Continued support and fun aspects too of rebuilding lives after estrangement can't believe 4 years and we still here to offer help, friendship and support.TWO

Oh yes lucklegs I have booklet ex excises trying do at least twice a day meant to be 4 or 5 times they are gentle

Leg pain is associated with nerves from back I have to be patient.

How are you? I did finally answer your lovely emails thank you. X

LuckylegsMy husband and I thought that since he is a father also that it would be a nice thing to do and maybe start a conversation. My son told my ESS ( his step brother to call his dad, my husband)

Rhinestone, it sounds as if ess is too embroiled in issues with edil and her mum to have the energy to deal with anything/anyone else. Nor even his dad. So sorry about this.

Yoga and Smileless - Yes, that thought really helped my friend. She'll still have bad moments, I guess, but now she has that idea to draw on for strength.

Hello everyone, have just had a look on here after missing for a day or two. This thread supports me but also makes me sad.
Celeb, I hope and wish you begin to feel better soon, for you.
Eddie, don't stop posting please, but how lovely for you to Skype your grandchildren the other evening. I do hope you are them soon.
Rhinestone, your pain is so great at the moment, I hardly know what to say to you.
Thank you for support ladies, I find the days vary, a sad day, a not so sad day. I feel very low a lot of the time. On Saturday we're joining our son and little grandson in Europe for a week, that will be a better week.

Eddie, you see them soon......

That sounds lovely Maddy have a wonderful time and let us know what you got up too with your little GS.

2017 continues to be cr*p. DD has had a miscarriage - she has to have a scan today to confirm but it seems likely. We didn`t even know she was pregnant. The most upsetting thing was that she said she really wanted to give us grandchildren to make up for what had happened with the other 2 - I had to try to convince her that it is not down to her to make things right

Oh Eddie, I'm so sorry, my daughter had two miscarriages before her children were born, and it's heartbreak watching your beloved daughter suffer such a loss. Of course you're right to tell her it's not her responsibility to provide you with grandchildren following the awful sadness of the estrangement from your other grandchildren, but I do understand why she would just love to give you another grandchild, and all in good time, she probably will.

Maddyone first of all ?Thank you for such lovely kind posts and your concern. I think I am slowly improving Been I. Garden most day, my bad leg/foot is bit swollen but we had better night.
MY twin brother called spent hour in garden it was lovely to see him,

Oh eddicat ?So very sorry about your poor daughter. ?For her and you?That's so sad, let's hope 2017 improves.
How kind she trying make it better for you.
Let's pray that will happen eventually.

Just been on phone go good friend their son has dreaded c on His tongue. They were over moon about their first grandchild arrived in May and seems life gives happiness with one hand and sorrow with the other in their case.

Last. Night managed sleep between 12 and 2 and 4 and 6 then 7 to 8 30 very good for me,

Best of all visit from my twin!

And just as good myndesr son and family visitting this weekend.

Dh rang try hire wheel chairs rom Red Cross closed wed, oh well try tomorrow.

Have good weekend all plenty of ?????????oops got carried away it is last bank holiday !

thankyou celeb and maddy
Although I don`t want DD to be upset, in a way I would rather she didn`t have any children as she has diabetes which is going to make pregnancy more risky. I`ve got enough to worry about without anything extra!

Hope you get your wheelchair sorted Celeb - does Mr C know how to drive one?!

Good Morning- Well here it is morning. Eddiecat I am so sorry about what your daughter is going through. I don't know if this will make anyone feel better but a doctor once told me that many many women have miscarriages but don't know it as it may coincide with their periods. He said it was more common than women think. I know you are concerned about her diabetes but with today's healthcare many women do get through their pregnancies with healthy babies. I love that she cares about you so much that she wants to make up for the other two.

Yesterday Mr. R. wanted to throw away a child's car seat that my GS outgrew. I told him not to in case our little one, who is estranged from us, needed it in the future as he is only three. Am I living in another reality or just being positive?
My DH is more rational than I.

Hello again everyone, thank you for your kind remarks Celeb, when there are problems in families I think one of the things it does is deminish your own self esteem, somehow you feel if I done this or that it wouldn't have happened. So Celeb, it was so nice of you to say I have kind thoughts for others, it made me feel better. Anyway, I know it's going to be a long road to recovery for you Celeb, but you've started and you're on your way. It will get better. How lovely to have a twin brother, twins are so close to one another in my experience, it would have been lovely to see him. 'Re the wheel chair, we've often borrowed one from the Red Cross for my mother when she's visited, they're very good, tell you for two weeks only, but if they've not got a waiting list (rare) they let you keep it longer.
Eddie, I understand your concern about your daughter, but Rhinestone is right, with modern medical care, she should be able to carry a baby successfully, though she may have the baby a bit earlier as babies of diabetic mums are often quite big.
Rhinestone, what a dilemma, I think I'd keep the seat if I were you, it seems so final and like the end of hope to get rid of it. We have two seats as we have three grandchildren, so would still need one seat whatever happens. We're not fully estranged yet, but it feels like we will be because of the way they behave, certainly haven't seen them for a while, and the things that have been said and written to us certainly give the impression that contact will be limited. Anyway, I had an email yesterday asking if we are still prepared to honour one day of childcare in a couple of weeks (they stopped us doing some other childcare that had been arranged) so we will get to see our darling little ones for a few hours as I replied that of course we'll do it. The texts and things that have been said make me feel as if my DD hates me, and it's horrible isn't it?

Sorry DD's texts made you feel so hated. How awful! But she can't "hate" you that much if she wants/trusts you to do childcare. Glad you agreed to do it, as why deny yourself and the grands this pleasure?

