It's August - can the Fledglings keep FLYing with children underfoot?!

[BlueEyeshadow]

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to August's edition of the Fledgling Flyers,
Meine Damen, Mesdames, Ladies! (although any Herren, Messieurs and Gentlemen would be very welcome too, I'm sure, and apologies for the show tunes now lodged in everyone's heads ...)

If you're trying to keep out of CHAOS over the summer holidays, with the dear children creating havoc all around, then pull up a chair, roll up your sleeves and join in the fun.

Fly Lady's website is here, but we don't recommend signing up for the emails unless you want an ironically cluttered inbox. I'll post the links to the information for every day this month and try to keep up with all the chat.

There are babysteps to get you started on forming a routine, and missions to do once each room is decluttered and, as the Fat Fairy says, it's amazing what you can do in fifteen minutes. We'll be starting August in the entrance, front porch and dining room, and sifting the sense from the cutesy language. :)

I notice from the archive that it's the thread's second birthday so I'm sure there'll be cake as well as plenty of , and - virtual, so no calories - along the way. Finally, a big thank you to CHB and Swan for leading us heroically through a hectic July!

Now I have 30 mins to tackle playroom before 12 year old visits.
hoovering
neatening of piles
removal of plates/glasses

Afternoon all

Yes Fuzzled feel free to stay and chat even if not Flying.
Swan I hope your calm house remains so
linzer hope you enjoy the Museum and Toffee hope all play nice in the treehouse.

Hello to everyone else

Well Not much sleep to be had here but DD seems to be ok this morning. Have been gentle with food and she is having a PJ day but so far so good . DH took the day off work so let me go to the gym this morning for my session. I asked my trainer to work out the calorie intake for me to lose weight again (After putting 5lb on whilst away ) In doing so however she gave me a full body analysis and I cam away very and - Need to seriously get some healthy eating and exercise planned in. Anyway last nights sheets have been washed, I've been to post office to post on more book sales and I've done a bit of shopping. I've just popped home for lunch and to check on DH and DD before out to swimming lesson. I think DH is enjoying his morning with DD though, craft stuff is everywhere and they are being really cuddly which is nice to see.

Tonight I have to sort though paperwork, menu plan and do an online shop. And then an early night !!

Hope you are all having fab days

X-posts Swan Hope the sleep over goes well. Yes quite excited by prospect of job if it goes through ok. Will be evenings and/or weekends too so can still try and get some paid work through supply or if a proper job comes along

Thanks, Linzer - we did have a lovely morning and all four children played beautifully together . DS1 was very smitten with the other mum's two-year-old daughter (she is very cute) and spent a lot of time looking after her and being very big brotherly. He is so much more relaxed these days - it's wonderful to see him enjoying life at last .

Going out to get some chores done and visit the library in a minute, which will give the boys some more exercise. I just have to keep them on the move, I've decided.

MC - glad you are having some time to yourself . It sounds as if DH and DD are having a lovely time too.

Still - good luck with your entertaining of visitors. Hope DD's sleepover goes well.

Swan - what magic did the therapist use to transform physical fights into cuddles, I wonder? Yes, I have a zero tolerance of violence here, but, sadly, it doesn't always stop the boys grappling with each other. I had good training in stopping it when DS1 used to have anger problems, thanks to his frustration with his tics and anxiety, and we sought help from CAMHS. The advice was to use a reward chart to encourage positive behaviour and punish each and every incident of hitting (at that time, it was me who was being hit ). It worked fairly quickly and DS has never reverted to that behaviour. Phew. He did become even more anxious though because he started to take those feelings out on himself.

Something else which I've noticed has worked really well with my two and which I picked up from a parenting book: I don't intervene in their arguments at all, unless it becomes physical. I let them sort it out themselves. I have been impressed by how often they do resolve stuff together and it means that neither of them feels I'm siding with the other one. And it means there's less for me to do too!

Right, we have stopped long enough for lunch, clearing up, a bit of time relaxing on the computer - and now it's time to get moving again. Am hoping to wear the boys out today [vain hope emoticon].

Firstly, thank you all for nice words and support and

Feeling a bit better now.

DS got very upset with me yesterday, crying and biting (at 10mo! ) and I just felt a failure as a mum - and as a FLYer due the state of the kitchen while awaiting new fridge-freezer.

Now, today, DS is back to being a huggy little angel and his old self, DH has acknowledged my feelings (while maybe a bit over the top but DS is my PFB and after years of not wanting a child, it's surprised me how much he matters) are valid to me and fridge-freezer has arrived - and I wish we'd bought a new one years ago!

