Third time since mat leave started (before that worked full time so didn't have time to socialise with the kids much) that friends have arranged "playdates" or suggested a walk up the woods or whatever one week and then the next week cancelled at the last minute (on the day or evening before) saying that they're "double booked" by having family over or bog standard immunizations booked.
I'm starting to wonder if this is normal for fairly casual social arrangements like this or is it me and my slightly unruly boys? I wonder if I'm being unreasonable expecting others to recall that they made plans when making a non-urgent GP appointment or inviting family over? Should I be texting or something to confirm after a conversation?
I'm truly baffled as I would think after someone says "why don't you come over next week?" And I say "yes that would be lovely, around 1?" And they reply "yes, sounds great it'll be lovely for little Johnny to play with the boys again" they would then expect to see you? Or is there a casual fluidity to these kind of child based friendships that I'm unaware of?
Steeling myself for mumsnet to tell me that no-one likes me 
if you can, be gentle, I just had a baby I'm not hugely experienced in all this having been back at work full time when DS2 turned 9 months.
AIBU?
AIBU to be annoyed by friends "double booking"
wanderingcloud · 02/06/2015 17:30
Why don't you take the initiative and invite people directly to your house - then at least you will know if they want to come or not .
But, looking back as I have teenagers now, those sorts of 'playdate' arrangements were usually fairly casual - other things do crop up and often it's just a matter of saying 'we'll be in the park at 3pm if anyone wants to join us'. I remember once being bitterly disappointed when I'd agreed to meet a friend & her son, only to find she sent her DH to meet us (with the son) - the children played happily but I was left making small talk with her DH - perfectly pleasant but clearly he didn't want to talk to me and it was all a bit of an effort and I had been looking forward to seeing my friend.
It's not just the one friend but three different friends each from very different circles. First time I put it down to the individual but two other friends have done the exact same thing! I'm wondering if I'm the odd one when I ask the GP for a different appointment time because I think I have plans only to find out they've made other plans!
The one time I expected people here, I baked cakes and no-one turned. I was too embarrassed to say anything. 
They're three, two and a few weeks. I don't think they are excessively rough, they seem to play nicely with others. Both are used to socialising with peers at nursery. Why make plans in the first place if they don't like us? 
YADNBU. If they're not going to stick with a plan they should make it clear it's only happening if they don't get a better offer. 
Out of curiosity, do your friends have sons or daughters? I know that one friend dropped the rest of us - we have good reason to believe partly due to having two girls and not being able to handle how much noisier the boys were. FWIW, I have one of each, and annoyingly my girl can be worse than my boy. Bah!
A mixture of boys and girls. I'm starting to think the better offer is true. Do I let it go or go in for some pa texting... 
You could just skip the next arrangement. If they don't get shirty then they weren't going to turn up anyway. And if they do get shirty you can sling it right back at them.
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