Sorry that DD (and SIL? - you said, "they") canceled some of the earlier childminding plans. But maybe they found that made life harder for them and that they need you people in their (and the children's) lives more than they realized. I hope so.

I hope the recovery is going well celeb and the pain meds are more efficient.....

Bank holidays are hard when estranged, as we would meet, est DS estDiL and DGC over the August Bank Holiday..... I feel round about now is when I start thinking about C********.....yikes!

I hope Esther's grandparents campaign helps make things fairer for future generations of grandparents, so they don't have to live as estGrandparents...

Enjoy the long weekend....

Morning all

So sorry to hear about your DD Eddie, after recovery she will no doubt go on to have more babies & for your DD

How are you today Celebgran lovely day, so get out into the , it will make you feel better.

I'm having a very rare day off Monday, no plains as yet, but so much to do, garden, spring clean etc. so I'll be busy what ever happens.

Nice weekend all

MaddyoneGlad you are going to see your GC. Either they didn't think the emails were bad or they are really desperate. I hate to say this but our children don't suffer like we did raising them. Too many conveniences... frozen foods, microwaves, cell phones, and of course grandparents who are so afraid of being CO that we will do anything to see our DGC. Theydont have to make an effort on anything. And the entitlement, that grandparents are for watching their children, always upsets me. My grandparents weren't slaves to my parents . What happened?

Eddie, somehow I missed your post about dd's mis. So very sorry. She'll need time to get over this and recover, of course. But like pps, I'm sure she'll be able to have a child, eventually.

Rhinestone You are right, I dont remember my grandparents, 2 of whom were still working full time up to the 80's, being slaves to my parents. In fact I seem to remember strong views being expressed to my parents, if they asked for things which didn't count as essential help.

And they weren't cut off for it.

I wonder what happened in the decades since, people have changed?

SparklyGrandma I'm still asking the same question. There doesn't seem to be much connection to extended family. My friend has a son who got divorced but she saw his children everyday after school and gave them dinner until their mom got home. Their mother has died and those girls who are 24 and 22 hardly call her or see her anymore. She was with them every school day and holidays and took them on vacations. Now they seem to have forgotten her and she is older and depressed now. I know AC need their own lives but I saw my grandmother until the end and was happy to do so. I'm all ready thinking of the two GC I do see as I know soon they will be running with their friends and won't have time for me. My son does call my mother much more than my daughter but they don't make much effort to see her even though they live close to her. That's not how they were brought up. Are they all just too involved I their own lives?
Maybe I did it wrong as I put others needs and wants in front of mine.

Rhinestone maybe times and family loyalty have changed so much over the last 30 years.

Also, when there was no Welfare State, your family were very important as was your church chapel or synagogue community.

Nowadays people maybe think they don't need each other. Or they see relatives over 50 as a possible future responsibility?

I hope Esther runs a campaign that gets results for future estranged grandparents.

Morning ladies. We got back yesterday from spending 5 days at our holiday home where we had a lovely time, with good weather. The only down side was we couldn't get on the internet.

I'm so very sorry to hear about your DD eddiebut as others have said, it's more common than people realise and many women miss carry before they know they're pregnant so aren't aware they have done.

It happened to me about 6 months after ES had been born; it's very upsetting.

The family dynamic really has changed hasn't it Rhinestone and Sparkly and not for the better. It's veryto hear about GP's who spent so much time with their GC when they were young and rarely get to see them or even hear from them when they get older.

I think back and realise how fortunate our parents were. They never did child care and had the boys for days out and sleep overs whenever they wanted too. Mr. S. is one of 5 so his mum has loads of GC and GCC. DS keeps in regular contact with her even though he's in Aus. My poor mum just has the one GC now and will never have the joy of seeing her GCC thanks to ES.

It makes you wonder how are EC's families will look in the future doesn't it.

Hope you had a lovely day off yesterday Yogagirl, did you see your lovely DD and GD?

Sounds as if your recovery is on track Celeb, slowly but surely which is the best way. How lovely that you saw your twin and DS over the weekend. Is Mr. C. going to get an 'L' plate for your wheelchair?. Tell him to be careful, that's very precious cargo he's going to be pushing around.

Rhinestone I always knew there was a limited time with GC, from birth till possibly 10yrs, after that they would naturally want to go off with friends and not see GP so much. I do like to think though, that my special bond I had with my GD would have lasted a life time, even with, what I said above, still applying. But that's all destroyed now

Thank you Smileless I did have a lovely day off yesterday, first one [BHM] in years!
I've decided I need to take some time off from time to time, even if just a day, otherwise I could work the year through, save Xmas & New years day! Went to Canvey Island with my ND&GD thinking it wouldn't be as packed as Southend, but it was teaming! Think all the locals had the same idea as me

Nice to hear you enjoyed your week at your holiday home S, sounds lovely, hope everyone else had a good BHM too.

Just want to know how our cruel AC sleep at night

Good Morning- Having a hard time this morning after seeing my DH x wife with her pictures of the boys swimming. I just want to scream. My good friend will be teaching again next week with ESS. Interesting what she will have to say. She says he always seems to be complaining about something. DH going to find out today about the test where the monitor was implanted in his stomach. Having horrible aches in my arm. Wonder if it's arthritis as it's been raining and damp the last few days. Cut my hair shorter and now am unhappy. Oh well it's only hair. Have a good day all.

Sorry yesterday was such a hard day for you, Rhinestone. Hope you're feeling better today! And hope dh's test brought only good news.