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[northender]

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Sea they do. They are passable but not the same. Not much beats a frazzle.

Aldi do good frazzles! Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit stressed seacow is there any local support groups for parents of children with ASD? I'm not sure if you were on the thread at the time but dd has been assessed privately by a charity, the verdict was that its highly probable she has high functioning ASD. I'm still trying to work out what to do for the best for her tbh.

I've had a good day at work, don't want to jinx it but I'm enjoying the new job so far....

Hope you feel better soon em, good to hear you're resting. I've just got into Dead to me as well!

Nsd.

Ersatz frazzles procured. Need to get rid of the kids to bed so I can enjoy them in peace 😋. Did you know they also do little bags of mini Walnut Whips (minus the walnuts)? Seriously M&S, why did you open between the tube station and my house? The diet is doomed!

I ordered a replacement tiger for DD last night. And then DM found the original one perched on a wall on the school run today 🙄

Cross posted Girlie. Doing kids bedtime in a mo, back later x

North, hope your ds feels better soon, he sounds like a great lad.

Em, you poor thing, you seem to be run down quite a bit lately, hope you are back to 100% soon.

Sea, sorry to hear that you are stressed, just remember you are doing a brilliant job

Spends today
Morrison's £13.98 on berries, more soft fruits, jam and more salad stuff.
My younger two atm seem to have worms, but at least they are eating the good stuff, along with a few treats.

Hi guys. NSD today for me.
Had the Early Help team person round, they have referred the Caglets to Young Carers and other than that it’s just a case of waiting for a family support worker to be assigned. Yay.

So much stuff I should be doing like DLA MR and like a million forms for various things. Decided to refer myself for physio too.

Apologies for not responding to PMs yet I am crap atm!

Booked my therapy assessment though, July 10th.

I never liked Frazzles... chipsticks on the other hand... 😋

Em sounds like you had a productive day
Cag that news sounds really positive
Seacow sounds like a tough time for you. Take care of yourself & stay away from the chocolate!
Thank you for all your kind words re ds, it means a lot. He is doing okay but his eye still looks awful & the antibiotics aren't touching it this time.
We had a day at the cricket in Manchester yesterday. Tickets were already paid for, but was otherwise a frugal day. I drove to a Metro station, parked & we got the tram in £14 for both of us. I packed a picnic & there were water bottle refilling stations so we didn't spend anything else. We had a really good day, back to work & reality today.

sea I’m enabling now but have you tried the peanut butter caramel bites M&S do? They are absolutely to die for. I’m a huge fan of honey roasted cashews and salt and pepper cashews too. Mmmm. I try and kid myself that eating an entire packet is healthy...

curvy yep feeling super run down at present. 34 weeks preggo. Tired. Immune system is not as good as it was. Ds is at nursery and is a germ factory. It’s no surprise that I’m not well. But I’m resting as much as I can.

cag sounds like things are moving forwards for you xx it might be a bit not your thing but have you tried meditation and mindfulness to just give you some time? I have meditations somewhere I think from when I did the course while I was preggo with ds. I can drop box them to you (or anyone else for that matter).

Today will be much the same as yesterday.

I slept in the spare room yesterday as have been disturbing dh with my snuggling and moving around and getting up. I was woken up at 7 by catface pawing my face. Apparently no one had fed her for a month since last night and she was absolutely definetly going to starve this time.

Dh woke up at 730. Ds at 745. They’ve gone to work/nursery and I’m back in bed. Windows open trying to get some fresh air.

Jobs today are:

Finish assignment.
Write objection letter re development.
Nap
Wash ds’ fireman Sam T-shirt.
Nap.
Pea risotto for dinner.
Prepare myself for work tomorrow - I don’t really want to go back in but have 3.5 weeks left and need to start backing off the work and letting the team deal with things while I’m still there.

Dh went to shop last night with my meal plan and shopping list. £49. For the week. That included weed killer stuff for the garden.

Do you think you might need to finish up a week or two early @ememem84? Sounds like you need some rest before baby's arrival.

Spending day at children's farm/park thingy. Honestly, I think both DC could have done with a quiet day pottering around our holiday home but DH was adamant we should come here so o went along with it as I'm usually the one who's adamant about things. He might regret though if DD doesn't have a good nap very soon (I'm currently in the quietest place I can find trying to rock DD off to sleep).

It’s possible thats but I don’t want to!! But if I need to I will.

My job isn’t stressful and I can sit down all day. But yeah. Tiredness is taking its toll. I have 2 weeks annual leave before due date (Although I had this with ds and he arrived a week early...)

I’ll see how things go. Work are good in that they totally get that I’m exhausted. And feeling uncomfortable etc. (And can’t do anything about it - neither me nor them!) if I end up getting signed off then that’s how it is (that’s the only way I’d do it). But I don’t want to let anyone down.

Anyway. Today so far I’ve just hopped out of the shower. And have thrown another load of laundry on. Dm has offered to do ironing for us. So have sorted out a few bits (from wardrobe) which need doing. There are three full to bursting laundry baskets downstairs which need to be folded and put away. I’ll grab more ironing from these.

Bins need emptying. But next time I go downstairs I’ll take one with me.

I emailed a cleaner yesterday. Quoted me £15 an hour and they will clean everywhere including inside of windows. And will iron if we need it. Need to work out when I want that to start. Maybe sept October time but absolutely from January so it’s in place before I go back to work.

