We have finished the babysteps - cautiously moving into toddler sized steps now.

[Carrotsandcelery]

You are all going to be so disappointed. My hobby is horse riding. Ta da!! I really wasn't trying to be coy. I didn't realise you were all so nosey took such an interest in fellow thread members I am totally mortified that it is not hang gliding or rally racing or anything a bit more adventurous

Ooh, sledging - sounds fun, Carrots. :)

Well done to your DD on her bladder-holding skills, Blackcat. DS had some nappy free time today and did something similar (and then went all over the floor. ) We're not 'training', though, just practising. :)

Welcome, Cheese.

I did lots of writing descriptions / taking photos for things to sell today which was tedious but good progress. 3 lots of washing done too, and I took DS out twice so that was fun.

We're out for the morning tomorrow for DH's birthday which should be nice.

I need to shine my sink & tidy the kitchen now, then hang up washing & get to bed.

Sledging sounds like great fun carrots

The carpenter phoned & left a msg while we were putting the kids to bed - this means he's back from his hols & wants to come round to see what I want doing to my understairs cupboard... which is absolutely rammed full of stuff I can feel an emergency declutter coming on! I also want him to put a shelf in my wardrobe (I have been asking DH to do this for a year) so I need to sort that, and the bedroom out - arrgh!!

How strange. I have just been having a conversation with dh about shelving ds's wardrobe so that he can pull out his boxes of toys like drawers, rather than risking pulling a pile of boxes down on top of himself. I was keen on Ikea Trofast but I think this would be cheaper and easier as our nearest Ikea is about 3 hours drive away.

Avoid my trick of shoving it all in the study bessie. It will end in years of chaos

i went to homebase and they had a damaged storage thing(bit like trofast).i offered half the price for it,one man refused to sell it to me,another said if i was prepared to risk it then it was my choice and he knocked more money off,so for £30 i got a huge storage thing(i already had the plastic boxes to put in it).the only thing wrong with it was a little scratch on the side.(cant even see scratch as its up against play room wall!).its made the playroom so much easier to tidy.

I am Cheese - of the storage and the playroom.

they hardly play in it,they seem to just go in,empty everything over the floor and walk out again.usually with arm fulls to leave in other rooms.but it is nice to shut the door and pretend its not there-see slob!if i was good id tidy it.

When we win the lottery we will be converting the garage into a playroom (and putting another bedroom on top of it) I think bedrooms are for sleeping in & want the girls to have another room for all the toys & when they're older somewhere for them to do homework or hang out with their friends. We could have the Wii set up in there too

I have no idea how much my carpentry will cost, but improving under the stairs is my main concern, but a few shelves in my wardrobe would be fab as I only have hanging space atm. I bought something which is like a big hanging fabric shoe rack to put my jeans etc in & it works fairly well, but some proper wood shelves would be much better.

bessie I dream of a playroom/den where the dcs can play with their friends unhindered by me hanging around. Dd is 10 now and I can see that a) her bedroom is too small for her to hang around in with a friend b)I am cramping their style when they play downstairs. If we could put the wii in there it would be even better.

Sadly our garage is detached and there are rules in the street that none are to be converted into accommodation - so when we win the lottery we will have to move

I have finally cleaned the worktops and shined the sink and loaded the dishwasher after tonight's tea Better late than never and at least I wont get up to it tomorrow.

gossip how did the lasagne go? Did the DC get on ok? I hope you still shined your sink last night?!

Hello everyone! Gossip I hope everything went well last night. Fingers crossed for you.

Hello all, We have been out most of today so have declared it a " Day off ".

How are you all?

Done anything interesting?

A day off sounds good! I've just given DD2 a bottle - that was odd!

Must go prep up DD1s tea now, back later

bessie He shined my sink, last night after dinner and this morning.

Carrots the lasagne went down very well and the kids got on ok until tiredness set in, however my ds1 has been an absolute bleeder today after school and spent most of it in his room for being aggressive towards me.

And the new guy is still very lovely lol.

Gossip if he shines the sink then I think you do love him

I am glad it went well and the dcs got on well. All kids get cranky once they are tired.

When are you seeing him next?

oooh sink shining is a good way to woo a lady!

today I have vacuumed, changed the bed sheets, returned some clothes & got the girls new hats & gloves. I also made a start on clearing out the under-stairs cupboard, the carpenter is coming round tomorrow night, so I'm off upstairs to tidy the bedroom up a bit too!