For the record, it is a Liebherr CUN3033 (as I know people are nosey!) and is not a cheap model - but OMG! is it worth the money. Shelves are glass so DS won't be going anywhere near it, but it looks and feels so solid and is much deeper than most models we looked at - so very excited by it!

House is still a tip, but DH goes back to work on Monday (as do I after maternity finishes, but working from home...) so I think I may make a nice comforting list and work my way through it when he's not here.

Will also get him to take DS out for a few hours in next few days so I can rearrange kitchen to semi-baby proof it - which is coincidentally a mission

DH is now shopping for pizza and for dinner after DS is asleep, and I have a (warning - stationery porn !) lovely clean shiny notebook for my list.

Proms, alcohol and lists... what could be better!

Hi everyone!
Well done fuzzled for getting back on track,We all have bad days weeks so dont worry :o

Dp took the girls to his mothers this afternoon so have gotten lots done

decluttered my clothes
decluttered dd2s clothes
cleaned kitchen (even under the microwave!)
tidyed dd1s room
gave bathrooms a good deep cleaning
put washing pile mountain away i never thought i would ever get to the end of it but i have!hooray!
Did some work on my control journal

very happy with my productive afternoon and they wont be back for an hour so can get lots more done

(oops been gone so long didnt even know it was august)posted in wrong thread!

Hello please can I come back?

Life is hectic indeed. Extra responsibility at work but no extra hours. Parties, graduation, etc. I've spent all afternoon home blessing s/s sweeping, bed making, washing. I'm shattered and am now lying on couch ignoring my children's bickering.

So time to get back to old list and all you girls.

Tomorrows list
Get up, dressed to shoes
Breakfast
Move washing on
Get ds to write friend birthday card for party
Wrap present for party
s/s
Go to work process payment that couldn't do today
Go to party
Go from that party straight to another party
Home to bed hope children eaten enough so don't need to make dinner
Flake watching ally McBeal marathon

I haven't been through thread yet so unless I have you on Facebook I won't have a clue how you all are. I hope you are ok. I do plan to catch up soon.

Any tips on how to manage mother in law fresh out of surgery for lumpectomy and lymph nodes on Wednesday who is trying to do work already would be greatly appreciated! Short of changing all her passwords and locking the office door!?

Be back soon

Hellooooo. I'm back. Did you miss my sparkling wit? Thought not .

Well, a lovely time was had by all but by golly the weather was crap in the second week. So much so that after being cooped up in a caravan (albeit a nice big one) for the first time in ages I think I was actually ready to come home. We did have a lovely time though weather aside and it was nice to spend lots of time together. However, tonight it is nice to be sat in the living room, on my own, laptop in one hand, wine in the other and watching what I want to watch on TV .

I haven't caught up yet, I can't promise I will am afraid but I hope everyone is doing ok. Have managed to do 3 loads of washing this afternoon, a food shop and have also unpacked (this mainly consisted of throwing everything in front of the washing machine so not as impressive as it sounds ).

Will be back in earnest tomorrow!

Ellie I suspect holidays are designed to make us realise our real homes are palaces (well, unless we went to stay with PA )full of mod cons, clean clothes, and spare mattresses

Had another quite good day one visitor to distract ds1 worked well, and he has been invited back [starts totting up list of playdate debits and credits rather meanly] (not a sleepover MC - that's SC)

Managed to keep show in the road, and generally combine business with pleasure without collapsing. DH has eaten a nice homemade supper and is in better mood than last night. We had a furious row yesterday which wasn't good - my fault I'm sure...

Alsodones
kept up with washing
changed ds1 sheets
half tidied playroom
recycled clothes
thrown another bag of rubbish away
sent off drving licence copy to Ireland
thought about extension again without feeling baffled
kept kitchen tidy
did cooking with ds1
kept ds1 eating healthily
forced ds1 to exercise
tackled garden a bit

sigh...

show on the road not in the road...freudian slip (clearly show is about to be run over. or I'm afraid someone is about to be run over..)

Nettie poor MIL, can you give her some research project she can do from home, ringing people etc? Must be infuriating knowing she needs to convalesce, when she won't. Could you get doctor to issue stern warning?

Linzer it must be strange to be at home amongst all the English or Welsh speakng peoples. Do you feel like it is a second skin when you are back?

Good night all.

Whoops Swan thats what happens when I multitask and don't concentrate.

Anyway, Swimming went bad, not been for a few weeks with illness and holidays and felt like I was starting from scratch. Camebackgrumpy cos DH has promised to cook tea but had been too busy playing with DD (I know I shouldn't complain about this) so we ended up with a late tea and therefore a late bedtime for DD.

Have done conquered paperwork mountain and menu planned a full slimmingworld menu for the next week. Going to write myself a shopping list for tomorrow and then an hour watching TV before bed.

