Lis - oh I'm with you on the dumb questions. I get the "what should she wear" and "what should I give her to eat" questions all the time. Given that my DH works from home and sees her for all her meals and sees what she's wearing every single blo*dy day, I don't understand how it can be so hard either. He brought her down for breakfast the other morning in her pjs topped with a beautiful cashmere wool cardigan my mum had knit for her! And people wonder why I only want to stay in hospital for as short a time as possible when Ned is born! Lovely that your DH is spending lots of time with Ellie though - hard when they miss out on all the lovely day to day stuff.

Jan - Julian's birthday party sounds wonderful. I hope the playgroup is good. I am still to venture out to one yet and know I really should for Izzy's sake. I hate the idea of a really structured thing too and would really just like to have a nice, safe environment with nice kids for Iz to play with while I sit in the corner and read my book!

Tan - you must be relieved to be hearing such encouraging comments about your VBAC. So pleased for you. Grandmas are great for reliving your princess' achievements aren't they. I was at my folks for lunch yesterday with an old family friend who has never met Izzy and I swear my parents didn't stop raving the whole time about what she could do and how amazing she was. Very funny.

Shell - yay for Angus running around. A pirate theme sounds soooo cool for his birthday party. You guys are all going to so much trouble I'm starting to feel a little guilty. I'm only having the family over for cake and coffee but I honestly think that's all I can manage at this point.

I had a very sad chat with a girlfriend last night. The poor thing is starting IVF today and my heart just breaks for her. Other than the obvious emotional side of things and all the invasive procedures, some of the stuff she was telling me about increased risks of this and that are truly frightening. Some of the decisions she and her DH have to make are just so incredibly tough. We both had a bit of a laugh though when I was trying to get out that I was happy to come along and support her in any way I could (she can't drive before and after a lot of stuff, has to really rest after etc) but I was a bit worried about the message I'd send wandering into an IVF clinic with one arm around her, a baby on my boob and one on my hip! Seriously though, its just not something that anyone should have to go through. If I could give her and her DH the apparent fertility of my DH and I, I'd do it in a heartbeat.