I had this naive idea that I could do housework every Friday whilst I’ve got both littlies with me. 😂😂🤣🤣 yeah naaaaa

A cleaner sounds like a good plan em - maybe the budget could stretch to getting one now and you can spend extra time napping 😜!! Actually serious - I've had cleaners on and off for years and I think this last bit of pregnancy is a really valid time to get some more time to yourself.

I'm feeling really 'meh' atm. Is it the weather? Is it me? Not sure... just feel a bit low, a bit demotivated, a bit inadequate, a bit tired, a bit bored. Anyone got a quick fix to all of the above?!!

Can't believe you're 34 weeks already em, you should def get a cleaner, I imagine once they start you'll wonder how you ever coped without one!! I might think about getting one when I do it uni course as I def won't have any time to keep up with cleaning.

Spends
£35 petrol
£3 meal deal

Have got about £60 to last until payday on the 27th.

£30 ish needs to go on food.

£20 on watching toy story 4 this wend and poss a macdonalds afterwards.

Otherwise lots of nsds planned!!

girlie I know! I’m So happy to be this far along. A bit fed up now with it all. Actually can’t wait for baby girl to arrive!!! Sick of feeling massive and uncomfortable.

I’m prepared to feel tired after baby arrives. But wasn’t prepared to feel this tired now. But at least after I’ll be more mobile (I mean I’m Mobile now and can walk etc) and able to pick Ds up. That’s what makes me sad now - I physically can’t pick him up now and I want to run about and play with him and join in when he plays “oh deeeeear!” With dh (basically the game is Dh Sits on the floor and ds charges into him and dh falls down ds shouts “ohhh deeeaaarrr!” Then falls over himself and laughs until he basically wets himself.

Em, a cleaner is a great idea I’d love one at the mo, House is a tip as I’m not getting my off days with new job. Sorry to hear you are feeling rubbish again, hope the antibiotics and rest help

Sea sorry to hear things are tough at the moment

Girlie glad you are enjoying the new job

North hope ds’s eye is better soon, cricket picnic sounded great

Cag great news on young carers

Love to everyone else too

I like the idea of getting the cleaner before baby arrives em not only could you get some extra rest now, but you’d get the faff of getting to know someone and showing them round etc before you’re also dealing with a newborn

Grandma gave me the Caglets’ birthday money all in one go (DD’s is this month) so I’ve bought Cagletini’s first Holztiger animals. This is gonna be an expensive habit.

Also I walked to the gym, did a bit more walking on the treadmill, and then swam before sitting in the steam room. Yay!

Much love to all, I am struggling to keep up with the thread! 💐❤️

cag I’m so proud of you going to the gym and doing all of that!! Good work!!!

I’ve just talked to dh about a cleaner. He is at least in agreement with it. He wasn’t a while ago. Was adamant that we could do it ourselves. Ha!

Dinner tonight was baked pea risotto. I fried the onion and garlic in butter first then threw the rice around in it. Then baked it in stock then added peas mint. Then stirred in globs of cream cheese. God it was good.

Ooh good tips re: pea risotto - I'm attempting it for the first time tomorrow night - wish me luck! I have cream cheese and mint so il as those to the pot.

I pulled myself out of the fug earlier. Got up and started tackling the housework. What felt overwhelming was actually done by dds bathtime and they played so well together afterwards for over an hour (a record!!) and filled me with joy.

Maybe I need to practice some mindfulness too to take stock of the small things.

I love a good steam cag!! Best bit about any gym/swim/spa. I like to do a circuit of a a steam, a swim, sauna to dry then a good read of my book and repeat!!

Aww thanks em 😍 that’s so kind. It’s funny I started it because of wanting to get fitter and stronger, obviously that is a major issue for me, but I totally wasn’t expecting it to help me mentally as well

Cag well done, great that you've managed that!
Em a cleaner sounds eminently sensible, glad dh agrees.
Wolf the picnic was nothing fancy, ham sandwiches, breadsticks with hummus, a sharing pack of Tyrells crisps and some fruit salad. It tasted uch better because it cost so much less than the alternative!

Can anyone help? Dh and I are recording all our spending & I think will continue to do so for at least a few months. I do it on paper (I'm a notebook & list kinda girl) but I'd like to be able to record things on our (android) phones on something where dh's spends could sync to my phone. Does that need to be via an app or is there a way of doing it through a shared document or something??
Just had a lovely tea. HM tortilla chips made from wraps that needed using, with cheese and chilli from the freezer, yum!
It's just me and the dc tonight as dh is in London for a work event tomorrow. My only spending today has been £44 on petrol, but that will last me almost a month and I get paid mileage expenses from work.

I’ve never been to a spa, I actually only went in the steam room the first time because my friend was 😳 #sheep and was a bit worried because I don’t do well with heat (low BP etc) but it’s sooo good for pain levels and germ killin’ 😂

Hi all.
Spends today £6.06 on hummus, grilled peppers, olives, some Turkish bread and some croissants.
North could you use Google drive for that?

Any chance to have a steam counts as a spa in my eyes - the rest is just a bonus! You're so right about it helping mentally as well as physically.

North I'm not sure about that but sounds really useful. I'm sure I remember something about YNAB being accessible on phone but not sure?

I wondered about Google drive Curvy I'll look into it. It'll have to be simple for dh to use, he is a tech dinosaur!! Madden I'm not looking for anything as complex as ynab. I did have a budgeting app a while back but then built my own spreadsheet to do just what I need it to.

Just checking in. I've got behind again and I keep spending money. £70 on petrol today.
Have a spendy weekend ahead too. Need to be brave and check bank and cc balances.