Back tomorrow

Evening all. We had a nice family day today so no work or flying at all? DS1 was all upset about going to a new place, but he loved it and didn?t want to leave. Hopefully this will build on the zoo incident to help him realise things aren?t as scary as he expects! He and DH then went blackberrying while DS2 and I dozed in the rocking chair ? so quiet! - and later we had crumble for pudding. Yum!

Anyway, what else has been going on?

Gold star to Linzer for decluttering while on holiday!
Swan was contemplating up in the air stuff and kept the show on or possibly in the road. Glad you had a good day and hope drama works out.
SC cantered through getting ready for DD?s first ever sleepover. Hope it goes well!
MC has a new job, has sold more books and conquered the paperwork mountain. Glad your DD was better today too.
Toffee had a lovely morning with friends. Encouraging positive behaviour is definitely something I?m trying to work on, but not v successfully so far. :( I?m afraid not intervening in their disagreements would result in bloodshed at the moment ? it always seems to be physical! - but maybe when they?re older??
Fuzzled has a lovely new fridge-freezer and was looking forward to lists and new stationery. Glad things are better today.
Messy had a productive afternoon ? well done. :)
Nettie was on the wrong month ? welcome back! Sounds like you?ve got a lot on your plate.
ellie is back from holiday and has been Washing! Glad you had fun despite the weather.

No missions for the weekend so only the Babystep, which, ironically enough, is to go and do a mission!

Hope everyone has a good weekend and lots of family fun. We?ve got an exciting tip run planned, but at least it should free up some more space! Also need to declutter the garden of rubbish and overgrown plants. The tomatoes seem to be mutating into triffids?

Aiming for an early night so better be off. See you tomorrow.

Nettie - I second Swan's advice for dealing with MIL - can she do some work from home? It sounds as if she's desperate to keep busy, which is understandable when she's dealing with something so scary. My mum said all she wanted, when she was going through her breast-cancer scare (she had a masectomy and reconstruction 10 years ago), was to feel normal again. I expect your MIL wants that too. However, she may not realise how tired you can feel after a big operation and may stop insisting on going into work once she is convalescing. I hope her operation goes well.

Fuzzled - I'm so glad to hear you sounding happier. Hurray for the new fridge! And for the proms, alcohol and a shiny new notebook for lists. Oh, and also for a huggy DS and a DH who listens .

Messy - congratulations on your productive afternoon.

Ellie - well, at least you're glad to be home. Sorry the second week was rubbish weather. We had two caravan holidays with DC when they were a bit younger and my main memory is of trawling round charity shops looking for cheap DVDs to entertain them because it was pouring with rain and we didn'thave the money to take them anywhere.

Swan - you're right - my home seemed very small after PA's. More of a shed than a palace! Sorry you had a row with DH yesterday. Hope you've made it up today.

Like Swan, I managed to 'keep the show in the road' this afternoon by taking the children out again and wearing them out. Have walked them all over town and for a visit to Grandma's. They still ran all the way home . DS2's latest filling fell out (for the second time) after Grandma fed him a plateful of marshmallows, which is annoying, but she is so lovely apart from her obsession with feeding her grandchildren sweet stuff all the time that I'm doing my best to ignore it. Luckily, I found some temporary dental filling stuff in our bathroom cupboard and managed to fill it in again. DS said I was the best dentist ever .

Had a horrible, undignified argument and struggle with DS1 when he wouldn't turn his computer off this evening. I snatched it away from him, but do feel I should have managed it better somehow. DH has just gone in to check on him and he's fallen asleep whilst reading his comic. So maybe all that walking did wear him out after all!

I do love this peaceful time when they are both asleep. Might allow myself an hour to watch a DVD on my own before going to bed.

MC - congrats on conquering paperwork mountain.

Blue - glad you've had a lovely day. You are right about not intervening being an age thing. Mine are 5 and 11 and I have only just started doing this, as it would have involved bloodshed before (and may still...).

Blue - I wish my tomatoes would mutate into triffids, they really aren't doing much this year at all. On the plus side, I went to water the school garden last night and came home with a carrier bag of beans, courgettes, cucumbers, potatoes, no point letting it go to waste!

Fuzzled - glad today has been better, I was a bit worried about you!

Long time no see to Nettie and Ellie, good to have you back.

MC - thanks for your advice about the MyFitnessPal. It is telling me I need about 1500 calories a day to lose a pound a week, which sounds reasonable. I have fallen off the bandwagon big time tonight by going to a BBQ with lots of yummy food and puddings, back to normal tomorrow. I like the way you can input your exercise and earn s ome more calories, but was surprised when it gave me 400 back for 2 hours very gentle stroll the other day.

