least she'll have a cousin to play with too.

Looooove the idea of turning baby clothes into a quilt! Always wished I'd kept more tshirts and things growing up so I could have done something like that. We went to a lot of gig/concerts/festivals as a family and it would have been a nice family thing to add to over time!

Thankfully I've had a lot of offers of support for the breastfeeding A friend who lives a few streets away has offered to come and help if I'm struggling with anything, as well as a friend who runs an online breastfeeding support network. Plus my SS centre is very pro-breastfeeding so has feeding support groups, tea mornings etc! Just trying not to worry about it, and assuming everything will be peachy. Although I keep on having dreams that they're here and they won't feed properly, only thing they'll take is rich tea biscuits :rotfl:

Aren't there any places your DH could take R to meet new people, Lara? I'm going purely on American movies and how blummin friendly they are, but maybe parks or toddler groups? Glad you're settling in well though! It is a big adjustment, my Sister really struggled with the culture differences.

Birdie85

I'm sure it's different strokes for different folks and NIM may think the course/placements are a walk in the park but I just think it might be best to plan for the worst as it is a bit of a push to fit part time work around full time study at the best of times.

On the babygrow crafts chat- there are a couple of pages on FB that make keepsake bears (and other animals) out of special baby clothes, I'm very tempted to get one made!

Zach's affections currently swing widly from me to DH depending on how he feels. He's recently mastered 'Daddy' though and says it constantly. Good when he's shouting it on a morning as I can just say to DH 'Well he clearly wants you to get him up, I'll just stay in bed!'

Hope your DH finds some fun stuff to fill his days Lara. Any chance of Robin going to childcare once or twice a week so your DH can work part time or volunteer if his Visa doesn't allow it?

As for my MIL and FIL - he's always been a bit of a grump (to put it lightly!) and DH and his brothers clearly have a lot of daddy issues thanks to it but he's become worse over the years. MIL used to just do as she was told to keep the peace but has become stronger willed since the boys grew up and he clearly hates it so is pushing her more. I wish she had the strength to leave him but I don't think she ever would. Anyway, at least we had a nice afternoon out.

wendz86

Poppy is definitely a mummy's girl but has got closer to ex recently which is good. She will be gone a whole week, longest I haven't seen her before is a couple of days. I was in hospital for 6 days after Heidi but she came to visit every day. I think she will be ok though.

I think with the breast feeding you just need to know that they can feed a lot and it is normal. A lot of people give up around the 6 week point which is a growth spurt.

Cinny91

I'm sure she'll be fine, Wendz Maybe a bit tearful to start with at the worst, but kids adapt! Soon as she's there and it's sunny she'll have a great time.

That's ruddy awful about your MIL, Birdie At least she's slowly standing up for herself, she might get the courage to tell him where to stuff it one day. The more she figures she has a support system away from him the better

Good on Zach for calling for Dad Hope our kid masters that! Was weird last night though, got home from dropping my BIL off back at his and thought I'd have a cherry bakewell (fruit, so healthy) and a bit of Parks and Rec before bed - swear Fox did a little wiggle for Leslie Knope! It was weird, like a tiny wiggling fish kind of sensation?? I'm only 15wks so I'm not sure if it's even possible or not :o

Walking Ryder this morning I realised last years Autumn coat is getting a little stomach snug so starting to keep an eye out on ebay for a maternity winter coat. Told my OH I refuse to spend more than £15 on one considering I probably won't wear it after this year?! Kind of hoping I won't have to buy too many maternity things now I'm seeing what's coming in for the new season. Everything's all baggy and nice!

roomontheend

Great news on quidco Dinah, things seem to have turned a corner for you. Hopefully this is just the start. Sorry to hear about your Mam.

I am busy doing my cv as I have seen a couple of jobs I am going to apply for. Not in teaching I my add. They are temp but a good wage so fingers crossed.

Birdie85

What size are you Cinny? I could lend you my maternity winter coat (more or less this one)? It's expandable so you can let it out as you grow. I can also dig out some dresses and jeans if you want to pad out your wardrobe without spending anything! Won't need it back for a while!

Some people do feel movements that early, and Leslie Knope is a good reason to flutter with excitement!

Good luck with the job search ROTE!

Cinny91

Good luck job hunting, ROTE! Hope you find something quickly x

I'm a 12/14 depending, Birdie! Would be terrified to borrow the coat though, too many muddy dog walks and me being generally clumsy and walking into trees/falling on my butt which has ruined other coats But dresses I think I can be trusted with if you do have any in my sizes, would be a massive help because I honestly have no idea what to buy!

Pretty sure Fox moved for Leslie in that case Waiting for it to happen again now, so I'm sure I wasn't just going a little loopy sat on my own :rotfl:

Birdie85

I will dig out dresses, tunics and my awesome pink jeans (which were a tad short for me but they were only £5 so I had to have them, they should fit you well), oooh and my super cute kilt! I actually really liked my pregnancy wardrobe! Fairy nuff about the coat, I'm happy to lend it to you but if you're worried, I'll hold onto it.