I'm a newbie.........

Hi all you newbies, I feel like an old hand having been on Mumsnet for a number of years and here since way back at the the beginning of this week when it was all new and empty!

We seem to have quite a few grandads here already chaps - I have certainly met a few this week, the more the merrier!

We also h ave a wide age range from 30s to 70s+ as far as I can tell and a huge range of interests.

I am grandma to 2, both of whom live a fair distance away from us so we treasure every minute we get to spend with them and try and take them on holiday or have them to stay with us for weekends whenever we can. Still working full time so this is problematical and also still have one child living at home/university who is currently overseas for the year!

I am already addicted.

We're all newbies, the site just launched! In time, we'll be the old guard, complaining that it wasn't like this in the old days, it was all fields round here.

Is there room for a Grandad...

Hello! Another new member, though nearly 11 years into grandparenting. I'm a member of Mums in Sweden, a site for English speakers living in Sweden but it's good to find a site specifically for grandparents as well. Looking forward to getting to know others here and weighing in with my two-penn'oth now and again.
I was 39 when my first grandchild was born (now I have 2 and a third due in July) and felt the word 'granny' aged me unnecessarily so I chose to be known as Nana. I love being Nana - all of the pleasure and none of the responsibility!

Hi mumtogran -- I was a Nanna at the age of 44, so I think I started quite early too!! My eldest was 41 when her granddaughter was born!! My sister was 39 when she became a Grandmother!! It must be the Liverpool air!!

Hi, my first day on here. Joined mumsnet a week ago but i'm really pleased to find a place for a Gran too. I'm quite a young Grandma i suppose, 47. My son started young and he and his partner now have 2 beautiful daughters aged 4 and 3 months. I'll probably have a look on here most days, when i can tear myself away from facebook!!

Hi, I've just decided to join, as I heard about Gransnet from friends on another forum. I'm also a member of Mumsnet, but do admit to feeling a bit 'old' for there, but I'll stay with them, as some of the topics are interesting!
I did have to think about some things when filling in the application to join here, I mean, remembering the birth dates of my 8 grandchildren wasn't all that easy! I couldn't find a place to add my one great-granddaughter, but then, it is GRANSnet, not greatgransnet!! I also have an 'Angel' granddaughter, passed away in 2001, age of 18days.
I was going to put a 'nickname' such as Nanna or something, but wasn't sure if we were all to use names, rather than nicknames.
I live near Liverpool, which is where I was born and have been married for nearly 44 years. I have 4 children, 3 of them have been or are married. Our last daughter was born 10 years after the third child. All have 'flown the nest' now, so hubby and I are on our own - most of the time!! The 8 grandchildren are divided between Sheffield, Bolton, Wigan and Liverpool, so are not too far away.
I still work, part time, as a Lollipop lady.
I talk too much, so I think I'd better leave this one for now! Maybe I should have chosen 'Chatterbox' as my nickname!!

Another newbie. I'm from New Zealand living and working in the UK for a while. I have 2 grandchildren a 4th old boy, Jake, and a 3yr old cutey called Natalie. They live I Australia....thank the Lord for Skype! I'm so looking forward to the day we fly back home via Brisbane for a big cuddle!

Hi cupcake nice to speak to you, Once upon a time I made a good cake but dont seem to have the time or inclination, so I have handed over the mantle to my DD who I think is much better at it than I ever was.

Hello to you all. Just finished scraping my latest culinary masterpiece into the bin (orange cake- burnt black on top and a curious grey spongy layer at the bottom) and decided to cheer myself up by joining gransnet and relaxing with whilst I read through all your posts. Cheers!

Hi Phil totally agree with you! I

Hello,is there a Grandads net?

Hello everyone!
I'm new to Gransnet too, and wonder if there are any other Grandma's out there who live in Europe but have grandchildren in America. Would like to hear how they cope with the distance.

What a breath of fresh air this site is!

Hi to all 'newbies', looking forward to chatting to you all, this looks like it's going to be fun!

hi CathyS, I'm a gran-in-waiting too, my daughter is expecting a little girl at the end of May, and I think there are some other GIW out there too, oh look I've made up another acronym!

hi *mrman *, welcome to Gransnet, I beleive that there are other men on here too, but don't be shy, please do join us, and yes I agree, it should really be for Grandparents, but maybe if other men join, the tech team will consider changing the name a bit to encompass the 'lads'

I am a newbie too and am I the only man here? Bit concerned that it appears to be for grandma's only!

Hi everyone, just joined today, and I am loving it already!

I am (almost) 62 yrs of age, I have 2 granddaughters aged 9 and 2, and 2 stepgrandkids aged 12 and 9. I live on the east yorks coast with hubby number 2, but unfortunatly my 2 lovely grandchildren are 100 miles away in Sheffield, and hubbies 2 lovely grandchildren are even further away down in Worcester which is nearly 300 miles away. We dont see much of them, but we keep in touch via the internet and snail mail

I've just joined Gransnet and thought I'd say hello.
I've posted messages in two forum strands, 'books' and 'grammar' and as I'm on the computer most days I'm looking foward to finding out what others think, we'll see what occurs shall we?

Hi everyone. I'm new here too and feel fairly well qualified to be here - being mum to 3 sons and Grandma to 2 wonderful girls and one rascal of a boy - bless him. Here's to making new friends.

Hello everyone,I am also a newbie and have just joined tonight,I look forward to getting to know you all and having a good chat.
I have 5 Grand children ranging from 13 years to 21 years,two boys(well men) and three girls and they are the light of my life.

My two lovelies come to me via my wonderful stepson. So I suppose I'm a stepgran, but I've been there since day one and the children think of me as their 'Nain'. Welsh version of nanna. My choice, as I'm Welsh and at the time I was a bit self concious about taking on the title of Grandmother as technically I wasn't one.
Anyway hope that qualifies me!
I love the fact that Gransnet is so wide ranging and what a treat to talk to ladies who know that life can get more interesting as you get older.
Look forward to keeping in touch with everyone.

I'm another newbie to the site, saw details on bt yahoo news today. I'm 65, have 3 daughters and 1 son, 10 grandchildren, 6 boys, 4 girls and 4 great grandsons the latest was only born on May 1st. Our family live in Tyne and Wear, Worcestershire and Spain.
My main interests are travel, my husband and I adore Australia and through my interest in genealogy have made and met up with lots of friends down under. My other main interest is the Guide Association. I'm not an active unit member now but am a Trefoil Guild member.

Hello everyone Ive just joined and Im looking forward to chatting with everyone Im a mother of 2 and granny to 3 girls and 1 boy with another due in july the girls are 14 10 and 7 and my sweet little grandson is 1 I love being a granny and get so much pleasure from all the kids

Another newbie, mother of three and grandmother of 4 and one on the way. Have to confess of never going on Mums net, but Gransnet is more my age group.

Oh dear, I feel a new addiction coming on! I've only just joined and wasn't sure I qualified as I am a Gran-in-waiting. My first grandchild is due in November. It's very exciting and I'm lucky my son & DIL live quite close.

One thing I'm nervous about is the child care discussion. I've no idea yet how involved they will want me to be or how much I will want to take on in terms of looking after the little one. I would love to hear others' experiences of whether these things were discussed before the first birth or not.