Toffee - I try and let my two sort out their own arguments, but inevitably they both just yell "Mu-um" louder and louder till I intervene. I try and then just nudge them towards finding a solution rather than just tell them what to do, but sometimes it can't be avoided. I think I am going to have to start zero tolerance on physical stuff, it hasn't been an issue till recently but has started to creep in now.

Haven't done any Flying today, other than S&S, DW etc, but MIL has been tidying up while she has been here the last couple of days and the place looks OK. See you tomorrow.

Was just about to write that I'm still up but not feeling guilty about my late bedtime for once, when I realised that my laptop is still on Austrian time so it's not actually 11.20 pm yet. Anyway, the reason I'm not feeling guilty is that DH's train is due in just before midnight (I'm just wondering whether I can stay awake for the next two hours?). Am trying not to think too much about the fact that we should have been in London this evening.

swan Yes, it's quite strange - it's like coming home but at the same time it isn't home any more. Even though my German is fluent, I'm more confident dealing with day-to-day stuff (e.g. bank appointments) in English and am also better at English small talk. I feel like I'm two different people depending on whether I'm speaking English or German; DH once said that I'm much more "myself" in English (although I never speak it to him!).

Nettie - glad MIL is feeling so much like getting on with her life, it is good even if she risks overdoing things. I'm sure it will help keep her going through this difficult time, tricky for you though. My MIL had a mastectomy and radiotherapy for hers about 10 years ago and has spent today playing football with DS, apart from the immediate aftermath it really hasn't stopped her doing anything. She was a lot more worried than she was really letting on though, until she got the 5 year all clear she was convinced she was going to die from it, but she was keeping that from us to a large extent, I hope we were supportive enough.

Whoknows it is a great app and 1500 cals sounds fine. It was telling me I needed to eat 1200 calories and therefore I was really struggling. Had it checked again today with a full bosy analysis (which made me want to go and eat a big slab of Choccy Cake )and was told I need to eat 2000 to lose weight

DH is playing poker online and I'm watching rubbish on tv whilst browsing active conversations - I really need to go to bed

body not bosy (although I did get a telling off)

evening. Its late. i am tired, in pain and depressed. Boy is on his hols. There will be no flying here for a few days, in fact there will be little anything here for a few days. Fucked up ankle good and proper. not training for what will seem likes ages and the doc wants me to take a med that I react to combined with an antihistamine as it is the only way to help the problem. Thankfully don't react so badly will need a&e but if it goes badly i shall be mostly sleeping. Probably not a bad thing considering my life tbh. So i am sulking. Anyone recommend some good grownup films I get to rent some not kid friendly films on the film rental package for a bit

Will catch up with everyone tomo later. must sleep.

fuzzeled this is why we have the naughty corner bar. If you have had a bad day flying wise just come pour yourself a large one at the bar and chat with the other regulars. The naughty corner used to just be an empty corner but some of us decided cushions and blankets were needed, and i spent so much time that failing at flying that I decided the bar was necessary.

Morning all,

YY to naughty corner bar, I was in there last night too on the quiet, tis a good place to hang out till you get ready to Fly again.

Today is a catch up day, am a bit behind with the washing and stuff generally, with having been at work and having the ILS staying. I also need to get out for a run, having massively exceeded my calorie limit last night. MC I meant to say I updated the app and tried the barcode scanner, it's great isn't it?.

See you all later

Well, I'll just drink all the tea myself then.

Ok, run done, second lot of washing on, this weekend needs to be a total declutter of downstairs as we have an electrician in next week to replace most of the light fittings and put in more plugs, this will entail a lot of furniture shifting and chaos , however it will be lovely to have light back in the lounge (relying on floor lamp for last 2 months), say goodbye to hideous 80s style fittings in the dining room and actually be able to see properly in the kitchen at night (ponders how much extra dirt I am going to notice with all this light).

Morning All!

I've got a busy day ahead- we go on holiday on Monday and have a Chistening tomorrow so lots to organise today! Doesn't help that DH is on ANOTHER 12hr shift today 8-8 but luckily annual leave is all fine so holiday is still going ahead!

Was tired last night so Evening routine didn't get done. Got up this morning and with the help of the DC's we have blitzed the housework.

I have got the WM on right now with load 1 of 4.

Kids have tidied, hoovered and dusted the sitting room and dining room. I did the kitchen which was a state. They are tidying their room and stripping beds at the moment.

When washing is done i need to pack the rest of our clothes. I've done the food, toiletries, towels and baby bits. So it is literally clothes left to do!

Please pray for good weather for us!

Be back later- have a lovely family fun day everyone!

I'll join you for a cuppa Whoknows - I stewed my first cup when i got engrossed in Flying...