Babystepping our way through February, with brews and pointy sticks!

[BlackCatTryingToFly]

Hi all, Welcome to the new thread.

Oiii!,*Carrots, bessie, Zoo, Scout, Dlamis, and anyone I've missed - Over here!!!

[Brew] anyone?

Hi BC. I am glad ds is better. Do you think it was too much excitement and pizza/cake?

Delegate your jobs and plan definite rest breaks - you will amaze yourself how much you can get done.

I have discovered how nice it is to all sit together for breakfast (apart from dh who is still in bed). We tend to eat as we are ready in a chaotic fashion. I am wondering if we could work an eat together routine. We maybe could without dh. What does everyone else do? As an older child the table was laid but we ate as and when we were ready - I can't remember as a young child what we did.

I have one last tray bake in the oven and have trashed the kitchen again.

What are the chances of dh sorting it out while we are out?

Hi Carrots, We have just got back from shoe shopping (DS school shoes). They never seem to last long.

We tend to eat breakfast at different times in the morning (just as and when we feel like it) but usually by 9.00. During the week we have to have a routine. I try and get up before the DC --lately it's been too early-- and get my breakfast then I get DD up to have hers (around 7.00am) this can take up to an hour!. I get DS up at 7.20am to have his breakfast then from 8.00 we all start getting dressed but sometimes I'm dressed before 7.00am.

So far today I have:
breakfast
get dressed
wash up x 1
clean dining table and the front of some of the kitchen cupboards
been out to buy shoes.

Still To do:
sort the laundry
wash up some more
check all school clothes are ready for tomorrow
lunch
get DS to do homework project
"What's for dinner?"
clean bathroom
hoover upstairs
put a clean cover on DS quilt

I'm tired just looking at my list!!

I've managed to get TS showered, take out the bathroom trash/nappies, do the menu planning & grocery list, grocery shop & put most of it away and take out the recycling. TS is down for a much needed nap but I can hear him counting to and talking with his Bunny. MrScout's just gone off to the Guiding event we were all meant to be attending but I got TS & I out of due to illness. I've decided to have a rest but really need to sort out the mountain of dishes & pans in preparating for dinner this evening.

That's the fundraiser done and nearly dusted. I'm shattered but I really enjoyed it.

It's a beautiful day so the dcs are out playing in the street. We have only just reached a point where I am not a complete nervous wreck if they play outside without me out too or watching from the front window.

At dd's age I was allowed to wander all over a much bigger town with my friends and my parents were considered strict and a bit overprotective. What does that make me

I am going to have a rest and my lunch for a wee while and then I will rescue the washing and put some more on.

Tea tonight is fajitas - Yum!

Hi all, just stopping for a rest and a .

I am the same Carrots when DS plays out, I am constantly curtain twitching to check where he is and that he is o.k. The roads here are a bit busier than where I grew up so I am always on edge.

I have: had lunch, hoovered and cleaned some of DS's room, sorted DS's bed. Also done washing and hanged it up to dry. DS has done his homework.

Hi BC! Our street ends with a roundabout for turning and there are a few teenagers so I do worry about cars coming down too fast. The teenagers who live here are really lovely and aware of young children but their friends are a bit more "enthusiastic" which worries me.

Our village is small though and it is healthy for dcs to play outside so I try not to get wound up

I have hung some washing and put another load on. Dh had done the dishes so there aren't too many of them building up.

What I should really be doing is writing up a few ebay listings

Well done on the ds room. My ds's room was a nightmare. It is not perfect now but I am not ashamed of it anymore at least. It looks like a normal child's mess rather than 2 months of neglect.

My DC have decided it's more fun to play under the car road play mat than play with cars on the top. I am munching on biscuits with my .

Ha ha! Sounds fun BC. I think I need a (decaff) too and maybe a left over homebake.

Right, I best go back upstairs and finish tidying up then I'll have to go and sort dinner. I am working on the idea that the busier I am today the less time I will have to sit and worry about tomorrow morning.

Might pop back in here later.
TTFN.x

Being busy does help BC but you will be fine tomorrow too.

Aaarrrggghhh! I have my but the home baking has been sneakily scoffed without me. The empty box is beside my dh (who is asleep on the sofa)

There is a box of chocs from the dd who slept over last night... but I will save that!

I have finished off upstairs although didn't get to do the bathroom. I have now got dinner cooking. DH has come to the rescue and is doing washing up.
I don't think I will do much after dinner now as I'm pretty tired!

You have done loads BC. Well done. It feels so much better once you have got going.

I hope you are putting a pound a week into a jar for a dishwasher. I know I keep going on about it but it would make such a difference to you. Either that or dh needs to do a couple of batches a day too. There is only so much one person can do - especially of the same thing!

I like the idea of a pound a week --even if I spent it on something else--
The DC are getting quite restless and tired so I think it will be bath and bed time soon.

Oh dear, in this house I am tired and restless too BC. I desperately just want to go to bed and dd is being foul because she is tired and restless and has a nasty cold. It's a delightful combination.

She has just accused me of abusing her because I won't brush her hair. She is nearly 11 I asked her what adults did about their hair and if they got their mums round everyday to do their hair for them. Dh started laughing and then she accused him of abusing her for laughing at her, at which point I accused her of abusing us which at least raised a bit of a smirk

Overtired!

Oh dear! it must be harder when they get that bit older cause you want them to start being a bit more independant but they don't understand and take it the wrong way.
It's funny seeing things from a parents perspective, I remember being a teen and thinking the world was against me even though it was ages ago!

That is what it brought to my mind BC - thinking the world had it in for me - when all it was doing was getting me to brush my own bl@@dy hair!!

I even said it to her but obviously she knows better. Just like she knows that the people up the road have 2 dogs not 3 (they have 3) and similar debates, all bl@@dy weekend.

I got to the point of just saying, yes, yes they do dd, they only have 2 dogs. Who gives a stuff how many dogs they have
Help me! She is not even a teenager yet!

Added to that joy, ds is upstairs shouting his head off about something. I am not allowed to interact (psychologists orders) so I just have to listen to him shout. Anyone got any ?

Oh joy! He is now in the kitchen sniffing.

Sorry!

Bit of a stressful evening in the Carrot household.

Our DS (8) shouts out when he is in bed, about various things (blanket needs pulling up etc) delaying tactics!! If we are lucky he is asleep by 9.30 (goes up at 8.00pm). We do go up and down the stairs though when he shouts.
You'll have to let me know how you get on ignoring the shouting.

BC it does work. He is quiet now. The simple theory is that any attention is good attention as far as they are concerned, even if you have come to tell them off, and therefore rewards the unwanted behaviour.

Ds currently earns golden time (one to one time with a chosen parent), starting with 10 mins for settling quietly and then 5 mins per hour for every hour he stays in bed quietly. So he gets really good attention for being quiet rather than bad attention for being noisy and annoying. In general it is working but tonight he was too tired and too ill to manage it.

We have only had 3 or 4 bad evenings in weeks so I really shouldn't rant. I am just exhausted myself.