Uk SMOG Wannabes ~ February

[deaks66]

oooh lavender, i have had my eye on a cast iron victorian bed for ages for ds2. What colour is yours? did you get it off e-bay. Id love a white or red one but they are so hard to come across! All the work to the house/garden sounds great...have you chosen the bits for the bathroom yet?

Sunset, sorry to hear serena is poorly. Poor little mites dont stand a chance with big brothers bringing germs home do they?!

Inglewood, how exciting to be finding out birthday tomorrow!! are you getting big now?

Chocolate, maybepink, pinga, babymad how are you all doing?

Maybe, any more strange feelings?!

I had a friend over today who is expecting bubs number three. She has two girls and would love a boy! Seen her nub on fb though and although i didnt let on, its VERY girly She asked me if i had a third if i would like a girl and i said i didnt really mind though out of choice obviously that would be nice. I genuinely felt that i didnt mind...its weird how some days im cool with it and some days im not. But its interesting to talk to someone who feels like we do but the other way around!

Anyway, hi everyone else!

Hoping for some results tomorrow.X

[Inglewood]

My benefit definetly finishes from April 2012. Beacuse they have changed the brackets etc.... I called and was told that If you earn a JOINT income of over £32,300 you get NOWT and that's that! (regardless of who earns more out of the couple) It used to be £44,000 till now. Absolute crap isn't it!! My Dh's income was more last year as he worked overtime to cover his partners sick leave and I did a few extra shifts over the year, the past year we are back on normal hours me 22.5, him 30hrs and as we earn over £32,300 (not by all that much) we get nothing, not even with me on half pay for 4.5mths and having twin babies! I have to call them once babies are born to double check, but doesn't look good!

watch this next Child benefit will be gone!!!

[Inglewood]

Aww, poor little Serena. It's awful but inevitable that they get ill so little when there are big brothers or sisters in the house. Caleb had chicken pox when he was 2 months old! I'll bet your mummy milk will get her better quickly

FX for good results tomorrow Deaks!

We will stop getting child benefit from April because DH earns (just!) over the higher tax bracket. I have nothing against means tested benefits but this one makes absolutely no sense to me at all - we would get nothing even if I wasn't working but if he earnt a little bit less and I also worked full time we'd earn far more AND get our child benefit. They need to look at joint household income but I guess they know they'd mess up the administration of that!

Have u heard they are stopping child benefit too? as with child tax credits??? Googled it, they are stopping it if 1 parent earns over £44k, we are ok. x

[maybebabythree]

Deaks - no all feelings that labour might be soon have gone :-( mums on the school run where shocked to see me but not as shocked as I was to be there. All I get is crippling stabbing cervix pains. At this rate I won't need contractions as my cervix will just give out. I hope your results come in tomorrow.

Can't wait now till I can get back in my heels. The first day on the school run after I have dave I am going to get out my six inch heels!

Sorry serena is poorly. My little man has constipation and won't stop crying. Poor things. I am almost as hurt as he is as I can't help make it better :-(

[charlieispy]

child benefit is still being debated as uproar that you could earn 70K joint and get it but if one earns 40K you wouldnt i am hoping they scrap it or we a up S)*& creek!!! DH is the main earner and only just over that it pays for the boys clothes/shoes/swimming without i would well have to work somehow almost fulltime!

Anyhoo deaks hope you got good results am shattered cant even type properly much love catch up tomoz x

[maybebabythree]

Yep the child benefit thing punishes the hard working. If I was to go back to work full time and do overtime child benefit would stop for me. Therefore no incentive what so ever to work full time. Plus they want to lower the wage bracket for 40% tax. Sod that! I am never working for 60% of my pay. This country favours the dossers and crack heads Im afraid.

[zanacal]

You always lose out being middle of the road, hard working people eh?! The potential new 'rule' doesn't take account of where people live too - in our part of the world it costs a lot just to live in a 'normal' house and live fairly comfortably. I hope they decide to do it differently because it's completely shit!!

[Lavenderlime]

Sunset I hope Serena feels better soon poor little thing.

Maybe I hope your ds feels better soon too it's horrible when they are unwell.

Deaks,

I got the bed on e-bay from a lady that only lives 20 minutes away from us! It has been shotblasted and re-painted cream about 5 years ago. It's really sweet. Ds1 has a red cast iron bed it's from a decommissioned navy ship and was shot blasted and re-powdercoated and baked with red paint. I got it from a couple that specialise in restoring victorian childrens beds. I called her but she didn't have any dormitory beds in stock and was having trouble getting hold of them but popped my name on the top of the list for when they tracked one down. Then luckily I found one on ebay and in good condition too! all castors intact and managed to get a reasonable BIN price.

I think ds1's bed is still on their website i'll see Home here it is Ds has also got the quilt and cushion that she made and she'll be making a quilt for ds2! They are a lovely couple i'd love a business where I could spend my days sewing and hunting around auction houses.

[deaks66]

oh maybe, i remember those feelings of being desperate to get back into normal clothes/shoes etc! So funny how things change, now i am desperate to be big enough to fit into a really cool denim maternity dress i found in h&m..... ha ha!!

Lavender, love those beds and that site! If and when we buy this blinkin house i think im gonna get a couple of those! ds1's bed is an old pine french bed. Got it for a real bargain on ebay only to find out that the custom size matress that i had to buy for it cost an arm and a leg....ooops!

[pinga]

Hi all....

not been on here for a few days... just been trying to catch up on everything!

Wow maybe - you haven't popped out Dave yet. Not long now though!!! Any day really

I have 2 tired little boys today... DS1 kept getting up in the night which wakes everyone up. I've sat them down in front of Play School to stop the whinging!

Had such a lovely night out on Saturday. Went out for dinner with my Mothers Group. Got to bed at 1am which made Sunday very tiring! So rarely seem to get out. Must admit we always end up talking about the kids... but its so nice to be able to talk to each other without children interupting every 5 seconds.

Don't know much about Child Care benefit in the UK I am trying to work out what I am eligible for when DS3 arrives. I either get $5000 or I qualify for Paid Parental Leave which might be a bit more. We only just got a maternity pay system over here and the government pays it. Almost all companies only give you is 1 year off no pay.

Lavender - the cast iron beds sound lovely!!! I love that kind of thing...

I'm think I'm doing ok. Another girl in my Mothers Group is expecting. She already has a little girl and she is due about 5 weeks before me. I think she slipped up and said ''he'' when she was talking about the baby. I'm hoping it is a boy as I think it will be a little easier for me... probably a bit selfish of me... but hey.

Anyways - need to pop to the shops with the boys...