OK The boys start back at School on Monday, so who is up for a Baby Fly thread

[TeaMonster]

But rather than a one a day baby step, we do a two a day one.

I need to get back on top of things, plus I will be on my own for the first time in over 5 years.

Morning all!

I have achieve all on my list for yesterday apart from the patio door and studying.

Todays to-do list is;

make beds
tidy bedrooms
feed kids (done)
iron clothes for the day (done)
tidy bathroom (done)
put dishes away
get dressed
dress kids
hoover/tidy living room
go through and sort out the horrendous pile of paper documents etc in kitchen (been there a week)
do some food shopping
do afternoon school run (a friend is doing the morning one)

tisonlyme - have a god time in london

Hiya,

You're doing well mama!

Gammon sounds good! We're on asda indian tonight as the kids are having tea at their nans

So far all I've got left is...

put 2 wash loads away ( they are sorted into individual piles already :))

Hoover downstairs

Ring post office

10m minute hotspot

Get indian

And I think I've fixed the car !!!!! I found that the glove box light was stuck on - therefore draining the battery

Fingers crossed

see you all after the bedtime routine!

Ok apart from dishes and getting dressed etc the house work has fell by the wayside as i feel like crap and have a stonking headache!

Will b firlmy focused tomorrow.

I've spent a day procrastinating and getting sidetracked (as is my way).

But actually - though I've faffed about, I'm surprised to see what I have done - I don't normally write it down, so never think I've done a lot, but it's surprising when you look at it.

Anyway:

My list for today is:

Feed and dress kids (done)
School run (done)
Unload dishwasher (done)
Clean dishwasher (done)
Reload dishwasher (done)
2 loads of washing (done 2, one dried)
Put away previous loads of dry washing (one of my hotspots) (folded so far)
Pick up DD2 from nursery (done)
Cook dinner (done)
Pick up DD1 from school (done)
Feed kids
Do school work with DD1
Clean loo (done)
Bath kids and put to bed
Tesco?s online grocery shop (done)
Clothes for tomorrow for kids and me
Packed lunches for tomorrow
Bath for me and try to have an early night

Probably for tomorrow:

Feed and dress kids
School run
Take DS to Tinytalk
Tackle dumping ground that is dining room
Tidy and hoover sitting room
Clean rest of bathroom
Clean kitchen
Sweep and clean kitchen floor
Hoover downstairs
Email friend (way overdue)
Update contact lists for DD2?s nursery
School run

I notice I've saved the less pleasant stuff for tomorrow, so I hope I don't do my avoidance then, too.

Actually - I correct that - I haven't done anything too labour intensive at all, have I? Not compared to some of you. Though it is still more than I thought.

Afternoon all. I need a good slap. My boys went back to school this week and I have been sad about it and lacking in motivation.

We are going away on Monday till wednesday, as I am missing them so much - I know I am very odd

I hate it.

I will end up buried under a big pile of dry washing with just my feet sticking from underneath, one of these days .

thereisalight clean dry washing is my nemesis! It's just too easy to get an enormous pile and then it looks like a mountain to tackle, so I avoid it , then it gets worse.

I get behind with it all too easily, when I realise the mountain is growing I stop washing and spend a day if necessary concentrating on putting it away. I will even reward myself once its in the piles for each individual person, and then again for each one put away, anything to get it done. I still fail and get behind all the time, but I know I can get over it, you will too, it'll be fine, :)

Oh! and by the way - I would rather do labour intensive stuff than have to phone people or fill in forms! Isn't it amazing how much we all actually do without realising it??!

Teamonster I am one of those annoying people on facebook who put big cheesy grins on my status at the begining of the holidays and the number of days before term begins again, love,love,love having them at home! I've got 2 in school now and 2 still at home, dreading the next one starting but its not for a while yet :)

I need to talk to you, KAQ, about your routine for 4 DCs. Expecting DC4 (EDD 31/12 - great timing, eh?) is all a bit of a muddle at the mo (that's why I'm trying to sort stuff out now) and need tips on organising me, DH 3 kids and a newborn. But I have to go to bed now (far too late, of course), tomorrow perhaps?

And I'm really relieved to learn I'm not the only one with a clean laundry monster!!

Goodnight, everyone.

Ask away :) I on here randomly, I don't sleep much. How old are you dc's? Xmas babies are the absolute best! DS1 was born on xmas eve, fabulous birth, home before the older 2 woke and I didn't lift a finger the next day, xmas dinner cooked for me just sat and stared at my xmas present :)

One of the things I did that made me feel a bit more in control in the run up was to write out all my xmas cards put the stamps on and gave them to my mum by the end of october( she then posted them with hers at the right time). I bought and delivered all the xmas prezzies by then too, that way whenever I had the baby everything else was organised.

I don't have a laundry monster today - but that doesn't mean I wont have one tomorrow!

I am soooo glad for my preorganisation last night!!!!! We overslept, but because the table was laid and everything was just ready to go all I had to do was still done in time!

I've put away 1 washload of cleaning cloths so far put in the machine, and the dishwasher is doing its bit. 2 washloads to go and 1 to put away still, I think I'm going to do that and make a cup of coffee

I'd better check the baby steps because I've been sidetracked - I have bought an extra bottle of window cleaner to swish the bathroom with, and did it last night before bed, only took 1 minute.:)

Now that I'm straight for the day ( barr the washing carousel!) my 2 targets for the day are
clean floors,
clean windows,
10 minutes on diningroom hotspot - I may even do before and after photos on my profile

Pie, bercher potatoes and veggies for tea. so don't need to think about it till 4pm :)

Back later, hope everyones ok today

Todays Baby Steps..... ( hope thats ok!) :)

no9

no10

morning all!

