to wonder how women can have kids under five and still manage to look good?

[fufflebum]

I feel frumpy today. Anyone else?

Have a four year old and a nearly one year old.

AIBU to wonder how other women seem to manage to put on makeup and buy good fitting clothes???

I manage a shower and hairwash every morning but makeup and new clothes an impossibility.....!!!

Any tips?

[BananaSkin]

I don't trust women with small children who look good. I think they must lock the children in the cellar while they get ready or something - I could never manage it.

[ScottishMummy]

no cellar,but a spacious loft.indeed i am untrustworthy.what harm is squashing and squeezing in dark dank loft whilst i apply my slap

[chefswife]

i am one of those mom's. i have a DH that is goes to work at 11am so it allows me time in the morning to exercise, shower and put on some make-up. i get 1 1/2 hours to myself. its lovely but it is very much a routine. you just have to do it with your partner. (most mornings DD kicks a fuss till i hold her again but i'm insistent on getting my time. happy mommy means happy baby).

[Madmentalbint]

I manage to wash my hair every morning but my clothes and make-up let me down.

I work a few hours a couple of times a week for my parents in a warehouse which isn't at all glamourous and doesn't help my image so I always seem to look scruffy.

When I do make an effort to do my make up I look like a child that has got hold of its mothers make-up bag! I seem to have lost the knack and just look freaky. It doesn't help that I have two teenage daughters who look effortlessly gorgeous and fresh. Boo.

[LucyEllensmummy]

perhaps you could find another way to make yourself happy chefswife, that reads as quite shallow which im sure you are not

[belgo]

thepghedge - can you take your clothes with you downstairs into the shower? Would that safe one trip back up and down the stairs?

[belgo]

save not safe

[LucyEllensmummy]

hang on in there hedgewitch, ive seen your profile, you scrub up pretty damned gorgeous imo.

Just a completely ignorant hijack - what is GNS?

Do you think you will stay off the meds when baby comes along or will go back on them as a preventative measure against PND, i only ask because ive been on mine for two years now and wondering if i can ever manage without them? Hi-jack over.

Must be awful for you to be in so much pain just now - 7 weeks to go - fuck, that sounds like a lot, but its not really - you'll have a beautiful baby, the weather will be better and you'll be a yummy mummy, thats for sure .

What i find is this - i never wear makeup, even pre DD. I used to, ALOT - well, i was an 80's child. But whenever i didn't wear it, i looked ill. Now i never wear it, i think i look OK (ish) most of the timie. NEVER worn foundation - was put off by a woman we used to call plastic face at work - she shovelled it on with a trowel.

[LucyEllensmummy]

at officially neurotic - i think i qualify for that, its a bit shit when your anxiety gets on top of you isn't it. I even make stuff up to worry about!! The meds do help but yes, my sex life has suffered too - and i was pretty much officially a nympho before!

[georgimama]

I put my makeup on when in the post natal ward before the obstetrician came to check me over. "Are you wearing makeup?" she said. "Yes, of course."

"Good God, I don't think I've ever seen a woman on here with makeup on before."

I'm not actually particularly vain, just hate my skin.

[georgimama]

I think that was a bit harsh to chefswife, LEM. Why on earth shouldn't her DH mind the DC for an hour in the morning so she can do her own thing, if it fits in with his routine too?

All our DHs get to have a shower in peace, they aren't on here stressing about how to get themselves looking half decent in the morning, they just do it because they know the wife will be keeping an eye on the kids.

It doesn't make you a good mother to be so martyred to your children you don't have time to wash.

[MsSparkle]

I put make up on on the post natal ward when i had my first too I look back and think WHY? Having had my second 3 weeks ago i didn't even take make up with me to the hospital! I blame the fact that with my first i was VERY young and stupid. Now with my second i am just young and not quite so stupid

[minxofmancunia]

There are certain things I've let go of since having dd such as exfoliating, manicures, facials and waxing.

luckily my eyebrows have been waxed for so many years the regrowth is so sparse that you can't really tell unless you look closely and I've heard over plucked is out of vogue

Have naturally v curly hair, have sacked off the straighteners (this used to take upwards of an hour!) and let it grom long with product on and dry into natural curls. Still shower and wash hair every morning, put body lotion on and wear mascara, eye liner, eye shadow and lip gloss. This takes 20 mins, no foundation though.

Buy most of my clothes on line but am lucky to have found a couple of websites where I know the clothes will fit me and look nice. buy bras on line cos of difficult size.

Have to be honest though despite living in M/Cr rarly venture into the city centre, buy stuff from local boutiques or John Lewis in Cheadle for convenience. Lucky too to live within walking distance of a boots and various little clothes/shoe shops.

It is doable with a few tweaks!

[harleyd]

i dont get it either lequeen

[minxofmancunia]

have put my mirror on the floor propped up so dd can come and "help" me with make up. Give her a couple of old lip glosses to smear on her chops whilst I'm doing mine and she loves it! No fuss no tantrums.

never wear fleeces unless hiking and always sling on a pendant and a nice bangle makes all the difference.

[clutteredup]

LeQueen i think you got it right about some us having serious failings in organisation and planning - that's me alright I always mean to give myself more than five minutes to get myself sorted in the moring but bar showering and pulling on the nearest clothes that seems to be my lot.

• I probably spend too much time in the morning getting my 3 DC washed dressed - or hassled into doing it themselves - prepared and clean and tidy for school with packed luncehs and leaving earlier than necessary so then we can do the walk to school - about 25 mins at a rush - but more pleasantly a leisurely stroll stopping and looking at things and chatting to eachother.

- I guess it's about priorities really.

[madamekoto]

Totally agree with LeQueen. Takes me 3 minutes to apply make up which I can do when I am making brekky. Almost all my clothes are 2nd hand or off ebay but they all go together.

I shower, run some product through hair. Shove on pair of trousers and a top, wide leg trousers look really smart and are more comfy than jeans.

I love good quality stuff, so get it off ebay or at boot fairs. I spend very little time or money on my appearance but always receive comments (often sarky) that I look well groomed.

The trick is to know what suits you and to get stuff that goes together. Also if you pick a classic look then you are never in or out of fashion.

[hazeyjane]

I have never been able to stay looking smart for more than 5 minutes (hair too lank, face too shiny, tendency to spill food/smudge mascara etc).

Pre children I wore painty dungarees, hair up, and minimal make up ( I have appalling skin, so hate going out without make up - wore make up during labour and post natal!)every day for work. Now it seems like a treat to be able to go out with hair brushed ( can't get hang of blow drying!), wearing eye make up and niceish clothes.

I have 2 dd's (2.11 and 21 months), and get washed, made up and dressed while they watch Postman Pat in the mornings. Some of my friends look amazing everyday, but I think they are people who groom easily!

[hazeyjane]

I also agree that buying clothes online (mostly ebay, but m&s for underwear) is great.

Lequeen, I think your being very harsh! Being depressed, very ill, suffering from exhaustion etc is a different matter all together. I was on chemo for nearly a year and was exhausted all the time, it was pre children so i just about managed to get up and have a bath (showers were far too tiring), put foundation and blusher on, and get into comfiest clothes, but if i had children at the time, i don't know if I would have managed that much.