Well, now I feel totally deflated. I had a lovely conversation with SIL on the phone the other night and she invited me to a girls' afternoon tea in a couple of weeks (I think in place of a baby shower). So I asked them to dinner, she said they were pretty busy, she'd check with BIL to find a good date and get back to me.

BIL rings DP today to say they have no free time between now and when the baby is due (in September - and SIL is on maternity leave now). And that he assumes the first three months after the baby is born will be out too, wouldn't they? Double DP said no, not really, in fact it's easier to get out and about with a tiny baby (FFS it's only over to our house for dinner, it's hardly a harbour cruise...) than once they're older.

No idea what to say. How do we congratulate them and give them a gift? Although on the plus side, this totally reinforces my decision to concentrate on dealing with SIL and leave the boys out of it.