Today i have done

got up and dressed and washed hair
got kids up dressed fed and dc off to school
dusted living room
put dishes away
put washing away
put out recycling
ordered my autumn clothes online (yay)
wiped work tops down
tidyed bathroom
made beds/tidyed bedrooms
cleaned patio doors

still to do

hot spot - mountain of crap in kitchen

this will be done this afternoon as i am about to play with ds,
straighten hair
do lunch
take ds to playgroup
get some shopping
payrent
chill with dp while he is on lunch break
do school run
tackle ,mountain of crap
cook dinner
get kids ready for bed
tidy and hoover so all set for a relaxing sat morning.

i have now
done hair,lunch,playgroup/school run,shopping,rent,half the crap mountain is gone (woo hoo) and now im cooking dinner.

Wow! that looks good mamamia

to dos..

put away 1 washload
wash floors (dc need to be in bed)
10 minute hotspot... I think that can wait until dp gets back from his fishing trip
Do Dinner

Then on to bedtime routine...

See you later :)

KAQ - thanks for that. DCs are 5, 3.5 and 2 (next week). DD1 is at school, DD2 is at nursery 3 mornings a week and has just started going all day Friday (first day was yesterday - and I completely wasted the day, doing nothing at all - I'm quite annoyed with myself).

So I spend most of my time in the car on the school run, or waiting the 2 hours at home before I have to turn round and go back and collect DD2. Quite frustating. And I blame that on not getting things done 'I don't have enough time to start anything' kind of excuses, but that's what they are. There's no reason I couldn't fit quite a lot into 2 hours, is there?

But I can spend a lot of time complaining about having not achived anything, writing lists and really, it's all procrastinating. Does anyone do this?

Oh - I have tackled the laundry monster. And it's gone. For now!

Oh I'm really good at procrastination! I spend ages making lists of all the things that need doing, instead of actually DOING them.

Quite pleased with today's progress so far though.

2 wash loads done.
DD2's Bedroom tidied
Mountain of washing put away
Went through outhouse with a bin bag & threw out loads.
Tackled cupboard full of tupperware & threw out mismatched lids etc

Think I might do some more filling of bin bags later :)

Thereisalight! LOLOLOL! My DC'S are almost matched for age wil yours by the sounds of it! DD1 is 6 DD2 is 4 DS1 is 2.8 ds1 is just 1 year old (To be precise I've got 20 month between the girls, 20 months between the boys and 26 months in the middle ):) You will survive!!! Also until my recent house move I too was doing the school drop off and 2 hour turn around living in the car so I know exactly what you mean :)

My main coping technique has been getting ahead whenever I can - hence the table laying at night and lunchboxes made up the night before ( if you can't convince dd1 to have school diners for a bit) I don't do any house work before the school run. Just concentrate on getting everyone ready and out the door without any drama.

My morning routine since ds2 was born (in order) is:

Feed youngest, before I get out of bed.

Get myself dressed and face on.

Wake girls and get them dressed / to dress themselves.

Wake DS1 and get him dressed. Dress Ds2.

Get girls to help put all jim jams under pillows, throw duvets over beds neatly.

Open curtains

Go downstairs

Feed and water all dcs (when ds1 was tiny I put him in the high chair very reclined so he could see everyone while they ate)

Brush all hair
at that point I confess the tv goes on otherwise they don't sit still!

All teeth cleaned

All faces wiped

Shoes and coats on.

TV off Bundle into car!

I did actually have a list on the wall that said (in pictures for the children)

Get Dressed
eat breakfast
Brush Hair
Teeth Cleaned
shoes on

and the girls put star stickers on each bit when they had done it - it helped to keep them focused in the mornings - too easily sidetracked my kids!

I had a hook that the kids couldn't reach too and once a bag was ready to go it went on the hook so that they didn't empty it out or move it when my back was turned.

The other part of my routine which for a while I found the most difficult was after school when I was trying to get dinner ready and the youngest wanted to be held.

I confess that at that point we started eating bercher potatoes, using frozen veg and ate lots of casseroles, toad in the holes and fishfingers cooked in the oven

Another thing I did was to do a list on the computer of everything that we should have in the house (like a complete stock check) then every time I needed to go shopping I would print the list and cross off everything we already had.

I then set up a 3 week rolling menu for evening meals, and a shopping list breakdown with everything on it that you would need for those meals, I would print that too and cross of what we already had too.

Whatever was left was what I needed to buy.

It sounds really anal but it helps me because I don't even need to think about it. I don't have much thinking time when the kids are about so I try to think twice as hard when they aren't about to make up for it! If you want my 3 week rolling menu / stock check for the house let me know and I will post it on here, you can then c&p it into a wordprocessor and ammend as you wish.

If theres anything else I can help with let me know :)

Oh and by the way - the 2 hrs that you get when you've dropped off dd2 at nursery - they are the shortest 2 hrs ever known! My friend ( who also has 4 dcs with a similar age gap) reccomended I do the 10 min job. Set a timer and do 10 mins in each room, then sit down and drink coffee and play with the dcs until it was time to go. HTH

Well, I've done most of the days chores I even tidied out the cupboard under the sink - cleaned the scary outside loo and changed our bed!, one of my washloads even went out on the line in the sunshine, until ds1 threw mud all over it :(

Just need to put away 1 small washload, tidy the lounge start the dishwasher and flick the kitchen.

Then I think a glass of wine is probably in order

Well done everyone on all their achievements so far.