I am still living in Playmobil chaos. Everyone is complaining about the noise when I start sifting through the miscellaneous box to find the bits I need.

I have been out nearly all day, with only brief visits to the house. Dh seems to have got the sink shining though so we are ok for today I feel

Good luck clearing out bessie.

carrots perhaps you should suggest they help you, then the noise would stop! (although you wouldn't get to play for so long then!)

I just spent about 45mins tidying (my side of) the bedroom & it's made a HUGE difference! I've also identified a load of stuff (mainly bags) that can go on the shelf I've got planned for the wardrobe which will make it even tidier!

Morning all! I have hatched a plan. I have emptied the bottom of the spare room wardrobe and as I complete a Playmobil set I am putting it in a plastic box and putting it in there. Dh has gone golfing and the dcs are at school so no one is complaining about the noise I am worried by the great delight I am taking in finding all the right bits for each set

oooh carrots that does sound like fun! some people would be worried by the fact that I think that kind of thing sounds like fun, but I know how much I enjoy sorting lego/duplo/mega blocks into different colours. DH thinks it's hilarious and very sad

I tidied up a bit around DH's side of the bedroom this morning... well, I rammed all the stuff on the floor into the bottom of his wardrobe (which is what he would do) but I think I found my birthday present! well, it's that or DH has started secretly wearing ladies slippers!

I'm going to have lunch & then play with DD2 until naptime - then I'm going to get stuck into the understairs cupboard again.

Oh, I find it very pleasing sorting things into boxes too. :)

Gossip & Carrots, I'm very impressed at your men-folks' sink-shining prowess.

Blackcat, glad you're feeling a bit less tired.

DS is napping now. Once I've eaten lunch I need to:

• wrap DH's birthday presents
• make DH's birthday cake
• make a few phone calls
• sort out stuff for making another lot of apple jelly
• quick tidy downstairs
• parcel up the first nappy to take to the post office

Angel what did you get your dh for his birthday? It is my dh's birthday soon and family have gone off with all the exciting ideas.

Hurrah on posting a nappy as well (that is a sentence I never imagined writing).

bessie I love the stuffing in the wardrobe technique. My dh has a huge pile on his bedside table which I just try not to see when I make the rest of that room beautiful. He claims I make all the mess but it is clealy a joint effort.

To make room in the wardrobe we have had to finish hanging up the pictures stored in the bottom of the wardrobe which also felt like progress. That included dd and ds's hand and footprints in clay that we got done in John Lewis. Poor dh, he was really sad looking at how tiny their hands were and how big they are now.

Then he took me out for lunch and kept pointing out all the babies. Yikes!

I thought he had got over his broodiness but it seems to be returning with a vengeance.

Anyway, the handprints just don't look right at all. Has anyone else got them? Where have you hung them?

We had to go out for lunch (hard life) and to buy more picture hooks and more plastic boxes for the Playmobil. I have made heaps of progress with it but there is still an awful lot of Playmobil in the miscellaneous box

Had a bit of an unwell day today but luckily DH has got this week off so he has been doing the cooking etc.

I hope I start to get better soon. I hate being ill.

Carrots, I'm lucky in that we work on lists so deciding what to get isn't a problem. He's got football boots, a book and some nice things to eat.

That's very sweet about your DH getting broody - I take it you're less keen?

Our footprint thing of DS is just sitting in his memory box.

Dh knows we would struggle but would still have liked another one. I would too but shouldn't really have had ds so I think I would be pushing my luck to have another. It is nice to know he would like another though.

We have lists too but everyone else in the family pinches all the best ideas - especially with him having a December birthday too.

I will come up with something though.

Ds was really happy when he went to bed and saw we had put his favourite painting up in the room he sleeps in.

I have amazon lists for me & the DDs - DH is no help what so ever, and his birthday is in Jan, so I have similar problems to you carrots

our footprint things (we just did them ourselves) are in our bedroom - I haven't got round to putting a photo of DD2 in there yet - I think they will go in their keepsake boxes soon though

Before DD2 was born, DH & I agreed we wouldn't even discuss the possibility of having anymore DC until she was 6 months old...

Under the stairs is sorted. Carpenter came round & says he'll send me a quote by the weekend

meal planner done

bed now